Darkened Days

by C. L. Quinn

  Then the young vamp shocked Jacob by leaning over and biting the girl right there on the street with people all around them. He drew some blood, the girl whined softly at one point, the boy smacked her gently, and then led her away by the hand. Keeping his distance, Jacob followed them as they moved toward the back of a street away from the crowds. The young man had an arm around the girl and they looked like a nice young couple out for a stroll in the city of love. Jacob knew his intentions. They were not honorable.

  As the two entered a darkened alley, the boy suddenly looked up and his eyes ran straight into the imposing silhouette of Jacob.

  Jacob laughed grimly.

  “It took you long enough to realize I was here. You’re a victim waiting to happen.”

  “I’m vampire. Not much can hurt me here.” English accent. Welsh, maybe.

  “Well, you’re mistaken, but I guess you’ll have to learn that the hard way. So…”

  He walked towards them. “Who’s the girl?”

  The young man glanced at her and back to Jacob with a frown. “What the fuck do you mean? She’s my fucking blood meal, now ain’t she?”

  “Going to treat her right, then?”

  “What the fuck is it to you?”

  “Hmm. Not much, really. Just trying to protect our race from repercussions pertaining to an asshole vampire taking a life or blood meal in public.”

  “You don’t know what I’m going to do, then, do ya?”

  “Yeah, you’re right. I don’t know. But I’m guessing. And my guesses are pretty amazingly accurate. So, go ahead and feed. I’ll watch.”

  “Bullshit you will! Get out of here, old man!”

  The younger vampire turned his back on Jacob. A strategic error, since the kid should have known that as an older vampire, Jacob was much stronger and bigger than him. He raced in front of the young vampire and pitched him up against the side of the alley where he slid down the wall into a crumpled mess.

  Turning to the girl, he caught her eyes to compel her in French.

  “Go home. Immediately. When you get there, you’ll prepare for bed and then turn in for the night. You will remember nothing of this night.”

  She left quickly just as the young vampire came to.

  Rubbing his head, he looked up at Jacob.

  “Ah, come on. It’s not like you don’t do the same thing.”

  “Not in public, I don’t. And I don’t feed on little girls. By the way, sex should always be consensual. Never compelled. Now.”

  He pulled the redhead up by his shirt.

  “We’re going to have a little talk.”

  They had a good crew tonight. Eight of them, all hungry, all partly drunk already. Loud and obnoxious, they knew they just looked like partying kids out for some drinking, dancing, and fucking in one of the prettiest cities in the world.

  It was a diverse group, most taller than average, three girls and five guys, all dressed in neo-goth clothes that were both eclectic and sexy. It was apparent several eyeliner sticks had died to create the look since both male and female members of the group were heavily made up. Two of the girls were wrapped arm in arm with the two men who led the group.

  The tallest, a heavily built dark haired young man, entwined his fingers with the girl who had a hand tucked into the back of his low-riding jeans.

  “Are we eating out tonight, everyone, or do you want to take it back to the basement for a munch down?” His English had a soft French accent, as if he had spent some years away from his home country.

  The stunning girl at his side groaned.

  “No, Henri. I’m sick of the place. I want to dance and eat some real food before we take our blood meals. Tell you what, you guys come to the club with me, we fill up, get some floor time, and then we’ll take the blood meals back home. Okay?” She spoke with a perfect American accent.

  Most of the heads nodded. One girl with tight dark blonde dreadlocks shot a nasty look at the brunette, but she didn’t say anything. It was clear everyone agreed with her. God, she hated that bitch! Frustrated, she grabbed the spike haired man she was wrapped around and pulled him to a stop to shove her tongue down his throat, and her hand deep into the front of his pants.

  The brunette rolled her eyes and looked up at Henri.

  “Salope.” French for slut.

  Henri grinned down at her. “Bitchy, Star. You looking for a fight tonight?”

  Starla shrugged. “Maybe. Just sick of her superiority shit. Everyone is.”

  He pulled her close and ran a hand through her long curly hair.

