Midnight Dawn

by Jocelyn Adams

  No matter how fast we moved, we couldn’t outrun the frost. It circled around us, coating the violet trees, the trunks cracking like thunder. It was coming for me.

  He’s coming for you.

  I screamed as the man’s hand slipped out of mine. Darkness fell in an instant. Ice water flooded around me, sucking me down to crushing depths. I screamed again, but it made no sound.

  “Addison, wake up!”

  I launched out of bed. Every heaving breath sent a shower of snow crystals into my gray room and over a wide-eyed Sophia, our Outfitter and my best friend in the world. Her fuchsia, teal, and purple hair lay over the shoulder of her blue halter top in a messy braid.

  “What’s happening?” I made a mad search of the room for my pants. “I thought I was dreaming, but something just came through the veil, something big.” Nothing had ever hit me so hard, filling my dreams with images of frost and ice water. What was it?

  The delicate girl gaped at me. “I don’t feel anything, but…why are you breathing out snow, and why were you screaming? And why am I so freakin’ scared right now?”

  I stopped, staring at my floor as my pulse came down to a brisk trot. Why was I in just a tank top and boy shorts? I had only a vague recollection of Asher carrying me to my room and shattering the rest of my ridiculous delusions about us.

  “I need to go hunting, like now,” I said. “Can you help me get dressed and maybe find me some breakfast?” Not that I could think of eating, but Sophia, as timid as a church mouse, could deal better when she had something to focus on.

  “Breakfast? It’s after nine, Addison.”

  “Crap, did you turn my alarm off? It always goes off at six.” I picked up the clock. Yep, switched off. “I can’t believe I slept in until nine.”

  “Um…it’s night. You slept the whole day, which you needed to. I wish I’d thought of turning that thing off, but sorry, it wasn’t me.”

  “What? The whole damn day?” I must have pounded the thing while I was half asleep.

  “I’ll get some clothes together in the wardrobe room, so put something on and meet me there when you’re ready.” As Outfitter, her job was to make sure all of the sentinels were dressed for the part when they went hunting, and she even made all of our clothes with a flair that could put high-profile designers to shame. She hesitated by the door. “Hey, are you sure you’re okay? You’re kind of shaking.”

  After locating a pair of black yoga pants hanging neatly in my closet, I hugged her. “Let me find out what’s happening, and I’ll answer that later, okay?”

  “Be careful.”

  “Always,” I said, releasing her.

  After she left, I hopped into my pants, threw open the door, and rammed into a hard body. Cologne and sweet whiskey. Asher lurched forward, his hand locked around the knob. Oh. My. God. Being pressed that hard against him might have been awesome if it hadn’t hurt my wound so much. I moved aside, holding my stitched-up shoulder.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “I heard you scream.” He stayed outside the room, gripping the doorframe as if he might keel over. “Did you feel that, too?”

  I stopped picking at my bandage and looked at him. How had he heard me scream when he usually avoided me like herpes? I wasn’t sure where he lived, but it wasn’t at the facility. “Sophia didn’t notice anything. You really felt it?”

  He frowned, and even the sight of him in grouch mode made my belly flutter. “I’d have to be dead not to.” Huh. He was starting to sound like me. Bet he’d be super happy if I pointed that out to him.

  “You look like you need to go to bed,” I said, my fingers itching to brush his hair away from his eyes. Okay, so maybe he hadn’t shattered all of my delusions, or at least my body was ignoring that memo. I patted my own hair down, aware I must have looked like something the dog barfed up and buried in the backyard for a month.

  When I came out, he lurched away and leaned his butt against the far wall.

  “I’ll take Raldad with me,” I said, weaving my rat’s nest into a braid. Raldad was a sentinel I hadn’t hunted with much, and one of the few I hadn’t touched yet to see if we were compatible. “Seriously, we’ll take care of it. You need a shave, and is your iron broken? I’ve never seen you so wrinkled.” The beard was actually kind of hot… God, really?

