Blood-Kissed Sky (Darkness Before Dawn) (11 page)

“It’s true,” Victor says. “But it’s nothing to be concerned with at this moment.”

My jaw almost drops at those words.

“It sounds pretty serious to me,” Clive says questioningly.

“It’s out west right now,” Victor says. “My associates and I thought that it might reach Denver eventually, but I’m not so sure now.”

“What!” I say, trying desperately to stay diplomatic. “The Thirst is
everything
! It’s the reason you overthrew your father. He wasn’t taking it seriously. Now it sounds like you’re not, either.”

“Dawn, your judgment is clouded. Don’t let the Thirst … don’t let it control you.”

“What are you saying?”

“Don’t make this into something personal.”

Victor’s right: It is personal, because I’ve seen its power, and those Day Walkers confronting me this afternoon were
nothing
compared to the monster Brady became.

“Your focus, Clive, should be the Day Walkers,” Victor says, turning away from me. “They pose the largest threat to the stability of the city. Find them. I suspect they will hunt during the day and hide at night. Take the few Night Watchmen you still trust and tell them to search during the day. The Day Walkers were probably turned recently. It takes time for a Lesser to be able to control himself around fresh blood. They’ll be clumsy, easy to spot when they strike. Look at the Sunshine Carnival. They’re enjoying themselves and their new abilities too much. Exposing themselves too readily. They shouldn’t be hard to find and stake.”

“And what do you propose I do when Eris returns looking for Dawn?”

“Stake her, too.”

Clive finishes his drink, seemingly satisfied with that answer.

I’m still in shock with Victor’s dismissal of the Thirst, but then—

“And Dawn needs to be secured at all times,” Victor says. “I suggest you make a safe room here at the Agency, where Dawn can stay twenty-four hours a day. Only Jeff and Rachel can go in and out.”

“Why?” Clive asks.

“I suspect she was the impetus behind the Day Walkers’ strike at the carnival. Sin has probably given specific instructions to all his underlings to capture Dawn. They want to please their master.”

“No way am I being locked up.”

“Dawn’s good at taking care of herself, and I don’t like the thought of putting her in isolation,” Clive announces.

“You like the thought of her falling into Sin’s hands better?” Victor demands.

Clive pours himself a drink, downs it. He points at the window. “I sent her out there, beyond the wall, to see your father. Her parents died out there, but still I sent her because your father demanded it. Now I’ve got another vampire demanding I turn her over and you demanding I practically imprison her. Quite honestly, I’m getting tired of vampire demands. We thank you for your counsel, Lord Valentine. We’ll take it all under advisement.”

I’m acutely aware of Victor bristling. I can’t blame him. I want to step in, but Clive is my boss.

“My apologies if I overstepped,” Victor says, adopting the formality of Old Family vampires. “I want only what is best for Dawn.”

“That’s all any of us want,” Clive assures him. “Goodnight, m’lord.”

Victor bows formally. “Director.” Then he turns to me. “It’s late. I’ll see you home, Dawn.”

“Actually, I need a private moment with Dawn,” Clive says.

“I see …” Victor says, eyeing Clive suspiciously.

“If you would be so kind as to wait outside,” Clive says. “I’ll send Dawn out.”

“Very good.”

Victor is heading for the door when Clive says, “Outside the building, not my office. Vampire ears and all.”

A corner of Victor’s mouth quirks up, and I know he was hoping to eavesdrop.

I wait a few minutes after Victor leaves, and Clive stands at his window, looking down until Victor is outside and beyond hearing distance.

“Tell me honestly,” Clive begins, turning back toward me, “what are your thoughts on the Thirst?”

“It’s a problem. A very serious one.”

“I thought so,” Clive says. “I could tell from your reaction when I brought it up, and when I read your report, it certainly seemed to warrant more concern than what Lord Valentine was giving it just now.”

“Well, I
was
surprised by his casual response.”

