Blood-Kissed Sky (Darkness Before Dawn) Read online

  “Yeah. I can,” I say, turning to him and smiling. “Victor.”

  His raw strength might not be quite what Sin’s is, but he is rational and calculating. He’s not as volatile as Sin. He’d never reveal his frustration or anger by yelling. He’d never lose control, but Sin appears to be on the verge of doing just that.

  Sin slowly nods, licks his fangs, and stares across the vast space of this chamber. And then backhands me.

  Michael grabs me. I don’t fall. I just glare right back at Sin.

  “I’ll cut your face next time,” he says, holding up the other hand, claws dancing. “It’s true. Victor is a nuisance. That’s why I was in Denver in the first place. I got the summons from my father to help create chaos within the city. I didn’t really care about that; I didn’t even really care about the throne. All I wanted was Victor dead.”

  “You’re afraid of him, aren’t you?” I ask.

  “Of Victor? He’s an irritant, nothing more. He has this annoying habit of fighting to the end, no matter the odds. As long as he thinks he’s on the side of good, he’ll give his life if need be. I wanted him out of the picture before I started my ultimate masterpiece. Unfortunately, he’s a little stubborn in his refusal to die. So I’ll have to begin even while his heart still beats. Of course, if your brother gave me the inspiration for this, Victor certainly played his own part.”

  “How could he ever help you with such an insane plan?”

  Sin turns toward me and smiles. The room presses in around me, and I feel the earth turning beneath my feet.

  “You recognized this place,” Sin says. “You said the V-Process. I assume you think that stands for, what? Vampire Process?”

  “What else would it be?”

  He grins with relish. “Victor Process.”

  Chapter 32

  It takes every ounce of strength I have to remain standing as my world threatens to crumble.

  “Look around, Dawn!” Sin yells. “This is Victor’s legacy.”

  Sin explains it was Victor’s idea, the unprecedented notion of using facilities to turn humans en masse into Lessers. Victor designed the entire process: how much blood was required to turn a human successfully, how much electricity was needed to stop the heart, how soon to feed them their first blood afterward.

  “No,” I say. “That’s impossible.” But I remember how guilty Victor looked when Clive mentioned the process, how Clive had to explain it. I remember Victor jumping in to say the shock was meant to prevent suffering. Again, the guilt. “Victor said he was in charge of destroying all the V-Processing centers.”

  “He was. And who better than the one who created them, the one who knew where they all were, the one who knew how to dismantle them perfectly because they were based on his designs!”

  “You’re lying.”

  “It’s the truth. Victor said it was the humane thing to do. After all, the Old Families just wanted to burn entire cities with the humans inside. Victor convinced the council that the humans could be turned, and in great quantities efficiently.”

  “Then he saved their lives,” I say. “If they were going to be killed anyway.”

  “Are you hearing what you’re saying?” Sin asks, stepping toward me. “Are you hearing this, Michael? He saved them? He damned them! He gave them lives as monsters, feasting on the humans they once called friends. That’s what he did!”

  I fall to the floor, images of Victor running through my head. But he’s no longer holding me closely. He’s the one constructing this place. He’s the one making the monsters who rule the night. I feel my heart turning to stone and dropping through my chest, breaking on the floor, crumbling into dust, and being scattered across the earth.

  Michael kneels next to me and puts his hand on my back.

  I remember being trapped in Victor’s nightmare. Now I understand, because it’s become mine.

  “Yes, yes,” Sin says. “You two are very sweet. But I’m afraid we must be going.”

  I fight back the tears and stand up. I’m not going to cry or think about the things I can’t change, the things I never knew about Victor. Whatever Sin wants, I have to figure out a way to stop him from getting it.

  “Where are we going?” I ask.

  “Haven’t you ever wondered why I chose Brady?” Sin asks.

  “Every night.”

  “Good. Because you’re about to find out. We’re taking a carriage ride, something you’re used to.”

  The carriage is led by six mighty horses, which gallop through the center of the city on the train tracks. We had to go through the Outer Ring, but moved so quickly that it was just a blur, the thunderous hooves blocking out the night screams.

  Michael is beside me, Sin sitting across from us.

  “Do you see those mountains in the distance?” Sin asks, his manner too friendly, like it was a month ago, in Denver. Before we knew what a devil he truly is.

  “Yeah,” I say.

  “That’s where we’re heading.”

  “Is that where you plan on killing us?” Michael asks.

  Sin just shrugs. “If I have to. I’m not picky on where I kill you. But there are things within that mountain that Dawn must see. You’re simply along for the ride, Michael. In fact, you should consider yourself privileged. You will learn things that few know. Things that have evaded the pen of history for a very, very long time.”

  Sin pulls out a small attaché case and unbuckles it. From within the metal box, he withdraws a syringe filled to the brim with blood. He injects it into his vein and presses down the plunger. The blood swirls away, driving deeper into him. He grits his teeth as if it were unpleasant. Taking a deep breath, he relaxes for several moments before putting it all away.

  “Get some sleep,” he says. “You’re safe in here.”

