Death of Night

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Death of Night Page 27

by Krissy Reynolds


  Surprised, Thanes said, "Excuse me?"

  Damien replied through his teeth, "Get. Out."

  Thanes took an unsure step backwards. I saw his eyes focus on Callum, who was still pinning Damien against the wall. "Are you sure, master? You don't want me to stay and help?"

  "Just go join the others, Thanes," Damien snapped, annoyed and tired.

  Thanes stared at his master for a few seconds, then nodded and walked out the door. He shut it firmly behind him, and I heard the sound of the lock click back into place.

  Looking around the room, I realized that it was completely empty. There were no chairs, no tables, nothing. The bareness of it accentuated the colour of the walls and floor. They were both a deep, dark gray. The room was lit by two torches mounted on the left and right walls.

  I turned my attention to the two frozen vampires. My eyes passed over Damien's face and went straight to Callum's. Our eyes met, and neither of us looked away. All the words that had remained unspoken flowed between us. Words weren't necessary. I drew in a deep breath through my mouth and felt my skin warm.

  Damien was the first to speak. "I hope that, soon, you will look at me like that, Ms. Simon," he said quietly.

  I tore my gaze away from Callum to look at Damien. "Don't get your hopes up, Damien," I told him.

  His coal-black eyes turned to Callum, and he muttered, "Let me go. Our conversation is over."

  Callum's hand fell from his chest, and Damien regained his feet. He licked his lips and stepped away from the wall, away from Callum. "Now, Ms. Simon, you shouldn't take that attitude. It will only make things more difficult."

  "Look, Damien," I sighed, trying to reason with him. "Turning me into one of you isn't going to magically change my feelings. I'm still going to hate you."

  "Ah," he smiled. "And here I was hoping it would redeem me in your eyes."

  I smiled back coldly. "No. I think it will, in fact, put a bit of a strain on our relationship."

  "So you admit that we do have a relationship, then," Damien teased lightly.

  "Not a very good one, but yeah," I replied. "It mostly consists of you trying to kill me or someone I care about, and me getting pissed off."

  He threw his head back and laughed. The light emitted from the torches played up the red tones in his long, straight hair. When his laughter subsided, he looked back down at me. His hair slid around his shoulder and fell to the sides of his angular face. "I suppose that's true," he agreed. He walked to the middle of the room, which put him between Callum and I. "But I'm trusting that our bond will strengthen when I sire you."

  I let out an aggravated huff. "Why me, Damien? Why don't you take someone who actually wants to spend forever with you?"

  "There are many reasons, Ms, Simon."

  Squeezing my eyes shut and gesturing with my hands, I said, "I know there's the whole harness-the-Letalis-Flora-power part." I opened my eyes again. "And that you think my blood tastes good—"

  "Oh, it's better than good," he said, lips twisting into an unsettling smile.

  I looked at him blankly.

  He seemed to think for a moment. "You see, Dahlia," he said, my name rolling off of his tongue, "I lost my mate, Masata, about a century ago. I've been mourning her for a hundred years now, but I'm ready now. I'm ready to find someone new. The truth is, once I tasted your blood, I knew that you were that someone. I've been craving the taste of your blood for a century, and never even knew it."

  Though I was afraid, I crossed my arms, and said, "That's really touching, Damien. But I still don't want you to kill me."

  "Don't think of it as death," he murmured. "Think of it as eternal life."

  I shook my head. Damien shifted closer to me, coming about two feet away from me. His hand extended to me and I moved backwards. He followed my movements, a feral look on his face. I kept moving back, not stopping until my back touched the wall next to the door.

  "That's enough, Damien," Callum's voice warned from across the barren room.

  Damien paused mid-movement, then whipped around to look at Callum. "I will not harm her, Mr. Knightley. Not yet."

  "Forgive me if I do not find that reassuring," Callum responded. He was giving off a sharp sense of danger, and I think Damien felt it because his jaw clenched and his fists curled.

  "Fine," Damien sneered at both of us. "I'm leaving. I'll come get you both when it's time." He swept his eyes over to Callum. "I want you to watch me take the life out of her, Mr. Knightley. The look on your face should be worth the unpleasantness of your presence."

