Innocence and Evil (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #6)

by Malone Wright, Jennifer

  “Oh.” Her head snapped up and I saw that she had crystalline blue eyes. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t hear you come in.”

  Christina’s frame tightened beneath my arm. Uh oh, that meant something wasn’t right already.

  “It’s all right,” I assured her. “We’re just here looking for a couple of books.”

  “Well …” She executed a goofy grin. “It is a library so you’re in the right place for books.”

  I offered a smile of my own. “Ha, you got me there.”

  She stood and very deliberately gave me the once over from head to toe. Then, she did the same to Christina. “What type of books are you looking for, perhaps I can send you in the right direction.”

  I gave Christina a squeeze and then leaned over and whispered, “Pregnancy.”

  The look I got from Christina was well deserved, I admit, but it was one topic that a couple would actually be searching for in a library. “It’s all right honey, this is like the doctor’s office they have a client privacy policy.” I turned to the woman behind the counter. “Right?”

  For a moment she appeared a bit flustered by my question and then she quickly pulled it together. “Oh, yes, yes of course. Please follow me.”

  Still keeping my arm firmly around Christina, we followed close behind as we were led up a staircase and then through a maze of surprisingly tall bookshelves. I didn’t think this woman was actually a librarian. She was most likely a vampire, judging from Christina’s reaction. At least they made sure she knew her way around the place first, otherwise she would suck at pretending to be a librarian.

  “You should find everything you need in this area.”

  “Thank you,” Christina mumbled, pulling away from me to inspect the books on the shelf. “This will help a lot.”

  I smiled and nodded, giving the librarian her leave. “Yeah, thanks.”

  She smiled back. “I’ll be at the desk if you need me for anything.”

  After she was gone, I stepped up beside Christina at the bookshelf and caught her gaze, raising my eyebrows in a silent question.

  “Yup,” she confirmed.

  Even though it was light outside, vampires could still move about indoors during the day. If that vampy librarian was awake then most likely more of them were too. “Let’s look around.”

  Instead of wandering through the many aisles of books, we took to the perimeter where we would be able to take a peek into any additional rooms. If the vampires were actually hiding out in this place, we would find out where.

  We found nothing on the second floor, so we wandered back downstairs. “You think she will come looking for us?” I asked.

  “Shhh.” She held her hand up, ordering me to be quiet. “Probably, if we take too long. But, if you don’t keep your voice down she will hear us anyway.”

  “All right.” I lowered my voice to a whisper. “You think she knows who we are, though.”

  Christina shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably, they can sense us just like we can sense them. Just be ready to fight.”

  “I always am, baby.”

  We hurried down the staircase, making sure the librarian wasn’t looking our way when we hit the landing. The desk and main doors where to the right, so we went left, disappearing further into the depths of the stacks.

  I glanced at some of the titles as we passed and saw that all the books in this area were fiction. The non-fiction must have been the upstairs, since that was where she took us for the pregnancy book.

  The silence and eerie feel of the place reminded me of when my mother had taken me to a big museum when I was young. I remembered my mother and I being the only ones walking down the halls full of exhibits. Her high heels had clicked on the shiny floors, echoing loudly with each step. As if to honor the atmosphere, we didn’t speak. When it was time to pause, she would simply place her hand on my shoulder and I would stop.

  “Hey, check this out.” Christina halted her already slow pace.

  I shook off the memory, forcing myself back into the present. “What?”

  She pointed. I followed the direction she indicated and saw that there was another staircase, almost hidden among the shelves that lined the walls. I leaned in and tried to see the bottom, but the steps took a turn part way down so all I could see was a wall with a decorative sconce and a bulb that was supposed to emulate torch light.

  “That looks promising.” I glanced at Christina and raised my eyebrow.

  She closed her eyes and then opened them again. “We’re going down there, aren’t we?”

  “We came all the way in here to check the place out. Of course we are.”

  She flipped her dark hair and then reached down with both hands, pulling two rather large knives from the sheathes hidden under her coat. “You better hope that we haven’t gotten ourselves into something we can’t handle,” she mumbled before taking the lead and stepping into the stairwell.

  I wanted to come up with some snarky comment to annoy her, but she was right. We might very well have been walking straight into a trap if that librarian upstairs knew who we were. Or, there might just be too many down there for Christina and I to take on our own.

  I was right too. We had come this far, we were inside, now we just needed to find out where the lair was and the best way to infiltrate and we were golden.

  Christina naturally had a light step, she had been raised to be stealthy. Keeping my boots from pounding on those stairs was more of a conscious effort than I would have liked. On the way down, I pulled out my gun so that I’d be ready in case anything attacked us.

  We made the turn and saw that there was another turn just like it coming up. Damn, wherever this led, it was deep beneath the main floor of the library. We were just about ready to make the next turn when my stomach tightened and a wave of hatred washed over me.

  Oh crap.

  They were down there, that part I knew for sure. I followed along behind Christina, trying to push the hateful, murderous thoughts away. I needed to maintain control of myself. I’d lost it more than once, and I couldn’t stand anyone, let alone Christina, seeing me check out like that.

