The Darkening (Immortals)

by Robin T. Popp

  When the doctor walked in a few minutes later, she couldn’t help feeling disappointed. It wasn’t that he was ugly. She simply hadn’t expected him to be so…short.

  Despite several cups of coffee and sleeping in, Lexi was tired and in a foul mood when she walked into the offices of Blackwell Bail Bonds. Not even her conversation with Mai had left her feeling cheerful, though at least she knew that Mai was alive, which helped.

  “Morning, Marge,” she greeted the older woman as she went to her in-box and the files sitting there. “Looks like another busy day.”

  The busier she was today, the better. She still couldn’t believe what Darius had done to her the night before. Every time she thought about it, she wanted to curl up and hide. Let the Big Bad demon take control of the world. Why should she care? As long as the demon was in charge, business was booming. At the rate they were going, she’d be able to set enough money aside to retire early.

  Lexi worked diligently all day and successfully brought in four of her six cases. None was a hardened criminal trying to evade the law. They were simply misguided lawbreakers who saw the error of their decision to not show up at court as soon as Lexi pointed it out to them.

  By the end of the day, she had worked off enough of her built-up moon-induced energy so that she was feeling less edgy than she had been that morning.

  As far as distracting her from thoughts of Darius, well, she’d only thought of him one or two—thousand—times.

  Looking at her watch, Lexi saw that it was late afternoon. On any other day, she would have packed it in and gone home, but not today. She was afraid of what—or who—might be waiting at her apartment for her, so instead, she pulled out her notes and studied the specifics of her next case file.

  His name was Martin Ironwood, and he was another first-time offender charged with disturbing the peace. Absolutely nothing in his profile suggested he was the type to run. When Lexi arrived at his brownstone home, a pleasant-looking woman in her late twenties answered the door.

  “Can…can I help you?” She looked nervous, and it was obvious from her red eyes that she’d been crying—a lot.

  Lexi pulled out her bail enforcement license and flashed it. “I’m Lexi Corvin, with Blackwell Bail Bonds. I’m looking for Martin Ironwood—is he here?”

  The woman’s lower lip trembled. “No. I don’t know where he is. Two nights ago, he called a car service to come pick him up, and I haven’t seen or heard from him since.”

  Lexi studied her face. She didn’t think the woman was trying to cover for her husband; she honestly didn’t know where he was. “Has he done this before? Disappeared for a couple of days without telling you where he went?”

  “No, never. We’ve only been married two years, and up until last week, he was so good about calling me all the time—you know? To say hello and see how my day was going. And the few times he was running late, he called to let me know that, too.”

  “Did you have a fight?” Sometimes couples ran into problems once the honeymoon was over and real life began. “Or maybe something happened at work?”

  “I don’t know. He works for a marketing firm, and last week they got a new client from out of town who’d heard about our vampire bars. Martin had to show him around, even though he didn’t want to go. He wanted me to go with him, but since I’m pregnant, we decided that wasn’t a good idea.” She sighed. “I don’t know what happened at that place—he wouldn’t tell me—but after that night, he was different. He stopped calling me all the time. He started working late—really late.” She took a shuddering breath. “And he was so tired. I thought he might be getting sick and begged him to stay home. He just laughed and said he felt great.” She paused. “He finally agreed to see a doctor, but I think he just told me that to shut me up.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  Her features grew hard. “How many doctors do you know who schedule routine exams at night?”

  Lexi had to admit that, on the surface, it seemed suspicious. “So you think…?”

  “He was seeing another woman. It’s the only explanation I can come up with that makes sense.”

  “Did you call the police and report him missing?” Lexi asked. “Or check the local hospitals?”

  “Yes, of course,” the woman said. “But they haven’t been much help. They say there’s no proof he didn’t leave of his own free will.”

  “What about his job?”

  She shook her head. “They haven’t heard from him either. If he doesn’t show up soon, they’ll be forced to fire him.”

  Lexi took a deep breath. She felt sorry for the woman. “You said, on that last day, that he called a car service to come pick him up. Do you happen to remember the name of the company?”

  “We always use Blue’s Limos.”

  “Thank you.” Lexi promised to let the wife know if she found her husband, then left. She wasn’t looking forward to her next step. She pulled out her cell phone, called information for the Blue’s Limos number and called it to request a car. When it arrived, she had the driver take her to their main office. As she feared, Blue’s Limos was a small-time operation, but at least they kept a log of their calls.

  The driver who had picked up Martin was currently out on a call, so Lexi found a comfortable spot to wait for his return.

  This was the glamorous life of the bail enforcement agent, she thought, hoping the driver planned to return sometime before tomorrow.

  Darius stood against the wall between two panels of red drapes so his black outfit blended with the black section of wall. He was wearing clothes that Ricco had loaned him, since his duster and tattoos tended to stick out in a crowd.

  As a precaution, however, he’d taken his dagger and cut slits running the length of the sleeves. If he got in a fight, he wanted easy access to his weapons.

