Dark Seeker

by Taryn Browning

  Janie stood up. Kai landed in front of her, blocking her path. She stumbled back. “Stop doing that,” she said. “Just because you’re fast doesn’t mean you can jump in front of unsuspecting people.”

  “Don’t leave,” he said. She couldn’t read his straight face. He stood so close, unnervingly close, his eyes locked on hers.

  “Look, its fine. I’m not mad. I know the limits of our relationship. I didn’t expect us to become friends.” She moved her gaze to the dark hardwood floor, afraid to meet his intense green eyes. There was something different about the way he regarded her. She wasn’t the most intuitive when it came to the opposite sex, let alone the opposite species, but something had changed.

  “Friends—” His words seemed to trickle down her skin, causing goose bumps to form along her arms. Her heart raced. She swore she heard his heart beat just as fast. “So that’s where this is going, friends?”

  She lifted her head. “I know it’s never happened before. A Daychild and a Seeker not trying to kill each other, but I’d say we’ve already broken most of the rules.”

  “Most,” he agreed. He seemed satisfied, an underlying sadness in his tone.

  Her breathing quivered. “So, then, it’s settled. We’re friends.”

  Kai’s focus fell to her mouth, his gaze emitting a longing she couldn’t begin to understand. He hesitated. “My heart beats because I’m partly human.”

  CHAPTER 8

  “What?” Janie stepped back from Kai. Her mouth fell open. She quickly closed it. A police siren blared outside his house, first faint, then so loud it could have passed through the kitchen. It faded, leaving the room filled with uncomfortable silence.

  “I’m part-human,” Kai said again. “You asked me why my heart beats.” He fidgeted with the edge of his T-shirt. “You asked. I’m answering your question!”

  “I remember,” she said softly in an attempt to calm him down. “You said we’d never be close enough for you to tell me.”

  “I’m telling you now,” he snapped. He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

  Janie let it go. He’d already said so much. She didn’t want to push him. “And your scars?” she asked.

  “Human.” He traced the scars on his forearm with his forefinger. “When I stopped being a monster and was granted the capacity to feel again.”

  “And your blood?” she said.

  “Red.”

  They stood in place, staring at each other. Her cell phone rang. Startled back to reality, she pulled it out of her pocket. “It’s my mom. I’m sorry. I’ve got to answer it. She’s going to be so pissed that I went into the city.”

  Kai stepped away from her and headed into the living room without another word.

  The ride home was silent. Neither seemed to know what to say. Kai parked in front of Janie’s house. She climbed off his bike, still stunned by his confession. Janie removed the helmet from her head and tousled her matted hair with her fingers. “I never thanked you.” She handed him the helmet.

  “For what?” He placed it on the back of his bike.

  “Following me to the lair.” She smiled.

  He gripped the handlebars tightly. “I didn’t follow you.”

  Her brows rose. She didn’t believe him.

  “Okay, fine. I followed you,” he said. “But only because I knew you’d go looking for trouble. You’re reckless. You have a habit of jumping in over your head.”

  “True,” she agreed.

  He reached into a hidden compartment, retrieved her dagger and handed it to her. “You might need this.”

  She placed it in her boot. “So, I’ll see you later?” He didn’t say anything. She ran her fingers along the edge of his bike. The black and chrome shone under a single lamp post. “It’s been interesting.” Janie pushed her hands into the sweatshirt’s pockets. It was cold, but that wasn’t the reason she shivered.

  “Janie—with you, life is always interesting,” he said. “I never know what you’re going to do next.” He balanced on his bike and drifted backward. He smiled. “You keep me on my toes, Janie Grey.” The bike’s engine roared to life. “Later.” He nodded and took off in a flash.

  Janie sat with her back against the sofa cushion, clutching a throw pillow in her arms. Isabelle glared at her. She couldn’t seem to do anything right lately. “Does it really matter why Kai was with me at the lair tonight? If you’d just listen to me instead of yelling at me, I could tell you what we learned,” Janie said.

