The Dead Days Journal: Volume 1

by Sandra R. Campbell

  He’ll never forgive me for this.

  But I still had to try to make him understand.

  As I came to stand next to the log, he acknowledged my presence with a curt nod.

  I had to shove my hands in my pockets to keep from hugging him. “She’s protecting us, you know. This keeps the vampires away.” I hoped with all my heart that the softness of my voice would make my words easier for him to hear.

  “No, she’s dead.” Lincoln popped to his feet and turned to face me. His eyes were swollen, his face splotchy from crying.

  Immediately my hands were out of my pockets. I was dying to comfort him, but I refused to give in to the urge. I kept my hands locked to my sides and waited. Then, unexpectedly, he threw himself against me, wrapping his arms around my waist.

  “You’re the one protecting us.”

  I held him tight and swore to never let him go… For as long as I’m human, anyway. “I love you, Linc.”

  “I love you more.” Lincoln crumbled in my arms. His sobs were so loud I worried that he’d wake the dead—or in our case the slumbering vampires. I scooped his limp body into my arms and carried him inside.

  Dead Day # 1,453 - Continued

  Lincoln and Zoe must be protected at all costs. Robert has stepped up as my new right-hand man. He’s shown he can be of unlimited worth. I won’t allow any harm to come to any of them.

  Bryce, Amelia, and Hannah are all women who are, or soon will be, of child-bearing years. Dillon, Travis, Blake, and Thomas are good fighters with strong backs. None are expendable at this time. Georgie is four years old, far too young to be considered.

  Tilly and Ben are traitors, the first to doubt my authority, and therefore have to be my first choice. But if they’re of some use to the vampire Orrin, he’ll never agree. Duncan is still my dearest friend, and I will consider him invaluable until he proves otherwise. However, Bonnie and Paul are the oldest and the weakest in our family. If any have to die, it’ll be them…

  NO! It shouldn’t be any of them. I can’t willingly give up any member of this family.

  There is only ONE to sacrifice, only ONE responsible for this blood bath. He will pay for what he’s done and set an example for any who try to go against me. YES! With the help of the group, we can see it done. We can make our stand. We can prove our dominance. We’ve survived the worst Mother Nature has to offer. And together we will conquer whatever HELL throws our way.

  Population: 18

  Rations: 123 Days

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “Dammit, Leo! Where have you been?”

  I spun around with my finger pressed to my lips and stepped aside so Ben got a clear view of my sleeping baby brother.

  Lincoln’s body had gone rigid the second we entered the bunker, though he'd made no effort to get down. He hadn’t seemed to mind that someone might see me carrying him. But he'd stayed on full alert, his eyes scanning every inch of the corridor, keeping watch for what he feared most. Halloween.

  After grabbing water and a quick bite from the pantry, I knew I couldn’t go back to the closet—to where Halloween waited. I had to take Lincoln someplace safer, but the panic room didn’t feel like the right place to go either because of everything that’d happened. I hadn’t wanted to put my grieving brother in my father’s unstable arms. So instead, I’d brought him to my alcove, placed him on my cot, and stayed with him while he cried himself to sleep.

  Ben grabbed hold of my elbow and pulled me a few steps away. “Don’t ever do that again. You can’t run away, not anymore. What the hell were you thinking?”

  Jerking my arm from Ben’s grasp, I returned his angry whispers. “Halloween told me. I know what’s happening.”

  Ben’s soft brown eyes widened to make room for his tears. “Oh, God. I’m sorry.” His left hand moved up to stroke the jagged scar across his neck. “Leo, I never meant to… Fuck.” He dropped his hand and shook his head. “How could I… I shouldn’t have… Damn it.”

  “No need to apologize. You couldn’t have known.” I leaned in, unsure what to do next. I wanted the man I loved to ease my pain, but that wasn’t fair to him. He needed to let me go, and it would be so much easier for him to do that if I pushed him away.

  Only I didn’t.

