Dawn of Darkness (Daeva, #1) (41 page)

"I'm
looking for something a little different," Russell replied. "For
two centuries I was content with my temporary playmates, but it
does not hold the same appeal as it once did. I seek something new
and more permanent."

My mind
flashed back to the images he had shown me. "A partner. You want
someone to share your hobby with."

"My
hobby," he said, chuckling. "Such an interesting way to put it, but
you are right. As for why I chose you... I sensed your hate and
distrust of the world. And now, through our blood bond, I can see
why." He lifted a hand to my face, brushing against my cheek. "Poor
little Mikhail, always alone in the world. Always different. Nobody
loved you. You hate them for making you the way you are. They
created you, and made you into something not entirely
human."

I blushed
with anger, feeling the choking heat rush up into my face. He had
no right to be delving into my past like that.

"You're
angry," Russell started. "But that anger isn't only for me. You're
angry at the whole world. You have suffered while they continue
their ignorant existence, no wiser of the pain they inflict. Yes,
such beautiful anger. They should be made to know the pain they
have caused. We could educate them together, you and I, in a duet
of pain and pleasure."

"No," I
whispered. "I'm not like that. I'm not alone anymore. I have
friends now. I have... Ash." But I knew my thoughts betrayed me.
That urge for revenge, and the pain of being alone until I met Ash,
it was still there, lurking somewhere deep inside me like a coiled
serpent. Beneath the determination to bring down the Silver Dawn,
there was the underlying anger and lust for revenge. And then there
was Ash, the shining light amidst the darkness of my soul. Daniel's
words echoed in my mind, reminding me that I couldn't let myself
give in to the darkness and become one of the monsters. I
wouldn't.

"You
cling to the memory of love for this Ashley, but answer me this.
What brought the two of you together?"

"Don't
you speak of him," I snapped, jumping to my feet. My fists clenched
so tight my arms were shaking.

"Pain.
Your shared pain drew you to each other. Don't you see? Pain is the
true higher power in this world. I want to share that power, the
exhilaration, with you."

"Fuck
you," I yelled, one hand wrapped tight around the hilt of my knife.
I drew it from the sheath, pressing the blade up against his
throat, and he let me. He stared right at me and smiled. I pressed
the knife harder into him, his lips curling as the skin began to
smoke.

"What are
you waiting for?"

I felt,
rather than saw, someone at my side. "That's enough," Violet said,
her hand taking hold of my wrist. "Come on, Mik. He's not worth
it."

I nodded,
and her hold on my wrist relaxed. I started to pull the knife away,
and then drew it down across his chest, leaving behind a deep,
crimson tear. Russell gritted his teeth and laughed. "I knew you
had it in you," he said, clutching his chest. "That anger. That
desire to cause pain. You see, we're not so different."

"Enough,"
Violet snapped. "You are to stay away from Mik."

"I will
do as I please," Russell replied. "And you can do nothing to stop
me. I bid you good night, Mikhail. Please, take as long as you need
to consider my offer."

"He will
do no such thing."

Russell
chuckled. "Oh, but the seed is already planted. You cannot stop him
from thinking about it any more than you can stop me." Russell
disappeared, leaving behind only a small trail of dust kicked up
into the air.

"Come
on," Violet whispered, leading me back to my sleeping bag. I didn't
say anything. I pulled the bag tight around me, my body shivering
as though all the heat was sapped from me. Someone shuffled closer
behind me, and I felt their hand on my shoulder.

"We'll
find a way to free you from that bastard," Nate said. "I
promise."

I would
have shrugged Nate off, but in that moment I needed to feel the
warm, comforting touch of someone who was alive. I closed my eyes.
Soon the shivering stopped and sleep dragged me under.

*****

That
evening, I was last to awaken. I didn't move until Daniel came to
make sure I was awake and handed me something to eat. I looked down
at the protein bar in its foil wrapper and didn't feel hungry.
Right then, I didn't feel much of anything.

When
Russell whispered inside my head, I ignored him as much as I could.
When he came to me in person, I turned and walked away.
Fortunately, he was too busy with last minute preparations to
pursue me. Nate and Daniel tried to cheer me up, but I pushed them
away. I only wanted some peace and quiet before the inevitable
confrontation that sat defiantly on the horizon.

Before
long, we were making our way across the barren plains under the
cover of darkness, towards the giant steel walls. Two of the
vampires went ahead to incapacitate the patrols that walked back
and forth along the ramparts. The Silver Dawn never bothered much
with night patrols. They believed they were safe from vampires, and
the high walls were more than enough protection against humans.
Werewolves might have been the only threat to them, but they were a
rare sight near the city. Just in case, they kept a few patrols
going.

One-by-one, the beams of light atop the walls went out. I
wondered as we approached the walls, looming over us, how we were
going to get inside.

'We jump,'
came the answer before I could
ask out loud. Russell put an arm around my waist, and the next
thing I knew, I was rising up into the air, looking down as the
people below grew smaller and smaller. My stomach lurched into my
mouth, and I fought the urge to kick and scream, feeling that it
might be somewhat counter-productive to my survival. Russell
wouldn't kill me, but falling at this height would. And then the
ground was coming closer, faster and faster. I closed my eyes,
gripping onto Russell as tight as I could. Nothing happened. When I
opened my eyes, we were on the ground. Russell looked down at me
and smirked. I snapped back into myself and pushed away from him,
stumbling as my legs felt like jelly. His hand steadied
me.

"I'm
fine," I growled. The hand retreated, and a second later, Russell
was flying back over the wall to pick up the next passenger.
"Bastard," I muttered.

