Darkling

by Sabolic, Mima

  “C’mon, give me a hint.” Belun made a puppy face. And, unfortunately, it worked.

  “The Inquirers are at the bottom of the Vocati food chain due to our lack of protein. However, his idea has spread to other things as well.” And that was all he was gonna get from me, puppy face or not.

  “Interesting. But I have something potentially interesting to tell you, too.” He grinned slyly. “I asked Baldur about that telepathy thing we discussed before. He said that it’s the first time he’s heard of such thing, but he seemed rather eager to know how I came up with it. So eager, in fact, that it felt like it wasn’t really the first time he had heard of it.”

  “Slick bastard.” The comment just leapt from my mouth, but it seemed to amuse him.

  “You don’t like him much, do you?”

  “Like? No, I really don’t. I feel like he’s rotten to the bone,” I said, feeling anger in my muscles. Fortunately, it didn’t linger.

  “I have a history of disagreement with him. As well as my father did. Nevertheless, he keeps me tightly to him. But the reason that he seems rotten to you might be due to his age. Kyrill also has a negative vibe around him. That silver-tongued way that Baldur presents himself? I see it more as an attempt to disguise that roughness so he doesn’t scare people. On the other hand, Kyrill is not that thoughtful.”

  “I wouldn’t know about that. But in my case, the reason I dislike him might have something to do with the little incident where he showed me his fangs. On the first day we met.”

  “He did what?!” He got really serious, sitting straight up in his chair. Apparently, the showing of fangs wasn’t included in the usual welcome wagon.

  “Yeah. I guess he found it boring to play the ‘there’s-no-such-things-as-vampires’ game, so he cut to the chase.”

  “Anything like that is forbidden, and he was the one who created the rules! No wonder you were so terrified those first few days.”

  “Days? Try weeks!” I said, and his deep green eyes looked softly at me. It felt nice, but after a while images from the car, the pool, our dance, started to emerge. Stop it. Stop it, right now!

  “I think I owe you an apology.” I heard him say.

  “What for?”

  “For my behavior during those first days. Weeks . . .” Belun said, in a low voice, his eyes on me.

  “Forgiven. Actually, I believe you paid for it with the kick and the bite.” I laughed a little, but his gaze fell. “Anyway, I was pissed that Baldur made me stay for the Council seat, and to do something that was never in my job description, so to say. I’m a serious Warrior and leading a team for his Project felt like a huge downgrade.” He wouldn’t meet my eyes.

  “Wasn’t there a way to say no?” I asked.

  “Probably, but even though I didn’t want to participate, doesn’t mean I wasn’t aware of how important it was. We are being decimated, and the absence of another noble family would be catastrophic.”

  “But the Council duties are not a daily obligation, are they?”

  “No, they aren’t. However, I manage to get some benefits for Warriors if I, in return, stay here.” Belun ordered another drink.

  “Why is Aidan here?”

  “Doris, why else?” he laughed a little. “I managed to find him a position in the security of compound.”

  “And what are you? A security guard or a babysitter?” I teased.

  “Maybe both, maybe neither,” he chuckled with a grin.

  When the waiter brought him his drink I ordered a grilled chicken. I asked for no veggies or fries, which Belun, found interesting.

  “You’ve turned into a big carnivore, I see,” he said.

  “I train a lot.”

  “Baldur eats mostly meat. You rarely see anything else on his plate,” he said, and smiled in response to my frown over the comparison.

  “Well, now, let’s discuss your studies.” Belun tapped his fingers on the table and reached for the iPad. “I’ve found several possibilities based on your previous studies—” He stopped, seeing me smirking.

  “What?” He looked so cute worrying about my school and all.

  “I’ve already applied for the online Berkeley program,” I told him, still grinning. It surprised him; he seemed even a little ashamed. Seeing these emotions cross his face was an interesting and unique experience.

  “Oh. I didn’t know that.” Belun smiled, avoiding my eyes. Suddenly, something on the gadget’s screen was more interesting than me.

