Night Falls (Until Dawn, Book 2)

by J. N. Baker

  “How do you know that?” I asked, my eyes narrowing on her from behind my dark sunglasses. William taught me to be ready for anything. She looked completely harmless, but I was learning that didn’t mean shit in this new world. My fingers coiled around the dagger in my pocket, just in case. Couldn’t be too careful, right?

  “You just have that new-chick-on-the-block look about you. I’m right, huh?” She giggled, flipping her auburn hair away from her face. “I’m Cindy.”

  “Zoe,” I responded, extending my hand to her.

  She pushed my hand out of the way and wrapped her arms around me, giving a big squeeze. She was pretty strong for her size. “I don’t do handshakes,” she said with a shrug as she released me. “Sorry, not sorry. So, like, where are you from?”

  I laughed for the first time in months and, God, it felt good. “Washington, originally, but I guess this is home now.”

  She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and scribbled something on it before handing it to me. I looked at the paper. “You’re giving me your phone number?” I asked, not bothering to hide the shock in my voice.

  “Of course. I can tell already that we’re going to be great friends. See you around, Zoe!”

  And with that, she was gone.

  My lungs pleaded for air, but I didn’t give in to them. I couldn’t. They cursed me, tightening within my chest. I thrashed against the metal walls of the tub and then, suddenly, everything went still. I sunk to the bottom like a rock, lying flush against the hot metal. The flames licked at my back, blisters rising on the surface of my skin as the darkness crept in around me.

  “Murderer.”

  My head broke through the surface of the water and I gasped for air, inhaling deeply. I swung my head over the edge of the tub, throwing up what little was in my stomach. Her blood was on my lips. I could fucking taste it. I slammed my fist into the wall beside me until I heard every bone break and then I screamed.

  Sleep evaded me that night. Each time I closed my eyes, I saw Cindy’s terrified face. I saw the blood dripping off my fingertips, the pity in Alec’s eyes, the horror on Josh’s face and the anger on Cody’s. I couldn’t escape any of it. It was all there waiting for me in the dark corners of my mind.

  I was sure by now the others had received word of what had happened. Word that I’d killed Cindy. Word that I’d asked Alec to return the favor. And word that I was unfortunately still alive. Snuggling deeper into the fur blankets, I held a staring contest with the crackling fire beside the bed. The radiating heat from the flames burned my eyes, but I didn’t dare close them.

  A flash of orange at the foot of the bed caught my attention. The large tabby made three turns before curling into a tight ball at my feet, his back to me.

  “I thought you were mad at me,” I whispered.

  The cat lifted his head an inch and let out a small hiss. Well, that answered that.

  I sighed and let my eyes travel back to the fireplace. “Do you think it’s what I wanted, that I did it on purpose, Cody? I loved her as much as you did. I loved her and I killed her. You can’t possibly hate me as much as I hate myself.”

  Mr. Whiskers huffed and, just as I thought he was about to hop down from the bed, he climbed over my legs and curled up in the bend of my knees. A few minutes passed and a very faint purr started—so faint that even I had to strain to hear it.

  As I tossed for the eight hundredth time, I sat up in the bed with a sigh. Mr. Whiskers looked up at me with mild interest. Where was Annie? She should have been to bed by now. I couldn’t help but wonder if William had found out about her wanting to stay with me in my room. Would he force her to stay with him instead?

  I flung off the covers and rose from the bed, ignoring the cat’s questioning cries. Wrapping a sheet around my near-naked body, I slipped out of my room and headed for the stairs.

  As I stepped onto the fourth floor, I heard voices coming from William’s room. I tiptoed toward the slightly ajar door, listening for Annie’s voice. But, to my surprise, hers wasn’t the only voice I heard.

  “And you think that destroying the Sythen whose blood has infected her will stop these hallucinations?” William said from within his bedroom chamber.

  “It is our only option,” Alec explained. “It is the only thing we didn’t try with the others.”

  “Because they killed themselves before we got the chance.”

