Welcome to the Darkness (Darkness Trilogy)

by L. M. Justus

  “We will be there shortly,” he said and hung up in his usual fashion without saying goodbye. He looked up the address for the rendezvous point on his phone and committed the route to memory. “Shall we go?” he asked, turning to Sophie.

  She nodded, and they pushed through the revolving doors into the cool night. The air smelled damp as though the clouds were heavy with an impending rainfall. Nathaniel crooked his arm for Sophie to grab hold, but she gave him a wary look and tucked her hands into the security guard’s jacket.

  Nathaniel shook his head. “As I said earlier, I will not hurt you. I apologize if I keep looking at you like food, but I am anxious to satisfy my nutritional needs. The sooner we get you to the rendezvous location, the sooner I may find an appropriate source of nourishment.”

  “I’ll just follow behind you, if that’s okay?” she asked with wide eyes.

  “As you wish.” He turned and walked away and she hurried to keep up.

  After a few moments, Sophie said, “So . . . you’re really a vampire? For real?”

  Nathaniel continued walking. “I thought we covered that already.”

  “I know, but my eyes are telling me one thing and my brain is screaming ‘You’re crazy!’ How the hell did Sarah get messed up in all this?”

  “I will let Sarah answer that herself,” he answered. He knew Sophie must be brimming with questions, but he could not help feeling a tad impatient.

  “Have you always been a vampire? I mean, were you born that way, or did you get turned into one?”

  “All vampires were once human. Vampires cannot procreate.” Nathaniel picked up speed, hoping to wear her out and put a halt to the interrogation.

  She was breathing heavily, but continued firing one question after another. “How do you become a vampire then?”

  “Most of your blood is drained and then you ingest fresh vampire blood. The transformation is extremely painful and many do not survive, especially females and children.” When he said the words, his thoughts turned to the Queen who had been both female and a child at the time of her turning, a rare case indeed.

  “Are you like, two thousand years old or something?”

  Nathaniel was having trouble keeping up with her peculiar train of thought. “No. I was born in 1781.”

  “Oh,” she said, sounding almost disappointed.

  Nathaniel stopped suddenly and Sophie bumped into him. “It would be much faster if I could carry you. I realize you are uncomfortable around me, but I can get us there in a matter of minutes if I run, whereas it may be another hour at our current speed.” And he wasn’t sure he could put up with the constant questions for another minute.

  Her warm breath clouded the air while she panted. “You want to run while you’re carrying me?”

  “Yes.”

  She leaned her head back and looked at the sky. “Oh God. Okay. Whatever. These have been the craziest two days of my entire life.”

  Sophie bit her bottom lip and tensed. It was the first time her mannerisms reminded Nathaniel of Sarah. He scooped her long, lean body into his arms and sped down the deserted streets to their destination. Now it was his turn to enter the lion’s den: a group of humans dedicated to killing his kind. How had he gotten himself into this mess?

  Reed

  Sarah and I sat on the flower-patterned couch in Trudy’s living room, waiting for her to return with drinks. Our rendezvous point was Trudy’s house: a small, sparsely furnished bungalow. There were a couple of framed photos on her fireplace mantle, both of Trudy with a man who looked like her husband or boyfriend. The pictures didn’t look that old, but she’d never mentioned having a significant other. Maybe vampires had killed him and that was why Trudy became a hunter. I knew something tragic had happened, but I didn’t know exactly what.

  Trudy walked into the room carrying a drink in each hand, one for Sarah and one for herself. Sparkling water mixed with cranberry juice and a squeeze of lemon, her favorite drink apparently. She passed a glass to Sarah and then swished her own drink before taking a sip. “Beats tap water by a mile,” Trudy said. “I’m kind of picky that way. Tap water in New York tastes like it came straight out of the sewer.”

  I thought it was damn lucky she didn’t drink the city water because it was tainted with the virus. Now I had to figure out how to tell them my latest bit of bad news. A knock at the door saved me from saying anything for the moment.

