Darklight 2: Darkthirst

by Forrest, Bella

  “We think the Bureau has already involved the CIA,” I informed her, unsure how much she knew from her own intelligence sources. “If we can get international pressure, it might help ensure the investigation isn’t conducted by agencies who might have an interest in seeing the Bureau come out of this clean.”

  “I can tell you about who I can reach out to once we interrogate the board members,” Morag promised. “If every agency is corrupt, then it’s time to clean house. I can’t guarantee the US will do anything, but there’s quite a few international neighbors who will be happy to hound the government about this vampire business.”

  At the door of the aircraft, Elena Bradley was making a fuss, kicking and swearing at the Scottish troops. With a scowl, Morag marched over to help her colleagues. Bryce joined her, a proud grin on his face.

  His personality made more sense now, with a firecracker older sister like that. It reminded me of the similarities I shared with Zach and made me smile, even as I wondered what my own firecracker sibling was up to right now. I could only imagine what their parents must have been like. Images of Bryce’s hypothetical parents rose in my mind, complete with falling in love over a drunken arm wrestle in a bar. A hand on my back took me out of my daydreams.

  I whirled around to find Dorian standing there. He dropped his hand back to his side. Joy and relief filled me. He was alive. Scratches marred his face, but the muzzle had vanished. The imprints from the restraining device still showed on his handsome face. His neck sported a set of puncture wounds I knew were from Bravi. There was also a dark purple line.

  “Dorian,” I breathed, guilt washing over me as I realized it was from when I choked him with my cuffs. I was certain I had a similar set of marks on my throat from when he tried to do the same by hand.

  Despite our victory, his gaze was weighted. “I’m sorry.” He closed his eyes for a moment, looking as drained and hollow as he had the first time.

  I took in his haunted face. While a part of me was still frustrated, since I had insisted that he feed before the mission to be at top strength and speed to avoid being hit in the first place, I was happy he was here in front of me. Alive and doing as well as could be expected.

  “Neither of us is to blame,” I said resolutely. “You didn’t know what you were doing, and I just did what was needed to keep us both safe.” My heart overflowed with a sensation—not the familiar sting of pain but a rising wave of affection and relief that washed over me. Unable to resist, I threw myself onto Dorian for an enthusiastic hug. Let the Immortal Plane vampires watch and eat their hearts out. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his shoulder, careful to avoid his neck wound. His hands were slow to come up around me, but they tightened with a steadfast grip. I felt safe with his touch now, unlike before when his grasp was violent and wild. He was back.

  “I lost control,” he whispered hoarsely.

  “You’re always getting into trouble. I’m just glad you’re okay.” I pulled back and narrowed my eyes. “Never do it again, punk.”

  Dorian grinned, both the metaphorical and literal shadows now cleared from his face.

  The pain that flared in my chest was minimal. Part of me wished it was stronger, since that would mean he was fed and healthy, but I was mostly just glad that he was safe, at least for now.

  Our eyes locked. The space between us seemed to sizzle with anticipation, and the pain grew a little despite his weakened state. I tried to breathe deeply as it rolled over me. It would win, I knew, as soon as he fed, but I wanted to hold him for just a moment longer.

  “Are you okay?” Dorian asked, his eyes resigned. I nodded shakily.

  “You need to feed to recover from all of this.” I rubbed my chest. “But I’m so happy that I get to be close to you for a little while right now.”

  He looked down, a muscle in his cheek tightening.

  Movement behind his shoulder caught my eye. Team War and our team gathered together. Dorian followed my eyes.

  “Shall we join them?” he asked.

  I nodded, curious about what they might have to say to each other. He cleared his throat abruptly. “I won’t hold your hand because it doesn’t really seem like the time or place for such a thing, but… just know that I want to.”

  Joy sent a rush of warmth to my face. I smiled at him. “Good to know.”

