Rise of Midnight

by SARA FREITES

  “We’re okay,” Blake assured him.

  “I tried to break the doors down,” Garrett announced to me and Blake as Thade rushed us out of the collapsing ballroom. “But there were these huge...roots or something…growing from under the doors all the way up to the ceiling. They jammed up the doors. It was crazy!”

  There, I caught a glimpse of the pile of ashes in the hallway—Terry. I opened my mouth to let the vampires know what had happened to him, but Eden distracted me.

  “What the hell was going on in there?” Eden asked us. “Where is Arlos? Did Latresma appear?”

  “Why do I smell a human?” Harper asked and shot me a look.

  “Is the demon dead?” Neil wondered.

  “Where are the daggers? Do you have them?” Thade pressed.

  “Arlos is dead. Latresma took care of him,” I replied.

  “The daggers disappeared with Latresma,” Blake informed them.

  “What started the fire?” I asked.

  “We’re torching the place. My men have set fire to the basement and roof to kill off the havidens,” Neil told us.

  He stopped us by the balcony railing overlooking the main room. Below, the fighting went on…but something was noticeably different now.

  “The rest of the clan has escaped,” Neil continued. “They are standing guard just outside to prevent the havidens from escaping. It will be a proper tragedy if we don’t get ourselves out of here soon.”

  “Has anyone seen Terry or Rosetta?” Thade announced.

  Everyone fell abruptly silent as Blake’s eyes widened at the mention of his mother’s name. Terry and Rosetta’s faces raced across my mind.

  “No,” Eden exhaled.

  “Arlos. He...they—” I stammered, unsure of what to say as I slowly shook my head.

  Blake looked me dead in the eyes, unmoving. “What?” he asked me and had to catch his breath at the same time.

  “I’m…I’m so sorry,” was all I could say.

  Harper’s eyes lit up as if someone hit him. Eden brought both of her hands to her mouth. Neil bowed his head and closed his eyes as Thade’s usually strong stature seemed to crumble before my eyes. Everyone’s reaction brought tears to my eyes. I wished there had been a better time and place to tell them.

  “No,” Blake said, his eyes softening so dramatically I was sure he would collapse right before me.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here,” Thade advised.

  Everyone started moving except for Blake and me. I gently gripped his arm while he remained in place. I could feel my eyes welling with tears just to see his hurt. He didn’t look up but gently squeezed my hand that had his arm. I peered over the railing and brought him in closer to me. There, it was no longer a fight between haviden and vampire. The havidens had turned on each other—their faces contorted, mouths gaping wide with eyes rolled back in their heads.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. “Why are they turning on each other?”

  “With Arlos gone, his demonic hold on them must have lost its strength. They seem to be completely mindless now,” Thade tried to make sense of the chaos.

  “A convenience for us,” Neil laughed. “Makes for an easier extermination. We need to hurry before the rest of this place goes up.”

  “Will fire be enough to kill them?” I asked.

  “Yes. Eventually,” Eden confirmed. “It’s a much slower death than it would be if they were human. Hell, they may finish each other off before the fire does.”

  “Did the first group get the vampires Arlos kept out of here already?” Garrett asked.

  “Yes, they were extracted,” Thade confirmed. “We’ll have them well fed and debriefed once we get back to the Sanctum.”

  I shivered at the thought of them. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that after my last experience with them.

  Neil pivoted and slammed his fist through the nearest wall. He ripped a chunk of the wooden stud from the plaster. I watched him curiously.

  “Thade, my friend. Do you still smoke?” he asked while holding out his hand.

  “Am I dead yet?” Thade laughed while he took an orange lighter from his jeans and tossed it to Neil.

  “Technically, yes,” Neil teased, catching the lighter. “You’re the only vampire I know addicted to cigarettes.” He lit it, and a tiny flame danced at the top of the lighter.

  “I’ll have you know, I’m not addicted. I just like them. A lot,” Thade informed him matter-of-factly.

  “Whatever you say, Thade,” Neil jeered through a smile and lit the wooden beam he’d taken from the wall. “Now, let’s finish torching this place, shall we? We should exit through the window across the way.” He nodded at the tiny stain glass window high up on the front wall.

