Protector of Midnight

by Debbie Cassidy

  “The electricity bill for this district must be huge.” Where the heck had that come from?

  Ryker chuckled. “I guess it balances out with Sunset not needing it as much.”

  True. Hang on, he hadn’t actually told me where we were headed. “Where is Jesse? Which sector?”

  His lips tightened. “Sector one.”

  My stomach dropped. “No...”

  He kept his eyes on the road. “It will be fine. We’ll find her and everything will be all right.”

  Sector one was a mess. The scourge had hit it hard and Jesse had been there. She’d been in the midst of chaos and I hadn’t known.

  My knee began to jiggle with anxiety. “Can we drive faster?”

  Ryker stepped on the gas and we pulled up outside a neat little bungalow, or it would have been neat if the windows hadn’t been smashed to bits. The garden had been torn up and the bins lay on the pavement, spilling debris. A scream caught in my throat.

  “Don’t,” Ryker said. “You don’t know for sure.” He unlocked his door. “Stay here. I’ll take a look around.”

  Sod that. If she was in there...hurt...dead...I needed to know, to see. I climbed out and jogged to catch up to him. He tried the door which swung in easily, probably because it was hanging off its hinges.

  My throat tight, my lungs frozen I followed him into the dark interior. My gut told me there was no way she’d survived this total decimation but my heart screamed that she was still alive.

  We searched the whole house. No blood, no body. That was good news, right? Don’t think about the fact that she could have run, been chased, and died elsewhere. She could have been dragged through the streets like the twins’ mother.

  Where the heck was she?

  “The house is clear,” Ryker said. “Let’s canvas the area. Talk to some neighbors.”

  I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

  We were headed toward the stairs when the crunch of glass being crushed underfoot filtered up the steps. A strangled sob followed. Ryker froze and turned to look at me. Could it be? I walked slowly to the top of the stairs, not daring to hope. A woman stood in the entrance way, her hand covering her mouth, eyes bright with tears.

  Oh, God.

  I climbed down a step and she glanced up. Our eyes locked and then she was rushing up the steps, and I was rushing down. We met in a tangle, in a frenzy of tears and hugs.

  I squeezed her tight. She yelped and I smoothed back her hair. “Sorry, I just... You’re okay.”

  She pulled back. “I couldn’t find you.”

  “You shouldn’t have come. You have to go back.”

  She jerked out of my grasp. “I am not going back.”

  I stared at her defiant face. That familiar expression that told me there was no point arguing, and for anything else I’d have backed down, but this was life and death. I grabbed her hand and tugged her the rest of the way down the stairs.

  “Look!” I pointed at the carnage. “Look at this. This shit happens every month. If you’d been here, you’d be dead. Do you understand?”

  She tried to pull her hand from my grasp, but I held firm. “You could have died.”

  “I was fine. I stayed in a friend’s basement. He says he’ll save a spot for me next month too. If you can handle it, so can I. I want to be with you. I need to be with you.” She stopped trying to pull her hand free and moved in for a hug.

  My arm came up to embrace her on instinct, but I forced myself to stop. She could have died, and every day she stayed was another day she was in danger. My eyes burned with the knowledge of what I was about to do. I grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her away from me, allowing my fingers to dig in and bruise. “I can handle being here because I’m not human. I’m not weak and breakable like you.”

  She winced. “Serenity, you’re hurting me.”

  “Yes, I am.” I injected as much derision into my tone as I could muster. “I’m hurting you because I’m not human. I’m a fucking energy sucking neph. Do you want to know how many times I wanted to feed off you? How many times the hunger almost got the better of me?”

  Her eyes were wide as she scanned my face.

  “Too many times.” I spat the words out in disgust. “I had to pretend every day to be something I wasn’t, and I hated it. But now, when I can finally be free, when I can be the monster I am, you show up here to fucking ruin it.” I shoved her away. “There is no place here for you. I don’t want you here. Do you understand me?”

