Daysider (Nightsiders)

by Susan Krinard

  But he was passionate about this, and Damon found it more than merely strange. Though it was hardly rational, given the little information Sergius had possessed at the time of Damon and Alexia’s arrival at the colony, Damon hadn’t forgotten the way Sergius/Nikanor had treated him. The fact was, he didn’t trust Sergius, rational or not.

  “I propose that we evacuate the humans to the caves, as I suggested before,” Sergius continued. “Those Opiri who wish to leave with them may do so. The rest of us will stay and defend the settlement against any who would destroy it.”

  Cullen and Emma immediately protested. The short-haired Opir woman nodded firmly. The remaining Opiri exchanged glances and then sat without speaking, their faces expressionless as they weighed the options.

  “Sergius,” Theron said heavily, “I cannot prevent you or the others from fighting. I am a leader, not a tyrant. But I beg you again to think what you are doing.”

  “I have thought about it,” Sergius said, holding the old Opir’s gaze like the young wolf who planned to be the next leader of the pack. “You should go with the humans, Theron. You’ll be needed later.”

  Theron shook his head. “I still hope to speak with the Enclave forces. I assure you, I have no personal wish for martyrdom, either, but it is my choice.” He looked around the table again. “Emma, I believe you, Cullen, Beth and Jonathan should help lead the others to the caves. If you will not think of yourselves, think of those who lack both the skill and the will to fight such a battle.”

  Dropping her gaze, Emma stared at her folded hands. “Let some of us stay, so we can—”

  “All of you,” Theron said gently. “Please, go into hiding just until this is resolved.”

  After a long hesitation, Emma nodded. Cullen and the other two humans pushed back their chairs and rose.

  “We will gather the others,” Cullen said, “but we aren’t going to be ready to move until near nightfall.” He looked across the table at Alexia, inclined his head and left the room. Emma, Beth and Jonathan followed.

  “One of us must accompany the humans,” Theron said to Damon, Alexia and the remaining Opiri.

  “I will do it,” Sergius said. “As soon as they are safe, I will return to help defend the colony.”

  “If the strike force and any other combatants are not already in the way,” Theron said. “Agent Fox, earlier you were willing to remain with the colony at this time of crisis, even though by doing so you may be considered a traitor to your own people. You have no connection to us except through our human citizens. Again, I ask—is this what you want? Do you truly accept that you may face extreme sanctions from the Enclave if you do?”

  Damon waited tensely, hoping she would change her mind. He hadn’t even suggested that she leave Eleutheria before the strike force arrived, because he had known what she would say.

  Just as he knew what she would say now.

  “I know that is possible,” Alexia said. “But it’s because I work for Aegis that I believe I am in a unique position to help There is something here that doesn’t exist anywhere else.” She rose to face Damon. “It’s the only place where Damon and I can be together, as equals, without fear of reprisal. I have to believe Eleutheria will survive this crisis and become stronger because of it. I want to be a part of the change it has begun, and the hope it represents.”

  Her words stunned Damon, not because they were out of character, but because they were so much more than he had ever expected. Their relationship had always stood on shaky ground, and they had never questioned their divided loyalties.

  Those loyalties, and the hatred their peoples had for one another, would ordinarily have made any thought beyond the present impossible. Until he had seen how Opiri and humans interacted in Eleutheria, he wouldn’t have believed there was any path around those seemingly immutable obstacles. Yet now Alexia spoke as if there might be a future, fragile as it was, and her eyes were asking him if he felt the same.

  How could he accept what she offered? She was throwing aside her past, all her connections to her city, all the human parts of her life she had never shared with him. She was willing to accept the necessity that she might always need his blood to survive, and that he would continue to drink hers. And she knew she would be taking a Darketan who could become a savage every bit as subject to his emotions as a serf was to his Bloodlord.