  “Because we didn’t know where Baldric’s beasts were,” Alec snapped back at Jade. “But if we can find the creature and kill it, it wouldn’t be able to torment her further.”

  “It’s a pity that it wasn’t one of the ones we brought down during Baldric’s attack,” Ryuu pointed out.

  “I am sure that Baldric is keeping this particular Sythen rather close,” William said.

  “Still,” Jade started, “how are we even supposed to know which one it is? He has hundreds, maybe thousands of them.”

  Alec growled. “Then we will kill them all.”

  There was a slight pause. “We will need to act quickly. Once Elizabeth hit this point, it was only a matter of time until—”

  “I know,” Alec whispered. “I know…”

  “I’ll be with her all night,” Annie said. “I won’t let anything happen to her.”

  “Thank you,” Alec breathed. He sounded like absolute hell. Then again, I had just asked him to chop my damn head off. And based on how it sounded, it wouldn’t be long until William did it for me himself. “I’ll be in the room next door to hers if you need anything. Anything at all. Just call out and I’ll be there.”

  “She will be fine,” Annie assured him, her voice moving closer to the door.

  I took off, sprinting silently back through the hallway and down the spiral staircase to my own floor. When I reached my room, I closed the door as quietly as I could and crawled back into bed. A warm spot at the foot of the bed where a furry Cody had been sleeping was all that was left of the orange tabby.

  The door creaked opened and someone stepped into the room, closing the door softly behind them. Light footsteps made their way to the bed, pulling back the silk curtains. Annie kneeled beside the bed, blocking out the flames with her fire-red hair. She took my hand and placed two pills into it.

  “These are from the nurse. She said they’ll help you sleep. Without too many dreams,” she added, brushing tangled hairs out of my face. I didn’t bother telling her that I didn’t have to worry about dreams anymore. After all, seers didn’t dream.

  Too exhausted to protest, I popped the pills into my mouth and dry swallowed. Annie gave me a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes and then stood. Without thinking, I reached out and grabbed onto her arm, holding her next to me.

  “Don’t worry,” she said sweetly, patting my hand. “I’m not going anywhere. This is our room, after all.” She rounded the bed and I felt the mattress dip ever so slightly as she climbed in beside me. “Everything will be fine,” she whispered into the darkness. “I’m here.”

  “Oh! I know! Let’s do hopes and dreams!” Cindy bounced in the booth next to Cody who rolled his eyes, shoveling a fistful of fries into his mouth before washing them down with a beer.

  “What are you, twelve?” Josh asked from beside me, a smile dancing on the edge of his lips.

  I scanned the bar for the hundredth time. It was mostly empty, not that it made me feel any better. I hated getting together like this. It was risky. But Cindy and Cody had insisted on getting a drink. Seeing as it was Cindy’s birthday, I begrudgingly agreed on the condition we went early. Not that it really mattered if the sun was still out or not. Vampires didn’t abide by those made-up rules.

  “Okay,” Cindy said, clapping her hands with excitement and drawing my attention back. “I’ll go first! So, I want to be a fashion designer. Or a makeup artist. Or a singer. Or a movie—”

  “Yep,” Cody interrupted, shoving fries into her open mouth. “We get it.”

  Cindy glared at him as she chewed. “What about you, jerk
?” she asked around a mouthful of food.

  “Me?” Cody asked. “Well, that’s easy, dude. I want to surf every ocean in the world.”

  “That’s a job?”

  Cody flipped Josh off. “The lady asked for dreams, not jobs. There’s a difference, bro. What about you?”

  Josh didn’t miss a beat. “Finish school and become a doctor.”

  “Captain America over here,” Cody muttered, tossing a fry at Josh’s face.

  Josh picked it up where it landed on the table and bit it in half. “At least I’ll be helping people instead of feeding sharks.”

  “Hey,” Cody snapped, “sharks matter too, dude. Haven’t you ever watched Shark Week?”

  Everyone laughed and then three pairs of eyes landed on me.

  “What?”

  “Your turn,” Cindy said.

