Light of Dawn

by Angela Colsin

  He arrived at the address the next morning with Garrick and Isaac. It was a somewhat large, remote home in Maryland close to the Pennsylvanian border in an area surrounded by countryside. Such settings weren't uncommon to serve as vampire lairs due to the desirable isolation from bigger populations, so the information Dalris passed on had to be accurate.

  Ulric broke into the home easily, taking out a group of daywalkers that tried to stop them with Isaac's help, while Garrick busted all of the windows open to make sure any vampires who decided to risk coming out wouldn't be able to get above the ground floor without frying in the sunlight.

  As was the case with all lairs, the entryway into the levels below ground was concealed. But it didn't stay that way while the three of them wrecked everything they came across in order to locate it, moving furniture and turning over rugs.

  This one was creatively hidden in the fireplace. The logs sitting in the hearth were fake, and when pulled to the side, a section of the wall behind them opened up to reveal a set of stairs leading down.

  Ulric followed them with Isaac and Garrick behind him, finding a corridor at the landing with a number of chambers beyond various doors containing differing styles of coffins.

  They proceeded to check each of the rooms, using force to get inside if the doors were locked. One such door was made of metal, and didn't completely fall off the hinges when Ulric kicked it open, but as it swung to, a scream sounded from within.

  Two humans were chained to the wall, a man and a woman who were both completely nude. The male was already dead, his body pale from blood loss and left in a broken mess, but the female—who'd screamed when she saw them—had a good bit of life left if her thrashing against the chains containing her arms was any indication.

  Isaac stepped in, and Ulric watched as the demon crouched not far away from the mortal, removing the shades he wore during the daytime due to his light sensitivity. Once they were gone, he caught her gaze in his, and she grew deathly silent in response.

  Isaac had the ability to see into a mortal's soul by looking into their eyes, revealing their fears, and alternately, their desires. If lucky, it would confirm that this was, in fact, Lillian's current residence, and Ulric waited to see what the demon might dig up.

  “She's afraid of death, obviously,” Isaac started, “but also of the vampires here, and none of them more than Lillian.” He stood up and looked over at Ulric, adding, “We've definitely got the right place.”

  “Good,” Ulric returned.

  “You're … you're not gonna k-kill me?” the blonde asked.

  “No,” Isaac replied, “you're free to go.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you're mortal, you're no sport.”

  “Isaac,” Ulric grumbled over the demon's tactlessness. “She's scared enough.”

  Though his main focus wasn't saving the lives of mortals, Ulric couldn't let this woman die here. But he didn't want her running upstairs once she was freed and being further traumatized by the daywalkers they'd just killed either.

  So he told her gently, “We'll come back to free you once we've found what we need.”

  “No! Please don't leave me here!”

  Garrick stepped in and removed his jacket, saying, “I'll get her outside. Besides, if Lillian's around, she may have more daywalkers watching, so I'll keep a lookout.”

  Putting his coat over the mortal, he broke her chains and helped her up while Ulric and Isaac continued their search. They split up, and Isaac found the blood vault first, but there wasn't anything out of the ordinary inside, only rows of vials, flasks, and decanters in different shapes and sizes containing blood being magically preserved.

  While he checked it out, Ulric found a chamber near the back of the basement that had a few sword displays on the walls and an ornately designed coffin standing in the center. A desk stood across from it with several items laid out neatly on top, including books, a vial stand, and a scroll.

  It had to be Lillian's room, and Ulric tried to push the lid up, but it was locked tight, just as he'd suspected.

  So he grabbed one of the swords on the wall, checking the blade to see that it was sharp, and not just made for show. With that in mind, he returned to the coffin, the weapon electrifying in his hand as his eyes and markings began to glow in Wrath.

  If Lillian was inside, he didn't want her to jump out the moment he'd pried her coffin open, raising the sword up to plunge the blade through the center where the lid was divided into sections.

