Darkness Comes This Way

by Pixie Lynn Whitfield

  They shouldn’t be doing this. She looked at Draven frantically.

  It was as if he’d read her mind.

  “Wait,” he said.

  “Let me do it. You probably have other work to do.”

  Nathanial stopped and looked at Draven. Jackson stared at him with begging red eyes.

  “I have other things to tell,” the Rogue quickly said in a desperate attempt to save his life.

  “But I only want to tell them to those two…alone,” he added, looking back at Nathanial.

  Their boss looked at each one with narrowed, angry eyes.

  “No, I believe we’re done here.”

  The gun had a silencer attached so as to not raise any alarm inside the underground building. When Nathanial fired the round into Jackson’s head, Zarah brought her hand up to her mouth to fight back a scream of protest and turned her head. It was the first time in her career that she must have felt remorse toward killing a Rogue. Nathanial set the gun back on the table when he was finished and smiled at them.

  “I’ll call the nurse to have her take care of the body. Good work tonight. Get some rest.” He passed by them and left the room. Zarah was left standing there feeling the shock and horror weighing her chest down, unable to look toward Jackson’s limp corpse.

  Zarah stormed out of the office in fear of getting sick if she stayed in there any longer, and quickly walked toward her room.

  “Zarah,” Draven shouted at her from down the hall, trying to catch up with her. She stopped and waited, keeping her back facing him and her head hung down. Her weight was steadied against the wall as she leaned against it with her hands.

  “Are you okay?” he asked when he reached her.

  She slowly shook her head.

  “It wasn’t right, Draven. I respected Nathanial…”

  She was whispering, confused and trying to fight back the oncoming tears.

  “I don’t care if Jackson was Rogue. That wasn’t our way of doing things. It was just so…horrific…and he looked so young.”

  Draven sighed and looked around the empty hallway before speaking.

  “I know. I tried to save him. I was going to let him go if Nathanial had let me take care of it. I don’t think he was trying to be entirely cruel though. After all, he’s still very angry after the Mitchell incident. Maybe that was his form of payback.” Draven shrugged. When Zarah looked up into his eyes, however, she could still see him lost in thought, doubt lines etched around his down-turned lips, as if he still wasn’t sure if his own explanation was convincing.

  “Maybe you’re right,” she finally said with a sigh.

  “Either way, I wish I hadn’t been a part of that.”

  He pulled her into a tight hug at that moment, which surprised her.

  “Me, too,” he said.

  Her phone rang a second later, making her pull away from him awkwardly to answer.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, sis.”

  “Thomas. Hi,” she replied. She looked at Draven to see him eyeing her in confusion.

  “What’s going on now?”

  “I’m afraid I have some unsettling news to give you. I just got back from a meeting,” he began.

  She paused and listened intently. It was after a few seconds that she realized she’d been holding her breath.

  “The Commander is moving on to bigger things. He’s decided that once he’s extracted the cure from you, he’s going to start harvesting humans and out the vampire race. Which of course could result in a very nasty war as you know.”

  “What?” Zarah nearly screamed.

  Eighteen

  The next evening Zarah was lacing up her boots, ready to go out hunting again, when Draven arrived.

  “Come in,” she called out as she crossed her room and entered her kitchen to grab a bottle of blood to drink before leaving. He opened the door and stepped inside as she popped the lid off and began gulping it down.

  “Want one?” She took a deep breath when she finished with her first long drink.

  He shook his head but forced a smile. “No, thank you.”

  “Have you heard anything else from Thomas?” he added, taking a seat at the barstool near the counter.

  “No, not since last night,” she replied with a frown. She finished the rest of her bottle and then rinsed it out in the sink. Draven was across the room looking down at her pile of arts and crafts. He glanced back up at her with an unusual expression. She realized he was holding in a laugh.

  “What?”

  “Cross-stitching? Seriously?” He held up a cute picture of a kitten that she’d been working on recently. The thread still hung loose in some areas on the plastic backing, and the tail of the orange kitty wasn’t complete. She ran forward and grabbed it from him.

  “Shut up! It’s entertaining.”

  He snorted and she stuck her tongue out at him, which only caused him to laugh harder. Tossing it back down among the other things, she shook her head with a playful smile.

  “Let’s go.”

  Thomas hadn’t had much information to give them when he called, only what was learned at the meeting he’d attended the previous night. The Commander was out for a major world war between humans and vampires, and had every intention of turning the planet to Hell basically. That was all they knew. Zarah and Draven had talked before parting for bed…they would have to find and destroy the Commander very soon—before he found her or before he started putting any of his plans into effect. Tonight, they were going to start hunting down some of his army members. They were going to have to toss out their ‘code’ and restrain some of the Rogues in order to question them as well.

