Vampire Apocalypse (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #3)

by Malone Wright, Jennifer

  “We had become demons.

  “And with her demand … the curse was sealed … sealed in blood.

  “As one, we attacked Leventrios, who had no possible way to escape. I was beyond comprehension of any right or wrong as I felt my fangs pierce his skin, letting his blood flow freely into my own being. We drank from his veins until there was no life left in him.”

  Anthony looked to the ceiling before finishing his tale. “And that is how the first six vampires were created.”

  I switched my gun to the other hand and rolled my eyes. “This has been an interesting history lesson, but you haven’t told us about the remaining original lines and how we find them. That’s what we want to know.” I felt a bit like I was belittling the emotion of his tale. It was an interesting story and I was actually surprised that with all of my research on the history of Hunter’s and vampire lore, that I hadn’t come by any of that particular information. I wasn’t going to say anything, but I knew that the information he had just given us would eventually be help of some kind.

  “Patience, my dear.”

  Drew stepped forward. “If you haven’t noticed, we don’t really have time to sit around telling stories. The sooner we end this, the sooner we can get society back into something that can at least function.”

  Anthony shook his head. “It will never be the same.”

  “Yes,” Drew agreed, “but if we get rid of the vampires the rebuilding can begin. People can stop being so scared.”

  The pain I’d felt from the entertainment center had finally faded away, so I stood up and paced a little bit. I still didn’t trust Anthony, but I was tired of sitting there pointing my gun at him. If he was going to try and kill us, he had already had plenty of opportunities to do that. I waved my gun at him on a pass by. “So tell us about the other vampires and their bloodlines,” and for my own personal curiosity, “and what happened to Chryssa”

  Drew took over my chair while I paced and Anthony went on with his story telling. “Chyssa, knew what she had done to us. After her husband had been drained, she ordered us into the cells and locked us behind iron bars. It was a learning experience for her as well as for us. She did not realize the superior strength of the creatures she had created, but … neither did we. After the initial phase of hunger had been sated, the six of us were more afraid than anything. We cowered in the cells. She tried having food delivered to us, but the first of the servants she sent down ended up meeting his demise the same way as her husband. The servant came to the cell I shared with Mihalis and Pavlos, and tossed a loaf of bread in between the bars in our general direction.

  I could smell him. His blood pumping, churning so freshly in his veins. The sour scent of the light sheen of sweat which covered his body almost distracted me from the delicious aroma of his blood. He had barely let go of the bread before I had ahold of his arm. I pulled him flush against the bars and bit into the veins at his wrist with a brutality I never thought possible of myself. Mihalis and Pavlos were right behind me, reaching through the bars for the poor servant’s other limbs.

  “Afterward, the servant’s body dropped to the floor and once again, we were sated, if only for another short time. Each of us felt remorse for killing the servant, but we did realize that when the hunger took over, we did not feel that way. When the hunger took over we did not care about anything but feeding.

  “We spoke amongst ourselves in the cells. The girls, Korina and Elene, were in the cell next to us with Vlasis, so we could hear them even though we could not see them. We were not imprisoned long, for soon Chryssa came to see what had become of the servant who never reported back to her.

  “She approached the cells without fear, knowing that we would obey her every word. A darkness we had never seen before surrounded her, as if the summoning of the dark powers had left a stain on her aura. She found the dead servant and looked to us with no regret in her eyes or her words. She told us she would be back with a proper feeding. However … it was too late, we detested her and not one of us trusted her word. And most important, none of us, including Chryssa herself, knew that the blood we had already consumed had made us even more powerful. With every drop of blood our strength grew and so did our ability to deny her demands.

  “She once had a power over us because she created us, but she created demons who evolved with the life force of others.

  “As she strode away into the darkness of the hallway leading away from the cell, I felt anger well up inside of me. How dare she treat us this way! It was bad enough when we were treated poorly as servants, but being locked away and fed like animals because of her own selfishness … well, that was what sent me over the edge.

