White Winter (The Black Year Series Book 2) (2 page)

Frank looked up. “Then we make a stand.”

“We what?” Mills said. “Frank, we can’t do that; we’ll lose half our people.”

“Not everyone, Mills, just us. The others will drop any of the heavy stuff they have left and bug out as fast as they can run.”

Jonas didn’t understand. Why would they-

“Okay,” Sean said, almost to himself. Ryan came to stand next to him, and Sean put his arm around his brother’s shoulder.

“Okay?” Mills said. “How is this okay?”

“I’ve got a kid, Frank,” Henderson said.

Frank crossed his arms, meeting Henderson’s eyes. “I’ve got a wife. Poole has a kid and a boyfriend waiting for her. We stand.”

“Like hell we do,” Mills said. “We fall back with the others. Better yet, we run
now
and get a head start.”

“Jonas said if we do that, they’ll follow us back and everyone dies.”

Mills spat. “And how would he know that, Frank?”

Frank shrugged and looked at the ground. “I don’t know, Mills. Kid talks to things no one else can see. And you remember what happened with Eve? But he knew. He described everything that’s happened tonight.”

“He could have set it up, Frank,” Poole said. “He’s always wandering off, and he’s a vampire. He could be inside your head right now.”

“He isn’t,” Jim said.

“No offense, Jim, but you’re as much in Jonas’ pocket as Frank is,” Mills said.

Jim shrugged and looked away.

Frank stood. “He told me where to stop, told me Poole would make that joke about me being a gentleman, and that Henderson would piss the twins off. He even told me you’d be the one to balk, Mills.”

Mills turned pale, eyes darting to the others. They stared back. “You can all think what you want, but I’m not doing this.”

Frank drew his pistol. “I’m not asking.”

Jonas tried to will himself into their heads, to make them back down, but he couldn’t touch their minds or anything else.

Mills showed Frank the palms of his hands. “I’m gonna grab my weapon, and I’m going to walk out of here, Frank. You can-”

Frank snapped the pistol up and shot Mills as he turned; Mills’ head jerked back, his body went limp, the helmet flew off his head and hit the concrete floor with a loud
thock,
then it was just the crackle of the dying fire and the patter of rain on the roof.

Jonas stared. He’d never seen a dead human before. Vampires turned to ash and werewolves seemed so different from… people. But Mills’ eyes stared blankly ahead, a small hole by his right ear, a shocking amount of blood spreading beneath his head.
I couldn’t stop it,
Jonas thought.

His sight cut to the battle. He saw Ryan in wolf form, whining like a pup, cradling his dead brother. He saw Poole torn in half. Henderson was blown apart.

“You going to shoot us too, Frank?” Poole asked, gripping her rifle.

Frank, his mouth wide-open, dead eyes reflecting a light that just kept getting brighter.

“Jonas said I wouldn’t need to,” Frank said. “Not after I…” He looked at Mills’ body.

I couldn’t stop any of it,
Jonas thought.

Frank sat by the fire’s embers, holding his head, pistol still gripped in his hand. Someone had stripped the weapons from Mills’ corpse.

“I’d better get going, Frank,” Jim said.

Frank turned, looking genuinely surprised. “You’re not staying?”

Jim didn’t meet his eyes. “I would, Frank, but Viv… You know I love you like a brother, right?”

“Yeah, I know that.”

“I wasn’t going to come at all, but the kid shoved the box into my hands… I’m no use to you in daylight anyway,” Jim said, and for the first time, Jonas noticed how pale he looked in the firelight.

After a few seconds, Frank turned back to the fire and said, “It’s all right, Jimmy.”

“Yeah,” Jim said, wiping his eyes with his wrist. “It’s funny; Jonas said the same thing.” He sniffed. “Kid destroys the world, and he forgives me. Isn’t that a kick in the pants?”

♘

“What was that?” Jonas said. He felt cold and hollow and sick.

