Darkest Before Dawn: A Muse Urban Fantasy (The Veil Series Book 3)

by DaCosta, Pippa

  Dawn’s power loomed up ahead in what had once been the cafeteria. As I rounded the ruined corridor, I saw her demon form suspended amid her threads of chaotic tendrils. Black eels of power whipped and thrashed around her, containing her inside a pulsing bubble of dark energy.

  Her eyes flicked to me, and treachery burned there.

  I tugged on the fire devouring the room and snuffed it out in one sweeping gesture. Smoke drifted and rolled between us, shirking her aura. I caught the unmistakable odor of burned flesh, but I couldn’t see the bodies, just dunes of debris, fragments of ashes, papers, and shredded clothes.

  “Dawn...” I stepped closer. A lash of power snapped out at me, clearly a warning. “It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.”

  “I was wrong.” Her innocent voice had twisted beneath the riding power of the demon. She didn’t sound like Dawn. She sounded like madness. “I trusted you and Akil. You said not to. You said he was bad. But you trust him, and I trust you.”

  The dark boiled around her, dangerous and deadly. I had no doubt she could kill me and probably do it in an instant. I might not even see death coming. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what he was planning.”

  “He said you should have brought me here. Is that what you were going to do? I don’t like it here.” Her face clouded with shadows. “I unmade them, Muse, and it felt good. That’s not right, is it? Is that what you felt when you burned those people to save me? Am I meant to be empty? I’m scared.” She sobbed, and then a grin slashed across her face. “I want to do it again.”

  I clamped my jaw closed. “Dawn, I can help you manage your... gift.” Right, like I managed my own. “We have to leave. The building isn’t safe. The fire still hungers. Let me get you out, Dawn. Let me save you.”

  She tilted her head to the side and assessed me. I shivered with the overflowing currents of energy breezing through my veins. Ashes rained from my skin. Around me, the fire whispered promises of destruction. If I didn’t save myself soon, I’d be as lost as this building was.

  She puffed out a sigh and slumped forward. Her demon fell back from her skin, leaving the vulnerable little girl behind.

  “Come...” I shoved my demon back. She snapped and snarled as she fought me for freedom. Gathering Dawn against me, I guided her back the way I’d come. The flames had died down. Behind us, the walls groaned and the ground trembled.

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  We stumbled out into a sunlit backstreet, coughing and wheezing smoke from our lungs. EMTs crowded, sirens wailed, people cried. I hugged Dawn close and snapped at the EMTs to get back. We were fine. Others needed their help more than we did. A grumble shook the air around us like thunder. A cloud of ash spluttered skyward as the warehouse complex collapsed in on itself. A savage spike of glee twitched my lips as I turned away. I shouldn’t have enjoyed the destruction, but I did. Had it not been for Dawn, I’d have been dancing in the debris.

  Dawn’s voice reached me through the clamoring madness in my head. “I don’t know what I am.”

  A street away from the simmering remains of the Institute, I planted her down on a curb, away from the crowds, near a closed grocery store, its graffiti-covered shutters pulled down. Crouching in front of her, I cupped her face in my filthy hands and smiled. “It’s okay because you’re not alone. I won’t ever let you go again. I can help you manage your demon. We’ll work together, two half bloods, just you and me.” I’d lost Stefan. I wasn’t losing her. I tucked her hair behind her ear. And maybe, if I could save her, I’d save myself too.

  A delicate smile skipped across her lips.

  “Muse. Back away. Do it slowly.”

  I swung my stare over my shoulder and fixed it on Ryder. He had a gun palmed in his right hand, finger hooked over the trigger and Dawn in his sights. Determination hardened his sharp eyes.

  “Ryder...” I stood slowly, as he’d said, and turned my back on Dawn to face him. “What are you doing?”

  “She killed everyone in the cafeteria, Muse. Jesus...” His hand trembled, aim wavering. He flexed his fingers and regained control of himself. “She pulled them apart, turned then into confetti.”

  “Ryder...” I licked my dry lips, my throat hoarse. “You can’t do this. She’s just a little girl.” A quiver of power slithered through me. I looked to the right, across the street. Akil stood at the curb, hooded eyes locked on me.

