Rise of Midnight

by SARA FREITES

  Thirst was what drew me from reading. It drove me to roll off the comforter and make my way downstairs, leaving the spell book open on my bed. I trudged toward the kitchen. Voices surfaced around the corner. I stopped in my tracks and peered around the wall. There, I found two vampires by the sink.

  During a hunt, it was normal to see a few vampires from the second hunting shift on ground level. Thade always had them there to keep an eye on things above ground while they were gone. And I always stayed clear of a room if I saw a vampire in it or left if one entered.

  One of the vampires held a piece of paper in his left hand. With his back to me, he scoffed.

  “That guy’s not going anywhere now,” he said.

  The other vampire leaned against the table, suppressing a quiet laugh. “I called Thade and let him know we’ve taken care of it,” she told him.

  “The human is close,” the man warned in a low voice.

  “I know,” she whispered. “I could hear her heart beating from a mile away.”

  Unintentionally, I made eye contact with the woman vampire. She turned away, her curly sugar white hair brushed against her slim shoulders. The man glanced over his back at me and crumpled the piece of paper in his fist. I backed out of sight.

  “Let’s get this over with,” he groaned to her.

  I heard him toss the crumpled paper. It sounded like it bounced off something. Their footsteps faded as they walked down the basement staircase together. Cautiously, I entered the kitchen to pull a glass from the cabinet. My gaze caught the crumpled paper on the countertop. I eyed it as I poured water into my glass and sipped from it. I searched around to be sure I was alone before I guiltily went for the paper and opened it. It was a note. The big calligraphic-like handwriting read...

  Make sure to have restraints placed on the prisoner in cell 3a. He’s stronger than the others.

  PER Thade

  And there it was in plain sight—my way out of that place. If this worked, I’d never have to see them again.

  Forget about helping the vampires, I told myself.

  I headed for the top-level basement, A level, as it was called. My feet felt as if they were moving all on their own. I had no idea what exactly I was going to do or how awful the prisoners were, but if Thade kept them alive, they couldn't be that bad. I had learned that if prisoners posed any threat, Thade would have them executed after their usually unsuccessful interrogations. All I had to do was convince this strong one, the one in cell 3a, to escape with me, bribe him to fight off any vampires that might try to stop us.

  I’d almost made it to the landing when I spotted a vampire at the bottom of the steps. I broke out in cold tingles and stopped in place. The vampire looked up at me as if to ask what business I had there. I’d forgotten Eden had forbidden me to go down there alone. I went right back up where I came from. Discouraged, I paced. I couldn’t just walk right by all those vampires like that. I wouldn’t be able to step foot down there without being stopped.

  Then, I remembered Latresma’s spell book again. I went straight back to my room to keep reading. Among the many spells, I found an incantation that would give me the power to turn night into day. In the description, it stated that once the spell was recited, a sun-like being would appear in the sky, large enough to cast ultraviolet rays of light across the span of a city for thirty minutes. It gave me an idea—to use this when the first shift left for their hunt on a feeding night. I could cast it and run out the back door as they left. They’d burn up in the light while I took my escape. I wasn’t sure how remorseful I’d be for killing the vampires, but I’d never know. That particular spell required a sunstone gem, and I had no way of getting such a thing.

  Another incantation called “déverrouiller”, translating to the word “unlock”, would have helped me easily escape. It claimed it could open any lock as long as I had a key. Any size would do. I searched the above-ground levels for any kind of key I could find, even a decorative one, but with no such luck.

  The third spell I stumbled upon claimed it could literally make me invisible to the naked eye. I was excited to see this one work. According to the spell book, all I needed was a mirror in hand, adding that whether I could see my reflection or not was irrelevant. I thought that last part of the description was weird, but then, I remembered that Latresma was a vampire. She wouldn’t have had a reflection.

  I hopped over to my vanity. I placed my hand against the mirror while speaking the words “je vais passer inaperçu”, meaning “I will go unnoticed”, from the page. I wasn’t sure it worked until I looked up from the book at the mirror, at my reflection—that is, where my reflection should have been. Sure enough, my physical being had completely disappeared around me. It worked flawlessly, and I jumped back against the bed, unable to see my own arms as they flailed around me. I laughed loudly after trying to look myself over. I’d expected to see the top of my shirt along with the rest of my body, but there was nothing left of me. Within a matter of seconds, parts of me gradually returned while the spell wore off. And there I was, fully visible. It would’ve been perfect if it lasted longer. I wouldn’t make it to the prison before it dissipated.

  Deep in thought, I went to the bathroom. I took the hand towel off the rack and wrapped it around my right elbow. I tied it off tight and braced myself for a possible injury. The minute I smashed my covered elbow into the mirror, it cracked down the right side. With my nails, I dug out a credit card-sized mirror shard.

  At the top of the basement stairwell, I held the shard up to my face and recited the incantation. The second I saw myself disappear in the mirror fragment, I ran. I spotted several members of the second shift hunting party and slowed to a soft walk. I hesitated at first, afraid they could still see me. Two of them lifted their noses, sniffing the air when I passed through. I reminded myself that even though I supposedly smelled like one of them, the vampires could still sense me if I wasn’t careful…and could probably even hear me. The invisibility effect wore off just as I made it through the narrow doorway leading to the sublevel. I stopped to recite the spell over again. Once hidden, I hurried on. My core shook at the drastic temperature drop. The musky air around me caused my nose to crinkle up.

