Daylight by Verbayne +Demonata-Freak (ebook reader with highlighter TXT) 📖

caught my eyes, then turned to Saoirse.

"You, you, you." she stopped, took a breath, and glared like she had never glared before. "You will die for what you did to me, you scum. You and your pathetic thing will die."

With every heated word that spilled from her lips I felt myself go cold. White noise filled my ears, one word pricing all that static. Die. I felt rather then saw Saoirse start for the vampire again. Grabbing her hair I jerked, throwing her behind me.

She yelled at me, her words lost to the white noise. Janus stood, lips moving quickly, earnestly. But he too was lost to the noise. Only one voice could reach my ears in that moment, only one person mattered. That voice priced the static again.

"Bitch, you should just die, you and your thing. It's a waste of air to have such scum br-" The voice stopped, Charlene's rich emerald eyes glaring up at me. "What do you want, stupid Walker?"

The white light that filled my head turned black. Solid darkness filling my mind, a sense of calm washing over me. A slow smile spared across my face and I knew that it was like the one I had shown Red right before I skinned him. Charlene flinched like I had struck her. Janus suddenly appeared in front of me, his face taking up everything, blocking me from seeing Charlene.

My eyes narrowed and Janus stepped back. His lips moved again but no sound would come out. I took a step to the side so I could see Charlene. Janus touched my shoulder. A jolt of power ran through me.

My head swiveled, eyes boring into Janus, he flinched, fighting to keep eye contact. That power jolt ran through me again. Words slithered through my head. I hissed. He was trying to mind fuck me into submission.

"Clair, stop."

Grabbing his shoulder I shoved. He disappeared, and Charlene screamed. She screamed off to the right where I had thrown Janus. And she screamed at me. She screamed the word Bitch.

I grabbed her hair, pulling her off the floor. She screamed at me again. I smiled. The sound of her confusion, the slight hint of terror, was like ecstasy to me. Jumping at the pleased look I gave her she struck out.

I took a step to the right, catching her wrist. She started to curse at me but her voice was lost when I spun her. Slamming her body into the nearest wall I pulled her arm up at a painful angle behind her back. She whimpered then got that arrogant courage again.

"You too." She seethed through gritted teeth. I leaned in, face pressed next to hers. My fangs dropped down and I turned, biting lightly on her neck. She jumped. "You too!" she screamed. "You should die with the rest of your scum."

Anger flared through me. Leaning back I ran my fingers through her hair. Pulling her head back I growled. Her eyes flashed white, wide with fear. I pushed, slamming her face into the wall.

She screamed and I did it again, blood blossoming on her face. Cursing she told me to die, to crawl in a hole with my little pets and die. Her face bounced off the wall three more times, the bricks cracking under the pressure.

"Maiden!" I jerked. "Blood Maiden, hear me!"

I released Charlene, letting her fall in a bloody heap at my feet. That white noise disappeared, the darkness that had become my mind fleeing with it until all the sights, sounds, and smells I had blocked out were with me again. Janus towered over me, his extra foot and a half being used to its full advantage. I glared at him, my voice coming out in a long hiss.

"What did you say?"

"Blood Maiden."

I flinched, balling my hands. "Don't use that name."

"Why?"

A low growl bubbled in my throat. I took a step closer to him. "Because I said not to."

His eyes flinched but his body gave away nothing. "I am master here, you cannot order me around." He tried to snarl, to sound intimidating, but it fell flat.

I searched his eyes, head tilting to the side. That tightness at the edge was there, more defined like he was trying not to flinch, or let me see some deep emotion in them. I suddenly realized what I was seeing. That tightness was Janus version of fear. I smiled.

He blinked. "What?"

Reaching out I ran my fingers through his hair, tucking it behind one ear. He jerked, started to lean away and jerked again to keep himself from take a step back.

"You're afraid of me." I whispered.

He swallowed hard. My smile widened. "Only an idiot isn't afraid of the Blood Maiden." He whispered through gritted teeth.

I frowned, glaring at him again. Shoving him away I snarled at him. "Don't call me that!" Dragging Red up off the floor I stormed passed Saoirse and Dustin. "Come with me." I called to anyone who would follow.

Repositioning the Hunter on my shoulder I kicked the door to the cellar open. Darkness surrounded me, room as unlighted as the rest of the house. The boards creaked in the hall. I glanced back finding Saoirse standing with Dustin clinging to her. She looked pale, sweat showing on her forehead, pulse in her neck beating against her skin.

She tasted like fear. My eyes flickered to Janus. He looked grim. I glared at him.

"Is it true?"

