“Fact four: I’ve done worse than this shit before, and Daddy’s never kicked me out.” Raina’s lips curved into a smile as she started toward the far side of the city. “This might be even better than a night at the Rev.”
Chapter Two
No one bothered her on her way through town. Her clothes were too plain for anyone to guess her father owned half the city and was a traitor helping to build the domes besides. A little rebel roaming the streets. There were so many people out wandering at night the city was far safer than in the daylight.
The sun had stolen the day from the people. Its rays were strong enough now that a few hours outside unprotected could leave blistering burns. Get burned often and cancer would take over the skin. And protective sun suits? Her father only sold those to his richest clientele.
The air might stink and rot the lungs. The food and water poisoned slowly. But none of those things could be avoided. The only thing the people of the city could control was hiding from the light.
Darkness is our refuge.
A gang of teenaged boys catcalled her as she passed their stoop. Raina rolled her eyes, not wasting any precious breath on shouting back. An older woman stuck her head out the fourth-floor window.
“I may not be able to chase you off the steps, but I won’t let you steal my sleep!” The woman poured a bucket of water onto the boys.
Raina bit her lips together and ducked down a side street, hurrying along the warehouse row.
The streetlights here were brighter than on the main roads. The owners of the warehouses paid for this street to be maintained.
There was something sick about the road between the hulking buildings being the most normal-looking part of the city.
Her father’s warehouse stood at the end of the street along the edge of the abandoned highway. Raina grinned as she banged on the warehouse door, swallowing her glee at the mere thought of driving a giant truck.
“What do you want?” a snapping voice came over the speaker above the heavy metal door.
“Well…” Raina tipped her chin up to the domed camera. “We can start with you being polite to the boss’s daughter and move on from there.”
“So sorry, Miss McNay.”
The lock beeped.
Raina wrenched open the door and stepped into the vast space. Crates stacked up against the right-hand wall, each baring a name Raina cared nothing about. Construction equipment from trucks to cement mixers took up the middle of the room. Red and blue barrels peeked through from the back, and packed shelves lined the left side of the warehouse.
“What can I do for you, Miss McNay?” A well-built man jogged toward her from the security booth. His chest pushed against the buttons of his shirt.
Did he ask for one too small, or is he actually getting healthier?
“Miss McNay?” the guard repeated.
Three others appeared from the depths of the warehouse, all looking somewhere between scared and annoyed to have Raina paying them a late-night call.
“Daddy screwed up.” Raina pulled out the list the man had given her. “He was supposed to send these supplies to the far side of the river. They’re needed for construction immediately.”
“He could have just called it in.” The guard took the paper from Raina.
“And admit he was too drunk to remember to do his job?” Raina laughed, the sound caught in her throat. “Just put everything in a truck and I’ll drive it over.”
The four men stared at her.
“Now!” Raina shouted. Her voice echoed around the space. Like she was strong, strong enough to give orders. “Actually, double everything on the list. No point in wasting room on a truck, and I’m sure they’ll need it over there eventually.”
“Load up truck sixteen,” the guard said.
The men huddled around him for a moment before scattering to the corners of the warehouse. More voices joined theirs as they shouted to workers Raina couldn’t see.
“I’ll radio over to the work site,” the guard said. “Make sure they know to expect you.”
“Don’t,” Raina said. “Let them be surprised. I like watching all of you scramble.”
“If they know to expect a truck, they’ll have men ready to unload,” the guard said.
Twelve men were now working on loading the truck.
“Does Daddy dearest know you let people sleep during the night shift?” Raina trailed her fingers along the front of the guard’s shirt, landing on his stitched name tag. “Chad.”
“I’m just in charge of the door.” Chad flashed his straight, white teeth. “I don’t know what they do in the rest of the warehouse.”
“Well, Chad”—Raina trailed her fingers up to his neck—“I want to surprise them on the other side of the river. So unless you want me to tell Daddy dearest men are sleeping here, I think you shouldn’t ruin my surprise.”
“Whatever you say, Miss McNay.” Chad squared his shoulders as though he were a soldier taking orders, but a hint of teasing played in his eyes.
“Maybe we should go to your office and make sure you’ve been doing a good job.” She traced the outline of his lips with her finger.
“I’d be thrilled to show you my workspace, Miss McNay.” He turned toward the small glass office in the front corner.
“I want that truck loaded in ten minutes!” Raina shouted to the warehouse ceiling. Her stomach purred at the frantic sounds of workers scurrying behind her.
“As you can see, I work very hard to protect your father’s property.” Chad held open the office door.
A line of monitors displayed an overhead view of every inch of the warehouse and surrounding streets.
“How fancy.” Raina eyed the computer in the corner. “Such a small machine to monitor so many cameras. You must have seen some very interesting things.”
Chad shook his head. His thick hair ruffled around his face, another boast of his health. “I’ve seen some funny stuff. But nothing fit for your ears, Miss McNay.”
