Fading Darkness (Bloodmarked #1) (26 page)

“No,” I said simply as I reached a hand into
my coat pocket. The vials clanked together as I fumbled to grab one.

As I pulled one out, I said, “But this is.”
He laughed. I smiled, because it wouldn’t be long until he learned just how
humorless this was.

A short while later, he was chained up with
the shackles I had secured to a support beam earlier today. They were another
pawn shop item I had acquired over the years, so they weren’t the strongest
thing in the world, but they would hold long enough for me to get what I needed
from him. He was still cussing at me from tying him up when I started with the
second round of interrogations.

To say that holy water kills vampires would
be a stretch, but somehow, they have a bad reaction to it. Again, I just
figured it had something to do with the fact that they were soulless monsters
who were burned by anything having to with God because the demon within
couldn’t handle it. Whatever the reason, it made for a less effective weapon
against them, but a more than effective torture device.

As I started in on my questioning, I took
out the syringe I had stuffed in the inner pocket of my coat and stuck the
needle through the stopper on the vial. I filled it to its maximum capacity and
stepped toward the bastard who was currently bound by the wrists to a central
pillar.

“You’re going to tell me everything you know
about the vampire drug and where it’s being made,” I said.

He was in the middle of a long incoherent
string of obscenities when I realized my stake was still jammed into the meat
of his side just below his ribs.

“Oh, woops. Let me get that for you. I need
you focused here,” I said as I yanked it free. He growled in pain and proceeded
to curse like a sailor until I punched him square in the jaw. The blow crushed
his bone, but as soon as he healed, he screamed, “I’m not telling you anything,
bitch!”

“Seriously, dude, language,” I said
nonchalantly, barely regarding his outburst as anything more than a tantrum.
“Now, you’re going to have to give me something if you want to stop the pain,” I
added.

Apparently, he took that as an idle threat,
because he continued to call me names that didn’t need to be repeated. I
stepped closer and lifted the syringe to his throat. He took me a little more
seriously then, as he cringed away from it. I stuck it into his carotid artery
and pumped a fourth of the holy water into his system. The following response
made me think I may have used a tad too much. He let out the most agonized, and
bloodcurdling scream I imagined he had in him.

Well, that was a neat trick. I had never
actually shot it straight into the bloodstream, just used it more as a topical
deterrent, but now I was beginning to think I might be on to something here.
Looks like Christmas came a little late for me. I wondered if enough of it in
their systems might actually be lethal.

Once he calmed down, I said, “Now, what can
you tell me?”

“I don’t really know much about it,” he
said, a little more cooperatively, but still refusing to give me the
information.

“Don’t lie to me. There could be very painful
consequences for lying,” I warned as nicely as possible.

“I swear. I don’t know that much about it,”
he said, cowering against the pillar.

“But you seem to know something. Who’s
behind it?” I asked, going straight for the big one, not expecting him to know
it. I hoped he might reveal something useful.

“I don’t know who it is. No one really does.
There are certain vampires in charge of running it who get their orders handed
down from others,” he said.

“Is that all?” I asked.

“Yes, that’s all I know,” he said easily.

“Lie,” I corrected him as I jammed the
needle in his neck again. I used a little less than before, but it still had
the same desired effect.

When he was finished screaming, I asked,
“Where are the drug labs set up for it?”

“I only know of one,” he said through his
teeth as he winced in pain.

“Where? I need an address,” I insisted.

“It changes all the time,” he said evasively.

I held up the syringe again instead of
repeating myself. He came around and added, “It’s an old biochem facility a little
ways west of town that’s been shut down for the past week for duct work or
something. 2318 Winters Drive. That’s where it was a few days ago, anyway.”

“Well, then that’s where we’re going,” I
said.

His black eyes glinted back at me before he
said, “Like hell I’m going.”

I interrupted before he could get to the
cussing part of his rant. “I need to make sure it’s still there. Because if it
isn’t, then I’m going to have to inflict a little more pain on you until I get
the new location,” I threatened.

†

Reluctantly, he showed me where the vampire
drug was being manufactured. We made our way to the roof to look for a way in
so I could spy on the operation from above without being seen. I spotted an
access door next to the ventilation system, and I broke the lock as quietly as
I could.

