Vampire Babylon - Break Of Dawn Part 18

"Yes. Frank."

Eva folded her hands, and Dawn couldn't help noticing that her knuckles were white.

"What the h.e.l.l, Eva?"

"I'm just going to tell you, even though it's not easy-"

"Come on, already!"

"I don't know where Frank is."

Dawn actually did one of those stupid cartoon head shakes. The last time she'd seen her dad, Eva had been enveloping him in her body-mist and carrying him off as he cried out in a rage over Breisi's death.

"Come again?" Dawn said.

Eva carefully exhaled, then returned to the table for more paper. Dawn moaned, and they repeated the process of spelling everything out at the back of the couch while one covered for the other with a conversation about Frank in general now.

Eva wrote, First, some background for you: I returned Underground after the Breisi/Ca.s.sie debacle and gave the Master a-she hesitated-certain version of what happened.

Dawn's turn. You mean you lied.

I reimagined. When you deal with the Master, you'll see he exists in a world that's populated by movie stars and fantasy, so revisions are normal. He sees only what he wants, and I've been taking advantage of that.

h.e.l.l. Looking at Eva, you saw a harmless, sweet girl blushing in a breezy dress. But, deep down, she had a devious mind. Getting to know it would only help Dawn when she figured out where she'd go after this tete-a-tete.

What are you telling me? Dawn wrote while Eva jawed some more to cover their activities.

Eva again: Frank escaped under the Master's nose, and I facilitated it. And the Master hasn't asked about the whole story yet.

Eva went on to write about how she'd, on the spur of the moment, overloaded her husband with her blood and how that had allowed him to sneak out of the Underground undetected.

The blood reference lurched to the shadows of Dawn's mind. But, in all this confusion, she didn't pursue questions about what that meant. She was too caught up in finding out where Frank was.

Why did you let him go? she wrote back. She didn't know what to think about her mother now. Yeah, Dawn knew she still hated her, but Eva's allowing Frank to escape put a different spin on things.

The vamp seemed to think about what she was going to write. You know the cliche that says, "If you love someone, set them free"? Frank needed that to come back to me. And he will, just as soon as he sees that what's out here doesn't appeal anymore.

After a second, Eva added more. I had to crush his delusions about what waited for him Above. He won't like what's there now, and he's not going to be strong enough to deal with daylight. Besides, Servants are on his case. He'll get tired of running, and he won't even be able to approach Limpet.

More paper. As Eva went to get it, Dawn asked out loud, "Why's that?"

After a warning look, Eva came back to write: He accepted my bite just before you showed up. You had to know he became a vampire.

At the blunt comment, everything splattered in Dawn's mind-the blood reference, all her previous suspicions she'd had about Frank when he'd seemed to be able to read Ca.s.sie Tomlinson's thoughts in a vampire mind screw. Dawn pulled her knees to her stomach, hugging herself.

"At any rate, I truly don't know where your father is," Eva said out loud while getting up to go to the kitchen again. "He's blocked me out of our Awareness. I was using it Above before I intercepted you, since that ex-boss of yours knows that we exist anyway.

If he senses the communication, it won't make much of a difference now."

While Eva ran the water in the kitchen, Dawn wondered if Frank really would be turned away by Costin and Friends. Why would her former boss deny a benevolent vampire when he claimed to be something similar himself?

But Dawn wasn't going back there to find out.

By now, she'd come to a crouch in order to help her stomach calm itself. "It wasn't enough to have Dad with you. You had to make him a vamp."

Eva returned. "It's a beautiful life. Give it a chance."

"No way."

"What would it be like to be forever loved?" Eva whispered. "Have you really thought about that? It's heaven. It's all humans really want."

"You're not going to convince me." She sounded a little too emphatic.

"Don't be so quick to refuse. I've told you before that the Master wants you Underground and . . . Well, prepare yourself, because I'm going to be honest with you."

Surprised again by all this truth, Dawn met her mother's intense gaze.

"The Master knows where you are. He's asked me to help ease you into the Underground, thinking I could do it without much turbulence. But . . ." She shrugged.

The rest went unsaid. The Master had no idea what was between Dawn and Eva. He didn't know just how much Dawn hated her mother for what she'd done during the Vampire Killer episode.

"I'm not going to displease the Master, Dawn," she added. "When he sees you, he's going to be very happy."

