Dark Horizons (The Red Sector Chronicles) (11 page)

I cupped a hand over my mouth, tasting vomit.

Rook grabbed my arm. “Time to go!”

He yanked me forward, and I looked back at Dezyre, who was frozen. She was watching the massacre before her, eyes wide with terror. “Let’s go, Dezyre,” I said, grabbing hold of her wrist. She let me pull her forward, though her eyes remained locked on the horrific bloodbath playing out in front of the car.

We ran as hard as we could, our footsteps pounding the pavement, echoing the
thumping
of o
ur furiously beating hearts.

A howl broke through th
e snarls at our backs, followed
by the sound of several sets of claws scraping against pavem
ent. I glanced over my shoulder
and nearly choked on my next breath. “Rook!” I shouted. “They’re coming after us!”

Rook glanced back and swore. “
They’re too fast! We need to head toward the White Sector, where –”

A Rogue leapt out in front of him, cutting him off. It gripped Rook by the shoulders, taking him to the ground.

“Rook!” Dezyre screamed.

Rook wrestled
with
the creature, holding it at bay with one hand on its throat while it snapped its teeth in his face and clawed his arms, creating long gashes.

I rushed forward to help him when several hisses behind me made me whirl. Red eyes with a black slit down the middle, like cat’s eyes, glared back at me. Blood dripped from the Rogue’s fangs, reeking of death and life
all
at once.

I sniffed, feeling the animalistic part of myself I kept caged
up
break loose and come to the surface. It took over as my fangs elo
ngated.
I rolled my neck and shoulders, curving my fingers like claws. “If you want me,” I said, voice deep and feral, “then come and get me.”

The Rogue roared and lunged for my
throat
, at which I sidestepped it and broke its neck with one swift move. As it slumped to the ground, I turned and ducked as a clawed hand swung over my head, trying to take it clean off. “Missed,” I
said, springing up with a
palm
gouge
toward its chest. The creature’s purple skin was so thin and sickly that my hand
went straight through. The Rogue stared at the place where my arm was buried in its chest, nearly up to my elbow, and I ripped
my fist
out with a vicious cry. The monster staggered, its still be
ating heart clasped in my hand.
The Rogue
shuddered
and
then fell
to the ground, dead.

Around me, gunshots rang out as Dezyre fired again and again at whichever Rogues came her way. She was a surprisingly good shot, but then again I hope
d
she would be since
they were practically at point-
blank range. Rook had
planted a fist
in the
face
of the Rogue
that
had
that
attacked him. He spun around with a
roundhouse
kick to another Rogue’s throat, and I smiled as I heard its bones snap.

For a moment, there was a lull in conflict as some of the Rogues hesitated, as if unsure what to do, while others ran away, howling.

“Let’s go now, while we have a chance,” Rook said, sounding breathless.

He made to grab my arm, but I jerked free from him. “No!” I snarled. “Let me kill them.”

He looked at me with a mixture of confusion and horror. “Sloane, there’s no way we can take them all on, especially if they’re calling reinforcements.”

“They won’t.”

“Oh, yeah?” He pointed behind me. “Then what do you call that?”

I turned. A cluster of Rogues, at least ten more than there was before, was barreling toward us.

I lic
ked my lips. “I call that
fun
.
”

Two hands gripped me by the shoulders, whirling me around and shaking me hard. “Sloane, snap out of it,” Rook ordered. “There are too many of them. We’ll be killed.”

“Not if I kill them first!”

“Listen to yourself!” he shouted. “This isn’t you! Do you want to risk Aden’s life so you can sate your blood thirst?”

That hit me like a slap to the face
.
I blinked several times, feeling dazed. “No,” I said slowly. “No, I don’t want to risk Aden’s life.”

“I thought not.”

“Hello?” Dezyre yelled. “Either leave her here, or let’s go! It’ll be dawn soon.”

My eyes flashed to the sky. She was right. The stars looke
d paler against the brightening
light pink backdrop.

“Sorry,” I muttered, still wondering what had come over me a few minutes ago. “Let’s go.”

We took
off at a dead sprint. The wall separating the two sectors loomed several hundred feet in front of us, but I knew even running for all we were worth, we’d never make
it
across the wall
before dawn.

Snarls and howls followed us, but I didn’t dare look back for fear I’d slip in
to “psycho mode.” “Aren’t we
less appetizing to them
since we’re vampires too
?” I shouted.

Dezyre scoffed. “They’re Rogues. It doesn’t matter what we are, so long as we have warm blood.”

I shuddered on
the inside at the word “blood”.

Golden stripes cracked the sky, bathing the tops of the buildings around us in
yellow
light. My skin began to itch.
I knew if I stayed in the light long enough for it to actually hit me, my skin would begin to flat-out burn.

“We need to find cover!”
Rook shouted.

Franti
cally, I scanned for an opening
but found none. We were in the middle of a long span of road with no buildings.
L
ight poles with cracked lights looked down on us as we ran for our lives, our feet kicking up dust in our wake.

Panic was starting to set in when Rook shouted, “There!”
He jerked an arm out.

My gaze
followed
his pointing finger
to a hole in the side of a hill. I squinted, making out an open sewer drain.

The Rogues were so close now
that
I could feel their hot breaths at my back.

