The Arcadia Falls Chronicles: Omnibus (Books 1-6)

by Jennifer Malone Wright

  I nodded, understanding what he was saying. “The more survivors gathered, the bigger the massacre.”

  “Precisely,” Anthony agreed.

  Luke drew in a deep breath. “All right. This gives us a good idea of where to look for the survivors, anyway. What are your ideas as to where Korina might be?”

  “Yes, of course, Korina. She is not active with the Vampire Council, well not that I know of anyway. I investigated her plantation home and there was no sign of her having been there. I found two of her pathetic minions and asked of her whereabouts, either they truly did not know or they lied, however they both insisted that they did not know.”

  “Dammit!” Christina slammed her fist into the table. “They’re going to tell her that we’re looking for her.”

  Anthony dismissed her with a small wave of his hand. “Truly, I’m wounded, do you honestly think me dense enough to let them live? I took care of them accordingly. Although, finding them leads us to the assumption that she is, indeed, in New Orleans.”

  I tilted my head back and closed my eyes, taking in the information. “So, we are still left having to hunt her down.” I sighed with exhaustion. I was so ready for a nap.

  “Yes, little Hunter, but that is what you do so well.” I caught the flash of Anthony’s grin as I tilted my head back up. “However, I am here to assist you, which should ease the difficulty of that particular task.”

  Another wave of exhaustion washed over me and I yawned, stretching out my arms. “I need to get some sleep before we head out tonight.”

  Anthony pushed his chair out and stood, “of course, let me show you to your rooms. They might be a little dusty, but the beds are still comfortable.” He gathered his silverware onto his plate and picked it up. We all followed suit, clearing the table and putting the food away. Then, Anthony led us all upstairs to show us our rooms.

  ~~~***~~~

  The burgundy comforter fluffed up around me like I was laying on top of a cloud. I couldn’t sleep, which was strange for two reasons. One, I was exhausted and two, over time I had learned to sleep whenever I could.

  It was the thoughts of possibly being able to end a vampire bloodline that kept me awake. Would it really help? Could we take back society with the one task alone?

  There was a light knock on my door and then it opened a crack. “Chloe, you awake?”

  I lifted my head off the pile of pillows and looked up at the sound of Drew’s voice. “Yeah, I’m awake. I can’t sleep.”

  He slipped inside and shut the door softly behind him. I turned on my side and patted the bed, inviting him to lay down beside me.

  “Maybe you would get more sleep if you actually tried taking your clothes off and getting under the covers.”

  I smiled. “Oh look at you, trying to get me out of my clothes.”

  He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “You know that is not what I meant?” He slid onto the comforter next to me and wrapped his right arm around me. “Seriously though, you even have your shoes on.”

  “I can’t help it. I’m not comfortable here.”

  He nuzzled my neck. “I’m surprised you don’t have your holster on too.”

  I reached my hand back and slid it under one of the pillows. When I pulled it out I held my forty-five up for him to see, giving it a little wiggle. “I drew the line at wearing the holster, but you can never be too cautious.”

  He rolled his eyes and took the weapon out of my hand, rolling over me and sliding it back under my pillow.

  “What about you?” I countered, stopping him while his face was directly over mine. “You can’t tell me you’re walking around in jeans and a tee shirt, without a gun.” My hands went around his waist and pulled at his shirt, I felt the gun tucked into the back of his pants and raised my eye brows. “Ah, see! I knew it.”

  He tilted his head down until our lips were lightly brushing each other. “Mmmm.” I murmured, lifting my head to bring our lips to full contact. At the same time I reached around and tugged the weapon away from his body.

  “What are you doing?” his words were muffled against my lips.

  “What do you think I’m doing?” I whispered. We had been together so long now that I didn’t really have much shy girl behavior left when it came to us flirting with each other.

  He pushed himself up with both hands until his was hovering over the top of me. Then, his hand slid down, touching the skin where my shirt had ridden up and my jeans had been pulled down a little bit. His fingertips moved downward, tracing over my hip, then my thigh and down the length of my leg, until he reached my calf.

  Then he pulled up the cuff of my jeans. “Well, well, well,” He taunted, “What do we have here?” He slid the small blade I had strapped to my calf out of its sheath and held up. The metal glinted in the lamplight for a few seconds before he leaned over and set the knife on the table beside the bed.

  I grinned beneath him and tugged the bottom of his plain white tee shirt. He sat up on his knees and finished the job by taking it off himself. I reached up and ran my hands over the hard muscles of his chest and met his gaze as he leaned over me again.

  He braced himself with one arm while the other crept down my side, tracing the line of my body all the way down to my jean covered thigh. I sucked in my breath and pulled him further down onto me, wrapping my legs around his waist.

  His kiss was slow and familiar. My body relaxed and tensed all at the same time. His kiss was comfort, it was therapy, and it was home. I had lost so much in the last few years, but everything I had now all revolved around him. Drew was my anchor in a seemingly perpetual storm. Even though he knew just how to push my buttons, I couldn’t imagine him not being my first ... my only.

  But, he was always the one to stop when things got to heavy during our make out sessions. Every time I thought that the time had finally come, he would pull away and make some excuse about it not being the right time.

  Now ... this time, those soft, familiar kisses became urgent and wanting. He pulled up on my shirt so I happily obliged by reaching down and helping him take it off. Thank god I’d worn my cute black bra with the lacey hot pink trim.

  I heard the intake of his breath as he hovered above me. “Chloe,” he ran his fingers softly over my cheek, “you are so beautiful. Not just out here either.” His fingertips trailed down my throat and over my shoulder. “It’s who you are that I love.”

  I felt my face flush and reached up to mimic his touches. “I love you too.”

  He kissed me again, pressing his body into mine. The top halves of our bodies were skin on skin and still I wanted him to somehow be even closer. We kissed until we were both breathing heavily from lack of air and the rush of adrenaline.

  When he pulled away this time, he looked me directly in the eye. “I don’t want to stop. I’ve been stopping for so long. I wanted you to be absolutely sure ... are you sure, Chloe?”

  Finally. Finally!

  I nodded and took his face in my hands. “I have been sure, for a long time now. Don’t you ever think you are taking advantage of me. I am yours. Do you hear me,” I leaned up to give him another kiss, “I am yours.

  He fell down onto me, crushing our lips together so that my last words were lost in our kisses.

