Night Scourge: A gothic urban fantasy (Daybreaker Book 2) Read online

  Night Scourge

  2# Daybreaker

  Pippa DaCosta

  Urban Fantasy & Science Fiction Author

  Subscribe to Pippa’s mailing list at pippadacosta.com & get free ebooks.

  Copyright © 2020 Pippa DaCosta.

  July 2020. US Edition. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictions, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Edited using US English.

  Version 1. July 2020.

  www.pippadacosta.com

  Contents

  Blurb

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  What to read next by Pippa DaCosta

  Blurb

  “You were raised among Dark Ones and each one wants a bite of you.”

  Adrift in a strange land and with the Night Station weakening, Lynher has never felt more alone.

  Guests are leaving. The Station platform is silent. And there’s nobody left to save.

  So when a member of the European resistance wanders in off the street, offering a new life outside the Station, Kensey can’t refuse. But Lynher can. The Dark Ones are circling. The Station is vulnerable. Now is not the time to abandon it.

  But the Station has secrets. Secrets that test Lynher's faith in those she loves, secrets about her, about the Night Station, and about the most dangerous vampire of them all:

  Jack.

  Lynher cannot leave, but how can she stay when the truth is more terrifying than any monster?

  “Guard your soul, dear traveler, for Night is long and the dark is hungry. "

  Chapter 1

  Night

  The air on the Night Station’s platform smelled wet with rain. Clouds hugged unfamiliar jagged spires and rooftops of nearby buildings like a quilt over a bed of nails. This land was sharp and serrated, and not the land I’d been raised in.

  Dark Ones—my guests—milled about the thousand-foot-long platform, glad to be allowed outside but wary too. I kept my smile as tight as my corset and clasped my hands behind my back to keep from wringing them.

  Gerome had neglected to instruct me on what to do if the Night Station decided to move. Perhaps those lessons would have come had Jack not driven a railroad spike through his heart. In the absence of protocol, “winging it,” as my brother had suggested, was my only option. Opening the doors onto the platform had seemed like a good place to start. Hopefully, the platform’s white line, running parallel to the tracks, would continue to protect everyone from the wild things that lurked in the dark.

  Guests needed to know they were still being cared for. I was armed with an array of smiles and reassuring noises that kept their panic at bay. I told them not to worry, to stay behind the white line, and I offered more food and wine, which the station seemed content to provide. For now, the big clock above the main hall clunked down the hours as it always had. Nothing had changed inside the station.

  The fact we’d narrowly avoided meeting the vampire queen had bought me a few days and nights of goodwill from the Dark Ones, who no more wanted her near than I did. But without rapid answers as to where we were, I doubted the goodwill would last for long.

  I stole a glance through the station’s high windows at the clock above the Grand Hall. Almost midnight.

  Trains would arrive once the clock chimed. I’d greet the new guests while bidding others a farewell. But this was a new city on a new continent—I assumed from the architecture—and we did not yet know if trains ran on these tracks.

  If no trains came, what use was a station?

  The clock struck midnight. I waited for the whistle, for the strumming of the iron tracks or any indication that a train was inbound, but as the twelfth chime rang out and fell silent, it was clear there would be no arrivals tonight.

  My guests seemed unconcerned. One night without a train might not be a concern, but what if two or three or more passed? What if trains didn’t run in this place? No trains, no people to save. I’d be stranded here.

  “Ma’am.” Etienne jogged onto the platform, his long legs eating up the distance. In his Night Station attire of black trousers and a black jacket over a vivid purple silk shirt, he blended in with the staff, but he had a grace in the way he moved that I’d attributed to good genes. I’d been half right.

  “Etienne.” I said his name more harshly than necessary. We were all still trying to find the right balance in this new world, and not just the physical world, but the mental one too. The station hadn’t changed, but the people inside it had, myself included.

  “There was a gentleman at the door,” he said, his French accent adding a lyrical quality to his voice. His dark eyes flicked to the empty tracks. Was he recalling how he’d trapped me in a carriage with Jack, sending me off to what should have been my death? The elves had set him up. He claimed to have made a mistake. I’d been watching him closely to ensure no mistakes like that happened again.

  “Which door?” I asked, still carrying the terseness.

  He swallowed. “The front door, ma’am.”

  I’d forgotten we even had a front door. Nobody ever used that entrance. From the roadside, the station appeared abandoned. Guests arrived by train, not foot. People didn’t wander abandoned cities at night unless they wanted to get eaten or whisked away to bloodfarms. At least, not in our land.

  “A human man?” I asked, keeping my voice low.

  He eagerly nodded.

  The Dark Ones would be very interested to learn about a free-range human. No vampireguard remained inside the station to scoop the person up and bleed them dry, but plenty of other Dark Ones would happily take advantage of a lone human traveler.

