Darklight 3: Darkworld

by Forrest, Bella

  “You know what that means?” Kane asked with a gloating smile. “If the vampire community still stuck in the Immortal Plane is strong enough, we won’t have to hide in the Mortal Plane anymore at all. We could reclaim the area.”

  The vampires might have allies waiting for them in the Immortal Plane. I leaned back in my chair, trying to imagine what that might look like. They could have hidden in caves like the vampires did here in the Mortal Plane. They must’ve found some way to evade the Immortals.

  “Too bad we rescued Castral so soon,” Kane lamented after a pause. “Maybe we could’ve learned more.”

  Harlowe cast a sidelong look at him. “Maybe. That’s assuming he lived long enough to tell us.”

  Gina fidgeted with her napkin. Roxy put her chin in her hand, her glare made even fiercer by the scar that sliced through her eyebrow. Zach looked thoughtful, obviously processing the new information. Were they wondering what type of immortal ghouls these creatures were? The Immortals certainly seemed intelligent enough to threaten our vampire allies. Could they match vampires’ strength and speed, both of which were far superior to our human abilities?

  I needed to ask Dorian more about the Immortals, but it was like pulling teeth. The vampires were trying to keep the existence of the Immortals a secret from the government, not wanting a repeat of humans contacting Immortals and working together to kill the vampires. And there was little time for questions that weren’t immediately relevant; our recent conversations had been focused on educating me about the finer points of vampire existence, to help me in any government hearings I might be called to. We weaved our talks in through stolen moments away from strategy discussions. It was odd to be able to spend more time with each other, and I enjoyed it despite the constant low buzz of pain in my chest.

  “Could we help more vampire survivors if we found that group?” Roxy wondered aloud. “We could bust in and grab them before the immortal creeps notice we’re there.”

  Bravi ran a hand over her face, humming with thought. “It’s unlikely. Lake Siron is a day or more on foot from any entry point that I know of. If we went via redbill, we’d have to go through the tear, which, even if you were allowed back into America, is even farther away from the lake.”

  “Even if we could get in, staying beyond the reach of Immortals’ eyes is difficult and dangerous,” Harlowe added. “I’m reluctant to even consider the idea.”

  “Hard not to be, after watching Castral get chewed on,” Neo piped up from his place next to Arlonne and Gavril at another table.

  I was surprised he had joined us this evening. The newer vampires from Kane’s group didn’t always come to dinner. It wasn’t like they could eat with us, and not all of them were interested in the social aspect.

  He moved to sit by us, his movements quiet and deliberate. “What I will say is that before we followed Kane through the tear, we heard similar rumors. There’s supposedly an underground vampire group that established a safe colony in the Immortal Plane. They send scouts to fill up on dark energy that they bring back to feed the rest of the colony.”

  An underground fugitive group that strategically ferried back dark energy to feed its members? Sounded familiar. It must be necessary, since the immortal enemies knew the group was there. I wondered if their hideout was as precarious as some of ours had been. Near Lake Siron, Kane had said. What kind of place was that? Probably a crater full of bubbling black water, hiding creatures with long, oozing tentacles that would snatch anyone walking by. It seemed like when it came to the Immortal Plane, all I could imagine were terrible, strange creatures with malicious intent. To be fair, my experience so far had demonstrated this to be the norm.

  “It seems far too convenient,” Arlonne pointed out, breaking through my thoughts, “that our enemies would discuss a surviving group of vampires in front of a prisoner, apparently unconscious or not. The hunters aren’t foolish enough to talk idly and let important information slip out.”

  She had a point. The various nodding vampire heads around the table indicated that many agreed with her. If the rulers were as bad as everyone said, it seemed very possible that they would purposely let us know about the other group in order to set up a trap.

