Seconds Before Sunrise (The Timely Death Trilogy) (6 page)

“Why are you here?” I asked.

His dark eyes lightened. “Did you know I was born to the Light?”

“No.” I ignored
my racing heart.

H
e ran his long fingernails over his long sleeves. He pulled them up and revealed white slashes of scarred flesh.

“They’re evil,” he said. “And they raise their children to be as well.”

I tried to tear my eyes away, but I couldn’t. The scars were old, patched up in places with healed skin, but the bumpy ridges remained. Some were burns while others were round, hinting of puncture wounds. He had obviously been tortured, and I suddenly understood why Luthicer wanted me to go through the pain of the torture machine.

I stretched my other leg before sitting up. I gulped my water down, and Luthicer waited patiently for my response, but I didn’t have one. There were no words to sympathize with something I couldn’t understand, and I wasn’t about to fake that I could.

“They’ve been evil since the beginning, Eric.” Luthicer used my real name as if it would help reach my conscience. “They attacked our people in a moment of peace. We were balanced. We were free—”

I knew the story. The Light and the Dark lived among humans, but the humans weren’t completely oblivious either. They suspected some of
those with power, generally the ones who couldn’t remain silent. They had been labeled as witches or gods. Ultimately, there wasn’t much of a difference in their eyes.

The Light took advantage of it. They depicted themselves as holy, and the people followed them, believing every word about the evil cr
eatures that came out at night. Unbeknownst to them, we were the innocent ones, and when we confronted their lies, they slaughtered us. They wanted power, and they did anything to achieve it. If it weren’t for a select few − the oldest ones who stripped everyone’s powers − the war would’ve continued, and the Light would’ve succeeded. But the power couldn’t stay dormant forever, so it followed two bloodlines. I was one of them. Darthon was the other. The separation of balance created Jessica’s.

“Were you exi
led?” I interrupted his history lesson.

“I’m sure that’s what they’d say,” he said
in a half-grunt. “But I left.” His lips pulled into the largest grin I’d seen him expose. His teeth were crooked. “After I did as much damage to them as I could.”

My throat tightened as I pictured a much younger version of Luthicer, but my imagination was halted by a lack of information.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“I killed fifte
en of them. Maybe more.” His voice dropped. “I was thirty-five.”

I didn’t know Luthicer’s age, but I wished
I did. I wanted to do the math to figure out if it had to do with my birth.

“It had nothing to do with your birth or Darthon’s,” he said, hinting at my existence. “I had a daughter with a human.”

This was news to me.

“She’s human,
of course,” he said, raising a finger. “But the Light didn’t care.”

“They wan
ted her to fight?” I asked, thinking I had to have heard him wrong.

A hum
an couldn’t fight a shade. They would simply be a body to clean up, but he nodded.

“I
could not allow that to happen.” Luthicer pulled his sleeves down. “But my abandonment didn’t come without a price.”

I didn’t ask
what happened after. I didn’t need to. The point was in his physical and mental torture handed to him by the sect, not the details of how it happened.

He
continued to fiddle with his sleeves as if he could retract his honesty. “I know you don’t like me, Eric,” he said, standing up. “But I am on your side, and I have been my entire life − even when I didn’t know it.”

I wanted to tell him he was wrong, that I liked him, but I couldn’t. Although I’d heard his story, my emotions had yet to catch up, and I needed time to reflect on everything before I’d be more comfortable with his dedicatio
n.

“And I want you to believe me when I say they are evil
− all of them,” he continued. “They aren’t evil as humans. They are people just like us. But, unlike shades, their conscience disappears with their transformation,” he lingered on his words as if it were the first time he’d spoken them. “It’s one of the reasons half-breeds struggle so much. Half of ours disappears.”

“Do you struggle?” I asked, wanting to know how my enemy’s mind worked.

Luthicer’s face twisted, and he turned his torso away as he opened the door. He left, but his last words echoed behind him, “Not anymore.”

Jessica

Minutes ticked by, but the sunset remained above the plains of the Midwest. The sky was plastered with stormy clouds, and the wind pushed against the glass near our table. We had gone a town over to eat at
La Bella Luna
, but I had barely given the building a glance. The setting sun was enough.

“How’s your dinner?”
Zac’s voice sounded too close.

“It’
s fine,” I brushed him off.

Crystal bumped her ankle against mine. I didn’t have to look at her to know what she meant. I was being rude.

“How’s yours?” I asked him.

Zac waved his fork over his empty plate. “
I love this place,” he said.

I laid my hands on the oak table. The wood was cool beneath my wrists, but the
restaurant seemed warm. The golden lighting spread across the red floors and blackened walls like a sunlit river.

The restaurant was beautiful, definitely romantic
. I wasn’t sure how to convince Robb or Crystal that Zac would never be more than a friend. They didn’t take no for an answer, and it was the only answer I had.

From across the table, Robb bumped into his girlfriend’s arm. “Want t
o order dessert?” he asked Linda.

Her
lips thinned. She hadn’t touched her salad. “I thought we were seeing a movie,” she said.

“We can later,” Robb sai
d, but he didn’t check his watch. Both Crystal and Linda took a long time to get ready, and the food did, too. The movie had started an hour ago.

“We could
watch one at my place,” Zac suggested.

“Dad has to get up early,”
Linda excused her half-brother as if he were a child. “We’ll go to a later show.”

“Maybe you should ask everyone else how they feel,” Zac said, and I flinched at his hardened voice. “What do you want to do, Jess?” he asked, but all I could concentrate on were his black eyes,
consuming the light around us.

