I cuddled close to Alex. "It sounds like they're hurting her."
"I think that all we've got left is primitive medicine," he said. "And I'm betting that there's no alcohol allowed on the premises of a Methodist colony."
Alex slipped out of bed. He went for the door, rattled the doorknob.
Locked.
"They may not be sure about us yet. Not that I blame them," he said. "We could be incubating vampirism from some hidden bite. We could be thieves."
My fingers chewed the blanket. "Or we could be prisoners."
He came back to bed. I buried my head in his shoulder. Fenrir crawled into bed, burrowed under the covers, and whimpered.
***
We were dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed when the door opened the next morning. It was Judy, and she had brought a silver breakfast tray of bread and fruit. She didn't glow in sunlight.
"I'm sorry for that," she said, placing her hand on the knob. Dark circles had spread under her eyes. "Matt wants the two of you to either submit to a thorough search or agree to quarantine for three days."
Alex and I exchanged glances.
"That's a reasonable request," he said. "As long as we get answers."
"What happened to the girls?" I asked.
Judy stared down at the tray. "Linh lost an eye. It wasn't good. Yen . . . we're not sure about Yen."
Alex's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"
"We missed what could have been a bite. She was pretty bloody last night. We're going to watch her closely for the next few hours. If she shows evidence of vampirism . . ." Judy's hand tightened on the doorknob. "We'll have to send her outside. Before she turns. Otherwise, the holiness of the ground will be compromised. Vamps will have the run of the place." I could see the deep worry mark on her forehead, the fear of losing their sanctuary.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up. That sounded a lot like what had happened to us, when we were cast out of my community. And there was a certain resoluteness to her actions that seemed familiar-reminiscent of both the actions of the Elders that I'd despised, and my own when I had killed Ginger.
One of the things that I was beginning to learn was that kindness is often brutal. And that there was blood on all the survivors' hands.
Alex said, "I don't mind being searched. But Bonnet's got a different religious sensibility than I do."
I lifted my chin. "I could be searched by a woman. No men."
Judy let out a breath. It was clear that she'd been expecting resistance. "That can be arranged. We're just . . ." She rubbed her forehead. "We haven't found any survivors before. And we should have been more thorough."
"It's okay," Alex said. "We weren't doing so hot out there on the freeway."
"We are grateful that you saved us," I said.
"It was the human thing to do." Judy smiled at me. "Come on . . . I'll give you the once-over in the bathroom, and I'll send one of the guys up to check out Alex. And then you can talk with Matt over breakfast, downstairs."
I followed Judy down a short hallway to the bathroom. She awkwardly turned her back while I untied my bonnet.
"So you're Mennonite?" she said, making conversation. "Amish?"
"Ja, I'm Amish," I said as I undressed. "From south of here. Near Torch."
"I know vaguely where that is. I think my parents went there to buy furniture once."
"Ja, we have exceptional carpenters." I folded my dress, placed it on the back of the toilet, and began to strip out of my leggings and underclothes.
"Why did you leave?"
"We were forced to leave," I said. "Vampires had gotten inside. Some of us wanted to fight it, but . . . the Elders were not listening."
"And you were a dissenter?"
"Ja. I was placed under the Bann-shunned-for harboring Alex. We were sent out along with an English friend who was staying with us."
"That's harsh." I could hear the disapproval in Judy's voice. But she didn't ask what happened to Ginger. For that I was glad.
"The Ordnung is not to be argued with," I said. I stood on the cold tile in the nude, my toes curling. "I am ready."
"I'll try to make this fast," Judy said.
She did try, but she was very thorough. She examined my scalp, as if checking for lice, peered at every mole on my back, asked me to lift my arms. I blushed furiously as she examined every inch of flesh, even between my toes.
She paused when she saw my hand. Her fingers were cool on the scabbed flesh. "What's that?"
"It was a snakebite."
"You were lucky to survive that."
"It was something of . . . a miracle."
She turned my hand right and left. "It looks like it's healing. Not like a vampire bite. Those have black and red runners, and they are always open. They never scab up."
"I know," I said quietly.
"The English friend you were traveling with?" she guessed.
"Ja."
She didn't push further. "I'll let you get dressed. You can meet us downstairs, in the kitchen. And Matt will tell you about us."
I gathered my dress to my chest to cover myself, and she left the bathroom. I dressed quickly and crept slowly down the staircase, like a child eavesdropping on her parents.
Alex was already there. He was holding a cup of coffee, sitting in a ladder-back chair in a sunny breakfast nook with chintz curtains. Matt was sitting beside him, and Judy had brought the fruit tray down. There was no sign of the Vietnamese girls.
"Good morning," Matt said. Like Judy, he seemed tired. "Please join us."
"Good morning," I answered. I slipped behind the table into an open chair. There was a window behind us that showed the shore. The sky was brilliant blue, and the lake shimmered beyond it. I saw the dark outline of what must be an island. I longed to walk down and touch the water, to see if it felt as cold as it looked. I could feel the pull of it through the glass.
But now was not the time for such things.
Alex stared over the rim of his mug at Matt. "Not to put too fine a point on it, but . . . what the hell are you guys?"
"We're human. Sort of. Like the vamps, we started out that way. I guess it's a long story, but I'll start at the beginning.