Darkness Haunts

by Susan Illene

  I had to spend several minutes coaxing him through it. His steps were slow and reluctant as I pulled on his arm to keep him moving. He didn’t growl at me this time, but as he passed through the spell’s perimeter he muttered something about the dangers of old mines. At least it only stretched for about ten feet so he didn’t have to panic long.

  A short distance later a new shaft opened up to our right. It had been covered up with a glamour spell to appear like a smooth wall. I tapped on Derrick’s shoulder to stop him. We both paused to stand before it. He gave me a dubious look when my headlamp’s light bounced off the false barrier. The beam didn’t shine through for him.

  “There’s nothing here,” he said in a disgruntled tone.

  “It’s a glamour spell. Remember the last time we ran into something like this?”

  He stared at the wall for a minute, studying it, before putting his hand up toward it. I grabbed his arm and jerked it back.

  “No,” I warned. “Don’t touch it. The glamour is only part of the magic they used. There is also an alert spell that will let whoever designed this know if you cross it. We can’t risk them coming with only the two of us here.” At least not yet.

  He dropped his hand to his side. “We must go back and bring the others.”

  Of course he would say that, but I’d committed myself to seeing this through. “Let me go in and check things out to see if there are any traps in there. It’s better to be prepared.”

  Derrick shook his head. “No, it’s too dangerous.”

  I heaved a mental sigh of frustration. “It won’t be dangerous. Spells can’t affect me and I doubt they would bother with physical ones since they could injure themselves down here just as easily. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

  He glanced between the wall and me, doubt in his eyes. I didn’t blink when he tried to stare me down. Our eyes battled it out for long moments before he averted his gaze.

  “Go, if you’re so determined, but don’t be gone long or I’ll come after you.” That’s what I was counting on.

  “I’ll be fine,” I reassured him, taking the first step forward.

  “Melena.” He grabbed my arm. I turned back and saw the concern in his eyes. “Be careful. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  I nodded, unable to speak through the lump rising in my throat. This would have been a lot easier if he’d been an asshole.

  He let me go and I slipped away. Tingles raced over my skin as my body passed through the barrier, but my presence didn’t affect the spell. Looking back at Derrick, I saw his brows were furrowed. The same worry still reflected in his eyes. He must have hated being left behind.

  In front of me, the tunnel appeared like the others we’d passed through—narrow and dark. It veered to the left after I entered and went about fifty feet farther before opening up into a cavern. Not a large one, but bigger than the shaft I’d been traveling in. There were no other safeguards that I could find.

  A shriveled vampire lay on the floor in the center of the open space. I’d never seen one like this. If not for my senses, I might have thought him dead—well, more so than he already was. His sallow skin had turned dried and wrinkled. An unpleasant odor permeated the air that was reminiscent of mothballs. Only his clothes and dark hair had stayed in semi-decent condition, if a bit dusty.

  Putting my backpack on the ground, I dug out two extra flashlights from inside. I pointed one up at the ceiling to let the light bounce off the frozen walls and aimed the other at the vampire. They lit up the chamber in an eerie glow.

  I took a deep breath and knelt down next to the still body. Even at rest, he didn’t look harmless. His grotesque features made me want to back out and run for Derrick. Waking him would be one of the most dangerous things I’d ever done, and I’d done a lot of dangerous things during my military career.

  He could kill me. I wasn’t stupid enough to believe otherwise, but too much depended on me doing this. It would take someone extremely powerful to take down Variola and her crew. The vampire lying before me had the potential to do it. Too bad no one else could break the spell—someone more resilient. I wished there’d been a way to bring Charlie, but that hadn’t been possible either.

  Time was of the essence. With Derrick pacing nearby, I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to believe this would work. The vampire would be weak when he woke. My werewolf partner could handle him if it came down to it…probably.

  My pocket knife cut through my hand in a smooth slice. I winced at the stinging pain. The blood rose up to coat my skin with a steady flow. I pried the vampire’s mouth open to about half an inch and dripped it between his lips. How much he needed to break the spell I didn’t know, but a full minute went by before a charge of awareness lit the air. I leaned back and pressed a cloth to my palm. Maybe a slow awakening? That would be easier to deal with.

  One of his hands twitched. Okay, progress.

  I thought I heard the beat of a heart, but it could have been mine. How long would this take? When his red-rimmed eyes flashed open, I scrambled for the wall. Shit, not long. The twin orbs were full of hunger as they followed my movements with frightening awareness. A predator sizing up his prey. I reached for the knife still laying on the ground a couple of feet from me. He leaped across the space between us. I didn’t get to it in time.

  He encircled my waist and flattened me to the floor. His creepy eyes met mine as he pulled himself up to be level with me. I pushed at his chest and felt my hands dip into his pliable skin before meeting solid ribs. Eww.

  Bony hands gripped my shoulders and yanked me close. His fangs pierced deep into my neck. Sharp glass at my throat couldn’t have been more painful. Most of his body might have wasted away, but his teeth sure as hell hadn’t. I screamed for Derrick and struggled to get free.