  When Ben crushed me to his chest, I closed my arms around him and held on for dear life, allowing his black T-shirt to soak up every drop of loss and regret I shed. Ben stroked my hair the length of my back while applying kisses to the top of my head. But as soon as I pulled away to catch my breath, his calloused hands seized the sides of my face and his lips came crashing down on mine. Ben’s desire hadn’t waned, but I wasn’t as sure. The deal I’d made with Halloween changed everything.

  It’s changing me.

  Reluctantly I turned from his kiss. “Can you stay with Linc? I have to get back to Halloween before he wakes and sees that I’m not there.”

  “Too late. I already know.” The echo of Halloween’s gruff voice caused the muscles in my body to tighten all at once. I practically leapt out of Ben’s arms.

  A couple feet away, Halloween leaned against the wall, brow furrowed and arms crossed. There was no mistaking his black fury for my disappearance and lack of obedience.

  “Shit.” I left Ben’s side and swatted his hand off my shoulder when he attempted to pull me back. “I gotta go. Please stay with Linc. I found him outside… He saw Mom.”

  I waited for Ben to say something, but he didn’t. What could he say? The torment in his eyes told me everything I needed to know: He loved me, hated Halloween, and would do anything I asked of him. With Halloween standing nearby, a sad smile was all I had to show Ben how much he meant and how hard it was for me to let him go. Ben sat down on the edge of my cot and buried his face in his hands.

  I stepped out of my alcove, away from the two people I loved most in the world, and into the dark embrace of a very pissed off vampire. Halloween scooped me up and sped through the bunker’s corridors. The walls, floor, and ceiling smeared together in a greyish blur. His unnatural speed made it impossible to discern one tunnel from the next. I couldn’t even tell which direction we traveled.

  When the world finally stopped spinning, I realized Halloween stood in the middle of the outlook room. On either side of the door, two large red candles burned in deeply embedded wall sconces. The scent of warm cherry pie made my mouth water.

  Halloween opened his arms, dropping me to my feet. While I straightened my clothes, he stalked over to the door. The deadbolt turned with an alarming click.

  I twisted around and nearly bumped into him.

  This isn’t going to go well for me.

  Halloween stood in front of me, his eyes burning and mouth pressed into a thin straight line. Certainly he wanted to hear some sort of explanation for my departure along with an apology, but the words failed to come.

  He lifted a clump of my hair and wound it around his hand, each turn bringing his hand closer to my scalp, tugging softly but with hostile implications. “You’ve failed to uphold your end of our deal. When I say it’s too dangerous to go outside, you don’t take one step out the door.”

  He pulled hard, bringing me to my tiptoes. It didn’t hurt, not much.

  “I’m sorry. After what you told me, I had to get out. Some urges can’t be controlled. For me, that urge is running.”

  “After what I told you, you should know you’re now my first priority. If something had happened to you and you hadn’t returned, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to control my urge to slaughter your entire family.”

  The shock must have registered on my face. Before the tips of my toes buckled, Halloween’s left hand was there to keep me steady. Releasing my hair, he guided me to the futon. Flopping onto the thin cushion, I looked up at him, not bothering to hide my falling tears.

  Halloween knelt down slowly. “I have risked my life and killed my own kind to protect yours. This isn’t something I need or want to do. This is something I agreed to do for you. So, where’s you
r loyalty, Leo?”

  This is it. I’ll become his and lose everything I’ve ever loved.

  Taking a deep breath, I locked eyes with him and spoke sternly. “With. You.”

  Halloween cocked his head left, right, and then leaned in close. “Are you certain?”

  I covered his cool hands with clammy palms. “Yes.”

  Halloween straightened with a slim smile testing his lips.

  I might have given myself over to him but I wasn’t about to go into this blind. “The time has come for you to tell me what you really are. I deserve to know.”

  Halloween stood motionless for a long moment, and then he eased himself into the empty spot next to me on the futon. “Given our new circumstances, I suppose you’re right. But we’re short on time, so I’ll give you the condensed version.”

