by Maya Daniels
“You said yourself they can walk the day without being in this damn place. How are you manipulating them to be part of this?” The longer the Fae stays silent, the angrier I get, so I lash out at Zoltan.
“They get trained here, become stronger, faster, more capable of protecting. No one is lying to them or manipulating them.” I can tell I’m getting to the vamp when he grinds the words through clenched teeth.
“They are rebelling, Zoltan. They are killing each other as well as people in Sienna. That tells me not all of them are happy and willing to be here.”
“Some have the idea that a dragon blood will give them some additional powers since it’s the reason we walk the day.” I can tell it pains him to say this, so I keep my mouth shut. “The hunters have managed to convince some of them to work as spies. We need to fix that.”
“You mean the demons?” At his frown, I belt out a humorless laugh. “So far, I’ve only seen demons determined to kill around here. Well, demons—Roberti and your buddy Cassius. Which brings me to my next question. If the others here can walk the day and don’t need to become Daywalkers, what in the fates name do they do?”
“They are guards.” When I open my mouth to tell him how stupid I think that is, he lifts a hand to silence me. “They protect the portals while training to infiltrate the human organizations and their world. We have them in strategic places where we can control who finds out about us and can stop a disaster before it has a chance to happen.”
“And you?” Flipping my hand in a mocking circle to encompass his person, I lift an eyebrow at him. “What do you mighty Daywalkers do?”
“We fight the hunters.” At the simple words, my heart does a painful lurch, thumping once so hard against my chest that I glance down to see if I’m bleeding.
The silence stretches between us like an unwanted guest, one you are forced to entertain while counting down the minutes until they leave My mind is whirling from everything, and all the hits each of Zoltan’s words take on my world. It’s almost freeing to watch everything you believe being shattered to dust in front of your eyes. I mean, my whole life was a lie, why would anything else be the truth. Which brings me to the most pressing question.
“So, what does this make me?” I clench my fists so they can’t see my trembling hands.
“That we are about to find out.” Fenrir speaks for the first time.
“How?”
“We are going across the portal into the human realm.” Zoltan’s words make me dizzy, and I sway where I’m sitting cross-legged on the floor.
9
I stare at the swirling colors of the portal in front of me like I’m looking at the hungry mouth of a monster ready to devour me. Cold sweat trickles down my back and beads on my upper lip. I’ve never been this terrified in my life. Well, that’s not true. I’m not that scared, really. I’m just excited and worried, unable to decide if this is the best or the stupidest idea I have agreed to follow. Keep telling yourself you aren’t scared, Franky. You might actually believe it, the silly voice in my head chirps, and I grind my teeth.
“It’ll be fine.” Astara is trying to soothe my worry, but she doesn’t sound like her confident self. “It’s nighttime over there right now, anyway.”
And that’s the bitch of it all. Because I’m half Fae and half vampire, no one knows if I’ll turn to ashes when I step into the daylight, or if I’ll sprout horns. All of them are trying their best to be encouraging—apart from Zoltan, who just says, “If anyone can do the impossible, it’s you, Ms. Drake.
Yeah, we are back to Ms. Drake now.
The pale rainbow of colors in the portal swirl and shimmer like I’m watching a soap bubble trembling in the wind on the palm of my hand. I should know. It’s incredible what you do to keep yourself occupied when you have no friends because you are a freak. Watching soap bubbles is the least embarrassing one, at least.
“Where are we going again?” Not taking my eyes off the portal, I ask no one in particular.
“We will be dropping into one of their big cities.” Fenrir sniffs self-importantly. “Los Angeles, the city of angels as they call it.”
“Angels live there?” Turning my head in his direction, I watch him like a hawk for tells if he is lying.
“No.” Astara snorts, making the Fae frown at her. “Humans are weird. They like to make up stuff to make themselves feel better.” When both my eyebrows reach my hairline, she laughs. “If they knew how mean those winged fuckers are, they wouldn’t be plastering their pictures on everything.”