  “I applied after my first paycheck. The courses are not as good as those I was taking, but they’re close enough, I guess. Sociology. But they haven’t sent me any books yet.”

  “If they’re not as good as you wanted, why not go for something better?”

  “I thought of that. Then I realized that any connection to Berkeley right now is making me a little less of a liar than I already am. With all those stories for family and friends, you know.” That was something I told myself in order to calm my spirits whenever I thought of the lies I told to my parents.

  “You missing your old life?” Belun asked. He looked a bit insecure.

  What life? The one where my close friends stabbed me in the back? The life where I was drowning in indecision and pressure?

  “No, not really.” I looked at the middle of the table, noticing his hand only a few inches away from mine. Sudden warmth jolted through my fingers. I so wanted to grab his hand, or for him to brush against my hand. Looking at that nearness, I felt the warmth spreading through the rest of my body. Maybe I even blushed, but that only reminded me of my meds!

  “What’s the time?”

  “Why, you in a hurry?” he teased.

  “No, I have to take my meds.” I’d completely lost track of time. How long had we been sitting there anyway?

  I went to the bathroom to drug my nerves. What had Tertius been thinking when he suggested it would be better for me if I didn’t take them? I wondered if I would have behaved as I did if I had used them on the night of the attack. Probably not, but then, the outcome of the fight could have been catastrophic! So I studied the orange pill bottle with my name on it.

  I could spill them down the sink right now and teach myself to control the rage attacks. But that wasn’t going to be easy. What was worse for me and the people around me? To be grumpy and sometimes even violent, or to be unable to react if needed? Keeping in mind the rarity of dangerous moments, I’d probably only be a huge annoyance to my friends if I couldn’t keep my cool. Therefore, I took the pill, returning the bottle to my bag. I wasn’t a Warrior, I was an Inquirer, and it wasn’t my place to think of other people’s security.

  My reflection in the mirror only affirmed it: a normal girl in jeans and a green-gray shirt. The reality was that nothing was in my power, and the attack thing had been, as Blake said, an adrenalin rush. Nothing more.

  I felt strange looking at myself in the mirror. How much of my self could I see, anyway? Many things had changed, including me, and if constant change was human nature—how could you know with certainty who you really were?

  I looked at the pale face. I was Nika Young—but that was just a name. I was five-foot-six, slender, with brown eyes and dark hair to my shoulders. Hmm, that sounded like one third of the world’s teenage population. I wasn’t sure what I really wanted from my life; I liked to read, listen to music, watch movies, go out, travel . . . and in whatever way I might have thought that I was special, all of the above was just like any other teenager. I could be anybody. So was there any reason why I should think of myself as an individual? Pathetic. Depressing.

  Warmth at my temples told me that the medicine was starting to work, so quick was the transition from No-Nika to Nika: Vampire Inquirer—a helper in a centuries-old battle throughout a history that wasn’t human. This, if nothing else, definitely made me different from my peers! And with a drugged-carefree smile, I left the bathroom.

  How long had I been in there? My smile faded as soon as I saw Simona standing next to our table. T
wo other vamps were with her, and I remembered seeing them on our last trip. She spotted me at the same second, and an arrogant grin plastered itself across her face. But that only brought back the memory of pushing her into the swimming pool, and a smile of my own surfaced.

  “Hi, guys,” I said, sitting back in my chair.

  “Everything okay?” Belun asked me, and I nodded.

  “How’s your bikini?” Simona asked with attitude from her position next to Belun’s chair.

  “How’s your pride?” I offered in return, replaying the scene of her fall. Her eyes instantly burned with anger . . . or evil—you could never know with her.

  The guy next to Simona asked Belun about something and the atmosphere changed. Well, it changed for them, but her needle eyes were still piercing me. I had a feeling she was looking at every cell of my face, which made me wonder—how strong were female vampires anyway? Did I stand a chance if she suddenly jumped for my neck or eyes?

