Eternal Day

by Kerrion, Jade;

  “Are the vampires all dead?” another man asked.

  “Yes, I think so.”

  The man inhaled sharply. The jagged sound bordered on panic. “We’re all dead now. Without them, the daevas will slaughter us.”

  His voice sounded so familiar that Erich took a closer look; it was the same man who had boldly insulted the Night Terrors earlier that day. Apparently, he was having second thoughts about both their presence and their usefulness.

  Erich glanced around. “Did anyone see where Tera went?”

  The people shook their heads.

  “The dome will not reopen as long as there is sunlight, which means we’ll have to hold out for at least twelve hours.”

  “Against the daevas?” the man asked. “We’ll never make it.”

  Erich stared at him. “What is your name?”

  “Ivan.”

  “Ivan, I lived among the daevas for two hundred and fifty years. I know how to fight them. Humans, fighting together, can defeat them. Your choices are to fight and maybe die, or to not fight and almost certainly die. You choose.”

  Ivan’s upper lip curled into a sneer. “You’re one of them. Jorgen said you went to warn the daevas it was a trap.”

  “To keep them from attacking.”

  “Didn’t work, did it?”

  “No. I had not realized how much Canya hated Tera.”

  “This is a fight among immortals,” Ivan said. “Let them slaughter each other. If we stay out of the way—”

  “You can’t stay out of the way. This is a battle for Aeternae Noctis. The future of Earth is bound to the icrathari who control the city.” They care about the humans. I’m no longer certain Canya does…

  “But what can we do here? We’re in Callisto.”

  “And so are Canya and Tera. Tera is the defense of Aeternae Noctis. If Canya kills Tera, she’ll take over Aeternae Noctis. It’s just a matter of time.”

  “So, what are you saying?”

  “Find Tera. Protect her, whatever it costs.”

  Chapter 14

  Tera slumped against the concrete wall in one of the city’s high-rise buildings. Her wings, wrapped around her shoulders, framed her defensive stance. Curses tangled in her mind. She had underestimated Canya’s anger and the daevas’ desperation. She had put all four cities at risk. How many humans and vampires would die because of her decision—her wrong decision—today?

  I never wanted this role. Canya was the leader, the one who wanted to lead armies. I was content playing her lieutenant.

  Until the sun rose over the last night of human civilization.

  Tera had never intended to enter Aeternae Noctis. Megun, Canya, and Tera had mapped out a plan to guide as many humans as possible into subterranean hiding places, including nuclear fallout shelters, subway stations, basements, and even the catacombs.

  She had worked frantically through the night, shoving people and food supplies into places sheltered from the sun, yet the solution was, at best, a short-term solution. Unless the icrathari came up with a way to grow food, humanity would eventually starve to death, if not within a week, certainly within a few years.

  Tera emerged into a dark blue sky on the cusp of dawn. Several hundred yards away, the domed city of Aeternae Noctis dwarfed the town behind it. Hot air gusted from its many exhaust ports, suspending the city a hundred feet over the ground. Vampires scrambled over the city, making the final preparations for flight.

  Tera’s attention darted to the two winged figures in front of Aeternae Noctis. Megun and Rohkeus argued, as they had argued for many months now, Tera reflected wryly. It was always technically about Aeternae Noctis, which Rohkeus, their prince, had begun building several months earlier.

  In truth, Tera suspected the argument was as much about Ashra, whom Rohkeus had taken as his concubine several centuries earlier. Megun, the icrathari princess, was rightly furious.

  Tera’s gaze flicked up. Ashra and Siri stood within the domed city, wisely staying out of the argument.

  The air shifted behind her. Tera glanced over her shoulder and smiled at Canya.

  “All set?” Canya asked.

  Tera nodded. “As prepared as we’ll ever be. What’s the plan?”

  “We’ll leave before the sun rises and head for the northern hemisphere. The cities close to the Arctic Circle will not see the light of the sun for several months. Therein lies our best chances of keeping people alive.”

  “We should leave now.”