  But you’re not. Not if I can control my dreams. If I can reach Victor, I can warn him. I close my eyes. The motion of the carriage is so soothing, very different from the one I’m used to riding in. It’s like being rocked. I drift off to sleep.

  I wake up to the sound of the ocean. It’s night, but there’s so much blue light, as if the moon is closer than it’s ever been. I’m sitting on the grass, hands wrapped around my tucked legs. The ocean is so beautiful.

  Someone approaches from behind and sits next to me.

  “I’m in danger, Victor,” I say.

  “I know. I can sense it within you. You’ve come back to this place because it calms you, but it isn’t enough.”

  I listen to the waves, wanting desperately to relax … but it’s impossible.

  “Sin has Michael and me. I don’t know where we’re heading—somewhere in the mountains.”

  “I might know. And I’m already on my way. I’ll save you, Dawn.”

  “You have to save Denver. Warn Clive—”

  “We’ll have time for all that.”

  I want to ask him about the V-Process, about everything Sin accused him of. But I’m afraid the accusation will shatter this dream, tear it apart, and leave me with nothing.

  “I’m so tired,” I say. “I’m tired of fighting. I’m tired of everything. I just want this to be over.”

  “I know.” He places his arm around my shoulder. “But I’m afraid it’s only just begun.”

  It takes us two nights to reach the mountains. They always seemed so close before that at times I thought they were running away from us. Eventually, though, we catch up.

  The night is fresh, the air cool. Sin opens up a small compartment in the back of the carriage and produces two jackets, giving one to each of us.

  “Your world is about to change, Dawn. Some of your questions will be answered, but many more will appear. Know this, however: I am not your enemy.”

  “You are. And always will be.”

  Sin looks genuinely disappointed, but begins walking up the mountain. We follow close behind. If Michael is planning a surprise attack out here, now that we’re so far from the city, I’m not in on it. I look over at him. He gives m
e a small shake of his head. Not now.

  The path is gravelly and I find myself slipping, though Michael is often there to help me. On one occasion, even Sin offers his hand. I don’t take it.

  We seem to be climbing up for miles, but when I look back, the carriage and its driver are easily seen. Sin’s prediction that my world is about to change was ominous. And this place is the perfect setting for that. All the vegetation is gone, and nothing but stone and rock lie strewn about.

  Eventually we reach an area that cuts directly through the mountain, and we’re surrounded on both sides by walls of stone that reach into the sky. The passage narrows until we have to move sideways and I have the unreasonable fear that the mountain will suddenly move a fraction of an inch, and that’ll be enough to trap me within it forever.

  I look around the ground for any signs of litter or human foot traffic, but there’s nothing. The place is oddly abandoned, like even Mother Nature is frightened to walk here. The passage eventually splits and then splits again, looping in on itself before taking a new direction. It’s a maze, one that a man could find himself lost in for his entire life.

  And I have a terrible feeling that I’ve traveled it before—in my dreams.

  At the final juncture, a large rock, taller than any of us, seems out of place. Sin, with his metal gauntlet, stabs the rock and the claws sink in, sending tiny shrapnel onto the ground. I can see another set of four holes that matches exactly the ones he just delivered. He’s been here at least once before.

  With strength that only an Old Family vampire possesses, he slides the rock back, the bottom of the stone grinding against the rocky floor. A dark cutout in the mountainside greets us. Without a word, Sin walks through and quickly disappears. We could run, but how far would we get before he caught us? Sin didn’t come this far just to let us slip away. He has it all planned. He’s always had it planned.

  So Michael and I go forward. We can hear Sin’s footsteps just ahead, and my hands glide along the walls next to me, feeling the slippery, moss-covered rock. It seems to take forever, but finally the labyrinth opens up into a gigantic cavern, the only light coming from a tiny hole in the top letting in shades of moonlight. By some strange alignment of nature, the light plays off of the shining, rocky surfaces, bathing everything in a bluish hue, just enough for our eyes to adjust so we can see the entire domed room.

  Sin is off to one side, standing very still, waiting for us to enter. Michael is holding my hand, not in a romantic way, but in a be-ready-to-run-when-I-give-the-signal way.

  In the middle of the cavern is a throne carved of stone. And sitting in it, a vampire so ancient that even time itself must fear him.

  “This is what I brought you to see,” Sin says, holding his arm out, presenting the vampire.

  I question whether he’s alive, or if he’s even flesh and bone, until the thing breathes ever so slowly. His body is large, like that of Valentine’s, but his features are carved deep within his skin, making him appear to be composed of clay. His hair is white and lays loosely across his shoulders; his clean face allows the sunken cheekbones and sagging skin to show themselves. His eyes were maybe blue once, but are covered with a thin, milky white. Still, he can see me; I have no doubt about that.

  “It … is … you,” he says, his voice as old as the stones surrounding him. “Dawn Montgomery. You have found me, at last.”

  His words send chills up my spine.

  “He’s been waiting a long time to see you,” Sin says. “In fact, you could say he’s been waiting for two thousand years.”

  “Why me? Who are you? What’s going on?”

  “Patience,” Sin says. “All will be explained.”