  Isabelle paced the living room. Abram sat in the armchair wearing his usual attire, a tan suit. With his hands clasped together, he tapped one brown dress shoe on the floor. Creases lined his forehead. He refused to look at her.

  “I see we’re getting nowhere with this conversation,” Isabelle said. “It’s now midnight. I can’t discuss him anymore. Just tell us what you learned tonight.” She marched back and forth. Her hair flopped around on top of her head. Dark circles framed her eyes and her face was gaunt.

  “Finally we can discuss something of meaning.” Janie huffed. “Apparently, Daychildren are killing vampires, and the vampires aren’t happy about it.” She played with the fringe along the edge of the pillow, focusing on the small pieces of string and not her angry mother’s stare. Her face flushed. They trusted her to do her job, but didn’t trust her to follow her instincts—about fighting, or Kai.

  “What would be the purpose of killing vampires?” Isabelle said, slicing through Janie’s thoughts.

  Unusually silent, Abram spoke for the first time since they started the conversation. Her father figure since her father’s death, he wasn’t usually so passive. When she was seven and wanted to play in the street, he’d swept her off the ground and moved her to the grass, lecturing her about getting hit by a car. In junior high, the beginning of Seeker training, she wanted to go out on her own and test out a new kick she’d learned. Isabelle caught her climbing out of her second-floor bedroom window, so Abram refused to train her for a week.

  He’d taught her everything she knew about Seeking. He had taught her every lesson she had learned. Only none of the lessons seemed to apply to Kai. He was the exception to every rule. It frustrated her that everything she’d learned about the “undead” wasn’t necessarily true; there were gray areas. It also frustrated her that she was relieved Kai wasn’t like the rest of them. She enjoyed having him around. He definitely made life interesting. And as much as she tried to deny her feelings, they were there.

  “According to the Chapter, Daychildren need a vampire’s pure venom to create their own,” Abram said. “Their venom isn’t pure enough since they’re half-breeds. That’s why they’re killing vampires. They need the venom from their fangs.” He kept tapping his shoe on the floor. “They need something else as well, something from the demonic world. We aren’t sure what it is yet. Leo is looking into it.”

  Isabelle twisted her ponytail around her fingers. “So you’re saying Daychildren need vampires in order to create more of their own kind, but the vampire community isn’t willing to just hand them their venom.” She finally stopped pacing and took a seat at the coffee table.

  Janie held up her hand. “Don’t get mad at me for using his name again, but Kai said the vamps have had to clean up after the Daychildren because they are wild and uncontrollable. The vampires are trying to blend into human society, even become accepted, but they can’t while Daychildren are killing everyone they come across.” She looked over to Abram, who looked distracted, and continued. “Abram’s right. It seems as though Daychildren are killing vampires in order to obtain their pure venom. The vamp gang leader told the lair leader to stop killing vamps. There is a definite turf war going on. The gangs don’t see eye to eye.”

  “Although I despise the source,” Abram said through gritted teeth. “He’s right, Isabelle. The vampires we used to kill are changing, evolving in some way, and Daychildren are the new babies, a youthful demonic species who only live to kill. They have no intention of blending into the human world
. It’s not like when we were Seeking. There were few of them then. Now that they don’t need actual demons, their race is multiplying quickly.”

  “Antony threatened Jerome with a name—Tavares,” Janie said. She turned to Abram. “Do you know who he is?”

  Abram met her stare. She could see the disappointment in his eyes. It stung. “Unfortunately.” He stroked his brow with his fingertips. “The Chapter wasn’t aware he was still in charge. He’s been quiet for years. He was the vampire king when your mother and I were active Seekers; the leader of the head vampires, or den leaders, as they call themselves.” Abram’s fingertips lowered to his eyes. He rubbed them in silence. The stress of the recent events had clearly gotten to him, although Janie still felt it was something more. “He’s pure evil. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s behind all of this,” he continued. “There were rumors that Tavares was relieved of his throne, but who knows. The vampire community isn’t exactly predictable.”

