Dark Seeker (10 page)

Janie spent the rest of the day in her room, too angry to face Isabelle or Abram. She didn’t know whether she was angry at herself for feeling anything but hatred for a Daychild, or at her mother for not understanding her feelings. Maybe a little of both.

The sun had set. She lay on her bed staring at the plastic glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling. She contemplated whether to go into the city. Abram thought she should hold off until the Chapter knew more.

She looked down at her cell phone with worry. She hadn’t heard from Matt since that morning. She wondered if he’d ever want to speak to her again. After everything he’d witnessed, she doubted it. Not that she ever really had a chance with the most popular guy in school. She wasn’t even sure if she liked him that way. She gripped her pillow tightly, too frustrated to think about it anymore.

“You still look pissed.” Janie sprang upright. Kai stood inside her window. The curtains blew around his body, surrounding him in a cloud of cream-colored silk. Only the breeze didn’t come from outside her window; the window was still closed and locked. The silk material settled to the floor. Kai was dressed in the same gray T-shirt and dark jeans, his golden hair windswept around his head. He shook it back into place.

“Please tell me this is the first time you’ve done that.” Janie clutched her heart. It about jumped out of her chest. She wondered how he’d gotten in, if not through the window.

“What, snuck into your room?” He smirked. She eyed him accusingly. He caught her look. “It’s the first time,” he said.

“Why are you here anyway? If my mother catches you, she will surely plunge a dagger through your skull. This time I don’t know if I can stop her.” Janie checked her cell again, even though she knew she hadn’t missed any calls.

“Matt hasn’t called?” he said, not really seeming to care either way.

“I called him after you left. He hasn’t returned my call. I just wanted to make sure he made it home okay.” She placed it back on her nightstand.

“He did. I spoke to Albania.” Kai coughed, not so subtly changing the subject. “So, does the Chapter know why the ‘undead,’ as you call them, have taken an interest in the suburbs?”

“No, but there’s been a rise in the disappearances of high school kids. A junior from Towson High disappeared from his neighborhood just this afternoon. He went out to play basketball and never returned home.”

“From what I’ve heard downtown, vampires are pissed,” he said. “They’ve been able to fly under the radar lately. Some have even started to blend into the human world unnoticed, even accepted, but not for long. Daychildren are creating a mess that vampires have to keep cleaning up. I think that’s why Jerome and his crew were at the party. They knew what Antony’s gang was up to.”

“It’s just going to keep happening.” Janie let her bare feet fall over her bed and jumped to the floor. “That lair downtown, in the old law firm, I want to go back.”

“We don’t know how many live there. Even with me by your side, there could be a fight.” He displayed a cocky smirk. “Not that I can lose.” He placed his hand on his waistline. Kai had at least two blades pushed into his belt. There was a hole where his scythe usually hung.

Janie lifted her comforter off the floor. She retrieved his scythe from under her bed. “Here. I thought you might want this back. I got it after Abram left.”

He grasped the hilt. Their fingers brushed together. He retracted his hand and placed it into his belt. He removed a dagger from a holster strapped to his ankle. “And you left this at Albania’s.”

“My dagger, thanks.” She regarded the wooden hilt. “It was my mom’s. Her mentor gave it to her.”

Kai fingered the carved inscription. “What does it mean?”

“
U-le-tsu-ya-s-ti.
It
means ‘brave’ in Cherokee.”

“
U-le-tsu-ya-s-ti
. Very cool. It’s too bad you’re not brave.”

“I’m brave.”

“No, you’re reckless; there’s a difference.” He combed his fingers through his hair. Janie stared at the long scars along his forearm. She wanted so badly to ask him what had happened. “Speaking of reckless, why do you want to go back to the law firm?” he said. “Are you asking to have another splint shoved into your skull?”

“Not so much, but it’s the only place I know to start my investigation, and the Chapter hasn’t been any help.”

“Ah, the Chapter. . .you know they aren’t going to want you to associate with me anymore. They may even be angry that you haven’t attempted to kill me yet.”

“Attempted,” she said, astonished. “I have. Remember my Honda and the pole that jumped out in front of it? I attempted.”

Kai smiled. “You’d never succeed. I’m too strong and fast for you.”

“Is that a challenge?” She angled her body.

“If you make it one. I’m just stating the obvious.” He smirked, biting his lower lip.

Janie jumped into a sidekick. Kai caught her leg and flipped her onto the floor. She shot back to her feet, hands fisted and blocking her face. She kneed him in the groin followed by a quick uppercut to the jaw. Hardly fazed, Kai took hold of her hips and spun her onto her back. She lay on the floor, out of breath and staring up as he hovered over her.

“Done yet?” He smiled victoriously.

“Nope.” Janie rolled out from under him, scrambling back to her feet.

She squatted into a sweeping circular kick along the floor, taking his feet out from under him. He landed on his backside. She slid over to him and raised her arm, pretending to plunge a dagger into his skull. Kai swiped her knee out from under her and she landed directly on top of him.

“How about now?” he said, their faces only inches apart. Not a puff of air touched her skin.

It wasn’t like being face to face with a human. He didn’t need air to breathe. She noticed sometimes he did, an instinct left over from his human years. Janie paused to feel his heartbeat under her chest. It sped quickly, in equal rhythm with hers. She counted the beats to make certain his heart really beat. It did.

“Pink,” he said. He looked past her.

“What are you talking about?” She pushed back from him.

“The walls, your room is pink. I thought you didn’t like pink. That’s why I got you a black helmet.” Kai rolled her onto her side so they were facing each other.

