Day Into Night (The Firsts Book 16)

by C. L. Quinn

  “Well, that’s unnerving. Not one person, and little evidence that anyone actually works there.”

  Sam, showing solidarity with Olivia, nodded and, his handgun near, looked at a wide doorway similar to the type used in airplane hangars. “The building has three stories. Lots to check out, so on to the next.”

  Two stories above

  Villioth grinned at Will, who had surprised him in his massive office that included a dance floor with disco lights and the ubiquitous mirror ball.

  Working behind his desk, Villioth had looked up when the big man entered. “Nice place you got here. I’m going to guess your business is doing very well.”

  “Quite.”

  Now, five minutes later, Will kept ten feet between them, his eyes moving around the room, then back to land on Villioth. “Do you recognize me?”

  Villioth stared, his eyes locked, that smile sly.

  “No. Should I?”

  “Yes, you should. You do. Or maybe it’s the fact that I’m half again larger than I was when you sent your guy to abduct me and finally, kill me.”

  “I truly have no idea what you refer to since you appear to be quite alive. Apparently, you are a sadly confused man. Perhaps I should call the authorities.”

  “You wouldn’t. You know I’m a risk to you, and you’d kill me first. Except that I still know something that you, obviously, would kill to know. So here’s what I think. Since I’m here, you’re already planning to use compulsion to force me to tell you a secret that, and listen to me carefully…”

  Will moved closer, now only three feet from his murderer. “You will never know.”

  That was what it took to force Villioth to reveal himself. First, he laughed, then casually turned to his desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out two whisky glasses.

  Drawing a long breath, Villioth glanced toward Will.

  “Scotch? You might be wise to take it; it will be the last you’ll ever taste.”

  Villioth was playing with him. Fine.

  “Aged? The good shit? Sure.”

  “Please, have a seat.”

  As if in a business meeting, the two men sat, Villioth behind his desk, Will in the fine leather seat in front of it, as he reached for the glass. “Very nice. You have good taste.”

  “Indeed I do. I’ve had a few centuries to develop one.”

  After a pause, Villioth continued. “So, that doesn’t surprise you, that I’m vampire.”

  “Not at all. I know you well. I did some research.”

  “Clever. Of course,” Villioth took a large gulp of his drink. “It won’t help in the end. As you know, I’m faster than you could ever imagine, you really can’t hurt me, and I can force you to do whatever I want you to do.”

  “Ah.”

  Throwing down the remaining contents of his glass, Will crashed it onto the desk top. “Does it surprise you that I’m alive?”

  “No. I assume you were never really on that plane. It would be of interest to me to find out how you managed to bring it down, but I’ll find out in a few moments. And yes, I will know the beautiful Olivia’s secret. Amazing how you can socialize with us, but you humans never really get it, do you? We are superior to you in every way. You are a toy to those of us with vampire blood in our veins. Would you like a refill?”

  “All right.” Will wondered how long they were going to sit here and play nice. “So, God’s Competition. Really? God complex or jealousy of his status?”

  “Neither. Just a healthy admission that, compared with you, with your race, we’re like Gods. Your weak, powerless status puts you in the same category as farm animals.”

  “Wow. Yet you’re feeding a farm animal your best Scotch?”

  “I’m not cruel, and it seems appropriate to provide you something nice before I, how did you phrase it? Kill you again?”

  Setting the glass carefully onto the top of Villioth’s desk, Will leaned forward, his hands clasped loosely, his body relaxed, his demeanor easy. “Before you try.”

  Repeating Will’s moves, Villioth set his glass down, and smiled. “Before I succeed. It’s kind of cute, though, that you think you have any control over what happens now.”

  “It is cute, isn’t it? Try to move.”

  The smile unwavering, Villioth pushed from his seat. Tried to. His smile gone, lips tight, he tried again, but couldn’t budge. Eyes on Will in a hard stare, he scanned the oversized body that looked vampire, but didn’t read vampire. “What the fuck is happening here? You aren’t capable of this.”

