Dawn of Darkness (Daeva, #1) (33 page)

"I shall
have her stop by and introduce herself as soon as possible," Marcus
said. He jumped up from his chair and walked up to me. With one
hand on my back, he guided me towards the doors. "Now, I really
must begin preparations. If you'll excuse me..."

"I
understand."

Marcus
began to close the door, but paused briefly to say, "Oh, and
welcome to Aldar. I hope you enjoy your time here, etcetera, and
all that nonsense." The doors slammed shut.

I
shrugged and wondered what I was supposed to do now. It seemed
everyone had left me. I was debating going back into the library to
ask Marcus, when a door opened to one side of the lobby. A young
man with wavy, brown hair and dark, almost black, eyes scanned the
room. His eyes stopped on me and he walked towards me.

"I don't
believe we have met before." He smiled, extending a hand to
me.

"Mikhail," I said, taking his hand.

"Russell.
It is a pleasure to meet you, Mikhail."

The doors
behind us opened. "Ah, there you are, Russell," said Leigh. "Marcus
wishes to see you immediately."

"I'll be
right in," Russell replied. "Mikhail, I have a feeling we'll be
seeing each other again. Until then, I bid you a pleasant stay in
our city. If you ever need anything, don't be afraid to ask. I
would be delighted to help."

"Thanks,"
I said. He smiled again, this time wide enough to flash his fangs,
and then turned to head into the library.

"Nathaniel was waiting for you outside," Leigh said, before
following Russell and closing the door behind her.

Sure
enough, Nate was sat on the steps outside the front door, his head
bowed. He jumped when I touched him on the shoulder.

"Sorry,"
he said, regaining his breath. "I guess I spaced out for a
moment."

We walked
back to the apartment block together. Nate said Daniel was on his
way to the hospital to deliver the files, and Violet and Sebastian
had gone back home to relax.

"I never
did like Marcus," Nate said out of nowhere. "He's just so... I
dunno, he gives me the creeps."

"Wolf in
sheep's clothing," I said. It was unnerving to think Marcus was
many times our age, and yet he looked only a few years older than I
did.

"Yeah,"
Nate agreed. "Do you believe all that stuff he was spouting about
pure-bloods?"

"Dunno."
I shrugged. It reminded me of being in school, when I had to trust
the teachers knew what they were talking about, simply because I
didn't know any better. But that didn't necessarily make it true. I
only had to remember what the Silver Dawn taught me to realise that
fact. "I want to believe him, but–"

"You've
been lied to before. You don't wanna make the same mistake again,"
Nate said. I smiled, because I couldn't have put it better myself.
"I feel the same."

When we
reached the apartments, Nate used a spare key to open Daniel's room
for me. He explained they shared for a while when Nate had arrived
in Aldar, until the room next door was vacated.

"Do you
have any plans for this evening?" he asked. I told him I was
expecting a visit, and Nate offered to wait with me.

"Thanks,
but I'm gonna lie down and get some rest," I replied. "I'm not
quite as nocturnal as you guys yet."

Nate
laughed. "Give it another week or so."

When Nate
was gone, I yawned and stretched my arms wide. I kicked off my
sneakers and laid down on the bed. Almost as soon as my head hit
the pillow I was asleep.

*****

I dreamed
of riding giant werewolves through the city, until I was jarred
awake by a loud knocking at the door.

"I got
it," Daniel said. I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand and sat
up. Daniel answered the door, with only a towel around his waist,
his hair and skin still dripping from the shower. A young woman
with straight blonde hair and pale skin stood at the door. Well,
she looked young, though that probably wasn't the case. She wore a
low cut, white dress, patterned with flowers. Only a vampire could
wear such a thing in the middle of winter, I thought. Only a
vampire.

"I'm
Anna," she said. "I'm looking for the Siren, Michaela."

"She's
right over there." Daniel pointed at me and burst into laughter as
he headed back into the bathroom.

"Mikhail," I corrected her as she walked over to
me.

"Right,
whatever. Come with me, and don't dawdle. I'd rather this not take
any longer than it has to."

I pulled
on my sneakers and followed Anna, letting Daniel know I was heading
out for a while. Anna led me out into the streets and to a large
detached house. The windows of the house were all boarded up or
filled in. We went inside and passed several vampires along the
way.

"This
your new boy toy, Anna?" one of the males asked. "Looks a little
young for you."

"Oh, piss
off, Carl," she replied. I kept my head down and continued
following. When we reached the basement, Anna locked the door
behind us. My heart began to race, and I felt the familiar knot in
the bottom of my stomach. The lights flickered to life, revealing a
large, open room with various pieces of furniture littered around
the place.

"You live
in here?" I asked. It seemed a little cliché for a vampire to be
living in a basement.

"Yes. Are
you coming down, or are you gonna stand there all
night?"

I
cautiously descended the stairs. Something about being locked in a
basement with a vampire had me on edge.

"Have a
seat." It sounded more like a demand than a request. "Would you
like a drink?"

"Do you
have anything other than blood?"

Anna
responded by throwing a small bottle of pop at me, which I barely
caught before it hit me. "I sometimes entertain human companions,"
she said. "Now, to business. Normally, I would tell you to go fuck
yourself, but I owe Marcus a huge debt, and one that I would like
to see paid off sooner rather than later. So, do exactly as I say
and we can both be on our merry way. Are we clear?"

"Yeah,
we're clear," I said. I got the impression Anna wasn't going to
warm up to me anytime soon. I unscrewed the top off the fizzy drink
and took a sip.