“Don’t be,” Clive says quickly. “Always remember that he is a vampire first and foremost. I think he’s hiding something from us.”

I should have known Clive’s earlier friendliness was an act. He knows how the dealing-with-vampires game is played.

“The Old Family fears the Thirst, right?” Clive asks.

“Yes. It’s the only thing that, arguably, is more powerful than they are. Apparently most think it’s just an urban legend, but if they saw it in the flesh …”

“Which you’ve done.”

I nod, swallow hard. I told him about Brady when he debriefed me. “Yeah.”

“I don’t know this new Lord Valentine, and on the surface he seems much kinder than his father. In fact, I’m sure he is. But that doesn’t mean he sees humans and vampires as equals. That doesn’t mean he trusts us completely. If the Thirst could conceivably be used against him, he would
never
want us to learn more about it.”

Taking a mental step back, I put myself in Victor’s shoes and see the image unfolding through his eyes. What if news spread that there was this thing called the Thirst that could overthrow the Old Families? If the humans learned about it, would they try to harness it, try to start another war with it somehow? What if the humans allied themselves with the Thirst-infected vampires?

That would be insane. It wouldn’t work. Not for us humans, anyway. Then again, we are notoriously shortsighted. I think of Roland Hursch, a man who would do
anything
to get rid of vampires. Would he join hands with an even more powerful monster, in hopes of being able to control that one? VampHu’s chains are so heavy that many would risk everything to throw them off, even unleashing a powerful force like the Thirst.

“Victor might have a very good reason for keeping us in the dark,” I say.

“Yes. But his reasons are not our reasons.” Clive takes a deep breath. “When I think about the war, all I can think about is how ignorant we were. I keep thinking that if we’d only known more about the enemy, we could have won. It’s as if all we were missing was one crucial element, one piece of intelligence that would have given us the edge. We were so close to winning, but it slipped away from us.”

“And you think this is it?”

“No. I don’t think that at all. The war is over. We lost. I accept that because I must. But having more information is much better than having less.”

I couldn’t agree more. That’s one of the basic rules in negotiation—learn everything you can about your opponent and his motivations. Clive is once again in deep thought. He looks up at me and I expect him to speak, but he slowly turns his gaze downward again.

“The city faces many problems,” he says. “Eris’s threats. The Day Walkers. And now this Thirst. While it seems the most distant, it could be the wave that becomes a tsunami.”

“Knowing what it did to my brother, I agree.”

“Then I want you to find out everything you can about it.”

“How?”

“Take the Night Train out to Los Angeles.”

“Los Angeles?” I’ve never been beyond the Denver walls, except to visit Valentine Manor. To travel on the Night Train, to head west to the coast—I don’t know whether to be terrified or excited by the prospect.

“Sin mentioned that he came from there,” Clive says.

“It could’ve been a lie.”

“And it might not have been. All of this is tied together somehow. I want you to find the threads. In Los Angeles, you’ll learn about the Thirst, learn how they’ve dealt with it—because the few reports we get from the LA Agency don’t mention any rampaging vampires—and bring that information back. And if it’s true that Sin came from out there, you may learn something about him and his Day Walkers.”

“What about Eris’s threats? What will she do when she discovers I’ve left the city?”

“If you’re not here, she gains nothing by attacking the city.”

“She might do it out of spite. I don’t think it’s worth it.” Enough people have died because of me.

“I won’t hand you over,” Clive says, his voice stern. “I’ll tell Eris that you snuck out of the city without my knowledge after she made those threats. If anyone is to blame, it’s her. Trust me, Dawn, dealing with vamps isn’t new to me.”

He takes another sip of his drink.

“No one can know about this mission,” he says. “Not Rachel or Michael or Jeff. When Eris finds out you’ve disappeared, she may begin questioning them. I want them to have plausible deniability. Just leave Rachel a note telling her you’ve left town.”

I gnaw on my lower lip, thinking this all the way through. I understand the need for caution, but—

“They’ll be worried about me.”

