She had decided long ago that there was an elegance to the silence that surrounded vampires. They walked without disturbing the air around them, except for the occasional thump or crack of things shifting as they moved.
The thick darkness enveloped everything. How far was sunrise? Despite her efforts to stay perfectly still, her body was trembling, her ears pulsing. The drumming in her chest was so loud she wondered if they could hear it, smell the blood rushing through her veins.
Crack. Crack.
Two of them. Maybe more. The sounds were so inconsistent and so subtle, it would’ve been easy to pretend they weren’t there.
The elegance of monsters, her mind screamed. It was a clever trick, one that many would fall for in a desperate attempt to hold on to sanity. Hold on to the hope that death wasn’t coming.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
The sounds were getting closer, which meant they were moving down the corridor—probably inspecting every room as they went along. She had to make a decision and make it quickly. She could stay where she was, frozen, and hope they gave up before they reached her room. Or she could get up and try to scurry away to another section of the factory. Both options were equally terrifying.
She closed her eyes and tried to steady her heart. Pictures of her body being drained of blood flashed in her mind. Get out, Isabelle, she told herself. You have to get out now.
She focused on the sounds for what felt like an eternity. Moonlight was streaming through the small window and she tried to guess how far sunrise was. A couple of hours? Minutes away? She considered jumping out of the window, but that would mean breaking the glass first. If she did, would she have time to jump out of it before they got to her?
Crack.
The sound reverberated down the corridor. At least a hundred feet away, she guessed. Then prayed her guess was right.
Holding her breath, she slowly stood up. The room was empty. Moonlight streamed through the windows beyond the door, bathing the corridor with a phantom-like shine.
She looked at her feet, trying to discern the objects on the floor so she could avoid them. The smallest sound, just a single wrong move—and they would be on her in a second.
Before she scurried into the corridor, she paused long enough to take a deep breath. Her mind was screaming for her to turn around and go back to the false security of the desk, but she shushed the thoughts away. Instead, she stepped into the moonlight, her heart in a frenzy.
The corridor was empty too. She moved away from the moonlight melting into the building and saw the break of light painting itself on the horizon. Sunrise was just minutes away. Whatever vampires were in the building were there to hide from the coming daylight—not because they’d seen her car and were looking for her. They had probably been caught out and had to walk into whatever dark place they could find to wait for the next night.
A hint of hope sprang up but she pushed it down immediately. Not yet, she told herself. Not yet.
She took a tentative step, then another. The corridor around the corner was also empty. Although she couldn’t see it clearly, she knew the door to the control room was at the other end of the corridor. If she could make it out of the factory and into her car, she could take off. They wouldn’t risk following her out into the open with dawn so close.
Crack.
Her feet froze to the ground. The sound was closer than before. Too close. Did she have time to tiptoe all the way to the door? In a split second, she decided she didn’t—and instead she took off running.
Crack. Crack. Crack. Whatever was there was now aware of the human running down the corridor. She didn’t turn around to see if they were behind her. Or how close they were. She just kept running. The door into the control room was open. She rushed through it and darkness swallowed her. There were no windows there, no light, and her mind struggled to remember where the exit door was.
“A night of surprises, I must say.”
Her whole body froze, her breath caught in her throat. The queasy feeling in her stomach got stronger and she had to force herself not to throw up.
The door. Where was the door?
“You’re going the wrong way,” the vampire said, a hint of a smile in his voice.
It was impossible to tell if he was lying to confuse her or just enjoying the situation.
She took a deep breath and turned around to face him. He was blocking the other entrance, the moonshine enveloping his massive body from behind and casting his face into complete darkness. The darkness was good, in a way, because she couldn’t see his eyes. And that meant he couldn’t charm her into submission. Or at least she hoped he couldn’t.
“I’ll just go,” she said, even though it sounded so ridiculous.
The vampire laughed and her stomach quivered in response.
“Please, don’t,” he said. Then his voice got deeper, close to a roar. “You smell delicious.”
She reached behind her back, looking for something solid. Nothing. She walked a step backwards into the empty space.
He didn’t move and she knew he was playing with her. The way a cat played with a mouse it was about to kill. Just to enjoy the hunt longer, just to get the bite in when least expected.
“Come out and play,” he said, echoing her thoughts.
Her hand found the deadbolt—and he jumped towards her. She ducked, screaming, and fell against the door. It slammed open with a loud thump. The first hints of sunlight burned into her eyes and spilled into the room. She scrambled to her feet and then ran towards the car.
As she jumped in, she dared look back and found his eyes boring into hers from the safety of the darkness. It took several minutes of speeding down the highway before her heart stopped booming against her chest in a maddening race.
It took every last ounce of daylight to make it to the compound.