“Jonas, I-”

“What the
hell
was that?” Jonas shouted, tears freezing on his face, and the priest winced. If the sidewalk hadn’t been empty in the early morning cold, he would have drawn stares.

“I don’t know what it was, Jonas. A warning? A prophecy?”

“How do I stop it?”

“I don’t know that you can,” the priest said. He looked back; his ride to the airport had arrived. “Look, I’m sorry, Jonas; I don’t pick the timing on these, but you got it for a reason. You saw Jim and the twins; we have time. We might have years.”

Jonas barely heard him.
I have to stop it. I have to.
He thought back to the rain, the smell of soil, the dark-green leaves spattered red.

“I’ve got it!” the priest said, waving the driver off. He opened the door, got in, and slid to the far seat. The car rocked, then the door shut on its own.

Until summer,
Jonas thought, hugging his arms.
I have until summer.

CHAPTER 1

Frank punched him in the face. Jonas stumbled back holding his nose, eyes watering.

“You okay, kid?” Frank said, lowering his hands.

“I’m fine.” The room spun a little, but he focused and got his guard up.
“Let’s go again,” he said.

“Let’s not.”

“But-”

“I’m
tired,
Jonas. I’m 37 years old, and human, and it’s late, and you’re not learning anything right now.”

And he has a wife to go home to.
Jonas sighed, looking at the floor. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s pick this up Monday.”

Frank grinned. “Good man.” He grabbed his towel from treadmill handrail and wiped the sweat from his face, neck, and hands.

Jonas was dry, but overheated. He could still cry and salivate, but he didn’t sweat, he got hotter until he couldn’t think straight.

“Why are you pushing so hard, anyway? What’s the rush?” Frank asked.

Jonas shrugged. “I just want to be ready.”

“For what, Jonas? We won. Agency’s back up and running. Goof off and be a kid for the holidays.”

Jonas forced a smile. “I’ll be fine, Frank. I’ll hang out with Eve and Kieran. You spend time with your wife.”

Frank smirked. “Yes, sir,” he said, following Jonas toward the exit. “You never told me how you knew about her, incidentally.”

“It’s in your file,” Jonas answered, looking down the hallway.

“Which you haven’t read,” Frank answered, his voice flat. “There’s a checkout sheet on the inside flap, Jonas. You never signed it.”

Jonas turned and Frank locked eyes with him. Jonas had seen him knock a werewolf out, once. He’d had that same look on his face when he did it.

“You been poking around my head, Jonas?”

Jonas relaxed. “No, Frank. I couldn’t, not with that gizmo on your hip.” A ward the size of a pocket watch was clipped to Frank’s shorts, glimmering slightly. As long as Frank wore it, his barrier was stronger than Jonas’.

“Your mother could get around it.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not my mom, am I?” Jonas said, starting to feel uncomfortable again. “Can we drop this?"

Frank shrugged. “You’re the boss, Jonas. Just remember what happened in Grand Central. I can’t help you if you don’t trust me.” He walked past Jonas toward the locker rooms.

Jonas sighed. The priest left a week ago. He wanted to tell Frank about the prophecy. He wanted to tell
anyone
, but he wasn’t sure how to explain it without sounding crazy. The feeling of helplessness and impending doom wasn’t as sharp as it had been when the priest touched him, but it was still a constant drag on his every waking moment.

Maybe I’ll tell Eve,
he thought. He could just show her the memory. Except, then, his girlfriend would know he was going to destroy the world.

“Jonas?” Eve said.

He looked up. Students were filing out of the training rooms, chatting, and throwing him and Eve the occasional awestruck look. Eve was wearing jeans and a green hoodie; Viviane made her students wear regular clothes so they’d be able to fight in them. “Hey, Eve. Done for the night?”

“Yeah. Are you okay? You were just standing there.”

“I’m fine. I was just thinking.” He saw a slender woman with short, dirty blonde hair follow the last student out, trailing smoke. “Viviane!”

“No!” she said, without turning.

