Blood-Kissed Sky (Darkness Before Dawn) (26 page)

“So there could be vampires in the city that Matheson doesn’t know about.”

“Could be, but I haven’t sensed any. Although it’s still early for them to come out.”

“Something about this city seems really off.”

“It’s just that you’re not accustomed to the cleanliness,” Faith says.

“Maybe. Matheson thinks Day Walkers are a myth.”

“Until my half brother made his ghastly revelation, so did we.”

“So what are the plans?” Michael asks, standing a short distance away, arms crossed.

Tegan sits beside me, and Ian drops into a nearby chair, his hard-edged stare focused on the vampires. Fortunately neither Faith nor Richard seems bothered that not everyone is as relaxed around them as I am.

I explain what we encountered when we went to the Agency, about Simon, his ideas on the Thirst, and the Infected he’s been studying. And then I ask them, “Can I have a little bit of your blood to feed him?”

“Ewww,” Faith says. “For that monster? I don’t think so.”

Giving her a tolerant smile, Richard simply shakes his head. “I’ll offer up my veins,” he says. “Does it need to be fresh?”

“No,” I say. I dig into the pocket of my hoodie and pull out a test tube that I borrowed from the laboratory, complete with cork stopper.

Richard lets down his fangs and pierces his wrist. He hovers the wound over the glass vial, leading the blood into it.

“I won’t need much, I suspect,” I say. “I have a feeling Old Family blood will be more potent. What do you think?”

“Probably. But who knows anymore? The world seems to be changing, and all the rules along with it.”

The blood runs down the vial, slowly collecting at the bottom, its color pure crimson.

“When was the last time you saw your father?” I ask Richard.

He thinks about it, tilts his head one way, then the other way. “Two years.”

“That long ago?” I ask.

He just laughs and Faith can’t hide her own little chuckle.

“That’s nothing to us, Dawn. It might as well be last week. The last time I spoke with him he was going on about how I was such a disappointment. I took off, traveled a bit. I saw my mother six months ago. But like most wives, she was exiled after she gave birth to me. She’s just north of here, living happily in her own manor.”

“Are you going to see either of them while we’re here?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” he says. “Victor wants me to try to smooth things over with Father. After all, if we have any hope at stopping the Thirst, Sin, and the Day Walkers, we’ll need every Old Family patriarch we can get to be willing to work with Victor.”

“Perfect, then I can join you. I’d love to ask him some questions about the Thirst. And he may have a lead on Sin. Just because the Agency doesn’t know about him doesn’t mean he wasn’t here.”

“Leaving the city is not an option for you,” Ian says.

“You and Michael can come with me.”

“No.”

“But you know how bad the Thirst is. It’s moving beyond the Carrollton territory.”

“You’re not leaving the city.”

He’s stubborn, opinionated, and accustomed to giving orders. But then I spent a good part of my delegate days doing things I wasn’t supposed to do, so I slip into delegate mode and smile sweetly. “You’re probably right, Ian. It’s not necessary.”

I exchange a glance with Tegan. She knows me well enough to know that I will find a way to get out to Carrollton Manor. And if need be, she’ll help me do it.

Night has fallen by the time I return to Simon. Michael and Ian escorted me through the city, while Tegan stayed with Richard and Faith. I’m surprised she was so willing to keep two vampires company, but maybe she just sees them as the lesser of the two evils. She really didn’t like being in a room with an Infected, even with thick glass separating them.

Once we’re in the lab, I present the vial to Simon.

“Excellent, Miss Montgomery. Let me offer him this and we’ll …”

The vampire begins a new rage, screaming at the top of his lungs, his eyes locked on the tiny vial of crimson. Does he know what’s in there? Can he smell it? Can he comprehend what Simon is saying? I’ll find out soon enough, I hope.

“Sounds like someone is excited,” Simon says, pouring the blood into a small goblet. He then presses a button, opening a tiny compartment next to the cell, just big enough to place the cup in. Once he does, he pushes another button and the tiny door closes, a new one opens in the cell, and the vampire reaches in for his reward.

He drinks the blood, not savoring its smell or taste. He just devours it in greedy gulps, then takes his fingers and wipes any off his chin before suckling them.

It was so little, but I can tell that it is enough. His breathing eases, his chest calms. He looks up, and while his eyes are still pitch-black, they reflect a calmness. He puts his hands on the glass, palms facing us, and leans into it. He takes in deeper and deeper breaths, before saying, “I recognize that.”

“The blood?” I ask.

“Oh yes. Old Family.”

“Impressive,” Simon says. He looks at me with a brow arched in an unspoken question.

I know his question already—where did I get Old Family blood? On the tip of my tongue is “None of your business.” But I need the information he’s gathered so I sort of lie. “The Denver overlord has a keen interest in the Thirst. He sent some of his blood along in case it was needed.”

“How generous of him.” He turns back to the Infected. “How does it taste?”

“Marvelous,” the creature says, losing more and more of his feral demeanor and becoming something closer to human. “Do you have any more?”

“No,” I say.

“No matter. That will keep me satiated for many weeks. Maybe months.”

“How do you know? Have you had it before?”

He smiles and that evil returns to his eyes. “You really don’t know what’s coming, do you? What’s just around the corner?”

He slams his hands against the glass and I jump back.

“Don’t worry,” Simon says. “He can’t get through that.”

“I won’t need to,” the vampire says. “They’ll come for me. Eventually. Not tonight. Not tomorrow. But I’ve got all my life to wait.”

“Who’s coming?” I ask.

“The rest of us.”

“How many of you are there?”

“Plenty.”

“Is there a cure?” I ask.

He laughs and the victorious guffaw echoes through his little chamber. “Now why would I want to be cured?”

