Unawakened (10 page)

“Let’s hit the library and get out of here. How long until sunrise?”

“Three hours,” Rob reported.

Three hours was more than enough time to reach the library, find a copy of a pre-reformation Bible for Rob, and get out of the vault before the doors closed for the day. I nodded to acknowledge the dae, grabbed one of the bags, and headed out of the storage area. Rob took the second bag and fell into step with me.

Despite having lived with the dae for three months, there was still so little I knew about him, including how he had managed to integrate so smoothly into society after the Dawn of Dae. So many times, I hadn’t asked the questions eating away at me, not certain how he’d react to my curiosity.

“Hey, Rob?”

“What is it?”

“You were around before the Dawn, right? There’s no way someone so new could forge so many connections in so little time. But you’re a dae, and you’re not one of the ones who was born from a human. How is it that possible?”

“I was around; I just carefully chose when I’d make my appearances. Baltimore isn’t a place I visited until the Dawn. I have a lot of business here, but it wasn’t a focal point of mine until now. Your refrigerator isn’t the only portal on Earth; it’s just one of the easier ones to access. It’s hard to explain, so I’ll keep it short and simple. I felt the portals open and knew they led to Earth. It wasn’t hard to figure out a new dawning had occurred. I decided to watch and see what would happen. I’m glad I did.”

Rob was as much of a mystery as the vault. “So there are other worlds out there. With intelligent life, I mean.”

“There are. Earth is my favorite, though.”

“Why?”

“I was born here, that’s why.”

“Really? But you know so little about the modern times.”

“I told you I was old. While I have visited Earth, I didn’t stay long—just long enough to conduct choice bits of business. Knowing about Earth’s current culture wasn’t important to me until now. A mistake, it seems. I had others who handled most of my affairs for me so I wouldn’t have to stay on Earth for long. I’m paying for my ignorance now. Still, the company is well worth it.” Rob grinned at me.

I had a pretty good idea of what he wanted, and I’d probably indulge him when we returned to my apartment. He was right about the company, although I had no intentions of letting him know how grateful I was that his ignorance had thrown us together.

Like the storage facility, the library was more of a warehouse than a work of art, but the presence of so many books filled me with childish delight. The vanilla scent of old pages was partnered with the smell of old leather, and I breathed in deep to savor it.

“I love libraries,” I declared, setting the laptop bag down. “Welcome to one of my favorite places on Earth.”

Hundreds of thousands of books filled the room. I could spend my entire life in the cavernous room with no hope of reading every title. In a month, I had barely scratched the surface of the history section, although I had blitzed through most of the place. A podium with a built-in tablet waited by the door, and I tapped in a query for the Bible.

The vault’s library didn’t disappoint. While I expected one copy, I whistled at the assortment of versions. “Hell, there are hundreds of versions, Rob. Which one do you want?”

Rob leaned over my shoulder to glance at the screen, reaching around me to scroll through the list. “This system is designed to let people take books?”

“I didn’t take any with me, but I had noticed the functionality is there.”

Clicking his tongue, Rob browsed through the selection. He tapped his finger on one of them, pulling up an image of a tattered volume. “This one.”

The leather covering the book was so worn brown patches showed beneath the black, and the pages had long since yellowed with age. I frowned, tilting my head to the side as I considered the book.

I’d seen copies like it in the hands of the faithful heading to or from one of the sanctioned services in the few operating churches in Baltimore. If Rob was hoping to avoid notice with his choice, he’d done a good job picking a volume that wouldn’t draw unwanted attention to himself. I tapped the screen to pull up the book’s location. While I was at it, I followed the prompts to register we were taking the book from the vault.

The system pinged its acceptance of the withdrawal. I glanced at the numbers listed on the sides of the bookcases. “Looks like we have a bit of a hike to pick it up.”

Rob chuckled and led me deep within the library.

While the catalog had included many versions of the Bible, there were far more copies of the book present than I had thought. They took up an entire row of the library, and I whistled at the assortment and variation. Some were so old they were stored in protective glass cases. Others were bound in gold.

Most were thick, heavy volumes. While Rob hunted for the specific one he wanted, I stared at a slender copy nestled between two worn leather copies. It was made of white leather with gold gilding, and its spine was embossed with golden decorative script. I eased it off the shelf.

The odd script repeated on the cover of the book, and I was astonished I didn’t recognize the language. I opened the book to discover the pages were all blank. I had no idea what the book was, but it wasn’t a Bible. I made a thoughtful sound in my throat and tucked the volume under my arm, heading to where Rob was busy searching the shelves.

“No luck?”

“It’s not here,” Rob grumbled, pointing at the case where the book he wanted should have been. “Damn it.”

“There are thousands of versions here, Rob. Will one of the others do?”

“But I wanted that one,” the dae whined.

I laughed at his childish tone, and while I was puzzled at his behavior, I smiled and decided humoring him wouldn’t hurt anyone. “I’ll help you find it. It’s probably just in the wrong spot. Happens in libraries all of the time. For all I know, I might have been the one who moved it. I hit a lot of sections in here.”

“Even religious texts?”

“Forbidden fruit,” I murmured, lifting my chin.

“What do you have there?”