  “No.” He came away from the wall with his biceps hilling up beneath his sleeves. Would they be rock hard? Or would they give a little under my fingers? Raven-black hair fell forward, shadowing those intensely blue-jade eyes until they were beacons in his darkness. Beautiful. “This feels different, worse than anything that’s come through before,” he continued. “Maybe this is what the construction worker’s wraith was talking about. Whatever this is might be here for you, so you’re staying here, and that’s final.”

  Once I might have cowered at the demon stare he shot at me, but now I stood my ground. “The hell I am. Stand here and yell all day long if you want to, but this is my job, and I’m going. If you’re so worried, then stop grumping and come with me.” I folded my arms together—because the cold hadn’t quite left me yet and not because I wanted to lift up his shirt and run my palms up the lovely, toned expanse of his chest I’d copped a feel of last night.

  “Fine,” he said after a few seconds of bone-melting silence, edging in so close my stomach tightened. He stared at my shoulder as if thinking of inspecting the stitches he’d redone for me. “We’ll do this job and then go our separate ways again. Are we clear?”

  I curled my fingers into fists so they’d behave. “Yeah, fine, whatever. Don’t act like you’re doing me a favor here. I’m not asking you to come; I’m letting you come. There’s a difference. I’m your Architect, remember?”

  I could have sworn a slight grin graced his full lips, but he marched off before I could see for sure. “I’ll figure out what came through the veil and where it is, and when I come back, be waiting in the wardrobe room for me,” he said over his shoulder. “And make sure you eat every scrap of whatever Sophia brings you.”

  Giving a mock salute to his tight backside, which did not draw my focus like it had its own freakin’ gravity, I mumbled, “Aye-aye, Captain Asshat. Your wish is my blah, blah, whatever. Always nice talking to you.”

  As I followed behind him at a safe distance, I couldn’t help but smile. One more job with him. Even though he didn’t seem to like me much, the brief glimpses I’d had of the man beneath the hunter were profound enough to keep me hooked like a cracked-out hussy. Hot damn, it was going to be the most frustrating yet best night ever. If the big and bad didn’t kill us, of course. I probably should have been a smidge more afraid of the newest dead bugman that had come through the fabric of reality, but I just couldn’t shake off the giddy long enough to feel it.

  How long would that last? I gave myself half an hour, tops.

  Chapter Four

  Asher, Remy, Raldad, and I landed in the first layer of the Shift above a swanky martini bar in Chicago shortly after 10:00 p.m. The Shift was made up of hundreds of layers of false realities, which surrounded our world. Created by a godlike being from yet another reality who was largely a mystery to us mere humans, the Shift was supposed to hide the Earth and keep the wraiths out. It hadn’t worked very well, but it did serve a purpose: all we sentinels had to do was imagine a place—from the true reality or the false ones—and the Shift would take us anywhere in the world. Handy, considering the dead could invade all corners of the planet. Our facility, where most of us lived, took up one of the false realities, too, hiding us from regular mortals and from the dead.

  “Stay close to me,” Asher said, his focus bent on the parking lot below. The first layer of the Shift let us hover above the true reality unseen while still being able to view everything below. “The host body is a high-priced corporate lawyer who owns half of Chicago, and even catching a glimpse of him when I tracked his energy here earlier set my Machine senses haywire.”

  Why did he have to look so good
in the black suit Sophia put him in? He’d shaved and combed his hair, which was still damp from the shower, but without the thicker beard, he appeared thin. When was the last time he’d eaten?

  My excitement for the hunt faded, and fear crept up on me. “I’m assuming I need to get this lawyer to go outside, so we can toast his wraith. Which means he needs to think I’m available. That’s not going to work if I go in there with you.” I could have kicked myself for saying so, because it meant I wouldn’t get to walk into the bar on his arm… Oh, bloody hell.

  His nostrils flared, and he fidgeted with the red tie that painted a shimmery line down the front of his matching shirt. “Fine. I’ll stay up here and cover you until you get inside. Remy and Raldad, why don’t you go down now, scope out the place, and make sure we’re not being set up? Once you’re in, Plaid, I’ll come in right after you. Just get the lawyer to leave with you as fast as you can. I don’t like this. It seems too easy that he’s just sitting inside, like he’s waiting for us.”

