She threw her chair back as if she’d been struck herself and jumped away. Of course she’d known that he’d been turned before she joined the Guardians with Thomas, but this was beyond shocking. The information presented told her that the events led on a domino train through time. Her mother’s death led to Draven’s change, led to Zarah and Thomas joining the team, led to their ambush and Thomas being turned Rogue, and so on. Her mouth went dry and hands began to tremble. She took slow steps back to the computer, staring at it like a piece of foreign equipment, with Nathanial’s sick smile staring back at her from the screen. How had Nathanial found Draven at her house to begin with anyway?
As if answering her question, the door behind him opened and her eyes bulged. She hadn’t seen the man since he went rabid on his thirst for vengeance, though there he was obviously still clinging to his sanity.
It was her father.
“Did you finish your son’s turning?” Nathanial asked him, distracted by the entrance. He forgot the camera.
Her father, William, nodded, and turned his attention toward Draven. He frowned.
“What’s this? I thought you said you were going to take care of him? This looks awful,” William started in frantic worry, making long strides toward the bed. She swallowed back forming tears. Her father’s tall, muscular form towered above Nathanial’s slender frame, but he was too lost in thought and didn’t see what was going on behind him.
Nathanial had a small needle in his hand with a red-hued liquid. He was approaching slowly from behind.
“I think we could use a new Guardian, William. Don’t you agree? Besides, you have work to do. Go get the so-called Rogues that killed your wife.” She yelped when he plunged the needle into her father’s neck. His laughter rang through her small speakers as if he’d heard her. William spun around, clutching at his neck, as confusion set in.
“What did you do?” he shouted in alarm.
“My dear William, I have injected you with Rogue poison. I’m sorry but you’re fired. Now the best thing for you to do is go out on your hunting mission like you were asked before until you turn, then hope like hell that it’s your lovely children that are the ones to kill you.”
“You have destroyed everything,” her father whispered. Fear was clear in his hazel eyes. She bit her lip as she fought the oncoming flow of more tears. She and Thomas had killed him three years after the video date. They’d killed him because Nathanial had killed him first. Her chest constricted, and she wished desperately that she could destroy the monster all over again.
“No. Kathleen did. She didn’t belong here, and she certainly didn’t have business creating those abominations that you call children. I will finish this, and then I have my own plans for this world. The Fallen will all be destroyed, and humans will be meals again like they should be. We are their rulers.”
Nathanial moved around to the other side of the bed, seeming to check Draven’s vitals. He ignored William and said nothing else for several long minutes. The tape on the video was starting to go hazy, cutting in and out at times in flashes. She watched her father hesitate, touching the tender spot on his neck where he’d been stabbed with the needle, then clenched his fists furiously at his sides before he hung his head in defeat. She somehow felt the silent war that raged within him. He didn’t want to waste what little time he had left to try and fight with Nathanial.
“Tell my kids I love them. Don’t tell them I went on a suicide mission. That’s not how I want to be remembered.” His words were choked, as he struggled to form them through his growing tears. Nathanial gave a brief nod, and then waved his hand in a nonchalant manner.
Zarah remembered that night. It was the night after her mother’s death. Her father had left for some time with instructions to stay in, taking Thomas with him for a short while. When her brother returned, he’d been Changed. But it was his return without their father that had concerned her.
“Where’s Dad?”
“He called and said he has a mission to do. He won’t be back for a while. It’s just us now.”
While she loved her brother, having just lost her mom, and then having her dad go off and disappear, it was a hard blow for a sixteen year old at the time. Nathanial showed later that night, shortly before dawn, to break the news that their father had went on a suicide mission to track every Rogue that could have been in the attack on Kathleen. He was out for vengeance—something that had always been strongly advised against in Guardian Code.
Now seeing the video, she saw that Nathanial had lied. Again. Her fists clenched hard, causing nails to dig into the palms of her hands and drawing a trail of blood. The dripping onto the hardwood floor below caught her attention, but she made no move to stop herself or clean it up. Her teeth clenched.
Nathanial looked back up to the camera and seemed to realize it was still on. He didn’t care that the conversation had been recorded and continued to recite the vitals.
“Body temperature, ninety-five. Heart rate, twenty-three. The Change is almost complete.” He’d stalked up to the camera to switch it off. Zarah was almost glad. She knew how painful it could be when the body made its changes. She was already nauseous seeing everything else. To watch him go through that as well would have probably been too much.
The heart stops, then restarts. During the restart, a new Vampire will experience multiple seizures for the first hour as the body adjusts to the new changes in the system. Though there’s a heartbeat, they differ from a human’s. They’re lighter and much slower. They breathed still, but not with the need of having to so often. And their body temperatures ran much colder—usually around ninety-three or ninety-four degrees, while humans averaged at ninety-eight.
“Zarah.”
Her attention was suddenly caught by Nathanial’s whisper. He was close to the camera screen. So close that he blocked Draven’s view. His mocking smile showed a hint of his once-dangerous fangs.
