Dark Seeker (23 page)

Kai paced the floor. He thought he had more days with Janie. The timeline had been moved up, so now he had only one night left with her. He stared at a floral painting at the end of the hallway.
Come on, Albania. Answer. You’ve got to be here.

The door swung open. Kai breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re here.”

Albania was dressed in a long black silk nightgown. It skimmed the floor, sweeping over her hot pink toenails. Her red hair framed her petite face. “What is it? Is it Janie?”

“Janie’s fine. Can I come in?”

“Sure.” She motioned for him to pass. Albania kissed his cheek and wove her fingers through his. She led him over to the couch. “Please sit with me.” She still held his hand. “Did it work? Was Janie able to rescue Tanya before your gift wore off?”

“She did. Thanks to you.” He smiled. Her presence calmed him. His first instinct had always been to react, but Albania had taught him to think first. He had to keep a level head in order to make the wisest decisions.
Lavender.
Bathing in lavender had been Albania’s idea, something about it being a soothing herb. She once admitted she liked the smell on him. “I need your help again.”

“Anything.” She squeezed his hand.

“Can you create a spell that will make the night children walk in the daylight?”

She gasped, taken by surprise. “Why would you want to do that?”

“It would only be temporary, only for a few hours.”

“Kai, I can’t do that. I swore to use my gifts for good. I’ll never do anything for vampires.”

“This isn’t for them. It’s for Janie, me and a whole team of high school football players.”

“Now I’m really confused.” Albania scooted closer to Kai. She removed her hands from his and traced a line around his face, eyeing him adoringly. “When I found you, I was drawn to you. You lay dying, a silver blade so close to your brain that death wasn’t immediate, but would be slow and painful. I felt for you. I’ve always hated vampires, but with you. . .you were different somehow. I felt as though I loved you even then, before I even knew you.” She placed one finger on his lips. “Tavares knew you were different. He tried to kill you before you could reach your full potential. You were such a disappointment to him. The first Daychild created, yet you showed signs of a conscience. How would his new race of vampires succeed, grow and flourish, if the first one he created showed signs of weakness?” She kissed his lips. “But you are anything but weak. That’s why I love you.”

“Then trust that I’m only asking this of you because it will save many human lives. Trust in what we have meant to each other, what we still mean to each other, and help me.”

Albania
stared deeply into his eyes as if reading something written behind them. “You’re leaving?”

“You know me well.” He looked away. Airplane lights flickered outside her apartment’s expansive window.

“You and Janie will miss each other.”

He tried to hold back his emotions, but tears stung his eyes. “She knows what I did.”

“Abram told her?” Albania said. Kai nodded and returned to her worried gaze. Albania closed her eyes. She breathed deeply, taking in everything around her within a state of meditation. “I don’t feel anger when I think of Janie. Only love. She loves you. She’ll move past this. She’s human. You have to give her time to heal.”

Kai’s words came out with a forced edge. “Are you certain of this? Certain enough not to destroy Janie’s life? She’s never wanted love. She runs from it. What I did suffocated her ability to let someone in, to let someone love her. She’s grown up empty, afraid if she needed anyone too much she would lose them.” He breathed. “Love isn’t worth the risk to her.”

“And you love her?” Albania’s head dipped forward. “You never loved me like that. It was never me. I knew it.” Kai tried to speak. She lifted her gaze and covered his lips with her fingertips. “Don’t. You don’t need to explain. I’ll help you.”

“Thank you.”

Albania
pushed her wide, bony shoulders back. He could always count on her to set her own feelings aside and focus on what needed to be done. “I can only grant a few of them access to the sun. Choose the ones you want and have them meet me in the harbor right before sunrise. I’ll find them. They will be given the ability to walk in the sunlight for only one day. After the sun goes down, they will return to the night.”

“You have possibly just saved the lives of many.” Kai kissed both of her cheeks and stood. “You’re not just a witch, you’re a guardian angel.” He hustled over to the door. “I need to meet Janie.” He reached for the doorknob and glanced back. Albania sat, legs crossed under the silk, watching him. “I do love you. I always have and I always will. I’m alive because of you. I can love because of you.”

“Janie,” she whispered.

He nodded and left.

Thanks to one of his gang members, Janie finally found Jerome with Tanya at the Dead Solitarian, otherwise known as the “vampire graveyard,” located within the human graveyard, only their bodies weren’t buried. When vampires died, their bodies vanished, much like Daychildren. So, instead of burying bodies, they lay tombstones of remembrance.

Jerome stood over a cluster of at least twenty new headstones. They were well polished and glossy under the moon’s shine. One read—
Bubba Jones, may he finally have a cheesesteak to go with the blood—go Philly.

 
“Am I too late?” Janie waited for Jerome to finish his prayer. He kissed his gold cross and directed his attention to the sky.
Do vamps pray? She knew their aversion to crosses was a myth, but praying? Whatever.

 
“Seeker,” was all he said.

“Hey, girl.” Tanya draped herself over Jerome’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry about your gang. How many?”

“Twenty-three.” Jerome cleared his throat. “They drained their venom and staked them.”

“Antony wants to strike the high school tomorrow.”

“I heard.” He didn’t look at her.

“Are you still going to help stop him?”

