The City Beneath

by Melody Johnson

  “My brother, Nathan.” I frowned harder, looking at two measly missed calls, neither from Nathan. “If you didn’t yet, someone must have. He hasn’t called or texted me once, the bum.”

  Meredith didn’t say anything. I glanced up from my phone, about to complain about uncaring, ungrateful brothers, but her expression killed the words before they passed my lips.

  “Your brother,” she repeated.

  “Yeah,” I said carefully. “We were supposed to meet up yesterday. Considering the stories I’ve been covering lately, I thought he’d be worried about me.” I looked down at my phone. “Although now, I’m not so sure he cares at all.”

  “Ok. I’ll call your brother,” Meredith said. “Nathan, is it?” She was agreeing with me, but it didn’t sound like agreement. It sounded like appeasement.

  I blinked. “You’re kidding, right? Of course, Nathan. My hair. My height. My eyes. Nose ring. Basically a funnier, more pleasant and compassionate, male version of me?”

  Meredith stared at me.

  “You’ve known my brother just as long as you’ve known me,” I said, dumbfounded.

  “Sure,” she said. She stood from the bed. “I’ll be right back, Cassidy. I could really use some coffee after the day I’ve had. Do you need anything?”

  I shook my head, watching her watch me with very careful consideration.

  She squeezed my hand firmly. “I’ll be right back.”

  Meredith left the room, and dread tightened through my stomach, aching worse than the real pain of my physical injuries. I could only think of one scenario in which Meredith would suffer from memory loss, and only one creature who could possibly confirm my suspicion. Although Meredith’s scrambled memory was worrisome of its own accord—I wondered how much a memory could be altered before permanent brain damage incurred—a worse question haunted the rest of my evening: Why would the memory of my brother be the memory in need of alteration?

  I keyed up the contacts on my phone, scrolled down to the D’s, and called Nathan myself. I thought of all the grievances I’d blast at him as the phone began to ring—skipping our meeting, ignoring my calls, sending Greta to my office after sunset, not caring that I was in the hospital—and as his phone continued to ring, I thought of the most important words I needed to say, the words I’d been too scared to voice earlier: I’m a night blood, vampires exist, and we’re going to survive this together.

  But his phone just kept ringing.

  As the evening darkened, the hospital settled into the drones and beeps of quiet hours, and Dominic, as usual, didn’t disappoint. The sun had just dipped below the horizon, and shards of sunlight still pierced the sky with red and orange hues when the window curtain fluttered. I couldn’t see him. From the angle of the window and the position of my bed, I could only see the sky outside, and not one inch of him had crossed the threshold.

  “I thought you had permission to enter, permission that couldn’t be revoked,” I said to the window.

  Silence answered me.

  I sighed. “I saw the curtain flutter, Dominic. I know you’re there.”

  “I can only enter your apartment,” Dominic admitted. I could hear the grumble of grudging frustration in his voice. “Public places are accessible to me, but this is your room as assigned by your chart. You must invite me before I may enter.”

  I swallowed. “You didn’t turn me. When you had the opportunity, you chose to let me live as a human. Why?”

  “I will not explain myself to you while clinging to the side of a building in plain sight,” Dominic said stubbornly. “My actions speak for me. If I still haven’t earned a modicum of your trust, there’s nothing I can say to assuage your doubts. Will you invite me of your own free will, or must I convince a nurse to allow my entrance? Either way I will enter your room, but after all we’ve survived together, I’d say that such games are beneath us.”

  I hesitated to agree. Despite what was probably my better judgment, I wanted to let him enter. He hadn’t turned me when he’d had the chance, and frankly, I needed answers. On a sigh, I breathed, “Dominic Lysander, you may enter this room.”

