Darklight 2: Darkthirst Page 5

  My chest tightened. It troubled me to hear about my parents’ pain, but I couldn’t dismiss the plans and the conversation I heard. In my heart, Uncle Alan’s actions had left a deep wound. A wound I wasn’t sure would ever close. The pause stretched into silence as I refused to answer.

  “Can you at least put your brother on?” he asked in a soft voice.

  Zach was already flying away, I hoped.

  “I’m sorry, Alan,” I said, angry tears pricking my eyes. “I can’t forget what I know. My honor won’t allow it. That’s what honor is for, isn’t it? To keep us in check? Those of us who carry the weight of command have a responsibility not to allow the unnecessary destruction of life.” I paused, my mind racing with a thousand memories of my uncle, of my parents, of training with my brother, of the hundreds and hundreds of hours spent working and laughing and sweating and bleeding with my team. “That’s what you told me. It’s how I was raised. It’s how I was trained. And I stand by my honor, even if you won’t.”

  I reached out with a swift movement and clicked off the comm. Finley stared at me with wide eyes.

  She sneered, shaking her head. “You were never good at following orders.” Her critical stare turned to Bryce. “You, I expected more from.”

  “Well, that was your first mistake,” Bryce retorted, before giving me a look filled with pride. “And as for Lieutenant Sloane, I’d say she’s following something far more important than the orders of bigoted psychopaths.”

  Finley’s face was thunderous, but I tried to keep my focus on working out an escape strategy. If Bravi and Sike could handle themselves without sinking their fangs into Finley’s team, we could potentially escape. Bryce and I would grab the guns to ward off any trouble from the soldiers.

  As I began to summon the will to start the fight, I saw that the soldiers who had gone inside had returned with Roxy and the others, now free of their bindings. I deflated upon seeing their numbers. We were definitely cornered now.

  Louise and Colin hung toward the side.

  “Take Sloane and Bryce by force,” Finley commanded, her voice viciously sharp. “Execute the two vampires.”

  Louise twitched cagily. Something dangerous flickered in her face as her panicked eyes swung toward Sike.

  With a sudden movement, Louise lunged at Finley and yanked the captain’s gun out of her hands, pointing it at other soldiers.

  “Go!” she screamed at us. “Go while you still can!”

  In a split second, Colin attacked the other soldiers who trained their guns on us. Roxy gasped as he took out two soldiers with a roundhouse kick, their weapons clattering to the ground. She looked around at the scene, unsure what to do, impotent fury in her eyes. Grayson looked hesitant, making no move to help or hinder us. They would stay no matter what, I realized with a final note of acceptance.

  Bryce and I nodded at each other as we dashed to subdue Grayson and Roxy. They came down easily enough with Louise pointing a gun at them. She forced Finley to kneel beside them in the dirt.

  “Eyes on the ground,” Louise said. From above, a strong gust of wind whipped her long hair, tossing it over her shoulder.

  I glanced up to see two redbills, Sike’s and Bravi’s, descend from the sky. Grateful relief washed over me as the birds swooped down.

  “You can still come,” Sike said to Louise. There was a hint of pleading in his voice.

  She held the gun with a steady hand, unmoving, though I saw a flicker of pain in her eyes for a moment as she looked at Sike. “I’ll take my punishment from the Bureau,” Louise said. Her gaze found mine. “My honor demands it.”

  I nodded, accepting her decision.

  Bravi grabbed my hand and helped me onto her bill, while Sike and Bryce climbed onto the other bird. I watched my old comrades disappear from my sight as we flew upward.

  In the sky, the rest of the redbills were dots in the distance, evading the other choppers that approached the site. But before us, one last redbill dove to attack the chopper on the ground. At this distance, I couldn’t identify the rider, but I recognized the grumpy, large-beaked bill that carried Dorian. He must have circled back to stop the Bureau helicopter from being able to pursue us. My heart stirred with excitement and relief.

  Dorian’s redbill dove toward the chopper on the ground. I felt a nervous twitch inside me. I was terrified of what was happening, but his return both chilled and warmed me. He had let his small band leave without him when he should have been leading them.

