Rise of Midnight

by SARA FREITES

  “Eden!” I cried.

  “Autumn!” a voice called.

  Looking up, I found a man standing on top of the closest building. Frantically, I pointed into the street below.

  “Help her! Please!” I begged.

  Without another word, the man jumped from the roof. He landed so close to me I could’ve reached out and touched him. My heart pumped hard once in my chest when I saw his face.

  It was Blake.

  He dropped into the alleyway. The wind from his quick movement almost knocked me over and left my hair whipping around me as he passed. He landed on top of the first attacking haviden and threw him against the wall. The brick cracked around him on impact. Blake turned on the other half-breed as she backed away from a now bleeding Eden. I noticed several more havidens appearing from around the corner, closing in on Blake.

  “Blake! There’s more!” I shouted, but I felt sure he knew they were there before I did.

  Blake lunged at them. They moved away, all except one unfortunate haviden. Blake didn’t hesitate to rip the man’s head from his body. I watched Eden unsteadily pull herself away from the fight against the alley wall. Blood stained her shirt and jeans, and she shivered with every breath. I didn’t count exactly how many havidens had gathered there, maybe nine or ten by now, but they fought relentlessly against Blake who, to my amazement, held them off all on his own.

  “Autumn!” another faint voice called to me.

  Ahead, among the vampires we’d traveled with, was Thade. A wave of relief washed over me. The vampire leader pushed through the group and bounced from building to building alongside Garrett and Terry. The vampire group went after him as soon as they dismembered a handful of havidens in their way. I pointed into the alleyway again, shouting that Eden was hurt. Thade’s face hardened.

  “Garrett! Terry! Stay with Autumn,” Thade ordered when they stopped beside me.

  “Got it!” Garrett hollered back.

  Gazing down once more, I saw Blake take down one haviden after another until Thade and his men joined him. The remaining havidens scattered at their arrival. Thade ordered them to be caught. Four havidens lay motionless on the ground, three of them possibly dead as the other vampires apprehended the retreating ones lucky enough to be alive. Terry grabbed me, and along with Garrett, we dropped over the roof’s edge to join everyone else. I watched as the havidens struggling against their vampire assailants.

  “Take the rest back to the prison,” Thade ordered. “Take the bodies, as well. We need to dispose of them. And grab him!” He pointed at Blake as if he'd forgotten about him.

  Harper and Terry jumped on Blake, each taking one of his arms and forcing him to his knees.

  “Wait, he—” I began.

  “Don’t start with me, human!” Thade shot back and helped Eden to her feet. “Are you hurt?” he asked her.

  Her wounds healed as she shook her head and wiped away blood from her arm. Several other vampires stepped forward. They took the dead havidens away along with the captives. A number of others left to take care of the other bodies on the rooftops around us or so I assumed. They left the seven of us standing together as sleet began lightly pelting the streets. Thade eyed Blake and then Eden. I shivered. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed the cold until now.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Thade asked Eden.

  “I’m fine,” she assured him. “If he hadn’t shown up when he did...well, he saved my life.” She nodded at Blake.

  Thade looked at Blake with uncertainty splashed across his face. His eyes went back to Eden. “Who? This man?” he asked, nodding at Blake.

  “Yes,” she confirmed. “There were so many of them. I couldn’t fight them all off.”

  “Why did you do that?” he questioned Blake.

  Blake’s eyes roamed the ground.

  “Because I asked him to,” I answered for him.

  Thade peered over his shoulder at me before slowly turning back to Blake. “I never got your name," the vampire leader realized after a long moment of silence.

  “It’s Blake,” the young man replied.

  “Blake. Thank you, Blake. That was my daughter you just saved,” he said, his voice full of emotion at first, but then, his tone drastically changed—he spoke faster, more formal. “I apologize, but we have to take you back to the Sanctum prison. I’m sure you understand. We can either take you willingly or by force. It’s your choice.”

  “You’re seriously going to throw him back in a cell?” I asked, unintentionally speaking out loud.