"So where
do we start?" Violet asked once we were all gathered
inside.

"The
military base," Russell replied. "We have no idea where the
pure-blood might be hiding, but we at least know where the General
is likely to be. Maybe he can narrow down the search for us. We'll
split up once we get there to cover more ground."

We
agreed, and I was left with the task of guiding us to the academy.
The streets were deserted, making it easy to navigate without
raising suspicion. The vampires held back anyway, following from
the shadows so as not to draw any attention to us. I kept my hood
up and head down, in case anyone might recognise me. It didn't take
long before we were stood outside the familiar white walls. We
jumped over again, to my dismay, though at least it was a much
smaller jump, and I made sure Violet was the one to carry me
over.

"The
General's office is upstairs in the main building," I said. "It
should be empty by now, but there might be one or two squads still
debriefing in the meeting rooms on the ground floor. The officer's
living quarters are at the back of the compound, but General
Marsten is known for working late."

"Anna,
search their living quarters and gather any information from their
officers. Violet, I want you to take your group and search the
ground floor," Russell said. "But I want Mikhail with my group, to
guide us to the General's office."

"Absolutely not," Violet said.

"No, he's
right," I said. "They need someone who knows their way
around."

"If it
will make you feel better, you may choose another of your group to
accompany us," Russell proposed. "And I will loan you Andre and
Julia to make up your numbers."

"Daniel,
you go with them," Violet said.

Daniel
nodded and stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. He leaned in
close to Russell. "Try anything funny, and you'll be pushing up
daisies where you belong."

Russell
grinned. "You misjudge me, wolf. This mission takes precedence over
my personal plans."

"You'd
better hope so," Daniel snarled.

I barged
past them, getting sick of the macho confrontation, and began
walking to the main building. Daniel followed quickly after me,
sticking by my side, with the others in tow. I pointed out a small
cluster of huts along the way, and Anna snuck off with her group to
investigate. The rest of us entered the main building through the
back door and split up into our two groups.

"Lead the way, Mikhail," Russell
whispered, gesturing for me to take point. The halls were quiet, as
expected. Still, I checked every corner, and we tiptoed down the
corridors. Well,
I
tiptoed. The others had a slight supernatural advantage
when it came to skulking in the dark.

Once
upstairs, we turned right and followed the row of doors, to the one
with General Marsten's name engraved on the brass plaque. A slither
of light crept out from under the wooden door. I stood to one side,
letting Russell and Daniel position themselves to enter first.
Russell held up three fingers and began to count down. Two. I took
a deep breath. One. Blood rushed through my head. Pounding. Zero.
The door burst open. We poured into the room. Empty. An oil lamp
was burning. Papers were scattered across the desk. A half-full
glass of whiskey sat on a coaster.

"He was
here recently," Daniel said, sniffing at the air.

"Looks
like he left in a hurry," Russell muttered. "Can you track
him?"

Daniel
shrugged. "There's a lot of scents in this place."

"Leah,
take Erik and Luke," Russell said. "See if you can track the
scent."

"Gotcha,
Boss." Leah took a deep sniff of the air, and then left the room,
heading back towards the stairs. The two males followed behind
her.

Daniel
was sniffing at the air outside the room. "His scent is all over
the place."

"We'll
search the whole floor," Russell said. "If he's in this building,
we will find him."

We
backtracked first, heading to the end of the corridor. The lights
were off in the first two rooms, and as expected, they were empty.
The light was on in the next room. We burst into the room, and
Russell sprinted across to the desk, muffling the surprised cry of
a middle-aged man, who almost fell backward in his chair. I closed
the door behind us.

"You're
not going to scream," Russell said, staring into his eyes. "And
you're going to answer my questions honestly. Do you
understand?"

The man
nodded, and Russell removed his hand. "Who are you?"

"Jack
Alestra, finance secretary for the army," he replied, his voice
devoid of any emotion. His eyes remained fixed on
Russell.

"Good. Do
you know where General Philip Marsten is?"

Jack
shook his head.

"What do
you know about the pure-blood vampires and Verloren?"

Jack's
eyes widened. "The what vampires? I just do accounts," he
said.

"Calm
down, Jack," Russell whispered. Jack relaxed, slumping back in his
chair. "You must be tired after a long day at work. Go home. You
never saw us."

"I am
pretty tired," Jack agreed. He picked up his briefcase from the
floor and left the room as he was instructed. His face was blank as
he passed me, as though there was no-one home upstairs.

'It's temporary,'
Russell said,
attempting to dispel my unease. I knew vampires could hypnotise
people, but seeing it was a different thing altogether. I couldn't
help but be reminded of the guards outside Marmagne, who wore that
same vacant expression on their faces because of my own ability.
And then there was the nagging voice at the back of my mind,
wondering if Russell might resort to doing something similar to me,
in order to force my cooperation.

'No,'
the voice replied.
'It's more fun if
you're a willing participant.'

The sad
thing was I believed him. Not because I thought he was an honest
guy, but because I believed he was that sadistic. Taking away
someone's free will would be too easy for him. He wanted to watch
me suffer, until I finally broke and gave in to my darkness, and to
him.

"Come
on," Daniel said, nudging me. "There's still more rooms to check."
I hadn't realised I was staring at Russell until I had to rip my
gaze away from him.

The rest
of the rooms were empty too, so we were no closer to finding
General Marsten or the pure-blood. We met up with the others on the
ground floor. No-one had found any clues.

"It would
have to be somewhere with no windows, or underground," Russell
said, thinking out loud. "Any ideas?" He looked at myself and Nate.
We both shook our heads. "What about the other leaders? There must
be more than just this General."