“I know,” he says, as if realizing how many people this will affect, how many sleepless nights this will cause. “They won’t be the only ones.”

I know he’s referring to himself. He’s always treated me like a daughter, and now he’s sending me away. For my own safety, yes, but maybe into even greater danger as I investigate the Thirst.

“I’d send someone else if I could,” he says, as if reading my mind. “But even if Eris never came, I wouldn’t let anyone else go out there but you. Because I don’t trust anyone as much as I trust you, Dawn.”

Tears sting the backs of my eyes, but Clive’s stoic demeanor inspires me to put up a brave front.

“I have some arrangements to make,” he says. “I’ll come to your apartment when the Night Train comes in and explain how we’ll handle getting you to LA without anyone knowing. I want you to be like a ghost.”

B
y the time I hit the lobby, I’ve shored myself up not to reveal anything to Victor. He’s always been able to sense when things are going on with me, and I need to make sure that he doesn’t suspect that I’m about to leave town. My best defense is a heated offense, so I draw on the anger that hit me when we were in Clive’s office.

I push my way through the door to the outside. He’s leaning against the side of the building. When he sees me, his face lights up and I almost lose my resolve. But I hold firm.

“Lock me in a room? Seriously? You thought I would go for that?”

He grimaces. “I can’t stand the thought of anything happening to you.”

“How about my going insane? Because I would do that if I was contained. I nearly went crazy in the hospital.”

“Sin is a danger.”

“Then catch him.” I know it’s unfair to lash out about that, because he’s doing everything he can. My words are meant to distract, so he doesn’t ask about the conversation I had with Clive after he left.

“Vampires can sense other vampires,” he says, “but we can’t sense the Day Walkers. My hunters are frustrated. They don’t know what to look for, how to track them.”

Parked on the street is a familiar car: a black Mustang. I don’t know where he gets the gasoline for it, but if I’ve learned one thing about Victor, it’s that he has a way of getting what he wants.

He opens the door for me and I slide in. The car is prewar, from a time when automobile factories still existed. But the interior carries the scent of new leather—and Victor. I inhale deeply as he gets behind the wheel. With the turn of a key, the car hums. I’ve never considered how he keeps the thing running, and I wonder if he works on it himself. Most Old Family vampires are above doing anything that resembles labor, but I can imagine Victor getting his hands dirty.

“Do you ever wish you were human?” I ask.

With a squeal of tires, we’re roaring up the street.

“It’s pointless to wish for things that can’t be.” After a few quiet moments he says, “But I do wonder what it would be like to feel the warmth of the sun instead of its burn.”

I study his profile, occasionally illuminated by a random light. The shadows move in and out, revealing different things. His concentration. His exhaustion. I can almost see the burdens weighing him down. How much has he been doing behind the scenes that I’m not even aware of? How many other Valentines has he been fending off, each one wanting his throne? Who are his allies? How many foes does he have? I want to stay irritated at him for downplaying the dangers of the Thirst, for suggesting that I be locked away, but it’s a battle I’m quickly losing. “In the hospital, I walked to the window and let the sunlight touch my skin. I was glad that it could.”

He jerks his head toward me, our eyes lock, and knowledge shatters the tension between us. He could have taken the sun from me. But he didn’t.

I tear my gaze away and watch the scenery flash by, every now and then catching sight of someone slipping into the shadows. A Night Watchman? A vampire? A citizen just wanting the right to visit the night?

“Why did you act like the Thirst wasn’t a big deal?” I ask.

“I’m sorry I said those things,” he says. “But right now, Dawn, the Day Walkers are more of a concern to Clive and the citizens of Denver. None of them have seen the Thirst except you and Michael; none of them can even begin to imagine its horrors. But Day Walkers? That’s something they understand and fear. If you tell them about vampires killing other vampires, do you know what the average citizen will say? ‘Let them go at each other’s throats.’ They won’t care, and why would they? They aren’t seeing the big picture.”