So happy that he would forget about the other night and the part Eva might've played in it? It might be just a matter of time before he found out what happened, and Eva probably couldn't afford to make him angry by withholding Dawn.

"That's cool," she said. "You're pimping me out to your big daddy. I knew this mother-daughter thing would be special."

"He can be a perfect gentleman and won't force anything on you. I'll make sure of that." Agitated, Dawn stood. "And when Limpet comes Underground?"

Eva just laughed. "Don't worry about seeing him again. As the Master's favorites, we won't need to be that involved with fighting.

Benedikte hasn't asked me to train with the others."

Benedikte. "That's because you've had alternate duties-like working me over."

"You're right. I have been involved with spy work."

"h.e.l.l, I wonder if I should be really impressed. I mean, you're quite the mental soldier, and I had no idea." And here she'd thought starlets were dim.

Eva paused, then got one more piece of paper. Dawn stared at the rug. Then, when her mother was ready, Dawn read the new secret note.

Things will turn out okay if we play our cards right.

It occurred to Dawn that maybe she'd gotten her whole craving for control from DNA-Eva's.

Her mother went to the kitchen again and did her thing. Dawn could hear her voice mixing with the stream of water.

"I know this is probably misguided," Eva said, "but I also want you to be Underground, where Frank can find you. He'll definitely come back if you're . . . there."

"You want to me hang around the vamps until then?"

"I want you to have the time of your life."

The concept should've disgusted Dawn, but there was something small and dark-a pit in the center of her-that grew at the thought of embracing what Eva had promised: beauty, peace.

The opposite of what Costin represented.

Not knowing what else to do, Dawn turned and made for the exit.

"Dawn." Eva's voice stopped her just as she reached the front door.

Needing to get out, to go back to Matt, because this had been such a mistake to come with Eva, she throttled the k.n.o.b open and .

Instead of the welcome hush of dusk settling over a front yard, a rock wall greeted her.

Stunned, Dawn stepped into a hallway, surrounded by stone. She looked up, and a drop of water plunked onto her cheek, let loose from a crag above.

Underground.

Eva hadn't taken her to the gingerbread house Above at all.

"I told you," her mother said from behind her, "the Master knows where you are."

FIFTEEN.

BELOW, TAKE THREEBENEDIKTE stood in front of a full-length mirror in Dawn's new room, shifting into yet another body.

He'd tried on three already, from "Matt"'s pugilistic demeanor, to the form of Thomas Delaney-one of the hottest nonvampire movie stars Above-then to the shape of the surfer-boy weather man from Benedikte's favorite TV station.

But the Master didn't feel right in any of them: the weatherman was too tedious, and Benedikte wasn't understanding Thomas Delaney's "motivation" for being Underground when he hadn't yet been approached about it. And the Master needed this information if he was going to pull off a decent performance.

This brought him to the other rejected body-"Matt." Dawn wouldn't expect her "vampire hunter" to be hanging around in the Underground so casually, either, and Benedikte preferred to save that shape for when he truly needed it with her. After all, even though "Matt" hadn't been able to persuade Dawn to come Underground before Eva had gotten to her, he was the only person Dawn seemed to be at home with right now. This was valuable.

He shifted back into the body he'd worn as a human being-Benedikte. Would Dawn find him pleasing?

Checking himself out in the mirror, he decided to bind his hair back in a queue to sport a clean-shaven face. To top off the illusion, he added an oversized white shirt-what they called "poet's style" in today's pretentious catalogs. Leather pants and boots completed the look, and Benedikte was content. Now. To wait for her.

He found himself pacing to the cadence of his nerves. Dawn was Underground, and he couldn't rest. Not when he'd been antic.i.p.ating her arrival, working toward it for what seemed like forever. He'd taken so many chances appearing Above in "Matt"'s body. He'd put his very safety on the line to make sure he would be with her someday.

And his desires had all started coming true after he'd received Dawn's call for help. Something had happened with Limpet, he knew, and he intended to find out what it was soon after Dawn got comfortable in her new home. Whatever had transpired, it might end up working to Benedikte's advantage.

But, for now, he was thankful Limpet had done something to trigger Dawn's arrival. After her phone call, which had been easy to access because he was always tuned in to "Matt"'s phone, he'd wasted no time in getting Eva Above: she would be Dawn's conduit, transitioning her Underground where Benedikte would finally meet her as the Master. He didn't plan to ever tell her that he'd been masquerading as "Matt," because he knew Dawn's ability to trust was a fragile thing and his deception would shatter any relationship he expected to have with her. No, from now on, the Master would let the real, human Servant Matt Lonigan go about his own business Above, right after Benedikte's version of "Matt" gently broke up with Dawn. In the aftermath of her heartbreak, Benedikte would pick up the pieces and construct her into the shape of his dreams, bettering her.

