The Night's Baby

by Stina

  “In the flesh,” he said and put his arms up in the air. “You’re a hunter now, Lina?”

  “I . . .”

  “Well, I guess that part is a no-brainer. You have obviously just killed many of my brothers and sisters. I also can’t read your thoughts.”

  “What are you doing here, Narum?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” he asked. “This is the easiest place to come and grab a bite to eat. People like her.” He nodded at the woman and flashed his fangs. “They come and basically hand themselves to my kind.”

  “You’re a monster!”

  “Was I a monster when I was between your legs?”

  Lina wanted to pull the trigger so bad, but she couldn’t. One shot and he would be ash, but it was like he had a hold on her.

  “Lina, shoot it!”

  “Oh, the disrespect,” Narum taunted. “I am an it, and not a he? Typical hunter.”

  “Lina! Shoot!”

  “She can’t.” Narum chuckled. “Because she doesn’t want to.”

  “Lina!” Ramel yelled again, but he was starting to wonder if she could even hear her. “Fine. I’ll kill this son of a bitch!”

  He pulled his gun out to kill the smart-mouthed vampire but, before he could aim his gun, it was gone. The only thing he felt was a gust of wind, and he saw the exit door shutting once more. He turned back to Lina to chastise her, but he saw that she’d lowered her gun and her hand was shaking. He sighed and gently touched her arm.

  “We need to go. There are probably all types of bodies in the basement of this place, and the feds will soon be looking for the first logical person to pin it on.”

  “Okay,” Lina whispered and put her gun back on her waist.

  “Hey,” Ramel said and went to where the girl was kneeling in the corner of the kitchen. He knelt down as well so that he was eye to eye with her. “What is your name?”

  “Brynn. Those things, those monsters, killed all of my friends. One of them tore my best friend’s throat from her neck!”

  “Well, Brynn, listen.” Ramel had given this speech more times than he’d have liked. Each time his words got a little bit more heartless, but they were things that had to be said. “Life as you know it has changed forever. You survived, but your friends are never coming back. You now know about the evil that lurks at night. Leaving here and trying to pretend that nothing happened will only drive you crazy.”

  “So what am I supposed to do?”

  Ramel reached in his pocket and pulled out a card. “Take a day or two to yourself. If you cannot shake your thoughts, or feel that you need to do something about what you’ve seen tonight, call me.”

  He stood and started in the direction of the red hallway. He knew there was one last thing he needed to do. “Lina, go to the car.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Leaving the hunter’s mark,” he said, reloading his gun and cocking it. “And making sure that they didn’t turn any of their victims tonight.”

  Chapter 11

  Back at the Malum Camp

  Calum’s moans filled the air as she allowed the love of her life to take her from behind. No matter how many times they made love, she simply could not get enough. She could tell that Talum needed to let off some frustration, and inside of her was the best place to do so. She loved submitting to him sexually and letting him use her body as a sense of release. It made her feel good to know that he needed her.

  “Oh, Talum,” she cried feeling her fangs grow. She bit down hard on the pillow her arms and head were resting on, tearing a big hole in it. “Fuck me, baby! I need it.”

  “You need it?” His voice came out low and gruff.

  “Yes. Please don’t stop!”

  “I don’t want to, Calum.” His voice turned into a moan in the middle of his statement. “I don’t want to, but you know what you do to me!”

  Calum bucked her wide hips backward, matching him for every thrust. She knew that he couldn’t handle it when she did that, but she felt her climax coming around the corner and would do anything to get it faster. They sexed each other harder and faster until finally, they both reached their finish lines. Talum jerked and fell on top of Calum, holding her tightly at the waist. They both shouted out in unison until their orgasms had passed, leaving them breathless.

  It was the most amazing feeling, being able to lie with the one you loved. After their last fight with Kesh and Adirah, Calum had come to cherish those moments even more. She realized that she’d forgotten she was only immortal as far as age, but she could still be killed.

  Talum released himself from her and rolled over on his back so that Calum could lay her head on his chest. Even though she had just put it down on him so good that any ill thought should have been gone from his mind, she knew that something was still bothering him. She could sense it. There was once a time long ago when the two of them shared thoughts, but now they both kept what was on their minds to themselves.

  “What is wrong with you, Talum?” she asked and, when he took a breath to speak, she cut him off. “And do not lie to me and say, ‘Nothing.’ Like I am not the same person who has spent years of her endless life with you. Don’t insult me.”

  Talum sighed and kissed Calum on the forehead. He knew the questions would start happening sooner or later. He’d just been buying himself time since Calum had been so in tune with her training. The truth was, there was something bothering him. It was a feeling: a feeling that wouldn’t allow him to ignore it no matter how hard he tried to. If he could describe the feeling in color, it would be a bright and bold red.

  “I feel something.”

  “Something like what?”

  “Evil.”

  “Evil?”

  “Yes. Evil. Something is coming,” he said. “Something that none of us will be able to stop.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know.” He sighed. “It’s in the back of my mind and has been for some time now. It is . . . unsettling.”

  “The Sefu?”