  Canya sighed. “He’s still trying to persuade Megun to follow him.”

  “Maybe Aeternae Noctis is the answer. He’s stuffed it with everything he could possibly think of.”

  “Except everything else left out here.” Canya shook her head. “The fae will survive; we always will, but the humans…Megun’s right. Our responsibility is out here—”

  “While Ashra is in there.”

  “It would have been simpler if Rohkeus had never taken up with her.”

  Tera glanced at the horizon. “We’re running out of time.”

  “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Canya smiled. “Rohkeus is right about one thing—Aeternae Noctis is the key to restoring Earth. We will need the technology in the city if we’re to bring life back to Earth.”

  Rohkeus’s voice rose angrily, drawing Tera’s attention back to his argument with Megun. “No, I will not cast Ashra out. You and I were finished millennia ago, long before I took Ashra into my heart. You and all the icrathari are welcome into the city, but Ashra stays beside me.”

  Megun’s voice was cool and controlled. “You need me in there, Rohkeus, and you need Canya.”

  “Need?” Rohkeus’s eyebrows arched. “I need neither of you. I am perfectly capable of defending Aeternae Noctis.”

  Tera smiled faintly. Rohkeus was not just the greatest intellect among them; he was a warrior prince—as adept with weapons as he was with technology. She glanced over her shoulder. The sun’s glow had strengthened into beams of light. Why wasn’t anyone else as concerned about the onset of day?

  A quick flicker of movement in her peripheral vision snapped her focus back to Rohkeus and Megun.

  And to a female human who rushed out of the shadows.

  Rohkeus spun around to face the threat.

  Megun grabbed his arm.

  Tera would later replay that scene thousands of times in her mind, analyzing each expression, each action, each reaction. She could never decide if Megun had latched on to Rohkeus’s arm in genuine panic, or if she had, in planned spite, held him in place for the assassin’s twin blades.

  The only thing Tera knew was that she had not been able to save Rohkeus.

  Her wings slammed down hard to carry her to Rohkeus’s side, but one of the assassin’s blade entered Rohkeus’s stomach. Another slashed across his neck with such force that it cut through flesh and bone, almost severing his head.

  Tera’s claws ripped across the assassin’s chest, killing the woman instantly, and she caught Rohkeus as he fell.

  Death was already glazing his green eyes, but his lips shaped a final, soundless word.

  Ashra.

  Tera glanced up. Within the dome, Ashra hovered against the glass, her expression shattered by horror and grief as the powerful engines of Aeternae Noctis screamed to a deafening roar. The city accelerated away from the rising sun.

  Canya moved to Megun’s side. “Without Rohkeus, Ashra cannot defend the city.”

  Tera’s heart pounded so quickly it left her breathless. Her thoughts spun so dizzily she could not get untangle them.

  Did Megun…?

  Is Canya…?

  No, it can’t be…but—

  Aeternae Noctis was already several hundred feet away and accelerating. The panels on the base of the city were closing. The entire city would soon be inaccessible, but only until Megun and Canya chose to take it back from Ashra.

  Ashra could not defend the city, not alone.

&n
bsp; Not without her.

  Her eyes narrowed as her resolve steeled. Tera set Rohkeus’s body down and took to the air. He deserved a royal burial, but she needed all the speed she could muster.

  “Where are you going?” Canya shouted.

  “The city needs a defender. Without Rohkeus—”

  “Rohkeus is dead. He cannot command you.”

  But he did.

  “You belong with me!” Canya screamed. “I’m ordering you to stop.”

  The sound of wings chased after Tera. She slowed, just enough to allow Canya to catch up, but as Canya’s shadow fell over her, she spun into a whirlwind. Her steel-tipped wing tips slashed across Canya’s face, cutting into her lips, breaking her nose, puncturing her eyes.

  Canya shrieked as she fell, her hands covering her disfigured face. Canya’s wounds would heal, Tera thought grimly, but Ashra would never recover from the loss of Rohkeus.

  But the city will not fall. Not while I defend it.