  He was lurking against the side of the room, watching the vampires and demons come and go, hoping to find the doorway that led to the underground passages he felt sure had to exist.

  One section in particular interested him. He’d seen several exceptionally beautiful women approach the wall, only to suddenly disappear into the nearby crowd. Yet he couldn’t recall the exact details. It was like one minute they were there, the next they weren’t.

  It had to be some form of illusionary magic that made onlookers believe one thing happened while something else entirely took place.

  He waited for another group of demons to appear and watched closely.

  There! This time, he saw clearly. They hadn’t turned into the crowd, but rather, had disappeared through the wall.

  He started across the room, walking casually in the direction of the magic doorway. He was almost there when suddenly a powerful-looking vampire came through, accompanied by a beautiful woman with long dark hair.

  Darius did a double take to make sure it wasn’t Lexi. Something about them held his attention. When they walked over to the corner bar to get a drink, Darius slinked along behind them, blending into the crowd as best he could until he was close enough to overhear their conversation.

  “…things overseas I must attend to,” the woman was saying.

  “How long will you be gone?”

  She gave a delicate laugh. “Not long enough for you to think you can take charge, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  “Of course not,” the vampire quickly denied, though he didn’t sound sincere.

  “I will be gone for the next two days. When I return, I will send for you. Bring Tain with you. We have things to discuss.”

  Tain! His brother was here, just as Darius had suspected all along. He watched the female walk off. He wasn’t interested in her; it was the vampire who could lead him to Tain.

  The vampire took his time finishing his drink, and when he finally left the bar, Darius was not far behind.

  It was after dark when the driver who had picked up Martin Ironwood returned to the station.

  “Do you remember where you took him that night?” Lexi asked a
fter explaining the situation.

  “Sure. I’ll even take you there if you want.”

  “How far is it?” she asked once they were in his car.

  “Not too far,” he replied as he drove. “Up near Central Park. Popular place,” he added.

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “Seems like I’ve dropped off a lot of fares there this week.”

  When they reached the old brick building, Lexi climbed out of the car and saw part of a sign hanging on the door that identified the building as some type of fellowship hall. The lights were on inside, but Lexi wasn’t sure this was a place where she wanted to march up to the front door and knock.

  After watching the car drive off, she looked around to make sure no one was about and then slipped around to the back of the building. There, she saw two back doors as well as four windows on the second story. Below each window was the fire escape—her ticket inside.

  Looking around once more to make sure no one was watching, she hurried to the fire escape and pulled down the ladder. Quickly climbing it, she kept close to the side of the building so she wouldn’t be seen by anyone standing inside.

  She inched toward the first window and slowly leaned toward it until she could see inside. As far as she could tell, the room was empty. But when she tried to open the window, she found it locked.

  Breaking it would make too much noise, so she walked to the next window. This time, she found the room occupied. Men and women wearing dark red ceremonial gowns were moving about. She quickly ducked out of sight before she was spotted.

  Dropping to her hands and knees, she crawled under that window and on to the next. A peek inside showed the room to be empty, and when she tried to open the window, she felt it give. Looking through the window to the lock, she saw that it was the kind that latched, but both the window and the lock were old.

  Pushing in on the lower pane so the two halves of the lock—one on the upper window pane and one on the lower—didn’t touch, she pushed up on the window. Slowly it edged upward, and soon there was enough room for her to climb in.

  Once inside, she opened the latch and closed the window, not wanting any cool breezes to attract attention, but also wanting to leave herself an option for a fast escape if she needed it.

  She found herself in what looked like a small office. There was an old wooden desk with paperwork neatly stacked on it. The bookcases against the walls held as many knickknacks as books, and a musty odor of age clung to the furnishings.

  She took a second to scan the papers on the desk and learned that she was in the Knights of Blood Fellowship Hall. Knights of Blood was a vampire organization trying to improve the image of vampires with their wannabe Knights of Columbus image and supposed charitable functions. To Lexi, it was almost as convincing as a used-car salesman endorsing buyer protection plans.

  Why would Martin have come here?

  A noise caught her attention, and she froze. Footsteps in the hall were coming her way. She looked about the room for a place to hide. She tiptoed to a closet and opened the door. It was filled with a huge, four-drawer filing cabinet.

  The footsteps were drawing closer, so she hurried back to the door and barely managed to duck behind it as it opened. Holding very still, she watched a hooded, red-robed figure enter. It crossed to the desk, though fortunately didn’t go around to the other side.

  Lexi hardly dared to breathe. She considered ducking around the door, but without knowing what lay on the other side, it didn’t seem a smart move. Maybe, if she was very quiet…

  Then again, maybe not.

  “Who are you?” the figure growled. “You don’t belong here.” He set the papers he was holding on the desk behind him. “Did you sneak in here to spy on us? Well, you picked a bad night to be curious.”

  He charged at her without giving her a chance to explain. Feet planted slightly apart, hands clenched into fists, she made two quick jabs to his head and followed with a roundhouse kick to his side. He doubled over, grunting in pain.

  He didn’t stay down long, though, and soon was coming at her again, arms stretched out before him.

