Nightfall (Nightfall Book 1)

Denise watched Marlow through narrowed eyes from the corner of the interrogation room. She was glad she didn’t have to do the actual interrogating, which was being conducted by Black. It turned out that Marlow was once again unpleasant now that he wasn’t starving and James wasn’t in the room.

Denise wouldn’t argue with her bosses about that—James definitely needed some time out after drinking blood—though maybe it would have made getting Marlow to talk easier with him around. Still, Nathan was talking, and that was good enough.

“So, you don’t know what the angels want?” Black asked, his voice steely. Denise had to appreciate how many sides of him she’d seen just today. Black had never dropped his pleasant facade during the entire time she had worked for Aegis.

“No, I do not,” Marlow replied with annoyance, glaring at Black. Denise wondered if he would have tried to attack Black if not for the handcuffs binding his hands to the metal table. “As I’ve already said—they only claimed they would help us rise above the humans.”

Marlow looked a bit sick when he said that, but that look was gone almost immediately. “The Nightfall’s objectives are to create strong vampires from blood of vampires such as myself. And to find and capture demons for a spell of some kind. What exactly they need demons for is not something I know or care about. However, if you need information about what spell it could be, I suggest you ask your miracle worker of a warlock.”

God, this guy just couldn’t say anything without sarcasm, could he? Denise tried to focus on her annoyance and ignore the nagging questions that cropped up in her mind whenever Qironin was mentioned. She hadn’t seen him since they’d rescued James, which meant that she couldn’t just ask him if he was a double agent. She certainly hoped that Marlow had been either lying or wrong about those portals, but with the way Qironin had opened the portal, it was all very suspicious.

“We will make sure to do that,” Black replied dryly. “Do you know where Azralis is being held?”

“You assume I have information about something that happened after I was imprisoned?”

“Yes.” Black didn’t let the sarcasm affect him at all, it seemed.

Marlow narrowed his eyes at the other vampire in what looked like pure hate. And Denise sort of loved to see it after her experience with him. She wouldn’t be able to enjoy his irritation and misery after he wasn’t evil anymore, but she was fine with this.

“She is most likely being held in one of the sky bases the angels have built,” Nathan said after a short pause, glaring down at the table, as if he was angry with himself for actually answering. “At least that had been the plan for your other demon, if not for incompetent vampires addicted to demon blood. But I do not see why the angels would change the destination.”

Denise wondered what Black would ask next because she had a lot of questions now, and she had no idea which to ask first. What the hell did he mean that the angels had built sky bases? Like literal headquarters floating in the sky? How had no one noticed that before?

“Excuse me? Sky bases?” Black repeated with disbelief, but not the kind that implied he thought that Marlow was lying. And Denise didn’t think so, either.

“You really don’t know anything, do you?” Nathan scoffed and shook his head. “What have you been doing these past few months, exactly? Aside from enslaving vampires.”

Denise rolled her eyes as Marlow threw a glare at the bracelet around his wrist. This guy really loved to victimize murders, didn’t he? Well, actually, he was probably just victimizing James, as seemed to be the usual. She really wished she didn’t have to be here, but James had asked her to at least be present, so he knew what was going on.

She wasn’t sure she liked how much James seemed to care about Nathan, but as long as the two stayed separated, that was a discussion for another time.

“Just answer the question,” Black grumbled, apparently not interested in arguing with Marlow. Denise would have, but that was exactly why she wasn’t leading the interrogation.

“Yes, they have bases in the sky,” Nathan said with a huff, scowling at the table in a very petulant way. It really made Denise wonder why he was even going along with this, but she wasn’t complaining. “They are invisible, and only accessible via a teleporter. If you give me a map, I will show you where the one I know about is. Now can I please get some blood?”

“You know we won’t give you any,” Black replied, his tone a bit gentler than before as Marlow hung his head, clenching his fists.

Denise tried to resist the urge to shake her head. She understood that it wasn’t a vampire’s fault that they were evil, and that they got their conscience and empathy back only once they stopped drinking blood, but Marlow still was an evil bastard right now. There was no point sympathizing with him.

Deciding that she’d heard enough, Denise snuck out of the room without either anyone noticing or trying to stop her. She was almost shocked when she checked her watch and realized that the interrogation had only been going on for some fifteen minutes. It had felt like so much longer, but then again, that probably wasn’t just because she didn’t enjoy spending time around Marlow, to say the least.

If what Nathan had shared was true and useful, then that meant they would be attacking a base with angels in it soon, and that was not exactly leaving Denise calm and relaxed. She was ready for whatever was going to happen, but at the same time, the idea of doing this was absolutely insane. She was used to fighting other vampires, not angels.

