I put the landline down and pick it up. It could have just been dropped, and Nadine could have just forgotten to lock the door when she left the flat. If I believed in coincidences, maybe I could kid myself that she isn’t in trouble. Even if she didn’t have a target painted on her back because of me, I would find this shit suspicious.
I don’t waste another second in the flat. I shove her phone into my pocket and head out to the crystal shop at a sprint. First things, first. I need to load up an arsenal for the war I’m about to start. Chances are, the bastards have taken Nadine.
Chapter Thirty-Two
I’m not in enough of a hurry to ignore the overwhelming suspicion that I’m being followed. Maybe I should have been, because turning to find Nisha’s planned gift to Tristian before I’d freed Dawn froze me to the spot. Seeing Nisha’s grin on the teenager’s face, and knowing what had happened as she approached, made something short out in my brain. It took a few seconds for the wheels to get moving again, a few painfully long seconds.
“I’ve been looking for you,” she says in the sing-song way she seems to favour whenever she’s in the mood to be particularly menacing.
I don’t need to ask what she’s done. It’s obvious. She’s found another body to hijack, another unwitting victim to torture. Anger began a slow burn within me as I got over the shock of seeing her again. I should have expected this.
Her hand caresses the front of my T-shirt, her smile warming up. “What’s wrong? You’re not happy to see me?”
I grab her hand, grip tightening on her wrist. It might not hurt, but a broken wrist will make it harder for her to attack.
“Oh, wait,” she says. “I know what’s wrong…”
Her free hand yanks my pendants free and snaps them in an instant. They fall away, leaving me exposed, open to every threat available. I keep hold of her wrist, and catch the other as she laughs at me. The sound of that spiteful laughter was what did it, I felt him roar to life within me. His woman is back.
“No fucking way.” I fight to maintain control as he wrestles it away from me. My fingers relax on her wrists, slip to her hands and pull her in close.
“Nisha,” he whispers. “I’ve missed you so much.”
She gazes at him darkly, backing away as he moves to kiss her. He doesn’t understand why she’s backing off. Until she smirks and gives her answer.
“This is a temporary body, Tristian. I intend to get my old one back.”
“I like the sound of that,” he murmurs, desire washing through him at the thought of Dawn. “But how?”
She holds up a pouch. “Dawn is going to trade places with me.”
“I’m not sure that will work. A vampire needs a demon to exist.”
“Then Dawn will cease to be the moment I slip back into her skin. It’ll just be like old times.” She laughs again, and this time he joins her.
The horror that fills me at her plan only grows as they make their way back to Hollow Grove. Tristan is back in full control, and there’s no way he’s going to give it up without a fight. I will have to pick my moment. Stay still, act like he has me right where he wants me. Wait for that moment of distraction, a few short seconds of complacency. I’d step in the instant he gave me an inch. Keeping Dawn safe would stop him from being able to pull back control. There’s no better motivator for my will power.
I wait while they laugh and talk on the drive back to town. The car’s owner was dead in the backseat. There was still a bloody line on the windscreen where the spray of her throat being slit had spattered the glass. These two are deadly, but they’re also reckless. I’ll find an in. I’ll get back control. I have to. For Dawn.
New Dawn: Part Nine
Dawn
Chapter Thirty-Three
Waking up alone is an unpleasant surprise. My dreams had been peaceful, for once. Connor had calmed my restless mind, but now, I began to wonder if he’d had the same reservations I’d had. That what we were doing was messed up.
No, wait. He’d said something, before he’d fallen asleep. He’d told me to remind him of something he had to do later. What was it? He had bad guys to catch? Right. There was that whole thing with the guy on the news. My disappointment wanes. He hadn’t left because he didn’t want to be here. This isn’t a typical morning after situation. There’s nothing even remotely typical about what this was.
I get up, stretch a little and walk over to the window. It’s dark outside, nightfall.
My heart quickens as I remember Nisha is out there. I hadn’t warned Connor. It had completely slipped my mind the moment I heard his voice. Like it didn’t even matter.
“Shit!” I get dressed quickly. I have to get out there, to find Connor and warn him, or to find Nisha and figure out how to deal with her. How the hell am I going to deal with her? We seemed to be equally matched in a fight. A vampire had very little true weaknesses. Aside from cutting her head off or putting a stake through her heart, the only things that might work were sunlight, holy water, or fire. It was pitch black outside. I had some holy water Nadine had given me and I could probably find something with a flame dangerous enough to use on her if I checked the maintenance cupboard in the downstairs landing.
Nadine’s phone rang out when I called her. Probably for the best. I wouldn’t have known what to tell her anyway. I’d need her help later. I wondered if she’d give up the spell Connor had used on me. A little voice in the back of my head reminded me I could only cast that spell once. Did I really want to use it to save her? What about Connor?
I could have agonised over it all night, but the reality is Nadine wasn’t answering her phone so it was a moot point, for now. I could think about it once I had Nisha tied up in my bathroom.
It wasn’t much of a plan, but disabling Nisha is preferable to killing her. Considering how quickly she’d come back, destroying the girl she’s possessing would be pointless. I don’t want her hurt, besides. I want to save her. Like Connor had saved me. Whatever it takes, I’m going to damn well try.
