Wasting the Dawn: Odonata, #4

By Jessica Zellman

Only one walking nightmare remains.

 

Since becoming Odonata, a vampire predator, Katrina Templair has hunted down and destroyed the vampires that ruined her human life. Now only one still walks the earth, the child vampire William. With no one to hold him back, William is flexing his supernatural muscles and terrorizing the residents of Los Angeles.

 

William's activities capture the attention of law enforcement and online conspiracy theorists alike. The latter insist that vampires are real, and they have the footage to prove it. The supernatural community will be exposed if Katrina and her allies can't stop the videos from going viral.

 

Failure on either front means her world will be turned upside down. It will take all Katrina's superhuman abilities, a coven of witches, a pair of gods, friendly vampires and the FBI to sort out this mess.

 

Read the final chapter in Katrina Templair's story. Wasting the Dawn is the fourth Odonata novel and the moment when everything changes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dragonfly Pens
• Release date: Dec 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9781955264044

Book preview

Chapter 1

An old, recently renovated south Hollywood theater seemed like the perfect place for a vampire gathering. No one needed to know that I owned the building, or that I was hiding behind the curtain with Abbey’s magic masking my presence.

It had taken some experimentation, but three charms -- a bracelet on each wrist and a choker that I couldn’t wait to rip off -- silenced my heartbeat and breath and even dampened my footsteps. I’d been hoping for an invisibility cloak, but that had only resulted in glares from my best friend. She’d been stressed at the time, what with Gray requesting a large quantity of moon charms to protect the friendly vampires in attendance.

Gray and I had a difference of opinion as to what constituted a friendly vampire. I could name two -- well, maybe three. I’d saved Clayton’s life more than once. That didn’t make us friends. Gray and I were lovers, and I trusted him with my life. Torré was an ally, and just like Gray, a vampire who didn’t feed on humans. They were safe, and that included being safe from me. Vampires who consume food instead of blood don’t hit my senses as prey. Go figure.

The vampires filtering into the theater seats made my stomach rumble. Their trails, deep crimson smoke that only Odonata could see, tangled and pulsed as they greeted each other and found their assigned seats. The lower part of the theater had four hundred seats, and they would soon be filled to capacity. I itched to glide along those trails, land in their midst and wreak some havoc. That many vampires in one place made me nervous as well as hungry. The situation reeked of danger, not just for me, but for Gray, too. Not so long ago, many of these vampires had been looking to destroy him. He had killed their Master, which in vampire politics meant Gray was the Master now.

Truth be told, Abbey and I destroyed Virgil. Gray had been pinned to the ground, but it would take nerve to argue that point. Supposedly, the surviving vamps had sworn their fealty. They filled the back rows. I had wanted to put them in the balcony, just in case things went FUBAR. Gray needed his allies. He insisted that our demonstration was best observed up close, and that it would keep any doubters from considering rebellion. I suspected it would scare the bejesus out of anyone who made it through the night. Of course, that was the point.

Virgil’s legion had stretched across all of North America. His ambassadors held special status with many of the South and Central American gangs. Michele -- a psychic friend who, after being forced to ingest vampire blood, could listen in on their conversations -- had helped sift through that group for Virgil devotees who would not accept Gray as the new leader. Those on the fence had been offered moon coins to wear as a sign of loyalty. If they refused, well, this was a case of adapt or die.

I could only catch snippets of conversation. The medallions were a common topic, especially among those vampires seated in the front rows. They refused to wear them and scoffed at anyone who did. I tried to see who the loyal vampires feared more, Gray or the bullies harassing them about the medallions. There would be no question after tonight.

A few years spent in the drama club in high school made me familiar with proscenium curtains and the secret panel that allowed those on stage to peek at the audience without risk of detection. Still, I tried to remain motionless, lest I draw attention. I wasn’t there. I couldn’t be. Gray had to be powerful on his own, without help from me or anyone else.

