Darkened Days

by C. L. Quinn

  “What have you done?”

  “Well, contrary to popular belief, I do not run the world. In case it missed your notice, I’m trapped in here with you. If I had done anything to put us here, it sure the fuck wouldn’t have been with you. I was just getting ready to open the door and see if we can find the others.”

  She went to the door to disengage the locking mechanism, pushed to open the cell door. It didn’t budge. She tried again. Still locked.

  Marina came over and shoved her aside. She tried it herself with the same results. Then she turned to Starla.

  “What the fuck?”

  Starla always thought that phrase sounded so funny with a French accent.

  “I’m guessing this isn’t the local gendarmes. Jacob mentioned the cadre was breaking vampire protocol. I think we’ve been arrested by vampires.”

  “You turned us in?”

  “Idiot. Hardly. Like I said before, I’m trapped too. If I had turned us in, believe me, I would have been smart enough to be far away from there when it went down. Like anyone would want to be trapped in a ten by ten cell with you!”

  “Why can we not open the lock then?”

  “That’s a mystery. Have you ever encountered a lock or door you couldn’t open?”

  “Never. I have not heard of such a thing. Where are the others?”

  Starla just stared at her. This was the longest conversation she’d ever had with Marina and it was quite illuminating. No wonder Marina was so focused on her looks and sexuality. She was definitely not brilliant intellectually. Starla almost felt sorry for her. The old kind Starla came out again, so instead of stating the obvious, she took lead on trying to figure out what to do next.

  “I don’t know. But we need to get out of here and find them. We have a lot of strong young vampires, and together I think we can get away from whoever attacked us. We just need to figure out what…”

  A woman walked up to the cell door so suddenly, both women behind the bars jumped.

  The new arrival laughed.

  “You babies are so timid! Okay. I’m Crystal and I am your world right now. So you need to relax and do what you’re told like good little vampires. You should have already guessed that you are being held by a vampire council for your dangerous activities. When a group poses a threat to the community, there will be repercussions. Think of me as your sheriff.”

  She paused and looked both women over carefully. Then she pointed to Marina.

  “You’re common. Cheap, really. Pretty, but obvious and over-painted. Not anything special at all.”

  Then she turned to Starla.

  “You, though. A natural beauty. I bet you were lovely as a human. But now, with your vampire genome, you are radiant. Your inner glow is transcendent. You are the type we want brought over.”

  Starla stood, stunned and concerned. Radiant? Transcendent? The woman was crazy.

  “Hardly,” she responded. “But I would like to know what you’re going to do with us. And when we can leave.”

  “Oh, dearie, it may be a while. You have all broken some sacred covenants. There will be an individual investigation. Starting with your leader. I’ve already spoken with him. He’s defiant and quite powerful, but I’m good at what I do. He’ll break. Once I’m finished with him, I will begin with you.”

  She pointed to Starla. “Here’s dinner, girls.”

  Two bags of blood were tossed lightly against the floor and the red-lipped sheriff was gone.

  “Leader?” Marina said. “Does she mean Malice? He is, as much as any, the one who makes the choices for the group.”

  “Yeah, but powerful? Not even remotely.” Suddenly an awful thought struck her. Could she have decided it was Jacob? He was the oldest here. Certainly the most powerful. Oh, her unfortunate hero. Stuck in trouble because she was stubborn and difficult. Well, he would explain it and be released.

  She hoped he would wait for her. He’d made an impact on her she hadn’t expected.

  Marina shook the bars on the cell violently. And then again. And a third time.

  Starla walked over to her.

  “If they have a way to make the locks impenetrable, don’t you think the bars would hold up to a vampire’s strength? These people froze us! They are obviously something more powerful than we are. You may as well sit down and drink your blood meal. I don’t know when we’ll get something else.”

  She took her own advice and slid down the concrete wall to tear open the plastic bag with her fangs.

  Oh, God, that was rank. Note to self. Always, always drink fresh blood if you survive this.

  As she drew the vile stuff into her mouth, her mind wandered to Jacob. If they released him, she hoped he would come for her.

  Oh, hell. Now she was actually expecting him to be her hero. Garbage. Real life didn’t have Prince Charmings and fairy tale endings.

  Gagging down the last of the nasty blood, she admitted to herself, she still hoped he would come.

  Marina sat on the wall opposite Starla and glared at her. Her eyes dropped to Starla’s attire, the knee high boots and knee length men’s shirt. She wrinkled her nose.

  “Nice dress,” she sneered.

  Crystal finished the rounds to all the cells to let the young vampires know their status. A shame, really, but Xavier was pretty intolerant when it came to protecting his kin. If he thought they were truly a threat, he would order their execution. But she figured most of these youngsters probably just didn’t know better. Her thoughts returned to the handsome older vampire she had determined must be behind the cadre. He was an exciting man. She’d creamed just watching him as he woke and stood, his excellent body naked from the waist up.

  These days, she’d been choosing women. Only because after five hundred years of men and their insinuating cocks, she’d been ready for something softer. But this vampire made her think she was ready to feel that penetration again. And while the female body was lovely, the male body really was the one that had always excited her sexually.