  He sucked in mouthfuls of blood, getting stronger with every pull. My blood could nourish him the same way as any other human’s, but it would also weaken his supernatural powers. Some part of him had to recognize what I was—a factor I’d been counting on—but he didn’t seem to care.

  I thought of the knives under my sleeves, but couldn’t get to them with one of my arms trapped between our bodies. Why hadn’t I reached for one of those instead? My gun lay squished between my back and the mine floor, rendering it useless as well. None of my weapons were accessible. I had nothing.

  My heart pumped harder as it struggled with the rapid blood loss. My ears were nearly deafened by the rising beats. I tried squirming away only to be pulled tighter in the vampire’s embrace. With only one hand free, I couldn’t get enough leverage. My throat burned where he tore through it. My life began to flash before my eyes. I couldn’t die on a cold floor with a half-shriveled vampire pinning me down. My last moments weren’t supposed to be like this.

  I let out one last strangled scream, hoping for salvation.

  My prayers were answered when the weight came off by an unseen force. Pure agony shot through me as the sharp fangs were torn from my already ravaged neck. I could hardly breathe from my throat being on fire. My vision faded, but I thought I caught a glimpse of Derrick’s enraged face across the cavern before my mind drifted into a sea of indifference.

  When the blackness engulfed me, it was a welcome relief from the pain. There may have been some shouting and scuffling after that, but it all seemed so vague as to be inconsequential. My body was floating to another place—a pain-free place. It was full of light and color.

  I couldn’t say how much time passed, but when I eventually came to, Nikolas sat with glazed eyes by my side, and Lucas hovered over me. I knitted my brows in confusion. When did he get here? The nephilim seemed to always be popping up at the oddest times. Was I dead? Was hell a place where I had to spend an eternity with him? No, I did not deserve that much punishment.

  I blinked my eyes. The vampire’s skin didn’t look as sallow as it had before, though he still wasn’t close to full health yet. Blood oozed from his wrist. That wasn’t going to make things any better for
him. A spicy taste lingered in my mouth. I ran my fingertips across my lips to find them wet. They came away covered in red. Ugh, nasty vampire blood. I rubbed my mouth with my sleeve to get it all off. Why would he have fed me? His lifeless eyes made me think he hadn’t been all that aware of what he’d done. Someone else had made him do it.

  Lucas sat on the other side of me wearing nothing but black. He looked like a specter of death. No wonder I’d thought I was in hell when I first woke up. A glimmer of relief reflected in his eyes as he rocked back on his heels. Emotion from him? Nah, it couldn’t have been real. The blood loss was making me see things.

  “We really have to stop meeting like this,” I said in a scratchy voice.

  A tinge of a smile might have ghosted his lips for a second, but I couldn’t be sure.

  “My reputation will surely be in shreds if you don’t learn how to keep yourself alive without my help, little sensor.”

  His response was reassuring in an odd way. He hadn’t mentioned killing me this time. Maybe there was hope yet.

  “How did you get him calmed down?” I asked, turning my head as much as I could toward the frozen vampire.

  “I compelled him and had him feed you his blood. I believe all your injuries are healed now.”

  “My injuries?” I couldn’t think straight. It took a moment to catch his meaning.

  My hand moved to my neck to find it smooth and whole. I lifted my shirt to find the claw marks from the bear attack closed up with only faint traces of them remaining. The healing process had begun over the last few days allowing a small amount of scar tissue to develop. At least it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The stitches had fallen out and lay against my skin. A swipe of my fingers brushed them off. I attempted to sit up, but my vision began to spin. I closed my eyes, half sitting up, and waited for it to pass.

  Lucas put a hand against my back when the ground started to rise up toward me. He kept me from crashing into it. The warmth of his fingers reached through my jacket. The same tingles his touch always brought moved across my skin. I held back a shiver and tried not to wonder for the hundredth time why we had this odd connection whenever we were close together. As soon as I opened my eyes, he dropped his arm and moved away. He left a cold emptiness behind.

  I shook my head, realizing my thoughts had turned to dangerous territory. Under no circumstances could anything other than cautious regard ever be directed toward this man. He only received that much because of his random acts of heroism.

  I scanned the area around me and drew in my breath at the site of Derrick’s lifeless form. He lay on the floor in a dark corner across the cavern. His throat had been ripped through much the same way as mine had. Except his hadn’t healed. What had happened to him? I hardly remembered a thing after Nikolas bit me.

  “What happened to Derrick?”

  Lucas glanced over at the werewolf with a hint of disdain. “Nikolas needed to feed and couldn’t continue to do so on you. This wolf came running in as if he planned to save the day. I thought I’d let him by being food for a hungry vampire.”

  “Oh, God, no.”

  I crawled over to him with a sick feeling in my gut. It occurred to me that my senses could still pick his essence up, but not by much. He would die soon if we didn’t help him.

  My hands shook as they grasped Derrick’s pale fingers. They were cold. Werewolves should always feel hot…not cold. I looked at Lucas in desperation. He had to have some kind of powers that could help.

  “You have to fix this,” I demanded.

  He scoffed. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I am serious, Lucas. You have to make him better. He’s as much of a pawn in all this as I am.”