  I blinked, and he was at my bedside. He stared down at me with those otherworldly, luminous blue eyes that reflected the moonlight like a fractured mirror. He was once again the perfect, polished designer version of himself. Gone was any evidence of gargoyle features, savagery, and blood. His hair was immaculately cut, faded on the sides, and styled in a deliberate tousle. His clothes were once again high fashion, fit to his form, and sleek. He looked like trouble, a different sort of trouble than he truly was, but even posh and polished, you couldn’t take the predator out of the beast by pinning a bow to its collar.

  I lifted my hand and gestured at him to answer to my question. “Well?”

  “They haven’t given you a sufficient dosage of medication,” Dominic said, frowning.

  “They gave me exactly the amount necessary,” I snapped. “Besides, you haven’t even looked at my chart; how do you know how much medicine they did or didn’t give me?”

  “I know a great deal. Your blood smells delicious. Not as sweet as usual, but not as bitter as it should smell if you were properly medicated.” Dominic narrowed his eyes. “You need rest. Night bloods don’t heal as quickly while in pain.”

  “I’ll heal just fine,” I gritted, having already received this exact lecture from my doctor and several nurses, and also feeling disturbed by the fact that he could smell the sweetness in my blood. “What I need is answers, which I can’t ask while drugged into oblivion. Medication wouldn’t even be in question if you’d healed me completely,” I muttered.

  “You think I deliberately left you injured?” he asked. A low vibration hummed through his voice. “When have I ever left you in any condition other than whole and healthy after being in my care?”

  I opened my mouth.

  Dominic continued before I could respond. “You called Greta. She knew you were severely injured, police had already investigated the scene, and you were declared a missing person. They had already gathered samples of your blood. Although I may have been able to convince everyone that you hadn’t called, that the blood wasn’t yours, and given you a credible alibi for the twenty-four hours you were missing, Detective Wahl would”—Dominic mulled over his words a moment—“complicate the matter.”

  “She doesn’t know about vampires. She’s not a night blood.”

  “Of course not,” Dominic scoffed. “But she doesn’t quite believe my version of events, either. In order to convince her, I couldn’t change what she already believed. I could only capitalize on it.” Dominic leveled his gaze on mine. “You told her vampires were responsible for the murders.”

  I opened my mouth and closed it, at a loss.

  “Yes, I knew about that,” he added smugly. “I know everything.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “So I planted evidence to corroborate her suspicion that a gang, now referred to as vamps, are responsible.”

  I blinked. “But they aren’t. You can’t just blame innocent people for crimes that your coven—”

  “I can do exactly as I want, and they are in no way innocent. The gang is responsible for other murders. They should have been incarcerated long ago. After I regained control of the coven, I healed you and Ian, and I convinced him of my plan. He brought you to the ER to convince Greta, and I took care of everyone else.”

  “You healed Walker?” I asked, shocked.

  “How else could he have survived?” Dominic said, frowning. He looked offended. “Unless you wanted me to turn you, this was my only option.”

  “No, I appreciate that you didn’t turn me. And I thank you,” I said evenly. “But I thought, if given the opportunity, you would anyway.”

  “Yes,” Dominic hissed with an elongated s. “I could have healed you completely and erased all memory of you from the humans.” Dominic snorted. “Your Ian would’ve been a problem, of course.”

  I frowned. “What does Ian, er,
Walker have to do with anything?”

  “He would have retained the memory of you, and been a, how to put it delicately”—a grin spread across his face as he deliberated—“a permanent pain in my ass.”

  “Walker’s a pain in your ass anyway,” I countered. “Why didn’t you turn me?”

  Dominic rubbed the back of his neck with his palm, and the helplessness of his frustration seemed a very human gesture. “Did you want to be turned?”

  “No, but I didn’t think my willingness mattered to you,” I whispered.

  “It didn’t, nor should it. I am Master of my coven, and should we need or want more vampires, it’s my right to change whom I desire,” Dominic said haughtily. “But then, Jillian never wanted to be a member of my coven, and I adopted her as my own anyway.” He sighed. “She seemed loyal and steadfast, but she obviously had her own agenda.”

