Darkness Fades (Darkness Falls Series, Book 3) (7 page)

The rest of them freeze and then together
cry out.

I tense inside at the sight of it. Sheer
terror on the faces that were just
causing
sheer terror.

The vampires quickly turn away from us,
releasing my body and then flinging themselves to the ground,
fleeing into the night while trampling over one another.

Once the land is cleared out, I gape up at
Aiden who is staring at me, confused.

“What the hell just happened?” he asks,
holding onto the cliff face with one hand as he gawks out at the
land.

I stare at him in disbelief, my jaw hanging
open. “I think you just scared them off.”

He scratches his head, but doesn’t look
fazed. “Huh, who would have thought?”

I shake my head, still stunned. Aiden can
walk with the vampires, just like me.

Chapter 9

“Monarch must have made you like me,” I tell
him, but I’m not sure if that’s right or not. I’m only guessing,
just like I have with everything else.

“You think?” he asks with a crook of his
brow.

My shoulders rise and fall as I shrug. “I’m
not sure… I wish I had better answers, but I don’t, and I don’t
know how to get them. Hopefully, this new colony will.” I rotate
towards Maci, who’s resting on the lip of the rock, and maneuver my
way over to her.

Once I get up there, I lean down and scan
her over for bite marks. “Are you okay? You didn’t get bit, did
you?”

She’s curled in a ball and looks terrified
to death with her arms cradled against her. She shakes her head, a
faint smile on her face. “No bites. You kept them all away, Kayla;
you saved me just like I knew you would.”

I smile back at her, but it’s difficult
after what happened, not just with the vampires, but also with
Aiden.

Aiden starts to climbs over to me and then
lands beside us on the ledge. “Is she okay?”

I nod. “Yeah, for now.”

“We should get going in case they come
back.” His voice is full of confusion as he stares out at the dark,
silent land in front of us. I remember the first time the vampires
ran away from me and I felt the same way. That something had to be
wrong and they’d come back at any moment to finish me off.

I move to let Maci hop up on my back, but
Aiden gently pushes me out of the way. “Let me carry her up.”

I shake my head. “No, you don’t have any of
her blood on you. I’ll carry her in case any vampires come back. At
least your scent may chase them off.”

He runs his fingers through his dark hair,
sweeping strands out of his face, frustrated, then moves away and
nods. “Okay, but I’m not sure if I really believe it’s me that sent
them running, just so you know, so don’t blame me if they come back
and decide they want to eat us.”

“Okay,” I say and then turn so Maci can
crawl up on my back. She does so with a struggle, although she does
manage to get on and hold tightly.

Aiden grows quiet as he gets lost in his own
thoughts and turns in the direction the vampires ran away. Then,
looking torn, he returns to the cliff’s side and starts to climb
up. I follow, moving a little slower, though I make it up to the
top then move Maci to my arms and carry her so she doesn’t have to
hold her weight. Aiden leads us through the darkness down the trail
that dips into the rocks, leading us toward the cave.

It’s silent the entire way, but I’m edgy at
every shadow and movement. Eventually we arrive at a cluster of
large rocks blocking the path and Aiden climbs up and then drops
down. I follow, landing a little loudly. There’s rocks surrounding
the area and Aiden rolls the largest rock out of the way, revealing
a cave nestled behind it. I carry Maci inside. There isn’t much
room and when we enter it, it makes the fit even tighter, yet we
somehow manage and Aiden seals us in with the rock.

I hear footsteps and spot Greyson and
Nichelle moving up towards us as I set Maci down upon the
floor.

“Is Maci okay? Is she hurt?” Greyson asks,
flipping on a flashlight.

“She’ll be all right, I think,” I reply,
though I’m not so sure. “Her arm’s broken, and she has some cuts
and gashes.” I pause then glance at Aiden who’s leaning against the
cave wall. “We were attacked by a herd of vampires.”

Greyson gapes as he shines the light onto
Maci, curled up on her side with her hair blocking her face. “Did
she get bitten?”

“No,” I reply and look back at Aiden,
wondering what he’s thinking, wondering how he knew to come back to
us. “But if Aiden hadn’t shown up when he did then… well, I don’t
think we would have made it back.”

