Darkness Fades (Darkness Falls Series, Book 3) (8 page)

She shakes her head and opens her mouth,
ready to speak, but we’re interrupted when the door creaks open and
a man walks in. His hair is white like the outer part of ash, he
has creases in his skin and his clothes looks old. He carries a
stick that he leans on, as he hobbles as if it’s hard for him to
walk, yet his pale eyes make me wonder if it’s all a trick.

I’ve lost all my trust, and in a flash, I
lunge forward, snatching the knife from Nichelle’s hand and quickly
skittering around her. Then, I dive for the Higher, grab his arm,
and twist it behind him as I move around him, putting the blade to
his throat.

He drops his stick in a panic. “Oh, no.”

“Kayla, no!” Nichelle shouts with her hands
out in front of her. “Don’t hurt him.”

The Higher tips his head back and looks up
at me and I’m surprised by his fearless expression. “Well done,
Kayla. Monarch has turned you into exactly what he had hoped
for.”

I press the knife closer to his throat, but
he still keeps calm. “Then you know that I’m not afraid to use this
to finish you off.”

“I’m sure you aren’t, but I’m not a Higher,”
he says evenly. “I’m just an old man that was bitten a long time
ago.”

I don’t want to believe him, yet my little
gift lets me know that he is telling the truth, even though it’s
confusing the shit out of me—everything is. “What are you then? You
have the eyes of a Higher.”

Nichelle inches closer to us, her hands
still out in front of her, her movements calculated and cautious.
“Kayla, please put the knife down. This is Mathew and he’s here to
help you.”

Mathew motions his hands at Nichelle,
ushering her back. “It is okay, Nichelle. Kayla has a good reason
to not trust us. We didn’t exactly give her and her friends the
best welcome, did we?”

A trickle of blood runs down his throat from
where the blade is pressing. With reluctance, I remove the knife
from his neck and back away, letting him go. I have my answer; if
he really were a Higher, he would not be bleeding, he would heal. I
shove him over next to Nichelle and she catches him in her
arms.

“Both of you better explain where my friends
are and what is going on,” I demand.

Nichelle shoots me a glare as she examines
Mathew’s neck while he fights to get his footing. “Are you okay?”
she asks him and he nods.

Nichelle still checks the wound then pulls
out a cloth from her pocket and hands it to him. Mathew takes the
cloth as he picks up the stick and puts his weight against it. Then
he presses cloth over the wound to stop it from bleeding.

As I watch them, I can tell that there is a
bond between the two of them, almost like Nichelle treats Mathew as
if he is her father.

“You are good at what you do,” he says to
me. “And I’ll explain everything I know. But first, how about I
take you to the rest of your friends? I’m sure that they’re just as
anxious to see you as you are to see them.”

Again, I know he speaks the truth, but for
some reason, I feel wary. Still, having no other choice, I nod and
follow him out the door with the knife clutched in my hand, not
ready to fully trust them just yet.

Chapter 12

They take me down a hallway and into a large
room, keeping close to me like they think I’m going to run or
something. Inside the room sits a wooden table with chairs down
both sides of it. There are no windows and the only light comes
from the candles placed sporadically about, the flames flickering
and dancing.

Leaning his weight on his stick, Mathew
limps to the end of the table and takes a seat. He motions for me
to take a seat next to him as he sets the stick down on the ground.
“Please, have a seat.”

I waver, looking around at the empty room
while hovering near the door. “I thought you said we were going to
meet the others?” I still have the knife, holding it out to the
side, and Mathew eyes it with interest.

“You don’t have to worry about it, Kayla.
It’s okay to put the knife away; we aren’t going to hurt you.” He
smiles at me as he crosses his arms on the table. “I’ve sent for
someone to bring your friends here.”

I plaster a fake smile on. “I think I’ll
simply hold onto it, just in case.” I select a spot at the table a
ways away from him and pull out a chair, sinking down into it.
Nichelle goes to the opposite side of the table and takes a seat
right next to Mathew. We wait in silence, eyeing each other down;
Mathew trying to look comforting while Nichelle looks annoyed.

