Lord of the Night

by Robin T. Popp

  Another ten minutes passed and she started questioning whether she had the wrong cave. She’d give it another five minutes—if she still hadn’t found the colony, she was turning back. She didn’t want to be here when the tide came in.

  Directing the beam of the flashlight up ahead, she saw that the tunnel made a turn. As soon as she reached the bend, she saw that the tunnel ahead widened into a large underground chamber. Shining the beam of her flashlight over it, she was amazed at how open it was—almost like a small underground amphitheater. And scattered around like actors frozen in place were thirty or more granite-like gargoyle-looking statues. Day-phase chupacabras.

  Amazed, she could only stare. The chupacabras were in all sizes and shapes. Some had wings while others didn’t. Some seemed light gray while others appeared almost black. She would have loved to examine each and every one of them at length, but there was no time. Already, she’d been in the cave longer than she’d intended.

  Moving slowly, in case she was gravely mistaken about chupacabras being incapable of attacking during their day phase, she examined the smaller creatures, looking for one with its mouth open. She found a wingless chupacabra that looked more like a griffin than the feline shape she was familiar with, but its mouth was open and its front fangs looked too large for its head. This one would do. It was a small thing and she worried that it might not be old enough, but if it were any bigger she might not be able to carry it.

  Shrugging out of her backpack, she took several deep breaths to steady her nerves. Even so, her hands shook when she pulled out the harness she’d brought along. Frozen like statues, the creatures were still intimidating. One good bite of those massive front fangs and she’d be dead.

  No, worse, she reminded herself. She’d be a vampire.

  She glanced around the chamber once more, making sure none of the creatures had moved and then set to work, moving quickly. It was awkward putting the harness around the creature. By the time she’d fitted it and strapped it on, she’d spent more time than she’d intended. When she tried to stand, she was relieved to discover that even though the creature appeared to be made of stone, it wasn’t all that heavy.

  With a final glance around, she started back down the tunnel, her thoughts already jumping ahead. She could keep the chupa in the stable through the night, then at sunrise tomorrow, she’d collect the venom she needed. It might not be enough to make her a changeling, but it might give her the added strength and speed she needed to help Erik against the vampires.

  She’d been walking for some time when she noticed that the floor of the tunnel was more than damp. There was standing water. She couldn’t remember any of the passage being this wet and hurried her pace, afraid that she’d misjudged the time of high tide. After another five minutes, the water was ankle-deep and rising fast.

  She knew that up ahead, the tunnel sloped downward. The water would be even deeper—possibly to the point of sealing off the entrance.

  She started rattling off the math in her head. If the vampire hunter is a meter from the chamber after slogging through ankle-deep water for fifteen minutes, where will she be after ten more minutes if she’s walking downhill?

  She didn’t have to be a physics major to know the answer was ass-deep in trouble.

  What did the chupacabras do at night when the tide was in? Surely, they didn’t stay inside. The only possible answer was that there had to be another entrance to the cave that came out above ground.

  She turned around, determined to find it. Even as she hurried, the water seemed to be coming in faster with every passing second. Briefly, she considered leaving the chupacabra behind in order to lighten her load and speed her progress, but she couldn’t bring herself to condemn the creature to a certain drowning.

  The going was slow. The only good news was that the closer she got to the cavern, the lower the level of the water became, until finally she was back on dry ground.

  As she rounded the last turn to the cavern, she stopped to peek around the corner and was relieved to see that the chupacabras hadn’t moved. Outside, it must still be daylight.

  Looking around, she played the beam of her flashlight over the walls, hoping to find another entrance into the chamber. Everywhere she looked, though, the walls seemed solid.

  The longer she searched, the more desperate she became. Finally, her beam hit a small fissure in the opposite wall. She took off running across the chamber and was about halfway across when a flicker of movement froze her in her tracks.

  With a desperate, sinking feeling, she looked around and realized that she’d made a grave miscalculation on the time.

  In the pit of her stomach, terror uncoiled until it had wrapped itself around her stomach and lungs. Her heart raced as adrenaline pumped through her system. Everywhere she looked, chupacabras were waking up. Despite what Jess had told her about the creatures’ seemingly gentle nature, she wasn’t seeing any evidence of it now as they growled at her.

  When one of the chupacabras screeched, the hairs on the back of Kacie’s neck stood up. She turned and saw the large gray, feline-looking creature stalking toward her on its disproportionately large hind legs. It opened its mouth to screech again and Kacie’s gaze fixed on the two large fangs.

  Afraid to break eye contact with it, she slowly backed away, but other chupacabras circled around, blocking her retreat. Deep down inside, she knew she wasn’t going to come out of this unscathed. Probably she wouldn’t even come out alive. Sheer, unadulterated terror caused her heart to race and her breath to come in short gasps.

  When one particularly large chupacabra roared, the noise was ear-splitting, and it tore a scream from Kacie’s very core. Then she felt her back being clawed and realized she’d forgotten about the baby.

