Dark Horizons (The Red Sector Chronicles)

by Krystle Jones

“Oh.”

  The hallway had no other doors. A red exit sign hung above a metal door at the end of the hall. We lined up on either side of it, pressing our bodies to the wall and listening for a few seconds.

  Silence.

  Opening the door as gently as he could, Leo peered out into the hall, glancing in either direction.

  I glanced at the watch. We had been in here for two minutes. I had allotted us fifteen to find what we needed and get out, figuring that’s as much time as we could get before running into trouble.

  My rapid heartbeat reminded me why I was so nervous, and I tried slowing my breathing to calm myself as Leo gave us the okay and we filed into the hall.

  This one was a bit wider, though short, with several doors and adjoining halls. Everyone seemed to be holding their breaths, straining to hear the click of a gun or the squeak of a boot. As we walked, I examined the place, running visual recon. I frowned. Dust had gathered in clumps along the floor. “It doesn’t look like this place has been used in a while,” I said, still keeping my voice soft just in case we weren’t alone.

  Rook and Dezyre were scanning the ceiling, looking for cameras, of which I saw none.

  Rook frowned. “It doesn’t appear to be very closely guarded, either.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Leo said. “Nothing about what my father did went unprotected. Something’s not right.”

  We wandered down several hallways, always watching each other’s backs and never separating. The farther we explored, the deeper my frown got. Not that I wasn’t relieved to not run into any trouble, but still, this was not what I was expecting when sneaking into a top secret government lab.

  We had just rounded yet another corner when I went to take a step and something squished beneath my foot. Lifting my heel, I saw a red smudge against the floor. What the…? Frowning, I lifted my whole foot.

  My breath caught as an eerie chill swept through me. “Guys…”

  They gathered around me in an instant. With a growing sense of dread, my eyes followed the bloody trail down the hall, where it disappeared under a slightly ajar door.

  Grabbing one of my knives and flipping it open, I slowly began walking down the hall, the others close behind.

  Leo’s hand rested on my shoulder, making me pause. A warning was in his eyes, mixed with concern. I gave him a smile, hoping my expression alone conveyed that I would be careful, and stepped up to the door.

  It was solid white, with the forget-me-not symbol emblazoned on a gold plaque in the middle.

  The Mark of the Creator.

  Puzzled and a little excited, I gently pushed the door open and stepped into the room.

  My eyes landed on a hulked male form and I froze.

  The bloody trail went clear across the room, ending in a pool of blood surrounding the dead guard. Or rather, guards. The room had been decorated in Scarlet Guard body parts. Papers – ranging from fact sheets to pie graphs – littered the ground, stuck to the blood and stained scarlet. My eyes flickered over a few, seeing the same name either printed or scrawled on every sheet.

  Ivan Johansen. I had never heard the name before, but whoever it was, this must be his research.

  Mentally tucking the name away for safekeeping, I focused all my attention on the dark shape looming ahead.

  The guard whom the figure crouched over looked intact, for the most part. His hood had been torn off, leaving his neck exposed as someone – or something – fed from him.

  The figure jerked his head back, gasping for air before slowly standing and turning around to face me.

  The room swayed.

  Blood dripped down Orion’s chin, coating his lips like cherry lipstick. His eyes were bloodred, wild with predatory glee as he observed us.

  A chill ran through me. This wasn’t the Orion I saw back at the club. This was something else entirely, something I recognized deep inside myself.

  A beast given human form.

  I felt the air at my back heat as Rook came up behind me. “Careful, Sloane,” he murmured, never removing his eyes from Orion. “Drinking from another vampire does screwy things to us. It’s how Rogues are made.”

  I swallowed, nodding so he would know I understood.

  Orion’s head turned sharply to the side as he watched me, smiling slightly with a deranged look in his eyes. His fingers twitched rapidly, as if itching to sink his nails into fresh prey. “I knew you’d come,” he said, his deep voice rough with bloodlust. “You can’t seem to let me go.”

  It took me a moment to form a coherent reply. “Orion, what are you doing?”

  He held out his arms, shrugging. “Embracing our heritage, Sis.”