Crystal pushed her chair backwards. “I’m going to the restroom,” she announced, standing on platform sandals t
oo tall for her. “Come on, Jess.” She wobbled away as I stood up.

We
had swerved through two rooms before we reached the restroom. She leaned her body against the door and pushed past me. I followed her and locked the door behind us.

Habitually, Crystal pulled a pen from her purse and threaded it through her fingers. “What is going on with everyone tonight?
” Her lip ring twinkled as she ranted. “Linda and Zac keep fighting, Robb isn’t paying attention, and you’re barely talking. Not to mention that I’m the fifth wheel − the fifth − not the third.”

“You’re not the fifth wheel,” I said, but Crystal cocked her hip.

“Zac’s into you,” she said. “Like really into you.”

“Wasn’t that your plan?”

Her eyes darted to the ground. “I don’t know.”

I couldn’t be
lieve what I was seeing. Crystal Hutchins was insecure.

“You like him,” I accused
.

Her
face lifted up, her mouth open. “Who?”

“Zac.”

Her cheeks burned, but she didn’t deny it.

I sighed and fiddled with the tips of my curls. “It’s fine, Crystal. Really,” I
said, finally understanding why she was pushy. She liked Zac, and she wanted him around. If he came around me, she would get to see him, but it was starting to bother her. It was written all over her ink-covered palm.

I took her pen away and
placed it in her purse. “I don’t like him, Crystal.”

“Not at all?” she squeaked.

I held back the truth. I wasn’t sure what I thought about him, but I didn’t want to say I hated him. Zac seemed nice, but he wasn’t my type.

“Go for it,” I encouraged, trying to block my
thoughts out.

“I can’t,” she said. “It’d be too awkward after prom.”

My dinner churned against my stomach. “What about prom?”

C
rystal’s glitter mascara caught the light. Purple spots blocked my vision.

“You guys danced,” she said. “And he kissed you—”

“What?” My voice was high-pitched as it echoed off the mirrored walls. I couldn’t remember.

Crystal’s shoulders rose. “Are you feeling okay, Jess?” she asked, gesturing to a spiraling couch in the middle of the room. Someone knocked on the
door, and Crystal shouted back, “Someone’s sick in here.”

I sat down
on the couch before I fell down. My brain felt like it was pushing through my forehead. I gripped the rough fabric beneath me and released a deep breath.

Crystal scurried to my side. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t feel well,” I admitted, rubbing my temples and searching for any memory of prom, but nothing surfaced. “I must be coming down with something.”

“I’ll have Robb drive you home.
” She stood up, but I pulled her down.

“In a minute,” I said.

Crystal scooted an inch away. “You’re kind of freaking me out, Jess.”

“I
’m sorry,” I muttered.

H
er elbows rested on her knees, her head in her hands. “This is because of Zac, isn’t it?”

“No,” I promised.

Crystal’s eyes turned red. “I would’ve said something earlier, but I don’t exactly have many girlfriends,” she admitted, curling her fingertips through her black roots. “Linda doesn’t count.”

I wanted to respond, but I couldn’t. My mind remained clouded, and Crystal’s confession was adding to it. I liked Robb and Crystal, but I still felt like I barely knew them. I didn’t know how to fix it.

“Something is wrong with me,” I spoke the words without considering the aftermath.

Crystal straightened up, and
I immediately wanted to ask her to forget what I said.

“What are you talking about, Jess?” she asked, gesturing more to my dress than anything else. “There’s nothing wrong with you.”

I stopped her. “I’m having dreams.”

“So what?”

“So, I can’t sleep,” I added. “I can’t think. I can’t do anything but feel like I’m going insane, and I don’t know what to do about them because they won’t stop, and they seem so real, and—”

Crystal laid her hands on my shoulders. “Breathe, Jess.”

I did what she said, but I didn’t feel any better.

A
nother knock rapped against my eardrums, and Crystal walked over to answer it. I listened as she opened it, but I didn’t turn around. Robb was there, along with a manager, and Crystal apologized.

“I think we should ta
ke her home,” she whispered, but the sound was louder than anything else I’d heard in my life. In that singular moment, it was the only thing I could hear. If I hadn’t known what a panic attack was before, I knew now.

“Jess?” Robb walked around the cou
ch.

I stood up before he could touch me.
“I’m okay,” I said.

H
is expression didn’t budge. “How about I take you home?” he asked, gesturing to the exit. “You can get some rest.”

“Rest is the las
t thing I need,” I mumbled, marching forward.

Even I had to admit
that it was time for me to leave. Otherwise, I would probably ruin everyone’s night, and that was the last thing I wanted. Instead, I wanted Crystal and Zac to work out, but it didn’t seem probable. Zac stood by the exit doors with his jacket draped over his arm. Crystal was gone.

Robb stopped in the doorway. “Where are the girls?”

“Still at the dinner table,” Zac said, looking past Robb to stare at me. “I thought I could take Jess home with you.”

“No,” Robb said, and Zac sud
denly seemed taller. Robb adjusted his shirt. “I’ll be fifteen minutes, and they don’t need to be here alone.”

“So
, I can take Jess home,” Zac offered.

“Not in my car,” Robb said, pushing past his friend
. He opened the door, and cold air rushed in. It was late. “Let’s go, Jess.”

“Thanks anyways, Zac,” I sai
d, but he didn’t respond. I rushed outside, feeling cold, nauseous, and everything in-between.

Robb took my arm as
if I couldn’t walk on my own. I wanted to pull back, but he did before I had the chance. He unlocked his blue Suburban, and I climbed onto the passenger seat as he got in the driver’s side. The engine shook the car, and Robb blew into his hands before grabbing the steering wheel. It was colder in the car than it was outside.