  “You’re sure?” I asked.

  “As sure as I can be.”

  “Was he coerced? Did he appear nervous?”

  “No, no, nothing like that. He seemed in good spirits.” Etienne stepped closer and whispered, “He asked for… the person whose name we do not speak.”

  A stranger who happened to be wandering a foreign city at night decided to stroll up to an abandoned station and ask for my brother?

  Coincidences did not stretch that far.

  “Where is he now?” I turned away from the platform and all its unanswered questions. The lack of a train would have to be tomorrow’s concern.

  “In the library.” Etienne followed beside me as we swept through the doors and into the station.

  “You put him in my office?” I asked while tossing bright smiles to passing guests.

  The Corvus sisters spotted us and veered to one side, eyeing Etienne as though he might steal the buttons off their blouses. He did have a penchant for collecting buttons, most of them procured from uns
uspecting guests. Usually, the turnover of guests was so rapid that rumors seldom took hold, but I wondered if the elves might have been spreading information about Etienne. Or the sisters could have taken a dislike to Etienne the moment they’d learned they had competition for collecting lost things.

  “I d-didn’t know where else to put him,” he continued, speaking under his breath. He’d noticed the way the sisters had avoided him, but he kept the dismay from his face. He was learning. “He knows more than most.”

  “All right, I’ll meet him inside. Return to the platform and see to our guests.”

  “Moi?” He tripped on the corner of the hallway rug and almost fell into the path of a pair of alarmed guests. After apologizing profusely, he raised his sheepish eyes to me.

  “Yes, you. Someone needs to keep an eye on them, especially if no train arrives. Our guests need to know they’re safe and cared for, which means my staff must remain visible. Talk to them and tell them how beautiful they are. They’ll love you for it.”

  He swallowed so hard I heard the click. “But… I…”

  I met his frown with one of my own. “Etienne, you are uniquely qualified to speak to them on their level, remember?”

  He blinked, and then his big dark eyes widened in realization. He and I had recently discovered he wasn’t human, although he had looked and acted the part for several years. He was, in fact, an elf changeling, hidden among humans so the VG wouldn’t scoop him up and bleed him or abuse him until he was of no further use to them.

  We had a long way to go in learning more about Etienne’s changeling bloodline, but we also had a job to do. Beneath his humanity, he was an elf. The other Dark Ones were less likely to eat elves if said Dark Ones got frustrated by their lack of transportation.

  “Oh. I see,” he said, shoulders drooping. “Yes, yes, of course…”

  “I can leave the station in your care while I speak with our… uninvited arrival?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  I left him looking forlorn in the hallway, ignored the pang of guilt at having to remind him he wasn’t human, and hurried to my office.

  The door hung open, revealing a well-dressed middle-aged man sitting in the chair at my claw-footed desk. He was reedy with a narrow face and jaw-length dark hair. Dark eyes too, but warm, with darkly toned skin. At first glance, he appeared human and unarmed.

  Rafe veered into my path, clutched at my arm, and steered me away. Wings hidden, he displayed the rest of himself in tightly fitting, hip-riding dark pants tucked into heeled knee-length leather boots. The fitted red and black satin waistcoat appeared to be deliberately one size too small from all the skin it didn’t cover up. If he could get away with it, he’d be prancing about naked.

  “A word…” he said, voice tight.

  “I’m busy.” I pulled free of his loose grip and stepped around him, only for him to sidestep around me and block my path. This time, his tail looped around my ankle and squeezed my boot.

  I looked up and let him read my face. He knew by now to recognize when I was not in the mood for his games.

  His jaw was set, his eyes hard, and his pupils full and dark and soulless. “Your work can wait.”

  I breathed in. “Step aside, Raphael.”

  His lips tilted sideways, dimpling his cheek and dramatically changing his expression. All the hardness vanished. His eyes even shifted to their normal jewel-like tone but mismatched blue and green. “Lynher, darling, a moment of your precious time is all I ask. I find I am in need of some assistance… Would you turn away a friend?”

  A friend, no. But I wasn’t sure what Rafe was without his soul. His eye colors and dramatic switch in behavior didn’t fool me. He was more slippery now than in all the years I’d known him.

  “Later,” I told him more softly. “Call on me in an hour.”

  This time, when I stepped around him, his tail unraveled. When I glanced back, he’d vanished.

  The guest in my office stood as I entered and smiled as though we were old friends. A heavy, dark overcoat hung from the man’s narrow shoulders. Rain glistened on the fabric. His clothes were practical and without embellishment. Compared to my guests, his attire was stark in its plainness.

  “Welcome,” I said. “I apologize for keeping you waiting.”