  Standing now, no hurry, Will nodded. “And yet, here you are, locked in your chair, and yes, I do know what kills a vampire forever. What was that you called me just a few seconds ago…powerless? See, I did die in that crash, and I wouldn’t give a shit much about that, except that you’re still a threat to people I love, and that is the deal-breaker. You won’t ever touch one of them again. I am not a killer, but I will do what I have to do to protect those you threaten, so someone is going to die today, only it isn’t me.”

  Will moved to the back of the desk where Villioth struggled.

  “I can make you wealthy. You can have anything you want.”

  “I have what I want. Once you’re gone, Olivia and Dani and all my friends are safe. Make your peace, Villioth.”

  Air began to swirl, to whip, in the enclosed space of this office where that couldn’t happen. Realization finally struck him that Will was far more than just human, that he held powers such as he had been seeking from Olivia or Koen.

  “What are you?”

  “I’m the man who is going to remove you from existence. Pure love, good, exists, and so does evil. Evil can be as simple as the act of taking a life because it in some way benefits you. Life, living on this world, is a privilege and an honor, and you have betrayed that honor. The result is that you lose the privilege.”

  Before Will could make another move, he heard voices in the corridor, and the door slammed open. Reaching for his expansive magics, he lifted his hands and cloaked himself from view. Standing near Villioth, ready to end his life, Will watched a huge vampire he did not know enter the room, glance around, and stop on the unmoving Villioth behind his desk. The vampire smiled suddenly, and leaned back out the door.

  “I’ve got the motherfucker!”

  The new vampire came deeper into the room. “You should have stayed down. What happens next is your fault. In Corsica, I wiped you, tried to protect you, but you fucked it up. Now it’s out of my hands.”

  Within moments, two other men walked into the room, both vampire, and right behind them, a fourth man, human. Will’s eyes teared instantly when he saw that Olivia followed behind him. She stayed behind the human man, her eyes locked on Villioth.

  “This is the piece of shit?”

  The pain in her eyes was deep and hurt him to the core of his soul. She missed him and sought vengeance on the man who had caused his death.

  More than anything in his life, he wanted to unveil himself and take her into his arms. The desire, the need was almost too great when he saw fury surge in her eyes and the human man turn to block her from moving toward Villioth.

  “Liv, stop. You don’t want this legacy for Jasper. Let us take care of this. For you, for Jasper.”

  The enormous vampire who first entered the room faced her. “Aye. Olivia, Let us do this. We’ll take care of him so you stay safe and keep your heart and hands clean.”

  He moved near her and whispered to her, his lips close to hers, and Will nearly broke cover to beat the vampire senseless.

  It had been months, though, since he’d been in her life, and it was obvious she had an incredible support system. This wasn’t the time to reveal that the man she had loved was still alive.

  Olivia stared into the Villioth’s eyes. “Make him admit it.”

  Will wasn’t sure she’d go, but she nodded, and left the room with the human man. Whatever the big vampire had had said to her, she’d complied.

  Good, he didn’t want her to have t
he blood of this creep on her hands.

  The vampire moved back to the frozen Villioth.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you asshole?”

  “Koen, please, you need to help me. There’s a man here, he’s done this to me. He has ungodly unnatural talents.”

  “Really? And where is this superman?”

  “When you arrived, he disappeared. But I’m still stuck! Can you release me?”

  “I can. First, you need to help me. I already know the answer, but I promised the lady. You are the one responsible for the abductions in Brazil a few months ago. You want to know what we are?”

  After a long hesitation, Villioth nodded. “Yes, I am the one. Now can you release me?”

  Will realized that this Koen was also a first blood like Olivia. A rival? An old lover? Controlling the piercing jealousy, he dropped his head and stepped back.

  This was not his life anymore, destiny had made it clear. He knew that he would be in a frozen cave in Antarctica by next week. If this man could console her, protect her, love her, he had to stay away and let it be.

