Lifting the note up, she read the second page and learned that Maria's parents wanted to keep the basement just the way it was in the chance that Maddox returned. So after they passed away, Maria couldn't bring herself to change anything aside from doing some upkeep, leaving the basement relatively untouched.
“Thank you,” Maddox whispered aloud, folding the note as she looked around with a smile. She'd truly come home, and found herself eager to get settled in, not to mention curious over the reaction Stephan might have.
Yet, even being in her mansion again didn't quell that same irritating sense of dread that overcame her the moment she sensed the sun rising outside not fifteen minutes after her arrival.
Such a reaction was becoming a common occurrence—daylight came, and her discomfort grew until she was nearly jumping out of her skin. It was extremely frustrating, and her thoughts immediately went to Stephan with the wish that he was closer to arriving. But he probably hadn't even left the state of Georgia yet, so Maddox busied herself by unpacking and placing a call to Maria to thank her for the wonderful surprise.
The two spoke for quite a while, but as midday rolled around, Maria let her go under the assumption that the vampire needed sleep. Maddox would've argued, but there was no point relating her troubles, and she finally disrobed and laid down to make the attempt.
One full day of sleep would solve the matter of needing more blood to make up for exhaustion anyway, though the question was whether or not she could relax well enough to actually get it. But she was home, and the bed she'd built into an alcove with a sliding door that could be locked from the inside was comfortable.
So she snuggled under her blankets with a soft sigh, drifting off easily enough—and the same thing happened all over again.
After only a few hours, her memories of the fear and anger she felt while beating on the lid of her sarcophagus desperately searching for escape resurfaced.
Maddox thrashed on her bed until she sat up screaming, “Mathias!”
But she was alone, and still had no idea where he was.
The thought drew tears to her eyes, and in refusal to give into the urge to cry, she got out of bed. Searching for her phone, she finally put in a call to the one person whose voice might help soothe her anxiety—Stephan.
As it turned out, he'd already reached New York, and hearing how close he was put her mind to rest in ways she couldn't describe. She even got a laugh overhearing his bought of road rage at being cut off.
Since the traffic was heavy, she let him go with his promise to be there just after sundown, and prepared for his arrival with a bath in the old, clawfoot tub her dressing room possessed, followed by donning a white silk button down and a burgundy, knee length skirt with matching pumps.
By the time she was done putting on her makeup and leaving her curly locks free to hang around her shoulders, the sun was finally beginning to set, allowing Maddox to safely exit the basement.
Upstairs, she took a seat in the living room to wait.
Then waited even longer.
An old grandfather clock sitting in the corner near the hearth soon chimed in at eight o'clock, and each ring of the bell fed her growing sense of concern. Where is he?
Perhaps there was an unexpected delay, such as car trouble, and Maddox called him to find out. The phone rang five times, and the voice mail operator came on, telling her Stephan was unavailable.
Standing to pace, she made a second attempt, muttering, “Come on, Stephan, pick up the phone.” But after another five rings, she still didn't receive an answer.
Frustrated, Maddox ended the call, wishing she had some of Stephan's blood in her system, which would allow her to track him. But that wasn't an option, and the only other thing she knew to do was call Kivsey.
The agent might have spoken with him in the last hour, and her phone only rang twice before she answered with, “This is Kivsey.”
“Kivsey, it's Maddox.”
“Oh, hey! It's good to hear from you. I heard Stephan's going to help you search for Mathias.”
“Yes, that's actually why I'm calling. Have you heard from him?”
“No, not since this morning. Why?”
“Because I'm worried,” she explained. “He said he'd be here after sundown, but there's no sign of him, and I've tried to call, but he's not answering his phone.”
Maddox could hear typing in the background as Kivsey directed, “Give me a second, I'll track his GPS.”
“GPS?”
