Welcome to the Darkness (Darkness Trilogy)

by L. M. Justus

  “But . . . I can smell her,” I insisted and my heart sped up. I did not want to play his stupid game.

  The King steepled his fingers under his chin. “Well, she was here. Now she is in the lab, destroying my virus.”

  My mouth dropped open and my stomach felt like he’d punched it.

  The King laughed and the bed jiggled. Two pillows tumbled from beside him onto the floor. “What? Did you think I was unaware of her silly mission?”

  I stared at him, speechless.

  He grinned. “The look of shock on your face is like candy, my dear boy. I so enjoy eating it up.” He paused and tilted his head. “Cat got your tongue?”

  “But . . . why aren’t you trying to stop her?”

  “You and your inane band of vampire hunters are so incredibly naïve. How could you believe I would be clueless to their comings and goings? That I would not know about them crawling through my home, tapping into my electronic records, and planting explosives in the building? Perhaps in another century or two you will be less absurdly innocent.”

  My mind swirled. “I don’t understand. Why create a virus if you’re willing to let it be destroyed?”

  “Because, Reed. I released the virus into the public water supply three days ago.”

  My heart sunk. It was all over. We had failed. Our plan had never had any hopes of working and the human race was screwed. This couldn’t be happening.

  “I hope you will be pleased to know,” the King continued, “I took great care to ensure the health of your lovely girlfriend. I made sure she only had access to bottled water, and went so far as to route pure water through the shower and bath in your quarters. Now my young friend,” the King said, moving to get out of his bed. “I have one last task for you.”

  He stood up and looked me straight in the eye. “I want you to kill me.”

  I took a step back. “What?”

  “Come now. You must be upset with me. Surely, I deserve to die for all my evil deeds. Plus, you already have two murders under your belt: your own maker, and that poor sap I brought in to feed you when I took your blood sample. Time to add a third kill. Believe me, taking a life will become old hat for you some day. Now, raise that sword.”

  I frowned and took another step back. “Please, I’ll get Sarah and we’ll leave. I can’t–”

  The King’s face transformed into a terrifying mask of pure menace and his fangs slid out. “Defend yourself or I will kill you,” he growled. He crouched, ready to pounce.

  I brought my left hand around to hold the sword in a two-handed grip. I didn’t know a damn thing about fighting with a sword, but I figured he couldn’t get too close if I held it pointed straight out in front of me.

  In a blur of movement, the King suddenly stood mere inches from me. I looked down and gasped. The blade stuck through his stomach, almost to the hilt.

  I stood trembling, frozen to the spot. He leaned forward to whisper into my ear. “Welcome to the darkness.”

  He placed both of his hands over mine, and in one fluid motion, he jerked the sword up, slicing himself open from his belly to the top of his head. Blood and brains spurted from his body. I turned and shouted. His body hit the ground with a thud and I fell to the side and caught myself against the wall.

  My legs shook so badly I could barely stand. I couldn’t bear to look at what remained of the King, and I turned and stumbled to the door. I spotted the bloody sword lying on the floor where I’d flung it and reached to pick it up. I wiped it off on the carpet before placing it into the sheath on my back.

  I teetered out into the hallway feeling light-headed. It was as if I wasn’t in control of my body and someone controlled me like a puppet. I squeezed my eyes shut and tightened my hands into fists, trying to concentrate so I could find Sarah.

  I moved down the hall in the opposite direction I’d come from, and Sarah’s scent grew stronger. When I reached the door to the lab, I felt sure I’d found the right room this time. The ceiling had partially collapsed and the door wouldn’t open on my first try. I yanked much harder the second time and the entire door ripped off its hinges.

  “Reed!” Sarah yelled.

  Relief flooded my body. “Sarah!”

  “Stop! Don’t come in,” she said.

  Not exactly the happy greeting I’d expected. She was lying on the floor across the room, lit by the muted light from her own phone.

  She pointed at the wet floor in front of her. “There’s an electric current running through that liquid. I found out the hard way.”