  Callum's expression was a mixture of coldness and anger. Damien looked pleased at the effect his words had on him. He walked to the door, pulling a key out of his jacket pocket as he went. Since I was pressed to the wall to the right of the door, he came close enough to touch. As he inserted the key into the keyhole, he turned his head and smiled at me. "We are near, so don't try anything," he said.

  He opened the door and stepped out. I watched as the door swung shut again. The scratch of a key turning filled the room, and then we were left with the hush of silence.

  Chapter 19

  * * *

  Callum's eyes were the brightest things in the room. The fire flickering in the hanging torches didn't even come close to emanating the same brilliance as those eyes did. My heart skipped a beat when they focused on my face, filled with an intensity that ignited something in my chest.

  I found myself walking towards him without realizing I had moved. I knew that if I could just touch him, just be close to him, that I would be safe.

  Time was moving too slowly. Each step in his direction seemed to take minutes, hours. He stayed where he was, watching my movements carefully.

  When I finally reached him, I stopped within inches of him. We stared at each other for a moment, and then he grabbed my arms and pulled me to him. My arms slid around his waist, holding him tightly. He was tall enough that my cheek pressed against the soft material of his black T-shirt. His arms held me close, and I felt his chin rest gently on the top of my head.

  "You're cold," Callum stated softly.

  "It's raining outside," I said quietly.

  He smelled so good, so familiar. My lips curved into a smile and I closed my eyes.

  He took his chin off my head and leaned back to look at my face. He held me with one arm, and used the other to touch the side of my face. My skin was still damp from the rain. "Are you alright?" he murmured.

  I blinked slowly and replied a bit breathily, "Yeah, I'm alright. What about you?"

  "I'm fine, Dahlia."

  He gave a small smile and trailed his fingers down my jaw. I looked up at him, at all that perfection. The shadows from the torches danced across his face, hiding parts of his face, then revealing them again.

  He traced the outline of my lips, making me let out a shaky breath. As his arm moved, I caught a glimpse of something on his forearm. I focused on it, and I could see that it was black blood. Unwrapping my arms from around his waist, I caught the hand that was touching my face. I brought his arm in front of me. There was a deep cut running from the inside of his elbow to his wrist, blood tricking down both sides of his arm. I exhaled sharply. "You're not fine," I said, frowning up at him.

  He pulled his arm out of my hand gently. "I'm fine," he reassured me. "This is just Damien's idea of fun."

  I pushed away from him, breaking away completely. I pointed to the ground near the wall, and said, "Sit."

  Callum gave me a questioning look. I raised my eyebrows. He shook his head and laughed softly, but sat down, his back leaning against the wall. I grabbed a hold of the cotton shirt I was wearing underneath the leather jacket and tugged as hard as I could. The fabric stretched, but nothing happened. I tried again and failed. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I looked down at Callum, who was laughing. Moving so I was standing in front of him, I said, "You do it, Superman."

  "And the point of this is…?" he asked, amused.

  "So I can stop the bleeding
on your arm."

  "It's not going to do much good. I don't want you to ruin your shirt for nothing," he said.

  "I don't care."

  He smiled, dimple showing, shaking his head slightly. He beckoned me with his hand. "Come closer."

  I did, and he grabbed the edge of my shirt. In one smooth move, he ripped the material from the left side to the right. He held up the piece of cloth up to me.

  I took it. "Thanks."

  Sliding down the wall on Callum's left, I sat down. The ground was hard and cold through my jeans. I crossed my legs in front of me and turned so I was facing Callum's side. I took his injured arm and laid it palm-up in my lap. Wiping the wound with the cloth, I was suddenly worried about hurting him more. The slash was deep, open and raw. "Am I hurting you?" I asked, glancing up at his face.

  His sculpted lips were still smiling. "Not at all," he said softly.

  I nodded, then went back to dressing the wound. My fingers became stained with his blood, but I didn't care. I wrapped the cloth around his arm, pulling it tight. While I was busy trying to tie it, I said, "I met a woman named Fyfe."

  "You did?" he said, interested.