He looks back at me with a confident grin on
his face. “Only because I’m a badass.” His weird behavior instantly
returns, leaving me again wondering what’s causing it. If it’s just
the Day Taker blood in him or maybe something else.

Chapter 10

We manage to make it through the rest of the
night without any more vampire incidents, but for some reason, I
feel like something bad is waiting for us in the near future. I
can’t figure out what, though. Maybe it’s because I have trust
issues. Or that every new place I’ve gone to something bad has
happened. Like Cell 7. I was trapped. Sylas was bitten. God,
Sylas.

It hurts to even think about him being out
there either dead or running around with his flesh rotting off. I
promised I’d kill him before it happened, but I didn’t. I failed
him.

Small slivers of light gleam through the
cracks in the cave, announcing morning breaking through. Aiden
removes the rock and light pours into our small hideout. Everyone
is tired and hungry, and I know we need to get to the colony
soon.

I glance at Maci, her eyes are still closed
and she keeps moaning in her sleep.

“We should get going,” I say as Nichelle
picks up her pack.

“I agree, the sooner we get there, the
quicker Maci will get the help that she needs,” she says as she
crawls out of the hole with her fingers hitched through her
pack.

I place my hands underneath Maci’s body and
pick her up in my arms. Her eyes don’t open and another moan
escapes from her lips as I carry her out of the cave and into the
light.

“How’s she doing?” Nichelle asks as she
places a light kiss on Maci’s cheek. “She feels kind of warm. Are
you sure she didn’t get bitten?”

“I’m sure,” I answer as Greyson and Aiden
walk out behind us. Greyson stretches his arms above his head and
yawns. Aiden has his hood over his head and his hands tucked up
into his sleeves, watching me like a hawk for some reason. “I
checked her over and there are only the cuts and a broken arm.”

For some reason it looks like she doesn’t
believe me, however she still leads the way downhill and back to
the main trail we were on the night before while the rest of us
follow her. We hike down the curvy path for an hour or two until I
finally see the small area that looks like a town off in the
distance hidden in desert hills. There are buildings as well as
paths, and I can see people moving around the border of it. I
think, up until now, I wasn’t one hundred percent convinced it
really exists. Yet there it is; all green in the center of a lot of
brown sand and below the hazy sky, although it does seem less
hazy.

As we get nearer, I notice that there are a
few bits and pieces of green popping up through the ground. I find
it fascinating. I haven’t seen any signs of life for a long time.
At least I can’t remember seeing any, but there it is, right in
front of me, so different from the town my colony is hidden
underneath.

Aiden watches me while I trek up the trail
with my eyes fixed on the scenery. “You know you could let me carry
her for a while.” He nods his head at Maci in my arms. “I won’t
bite her or anything.”

“I know you wouldn’t bite her,” I tell him,
“She’s not heavy. Besides, she saved me once and I promised myself
I’d do everything I could to protect her.”

His eyes soften from below his hood. “You
really care for her, don’t you?”

“If caring means that I feel responsible,
then yeah, I do.” I jump over a rock in the path, landing on top
and then leaping down while continuing to be careful not to drop
Maci.

Aiden catches up with me, flying above for a
few seconds as he jumps to the ground. He lands in the dirt
effortlessly then glances over at Greyson and Nichelle just in
front of us. In a lowered voice, he says, “So have you mentioned
what happened last night to them?” He nods his head towards Greyson
and Nichelle.

“You mean how the vampires were afraid of
you?” I keep my eyes on the ground as the trail rises to a slope
that ascends over a hill while bending my knees and keeping my
balance.

“Yeah… I’m not sure I want to tell anyone
until we can figure out why or if Monarch made me this way,” he
whispers, seeming uneasy.

“Don’t worry, I haven’t told them anything,
but I’m pretty sure Monarch made you this way. It had to be
him.”

“What makes you so sure? They may have just
left because they fear you, like they usually do.”

I hesitate for a moment, deciding whether I
want to share my memory with him, and finally decide that he needs
to know what Monarch told me about him. “Because of a memory I had
about Monarch. I remember him telling me that you were the only
other one like me, except—you were broken.”

