I blacked out.

In one instance, I saw the pavement coming on much too fast, felt the air cold against my cheeks and the Sin's heat at my chest, and in the next—I was slouched on Darius' shoulder, his breathing harsh in my ear, my arms slack. He ran through a different alley, his arms locked around my legs to keep my upright on his back.

"What—?" My nose throbbed and my vision warbled. I touched my nose and brought my fingers away bloodied. Crimson stained the Sin's jacket as well. "What happened?!"

"You slammed your head into mine!" Darius snarled as he twisted his neck, fixing me with a harsh stare. "Idiot!"

My nose throbbed. Darius' impact with the ground must have snapped my head forward right into his. My teeth had cut my lip and I could taste the blood in the back of my throat. "Warn me before you jump out a window!" I retorted, turning my attention to the chase. Darius stopped running, his shoes striking puddles of fetid water as he slowed somewhere deeper in the projects, the duplex lost far behind us. The streetlights were broken, their bare fuses fizzling ineffectually, and some appeared to have been rammed by cars and now teetered on bent fulcrums over the streets and boarded-up houses. No one lingered out of doors.

"Where is the vampire?" I asked, unable to see the fleeing creature anywhere. Darius released my legs and I landed on my backside in the gritty puddle. "Ow!"

The Sin paced a few feet away with his head lowered and his fists hovering at his hips. "I am not faster than a vampire on foot. This was not supposed to be a chase," Darius said as his eyes closed. He tilted his head to pitch one ear toward a garbage-strewn byway. It was eerily quiet; the pulsating heart of civilization lay further to the north, where the artificial lights clung to a halo of pollution and smog, and here, in the crumbling ruin of a modern utopia, the world and its people seemed countries away.

"They're surrounding us," Darius muttered as his upper lip curled. "They hunt like pack animals and the residents of this cesspool have learned to ignore their gang." He inhaled, the sound like scree coursing through a metal screen, it occurred to me that I'd heard that particular noise several times now, and not just from Darius. Amoroth did it as well, and so did Envy.

The Sin's description of the vampires painted them as inept, half-built petri-dish rejects incapable of ingenuity or thought, but the vampires were anything but thoughtless. They were swift, like phantom snatches of light visible only in the corner of one's eye, gone in an instant, and they had intimate knowledge of Verweald's scarred underbelly. They flanked us on all fronts, mocking yips and howls echoing from every available avenue as the vampires hid our quarry's tracks and corralled us in.

Darius swore in a guttural language that cracked bricks with its rigid syllables, and I flinched. He hurried in a random direction and, following, I kept one hand on my panicked heart while the other skirted the handle of the .45 still tucked into my waistband. Isn't that a miracle.

The stench of disuse radiated from the mortar of the walls we crept between. These buildings were larger, used commercially or industrially, and weeds clawed their way through the disintegrating concrete, the skeletal remains of dead ivy carving intricate veins on the alley walls. Like the main streets, the lights wired along the building fronts had been busted out or ripped off. Glass crunched underfoot.

Darius's eyes alighted upon a hunched, defaced warehouse. "He's there—."

We nearly reached the entrance when the first vampire parted the shadows. It coalesced into existence from one breath to the next and landed on the Sin, knocking him over—and went straight for his exposed throat. Darius yelled when its fangs sank through his flesh. I grabbed two handfuls of the creature's filthy hair and yanked, trying to pry it off the Sin—when a hand snatched my elbow and flung me to the side. My back struck the wall and stole my breath.

Darius used his feet to launch his attacker at the second vampire, sending both creatures sailing in a blur of flannel and grungy denim. A third monster appeared from an obscured access door but was too slow to avoid Darius's grasp. The Sin's crimson hand cupped the creature's throat, and as he flexed his fingers the vampire released a final predatory cry before it was cut off by the grinding crunch of pulverized bones.

"Sara—," Darius said, his voice raspy as he heaved the dead vampire out of his way. Blood dribbled from his torn throat. "You need to run—."

More were coming, and the two he'd thrown right themselves and stalked nearer once more. Further along the alley, two more stood silhouetted by the haze of steam escaping a sewer grate, approaching at a steady clip, and additional creatures slunk unseen in the dark, communicating in a series of sharp cries, yips, and whistles. They were more like primordial birds of prey than human beings.

