Blood-Kissed Sky (Darkness Before Dawn) (10 page)

“You are so unenlightened. You will bow to Sin one day, Dawn. Whether you stand up afterward will be your choice.”

I grind my teeth, knowing that even if I wanted to stake her I wouldn’t be fast enough. No, I’ll have to let her slide. For now …

“What does Sin want from us?” Rachel asks, maybe trying to keep my temper in check by changing the subject.

“It’s a simple request, really: Dawn Montgomery.”

I expect her to continue, but she doesn’t. That’s what Sin wants? That’s why he sent her?

“Me?” I ask.

“Yes,” Eris responds. “You are to come with me.”

“And if we refuse?” Clive asks.

“Then Sin will take the entire city of Denver, and you will lose Dawn anyway.”

Clive laughs. “Impossible. Sin already tried that little stunt, remember?”

“Yes, the, oh, what did you call it? Teen Initiative party? Very cute.”

I hate her even more. There was nothing cute about kids I roped into volunteering their blood being slaughtered.

“Yeah,” I say defiantly, “that is what we called it. And Sin failed. Miserably.”

“That depends on his objective,” Eris answered curtly. “To spread fear? To incite panic throughout the city? I’d say it was a rousing success.”

“The point remains,” Clive says, his voice louder than someone negotiating with a vampire should ever use, “Sin tried and still we stand strong.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Eris says. “The true potential of our Day Walkers has only begun to unfold. Look what they’ve done already to your poor city. Half a dozen of them cause a tiny amount of mayhem at a carnival, and the city nearly buckles. Imagine what a hundred of them would do.”

“There aren’t a hundred Day Walkers,” Clive boasts without any way of knowing.

Eris simply smiles and lets out a petite, closemouthed laugh. Then turns back to me. “Come with me, Dawn, and all the Day Walkers in the city will leave right now. You can save this city, and everyone within its walls. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”

“I’m supposed to take your word as guarantee?” I ask.

“All I can offer is my word.”

I want to say it isn’t enough, but I can’t think of anything that would be enough—except for Sin’s surrender.

“What does he want with me?”

“Why, your conversion, of course.”

To turn me into what he is. The thought of him sinking his fangs into me makes me ill.

“You have seventy-two hours, Dawn,” Eris says.

“And after seventy-two hours?” Clive asks.

“I can assure you that you won’t want to find out. The walls of Denver aren’t nearly as thick as you may believe.”

“You’re forgetting something, Eris,” I say. “We’re not fighting Sin alone. We have a new vampire overlord, and he won’t appreciate another vampire taking over his city. He’ll stand by us. He and his army of followers.”

“Ah, yes, Victor Valentine. We’re well aware that the citizens aren’t being as generous as they once were with their blood donations. That will create problems for your
overlord
.”

I’m left to wonder if Sin’s plan all along had been to frighten the citizens and turn them against Victor. Is he that cunning?

“Without blood,” Eris continues, “Victor’s minions will have no choice except to turn on one another, and he’ll be too busy fighting the Thirst to care about what is happening within Denver’s walls.”

“You’re wrong. Victor can take care of the vampires and the humans.”

“Hmmm … perhaps Sin overestimated your intelligence.” Eris turns back to Clive, all her haughty arrogance shimmering off her. “Sin only asked that Dawn be delivered, but not how. If you have to bind and gag her, I’m sure he’ll understand. You’ve always measured your actions by the greater good, Director. What is one life for thousands?”

As she strides majestically from the room, I walk to the window and look out over the city. I hate to admit it, but her final point was a good one. One life. Mine.

Can I live with myself if I’m too selfish to give it up?

“Y
ou should have seen her, Victor. She was an ice queen. Beautiful and cold. It’s hard to believe the sun touches her.”

Clive sent Rachel off to start working on a PR campaign to lessen the tension in the city after the Day Walker attack. Somehow Victor heard about it. Like his father before him, he no doubt has spies in the city. I couldn’t get angry about that because this time it worked to our benefit. He arrived at the Agency two hours after sunset. Clive called me back in to serve as an advisor. Roland Hursch isn’t here, but I’m not surprised. It seems he’s not trusted yet with delicate matters.

Hursch did finally make an appearance earlier, though. He said we should give in to Eris’s demands quickly, that I should surrender myself before anyone else is hurt. Clive packed him off to help Rachel with the PR campaign.

Now Clive, Victor, and I are sitting in Clive’s office. Victor requested that the lighting be low so we don’t make ourselves into a target. Only the lights from the street and the distant Works are filtering in through the windows, giving a secretive air to our meeting.

“Have you ever heard of her?” Clive asks, looking over at Victor.

“No. But I didn’t know Day Walkers even existed until Sin showed up. My father always referred to his other son as a freak of nature, but he never clarified in what way. He kept him hidden, was appalled by the very thought of him. I didn’t know what he looked like. Or his name, for that matter.”

Clive fills three glasses with scotch from a decanter, setting one before Victor, who is sitting perched on the edge of the desk, and one before me, where I’m sitting in my usual chair in front of his desk. I’m not sure if he’s forgotten that I’m not old enough or just thinks the solemnity of the occasion warrants it. Victor reaches for his, and I watch him take a long, slow swallow. He’s drinking for the sensual experience of the taste. His body doesn’t absorb alcohol. He’ll never get drunk. I can’t claim the same, so I let mine sit. Besides, I’m giddy enough because of his nearness. As much as I hate everything that happened today, I can’t deny that I’m glad to see Victor again.

He dressed up for the meeting. He’s wearing a navy blue suit. The point of a red handkerchief with two interlocking Vs stitched perfectly into it peers out of the breast pocket. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him looking quite so Old Family, quite so … lordish. I miss the Victor I knew before he took his father’s place. The Victor who made his home in an abandoned movie theater in a run-down part of the city. The Victor who enjoyed watching musicals.