Finally, the door opens and a man enters
with Greyson and Aiden to the side of him. They both look confused,
looking around, but show no signs of being harmed. Aiden doesn’t
have his hood on and his hands are out, making me wonder if they
came from inside the building or if darkness has arrived

“Please, have a seat,” Mathew says,
gesturing at the table.

Aiden’s eyes land on me and he rushes over
to sit beside me while Greyson walks to the other side of the table
and takes a seat opposite of Mathew.

“Where’s Maci?” I ask Aiden.

“They patched her up and she’s resting in a
room,” he answers, staring Mathew down with a cold, hard glare.
“Who’s the old guy?”

Before I can explain, Mathew clears his
throat. “First, I want to apologize to each of you for the way we
welcomed you. You need to understand that it was only done to
protect the people of this town. We needed to be positive that none
of you had been infected by the virus.” He pauses and directs his
attention at Aiden. “Or that any of you would be a danger to
us.”

“If you thought we would be dangerous, why
did you bring us here?” I interrupt, putting my arms on the table,
reminding them that I still have the knife.

Mathew’s pale eyes glance at the knife then
at me. “I didn’t expect you to arrive with others. It surprised me.
Also, when we saw the wounds and blood on Maci, we needed to make
sure she wasn’t bitten; that none of you were.”

I place my knife on the table and fold my
arms. “I can understand that. We all want to protect those we
belong to.”

He nods in agreement. “Exactly.” A bead of
sweat drips down from his forehead and he wipes it on his sleeve. I
remember that Nichelle told me earlier that Mathew had been bitten.
I wonder if he is changing, if he is putting his people at risk
right now.

“Nichelle told me you were bitten,” I say.
“Yet you haven’t changed. How is that possible?”

“That isn’t the reason I brought you here,”
he replies, looking pale and worn out. “When I worked with the
doctors at the colony, we were experimenting with our medications
on animals. It was difficult to see what kind of results we were
getting. So Gabrielle and Monarch began stealing children for our
experiments. They rationalized their antics by telling themselves
they would only steal children who had been neglected or abused in
their homes.”

Aiden’s eyes flicker with rage. “That’s
bull. Sylas and I were never neglected or abused by our
parents.”

He gives him a sad look. “I’m not sure how
come the two of you were chosen, but after they stole you, they had
to slow down on the amount of children that they were stealing.
Your parents did a massive search trying to find you. Everyone at
the colony worried we’d all be found and then locked away.”

Aiden jumps up, toppling his chair over.
“Stop lying.”

Nichelle instantly jumps up in front of
Mathew, putting herself between Aiden and him. “Watch it. I’m not
afraid to take you out.”

Aiden laughs sardonically, throwing his head
back. “Like you could.”

She glares at him, her voice dropping low
with a warning, “Want to find out?”

Aiden laughs again, but it fizzles out and
he lets it go, picking up his chair. “So you knew about everything?
You were a part of it?” he asks Mathew. “How can you stand to live
with yourself after the torture you put all of us through?” He’s
shaking from head to toe and I can tell he’s about to do something
based on his anger.

I gently place my hand on Aiden’s arm. He
glances at it as I pull him back down in his chair. “Easy, okay?
Let’s hear what he has to say.”

Mathew’s expression is full of remorse as
Nichelle sits back down in her seat. “When I found out how bad
things were,” he says. “The horrible experiments and torture that
were being conducted, I didn’t stay. I left the colony and came
here. But it was already too late to stop the cycle of what was
going on. All I could do was try to prepare myself, and as many
others as possible, for what was going to be inevitable.”

“Cedrix told me that the world is this way
because of greed,” I say. “Can you tell us what happened? How the
world became this way; how the vampires came into existence?”

He looks surprised. “You know Cedrix?” he
asks. I nod. “He’s one of the few doctors that tried to put an end
to the madness before it became worse.”

“I knew him,” I tell him. “We all did… but
he’s not alive anymore.”

