Jocelynn Drake - Dawnbreaker

Biting the inside of my cheek hard enough to taste blood, I released my hold and took a couple steps away from him. I shoved my hand through my wind-blown hair and drew in a sharp breath through my nose, pushing those feelings deep down inside of me. Danaus didn’t need to know about such desires. It was a nightwalker thing—this strange need to possess and control. But he didn’t belong to me; not as a friend anyway. He was simply my enemy put on hold.

“Will you let Shelly put you into a sleep spell?” I asked when I was back in control of my emotions.

“You make it sound as if I have a choice in this matter,” he calmly said.

I smiled at him. “You do. You can agree to do this and we go about it calmly and quietly. Or, we fight it out until I knock your sorry ass unconscious and then Shelly completes the spell.”

“But the sun is rising. There’s only time for one thing.”

“Please, Danaus, don’t commit suicide out of fear. That’s all this would amount to. You’d die because you were afraid to sleep for a few hours.”

“I’m going to be helpless.”

“But protected.”

After a moment of tense silence as he turned the knife over in one hand, I knew he was drawing closer to his decision, though I wasn’t completely sure that I would like it.

“Do it,” he bit out abruptly, surprising me. I had thought he was going to force me to knock him out.

“You need me now?” Shelly asked, softly coming down the stone steps that led to the basement.

“Yes,” I murmured, looking back at Danaus. “I need another sleep spell.”

No one spoke as Danaus placed his knife back in the sheath on his belt and sat on the concrete ground next to Cynnia. He crossed his arms over his chest and stretched out his legs before him. His dark blue gaze never left me as I stood before him. My attention was torn between the hunter and watching Shelly as she pulled out her blue chunk of chalk and drew a circle around the hunter. It was outlined with a set of symbols I didn’t understand and probably never would.

“You’ll be safe,” I said just before Shelly murmured the final word of the spell. Danaus’s brilliant blue eyes slid shut and his head fell forward so his chin rested against his chest. His breathing was even, and I could feel a deep peace drift over him. A part of me wanted to reach over and push aside the dark locks of hair that had fallen across his face, but I couldn’t break the seal. Something inside of me ached to see him like that, vulnerable to the world, vulnerable to my world.

“What do you want me to do now?” Shelly asked, drawing my attention back away from the hunter. She nervously turned the chalk over in her hand, waiting for the next spell that she was to perform. The tips of her fingers were a mix of black and pale blue from the ash and chalk she had been using around the lodge to protect us while we slept during the daylight hours.

“I’m guessing that you can’t perform the same spell on yourself,” I said with a frown. She shook her head and shoved the chalk into the pocket of her now worn and dirty jeans. “And there isn’t enough time to teach me how to do it properly.”

“What are you going to do with me?”

I sighed. I knew it was going to come to this, but we were left with little choice. I felt bad putting her in this dangerous position considering all she had done to protect us, but it was all I could think of.

“You have to sleep during the day with the others,” I said. When she opened her mouth to possibly counter what I planned to say next, I held up my hand. “You have to sleep the entire day without moving or you could die. It’s why you’ve put both Cynnia and Danaus in sleep spells. I need you to do the same, and the only way I can accomplish that is to hypnotize you.”

“Why didn’t you do that with Danaus?” she asked, taking a step back away from me.

“Because I seriously doubt that it would work on Danaus,” I said, leaving out the part that I would not drink his blood. I might want to mark him, but his background with the bori meant that it was best if I avoided his blood altogether. Of course, it was highly unlikely that the hunter would allow me to drink from him anyway.

Shelly took a step backward again, holding up one hand to ward me off. “How do I know you’re not just trying to kill me? I failed you on the island. Your people could have been killed because of me. I haven’t been as useful as I should be. I’m a burden. This could just be your way of finishing me off.” She edged farther away from me.

I matched her step for step, finally grabbing her outstretched hand with mine. Her fingers trembled in my grasp. “If I wanted you dead, I’d leave you alive to fuel the spell that Stefan and I are creating. I’d use your life to save us all. Instead, I’m trying to keep you alive because I’m going to need you to help me protect Cynnia for as long as possible tomorrow night. I’m not trying to kill you.”

“Oh,” she whispered. “Will it hurt?”

“You won’t feel or remember a thing, I promise.”

Before she could give me any further argument, I pulled her into my arms at the same time as I entered her mind in a single, quick thrust. She had left her thoughts a wide-open door to me in her confusion and fear, easily allowing me to take over. As my fangs sank into her slender throat, I was already sending through her body feelings of safety and serenity. I sent her images of being at home in her own bed, wrapped in a thick warm quilt. Shelly curled against me and softly sighed as her blood flowed down my throat in wonderful waves. I’d needed to feed again before I could complete the Stain with Stefan.

I drank as deep as I dared. I needed her to remain weak throughout the day, helping her to remain in the deep hypnotic state I was about to place her into. However, I didn’t need her so weak that she couldn’t function properly the next night.

Sleep deep, Shelly. I command you to sleep deep this day, I repeated within her brain, burrowing the thought into her mind so it was the only thing there. You will sleep through the entire day until the sun sets on the horizon. You will remain asleep until I summon you. You will not move. You will not stir. You will not dream. You will sleep until I summon you.

Quickly healing the wound on her neck, I gathered her up in my arms and carried her over to lay on the other side of Cynnia and Danaus. Around them, boxes of hotel supplies of different sorts rose up, obscuring them from view, protecting them in a type of cardboard fortress. It was the best I could do for now. Before the last of the night was through, I would join them in this little niche of the basement and offer up my own body as protection against the naturi.

Somewhat rejuvenated by Shelly’s blood, I bounded up the stairs to find Stefan waiting on the front stairs leading from the lodge. The blue wall of flames was beginning to flicker and thin in places. The night was nearly gone, and my hold on both the blood and earth magic was failing. We needed to finish the Stain now if we were going to be able to complete it at all.

“Have your little ones been taken care of?” Stefan asked snidely.

“All of mine have been seen to. Have George and Bertha gotten everyone into the lodge?”

“Everyone has been settled.”

“What about the humans?” I demanded, suddenly remembering the human guardians that were supposed to be arriving in the morning. If they came to the lodge, they’d all be killed just like the naturi.

“I’ve reached a few of them telepathically,” Stefan blandly commented with an indifferent wave of his hand. “They’ve been told to remain at Aguas Calientes until after the sun sets. They are supposed to spread the word to the rest of the humans.”