The Assassins of Light

by Britney Jackson

  Nina laughed. “It’s weird to see Kara act the way she does with you. At the Tomb of Blood, she was always so tough and scary. With you, she’s different.”

  Rose cast a glance in the direction that Kara had gone. “It’s possible to be tough and gentle,” she said thoughtfully. “The two aren’t mutually exclusive.”

  “I guess that’s true,” Nina said, nodding. “And she’s definitely still scary.”

  Rose stared curiously at the covered windows. “I wonder where we are.”

  “Hey,” Nina said suddenly, leaning forward in her seat. Her long, brown hair fell around her face as she regarded Rose with a solemn frown. “I wanted to tell you: I’m sorry about what happened to your brother. That was so…terrible.”

  Rose looked away, still too heartbroken to talk about it. “Thank you,” she said formally, her throat constricted, “and I’m sorry about your brother, too.”

  “No,” Nina said, shaking her head. “You can’t compare those two. Your brother—well, he must’ve been at least a little good for you to love him as much as you did. My brother was cruel and hateful. The world’s better off without him.”

  Rose regarded the former Assassin of Light with a frown. “Even if he was, he was still your brother. You must have had some good memories of him.”

  Nina tilted her head back and laughed. She had such a sweet and innocent smile, despite her violent upbringing. “My memories of Peter are of him calling me stupid for asking questions about the Assassins of Light. Normal questions like: How do you know that all vampires are evil? Maybe some of them are good. I might as well have asked if two plus two equals seventeen. I have other memories of him calling me a crybaby for behaving like a human being, rather than a brainwashed soldier, like the rest of them. I have memories of him calling me immature and selfish for not wanting to join the Assassins of Light when I came of age—which was just a few weeks before we attacked you guys, by the way. And of course, I have memories of him dragging me back to the house with a knife against my throat when I tried to run away.” Her smile faded, and she shrugged her shoulders. “I have a lot of memories of my brother, but none of them are good.”

  Rose nodded in understanding. “That sounds like a scary upbringing.”

  “Yeah,” Nina agreed, “but I mean, you guys are scary, too. Watching my brother’s head explode under Aaron’s shoe was really scary. And your red eyes…”

  Rose winced. “Yeah. Sorry about that. I can’t really control the thing that happens with my eyes. They kind of…change, whether I want them to or not.”

  “Well, you seem pretty nice when your eyes are blue, anyway,” Nina said.

  Rose laughed. “Yeah. Blue’s my nice color,” she said dryly. She studied the small, dark-haired woman who sat next to her—the word woman being used loosely because she looked no older than eighteen—studying the innocence and geniality in her round, brown eyes. “Why do you think it was so easy for the Assassins of Light to brainwash your brother when they couldn’t brainwash you?”

  Nina shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess my brother wanted to hate people, so it was easy for him to hate vampires. Not to mention, he believed our parents were perfect. He thought they did no wrong. I, on the other hand, knew better.”

  Rose nodded. She understood that. She related to it, even. She’d never turned out like her mother because she’d always been able to see that her mother was far from perfect. She’d never believed that what happened to her as a child was normal. She’d always known that it was wrong, that it was terrible and wrong. “Was there something that opened your eyes, do you think? Like…a time or event that confirmed that your parents—and the Assassins of Light—were not good?”

  Nina didn’t even have to think about it. “My parents let me bring a friend over once. I was so excited because they never let any of my friends come over. They thought all of them were bad influences,” she said, rolling her eyes, “but just this once, they said yes. My friend spent the night at my house, but the next morning, she wasn’t there. My parents told me that she’d fallen ill and died. I never knew why. Until a few years later, when I came across a discarded missing persons poster. You see, my friend got into a lot of trouble. She acted out for attention because it was the only way for her to get any. Her parents died in a car crash when she was a child, and she lived with an uncle who didn’t really want her. She didn’t have anyone who cared enough to search for her, and most people just assumed that she’d run away again. My parents let me bring her to our house that night because they knew that, because they knew no one would miss her.”

