I leaned in toward the sound when the second ring started. Dorian stalked over to the gathered bags in the cavern, Sike at his side. I joined him, digging through our gear bags but finding nothing. The sound came again, closer. I grabbed at a leather sack beside our gear.
Dorian saw what I was holding. “No,” he breathed.
I shook the bag out, and something clattered to the floor. It was the old smartphone I had given to him to make our communication easier. My stomach dropped.
“I brought it to the facility,” he said, face grim. “I kept the thing plugged in.” There was a rising anger in his voice, directed at himself. My pulse rocketed.
He brought my gift to the facility.
I swallowed hard and popped the battery out of the back of the phone. Dorian snatched it before I could react. He stalked toward the entrance. I heard the phone ricochet down the side of the rock formation, taking my hope with it. I pushed that feeling firmly aside. Stop. This was about safety.
“Could we have been tracked?” Gina asked in a tight voice.
I bit my lip, considering that. “It’s possible,” I admitted. Anything was. “The Bureau might have tracked any numbers associated with us.”
Dorian came back, sucking in an agitated breath. Scuffling caught my hearing. Some of the vampires had certainly heard our exchange. My lungs squeezed with dread as whispering broke out. This wasn’t going to help our issues with unity.
A harsh voice muttered, “They’re already making trouble. I told you so.”
Another voice rose. “We can’t move until the scouting party comes back!”
Dorian threw his hands up. “Everyone, please. Calm down.” It wasn’t a request. His authoritative voice rang through the caves and sent an unhelpful thrill through me.
Gina looked at me, unhappy but resigned. “I need to check on Zach,” she said. “I know this isn’t the best time, but we really do need to secure water rations and possibly food from the vampires if they have it.” She lowered her voice. “Maybe see if you can ask someone we know and trust.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” I promised.
Gina gave me a grateful look, then headed back toward my sleeping brother.
As I crossed the cavern toward Dorian, I felt the hope for group cohesion I had carried from my impassioned speech to the vampires crashing around me. His face was crowded with shadows and agitation.
“This was my fault,” he said. Nobody paid attention, absorbed in their own arguments. He leaned against the wall rubbing his eyes, for a moment looking incredibly fragile.
Bravi sat on a small boulder, seeming tired and annoyed with the other vampires. I didn’t know her as well as some of the others, but Dorian probably needed a minute without a new problem landing on his shoulders. I took a deep breath and approached. She looked at me, neutral but watchful.
“Zach will need water soon,” I said, “and the rest of us, too. Is there anywhere we can get food and water for us humans?” My stomach clenched as I tried to remember that my brother was strong. If we didn’t get rations, though… we would be in the same position as our vampire friends were last week.
Bravi’s bright green eyes glanced between me and the passageway I had come from. Could she sense my worry about the situation? My training was the only thing pushing me forward through the panic clawing at my throat.
Bravi gave a little snort. “You humans are awfully frail. It’s been less than a day.” She studied my face for a beat.
I tried not to wince. It was true. We humans had starved the vampires during the trial and forced their own children to feed off them. But humans couldn’t go much longer than a day without fresh water. Her stare moved, searching the room before it finally landed on Dorian, who had crossed the room to talk to Sike. “There’s a spring nearby. Dorian can take you.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, hesitant. “Dorian might need to help you guys.” I didn’t want to pull him away from strategizing. A moment later, he and Sike left the cavern, heading down the passage we’d come from.
Bravi sucked in a tired breath. “Lyra, you go with Dorian to find the spring. We’ll keep an eye on things here.” At my obvious discomfort, she fixed me with a glare, though it wasn’t entirely hostile. “Go,” she said firmly. “Don’t forget the needs of your own people.”
Chapter Two
Following Bravi’s command, I collected all the canteens and emergency water bags from the gear we had brought with us, then headed in the direction Dorian had gone. I ended up back in the room where Zach was supposed to be sleeping, the room Dorian had originally brought me to on our first visit here, all those weeks ago. My anxious heart climbed into my throat as I entered the cave. My brother was no longer there.
“I had Sike move Zach somewhere more comfortable,” Dorian said, bent over the small sack that had held the rogue phone, pulling out items and setting them on his bed.
I nodded and looked at the meager pile of things on the thin blanket. There was a worn leather-bound book that looked as if it might fall apart any second, a different stone from the one he had given me, some sort of pendant made out of a metal I didn’t recognize. His possessions. Scraps he’d managed to salvage from the wreckage after the tear had breached the Immortal Plane. A sense of sadness engulfed me.
“Bravi sent me to ask where the spring is. I need to gather water for the humans,” I explained. My throat dried as I spoke, but not just from thirst.
Dorian followed my gaze to the bed, and the corner of his mouth turned up in a dark, self-mocking smile. “My treasures that I’ve managed to keep,” he said softly, running his hands over the book.
The empathy felt like grit in my throat as I swallowed. I wanted so badly to reach out, to comfort him. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head and scooped up the objects, placing them gently into his bag. “I’m a shadow of my past self. Leaving my things behind in our old home couldn’t be helped.”
A grave pressure fell over us as we stood together. There was no banter at this moment.
