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  Letting her live was bad enough. Wanting her is much worse.

  Richard Everson has seen too many people die, killed by the nightmare creatures that have overrun the world. Every night he leaves the protection of the walled city to hunt the nasties alone. He likes his job. Maybe a little too much.

  By day, Jennifer lives in her human skin. By night, the wolf takes over, a legacy forced upon her by the nasties who made her one of them. Everson is a tenuous link to what’s left of the human world. Despite the danger to them both, she hungers for his touch.

  Each encounter sends the heat spiraling higher, until it burns away all control. And Richard realizes too late his heart has crossed a line punishable by death…

  Warning: This book contains strong language, nightmarish creatures, a violence-loving hero, a very naked woman, werewolves, forbidden desire, and post-apocalyptic monster-killing mayhem.

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  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

  577 Mulberry Street, Suite 1520

  Macon GA 31201

  Darkness at Dawn

  Copyright © 2010 by Devin Harnois

  ISBN: 978-1-60928-065-9

  Edited by Heidi Moore

  Cover by Kanaxa

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: June 2010

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  Darkness at Dawn

  Devin Harnois

  Dedication

  To all my writer friends, near and far.

  Chapter One

  The night shift was the most dangerous—starting at twenty-two hundred hours and lasting until sunrise. It had the highest casualty rate, the highest breakdown rate, the highest turning rate. His last partner had been turned. Didn’t show up for check-in and never came back. Never came back human anyway. Everson had come across him two months ago and had blown what was left of his ex-partner into chunks of ghoul-feed. He’d told the boss no more partners. Although it was against standard practice, the boss had agreed. Everson knew the risk he was taking, but without a partner there was no one to lose.

  The dark was still thick, but he felt sunrise coming. Felt it in his bones. He thought the nasties must feel it the same way, know it was coming and start dreaming of whatever it was they called home. The sound of his boots echoed in the silence. Everson had his night-vision goggles flipped up as he scanned the dark street. It made him much more vulnerable to attack, but if he kept the goggles on too long it felt like the greenish light was burning his eyeballs.

  A cry echoed from somewhere and Everson gripped his gun a little tighter. It was far away though. Sounded like one of those bird things. Small but nasty. Another sound, much closer, put him on full alert. There was a rustle in the overgrown bushes off to his right. Everson flipped his goggles down and turned off his gun light. Some nights things died down about now. Other nights this was when it got the worst.

  The rustle came again and he started toward it. The bushes kept whatever it was hidden. He took a few more steps and heard another rustle, a little louder, and a snapping twig. “C’mon, you son of a bitch,” he muttered. “Come out and play.” Halfway down the front yard, the bushes parted. There it was—waving antennae, segmented body, legs like an army on the march and ten feet long, easy. Everson took two shots and the nasty screamed, flailing. More of it emerged from the bushes and he revised his estimation—twenty feet. The centipede nasty rose up on several segments and came at him. God, these fuckers are fast. Everson put several rounds in it and the thing jittered, slowed, stopped.

  He fired a few more bullets into it while it twitched on the ground. All that noise was sure to draw attention. When he was sure the centipede wasn’t going to get up, he glanced around. Yep, here they come. Everson reloaded his gun and made a quick check of his other weapons. All ready. A pair of jackal beasts slinked through the yards across the street. A humanoid shambled down the middle of the street. Something that sounded considerably larger was coming from a block over. Everson brought his gun up again.

  “Come on, you fuckers!”

  He was so busy fighting that he almost didn’t notice the light filling the sky, didn’t notice the sun had cleared the horizon until the nasties started disappearing. Some of them did it literally, fading into a wisp of smoke. The rest hurried off to whatever holes or dens they hid in for the day. There were only a few kinds of nasties that moved around during the day, and none of them seemed to be in Everson’s vicinity. He flipped up his goggles, blinking a little in the light, and tipped his gun up to rest it on his shoulder. Quitting time.

  He was currently breaking three rules: no partner, no AV and he was way too far out in sector nine. It would be mid-morning before he got back to the station. He turned his com on long enough to call in and say he was fine so the boss wouldn’t worry, then he started the long walk home.

  There were still things out, lurking in the shadows. Everson felt them, but nothing hassled him as he made his way down the street. Sometimes he wondered if the nasties had shifts like the force did and left him alone after sunrise because they were off duty.

  He walked through a section of small buildings, two-story brick structures that had once been small businesses—a coffee shop, a convenience store, a flower shop. Everson was a little too relaxed, a little too thoughtful. Mornings were deceiving. When he passed the space between two buildings and saw movement, he stopped dead. His gun came up as a reflex and he stared into the alley, braced for attack.

  It was a girl. A naked girl huddled against the wall. The sight was so unexpected it blew his circuits for a moment.

  “The fuck?” he said. She looked up at him and her eyes went wide. “What the hell are you doing way out—?” Things clicked and he gripped his gun tighter. “You’re one of them.”

