Dance Into the Dark: A Living in the Shadows Novel

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  It was after four in the morning when I finally stopped telling my story, which took much longer than needed since I was frequently interrupted by Ammon’s questions. I told him about my first encounter with a vampire, about Mina and Dane and the demon, about how there seemed to be some sort of mastermind behind everything but how frustratingly little information I had on him. I even told my brother about my relationship with Jack (barring the most private moments between me and him), since Ammon had caught a glimpse of my exchange with the half vampire outside the house. The only thing I didn’t tell him about was Adena, even though it was likely that Ammon was the only person in the whole world that would even come close to understanding what was going on with what it would be like to have an inner alter ego. I just felt that I needed to keep her to myself for at least a little while longer – I didn’t want to tell anyone about her until I knew who she was for myself. I also didn’t tell him about what happened earlier that night, with my being able to summon fire on my own and how I felt when I started doing so. I was still afraid of what had happened, and didn’t want Ammon to be afraid of me on top of everything else.

  When he finished asking questions I said, “I can’t believe that your guru didn’t tell you about this whole other world of ours. Mom and dad told me that we were constantly moving because they were being hunted all the time by creatures of evil that wanted them dead. If you’re starting to carve wards now, too, it’s only a matter of time before you start drawing attention to yourself. Heck, I don’t even carve wards and I’m constantly in danger just because I’m the daughter of wardcarvers and I can manipulate fire.”

  “Well… he did mention that I needed to be careful with who I told about myself and what I can do, but he didn’t say anything beyond that. He’s so isolated that I think he’s not really in much danger to begin with. I’m gonna have a hard time finding him again, myself.”

  “You’re going back?”

  “Yeah, I have to. He told me that if I don’t learn patience and how to keep my wards pure, I could lose my talent or become corrupt.”

  “But… mom and dad didn’t get training, and they were just fine!”

  “They relied on each other to keep themselves in check. I don’t have a companion to do that for me, so I need a teacher.”

  “So… how long are you going to stay?”

  “Not long. I have plans to leave by the end of next week. Sorry, I know it’s not that long, but it’ll be long enough to fix what dad’s done do the house and do whatever miscellaneous jobs need to be wrapped up.”

  “Oh. You sure you can’t stay any longer?”

  “Yeah. Even if I didn’t have to go back, now that I’ve had a taste of traveling, I can’t give it up. I’d get really cranky really quick, and become more of a burden than a help. So what besides fixing the damage dad’s done to the house needs to be taken care of?”

  “I don’t know. Bills, I suppose. I took mom’s bank card and she hasn’t even noticed, so I doubt that they’ve really paid much attention to random expenses that’ve been coming in. I don’t even know how much money they have in the bank, or when they’ll be going back to work.” I felt anxiety rising in my chest as I realized that I’d probably have to get a job, and even then I’d be unable to cover all the expenses of a house like the one we were living in. I didn’t even know how many bills there were that were coming in. Electricity, I knew, and water, too. What else was there? I had no idea.

  “Okay. Well, maybe I can help you convince mom and dad to go back to work, at least for their normal jobs. I know that their jobs are closely related to wardcarving, but I’m sure we can find a way to keep them from getting too close to the workshop for a while. And I’ll show you how to pay the bills, too – it’s not really that hard. I’m sure that mom and dad have a lot in savings, since wardcarvers can get paid a lot for their skills. A man came to my guru offering fifty thousand dollars for just one rune to keep him safe in his travels. He didn’t take it, since he only carves runes for those with a pure aura, and even if the man had good intentions, my guru wouldn’t have taken any money. The point is, I’m sure mom and dad are secretly loaded, if they had any business sense at all. Now, I need at least a little bit of a nap before everyone else gets up.”

  I helped Ammon get set up in Terra’s old room. We hadn’t set it up as a guest bedroom yet, but at least there was enough room for my brother to set up his inflatable mattress, which was all he really cared about. I remembered to move the runes from the top of the bathroom door to under the couch cushions, then collapsed into bed myself.