  The horror and hurt on her face and the tremble of her bottom lip almost undid me, but she could have died. I held fast to the anger, the fake derision I’d dredged up and folded my arms. “Get the fuck out of Midnight, Jesse. You’re not welcome here.”

  She spun on her heel and ran out the door.

  “Serenity?” Ryker placed a hand on my shoulder. “Are you sure about this?”

  His face blurred in my vision. “Can you please...” I jerked my head toward the exit.

  He nodded curtly and followed Jesse outside.

  I strode back upstairs, locked myself in the back room and cried.

  ***

  We were seated at the kitchen table, pot of tea on hand and some shortbread to take off the edge—although, I wasn’t feeling the buttery goodness today. I nursed my cup of tea, warming my hands against the porcelain. How’d I gone a whole day without caving and going to see Jesse?

  “What you did was incredibly selfless,” Ryker said.

  “No, it wasn’t. It was completely selfish. Having her here would mean worrying about her every single second. I need her to be safe or I won’t be able to function.”

  Ryker picked at his noodles. “You could have arranged for her to have sanctuary every month. We could have found her accommodation in a better part of the district, checked up on her regularly. We’d all have chipped in. The Protectorate is your family now, and Jesse is your sister which makes her our responsibility too.”

  “And what kind of life will she have here? Living in fear of the next breed or scourge attack? Living in darkness without the touch of the sun? No. She’s better off in Sunset.”

  “Well, I’ve lodged the request with the immigration department. She came here voluntarily so I’m sure they’ll allow her to return.”

  “How soon will we know?”

  “A couple of days at the most. Meanwhile, she’s staying with her teacher friend in sector three. Did you know she was working at the Griffon primary school in sector two?”

  “She has a job?”

  He nodded, lips turned down. “She seems to have got her shit in order.”

  My lips curled in a small smile. “Yeah, that’s Jesse. Always one with the plans. You know she’s an amazing cook, right?” I laughed. “Oh and she tells the most awful jokes, like super corny, and then she laughs at her own puns.”

  Ryker’s lips twitched. “You know, you can change your mind and tell her the truth. Tell her you love her and want her to stay. We can keep her safe.”

  The temptation was a warm tug at the back of my mind. To have her close by, to be able to see her all the time, speak to her, have dinner with her. I’d give anything for those things, but she deserved better than Midnight. She deserved Sunset.

  “Thanks, but I’m good.”

  Ryker picked up his empty plate and walked over to the sink. “Go find Drayton. Maybe the warrant came in?”

  I nodded and drained my cup.

  “Leave it. I’ll wash up.”

  He was trying to distract me, and boy was I grateful. My seat scraped across the stone floor. He held his hand out for the cup, a gentle smile on his face, and something inside me melted, propelling me into his arms. I pressed the side of my face to his chest and hugged him tight.

  “Thank you. Thank you for being here for me.”

  After a second his arms closed around me and he rested his chin on my head. “Anytime, Serenity. Anytime.”

  “Ahem.”

  Ryker tensed and then released me abruptly.
I turned to see Drayton standing in the doorway.

  I offered him a smile. “I was just about to come find you.”

  “Ahuh. Why don’t you go check on the computer and see if that warrant came back yet? I’ll join you in a sec.”

  Why did he look so strained? “Sure.” I brushed past him, inhaling his familiar core tightening scent, and walked part way up the stairs, but damn, curiosity had me stalling and tiptoeing back down, far enough so I could hear their voices clearly.

  “You need to tell her. Now,” Drayton said.

  “I don’t need to do anything. It’s not like that between us,” Ryker said.

  “Maybe not for you,” Drayton said.

  “She doesn’t look at me like that,” Ryker insisted, but his voice sounded strained.

  “Really? You both looked mighty cozy a second ago. Trust me, Ryker, I know a few things about the opposite sex and they always fall for the guy who can be there for them, and you’re turning into that guy for her.”

