Dawn of Darkness (Daeva, #1) (18 page)

"Here,
Daniel," Violet said, removing one of the larger chunks of meat
from its skewer. His tail wagged as he gripped it in his teeth and
lay down at my feet. He ripped at the meat, holding it as best he
could between his front paws and swallowing it in huge
pieces.

"He
enjoys spending time in that form," said Violet. "As a result he
retains certain features even in human form. Is there anything else
you wish to ask?"

"What are
you?" I asked, wondering how it was Violet was unaffected by my
ability. Daniel displayed no resistance, so that ruled out
werewolf. My first guess would have been vampire, if it weren't for
the sun still being out. She certainly didn't show any signs of
bursting into flames. Maybe a psychic human? That would have made
her able to shield against me.

"I'm a
vampire," she said bluntly.

I stopped
chewing for a moment, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. "Do you
think I'm stupid?" I said. What little trust she had earned was
gone, replaced with anger. Daniel paused eating for a moment and
looked up at me. He whined, and then went back to
eating.

Violet
smiled, my eyes locked onto her mouth as I saw two long, sharp
fangs begin to extend from her gums. I gulped, my stomach hollowing
out in dread. It wasn't possible. She was out in broad daylight.
She should have been burning up by now. That was the first thing we
were taught about vampires.

"I come
from the Daywalker bloodline," she added. "Sunlight weakens me, but
it does not kill me, as with other vampires. I guess they neglected
to teach you about our existence, of which they are very much
aware. That I can assure you. You're probably wondering what else
they forgot to tell you, or lied about."

"No," I
said. Yes, I thought. My mind flashed back to General Marsten, and
what little I could piece together from the moments before I
slipped into unconsciousness. I remembered him saying something
about secrets, and the uneasy feeling I had since my encounter with
the vampire was back again. I knew something was up. I knew they
were hiding things from us.

My
thoughts returned to the vampire sat in front of me. What could she
possibly want with me? Not death. She could easily have killed me
already. Water, food, even trusting me enough that I almost escaped
into the woods. That wasn't something you did to a person you were
going to kill. Unless maybe it was all a plan to gain my trust, in
the hopes I would spill information on the Silver Dawn. But she
could have just mind-raped me into telling her everything I knew.
Sergeant Locke's words still echoed at the back of my mind,
reminding me that a quick death was sometimes the better
option.

"I know
it will be hard for you to trust me," she said, her voice filled
with sincerity. "But I promise you, we are not your
enemies."

Daniel,
who had finished eating his slab of meat, pushed himself up and
rested his muzzle on my lap. He let out a soft whine, eyeing the
rest of my meat. My stomach churned with unease, and so I picked
what was left of the meat off the skewer and held it in the palm of
my hand, praying he wouldn't take my hand with it. He picked up the
meat, chewed it a few times, and then threw his head back to
swallow it.

"Deer is
his favourite," Violet said, smiling.

What was
happening? Nothing seemed real. Vampires were evil, blood-sucking
creatures. They weren't supposed to smile and talk about others as
though they were dear friends, or family. They weren't supposed to
be kind to their captives. And they certainly weren't supposed to
be out in the middle of the day.

Daniel's
tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth, dripping with saliva. I
reached out to scratch him behind the ear. He tilted his head to
one side, his eyes closed and tail wagging. This wasn't the
werewolf I was brought up to know – a savage beast that would not
hesitate to rip the meat from my bones. Daniel whimpered
again.

"Behave
yourself, Daniel," Violet scalded him. "He's such a baby when it
comes to food."

The urge
to escape still nagged at my mind. I wanted nothing more than to be
back in my room, with Ash's arms around me. And yet, there were
questions I needed to ask. There were answers I needed, and I had
no idea whether this opportunity would arise again.

"Why did
you call me Siren back there?" I asked. "And what did you mean by
'my song'?"

"You
don't know? Sirens are another of the vampire
bloodlines."

"So
Sirens were actually vampires?" I asked, and Violet nodded. "But I
thought they lured people to them. What does that have to do with
my ability?"

"Sirens
can manipulate the emotions of those around them. In the past they
would prey on travellers, luring them to their deaths with feelings
of love and safety. That is how the mythological Siren you know was
born."

"And the
song?"

"Your
ability. Those who fall under its spell, sometimes report hearing a
song. I think it's their way of interpreting the magic in a form
they can understand."

"I
see."

Had the
Silver Dawn known all this and chose not to tell me? If so, then
what did it all mean? Why would they lie to us about such a thing?
Why all the secrecy?

"Now let
me ask you something. Why did your General want rid of
you?"

"I had
suspicions about the Daeva, and where we got our abilities from. He
said the secrets of the Daeva should remain hidden, and it was for
the good of humanity."

Footsteps
approached me from behind. The two men from earlier sat down at the
fire, each taking a skewer from the slowly dying fire. Daniel
finally moved his head from my knee and plodded over to them,
whimpering and giving them his puppy-dog eyes.

"I had
the same suspicions," said the redhead, who began to tear into his
food. "That's why they kicked me out." He looked to be around my
age, maybe a little older. His fiery, auburn hair was a little
longer, falling in subtle waves that reached his grey-blue eyes.
Body-wise he was about the same height and build as me.

"Kicked
you out?" I asked.

He smiled
and held out his hand towards the fire. A stream of flames spouted
from his hand, causing the fire to spark to life, and startling me.
"I'm like you," he said. "I'm Nathaniel, by the way, but you can
call me Nate."

"Mik," I
replied.

