After Daybreak Read Online Free PDF Page B

vamp taking what doesn’t belong to him.”
    “You mean taking blood straight from the neck,” I say.
    “That’s right. Learning to control our urges took a little time, but now, we couldn’t even imagine doing it.”
    “That’s incredible,” I say.
    He just shrugs. “Out here we’re kinda dependent on each other and grateful for one another.”
    Grateful for one another. I smile at that. I’d love to see that as a poster in Denver. Grateful for each other.
    “Have you ever heard of anything like this, Victor?” Jeff asks.
    “No,” Victor says. “Not since the war anyway. Before that we tried living openly with humans, and you know how well that worked out. A system like this isn’t sustainable. Once there are too many humans, or too many vampires, the power will shift.”
    “I wish you had more confidence in us,” Dr. Jameson says. “But does your system of blood quotas and delegates work better?”
    Victor turns to George. “So, you know my half brother, Sin.”
    The change in topic is abrupt, but I know Victor doesn’t want to get into a discussion on the difficulties he has in getting donations from the citizens in Denver.
    “I’m afraid so,” George says. “He turned me back when he was still a young’un. But he’s a different man now. I’ve watched him change before my very eyes.”
    “Tell us everything,” I say.
    “I was his second in command,” George says. “I was one of the first Day Walkers he ever created, and I was loyal to him for a century, always by his side. I was a fool. I thought what he gave me was a gift. Eternal life. Terrifying strength and speed. But it came at the cost of taking blood from my fellow man.”
    He sips his brew, and we all stay silent, waiting for him to continue.
    “I watched the madness slowly grow inside of Sin. He always felt like an outcast, and in many ways I suppose he was. He tried to reconcile with other Old Family, but they were all just like your father, Victor. They saw him as a freak of nature. The anger in his heart fueled him. He fed off human blood just as much as he fed off his hatred for the Old Families, for the vampires that turned him away.”
    “I should have looked for him decades ago,” Victor says. “If I had, maybe I could have found him, reasoned with him. Stopped him from becoming a monster.”
    But George just shakes his head.
    “There was no reasoning with him. He was born to hate. It’s in his blood. And it only intensified once he controlled Los Angeles. I helped him. I stood by as he slowly turned the city of angels into a city of Day Walkers. I thought that would be enough for him. But I was wrong.
    “He sent me out on a scouting expedition, searching for humans he could ‘bless’ as he called it, but I’d had enough. The farther I traveled, the less I wanted to go back. Then I discovered these folks and they welcomed me like I was one of their own. Before I was turned, I was a soldier protecting people. Returned to my calling here.”
    “But where does it end for Sin?” Jeff asks.
    George doesn’t look us in the eyes but instead takes another sip of his coffee, adjusts his hat that needs no adjusting.
    “Complete domination of humans and vampires alike, with what he calls the Chosen leading the way,” he says. “Handpicked Day Walkers, the best and most loyal, and he infects them with the Thirst.”
    I instantly think of Brady. That’s what he became; it’s what Sin turned him into. All traces of the brother I had once loved were lost within those blackened eyes.
    “His goal is to have five hundred of them,” George continues. “From there, he’ll take them, along with every Day Walker, and march. Nothing will be able to stop him at that point.”
    “How can he possibly control these ‘Chosen’?” Victor asks. “I’ve fought one before. It nearly killed me, and that was only one. Sin talks of hundreds? They’ll overwhelm him.”
    “That’s what I told him.” George sighs heavily. “But