The Culling (Book 2): The Hollow:

by Bell, A. C.

  When I glanced tentatively toward the window, complete exasperation crossed his features. As he sprinted to the window beside Michelle, who looked pale and shaken, another figure stepped into the room. The male Hohl.

  I tackled him before he could dash across the room to Slade. We crashed through the layers of the wall with our combined weight and landed in the next room amidst debris of wood, plaster, and insulation. I struck him in the jaw as we hit the ground and he punched me in the ribs. He struck out with his other fist and I reared back to the side, accidentally giving him an opening to kick me in the chest. I flew off of him and my back collided painfully with another spot of the wall. Though I didn’t break through, I felt the plaster and a wooden support beam fracture against my back. I cried out. The Hohl stood and moved towards me with unnatural speed. He was so focused on me that he didn’t see Slade come through the hole. He’d retrieved the iron fire rod. Slade thrust it through the creature’s back and the Hohl drew in a harsh gasp.

  The bit of the poker that protruded from the Hohl’s chest looked to be covered in glistening ink as black blood dripped down his tattered shirt. As he fell to his knees, a swarm of black specks began spewing out of his mouth and as they did, his grey skin became saturated with color. The black in his veins receded, leaving his peachy skin glistening with sweat. His sharp teeth retracted and his pale eyes darkened to brown. Despite his wound, his face eased in serenity.

  “Thank you,” he whispered before falling to his side.

  The swarm of…whatever it was, was not so grateful. It flocked to Slade and began to swarm around him. He backpedaled, eyes wide as he tried to swat them away, but they started to fly into his mouth, his ears, his nose. Panic jolted my heart. I bolted to my feet and tried tackling him away from them. All I managed to do was get us both engulfed.

  ***

  Peter jumped as glass shattered somewhere above him, startling him. Nikki and most of the other party-goers hadn’t heard it, but she followed his glance to the estate building. A window on the third floor had been shattered. Peter caught a vague glimpse of Adeline inside, but she was suddenly pulled away.

  “Something’s wrong.”

  Even as Peter said it, two figures crashed through what was left of the floor-length window, brawling as they fell. Those who had heard began pointing. Some screamed and the music stopped. There wasn’t time for Peter to think about the ramifications of revealing himself. He started his Change as he stripped, noticing Nikki gape in his periphery. Those who saw averted their eyes awkwardly, but no one complained, no doubt guessing what he was doing. He lunged forward and by the time his hands hit the ground, his Change was complete. He bounded on all fours through the crowd. “Wulver!” someone shout in an accusatory tone. Others screamed as they stumbled out of his way. He ignored them.

  Now that he was closer, he recognized one of the falling figures as Kendra. He used his long, powerful legs to launch himself into the air and intercepted the brawling pair. He wrapped long, clawed fingers around Kendra’s middle and pulled her away from her adversary, whom he drove into the wall with his foot as he kicked off. He redirected in the air, clutching Kendra to his chest, and landed safely on the ground. The gruff bounty hunter patted his arm gratefully when he set her down and drew a bowie knife from her boot.

  The creature pushed out of the alcove her body had created in the wall and dropped heavily toward the ground, but a sudden wave of force slowed her acceleration. The invisible power tousled her hair and her clothing like a powerful gust of wind. She stopped inches from the ground, levitating, and then set herself down safely. Peter crouched warily, waiting to see what she would do.

  Her pale eyes narrowed to slits, eyeing the crowd around her, only several of whom had fled. This was no normal crowd. Fueled by the increased magic in the air on this hallowed night, people began arming themselves with whatever was at their disposal, whether it be a spell, a transformation, or just a fiery disposition.

  Pellets of light shot past Peter, startling him into Kendra who complained in annoyance. The orbs blasted into the creature like bullets from a machine gun, but she put up an invisible barrier. The bullets stopped. Peter gawked at Nikki, who dropped her hands and glared frustratedly at her unscathed target. A gale of wind surrounded the creature again as she lifted into the air. Sharp teeth bared from her blackened lips in a snarl before she soared high above them, fleeing in flight.

  “What was that?” Kendra asked.