  “Oh.” I hesitated. “Wait, you mean you electrocuted yourself?”

  Sarah gave me a sheepish grin. “Yeah, that’s what I mean.”

  “Are you okay?” I looked her over and she seemed unhurt.

  “A little crispy around the edges, but yes, I’m okay.”

  “Hang on,” I said. “I’m jumping over.”

  I pushed off from the ground and leaped over the mess. My new leg slipped from under me when I landed on the other side and I fell on my ass and skidded across the floor. I ended up so close to Sarah I could feel her warm breath on my face.

  “I’m not too good with the new leg yet,” I mumbled.

  “Oh, Reed,” she cried, throwing her arms around me.

  I wrapped my arms around her and tried not to squeeze too tight. I never wanted to let her go. I leaned my head down and buried my face in her hair. She smelled so good, so familiar and right.

  “I thought the vampire brothers were going to kill us,” she said, her voice muffled against my chest.

  “Me too.”

  She moved back and I let my arms fall to my sides. Then she cupped my cheeks in her hands and pulled me into a fierce kiss. I dragged her body in closer to mine and kissed her back. It was a desperate mashing together of lips, with no room for gentleness. I couldn’t get enough of her. The feel of her, everything about her. I’d missed her so much and I’d worried about her more than I wanted to admit. I realized then, how deep my feelings had grown. I loved this woman. And the thought of almost losing someone else I loved was too painful to imagine.

  She pushed back gently, her eyes wet with tears. “I love you too.”

  Of course, she’d read that thought loud and clear. I smiled. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “Please.” She nodded.

  I scooped her into my arms and leaped over the wet floor. I was careful to brace my landing better so I didn’t fall. Using the light from Sarah’s phone, I navigated our way back out towards the stairwell. I hadn’t put Sarah down yet and I rushed with her in my arms past Joe’s body, hoping she wouldn’t see. At last, I reached the stairs and sped to the manor’s main floor.

  The stairwell exit was near a window at the end of a hall. I opened the window and popped out the screen, lowering Sarah onto the ground outside. Then I followed her out into moonlit darkness and we ran across the lawn hand-in-hand.

  “I’m surprised the fire department hasn’t shown up yet,” I said, looking around the deserted neighborhood. The smell of smoke was in the air, but only a few wisps still drifted out from the back of the mansion.

  “I guess people don’t look out for each other around here. Too busy with their own lives, holed up in their fancy estates,” Sarah said.

  She shivered, and I realized she wasn’t even close to being dressed warmly enough for a chilly November night. I shrugged out of my jacket and wrapped it around her even though I felt cold too. We walked briskly until we reached the relative warmth of a bus shelter a few blocks away. Ducking inside to escape the wind, we huddled together while Sarah pulled out her phone to text Trudy.

  I looked over her shoulder while she texted, “I’m out.”

  A moment later, “Joe?” popped up on the screen.

  “Sarah,” I said, pulling her hand into my own. I licked my lips and she turned to me. “I have some bad news . . . about Joe. I saw him, and he . . . he didn’t make it.”

  Her gaze shifted past my shoulder. “I wondere
d what you were doing with that sword. It was Joe’s, wasn’t it?”

  I’d forgotten about the sword sheathed on my back. “Yeah, it was.” It seemed like Sarah wasn’t ready to accept the truth about Joe’s death. Her next words confirmed my suspicion.

  “Reed, are you sure about Joe?”

  My mind flashed to the image of Joe’s head, gore falling out of what was left of it. I swallowed. “I’m sure.”

  She turned back to the phone shaking her head, causing hair to fall across her face. She typed, “Joe didn’t make it,” and pressed Send.

  A full minute passed before the next message came in. “Vamps are toast.”

  The ground vibrated before I heard the boom in the distance. Even from a few blocks away, we saw the fireball explosion that blasted into the air. The detonations continued and I felt confident there’d be nothing left of the vampires or the mansion after that.

  “I’m getting the strangest feeling of déjà vu,” Sarah said.

  “That’s probably because it’s the second vampire lair we’ve blown up in the last month,” I pointed out.

