Rise of Midnight

  “I tried to pick a spot where we’d have a better view,” he explained as he set me on the edge, keeping his right arm out between me and the drop-off.

  “A better view of what?” I wondered.

  He sat down beside me, bravely dangling his legs off the edge of the seventy-story building. “I think it’s safe to say you’ve never watched a sunset from this high up,” he assumed.

  “You’d be right,” I confirmed.

  Together, we watched through a partially clearing sky as the sunset over the city. Right then, Chicago was like a freshly baked cake, warm and golden. The brilliant white lights and reflections of the vibrant colors spreading across the buildings were like decorative icing, topping off the city’s crisp beauty.

  “It’s gorgeous up here,” I whispered and gazed into the distant blackened clouds. “I just wish I could see it better. The clouds are blocking it out.”

  The cloud base above the horizon was a swirl of apricot and orange where the sun hid, casting its final rays on the sky’s edge. The surrounding clouds loomed the color of coal like a shadow and contrasted with the bright colors. If we’d been just a few minutes later, we would’ve missed it.

  “Maybe we can see it better from higher up,” Blake wondered aloud.

  “What?” I laughed at first but realized he was serious. “I thought you couldn’t fly anymore.”

  “I can’t,” he said. “But I can probably take us high enough for just a few seconds.”

  “What? You mean, like jump?”

  “Yes, I mean jump,” he laughed. “Here, stand up.”

  I looked up at the dusky clouds lingering overhead. I missed my guardian form where heights became nothing more than an invitation for a joyride.

  “Are you sure you can make it that high? I’ve never seen you do that before,” I intentionally discouraged him.

  “Come on,” he urged and got up. “This will be nothing compared to last time. I promise.”

  He stood completely balanced on the ledge and offered me a hand, helping me to my feet.

  “Don’t worry about holding on. You won’t be strong enough. I won’t let you go, though,” he promised.

  I brought my arms around his neck despite what he said. He lifted me into him and coiled his arms around my waist and hips.

  “I’m probably going to close my eyes until we get up there,” I warned.

  “No, don’t do that. Ascending is half the fun. You’ll miss out,” he encouraged.

  “Whatever you say,” I mumbled, unbelieving.

  “Promise me you won’t close your eyes.”

  “Alright, I won’t close my eyes.” I wasn’t sure if that promise would be kept until we got up there.

  “Okay. Here we go.” He tightened his arms around me.

  I drew a nervous, deep breath. The force of his jump caused me to slip down a little against his chest. My stomach jumped up in my chest as we bolted hundreds of feet into the air. I latched onto Blake even tighter. Just as he said, the muscles in my arms weren’t nearly strong enough to hold on as tightly as I wanted as we blasted through the air. The city below shrank to model size within seconds.

  Our ascent slowed. We arrived just below the dark clouds, and for a fleeting few seconds, we were blinded by the gray haze as we passed through. Our skin became damp from the mist when we emerged from atop the clouds. Before I knew it, our trip upward had come to a fading end. Our feet dangled just above the clouds while we seemingly floated there in gravity’s limbo, waiting to be pulled back down. Blake took me from his chest and wrapped his big hands around my waist like a gentle vice, then held me out at arm’s length.

  “Look,” he whispered after nodding to my left.

  Though it only lasted about five seconds, I will always remember it—the way the sky looked that moment. The sun sank under the horizon, spreading the last of its rays of warmth over the clouds. It gleamed like a giant citrine gemstone on the horizon’s peak. Gently rolling with peaks and shallow valleys near and far, the surface of the clouds was more like a landscape of wispy hills. The monolithic, floating mass gathering under us parted. This left the city below with no place to hide. It was like being in a completely different world, a world where only Blake and I existed. I gasped at the sight that lay before us, and that’s when I felt a slow, sinking sensation. I’d been so nervous about the trip up that I hadn’t even thought about the drop down.

