Darkness Before Dawn (13 page)

“A vampire,” Michael says in a low voice. “What the hell happened?”

My mind jumps to Victor. Did he save me again from a vampire?

“Why is his throat like that?” I ask.

“No idea,” Michael says. “The bite marks, the savagery … it looks like vampire work.”

“A vamp killing another vamp?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he mistook him for a human and tried to feed. Realizing his mistake, he went for the heart.”

He shines his light on the wooden stake jammed into the vamp’s chest.

“I need to call Rachel,” I tell him.

“Sure, go ahead.”

I can tell he’s in ultra-alert mode, once again using the flashlight to scour the area around us.

I remove my cell phone from my pocket, so grateful to have it again. I dial her number, wondering how I’m going to explain what Michael and I have discovered: We have a new kind of monster in the city.

Chapter 13

“W
hat the hell part of ‘come straight home’ did you not understand?” Rachel’s voice is quaking with anger, or fear, or both.

Lights are sweeping all over the area. She and Jeff arrived shortly ahead of the Agency’s disposal unit, which deals with dead vamps. She, Jeff, Michael, and I are standing off to the side, while the unit works.

“We just … we just wanted to mess around for a while,” I say, knowing it’s an inadequate answer.

“You don’t get to
mess around
, Dawn.” Yeah, that’s definitely anger. “You’re a delegate now—”

“It was my idea,” Michael says.

Rachel glares at him. She’s shorter than I am, but at that moment I think she might terrify even Valentine. “What? Did you tie her up, sling her over your shoulder, and drag her here, kicking and screaming?”

“Uh, no.”

“Then she had a choice, and she should have done what I—”

“Rachel,” Jeff cuts in quietly.

Now she turns her evil eye on him.

“It’s done. She’s safe. It’s not like you were never a teenager. Sometimes she’s gotta rebel a little.”

“Are you not looking at what I’m seeing here?”

Jeff rubs his jaw. “I’m not saying she should make a habit of this, but it’s always safest when the Night Train comes through the city.”

“
Safest
does not mean there are no dangers.” She glares pointedly toward the vampire.

“I know, but she was with Michael. I’ve seen him in training. He’s good.”

I meet Michael’s gaze, give him a secretive smile. To have Jeff’s endorsement means a lot.

“Don’t do it again,” Rachel demands.

“Yes, ma’am.”

We hear footsteps and glance up as the coroner approaches. Everyone refers to him as Reap—an homage to the Grim Reaper. Sometimes I think it’s not so much because of what he does, but how he looks. He’s tall and wiry, with slightly hunched shoulders, as though dealing constantly with death drags him down.

“Well?” Rachel asks.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. Bite marks on his throat are sloppy, done in haste, like a lot of vampire attacks. But the victim
is
a vampire; their blood is useless to one another; it provides no nourishment.”

“Then why?”

He just shrugs. “No idea.” Reap checks his watch and makes a note for approximate time of death. “We’ll take him back to the morgue, do an autopsy before we place him in the sun for disposal, but I don’t think we’re going to find any answers.”

“Okay,” Rachel says. “Tell your team this incident is confidential, need-to-know only. I don’t want the public getting wind of this until we figure out what the hell happened.”

“Right.”

After he walks away, Rachel turns to us. “You’re not to tell anyone about any of this.”

“What about Valentine?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “No. Not yet, at least.”

“Maybe it was a mad dog or something,” Michael suggests.

“Whatever it was, it obviously doesn’t like vampires,” Jeff says.

“So maybe we have a new ally,” Michael muses.

Only I’m not sure it’s an ally we want.

The only advantage to what happened tonight is that at least now Michael and I are traveling in an Agency car, holding hands in the backseat. Jeff and Rachel are in the front. None of us seem to have much to say.

“Hope you don’t get in trouble with your mom,” I whisper. She’s superanxious and prone to worry, but that’s no wonder. He never knew his dad. He died during the war, shortly after Michael was born.

