Free Darkest Hour by Rob Cornell Page A

me stand by and let a monster like Gabriel corrupt her.”
    Truman sniffled. “I understand your personal feelings, Mr. Lockman. But you must acknowledge that Jessie is more than just your daughter. She very well could be the only thing standing in the way of Armageddon.”

Chapter Eleven
    They fear you.
    Jessie squeezed her eyes shut. Even with the basement in total blackness, she could still see. She wanted to close out all of her senses. If she could, she would have preferred the oblivion of sleep. But she had slept too much already. Drifting off would be impossible. Besides, she had learned that even vampires dream. The nightmares she was having since mutilating those werewolves were unbearable.
    “Leave me alone,” she said aloud, as if Gabriel sat in the dark with her instead of speaking only in her head. She closed the part of her mind that let his voice in. Whatever her dad thought, she never mistook Gabriel as her friend. He was a tool, a source of knowledge, no more significant to her than a paranormal search engine.
    Is that so?
    She started, opening her eyes. The shape of the water heater stood before her, her vision as clear as it would have been on a moonlit night. How had he…? She set her jaw and focused on snapping shut that pocket of her mind holding Gabriel again. She hadn’t had to really try locking him in for months. It had become second nature.
    You’re not the only one learning .
    A gasp caught in Jessie’s throat. She scrambled to her feet from her seat against the brick wall. Turning, she scanned the basement as if she would find Gabriel standing somewhere nearby. She had the basement to herself. Just her bed in the corner. A dresser against one wall. An armoire for her closet against another. Mismatched furniture her dad had found at a consignment shop. The throw rug in the middle of the basement came from that same shop. A weird excuse for a bedroom, but she figured it beat a crypt or coffin.
    She ground her teeth together. “You need to shut up now.”
    We have so much to talk about.
    Her breath hissed out between her clenched teeth. Not cool. Not one bit. If she couldn’t block him out anymore, she was looking at some seriously miserable days ahead of her. The dude liked to talk, for one thing. And when he got on a roll, some of the things he talked about gave her already cold skin the shivers.
    Aw, I’m not that bad, am I? I taught you how to resist the pain from religious symbols. I explained how you could make yourself impervious to silver’s touch. If you let me, I can tell you how it’s possible to walk in the sunlight without bursting into flames.
    Jessie made fists and paced. Yes. He had taught her those things—and more—but only when she had let him. That sense of control over when and if he could communicate with her had made her feel safe enough to allow it. If she couldn’t figure out how to shut him out again, then Dad was right. She was a walking bomb. Gabriel could drive her crazy just by nattering on non-stop.
    What benefit would that bring me? Don’t worry, child. I’ll let you sleep. But you aren’t paying attention. I said I could teach you how to walk in sunlight.
    “I heard you the first time.”
    Well?
    She stopped pacing, bounced her fists against her hips. Not for the first time, she wondered how he could know these things. She had stopped bothering to ask, though, because he refused to tell her. Still, having the ability to walk in the sun as a vampire was the last barrier to—
    Immortality.
    Gabriel’s voice felt like a wet snake twisting in Jessie’s brain. She shuddered. She pressed her fists against either side of her head as if she could squeeze him out of her mind. Listening to him would be a mistake. His managing to bypass her ability to silence him at will could only mean he was that much closer to using her for his own agenda.
    But it was hard to resist his promise. Eliminating her weakness to the sun also eliminated the last thing that