  Janie leaned forward. “What can I do? I can’t just sit around and let Antony get away with this. The missing teenager from Towson High—” Janie turned to her mother. “Remember the student we saw on the news? I saw him tonight. They Turned him.” She raised her shirt to expose the bruise on her ribcage. “He did this to me. Antony is targeting high school kids. That’s why they showed up at the bonfire. They Turned one of Matt’s friends, too, a wrestler. Unfortunately, Kai and I had to kill him. I’ve got to do something to stop this. I refuse to let Antony get away with this.”

  Abram lurched forward. Hate fumed from his blue eyes, making them appear an ashen gray. “Janie Marissa Grey—never speak his name again. You heard your mother. You are not to see him again!”

  “Abram—” Isabelle gasped.

  He stood, smoothed his dress pants and took in a few meditative breaths. “I’ve got to report to the Chapter. See if Leo’s found out anything. I’ll come by tomorrow,” he said more calmly. Abram kissed Isabelle on the forehead. He glanced over at Janie, disappointment on his brow. “Stay away from the city. There is nothing you can do right now. Wait for my instructions. And for God’s sake, stay away from him.”

  After Abram left, Janie excused herself from the living room. She stomped up the steps to her room and threw her bedroom door open, striking Kai. He blocked the door with his forearm.

  “Ah!” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “What are you doing here? You scared me.” She hurried into her room and closed the door behind her.

  “You’re a Seeker, you don’t get scared,” he said. He walked farther into her bedroom and pivoted around on one foot to face her. “I don’t understand you. You’ll go into the city and knock on the door of a known Daychild lair the night after you were poisoned by a demon splint, but you freak out when I show up in your room.”

  She squinted. “Usually when I enter my room I don’t open the door into guys who can run through bedroom walls, or windows, or however you got in here.” Out of breath, she stopped waving her hands in the air. “I don’t usually have to wonder if something undead is creeping around my room, so I’m not on guard.”

  “Undead,” he said with a scowl.

  Janie realized her words had come out sharper than intended. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that. I’m just upset with my Mom and Abram. They’re being so closed-minded.” Janie shook her head and set her stare back on Kai. “Is there a reason you’re here? Did something happen?”

  “You said you’d see me later; it’s later.” He smiled, immediately making Janie forgive him for lurking like a stalker in her bedroom.

  “We must be friends. Otherwise, you wouldn’t hang around so much,” Janie said. She brushed past him.

  “Are we still friends?” He turned in her direction, leaning up against the wall with his hand in his pocket. His blond hair fell into his eyes.

  “Why would you ask me that?” She plopped down on her bed.

  Kai moved his shoulders around uneasily against the wall. “Your conversation downstairs. I was included in over seventy-five percent of it, and most of what was said about me,” he paused, removing his hand from his pocket to raise his finger, “no, let me correct—all of it, wasn’t good.”

  “They don’t know you like I do. All they see is a Daychild. They don’t see your human side.”

  Kai leaned forward, meeting Janie’s eyes. His straight, even features could have been etched from stone. “Have you ever thought that it could be more complicated than that?” he said sharply. “That their hatred for me is ingrained in them? That they could have a good reason for despising me?” He crossed the room and clutched her arms. “Have you?” His voice deepened. She didn’t back down.

  Janie straightened her spine, squaring her shoulders to meet his intensity. “Why would they? They don’t even know you. All they know is what I knew the first time I saw you—you’re a Daychild, but you’re different from the others. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. You’d be dead. I usually kill, then analyze later.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” His smile returned, but a foreboding energy still loomed. He released his grip.

  Janie’s phone rang. Kai rolled his shoulder, settling into an annoyed stance. He focused on the ceiling. “Does it ever stop ringing?”

  She held her phone out. “It’s Matt. I should take this.”

  “Go ahead.” He slid his hand back into his pocket and stared out the window.

  “Hey, you made it home,” she said to Matt.

  “Yeah, sorry I didn’t call you today. I didn’t really know what to say after my behavior this morning.” Kai rolled his eyes, apparently listening in on the conversation with his heightened sense of hearing. He still hadn’t turned to look at her, but she could see the side of his tight jaw.

  “You know it’s one in the morning?” Janie said.

