Fading Darkness (Bloodmarked #1) (13 page)

“No! No way! There is someone, isn’t there?
Oh my God! Tell me,” she demanded.

“There’s nothing to tell. There is someone I
met recently, but he’s more of the killing type than the marrying type. He’s a
vampire, Hol, don’t get too excited. There’s no way, even in hell that I’d go
there. Sleeping with the enemy is the last thing I would ever do. It’s gross. I
don’t trust him. No way,” I said with finality.

She smiled wider like she had me right where
she wanted me, “You may not trust him, but you want him, don’t you? You’ve
thought about him naked haven’t you? Haven’t you?” she giggled. She was
definitely enjoying watching me squirm.

“No, absolutely not. That’s disgusting,” I
said firmly.

“It’s not gross to want someone. I think
it’s a good thing for you.”

“I don’t want him,” I reminded her.

“Whatever, you shouldn’t worry. For you to get
this excited about a boy says a lot about him. If you like him, there must be
some sort of redeeming quality. I know you wouldn’t get this worked up about
just anyone. He can’t be that bad,” she stated confidently.

“That bad? He’s a vampire, Holly! He’s a
killer. And I’m not getting worked up about him!” I raised my voice.

I was feeling attacked and didn’t know how
to handle it because I couldn’t just hit her to get my point across. I knew she
meant well and cared maybe way too much about my love life, but she was getting
the wrong idea. I knew I shouldn’t have said anything about Gavin.

“Oh really? Because you seem a little worked
up to me. All I’m saying is that maybe he’s not such a bad vampire if you
haven’t killed him yet. By the way, why haven’t you killed him yet?” she said
with a more mischievous grin. “Is it because you have feelings for him? You
know, you do seem a little less doom and gloom lately. You have a certain glow
about you.”

She was relentless. I let out a defeated
sigh and mumbled, “Hardly.”

I didn’t think I could kill him even if I
tried. Feeling a little ambushed with no effective defenses, I gave up arguing
with her and just hoped she would get bored with this topic and move on. I
refused to give her any ammunition, and I knew anything I said about Gavin
would be misconstrued into repressed feelings for him. And I sure as hell was
not
glowing
.

Eventually, the conversation shifted to a
more neutral topic until Holly left me sitting alone in the window seat while
she dragged herself back out in the “freezing cold” to listen to another boring
lecture. I went back to the apartment and was back to being restless. As night
approached I grew impatient for another kill.

Walking anxiously down the sidewalk, I grew
jittery and wondered if this was how an addict going through withdrawal
symptoms felt. I needed my fix. I had all this pent up energy waiting to be
released. It wasn’t long before that sick feeling crept its way into the pit of
my stomach. There were two of them close by.

They rounded the corner, hand in hand, and
my hopes of a good fight died at the sight of Shane and his new…
No
. It
was the same blond from the alley, but she seemed to be lacking a little life.

“What the hell, Shane? You really do have a
death wish, you son of a bitch,” I tried keeping myself in control.

“Hey, she wanted it. Who am I to turn down a
request from a beautiful woman?” he said smoothly.

“Really, it’s that easy? Ok then,
Die
,”
I ordered.

“Don’t flatter yourself sweetheart. You know
I prefer blonds,” he mocked.

“Piss off. You know how I feel about you
going around biting people,” I scolded.

“Well, like I said, she wanted it. Didn’t
you, baby?” he turned into her face, nuzzling her. Gross.

“But I bet you failed to mention how it
works,” I said, and then looked at her. “Did he tell you there was a
possibility you might not turn, that you might just die?” I asked.

She hesitated, considering the possibility.
I watched the play of emotions dance across her face before she got pissed. It
was a familiar reaction I knew all too well. She wasn’t sure what was true, and
she turned her confusion into anger. Must have been the vampire side of me that
related to her so well.

“I could kill you right now, bitch!” she
screamed.

“Try me,” I dared, my anticipation growing.
I really wanted a fight, and the only thing that kept me from killing her was
the look on Shane’s face that told me he bit her in hopes that she wouldn’t turn.
Now, she was his problem.

Good luck with that one, buddy
, I
mentally conveyed to him. He clearly got the message, rolling his eyes and
lightly shaking his head.

Before the blond could come at me, Shane
stopped her, holding her back and shaking his head firmly at her.

“What the fuck, Shane?” she snapped at him.
“I can take her!”

I coughed and choked a little with surprise.
She actually sounded serious. “Don’t be so sure of yourself, honey,” I
interjected. She puffed up and scowled like she would try again.

At the same time, Shane assured her that she
shouldn’t try, “No, you can’t.” I had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before he
killed her himself, so I let it go for now.

