The Darkness Within (Sanguine Series: Awakening Book 1)

by H. M Reilly

  “Actually...I'd be down to hang out tonight.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah, I need a break.”

  “You hungry? I’ll grab some food.”

  “Hell yes.”

  “Cool. I sent you my address. See you in a bit.”

  Charlotte clicked a button, ending the call. Music came pumping out of the speakers, and she leaned over to turn up the volume. She pressed down on the gas, making her way into the city as the GPS popped up on her screen.

  By the time Charlotte arrived at Michael’s, the tacos were a little soggy, but at least the beer was cold. It was a perfect night to stay inside. Quiet, but the wind felt colder than she was used to.

  After finishing a few beers, Charlotte was feeling relaxed, and her inhibitions were lowered. She curled up close to Michael, and a ghost of a smile curled across her lips when he pulled a blanket over them. His hand slipped to her leg, and he gently caressed her thigh as they sat in front of the television screen. Charlotte felt a spark of warmth between her legs, and she turned her head. Michael quickly found her lips, and hers responded in soft, slow kisses. She could taste the alcohol on his tongue.

  She moved into his lap, and his hands slipped down to her hips, bringing her in closer. A gentle moan passed her lips when she felt his excitement beneath her. With a pat of her behind, she rose from the couch and took his hand. He pulled her closer and stole her lips in another deep kiss, pushing her down the hall to his bedroom.

  They undressed each other between kisses and soon landed in his bed, Michael slipping down between her thighs. His hands wandered slowly over her body, and she arched against him, letting out another moan as she felt every bit of his exploration. Her breathing turned into pleading, and he complied with her wishes.

  When Charlotte woke the next morning, the first thing she saw was the half-empty beer bottle sitting on the side table. Michael had his hand on her thigh, and he was snoring softly beside her. She rolled on to her side, letting his hand slip from her leg. Sunlight pooled across the floor, a cool breeze flowed through the window, and she slipped her leg out from beneath the blankets. The cool air felt good against her skin.

  A ray of sun caught the corner of a torn condom wrapper lying near the foot of the bed. An old, worn acoustic guitar sat in one corner beside a wicker chair piled with clothes. A dresser stood in another corner, and empty beer bottles sat on top. Their clothes were scattered across the floor. Off in the distance, she could hear police sirens.

  The strong aroma of coffee floated through the bedroom, inspiring her to rise from the bed. She made a quick trip to the bathroom and wandered off to the kitchen. The automatic coffee pot bubbled as the stream of coffee came to a stop. She opened the cabinets to find a mug, but most were lying dirty in the sink, and she didn't want to overstay her welcome. She hardly knew Michael well enough to be washing coffee cups even if her body screamed for the caffeine.

  Michael was still asleep when she went back into his bedroom, plopping down on the edge of the bed. She sifted carefully through the clothes scattered across the floor, trying to keep quiet, but he shifted.

  “What are you still doing here?”

  “Sorry...I'm just getting my things,” she said. “I'm almost gone...”

  He let out a grumble and rolled to his side, facing away from her. She finally found her clothes and dressed quickly, tucking her bra underneath her arm. She exited the room and shut the door. Her purse sat on the coffee table. She checked that nothing had gone missing and stuffed her bra inside the satchel.

  Walked out to her truck, leaving the front door unlocked. She thought about Michael’s quick dismissal of her but didn't feel hurt. Charlotte didn’t have a whole lot of experience with men, and she didn’t know what to feel.

  Charlotte found her cell phone sitting in one of the cup holders out in her truck. She slipped the key into the ignition and turned it over. A red light flashed slowly on her cell phone. The battery indicator was rather low as she unlocked her phone. One missed call, and three text messages waited. Adriana had tried to contact her. The last message from her had been at one am. Miss you, Charlie. She made a mental note to call Adriana later.

  Charlotte stopped at the bookstore on her way home. Next week was Leila’s birthday, and she needed to find something nice, but first, she wanted to find something for herself. As she browsed through the fiction section, she pulled a few books from the shelves that she found interesting. A few didn’t make it past a glance at the back cover, but she found a couple that went with her to the register.

