Darkness Descending

by Devyn Quinn

  She held out her arms. “Here, you can see it now.”

  Maddox’s fingers closed around one of her wrists. Her skin was strangely cool against his palm, as pale and cool as marble.

  He turned her forearm toward the light. As he expected, a few more bites marred her inner arm, the second most popular pulse point vampires chose to feed from.

  But there was more.

  A series of thin, white, threadlike coils wound their way beneath her flesh. As delicate as spun silk from a spiderweb, the tendrils appeared to be following the course of her circulatory system, glowing through her arms. Though barely discernible to the naked eye, a closer examination revealed the demonic presence.

  His heart rate bumped up a notch. A shiver gripped his spine, chilling him to the bone. The demon that dwelled within each vampire was like a parasite, transmitted through bites both seductive and deadly.

  More than a bite or two was required for the victim to become wholly diseased. The victim needed to take human blood. It was a mesmerizing and dark ritual.

  Early-stage symptoms of infection were malaise, headache, and fever, progressing to acute pain and violent movements before the victim lapsed into a comatose state that would eventually lead to death. At that time, the demon gestated inside the host corpse as it grew and matured, gaining enough strength to fully reanimate the stolen corpse. What made the undead particularly dangerous was that they had an intelligence far beyond human comprehension and the ability to integrate into the human race virtually undetected.

  He tentatively traced one of the tendrils beneath her skin. Most humans died quickly, within a day; within no more than two at the most.

  Two entities, fighting for control of the same body. Human battling demon, he thought. “It’s amazing you’ve survived this long.”

  Jesse kept her gaze averted. “Given the little I know about these things and how they spread, I’m not sure I was meant to.” Her voice grew distant. “The demon is rooted in deep, but without blood, it hasn’t taken control of me. Somehow, I’ve been strong enough to resist it.”

  Maddox tracked a series of long scars mutilating her forearm. These were longer, deeper, and obviously deliberately inflicted. “What made the other scars?”

  A wry smile tilted her mouth. “I tried to cut the fucker out.”

  Maddox couldn’t help wincing. “I see it didn’t work.”

  “Nope.” Jesse swallowed, her throat working as she attempted to suppress her emotions.

  Another mark nestled just below the crook of her arm caught his attention. “What’s that?”

  She glanced at her arm. “Birthmark, I guess. It kind of looks like three intertwined circles, doesn’t it?”

  Maddox studied the mark. Among his people, triple circles were often interpreted to symbolize God’s eternal vow to send a savior to protect his people against the rising tide of evil. Or her people, rather. Few knew that God was actually a goddess, known in Maddox’s circle as the Enlightened One.

  He eyed Jesse quickly, then shook his head. The girl didn’t look like savior material.

  But Jesse had survived infection when no other living person was known to have done so. Could this scrawny girl actually be the fulfillment of the Enlightened One’s promise to her people?

  It was said the goddess moved in mysterious ways, and that her divine plans would become clear when she was ready for them to be revealed to the eyes of man.

  Though he called himself a believer, Maddox wasn’t foolish enough to accept every part of the old prophecies as fact. Only time would separate the actual truth from lore. But until that time came, he intended to keep a close watch on Jesse Burke. Xaphan, the leader of the Telave, had ways of misleading men; a female had been one of the great deceiver’s first and most lethal weapons—not to mention that his own instincts warned him that he was dealing with one dangerous little girl.

  Ignoring his lapse into silence, Jesse straightened her clothing. “Now you know why I stay away from other people as much as I can. When I feel the hunger, I act a little crazy so other people will stay away from me.”

  Maddox shook his head to clear his mind. He needed to focus. He tucked speculation away for later mulling. “You find it easier to be alone?”

  Jesse grimaced. “Nothing easy about it.” She reached for her jacket and slipped it back on, relieved to cover her terrible disfigurement. “What I don’t understand is how something like this exists. It’s—”

  Maddox scowled. “Evil,” he finished for her.

  She ran her fingers through her hair. “You’ve got that fucking right,” she muttered under her breath. “But where did it come from?”

  Maddox didn’t want to talk about it anymore. She’d learn the truth soon enough. “Straight from hell,” he grated under his breath. Turning away from her, he retrieved the bottle he’d abandoned. “Sit down and finish your food.” For some reason he found it difficult to keep looking at her. At one time she’d been innocent.

  Taking his suggestion, Jesse sat. The meal, however, no longer held any appeal. She made a face. “I’m sorry. The smell nauseates me.” She pushed the remnants away. “And trying to blow off my question isn’t going to work, either. I’m going to assume since you hunt these things, you know something about them.”

