Blood-Kissed Sky (Darkness Before Dawn) (22 page)

“I knew it!” Michael yells. “He’s turning you into a vampire!”

I glare at him. “Don’t be ridiculous. You were on the observation deck with me, sun streaming in. I didn’t go up in flames.”

“Maybe you’re a Day Walker,” Tegan suggests faintly.

I give her a pointed look. “That’s even more ludicrous. Michael, I’d like you to take Tegan into the hallway so I can have a little more privacy, and a little less hysteria, to finish this conversation.”

“You can’t possibly think I’m leaving you alone with two vampires.”

“They watched over me in the hospital. If they wanted me dead, they would have done it then.”

“Come on, Michael,” Tegan says, hopping off the bed. “As much as I’m fascinated by the vamp psyche, this conversation is starting to make me feel icky.”

She gives me a little wink he can’t see, and I know she’s encouraging him to leave because she realizes that I may need to say things I’d rather he not hear.

“I’m leaving the door partly open,” he says as he follows Tegan. “You scream if you need me.”

Once he’s outside, Richard says, “He does realize that if he hears your scream, it’s already too late.”

“You’re not going to give me any reason to scream. So tell me, have you ever heard of what Faith is talking about?”

“It happens,” he says. “But she hasn’t told you the key detail: It only happens with Old Family vampires. And both have to be Old Family vampires.”

“It’s a rare phenomenon,” Faith says. “Very, very rare. My mother supposedly had it with my father. It’s like a defense mechanism, a way for the Old Family to watch out for one another. No one’s ever been able to explain it.”

“We don’t like studying these things,” Richard says. “Vampires aren’t concerned with understanding how the world works and nature’s strange nuances. We just take things as they are. I mean, if you understood every mystery of life, what fun would it be? And we vampires become bored very quickly. So the more mystery, the better.”

“And without Victor here it’s impossible to know,” Faith offers. “Which has always been part of the problem. The only time you ever hear about this connection is when the vampires are far away, a great distance between them.”

“
And
when strong emotions are involved,” Richard says, which immediately gets a scoff from Faith.

“Don’t go on about that,” she says.

“It’s true. A blood connection only exists when there’s love between vampires.”

“We
can’t
love.”

“We can!” Richard stares at her and I realize I’m no longer part of the conversation, and this is more about them. I watch as Richard contemplates going further, but Faith breaks away from his powerful gaze. After a moment, Richard turns back toward me, as if just remembering I was sitting across from him.

“True vampire love comes along only once in a few thousand years,” he says. “Some think it doesn’t exist, but I disagree.”

He chances another look at Faith, but she simply rolls her eyes at his effort.

“Now isn’t the time to be wooing me,” she says. “But he’s right;
if
vampiric love exists, it’s extremely unusual. We vampires just don’t have those powerful emotions. It’s the reason we’ve always been better than you humans. Sorry, but it’s true. We aren’t tied up with feelings and passions.”

“What if Victor feels that way about me, though?”

“Even if he did, Dawn, just as you reminded your overprotective friends, you aren’t a vampire.”

“But you just said yourself: This ‘blood connection’ is mysterious. Isn’t it possible that it could exist between a human and an Old Family vampire?”

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in three hundred years,” Richard says, “it’s that anything is possible. Especially when humans are involved. Unlike Faith, I give them more credit. Yes, your emotions are ridiculous. Yes, they often cause more harm than good. But there’s a beauty to them, one that I see, even if Faith doesn’t. Could you and Victor be experiencing a blood connection? I doubt it. But who’s to say? Even after all this time, the world is still a mystery to me.”

“Yeah … I seem to know less and less every day.”

Richard seems to believe, even if Faith is skeptical.

But I did describe a room I couldn’t have possibly known about—the dawn room. Somehow, I can connect with Victor even though I’m on a train hurtling away from him.

A
fter the revelations about my dreams, I feel as though the walls of my room are closing in on me. I suggest we all go to the lounge car as a distraction from the thoughts thundering through my head. I doubt a party will be going on tonight, but it had a large bar and tables where we can take in the atmosphere.

When we step out into the passageway, panic slams into me. Tegan and Michael are gone!

A thousand atrocious possibilities dash through my mind before Faith says calmly, “They’re in the observation deck.”

I jerk my head around to study her. She shrugs. “Vampire hearing.”

“Do you know what they’re saying?”

“No, they’re mumbling, and at this distance it’s like listening with water in my ears, but I recognize their voices.”

I consider waiting for them to return, but I’m anxious to move around, so I take the lead and head to the stairs. A few people are in the seating cars, but I can tell that they’re jumpy. After all, it’s night again. When we reach the spiral staircase, I say, “Wait here. I’ll get them.”

I’m not sure why I issued that order. Maybe because I suspect they won’t be happy that I’m asking Faith and Richard to join us for the evening, and I’m anticipating having to do some preemptive convincing that they need to accept these guys as part of our group now. I’m nearly to the top when I hear Michael’s voice.

“—stupid. I practically poured my heart out to her this morning, told her I missed her. Such a fool.”

My own heart feels like he’s punched his fist into it. I didn’t want to hurt him. I ease down onto the step and bury my face in my hands. I don’t know how to make things easier for him.

“You have to let her go,” Tegan says kindly, and I can imagine her taking his hand or rubbing his shoulder. While she’s studied vampire psychology, she’s good at applying her knowledge to humans, to figuring us out, to knowing what we need.

“I know, but it’s hard. I love her,” Michael says.

I’m crushed. I still love Michael, but it’s not the same as the way that I love Victor.

“I can’t believe Dawn—of all people—would fall for a vampire,” he continues.

“She didn’t know he was a vampire when we met him. He saved our lives.”