  “Okay, we’re falling,” I pointed out in a slight panic.

  “Yep,” Blake laughed as I grabbed his sleeves. “This is going to be kind of intense.”

  “Great. A death-drop over the city. Something I’ve always wanted to—” I began surrealistically but had to stop and scream as we started our descent through the clouds.

  My hair flew around my head as our fall became more aggressive. I hugged myself against him. Our bodies tilted sideways in the rushing air, and we plummeted head first over the city. I screamed again, unsure if it was out of excitement or fear, all the while my stomach tried pulling itself in two different directions. The wind relentlessly whistled in my ears.

  “Blake!” I shrieked.

  He spun us over and braced for landing. He scooped me up into his arms, cradling me until his feet hit the concrete roof. I nearly lost the air in my lungs at the impact force.

  “I’m sorry, I thought you’d enjoy it,” he laughed, setting me down.

  “Oh, I did! Just not upside down,” I admitted.

  “Sorry about your hair.” Visibly amused, he ran his fingers through my wind-whipped waves.

  “It’ll be fine,” I assured him.

  I twisted my hair up and tied it off into a quick bun the way I’d seen Jericho do every day of my life. He took my hand and brought me into him, pressing his lips against mine. I leaned into the kiss as I gripped his fingers in my grasp. We slowly parted. He gazed down at me with his eyes wandering my face. Something didn’t feel right.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “I—” he stammered. “I need to talk to you.”

  “About what?” I asked with an anxious stomach.

  He helped me sit on the building’s edge. At first we sat that way, watching the sunset as it cast its final rays across the windows of the buildings around us. The light nearly blinded me. It wasn’t long before the sun completely vanished under the city.

  “Blake, what’s wrong?” I asked.

  “I haven’t explained to you what’s going on,” he replied.

  I curiously watched his hands as he turned them over to study his pale skin, his darkened veins.

  “I know you’ve been wondering—” he began.

  “I have, but it doesn’t bother me,” I cut him off gingerly.

  “I know,” he said and shook his head. “But I’m going through more than just physical changes. When Arlos drew my abilities from me that night, he also took away a part of my being, and in the process, damaged my soul. An acquired ability is embedded into the core of your being, and the only way to take the power away is to attack the source—the soul. When a soul is damaged like mine, it doesn’t heal…doesn’t rejuvenate. It fades away, and that’s why what I’m going through is called ‘fading’.”

  “You’re...fading,” I said flatly, confused.

  He sat with his eyes tracing my face. “Yes.”

  I was sure I knew where this was going.

  “My soul is slowly dissolving,” he clarified.

  I tore my eyes away from him.

  “I’ll grow weak as time goes by,” he went on. “Soon, even the physical strength I have will reduce to human standards and then even further—”

  “Blake, wait. Stop,” I huffed. “Are you sure that’s what’s happening to you?”

  “As an evnaut, I was born with some knowledge of my race as well as a basic understanding of the world without being told or taught. I don’t know everything, but I know this. I knew what was happening when Arlos used his attack on me. I knew what ‘fading’ meant—what it would do to me over tim
e. And then, Latresma confirmed it.”

  “What exactly is it doing to you?" I asked, concerned. Something deep inside of me already knew, but at that point, I was in denial.

  “As a light evnaut, I can’t live without a soul. I’m dying.”

  “What?” It was all I could say.

  I felt like I’d been hit by a bus. I could feel the core of my being sink. My mind raced. A weight pressed on my body. My eyes skimmed over the darkening city. For a second, I thought I’d faint.

  “You should have told me when we got back from London weeks ago,” I scolded him. “Why would you keep something like this from me?” I found myself fighting back tears.

  “I didn’t want to tell you until I was sure nothing could be done about it. Thade has tried to help me by connecting with priests and so on, but no one can tell us what to do.”

  “Thade knows?” I asked in shock.

  “They all do.”