  It was the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life.

  “Villioth,” Koen began, “You’ve placed your life in our hands now, because you threatened a first blood. I am going to help you. You want to know what we are? We’re the first vampires to inhabit this world. We’ve been here over 6000 years, and we’ll be here long after you are gone. We are sentries to this planet; protectors of life. Harsh choices have to be made. I hope you have made peace with who you are and how you’ve treated people in your life. Believe me, there are punishments and rewards beyond this life. Good luck with that.”

  Will stayed long enough to ensure the deed had been done. Five minutes later, still frozen, still trading his life for his greed and cruelty, Frederick Villioth left this corporeal form for whatever lay beyond.

  Now that the threat had been neutralized, Will remained hidden, torn between leaving or rushing out to take Olivia in his arms, find a private place, and make love to her until he vanquished all her pain.

  But then he would have to leave her again, and that kind of pain, he could not be responsible for. His future, the path that he was meant to walk, he had no idea where he would go or how long he would be gone. With the level of magics he’d been granted, it may be the rest of his life. How could that be right for her?

  No, for this point in time, he had to follow the designed journey to fulfill the destiny he had apparently been born to. While he’d sought the possibility of that destiny, the reality that he’d actually had one, that it fully encompassed the life he was building, had been unsettling. Waiting for the vampire group to go, he stood in Villioth’s office and wished that he had been free to live the life he had been building, but he knew that his mission was too important to deny.

  ”Off to Antarctica,” he whispered, waiting still. Olivia and her group lingered, but when they finally disappeared out the door to the warehouse, Will was free to move. It hurt too much to stay and hurt too much to go, so he slammed himself into the rental car he’d signed for and headed back outside the city to a small hotel.

  Settled again in his tiny room, he ordered room service, and as he waited for the meal to be delivered, he dialed his fone.

  “Eras, this is Will. You may have been informed that I died, and while it was true, things have changed. For now, though, please don’t tell Cari or anyone else, it needs to remain secret. Thing is, I need the help of a couple of our warriors. I think that you and Burra would be perfect. I wonder if you two would be able to join me in Antarctica? Let me explain.”

  Twelve

  “Holy shit!”

  “You can fucking say that again, Burra.”

  “Holy shit!”

  “Damn, it’s really fucking cold. I think we’re underdressed. Will, did you know this when you called me? This is really our mission?”

  “It really is, Eras. I guess you should have asked more questions before you said yes. Although I admit, I have never been to Antarctica, so I didn’t know what to expect. This is obscenely, freaking un-survivable cold. I don’t think we’re underdressed, I think it isn’t possible to be appropriately dressed.”

  “I’m wearing five layers, I have a thick bear coat, and I’m still freezing my paws off.” Burra, the biggest of the three, a totem with a bear spirit animal, wasn’t kidding when he said he had a bear coat. He spent the first thirty minutes after they left their transport shaking, rubbing his hands up and down his arms to try to create friction, and up and down his cheeks to try to keep them from freezing into chunks and falling off. He didn’t feel as if he accomplished any of those things.

  “How deep do we go, Will?”

  “All I know is that it’s deep. I can lower myself down on a column of air, so that will be easy, but I need an assist from you two to pull off the ascent. As far as sealing the fissure, I don’t know how much that’ll take out of me. I get images, impressions, but not details. Something tells me that the future of this job isn’t looking like a picnic.”

  “Everything we do as earth warriors isn’t a picnic. That’s why we’re here, to fix things that either we’ve done to the world to fuck it up, or natural occurrences that can destroy it too. Per your permission, last night I told Cari about you, with a gag order. She wants to tell Dani. Dani still feels strong guilt over leaving you.”

  “God, yes. Let Cari know to do so immediately. None of this was Dani’s fault, she should have no guilt at all! I guess I should have called her.”

  “It’s okay, I get why you are keeping your survival mum for now. Eventually, though, everyone will have to know.”