  “We are not monsters,” I said. “Even when we were picked on relentlessly at school, Father taught us never to be monsters, to never stoop to their cruelty.”

  Orion laughed, running his hand over his mouth, which only succeeded in smearing the blood across his face. “You really don’t get it, do you?” he said, pacing. “We’re not like other mortals, Sloane. We’re not like them, either,” he added, gesturing to my friends. He leaned on a table, grasping the edge so tightly his knuckles turned white. “We’re more. We are descended from gods. It’s all here, every bit of it.” He swept the room with one hand, gesturing to the piles of bloodied research.

  My brows furrowed. “What is?”

  “Proof!” he shouted, dark eyes glittering. “I even know where he is.”

  “Who?”

  He paused, holding my gaze.

  “The first king. Our great-great-great-great-so-on grandfather.”

  I stared at him, a little shocked. So that’s what he was after. He wanted to know where to find the first vampire. But why? I could understand his curiosity, but this was more than that. It always was with him.

  “That’s impossible,” Rook said. “The first king was killed during a war over two thousand years ago.”

  “According to whom?” Orion said softly.

  No one seemed to know what to say. “We’re living proof that history’s truths can easily be covered up,” Orion went on, walking toward me.

  I tensed but didn’t back up as Orion stopped a few feet away. I glanced at his bare arm. He was so close. If I could only get a sample of his blood, this whole mess would be over. I wanted to glance around, to find something to draw his blood, but I was too afraid to take my eyes off him.

  “Don’t you want to know more about our family, Sloane? Don’t you want to find a place where we belong, where we can be accepted?” Orion said, each word sounding seductively wonderful.

  I thought back to everything that had happened recently; of the flower field with Aden, the stolen kisses I’d shared with Leo, the secrets Dezyre had imparted to me, and the quiet camaraderie Rook and I had.

  “Sorry, Orion,” I said, regret shining in my gaze. “But I’ve already found a place to call home.”

  I lunged for him, but he swiftly leapt onto the table and kicked me hard in the chest before I could think to block, sending me flying across the room and into a cabinet. The air rushed from my lungs upon impact, stunning me for a few seconds as I slumped to the floor. Things pelted my back as whatever contents resting inside the cabinet came crashing down on top of me. It was mostly fragile, judging from the cacophony of tinkling and cracking glass all around me.

  Rook and Leo opened fire, but Orion latched onto the ceiling like a demon, hissing at them as blue veins sprouted along his forehead and neck. Clinging to the ceiling like a spider, Orion scuttled over them toward the door, the bullets sending a shower of tiles crashing to the floor in his wake.

  I watched my brother as best I could. Glass snapped under my palms, slicing it as I tried to push myself up. I glanced down. Various medical supplies lay around me: bandages, gauze, plastic gloves, and –

  “Syringes,” I breathed.

  I grabbed one, examining it. It didn’t appear to be broken.

  Dezyre ran over to me. “Are you okay?”

  I ignored her q
uestion, prying my gaze away from the syringe. I wrapped it in a glove in an effort to keep it somewhat protected, and tucked it away in my hoodie pocket, zipping it closed. “How did he get so fast?” I asked, glancing back at the ceiling. “And since when can he pull a Spider-man?”

  “It’s because he drank from another vampire,” she said grimly, wrinkling her nose at the puddle on the floor. “It’s one of the worst crimes a vampire can commit, and it was outlawed in the city.” Her gaze flipped back to the door. “But I see some laws can easily be broken, especially when you’re the one making them,” she added dryly.

  “We have to go after him,” I said. My ribcage flared up with sharp shoots of pain on those first few steps, and I winced but kept going. “I can’t let him escape again.”

  I ran after him, hopping over dismembered bodies like hurdles at a track meet while Dezyre shouted protests behind me. The battle had spilled into the hall, where Leo and Rook were facing off with Orion.

  It was mesmerizing. Orion moved like a shadow, quick as death, deftly blocking every move Leo made. After punching him squarely in the jaw, Orion slammed Leo against the wall. Leo blinked several times, no doubt seeing stars.