He smiles and slams his hand into the glass again. A tiny fracture appears.

Simon’s eyes widen in alarm. Pulling out their stakes, Ian and Michael step forward, pushing Simon and me behind them.

“I’m stronger than a regular vampire,” the Infected says. His palm hits the glass again and the fracture grows. “I’m faster.” Again, and the hairline crack splits into several more. “I’m the next step in world domination. And our only weakness has finally been absolved. Our savior has come. The Day Walker. And he has blessed us with his ability.”

“Sin …” I whisper, and chills run up my spine. Sin is responsible for this creature. He was here.

“You should’ve taken me into the sun, Simon,” the vampire says, his head twitching slightly, the same as Brady but more controlled with the fresh blood running through him. “You would’ve seen that we no longer fear the day. And our time has come!”

With that, the vampire smashes his fist against the tiny fissures, and the glass explodes. He rushes toward Michael and Ian with blinding speed. With both hands and incredible strength, he ferociously pushes Michael, hurling him off his feet and into the lab equipment, test tubes and beakers shattering around him.

Ian tries to end the vampire’s life in one blow, but the creature, imbued with the power of the Thirst, dodges and strikes Ian in the jaw, making him stagger back. He punches him in the stomach, and Ian doubles over, landing in an undignified heap on the floor.

The vampire jumps onto Simon, crashing them both against a table before falling onto the floor. Holding a shrieking Simon in place, the vampire straddles him. “Join us, Simon.”

With a yell, I leap up and come down with my stake poised to go through the vamp’s back and straight into his heart, but at the last second, he reacts—spiraling around and sending me flying, colliding against what remains of his “invincible” cell.

His attention is focused solely on me now. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Simon crawling away, dragging his broken left arm.

“Dawn Montgomery,” the vampire growls.

My heart thunders. “You know who I am.”

“All the Day Walkers know who you are. You belong to Sin.”

“Like hell I do.” I try to stand up, but the room spins and my legs slide out from beneath me. I haven’t even regained my breath yet, let alone my ability to fight.

“My God will reward me greatly for delivering you.” He reaches for me—

Diving, Michael strikes the vampire in the leg, sending a stake completely through his thigh. The beast howls and then backhands Michael, who skids across the floor. Ian is back in the fray, bringing down a stake. The vampire snags it, ripping it from his grasp, but is vulnerable and unprepared as I go in low and lodge my stake between his ribs, plunging the point through his heart.

The vampire’s eyes go wide, his jaw goes slack, and he falls to the floor at my feet.

We all stand tense, waiting for the beast to close his eyes, his breathing to stop, his heart to go still.

We wait until it’s finally over.

“Well,” says Simon shakily from a corner where he’s cowering, “it seems I miscalculated his strength.”

Not just his, but all of them. I wonder how much more we’ve miscalculated—especially when it comes to Sin.

S
imon is taken to a hospital. A bone in his arm apparently snapped when he landed on the table. Workers are cleaning up the mess. No one seems willing to touch the Infected. Matheson just stares at him.

“He said he was a Day Walker,” I tell him.

“The Thirst makes them go insane. I wouldn’t give much credence to his blabbering.”

“He knew about Sin. He knew who I was.”

He finally lifts his gaze to me. “Vampire hearing. He could have heard a conversation outside this room. You make too much of a madman’s words.”

“Why aren’t you taking this seriously?”

“Miss Montgomery, we’ve been safe within our walls for years. Nothing is going to change that.”

“Simon thought the Infected was secure behind his cell.”

“All right, then. What do you suggest? How do we prove this is a Day Walker?”

“We can’t,” I reluctantly admit. In death, he’s like any other vamp. When the sun hits him, he’ll burn up, all except his fangs.

Matheson pats my head and I have to fight myself not to slap his hand away. “When Simon recovers from his injury, I’ll see if he wants to try to capture another one. Will that make you happy?” He talks like a father promising to replace his daughter’s lost toy.

He doesn’t get it. I feel as though I’m banging my head against a wall.

When Ian, Michael, and I return to our hotel room, we find a note from Tegan alerting us that she’s in the bar with Richard and Faith. I wonder if she wasn’t quite as comfortable with them as she indicated, if she needed to have other humans around her to make her feel safe. Or maybe it was the Old Family boredom kicking in that drove them out of their room to seek entertainment.

We find them easily enough at a table in the corner. I tell them about what happened at the laboratory.

“That’s unfortunate,” Richard says. “If I’d known my blood would be that potent…”

“What?” Faith retorts, wineglass in hand. “You would have watered it down?”

“At least now we know how an Infected reacts with Old Family blood in its veins,” I say. “Not a pretty sight.” Taking a pen from the pocket of my hoodie and the napkin the waitress brought with my drink, I prepare to take notes as we talk this out.

“That’s not all we know,” Michael says sourly.

“What else did you learn?” Faith asks.

I see Tegan’s anxious expression and I wish she didn’t have to hear his. “Sin turned him. There are apparently other Day Walkers infected with the Thirst. More of them, just like Brady.”

“Then we have proof that Sin was here,” Tegan whispers.

“Not necessarily,” Faith says. “A Day Walker can travel with no restrictions.”

“But I’d bet a pint of blood that he calls this city home,” Richard says.

“What do you think he meant, when he said ‘their savior’ has come?” I ask.

“Who knows?” Faith responds. She downs her drink, signals for another one. “The Infected aren’t exactly stable. They’re rarely coherent, and when they are, all they talk about is nonsense. I swear, they try to scare you more than anything else.”

“Not this one,” I say.

“Fine,” she says. “It means Sin has come to wreak havoc on the entire world. It means that my little half brother has somehow managed to outsmart every Old Family leader. It means that the end-times are here. There? Is that what you want to hear?”