  The metal in the coffin easily conducted the electricity while Ulric turned his fist over the lid, smashing it into the surface several times until it was heavily dented. As a result, the edges became creased enough that he could grasp them.

  With a good bit of force, Ulric broke the inner lock open, causing the lid to fly up, hoping to reveal a charred vampiress inside as the electricity died down.

  Instead, he only found smoking sheets and a burning pillow.

  Lillian wasn't there.

  “Goddamn it!” Ulric roared, lifting the entire coffin from its stand to throw into the nearest wall with a good bit of force.

  As it crashed to the floor, Isaac walked in, asking, “What the hell did I miss?”

  “Lillian's not here,” Ulric answered angrily. “Unless she's in another coffin. We'll have to check them.”

  Isaac grumbled. “Well, here's some more good news, I didn't find anything special in the blood vault.”

  “She has Charlotte's blood with her,” Ulric growled, walking over to the desk in the room where the empty vial stand sat. “We won't find it until we find Lillian.”

  Isaac agreed, joining him at the desk where they began going through the items sitting there, looking for clues. Isaac read the book titles before tossing each one over his shoulder carelessly while Ulric grabbed the scroll and opened it.

  Sadly, the words on it were written in the Ancient language, which Ulric couldn't fluently read.

  “She's got a bunch of spell books,” Isaac announced. “What did you find?”

  “You know the Ancient language, so translate this,” Ulric requested, handing the scroll over.

  Isaac took a look, then began reading the words aloud, and the further he got, the darker Ulric's mood became.

  “And there's the reason she wants Charlotte,” Isaac summarized, handing the scroll back. “Finding her blood vial isn't going to stop Lillian.”

  Just as Isadora's vision entailed, a blood slave wasn't what Lillian wanted, and the mere thought of what she was planning for Charlotte had Ulric ripping the scroll before tearing the desk away from the wall to crash onto the floor, growling, “She'll have a hard time getting past me. I'll have to warn Charlotte about this too. But if the—”

  Ulric stopped when he sensed something off, then heard glass shattering in the hallway outside of the chamber, followed by a loud thud.

  Isaac went to take a look while Ulric asked, “What is it?”

  “Not much,” the demon announced casually from the doorway. “We're just locked in and the basement's on fire.”

  Ulric rolled his eyes. As he'd been ready to suggest, Lillian knew they were coming and decided to set a trap. It was likely she'd taken another exit when they were going downstairs, meaning she could be outside right now with a fresh dose of Charlotte's blood in her system, acting as sunblock.

  Isaac mentioned as Ulric joined him, “I guess she doesn't know I'm here and can teleport us out.”

  “Guess not,” Ulric agreed, thinking Lillian had only made their jobs easier by burning the place down. She was also killing members of her own faction in doing so, which seemed strange, but he could question it later.

  “Let's get outside and make sure Garrick's okay.”

  Isaac didn't waste time, teleporting them both back to the car where they found the recently freed mortal woman laying on the ground with her neck broken. She was still wearing Garrick's jacket, but Ulric's brother was no where in sight.

  “Garrick!” Ul
ric called, looking back at the burning home where he spotted his brother laying across the front porch steps, unconscious.

  A sword was stabbed through his chest, and his clothes were already burning. Ulric moved quickly, dragging him away from the flames with Isaac's help, and into the yard.

  After jerking the sword from his back, he rolled Garrick over to douse his clothing, and saw a few lines of blood seeping from a gash in his forehead. So Ulric sent a few jolts of electricity through him to speed the healing process.

  Soon enough, Garrick woke, and they helped him to his feet.

  “What happened, Gar?” Ulric asked.

  “Lillian got the jump on me when I was leaving,” he growled angrily.

  There was no telling how she'd found out about their visit, but it was too late to really matter. “Come on, we'll have to pick up the hunt later,” Ulric stated. “I need to get back to Atlanta and warn Charlotte about what we found downstairs.”

