Fading Darkness (Bloodmarked #1) (14 page)

Any minute the house would come down and
bury everyone in here, but I was beginning to think it was just me in here. I
focused on my sensitive hearing and narrowed in on rustling beyond a brick
wall.

If this were a horror movie, I wouldn’t
recommend announcing one’s self to the world, but there were no bad guys down
here, so I yelled out, “Hello? Is someone there?”

I saw movement in the low ceiling above, and
a man with light hair and a short beard poked his head out.

“What are you?” he asked. A natural reaction
to being surrounded by vampires for days on end.

“It’s ok. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m
getting you out of here, but we have to go now before the house collapses,” I
said in the most soothing voice I could muster. I wasn’t sure he trusted me,
but right now, I was his only hope.

He nodded, went back up in the ceiling
before coming back out feet first. He turned back to the brick wall and lifted
his arms back up toward the cutaway in the ceiling. Another person jumped down
into his arms, then another and another. It was beginning to feel like a magic
trick, and I wondered how many others could fit behind the hollowed walls.

“Is that everyone?” I asked.

“This is everyone left,” he gestured toward
the others.

There was another man in his late twenties
with reddish blond hair and two women, one about the same age as the man and
the other looked about eighteen. They looked ragged and worn, and a little
gaunt from starvation. They must have been hiding in the walls for days. The fear
in their eyes told me they didn’t even dare go out in search of food.

“Are they still out there?” the older woman
asked.

“No, but there could still be a few of them
in the area. We should probably go now,” I said, getting back into action mode.

I led the way back out of the cellar. Gavin
was waiting on the other side of the house and was coming toward me like he had
just slowed down from a brisk run.

“You decide to fit in a quick jog in the
middle of the rescue mission?” I teased.

“Just doing some reconnaissance, what most
people would do when planning an attack, or rescue mission,” he said pointedly.
I shrugged off the not-so-subtle insult, and he added, “They’re finishing up
with the last of the buildings on the other end of town and will be leaving
soon.”

He glanced over his shoulder and I followed
his gaze to the smoke filled sky behind him. The entire town must have been
ablaze by now. Damn, they worked quickly.

“What if there are others?” I panicked.

He shook his head, “No, I checked. No signs
of life anywhere else.”

I looked at him doubtfully, and he added,
“Trust me on this one. You were the only humans in town that I sensed on my way
to find you.”

“Huh, ok, let’s get out of here then,” I
said, more than ready to leave this dead place behind.

I moved quickly back to Holly’s car, and
everyone followed suit. Parked directly behind the BMW was the Bugatti. I went
around to the driver’s side and unlocked the doors waiting for the others to
jump in.

The two in their thirties who I assumed to
be husband and wife went to the passenger side and climbed in the back seat.
The younger girl with short black hair was staring at Gavin with doe eyes,
slightly carnal doe eyes, or more like slutty doe eyes. He stood by his open
door, completely oblivious to her ogling.

“I’ll ride with him,” she eagerly offered.
“That car looks a little full,” she said looking at the beamer, like she was
just being practical.

Riiiight
.

Such an open display of desperation and
whorishness irritated me a little, and my teeth clenched together tightly. I
looked at Gavin, and he was looking at me with intensity and that obnoxious
half smile. I rolled my eyes, and he shook his head at me like he knew what I
was thinking.

The red-haired boy climbed into the passenger
seat of the beamer. With a full car, I ducked into the driver’s seat and waited
for Gavin to lead the way.

Once the car was in drive, I broke the
silence with questions about their survival. “So, how did you manage to stay
alive all that time in that house?”

“We didn’t,” said the older man, who seemed
to be the spokesperson for the group. “We made our way from house to house very
carefully during the day and hid in the Underground Railroad of all the older
houses at night. The four of us met up along the way and knew the old Oakland
manor was our best chance of surviving the nights with the generators and UV
lights.”

We circled around the roundabout gravel
drive with our lights off and made our way slowly and quietly down the long
driveway.