  Sarah’s phone buzzed with another incoming text. It was directions from Trudy to our rendezvous point. We used the phone’s map feature to figure out the location, and thankfully, it wasn’t too far away. I hadn’t seen a cab, or any other vehicle for that matter, since we’d left the mansion. We had no choice but to continue on foot.

  I wondered how Nathaniel was doing on his rescue mission. We were too cold to stand around sending text messages any longer though, so we’d have to wait until we reached the rendezvous point and warmed up. In a way, I dreaded meeting up with everyone. As bad as the news about Joe was, I didn’t know how to break it to them that the virus had already been released.

  Nathaniel

  Nathaniel took a deep breath of the invigorating autumn air and turned his gaze upwards. City smog muted the stars, but he knew they shone brightly beyond the polluted sky. He had stopped missing daylight ages ago and learned to revel in the darkness.

  Now that night had fallen, he needed to feed, but he decided to delay for an hour or so. It would be prudent to deal with Sarah’s sister first and feed later.

  He forwent taking a cab, choosing instead to run to Manhattan where the Queen’s condominium was located. The drive would take almost three quarters of an hour, whereas he could run the same distance in under ten minutes. Not to mention, there were no cabs nor other vehicles in the immediate vicinity.

  He raced through the tightly woven network of streets and grew increasingly curious as to the absence of life. Where was everyone? The lights of the city surrounded him, but the atmosphere was dead quiet. It resembled a dream–running through a fictitious setting that was a figment of his imagination–but he was not capable of dreaming.

  Nathaniel pushed his thoughts aside and continued to his destination. He reached the seven-story brick building and peered through the revolving glass doors. It was one of the older buildings in the neighborhood, but elegant still the same, and there had always been a doorman in years past. Tonight the doorman was mysteriously absent.

  He frowned. Strange and stranger.

  The revolving door turned easily and Nathaniel continued into the building. No one was at the reception desk either. At least he wouldn’t have to bother mesmerizing anyone to get past security. He walked to the single elevator and pressed the call button. Moments later the door slid open and he stepped inside. He arrived on the top floor without incident and proceeded to the Queen’s penthouse suite.

  There was no point in knocking, so he grabbed the doorknob and forced the door open. It swung inwards and slammed against the wall revealing a woman, bound and gagged, on a chair in the center of the otherwise barren room. Her gray-green eyes opened in surprise and Nathaniel stepped forward. Her eyes opened wider and she glanced to the ground at the same moment Nathaniel registered a slight tugging sensation on the front of his right ankle.

  Reacting on instinct, he threw himself to the ground. A puff of air blew by his forehead when something whizzed past, narrowly missing him. He lay still for a moment until the way seemed clear. Cautiously, he pushed himself into a sitting position. Along the wall to his right, three crossbows aimed at the opposite wall were aligned under the shuttered windows. He stole a quick glance behind him and saw the tripwire for this ridiculous setup.

  He stood up and brushed off his pants. The woman in the chair stared at him, trembling. The scent of her fear colored the air and Nathaniel clenched his teeth to prevent it from provoking him into a feeding frenzy. He swept his teeth with his tongue to ensure his fangs hadn’t emerged. He didn’t want to scare her any further.

  “Do not be afraid. My name is Nathaniel. I am a friend of Sarah’s and I have come to release you.” He spoke in a soothing voice, but did not exert any mind control.

  The woman grunted something unintelligible into the gag. Nathaniel leaned over her to untie the cloth and pull it away from her face. Her blond hair spilled free, caressing his hands. He closed his eyes as her delectable scent drifted into his nose. The tantalizing aroma caused his gums to tingle almost painfully.

  “She said you would come for me,” the woman croaked. Nathaniel wished he had some water to offer her; it was possible she was even thirstier than he was. A vampire’s residence did not require kitchen or bathroom facilities though, so there was no source of water in the Queen’s empty apartment.

  “Did she?” he asked, undoing the ropes around her wrists and ankles.

  “She left you a note. In my pocket,” she added, nodding in the direction of her waist.