  But she wasn’t deceiving herself. Her gaze was clear and direct and unafraid. It was he who was afraid: that he’d hurt her during one of his rages, that he’d fail to protect her—not only from every outside danger, but from her own stubborn, fierce will.

  He didn’t insult her by asking her again if she was sure. He took her offered hand and raised it to his lips. A moment later he remembered where they were, and so did Alexia. Her cheeks flushed. She ducked her head and sat down.

  Damon took up his position behind her again. Theron looked him in the eye, his brows arched and a slight smile touching the corners of his lips.

  “I will not ask if you recognize the consequences to yourself if the Council ends up in control of the colony,” he said. “It may be worse than the other alternatives. But if you have made up your mind...”

  Damon nodded. Sergius made a sound that eloquently combined impatience with mild disgust. “May we continue?” he said acidly.

  Ignoring him, Theron turned to Alexia. “Since you wish to help, I think you and Damon should accompany our human citizens to the caves. You both have the skills necessary to defend them, and I know Emma trusts you, Alexia.”

  “No,” Alexia said. “You can’t keep me safe by sending me to hide. And I may still be able to speak to someone from the strike force before this gets bad.”

  “It will be no less dangerous guiding the others and protecting them,” Theron said, “especially since we have no idea where the Aegis forces or their enemies may appear. Perhaps Hera—” he glanced at the short-haired Opir woman “—will accompany you, and Alexia can return when the others are safe.”

  Damon thought of Sergius’s sudden change of plans from wanting to remain at the colony to accompanying the humans to the caves. And he’d been the one to suggest the caves in the first place. Damon trusted him even less than before. He had to be watched.

  “We’ll go,” he said.

  Alexia shot him a troubled look, but she must have known as much as he did that the old Bloodmaster was deliberately trying to get him and Alexia out of the way. He must truly believe the colony would fall to one force or another, and for some reason he wanted to be sure Damon and Alexia survived.

  The hard fact was, no matter where Damon went, any violence aimed at Alexia—and likely any other innocent from the colony— could provoke one of his spells. His shadow-self could be a potent weapon turned against an enemy, but there was always the risk that it would endanger friends, as well.

  That was why he would see that Alexia and the humans were safe, make sure that Sergius was no threat to them, and then go looking for the strike force himself. Maybe he could stop or delay them as no one else could.

  “I agree,” Alexia murmured, reaching behind her for Damon’s hand. He took it, enfolding her fingers in his. Immediately Theron turned to Sergius.

  “I have an even more difficult job for you,” he said. “I want you to go into the mountains and look for movement from Erebus. If you discover any sign of Opir troops in this area, return to report immediately.”

  “You can send someone else for that, Theron,” Sergius protested. “Since you refuse to leave, I should stay here to protect you.”

  Damon watched Sergius out of the corner of his eye. Yet another about-face on the Opir’s part. There was something very wrong here.

  “I would not ask this of you if it were not necessary, my friend,” Theron said.

  The flicker of a scowl crossed Sergius’s face and then quickly disappeared. “As you wish, Theron.”

  “Then it only remains to discuss what we who remain in Eleutheria will do to prepare.” Theron cleared
his throat. “Agent Fox, Sergius, Damon and Hera, when you leave, go by the postern gate. My thanks to you all.”

  Hera and Sergius stood, covering their heads and faces with the cowl and goggles of their light daysuits. Alexia rose as well, and all four of them headed for the door. Sergius and Damon reached it at the same time. Sergius shouldered past Damon without a glance and strode across the commons.

  Damon considered telling Alexia—or Theron—of his unease about Sergius, but sharing his vague suspicions might result in Sergius becoming aware that such suspicions existed. Damon wanted the Opir off his guard, confident that his scheme—if, indeed, he had one—would succeed.

  And Alexia would only be in worse danger if she got in Sergius’s way.