"And this
is Sebastian," said Violet, motioning to the other man who sat
beside her. He gave a quick nod and continued eating. Sebastian
was, I assumed, the oldest of the group, possibly barring Violet.
He appeared to be in his early forties, with short-cropped brown
hair and matching brown eyes. He was taller than the others –
though not quite as tall as Brad was – and well built, but not
particularly muscled.

My mind
was torn. I still couldn't quite believe everything I had heard.
But then there was Nate, a Daeva like myself, who had had the same
suspicions about his powers. How many other times had the Silver
Dawn tried to cover their tracks by removing people?

"So do
you all live here?" I asked, wondering what they were doing in the
ruined village. And I thought that, perhaps, if I could casually
get some information from them, then I could learn what their
motives where.

"No,"
Nate replied, his hand running through Daniel's fur. "We go where
we're ordered, gathering infor–"

"Stop,"
Sebastian interrupted him. "We don't know if we can trust him
yet."

"It's
okay, dear." Violet stood and walked behind Sebastian. She reached
down, putting her arms around him. "I trust he is no longer one of
them."

"Have you
thought about what you're going to do now?" Nate asked. "I mean, I
assume you realise you can't go back to Rachat now."

What was
I going to do now? Was going back even an option? After all I had
just learned, I wasn't so sure. The tiny thread of hope I was
holding onto, that Ash would find me and we'd go back to the city
together, slipped fast through my fingers. I thought, maybe we
could expose the General for what he did to me, and learn what was
so important it had been deemed necessary to leave me unconscious
in the middle of enemy territory. But the more I thought about it,
the more I realised how foolish it was.

I had no
idea how many people were in on the secret, and I doubted the
General would leave anything to chance. If I tried to re-enter the
city, I'd probably be killed on sight as a traitor. And who would
believe me over the Silver Dawn's highest ranking officer? Ash
would. Lucas might. Brad and Katiya, I wasn't so sure about, but I
would have liked to believe they would have. Four people; that was
hardly enough to make a difference. More than likely, even if I did
make it to Rachat, they'd say I was delusional.

A wave of
panic washed over me, the reality of the situation setting in. I
found it difficult to breathe. There was no going back for me. Just
when I had found a true friend, and lover. The realisation that I
might never see Ash again was like a crushing weight on my
chest.

"Fuck," I
screamed, running my hands through my hair and clutching fiercely
at it. I doubled over, fighting back the tears that threatened to
spill over. This couldn't be happening. Not now. A cold, wet nose
nudged my cheek.

"Come on,
Daniel. Let's go do our rounds," said Violet. She whispered
something to Nate and Sebastian that I didn't quite catch, before
leading Daniel away. Sebastian followed soon after.

Nate sat
next to me, his hand resting on my back. "It's okay," he said.
"Just let it all out."

I brushed
his hand off and stood, beginning to pace back and forth. I kicked
at the gravel, and then fell to my hands and knees, letting out a
ragged scream of anguish, and slamming my fists against the ground.
Nate caught my fist and I looked up to glare at him.

"I know
what you're going through," he said, releasing my hand. "I wanted
to go back too. I had friends. I had a family. And because of some
dumb secret I had to leave them all behind. But it gets easier with
time, you know?"

His words
were no comfort. I didn't want it to get easier, because I didn't
want it to be real. I wished I would wake up to the sounds of the
morning bells, with Ash's arm draped over me. He would kiss me, and
I'd realise it was all an awful dream. Deep down in my heart, I
knew that would never happen.

I raised
my fist again, noting the blood decorating my knuckles, and began
punching the floor once more. Nate grabbed hold of my arms. I
thrashed against him, screaming as he wrapped his arms around me
and held me. "Hey, stop that. Hurting yourself isn't gonna do any
good."

I
resorted to beating my fists against his chest, until the anger
seemed to subside and all that was left was tears. I slumped
against him, my head resting on his shoulders until even the tears
stopped.

It was
their fault, I thought. The Silver Dawn. They used me and dumped me
like a broken toy. I wanted them to pay. My blood boiled with
hatred towards them.

"You want
to get back at them, don't you?" Nate whispered in my ear. My head
shot up, looking him right in the eye. "I know, because I do
too."

"How?" I
asked. The idea should have seemed unbelievable. How could I hope
to get back at them? They were locked away safely in Rachat. Out of
reach.

"Violet
and the others are part of a group, known as The Twilight
Resistance." Nate gripped my shoulders and stared straight at me.
"Join us. We can get our revenge together, for what they did to us.
Forcing us to leave everyone behind."

I opened
my mouth to speak, the word 'yes' lingering on the tip of my
tongue. But then I thought of Ash. That stopped my voice, quieting
the rage and thoughts of revenge against those who wronged me. Was
he still out there looking for me? Before I could even think of
revenge, I had to find him.

"It's
okay. You don't have to say anything. Why don't you get some rest
and think it about it more in the morning?"

I nodded.
After everything that had happened, my energy was drained. Nate led
me into one of the ruined buildings and up a crumbling flight of
stairs. The windows were mostly boarded up, the evening sun
slipping in through the cracks. Nate took a bottle of water, and
some cotton wool from a backpack, and began to clean the blood and
dirt from my hands. And then he motioned for me to take off the
armoured vest and slip into one of the sleeping bags that was laid
out on the floor.

"You can
take this one," he said. "It belongs to Violet, but I'm sure she'll
understand. It's not like she actually needs to sleep
anyway."

I pulled
off my boots and climbed in, not having the energy to
argue.

Nate
crouched down next to me. "You've got a lot to learn about life
outside the city, Mik. But trust me, it has its good
points."

I nodded,
feeling my eyelids grow heavy. The sleeping bag provided little
comfort against the hard, wooden floor. It didn't matter. I needed
rest, and my body was already drifting off.