The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa Read Free Book Online Page A

was making sure I knew that he was not afraid.
    “Oh, hey, the queen finally makes her appearance.” Jackal raised his glass in a mocking salute before tossing the whole thing back in one swig. Azura gave him a disdainful look and sipped her drink. “So, little sister, are you ready to get this project underway?”
    “I still haven’t agreed to help you,” I said, making Jackal sigh with impatience. “Why is that so surprising? As if I would agree to work with the guy who slaughtered my friends, who will probably stick a knife in my back as soon as I turn around.”
    “Don’t think of it as helping me, ” Jackal said in a reasonable voice. He didn’t, I noticed, deny either accusation. “Think of it as helping Kanin. I, at least, will take any advantage I can get if I’m going to be facing Sarren.”
    I turned to Azura. “What do you think of all this?”
    “Me?” Azura raised a thin eyebrow. “I don’t care one way or the other. I’m just here to make sure you two don’t turn my house inside out.”
    “Come on, sister,” Jackal implored. “Let’s not have a repeat of last night. You know this is the best way to help Kanin. And, admit it, you’re just as curious as I am.”
    I glared at him. “Let’s say I do agree to this, for now.” His smirk grew wider, and I ignored it. “You said Sarren was searching for the lab, as well. Where do you think it could be?”
    Azura uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, setting her glass on the low table in front of the couch. “I had my people track down some old maps of the city and its subway systems,” she said, smoothing a large sheet of paper over the wood. “They don’t tell us exactly where to find a supersecret government lab, but I have a few good guesses.”
    Jackal remained where he was, but I crossed the room to the other side of the table, looking down at the paper on the surface. I’d never seen a map before and had no idea how to read one; it was a tangle of lines and scribbles that merged together into a chaotic mess. But Azura placed one dark red fingernail on a random line, tracing it across the page.
    “The rabids,” she began in her throaty voice, “keep to the subway tunnels in the daytime. At night, they emerge to hunt and stalk for prey, but usually return to the underground stations at dawn. Except for those few that cannot seem to leave my fence alone, at least. No one in this city ventures down into the tunnels, for any reason, at any time. It is not known exactly how many rabids are down there, but there are likely thousands of them. And this,” she added, circling a place on the map with her finger, “is where we think the main nest is located.” Withdrawing her hand, she glanced up at me. “That’s where you’re going to want to look for the lab.”
    “Why is that?”
    “If this laboratory unleashed the rabid virus, it would have spread quickly. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people would have been infected around that area. There would be a very high rabid population starting from that point and spreading outward.”
    “Wait a second.” I frowned, thinking back to what Kanin had told me. “I thought the laboratory in New Covington was responsible for creating the rabids—they escaped, and that’s how the rabid plague started.”
    “Is that what Kanin said?” Jackal snorted. “That’s part of the story, but not the whole of it.” He pushed himself off the wall and sauntered to an end table, grabbing a pitcher halffull of red and refilling his glass. Sitting comfortably in one of the armchairs, he took a large swallow from the glass and smiled at me.
    “Have a seat, sister. Let me tell you exactly what happened, so you can fully appreciate the role our sire had in this whole fubar’ed situation.” Jackal took another long, leisurely sip, waiting for me to sit down. I perched cautiously on the opposite chair.
    “You know that Kanin captured vampires and handed them over to the scientists to experiment