Once inside, I dragged the vampire down the
stairs until we came to the first door. I pushed it open and crept through the
darkened area that looked like the attic of the factory with tools and gear
lying everywhere. I pulled him around old equipment and snuck over giant pipes
that were part of the ventilation. We finally came to a part of the floor that
was exposed to the floor below. Light trickled up to us once we stood above the
open flooring, and I saw that we were about two stories up.

There was movement down below us as I eyed
four vampires working over what looked like a giant science experiment. There
were beakers bubbling with unknown substances, Bunsen burners drying out
precipitants, and things being titrated. That was about all I gathered with my
inadequate high school science lab experience.

Before I could make any more irrelevant
observations about the things I didn’t understand, the vamp I had by the arm
suddenly lashed out at me, seizing the opportunity to catch me off guard.
Please. As if I didn’t expect that.

He shoved me toward the hole in the floor,
and I reacted instantaneously. My hand gripped him tighter as we fell together
while my other hand reached for the stake in my coat. It hit his heart before
we hit the ground, and as I twisted into a more suitable landing position, he
burst into flames around me. The arm of my coat had caught on fire, but the
momentum of the fall was enough to put it out. I landed on both feet coming to
a crouching position to brace myself from the gravity.

As I sprung back up to a standing position,
I noticed that I had four pairs of black eyes staring at me. There was a brief
moment when everything was still and silent, and the only things moving were
the remaining vampire ash floating down on us like the snow falling outside and
the puffs of smoke rising off my coat.

“Uh, hi,” I said, breaking the silence.

A moment later they were rushing me, and I
pulled two extra stakes from my coat throwing them one after the other at the
two nearest to me. The other two came at me at the same time, and as we
grappled back and forth, they started getting the better of me. I took several
blows to the face and my stomach.

In a completely defensive move, I crouched
down and curled in on myself. I just needed to give myself a second to get to
the syringe I still had tucked away in the inner pocket of my coat. Once in
hand, I stuck it into the nearest limb of the closest vampire to me, which I
think was a leg, and I pumped him full of holy water. With him immobilized and
screaming like a girl, I made my move against the other vamp.

I punched her, and when she staggered back,
I ran to the nearest stake plucking it off the ground and plunged it deep under
her ribs when she charged me. The other vamp was still whimpering in pain when
I took him out, which made it way too easy.

The next thing I knew, I was standing in an
empty warehouse surrounded by chemicals and all sorts of compounds with names
that were longer than the alphabet.

Hmmm. Now what?

I just wanted it gone, so naturally, my next
move was intended to destroy it all. I walked over to the giant lab table where
chemicals were still brewing and flipped it over, causing everything to come
crashing to the ground. As chemicals ran together on the floor and came in
contact with the flame on the Bunsen burner, it sparked a big bluish green
flame that grew a few feet before fizzling out in an instant.

It had the desired effect I was going for,
but on a much smaller scale than what I hoped. I wanted to eliminate everything
in here that could be responsible for synthesizing this lethal drug. Scanning
the area, I saw a wall of chemicals and moved over to investigate. I searched
for anything I could use. There were several labels I couldn’t even read, so I
skipped over those. There were several bottles of ethanol, which could work, if
there was more of it.

I scoured the room until coming to a door
that led to a storage room, and as I approached, there were warning labels
plastered outside of it that had cautions for highly flammable substances.
Perfect.

I never considered myself to be a pyro, but
as I sprinted out the exit, putting as much distance between myself and the
building, the sound of the explosion and glass breaking was kind of a rush. The
explosion was mostly contained within the building, besides the broken out
windows on the first floor. The most damage came from the actual fire itself.

When I got far enough out of the way to view
it from a safe distance, I turned to catch a quick glance at the blazing
building with flames shooting out the busted windows and licking the walls. The
surrounding buildings seemed pretty quiet, but a few nearby began to buzz with
activity as lights came on, and people started flooding the streets to see what
was happening. As the chaos erupted further, sirens blared in the background.
My job here was done.