They converged as one, feet slapping the murky puddles on the asphalt, and I bolted for the warehouse door. It felt cowardly to leave Darius there, but I had no other choice in the matter. If I remained, I would die. The Sin could survive the onslaught—could escape without a scratch if he didn't have me as his passenger in the Realm, and so I needed to escape.

One of the women vampires was faster than the others. She darted in a blur to cut me off, and I slid under her outstretched arm, missing the filed edges of her nails by mere inches. Darius's fists struck her bony jaw and the woman collapsed.

"Not there—!" Darius began to snarl, but a large man landed on his back and wound his arms around Darius's neck, cutting off his words.

Out of options, I held my side and ran into the warehouse.

The screeches and howls resonating from the fanged creatures became muffled as I ran deeper into the building. I through entered an attached sorting room filled with dusty, unopened and unlabeled cardboard boxes. Breathing heavily, I drew the unpleasant scent of mold and mildew through my lungs as I hurried through the impromptu maze, until I spotted a rusted door leading deeper into the building and ran for it. A bang echoed through the warehouse as one of the vampires crashed into a metal support column.

They were inside.

The rusted door opened onto the main warehouse floor. The thud of thrown limbs and the sickening crack of breaking bones dissipated behind the door as it slammed closed, though they didn't disappear completely. The vacant warehouse was dark, lightened only by the vaguest glow slipping through the torn paper plastered to the high windows. Exposed, oxidized rafters domed the roof, and the floor was pitted and rugged beneath my shoes. My steps echoed as I walked inside and looked for another exit—but as I wandered farther, it became apparent the slim door at my back was the only entrance into this empty space.

Something like familiarity prickled in my mind. I'd been here before.

A single light flared above with a harsh buzz of faulty electricity. Gasping, I stumbled, blinded, back into the darkness surrounding the white spotlight. An amused cackle flitted in the shadows.

"So, the little human bitch wants to play, hmm?"

Movement writhed in the dark, emitting a single person into the waiting light. The tattooed vampire wore an ugly grin, his bestial teeth pressed to the cusp of his pale lip until they drew blood, and his pupils shrunk to pinpricks within the clouded wells of his eyes.

"I remember you," the vampire sneered. "And it seems you remember me."

"Yes," I replied as I lowered my arm, wincing in the light. My feet remained spread, ready to run if the creature advanced farther. Darius had known he was in here, that was why he shouted 'not there.' I had run straight into the monster's path.

"I watched you die." He tipped his bone-white hand and jabbed a finger toward the floor. "Right here."

I looked down. A large stain marred the concrete, feathered by streaks and drag marks. Bleach discolored a large section of the stain, as if someone had made a passing attempt to clean the area, but whatever had been spilled had seeped into the concrete, irrevocably tarnishing the space below the fluorescent fixture. It looked almost like—.

I choked.

Blood. A lake of dried blood stretched under my feet, seeming so small, and yet it stretched on forever. This was the place Tara had been murdered. The various implements used to profligate our doom had been removed—but the stain of my sister's lifeblood remained.

The vampire laughed again, his reedy voice booming in the deserted warehouse. "It looks like your protector's busy, little girl. It's just you and me." Distantly, the struggle between the vampire's kin and the Sin of Pride drew nearer. I heard a faint crackling, and smelt the first whiffs of smoke. Fire? Had Darius set the building on fire?

"How did you manage to survive?" The vampire stepped closer. "I can't figure it out. I saw you die. How did you do it, hmm? How did you find Pride?" His brows came together, aggression filtering into his words. "Answer me. Just who are you?"

I took a steadying breath, and my gaze held the vampire's. "No one."

I drew the pistol from my waistband and took aim for his heart.

The vampire stiffened. He slowly raised his hands toward his chest, palms prone in supplication as his grin dissolved to nothing. "You wouldn't shoot me."

The weight of the gun was heavy in my shaky hand. The fire's glow built brighter outside the windows, dappling the warehouse in shades of copper and gold, hazy like a desert sunset after the wind kicks up the sand. Rills of ash and smoke filled the air.

"Oh?" I lowered the gun's muzzle.

