together. It shakes violently, more plaster raining down.
Sin lets out a short scream but then looks at Victor with confused eyes, questioning if this was his great plan. Sin again raises his other claw, ready to bring it down.
It’s just a blur, but it’s Michael who delivers the blow deep into Sin’s ribs, the deepest strike yet, aimed true and unimpeded. It stuns the vampire just long enough for Richard to swoop in and grab the monster’s raised arm and twist it back until it is flush with the marble column. Ian does the rest, hammering his stake through the arm and into the marble, which cracks.
Sin screams, and Victor puts his foot on his half brother and pushes away, dislodging the claw within him. But he doesn’t rest. His hand still on Sin’s wrist, he pins it to the other side of the column, where Richard brings another stake down, nailing it in place.
The beast stands with his back against the cool, cracking marble, a stake in each arm, pinned, four in his body, and still he fights and struggles.
We all stand back, looking at him. His wide eyes, pathetic; his gaping jaw, weak.
Victor takes one final stake from his belt and approaches Sin.
“Don’t do this,” Sin says, looking Victor in the eyes for maybe the first time in his life, really looking into the soul of this man. “We could have the world.”
Victor looks at him and turns toward me. “I already do.”
With those words, he pounds the stake into Sin’s chest. The Thirst has thickened his bones, creating a nearly impenetrable breastplate. Sin screams, but he isn’t dead, and Victor pushes. But I know he’s holding back, know that he’s hearing the cries not of Sin, but of the child he should have saved from his cruel father, the child who cried while locked in the basement when all he wanted to taste was the sun.
But that child is gone now, and only the soulless monster remains.
I approach Victor, place my hands on the stake, just as I had done to the one hovering over Brady. Only this time, it’s Victor who needs to let go.
Victor gives Sin a final look before whispering, “Embrace the dark.”
I push the stake, feel our strength together, and it ends a life that has ended so many. I feel the stake vibrate with his heartbeats.
Once.
Twice.
Thrice . . .
No more.
Sin’s head collapses onto his chest, and Victor closes his brother’s eyes, knowing they will never open again.
Epilogue
YEAR ONE OF THE GREATER WORLD ORDER
Standing on my balcony, I watch the sun turn the sky into a brilliant red. Soon he’ll come to me. He always comes at night.
How much has changed? What remains of the old world? I search the horizon for the wall that once surrounded Denver. Not a single brick remains, not a single stone is left standing. A dozen roads now weave their way into the growing city, letting in strangers, both human and vampire.
Human and vampire. Finally.
“I did it, Mom,” I say. “I did it, Dad.”
Between my hands I hold the photo of us all that I found in the documents my dad left me. I wonder if he did it so I wouldn’t forget who I was deep down.
“I did it, Brady.”
We look so happy around the table. But I no longer yearn to go back to those days, to change the things that have shaped me. My past has already been written, and my future awaits.
“The sunset was beautiful. I wish you could have seen it,” I say.
“You’re getting better,” Victor says, moving from behind me, joining me on the balcony, the night sky above us.
I can never hear his footsteps approaching, but I always know when he’s near.
“How is everything?” I ask.
“Blood donations are overflowing. No sign of the Thirst in months. With the Lessers now helping out with the Works, the entire city will be lit before the year is over.”
“That’s good,” I say.
His elbows on the railing and the wind running through his hair, he laughs.
“But that’s not what you were really asking, was it?” he says.
“No.”
We both look out at the city. I wonder what he sees. Is it what I see? A future? One that started in a trolley car after two girls tried to leave a party?
No. It started before then. Before my parents, before the war. Before anyone I’ve ever loved was even born. It started in vampire blood and death warrants signed. And it ends here: human and vampire, leaning against each other, looking at a world unafraid of the night.
“I love you, Dawn.”
I hold his hand, and feel his pulse. It beats for me.
“I love you, Victor.”
Beneath that night sky, somewhere between here and the oceans, blow the winds that carry dust and sand. And in those winds lie everyone who helped shape this world. They go, from one place to the next, and it matters not whether it is the sun in the sky or the moon. They go together.
About the Author
J. A. LONDON is the mother-son writing team of Rachel Hawthorne and her son, Alex London. Rachel has written many novels for teens, including the popular Dark Guardian series. Alex, a recent graduate with a degree in Historical Studies, enjoys combining history and fiction to create unique worlds. The Darkness Before Dawn series is their first joint project. You can visit them online at www.jalondon.com.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
The Darkness Before Dawn Novels
Back Ads