  Tera darted between the massive exhaust ports and through the narrow space between the panels. They slammed shut behind her. The sound bounced off the steel walls. It rang in her chest.

  The air beat with the rhythmic thud of approaching wings. She braced herself. A moment later, Siri, her face tear-streaked, peeked around the corner. “What are you doing here?”

  Tera gritted her teeth against the ache in her chest. “I’m here to swear my loyalty to Ashra. I have come to defend the city.”

  The ancient memories faded into the concrete walls surrounding her. Tera stretched her wings, her minor injuries already healed. So much for my Plan A. Fortunately, Siri pushed for Plans B through Z.

  She strode out of the room to stand by an open window. Human bodies strewn through the park below—the former residents of Haven lying alongside the former residents of Aeternae Noctis.

  Anger knotted in her chest. Why had she thought that Canya and her daevas would care who they struck down? From the back, one fleeing human probably looked much the same as another—but they were fleeing. The humans were no threat to the daevas.

  And all the vampires were dead.

  Tera’s sweeping gaze took in the daevas—some in the air, others on the ground. No doubt there were more in the buildings. Siri had insisted that Tera memorize the layout of each city and—more importantly—the maze of underground tunnels used for water purification, distribution, and for sanitation. Tera could easily make her way around Callisto without exposing herself to attacks, but she had to draw the daevas out and keep them in the open, away from the people hiding in buildings.

  Her eyes narrowed. One at a time. Just as she had promised Canya.

  She leaped out of the window, surging straight up at a daeva flying overhead. The daeva only had enough time to look down in shock before Tera’s claws tore across its stomach and throat. It gurgled, its body twisting in death’s throes as it plunged fifty feet.

  Before its body hit the sidewalk, Tera had already darted around a nearby building and through an open window. She eased the glass pane down, careful not to draw the attention of the screaming daevas as they swooped around the building in pursuit.

  Tera found the closest stairs and leaped, feet first, into the circular stairwell, her wings flaring to slow her descent. The door to the underground tunnel was sealed, but her retinal scan unlocked it.

  The uniformly smooth surfaces of the tunnels were like extensions of Malum Turris, cold and predictable—nothing at all like Earth’s caves. A grim smile touched Tera’s lips. The daevas had changed from their exposure to the sun and their lives underground, but the icrathari had changed too, if not physically, then emotionally and mentally. Technology was their haven now—steel instead of sun-warmed rock, rustling trees, and running streams.

  And until we restore the Earth, the daeva and icrathari will never be one again. The environment will separate us. Ancient enmity will divide us.

  Tera traveled through the tunnels to a building several streets south of where she had started. A careful peek revealed a trio of young daevas clustered at a corner.

  Too easy.

  She was upon them, wings slashing, claws tearing. Their limited experience rendered their strength of numbers meaningless; they could not survive a battle-hardened icrathari millennia older than they. One tried to scream a warning, but Tera ripped the partially vocalized sound from its throat before it swelled to full volume. Golden blood spilled over concrete, running down the sidewalks. The final surviving daeva, its leg mangled, huddled against the wall, its wings wrapped around its trembling body.

  The daeva’s bright yellow eyes fixed on Tera; it whimpered, the sound barely audible over the beat of many wings racing toward it.

  They would not be in time to save the daeva’s life.

  Tera’s claws swiped toward its throat—

  “No!” Something lunged of the shadows and hurled itself in front of the daeva.

  Momentum could not be checked. Her razor-sharp claws raked across Erich’s face, tearing gashes from cheekbone to chin. Erich snarled. His fangs elongated, but instead of attacking, he grabbed her wrist and tugged her into the shadows.

  Together, they darted through an open door then braced it against the pounding fists of the daevas. Their greater strength allowed them to push the door shut and slide the lock into place.

  “This way,” Erich said, with no apparent anger in his voice. He led the way into the tunnels where several humans waited. “Take us to another quadrant, Ivan.”