“No problem. I’ll just tell her I had late practice. If she’s even home.” His mom works two jobs, and he’s pretty much been taking care of himself since he was twelve. A lot of kids have stories like that.

We draw to a stop outside Michael’s apartment building. Since the war, the rebuilding efforts have concentrated on erecting apartments instead of houses. People like living in communities, where they can feel safe.

Michael gives my hand a squeeze. “See you at school tomorrow.”

“Yeah.” I lean in and give him a quick kiss—even though I know he’s not comfortable with it in front of Jeff. “You were amazing tonight.”

He grins. “Thanks. You, too.”

He slips out and I settle back as Jeff drives away.

When we get home, Jeff comes upstairs with us. It’s after midnight now. And I’m exhausted. “I’m going to bed.” I walk over to Rachel and hug her. “Thanks, Rachel. Thanks for coming to our rescue.”

“Don’t make a habit of this,” she says.

“Trust me. I don’t need any more adventures.”

As I’m walking to my room, I call over my shoulder, “And you two had better behave as well.”

Rachel gasps; Jeff laughs. Definitely something going on between them. And I’m glad. Rachel needs a guy in her life.

Everything seems to catch up to me once I close the door to my bedroom. I feel like I’m moving through molasses as I get ready for bed: showering, putting on flannel pants and a tank, crawling into bed. I’m trying really hard not to think about what happened earlier.

But as I’m lying there, it keeps flashing in my mind. After a while, I hear a soft rapping and figure Rachel can’t sleep either. I sit up and am about to call out to her when the knock sounds again. It’s coming from my balcony doors. I consider lying back down and ignoring it. Maybe it’s a bird pecking at the glass. Yeah, right. It comes again, and I know he’s not going away.

I turn on the lamp, clamber out of bed, grab the stake from my nightstand, and pad over to the balcony. Drawing back the curtains, I see Victor’s tall silhouette. I open the door. “At least you knocked this time. Still, just go away.”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Victor—”

“I heard a vampire died tonight.”

“Vampires die every night. They keep the Night Watchmen busy.”

“Not this one, Dawn. I need to know exactly how he died.”

There is a chance that he isn’t talking about the one Michael and I found, but if he is, I have to do some damage control. As much as I hate breathing the same air that he is, I sigh, step out onto the balcony, and cross my arms over my chest. “
What
exactly did you hear? And how did you hear it?”

“Someone saw a commotion near Dawson Elementary. He went to investigate, but couldn’t get close enough to see much with all the Agency people hovering around. Still, he could sense everyone’s … fear.”

“There’s always fear when we have confirmation that vamps are within the wall.”

“He overheard someone say the vamp was bitten on the neck, possibly fed on.” His voice is thrumming with impatience. I guess I can’t blame him for wanting information.

“Okay, look, I’ll tell you what I know, but you have to promise not to tell your dad about this.”

“Trust me, Dawn. I’m very good at keeping things from my father.”

“Okay, then. Yes, the vamp had bite marks on his neck. Really savage ones. Michael and I—” I stop as something else occurs to me. “I saw you at the Night Train.”

“I know you did. I saw you, too. That guy you were with—”

“My boyfriend. Michael.”

“He seems … capable.”

“Very capable.” I let my voice reflect my pride in Michael’s skills. “So why were you there?”

“Getting to know my enemy.”

“Ian Hightower doesn’t hunt vampires anymore unless they’re messing with the train.”

“Not Ian. You.”

I feel like he just punched me in the chest. I’ve always considered vamps as the enemy, hated them beyond belief for what they did to my brother. But I never reversed it, never considered it from their side. Never saw myself as
their
enemy.

“I thought you were the one who wanted to be allies—friends. Besides, how can you say I’m the enemy when I work as a delegate to ensure there is enough blood for the vampires?”