  “She ain’t no little girl.” Ryder blinked rapidly. His lips turned down, and he shook his head slowly. “The Institute is gone because of her. Do you know what that means? The only thing stopping the demons from flooding this city is dust. She’s demon, and she’s a killer.”

  “It wasn’t her fault.” I lifted my hands, palms out. “Akil...” I glanced back, but he’d gone. “Akil brought her here. He had no right.”

  “It doesn’t matter who did what. She slaughtered them. Shit, Muse. I saw it all on the cameras. She’s a monster. Half bloods don’t get happy endings, Muse. You’re too damn fucked up. Every single one. Even Stefan, in the end. Y’know, I thought you might be different, but it ain’t possible. The demon inside you calls the shots. Doesn’t it?”

  Dawn stood beside me, her little hand resting on my thigh. She looked up at me with those doe-eyes, wise beyond her years. “I am a monster.”

  “No, honey.” My heart stuttered to hear her say it. “You just need a friend, that’s all.”

  “I don’t want to be this way.”

  I don’t want to be that demon. Stefan’s words drifted back to me.

  A whimper betrayed my internal battle between the need to save her and the need let her go. I knew, deep in my bones, that Ryder was right. I’d witnessed her power, and she truly was a terrible thing. But I’d come so close to saving her, to freeing her. She was a half blood caught in a storm just like me.

  “Please...” I stepped in front of Dawn, shielding her behind my legs. “I will take her away from this, from everyone, somewhere she can’t hurt anyone. There must be a way to control her demon.” Even as I said the words, I wasn’t sure I believed them.

  Akil flitted into existence in my peripheral vision. “The princes will find her. They were ignorant of the power residing in half bloods. That is no longer the case.”

  Ryder breathed hard. His wide eyes flicked between Akil and me, probably alarmed to find Akil backing him up. “Fuck, Muse, get outtah the way. Don’t make me shoot you too.”

  “I can’t let you do this, Ryder.” I lowered my hands. He would shoot me. I’d always known it. If it came down to this, staring down the barrel of his gun, he would pull the trigger.

  He trembled. A sheen of perspiration glistened on his face. He smiled, but it was a bitter, worn out ghost of a smile filled with regret. He snarled at Akil, “Get Muse out of here.”

  I shot my hand out, halting Akil as I drilled my stare into Ryder. “Akil, don’t you dare.”

  “She can’t be saved, Muse.” Akil’s smooth voice sounded entirely reasonable.

  I smiled and tugged on my demon’s reins. “Then neither can I.” I tasted the flames on my lips, felt them lick across my body. Let the demon win, and nothing can hurt me again.

  Ryder fired. The bullet smacked into my shoulder, engulfing my entire right side in a blast of agony, spinning me. My demon recoiled, leaving me human. I collapsed face down on the road. The smell and taste of my own blood coated my nose and throat. And then, as if the world felt I hadn’t been dealt enough of a challenge for one day, I looked up to see my brother in all his netherworldly glory leering down at me. Vast black wings draped me in shadow. His milky-white body gleamed like marble. “Thank you for delivering her to me, sister-mine.”

  “Dawn, run!” I screamed.

  Ryder’s gun rang out. A splash of crimson burst across my brother’s chest before his flesh soaked up the wound. His muscles rippled and spat out the deformed slug. It bounced on the road between us, reminding me not to fuck with immortals.

  Val stepped around me, apparently deciding I wasn’t worth
the time or energy. I tracked his formidable demon form as Ryder continued to empty a clip of bullets into him. They buzzed about Val, no more bothersome than flies.

  Mammon barreled into Val – seemingly out of thin air. His obsidian muscles rippled as he tackled Val and shoved my brother through the storefront shutters with all the finesse of a wrecking ball. Inhuman growls, snarls, and roars resounded inside the store. There was no way on this earth Mammon would let Val take Dawn.

  I struggled to roll onto my side and hook my legs under me. I couldn’t stand. I could barely sit up. My entire right side throbbed with a mind-numbing pain. Blood soaked my clothes, gluing them to my feverish skin. Through the haze of agony, I fixed Dawn and Ryder in my sights. Ryder loomed over her, the muzzle of his gun inches from her forehead. His aim didn’t waver. His hand had never been steadier. Dawn tilted her head up and looked into his eyes. She didn’t run, didn’t beg, didn’t call her demon. She could have done all of those things. She could have killed us all without even drawing from the veil. She was chaos, but in that moment, chaos was controlled by a nine-year-old human girl. She blinked up at Ryder and said two words.