I turned to head off into the rest of the
night, open to take on anyone. My body hummed with excitement from the thrill
of taking down a piece of the whole suicide-victims puzzle. I hoped whoever was
in charge of it all was watching and got my message, because I was sick of
waiting for things to happen to me. It was time to take control of the fight.
Let them come to me, because I was ready for them.

An image of Gavin flashed into mind with his
constant reminders to be careful. A twinge of fear crept inside me, sending a
shiver through my bones. Those damn instincts were telling me I had just done
something horribly regrettable, but I quickly squelched them along with the image
of those icy blues. I wasn’t going to back down. This was still my fight, no
one else’s.

There was a short blurb about the fire the
next day on the nightly news, and as I watched the anchor reporting it for
information about the damage, she cut to footage of witnesses. One reported
seeing a young girl in the area but didn’t have an accurate description of her.
Well, at least I wouldn’t have to worry about the vampire in charge getting my
message.

As I geared up for another night of hunting,
I felt uncommonly buoyant. It had been a while since I felt totally in control
of my situation without worrying about anyone telling me I wasn’t being safe.

Thinking about Gavin took me back to the
memory of him feeding on that girl outside the club. I hated that mental image
because I resented the fact that he was just another bloodsucker, but I was
beginning to lose steam over that night.

The more I thought about it, the more his
words echoed in my mind. His explanation had resonated in the back of my mind
since that night, and my instincts believed him, which didn’t mean
I
was
ready to believe him. Trusting a vampire’s word didn’t exactly come naturally
to me. But I still harbored a little anger toward him because I wanted him to
be better. I would expect that kind of behavior from someone like Shane, but
not Gavin. He was supposed to be different, but the sight of him feeding
brought back all those horrible feelings I had toward his kind.

I needed to get him off my mind because I
was certain he was out of my life for good. He hadn’t tried to contact me since
that night so maybe he took my threat seriously this time. That thought sent a
pang through my core and burrowed deep inside me leaving a hollowness that I wasn’t
sure could ever be filled. But I wasn’t about to get choked up over a vampire,
even if he had started to grow on me.

Thinking of him was actually very helpful,
because the fact that I allowed a vampire to get that close to me made me
angry. He proved time and time again that he was one of
them
, no matter
how different he seemed. I hated investing so much time and emotion on a single
monster, and that anger began boiling inside me turning into a fire that would
fuel my hunt tonight. I was ready to kill as many vampires as I could.

†

It started like several other routine hunts,
but somewhere along the way, took a turn for the…
unexpected
. At first,
I didn’t have much trouble. I ran into a couple scavengers lurking in dark
alleys for drunks or easy prey and had no problem taking them out.

As I approached an area on the north side of
town, there was a loud scream coming from blocks away. I bolted at full speed
toward the sound just as it gurgled and was choked off. I was careful about
sneaking up on possible enemies.

Rounding the corner into a dim moonlit
alleyway, I crept low and stayed close to the wall as I moved behind the side
of the closest dumpster. Squatting lower, I peered around the side of the
dumpster to pinpoint the rustling sounds coming from the other end of the
alley. Just as I spotted movement, a dark figure darted out the other end.

It was at that moment that I caught the
scent of blood. The air was tinged with the metallic smell as it wafted through
the cold light breeze. It was very fresh, and I wasted no more time with
stealth as I rushed toward the limp figure crumpled on the ground. My boots
crunched broken glass from the shattered lights above.

I zeroed in on the person I was approaching,
and when I neared, the sight of her made me stop cold in my tracks nearly ten
feet away. I no longer noticed the smell, or anything else for that matter. The
image was gruesome and flooded my mind with memories of my bloody sheets and a
boy that was ripped apart in my own bed.

This was the same brutality, the same crime,
the same message that was directed at me. This was no random biting. No vampire
would be stupid enough to leave this big of a mess behind. It was retaliation
for the strike against the drug lab, so what was the boy in my bed for? Was it
because I got too close to the source of the crimes, the dealership where it
all went down? Well, at least now I knew it all had something to do with this
whole vampire drug lord. Whoever the fuck it was, was going to die slowly and
painfully.