  At the bottom of the stairs, I searched for vampires before slinking around. Eventually, I could see what had once been Latresma’s icy grave in the distance, now melted and drained. I knew I was close. I traversed the floor quietly as not to draw the attention of a vampire who strolled along further off. I came upon the side wall lined with double doors and wandered down the wide corridor.

  When I made it to the second pair of French doors, the ones Eden had earlier pointed out as the prison, I stopped behind a pillar. Three more vampires sauntered by, probably patrolling the area. When the invisibility wore off again, I waited until the vampires were several yards away before whispering the spell once more.

  I went straight to the prison entrance. There, I wrapped my hand around the old doorknobs and eased inside, leaving just enough space between the doors for me to slip through. A frigid, stale breeze blew from deep within the darkened enclosure. It must have been forty degrees down there. Ahead in the gloominess, hardly-working lightbulbs dangled oddly low from the ceiling, low enough that I had to maneuver around them as I walked.

  About every four or five feet, I passed a jail cell on both sides of me. Echoing coughs and scuffling noises made me want to turn around and leave, the realization of what I was about to do finally hitting me. Above each chamber door hung a metal plate engraved with a number and a letter. The ones on the left ended in “a” and the ones ending in “b” lined my right. Each time I passed one, I peeked inside, but it was as if black wool hung behind the bars.

  The invisibility spell faded just as I came upon the third cell to my left.

  Cell 3a.

  Chapter 9

  Part 1

  Cell 3a

  I paced myself on my way to the bars. Chains rattled within the cell. At first, my eyes couldn’t p
enetrate the shadows consuming the inside. But in the very back, I noticed a pair of sun-colored, luminescent orbs gleaming back at me. I jumped. I didn’t feel so confident anymore. I thought maybe I could find another way of escaping that didn’t involve people with glowing eyes. I took a step back to leave.

  “So you’re the reincarnation.”

  Shocked to hear someone speak directly to me, I tripped at the same time I spun back. My shoulder bumped one of the low hanging lightbulbs. It swung uncontrollably back and forth, through the bars and then back at me. The moving light revealed a young man at the back of the cell. He sat on the floor against the side wall, his hands bound at the wrist. Each time the light from the bulb swung away, his eyes became two flames in the night until the bulb returned, illuminating the lower half of his face and arms. I snatched up the bulb string to hold it still. Stepping in closer, I reached with my free hand and gripped the icicles that were the bars of cell 3a. I felt the rust and paint flake in my fist.

  I shined the bulb inside with more nervousness than I’d felt in days. His unnaturally pale arms came into view. A number of scars adorned them, most shallow and mauve in color, but a handful of them were deep and ridged like cracks in a smooth river stone. Another more profound mark peeked over the top of his dingy shirt at his collarbone and reached the base of his neck. I thought it was strange that he had scarring like that. As I’d learned, just like vampires, haviden skin was resilient and healed completely from injuries without leaving behind a trace.

  “Yes,” I timidly replied and watched my breath freeze in the air around me. “How did you know?”

  “I can see your blood-aura. Didn’t they tell you about that?” he asked, his voice deep as he spoke.

  Duh, I thought.

  It was easy to forget that I had an aura. After all, I couldn’t see it.

  Curious to get a better look at him, I shifted the bulb. The light touched his softly squared chin where he went to scratch his stubble. I waited with the light now bringing forth the lower half of the man’s face. I noticed that the pair of heavy-duty handcuffs he wore were connected to the wall behind him by two lengthy chains. They rattled every time he moved.

  “Will you let that thing down?” he asked. “You’re blinding the hell out of me.”

  While he spoke, I caught glimpses of fangs behind his lips. Not only were both the top and bottom canine sets vampire-like, but so was each tooth on either side of those. Though they weren’t as pronounced as his canines, these smaller fangs were still hard to miss, quite different from the way the vampires’ looked. I let the bulb string go to draw the light away from him. My eyes adjusted. I could just make out his form in the corner.

  “What did you do to end up down here?” I asked, thrilled over the idea of having a full conversation with someone.

  His glowing eyes narrowed. The silence became awkward.

  “Hello?” I urged with a hint of attitude when he didn’t respond.

  Used to being ignored by the vampires, I was determined to have some human interaction…or non-human.

  “What’s your name?” I asked him.

  “That’s none of your business, human,” he said.

  My jaw dropped at his audacity. I don’t know why I thought he would be pleasant to talk to.

  “It’s Autumn,” I corrected him sternly.

  I peered over my left shoulder. Next to the cell hung a clipboard, a piece of paper attached to it. A few words were heavily marked out, but just beneath that, I could make out a few short sentences.

  Cell 3a

  Brought in March 9th

  Doesn’t appear to have any connection to Arlos. However, seems to be a great deal stronger than the others. We may be able to use him once we find out more about him. We will keep him alive. For now.

