Through These
Wicked Nights
Book Two: The Guardians of the Night
Pixie Lynn Whitfield
© Pixie Lynn Whitfield 2013
Credits and permissions:
Cover model—Lynn West; Photographer—Julia Starr
Night Fate Photography
Cover Design:
Taylor Jenkins and Pixie Lynn Whitfield
Other works by Pixie Lynn Whitfield:
Darkness Comes This Way
The Night Unleashed: A Short Story Collection
Prologue
“We can’t allow these vile creatures to live among us! They drink blood! They’ll murder us, our children, control and enslave us!”
Static.
“How long have they been a part of our world? What made these freaks? Scientists want to know…”
Click.
“As the President I can assure you, we are making great strides in working with other countries and military. We will bring them all down before they end the human race. Now is the time for peace among humans. We must work together, trust each other. Do not take matters into your own hands, because we don’t want mass panics or wrong decision-making. If you see what you think may be a Vampire, call the number on your screen immediately and make a report.”
Static.
“We will find them and we will kill them.”
*******
Zarah Duncan walked silently through the Hiders’ manor, looking around in horror. They were all dead. She had been too late. An emergency call from one of the Guardians’ contacts had come through about an hour before, and as her and the team packed up to head over to the manor for assistance, the Hiders there had all been brutally slaughtered.
The problem weren’t Rogues anymore. Even they, the small amount left in the region anyway, were scarce, keeping a low profile.
No, the problems now were humans.
“Zarah!”
“I’m in here!” she called in response. She heard footsteps padding heavily through the doorway, crunching over broken glass and debris. When she turned, her partner Draven Kinsley, stood nearby staring in shock at the gruesome scene around them.
“What happened here?” he breathed, quickly covering his mouth and nose with his free hand, while the other still gripped a gun.
“Humans. A raid.”
Zarah looked around at the destruction. The bodies, what was left of them, had been left about with all of the manor’s shades and windows open for the sunlight to catch and turn to ash in the morning rays. Bullet holes and blood were splayed upon the walls and drapes. One Hider’s decapitated head sat at the body’s feet. A once beautiful oriental rug was now a stained mess of mud and blood, and broken glass and shredded books littered the floors. It was a small family, and they had all been gathered in the main room when the unsuspecting raid struck, the television still blaring as it flared with static every so often. Her eyes landed on the child across the room and rage seethed through her. The girl probably had been no more than eight years old, half-human and not fledged yet, but there she lay in her final resting place among her parents and a few other relatives. The beady black eyes of the doll she had been clutching seemed to be staring right at Zarah.
With a raging scream, Zarah balled up a fist and turned to throw it into a nearby wall.
“We were too late!”
One
Zarah had to be dragged out of the manor while she continued to seethe with rage. Draven struggled to keep his hand around her wrist as she resisted his grip, screaming murderous curses. Her brother, Thomas, waited at a sport utility vehicle along with two other Guardians, Markus and Jerry. The night air was crisp and clear, with the cold, late autumn settling in, but the weather didn’t affect any of them.
“What the hell happened?” Thomas asked, frowning. He stepped forward and looked at his sister.
“We were too late. There’s nothing else we can do here.”
Her fangs flashed as she hissed and wrestled her arm away from Draven finally. He continued to watch her warily. Ever since her change a few months ago, she was a constant rollercoaster while her emotions still continued to try and find a solid balance. Zarah always feared she wouldn’t find that perfect balance. After all, she had the Elemental Power and both Fallen and Vampire through her bloodline. It was such an unusual mix and maybe it was all making her a little crazy. The growing situation with the humans wasn’t helping matters with her volatile emotions either.
“What do you mean? The Hiders…”
“They’re dead. Raided. Let’s go. The manor has been left with the shutters open for the sun to take care of the bodies. I don’t want to go back in there again.” Zarah cut her brother off and headed toward the vehicle. She put her gun back in its holster on her hip and pushed past Draven without another word. The men exchanged uneasy looks before climbing in behind her as they headed back to The Compound.
The Fallen were waiting for them in the lobby when they returned. It was obvious they wanted a report of everything that had happened, but she was in no mood to deal with Seth or his group. Instead, she kept walking past in silence without a glance or acknowledgement.
“Something go wrong out there?” Seth asked with a frown. She almost snorted in disbelief at his show of emotion.
It seemed the more time the Fallen spent with them, the more they learned to channel what it felt to be human. Mainly because not long ago, Zarah told them all to quit being emotionless creatures and learn what life was like. It didn’t really work too well, but it seemed that through some time and effort, some were trying. Namely Seth.
She continued to ignore them and their quizzical looks as she kept walking onto her room.
