In Darkness We Must Abide: The Complete First Season: Episodes 1-5

by Rhiannon Frater

Roman managed to tug the man from the other vampires, and attempted to hoist him away of their reaching hands. Armando saw the moment Roman lost his struggle against the hunger. His beloved friend’s eyes flamed to red, then he tore into the already ruined throat of the mortal.

  As long as Roman’s vampires had been dedicated to a lifestyle free of violence and death, it had given Armando some measure of satisfaction that his Master did not control all. Tonight, they had been just as savage as his Master and his vampires. Even Roman had given in to the hunger.

  Armando knew he had to get away. He had to return to Vanora and take her from this place. The doors to the hallway were open and he focused on the light pouring in from the hall. Stumbling forward, he found himself trembling as he fought the craving to turn back and drink. The passion of the hunger vibrated through the ballroom. The barbaric feast taking place behind him was far from over. It would only end when the last drop of blood was consumed.

  With a shout of rage, he surged through the doorway and banged the ballroom doors shut behind him. Shaking, he struggled against the powerful desire for blood. Weeping, he collapsed against the door. He had to regain his composure. Vanora was alone and afraid. He had to get her out of the mansion and the city. Somewhere in the world, he would find them a safe haven away from all the madness.

  Yet, his body yearned to return to the ballroom and feast.

  Gradually he became aware of another presence. Raising his gaze, his attention settled on the forlorn figure cowering against the wall. It was Vanora in her beautiful dress, her long white-blond hair falling over her quivering shoulders to her waist.

  “Vanora-” He hoped she was still blind, that she hadn’t witnessed the bloodbath.

  “I saw,” she responded, so faintly only a vampire would have heard her.

  Armando felt sickened at the thought of what she had seen and struggled for words. Finally, he said, “I’m sorry.”

  Tears filled her eyes, obscuring their striking lavender color.

  “Vanora,” he said in a hoarse, frantic voice.

  “There’s blood on you,” she wailed.

  “I tried to stop them!”

  “It’s all been lies!” Vanora declared, her voice growing shrill. “All of it! You’re still killers! All of you!”

  “Vanora, we’re not perfect. We make mistakes!” He surged toward her, wanting to take her in his arms and soothe her.

  Vanora stumbled backward. “Stop right there! Stop!”

  Armando obeyed and lifted his hands toward her pleadingly. “Vanora, I would never hurt you!”

  “I can smell it! All that blood. I could feel...them…dying!” Backing away from him, she clutched the cross dangling over the bodice of her dress with one hand. “Roman and Alisha…” Dry heaving, Vanora fell back against the wall, seeming close to fainting.

  Armando took a hesitant step toward her. “Those men were the molesters that have been hunting children in Houston. I’m not sure of the whole story as of yet, but I beg of you to wait and find out the details of what just transpired before you pass judgment on those that love you.”

  “I thought that somehow you all were not really the vampires of legends. That you weren’t killers. That you weren’t evil. But you are!”

  Armando lost his temper and with vampire swiftness descended on her, taking hold of her arms. “No, they got carried away by their anger and the hunger. The hunger makes you mad, insane! They made a mistake, Vanora,” Armando insisted fervently.

  “Let go of me!”

  The defiance in her voice and the searing anger lurking in her eyes both shocked and shamed Armando. Yet, even more terrible was the terror he saw bloom in her lovely lavender eyes when he had lay a hand on her. Dismally, he released her.

  “Don’t ever touch me again!” Vanora said fiercely.

  Armando saw her terror, but at the same time, he saw her resolve not to cower before him.

  “I love you,” he said at last, vulnerable, and afraid that she was lost to him.

  “Stay away from me,” she said, holding out her cross. Gathering up her massive skirt, she hastily retreated from him.

  “Vanora, please, let me explain. Let your brother and sister explain.”

  “I saw,” Vanora said in a tremulous voice. “I saw what you are!”

  Armando again tried to step toward her, but she flinched. Her visage blurred as tears filled his eyes. “Vanora, don’t do this.”