  “You do fine, Addy.” Remy squeezed my good shoulder. “See you down there.”

  After Remy left, Raldad stared at me as if I might spontaneously combust. His skin was a shade lighter than the night sky, almost black, his dark hair closely cropped. “The other sentinels fear you will kill the Colonel,” he said in his deep, rumbling voice, “and have plans to take us out one by one. Is there truth in this?”

  My heart dropped. When Asher appeared ready to curse the guy out, I held my hand up to him and focused on the other sentinel. “No, Raldad. The last thing I want to do is hurt anyone, not even the Colonel. I’m trying to protect you, all of you, even though I’m still trying to figure out all of this Machine business.”

  He gave me a dip of his head, though I didn’t get the impression he believed a word I’d said. Especially when he edged away from me as if afraid to have me at his back.

  “Go back to the facility,” Asher said in a growl. “We have no time for distrust, so decide whether you’re in or you’re out before we get back. There’s no halfway anymore.”

  The sentinel frowned but appeared relieved. He zapped away before I got a word out.

  I tossed up a palm. “Thanks a lot. Now who am I supposed to share power with?” I sighed. “They’re scared and confused. At least he asked me outright, unlike the rest of them who are probably whispering conspiracy theories behind my back.”

  “Idiots,” Asher mumbled.

  Alone with Asher, my thoughts turned to the unknown I’d face with the badass in the bar, and my nerves unraveled. “You should have had Kat teach me to be a hussy instead of how to fight.” I wanted to ask him if he was going to take Kat as his conduit now that I knew for sure they were compatible, but it wasn’t any of my business, and I didn’t think I could handle the answer.

  Asher turned to me several times, opening his mouth, but nothing came out.

  “Yeah, still not good at giving comfort. Don’t worry about it.” Why had I been thinking this would be fun? Because I was totally mental, apparently.

  I closed my eyes and visualized the spot down in the true reality where I wanted to land. It was easier to go places I had an emotional attachment to, but I could go anywhere as long as I knew what it looked like. When I called the Shift to descend, Asher caught my good arm before I made it out to the real world, snapping me back to him.

  “Addison, wait,” he said with more feeling than I’d heard from him in a while. Maybe ever.

  The skin contact sent a rush of endorphins through me, but still no signs of a deeper Machine whiz-bang reaction. “What?” I managed to spit out of my sudden cotton mouth.

  He arranged my long dark brown hair around my shoulders, suddenly freezing in place before dropping his hands and jamming them into his pants pockets. When he finally spoke, his voice had hollowed out, and he never raised his gaze higher than my chin. “You’re more charming than you realize. Just make lots of eye contact and smile at him, and he’ll be helpless to resist you.”

  I couldn’t have been more stunned if someone had pushed me off a cliff. Then why doesn’t it work on you? my inner voice wanted to ask before I thought at it to shut the hell up.

  “Be careful,” he said when I just stood there, staring at the sweet concern I could have sworn darkened his spectacular eyes. “I’ll be right behind you.”

  My stomach warmed, and it took everything I had to make myself walk away from him. What if whatever waited in the bar ended up killing him? Or me? How was I even supposed to beat it when I wasn’t sure Remy and I could create enough power to push out the guy’s wraith? Remy barely made me light up at all, and Asher and I were complete nulls to each other. Yep. We were probably screwed. Fantastic.

  I imagined the dark corner of the parking lot below and called the Shift once more. The sound and feel of a great beating heart filled my chest, which always happened when I traveled through the false layers. The world blurred before I popped into the humid night below.

  I navigated the parking lot wobbling on the dainty heels I wasn’t used to wearing. The violet skirt played against my legs, making me shiver despite the humidity. Even though Asher watched over me from above, my nerves wanted no part of this hunt. What would we find inside? How many classes of wraith hadn’t we met yet? Questions better left unasked, with my courage hanging by a thread.

