Faith Hunter - Death's Rival

To my own Renaissance Man,

who takes me Class III kayaking, Zip-lining through mountain trees, who writes the songs, and rubs my feet.

A book is not a solo endeavor; it takes a village. In addition to all the usual suspects, I am giving a huge thank-you to my editor at Roc Books, Jessica Wade. This book was so complicated in terms of the progression of the clues, that it needed a lot of work and effort from outside sources (read: fresh, well-trained, professional eyes).You are the BEST! I also must thank the wonderful copy editor, Dan Larsen, who caught dozens of errors. Jesse Feldman was a huge help, and ferried requests to all the right people. To Rosanne Romanellothank you for letting me use your name and some personal details for the vamp MOC character in Sedona. You were great. As always, my agent, Lucienne Diver of the Knight Agency, was invaluable. I literally (koff-koff) could not have written Deaths Rival without all of you. My humble thanks.

And I wish a huge thank-you to my fans. You made Jane Yellowrock a bestseller. You told your friends, you shared your excitement for her and for Beast and Leo and Bruiser and Rick and Molly and Angelina and . . . all the others. You took Jane to the stars, and I know how much I owe you, each and every one. So to honor that trust, I promise to write the very best book I can, every single time. No cutting corners. No silliness. No stupidity. My word of honor.

Vamps dont get sick, I said. They may go nuts at the least provocation, but they dont get sick. Air currents buffeted the small jet; I held on to the phone and the seat arm with white-knuckled grips. Inside me, Beast was purring, enjoying the ride entirely too much for a creature who used to be afraid of flying.

Static fuzzed the connection, but I made out the words two of these did. And maybe the third one, dont know. If Reach didnt know something, it was better hidden than the identity of Kennedys killerassuming that there really was a coven of blood-witches on the grassy knoll. Conspiracy theorists have a consensus on that, but there never was any evidence to back it up. Im still searching, Reach said, but it looks like the masters of the city of Sedona and Seattle are still showing signs of malaise. Bostons MOC has vanished, and rumor has it the suckheads dead.

Malaise, I thought, unamused, reading the description of their symptoms. It was a heck of a lot more than malaise. In spite of what Id said, the vampires were sickmaybe dying. Give me details.

According to my latest timeline, this vamp came out of nowhere two months ago and vamps started getting sick, which should be impossible, I know, he agreed. Once they were sick, they each got an ultimatum from an unknown vampire to swear him loyalty in a blood-ceremony, or face that master in a Blood Challenge, not something they could survive while sick. As soon as they swore allegiance to the new guy, the vamps got somewhat better. He didnt kill them once he deposed them, but left them to run the cities as his loyal deputies. Each went from masters of independent strongholds to completely loyal subjects overnight. Hes successfully created a new power base and no one knows how he did it or who he is. Yet.

No vamp is loyal, I said. Theyre all egocentric blood-sucking fiends.

True. But rich egocentric blood-sucking fiends, which is why we work for them.

I grunted. I hated to think of myself that way, but he had a point. Im Jane Yellowrock, and I used to kill vamps for a living. Until I started working for them. It wasnt easy money, and Id dumped the contract with Leo Pellissier, the chief fanghead of the Southeastern U.S., when the retainer ran out. But when Leo had requested my help yesterday, Id re-upped to resolve this problem, because it was the right thing to do. Leo and his people had been attacked under my watch. Humans had been injured. Blood-servants had died. Id killed some of them. No one knew who this new enemy was, and now vamps were sick, maybe dying, and a new, powerful vamp had entered the vampire political scene.

Which was why I was in a Learjet flying at way-too-dang-high. I didnt like flying. Well, I didnt like flying in planes. Wings are different.

Reach continued to update me on two months of data and to answer a lot of questions. Id need it. Wed touch down in Sedona in minutes, and assuming I got out alive, Id be off to Seattle almost immediately. Listening to Reachs matter-of-fact tone helped to keep my mind occupied and my heart out of my throat. Sorta.

Okay, I said. And youre Leos Learjet dropped several feet before leveling out. My mind went blank and I swallowed my dinneragain. And youre sure the attack on Leo in Asheville was this same guy who took over Sedona, and Seattle?

My question wasnt argumentative. The attack on Leo had happened before any of the others, and had been purely weapon-based, a frontal attack, no disease, no ultimatum, no nothing. I didnt know what to make of the discrepancy. If its the same vamp, I said, his attack on Leo falls completely outside his subsequent M.O. Of course, he did try to kick sand in Leos face, and Leos people busted his chops. Maybe when that happened he tried this new tack. I hated guesswork.

The sound of leather squeaking reminded me to relax my grip on the seat arm. I took a breath, blew it out, and drank half a bottle of water to settle my stomach. Computer keys clacked in the cells background, sounding like a quartet of castanets as Reachthe best research and intel guy in the businessworked.

I stopped believing in coincidence, he said, about ten seconds before I stopped believing in Santa Claus. Its like this. Leo visits Asheville, is attacked in a hotel, and wins a gun battle. Within weeks of the attack on Pellissier, Lincoln Shaddock and three of his vamps in Asheville become ill with a brand-new vamp disease. Then Sedona gets sick, then Seattle, and now Boston. They got challenged, swore loyalty, and got better. Leos Asheville vamps are still sick, unlike in cities where the MOCs got sick, challenged and defeated, and then received treatment. Shaddocks peeps are dyingas if its a punishment rather than a takeover tool.

Which thought made me sit up in my chair. Vamps were big on sneak attacks and vengeance. This scenario made all kinds of sense. Shaddock was bound to Leo and an attack on Shaddock was, by extension, an attack on Leo.

Reach went on, Yeah, its outside the attacking vamps modus operandi, but the symptoms of Lincolns peeps are exactly the same as those of the other masters of the city who fell through the looking glass.

Peeps, I muttered. I knew those vamps. Among the sick ones was Dacy Mooney, Lincolns heir. The two were vicious killing machines. The fact that I sorta liked them may have said something not quite sane about me. We only think the other vamps were treated. We dont have empirical evidence, I said.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the disease is circumstantial evidence Im willing to bet on. I think our BBVBig Bad Vamp, I thought with a smilestarted in Asheville with a frontal attack, and had to abandon his plans there when Leos people kicked his butt, and he left the disease as a punishment, a calling card, a warning, and a threat. The evidence you obtain in Sedona and Seattle will either confirm or deny that theory.

Ahhh, I said. That makes sense, which is why I pay you the big bucks. The jet bumped up as if slapped high by a giant hand; then the bottom fell out. The small craft dropped what had to be a thousand feet before catching itself. On air. Crap, I whispered.