  Rose’s eyes widened in shock. “Wait. Are you saying that your family…”

  “Killed her?” Nina interrupted. She nodded. “They poisoned her.”

  “I don’t understand,” Rose breathed. “Why would they do such a thing?”

  “They needed poisoned human blood,” Nina explained, “for research.”

  Rose leaned back in her seat, floored by the realization. “For the bullets.”

  Nina nodded again. “Do you know how many humans they killed, just so that they could create a weapon that would supposedly protect humans? They killed humans to protect humans. Or at least, that’s the excuse they used. I guess, really, they killed humans to kill vampires because they hate vampires that much.”

  “And most of them don’t even know one,” Rose sighed, “do they?”

  “It’s easier to hate someone if you’ve never met them,” Nina said.

  “It’s harder to dehumanize someone once you see how much alike you really are,” Rose agreed. “I couldn’t even hate Alana, really, once I saw her pain.”

  “You mean Kara’s ex-girlfriend?” Nina asked, a short, incredulous laugh escaping her lips. “The one who wanted to destroy the entire human race?”

  Rose smiled. “Well, I didn’t say I liked her. It was just hard to hate her.”

  “If you say so,” Nina muttered. She ran her fingers through her perfectly straight, brown hair. “But then, I suppose Kara must’ve liked her for some reason.”

  “Kara must have liked whom?” Kara asked suddenly. She stepped back into the cabin of the private jet, closing the door to the cockpit behind her, and then, she returned to the seat that she and Rose had slept in during the day. Rather than squeezing in beside Rose again, she perched herself on the arm of the seat.

  “Alana,” Nina said. “There must’ve been some reason you liked her.”

  “Did you ever see her?” Kara said with a wicked smirk. “She was hot.”

  Rose laughed…because of course Kara would give an answer like that.

  Nina raised an eyebrow. “There must have been another reason.”

  “Well, the sex was pretty hot, too,” Kara teased, “but I don’t think you’re old enough for the R-rated details.” She grinned playfully at the young vampire.

  Nina’s mouth dropped open. “I am not a child! I’m legally an adult.”

  Kara exchanged an amused look with Rose. “Speaking of sex,” Kara said, returning her gaze to Nina, “Aaron wanted to see you as soon as you woke up.”

  Nina blushed. She climbed out of her seat and ran her hands over her clothes, straightening the gray sweater and blue jeans that she’d slept in, before heading toward the back of the jet, where a sliding door separated the main part of the cabin from the private area. She opened the door and slid into the room.

  Rose frowned curiously at Kara. “What did sex have to do with that?”

  Kara smirked. “Aaron’s been feeding from Nina lately, which, of course, means they’re having sex, and it embarrasses her that I know,” she explained.

  Rose rolled her eyes. “So, of course, you have to make it worse,” she teased.

  Kara laughed. “Of course,” she said playfully.

  Rose leaned back in the seat, staring up at Kara with a gentle, inquisitive smile. “I know it’s more than what you say. You loved Alana. Not her body.”

  Kara nodded. “She had her moments. She wasn
’t cruel all of the time.”

  “Why do you admit that to me,” Rose asked, “but not to anyone else?”

  “Because no one else would look at me the way you do when I say it,” Kara said. She lifted her hand and traced Rose’s cheek with her finger. “You have so much kindness and understanding in your eyes. It’s how you look at everyone.”

  Rose’s lips quirked up a little bit at the corners. “Oh, I’m almost positive that I don’t look at everyone the way I look at you,” she said, her eyes sparkling.

  Kara grinned wolfishly. “Ah, yeah, there is that incredibly sexy I-want-to-fuck-you look that you give me,” she said, leaning toward Rose. “I love that one.”

  “What? I do not!” Rose stammered. “It’s more of a…I-can’t-stop-staring-at-you-because-you’re-beautiful-and-I’m-embarrassed-that-you-caught-me-staring-at-you look.”

  Kara laughed at the long, complicated name. “Same thing,” she chuckled.

  “It’s totally different!” Rose laughed. She rested her head against the back of the seat and smiled curiously at her. “So…what did the pilot need to tell you?”

