After Daybreak: A Darkness Before Dawn Novel Page 14

  I feel Victor at my back, his hand resting on my waist. “This was your test,” he whispers softly.

  I jerk my attention up to him. “You knew about this?”

  “No. When you rushed toward the alley, I found myself surrounded by the Council’s guards. Then I knew.”

  I glare at Lilith. “You said the test would be tomorrow.”

  “And you would have been expecting it. I believe you humans call something like this a pop quiz.”

  “What a stupid test! What if I’d killed him?”

  Lilith smiles. “Hardly likely. Warwick is our best warrior.”

  Looking at him now, I can see that it was his loose clothing and makeup that made him appear emaciated. He’s standing tall and confident. Yeah, my killing him probably wasn’t going to happen.

  “The girl?” I ask.

  “One of my divas,” Lilith tells me. “She was never in jeopardy.”

  “So it was all fake.”

  “All except your reaction.”

  “Well, did I pass?”

  “We were testing your loyalty to vampires. The correct answer was to let the starving vampire have the girl. Your solution was unanticipated.”

  “She failed,” Asher announces. “Her loyalty first was to the human. It will always be to the humans.”

  “Yet she showed empathy for the vampire. Unusual, most unusual. The Council must discuss this matter further. We’ll give you our answer tomorrow night.”

  “Shouldn’t I be involved in this decision?” Victor asks.

  “You are recused because of your involvement with the human.”

  With that they disperse like silent wraiths into the night.

  Victor puts his arms around me, draws me near. I can feel the rapid thudding of his heart.

  “What if I had managed to kill him?” I ask.

  “They’d have killed you. Vampire tests always hinge on life and death.”

  Lesson learned: Never agree to take a test without knowing the scoring system.

  When Victor and I step out of the alleyway, Faith and Richard rush up to us.

  “Sorry we couldn’t get to you sooner,” Richard says. “But guards swooped in on us.”

  “Too many to overpower,” Faith adds. “Then they just let us go. What happened?”

  “Dawn was given her test,” Victor says.

  Richard gives me a look of admiration. “Since she still breathes, I assume she passed.”

  “Did everyone know that not passing the test would have meant the end of my life?”

  Richard shrugs.

  “Someone could have said something,” I tell them, irritated.

  “Then you would have worried and nothing would have changed the outcome,” Faith chimes in, a little too carefree.

  “It’s all moot now,” Victor says, taking my hand and leading us away. “The Council is trying to decide if she passed.”

  Victor explains what happened.

  “And if they decide she didn’t?” Faith asks.

  “I don’t know,” Victor admits.

  “You mean they might still kill me?”

  “Not without going through me,” Victor assures me.

  “Us,” Richard clarifies.

  “I’m deeply touched,” I begin, “but if all of us are gone, who’s going to fight Sin? We can’t let him win.”

  “He’s not going to win,” Victor says adamantly. “And we’re not going to die.”

  I take comfort in his words, then something else occurs to me, baffles me. “How did they manage to arrange a test so quickly?”

  “They probably began discussing it when we were with Lilith,” Richard says. “The diva and Warwick would have been at the Council building.”

  “Makeup can be quickly applied,” Faith says.

  “They knew where we were staying,” Victor adds. “I sent my message to them from here.”

  “And if we hadn’t gone walking?”

  “They would have improvised. In some ways we are archaic and slow, but strategy and traps we’ve always excelled at.”

  When we get to the hotel, we go straight to our suite. Exhaustion hits me. I’m chilled and trembling from the dampness of the night and the fight in the alley.

  “I’m going to take a shower.”

  Everyone looks at me with concern. Probably because I’m acting like a human.

  I go into the room I’m sharing with Faith, grab my bag, and walk into the bathroom. Okay, so it’s not going to be a shower. Not sure why I didn’t notice before that the claw-footed bathtub doesn’t have a showerhead above it. Turning on the faucets, I let the sound drown out everything as I peel off the leather. It really protected my skin during the fight. Maybe I should look into getting another outfit.

