Dawn of Darkness (Daeva, #1) (29 page)

The hairs
on the back of my neck stood to attention as it whispered back,
"Are you sure?"

"You're
not real," I yelled. The beams of light from the torches that were
bobbing along behind me came to a stop.

"Are you
okay?" Violet asked.

I didn't
reply for a second, listening for the voice. Nothing. "I am
now."

"You're
doing well," Sebastian said.

"Better
than Nate did," Daniel added. Nate pouted and I laughed. It felt
good to laugh. It helped erase some of the fear from my
mind.

I
continued on with my renewed sense of courage, the lights still
blinking. This isn't so hard, I thought, wondering what Nate might
have seen to have him crying by the end of it.

"Wouldn't
you like to know?" the wind asked. My pulse sped up. I could feel
it beating violently in my neck. "I can taste your fear, but this
is only the beginning."

"What do
you want?"

The wind
brushed past my cheek. "I want to watch you pretend to be brave,
when I know you are fucking terrified. I want to see you burst into
tears like a child. And make no mistake, I will make you cry. And I
will enjoy it. I want to see you tremble and shudder. I want to
watch you die a slow and painful inner death."

I
clenched my fists, walking faster than before. "Bring it
on."

The wind
blew stronger, laughing in my ear. "You think you have nothing more
to fear, but I know you better than you know yourself. I know what
you truly fear. Do you know why that is?"

"Why
would I care? You're a figment of my imagination."

The wind
laughed manically. "No. I am very real. I'm the part of your mind
that tells you to fear the dark; the deepest abyss of your
subconscious manifested. By the way, how did you like those dreams
I sent you?"

I didn't
reply, and kept walking forward as fast as I could. Maybe, if I
ignored it, it would go away.

"Very
well then. How about a reminder?"

The
tunnel lights began to dim, until soon I couldn't see even my hand
in front of me. There was no sign of the others behind me. I took a
deep breath, telling myself it was just an illusion and everyone
else was right behind me. They wouldn't leave me. Even if I
couldn't see them, I knew they were still there. All I had to do
was keep walking, and eventually the spell would pass. And that's
what I did. I walked, until I heard footsteps. I stood still,
listening in on the footsteps. There were multiple sets, coming
from in front of me. The lights flickered on, and in that split
second I saw the skinless corpses lumbering towards me. My heart
jumped into my mouth and beat frantically.

"They're
not real," I muttered. "They can't hurt me."

"But your
brain thinks they're real." The wind chuckled. "And just like in
your nightmare, it will feel real when they tear the flesh from
your bones."

I
remembered the searing pain as their fingers dug into my flesh,
tearing and ripping. I remembered how I woke up screaming, drenched
in sweat. A drop trickled down my spine.

"What's
the matter?" the wind asked. "What happened to that confidence of
yours?"

The
lights flickered on again, revealing that the shambling corpses had
edged closer. Every fibre of my being told me to turn and run, to
escape the unthinkable pain that would surely come if I just stood
there, but I couldn't move. The footsteps grew louder. Closer.
Their lipless mouths let out a chorus of blood-curdling groans. My
heart beat faster, pounding against my rib cage. My legs refused to
move. The lights flashed on and off. Closer.

The icy
wind fluttered around me, chilling me to the bone. "And you thought
you weren't afraid of them anymore."

The
footsteps drew nearer. I hadn't been afraid of them because Ash was
there to protect me. 'Trust me to protect you,' he said. And I did.
The footsteps stopped and the temperature around me dropped
sharply. I dared to open one eye. The lights flickered, and I saw a
giant ice block, rising up to consume the corpses. When it
enveloped every last one of them, it shattered, taking the darkness
away with it. Even halfway across the country, Ash was still with
me. I looked back, noticing the rest of the group stood right
behind me.

"I'm
okay," I assured them before they could ask any questions, my limbs
still trembling.

The wind
disappeared again, but I knew it would be back. This little game
wasn't over yet, and the thought left me with a twisting knot in my
stomach. I decided to pick up the pace, and jogged off deeper into
the tunnel. I needed to cover as much ground as possible before the
voice returned. There were a couple of surprised gasps behind me,
as the others realised what I was doing and came running after me.
The breeze did return, slowly at first. It ghosted through the
tunnel, picking up speed the further I went, until it became a
full-blown gust.

"Are you
ready to feel real despair?" it whispered.

"I beat
you once, and I can do it again," I said, filled with a new
confidence.

"It won't
be so easy this time. Your little whore can't save you from this
one."

Rage
swelled inside of me. "Leave Ash out of this!”

"I'm
afraid I can't do that. You see, your whore is the star of this
next performance."

"Stop
calling him that."

"Why?
That is what he is... a whore. How many people has he slept with in
the last few months alone? I'm sure even he has lost count. He's
probably sleeping with someone else right now, trying to fuck the
pain away."

"No. He
wouldn't. I believe in him."

The wind
cackled around me. "But you left him, remember? Why should he wait
around for someone who chose to leave him? Here, why don't I show
you?"

I walked
on, expecting the darkness to surround me again, but the opposite
happened. The light glared at my eyes that had become used to the
dark depths. In the distance, I could see someone walking towards
me. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I managed to make out the
head of blond hair and tanned skin. Ash. I began running to him,
but as I got closer, it became clear something was wrong. His eyes
burned with a blue flame. I paused, only for a brief moment, and
the cold snapped at my feet, rooting me to the spot.

"You," he
breathed.

"Ash."

"You left
me," he said. I could hear it in his voice. He wasn't just angry.
He was hurting, because of me. "You left me, to go running around
the country with a fucking vampire."