  Inching to the very end of the seat, he hiked one bulky leg up on the cushion and turned his massive body to face me.

  “Before the Earth was overrun with people, it was a battleground where the wars between Heaven and Hell were fought. I and the others like me are a product of that war. We were fathered by sinister demons and birthed by broken angels. Most of these offspring died at childbirth, but those of us who survived were born from violence and hatred. My kind was never meant to be. Angels and demons aren’t born. They’re created, and they can’t procreate, and yet somehow we exist. We were born from forbidden, unthinkable unions that repulse both God and Lucifer. We’re half evil and half holy. Heaven and Hell have cast us out, neither side willing to accept our souls. We are forced to live on Earth forever. I’m undead and unwanted.”

  Halloween paused, seemingly waiting for me to respond, but what could I say. His horribly sad story went way beyond my measure of comprehension. It was so unreal, and yet there he was, sitting across from me, his long angelic-demonic fingers picking at a loose thread on the back cushion.

  “You’re not unwanted.” The words were in my head for a split-second before they fell out of my mouth, completely bypassing the usual filter. I stood up quickly, hoping he’d been too preoccupied with the string to have heard me.

  “Right. You want me to save your precious family.”

  I shook my head trying to clear the rush of confusion. The connection between us had been forming even before Halloween told me about the change. We had only an uncomfortable truce in the beginning, but now that had flourished into something more…

  But what exactly is more?

  Maybe his blood was the cause, or possibly the constant life and death circumstances. Whatever the reason, I was having a very hard time battling the ominous crush of uncertainty. “It’s not the only reason.”

  I heard him move, but I refused to look anywhere other than the simple brick and mortar wall in front of me.

  “Excuse me? Say that again.” Halloween kept his distance, though I did catch a glimpse of his shadow in my peripheral vision.

  I could feel his eyes burning into me. “It’s not the only reason. It was at first, but…”

  Shut up, stupid! You owe him nothing.

  Halloween spun me around, forcing me to face him. He looked so angry, or perhaps desperate. His eyes were so bright that I couldn’t tell which. “You want me?” He spoke in a hushed, harsh whisper.

  He’s scared? Scared of what I’ll say.

  Despite his otherworldly, and sometimes frightening, appearance, and the fact that he was considered an abomination in the eyes of the creatures responsible for his birth, in that moment Halloween was in need of acceptance—in need of a friend. After what he’d done for me, I could never deny him that small favor.

  “No, I need you.” I needed him to help me through this horrible transformation. There’d be no way for me to do it alone.

  A loud knock on the door startled me. I sat down on the futon and watched as Halloween opened the door and reached through to take hold of Tilly’s hand. He guided her to the futon. Sitting down beside me, she promptly removed a linen scarf from around her neck and tilted her head to the side.

  I popped to my feet. “What are you doing?”

  Halloween crawled onto the futon, positioning himself over Tilly’s exposed flesh. “Your condition is too delicate. Tilly will feed me now.”

  I walked around, making sure I was in his direct line of sight. “No! That’s not part of the deal.”

  Tilly turned her head with a tiny bent smile. “It’s okay. I want to do this. A few drops of blood from me hardly compares to what you’ve sacrificed.”

  Halloween kept his focus on me as his mouth inched closer to her glistening skin. “Our arrangement has changed. Don’t fight me on this, Leo. You can’t win. You never could.”

  Some friend you are, asshole.

  I knew all too well how painful Halloween’s bite could be and was expecting Tilly to shout or cry out, but she didn’t make a sound when his long fangs pierced her neck. Instead, she closed her eyes and hummed her favorite hymn. I stared at them with conflicting feelings: anger, jealousy, and strange fascination. Halloween’s eyes never left me as he fed from her vein. But when his feeding slowed and he broke free, I turned away. The moment was too intimate, and a part of me hated that Tilly was the one sharing it with him.

  What the hell is wrong with me? Why did I say I needed him? I’m his prisoner, his meal ticket, his slave. His bite is not something I should want, definitely not.