  Talum shook his head. That was the reason he did not want to say anything. He knew Calum wouldn’t understand. When he’d found her, she was newly turned and running from witches and Lykans. Even when he took her under his wing, he kept her shielded from the real world of monsters out there. She did not know about the great wars fought between vampires and Lykans. She, just like many of the other vampires, thought they were just stories. He, however, had always been interested in the ways and history of vampires. Ever since he’d been turned by Kesh, he wanted to know and be in tune with exactly what he was. He read in ancient textbooks about the War of the Ancients. It was the most brutal war in the history of their kind, and they almost lost.

  The difference between vampires and Lykans was that vampires were okay with coexisting with humans. Granted, they were also vampires’ food. One cannot blame the nature of the beast. One can only be patient at taming its thirst. It seemed as if they were going more in the direction of blood harvesting and owning blood banks, simply because the hunters of that day and age were becoming more powerful. Either way, vampires never wanted to rule the world; they were content with running the underworld.

  Lykans, on the other hand, wanted both worlds. They were considered to be vampires’ greatest enemy because they not only wanted to rule both worlds, they wanted to be the dominant race of monsters. Lately, there was a passage from one of the books Talum had read that would not leave his mind: “Three of the Ancient Lykans were laid to rest, while the other two waited patiently for their time to rule over the world. When they have arisen, only the most powerful of creatures will feel their presence.”

  Talum hoped that this wasn’t the presence he’d been feeling. But with everything going on at that point, including Adirah giving birth to the first vampire baby, there was no telling what would happen next.

  Suddenly a thought entered his mind and made him sit straight up in the bed.

  “Talum, what is it?”

  He didn’t a
nswer her. Jumping out of bed, he put on the red silk pajama pants that lay on the side of the bed. He didn’t see her frantically throwing on her robe behind him as he jetted out of their room and ran down the long hall to the library.

  “It’s here. It has to be here! I would not have left it behind.”

  He rummaged through the many tall bookshelves in hopes of finding what he was looking for. It took a while, but finally, his hands lay on the small black book that he was looking for.

  “Here it is,” he whispered and opened the book. “Now where is that passage?”

  He flipped the gold, thin pages in the book until he came across one that was labeled “The Golden Child.”

  There will be one born to vampire who will be able to walk in the daylight and drink the blood of mortals at his own will. He is one who all vampirekind must protect with their most precious of life, for his is more important. For his blood has the power to turn the darkest inhuman of hearts mortal again.

  He was so entrapped in the passage that he didn’t even feel Calum come up behind him. She read the words over his shoulder and clenched her teeth, forcing her jaw into a straight line.

  “Do you think . . . Do you think it’s talking about Adirah’s baby?”

  His silence did not comfort her; it confirmed her thoughts. She still didn’t understand what all was going on but, by the stricken look on Talum’s face, it couldn’t be good. Gently, she closed the book in his hands. “Talum. What does it mean?”

  “It means the end for us all very well may be near. Darkness is coming.”

  Calum tried to find words, but she couldn’t. The way his statement came out clutched her cold heart in a way that made it hard for her to breathe. The only thing that she was able to do was hold on to Talum’s arm. He took notice of the shift in the air and pulled her in for a deep embrace.

  A throat clearing at the entrance of the library interrupted their moment. “Sire, I wish to speak to you for a moment if that is not a problem.”

  Talum looked up and was looking into the eyes of one of his soldiers, Narum. Before, the two had been at odds, but Talum soon realized that Narum was the type of vampire who would do anything for his clan. He risked his life to bring Talum the magical elixir that Kesh held. If only Talum hadn’t instantly been so hard on him, he would still have the potion.

  Talum nodded at Narum and kissed Calum on her forehead. “I will be back to bed soon, my queen.”

  Of course, Calum wanted to stay and see what they were going to discuss, but she would not stay anywhere she was not wanted. “Narum,” she said as she passed.

  “My queen,” Narum said giving a respectful bow. When she was gone, he stepped into the library and cleared his throat again. “I do apologize for barging in so suddenly.”

  “I assume it is only because you have brought me news,” Talum stated.

  “Of course, my king. It is about the human girl.”

  “You have found her?”

  “Yes.”

  “I hope you killed her before she was picked up by—”

  “Hunters? Too late.” Narum swallowed as he could tell the news did not make his king happy.

  “How do you know of this information?”

  “I saw it with my own eyes. She was with one of their most skilled hunters.”

  “Ramel?”

  “Yes. They destroyed a whole fleet of new vampires.”

  “Just the two of them you say?”

  “Yes, sir, just the two of them.”

  “Then she is strong.”

  “Not strong yet; fearless. She will have a vendetta against both the Sefu and the Malum. I worry that I may be at fault for this.”

  Talum stared at Narum for a few moments. He had been one of the people Talum had turned by accident long ago in his thirst. In a sense, the way that Narum worked overtime to gain Talum’s approval was equivalent to a son trying to earn his father’s approval. Talum wanted to place blame somewhere, but he knew that he could only place it on himself.