  The fear backed out of her eyes and what might be pride or defiance filled them instead. She shifted a little, enough for him to be sure she was naked, her long blonde hair the only thing covering her. She looked to be about twenty-something. A very fit twenty-something. “You’re off-duty.”

  “Never hurts to make a few more kills.” He hesitated. She wasn’t human, but she sure as hell looked like one. A helpless, naked, attractive human. Everson tried to shut his mind against those thoughts.

  “I’m off-duty too.” She stood up very slow, unconsciously—or was it?—putting her body on display. Toned muscles shifted beneath her skin. The sunlight behind her turned bits of her hair into gold. His gaze wandered down from her hair, to her breasts, to the patch of hair between her legs.

  His attention snapped back to her face when she asked, “Why don’t we just go our separate ways? There’s no reason to fight once the sun is up.” He noticed she had blue eyes, bright with intelligence.

  “It’ll be one less thing to worry about tonight.” And still, he hesitated.

  “Not very sporting though, is it? You’ve got that big gun, and all those weapons, and I’ve got nothing.” She held her hands out as if she needed to prove it.

  “I don’t know what weapons you might have.”

  She shrugged, her breasts rising and falling. “The closest thing I have right now is some extra strength. The r
est left at sunrise.”

  “But it’ll be back.” He tried to convince himself. Everson hoped she would attack him so he could shoot her and go home.

  “Right now, I might as well be human. The day belongs to me.”

  He wondered exactly what her comment meant. “Looking human just makes you more dangerous.”

  A little smile played at her lips. He reconsidered her initial reaction to him. Maybe she hadn’t been afraid at all, only surprised. “I’m sure we’re both tired from a long night,” she said. “Why don’t we call a truce for now and go home?”

  They stood looking at each other for a moment.

  “I’m going to back away slowly,” she said. “You can stay here and watch me leave if you like.” The girl lifted her hands, palms out, and took a step back. Everson had to admit she was by far the most beautiful nasty he had ever seen. No, that didn’t do her justice considering what most nasties looked like. She was one of the most attractive women he’d ever seen. If she’d been human…

  He kept watching her as she got closer to the end of the alley. In a few seconds she would duck around the corner of the building and his chance to take her out would be gone. But still, he couldn’t pull the trigger. Maybe tonight she would become…whatever she was, and kill one of his comrades, and that death would be on his head. His finger tensed on the trigger. She reached the end of the alley, and in one fluid motion she was behind the building, out of sight.

  Gone.

  Everson waited a moment more, then turned and walked away. He was halfway back to the line before he remembered his com was off. He switched it on and it immediately squawked at him. “Do you read? I repeat, Everson, do you read?”

  “Yeah, I’m here.” He was going to get his ass chewed out for sure.

  “Everson! Where the hell have you been?” the com officer yelled. “We thought you were dead!”

  “Sorry. I got tangled up with a nasty and lost track of time.”

  “You all right?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I should be back in less than an hour. If I run into the day crew I’ll check in with them.”

  “Okay. You left your AV at the line again. Commander’s not too happy about that.”

  Everson held back a sigh. “Tell him I’ll see him as soon as I get back. Out.” He switched his com to listen only, leaving the other side open in case the base needed to talk to him.

  The commander ripped him a new one when he got back, and Everson kept apologizing. The song and dance was getting old, and he wondered if the commander might finally have had enough and suspend him.

  The boss let Everson get away with a lot of things, but Everson had earned it. He was almost on his third year on the night shift. That was damn near the whole time the force had existed. No one else had lasted as long on that shift. If they survived a few months, or a year, they switched to the day or evening shift. Besides just surviving, Everson had an outstanding record. Everson doubted he would get pulled off the force permanently. He was too damn good. But a suspension, a week or two off to teach him a lesson, that was a real danger. So he apologized and apologized and promised not to stay out so long or to keep his com off for so long. He made no promises about staying closer to the line. He said something vague about his AV. The commander muttered something about how he should have a partner, it wasn’t right to ignore regulations. Everson apologized a few more times. Going out as far as he did with no partner and no AV was pushing his luck. The commander himself might let it slide, but further up the chain of command someone was much more likely to put their foot down.

  Finally, Everson was dismissed. Walking out of the station, fatigue weighed on him. It had been a long, hard night and sleep called to him. His pace slowed a little as he considered whether to go straight home or stop off at the bar. Two jeeps waited at the curb. Chauffeur service was one of the perks of his job. Anywhere he wanted to go, someone would drive him. He could also borrow a car if he wanted. On his days off he would drive around the edges of the city, longing for the open road. Sometimes he had fantasies of going through the gates, past the second wall, past the line, and just driving on and on until the gas gave out. Or longer. There had to be gas stations out there that still worked. The nasties had left plenty of things intact. Drive until the car gave out then. Or until the nasties got him.

  “Everson. Hey, what are you doing here so late?” the driver asked.

  “Got delayed out there, then the Commander decided to have a long chat.”

  The driver made a face. “Sounds like fun. Where to, sir?”