The vampire stirred and I pulled the trigger. The gunshot bellowed in the silence—but the vampire's scream was louder, keening siren-like in the ominous crackle of encroaching fire as he caved to his knees and clutched his streaming thigh.

"Tell me the name of the cult," I demanded. My hand shook so hard the magazine shuddered, but I kept it aimed at the vampire's skinny chest. His eyes widened with pain or shock, I couldn't decipher which. "Who are they? Where can I find them?"

The vampire lunged for my legs—but I shot him in the shoulder. The recoil all but ripped the pistol from my hand. The creature dropped again, flailing in the light of the overhead fixture. I remained in the dark, hard eyes glaring as he bled on the ruined floor.

"Tell me!"

The fire devoured the building's dry wood, smoke crawling along the ceiling in bulbous, gravid clouds. The roof creaked as it threatened to collapse and the heat pressed at my back. Sweat trickled from my hairline.

"What is their name?!" I shouted, taking one step closer, allowing my arm to breach the spotlight. The light gleamed across the length of the metallic gun. "Tell me!"

"I won't tell you anything!" he yelled, gnashing his inhuman teeth in a defiant display. I fired again—missing his leg by inches. The bullet struck the concrete with a spray of rock chips, and I grabbed the handle with both hands to steady it.

"Tell me a name!"

The creature trembled as his blood dripped into a small pool below him. "I can't! They'll kill me!"

"I'll kill you!" I retorted, nodding toward the gun for emphasis. I didn't trust my voice. I was so afraid my words were uttered in falsetto. "Tell me!"

"I can't!"

I pulled the trigger and missed, again. "Tell me!"

"I—!"

I fired, winging his arm. A sudden draft filled the space as part of the wall gave in. Sparks rode the cold wave of night air, singeing my sleeves, snapping at my skin. "Tell me!"

"Exordium Insaniam!" he cried, grasping his bleeding shoulder as he attempted to scoot away. His booted feet slid on the porous stone. "Exordium Insaniam! I swear to God, that's the only name I know! They came to me, paid me for a night's work—they said no one would ever know I was there!" He extended a bloody hand, his eyes wide and pleading. "Please! Please! Let me go!"

I should have. I should have lowered the gun and allowed him to slink off into the shadows or be burnt alive by the inferno wreathed about us—and yet I couldn't. He sat upon the dried river of my sister's blood. He led us here, mocked and laughed at my pain, and I could recall the roughness of his palm on my scalp as he yanked my hair out by the roots. This creature had restrained my sister as they took her life.

I didn't have enough mercy left in my heart.

I pulled the trigger. The bullet buried itself in the vampire's chest, releasing a fine mist of red from his parted lips, and I fired again. And again. The vampire crumpled, and it felt as if the gun's recoil was breaking my bones apart, driving bruises into the flesh, and still, I didn't stop. I didn't stop even when the trigger clicked with a hollow emptiness. My eyes stung from the rising ash, and the draft cooled the streaks of wetness on my cheeks. The gun continued to click, the sound dull after the resounding gunfire.

Sirens wailed. Red and blue lights swung together in a timeless rhythm of authority. The colored lighting took away the starkness of reality. The heat was stifling.

A hand enfolded mine and gently coaxed the gun from my fingers.

"Sara," Darius murmured as he drew my blurry gaze from the vampire. The roaring blaze lit the Sin's features, soot and blood defining every angle and edge of his dangerous countenance. The hand not holding my gun dripped blue embers from molten veins, and the ineffable emotion inscribed within his scarlet eyes defied definition.

"Exordium Insaniam," I uttered, forcing myself to breathe. My legs felt weak, my extremities curiously numb. The sirens continued to sing and the dancing lights reflected in the ashen veil surrounding us. Red and blue. Red and blue. In delirious ecstasy, those lights spilled across the world and painted it in their influence.

I no longer knew if the Sin's eyes were crimson or blue. What color were mine? "They're Exordium Insaniam."

Darius caught my arm as I staggered. Coughing and more than a bit delirious from smoke inhalation, I leaned upon the Sin for support.

His brow lowered and his mouth twitched with recognition. He had heard the name before. The Sin recognized it. Confused, he whispered, "The Beginning of Madness?"

* * *