Eternal Dawn (6 page)

‘You killed Suleen,’ I said. His blood stained my bracelet and I would
not
forget why I wore that talisman.

‘Come on, Lenah. Suleen? That old crazy?’ He laughed at the sky.

That old crazy?
I pushed my hands against Justin’s chest, fighting against his grasp. I wanted to kick him and bring him to the ground. My arms burned from the strain of pushing
away so hard.

‘I’m too strong . . .’ he said with a hollow chuckle. I stopped fighting. Justin watched me with that eerie pleasure that vampires have once they know they can control you.

‘You
destroyed
Suleen. He died in my arms,’ I said. The grief was still too close to me.

I couldn’t turn my head in time. Justin kissed me, pressing his lips against mine. His mouth tasted metallic and rotten. He had feasted on blood, and recently.

He threw me to the ground and the sting of the fall rattled me from my backside up through my neck. What the hell? Did he want to kiss me or attack me? I refused to cry out. I wouldn’t
give Justin the satisfaction.

His eyebrows met and he sneered. ‘How dare you be disgusted with me? I can read your feelings. What the hell is wrong with you? One bite and we’ll be together just as it should have
been before Rhode came back. This is what
you
wanted.’

‘I never wanted this for you. You’re mad.’

Tony half raised himself from the ground, but one of the vampires shoved him back down with his foot.

‘How did you stay like this?’ I asked.

‘I thought you could answer that,’ he said, and crossed his arms over his chest. He seemed taller somehow than when he had been human.

‘I don’t know any better than you do. Fine. I’m here. Summoned from the medieval world just as you planned. Now what do you want from me?’ I asked.

Justin’s smile fell and he yanked me up from the ground.

‘What do I
want
from you? I became this, learned how to manipulate the elements and build a coven,
for you
.’

‘But I was sent back, Justin. I was sent back from here. I was never planning to return to the modern day. I was certainly never becoming a vampire again.’

He grabbed my arm and dragged me under the artificial light of the street lamp.

I had once loved the full pout of his lips and the sprinkle of freckles on his nose. There had to be some shred of his personality left inside. Somewhere. He couldn’t have become so devoid
of emotion so quickly. It usually took years for a vampire to go this mad. The mind waned over time, not immediately.

I tried to reason with him. ‘Why did you think that I would want to be a vampire again after what you saw me go through?’ I asked. ‘Being a vampire nearly destroyed
me.’

He took a moment to answer.

‘Because
I
am,’ he said gently.

I didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know the words to choose.

He searched for something in my face. He said very slowly, ‘You . . .’ his words were quiet, ‘don’t
love
me, do you?’

I weighed my options. If I lied, he would be able to tell through his extrasensory perception, just as he had when he kissed me. I closed my eyes.

‘I’ll always love you,’ I said. ‘In some way.’

He dropped me, and my already scabbed knuckles scraped against the asphalt. I met Tony’s eyes; one of the vampires pressed a hand on his face, pushing him against the road. Tony
didn’t dare speak a word, but his eyes were wide.

Justin sneered. ‘Do all women lie? Is this some kind of game? You loved me! Odette told me. She said that if I became a vampire, and you were in love with me, then you would be forced to
love me forever.’

Suddenly I understood. He had been under the control of that mind rune when Odette had told him that. He didn’t know that I would only love him forever if we were
both
vampires
and in love at the same time. I had loved Rhode when Justin was turned,
and
I was human. It would have been impossible.

He didn’t understand this distinct difference because he didn’t understand vampire law.

‘You believed I would come back and be in love with you? No one has bothered to tell you the truth of this vampire law for three years?’

Justin bent down, baring his fangs. I recoiled out of instinct. His fangs were long and thin, very sharp. A hot ache rippled down my hip from where he had dropped me, but I gritted my teeth and
didn’t break eye contact.

‘What
vampire law
?’ he said.

He lifted me again, holding me close. His grip was so strong my lungs were constricted.

‘I can’t breathe,’ I coughed out.

‘Let-’er-go,’ Tony grunted, his voice muffled.

‘You won’t distract me with logistics, Lenah. Enough games. Out with it,’ Justin demanded with a shake.

