Death of Night

by Krissy Reynolds

  There was a whoosh on my left and something barreled into me. I stumbled, falling forward, trying to catch myself. I managed not to fall and scrambled to point the gun at whatever had just crashed into me.

  "Dahlia!" they shouted, frantically grappling for my arm.

  I hit their hand away and aimed the Firestar at their chest. My brain wasn't exactly computing at a cognitive level. It was in overdrive.

  "Dahlia!" they yelled, more exasperatedly this time. "The car's going to blow!"

  As I automatically went to look at the car, they took the opportunity to grasp my upper arm and pull me towards the trees. I didn't even have to use my legs; they just dragged me along with them. I was thrown to the ground about fifteen feet into the woods. My cheek hit soft dirt and my left elbow scraped against a root. I tried to look up, but a hand pushed my head down.

  "Stay down," they commanded.

  Time paused, then clicked forward second-by-second. Holding my breath, I squeezed my eyes shut and breathed in the thick smell of dirt.

  I heard the explosion before I saw the orange glow from under my eyelids. Warm heat swept over my skin a moment later and some debris fell on my back. The pieces of debris were small and light and didn't hurt at all. The fact that there was debris at all, being this far away from the car, meant that the explosive device had been pretty powerful, probably more powerful than those at the house.

  A hand shook me. "Dahlia," the voice said. "Flora?"

  Lester's gaunt face was hovering in my field of vision. Oh, it had been him.

  I propped myself up on my elbows, my left one stinging a bit. I swept hair out of my face. "Yeah?"

  Face relaxing, he breathed, "You are not injured?"

  I coughed. "No."

  He sat up into a kneeling position, flicking some fragments off of his shirt. "Good."

  "What just—"

  "It was lucky that I came back," he muttered.

  "Came back?"

  He looked at me. "Yes," he said, "I came back to the road to find the servants, per Master's request."

  I rolled onto my side and glanced at the wreckage on the road. The car was now burning, flames wrapping themselves around what remained. "And where—uh—is he?" I asked distractedly. "Callum?"

  "In the woods across the road," Lester replied, and then added bitterly, "protecting the humans."

  I made a confused sound.

  Lester explained, "The ones in the car. They tried to get away but we caught up to them." He spat on the ground. "Stupid humans."

  "Hey," I croaked, forcing myself into a sitting position. I scooted back against the rough bark of a tree. "Don't generalize about my species."

  Lester rolled his shoulder back, stretching it out, and shot me a press-lipped smile. "Well, I do not count you as a part of the human species," he said.

  "Hmmm," was all I said. I didn't know what to think about that.

  We sat in silence for a minute, listening to the crackling of the fire. The waling of sirens could be heard in the distance, getting nearer. My heartbeat slowed to something normal, and I closed my eyes and let my head rest on the tree, gun in my lap. My throat felt raw and my chest was tight.

  There was a rustling in front of me. Lester murmured something and I cracked one eye open. I had the chance to notice a group of people approaching before a figure swept down in front of me, kneeling. I raised my head and looked right into the pair of eyes I had been desperately waiting to see.

  Callum put a hand on my cheek and let his head fall with his eyes squeezed shut, his chin touching his chest.

  I struggled to straighten myself and took his hand from my cheek, dropping my gun to the side and enveloping his hand with both of mine. He lifted his head slowly.

  "It's okay," I said quietly. "Everything's okay."

  He exhaled sharply, squeezing my hand.

  "I don't think anyone got hurt," I said.

  He just shook his head. "I didn't know there was more than one," he said.

  "Bomb?" I asked.

  "I did not know. We thought there was just one near the tent," he said. "If I had known, I would not have left you in the house."

  He always felt responsible when things happened to me. It made me feel warm, but I hated the look on his face. "It's okay," I said again. "I'm fine."

  The sound of sirens was fast approaching. Callum closed his eyes, took a moment, and then stood up, pulling me up with him. I steadied myself with a hand against the tree, my world swaying. I blinked and everything eventually steadied. I picked up the Firestar and tucked it into my waistband. Glancing up, I saw Ophelia, Raven, and Liam holding onto three boys who couldn't have been older than twenty. Dressed in all black, they looked up at me, terrified and shaking.