“You’d be surprised what I’m fit for.” Raina stepped toward him, ignoring the twinkle in his eyes as she traced the ridges of his chest.
The hard lines of his muscles teased her fingertips. Her breath quickened. Her head spun from the lack of air.
“I bet you could tell me a few stories.” She leaned her weight against him, pressing him toward the narrow door in the back corner of the room. “Secrets nobody else needs to hear.”
She ran her fingers through his hair, trailing her nose up the curve of his neck.
He shuddered a sigh as she nipped the bottom of his ear.
He opened the closet door before she knew he’d reached for the handle. The glowing lights of the fuses and control panels gave depth to the shadows.
“I like it.” Raina tugged open the buttons of his shirt, backing him farther into the room. “Now close your eyes.”
He shut his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing her to him.
“Shh,” she hushed in his ear, wriggling against him for a moment before stepping back. “Count to three.”
“One, two—”
Raina slammed and locked the closet door before he reached three.
“Asshole.” She seized the wires connecting the computer to the walls and wrenched them free.
“What are you doing?” Chad banged on the door.
“Hush now, the boss is working.” Raina snatched a pen and paper, scrawling a quick note.
“You have to let me out of here! I’m supposed to be guarding your father’s property.”
“Yeah, well, you suck.” Raina taped the note to the door.
I tried to screw the boss’s daughter.
She twisted the center of the knob on the door to the warehouse, locking the office from the inside.
“Is my truck loaded yet?” Her voice rang around the space.
“We need a few more minutes.” A red-faced man puffed past, carrying a crate filled with wire spools.
“You have three minutes to
get the rest of the supplies loaded, or I’ll tell Daddy you want the construction of the domes to fail.”
A moment of silence followed Raina’s words.
A murmur of growled curses and bangs came next as the men scrambled to finish.
A forklift loaded a palate of crates into the back of the truck with a heavy thunk. Before it had fully backed away, barrels were being heaved in behind.
“That’s more like it.” Raina strode over to the truck, her heart racing against her slow pace.
Sense told her it wouldn’t work. Someone would tell her the handwriting on the list wasn’t her father’s. Or tell her she wasn’t authorized to remove assets from the warehouse.
She reached for the handle of the truck door. Her fingers closed around the metal.
“Are you sure you want to drive this over?” A gray-haired man blocked the door with his shoulder.
“You think I can’t drive?” Raina touched the man’s shoulder with one finger, shoving him aside with minuscule force.
“I’d be happy to drive the truck across and we can make sure you get safely home.” Worried lines creased the man’s brow.
“I’m not Little Red Riding Hood.” She swung open the truck door. “Finish loading so I can get the hell out of here.”
The keys waited in the ignition, swinging lazily like there was no danger in letting just anyone touch them.
The garage door in front of her rumbled up.
“And you’re all set,” a voice called from behind.
“You loaded in everything Daddy asked for?” Raina’s voice came out bright and chipper.
“Doubled the whole list, Miss McNay,” the voice said.
Raina’s heart leapt into her throat as she turned the key and the engine jumped to life.
“Good work, boys,” she called out the window.
Raina hummed to herself as she drove toward the highway. The power of riding high above the ground, of moving quickly without pain surging through her chest, filled her with a foreign sense of joy.
A bump in the road jolted the tires as she turned onto the highway. The cargo in the back banged around.
“Oops.” She slowed down, weaving around the largest of the splits in the concrete.
Two figures scattered out of range of her headlights as she reached the road heading up the hill.
Houses sat along the narrow street. Light peered through the windows of some of the homes while others had been abandoned, the glass in their windows long since shattered. She didn’t know if the people living this far from the city were brave or just plain stupid.
She slowed as she neared the end of the road and the shadows of the forest loomed in front of her. The sense of someone watching her from the darkness sent her heart racing. Spasms shook her lungs. She coughed red onto the steering wheel.
“Dammit.” She tried to wipe the blood away with her sleeve but only succeeded in making the smudges larger.
Brush grew waist high in front of the truck. There wasn’t a curb to mark the end of the street. The pavement just ran out, like they’d meant to go farther into the woods, but the end of the world had ceased the construction.
Raina stopped the truck. Her fingers sat frozen on the keys.
After a minute the fear of the truck being mobbed by dozens of super strong men disappeared, replaced by the sinking feeling of being fooled.
“You’re an idiot, Raina. Met a guy in a bar and stole from your father.”
Her father would forgive her. Cut off her money for a week, but then everything would go back to normal. She would be able to die in peace.
A pathetic, whimpering end to a meaningless life.
“Nope.” Raina pulled the keys from the ignition and kicked open the truck door. “Hey, you! I brought you what you want, now stop being a chicken shit and come out and get it.”
Her gaze swept the trees. A hint of gray had begun to kiss the sky, but the forest in front of her stayed shrouded in shadow.
“Look, you said be here by dawn and I made it in time,” Raina shouted. “Do you want everything from your shopping list or not?”
