Dark Descent (Vampire Hunter Book 5)

by S. C. Reynolds

  Thomas rushed forward to catch his brother and was instantly covered in his blood, which was now gushing out around the stake that was still embedded in his heart. I was swimming in blood. It was everywhere.

  Calmly, I watched as Thomas could no longer hold Bartholomew up, as Bartholomew’s body finally stopped writhing in pain, as the screams turned to groans, then whimpers, then nothing. Thomas looked up at me from where he had been crouching beside his dying brother. There were tears in his eyes. And then he lunged forward with a bloodcurdling yell, tackling me to the ground.

  But I didn’t panic. The sheer strength I had felt from Thomas when he tied me up didn’t seem so daunting anymore. We were on an even playing field now. This was a fight I could win. I pushed him off of me with both arms and he tumbled to the side. I rolled in the other direction, away from him, trying to get some distance between us. Still acting on instinct, I reached for another shard of wood from the splintered chair. This will do.

  Thomas was coming at me again. He got on top of me and pinned my arms down. “I don’t care what the order says!” he screamed. “I’ll finish turning Henry while you watch. Then my new brother and I will kill you, your entire family, and Lucas.” Thomas paused. “Or maybe I’ll save you for last so that you can watch them suffer first.”

  Thomas got up and tried to pull me with him, but he didn’t understand my strength. I wrenched my right arm – the one holding the stake – out of his grasp. Before he could try again, I pulled my arm back above my head and drove the stake forward, into Thomas’ heart, with surprising force.

  Just like with Bartholomew, he started sputtering. I vaguely recalled Nicholas saying that a vampire’s death was brutal. I pushed Thomas off of me, rolled to the side, and stood up. He was still screaming in pain, still spewing blood all over the floor. I scanned the diner. There was so much blood; it looked like a massacre had occurred here.

  I was covered in blood as well. Normally, being drenched in blood would have freaked me out, but I was still calm, collected. I wiped my hands down the side of my dress in an attempt to remove some of the blood, then rushed forward to check on Henry.

  “Henry,” I yelled, slapping his face. He didn’t respond. I started shaking his shoulders violently. His head bobbed up and down lifelessly from the jerking motion. Now I was starting to panic. Is he a vampire? No, he couldn’t be. Thomas had said he’d finish the job; whatever Bartholomew started hadn’t turned him yet.

  I pressed my ear against Henry’s chest. I could hear and feel his heartbeat. He was still alive!

  I had no clue what to do next, but obviously I couldn’t handle this situation alone. I grabbed my phone and called Lucas. Pick up, pick up, pick up, I willed.

  Finally, he answered. “Aurora, I told you to use the secure phone I gave you!” Lucas exclaimed.

  “There’s no time for that! I need you – right now. I’m covered in blood.” I knew I wasn’t making sense. I tried to calm down and think.

  “What? Aurora, what the hell happened? Are you okay? Where are you?”

  “Night Owl diner,” I answered. “Do you know where it is?”

  “Yes, be there in a minute,” he replied.

  “Lucas, please hurry. The twins – they’ve hurt Henry.”

  “They’re with you now?” I could hear Lucas slam his apartment door shut, then get into his car and start the engine.

  “No, they’re dead. That’s why there’s so much blood.”

  “I still don’t understand,” Lucas said desperately. “But I’ll be there as fast as possible.”

  I put my phone back in my purse and crouched down next to Henry, hugging and rocking his weakened body.

  “Please be okay,” I repeated over and over, like a mantra.

  Chapter 5

  Lucas opened the diner door and rushed into the restaurant. His mouth dropped open in shock at the scene before him.

  “Bartholomew was going to turn Henry,” I yelled. “He bit him.”

  “For how long?” Lucas demanded.

  “I don’t know!” I wailed. “Half a minute? Maybe a minute?”

  Lucas picked Henry up and slung him over his shoulder without speaking. “Where are you taking him?” I asked.

  “Come on,” Lucas ordered. “We’re going to my apartment. He needs help, and fast, if there’s any chance for him to live.”