  “He tried to escape just now,” Harper defended Thade’s decision.

  “Maybe so, but he stopped to helped us,” I informed him harshly. “He had a chance to run away, but he didn’t.”

  “You don’t know anything, human. For all we know, he is Arlos!” Harper huffed.

  “He’s not Arlos,” Terry spoke up. “I would know.”

  “Still, we can’t trust him!” Harper growled.

  Thade held up a hand to silence us.

  “Dad, why don’t we use him like we initially intended?” Eden spoke up. “You mentioned it yourself when we brought him in. He’d give us an edge. He’s strong in spurts, it seems. He just fought off ten havidens all by himself. Once he’s fed, I’m sure he’ll hold that strength for a longer period. We could train him. He could be an asset to us...maybe even help us find Arlos. Like you said before, we can’t sense Blake’s presence, so I doubt Arlos or the other havidens can.”

  “This is true,” Terry chimed in. “We’ve had trouble pinning anyone down because they sense us approaching and vacate. We can use him to infiltrate suspicious safehavens without being detected.”

  “He is exactly what we need in this fight right now,” Eden finished. “We might as well use him while we have him.”

  “Seriously?” Harper scoffed. “This is ridiculous.”

  Through the sleet, I could almost hear the gears in Thade’s head turning. The gears ground away in my head, too. Blake and I would have all the time we needed to plan a successful escape if Thade agreed to this. I held my breath, waiting for his reply as he glared hard after Blake.

  “You would be of great use to us,” Thade said to Blake. “If you can comply with the laws of the clan, pass a number of trials and prove your loyalty, then, you can be trusted—enough to have supervised living among us and maybe later, enough to be inducted into the clan. Sound like something you’d be interested in?”

  “Do I have a choice?” Blake asked.

  “Right now, since your strength seems to come and go and we have the upper hand over you, no. It’s either this or the cell. Take it or leave it.”

  Blake waited before replying. “What do I need to do first?”

  “As of right now, you are on duty with the clan guard,” Thade replied. “Until you are inducted into the clan, however, you are still considered a prisoner of the Sanctum. You won’t leave my sight until further notice. I have the right to change my mind about all of this if I don’t feel I can trust you.”

  Thade nodded at Terry and Harper. Terry stepped away from Blake, but Harper remained.

  “I’ll never trust you,” Harper grumbled and shoved Blake’s shoulder, reluctantly following Terry.

  Blake stood to his feet.

  Thade walked in my direction. His eyes floated over the city. “Let’s get back,” he said over my head. “The rays will take care of some of us soon if we don’t.”

  I looked up to find the sun’s rays boldly breaking through peach clouds on the horizon. It blinded me. The wind blew against my wet clothes. I shivered.

  “At least we won’t have to clean up,” Garrett said quietly to himself while the sleet turned to rain, and it began washing away the haviden blood from the ground and walls.

  With Thade leading us, making numerous phone calls on the way back, we arrived at the Sanctum before sunrise and without a minute to spare. The vampire leader motioned for us to keep following the second we stepped inside. We continued thro
ugh the basement area near the prison. Just past Latresma’s old resting place, we were met by three other vampires.

  “Explain again what’s going on so that the others understand,” Thade insisted of them.

  One spoke to greet us, then went on to explain. “It looks as though the havidens broke into the abandoned greystone down the street from here. They must have dug a few holes in its underground levels. That particular greystone used to be a safehaven inhabited by one of our groups. The havidens knew exactly where to dig to find the barricaded passageways and moved through them into the Sanctum. We don’t think they fell into their blood-rages until after they made it here, seeing as they were coherent enough to know where they were going and all. The few we brought back with us committed suicide.”

  “Not all of them, right?” Thade’s voice resounded.

  “All but one. He’s completely lucid, as well,” the vampire confirmed.

  Four more vampires came from the prison. One restrained a wildly flailing haviden. I took a few steps back, feeling uncomfortable.

  “Perfect. Eden, please take Autumn away,” Thade advised. “I will call for you both later.”