Janie propped her head up with her hand. Her elbow rested on the floor. “I don’t. We move every four years, so my mom doesn’t paint. A ten-year-old girl had this room before me.” She pointed up. “Hence the glow-in-dark-stars. I’d prefer a much darker color. I’m hoping the next house we move to has a boy’s room, much better color selection.” They lay on the floor for few long seconds of silence. “Why does your heart beat?” she said.

Kai rolled his eyes in annoyance. He sat up and propped himself up against her closet door, resting his arms over his knees. “I already told you I don’t want to discuss it.”

She moved to her knees to meet his eye level. “That’s because the Bloods and the Crips were about to brawl last time.” Janie made fabricated gang signs with her fingers again.

“The who?” He squinted, confused.

“You live in the city. You really should know who the gangs are.” He didn’t seem to care. She glanced down at his chest, letting her playful demeanor mellow. “Will you ever tell me why your heart beats?”

“No—” His green eyes turned steely.

“You know I’m going to ask you again,” she pushed.

“I know, you’re annoyingly persistent. My answer’s going to be the same.” His voice deepened, making it obvious he wasn’t playing around.

She continued anyway. “One day you’ll tell me.”

Kai’s face tightened. “We won’t ever be that close.”

CHAPTER 7

Maybe this wasn’t the best idea
. It was too late to rethink her not-so-brilliant, spontaneous plan. Her bruised ego had gotten the best of her, and now she was surrounded by a gang of Daychildren. She quickly learned the law firm of
Bower, Reed & Associates
no longer existed, and if it did, they no longer practiced law on Eastern Avenue.

She’d filled her school backpack with stakes, not knowing what to expect in the city. She didn’t anticipate running into any vamps, but since she’d thought her plan out
so
well, she figured she’d bring some along. Her first mistake, making the trip to the city. Her second, knocking on the large wooden door packing only three silver-coated daggers.

She swore under her breath. How could she let a Daychild get to her like that? If she made it out alive, she was done with Kai Sterdam.

Janie scanned the inside of the abandoned row home. She stood on a 17
th
century Persian rug. It’s once-vibrant colors were now dull and covered with dirt. The paisley wallpaper hung torn from the ten-foot-high walls, under thick wooden crown molding. The office smelled like a rat-infested sewer combined with the rotting stench of an unkempt morgue, minus the formaldehyde. At least ten Daychildren surrounded her, males and females of all ages. She could see the hunger in their black, hollow eyes. But not one of them made a move toward her. Something held them back. She wondered if they were waiting for her to make the first move. A familiar voice broke through the circle.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the Seeker, back for more. I told you we’d meet again,” Antony said. He knocked a bald guy with a goatee to the side with his pudgy body. He stood at least four inches taller than the rest, the alpha male of the pack.

“Why were you in the suburbs last night?” Janie said. She’d removed two blades and adjusted the backpack across her back. With this bunch she wouldn’t need stakes.

“You think you can come up in my place asking questions?” Antony crossed his arms over his chest.

“Then tell me why the vamps stopped you,” she said.

“No one stopped us. We don’t listen to vamps. We got what we came for.” He scowled at the mention of vampires. Sweat seeped from his brow.

“It didn’t look that way to me,” Janie pushed.

“Then you don’t know anything, little girl. You’re grasping for straws.” A cocky smirk formed on his face.

“Did you Turn that missing teenager?”

“What, the little punk in Towson? Take a look for yourself.” He glanced to the side.

A skinny teenager with pimply skin stepped forward. Janie recognized his face from his photo on the news. His eyes were no longer blue, but she recognized his buzz cut. He wore a pair of athletic pants and a long-sleeved tee, matching his parents’ description. She remembered he’d disappeared after he went out to play basketball.

“Can we eat her yet? Just a nibble?” a round woman growled. Drool dripped from her fangs.

“Go ahead,” Antony said. “But her blood is mine.”

The circle closed around her. Janie slashed the two blades out in front of her, causing a few to step back. She nailed one in the ribs with a side kick. A thin arm swung at her. She ducked and swept the legs out from under the scrawny woman, taking the opportunity to plunge a dagger into her head. The man with the goatee jumped on her back. Janie shot up, launching him back into a tall guy with glasses and a woman with short spiky hair. All three tumbled to the ground.

The “missing” teenager caught Janie’s lip with a right hook, splitting it open again. Blood flowed on to her tongue. She wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her navy hoodie. The teenager then kicked her in the ribs, causing her to drop her dagger. She reached into her boot for her other, favorite one. Blindsided again, she landed squarely on her shoulder, the bald guy with the goatee on top of her. He held her against the floor by her throat, squeezing her neck so tightly she couldn’t breathe. Janie clutched at the hand on her throat. Her slippery fingers gripped the dagger in her other hand. The spiky haired woman held Janie’s arm down so she couldn’t strike the bald guy with her dagger. Her lungs burned. She could feel the tiny air pockets caving in.

Suddenly, the bald guy collapsed on her chest, releasing his grip around her neck,
 
viciously forcing the trapped air out of her lungs. Janie sucked in large gulps of air, coughing uncontrollably. She glanced down at his massive, limp body covering hers. The guy lay on top of her with a scythe lodged in his skull, covering her in green goo. She sloughed him off her.

A black Sketcher cracked the spiky haired woman’s sternum. She flew into the wall. Janie stumbled to her feet. She lost her balance and landed in Kai’s strong arms.

“What were you thinking?” he said. He dragged Janie upright and removed a smaller blade from his belt. He propelled it forward, into the skull of the missing teenager.

Janie drew in the clean smell of lavender and sweat. She tried to speak. Kai placed his finger over her lips. “Don’t answer. We’ve got to get out of here.” He scooped his scythe off the ground.

Pounding erupted at the door. “Stop,” Antony said. “We have more guests.”

Surrounded by the last of the gang, Antony stood with his arm extended, blocking another newly Turned teenager from attacking.