  “In a flash, I was at the bars. My hands wrapped around the thick iron, grasping them with the rugged hands of a servant. I pulled inward with my anger fueling the motion. All of us in the cell were surprised when the iron cracked and split in the middle. I took no time to revel in the shock of what I had done. Instead, I forced the bars even farther toward me until I had an opening and I ran. I barely realized that I had moved with supernatural speed when I found her alone in the dim torchlight of the hall. She only had time to spin to face me, her charcoal mane flowing out around her at the same instant my hands wrapped around her neck.

  “‘Stop!’ she choked out. ‘I command you to stop!’ Unlike before, I was able to ignore her wishes. When she ordered us to kill and go down to the cells, we obeyed because our bodies left us no choice, but now … I was the one in control.

  “The others, all five of them, appeared behind me and slowly encircled her. She actually had the decency to look afraid of us. However, didn’t stop her from trying to call out commands to stop us. She called upon the powers of her ancestors as she had done before, but this time nothing appeared to help her. I grasped her neck even tighter and squeezed, feeling her heart rate quicken with fear and the blood pump even faster. I then brought my lips to her shoulder and let my fangs slip into her perfect golden skin, piercing the vein.

  “My comrades followed suit, each taking a piece of her … our beautiful maker. And like her husband, we drank from her until there was no life left in her. Then … well, then we had no choice. We ran. We ran as far away as we could get from the home of Chryssa and Leventrios.

  “The six of us traveled together for a long time, never staying in one place for very long at all. We discovered a lot about the creatures we had become as we traveled. Much of it was trial and error, like the fact that we could not set foot into the daylight. The day we discovered that was a sad day. You never realize how much something like sunlight means to you until you cannot have it.”

  Anthony’s gaze moved to the darkened windows as he remembered the loss. “After many years of moving around, we also found that none of us aged. We stayed exactly the same as we were the day Chryssa cursed us.

  “None of knew for a very long time that we could make more of our kind. It was an accident when it happened the first time. Korina, she drank a man to the brink of death, but did not kill him. This was the first of our offspring. The others, except for Vlasis, were thrilled to find that we could create more of our kind. Even after many, many years, they were still bitter over what Chryssa had done to us. So, they made up for the loneliness of only having each other by making others like us with the hopes that they would join our small group.

  “The newborns, they became a problem. We found that they could not be controlled, and were even worse than we were when we were created. Our offspring were born with a lust far worse than our own. Few of those that were created stayed with us and eventually, the warrior woman and the warrior angel appeared to kill off our rapidly growing kind. We lost Elena, Mihalis, and Vlasis to the warriors during that sad time, it was then that we discovered the secret of killing head of the line. When each of them died, their entire line fell to their death within a few hours. Korina, Pavlos, and I went into hiding, hoping to avoid the wrath of the warriors. We knew that we were evil and that we should not exis
t, but even as demons, the human will to survive ran strong in our veins.

  “The three of us stayed hidden for a long time, coming out into the villages and cities to feed. We were very careful not to create anymore vampires. Well … Pavlos and I were, Korina was another story. Our beautiful handmaiden, our sister, she had another evil that lived inside of her. As the years passed by, she began to resent humans all together, she felt them beneath us … she began creating vampires unbeknownst to us.

  “By then, the warriors had created their own offspring.” He waved his hand toward us. “The Hunters. Your race was born to kill ours.”

  Damn straight! And if he didn’t get to the point of this story that was exactly what I was going to do to him.

  “We discovered what Korina had done when the Hunters waged war on the vampires. Pavlos and I did not want any more of our kind tainting the earth, for we still had some humanity left in us and knew without a doubt that those evil offspring should not be allowed to survive. So we fought with the Hunters, tracking the demons and killing them.”

  Drew shifted in his chair. “Why didn’t you just kill Korina?”