  They weren’t entirely thrilled with their plans of what had to be done, but they knew it was the only way of finding the Commander’s whereabouts. Thomas didn’t know. He’d told them that some of the older members probably would. So, he gave them an area that he knew the two Guardians would find them.

  He’d overheard many nights that was where they liked to “play” around in the city the most due to more humans trafficking through the area.

  As Zarah finished attaching her abundance of weaponry to her body, Draven stood idly by at the bar and watched. When she noticed his gaze, she raised an eyebrow.

  “Hmm?” she asked.

  “Nothing,” he replied with a shrug, continuing to stare.

  She sighed as she placed extra gun clips on the inside pockets of her jacket.

  “If you have something to say, just say it.”

  “Just…be careful out there, okay?” he finally said after a long silence, crossing his arms over his chest.

  She looked up at him with a smirk.

  “I always am. The same goes for you, too, though.”

  With the brief words exchanged, they headed out of her room. Draven slipped his jacket on in the hallway as the two of them walked toward the elevator. Nathanial was waiting for them there, still unaware of their plans and how they had been having Thomas as a source. He smiled as they approached.

  “I expect another Rogue brought to me later tonight,” he began.

  “I likely won’t be here when you return. I have somewhere to go, and many of the others are going out on their own rounds tonight as well, but I trust that you two will be able to handle yourselves well enough. Detain it in the same room as the other one had been in.”

  Zarah glanced at Draven, maintaining a straight face. Lately, she’d begun really disliking some of her duties. It had nothing to do with her partner anymore, but with how things had changed within the Compound. Taking Rogues for torture tactics until killing them…that was not their way of doing things. That had not been how she had been trained. Maybe they deserved it for things they had done, but the Guardians were known amongst the vampire community for having good, high-standing morals and respect. A lot of Rogues were killed quickly, without the torture, because that was seen as a sign of respect toward the fallen, corrupted vampires.

  Draven nodded at Nathanial and c
hecked to make sure the safety of his gun was on before replacing it back in the holster at his waist.

  “Sure, boss,” he muttered, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

  Zarah felt the anger flare up within her chest. She knew he hated it just as much as she did.

  “Nathanial, we don’t like this,” she turned and spat out with a frown.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  Draven looked at her in shock.

  Nathanial narrowed his eyes and stepped closer toward her. His approach was menacing but she held her ground and kept her head high, continuing to stare at her mentor with her jaw clenched tightly.

  “What’s wrong with me is that I’m done playing games amongst our kind. Rogues, Guardians, Hiders…we’re all Vampires. Some are corrupted and need to be killed. Some should rule the world,” he began with a growl. Gaining his composure a second later when she remained silent, he smiled at her.

  “Of course, that would never happen though. Vampires trying to rule the world. That’s just ludicrous. This is the humans’ world. Not ours. We are mere shadows in the dark to them.”

  She blinked at him.

  “Things have become even more out of hand than what most of us are capable of handling, I think, with the exception of you two. This is war, Zarah. And I intend to do whatever it takes to put things to an end. Have a good night.”

  With that said, Nathanial stepped around Zarah and continued on down the hallway into his office, leaving the two of them alone at the elevator.

  She turned to look at Draven in confusion.

  “Did you tell him anything about our secret mission?” she asked, barely above a whisper. Concern was clear in her features. Nathanial’s reaction had been a bit strange for her…almost insane.

  Draven shook his head and frowned.

  “No, but that was an odd conversation. Even for him.”

  She nodded in response and hit the elevator button as she got lost in thought.

  The more she began to think about it, the more she realized that through the years she had never paid too much attention until that moment that Nathanial had always been one of the rare supporters of the vampire race living openly amongst the humans. He always said it would be more peaceful that way, and that they would likely get a larger Guardian base. In a way, she saw his point. However, she didn’t agree with a world war to dominate the humans. Nathanial was her mentor. Her life-saver. He agreed with her on that, too.

  “I’m pretty sure he meant nothing by it,” she finally said as they stepped into the elevator.

  “He gets in some strange moods sometimes. Especially when he’s passionate about something.”

  “Like when it comes to Rogue hunting?” Draven joked, laughing. She let out a soft chuckle and nodded while they were brought up to the parking garage.

  ************

  Their night was not going well.

  Two Rogues had already escaped from their sight, managing to lose the Guardians by disappearing through winding back alleyways. Zarah was getting frustrated.

  Draven drove toward the heart of downtown and pulled the car into an abandoned lot. When they parked, he looked over at Zarah with a forced smile.

  “Let’s just take it fully on foot from here. This is the area,” he said. She nodded and stepped out of the car with him.

  Looking around, she noticed they were at an area known as “the crossroads.” It was the exact center of the city where there was one main intersection with four roads that then began branching out to the rest of the countless streets and other highways. The Crossroads was the area that Thomas had recommended they looked around, due to the number of buildings and parks surrounding the corners. Reaching under her jacket, she retrieved her gun from her holster and kept her senses on alert.