  She smiled as she watched him on the surveillance cameras. Interesting that the first man to make her wet this century was completely under her control. She could do with him whatever she wanted. Was it wrong that she loved that power? That he was, literally, slave to her urges? Yeah, probably. But the turn-on was intense. She slipped her fingers beneath her waistband and tucked them under her thong. Fingering the moistness, she caressed herself. She was already wet at the thought of Jacob’s cock sliding up and down inside her. Hmm. Maybe tonight?

  They’d lowered the lights to announce daytime, although it was hardly necessary for vampires. They had a strong sense of diurnal patterns. A vampire would begin to feel fatigue as night ended, their body ready for rest. It seemed to be a built-in gauge, as it attended to safety for someone who could not walk in daylight.

  Jacob had always been able to sleep anywhere almost any time. But here his mind would not rest. He was worried about Starla. As he’d searched for her the past few months, he’d been concerned. But after last night, after holding her in his arms, his attachment was stronger and he couldn’t stop worrying about where she was and how she was being treated. It made him furious to imagine they put her in a cell with males. Vampire nature being what it was, and specifically these young vampires, they would have her service their sexual needs.

  He’d sworn to himself last night after he realized what must have been happening to her that he would not allow her to be hurt again. And now he couldn’t be there to protect her. He’d tried several times to deflect the magics protecting these cells, but nothing worked.

  Now, trying to rest, hungry and worried, Jacob considered if this first blood was justified in his extreme treatment of the cadre. Yes, they’d broken some rules. But they were babes, and it didn’t appear an older vampire was around to teach them the way of life. So, were they dangerous, or just uninformed? Did the first blood have the right to unilaterally decide to imprison a large group of vampires? With no surveillance, obviously, or they wo
uld have known Jacob was not part of the cadre. And should never have been taken, let alone imprisoned. So he was pissed at being separated from Starla, and only slightly less pissed that he had been detained at all. When his jailer came next he would demand to see her boss.

  Rolling over, he tried to close his eyes and sleep. Closing his eyes had been easy. Sleep eluded him all day long until just before sunset, when he felt his eyes give way, close tight, and he blanked out.

  Someone was touching him. He woke to fingers trailing down his chest. When his eyes finally agreed to open, he looked up to see Crystal in the cell with him, on her knees beside his prone body, caressing his skin aggressively. She lifted her eyes from her own hands to meet his red-rimmed eyes.

  “You are delicious. What is your name?”

  “Jacob Ward. I live with Koen and Eillia in the Orientales. You’re with a first blood vampire. I imagine those names are familiar.”

  “Hm. Yes, I’ve met them. Long ago. Eillia lived here in Paris. But she’s dead. Has been for over a year. Would you care to try to come up with a different story?”

  All the time she spoke, she kept moving her hand over his abs and lower.

  He tried to pull back but found he couldn’t move again. What the fuck?

  “You’re not first blood,” he said. It was a statement of fact.

  She nodded. “You’re right. I’m not.”

  “Is he nearby, then?”

  “No. I told you. He doesn’t dirty his hands with this stuff.”

  “Then how am I frozen?”

  “It’s me. You see…” She paused and let her fingers slide beneath the waistband of his jeans. He could feel the response, almost automatic for a male vampire, to the stimulation. It didn’t mean she turned him on. It meant his body loved the touch.

  “Sorry. Distracted. Jacob Ward, I am just like you, although I have a few centuries on you. But a normal vampire routinely drinking the blood of a first often gets some of that vampire’s innate abilities. He stopped the entire cadre in its tracks, you included. I couldn’t do that. But one vampire. Yes, I have assimilated that ability. It’s how I can come and go from these cells without worry that you will split my skull and leave. I can tell you are more powerful than I am. Well, physically, I mean. So, I have to keep you like this for everyone’s safety.” Now she was drawing little circles around the top of his jeans.

  “You don’t mind me doing this, do you?”

  Actually, he sure the fuck did. But telling her that wouldn’t be his wisest choice.

  “”Um, no, it’s good.” Suddenly she had the button undone and the zipper opened completely. Jacob never wore underwear so he was fully exposed to her eyes and busy fingers.

  She lifted him out of the denim and ran her nails along his length. His cock liked that and filled, the length exploding in her hands as she kneaded him and then leaned in to lick the head.

  Even frozen, Jacob’s body jerked.

  “It’s not that I object to this, but don’t you think you need to have your boss contact Koen so you can see I’m not involved with this cadre?”

  “No. Not right now.” She leaned in again to run her tongue up him. He dropped his head back and closed his eyes. This freezing skill was a bitch! He was helpless for the first time in his life and the rage inside him was building to an inferno. He did not want to have sex with this woman. But she could control whatever part of him she wanted and he had no choice.

  She groaned and got on top of him. But she was still fully dressed and just rode against him. When she leaned forward she saw his neck and pulled back.

  “Someone has fed on you recently. Who was it? One of the little girls?”

  “No. I told you, I’m not a member of that group. Please. Contact Koen. He’ll clear this up.”