  “May we come in?” Nathaniel’s voice carried into the living room.

  Sarah slammed her drink down on the coffee table and stood up. “Sophie!” she screamed.

  A tall, blond-haired woman raced past me into Sarah’s open arms. “Sarah!”

  I glanced at Nathaniel and waved, and he nodded back. His eye color had paled from its usual almost-black brown to a light brownish-gray. He must have been thirsty, but it looked like he was planning to hang around for a while. He leaned against the living room doorframe and watched Sarah and her sister’s enthusiastic reunion.

  The two women pulled apart, looking at each other teary eyed. Sarah’s sister turned to me and looked me up and down. “Who are you?” she asked like it was an accusation.

  I frowned and crossed my arms. “I’m Reed. You must be Sophie.”

  She looked between Sarah and me, and then looked between us one more time. “Sarah? Are you two . . . ?”

  My face grew hot. How the hell could she tell there was anything going on between me and Sarah just from looking at us? We weren’t even standing next to each other.

  “Yes, Soph. Reed and I are together,” Sarah answered. She gave me a reassuring smile.

  “But, how old is he?” Sophie said under her breath.

  I glared down at her, even though she was only two or three inches shorter than me. “Uh, ‘he’ can hear you,” I said.

  She turned to me and crossed her own arms. “Oh yeah? So how old are you then?”

  “Seventeen. Eighteen in another month and a half.”

  “Ha!” she shouted, turning back to look at Sarah as if she’d made her point.

  “Are you two even related?” I muttered. They didn’t look like sisters and I was starting to hate Sophie already.

  “Excuse me,” Nathaniel said and we all turned to look at him. “This juvenile argument seems rather pointless. Do we not have more serious matters to discuss?”

  “Good point,” Trudy said. She still stood in the doorway on the opposite side of the room from Nathaniel, but she was clearly making an effort to show him her support. It must have been weird to have two vampires in her house after spending so much time trying to hunt them down and kill them.

  “Well, I have something important to say,” I said, and all eyes were on me. “When I was in the mansion, I spoke with the King–”

  “King? What King?” Sophie interrupted.

  “Would you let me finish?” I snapped.

  “Guys, please,” Sarah pleaded. Sophie glowered, but stayed quiet.

  “The King told me,” I continued, “that he introduced the virus into the city’s water supply three days ago.”

  Trudy and Sarah both gasped. Sarah’s expression crumbled and she looked lost. “But, that means . . . everything I went through to destroy the virus was for nothing.”

  “Oh my God,” Trudy said. “Liz and Sahib and Pickle . . . they’re all sick. It’s not a flu. It’s the damn virus!”

  “I am curious as to why none of you are ill then,” Nathaniel said.

  Trudy said, “I just finished saying how much I hate the taste of tap water. That must be my saving grace because I never drink it. And Joe, I’ve never seen him drink anything except Coke or beer.”

  “I’ve only been in New York for a day and a half,” Sophie said. “And no one’s given me anything to eat or drink since I got here, except for that Dr. Pepper.”

  “I drink tap water all the time,” Sarah said. “Although, come to think of it, there was an ‘out of order’ sign on the tap in our room at the manor, and bottled water next to the si
nk.”

  “The King said he made sure you wouldn’t drink the water and get infected,” I added. “I don’t know why he bothered, but . . .”

  “That would explain why the city appears to be deserted,” Nathaniel added. “Almost everyone must be incapacitated by the virus.”

  Something slammed against the living room window and we all jumped. A woman had walked right into the front of the house. Her body pressed against the glass and she was still trying to move forward. Her eyes were extremely pale, like a vampire’s when they were thirsty. And . . . she had fangs.

  “Oh my God, it’s a zombie!” Sophie shrieked.

  “No. It’s one of the revenants,” Trudy said.

  “A rev-what?” Sophie whimpered.

  “Revenants. A human-vampire hybrid. It’s started,” she said.

  Nathaniel came toward me and reached over my shoulder, pulling the samurai sword from its sheath.

