Welcome to the Darkness (Darkness Trilogy)

by L. M. Justus

  Nathaniel hoisted Reed’s body over his shoulder, and turned to survey the area around them. He needed a secluded place for the next day or so where he could help the boy recuperate. He would return to clean up the rest of the mess later.

  He darted down the empty streets until he found a storage facility. Breaking into the building was a simple task, and he quickly made his way to the lower level. Aisle after aisle of storage lockers stretched out into the darkness. The first door he tried was unlocked, and he lifted the sliding door to reveal an empty, windowless space approximately fifty square feet in size.

  He laid Reed on the ground. It was difficult to see, even for Nathaniel, but he was able to discern that Reed’s wounds had stopped bleeding. Healing them would be another matter entirely. Even a vampire would need a full day, maybe two, to heal such grievous injury. And he required an ample supply of blood.

  Where would he find such a large quantity of blood? He could sacrifice the lives of five or six humans, but Reed would never forgive him. The only other option he could think of was to raid a blood bank. Vampires never raided blood banks because it drew too much attention, but Nathaniel did not know what else to do.

  Shaking his head, he set out to find the nearest one. He needed to return before Reed regained consciousness.

  Less than half an hour later, Nathaniel returned to the storage locker, cooler bag full of blood in hand. He flipped the light switch he hadn’t noticed earlier, and a single bulb in the ceiling flickered to life.

  He moved to Reed’s side, placing the cooler bag next to him on the concrete floor. Leaning over the boy’s still form, Nathaniel ripped open the remains of Reed’s shirt and removed it. The gashes on his chest and face had almost healed already. He stared with morbid fascination at the bits of raw muscle, bone, and skin where the arm had been severed. Upon close examination, it was possible to detect the reformation of his arm from the inside out.

  Nathaniel reached inside the cooler bag for a blood packet, just in time. Reed gasped back to life. There was a brief pause, and then he started hollering. Nathaniel used his own fangs to slice open the plastic pouch, and then he shoved it into Reed’s mouth, squeezing to empty the contents. At first Reed choked and blood ran out the sides of his mouth, but soon enough he began to swallow. He continued to drink, his eyes open but unfocused. When he finished the first bag, Nathaniel gave him another. And another . . . and another, until ten bags later, he died.

  Nathaniel sagged against the storage locker wall. Time to call Sarah. He dug his phone out from the pocket of his leather jacket and selected Sarah’s name from the list of contacts. She picked up immediately.

  “Nathaniel!”

  He pulled the phone away from his ear. “Yes. Please do not shout. I have a very keen sense of hearing. Did you make it back to the manor?”

  “Yes . . . yes I’m fine. What about Reed?”

  “I am with him. He is dead.”

  “What?”

  “Not permanently.” He cringed at his poor effort to placate Sarah. “I have obtained a large quantity of blood from a nearby hospital and fed him his first round. His wounds are healing, but it will take some time.”

  “Healing . . . how?”

  “The more minor injuries have already healed. The arm and leg will take longer. A day or so.”

  “But . . . what is he going to do . . . without–”

  “His limbs will regrow.”

  “You’re kidding!”

  There was a muffled thud and some rustling, and he assumed Sarah had dropped the phone. He waited until he could hear her breathing into the phone again. “Vampires have an incredible capacity to regenerate and heal,” he continued. “The new limbs will lack muscle tone until he has a chance to rebuild his strength, but he will survive.”

  “Can I come see him?”

  “That would be unwise. He will be driven on instinct to feed from any source of fresh blood he can, regardless from whom he takes it.” Reed remained deathly still. His new arm and leg had already grown about half an inch during the course of his conversation with Sarah.

  “Sarah, you must explain to me what you and Reed have been up to.”

  She took a quivering breath. “I know, and I’m sorry. We should have come to you earlier. Reed wanted to, but I wasn’t sure how loyal you were to the King. I’m still not sure, but everything’s gone to hell, and . . . I want to trust you.”