  Lucas locked the diner door behind us. “We’ll deal with the blood bath later,” he said.

  He opened the backseat door of his car and placed Henry inside. I got into the passenger seat. Lucas grabbed his phone. He’s probably calling Nicholas for help.

  “We need the antidote as fast as you can get your hands on it,” Lucas said tersely. “It may already be too late.” Lucas paused as Nicholas said something. “Yeah,” he answered. “It’s for Henry.” Lucas clicked off his phone and turned his attention to the road. We were flying to his apartment.

  “I thought Henry put a spell on the twins? To keep them away,” he said.

  I looked around nervously, praying there were no cops nearby, trying to meet their ticket quota. Lucas continued to speed towards his place at breakneck speed. But it was still early in the morning and the roads were empty.

  “It was only temporary,” I answered.

  When we arrived at Lucas’ apartment, he carried Henry inside and placed him on the couch. Without speaking, he went into the kitchen and came back a moment later with a damp cloth, which he put on Henry’s forehead. It was then that I noticed Henry’s coloring had gone from pale to pink. He was flushed, feverish. I sat down on the floor next to the couch and cupped Henry’s hand in mine.

  “What’s happening to him?” I asked Lucas.

  “He’s sick. Very, very sick. Bartholomew bit him, but he didn’t take enough blood. It’s how a vampire can kill someone if they don’t want to turn the person,” he explained. “It’s like a venomous snake bite.”

  “But you said there was an antidote, right?” I demanded.

  “Yeah, Nicholas is trying to get some. It’s illegal for vampires to kill humans. So there’s not much need for the antidote nowadays.”

  “How long has he got?” I whispered.

  Lucas didn’t answer.

  “Just tell me,” I begged. “I deserve to know the truth!”

  “I’m not sure,” Lucas replied, throwing up his hands helplessly. “I’m not bull shitting you. I really don’t know. It depends on how strong his body is and how close he was to being turned. That’s why I asked you how long he’d been bitten before you intervened.”

  Lucas walked over to where I was still sitting with Henry and placed his hand on my back. “But you said you wanted to know the truth, so I also need to tell you that the antidote is not always 100% effective.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It works about 50% of the time, and even then, there are residual side effects,” Lucas said.

  “You mean he could crave blood?” I asked.

  “No, he’s not a vampire. He won’t drink blood, he won’t be immortal. But he may have sensitivity to light, the ability to see extremely far distances. That kind of thing.”

  “If he even makes it…” My voice trailed off.

  “Lucas?” I asked, looking up at him.

  He nodded for me to go on.

  “What if you turned him? You know, finish what Bartholomew started. Then –“

  “It’s not an option, Aurora,” Lucas interrupted me.

  “Why?” I demanded. “Because it won’t work or because you refuse to do it? Come on,” I said before he had a chance to answer. “Henry would be loyal to you. He’d be your blood brother. Not Bartholomew’s.”

  Lucas sighed deeply. “I know you would do anything to save Henry, but I don’t think it would work. It’s been too long since he was first bitten. He’s too sick now. Any more would probably kill him instantly.”

  “Probably?” I questioned. “If there’s only a 50% chance this antidote will work, then what’s it matter?
Sounds like he’s fucked either way! Can’t you at least try?”

  “You’re not thinking clearly,” Lucas said. He turned and walked over to the window and pushed aside the thick curtain. “Where the hell is Nicholas?” he muttered, just loud enough for me to hear.

  The minutes ticked by painfully. Finally, Nicholas arrived. It was one of the few times I had ever seen him look flustered. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It was a bitch getting a hold of this stuff.” He pulled out a vial of liquid and a handful of syringes.

  Lucas took them from him without speaking. He opened the vial, placed the end of one of the needles into the liquid, and pulled back on the syringe handle to draw the medicine inside. Then, he lifted Henry’s shirt and administered the shot next to his navel. Just like when I had a shot, to keep me from going into a trance at the underground meeting.