  “Many secrets lie within you, Dawn,” the vampire says. “Secrets that could destroy. But I think that on some level, you always knew that. You always knew you were different. The call of the vampire has always been difficult to ignore, hasn’t it?”

  “I’ve never wanted to be turned, if that’s what you mean. And I won’t change that tonight!”

  “But you’re already turning,” the vampire says. “Or should I say, you are awakening.”

  I grab my neck, not for fear of it being bitten, but out of fear that this has something to do with Victor and his bite, with Victor and our dreams. “What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t deny it,” Sin says. “A change is taking place in your blood. Ever since Victor bit you.”

  “No,” I say. “You’re insane—he never turned me.”

  “He didn’t need to,” the ancient one says. “Because you’ve always been a vampire.”

  Chapter 33

  Michael stiffens beside me, his fingers automatically tightening on mine. “No way,” he mutters. “They’re just playing mind games with you, Dawn.”

  “Yeah. I know.” That’s got to be it. Although I think the more logical explanation is that they’ve gone mad. Centuries of isolation have driven this thing to the breaking point, and Sin is just as demented.

  “I can hear it in your blood,” the vampire says, holding up his hand and closing his eyes, treating the sound of my beating heart like waves he can connect with on some ethereal plane. “Your veins are singing the song of Montgomery. They are singing the song of vampire.”

  “Montgomery?”

  “That’s right, Dawn,” Sin says. “There were not fourteen original Old Families. There were fifteen.”

  “The lost family? You’re saying it’s real?”

  “I’m doing more than saying. I’m showing you its existence. And you, my dear, precious, sweet, innocent Dawn, are its legacy.”

  I’m not sure if I jerk free of Michael’s hold or if he jerks free of mine, but suddenly I’m standing alone, disbelief, anger, and confusion simmering through me. “That can’t be.”

  “My blood is yours,” the Old Family vampire says. “I am Octavian Montgomery. The last full-blooded vampire of the Montgomery clan.”

  “I’m not a vampire!” I shout.

  “You are. Just as your father was, and his father, and his father. Not fully. That was what made us unique, the Montgomerys. We could produce children with humans.”

  “That’s not possible,” I say. “It can’t be done.”

  “That is why they feared us!” the vampire cries, anger in his voice coming up from the past. “They knew how powerful we would become. Half vampire, half human. A dhampir, as we called them. They had the strengths of each, but without the flaws. They could walk in the sun, and relished blood, but did not require it. They weren’t as strong as the Old Family from which they came, but they were strong enough.”

  “You’re insane. If that were true, where are they now?”

  “Dead. Killed. The other Fourteen Families were afraid, and none more than Alistair Valentine. He said we were an abomination, diluting the pure blood of vampires to create half breeds and monstrosities.”

  I remember my father writing of a plague. I thought he was referring to the Thirst. But what if he was referring to the Montgomerys and the vampires’ desires to keep bloodlines pure?

  “Long ago, I told Alistair that this new breed was the next step, that vampires and humans no longer had to live separate lives, that we could become one. But he wouldn’t listen and he turned the others against me. They wrote a death warrant for the Montgomery family, signed by all of them. It was a promise not to rest until we were all destroyed.”

  The document my dad found. Could it be? The symbol. I drop to my knees, find a section of sand and dirt, and begin frantically drawing.

  “Dawn—” Michael says cautiously.

  “Just give me a minute.” When I’m finished I shove myself to my feet, point at it, and challenge the old vampire. “What does that say?”

  “Why, child, it says Montgomery.”

  My heart batters against my ribs; my knees weaken. He could still be lying, but why would he?

  “But they didn’t kill all the Montgomerys—is that what you’re telling me?”

&nb
sp; “All of my family was killed. Every full-blooded vampire, every dhampir was hunted down and slaughtered. Until it was just me. So I ran. I ran so far away that they never found me. And eventually, I learned to control my blood urges, and began portraying myself as a human. Soon, I took a human wife and we had a child. A dhampir. He never learned what he was, or about the legacy that he had inherited. But he went on to have a child of his own, the Montgomery blood, the vampire blood, further diluted. And then he had a child, and then so on and so on, until your father was born.”

  “Daddy was a …”

  “A dhampir. Didn’t he ever tell you what his father did for a living?”

  “He said he was a historian. He studied mythology and folklore … vampire folklore.”

  “Yes, this was before we were made known to the world. His father, your grandfather, was also drawn to the night, to the world of vampires, even without knowing what he truly was. His father was the same, and his father before him. It’s all in the blood, Dawn. It’s always been in the blood. And now that you’ve been bitten and blood-kissed, it has been reawakened.”

  I slap my hand to my neck. “How do you know about the blood kiss?”

  He smiles wickedly. “Because you bear no scars.”

  I shake my head frantically. “No, I’m human. I’m not some dhampir, half-vampire freak!”

  “You can’t escape it,” Octavian says, his voice stronger than ever, as if this is his last statement on earth and he demands it be heard. “Your destiny is as unchangeable as the stars above you. The blood within you is diluted, but has infinite potential. Nearly two thousand years of vampirism lay dormant, waiting to be awakened.”

  “In me?” I ask. “Then it must’ve been in Brady, too.”