  After paying the cover charge, I entered the bar area and stepped inside. My extra senses drew me toward a tall guy in a suit sitting at the bar under hundreds of martini glasses dangling upside down from brass rails. I didn’t breathe out snow like I did when a rift appeared or a wraith was in full control of a body, but my heart chilled right to its core. Even though the wraith rider was hiding deep in the man, I could still pick it up.

  My legs trembled, and I wasn’t sure why. He wasn’t doing anything threatening or even weird, but the urge to run took hold of me with sharp claws. No freakin’ way would I hightail it out of there. I was not a sissy; I was a badass guardian of the world. Yep. Totally.

  Come on legs, don’t fail me now. Just taking a casual stroll. To a dead alternate-reality bug wearing a lawyer. It’ll be fun. Really.

  Blowing out a shaky breath, I started forward. Remy sat at the bar in his tailored black suit. He gave me a subtle grin as I walked by him. Did I look that ridiculous with my espresso hair in loose waves around my shoulders, instead of in its usual braid? At least I didn’t fall on my face before I made it to the bar. Yay me.

  The lawyer sat on one of the black leather stools pinching a martini glass in his fingers, wearing a pin-striped suit that must have cost a gazillion dollars. Everything about him screamed wealth and extravagance. And crazy, definitely lots of crazy.

  The guy had light brown hair coiffed to GQ perfection and a flashy watch just barely visible beneath the sharp cuff of his mauve dress shirt. Straight men wore mauve, right? If he didn’t like women, we were totally screwed, since Remy would probably make the devil pee himself on sight, and I didn’t imagine Asher would suck up his dignity and make a pass at the guy. Then again, Mr. GQ seemed to be as refined and well-pressed as my sensei, so maybe Asher would like him better than me.

  Grabbing fistfuls of my skirt, I hiked my butt onto the stool beside the suit. And almost slid off the other side, because the silk might as well have been a coating of grease on my ass. Yeah, real graceful, Addy. Nice job. Jesus.

  “Whoa, careful there.” The lawyer grabbed my arm before I ended up in his lap. His touch turned my guts into a Siberian winter, and the wraith inside him hadn’t even surfaced to take control. Wraiths needed to absorb some of the host body’s soul-energy before they had the power to climb into the driver’s seat. Even the highest class of wraiths we knew of needed at least a day inside the body before they could control a person, so we should have been safe for another ten hours or so, but I felt a million miles from safe at the moment.

  I had an insane urge to claw out my own lungs. What the hell was this thing? Did it really come for me? What for?

/>   Head in the game, idiot!

  “Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” I mumbled, fighting the urge to jerk my arm out of his grasp. As an afterthought, I added, “That martini must have gone to my head…I mean, those martinis. Because I totally drank more than one if I’m drunk, right?” I giggled and righted myself on the stool.

  Good grief, could I be any worse at this? I could almost feel Asher rolling his eyes. Well, screw him. I so had this. Where was he, anyway? Still in the Shift?

  “I’m Gerald. What’s your name?” The lawyer’s cool gray eyes made a meal of me. I wasn’t sure if he was imaging me naked or what I’d look like filleted and arranged with garnishes on a plate. He had that creep factor about him, so it could go either way.

  Stifling a shiver, I almost said “Plaid” before choking it back. Stupid Asher. “You can call me Addy. So…do you come here often?” Oh, hell. Forget combat training. I needed Flirting 101.

  Gerald threw back his head and laughed. It was one of those disturbing laughs that should only come out of horror movie villains right before they go all mad scientist and throw a switch to fry your ass. “Now that I know what beautiful women I’ll find here, perhaps I’ll become a regular.”

  Heat rose in my cheeks. What was I supposed to say to such a lame come-on? And besides, Asher reminded me enough that I’d fallen face-first out of the redneck tree and hit all of the “awkward” branches on the way down, so the lawyer couldn’t have been that into me.

  Remy caught my eye from where he’d moved down the glass bar. He nodded encouragement at me. Somehow in my bumbling, I was winning Gerald-the-slimy over. Maybe his wraith liked gibbering airheads. I smiled at him as Asher had suggested, and Gerald licked his lips. Oh, ick.