Night Falls (Until Dawn, Book 2)

by J. N. Baker

  In all the time we’d sparred after my transformation, I’d never been able to land a blow.

  Alec straightened and smiled down at me, his stomach nearly healed. “You’ve gotten better,” he said, pride in his voice.

  “I’ve had time to practice,” I breathed as he stepped up to me, his face drawing closer to mine.

  “I call next,” Jade announced. I turned to find two Jades stepping out of the group of onlookers, both of their eyes locked onto me. Awesome.

  Alec shook his head, stepping in front of me. “She’s still healing,” he told her.

  “I’m fine,” I said, pushing him out of the way. It was true, my back was almost completely healed. I could feel the skin fusing together as I spoke.

  Jade—both of them—grinned and cracked their knuckles. “Let’s do this.”

  “Bring it on,” I sneered, adjusting my grip on my sword as they began to circle me.

  “You don’t know how long I’ve been wanting to do this,” one of the Jades said.

  “I’m going to knock your ass into the next millennium, noobie,” the other spat.

  “Enough,” William bellowed, stepping into the middle of our little fight club before I could make my move. Shit. Both Jades quickly melted back into one who rolled her eyes at William’s untimely arrival.

  “Looks like Captain Killjoy is here,” Markus muttered from the crowd.

  “I have been looking for the three of you,” William continued, ignoring the mouthy older shift. His eyes traveled from me to Alec to a very irritated Jade. “We have somewhere important to be. Come,” he beckoned, motioning for us to follow him around the side of the castle.

  “That’s right, ladies,” Markus said, strutting forward. “Quit hogging all the damn fun and let the men fight.”

  Jade shot him a look and Markus laughed.

  “Watch it, shift,” she hissed. “I could still kill you.”

  Where others would cower, Markus only laughed more. “Don’t threaten me with a good time, darlin’,” he told her. “Now, who’s next, fuckers?” he called out, starting to strip out of his military clothes to shift.

  As we walked away, I could hear the sound of teeth clashing against teeth and loud animalistic snarls. I leaned over to Jade. “Rain check?”

  “Definitely.”

  When the three of us reached William, he was standing with Annie. Before I could ask where Ryuu was, he strode toward us from the stables with six horses in tow. I wrapped my hands around the leather reins as he handed them to me, stroking the paint’s velvety snout. She was a tall mare, mostly white with splashes of dark brown over her muscular body. She lowered her head to mine, her wild chocolate eyes burning into my soul. She looked like a Whiskey to me. Tall and fierce with just a little bit of burn. I patted her shoulder. We’d get along just fine.

  “I have something to show you all,” William said as he mounted his black stallion. “It is of great importance.” Everything with William was important.

  As I mounted my mare, Josh and Cody ran toward us. “Wait, we’re coming!” Cody hollered, scrambling to get his pants back on. Based on the blood seeping from both his head and arm and the wild smile on his face, I was guessing he had tried his hand at Markus. Based on how fast he and Josh got to us, I was pretty sure the fight didn’t last too long.

  “No, you’re not,” Jade retorted

  “Of course we are,” Josh said.

  “This does not concern you, human,” William spat. “Nor you, shift,” he added as Cody opened his mouth to spout something about “he goes where I go.”

  “Stay here,” William ordered, snatching up a torch from the side of one of the stone walls. Without another word, he dug his heels into the horse’s flank and it took off. I locked eyes with Josh and Cody, mouthing my apologies. Knowing Josh, he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Neither of them would.

  I steered the horse away from the castle, galloping after the others, through the trees and into the darkness.

  We’d been riding for nearly two hours when William’s horse released a loud snort, coming to a halt. I pulled on the reins and my horse followed suit. I patted the paint on her thick neck, whispering my appreciation before swinging off her back. I scanned the surroundings. I must have been dreaming.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” My mouth hung open. “Stonehenge?”