  Janie heard a pause on the other end of the phone. “Did I wake you?” Matt said. “I couldn’t sleep. Albania said it might be a side effect of the poison.”

  Kai had fully turned his back on her. She decided to hurry along the conversation. “No, I’m awake. It’s cool. Well, I’m glad you made it home okay. Try to get some sleep. I’ll see you on Monday.”

  “Hey, Janie,” Matt said, catching her before she hung up. “Would you mind if I came by tomorrow? There’s something I want to ask you in person.”

  Kai spun around and shot Janie another look. He scanned the walls of her room. Not that there was much to look at—a 1980s The Lost Boys movie poster and a sketch of James Dean she’d bought in Manhattan during a Seeker convention.

  She stuttered, “S—sure. I’ll be home most of the day. I’m going over to Ava’s to study for an Algebra test, but other than that I’ll be here.”

  “I’ll come by around noon, if that’s okay?”

  “Yeah, it’s good. See you then. Bye.” She hung up quickly.

  Kai didn’t move from the window. “So he’s coming by to ask you something. Do you know what it is?” he said flatly, eyeing her.

  “How would I know?” She folded her arms in front of her.

  “He’s your boyfriend.”

  “He’s not my boyfriend. Can we please not discuss Matt? You get all weird.”

  “Weird?” He spun around to face her again.

  Janie stood to confront him. “Yes, weird. You look at me in this strange way. I can’t tell what you’re thinking, but I don’t think it’s good.”

  “It’s not your business what I’m thinking.” He took a step closer to her.

  “You get angry with me. Like now.”

  “Can’t you see, Janie, I’m not angry with you. It has nothing to do with anger.” He stared down at the carpet. She crossed the distance and lifted his chin with her finger, forcing him to look at her.

  “Then what does it have to do with?”

  “Your mom’s coming. I’ll be back.” Janie blinked and he disappeared.

  Isabelle knocked on the door. “Janie, can I come in?” Her voice sounded calmer.

  J
anie scrambled onto her bed and grabbed her book from her nightstand, flipping it open to the bookmarked page. She scanned the page. “Come in.”

  The lines across Isabelle’s forehead had smoothed and Janie noticed she’d neatly placed her hair into a loose bun. “I’d like to talk with you without Abram around.”

  “Sure.” Janie crossed her legs and set her book beside her. “Have a seat. But I don’t want to discuss Kai anymore.”

  Isabelle gave her a dubious look. “We’ll see.” She lovingly placed her hand on Janie’s leg. “I’m just worried about you. It’s a mother’s job.”

  Janie sighed. “I don’t get it. There’s a species of vampire out there using high school kids to multiply their demonic race, and you’re concerned about a friend of mine.” She folded her arms in front of her, legs crisscrossed. “It sucks.”

  “Janie, I’ve been where you are. It wasn’t that long ago that I had to deal with the same issues you’re dealing with, but everything isn’t black and white.”

  I’m realizing that.

  “Kai and I are just friends. He’s helping me investigate what’s happening among the undead community. That’s it,” she snapped. She realized her blood pressure had risen to an unhealthy level. She drew in a breath to calm herself.

  “As much as Abram might think it’s possible, I know I can’t keep you from seeing Kai while you’re in the city.” Isabella’s eyes tightened. “This doesn’t mean I condone your relationship.”

  Janie interrupted. “I told you. We don’t have a relationship—we are just friends.”

  Isabelle held up her hand, squelching Janie’s words. “Okay. Your friendship, whatever you are calling it. Just be careful. He’s not like you. As much as he may profess to be, he’s not,” she told Janie, her tone sharp.

  “Fine, Mom, I’ll be careful. Just don’t tell Abram. He seems really angry. I’ve never seen him this way.”

  “He has his reasons. Abram will share them when he’s ready. He doesn’t deal with things the same way you and I do.” Isabelle hung her head. She paused, reluctant to finish her thoughts. After a few moments of silence, she returned to Janie’s eyes, a mirror of her own. “Abram didn’t like your father at first. I suppose he had his own reasons for those feelings as well. But he grew to love your father. They became very close friends.”