The Vampire Gift 4: Darkness Rising

by E. M. Knight

  Table of Contents

  Welcome!

  Books by E.M. Knight

  The Vampire Gift 4: Darkness Rising

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Epilogue

  The End

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  Welcome...

  TO THE VAMPIRE GIFT SERIES

  Currently Available:

  The Vampire Gift 1: Wards of Night

  The Vampire Gift 2: Kingdom of Ash

  The Vampire Gift 3: Throne of Dust

  The Vampire Gift 4: Darkness Rising

  Coming Soon:

  The Vampire Gift 5 (Nov 2016)

  The Vampire Gift 6 (late Dec 2016)

  The Vampire Gift 7

  by E.M. Knight

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  tVG 04 Darkness Rising - Version 1

  Books by E.M. Knight

  THE VAMPIRE GIFT:

  Currently Available:

  The Vampire Gift 1: Wards of Night

  The Vampire Gift 2: Kingdom of Ash

  The Vampire Gift 3: Throne of Dust

  The Vampire Gift 4: Darkness Rising

  Coming Soon:

  The Vampire Gift 5 (Nov 2016)

  The Vampire Gift 6 (late Dec 2016)

  The Vampire Gift 7

  For an updated list of books, and to see the latest dates for upcoming releases, check out the series website:

  www.TheVampireGift.com

  Or Facebook:

  www.Facebook.com/TheVampireGift

  You can also sign up for my New Releases Newsletter to get a notification the day a new book comes out! That way you don’t miss anything new. And don’t worry – I never send any spam.

  The Vampire Gift 4: Darkness Rising

  By E. M. Knight

  Copyright © 2016

  Edwards Publishing, Ltd

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead or vampire, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Cover art by B. Wagner

  First Edition: October 2016

  Prologue

  PHILLIP

  IN THE STONGHOLD

  “Smithson’s abandoned.”

  My head jerks up from the blueprints of the stronghold I’d discovered hidden in Mother’s room. “What?”

  “All his belongings have been cleared out. There’s not a trace left.”

  My eyes bore into the guard who was supposed to keep active duty at the only accessible exit. “He got by you?”

  “No, Captain Commander.” The vampire makes a hasty salute. “Geordam and I were watching. We wouldn’t have let any slip by. Especially considering… the threat.”

  Of course, the threat. The one that gives every Haven vampire pause. The one I am incapable of doing anything against.

  The Narwhark.

  Luckily, the demon hasn’t been sighted since Raul and Eleira left. My mind turns to them for a moment. I wonder how they’re holding up. The fate of our coven might rest in their hands. It all depends on what they accomplish on their trek to The Crypts.

  I give myself a rough shake. Now is no time for wandering thoughts.

  “Have you done a search of the stronghold?” I demand. “There are many tunnels and pathways linking the living spaces.” I gesture over the diagrams on my desk.

  “Not yet. As soon as I had the suspicion I came to you.”

  “How long has it been since Smithson was last seen?”

  “I’ve spoken to some of the other guards. None have confessed to interacting with him.”

  My eyes go hard. “Do you think them liars?”

  “No.” His answer is quick, immediate, and honest. “Many of them hate how he played us when he was at the helm. The Haven guards would not cover anything up. We answer to you now, as is right.”

  “Hm,” I grunt.

  “What would you have me do?”

  “First,” I say. “Order as many guards as you can spare to conduct a sweep of the stronghold. Just because Smithson’s belongings are no longer in his room does not mean he’s gone.”

  How I wish I could believe that.

  “Do it and report back to me. I’ll be waiting.”

  The guard nods, gives another proper salute, and runs out to rally the troops.

  Once the door closes, I take my glasses off, fling them to one side of the table, and start to pace the room.

  I should never have trusted Smithson. The moment he suggested staging another Hunt was the moment I understood that no matter what he professes, he will forever be disloyal. The Hunt would have gone against every decision recently ratified by the Royal Court. It was a ludicrous, reckless idea, and one—I suspect—meant to rouse my anger.

  I played along, played my part to perfection. I made a show of being angry. I very purposefully made it seem as if my decision to send him away, to get him out of sight, was a spur-of-the-moment thing caused by how much the idea of The Hunt appalled me.

  In truth, though...? All that was calculated. I wanted to give Smithson the chance to be on his own, after I had agreed to keep him close, following the Narwhark attack on the two guards positioned outside his prison cell.

  I had to see what he would do. To discover that he left comes as no great surprise. I suspected he would make an escape sooner or later.