  We made our way to the group. Colin, Roxy, Gavril, Arlonne, Harlowe, and Rayne had congregated with Laini and Bravi. Bryce seemed busy helping his sister organize efforts to handle the wounded Bureau soldiers.

  Colin rubbed the back of his neck, ashamed. “Sorry about letting that freak lead us on such a wild mission.”

  We all needed a debrief after watching Vonn get every scrap of evil life sucked out of him. Watching real remorse cloud Colin’s face, I wasn’t mad at him like I’d thought I would be. I had brushed off Grayson’s feelings before, and we could honor him by not repeating the same mistake now.

  Bravi shrugged. “None of us realized Vonn’s evil intentions until it was too late.”

  Dorian nodded in agreement but said nothing, his eyes distant. Did he remember what Bravi had told him when he lost control?

  Knowing the strength of my own feelings for Dorian, I respected Bravi’s actions. Concern for Dorian had motivated her from the beginning, making her confession—as well as her bravery—all the more heart-wrenching and honest. I was glad to understand her better, though it might make the future more complex to navigate.

  “Still,” Harlowe muttered, breaking through my thoughts. “I shudder to think that I followed a dark vampire I eventually had to feed from.” She looked queasy and twitchy from the laser blast earlier and blood stained the arm of her blue shirt.

  Colin grimaced. “I was so angry about Grayson… I knew it was wrong, but I was devastated beneath that anger.” He glanced toward Vonn’s body, which was covered by someone’s discarded cloak. He shivered. “I never knew vampires could go dark like humans. He knew exactly what he was doing to rile everyone up.”

  “He tasted terrible, if you were wondering,” Rayne said, scrunching her nose.

  “I wasn’t, thanks,” Roxy murmured.

  “I’m thankful you brought me back to my senses,” Gavril blurted, looking at Laini. “I thought I had to go along with Vonn. If Dorian was dead or captured like Vonn said he was, then it didn’t seem like we had much chance to do anything else.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence in our abilities,” I commented dryly, and the huge vampire had the grace to look ashamed.

  Roxy cleared her throat awkwardly. “I didn’t consider my intentions dark to begin with, but Vonn was good at getting people angry, and he tapped into my lust for revenge. It felt empowering at the time. He got to me,” she grumbled.

  “You’re not alone,” Arlonne said. “I set out to destroy the people who hurt me all those years ago. I didn’t think there was any way except murder to find revenge and peace for myself. Let your human systems deal with that monster, if you’re sure it will bring him to justice. I can never get my arm or time back.”

  I stopped myself from staring at Arlonne. Her story of Alan taking her arm was still fresh in my mind. I would’ve wanted revenge too.

  “Lessons are sometimes learned the hard way.” Oleah, who had been noticeably quiet for quite some time, kept her eyes on the ground and it didn’t seem she was going to say anything more. Well, we can’t all be full of deep regrets and fuzzy feelings. She had refrained from attacking the hostages. I settled on being thankful for that.

  I hovered with Dorian on the edge of the group. A sense of relief settled over us. Vonn was dead, and we had resolved our issues with the Bureau for the short term.

  “I won’t judge anyone for their decision,” Laini announced. “I don’t want to lose friendships over this. Many of us fought alongside each other in the end. That forgives a lot of wrong choices.”

  I smiled softly, feeling a warm sensation of peace spread through me. It tempered the pain from Doria
n’s closeness. “You’re right,” I said. “That’s the most important thing.”

  “Agreed,” Bravi piped up. She crossed her arms definitively.

  Time to brush the Vonn saga under the rug.

  Heavy, confident footsteps rang out as Kane made his way toward us, a self-assured smirk on his face. A few of the new vampires followed behind him.

  “I’m grateful for your help,” Dorian said. I could tell he was trying hard not to grin outright. “But why did you come back, and how did you even find us?”

  “I brought a group back from the Immortal Plane to the human world. I saw the old hideout was empty, and the surrounding area reeked of battle. When I went looking for you in the Canyonlands, I saw the Bureau swarming the area. I tried the second hideout and got lucky with the noncombatants left behind. They eventually explained what had happened, although my mother was initially less than forthcoming, so I knew I had to bring more able-bodied vampires to help,” Kane said.

