Welcome to the Darkness (Darkness Trilogy) (25 page)

Sarah swallowed with a grimace at the image of those poor creatures. Reed also looked like he might lose his breakfast, which would be especially alarming to the group
because the only thing in his stomach was blood.

“So let me get this straight,” Reed said. “The virus turns . . . what, a human? . . . into a zombie-like thing that runs around trying to drink blood and then dies after a few hours? And the King wants to infect all humans with this?”

“I think the King would prefer if his revenant army lasted a lot longer than a few hours and also if they weren’t susceptible to UV light, however he and his researchers haven’t quite perfected the virus to that point yet,” Sahib answered.

“And you want to stop them before they do that, right?” Reed guessed.

“Exactly. And I believe they’re getting close to a solution. I intercepted an e-mail which mentioned them just recently getting their hands on the last piece of the puzzle.”

Reed gave Sarah a pointed look. “I still don’t get why the King wants to create this army of zombies. Can the vampires feed off those things? Their food supply will be gone otherwise. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“We believe the King is following his own agenda and that he is losing his sanity. The older vampires go insane eventually unless they take their own lives or are killed by other vampires.”

“So that’s it?” Reed asked. “One old vampire goes crazy and kills off the entire human race? Jesus! No offense, but I hope you guys are dead wrong about this.”

“What can we do?” Sarah asked. “You said we could help, and if there’s any truth at all to your theory then we’d sure as hell better do whatever we can.”

Liz stood from her seat to address the group. “This could be the perfect opportunity for us to infiltrate the lair, destroy the virus, and eliminate the entire nest of va
mpires.” She looked at Sarah and Reed. “You two are already an expected presence on their property, and better yet, Sarah can use her ability to read their minds to her advantage. What you can do is figure out where the virus is stored, and we’ll tell you how to neutralize it. We have to ensure we don’t miss a single sample, or inadvertently spread the virus into the human population ourselves by mistake. When we’re certain the virus has been taken care of, we blow the entire estate with all the vampires in it. Pickle forgot to mention there are other effective methods for killing vampires such as decapitation, burning, and of course, blowing them to smithereens.” She grinned.

Reed gulped. Sarah wondered, not for the first time, what would happen if the group found out about him being a vampire.

They spent the rest of the afternoon discussing tactics and reviewing what they each knew of the estate’s layout and its vampire occupants. Sarah’s mind wandered and she questioned how loyal Nathaniel was to the King. She had to warn Nathaniel to get out before they blew the place, but she worried he might go running to tell the King what was going on. And what about Reed’s secret? Should they confide in the group?

“We should head out soon,” Reed said, coming up b
ehind her and curving an arm around her waist. “Not that I’m anxious to get back to that damn place, but the sun’s already setting.”

“You’re right, we should go,” she agreed. “We’ll meet you back here tomorrow around noon?” she said to the ot
her members arranged around the room.

“Sure thing,” Pickle said. “Good luck tonight. Don’t fo
rget that UV ball in your pocket in case of emergency.”

“I won’t,” Sarah replied. Reed waved goodbye and she followed him out of the warehouse into the dim light of dusk.

He turned to wait and took her hand when she came up beside him.

“I’m sorry, I never got the chance to warn you about the whole ‘super strength’ thing,” Sarah apologized. “I didn’t mean to catch you off guard like that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Reed shrugged. “I was surprised at first, but I figured you knew what you were doing. You always think fast on your feet and know what to do. I think you would have been an awesome cop, I mean . . . if all this hadn’t happened.”

Sarah stopped walking. “Thank you so much. That mea
ns a lot to me.” Tears sprang into her eyes. “You know, the reason I made up the ‘super strength’ thing was that I could hear what Liz was thinking, and she needed something good right away or all hell was about to break loose. That’s all.”

“Yeah, I get it. It’s okay.
Really.” He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

She glanced around at the deserted labyrinth of war
ehouses and the sky grew darker by the second. “We should hurry up and get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”

“Luckily
, I have ‘super strength’ so I can protect you,” Reed said with a grin.

“Sure, from your run-of-the-mill human mugger, but what about from other vampires? A pair of brothers, for e
xample, that we met outside of Vegas and told you they’d rip you limb from limb when you were least expecting it?”

Reed’s face fell and his shoulders slumped.
“Oh, yeah. Well, hang onto your hat then,” he said and scooped her up into his arms.

“I’m not wearing a . . . whoa!” she yelped as he zoomed off with her into the night.

They arrived back at the
vampire lair without fanfare. No one seemed to have noticed or cared that they’d gone out. Nobody intercepted them when they entered the manor, and they both breathed a sigh of relief when they arrived at their bedroom safe and sound. The room was still in complete disarray from Reed’s bout of anger earlier that morning.

“Serves them right for pissing me off,” Reed said.

“I hope
I
never piss you off then,” Sarah replied.

“Not possible,” he assured her. At least the bed was still intact. He sat down on the edge of it and kicked off his shoes. Sarah walked over and sat next to him. She leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, enjoying the moment.

“Everything seems to have gotten so complicated,” she said.

“Yeah.”
He combed his fingers through her hair.

“Should we tell them about . . . you? I mean, that you’re not human.”

“I dunno. What do you think?” He pulled back to look her in the eyes. Sarah felt like she could drown in the deep blue depth of his gaze.

“I’m not sure. You say I always know what to do, but I really don’t. I’m worried they might figure it out on their own and that might be worse than if we just tell them.
And anyway, what about Nathaniel?”