  Belun and the others were talking about Kyrill; they seemed to be part of his delegation. They looked about Belun’s age; the girl was calm and sharp, and something in her posture reminded me of Lyndon. The guy was tall, slender and much quicker to smile than his female friend. I wondered what they were doing with Simona, but then I remembered she was one of the nobles—Vasilis. Was she also from Kyrill’s court?

  “That way, Andrei could join us.” Lost in my thoughts, I caught Simona’s last words. Andrei? Grrr that sounded too intimate. And where could he join them?

  “If Baldur lets him.” the guy joked.

  “Right, I do have to do my time here,” Belun sighed, smiling.

  I expected him to indicate me as the reason for the penalty, but he didn’t. However, Simona didn’t hold back her sly grin from me before laying her hand on Belun’s shoulder. He closed his eyes for a second, tightening his lips and shifting his arm closer to his body. The reaction seemed odd, since it didn’t actually look like rejection. No one had noticed the change on his face. Were his wounds still hurting him?

  “Wanna come with us?” The girl asked him when they turned to go. She had apparently chosen to ignore me.

  “Some other time,” Belun replied.

  “Suit yourself,” Simona said brattily, and they left.

  My “Bye” stayed frozen in mid-air since none of them acknowledged it. Even Simona refused to give me one of her fabulous looks on her way out. I wondered if she practiced them in front of the mirror.

  “Were they already sitting here?” I asked, trying to sound casual.

  “No, they saw my car parked outside,” he smiled.

  “I thought cars were common goods.”

  “Yeah, but I always take this one, unless it’s taken. And it usually isn’t.” Belun said.

  “I saw those two on our last trip. Who are they?”

  “Kyrill’s delegation sent for the reception. Simona is from his court too, but she’s of noble blood, unlike them.”

  “Which means she’s not doing anything there?” My tone made him laugh a bit.

  “I wouldn’t call it exactly nothing,” he said, not willing to elaborate, and I didn’t want to talk about her anymore.

  “You guys have no respect for humans, do you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  I smiled insecurely. I mean if he didn’t see how they’d ignored me, what could I say?

  “Kyrill has different thoughts on humans than Baldur.” So he did know what I meant.

  “So anyone from his court’s supposed to hate people—umm, humans?”

  “Not hate, just simply not give them significance.”

  “Because we’re an inferior race?!”

  “Vampires are above humans on the food chain,” he stated. “Were you insulted or something?” Belun teased, and I arched an eyebrow. Yes, I had been.

  Soon he asked for the check and we headed back. The way Simona had referred to him—Andrei—irritated me. Everything about their intimacy had. Andrei. How would it be if I called him that? I had a few short mental conversations where I used his name, and it didn’t feel natural at all. He was definitely Belun for me. And most people, I guessed. But, no, she had to call him by his first name. Argh.

  Thinking of that reminded me of his expression when she touched his arm.

  “I see your arm’s still sore.”

  “Yeah.” His voice sounded normal, but he wasn’t into talking much about it.

  “I didn’t hear from Doris today,” I said.

  “She and Aidan ran away somewhere for the weekend.” Now that explained my cell phone’s silence.

  “Any interesting dreams lately?” he asked.

  “Not since I started the meds,” I smiled. “That’s a good side-effect. But when I was in a coma, I dreamed something creepy: five empty graves that always seemed that way, and some old guy who was digging the sixth.”

  “That is creepy,” he agreed, with a smile.

  Chapter 17

  A Weak Link

  We had never spent that much time together talking, and it was nice and easy. So that was the way I spent my Thanksgiving Day. Later in my room, I couldn’t stop smiling. The new painting looked perfect, and before I collapsed into bed, I read a little. It was the best way to finish a great day.

  The next morning I was awakened by a noise from the common room.

  “Julia!” I exclaimed, hugging her tightly.