  "Yeah. She was the one who brought me up to the house. About halfway here, she stopped me and told me she was going to help us. She said she hated this place, and that she owed you a favour."

  "She does. She's going to help us?" he asked.

  "Uh-huh," I confirmed. "She gave me my gun back and handed me a stake and said she was going to show Liam and the rest of them how to get in."

  Callum exhaled. "That's the best news I've heard tonight."

  "So we can trust her?"

  After a moment, Callum replied, "Yes."

  "Okay," I said, "It may take them awhile to get in, but they're coming. I think stalling would be the best idea right now. There are about eleven of Thanatos' vampires, and five of us. Six if you count Fyfe. Even so, we're still outmanned."

  I finished with his arm and pressed my hand gently over the cloth to see if the blood had started to soak through yet. My hand came away black with blood.

  "Told you it wouldn't help," Callum said lightly.

  I looked at his face and saw that he was watching me. I looked back down at his arm. "Will it heal?"

  "Yes. It will just take awhile." He put two fingers underneath my chin and lifted my face to his. "Don't worry about me, Dahlia."

  "If you get to worry about me, then I get to worry about you, okay?" I argued.

  He rolled his eyes, still managing to look graceful. "Fine." He dropped his hand. "Now, tell me what happened after I left. How is Will?"

  I sucked in a breath, twisting my hands anxiously in my lap. "I don't know," I replied. "Liam and Ophelia came to the apartment and Liam called an ambulance. Then we waited. When we heard sirens, Dario made us leave. Outside the car, Liam killed him."

  Callum tensed. "Ah," he said. "Who knows about this?"

  "All the people on our side do. And so does that vampire Gregory at the guardhouse. But I'm not even sure he believed me."

  He nodded, staring at the opposite side of the room with distant, distracted eyes. He continued staring, so lost in thought, for the next couple of minutes. It was only when I touched his arm that he came out of his reverie.

  "So you don't know anything about Will?" he asked. He laid a hand over my restless ones. His skin was just as cold as mine.

  I shook my head and swallowed. "No. He was still unconscious when I left him."

  "I'm sure he's going to be fine," he assured me. He curled his fingers around mine.

  "Maybe," I said. "But he's going to have so many questions. Questions that I'm not sure I can answer."

  "We'll figure that out later. Right now, we've got ourselves to worry about."

  "Do you have a plan?" I asked.

  He was quiet for a moment, then he said, "I think we're going to have to play it by ear until the others find us."

  I smiled. "Well, that's a better plan than Liam's. You know he comes up with absolutely horrible plans?"

  "Yes," Callum chuckled, "Yes, he does. Why do you think he's a bodyguard and not a leader?"

  Laughing quietly, I looked down at our entwined hands. His completely enveloped mine. With my other hand, I traced a design on the back of his hand. His skin was like white marble, smooth and cool. His fingers tightened around my hand, making me look up at him.

  "Dahlia." That one word held a sea of meaning and a sky of promise.

  His hand drew me closer, bringing me into the circle of his arms. I shifted so I sat between his legs, the back of my head resting on his shoulder. His arms folded loosely around my waist, one of them wrapped in the cloth of my shirt. I bit my lip to keep from smiling.

  Rolling my head to rest my forehead on his neck, I murmured, "Hey, Callum?"

  "Hmm?"

  "If things don't go as planned…if I do die," I said gently, "Can you make sure I don't stay here, with Damien and Thanatos? Could you maybe make me one of your…uh… people?"

  Callum tensed to the point where it felt like I was leaning against a block of stone. "I'm not going to answer that, Dahlia," he said. I could feel his voice rumble in his chest.

  "Things go wrong, Callum," I said, raising my head off his chest to take a look at his face. "And I'd much rather have to deal with Liam than Damien. I just want to be sure that I won't be left—"

  "Stop." I saw his eyes squeeze shut and he shook his head. A curl of his black hair fell across one eye. I rolled over so I was sitting on my knees between his legs. He opened his eyes.

  "I'm just accounting for all the possibilities," I said reasonably.

  "I know." He avoided my eyes. "But I am not going to let anything like that happen."