Nevertheless, Abbey had prepared mini-midnight cupcakes, and we’d stashed them in the podium. I had sunshine rolls within easy reach as well. The cupcakes were bite sized, something Gray could pop into his mouth and swallow in a quick move. I’d probably end up with cream cheese frosting covering my fingers, but my appearance didn’t matter.

The pastries weren’t our only weapons. Gray had his favorite sword stashed in the podium too. I’d seen him in action with a sword before. It was impressive. Damn hot is how I described it to Abbey. She’d called me twisted. She was probably right. I hoped he wouldn’t need the sword. I hoped I could stay hidden behind the curtain and Gray could establish himself as Master once and for all. I wanted no part of vampire politics. It was bad enough that they knew I existed. Odonata had been a mostly forgotten legend. We didn’t leave survivors to tell the tale. I’d destroyed plenty of vamps in our last battle, but there had been too many to get them all. Most of them had been on their knees, surrendering. Once, I would have destroyed them regardless. Perhaps I was growing more civilized with age.

Gray passed behind me and trailed his cool fingers over my bare skin. I didn’t flinch for a change. He was the only person who could come up behind me and not get knocked flat for his trouble.

His green eyes held a question in the dim light. Ready?

Be careful. I mouthed the words. Even when I didn’t speak out loud, I avoided answering him directly.

He walked around the edge of the curtain on stage right, far away from me. We’d discussed the best way for him to appear and still be certain that I stayed hidden. The audience grew quiet when Gray approached the podium.

Humans are noisy. They shift around, fidget, cough, sniffle, breathe. Vampires do none of those things, and so the theater grew absolutely silent, almost as if empty, but there was a malevolent space hidden in the stillness. I sensed it because I was Odonata, but most humans would sense it, too. Their instincts, the ones that enabled the species to survive all sorts of predators for centuries, remained intact.

I had a habit of surrounding myself with Sensitives, humans who not only sensed vampires, but remembered the encounter later. Tonight, Michele and Max, one of our other associates who might or might not be a god, were stationed at an all-night diner half a block away. Michele was listening in, and Max could be damn handy in a fight should one break out. Abbey’s magic was double edged. I could roast a roomful of vampires, but the medallions made many of them immune to my fire. If they proved to be traitors, that weapon would be gone. In a hand-to hand-battle, even with Gray’s help, I was hopelessly outnumbered.  

Gray had led humans when he was alive and vampires for a long time after that, far longer than I’d been walking the earth. He knew how to read people, living or undead. He knew how to lead, and how to persuade others to follow. I kept reminding myself of that as hundreds of eyes centered on him. I hoped some of them belonged to trustworthy vampires. I hoped I would be able to protect him from the ones who weren’t.

Gray’s voice pulsed with authority as he spoke. It swept over the vamps in the audience. They stared in rapt attention. Perhaps that would be enough. Perhaps they wouldn’t need the demonstration we’d planned. These were Virgil’s vampires, after all. Virgil had inherited Gray’s talent for mind control. It worked best with humans who were oblivious to just about everything. Vampires who realized they were being controlled tended to react badly. Gray had been careful using his talents, subtle. Virgil, not so much.

This is my command, Gray said. His voice pulsed with authority. Even I wanted to obey him, and I had a rebellious streak wider than the Mississippi River. No more collecting humans and keeping them on hand as a continuous food source. No more farms. Some very quiet grumbling followed. We cannot risk detection. Too many of you have been sloppy for too long.

We’re more likely to get caught feeding the old way, someone objected. The damn cameras are everywhere.

Then I guess you’ll have to be careful, Gray said. You’ve grown lazy. I won’t have it. He silenced any other objections with a look I could feel, even with a thick velvet curtain as a shield.

There is a child vampire named William. I want him found. He’s an abomination. It is forbidden to turn one so young, incapable of creating progeny.

There was some talk about that, too. They were afraid of William. That was okay; I was, too.

He was Virgil’s protégé. Maybe we should be following him instead of you, someone said.