  But a part of me did want him—the vampire part.

  I wrapped my arms around myself, furiously rubbing my hands up and down to chase away the chill that approached me from behind.

  Halloween pressed his body against my back, encasing me in his rawness. My hands dropped to my sides, clamping into fists while I struggled to overcome a needling desire to run. Then Halloween placed his bloody wrist to my mouth as his other arm wrapped around my waist. I secured his wrist with both hands to feast on the sweet blue nectar. Tucking his face into the crook of my neck, Halloween growled as he tightened his hold. Bliss rushed over my tongue and down my throat to quench a thirst I didn’t even know was there.

  The sound of something soft caught my attention, like a slowly turning lock, and then nothing.

  Halloween’s head snapped up. Tilly was standing in front of the door, her hand lingering over the knob, when suddenly Halloween shoved me to the ground. He was nothing but a black streak as he snatched Tilly away from the door and threw her on top of me… and then the room exploded.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Thick gagging smoke and the smell of burnt gunpowder filled the room, and large chunks of cement, rock, and twisted metal fragments rained down. The loud ringing in my ears couldn’t drown out the coughing and hacking that shook me. Still on top of me, Tilly was absorbing the brunt of the blast, dust, and debris. Before the smoke settled, heavy-soled boots clomped swiftly into the hazy room. I felt the weight of Tilly’s body being lifted. She screamed.

  Then someone’s hands were pulling me up. At first, I was too shocked to do anything, but as soon as I realized the hands grabbing me weren’t the right temperature, I fought against them. And they fought back.

  A solid object smashed against the side of my head. The pain barely registered. I grabbed the knife from my belt and lunged forward without even checking to see who had attacked me.

  Wild shrieks blasted my ear as I pressed the blade deeper in the soft meat of a man’s gut. Before stepping back, I twisted the blade up, wrenched it down, and then watched Robert crumble to the floor.

  “Grab her.”

  I slammed my fist into the face of someone darting in on my right. Fire erupted across my knuckles and through my wrist the instant I made contact. Whoever it was hit the ground hard.

  “Fuck!”

  “Leo, stop or I’ll kill him!” my father roared from somewhere behind me. I spun around to see Halloween sprawled on his back and covered in blue-blood. Large hunks of his chest were gone, and his throat was torn open, ear to collarbone… Just like Ben’s scar.

  Halloween’s orange ey
es were open but dull, and his gaze was glued to me even as my ghastly father crouched next to him, pressing the barrel of a gun to his temple.

  “Get away from him!” The room turned red.

  When everything came back into focus, I was no longer in the outlook room. I found that I was tied to a wooden chair in the same little closet I’d secured for Halloween. At my feet a cracked light stick glowed, allowing me to see that I was alone. The blankets Halloween had laid out earlier had been removed. I tested my restraints, pulling and twisting my arms against the ropes until I cricked my shoulder.

  If Halloween dies, I’ll turn… And then what?

  The thought of him being tortured and killed by my father burned a hole in my gut. The thought of my father having someone come in and rape me while I was tied to this chair… Acid bubbled up to the back of my throat.

  I can’t let this happen.

  “Hey! Is anyone there?”

  No one answered.

  A surge of pain pierced my racing heart.

  I leaned forward, straightening my legs as best I could, and tried to stand with the wooden chair still attached to my backside. Two steps and I lost my balance. The chair and I toppled over. On my side, I scooted toward the corner and did my best to gain some leverage against the wall and push myself up.

  Unexpectedly, the closet door flew open.

  “Leo, are you okay?” It was the angelic voice of my baby brother.

  “Quick, untie me.”

  Lincoln rushed over, his nimble hands working frantically to untie the ropes.

  “You look better.”

  I felt the rope around my right hand loosen and pulled my hand free. “What happened?”

  “After Dad beat you, he killed the vampire several times. But the vamp kept coming back. I mean he even put a gun into his open gut and pulled the trigger. The vamp exploded from the inside out and still didn’t die.”

  My entire body shook violently.