Darkest Before Dawn

by Amelia Hutchins

The wolves moved through the field, but this time, there were no landmines left, or if there were, they hadn’t gone off. I closed my fist and lowered my body to aim the silver bullet filled automatic AR-15 at the field and opened fire along with the armed humans, vamps, and Lachlan’s men. Another wave had been stopped from gaining the field.

  “To the shelter,” I screamed to be heard. “Now!” I watched as Lachlan, Jaeden and their men took the place of my people at the front of the line, protecting us from attack as we retreated. I watched as the humans made a line that ended with the last one closing the door. “Close it,” I mouthed as Addy met me at the glass door. I placed my hand on hers, and smiled. “I love you, wench.”

  “Always,” she replied.

  As I turned around, it was to watch the vampires and Lachlan’s men throw themselves into the fight. They took the field gloriously, battling together to rid the field of the rogue wolves. Jaeden, Shamus, Bjorn and Sven all worked together in a tag team system as they dropped wolves together. Lachlan and his pack fought in human form so they wouldn’t be mistaken and killed in friendly fire. Raphael was quick on his feet, and spun with a pace I could barely keep up with. He’d shouldered his bow and now long and short swords were almost a blur around him as he cut through the wolves.

  I pulled silver knives from their holsters and moved to the fray, watching as the Knight moved through the fight. I ignored the wolves and everything around me as I made my way in his direction. He too was coming for me, but there was a cold detachment to him that left me unsure of which side he was on. His icy blue eyes had a luminous glow to them and it was disorientating to watch as he seemed to blink in and out of existence around the battlefield as he advanced on me, almost like short spurts of teleportation.

  “My brother,” I growled when I was close enough for him to hear me.

  “I know not of what you speak,” he snapped.

  “You took my brother, I want to know where you took him!” I screamed angrily before I moved to slice his arm open, but he dodged the attack effortlessly.

  “I know nothing of your brother; I came here because you called to us. But I find you here with our enemies, and that screams traitor,” he said before he moved with lightning fast speed. A long blade I hadn’t seen him holding cut through my arm.

  I cried out as the metal tore through my flesh. He seemed different than the others that had come with my mother. “I didn’t call to anyone, you’re one of Trina’s flunkies,” I accused.

  “Trina and Dagan have betrayed our order, and are marked for death for what they have done. Any Sentinels with them have been marked as well,” he growled. “You smell of her and your being here shows your guilt,” he spat out before he did his super speed move again, but this time he captured me from behind. One hand was a manacle around my wrist, shoving my arm at a painful angle behind my back and then other held the long knife against my neck. “You’re the vampires’ whore?”

  I didn’t answer him; his blade was pressed against my throat. “I’m no one’s whore,” I finally said, and turned my head slightly to look up at him. “I was human, until I wasn’t. I died, and this is what happened to me. I have no idea what I am, and you all seem to want me dead so I’m better off here, with them.”

  “No one claimed you?” he asked. His hand adjusted the angle of the blade slightly away from my throat. “Are you with the vampires and wolves, or are you Sentinel?” he continued. “We protect the humans, and we don’t mix with other creatures. You seem to do it all; the order needs to know where you stand.”

  I was about to answer him, when a silver tipped arrow pierced his shoulder, and he disappeared. I looked to where Raphael stood, his bow now pointed at the ground.

  “No!” I shouted as I looked around. “He knew what I was, and he wasn’t working for my mother!”

  Chapter 33

  I felt as if I’d failed Grayson by not being able to chase after him immediately after he’d been taken. I knew however, that giving chase before I was prepared would be foolish. I had to find out where they’d gone, and why. Running blindly after him would have given my mother the advantage. If I was going to find him, I had to be smart about it. With what I knew now, I knew I could take the advantage, and bring him home where he belonged.

  We’d won the skirmish, but to me it felt empty. I’d discovered that there were others like me who didn’t agree or follow orders from my mother. It gave me hope that eventually, I’d be able to find them and gain their help in killing my mother. Maybe they could help me understand these weird powers I had been given and how to use them properly. So far I kept finding what powers I had purely by accident and I sure couldn’t control them.

  I hadn’t stopped to celebrate the small victory, not with Grayson’s life on the line. The day after the skirmish we’d decided it was time to head out towards Provo. The journey there would long considering what we’d have to wade through to get there.

  I’d packed my things and left the shelter, walking up to where the SUVs were waiting along the barren road out in front of the shelter. Addy stood off the side with Liam holding her hand. They had become very close, and I knew together they could run the shelter until I got back. Hopefully she wouldn’t have any puppies while I was away.

  I wished that we could just teleport there and be done with this, but from what I saw, Sentinels could travel short distances, based on that funky speed-hopping thing the Sentinel in the field was doing. But the Sentinels with my mom had clearly used cars, so I wasn’t sure if they could teleport with another person. Dagan hadn’t done so when he hauled Grayson off to the car. Even though we had a lead on their location, the world wasn’t exactly an easy place to travel through. Jaeden and Lachlan had told me grim stories of things they had seen when they trekked up here. Things I wasn’t sure anyone could be prepared for.