  “This is where it all began,” William started. “Where God first breathed life into us over a thousand years ago. Where He deemed us His servants, sent to keep peace over the land. And for many years, we did just that.”

  Annie took the hand William extended to her, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. He smiled weakly at her, lifting her from the small brown mare. Setting her on her feet, he moved away from her, stepping up to one of the massive stones. It made even a tall man such as William look so small. Pulling the glove from his right hand, he pressed his fingers against the smooth rock and exhaled. “It is all coming back to me now…” he trailed off.

  For once, I was at a complete loss for words. I’d always known how long William had been alive, but seeing him standing before me now in front of those ancient stones…he looked so old. What had those eyes seen, those ears heard? It seemed that I’d only scratched the surface of all that was “William.”

  “Why are you showing us this now, William?” Ryuu asked. “After so many years being together—after all the times we’ve been to the castle, why now?”

  “Because now we are all together. And to know where you are going, you must know where you have been.”

  Something stirred inside of me and I took a step toward the circle. And then another. And one more, until I was standing face to face with one of the massive stones. I reached out my hand, running it across the ancient rock. Goose bumps raced across my skin.

  Zoe.

  I gasped, retracting my hand as if I’d been bit. The voice still echoed in my head—a voice that was definitely not Annie’s. My head snapped to the others to see if they’d heard anything. They talked amongst themselves as if nothing had happened at all. I looked back at the stone and took a deep breath, hesitating before reaching out for it once more. My fingertips lingered over its rough surface.

  I pressed my hand to it.

  A thousand whispering voices consumed me until I could hear nothing else. I dragged my hand around the side of the stone as I stepped to the edge of the circle, afraid to break contact. I stared into the center of the formation, my foot hovering in midair.

  “Zoe, no!”

  But it was too late.

  I stepped into the circle and the voices stopped. I could hear nothing, not even the sound of my own breath. I turned toward the others. They were shouting at me, but I couldn’t hear a word. The silence was deafening. Panic raced through me and I tried to step out of the circle.

  Electricity rocked through my body and I jumped back. I approached the invisible barrier again, banging my fists into it. Lightning bolts traveled over my hands and up my arms. It burned to the bone. I screamed for help, but nothing came out. On the outside, Ryuu and William held Alec back as he struggled to get to me.

  With an unsteady breath, I glanced over my shoulder. A small light hovered in the center of the formation.

  Come to me, child.

  No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t resist the call. I was no longer in control. I turned toward the light, walking absently to the middle of the circle. I felt weightless, my feet light as feathers as they glided through the dense fog. As I reached one of the large center arches, my feet left the ground.

  With a bright flash, lightning shot out of the stones and into my body. A wave of electricity rolled over me, pulsing through my veins and out through my fingertips. Blue flames licked at my skin, searing the flesh. A white light exploded over my eyes and a blood-curdling scream escaped my lungs, shattering the silence.

  It is time.

  My body went limp.

  My eyes fluttered open and I tried to focus o
n the face hovering over mine. “Josh,” I finally said. My voice came out hoarse, raw from screaming.

  His strong hands slipped beneath me, lifting me gently to my feet. I held on to him for balance as I took in my surroundings. We were no longer at Stonehenge. I wondered how long I’d been unconscious. Or, better yet, what the hell had happened to me.

  Josh watched me with empty eyes, running his hands over my bare shoulders, all the way down to my fingertips. As if he wasn’t close enough already, he took another step toward me. His chest brushed against mine and I coiled my arms around his bare back, molding myself to him. He wasn’t as warm as I remembered, but I didn’t care.

  “W-what happened to me?” I mumbled into his chest. I put a hand on my throbbing head.

  He didn’t answer.

  “Where are the others?”

  Silence.

  “Josh?” I pulled away just a little, looking up into his ice-blue eyes. He slipped a hand under my chin and leaned toward me. His lips brushed against the corner of my mouth and I forgot to breathe.

  “One day you’ll understand,” he whispered.

