CHAPTER 1 #2
Dani rose, feeling a strand of blonde hair slip loose from where she’d tucked it beneath her scarf. Unwinding it from her neck, she pressed it into the woman’s hands. “Stay warm. It’s going to be cold tonight.”
“And a full moon besides.” She glanced down the street. “Best get yourself home. The wolves will be out tonight. Lock your doors.”
A shiver skated up her spine as the bell began to toll in the distance. An hour until curfew.
“Thank you,” she started to say just as someone slammed into her from behind.
Dani staggered, barely managing to right herself on the icy sidewalk.
A girl shouldered past her. “Watch yourself.”
The girl was taller than her, though if she was older than her twenty years, it wasn’t by much.
Strong and wiry, she wore the tattered clothes of a factory worker.
Her dark hair was plaited in a long braid and although Dani couldn’t make out her features, above her mask, her cold blue eyes were full of venom.
Exactly the sort of person she couldn’t afford to mess with.
The little boy and his mother emerged from the chocolatier’s shop, white paper bags and fragrant cups of cocoa in hand. At the sight of the standoff, the mother quickly pulled her son back into the safety of the shop.
“Sorry I was in your way.” Dani clutched her bag tighter. “I don’t want any trouble.”
Sneering, the girl shoved her again for good measure before disappearing like a wraith into the crowd. Dani blew out a breath, heart pounding. Around them, shoppers hurried past. No one stopped. No one attempted to intervene.
She scraped a hand through her hair, only then realizing her bag had slipped down her shoulder—
—and her coin purse was now gone.
“Thief!” she shouted, elbowing through the crowd. “Help me. She took my money!”
Thieves like the girl were a dime a dozen in the city center, preying on rich vampires with plenty of coins to their name.
The sort of vampires who could afford to splurge on artisanal cheese and cashmere sweaters carried more on them in one night than she earned in three months at the factory where she worked.
If she didn’t get her coin purse back, they would be out on the streets.
Breath stabbing her chest in the cold, Dani ducked around corners, pushing past shoppers carrying brightly colored bags, and apologizing to a group of holiday carolers she sent scattering.
She was sure she caught a glimpse of the girl as she disappeared around the corner just past the bakery, but by then, the snow was starting to come down in fat clumps and swirls.
Her foot skidded on a patch of ice. Had there not been a lamppost right there, she would have slammed into the unforgiving cobblestones.
Dani blinked back tears. Defeated, she stared up at the endless black sky as snow swirled down. She’d lost all their money. What were they supposed to do now?
“Are you all right?” Two vampires, both young and male, hurried over from the bakery.
“Oh, yes.” Dani swiped a hand beneath her eyes. “It’s just, I was robbed.”
“We saw her run past from over in the window,” the first vampire said. “Did you get a description?”
“She was wearing a mask,” Dani said helplessly, accepting the paper napkin he offered to blot her face. “I’m not sure I saw much other than that she had dark hair.”
“Those animals.” The second one tried to be less obvious about it, but there was no missing the way he leaned in, subtly scenting her blood.
They were standing too close now, and she hadn’t missed how dark this part of the alley was, even with the light from the streetlamps.
Dani swayed slightly, and the first vampire took her arm as if he meant to steady her.
The silver gleam in his eyes betrayed the gesture as something else entirely.
“They’re putting up cameras now in this sector to try to catch the worst of the street thieves. ”
“I hadn’t heard.”
They were both crowding her now. All vampires liked to chase, couldn’t resist the temptation of soft, vulnerable prey. Dani could only imagine what her pulse must have sounded like to them right now, thrumming wildly as they closed in.
Both of them wore heavy wool coats and expensive leather gloves, which complicated things. People said vampires didn’t get cold, but she’d long suspected this was more misinformation. Something that didn’t feel the bitter ice in its veins wouldn’t constantly crave human blood in order to warm it.
“Why don’t you just come with us now.” The first one slid his hand to her hip. The touch was enough to make her skin crawl. “Maybe we can make you forget.”
“I can’t. My sister is expecting me.” Dani forced herself to turn halfway, making her eyes round and innocent as the bare fingertips of her free hand grazed his cheek.
Neither monster thought to question why she wasn’t wearing gloves. Seconds later, the first vampire’s eyes went slightly unfocused and his watch and wallet were in her bag alongside his friend’s. Ducking her head, Dani turned her collar up just as the second vampire tightened his grip on her wrist.