  I was happy to have him back, and I could tell Dorian was relieved to finally see Kane not only back but at full strength. It was somehow fitting to see Kane returning on his own terms and with his own team. The leadership role fit him well.

  “How did you get the new vampires to hold back from feeding on the board members tonight?” I asked. “From how well contained your crew is, I assume you fed well before the mission?”

  “If we wanted to seek asylum on Earth, we had to make a good impression by not killing anyone, right?” Kane asked with a shrug. “Isn’t that what you’ve been yelling about this whole time?”

  He listened to me? I couldn’t have been more startled.

  Dorian gave him an incredulous look. “You changed your mind?”

  “Look,” Kane said straight-faced, “I found new evidence and revised my conclusions. There’s a difference. I still stand by what I argued at the time based on the information we had then, but the Immortal Plane has become way too dangerous to deal with. There’s no way we can go back until we’re stronger in numbers.”

  “Revised” sounded a lot like “changed” to me.

  “You always have to be right, don’t you?” Bravi muttered wearily.

  Kane ignored her. “The truth is, I found out something alarming about the Bureau while I was in the Immortal Plane. They’ve been experimenting with sending soldiers through the tear again. I’m guessing that’s why the tear is widening and more and more creatures are getting through, because those idiots don’t understand what they’re doing.”

  “It’s as if they want to rip open the Immortal Plane,” I mused. “But how would that benefit them?” The consequences seemed to drastically outweigh the costs, but I knew I must be missing something. What was so valuable that the board risked doing all this?

  “All I know is my group ran into some of those Bureau fools. They had those awful new guns with them, which, fun surprise, work in the Immortal Plane,” he said bitterly. “That was when I knew we had to return to the Mortal Plane. We’ll play nice for now because we need to figure out what’s happening over here. Dorian’s plan might work, but I have a lot of questions. How could the Bureau develop those weapons if they didn’t know much about the Immortal Plane? It doesn’t make sense. I doubt the vampires they tortured would’ve been able to give them information like that, even under extreme stress.”

  Kane’s questions lined up with a lot of my own. Beyond those questions, we needed more information from the board about its true relationship with the Immortal Plane. With a sudden jolt of energy, I marched over to the Scottish strike team. Dorian followed behind me. The strike team had finished securing the board members, including Alan, to seats inside the plane.

  “I want answers about the board’s ties to the Immortal Plane,” I told him bluntly. “Where did you get those X-75s? How did you capture a creature from the Immortal Plane and transport it to the human world? What do you actually know about the tear?”

  Alan smiled coldly. “Congratulations,” he said sarcastically. “I’m glad you’ve finally made the obvious connection. Lyra, you were always loyal and sweet but never terribly bright.”

  Excuse me? I narrowed my eyes and dropped down so that we were eye level. “Bright enough to take you as a hostage and reveal your entire scam to the international public in under an hour. Answer the questions.”

  “Since you’re asking so nicely, I’ll tell you something that might take you down a peg or two, you recalcitrant brat. You seem so confident in your little boyfriend, running into his arms after your dramatic victory.” He leaned forward with a venomous grin. “But I have a secret for you: the board and the Immortal Plane are working together to wipe out his entire species. And there’s no stopping it. Even though I’m taken off the chessboard, the plan will continue.”

  Icy shock ran through my veins. I stared at my uncle, my mouth open.

  Dorian sucked in a sharp breath. “No. There’s no way the Bureau could work with the Immortal Plane.”

  “How would that even work?” I asked, baffled. “Are you communicating with mist creatures? Acid-spewing lizards? Who?”

  Alan scoffed coolly. “I warned you that you were meddling in affairs you had no knowledge of. The board members and I have been keeping the peace for the past five years, but your foolish stunt destroyed all that.” His eyes hardened with menace. “Your vampire friends are stronger now. You’re about to see exactly why they are universally and inter-dimensionally loathed.”