  Sinking into the warm water, I feel my muscles loosening, relaxing. I refuse to believe that the Council would kill me. I gave the human and the vamp a chance at life. How can they fault that? I want the vampires to be better than that. I want them to be our allies. I want them to have a spark of humanity. Because a part of them is in me.

  “Daddy,” I whisper as tears sting my eyes.

  How did he feel when he realized what he was, what we were? I wish he’d told me while he was alive. I wish I could have talked to him about it. I just wish I’d known.

  I see a small pool of red, widening and fading. Lifting my hand, I notice a tiny scrape. It must have happened during the fight. I watch the blood drip into the water. Just a couple of drops. Not human. Not vampire. Dhampir.

  In anger, I press my thumb to the wound until it stops bleeding. It’s blood. Just blood. It doesn’t define who I am. I’m Dawn because of the things my parents taught me. They taught me compassion, they taught me to fight for the underdog. They taught me to believe in a world where everyone could live together. Where humans didn’t fear the night and vampires didn’t fear the day.

  The Council needs to understand that my blood gives me a right to sit at the Council table. And if they’re too boneheaded to understand that, I can still fight for a better world.

  Getting out of the bathtub, I dry off and slip into my flannel.

  When I step into the bedroom, a guy dressed all in black is standing before me holding two stakes. The room has no windows, but it does have a fireplace. And his face is covered in soot. I sigh deeply.

  “What is this? Another test?”

  He slowly shakes his head. “I’m here to fulfill the death warrant.”

  Chapter 14

  Crap!

  The good news is that someone obviously believes I’m a descendant of the Old Family Montgomerys. The bad news—someone believes I’m a descendant of the Old Family Montgomerys and the death warrant is still in effect.

  The worst news: My stake is in the bathroom. Going back in to retrieve it means getting confined in a small space—

  I grab a vase from a nearby table and throw it at him. He ducks. It crashes.

  He charges.

  The door bangs against the wall and a blur of movement takes the vampire down. But he’s agile and quick. He’s back on his feet and rushing toward me—

  “Dawn!” Faith yells, and I look over to see a stake flying toward me.

  I grab it, drop to the floor, and roll away from my attacker. Victor slams into him again. I see a stake going for his side—

  “No!” I jam mine into the vamp’s arm, pinning it to the floor.

  He roars out in agony, but with renewed strength, he manages to toss Victor off, throwing him against me. He pulls my stake free and then is again on his feet facing us.

  “Put down the stakes,” Victor orders. “We won’t kill you.”

  He shakes his head.

  “Four against one, the odds aren’t in your favor, my friend,” Richard says. “Do as Lord Valentine says.”

  The vampire lifts the stakes and plunges one into his own heart. He crumples to the floor.

  Victor curses as he rushes forward to kneel beside the fallen vamp. “Who sent you?”


  The vampire merely smiles before closing his eyes forever.

  “Why did he do that?” I ask, stunned that he’d take his own life.

  Victor stands. “Because he knew we’d question him about who wants you dead.”

  “It had to be someone on the Council,” Richards says. “They’re the only ones who know about Dawn’s heritage.”

  “But who?”

  “Asher,” I say. “He doesn’t want me on the Council.”

  “I doubt it’s him,” Victor says. “More likely, it’s someone who has been very quiet.”

  “The truth is that it could be anyone,” Richard points out.

  “Whoever it was,” Faith muses, “this guy was afraid of disappointing him.”

  No kidding.

  When Louis brings up a servant to help clean up the mess, he apologizes profusely that our evening was disturbed.

  “No one has ever been attacked in this hotel before. I don’t understand it. It’s the younger generation. They have no respect or manners.”

  By the time he leaves, the sun is rising. Victor is concerned that whoever sent the assassin might send a human to finish the job, so he and Richard agree to take turns keeping watch. The bedroom doors are kept open, which I assume is a disappointment to Faith and Richard, since they’re sharing a bed.