  “Thank you.”

  He pulled the trigger.

  “No!” I reached a hand out as the gunshot cracked through the air and echoed down the street. My demon tried to clamber into my skin, but physical and mental anguish drove her down.

  Dawn fell back. Her tiny body crumpled in a heap at Ryder’s feet. She lay still. The touch of her element had vanished. A strangled cry—somewhere between a scream and a growl—tore from my throat. I smothered the blazing pain under my rage and somehow managed to get to my feet, only for my legs to crumple, dropping me to my knees.

  Ryder staggered under the weight of his own guilt and turned away from Dawn’s body and from me. He gave a wrenching groan of agony. I didn’t care. I wanted to gather Dawn’s fragile body into my arms, but I couldn’t get to her. I fell forward onto a hand, lifted my gaze through my hair, and whispered, “It’s okay, Dawn. Everything is going to be okay. You’re free now.”

  The tears came, sliding down my soot-covered cheeks. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. She could have survived. She could have lived. She didn’t deserve this.

  After perhaps minutes, hours, I don’t know, I was aware of Akil’s warming presence close behind me.

  “Valenti has fled,” he said softly. “The Enforcers are coming.”

  I bristled. My demon prowled just below the surface. “Get away from me.”

  I expected an argument, but in the next breath he was gone. He had brought Dawn here to this hellhole. It was his fault. All of it. He could have stopped Ryder, and he hadn’t. He’d wanted her dead too. Everyone wanted her dead. Nobody cared enough to try to help her. What was wrong with this world?

  Eventually, the sounds of the city coaxed me back to reality. Ambulance sirens bipped through the crowds a street away. Clouds of gray smoke bellowed skyward, but the inferno devouring the Institute was dying. I felt its death in my veins.

  I watched, detached and numb, as a black-clad firefighter walked toward me, helmet tucked under his arm. His short chestnut hair was plastered against his head. His face sported smudges of ash and soot. I might not have recognized him if not for the calm blue eyes: the same firefighter who’d helped me in Adam’s office.

  He crouched beside me, looked me over with a sensitive appraisal, and noted the blood soaking my top. He gave me the most heartbreaking smile. “There’s no use in you dying here.”

  I wasn’t sure I had the strength of mind to reply. Behind him, the EMTs wheeled a gurney closer, and behind them a handful of Enforcers bore down on us. Tears blurred my vision.

  He tugged his gloves off and held out a hand. “C’mon, let’s get that wound looked at.”

  I shook my head and bit my lip, trying to stop its quivering. “I can’t leave. I promised her.”

  He glanced over my shoulder to where Dawn lay and nodded. “You’re banged up pretty bad. Maybe it’s time you looked after yourself?” His sincerity spoke of understanding. I examined his features, searching for hostility, but he wasn’t Institute, and he wasn’t demon either. He was just a normal guy who wanted to help, no strings attached, no ulterior motives. I closed my eyes, fearing what it meant to let Dawn go. I’d pinned more of my hopes on that little girl than I’d let myself believe.

  As the firefighter closed his hand around mine and tugged me to my feet, a veil of forced indifference settled over me. I managed a few steps before falling against the ambulance crew. The blissful embrace of unconsciousness stole me away.

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  The Stone’s Throw bar had never seen a crowd quite like it. I jostled through the throngs of people, taking note of the armed Enforcers among them. My arm throbbed; a week and it still burned like a bitch. The painkillers were wearing off. I’d been popping so many pills I virtually rattled as I walked.

  Ben Stone acknowledged me and gestured to one of his new bartenders to fix me a whiskey. I probably shouldn’t have been drinking while my veins were buzzing with drugs, but really, in the scheme of things, I had other things to worry about. Like being a single thread away from disaster.

  While I waited at the bar, I couldn’t help dragging my gaze across the symbols spray painted across the walls and ceiling. The Enforcers were here en masse, and judging by the incident wall set up along one side of the room, they were here to stay. A map of Boston sat center stage. I couldn’t see much, tucked away in the corner as I was, but I noted the locations of a dozen or more fat red circles pimpling the map.

