Chapter 6
Kate sensed the change before she fully grasped it. A slow heaviness began to press down on her, as if gravity was increasing by the minute. She curled against Devon’s chest for comfort.
“What’s happening to me?” she whispered. Her voice was slow, even though her mind was alert.
“I feel like I’m slowing down.”
Devon held her tightly, providing protection. The same tiredness was also starting to affect him.
“Dawn,” he said softly. “Your body is getting ready for daylight.”
“Preparing how?” Kate tried to sit up but found her limbs strangely heavy, as if she were moving through thick honey. The feeling wasn’t unpleasant, but it was definitely new.
“Our biology is made for nighttime activity,” Devon explained.
“As sunrise approaches, our bodies begin to shut down non-essential functions to save energy. Our heart rate slows, reflexes decrease, and strength wanes.”
Kate moved closer to him, finding comfort in his warmth and steady presence.
“Is this how the coffin myth started?”
“Yes, exactly.” Devon’s hand stroked her hair with movements that were becoming increasingly languid.
“During the day, we’re not the apex predators that we are at night. We are weaker and more likely to get hurt. The coffins and tombs weren’t just hiding spots; they were crucial for our safety.”
“What about sunlight?” Kate asked, trying to stay awake. “What does it actually do to us?”
Devon was quiet for a moment, and Kate could feel his body growing heavier against hers as the dawn lethargy deepened.
“Prolonged exposure is excruciating; we still need absolute darkness during daylight hours. The light burns our skin and damages our eyes. Combined with our weakened daytime state, it can be fatal.”
The lethargy was deepening now, and Kate could feel her consciousness beginning to drift despite her desire to stay alert and continue learning.
Her body felt impossibly heavy, as if she were sinking into the mattress itself.
“Devon,” she said, her voice barely audible, “I’m scared. What if something happens while we’re like this? What if Aleksander—”
“Shh,” Devon murmured, though his own voice was thick with approaching sleep.
“The compound is secure. Sophia has human guards who watch over us during daylight hours. We’re safe here.”
Kate wanted to ask more questions about the guards, about how vampire society functioned during daylight hours. But her body was betraying her, pulling her inexorably toward the deep, restorative sleep that daylight demanded.
“I don’t like this, being helpless,” she whispered, fighting her own body as it shut down her systems.
Devon wrapped his arms protectively around her. “We’re creatures of the night, Kate. Our power, our very essence is tied to darkness. The daylight sleep isn’t a weakness. It’s how we recharge and prepare for the next night’s activities.”
“Will I ever get used to it?”
“You will. And you’ll learn to appreciate it over time. There’s something peaceful about giving in to the dawn. You know that for the next twelve hours, the world will carry on without you, and you can simply rest.”
Kate felt the last of her awareness slip away as the sun fully rose in the sky beyond the compound’s walls.
But even in that suspended state, she remained conscious of Devon’s protective embrace, the way his body curved around hers as if shielding her from the world.
The daylight sleep wasn’t like the light, restless sleep of her mortal days, filled with dreams and frequent wakings. This was something more profound, a muscular shutdown so thorough that she existed in a state between sleep and suspended animation.
Kate heard sounds from other parts of the compound, footsteps in the corridors and the distant hum of activity as the human staff kept watch. These sounds felt like they belonged to another world, filtered through layers of awareness that she couldn’t fully reach.
It was only once the sun began to set that Kate sensed the first signs of returning awareness. Her body started to warm up, and strength flowed back into her limbs like water filling an empty vessel.
“I feel stronger, like I’m recharged.”
“That’s exactly what happened. Your body used the daylight hours to process the blood you consumed yesterday, to repair any cellular damage, to prepare for another night of activity.”
Devon sat up slowly, stretching muscles that had been motionless for hours. “It’s one of the advantages of our physiology, we don’t experience the gradual fatigue that humans do. Each sunset brings complete renewal.”
Kate sat up as well, marveling at how alert and energized she felt.
“I can see why ancient vampires might have seen this as a kind of death and rebirth cycle. Every dawn we die, every sunset we’re reborn.”
“Poetic, but not inaccurate,” Devon agreed. “Some of the old ones still think of it that way. They see each night as a separate lifetime, each dawn as a small death that prepares them for the next existence.”
“And you? How do you see it?”
Devon considered the question as he rose from the bed, his movements now fluid and powerful again.
“I see it as a reminder of what we are. We exist in the spaces between human understanding, not fully alive in the way mortals understand life, but not dead either. We’re something else entirely.”
Kate stood as well, testing her returned strength and finding it even greater than it had been the night before.
“Something else entirely,” she repeated.
Preparing for night two in her strange new existence, Kate reflected on the intense vulnerability she’d just experienced. For twelve hours, she had been completely helpless, dependent on others for protection, and reduced to something barely more conscious than the dead.
The sun had set, the night had returned, and with it came the return of her power.
But Kate knew now that this power came with a price.
Twelve hours of vulnerability that would repeat every single day for the rest of her very long existence.