Page 15 of The Shadows of the Dawn

Per Katsuki’s orders, they were headed toward the nearest house with the intentions of breaking and entering. It was the best any of them could do to escape the approaching sunrise. There was one glaring upside to Moss’s Change: They could still travel relatively quickly on foot without a human dragging them down.

“Please, let me carry them,” Liam blurted, jogging up to Nikola’s elbow. Nikola’s red eye flashed, protectiveness surging through him. Asher cocked his head to the side. Okay, so that was... interesting.

Wait. Oh, Christ. Nikola had Changed Moss, so now there was going to be a sort of bond between the two, most likely taking from their Moon sides. Asher didn’t feel insecurity or jealousy, but he was apprehensive. If Nikola felt obligated to guide Moss through their newborn days, that meant both he and Asher would have to stick around this clusterfuck of a coven even longer.

Best to worry about that later. Currently, there was an antsy Blood Follower bouncing from foot to foot, brimming with energy from the humans he’d just finished slaughtering.

“Might as well make himself useful,” Asher intoned. “Happy Blood happy house and all that.” Last thing they needed was another feral mental breakdown.

Nikola hesitated, grinding his teeth. He relented, passing Moss’s unconscious form to Liam’s waiting arms. The newborn Blood Follower started to say to Asher, “Thank—”

“I wasn’t doing it for you,” Asher sneered, shutting down the conversation. It ended pretty much any conversation until their footfalls crunched the gravel of a driveway leading to a quaint farmhouse in the distance.

As they drew closer, evidence of the Midwest shone through. Wind-damaged shutters, baby blue paint, the cornfields themselves. It had a wooden front porch with a couple of bicycles, one with training wheels and the other without, and a red pickup truck that just screamed AMERICA, complete with a stars and stripes bumper sticker. Whoever lived inside would’ve never guessed that a caravan of vampires traveling from Chicago was coming to crash here.

“Alright, Kat,” Asher said. “What’s the plan?”

Katsuki looked at Trish. “You and I will do a little test, yes? First, let’s listen closely and figure out how many there are. After that, we will cast an illusion over the building that should easily hold well after we leave. Considering the stakes, I’ll help you secure it, if need be, but you’ll be taking the lead.”

Asher and Nikola got the hint that they’d be staying on the sidelines. All the same, none of them wanted to barge into a house without knowing what was in there. Asher, along with the others, grew as still as statues as they listened to the home’s interior. Asher had to tune out Liam’s distracting fidgeting.

He didn’t normally hunt in such a way, invading a human’s living space—he preferred creeping on the creeps in the wild. Although technically this wasn’t a hunt.

Asher glanced at Liam, who looked down at Moss’s face anxiously. He worried that there may be problems, holding a Blood up under the same roof as humans. Of four, to be exact, going off the subtle sleeping sounds of breathing and heartbeats dispersed throughout the two floors. Seemed like a couple of kids and their parents. His attention slid to Trish, whose silver eyes flicked between her brother and the front door. Would she be able to hold him?

For the first time, Asher noticed that Trish’s heartbeat was distinctly fainter than everyone else’s. It could be harder to tell when newborn Moon Children were underfed. They didn’t age as noticeably as, say, someone who had lived for seven centuries.

She probably couldn’t feed often, too preoccupied with her brother’s leash.

Asher registered the twitch in Liam’s eyes as Trish and Katsuki went to work, silver eyes sliding closed. He could feel the brush of the amnesiac, deep sleep blanket they threw over the perimeter, strong enough that it made Asher’s own head spin with the urge to nap.

But since Trish was busy concentrating on the Moon magic, the rope tying Liam down slacked. Asher watched his pupils expand, a flush of excitement blooming beneath his skin. The only reason he didn’t bolt toward the house was because he’d fed just an hour ago. But Asher wasn’t about to risk shit right now.

He landed a hand on Liam’s shoulder with a warning glare. Liam jolted, as if remembering he wasn’t alone, his head snapping toward Asher with a wild look in his eyes. A look Asher knew all too well.

“Easy,” Asher rumbled, pushing a forceful wave of submission through the point of contact. It came easily to Asher, the same song he’d sang for decades, if only in a different key.

Liam grimaced in discomfort, his knees threatening to buckle. Nikola’s hands went up, meaning to catch Moss if the Blood Follower crumpled. But Liam kept standing. Asher was sure he was being a little more aggressive than Trish’s sisterly love.

“There,” Katsuki said, clapping once. Trish’s eyes flew open, immediately falling on Liam.

“Lee?” she asked. Asher let go of him, physically and mentally.

Liam exhaled with relief as his sister took over the reins. “I’m good,” he breathed, giving Asher a curt nod. Asher did not acknowledge it.

Asher scrutinized the basement they chose to hunker down in, hoping it wasn’t supposed to rain. The smell of mold and the water-damaged concrete told of frequent flooding. But it was better than being outside as the sun rose.

He begrudgingly admitted that, as much as he hated the catacombs, the dark security of places like this basement made the most sense for a runaway vampire. There was probably something to the myths of tombs and coffins.

“Here!” Trish said, appearing at the top of the staircase. The hell? Asher hadn’t even noticed that she’d vanished. Did she sneak off so no one would try and stop her? She had a bundle of blankets and pillows that threatened to spill over as she bounced down the stairs. Even more impressively, she’d ganked a couple of phone chargers. “Now we don’t have to sleep on the cold floor.”

Asher grunted his gratitude as they laid out their makeshift nest, Nikola far more eloquent with his thank you. Asher watched Liam lay out Moss tenderly, as if putting to bed a child who’d pass out on the car ride home.

He felt a strange pang quite unlike him, at least what he knew about himself. Almost like regret—or pity. Maybe if Liam had been shown more love and acceptance growing up, he never would’ve been such a shit head in high school. He wouldn’t have had to wait until adulthood to shake off that armor, only for his past to come bite him in the ass and turn his newfound love against him.

Asher shook off the thoughts. It didn’t matter now. Grander was the objective, not the drama between Moss and Liam.

The newborn stirred. Liam drew back while Nikola leaned in closer. Heterochromatic eyes opened, taking in the rank basement. Moss groaned, rubbing their eyes, and sat up slowly. Nikola hovered without touching.

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