  Rook fared a little better, since he was a vampire. Still, it was all he could do to keep up with Orion’s lightning-fast moves. Orion sidestepped an uppercut and brought his elbow down hard onto Rook’s collarbone. I heard the bone crack from where I was standing. Rook’s face went white with pain as he cried out, falling to one knee. Orion didn’t hesitate. He kicked Rook in the back of the head, sending his face smacking into the floor. His body squeaked against the floor as he was driven forward by the momentum of the blow. I cringed. At this rate, his chest wound was going to open back up.

  Orion watched him slide with a satisfied smile.

  It was now or never.

  With Orion’s attention diverted, I ran forward, yanked the syringe free from the wrapping, and aimed it toward Orion’s exposed arm.

  His gaze snapped around so quickly that it startled me. I drew up short as his demonic eyes met mine, a few inches from my face.

  He grabbed my wrist, squeezing painfully as he jerked it up and eyed the syringe with an amused half-smile. “Really?”

  I growled, fighting to break free, but it was like an iron vice had hold of me.

  He pinned my arm against his chest, forcing me closer. My reflection stared back at me in his red eyes, filled with hatred.

  “Last chance,” he said. “Come with me?”

  My bottom lip trembled, not from fear but from the heart-wrenching guilt and sorrow I felt at losing my twin, my other half.

  “I can’t,” I whispered. “You know I can’t.”

  For a flickering of eternity, his eyes betrayed his human emotions, and I saw the regret my brother – my real brother – felt at having driven us to this point. In a blink, it was gone.

  “Suit yourself,” he said.

  I braced myself, fully expecting him to rip my heart out with his bare hands. Instead, he hurled me backward and I crashed into Dezyre. We both went down in a tangle of limbs, and I felt the syringe break in my hand. Swearing, I shook my hand out, letting the remnants of the syringe drop to the floor.

  “Don’t worry,” Dezyre said, patting her pants pocket. “I got some more for that very reason.”

  I shot her a grateful smile. “You know, sometimes you’re not too bad.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.” Her eyes flickered upward, widening.

  When I turned around, Orion was by the wall, hand poised above the emergency button, which was tucked away in a glass barrier.

  I inhaled a breath to scream, “Don’t!” when he punched through the glass and slammed his fist against the button.

  Instantly, a siren flared to life and blue lights lowered from the ceiling, circling and shrieking like police sirens.

  My head swiveled back to Orion. He started to walk away but then glanced over his shoulder at me. Our gazes locked for a heartbeat, and then he was gone in a flash of black.

  “Sloane!” Leo was standing over me, hauling me up as Rook stumbled to his feet a short distance away. “We have to get out of here!”

  Dezyre sat up, rubbing the back of her head. “Come on!” I yelled, extending a hand.

  She stared at it then grabbed hold, and I helped her up. We took off for the way we’d come, tearing down the dark, skinny hallway and up the ladder. Voices bounced off the walls behind us as footsteps pounded down the hall.

  “Go! Go!” Rook shouted, from the rear.

  Leo swiped the badge and the door opened. He helped Dezyre out, and I climbed up afterward, whirling back toward the entrance. Reaching into my pocket, I grabbed the grenade and yanked the stopper out with my teeth. “Get down!” I shouted as I shot it into the hole. Rook scrambled out and we all dove onto the grass. Leo covered my body with his, pressing me to the earth with the bulk of his weight.

  Shouts rang out from the tunnel right before the ground shuddered with a gigantic boom and a column of fire exploded from the tunnel entrance.

  Smoke filled the air, stinging my nose and throat, and making it even harder to get in a decent breath. My heart beat frantically inside my chest, spurred on by the kick of adrenaline I’d received back in the hall from facing off with Orion.

  The weight on my back let up as Leo rose. I pushed myself up, stumbling around for a few seconds, dizzy with nerves.

  “Um, guys?” Dezyre said, a sliver of fear in her voice.

  Turning around, my blood pressure dropped.

  We were completely surrounded by Scarlet Guards.

