Blood-Kissed Sky (Darkness Before Dawn) (27 page)

“When are you going to take this seriously, Faith?” Richard asks, quick anger running through his words. “Unfortunately from my observations and what he’s managed so far, Sin doesn’t appear to be stupid. Whatever he’s planning is apparently well thought out.”

“It doesn’t mean it’ll happen. For all we know, one of his ‘creations’ may have killed him already.”

But even Faith doesn’t sound convinced, and I can tell her apathy is waning.

“What I don’t get,” Michael begins, “is why they would choose the Thirst. I mean, if Sin turned them, and they became Day Walkers, why not enjoy their life in the city, with all the humans to feed off of? Why become a monster?”

“You’re assuming they had a choice to begin with,” Ian says. “If they can’t get into the city, what choice do they have except to feed off other vampires?”

“I think Ian’s right,” I tell them. “Sin created Day Walkers knowing they wouldn’t have access to blood here. He was proud of what Brady had become.” I’ll never forget that night when Sin cornered me in the hallway at the Daylight Grill and revealed what he was. “He told me that Brady was his favorite
creation
. Perfection. I think he’s trying to use the Thirst to create bigger monsters.”

“Jesus,” Michael says. “I guess I never thought we’d be facing a worse enemy than vampires.”

We’re all quiet for a moment, taking that in.

“I don’t mean to appear uncaring,” Richard finally says, “but there’s not a lot more that we can do tonight. Besides, I’ve planned something special for this evening.”

He glances over at Faith. She pretends to be fascinated with her drink. So they have a date?

Before I can point out that there is a lot more we can do, Ian says, “The rest of us can use the sleep. Let’s go.”

As Tegan and Michael get up from the table to follow Ian’s lead, I call out, “I’ll catch up in just a sec.”

They all stop to wait. Great. Still, I lean toward Richard and whisper, “What about your father? Can we go talk to him tonight?”

“Unless my father has changed his routine, which is highly unlikely, tonight is the one evening of the week when he always meets with his lieutenants, so he wouldn’t agree to see me. Before you suggest that we barge in anyway, let me assure you that interrupting him will only guarantee that he won’t cooperate. Tomorrow night would be better.” He smiles at Faith. “For all of us.”

I reluctantly admit that one more night won’t hurt. “Okay, then, tomorrow. Have fun.”

He winks at me as he assists Faith from her chair. “We will.”

As I start to get up, I glance down at my notes. I didn’t write a single word. But I drew the mountain from my dreams. I crumple up the napkin. Why won’t it leave me alone?

That night I’m restless. Tegan is sharing the bed with me and simply rolls over to her side and goes to sleep. She wants the light left on, which works for me because I want to read my father’s journal. Sitting with my back against a pillow, I scour quickly through the pages until I find something that catches my attention.

I have found a reference to Esmerelda. Only Esmerelda. No last name
.

My heart stops. That was Sin’s mother.

She is Old Family, but I can’t determine from which line. So I have to wonder if she is the missing link that my father was searching for
.

I look up and my gaze is drawn to the window, where the night flourishes. What were he and my grandfather searching for? It feels like I’m carrying on my father’s legacy in more ways than one. Not only was I a delegate, but now I’m seeking the answers he couldn’t find. Answers his own father couldn’t locate…

But what is the question?

Suddenly exhausted, I sink down in the bed. As I drift off to sleep, the mountain is calling to me, but I push it back. I’m beginning to resent it because its pull on me seems stronger than Victor’s. But tonight I need Victor. More than anything.

I feel as though I’m floating in a void of darkness.

When I open my eyes, I’m standing in Valentine Manor, in the room where Victor met with Roland Hursch. He’s engaged in another meeting tonight, but his guests aren’t easily intimidated.

He stands at the head of the table while they sit around it. I had once thought the table was obnoxiously large, but now I see that it was built to accommodate a host of vampires.

“We Lessers are becoming restless, my lord,” one of the vampires says. “We are each in charge of a hundred or so vampires, and each one starves. They look to us for answers, but we have none. What are we to tell them? You’ve forbidden the taking of blood directly from humans—on pain of death. Soon, that threat won’t be enough to control them.”

“Tell those in your sectors that they must be patient,” Victor says. “Ration what you’re given so that everyone has at least some blood.”

“A few drops, my lord, are hardly satisfying,” a woman says. She has flowing white hair. Since Lessers don’t age after they’re turned, it’s impossible to know how old she is, but her calmness indicates she’s been around for a while.

“I’m aware of the sacrifices that must be made, Anita. I take no more than you or your Lessers. Remind your minions that Sin and his Day
Walkers are responsible for this current famine. If they know where he is, they must tell us. The rewards will be great for all concerned. The humans are afraid. We must convince them we are not the enemy.”

“You show them too much mercy,” a vampire with silver eyes challenges.

“Careful, Jude, or you may find my mercy doesn’t extend to you.” He holds the vampire’s gaze until the latter looks down in submission.

“See my guards for your rations. We’ll meet again in three nights.”

I move over to the window where the moonlight filters in. I don’t want them brushing by me as they leave. Unlike Hursch, they might have the ability to sense my presence. Vampires are so much more alert to subtleties than humans are.

When they are gone, Victor walks over and closes the doors, pressing his forehead against it. He heaves a deep sigh that seems to reverberate through me. I wish he could be relieved of this burden. I wish I could be there to help him.

I don’t remember crossing the room, but suddenly I’m near him. I place my hand on his back.

His head comes up. “Dawn.”

“I’m here, Victor. I’m here for you.”

