Prologue
Fiona
2006
I was crying because my shirt ripped as I tried to pull it off the hanger. I didn’t mean to rip it but I couldn’t get it down. I stuffed it in the back of the closet behind the shelf where my shoes were all lined in a neat row; I had the top shelf, Becks had the bottom. If Mommy found my ripped shirt, she’d be so mad.
I tugged at another shirt and this one didn’t rip. I put it on and picked out my favorite boots. They were pink, and they went with everything. Okay, so they made my feet a little sweaty sometimes, but I didn’t care.
Just before I left Becks’s and my bedroom, I saw my purple bunny, Snuffy, on her bed. I’d told Becks she couldn’t have it yesterday, so I took it back and hid it under my covers, so she wouldn’t find it. Becks was always taking my stuff; I wished I could get my own room and lock the door, so Becks couldn’t take my stuff anymore.
I still had to use the potty and brush my teeth and brush my hair before Grammy got here. She took us to her house while Mommy went to work. We weren’t in Kindergarten anymore. It was summer, so we didn’t have to go to school.
I could hear Mommy drying her hair, so I was gonna go potty in her bathroom. But the front door was open. Maybe Grammy was already here, and she forgot to close it?
“Grammy? Becks?” I said, walking to the front door and peeking outside. It was cloudy in the morning, like always. But it was light. And a little hot. Hopefully, Grammy would take us to the pool today. I was a really good swimmer. I could hold my breath longer than Becks. I could swim faster too. When we went to the pool, Grammy always brought Oreos for a snack. Oreos were the best. I liked the side with the filling.
I didn’t hear anyone, but I went outside anyway. Maybe they were getting something out of her car. We had a big parking lot.
I wandered down the sidewalk and called for them again. That was when I saw the big, snarling dog behind the bushes, and what looked like…
“Becks?” I cried. Those were her sneakers. She was lying on the ground behind the bushes, not moving… not crying…
The dog looked up at me. It had big teeth. There was blood on its mouth.
“Mommy!” I screamed and ran toward our front door. But after a few steps I fell. Then the dog was growling on top of me. “Mommy!”
The dog snapped at me and bit my face. It hurt more than anything in the world. Blood dripped onto the sidewalk. I couldn’t see anything through my tears. I tried to cover my face to stop it from hurting me. But it wouldn’t stop. And Mommy wasn’t coming.
“Stop it!” I cried, but the dog kept biting me and I couldn’t get away…
Chapter 1
Susan
“Turn around!” I demanded.
Taylor was racing down the dark, winding road, away from the True North Society compound. Frederick and I had seen the space station; we’d seen the future. And I’d allowed him to set up my daughter to ensure our success. It worked, but at what cost? The scary thing was, I didn’t know.
“No way,” Taylor said. “We are not going back. If they catch us, they’ll kill us.”
“My daughter’s back there!” I yelled, my whole body shaking. I couldn’t believe I’d allowed this to happen. We’d done what we could to keep her safe from an initial attack, but we’d left her there. I’d left her there. “If you won’t turn around, then stop. I’ll go back myself.”
“Frederick wouldn’t want you to do this. We need to stick with the plan. Everything’s gone perfectly.”
“We don’t know that. Stop this car—or I swear I’ll grab the wheel and flip us!”
Taylor gave me a sidelong glance, and I could tell from her wide eyes she knew I was serious, then she slammed on the brakes. The minivan skidded to a stop in the middle of the road, fishtailing into the oncoming lane. Luckily, the road was relatively deserted.
“You’re crazy, Susan,” Taylor said.
“You’d have to be to get to the position I’m in,” I said and hopped down from the passenger seat.
“It’s like a mile back just to the gate and several more miles into the compound. What are you gonna do?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Whatever I can.”
“You’re not thinking clearly.”
“No; I’m thinking clearer than I have in years.”
I slammed the door, and Taylor shook her head before speeding away. After a sharp turn of the road, the van was gone, and I was alone on the dark road. Then I began to jog, following the road back toward the gate.
I prayed Fiona was safe even though I feared she’d never want to speak to me again. I tried to convince myself that everything I was doing, I was doing for her—for our safety—but I knew that wasn’t entirely true anymore. It had started out that way. Early on, things had been required of me that I was ashamed of to stay in Frederick’s good graces. But over the years, that shame dissipated. I was no longer staying in his good graces because I had to, but because I wanted to. I wanted the attention and power he gave me. I wanted to one hundred percent believe I would’ve done anything to prevent Becca’s death. However, a dark and nagging part of me was just as adamant about refusing to go back to my regular life—a terrifying part of myself that may always have been willing to sacrifice one of my daughters to get to where I was now. After what I’d done tonight, it seemed I was willing to sacrifice both of them… and I loathed myself as a mother… a woman… and even a human for being capable of such thoughts and actions.
The new world Frederick and I were creating was frightening, but it would be ours to run and rule as we saw fit. It was time for vampires to have their day in the sun. Most of them were not monsters wanting to destroy everything they touched, but simply wanting a chance to build something new—something they were truly a part of—something where they didn’t have to conceal who—what—they really were. They may look at it now as an apocalypse for the humans, but it was really about finding an equilibrium for humans, vampires, and angels. We would probably never reach harmonious living, but all the species should be given equal chances to thrive and contribute to a future that was just as much theirs.