“If you’re watching this, then I’m dead. That probably means you killed me too. I guess that’s bad luck for you because you failed to ask for all of the information you could get I’m sure.” He started, raising his eyebrows. His long, white-blonde hair hung around his face in wispy, stringy strands.
She held her breath with growing fury.
“Draven has a brother. His name is Seth. And their father is one of the Fallen Masters. It’s possible that you’re being hunted at this very moment. Now, does that interest you in the time you’re watching this?” He smirked before the screen went black.
She sat in stunned silence, her eyes wide.
Seth?
Before she could think about it, she grabbed the device from the port on her computer and rushed from the room in a torrent of emotions.
Nine
She banged on the door with a violent force, the blood still dripping from her palms. She must have also cut her lip when biting it, because she tasted the metallic liquid at the corner of her mouth too. But none of that was important as she continued beating on the heavy frame in front of her. It took a few minutes before it swung open.
“Zarah? What are you doing? You should be in bed—” Seth stood before her confused, frowning. His round, gold eyes widened at her appearance.
“What the hell happened?” He almost shouted and reached toward her face. She jumped back with a fierce growl, baring her fangs. Her reaction clearly startled him as he yanked his hand away. She’d never realized how intimidating she could be for someone so tiny.
She charged and pushed into him without a word, continuing into his room. With the heel of her foot, she slammed the door behind them for privacy. He was pinned against the entryway wall and her forearm, despite that her head barely reached his shoulders and she had to crane her neck to look into his clearly baffled eyes.
“You have some talking to do.” Her rage had erupted and she could barely contain the elemental power of her Fallen trait that wanted to burst out and burn him. Her free hand came up and flashed the memory stick to him as if i
t being presented would explain her own presence. It didn’t. Seth still looked at her in concern and confusion.
“First, tell me what Unclaimed means.”
She let him go and took a step back. If she could calm herself, maybe she could get the answers easier. Seth liked her. Or at least, Draven thought so. He had no reason to hide anything from her. But apparently he did. He had to know that Draven was his brother and their father was a Master that was bent on destroying them. Yet, he’d kept the information private.
Seth had been rubbing his bare chest, the spot where she’d held him, when she asked and froze. After a moment’s hesitation, he looked down at the small memory stick again before taking a tentative step toward her.
“Does that have anything to do with Draven?”
She slowly nodded and blinked. A fan kicked on somewhere sending frosty air through the vents above them and sent little wisps of her long, auburn hair flying around her face. The silence seemed to stretch, but it gave her time to calm her turbulent emotions and become rational enough to talk to him. Seth’s eyes met hers again. They’d grown dark and sorrowed.
“Let’s get you cleaned up first, and then I’ll tell you as much as I can for now.”
She allowed him to reach forward that time and gently take her hand as he led her toward the nearby bathroom.
When she took a seat on the gray-marbled sink counter, a long silence stretched between them. He looked lost in thought, distant with a hint of a frown starting to crinkle around the corners of his mouth. She watched him begin to wet a cloth beneath the water. There wasn’t really any need for medical or bandaging, she’d heal within the hour, but the dried blood on her hands and lip could use some washing away. Her injuries were already closing, looking like minor scratches.
Zarah caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror behind her. She looked disheveled and exhausted. Her skin was paler than usual with dark purple tones under her eyes. She’d been getting thinner due to feeding restrictions. The lack of sleep was evident all over. It was daytime, despite the closed shutters surrounding the building, and her body’s natural need of sleep weighed heavy on her with each passing minute. With the current issue, she’d put her necessities on the backburner once again and rushed out. Taking a look over appearance, she almost snorted in disgust. There was a time when she cared more about how she looked. Now she sat there in a pair of old jogging shorts and a baggy gray shirt that hung half off her shoulder. She didn’t realize until then either that she was barefoot. Her head hung down as she stared at her red-painted toenails on her dangling feet.
Seth’s touch a moment later startled her and caused her to jump. She looked up to meet his apologetic smile and flushed. He stepped closer with the wet rag and began to gently clean away the blood from her lip without pulling his heavy gaze away from her. She swallowed the forming lump in her throat.
Seth was shirtless, standing close in front of her in only a pair of flannel pajama pants that loosely hung on his hips. Zarah wasn’t blind. She would freely admit that the Fallen was very tempting, not just in looks, but in smell. Sugar cookies and vanilla…she inhaled sharply and took in the sweet scent that surrounded him.
As he moved onto her hands, she licked her lips and let out a sigh. She needed to break the silence.
“So…Unclaimed?” she asked, trying to bring the subject back up. He met her eyes again, showing no emotion.
“It’s a term that means a Fallen was never accepted as any kind of Warrior. Not for the Masters, not for the Exiled. As a child, he or she was deemed unworthy. They are loners forever. They are never taught to fight or to use weapons. Cast out. Shunned. However you want to put it.”