“Yeah, it's one of them fancy newfangled technological gizmos,” Kivsey joked. “Long story short, all of our field agents have one in their vehicles so we can track them during emergencies. We even supply them with one for their key rings. It's not foolproof, but it can't be easily tampered with by magic since it's just technology, so it has its pros.”
“Clever,” Maddox remarked, and would've loved to ask a million questions about how it worked, but her focus was fully on learning Stephan's location in that moment.
“Okay, I got his jeep. Stronger signal on that device, makes it easier to track,” Kivsey started, then added dishearteningly, “Hmm, that's strange.”
“What?”
“His jeep's stationary. It's in New York, just outside of Linchester, but it's not moving. I'm still tracking his keyring, but that's gonna take a little longer.”
“Could he have made a rest stop?”
“Maybe, let me see.”
More typing sounded before Kivsey announced, “Okay, if he made a pit stop, he's got about a mile long walk to the closest place. So I don't think that's what's going on.”
Hearing this, Maddox immediately started to worry. Was Stephan hurt? Or simply stranded due to car trouble? It wasn't impossible, but she couldn't quite convince herself because of the same gut instinct that directed her to call Kivsey from the start.
No, this was likely an attack—but who'd orchestrated it, and why? Vampires? It was possible that Stephan had been followed by some vampire's daywalking pet who'd led their master right to the votary after sundown, and the moment Maddox had the thought, she unleashed her fangs without even realizing it, amazed by just how protective she already felt towards Stephan.
But she was too pissed off to care. If he's hurt …
“Okay, I found his keyring, but it's with his jeep, probably in the ignition. So maybe he had a car accident … ”
Maddox growled, asking seriously, “Is there any way you can tell me where that is exactly?”
“Yeah, but it'll take some doing.”
Determined, she responded, “Then we'd better get started.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Stephan had no idea which way was up.
First his jeep had swerved, then skidded across pavement and off the road completely, rolling down an embankment towards a wooded area. At the bottom, it landed on its wheels, and only came to a stop when the front end smashed into a tree trunk, warping the hood and shattering the windshield, leaving his jeep totaled and Stephan stranded.
The crash lasted all of thirty seconds, but it felt like much longer had passed before he instinctively worked his way out of the driver's side window after using his dagger to deflate the airbag and cut his seat belt. The entire while, his thoughts were clouded by adrenaline, and it wasn't until his feet were on the ground that he finally noticed a sharp pain in his left temple, signifying a head injury.
But Stephan was too leery of potential enemies lurking about to focus on himself just then. After all, it wasn't an ill-timed turn, or some other car on the road performing illegal moves that caused the wreck.
Instead, about half an hour after sunset, he'd glanced in his rear view mirror and noticed mist traveling down the highway behind him—and it had nothing to do with the weather.
Vampires.
Uncertain what they wanted, Stephan gained speed to evade them, but they soon caught up anyway, and the cloud engulfed his jeep. At first, he believed they might try to get inside, but then he felt a harsh bump similar to driving over a poth
ole, and realized they were actually lifting his jeep into the air.
They didn't hoist it up very far, but it was just enough that when they released it, the landing jarred him into swerving off the road.
Now, standing next to his broken down transportation, Stephan worked to clear his head well enough to gauge the situation. The sky was overcast, and the only light available was coming from a dim streetlamp several meters away—certainly not enough to illuminate the wooded area where he'd crashed.
But he could see clearly enough to tell that he was basically in the middle of nowhere—a very quiet middle of nowhere. There were no signs of any vampires around, nor any clouds of mist.
But Stephan didn't trust the silence, and prepared for anything.
Replacing his dagger on his belt as he moved to the door of his vehicle, he reached inside to grab his keyring hanging from the ignition. The beacon attached to it could come in handy, and the second item he took was his duffel bag now laying in the floorboard.
A few of Maddox's suitcases were still stored in the back, but because they only contained clothing, he ignored them in favor of pulling his phone out of the duffel bag to call Kivsey. Yet he soon realized the option was unavailable because the screen was cracked almost directly down the center.
