Darkness Before Dawn (14 page)

Setting the stake I picked up earlier back on the nightstand, I fold my legs beneath me on the bed and tentatively begin unwrapping the box. I can’t remember the last time someone gave me a present. My parents, maybe. On my seventeenth birthday. Inside the box is a belted holster made of the finest supple leather. I slide out what it holds: a shiny stainless-steel stake. Its balance is perfect, and the light glints off its surface as I turn it.

I can’t believe that a vampire would give me such a nice weapon, one that I could use to kill him.

Moving to the mirror, I wrap the belt low around my hips, secure the buckle. Perfect fit. I fasten the holster to my thigh with the leather strips. I yank out the stake. It slides free with an ease that thrills me. But why did he do this? Why am I touched? He’s a vampire. My enemy. I take it off, shove it into a bottom drawer of my dresser, and cover it with T-shirts. I back up until my legs hit the bed, and then I plop down.

If the gift were from Michael, I’d be ecstatic, because not even a diamond necklace would have pleased me more.

I know I should tell Rachel, but I’m determined to face Victor on my own terms, and going to Rachel feels like … defeat. I refuse to be defeated.

Still, it’s scary how well Victor Valentine knows me.

That night Victor invades my dreams. I roll over and Michael replaces him. We kiss, but when he pulls away, it’s Victor again. I see his fangs just a moment before they plunge into me. And then I wake up. Sweaty, breathing hard, trembling.

I scramble out of bed, walk onto the balcony, and stare at the fading moon. The sky turns gray, then blue. The sun finally begins to rise. Chasing away the darkness and monsters.

And yet I can’t help but feel that both are still lurking nearby.

Chapter 14

I
’m still unsettled when I head to school, and little things begin to irritate the hell out of me. The fact that the sun is hiding behind thick, dark clouds. The fact that I’m running late. The fact that the zipper on my hoodie broke. The fact that I can’t shake the feeling that I’m being watched.

The sidewalk is crowded with people going to school, to work, to shop. To do all the things they can while the sun is up. I spin around—

Catch sight of a dark hoodie pulled up. Another guy shoulder-checks me, knocks me back a little, and I lose sight of the guy in the hoodie. I spot an alley he could have ducked down.

I rush over to it. But it’s empty except for the garbage littering the ground. I turn around, search faces, see other hooded sweatshirts, but not in the dark shade I’m looking for. And I don’t see any with snakes on the back. A girl gives me an impatient glare as she walks around me.

I take off in the direction of school. Picking up my pace, I’m determined to get there before the morning bell. I make it in time, and as I stream in with other kids I find myself paying close attention to what everyone is wearing, searching for that stupid snake.

When I get to my locker I’m not happy to see what’s waiting for me. My photo was taken for the
Denver Times
when I was named the new delegate. Now that article is taped to my locker door with a bubble coming from my mouth with the words,
Ooooh! I loooove vamps!
scribbled inside it.

I hear snickers, glance over, and see Lila standing with a couple of her clones.

I rip the picture down, wad it up, and throw it to the back of my locker.

“It’s hard to handle the truth,” Lila says as she sidles up to me. “One day Michael will realize where your loyalty lies. Then you won’t be able to hold on to him.”

After my stupid dream, her comment hits a little too close to home.

“It’s going to take more than a cheap photo and one of your boy toys stalking me to hurt my feelings.” I know she sent Hoodie after me. Michael hasn’t found the rumor’s source yet, but I’m looking at it. I can feel it.

“Whatever, Dawn. I don’t have to do anything except watch. Your downfall is inevitable. Then my father will become the delegate, and my family will be more famous than yours.”

Dumbfounded, I stare at her. “You don’t get it. This isn’t a popularity contest, Lila.”

“I know that.”

Only I’m not sure she does.

Tegan suddenly appears next to me. “Don’t worry about her,” she says half to me and half to Lila. “You’ll just feed into her craziness no matter what you say.”

She’s right. Lila has some kind of warped agenda. The best thing I can do is ignore her. I turn to my best friend, grateful to have her support.

“Besides,
we’ve
got things to discuss,” Tegan says.