  “No one’s superior to you, baby.”

  She smiled. “Sweet,” she said quietly. Her mind raced, as it often did. He was. Sweet. Henri was by far the kindest vampire she’d met since she became one. Starla adored him. The sex was great. He was a thorough and attentive lover. She looked up at him and yanked on his long dark hair, too. Grabbing his hands, she pulled him forward to pass the dreadlocked girl and the young man she was practically doing there in the street.

  “Come on, guys, we’re losing the night. And I’m really starving!”

  The dreadlocked girl kept her guy locked beneath her lips as the rest of the group moved forward to join Starla and Henri.

  When they’d passed, she pulled back.

  “Malice, I wish you had never changed that bitch! She’s been nothing but trouble,” she said in French.

  He nodded. “Yes, but we need recruits. How am I going to protect us without enough powerful bodies? I need vampires. And she’s one of our hottest converts next to you, Marina.”

  Marina looked smug as she nodded back and pulled him forward again to claim him in a lengthy kiss, her hand moving up and down quickly at his crotch. He groaned as she reached her goal, and pulled her hand out to wipe it against her jeans. She glanced around to see if anyone on the street had noticed. Not that she gave a shit; she did like an audience.

  Malice pulled his pseudo-military jacket around him and took her hand.

  “Next time, wait until we’re home. I want to ride you now.”

  “Go ahead. We can catch up to them later.”

  He pulled her into a corner in an alley, slipped their pants down around their ankles, and used hyper speed to bring them both quickly to orgasm, shoved her away and pulled his jeans back up.

  “Let’s hurry,” he said, walking away while she finished dressing. He never saw the hurt look on her face.

  After numerous restaurants, cafes, and clubs, Jacob hit a new dance club called Incognito that was extremely popular with young people. Lined up to enter, dressed in leathers, glitz or brilliant colors, they waited impatiently for entrance while Jacob walked past with little hesitation.

  He scanned the smoky room, moving past writhing bodies across the dance floor. Vampires were in the room, several from the energy he read, but because of the dense crowd, he couldn’t target in on them. He hoped like hell someone had an idea where she might be. A photo in his pocket lay ready for him to take it out and begin his questions again. Moving slowly toward the darker back of the nightclub, he found what he was looking for. A large group of young vampires. Exactly what Sarah had said he would find. He couldn’t separate the energies enough to identity how many, but he thought it was at least ten.

  Now he had to figure out a way to interrogate them without coming off as hostile. He needed to find out if any of them knew anything about the missing girl. Let someone else deal with the breach of protocol in producing dangerous numbers of vampires in such proximity. Right now his priority was to find Starla, hopefully alive.

  So Jacob slipped to a table near them to observe their behavior. He compelled a boy with a military cut to go dance, leaving the table empty for him. A nearly full glass of wine sat abandoned, so he picked it up and sipped. Not bad. He glanced at the raucous group of vampires, wondering how clueless they had to be to not know an older vampire had entered the area. But none of them bothered to look up at him. An old disco beat was providing the background for the dan
cers and Jacob let himself have a moment to enjoy it since it brought back some memories.

  He began moving his head to the music when he felt a surge of animosity. With a sudden movement he swung his head toward the group of vampires, his eyes bouncing from one to the other in an attempt to pinpoint the source. Once again, he couldn’t hone in on the culprit. But someone had made him. Finally one of those damned babies was paying attention. He’d just decided to quit messing around and go over to introduce himself when a tall boy leaned forward and revealed a young woman behind him.

  Jacob stopped in his tracks. It was her. Was it? In the darkness, with her partially hidden behind two other vampires, he wasn’t sure. But if it was, then Eillia’s friend was not okay. She was vampire now.

  He continued toward the tables where the clueless young vampires were drinking and partying. Two of the taller males raised their heads. He saw the female who looked like Starla push one of them out of the way and come forward to meet him.

  Jacob searched her face. Yes, it was the girl. Damn, Eillia would be pissed. He stepped forward to greet her.

  “Starla 2.0, I see. It looks good on you.”