  “How are we going to get through? It’s a death-pit down there,” Eden worried.

  I took another look over the railing. All I could see where flailing arms and splattering blood.

  “Ceiling!” Garrett hollered over the noise.

  “What?” I snapped.

  Thade and Garrett began climbing the banisters against the side wall.

  “Does the adrenaline rush ever end with you people?” I sounded off.

  “Come on,” Blake stepped up with his arms open to me.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck with my head against his chest. My legs coiled around his hips with a death grip.

  “Hold on as tightly as you can,” he warned and placed his hands on the wall behind me, ready to climb. “Geez. You smell a little too good.”

  “Is that a bad thing?” I asked.

  “Uh, it could be for the vampires. You ready?”

  “Not really,” I half-joked.

  My stomach spasmed at the thought of what we were about to do. We started toward the ceiling. I wanted to close my eyes as we climbed higher and higher, but the fear of a possible slip-up on Blake’s part forced me to keep them open. Everyone made it to the ceiling before I even realized it. I could feel my stomach move up into my chest when Blake reached across for the horizontal support beams. There, he turned upside down and latched onto them. My head swooned while looking down over Blake’s shoulder.

  Off we went across the ceiling. It was like hanging over a giant living meat grinder as the fighting raged on forty or fifty feet below. I didn’t want to think about what might happen if one of us fell. I buried my face into Blake’s collarbone to erase that horrible thought from my mind. I could feel my stomach beating against Blake’s.

  “Go! Go! Go!” Harper shouted, disturbing my frantic thoughts.

  Blake looked in Harper’s direction as I did. That’s where we noticed several havidens climbing the walls after us. The battle wounds they bore made them look corpse-like—skin hung from their arms, blood speckled their faces, bare bone exposed, missing extremities. It was like watching a horror movie come to life as they climbed toward us freakishly fast.

  “Hurry!” Thade hollered from ahead.

  Harper began fending off one of the shark-faced havidens as she attacked when another one dove in on him.

  “Keep going!” he shouted at Garrett who’d turned back to help.

  Garrett ignored Harper’s order and shot forward. He snatched the female haviden up by her shirt and yanked her back. She hissed, her hands clawing at the ceiling. Garrett bashed his elbow into her back, and she lost her grip. I watched her plummet toward the mob below. I turned away before she landed. I didn’t want the image of her brutal death resonating in my mind for the rest of my life.

  Garrett raced over to help Harper fight off the other attacking haviden. Eden screamed. Blake stopped, spinning us halfway around in her direction. Another one had made it to the ceiling, and it swiped at Eden. He sliced into her wrist with a large piece of glass he had in hand. She lost her grip as blood splashed against the beams. She fell.

  “Eden!” I cried out.

  Immediately, she grabbed the chain belonging to one of the elaborate chandeliers. This halted her fall. Thade appeared, striking her
assailant, and the half-breed dropped. On the way down, the haviden hit the edge of Eden’s chandelier. This shattered portions of it. It swayed as he crashed through it, and he disappeared into the mob below. Again, I hid my eyes from the gore.

  Eden shimmied up the chain to join Thade. Blake moved us in another direction as four others loomed from the right. I held onto him just a little bit tighter. Another one popped up out of nowhere and swung at us. Blake dodged his attacks. Yet another came up from behind, biting into Blake’s knee. He spun us around to face the half-breed and backed away. I worried I was burdening Blake—like he couldn’t do much fighting with me attached to him.

  We both gasped when Blake’s leg was swiped out from under him by another attacker. Blake caught one of the support beams with his left hand, digging into the wood. I hung from around his neck in terror as he gripped the ceiling beam with one hand and held me tightly against his chest with the other. While we dangled there, the havidens on the ceiling circled like a pack of howling, disfigured hyenas. One lunged at us, making contact. Blake’s arm was knocked away from me. I screamed. The haviden and I fell toward the massacre below, but Blake took my hand out of the air, catching me. I looked up at him in a panic as he eyed our attackers. I watched his gaze fall upon the massive golden chandelier hanging a few yards below. My shadow fell just atop the right corner of it. I knew what he was thinking before he even said it. My hand started to hurt from his intense grip.