  I stumbled back, ripping the dagger from my chest. A metallic taste filled my mouth as blood trickled from the corners of my parted lips. I stared at Josh in disbelief as I sank to my knees.

  Darkness crept in around me.

  “Zoe,” someone called my name. Their voice seemed so far away, and yet it resonated in my ears. “Are you all right? Zoe, answer me.”

  My whole body felt heavy, as if the gravity on Earth had been turned up ten notches. Maybe that was just the weight of the world pressing me down. I groaned as I fought to lift my arm; I was pretty sure that my limbs were filled with lead.

  With a great deal of effort, I dragged the back of my hand across my forehead to remove the thick layer of sweat that had formed. Someone shifted beside me, every move they made blaring in my eardrums until I thought my head would explode. Had I been hit over the head with a damn sledgehammer? I struggled to open my eyes. A face hovered over mine, a man’s face. I tried to focus on it.

  Josh.

  “No!”

  Before I even knew what was happening, I sat bolt upright and threw my hand out at him. White-hot lightning shot from my palm, searing my flesh and engulfing Josh’s entire body. He flew back through the air, slamming into one of the massive stones before collapsing to the ground, his body disappearing beneath a blanket of fog as if he were never there to begin with. I stared at the stone in horror. A crack remained in it, a small trail of blood leaching down its rough surface—evidence that he had indeed been there.

  “Oh shit!” A voice came from outside the formation. It sounded like Cody’s.

  I looked down at my smoking palm, the skin burnt to a crisp. The air escaped my lungs as if someone had just punched me in the gut. “Oh, God…what have I done? Someone help! Help!”

  “Get them out of there!” William barked.

  Alec sprinted into the circle, heading straight for me with wide eyes. As he knelt beside me, I noted how he paused before touching me. If his hesitation didn’t say it, his face surely did. He was afraid of me. Alec scooped me up into his strong arms and made his way out of the ancient stone circle. He set me back on the moist ground at William’s feet, like an offering. Behind Alec, Ryuu carried Josh as if he weighed nothing at all. He sprawled him out only a few feet away from me. Josh wasn’t moving. I wasn’t sure he was even breathing.

  Cody hovered over him, his eyes fixed to Josh’s limp body. “Dude, what the hell did you do to him, Zoe?”

  “What are you two even doing here?” Jade countered. “We told you to stay behind.”

  “We wanted to make sure Zoe was okay.”

  I was anything but okay.

  My hands trembled as they covered my face. “What have I done?” I whispered.

  Annie dropped beside me, the sound of her knees connecting with the ground like a bomb going off in my head. Your markings! She tried to hide her shock and failed miserably, her brilliant green eyes like two saucers on her freckled face.

  Alec crouched in front of me, his eyes searching mine. He ran his fingers down my shoulders.

  I bit my lip. “What is it?”

  “The markings,” he said, his voice bewildered, “they’re…gone.”

  “What do you mean they’re gone?” But he was right. I’d been so focused on my hand that I hadn’t even noticed. I turned my arms over; the black markings that once encompassed my body had vanished. My mark of the Chosen was gone.

  Are you still…

  Annie’s thought coursed through me and I felt a sudden surge of adrenaline—or was it panic? Was it possible? Could I truly be human? For the past six years, that was all I’d wanted, to be human again…normal. But now, with everything happening to the world, I couldn’t help but wonder if I still wanted that. If I were human, could I still protect those I cared about?

  I shot to my feet in a microsecond and looked back at my hand, watching as the burnt flesh on my palm healed over. I let out a breath that I didn’t know I was holding. “The markings might be gone, but it looks like I still have my healing abilities, at least.”

  “No, wait,” Alec said, tugging my shirt lower with one hand and pushing my long hair out of the way with the other. “You have a new marking.”

  I followed his gaze down to my breastbone and gasped. I ran tentative fingers over the fist-sized white sunburst that spread from the center of my chest, peeking out from the top of the low-cut shirt.

