Darkness Breaks.
Jessica Sorensen.
Chapter 1.
The rain pours down like needles against my skin. The sky booms, lightning bolts flash sliver across the cloudy sky. The vampires are screaming, begging me to stop. But I can"t. This is what I"m meant to do.
I pursue thema"running down the vacant streets, weaving through rusty cars, my boots kicking up the gla.s.s and mud on the road. The vampire I target, a tall one with fleshless skin and bloodless eyes, scurries around a burning barrel and jumps onto the steps that lead to a building of shiny steel. It bolts for the doors, its bare feet shedding skin. Clutching the stake, I charge after it and with a swift launch off the bottom step, I"m airborne, soaring through the darkness. My boot catches against the railing, and just as quick as I caught up to the monster, it vanishes inside the building.
"Dammit!" I crash to the muddy ground, skinning my hands on rocks. I let out a frustrated scream. With each pa.s.sing day, my strength and fighting skills slip away from me.
"If you"d just take the medicine, then that vampire would be dead by now." Sylas creeps from the shadows of the cars, dressed head-to-toe in black. His dark eyes light up like coals against the fires burning in the streets. His hands are stuffed in his pockets and his dark hair brushes across his forehead. "Your mortality is your weakness, Kayla."
Pushing to my feet, I scowl at him. "I"ve told you, I"m not going to do thata yet. I"m not sure if I want to."
He backs me against the railing and traps me between his arms. "I think you want to, you"re just holding back because of a certain someone."
"You mean Aiden." I straighten my shoulders, confident and strong, and look him straight in the eye. "I"m not going to change until I know what I"m supposed to do."
"Always following Monarch"s orders." He coils a strand of my long, black hair around his finger. "I thought after everything you"ve learned, you"d have given up on him by now."
"I"ve learned nothing." It takes a lot, but I shove him back. "Emmy"s gotten nowhere with my memories."
He lets out a low laugh and touches his chest where I shoved him. "Always so feisty."
A shriek pierces the air and our gazes dart to the street. The vampires are crying out in hungry, needing to feed.
"Shouldn"t you be hiding out with the rest of the Day Takers?" I flip the stake in my hand and slide it in the back pocket of my jeans. "Or do you have a death wish?"
He winks at me and backs toward the road. "I was just seeing if you"d made any progress with the whole slaying thing." His dark eyes wander to the top of the stairs where I lost the vampire. "Looks like I owe Emmy a shot of amortire."
Amortire is the Day Taker"s "special" medicine. It"s a numbing solution they take to block out their cravings, but honestly I think they use it more for recreational purposes than anythinga"just like they do with most things.
"You were placing bets on me." I stomp after him, past the fires, and dip into the shadows of the cars.
"Hey." He grins through the night, his long legs stretching as he steps gracefully over the dented hood of a small car. "I was betting you"d be kicking a.s.s."
"Sorry to disappoint you." I hop over the hood of a car and slip clumsily onto the ground.
"Take the medicine, Kayla," he calls out, barely a silhouette anymore. The rain lets up, and the sky calms down. "You"ll never be able to pull anything off if you don"t."
I stop in the center of the street, listening to the vampires shrieks rattle against the building"s walls as they hide from mea"the one and only person they want nothing to do with.
It hasn"t been that long since I left Aiden and the others, but it feels like an eternity. I don"t regret my decision to leave. Not yet, anyway. If it turns out Emmy can"t extract my memories, then I might be kicking my own b.u.t.t.
I sigh and head down the street. I can"t see Sylas anymore, but I don"t care. I know where I"m going; to a place where I feel just as uncomfortable as I did in The Colony.
I take my time lollygagging along the curb of the street, my boots grazing against the broken pieces of concrete. My hand moves for my knife as I spot a vampire crawling from the shadows, fangs drooling, its skinless fingers clawing at the sidewalk. I pause and take a step back, knocking my hip into a b.u.mper.
"What on earth?" I squint through the dark at two outlines of pale white figures with feathery white hair and flawless skin.
Highers.
Chapter 2.
I stand in the middle of the street blinking my eyes over and over again, but the Highers stay. Their pale figures are blinding against the blackness of night. Sharp howls of the vampires" cries shake the city as they flee for their lives.
But why? Because of the Highers?
The Highers follow after a vampire, exchanging words with each other. I can"t hear what they"re saying. But I want to. I inch forward, ducking low toward the ground, and strain to listen. They look like they"re searching for somethinga"or someone. The taller Higher steps beneath the glow of the fires always burning in the streets and his pale eyes are recognizable.