  A chubby man nodded and scurried through the tunnels as if it were his second home. He was probably one of the many engineers who maintained the domed city of Callisto.

  Tera shook off Erich’s hand. “You led the daevas here.”

  He turned back to face her. “You wanted me to.” Bitterness edged his voice. “This is not the place for a conversation. The daevas will break through that door, but when they find it leads to steel tunnels, they will retreat unless they see us here.” He shook his head. “They cannot abide being surrounded by steel. It is soulless. It frightens them.” Accompanied by the humans, Tera and Erich followed Ivan through the tunnels into an empty section of the metal labyrinth.

  Only then did Erich face her. “Why use me in this elaborate plot to lure Canya here?”

  “Would you have cooperated otherwise?” I knew you would choose her over me. Tera sidestepped his question. “We need Canya—alive.”

  Erich’s eyes widened. “You’re not trying to kill her?”

  “No.” Tera turned away from Erich to pace the short breadth of the tunnels. “Siri believes that we can seed the atmosphere—what’s left of it—with silver iodide. If we can crack the surface of the Earth open with explosives and expose the vast underground oceans beneath, the water will rise as steam and react with the silver iodide to form clouds.”

  Erich’s brow furrowed. “Which will provide protection from the heat.”

  “And potentially kick-start the water cycle.”

  “What does Canya have to do with this?”

  “We need the daevas to seed the atmosphere with silver iodide—it’s more than three icrathari can accomplish. We also need daevas to lead the vampires and humans through the underground caves, to plant the explosives. The explosives have to be placed over the underground seas, which means that daevas will have to carry and support the vampires and humans who are installing the explosives on the cave roof.”

  Erich shook his head. “Who comes up with plans like these?”

  “Siri, usually, but your mention of the underground seas inspired it.” Tera sighed. “It’s a slim chance, dependent on perfect execution. It depends on that single moment when dawn becomes day—but it’s the best chance we’ve got.”

  “And Canya?”

  “She is the last of the great daevas. As long as she commands the daevas, we need her help.”

  “She hates you.”

  Tera shrugged.

  “She says you abandoned her to burn on Earth.”


  Tera shrugged again, but tension stiffened the otherwise graceful motion.

  “Is it true?” Erich snarled. “Why do you do betray those who trust you? Why did you betray me?”

  Tera drew her upper lip back, baring fangs. “Betray you? Should I have left you in the city? The transformation could have driven you mad. You could have attacked and killed all the humans in the city. None of the vampires would have been able to stop you. What I did, I did to keep your people safe from you!”

  “You could have kept them safe from me if you had just let me die!”

  Her chest ached. “Have you ever acted against your better judgement?”

  His eyebrows drew together.

  “Of course not,” Tera murmured. “What could you have done in the short span of your human life to regret?”

  “Regret?” Erich spoke through gritted teeth. “I regret so much. I regret everything. The hours wasted on art and poetry, the nights spent sitting by the fountain, staring into the sky, waiting for you to soar from Aeternae Noctis. I regret the fantasy of infatuation that led me to defend what did not need or deserve to be defended. If I had chosen my life over yours, I would not be here today—an immortal, mad—”

  “You are not mad.”

  “If I am not mad, then why won’t the broken pieces fit back together?”

  “Your shattered memories are not you, Erich.”

  “Then what is?” He pounded his fist against his chest. “The turmoil in my heart? The emotions that pull me one way and then another? The tangle of hate and…infatuation? What about the voices in my mind—the ones that scream at me endlessly, blaming you for making me what I am…and the ones that murmur quietly in the corner of my mind, blaming myself for loving you, for inspiring your hate.”

  Tera’s jaw dropped. “I don’t hate you.”

  “Why, then?” Erich asked quietly. “I know…and perhaps I even understand why you buried me outside the city. It was your duty, and you always do your duty.” He stared down at his misshapen hands. “But why turn me into this?” His voice shook as he stared at the humans, crowding together instinctively as a defense against the argument of an icrathari and an immortali. “I used to be one of them—simple, uncomplicated—”