  It was hard to ignore the spark of excitement he felt over the idea of seeing Charlotte again when this was simply going to be a warning, not a reunion. But the prospect was enough to make his failure at killing Lillian seem somewhat unimportant.

  He just hoped Charlotte would let him talk to her long enough to let her know that Lillian didn't want her blood.

  She wanted her life.

  Chapter 21

  Isadora was right. Two weeks in the Spire had Charlotte bored to tears.

  Though it was peaceful, and she'd learned a great deal, it wasn't exactly thrilling. Sadly, her future hinged on the blood the Rymid took, and Isadora hadn't yet confirmed it'd been destroyed.

  So she was safely stuck in the sanctuary, and even crossed paths with a few vampires over the course of her stay. None of them lifted a finger to try to harm her however, or even get her outside where they could. Still, Isadora warned her to be guarded around them, pointing out that someone could overhear something sensitive and use it against her.

  Charlotte kept it in mind.

  Meanwhile, planning for the future consumed most of her time. She looked up jobs, apartments, and even schools while Isadora helped her collect her things in Orange Falls so they could be delivered or put into storage.

  But despite the numerous options available, nothing Charlotte planned seemed entirely right, and she wasn't sure why. It was almost as if it simply wasn't … enough.

  In fact, the only thing she really looked forward to was her decision to attempt a transition. Charlotte eventually changed her mind about the endeavor for several reasons, but the biggest was that her blood would be sunblock to vampires for the rest of her life—regardless of her mortality.

  So being able to protect herself more easily was a huge plus. But Adriana had also loaned her a tome chronicling just about everything there was to know about the fae, and the more she learned, the more intriguing it seemed.

  The book stated that the only time a child carried any attributes of a fae mother was if she was mortal born—and it was only the female offspring. With all other pairings, the fae produced children of the father's lineage.

  They even controlled their own fertility, deciding for themselves when to have children. We should all be so lucky.

  Sadly, there wasn't much information on a mortal actually transitioning, probably because of their rarity. But in the effort of trying, Charlotte started meditating with Isadora, who said it would be the best way to get in touch with the abilities latent inside her.

  She didn't notice much during the first week, but the activity inevitably had a burning sensation forming in the pit of her stomach. It wasn't unpleasant, but it definitely wasn't something Charlotte had ever experienced before, like having extra energy to shed. She simply had no idea where to direct it or how.

  When she informed Isadora, the fae just smiled quaintly, mentioning, “You can direct it at anything—yourself, someone else, an object. You should probably meditate by yourself, and the next time we do this, I'll bring a stress ball.”

  “For what?”

  Isadora grinned, “Target practice!”

  Charlotte wasn't sure how that would work, but meditating alone seemed like a good idea. She always felt more focused when they were done, at peace inside, as if the problems of her life weren't as bad as they seemed with this new world opening up to her.

  But these things only kept her partially distracted, and the rest of the time, Charlotte found herself thinking about Ulric.

  At first, she'd stubbornly pushed him from her mind, then began wishing he'd show up just so she could yell at him again. She also refused to admit he had anything to do with her pursuance of knowledge on draconians.

  Still, she wondered if he was on a new job, or maybe spending time at home with one of his brothers, playing video games and enjoying the money he'd been paid for the curse box.

  Charlotte didn't want to care, but she did despite herself. Ulric had gotten under her skin, and her interest hadn't died after parting ways. Instead, it'd turned into a longing to speak with him, and try to come to an understanding, like a dull ache she couldn't relieve.

  But she had to ask herself if a relationship with Ulric would be fair to begin with. Sure, she might tap into her fae abilities and become immortal, but what if she didn't? She'd eventually die and leave him behind to mourn.

  That didn't stop Charlotte from casually asking Isadora if she'd spoken to him lately however.

  “Nope,” Isadora had answered. “Yules has been off the grid ever since Tallahassee.”

  “No one knows where he is?”

