“Blood eclipse,” Ivory repeated, glancing at me. He looked the worst of us all, having lost some weight and muscle tone during his days of captivity. His clothes hung loosely and his skin was sallow. “How’d the vamps know it was going to look like that, anyway?”
“I don’t know. You can’t really tell ahead of time how dark the color’s going to be.”
“Coincidence, then.”
“Prophecy,” I corrected mockingly.
Ivory shook his head. “Right. I can’t imagine how good old Paleface got anyone to fall for that Pater Loony crap.”
“They wanted to believe,” Les said, walking along with his jacket tucked under one arm, the other bare to his shoulder. “They wanted this guy to define their lives. Some people just need someone to tell them what to do. Something to believe in.”
“I didn’t know what was going on when that light came,” I said. “At first I thought it was selenelion.”
“What’s that?”
I explained it quickly and added, “But I also thought the Pater Luna thing was going to happen. Just for a second.”
“I thought we were getting abducted by aliens.”
“Alien space vampires?”
“Something like that.”
“But surely,” Ivory continued insistently, “surely there are other vampires somewhere in the world who didn’t fall for that cult stuff. I mean, it was cultish, wasn’t it? One of those apocalyptic deals. The world’s been ending since it began.”
“That’s what Aleskie said.”
“Maybe some stayed underground,” Les suggested.
“Which means we’ll be killing them later,” Ivory said. He shook his head. “And I thought those days were over.”
“Good thing they’re not. I was starting to worry about unemployment.”
“Ivory,” I said, “I’ve decided you can be Regulus.”
“What?”
“Instead of Arcturus.”
“Uh . . . thanks?”
“I assigned Arcturus to you sarcastically.”
“I’m ‘the bright one of the sword,’” Les boasted.
“I don’t know what you guys are talking about.”
I just smiled ambiguously and turned to Les with a thoughtful expression. “You know, that one-sleeved look is very becoming on you.”
He shot me an amused grin. “Well, Ash, I didn’t want to tell you before, but with those bruises on your face, you look like a bandit.”
Laughing, I took his hand and swung it between us. The sky over the mountains was turning orange and we were almost home.
“So, I see you two got together while I was gone,” Ivory said.
“Oh.” I blushed and Les squeezed my hand. “That’s right.”
“About time.”
“What do you mean, about time?”
“Come on,” my brother laughed. “You’ve been in love with each other for years. It’s just neither of you were ever brave enough to admit it.”
Les and I looked at each other. He turned to Ivory. “You knew how I felt?”
“Uh, yeah. The tension between you two . . . I don’t even want to get into that.”
“You never let on that you knew,” I said.
“I wasn’t going to encourage it! You’re my sister!”
“And you’re my brother.” I smiled and gave him a light punch on the shoulder. “By the way, I never thanked you for the telescope. I love it. Maybe we can take it out to the desert sometime, now that . . . well, you know. Did you see how many stars were visible out there, just to the naked eye?”
“You’re welcome. And no, I didn’t notice. I kind of had other things on my mind.”
We were laughing again by the time we reached the house. Criseyde was asleep on the couch and we didn’t see Aleskie. We knew she was here because she’d hung blankets over the back door, the only window in the room, so she wouldn’t have to spend the day worrying about the sun. It looked as if we were going to have to buy some heavy curtains at some point if she was going to be spending any amount of time here.
When she heard the door, she ran out from the hallway with a tentatively hopeful expression that morphed into joy at the sight of Ivory. She rushed to wrap him in a hug.
“I knew they’d find you.” After hugging Les and I in turn, she shook Criseyde’s shoulder with violent enthusiasm. “They’re back!”
“Back?” Cris repeated groggily. She blinked at the three of us standing in a line before her and her eyes opened wide. “They’re back!”
She jumped off the couch to squeeze me and squeal at me. Les got a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. Stopping in front of Ivory, she pulled herself to her full five foot two and assumed a highly uncharacteristic formality.
“Ivory. So nice to see you.”
Then she grabbed his face between her hands and pulled him in for a noisy, theatrical smack on the lips.
“Criseyde!” Ivory cried, outraged. He moved quickly away from her, his face endearingly red.
“Oh, lighten up,” she laughed. “I’ve had guys beg for less than that. Men have scaled mountains for me. They’ve crossed oceans. They’ve broken the law!”
“Even if any of that were true, I’m not that kind of guy.”
“Don’t we all know that.”
This time I could see Ivory trying to hide a small grin. “Well. Anyway.” He looked around the living room, noticing the holes in the wall and the four chairs in the dining room. “Where the heck is the table? What happened while I was gone? This was from . . . the attack?”
Aleskie made us a pot of coffee and we spent the rest of the morning filling each other in. Ivory was reticent about the days he’d spent in capture and we didn’t press him for details. We told him about the attack on the house, the party, and some of the lengths I’d gone to trying to find him. Surprisingly, he said nothing about my nights spent among vampires, but the furrow of his brow told me he disapproved.
Fatigue soon made our eyes flat and hollow. After a while Ivory went to his room to rest and Les to take a shower. Though I was yawning, I hadn’t eaten since the evening before we’d left for the Market, so I munched on some dry cereal and finished telling Cris and Aleskie about yesterday’s events.