  And it did, too. She was every bit the stunning vampire recreation of an already beautiful human. Every feature of her face and body had been intensified. Her eyes had darkened, which was common on conversions, and her figure had filled out. She was definitely agitated, evidenced by ragged uneven breathing that showed off her newly expanded breasts. Which were easy to see through the diaphanous top that left little to the imagination. He also noticed a spider tattoo on her shoulder where the nearly transparent material slipped down leaving bare sexy skin that needed an adventurous tongue. He shook his head to purge the thought.

  Eillia would kill him. But damn the girl was hot.

  It didn’t surprise him that the tall dark haired vampire standing beside her slid a proprietary arm around her waist, which also drew Jacob’s attention since a black lace skirt rode so low over her hips, it had to be within millimeters of revealing her private area to the public. Unwarranted, a feeling of fury rose up at the young vampire’s familiarity.

  He sensed it in Jacob and stepped closer.

  “What do you want, old man?” The young vampire spit out the question.

  Old man? He’d converted at age thirty-one, hardly old. Although to be fair, they often called new young vampires babies. Still, he had a mission to complete and his subject was finally in his sight.

  Jacob looked past the young man at Starla.

  “I need to speak with you. Will you come with me?”

  “No, she won’t,” the young man answered for her.

  “Henri, I can fight my own battles.” Her voice was soft with a hard edge.

  “I just need to speak with you. For a moment. For Eillia.”

  “For Eillia.”

  “Lia. I’m sorry, you know her as Lia.”

  “I know her name is Eillia.” She hesitated and then pushed past Henri.

  “No, Star…” Henri started to say.

  “Henri, settle. I got this. I know this man.”

  She walked out of the nightclub quickly, forcing Jacob to follow her. Even after they cleared the front door, she kept walking. Jacob felt like a puppy dog following its master. Eventually they arrived at an alley and she turned down into it. Midpoint she stopped and turned to face him, leaning against a brick wall.

  “I know you,” she repeated suddenly in a cold voice.

  “Do you?” Jacob asked.

  He leaned against the opposite wall, facing her. A light from above illuminated her curves, her face lit only when she looked toward him.

  “I do. You answered the door at Eillia’s house that night.” She paused, staring at his barely lit form. “You’re vampire.”

  Jacob nodded. “I am.” He wondered when this conversation was going to get beyond the obvious.

  “You did this to me.”

  His head shot up. “What? No. If you try to remember, I wasn’t anywhere near when you were converted.”

  “But you’re vampire. And the same night that I met you, I ended up in a hospital. And then I saw you. In my hospital room. You gave me blood. I didn’t know it at the time. But I do now. You started this.”

  She remembered him from the healing. She didn’t know that was what it was.

  “No. I did give you blood, but only to save you. I did not convert you. Eillia wanted me to save your life. That’s all I did. Then, when I came back to check on you later, you were gone. I did not change you, Starla.”

  Her heavily made up eyes lifted to his, watching him for a few moments, locked on his gaze, until she looked away a few moments later.

  “It’s Star. Dropped the ‘a’. Too cute for a vampire.”

  “Okay. Well, next question is can I convince you to come back with me? Eillia is worried to death about you.”

  “Worried enough to come looking for me herself?”

  “She couldn’t. She isn’t able to leave the villa right now. Anyway, it was my responsibility to find you. I was the one who lost you.”

  She got up and came to him suddenly, inches from his face and looked up into his eyes.

  “So I’m right. She’s a vampire.”

  “Yes,” Jacob acknowledged slowly. “That’s why she sent me to save you after your accident. She cares about you and wanted to make sure you lived. There was a very good chance you would not have.”

  “But she didn’t let me in on it. I thought she was this amazing woman who really liked me. And all the time she was a vampire, which led me to this world. Which made me a vampire too. I would like to have had the choice.”

  God, the vampire genome really worked with this girl. She was beautiful at a distance, but this close, she took his breath away. Literally. Jacob was having trouble concentrating. For some reason, he just wanted to pull her to him and kiss the shit out of her.