  Anthony shrugged. “She is my family. That long with someone builds a bond, whether you actually like that person or not is a different story than if you love them. I loved her, we were as brother and sister in a world where all odds were against us.”

  “Would have solved a lot of problems,” I mumbled under my breath.

  Anthony’s head snapped in my direction. “Little Hunter, do not speak of things you know nothing about. Spend a hundred years with him,” he waved his hand at Drew, “and then kill him because he made a few mistakes in that century.”

  I kept silent. I wouldn’t do it; that was all there was to it. I would like to say that I could kill someone I love for the greater good, but even after only knowing Drew a few years, I would never be able to do that.

  I didn’t apologize or elaborate on my thoughts to him, though. “Keep going.” I knew the important parts of the story were coming soon.

  “We were almost killed by Hunters many times. That was one secret we kept, the secret of the bloodline. The Hunters did not know and we kept it that way in order to keep the three of us safe.

  “Eventually, most of the stray vampires were killed, but not all. A few lived and moved on to create more and more. With the Hunters now in existence, it became their problem to deal with. Until we went our separate ways.”

  “So Korina and Pavlos still live? That makes the three of you?”

  Anthony nodded. “Yes, I have not created an offspring since the times of the warrior woman and the warrior angel. It is safe to assume that Korina and Pavlos are the remaining bloodlines of the vampires.”

  I returned to my pacing. “Do you know where they are?” Man, why couldn’t he just tell us this before. I loved my history, but that was a long story that could have been summed up with the part at the end.

  “I know where Korina is, and I’m assuming that the problem here is associated with her. I don’t think that Pavlos is in this country.”

  Drew stood up, clutching his gun so tightly his knuckles were turning white. “Tell us,” he demanded of Anthony.

  “New Orleans.” He tapped his fingers on the table.. “Korina resides in New Orleans.”

  I threw my hands in the air. “Of course she does,” I said sarcastically, and looked to Drew. “You up for a road trip?”

  He nodded. “We have to.”

  Anthony stood, but neither Drew nor I moved to shoot him or anything like that. He seemed all right for now. Then he gave us the final bit of information. “Like I said, you can kill me if you want to afterward, however … there is one thing that I think you’re forgetting.”

  Here it comes. I should have known there would be an ultimatum. The situation thus far just seemed too easy. “What?”

  “You, young Chloe, are half vampire, also descended from one of our three lines.”

  Oh.My.God. How could I have forgotten something like that?

  He smiled. “Do not worry, after a bit of researching I have discovered it is my own line that you are born of … So, as long as I live, then so do you.”

  My gun hand dropped to my side. “Oh, crap.”

  ~~***~~

  Drew and I abandoned hunting for the night and went back to the house. We left Anthony at the apartment; he had told us that he would stay there for now and if we wanted to find him that he’d be there. As uncomfortable as it made me to just leave a vampire out there, we couldn’t really take him with us. Although, I was pretty sure he already knew where we lived.

  We had to talk to the rest of the group and the other Hunters back at Arcadia Falls about the situation as soon as possible. So, continuing to hunt for the night wasn’t an option. It wasn’t like we really wanted to go out after learning all that we had, anyway.

  Back at the house, we found everyone asleep. With the exception of Gavin, who was running the security system, and Christina, who was on patrolling the grounds outside.

  Christina met us in the driveway as soon as Drew parked the truck. I caught sight of her jogging toward us as she appeared out of the darkness. The breeze caused strands of her dark hair to fly up behind her as she made her way in our direction. As always, she wore something fashionable, even if it was only to guard the inner grounds of our home. This particular night she had chosen a pair of black jeans and a black tank top. This outfit was accentuated by a lot of silver. Her boots were combat style, reached her knees, and had all kinds of buckles on them. She didn’t wear any bracelets because they usually made too much noise, but she made up for that with a pile of silver chains of all different sizes looped around her neck. Her gun belt rested on her hips and held a gun on each side. I preferred the shoulder holster myself. Of course, Christina wouldn’t be Christina without her knives, which could be seen strapped onto her thighs. There were most likely more knives on her body that we couldn’t see; she always had several knives of different shapes and sizes on her.

