Dawn of Darkness (Daeva, #1) (7 page)

"I'll
take the back," I said, and Katiya nodded.

The
wooden steps leading to the back door creaked and groaned under my
weight. I stepped carefully, not wanting to put a foot through
them. Once at the top, I peered inside. Sensing no immediate threat
I opened the door and went in. The smell that hit me then was
horrid. It was a damp, musty smell that threatened to bring up the
contents of my stomach. And there was a sharp, metallic smell,
almost acidic, that lingered in the air and caught on the back of
my throat. I tried breathing through my mouth, but the air was so
thick it left a taste on my tongue, which only made things worse. I
backed outside to take a few deep breaths and regain my
composure.

There was
no way to avoid the smell, so I took one last breath before
charging back in. With my gun aimed, I scanned the corners of the
room. There were two exits, one straight ahead and the other to my
left. I chose left. The smaller room was empty, just like the last.
I turned to check the other exit, when I saw something flash past
the second doorway, out of the corner of my eye. I ducked back
behind the wall, praying that whatever it was hadn't seen
me.

"Katiya,
where are you?" I whispered into the radio.

"Basement," came the reply. "This place stinks."

I crept
forward, hoping to avoid any creaky floorboards, until I reached
the doorway, and pressed my back against the wall. From where I
stood, I could see the staircase at one end of the hall. The
movement had looked like it was heading the other way. I stepped
out into the hallway, gun held directly in front of me. It was a
dead end, save for one last door.

I
positioned myself against the wall, as I had done before, and took
short, shallow breaths, trying to steady myself while avoiding the
stench that pervaded the air. A ruffling noise came from inside the
room. My heart beat wildly against my chest. I spun around the door
frame, my eyes scanning the room for any movement. At one side of
the room a crow sat on an old dresser. It cocked its head at me and
squawked.

"Shit," I
muttered, and gave a nervous laugh. Then I saw the 'body'. I use
the term loosely because calling it a body implies it was shaped
like one, with all the necessary parts. Skeletal remains was more
like it, and I doubted it was a complete set at that. The stained
bones lay strewn across the floor, snapped and broken in so many
places. Were it not for the fractured skull staring blankly back at
me, I probably wouldn't have recognised them as human.

The crow
continued to watch me with its beady black eyes. It gave another
squawk and fluttered away through one of the holes in the ceiling.
My heart leaped into my mouth when a hand landed on my shoulder. I
span around and backed up, gun aimed at Katiya, whose eyes widened,
as though I would actually shoot her. The thought had crossed my
mind a few times in the past.

"Jesus...
fuck! Don't do that." I could hear the blood racing through my
skull.

She
laughed. "Oh man, that was priceless." Reaching up to her headset
she said, "All clear at the mill, but we're gonna need a change of
underwear for Mik."

There
were some laughs from Brad and Lucas.

"Not
funny," I growled, making sure to knock shoulders with her as I
stormed out of the room.

"Oh, come
on. It was kinda funny." Katiya chased after me.

"You
startled me. I could have shot you." Tempting as it was at times, I
had no desire to be put through a series of investigations and
disciplinaries because of one annoying female.

"Okay,
okay. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snuck up on you. Happy
now?"

"Not
really."

Katiya
sighed. "Didn't think so."

We walked
in silence to the next row of houses. The radio crackled,
"Farmhouses are clear. We're gonna work our way towards you guys
now."

"Roger
that," Katiya replied. "You take that side." She pointed to the
left side of the street, and I nodded.

The
houses here were in better condition than the first lot. Still,
there wasn't a lot to check. Sergeant Locke had mentioned there had
been a battle here. I wondered what all the fighting had been over.
Nothing about this town seemed terribly important. We found nothing
in the houses. About half an hour later, we met up with Ash and
Brad on the far side of the ruins.

"How's
things looking up there, Lucas?" Ash asked.

"Just
peachy, if you don't mind staring at lifeless ruins all day. Techs
have arrived. They're starting to unload now."

"Okay,
we'll fan out from here and make our way back to the Wisent. Brad,
you'll take the southern-most block. Mik, you're on the north
block. Kat and I will cover the square in the centre. Let's get
this finished up so we can head home."

Finally,
I could get away from Katiya. My section had only a small number of
houses, though they were mostly intact and larger than the previous
ones. Old cars littered the street, blackened and rusting, stripped
down to their bare frames. Sighing, I made my way to the first
house.

The door
still hung from one of its hinges, laid across the dirt and gravel,
the wood warped and splintered from years of abuse at the hands of
the elements. Inside was as bare as outside. A few pieces of broken
furniture lay here and there; a table smashed in half; wooden
chairs with broken legs and backs; a rotten bed reduced to nothing
more than tatters and springs. No sign of anything
living.

I stepped
back outside, and the radio buzzed to life. "I got movement. North
quarter," Lucas said. "I can't get a clean view from
here."

"I'm on
it," I replied. "Point me in the right direction."

"Okay, I
see you. The house in front of you and to the right. It was in the
downstairs window."

"Got it."
I ran towards the house, flattening myself against the outside
wall.

"I'm on
my way over to you, Mik. Don't do anything stupid," Ash told me.
"Kat, you keep the search going."

The front
room was clear. It seemed unlikely they went upstairs, since they
would have had to pass the front door to do so. Footsteps. I turned
towards the source, handgun drawn. The figure dashed past a
doorway. I fired a single shot and it grazed the door frame.
Missed. I was in pursuit. He ran out into a small courtyard. No
cover out there, I thought. Stupid man.

I fired
again, aiming for the ground beneath his feet. "Don't move," I
yelled. He froze, his hands raised in the air as he turned to me.
"What are you?" I asked. He wasn't a vampire, not outside in the
middle of the day.