  “I don’t think so. You’ve already shown you’re a liar. Eillia has been dead a long time now, so if you claim you live with her, your information is outdated. Good try, though. I’m not doing anything to you that I bet you haven’t done to those girls you turned against their will. It’s a shame. You are easily the hottest man I’ve seen in a long time. And yet, you are obviously morally corrupt. And abusive. Several of those girls have already told me they’ve been used for sex. And they woke up burning with the change without ever being given the chance to say no. Sick! Sick of you! So, if you get some of it back here right now, think how those girls felt when you stole their lives.”

  Crystal moved forward quickly and yanked his jeans completely off him. She stood over him smiling.

  “Well, well, well. You are incredible nude. I think I’ll leave you like this. Let you see what it’s like to feel exposed and used. Anyway, it’s a crime to cover that body. I can’t promise I won’t be back to exact a little karmic justice on that.” She pointed to his cock. The bastard organ was still engorged.

  Jacob drew a deep breath. This couldn’t have been much uglier. He understood her point if he had really done the things she thought he had. But he hadn’t. Apparently he wasn’t going to get the chance to prove it anytime soon. He was afraid to ask about Starla. So, he tried to ask around her.

  “Look, I know you think I’m a monster. I hope you give me a chance to prove I’m not. However, I wonder. Are the girls okay? Did you keep them separate from the males? I know you don’t believe me, but they are the ones who abused them.”

  “You’re right. I don’t believe you. But they are safe. You’ll get your meal later.”

  She left the cell, and with a hand motion he did not recognize, she’d renewed the first bloods lock. He could finally move, though, so he hurried to the door.

  “Are you going to contact Koen?”

  “Don’t see the point in disturbing a first blood. They aren’t exactly easy going.”

  “Please. Crystal. You have to get this. I’m here to rescue one of the girls abducted a few months ago by these newbies. And I’m very close to a group of first blood vampires who would really be pissed at my treatment. So, to protect yourself, ask your boss. Koen will vouch for me.”

  She kept her eyes on his face for a few moments, then let them drift down to his fullness.

  “I’ll return,” was all she said and disappeared.

  Jacob dropped back onto the floor again as he thought about another phrase like hers. The iconic, “I’ll be back” in the Terminator movies. It didn’t bode well for anyone.

  He noticed a balled-up blanket in the corner of the cell and pulled it over his privates. Just the night before he had been looking out the full length window in Eillia’s apartment and remarking about how he had no trouble with being naked. This was a different kind of naked. This was exposed like he’d never felt before. He just prayed she would listen to him so Koen or Bas could come get him and Starla out of there.

  Cairine sat beside Eillia with her head against her belly. Eillia had become accustomed to this odd communication. She knew the two first blood children were linking because she could feel them connect. Unexpectedly, she was outside the link. She had no idea what transpired between them. But it was good, because her unborn child was very, very happy when Cairine touched Eillia.

  She laid her hand on Cairine’s soft strawberry blonde curls, tugging at one of them, long and thick for a child only a little over a year now.

  Park, Cairine’s mother, wandered in with a huge bowl of chocolate chip ice cream. Cairine looked up and saw the bowl, kissed Eillia on the belly and toddled over to her mother to make sure she got her share. She was very human still. A first blood vampire child would live and grow much like any ordinary human child until they reached maturity, which could vary from person to person by several years. Once they reached maturity, the vampire genome would kick in and merge with the first blood’s spirit amulet, an ancient amulet every first blood wore lifelong to guide and channel their abilities. For now, though, she was just an advanced human child overly interested in her mother’s late night snack.

  “Oh, I spoil her, don’t I?” Park said to Eillia as she passed
the spoon to her daughter.

  “You bet your life you do. I do too. Wait until this little gentleman arrives. They’ll own us.”

  “They already do. I have no idea what will happen when these two get together in a few months. But I suspect their combined power will blow us away. Could you even have imagined when we met that within two years we would have children that we could never have imagined and be living these lives?”

  “With all our abilities, and as many years as I’ve lived, these paths would never have occurred to me. That we have come together and we have both created these incredible children cannot be coincidence. I think there is a design here somewhere. What is happening with these extraordinary first bloods, I think this was meant to be. Call it destiny, fate, whatever…these children have a purpose. I am so grateful for every second of this journey.”

  Cairine looked up suddenly, the spoon stilled, her eyes commanded the attention of both women. The little girl smiled, and Eillia could see the future in those eyes.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The son of a bitch! Sure he was worried about her! Sure he was her protector! As long as it was easy. As long as he himself didn’t face any trouble. Starla tried to keep her mind off Jacob, who was gone.

  The entire cadre would be released following two lengthy sessions with the sour-faced bitch that walked the concrete jail halls as if she were God. It had been made clear to them. A specific set of rules and expectations. If they didn’t follow them, their vampire life would be over. Judgment would be swift and irreversible.

  They were to split up. No more than three living in one place at any given time. They would not convert anyone else without permission for the next one hundred years. Blood meals would be taken carefully from trusted blood-bonds or compels who were left alive and wiped after the experience. Secrecy was not an option. The vampire community survived as nothing more than legend for thousands of years. And would remain so. At any cost. The cadre understood this. Even Malice and Marina.