  Blake and Terry peeked back at us as Eden led me away. I listened on as we left. The vampire guard went on to tell Thade that the haviden wouldn’t answer any questions.

  “What are they going to do?” I whispered to Eden.

  We rounded the corner to the staircase.

  “Interrogate him, see if he has any information on Arlos,” Eden told me.

  “Do you think he’ll talk?” I asked.

  “Probably not,” she figured. “They never do. The fact that two of them killed themselves just now says a lot. It would also explain why they attacked when they saw us instead of fleeing. There’s no doubt they’re working for Arlos.”

  We reached the first floor. Eden went for a glass of blood in the refrigerator. I stared blankly at the blood and rips in her clothes. To my amazement, I didn’t see a single scratch on her.

  “I was scared for you,” I said to her.

  She took several long gulps from her glass before replying. “For a second there, so was I,” she half-laughed as she set the now empty glass on the marble counter. “But I’m fine. I was surprised to see the prisoner, though. Other than Harper, he was the last person I expected to come to my aid.”

  “I’m just glad he did. He’s not so bad, I guess,” I thought aloud.

  “You said you’ve been going down to the prison and hanging out with him, huh?” she wondered. “You know, you’re a little crazy…or desperate.”

  Thade’s voice boomed from below. “That’s just wonderful!”

  We jumped at his loud, obviously sarcastic tone.

  “That was quick,” Eden muttered.

  “They’re done interrogating already?” I asked in surprise.

  “No, can’t be. Something must have gone wrong.”

  She went to meet Thade at the top of the stairs as he continued. Thade’s voice drew closer as he spoke, but it was unclear who he was talking to.

  “There’s no doubt in my mind they were working for Arlos. Why else would they all kill themselves after we captured them? Arlos either already knows we’re here, or he has his suspicions. We are wading in dangerous waters, my friends! I’ll be back. Autumn!”

  He stormed up with blood dashed across his shirt. The two sub-clan leaders, Blake and Garrett came into view just behind him.

  “What happened?” Eden asked Thade.

  “I had planned to let him go, see if he’d lead us back to Arlos, but that damned fool ripped his own heart out!” Thade announced. “We tried to stop him, but the damage was done. That’s fine. We’ll just beef up security on the lower levels and put this fellow to work.” He nodded over his shoulder at Blake and shooed us away.

  While Thade prepared Blake to be sworn into the clan, I decided to take a shower. Eden poked her head into the bathroom after I hopped in.

  “Autumn! Blake wants to know if he’s still going to die in two days,” she said as if she thought his question was stupid. “He said you’d know what he was referring to and insisted that I ask you right away. He wouldn’t take ‘later’ for an answer.”

  I laughed. Hard. “No. Tell him I reversed it.” I didn’t bother explaining.

  “Oookay, then,” she said through a light laugh. “I won’t ask. I’ll let him know. We’re about to take him along on a hunt so he can feed. I think Thade wants to keep him lightly feed until we can trust him with his strength.”

  “But the sun is up,” I said with concern.

  “Yes. It will be fine for the hunt. The vampires have those coats and so on. We just need him to feed as soon as possible so he doesn’t fall into another blood-rage.”

  “Good point. I’ll be down to see you off in a few.”

  “You need to get some rest after that. You've been up all night.”

  I peered around the shower curtain at her. I could see the clock on my nightstand from there. It read 7:00 AM. Still fueled by the night of excitement, I hurried through my shower.

  “Are we ready?” Thade’s voice rose up and met me at the landing.

  “Very,” I heard a familiar voice reply.

  I entered the foyer. Terry handed out the trench coats and gloves for the hunt. I stopped when Blake came into sight. My eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to the scars on his pale arms again. He caught me staring and rubbed one of his hands against his forearm to hide the marks. We made eye contact, and I quickly looked away. I grew tingly with embarrassment and peered back at him with a slight smile. He nodded at me. I waved back.

