Night Falls (Until Dawn, Book 2)

by J. N. Baker

  “I’m sorry, Zoe, but I don’t know,” he said with, what I thought, was a hint of bitterness in his voice. His look was almost smug, as if to say that he knew how but chose not to. If there was one thing I’d learned about William, it was that he was stuck in the old ways, hell—ancient ways. He’d never made the same effort that Alec, Jade, and Ryuu had made to stay connected with the human world.

  “Sorry,” I muttered, though I wasn’t all that sorry.

  “I cannot help you in this matter. I have never seen anything like this before in my lifetime.” William’s eyes were fixed on the horizon as he rode silently beside me. “However,” he finally said, “you did keep mumbling something after you blacked out. ‘Clamabit ad me.’”

  “What does that mean?” I asked, not familiar with the language. It sounded Latin but I couldn’t be certain. I was never great with other languages.

  “He calls to me.”

  I ran a hand up my bare arm and over my collarbone, tracing my fingers over the places where my markings used to be. My fingers slipped lower until they landed on my breastbone, running along the new marking partially hidden by my tank top. For the first time in years, I looked more like the girl I used to be and less like the monster I’d become. And yet it seemed that every day I was less and less like that girl. I didn’t even know who she was anymore.

  After an hour of blessed silence, filled only with the sound of the horses’ hooves against the earth, William cleared his throat. “I am not sure, but I believe you might have experienced something from a story I heard centuries ago from the Book of Ezekiel.”

  When I looked at him, his eyes still didn’t meet mine.

  “‘I saw a great storm coming from the north, driving before it a huge cloud that flashed with lightning and shone with brilliant light. There was a fire inside the cloud, and in the middle of the fire glowed something like gleaming amber…Above the surface was something that looked like a throne made of blue lapis lazuli.

  “‘And on this throne high above was a figure whose appearance resembled a man. From what appeared to be his waist up, he looked like gleaming amber, flickering like a fire. And from his waist down, he looked like a burning flame, shining with splendor. All around him was a glowing halo, like a rainbow shining in the clouds on a rainy day. This is what the glory of the Lord looked like to me. When I saw it, I fell down on the ground, and I heard someone’s voice speaking to me.’”

  I cocked an eyebrow at him. “You’re going to quote scripture to me now, Lord William?”

  “Many people believed that God called upon Ezekiel,” William continued, ignoring my slight. “That He chose him to ascend so that He could use him to do His great works.”

  “Ascend?”

  “To rise above all others and touch the face of God,” William said, his voice softening as his eyes finally met mine. “Ezekiel was a mere man, Zoe—a human. If one of the Chosen were to ascend…perhaps they would have a direct connection with God, and with it, a power beyond belief, beyond anything ever seen or heard of before. Including that of Baldric’s.”

  “Sounds like a bit of a stretch, don’t you think? If I remember correctly, Ezekiel was just a prophet who spoke to God. He didn’t gain any magical, world-saving power. And he definitely didn’t shoot lightning out of his hands.”

  William was quiet for a long moment, his eyes returning to the dark horizon. “Perhaps,” he finally replied. “And perhaps not. Ezekiel had the gift of sight just as you do. God uses people in different ways. But I am not sure of the truth in the story. It could be no more than a tall tale, dreamed up by some God-fearing man so very long ago.”

  “And if it isn’t?” I asked, mulling over his words. “If it isn’t some made-up fairy tale?”

  “Then perhaps you shall save us all.”

  As William pressed his heels into the sides of his horse, I bit my lip.

  “William, wait!” I called out before the black stallion managed a full gallop.

  He looked back at me as I trotted up beside him. “What is it, Zoe?” he asked when I didn’t say anything. Suspicion was already flashing across his face.

  “What you said about the visions…”

  “What about it?” he asked. I practically watched his guard go up. It wasn’t exactly his favorite topic of conversation with me as of late.

  “You said that they always come true. Did you mean that?”