“Broken?” As his voice rises, Nichelle and
Greyson glance back at us. He smiles at them as they look away
puzzled then he leans in and lowers his voice. “What do you mean,
broken?”

“He never told me how you were broken or
why,” I answer, working to keep my steps light at I walk around a
few small rocks in the way. “He just said that you were.”

“Well, that’s great,” he mutters. “I’m
broken, but you don’t know how.”

“Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have told
you.”

“Yeah, maybe… or maybe not… I don’t
know.”

“You don’t know what?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know anything anymore.
Everything’s changed—I’ve changed. And it makes figuring out what I
want hard.”

I’m not sure what to say, so I turn my head
and look ahead, focusing on getting to the colony. Suddenly,
though, I realize that Greyson and Nichelle have stopped and I just
about walk into the back of them.

I look up, ready to ask what’s wrong, but
then I see Nichelle’s apologetic face. Something’s wrong, but
before I can set Maci down and get my knife, a net is thrown over
the top of Aiden and I. Seconds later, a needle is jabbed into the
side of my neck. I let out a gasp as my arms go limp, my body
falling, falling, falling. Everything begins to blur and the last
thing I see are a set of pale eyes peering down at me.

A Higher.

Chapter 11

My eyes are heavy and I struggle to open
them. It feels like I’m moving, although I can’t remember why. Then
it all starts to come back to me in bits and pieces until suddenly
I remember that I was betrayed.

I jerk my eyes open, panicking as I realize
I’m lying on a cot in a room surrounded by brick walls. I slowly
lift up my arms, wanting to move, but they feel like lead.

I glance around. There are no windows
anywhere; only a large, metal door on the wall farthest from me and
a pile of bricks in the corner, the ceiling is leaking something
grimy.

Aching from head to toe, I sit up and
stumble out of the cot then walk over to the door and try to pry it
open.

Locked, of course
.

Dammit. What is going on?

I’m pretty sure that I saw a Higher before I
was sedated.
But why?
I know Nichelle wasn’t lying to me
earlier when she told me her story about why I needed to come with
her. So why do they have me locked up and where are the others
being kept?

Pacing back and forth, I feel the tension
inside me begin to coil, knowing I need to get out of this. I
glance over at the door and center all of my strength on it,
backing up and then running forward, ramming my body into it as
hard as I can. Pain shoots throughout my body and the door doesn’t
budge. The only visible damage is a small dent from where my
shoulder connected with it.

I rub my shoulder and let out a frustrated
sigh, smashing my fist into the brick wall over and over again
until bits and pieces crumble. Then I stomp back over to the cot
and flop onto it. Folding my arms across my chest as I silently
wait to see what will come next because it feels like everything is
out of my hands now. I’m supposed to save the world, yet I can’t
even control what’s going on around me.

A few minutes tick by and then I hear the
lock on the door click. Nichelle enters wearing black pants and a
shirt with her hair pulled back. She looks like she’s cleaned up,
smiling at me as she shuts the door.

“Hi, Kayla.” She acts as if she’s innocent
and hasn’t done anything wrong.

Anger fires through me and I hop off the cot
and storm towards her, ready to beat the shit out of her. “Don’t
‘hi, Kayla’ me.”

She pulls out a long knife and aims it out
in front of her. “Relax and let me explain.”

I stop a few feet in front of her, eyeing
the knife in her hand, knowing I could stop her from stabbing me if
I really wanted to. “Explain what? How you lied to us; tricked us
into believing you, only to lock us up?”

She keeps her knife pointed out and steps
back, putting space between us. “That’s not how it is. This was
only a precaution to make sure that there’s no chance that any of
you will attack our people.”

I can feel the truth radiating from her, but
I’m still skeptical. Plus, I’m still not over the fact that she
stabbed me with a needle. “If that’s true, then why did I see a
Higher with you earlier?”

Her brows dip. “A Higher? I’m not sure what
you mean. There are no Highers here.”

Anger consumes me. I ball my hands into
fists. “I saw him before I was injected and knocked
unconscious.”