  ~~~***~~~

  I stared at my face in the mirror above the bathroom sink. I looked the same as I did a few hours ago, but I certainly didn’t feel the same.

  It’s so strange how something so very common, that people do every day, can make a person feel so different. The bathroom was still filled with steam from the shower I’d just taken and I had a towel wrapped around my body. Drew had gone back to his room to shower and get ready to head out into the city.

  That was another thing. Normally I wasn’t scared at all when we went out on missions, but this time, I was pretty nervous for some reason. That wasn’t good for me. My fire power sometimes acted up when I got scared or anxious. The last thing I needed was to make any mistakes out there.

 
I had to admit, though, I was curious about these survivors.

  I hurried into the bedroom so that I could throw on my jeans and a fresh tank top before meeting everyone downstairs. Through the sheer window coverings I saw that the sun had just slipped behind the trees leaving New Orleans in that space between day and night, the time when the vampires started to come out.

  I pleated my hair into two braids and then strapped on all my weapons into their appropriate places. My quiver went onto my back and I set my bow over my shoulder and then I was ready.

  Everyone was already downstairs waiting for me. It was a little embarrassing, since usually I was one of the first ones ready to go out on missions.

  Anthony was joining us on our trip into the city, so he was also dressed for battle. It was a little strange seeing him with guns and knives decorating his body. I suppose I thought of him as a super powerful vampire, not a guy who needed weapons. He nodded to me as I descended the stairs, “Nice to see you are going to join us, little Hunter.”