"Good."
Anna held out one of her arms. "Show me what you can
do."

"You want
me to try and cut your arm?"

Anna
rolled her eyes. "Yes, what else could I possibly be
asking?"

"I've
never consciously done it before."

"Just try
it, already," Anna said, growling. "I want to see how far you can
get without any instruction."

"Okay." I
took a deep breath to calm myself.

"Some
time tonight would be good," Anna muttered, feigning a
yawn.

I focused
on her arm, releasing the latch inside of me that held my magic
within. The cold wind spilled out, rushing over Anna. As expected,
she didn't flinch or even show any sign she could feel it. In fact,
she looked a little bored. I concentrated on one small point on her
arm and pushed my magic at her. Nothing.

Anna
sighed. "Looks like we'll have to start from the beginning, but not
tonight. I'm expecting company soon."

"Wait,
that's all you dragged me over here for?" I asked.

"No. I
brought you here so you know where I am," she replied. "Be back
here at dusk tomorrow."

"Fine," I
said, not bothering with a goodbye as I walked back up the stairs.
I was happy to be getting out of the basement and away from the
bitch. I undid the latch on the door, which seemed redundant in a
house full of vampires.

"Wait," Anna called out to me.
She came up the stairs in a blur, pushing the door shut again.
"Before you go, there is one thing I should explain to you about
your ability. There are certain
risks
involved with it. Risks that we prefer to keep a
secret, you understand?"

I nodded.
"What kind of risks? You mean it could harm me?"

"Not you.
Your victims. Using your ability repeatedly on the same person in a
short time period can sometimes... change them."

"I'm not
following."

"When you
manipulate a person's emotions, it is only temporary. But if you
were to do this for any length of time, or repeatedly in a short
time frame, then there is a chance it will become more permanent.
Do you understand?"

"I think
so," I replied.

"Good,
now scram," Anna said, opening the door for me. "If Carl gives you
any bother on the way out, tell him to do one. His bark is worse
than his bite. Oh, and don't be late tomorrow. We have a lot of
work to do."

Without
another word, the door slammed shut behind me. I wondered what it
was about vampires and slamming doors on people without saying
goodbye. After finding the front door without too much trouble, I
was left with the task of trying to find my way back to the
apartment by memory. I turned right down the road, and wandered for
a few minutes, vaguely remembering one of the small buildings we
passed.

I thought
about what Anna had said, about my ability being able to change
people. As far as I knew, I had never repeatedly used my ability on
anyone, or for any length of time, except for Ash when he was
helping me train. There was a moment of panic when I wondered if I
could have subconsciously drawn Ash to me with my ability, but then
I remembered that Ash was immune to my ability. He described it as
his empathy recognising the emotions weren't his own. With that
weight off my chest, I crossed over the road and towards an old
run-down building. About ten minutes later, I turned onto a small
side road and saw the apartment block at the end, where Daniel and
Nate would hopefully be waiting for me.

I froze.
My heart seemed to stop for a split second. Nate. Hadn't I tested
my ability on him that night while he slept? It was only for a few
seconds at a time, but I had done it several times. What if that
was enough? What if I inadvertently changed his feelings for me?
The timing seemed right, for it was after that night his behaviour
changed, and he began getting physically closer to me. And I had
tested the luring song on him earlier that day as well. One word
came to mind. Shit!

The next
night, as the sun was setting, I made my way back to Anna's
basement. I knew she was going to be mad at me for detracting from
my training time, but I needed to know if I had made Nate fall in
love with me. And if I had, was there any way to reverse
it?

At first,
I managed to convince myself I was fretting over nothing, and it
was entirely possible Nate was reaching out to me because of our
shared past. I kept repeating in my head that he just wanted
someone who understood what he had been through, and gotten too
caught up in the moment. It happens, right? But then Nate would
appear and want to hang out, which was fine, until he started
wanting to do everything together.

Of
course, it was difficult for me to do much of anything on my own,
considering I had no money, and would get lost if I wandered more
than a few blocks away. However, it scared me to think of doing
everything with Nate, simply because that's how it was with Ash.
The last thing I wanted, was to nurture any potential feelings he
had for me, not least of all because I didn't want to have to hurt
him when I denied his feelings. And at the same time, I didn't want
to cut him off completely. I felt bad for him, since it seemed
likely I was the cause.

I talked
to Daniel about it after returning from Anna's the previous night.
He gave me the most incredulous look and tried to dissuade my
fears, telling me that Nate was just being impulsive and
misunderstanding what he felt towards me. Our talk hadn't helped as
much as I thought it might have, but Daniel did bring up some good
points. I could tell Nate his feelings were the result of my
experiments gone wrong, but as Daniel pointed out, Nate might still
believe the feelings were his own. And even if I could get him to
believe me, they would still feel real.

I knocked
on the chipped, white door of the boarded-up house, and waited for
someone to answer, tapping my foot absently. A rather gruff-looking
male answered after the third round of knocking.

"Whaddaya
want?" he asked, glaring at me.

"I'm here
to see Anna." He let me inside and walked off, assuming I knew
which way I was going. I found the basement door without too much
trouble and knocked on it. "Anna?"

"Door's
open," she shouted. I went down into the basement. Anna motioned to
a chair at a small wooden table. "Sit, and let's get
started."

"I need
to ask you something first," I said.

Anna
scowled. "Whatever it is, make it quick."

"It's
about what you said yesterday, about the risks of my
ability."

Anna
sighed. "Let me guess. There's some woman out there in love with
you, and all you can think is, 'Did I do that?' Am I
close?"