The Darkening (Immortals)

by Robin T. Popp

  “So? That’s not necessarily against the law—not if they have the proper Authorization of Conversion documents.”

  “I don’t care if it’s legal or not. With every converted member, the balance of magic shifts a little more to the side of death magic. I’m here to put a stop to it.”

  “How?”

  He gave her an exasperated look. “It doesn’t matter now. Put your hood on,” he told her, pulling his own back over his head. “Let’s see if I can get us both out of here undetected.”

  “I can’t leave yet,” she told him.

  “Why not?”

  “I’m not leaving my skip here.”

  Though she couldn’t see Darius’s face, she could imagine him rolling his eyes. She crossed her arms in an admittedly childish gesture, but it worked. She heard his sigh.

  “Fine.” He stepped beside her and lifted Ironwood to his shoulder as easily as if he were carrying a bag of potatoes. “Are you happy now?”

  She hadn’t expected him to help her, so she gave him a grateful smile and pulled her hood over her head. “Yes, thank you.”

  “Okay, let’s go.”

  “What about these others?” she asked, looking at the rows of dead bodies.

  “Want me to stake them?” he asked.

  “No,” she said quickly. “Let’s just get out of here.”

  They left the room, and as they slowly climbed the stairs, she could hear voices joined in a ritual chanting. The faint coppery scent of blood floated on the air.

  When they reached the top floor, the front door loomed less than a hundred feet in front of them. To reach it, they had to walk past the double doors of the large conference room, which were luckily closed.

  Darius started forward, and Lexi hurried after him, keeping a lookout for vampires.

  As they passed the conference room, Lexi couldn’t resist stopping long enough to peer through the crack between the closed double doors.

  At first, all she saw was a sea of red. Hundreds of robed vampires sat with their backs to her; their attention was focused on what was unfolding at the front of the room. Lexi shifted to get a better look.

  A woman in a white robe stood quietly at the front as a vampire came up behind her. He placed his hands almost tenderly on her shoulders and then bent his head over her neck. As he sank his fangs into her neck, she never blinked, never even flinched.

  Lexi saw blood seeping from the seal of his mouth, and again her lupine senses caught a whiff of the sweet metallic scent.

  The woman’s body began to tremble, but still the vampire drank. And drank.

  There was a growing fervor in the room—a sense of anticipation. And then the woman’s body went slack and she started to crumple. The vampire stopped drinking, and two others stepped forward to carry her away.

  Lexi was still trying to digest everything she’d just witnessed when another white-robed figure stepped onto the dais from a line formed to the side. With their hoods off, Lexi could see their blank faces. None of them looked around or gave any indication that they knew what was happening to them. It was almost as if they’d been drugged.

  She was debating whether she could do something to help when her gaze fell on the second person in line.

  Mai.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “Let’s go,” Darius prodded.

  “I can’t.”

  “Why the hell not?” His tone was sharp.

  Lexi gestured to the room with her hand. “Mai is in there.”

  Darius pushed back his hood and frowned at her. “That’s her choice.”

  “Mai would never choose to become a vampire,” Lexi shot back with conviction. “I’m going in there.”

  “Oh, no, you’re not.” He joined her at the double doors and angled Martin’s body so he could get close enough to peek through the crack. After a second, he turned around and shook his head. “There must be two hundred vampires in there. You’ll get yourself and your friend killed.”

  “There must be a way,” she reasoned.

  “I’ll do it.”

  “What?” She stared up at him in surprise.

  He nodded. “You heard me. I’ll go in there. I had planned to before you arrived anyway.” He set Ironwood on the floor. “Which one is she?”

  “Second in line.” She fought to keep the panic out of her voice.

  He peeked through the crack again. “I see her.” He pulled off his robe and let it fall to the floor. Then he slapped a hand against his arm and pulled off the dagger. “Stand over there and kill anything that gets close. Understand?” he asked, handing her the dagger.

  She took it from him but didn’t move. “I’m going with you.”