  I hated to see his life endangered, but I couldn’t help feeling glad that he hadn’t left us behind.

  Chapter Five

  I leaned into Bravi, hiding from the wind. The air was crisp at this height, and I sighed in relief as the nervous sweat on my face cooled.

  “Where are we going?” I asked her, practically yelling in her ear.

  She smirked, then barked over the sound of the wind, “Humans aren’t in the know on this one, just to be on the safe side. You’ll see when we get there.”

  I nodded, too tired to pry information from her. My body was exhausted after the events of the last two days, and the adventure wasn’t over yet. How had it come to this?

  I threaded my hands through the bill’s feathers, trying not to pull too hard in my nervousness. “Thank you.”

  She surveyed the landscape below before glancing back at me over her shoulder. “Hell of a day, right?” she said.

  It was a struggle to repress the urge to cry in my wearied state. That was the understatement of the century. “Yeah. My uncle has officially betrayed me, and the military I pledged my life to wants to forcibly take me back for who knows what.”

  “Yeah,” Bravi replied. “Being hunted by well-armed military organizations when you know you’re only doing what you know is right really sucks, huh?”

  The smirk stayed on her face, but it was one of shared dark humor. I felt a twinge of guilt followed by intense gratitude that I was with Bravi. Our various moments of escape the past few days had bonded us without me realizing it.

  Bravi’s breath hitched, and her body stiffened. I followed her gaze, and we watched with bated breath while Dorian’s redbill struck the grounded Bureau chopper, evading gunfire. After a successful swipe that took off a rotor blade, he and the bill rocketed into the sky. He caught up with us quickly as Bravi’s redbill led us from the canyon. Bravi and I had mirrored each other for that tense and watchful moment then relaxed at the same time.

  “You’re glad he’s okay?” I asked.

  “Of course,” she said, her tone oddly casual compared to her initial reaction. “He’s kind of important to our survival on this insane plane. But I trust Dorian to take care of himself. He’s capable.”

  Despite her brushing off her concern for him, I smiled to myself. It was evident we both cared about Dorian’s safety. I wondered about her history with him. Part of me was a little jealous. She had known him much longer than I had and likely knew all the small details of his life I wanted to learn.

  “Has he always been like this?” I asked her.

  “Reckless with his life because he can bet on his strength and wits to get him through another day?” She snorted with amusement, which quickly faded. “Not to this extent. The events after the plane’s breaching changed him. It changed all of us. I used to be pretty lighthearted and easygoing if you can imagine such a thing.”

  I pressed for more, sensing I’d caught her in a rare talkative mood. “Did you grow up with him?”

  “Since we were children,” she said, glancing over to where Dorian’s redbill soared just below us. “I know him well. It’s why I’m okay with following him. I’ve seen him prove himself. He doesn’t let his pride get in the way of his leadership.”

  “You’re extremely loyal.” It was obvious from the way she spoke about him that she respected him immensely.

  She shrugged. “Most vampires are loyal. Or we used to be before our virtual extinction led us to this. Lately, all we seem to do is fight amongst ourselves.�
�� She shook her head, dismayed.

  I understood completely. If we weren’t fighting the Bureau, we were fighting within our own ranks.

  “It can’t be easy. Humans haven’t exactly been kind to you guys,” I said and let out a weary sigh. Her plight reminded me of my own frustrations with Roxy’s team. “It seems like our mixed group is unprecedented in terms of vampires and humans working together.”

  She stiffened slightly. “That’s true… but Dorian was right. We had to try something. We couldn’t just hide in caves for the rest of our lives.”

  “And your other comrades back there?” I ventured. My stomach twisted. I wanted to talk to Dorian.

  “Everyone made off on their redbills. Most will likely come with us; others will take their chances and run off to hide somewhere else.”

  “I’m sorry you’re in this situation,” I said, and my voice nearly broke from strain as the wind whipped past us. “If only I’d found the Bureau’s plans sooner.”

  “They’re good at what they do. Look how fast they found us.”