  Peter was about to shrug when a sound caught his attention, above the hum of voices from the crowd. Someone was screaming up above. Peter lurched low and launched up high again, digging his claws into the divot the creature had left in the wall to propel himself up to the third floor. His long fingers wrapped around the sill and he pulled himself into the room. A feminine shriek rang out. Raiden’s sister backed away from a gaping hole in the wall to the next room at the sight of him.

  Past her, Adeline was screaming on the floor, thrashing about as if to swat something away, but there was nothing there. A few feet over, Slade was behaving similarly, except that his thrashings were directed at himself. All six of his fangs were out, his blue eyes were black and wild, and he clawed at himself viciously. Peter dashed past Michelle and snatched Slade’s arms, pinning them to the floor to stop him. Slade let out an enraged cry and writhed around to get free, but Peter held fast.

  “Adeline, it’s okay, they’re gone.” Michelle was crouching over Adeline. She continued trying to soothe her, but Adeline wouldn’t stop screaming and Michelle wasn’t strong enough to hold Adeline down in her frenzied state.

  The door burst open in the other room and the rest of their group poured in through the hole. Hemway and Renenet moved to Adeline first and tried to check her over. She threw her arm out and he luckily ducked out of the way. She was turning metal. Raiden crouched to help Hemway and Kendra hurried around Adeline to help Peter with Slade.

  “Use this.” Raiden tossed a syringe to her and she injected Slade with the sedative. His body slumped as it took hold.

  Peter shifted over to Adeline. He fared better against her heightened strength, but only to a degree. She was so frickin’ strong now. He growled in frustration when she got her hand free and smacked him, but he snatched it again. Hemway tried to find a place to inject her with a sedative, but her entire body had turned metal now. Peter couldn’t keep holding her.

  “What do we do?” Raiden asked frantically.

  “Adeline, stop!” Nikki shouted.

  That’s when Peter noticed her crying by the door. As soon as she said the word, a shimmer overtook Adeline and she froze, petrified. The only sound left in the room was Nikki’s stifled sobs. She cupped her hands over her mouth and sank to the floor against the doorframe. Peter shifted out of his Change as quickly as he had jumped into it and snatched a dark robe off the bed for modesty. He crossed the room to Nikki and hugged her to him.

  Now that Adeline was still, Hemway pulled a tiny bottle from his pocket and plucked out the stopper. He poured it down her petrified gullet and Renenet started muttering a spell. Nikki’s impromptu spell wore off and Adeline instantly fell asleep. Her heavy limbs thumped against the floor and the metal began to recede. Everyone slumped in a temporary respite of relief before working to transport Adeline, Slade, and the anonymous body down to the infirmary.

  Family Bonds

  “Why is it so dark?” Raiden asked in horror, staring at the syringe Hemway had used to extract a sample of blood from Slade.

  Though Slade slept soundly, they’d restrained him to the bed in case he woke up and tried to hurt himself again. His skin was pale and his veins had darkened, but the sweat glistening on his skin suggested that his body was fighting the Hohl. Adeline was in similar condition, but Slade seemed to have been exposed to more of it.

  Hemway excused himself to his lab, where he could test the blood and attempt to remove the Hohl. Peter frowned morosely down at Adeline. Now it was a waiting game.

  ***
r />   “The two of you are definitely related.”

  Only when Kendra, Hemway, and Raiden all looked over at him did Peter realize he had spoken the thought aloud. He continued to frown at Adeline in the bed before him. He and Nikki were tucked in the narrow space on a pair of folding chairs. Nikki’s head rested against his shoulder and her hand, which he held, was on his stomach. She clung to him for comfort, even after he’d revealed himself as a wulver. No one had mentioned it, but this was enough for him for now.

  Kendra realized he had meant her and Adeline and her eyes rolled in annoyance.

  “She would jump out a window to help someone, too,” he clarified.