He was desperate to believe that I loved him. He couldn’t accept that he had constructed these plans, perhaps even murdered Suleen to get me to come back, and it was all for nothing. I did
not love him. Justin squeezed me to him again. I could only draw in little puffs of air.

‘Tell me!’ he screamed, shaking me. ‘Tell me you love me!’

‘I can’t,’ I barely choked out.

He stopped shaking me and in his eyes were a thousand phrases I understood: I’m sorry. I’m not done loving you. I’m frightened of this power. Oh yes, I understood this torture.
He shook his head and took a few steps back as he released me. I stepped away, catching my breath. Vampire love was the respite from a sunny day that one cannot enjoy. It silenced the tick of the
clock.

Love.

Love.

Love.

That was the freedom. And he could not have it from me. A vampire loves the one that has reached his heart unconditionally. He cannot stop it. It is forever. Love was a vampire’s one
respite. The pain and grief can be overwhelming. If a vampire falls in love, that love will last until the end of time. It is the only freedom from the bloodlust, the only way to silence the
endless tick of the clock.

And it had happened to Justin Enos.

He looked me over, head to toe. Suleen was right; Justin had to be controlled. He had extraordinary power and now his bitterness would know no limit. I didn’t know how to stop him, let
alone kill him as Suleen and Fire had expressly told me to do. He closed in on me again, and I backed away, almost to the stone wall.

‘Enough of this,’ he said.

Justin grabbed me again. His bared fangs were razor sharp, as dangerous as mine had ever been.

‘Don’t,’ I whispered with a shudder. His nostrils flared, he drew back his shoulders . . . I knew what was coming. Vampires are made through a bite, followed by the sacrifice
of life. The ritual under the moonlight was the final and most importance piece. Justin would bite me. He would attempt to drain me completely. Only in my death would the transformation begin.

He gripped my bicep so viciously that I winced. His rancid breath oozed on to the nape of my neck and his fangs grazed the skin. This was it. He brought his head back in preparation. His whole
head jerked forward as he tried to bite, but Justin stumbled back, as though someone had pushed him on the forehead and away from me.

‘What the . . .’ Justin said.

I held my breath, ready for the pinch of his fangs and the puncture of my skin. He tried again and again, each time he boomeranged backward. For some reason, the razor points could not stab
me.

‘What are you doing?’ he screamed, and threw me from him. I stumbled back and immediately ran my hand over my neck. There were no holes and no injury. ‘How are you stopping
me?’

Justin slapped a hand around my neck and squeezed. Just as the rush of blood swept through my ears, he let me go with a hiss.

Justin stared at his palm.

‘Cold,’ he whispered, looking from my neck to his hand. ‘You’re ice cold.’

The vampire holding Tony walked to Justin’s side. ‘Are you all right?’ he asked him.

‘I’m fine. Get away from me,’ he spat.

Even though he was free, Tony remained immobile.

I touched my neck again. He had been going to bite my neck, not to feed, but to
transform.

‘Why is she cold?’ Justin asked the vampire. ‘Why?’

The vampire sputtered in response, desperate to help his new leader.

But I knew.

‘He can’t tell you,’ I said. My glands hurt when I spoke; I would have bruises, and soon. ‘He can’t be older than, what, seventeen?’

‘Quiet!’ Justin yelled.

‘You can’t hurt me, Justin,’ I said. I knew I was taunting him, but I needed the upper hand and I wanted him to know it. His eyes snapped up to meet mine. ‘Maybe when you
wore Odette’s rune necklace you could hurt me because the powerful rune gave you strength. But even that would have weakened over time. When you’re a vampire you can’t mortally
hurt or kill those you love. It’s
law.
It’s why you can’t make me into a vampire. The rules even apply to you, Justin.’

Justin suddenly jerked back and cried out. At first I thought he was reacting to what I had said, until I saw an arrow protruding from his arm.

‘Damn it!’ He ripped it out and tossed it to the ground.

I searched for the archer in the darkness. Another arrow flew through the sky from the direction of Wickham campus. It landed in the chest of the vampire guarding Tony. He cried out, freeing
Tony. Whoever shot him had missed the heart, maybe on purpose.

‘Go. Now,’ Justin said to the vampire closest to him.

I helped Tony up. He was trembling.

