Rise of Midnight

by SARA FREITES

  “What happened to you, kid?” Thade asked Blake and slowly neared him. “Your old man get a hold of you with that dagger of his?”

  Blake took a quivering breath and nodded. Thade exhaled loudly as his eyes searched around us.

  “You’re lucky to be alive,” Thade told him. “He evidently meant to kill you. Wait a minute. Your wound, why isn’t it healing? Come here.”

  He knelt and guided Blake’s arm around his shoulder. When he brought the young man to his feet, Terry stepped in to assist.

  “Here, I’ll take you back,” a vampire in our group approached me and held out her long, slender arm.

  I instantly noticed tension on the other vampires’ faces. My eyes followed their anxious stares into the distance. There, the sun teetered just below the horizon. I climbed onto the vampire’s back, and before I could blink, we were on the roofs again. When everyone in the group arrived back at the Nova, the other vampires came out of their coats and headed downstairs. Neil led Thade and Terry, who stood under each of Blake’s arms, into the dining room away from everyone else. But Harper moved into their path like a wolf guarding his territory.

  “Don’t ever stand in my way,” Thade’s voice spiked threateningly.

  “How can you trust him after what he did?” Harper yelled unrestrained. “This is ridiculous! We don’t need him!”

  “Unfortunately, we do,” Thade corrected him.

  “He almost got us all killed when we arrived, and then, he handed off Latresma’s reincarnation like a worthless trinket!” Harper barked, then scowled at Blake. “Because of you, we nearly lost this entire war!”

  Blake looked up at him from under his brow. My skin grew hot.

  “Harper, step away,” Terry advised.

  “He’s a traitor!” Harper yelped. “He’s better off dead!”

  “Harper, shut up!” I snapped.

  “Autumn?” Thade asked calmly. “Grab a glass of blood from the refrigerator, would you? If he’s anything like us, it should help start Blake’s healing process.”

  Wordlessly, I went for the kitchen, but Harper abruptly stood in my way.

  “You ungrateful little human,” he turned his nose up at me. “Don’t ever talk to me like that. You are to show me nothing but absolute respect!”

  “Maybe if you’d show some respect for the people around you instead of being such an asshole, you might get some respect in return,” I said, my voice rising sharply.

  His nostrils flared. “You little bitch!”

  “You’ve been one of those long enough,” I muttered back to Harper as I started around him.

  He snatched up my arm and reeled me into him so fast it made my head spin.

  “Harper!” Thade’s voice boomed.

  “That’s enough!” Terry asserted.

  Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Blake pull his right arm free from Thade. Terry stopped Blake in place and Thade put an arm out to reassure Blake’s restraint. I ripped my arm from Harper’s painful grip.

  “Are you going to let this human talk to me that way?” Harper asked Thade.

  “Harper, please,” Thade groaned, his voice falling calm again. “Go downstairs with the rest of the clan. We have business to attend to that does not involve you right now.”

  Harper held his ground, glowering at Blake and stepped away. He bumped against my shoulder on his way out. I extended my middle finger over my shoulder at him as he walked away. I parted my lips to call him a name, but Thade stopped me.

  “Autumn. A glass of blood, please?”

  He, Terry and Neil began helping Blake to the dining room table.

  “I’m going, I’m going,” I assured Thade on my way to the kitchen. “Who needs enemies when we’ve got Harper walking around here?” I muttered to myself.

  “That shithead’s lucky I’m bleeding to death right now,” I overheard Blake say in the other room. “I’d kick his ass for talking to her like that.”

  “I’d pay to see that,” Terry chuckled.

  “So would I,” Neil added.

  I smiled to myself and went to the refrigerator, all the while listening to the others in the next room.

  “Forgive me. We don’t know much of evnauts, but will you be okay?” Terry’s voice sounded fatherly as he spoke. ”Will your wound heal?”

  “Yes,” Blake answered, his breathing slightly labored. “As soon as I’ve fed.”

