Welcome to the Darkness (Darkness Trilogy) (31 page)

My mind swirled. “I don’t understand. Why create a v
irus if you’re willing to let it be destroyed?”

“Because, Reed. I released the virus into the public w
ater supply three days ago.”

My heart sunk. It was all over. We had failed. Our plan had never had any hopes of working and the human race
was screwed. This couldn’t be happening.

“I hope you will be pleased to know,” the King conti
nued, “I took great care to ensure the health of your lovely girlfriend. I made sure she only had access to bottled water, and went so far as to route pure water through the shower and bath in your quarters. Now my young friend,” the King said, moving to get out of his bed. “I have one last task for you.”

He stood up and looked me straight in the eye. “I want you to kill me.”

I took a step back. “What?”

“Come now. You must be
upset with me. Surely, I deserve to die for all my evil deeds. Plus, you already have two murders under your belt: your own maker, and that poor sap I brought in to feed you when I took your blood sample. Time to add a third kill. Believe me, taking a life will become old hat for you some day. Now, raise that sword.”

I frowned and took another step back. “Please, I’ll get
Sarah and we’ll leave. I can’t–”

The King’s face transformed into a terrifying mask of pure menace and his fangs slid out. “Defend yourself or I will kill you,” he growled. He crouched, ready to pounce.

I brought my left hand around to hold the sword in a two-handed grip. I didn’t know a damn thing about fighting with a sword, but I figured he couldn’t get too close if I held it pointed straight out in front of me.

In a blur of movement, the King suddenly stood mere inches from me. I looked down and
gasped. The blade stuck through his stomach, almost to the hilt.

I stood tr
embling, frozen to the spot. He leaned forward to whisper into my ear. “Welcome to the darkness.”

He placed both of his hands over mine, and in one fluid motion, he jerked the sword up, slicing himself open from his belly to the top of his head. Blood and brains spurted from his body. I turned and shouted. His body hit the
ground with a thud and I fell to the side and caught myself against the wall.

My legs shook so badly I could barely
stand. I couldn’t bear to look at what remained of the King, and I turned and stumbled to the door. I spotted the bloody sword lying on the floor where I’d flung it and reached to pick it up. I wiped it off on the carpet before placing it into the sheath on my back.

I teetered out into the hallway feeling light-headed. It was as if I wasn’t in control of my body and someone co
ntrolled me like a puppet. I squeezed my eyes shut and tightened my hands into fists, trying to concentrate so I could find Sarah.

I moved down the hall in the opposite direction I’d come from, and Sarah’s scent grew stronger. When I reached the door to the lab, I felt sure I’d found the right room this time. The ceiling had partially collapsed and the door wouldn’t open on my first try. I yanked much harder the second time and the entire door ripped off its hinges.

“Reed!” Sarah yelled.

Relief flooded my body. “Sarah!”

“Stop! Don’t come in,” she said.

Not
exactly the happy greeting I’d expected. She was lying on the floor across the room, lit by the muted light from her own phone.

She pointed at the wet floor in front of her. “There’s an electric current running through that liquid. I found out the hard way.”

“Oh.” I hesitated. “Wait, you mean you electrocuted yourself?”

Sarah gave me a sheepish grin. “Yeah, that’s what I mean.”

“Are you okay?” I looked her over and she seemed unhurt.

“A little crispy around the edges, but yes, I’m okay.”

“Hang on,” I said. “I’m jumping over.”

I pushed off from the ground and leaped over the mess. My new leg slipped from under me
when I landed on the other side and I fell on my ass and skidded across the floor. I ended up so close to Sarah I could feel her warm breath on my face.

“I’m not too good with the new leg yet,” I mumbled.

“Oh, Reed,” she cried, throwing her arms around me.

I wrapped my arms around her and tried not to squeeze too tight. I never wanted to let her go. I leaned my head down and buried my face in her hair. She smelled so good, so familiar and right.

“I thought the vampire brothers were going to kill us,” she said, her voice muffled against my chest.

“Me too.”

She moved back and I let my arms fall to my sides. Then she cupped my cheeks in her hands and pulled me into a fierce kiss. I dragged her body in closer to mine and kissed her back. It was a desperate mashing together of lips, with no room for gentleness. I couldn’t get enough of her. The feel of her, everything about her. I’d missed her so much and I’d worried about her more than I wanted to admit. I realized then, how deep my feelings had grown. I loved this woman. And the thought of almost losing someone else I loved was too painful to imagine.

She pushed back gently, her eyes wet with tears. “I love you too.”

Of course, she’d read
that
thought loud and clear. I smiled. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Please.” She nodded.

I scooped her into my arms and leaped over the wet floor. I was careful to brace my landing better so I didn’t fall. Using the light from Sarah’s phone, I navigated our way back out towards the stairwell. I hadn’t put Sarah down yet and I rushed with her in my arms past Joe’s body, hoping she wouldn’t see. At last, I reached the stairs and sped to the manor’s main floor.

The stairwell exit was near a window at the end of a hall. I opened the window and popped out the screen, lo
wering Sarah onto the ground outside. Then I followed her out into moonlit darkness and we ran across the lawn hand-in-hand.

“I’m surprised the fire department hasn’t shown up yet,” I said, looking around the deserted neighborhood. The smell of smoke was in the air, but only a few wisps still drifted out from the back of the mansion.

“I guess people don’t look out for each other around here. Too busy with their own lives, holed up in their fancy estates,” Sarah said.