“Fucking wonderful,” Stephan muttered, tossing the device aside before tugging the strap of his bag over his head to hang around his chest. For all intents and purposes, it looked like he was walking to the nearest rest stop—that was, if the vampires who's caused him to crash weren't still lurking about.
But with his shotgun in his jacket, a dagger on his belt, and the small UV light he always kept attached to it ready for use, Stephan was prepared for whatever trouble might come his way.
And it seemed trouble was eager to knock on the door.
After a single step away from his jeep, an altogether chilling sound hit his ears from nearby—and it wasn't unfamiliar. The raspy, garbled sputtering had Stephan quickly turning to face the back of his jeep where the distant streetlamp cast a vague, hunched-over shadow onto the grass, lumbering closer to where he stood.
“Shit,” Stephan cussed, immediately grabbing his shotgun just as the creature came fully into view.
Deathly pale skin and long, gnarled fingers tipped with sharp claws were the first sign that he was right to worry. It's lanky arms were attached to a gangly body, but the most harrowing part of any ghoul was its face—slimy, razor sharp teeth in a lip-less mouth gave them a permanent, macabre grin settled beneath enlarged, sunken black eyes.
This one even had clumps of stringy black hair still clinging to its skull, suggesting the human it'd been before hadn't transformed all that long ago. But whatever humanity it once possessed was clearly gone now as, the moment its empty eyes landed on Stephan, it let a high pitched wail and darted ahead with frightening speed.
Too late. In an instance, a shotgun shell tore straight through the monster's head, and just like a vampire, it's body turned to ashen particles, flying everywhere.
Still aiming the weapon, Stephan released a breath, but didn't let himself relax. Ghouls liked to nest underground, too sensitive to light to come up often. But when they did, it was rarely without backup—and this case was no exception.
Only a split second later, a hard thud sounded on the hood of his jeep nearby where a second ghoul landed from a jump, leering at him hungrily.
It was definitely time to get the hell out of there.
But climbing the embankment back up to the street was out of the question because of a ghoul's unnerving ability to sprint and jump—they'd catch him before he could reach the top. Even still, he didn't blindly dash toward the trees, and instead, took notice of several tiny, flickering dots of light floating in the wooded darkness ahead.
On a hunch, Stephan placed his hand against the UV light on his belt and flipped the switch, illuminating the area to prove his intuition right—the floating dots were reflections of light in the black eyes of at least ten ghouls laying in wait.
The one now perched on his jeep's hood was just a driving force to get him to run to the rest of their nest.
In response to his UV ray now beaming into the woods, the creatures let wails of discomfort and drew back to escape. Sadly, the light was sporadically flickering as if it may have been damaged in the crash, leaving it too weak to fully drive the ghouls off.
But it acted as a buffer, allowing him enough room for safe passage between the creatures, and he took it without question.
Darting through the nest, Stephan made sure to avoid their claws at all costs when a single scratch was all it took to join their ranks, and he continued at the same speed once he'd made it passed them. Most ghouls couldn't move swiftly over long distances, and were also clumsy—just after he ducked around the trunk of a tree, a thud sounded against the other side as if one them had plowed into it trying to catch up.
Glancing back, Stephan noticed that most of the monsters were now a good ways behind with only a few close enough to cause any trouble. Even the branches above were rustling with more moving eerily through the trees, their raspy breaths quickening.
But there was nothing ahead to impede his escape, allowing Stephan to maintain his speed. All he needed now was a well lit area to keep them at bay, and he could see such a refuge in the near distance where a few brightly glowing streetlights stood.
Heading in their direction, the sound of excited wailing suddenly came from behind him. Briefly, Stephan looked back to see several ghouls converging at one spot, likely because they'd found another food source in the form of some poor animal roaming through the trees. As sad as it was to imagine a deer or a rabbit getting caught in their clutches, he had to thank it for stumbling into their path and keeping half of the nest's attention away from him.