Obviously, this was meant for me, one big
set up, which meant there had to be more than one of them involved in this
operation, but I wasn’t about to let them go unpunished. I didn’t care who was
in charge of it all at the moment, but someone was going to die tonight for
this. I wasn’t going home until every vampire I encountered burned. I was
holding them all accountable tonight, and there would be punishment.
Severe
punishment.

The girl’s hair was matted with blood, but
her eyes shown glossy in the moonlight. I knelt down and gently shut her
eyelids. My throat closed up as a lump formed in it, and my eyes stung with
unshed tears. I bowed my head as the guilt consumed me. Before I could start
blaming myself, I shoved myself up in a standing position and took off in the
direction of the dark figure.

Vengeance slowly replaced any feelings of
guilt as I strode down the sidewalk, not entirely sure of where I was going. I
wasn’t too worried about finding them. If this was a trap for me, they were
going to make themselves known to me eventually. I didn’t care what they had
planned for me because I wanted to take them all on. I was playing in their
sick game, and they had the home field advantage, but I wasn’t about to let
them win. The fact that they could use humans as disposable pawns in their
twisted little trap disgusted me beyond the point of ration, bordering the
point of insanity.

There was another scream across the street,
but I didn’t care where they were leading me. Anger drove me further as I
dodged oncoming traffic to cross the four lane street.

The sound was pure agony, and I stretched
myself thin, going faster than I think I have ever gone before. My legs burned
with the intensity of my super strength and speed. This time, I wasn’t wasting
anytime being careful. I didn’t give a shit. The asshole was hunched over the
body, and something in his hand caught the light of the moon. Was he using a
knife?

I didn’t have a chance to see it closely,
because as soon as my boots hit the broken glass of yet another shattered alley
light, he darted away. There was a man lying, twitching where he left him. He
was still whimpering in pain when I neared, but as I bent to catch his gaze
with mine in attempt to calm or distract him, he stilled and took one last
stuttered breath. I checked the pulse at his neck to be sure, but there was
nothing. Another death on my hands.

“Shit!” I yelled, unable to hold anything
in. I ran in the direction of the slithering little monster in hopes of sensing
him. I grew desperate as I began to wonder just how many people were going to
die tonight. I was frantically pushing myself harder and harder, but the more I
pushed the more helpless I felt. With all the power I had coursing through me,
I was powerless to stop them from how this plays out. I couldn’t lose. I
couldn’t.

I ran faster than before and the agonized
cries coming from behind me, a few blocks farther north, stopped me. I spun as
fast as I could and darted in that direction. I felt like a little mouse in a
maze that would never find the end. Each turn led me to another dead end, or
dead person rather, and the loss of control and direction was driving me mad. I
felt crazed and more bloodthirsty than ever.

I made it to the next victim, and once
again, the bastard took off before I could get to him. I barely sensed him and
realized I was pushing myself too hard to have full use of my other super
senses. The smell of blood no longer lingered in my nostrils. It was faint, but
the sight of the newest victim told me it was there.

As I approached, a dark pool spread slowly
from the body. The same brutality was inflicted on this person as the rest, but
it seemed sloppier, hurried. It was like this man was ravaged by a wild animal.
He was already dead by the time I approached, so I didn’t waste any more time.
I took off like a shot.

The next scream came almost immediately
about five or six blocks away. It was faint over the sound of traffic, and
there was a brief thought that occurred to me then. I was curious for a moment
about how fast this son of bitch had to be, but then there was a flash of rationality
in the haze of my rage. These were just breadcrumbs in this particular maze. I
hoped I would get to the end before any more people had to die.

I got to the next person as she was still
screaming. He was gone before I got there, but the woman was bleeding in the
middle of a back parking lot that was enclosed by the surrounding buildings. I
ran to her side, and pulled her face toward me to get her attention. As I held
her faltering gaze, I said, “Hold on. Just stay with me a little while longer.
I’m getting help.”

I left for just a moment to find the nearest
payphone. I dialed 911 as fast as I could, telling the operator as little as I
could to get an ambulance here. The woman was still crying out, and there was
blood gushing out of her stomach.