  “Your jealousy is making you crazy.”

  “I’m not jealous, I’m just...I don’t want her to get hurt.”

  “Maybe you should have thought of that before you started to cozy up to her in the first place. You know what you are. You know your limitations. If anyone is likely to hurt her, it’s you.”

  “Fuck you, Ryker. Just tell her the truth and nip things in the bud.”

  “No.”

  “Why the fuck not?”

  “Same reason you haven’t told her about Viola, because it fucking hurts, that’s why.”

  There was a long beat of silence.

  “I’m sorry,” Drayton said.

  “Yeah, so am I.”

  I backed away from the doorway and ran lightly up the stairs to the upper floor. Drayton thought I had the hots for Ryker and he was jealous, which meant that Cassie had been right that Drayton had feelings for me. There was no ignoring the fact that he liked me more than he should, and there was no getting away from the fact that nothing could ever come from it. The last thing I wanted to do was cause friction in the work place. The Protectorate functioned well because everyone got on, and could rely on each other to have each other’s backs. I’d need to find a way to fix this, and soon.

  Cassie was in the study pinning something to the corkboard.

  “Rota,” she said. “And you’re on it. You’re with me tonight.”

  My stomach fluttered in excitement. My first official patrol. “What area are we patrolling?”

  “Up by the human hospital.” She stepped away from the board, her face crinkling in concern. “I heard about your sister. You made the right call.”

  “Yeah, I know I did. Still sucks though.”

  She sighed. “I’ll see you later, Harker. And maybe we can grab a quick drink after shift?”

  “Wait, can you log me into the computer? Drayton asked me to check if the warrant has come back from District council.”

  “Sure.” She parked her butt in the swivel seat and tapped away at the keyboard.

  The phone rang shrilly.

  “Can you get that?” she asked.

  I picked up the receiver on the third ring. “Hello, Um, Protectorate here.”

  Cassie snorted.

  “Yeah, I know who you are. This is the MED. We have another missing person’s situation, Several in fact. The Griffon school bus was on a field trip to the beach. The bus was found abandoned two miles off course near The Deep. Fifteen children and two teachers are missing.”

  My scalp prickled. “The Griffon school?”

  “Yes, you took on the damned case so get off your arses and find these kids, and while you’re at it you can find the other people in the files we sent you too.”

  “The teachers? What are their names?”

  Cassie slammed her hand down on the desk making me jump. “Sorry. Spider.”

  The rustle of paper drifted down the phone line. “Michael Walden and Jesse Harker.”

  Oh, God. My hand tightened around the handset. “How long have they been missing?”

  “They were due back at the school by lunch time. They never made it.”

  I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost two p.m. “Thank you. We’re on it.” I slammed the receiver down, my pulse fluttering in my throat in panic.

  “Harker, what the hell was that?”

  “Twenty missing kids and two teachers. Cassie, my sister is missing.”

  ***

  This was our case, Drayton’s and mine, and Bane gave the go ahead to investigate with strict instructions to call for back up if needed.

  It no longer looked like our missing persons case was connected to the Sanguinata. According to Bane, the Sanguinata weren’t interested in children. They needed mature adult blood to sustain themselves. If they had been kidnapping humans for some nefarious plan like a secret blood bank, then children would be useless to them. It still left us with the case of the illegal recruitment, but even though the warrant had come through, this development trumped a visit to the House of Vitae.

  Thank goodness, because if they’d insisted on acting on the warrant first, I’d have told them where to shove it. Kids were in danger. My sister was in danger. That trumped everything.

  We parked the van on the road leading down to The Deep.

  “Looks like the MED is gathering evidence,” Drayton said. He twisted in his seat to scan the back of the van and the faces of our squad for this mission, Gary and a shy guy called Carl. “Spread out and look for clues, anything suspicious.”

  “You got it, boss,” Gary said.

