Night
Jack had rearranged the Grand Hall, transforming it into an elaborate ballroom with a raised stage area, a stretched banquet table decorated with vast-reaching candelabra, columns running down either side, and a split-level sweeping staircase designed for grand entrances.
He stood at the end of the table as though about to host a meeting.
I must have forgotten to hide my expression because his left brow arched. “This wasn’t my doing.” He smiled as he said it, loving the new look and my reaction.
“It was perfectly fine the way it was. Change it back.”
He lifted his hands. “You know as well as I do how the station does as it pleases.”
“Within reason… This is ostentatious, even for Night.”
I raked my glare over him. His new host attire grated too. How dare he look better than me in the role, with his top hat and tails and touch of liner around those all-knowing dark eyes. He didn’t need liner on those eyes. They’d always been too damn pretty. I’d preferred him unremarkable. I should have known he’d scrub up like a dark prince put on this earth to outshine me.
Jack was having too much fun vexing me. It had to stop immediately.
I planted a hand on my hip and huffed through my nose. “I need your help.”
His horribly emotive mouth tried to hide its smile. “That must have been painful.”
“Rafe is missing. He was at the convent. He chased after Angelo. I haven’t seen him since.”
“Isn’t disappearing normal for an incubus?”
“Yes. But… things have changed between us.” Jack’s eyebrow arched higher. “I thought about asking Etienne, but I’d still need to get to him inside the convent, and with all the Dark Ones gone, I can’t think of a way to reach him besides knocking on their door.”
“I’d advise against that. Angelo has been spinning tales about you. He has his people convinced you’re a demon-vampire hybrid. They have a name for you… I heard them through the floorboards.” He drew a circle with his finger on the tabletop, his usually attuned thoughts wandering.
“Well? Are you going to tell me or keep me in suspense?”
“They call you the daybreaker.” He curled his finger into his palm. “They believe the queen has sent you to reclaim Rome for her.”
Well, that explained their reaction to me.
“It’s nice to see folks have given me the benefit of the doubt,” I said dryly. I’d spent my entire life rescuing people from the hands of the Dark Ones, and this was how they repaid me? By thinking I was some mutant monstrosity?
I’d never saved them for thanks. I’d saved them because it was the right thing to do… hadn’t I? Or had I saved them to keep Kensey happy, because it was what I was made to do? I winced at my thoughts and paced down the length of the table, then back again.
“Humans have a history of hating what they don’t understand,” Jack said, sounding sympathetic while his smile mocked the attempt.
“You’re an expert on humans, are you?”
He watched me pace back and forth. “Compared to you.”
“So you can better hunt them, no doubt.”
“I’ve never denied it. I made peace with what I am long ago. You, on the other hand, don’t have any idea who or what you are.”
“This isn’t about me. This is about getting Raphael back and stopping one foolish man from destroying everything I love.”
“Things really have changed between you and the demon.”
I waved the judgment away. “Will you help or not?”
He picked up his cane and limped toward the opposite wall. There was nothing at the wall, but he headed toward it with purpose, as though expecting a door to appear. A few strides out, the wall warped and bent inward, molding itself around something hidden inside, revealing a huge fireplace, its mantel as high as he was tall. That had never been there before, but the blackened, soot-covered stone indicated it had been used.
He clicked his fingers, and the kindling in the grate burst into flame.
Bastard.
He checked behind him to see if I was watching. I’d already propped myself against the table and crossed my arms, decidedly unimpressed. He laughed at that too. Gods, I hated him.
He said a few words into the flames and then limped back toward me.
“Am I supposed to be impressed?”
“Patience.”
I waited, listening to the wood hiss and spit and watching the smoke spiral up the chimney. “How does this help?”
I shouldn’t have asked.
The smoke rolled outward, no longer rising but filling the space in front of the fire. Normal smoke did not behave like that.
The smoke filled a space several feet wide and drifted upward, turning into human-like curves with arms and legs. Green glass glinted inside until the smoke separated and a beautiful emerald-skinned jinn stepped from inside. The warm taste of exotic spices tingled on my tongue.
My heart sank.
Not because of what she was, but because Jack had summoned her. That made him a jinn-binder on top of station host, overseer, ghost, queen’s Chosen, and all-around asshole. What other tricks did he have up his sleeve? Why couldn’t he be a plain old vampire drone like all the others? Why did he have to be so damn useful?
She approached Jack. Her long tails of dark hair rippled like snakes. Interlinked golden hoops formed what there was of clothing, covering very little of her anatomy. Those hoops clinked as she walked on bare feet straight to Jack. He observed her approach, barely registering an expression. Then she knelt on one knee and bowed her head.