“You witch. What did you do? Guards! She’s an aberrant blood!”
“Let me go.” Panic seized her. He was too strong.
A whistle sounded from somewhere down the street. She tried to wrench her arm free, even knowing that given his immortal strength, it was useless.
He slapped her, hard. The burn of his hand striking her cheek was quickly numbed by the cold. Blood flooded her mouth. Dani felt her knees go weak. Her vision began to spot.
She was going to faint and this was all going to be over.
His fangs sharpened, punching down from the top of his mouth as his eyes glowed feral with hunger.
“I’m going to enjoy this. I love the ones that fight back.”
“Let her go,” a voice snarled in the dark.
She didn’t see Evan move. Somehow, she managed to twist the vampire’s arm just enough so that Dani’s fingertips made contact with his skin a second time. His eyes instantly clouded.
Dani whirled on her sister, voice accusing. “You came back.”
“You’re welcome.” Evan was panting from the run, checking the street behind them as she pulled her towards the alley.
They had a pact.
No matter what, they couldn’t risk both getting picked up.
No matter what, one of them had to return home to Ava.
And still, she was grateful Evan had broken their rule, that she wouldn’t be spending the night in a cell, or worse.
A gray veil narrowed her field of vision. She lowered her head. There was no time for her aversion to blood. Not now. The guards would be upon them in seconds.
“Dani, we have to go. It’s nearly curfew.”
She grabbed her bag and together, they hurried off into the night.
The curfew siren had long since gone off by the time Dani made it up the stairs to their crumbling apartment unit with Ava’s test strips and the vial of insulin she so desperately needed.
Twisting the key in the lock, she used her shoulder to force open the old stubborn door.
She wasn’t surprised to see Evan had made it back first. They’d been born just a year apart.
Evan had their mother’s dark hair and liked to claim being the middle child was responsible for her rebellious nature.
Now she was pacing the short distance between the temporary bed they’d made up for Ava by the stove where it was warmer and the window, gnawing her nails to the quick.
“I got a message to the healer. She’s on the way. There wasn’t much food left in the shops, but I picked up some tinned vegetables and potatoes. The butcher had some bones that should make for a good broth. I have everything simmering in a pot.”
“There’s nothing better than soup when it’s cold.”
She had no idea how Evan had managed to convince a healer to come out on a night like this.
The snow was coming down harder by the minute.
But then, by unspoken agreement, Evan knew better than to ask what she had to trade away when she returned with precious vials of insulin and she didn’t ask about her sister’s contacts in the resistance.
Some things, they were better off not knowing.
“I was sure they’d picked you up.” Evan crossed the room to wrap Dani in a fierce hug. “There were patrols out everywhere.”
“They underestimate me. I keep my eyes down and they think I’m harmless until it’s too late. I’ve always been able to get through the checkpoints before.”
“You almost didn’t tonight,” Evan pointed out, glancing over to make sure Ava was still asleep.
She’d splashed water on her face and tied her hair in a haphazard knot on top of her head.
The dusting of freckles across her pale cheeks made her look younger, like the girl who should have still been studying in school, not out stealing in the streets, the two of them constantly fighting to keep Ava alive.
She turned Dani’s face to study her bruised cheek. “You should put some snow on that.”
“In a minute.” Hanging her wet coat on the peg by the door, she handed over Ava’s medicine. “How is she?”
“The same.”
While Evan tore open the box of test strips, Dani wet a cloth and laid it on Ava’s forehead.
Her skin was dry and flushed, her breathing shallow.
She’d been ten when Ava was born, a laughing, red-faced baby with blonde wispy hair who clung to her thumb and smiled at the silly songs she made up to sing her to sleep.
Dani felt her breathing constrict. What if this time, they were too late?
At her feet, Cinder, their scrawny cat, mewed and wound herself between her legs. She hopped up onto the bed and settled herself beside Ava.
“I guess you noticed the cameras in time?”
“Spotted them on my way past the gates.” Evan finished cleaning Ava’s finger with an alcohol swab.
Suddenly lightheaded, Dani went over to the window where she wouldn’t have to watch.
“Something is going on. They were forcing everyone to remove masks at checkpoints. I had to take the long way home.”
“You think it’s that bad?”