Page 30 of Bound by Vengeance
Vicky rested her fingertips against the coldconcrete wall. “Is that any weirder than the leader of all huntersaligning with vampires after his sister became one?”
Nathan scowled at her, but Vicky’s attentionwas drawn away from him by a soft scrape. “Go back, Elmo!” shecalled down the tunnel.
“Aw, shit,” a disgruntled voice muttered,and a sneaker squeaked on the concrete.
“Language,” Vicky scolded.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Elmo muttered, and shepictured him flipping her off again as she listened to hisretreating steps.
“Do the children know she’s a vampire?”Nathan inquired.
“No,” Vicky replied.
“If they do figure it out, we change theirmemories, for their own good,” Sister said.
Vicky and Nathan turned to find her staringat them. Vicky strolled back to her, but Nathan remained where hewas, alert for any kids who might try to spy.
“Where did the children come from?” Nathanasked as he leaned against the wall.
“Some ran away from home or their grouphomes. Some were found wandering the streets as they sought to fleetheir parents and some horrific situations,” Sister replied. “Elmowas a newborn when I found him in a trashcan. I didn’t beat therats to him, but thankfully I wasn’t far behind the rodents. Acouple of drops of my blood in his formula healed the rat bites,but he still has some scars from them.”
“How can someone do that to their child?”Nathan muttered.
“Human, hunter, or vampire, there are manymonsters in this world,” Sister replied.
“True,” he agreed. “How long have you beentaking in children?”
Sister June glanced questioningly atVicky.
“It’syourstory to tell,” Vicky saidagain. “He saved my life; I trust him.”
“For over a hundred years,” Sister said.“When I was a young human, I was a nun, and I loved my calling.Unfortunately, I also loved liquor. At thirty, I was thrown out ofthe convent, and with nowhere else to go, I lived on the streets ofBoston. After a time, I started to find a purpose in caring for thenumerous orphaned children roaming the streets, and one day I foundmy way down here. The children came with me. I couldn’t quitdrinking for God, but I did for them. They needed me, and after awhile, I realized the children had always been God’s plan forme.
“One of those children, Duncan, went to workon a fishing vessel when he grew up, but he always returned tovisit while in port. One day, he came back different and offered methe chance to be different too. He presented an opportunity tocontinue helping countless children for centuries to come. PerhapsGod wouldn’t have approved, but I didn’t see Satan’s hand inDuncan’s offering; I only saw the saving ofmanylives, so Iaccepted his gift.
“The two of us have cared for children eversince. Three hundred and fifty children have come and gone from ourcare over my lifetime. Twenty of them went on to be doctors,eighteen lawyers, thirty teachers, and many went to work in thefoster care system. All of them came back at least once to visit,most returned more often, and some came so often we had to makethem think we'd died. Even the few who went out into the world andturned to drugs or crime are successes to me as they areallmy children.”
The gleam in her eyes dared Nathan todisagree with her; he couldn’t. “What you’re doing here is a goodthing,” he said.
“It’s tougher now with all this newertechnology,” Sister admitted. “We had to get tutors for thechildren. Duncan takes them every week to meet with their tutors atdifferent libraries throughout the city. The tutors have no ideawho the children are, but they teach them about computers and thosecellular phones and stuff. Duncan takes classes to help teach themthe newest things too, but I don’t go above often. So far, it’sprepared them for life after the sewers, but with the way thingsare always evolving, we may have to up those sessions to get theminto college.”
“How do they have the documentation to go tocollege or afford it?”
“Vampires have a way of working those thingsout,” Vicky replied.
“So what do you need from me?” Sister Juneasked her.
“Have any of the other groups living downhere gone missing? Have you noticed anything different or a littleoff down here?” Vicky asked.
“I stay far away from most of the othergroups; many of them are up to no good. They’ve given up on tryingto steal our supplies, but many of them aren’t a good sort.”
“What about Duncan? I know he ventures outmore than you.”
“He hasn’t mentioned anything.”
“Sister June?” a deep baritone voice calleddown the tunnel, and Nathan suspected the footsteps approachingbelonged to this Duncan.
“Down here, Duncan,” Sister called back.