  Charlotte spotted a large orange and yellow sign with a stereotypical green-faced witch in black robes standing over a cauldron on a nearby building. Soon she planned to walk through the doors and collect costume pieces with Halloween being only six weeks away. Maybe she would take Leila along. She turned into the mall parking lot and found a spot before heading into the mall.

  She walked through the front doors of the mall, passing by several food stands. The smell of pizza, fries, and Chinese food permeated the air. A few older people and mothers with their young children walked past her. Now that summer was over, there weren’t many teens or school-aged kids walking the pathway.

  She glanced in the window of a few places, taking her time. She passed shoe stores, clothing boutiques, and an entertainment store. Nothing seemed quite right, not clothes, movies, or shoes. Neither did fancy lotion or underwear, but she eventually wandered into the makeup shop.

  She browsed through the different brands of makeup and brushed her fingers over the different colors of palettes, some reminding her of a unicorn. As she looked through a multitude of different colored lipsticks, her phone beeped. A text from her dad to let her know he would be stopping by her grandparent’s house this weekend and would be bringing dinner. She slipped her phone into her pocket and went back to shopping, still unsure what to get her sister, who seemed to have everything.

  She left the shop with a newly released multicolored eye shadow palette, hoping her sister didn’t have it already. She walked through the mall back towards the food stands, her stomach growling loudly. Greasy food from the food court sounded great. She grabbed herself a burger and fries with a Coke before heading out the door to head home.

  By the time Charlotte passed the sign welcoming her to Hollow’s Creek, the sun hung low in the sky. Dusk was less than an hour away. She turned up the heater; it was only the second week of September but was much colder than New Mexico. Her phone started to ring as she pulled out onto the road, and she pressed the answer key on her steering wheel. “Hello?”

  “Charlotte. It’s Grandma.”

  “Hey, Grandma, what’s up?”

  “Are you still in town?”

  “I’m on my way home now.”

  “Think you could do me a favor and stop by the grocery store? I’m making enchiladas tonight, and I'm out of cheese.”

  “Yeah, I could do that. What kind do you need?”

  “Just some cheddar.”

  “Sure. Anything else?”

  “No, that’s all. Thank you.”

  “Welcome. See you soon. I love you, Grandma.”

  “I love you too, dear.”

  Music resumed playing through the stereo speakers, and she reached over to turn up the volume as she drove out to Hollow's Creek. When she made it to the store, she grabbed a large package of cheese for her grandmother. Afterward, she took her time, wandering down the aisles to find herself a few snacks. She grabbed a bag of potato chips, a few bottles of tea, and a large box of chocolate. She also stopped to grab a movie on her way home – a chick flick as some might have called it.

  Her grandmother was cooking in the kitchen when she walked through the front door. She was standing by the sink with the water running, peeling the green chile pods for dinner. Charlotte set the block of cheese down with the rest of the ingredients on the counter. “Did you need help?"

  “No. I have everything else all ready to go. Just needed the cheese,”
her grandmother said. Charlotte placed the bottles of tea in the fridge, and her grandmother took a large pile of green chile to the chopping block. “Actually, could you grate the cheese for me, dear?”

  “Sure,” Charlotte said. She grabbed a plate from the cabinet. The cheese grater was already sitting on the kitchen table. She went over to the sink and washed her hands before sitting at the table.

  “I spoke with your dad.”

  “Yeah?”

  “If you wanted to go home and stay with your parents, I wouldn’t be offended, dear.”

  “I know, but I'd rather stay out here with you and Grandpa,” she said. “It’s nice out here.”

  “If that's what you want. I know it's helped us out a lot.”

  “I like it out here. It's quiet, and I can always go into the city if I need to,” she said with a shrug.

  “It’s going to start getting colder soon. Do you have enough coats and blankets?”

