The Hunter's Den: Dead of Midnight Book 1

by Byron Thorne

  He ran back across the street to try and get a better view. The two figures were just standing next to each other rather than fighting. Daniel called out. “Jules!” but she was too far. He thought it couldn’t get any more terrible than just waiting, helpless, in the car for Jules. Now that he could see her, he realized he was wrong. Then, everything got even worse. It looked like the vampire had picked Jules up, and then the two of them had simply vanished.

  Daniel’s heart fell into his stomach and he thought he was going to be sick. She’s not gone, he told himself. I can still catch her. He jumped back into the car, blood pumping, and slammed on the gas pedal. After about 50 feet he realized that he had no idea what direction they had actually gone. He craned neck out the window and along the rooftops that he could see, but there was nothing. He had lost her.

  Despite the realization deep down that there was nothing he could do, Daniel refused to give up. He drove up and down the grid of Hollywood, looking at shadows and buildings for any semblance of a clue to Jules’ whereabouts. There was nothing, and he knew the search was impossible. He pulled over to the curb and dropped his head into his hands. He tried to gather his thoughts, tried to come up with a plan, tried to do something. There had to be a way to find out what happened to her.

  Then, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He fumbled for it, desperate, knowing it was a crazy thing to expect it to be Jules but hoping for it more than anything else. He brought it slowly in front of his face.

  Jules

  Hey, I had to bail out, but don’t worry, I’m safe. I’ll meet up with you later.

  At first, relief swelled within him at the idea that she was alive and well enough to send a text. Could someone else have sent it? Possibly, but the relaxed tone in the face of danger certainly screamed Jules. Safe? How could she possibly be safe?

  He tried to call her and it went straight to her voicemail. The inbox was still full, and Daniel threw the phone at the window in anger. “Goddammit Jules,” he cried out. He turned the car around and headed to her apartment to find her.

  24

  Funeral

  Morgan studied Jules for the entirety of the ride to the cemetery, but her reaction was unflinching. She alternated between gazing out the window and staring at the back of the seat in front of her. He kept waiting for her to break, or to show even some semblance of cracking, but it didn’t happen. The only thing that he could read on her was determination. Perhaps it was that combination of boldness and her natural beauty that Morgan found so alluring.

  “Uh, just a heads up, I think the midnight movie screening is tomorrow night, guys,” the driver said as the car pulled up to the entrance. Morgan and Jules both got out of the car without responding, and the car sped off.

  The high steel gates of the cemetery were locked shut. Morgan had always found it odd that cemeteries were so heavily guarded. There was a time when grave robbing was more common. Was it simply the addition of gates that stopped them? Or as the life expectancy of humanity increased, did they develop more of a fear of death- and thus built the gates as a means of keeping themselves separate from all aspects of it?

  “So, what, you can talk to the dead?” Jules asked.

  “Not really,” Morgan offered. It wasn’t really something that he ever had reason to talk about, although admittedly he dwelled on the subject from time to time. “I am, as you know, a vampire. I’m not entirely sure what that means. But what I do know, is that I float somewhere in between the realm of the dead and the living. I have needed to blend in with the humans as a means for survival. Sometimes, however, fraternization with the souls of the passed is also necessary.”

  “That…doesn’t really answer my question.”

  “It’s difficult to explain. I suppose the easiest way to describe it would be as more of a one-sided conversation. In a sense, they can communicate with me, however, it is not quite that clear cut.”

  “Well, I guess I’m going to find out exactly what you mean. How do you want to get inside this place?” Jules grabbed onto two of the steel bars and shook them.

  “Unfortunately it’s not something that you’ll be able to see. I’ll have to relay the information to you,” Morgan said as he walked over to the guard shack. Again, night security for a field of corpses seemed a little excessive. In this case, Morgan could use it to his advantage.

  “Can I help you?” the security guard asked, suspicious, and Morgan supposed rightfully so. He stared directly into the guard’s eyes, and past them, into his very essence.

  “Yes. If you could please let us inside, my companion and I are here for the movie screening,” Morgan said.

  “I thought that was tomorrow,” the guard responded.

  “You are correct; however, these things don’t setup themselves. I need to scout the location. So if you please, the faster we can get through the faster we can all move on with our night.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hold you up. Go on ahead.”

  The man moved out of the way, a vacant look in his eyes. Jules maintained a frown on her face as the two of them entered the grounds. “Is it always that easy?” she asked. “To trick people, I mean.”

  “No. To be honest, sometimes it doesn’t work. That man hardly knows where he is even without my own persuasion. He likely spends his life just waiting for someone else to tell him what to think, what to do. If it hadn’t, I would have put him to sleep. However, I find it much easier to trespass when given permission.”

  The Hollywood Forever Cemetery was a microcosm of the entire city itself. Actors, musicians, the cultural elite, all shoulder-to-shoulder with the wealthy. The whole lot of them rested across from the poor and the disenfranchised, separated only by a few feet, but they might as well have been a world apart. Even the structures and headstones varied as much as those in the rest of the city. For every four bedroom crypt was a four-inch square plaque. Morgan knew he wouldn’t have a grave. He would turn to ash when he died, and dissipate into the night wind.