“How did you know the lights would keep them
out?” I was curious.

“We took a chance. But mostly, we knew they
weren’t coming out during the day. Some tried sneaking out of town when they
figured that out but were killed anyway,” he said somberly.

“How were they killed?” I was confused. I
knew the assassins couldn’t come out during the day.

“People. People from our hometown. People we
grew up with,” he said in disgust, his voice thick with betrayal. “They
wouldn’t let anyone leave town during the day. If they tried, they shot them.
Which is why we had to be careful where we went during the day. There were
people everywhere who were ready to kill anyone out walking around in the
daylight.”

“People?” I said in astonishment. I knew why
they did it, but it still didn’t seem real.

“I don’t understand,” said the man. “Were
they under their control? Was it mind control?”

“No. Well, in a way, but they knew what they
were doing. They were under the assumption they would become like them.”

“Those people wanted to be vampires?” said
the man’s wife, speaking for the first time. “Why would they want that? How
could they want to kill innocent people?”

“The possibility of immortality can corrupt
anyone. The opportunity to live forever can turn some of the nicest people into
murderers,” I said.

“So all those people are now monsters like
them,” said the man.

“No, all those people are now ashes among
the rest of the town,” I said, and the conversation died as the heaviness of it
filled the tiny space of the car.

I didn’t need to see it to know the
assassins recruited humans to do their daytime dirty work with the promise of
turning them. It was merely the hope of immortality that turned human beings
into selfish monsters. Hope was a waste of time, and was about as bad as
trusting bloodsucking monsters. Wanting to change the atmosphere, I shifted my
focus outside of the car and found my gaze drifting toward the back of the Bugatti
about twenty feet ahead of me.

My eyes strained to see into the back
window, and I didn’t have to see his eyes to feel him looking at me through the
rear-view mirror. The intimacy of our inexplicable connection was definitely
not the atmosphere I was going for, so I looked at the sprawling fields
surrounding us. It was only then did I notice movement to the left about 10
yards out in the field and heard the shot at the same time.

The sting of the bullet bit into my upper
arm, and the shock of being shot caused me to slam on the breaks, forcing the
car to skid to a stop just before the end of the driveway. Screams rang out
through the tiny space of the car, but before the bullet had time to be pushed
out of my arm from the healing process, I launched myself out of the car and
toward the lone gunman. I knew Gavin wouldn’t be far behind.

The shooter got one more shot off before I
disarmed him forcibly. This one struck my side and slowed me down quite a bit,
but I backhanded him and he landed on the ground hard. He turned to look up at
me and his chestnut brown eyes went from nervous and scared to awe as he
watched the bullets drop from my wounds to the ground. As the holes closed, I
tried to control my breathing and my patience.

I felt Gavin behind me, and he quietly said
my name as he gently touched my arm then came around to stand in front of me to
slide a hand inside my jacket and up under my shirt to inspect the damage. I
was too drained from tonight’s events to stop him or even care. And if I was
being honest with myself, his warm strong hand had such a gentle feather-light
touch that was so soothing, I closed my eyes for a blissful moment and drew in
a deep calming breath. Then I felt his warm breath stir the loose hair by my
ear and was brought back to the present.

“Are you okay?” His voice was rough with
worry. I turned to reassure him.

“I’m fine. Thought you said there weren’t
any more,” I accused, as I side-stepped around him toward the shooter.

“I only sensed the people around here, which
I assumed to be the victims. He must have been closer to the house, until he
saw our cars leave,” he hypothesized.

I nodded in agreement and handed him the gun
before turning back to the man.

“Please don’t kill me. They promised to turn
me if I killed everyone that escaped.”

“Well, then, consider yourself lucky they
didn’t come back for you.”

“No, they promised!” he shouted in
desperation.

“You mean the evil, uncaring, selfish
monsters didn’t fulfill their promise? I’m shocked,” I retorted
unenthusiastically. I began to turn, ready to leave him wallowing in his own
guilt and stupidity.