  Comfort sounded strange, coming from Bravi. As if she wasn’t used to it. I wondered what her life had been like in the Immortal Plane. What had happened to her during the tear?

  “I wish I’d been able to convince my teammates to come,” I confessed to her. Louise’s last-minute change of heart had allowed us to leave. Guilt wracked my body as I wondered what the consequences of that would be for her. I shivered in the chill of the air. “I think I’m a loyal person too. It’s been hard to separate myself from the organization that used to feel like home… from my uncle.”

  She grunted in response, but I could tell she was listening intently.

  “I don’t know how much of my life was a lie. I think that’s what hurts the most.” My throat was tight with pain. I hadn’t realized how much the last two days had taken from me. While I believed everything I’d said about honor, was it a moral code I should still trust if it had been instilled in me in part by a man willing to commit genocide?

  “You know the truth now,” she pointed out, somber. “We can’t change the past.”

  Her distant expression made me wonder if she was thinking about her old home, before the destruction caused by the tear. I didn’t press for more information, but the mood had changed, somehow pulling us closer. We traveled on. The sun had begun to set in the sky before Bravi tilted the bird into a slight decline.

  “We’re close,” she told me.

  I grew skeptical as we approached. Our new location appeared to be the ruined remains of an abandoned ski resort on a mountain capped with snow. At first, I assumed the lodge was our destination, but Bravi’s bill banked right, passing it by.

  When she saw me craning my head for a better look, Bravi pointed ahead of us. “Mines.”

  Just below the resort was the entrance to a tunnel, well-hidden even from an aerial perspective. Bravi must’ve been here before.

  My stomach churned at the sight of the unfriendly-looking tunnel. Now that the birds flew close together into the mouth of the tunnel, I could tell Gina was skeptical too. I could see Zach draped in her arms, fastened to her with one of the straps of her gear bag. A nervous chill ran through me. He looked worse than he had earlier. Not that it could be helped, given our current conditions.

  When she saw me, Gina gave a weary smile, pointed to my brother, then gave a thumbs-up. He was okay. My fear abated a little for the moment.

  As the sun continued to set, we swooped through the entrance.

  The birds landed gently, miraculously not running into each other despite our close quarters. Bravi slid from her redbill, and I followed in a clunky movement. I looked around with a frown, wondering if this musty tunnel would really suit our purposes. The birds hopped farther into the tunnel. The non-feathered members of our group followed. The redbills seemed oddly chipper. It was a strange look on a man-eating bird of prey.

  Bravi caught my curious look at our avian friends.

  “You’ll see,” she said.

  Suddenly, the tunnel opened up. The mineshaft had been shored up, expanded, and turned into a large central chamber. I craned my neck and realized the chamber connected to a series of other tunnels with cloth-draped doors. Ventilation shafts presumably led outdoors. I spotted a pile of wood in an old makeshift fire pit placed below one of the shafts to allow the smoke to escape. This place had already been prepared for habitation.

  The furniture was obviously foraged, most of it mismatched. Some looked like it had been abandoned before reaching its current home. Even the mattresses, which looked dirty and stained. Well, maybe beggars couldn’t be choosers, but I might bunk down on the ground instead.

  “We’ve stayed here before,” Dorian said as he gestured for us to gather. His voice made heat crawl onto my face. It sounded strong and reliable, despite the circumstances. “We won’t be bothered here.”

  “You’re sure?” Gina asked.

  I couldn’t blame her skepticism. Zach was literally on one leg at this point. Judging from the fresh blood on the dressing, it seemed the hurried retreat had torn at least one of his stitches.

  “Yes. This mountain is abandoned and often inaccessible due to the treacherous conditions. There are quite a few hard-to-reach redbill colonies here, which should mask our auras. We believe the Bureau doesn’t bother to hunt down redbills in this area.”

  “They wouldn’t know to look in caves,” Bryce announced suddenly. He tapped his chin, rubbing it in thought. “I’ve certainly never heard of a redbill in a cave. It’s just speculation, but I don’t think the Bureau scanners can penetrate rock when it’s particularly dense. Which means we shouldn’t linger near the entrance.”