  I hoped he knew we wouldn’t be staying there for long. I cringed to think it was a human life Blake would have to take that morning. I hated to see him as a murderer like the rest. A small part of me had grown incidentally attached to him. I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that he was a prisoner there just like me, or if it was simply because I missed being around humans. He was the closest thing to human in my new world other than Eden. I shook my head to stop myself from thinking of him that way.

  “Remember to stay away from my family,” I reminded Thade with narrowing eyes.

  It was a joke…sort of. At that point, I knew the vampires had my best interest in mind and would never hurt my family—for now anyway, to keep me in my right mind.

  “I know you said the sun won’t hurt you. Regardless, I ask that you wear it,” Thade offered Blake one of the hooded trench coats as he spoke.

  While the hunting party formed a line to the back door, I started back to my room. A body moved out of the line and harshly brushed against my shoulder, knocking me aside. I reared around and scowled at the back of Harper’s head as he continued to follow the line outside. I took a breath to calm myself. Embarrassed after being singled out, I made my way to the staircase again when I felt a pair of eyes on me.

  Another shoulder bulged from the moving line and gently bumped into me as the last of the vampires passed by. I huffed and spun to watch Blake leave with his face at a profile, the corner of his mouth curled up with a subtle smile. He flung his coat’s hood over his head like everyone else. I rolled my eyes at his attempt to tousle my feathers before he walked out with everyone else. I waited for the last of the vampires to leave before heading to bed. Exhausted from the night I’d had, it wasn’t long before I passed out.

  I slept well for the first time since I’d lived with the vampires. And it was mostly because I knew Thade had handed me the key to the back door…and he didn’t even know it.

  Chapter 10

  Homesick

  Blake’s introduction into the clan made all the other vampires visibly uneasy. When Blake entered a room, they’d leave. If they encountered him in the hallway, they moved out of his way like a human would at the sight of an eerie stranger in an alleyway.

  Harper made it the most obvious that he didn’t care for Blake. When they’d passed each other, Harper’s brow would lower threateningly, and he’d ever so slig
htly bare his fangs. Blake never paid Harper any attention. He’d pass by Harper as if he wasn’t even there. Blake did the same to the rest of the vampires in the Sanctum, as well.

  After several days passed, Blake and I still hadn’t found time to talk, much less see one another without the constant oversight of one or more of the clan members. Not only did Thade have Blake stand guard with the others around the Sanctum, but he also had him help with perimeter checks throughout the city. He even took Blake every night to spar with Terry and Harper in hopes it would help Blake learn how to control his strength.

  Blake was also taken on what the vampires called “havid hunts” where the vampires searched the city for havidens. The ones found were imprisoned and interrogated for information on Arlos’ whereabouts. One night after a havid hunt, two prisoners were brought in. I learned that after interrogation, the captured havidens were left in a cell and interrogated again a few days after starvation had set in. But this night, Thade seemed to have another agenda. I secretly tailed the group of vampires onto B level as they held tight to the two thrashing havidens.

  I crouched in the cold stairwell to watch from afar. A duo of vampires held the two havidens down on their knees when Thade and Blake stepped forward. The echoes of Thade’s voice were so distorted that I couldn’t be sure exactly what he said to them. He then waited motionless before the prisoners, his arms crossed over his chest.

  The havidens began shouting simultaneously. One explained that he had no idea who Arlos was, and the other requested to be released. Thade kept questioning them. One spit at Thade and the vampire leader sprung forward, slamming his elbow into the haviden's face so violently that the haviden’s head popped right off his body. My entire being shuttered as the bloody head rolled across the floor. The headless body crumbled to the ground.

  I started to leave but noticed Thade nod at Blake. Blake drew his attention to the other haviden who began screaming and cursing. Without hesitation, Blake, with one hand, ripped the haviden’s head from his shoulders. Blood spattered across the double doors. Blake dropped the dangling head and stepped away. My stomach reeled. I could see a faint smirk on Thade’s face when he nodded to the vampire group. Mortified, I ran upstairs, sure that nightmares were soon to follow.