  Jules slowed her steps until she came to a stop. She stood there, silent, staring at the ground. “This is it,” she choked the words out. Morgan retained his distance, thinking it would be best to allow her to sort through her own thoughts without his input. He could see tears begin to well in her eyes, but they never dropped. Instead, she closed them and took a deep breath. When she exhaled, her face was firm and full of purpose once again.

  “Let’s just get this over with. How does this work?” Jules asked.

  “The event will only last but a moment to you, because you will remain on the outside. When I return, I’ll provide you with any details that I discover,” Morgan explained.

  “I’m not taking your word for it this time. That’s not good enough,” Jules said. “There has to be another way, a way for me to share it with you. It’s not that I don’t believe you. I just need to see it for myself.”

  Morgan thought about it for a moment. He needed to tell Jules the complete truth. There was no point in hiding anything from her. If he did, if he played the game that he always did, then she became the same as every other human to him. She wasn’t the same, and she deserved to be treated like she was more.

  “Perhaps there is a way. Remember when I told you that my kiss had made us closer? It is a bond that will only continue to grow. If I drink from you again, and you drink from me, it will join us together. The bond will wane eventually, but it will be permanent.”

  “What do you mean it will join us together?”

  “Exactly that. If we share the same blood, our bodies will become one in the same. You can see what I see and feel what I feel and I will experience the same for you. If you want to experience this firsthand, this is the way to do it. If you need some time to think about it-”

  “Let’s do it. I already drank vamp blood once and got through it alright, except for the hangover.”

  “This isn’t something that can be undone.”

  “Yeah, well I’m kind of getting used t
o that sort of thing. Come here.”

  Morgan saw no reason to second guess her. Her mind was made up, and perhaps it had been long before they even made it to the cemetery. He wanted nothing more than to taste her again. He couldn’t deny the urge with Jules offering herself to him like this. Jules approached him, fire in her eyes. He briefly wondered if the desire in them was for him or for his blood, the power that he could give her. Morgan felt the same conflict within him- was it Jules that he hungered for, or was it her body?

  He pulled Jules close to him, one hand on the small of her back and the other behind her head. Their kiss was passionate, intense, and brief. He tightened his grip on her hair, pulling her head back and exposing the soft, white flesh of her neck. She drew in a sharp breath and Morgan ran his tongue along her for a taste of what was to come. Then, he pulled back slightly to drink in the sight of her, the incandescence of the moonlight resting on her pale breasts. He returned his gaze to her eyes and saw an animal passion within them that was enough to push him over the edge.

  Morgan embraced her and the two of them fell onto the cold grass. Jules lifted her head just slightly, practically begging him in her offering, and he responded with force. As he entered her, he wished he could taste her forever. He wanted all of her, and in that moment knew that he could never be satisfied- he would only want more, more. As he drank from her, he felt her pleasure and her passion and her pain.

  It took all of his willpower to pull away from Jules, but he had to. Her face was wracked with emotion, somewhere between ecstasy and longing. Now was her turn, and he opened his skin to release himself to her. She latched on and drank deep, pulling him into her, her soft lips cushioning the pain of her bite.

  Jules’ moans were muffled, her mouth brimming with vampire. It was pleasure unlike anything she had ever known, but the sensation was more than that. She felt as though she was waking up for the first time, like some part of her conscious that had always lurked below the surface had finally risen from the top. With every pull she took, Jules became more aware and more sensitive to everything in her and around her.

  Her mind was empty except for one thought. More. She wanted every ounce and every inch of him. Everything he had to offer, she would take.

  Jules was no longer conscious of the grass beneath her or the cool air around her. She was in a current of pleasure, and of power, and she allowed herself to be carried by it. When he pulled away from her, she could still feel the remnants of him inside of her. She lost sight of both him and her own body but became aware of the connection that still existed between the two of them. Then, what little was left of the world as she knew it disappeared.

  Her pleasure shifted into uneasiness and then into fear. A voice inside of her told her to stop the train and get off, and it got louder and louder and she grew more worried. Then, she felt Morgan bring her back down. He didn’t say anything, and neither did she, but Jules felt his strength and composure swell within her and she knew she could go through with it. She could go through anything with him, no matter the cost.

  Then, they stopped. Their bodies and the cemetery gone, replaced with a hazy view of the inside of a building. It became clearer to her, and it wasn’t one she recognized. Even in the sparse light of the room, she could see that it was covered with dust. The smell hit her next, mold and copper and then something far worse that she didn’t recognize. Then, from nothing he appeared. Her heart filled with joy at the sight of him. Sam, in the flesh, so real she wanted to reach out and touch him only she couldn’t. He was alive, in this place. Daniel appeared behind him, a look of grim concern on his face.

  Sam had a crossbow in one hand and a bottle with a rag sticking out of it in the other. Daniel followed close behind, the pistol he always carried at the ready. The two of them skulked through the old, silent house, and the further they progressed the worse the smell became. Sam motioned towards an open door, and Daniel nodded. He went in alone, gun drawn, while Sam entered the kitchen.