I put two little bottles of holy water into my jacket pocket and walk down to the maintenance cupboard. The padlock looks impenetrable. I didn’t much fancy the thought of going into my dead landlord’s apartment to look for the key, so I started to pull at the door with my new undead strength. The handle is solid enough not to twist at the pressure. I pull hard and the lock creaks and then snaps. Smiling, I peer into the dark room. There’s a ton of gardening supplies inside for the communal garden out back, there’s also a crap-ton of cobwebs. I wonder how long it had been since someone had been inside. My eyesight adjusts quickly and I step into the room and take a long look around. There are plenty of options for tools with pointed ends. I shake the idea off. It might be easier, but I can’t give up on trying to save the girl. There has to be something…
The canister doesn’t catch my attention at first. I only notice it after I consider almost every other object in the room. It’s basically a tiny flame thrower, used to kill weeds. It’s about the only helpful object in the room.
I pick it up, slightly concerned that I have no real way to hide it in or under my coat. The shape is too weird, it’s too big. I hold it by my side as I walk out, closing the cupboard door. The busted lock falls to the ground with a clang. I wonder if anyone will even notice.
There’s bite to the air as I walk out into the night. I try to remember what Connor’s disguise looks like. I know he’ll be wearing it. It really looked nothing like him.
The night is quiet. It isn’t a party town. There are student towns close by, places with universities and colleges that were bustling with night life, but Hollow Grove isn’t one of those places. It isn’t big enough to be considered a city and it will never be a cool place to visit. I’m glad of that tonight. I know she’ll be out here, somewhere, and I’m going to find her.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The park is eerily still. The playground a ghostly scene as the wind howls through the metal funnel of the chute, and pushes at the swings,
causing the chains to creak and groan. Creepy as hell. I walk past at a brisk pace, down the path towards the canal. Figuring my best bet is to head the way she’d gone the night before, I get moving. Considering I have no starting point for finding Connor, I’m resigned to hunting down the demon who’d possessed me on my own.
My plan consists of threatening her before knocking her out, using the flame thrower to show her I mean business. It’s not a good idea. My back-up plan consists of running to get her to follow me back to my flat, then knocking her out and trapping her until I can find a way to save the girl. I wish Nadine had picked up her phone. My plan feels ridiculous, half-baked. At least if I had some sort of defence spell I’d have an actual upper hand.
It took an hour of wandering down dark pathways to find some sign of her. The headphones belonged to the girl. They’d been discarded on the path under a tunnel, cracked and dirtied from lying on the ground. Anger sparks in me, my drive for this mission renewing. Nisha took this teenager against her will. She’d turned her to suit her own selfish purposes.
I know that I’ll find her nearby. I just don’t expect to find her with company. The sounds of a couple in love assault my ears as I round a corner, the path narrowing in front of me. Trees and overgrown weeds on one side, and a high wall on the other, I find myself stalled in horror at the sight of Nisha and Connor embracing passionately, her back against the wall, his hand pushing up her skirt. I almost drop my pathetic weapon. If I was still alive, I’m sure I would have stopped breathing. What the hell?
Then common sense rushes back into me, reminding me of Connor’s demon. Tristan is in love with this bitch. She’d just gone and found him. Why wouldn’t she? It was Connor who’d sent her back to Hell. Not Tristan.
They part as a hand grips my shoulder. Someone else is here. I slam my elbow back into his face and break away, stumbling into a tree to be freed.
The guy doesn’t look too healthy. He’s groaning as he straightens, though a smile pushes to the surface within a few seconds, a smile he turns on me before his gaze drifts to the embracing couple. With a thick scar running down his cheek, and stringy hair falling in his face, I’ll be surprised if this isn’t some sort of low-life. Not to mention his attempt to touch me. I shiver at the thought. Nisha laughs. I can only be thankful that it means she’s no longer forcing her tongue down Connor’s throat.
“She made it, Tristan, look. We didn’t have to go hunt her down after all.”
He turns his impassive gaze on me and I force down the conflicting emotions he awakens inside me. Connor isn’t home right now. This is the demon. I have to remember that.
“I found you,” the low-life says, a hint of glee in his tone. He’s staring directly at Connor.
I watch and wait for my chance. Nisha is fast, so I need to be faster. The added complications seem to be rising. How am I supposed to take on two at once? Three, even? The odds are stacked against me now. A sinking feeling grows in the pit of my stomach. I’m going to lose. And losing means Nisha gets what she wants, to trap me again. To take over my body. I can’t let that happen.
“Hmm,” Tristan murmurs, looking the creep over. “This one’s a bit dangerous, according to Connor. Maybe we should bleed him out before we go after Dawn.”
Nisha grabs my arm and yanks me towards her. She shakes her head. “Spell first. Blood later.”
The stranger takes a gun out of his pocket. “I’ve had enough of your spells, Con. That mind-trip you sent me on really fucked things up for me. I’m out of the inner circle now. I’m on the edge. One false step and I’ll be pushed into oblivion. You’re going to pay for that.”