  A triangle of white paper stuck out of the pocket of her black pencil skirt. He pulled it out and unfolded the thick paper. The handwriting was all too familiar to him.

  “Dearest Nathaniel,” he read. “I knew you could not resist rescuing a damsel in distress. I do hope you remain unscathed from my little trap, but I could not resist adding a slight challenge to your task. Of course if any injury was incurred, you have this tasty morsel in front of you from which to take your nourishment and heal. Until we meet again, your Queen.”

  Nathaniel shook his head. The tendency for over-dramatization certainly ran in the family. He berated himself once again for missing the fact that the King and Queen were siblings. Now that he knew, he wondered how he could ever have thought otherwise. There was little physical resemblance however, and the same seemed to be true of Sarah and her sister, Sophie.

  Her bindings undone, Sophie stood up and Nathaniel got a better look at her. She was tall, an inch or two taller than his five foot eight. She had blond hair to Sarah’s honey brown and gray-green eyes to Sarah’s more hazel green.

  She wrapped her arms around her chest as if she were cold. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?”

  He was uncertain how much the Queen had revealed to Sophie. “Well, I am a . . .”

  “Vampire,” he said at the same time she said, “Monster.”

  He blinked, unsure what to say next. She opened her mouth to speak, and her lips parted as if in slow motion. The vein in her neck pulsed a staccato beat.

  “Are you going to bite me?” Her voice quivered and she backed away from him.

  “No. I will not bite you.”

  “Will I turn into a . . . a vampire . . . if you bite me?”

  “No. And I am not going to bite you. Please, you must come with me so I can take you to your sister.” He held out his hand, but she didn’t take it. He sighed. “Follow me.”

  He walked to the door, relieved to hear her footsteps behind him. They continued to the elevator, which opened as soon as Nathaniel pressed the button. It appeared as though no one else had summoned the elevator since he’d used it last. He stepped inside and Sophie edged through the door, slinking along the wall to place herself as far away from him as possible.

  When they reached the lobby, Nathaniel spotted one of the security guard’s jackets slung over a chair behind the desk. He grabbed the jacket as well as an
unopened can of Dr. Pepper resting next to the guard’s computer.

  “Put this on,” he said, passing Sophie the jacket.

  She held it away from her body with a grimace.

  Nathaniel frowned. “It is cold outside and you are wearing a sleeveless blouse and skirt. This is for practical purposes, not fashion.”

  Sophie rolled her eyes and slipped the jacket on as if it was coated in spikes.

  Nathaniel held out the Dr. Pepper. “And drink this. You must be terribly thirsty.”

  She didn’t argue, and gulped the warm soda. Sophie drank her fill and Nathaniel pulled out his phone to call Sarah.

  “Nathaniel! Where are you? Did you find her?” Sarah shouted. He yanked the phone away from his ear.

  “Yes, I have Sophie here with me. She is fine. May I remind you not to shout in my ear?”

  “You found her? And she’s okay? Can I talk to her?”

  “As I said, she is well. I trust you were successful in your own endeavor?”

  “One of the hunters was killed, but the virus has been destroyed and the mansion was demolished,” she answered.

  Nathaniel felt a pang of regret at losing the entire New York vampire contingent, but knew it was probably for the best. “Where do you want to meet? I will bring Sophie and you may talk in person.”

  Sarah rhymed off an address that did not sound familiar to him. “What is this place?” he asked.

  “It’s a house. It belongs to one of the hunters,” Sarah replied.

  “One of the vampire hunters?” he said, incredulity coloring his voice.

  “Yes.”

  Nathaniel gritted his teeth. “Does he know about me?”

  “She, actually, not he. Her name’s Trudy. And yes, Reed and I both told her all about you. She’s okay with you being a vampire, I promise.”

  “Tell her to stash the weapons–the UV balls–well out of sight. If I see even a hint of one I shall react with deadly force.”

  “Nathaniel, we’re all on the same side here. They’re not going to do anything, and I told them you wouldn’t hurt them either, so . . . please be careful.”