The area behind us suddenly became brighter as the sun peeked above the White Sector’s security wall,
bathing the wasteland behind us in golden light. Digging my feet in, I propelled myself toward the hole, following right behind Dezyre and Rook as sunlight crawled across the land toward us, picking up speed as the sun rose higher and higher. In a few precious seconds, we would be fried.

The Rogues began to scream as the sun’s light cooked them. Sweat ran into my eyes, stinging them, but I didn’t dare take my sight off that hole. Fire burned through my thighs and calves, and I cried out as warmth kissed my back and shoulders as the sun’s rays hit me. Smoke curled up from my skin as it
began to break off into golden
flakes.

Dezyre dove first, while Rook stood by the opening. “Come on!” he yelled.

Gritting my teeth, I gave myself one final push and lunged for the hole, diving into beautiful darkness. Rook slipped in behind me, and we all turned as the remaining two Rogues were blanketed in the sun’s light. They reared up right outside the hole, their red eyes wide as their skin turned to golden
dust
and they disintegrated
into piles of ash.

CHAPTER
7

My eyes were still adjusting to the sudden dark of the tunnel, which
was
probably why I didn’t see Dezyre’s hand until it was smacking me across the face.

The force was so great that my head jerked to the side, digging my cheek into my teeth. A sharp pain lit up the side of my face
,
and I swore, tasting blood.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Dezyre screamed. “You almost got us killed back there!” Her
doll
face was twisted
with
rage, her eyes shining with tears. The arm she used to point back to the much too bright opening was shaking badly.

For a moment, I
felt the brief sting of regret
and then pity as I looked at her. But as my mouth filled with the hot, syrupy taste of my blood, a fire came to life deep inside my soul. My anger simmered there,
a barely contained wildfire. I turned on Dezyre, fangs bared and hands clenching, ready to choke the life from her. “But we didn’t, did we?”

“We could have,” Dezyre said, anger making her words sharp.
“But you were too stupid with bloodlust to think about other people. You’re always too freaking selfish to see how your actions could hurt anyone else.”

“Oh?” I purred dangerously, stalking to
ward her. “You tried to kill me – twice, might I add –
but I’m the one who’s selfish?” I cocked my head to the side, studying her with narrowed eyes. “Now who’s th
e one not looking out for other
s
’
best interests?”

She seemed to just realize how close I was, and her mouth snapped shut with an audible plop.
Swallowing, she said,
“Get away from me.”

I arched a brow, smiling around my fangs. “Or you’ll what?”

I didn’t even flinch as she brought the gun to my forehead. Her face had turned to stone, though I could smell the fear saturating her pore
s
.

“Enough,” Rook said, stepping in front of me and lowering De
z
yre’s gun. She scowled at him but didn’t protest. He looked at me evenly. “This isn’t you. It’s your bloodlust talking.”

“
Maybe. Maybe not.” With a vicious snarl, I lunged for Dezyre.

Her eyes went wide before she screeched and scrambled to get away from me. There was nowhere for her to go, unless she wanted to be roasted. Wheeling about and searching for an escape route, she fell hard, slamming her head against the concrete wall of the sewer drain. Her eyes fluttered shut for a split second, and that was all the time I needed. I was on her in a flash.

The feel of my hand
s
around her throat was more pleasurable than I thought it would be. I squeezed harder, smiling wider as she clawed at my hands while I lifted her in the air.

“Sloane, stop!” Rook yelled. “You’ll kill her!”

“That’s the idea,” I hissed through my teeth.

I couldn’t think rationally. I couldn’t really think much at all. The
only thing my body wanted to do –
that my blood, my heritage, screamed
at me to do –
was kill.

Kill, kill, kill.

I was vaguely aware of Rook’
s arms wrapping around my waist. B
efore I could think to react,
my hands were torn from Dezyre’s neck as
he lifted and
threw
me into the opposite wall. He hadn’t been gentle. My head hit first, sending a thunderclap of pain across my skull and making shadows and stars blot out my vision.

Blinking several times, I pushed
off
the wall, straigh
tening. “What happened?” I rasped
.

Dezyre was rubbing her throat and coughing, sucking in big lungfuls of air. Her
brows knitted together
,
and Rook studied me warily. Both maintained a hearty distance. “You tried to kill her,” Rook finally said. “Do you not remember?”

“I…” My thoughts were racing, as was my heart. Too much adrenaline and bloodlust
were
pumping through my blood, making me dizzy. I tried rewinding my memories of the last few minutes, searching for any clues as to why I had flipped out on Dezyre. She was always a bitch. I knew that coming in. So why had I wanted so badly to kill her this time? Even when she had thrown me to the wolves by revealing I was a vampire hunter in a room full of vampires, I had loathed her but I hadn’t wanted
to flat-out take her head off.
Though, let’s be honest, I
couldn’t
say the
thought
had never
crossed my mind.

“Yeah, I remember,” I said, my voice sounding small. I was so confused, even a little afraid of myself.

A warm hand rested on my shoulder. “Sloane?”

I looked up to find Rook’s dark brown eyes staring at me. “Is something wrong?” he asked gently.

I swallowed hard. “I don’t – that is –” I groaned. I didn’t know how to answer him. Was something wrong? Or was this just part of being a vampire?

“There’s an animal inside all of us, waiting to be unleashed.”