Dark Horizons (The Red Sector Chronicles) (47 page)

Frost sat silently, shooting daggers at Leo with her eyes. As he spoke, her fists curled tighter, making her knuckles pop against her skin.

“So you see,” Leo concluded, “they aren’t the ones you need to be fighting. It was the monster you called Nero.”

There was a moment of stunned silence. Slow, deliberate clapping echoed through the room. Frost was standing up. “Bravo. You have quite the imagination. I don’t think even I could have come up with anything that creative.”

“It’s not something I made up,” Leo snarled. “It’s the hard
-
core truth.”

“We shall see to these ‘truths’ of yours,” she sneered, lifting her chin to him. “The Council will convene and decide your fates. You’re still treasonous snakes.”

“Let them go.”

Everyone whirled. Mrs. Knight was standing. Though her face was filled with steely resolve, her hands we
re trembling as she faced off with
Frost.

Frost smiled, as if indulging a child’s request to go outside. “Come again? I know I couldn’t have heard you right, Senator Knight.”

Mrs. Knight swallowed hard. “Then maybe you need to have your hearing
checked
.”

My jaw dropped as
Frost stared at her. “Excuse me?
” Frost said.
“
Do you dare question my authority?”

“I don’t know about her,” an elderly man said, rising. “But I sure as hell do. These kids have done nothing wrong.”

Frost’s eyes
widened to the brink of popping out of her head
. More and more of the c
ouncilmen stood, though not all of them. About three remained seated, either looking unc
omfortable standing up to Frost
or smiling satisfactorily at her.

“But,” Frost sputtered, glancing around incredulously at her peers. “You can’t be serious. We can’t give them a pardon, not after what they’ve –”

“What, Minerva?” a woman in her fifties drawled. “After they hurt your pride by doing the right thing while everyone else sat around doing nothing like a bunch of cowards?”

Everyone who stood stared Frost down while she struggled for a response. Sucking in a tight breath, she smoothed out the imaginary wrinkles in her gold skirt and composed her face. “Very well,” she said tightly, like the words were hard to say. “They are…
pardoned
of any
charges
.”

“Hell yeah!” Leo shouted, all grins.

I reached for his arm, yanking him to me. “Stop it before she changes her mind,” I hissed in his ear. I smirked at his wounded puppy dog look. “And good job.”

His face brightened.

“Oh, don’t look so bitter, Minerva,” Mrs. Knight said, smiling coldly. “You were the one who declared that decisions were ruled
according to
majority favor.”

Frost s
tared at Aden’s mom for so long that
even I got chills. There was something behind that look, something dark and sinister.

Frost turned away. “This session is adjourned. You’re all dismissed.”

My shoulders relaxed. Before I could blink, Leo wrapped me up in a tight hug. “Now that you gave me my life back, I’m not letting anyone hurt my girl. I’ve got your back.”

I blinked, surprised, then hugged him back.
He had always called me his girl,
but I tho
ught it was in a joking, “we’re
homies” kind of sense. Now, I wasn’t so sure of the double meaning. “Thanks,” I said lamely. I smiled at him when we separated, and he walked over to check on Arika.

I looked up. Aden
sagged in his guards’ arms a few feet away
, staring at me with a sad expression on his face.

I o
pened my mouth to say something
but no words came out.

Frost
marched across the room, gripping my shoulder while she walked by
and pulling my attention from Aden
. He
r nails dug into my skin as s
he leaned in.

“Watch your back,” she whispered.

“I
never stopped,” I said, catching her eyes.

We stared at each other for a few unwavering seconds, acknowledging some sort of silent challen
ge, before Frost turned
and
stomped
out of the room.

CHAPTER 28

Orion’s funeral was the grandest spectacle I had ever seen. There was no body, of course, though they did commission an artist to produce a statue in his honor.

A few days later
, w
e were all gathered at the center of the vampire city, right below my brother’s old office building.
I stared up at the cold stone face of my brother’s likeness from the back of the crowd. Aden had an arm draped around my shoulders, holding me close while the priest read out the eulogy and interpreters translated it to different parts of the crowd. Those
gathered – several hundred
vampires – all wore black. We were segregated by nationality or language.

Thanks to a healthy supply of blood, Aden had healed fairly quickly, though he still got a little shaky when standing for prolonged periods of time.
Dezyre had fed him some blood to help with the healing process, but Paris said it would still most likely take him a while to recover.

Leo stood nearby; his gaze kept wandering over to me every few seconds. I saw the worry there, could feel his concern fo
r me, but for the most part,
I just felt dead inside. Arika was there too, though I think the only reason she came was because she felt uncomfortable being by herself in a
place
full of
vampires.
Given Arika was a like a guppy in a shark tank, she was granted a menial form of protection
, since they wouldn’t let her go back to the surface for fear she’d rat us out
.
That protection was all but useless in my opinion, a verbal mandate that meant
anyone who fed on her could be thrown in jail.
Then again, if faced with the threat of being tortured by Frost, I’d probably be scared shitless of drinking from Arika.

Rook and Dezyre
had been caught by
the
guards after their lit
tle pyrotechnic stunt, but they ha
d been released shortly after
the Council ruled in our favor.
When I’d ask
ed them about Ivan, they said he was safe.
I still didn’t know where they’d hidden him, but I was glad they had thought on their fee
t and stowed him away somewhere, far from the vengeful Frost.
I just hoped that by “safe” they didn’t mean “bound and gagged” in some
shack
.