He rolled his eyes and fell back onto the bed with a sigh. “Man, I don’t know. We have to warn him at least. I mean, we can’t let the vampire hunters smoke his ass . . . or
mine. I was upset with Nathaniel earlier, but you’re right, he couldn’t have done anything. I kind of want to pretend that none of this is happening and that I’ve never heard of vampires except in the movies.”

“That sounds like the best plan I’ve heard all night,” she said, biting her lower lip. Sarah wanted nothing more than to lose herself in his arms, but she didn’t want to be too pushy.

His eyes widened and a goofy smile lit up his face. “Well then,” he said, reaching up to cup her face in his hands.

She leaned over and brushed her lips against his. Reed closed his eyes and relaxed into the kiss. Then he rolled over her and started unbuttoning her shirt.

“This is the part where someone knocks on our door and interrupts us,” he said. Reed’s fangs started to emerge.

“Not this time,” Sarah vowed. “We’re not answering that door or getting out of this bed for anything.”

And they didn’t.

For the first time in many days, I woke up feeling happy. I crossed my arms behind my head and relaxed, enjoying my moment of satisfaction.

And then I remembered that I never ‘woke up’ these days because I never slept. The only time I lost consciou
sness was when I died after a feeding. The wide smile on my face dissolved.

I turned to look at Sarah, who lay sleeping in the bed beside me. Had I bitten her? Brushing her hair away from her neck, I checked for puncture wounds. I didn’t see any, but then I
realized that even if I had bitten her, the wounds would have healed from my saliva.

She looked so peaceful, draped in the white bed sheets and breathing deeply. I slipped out of the bed and padded over to the bathroom, guilt poking me in the gut. I closed the door as quietly as I could and started up the shower.

When I finished drying off, I wrapped a towel around my waist and opened the bathroom door a fraction of an inch. Sarah was awake, so I relaxed knowing I could stop creeping around. She spotted me and broke into a smile. God, she was sexy. She didn’t look upset or anything and my guilt melted away.

Her smile faltered ever so slightly. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Me? Oh, sure. I’m good–great! I was . . . uh . . . wasn’t sure if–”

Her eyebrows lifted
and she waited for me to continue.

“Maybe, I might have . . . bitten you . . . while we were, you know . . .”

“You mean you don’t remember?” she asked, biting her bottom lip; a habit that made her look extra cute.

“It’s kind of a blur,” I admitted.

“Well, it felt
good
,” she purred. “I can’t even describe it, but it was nothing like the first time you bit me.
That
hurt.”

“Oh. Right,” I said, feeling guilty all over again for a
ttacking Sarah in her apartment. “I didn’t mean to bite you either time though.” My face grew hot. “Why don’t we get dressed and go find Nathaniel,” I suggested, desperate to change the subject. “Hopefully he can arrange for us to see the King so you can use your telepathic mojo to figure out what the King’s up to.”

“Aye
aye, captain,” she said playfully and threw off the sheets to climb out of bed. She gathered her clothes from the floor and started getting dressed. I tried not to stare at her, but she was so sweet on the eyes. And she’d
liked
it when I’d bitten her? Holy hell.

I knocked on Nathaniel’s door, feeling a little nervous. I hadn’t talked to him since the disastrous blood-stealing incident. He called for us to enter, so we let ourselves in.

He was sitting in an armchair nestled in the corner of his room, a fat book open across his lap.

“A little light reading?” I asked.

“
Mmm . . . a tome I have been meaning to read for some time.
War and Peace
. I borrowed it from an acquaintance. You may read it when I am done, if you like.”

Was Nathaniel trying to be extra nice to me? That made me think he felt bad about what had happened. “I think I’ll pass, but thanks,” I said. Even if I was immortal and lived for five hundred years, I’d still never finish reading a book even half that size.

Sarah and I stood in an uncomfortable silence for a minute until Nathaniel spoke again.

“I . . . would like to apologize to you, Reed,” he began.

I stood straighter, but didn’t say anything, waiting for him to continue.

He closed his book and set it on the side table next to his chair. “I was not aware that the King would be so a
ggressive in taking your blood so soon after meeting you. I confess to a feeling of utter helplessness while they extracted your blood without your consent. I learned long ago that affection for another could be a very dangerous thing. It can be a great weakness used against you, as a method for ensuring compliance, thus I have attempted to remain distant from everything and everyone. However, I fear that despite my best efforts, I have become fond of you both. I sometimes wonder if my son would have grown into a young man such as you, Reed. Brave, intelligent, kind. I realize now, that I would be willing to sacrifice much to help you, but no sacrifice would have affected the outcome when they took your blood. There was simply nothing I could have done, and for that, I am sorry.”

Wow. What had I done to deserve that kind of praise? “I don’t even know what to say to that, Nathaniel,” I said.

“Say you will forgive me.”

I sighed. “You know, I was pretty pissed off with you at first, but I know I was angry at the wrong perso
n. Because you’re totally right, there wasn’t anything you could have done. Which means . . . there’s nothing to forgive. We’re good,” I said, holding my hand out for a fist bump.

He raised one eyebrow.

“You’re supposed to–” I held out my other fist for Sarah and she demonstrated a fist bump. I turned back to Nathaniel and waited until he awkwardly gave me a fist bump back.

“I know you feel responsible for the death of that h
uman male,” Nathaniel said, “but it is the King who is at fault.”

“Yeah, that’s what I keep telling myself too,” I replied.

“I worry about your future, for it is likely that you will be involved in other deaths, some more directly, as the years pass. The vampire world is a violent one,” Nathaniel added.