  “I have a coat in a box somewhere. And some hoodies. I might have a couple of hats, too.”

  “Okay, dear. I just don't want you to get cold. Hollow's Creek gets colder than Santa Fe.”

  After dinner, Charlotte took her snacks and headed up to her bedroom. She shut the door, Jack barely slipping in with her, and changed into her pajamas. She grabbed her phone from her purse, contemplating a phone call to Adriana. She needed to hear a friendly voice after her night with Michael, but she decided she needed some alone time more.

  Her night with Michael had been a first. Besides Julian, she had only been sexual with one other man, but this was different. Michael was her first sexual hookup, and she had no intention of pursuing more. That morning, she had felt satiated and even calm from the physical satisfaction, but it had been hours since that wore off.

  A part of her felt bad, even ashamed of herself for acting without much thought. She liked sex, but she never considered herself easy. She hardly knew Michael, and she had only spoken to him once or twice. He wasn’t a friend, and she had no intention of making him a friend. But he had been the good time she needed. Her broken heart was still healing from the longest relationship she had ever been in.

  Her mind buzzed with dark energy, bordering the negative mind she hoped to avoid. A hint of regret slipped into her mind, but she knew what she was doing at the time. She knew that soon she would look back on her night with Michael with a smile on her face.

  Charlotte grabbed the remote and popped the new movie into the player, taking the bag of potato chips and chocolate with her.

  CHAPTER 8

  Logan drove downtown to the address Dixon had sent him a couple of days before. He turned down a quiet street only a block from his destination when his phone jingled with a new text message. The darkness swallowed the last light of day, the colors fading across the sky. The mountains towered over the city only a few miles away.

  He parked beside the curb only a block or two from the local watering hole, Viper’s Cavern, which he had been to a few times in the past. Supernatural influence hummed in the air, heavily affected by the magic aura from nearby.

  He grabbed his phone. His nephew, Michael, had finally responded to the text message he sent earlier. He never even expected his nephews to answer on a Saturday night with such short notice. Logan was an experienced hunter, but after losing his dad, he didn’t want to take the chance and face a coven of witches alone.

  He enjoyed hunting. He enjoyed the bloodshed; it was never complicated or difficult. He wanted those he cared about to stay safe from harm. A part of him regretted reaching out to his nephews to help, but they were the only family left that still acknowledged him.

  Me and Bryan on the way, the text message read. Logan turned off his engine and listened to the stereo as he waited, grabbing a cigarette.

  Nearly half an hour passed before another car pulled up across the street. A little blue late model car. When he lifted his head, he saw both his nephews, Bryan and Michael, step out of the vehicle. They moved beneath a nearby streetlight and crossed the street toward him.

  The neighborhood was quiet except for the vibrations of a heavy bass line coming from the bar. Logan always worked best when it was quiet out, and fewer people were nearby. Fewer people usually meant fewer problems to tie up at the end.

  Bryan and Michael approached the vehicle, and Logan stepped down, rolling the window up.

  “What did ya find?” Michael said.

  Logan shut the door. He reached down and pulled out a large hunting knife from his boot. He ran a rag over the edge before slipping the blade back into the sheath. “This bitch I’ve been tracking awhile. Finally found her out here, squatting in an abandoned building just up the street from here.” He slipped the knife back into the cuff of his boot.

  “How long you been tracking her?” Bryan said.

  “A few years, but she popped up in Texas almost a year ago. She took a detour through Kansas and Oklahoma.”

  “What is she?”

  “A witch, and she’s not alone. I think she’s part of a coven, and we need to kill them all. If we don’t, we’ll have more problems later. The undead and evil like to hide up in the mountains. I also believe she’s a hybrid.”

  “A hybrid?” Bryan repeated as he pulled out his gun and started loading bullets into the clip.

  “I’m not totally sure, but I think demon possession could be involved.”

  “Great.”

  “You have enough weapons on you? Gun? Knife?”

  “I have my gun on me and my knife, but if you want me to carry more, I’ll have to grab some stuff from my trunk,” Michael said.

