Darkness Reigns (Darkness Trilogy)

by L. M. Justus

  To her relief, the fields eventually met up with suburban neighborhoods, and the streets and houses became more tightly packed together as they continued toward the city center. The sky was cloudless, yet the stars shone less brilliantly the closer they got to Montreal’s dense population.

  They ran down the roads in a blur, too fast for the few people who were out to spot them. Rounding a long curve in the road, they crested the next rise, and the glowing lights of the downtown core lit up the streets ahead.

  Zipping down the gradual slope, they continued and didn’t stop until they were well into the city proper. Not daring to slow their pace and risk being spotted, they flew through the streets at breakneck speed.

  Eventually, Nathaniel was forced to stop and get directions from Justin and Alexandre, who were familiar with the city’s layout. They moved into the shadows at the side of an unlit parking lot to talk. Stopping twice more to let the hunters orient themselves, they finally arrived without incident at Marcel’s lair and the vampires set the humans on their feet at last.

  Nathaniel walked up to the front door and knocked.

  A few seconds passed and the door opened. Katrina, Marcel’s petite head of security, stood in the doorway. She stared at them, her mouth slightly parted as a cold gust of wind ruffled her dark hair.

  “Marcel,” she called loudly, continuing to face forward.

  He arrived behind her in a flash. Marcel’s eyes widened and he froze.

  “You owe us,” Sarah said. “And we need a place to stay.”

  Marcel swallowed, and blinked twice, slowly. “Of course. Come in.”

  He and Katrina stepped aside to make room in the narrow entryway. Marcel’s brows drew together in confusion as he watched the Queen walk into the house.

  “Don’t worry about her,” Sarah said. “She’s under my control.”

  Marcel gawked at Sarah as if he didn’t know what kind of creature she’d become.

  “What?” Sarah asked, putting her hands on her hips. “Are you surprised to see me alive?”

  “I’m . . . relieved,” Marcel began awkwardly. “I never wanted you to come to harm. I meant what I said when I told you that you were welcome to return here. I am at your service. But . . . may I ask, how exactly is the Queen under your control?”

  “Apparently, I have some kind of vampire mind control on steroids,” Sarah said, removing her jacket and boots. “Everyone has to do what I say, including the Queen. And on the subject of the Queen, we’d like you to host the ceremony for her to meet the sun. Do you have the facilities here to do that?”

  Marcel looked taken aback, but soon regained his composure. “I do . . . although the ritual has not been performed here in quite some time. We can ready the room for you if you wish.” He tapped his bottom lip, darting a glance between the Queen and Sarah. “It isn’t customary for a vampire to be subjected to the end-of-life ritual by force however; it’s usually a voluntary act.”

  The Queen lifted her chin to look Marcel in the eye. “If they can force me to submit, they can force you to cooperate as well. My only request is to be allowed to face my end with the dignity of a proper ceremony.”

  “Well then,” Marcel said, as the group continued further into the house. “All right. Please, make yourselves comfortable while we prepare the ritual chamber. You may use the same rooms you used during your earlier stay–they were cleaned after your departure. As for these two humans . . .”

  “This is Justin and Alexandre.” Nathaniel gestured to the two men in turn. “Vampire hunters.”

  “I see,” Marcel said without a trace of sincerity, his features twisted in a look of confusion.

  “We only kill bad vampires,” Alexandre clarified.

  “Actually, we haven’t killed any vampires yet,” Justin added. “Although, we did help out with Kyle.”

  “Kyle is dead?” Marcel asked.

  “I accept responsibility for his death,” Trudy said. “And I don’t regret it for a second.”

  Marcel steepled his fingers and took a deep breath. “I’ll admit I have mixed feelings about his demise, but I did sentence him to die. I suppose I should be relieved he won’t cause any more trouble.”

  He turned to face the two hunters. “Will you be staying?”

  Sophie stepped between Justin and Alexandre, looping each of her arms through one of theirs. “They’re staying for the ritual,” she said. “For moral support.”