  His deep blue eyes squinted at me. “Yes, Zoe. The visions will always come to pass. Maybe not in so many details but the outcome is always the same.”

  Whatever air was in my lungs escaped in a rapid hiss and I fought to keep myself from passing out as I tried to remember how to breathe. So, it was true then—Josh would try to kill me.

  “Why do you ask?”

  I shook my head, unable to form the words.

  “Zoe, what did you see?” William demanded, furrowing his brow at me. He reached across the space between us, grabbing my arm with tense fingers. He practically yanked me from my mount.

  “I saw…” No one can be trusted. Jade’s cynical words flashed across my mind and I took a ragged breath, forcing the air into my lungs. “I saw nothing. It was nothing.”

  “Do not lie to me,” he warned, a snarl on the edge of his lips. His grip on me tightened. “That will solve nothing. Whatever it was that you saw, whomever you think you are protecting, you cannot change it. It will come to pass, one way or another.”

  The sound of bones popping cut through the air and William’s hand fell away from me as we both snapped our heads up. We had arrived on the castle grounds, passing through the outer row of torches. In front of us, Cody was already pulling on his shorts, Josh’s still-limp body draped across Ryuu’s arms.

  “Let’s take him to the medical chamber,” Ryuu told Cody, who gave a stiff nod.

  “I’ll come with you guys,” I said as I hopped down from my paint, putting distance between William and me.

  Jade put a heavy hand on my shoulder, yanking me back as I tried to follow after the men. “Haven’t you done enough?”

  I couldn’t stop the growl that escaped my lips. “Let me go.”

  Cody looked from Josh back to me. “Maybe you should go find your swanky castle room, Zo. You haven’t had a minute to chill since we got here. I’ll take care of Josh. Don’t worry.” And with that, they left.

  “See,” Jade hissed, “even your own shift doesn’t trust you.”

  Before I could run her through with my blade, Alec towed me away from her. “I’ll show you which room is yours,” he said, shooting a warning look over his shoulder to Jade. She shrugged before walking off into the darkness with William and Annie.

  “He will be fine,” Alec whispered into my hair. He kissed the top of my head and put an arm around my shoulders, leading me toward the castle.

  “I could have killed him, Alec.”

  “But you didn’t,” he said firmly. “And don’t let Jade get to you. We’ve all hurt someone we cared about at some point in our long lives.”

  “You shot your best friend with lightning?” I challenged him.

  His eyes went cold and his arm fell away from me. “I killed my own brother.”

  My jaw hung slack as he strode off ahead of me. I struggled to find the right words and instead settled for a breathy, “How?”

  Alec stopped and I watched the rise and fall of his shoulders as he took in a deep breath. He turned back, holding out his hand to me. “It doesn’t matter. It was a long time ago. Shall we?”

  I placed my hand in his and he pulled me through the castle’s entrance and into a dark and narrow corridor. As we stepped into the courtyard, all thoughts of Alec’s brother vanished from my mind.

  I released Alec’s hand, doing a full circle to take in the six towering walls around me. A perfect hexagon within the castle. Each wall was lined with blazing torches, illuminating the rough, discolored stones that formed the ancient castle.

  On each wall were stone archways leading to dark pa
ssages and spiral staircases that I yearned to explore. The courtyard walls stretched upward a good four stories, reaching up to black sky above, not a roof in sight. The gravel drain in the center of the courtyard told me that there was never a roof on this part of the castle. How amazing this room would have been if there were still stars in the sky to gaze upon.

  I was so mesmerized by the room that I hadn’t even noticed the other people within it, still rummaging through the many crates from the plane. Just outside the courtyard walls, I could hear the distinct sound of hammers as efforts to rebuild the castle carried on. I strode to one of the exterior archways, watching as a group of both shadow people and vampires hoisted heavy stones over their heads to reform one of the walls on the back of the castle. If the vampires were helping to rebuild this masterpiece, then maybe they weren’t so bad after all.

  “You look like a child on Christmas morning,” Alec chuckled from beside me. He took up my hand once more and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Let’s go,” he whispered, pulling me away from the courtyard and toward one of the spiral staircases on a side wall.