  I nodded. “What will happen to her and Kaden and their followers?”

  Dominic’s expression tightened. “Jillian and Kaden are being punished for their crimes against the coven as I see fit. The rebels have once again accepted me as Master, but as my powers wane, it may only be a matter of time before another decides that he or she is capable of overthrowing my rule.” He inched closer, his gaze unwavering. “I need someone who will fight my battles by my side, someone who will be my eyes and ears and strength during the day, and I will unequivocally be hers during the night.” He met my eyes and smiled a genuine, friendly, lovely smile, knowing that I would love his next words. “I need backup.”

  I was helpless not to smile back. “I am very good backup.”

  Dominic nodded, his smile widening to expose his fangs. “Yes, you are. And that is exactly why I did not turn you. You risked your life to save mine. You chose to heal me instead of yourself during a moment in which I never expected such selflessness. And I thank you.”

  I could feel the heat of my blush to the root of my hairline. I cleared my throat.

  “Although we must discuss the fact that you broke your promise.”

  I leaned my ear closer to him, pretending that I hadn’t heard him. “Excuse me?”

  “You promised me that you would never again use mind control against me. You swore by the constant and certain passage of time.”

  My anger was swift and boiling. “You were dying, and I commanded you to heal! If one command should be excluded from that promise, that would be it! You—”

  Dominic laughed. “God, your anger is delicious. I am merely, how do you say, kidding.”

  I blinked, thrown by the genuine pleasure in his laughter. “Oh.”

  “You saved us. I am not quibbling with that. After my experience with Jillian, however, more imperative than becoming a member of my coven, I feel it imperative that you want to become a member of my coven. When I turn you, I’ll already have your loyalty from the start.”

  I tapped my index finger against the mattress, mulling his words. “I’ll agree to be your backup and loyally work toward the best interests of your coven if you’ll agree to loyally work toward the best interests of this city.”

  Dominic nodded deeply.

  “But understand right now from the start that I do not and never will want to be turned. I’ll consider you turning me a violation of our agreement. I will never be your backup as a vampire, even after having been your backup as a human.” I was so adamant that my voice shook at the end.

  “Night blood,” he countered.

  “What?”

  “You will never be my backup as a vampire, even after having been my backup as a night blood.”

  “Semantics,” I snapped. “You understand what I’m saying.”

  He tried to mask it, but I could see Dominic smelling the air. His expression darkened and tightened and a very low, nearly imperceptible growl rumbled from his chest. I realized that he could smell the scent of my mounting anger, and he liked it. He liked it a lot.

  “This isn’t a game,” I whispered

  “This is all a game,” he said hoarsely. “You just haven’t moved any of your pieces.”

  “I thought such games were beneath us,” I mocked, trying to temper my anger. He was right. I’d been bombarded by attacks this entire week and only reacting to them. Even my one plan to infiltrate the coven was for Walker, and we’d all barely survived.

  Dominic reached out and smoothed his thumb down the side of my neck. He closed his eyes for a moment, his fingertips resting against my pulse, and I tried to keep my breath steady. I felt my heart spike despite my efforts, and Dominic groaned.

  “Some games are worth playing,” he said, and the timbre of his voice was once again under control. “And I have a move for you.”

  I lifted my eyebrows.

  “As I understand, Walker has extended you an invitation to visit him at his home in the country.”

  I nodded, not sure where he could possibly be going with this conversation, but positive I wouldn’t like it one bit.

  “You should visit him.”

  I blinked. “I should?”

  “Yes. He is deeply involved with his Master there, and she will no doubt question our alliance after yesterday’s events. You must represent yourself as exactly what you are to me, a night blood who has willingly agreed to help the Master of your city. You must present me in the best possible light, prove that my alliance with her has not dwindled, and display your anticipation of being turned.”