  With each step the more I felt the evil that radiated off of whoever … or whatever, was down there. In a sudden uncharacteristic flash, my conscience began to conflict. On one hand, every fiber of my being wanted to run down there and slaughter anything that so much as thought about something sinful. On the other hand, the human in me wondered if this wasn’t such a good idea after all. Maybe Christina was right to question how safe it was to go down there.

  What if I couldn’t control myself and ran right into a pack of vampires without thinking?

  Oh, that’s right, I had a special power that could dust them with the swish of a finger. On that thought, I actually looked down at my gun and wondered why in the hell I was carrying it in the first place if I had super powers.

  Christina stepped off the last stair and turned to wait for me. I was right behind her though, so she didn’t have to wait but a second. Neither of us wanted to speak, it was too dangerous now.

  What lay beyond us was just as dimly lit as the stairwell was. It was dank and dungeon like. The whole place seemed to be made of stone, the floors, the walls, even the ceiling was. Pipes of different sizes ran the length of the hallway above us and the only light came from single bulbs dangling from in between the pipes every fifteen feet or so.

  The place was just freakin’ creepy.

  We followed the hallway to wherever it was going to lead us. At first, there weren’t any doors or openings along the stone wall. It just kept going and going. I realized, after a short while, that it was sloping downward, delving further beneath the library. This wasn’t good at all. We were going further down into a vampire lair and probably trapping ourselves down there.

  I was far from scared, but for Christina’s sake, I seriously considered turning around and going back topside. Of course, thoughts were quickly squelched by the emotions churning inside of me. The fiery h
ate that chanted, ‘kill the evil, kill it, kill it, kill it.’

  Christina paused when we arrived at the first door. It was wooden and ancient. The thing looked like it would fall to the floor in splinters if I even touched it. I closed my eyes for a moment and focused, trying to sense if there was anything on the other side. I couldn’t feel anything that was stronger than the pull I already felt, so I shook my head.

  She acknowledged and then moved on. We passed a couple more doors and I did the same thing. It was a lot easier than having to kick open a door and clear a room, all the while hoping that no one was inside to surprise us.

  And then, finally, a brighter light could be seen ahead. Silent and stealthy, we crept the rest of the way down the hall until we reached the source of the light. Before rounding the corner into the room, we each stood up against one side of cold, stone wall. On a three count from Christina, we stepped out into the open with our weapons raised.

  I’d known that no one was in our immediate vicinity since I was actively using my ‘find the evil’ sense. We did play it how we were supposed to, though. Better safe than sorry.

  We found ourselves in a room that had been furnished with a couple of couches, a wooden table with four matching chairs … and a chandelier. Who in the world hung a crystal chandelier from a dank dungeon ceiling? Freakin’ creepy.

  I turned in a circle, orienting myself and checking the place out. “Hey,” I whispered.

  Christina was already at my side, standing so close our shoulders were touching. “Hmm.”

  “There.” I pointed in the direction I wanted her to look.

  On the far wall there were two openings like the one we had just come from. Spaced about five feet apart, each of the cave-like hallways were covered with a burgundy curtain. The couches were the same shade of burgundy. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself. If these vampires were worried about coordinating the color scheme of their nasty basement, then they had their priorities messed up.

  The question now was which path did we choose? Christina marched toward the one on the right and pulled the curtain aside.

  Just as we were stepping into another dimly lit hall, my flesh prickled and a wave of white-hot hate crashed down onto me. It was stronger than just feeling that there was evil close by. This meant they were practically right beside me and whoever it was, was sooo not a nice guy.

  “Is there something I can help you find?” A smooth, male voice asked from behind us.

  We both spun, weapons at the ready.

  “Oh.” The vampire waved his hand at our weapons in a dismissive manner. “Is that really necessary?”

  Neither of us said anything. I was trying not to just blow the bloodsucker away right then. Something in the back of my mind, the sensible human side of me, told me that we shouldn’t kill this guy right away.

  He was dressed in black denim and a black button up shirt. His hair was blond and slightly long, it hung about ear length with a few strands falling over his unnaturally bright, blue eyes.

  When neither of us spoke, the vampire let out a big, long dramatic sigh. “You can try to kill me if you want, but you would never get out of here. We all know you’re here, we knew as soon as you walked in.” He lifted a pale hand and snapped his fingers.

  Immediately, two more vampires entered from the hallway which we had come from. They joined the blond one, posting themselves on either side of him.

  Christina snorted. “Really. Do you actually think that we can’t take three of you? We’re Vampire Hunters you fanged freak.”

  The leader seemed slightly disappointed with Christina’s outburst. “You assume so much young Hunter, there are far more of us here than you see. Now, I shall extend you a welcome and suggest that you make yourself comfortable with your surroundings …” He snapped his fingers again. “Since you won’t ever see the outside again.”

  The two vamps at his side blurred as they used their vampire speed to burst forward in an attempt to capture us. I didn’t think, I only reacted. The gun fell from my grip and I threw my hands outward. A white light burst forth from my palms.