  “No, you’re not.” Their gazes locked in a battle of wills. “Now’s not the time for heroics, Lexi,” Darius added gently. “I’m immortal. Let me do this.”

  The last thing she wanted was to stand by on the sidelines, but getting killed wouldn’t help Mai either. As much as she hated to admit it, her chances of storming into a room full of vampires and coming out alive were pretty slim.“Fine,” she agreed.“But be careful.”

  Darius reached behind his back and brought forth a broadsword. Then, before she could figure out his plan, he kicked open the double doors and charged inside, shouting at the top of his lungs and swinging his sword.

  There was a momentary stunned silence and then mass confusion as vampires snapped out of their shock and started rushing about. Half the vampires tried to escape, while others took advantage of the chaos to feed on the initiates.

  Darius made it halfway across the room before he was forced to stop and deal with the vampires attacking him. Meanwhile, several initiates, who had finally awakened from their catatonic states, were screaming like banshees.

  Lexi looked around for Mai, but there were so many people and vampires moving about, it was difficult to find her. She moved forward to get a better look.

  Then suddenly she heard Mai scream. A vampire had grabbed Mai, and from the looks of it, had every intention of sucking her dry. Darius, under attack by at least a dozen vampires, had problems of his own.

  Dropping the dagger, Lexi raced forward. Driven by raw fear for her friend, she leapt through the air and morphed into wolf form. She landed on all fours and barely broke stride, leaving a pile of torn clothes behind.

  The scent of blood all around called to her predatory nature, and as she raced toward her friend, she ripped out the throat of any vampire that dared get in her way. When she reached Mai, the vampire had already sunk his teeth into her neck. Lexi launched herself at the pair, knocking them both to the ground. The impact was enough to separate them, and as the vampire tried to roll away, she attacked. He was dead within seconds.

  She looked around and saw Mai standing close by, a horrified expression on her face. She had no idea if Mai would recognize her, but moved forward slowly. When she reached Mai, she pushed her head against Mai’s hand.

  Mai’s fingers instinctively curled into Lexi’s fur. “Lexi?” Lexi wagged her tail once to let Mai know it was she, but she didn’t try to change back. The danger wasn’t over yet. Grabbing Mai’s robe with her teeth, she made a quick tug in the direction of the double doors.

  As they crossed the room, Lexi ran interference, stopping anyone who got in their way. After seeing Mai safely to the door, she heard Darius’s voice and looked back. He was standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by attacking vampires. As his blade flashed, vampires fell, piling up at his feet. Their corpses shriveled as the skin dried on their bones, and then even the bones dissolved until there was nothing left but white powder.

  Lexi was about to go help him when she saw the last vampire fall. Darius looked around, his heaving chest glistening with sweat. She thought he’d never looked so magnificent and couldn’t take her eyes off him. When his gaze met hers, a relieved smile replaced his furrowed brow. She felt such a rush of happiness that she started morphing to human form as he crossed the room to her.

 
As soon as he reached her, he pulled her into his arms. “Are you all right?”

  “Never better,” she assured him, her head buried in his chest.

  “Then let’s get out of here.” He stepped back and looked around. Then he leaned over and picked up a robe, shook it out and handed it to her. At first she didn’t understand, but then she felt the heat of his gaze and realized she wasn’t wearing any clothes.

  “Thank you,” she said, letting him help her put it on.

  He smiled at Mai, who stared up at him with unfeigned appreciation. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded. “A bit confused,” she admitted. “Thank you.”

  “No problem.” Turning from them, he walked to Martin Ironwood’s body and lifted him easily to his shoulder. He turned to Lexi. “Now can we go?”

  He didn’t wait for an answer, but headed for the door, leaving Lexi and Mai to trail after him.

  “Oh, my God,” Mai whispered, not sounding like she’d almost been a victim of a horrible attack. “Where have you been keeping him?”