  “I don't know about that. He's just not answering his phone.”

  The information worried her. Where had he gone for all that time? Most likely, it was another job, and he was probably having more fun than she was staying in the Spire.

  That's when Charlotte realized she not only missed Ulric, but it felt as if she were on house arrest. There was nothing to do but hang out in her quarters or visit the recreation lounge, and sometimes go to the Mystic Market to browse the wares.

  Being inside so often without going out was driving her insane.

  The most entertainment she had was in calling Edith, which she did rather frequently. Sadly, she couldn't explain everything going on because Edith would never believe it, and stuck to a vague story. Being a trusted friend, Edith never pressed for details, but she did ask several questions about Ulric.

  “So what's the deal with you and him? Sometimes you sound pissed, and others, it's like puppy love.”

  “It has to do with that stuff I couldn't fully explain. I'll just say that at first, he was an asshole, then I saw a little more to him. He helped me when he didn't have to, and I'll be honest about this much, he's the best kisser I've ever had.”

  “Ohhh,” Edith drew out conspiratorially, “sounds nice. It also sounds like you're about to say but.”

  Charlotte grumbled. “But he went right back to being an asshole and told me I'd wasted his time. That was two weeks ago and I haven't seen or heard from him since.”

  “You sure he wasn't just saying that?” Edith grew quiet for a second, then went on, “I mean you were telling me how you had to go separate ways, so maybe he just didn't want to, and only said that to make it seem like he didn't care, even though he really does?”

  That could've been true. Maybe Ulric told her the hurtful words at a personal cost because her safety was more important than his comfort.

  Just as she was convincing herself that Edith could be right, her friend added, “Or maybe he's just an asshole, I dunno.”

  Charlotte grumbled. “That's not helpful, Edith.”

  “Why not? Because you don't wanna actually believe he's an asshole?”

  If she had to answer, she would've said no. She wanted to believe she was worthwhile, and not just because she had some piece of a supernatural race within her, but because he cared for her as she was with no strings attached.

  That was when Edith added, “I can tell you one thing, if you get a chanc
e to have more with him, you should jump at it and forgive him.”

  “Why's that?”

  “Two reasons. First, no matter why he said what he did, it sounds like he actually does give a damn, and this is just a first offense. Second, I haven't heard you mention Mitchell even once all week long except telling me what Ulric did to him, and I so wish I could've been there to see the look on his face.”

  That was also true. Charlotte had barely thought about her ex with everything going on, and it was nice not to continually mourn someone who just didn't care.

  But she wasn't completely sure about having something more with Ulric when, saying they ever worked things out, she didn't think it'd be fair to him.

  As she had the thought, someone knocked at the door.

  “Hold on, Edith, someone's here.”

  Because there was no danger at the Spire, Charlotte merely walked over and opened it without asking any questions. But as soon as she saw who was on the other side, she wished she had.

  Ulric.

  Charlotte froze as a part of her jumped in utter excitement to see him again, and strangely, he was looking at her as if seeing someone else. But her reaction was so frustrating that she shut the door in his face. First offense or not, I'm still upset.

  Just before it latched, Ulric reached up and caught it, quickly requesting, “Wait, Charlotte.”

  “What?” she grumbled, deciding to see what he'd say.

  “Angry with me or not, I have to tell you something important.”

  He sounded sincere, and from behind him, Isadora chimed in, “He's right, you need to hear this.”

  With a sigh, she let him in and lifted the phone to her ear, saying, “Edith? I've gotta go.”

  “Dude, is that him?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Why didn't you tell me he has such a sexy accent? You need to make him talk dirty to you sometime.”

  Normally, Charlotte would've humorously chastised her, but instead, she could feel her cheeks lighting up, mentioning, “Edith, he can hear you.”

  “Seriously? Hey Ulric, I heard what you did to Mitchell. Way to go, you sexy sounding beast! You're a hero to us all!”