Vampire Breed by Tim O'Rourke

said.
    “What for?” she whispered back.
    “For not rescuing you,” I told her.
    “I knew you would come for me,” she said, “even though it put your life in danger and you ended up being captured yourself.”
    “It wasn’t just me - the others came in search of you, too,” I told her. There was so much I wanted to - needed to - tell her. Her mother and father’s death, the murder of Murphy. But now wasn’t the time.
    “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you about Phillips,” she said.
    “You have nothing to be sorry for,” I told her.
    She pulled herself away from me, and over her shoulder I could see Isidor standing in the middle of the deserted road. Like all of us, his feet were bare, and he wore a baggy pair of striped pyjama bottoms. His body was deathly-white, and where I had once remembered a well-defined chest and stomach, I could see his chest plate and ribs almost seeming to poke through. The stubby-looking beard which grew from his chin was now long and black and the bottom of it nearly touched his chest. The black flaming tattoos covering his upper arms and neck looked as if they had been etched on the skin of a deflated balloon.
    I looked at him and he met my stare.
    Half-smiling at me, he said, “You look like shit, Kiera.”
    “It’s good to see you, too,” I smiled, and it was then I realised I couldn’t remember the last time I had smiled.
    Like I had embraced Kayla, I limped towards him, and threw my arms around his bony shoulders.
    “It’s good to see ya,” he said and squeezed me so tight I thought my ribs were going to snap inside of me. Then in my ear he whispered, “She doesn’t know I’m her brother – she doesn’t know me at all.”
    “Okay,” I whispered and squeezed him back. “I’ll leave that for you to tell her.”
    “Thanks,” he said back, then pulled gently away.
    Turning to face Kayla, I said, “Hey Kayla, this is Isidor.”
    Coming towards us, her eyes wide and staring she said, “I’ve seen you a couple of times before - I think you tried to escape once, didn’t you?” she said to Isidor.
    “I tried a few times,” he said, throwing his crossbow across his naked back, “not that it got me very far.”
    “So how did you both get out?” I asked them.
    “That wolf set us free,” Kayla said.
    “Yeah, he came to my cell, just before dawn and said that if I wanted to escape than I should follow him. At first I thought it was some kinda sick joke,” Isidor explained. “Then I saw Kayla was with him, and he had my crossbow and rucksack. So before he changed his mind, we went with him and he told us to wait in the shadows by the entrance to the zoo.”
    “I asked him what we were waiting for,” Kayla cut in, “and he told us that we would soon know. It wasn’t long before I saw you racing up that path towards us with Phillips and Sparky chasing you down. It was then that I realised that it was a breakout.”
    “Why do you think that werewolf helped us?” Isidor asked, rubbing the tops of his arms in an attempt to keep warm.
    I thought of Nik and how he had been cursed by his father. I could only imagine the horrendous crimes he had committed, but he had been true to his word and he seemed to be in search of redemption in one way or another.
    “He had to do it,” I told them.
    “Why?” Kayla asked. “Phillips will kill him for helping us.”
    “Maybe that’s what he wanted,” I whispered, almost to myself.
    “But, why?” Kayla pushed.
    Then meeting her gaze I said, “Just like us, Kayla, I think that all he wanted was to be free. And maybe he has his freedom now.”
    Cocking an eyebrow at me, Kayla said, “Whatever you say, Kiera. I won’t pretend to understand what you’re going on about and I’m too cold to be bothered to find out. Let’s say that we find ourselves some meat.”
    Hearing Kayla say this, I gripped her arm and said, “What do you mean? What sort of meat are you talking about?” From the corner of my eye, I could