  “Sarah, I will do nothing to bring you harm. You must know this by now.”

  “All right, I’ll spill the beans. Just promise me you’ll hear me out.”

  “I anxiously await your explanation.” He shifted into a relatively more comfortable position.

  “Not long after we arrived at the New York vampire lair,” Sarah began, “I went exploring through the manor. I bumped into a man who turned out to be part of a group of vampire hunters. He wanted us to meet with them because he said the King was creating a virus that would wipe out life as we know it, mutating humans into zombie-like, vampire hybrids. I had my doubts, but then Reed had his blood taken by force and he was upset, as you know, so we decided to check out the vampire hunters after all. Later, I met up with the King and read his mind, and I verified that the hunters’ suspicions were true. Nathaniel, there’s a plan in place to neutralize the virus and destroy the vampire lair tomorrow, during the day when the vampires won’t be able to escape.”

  His mind swirled, digesting the information. “They plan to annihilate them . . . tomorrow?”

  “Yes, but we were going to tell you, I swear. We told the hunters that we had to warn you to get out first; that we wouldn’t help them unless we could guarantee your safety.”

  “Where do the Panagos brothers fit into this?”

  “They don’t,” she sighed. “That was unrelated. Reed and I left the meeting with the hunters later than we’d meant to. The brothers came out of nowhere and attacked.”

  “And the vampire hunters helped you defeat them?”

  “Not directly. I had one of their weapons in my pocket. Something called a UV ball. You can guess what it does.”

  “Apparently, it is extremely effective.” He shivered. “I suppose my present location is the safest one then, given all that.” Nathaniel felt a little annoyed he was only now learning of Sarah’s grand plans with her group of hunters.

  “You won’t tell the King?”

  “No. I suspected the King was due to meet the sun. The insanity of old age is inevitable among our kind, and it is our duty to meet our end before we lose control. I cannot comprehend why he has not already relinquished his rule. It is past time for him to die, and I am certain the Queen cannot be far behind. She is his younger sister, but only by a few years.”

  “Thank you, Nathaniel. I’ll call you when it’s over.”

  “I fear for your safety, Sarah.”

  “I’ll be okay. Just take care of Reed.”

  “As you wish,” he said, and hung up without saying goodbye.

  Nathaniel shoved the phone back into his pocket and crawled over to Reed. He brushed a lock of hair off the boy’s newly healed forehead.

  “N’aie pas peur,” he whispered, even though Reed was still out cold. “Do not be afraid,” he translated, realizing he’d slipped into the French of his youth.

  He remembered whispering the same words to his young son when he had been afraid of the dark. He had reassured his son that monsters didn’t exist, and nothing would sneak into the house at night to harm them. Nathaniel had believed his own words, not knowing that the monsters were real, that he would become one of them, and that he himself would be the one to sneak into the house at night and end the lives of his own wife and son.

  He shook his head and punched his knee. No, he would not let himself relive those tragic moments. The only way for him to deal with his losses was not to deal with them at all.

  It would be another few hours before Reed awoke, so Nathaniel left to clean up the mess at the site of the attack before the sun came up.r />
  Reed

  Pain.

  Fire.

  I was on fire.

  I opened my eyes. All I could see was a wash of red.

  An inhuman moan escaped my lips. Why wouldn’t the pain go away? I couldn’t stand it another second. Now I was so cold, I shivered, and a fresh wave of agony bit into the left side of my body. I was being eaten alive.

  “Help me!”

  “Ne t’inquiete pas,” a deep voice whispered. “Do not worry. Everything will be fine.”

  Gibberish. I couldn’t understand. Where was I? What was happening to me?

  Someone shoved a cold, squishy thing into my mouth. Cool liquid flooded out, and I swallowed. A taste of heaven, salty, metallic and thirst-quenching beyond belief. I drank and drank and drank. And then I died.