  Because, deep down, nothing’s kept him to The Haven. I always found his profession to only want to serve The Queen highly suspect. A vampire as capable as he—a vampire as old as he—would not give up the freedom of the outside world to be a mere pawn in somebody else’s game.

  So in the time he was Captain Commander, at least, his loyalty made sense. He’d been summoned here by my Mother and given a position of high influence. A position of high influence in one of t
he most powerful covens—and certainly the one surrounded by the most mystique—in the world.

  But when he’d attacked me and forsaken his position...? Well, he would have no motivation to remain, after. Especially if, before, he was cozying up to The Queen, and, now, her very life hangs on the line...

  With a disgusted grunt I slam an open hand against the wall. The little chamber I’d fashioned as my command post shakes. Bits of loose stone come down from the ceiling.

  “Huh.” I follow the path of one of the little avalanches. I’m getting stronger. I didn’t think I’d hit the wall with that much force.

  I’m going to need to be more careful reining in my strength.

  I look at the door. I’d only sent the guard to do a search as a way of buying myself some time. In my heart of hearts, I know that Smithson is gone.

  It’s an instinct I have, a feeling, really, that is produced by the growing might of the vampire inside of me.

  I open my mind to the presence of others and do a scan of the surroundings. A few vampires on the floor above me. Part of the Incolam. Likely huddling in their rooms, distraught, worried, annoyed, confused—and most of all, angry—at being penned up inside like sheep.

  But after the last Narwhark attack, I thought it best to order all our vampires to stay in their chambers, until such time that a further plan can be reached. It’s a temporary measure, which, once again, only serves to do one real thing:

  Buy me more time.

  I turn my attention to the hall outside this room. Empty. To the secret tunnels below the floor. Also empty.

  Only then, once I’m satisfied nobody is going to run in on me in the next few minutes, do I rush to the hidden compartment in the wall and open it with a tiny, intricate key.

  I salivate when I see what’s inside.

  Blood, bottles upon bottles of The Haven’s most precious human blood. After discovering the blueprints in Mother’s rooms, I knew this was the room I had to claim as my own.

  Because this is where she had secret stores embedded in the walls.

  I had first glimpsed the key that time I was forced to do a search of Mother’s real room, up above ground in the luxurious residences of The Haven. I’d noted the very, very faint, very subtle, scent of human blood on the key. Back then, it made me wonder...

  But after being transformed, that curiosity shifted into a full-blown obsession.

  I grab the bottle closest to me and yank it open. I grunt. It’s empty.

  Of course—I’d drained it just an hour ago.

  I put it back and quickly reach for the next. Gah! Also empty. It is only the third bottle that finds my hand that is full.

  I unclog the top and bring it to my lips, then swallow the sweet, sweet human blood in great big gulps.

  I find myself licking at the rim to get the very last drop… and stop.

  A feeling of disgust takes me.

  When did I become so desperate?

  In a flash of sudden anger, I hurl the bottle away. It crashes loudly into the far wall. It does not break.

  Of course not. Mother would have enchanted each one to ensure its continued survival.

  The addiction sickens me. I’m the one supposed to be leading the brigade against drinking human blood.

  And yet here I am, stealing from my Mother’s personal stash, draining blood that was supposed to last centuries. A single bottle is so rich, so nourishing, that it should satisfy a vampire for a decade. Maybe more.

  Already, I’m on my sixth.

  Ever since being forced to embrace the vampire within me, it’s all I can do not to give in. I have moments of weakness, yes. But how many of us are perfect? The key is to do it where none can find out, where none of my followers know.

  Because if word spread, especially to the Royal Court, that Phillip Soren, Captain Commander of the guard, and the last remaining member of The Haven’s royalty, is sneaking secret drinks when all the rest of the vampires are starving...?

  Well, it would put me in a predicament not a whole lot better than Smithson’s.

  I hear somebody coming. Quickly I shove the drawer back into the wall and turn the lock. A magic charm camouflages it with the surrounding rock. None but those who know where to look would find it.

  The door swings open a second after I turn away. A flood of guilt takes me at being caught in such a compromising position.

  But, then I come to my senses and quickly dispel it. If my current position in the room is a little unorthodox, so what? None would be able to connect it with what I’ve done.

  Then my eyes go to the bottle I’d thrown away, the one that’s right there in plain sight on the ground, and inwardly I curse.

  In haste, I decide to take out all my conflicting emotions on this unwanted intruder.

  “You dare walk into my room without knocking?” I begin, doing my best to channel the intimidation that Mother always made seem so effortless. “Who—“

  But then I stop, for the vampire looking at me is no ordinary guard.