  I could hardly believe that was merely a week ago, and that I had swooned at the needle. Now, after killing Thomas and Bartholomew and getting drenched in their blood, cringing at a needle was downright ridiculous.

  “How quickly will the antidote work?” I asked nervously.

  Lucas looked grim. “He has to get a shot every hour. If he’s going to be able to recover from this, we’ll know by tomorrow morning.”

  “Are you serious?” I whispered. “Twenty-four hours?”

  Lucas nodded. He turned to Nicholas. “Thanks for getting it so quickly.”

  “No prob, bro.” His tone was light, but Nicholas’ eyes were filled with worry.

  “I’m staying here,” I announced.

  “No, you can’t stay,” Lucas said.

  I looked at him in surprise. “Are you kidding me?”

  “You can’t stay here in case this doesn’t go well. It’s for your own good,” Lucas said.

  “That’s not fair!” I protested.

  Lucas held up his hand before I could say anything else. “Aurora,” he said quietly, “I know you understand how serious this is. I’ll call you if or when something changes.”

  “He’s right,” Nicholas interjected. “Lucas is protecting you. Let him.”

  “At least allow me to stay here for a little while,” I pleaded.

  Lucas and Nicholas looked at each other. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” Lucas asked. They walked out of the room.

  What’s that all about? Normally I’d be annoyed at Lucas blatantly leaving the room to have a private conversation with Nicholas, but at this particular moment I just didn’t care. I was mentally exhausted and emotionally drained.

  They returned a minute later. “I’m going to take care of things at the diner,” Nicholas announced. “Then I’ll come back, get you, and take you home. In the meantime, you might want to shower; I think your parents will have a heart attack if you walk through the door looking like that.”

  The blood. “Oh, no, I completely forgot,” I wailed, jumping to my feet. “I shouldn’t have sat on your floor, Lucas. The carpet is ruined now. I’m really sorry.”

  “It’s fine,” Lucas assured me. “I’ll clean it up later.”

  “I need to get going, take care of the diner before someone else finds the gruesome scene,” Nicholas said. “But I just have to ask, how the hell did you manage to kill both Thomas and Bartholomew? Those guys are intimidating, even to me.”

  “I don’t know. I guess seeing Henry about to get turned into a vampire fueled me with a strength that I didn’t know I had.”

  Nicholas nodded but didn’t comment. “Okay, I’m off,” he said. “We can talk about your vampire slaying skills later. Anything I need to know about the scene I’m going to clean up?”

  “There’s blood – everywhere,” I replied.

  “That’s fine.” Nicholas waved his hand dismissively. “I know what it looks like when a vampire is staked. Is anyone else dead? Patrons of the diner?”

  “No, but they killed the owner. I didn’t see the body, though.”

  “I’ll find it. No other casualties?”

  “Not that I know of,” I replied.

  “Good. They probably had the owner make everyone else leave. I’ll get rid of Thomas’ and Bartholomew’s bodies and clean up the blood.” He looked at Lucas. “What about the owner? What do you think is best?”

  “I guess leave him?” Lucas shook his head. “Shit, Nic, I don’t know. If you get rid of the body, his – or her – family will never know what happened.”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Nicholas replied. “Okay, I’d better go now.”

  “Please be careful, Nicholas,” I said.

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine,” he replied, forcing a smile.

  “Make sure you disable any cameras,” I said as an afterthought.

  “I bet that the twins already took care of that, but I’ll double check,” Nicholas promised.

  “Thank you for helping Henry,” I said, my voice shaky.

  “You guys don’t have to keep thanking me,” Nicholas replied. “In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I like helping people – and especially my friends and my brother. I will never atone for my sins, but at least I’m on the right track now.” And with that, he was gone.

  Nicholas had such a blasé attitude most of the time; I hadn’t realized he shared the same guilt as Lucas over the things they had done in the past.

  “You’ll have to wear my clothes when you leave here. Yours are probably ruined,” Lucas said. “And you really do need a shower before you go home.”

  “Mom wasn’t too pleased when I came back in your clothes that day it was raining and I got drenched,” I muttered. “Maybe I can sneak in without her seeing me.”