  My temper erupted. “I am not anticipating being turn—”

  Dominic covered my mouth with his hand and rolled his eyes on a sigh. “I know. I understand your position on the matter perfectly, but that is the role you will play. She will see in you the exact person she is trying to create in Walker, and she will come to me in peace to understand how such a feat was accomplished rather than in war.”

  Understanding dawned and my temper alleviated slightly. “You want me to soften her image of you.”

  “Yes. Walker was gravely injured in my coven. Although I healed his injuries, Bex will undoubtedly consider this a break in our alliance. Her coven is smaller, but she is older and more powerful than me when I’m at full strength. As the Leveling approaches, I grow weaker every day. With my coven threatening rebellion, I’m sure another coup will rise before the month’s end; the last thing we need is a vampire like Bex to compound the issue.”

  I frowned. “Would she attempt to usurp the coven from you?”

  “I believe her main focus for many years now has been Walker. If she believes that course has run dry, I don’t know where her motives may refocus, but I’m certain that I don’t want them focused on me or my coven. Since she won’t allow me to mend our bond in person without declaring war between us, you must go in my stead.”

  I had planned to visit Walker anyway, so Dominic’s plans would only expedite my own. “All right. Agreed, but I have a request of my own.”

  Dominic nodded. “Of course, partner,” he said on a grin. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

  I pursed my lips, unsure how to proceed. “Could a member of your coven have turned a night blood into a vampire without you knowing it?”

  “Absolutely not. Despite what Jillian and Kaden claim, only a Master’s blood has the strength to sustain the night blood through the change.” Dominic’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you ask? Is there another vampire who has approached you?” Dominic growled.

  I shook my head, not wanting to fight about Kaden. I had other concerns. “You also mentioned that had you turned me into a vampire, you could erase my human life. What did you mean by that?”

  Dominic pursed his lips. “No one would remember that you existed, except of course other night bloods.”

  I covered my face with my hands, suddenly exhausted and sickened.

  “What do these questions have to do with your request?” Dominic asked. He seemed truly baffled.

  “I think I—” I began, but my voice broke. I swallowed and started again. “I think I need your help to find my brother. I think he migh
t have been a night blood.”

  Dominic nodded. “Considering you’re a night blood, that is most certainly the case of any sibling. But why would you need my help finding him? Wouldn’t a simple call suffice?” Dominic asked dryly. “Or do you want to bring me along as proof when you break the big, bad news to him?”

  I swallowed again, attempting to speak calmly through the emotion clogging my throat. “No, I think he knew more about vampires than either of us wanted to admit. And I don’t think he’s a night blood anymore.” My voice broke again on a sob. I clenched my hands into tight, impenetrable fists to pull myself together and speak past the grief. “Dominic, I need your help to find Nathan because I think he might be dead. Or worse, I think he might be a vampire.”

  Loved THE CITY BENEATH?

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  the next book in Melody Johnson’s thrilling Night Blood series

  Available Fall 2015

  “I can’t wait to see you, darlin’,” Walker said, at least once per conversation during the multiple phone calls we’d enjoyed daily for three weeks. I would have found his consistency and regularity toward someone else nauseating, but between all the darlin’s and ma’ams, we shared an indelible bond that went beyond incorrigible flirtation. Meredith assured me that I owed it to myself to discover how deep that bond could grow, but I remained skeptical of both him and my feelings for him. We’d only been in the same place for one week. How well could I legitimately come to know a person in one week? But when I looked back at the week we’d shared and survived, I swallowed my doubts.

  “Pu-lease, you say that to all the girls,” I said to him. My tone was deliberately sarcastic, but I was glad we were over the phone; he’d know by my ridiculous smile that I was just as excited to finally see him, too. “You forget that I’ve seen you in action.”

  “You certainly have.” Walker’s voice deepened salaciously, and I was reminded of that one night in my office. He’d lifted me onto my desk, and his strong hands had touched me in places I’d never thought I could feel again.