  “You must have lost a lot of blood to get to this point—not being able to heal, I mean,”

  Terry probed. “Judging by the amount of blood on your clothes, this wasn’t your only wound, was it?”

  “Yeah, the Lumière Dagger is no joke,” Blake replied through his fangs.

  “Only because you’re part vampire. Listen, Blake,” Thade cut in. “I know what you did, and I’m immensely angered by your actions. But I’m not going to ask you to explain yourself. Thanks to Autumn, I know some of the hell Arlos has put you and your mother through. You guided Autumn back to us safely, and that’s all I’m concerned about for now. Also, I understand your blood is the key to stopping Arlos.”

  “What?” Blake asked, visibly unsure.

  “Once you’ve fed, we’ll help you to a room of your own,” Terry cut in. “We’ll explain once you’re healed up.”

  “I will provide you with something to change into,” Neil piped up.

  I smiled to myself, relieved that the vampires were so hospitable toward Blake. I entered the room and handed Blake a glass of blood. I glanced at Thade, Terry then Neil, and by the time I looked back to Blake, he’d finished the entire glass. As the vampires got up to leave, I watched the large wound in Blake’s stomach heal. I shivered. My eyes were drawn to the bloodstains on his clothes.

  Neil waved Blake over. “Come with me.”

  As we all left the room, I took Blake by the arm to pull him aside. I found myself nervous in his presence, everything he’d told me earlier still whirling around in my head.

  “Thank you for helping me. Are you going to be okay?” I worried.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” he replied in a hushed voice.

  Through the tear in his shirt, I eyed the new scar carved into his stomach.

  “You shouldn’t thank me for anything,” he added.

  My expression hardened. I glared into his brilliant eyes and took his left hand in mine. I grasped his fingers. I could hear the two head-clan leaders and Terry starting up the stairs.

  “Blake, hush. Just—” I began, and my eyes broke from his. They traced the wall behind him on their own, but I forced myself to look back up at him before continuing. “I understand why you did what you did. I—” I tried again. “Look, it’s been a long night for both of us. We’ll talk later,” I gently shooed him away.

  Before taking Blake into a room, Thade showed me one of my own where I could rest. He promised to wake me when it was time to go.

  As I sat in bed, I tried gathering my thoughts. Accepting an apology from the person who’d caused my brother’s death would be the most difficult thing I’d ever done, but I had to move forward for bigger reasons other than myself. This entire plane of existence was relying on us to take Arlos out of it. We needed as many allies as we could get, and Blake was an incredible asset to us. We couldn’t do it without him. I didn’t want to do it without him.

  As if he knew I was thinking about him, Blake stepped into my room in a clean change of clothes that looked a little big on him.

  “Hey,” he said softly. “Can we talk?”

  “Yes, please,” I said and patted the bed next me.

  He came to sit beside me. “I’m sorry for everything—” he began but I stopped him.

  “Look. You were only doing what you had to, to save your mom,” I pushed out the words. “I’m not saying that I’m not angry, but it’s not all directed at you. Jacoby is gone and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. If not you, then it would have been one of Arlos’ men, or maybe even Arlos himself, who would’ve caused that wreck. You were just someo
ne caught in the middle of all this just like me. I can’t hold on to this with something bigger going on around it, or it will keep me from doing what I need to do. Can you finish telling me what happened, please? After the wreck?”

  He sat there a time before he continued, his eyes roaming my face and hair.

  “After the car wreck, I left everything else up to the havidens. But when they were unsuccessful, Arlos asked us to wait several more days before attempting to bring you in again. As I continued tracking you, we got word that the clan of vampires in the city had pinpointed your location and were planning to bring you in. Arlos asked that you be brought in no matter what it took. I wasn’t part of the second attempt to bring you in, but it turned out to be just as unsuccessful as the first, ending with most of the group Arlos sent dead and you in the hands of the vampires. Arlos was livid.