Jonas sighed.

Eve held his hand. “She’s not going to change her mind, sweetie.”

“Why? Because I’m not good enough? I-”

“Because she’s literally 100 years old, and she already told you no, and you’re not a puppeteer.” She squeezed his hand and smiled at him, and her glamour-enhanced emerald eyes, porcelain skin, and chin-length copper hair kicked in. His brain shut down. He grinned like an idiot.

♘

Jonas skipped to the next track on the playlist, feeling tense, and landed on “I Will Find You” by Clannad. Which would have been great, except it reminded him of his dad, and how Alice shut down when Victor was captured.
Oh, that’s just awesome,
Jonas thought, closing the app and pulling his earphones out.

“What’s wrong?” Eve said, lifting her head from his chest. “Did I load the wrong ones?”

“No, they’re the right ones,” he said, stroking her shoulder. “They’re just not making me feel the way they used to.”

She settled back down, giving him a squeeze. “Maybe you’re not the same person anymore.”

“I guess not.” His left arm was half-asleep from having her lay on it but, even with the music, this was as close to tranquility he’d managed for the past week. He closed his eyes and focused on the warmth of her body, her skin beneath his fingers, the light scent of soap and lotion; she nuzzled into his chest.

“You could just tell me what’s wrong,” she said.

He opened his mouth to say nothing was wrong, but he couldn’t quite get past how disappointed his dad would have been at the outright lie.

“Jonas, I’ve been inside your head. Don’t tell me nothing’s wrong,” Eve said, pinching him.

“Ow! I didn’t!”

She raised her head again and frowned, searching his eyes. “Well, you must have been thinking it pretty loudly.”

From this angle, he could almost see down her tank top.

“Hey! Eyes up here,” she said, digging her fingernails into his side.

He met her eyes, glanced at her lips, then slid his hand up her back. She smirked, but let him pull her closer.

The alarm on his phone jolted them both out of the moment.

“Sunrise,” Eve groaned. “I’d better go back to my room,” she said.

Jonas tightened his arm around her. “You could stay,” he said.

“I’m not spending the day with you, Jonas. People would talk.”

“About what? It’s not like we can do anything.” Vampirism came with several useful perks, like denser bones, telepathy, and extreme longevity. It also had a few inconvenient side effects.

Eve touched his cheek, tilted her head up, and spoke softly into his ear. “They’d say we found a way around it, like your parents,” she said, her warm breath making his skin tingle. “That we spent hours in each other’s heads, or that we were… feeding on each other.” She gave his neck a little nip, fangs retracted. Jonas’ heart pounded like a bass drummer on speed. Then Eve wriggled out from under his arm and stood. She grabbed the hoodie from the back of his desk chair and pulled it back on.

“Hey!” he said, sitting up. “Wait! Can we do that? Is that a thing?”

Eve gave him a mischievous grin. “I’ll see you tonight.” She was reaching for her phone on the nightstand when Jonas felt pure dread wash over him. He gasped, arms covered in goosebumps and his mouth suddenly dry.

Eve froze mid-reach. “Jonas? What’s wrong?”

“It’s Marcus. I have to go,” he said, launching himself off the bed.

CHAPTER 2

“I’m coming with you,” she said, snatching her phone and jamming her sneakers on.

He was already at the door. “Don’t! Call Kieran! Tell him to meet me at the morgue!”

He took off at a dead sprint, bare soles slapping against the cool steel floor. He turned left, then right, almost knocked over a pair of vampire trainees as they headed to their rooms, and dodged around a werewolf carrying a tray full of raw meat, before reaching the elevator.

He had to stop and think for a moment before he remembered the exact layout of the room he wanted, then the elevator jerked into motion, taking him down two floors.

Come on!
he thought, focusing on the control panel. Jared was dead because Jonas didn’t move fast enough, the husk of his body left draped over the lobby desk. The elevator shuddered. It might have been his imagination, but he thought it moved a bit faster.