A Dark-Adapted Eye Page 8

  Then out of nowhere a man stepped between me and the car, a big pale man, so broad-shouldered he blocked my view of Lucinda. I heard her yell out in anger and a moment later she came to stand docilely at the big man’s side. Another man was with her, this one slim and slightly shorter than me. The fourth figure. I stepped back and gazed at them. I had never seen either of the men before, but I knew they were vampires.

  The big one, his neat blond haircut slightly overgrown, was immaculate in his dark suit. He looked down at Lucinda, a dim flare of anger in his eyes.

  “What is going on here?”

  “She was trying to kill me.” Despite her narrow-eyed accusation, there was something oddly deferential in Lucinda’s tone. She, a vicious killer, was afraid of this vampire, I realized. Who was he?

  “Ah. Why was she trying to do that?” He spoke in a soft, even tone, but his voice was deep and rumbling, a sound I could have wrapped myself up in. Unsettled, I took another step away from the trio. Aleskie hovered at my elbow.

  Lucinda leaned weakly against the car and didn’t answer. The big vampire turned to me expectantly and somehow I found my voice. “She has my brother in the car against his will. I want him back.”

  “What about you?” The big vampire’s dark eyes, patient and curious, met mine. His hands were clasped neatly in front of him.

  “Uh . . . she wanted to kill me, too. My brother was protecting me.”

  “I know what she does,” the big vampire said with sudden coldness. He turned back to Lucinda. “I know who you are. You’ve been causing a lot of trouble in Las Secas. I don’t like it. I thought I made it clear to everyone humans were not to be killed.”

  “I’m sorry, I was just—”

  “You will die anyway if that bleeding doesn’t stop. I’ll be merciful.”

  He reached up and placed his enormous hands on either side of her head. With a twist, a movement that looked deceptively gentle, she was dead. The vampire released her and she crumpled bonelessly to the ground.

  The vampire’s hands resumed their clasp and he looked at me. Though I could see nothing but calm patience in his eyes, my stomach turned over with fear.

  “The boy?” he said to the shorter vampire.

  Obediently, the other vampire went to the car and opened Ivory’s door. My brother was groggy but able to stand once the vampire propped him up against the car. He blinked several times at all of us standing before him and his eyes grew cold when he realized the two men were vampires.

  “What do you do?” the big one asked my brother.

  “I kill creeps like you,” Ivory returned venomously. His head lolled a little and the wound behind his ear gleamed. He was hurt worse than I thought. I knew head wounds bled a lot, but he could barely keep himself conscious.

  The big vampire looked intrigued. “Oh?”

  “Ivory,” I said in a warning tone, but both he and the vampires ignored me.

  “Someone has to. Someone has to keep you from carrying out your plans to take over the world. I know what you’re trying to do. I know. Soon everyone will.”

  “What do we care if anyone knows? You’re only human.”

  Ivory only smiled drunkenly and turned to me. “Asha,” he said seriously, his words slurring slightly, “don’t go outside during the lunar eclipse. If you ever decided to listen to anything I said—”

  The vampire shook him once, roughly, to get him to stop talking. He turned to his shorter companion and said, “Tasker, I think we should take this one back with us.”

  At once the short vampire hustled Ivory back into the car. My brother struggled, but he’d lost too much strength. I watched helplessly as Tasker retrieved the keys from beside Lucinda’s body and situated himself behind the wheel. The big one folded himself into the back. Aleskie and I might have been invisible for all the attention they paid us at that point.

  “Wait,” I cried desperately. I grabbed the passenger side door handle and yanked frantically, only to find it locked. I had no choice but to let go as the car sped away. Pitiful sobs escaped my lips. My brother was gone.

  Who the hell were those guys? What, exactly, had just happened?

  The street was quiet now, almost unnaturally so. Ignoring Aleskie’s worried gaze, I limped along the sidewalk and found my shoe. I didn’t look at Lucinda’s lifeless body, but I could see her splayed limbs in my peripheral vision.

  “Les,” I said softly. “Les.”