  Sex: Male

  ID: Black hair, yellow eyes, noticeable scarring

  Stature: 6’2 or 6’3. Around 190lb to 200lb

  Race: Undetermined

  “Race undetermined?” I read aloud. “What does that mean?”

  He seemed to stare at me in confusion. “Wow, you can read,” he murmured.

  My first impulse was to walk away. If this was a preview of how hard he’d be to talk to, then I was better off finding someone else to help me escape. But instead, I took a deep breath. I knew I wouldn’t get anywhere with anyone down there by giving up.

  “And you’re kind of a jerk since we're stating the obvious. What's your name?" I asked again.

  He didn't reply.

  “Are you in for life?” I half-joked, growing more irritated. “Do you get probation or anything?”

  “You talk a lot,” he blurted. “Yeah. I’m here until I starve to death along with everyone else down here.”

  “Starve to death?” I repeated.

  I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

  “It’s been some time since I last fed. It won’t be much longer,” he said and strangely smiled.

  “I'm sorry. That sucks,” I responded insincerely.

  Now that he was talking, the next thing was to get him to trust me.

  “Here,” I began. “I'll make a deal with you. If you tell me your name, I'll bring you something to take the edge off.”

  “Like what?” he asked rudely.

  “You drink blood, don’t you?” I asked.

  A pause.

  “Yeah. Sure,” he confirmed.

  “Okay, then. I’ll bring you a glass of blood,” I offered.

  “Really?” he asked and sat up straight, his piercing stare causing a shiver to run up my spine.

  “Yes, really.”

  “From where?” He turned his head with his eyes still on me, apparently skeptical of my offer.

  “The vampires keep blood in the ‘fridge,” I informed him.

  He looked me up and down as if deciding whether or not to accept. Then, his eyes found mine. “Thank you.” He surprisingly sounded sincere.

  “I’ll be right back,” I promised and started for the exit.

  Under my breath, I repeated the invisibility spell, squeezed through the gap I left between the double doors and went upstairs. Along the way, I reused the spell as needed. In the kitchen, the spell faded again, and I snuck a glass of blood from the refrigerator.

  I stopped there. This wasn’t going to work. I worried that after the spell was cast, the glass would appear to float across the greystone as I walked with it. It was going to be impossible to do this without drawing attention. I held my breath after reciting the spell again, praying the glass would disappear with me, and as it faded into nothing along with the rest of me, I smiled.

  Downstairs, I came upon a lone vampire leaving a room. I hesitated at first when he sniffed the air, but he walked away. I moved into the second stairwell. There, I used the invisibility spell once more and continued down to the lowest level. When I arrived at the unnamed prisoner’s cell and allowed the incantation to fade, the yellow-eyed man eagerly stood. His handcuffs scuffed loudly together, and their chains chimed annoyingly. He neared as if he’d never approached a human being before. He stopped at the bars, and I tried to study his shadowed face. Still, even so close, I couldn’t make out his features.

  He stared down at me with his arms hanging in front of him. Shadows fell into the crevices of his muscles. I gulped, hoping he wouldn’t reach through the bars with those strong arms and rip me apart. It took everything I had to keep from stepping back.

  I eased the glass between the bars. He timidly reached for it. His hands neared mine, and they moved into the little light there was. Another scar became visible. It resided across the knuckles of his right hand and made its way up and over his wrist. The warmth of his fingers caught my attention when they brushed against mine. He took the glass from me and leaned toward my extended hand.

  My blood ran cold. I jerked away, afraid he’d bite into me like I was a raw piece of meat.

  “Did you just sniff me?” I asked, repulsed.

  “I can smell your fear,” he drone
d.

  “That’s creepy. Don’t do that,” I sneered. “And I don’t care what you can smell. I’m not afraid of you,” I boldly lied.

  He scoffed and sat down on the bare cement floor. He drank every last drop from the glass. “This isn’t like taking a soul, but it will have to do for now,” he seemed to say to himself while setting the glass down.

  “You’re a soul eater, too?” I questioned with a cringe.

  He scooted the glass back to me, but I left it there just beyond the bars. I wouldn’t dare reach inside again.

  “I won’t be for long, not at this rate. Blood won’t keep me alive forever,” he told me and sat back against the brick wall, closing his eyes and licking his fangs.

  “Well?” I asked.

  He side-eyed me. I could feel the goosebumps rise across my skin.

  “Well, what?”

  “Remember our deal? I bring you food, and you tell me your name.” I crossed my arms.

  “I don’t remember agreeing to that,” he replied blandly.

  “What?” I protested. “What are you talking about? Yes, you did.”

  “No. I didn’t,” he shot back.

  I thought back to our conversation. He was right. He hadn’t agreed to anything.

  “You’d better get out of here. I can hear Thade’s hunting shift just outside the property,” he warned with a raised brow.

  Angry at myself for losing track of time, I cursed. I wasn’t sure if the prisoner was genuinely warning me or if he just wanted to get rid of me. Either way, I took heed and darted from the prison, whispering the invisibility spell. The very second I stepped foot through my bedroom doorway, I heard the first vampire shift enter from the back. The much smaller second shift began emerging from downstairs for their turn to hunt.