  “Oh, he’s not the pilot,” Kara corrected. “He’s just the one who arranged it all.” When Rose gave her a confused look, she explained, “He works for me.”

  Rose nodded in understanding. “He’s one of your spies.”

  “Yes,” Kara said, “which is why I can’t tell you what we talked about.”

  “Aww,” Rose pouted half-heartedly, “was it that serious?”

  Kara laughed, “Nah. It was really just your typical briefing. He explained how we’re getting through the border, where we’re landing, etcetera, etcetera.”

  “How are we getting through the border?” Rose asked. “I just…kind of assumed that most vampires couldn’t get passports. Since we’re, you know, dead.”

  Kara smirked. “You’re with me now, baby. You don’t need a passport.”

  Rose snorted at the cocky remark. “Was that all, then? Just a briefing?”

  Kara’s smile faded. “No,” she said quietly. “There was one more thing.”

  Noticing Kara’s sudden seriousness, Rose straightened. “What is it?”

  Kara braced one hand on the back of the seat and leaned into Rose, until her lips brushed against Rose’s ear. “I’ll tell you later. Too many people around.”

  “Oh,” Rose whispered. She glanced around at the other vampires in the cabin of the plane. About half of them still slept, while the other half were awake. The shift in time zone and geography seemed to confuse their nocturnal instincts.

  Kara hopped off of the seat and opened the storage compartment that set above the covered windows. “We have some time before sunset,” she said as she gathered a mountainous stack of books into her arms. She offered Rose a sly, seductive smile. “I asked them to bring some books for you. If you want to read?”

  Rose clasped her hand over her heart and widened her eyes, in a playful, melodramatic show of emotion. “I think I just fell in love with you all over again.”

  —

  After they deboarded the plane in Northern Canada, they set out on foot, traveling past the outskirts of human civilization, toward the isolated part of the barren tundra that the Village of the Undead called home. With the supernatural speed of vampires and their nocturnal vision, it shouldn’t have taken long…if only they’d known where they were going. As it was, they had no choice but to stop every so often so that Kara could look at the snow—which looked identical to the other hundred miles of snow—and tell them if they were on the right track.

  Kara fell into step beside Rose. “You have that sassy look on your face.”

  Rose laughed at that, “Don’t I always have a sassy look on my face?”

  “Mmm, yes,” Kara teased. “It’s a very sexy look.” She nudged Rose’s shoulder playfully. “What’s wrong? Are you doubting my knowledge of the land?”

  Rose shoved her hands deeper into the pockets of her hoodie, but the fabric wasn’t thick enough to lessen the bite of the cold air. “Not at all,” she said with a sassy smile. “Just your ability to differentiate between snow and…snow.”

  Kara chuckled. “I can’t wait to see your face when I prove you wrong,” she said playfully. Her smile faded as she noticed Rose’s lips trembling, her entire body shivering violently. “Your clothes aren’t suited for this weather, are they?”

  Rose glanced at her, her eyebrows lifting, as she pointedly swept her gaze down Kara’s body, over the soft, leather pants that clung to her lean legs, over the thin, long-sleeved shirt that she wore under a leather jacket. “And yours are?”

  “No, but I’m used to this weather. I spent most of my fourteen hundred years in a climate similar to this,” Kara said as she shrugged off her leather jacket.

  Rose watched her warily. “What are you doing? Put your jacket back on.”

  “You should know better than to tell me what to do, Rose,” Kara said as she circled behind Rose. They fell behind the others as they slowed to a stop. She slid her jacket over Rose’s arms. Her lips brushed the shell of Rose’s ear as she leaned in close and whispered, “I will always do the opposite of what I’m told.”

  Rose smiled. “I know, but Kara, you’ll freeze without your jacket.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Kara said, moving to stand in front of Rose, as she tried to zip up the jacket. The thin jacket didn’t close easily over Rose’s hoodie, but with careful manipulation, the zipper slid up halfway, at least. “It’s not a perfect fit.”

  “We’re not exactly the same size,” Rose said, glancing subconsciously at her own curves, which were ample, in comparison to Kara’s long, muscular body.