  He’d thought Nikki was asleep until her fingers clenched his shirt at his words. Peter frowned more deeply. Adeline had gotten no better in the past four hours. In the other bed beside her, Slade was showing signs of improvement. His veins were barely visible and a pink hue had returned to his skin thanks to the blood transfusion Hemway had given him. Although he hadn’t been able to extract the Hohl from the blood sample, Slade was fighting it off on his own. So why wasn’t Adeline? Anxiety sweltered in his gut and made him antsy to get up and move around.

  “Why is she not getting better?” he asked.

  Hemway leaned forward on his elbows, rubbing his tired forehead. “I tried combining a sample of both their blood with a sample of my blood to see if the parasite would spread. Adeline’s blended with my sample, but the color wasn’t as dark. Slade’s did nothing. My theory is that it needs a living host to survive and that they would have each needed to be infected by a full dose to become infected the way the others were. She probably saved his life.”

  “I don’t think that’ll give him any comfort if it kills her.” There was less bitterness and sarcasm in Kendra’s words than Peter had grown to associate with her. “Not with the way he talks about her.” She suddenly sat up straight. “Slade?”

  Slade’s eyelids were fluttering open and closed again against the light of the room. His arid lips parted to pull air roughly into his lungs. Kendra stood restlessly, but stepped away from the bed. Raiden brushed past her to unfasten Slade’s restraints while Hemway took Slade’s vitals. Nikki lifted her head and looked from Slade to Adeline, but her fingers clenched his at the ailing appearance of her best friend. Peter stroked Nikki’s flaxen hair and kissed the side of her head in an attempt to pass a little comfort to her.

  “Sorry, we had to,” Raiden explained to Slade. “How do you feel?”

  Slade wetted his parched lips before forcing words through his dry throat. “Like a building was dropped on me.”

  Raiden mentioned water and flitted from the room. Hemway finished his checkup and relief eased his tense features. “Everything seems in order. I’m going to draw another blood sample.” After he did, he hastened from the room to analyze it.

  “What happened to the Hohl?” Slade asked.

  “The male is currently laying in the morgue. The woman ran off,” Kendra explained.

  “Flew off. She flew off,” Peter verified.

  “Maybe she used to be a witch,” Nikki offered.

  “Hm.” Peter brooded thoughtfully. It would make sense that a sorceress could get infected by this stuff, too. That would also fit Hemway’s living host theory.

  Raiden returned with a glass of water. Slade looked a degree better after downing the glass. “How much do you remember?” Raiden asked.

  “Everything." Slade drew his hands down his face and shut his eyes. “I’m sorry for how I acted. I was suddenly more frightened than I’ve ever been in my life, like the purge and the war combined. I could feel all of it. I can still feel it. It’s like a conjoined psyche, all of them sharing each other’s thoughts and emotions. They’re scared. They’re so scared. They don’t understand it here. Magic is different, quiet.”

  “Different than where?”

  Slade didn’t drop his hands, still trying to calm himself. “Purgatory.”

  “No,” Peter muttered in disbelief. He rubbed his forehead, his brain refusing to accept the answer. Purgatory wasn’t real. And yet, here they were dealing with a creature from that very place. “What, did they break out and decide the grass isn’t actually greener over here?”

  “Doesn’t that book guy think that people have been opening Purgatory from this side?” Nikki whispered to Peter.

  He nodded stiffly, growing increasingly troubled.

  “They were pulled through by force,” Slade agreed. “They want to go back. They’re desperate and confused and it’s making them violent.”

  Anger furrowed Kendra’s brows. “What does that have to do with the Viesci? Why is that woman looking for us?"

  “They’re looking for someone who can send them back. The woman, she doesn’t remember her own name, but she’s looking for her daughter because she thinks she’s the key to open Purgatory and get back.”

  “But what would that have to do with Adeline?” Raiden asked. “This was the second time she’s singled her out.”

  “What about Amelia?" Nikki offered. Confused eyes turned to her around the room and she straightened in her seat, an unintentional reflex to having so many eyes on her after years of theater training. “Adeline showed me her family history. Almost nothing is known about the woman Xavier Cahn fell in love with. What if she was a sorceress who was messing with this stuff?”

  Kendra made a disgusted noise.

  “That’s not possible. She’s not Amelia’s daughter. Plus, she’s never shown any sign of having magic.”