  “I didn’t do anything but see the truth. It’s all been lies. What you are.” Finally reaching the end of the hallway, she fled into the foyer and then he heard her ascending the stairs.

  “Vanora!” Clenching his hands, Armando followed, stalking up the hallway, determined to somehow convince her that she should not fear him. Just as he reached the foyer, he heard the door to Vanora’s room slam shut and lock.

  “So they have lost sight of their dreams,” a mocking voice whispered from above him.

  Armando gazed up into the shadows caressing the foyer ceiling.

  “Tonight they truly know what it is to be a vampire. To take what you want, to rule over mortals, to be a god! The smell of human blood fills the house. I can almost taste it.”

  Armando’s eyes adjusted to the gloom. He saw Carlotta lying on the ceiling, her hair and skirts flared out around her by the power that held her aloft.

  “You bitch!” Armando exploded harshly. “I never should have brought you here!”

  Carlotta’s fingertips pushed off the ceiling and she gracefully descended. She floated downward and hung in the air above him, eyeing him with a smirk on her blood-red lips. “I did nothing.”

  “You encouraged Roman to break the vows he had made to himself not to drink human blood! Not to kill!”

  “Face reality, Armando. I didn’t have to force him. We are vampires! We need blood! Human blood makes us strong! We need blood to survive! You are weakening yourself on the blood of animals!” Carlotta’s eyes flicked upward. “You need human blood, Armando. She’s all alone up there.”

  “Shut up, Carlotta!” Armando was consumed with anger. He wanted to seize Carlotta around her slim throat and tear her head off.

  “You need human blood, Armando,” Carlotta insisted. “You’re weak from animal blood. Can’t you feel it? How weak you truly are?”

  “Stop it!”

  “You do feel it! Your weakness, your hunger! The hunger calls to you. You are a killer! Smell the blood that has been spilled in this house! It can liberate!”

  “I said to shut up!”

  “Yes! Feel the desire! Take the girl! Take the girl now!”

  “Never!” Armando flung himself upward and tackled Carlotta in midair. He crushed her against him, his eyes capturing her with their golden intensity. “I would rather kill you than ever harm her!”

  Carlotta was stunned but quickly recovered, her jaw setting, her countenance fierce. “You’re being a fool.”

  “Then so be it, Carlotta!”

  “You’re a pathetic, little fool! You’re a traitor to the Master and what we are!”

  “If you ever touch Vanora, I’ll rip your head from your shoulders and let your body burn in the sunrise. Do you understand?”

  Carlotta lifted her chin, her eyes haughty. “I do as I please.”

  “You won’t hurt the girl. She is more important than you know. More important than your life. Our Master would destroy you if you even dared to touch Vanora.”

  “I don’t understand the Master’s interest in the girl. She’s very unremarkable. Just like her dear brother who is feasting on that horrible little man right now.”

  Armando refused to take her bait. “What happened tonight is of no consequence in the end,” Armando said dismally.

  “You’ve bought into all of this ridiculous philosophy of being mortal. You’re pathetic in your desperation to be something other than what you are. You resist the hunger. You won’t even try to take the girl.”

  “I told you-”

  “That she’s i
mportant.” Carlotta glared at him for a long moment, then began to laugh. “You pathetic little lost vampire. Your childish attempt at redemption is dead! Vampires kill! Including Roman Socoli! Or are you weeping over your pale, ugly little white witch?”

  Armando was too furious to respond. He struck Carlotta. A drop of blood slid down her cheek from where his ring had torn her flesh. The droplet slid purposefully toward her red mouth, and her pink tongue snaked out, capturing the bit of blood. Her dark eyes fastened on him with malevolent rage. Armando gruffly released her and descended to the floor.

  “You will regret that.” With great flourish, Carlotta lifted her hands. The front door of the house banged open behind her. With one last triumphant smirk, she slid through the air and out into the night, the door shutting behind her.

  In agonized silence, Armando glanced in the direction of the ballroom. He could hear and feel the feast continuing. Utterly devastated, he moved toward the staircase.