He turned back to me and added the latest
update, “I heard a few assassins went missing in a town up north. Right now,
they’re considered rogue, but I have a feeling you know something about that.
Anyway, some were sent to search for them to deal out their punishment, but
most have moved on to their next assignments. A few still remain in the town to
wrap it up. Word is they’re burning it tonight.”

“What? Tonight? Are there any survivors?” I
said panicked.

“I have no idea, but every once in a while,
when they take out towns, there are a few humans that hole up in a room with
lots of UV lights,”

“Assassins are afraid of false sunlight?” I
asked incredulously.

“Assassins are more sensitive to light than
most vampires. Young vampires can handle a little light but no direct sunlight.
Most just avoid daytime all together, but ancient vampires can’t handle any
light at all. They burn much easier too, so they usually don’t stick around once
the fires are lit,” he hinted. Wait, was he actually suggesting I go help the
possible survivors?

The light sensitivity thing still nagged at
me. I wondered why Gavin would choose to stay in the penthouse instead of
safely underground during the day. I assumed it had something to do with his
ego. He was not the type to let anything hold him back. He didn’t seem to have
many limitations, which meant he would be that much harder to kill. I was going
to have to watch closely for any of his weaknesses.

Although he was somewhat of a badass, I
wasn’t about to wait around for his help with the survivors, not that I would
ever tell him I needed it. After what happened last time with the assassins, I
knew it wasn’t the best idea to just charge into town alone, but I thought I
would have a chance if the fires were lit.

“Good to know. You might actually be good
for something after all,” I said.

“Wow, a compliment? What’s gotten into you?”
he seemed shocked.

I was also a bit stumped. It made me wonder
why I was being so nice to him, especially considering I trusted him even less
than usual, which was not at all, for pushing me out of town.

“Or should I say, who’s gotten into you?” he
added sounding more like himself.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I said too
sweetly, which earned me another scowl from the blond. I had to laugh at her,
but quickly sobered, and parted with, “You two have a good night.” I winked at
Shane, and he was now the one scowling.

I turned back in the other direction and
picked up my pace with a destination in mind. I made my way to the familiar
high rise and walked through the golden lobby announcing myself to the
receptionist. Once upstairs, I knocked on the door as it swung open in front of
me. Before me stood a very excited and beaming Holly, and I knew that look on
her face, which made what I was about to ask very difficult.

“I need to borrow your car,” I said
cautiously, bracing myself for the backlash.

“Where are we going?” she said, still
glowing.

Crap, this was going to be harder than
expected. “I’m going somewhere, and you’re not. It’s not a social trip. It’s a
life and death trip,” I said harshly. I needed her to take this seriously.

Her expression told me she understood as her
frown deepened and her shoulders slumped in defeat. “When is it going to be
another social trip, Luce?”

“I don’t know, Hol. There’s a lot of shit
going down right now, and I need you to stay safe. So I’ll go out with you
again some other time, but right now, I really need your car.”

“Oh no, I know that look,” she said as the worry
quickly lined her features.

“What look?” I asked confused.

“You have that look in your eyes like you’re
about to do something stupid. Are you about to get yourself killed?”

“I’m about to try to save some lives,” I
responded.

“So you
are
about to get yourself
killed?” she said with certainty.

“What else is new?”

“Why does it have to be you all the time?
Why can’t you have someone help you? Why do you put this all on yourself to
save the world?” she fired off questions in concern.

Not you too.

“Hol,” I said, putting a lot of weight into
that one word. “Please,” I sighed. We had been through this over and over
before, and the truth was that I didn’t have all those answers, especially not
the ones she wanted to hear, but I needed to know if there were any remaining
humans in Gem City.

She moved to her purse on the island
countertop, fished out her keys and tossed them at me as she saw me out. “Don’t
scratch it,” she said lightly.

“It’s fully insured isn’t it?” I asked
smiling.

She gave me a look that said, “Don’t try
anything!”

“Thanks,” I said sincerely. “I’ll bring it
back tomorrow morning.”

“Don’t you mean afternoon?” she poked fun at
my sleeping pattern.

“That’s what I said. In the morning,” I answered.

†

Holly’s Beamer wasn’t exactly as fast as the
Bugatti, but it got me there in a couple hours. I crept slowly onto the
abandoned exit off the interstate and came to a stop before getting to the
town. Instead of charging in without thinking, I wanted to come up with a plan.
The best I could come up with was waiting, even though that went against my
impatient nature.

If Shane was telling the truth about humans
grouped together for survival, then the assassins would probably set fire to
their place of refuge first. It was risky to give myself such a small window of
time to save them, but if I went in prematurely, there’s a good chance I would
be stopped and more than likely killed before I could save anyone.