  Growing more panicked with each step, I headed into the dark alley and found Les lying unconscious on the ground. I said his name loudly and shook his shoulder, frantic. I searched for any obvious injuries, but thankfully I saw none.

  He sat up suddenly, groaning, and touched the back of his head. I sagged with sudden teary relief. He was alive.

  “Fucking shit,” he said, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. “I don’t know what the hell just happened. She found a—a brick or something and threw it at Ivory’s head. It got him right in the temple. We’d have been all right anyway, but this other vamp came out of nowhere and messed everything up. One of them knocked me out somehow—I can’t even remember. God, this never happens. It’s never like this.”

  “Lucinda’s dead.” I told him about the mysterious big vampire and his little henchman and how they’d taken Ivory and I had no idea why.

  “Son of a bitch,” he muttered. He looked up at me suddenly. “I want you to go home now. I’ll be there shortly.”

  “You were unconscious—”

  “I’m fine. I promise.”

  “What are you going to do?” I asked as he got to his feet and pulled me to mine.

  “Ivory and I have a place we’re supposed to meet if anything goes wrong. I’m going there to see if he managed to get away.”

  “Yeah. Maybe he got away . . .”

  Feeling dazed, I let him steer me out of the alley. He walked with me until I was safely in the truck. They keys were beneath the front seat, where Ivory apparently kept them any time he was hunting vampires. Les handed them to Aleskie and then ordered her to drive me home.

  “We couldn’t have stopped them,” she said quietly, though knowing that didn’t make me feel any better. “That guy was huge. And the little one . . . I didn’t like the look in his eyes. At least Lucinda’s dead.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I guess we’d better go.”

  “Yeah,” I repeated blankly, watching Les get on his bike. “I guess so.”

  ~

  We arrived home a good twenty minutes before Les and I used the time to change into sweats. “What’s taking him so long?” I asked Aleskie anxiously. “Why isn’t he here by now? Do you think they got him, too?”

  “No. I’m sure he’s on his way.”

  I wonder if Ivory’s dead. I’d meant to speculate out loud but the words stayed in my mind. I hugged my knees to my chest and tried not to think of how things would be without him around. Because he couldn’t be dead, of course. He hadn’t survived all this time just for some random freaky vampires to take him and kill him in whatever hole they called home. He’d find a way to get back to us. Any minute now, both he and Les would walk through the door . . .

  But Les came home alone. He slammed the door and, without looking at either Aleskie or me, began to pace the living room floor.

  “He wasn’t there,” I said.

  “No.”

  “Why would they take him? Why . . . I don’t even know who they were, or what they would want with him But . . . he said he knew something. About vampires. Do you know what that is?”

  Les shook his head. “I can’t think of anything.”

  “Well, if we can find that out, we might know why they took him.”

  “And why they didn’t just kill him.”

  “One of them—the big one, he seemed to be the boss of the other one—killed Lucinda because he didn’t like that she was killing people. It was like he had morals or something. It was just . . . weird,” I finished inadequately.

  “This whol
e thing was stupid,” Les said angrily. He clenched one hand into a fist. “We rushed right in with poor planning and the vamps got the better of us and . . . Damn it. This whole night could have been avoided if we’d just thought about it.”

  “Aleskie tried to help,” I offered.

  “I’m weaker than them,” she said. “I couldn’t do much . . .”

  “Yeah, well . . .” Les stopped pacing and shrugged out of his leather jacket, tossing it over the back of the recliner. “Everything happened so fast. Lucinda was like a demon. I’m glad we don’t have to worry about her killing anyone anymore. Here, Asha.” His translucent green eyes on mine, he pulled something out of the waistband of his jeans.

  It was Ivory’s gun.

  “Oh—I—”

  “I know you don’t know how to shoot it. But I’ll teach you. You should keep this for a while so you can protect yourself if . . . anything happens.” He put the gun on the end table by the chair. “Don’t get any ideas, Aleskie.”

  She huffed. “I won’t. Don’t you trust me by now? I tried to help tonight!”