“Are we ready?” Zoltan scowls at us. “I don’t think Francesca needs a lesson on humans right now. We need to get going before trouble finds us.”
When he takes a step closer to the portal, I take a step back. Pausing, he looks at me over his shoulder.
“Last time I tried to leave this place I almost died, thanks to Soren’s little trick. I’m not very excited about testing it to see if the same happens when I cross a portal.” Locking my knees together, I force myself to stand still, surrounded by the four of them.
Zoltan turns to me with a worried look on his face, and my heart is ready to jump out of my throat. I guess none of them thought this little adventure through. Both of us look at Fenrir when he clears his throat.
“The magic prevented you from leaving the grounds because you were going to Sienna and you were not under oath. The human realm is different. You will not have a problem going through.”
His face and the self-assured way he stands tells me he is stating the truth. Zoltan’s scowl deepens slightly, but he turns around and strides through the portal, his body disappearing inside the soap-bubble colors. I’m still not convinced that I’ll be okay, so I reach for Fenrir’s hand, wanting to touch him skin to skin to see what he is feeling. Before my hand can connect to his, Astara grabs my arm, yanking me along with her through the portal.
My body feels like it’s been ripped apart from the inside out. Panic grips me in its clutches, preventing me from taking a breath as I’m literally squeezed through a tiny hole and spat out the other side. Dry heaving and hacking, I bend over, clutching my knees and praying to die for what feels like forever, the long braid swaying on the side of my face like a pendulum. Feeling raw and vulnerable, I let the tears stream down my face and blur everything around me.
The sound returns slowly, and only then can I finally take a full breath. The first rational thought I have is, Thank fuck I’m not dead, followed closely by, I’m going to kill Astara. Gingerly pulling myself up, I swipe the back of my hand over my mouth, glaring at all four of them—including Leo, who looks like he is ready to bolt when our gazes connect. I am prepared to curse up a storm at all of them when the look on Fenrir’s face stops me in the tracks.
“You were not sure if I’d be okay when I crossed through the portal.” It’s a statement, not a question, and a muscle jumps on the side of his jaw. “You fucking asshole!”
“You are perfectly fine.” I’m not sure if he is trying to placate me or convince himself.
“That’s beside the point.” Snarling, I take a step towards him, balling my fists.
A loud crash followed by a crazed laugh jerks all our heads to the right. We are standing in a darkened alley, the light coming from the mouth of it barely reaching halfway through. Where we stand is devoid of everything, apart from a few ripped pages of a newspaper and some weird wrappers littering the ground. Puddles of murky water are spread in random places on the cracked pavement, and it leads to two large, metal containers near the front.
One of those containers is now bent in half, a significant dent in the middle of it making it look like it’s trying to hug itself. A male is sprawled in front of it, groaning before he rolls on his hands and knees, shaking his head as if to clear it. It must be him denting the metal container in half, which tells me this is not a human. My fingers twitch to grab hold of the dagger I strapped to my thigh before coming here. Astara, who is standing closest to me, yanks me further back in the
shadows, and I pull my eyes away from the male to see everyone has slunk deeper into the darkened alley to wait and see if we will be fighting it or letting it be.
“I’m going to kill you, bitch,” the male snarls, lifting his head up just enough so the light illuminates his features.
My instincts kick up a notch when his skin flickers between the color of a human and a dark gray color. If that is not enough, his eyes turn red, leaving me with no doubt as to what he is: a demon. My foot lifts off the ground, every muscle relaxing so I can move, but I stay like that when a furl of movement enters the alley.
A woman, not really tall from what I can glimpse between her fast movements, hurls herself at the demon with a grin on her face. She is a tiny little thing, around my size but a foot or so shorter, with long pale locks streaming behind her. Two short swords are clutched in her hands, and I watch with my mouth hanging open as she hacks at the demon with abandon.
