Dawn of Darkness (Daeva, #1) (27 page)

"Dammit,"
Violet cursed. "Back inside. Quick."

We ran
back into our hideout, shutting the door quickly behind us. There
were footsteps outside, the snow crunching beneath their feet. They
stopped, and for a second I thought they might have passed by. The
door flung open. A group of three men and one woman greeted our
eyes. Vampires. I couldn't so much see it, as I could feel it in
the air around them. They gave off a distinct aura of
other-worldliness. My fingers twitched at the blade Nate had given
me. I pulled it from the sheath, trying to keep the movement
hidden.

"Well,
well, look what we have here," said the first. He stood in front of
the others, so I assumed him to be the leader.

"Looks
like a feast to me," said the woman.

"I smell
werewolf, human, and something else," said the second man. "The
other two, they're human, but they have the smell of magic about
them."

Violet
moved to stand in front of Sebastian.

"Oh,
don't worry, you can keep the human," their leader said. "But we'll
be taking the other three." He smiled, the moonlight glinting off
their fangs.

"I bet
the two boys'll taste sweet," the woman added.

"You
won't lay a finger on them," Violet snarled. "Leave now. This is
your only warning."

"Or
what?" the leader asked. "You think you and that pup of yours can
protect them?"

"They
don't need protecting," Violet said. "Why don't you show them,
Nate?"

"Well? Let's see what you've
got,
human.
" The leader taunted Nate, spitting out the last word as if
it were something dirty. The rest of their group
laughed.

"As you
wish." Nate grinned, sweeping his hand out in front of him. Jets of
fire erupted from the ground in an arc, forcing back the group of
vampires and sending them scattering into the ruins.

"Keep
your eyes open," Violet said. "They haven't gone far."

Daniel
growled, his shoulders arching. There was a smashing noise from
behind us. We turned to see the wood covering one of the windows
smashed, the third male jumping through. Nate reacted instantly,
his hand flying out in the direction of the vampire who retreated
with a scream.

"Not
bad," came the leader's voice from outside. "But how long can you
keep it up?"

"All
night long, baby," Nate shouted back.

A chorus
of laughs sounded, echoing through the building.

"What's
the plan?" I whispered to Violet.

"If we
stay here, they'll try to wear Nate down, and they will outlast
him," she said.

"Tch,"
Nate snorted. "Don't underestimate me."

"I'm
not." Violet sighed. "You're just too cocky."

A
crashing noise from upstairs caught our attention. Violet pointed
to myself and Nate, and then nodded towards the stairs. Nate went
first. I followed close behind, sticking to the wall with my knife
in hand. Upstairs was another large room, like the one below. The
moonlight flooded in through a hole in the ceiling. I couldn't see
any sign of the vampires. A distraction? Then there was a blur in
one corner of my eye. Nate must have seen it too because the room
lit up as a stream of fire jumped from his hand. The vampire
paused, jumping back to dodge the flames. It was the female. I
sensed more movement to my left and swung around, slashing at the
air. A deep laugh resonated through the room. There were two of
them, at least. I heard noises from downstairs; clattering and
barking.

Nate
nudged my side. "Focus on our own opponents," he said. "Violet and
Daniel can hold their own."

"Is that
so?" the female vampire said, flicking her long, blonde hair over
her shoulder. "Then we'll have to finish you two off quickly and go
help."

"The
redhead's mine, Cynthia," grunted the male. "I owe him for almost
lighting me up."

"Fine by
me," replied Cynthia, jumping up onto a roof beam as she dodged
another wave of fire.

"Over
here, Copperhead," the male taunted. More fire blazed in his
direction.

"Stay
close to me," Nate said.

"You
can't fight both of them," I said.

"Your
ability won't work on them."

"I can
take care of myself. If you're that concerned, then finish off your
guy quickly."

"Okay,
go," he said. "But don't you dare die on me."

I stepped
away from Nate and moved to the back of the room, where Cynthia sat
watching from her beam. She jumped down, landing without a sound,
and smiled at me.

"You're
cute," she said, her voice a little higher pitched than it had
been. "If you surrender, I promise to make it extremely pleasurable
for you." She rolled the word pleasurable off her tongue, and
twirled a strand of hair around one finger, avoiding looking me
directly in the eye. I scoffed inwardly, having see this
performance so many times with Ash's fan girls. I smiled,
remembering some of Katiya's famous lines for turning down both her
and Ash's admirers, and Cynthia smiled back, giggling.

"In your
dreams, tramp."

Her eyes
widened in shock, and she lunged forward, bearing her fangs at me.
I swung the knife, feeling it bite into her skin as she tried to
dodge it. She wasn't that fast, I thought. The vampire in the
bunker at Montargis had been faster. My eyes could follow this
one's movements. The question was, would my body be able to keep
up?

"Is that
all you got? One tiny prick?" Cynthia laughed, rushing at me again.
I sidestepped and took another swing, missing her by an inch. From
where I stood now I could see Nate wasn't having an easy time
either. Flames lashed out in every direction, trying to catch the
male, who was running circles around him. I looked back to Cynthia,
in time to see her knee connect with my ribs. She rode me to the
ground, pinning my wrists to the floor and straddling my
waist.

"Don't
fight it," she whispered. Her tongue darted out to lick the shell
of my ear. I flinched at the cold, wet feeling. "You could be my
new play thing. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"As if,"
I said.