He was more approachable then. Now he’s all business. He’s barely looked at me.

Clive walks to the window and stares out. Before us, the midnight sky is calm, as is the city. The police and Night Watchmen restored order. They’re still patrolling, but very few people are out. Normally, well-lit parts of the city would still have some kind of life in them, but not tonight.

“Eris admitted that only Sin can create Day Walkers,” Clive explains.

“I’m surprised she would give that information freely,” Victor says.

“I don’t think he wanted us to know, but she was angry … not thinking things through,” I say.

“So if we kill Sin,” Clive muses, “the problem of the increasing Day Walker population is solved. Then all we have to do is destroy those he created.”

“Realistically, how many Day Walkers can there be?” I ask. “If only Sin can create them, could there be very many?”

“Probably not,” Victor admits. “It’s actually more fatiguing for an Old Family to turn a human into a vampire than it is for a Lesser to create a vampire. I think it comes back to nature trying to restrict how much impact we could have on growing the vampire population.”

“He’s right,” Clive says. “As much as we like to demonize the Old Family, during the war, it was mainly Lessers turning people, not Old Family. That, and the V-Process.”

“The what?” I ask.

Victor appears uncomfortable and when it’s clear that he’s not going to explain it, Clive continues.

“It was the code word the vampires used for their rebirth centers. Once vampires took over a city, the humans had two choices: be turned or killed. Most chose to be turned. But it was too cumbersome for a vampire to feed from all the humans, then kill them, then give them their blood in order to resurrect them. So, they mechanized the whole process. Imagine a factory where humans were turned. They were strapped to chairs, their blood drained, then a massive shock stopped the heart—”

“The shock was designed to be merciful,” Victor interrupts to clarify. “Saving them the agony of a prolonged death.”

His words are brittle. He obviously doesn’t like talking about this. I can’t blame him. It’s barbaric.

Clive continues, “Vampire blood was then introduced into their system through a vein. They were reborn. Day in and day out, it never stopped.”

“The Vampire Process,” I say.

Clive nods.

“Would Sin have access to one of these factories?”

“They were destroyed after the war,” Victor assures me.

“But if even one remained—”

“No. The task of destroying them was given to me. I made sure they were all burned to the ground. We had enough mouths to feed; we didn’t need any more.”

Well, if anything, that puts my mind at rest. If Sin is amassing an army, he’s got a long way to go. But that doesn’t mean he can’t hurt Denver now.

“What if I just go to Sin?” I ask. I’ve spent a lot of time the past few hours thinking about that. “I know he would probably turn me, but maybe I could use it to our advantage.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Victor says. “I’d walk eighteen miles in the sun before I let that happen.”

“I have to think about Denver,” I say.

“Let me do that,” Clive interrupts. “Eris says she’ll spare Denver if you surrender yourself. The very fact that she’s giving us that offer reveals a great deal.”

“You’re right,” I say, the lightbulb going off. “If Sin could take Denver, he would have done it by now.”

“Precisely,” Clive says. “It’s a bluff.”

From his office we have the view of a good portion of the city and its wall, which suddenly seems so fragile. Before, the sun was the greatest deterrent to vampires. Even Victor couldn’t come to this emergency session until it had set. But now, with Day Walkers a reality, it makes little difference.

“What do you think, Victor?” I ask. “Is it all a bluff?”

Victor twirls the liquid in his glass, takes a sip. “Sin wouldn’t waste time with deals if he didn’t have to. His big plan was to start a revolution within the city. He was hoping all the teens at the Teen Initiative party would join him.”

“But they didn’t,” I say, pride in my voice.

“Now he’s desperate. The bigger question is, why does he want you?”

“I don’t know. He doesn’t want me dead; he had plenty of opportunities when he was dating Tegan, when we all thought he was human. I had my back turned the whole time.”

Victor’s silent for a moment. I can tell he’s holding something in.

“What are you thinking?” I prod.

“My father was obsessed with your family,” he says slowly, contemplatively. “I think he was afraid of the influence your name had. I mean, your father wrote most of VampHu. Montgomery is a household name among humans and vampires. Maybe … maybe Sin wants you on his side. Maybe he thinks you can convince people to become Day Walkers.”

“That’s insane,” I say. “I’d never do that. What kind of sense does that make?”

“Sin isn’t exactly sane,” he says.

“That means Sin is after me,” I say. “But the city is safe.”

“For now,” Victor says, standing up. “Although the city is in a danger of a different kind. Sin may not be able to topple the walls, but even a handful of Day Walkers can cause enough fear to throw the city into chaos. Look what he’s accomplished so far with his pranks.”

“Pranks!” I shout. “People have died.”

Victor’s face becomes still, unreadable.

“You’re right,” he says, emotionless, unapologetic. “People have died. As a result, they’re frightened. Already we have fewer donations. Which means less blood for me.”

The line of reasoning, from the safety of humans to blood donations, worries me. It’s a stark reminder that Victor is a vampire, and his concern must always be for obtaining blood for the Lessers beneath him.

“I guess Victor has a point,” I say begrudgingly. “After all, without blood, the vampires will start feeding on themselves, and then we’ll have the Thirst to contend with right here.”

“What is this ‘Thirst’? Eris mentioned it, too,” Clive says. “How does that play into everything? It was in Dawn’s initial report about Hell Night, and her encounter with Brady, but I’m still not sure I understand it.”

Victor offers the explanation: “When vampires are starving and they begin feeding on one another, it changes them. They become ravenous, addicted to vampire blood. They are incredibly violent, rabid, and beyond all reason.”

“Everyone is in danger from it,” I say. “Humans and vampires.”