  I felt the blood rush to my face. I don’t know why I was embarrassed, it was no big deal that I was running late. I guess it just felt like everyone knew what I had been doing a little while ago. I tried to shake it off. It wasn’t like I was wearing a sign or anything. “Sorry, I didn’t wake up on time.”

  “All right,” Luke addressed the group as I hit the landing, “Now that Chloe has joined us, are we all set?”

  Christina adjusted her holster. “Let’s do this!”

  Everyone agreed and headed for the door. I caught sight of Drew and moved toward him, he threw his arm around me as we passed over the threshold and out into the evening heat, which was far more tolerable than it was during the early afternoon hours.

  Alice moved ahead of us once we were on the porch. Her blonde ponytail bobbing up and down over the swords at her back. I couldn’t help but be proud of how far she had come since I first met her at Trevor’s. She was a woman who had been unsure of herself, who had lived a dependent life. Now, she was a strong, independent woman who had found a purpose in life. I glanced at Oscar, who was close at her side, and smiled. She had also found someone who truly cared about her. They weren’t super public about their relationship, but we all knew about it anyway.

  Drew opened the back door of the Escalade for me and leaned down to give me a quick kiss before I got in. “You ready?” he whispered as he pulled away.

  I nodded, taking in every ounce of affection from him. “Of course,” I grinned, “Aren’t I always ready for hunting?” He grinned back at me and then I hopped up onto the soft leather seats.

  Gavin slid into the car next to me. His eyes were flicking curiously between Drew and I. When I caught his gaze and our eyes finally locked, I realized that he could see something was different. Most likely it had been Drew who tipped him off, since Drew wasn’t normally a very lovey dovey type of guy.

  “What?” I mouthed, to which he responded only with a shake of his head.

  I felt bad about Gavin knowing anything about that sort of thing between Drew and I, but he would have to come to terms with it sooner or later, as he did with everything that involved Drew ... or me.

  He slammed the door and faced forward in the seat so that he wasn’t looking at me. I did the same.

  Once we were all loaded into the Escalade and Zanders truck, the gate rolled open and we headed out into the dusk.

  As we drove, Anthony passed the time by telling us the intriguing tale of the LaLaurie Mansion.

  “For many years, the LaLaurie Mansion has been known as one of New Orleans most haunted homes. It never remained in the hands of one owner for an extended amount of time.

  The home was occupied by Dr. and Madame LaLaurie. Madame LaLaurie was one of those women of high social status, but she was also said to be an intelligent and beautiful woman. The house, as you will see is not much to speak of from the outside, in comparison to other Creole homes in this city, however Madame LaLaurie fashioned the interior of the house with the finest of everything.

  The couple hosted frequent social gatherings that were the talk of the town. Anyone who came across the couple would describe Madame LaLaurie as a kind and generous host. They appeared to be the upstanding citizens of New Orleans that everyone wanted to be.

  Until, whispers began to spread throughout the neighborhood of how Madam LaLaurie may be mistreating her slaves. It had not gone unnoticed that new slaves would arrive, replacing slaves that had not been seen leaving. The final straw came when a young slave girl jumped to her death from the highest floor of the mansion after Madam LaLaurie had furiously chased her throughout the courtyard galleries.

  The laws in place prohibited cruel treatment of slaves, thus, after the death of the young girl, the slaves were taken from the LaLauries and auctioned to new owners. This did not deter Madam LaLaurie in the least, she persuaded her family to purchase new slaves, from whom she bought them in secrecy.

  The rise of the LaLaurie couple was nearing an end and it finally arrived when a fire broke out in the kitchen, setting the mansion ablaze. It is a common rumor that Madam LaLaurie chained the chef to the stove and that perhaps the man had tolerated the mistreatment for too long. The story tells that it was most likely he who set the fire to the home.”

  Anthony paused and stared at the streets ahead of us. “I apologize, I tend to get into the details of a story and lose track of where I was at.

  “The fire fighters arrived soon, efficiently dousing the flames. However, they also were the unfortunate souls who discovered the secret room in the attic. A room where experiments were done on human subjects.

