Rise of Midnight

by SARA FREITES

  Arlos’ eyebrows raised. “Ah, yes. Terry Cahle, is it?” he assumed. “Yes, yes. Now, I remember you—one of the high guards on Latresma’s royal court.”

  “I came to make a trade with you,” Terry declared. “The reincarnation for my wife. I know this girl is of great importance to you.”

  “That she is,” Arlos reveled, his voice eager. He moved in closer, and the havidens made way for him. “You are so quick to hand her over. The vampires are desperate to hold on to her. You would be betraying them—”

  “I know this, demon. Where is Rosetta?” Terry interrupted him again.

  “Ah. I see. A traitor to his own kind. And for what? A woman. Sadly, Rosetta is not here anymore.”

  No one said a word for a beat.

  “Don’t lie to me. I know she’s here!” Terry raised his voice as he spoke.

  “Yes, she was here,” Arlos explained. “However, I no longer had use for her.”

  “Arlos! Where is my wife?” Terry spoke loud and deliberate.

  “She’s dead.”

  Terry’s grip on me loosened drastically. “Wh…what?” he stammered.

  I couldn’t help but react to what we’d just heard. I wondered if Arlos had overheard her trying to help me.

  Arlos nodded at the havidens. “Bring her to me.”

  Four havidens were on us in an instant. Terry brought me into his chest and wrapped his arms around me. He swept my hair away, exposing my neck, and his right hand cupped the side of my face. I screamed. That was supposed to be the signal for Thade to lead the rest of the clan in for the ambush, but for me, the scream was real. With their keen ears, they would hear it as they waited just off the property. I swore I could feel it before it even happened. As they sank into my skin, Terry’s fangs felt arctic cold, and at the same time, scalding hot inside of me. I gasped and clutched at his sleeve. Something warm seeped from the bite down my back and collarbone. I caught sight of the blood while it ran down my chest.

  “No!” Arlos shouted at the top of his lungs.

  I could feel the energy draw from the core of my being. I broke out in a sweat but then shivered from a chill. My heart hammered away in my chest. I found myself unable to control my breathing. Tears welled up in my eyes. Terry’s teeth sank even deeper into the soft, sensitive skin of my neck as he consumed a portion of my soul. From across the room, Arlos raised a hand at us. It was as if an unseen person shoved us backward. Terry and I came off the ground and crashed into the wall behind us. Terry’s fangs dislodged from my bloodied neck, and I fell back hard into his chest. Four havidens tore Terry out from under me, and this caused me to roll over on my stomach with tiny bright stars dancing in my vision. I watched motionlessly as the havidens threw Terry down and attacked him. A tiny blood-filled vile fell from Terry's pocket—Blake's blood. It was kicked away, disappearing in the crowd as the havidens moved around us.

  “Terry,” I tried to warn him about the vile, but my words were a weak whisper.

  I wanted to stand, but my limbs felt overwhelmingly heavy. I knew Thade and the others were only a few blocks away, but waiting for them to get there would feel like an eternity.

  “Terry!” Her voice and accent were unmistakable. A white-haired girl descended the basement steps toward us.

  Terry ripped himself away from the havidens, gazing up at her as if she were the only one around him. “Oh my God,” he gasped.

  “Terry!” Rosetta cried again as the havidens yanked him away.

  It appeared as if she floated over the last four steps as she ran to him. A smile stretched across one corner of Arlos’ lips.

  “No!” Rosetta shrieked.

  She stopped in her tracks. One of the havidens smashed his fist into the back of Terry’s head, causing him to fall to his hands and knees. Two more attacked him from the side, visibly overwhelming Terry. It was obvious that the havidens were much stronger now that they were completely under Arlos’ demonic control.

  “Stop! Arlos, call them off!” Rosetta shouted.

  “Leave him be!” Arlos sounded.

  The gray-skinned havidens backed away as Terry rose to his knees. Rosetta ran into his arms. They embraced as she cried. I lay there, dazed and weak with my ears ringing as I watched. I broke out in a cold sweat against the chilled, stone floor that soothed my now feverish skin. The constant sound of my heartbeat was loud, slowing in my ears. I was dying, and already, I could feel how long and sharp my canines had become. The smell of my own blood and rain filled my nose, but only at first. I lifted my eyes and noticed the slowing of motion around me, and it made me motion sick to watch. But surprisingly, all of these heightened senses retracted from me as if my body wasn’t ready to take them on. Terry had bitten me too early. He’d had no choice but to. For now, the only thing I could do while the change halted and retreated, plunging me into this weakened state, was just what Terry had suggested—pray we’d stay alive until midnight.