At some point during the drive, she stopped at an abandoned gas station. She filled her tank with the little gas she had left in a gas can, then walked into the bathroom to change into clean clothes. The woman looking back at her from the mirror was one she barely remembered: bright bluish eyes, soft caramel hair, pretty. At least that was what she used to be called before she became a fugitive, always covered in dust.
Five years ago, she had been a medical student completing her internship, complaining to whoever would listen about the long shifts and the sleepless nights. Five years later, she would give anything to be back in the tiring corridors of a hospital. Only because at the end of the day, she would get to go home and sleep in her own bed, by her own rules.
She looked at the reflection again. She didn’t have any makeup or perfume, but at least she was dirt-free. The jeans and T-shirt she’d chosen embraced every curve—and she was hoping that’d be enough to catch the eye of somebody important within the compound. The closer she got to the king, the easier her impossible mission would be. Or at least she’d have a chance that way.
She got back into the car and sped up. Darkness would be coming back soon enough and there was no way she wanted to get caught out on the roads again.
The vampires had established special “surrender points” throughout the state, where humans could walk in and offer themselves as pets. However, surrendering at any of those points would mean getting stuck there. If she wanted a chance to cross paths with the king, she needed to make it to the compound, where he lived. She’d never seen the compound before, but she had an idea of what to expect. She knew the king had taken over an old mansion and then built other structures around it. Some people said dozens, others claimed hundreds, of buildings now surrounded the main home.
There’d been human scouts before, stories passed down and spread around the country about how the vampires had built an impenetrable wall to seal the compound. She always wondered if the wall was meant to keep prisoners in or to keep something else out. Maybe they were selective about who was allowed inside the compound. Of course that meant that getting out of the compound would be impossible—if she even made i
t in at all. And whether she managed to kill the king or not, chances were high that she would die within those walls.
Her only hope was that her actions would create enough chaos that the whole reign would fall. Or at least falter enough for somebody else to come along and finish what she’d started.
In the distance, the outline of a wall extended into the countryside. The place was definitively a fortress. The closer she got to the structure, the faster her heart beat—and the more her stomach quivered. Her mind kept replaying the events of the night before and the effect the vampire’s presence had had on her body. She knew vampires had the ability to charm their victims—cloud their minds to make them docile and responsive—and all she could think about at the moment was that she hoped they did that before touching her.
The compound looked serene, even from a distance. She couldn’t see any movement and wondered whether the place was guarded at all during the daytime. The only way they could do that was to use humans as sentinels. The walls were empty of any sign of life. No watching towers either. Were they really this careless? Or was it simply a matter of confidence, knowing that the humans were no threat at all anymore—so there was no need to create any protection against them?
The feeling that washed over her was a mix of sadness and hope. Sadness that in the five years since the invasion, no human had come up with a plan to attack the place. And hope that maybe, just maybe, the vampires’ lack of concern would be their demise.
The sun would be down in less than thirty minutes. She stopped the car near the compound gate—a massive metal structure that was at least fifteen feet tall—and closed her eyes. Part of her wanted to jump out and walk around, but the property was huge and she didn’t want to get caught out in the open when darkness finally came.
Eyes still closed, she tried to tune in to any sound coming from inside the compound. Nothing. The silence was a lot more unnerving than she had expected.
Back in the house, they would be closing all shutters by now, sealing themselves in for the night. She thought about Shawn, her last connection to the world she knew and loved.
A light flickered on above the gate and her chest contracted. Then another light. And another. The compound was awakening.
Chapter Three
She stood in front of the gate for what seemed like hours, trying to figure out how to get in. The idea of knocking—or ringing some sort of doorbell—seemed ridiculous, but how else was she supposed to let them know she was there? As she extended her arms forward to touch the gate, looking for some sort of doorknob or bell, she realized they were shaking. Trying to get her heart to slow down was a lost battle, so she tried breathing in as best she could while her hands explored the cold metal.
And then the gates moved.
She jumped backwards when the clank of the gate’s mechanism sprang alive. Her whole body was pulling for her to run in the opposite direction and it took every ounce of strength to keep her feet planted on the ground. The gates slid open in slow motion, revealing the inside of the compound inch by inch. She could see flashes of walls, buildings and pathways here and there—but no vampires, nobody to welcome her or pull her inside. It was like being frozen in time, waiting for destiny to come rushing forward to meet her.
The gates stopped before they reached the halfway point. The opening was big enough for her to walk right in, but not to drive her car inside. The bag hanging on her shoulder felt suddenly heavy and irksome. She took a step in. Then another. Dozens of bright lights shone in her direction—obviously meant to blind her so she couldn’t see beyond a few inches in front of her eyes.