  “Of course,” Marcel said. “Follow me then. I’ll show you to our recreation room on the lower level. If everyone could meet there at sunrise, we will proceed with the ritual at that time.”

  Sarah leaned over to give the Queen her instructions. “Go with them and sit on one of the couches in the rec room. Stay sitting until I return and don’t say anything or lay a finger on anyone.”

  The Queen pursed her lips, but obeyed, joining everyone else as they descended the stairs to the basement. Sarah and Reed were alone in the hallway.

  Reed shoved his hands into his pockets. “Do you want to go upstairs?”

  “Yeah,” Sarah said.

  For a moment, neither one of them moved. Reed’s ultra-blue eyes searched Sarah’s, looking for something. The silence in her head was crushing. Although she’d tried to respect Reed’s privacy in the past and not invade his thoughts, the inability to know what Reed was thinking felt so wrong, as though part of their connection had been severed.

  Finally, Reed moved toward the stairs and started climbing. Sarah followed, aware of so much more than the last time they’d been there: the smoothness of the polished railing, the slight creaking of the hardwood steps under their feet, the detergent smell of freshly laundered sheets.

  After they entered their old room and closed the door, they sat down next to each other on the side of the bed.

  “I can’t believe we’re almost done with the Queen forever,” Reed said. “It seems too good to be true.”

  “I agree. Makes me think she’s got one last trick up her sleeve.”

  “But how could she do anything else to us?” Reed asked. “It’s like you said–she’s completely under your control.”

  “Maybe deep down she accepts her time is up and that it’s for the best because her sanity is slipping. I hope I’m doing the right thing. I mean, she has to die, right?”

  Fiddling with the seam along the leg of his jeans, Reed didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “The ritual makes it seem civilized, but really, it’s still murder. What else can we do though? If we let the Queen go, she’ll continue to hurt and kill people. It’s not like we can turn her over to the police.”

  There was a long silence as Sarah tried to build up enough confidence to ask her next question.

  “Reed?” she asked, not looking at him. “Do you still want to be with me? Now that I’m–”

  “Sarah,” he said, placing his hands on either side of her face, turning her gently. “You can’t be serious. Do you honestly not know the answer to that?”

  His eyes grew shiny and she felt guilty for asking, but she needed to know she hadn’t lost him.

  “God, Sarah. When I found you in the forest, torn up and bleeding, I thought you were dead.” His hands slid lower, over her shoulders and down her arms. He caressed the top of her hands with his thumbs, his touch feather-light across her skin. “I love you, Sarah. I need you. I swear, if you had died, I would have found a way to kill myself. I’m not kidding. I can’t even . . . express . . . how much . . .”

  Too choked up to say anything else, he pulled her against him in a tight hug. She embraced him back and her heart expanded, soaking in his affection.

  “Reed,” she spoke into his chest. “You have to promise not to do anything drastic if something ever happens to me.”

  He buried his face in her hair, inhaling deeply. “But I can’t stand to lose anyone else. My family . . .” He sighed. “That wound is too fresh. It would kill me if you–”

  “Then I won’t let anything happen to me,” she inte
rrupted. “We’re going to be okay.”

  They stayed snuggled together, while Reed brushed his fingers through her hair. He trailed a path down her back with his fingertips and then curled his hand around her waist. Sarah listened to his heartbeat, her head resting against him, feeling the soft rise and fall of each breath.

  “I’m sorry I doubted you,” she whispered. “I don’t know what you’re thinking anymore.”

  He drew back and brushed the single tear off her cheek. “Then I’ll have to do a better job showing you how I feel.”

  She smiled at him and nibbled her bottom lip. “Reed?”

  “Hmm?”

  “What are we going to do after the ceremony, once the Queen is taken care of?”

  “Well, for one thing, we’re going to work on controlling your new ability. We have to make sure you don’t accidentally force me to jump off a cliff or strip my clothes off in public,” Reed said.

