Harsh Light of Day

by Jaye A. Jones

  **

  As careful as he could be, Declan removed what was left of wood and glass from Lena’s body. She could not heal as long as the foreign objects were still in her skin, so he worked quickly. He did not like the smell of her blood in the confines of the car. And he knew, had she been awake, she never would have allowed him to doctor her wounds, which made him work all the more quickly.

  The car Declan had never seen before smelled of mold and dust. The outside was black but the paint was faded and rusty. The silver emblem he noticed on the dingy grill said Cadillac. It meant nothing to him, yet he noticed, not knowing why he found it interesting.

  Being from so very long ago, he did not know how to drive. Neither did Colin. Cars were strange to them. Henry was turned before cars were common so too would not have known how to drive. It appeared as though he had learned.

  Declan wondered what other secrets Henry and Colin kept.

  Henry drove very slowly. He could not have been able to see well through the tinted front window and did not have the headlights turned on. From the back seat, vampire senses or not, Declan could not see further than the hood of the automobile.

  The human whimpered in the trunk where Henry had stashed him. As Declan removed one last little splinter from Lena’s arm, he grumbled at the noises the human made.

  It was pleasant to see the human scared. Declan could not say he minded him being so very uncomfortable and frightened. But he knew what fate awaited him. If Colin did not kill him on sight, he would lock him away and allow him to die of starvation or whatever pedestrian ailment ended human lives.

  Lena would not like it. She was still too young not to care. Whatever relationship his Lena had with that human, whatever connection they shared, she would never get over being the cause of a human’s death. Any human, let alone one she has gotten to know.

  It made Declan’s thoughts race with fury for a moment while he considered how he felt about his Lena having a connection with anyone but him, especially a feeble, lowly, less than extraordinary human.

  The stench of that human seeped through the seams of the back seat making Declan scowl all the more.

  It was more likely, considering Colin’s affection for the rules, that the human would be sent to Charles for disposal, which was the custom with humans that accidentally found out about vampires. It did not happen often, but it had happened before.

  Colin would still want to keep what had happened secret, if at all possible. Charles was not omniscient, yet somehow he always discovered what was happening within each family.

  When the sky finally began to lighten, Declan could see they were nearly back at Colin’s Castle. It was so quick by car. It felt like weeks since he had left, but in reality it was not yet even a day. A handful of hours, really. Yet with the weight of all that happened, with the memories infesting Declan’s thoughts ever since he left, time tip toed by.

  Declan again considered how unusual it was for a vampire to feel as though a small amount of time was long. But there was nothing usual about what had transpired over the time away.

  Colin stood, waiting to greet them at the front window with the thick, black curtain pulled back for the first time Declan had seen. His anger, his agitation, his malicious intent could be felt from across the large lawn.

  The Castle, which was nothing more than a big house on a sizeable spot of land, had very little in the way of landscape. There were no trees or shrubbery, but there was a garden tended to by hired, human hands that arrived twice a week and disappeared as quickly as they could.

  Slowly putting the car into park and turning the key in the ignition, Henry was around to Lena’s door almost immediately. Mary, noticeably slower than her partner, walked to the trunk and retrieved the whimpering human.

  Declan did not want Henry to touch his Lena, so he took her and propped her up. She was still unconscious, which was not surprising. Henry had hit her with a park bench. Though she was almost healed now, the side of Lena’s skull had shattered with the force of the blow.

  Despite knowing she would be all right, Declan would never willingly allow Henry to lay another finger on her.

  As they entered the mansion with Henry leading them in, Mary closed and locked the door once everyone was inside while Colin watched and glowered.

  “I am glad you have returned, Declan,” were the first words he said after giving Henry a nod of approval.

  “There was no choice,” Declan responded, cradling Lena with one arm while the rest of his body was rigid and firmly planted in place.

  Colin did not move. He did not tilt his head or blink. It was his normal behavior.

  “I understand,” he said as Viola appeared almost out of nowhere and stood behind Declan, just out of his peripheral vision.

  “Chain the human,” he ordered Mary.

  Giving his partner a simple look gave her all the instruction she required. Viola took Lena from Declan’s hold with the greatest of ease. He had no time to protest, not that it would have stopped what was to happen. She carried Lena as if she weighed next to nothing, as if instead of blood and bone and muscle, she were filled with packing peanuts.

  His Lena would have found the idea amusing.

  Declan, conscious of everyone’s movements, followed close behind Mary who carried the sticky human draped over her arm. If Viola made a move he did not like, Declan was close enough to intervene.

  But as they reached the Main Hall, Colin stood in Declan’s way, and he lost view of his partner.

  “You are not permitted,” he said simply and disappeared behind a locked door in an instant.

  Colin would not allow him to meddle. Declan should have known.

  Running through the torch-lit corridors of the mansion as fast as his spent body would allow, Declan checked each door leading to the Main Hall, but was too late. Each way in had been locked and secured.

  He could have smashed through the doors, or even the walls perhaps, but before he could regain his strength, Colin and Henry would be upon him.

  There was no way in. Declan could not do anything to stop this.

  He did not know exactly what they would do to Lena, but Declan suddenly hated them all for their part, whatever it would be. Even Annabelle and Lennox were in the Main Hall, ready to bear witness to the humiliation, the pain. Each of the vampires inside about to watch made Declan ill.

  After so many centuries of blind loyalty, he found it easy to despise them. The conflict was over.

  They were no longer his family.