  Maddox took another long drink, then wiped his mouth. Right now there wasn’t enough booze in the world to obliterate the dark thoughts roaming his mind. He wouldn’t mind forgetting. He wouldn’t mind going back to a time when he didn’t know about the Telave. “You might think I’m crazy if I told you.”

  She cocked her head and pulled a face, a strangely endearing gesture. “As one of the demon-plagued? No. Throw me your best answer.”

  “There are those among us who believe mankind’s domination of this planet is coming to its end,” he finally said.

  Jesse flinched but didn’t waver. “You mean like the end of days?”

  Maddox nodded. “Yes. We have reached the time when the Telave will finally seize control of our civilization.” His words were scarcely a breath now. “According to ancient prophecies, there are to be four epidemics visited upon the heads of all men: pestilence, war, famine, and finally, death. The first has surely come into place in the form of the plague of vampirism. The demon inside you is nothing more than a supernatural parasite.”

  Her gaze flickered with alarm. “So the worst is yet to come?”

  He nodded. “Given what I’ve witnessed with my own eyes, I have no doubt.”

  Jesse frowned. “It’s almost too incredible to be believed.” She paused a moment as if to gather her thoughts, and then continued. “I mean, yeah, most of us have heard one version or another throughout our lives, you know. The rogue angels’ fall from grace and the battle of good and evil.”

  He eyed her. “But you don’t believe it?”

  She shrugged. “Well, not really. I’ve always considered religion to be the last refuge of the weak-minded. Don’t get me wrong. I get the idea behind ‘Do unto others,’ you know? Some good lessons there, but nothing to really base a concrete spiritual belief system on.”

  Maddox cut her a look. “Then where do you think that thing inside you came from?”

  Jesse wavered. “I don’t know. I’ve been thinking it’s like some freaking government experiment gone wrong, or maybe an alien life-form.”

  “I’d buy that,” he said. “It would certainly be within the realm of belief.”

  She offered a humorless smile. “So I tell myself, over and over. Honestly, the more I think about it, the less it makes sense.”

  No doubt about it, Maddox thought. It’s time to tell it like it is. “Those of us who have looked the Telave in the eyes know true evil does exist. That thing inside you is twisted and foul, a servant in a dark army. Whether or not you choose to believe its origins, the reality isn’t going to change.”

  The girl’s eyes narrowed. “Well, stop looking at me as if I just grew a second head,” she snapped. “It’s not as though I
sold my soul, or asked to be picked.”

  “But you have been,” he countered. “And in turn you must choose the master you serve. Unlike many others, you still have a choice.” Goading her was necessary. He had to know if her nerve would hold when she was backed into a corner. If she crumbled, she’d be useless.

  That brought her hackles up. Their disturbing conversation was clearly hitting all her sore spots.

  Burning with the intensity of a laser beam, Jesse’s gaze settled on him. “Excuse me? You think I haven’t made my fucking choice? Every day it’s in my head, telling me all about its wants, its needs, its desires . . . Every day, I deny this thing. But it gives me no rest. A taste, it says. Give me a taste. There are days when I can’t be around other people. Their scent is a temptation that’s almost too hard to resist.”

  Her narrative chilled Maddox to the bone. Tension whirred along his nerve endings. “Yet you continue to fight it.”

  She nodded, giving him a hard look. “This thing has my body, but it doesn’t control my mind.” Displeasure darkened her expression. “If I give it what it wants, I lose.”

  “But what about the reward it offers? Doesn’t it tempt you, the chance to be immortal?”

  Jesse shifted in her place, masking half her face in shadows. It gave her features a hollow look. “No. The only power I have over this thing is to deny it the one thing it really needs.”

  “Blood,” he finished, supplying the single word she wouldn’t.

  Jesse shivered. “That’s the only way I can make it through another day.” A reluctant smile curled the corners of her mouth. “I have to be stronger than the beast inside.”

  “Are you?” As he spoke, a dark notion worked its way to the forefront of his mind. Putting her down might be a mercy.

  He’d promised to help her, but now he wasn’t so sure keeping her alive was the best thing to do. She no longer belonged in the human world. Yet neither did she fully belong to the Telave. She hovered between the living and the undead, a restless spirit that could find no respite from the hungers of damnation itself.

  As if sensing his thoughts, Jesse leaned forward. She reached toward the small knife he’d used to cut the bread and cheese. “Yes. I am,” she answered, her voice tight with emotion.

