Dark Beauty (Seeker) Read Online Free Page A

campus on lockdown. All of the students have been told to remain in their rooms. Abram, fill Isabelle in on his ability so you guys are prepared.” Now pacing, Jared concentrated on the floor, then raised his head to deliver his final thoughts. “And both of you…be prepared with daggers. I’ll get extras from the weapons room.”
     
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 7
     
    Packed with her new dagger in her boot and two wedged into her jeans around her back, Isabelle patrolled the perimeter of campus with Abram. He, too, had assembled a handful of blades, although his belt was already equipped to hold them. He concealed his weapons with a light jacket. She knew he had to be roasting in the heat.
    Now approaching dusk, they’d have more to contend with than Daychildren. The night children, otherwise known as vampires, would be rising from their slumber, ready to ravage the city streets for their next meals. So, the two Seekers had also armed themselves with stakes.
    The old city buildings looked eerie, with the dimming sunlight casting shadows along the limestone walls. The college campus was quiet, other than the police patrolling the walkways to classes and entrances to the historic-looking dormitories. Life outside campus didn’t slow. Carloads of people on their way home from work sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
    Isabelle was relieved that their weapons were hidden. Seeking in the daylight was dangerous. There were no evening shadows to hide Seekers from the public’s prying eyes.
    “Tell me again,” Isabelle said, crossing the street and stepping up onto the sidewalk. The campus seemed pretty well secured, and she thought branching out into a larger radius around campus would be more advantageous. “How exactly did you figure out how to kill them? They ended up down here, so you obviously weren’t successful that night. Was that the night your cousin was murdered?”
    “No. A few weeks later. Clarissa and I went to the local Chapter, but no one had any idea what we were talking about. So, we researched demons on our own. It turns out a demon is a human who has been taken over by a fallen angel. By accident, or most likely, on purpose, the vampire king ‘transformed’ a demon, creating a hybrid vampire – what we now call Daychildren, thanks to you—vampires that can walk in the sunlight and possess demonic abilities,” he said with a half-smile.
    She turned down a side street lined with residential row homes on both sides. Each home reflected historic charm with colorful stained-glass windows and short wrought-iron fences. Most were a different color brick—red, gray, and even royal blue. That one stuck out among the rest. The side street seemed to have less pedestrian and commuter traffic than the main road. This was good for exposure purposes.
    “So how did you figure out how to kill them?”
    Abram purposefully stepped over the cracks in the sidewalk. “A few weeks after our first encounter, Clarissa and I were out looking for vampires, and we came across Emanuel and this other guy, Paul, attacking a couple. Unfortunately, we were too late. They’d already killed them before we could do anything to help. Clarissa threw a punch and knocked Emanuel to the ground. I took the opportunity to go for Paul. I was able to take him down, but I noticed Clarissa was struggling with Emanuel. She’d cut him and his blood had gotten all over her arm. In obvious pain, she was disoriented. I left Paul to help Clarissa.” He paused, hesitating before he continued, like the words were too painful to repeat. “Emanuel broke her neck and fled. When I got to her side, she was dead. I lost my stake in the fight, but I noticed Clarissa’s silver blade wedged in her waistband. I pulled it out and aimed it up just as Paul dove on top of me. The blade punctured his skull, and after a second of oozing green slime, he disintegrated. That’s how I figured out how to kill them.”
    Isabelle let what Abram said sink in.