  ***

  “It leaves at eleven-thirty and sets down after one,” Vanora said while shoving clothes into her luggage. She cradled her cellphone with her shoulder as she packed. On her desk, the laptop Roman had given her for her birthday displayed her flight information.

  “Okay, we’ll be there to pick you up,” her aunt’s voice said, her concern obvious. “Can you tell me what’s going on?”

  Rubbing her hand over her face to wipe away her tears, Vanora took a deep breath. “Not right now.”

  “But everyone is okay? Alive?”

  “Yes. I just…can’t talk about it.”

  “Is it that man? Armando?”

  “Aunt Crystal, please…” Vanora broke down again, collapsing onto the edge of her bed.

  “Okay, baby. Okay. We’ll pick you up at the airport. Be careful. I’m scared for you.”

  “I’ll be fine. See you soon,” Vanora replied, then hit END.

  The beautiful dress she had so carefully selected for the Halloween party was tossed aside, looking very much like a wilted flower. She never wanted to see it again.

  Vanora slid to her feet and finished zipping up her faded blue jeans. Dragging a pale pink tank top over her head, she winced when the fabric caught on her sensitive nipples. Her body was still tingling from earlier, much to her dismay. She didn’t want to think about Armando making love to her, his beautiful cold body hiding the monster inside.

  Her vision had yet to fully return, so she stumbled a few times as she rushed to pack only those things that had true meaning to her. She shoved a photo of her parents into her overnight bag, but hesitated when she saw the one of her with her siblings in better times. Realizing the photo had been taken when they were still mortal, she slid it into her bag. Picking up her old sketchbook, she hesitated, then dumped it into the trash bin under her desk. It was filled with sketches of Armando. Fresh tears flowed at the thought of him.

  A soft knock on the door sent her scrambling for the far side of the room, her mother’s cross clutched in one hand.

  “Vanora, open the door.”

  Armando’s voice, gentle and seductive.

  “Go away!” Collecting her keys, purse, and laptop off her desk, she hurried to her bed to finish packing.

  “We need to talk.”

  “No, we don’t. Go away!” She shoved her laptop into her suitcase between her clothes and zipped it up.

  “Yes, we do.” Armando’s voice said beside her.

  Twisting about, she cried out in fright. He stood calmly inside the room, not two feet from her. The door behind him was still closed.

  “Stay away from me!”

  He flinched as if she had struck him.

  Armando had taken the time to wipe the blood from his face and neck, but he couldn’t remove her memory of his feral appearance in the doorway of the ballroom. She had never dreamed his exquisite face could look so monstrous.

  “Vanora, I didn’t kill those men!”

  “But you have killed others!”

  “Yes, but you knew that!”

  Vanora licked her lips, realizing he was right. She had seen the gruesome vampire that had created her brother and sister, yet had lived in perpetual denial that her brother and sister were anything like him. She had deluded herself into believing that they were somehow unaltered by their new natures. After witnessing Roman sinking his teeth into the mortal and Alisha covered in blood, she knew she had been horribly wrong. Seeing Armando with glowing red eyes, smeared in blood, and looking like a rabid beast had drilled that truth home. All she had felt when she had seen his face was utter terror.

  “I was foolish,” she whispered. She dared to take her hand from her cross to finish zipping up her other bags.

  Armando growled with frustration, his hands gripping his hair as he paced before her. “I’m a vampire! You knew that. From the beginning, but you still saw me for the man I am and loved me.”

  “And tonight I saw the monster!” Vanora jerked on her black leather jacket and yanked her hair back from her face, wrapping it in a tight bun at the nape of her neck and tucking the end to hold it. It was a defiant, cruel gesture. She knew how much he loved her hair loose down her back.

  “I didn’t feed,” Armando said again. “Vanora, I have abstained since finding Roman.”

  “What do you want from me, Armando?” She felt as though she were about to explode. Dread, revulsion, and wrath drowned all other emotions.

  Imploring her with those golden eyes, he said softly, “For you to come with me.”

  “I can’t.” Vanora felt more tears slipping down her face to drip from her chin.