"Gabrielle," I breathe.
Gabrielle s.n.a.t.c.hes the vampire by the neck and raises it up to him. The vampire"s legs flail as it struggles to escape. Fangs ascend from Gabrielle"s lips and he tips his head back, his body trembling with desire. His head snaps down and he sinks teeth into the vampire"s decaying flesh. There"s a burning hunger in Gabrielle"s pale eyes, one he"s desperate to get rid of.
His shoulders jerk with each swallow of blood. The vampire"s body twitches and its nails thrash. Gabrielle drinks until the vampire is emptied of blood, and then drops the lifeless body to the ground as if it is discarded trash. I stifle a choking sound. Gabrielle"s eyes rise through the darkness.
A cold hand slaps across my mouth and I"m lifted up and carried backward. I wrestle to get free as I watch the Highers slip from my view. Slamming my head back, I try to break away, but they tighten their hold. They drag me down a dark alley, and tuck us into a vacant building that is filled with cracked tables and broken chairs, the leather seats having been torn by fangs.
"Sylas," I huff as he lets me go. I take out the stake, even though I have no intention of using it on him. "What"s the matter with you?"
He shakes his head with anger burning in his eyes. "What"s the matter with me? You"re the one standing out in the middle of the street."
My gaze wanders to the splintered window. "Why are the Higher"s out there? I"ve never seen them leave The Colony. And they were feeding on a vampire with their fangs. I didn"t even know they had them."
His forehead creases, eyebrows scrunching together. "Neither did I."
We exchange confused looks, and then peer over the windowsill out into the street. The fires cast a bright orange glow and there are no vampiresa"the Highers have vanished.
"What were they doing out there?" I muttered. "They"re breaking their own rules."
Rule #1a"Never go out after dark.
"Those rules weren"t set for them." Sylas meets my eyes, and like most times when he looks at me, my body squirms with uneasiness. Sylas is a mystery to me; he"s the one person who I can"t sense fear from. That"s because Sylas can manipulate feelings.
"I know." I hop onto a table, letting my legs dangle over the edge. "But how can they be out at nighta"how can they even be walking with the vampires?"
Sylas strolls toward me, places his hands on the table, and his knuckles brush my hips. Arching an eyebrow, he leans in. "Why can you walk with them?"
I lean back, not wanting to get tugged into how he"s trying to make me feel. But it"s hard not to. "Because I"m an experiment. That"s how Monarch wanted me to be."
"And who says the Highers aren"t experiments?" He questions in a low voice. "I mean, does anyone really know what they are?"
I think of the photos in the book Aiden and I flipped through. It had pictures of perfect creatures that looked similar to the Highers, but without the white eyes and hair. "From what I just saw, they look like they might be part vamp."
"Hmmma" Sylas taps his lips. "That"s a good observation."
I point the stake at his chest and he grins. "Are you holding back information from me?"
He inches closer so the point of the stake is jabbing him in the chest. "I told you, I don"t lie." It"s the most aggravating thing, not knowing what he"s feeling. He rubs his lips together, tilting his head down, and moves his lips for mine. "But just to be surea"
He"s trying to use my gift against me. The closer I get to someone, the more I feel their honesty and whether they"re lying. But with Sylas, it conflicts with his gift of controlling emotion.
Before he can seal the deal with a kiss, I scoot my knee up, and press my boot against his stomach, pushing him back. "Don"t bother. My little lying gift doesn"t really work well with you."
His red lips creep upward and stepping back, he shrugs. "I was just trying to help you."
"Sure you were." I climb off the table, trying to hold my legs steady even though they"re shaking from the thought of kissing him. "We should get back to the hideout. If the Highers are out and about, no one"s safe."
I start for the door, but he wraps his fingers around my elbow. "Don"t go out front. The Highers might still be out there."
I halt and for the briefest second, I actually consider going out and announcing my presence to the Highers. What would they do if I did? But it"s my human state that stops me. I allow Sylas to guide me to the back of the building where we climb out of a small hole in the bottom of the brick wall. Rolling into the alleyway, we get to our feet and dust the dirt off our clothes. Then we climb up a ladder that slants to the flat roof. The next part I hate. I really do.
Sylas turns his back to me. "Jump on."
I frown and grudgingly hop onto his back. He loops his arms underneath my knees and then steps to the ledge, peering down at the hard concrete four stories down.
"Better hang on tight," he warns with a hint of laughter in his voice. "If you fall, there"s no saving you."
