Page 12 of Heart of Dawn
But they didn’t take me anywhere, just left me drifting in a gently swirling rainbow. As light as a feather, free of pain, warm, none of the harshness of the waking world touching me.
I’d rather hurt than be trapped inside this nebula.
The yeti’s song returned, honey to my senses. I found myself smiling, embracing it.
“Hush now, beautiful one…”
A few glints of starlight broke through the color.
“Hush your pretty mind and sleep.”
CHAPTER SIX
MIKO
Iwoke up to purple eyes in a familiar face.
“Daria?”
“Yes, werewolf. I am here, with Joseph.”‘
“Call me Joe.”
I saw him looming close beside her. There was no expression on his pale face, his blond mohawk fluffier than usual.
“You are safe for now,” Daria added.
Wherever we were, it was nearly pitch black.
“What happened?” I asked, my spine aching. I struggled to remember anything, confused about why I was lying down on a hard, cold floor.
“Take your time to come together,” the vampire said gently. “You seem so weak.”
My skull felt like it’d been stuffed with cotton wool, my body tired but not quite weak. Better. Much better than before when I’d crawled from the cage.
That was it.The cage. Lance’s cage. The winged zombie. The office. The vent.
“I got away,” I said, slowly sitting up.
Daria placed her hand on my back, helping me upright. “We found you inside the vent. We are still in the factory.”
A network of pipes and frayed cables snaked above my head in this empty and filthy room. Just ahead of me, a short stairwell led up to a closed door. A bigger set of doors were on the opposite side of the room, probably to accommodate deliveries to the factory.
I rubbed the back of my head, desperate for a cup of coffee. “Where did… Fuck.”
“Where did we go after the fae came to the farm?” She glanced at Joe, but the other vamp kept his mouth firmly shut. “We fled to help.”
“You what?”
“Fled to help, Miko. If we stayed to fight, we risked becoming unhelpful. So, we ran, keeping track of you from the shadows.”
“And the blood magi didn’t find you?”
“One did,” Joe chimed in. “I snapped his neck and threw him down a well.”
I couldn’t help but chortle. “Nice.”
Daria seemed pleased I found it funny. It wasn’t really, but whatever. It was a win, and the vamps had survived. That was good enough for me.
