Dawn of Darkness (Daeva, #1) (36 page)

When we
had finished the meal, we said thanks and decided to wait out the
storm.

"Oh, that
reminds me," Violet said. She rushed upstairs and appeared seconds
later, standing in front of me. "Close your eyes."

I let out
a long breath, but did as she asked. I hated surprises, and over
the last few weeks I had had more than my fair share of bad ones.
There was movement on either side of me, and then a warm weight on
my shoulders. I opened my eyes, realising it was a black jacket
with a grey fleece inner layer.

"We
thought you could do with something to protect you from the rain
and cold," Sebastian said.

"You guys
shouldn't have," I said, mumbling a little under my breath. Heat
rushed to my cheeks as everyone's eyes were on me.

"Please,
it's the least we could do for you," Violet said. "And you'll need
it if we're to head back to Rachat soon."

My eyes
lit up at the mention of going back home.

"Don't
get ahead of yourself," Sebastian said. "We may not even be chosen
for the assignment."

"Nah, we
will," Nate said. The room lit up as a bolt of lightning tore
across the sky.

"We have
two people who know the city," Violet said. "Marcus would be a fool
not to choose us to spearhead the assault."

"I
suppose," Sebastian conceded. "But I don't like the idea of going
up against this Verloren, or whoever it is."

Thunder
clapped in the distance.

"You
worry too much, Dear," Violet said, gripping his hand. "How
powerful can a single pure-blood be?"

"I'd
rather not find out," Sebastian replied.

"We have
a nice team," Nate said. "And now Mik's developing a physical
ability too. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Don't
tempt fate," Daniel said, smacking Nate across the back of the
head.

Another
bolt of lightning lit up the evening sky. The deep roar followed
shortly afterwards Dark was fast approaching, and the storm was
showing no signs of letting up. Anna would be waiting for
me.

"Do you
need to go?" Sebastian asked, catching me staring out of the window
and up at the sky.

"Yeah. I
just wish it would stop raining first." The wind blew harder,
battering the window with a barrage of raindrops.

"That
would be a nice ability," Nate said, "being able to control the
weather."

Everyone
agreed. Unfortunately, we didn't know anyone with that ability, so
I would just have to deal with it. At least now I had some
protection against the harsh elements, and Violet offered to walk
with me, which I was thankful for, especially since she brought an
umbrella with her. She didn't bother with a jacket or any warm
clothes though. It must be nice being a vampire, not having to
worry about such things, I thought. When we reached Anna's place,
the door flew open before I could reach it.

"You're
late again," Anna growled. She looked up at my escort. "Hello,
Violet," she said coldly.

"Anna,"
Violet replied, her voice carrying not a single trace of emotion.
She turned to me and said, "Take care, and I'll see you again
soon." She smiled, and then in a flash she was off down the
road.

"What's
the deal with you and Violet?" I asked as we descended into the
basement. I hung my jacket over the back of the chair and sat
down.

"Long
story," Anna replied, setting another box in front of me. "Now,
show me how far you've come."

"We've
got all night," I said, prying. "Unless you're gonna kick me out
early again."

Anna
laughed. "No, we've got all night, but it's clear you haven't spent
much time around vampires."

"How
come?" I asked, standing to take my position away from the
box.

"Because,
when a vampire says it's a long story, we're usually talking a few
hundred years. It would take several nights to explain the history
between myself and Violet."

"Oh. I
hadn't thought of that," I said. I decided I wasn't going to get
anything out of Anna on that particular topic, so I focused on
sending the flow of magic down my arm. With one quick swing of my
arm, I managed a tear in the outer layer of the cardboard. A bit of
rest seemed to have done me some good.

"Not
bad," Anna said. "But swinging your arm will only give away your
attack. Part of our strength lays not in the power of our attack,
but the fact that it is invisible to those without a psychic
ability."

I spent
the rest of the night trying to achieve the same result, while
keeping my arms by my side. I found it much easier than the first
night, though I was back to only scraping the surface of the box,
and not even breaking the first layer. The equivalent of a paper
cut, Anna called it.

At times
the whole thing felt so repetitive I wanted to scream. Still, I was
determined to see it through, if only to show that damn box who was
in control. Most of all, I remembered I was doing it for everyone
in Rachat, to free them from the deceit of the Silver Dawn, and the
possible grasp of a pure-blooded vampire. But also, I was doing it
for Ash. The last thing I needed was to lose control of my magic.
Losing him would be awful enough. Accidentally killing him myself,
would be unthinkable.

*****

By the
end of our session, I had what I thought was a decent control over
my magic without using my arms, but I was reaching the point where
I was too drained to continue, and the results were starting to
deteriorate. I left Anna's house a couple of hours before sunrise.
The storm had passed over, leaving behind only a fine drizzle. When
I arrived back at Daniel's room, it was empty, sat in complete
darkness. He must have come and gone because there was some food
left on the table with a note:

'Made you something to eat for when you get back. Daniel.
P.S. The research centre called. They want you to go down there
sometime today. I'll explain when I get back if you're still
awake.'

I sat
down and ate the cheese and salad sandwich, pondering over what the
research centre wanted with me. Perhaps, they had found something
in the files Daniel had liberated, or maybe they wanted to run some
tests on me. Whatever it was, Daniel said he would explain so I
pushed it to the back of my mind and went to sleep. I felt
strangely alone and cold in the bed. I missed the extra heat and
comfort of another person's breathing, even if Daniel did snore
from time to time.

*****

When I
awoke, I felt the familiar arm draped lazily over me and I pulled
it tight against me.