  It took all my restraint not to hit him square in the face as he spoke these final words.

  A strike member stepped forward almost apologetically and gestured for us to step back. “We’re about to take off, so unless you’re planning to join us right this minute, you’ll need to move away,” the man told us in a thick Scottish accent.

  I nodded numbly, unable to think of anything else to ask Alan. He had likely said as much as he would.

  We stumbled backward out of the range of the downdraft and watched silently as the aircraft took flight, whisking away the board members and securing our victory a little bit more. We shared a look, unsettled by this new information.

  “What could he possibly mean?” I asked Dorian.

  He shook his head, equally bewildered. “I don’t understand,” Dorian confessed, “but if he’s telling the truth, it means the Immortals know about the tear.”

  The mysterious Immortals again. It seemed Morag was right about the value of research. I imagined I would be doing a lot of it in the upcoming weeks. While we didn’t understand what we were dealing with right now, there was no doubt in my mind that the implications of today’s battle would be far-reaching for both worlds.

  Who knew what we would find?

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  The air was warm and tinged with a hint of rain from the night before. The sunshine falling on my balcony was a stark difference from hiding in a cold cave. I relished the warmth, promising myself never to take it for granted again.

  A few days ago, I took my first proper shower after our time on the run. Suddenly, I was free to do what I wanted. I spent two hours under the hot spray. It felt like heaven. The only downside was Zach hammering on the bathroom door because he thought I’d slipped and knocked myself out.

  I shivered as a sharp wind scurried across my skin, but I couldn’t bring myself to put anything on over my very non-regulation tank top, though the soft and cozy sweater waiting for me on the end of my bed would likely tempt me as the evening drew in. For now, I let the late summer breeze give me a pleasant chill. My time hiding had transformed my tan skin into a pale, almost sickly shade I wanted to get rid of.

  Somewhere inside the apartment, Zach sang loudly along to the radio as he prepared for our parents arriving home this evening. Alan had been telling the truth about sending them away on a mission. In the chaos following the Bureau’s surrender, it had taken nearly an entire tense day to find out exactly where. Alaska, as it turned out, on some bogus redbill research mission. It was taking them a co
uple days to get home, and Zach and I were beyond eager to see them, as his singing demonstrated.

  It was nice to hear him happy and singing again. I sometimes forgot what a fantastic voice he had. Turning to better hear his voice, I surveyed my sad balcony door. Zach and I had cleaned for hours on our first day back, sweeping up the broken glass and trying to repair everything damaged in the battle. Sike had tumbled through one of the glass panels in their fight with the Bureau soldiers, and it had yet to be repaired. For now, it was covered in a sturdy collage of cardboard and tape. Still an improvement over our ski resort or Canyonlands hideouts.

  After our rooftop battle, the Bureau descended into complete chaos. Alan, Elena Bradley, and Calum Jones were officially being held by the Scottish government until the US could sufficiently prove that none of the governing bodies in charge of the investigation into the Bureau’s wrongdoings were secretly involved in the board’s plans. The FBI and CIA had begun aggressive internal audits of their organizations, and thankfully only a handful of CIA officers seemed to have worked with the Bureau. Bryce’s contact had apparently been dirty from the start. The rest of the CIA seemed safe and ignorant of these double agents, but I found it hard to take their word for it.

  Congress had ordered an independent investigation into Bureau activities. Torturing their own soldiers was a bad look, even for an organization that had flown beneath the public radar as a security contractor since its inception. Fenton had formed an interim board with his colleagues who had also been fired from the previous board. I had caught a picture of his smiling face in a newspaper that morning.

  How’s that for karma, Alan?

  Fenton had admitted the entire agency’s existence was up in the air, but he wanted to at least lead the organization through the investigation. That satisfied me, since he seemed like one of the few trustworthy people left.