  “Pass.” I put the bottle to my lips and hoped that was the end of it. It was never the end of anything when it came to Cindy.

  “Oh no, you don’t!” she practically shrieked. A few people nearby looked at us and the hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention. “We all went, now it’s your turn. Plus, it’s my birthday and I say you have to go!”

  “I guess I never really thought about it,” I told her, eyes shifting to the door once more. A middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair leaned against a telephone pole outside, smoking a cigarette. Was he looking at us?

  “I call bullshit,” she said, narrowing her already hazy eyes at me. How many drinks had she had? “How does someone, like, never think about the future? I mean, I think about it all the time. Jobs, kids, travel, love—all of it.”

  “Don’t let her fool you,” Josh put in, nudging me with his shoulder. “Growing up, all she could talk about was a Prince Charming, two-point-five kids, a white picket fence—the works. Oh, and her and Cody were going to open a zoo together,” he added with a snort.

  “Damn straight.” Cody smirked. “Who said we weren’t still planning that?”

  At that I laughed but it was short lived. “That was a long time ago,” I whispered into the table. I wasn’t even sure they’d heard me.

  “Don’t worry,” Cindy said with her usual thousand-watt smile. “Like, I’m sure there’s a man out there who can chisel through that icy exterior of yours and find the warm gooey center that is Zoe. There’s like billions of men out there. One of them is sure to be the right one for you.”

  “Yeah,” I breathed and Josh’s hand fell to my knee, giving it a gentle squeeze.

  Cindy’s words ran through my mind and I found myself thinking about Alec. But even he had left me. I was starting to come to terms with my reality. I was going to be alone forever, and forever was a long time. After all, there weren’t many romantic options when it came to immortality. Unless I wanted to give William a shot. I shuddered at the thought.

  “I guess my dream right now would be to just live a normal life,” I finally said with what I hoped wasn’t a horribly fake smile.

  “Boring,” Cindy drawled out, rolling her eyes.

  Cody’s eyes flashed with something that looked like sadness but then he laughed. “We’re young still, who the hell wants to think about settling down yet?”

  A wide grin spread across Cindy’s face. “You just let me know when you’re ready to settle down, big boy,” she purred, winking at Cody. “I bet we’d make some damn fine-looking babies.”

  Cody paled and we all laughed. I was glad that at least my friends could look forward to the future. Maybe I’d succeed in keeping the world spinning so they could have it.

  I woke without the use of an alarm clock. Rather than the persistent beeping of a machine, I felt the cold hands of a man forcing me down. His fingers dug into my shoulders and his bony knees stabbed into my thighs. Dark eyes found mine as they snapped open. The man hovered an inch away from my face, breathing on me with a breath so repulsive I thought I’d be sick.

  “Time to get up,” he wheezed.

  I grabbed him by his throat and flung him from the bed, sending him crashing into the nearest wall. He quickly scrambled up, fangs extended.

  I leapt to my feet, wearing no more than the bra and underwear I’d gone to sleep in. I scanned the room for my sword. Of course, it wasn’t there. I growled, cursing Alec for taking it with him. Damn him, wanting to keep me alive. Reaching for the first weapon I could find, I pointed the tip of Annie’s tiny dagger in the vampire’s direction. I circled the bed, keeping him locked in my sights. “Who sent you, bloodsucker?” I spat, though I already had a pretty good idea of who did.

  “I bring you word from my master,” the man hissed. The way his eyes danced over my neck, it was very obvious he was a new vampire. I had a sickening feeling that Baldric had turned him for the sole purpose of bringing me a message.

  “What is it your master wants me to know?” I asked, snapping at him with my free hand to draw his attention away from my jugular. The vampire scowled at me, retreating a step. Something flashed across his eyes that only confirmed my suspicions. He knew that once he relayed Baldric’s message, he’d be as good as dead. He wasn’t wrong.

  “King Baldric says to tell the female Chosen that he can save her.”

  I tightened my fingers on the dagger’s hilt. “Save me from what?”

  “The Sythen.”

  I lowered the dagger for a second. And the vampire smirked.