  * * *

  One very tense and busy hour later, Damon’s pack, along with his weapons and those of Alexia’s he had been able to fit in it, lay beside Alexia’s cot in the dormitory. Damon still had his uniform, but he chose to continue to wear the simple clothing he and Alexia had been given earlier. Both of them had laid out and carefully inspected their combat knives, pistols and rifles. Alexia pushed the strange communicator into her belt; she had told Damon that even though she couldn’t find a way to send an outgoing message, there was still the chance Aegis or the strike force might try to contact Michael again, unaware of his fate.

  When she and Damon had completed their preparations and had nothing more to do but wait until twilight, a charged silence fell between them. Damon studied her face, memorizing its familiar, beloved lines: the fringe of red hair across her forehead, her tilted cat’s eyes, her full lips curved in a brave smile.

  “Well,” she said. “It seems we’re to have another adventure together.”

  All Damon wanted then was to take her into his arms and kiss her, absorb her into himself and never let her go. He saw the same yearning in her eyes. But he had to make her understand what had to be done, and nothing else could get in the way.

  “When we go,” he said, “I’ll bring up the rear. It would be better for me to stay away from the others so that I can move freely in response to any attack.”

  Alexia didn’t misunderstand his meaning. “If you think I’m going to leave you alone, think again.”

  “It is necessary, Alexia,” he said. He put his hands on her arms. “If you are attacked, I might lose any ability to control my actions.”

  “That’s why I’m not running away from you.” She laced her fingers behind his neck and brought his head down to hers. “We never had a chance to talk about what to do about your spells. We think we know what causes them, but there must be a way to control them. I have a theory—”

  “This is not the time for theories, Alexia,” he said, stroking her cheek with the pad of his thumb. “If I become a beast, I would rather turn it against my enemies.”

  “Listen to me, Damon. If certain kinds of strong emotion make this happen to you, maybe others can save you.” She swallowed, her eyes flickering away. “Like love.”

  The words came haltingly, and Damon knew how difficult it had been for her to speak them aloud. He knew she didn’t expect him to reciprocate. He couldn’t, though he understood the miracle they represented.

  He had once told her that love was a word Darketans had no use for. She had acknowledged that there was a Zone of difference between caring and love.

  Both statements were true. But he no longer knew where to draw the line.

  “I think I can help you,” Alexia continued through his silence. “I think that by staying with you when it happens, I can find a way to help you use it instead of letting it use you.”

  Damon shook his head. “Alexia—”

  She pressed her finger against his lips. He knew defeat when he met it. He grabbed her wrist and kissed her, pulling her body hard against his. She melted into him as if she, too, were trying to merge with him so completely that they could never be parted again.

  But they both knew this was a moment out of time, whatever Alexia had implied about a future together. The one thing she refused to give up was hope, and he would never deny her that comfort.

  Closing his eyes, Damon smelled the scents of approaching twilight. “They will be waiting for us,” he said, letting her go.

  She wiped her tears away with the heel of her palm and nodded.

  Together they found their way to the eastern wall, butted up against the hills. Sharpened spikes rose from the tops of the battlements to discourage potential enemies from approaching from that direction, and there was a very small postern gate set where the wall turned away from the hill.

  Two dozen humans, alerted by their representatives on Theron’s council, had gathered there, a few with rifles and others with packs, moving restlessly as Hera spoke to Emma and Cullen. Sergius was there as well, still wearing a cowl and gloves but dressed in clothing more practical for travel in the bush. He avoided Damon’s gaze and passed through the gate first.

  Damon hesitated, torn between the desire to follow the Opir and his implied promise to remain with Alexia and the humans. If he left, he’d have to tell Alexia of his concerns, and that would help nothing. All he could do was wait. And watch.

  Hera, dressed much like Sergius, nodded to Damon and Alexia and followed him, taking point. Half the humans followed her, Alexia went next, and the second half trooped behind her with Damon taking up the rear.