  “We realized the vampires were part of the Yeux Nocturnes Clan belonging to Thade. When we thought we’d found the clan’s safehaven, Arlos ordered me to infiltrate it by myself to bring you in. I intentionally let Thade’s men catch me on the Sanctum property. When they brought me inside, sure enough, there you were. It was the first time I saw you up close. I couldn’t believe how naturally beautiful y…I—” he stammered. His face flushed.

  My mouth nearly fell open. I didn’t know what to say. Instead, I stared at the bed and gathered my knees into me. “Oh...I—” I faltered.

  “Sorry. Didn’t mean to say that out loud,” he admitted nervously. “After I arrived at the Sanctum, Arlos waited for me to bring you in. I knew the vampires wouldn’t try to kill me. They couldn’t kill me if they tried, but Arlos’ intel told us that the vampires were holding havidens there for weeks on end to get them to talk. So, I was safe there for at least a little while to plan some things out. Arlos wanted me to lay low for a short while to find out if the vampires had the other dagger, but once taken to the prison, I decided to escape and take you with me back to London that very night. Arlos had initially sent me in for you, not the dagger, so I didn’t really care if he ever got it.

  “I didn’t want to wait around any longer, but with everything that was happening, I hadn’t stopped to take into account all the time that had passed since I last feed—six months, once since my birth. I never felt any sign of hunger until it was too late. It hit me without any warning the same night I was brought in, and I didn’t even have the strength to leave that frail prison they’d put me in. I panicked. I had no way of contacting Arlos because he’d instructed me to ditch my phone before allowing myself to be caught by the vampires. He didn’t want them to get a hold of it and trace my calls and texts back to him. So, after a few hours of trying to rip the bars out of the ground while growing weaker by the minute, I finally gave up and accepted that I’d starve to death down there.

  “And then, you came. I was in pain from starvation…angry about what I was going through with Arlos. I wasn’t myself. And a small part of me resented you. You were the only person, this innocent human girl in the way of my freedom, of getting Arlos out of my life for good. You’d been so unobtainable. I’m just sorry that I directed it all at you, but I never wished harm on you. I just wanted to make all of the pain stop, and for me, that was taking you to Arlos. But something changed. Autumn, I care about you. It’s not something I expected to happen, and I tried to fight it. After watching you all those weeks at the Sanctum, I couldn’t help but be drawn to you. You were so determined to get out of there…just as much as I was. You just didn’t give up. You’re smart, strong and you stand up for yourself. It’s precious to me how genuine and innocent you are, and at the same time, how real and driven you are.

  “And then, I realized that we connected well. I started to see how truly beautiful you are, and not just on the outside. I don’t know how else to explain it. It’s why I started visiting you at your window after we left the Sanctum. Thade never asked me to do that. I just, I found myself caring for your wellbeing. I knew in the end I’d have to hand you over to Arlos. But after getting to know you in that short time, I knew I wouldn’t leave you there. For the record, I wasn’t faking a friendship with you. I just wanted to be around you, get to know you. Thinking back, it was selfish.”

  “Well,” I began, “since we’re being honest, you weren’t the only one with ulterior motives in the beginning. I couldn’t stand you when I first met you, and I was only feeding you because I hoped you could get me out of there and take me back home.”

  “I knew,” he said.

  “You did?” I asked, ashamed.

  “There’s no way you wanted to be around me after the way I talked to you. I knew something was up. But I don’t blame you for it. I was a complete asshole.”

  “For the record, I wasn’t faking a friendship with you, either,” I told him. “You were the only one other than Eden who actually tried to get to know me, who tried to be my friend. It really meant a lot to me.”

  “It means a lot to me that you wanted to be my friend, too,” he said.

  We were silent for a long moment.

  “So, you really didn’t tell Arlos that we have the Soleil Dagger?” I asked.

  “No. He wondered if the vampires had it, but I never told him we found it. He would’ve killed them all for it.”

  “What happened after Arlos met us in the parking garage?”