  Throwing a confused look to Liam, I asked, "They're the ones who caused all this?"

  After his eyes swept over me, taking in the dirt stains and the scrape on my elbow, he met my gaze and replied, "It seems so."

  One of the boys piped up, "Please! We were—we were told to—"

  "—by a crazy redheaded woman?" I finished for him.

  "Yeah," he said, nodding fervently.

  "I figured as much," I muttered.

  Ophelia, clad in a silk shirt, jeans, and high heels, smiled at me. Any trace of wounds from the night at Thanatos' house weren't apparent, and she had been sliced up pretty bad. "It's good to see you, my Dahlia," she said in that honey voice.

  I gave her a tight smile in return. "You, too."

  Callum put a hand on my back. "The police are almost here," he said. "We need to get to the road."

  "The police?" another boy exclaimed.

  "No, no," his friend begged.

  Liam shook the one he was holding by the collar of his shirt. "Shut up," he growled.

  The boys shut up. Ophelia, Raven, and Liam began walking towards the burning car, pushing the boys in front of them. Lester followed, nodding at Callum. I met Callum's eyes and he smoothed a hand down the back of my head. All I wanted to do was collapse into him, but there were so many things to do before that could happen. I gave him a quick smile, which he returned, before we both trailed after the others. I could see the blue and red flashing lights of the police cruisers come up the road, the blaring sounds of fire engines not far behind.

  "Oh my God," one of the boys cried out when he was close to the car.

  From the way the boys were reacting, they hadn't known the car was going to blow up. Lilynn hadn't wanted any loose ends. They looked horrified, realizing how close they had come to exploding with the car.

  We gathered on the edge of the road, hugging the trees. Two police cruisers screeched to a halt. The fire trucks came into view and stopped as well, firemen jumping down from the trucks to unravel large hoses.

  I felt a hand touch my gun and I looked up, startled. Liam pulled my shirt over the butt of the Firestar, making sure it was obscured it from plain view.

  "Don't want any unnecessary questions being asked," he muttered, leaning down to speak into my ear.

  "Right," I said.

  He gave me a nod and we both turned to watch Callum step forward to speak to the police officers.

  * * *

  The firefighters put out the fires, the police secured the estate, the staff consoled each other, Callum talked with the officers, his vampires stood on the sidelines, and I leaned against the side of a fire truck, massaging my temples. After all the adrenaline had drained away, it left me feeling tired and weak with the beginnings of a headache.

  It had been about two hours since the police arrived. There were now six cruisers, two bomb squad trucks, three fire engines, and two ambulances parked in front of the estate. We had all been evaluated by the EMTs. The police officers had just finished taking all of our statements and the bomb squad was in the process of examining the blast sites.

  Callum being here had made this whole ordeal much smoother. He had quite a rapport with the police department, and with a couple lies and a few vampire tricks, he had ma
naged to convince them that this attack was just a one-time, attention-seeking, lone offender group's idea of a radical Thursday night. The boys Callum and his vampires had caught were already on their way to the police station. I had seen Callum speak to them before they were placed in the cruisers. I had a feeling he had convinced them to keep their mouths shut about Lilynn. We didn't need the police involved in our supernatural problems.

  When questioned by the police, Liam and Lester had claimed to be Callum's personal security, which wasn't far from the truth. Ophelia and Raven couldn't use the same story, since Ophelia looked far from being on a security detail in her high heels and Raven looked like she was sixteen, so Ophelia told the police that she was Mr. Callum's press secretary and Raven was her intern. Raven didn't look like a good intern with her all-black, slightly gothic clothing, but no one asked any questions.

  As for me, I told as much truth as I could; that I had been hired by Callum to provide additional security for this event. I told the cop, who just nodded as he jotted down what I said, that I had met Callum here to discuss last minute details for tomorrow. He asked me a few more questions about noticing anything suspicious and if I knew why the three suspects would want to target Mr. Knightley in this particular place. I answered vaguely, but the cop seemed convinced.