"What do
you mean?"

"
What
are you?" I repeated.

He
laughed, as though the answer were obvious. "I'm like you...
human."

"How do I
know you're not a shifter?"

"My left
hand." He tilted his head towards it. It was bleeding, though the
cut wasn't deep. Any shifter would have healed a cut that shallow
in seconds.

"Then
you're one of their minions."

Again
with the laugh. "Minions? Boy, they sure have you brainwashed in
that little sanctuary of yours."

"Ironic,
coming from you. You've probably been mind-fucked by a
vampire."

"Is that
what you think? I chose this life of my own free will."

"Then
you're nothing but a traitor." I spat the word at him, disgusted
that anyone could turn against their own kind. Anyone who could do
that had to be scum.

"I'm a
traitor? You're the one holding a gun to a fellow
human."

He had a
point. If I was right and he was under a vampire's spell, then it
wasn't his fault. He could be innocent, and maybe he could lead us
to the real enemy.

"Mik,"
the voice in my ear called. "Where are you?"

"Courtyard, behind the houses on the north side," I replied.
"Target is a middle-aged male, human, no visible
weapons."

"Understood. I'll be there in a minute."

I edged
towards the man, gun still aimed at his chest. He stared back at
me. I didn't want to kill him, not if there was a way to save him.
There had to be a way to break a vampire's spell. Maybe if we
killed the vampire, he would return to normal. Keeping him alive
was the best option, and I kept telling myself this.

He
groaned in pain, doubling over and clutching his stomach. He hadn't
seemed wounded or in pain before. Then he lunged at me. I fired
without thinking. Three shots hit him square in the chest, just as
I had been trained. He fell to his knees. His hands brushed over
the bullet wounds and came away smeared in blood. I saw his eyes
widen as he took in the sight of his blood-soaked hands. Then his
eyelids fell and so did his body, landing on the flagstones with a
thud.

"Mik,
thank God you're okay." Ash ran to my side. He looked down at the
body, and rolled him over with his foot. "I heard the
gunshots."

"He was a
human," I said. Just a human. Another victim in this endless war,
except this time it was a human spilling human blood.

"Yeah, I
know you can take care of yourself," he said. "Doesn't stop me
worrying about you though. Come on, let's get the rest of this
mission finished." He kneeled next the body to check for a pulse,
and with his free hand activated his headset. "Enemy is down.
Continue as planned."

The rest
of the mission went by without a hitch. By all means it was a
successful mission. There were no casualties on our side, the area
was now cleared of any enemies, and the perimeter was set. I guess
most people would have been ready to celebrate, but not me. My mind
flashed back to the moment I pulled the trigger and shot another
human being. I watched the life drain from his eyes, unable to look
away. All of the physical and emotional training I received over
the last year meant nothing when faced with the reality of death.
Nothing could have prepared me.

I kept
reminding myself he was a traitor to the human race, a servant to
vampires, in the hope it would make things easier. It didn't. He
was the enemy, but still, he was human. One of us.

I
wandered the halls of the dormitories, my hands tucked into the
pockets of my faded blue jeans, barely registering people as they
passed me by. My head hung, I could feel an unbearable weight
pressing down on me, enveloping me in its foul warmth. Before long
I found myself outside. The sky looked as gloomy as I felt. Only a
few stars were visible behind the bleak carpet of clouds. An icy
wind blew over me, stinging against my skin as the fine hairs on my
arms stood to attention. The black t-shirt I wore offered little
protection. My feet carried me in no particular direction, away
from the noise and commotion of the dormitories and into the dark
silence. I rounded a corner, a small figure stumbling into
me.

"Watch
where you're fucking going," I spat the words at him, continuing my
slow walk to anywhere and nowhere.

"Mikhail?" the voice came from behind me. I paused briefly
and looked over my shoulder to see Lucas. "You okay?"

"I'm
fine," I replied, hoping he wouldn't start to follow me, which he
did. The last thing I needed was anyone pestering me and feeling
sorry for me.

"You
sure? You look pretty pissed off to me."

"I'm fine. I just want to
be
left
alone.
" I
made sure to grind out those last two words. He stopped
following.

"Are you
drunk?"

"No." But
maybe I should be, I added silently. People always talk about
drowning their sorrows in alcohol, and finding solace at the bottom
of a pint glass, so there had to be something to it. Perhaps I
could drown my misery. And best of all, no-one would think to look
for me at a bar. Perpetually sober Mik drinking? Katiya would
probably die of laughter.

I turned
the next corner and waited a moment, then peered out to see Lucas
heading in the opposite direction. No doubt he'd be running off to
find Ash. A sharp drop of cold water landed on my nose. I looked up
to see more following, illuminated in the glow of a nearby lantern.
They fell slowly at first but were soon picking up their pace. I
took off in the direction of the barracks bar, hoping to make it
there before the skies opened up.

*****

The rain
was forgiving, holding back until I reached the bar. The warmth
inside stung my damp, cold skin. I went to the bar, taking up a
stool at the far end. As I hoped, the place was almost empty. A few
small groups of friends sat at some of the round tables, their
voices barely audible over the sound of music from the speakers
placed around the room.

Hans was
working behind the bar, as always, his back turned to me while he
wiped down an already sparkling clean worktop. I guess keeping busy
helped to pass the time. From the back I could see his wiry, grey
hair was starting to thin, leaving a small bald patch on top of his
head. His eyes caught mine in the mirror behind the rows of spirits
and liquors. Most of the human race had been obliterated a century
ago, but humanity would be damned if it didn't reinvent a vast
range of alcohol during that time. It certainly wouldn't have been
one of my priorities.