  My voice came out pleading, something I’d never considered doing before when it came to him, but it was my fault Derrick had been hurt. The werewolf had come in here to save me. I couldn’t let him die if I could help it. Even now, my senses told me his life was fading fast. He didn’t have more than a few minutes left.

  “Lucas…” I began again.

  He heaved a martyred sigh and came over to crouch by the body. I suffered through annoyed looks while he put one hand on Derrick’s chest and the other on his neck. The wound had stopped bleeding but remained open. A glow emanated from Lucas’ hands and an incredible surge of power rose up. After a short time, the werewolf’s life signs returned close to normal. A sigh of relief escaped my lips.

  The nephilim had used up almost all of his reserves. He’d needed more power than I’d expected to bring Derrick back from the verge of death. I supposed healing must not be his forte, but he’d done it anyway for me. Without thinking, I hugged him. He sat stiff as a board in my arms.

  “Sorry.” I said, scooting away from him.

  What was wrong with me? Why had I started acting this way around him? Saving me a few times did not erase what he’d done to Wanda. I needed to remember that and stop making up romantic notions in my head. If a knight in shining armor existed, this man would never be it.

  “Don’t ask that of me again,” he said.

  “I won’t.”

  Avoiding his gaze, I turned my attention back to Derrick. Though his breathing and heart rate had returned to normal, he remained unconscious.

  “When will he wake up?”

  “Perhaps in a few hours. He’s lost a lot of blood. I could only encourage the reproduction of it enough to stabilize him. His werewolf side will have to take care of the rest.”

  “What about him?” I nodded at Nikolas. The vampire still didn’t look all that good with his ashen skin clinging to his bones.

  “He is under my compulsion for now.”

  “How did you use compulsion on him? Isn’t he too old for that?”

  “Under normal circumstances he would be too strong, but your blood weakened him. It made him susceptible to my power.”

  “Oh.”

  I had forgotten about that little detail with everything else that had happened. The vampire would suffer from taking my blood for a few days before returning to normal. Variola really couldn’t find out what I’d done until he got his strength back.

  “What are you going to do with him?”

  “Bring him out of it, I suppose. He’ll need to feed again first.”

  And who was supposed to do that? We’d run out of non-volunteers.

  Lucas stood up and moved over to the vampire. With a fingernail he cut his own wrist and lifted it to Nikolas’ mouth.

  “Drink,” he ordered.

  My jaw dropped in surprise. I didn’t think nephilim gave up their blood for anyone.

  Twin fangs sank into his flesh and began sucking right away. The nephilim’s blood did what Derrick’s and mine couldn’t have hoped to accomplish. It restored the vampire’s body back to a much healthier state than before. It might have taken three or more humans to do the same job.

  “How is that possible?” My voice came out in a wave of awe.

  Lucas shrugged. “The first vampire was born of a nephilim couple. As a child, it was their blood that nourished it, so therefore, that is the most potent blood for their race.”

  “But nephilim can’t have children.”

  “No, not under normal circumstances,” he agreed, “but this couple engaged the services of a black witch. It was through her meddling that the vampire race was born and because of her they must drink blood and avoid sunlight. There is always a price when you go against nature.”

  “So the first one turned more of them?” I asked.

  “Yes, after he matured.”

  His answer brought a ton of questions to mind. I opened my mouth to ask them, but he held his free hand up.

  “No. I have already told you more than most know.”

  Well, it had been worth a try. He usually wasn’t even this forthcoming.

  Lucas stopped feeding the vampire and moved to face him. Nikolas’ skin didn’t look pasty anymore and his muscles had filled out. With his gnawing hunger taken care of, I hoped he could k
eep himself together. I held my breath as Lucas said the words that would release him.

  “Wake up, my friend. It’s time we met again.”

  My jaw dropped. They knew each other?

  Chapter Eighteen

  Nikolas leapt up and attacked Lucas the moment the compulsion lifted. The nephilim blocked the assault, but didn’t strike back. The vampire, on the other hand, attempted a round of vicious kicks and hits that would have pulverized a human…and most sups. My blood might have weakened him, but he remained a force to be reckoned with. He moved in a flurry of motions I had a difficult time following. I couldn’t figure out why Lucas didn’t stop him. He could have done it easily enough.

  “You utter bastard,” Nikolas yelled. “How dare you show your face here!”

  The nephilim said nothing, letting Nikolas continue to strike blow after blow on him. It had to hurt but he didn’t do more than flinch. The vampire might have been a couple inches shorter, with a slightly leaner build, but that just made him appear lighter on his feet. There was a slight British accent that came from him as he continued to let out his rage.

  “Not even an apology? You got my sister get killed.”

  Lucas reacted. One moment he had his back to the wall and in the next he had Nikolas against another one. Dust scattered all around. That couldn’t be good for the stability of the mine. The two sups were strong enough to bring it down on our heads if they weren’t careful. I really had no desire to be buried in here.

  “Hey, guys…” Neither looked at me.

  “I’ll tell you one last time,” the nephilim growled out. “Gytha got herself killed. She was willful and disobedient. If she had listened to me and stayed home, she would be alive today. I regret that she died, more than you know, but I’m not going to apologize. She made her own choices. Do not hang her death on me.”