Welcome to the Darkness (Darkness Trilogy) (23 page)

“Maybe they’re hiding something from us,” Sarah su
ggested.

Nathaniel blinked, contemplating her words. “Have you heard something?”

“What? No,” Reed answered, turning to look away.

The boy was not a very accomplished liar, which was probably for the better. Had he been a skilled liar, Nathaniel would have
had to question his every word.

A short rap at the door interrupted them
. “Come in,” Nathaniel called.

The King and one of his aides stood at the door. When he spotted the current occupants of Nathaniel’s room, the King broke into a wide grin.

“Ah, just the three people I was looking for,” he said, his deep voice a satisfied rumble. “A proper meal has been readied for you, My Lady.” He bowed to Sarah. “If you would be so kind,” he added, spreading his hand to the side.

The aide also bowed, and said, “Please, come this way. I shall accompany you to the dining room.”

Sarah turned to look at Reed and Nathaniel. Neither said a word, although Reed frowned.

“I thought the boys and I could take a closer look at some of our latest research breakthroughs while you dine,” the King said, meeting Sarah’s eyes. He smiled warmly, waiting for her reply.

Right on cue, her stomach growled. “Sure, all right,” she answered at last. “I have to admit, I’m pretty hungry.”

“Excellent,” the King purred.

Sarah followed the aide out of the room. Nathaniel and Reed went with the King in the opposite direction. They took the elevator to the lower level and stepped out into the area they’d visited earlier. Workers continued their tasks beyond the glass walls of the lab.

“This way,” the King said, turning down the stark white marble hallway. “In here.” He opened a door, holding it to let them enter.

The interior resembled a hospital room. A single bed with rails rested in the center and a table laden with medical equipment lay off to the side. The room was uncluttered and sterile white. It did not look like a place for discussing anything.

Nathaniel took a closer look at the neatly sorted med
ical paraphernalia on the side table. There was a stack of empty blood bags and box of syringes amongst the supplies. His heartbeat sped up in alarm.

“I think you have
had enough time to grasp the importance of your unique blood and DNA,” the King addressed Reed in a soothing voice. “Therefore, this seems the perfect opportunity to make your donation.”

“What?
Right now? Hang on . . . I . . . I’m not sure–” Reed faltered. 

His eyes
darted around the room and the color of his irises faded. Six more vampires filed into the room and Reed backed up against the far wall.

“Wait . . .
wait, I’m not ready yet,” he insisted, his fangs lowering into his mouth. He assumed a defensive stance.

“It is in a vampire’s nature to protect every last drop of his blood,” the King explained, his voice hypnotic. “I unde
rstand this will be difficult for you, Reed, but it will soon be over.”

“No!” Reed shouted. “I said no!”

The vampires swarmed Reed and hauled him, twisting and thrashing, onto the bed. It took four of them to hold him down while he bucked and struggled in a desperate attempt to break free. Another vampire prepared a needle to begin extracting his blood, while the last vampire left the room in a blur.

“Let me go! Get your hands off me!”

Nathaniel’s own fangs stung, ready to burst through his gums as Reed’s blood filled the first bag. The boy shook and panted with exertion, but he stopped fighting.

“Nathaniel, please . . . help me,” he begged.

Nathaniel met Reed’s pleading look and his heart of ice splintered, shards lodging themselves throughout his chest.

The vampire who had left moments earlier returned, dragging a human male into the room. With a flick of his wrist, he slashed open a wound in the man’s neck and pushed the bleeding gash toward Reed’s face. Unable to d
eny the instinct to replace his lost blood, he latched on and began to drink in greedy gulps.

How much blood were they planning to take from
Reed? He would unwittingly drain the human dry if they took much more. One less human life meant little to Nathaniel, but he was certain Reed would feel quite differently.

“Sire, may I ask how much more you intend to extract from the boy?”

“We are almost done,” the King answered, regarding Nathaniel with curiosity. “Are you concerned for him?”

“I . . . trust your judgment, of course,” he replied, lo
wering his head.

“Good, very good,” the King said, his eyes half-lidded in contentment. “You may have the privilege of returning the boy to his quarters afterward, if you desire.”

“As you wish,” Nathaniel replied. He watched when the human sagged on his feet, too weak from blood loss to support his own weight. The vampire next to the man held his body in place while Reed continued to feed ravenously.

When the vampires had finished with the blood extra
ction, they placed the precious bags of blood into a cooler. They left the room, and the human slumped to the floor in an unceremonious heap. Reed had died, no doubt for a lengthy amount of time after such a voracious feeding.

The King nodded and departed with a theatrical bow. Nathaniel
couldn’t comprehend why the King behaved in such a dramatic manner. He glanced at the floor where the human lay like a discarded banana peel. This was not good. Reed was going to be very upset upon wakening. Would he understand there wasn’t anything he could have done to stop this? That they were both powerless to avoid the inevitable? And what if, wonder of wonders, the King managed to find a way for vampires to go out in the sun, thanks to Reed’s blood? Surely, it was more than worth this relatively minor kerfuffle.

Nathaniel stepped over the body on the floor, and scooped Reed’s deadweight into his arms. He carried him back to his room, worried he might meet Sarah along the way. He did not see any sign of her, however, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Back in their room, he laid Reed on the bed. He arranged the pillows under the boy’s head, lay his arms by his side and straightened his legs so he wouldn’t wake up in an awkward position.

He went into the bathroom to wet a facecloth and r
eturned to Reed’s side. Nathaniel wiped the blood from the boy’s face and then threw the soiled cloth into the trashcan in the corner of the room.