I was in decent shape, but the pace of my jog slowed as the incline in the road increased. I had no idea where Fiona’s van would be now—if it was still parked on the road or if it had already been taken into custody. I hoped the hatch in the back was inconspicuous enough to keep them from finding her anytime soon and that the sleeping gas would keep her from revealing herself.
At the sound of an approaching vehicle from behind, I dashed off the road and into the trees for cover. However, the car—van—stopped nearby anyway.
“Susan, get over here,” Taylor said.
I tentatively ventured back onto the pavement. “What are you doing?”
“Helping you,” she said. “When I have to tell Frederick that I let you go back in alone, what do you think he’ll do to me?”
The thought made me smile—I still didn’t like her—and I ran over to the passenger-side door and climbed in. “Do you want me to get back in the hatch?”
Taylor shook her head. “Just get all the way in back. The guards aren’t going to search the van. I’ll just tell them I forgot something.”
“Thank you,” I said, knowing she wasn’t really here to help me.
Taylor hit the accelerator as I maneuvered into the empty back of the minivan, causing me to tumble and roll into the rear door.
After a minute, we slowed to another stop, but I didn’t see the bright lights from the checkpoint.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“The entrance is blocked,” Taylor said. “We won’t be able to get in… and we may have company real soon.” She kicked the van into reverse.
I crawled toward the front seat to take a look before she spun the vehicle one hundred and eighty degrees. Then we were rocketing down the winding road again.
“Did I see dead bodies at the entrance?” I asked as I climbed into the front seat.
“Yup. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the entrance guards were dead.”
“Oh, Frederick…” I said, closing my eyes and squeezing the bridge of my nose. “Seems our plan didn’t go perfectly after all. Is anyone coming after us?”
“I can’t tell. I don’t see any cars behind us yet. But they could also be watching us from the sky.”
“I have a place we can go, so we can be sure to lose anyone on our tail,” I said, thinking of my staging apartment. I didn’t know what clothes I had that would fit Taylor, but was sure I could put some outfit together—something loose that could downplay her notably large chest.
“Sure thing, navigator,” she said and kept her focus on the road as we barreled down the foothills and back into civilization.
“Is Roland still in there somewhere?” I asked after a few minutes of silence.
“Fiona’s father? Oh wow… I so cannot picture you two as a couple.” Taylor gave a small laugh. “But yeah, he’s still around—though I don’t know for how much longer.”
“I’d very much like to see him. What are the odds you can get me back inside once things settle down?”
“After the stunt we just pulled?” Taylor asked, shaking her head, but keeping her eyes on the road ahead. “Practically zero.”
But I knew where there was a will, there was always a way.
Chapter 2
Fiona
The pitch blackness when I awoke made me feel like I was dead. My hands reached out and hit walls all around me like I was in a coffin and I’d been buried alive. Something was strapped to my head, covering my nose and mouth. It took a few moments for what I was experiencing to finally make sense.
I’d driven onto the True North Society compound in a modified minivan. A secret hatch was built into the floor and I thought I’d been smuggling my mother through the gate. But I soon learned the hatch was empty and the vampire I’d invited into the back of the van was not Frederick, but someone the True North Society members could easily sense. But surprisingly, he warned me of incoming danger and instructed me to hide in the hatch. When I went for the small oxygen tank to keep from hyperventilating, I quickly realized it was not oxygen in the tank, but some kind of sleeping gas, and I passed out to the sound of gunfire outside.
Before doing anything drastic, I took a few deep breaths and simply listened. I heard no one outside and the van wasn’t moving. I waited a few minutes just to be sure, then pushed open the hatch door and climbed out into the open back of the van. It felt wonderful to stretch, but then needles prickled all the way up my left leg as my foot tried to awaken. I bit my lip and cringed at the obnoxious pain.
Due to the tinted windows, the back of the van was still dark, but I could tell from the world beyond the windshield that it was no longer night. My best guess was that it was the first hour of dawn, with the sun still reaching for the eastern horizon. And my phone confirmed it. There were several messages from Mom, asking if I was all right. I seriously didn’t want to deal with her right now.
I closed the hatch and fixed the carpet, just in case, then climbed into the front seat to get a better view of my surroundings.
It seemed I was in some towed car lot or junkyard. Either way, there were a lot of sorry looking vehicles around mine. A tall chain-link fence, topped with barbed wire, stretched across the lot in the distance.
I had expected to awaken in some locked room on the Society compound—maybe even a cell in the penitentiary. I certainly hadn’t expected to wake in a place like this, so even if I discovered I was locked inside the lot, it was a welcomed surprise.
How did I get here? I would’ve thought they’d have kept the minivan in their custody until everything was sorted out. I didn’t even know if Frederick and Mom had succeeded. The messages received from Mom led me to believe they hadn’t been captured, but that didn’t mean they’d succeeded in their mission. I could only hope something went wrong and they had to abandon the plan.