They stood
nearby, leaning on one another. I caught Rook’s eyes once, and he gave me a sympathetic smile.

After the priest finished and we all bowed our heads in prayer, Frost stepped up to the podium and gave her speech. The mic quality could have been better. Then again, being several hund
red feet below ground, I guess
I couldn’t expect professional grade sound.

I barely heard what she said as she rattled off
Orion’s
accomplish
ments, painting him to be this larger-than-
lif
e
figure. Frost definitely knew what she was doing.
Even though I knew she refused to believe the darker side of my twin, telling the crowd what a to
tal nutcase he was
would have been foolish. The death of their leader seemed to be the only thing calming
the vampires’
anger.

For now.

There was still a quiet uneasiness among them, a nervous, edgy energy that refused to go away.
I knew it was only a matter of days before the riots picked up again.

Aden and I lingered behind as the memorial finished up and people began to leave. A period of mourning was declared by Frost and the Council. It was to last for a full week, during which time n
o one could party, or in general
act happy about anything. They were supposed to be
strictly
confined to their homes.

I stared blankly forward, seeing the distraught, tear-stained faces of the civilians who had adored Orion. I hadn’t realized I was crying until Aden reached over and gently brushed a tear from my cheek. “You okay?” he asked softly.

Blushing, I reached up and swatted away the rest of my tears
,
but they wouldn’t stop coming.

“Yeah,” I said, still staring at the statue. “I think I will be.”

***

For the remainder of the week, I was holed up in Aden’
s apartment. The base had several sections for housing. The apartments didn’t look too big from the outside, considering they went straight into the earth. But they were a lot bigger than they looked, consisting of around two to three bedrooms. Some, like Aden’s, even had balconies, but those were generally reserved for the
higher-
ups. For the most part, Aden and Mrs. Knight left me alone, for which I was grateful. I needed time by myself to sort out how I felt about Orion’s death.

I hadn’t heard from Rook or Dezyre. As far as I knew, they were trying to spend as much time together as they could
to make up for the years of companionship they’d had taken from them
.
They said they would take care of Ivan, since they would probably be on Frost’s radar a little less than I would. Though I had a lot of questions for
the scientist
– and I hadn’t told Aden about him yet – I knew they would have to wait until things died down a little. I couldn’t risk the only chance I had at finding out about my heritage on reckless curiosity.

Leo and Arika had been given an empty apartment. That made me a little nervous, mostly because I wasn’t sure how big an issue Leo’s bloodlust was going to be. Arika hadn
’t seemed too concerned, though,
when we presented the idea to them. She readily went with him, probably itching for any excuse to get in some alone time.

Back at Aden’s apartment,
I was
in my old room, stretched out on the bed and
relishing the softness of the dark purple silk comforter. Living in the “wilds” definitely increased my appreciation for the good things in life, no matter how small.

I was staring up at the ceiling, lost in thought, when a soft knock came from the door. Figuring it was probably Mrs. Knight bringing up a plate of chocolate chip cookies and milk, I rolled off the bed and strolled to the door.

Opening it, I found Aden standing there, carrying
two champagne flutes. He wa
s dressed in a rich blue button-
down
shirt
that made his
eyes stand out
,
and black jeans.
His hair was still wet, like he ha
d just stepped out of the shower.

I blushed slightly, looking at him. As happy as I was that he was alive, I hadn’t felt much like talking to him since the Council hearing. I
didn’t
know if it was guilt over turning Leo or kissing him or what it was, but I couldn’t quit bring myself to face Aden.

Looked
like
I wasn’t going to have a
choice.

“We never got to celebrate New Year’s,” Aden said, smiling softly. “And I thought you could use a little something to relax.”

Admittedly, I wasn’t a big alcohol drinker. Beer was nasty, and wine was usually too dry for me. The few times I’d had champagne, though, had been a good experience. It usually ended up being pretty tasty.

“Sure,” I said, tucking my hair back behind my ear and stepping aside. “Come in.”

Aden walked toward the coffee table and couch set up near the front of the room, across from the TV. He drew up two coasters and set the glasses down on the table before folding himself onto the couch, waiting for me with a slight smile on his lips.

Suddenly feeling very self-conscious, I gently closed the door and joined him, sitting at the opposite end of the couch.

Aden didn’t react to my distance. Handing me my flute, he turned to me. “To surviving another year,” he said, raising his glass. “And to you, for saving my life.”

I gave him a small smile as we clinked ou
r glasses together and drank
. The glass
was chilled, and the light gold
bubbly
liquid
tickled my throat as I took a sip of its sweetness.

“How are you holding up?” Aden said casually.

I blinked. That was fairly bold for him. My experience had been that he liked to gradually lead into more serious topics, not beat down the door right away. That was Leo’s department.

“Okay, I guess,” I said. I stared into m
y glass, swirling its contents. Pieces of my brother’s death, which I’d tried to forget about as best I could, flashed through my head. My eyes snapped up, looking at Aden. “When my brother died, he whispered something to me: ‘Find Genesis.’ Does that ring any bells?”