  Lexi didn’t like the obvious interest Darius was showing in Mai, and it was making her more than a little mad that her best friend would be coming on to a man who was clearly with her. That’s what she got for having a wood nymph for a best friend—no male was off limits.

  “Mai, this is Darius. He’s…from out of town.” Mai wasn’t a Coven of Light witch and didn’t know about the demon or the problems they were currently facing. Or did she? Lexi gave her a curious look. “What were you doing there?”

  Mai, for once, looked distressed. “I have no idea. The last thing I remember is going to see the doctor.”

  Lexi remembered that Ironwood’s wife had said he had gone to see a doctor as well, just before disappearing.

  In the distance, Lexi heard sirens. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “What about them?” Darius asked, referring to the initiates who were wandering around, dazed and confused.

  “The police will take care of them,” Lexi assured him. “Let’s go. I want to get Martin to jail before he wakes up. He’s going to be hard to deal with when he discovers he’s a vampire.”

  The three left the building and walked down the street. They made an odd group. A giant Immortal with an unconscious vampire slung over his back, a wood nymph more interested in the Immortal than in her harrowing experience, and a sulky, hormonal werewolf currently fighting off fantasies of ripping out her friend’s throat if she mewled one more time over Darius’s “huge” muscles.

  Lexi pulled out her cell phone and called the Department ofVampirism Hotline to report the attempted initiation. After she gave them the address, they promised to send people there to help the newly converted. Then Darius flagged down a cab to head home.

  Lexi and Darius dropped Mai off at her apartment after making sure she was okay and securing her promise to stay in for the rest of the evening. She readily agreed and seemed eager to get to her computer, feeling certain she had the next day’s lead story if she worked fast.

  Darius and Lexi then took the cab to the police station. On the ride over, Darius, who sat in the middle of the back seat, couldn’t help noticing the way Lexi kept glancing at Martin, who lay against the door on Darius’s other side. The next time she checked on the vampire, she glanced up at Darius. He caught her eye and smiled. “Your friend seems nice.”

  That earned him a sharp look. “She’s a wood nymph,” Lexi said. “She likes sex—lots of it. You’d probably like her.”

  Darius chuckled. He could have told her he had no interest in her little friend, but he didn’t.

  There was a groan on the other side of him, and Lexi leaned across his lap to check on Martin. Always before, following battle, he’d burned off the excess adrenaline by having sex. The feel of her pressing against him was entirely too tempting, and he wondered just how far he could take things with Lexi before it was too late to stop.

  Not that, after what happened the night before, she would even let him get close. That hug earlier had been a battle-induced emotional moment.

  “I think he’s waking up,” Lexi said, distracting Darius from his thoughts.

  He glanced at Martin. “You may be right.”

  “When he does, he’s going to be hungry.”

  “Probably.”

  She gave him a speculative look, clearly not liking the fact that he wasn’t concerned. “Really hungry.”

  “Ravenous,” he agreed.

  She let out a huff. “Well, don’t you think that might be a problem?”

  He glanced at Martin, now beginning to open his eyes. “No.”

  “Darius,” she continued, her voice now filled with urgency.“If we don’t stop and get blood, he’s going to—”

  At that moment, Martin broke out of the death sleep he’d been in and sat upright, his eyes bloodred and his lips pulled back in a snarl, revealing bright, new fangs.

  When he leapt across the seat at them, Lexi fell back. Darius put out one arm to shield her and, fisting his other hand, brought it up hard and fast. It connected soundly with Martin’s jaw, making a sickening dull smacking noise, followed by the sound of Martin’s head smashing against the window.

  A second later, Martin slumped over, unconscious once more.

  “Hey,” the cabbie complained, as Martin’s eyes rolled up into his head. “What’s going on back there?”

  “N-nothing,” Lexi said, staring in awe at Darius, who enjoyed the look of incredulity on her face.

  “Amazing,” he thought he heard her say. “Are you hurt?”

  “Nothing serious,” he assured her, looking at a small cut on his hand that was already healing.