  “Likely, but until I know what the universe and Mother Earth require of me, I want Brigitte and Olivia to have peace.”

  “They do. Did you know that Brigitte’s been spending a lot of time with Olivia in Vegas?”

  Olivia and Brigitte had become close? Ah, had they bonded over his loss? Interesting. He hoped they were supporting each other to make the pain less. Suddenly all he wanted was to go to them and wrap them in his arms.

  Screeching sounds brought him back to the moment. Burra had pulled a heavy piece of scaffolding away from the entrance to an ice cave. They’d just crossed a storm-driven blizzard to the brutally cold, but wind-sheltered cavern where a huge fissure had opened up, and according to Will, the building earthquake they were there to stop.

  “Thanks, Burra. Earpieces in? Testing.”

  Seconds later, both Eras and Burra nodded.

  “Communications up.” Eras looked at the long nycor rope that they’d carried. “This won’t even come close to reaching, will it?”

  Lips pursed, Will looked into the crevice that had opened from the fissure below, shaking his head.

  “Not even close. Besides, the heat down there would overwhelm you in minutes, even with your vampire nature.”

  “You’re sure you can survive this? Will, we can call in everybody and give you full earth warrior support.”

  “It won’t help. None of you can survive down there. In addition to the heat, the outgassing, the steam, would be fatal. Please understand, even I could still succumb and die. The earth and her magics have prepared me as much as possible, but if the unstable ground gives away, I won’t make it out. In that case, you guys get back to the transport and get out of here.”

  “We can’t leave you.”

  “If I go, if the ground collapses, there won’t be anything to leave. I’ll just become part of the planet in a very real way. That’s why I didn’t want to let Olivia know I was still alive. I may not remain that way. This is important. If I don’t make it out, don’t ever let her know that I came back. She’ll feel betrayed by the universe, all the pain coming back. I don’t want to be a memory filled with pain and regret.”

  “We understand, don’t we Burra?”

  “Yeah,” the big Bear said. “But don’t die again.”

  “That’s the plan.” With another long sigh, Will looked back into th
e fiery hole. “Okay, my earpiece should survive the conditions, I’ve wrapped magics around it. I’m going in, and when I’ve finished, if I finish, I’ll let you know, and then I need you two to connect with me and help me rise back out.”

  “You’re sure your magic will help us to connect? Neither of us have ever had that skill.”

  “Eras, that’s why I chose you two. Your own connection is strong, and it extends to me. I’ll be able to boost the power and between the three of us, you should be able to help me come back. Like I said, best laid plans.”

  Burra surged forward and wrapped his big mylar-covered hands around Will, gave him a cushioned hug, and stepped back. “Be safe.”

  Nodding agreement, Eras moved up and smacked Will on the arm. “We’ll be waiting.”

  One last moment of hesitation, eyes on his two companions, Will drew a long breath, and jumped.

  He’d already called up the air, and it responded by creating a pillow of support around his body, slowing the descent, controlling the speed so that when Will reached the bottom long minutes later, he landed hard, but with no damage. It took a little work to recover his respiration, but when he had, he stayed down as he scanned the place he’d jumped into based solely on universal guidance.

  As expected, the temperature wasn’t survivable for a human body unless earth magic protected him, and it seemed to be doing so. Magics didn’t stop his body’s reaction to the heat, though, as sweat surged and he found himself panting. When they’d fought to contain the power and explosion of the magma at Yellowstone last year, he had journeyed into the magma chamber spiritually, but this, being here physically, was beyond that, past imagining, suffocating. The intensity of heat, the vibrant electric colors of fire breathed from the core of this world, the sounds that split the steam-filled air…he didn’t have the words to explain. Now, though, he needed to find a way to convince this fissure to calm down, to seal, and stabilize this land.

  An earthquake in this area, along this part of the faultline, would devastate Australia, the United Islands of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, the resulting tsunami possibly striking the Asian continent. Millions would die and the irreplaceable food farms supplied by Australia would be wiped away.