“And the soldiers were so organized,” I gushed between mouthfuls. “They took care of everyone. They meant business.”
“It’s a good thing Aleskie didn’t go with you to help,” Cris said. “They’d have killed her.”
I nodded. “Every vampire who stood in that lakebed is dead. I don’t know what’s going to happen now. Those vampires weren’t the only ones in the world. Maybe the rest will have to go back into hiding.”
“But it was most of the ones in Las Secas who were there, right? So it’s safe here now. Almost.”
“I think so. Why else would they flock here if they didn’t plan on going to meet Pater Luna? I’m sure there are others who already lived here, like Rade, or ones who got made against their will, like Aleskie, or ones who came here for the eclipse but stopped believing, or . . . I don’t know.” I sighed and set the cereal box down. “It seems too convenient that they’d all be gone.”
And they weren’t all gone, of course. There was a tall, black-haired vampire with dead eyes still alive somewhere. Though maybe not for long if he really wanted to die. If he really wanted me to kill him.
“It’s a start,” Aleskie said in a small voice. “I bet you can go out at night without too much fear now.”
“That’s be nice, if only for getting Ivory off my back,” I joked. I pulled up a knee and rested my cheek against it. “Government people are supposed to come and interview us or something, but I don’t know when. I’m not looking forward to that if they’re going to try to kill you.”
Uncomfortably I imagined them shooting her on sight, or dragging her away to some facility like the Market, where they’d perform torturous experiments on her. I knew Ivory would never let that happen, though. I would never let that happen. She was one of u
s now.
“We’ll see what happens when the time comes,” she said.
“We’ll hide you. We’ll smuggle you out in my trunk,” Criseyde promised.
“That trunk thing . . . not a bad idea,” I said.
Aleskie was silent, but her eyes showed us she was grateful.
“You guys . . .” I smiled, but my expression felt fragile. “You . . . well . . . I love you. All right?” Slightly embarrassed at my bared emotions, I stood up without waiting for an answer. “I guess it’s time for me to get cleaned up, too.”
“Hopefully Les saved you some hot water,” Criseyde said with false innocence. “If not, I bet he can help you get it pretty steamy.”
“Oh my god! You’re horrible, you know that?”
“Of course I do.”
There was plenty of hot water and plenty of steam that had nothing to do with Les. Afterwards I got dressed in my room, wondering if he was waiting for me. If he wanted me to come to him or if he’d already fallen asleep. I was tired again too and a nap in his arms sounded like the world’s most perfect thing.
It had to wait, though, because Ivory came knocking on my door. “Hey,” he said. “Got a minute?”
“Sure.” I sat down on the edge of my bed and he stood in the doorway, hands shoved almost boyishly into the pockets of his jeans.
“The government was planning a raid all along, you know.”
“They were?” I said, taken off guard.
“Yeah. It’s just they needed to be able to get a lot of vampires at once, instead of a few at a time. They couldn’t just rush in here without even knowing where the vampires were. Too many humans would have died that way, and not enough vampires.” He shifted with a sigh and leaned one shoulder against the doorframe. “I found all this out by speaking with the National Guard, by the way. I called them after Aleskie told me about that pale guy’s plans. Once they had the location of hundreds of vampires at once, they knew they could take action and human casualties would be at a minimum.”
“And they just took your word for it?”
“They were coming anyway. I just gave them a date and a place.”
“Do-gooder,” I accused through a yawn. My eyes watered.
“I don’t know about that, but thanks.”
“Dad came by,” I said. “He wants us to come see him. Room two-six-two at the Value Suites.”
“Oh . . . Do you want to?”
“Not really. You?”
“No. But maybe we should . . .”
“Ugh. Let’s talk about it later. Sorry I brought it up.”
There was an extended pause, and Ivory met my eyes. “You know . . . I was thinking about some of the things you said earlier. About the times you went out while I was gone.”
I eyed him warily. “I figured you’d have something to say about that eventually. I was surprised when you didn’t attack me about it earlier.”
“I guess I can’t blame you, since that’s about all I’ve been doing for years.” He flashed a brief, self-deprecating smile. “Don’t worry, though—I’m not going to lecture you this time. You don’t have to tell me any details, but I just wanted to say that no matter what you did and no matter who you did it with, I’d have done the same thing for you. I’d have made friends with every vampire in the damn county. I’d have sacrificed myself at every turn, Ash, and I know Les would have, too.”
Suddenly there were tears in my eyes. I blinked them back and smiled. “You’ve always taken care of me, you idiot. You’ve sacrificed yourself for years just by hunting vampires. And not just for me, but for everyone. Nobody could have done more than you.”
He shrugged modestly. “I wanted you to know I don’t hold any of it against you. Not a thing.”
“You forgive me?”
“What’s there to forgive?”
~
It was nearly noon by the time we were all done showering and talking about things we now wanted to put behind us. Ivory was stretched out on the couch because Aleskie had overtaken his bed. Criseyde was in mine, dead to the world. Apparently neither of them had slept the night before while waiting for us.