"Can I
have my arm back?" Daniel mumbled.

"You're
warm," I muttered. Daniel had told me all shape shifters were
slightly warmer than humans. "You're like an extra
blanket."

"Well,
this blanket needs to get up." Daniel laughed. "And so do
you."

"What did
the research centre want?"

"They
want a fresh blood sample to analyse and check against your blood
report."

When we
were showered and dressed, Daniel led me to the hospital. We
checked on Nate on our way out, but there was no answer. The
entrance to the research centre was at the back of the large,
sterile-white building, sectioned off by two electronically locked
doors. A bulky security guard sat the desk outside.

"Mikhail
Hart, here to see you about a blood sample," he droned over the
telephone. A couple of seconds later he said, "Go on through," and
entered a code into the control panel. The doors buzzed and swung
inward.

A
dark-skinned man greeted us on the other side. He wore a long white
jacket, with multiple pens of different colours clipped into his
pocket. "Hi, I'm Doctor Reid," he said, shaking our hands. "Please
come this way."

Doctor
Reid led us through the corridors and to a small lab, where I could
see the files spread out along one of the desks. There were two
others in the room, wearing the same lab coats, busying themselves
reading through the files and various books. I was seated on a
small chair while Doctor Reid, whose name I later learned was Adam,
explained what was happening.

"The
reports mention some kind of anomaly in your blood work," he said.
"However, they don't go into any detail on the matter. We want to
take a sample so we can examine it for ourselves. Is that okay with
you?"

I agreed
and rolled up my right sleeve so a tourniquet could be wrapped
around my arm. It was tight and uncomfortable, and I could see the
vein in my arm start to bulge. Adam poured some alcohol onto a
piece of cotton wool and wiped my arm. It felt cold as the alcohol
evaporated. I looked away upon seeing the needle, hissing as it
pierced my skin and the blood began to flow down the tube into a
blood bag. My head began to swim. Blood wasn't usually a problem
for me, but this was my blood, and that's a different story
altogether. When enough was collected, the tourniquet was released
and the needle removed. Adam pressed a small bandage to the spot
where the needle had been, asking me to hold it in place and apply
a small amount of pressure. He placed the blood bag into a
refrigerated storage unit against the far wall.

"There's
a number of tests we want to run on it," he said. "Hopefully, we'll
be able to decipher these reports properly now."

I tried
to stand, but my legs were a little shaky so I had to sit back
down. Both Daniel and Adam urged me to sit still and relax until I
recovered.

"We've
been trying to get in contact with your friend, Nathaniel Summers,
as well," Adam said. "If we could get another sample from him to
compare with his file too, it would greatly assist us with our
research."

"Good
luck with that," Daniel said. "He's been out all night, and he's
terrified of needles."

I shook
my head, wondering if I heard Adam correctly. Why would Nate have a
file? Daniel had said the files were from the Academy. Everyone who
entered the military had to be examined, both physically and
mentally, which meant having a blood test done. But Nate told me he
refused to join. When we left the hospital I told Daniel what I was
thinking.

"He could
have started enrolling, and then pulled out after the tests," he
said.

"Maybe,
but I don't see why he would have lied about it."

"You'll
have to ask him that."

*****

Nate
still wasn't back by the time we returned. I went to Anna's, still
trying to figure out why Nate would lie about joining the army, but
I couldn't come up with any reasonable answers. That night, Anna
had a surprise for me.

"This is
the last night you'll be seeing me," she said, almost smiling.
Whether or not it was because she was pleased with my progress, or
happy to finally be rid of me, was debatable. My money was on the
latter. "From now on, you need to focus on putting more power
behind your magic."

"You
think I'll be able to master it tonight?" I asked, surprised. Anna
had never shown any faith in my skill.

"No," she
said bluntly. "But once I've got you started, you'll be able to
practice any time you like, on your own. There'll be nothing left
for me to teach you. Well, nothing that I could teach in the time
frame Marcus has set."

"Like
what?"

"Creating
multiple focus points for starters. That alone could take months to
master." Anna tore into the box in multiple places simultaneously,
just to show off. "Of course, if you have questions, you're free to
stop by, as long as I'm not busy."

I
nodded.

"So,
power. I'm sure you already know this, but your ability is linked
to your own emotions. The stronger the emotion you pour into the
magic, the stronger the resulting magic will be. However, it's not
simply enough to think of something you feel strongly about,
because the more powerful the magic, the harder it will be to
control. That's why I've had you focus on control until
now."

"Makes
sense," I said.

"All
right, then you're free to leave and practice to your heart's
content. I wish I could say it's been a pleasure, but quite
frankly, you can be a pain in the backside."

I scowled
at her and she laughed. "For what it's worth, thank
you."

"Whatever," she muttered. I began walking up the stairs. "If
you see Marcus anytime soon, make sure to tell him my debt is
settled for having to put up with your sorry ass. And, Mik." I
paused at the door. "Good luck."

For a
second, I thought I saw Anna smile, but just as quickly, it was
gone. I was actually a little saddened that I wouldn't be seeing
Anna any more, because I knew there was still more she could teach
me, no matter how long it would take. But I had to admit, it would
be convenient to practice on my own schedule, not having to worry
about conserving my energy for the night.

*****

I began
practising as soon as I reached Daniel's room. Anna definitely
hadn't been wrong about it being harder to control as I increased
the power behind each wave. I would have to increase the power bit
by bit. By the time Daniel returned, I had managed a small tear. It
wasn't an all-the-way-through tear, but it was an improvement
nonetheless.