I don’t think he can hear my voice, but he’s gone incredibly still. He moves away from me, stretches out on the couch, and closes his eyes.

“I thought I sensed your presence,” Victor says.

I spin around. He’s leaning against the door, so incredibly sexy in his jeans and black T-shirt. I guess in dreams, we can choose what we wear. I glance down and I’m wearing a slinky black dress.

“You look so beautiful,” he says, as he walks over and cradles my face between his hands.

“I don’t know if this is real. I don’t understand it. It feels real, but it’s a dream.”

“I don’t understand it completely, either. I only know that at this moment, we are together.” He circles his thumbs around my cheeks. “And you’re sad.”

“We’ve both had a rough night. Someone got hurt because of me.” I tell him about Simon, the infected Day Walker, and Sin being referred to as a savior.

His hold on me tightens. “What is my brother trying to do?”

“I don’t know. It makes no sense. You can’t control the Infected. And yet after I gave him Richard’s blood, he seemed almost rational. Do you think Old Family blood is a possible cure? Sin had told Brady it was.”

“Sin lied. He wanted me dead and he was using your brother to accomplish that.”

“Have you had any luck discovering where he is?”

“No.”

I hear the frustration in his voice.

“At least the vampires here are listening to you.”

He releases a dark chuckle. “It’s more difficult than I thought it would be, Dawn. My father may have been brutal in his ways, but he kept the vampires in submission.”

“You’ve stopped the Lessers from attacking humans.”

“But soon they’ll attack one another. Or they’ll put me to the test of carrying out my threat to kill them.”

I press my face against his chest, inhale his scent, take comfort from it. “I’m so sorry, Victor. I’m not sure I realized how truly awful this is for you.”

“It could be worse. I might not have you.”

I sink against him.

“Trust me,” he whispers.

Everything goes fuzzy, foggy. Shadows rush in. Then retreat. I’m standing in the theater. Victor’s theater, where he lived in the city before he overthrew his father and took up permanent residence in the manor. “We can travel in our dreams?”

“Only to places at least one of us has been. And only to places we want to be.”

And I so badly want to be here. With him.

I glance at the movie screen. A girl wearing red shoes is following a path of yellow bricks while a beautiful woman holds a wand. “Los Angeles is like this,” I say.

“Filled with small people?”

Smiling, I look up at Victor. “No. Too colorful, too bright. Too pristine. It’s like something you might visit, but you’d never live there.”

“Yet people do.”

I shake my head. “I don’t like it there.”

“But there are no vampires. I would think that would make it Utopia for humans.”

He’s right and yet—

“It’s like everyone’s pretending.” And I’m already tired of talking about Los Angeles. “How are things in Denver?”

He wraps himself around me and kisses me. There’s almost a desperation to his kiss, as though it’s the last time he’ll ever have my lips pressed to his. I feel that light-headedness again, but then his kisses always steal my breath and make me feel faint. But there’s a subtle shift. He draws back and I gasp. We’re on the roof of the Agency building, looking out over Denver. The wind is blowing and my hair is flying around me.

I make my way to the edge and glance down. People are walking the streets. Not a lot, but more than I’ve ever seen here. I smile. “You made the vampires leave the city. The people are feeling safe.”

“Too safe.”

I jerk around to face him. “What do you mean?”

“No blood was delivered this week. Last week I took no rations for myself because the supply was not as much as we were expecting.”

“You’re hungry.”

“Very. I made a mistake with Hursch. Underestimated his resolve. He is about to discover that he underestimated mine. I’m going to initiate mandatory blood withdrawals for anyone over the age of sixteen.”

“That will be impossible to enforce.”

“Not when I embed microchips in the citizens. I’ll know who has donated and if they don’t … I can find them.”

“Microchips?”

“With tracking. I can monitor and find anyone, anytime. My father abhorred modern conveniences, but I’m not him.”

“If you do this, you’ll be a worse monster than he was.”

“I have no choice.”

“You always have a choice!”

I jerk awake, the air strangely disturbed as though I cried out in my sleep. Maybe I really yelled the words. Was I with Victor? Or was it just a nightmare? The Victor I’d fallen for would never be so harsh with humans. He would find a better solution. What’s happening to him?

I lie back down, force myself to sleep. I have to see him again. I have to know.

I feel like I’m leaving my body. My breathing becomes clean and full, as if my lungs have grown to twice their size. My body and head are light. I’m not sure whether I’m floating, or the world is floating around me.

But this time, I land right where I started. In the hotel bedroom. Tegan isn’t here, but then she wouldn’t be. I’m in the dream again. I watch the curtains moving back and forth in front of the open window. I feel someone climb into bed gently, as if not to disturb me. And then his arm slowly reaches around my waist, drawing me up against him.

“Victor …” I whisper.

“Dawn, you left me.”

It wasn’t a nightmare. “Victor, there is blood. I don’t know why they aren’t giving it to you. Don’t do anything until I get back to Denver. Please. I’ll talk to Clive and Rachel. We’ll get you blood.”

“I’ll wait. For you, I’ll wait.”

I don’t know if he’s agreeing to wait before doing anything drastic or if he means that he’s waiting for me personally. He said we can’t be together, and yet here in this dream world, it’s as though there are no obstacles. We can meet secretly with no one knowing.

As he lowers his mouth hungrily to mine, I hope this means we’ve found a way to be together.

“Hey, sleepyhead, wake up,” Tegan sings.

I force my eyes open when all I want to do is jam my head under the pillow. The dream has left me wanting. It’s not enough. It’s not solid. It’s not real. It’s just a pleasant illusion, like this city.