  “We brought you to his estate. I knew something wasn’t right the minute we stepped foot on property. Arlos stopped us in the courtyard where his men surrounded us, and from there, someone carried you inside. Arlos laughed at my request to take me to my mother and told me to get lost. He’d been using me. I should have known better. I held my ground a first, but he said he’d kill her if I didn’t immediately leave. I left, but I knew I’d come back. I couldn’t leave you there. I’m just so sorry about everything.”

  “It’s not your fault,” I told him in a shaky voice. “I’m sorry for what’s happened to you and your mom. I hope you know you don’t deserve to be treated like that. You’re not a terrible person. I’m sorry I said that earlier. I was just…I’m…crushed by what happened to my brother, crushed that you had a part in it. But I think you have a good heart. You did what anyone else would have done. Your mom was at stake, and I can tell you’d do anything to keep her safe. I need some time, but...once Arlos is taken care of, if I’m still alive, still myself, I would like for us to be friends—real friends, without all of this horrible stuff going on around us.”

  “I would like that,” he said. “A lot. I’d like more than anything in the world to get to know you better. I’d be lucky to have a friend like you in my life if you’d ever have me. And for the chance to make things right.”

  “Then, it’s a deal? I’ll kick Arlos’ ass, and you’ll be my friend?”

  “I’m already your friend, but hopefully then, you’ll let me be your best friend,” he teased.

  I reached out for him and we hugged. I cried as a release at first, but as we squeezed each other, I finally felt like I could breathe again.

  “I appreciate you telling me everything and for coming back for me,” I said. “Thank you.”

  “You don’t need to thank me, Autumn,” he said into my hair and we slowly parted.

  I probably held a gaze with him longer than intended, taken aback. I’d been fighting my own feelings for him welling up over the last few weeks, but the evening had been full of mixed emotions. I knew it would take time before I could fully trust him again. Still, I wanted to give him a chance to make things right. I allowed my eyes to roam his face before I spoke.

  “You’re more human than you might think,” I whispered to him.

  His eyes bounced back and forth between mine before he lightly tucked my hair behind my ear.

  “You should get some rest,” he whispered.

  There was only an hour or so left before we had to leave for our flight back to Chicago. But at that point, I’d take any sleep I could get, exhausted from my hellish night at Arlos’ estate. Once Blake tucked me in
and left me alone in that quiet bedroom, I fell right to sleep.

  A searing nightmare woke me. With my sheets soaked through with sweat, my pillow damp with tears, I sat up straight in bed with my very core shivering. I couldn’t even remember the dream, only the way it made me feel. Thade was the first to come to me.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked. He sat beside me, placing his hand on my shoulder. “You’re warmer than usual,” he told me.

  The coolness of his hand actually put me at ease. I wiped away tears. Blake came in just behind him.

  “Bad dream,” I stammered.

  “Arlos is trying to reach you through your dreams,” Blake said. “Now that he’s made physical contact with you, he can do this whenever you sleep. Demon influenced dreams can be both realistic and terrifying, but he can’t hurt you through them.”

  “Yes,” Thade added. “Don’t worry. Arlos will be taken care of soon enough. It is good that you’re awake now. It’s time to go.”

  I was still distraught from the dream when we arrived at the airport. There, we were met by the same pilot who’d flown us in. Still early in the day, the vampires were careful to cover themselves from head to toe. Before boarding the jet, Thade handed another wad of cash to the pilot. And again, the man took it without question. Everyone remained completely silent as we boarded. Blake came to sit beside me.

  “Promise to keep me awake?” I asked him in a whisper as he got situated in his seat. “I don’t want to have another one of those nightmares.”

  “Promise,” he said.

  The flight back felt longer than the flight in, making it even more grueling. Thade made calls on his phone the entire trip. Eden and Garrett slept a few hours, and Harper stared angrily out of the side windows once the sun went down. Terry didn’t talk, either. He gazed straight into the cockpit and out of the front window after sundown as if he were the one piloting the jet. I struggled against the urge to fall asleep as the flight drug on, but Blake nudged me every time I nodded off, keeping me conscious through most of the flight. We touched down in Chicago around 9:00 PM.