She paused. Nathanial had said Draven was Unclaimed. But as her partner now, she’d never know that he was considered weak at one time. He was the strong one between them. The level-headed one. And he could certainly hold a fight.
“So, Unclaimed are just abandoned entirely?”
“Yes. They usually never know they’re of a Fallen bloodline and end up living the majority of their life as an average human. Their power might never develop or it gets stripped. Something like that.”
He was skirting around the full explanation; she could tell. There was more to it—there had to be. If Draven could remember, he could tell the full story. She got lost in her thoughts until Seth began speaking again.
“You know something, don’t you?” He had stopped, holding the rag gently over her hands. His were so large in comparison to hers, wrapping around them warily as he stared down questioningly. She swallowed and nodded.
“How much do you know, Zarah?” Seth’s voice came out barely above a whisper, but she heard it clearly. He leaned in and her breath hitched again at his sweet scent. She backed away, her head bumping against the mirror. His touch was warm and she was tempted to reach up and tangle her fingers in his long, strawberry-blonde hair. Draven didn’t seem to show interest in her anymore anyway. After the thought, she mentally slapped herself and bit her lip, turning her attention away from the Fallen. She loved Draven, and a small-forming crush on Seth wouldn’t change that. Besides, there were much larger matters on hand than romance at the moment.
“I know enough,” she managed to choke out. “What I want to really know is why you’ve been lying.”
Seth stepped back and tossed the cloth in the sink with a sigh. “Because I knew he didn’t remember anything, and it was best kept secret. He is obviously in a much better place for him now anyway.”
“So, you didn’t show up that night as a favor for my mother. You showed up for him. Didn’t you?”
She climbed down from the bathroom counter and stood in front of him. He smiled at her apologetically.
“No. That I was being honest about. Though, I admit, he did play into some of the reasoning for us staying.”
Another silence stretched between them. She frowned in concentration. He stole a glance, eyeing her from head to toe, and she caught him. It caused her to blush and become suddenly self-aware of her wild appearance.
“What is on that memory stick, if you don’t mind me asking?”
She was following him back into his apartment when he asked, and realized she still clutched it.
“Something I never want to see again.”
Ten
“You’re telling me that is a video of the night Draven was turned Vampire?”
Seth stared at her, his jaw slack, but his eyes grew dark with a deep fury. She’d settled on his couch, lounging back in exhaustion, and nodded.
“According to the little bit of information I gathered from it, Nathanial found him the night of my mother’s murder in our yard and took him into the Compound.” Her voice came out languid and her eyes began to droop. Despite the closed shutters around the building, her body’s internal instincts knowing it was daylight had begun to take its toll.
“Why was he there?” Seth looked quizzical, but more like he was talking to himself.
“I don’t know. I think he was trying to save her.” She answered anyway.
Seth sat down next to her. She felt the nearness of his warm body. For some long ticking seconds, there was silence between them.
“How old are you?” she asked. The sudden subject change shook him momentarily, but he turned to her with a kind smile.
“Old enough, Sunshine. The Fallen come about differently than your kind.”
“Tell me.” He had her interest now. His laughter came tumbling out, and she caught herself staring at his lips.
“I will later. You look like you’re about to fall asleep, and you most definitely need it. Can’t have that light leaving those beautiful eyes.” He patted her on the leg and made a move to get up. She blushed.
“Yeah, you’re right. It’s the daytime,” she explained, though a yawn muddled her words. He smiled at her. She started to stand, only for him to gently push her back.
“Stay. You can sleep there. I don’t have a problem with it, and it saves you from having to m
ake the walk back to your room.”
Zarah’s brows furrowed in thought. It wouldn’t kill her to sleep for a while on the couch there. She was already dead on her feet and could hardly move from the spot. Her eyes barely wanted to stay open.
With a sigh, she stretched out and handed him the memory stick.
“Watch this if you want, and wake me in a couple of hours.” He nodded and turned away. Just as she closed her eyes again and began to drift into the darkness, she felt a blanket softly drape over her.
Ripping. Tearing. A flash of gray-black feathers. Blood dripping onto the white tile…
Zarah bucked when a hand touched her shoulder, her eyes popping open in surprise. It was only Seth staring down at her in concern, but her dreams had been in a different place and fear consumed her still as she continued to shake. The images from the video were still haunting her. She sucked in a shuddering, slow breath as her vision came into focus.
His hands were gently tucking strands of her hair behind her ear while he knelt down in front of the couch.
“Your wings…how are they possible?” she whispered when she could manage to find her voice. It was the first thing she could think of to say, and it was something she’d been curious of all along. Honestly, she’d always thought if they were real, the wings wouldn’t be quite like they’d turned out to be. He frowned at her. Not out of annoyance, but as if lost in thought on how to best explain. He was clutching the memory stick, so she assumed he’d seen the video by then too.
Through These Wicked Nights (Guardians of the Night Book 2) Page 5