  All of the happiness that Jules felt washed away in an instant and she realized what was happening. It was impossible for her to turn away. She was a part of the scene. There was no turning back. Even Morgan’s steady influence began to wane, and she worried that the presence of him there might not be enough to get her through it.

  Sam lit the rag attached to the bottle. As the room glowed from the flame, a horde of hideous, slick, bald creatures appeared. Sam’s eyes went wide. “Danny! Here!” he screamed. He hurled the bottle at the floor at the creatures, and they descended upon him, covered in fire, howling. The flames covered the room in an instant, and so too did the monstrosities. They pinned Sam beneath him.

  Daniel appeared in the doorway, but the flames had already sealed it off. He fired the pistol until it could only click in defeat. The creatures kept going, tearing at his best friend’s skin. The rest of the house began to burn.

  “Go!” Sam cried out, and his voice echoed all around her. “You can still get out of here. Take care of Jules.” Then, Sam’s voice disappeared, replaced by the ghastly howls of the monsters that he had managed to destroy with him.

  25

  What Now

  Jules found herself in Morgan’s arms, back on the cold grass. The moon hung above them, exactly where it was the last time she had looked up. She was emotionally spent, but Morgan’s blood flowed through her filled her with a physical vigor. She sat up, and Morgan followed suit. He looked far more exhausted then she felt.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his breath like a cold wind on the back of her neck.

  “It’s OK,” Jules whispered. “I mean, it’s not OK. But, I understand now. It was something I needed to see.” She sat there for a moment, simply trying to handle the emotions. Morgan tried to offer some support.

  “It’s incredible that your friend was able to escape at all. I am sure that Sam’s killers turned to ash in that house,” Morgan stood slowly to his feet, and Jules saw him waver for the first time ever. He extended his hand to help her up.

  “Thank you. For showing me.” Standing up made Jules realize her head was still in the clouds. Her legs felt like jelly. She didn’t mind the feeling of being out of it. It was all too much to process at once, and it was probably easier to forgo processing any of it. “Are you alright?” she asked him.

  “Yes. Taking a trip like that requires a considerable expenditure of energy and blood. And while I’d love some more of yours, I won’t take more from you at the moment.”

  “Who says I’m offering?” Jules quipped. Nothing like cracking jokes to rebuild the emotional wall that was just violently torn down.

  “You’re joking. But I see why that works for you,” Morgan said. “I know it was a difficult thing to see.”

  “Difficult? It was horrible. Those things were horrible. Were those...vampires?” Jules asked.

  “Yes. Although I haven’t seen their kind in Los Angeles until now. They were blood-starved fiends, abominations created by young vampires with a weak bloodline. It is likely they were created by accident. If Sam had not destroyed them, they most certainly would have massacred many other humans.”

  “Sam was always selfless. Almost to a fault. Well, clearly to a fault. If he had to die, I know he would have wanted to take those things with him. And he did. And he even managed to save Daniel’s life. No wonder he feels so responsible for me. Now, what do I do, though? I turned my whole life upside down on a quest for vengeance. Now I find out the person I needed to avenge already did the job himself. I need to talk to Daniel. Oh god, Daniel, he probably thinks I’m dead! I have to find him.”

  Jules pulled out her phone and turned it on. Sure enough, he had texted her.

  I’m waiting at your place, call me when you get this

  Jules, call me

  Jules, please call me

  This time, his concern was probably warranted. After all, the last time he saw her was when she headed into the vampires’ den. She texted him back.

  I’m safe, I’m on my way ther
e

  “I need to go back to my place so I can show Daniel I’m still alive,” Jules said.

  “Let me go with you,” Morgan said.

  “I don’t think that would go over so well. Remember all that head vampire stuff? Well, he’s the one who came up with all of that.”

  “I can wait outside. The streets aren’t safe for you tonight. Not after all of the attention that the two of us have created. They’ll be out for your blood for certain, and it’s a fair bet that there are vampires that will be out for my ashes.”

  “Alright. I’d rather you went with me anyways.” Jules let that second part slip. Clearly, the effects of the bite and his blood were having an effect on her. Everything in her body screamed for her to stay close to him. She hardly wanted to let Morgan out of her sight.

  “Then let’s get moving. Although I doubt this cemetery ever receives heavy traffic from vampires, I don’t like the idea of sitting in the open.”

  Morgan started towards the exit and got a few steps before he realized that Jules wasn’t following him. She stood there, in the spot they had laid in a moment ago, staring at the humble plaque that bore her departed lover’s name. He did his best to give her what privacy he could.

  “Goodbye,” she whispered, and knelt down to touch the monument. Morgan felt the pain in Jules’ heart, and he tried not to think of his own. Jules would end up feeling it too, and although he was beginning to understand just how resilient she was, there was no need for her to go through that.

  Jules, on the other hand, would not let herself cry, at least not yet. Maybe she had shed enough tears over this already- if such a thing was possible. More likely, it was Morgan’s strange command over her as well as his blood that kept her together. Maybe when this night was over the tears would come. Maybe they wouldn’t. Deep down, she knew that her story with Sam could never have a happy ending. No matter how much she devoted herself to becoming a hunter or finding some sort of revenge, nothing would end up bringing him back.