“Like what?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Lila stomp off. Score one for Tegan and me.

“The new guy,” Tegan says.

“Who?”

“You haven’t heard?” she asks, as though it’s incredible I made it this far in life without hearing of the
new guy
.

“No.”

“You’re gonna love this,” she says as we start walking down the hall. “He arrived on the Night Train. From Los Angeles. Can you believe it? I’ve never met anyone who actually traveled on the Night Train. I have, like, a million questions for him.”

When we get to our classroom, I immediately understand what all the buzz is about. The new student stands at the front of the room next to Mr. Chen. He’s good-looking, easy competition for Michael in the hottest-guy-in-school category. His hair is longish, falling just below his eyes, which are dark, as if they’ve spent an eternity in shadow and like it there. He’s wearing nice clothes, which means he has money. Wealth and looks—with those two things, he immediately has the attention of the girls in the class. Tegan included.

“Hello, future boyfriend,” she whispers. She smiles at him on the way to her desk.

“You’re nuts,” I say as I sit down beside her. “You don’t know anything about the guy.”

“He’s hot. What else do I need to know?”

Before I can answer, the bell rings and Mr. Chen calls the class to order, then says, “Everyone, this is Sinclair.”

“Sin,” the new guy corrects him. “Everyone just calls me Sin.”

“He looks like he was made to sin,” Tegan murmurs in a low voice beside me.

I roll my eyes at her, but secretly have to admit that she’s right. He looks like he could be trouble. The good kind, though. The fun kind.

Sin’s eyeing the room. I feel his gaze pause on me, analyzing the delegate, before moving on to the next student. He just stepped into the lion’s den of high school, and it’s like he’s already in control.

Mr. Chen points to an empty chair that just happens to be beside Tegan. I’m afraid she’s going to pass out from exultation. Sin takes his seat. Mr. Chen tries to lecture, but it’s a lost cause. Everyone only cares about the new kid. Even I’m not immune, stealing glances whenever I can. It isn’t long before he’s whispering to Tegan, and she laughs or nods and smiles. He seems as infatuated with her as she is with him. Not that I can blame him. He’d be nuts not to be interested in her. So many guys are. What intrigues me, though, is to see that Tegan isn’t in flirt mode. She seems to be truly fascinated by him.

When class is over, Tegan and Sin walk out together before parting in the halls. She hops over to me and takes my arm to balance herself.

“Oh. My. God. Is he hot or what?”

“Definitely hot.”

We start heading to our next class.

“I think he’s going to ask me out,” she says.

“All guys ask you out,” I remind her.

“But he’s different. Or I want him to be different. I want what you have with Michael.”

She’s never told me that before, but then I remember how she was glad that Michael couldn’t join us at the party, how she didn’t want me to call him. Maybe my developing relationship with Michael has been hard for her. I never really thought about it, because she is such a guy magnet. I thought she liked it that way. Still, I feel a need to point out, “But I’ve known Michael forever. You just met Sin.”

“We could still have that connection.” I hear the stubbornness in her voice. “We
do
have that connection,” she insists. “You like him, right?”

She’s put me on the spot. “I don’t really know him. I wasn’t the one talking to him.”

“You’ll like him,” she assures me. “He’s perfect for me.”

I take her word for it. I’ve got my own romantic connections to worry about. Namely, why the hell am I dreaming about Victor?

I’m grateful when Tegan veers off and Michael takes her place, wrapping his arm around me to draw me in against his side. Strong. Solid. There’s comfort here, familiarity.

He leans down and whispers, “Anything more on what happened last night?”

“No.” Reap called Rachel this morning. Autopsy revealed nothing new. I wonder if Victor got in to see the body before it was placed in the sun for disposal. “Reap asked if we wanted the fangs.”

Some people collect them as trophies. I’m not sure why I’m suddenly bothered by the practice.

Michael appears appalled. “Why would I?”

His reaction reassures me, makes me want to hug him. “Collecting them seems kinda barbaric, doesn’t it?” I ask.

“Yeah, I’ve never understood people who do that.” He shakes his head, then shifts to a new topic. “So, have you heard about this new guy?”

“Yeah. Sinclair: goes by Sin, came in on the Night Train from Los Angeles.”