  The bartender handed me my drink. I paid, brought it to my lips, and noticed a hushed quiet descending over the crowd. The crawling itch of dozens of pairs of eyes skittered down my back. I took a sip and welcomed the sweet heat of the alcohol as it burned my throat and eased the tiredness in my muscles. I took my time, and all the while, the silence settled over the crowd until only the mumblings from the TV disturbed the quiet.

  Licking my lips, I placed my drink down and leaned my good arm on the bar. When I lifted my gaze, upward of seventy Enforcers glared back at me. Way to make a girl feel uncomfortable. At least I’d ditched the pink and black persona in favor of my more typical knee high boots, skinny dark washed jeans, and my 90’s throwback leather jacket. They’d see the gun holstered at my hip. Not that it would do me any good against a mob of demon killers.

  I don’t know what they expected me to do. Sprout horns and a wing, and roar at them?

  Adam Harper’s deep voice broke the stalemate. “Muse, join us...”

  His Enforcers collectively grumbled their displeasure, but none would argue with the boss. They slowly resumed their conversations, turning away from me in the hope I’d skulk off with my tail between my legs. If only it was that simple.

  I carried my drink to where Adam’s voice had originated from to find him standing with half a dozen others around two tables pushed together, strewn with maps of Boston. Ryder hung back, leaning against the far wall, thumb tucked over his camo-print pants. His untucked shirt bunched around his gun. He chewed on a toothpick while training all of his attention on the documents. We hadn’t spoken since he’d executed Dawn a week ago, and that was perfectly fine with me.

  “Are you up to speed, Muse?” Adam asked.

  All eyes turned to me. I might have squirmed under their collective no-nonsense stares if any of this actually mattered to me. As it was, not even whiskey could warm my cold heart. I’d shut all the emotional shit away.

  “No.” I said, surprised at my steady tone. I slid my gaze to Adam. I hadn’t seen him since the firefighters hauled his ass out of his burning office. He was lucky to be standing there. My fingers twitched with that knowledge. I’d promised Ryder once that I’d never hurt Adam or the Institute. Well, I’d kept that promise. For what it was worth.

  I rolled my sore shoulder beneath my jacket. “I’ve been in and out of the clinic.” They didn’t need to know I meant Jerry’s place a
nd not the general hospital.

  Ryder lifted his hooded gaze. He plucked the toothpick free, picked up a file, and tossed it across the table to me. Fat black letters printed across the cover spelled out the contents: Operation Typhon.

  I reached out, instinctively seeking answers, and then paused, curling my fingers into my hand. “What’s going on?”

  Adam straightened. “We’re down, but we’re not out. Demons have renewed their incursions with vigor, scouting parties before an all-out invasion. They’re breaching the veil in record numbers. Boston PD is swamped with reports. Witnesses are reporting vigilante groups setting themselves up as would-be Enforcers, believing we’re not up to the task of protecting this city. We have emergency plans in place, including new premises and several inbound teams, but it’s taking time, and the vigilantes are out for blood. They’re getting themselves killed.” Adam dislodged his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “The calm of a few weeks ago was a lull. What we’re experiencing now is the outer fringes of an incoming storm. I’ve received reports of half a dozen Class A demons in Boston, Muse.”

  I was a Class A. So was Akil. We used to be the only ones. It looked as though that was changing. “Shit just got real, huh?” I found it hard to sympathize with the assholes who brought this all on themselves.

  Adam pushed his glasses back on and gave me the disapproving fatherly stare. “Some, we suspect, may be princes.” He puffed out a sigh. “We need you.”

  One of my eyebrows hiked up of its own accord. “Is that so?” Bet they could have done with Stefan too. What a shame Adam ordered the death of his son and their best Enforcer.

  “We need your connections.” He tapped a black and white photo of Akil. “We need your expertise.” He flicked open the cover of the Operation Typhon folder to reveal an image captured on the Institute’s internal video network. A one winged demon stood in a hallway, arms out, wing flexed high above her head, summoning the fire like a magnet calls metal. “And we need your power.”