  "Ma'am?" a man's voice said from next to me.

  Startled, I turned my head and saw a firefighter sidle up to me.

  "We're going to be moving the truck," he said.

  "Oh, sorry," I said, pushing myself off the side of the truck.

  He gave me a tired, thankful smile and climbed up into the passenger side. The fire engine roared off down the road, followed by the two other trucks. I walked over to where Liam and Lester were watching the bomb squad technicians examine the car that had exploded to the left of the estate.

  "Oh, man," I said with a wince as I came up on Liam's left side.

  Liam's jaw clenched as he stared at the remains of Dario's car. The bomb had gone off near it, and once a spark touched the gas in the tank, it had detonated the car, leaving it charred and barely recognizable.

  "It was a good car," I offered, folding my arms over my chest in an attempt to warm myself.

  Liam cast a look down at me. His hair had come unslicked in the night's events and it was hanging down around his face. I think he looked much better like this; more normal, less Elvis. "Such a waste," he grumbled, glancing back at its remains.

  From the other side of Liam, Lester said, "You have plenty of other cars, Liam."

  Not the thing to say. Liam shot him an icy look. "But I don't have this car," he snapped.

  Lester shook his head and rolled his eyes. "It wasn't even yours."

  "I killed Dario, so yes, it was mine," Liam growled at him.

  Clearing my throat, I said in a low voice, "Maybe don't talk about who you killed around—" I waved a hand at the police cruisers, "—all the cops?"

  Liam made a sound and went back to watching the people prod the car, gathering evidence in plastic bags.

  "What do they know?" I asked, watching along with him.

  "I overheard them talking," Lester said, nodding at the technicians, "and they said they were pipe bombs concealed in backpacks."

  "PVC pipes," Liam added. "Filled with some flammable liquid and capped on both ends."

  "Those kids probably found the instructions online, then," I mused.

  "Probably," Lester said.

  "Lilynn paid them to blow up some amateur bombs," Liam said, "and then—"

  "—and then tried to kill them with that car bomb," I finished for him, closing my eyes and shaking my head. "Tying up loose ends."

  "Yes," Liam said.

  "God, what a psycho," I sighed.

  "Yes," he said again.

  I turned to the two of them. "So, what was the purpose of all this? The bombs weren't strategically placed to cause any casualties, so it wasn't really meant to kill any of us," I said.

  Lester shrugged, looking pensive. "I am not sure," he said. "Perhaps this was just for attention?"

  "Or it might have been a distraction," Liam countered. "Or maybe just a disruption? Maybe she doesn't want this party to happen."

  "Maybe," I said. I really didn't know what Lilynn's plans were, but I sure as hell wanted to find out. "Where does this bitch live?"

  Slightly taken aback, Liam said, "What?"

  "Let's find her," I said in a moment of pure desire to end this. Maybe being on the offensive rather than the defensive would be smarter.

  His expression turned into something frustrated. "You think we didn't try that?" he asked. "We couldn't find her."

  "You see, she was with Damien long enough to learn all about us," Lester said to me. "She knows how to lay low because she knows how we would track her."

  "Yeah." Liam shook his head. "She knows to cover her scent. It makes it impossible. I even followed her once, but she managed to get away."

  "Well," I said, exhaling. "I guess we'll just remain sitting ducks."

  "I wouldn't—" Liam started, but was interrupted.

  "Miss!" a voice said behind me. I turned to see the man who I had escaped the house with. There were dried tears on his cheeks, but his eyes were bright and animated. I noticed for the first time that his hair was beginning to gray at the temples. "Miss, there you are," he said.

  Liam growled at him for interrupting and I shot him a warning look.

  "Hi," I said. "Glad to see you're okay."

  "Yes," he said. "Yes, I am. You, too, I see."

  Nodding and giving him a small smile, I replied, "Yeah, I am."

  He looked me straight in the eye. "Gracias, miss."