Gray’s head snapped to the left. I saw the rock-hard set of his jaw, the flash of green as he glared. I defeated Virgil; therefore, I am your new Master. If you wanted democracy, you should have remained human.

Your pet firewalker defeated Virgil. That came from the center of the second row. And she isn’t here. You’re all alone. From what I hear, you’re pretty weak without your band of freaks.

And there it was. Gray had actually seemed to crave the challenge to his authority. They’ll need a demonstration early on, he’d said, trying to convince me. It has to come from me. I can’t show weakness, only strength.

He didn’t have to work so hard. I would have done what he asked, even when it meant opening a vein for him a second time. And that was how I ended up here, about to enable his demonstration of an ability he didn’t actually possess.

Don’t doubt my power, Gray said. His voice thrummed with dominance. I saw more than one vampire who’d been about to leave their seat falter and sit back.

Some of the others were more determined. Gray could have compelled them to obey him, but disgruntled obedience was too difficult to maintain for any length of time.

I was a Master before you began your human life. Think twice before challenging me, he warned.

They didn’t listen. There were whispers of Get him while he’s alone, and We’ll never get another chance without the firewalker.

I’d been eating the rolls not because I was hungry, but because I was obsessed with having enough energy for what came next. We’d purposely scheduled the meeting for the wee hours of the morning. If the vamps knew anything about Odonata, which they probably did thanks to Virgil, they knew that the later the hour, the safer they were. Only two vampires knew about Abbey and her sunshine rolls. I could keep going until sunrise on those magical pastries. Yet again, Abbey was our secret weapon.

Gray laughed, a cold sound that sent shivers down my spine. He raised his hands in invocation, like a priest over his congregation. That was the signal. I closed the panel and moved to the center of the stage. Another table of rolls waited for me there. I’d need them in a few minutes. Even without the panel, the curtain was no hindrance to me. I could still sense the vampires on the other side.

There was half a moment, a heartbeat’s length, where I feared my power wouldn’t be there when I reached for it. Under normal circumstances, I’d have sunk into a deep, coma-like sleep hours ago, but I had Abbey’s sunshine rolls. They tasted of oranges and vanilla, of cream cheese and flour ground from golden wheat, all of which had lived and grown in the sun. That warmth and light coursed through me. It echoed in Gray because my blood was in him, too. That reflection of my power reassured me. My blood made Gray immune to my fire. Consuming more of it recently made him share it. It would appear that he was the one wielding the sun’s power. The surviving vampires would believe he could do it whenever he wanted.

I flung my fire outward. Instead of a blessing, death flowed from Gray’s hands and through the audience. We could have been a room apart, and he would have roasted the vampires closest to him with the reflection of my power. That had happened before. Unlike other Odonata, my makers included, I didn’t need contact to burn vamps. We weren’t sure how far I could reach, though I’d roasted an entire building’s worth of new vampires without really meaning to. It had been something like those stories of humans lifting a car to save loved ones. Extenuating circumstances made a huge difference.

My instincts urged me into the audience area to feed. Holding back was difficult, almost painful. My energy ebbed. I stuffed a sunshine roll into my mouth. The orange flavor hit me first, sweet mandarin oranges, mixed with Abbey’s homemade vanilla extract, containing all of her good intentions. Heat suffused my limbs again like I was standing in sunshine. The roaring in my ears abated, and awareness returned.

I returned to the panel and saw the absolute bedlam on the other side. Gray leaned forward on the podium, shaken from channeling an energy so opposed to his own. He used his own superhuman speed to pop a mini-midnight cupcake into his mouth and straightened, though his long fingers still gripped the sides of the podium. His jaw didn’t move, but it didn’t have to. Abbey’s pastries were the best kind, the melt-in-your-mouth delicious kind. I saw her magic take effect. Gray had faded a little, and now he appeared the way he did when the sun sank below the horizon. He was brighter, more real, for lack of a better word. I was the one fading now. This was our lot, sun and moon, endlessly circling each other, never quite able to connect.