  “If you really think it will be a problem, ask Nicholas to stop by the mall on the way home,” Lucas suggested.

  “It’s cool.” I wanted another one of Lucas’ shirts. When I was panicked and alone, trying to wile away the painful hours of the night, I often wore the one he had given me. It was comforting.

  “Does Henry look any different to you?” I asked. Before, I couldn’t tell that he was alive until I placed my ear against his chest and listened. But now, I could easily see his chest rising and falling. Was Henry getting stronger? Or was it just wishful thinking on my part?

  “His breathing has improved, after the first dose,” Lucas confirmed.

  “That’s great news, right?” I asked excitedly.

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself. He’s far from being out of the woods. Part of the reason he was so weak is because of the amount of blood drained from his body. But the human body is resilient. It’s a slow process, but his body is already working to regenerate the blood that was lost. Yes, he looks better. But no, we can’t assume he’s going to be okay.” Lucas had been pacing. He stopped and sat down on the floor next to Henry and me.

  “I’ll watch him,” he said gently. “You get a shower. Just go into my bedroom and pick out anything you want to wear. It’s all hanging in the closet. My wardrobe consists of black, black and more black.” Lucas smiled, obviously trying to make me laugh.

  Which I did, despite myself.

  “If something changes, you’d better come knock on the door and tell me,” I ordered Lucas.

  “Not come in the bathroom and tell you?” he teased.

  “Don’t make me hurt you,” I shot back, pumping my fist in the air jokingly.

  Lucas was smiling and looking at me.

  “What?” I asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious. My hands flew to my face, which I realized was also caked in blood. “I must look disgusting!” I exclaimed.

  “You never look disgusting, Rory,” Lucas said softly.

  I diverted my gaze, suddenly feeling nervous, the way I always felt when Lucas looked at me like that.

  “I’m just glad you’re okay,” Lucas said.

  “Me, too,” I whispered, finally looking at him. “But I’m scared as shit about Henry. He just has to get through this!”

  “We’re doing everything we can,” Lucas said.

  I stood u
p reluctantly. “I should go get that shower. The shock has worn off, and I’m starting to feel a little uncomfortable, being covered in the blood of two dead vampires.”

  “I still don’t understand how you did it.” Lucas had a funny expression on his face.

  “I told you, seeing Henry in that position, knowing that no one was coming to rescue us, I just got overcome with this crazy superhuman strength.”

  “I keep thinking about how that demon told Nicholas you were fated to become a powerful hunter,” Lucas said. “Maybe this is the beginning of your powers? There’s a difference between natural hunting ability and possessing strength that allows you to overtake not one, but two vampires. Do you have any idea how strong vampires are?”

  I shrugged.

  “And besides,” Lucas continued, “you said Bartholomew was the one who bit Henry. How the hell did you manage to stake him before Thomas realized what was going on? I told you before – like that time you ran from the werewolf – that you have an incomprehensible ability for speed.”

  “In fact,” he said excitedly, “if you were moving that fast – which I feel certain that you were – you might not be an accurate judge of time. Maybe Henry wasn’t bitten for very long. I mean, I don’t want to get your hopes up, but perhaps he’s got a better chance to recover than I initially thought.”

  “Really?” For the first time since we’d arrived at Lucas’ apartment, I felt a glimmer of hope.

  “We still have to be cautiously optimistic,” he warned. “And maybe I’m grasping at straws. Who knows? But time will tell.”

  I walked back to Lucas’ bedroom to get clothes to change into after my shower. He hadn’t been kidding. There was hanger after hanger of black t-shirts. Black pants and dark blue jeans were folded in a pile by the wall.

  I grabbed one of his shirts and headed to the bathroom, locking the door behind me. Even though Lucas had proven he could get through any locked door. I smiled.

  It felt good to pull off my bloodied, ruined dress. I wadded it in a ball and hurled it against the floor, imagining I was smashing it into Bartholomew’s face. But you already did one better than that. You killed him.