  Sarah

  The image staring back at Sarah from the bathroom mirror was pitiful. Her hair was wet from the shower she’d taken to clean off the blood and puke, and she appeared ten years older than she had the day before. Dark bags underlined her red, puffy eyes, and a collection of scratches and bruises marred the skin of her face and hands. She looked almost as crappy as she felt.

  The horrible images from the attack flitted across her mind yet again and bile rose in her throat. There wasn’t anything else left in her stomach to throw up, and she’d cried herself dry.

  Someone had taped an “out of order” sign over the sink, so she cracked open one of the bottles of water that had been placed next to it. She guzzled down a few mouthfuls and waited to see how her stomach would react.

  A knock sounded at the door to her bedroom.

  “Go away,” she snarled.

  “Open the door or I shall open it for you,” a girlish voice replied.

  Sarah growled and stomped over to the door. “For Christ’s sake, what did you not understand about–”

  She yanked the door open, revealing the Queen of San Jose. The Queen was ridiculously overdressed in a magenta-colored taffeta gown, her perfectly curled, golden ringlets flowing over her shoulders.

  “You,” Sarah sneered.

  The Queen frowned. “Have you learned nothing in regards to treating your elders with respect?”

  “This is a really, really bad time. Please . . . leave me alone.”

  The Queen waved her hand as though to erase what Sarah had said. “I care not for your personal woes. Move aside. We need to talk.”

  Sarah closed her eyes and shook her head before stepping back to let the Queen enter.

  After the grand skirts of her dress had cleared the doorway, the Queen closed the door behind her and turned to survey the room. The furniture was still broken and scattered about from Reed’s burst of anger earlier.

  “Did you and your lover boy have a spat?” The Queen smiled almost imperceptibly.

  “What do you want?” Sarah demanded.

  “I have information for you, which should be of interest assuming you care about your fellow human beings.” She paused and waited.

  Sarah stood up straighter, suddenly paying attention.

  The Queen leaned against the bed and folded her hands in her lap. “It would appear that my dear brother, the King, has completely lost his mind. He has concocted a contagion to infect humans, which will render them useless for vampires to feed upon. I refuse to feed on anything but human blood.” Her voice rose and her eyes burned into Sarah as if she were to blame.

  Sarah knew she looked surprised, but for all the wrong reasons. Of course she already knew about the virus, but how had the Queen found out? And why was the Queen sharing this information with her?

  The Queen took a breath and composed herself. “If we do not stop my brother, the human race will be wiped out. You agree this is detrimental to us both?”

  “I don’t understand. Why are you telling me this?”

  “Because . . . I require your assistance. The King and I share a bond that allows him to know my whereabouts at all times. He will not be overly wary that I came to see you, but he will be suspicious if I enter the room where he keeps the virus. I am certain he would stop me the second I stepped foot into that room. However, not only can you enter this room, but you can use your ability to sense whether others are near, correct?”

  “It sounds risky,” Sarah said.

  The evil grin that spread across the Queen’s face made Sarah feel sick to her stomach all over again. The Queen reached into the vast folds of her dress and pulled something out of a hidden pocket. “A little something to ensure your cooperation,” she said, passing the object over to Sarah.

  It was a smartphone, with a triangular “Play” button on the screen. “What is this?”

  “Play the video and find out,” the Queen snapped.

  Sarah pressed “Play” and waited. The screen was dark and someone whimpered. “Sarah?” a familiar voice whispered. Her heart sunk into the pit of her stomach and she thought she might scream. “Sarah? Please, don’t let them hurt me!” A match flared to life, revealing her sister Sophie, tied to a chair. The light flickered out and the video ended.

  Tears flooded Sarah’s eyes and she glared at the Queen. “You . . . bitch!”

  In a flash of movement, the Queen grabbed Sarah by the throat and slammed her up against the wall. “Careful, human.” She put her face a fraction of an inch from Sarah’s, fangs on full display. Sarah struggled for air, grasping at the hands around her throat. The Queen released her and she fell, gasping for air.

  “You . . . didn’t need to . . . take my sister. I’ll . . . help you,” Sarah panted.