Les was napping too, but I’d found myself unable to sleep more than twenty minutes. As I busily pored over the depressingly barren cabinets for some kind of lunch, the doorbell rang. Ivory didn’t stir. I answered it expecting uniforms but saw Sarai instead, smiling winningly at me, as if we were long lost friends.
“I heard what happened,” she said in a low voice.
“What do you mean?” I asked carefully. I automatically assumed she’d somehow heard Les and I had gotten together.
She raised her voice to an incredulous pitch. “Didn’t you hear? It’s been all over the news. The government came in and killed a bunch of vampires. It happened last night. They’re still searching for them all over the place, too. I just wanted to make sure you all were okay.”
“Oh. That.” We hadn’t once turned on the news all morning, but it made sense everyone else was hearing about it now.
“Is Les here?”
“Yeah . . .”
He appeared behind me just as I turned to get him. “It’s Sarai,” I said uselessly.
“I’m glad you’re both okay,” she said with genuine feeling. “Is Ivory all right too? And your friend, Asha? I forgot her name.”
“We’re all fine,” Les said. He shot me a quick glance without meeting my eyes. “I’ll be just a minute.”
He stepped outside with her and left the door open a couple inches. In order not to eavesdrop, I moved back into the kitchen. It was the only place in the house for me to go, really, since there were no other empty rooms besides Les’s. And I couldn’t go in there in case he brought Sarai inside. Not that he would.
A sudden thought troubled me, some stupid insecurity that had never even occurred to me until now. I knew he had gone to talk to her after they’d broken up, and now she’d come here for him. What if he still wanted her? He’d never gone back to a girl once he’d dated her, but maybe he would with Sarai because she was both pretty and nice. And now that we had Ivory back, and so many vampires were dead, and the government was involved . . .
Our lives were going to be different. What if, now that the worst was over, he was done with me? The only reason we’d gotten together was because we’d practically been thrown into it. If the worst were over, maybe we’d be over too.
And even if Sarai had nothing to do with it, maybe he wouldn’t want me after I told him what I planned to do tonight.
No matter how idiotic my concerns might have been, I couldn’t seem to get rid of them.
After a few minutes Les met me in the kitchen. He leaned one shoulder against the wall, looking worn and deflated but more untroubled than I’d seen him in years.
“How’d it go?” I asked, turning back to the pantry.
“Fine. She went home.”
I felt incredibly nervous, as if my anxieties had already become the truth. Mouth dry, I tried to choose my words carefully. “I was afraid everything would be different now. With us, I mean.”
“Why would you think that?” His voice behind me was cool and remote. It was the same voice he’d used with me for years—the one, I feared, that tried to tell me he didn’t care about me.
“I don’t know,” I said into the pantry. “We only happened because of all this. And now that it’s over . . . I thought we might be over, too.”
Silence behind me. Oh god. With a lump in my throat, I finally turned to face him. He was looking at the blanket over the back door rather than at me, so he couldn’t even see the anguish on my face. Maybe that was better.
“Les?”
“Is that what you want?” he asked, everything about him tense yet unreadable.
I braced myself for hurt. “No. I don’t want to lose you.”
His translucent green eyes snapped quizzically to mine. “Then why are we even talking about this?”
His words made me sag with immediate relief. “I don’t know!�
� I cried, unable to contain a sudden bubble of laughter. “Because of Sarai, I guess. It was—stupid. I thought since you never stayed with anyone very long . . . And everything you’ve said to me, maybe you’ve said to someone before . . .”
“Never.”
“So we’re all right? This wasn’t just a passing thing for you?”
His expression sober, he came to stand in front of me. He touched my face lightly with the fingers of one hand, then let it fall to his side. “I don’t think vampires are gone by a long shot. It’s not over, no matter what anyone thinks. Maybe it will never be over. But it doesn’t matter, because I’m not going anywhere. This isn’t even close to being a passing thing.”
I flung my arms around him. “You don’t know how good it feels to hear you say that.”
“Yeah, I do. I feel the same, knowing you’re planning to stick around for a while.”
“Sorry I was such an idiot.”
“You weren’t.”
I let a moment of silence pass before I pulled away and looked at him with hesitant eyes. “But . . . there’s something else. I was really afraid you wouldn’t want to be with me anymore because of this. There’s something I have to do. You won’t like it,” I said. “It’s just . . . one last thing. For Rade.”
His face was a little tight, a little indecisive as he considered my words. “No, I don’t like that,” he finally said, “but I won’t ask you not to do it. Not that you’d listen to me anyway.” He attempted a grin.
“It’s really the last thing,” I stressed, trying to let Les know he was so much more important to me than Rade, because I feared he didn’t know. So many times, like right now, I had placed the vampire in a position of importance, making myself look as if my loyalties were divided. But they weren’t. No matter the conflict inside me, they really weren’t.
“You don’t have to tell me,” Les said. “I know what it is.”
“What? How do you know?”
He shrugged. “I know you.”
“Well, I promise I’ll be all right.”
The slow shake of his head and subtle twist of his lips lent him a melancholic expression. “You know you can’t promise something like that, Asha.”
A Dark-Adapted Eye Page 22