The vampires didn’t hesitate to obey Justin’s command, and the sound of their heels on the pavement echoed in the silent street.

Faster than any vampire I had ever seen, Justin turned and ran after his men. Odette had used runes and magic to make herself faster than the average vampire. Justin was
quicker
than
that.

‘We should get inside,’ I said, picking up the discarded arrow at my feet. Its end was bright red and the tip was coated in Justin’s blood. It was hard to see in the dark, but
it looked as if it was made from some sort of black stone. I would need to see in the daylight but it appeared to be . . . onyx? That would be a very foolish stone to use. Strange.

This was a second arrow with a red-feathered tail that I had seen in twelve hours. I ran my finger along the fletching. Arrows, at least when I used to shoot them, were made with real feathers.
This was something modern and synthetic. Tony limped as we walked but said nothing. I found his baseball hat lying near my dagger on the sidewalk. He put his hat on backwards and we headed to
campus. It took a little longer with Tony’s tender ankle, but we climbed over the stone wall and on to school ground undetected. He remained silent as we snuck to our dorms.

As I gripped the arrow, a wound throbbed on my middle finger. I lifted my hand – a jagged cut ran from the nail almost to the wrist. I shook it out and told myself to ignore the throb at
my hip too. My knuckles were sore from the fall on Main Street and from burying Suleen the day before.

I couldn’t fall apart from flesh wounds. Too many important questions flooded my mind. Who shot that arrow? What did Justin think he was going to accomplish by bringing me back?

Tony kept his gaze to the ground and his mouth set in a firm line. When we met first time around, Tony had been relentless in seeking out the truth about my past. He was not the kind to let
something slide once it became interesting. He was dogged to a fault; back then, my coven had killed him by biting him hundreds of times.

This time I owed him the truth from the beginning. This beginning.

I owed him respect.

And I owed him my life.

We walked to the back of Turner, where Tony packed up his telescope. He hobbled to his window and we snuck in as noiselessly as we could. Tony still hadn’t said anything when he shut the
window behind us. Tonight’s answers would be hard for him to hear. Some of the questions he would ask, I wouldn’t be able to answer.

I knew only one fact – Justin Enos could not hurt me.

Because he still loved me.

Vicken Clough had been able to clean wounds with just a pocketknife. He’d been able to redraw maps of entire buildings from memory. If he was here now, he would have
helped me fight Justin; he would have helped me make a plan. Instead I sat down on Tony’s bed and cleaned my cut with alcohol and antiseptic.

I would have to find another time to perform my goodbye ritual for Vicken.

Tony paced and kept shaking his hands out as if he was prepping for a battle. The salty air licked through the cracked window, wafting away the sterile scent of the antiseptic. ‘First, did
you know that would happen when we went out on to Main Street tonight?’ he asked.

‘No, road buddy,’ I said, making sure to emphasize the expression.

‘Right, yes, excursion was my idea. Moving on.’

‘I suspected something might happen, but I thought it worth the risk,’ I confessed.

‘Worth the risk?’

‘To spend time with you. To tell you the truth.’

‘About Justin?’ Tony asked.

‘One thing at a time,’ I said gently.

‘Do you know . . .’ Tony picked his word carefully, ‘
what
he is?’

After a few minutes, his limp had disappeared, but the scrape on Tony’s face still blossomed with fresh blood. He grabbed a paintbrush from his desk and held it in his hand like a dagger.
‘You have to tell me what the hell happened to Justin. And why he was so fast. And why he had fangs. People don’t have
fangs
.’

‘You should put that down,’ I said, gesturing to the paintbrush. ‘Let me clean the cut on your face.’

‘It makes me feel better to hold it,’ he said. He touched his fingers to the cut. I placed the arrow down on his desk, intending to wipe it clean and examine its construction when I
had the chance. ‘Start talking, Lenah,’ Tony said. ‘Please.’

‘I’m not sure where to start,’ I said quietly.

‘How about you start with what you know?’ Tony collapsed on to his bed. ‘No –
how
you know.’

I cast my eyes to the floor, hoping to find the right way to recount this horrible tale. Did I start back in the 1400s when Rhode made me a vampire? Did Tony need to know about Rhode? Did I tell
him about the first time I came to Wickham?