  “Hey, that’s Joe’s, isn’t it?” Trudy said.

  I licked my lips, my gaze darting between Trudy and the woman outside. I didn’t understand why the woman wasn’t trying to break the glass or find another way inside. “Yeah, it was Joe’s sword. I didn’t think he’d mind if I borrowed it.”

  “Be careful, Nathaniel,” Trudy said. “The blade is coated with silver.”

  Nathaniel nodded. “I shall return shortly,” he said and headed for the door.

  “Wait a minute,” I shouted after him. “Where are you going?”

  He ignored me and continued outside. He stepped onto the front lawn and approached the woman from behind. She didn’t even turn to look at him and kept marching mindlessly into the window. Nathaniel drew his arm back and swung the weapon through the air, slicing the woman’s head cleanly off her body.

  Sophie started screaming and I watched Nathaniel wipe the sword in the grass to clean off the blood. For some reason I couldn’t look away. He came back into the house as calm as ever and replaced the sword in the sheath. I stared at him, waiting for an explanation.

  “Hey,” I said. “You killed that woman! Are you crazy?”

  Nathaniel picked a piece of lint off the front of his pants. “That woman was no longer human. I believe ‘revenant’ is the term the hunters chose.”

  “No,” I argued. “That was a woman who was infected with a virus. Maybe there’s a cure. Except now it’s too late because she’s dead.”

  “Do you have any idea how many years it takes to develop a cure for an illness?” Nathaniel asked. “If any cure is found at all.”

  Trudy cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, Reed, but I’m going to have to side with Nathaniel on this. According to the most recent intel on the virus we managed to collect, the infected humans only survived for a few days at most. This strain of the virus might be different, but I bet it will have infected and killed off most of the human population long before any cure is found.”

  I raked my hands through my hair. “So what else does your intel say?”

  “As I said, things might be different with this strain of the virus. As far as I know though, when an infected human passes through the initial stages, which mirror the symptoms of a severe flu, they focus solely on feeding. Similar to a vampire, they’re attracted to human blood, although they may be able to feed off other animals. I don’t believe they can feed off each other or off vampires.”

  “How can they tell the difference between humans and vampires?” I asked.

  “The same way vampires can: by sense of smell. The infected humans lose the majority of their brain functions, and act only on their instinct to feed. I think that’s why the woman kept walking into my window instead of looking for another way in.”

  “So basically, Nathaniel and I are safe around these revenants because they can tell from our scent that our blood is no good for them?”

  “Whoa–wait a second,” Sophie said. “You’re not . . . you can’t be . . . I mean–” she turned to Sarah. “Is Reed a vampire too?” she whispered.

  “Yes, Soph.”

  Sophie squinted at me and turned back to her sister. “You’re robbing the cradle and you’re dating a vampire? Have you lost your mind?”

  “Ahem–more important issues. Hello?” I said.

  Sarah pointed out the window. “There comes a more important issue right now.”

  A man was walking straight across the street toward us, but he wasn’t moving very quickly. I strained to see him in better detail and I could just make out the unfocused look on his face.

  “Do the revenants have the same weaknesses as vampires?” Nathaniel asked.

  “They did,” Trudy began, “but I know that was something the vampires were trying to fix. I have no idea if they were successful before they released the virus.”

  “We could try one of the UV balls,” I suggested.

  “No!” Nathaniel said.

  “Not around you, of course,” I added. “You can hide in a closet or something while I test it out. Shouldn’t we figure out what else we can use against them besides the sword?”

  “Yes. I suppose that would be wise,” he conceded. “I shall go sequester myself for a moment. Come fetch me when you have finished.” In a flash of movement, he left.

  Trudy went to fetch a UV ball, and returned with one clutched in her hand just as the man reached the front window. Like the woman earlier, he kept marching into the glass even though he wasn’t getting anywhere. I couldn’t believe a normal person was reduced to this so quickly.

  “Press the button and slide this until it stops,” Trudy said and passed me the UV ball.