She shivered, and I realized she wasn’t even close to b
eing dressed warmly enough for a chilly November night. I shrugged out of my jacket and wrapped it around her even though I felt cold too. We walked briskly until we reached the relative warmth of a bus shelter a few blocks away. Ducking inside to escape the wind, we huddled together while Sarah pulled out her phone to text Trudy.

I looked over her shoulder
while she texted, “I’m out.”

A moment later, “Joe?” popped up on the screen.

“Sarah,” I said, pulling her hand into my own. I licked my lips and she turned to me. “I have some bad news . . . about Joe. I saw him, and he . . . he didn’t make it.”

Her gaze shifted past my shoulder. “I wondered what you were doing with that sword. It was Joe’s, wasn’t it?”

I’d forgotten about the sword sheathed on my back. “Yeah, it was.” It seemed like Sarah wasn’t ready to accept the truth about Joe’s death. Her next words confirmed my suspicion.

“Reed, are you
sure
about Joe?”

My mind flashed to the image of Joe’s head, gore falling out of what was left of it. I swallowed. “I’m sure.”

She turned back to the phone shaking her head, causing hair to fall across her face. She typed, “Joe didn’t make it,” and pressed Send.

A full minute passed before the next message came in. “Vamps are toast.”

The ground vibrated before I heard the boom in the distance. Even from a few blocks away, we saw the fireball explosion that blasted into the air. The detonations continued and I felt confident there’d be nothing left of the vampires or the mansion after that.

“I’m getting the strangest feeling of déjà vu,” Sarah said.

“That’s probably because it’s the second vampire lair we’ve blown up in the last month,” I pointed out.

Sarah’s phone buzzed with another incoming text. It was directions from Trudy to our rendezvous point. We used the phone’s map feature to figure out the location, and
thankfully, it wasn’t too far away. I hadn’t seen a cab, or any other vehicle for that matter, since we’d left the mansion. We had no choice but to continue on foot.

I wondered how Nathaniel was doing on his rescue mission. We were too cold to stand around sending text messages any longer though, so we’d have to wait until we reached the rendezvous point and warmed up. In a way, I dreaded meeting up with everyone. As bad as the news about Joe was, I didn’t know how to break it to them that the virus
had already been released.

N
athaniel took a deep breath of the invigorating autumn air and turned his gaze upwards. City smog muted the stars, but he knew they shone brightly beyond the polluted sky. He had stopped missing daylight ages ago and learned to revel in the darkness.

Now that night had fallen, he needed to feed, but he d
ecided to delay for an hour or so. It would be prudent to deal with Sarah’s sister first and feed later.

He forwent taking a cab, choosing instead to run to Manhattan where the Queen’s condominium was located. The drive would take almost three quarters of an hour, whereas he could run the same distance in under ten minutes. Not to mention, there were no cabs nor other v
ehicles in the immediate vicinity.

H
e raced through the tightly woven network of streets and grew increasingly curious as to the absence of life. Where was everyone? The lights of the city surrounded him, but the atmosphere was dead quiet. It resembled a dream–running through a fictitious setting that was a figment of his imagination–but he was not capable of dreaming.

Nathaniel pushed his thoughts aside and continued to his destina
tion. He reached the seven-story brick building and peered through the revolving glass doors. It was one of the older buildings in the neighborhood, but elegant still the same, and there had always been a doorman in years past. Tonight the doorman was mysteriously absent.

He frowned.
Strange and stranger.

The revolving door turned easily
and Nathaniel continued into the building. No one was at the reception desk either. At least he wouldn’t have to bother mesmerizing anyone to get past security. He walked to the single elevator and pressed the call button. Moments later the door slid open and he stepped inside. He arrived on the top floor without incident and proceeded to the Queen’s penthouse suite.

There was no point in knocking, so he grabbed the doorknob and forced the door open. It swung inwards and slammed against the wall revealing a woman, bound and gagged, on a chair in the center of the otherwise barren room. Her gray-green eyes opened in surprise and N
athaniel stepped forward. Her eyes opened wider and she glanced to the ground at the same moment Nathaniel registered a slight tugging sensation on the front of his right ankle.

Reacting on instinct, he threw himself to the ground.
A puff of air blew by his forehead when something whizzed past, narrowly missing him. He lay still for a moment until the way seemed clear. Cautiously, he pushed himself into a sitting position. Along the wall to his right, three crossbows aimed at the opposite wall were aligned under the shuttered windows. He stole a quick glance behind him and saw the tripwire for this ridiculous setup.

He stood up and brushed off his pants. The woman in the chair stared at him, trembling. The scent of her fear co
lored the air and Nathaniel clenched his teeth to prevent it from provoking him into a feeding frenzy. He swept his teeth with his tongue to ensure his fangs hadn’t emerged. He didn’t want to scare her any further.

“Do not be afraid. My name is Nathaniel. I am a friend of Sarah’s and I have come to release you.” He spoke in a soothing voice, but did not exert any mind control.

The woman grunted something unintelligible into the gag. Nathaniel leaned over her to untie the cloth and pull it away from her face. Her blond hair spilled free, caressing his hands. He closed his eyes as her delectable scent drifted into his nose. The tantalizing aroma caused his gums to tingle almost painfully.

“She said you would come for me,” the woman croaked. Nathaniel wished he had some water to offer her; it was possible she was even thirstier than
he was. A vampire’s residence did not require kitchen or bathroom facilities though, so there was no source of water in the Queen’s empty apartment.

“Did she?” he asked, undoing
the ropes around her wrists and ankles.

“She left you a note. In my pocket,” she added, nodding in the direction of her waist.

A triangle of white paper stuck out of the pocket of her black pencil skirt. He pulled it out and unfolded the thick paper. The handwriting was all too familiar to him.