  “We jumped out and headed down the track toward the sand. Gary and Carl leapt out behind us and split up to look for clues.

  Lights had been set up around the perimeter, and the yellow school bus sat in the center. Two humans—MED officers no doubt—strode over.

  “What have you got?” Drayton asked.

  The older of the two humans flipped open his notepad. “The bus is clean of any evidence of violence, no blood. There are a bunch of footprints leading around the side of The Deep, just beyond that bank and then they just vanish.” He pointed to a rise bathed in moonlight, either side in shadow. The club lay out of sight beyond it.

  “Wait, we found our Jane Doe on the opposite side of the bank, remember? Half buried in the sand.” My head was whirring and an awful terrifying conclusion bloomed in my mind. Oh, God. Oh, fuck. “Drayton I think they’re in the earth,”

  Drayton cocked his head. “What are you talking about?”

  The MED officers exchanged confused glances.

  “The Jane Doe was found partially buried. On the night of the scourge run, I followed the tracks that a ripper left when dragging a woman away from her home. They ended at a mound of earth. It looked freshly turned. And now this. The tracks end at the bank.”

  “Serenity, I get what you’re saying but what could possibly have dragged them underground. There are no creatures like that in Arcadia.”

  “But you said new creatures were showing up, remember? You said you didn’t know how. Maybe this is something new.” Yeah I was clutching at straws, but my gut was screaming that I was right.

  “Humans cannot survive in the earth,” the MED officer said patiently. “We need to breath.”

  The older guy rolled his eyes. “Nephs need to breath too, you idiot.”

  “Not all of them.”

  They thought I was crazy. “I need a spade. Get me a spade!”

  “Serenity,” Drayton said. “I get it. You’re worried about your sister but—”

  “Get. Me. A. Spade.” I glared at him.

  He held up his hands and retreated to the van returning a moment later with a spade and squad in tow. I grabbed the tool and jogged toward the bank. Locating the spot easily using the yellow cones the MED had set up, I began to dig. The other joined me, watching but not helping. Fuck them. It was here, the entrance to whatever. I could feel it like a tingle under my skin.

  “This is ridiculous,”
the MED officers said in unison.

  I continued to dig in the spot where the tracks ended. The earthy sand came away easily, almost too easily, as if it had been recently moved. I was right. I had to be.

  The squad stood a little way off, whispering among themselves about the new Protectorate who was acting all crazy. Drayton had planted himself behind me, his shadow a comforting presence at my back.

  And then his phone rang. “It’s Tristan.” He took the call. “Yes. You have?... What?... You’re sure?...How? Okay, thank you.”

  I paused in my manic digging and looked over my shoulder at him “What did he say?”

  Drayton’s chest was rising and falling rapidly as if under the influence of some terrible revelation. “Tristan succeeded in identifying the toxin. It’s not a toxin. It’s venom. Spider venom.” He licked his lips. “Similar to the kind produced by the black widow.” He glanced at the squad. “Everybody fucking dig.”

  The squad began clawing at the sand.

  Spiders? I stared at the bank. “No, it would take shed loads of venom to have incapacitated her like that. Not to mention there were no wounds, no bites on her.”

  Drayton shook his head. “I think you’re right, we’re dealing with something new here.”

  The hole I’d dug was getting deep. I plunged the shovel in one more time and the world gave way beneath me.

  Chapter 27

  “Harker? Harker? You all right?” Drayton called.

  I sat up, groaning as my back pinged with pain. Shit, I’d landed hard. And where the heck was I? It was dark and musty but dry. I lifted my chin to the moonlight filtering in through the hole I’d just fallen through. The hole was at the end of a slanted chute at least two meters above me, and I was in some kind of tunnel. Could I stand? How high was this thing? I pulled myself up, bracing myself against the earth. This far down it was all hard packed earth. Something had built this tunnel.

  “Harker?”

  I stepped into the chute. “I’m here. I’m all right. Drayton, you need to get down here.”