  No, it’s Carter, the grey-haired and very influential member of the Royal Court.

  He notices the previous object of my attention and looks over his shoulder at it. If the empty bottle arouses any suspicions, he does not voice them.

  Instead, he says, “So I hear you let our mutual friend escape.”

  I make a sound of primal displeasure deep in my throat. The vampire within me—the one I’d just roused with that forbidden drink—is raging and struggling and fighting to get out. All of its attention is focused on the very faint whiff of human in the air. The smell that always lingers, the delicate aroma that comes from where The Haven’s villagers are all locked up.

  “You heard about Smithson,” I say flatly. “News travels fast.”

  “Yes it does,” Carter agrees. “In fact, I’m surprised that you know. Too bad, really...” He gives a cruel smile. “I wanted to spring it on you.”

  “We don’t know yet if he’s gone,” I say. “I sent the guards to do a sweep of the stronghold.”

  “You needn’t bother,” Carter says. He walks across the room and drapes himself casually on an armchair. “He’s gone. I know because I spoke to him last.”

  My eyes nearly bulge out of my head. “You what?”

  Carter shrugs. “I didn’t think it would do me any good hiding it from you. News would come out eventually. I’m certain some vampires saw him coming to my rooms.”

  “And what did he want?” I ask Carter. “What did the two of you discuss? If you collaborated—“

  He laughs. “Trust me, dear boy, nothing would hurt my position more than the insinuation that I helped our former disgraced Captain Commander in any way. No, no, I come to offer you a full explanation, to tell the facts, straight from the horse’s mouth. Because, of course, you know this is an issue that could come up before the Royal Court.”

  “How do you do it?” I wonder, hiding none of my disapproval. “How do you still think of petty politics at a time like this?”

  “A time like what?”

  “A time of turmoil.”

  He chuckles once more. “Politics and proper governance are what will lead us out of this hole, Phillip. If The Haven had been run as a democracy—I dare say—none of this would have occurred. The peace we knew before would be ever-lasting.”

  I scoff. Or maybe the vampire inside me scoffs. We’re so closely linked now that it’s hard to tell the difference. “Don’t tell me you crave peace. It was your suggestion for us to run outside and feast on the humans of the world.”

  “And I still think it an admirable idea. It’s a much better solution than your suggestion of feeding on animal blood. Which, by the way—how is it going? So far as I know, not a single vampire, Incolam or Elite, has tasted that despicable blood.”

  “We’ve had other issues to deal with,” I say thinly. “As you’re no doubt aware.”

  “Are you stretched beyond your capacity? A pity. The Captain Commander must always appear strong.”
<
br />   I grind my teeth in frustration. Carter is trying to goad me to anger—why? Why the vested insults, the hidden threats?

  What is he looking to achieve?

  “What do you want?”

  “I want to offer you my help.”

  This time it’s my turn to laugh. “If I could have a golden goblet for every time I’ve heard that expression recently...” I begin. “Smithson said the same thing.”

  “But Smithson is gone.”

  “Which you no doubt helped with.”

  “Me?” Carter’s eyes go wide in surprise at the accusation.

  “Fine. Not ‘helped.’ But it’s what you wanted, isn’t it? To be rid of him?”

  “Why would I want that? You mistake me, Phillip, if you think I’m not on your side.”

  “You’ve opposed my mother in every decision she brought to the Court,” I remind him. “In ages past, when your council had meaning. You know what I think?” I start toward him. “I think that you had a taste of relevance, when Smithson locked the royal family up. I think it reminded you of the way things were. And now, I think—“ I stab a finger at him, “—that you’re trying to curry favor with me only because you’re afraid of losing your grip on that relevance.”

  Carter barely reacts. “A very interesting hypothesis,” he says. “One that’s needlessly elaborate, of course. But you were always one to over-complicate things.”

  He stands. “I only want one thing, Phillip. And that is the continued prosperity of our home. I had come here with the hope that our interests align. Apparently, that’s not the case…?”

  He trails off, and looks at me, questioningly.

  I sigh. Patience, Phillip, I remind myself. You always prided yourself on patience. Don’t forget that now!

  I gesture at the seat on the other side of the desk. “I’m sorry I was,” I grind out. “I was too rash. Sit down.”

  “Thank you,” Carter says. “Say, you seem a little tense. The pressure isn’t getting to you, is it?”

  “I’m fine,” I lie, taking my place at the table. I clear away the ancient blueprints and meet his eyes. “So, tell me what you propose.”