  “So, Arlos did this to you? And what about Latresma? She…she couldn’t fix this?” I stumbled over my words.

  “No.”

  “What? She can send a demon back to hell, but she can’t save a dying soul?”

  “She did what she could. She healed my wounds and gave me more time to live.”

  I turned away, trying to catch my breath. “How much longer do you have?”

  “I don't know,” he answered. “Latresma said a few months at the most. I hope Vex resurfaces again before it happens. I don't think he’ll come for us unless he wants revenge for his brother, but I want to make sure he’s taken care of so you’re not left unprotected.”

  “Blake, I don’t care about Vex!” I reeled. “I’m not upset because I won’t have someone to protect me from him! I just...I don’t want to lose you,” I admitted stubbornly

  I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. They effortlessly leaked down my face like water from a cracked dam. All I could think about was that I’d already lost everyone close to me, and now, I’d have to prepare to lose one more.

  He placed his hand on the side of my face, gently running his thumb through my tears. But his icy gentleness did nothing to comfort me. Despite his cold touch, my skin grew warmer by the minute. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see steam rise from our contrasting body temperatures—like holding an ice cube against hot coal.

  “We still have time, Autumn,” he told me. “Please, don’t be sad right now. I don’t want to leave you with sad memories. We have to make the best of this. Don’t cry.” He moved in closer to me, and I put my arms around his neck where I buried the side of my face. “Let’s not talk about this tonight,” he suggested. “Try to clear your mind for a little while. We’ve all been through a lot, and we need to be able to break away from it, at least for now. We’ll keep searching for a way to change this. We’ll figure this out together. Okay?”

  I nodded and inhaled to catch my breath. The deeper my breaths were, the lighter my chest became. As difficult as it was, I held back the flow of tears. Blake’s phone buzzed in his pocket. We slowly parted as he halfheartedly reached for it.

  “Hello?” he answered it. There was a long pause and then, “Okay. We’ll be back in ten minutes.” He took the phone from his ear and stared down at it in his lap.

  “Thade?” I assumed.

  “We have to head back to the Sanctum.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “The vampires think they know where Vex has been staying. It doesn’t sound like he’s been there for days, but they’ve found evidence there that he’s been trying to open a portal to hell.”

  “Great. Just what we hoped he wouldn’t do.”

  “Yeah. I know,” he sighed, pocketing his phone.

  “How do they know that’s what he was doing?”

  “There were several human bodies in his apartment—bled dry. They think he’s trying to use their blood to cast with.”

  “How would that open a portal to hell? Can he even cast?” I asked, worried.

  “I don’t know. He sounds desperate but may have someone helping him. He knows were getting close. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken off like he did.”

  We sat there wordlessly with our eyes glued to the now almost invisible horizon line. Not until this point had I noticed how dark it had turned in the short time we’d sat there talking. My urge to cry subsided. My eyes floated up to the navy blue clouds, distracting me from my thoughts. A portion of the moon peered out from a small break in the clouds.

  “The moon probably looks amazing from up there,” he said with a light smile.

  “Yeah. I bet it’s gorgeous,” I agreed through a tightened throat.

  “Wanna find out?”

  I smiled back at him. “As long as you promise not to flip us upside down or anything crazy,” I caved and wiped away the last of my tears.

  He leaned in and pulled me into his arms. “I can’t promise that,” he teased.

  I rolled my eyes and braced myself against his chest.

  “Thade can wait a few more minutes,” he added and kissed my forehead.

  “Agreed. He’ll be alright,” I said.

  I didn’t know if Vex would ever bother coming back for us again, but I wasn’t too worried about it anymore. An entire clan of vampires along with an evnaut would rip him to pieces if he ever came near me again. With that knowledge, I doubted I’d ever be afraid of anything ever again. Vex, the vampires, the havidens, Blake’s fate, my fate—all were matters that would continue to haunt me after this night.