  “I don’t know,” Bravi countered. “I’ve met some really stupid Immortals in my time. Regardless, going to find such a group would be a dangerous task.” Her serious gaze found mine. She’d guessed I would talk to Dorian soon. Since Bravi’s confession on the Chicago rooftop, I noticed she was more distant from Dorian. Still fiercely loyal, but she appeared happier to leave some Dorian business up to me. It was like having the world’s strangest blessing, but since it was Bravi, I felt honored.

  I quickly finished my meal while the conversation drifted to the latest happenings at VampCon. I then excused myself, pausing to drop off my dirty dishes in one of the tubs left by the kitchen. It surprised nobody to see me leave. It was no secret that I sought out Dorian every evening, though some newer vampires seemed mildly amused or slightly unsettled by our relationship. Dorian sometimes skipped the dinner socializing hour due to late check-in meetings with Morag or Bryce. At least we’d received no open harassment from any of the vampires, beyond the scalding looks that Halla gave us whenever she saw the two of us together. Unfortunately for her, we’d been spending quite a lot of time in each other’s company.

  We had grown increasingly close in the past few weeks, finally free to interact without the threat of the Bureau lurking over us. When we weren’t stealing kisses despite the low heartburn, much of our time was spent researching the Bureau archives, access kindly granted by our friend on the current board, Martin Fenton. The pickings were slim, with most of the archives locked behind firewalls and clearance that Louise couldn’t break through, even though it would look very good on her record as part of the investigation into the Bureau. So, Dorian took some time to tell me bits and stories of vampire lore and culture. Between the arrival of the new vampires and the fact that I was now publicly considered somewhat of a vampire expert, I figured I should know as much as possible if I expected to help our cause. Knowledge was power in an interdimensional conflict.

  Right now, however, all I wanted to know was where Dorian had tucked himself away instead of coming to the mess hall. I’d seen him in the library just before my run this afternoon, enraptured by a book of Scottish history. If he wasn’t in the mess hall or library, then Dorian would be in his quarters. As the bedrooms were closer, I headed there first, planning to drop by the room I shared with Louise to pick up a hoodie. There was a chill in the evening air, and my well-exercised muscles were starting to tighten uncomfortably from the cold.

  After retrieving the blue fleece-lined hoodie from my bed, I padded quietly down the hall toward the room Dorian shared with Sike. Peeking through the half-open door, I saw that Dorian was indeed there. He sat at his desk, staring out the window at the moor. The sunset behind the gray clouds made it dark outside, but his vision was better than mine. His strong shoulders looked broader than usual from behind. As I snuck up behind him, the weak shadows beneath the skin of his bare arms prompted a pang of worry within me. There would be dark circles under his eyes, too.

  I hugged him from behind, resting my chin on the top of his head as I gave him a gentle squeeze.

  Dorian jerked upward with an exaggerated gasp. “You scared me!”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at him. At least I’d never have to worry about him lying to me. He was terrible at it.

  The weakness of the burn in my chest at our proximity reinforced my concern that he hadn’t fed enough recently. He tipped his head back to see me, and a burst of pain pounded in my chest as he gave me a slight smile. The sensations rushed through me. I’d grown used to them by now, and in fact, the burst of pain reassured me that maybe he wasn’t as weak as I thought.

  We’d never officially decided that Dorian’s starvation was worth it for us to be able to touch. He argued that it was easier for him to go hungry for long stretches of ti
me, rather than risk me falling into a coma when we were close to one another. I’d told him it was intensely unhealthy for him to regularly starve himself for long periods. The bones of his face grew sharper, the muscles of his arms thinning, as the shadows beneath his skin faded by the day. The thought of him suffering like that made my heart hurt almost as much as the heartburn.

  Our working agreement, partially unspoken, was that he would feed lightly when necessary. After his weakness in Chicago turned out to be a liability, he’d realized he couldn’t forgo it entirely and fed sparingly off the vampires who brought energy back from the Immortal Plane. He hadn’t gone himself, instead remaining at the camp to oversee the day-to-day operations, liaise with the researchers and Major Morag, and keep track of the international state of affairs regarding his people. Kane was in charge of the Immortal Plane missions, and that worked well for both of them.