  “Hey,” she greeted us as we hopped down from the truck.

  I waved. “Hey. How is everything here?”

  She shrugged. “It’s pretty quiet tonight. Nothing so far.”

  Drew came around the front of the truck and we all walked in together.

  “What about you guys, how was your night?” she asked. The front door clicked several times as Gavin unlocked them for us. Once the door was open, we all filed into the house and headed for the kitchen. I immediately went for the fridge and got out a couple of water bottles.

  “It was eventful, actually.” I tossed one of the waters to Drew and uncapped the remaining one. “We have some very, very interesting information that everyone needs to know about, even The Board.”

  Christina’s eyebrows shot up. “That important, huh?”

  The Board consisted of some of the older Hunters. Once they didn’t go out on missions anymore, they were made part of The Board. All decisions regarding the community of Arcadia Falls or the vampire hunting missions were approved or disapproved by The Board beforehand. I wasn’t a favorite of the The Board at the moment. They were pissed at me because we went behind their back and took down the Talon Building, a building made up entirely of vampire run businesses. It was what started this whole vampire apocalypse to begin with.

  Drew pulled out a chair and sat down at the table. “Yeah, it’s something we all have to talk about and soon. I’d rather not have to repeat the story to everyone individually. After we, as a group, decide what to do, then we can take it to The Board.”

  Christina and I had both joined him by sitting down at the table. I eyed Drew; he looked really tired. This whole situation was stressing everyone out. Hopefully, with Anthony’s help, we could end it and some of us could actually get a decent night’s rest.

  I began the process of taking my weapons off and setting them on the table. “Do you think we should talk to Luke about it before we tell The Board?”

  He nodded and
I noticed Christina nodding as well. “Yeah, we should definitely bring him over here first thing in the morning and let him know what’s going on when we tell everyone else.”

  Christina leaned back in her chair and pouted. “You guys suck, now I really want to know what’s going on.”

  “I’m with her,” Gavin’s voice stated over the intercom.

  Drew shook his head. “It’s only a few hours, you guys. I have to get back to Arcadia Falls, and then I will be back here first thing in the morning with Luke.”

  Christina stood first. “I should ride back with you, I don’t want you going by yourself.”

  With a quick glance at me, Drew shook his head. “No, I’ll be fine. Besides, you were watching the grounds here.”

  “I’ll do it.” I returned one of my guns to its holster. Both of their heads swiveled in my direction. “What? She’s right,” I insisted. “I don’t want you going all the way back to Arcadia Falls by yourself, either. So, Christina can go with you. I can watch the grounds until the sun comes up, and then I’ll grab a couple of hours sleep before you guys get back here with Luke. It’s the easiest way to do this right now without waking someone up.”

  Christina flipped her hair. “See.”

  “Don’t let that go to your head.” I rose from the table, went to the pantry door, and opened it. I was met with two floor to ceiling shelves full of food and another floor to ceiling shelf that housed ammo. I grabbed a box of 45 rounds from the stack and brought it back to the table where I began filling one of my empty clips.

  Drew scooted his chair back and stood. “I guess if you’re all right with it, then Christina should come, just in case.”

  I finished loading the clip and slid it up into my un-holstered gun. “Why wouldn’t I be all right with it?” This time both Drew and Christina rolled their eyes. It was common knowledge with everyone we knew that Christina and I hadn’t always gotten along. She and Drew were lifelong friends who had occasionally dated … and other things. She and I still had a rocky relationship, but at least we didn’t hate each other. It was also easier to make these decisions about her being around Drew because I knew that she was dating my brother, Zander, and the two of them were a pretty hot item. Well … as hot as an item could really be in the middle of an apocalypse.