“No,” he said. Anger rose in Janie’s chest. He’d promised. Now that things had changed, he couldn’t just go back on his promise.

Jerome continued. “I’m going to
kill
him.”

“Tonight?”
That would solve everything. They wouldn’t even have to worry about the football players or the sunlight issue.

“No, unfortunately.” Jerome caressed his cross with two fingers. He still hadn’t made eye contact with her. “They just moved their lair. They knew we’d retaliate, so they vanished. I have my gang searching the city. It’s probably useless. Antony won’t hide where he knows we can find him.”

“They will be at football practice tomorrow afternoon. That’s where they plan to Turn the team.”

“Seeker, in case you’ve forgotten, we are vamps; we don’t do daylight. It’ll have to be another time for us.”

Janie skirted a tombstone, stepping closer to Jerome and Tanya with determination in her tone. “How many vamps do you need to defeat Antony and his crew?”

“They’ve got about twenty, so five of us should do, with you and Kai. They ambushed us tonight. That’s the only reason they were able to do what they did.” He kissed Tanya. “Why? It doesn’t matter—we can’t go in the sunlight.”

“I just spoke with Kai. He has a friend who can arrange things so that you
can
go out in the daylight.” For the first time, Jerome
really
looked at her. Janie held up her hand before he could speak. “Only for tomorrow. Pick five vamps from your gang, including you, and meet her at the harbor before sunrise.”

“The harbor’s a big place.”

“She’ll find you,” Janie said. “Kai was right. Meeting on school grounds was a bad idea. Meet me at my house—two-thirty. We’ll go together. I’m not exactly sure how Antony plans to execute his plan, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t care about exposure.” She shot Jerome a serious look. “
We
are going to minimize the exposure—got it.” She brushed a chunk of loose dirt from a freshly buried tombstone to expose the inscription—
Brotherhood
. “If the Chapter finds out I’ve allowed Daychildren and vampires to invade my high school. . .well, let’s just say I’ll be screwed. Luckily, most of the students will be leaving by three. Only the jocks, a few teachers and maybe students in after-school clubs will be left.”

“Then it’s done. We’ll meet this friend of Kai’s and be at your house.” Jerome knelt down in front of another grave. He bowed his head.

“See you later, sugar.” Tanya fluttered her red fingernails and knelt down beside him.

CHAPTER 16

Janie cornered a stone building. Kai was standing with his back against her car, his arms crossed in front of him. The car seemed to be holding up all his weight. Janie stopped to stare at him for a moment. He was beautiful, even with all his flaws. She realized she loved him because of his imperfections. She also realized she had forgiven him the moment she learned he’d killed her father.

She crossed the road.

“Hey.” He didn’t look up from the ground.

“It’s done. The vamps are in.” She snuggled up next to his ribs. He draped his arm around her. “Thanks for calling. That’s great. . .about Albania.”

“Yeah,” he said softly.

“What’s wrong? Other than the usual Daychild issues and,” she paused, “other things.”

“I’m just thinking about my conversation with Albania.”
 

“Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. She brought up something I’ve never told you before.”

“What—that she loves you?”

Kai coughed, or choked, kind of a combination of both. “No—I mean yes, but that’s not what I meant.”

“It’s okay. It’s obvious the way she feels about you. The way she looks at you. I noticed the first day I met her.” Janie bit her cheek. She tasted blood. Maybe their relationship affected her more than she had realized. “Do you feel the same? I mean—do you love her, too?”

“I love her. Not the way she’d like me to, but I love her as a very dear friend—the person who saved my life at one time and taught me how to live again. It’s not like how I feel about you. She knows that.” He caressed Janie’s face with his free hand.

“What were you going to tell me?” She leaned into his touch.

“You already know Tavares was my Maker. I was the first Daychild he created. He had high hopes for me.” He laughed. “I guess I wasn’t living up to his expectations. I started to develop a conscience.” His mood deepened. “I became depressed in a way. I was a killer, but afterwards, after I killed, I felt physically sick.” Kai dropped his arm and leaned farther back against the car. Janie was afraid the metal door frame might crack. “He was ashamed of me. He didn’t want to start a race of cowards, so he tried to kill me. Albania found me with a silver dagger through my skull. I was moments from death.”

“So that’s why you react the way you do when you hear his name. He was your Maker and he tried to kill you.”

Kai tilted his head back. He stared at the star-filled sky. “He treated me as a son, in his own screwed-up way, and I let him down.”

Janie couldn’t believe he was saying this. The logic was so twisted. She grabbed his hand. “You can’t feel ashamed. He’s in the wrong. He’s creating a demonic species that can’t even begin to coexist with humans. They’re killers. Even the vampires can’t stand them. You are right and
he
is wrong.”

He brought his gaze down to hers. “I know. It’s just another one of my many issues. I’m broken. You deserve better.”

She bit her tongue.
Could he really believe this?
“Kai Sterdam—don’t you ever say that again. From a very young age, I set my life on a course of loneliness. I thought it was better to run from love and be alone then to take a chance.
Love gets you killed.
That’s what I always told myself. I was wrong.”

“Albania told me to stay. That you’d forgiven me.” He angled his body to face her and slid his arms over her shoulders. He pinned her between himself and her car, exactly where she wanted to be.