  “What if “daughter” isn’t what the Hohl meant? Maybe, in the chaos, I mistook ‘descendant’ for ‘daughter’.” Slade pondered. His words tumbled from his mouth quickly as he began to panic. “Or maybe they don’t know how much time has passed so they think she’s this woman’s daughter rather than her great-great granddaughter.” Slade’s.

  No, no, no. Peter’s heart began to race. He didn’t want Adeline to be a key. What if she had to die to open it? “But how could she open Purgatory? What does turning metal have to do with opening a portal?”

  “Maybe it’s not about her Splinter Skill,” Kendra suggested. “I’ve never heard of a hybrid between a vampire and a magic user. What if the combination is enough, even if it doesn’t manifest in obvious ways like being able to do magic?”

  Raiden shook his head. “This is all just a theory. That man who interrogated Warren Heinrich said that the person they’re looking for was close to Rurik. As far as we can tell, Amelia didn’t even know Rurik.”

  “What if the two events are unrelated?” Kendra argued.

  “That’s enough,” Hemway’s deep voice boomed from the doorway, interrupting them sternly before they could continue. “Slade’s state of mind is far too fragile at the moment for you to be sending him into a panic over theories and conjecture. The rest of you should leave. If Adeline wakes, I will come find you.”

  Peter frowned fearfully down at Adeline while everyone filed out.

  ***

  My mind cycled through a sequence of scenes, the most prominent of which was the sun being blacked out by the moon as I watched it circle the sky. Once it grew dark, I found myself in a dark land where the Milky Way was strikingly visible in the sky and starlight was the only light to see by. Across the land, creatures crawled through the dark, clawing through the flora and fauna for survival.

  Uneasiness twisted my guts into a gnarled mass when consciousness began to stir my sleep-addled mind. All at once, I felt acutely aware of the chill in my body and how badly my muscles ached. Even my gums were agonizingly sore as if I’d had wisdom teeth pulled from the front of my mouth. Instantly, all the fear I’d felt after being infected by the Hohl came back in a rush. I pulled my eyes open to find myself in the dark. I clutched the bed beneath me and forced myself to breathe, but my breaths came raspy and panicked.

  “Adeline?” said a deep British voice. The legs of a chair groaned loudly at the foot of the bed and I flinched against the high-pitched sound.
>
  “Hemway?”

  The room slowly began to brighten, but even the gradual illumination was too abrasive for my sensitive eyes, which I could feel shuddering in their sockets. I squished them shut again. The sound of footsteps and the rustling of clothing moved closer and then an unexpectedly hot hand pressed against my forehead. After a moment, the hand moved away and something cold was pressed to my chest; the head of a stethoscope, I realized.

  “Your heart rate is slow,” he said perplexedly.

  A bed creaked loudly as someone else rose. “Move,” Slade said.

  I cracked my eyes open to look up at him. Worry lines creased his forehead, his expression serious.

  “How are your gums?”

  “They hurt,” I said, barely enunciating to avoid clanking my teeth together too much. How had he known? I wanted to ask, but didn’t want to move my teeth anymore.

  “I’m going to look, okay?”

  I nodded and he gently lifted my upper lip. Even this made me cringe. Hemway clicked on a tiny flashlight to illuminate my teeth. I pinned my lids closed again.

  “Are those what I think they are?” The doctor asked in a baffled tone. A horrible feeling settled in my gut.

  “Yeah.” The light went away and Slade’s hand moved to mine. “Adeline, you’re going to be okay. Somehow, fighting off the Hohl seems to have ignited the process, but you’re going to be okay, I promise.”

  “What process?” Hemway asked.

  “Das Verdorren.”

  Das Verdorren.

  The Withering.

  Sorrow and terror engulfed me. My face contorted with the threat of crying and I covered it with my hands, embarrassed. “Go away,” I muttered, voice thick and high.

  Hemway hesitated and I heard him shuffle his feet. Finally, he conceded. “Alright. I’ll be just next door if you need me,” He assured me. His shoes squeaked on the floor as he turned and left. The door clicked open and then shut.