"I can
explain," I said hurriedly.

"I
trusted you, Mik. I loved you. And I thought you felt the same
way."

My throat
closed up on me, making it difficult to breathe. "I do."

"You made
me feel human again, for the first time in years, and then you left
me. You ripped my fucking heart out and stamped on it. And for
what?"

"To save
you, and everyone else."

"Save
us?" Ash laughed. "By destroying the people who have protected us
all our lives? You're not the person I loved anymore. You're no
better than those blood-sucking corpses now."

The ice
around my feet started to rise, encasing my lower legs. I was
starting to lose all feeling in my toes. "Ash, don't do this. Trust
me. Please!"

"Trust
you? I did that once already, and look where that got me. What was
I to you anyway? A way for you to finally get laid? Was that
it?"

"No, I
don't..." My voice trailed off as the first of the tears filled my
eyes.

"Well,
you got what you wanted I guess. Have you let the vampires fuck you
yet?"

"No. I
wouldn't... you were the only one I cared about."

"Yeah,
well, you have a funny way of showing it, Mik."

My knees
felt weak. I would have collapsed were it not for the ice holding
me upright, creeping up to my waist. He was so consumed by the pain
and anger that my words couldn't reach him. The familiar chill
surrounded me, chuckling in my ear. "Are we having fun
yet?"

"I swear,
I will kill you for this."

The wind roared, laughing
louder. "I'm a part of you," it sang. "This is
your
fear. I'm merely enlightening
you."

"No, this
isn't my fear. Ash would never–"

"Oh, but
it is. Don't you see? You're going to help kill the Silver Dawn.
How are you going to explain that one to him?"

"I-I
don't know, but I'll find a way. I have to."

"And if
you can't?" The words hung in the silence, echoing in my mind.
"Well, why don't we find out?"

"Coffin
bait, that's all you are," Ash said through gritted teeth. "Do you
let them suck your blood while they fuck your brains
out?"

Ash
walked up to me, grabbing a fistful of clothing. The ice around my
legs shattered and he threw me to the ground.

"Does it
feel good? Are they that good in bed that you can forget about all
the pain you've caused me?"

I didn't
bother to pick myself up off the ground, instead choosing to lie
there and sob. That he could even think I'd do such a thing, and
betray him. His words stung deeper than I could have
imagined.

"Well?
Answer me!" Ash yelled. I screamed back as his foot connected with
my ribs. This wasn't Ash. He wouldn't do this, would he? But the
voice was right. How was I going to justify my actions to
him?

His foot
rolled me onto my back and pressed down, forcing the wind from my
lungs. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this." Tears began to roll down
his cheeks as he pulled a gun from his waist. I stared down the
barrel of his gun, my eyes blinded with tears. "I'm doing this
because I love you."

The
safety clicked off.

"No!"

Ash's
body flew back, as though pushed by some invisible force, and
slammed against the tunnel wall. I rolled over onto my hands and
knees, looking left and right for something that might have caused
it. There was nothing. Ash's body slumped against the wall, blood
spattering the side of his head. He wasn't moving.

"Do you
see it now?" the voice asked.

"See
what?" I screamed. "What the fuck am I supposed to be
seeing?"

"Think about it. You want to
invade Rachat to remove the Silver Dawn. Ash is a protector of
Rachat, of the Silver Dawn." The wind gathered around me, swirling
in circles. "What would happen if the two of you met, opposing each
other? Will he kill you to protect the city? Would you kill him to
save yourself?
THIS
is your true fear."

"No–" I
said, choking. "No."

"Yes,
yes," the wind chanted. "You're one of the monsters now. Your whore
won't take you back. And when it comes down to it, one or both of
you will have to die."

My chest
heaved. I slammed my fists into the ground, my eyes burning with
tears.

"I told
you I would make you cry, didn't I?"

"Fuck
you," I yelled. The stone beneath me began to crack as my tears
fell onto it. Rage and despair consumed me. The wind laughed in my
face. I clenched my fists tighter, my screams filling the tunnel.
The walls around me cracked. I had no idea what was happening, only
that I wanted to lash out. Bits of stone flew off the walls,
leaving behind long indentations, like some invisible monster was
dragging its claws across them. There was a sharp pain in the back
of my head and I was falling forward as the darkness took
me.

*****

When I
came to I could hear a whirring noise. It felt like we were moving.
I opened my eyes and saw that I was on the back of an open-top
vehicle, the lights above whizzing by.

"Hey,"
Nate said. A hand stroked through my hair, my head resting on his
lap. I sighed and closed my eyes.

"What
happened?"

"You...
your ability seems to have grown," Violet said from the opposite
seat. "We had to knock you out, for fear that you might destroy the
tunnel."

I
remembered seeing the tunnel walls cracking. Was that me? "Then the
vampire I killed... I didn't imagine it, did I?"

"It's a
possibility," Violet replied. "I don't know enough to be sure, but
Marcus will know. We will take you to see him as soon as
possible."

"What did
you see down there?" Daniel asked. "You were talking to something,
and then you completely lost it."

"There
was a voice. It called itself a part of my subconscious... the
manifestation of my fears."

"In all
my years, I've never seen someone react like that." Violet sighed.
"I'm sorry for making you do that."

"No," I
said. "I chose to do it, and I failed."

"Don't
feel bad," Sebastian said. "Most people who enter Aldar do so
unconscious. Right, Jimmy?"

"Of
course," came a voice from the front of the vehicle. "That's why we
have this taxi service running along the second half of the tunnel.
Saves people having to carry others all the way. The good news is
you only have to do it once. If Leigh gives you her consent, you'll
never have to face that spell again."