Two pained groans bounce off the dingy walls of the alley, and I know they come from Fenrir and Leo because I can feel Zoltan at my back where he moved to stand between his sister and me. The Fae and the shifter come out from where they were pressing their backs to the bricked wall, and glare at the woman. Something on Fenrir’s face makes me do a double take, but the screams of the demon stop me from examining the Fae further.
“Wouldn’t his screams bring the humans?” murmuring the question, I watch in fascination as the woman makes quick work of the snarling demon.
“No,” the one-word wanderer from behind me says, explaining everything.
One of the short swords slides through the neck of the demon like through butter, a faint blue glow blinking so fast I would’ve missed it if I wasn’t watching so closely. The headless body thumps on the ground, spraying the woman’s legs with the murky water from the puddle at his knees. There is enough light where they are that I see her grimacing after jumping back away from it.
“These idiots owe me a new wardrobe by now.” With a sigh, she walks up to the demon she decapitated and wipes her weapons off using his shirt. “That’s why they should never send a man to do a woman’s job.”
None of us move, and I keep wondering what we are waiting for. The power coming off the woman is like a blast of hot air on my senses, alerting me to the threat that she is. Coiled up to fight, I hold my breath, my eyes not leaving her as she sheathes the swords at her back before turning our way, her hands on her hips.
“Look what the cat dragged in.” She grins at Fenrir and Leo. It’s a little unhinged, and I turn to see both males flinch. “You could’ve helped, you know.” She flings a hand at the dead demon.
“Hello, Myst.” Zoltan comes out from behind me, and I stiffen, expecting her to attack him.
“Hey, handsome.” She winks, a real smile lifting her pouty lips.
My fangs drop from my gums, and I’m shocked to see I’m standing in front of Zoltan, baring them at her. Her smile grows.
“Take it easy there, chica.” Lifting her hands in the air, Myst chuckles. “I’m not a fan of anyone chewing at my neck. He’s all yours.”
Fenrir grunts something intangible.
“Who are you?” My vicious snarl makes me wince, and she checks me out with a thoughtful frown.
“Alex was expecting you much sooner.” Ignoring my question, she looks over my shoulder at Zoltan, tilting her head up to look him in the eye.
“We came as soon as we could. There are new developments we need to discuss.” Zoltan turns me around by the shoulders, and after a moment, he moves around me, heading out of the alley.
Fenrir and Leo follow behind him, Myst falling in step with them. Astara comes next to me, and we both track them as they turn the corner and disappear in this new world I find myself in. All the stenches and sounds filter in and overwhelm my senses, so I breathe through my mouth in hopes of staying on my feet. Being here is like living a fantasy for me, yet I have a feeling I’ll regret it sooner rather than later. If Daywalker Academy has taught me anything so far, it’s that I should be cautious about what I wish for.
“You good?” Astara asks quietly from next to me.
“Who is that woman?” I like to think that it’s jealousy rearing its ugly head, but I know better. Something about her is calling to me. It’s as inviting as it is repelling.
“She is an acquaintance. One of the Fae we have helping us here.”
“She didn’t feel like Fae.” Mumbling, I rub my arm, warding off a shiver that has nothing to do with being cold.
“Yeah, she’s … different, but Alex likes for us to keep our noses out of it. We need him, so we let it be for now.” I can tell she’s not happy being left out of the loop, and that soothes my worries somewhat.
“And Alex?”
“You’ll see.” Nudging me with her shoulder, she gets me moving closer to the street in front of us. “Where will the fun be if I tell you everything at once.”
“This place makes me feel wild and not in control,” I tell her truthfully. “It won’t be fun if I attack someone I shouldn’t.”
“Trust me, if you attack this ass, I’ll owe you a drink.” Chuckling, she pulls me faster towards the mouth of the alley. “Let’s go before my brother decides to come looking for us. I’m tired of his nagging.”
I try very hard to chuckle at her joke, but it sounds strained. I have a bad feeling about all of this. A horrible, awful feeling.