“I’ve saved your lives.”

Tegan releases a very tiny laugh. “That’s not the only reason. And for what it’s worth, I know she was conflicted about it. It wasn’t easy for her to admit she loved him. She barely talked to me about him, and I thought she shared everything with me.”

But not Victor. She’s right about that. For so many reasons. That it would place her in jeopardy. That it would place
him
in danger.

“But then I haven’t shared everything with her, either,” Tegan says quietly. “Sometimes I feel so broken. I want to move on, but it’s like there’s this wall in front of me and I can’t get through it. Like that Jake guy. I was talking with him, but I kept expecting him to sprout fangs and tear into my neck. I look at people—even kids I know at school—and I think,
You could be a vampire and I won’t know until it’s too late
.”

“Ah, Tegan.” I hear the bench seat moan, like someone is shifting around on it, and I picture Michael wrapping his arms around Tegan, holding her close. I should be doing that. I should be there for her more. I wonder if that’s part of the reason that she snuck on the train—not so much to be here for me but because she needs me to be there for her.

“I can’t sleep,” she says. “I keep seeing him, every time I close my eyes. I see his triumph—”

“And he’ll see yours when we find him and stake him.”

“Oh, Michael, do you really think we will?”

“Absolutely. He’s too conceited to live his life in the shadows. I don’t know what he has planned, but he’ll show his face again and when he does, we’ll be ready.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Trust me. Dawn isn’t going to stop searching until she finds him. Neither will I. She might be saying this trip is about the Thirst, but it’s about Sin. We’re going to get him.”

Only as I lift my head at his words do I realize I’ve been staring at my shoes, trying to come up with my own answers and consoling words for Tegan—and for Michael. They’re on this crazy journey with me because of loyalty and love. Michael might not have known what he was volunteering for, but as soon as he and Clive arrived at my apartment building, Michael could have announced that he wasn’t the best choice for this assignment. If Clive had known who he was, he would have understood. I feel the burden of their friendship in ways that I never have before. Maybe this is why Ian is such a loner. It’s easier when you don’t have to think about anyone except yourself.

I don’t have that luxury. I love Michael and Tegan, but if anything happens to them—

“It can’t make things any easier for you now that Dawn has these two vamps hanging around,” Michael says, his voice oozing disgust, and a fissure of irritation slices through me. Have they not learned anything? Not all vampires are like Sin.

“I don’t know,” Tegan says, and the slowness of her words alerts me that she’s considering her answer. “Victor … Faith … Richard—they don’t seem that different from us.”

“They’d take our blood in a heartbeat if they needed it.”

“Would they?”

I shove myself to my feet and lunge into the observation deck. I don’t want to hear where Michael’s going, or maybe I just don’t want him to say it.

“Oh, there you are,” I say, acting like I’ve just walked in, rather than eavesdropped this whole time. “I was looking for you two.”

I was right. Michael did take Tegan into his arms. What strikes me is how right they look together. Tiny Tegan curled up against powerfully built Michael. It doesn’t last long. She jumps up guiltily.

“We were just, uh, you know, enjoying the view,” Tegan stammers.

I look over at Michael, who is quickly straightening his jacket, but leaving it unbuttoned, as always.

“We were also talking about your new friends,” he says, a hint of revulsion in his voice, which Tegan quickly overcompensates for.

“Yeah, and how great they are. I mean, if we’re going up against Sin we could really use all the help we can get.”

“He’s an enemy to all of us,” I say. “And when Victor finally confronts him …”

“Victor,” Michael snorts.

“Stop judging him because of what he means to me, Michael.” I turn back to Tegan. “When Victor finally confronts him, he’ll be the last thing Sin ever sees. He’s no match for all of us. And like it or not, Richard and Faith are stuck with us, so we better start trusting them more.”

Tegan’s mouth twitches, then settles into a straight line. “I like Richard, but I’m not so sure about Faith.”

“She’s a—” Is she even a friend? “Look, I haven’t known her all that long, but I trust her. And Richard. I’m not saying that you have to like them, but consider this as an opportunity to study Old Family vampires up close. You were always begging me to take you to Valentine Manor. Believe me, they are much nicer than Valentine.”

She rubs her neck, then shrugs. “Well, they did save me from the Uglies.”

“I think they call them the Infected.”

“But they’re not really infected, are they?”

“Not like a virus, not like when we get sick, but I guess it’s the closest they have to an illness. My father may have made a reference to it in his journal. They need to keep their blood pure. Vamps aren’t known for their creativity. Maybe ‘Infected’ made sense to them.”

“Really makes them dependent on our blood, doesn’t it?” she asks.

“Yeah.”

“Puts the situation in a different perspective.”

“What about Faith and Richard? What are they doing for blood while they’re on the train?” Michael asks, his voice rife with suspicions.

“Vampires can go a week between feedings before they begin to weaken.”

“Well, then let’s hope they fed before they got onboard.”

I don’t bother to tell him that they wouldn’t just take the blood. If they discovered that they needed it, they would pay someone—very handsomely.

“So are we good with Faith and Richard?”

“Sure,” Tegan says, and I can tell she’s willing to give them a chance to prove themselves.

“Michael?” I ask pointedly.

He shakes his head. “I’m never going to like them, Dawn, but I’ll tolerate them until they give me a reason to stake them.”

I realize that’s the best I can hope for from him, for now.

“Okay then. Faith, Richard, and I are going to see what was happening in the lounge car tonight. Thought you might want to come with us.”

“Nothing better to do,” Michael says.

T
he atmosphere is way different tonight. The lighting is low, but at least it’s not pulsing. The music isn’t so loud. People aren’t dancing. Tables and chairs are scattered throughout. The bar is open.