Darkness of day, p.7
Darkness of Day, page 7
“I know, and I don’t mean to be this way toward you.” Daniel shook his head, but still didn’t take his eyes off Jelani for even a second. “But all that we’ve learned so far suggests that not everything could be in your control.”
Jelani shrugged. “Fair point.”
“What does it feel like?” Daniel asked, and Jelani saw that his friend was relaxing a little.
“What does it feel like?” Jelani repeated. “It feels like nothing you can imagine. It’s hard to put into words. My body feels the same, but much stronger and lighter and faster that it’s ridiculous.”
Outside, raindrops started to patter against the glass, then a few minutes later it came in earnest. Jelani looked out the tall windows at the roaring showers. “It’s really coming down out there.”
“Is it just physical changes that you’ve experienced?” Daniel asked, ignoring the weather.
“No.” Jelani still gazed out the windows, his thoughts both far and near. “My mind feels sharper than it’s ever been, and my emotions are pretty solid, if that’s a way to describe it.” He looked back to Daniel. “It’s like I have every part of myself under tight control.” He didn’t want to say what he was about to, but he had to be honest with his friend. “There is one exception, though.”
“Blood,” Daniel said.
“Blood,” Jelani confirmed. “It’s referred to as the thirst, and believe me when I tell you, it’s a debilitating experience. When I first awoke tonight it didn’t hit me for about ten or twenty minutes, but then I was doubled over in a pain like nothing you’ve ever experienced. It was like acid or lava was coursing through my veins and my stomach. It’s enough to drive you crazy.”
“So if I’d been there when you first woke up?” Daniel asked.
Jelani was expecting the question. “Look, man. I don’t want to go down the road of ‘what ifs’ and speculating my resistance to the thirst. You weren’t there, and Saaya is helping me adjust.” He sighed. “I don’t like what I’ve been turned into, but if I thought for a minute I didn’t have control of myself, I wouldn’t be sitting here in front of you. Despite the stories and the movies, this change doesn’t make you evil.”
“Why can’t you say it?” Daniel asked. “Why can’t you just say that you’re a vampire? You keep tap dancing around the word.”
Jelani held up a hand as if to stop him. “Just … just don’t say that word to me, please.”
“Why not?” Daniel pressed. “It doesn’t change who you are, does it?”
“If you want my honest answer, I don’t know.” Jelani looked Daniel in the eyes, and willed his nature to come to the surface. The only thing that kept his friend from jumping out of his seat was the vice grip he had on the arm of the chair.
“What do you see, Daniel?”
“Your eyes. They’re … glowing. They’re glowing in a kind of purplish color. Like lavender.”
He was unsettled. Good. “Look, man, I want you to be clear about something. I am and will always be your friend, but you need to know what’s happening and what I am.” He looked back out the windows again, seeking comfort in the sheets of rain falling from the sky.
“In time, I’ll gain a stronger level of control. I know because I can feel it. But for now, I’ve got to be careful. All of this is new and sometimes a little confusing. I can’t take any chances around you or anyone else.”
“I get you,” Daniel said. An uncomfortable silence stretched for several moments before Daniel cleared his throat. “Uh, what are you going to do now?”
“I’m going to kill the one who turned me,” Jelani replied. He saw that the flat, matter-of-fact way he’d said it had caught Daniel off guard.
“I’ve never heard you say anything like that before, Jelani.”
“That’s one part of me that’s changed. I’ve only been awake for several hours, but it seems like as time passes, my thoughts and actions are becoming more direct.” He changed the subject. “How’s Wen?”
“She’s doing ok,” Daniel said. “Worried about you.”
“You’re a lucky guy. You really are.”
Daniel nodded. “I know. I can’t tell you how much it’s stressing me out, worrying about her safety with that guy out there.” Jelani’s expression darkened, and Daniel recoiled. “Dude, you’ve got to stop doing that.”
“Doing what?” Jelani asked.
“Your eyes. They’re glowing in that purplish color again. It’s really kind of scary.”
“Sorry.” Jelani willed himself to calm down. “Sometimes I forget things. I’m still getting used to all this.”
“I still can’t believe it.”
Jelani nodded. “Yeah, I know. I promise you this, though. I won’t rest until I get ahold of that son of a bitch. I’m going to handle him real proper for what he’s put all of us through.” He ran a hand over his clean-shaven head and leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. “I’ve been going back and forth with myself all night trying to decide whether or not to come see you all. In the end Saaya convinced me.”
Daniel’s eyebrows rose. “Now that’s a surprise. I would have thought she’d try to whisk you away or something.”
“You sure about that?” Jelani responded. “If she was planning to do that, she wouldn’t have been keeping you in the loop about me, would she?”
“Good point,” Daniel conceded. “You um, want to come see the girls? It would do them good to see that you’re ok.”
“I don’t know,” Jelani said, holding his head in his hands. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for them to see me like this yet. You’re still not all the way comfortable with me. Imagine them.”
“I’m getting there,” Daniel replied.
“I know. And believe me, it means a lot that you’re even sitting here with me, given what I am, now.”
Daniel thought about it. “Well. Maybe you can let me talk to them first, and give them a heads up.”