“It’s weird, so I picked it up. A blank journal,” I replied, holding out the volume to Rob, who took it out of my hands. His eyes widened, and he trailed his fingers over the fanciful script. “This is in Hebrew.”

“Hebrew?”

“The language the Bible was originally written in.” Rob flipped the book open and flipped through the pages. “How curious.”

One day, if I found another library with illegal history books, I’d have to find out about Hebrew. How long ago had it been used?

No one mentioned the age of the religion, only that it existed before the reformation. Smart worshipers kept quiet about their religion, and since I didn’t have any interest in it, I hadn’t bothered to learn much about it.

I wondered if my ignorance was a mistake.

“That’s why I picked it up,” I admitted.

“If the government finds that, they’ll destroy it, won’t they?”

I scowled, sighed, and nodded.

The government always destroyed beautiful things they didn’t approve of or understand. Maybe I wasn’t religious by nature, but I could appreciate works of art like the white and gold book.

Taking the volume back from Rob, I returned it to where I found it. “I’ll help you find your Bible.”

“Thanks.”

I started at one end and he started at the other. He found it three cases down from where it was supposed to be, pulling it off the shelf with a triumphant huff. “Got you, you little bugger.”

I laughed and said, “Let’s get out of here before we’re locked in here all day.”

Chapter Seven

We were halfway back to Baltimore when Rob’s cell rang. Sighing, he pulled over, freed his phone from his pocket, and put it to his ear. “Rob.”

Rob’s expression went completely neutral, and he listened for several minutes. I tensed, watching him with wide eyes. While he kept one hand on his cell, he gripped the steering wheel with the other, and his knuckles turned white. “I see. Very well. I will have conditions, and should you violate even one of them, I will hang your exsanguinated corpse from the Ivory Tower. I’ll use your blood to write every last one of your crimes on the skyscraper for the world to see. Am I understood?”

Instead of waiting for a reply, Rob hung up, and I thought he was going to fling his phone through the window. After pocketing his phone, he resumed driving in the direction of Baltimore. “I hate that man so very much.”

“Let me guess. Kenneth wants me for something.”

“You, Miss Daegberht, are either too damned smart for your own good or psychic. I am uncertain which.”

“What does he want?”

“What else? Your services, of course, just like you guessed. It seems your prediction about him wanting to infiltrate the police was correct. He’s requested a meeting to discuss his proposal this evening. He wants to pursue the connection between Terry Moore and Dean Lewis.”

I groaned and covered my face with my hands. “Why won’t he just go away?”

“I have some theories about that, although I don’t know anything for certain. While he has an externalized dae, it’s probable you’re a source for the pair.”

I really hated being a food source for the dae. Accepting Rob’s need for what the unawakened provided had taken time, and I still wasn’t sure what I thought about sustaining his life.

Rob, at least, had been up front and honest about his needs. The way he went about it left me breathless and wanting more. I didn’t know what I would do if he changed his mind and found someone else to sustain him.

I had grown used to having someone I could touch without fear of an allergic reaction.

“What I don’t understand is why Kenneth would be going after the dean. The dean knows about the drug; it’s in every one of those murder videos. He must know what the drug does—and that it doesn’t show up on the current tests, which makes it the perfect murder weapon. Kenneth doesn’t know we know why the dean invoiced Terry Moore.” I clacked my teeth together, drumming my fingers on my knees while staring out the window.

The forests surrounding Baltimore grew so thick I couldn’t see far into their depths.

Rob grunted, but otherwise remained quiet, his attention focused on the road.

“Perhaps he wants blackmail material on Dean Lewis. I could readily believe that. It fits his style pretty well. He’ll kill if necessary, but the death of someone like the dean would cause a huge stir—and potentially draw a lot of attention, attention he definitely doesn’t want. Kenneth loves toying with the police and reminding them there’s someone out there they can’t control.” Wrinkling my nose, I shrugged. “There are a lot of reasons Kenneth might want me to sniff out the dean.”

“But how does infiltrating the police help him with that?”

Rob’s question was a good one, and I took my time considering the possibilities. Someone from the fringe, the type of person Kenneth could manipulate into serving him, had no hope of becoming a part of the police force—not without special circumstances. Even if I completed my studies and rose in rank, I wouldn’t have been eligible to join the police or the military until now.

Only those born to a higher caste who remained there all of their lives were entitled to serve society.

Having someone with access to the police’s comprehensive databases would allow Kenneth to sniff out his victims without needing so many hounds working for him. If that someone was me, Kenneth would have all of the blackmail material he needed to keep me under his thumb for the rest of my life.

If anyone found out I worked with him, the best I could hope for was a quick execution. Otherwise, I likely faced a lifetime of imprisonment. With the dae vying for food sources like me, I had a lot of reasons to fear the consequences of being caught doing the dirty work of Baltimore’s most nefarious—and secret—crime lord.

Without Lily supporting him from the shadows, his business would suffer until he found someone to replace her. A part of me regretted killing the woman, but if I hadn’t, she would have taken advantage of the moment to get rid of me once and for all.

No matter what his intentions, Rob couldn’t protect me from everything. I had to take matters into my own hands or be a victim of someone’s machinations. I narrowed my eyes and clenched my teeth.