  If it had been possible, and Starla wasn’t entirely sure it wasn’t, sparks would have shot from her eyes. She was just so pissed. Eillia was vampire and had never let her know. While the logical centers of her mind told her it had been a practical choice rather than anything else, the emotional side was hurt and angry that she’d never trusted her. And that she’d let her walk into this world with no preparation. It was Eillia’s fault she was a vampire!

  Dropping back against the brick wall, she lowered her head to stare at the uneven surface. That wasn’t true. And she did know that. But there was so much anger built up inside her, she swore it was going to ignite and burn her from the inside out.

  This was not how she expected her life to go. When she’d made the decision to risk everything and leap completely outside her comfort zone, and follow Eillia to France, Starla had expected her life to be transformed. In wonderful ways. She’d hoped Eillia would welcome her with open arms. And she would find an amazing job that fulfilled her need to contribute something of value to the world. Finally, to fall in love with an incredible man who would love her until her dying breath. She had expected to find a perfect life.

  Starla looked up at Jacob again.

  “No. Tell Eillia I’m fine. I don’t need her in my life and I don’t want her.”

  When he started to speak, she held up her hand and walked out. He tried to follow her and she turned to him. He could see what it cost her to put on the front that she was fine. He knew she was anything but.

  “If you don’t tell her to leave me alone, I’ll disappear and she’ll never know what happened to me. Convey that message to her. Don’t follow me!”

  He didn’t. Not right away.

  The brick street played havoc on her high-heeled boots as she hurried to a second alley several down from the one where she’d taken Jacob. Pacing down the poorly lit alley, she picked up a large wine bottle left abandoned on stack of pallets. And laughed out loud. Her perfect life!

  Ha! Some perfect life! She lived like an animal with a large group of young people who really had no home. They found shelter wh
ere they could and right now it was a dirty, damp basement. Everyone had sex with everyone else. Mostly. She was with Henri exclusively now, but in the beginning she’d been with three other men she did not know. And a young woman who had been a vampire just a little longer than she had. It was normal for vampires, expected, their bodies really did crave sexual stimulation. But it never felt right to her. The sweet innocent was still in there somewhere.

  They ate massive amounts of food, and two or three times a week they had to interrupt someone else’s life to feed off them. To drink blood, warm and alive, from someone’s throat or thigh. Depended on the mood and how sexually attractive the blood meal happened to be. There was nothing elegant or satisfying about this life she was trapped in. And she’d never see her parents or friends again. When she’d left her home in Alaska, it was never with the intention of not ever going back again.

  She pitched the nearly empty wine bottle against the opposite wall where it shattered into pulverized bits that rained back down around her. Well that was satisfying.

  With a shake of her head, she acknowledged that her pain was deepest when she was with the group. She enjoyed their company, enjoyed the partying. To some degree. Mostly, though, she thought she used the partying as an escape. And the sex. Starla released a soul deep sigh and looked toward the end of the alley where light from the street barely reached her.

  Henri. He was a good man. He loved her, she knew that, and while Starla adored him, she didn’t love him. Never would. She wasn’t even sure she was capable of loving anyone now. She didn’t know who she was anymore. Or what she was! Just knew this wasn’t her idea of the life she always dreamed of.

  Her legs were a little shaky as she pushed herself up. It was exhaustion. Sleep came hard these days and often not at all. Henri was always worried about her because vampires would usually become so physically drained as daylight approached, they automatically slept until nightfall. Starla hadn’t been able to sleep all day for most of the eight weeks she’d been vampire.

  And now this Jacob showed up, months past her conversion, supposedly sent by Eillia. Who for some unsupportable reason couldn’t come for Starla herself. All right. She’d bite. What was Eillia’s deal? They’d been close and really cared about each other back in Wilkes-Barre. For Starla, it had been a special relationship. It must not have been for Eillia. Or she would have come for her instead of sending her flunkey. Her lips turned up at the idea of how the big vampire would react to being called a flunkey.