And it didn’t help that she knew next to nothing about them, either, with the added benefit that they didn’t have a weapon to be used against them. And the one person who already had personal experience with angels was nowhere to be found.

Where was Qironin? Black had muttered something unflattering about freelancers earlier, which had definitely been about the warlock, but Denise hadn’t had the chance to ask, or even tell Black about what Marlow had said about the portal. She was getting the feeling that Qironin hadn’t just left without telling Black or some of the other leaders anything, though, which hopefully meant that he would be back eventually.

This was probably nothing to worry about, anyway. Why would Qironin be helping them this entire time if he was actually with those Nightfall vampires, or whatever? He probably just knew magic none of them had any clue about, and Marlow had been wrong about the portals.

Yeah, that sure sounded completely plausible.

She sighed to herself as she reached the right holding cell, which she only recognized because Ark was standing by it, brooding. She was glad that this place was only a bit away from the interrogation room she’d left, too, because she wasn’t really good at knowing her way around this base, yet. And she didn’t really want to get used to it, either—she wanted to get back to the building she knew, but that was not going to happen anytime soon.

Arkemoz gave her a nod as she approached but said nothing, clearly intent on continuing his brooding. That probably either meant that he was worried, that James was being annoying, or both.

Denise approached the door, knocking on it a few times. “You still in there, Adley?”

She was expecting James to get annoyed with her for that question, but instead he completely ignored it. Denise blinked when she heard a thud against the door. Did he rush to it so fast he hit it? “Denise! What did Nate say?”

How was she going to sum this up? James would want details, but thankfully there really weren’t many. “He agreed to share where he thinks Azralis is.”

“Oh. Good.” Denise frowned at the somewhat disinterested tone James had used. Well, it was only disinterested in comparison to how he sounded before, but it was still very odd. This was really good news, objectively. “Good. So we’re leaving soon, then?”

Denise looked over at Arkemoz then, noting that the demon had been watching her this entire time. Right, this involved him, too. Denise wasn’t sure why she hadn’t realized she should be talking to both of them, and not just James.

“Yeah, but I’m not sure if you’re leaving, also.”

Denise once again made eye contact with Arkemoz, who just grimaced back. That bad, huh?

James meanwhile scoffed. “I’m fine. And I was fine before they locked me in here.”

Denise shook her head. He hadn’t looked all that fine. He did look better than she’d thought he would, that was true, but that didn’t mean he was okay. Especially not enough to go on a mission. If there was any human blood around—which with all those vampires working with angels was more than likely—James could lose control. He had gotten distracted by blood before more than once when they were working, so after actually drinking it, it would have to be even worse, right?

“Besides,” James continued, his voice now more determined than annoyed, “if Arkie’s going, I’m going.”

“I mean, I get what you’re saying, man, but I don’t think you get to decide that. Or any of us.” The only thing they could do here, she supposed, was to have Ark not leave. But she doubted the demon was going to do that.

Then again, this was a pretty unprecedented crisis, so who knew how desperate Aegis was at this point? Most of the people here were being forced to be here, and Denise was honestly waiting for some of their coworkers to mysteriously disappear. It had been happening for months in small doses already, after all.

She, of course, couldn’t see into the heads of anyone here, but to her it seemed that the only thing that was still keeping vampires here was guilt, and that might not be enough to motivate people to go against a threat they barely understood.

For a second it made her wonder why she was even doing this, but it didn’t take her much to put an answer to that question. This was simply the right thing to do. Whatever the angels wanted with those demons, it was probably bad if they used evil vamps as their henchmen. And besides, if Aegis wasn’t going to deal with this, then who was?

“I don’t care. If Black won’t let me join, I’ll break out of here somehow,” James said, sounding like he was speaking through gritted teeth. It was kind of heartwarming to hear him get so worked up over the idea of not going with Arkemoz because Denise didn’t believe James cared about defeating their new threat anywhere near as much.

“I’ll try to talk to him, all right?”

James heaved a sigh. “Thanks.”

Denise wasn’t sure how much Black would care about anything she could say, but these were desperate times. Hopefully he would be convinced by the fact that James was one of the strongest vampires around, and leaving him behind might not be the best idea.

“Ah, Ms. Owens,” a voice suddenly said from her left, making Denise flinch. Walking towards her and Arkemoz was Qironin, his usual friendly smile back on his face. Except it didn’t look very genuine, not with the worry in his eyes.

She was about to ask where the hell he’d disappeared off to earlier when she noticed he was holding a gold sword in his hand. The same kind they’d gotten from the dragon. Was that actually celestial gold, or whatever it was called? Where the hell had Qironin gotten it?

“I wanted to give this to your superiors personally, but I think it might be beneficial if I simply give the sword to you,” Qironin said, already handing it over. But Denise made no move to take it. And neither did Arkemoz.