“Wait, Zarah—” Draven caught up to her. Her stomach knotted when he approached. Things had been strange between the two of them over the last several months, but her feelings for him hadn’t changed. She turned around and let out a frustrated huff, freezing when meeting his striking blue-silver eyes. Even before his change, his gaze had mesmerized her at times. Now he simply froze her in place with a single glance. She swallowed before forcing her eyes away from his and crossing her arms over her chest.
“What do you want, Draven?”
“I want to talk. Not just about tonight, but about other things. What has been up with you lately?”
She shook her head in annoyance and rolled her eyes. When she reached for her room’s door handle she said, “There’s nothing to talk about really.”
She knew she had been withdrawing from him again like before. As she closed her door in his face and headed toward the shower, shedding clothes along the way, tears stung at her eyes.
The hot water running over her head and back relaxed her, soothing her tense muscles and easing her racing mind of the night’s events. It had been four months since Vampires had been made public, and the world was thrown into chaos. Humans were driven by terror and misunderstanding of the species, immediately set on killing all of them. Of course, the Guardians had always known this would happen because humans just didn’t always take the time to understand things. She hadn’t been alive during the Civil Rights’ movement, but her father had and she remembered him telling her about it when she was little before she’d been fledged. Yes, humans came around to finally making peace mostly amongst each other, granting equal rights among all, but she couldn’t hold high hopes that Vampires would get the same outcome this time a hundred years later. Providing enough lived through all the chaos to even see a possibility of equal rights and peace with humans.
With a streak
of her hand, Zarah wiped the steam away from the mirror after she stepped out of the shower and stared at her reflection. Her innocent, young appearance stared back. She had only been nineteen when Thomas turned her fully into Vampire. Or “fledging” to make the official term when it came to changing a half vampire-born being into a full vamp. Long, dark auburn waves fell down her back as she dried her hair and it framed her forever-young round face. Her eyes were big with an unusual swirling mixture of amethyst and turquoise. It was part of a trait that she had only just learned about a few months ago; she was half Fallen.
She wasn’t tall, only a couple of inches over five feet, lean and athletic. Despite her young or fragile-like doll appearance, the other Guardians knew not to cross her.
After getting ready for bed, she grabbed a book from her overflowing bookshelf and lay down to relax. Her mind was too distracted for reading though, and kept racing with thoughts of the Hiders back at that manor and the untimely end they had met. The doll’s beady eyes continued haunting her. Images of large, black pools filled with agonizing screams and blood splatter flashed into her mind. Sighing, she set her book aside and banged the back of her head into the wall behind the bed out of frustration.
Zarah stared up at the ceiling for a long time without moving until one of her fingers twitched involuntarily. She could feel the power in her, still pent up from earlier. Looking down at her open palm beside her, she lifted it and concentrated. Within seconds, a violet floating flame erupted in the center of her hand. She began playing with it by bouncing her hand, causing the flame to jump along in unison. The anger slowly started to melt away as Zarah’s energy leveled and a small smile tugged at her lips. Her elemental powers from the Fallen side had grown considerably over the last few months. It was a magical hum that called to her. Desire that raged from somewhere within her heart for it. A power she’d never be able to ignore, even if she tried.
A knock at her door interrupted her, but the flame didn’t go away. She looked up briefly enough to call out a “Come in,” and then returned back to staring at her hand.
“I knew I was sensing some elemental use going on,” Seth said from her doorway.
Zarah’s flame extinguished with a whoosh then and she sighed. Glancing across the room, she met the Fallen’s gold irises and forced a tight, polite smile. He was tall, almost touching the top of the doorframe.
“Now what do you want, Seth?” Her voice was rigid. The question may have sounded rude, but she didn’t care.
Sometimes, the Fallen made her uncomfortable. Especially him. Of course, Zarah wouldn’t admit that out loud.
“I haven’t talked to you much since the party.”
Zarah nodded. She remembered what he was talking about. The night after they all gathered at their new Compound building when the old one had been destroyed by Rogues, they’d had a party to celebrate despite the coming problems. Nathanial Bolt, her old boss over the Guardians had gone corrupt starting the entire mess that led to the insane world now. He had taken blood samples from Thomas, knowing that she and her brother came from a Fallen mother, and made Rogues intelligent, then arranged an ambush that led her brother to being turned Rogue, which in turn made Thomas turn her Rogue because he knew the family secret that she would cure. Her old mentor tried to kill her for the sake of power and gain in the end and it ensued in a fight at an old military base that made Vampires public. She killed Nathanial but not proudly. His betrayal still stung.
Turning her attention back to Seth, she shrugged. “I haven’t had reason to talk.”