A movement on the far side of stage left pulled me out of such nonsensical thoughts. A vampire approached, taking advantage of the chaos in the seating area. He glowed a little, which could only mean one thing. He’d tasted my Odonata sister’s blood. Dianna and I only known each other briefly, but we’d shared the same makers, which made our blood identical. Virgil’s gang had captured and drained her, a process that would have taken a long time and something I tried not to think about in detail. Several vampires had fed from her. Most of them were dead now. Sebastian, one of our makers, had avenged Dianna, and by destroying Virgil, Abbey and I had completed that task -- or so I’d thought.

This vamp remained, and he was immune to my fire. There was nothing I could do as he gripped a dagger in one hand and stalked carefully toward Gray. I willed Gray to turn, to sense the danger, but he was distracted by a fight which had broken out in the audience among the vampires who remained alive. He called out to them, but his voice disappeared into the chaos, much as mine would if I shouted a warning.

Would anyone recognize me if I appeared on the stage long enough to stop this assassin? I was armed, too. I didn’t leave home without half a dozen knives at hand. I couldn’t roast this vampire, but I could stab his heart for a similar effect. If anyone saw me, would they connect my presence with Gray’s demonstration? Did it matter? I couldn’t let Gray be harmed. If my presence took away from his illusion of power, then so be it.

I had just started to move from my hidden spot when a blur passed in front of the secret panel. She moved so fast that even I could barely track her movement. Gray had an instant to react as she reached around him to where his sword was hidden behind the podium. She drew it, and in doing so, used that fluid motion to slice open the vampire approaching Gray. She spun, and the blade swept downward, severing the vampire’s head from his body.

Saori, Gray breathed. I’d never heard him sound that surprised and… pleased.

She turned back and bowed, offering the sword, hilt first, to him. I got a look at her then: petite, Asian, and beautiful, with long black hair and dark brown eyes. She wore a rosy pink silk blouse and black pants. It was a great color for her. I wore jeans and a Vanilla Fudge T-shirt under a leather jacket. It was my style, but I always felt like a child when looking at someone like this Saori.

You’re alive, Gray said, still in that tone that made my stomach clench.

As are you, she said and smiled. I heard rumors but didn’t dare believe they were true.

They crashed together in an embrace that spoke of much more than friendship. My fingernails dug into my palms. It might have hurt if I could feel anything at that moment. Gray and this woman, Saori, drew apart. We’ll speak later, he said.

She nodded, hopped off the stage, and sat in the front row. I waited for Gray to glance in my direction, but he didn’t. Instead, he addressed the audience that remained. Shall we continue?

I saw the moon pendant through the opening in Saori’s blouse. Nothing like leaving the top three buttons undone. Yeah, I was feeling catty. Where did she get the charm from? Gray hadn’t given it to her, or he wouldn’t have been so surprised. She must have taken it from one of the friendly vamps. I scanned the audience to see who was missing. One of Gray’s allies could very well be dead now because of this woman. That was a good reason to dislike her. Sure, it was.

I wasn’t needed anymore. More importantly, my energy was fading fast, even with the sunshine rolls infusing me with their magic. I couldn’t burn that bright and not feed afterwards. Abbey could do a lot, but she hadn’t managed the impossible quite yet. So I took my box of sunshine rolls and slipped out through the backstage entrance. Allies that I now considered friends waited half a block away.

Chapter 2

Michele seemed shaken when I entered the diner and slumped into a chair between her and Max. I don’t want to do that again, she said before I could get a word out. It’s not like a radio I can turn on and off. I heard everything.

My brain had turned sluggish, and it took me a minute to realize what she was talking about. But of course, she could hear vampires. Their conversations floated into her brain like voices from across the room, even if they were miles away. It was an ability that had come in handy more than once.