“Can I see?” I gestured to his bag.
He nodded and opened it for me, showing the belongings together. A strange longing for our happier times during the trial settled in my chest, followed quickly by a wave of fear. The phone. The tracking.
The Bureau certainly had the technology to find a phone, but would they know to look for it? I tried to recall whether anyone had seen Dorian with that phone except my brother and me. Someone at the trial facility could’ve seen it since Dorian had brought it with him. Unless the Bureau had merely been calling any of the numbers associated with me, one of which happened to belong to the phone Dorian now had in his possession?
“Let’s go to the spring,” he said, breaking through my thoughts.
He tucked his bag under the bed before leading the way out of the room. I followed. We climbed out of the cavern from another passage that branched off from the main chamber of the cave.
“Better not to be seen leaving by the clan,” he explained. There were a few moments of silence as we carefully crossed a fissure that dropped a good thirty feet to a dry riverbed below. When he spoke again, he sounded like he was steeled for a reprimand. “I should’ve asked you about the phone.”
I stared up at the hot blue sky as I caught my breath. How could it be so breathtaking and straightforward while we struggled so much? “It was a mistake,” I said. “There was a lot to think about at the time.”
Dorian said nothing. We continued to climb the canyon, not too far from the hiding place of the vampires.
“Let’s try to be quick,” Dorian said. “I’d like to be back before the scouts return.”
A plane passed overhead, high above. An eerie calm settled over the land.
He helped me up the last steep edge of the canyon, which suddenly turned to crumbling rocks. I found my footing with his hand in mine but looked around skeptically. A spring over here? Then I heard it—water bubbled somewhere nearby. Hidden in the desert under an ove
rhang, a gorgeous verdant space.
It was shocking to see such lush greenery in the desert landscape. The cliffside revealed a spring that started a few feet down the side. Small leaves split the rockface. The cliffside had caved in to form a shallow grotto with moss and leaves bunched on the underside of the slope in the shade.
“It comes up from the ground, through the cliff,” Dorian explained as we descended the slope to the pool with careful steps.
I shook my head, slow and reverent. “Wherever it comes from, I’m thankful.”
We arrived at the base, where the spring collected. The water fell gently but steadily from an overhang covered with dripping leaves. I gathered the canteens I’d collected from our gear bags and the plastic emergency bags packed for survival purposes. Dorian helped me arrange them on a smooth stone to the side of the dripping water. His movements were fluid as he arranged the bottles.
Our fingers brushed as we set two bags next to each other. He didn’t pull back immediately but waited for a beat before finishing placing the container. I bit my lip, feeling a surge of excitement.
It would take several minutes to fill the bottles and bags.
My skin was hot from our climb, and my throat ached with thirst. I wasn’t sure when I would next be in a place with running water. It certainly wouldn’t be anywhere as beautiful as this. I padded to the other end of the stream and stroked the plants clinging to the rock. A trickle of water slipped blissfully down my skin. I stepped fully under a more substantial stream and drank deeply as the water washed over me, slowly soaking my hair, my bare arms, my shirt. I pushed my wet bangs back from my grimy forehead, gasping slightly as the fresh water rinsed away the dust and sweat, leaving me refreshed. The chaos bubbling from panicked thoughts briefly faded.
A familiar throb stirred in my chest. I tensed and opened my eyes, leaning out of the stream. My heart nearly stopped.
Dorian was watching me.
So still and centered, he blended into the beauty of the setting. The only thing separating him from the vine-covered stone was his focus, so alive and intense it sent a shiver through my body. I wanted to kiss him again… without the world watching.
I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. His lips parted slightly, sharp fangs peeking through. My own lips parted in response, remembering how soft and smooth his had felt against mine.
The chest pain intensified in a stabbing pulse, and I couldn’t hide my sharp inhale. The spell was broken. His face transformed from a transfixed expression to one of realization, and he drew back a step. The pain lessened, but disappointment surged, followed by frustration.
“Don’t run away from me,” I said.
He scowled.
“There’s no way to escape if you expect to help me carry these rations back,” I reminded him. I jerked a thumb in the direction of the precious water provisions, almost full now. He didn’t bother responding to the lame joke, instead getting down to the heart of the matter.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, his voice dark. “I had to stop.”
That was rich coming from the vampire whose attraction toward me seemed to change every hour. The memory of the pain his stonewalling had caused after I’d returned from the hospital came back. The sudden switch to coldness.
I scowled, stepping out of the stream. “You realized this back at our lovely trial compound? Yet you didn’t give me a chance to talk to you about it.”
Shadows flickered in his eyes. “It was too hard. I was worried I would hurt you even more.”
“And you thought ignoring me with no explanation wouldn’t cause me any pain? You didn’t even talk to me when I came back,” I pressed. He hadn’t. He had just stared right through me like I didn’t exist. Did he think I would brush that under the rug? We had kissed! I vividly remembered the glorious pain that had sprung from that moment.
In jerky, annoyed movements, I began to collect the rations. I let him hold the plastic bags as I wrestled the canteens into the small backpack I’d brought. We split the load of the bags as we headed back.
He cleared his throat. “We’re talking now.”