  But suddenly, I could clear my mind. None of that mattered. As for now, I wanted to enjoy the moment I had with Blake without the distraction of thinking.

  As my all too human spirit erupted with excitement, my heart racing against Blake’s chest, I screamed, a perfect mixture of fear and anticipation. Blake sent us sailing into the night sky high over the brilliantly illuminated yet dark city of humans and vampires.

  Rise of Daybreak

  The Rise of Midnight sequel by Sara Freites

  Available December 2020

  “It had been almost four months since Latresma sent Arlos back to hell, and since then, things stayed pretty quiet around the Sanctum. But there was still one thing we all worried about.

  Vex.

  I wished I could help. I was just an average teenage girl again—exactly what I’d wanted to be ever since I was brought to the Sanctum.

  But now, I wondered about being anything but that since I’d lost my family.”

  -Autumn

  After ridding the world of the demon Arlos, Autumn, Blake and the vampires are forced to hunt Vex all over again…

  But they find themselves at a loss until a terrifying encounter with Vex gives Autumn a new edge. With the relationship between Blake and Autumn blossoming, so is Autumn’s anxiety of Blake’s worsening condition.

  When Vex makes a successful attempt to slide into hell, the vampires must go in after him with the help of their new allies. There, the group must find and destroy Vex before he can bring another demon, maybe even Arlos, back to Earth with him.

  Facing the harsh terrain, legions of powerful demons, blackouts, spreading hellfire and raging storms, surviving hell will prove to be more of a nightmare than they ever thought.

  But will Autumn lose Blake while trying to prevent Vex from resurfacing on Earth?

  About the Author:

  Sara Freites

  Photo by Mike Gagliano – www.bellalucaphotography.com

  Sara is a mixed-Hispanic, born in Virginia Beach, VA. Part of a military family, she’s lived all over the US and also in Okinawa. She moved to TN in 2001 where she later went on to study Psychology. She’s been writing short stories and poems for as long as she can remember, but her novel Rise of Midnight is her first published work.

  Sara is currently working on Rise of Daybreak, the sequel to Rise of Midnight. She is also working on three other unrelated fiction books, Reign of the Tiger, Dreaming of Stardust and Eyes of Amunet. When she’s not writing, she’s painting, cos
tume-making, acting in short films on YouTube and playing the piano and violin.

  Instagram: S.A.F.ire_Art

  Index

  *Contains some spoilers*

  Vampires / aka earth-demons:

  *Soul eaters

  *Must feed every 2 to 3 days

  *Don’t require sleep or air to survive

  *Pale, cold skin with blue or green veins visible on arms, legs and neck

  *White, creamy, silver or off-white hair color

  *Human-like eyes that glow off-white in little to no light

  *Tall and thin

  *Strong and fast

  *Wither up but don’t parish from starvation

  *Stop aging at the time of rebirth

  *No heartbeat

  *Do not cast a reflection

  *Are “born” when only part of the human soul is left to live on after being fed upon. Remnant soul keeps the body “alive”

  *Can only be killed by the sun, hellfire or the sister daggers

  *Show little to no emotion. Some tend to have leftover emotions from their human lives

  *Female vampires can put their victims in a “love trance” to lure them in. While in this trance, the human does and says whatever the vampire wants. The vampire must look into the eyes of their victim for the trance to take place

  *Their tears are poison to the human soul if consumed, and this will result in the human turning into a haviden.

  *Unable to walk on holy ground

  *Female vampires cannot bear children and male vampires cannot produce children unless the partner is a human who carries a specific yet unknown gene, which is rare. This results in the birth of a haviden.

  Havidens (Half human, half vampire):

  *Must sleep every day, but only need 3 to 4 hours

  *Able to walk in the sunlight

  *Must feed on human blood daily, sometimes more than once a day

  *Retractable fangs and eyes that only glow off-white if they allow them to

  *Blend in better with the humans—normal skin, hair, etc.