“You just happened to find this?”

Qironin’s smile lost some of its intensity. “Yes. I went through my collection and found out that I indeed own an angel’s sword.”

Under normal circumstances, Denise would immediately call this out for being a lie, but from what she’d seen from Qironin so far, this could have been a completely normal explanation by his standards. If not for all of the other suspicious stuff, of course.

“The only way to acquire one is to kill an angel,” Arkemoz finally spoke, his eyes narrowed at Qironin about as much as they could be.

“I believe I stole it from one, actually, if I remember correctly,” Qironin replied, frowning at both of them with what seemed to be more confusion than annoyance. “Is there a reason we are feeling particularly hostile today?”

Denise had to force herself not to tell him to shut up. Qironin had to know exactly what the problem was, and being passive aggressive about it was not going to help anyone.

But sure, Denise would be extra direct about it if she needed to be. “That portal you opened—Marlow says you shouldn’t have been able to.”

Qironin raised an eyebrow, tilting his head quizzically to the side. But Denise could see a flash of fear in his eyes, no matter how well he was trying to hide it. She tried to ignore how her stomach twisted.

“Are you implying you trust what Mr. Marlow says over what I, a longtime associate of Aegis, say?”

Was she implying that? She supposed she was, though she hadn’t really realized it. But it wasn’t just what Nathan had said. Qironin had acted weird while opening the portal, too. That was the whole reason Black was annoyed with him in the first place.

“I just think a claim like that shouldn’t be completely ignored,” Denise said, deciding to try not to escalate this further. She didn’t have any proof of anything, after all, and she had to give Qironin the benefit of the doubt. Even though she didn’t really know him, he had been with Aegis for a long time.

It was all just very suspicious to her.

“Very well. Feel free to investigate me,” Qironin replied almost irritated in a way that made Denise feel like he was implying she was wasting his time. Then he offered the hilt of the sword to her once again, making her look down. “After you deal with the angels.”

Denise glared at the sword, but she finally took it. It did look almost identical to the one they’d found, and it felt the same, both in terms of weight and balance. And Qironin had yet to do anything that would jeopardize Aegis….

Denise looked Qironin right in the eye. “Will this work?”

The warlock sighed. “Yes, I give you my word that this sword is genuine, and if you stab it through an angel, it will indeed kill them.”

Denise nodded. Whatever was going on with Qironin, she believed what he was saying was the truth. Though it was still incredibly suspicious that he’d forgotten that he had one of these until now. Of course, knowing now that Aegis had been infiltrated by their enemies made this a lucky turn of events because this sword might have gotten taken, too, but it was still very odd to say the least.

“Wonderful. Then I wish you good luck,” Qironin said, already turning around.

“Wait, you’re not coming with us?” Denise was too shocked at the moment to get annoyed about it.

Qironin paused and sighed, actually seeming remorseful as he looked over his shoulder. “I apologize, but I’m not much of a fighter. And were I captured, things would get much worse for everyone.”

Denise frowned, not really knowing what to say to that. She could see how capturing someone as powerful as Qironin would be bad for everyone if these Nightfall people managed to convince Qironin to help them. But what was that nonsense about not being a fighter? If Denise recalled, he was the one leading the charge last time.

Trying to figure out Qironin was making her head hurt, though. Maybe she just wasn’t meant to understand this guy.

“Right.” Denise shook her head, deciding to just leave this alone. “Well, thanks for the sword, I guess.”

Qironin flashed her a more genuine-looking smile. “My pleasure. You’ll need it, after all. And thank you for giving me the opportunity to not meet with Black.”

And then the warlock was walking away before she could react, not that she knew what to say. Denise looked down at the sword in her hand, clenching her fist around the hilt. She really hoped this was going to work. She didn’t feel like stabbing an angel only for them to just pull the sword out and kill her.

“I complain about being locked in here,” James’ muffled voice came from behind the door, “but I’m glad I wasn’t present for that.”

Denise wished she hadn’t been either, to be honest. And now she was going to get herself into yet another uncomfortable conversation once she went to Black to inform him about what had happened.

Just thinking about it made her feel mentally exhausted beforehand, but it needed to be done. Better to do it immediately, then, because the longer she had to think about it, the less she wanted to do it.

“I’ll be back,” she told Arkemoz and James, getting a better grip on the sword as she turned around and started walking. For a moment she wondered if it would be rude to march into the interrogation room with Marlow still in there, but then she decided that she didn’t care. This day had been too long already, and she didn’t have the patience for things like this anymore.

She truly hoped they wouldn’t have to wait around for much longer because she wasn’t sure how much longer she could handle it.