  Alec stepped aside as William came to stand in front of me. He put a hand under my chin and tilted my head back to look into my eyes. His deep blue eyes narrowed and he released me as if my skin somehow burned his.

  “Your eyes,” he finally said, “they are flecked with bright bursts of white that were not there before.”

  “What happened to me?” I asked, pulling away from Alec as he tried to wrap his arm around me. My skin still felt like it was on fire and his rough fingers only intensified the sensation.

  “We could ask you the same thing,” Jade said, scowling at me. One step forward, ten steps back. I wondered if I’d spend the next, oh, thousand-plus years or so being an outsider to her. That was, if we survived that long. After all, it was Jade who thought that we were all going to die anyway.

  “I…” My voice trailed off as I remembered that it was also Jade who said that no one could be trusted. “Josh! Is he okay?” My eyes fell to his still-motionless body. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the answer. I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to him.

  “I think he’ll be okay,” Ryuu said, placing two stiff fingers against Josh’s neck. “He’s breathing but his pulse is weak. We will need to get him back soon. He needs medical attention. I’m not sure what you did to him, but it was some powerful shit. Honestly, I don’t know how he survived whatever it was. Your human has got himself a guardian angel, that’s for sure.”

  Cody’s eyes met mine and I felt the blood drain from my face. A mix of emotions flashed across his chocolate eyes…anger, pity, sadness, confusion. Yeah, same here, buddy.

  “Zoe, what happened to you?” William asked, blocking me from Cody’s harsh gaze. “What did you see?”

  I looked back at my open hand, still feeling the hum of electricity pulsing under the skin. “I don’t know,” I whispered.

  It was the truth—almost.

  Cody discarded his shorts, tossing them to Ryuu before shifting back into a horse. Apparently that was how he and Josh had followed us to Stonehenge to begin with.

  Ryuu loaded Josh onto Cody’s bare back, stabilizing his neck as best he could for someone draped over the back of a horse. My eyes were fixed on Josh. The realization of what I’d done weighed heavily on me, guilt coiling around my neck until I couldn’t breathe. He still hadn’t woken. He hadn’t even moved.

  The others swore to me he was alive and breathing but they wouldn’t let me anywhere near him. I couldn’t help but wonder if they were lying to me abo
ut his condition, or if they were just afraid I’d attack him again if I got too close. As disturbing as it might have been, I hoped it was the latter. To have hurt Josh was bad enough. If I had killed him? I’d cut off my own fucking head.

  As we mounted up and headed back to the castle, I pulled back on my horse’s reins, taking up the rear. I couldn’t take another sideways look or suspicious glare. I thought the others might protest, wanting to have eyes on me. But no one did. I knew they thought I was lying to them. But the truth was, I had no clue what the hell had happened to me.

  I tried desperately to claw my way back through my memories. I needed to know what came after the white light flashed over me. It was as if everything from that point until I woke up was completely erased. The next conscious memory I had was of Josh…trying to kill me. There was a sharp and sudden pain in my chest and my stomach turned sour.

  I couldn’t get his face out of my head. His ice-blue eyes had seemed so empty—so cold. “One day you’ll understand,” I whispered, echoing his words. What was that supposed to mean? I gripped tighter to the reins, cursing myself. Vision or not, I could have killed him. My eyes shot up to where Josh still hung, seemingly lifeless, over the blond horse. Hell, I still might have.

  Something rustled through the trees alongside us. My head snapped to the right. I thought I heard voices.

  “Do not worry about them.” William slowed his horse, coming up beside me. “They are keeping an eye on us.”

  “Who is ‘they’?”

  “The forest nymphs,” he replied.

  “The forest nymphs. But, of course. I should have known. How silly of me.”

  “I sense your sarcasm.” William frowned.

  “Good for you,” I mumbled. “After a thousand years on this Earth, you’ve managed to learn sarcasm and not contractions.” William shot me a warning look. I didn’t give him a chance to respond. “What’s happening to me, William?”