  “No,” I huffed.

  “I’m going to let you go,” Blake said as he began swinging me toward the center of the chandelier.

  “Blake!” I yelped.

  His hand completely went limp in mine as he swung me out again, but I held on even tighter.

  “Trust me!” he ordered.

  He slung me out one last time, and I forced myself to let go of his hand. The fall felt like forever. I landed square on top of the enormous chandelier. It swayed unsteadily. Looking up, I watched as Blake reattached himself to the ceiling. He fought off the havidens one by one as they attacked.

  Gazing across the ceiling, I could see Neil waving the torch he’d made at a group of his own havidens, holding them off with it. He backed them against the chain of a chandelier—the largest of the five high above the main room. As they began climbing down its chain to get away from the fire, the entire thing detached from the ceiling. It dropped with its unwilling haviden passengers. As the chandelier crashed into the crowd below, sparks flew. A massive fire spread. One-fourth of the room lit up, catching fire to the unfortunate havidens who happened to be close. This caused even more of them to climb the walls toward us.

  “Go!” Neil shouted. “Everyone! Hurry!” He threw the torch to the fire below.

  “Autumn!” Blake called from the front wall. “Come on.”

  He let go of the banister with one hand and reached for me. I heard the stained glass window shatter far above. Shards of glass showered down over him. Light from the fire below refracted off them, and they sparkled every color of the rainbow.

  “Hurry!” he urged.

  With a good distance between me and the wall where Blake hung, I wasn’t so sure I could make the jump. I gathered myself. Careful, I got to my feet and rocked back, praying I would make it. When the chandelier swung toward him, I sprang. For a brief second, I felt like I was floating. Blake gripped my arm and with amazing strength, pulled me onto his back. Looking up, I saw Eden jump out of the shattered stained glass window. The rest of our group went out right after her. Blake scaled the wall and set us on the tiny windowsill. I peered down into the courtyard at the tremendous fall we were about to take. Before I could warn him against it, Blake went for it. We sailed through the air. I closed my eyes, withholding a scream. He landed on all fours, and the force of the impact sent me rolling through the grass. He helped me to my feet as one of the vampires jumped into the car Terry and I arrived in earlier and started it. Blake launched us over the car and through the demolished gate. We dashed to the other side of the street where the car veered, disappearing around the corner.

  Over my shoulder, I watched flames engulf the mansion from the bottom up. I covered my ears to block out the shrieks of the burning havidens inside. Fifteen or sixteen vampires bravely waited by the ground level windows. They kicked back anyone who tried to make their way out. In the alley ahead of us, an uncountable amount of gleaming eyes looked on, the lot of Thade’s and Neil’s clan members. Some merely waited there, watching the fire while others hung from the walls and waited on the rooftop just above. We joined them, standing back in the alley to watch Arlos’ mansion burn. Smoke rose into the air, and it blanketed the night sky. The sirens of approaching fire trucks blasted in the distance.

  “That would be our cue to leave,” Neil suggested.

  He made some sort of signal in the air with his hand. The clan members around us scattered and climbed up the alleyway walls to the rooftops. Blake pulled me onto his back. We scaled the brick wall after them and retreated into the night as red lights bounced off nearby buildings.

  Chapter 26

  Part 1

  Falling into Place

  My eyes traced the shoulders and heads of the vampires. Standing among them and unable to see over their tall, sturdy frames, I felt like a lone townhouse in a city of skyscrapers. We waited there, holding a brief memorial for Terry and Rosetta in the form of a moment of silence. I used this time to honor my family, too.

  We’d just arrived in Chicago late that morning when Thade called everyone to gather on the sublevel of the Sanctum. Without Latresma’s soul, I felt on edge knowing that now, to everyone around me, I smelled like prey, but Thade took precautions. He suggested I stay wrapped in one of the heavy trench coats during the gathering so my now human scent wouldn’t distract the others. He’d also made sure everyone fed before the memorial, as well as before our plane ride home.