  “No, that’ll work. I have some extra weapons if we end up needing them, but I think the silver knives and bullets will be enough. Unless she’s a rare fuckin’ hybrid, a silver bullet to the heart or to the brain kills most of the monsters I’ve run into,” Logan said. He shut the top to the workbench in the back of his truck after grabbing a large gun. “You have everything you need?”

  “Yeah,” Bryan said.

  “You know what she looks like?” Michael said.

  “Does it fuckin’ matter? Like I said, she isn’t alone. As long as you don’t kill any humans, you’re doing good.” He double-checked his gun to be sure it was fully loaded and slipped it into the holster hidden beneath his jacket. He checked his pockets once more and locked up his truck.

  The street was quiet except for one or two cars that passed on through. A dog barked off in the distance. The steady beat from the speakers at the dive bar hummed in the air. The three men headed down the street and slipped down the alley. Silence swallowed the nighttime ambiance.

  The two younger men followed as Logan led them on their path, turning down another short, quiet alleyway. The glowing eyes of a cat appeared at the end of the alleyway, and they continued toward an overhanging ladder that led to a fire escape. Logan stopped and glanced back at Michael and Bryan. The back alley was quiet, but Logan lifted a gloved finger to his lips.

  He gestured towards the ladder above. Michael, being the tallest of the trio, stepped over and pulled himself up on to the landing, then pushed the ladder down the railing. Bryan and Logan climbed the stairs to join him.

  Logan spotted an open window and led them through. They entered the kitchen of an empty apartment unit and cautiously made their way through to the hallway, checking for unexpected visitors. They didn’t find any—human or animal.

  A breeze slipped through the window of the musty apartment. A floorboard creaked, and they made it to the front door, which happened to be ajar. Another scent became much more prevalent as they exited into the main hallway of the building: sulfur and the charred remains of a fire tinged with herbs hung in the air.

  The building was quiet. Logan led the three of them farther down the hall. A mouse scurried across the hallway, and Michael chirped a sound of disgust. Both Bryan and Logan glanced over their shoulders at him, stopping a moment before they continued down the quiet hallway. Each cautious step brought them clo
ser to that noxious odor of sulfur. It was coming from above them.

  The three men avoided a loose floorboard on their way over to the stairs. They followed the fumes that could only mean a spell was being cooked. The scent grew stronger as they climbed higher up the stairs.

  “Surge sursus,” a woman’s voice chanted as the three men made their way to the top of the stairs. Any doubts about the hunt before them were chased away as the witch continued to chant. Thick smoke billowed into the hallway from one of the units a few feet away as they made it to the top of the stairs. But a floorboard creaked, and the chanting stopped.

  “Go check, Jesse,” a woman said. With a rustle of movement and a set of heavy steps, a young blonde appeared in the hallway. Logan moved with the stealth and silence of a cat. Even with heavy boots on his feet, Jesse didn’t see him coming through the dark of the building. The silver blade in his hand caught the light through the window with a quick wink, and the young blonde dropped before him with a rattling gasp. He wiped the blood on the leg of his jeans.

  The woman called out for Jesse from where she hid, then she stepped out from safety. Much of the building was hidden in the shadows, but the pool of blood growing on the floor glimmered beneath the moonlight.

  She didn’t say a word when she lifted her eyes from the crumpled blonde. Instead, a wave of power emitted from her, knocking Michael and Bryan into the nearest wall. They cried out in an outburst of pain. Logan gritted his teeth as he fought the energy, pressing himself against the nearest wall in an attempt to hide from her. He could only assume the two younger men had borne the brunt of the wave. Michael and Bryan both appeared unconscious from where he stood, still pressed against the wall.

  The energy radiated from her at an overwhelming magnitude, but Logan kept quiet as he watched her focus her power to keep Bryan and Michael incapacitated. She was powerful, but her energy was not enough to keep Logan down with them. A ghost of a smirk appeared on his face as he watched her walk slowly towards his nephews.