I shot him a look of sizzling frustration as we picked our way down the canyon. “Yes, how nice of you to consider that now.” Nice of him to have the decency to have a conversation after I forced him into it. He was lucky I was too exhausted to spar.
“I wasn’t trying to exclude you.”
“Yes, you were, Dorian. That was exactly what you were trying to do.” I had never felt like that before. Rejected and confused and isolated… and I never wanted to feel it again.
We paused for a moment, partially shaded in this spot. Out of the sun, his shadows danced more prominently beneath his skin. My mouth dried. I remembered the sensation of throwing my hands around him yesterday, how our bodies pressed together. I licked my lips, the hurt fading away.
He looked at me, a little startled, finally seeing me.
“I was afraid for you,” he said finally.
The desert air was suddenly suffocating. I took a deep breath. It was true that he wasn’t perfect, but neither was I. My three-day coma hadn’t been nothing. Perhaps it was somewhat reckless of me to push past it despite the implications that our relationship was dangerous.
“I was afraid too.” I turned my head back toward our path. “I didn’t understand what was going on when I came back from the hospital.” The water in the canteens sloshed as I shifted the bag and took a step forward. My team needed water. I couldn’t delay for the sake of my personal drama.
I began walking, and Dorian took the cue. He caught up to me and started to respond as we rounded a corner of the canyon.
Roxy and Colin stood there. In full fighting regalia.
We froze in place. There was a moment, a beat, a breath. Then my former teammates exploded into movement.
I cried out as Roxy and Colin lunged for Dorian. The water bags flew into the air as Dorian stumbled backward, but he caught them with a swift movement. I dropped the bags I was carrying and threw myself into their path. My chest burned painfully from the moment at the spring, but my feet acted before the rest of my body caught up.
How had they found us? Was it the phone? I crouched into a ready stance as I studied them. Full tactical gear wasn’t meant for a walk in the desert for fun. Were they here to take us back or to take us out?
“Lyra!” Colin cried out.
I delivered a low roundhouse kick to sweep his feet out from under him, but he leapt back. Dorian successfully regained his balance and blocked a punch from Roxy. He flipped her onto her back with a resounding thud, and I heard the air explode from her lungs.
“Why aren’t you running? They said he kidnapped you!” Roxy yelled.
Who were they? Uncle Alan’s face popped into my mind. Him and his delightful board members discussing the extermination plans.
“You’ve got it all wrong. We don’t want to fight you,” I said through gritted teeth. Colin hesitated, but Roxy threw herself at Dorian again.
“We have orders, Colin!” She delivered a sudden kick to Dorian’s side. He slid on the dusty ground, unable to find purchase on the smooth surface until he raked his sharp nails into the hard earth.
Colin’s fist flew out toward me. I grabbed it and used his own momentum against him to throw him into Roxy, who had crouched to come at Dorian again. They collapsed into a tangle of limbs, the metal of their uniforms clinking as they collided. It gave Dorian enough time to rush back to my side. We took our stances as the two got back up.
What could I say to convince them? The more we fought, the more energy we lost.
“I don’t want to fight you, and I think you’ll realize why when I show you something,” I said. “The Bureau is lying to you. You don’t know what’s going on.”
Roxy raised a mocking eyebrow and sneered at me. “Oh, Lyra. You always thought you were Little Miss Hero, didn’t you? But I guess even you aren’t immune to being manipulated by monsters.” She lunged at m
e, and we fell back, sliding down the canyon as Dorian and Colin exchanged blows. The wind howled in my ears as Roxy forced her entire weight onto my body.
She was strong, but I was pissed. And better at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It was no secret that she often challenged me, even during missions where I was in charge, but I had never lost to her. I didn’t plan on changing that now.
I threw her off me, growing impatient. “Please listen to me.” What if she decided to radio the Bureau to confirm our location?
“We’re trying to save your ungrateful ass,” Roxy snapped bitterly as she swiped blood from her mouth.
I narrowed my eyes. “Save someone else. I don’t want it. I don't need it. Would you just listen to me?”
“I know this may come as a surprise,” Roxy snarled, “but I’m not taking orders from you right now.”
We returned to blows. I could hear Colin’s pained grunting as he fought off Dorian’s maneuvers. Dorian didn’t look like he was breaking a sweat as he batted Colin around. I narrowly dodged another punch, my break in focus nearly costing me my consciousness. Roxy was arrogant and crazed at the moment, a dangerous combination.
Her kick flew above my head. I’d dropped low just in time. As she tried to bring her foot crashing down, I ducked under the incoming blow and tackled her, slamming us to the ground. Her helmet struck the hard earth as she went down. I took advantage, assuming a controlling position over her torso, but her eyes were closed. She was knocked out.
I looked up to find Dorian holding up a similarly unconscious Colin, whom he leaned against a boulder. I dragged Roxy’s limp form over to join his. Dorian and I took a step back, examining the wreckage of our battle. Roxy was even more of a pain in the butt when she was trying to help me.
“Some of the bags made it,” he said. Five still survived, but the others had burst and emptied. The water had already nearly disappeared into the parched ground.
Darklight 2: Darkthirst Page 2