“I am summoned, Master.”
I rolled my eyes. Gods and spices, no wonder he had an ego the size of a small state.
“I have a task for you, Jaini. Will you comply?”
“It depends on the task, Shabh.” She lifted her head and gave Jack a long, sultry look of someone who could switch from compliant to homicidal at the click of Jack’s fingers. “You are a long way from your queen’s influence.”
Letting that comment slide, he said, “A nearby convent is heavily warded from Dark Ones, but the windows and chimneys are weak points. We need you to gain access and help us listen for a man named Angelo and discover the whereabouts of an incubus named Raphael.”
She ran her almost translucent tongue across similarly glittering lips. “I was surprised to hear your call. She believes you dead.”
“I’d appreciate it if you’d let that belief continue.”
She stood and stepped into Jack’s personal space. He didn’t react, keeping his gaze on her face. Even as she slipped a hand over his shoulder and moved close enough to kiss, he stayed motionless and detached.
These two knew each other.
“This is two asks from you,” she whispered. “Your apparent death caused the queen considerable strife. She will pay handsomely to learn of her Chosen’s continued existence.”
Jack’s smile was one I’d seen on him before. It reminded me of my own, when I knew I held all the cards. He lifted a hand and cupped her cheek, then tilted his head and whispered in her ear.
She recoiled from him with a gasp. “Consider it done.”
Her form collapsed back into smoke and funneled straight up the chimney.
I glanced at Jack, dying to ask what he’d said to have her comply. After a few moments of staring into the fire, he turned his head toward me. “Secrets are a host’s best currency.”
I looked at him standing there, his smile crooked, and it struck me: it was like looking in a mirror. I dismissed the thought as quickly as it had crossed my mind. Jack and I were nothing alike. All of this was simple coincidence, just him messing with my mind to convince me he had every right to be here.
But hadn’t Gerome told me to use their secrets against them? To leverage knowledge as though it was a weapon? What if he’d learned that from Jack? No, I wasn’t giving those thoughts purchase.
“What now?” I asked.
He picked up a chair in his left hand and awkwardly carried it to the fireplace. “We listen to the fire.”
A chair slid out from beneath the table beside me—the station hinting I should join him. I grabbed it, mumbled “Traitor,” and dragged it to the fireplace before dumping it as far from Jack as possible while remaining close enough to hear whatever we were waiting for.
“What do you have on her to make her do this?” I finally asked, curiosity winning out.
Firelight played on his face as he thought over whether to answer. “Jaini and her lover fled the queen’s control with my help.”
There had to be more to it, and as the quiet settled between us, I figured I was too much his enemy for him to continue.
“A word from me,” he added softly, “and the queen will discover her pair of jinn are very much alive and well. Jaini needed to be reminded who she was dealing with.”
And there was the sociopathic mass-murdering tool I knew so well. “She called you shabh?”
A shallow smile skimmed his lips. “It means ghost.”
Of course it did. “It sounds as though Jaini could equally betray you.”
“Everything in this world carries risk.”
The jinn’s words suggested he hadn’t lied about his queen’s connection to him being broken. She truly thought him dead. He’d taken a risk in summoning the jinn to find Rafe, and he’d done it… for me? Part of me wanted to thank him, but we hadn’t succeeded yet, and his motives had to be self-serving. I could not afford to let my guard down, no matter how accommodating and understanding he might appear. He wanted this station, my home, for himself, and he’d lie, cheat, and seduce to get it. It’s what I’d have done.
“What happened between you and the demon?” he asked. I didn’t catch any ulterior motive in his tone but already knew him to be a master of his expressions.
“Rafe is marked by the station.”
Jack’s eyebrows lifted.
“He’s one of us,” I added.
“It really was a matter of time.”
I bristled. Did he think Rafe had manipulated me too? “What does that mean?”
“It means exactly as it sounds. The pair of you have always had a bond.”
“How could you even know that—”
He lifted his hand, rudely cutting me off. “Listen.”
There was little I hated more than being shushed, especially by a vampire, but in our silence, the unmistakable sound of a conversation burbled from inside the fireplace, as though we were listening through a wall. I leaned forward in the chair at the same time as Jack, putting us horrifyingly close.
“You misunderstand Lynher…” Rafe’s voice, although the words were sloppy. “She despises the Dark Ones. She’ll not return for me.” I couldn’t tell if he was well. The fire still crackled, and his voice wasn’t clear enough.
“I understand her perfectly.” Angelo’s highly accented voice drifted from the smoke. “Nothing good ever came from that place. It killed my daughter.”
“The station does not kill,” Rafe slurred.