  Our compromise seemed to be working for now. He was definitely hungry, but not debilitated. My pain stayed at a bearable level. I could touch him. Our system was manageable when we weren’t in combat.

  “I don’t know why you still try to surprise me. I recognized your footsteps at the other end of the hallway,” he confessed, taking one of my hands to press a kiss to the back of it.

  I enjoyed the soft rumble of his voice through his chest, so I kept my arms around him. “Well, aren’t you perceptive?” I teased. “Are you saying I have a heavy step?”

  He smirked. “Not heavy. Just your own,” he assured me, pulling me around into his lap to kiss me.

  I gasped with pleasure and surprise, but as soon as it started, it was over, leaving a pleasant tingle on my lips. I wanted to close my eyes and savor it for the night… but there were more pressing matters.

  “Have you heard about the Immortal Plane feeding party?” I asked, settling more comfortably into his lap.

  He nodded slowly, a stitch of worry in his brow as he absentmindedly ran his thumb back and forth on my thigh. “From the start, we knew that this feeding arrangement wasn’t sustainable in the long term, especially not when we were using the same circle every time to travel between the planes. I’m trying to brainstorm other ways to get enough dark energy without damaging our chance for asylum. We’ve come too far to lose protection because of hunger.”

  I stood, leaning against his desk to look out at the moor. The last scraps of light fading from the yellowish sky gave the world outside the fence an eerie, otherworldly presence. As if something were out in the mountains, watching us.

  I turned my back on the tableau, refreshing myself as I took in Dorian’s glacial eyes, the soft tumble of his black hair. “And the rumors about the other survivors?”

  “Could be promising,” he said, a note of hope in his voice. “Very promising. If there are other vampires out there in the Immortal Plane gathering together like we have here, we could form a resistance with them. Together, we would have more hope of being able to fight against the Immortals.”

  “But we would need to find them first.” Plans were forming in my mind. “It doesn’t sound as if they want to be found. I get the sense that they’ve evaded rather than tried to fight the Immortals.”

  “I don’t blame them. We would need to figure out where they are, but an expedition to find them and bring them back would be perilous. If the Immortals are hunting the group…” He paused. “It feels terrible to say it, especially when we were so recently on the run, but if the Immortals have caught wind of a vampire group, they’ll almost certainly find them before we do. Or worse, we could lead the hunters right to the survivors’ door and die with them.”

  He, unlike Arlonne, thought the group existed but was still a danger. Interesting. Good to know he was excited but cautious. I gave him a closer look, appreciating how handsome he was when frustrated. It really brought out the line of his jaw…

  “Remember we’ve got our fun mission tomorrow,” I reminded him, to key up his frustration even more. “You need to be at the top of your game.” He scowled. Just the reaction I expected. And it was beautiful.

  “I’m sick of all these publicity stunts just to try to convince people that we’re not going to randomly murder them,” he said, shaking his head. “All I keep hearing in the coverage is how difficult it would be to integrate us into human society. Most of us don’t even want that, and it’s distracting us all from the real problem. The tear between planes and the Immortals waging war against vampires are far more pressing issues. Why won’t the humans listen to us when we tell them that these things are just as dangerous to you as they are to us?” His genuine anger made me feel bad about teasing him.

  “I know, but we need to be level-headed,” I said. “We’re still waiting on the international consensus on the supernatural. We can’t rush them any more than we already have. The US has yet to legalize any kind of vampire immigration. There are government officials chomping at the bit to detain or kill any vampires on sight, even with the reformed Bureau.” Fenton’s face flashed in my mind. “The new board is spending all its time on the Bureau investigation and monitoring the tear in the Canyonlands. They can’t let us help them fight the creatures coming through with our entire nation watching them like hawks.”

  “They had no problem throwing their manpower at us,” Dorian muttered.