Mathew’s eyes fill with anguish and he lets
out a deep sigh as he looks down at his hands. “I’m sad to say that
I’m not surprised. Death is more common than life anymore.” He
returns his eyes to me and they’re watery, something I don’t
understand. “And he was right when he told you that it was greed
that started this. He knew exactly how it all started; we all did
because we were all part of it. We are all responsible.” He takes a
trembling breath. “And the reason the vampires came into existence
was all because of one little girl named Kayla.”

My jaw drops. I’m shocked, stunned and a
little pissed off, amongst other things. Everyone looks in my
direction, waiting for me to say something or hurt them.

I shake my head, my hands starting to
tremble. “You’re lying.”

“Kayla, please calm down,” Mathew says. “I’m
not saying you’re responsible. The doctors kept trying different
injections on all the children. Usually they would end up dying or
worse, turn into something that was half-dead, half-alive. However,
when the injected you, it was as if your body became stronger and
adapted to each serum they tried. Monarch decided to turn you into
a perfect soldier. He didn’t allow you to make any connections with
children. There was a day in the lab when he thought everything was
perfect and he tricked you into biting someone.”

I can remember sinking my teeth into someone
very well. “Gabrielle,” I say quietly.

“Yes, and that day started the change,” he
explains. “Gabrielle immediately knew that he was changing into
something; something stronger and more powerful than he had ever
imagined. The rest of the doctors became excited and envious; they
wanted to experience the same thing. So they injected themselves
with the virus. The shot was called the fountain of youth; it would
provide eternal life to those who took it. By this time, I’d left
the colony, but from what I understand, the virus was marketed to
the elite within the next few weeks. These elite groups of people
became known as the Highers.”

“But something went wrong with the virus?”
Aiden asks, pushing up the sleeves of his jacket.

Mathew nods, reclining in his chair. “It
wasn’t too long before the Highers developed a thirst for blood and
started feeding off humans. In addition, there was something about
the Highers’ bite that caused people to forget they’d been bit. But
the humans could only endure so many bites before they became
infected and turned into what we now call vampires. As you know,
their bite is deadly and immediately infects their victim, causing
the disease to spread as they turn.”

I remember the Highers feeding off the
vampires, and so this doesn’t make sense. “But why did I see the
Highers feeding on the vampires?”

“Human blood no longer fulfills them.
There’s something different with the composition of the vampire
blood that allows the Highers to maintain their looks and strength.
There’s a rumor going around that the Highers are becoming immune
to the effects of the vampires’ blood and they need to come up with
a different solution or their race may end.”

It’s all starting to make perfect sense. The
bite of Gabrielle. The Highers feeding on the vampires, but why
does it feel like something’s missing?

“When I was captured by Monarch and
Gabrielle they told me they needed me alive to save their race,” I
tell him. “Why?”

“I’m not sure… it would make sense, though,
since the vampire’s blood is beginning to lose its effectiveness
for them.” He pauses. “They’re probably trying to go back to the
original source again. Start over and find another cure.” He clasps
his hands together in front of him, contemplating something.
“Whatever happens, we must make sure they don’t capture you again.
We can’t risk them finding a cure if they are beginning to
weaken.”

I note Mathew’s pale eyes again. “You never
did explain to me why you look like a Higher,” I point out with
wariness.

“Before I left the colony, I injected myself
with one of the viruses that I believed to be a cure from the bite
of a vampire. It had no effect on me until I was bitten a few weeks
ago.” He spreads his hands out to the side of him. “This is what
has happened since then.”

Aiden leans forward in his chair, his leg
pushing against mine from under the table. I wonder if he’s doing
it on purpose or if he even knows he is. “So, you are trying to
tell us that you were bitten by a vampire weeks ago and are still
alive? Because I find all of this hard to believe.”

Nichelle shoots Aiden a harsh look, her jaw
tightening. “It’s true. We had some vampires break through our
barricades. We lost many of our people.” She looks at Mathew with
pride. “Mathew tried to defend the town, but was bitten on the
leg.”

He returns her grin and she directs her
attention back to Aiden, her eyes darkening. “A few weeks have
passed and here he stands, not infected at all.”