Cynthia
scowled and lowered her lips to mine. I tried turning my head away
from her, but she followed, eventually managing to press our lips
together. Acting on an impulse, I opened my mouth the tiniest
little bit. Cynthia took it as an invitation and deepened the kiss.
I bit down hard on her tongue, causing her to scream and pull away.
The metallic taste of her blood filled my mouth. I spat the blood
in her face and head butted her with as much force as I could
muster. The pain echoed through my skull. Cynthia loosened her grip
on my wrists as she reared back. I pulled my right hand free and
drove the knife into her side. It slid easily between her ribs.
With my other hand, I grabbed a handful of hair and pulled hard,
hoping to yank her off me. She let out another scream, rolling off
to one side and jumping to her feet. I rolled in the opposite
direction and pushed myself up.

"Oh, I am
so done with you," Cynthia growled, holding her side. The flesh
steamed where the silver knife had penetrated her. "We could have
had so much fun together. Now, I'll settle for ripping your fucking
heart out."

She ran
at me, though slower than before. The silver must have weakened
her. I slashed, aiming for her throat. Cynthia managed to jump
back, leaving the blade to whistle through the air. But then she
froze, eyes going wide with confusion. She grasped at her throat,
as blood began to pour out of it. Hacking and spluttering, she
dropped to her hands and knees. I wasn't sure what was happening,
but I took the opportunity to drive the knife into her back,
piercing her heart. With a final cough, her body sagged to the
floor, landing in a pool of blood.

"Cynthia," the male bellowed. A second later there was a rush
of flames, and his body caught fire. He roared, dropping to the
floor and rolling. It was a minute later when he stopped moving,
the stench of burning flesh filling the room. He burned until all
that was left was a blackened husk. Nate walked over to me. Just to
be sure, he torched Cynthia's corpse too.

"Nice
one," he said, patting me on the back. "How did you manage
that?"

"I-I
don't know," I replied. "I thought I missed." I could have sworn
she dodged that last swing.

"Well,
forget it for now. She's dead and that's all that matters. We
should go check on the others."

We rushed
downstairs to find Daniel sitting at the feet of a bloody, maimed
corpse. Violet had the leader pinned against the wall by his
throat. Daniel gave a loud yip when he saw us, wagging his
tail.

"You two
okay?" Sebastian asked.

"I'm
good," Nate said.

Now the
adrenaline was wearing off, I could feel my head and ribs
throbbing. I lightly touched where it hurt and hissed when a sharp
pain coursed through my chest.

"Sit down
and let's take a look at it," Sebastian said. I did as I was told
and lifted up my clothes. My chest was bruised an angry shade of
purple. It looked a lot worse than it felt though. Sebastian
pressed his fingers against the bones, eliciting some more hissing.
"Doesn't feel broken. Any sharp pains when you breathe?"

"No. Only
when you touch it."

"Looks
like it's just bruised, but we'll bandage you up to be sure. The
last thing we want is a fractured rib puncturing your
lung."

Nate
grabbed some bandages and other supplies from one of the bags. They
placed strips of adhesive tape along the bruised ribs. Next an
elastic bandage was wrapped around my chest, with some padding over
the bruises. It was tight, but not so tight that I struggled to
breathe.

"That
should do it," Sebastian said. "Try to take deep breaths, even if
it hurts, and don't sleep on that side for a few days."

I nodded
and stood, wincing as the pain shot through me again. Violet was
still interrogating the lead vampire. I pulled my clothes – or
Nate's clothes, I should say – back on, and made my way over to
them. Daniel was sat at her side, looking up at the vampire, his
tail wagging.

"Are
there any more of you out there?" Violet asked, her voice cold and
emotionless.

"Like I'd
tell you," the vampire answered. Violet took the blade in her hand
and drew it across his face, the skin sizzling as it came into
contact with the silver. "Fucking psycho bitch," he screamed. The
knife was drawn across his chest.

"Answer
the question," Violet said. She trailed the point of the knife down
his chest, not breaking the skin, just touching, until she reached
his groin.

"Fuck,"
the vampire gasped. "No. No, there's no more of us."

"You see
how easy that was?" Violet said. "Now, what were you doing
here?"

"We
smelled food. That's all, I swear," he replied frantically.
"Please, you have to believe me."

"Oh, I do
believe you."

"Then
you'll let me go?"

"No.
There's still one last thing I need from you." Violet
smiled.

"What?
Anything!"

Violet
grabbed a handful of hair and tilted the vampire's head to one
side. She lunged for his neck, fangs extended, sucking and
swallowing as the body in her arms struggled. His eyes stared at
me, pleading with me, until his body went limp and his eyes closed.
I stood there, watching, and not really believing what I was
seeing. Did it count as cannibalism? Violet threw him to the ground
and wiped the back of her hand across her mouth.

"Nate,
burn the bodies. The rest of you, get ready to move out again,"
Violet ordered. Her head turned to me. I realised I was still
staring. "I was going to kill him anyway," she said. "May as well
get a meal out of it."

Violet
turned and walked away, heading for the others. I shook my head,
trying to shake off the image of the vampire dying in her arms. I
had other concerns I needed to share.

"I killed
one of them," I said, following after her.

"Good for
you."

"But
something happened, and I don't know how to explain it. I tried to
slit her throat, and missed. At least, I think I missed, because
she started bleeding and–"

"Then you
didn't miss."

"It's
that simple?" I asked. "After all the supernatural stuff you must
have seen, and your answer is that I imagined it?"

"Yes. You said it yourself,
you
think
you missed. But she definitely started bleeding,
correct?"

"Well,
yes, but–"

"No
buts," she interrupted me. Violet turned to face me, gripping my
shoulders and looking me in the eye. "Sometimes a snake is just a
snake."

I raised
an eyebrow, wondering what snakes had to do with anything. Violet
sighed.

"It means
that, sometimes, things are simply what they are, and nothing more.
She bled, so you can't have missed. It's probably the stress
getting to you."