  My eyebrows rose. "For what?"

  "For helping me to get out of the house when we were trapped—when the door was locked," he said. "And for making me run when the—that car exploded. I might be dead. Ay Dios mio."

  I patted the man on the arm. "Don't worry about it. We were both lucky,"

  I said.

  "No," he said, "really, miss, gracias."

  I pressed my lips together and nodded, not knowing what else to do. The man smiled and hesitated for a moment before walking toward a group of people milling around near the start of the gravel driveway. I looked back to Liam and Lester to continue our conversation. "So—" I started but stopped when I saw Liam's face.

  Lester coughed. "I'm going to find Ophelia," he said quickly and left.

  Eyes narrowed, mouth set in a straight line, and dark hair falling forward, Liam tilted his head down to look at me. Confused, I just stared back at him.

  "What?" he spat, eyebrows raised.

  I frowned. "What 'what'?"

  "You were stuck in the house?" he asked incredulously.

  "I was in the bathroom," I said. "That man was sweeping in the back near the kitchens. We didn't hear—"

  Liam cut me off with an angry and disbelieving, "You were in the bathroom?"

  "I had to pee, okay?" I retorted. "Jesus."

  "And you didn't hear anyone shouting about a bomb?"

  "Well, I thought I heard yelling but I just didn't think anything of it," I admitted reluctantly.

  His nostrils flared. "Oh, you just didn't think anything of it," he repeated mockingly.

  "Hey," I said defensively. "It's not like I heard 'bomb!' and was just like, 'I'm just going to fix my hair before I run for my life'."

  Giving me a cold look and then turning his head away, he said, "I hate humans."

  "Oh, okay," I scoffed, putting my hands up in surrender. "Here we go."

  His head whipped back around to look at me. "The fact that you have to use the bathroom every five minutes—" he said, rolling his eyes. "It's ridiculous."

  "Sorry," I told him without any sincerity or patience.

  "Ridiculous," he muttered.

  "What is your problem tonight?" I demanded, turning on him. "What the hell did I do now?"

  His mouth opened, but no sound came out. He lifted his head and turned
to look at his demolished car again. It looked like he was deciding what to say. I waited, watching the flashing lights from the police cruisers dance on his face.

  "I didn't know," he said quietly. He glanced down at me, then fixed his eyes on a man picking up one of the BMW's mangled doors. I stared at the man, too. "I didn't know you were stuck in the house."

  "Oh, well," I said, my tone changing into something lighter, "it all worked out. Everybody's okay."

  "You could have died," he said.

  "Yes, well, I could die at any moment."

  He paused before saying, "And that's why I hate humans."

  I looked up at him. "Are you trying to say that you're worried about me?" I asked lightheartedly.

  He smiled, but it was a little heartbreaking. "Maybe."

  I surprised myself by smiling. "You are such a sap sometimes, Liam."

  His smile widened. "I guess the thought of you blowing up because you had to use the bathroom distresses me a bit."

  "Next time, I'll hold it," I told him.

  "That would make me feel better," he replied, then became more serious. "You're okay, though, right?"

  Despite everything, Liam had a compassionate side. "Nothing a cup of Earl Grey won't fix," I said.

  He grunted.

  "What's going to happen with Callum's party?" I asked to change the subject.

  He turned around to look at the estate and I did, too. It was bustling with policemen and forensic technicians.

  "The damage wasn't extensive," he replied, "but I don't know. It won't be cleaned up by tomorrow, that's for sure."

  "Does Callum own this place?"

  "No, he just rented it for the occasion."

  "Well, I hoped they don't charge him extra," I said, not able to think of anything more intelligent to say.

  "Money is Mr. Knightley's last concern," Liam said, finding my naiveté amusing.

  We spotted Callum near the half-collapsed tent. He was nodding as a police officer talked and made sweeping motions at the tent. He looked a little rough around the edges and seemed as if he was only partially listening to the cop. When his eyes suddenly swept over to meet mine, my heart jumped and beat a little faster than normal.