  “He can remove the creature’s blood from your body,” he continued once he saw he had my attention. “He will free you from the hold the Sythen has on you.”

  “And what does he want in exchange?”

  The vampire took a small step forward, licking his lips. “You.”

  “Never,” I growled.

  “It’s your choice, warrior,” the vamp said with a twisted grin. “Become his and the king will free you from the beast.”

  “And if I don’t?” I asked.

  “You’ll kill everyone you love.”

  “Is that all?” I growled.

  There was a moment of hesitation. “Yes.”

  I lunged for the bloodsucker, tackling him to the ground. He squirmed beneath me as I pressed the dagger to his throat. “When you see your master in Hell, tell him that I respectfully decline.” I plunged the small blade into his neck over and over. I’d need another bath when I was done. Decapitation with a dagger was messy business, especially one as small as Annie’s.

  I was still wiping the blood from my skin when Annie walked into the room. The fresh-baked rolls tumbled out of her hands as the scream escaped her lips. Well, if they weren’t already, everyone was definitely awake now.

  The door flew open behind her as Alec barreled into my room. His eyes scanned the room before falling to the headless man beside the bed. He rushed to my side, doing a thorough inspection of my body. Perhaps a little too thorough. “Are you all right? What happened?”

  “I’m fine, Alec,” I assured him. I’d only just had a thirsty vampire in my bed. No big deal. It could have been worse—I could have been killing another person I cared about. Maybe having Annie share a room with me wasn’t such a good idea. “Make sure Annie’s okay, please,” I told him, noting how much she was shaking as she tried to pick up the bread from the floor, fumbling with it before finally getting it.

  “I-I’m fine,” she stuttered, backing into the door. “I’m just, I’m going to go let everyone know everything’s under control.” With that, she slipped out of the room like she couldn’t get out fast enough.

  “How did he get in here?”

  “I don’t know,” I replied, going back to my sponge bath. “But I assume he walked his happy ass through the castle gates. Baldric sent him.”

  Alec growled, going from concern to anger in half a second flat. “I’ll fucking kill the guards. Whoever was on patrol is dead.”

  I rolled my eyes. “We have over a thousand people, Alec. And half of them have been here less than a week. Do you really think the guards know every single face? Hell, I don’t even know most
of the people here yet and I’m supposed to be one of their fearless leaders.”

  “That’s their job,” he bit out.

  “For all we know, he could have been here all along. Wouldn’t be the first time we’ve had a double agent in our midst,” I pointed out, Tiffany’s head rolling across the watchtower floor still fresh in my mind.

  “What did he want anyway?”

  I tossed another blood-soaked washcloth into the growing pile on the floor. It looked like I’d gotten most of the blood off me—the floor was another story. “I don’t want to talk about it right now,” I grumbled. “Just get the damn body out of here.”

  Alec stared at me for a moment before nodding. In a blink he was gone, only to reappear thirty seconds later, a cup in his hand. “A couple of our people will be up shortly to clean up the mess.”

  I mumbled my thanks, turning away from him to look out one of the small cathedral windows.

  “I brought you some hot chocolate,” Alec said after a minute, stepping beside me. “One of the shifts had a box in their bag and they thought they’d offer it to you because of…” he trailed off. “Well, they just wanted you to have it. It should help warm you up. It started to snow. With Baldric blocking out the sun, the temperature’s been dropping rapidly.”

  I took the cup from his hand and lifted it to my lips, letting the scorching liquid slide down my throat. It burned in the most satisfying of ways and I sighed. My eyes fell back to the window. The snow-covered ground below was beautiful like something out of a Christmas movie, a sick and twisted, end-of-the-world Christmas movie where everyone died a horrible death. I put a hand on the glass and felt the cold slice through me, a chill racing down my naked spine.

  “As much as it pains me to say this,” Alec said, “you should probably get dressed. You’re going to freeze to death.”

  I couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled out of me over his choice of words. After a few seconds, Alec joined in on the laughter, easing some of the tension in the room.