She’d been happy enough to use it before, pleased to give Gray insight to anyone plotting against him. But tonight, she would have heard the results of that intelligence. She would have heard the vampires die as my power roasted them alive. I meted out quick deaths most of the time, but in a room that large, there might have been a few moments, seconds that felt like hours, in which the vamps would know what was coming. Michele would have heard the terror of those who survived. It must have been unpleasant.

I’m sorry, I said. I’d gotten better at saying that of late. There were too many people in my life now for me to be as cavalier as I’d once been. I didn’t think. In truth, I had often enjoyed watching that moment when fear ripped through vamps and they realized their quasi immortal un-life was about to end. I considered it payback for all the fear humans felt when a creature higher on the food chain chomped on a tender spot and drained away their life force. I knew too well how that felt. The memories haunted my dreams.

No, you didn’t think, Michele grumbled with less venom than before. It was difficult to stay angry when the object of your ire had already admitted guilt.

You can’t have outside food in here, the server said. I hadn’t even heard her approach. That was dangerous. I bit into a sunshine roll. The warm energy flowed from my center and beat back the cold that had been creeping into my fingers and toes. It was a spring evening in South Los Angeles, hardly cold, but my heat fled with my energy. Usually, I was sound asleep before that happened.

The server seemed incensed that I’d continue eating. "Miss, I said…"

We’re leaving now, Max interrupted. He had become the group’s semi-official guardian. Abbey and I still inhabited the flat in Venice while we waited for construction to finish on the building on the boardwalk. Repairs on our house were nearly done, but several inspectors had to sign off before anyone could live there again. It was strange and rather ridiculous to own two residences and not be able to live in either of them. The house in the hills would go soon. I couldn’t look at the place without envisioning vampires coming over the walls. I just hoped that whoever bought it would take care of the pond and remember to feed my koi.

Max drove the van with his business name, Edison’s Welding, painted on the side back to Gray’s flat in Venice. I sat on the floor in the back. Michele hadn’t offered me the seat, and I hadn’t asked. I trudged up the three flights of stairs, past Abbey who waited at the door to hear how our plan had worked out, and sank onto a sleeping pallet made up of blankets and pillows on a yoga mat next to the wall.

Abbey peppered Michele with a dozen questions, and when the answers were less than forthcoming, she turned to Max. His voice turned to a low rumble in my ears. I didn’t try to discern the words. My cats padded over to me on silent kitty feet. Gandalf nosed his way under the blankets to curl against my stomach. Galadriel sat close by and butted my stiff fingers with her head until I stroked her soft, silky fur. Arwen walked up the side of my leg and perched on my hip. She pawed at the mound that was Gandalf under the blanket and he kicked back in protest. If you guys are going to play, you can do it elsewhere, I said, but the words came out a mumble, unintelligible even to my own ears.

What was that? Abbey asked.

I didn’t answer. The cats settled down, or perhaps they didn’t. Either way, sleep pulled me under, and I didn’t wake until the first hints of dawn crept over the horizon.

The sound of steel on a whetstone greeted my ears. Max sat comfortably in a stiff chair near the door, sharpening one of his many creations the old-fashioned way. He did that often, and his spending the night on guard duty was nothing unusual. I asked him once if gods needed to sleep and he’d laughed the same way he laughed when I asked if his real name was Chernobog. He never answered my question.

Max still being there meant one thing. Gray hadn’t come home. He had other residences too; a subterranean apartment downtown, for one. He could have holed up in the theater if dawn had approached when he was too far from the flat. I didn’t want to think about the other possibilities or who he might be with. I was too old for jealousy games in a relationship. That’s what I told myself as I walked on stiff legs over to where the morning light was streaming in through the eastern facing windows.

Before dawn, I felt like a person my age that had spent the night on a hard floor. On rainy, overcast days, that stiff, achy feeling would take a while to dissipate. That had been a problem when I lived in San Francisco and Philadelphia. Fortunately, Los Angeles was a land of sunshine. Dawn raced along my skin like an itch. The ache deep inside me was akin to the feeling one got when they were over tired and desperately needed sleep, but