Luckily Eva had been successful in getting Dawn Below. Then again, he'd known Eva would do her job well, since she wanted to be with her daughter just as much as Benedikte did. He'd just been surprised at the way Eva had accomplished the task.

She'd somehow taken Dawn into her celestial vampire body and transported her daughter. The Master had this power, though he hadn't used it in centuries; certainly he'd never seen an Elite do this before. But he suspected the reason for it. During Eva's last blood infusion, he'd gone overboard, overfeeding her. Was this a result of that impetuous moment when he'd only wanted to express all of his affection?

Aside from that minor surprise, Dawn's move Underground had gone perfectly. With Eva cradling Dawn inside her misty vampire body, Benedikte allowed them inside Matt Lonigan's home. The human Servant had already given all Underground vampires permission to enter, so it hadn't been an issue. Then, Benedikte had led his Elite to the supposed "closet" door-the bolted one with the basketball backboard leaning against it. After opening the barrier, they'd traveled the tunnels to the Underground, and Eva had taken her daughter directly to her chambers, which looked exactly like her home Above.

At that point, Benedikte had bowed to Eva's request to have time alone with her daughter. Dawn would be a tough one to fully transition, Eva had pointed out, and seeing the Master right off the bat would only rile her daughter to the point of rebellion.

Knowing this was true, Benedikte had decided to wait in Dawn's room for the big moment, consumed with looking his best for her.

Pacing in earnest now, he couldn't stop the anxiety from overruling everything else. Benedikte . . . ?

He halted at the sound of Eva's Awareness.

She continued. We're on our way.

He felt like he was in one of those romantic comedies that aired on pay movie channels, a film like There's Something About Mary. In particular, the sequence where Ben Stiller, that funny man, was so frazzled when he picked Cameron Diaz up for the prom that he got his privates caught up in his zipper.

But Benedikte wouldn't be that tragically graceless. He'd lived for centuries. He'd mangled men during battles. He was a vampire, for the day's sake.

As the door eased open, the Master quickly considered changing back into "Matt." In that body, he knew how to act.

But it wasn't smart. No, he could do this. . . .

Eva preceded Dawn into the room, and the Master caught his breath. His favorite, with her blond hair loose about her shoulders, her skin a becoming pink due to that last, mistake-ridden infusion.

But then Dawn walked in, and the Master almost self-destructed.

It was too much seeing them side by side: one golden and untouchable in her innocent fragility, the other dark and tough as she scowled and looked around at the palatial room he'd designed for her.

Yes, his tough Dawn. But Benedikte knew better, thanks to his time as "Matt." He realized that she had her own brand of vulnerable beauty under all that att.i.tude. It would take some work to reveal it, but the Master was up to the challenge. She would rival her mother in no time, and Benedikte wondered how Eva might react to that-at being so obviously replaced.

The Master waited for Dawn to say something sa.s.sy, but it didn't happen. Instead, she just stood there, inspecting the gym set that had been worked into the walls like usable sculpture.

Pity. He'd noticed back at Matt's house that a certain light had been extinguished from her eyes. Again, he wondered what Limpet had done to make her flee and how he could take advantage of it.

He took a step forward, every inch of him wired by excitement. "Welcome, Dawn."

Had she even known he was in the room? When she shot a glare at him, he wasn't sure.

"You're the Master?"

She sounded so unimpressed that Benedikte almost shifted bodies without thinking. Didn't he appeal? How could he- He stopped and thought about what "Matt" would've done to get her on his side. He would've been mildly amused and, thus, ruggedly charming. Benedikte could do that, too.

"I see you dressed for the occasion," he said, and it came out just as wryly as he'd planned. He motioned to her holey jeans, her dirty sleeveless top that gaped to show a black bra underneath. How they dressed these days.

With "Matt," Dawn might have laughed. She always seemed to enjoy banter, but with Benedikte, she was unresponsive. His chest felt heavy and, as he looked at the holes at the knees of her jeans again, he recalled how he'd tended to her, touched her skin, smelled the blood on it, and battled to contain himself.