“How can you view me as the enemy when I’ve not attacked a human or taken blood directly from one since the war ended?”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Clever wording, Victor. Did you think I’d miss it? You
have
in the past. Probably by force, against their will.”

“During the war, yes. I did what I had to do to survive. Like all soldiers.”

Black and white. I’ve always viewed the human-vampire relationship in black and white. They take. We give. But he’s mixing things up, showing me shades of gray, complicating matters that should be simple. I don’t like it. Then another thought occurs to me. “You didn’t follow me and Michael, did you? After we left the station.”

“At first, until I realized you might want some time alone.”

I slam my fist against his shoulder. He barely moves. “You creep!”

I reach for the door—

He grabs my arm, but I wrench free.

“Dawn, after your encounter at school, I just wanted to make sure you were safe.”

“I don’t want you following me.”

“You’re right. I’m an evil creature to try to protect you.”

He makes me feel petty and small, but I don’t want him in my life. Still… “Did you see any vamps in the area?”

He hesitates. “Some, but they were harmless.”

“There are no harmless vampires.”

“You think that only because you haven’t taken the time to get to know any. Yes, a lot of Lessers tend to lose their humanity when they’re turned, but it’s not due to the process. It’s because they become enamored of their new selves: their strength, their invincibility. They become deranged. But others adapt well. They’re no different from you.”

“Do not compare me to a vampire.”

He sighs. “I just meant that they aren’t like the vamps on the trolley. Those were the equivalent of human juvenile delinquents. But if you could see some of these others, you might appreciate your role as a delegate more.”

“I appreciate my role just fine. And it wasn’t a vamp at school. It couldn’t have been. It was just some kid. I don’t need you to protect me.”

I can feel him studying me. I don’t want to be out here standing with him; I don’t want to wonder if maybe he’s right that not all vampires are the same.

Victor backs up a step, as though he realizes that I need distance between us.

“You’re right about it being some kid at the school. Before I came here, I checked it out. I couldn’t find any sign of a vampire nesting there.”

“You would say that, though, wouldn’t you? I’ll just have Michael check it out, if you don’t mind.” Even though I no longer believe it was a vampire. I’m just being stubborn. Victor does that to me.

“So even when we agree, you’re going to argue with me?” he asks.

“Pretty much, yeah. I don’t trust you. I don’t like you. I don’t want you in my life. How can you not get that?”

He releases a sigh of frustration. “Okay, then, let me get the info I need and I’ll go. Is there anything else you can tell me about the vamp that was killed tonight?” he asks, his voice solemn, almost sad, as though he’s finally accepted how very much I dislike him.

For some reason, that bothers me, as though I’ve hurt him. I have to remind myself that he’s a vampire. He doesn’t have feelings. I swallow hard. “His throat was nearly ripped out. A stake through the heart. That’s all we know right now.”

He moves to the edge of the balcony, away from the pale light coming from my room. Still, I can see him gripping the rail and bowing his head. He whispers something that sounds like
thirst
, but I’m not sure.

I ease toward him slightly. “What?”

He shakes his head. “Nothing. I need to see him. Where did they take him?”

“The disposal morgue, but you won’t be able to get in.”

“Let me worry about that. Where is it exactly?”

I give him the address.

“Thanks,” Victor says.

I’m unsettled by his gratitude, by this entire visit, actually. “Why is all this important?”

“Hopefully I’m wrong and you’ll never have to find out.”

“What does that mean?”

“I can’t tell you.”

Before I can object, he throws a leg over the railing, disappears over the edge. I rush up and look over, but I can’t see him. Vampires are like cats. The drop, even from this high up, won’t hurt him.

As I turn to go back into my room, my gaze falls on a long white box with a red ribbon resting on the balcony chair. I hesitate, then pick it up and carry it into my room. I lock the door behind me.

Studying the box, I notice the corner of a card sticking out beneath the ribbon. I remove it gingerly, as though I’m expecting it to explode.

For when you next face the night
.