  The Queen tilted her head, regarding Sarah. “Oh, but it was so much more fun this way,” she purred. “The other video on that phone will give you the instructions you need to destroy the virus. If you breathe a word of this to the King, we will both die, and so will every human on earth. If I were you, I would get to work immediately. After you have completed your task, I will give you your sister’s location. She is unguarded, but she will starve to death, strapped to that chair if you do not free her soon.”

  Spinning on her heel, her magenta dress flaring about her in a splash of color, the Queen left the room.

  Sarah slumped against the wall. How could things get any worse? Everything was spinning out of control. She pulled her phone out of her jeans pocket and selected Nathaniel from her list of contacts. She tried not to sob and waited for him to answer.

  “Sarah?” Nathaniel’s calm voice somehow reassured her.

  “Nathaniel!”

  “What is it?”

  “Nathaniel, she took my sister. The Queen kidnapped my sister!”

  He paused. “Explain.”

  Sarah took a deep breath. “The Queen knows all about the King’s plan with the virus. Jesus, everyone seems to know about it. She wants me to destroy the virus, and she took my sister to make sure I’d do it, even though I was planning to destroy it anyway!”

  “What did she say about your sister?”

  “She showed me a video. Sophie was tied to a chair in a dark room. The Queen said she was unguarded, and that she would starve to death if I didn’t follow her instructions to destroy the virus right away. She said she’d tell me where she was keeping my sister after I finish the task so I can go free her myself.”

  “I see. I cannot be certain, but I suspect the Queen has sequestered your sister at a residence in Manhattan. The Queen owns a condominium there, which has not been used in many years, but it seems the logical choice for holding Sophie. After the sun sets, I will go and retrieve your sister, if she is indeed there. You concentrate on your task. When you have completed the mission, contact me again and we will meet.”

  “You make it sound so simple. I don’t know if I can do this.”

  “You must, for the sake of us all, and the hunters will assist you. You are not alone.”

  “But, my sister . . .”

  “Sarah, as you say, you had plans to destroy the virus anyway. If nothing else, the Queen is a woman of her word, so if you are successful
in your task, she will give you Sophie’s location. Hopefully, I will already have your sister in my possession, but if not, at that time we can go rescue her. There is nothing more you can do to help her right now.”

  Sarah bit her bottom lip and sighed. “I know . . . you’re right. I feel so overwhelmed I’m having trouble concentrating. I’ll contact the hunters so we can get started. God, I can’t wait until this is over with.”

  “I have one more question for you,” Nathaniel added. “Does your sister have the same ability as you to read minds?”

  “No, why?”

  “It may prove helpful if I can control her mind, and because your immunity to mind control seems to go hand-in-hand with your ability to read minds . . .”

  “I understand,” Sarah said. “Do whatever you have to do to keep her safe.”

  “That I promise you. Good luck, Sarah.” He hung up without saying goodbye again.

  Sarah pressed the “End Call” button and stared at her phone for a minute before scrolling through her list of contacts. She selected Pickle’s number and waited while the phone rang.

  “Hello?” a woman’s voice answered.

  “Hi, it’s Sarah.”

  “Oh, Sarah, hey. It’s Trudy. Pickle’s down for the count with a nasty flu, in case you’re wondering why I answered his phone. Of course, he went and gave it to Sahib and Liz too, so it’s just me and Joe manning the fort today. Don’t worry though. Joe’s able to set up the explosives on his own and Sahib showed me how to detonate them. We’re still good to go.”

  Sarah blew out a breath. “A lot has happened since we last saw you, Trudy. Reed was hurt . . . badly.” She swallowed, thinking what an understatement that was. “So, I’m on my own. It doesn’t matter though. I can handle it, and I’m ready to get started.”

  “Sounds good. We’ll be there shortly. Text me when you’ve neutralized the virus and I’ll blow the place. Good luck.”

  “You too, Trudy. Bye,” Sarah said and hung up. This was it: the moment they’d been planning for.