I clasp my hands around his neck. He takes a few steps back and then sprints forward, springing off the ledge and flying through the air just like I used to do before humanity began to take me over. He lands on his toes and I barely feel the hit.
Quickly, I squirm off his back and experience a momentary case of vertigo.
"Gonna make it there?" His eyes scan me over.
My skin heats and I know he"s playing his little emotion tricks. "Knock that off, Sylas." I march past him with my chin up, shaking off the intensity that tries to yank me back toward him.
He laughs softly and trails behind me. I lie flat on my stomach and shimmy through a narrow gap in the ground. Rolling over onto the metal walkway, I jump to my feet and smack my head on a low pipe. Rubbing the wound, I pick a stray piece of ash from my hair.
He slides inside and cleans ash out of his dark hair. "Take the medicine Kayla." He struts by me, intentionally brushing his shoulder against mine. "You"re never going to make it if you don"t."
I can feel the welt forming on my head. I stay quiet and follow him down the hall, to the main room where everyone"s strewn around tables, tipped-over crates, and chairs. The Day Takers hide here during the night. The building is old, the red brick walls chipped apart. Lanterns dangle from the low ceiling and dirt and garbage litter the floor.
He leaves me in the archway and I lean against the wall, watching him stroll up to Emmy and ma.s.sage her shoulders. Emmy tips her head back, her red hair dipping lower on her back, and she gives Sylas a quick kiss on the cheek. Sylas" gaze wanders to me and there"s a smirk in his eyes because I"m standing alone, the outcast, and it only adds to his point of me changing into a Day Taker.
Holding my chin high, I walk across the room. The other Day Takers watch me with inquiring looks. There are eight of them total, including Bernard. He"s still upset with me for beating him unconscious with a pipe and he refuses to talk to me.
I tap Sylas on the shoulder. "We"re not done for the night. I still need to have my memory session."
Emmy smiles, her black eyes lighting up. "Kayla," she purrs. "Kill a lot of vampires tonight?"
A devious look spreads across Sylas" face. "Not even close." He traces a finger across my cheek and down my neck. "She needs to be one of us or she"s never going to get anywhere."
I narrow my eyes at him and then turn to Emmy. "Are you ready to go inside my mind?"
Emmy grins and presses her lips together. "Always Kayla." Then she saunters for the doorway, her black dress trailing on the ground.
I follow her and so does Sylas. "You don"t have to come with me," I tell him. "I can handle this on my own."
He knocks me with a spurt of calmness. "You know you want me to come with you." His boots thud behind me and there"s laughter in his voice. "Even if you won"t admit it."
I sigh and keep my mouth shut.
Emmy takes us down the hall. We pa.s.s door after door until we reach the very last one. She pushes it open, the bottom scratching against the concrete floor. The room is small with brick walls and a dirt-stained floor. In the center is a tattered leather chair. I climb in and recline backward, staring up at the ceiling that I"ve come to be very familiar with over the last few days.
Emmy appears over me, her blood-red hair a curtain around our faces. "Do you want us to strap your hands down?"
Raising my arms, I glance over the red lines healing from the last mind-dipping experience and rub my thumb across my wrist where the faint black numbers mark my skin. "I"m fine," I say, thinking of Aiden and his scara"his freedom.
Sylas shakes his head disapprovingly. "You"re making a mistake." He elbows Emmy out of the way and his lips touch my ear. "You"re letting my brother get into your head, Kayla. Or should I say Junipera"I know how much you like the name."
Hearing my nickname, I push him back and look in his eyes. "Don"t ever call me that." That name feels wrong coming off anyone"s lips except Aiden"s.
He shrugs and takes a step back. "Whatever. Do what you want."
Emmy barricades herself between us. "Are you ready?"
I shut my eyes and inhale. "I"m ready." My eyes snap open as she shifts her weight above me.
"And remember, Kayla," she whispers. "Don"t blink."
And I don"t, picturing the blood-red door as I slip into a state of unconsciousness.
Chapter 3.
The blood red door is sealed shut and I"m standing on the outside. From the ceiling, water trickles in my hair. I glance over my shoulder down the long, narrow hall. It"s empty, but a hum of voices flow from the distance. I hurry for the door, but it"s locked. Gripping my hand tightly around the doork.n.o.b, I snap it apart and shove the door open.
The stench immediately overwhelms me. I hold my breath and enter, one foot in front of the other, forcing myself to go inside. Chains hang from the concrete walls and blood stains the ceiling and floor. Someone screams in pain and I move toward the sound, my feet colliding with the chains.