City of Light & Steam Page 23

  “I am dead to her until I see fit if that moment comes.”

  “My family has lost eight members in one week! We were caught in the train’s path before we knew of it. Then, we tried an alternate route, and two perished. Three have lost to the disease as we could not get them fresh blood.”

  “There are other ways to hunt. You must take your family out of the city as the rest of us have been doing. The nimble will avoid the light, and if we begin at nightfall in heavy attire, it makes the process easier.”

  “And what of the time when they begin to affix the deadly bulbs to common streetlamps?”

  “If they could have done so, if they had enough, they would have.” Anger stilled marked her words, but her arms crossed over her chest in a lackadaisical manner. “They are choosing to help the world as a whole.”

  “Yes, and if they have more than enough when they have shared their victory? Where do you believe those bulbs will go?”

  “That is a worry for another day.”

  “We had an alliance!” His fist barreled into the table, sending a splintering crack through it despite his weakened state.

  “As we still do. You applied pressure to the royal leader, and this is what became of it. We must bide our time and work together for the moment. Watch your family, and we are not beaten.”

  The sound of a door slamming into the wall drew his attention away from the female. Terrance was breathing hard, his skin an ashen white.

  “I’ve been to the docks to find treatment. I crossed over rooftops to get there. The guilds are going to the Americas. I’ve heard the news and raced back after taking my fill.” He lifted a jar filled with crimson liquid. “This was all I could obtain. One of those bulbs was in place there, allowing the humans to work in the dark.”

  “Did you hear why?” Victoria rose from the table as regally as she would have when she was still an essential member of London’s Society.

  He didn’t bother to address Victoria but spoke to Silas. “I did not hear more, just that the ship will set sail in the morning.”

  “Good, then we will have their absence to make strides forward.” Though he would not say the words out loud, it worried him that the inventors were traveling across the sea. If England and the Americas joined together, they might have a way at all our war against the sick.

  “If my daughter is traveling by sea, they go on an important cause. She never enjoyed sea travel when she was able to smell the salt in the air. Forced below deck, she would never agree if it were not urgent.”

  “Then we must begin to plan. Victoria, gather all families. We must begin a journey of our own to the outlying areas. It is time we met with others who are now deemed vampires and expand this alliance if we are to continue to find the treatment we need.” His anger was shifting, Silas had never been hotheaded, and he needed to remember that if he was going to save his family and potentially stake a claim as ruler of the sick. It has a delightful sound to it.

  “I agree, Silas. Things will move at a much faster pace now that the healthy have found a way to curtail us. The stronger our alliance can become, the closer we grow to ending our suffering and making the so-called human race slave to our illness.”

  It was a pity she was otherwise engaged because he did enjoy the way the woman conducted herself. “Well then, let us brew an army.”