  The caves in question were less than a kilometer away, but no one in the group let his or her guard down for an instant. Damon walked in a zigzag pattern to cover the most ground as he kept watch. Once Hera called a halt to listen to the rustle of something large moving in the bushes, but it turned out to be a brown bear, which reared up on its hind legs to watch them pass. The sun sank below the horizon, and a jay scolded in the pine branches as they walked beneath.

  “Nothing,” Alexia whispered, falling back to join Damon. “Either the strike force hasn’t arrived yet, or they’re watching before they make their move.”

  And even if they were not yet in the vicinity, Damon thought grimly, Expansionist or perhaps even Council agents might be. If his instincts about Sergius proved wrong, the Opir would eventually return with a report on any movement to the east toward Erebus.

  “You go ahead now,” Damon told Alexia. “Keep the others safe.”

  “You come with me,” she said. “I know I can—”

  “Damon!” Hera cried from somewhere ahead of them.

  All the humans fell flat as they had been instructed, except for Emma and Cullen, who had their own rifles and immediately took up defensive positions. Damon and Alexia joined them, standing back-to-back with their rifles ready.

  They knew in a very short time that they were surrounded.

  Chapter 19

  Hera was first to appear, hands raised, with an Opir in daygear driving her at gunpoint ahead of him. The fact that he wore the suit told Damon that he had anticipated being out in daylight, though dawn was very far away. And by the number of weapons he carried, he expected to fight.

  “It seems we were a little too late,” Alexia whispered as a half dozen other suited Opiri approached from every direction.

  She felt behind her for Damon’s hand, and he squeezed her fingers. They both realized what was likely to happen to them, no matter how hard they fought, but Damon knew that Alexia was thinking of the humans. At best, they would be taken back to Erebus to resume their former lives as serfs. Damon guessed that some, like Emma, would rather be dead.

  They still might be.

  When Sergius strolled out to meet them, his helmet tucked in the crook of his arm, Damon knew how thoroughly he’d failed. He should have acted the moment he had felt those “vague” suspicions about Theron’s former disciple. He should have fully recognized the rebellion in Sergius’s eyes. Resentment, not only against Theron, but against his place in the world.

  He should have killed Sergius at the very beginning.

  “Damon,” the Opir said. “Agent Fox.”

  “Sergius
,” Damon said, his voice eerily calm. “How long have you had this planned?”

  “Not long.” Sergius smiled, though without the mockery Damon would have expected. “It just happens that the opportunity has come to act, and delaying would be foolish and unnecessary.” He signaled to his agents, who closed their circle around the humans. Hera’s captor shoved her close to Damon and Alexia.

  “Put down your weapons and no one need be hurt,” Sergius said. He dropped his helmet into the grass at his feet and casually brought his rifle to bear on Alexia. “Do as I tell you, Damon, or I will kill your little friend.”

  “I’m getting a little tired of being called ‘little’ by upstart Freebloods,” Alexia said as she tossed her rifle down and removed her other weapons. “Am I too far off in guessing you knew Lysander?”

  “Not at all, Agent Fox. We were working together, but unfortunately he never made our last rendezvous.” He met Damon’s gaze. “He knew his work was dangerous. Damon, I will not ask you again. Throw down your weapons.”

  He removed his rifle, pistol and knife and tossed them out of reach. Sergius was in a talkative mood in spite of the precarious situation, and Damon intended to take advantage of his bad judgment.

  “We know Lysander was working for the Expansionist Faction,” he said. “Are you?”

  “Not originally. I was recruited to become the party’s agent in the colony after I discovered what Theron’s once-noble philosophy had become.”

  “A double agent, you mean,” Alexia spat.

  “Lysander was my contact. We both, however, determined the Expansionists’ goals were not necessarily our own.”

  “And these others?” she asked.

  “Fellow Freebloods who agree that our kind should no longer rely on any faction in Erebus to grant us what we have earned.” He shrugged. “A pity Lysander didn’t survive. He said he had an opportunity to obtain something that would be highly valuable to us in furthering our plans.”