  The stairwell was dark, lit only by a couple smaller torches—not that it mattered all that much for those of us with enhanced vision—which seemed to be the majority. I stayed close on Alec’s heels, taking the short steps two at a time as we wound our way up the stairs. There was a musty but not unpleasant scent to the castle. I inhaled it, holding it deep within my lungs. It was surprisingly welcoming.

  “This staircase leads to most of the bedroom chambers in the castle,” Alec explained as we paused at the second-floor entrance. He pointed a finger to a large arched doorway that led into what appeared to be a massive room with vaulted wood ceilings. “It will also give you access to the great hall.”

  “Can we go see it?” I asked, starting to pull him toward the stone archway. Damn, I really was like a kid on Christmas.

  “Knowing William, we will be in there plenty as it is.” Alec tugged me back to his side and continued up the stairs. “The other main staircase you saw in the courtyard will lead you to the other side of the great hall, the medical chamber, and a few smaller bedrooms. We won’t have access to both sides of the castle from one stairwell until they finish reconnecting the back portion. You will want to traverse the castle with extreme caution. There are still a number of areas that are unfinished.”

  “When do you think the rebuild will be done?”

  “Hopefully within the next six months or so. Most of the Chosen rooms are here on the third floor,” Alec continued, pulling me into a stone-lined hallway. “Except for William. He is in one of the newly rebuilt rooms on the fourth floor above us.”

  “Of course he is,” I muttered. God forbid William be on the same level as the rest of us.

  Alec seemed to sense my cynicism. “Annie is on the fourth floor as well.”

  “With William?”

  He nodded once.

  “Does Annie know this?”

  “I have no idea,” he said as he approached a stone archway halfway down the corridor. Alec put his shoulder into the large wooden door and gave it a shove. The heavy door swung open, revealing a large bedroom chamber. “This,” he announced, “is our room.”

  “Our room?” I almost squeaked, my eyebrows rising into my hairline.

  Alec tugged me gently into the room. There was a fire blazing in the enormous fireplace on the left side, candles lining its stone mantel. On the other side of the room there were cathedral windows, new glass shielding us from the elements outside. A large four-poster canopy bed sat in the middle of the room, sheer white curtains tied back to each of the four wooden beams. The bed was covered in fur blankets of rich browns and soft greys. It was warm and comforting. It felt like the home I’d never had. There was only one problem with it. Our room.

  Alec came up behind me, sliding his hands up and down my bare arms. “I helped with the plans,” he started, pride in his voice. “It is a room fit for royalty.”

  “It’s beautiful,” I said honestly. “But I can’t share a room with you, Alec.”

  He spun me around, his hands finding my face. “I thought we discussed this back at the hotel, Zoe. You and I are destined to be together. I know you feel it too. We complete each other.”

  “That doesn’t mean I’m ready to share a bed with you, Alec,” I snapped, pulling away from him. I stepped farther into the room and took a deep breath. The room had the same musty smell as the rest of the castle, though there was a soft scent on top of that, something floral—perhaps jasmine or lavender. I turned back to Alec, steeling myself. “Look, I’m not saying that I never want to share a room with you. I just…”

  “You aren’t ready yet,” he finished for me.

  I took his hands in mine. “We’ve been back together for less than a week. And you’re right, that pull between us is still there and I’ll be the first to admit that it’s still just as strong as it was five years ago. But, if I’m being honest, it’s that pull that terrifies me. I just need time to process it. I need time to know on my own, Alec, not because some godsent magnetic pull between us tells me it’s so. I’m not saying no,” I told him again, “I’m just saying not yet.”

  Alec lifted his hand to my face, stroking my cheek with his thumb, his golden eyes peering into mine. “I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I don’t mean to rush you. I have been waiting five hundred years to feel with someone the way I feel about you. I suppose I am just afraid to lose that.”