  I glanced around at some of the familiar and unfamiliar faces that were packed and ready to go with us. “You sure you want to be sandwiched in a car with a vampire and a wolf?” Jaeden asked as he moved forward to take my trusty, handmade bug-out bag.

  “You sure you can handle being stuck in a car with Lachlan?” I countered with a smile.

  “Nae, he isnae going tae like it,” Lachlan said with a wicked smile on his lips.

  “I made sure the CD player in the SUV works; hopefully he’ll hang his head out the window for most of the trip,” Jaeden growled as he tossed my bag into the back.

  I was leaving the shelter, and it felt as if I was leaving a part of myself behind. I said my goodbyes quickly to prevent Addy from becoming too hysterical and jumped in the passenger seat. When Lachlan and Jaeden joined me, we took off and headed toward the highway.

  We made it the Idaho-Oregon border with little effort, but just about fifteen miles before we reached Boise, we found a disturbing sign. Cars were packed together, and filled with remains of the dead. We got out of the SUVs and looked at the horrifying sight. Bones were being picked clean by the carrion eaters and ravens were everywhere. It was a wasteland of those who tried to escape the flu back when it began, and were trapped here instead.

  “That’s nae good,” Lachlan stated the obvious.

  “We may have to go on foot,” Jaeden announced as the other SUVs stopped and joined us as we stood on the edge of the road. Raphael, Bjorn and a few of Jaeden’s men unloaded and waited for his answer. Lachlan’s men did the same. I watched as the few vampires and wolves that had come with us joined me with their own packs on their backs. I surveyed the area and spotted the river which headed south.

  I rounded the car and grabbed the maps out of the center console and then grabbed my bag. I took a moment to say a prayer for the victims of the flu. It wouldn’t be easy finding Grayson in this mess, but we would figure it out. I motioned to Jaeden and Lachlan who ambled over to see me spreading out one of the maps on the hood of the SUV.

 
“We can follow the Snake River; it will provide us a barrier and drinking water. I’m sure less of the people who died would have thought to follow it. And look,” I said as I unfurled another map on top of the one for Idaho. “It branches off to the Raft River which takes us right into Utah.”

  “Lead the way, Emma,” Jaeden said as he looked over my shoulder.

  “Ye do ken that ye just asked the lass tae lead us to the unknown,” Lachlan said as he peered over my other shoulder.

  “It’s all unknown in this world. Besides, she has maps and seems to be more resourceful than you. I say I’ll keep her,” Jaeden grinned.

  I smiled at his reasoning, but in reality, we would be on the defensive side and stay away from people if we could help it.

  I had a vampire on my right and a werewolf on my left. I’d find Grayson; it would be getting to him that would be the hard part. With the creatures of the dark beside me, I was sure I could find him no matter where my mother tried to hide him.

  We stood on the edge of a disaster, looking out into what was now our reality. People were no longer what they’d been. The entire world was forever changed, and those who were left struggled to survive. I often wondered if we didn’t deserve this; we’d lost touch with the simple things in life which should have mattered the most—our humanity.

  We’d become accustomed to technology and depended on it for way too much. We depended on it for all of the wrong reasons. Maybe this was our slap upside the head, a reminder of how fragile life was. This catastrophic event had made us go back to the basics, and for some, it made them stronger, while others gave in to their baser instincts and killed others to steal what they had.

  It had taken total devastation to show us what mattered. There had been over seven billion people in the world before the flu hit. Billions had died, and millions more would die before the world righted itself. Hell, I was standing between a vampire and a werewolf, and I was stronger with them at my side. My dad had always known that the world would be hit with the Rh Viridae virus, but he’d also known that we’d survive it.

  He’d prepared me for this, this single moment in time where I stood with these men. He’d trained me to use my head before my heart in everything I did. He’d taught me to survive, and how to track, both of which I’d need to use now.

  My dad had died to save many, and I wondered if he’d known his fate when he started all of this. He was the reason I still believed there was hope for the human race; people like him were worth saving, and even though my journey was taking me away from what Shamus had dubbed ‘the Ark’, I knew he was with me in everything I did to help others. He’d live on in every life that we helped, because he’d saved us and we’d be able to save them.

  The wind ruffled my hair and I turned to look at Jaeden, and then Lachlan. I took the first step from the road in the direction which would take us to Utah, and away from everything I’d ever known.

  It wasn’t a happy ever after, but it would work for now. With them at my side, working together, I could do anything. I still felt numb, as we headed into the unfamiliar path to find my brother—together.

  ‘Til Next Time...

  About the Author

  Amelia Hutchins lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her beautiful family. She’s an avid reader and writer of anything Paranormal. She started writing at the age of nine with the help of the huge imagination her Grandmother taught her to use. When not writing a new twisting plot, she can be found on her author page, or running Erotica Book Club where she helps new Indie Authors connect with a growing fan base.

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