“That would probably be best.”
“I think after the initial shock, they’ll be fine.”
Jelani looked at Daniel, thankful for having such a good friend. Not many people would trust him after the change he’d undergone. When it came down to it, Jelani had become an apex predator, and his friends were lower on the food chain. That thought sent a mental chill through him that he had to shake off.
“I appreciate that. I really want to see Alisha, but now I don’t know what’s going to happen. I doubt we can be together. I don’t know how that would work out.”
Daniel sighed. “I honestly don’t know what to say.”
Jelani glanced out the windows. The rain was starting to lighten. “What time is it?”
Daniel pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Quarter to midnight.”
Never in the deepest corner of his imagination did Jelani ever believe his life would depend on getting indoors before daylight.
“I’d better go,” he said. Though he didn’t say why, Daniel’s expression said that he knew.
“Yeah. I guess you should.” They stood. “Oh, hold on a sec.” Daniel pointed at the ceiling as if they could see through it. “You need your computer. I’ve had no way to check your email and stuff, so I don’t know what’s going on with your web business. I’ve been covering for you at EA, but that’s all I’ve been able to do.”
In the midst of discovering his new existence and the night’s events, Jelani had forgotten all about his business. “Yeah, I guess I still need to make money. Not planning to just dig a hole in the ground to live in.”
“What about those things they live in?”
Jelani was already shaking his head. “No. Never. They’re called covens, and I will never live with a bunch of vampires. Ever.”
A sad look crossed Daniel’s face. “Jelani. I’m really sorry this happened to you.”
“Yeah. Thanks, man. I don’t know what all this is going to mean, or what’s going to happen, but right now my focus is keeping you all safe.”
“You know I’ve got your back.”
Through the rock that Jelani’s emotions were becoming, he felt a surge of gratitude toward his friend. “I don’t think I’ve got any words for how much I appreciate that, Daniel. Thanks. I mean it.”
“I know. Just hold on a sec. I’ll go grab your computer and throw some clothes in a bag for you.”
Jelani smiled. “I wish I had something else to give you instead of just one thank you after another.”
“Don’t worry about it. That’s what friends are for.” Daniel left in the elevator, and Jelani went to the tall windows. The rain had lightened, but it still came down heavy enough for large droplets to spatter against the glass. Saaya was out there somewhere. She’d told him she would be nearby, just in case, but he could feel her, just as she could feel him.
When she had passed some of her vampiric essence to him to counteract what Remy had done, it formed a connection between them that he still didn’t fully understand. He could sense her when she was nearby, and to a small degree, feel what she was feeling.
What’s my next move? he thought. After his encounter with Yako, Jelani thought it best to leave that situation alone, at least for the time being. He appreciated that the Hunter hadn’t followed through with the stroke that could have killed him, but Jelani still hadn’t forgotten about all those nights running and living in fear.
Remy was going to die. That was a given. Jelani planned to go after the Hunter that had done this to him as soon as he was ready. Was Remy as skilled and powerful as Yako? Jelani couldn’t say, but he doubted it. He could sense Remy as well, and he hated it. The last thing he needed was that one in his head, but there was nothing he could do about it, save killing the bastard. Jelani planned on settling that matter soon.
His mind went to Melinda. What would he do about her? Perhaps after Remy was dead, Melinda would be freed and could attempt to lead as normal a life as was possible. Maybe … maybe what? Jelani searched his feelings. Had fate pushed the two of them in front of each other again? Would Melinda forgive Jelani for what had happened to her? Given the circumstances, would it be a good idea to at least try to contact her?
All of these thoughts fell away when he heard the ding of the elevator, and turned around to see the doors open, and Alisha standing there.
11
The sun rose and fell, and with it came the dawn of a new day and dusk in its departure.
As was his habit, Yako had been up long before the sun had disappeared below the western horizon. The power of the fiery orb in the sky did not touch him in the twilight hours that linked day with night. As a pureblood, Yako had been born a vampire, and this was the most he would ever see of daylight.
High above the city of Vancouver, atop the Royal Bank of Canada building, he saw the far-reaching hands of darkness stretch from one end of the horizon to the other, enveloping the world in its lightless grasp.
On rare occasions when he allowed his mind to wander, Yako wondered what daylight actually looked like. There were paintings and television that depicted the day in all its splendor, but those were superficial experiences. What did it feel like to walk in the light of the sun without being incinerated?
He had heard the occasional story of a newly turned shaquora that committed suicide by walking into the sun, not able to endure an endless life of darkness. Most purebloods scoffed, thinking of the burned fledglings as weak and undeserving of the gift of immortality.
In his youth Yako had believed the same. But after only a few years into his life as a Hunter he had learned differently. Not all humans endured the change in the same way, and things that were most important to them often carried over into their re-creation. Those that revered the sun found eternal separation from it unbearable. A shaquora fledgling had once told him, “better to die in the sun’s light than live an immortal life without it.”
Yako had respected him for that. Death was not something everyone embraced. Even among the warrior class many fought more to not be killed than to achieve their objective. Not that there was anything wrong with not being killed.