  Arlos pulled the Lumière Dagger from his trench coat. My attempts to get up failed as the crowd of havidens backed away at the sight of the dagger.

  “Bring the human to me,” Arlos pointed in my direction.

  “Get up!” one of the men hollered at me.

  He grabbed my arm so tight it caused my eyes to water and my bottom lip to quiver. I hardly had the strength to struggle as I gathered my heavy, numb legs under me. He shoved me. Another haviden took my arm. I tripped. My arm twisted in her tight grip. I let out a shriek.

  “Get up!” she snapped at me.

  She took me by the back of my shirt and continued dragging me. Through the chaos, I heard a woman scream. I was forced to my feet. The man moved us through the crowd with ease. A bluish hand came for me from the mob. It gripped my upper arm, firmly holding me in place like an icy vice as the haviden released me and did an about-face. My eyes met Arlos’ cloudy glaze. His eyes fell upon my lips, my teeth baring in pain. I fell into a level of panic I can’t even begin to describe. My stomach tied itself into knots. My head swam with frantic thoughts of what might happen next.

  “Fangs?” Arlos shouted and pushed me.

  I fell on one hip, and as soon as I hit the floor, he snatched up my wrist. He cursed loudly, and I wasn’t completely sure if it was at me or at the crowd of havidens.

  “It sickens me to even look at her now!” Arlos announced and brought the tip of the dagger to my throat. The light from above shimmered against its blade into my eyes. “Thanks to the vampires, I no longer have a choice. And neither do you.”

  “Arlos!” covered in blood, a haviden appeared at the bottom of the steps, shouting at the top of his lungs over the noise.

  “Silence!” Arlos quieted the room.

  “We’re under attack by the vampires!” the bleeding haviden huffed out of breath. “Their clan leader claims to have the Soleil Dagger!”

  I knew this wasn’t true—Terry had it, but the vampires may have been done this to draw Arlos out into the open.

  Arlos’ eyes narrowed. His mouth parted, and he took his tongue and ran it across the fangs under his lips.

  “Not for long,” he said, his voice hushed. Then, he exploded, “Take it from him!”

  The havidens rushed for the stairs. Within seconds, the room cleared. At first, I thought it was just Arlos and me left until someone took a sharp, quiet breath to my right. Terry sat on the floor with his back against the wall. In his arms, a body lay motionless. But she was monochromatic, only a shell of what she once was. I only knew it was her because of her build.

  Her head and limbs hung limp over his arm, and her long, curly hair brushed the ground, piling on the floor with the ends crumbling like cinders. Her skin shimmered a soft slate, ever so slightly beginning to flake with tiny glowing embers. Terry stared hopelessly at her. Tears glimmering the same color of his blue enlarged veins ran down his face. He didn’t seem to want to move, maybe as not to disturb the delicate cast that was Rosetta’s body.

  Stunned, I couldn’t think what could do that to a vampi
re. But I noticed a long slice in her flesh, about four or five inches long, across her chest. There was no doubt in my mind. She’d been stabbed with the Lumière Dagger.

  Ever so slowly, Terry went to touch the flawlessness of her face. He brushed the back of his pale fingers along her cheek. At his touch, her body crumbled like sand in his arms. His face fell blank of all expression as he let his hands drift into the small pile of ashes in his lap. The sadness in his eyes made me want to cry.

  “I tried to warn you, little human,” Arlos spoke up.

  I’d almost forgotten he was there holding me. He waved the dagger away from my throat and flipped it once in his hand with the diamonds embedded in the dagger’s handle sparkling at me.

  “If only you’d chosen to cooperate with me,” he went on. “At first, I’d given you that choice. Now, you’ve become a threat to this clan. So, I’m afraid you must share the same fate as Rosetta.”

  Terry’s face hardened, and he bared his fangs in visible agony. Without hesitation, he slipped a hand into his jacket and drew the Soleil Dagger.

  He lunged into the air, sailing over me. “You bastard!” he called out as he came down over us.