  With absolute silence filling the room, a lump formed in my throat. The vision of Terry’s death replayed over and over in my head. I’d probably remember it for the rest of my life, but I tried overshadowing it with thoughts of his life instead. His personality had felt so warm compared to those of the cold vampires, and I would regret never knowing him better. I would also regret not having the honor of getting to know Rosetta. She’d been so strong even after everything she’d gone through. She’d also played a short but huge part in Latresma’s conquest…and in mine. I thought of my family, too—the last moments I’d spent with each of them, thankful Thade had allowed me one last visit home before Vex and Scythe took them from me.

  While my mind wandered, so did my eyes until they found Blake, his head hanging low like everyone else’s. He and I hadn’t had a minute to talk alone since we left London the night before. He noticed me and weaved his way through the vampires to stand beside me. He shifted his weight to one side to bump shoulders with me.

  “I’m sorry about your mom,” I whispered to him.

  “I’m sorry about your family,” he whispered back.

  Thade made his way to the platform in front of everyone where Latresma’s body had once rested. He waved someone over, and Garrett and Harper stepped onto the platform with him.

  “Our clan suffered a tragic loss last night,” Thade began. “I am truly saddened. As vampires, most of us don’t feel emotions as we once did, but it’s not that we choose not to. Our instincts mask them after rebirth. It happens to us all. This is meant to help us cope with what we’ve become. Better yet, it is meant to help us survive, to hunt without remorse the race in which we once belonged. It’s meant to help us leave the people we knew and loved and join a group of individuals we’ve never met before, to outlive our friends, children, spouses…and live on for eternity. We are designed to go on without that constant anguish or emptiness of our losses. But that trait isn’t prevalent among us all. It is not foolproof. Terry’s passing is a testimony to this. I don’t want us as a clan to associate feelings with weakness. If you feel the sadness of our loss as I do, and I can see
it on some of your faces now, I encourage you—don’t bury it. Feel it. Let it be. What I speak of is not taboo. It’s human, is it not? And maybe, that is why it scares us.

  “No, we aren’t human anymore, but at one point, we all were. We were not weak then, were we? Think back. Human emotion is not what made us weak. It’s what made us more alive. The man standing before you today is nothing compared to the man I once was. Years ago, when I was human, I was once compassionate, so vibrantly alive with an eagerness and a passion to live. We were all like that once, some of us longer ago than others. But you see, even now, our bodies wish to cling to our old human ways. Tell me, is it really so bad? Was it so bad being human? After all, we have a shining example of what a human can do. Don’t we, Autumn?”

  Thade's eyes found me in the crowd. I could feel everyone else’s on me, too. I gave a nervous smile to Thade. The truth was, I couldn’t have done it without them. I wasn’t sure what the vampire leader thought was so outstanding about what I’d done. I’d had a lot of help.

  Thade continued. “The human spirit—it means something more than we ever thought. Terry meant something to this clan, to me. And I won’t be so foolish as to shamefully deny how I’m feeling about his passing. If you are feeling today, and I hope you are, embrace that little part of you that is still human just as Terry did. Let us honor him in this way. This is how Terry chose to live. He felt very little in his early vampire years, but when he did feel, he allowed himself to be taken over by it, allowed it to grow the right way. He didn’t disregard it as our instincts tell us to, and in this way, he became stronger—a martyr for growth in this clan. Not long ago, I, myself, chose his way of living, as well.

  “This is how we will continue to survive. This is how we will live, how we will overcome things meant to tear us down. This is how we will stick together and thrive. I leave you all with this. Despite what is normally believed, we are not walking corpses. Our hearts may not beat, our lungs may not eagerly take in the air around us, our blood may not pump through our veins, but we cannot deny that tiny part of our souls that are still alive within us. Don’t lose yourself in the numbness. We are not dead yet, my friends, so don’t die on the inside before your body has the chance to—otherwise, you’ll have a long wait ahead of you while you walk around as an empty shell, a walking corpse.” He took a step back and put his hands behind his back. “I will now induct two new members into clan leadership.”