“Whoa!” He looks taken aback. “Do delegates keep details on everyone?”

I laugh. “No. He’s in my first class.”

“What did you think of him?”

“I wasn’t nearly as impressed as Tegan. I think she’s going to pick out her wedding gown after school.”

He smiles. He has the best smile, nice and fangless.

At the gym, we split off to go into our respective dressing rooms. With no friendly faces among the girls of this class, I quickly change into my workout sweats and head into the gym.

Lo and behold if Sin isn’t in there with us. His sweatpants and a tight-fitting shirt reveal more about his physique. He’s slender, but every muscle is so defined he could be studied for anatomy labs.

The teacher barely acknowledges him, simply marking him off on the updated roster. But I can see Michael checking Sin out, trying to measure his worth. Since he’s been accepted into the elite training program, he looks at everyone a little differently, assessing strengths and weaknesses automatically. His competitive side also seems to have doubled, becoming a beast all its own. I suppose he always feels he has something to prove now; he has to show that he deserves to be in the Night Watchmen more than anyone else.

“Okay, ladies, you’re with me,” Ms. Richards says, and takes us to one side of the gym.

We begin the routine: running and then quick-drawing our stakes; running and then striking the dummies with our bare hands; running and then staking them through the heart. I imagine that each one is Victor, but I find myself missing the blows. Strange. So I switch to picturing one of the vamps I encountered on the trolley—the ones Victor saved me from. Dead center through the heart every time. If I ask Tegan about it, she’ll probably say that subconsciously I don’t want to kill Victor. She’d be wrong.

Suddenly I notice that I’m the only one still doing drills. All the other girls are simply standing there, staring across the room. I ease around one of them to see what’s going on.

The guys have paired up and are wrestling one another, practicing complex throws and moves on the mat. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Michael has paired up against Sin.

Without realizing it, we start moving toward the action, and it isn’t long before the other guys stop what they’re doing and surround the dueling pair. Michael and Sin are locked in battle. It’s only training, of course, and they aren’t trying to kill each other, but they are definitely trying to prove something. I think Michael was looking for an easy fight; he wanted to quickly dominate Sin so that the new kid would know who the top dog in this school is. But it’s obvious Sin is going to make Michael earn that title. They’re both skilled fighters.

Michael grabs Sin’s arm and tries to throw him over his shoulder, but Sin’s too fast, his wiry body finding a weak point and exploiting it. Somehow, it’s Sin who manages to ground his opponent. Michael’s body hits the mat with a resounding thud. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone standing over Michael, victorious. But it’s only for a second. Michael kicks Sin’s legs out from under him, and he lands hard on his back.

“This is good,” Lila says, her attention so caught up in the two guys that I doubt she knows I’m next to her. The audience surrounding the spectacle isn’t cheering for either side, but I’m rooting for Michael, of course. And not just because he’s my boyfriend. It wouldn’t be fitting for the new guy to win. I mean, he’s the
new
guy! I know how hard Michael works and trains.

But as the pair continues, I grow nervous. They seem equal, as if each were fighting a mirror opponent. The only difference is that Sin seems to be smiling more, enjoying himself, and maybe breathing just a little easier.

Then he gets too cocky and charges in. I gasp as Michael uses Sin’s momentum against him and, in one final move, lifts Sin off the mat and slams him down. I cringe at the sound of what has to be bone breaking. The room is still as everyone waits, wondering if the fight will continue. Michael stands tall right now, but he isn’t prepared to keep going. He wants this over.

It’s almost as if Sin picks up on that, too. He reaches his hand up, and Michael takes it, lifting Sin back to his feet. Some kind of man language passes between them. Nothing is said, but everything is understood. Michael will remain at the top, but Sin is close behind. There is scattered applause from the class, and the guys wave us off. Mr. Timmons blows his whistle and begins herding everyone back to their assignments.

I dash across the gym and place my hand on Michael’s shoulder. I can feel him trembling from the adrenaline rush. He turns to look at me, and I can see the warrior in his eyes. For him, this wasn’t just some exercise. He was in combat mode.

“You were awesome,” I tell him.