  Sarah gave him the evil eye. “That’s not funny Reed Hennessy.”

  “Uh-oh. Full name time, huh? I must be in big trouble,” he said.

  The weight on Sarah’s shoulders lifted when she realized Reed’s mood was brightening. “Did you say something about showing me how much you love me?”

  He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss against her lips. “What would I do without you, Sarah Perkins?”

  Reed

  When dawn drew near, Sarah escaped to the safety of Marcel’s basement to avoid the sun’s rays. I lingered on the main floor to watch the sunrise. Standing next to the window in the living room at the front of the house, I lifted a slat of the blinds to peer outside. There wasn’t a cloud in sight–perfect for a vampire-meeting-the-sun ritual.

  The pink and orange of the early morning sky gradually brightened into a cloudless pure blue. I let the blinds fall back into place and left to join the others downstairs.

  I was the last one to arrive; the whole gang had gathered in the recreation room except for the Queen and Marcel who were already in the ceremonial chamber. Gabriel had also joined the group, and he led us in a somber line down the hall to a room I hadn’t seen before.

  Two thick wooden doors opened into a hexagonal-shaped room, each of its walls approximately thirty feet long. The walls and floor were made of plain concrete–the chamber’s sole distinguishable feature was a round, raised platform in the center. A candle in each corner of the room gave off the only light.

  The Queen stood in the middle of the platform, dressed in a gray hooded robe. The King of Montreal, Marcel, waited along the wall at the right. He wore a black cloak and had his dark hair tied back neatly. I wondered if I was underdressed, but after a quick glance around, I felt reassured when I saw the only other person who’d dressed up was Gabriel.

  We lined up, side-by-side, next to Marcel. With nine of us in a row, we formed a semi-circle around the room with the Queen at the center.

  Marcel took a step forward. “Please, lower your hood and face the witnesses to today’s ritual,” he said.

  The Queen did so without a word.

  “You will meet the sun today with dignity, in the time-honored tradition of vampires throughout history.” Marcel’s voice echoed hauntingly, sending shivers up my spine. “Do you have any final words or last requests?”

  “I do,” she said.

  “Then please, proceed.”

  The Queen shifted her gaze to look straight at me. I inhaled sharply, holding my breath. Here it comes, I thought.

  “I want to kiss Reed,” she said.

  “What?” I said at the same time Sarah said, “No way!”

  Sarah looked ready to shoot flames from her eyes. “Absolutely not,” she said.

  The Queen lifted her hands as if to ward off our evil glares. “Hear me out,” she said. “My request is not romantic in nature. As some of you are aware, I have the unique ability to read memories. By sharing a kiss with someone, I absorb his or her experiences as though I had lived through them myself. What you may not know, is that Reed alone partakes of my memories as well. I have never heard of another who exchanged thoughts with me in this manner. We may never understand what makes him different in so many ways, but suffice it to say, I wish to take advantage of this particular anomaly by sharing my history with him.”

  “But . . . we already exchanged memories when you kissed me back in San Jose,” I said. “Why do we need to do it again?”

  “Do you have a photographic memory?” the Queen countered.

  “No, but–”

  “I want to reinforce what you have already seen. Refresh the images. In a few minutes, I will cease to exist. All that shall remain of me will be the memories you hold.”

  “So what?” I argued. “It’s not like I’m going to write your frigging memoir.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “No, but my experiences will become a part of you. They will influence you, whether you like it or not. You will do things and say things you would not have otherwise due to the effect of my history upon you. Plus . . . I have something you want.” A smug smile spread across her face.

  I felt like the world’s biggest sucker, but I had to bite. “What could you possibly have that I want?”

  “Information,” she said. “You wish to make Sarah and yourself human again, correct? Imagine if you could make every vampire on earth human again. All your troubles would be over. You could explain to the authorities what happened in New York, and they would have no reason to fear you, if you were a mere human. They would not ostracize you, or try to kill you, or experiment on you. Once you have cleared things up with the powers that be, you can go back to your normal life. All you need is the cure.”