  Over a dozen bodies were found, as well as various body parts lying carelessly around the cluttered room. Most of the slaves found in the room were long dead, yet a few still held a breath of life in them.

  These experiments performed on the slaves were torturous, intended to bring pain and suffering for quite some time. The condition of the bodies found is utterly indescribable, with lips and eyes sewn shut, limbs removed, limbs placed in areas where they weren’t supposed to be ... one was even found in a small cage with her limbs broken and reset at odd angles, that one was still alive.

  The townspeople went into an uproar and an angry mob formed outside the mansion demanding the couple be hanged or punished for their actions. It wasn’t long after the mob arrived outside the home that the LaLaurie family burst through the gates in a carriage and right through the crowd until it disappeared.”

  I raised an eyebrow, “So, the place is haunted by the ghosts of these slaves?”

  Anthony turned to me with a curious eye. “Why, little Hunter, are you implying that you do not believe in ghosts?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged, but my mind went right to Sostrate, the warrior woman, even though she insisted that she was not a ghost. “Maybe.”

  “In any case,” Anthony continued, screams and moans have always been heard from this house. There were several people who went inside and never came out, there were owners who had all of their things destroyed and the apparitions of slaves wandering the halls have been seen by many occupants over the years.

  Since the LaLauries abandoned the home, no one has been able to withstand residing there for very long.”

  He smiled, “Oh, I almost forgot, the not so pleasing end to this story is that in a recent remodel of the mansion, bodies were found underneath the floorboards. Scratches and pieces of fingernails were found on the underneath of those particular boards, implying that the bodies had been buried while they were still alive.”

  I wanted to vomit. “Why ... the hell are we going in there?”

  Anthony ignored me. “It is a tragic tale that has become a large piece of the haunted history of New Orleans.”

  “Good Lord!” Gavin grimaced, “if it’s that haunted, why would the survivors hole up in there?”

  Anthony shrugged. “It is possible they think that is the last place the vampires would look. It is in the French Quarter, perhaps the
resistance is taking the ‘they will not look right under their noses’ approach. I would also assume, with the way the mansion is set up, that it would be fortifiable. The survivors would obviously need to be in a place where they can erect a substantial defense.”

  I nodded. That made sense. But, from what Anthony told us about the history of the place, I wasn’t sure that I really wanted to go inside.

  “New Orleans has a deep history, full of ghost stories and tales of witchcraft.” Anthony stared out the window at the tombs in one of the cemeteries as we passed. “At this moment we are making another chapter in the history books. I intend to record the events for the world to know of later on. In the future, when children go back to school they will learn of the battle for the city ... for the world, and they will hear how the Hunters joined with the survivors to fight the vampires. It will be a magnificent story, of that I am positive.”

  No one said anything after that, probably because nothing seemed appropriate. What did seem appropriate was leaving the conversation on that note ... the one where we succeed.

  We parked the cars in a parking garage on the outskirts of the French Quarter, deciding it would be safer and not as noticeable if we went the rest of the way on foot. Nobody spoke as we followed Anthony over the broken sidewalks into the heart of the city.

  As we passed the shops, bars and restaurants, I wished that I had been able to see New Orleans before the Vampire Apocalypse. I would have loved to sit at one of the tables outside the Café Du Monde and have their famous beignets and coffee. I wanted to take the tours of the plantations, with their trees draped in Spanish moss and picture perfect beauty. I wanted to eat authentic Cajun food and listen to live music. I wanted peace, I wanted normal, and I wanted a vacation from hunting vampires.

  Anthony didn’t always stick to the streets, he took us through several alleyways in order to be more discreet. He led the way, but I brought up the rear, since he and I both had super hearing it just made sense that way.

  Just as we were exiting one of the alleys, Anthony stopped short. I heard it at the same time as he did ... voices. Anthony held up his hand in a fist, signaling to stop. The group halted between us. I filtered my concentration onto the voices, gradually I heard footsteps and then breathing.