  He reached out as though to shake my hand, but instead, he caught my fingers loosely in his and lifted them to his lips. “Ciao, bella. Piacere di conoscerla.”

  I recognized the language as Italian but understood little else. “Oh, I… er… I’m sorry, I don’t speak Italian. I… well, I’m not accustomed to this area. Do you speak a little French?”

  “Regrettably, no,” he replied in perfect Italian-accented English and released my hand. “But we will overcome such barriers.” His eyes sparkled, having me believe him intelligent and perhaps kind. “My name is Angelo Canali. Please call me Angelo. Signora Aris? Forgive my boldness, but you are so very beautiful. You remind me of my daughter.”

  “Oh, er… thank you.”

  “She is ah… no longer with us. She passed some time ago.” He touched his forehead, chest and shoulders in quick succession. A gesture I was not familiar with, but it seemed like some kind of ritual.

  “My condolences.”

  “Death is a part of life,” he sighed. “I was distressed to hear of Gerome’s passing.” He didn’t look distressed, but like me, he hid his emotions.

  “Yes… It was… difficult.” This man had known Gerome? Then surely it was no coincidence that the station had brought us here in a time of need. Perhaps this man was an ally. “I must ask, how do you know of me?”

  “Your reputation, of course!”

  “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

  He gave me a look of belittling pity that didn’t entirely sit well. “You must have many questions,” he said. “We can discuss the answers over breakfast in this marvelous waystation of yours?”

  “I’m afraid, sir, I must decline. We’re in something of a crisis, and I—”

  A loud click sounded behind me, and a clunk as the door lock turned over. The station had its own ideas.

  Angelo merely smiled, not realizing the significance or assuming a helper had closed the door for me, affording us some privacy.

  “All right,” I conceded, trusting the station had a plan. “But might I ask you something that may sound quite strange?”

  “What could be stranger than this wondrous place?” His smile reached his eyes, crinkling the lines.

  “What city are we in, sir?”

  “Roma, Italia,” he said with a touch of pride.

  Well, that explained the architecture, if nothing else. Rome. We’d traveled halfway around the world. It seemed impossible but wasn’t entirely surprising. Night and Day within the station’s walls weren’t fixed in time or space either. Rooms vanished, and staircases sometimes terminated in walls. Day and Night inside the station were two layers of reality in one place, one where Sugar-mice notes and mirrored doorways to pocket realms were possible. Normal laws of nature did not apply here. So what was moving the entire station compared to all the other unusual occurrences? “You do not seem surprised by my asking.”

  “No.” He smiled kindly again, but his eyes did not crinkle in kindness. The smile barely reached them. “We’ve been expecting you.”

  Chapter 2

  I had a staff member help Angelo get comfortable in one of the private lounges while I visited the reception desk. I found his name already scribed into the notes section of the guestbook. Though he might be important enough for the station to acknowledge him, that didn’t mean he was good.

  He’d arrived off the street, unarmed, indicating Rome might not be as wild and dangerous as I’d expected. If one human could freely visit the station, so could others? And could I step outside without too much risk? The thought knotted my stomach. My last excursion outside had resulted in a nightmare journey of survival alongside a mass-murdering vampire. The station was safe—as safe as it could b
e while populated with Dark Ones—and it was my home. I would not cross the white line again.

  If only the station could tell me why we were here, why now, what I should do with hundreds of displaced guests, and whether Angelo was as nice as he appeared. But it did not talk, not with words. Sometimes, I sensed it, and when I pressed my hand against the guestbook, it felt warm and soft and old, comforting like an open fire.

  Etienne joined me behind the desk. He peered over my shoulder at the new entry. “Our new arrival is staying, then?”

  “Just for breakfast.”

  “Do you trust him?”

  More than I trust you. “We’ll see, Etienne.” I slipped a note into his hand. “See our mutual acquaintance gets this before dawn, please.”

  “Of course.”

  I didn’t need Etienne to deliver notes to Kensey, but he had a deepening relationship with my brother. The moment Kensey learned a man had walked up to our front door, he’d want to investigate our new surroundings. Etienne was more likely to keep Kensey from roaming this new city than I was.

  “Anything else to report?” I asked.

  “There was a little unrest with the Corvus sisters. Their hot water had failed, although by the time I arrived, it had miraculously fixed itself. They squawked at me to leave. I suspect they do not like me, although I can’t imagine what I’ve done to upset them so.”

  “Whether they like you is of no concern. They respect you, and when it comes to Dark Ones, that is enough.”

  He looked unconvinced. He had a soft heart, that hadn’t changed, and I assumed it was why Kensey liked him. “There were also reports from the staff of noises from the attic,” he added.