  I pulled his hand to my lips, kissing the inside of his palm as he had always done to mine. “I just need you to wait a little longer.”

  Alec smiled sadly at me and then nodded. “However long it takes,” he promised. “After all, we have forever.”

  “Forever,” I echoed. Forever was a long time. I tried to push the thought away.

  “But please,” he added, kissing the top of my head, “don’t take that long.”

  I bobbed my head once, dropping my eyes to the floor. “I’ll find another room to stay in,” I told him when I found my voice again. “I can always stay with Cindy.”

  He put a hand on my shoulder and shook his head. “No. I intended this room for you, and you should keep it. I will find somewhere else.” Alec turned and walked back to the open door, pausing in the archway. “Can I still visit you here?” he asked over his shoulder.

  “Of course,” I whispered, heat rising up my face.

  And with that, he disappeared into the dark hallway, swinging the heavy door shut behind him with a loud thud. I took a step toward the door and exhaled, pressing my forehead against the rough wooden surface. Part of me felt like I should follow after him, always the moth to the flame. The other part of me was thrilled to finally have a moment alone to process my damn thoughts.

  “Zoe!”

  Shit.

  Cindy pounded on the thick wooden door, calling my name like a crazy person. So much for being alone.

  “What?” I snapped, swinging the door open.

  She barreled past me into the room.

  I shut the door behind her with a roll of my eyes. “Sure, won’t you please come in, Cindy?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she muttered, waving me off. “What the heck happened to Josh? I ran into Cody and the hot Asian—what’s his name again?”

  “Ryuu? You do realize we spent almost an entire day with the man trying to escape the apocalypse, right? He stood directly in front of you in the helicopter while saving your ass.” I couldn’t believe I was having this conversation. Although, it was Cindy so I shouldn’t have been too surprised.

  She waved a sassy finger in my face. “Um, I was trying to survive the end of the world, not meet boys, duh.”

  “And yet you still managed to stick your tongue down Cody’s throat.”

  She at least had the decency to blush. “That was different. You know I’ve always had a thing for Cody.”

  My eyes shot skyward as I prayed for patience. “You have a thing for every hot guy. Look, just get back to you
r story, Cindy.”

  “Oh, yeah. The two of them were bringing Josh up the stairs on the other side of the castle. When I asked Cody what happened, he said I should go ask you. So, like, what happened to Josh?” she asked again.

  I blew out a breath, and with it, any fight I had left in me. My legs carried me to the side of the giant bed before I collapsed onto it. Cindy followed me. She sat beside me and took my hand in hers, giving it an encouraging squeeze. “Did your hottie do it? Did Alec hurt Josh?”

  “I hurt him.” I bit my lip, unable to look her in the eye.

  Cindy scooted closer to me, tucking stray hairs behind my ears until I finally looked up at her. She smiled. “There’s my pretty friend. Talk to me, girlfriend, what happened?”

  I spent the next thirty minutes explaining to Cindy the events that took place, minus the little bit about a vision of a certain best friend and a rather sharp dagger. She listened with only minimal interruptions which, believe it or not, Cindy was sometimes capable of. There must have been a blue moon up beyond that blackened sky. And possibly a flying pig or two.

  “Well,” she finally said, “I still don’t really understand what’s been going on with you lately, like, with the pretty shiny eyes and the freaky super strength—and I’m pretty sure this is all some hideous nightmare that I’m going to wake up from soon—but I doubt Josh is going to be upset with you. I mean, that’s what you’re worried about, right?”

  Was that what I was worried about? The others had assured me that by some miracle Josh was alive, and for the most part, I believed they were telling me the truth. Besides, Cody would have told me if that wasn’t the case. Was I more worried about what Josh would think of me? I could still see the look on his face when he found me in the plane, covered in my own blood and trying to kill his girlfriend. A resounding yes resonated through me. I couldn’t bear to see that look again.

  My head fell. “I almost fucking killed him, Cindy. He’ll never forgive me for that.”

  “Sure he will,” she said, sounding so sure of herself that it almost irritated me.