  I’m in Victor’s room. He’s standing in the doorway, looking out. I want to talk with him, keep him company, ask him if he thinks coming here was still the right thing to do. I don’t even know if he has the answer, so I turn away and find it in myself. Yes. And with that circling my mind and the exhaustion of the night’s events, I drift into slumber.

  When I wake up, it’s night and we go through the same routine: dressing, eating, driving to the monolithic tower. Only this time we’ll be waiting for their judgment.

  Or at least I’m waiting. It seems Victor has something else on his mind. He stalks to the center of the council chamber and sets his hands on the table.

  “I’m not sure that I made it clear last night, but Dawn is under the protection of the House of Valentine. An attack against her is an attack against Valentine.”

  “It was a test,” Lilith says. “Warwick knew not to kill her or harm her in any way, I assure you.”

  “Perhaps he did, but the vampire who was sent to our suite at the hotel apparently didn’t get the memo. He said he was there to fulfill the death warrant.”

  Lilith is obviously taken aback. She opens her mouth, closes it. Looks at me. Then she turns to Asher. “Did you know of this?”

  “Absolutely not.”

  “Only the Council members know she is an Old Family Montgomery,” Victor says. “So someone in this room sent the assassin.”

  Lilith stands and glances at the other twelve Old Family. “Who? Who did this thing without consulting the others?”

  “The signed death warrant is still in effect,” Richard’s grandfather says. “No consultation would have been required.”

  “But we were treating her as a guest. It is not proper to attack one’s guest.”

  “It is not proper to ignore a death summons.”

  “Was it you then, Grandfather?” Richard asks.

  The old man holds his gaze. “No, but I understand why the action was taken.”

  “I demand whoever sent the assassin claim his actions,” Victor says, “and accept my challenge.”

  “You would champion her?” Lilith asks.

  “Yes.”

  I’m confused, not sure what’s going on. So many of the vampire rituals have been kept secret from us. I touch Richard’s arm. “Rich—”

  “Shh.”

  I want to punch him. Turning to Faith, I see the sadness and worry in her eyes. She just shakes her head.

  Asher stands. “Young Valentine has made the challenge. It cannot be ignored. Who sent the assassin?”

  At the end of the table, a vampire who looks to be about the age of Victor’s father stands. He is olive-skinned with coal black hair. “I did.”

  “Lord Romanelli, do you accept my challenge?” Victor asks.

  He smiles cockily. “I do, young Valentine.”

  “Excellent.”

  Victor quickly takes off his coat, pulls out a metal stake, and tosses it toward Romanelli, who snatches it from the air with frightening speed.

  “I see no need to take this outside,” Romanelli says, removing his coat.

  No. No. I can’t let this happen.

  “I agree. Let everyone watch,” Victor says.

  “So there is no question.”

  “Stop it!” I shout. “I refuse to let more blood be shed over a piece of paper.”

  “A piece of paper?” Romanelli says in shock. “It was signed by us to carry out your death.”

  “It was signed by your ancestors. By people you’ve never met to kill people you would never cross. Have any of you read it? Can any of you read it?”

  I look around the table and see something I never imagined: nerves. They look from one to the other, each member hoping someone is still fluent in Ancient Vampiric and has read the document from top to bottom. But no one can.

  “You just do it because that’s what you’re told,” I say. “That’s all. You did it out of tradition, without any thought, without a moment’s hesitation. You are all enslaved by a piece of rotting parchment. And for what! What will it get you? Pride? Fulfillment? It will get you nothing! When I saw this city, I could tell how fragile it was, but I knew that this tower was solid, and I knew that I would find strength within the mighty Council that every human had feared for so long. But look at you all. You command empty space. You are masters of falling walls. And all you care about is making an ancient ancestor proud by fulfilling some mandate from a decree written over a thousand years ago.