“No, I’m supposed to meet them in a matter
of minutes. They might be gone by the time I get to them. Will you take me?”

“Ha! Where are you meeting them?” I asked,
trying to keep the edge out of my voice. Wherever they were was the last place
I want to be.

“Just to the east, outside of town.”

“Well, then, my advice to you is to start
running west, as fast as you can because the only thing they are planning on
giving you is a quick death.” He had the decency to look scared at that point.

“Wait! You’re one of them, right?” he asked,
and I flinched. “You could do it,” he pleaded.

“I’m not sure why you would think after
shooting me twice and admitting to trying to kill people that you would even
think I would do you any favors. You are a lot dumber than I gave you credit
for. You should be thankful I haven’t killed you yet.  You should really heed my
advice and run west. Get as far away from this place as possible and never
speak of this or of me to anyone ever again if you value your life at all,” I
said as he stared at me with disappointment. “Now!” I shouting, gently kicking
him in the right direction so as not to bruise him too badly.

That sent him skittering off into the vast
fields. I turned back toward the direction of the cars, briefly glancing at
Gavin. There was a small half smile on his face but he said nothing. He was
still mad at me for coming here alone.

Dropping back into the driver’s seat, I
noticed fear in the eyes all around me. The red-head was the first to speak.
“You’re one of them!” he breathed.

“No. I’m all you’ve got,” I stated before
turning my gaze back to the road. The thickness of fear seemed to dissipate in
minutes. The rest of the ride was silent, but most of that time I spent trying
to figure out how to tell Holly about the bullet hole in the driver side
window.

†

It was a long drive back, but once in the downtown
area, Gavin pulled off into a Four Seasons parking lot, and I followed. He put
the people up in hotel rooms for a couple nights but warned them all to leave
as soon as possible and never mention another word about vampires again, for
their own safety.

All I wanted was to go to bed, knowing there
was not enough darkness left for hunting. Not being a very sentimental person,
I left before the tearful goodbyes, and I wasn’t sticking around to watch that
girl shamelessly flirt with Gavin, probably even asking him up to her room. I
snuck out as he finished up at the front desk, before he had time to yell at
me.

The beamer stuck out like a sore thumb in my
apartment complex, and I just hoped it would still be there when I woke up.
Holly didn’t say anything about it being stolen, or bullet holes in the windows,
as long as I didn’t scratch it.

I made it to my bedroom, kicking off my
boots and shrugging out of my coat. I pulled off my jeans and anticipated the
softness of my bed.

Just before I settled in, a hand shoved hard
against my back, tossing me against the far wall. Before I could react, he was
there dragging me up the wall by my throat, cutting off any snarky remarks that
may have been on my tongue at the time.

“What were you thinking going into that town
alone?” he shouted and let a few expletives slip.

I felt the anger in his body, and as he
realized he was choking me, he loosened his grip. He wasn’t exactly in control
of himself when he was this angry, all the more reason to not trust him.

“I have neighbors you know,” I scolded him
for yelling.

His body seemed to be humming with barely
contained anger. There was electricity in the air. Then, his eyes moved south,
taking in my lack of clothing, and he cleared his throat. The sound was rough
and animalistic. He was standing way to close.

“You want me, don’t you?” I said without
thinking, and it came out with more flirtation than expected. I wasn’t sure I
wanted to know the answer to that but was slightly intrigued by some of his
behavior.

His eyes flicked back to mine, and something
stirred behind them that I couldn’t describe. They settled back on anger and
hardened as he moved even closer, a breath away from me.

He placed a hand over my heart and slid it
down over my stomach, pressing me further into the wall. I caught my breath and
wasn’t sure what to do. The logical part of my brain told me to hit him, and
the other completely insane part wanted something else. My ribs expanded
further with each breath that grew deeper and deeper. He looked back down,
almost examining me. My skin grew hot under his scrutiny.