  After that, everything happened too fast for her to register anything more than feeling like a car had slammed into her. One minute, she was standing. The next, she was lying on the ground, her arms and back burning where sharp claws ripped open the flesh. By the time her mind registered the excruciating pain in her neck, she was already dying.

  Chapter 10

  Erik jerked awake, feeling panicked. He leaped out of bed, grabbed his sword, and prepared to face the danger—only there was none. Listening, he heard no screams or shouts. He could detect no sound or movement at all. Opening his door, he stepped into the hallway and, again, everything looked and sounded normal. Yet the urgency inside him continued to build, making him crazy.

  He raced to the guest bedroom but found it empty. A quick search of his apartment told him Kacie wasn’t there. Half hoping she’d gone to her own room, he raced out of his apartment, glad it was dark outside, and took the two flights of stairs to the second floor. Her door was standing open when he got there and it took only a quick glance inside to determine that she wasn’t there either.

  Trying to stay calm, he focused on the source of his feelings and noticed that it was coming to him over the psychic link. What really surprised him was that it wasn’t coming from the vampires, but rather from the chupacabras—specifically, the alpha male who had created him.

  Concentrating, an image began to emerge in his mind. It was distorted at first, but slowly began to grow sharper. The horror he felt then was all too real—through the chupacabra’s eyes he saw Kacie’s terrified face.

  He didn’t stop to question how she knew about the colony or how she’d found it. His priority was to get to her as quickly as he could. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if he couldn’t get there in time. Kacie being killed and then turning into a vampire was not something he was prepared to deal with.

  He flew out of the house, sending thoughts to the alpha male, urging him not to attack. It had been so long since he had last communicated with a chupacabra he wasn’t sure he re-membered how, but he sure as hell was going to try. With each pounding footstep, as he ran across the lawn to the stable, he bombarded the chupacabra with his mental pleas.

  Jumping into his Hummer, he started the eng
ine. Seconds later he was racing down the road toward town. The oceanside entrance to the chupacabra cave would be underwater by now, but that didn’t matter. The entrance through the old cemetery was closer.

  He raced through the night, fear clutching his soul. When he was almost to town, he turned onto the dirt road that led to the cemetery. He didn’t even worry about whether or not Michael or the others were about. When he reached the cemetery, he drove through the entrance and took the main drive to the back. There he parked the Hummer and got out. Immediately, he jumped the fence and continued into the wooded area beyond until he found the outcropping of rock.

  It took him precious seconds to find the opening because it had been so long since he’d last been there and the landmarks had changed with time.

  Once inside, the passage was dark, but he hardly noticed. There was only one thing on his mind: Get to Kacie.

  When he finally reached the main chamber, he stopped and stood still, giving the creatures time to register that he was there.

  Looking around, he saw that there were easily twenty-five or thirty chupacabras moving about, and he felt weak. Fifty years ago, there had been half this many. Most of them seemed to be gathered at the far end of the chamber and Erik knew that Kacie was the object of their attention. Wondering how he was going to get past them, he drew his sword and started forward.

  The closer he got, the more nervous the creatures seemed to become. They shifted about, keeping a wary eye on him. He slowed his steps even more.

  Afraid to say anything out loud, he pushed feelings of peace and safety through the link. He spared a glance at Kacie and saw that her body was covered in blood. She moved and he breathed a sigh of relief that she was still alive. Then another creature moved out of his way and he was able to see more clearly.

  What he’d mistaken for Kacie was, in fact, a small chupacabra tangled in some kind of netting. Erik moved forward. It seemed to take him forever to reach Kacie’s body and even longer to bend over, because he didn’t want to do anything to startle the creatures. Once he was there, he saw that the baby was caught in a harness strapped to Kacie’s back. Before he could get Kacie out of there, he’d have to free the creature.

  “Easy now,” Erik soothed, reaching out slowly. He sent reassurance to the chupacabras through the psychic link, praying they understood he was trying to help.

  As soon as he touched the baby, however, it panicked. Sharp fangs sank deep into his arm and it was everything Erik could do not to lash out at the tiny thing. Instead, he gritted his teeth against the pain and worked quickly to unsnap the fastening of the harness. It would have been easier to use his sword, but with the creature thrashing about like it was, he was afraid of accidentally cutting it.

  By the time he finally worked the baby free, he’d been bitten numerous times and his arms and chest were streaming with blood—but he was hardly aware of it. His full attention was on Kacie.

  Now that the baby was loose, all of the creatures moved off to the side, leaving Erik alone with Kacie. Sliding his hands under her body, he lifted her into his arms, remembering to retrieve his sword from where he’d laid it on the floor.

  Getting out was a slow process, but as soon as they left the main chamber, Erik drew his first easy breath. Kacie’s life was still in danger, but at least now he could move at full speed. Grateful for once that he was a vampire, he carried her through the tunnels faster than any rescue team could have.

  He cleared the fence to the cemetery and hurried to the Hummer. There, he propped his sword against the side while he opened the back door and placed Kacie inside. Then sheathing his sword, he climbed into the front seat, shut his door, and with hands that shook, started the engine.