  “Will it work through the window?” I asked.

  “Not nearly as effectively as direct exposure.”

  “All right.”

  I walked out the front door and down the steps, coming up behind the man. I held the ball out in front of me. “Hey,” I called. The man didn’t turn to look at me. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly. I squeezed my eyes shut, pressed the button, and moved the slider until it stopped. Even with my eyes closed, I saw the bright flash.

  I lowered my arm and opened my eyes. The man was still there, marching away. So much for that weapon.

  I tossed the ball into the bushes and re-entered the house. “That totally didn’t work,” I said, stating the obvious.

  “That means they’ll be able to go out during the day too,” Trudy pointed out.

  “I guess the vamps put my blood to good use after all,” I grumped.

  Sophie clung to Sarah’s arm. “I’m so confused, I don’t know where to start asking questions,” she said.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything,” Sarah reassured her.

  “Don’t worry? There’s zombie, revenant, whatever-the-hell those things are, trying to eat us! Maybe they’re too stupid to figure out how to get in the door, but what about when there’s a hundred of them at the window? Or a thousand?”

  “Sophie’s right,” Trudy said. “We need to gather supplies and find a spot that will be easier to fortify. Why don’t you girls see what you can find in the garage? I’ll go get some weapons. You’re a cop right?” Sarah nodded. “So you know how to fire a gun?”

  “I’ll get Nathaniel,” I said.

  We went our separate ways, and I sniffed around until I found Nathaniel’s hiding spot. I pulled the closet door open and he stepped out.

  “Well?” he asked.

  “It didn’t work.” I shook my head. “Trudy thinks we should gather supplies and get out of here.”

  “Yes, we should get to higher ground,” he agreed.

  “Nathaniel, what are you going to do about feeding? I can tell you’re thirsty. I’m gonna be in the same boat in a few hours too.”

  “I do not know, but we must deposit these women somewhere safe first. Then we can deal with our nutritional needs.”

  “Um, okay. As long as you don’t lose control and munch on one of them,” I said and turned to walk down the hall.

  Nathaniel caught my arm and I turned back. “You
must not hesitate to protect these women,” he said, his pale eyes searching my own. “If they receive even a single bite from one of the revenants, they may become infected themselves. Do you understand?”

  I swallowed and pictured myself hacking off people’s heads with the sword. Then I imagined Sarah getting bitten and infected, walking around like a mindless zombie. “I understand.”

  After collecting as many supplies as we could in a short amount of time, our group of five headed out. Our goal was to reach any good-sized apartment building and set up our safe spot on the top floor.

  Despite having a garage, Trudy didn’t own a car because she got by just fine using public transportation. This meant we had to walk to our destination, but there were several apartment buildings a few blocks away. We set a quick pace, anxious to find the comfort of a closed space. We were sitting ducks out in the open.

  The streets in Trudy’s neighborhood were still deserted: the two revenants we’d seen earlier had been the only ones. So far. Nathaniel had beheaded the poor man at Trudy’s window because the UV ball hadn’t worked. I had a feeling the sword would see a lot more action in the near future.

  We continued walking in silence until we neared an intersection about three blocks from Trudy’s house. Nathaniel was in the lead, and he stopped suddenly, cocking his head to the side. “Do you hear that?” he said.

  There was something, but I had no idea what. It sounded like people clapping. I walked up to the corner, and the rest of the group followed me. I turned to the left.

  “Oh my God,” Sarah breathed.

  About fifty yards away there was a horde of about two hundred revenants. They started sniffing the air, and then they broke into a run.

  “They are coming for us,” Nathaniel said.

  “No shit!” I yelled. “Go. Go!”

  Nathaniel grabbed Sophie and threw her over his shoulder, and then he swooped past Trudy and threw her over his other shoulder. He took off at vampire speed and I had to react quickly and grab Sarah before taking off after him.

  When we reached the closest apartment building, we set the women down. The revenants hadn’t been able to keep up. Thankfully, it seemed they were restricted to human speed.