  Arlos threw me aside as he raised his arm over his head. “You wish to fight me?” the demon roared and pivoted into Terry’s attack.

  Instead of penetrating him, the blade of the dagger glided off Arlos’ arm as if the demon’s skin were made of stone. Terry struck again, this time at Arlos’ side with the same result. Arlos laughed, his eyes glazing over red. He raised a hand to Terry. An invisible force shoved the vampire. He flew back, hitting the ground and tumbled with the dagger sparking in his hand each time it hit the concrete floor.

  “So, it is you who has the dagger!” Arlos snarled when his eyes fell upon the weapon. “I greatly appreciate you bringing it back to me along with the reincarnation!”

  “The only thing I’ve brought you is your own demise!” Terry shot back.

  Terry knew as well as I did. He couldn’t hurt Arlos. Noticeably, the vampire struggled with the idea of walking away. But then, Terry, as if he hadn’t thought about it, ran to me and took me by the back of my shirt. He threw us over Arlos. The vampire darted for the double doors leading to the staircase with me practically flapping around behind him like a flag in high winds. The doors slammed shut behind us the second we passed through. Arlos’ telekinetic attempt to stop us in place had failed. Terry lugged me up to the first floor. We paused in the doorway overlooking the main room.

  The ambush had begun. The once elegant, quiet estate had become a slaughterhouse. The metallic smell of blood filled the air, provoking my gag reflex. The vampires and havidens who littered the grounds fought each other like animals—tearing off each other’s limbs, ripping flesh from bone and splattering blood on the walls and floors.

  “The vile fell out of your pocket,” I warned Terry.

  He reached for his pocket to check and cursed. “We have to find Blake.”

  He led us almost blindly through the crowd, shielding me from the mostly accidental blows extending from the battle around us. But then, Terry abruptly stopped us. My eyes followed the length of my outstretched arm in his hand. I saw his wristwatch. It read 11:20 PM. We had forty minutes to find Blake, take a sample of his blood while keeping Arlos at bay, and unite the daggers.

  Someone plowed into Terry. He staggered into me and caused me to fall. A haviden woman, her face disfigured from battle, landed on all fours over me. Terry didn’t hesitate to lash out and slice through her with the dagger. She hissed, her skin searing from her new wound. Terry seized her by the throat. Her eyes rolled back into her head with her face morphing. He threw her into the nearest wall where she exploded in a gray mist.

  Another haviden attacked and practically fell into the blade of the dagger. As it pierced the half-breed through his chest, he dropped to his knees. His body turned to ash right in front of me. Terry drew the dagger from the now perfect statue of ash, and it crumbled to the ground. I pushed myself to my feet, afraid of being trampled by the mob of fighting people.

  “The clan is trying to keep the fighting on this level for our escape,” Terry explained. “We’ll be safer upstairs.”

  He was right. The second and third floors appeared to be completely vacant. Terry took me in one arm and bounded through the battle across the way, reaching the top step of the grand staircase with ease. He set me down on my side. Looking down my arms, I noticed abnormally large baby blue veins bulging under my suddenly pale skin.

  Terry hid the Soleil Dagger in his jacket. “Your aura disappeared the moment I bit you. No one should notice you now. Just stay low and wait here for me. I’m going to find Blake.”

  With that, he propelled himself high above and latched onto one of the staircase pillars. I peered through the banisters out into the chaos below. I couldn’t see Blake on the first level, but it wasn't hard to spot Arlos. He made waves of ash through the crowd as he swung the Lumière Dagger at those who stumbled in his way, vampire or haviden. I could see Arlos’ eyes as they found Terry. Another eerie smirk drew across the demon’s face. He levitated in our direction.

  “Terry!” I hissed.

  “Blake!” Terry shouted.

  I trailed the path of Terry’s gaze out across the main room. My eyes darted wildly around the massive area until I found him. I wasn’t completely sure of who he was when my eyes were drawn to his quick action—darting out of the battle, leaping on to and climbing one of the golden chandeliers in the very back. The floorboards creaked just behind me. I whirled around.

  “Give me the other dagger!” Arlos erupted over me at Terry.

  I made a feeble attempt to jump over the railing but felt the cold of Arlos’ tight grip on my arm.

  “Blake!” I called in absolute desperation.