  “When they had corrupt officials and no morals, they could do anything,” I agreed with a shrug. “We wanted the Bureau and the old board to be held accountable, and we made it happen. Now we have to wait for that process to finish, even when it doesn’t benefit us.”

  “This isn’t something that can wait.” Dorian lifted his chin with determination. “I will not wait for the Bureau to give me permission to fight a war they helped start. At the end of the day, it affects vampires the most. It has already affected us more than most of them can understand.” He crossed his arms tightly across his chest and stared out the window. I could see the gears in his mind turning. He wanted to put plans into action.

  So do I. But before we could, we had to let the ones we’d already set up run their course. Dorian always wanted to forge ahead in whatever way he thought was best, but we needed to be cautious. His single-mindedness had accomplished a lot and was especially endearing when directed at making me happy, but it wasn’t the most helpful right now.

  “All this commotion isn’t great for the actual danger at hand,” I said in agreement. “I’m also itching to investigate the connection between the Bureau and these immortal enemies of yours. But Scotland won’t approve a mission without the American government’s permission, and we need access to the tear to take the redbills with us. If we tried to sneak into the US and got caught, we’d cause an even greater political mess, and you would lose any chance at asylum in Scotland. Or anywhere, in fact.”

  His anger seeped away, and his shoulders dropped. I wanted to hug him again. “You’re right. It would be useful to have the Bureau’s backing to bless our operation with resources and permission. We need a way to get back to the tear and get supplies for it. I saw what they could do in their fight against us. Their pockets and determination run deep when they have a vested interest in a fight.”

  Money and international opinion. It was a far cry from the usual strategies I preferred to utilize in battle, but it was a necessary part of our lives now. Congress had temporarily frozen our financial accounts for an audit to make sure there was nothing shady going on. Not that it mattered, since our combined human savings weren’t likely to be enough to charter a plane and supplies. Even if we had money, we needed clearance to enter the country. We had to play the political game, whether we wanted to or not. Dorian definitely didn’t… but at least he could see the reason we had to keep playing.

  “We’ll press the issue soon,” I promised. “We need to put more pressure on international bodies to investigate the Immortal Plane.”

  “Any ideas on how?” he asked, drumming his nails on his desk. His glacial eyes swept over me.

  The memory of Castral’s blood ca
me to mind, and I looked down at my hands. They were perfectly clean, but I could still feel the slick red with shadows across my fingers. The Immortal Plane promised danger. I thought about what would convince me to let the vampires have their way.

  “Make humans see how much more dangerous the Immortals are, compared even to vampires,” I said. “Whatever these things are, they scare vampires. The governments and the public need to be scared too. We can use that fear to our advantage.”

  I compulsively rubbed my hands together and went to tuck them into my hoodie pocket, but he stopped me. He gently grabbed my fingers and squeezed them. The heartburn flared, but the pleasure of his touch swallowed the pain. I closed my eyes for a moment, savoring our closeness. It was hard to steal these intimate moments together from our busy lives. As much as I wanted to touch him, sometimes the guilt of the never-ending work hung in the back of my mind. I could push it away at certain moments.

  “We’ll figure it out,” he said. “Together.”

  I nodded slowly. We would. I would refuse to stop working until we fixed this.

  I dropped my gaze to his hand on mine and smiled playfully. “You can let go now.”

  His eyes lit with mischief, and a smirk flashed to life on his elegant lips. “What if I don’t?”

  I laughed, not resisting as he pulled me close. My nose brushed his. Excited butterflies stirred in my stomach. It was nice to step away from my professional role with him for a few moments out of the day. He pressed feather-light kisses across my cheeks and eyelids, slipping down to my jaw, my neck…

  Pain pulsed behind my eyes, and I blinked black spots from my vision.

  When I first arrived at the compound, the medical staff argued until I agreed to let them evaluate me every few days for heart trouble. They’d warned me not to push past my limits, and Dorian had ganged up on me with them. My body yearned to touch Dorian as much as possible, but my brain knew it was time to stop.