“When it came before, under Gerome, he tried to take her from me. He said he was saving her, like he saved others. It was a lie. He turns them—”
The fire crackled, and the words drifted.
My gaze involuntarily found Jack’s. His sympathetic expression was surely a ruse.
“The girl is the queen’s tool.”
“She’ll come.” My heart stopped at the sound of the new voice. Kensey?
No, he wouldn’t turn on me. Not like this. I shot from the chair and made it halfway to the table before turning on my heel. “What trickery is this, Jack! Are you trying to separate us? Is that your plan? Gods, I never should have listened to you. They think I’m the queen’s tool. Me! When it’s you who’s the tool. I should never have brought you back. It was a mistake. You killed that woman, and now you’re in my home, wearing host clothes and prancing about like you own the place, and I won’t stand for it!”
He’d stayed seated and unresponsive to my words, barely blinking. “Are you done? They haven’t finished speaking, and I can’t hear them while you’re ranting about your sibling issues.”
“My only issue is you!” I hissed.
“Fine. Yes. Whatever.” He waved a hand. “I’m to blame for all your trivial problems. Now sit and listen.”
I sat and glared. “An imposter in my home is not trivial.”
He glared back. “Gerome was the only imposter here. I’d kill him ten times over to stop him.”
“How dare you!”
“How dare I? How dare you trap me in that demon-infested realm and then try to rip my soul from me when all I’ve ever done is protect you and this station. I thought you might be better than this, but, I was wrong. You’re a lamb led by Gerome to the slaughter.”
I shot to my feet and swung for him, which was never going to end well considering his reflexes were innately faster than mine. His fingers snagged my wrist and caught the slap before it could land. I yanked, but he held firm.
Silver spilled into his eyes, and when he spoke, the sharp points of his fangs showed. “There are two paths in your future, Miss Aris. On the first, you keep your freedom, but there’s a second which sees you locked away until you’ve learned some respect. Do not test me.”
I thrust my face close to his. “Soul or not, I will never respect you!”
I plucked a dagger free of its sheath and thrust it at his chest. He easily twisted away, caught the back of my neck, and squeezed, pinching my spinal nerve and crippling all feeling below my shoulders. With a gasp, I collapsed to my knees, tingling all over. His grip vanished, but the damage was done.
He kicked the knife from my hand, then snatched the second from inside my coat and threw it at the paneled wall. It punched into the wood and strummed in place.
“Trouble?” Jaini purred near the fireplace behind me as I gulped air. Whatever spell she’d spun must have ended. I’d lost my chance to hear any more, all because of Jack. I hated him so much it burned inside.
He crouched, snatched my chin, and forced me to look at him. “My patience wears thin.”
“So… leave,” I panted.
With a snarl, he tore his grip free and left, his cane stabbing the floor with every step.
As soon as he was gone, Jaini offered me her shimmering hand.
I gripped it, and she hauled me to my feet. Pain thumped down my neck and tingled through my spine, but my legs held firm.
“I’m impressed,” she said, helping me stumble to the table, where I caught my breath. “That is usually the part when his enemies stop breathing.”
He could have crushed my spine.
He had a host’s key. And a soul.
His connection to the queen was broken.
He had the station’s protection, and it wanted him here.
He didn’t need me for a damn thing. Yet I still lived and breathed despite making him angry enough to storm off.
“You know him?” I wheezed.
“I worked for him. On nights like these, I still do, but he’s different now.” She spied a pitcher of water on the table, poured some in a glass, and handed it over. Every gesture, every step, sensually rolled like the smoke she was made of.
“How different?” I asked, then took a long, cool drink.
Tingles sparked through my body like pins and needles slowly fading. One day, I’d learn never to attack Jack directly. He always saw it coming.
“Before, he would not have left you alive.” She folded her arms, and her strange metal clothing chimed and sang. “He must like you.”
Like me? I snorted and leaned heavily against the edge of the table. “Did you get inside the convent?”
“They have your demon tied up. He is weak.”
Oh gods. I set my glass down before my icy rage shattered it in my hand.
She blinked. “They hope you will try to save him. They will move him to the nearby building of worship, where they have laid a trap for you.”
The church across the road from the convent. Rafe would be there.
“Once you’re dead, they plan to take this station,” she continued. “They do not know its original host has returned.”
“Its… what?”
“Lassiter. The First Host of the Night Station. Did you not know?”
“No… I…” The floor tipped, or the world did. Jack—Lassiter, as he called himself—hadn’t been lying?
He’d told her to say this. He must have. But he hadn’t known I’d ask him for help. There hadn’t been time to set this up. “Is he making you say these things?”
“No, of course not. You do not look well. Do you wish to sit?”