In truth, she was confused. He’d kissed her cheek at the party while playing around, and something had stirred. She loved Draven, wanted to be with him, but things were strange between them at the moment. Sometimes he acted like all he wanted was her, and then other times he was cold and distant like old times. It was like a battle. And it was one that she was not going to fight. She was not the type to chase after any guy. If he wanted her, he’ll tell her. Until then, she’ll just do her job.
Seth stepped into her room and closed the door for privacy before speaking again.
“I heard about what happened tonight. I’m sorry. There is something we should discuss though, Zarah.”
She raised her eyebrows in interest and waited for him to continue. For a few brief loud ticks of her wall clock, she caught his gaze wandering over her body before coming back up to meet her gaze. Luckily she was wearing a full pajama set of flannel pants and a black tank top, rather than something too revealing, or else she would have felt even more uncomfortable the way she was laying on top of her bed with Seth standing nearby.
“With all that is going on now, it might be best if we all just stay in from now on.”
“What?” Zarah startled to rattle off questions with a frown. “Are you saying no more rounds? No going out of the Compound at all? Not answering any distress calls?”
Seth nodded, his long, strawberry-blonde hair bouncing slightly with him.
“That’s not right!” she nearly shouted, sitting up now. “We have to get out there and help as much as we can. I want humans to understand we’re not the enemy.”
“And you can’t do that if you’re killed, either during a raid fight or by a Street Hunter,” he tried to reason. His tone was firm and harsh.
She didn’t bother arguing further. The tension was building again.
Zarah pointed her finger at the door and hissed.
“Get out of my room now.”
Two
After Seth opened the door to walk out, Zarah caught a glimpse of Draven walking by in the hallway. He froze and frowned at her until the door closed, leaving her alone again. She couldn’t begin to imagine what he was thinking despite that nothing was going on between her and the Fallen.
The mechanic buzz of the metal shutters closing around the Compound windows sounded off through the building letting her know that sunrise was approaching. Before their move there, they had been in an underground area that didn’t require the need for the high-tech shutters to keep the sunlight out, or the dozens of alarms and lock codes to enter and exit. She missed the old building. Times were a bit simpler then.
Zarah wasn’t sleeping well. She hadn’t in some time, and when she did she kept hoping for another glimpse at her mother. After the incident at the military base when she passed out, she found herself in a dream-state, or perhaps visiting the spirit world, where she had a brief conversation with her. She had yet to tell Thomas about the experience. But Seth knew. Why did she tell him out of all the people around her? She should have told Draven first instead. Keeping it from him too was a decision made from something her mother had told her during their talk.
“Tell Draven to start looking more into his past and family history.”
Her mother, Kathleen, had surprised her when saying that but insisted it was important information. She still hadn’t hinted to Draven anything about it and decided that she would do all the work herself. Curiosity nagged at her thoughts. Unlike most, he was supposedly not born to a Vampire parent, but had been a full human aged to twenty-two years old before mysteriously waking up late one night as a Vampire and Nathanial at his side to help. Draven always claimed to have hardly any memory of his human life before being turned. Was that really true? Or was he hiding something from everyone? She wanted to learn whatever she could about this questionable past just in case.
With a huff, she grabbed the book beside her and began trying to concentrate on reading it. She had to get her mind off of things, clear her head, and relax. Most of all, she needed sleep, no matter how bad her body tried to fight against it when hearing the gunshots every so often outside. It took hours before her eyes finally grew heavy and the book landed on her chest.
Zarah still slept restlessly. Thinking of Draven before falling asleep obviously wasn’t good for her. He filled her dreams.
They were back at the military base after the battle with the Rogues. She was feeding from him and he had a taste that she had nev
er experienced before. She fought the urge from continuing to drink, instead pulling back and looking up into his hypnotizing blue-silver eyes. There was something different about him, not just from the change, but something entirely that she’d never noticed before, and she couldn’t place whatever it was that made him stand apart from other Vampires. Quietly, she lifted her hand and ran her fingers through his thick, shaggy black hair. He smiled down at her, revealing his fangs.
Around them was a silent darkness. A small, radiant white light shined on them like a spotlight. It was not like four months ago when they had been there and bodies lay in heaps of destruction and rubble. Only Draven and her sat there in that moment staring at each other, holding one another, until she broke the silence.
“What is so different?” she whispered. “You are different.”
He merely shrugged and continued to smile before pulling her closer. Before their lips touched, Seth appeared behind him, standing there in all his Fallen glory beneath another bright glow with his wings spread wide. Zarah turned away from Draven’s approaching mouth and stared up at Seth in confusion. He looked back down at her, his gold eyes a storm cloud of emotions and his mouth twisted in sorrow. But Seth couldn’t… She reached out to touch his outstretched hand…
Through These Wicked Nights (Guardians of the Night Book 2) Page 1