  As if on cue, one Rogue strolled by across the street from them, heading toward an empty building. He stopped in his steps when he sensed the Guardians and turned to face them with wide eyes. Zarah smiled mischievously and glanced at Draven, who was already by her side with his gun drawn as well.

  “Ready?”

  “Yep.” She took the safety off her gun.

  They ran forward together as the Rogue started to run away from them and toward the empty building.

  Zarah fired her gun, but missed, and cursed under her breath.

  The Rogue ran into the building before either Guardian could get in another shot. Draven continued on with the chase and sprinted toward the doorway. There wasn’t a door, only a frame, and darkness seeping through from there. The wood was worn, paint peeling, and windows were mostly broken or dusted over. It was large, and there was something ominous about the feeling in the pit of Zarah’s stomach. Déjà vu struck her in waves…but Draven had already entered, and she was still standing outside, her feet frozen in horror.

  “Draven! Wait!” she quickly shouted, running in as worry sunk into her bones.

  Her eyes adjusted to the darkness abruptly. It was much darker within the building than outside, but she could still see. Small beams of moonlight leaked through the broken windows and cast a soft, silver glow in some areas. Inside, it was a mess of glass, shredded papers, and rubble.

  The Rogue was nowhere in sight.

  She stood closely by Draven, the both of them looking around for any kind of sign of movement.

  When she heard some rubble get moved across the room from being kicked, Zarah fired her gun in that direction.

  Some seconds later, chuckles, snarls and hisses could be heard from all around them. The hideous sounds of the corrupted vampires echoed through their ears, sending chills down to their bones.

  Zarah slowly turned her head left and right, looking in each direction, to see the bright glowing crimson eyes of about ten Rogues that surrounded them then in the corners and along the sides of the room. They had been well hidden to them when they first entered.

  “Draven,” she began barely above a whisper, stepping closer toward him as they both gripped their weapons tighter.

  “Yeah?” He looked around to see what she was beginning to see as well.

  She locked her eyes on his and they widened in fear.

  “We’ve been ambushed.”

  Nineteen

  The rabids attacked first.

  Draven grabbed Zarah and pulled her closer against him as they began firing their guns at the oncoming beasts. Snarls and laughter ripped through the silent night air and echoed off the abandoned concrete walls of the old factory building the two were trapped in.

  They continued firing rounds in all directions around them until their guns clicked. Empty.

  The Rogues were still coming at them even as Zarah loaded her last clip into her pistol. She had managed to throw a hard punch to one in the jaw as it had come too close to them before she could fire a shot, giving Draven enough time to re-load.

  Relief flooded her when she noticed their numbers dropping. She spun around and kicked a Rogue in the gut that sent him flying into a nearby wall and rubble crashing down from the impact.

  When she turned back, she saw Draven smiling at her and not another rabid creature running at them to attack. Finally able to take a deep breath, she smiled in return.

  Her grin faded, however, when low growls began to rumble throughout the building causing her to spin back around in alarm. Her hair flew around her face in a rush of dark copper; her eyes were chaotic and frenzied. Draven reached out and grabbed her arm.

  “There’s more,” he whispered. Zarah didn’t need to be told, she could already see the formation of the Rogues surrounding them. Their red eyes were glowing with menace and hunger set against the smoky abandoned room they had been led into.

  A rock from nearby was kicked into her boot and she turned sharply in the direction of the door where it had come from with her gun aimed, prepared to fire. Instead she locked eyes with Thomas, who had his hands quickly raised in defense. Alyssa stood next to him, looking ready for a fight as she held her own pair of pistols as well.
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  “Thomas,” Zarah barely breathed out just before the attacks began from the Rogues behind them.

  As the fight ensued, the numbers overwhelmed them. The two Guardians and their two Rogue allies fought hard against the attacking monsters. They spread apart to fight larger numbers—Zarah fighting near Thomas, and Draven fighting across the warehouse near Alyssa.

  “What are you doing here, Thomas?” Zarah asked her brother with a frown, shooting a Rogue in the head as he ran at her with his fangs bared. She was running low on ammo and would soon need to start fighting hand-to-hand with her silver knives. It was combat that she was skilled in, but not particular fond of when they were so outnumbered.

  “I came to help, of course,” he replied with almost a laughing shout. “I heard what was going on from some sources and I knew I couldn’t leave you to fight this alone.”

  For the first time in years, she was fighting alongside her brother again. Every few seconds, she’d check out of the corner of her eye and almost smile while watching his fluid, graceful kicks at the oncoming attacks. His weapons had run out of ammunition shortly after hers. The four of them were all fighting with just their silver daggers then, and the numbers only seemed to keep increasing.

  Zarah tried to look for Draven, but couldn’t keep him in her line of vision anymore. The crowd was too large and blocked her view from where he was fighting at across the warehouse.