The fired shot makes Nisha’s eyes widen. It freezes me in place. Connor looks down, blood on his hand when he touches his stomach. It isn’t visible on the dark fabric, but I can see it dark and thick on his hand, running through his fingers and dripping onto the ground.
Low-life starts to walk closer. “There are six bullets in this gun and every one of them has your name on it.”
He fires a second time and though Connor moves inhumanly fast, he curses as the second bullet hits him in his side. Panic swells in me. Could they actually hurt him? I’m not sure and I don’t want to witness another second of this madness.
“Stop,” I command, staring at the low-life until he looks back at me. “Stop shooting at Connor.”
He can’t deny my order, the compulsion that still works its magic, a leftover gift from being a vampire. I watch his face contort, before the creepy smile comes back in all its cracked and smarmy glory.
“Fine,” he says. “I won’t shoot him.”
He pulls the trigger and I gasp as the bullet hits. There’s no pain, but I feel the skin break, muscle tear, something inside perforate. It’s awful, and it all seems to happen in slow motion. I expect another, maybe all three of the others, but when I look up from the wound, the low-life is on the ground. When my gaze locks on Connor there’s no trace of Tristan in his eyes.
“Connor?” It’s barely a whisper. I’m almost too afraid to believe it’s really him.
Nisha starts to spew words that don’t make any sense as he gazes at me. The moment we shared is broken when he yanks her to him by the throat, cutting off her foreign words. Anger blazes in his eyes.
“Don’t hurt her,” I tell him, my voice weak.
He frowns at me before he smacks her head against a tree. She goes limp and he throws her over his shoulder. “If we can save the girl, we will. If Nisha tries to hurt you again I’m going to kill her.”
“What happened to Tristan?” Now that he’s closer I can see he isn’t wearing either of his pendants. My stomach starts to churn. This can’t be a good thing.
“I got control back when he got shot. We’re both going to be fine. This won’t kill either of us. It was the shock that made it possible for me to wrestle control back from him.”
“So, what’s the plan now?”
“We get her back to your place and we find Nadine. I need my charm back, and we need one for the girl.”
“Wait a minute, did you say we need to ‘find’ Nadine?”
“She was taken, but don’t worry. I think I know where she is.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Connor takes complete control, and I’m happy to have him back. I follow him along without asking questions. He knows what to do. Just like the night he freed me. His quiet confidence reassures me. The sooner we free this girl from her torture the better.
Worry only begins to flow through me as we get close to my flat. Without the charm to supress the demon, Tristan had come back easily. It isn’t the first time that’s happened but it scares me all the same. I need to get the spell from Nadine. The one that will free him from his demon.
There must be some other way to help the girl. Maybe it’ll just mean using a charm for a while until we find out what that other way is. I can’t use the spell to help her. As much as it pains me to think that way, I know if I can only make that deal once that I want to use it to save Connor like he saved me.
“Are you okay?” he asks when he gets done tying Nisha up in the bathroom.
I bring my gaze up to his and nod. He can’t know what I’m planning. I doubt he’d allow me to make the trade he’d made so easily for me. I bite at my lower lip as I try to fight back the question that realisation pulls through me. I need to know.
“Why did you free me?”
“I told you, I had to. You weren’t going to last…”
“You couldn’t know that. Besides, you barely knew me. Why should my life matter to you?”
He sighs. “You didn’t deserve what she was doing to you.”
“Neither does that girl in there.” But he’d been prepared to kill her without a second of hesitation. I’d seen it in his eyes.
“She’s not strong like you, Dawn. Nisha took her too young. Even if she gets free, she’ll be messed up in the head.” He leans against the door.
“Like I’m not,” I mutter. It’s bullshit
and I know it.
“The truth is it was instinct,” he says, looking away. “I was never a good person, Dawn. Not when I was alive, not now. But that’s not your problem. I’m going to take care of things, and then I’m leaving. You’ll never have to see me again.”
What kind of answer was that? I stare at him but he refuses to meet my eyes again.
“I have to go find Nadine.”
“I’m coming with you.”
He shakes his head. “You need to make sure she doesn’t wake up and try to escape. And don’t let her talk, whatever you do. She was casting a spell back there. A dangerous one.”
He might have a point, but I don’t have to like it. “Fine.”
It’s not fine, but I fold my arms and stare at the bathroom door as he leaves the flat. I need that spell from Nadine. The sooner that damned demon is pushed out of him, the better.
New Dawn: Part Ten
Connor
Chapter Thirty-Six
I almost killed that girl in front of her. Almost let the thought of tearing Nisha to shreds take me over. Would have ended up smashing her face to mulch like that guy the night I saved Rob from certain death. Maybe I should have let Dawn see me do that. Then she’d know about the monster inside me. She thinks I’m something I’m not. If she knew…
She’ll never know. She doesn’t need to. I’m going to sort this shit out and then I’m done. Dead, or on the run. Makes no difference either way.
My sister’s rescue first, bloody murder second. Anything else is a bonus.
The house is dark, quiet. I know it’s where she is because I know where it happens. Executions, torture sessions, hostages. It’s all here, because the owner of the house is the head of security for the family. He doesn’t live here. It’s just where he does business.
New Dawn Page 8