  CHAPTER 21

  There were at least thirty guards, their faces concealed by red helmets. As I took my mental notes, I noticed they strangely didn’t seem to have any guns. Tall black shapes rose above their heads, and I paled as the air filled with an odd humming sound. Red electric light blazed along the blades of their massive black scythes, my mother’s weapon of choice for them. I don’t know why she picked a scythe of all things. It seemed so archaic yet badass at the same time. I guess that was the point, to bring death to people’s thoughts and remind them who was really in charge.

  Gulping, I crouched in a defensive position as the first of the guards charged forward. He immediately tried to take my head off with the scythe, and I dove as it whooshed over my head, the hum of the blade so close it nearly stopped my heart from fear. The air smelled funny, like it always did after a lightning storm. I came up and punched him right in the ribcage. He had on so much body armor, I wasn’t sure if he even felt it. He didn’t flinch as I followed up with an overhand strike to his bicep, trying to stun the muscles in his arm so he’d drop the scythe, or to at least loosen his grip. He growled and went to kick me, but I sidestepped it, putting me closer to him. I grabbed the helmet and ripped it off.

  My eyes went wide.

  The creature that stared back at me had definitely been a man at one time. Skin so pale it was translucent stretched over bony facial features. Blue veins popped out along his neck and forehead, making his dark red irises seem that much more alien. His upper lip lifted in a snarl, showing the length of his fangs.

  “Screw you, too,” I snarled, then headbutted him. He staggered backward, blinking for a few stunned seconds. I didn’t waste my opportunity. I grabbed the scythe and fell backward. The guard still had hold of the pole as I went down, tucking my head in and rolling along my back. The guard started to lose his grip, and I planted my feet in his chest and kicked. As I righted myself, the scythe now completely in my hands, he went flying overhead, crashing onto the ground a few feet in front of me with a hiss.

  Rushing forward, I swung the scythe as he turned around, the electric glare of the blade lighting up his eyes as I severed his head.

  Blood flew in an arc through the air, splattering on my face as his head tumbled along the ground. The headless body twitched as it fell over, wriggling around a few seconds with phantom spasms before dying altogether.

&n
bsp; My ears were still ringing with bloodlust, my blood pumping with the intoxication of adrenaline, that I at first didn’t hear the sounds of battle around me.

  Dezyre screeched, going down hard on the ground while a guard pressed against her neck with the handle of his scythe. His helmet was off, and he snapped his teeth at her, trying to get a bite. Her gun was the only thing keeping him at bay; she used it to block his attacks, though from the way he was beating against it, she wouldn’t last long.

  I ran forward. A fierce cry ripped from my throat as I brought the scythe down, slicing clear through his backside. He managed to get out one strangled roar before he collapsed onto his side, his dead eyes staring at nothing.

  Dezyre was shaking as I hauled her up. “You okay?” I asked.

  She nodded, whimpering. “Rook. Leo,” she muttered.

  I squeezed her hand. “I’ve got them. You try to get out of here.”

  She hastily nodded and started running. Another guard came at her, but I made quick work of him too, feeling more and more like a predator with the more blood I spilled.

  Once Dezyre was safely in the trees, I whirled back and charged into the heart of the battle.

  Rook emptied a round of bullets into a guard, which did about as much good as smacking him with a flyswatter. I ran at the guard, gutting him with the electric scythe. He fell forward, a sick gurgling sound coming out of his throat before he fell over.

  Rook was covered in sweat, and he had a nasty gash across his cheek. “Thanks,” he breathed.

  “Don’t mention it.” I looked around, surveying the damage. Several bodies lay around; it looked like we had managed to take out half the guard. Some retreated, calling for backup, while others were busy with –

  My breath caught. “Leo.”

  I looked around. Where was he?

  “Sloane, look out!” Rook yelled, right before I felt an explosion of pain in the middle of my back. I stumbled forward as the breath was knocked out of me, losing my grip on the scythe. By the time I recovered, a Scarlet Guard had his boot planted firmly on the back of my throat, pinning me to the ground. I struggled to get up, seeing Rook’s face slam into the dirt a few inches from mine.