  “That’s the difference. You vampires may have strength and immortality—at least until one of your own puts a stake through your heart. But in the end, living for centuries is your downfall. Because I’m proud that I’ll die one day. I’m proud that my heart will stop beating forever. I have seventy years on this earth if I’m lucky, and I’ll be damned if I waste a second of it fulfilling the desires of some distant relative from a thousand years ago who I never even met.”

  Silence. Wonderful, blissful silence. I felt the words from my heart, and in them I spoke not of my hatred toward vampires but, for the first time, of my love for humankind.

  Victor slowly puts his stake back into his belt. To my surprise, Romanelli follows, albeit much more slowly.

  “I often wonder,” Carrollton says, “if the passage of all these centuries has brought us any true wisdom at all.”

  That gains gasps from some, contemptuous silence from others—but smiles and nods from a few. Including Lilith.

  “We can see your passion, Dawn,” he continues. “The death warrant was signed by all families, save the Montgomerys. It can only be removed by the same action. A unanimous vote.”

  Unanimous? Romanelli just tried to kill me! How could he possibly vote to get rid of it now?

  “Then I call the vote now,” Lilith says. “And I ask that all who raise their hand remember this: Now is not the time to create division amongst us. My family has suffered enough from this death warrant, fracturing us into two halves. I’d hate to see something similar happen to this Council.”

  Her words may be subtle, but their meaning is clear: The Ferdinands intend to stand by the Montgomerys. With a warning look at all the members who are now seated, and a knowing smile to Victor, she speaks words the Montgomerys have wanted to hear for so long. “All those in favor of rescinding the death warrant so that it may no longer burden us, raise your hand.”

  Some do it quickly, others more slowly. Asher takes his sweet time. But Romanelli’s hand stays down. Until Victor looks at him, and another challenge is issued, only this one is more severe. Instead of them dueling, Victor seems prepared to go to war against the family who would threaten me. And as Romanelli looks at Lilith, he must realize that
he’d be facing two enemies.

  He raises his hand.

  “Then it’s unanimous,” Lilith says. “The death warrant is forever stricken and the Montgomerys may now move in peace and be prosperous.”

  “Thank you,” I say, the words seeming insufficient to express what I’m really feeling: incredible relief. “Now, my seat on the Council? The test? What did you decide?”

  “You are a bold one, that much is clear,” Asher says. “The Council has not yet decided.”

  “You haven’t decided, Asher,” Lilith says, “but I have. I was impressed last night and even more so now. She possesses an inner strength, tempered with compassion. We need fresh blood here. Young blood.”

  “We need no such thing. Strength in purity. You know that.”

  “Your opinion has been noted,” Lord Paxton says. “But the fact remains: Dawn Montgomery has provided evidence of her Old Family heritage. She passed our test in ways that exceeded all of our expectations. And the death warrant has been rescinded. There is nothing to debate and nothing to vote on. Dawn Montgomery, please take your seat.”

  With a deep breath, I walk around the table and take the empty chair beside Lilith. It’s simply a chair. Yet it carries with it so much power. It’s the place where my ancestors should have sat all along. I have the opportunity to carry on their work, to affect the future of both humans and vampires.

  Victor eases into the vacant chair beside mine. His presence calms my racing heart. Without him I wouldn’t be here. I’m going to fulfill Lilith’s dreams for the Montgomerys and serve as a bridge between the humans I’ve always loved and the vampires I’ve only recently learned to accept.

  Lord Carrollton makes a special request that under the circumstances, Richard and Faith be allowed to remain. They stand at the back of the room, near the doors.

  It is Lilith who first speaks, and her voice seems to resonate stronger now that I sit here with her.

  “Shall we call for a new official vote in regard to Victor’s proposal? Now that we have a new member on the Council?” Lilith asks.

  Asher’s mouth drops. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Very.”

  He looks like a man who can’t quite get out of the absurd dream he’s found himself in.