  Armando stretched out his hand to touch her, but she scooted out of his reach. “Vanora, listen to me. What happened tonight was wrong, but it doesn’t have to drive you away. You have to understand we struggle against an unbearable hunger every moment of our existence.”

  “A hunger for my kind,” Vanora snapped. “For my kind! How close have you come to biting me? How close? I trusted you, but looking back…” Shaking her head vehemently, she couldn’t believe how foolish she had been. When he had made love to her, she had felt his teeth lightly pressing against her skin several times, yet she had never felt threatened. Now she wondered how close he had come to biting her.

  Armando averted his eyes, shame clouding his face.

  “I thought so.”

  “I would never bite you unless you allowed me.”

  “Allowed you to kill me?” She gaped at him incredulously.

  “I can drink without killing my…prey.” Armando exhaled with exasperation. “Everything I say sounds wrong.”

  “Because it is!” Vanora darted past him and claimed her things from the bed. She’d have to risk going downstairs, which terrified her. There were at least thirty vampires below. To get to her car so she could drive to the airport, she’d have to risk it. Gripping her bags tightly, she walked past him.

  “No!” Armando appeared in front of her, slamming his hand against the door.

  “You can’t stop me from leaving!”

  “You can’t go down there!”

  “Why not?”

  Armando’s face contorted with frustration and anger. With a growl, he said, “They’re in the bloodlust. It’s too dangerous. They may sense your fear and come for you.”

  Swallowing the heavy lump that suddenly filled her throat, Vanora took a wary step back.

  “I’m not like them. I’m not in the bloodlust,” he said immediately, seeing her fear.

  “I’m leaving, Armando. I have a flight and I’m not going to miss it.” Clutching her luggage, she glared at him.

  Covering his face with his hands, he groaned with aggravation. After a few tense moments, he finally uncovered his face, and gave her a sharp nod. “I’ll help you leave the house,” he said at last. “Trust me this one last time.”

  “You’re letting me go?” A tiny bit of her was hurt by his surrender, but she was also relieved.

  Drawing close, he gazed at her with such yearning it scared h
er. “I’d rather you left than see you look at me in fear.”

  Lowering her eyes, Vanora sucked in a ragged breath. She wanted to forget what she had seen in the ballroom. The blood, the sharp teeth, the limbs being ripped from bodies, all of it. Yet, she couldn’t. She was terrified of her brother, sister, and the man who had made love to her.

  “How will you get me out of here?”

  “The window.” Armando walked to the same one where they had shared their first kiss. He unlatched it to open it.

  “You…can…fly?”

  “I have talents.” At another time, he may have sounded cocky and teasing, but tonight he sounded defeated.

  Vanora nervously pressed her lips together, then sighed in surrender. “Just to my car.”

  Armando gave her a curt nod.

  Walking to him, she flinched when he reached for her.

  “Vanora, I will never hurt you.”

  The break in his voice compelled her to look at his face in the moonlight. To her shock, he was crying. Instinctively she started to raise her hand to wipe the tears away, but stopped herself.

  “Can you tell me something to make this all better?” she asked, abruptly wanting nothing more than for her fear to dissipate and for him to hold her.

  Armando shook his head sorrowfully. “No, no, I can’t. This is something you’ll have to deal with in your own way. If I could change this night, I would. I would take you far away from here before you ever saw that…event. I would take you somewhere safe where no one could ever hurt you.”

  She believed him. Every word. She could see the truth in his eyes, but when he touched her arm, she shuddered in alarm. Dropping his hand, he sat on the window ledge and rubbed his face with his hands.

  “Vanora…”

  “I have to go, Armando.”

  With a slight nod, he took her luggage and dropped it into the bushes below. “Then you have to go. But to get you down there, I have to touch you. Okay?”

  Trying to keep calm despite the tremors of fright rippling through her body, she nodded. Armando slid to his feet, scooped her up in his arms before she could even protest, and leaped out the window. They landed on the drive seconds later. The vampire immediately set her down, then collected her luggage.