  Lexi feinted with her left fist and clocked him with her right. He fell back a step, shaking his head. She knew better than to give him a chance to collect his thoughts and immediately hit him with another roundhouse kick to his side and a jab to his head. Throwing back his hood, he came at her again, bloodlust turning his eyes a bright red that matched his robe.

  Up until that moment, Lexi had been fighting to immobilize her opponent—maybe knock him unconscious. Now she knew it was going to come down to him or her. Lexi absolutely had no compunction about killing this vampire in order to save her own life.

  She looked about for a weapon, wishing she had morphing tattoos like Darius did.

  When the vampire came at her again, Lexi put all her strength into punching him. It didn’t knock him unconscious, but he did fall back against the desk, clearly shaken. In that moment, Lexi found her weapon.

  Grabbing the old wooden coatrack beside the door, she rested it against the floor and brought her foot down in the center of it, snapping it in two.

  She had just straightened up when the vampire charged into her, driving her back against the wall. A wicked grin split his face and then vanished as Lexi shoved the coatrack deep into his chest.

  He stepped back, shock etched across his face. He looked down at the piece of wood sticking out of his chest even as his body started to age and wither. He was dead before his skeleton collapsed to the ground.

  Lexi felt a momentary remorse. She didn’t like causing death—even to save her own life.

  Stepping to the doorway, she stopped and listened. From below, she heard voices—a lot of voices.

  Just what I need, she thought, more vampires. She wondered if she should give up trying to find Martin. She glanced back at the window, considering making an exit. Her gaze fell on the vampire. He’d been reduced to a pile of disintegrated bone beneath a red robe.

  She quickly picked up the robe and shook out the dust. The piece of wood clattered to the floor, reminding her there was a gash in the robe. Still, it was better than nothing.

  She pulled it on and tugged the front together, making sure the rip fell inside a fold. Then she pulled the hood over her head. She half considered carrying the piece of wood with her, but that would have been too obvious. Going back to the doorway, she took a bracing breath and stepped through.

  She walked down the empty hall, glancing inside each doorway as she passed. At the end, she found a stairway and took it to the first floor. When she reached the bottom, she almost lost her nerve. She was standing before two open double doors leading into a huge room filled with easily a hundred or more people dressed in red and white robes like the one she wore.

  She had no idea what was going on—and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

  The room was set up with rows of chairs facing the front where there was a raised dais.

  No one seemed to pay much attention to her as she slipped away. She just wanted to find Martin—if he was there—and leave.

  She took a few minutes to explore the rest of the first floor, which was surprisingly empty. Finding nothing, she hurried back to the stairs and went down to the basement.

  It was a finished basement and looked much like the second floor in that there was a hallway with doors opening on both sides. She went to each one and tried the knob. In most cases, the doors were open, and she found herself peering into very small offices piled with books and papers.

  The fifth room, however, was different. This room reminded Lexi of a medical-school anatomy lab with rows of bodies stretched out on gurneys. The sight gave her an ominous feeling.

  She had only to check the first body to know the truth of what she’d found: newly converted vampires—each bearing twin fang marks on their neck.

  She walked up and down the rows, disturbed at the sheer number of people. There were young and old alike in the room, and i
t made her sick. Why would so many people choose this alternative to life?

  She was halfway through the room when the face of one body caught her attention. She stopped and took a second, longer look. In death, Martin Ironwood looked much as he had in his file photo.

  Lexi heaved a sigh. She’d found him. Now what? Carry him out?

  Suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck prickled. Clenching her hand into a fist, she whirled around, swinging her fist with all her might at the huge vampire looming behind her.

  There was enough power in her punch to knock a man silly—and it would have, she felt sure, if the man hadn’t in one smooth move caught her fist with one hand and grabbed her wrist with the other. Before she had time to react, he twisted her arm and shoved her forward over Ironwood’s body.

  The speed and ease with which he immobilized her made a mockery of her abilities. When he leaned into her, she felt the size and mass of his body dwarfing her. She tried not to panic as he pulled back her hood.

  “You’re determined to get yourself killed, aren’t you? I bet you gave your parents heart attacks growing up.”

  Lexi froze. “Darius?” He pulled her to her feet and released her, stepping away. She rubbed her arm and scowled at him. “You scared the shit out of me.”

  He pushed back his hood and smiled. “Serves you right. What the hell are you doing sneaking around down here?”

  She gestured to Ironwood’s body. “I’ m working. That’s my skip. What are you doing here?”

  He frowned. “I was following a lead that I thought would take me to Tain.” He shrugged. “It didn’t. I was about to shake things up a bit when I saw you sneak down here.”

  “How’d you know it was me?”

  His gaze heated. “I’d know your body anywhere.”

  His answer hinted at such intimacy, she felt flustered. “Wh-what do you mean you were going to shake things up? What’s going on upstairs?”

  He shook his head. “Lexi, Lexi. When are you going to learn to find out what’s going on before you go rushing in? Upstairs, the vampires from the Crypt are initiating new members.”