  I sighed and clasped my hands in my lap. "Just make sure you don't do anything that will get you hurt," I said. "Don't put yourself in danger just because of me."

  Those startlingly green eyes traveled across my face in genuine surprise. "I'd put myself in danger a million times over if it would save you, Dahlia."

  Frowning slightly, I looked in his eyes and saw the truth there. This man would do a lot of stupid and dangerous things to make sure I lived. Overwhelmed, I shook my head. I lifted a hand and swept the stray curl away from his eye. I let my finger trace the small scar above his eyebrow.

  Callum raised his uninjured arm up. He cradled my face in his hand, soft and gentle, like I was breakable. My own fingers slid down his face and gripped his shirt. My pulse thudded in my chest, in my head, like I'd just run a mile. I knew he could hear it. His eyes darkened, just enough to be noticeable. But it wasn't frightening this time; it was exciting.

  "I mean it, Dahlia," he whispered. His eyes slid to my mouth.

  "Callum—"

  I didn't get to finish. Callum's hand slipped into my damp hair and pulled my head down to his. His icy lips pressed against mine, and any thoughts I had were chased out of my head.

  It took me a couple of seconds to respond to the kiss. My fingers tightened around his shirt, then released it and traveled upwards into his hair. As we brushed lips, I ran my hands through those soft waves. Though his lips were cold, they sent warm tingles across my skin.

  Callum broke away and rested his forehead against mine. Both of his hands slid down to cup my face, holding it close to his own. My breath was a little ragged, and his was too.

  I thought my heart was about to explode. A tear rolled down my cheek. I didn't know why I was crying. I guess it was all catching up with me. This had to happen at some point. It had been an eventful couple of months, and with someone like Callum showing up in my life like some sort of vampiric perfection of a man, it was all a little overwhelming.

  I untangled my hands from his hair and pulled away. Turning away so he wouldn't see me crying, I wiped the tear away with the back of my hand.

  "Dahlia?" Callum questioned gently.

  I looked back at him, the tear gone. "Yeah?"

  "Why are you crying?"

  Ano
ther tear eased out of the other eye. "I'm not crying," I protested.

  He laughed, and the sound touched me deep inside. He wiped away the other tear. "Yes, you are."

  "I'm sorry," I mumbled. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

  "Nothing's wrong," he answered, "Nothing at all."

  One of his arms snaked around me, pulling me off of my knees. He picked up my legs and laid them across one of his. I nestled my head in the curve of his neck, the rest of my body resting on his. One of his hands smoothed down the length of my face, fingertips soft upon my skin.

  I closed my eyes and the tears stopped. I wiped the remaining wetness off my cheek. Crybaby.

  * * *

  I was dozing, not quite asleep, but not awake. My mind wavered with pale colours and muted sounds. Thoughts were muddled in with dreams, fantasy and reality blending smoothly with each other.

  Vaguely aware of my surroundings, my eyes fluttered open when Callum shifted. I lifted my head off his shoulder and blinked sleepily up at him. He was fully awake, his eyes focused on the door that lay across the room from us. "What's wrong?" I whispered hoarsely.

  "There's someone outside the door," he murmured.

  My eyes widened. I started to move off of him, but he stopped me with a hand on my arm. He narrowed his eyes at the door, concentrating hard. I looked from the spot where he was staring to his face, then back again.

  "I think it's…Liam," Callum said quietly. "And someone else. I'm not sure I recognize them."

  Looking back at him, I asked, "You know all this by scent?"

  He gave me a close-lipped smile. I closed my eyes, shaking my head softly, giving him a small smile of my own. Moving off of him, I pushed myself up. Once I was standing, I whirled to wait for Callum to stand up, but he was gone, already moving towards the door. Of course.

  Standing to the side of the door, Callum waited. Not knowing what to do, I stayed where I was. I folded my arms across my stomach and shifted from foot to foot. The handle of the door jiggled. Both of us stared at it.

  There was a mumbling of voices outside the door, arguing. I met Callum's eyes across the room. He surprised me by smiling. I heard a key being inserted into the lock. The door swung open quickly, and Callum caught it before it could hit the wall. His body was blocking my view of the people outside.

 

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