Focusing ahead again, Stephan continued on without slowing despite this turn of events, and rounded another tree trunk without veering from his chosen path. He wasn't far from the streetlights now, able to see the outline of a few buildings in the darkness, suggesting an urban area of Linchester was just ahead, and he moved even faster to reach it.
But the second step he took after rounding the next tree caused the ground to break away beneath his feet.
Stumbling with his left foot inexplicably snagged, Stephan fell face forward, his shotgun tumbling just out of reach. Trying to determine what had him trapped, he looked back to realize he'd just stepped on a covered hole in the ground that was overgrown with foliage, and the wooden planks used to seal it were so old that his weight had caused one to break.
Someone must've covered the hole to keep people from falling in, but whatever the case, his foot was now lodged between the broken bits.
Thankfully, it was so decayed that Stephan managed to free himself by balancing on his arms and kicking his right leg downward to break the wood away. Yet, at the exact same time, one of the ghouls still following him rounded the corner, wailing loudly as it rushed in his direction.
Stephan had only a moment to push himself over before he was tackled onto his back, grabbing the monster's wrists to keep its claws at bay while the ghoul snapped at his face with sharp fangs, spraying drool everywhere.
He grunted, pushing back while the monster frantically turned its head this way and that to reach him—but it never got close.
Instead, the ghoul suddenly turned to ash over him.
Jerking, Stephan waved the particles away and looked up to see Maddox standing above him, clutching an ornate, curved dagger she'd just stabbed into the back of the monster's head. Dressed in a white silk button down, a red skirt, and a pair of six-inch pumps, she didn't exactly look like the type who'd tangle with a nest of hungry ghouls. But her glowing red eyes and aggressive, fanged sneer spoke volumes to the contrary, like some wrathful goddess ready to exact retribution.
I think I'm in love.
When another ghoul attempted to rush at him, the vampire turned quickly without looking, lifting her right leg to sling aro
und and ram the heel of her foot into its chest so hard the monster flew back against a nearby tree trunk. In a moment's notice, she was in front of it, grabbing the creature's head to impale with her blade and an inhuman growl.
Stephan was so enthralled by her movements that he damned near forgot to get up. But, with yet another ghoul nearby—now closing in on him—he finally reached for his shotgun and took aim, blowing it's head off with the last round loaded up.
It seemed strange, but he was actually more incensed by the monster's interference causing him to miss one of Maddox's attacks than he was over any threat it'd posed to his own life, looking back just in time to watch as she sliced her curved dagger to the left. As a result, the blade cut through the upper half of a ghoul's skull, sending its ashes flying everywhere.
Once dead, everything grew relatively silent, suggesting the immediate vicinity was now clear of danger. More ghouls may eventually show up, but Maddox, at least, had no reason to worry because the monsters never attacked vampires.
Stephan also couldn't help recalling that vampires could sense ghouls, so whoever had caused his wreck definitely wanted this to happen. But he pushed the thought aside for the time being, standing as Maddox moved toward him in concern.
“You weren't scratched, were you?”
She didn't wait for an answer, immediately inspecting him before leaning up to look at the gash on his left temple. “What's this?”
“I got it in the car wreck,” he explained, grasping her hand before she could touch the bleeding wound. “I'm fine.”
With that said, Stephan explained what happened, and when Maddox learned it wasn't an accident, she suggested on a hushed tone, “Those vampires may be somewhere nearby, watching us.”
“Agreed,” Stephan muttered, “but why?”
“Eavesdropping,” she guessed. “I hear more ghouls getting closer as well. So there's only one thing to do.”
Lifting her hand, she offered Stephan a knowing look, and he understood her intentions. Without his jeep, they were stranded, and any vampires following them would continue to do so until they got whatever the hell it was they wanted.
Fallen Hearts Page 19