When I crouched beside her again, I took her
bloodied hands and told her to hold them over the most severe wound on her
stomach. I put mine on top of hers to give it more pressure, but as I sat
there, the buzzing all around me became clearer.

My surroundings came more into focus, and I
noticed lights on in the buildings that weren’t on before and people shouting
things from them. As soon as I heard approaching footsteps, I panicked. I was
torn between staying with the woman and being hauled off to jail for multiple
homicides, because they would undoubtedly put all the pieces together, and
hunting down the sons of bitches responsible for all this.

There was another scream that broke through
all the rest. This made my decision easier. It was blocks away, and I ran just
as hard as before. When I neared the point of the scream’s origin, I couldn’t
pinpoint the exact location. The scream grew muffled and eventually choked off,
but when I came up to where it came from, there was no body. I scanned the
alleyway back and forth before another scream broke off into the night, and it
was coming from a few blocks away. What the hell was going on?

I bolted in that direction, but it stopped
before I got close. I stopped then and just waited for the next scream, and it
finally came again farther down the street. When I got close, it didn’t
automatically get cut off but instead, died off slowly. It came from an old
church that was now decrepit and neglected. Although it appeared to reflect
religious worship on the outside, there was nothing sacred about this place any
more. It was just another building for filthy bloodsuckers to inhabit.
Something about that thought made me feel sick inside, or maybe that was just
the proximity to so many evil monsters.

I stood there in front of the big rotting
two-story relic. There was still a sign in the front that indicated it was now
bank owned. Who was going to want to buy an old church? That could be the
reason it was now among the list of abandoned buildings in town.

The screams were gone, and the only sound
was coming from the traffic on the streets behind me. I marched up to the big
double-door entrance that seemed typical of churches. Knowing I was about to
walk into a trap made me pause a moment with my hand on the door handle. I
could stand there all night to ponder all possible forms of attack, but it
didn’t matter. I still didn’t know what to expect, but I still had to go in
there. It wasn’t a choice. So I took a deep breath of the chilled night air,
and as the cold stung my lungs, I pulled the heavy doors open.

Everything was dark except the faint light
of the moon shining in the side windows and flashes of bright lights from cars
casting eerie reflections on the walls. There was a large entryway that was
bare, and it led to another set of doors that I didn’t hesitate to barge
through. Finally, the sick feeling that alerted me to vampires hit me.

They surrounded me, and at first, I only saw
a girl tied to a chair at the back of the cavernous room. She was bound and
gagged, but I could barely make out the soft whimpering. This gigantic space
had the potential for awesome acoustics, but that was squandered by all the
scaffolding and left over building materials from a failed attempt at
renovating. She was scared, but from what I could gather, relatively unharmed.
There was no sign of blood.

I tested the waters by taking a hesitant
step toward her. Nothing happened.
Come on. I’m taking the bait. What are
you bastards waiting for?
I tried sensing where they were, but there were
too many all around me and my super senses were a little drained at the moment.
I felt them watching though. They were, undoubtedly, hiding up in the
scaffolding. I advanced toward the girl, who appeared no older than sixteen
when I got close enough to see her more clearly.

Just then, there was movement above me, and
I turned to position myself in a defensive stance, reaching for a spike in my
coat. Even though the vampire had the upper ground and I was at a huge
disadvantage, my anger-induced adrenaline still pulsed sharply through my
veins. As soon as he descended upon me, I drove my stake deep into his chest.
The flames lit up the entire space, and in that brief moment, I saw about
twenty dark figures looming above me in the scaffolding, and I wasn’t entirely sure
that was all of them. Shit. This looked bad, really bad.

The instant it went dark again, I tensed,
preparing myself for action. The dim light of the moon was enough to see out in
the open areas of the room, but I sensed them closing in on me before I saw the
first one.

He came fast and knocked me back. I righted
myself in time to shove a spike through his heart, but others came quickly
after him. I landed a few good punches on them before being dragged up against
the framework of the scaffolding by my arms. I was being held by all of them
when more drew near. They all came at me sneering and growling. Then, one of
them spoke without really saying much at all. It was some kind of threat, and
he called me a bitch, but I could have done without the commentary.