  A year ago, he was a completely different kind of vampire: ruthless and without mercy. Ever since he left the Sefu so long ago, it was like he was on a journey to find something, something that he would never be able to find or have again: his humanity. That birthed the anger inside of him. It fueled the beast he never wanted to be. Once he was defeated by Kesh, it did something completely opposite of what it had done to Adirah. He was humbled.

  “I cannot hold you at fault for taking a risk for your people. For me. I only wish that the human girl would have been dealt with at the time of the infiltration.” He paused and gave Narum a knowing look. “Or before you got involved with her. Other than the fact that she is now affiliated with the ones who want us extinct, will there be any other problems? Or entanglements?”

  “No, my king,” Narum answered quickly. “She was nothing. It will stay that way.”

  “Okay,” Talum said and sat down in one of the chairs in the library. “And about the vampires who were killed . . .”

  “No worries, sire. We will make up for the lost instantly.”

  “No.” Talum shook his head and waved his hand. “These new vampires are too reckless. The irony is, if we hope to survive much longer we do not need added numbers. I decree that it is now unlawful to create a new vampire without the approval of the king.”

  “Or what, sire?”

  “Or they will be banished and released from this camp, in the daytime, with no rings.”

  Narum swallowed. “When should this be effective?”

  “Immediately. Now leave me.”

  Narum did as he was told and shut the door to the library behind him. He too had much to think about, mainly about why Lina didn’t pull the trigger on the gun when she had an open shot. He didn’t think that she would be an issue, especially not that she was a hunter. But the more he thought about it he couldn’t help but question a few things.

  He couldn’t lie and say that he hadn’t thought about her since the day he left her at the Sefu camp. He didn’t want it to be that way, but his loyalty was to his people. She would never have understood. If she knew at the time what he really was, he wouldn’t have gotten that far with her in the first place. Would he have?

  Chapter 12

  Kesh didn’t have much time to prepare for his meeting with the Malum. He contemplated the best way to go about doing the task, and he finally decided the best route would be the window.

  “The window?” Adirah raised her eyebrow at him. Her eyes were on the side of his face. She’d been watching him for some time and knew that he was contemplating a plan. When he sent the first smile her way and finally told her what he was thinking she stared in disbelief. “That’s the plan, Kesh? The window?”

  “Yes.” Kesh grinned at her. “We’re going to have to sneak in.”

  “We’re going to have Malum all over us.”

  “Either way we’re going to have Malum all over us. I opt for the one that’s going to buy us a little more time.”

  “Absolutely not!” Adirah exclaimed when he told her the plan. “They’ll be all over us before we even find Talum’s bedchamber.”

  “That’s only if we decide to go through the front door,” Kesh told her as he played with baby Adis in their large chamber. “And that’s also only if we do not know where the chambers are to begin with.”

  Adirah rested her eyes on her son’s face. His eyes smiled almost as big as his lips as his dad threw him high into the sky and caught him when he came back down. The Ancients had accommodated their stay with comfy living arrangements, better than any Adirah had ever experienced in her life. Their chambers were the same size as a two-bedroom apartment, only everything was open. Adirah had to admit she felt like royalty when she walked on the lion skin carpet, or when she lay her head on the Egyptian cotton pillows on the bed.

  It saddened her to know that she would have to leave her son behind, but she knew there was no other way. She couldn’t turn a blind eye knowing what was going on around h
er. It was planned that Adis would stay back with Dena, who promised to protect him with her life. Adirah vowed to make it back to her son, but it looked as if Kesh was doing everything in his power to ensure that wasn’t going to happen.

  “There is no other way,” Kesh reasoned.

  “There is always another way.”

  “Was there another way when I lay dying?”

  Adirah was quiet. Her becoming a vampire was never part of the plan, and Kesh definitely didn’t want that life for her. There was the constant thirst, but mostly he couldn’t bear the thought of her being unhappy with him for a lifetime. Vila had tricked her into doing the deed that he was most against in hopes that he would fall out of love with her. What no one seemed to understand was that he did not love her for her humanity; he loved her for her.

  “That’s different, Kesh, and you know it.”

  “No, it’s very much the same.”

  “Enlighten me.”

  “Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do for the greater good of our kind.” Kesh was silent for a few moments. He set Adis on the ground and let him crawl off to one of the many toys Lira had lavished on him. “Do you regret this?”

  Adirah was taken aback by his question and her brow formed into a straight line. She could tell by his solemn expression that he’d asked it in all seriousness. Her first reaction was to snap at him, but she knew that wasn’t what he needed right then. She crawled to where he sat on the floor and straddled him. She placed a soft palm on his right cheek and kissed him gently on his lips.

  “Vampire or human, I couldn’t imagine living without you,” she told him. “Rain, sleet, or snow, I will be by your side. So, I guess it’s good that I am a vampire now; you don’t have to worry too much about defending me. I can protect you now too. If this is truly the only way that you think will work, I’m with you. Do you trust me, Kesh?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then don’t ever ask me that question again.”

  They exchanged a look of understanding, and she leaned in for a kiss. When their lips touched that time, Adirah detected hesitation. She kissed him again, but he hesitated once more. “There’s something else on your mind?”