  “You’re still a vampire, and I don’t trust vampires.”

  “Well, Ivory did. He was starting to trust me, anyway.”

  “He was taken by vampires tonight. I doubt he trusts anyone right now.”

  Suddenly there was a knock at the door, loud and insistent. Ivory. I shot off the couch but Les beat me there.

  Why would Ivory knock? I wondered at the last second.

  Of course he wouldn’t, and it wasn’t him at the door.

  It was my father.

  seven

  penumbra: the area of partial illumination surrounding the darkest part of a shadow caused by an eclipse

  I last saw my dad when I was fourteen. He was the reason I’d started escaping up to the roof, wanting to avoid him yelling at me for no reason other than he felt like it. I was able to avoid most of his rages that way, but because of my cowardice, it was Ivory and my mom who usually experienced his verbal wrath.

  I’d been home alone most of the day, singing along to some CDs at the top of my lungs and inventing dance moves. When he came home unexpectedly early, reeking of cigarette smoke and liquor, he shouted at me to turn the music down. I snapped it off, scowling, and slunk into the kitchen. He flopped down on the couch with a series of loud grunts and turned on the TV, volume unnecessarily high.

  He had never been much of a father to us. He was hardly ever home and when he was, all he wanted was to be left alone. He worked only sporadically. Every time he left a job or was fired it was never his fault. My mom had taken to pursing her lips and giving a little shake of her head whenever he provided any of several elaborate excuses, but she never said anything to him anymore.

  Angrily I began to make myself something to eat. I slammed cabinets, swung the refrigerator door so jars rattled, and let my dishes clunk down on the counter. I hated him coming around only once in a while and telling me what to do. What right did he have?

  “Asha!” he yelled over the noise I was making. “Go to your damn room!”

  “Fine,” I said snottily, just loud enough for him to hear me. I stomped down the hall and slammed my door as hard as I could. Then, for good measure, I shouted a nasty curse to ease my frustration.

  I’d been so sure he wouldn’t hear me over the TV, but he barreled into my room a second later. The doorknob banged a hole into the wall. His face was alarmingly red. Startled, I drew away until the back of my knees hit the bed.

  I wasn’t sure what he was mad about—me slamming the door or cussing—but I’d broken whatever barrier had been keeping his bad mood in check. Now he was taking all his anger out on me because I was the only one around. His teeth were bared and a vein popped in his forehead. He growled something unintelligible at me and closed one hand around my throat just tight enough that I rasped for breath. I slapped at his face with both hands, knocking his glasses off.

  “Hit me one more time!” he threatened. “I’ve punched a woman before and I’ll do it again!”

  That made me pause, but I was still desperate for him to loosen his hand. I squirmed and tried to scream. Then I heard shouting and suddenly my dad was off me. Fingers at my throat, I sucked in a couple of good breaths and watched as Les shoved him out of the room, eyes blazing with fury.

  “Get the hell out,” Les snarled, looking more frightening than a slim-muscled, gangly seventeen-year-old had any right to look. “Don’t you dare come back. Ever.”

  My dad outweighed him but he was drunk, clumsy, and starting to lose the adrenaline that had driven him to choke me. He shouted nonsensical insults and threats before stumbling out of the house.

  “Are you all right?” Les asked gently. It seemed oddly silent with my dad gone, though I could still hear the TV blaring in the living room.

  Tears began to tremble at the corners of my widened eyes. “Um . . . yeah.” I nodded slowly. “Where’s Ivory?”

  “We were supposed to meet here. I guess he got caught in traffic. Come on.”

  He led me out into the living room and sat me down on the couch. After shutting off the TV, he knelt in front of me and lifted my chin to inspect my throat. I was too upset to feel embarrassed or nervous about him touching me.

  “It’s a little red,” he said, “but I don’t think it will bruise. I’ll get you some ice.”

  I started to tell him I didn’t need it but he was already up. I sank back into the couch, breathing deeply. My energy slowly drained away. The tears receded. I’d never cried for my father and I wasn’t going to start.