  The evnaut’s eyes pierced through the distance between us, finding mine. He went to move from the chandelier when several havidens jumped on him. As Arlos yanked me from the railing and moved a hand in Terry’s direction. As if on cue, the vampire dropped from the pillar to the carpet before us. Arlos took Terry by the throat. The demon tore us away from the balcony. As we were forced away, I caught glimpses of Blake. He fought off attacking havidens on the chandelier that looked so far away now.

  Arlos dragged Terry and me down a long hallway. Terry fought hard to escape, but Arlos appeared unfazed by his vicious attacks. I twisted around and bit into Arlos’ forearm. It was like biting into a frozen pipe. My sharp fangs were stopped before penetrating. I cringed at the new pain in my jaw. Arlos slung me. I sailed through the air and collided with the wall on the other side. Terry drew the Soleil Dagger from his jacket. At his movement, Arlos slammed him into the carpet, moving in close. Each bared his fangs at the other, face to face.

  “I will finish you right here!” Arlos shouted.

  He knocked the dagger from Terry’s fist. The dagger landed just ahead. Terry spit directly into Arlos’ face, and the demon recoiled, cursing loudly and backhanding him. There wasn’t another second that passed before Arlos ran the blade of the Lumière Dagger into Terry’s body. I screamed Terry’s name. Arlos left the dagger buried in Terry’s chest and went straight to a pair of French doors where he knelt, gathering the Soleil Dagger. Terry extracted the Lumière Dagger from his chest. He groaned in pain and slid the weapon across the floor to me. As if my hands had a mind of their own, I snatched it up, deciding I would die before Arlos took that thing from me.

  “Terry!” I cried again.

  Our eyes met. His face fell blank of expression. His skin faded to pewter, the color radiating from the wound and expanded out over the rest of his being. He turned to ash right before my eyes, but the substance held the perfect cast of his body. I cried out his name again and went for his hand. It crumbled in my grasp along with the rest of him. My stomach painfully tightened.

  “No!” hysterical, I bellowed.

  Someone shouted my name, but his voice sounded faint. My eyes caught sight of
an antique grandfather clock standing tall against the banisters, but through my tears, I couldn’t clearly read the time. Arlos stood just a few feet away, the Soleil Dagger in hand. He scowled at me before aggressively reaching down and grabbing me up by my hair. With my free hand, I gripped his wrist through my waves and tried pulling myself to my feet with no prevail as he dragged me through the doors.

  As my eyes scaled its structure, I realized we’d entered an oversized dining room, maybe even a ballroom or event hall. The crystal chandeliers hanging from the vaulted ceilings glistened golds and whites like miniature suns, reflecting golden light against the hardwood floor. Several large dining tables sat in the back, bare yet dingy from dust. The chairs were arranged perfectly, decoratively spaced around each table. Strangely, there wasn’t a single window in the room.

  “I’m sorry I have to do this,” Arlos said lifelessly as he dragged me through the room. “You could have done so much for me. If only you’d cooperated, I wouldn’t have to take your life from you now. You’ve left me with no other choice!”

  He tossed me. I tumbled across the dark and polished wood floors. The dagger clanged against it as I went. Arlos was over me in an instant. He pulled me halfway up by my arm so furiously that I feared he’d pulled it out of socket. He raised the Lumière Dagger high over my head as I raised the Soleil Dagger in defense, helplessly hanging from his grasp.

  All I could think about was how I’d failed. My only responsibility had been to stay alive until midnight, and I wouldn’t even do that. I pictured Thade’s face. Blake’s. Eden’s, Terry’s—all the others who’d seemed so confident about tonight. I’d let every one of them down, along with everyone else on Earth.

  Chapter 24

  Part 1

  Midnight

  Arlos’ eyes lit up. A scarlet hue briefly encased his irises. He dropped the dagger at our feet, and I clung even tighter to the one I held. His arm constricted around me like the coils of an icy anaconda. He gathered me against his chest, spun us completely around and knelt over me with one swift movement. Just ahead, Blake rushed in. Arlos extended his free hand for him, and Blake was swept off his feet by an unseen force. Arlos whipped his arm through the air, Blake’s lean form seemly forced to follow its path. The young man sailed over our heads, and his landing caused the floorboards to crack, splintering under him. He quickly recovered and collected himself into a kneeling position as Arlos spun us again to face Blake. I sat there in a daze.