He remained standing next to the bed, staring at Reed’s placid expression. Memories swam to
the surface of Nathaniel’s mind: images of his son, lost so long ago. What would he have looked like had he grown to adulthood? Although he had never shown his son an outpouring of affection–for that was the way of things two centuries earlier–he had loved his son to the depths of his soul. He pictured teaching him everything he knew, and watching him grow into a man, perhaps marrying and fathering children of his own.

A lump formed in Nathaniel’s throat and he quickly shut down his current train of thought. It was dangerous to dwell on the traumas of his past, for those memories led the way to darkness and i
nsanity. Best to keep the lid on his chest of memories locked shut.

He took a deep breath to clear his mind and left to find Sarah. He would relate to her what had happened so she could be there for Reed when he awoke. Nathaniel knew Sarah would do a far better job of appeasing Reed, and co
nvincing him that everything would be all right. If only there was someone to reassure Nathaniel in the same way.

M
y eyes popped open. I was set up like a corpse on a bed. I smelled Sarah before I spotted her, sitting in a chair to my right. Her eyes were red, like she’d been crying. Somehow, we’d ended up back in our bedroom at the vampire’s mansion. I hated dying every time I fed, and half the time someone moved me so I had no idea where I was when I woke up.

And then I remembered why I’d had to feed. I lurched into a sitting position.

“They . . . they took my blood,” I said, turning to Sarah.

“I know. Nathaniel told me,” she said quietly.

“But, they took it by force. They
stole
my blood. I begged them to stop.”

Sarah nodded and bit her lower lip.

“They took so much of my blood, they had to bring in some guy for me to feed from. To replace all the blood they took. I could have killed him! I was so thirsty I was out of control.”

I waited for her to say something, anything that might make me feel better. She pursed her lips and blew out a long sigh.

“Nathaniel wanted me to tell you something because he thought you had a right to know. Even though it’s going to upset you,” she said.

“I’m already upset,” I said, throwing my hands in the air.

“The man they brought in for you to feed from . . . he didn’t make it. He died from blood loss. I’m so sorry,” she said, her eyes filling with tears.

“What?” I said through clenched teeth. “Wha
t do you mean he died?” My fangs ripped out of my gums and I clenched my fists.

“I killed him? I killed a human being! I’m a murderer,” I wailed. I leapt off the bed and picked up the bedside table. I hurled it across the room and swore at the top of my lungs. The table smashed into the wall, shattering the mi
rror. Pieces of the table and shards of glass sprayed outwards, littering half the room in debris. Sarah scuttled to a safe spot in the far corner of the room near the window. But I was only getting started.

“I hate them! I hate the goddamn vampires, every last one of them,” I shouted and dashed over to the dresser. I punched
it, ripped it, and flung the pieces across the room. I used one of the larger chunks like a bat to smash several holes in the wall. I kicked the front of the dresser so hard that my foot went right through to the wall behind it. I kicked it again and again until it was a pile of splinters on the floor.

Breathing heavily, I sank to my knees at last. I blinked away the tears that threatened to fall. I would not cry.
Sarah tentatively touched my shoulder. She rubbed her hand up and down my back. I couldn’t believe she wasn’t afraid of me after my outburst.

“It’s not my fault,” I choked
out.

“No. It isn’t,” she agreed.

I turned to face her. “We have to get out of here. It isn’t safe. We can take our chances with the vampire hunters. Maybe they can help us.” My fangs retracted as I calmed down.

“What about Nathaniel?” she asked.

“Screw Nathaniel! He just stood there and watched while they attacked me.”

“I don’t know if there was anything he could have done, Reed. You should have seen him. He looked
sad. I think he felt awful about the whole thing.”

I crossed my arms and gritted my teeth. “I don’t care. They’ll be coming to steal your blood next. We’re getting out of here.
Now.”

“Okay, you know I’m with you no matter what. Plus, I think it’s a good idea for us to talk to these people anyway. If there’s even a bit of truth to what that guy Pickle said, it could affect humans and vampires everywhere,” she said.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“Just after eleven.”

“Already?” The sun beat down outside the window.

“You were out a lot longer than usual
because you had to drink so much. At least, that’s what Nathaniel said would happen,” she explained.

I shook my head. “Whatever. That still gives us almost an hour to find their meeting place. Pickle said to meet them at noon, right?”

“Right. There’s still the issue of you being one of their enemies though, assuming they plan on eliminating
all
vampires.”

“For now, I say we keep it
quiet. I think I can pass myself off as human. Don’t you?”

“Sure,” she said. “As long as you don’t lose your temper and your fangs put in an appearance.”

“I’ll be careful. I promise.”

Shortly after noon, we stepped out of our cab at the edge of a sea of warehouses. We’d asked the driver to let us out a few blocks away from the address Pickle had given us, just in case the location was supposed to be a secret. Windowless brick buildings stretched out into the distance as far as we could see. Each one was labelled in large letters that said, ‘climate controlled,’ or ‘storage’ or some cryptic number like ‘78-08754-93.’

We found the address Pickle had scribbled on the piece of paper and peeked through the recessed doorway. A m
etallic bead curtain hung down over the entryway, and we brushed through it.

“Hello, anyone here?” Sarah called.

A shouted greeting from above caught our attention. Pickle waved from the walkway that stretched across the open space overhead, and the woman he was with broke into a wide grin. They put down the boxes they’d been carrying and rushed down a set of metal stairs to come meet us.