  Erik was barely aware of driving back to the castle; all his thoughts were focused on saving Kacie’s life. She had lost too much blood and there was no way to get her to the hospital in time. He’d have to save her.

  Uttering a litany of prayers, he carried Kacie into his apartment and laid her on the bed. He wanted to clean the blood away, but the greater priority was replacing the blood she’d lost.

  Going to his freezer, he took out all the frozen bags of Type O human blood that he’d kept for feeding emergencies.

  Tossing them into the microwave, he set the dial to defrost, hoping that in doing so, he wasn’t denaturing any important proteins or destroying elements her body might need.

  While he waited for the blood, he searched for the rubber tubing and IV needles that were part of every Winslow’s medical kit and carried them back to the bedroom. Next, he found a clean rag, towel, and antiseptic. Then he cut away Kacie’s blood-soaked clothes, too concerned with her safety to notice her nudity with anything but a clinical eye.

  Covering her with a blanket, he went back to the kitchen to check on the blood. It had thawed but was still chilled, so he put the bags back in, reset the timer for another minute, and hurried back into the bedroom to clean Kacie’s face and body.

  There were two large gaping holes in her neck where a chupacabra’s fangs had sunk into her flesh. Even though he’d lived through a similar attack, the memory of it had long since faded with time. He hoped that when Kacie recovered, she’d have no memory of it either.

  He finished treating the wounds and went back into the kitchen. The blood was completely thawed.

  Carrying the first bag to her bed, he started the transfusion and waited as the bag slowly emptied. Every second that went by seemed to take an eternity. He sat beside her on the bed and combed the hair from her face, murmuring words of comfort.

  When it seemed she was sleeping easier, he took the time to clean his own wounds. He’d lost a lot of blood and had no doubt been injected with a fair amount of venom, but he was already a vampire. There was nothing more the chupacabras could do to him—especially one as small as the one who’d bitten him.

  The night passed slowly, but after the third bag of blood, Kacie’s skin color was much improved. As her body began to heal, the nightmares started and her breathing grew rapid. She thrashed about on the bed as if she were fighting off an attacker—or a chupacabra. Erik watched, feeling helpless.

  “It’s all right, love. You’re safe,” he told her, stroking her head as he tried to ease her fears.

  Her eyelids fluttered open and her gaze sought his face. “You’re safe now, Kacie. I’m with you. It’s going to be okay.”

  He repeated this several times until she quieted. At one point, she struggled to open her mouth, but couldn’t get any words out. Then her eyes slowly closed and she slept.

  Eventually her breathing evened out and he thought she might really be on the road to recovery. He knew enough about the chupacabra venom to know that it had amazing healing powers and already it was working in her system. She might not need another bag of blood, but he couldn’t afford to take that chance, so he gave it to her anyway.

  There was nothing more he could do for Kacie after that. Nature would have to take its course. As for himself, he was hungry. There were only two containers of pig’s blood. It wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy his hunger, but he was reluctant to finish off the last of his blood. There was no telling how soon he could get more.

  He removed one of the containers and while he heated it, he placed a call to the butcher for more. The man had delivered containers of blood to the castle before; if he found it strange, he never said so. Of course, Erik paid him well not to be too curious.

  After eating, he picked up the phone a second time. It was time to make the hardest call of his life.

  “There’s been an accident,” he said when Gerard answered. “Kacie’s going to be all right, but . . .” For the next few minutes, he explained what had happened. When he finished, the silence that met him was grim.

  “Are you sure she’s going to change?” Gerard asked finally.

  “Yes. She’ll need to make a few lifestyle adjustments, but she’s going to be okay.” Erik paused. “I’m sorry that I didn’t do a better job of protecting
her.”

  “What?” Gerard sounded genuinely surprised. “From what you’ve told me, you saved her life.”

  “She should never have gotten hurt.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up. No one knows better than I do how headstrong Kacie can be.”

  Erik thought “headstrong” might be an understatement, but he let it pass. “Thank you,” he said.

  “For?”

  “For not thinking I’d let something bad happen to her on purpose.”

  Gerard sighed. “It never occurred to me that you were responsible. I know that you’d do everything in your power to protect the members of my family—especially Kacie.”

  Erik wondered if Gerard suspected that his feelings for Kacie had changed. “What do you mean, especially Kacie?”

  “I meant the promise you made to Vince. What did you think I meant?”

  “Nothing.” He sighed. “There is one more, rather significant, problem.” He went on and told Gerard about the situation with Michael and the pact.

  “Why didn’t you ever tell us about the pact?” Gerard asked when he finished. He sounded angry.

  “I was trying to protect all of you.” Erik defended himself, though in light of what had happened, it sounded weak even to his ears. “I didn’t think the family would understand why I’d made a deal with vampires.”

  Gerard sighed. “Perhaps not. On the other hand, if you had taken that chance, Kacie wouldn’t have accidentally killed your friend.”

  Erik sighed. “Sometimes I think Kacie hates vampires so much, she’d kill them all if she had the chance.”