  “Interesting,” Dorian muttered. His eyes glittered.

  It was a face I’d seen before when he first learned about human technologies. I hoped we would soon have time alone to talk about everything that had happened.

  “You’ve managed to develop technology that goes through stone?” he asked.

  “Some stone,” Bryce corrected.

  I glanced at our gathered group. An odd bunch, to be sure. The vampires that had decided to come with us were the unsettling twins Myndra and Sabal, Gavril, Oleah, Hart, and the one with the thin lips and eerily pale blue eyes who reminded me of a sleazy businessman. Behind this group, I could see three elderly vampires hunched against the cold, a woman cradling a baby inside her dusty dark blue cloak, two adolescent girls, and the older male vampire who had gone scouting with Lex that morning. Arlonne, her dark curly hair standing wild, stood the farthest from the humans. She had yet to speak a single word to any of us.

  Bryce and Dorian wrapped up their conversation. Good, because I was officially in strategy mode. We needed to figure out this hiding situation.

  “Dorian, what about the cold?” I asked him. The tunnels were drafty, despite sheltering us from the snowy wind, and a sharp chill pervaded the room. He frowned thoughtfully but didn’t look at me. If I wasn’t mistaken, he was deliberately trying not to. I resisted thinking of how handsome I found him even when he refused to look at me. Just when I thought I was making progress.

  “We’ll stay close to one another,” he said evenly. “And we’ll find some fuel for the fire.” There was absolutely no invitation in his voice, which did not go unnoticed.

  “I doubt you lot are much comfort from the cold,” Bryce said, with a wry smile at me. He meant well, but it was a not-so-gentle reminder that everyone knew about the mess between Dorian and me.

  I shrugged, letting the comment roll off me. There were bigger things to worry about than my personal embarrassment.

  We were all shaken after the flight. When Bravi and Sike began to move, I followed to see how I could help prepare the space. I helped Gina with Zach, pulling him onto a dusty couch so he could rest.

  “These peaks are so high they’ve got snow even though it’s summer,” Zach said in delirious disgust. “We might starve, but at least we’ll be able to find some melted run
-off or be able to gather some snow for drinking water.”

  “If Kane was here, he’d say it’s your turn to starve,” Bravi said. The corners of her lips turned up with sardonic amusement.

  The joke fell flat. Although I could see the humor of the thought, it served as a reminder of what we’d lost. For the vampires, I imagined, even more so.

  Rhome stood several feet away from us, but I could see his distraught face. He stared at the tunnel we’d come through as if expecting his family to walk in any minute. Dorian clapped a hand on his shoulder. I glanced the other way for a moment as they spoke, trying not to listen in on their quiet conversation. Zach had come with me, but Rhome’s family had chosen another path. Poor Rhome. He was understandably upset.

  “I shouldn’t have let them go,” Rhome muttered. “I shouldn’t have let her take the children into the Immortal Plane.”

  “Kreya knows the Immortal Plane is dangerous,” Dorian whispered. “But it was her decision. You did your best, short of attacking her. And I know you wouldn’t want Detra and Carwin to see that.”

  “We could go there,” Rhome suggested. “Get them to come back now that we’re hidden again.”

  Dorian’s gaze grew stony and severe. “Rhome, we wouldn’t even know where to start looking.”

  “It’s my fault,” Rhome said and shuddered. “I’m worried they won’t be able to find me if Kreya has a change of heart and goes back to the Canyonlands.”

  The image of Kreya grabbing her children, snarling at Rhome as she fled, was burned into my mind. I wasn’t sure she was coming back anytime soon.

  Feeling guilty, I broke away from their conversation to help Gina re-stitch Zach’s wound and put on fresh bandages.

  Nightfall arrived, and everyone was exhausted. As we prepared for sleep, I went to check on my brother again after helping everyone settle. The wound itself wasn’t bad, but it was still worryingly swollen and nasty, despite our care with iodine and keeping the dressings clean. I worried we might need to find a hospital and said as much to Zach.