  “Here.” Les handed me a plastic bag stuffed with ice cubes, a dishtowel wrapped around it.

  “Thanks.”

  He had bleached hair then, and a penchant for wearing black t-shirts with the sleeves cut off. He sat facing me on the coffee table, elbows on his knees, and talked to me about getting suspended a few days earlier for fighting. It was mostly just noise, just something to distract me from my dad, but I was always interested in what he had to say.

  There wasn’t really any reason for him to fight, just normal adolescent rage, probably, or because he just liked it. Whatever the reason, whenever he showed up with a black eye or some other mild injury, I found myself oddly intrigued.

  I listened to him talk until Ivory arrived a few minutes later. Les explained what had happened, then Ivory turned to me for the full story.

  “That son of a bitch,” my brother roared after I’d told him. “I’m calling the cops.”

  “No, don’t do that,” I protested. I just wanted to forget today had ever happened.

  “Asha—”

  “I’m fine,” I said in wavering voice, clutching the ice under my chin. “I mean, I don’t really care, all right?”

  “I don’t think he’ll be back,” Les said. “I sort of threatened him.”

  “He better not be,” Ivory muttered.

  My dad never did come back and we’d all assumed he’d left the city or, later, that vampires had gotten him. But now, five years later, he was here and looking sober, though much older and more worn than I remembered. His glasses were the same ones I’d once knocked off his face. Because he barely acknowledged Les, I wondered if he remembered what Les had done to him. I wondered if he remembered that day at all.

  I kept a blank expression as I stared at him, empty of emotion. I didn’t love him but I couldn’t bring myself to hate him. He was nothing to me.

  “What do you want?” I asked calmly. Les looked back and forth between us, ready to fight if necessary.

  “Asha. Can I come in?” Dad smiled hopefully and took a tentative step toward us.

  “No. We don’t let strangers in here. What do you want?”

  “I just want to talk to my daughter. And my son. Is Ivory around? Where’s Trish?”

  His words stoked a sudden fury in me. “They’re not here,” I nearly shouted. “Which you would know, if you’d bothered to show up at all the last few years. You could have seen us every day
, all the time, if you’d ever bothered to be a father! Or a husband!”

  Though he looked stricken, I remained unmoved. “I’m sober now,” he said uncertainly.

  I sighed. “Good for you. But Mom’s been dead for three years, and you should have talked to us when you had the chance. We’re not interested in a reunion.”

  He lowered his head and nodded in understanding. “Well. I’m staying down at the Value Suites if you change your minds. Room two-six-two. Okay?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Great.”

  I turned my back as Les slammed the door and locked it. We’d changed the locks long ago, so there were no worries my dad still had a key. I felt as secure as I ever did, but seeing him had upset me more than I cared to show. There was suddenly just too much to deal with. Dad’s return, Ivory’s abduction, and my vampire, always my vampire. How had life become so complicated?

  “Ash?” Les prompted.

  “What? I’m fine.”

  He eyed me for a second. “Okay,” he said at last, though he sounded reluctant.

  “Let’s get back on topic. How are we going to find Ivory?”

  “I don’t know,” Les admitted. With a sigh, he turned to Aleskie. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “Leave?”

  “Yes. I just don’t feel safe having you continue to stay here now. I can’t protect Asha and keep an eye on you at the same time.”

  “You don’t have to keep an eye on me! I’m not a child!”

  “Get out of here now,” Les said in a low voice, “before I make you.”

  The shocked look on her face transformed into a stubborn, icy one. “Fine,” she said curtly. “Thanks for helping me.” With that, she glided past us and out the front door. Les locked it again.

  Silence fell between us. He walked slowly away from the door, rubbing his face with one hand. The slope of his shoulders conveyed exhaustion and defeat. I studied him ruefully, hating the incident that had brought out this uncharacteristic vulnerability in him. I was so used to him as a reticent, almost cold presence, but now I wanted more than ever to go to him and wrap my arms around his chest.