  “There’s a cure?” Sarah said, unable to disguise the hope in her voice.

  “Have you heard the story of the original vampire?” the Queen asked.

  Something niggled at the back of my mind: a feeling of familiarity. “Yeah . . . Nathaniel mentioned it to me once. A myth about killing the original vampire and curing everyone.”

  “Yes,” the Queen said. “Destroy the original vampire and all vampires become human again. Or so the story goes.”

  Sarah darted a glance at Nathaniel and he nodded. “And you’re saying you know where this original vampire is?” she asked.

  “Not exactly, but I guarantee I can give you the location of information that will lead you to the original vampire’s whereabouts. My brother’s maker was one of the guardians of this information, and I know where the documents you need are hidden.”

  “Then why don’t you tell us?” I said. “Why do I have to share your memories?”

  “Have you heard the saying, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words?’” the Queen asked.

  I gritted my teeth. “I hate it when people answer a question with another question.”

  The Queen sighed. “My point is: I cannot give you a precise address or geographical coordinates for the location you seek, but I can show you what you are looking for. No words can describe it as well as the images I will share with you.”

  Sarah grasped my arm and I looked down at her. “It’s not really my decision,” she said. “But if this is the best way to get the information, we should get it over with and be done with her. If you’re okay with that, I mean. What I’m trying to say is that I’m okay with it. It’s not like the kiss is a sexual thing anyway.”

  “That’s for damn sure,” I said. “All right then.”

  I turned back to the Queen, and crossed the space between us to stand in front of her. With several inches of added height from the platform, her face was almost level with mine.

  “Let’s get this over with,” I said.

  The Queen reached over and placed her icy hands on my cheeks. I couldn’t help squeezing my lips tight as she leaned forward to place her mouth against my own. Her kiss was dry and cold and I held my breath, unwilling to inhale her scent. Just when I was starting to wonder how long I’d be stuck in this awkward position, the world melted away.

  A series of images flas
hed by like a movie on fast forward. It was more than a visual experience though; I could feel the chill in empty castle rooms, smell the odor of people who hadn’t bathed in weeks, taste the dampness in the air.

  Servants milled about, scuttling to serve the ruling family–my family. No, wait . . . the Queen’s family, I corrected myself, struggling to sort out my thoughts. One man in particular, who looked angry all the time, dominated over the occupants of the castle. I recognized him now; it was the King of New York City, the Queen’s brother. He ruled through fear and threats of harm rather than winning loyalty with respect and kindness. His treatment of his sister was horrifying.

  The Queen’s life continued to flash by until one day, when the King became a true monster, literally sprouting a set of fangs and exhibiting inhuman strength. A creature, who was now the King’s master, guarded a tomb of secrets in the castle’s darkest depths. One night, the Queen was caught exploring the forbidden area in the dungeon, and paid the price with her humanity at the hands of her own brother.

  The memories cut off abruptly as the Queen pulled away from me. She stepped back, her gaze locked on me, while I blinked in an effort to reorient myself.

  “It is done,” the Queen announced. “I am ready.” She undid the tie at her neck, and shrugged off her robe. It fell into a gray pool on the ground, leaving her barely dressed in a plain camisole and shorts. Her skin was exposed, ready to meet the sun’s rays.

  She leveled her gaze at me while she stood straight and poised. If the Queen felt afraid, she certainly wasn’t showing it.

  “This seems too easy,” I said. “Not that I’m complaining, but I don’t understand why you’re giving up without a fight.”

  “You know full well I have no choice in the matter. Besides, do you have any idea what happens to us after we die?” the Queen asked.

  “No.”

  “Neither do I, and there is only one way to find out. This will be my last and greatest adventure. I saw how my brother’s mind degenerated into insanity, and I feel myself slipping down the same path. Perhaps it is best to end this now, before I become incapable of making such a decision. You will understand when you get to be my age, youngling.”