“Did you get it all?” He stepped out from behind a tree, two other men flanking him.
“I got double what you asked for.” Raina gave a cocky smile. “It’s a big truck, and I didn’t want to waste the space.”
He nodded to the two men who moved toward the back of the truck.
“You want to do a check before you save my life?” Raina ran through the list in her mind.
They loaded everything. Those assholes better have loaded everything.
“If there was something you couldn’t get, I would still save you.” He walked toward Raina, pulling something from his pocket she couldn’t see. “It means more to me that you would do everything in your power to help me than how well-stocked your father’s warehouse currently is. You did well back there.” He stopped two feet in front of Raina, his black eyes locked on her face.
“How do you know?” Raina fought the urge to look away.
“I have ways of watching that aren’t housed in security booths.” He smiled. “I’m very grateful for what you’ve done for me tonight.”
“Then can we get to the part where you save me?” Sweat slicked Raina’s palms.
“If that’s what you want.” He raised his hand.
Raina’s heart flipped.
He’s going to slit my throat.
A metal syringe filled with milky white fluid lay in his palm. “This is your salvation.”
Raina reached for the needle.
“But”—he closed his fist—“you have to understand, there is a price.”
“I’ve paid the price.” Raina spoke through gritted teeth. “The stuff in that truck is the price.”
“The price isn’t a payment for me,” he said. “There are side effects. Your lungs will be healed, you will be stronger than you’ve ever dreamt of—”
“Sounds great.” Raina reached for the syringe again.
He tucked his hand behind his back. “You won’t be able to go out into the sun anymore.”
“The sun isn’t safe for anyone,” Raina said.
“One dose of this and a minute in the sun could kill you. You won’t be able to eat normal food anymore.”
“I don’t care what I have to eat,” Raina said. “I’m tired of choking on my own blood.”
“Blood will be your only food.”
Raina blinked. “You’re shitting me.”
“It’s the only nourishment the medicine will allow you to metabolize.” He took Raina’s hand. “You won’t be able to go back to your family, not until you’ve fully adjusted.”
“Because I’ll want to drink their blood,” Raina laughed. “You just sent me to steal from my father so you could save my life by making me a vampire?”
“Vampires are myths. What I have is sound science,” he said.
“Yeah right.”
She spun toward the truck. He was in front of her before she could take a step.
“You know I’m not a normal human,” he said. “The medicine saved me, changed me. It can do the same for you. But I won’t lie to you about the side effects. You’ll be alive, but your life will never be what it was before.”
“Why should I believe you?” Raina’s eyes burned, her desperate need to trust him battling with her desire to claw out his dark eyes.
“Because I jumped from the roof and landed alive.” He held the needle out to her. “Because if I’m lying, then all you have to lose is a few more months of dying. Because you have great potential, Raina McNay, and I would hate to see it rot with you in the ground.”
She snatched the needle from him. “So I just inject it?”
“I can do it for you.”
“Trust me, I’ll be fine.” Raina pulled a foot long band from her back pocket.
“You should aim for a vein.”
She tightened the band around her arm with her teeth, squeezing her hand into a fist. “I said I’ll be
fine.”
In the beams of the truck’s headlights, she searched her arm for a vein.
“How soon do I get to be cured?” Raina asked.
“By tonight your cough will be gone,” he said. “Give it a few weeks, and you’ll be jumping from rooftops without a scratch. We’ll take you someplace safe to wait out the sunlight.”
“Thanks.” She pushed the needle into her arm and pressed the milky fluid into her veins. She gasped as ice raced through her blood. “It is supposed to be that cold?”
“The ice will last a few hours.”
He took Raina’s arm, steadying her as the syringe slipped from her grip.
“Just relax,” he said. “The frost is saving you.”
The ice reached the backs of her eyes, sending white spots bursting through her vision.
“Am I dying?” The world tilted as her legs gave out, but she didn’t hit the ground.
He lifted her, carrying her to the back of the truck. “You aren’t dying, Raina. You’re being born into your new life. I’ll stay with you until the ice melts. I’m building a new world, and you’re going to be with me at the center of it.”
The ice froze her lungs, but the lack of air held no pain.
“I don’t”—Raina fought for an ounce of air—“Who are you?”
“Emanuel.” His voice carried through the darkness. “You and I are going to build a new world.”
Chapter Three
Nothing existed beyond the edges of the ice. No air. No sound. No pain.
Only cold to keep her trapped for all eternity.
Emanuel had promised to heal her, to fix her lungs. Raina hadn’t thought to ask if the cure was spending the rest of her days frozen.
This couldn’t be death, not as she had spent so many years expecting the end to come. True death would be more peaceful.
A perfect nothing.
Because, as the ice ebbed away from the edges of her flesh, Raina found something beyond the nothing.
Soft sheets tucked tightly around her. The hum of tools working not far away. Voices laughing at a joke she hadn’t heard.
Raina discovered she could move as she opened her eyes.
Death of Day Page 2