What I wanted was to pick up the chair and throw it at a wall. “Tell me.”
“About Lassiter?” I nodded, and she began, “The vampire queen brought this station with her when the door to this world was torn open. She charged Lassiter with its care. It was the waypoint between worlds. Together, the queen and he welcomed the Dark Ones, luring them here with promises of human riches. We came, and she was right. This world is truly a wonder. We helped her enslave the population, but the queen did not deliver on her promises. She claimed this realm for herself. By then, she had crafted herself an army too powerful to stand against. Lassiter was her chosen one. Her favorite. Some say he’s her first creation. The first vampire.”
With every word, the tingling, numbing sensation seeped back into my bones. Jack was her Chosen. Ghost was real. He’d earned his feared reputation. He controlled other vampires, he summoned jinn, and he ruled this station for his queen. Outside of the queen herself, he was likely the most powerful vampire in existence. And I’d tried to stab him in the heart. Again. How was I still breathing?
“That’s enough, Jaini.” Jack’s curt English tone cut between us.
He stood in the ballroom doorway, looking smaller with the larger doorways to accommodate his new room design. Or this room had always looked this way and it had returned to its original splendor under his management.
“My apologies.” Jaini backed away from me and bowed her head as Jack approached. “I assumed, as you like her, that she knew these things.”
“One, I do not like Lynher Aris, and two, never assume anything of me. You may leave. Your service is complete.”
“Yes, Master. But may I ask… Lucile and I, are we safe?”
“For now,” he replied coldly. “Don’t give me cause to change that.”
The jinn bowed her head and stepped into the fire, instantly turning to smoke.
I stared at the flames and wondered how I’d come to be raised in the queen’s station. This entire building was hers. She’d returned to claim it, not steal it, and I’d successfully barred her. How long would that last?
“You believe the things she said?” Jack asked. He’d made his way back to the table but stayed at the far end, with his pianist’s fingertips resting on its surface.
“I do.”
I was the imposter.
Of course I was. A magical place like this wasn’t meant for humans. It was a wonder it tolerated us. I faced Jack and looked at him with new eyes. He looked perfect in his host attire because it truly belonged to him. This was his home, made for him by his queen. He was the original, the beginning of the vampireguard.
“You understand why I didn’t tell you… everything?” he asked, sounding sad. “You would not have believed it.”
I closed my eyes and dropped my head back, wincing at the bruises on my neck. Had he told me how close he was to his queen, and the beginnings of this station, I’d have laughed and doubled my efforts to kill him. I still might. I had the queen’s most powerful tool in the same room as me. I had him in my grasp. As much as he terrified me, I also recognized the opportunity. The exact opportunity I’d been looking for. My chance to make a real difference…
I would not be the silly girl in a dress playing with monsters anymore. Jack was the real monster. It all fit. The station’s dual realities of Night and Day, the small miracles it made, sugar mice, doorway mirrors, disappearing people, midnight trains. These were not human things. If Angelo knew these things about the station, it wasn’t any wonder he assumed the queen had sent me.
Daybreaker.
To save Rafe, to save more than that, I could be the very thing Father Angelo feared.
“Help me get Rafe back,” I said, surprised at my level tone.
The revelations about Jack were too big to unpack now. Rafe was trapped and hurting, and I wasn’t letting that stand. If that meant seeking the aid of the vampire queen’s favorite toy, so be it.
I met Jack’s gaze, understanding him more with every passing second. He wanted his station back, but I wasn’t about to roll over and let him take it. I’d discover more about Just Jack as soon as I’d dealt with the insane priest and gotten my demon back.
“And what of your brother?” Jack asked after I’d stared too long. “He is in league with this Angelo.”
“Kensey’s confused. I’ll deal with him.”
Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Forgive me for stating the obvious, but the Aris twins are formidable, if misguided. If he attacks you or me, I will—”
“React accordingly. Yes, I know what you’ll do, Just Jack.”
His frown sharpened. Apparently, he didn’t like my tone. As the queen’s Chosen, he’d better get used to it. He and I were not friends. But we could be business partners, like he’d suggested.
“How do you intend to free your demon?” he asked.
“By doing what they expect of me.”
Father Angelo had told me all about how he’d almost cleared Rome of ghouls. He was proud, even if his people feared him. The man’s ego was his weakness. I just had to pander to that.
Jack’s gaze followed me across the ballroom. The door ahead opened of its own accord, and I gave the station a little nod, acknowledging its help. If it didn’t want me here, I wouldn’t be. Jack might have been the original host, but things had changed.
“Lynher?”
I turned and threw him a well-practiced smile. “Trust me, Jack.”
The words, “I really don’t,” followed me out the door.