10
By the time we reach a tall glass building, my neck developing a kink from straining to look at the top of it even though I’m unable to see anything but more glass, I’m agitated, hungry and angry. The damn humans can’t drive to save their lives—nothing like in their movies. Lying little shits. The horn is the most used part of their rides, making me twitchy and giving Astara amusement to no end. The tip of my shoe bumps in a crack on the sidewalk, propelling me forwards as I stumble towards the sliding double doors in front of us.
“Careful, Miss.” A young male dressed in a black suit grabs my upper arm, stopping me from faceplanting on the ground.
I flinch.
His scent hits me faster than a bolt of lightning. My head snaps in his direction and my mouth waters from the enticing smell of him. When our gazes connect, his chocolate-brown eyes widen a second before glazing over, and he tightens his hold on my arm. I watch him unblinking, unable to stop my fangs as they slide out of my gums.
I almost attack Astara when she yanks him away from me, forcing his head to twist away so he can look at her. “You were very tired, and you fell asleep on the job dreaming of a beautiful blonde woman coming to the building. You want to sleep now so you can dream of her, don’t you?” she purrs in his ear, and I gape at her when he nods with a slack-jawed look on his face. “Go to sleep.” She nudges him away gently, and he sways away from us as he stumbles inside the building.
“What the hell was that?” Straightening up, I roll my shoulders.
No amount of human television could’ve prepared me for this, and I’ve been here less than an hour. My eyes burn from all the flashing bright lights everywhere I turn. I have a pounding headache from the noise, and I’m trying very hard not to gag from the stench.
“Humans find it difficult to resist us.” Astara smirks, pulling me along with her.
“I think it was a terrible idea for me to come here.” I breathe through my mouth when we enter the building that is full of other humans. “You should’ve warned me their scent is so…” my words trail off because I can’t find a word to describe what I feel. Enticing?
All-consuming is more like it.
No wonder we had the Purge.
Astara frowns slightly at me. “You get used to it.” She sounds comforting but eyes me like she’s expecting me to jump and slaughter them all. I don’t blame her. They smell delicious.
They don’t even glance at us as we pass the small clusters of people chatting among each other. A woman dressed in a shimmery dress bumps into me when she walks by, faltering slightly even though she
continues on her way as if nothing happened. Turning my head, I search Astara’s face and see the look of concentration on it.
“Just because you can screw with their minds doesn’t mean you should.” I don’t know why her using her powers on them bothers me so much, but it does.
“Would you rather deal with drooling humans, Franky?” she says it so sweetly that I glare at her. “I didn’t think so.”
“I would’ve been fine if you weren’t next to me.” I stomp beside her in frustration. “I’ve never had anyone drooling over me, thank you very much.”
“You’ve also not been around humans.” Chortling, she points a finger in my face, and my eyes cross when I stare at her red nail. “And you are obviously blind if you think no one is drooling in Sienna. My brother included.” When I try to grab her finger so I can break it, she snatches it away. “I think that’s why I like you. You are clueless when it comes to how everyone perceives you.”
“I’m not trying to attract a mate.” Scowling at her, I stop in front of the silver doors of the elevator. “I’m half blood—”
Flinching, I grind my teeth when she slaps a hand over my mouth, silencing me. How I wish for the power to melt her with a look in this moment. Peeling her fingers off my face, I jut my jaw left and right to remove the strain her claw-like nails gives me.
“I’ll be careful what I say while we are here.” Turning away, she jabs the button on the wall.
“Why? They don’t even see us thanks to your mind fuck.” Folding my arms over my chest, I stare at the glowing numbers on top of the elevator doors.
“The humans are not the only ones in this building.”
I keep my mouth shut when the elevator pings loudly and glides open, releasing a horde of humans at once. Jumping to the side so I don’t get plowed through, I wait impatiently until we are both inside the mirrored walls, then the doors start closing. Taking a breath, I’m left with a slightly opened mouth when a hand shoves into the almost-closed doors, forcing them to open again. Astara stiffens next to me.