I killed my lights and pulled up to an
access road on the outskirts of the town, then positioned the black BMW on top
of an incline in order to get a good view of the town. From this vantage point
I could see old buildings a couple miles down and a topography that consisted
of rolling hills spotted with old farm homes.

This would be an easy town to erase from the
map. A short blurb on the evening news and a short newspaper article that
claimed that a small town was destroyed by an exploding gas line would solidify
its disappearance for good, and no one would give it a second thought. A sad
end to what appeared to be a cute little town, a town that might have once been
warm and welcoming now felt cold and desolate.

The glowing clock on the dash read 12:38. It
wouldn’t be long before they would act, if they wanted to leave town before the
sun rose. I turned off the engine and cracked the window to listen for
anything. I watched the night sky as an endless number of clouds passed under
the moon, leaving a trace amount of light and casting roaming shadows all over
the town.

I waited several more minutes with uncharacteristic
calm until my nose picked up smoke nearby. The clock now read 1:21. I scanned
the horizon with my amped vision to search for any sign of billowing smoke.

I spotted it coming from one of the houses
about two miles away and started the engine. There should really be some sort
of vamp stealth mode for cars. This was the part that got tricky. I just hoped
there weren’t any assassins hanging around by the time I showed up.

 The roads wound around acres of dead fields,
and eventually, I found my way to the end of a long gravel drive that led to a
giant smoking manor. Flames spit from the windows, and shingles dropped from
the rooftop as it began to give way to the fire beneath it. There was a balcony
overlooking the front that faltered. The house itself looked sturdier with its
plastered stone façade.

I stepped out of the car carefully and
continually monitored my built in vampire radar system. Nothing set it off, so
I kept moving. I moved around the house searching for the safest entrance, and
as I reached midway, my peripheral vision spotted a bright light coming from
the back.

Still feeling cautious, I tiptoed around the
house. The back opened to an expanse of fields beyond the miniscule yard. The
light had fluorescence to it and radiated from beneath a pair of wood-paneled
cellar doors on the ground next to the house. I snuck closer to the doors and
approached with an outstretched arm. Lowering to a crouched position to reach
the handle, I was inches from it when suddenly, a firm grip clutched my upper
arm.

I flinched, and before I could react, the
hand spun me around in one quick motion. I didn’t even bother with quips as I
spun around with arms flailing. I landed a punch on what felt like his nose,
which had little impact on his face because my metacarpals took all the
pressure of the blow and snapped with a loud popping sound. I was about to land
another hit when his arm came up to block it. His hands gripped my arms hard.

“Damn it, woman! Why the fuck do you have
such a hard time doing what I say?” a familiar voice said, and a wave of relief
went through my body, nearly crushing me.

I should have realized it was him from the
lack of nausea. Although, having to rely on anyone saving me gave me a similar
sick feeling. It irritated me that I could never really tell when he was near,
unless he wanted me to know he was there, or unless I was more open and
receptive to outside interferences.

The smoke must have covered his scent. As
much as I hated it, however, I was relieved that he was here because it meant
more help in getting these people out of here, and right now, that was all that
mattered, no matter what I felt for Gavin.

After I caught my breath, I managed a
response, “First of all, I don’t do what anyone says.”

“Clearly,” he said drolly.

“And secondly, because you claim to be
protecting me, but I don’t trust your intentions. Can we argue about this
later?”

“Believe me, I’ll have my say. If we make it
out of here alive, that is.”

I raised an eyebrow but shrugged it off, “A
little optimism please. That kind of negative thinking will definitely kill
us.”

“So will thoughtlessness and recklessness
and rashness…”

“I get it. Way to be redundant. Can we
please continue? This is supposed to be a rescue. By the time you’re done
arguing, there won’t be anyone left to save.” One of his eyebrows went up, and
the corner of his mouth twitched.

I crouched back toward the door, and he
stepped back, which made me wonder if he was sensitive to light. He didn’t seem
to follow any of the typical vampire standards. I wasn’t sure if I would ever
figure him out.

“Make it quick. Get in and get the hell out,”
he said with concern laced in his voice but every bit of harshness as before.

I opened one of the doors and swung it over
to lie on the ground. More light flooded my vision, and I shielded my eyes with
a hand so they could adjust. Once I could see, I stepped down a concrete
staircase to a dank basement level that smelled of mildew. I could feel
moisture in the air from being underground. There were UV lights positioned
everywhere, and generators disrupted the otherwise silent room. I briefly
wondered who would actually have these things on hand, but then again, we were
in a small farm town in the Midwest. It really shouldn’t be that surprising.
Maybe they were doomsday preppers.

Focus, Lucy.