My eyes drifted back to Saoirse's shocked expression. "Is what true?" I snarled, eyes back on Janus.

"That you are the Blood Maiden. The vampire who feeds on the memories of other vampires."

A jolt of fear ran through me. I forced the emotion away, pushing it into the pit where everything else was. The second I pushed aside the fear anger griped me. My fangs tingled in my mouth, eager to rip Janus's throat out. I swallowed that emotion too, giving them both blank eyes.

"What of it?" I growled.

Saoirse swallowed, Janus took a step back like he knew how much I wanted to hurt him. "Is that why you..." Her voice faded whatever she had wanted to ask dying with it. "Dustin?!"

I looked at the dying man for the first time. His skin was damn near translucent, hair damp with sweat. His eyes were open and he was looking at me but something told me he wasn't awake anymore. The way his body sagged against Saoirse's, the way his pulse barely beat against the side of his neck, the way his chest didn't move when he breathed. It all told me he was at the point of no return. Either we acted now or he wouldn't be around to argue over.

"Janus." The vampire jumped. "Met me down there." I demanded.

His eyes widened for a second as the meaning behind my words set in. I was about to jump into a pit so deep it would be impossible for anyone but Janus to jump out of. It was the pit he left the young vampires in when he first turned them.

"Are you sure?" He asked, voice breathy.

"Yes, it's the only way to keep him alive at this point."

"What are you talking about?"

I turned to Saoirse. "Turning him."

Her mouth opened, outrage clear on her face. I smirked, stepping back into the shadows. Darkness consumed me, wind wiping my hair around my face. My eyes closed, the sensation of falling calming me. Thoughts filled my head, images I hadn't thought about for years raced though my head.

A man with short black hair, a shadow of a beard covering his jaw, dazzling hazel eyes stared at me from the other side of my lids. My eyes opened, pulse in my throat, lips burning with the need to call out his name. I swallowed it, swallowed the pain threatening to break me. Curling my legs I rolled so that when I landed my feet hit the ground with a loud thud. Janus landed next to me.

I glanced at him. Saoirse was cradled in his arms like a child, Dustin motionless in her lap. He looked so small compared to her. I let my eyes travel down his body to his legs where they ended in soft stumps at the knees. Charlene had called him an incomplete thing because of his disability.

Being a vampire wouldn't change that, he would still be leg less. I was sure Saoirse didn't care, but I was about to force her to let us turn him. He would hate us for doing something so monstrous to him. Saoirse would hate me for it too. I felt a jolt of pain in my chest.

I actually cared, it actually hurt me to think Saoirse would hate me. I glared at the floor. She was making me soft. Standing abruptly I threw Red out into the darkness. We were alone, I didn't have to worry about any blood crazed baby vampires eating him. Shrugging out of my jacket I lifted a black book from my pocket.

"What is that?" Saoirse asked.

I ignored her, lifting the book so that I was starting at its edge. Power swirled around me, drifting from the book to caress my skin like a lost lover. I was still frowning when the power swirled out to touch Saoirse. She gasped, falling when Janus set her down. He stepped back into the darkness so far I couldn't see him.

He didn't want to be touched by my blood magic. I didn't care. But I did care about Saoirse, and with her under the blanket of my blood magic I could feel how much she cared for the human in her arms. I could even feel Dustin and his love he had for Saoirse. They loved each other.

I nodded, almost to myself. I would do it. I would make Janus turn him, but I would give him something back in return. I whispered to the book, calling on that part of me that was Day Walker, that part that had earned me the name Blood Maiden.

"Blood of my brothers," the power flared, a small dust cloud swirling around my feet, "hear my call and aid me. Show me Dante's memories, show me regeneration." 

Chapter 26 - Saoirse

A small swarm of dust wraps around Clair’s legs, as if she is willing it to hug her. I feel some sort of draining sensation course through my body. Magic of a Blood Maiden can increase in strength if they take some energy out of any living creatures around them. I can feel her taking some of mine, which I do not argue, but when I feel some slip away from Dustin, I almost leap sneer in her direction causing her to stop. Her once chocolate brown eyes have coated over with sharp silver and her fangs have been realised from their hidden sheath in her gums.  Janus has stepped back into the shadows, away from the three of us, being cautious around her magic. I can’t blame him; it isn’t a particularly pleasant experience. For a Blood Maiden the magic is warm and gentle, but to those around her it feels like an itchy blanket with broken needles poking into your skin.

“Saoirse,” Dustin mutters, his head leaning on mine. I can feel his heart rate slowly decreasing.

“I’m here,” I whisper, a lump forming in my throat