  Everson far outranked the driver, so he was glad he’d thrown in a sir. The driver opened the door for him and waited for his answer. Sleep sounded wonderful, but…he kept seeing that woman in his head. That thing that looked like a woman with gold-streaked hair and a sleek body. “The bar,” Everson answered. He would have no trouble finding a willing woman there.

  He took the blonde girl—Lynn—home with him. He didn’t usually like to take girls home, but he wanted to burn off that image in his mind and then sleep in his own bed. Everson had had Lynn a few times before and he knew she would either share the bed for a while or find her own way out, no complications. By the time they were alone in his room he found he had a second wind, and neither of them ended the morning disappointed. He left the shades open while they fucked, wanting to see the daylight playing on her hair. The effect was just enough.

  He slept heavily, only waking a little when Lynn left. When he woke again the edges of a nightmare trailed through his mind. He’d watched himself changing into a nasty, his brown eyes turning white, his dark hair falling out. His broad chest and shoulders had shrunk until he was almost skeletal. Everyone had nightmares now. They prescribed all kinds of pills for it. Everson was unusual in that his were few and mild compared to the rest of the force. Facing nasties night after night fucked you up. Even the evening and day crews had to suck down pills to get decent sleep. Everson didn’t take any pills. Some mornings were bad. Sometimes he woke screaming. But he figured that was how his mind needed to deal with it. He didn’t want the pills to trap his subconscious, give him dreamless sleep or hazy, rainbow-colored nonsense dreams. Sometimes Everson wondered if letting the nightmares come had kept him sane when so many others had broken down.

  A darker thought sometimes crossed his mind too. Maybe somewhere deep down he loved what he did. Loved the risk, the challenge. Loved going out six nights a week and slaughtering nasties. Not for revenge, for the human world they’d all but destroyed and continually threatened, but for the pure love of the violence of it all.

  Afternoon light spilled into his room as he got up. No dreams about the girl, only something huge and dark chasing him down the street. Everson stretched and started planning the few hours he had left before his shift started.

  Chapter Two

  He ditched his AV at the line as usual. Sergeant Graham warned him for probably the hundredth time that it was against regulation to be farther than twenty feet from your AV. “Thank you, sergeant. I’m well aware of that. See you in the morning.” It might as well be a ritual.

  Every night out past the line was different, and yet it was also the same. Find nasties, or wait for them to come to you. Kill nasties, move on. Repeat. Three years of this, but there was still anticipation. What would he face tonight? A giant snake? A humanoid with fangs and claws? A swarm of crawling leeches?

  He took out a small group of rotting crows and continued on the same route as the night before. While passing the block of two-story buildings, he couldn’t help thinking about the girl from that morning. Even now she might be near the line, killing someone. Or maybe she was nowhere near there. After all, the nasties had to do something besides killing humans. Otherwise they would have swarmed the inner ring of the city years ago.

  He turned down a different street than the night before. This block showed a few signs of damage. An overturned van guarded the far end of the street. A few dead trees slumped over sidewalks and yards
. Bits of debris were scattered everywhere. Other than the van, it might have been damage from a bad storm. Everson often wondered why so many areas had been left intact. The signs of struggle and death were often inside the houses and buildings, including the occasional skeleton. The rest of the bodies had been eaten.

  Past the van, he checked both ways down the intersection and carried on down the same road. A quick motion caught his eye and he flipped down his goggles. For a moment, he couldn’t pick anything out. Then it moved again. It skittered into the middle of the street and stood there, watching him. The head was humanoid and growing out of it were six long legs, or maybe they were arms. It looked like a daddy longlegs made out of human parts. That was new. Before Everson could shoot it the thing skittered away, ducking behind a fence. Everson went after it. Maybe the nasty hadn’t expected him to go after it, or maybe the thing wasn’t very smart. In any case, Everson surprised it and cut it down a few feet from the fence.

  When the thing stopped moving, Everson pulled his goggles up and turned on his flashlight to get a good look at it. The whole thing was a pinkish red and looked like raw flesh. It stank too. The nasty had three eyes and a mouth full of fangs. At the end of its legs were long-fingered hands. Was it worth dragging back for the science boys to look over?

  A soft noise made Everson snap to attention and look around. He put his goggles back on and saw something slink around the side of the house. He backed away, moving toward the street where he would have the open ground. A high-pitched cry was his only warning. He spun toward the sound, firing before he saw it. Then it was on him, trying to tear through his armor and biting at his face. It was what he called a skinned lizard, a thing with a long body and a rounded head full of teeth. Everson got his arm up under its chin to keep the teeth away. The gun was pinned between their bodies, useless. He let go of the gun and reached for his knife. The nasty snapped at him, inches from his face. Everson wrapped his fingers around the handle of the knife and plunged it into the creature’s side. It reared back with a shriek. Everson pulled the knife out and sank it in again, this time into the skinned lizard’s throat. As the creature choked and flailed, Everson rolled out from under it. Grabbing his gun, he finished the nasty off.