  The light flashed out in front of me a good six feet, and the sound of death resounded off of the stone walls as the white-hot power scorched the vampires. They shrieked and hissed, but it didn’t last long. Only seconds later, they were ash on the floor.

  “Let’s go!” I bolted for the hall from which we had come. Christina was right behind me and probably would have bowled me over if I slowed my pace. We had to hurry and get the hell out, I could feel more of them coming and they were coming fast.

  “We’ve been compromised!” I heard her say. She must have been radioing in. “Copy?”

  There was no answer. The radio wasn’t even omitting any static. “It probably doesn’t work down here for some reason.” I swung around the first corner.

  And then, the air in front of me blurred and a vampire was there, reaching out to grab me by the throat. I heard Christina scream and then grunt. I couldn’t see, but she was probably fighting back whoever was attacking her.

  They had us from both sides.

  Dammit.

  I stretched my hand out and let the power flow out of me. A loud scream filled the small space and then his hand fell as the white light ate his body away and he was nothing but ashes on the steps.

  I turned to find Christina lunging at the vampire who attacked her. She slashed at him with her knife, cutting his torso open. Blood spilled from his body, covering the stairs with the thick, slippery wetness.

  Christina’s boot slipped off the edge of one of the steps. I reached out for her, but I wasn’t close enough. She fell backward, her eyes widening as her knife flew from her grasp. Her arms flailed out as if she were searching for something to grab onto. Unfortunately, her fingers found nothing and she hit the stairs hard, her head whipped back and cracked against the stone step with a sickening thud.

  “Christina!” I called out as something grabbed me from behind. At the same time, the injured vampire yanked Christina’s unconscious body upward and tossed her over his shoulder. I hadn’t had time to react to my own attacker, I couldn’t look at him since he had me in a head lock. I flashed him with white light and then he was gone.

  But … so was Christina.

  The vampire had been moving so fast that all I saw as the grip from my attacker faded was a blur of movement. By the time I was finally free to help, he had already escaped with her. I was left alone in the hallway with only a puddle of blood which was working its way down the stairs.

  “Dammit!” I clenched my fists and kicked the wall. How could this happen? My heart was pounding so hard it was practically all I could hear. Should I go after her or go get help? My first instinct was to go after her, but I didn’t know if I could do it on my own, even with my crazy power. “No.” The word came out a hopeless moan, not nearly laced with the anger I felt.

  Then, I was forced to make my choice. Vampires came filing in from both directions so I had to choose to go up or down and plow my way through the vampires while doing it. I felt sick to my stomach, I couldn’t just leave her down here.

  But I couldn’t stay.

  If I stayed, it was possible that I may not be able to save her. Hell, we could both die in this dungeon and no one above would know what had become of us. I had to bring help.

  Now I was getting angry. I shouldn’t have to leave her down here, I should be able to go save her. So, in response, I took that anger and I pushed it all into fuel for what I was about to do. Turning toward the vampires approaching me from the stairs above me, I stretched my arms out, pushing my palms toward them … and let it loose.

  The white-hot flashes were more like white fire. I let it come in pulses, taking down a vampire and then stepping forward, turning, taking out one behind me, then back to the ones in front of me. It was a process I repeated over and over again until I emerged from the vampire attack and discovered I was nearly at the door to the main floor of the library.

 
I ran … No, more than that, I bolted from the place. Sprinting over the slick hardwood of the library floor, I made for the exit at the fastest possible speed I could manage.

  I must have looked like a lunatic as I slammed open the door and burst out onto the landing above the massive stone steps. The few people passing by on the street stopped and turned to stare. I didn’t care. I searched the street for any of the Hunters, for anyone that I knew. Where were they?

  And then, as if she heard my thoughts, my sister rounded the corner by the café at the end of the block. She was running toward me with a concerned expression on her face and her bow slung across her back. Pedestrians jumped out of the way to let her pass, mumbling things like, “excuse me” and “Jeez.”

  While she continued in my direction, I went in hers, meeting her half way. “Are you okay?” She threw her arms around me and squeezed me against her. Neither of us were huggers, so that actually took me by surprise. “Christina …” was all I could get out before an unexpected lump caught in my throat. What the hell was that? Was I choking up?

  Drew wasn’t far behind Chloe. “Where is she?”

  I glanced up at him and shook my head. “They took her? She fell and hit her head on a step. It knocked her unconscious.” I looked away, ashamed. “You know I tried to save her and if it was possible I would have.”

  Chloe stroked my arm in what she probably considered a soothing manner. “We know.”

  “I’m going back in there. I just came for you guys. I need help.”

  Drew glared at me. “I’ll radio the team. Hey, why didn’t you use the radio?”

  “Christina has it.” I returned the glare. “Besides, it didn’t work down there, she tried.”

  He nodded, knowing that was what she would have done. While Drew was on the radio I turned to Chloe and shook my head in disbelief again. “I can’t believe this happened. Even with my powers, I wasn’t able to help her.”

  She shrugged. “It happens and it’s part of the job. Look what happened to me and none of you were able to save me at that moment.”

  “We need to meet with the whole team before we go in there. We don’t have time to go home, so let’s head over to the park.”