  “Sexy. Sexy. Sexy,” Kara said with a flirty smirk. She took a step toward Rose, her boots sinking into the snow. “I’ll say it as many times as I need to.”

  Rose blushed. “I’m just saying…I think the jacket looks better on you.”

  “Only because I look so hot in leather,” Kara said with a cocky smirk.

  Rose rolled her eyes. “I swear, if you get frostbite because of this…”

  “Ooh, I like where this is going,” Kara said, her light blue eyes glistening with excitement—or was that actual ice? “What are you going to do to me, Rose?”

  Rose frowned. “I think I lost control of this conversation somewhere.”

  “Kara!” Aaron called from somewhere on the path ahead of them. “Stop flirting, and get up here! You’re the only one who knows how to find the colony!”

  Kara rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Coming,” she called. As she and Rose resumed walking, she told Rose, “You’ll need warmer clothes while we’re here.”

  “I packed the warmest clothes I have,” Rose said. “I haven’t exactly had time to shop for any new clothes. Not that I’d want to, if I did. I hate shopping.”

  Kara chuckled. “I’ll take care of it. It might take a few days, though.”

  “I’ll be fine. I can handle a little cold,” Rose said indignantly, but then, a particularly brutal gust of wind swept through the area, and Rose added, “maybe.”

  When they caught up with the others, Rose and Kara fell into step beside Isolde and Cassius, who walked at the head of the group. Rose listened as Isolde recounted a story of how she once took down twelve men with two arrows, and it was such a wild, lively story that, within minutes, Isolde had everyone laughing.

  Well, everyone, except for Rose. The story entertained Rose, of course, but whenever she’d find herself laughing at a funny part, a strange feeling would start to prick at the back of her neck. The feeling that someone was watching her.

  Rose spun around, glancing behind her, and instantly made eye-contact with a pair of narrowed, greenish-brown eyes. Isaac walked behind them, and he watched her, his eyes full of hatred. His gaze felt disgusting on her heavily-clothed skin, but she sighed in relief. Because…at least it was just Isaac creeping her out.

  Not someone new.

  Rose felt something rush past her,
suddenly, and acting on pure instinct, she stopped it with her mind, just before it would’ve hit Kara. Everyone in their group stopped, turning to stare at the arrow that hovered in the air, held there by an unseen force. Kara raised an eyebrow at the arrow in front of her face, and then, her piercing, blue gaze shifted toward Rose. A small smile pulled at her lips.

  Elise plucked the arrow out of the air, blinking at its sharpness. “Isolde?”

  “Don’t look at me,” Isolde said. She extended her arm, pointing to their right, where they saw only snow for miles and miles. “It came from that way.”

  Aaron walked toward them, his tennis shoes sinking into the deep snow. “Who shot that arrow?” he asked Rose. “Did you see the person who shot it?”

  Rose shook her head. “No. I didn’t see anything. I just reacted. Sorry.”

  Isaac glanced around, squinting as he tried to see through the white blur of snowfall. “We’re in an arctic wasteland. How the hell is anyone shooting at us?”

  “I don’t see anything,” Tom said. “Whoever it is—they’ve hidden well.”

  Erik squeezed past the other vampires, until he reached Rose. “In that case, I’m sticking close to the woman who can stop arrows with her mind so she can protect me.” He flashed a guilty smile. “Er…I mean, so I can protect her.”

  Rose looked up at him, lifting her eyebrows skeptically.

  “We can’t even track them by scent,” Tom said. “Not in this blizzard.”

  Kara took the arrow from Elise. “It’s Talulah’s archers. It has to be.”

  Elise frowned. “I thought you said Talulah promised to be welcoming.”

  “She did promise to be welcoming,” Kara assured her, “but people lie.”

  “Do you think she plans to attack us?” Aaron asked Kara. “Out here?”

  “I don’t know,” Kara said. “It would be ideal. They know the land. We don’t. But at the same time, a war with us? That’s risky, and Talulah isn’t risky.”

  “Maybe it’s the Assassins of Light,” Isaac suggested. “Maybe they want us to believe it’s Talulah’s colony, so that we’ll attack them and ruin the alliance.”