As soon as she was inside, the gates closed behind her and the lights died off. Blinded by the brightness and trying not to panic, she just stood there. Electricity had become a thing of the past for humans. The grid had gone down just months after the invasion and the entire country had been plunged into darkness since then. Besides, even if electricity was still running, turning lights on at night would’ve been a very bad idea. Almost like turning on a giant billboard screaming “Humans here, come get us.” The shock of the flashing lights was more than just a shock to her eyes, it was a shock to the mind too, a clear sign that she had entered a new world.
When the first vampire stepped into her line of vision, all she could see was an outline of darkness and light. It seemed fitting, being blinded into submission.
And then when the vampire finally ordered her to follow him, it all became very real.
She was in.
By the time her vision got used to the brightness, she was inside a large room. It looked like a ballroom, with its high painted dome and colossal marble floors. Although chandeliers hung from the ceiling, the lights were off and the entire room was illuminated by what seemed like a million candles. It was a smart choice, she thought, because it gave the place a slightly supernatural feel, an air of mystery that washed over her the second she stepped in. Fit for a king, her mind whispered. And a far cry from the destruction claiming the cities everywhere.
The vampires looking at her reminded her of the one back in the factory—the half smiles on their faces, the look of hunger painted on their features. Except these ones knew she had nowhere to run.
“Wait here.”
A wave of nausea hit her. Part of her reeled with anticipation and fear, and part of her was just angry at herself for being there, for the way the world had turned out. No turning back now, Isabelle, her mind taunted her.
She was still trying to steady her breathing when he entered the room. She gasped and any hope of keeping her heart steady was immediately lost. There was absolutely no doubt that she was looking at the king.
He was massive. Tall, broad, powerful. Incredibly beautiful. She could guess the muscles flexing and tightening under the shirt he was wearing. A few strands of his black hair fell over his face, partially covering his eyes. Frosted silver eyes seemed to melt into a liquid dance the second they found hers.
He was… majestic. The soft movements, the silent steps that made it seem like he was gliding above the ground, the stately look in his eyes. His movements had the elegant majesty of an aristocrat, the kind a monster should not have. The trembling of fear that had been rushing through her body for the past couple of hours was gone in an instant—and a very different emotion stirred inside her.
His eyes locked on hers, almost passionate. She knew it wasn’t possible. He was a monster, the reason humanity was gone, their king. He’s nothing but a killer, she told herself. Her mind searched for more words to describe the beast standing in front of her, but she was drawing a blank because all of a sudden, all she could think about was the shadowy softness of his movements, sensual and strong and… delicious.
The air in the room felt thick and she was having trouble breathing. She closed her eyes for a second, just to regain her composure, and when she opened them again, he was right in front of her. He was fast. Inhumanly fast.
She staggered backwards in surprise, stumbling. He moved so fast, she couldn’t even see his hand shooting forward to grab her—but when his fingers made contact with her skin, fire flashed through her body. The silver in his eyes danced, as if caressing her. Was he trying to charm her? Her body felt warm, aware. So very awake. None of the fog she expected to feel if he was trying to charm her, to take control over her senses.
He raised an eyebrow and let her arm go. Her skin was burning where his fingers had been.
He pointed towards a massive glass window taking over the western wall. “If I asked you to jump from that window right now, would you?”
The question was so unexpected, she had to think for a second. “What? No, of course no.”
He turned away and gazed out that same window for a second. Then he fell into a chair a few steps away from her. Or maybe fell wasn’t the right word. He glided in slow motion into the chair, easing down into it as if the air was sustaining him.
“What’s your name?”
It made no sense to lie. “Isabe
lle Bryant.”
Everybody she knew had given up on last names a long time ago. They no longer meant anything, except a reminder that the conventions of society no longer applied. Which was why she insisted on holding on to hers, so she wouldn’t forget what it meant to be human.
“Why are you here, Isabelle?”
There was a slight accent in his voice. British? Old European English, for sure. His eyes were boring into hers, and she wondered how much he could guess just by looking at her. “For the same reason everybody is. I’m tired of struggling.”
His eyes moved over her curves, heat searing in every corner and every angle he reached. Stop it, her mind screamed, and a second later she realized she was talking to herself rather than to him.
“You’re hardly starving,” he stated and there was a suggestion to his tone that made her blush.
She felt open and exposed, just standing there in front of him. It was a brilliant strategy, actually. He was sitting there like a king would—and should—observing ordinary people parading in front of him. It not only made his position of power clear, it also served as an incentive to speak. Because she was sure that nobody would be able to stand the look in his eyes for more than just a few minutes, even if he decided not to charm them.
People would talk just to get away from those eyes.
“I’m tired of running.”
“Miles.”
The mention of a name confused her until she realized he’d called somebody. It had been just a whisper, but somebody appeared in the room. The newcomer looked like a guard, his military-like demeanor obvious in the stoic steps and his stone face. He looked at her briefly as the king spoke to him in a whisper.
What to Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection (WTRAFSOG Book 9) Page 114