  “Good to see you decided to stay. I wasn’t sure what you would decide, you were really in bad shape, hon,” she said, looking at me with her warm eyes. She held a glass of milk, her suitcase was nowhere on sight, and the door to her room was open. With the TV on, it seemed that she had arrived a while ago. We sat on the couch.

  “And that ‘bad shape’ has put me in some weird circumstances,” I said, and her eyebrows shot up questioningly. “Let’s say I was easily irritated and that I behaved accordingly. I made some stupid moves and, above all, I killed a Vocati.”

  Julia’s face distorted from the shock. She had obviously heard nothing about the incident.

  “What?!” was all she managed to say.

  “I was at a spa weekend that turned into a nightmarish party with a Vocati attack. There were four of them. So massage, manicure, and pedicure never actually happened.”

  She was still in shock, trying to accept what I had just told her.

  “I’ve never heard of a human killing a Vocati,” she finally said.

  “I’m not sure about that never part, but people do avoid them. All I can say is I wasn’t exactly myself at that moment and I attacked one of the two who were on Belun. I barbequed him.” Oddly, I found the bizarreness of it all entertaining, while she just stared at me in disbelief.

  “I see you found a sense of humor, as well.” We both laughed at that.

  “I ended up in a coma for a couple of days, and since then I’ve been taking meds that help to control my anger attacks.”

  “A coma?!” She sounded very much like my mom.

  “From the shock.” I explained.

  “Well, a lot happened here after I left, apparently.”

  I nodded with a smile. “Mmm hmm. Blake’s writing an interesting research paper about his project. A night ago, they organized a movie night for me and we watched Dracula. Even Lyndon was there.”

  Then I remembered the reason why she had left in the first place.

  “How are you—after everything, I mean?”

  She exhaled deeply.

  “I stayed longer than planned, I had to sort out some things with my family. My father and my brothers purposely didn’t tell me about her illness before, so that I’d feel guilty about leaving home. Idiots. I could have provided her with better treatments and medicines and seen her before she died!”

  I was speechless. Why would someone do a thing like that? Julia shook her head with anger.

  “I missed you,” I hugged her. “We all missed you.”

  “You too.” Her face was a mixture of sadness and pain.

  Later
I received a text from Doris saying that Aidan had surprised her with a romantic weekend and that she was enjoying it and also thinking of me. Nice of her, but I couldn’t help feeling a little sting of jealousy. It would be so cool to be taken on a trip by your boyfriend after a few days apart—such a great way to show you how much he had missed you. I had never had anything like that. I was really happy for Doris, and a bit sad for myself.

  I spent the day with Julia and Tibor, mostly in his common room. Blake joined us for a short time, and then returned to his research. Later, Max came and things felt nice and easy. I was relaxed, but I was also missing a face with green eyes.

  The next morning, when I said hello to Lee and Jacob at work, I noticed they were whispering something. Of course, as soon as they saw me they stopped. But something was up.

  “Is everything okay?” My question surprised them.

  “Of course,” Jacob said.

  I entered the cell, wondering what it was all about.

  “Good morning,” I said, and Tertius shrugged for an answer.

  “Do you know why the guards outside were whispering?” I asked him in a nonchalant tone, as if he held all the answers. He eyed me carefully, probably trying to figure out if this was another trick. Considering our last session, it seemed he had decided to be more cautious.

  “Should I know?” One bushy eyebrow lifted.

  “I thought you knew everything,” I flattered. “And maybe you could share the knowledge.”

  As I said that, I was thinking of his alleged telepathic ability with the Vocati he had created. But he watched me without any particular emotion, and then he laughed. Laughed! Ha! Either he had figured out that I knew about the telepathy thing, or I was totally on the wrong path.

  I decided it was his turn to talk, so I looked around the cell as I usually did when he was silent. Finally, after too much time had passed, I knew had to break it.

  “Next time I’ll bring you another one,” I indicated the dry flower in the vase.

  “Next time? That could be a while.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He grinned, but it looked more broken than sly. Unfortunately, he continued to stay silent.