He returned his attention to the northwest; the direction of the home of his former target. He still didn’t have much to go on, so he figured it might do to stay near this location in case Remy appeared. There was really no other reason for the other Hunter to be in the city, except to eliminate the remaining targets.
“Are you hunting humans, or a quick route to Sinaia?” he thought aloud. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed likely that Remy was indeed waiting for the next flight to Romania. Yako’s lycan friend Darren had agreed to keep watch on the airport, specifically for flights to Romania. So far there had been no sign of Remy.
“How long can you hide in your little hole?” he muttered under his breath. It didn’t matter. Yako was patient, and if he needed to wait for a year till Remy resurfaced to get on that plane, then Remy had a year to live before Yako sent him to oblivion.
From the corner of his eye, he saw movement on the rooftop of a building across the street. It was that girl again. The first time he’d seen her, Yako had thought it was just another vampire who might have taken a casual interest in him. The second time he knew it was a fledgling that belonged to Remy. One of Darren’s pack had informed him that Remy had abducted a female who’d had an intimate relationship with Jelani. It was a classic but effective tactic. Lure the target from hiding with something or someone important to them. In this case, a lover.
Yako kept still and looked over at her, moving only his eyes. Darkness meant nothing to a vampire’s sight, and since she was only across the street Yako could see her well enough. She was barely concealed around the wall of the building, leaning out and stealing glances at him.
It seemed comical that Remy had sent such a deplorably unskilled woman to track him. But as the nights passed, the woman had continued to spy on him, showing little ability to hide herself. Yako narrowed his eyes. Even a human could be better than this. Remy probably wanted her to bait him into following her into some trap the fool had lain.
It was tempting. The fledgling was the only active link Yako had to Remy’s whereabouts, but he was not about to walk into a trap like some simpleminded idiot. Perhaps he would have one of his subordinates that was better at mind compulsion extract some information from her. Not all vampires were vulnerable to mind compulsion but most were; a newly turned vampire even more so.
Thinking of the fledgling shaquora brought his thoughts to the former target, Jelani. Yako had surprised himself by holding the killing stroke. Never had Yako allowed someone who’d attacked him to live. The Eldest Hunter was not given to mercy but perhaps something else had stayed his hand. Respect.
When he’d thought about it, the fledgling had come after him to stop Yako from killing his friends as much as for revenge for being hunted. He nodded to himself. He respected Jelani for challenging him on behalf of those who could not, and also because the young vampire had skill. Although there was no way he would defeat Yako, Jelani had demonstrated remarkable skill in only his first night reawakened.
The Eldest Hunter found that he hoped Jelani would not challenge him again. He had no intention of holding back a second time, and Yako found that he was very much interested in seeing how the fledgling would develop.
What was odd was that Remy had not asserted control over him, as was normally the case when a vampire turned a human. Yako could tell that Jelani was acting of his own volition, and this was curious.
He grunted. A fledgling to lure him into a trap, a cravenly Hunter to kill, another fledgling running loose, and an Elder to un-create. It seemed that Yako had a mountain to climb and he wasn’t sure where to start. He felt the phone strapped to his upper arm vibrate and he clicked his earpiece on.
“What have you found?”
“Massius has called on Remy to return, but only when it is safe to do so.” It was Mariska’s voice on the other end of the line.
“Why?”
“Massius believes that if he can get Remy to issue his verbal report that you have betrayed the North American coven and the High Council, he can have you condemned to uncreation.”
It was plausible. Vicken and perhaps Lemanda, may hold him in their favor, but they were not the sole voice of the High Council. There was only so much Vicken could say, or do, in his position. Besides, if Yako couldn’t demonstrate his ability to keep his affairs in hand, he was not suited to the position to begin with.
“The others?”
There was a stretched silence before Mariska spoke again. “Hunters Lydia and Barakus have gone to the ancient library as you suggested. They discovered the history for themselves, and Barakus’s fury has been tempered by Lydia, but barely. Both have too much fire.”
“Their fire will remain contained by the Elders’ superiority,” Yako said. “They are not fools.”
“But they are not patient, either.”
“Their fate is tied to their patience. They will live or die. What of Reed?”
A longer pause. “He has also visited the library, and has since sought to meet with me several times. He is reckless and inexperienced, and it will lead to his uncreation.”
Yako heard a hint of irritation in Mariska’s voice. “You think it a mistake that I laid claim on him?”
“It is not for me to question the Eldest Hunter’s motives or actions. I only inform.”
Yako watched the female fledgling leave her hiding spot and head east. Whatever else may be the case he was certain Remy had taken up a temporary residence somewhere in that direction, and possibly not far away.
“Inform me of your opinion.”
“He is reckless. Mostly due to his inexperience. Still, there is potential. Should he survive this he may be an asset. You may also like to know that Massius had not expected nor was pleased to see Reed alive. And when informed that you had laid claim on his life in exchange for Nikko’s sacrifice, he was visibly angered.”
Livid, was more likely the case. It was an audacious move, considering Yako had left the country without their consent and had sidestepped protocol in not bringing the matter before the Elders. Yako imagined Vicken’s amusement disguised as irritation. He imagined Lemanda was just simply amused.