Satisfied no one was waiting for me right outside the door, I ventured out of the minivan and wandered through the dirt lot. Some of the vehicles were barely recognizable as onetime modes of transportation, while some of the cars still looked drivable. And there were rows upon rows of them. How my van had gotten into the middle of all this junk was another mystery.
I wandered toward the fence in the cool dawn air, looking for an entrance or gate. The razor wire atop the fence looked terribly menacing, and there was no chance in hell I was climbing over that. So, I kept following it, kicking up dirt as I went, knowing I’d find a way out eventually—even if it turned out to be locked.
But before a gate came into view, I was startled by a low growl from behind me. I froze, the hair on the back of my neck standing tall. It was strange to think I’d rather face-off against a vampire than the animal I envisioned standing behind me.
I had been helpless at six years old, and I was helpless now. My body broke out into a cold sweat before I even turned around. And when I did, the tall, lean body of a Doberman faced me only fifteen feet away, his head down, teeth bared, snarling and ready to attack. My gun was in my shoulder holster, but I couldn’t reach it. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t back away slowly, run, or attack. And besides, there was nowhere to run. I couldn’t climb the fence. I hadn’t yet found a gate. I’d have to go through the guard dog to get to my van. And any vehicle I could climb on top of, no doubt the dog could do it more proficiently than me. It was obvious from his stance and demeanor that he was trained to protect the yard—and vanquish any intruders. I tried to go for my gun, but my arms still wouldn’t move.
The dog took two calculated steps toward me, and I was still rigid with fear. My whole body was one tight knot and a jumble of screaming nerve endings.
“There, there,” I said, barely able to breathe. “I don’t want to hurt you.” But the shaking in my voice wasn’t fooling anyone—me or the dog. And amidst the growling, I could have sworn I heard him laugh.
Then without another warning, the Doberman charged me. In my shock, all I could do was stumble backward, landing in the dirt and scrambling on my hands as the snapping jaws closed in on me. I threw an arm out in front of me to serve as the dog’s target, anticipating the pain of its teeth sinking into my forearm.
However, when it was only inches away, a man appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the ferocious animal around the middle, and threw it back near where it had been standing. The Doberman rolled once, then was back on its feet, ready for the confrontation, lips curled back, revealing its vicious canines.
I gazed up to the beautiful sight of Vladimir standing over me, his majestic white wings still half extended. He stared down the guard dog, then suddenly roared—filling the air with a spinetingling, unearthly sound.
Even though it wasn’t directed at me, I still cowered at the intimidating noise. The Doberman lowered its ears and dashed back into the sea of broken cars from which it had come.
“Are you okay?” Vladimir asked, offering me a hand.
“I—I am now,” I stuttered, still recovering from the encounter. I took his hand and allowed him to pull me to my feet. “Thank you.”
When I looked at him again, I noticed his wings were gone, and he once again looked like a regular—albeit a supernaturally beautiful—man. Judging by the fact he’d saved me from a vicious attack, I couldn’t believe he was here to harm me. He’d always been kind and encouraging throughout my candidacy.
Did he expect to find me here?
I wiped the dust and filth from my hands onto my jeans, then adjusted my hair. “Are you here to take me in?”
“I’m the reason you’re here,” he said. He strolled over to the closest car and hopped onto the hood, letting his heels kick the front tire of what used to be a Camaro. After a moment, he scooted closer to the cracked windshield, offering me a seat beside him. “Was that your mother in the North Building?”
“What gave it away?” I asked, sarcastically.
“Unless you have a sister…”
“I do—did—do… Yeah, that was my mother. She’s in league with the vampires. Surprise!” I shook my head, still having a hard time believing what she’d put me through since introducing me to Frederick—or Damien. “What did you mean, you’re the reason I’m here?”
“Everyone’s looking for you—a number of members out for blood. The guards posted at the checkpoint were killed. Your mother and her team went through the portal. They knocked out our communications with the ground—”
“They were communicating with the ground? I had no idea.”
“It was a recent development. Not exactly common knowledge yet,” Vladimir said.
I wanted to ask him how they’d gotten to the portal without my help, but was afraid it might implicate me more. “If everyone’s looking for me, why are you telling me all this?”
“Because I’m sure this isn’t your fault. I know you’re not a traitor. And I know Matthew would be fighting to keep you safe if he were here… so I stepped in. I found the secret compartment in the van but told the others it was clean and instructed that it be stored in this lot until further notice.”
“Where’s Matthew? Did something go wrong with his mission?”
“You know about his—of course you do,” Vladimir laughed. “It’s my understanding the mission was a success, but Matthew hasn’t been heard from since splitting up with the team. I just know he’d want me to be looking out for you until this is all sorted out. Who was the vampire your mother was with?”
“Matthew’s mission couldn’t have been that much of a success because the vampire on the compound was Damien Galt—the real Damien Galt.” I paused to judge his reaction.
“Umm… then who were we trying to assassinate?”
“A man the real Damien Galt put in power, so he could run things from the shadows.”
“Then we now know who to kill,” Vladimir said, a glint in his eyes like all was not lost and this information alone could regain hope after the night’s debacle. “We can—”
“And my mother is Clementine Biel,” I said, effectively shutting him up.
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