  They arrived at the police station, and Lexi led the way in while Darius carried Martin.

  The filing of the proper forms was waived until Lexi could get Martin behind bars. No one seemed to want to handle a vampire that might wake up at any moment. She ordered that bags of blood be made available as they carried Martin to the special cells designed for vampires. The bars were reinforced steel, and there were no windows to allow in sunshine.

  “Lay him on the cot,” Lexi told Darius just as the policeman she’d sent for blood arrived carrying two bags.

  She handed them to Darius, who laid them beside Martin.

  “Shut the door,” he ordered her.

  She looked at Martin and saw that his eyes were open. She immediately closed the door but didn’t lock it in case Martin attacked and Darius needed a quick escape.

  When Martin lurched up, Darius held out the bag of blood and Martin sank his teeth into it, spraying blood everywhere. He drank ravenously, finishing off the first bag so quickly that Lexi worried that two bags might not be enough. But Darius gave him the second bag and talked to him in a soothing voice. The second bag was three-fourths drained when Martin finally slowed down.

  “Feeling better?” Darius asked when the bag was empty.

  Martin looked lost, but he nodded.

  “Good.” Darius stood up, walked to the cell door and let himself out. The click of the bolt as it slid into place seemed to pierce Martin’s daze. He looked around and finally seemed to notice his surroundings.

  “Where am I?”

  “Jail,” Lexi told him. “I’m Lexi Corvin. I’m a bounty hunter. You failed to make your court appearance, so I was sent to bring you in.” She paused. “There were…complications.”

  “What kind of complications?” He sounded anxious, and Lexi was trying to decide the best way to break the news to him.

  “What’s the last thing you remember?” she asked.

  “I don’t know.” He went to wipe his mouth and stopped short when he saw the back of his hand. “Is this blood?” There was panic in his voice. Then he saw the empty blood bag still in his lap, and she knew he was putting the clues together. “Nooooo,” he cried. “I’m not a vampire.” He threw the bag as far away from him as he could and then rushed to the cell bars, gripping them. “Please. There’s been some kind of
mistake. I’ m not a vampire. I can’t be.”

  “I’m sorry,” Lexi said as kindly as she could. “I think that two nights ago you were lured into an initiation scam. Probably drugged so you’d be more compliant.”

  Understandably, he seemed to have a hard time focusing his thoughts and kept rubbing his head. “I can’t remember anything.”

  “I talked to your wife, Martin. She said you had taken a cab to go to a doctor’s appointment and never came back. Sound familiar?”

  He shook his head. Just then, one of the police detectives poked his head in the room and beckoned to Lexi.

  “We’ve got guys over at the fellowship hall now, taking a look around,” he told her when she joined him. “But they found these.” He handed her a stack of papers. She saw they were official ACFs, Authorization of Conversion Forms. She looked up, a question in her eyes.

  The detective nodded. “Yeah, they’re all signed and legal.”

  She flipped through the papers and found both Ironwood’s and Mai’s ACFs. Even though it was Mai’s signature, Lexi refused to believe that her friend had knowingly entered into such a thing. She took Martin’s form to him and held it up. “Do you remember signing this?”

  He looked at it, and a horrified expression crossed his face. “No, but…This can’t be possible,” he protested. “I would never…” He shook his head, and a single blood-tear slipped from his eye and traveled down his cheek. “My wife. My life is ruined.” He looked at Darius. “Kill me. Please. I don’t want to live like this.”

  Darius seemed to consider his request and then, to Lexi’s horror, he slapped a hand to his arm and brought forth his dagger. Before she could stop him, he’d opened the cell door, grabbed Martin by the scruff of his shirt and held the knife beneath his throat, letting the blade slice the skin enough for blood to well up.

  “No, Darius, don’t do it,” she pleaded.

  The police detective, who was still standing in the doorway, barged into the room, pulling his gun. “Put the weapon down or I’ll shoot,” he demanded.