  Anticipation sent his heart into a faster rhythm as he eyed the knife. His instincts stood at attention. Suppressing the urge to flinch, he didn’t waver. The fight would be short and brutal, but there was no doubt in his mind that he could take her. She was scrawny, weak, and underfed.

  But she was also dangerous. Fury simmered beneath the surface of her barely controlled calm. When she exploded—and she would—someone would surely die.

  Maddox tensed. The next move was hers. After that, he’d give her no leeway—or clemency.

  Her gaze simmering with determination, Jesse Burke curled her fingers around the hilt.

  Chapter 3

  Maddox stared at the knife she’d pounced on. “Put the damn thing down,” he instructed calmly, “or use it.” Quiet intensity propelled his words. Even as he spoke, his imposing frame coiled, ready to take action.

  Jesse glanced at the knife in her hand. “You told me if I wanted to learn to do things right to come with you.” For a moment her fingers tightened. “I came. I’m here. I’m willing to learn. Teach me everything you know.”

  He continued to stare at her. “I can do that,” he said in a low tone. “But I’m hardly inclined to do it when you’ve got that thing pointed my way.”

  Realizing she was close to crossing the line, Jesse opened her hand. The knife clattered against the concrete floor, breaking the tension building between them.

  “There,” she said.

  Maddox relaxed. “Never lift a weapon toward me again unless you intend to use it.”

  Even with a knife in her hand, Jesse knew she wouldn’t have had a chance against him. He’d probably take it away and then fillet her like a trout on a cutting board. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to go all psycho on you.”

  He let out a breath. “Trust me when I say I understand your need for revenge against the Telave. As much as you hate what they’ve done to you, letting that desire destroy you will only eat away at your sanity.”

  She resisted the urge to reach for the knife again. “Must eat at yours, too, since that’s one big-ass shotgun you were pointing Candace’s way. Besides, I don’t know if I have a mind anymore. Don’t even really care if I am crazy. All I want to do is kill those things.” She didn’t mention she had another reason for returning to haunt the streets of New Orleans.

  She wanted to know what had happened to Amanda.

  Was her twin still walking this earth as one of the demon-diseased—or had one of the slayers taken her down?

  Jesse had no idea. Having no answer had eaten away at her for months, leaving a huge void that could never be filled until she learned the truth. A nagging feeling warned her she probably wasn’t prepared for either option.

  The night she and Amanda were abducted had become no clearer as she’d struggled to put the pieces together. Those things—the Telave, Maddox called them—made no sense. They infect you with this parasite that eats you up inside, she thought, then dump you like so much garbage. Most people died as the infection spread. Amanda had succumbed almost immediately. Yet she herself had lingered on.

  Why?

  The answer, if there was one, continued to elude her.

  Maddox grimaced with displeasure. “You should care,” he said quietly. “It is the one true thing separating us from them. It’s what keeps us human.”

  “I’m not human,” she pointed out. “I haven’t been for a long time.”

  He made a sound somewhere between a chuff and a laugh. It might have been amusement. She wasn’t sure. “You’re not the only one who has lost your innocence,” he said, leveling his gaze on her face.

  Jesse gave him a once-over. Maddox apparently had more than a few secrets of his own. “I’m guessing you weren’t in that cemetery for your health.”

  “I was following you, actually,” he countered with a grin.

  Her brows rose. “Me? Why?”

  A brief frown pleated his brow. “At first I thought you were one of their human servants they send to retrieve a fledgling. We call them the Kindred.”

  She cut him a sharp look. “There was supposed to be another one there?”

  “Yes. And I took care of him.” He waved a dismissive hand. “After that, it didn’t take long to figure out you weren’t one of them.”

  Jesse felt as stupid as a rock. “Guess it’s good for me you knew what you were doing,” she allowed. “But you still haven’t said why you’d be lurking in the midnight dreary.”

  He shrugged. “Just doing my job.”

  “Bullshit.” The expletive rushed past her lips before she could halt it. “I don’t think slaying demon-infected corpses qualifies as a profession.”

  This time a frown preceded his shrug. “It’s what I do.”

  “I don’t think so,” she remarked, lacing her tone with sarcasm. “And I don’t have time to mess around with little boys with secrets, either.” It was easy to turn his earlier words back on him. She’d had to spill. So should he. The last thing she needed to deal with was more secrets and lies.

  Maddox heaved a deep sigh. “I suppose that’s fair enough.” Unbuttoning his shirt, he pulled the collar aside. Scars eerily similar to hers branded his neck. “Most of us who hunt them have been victims ourselves. Like you, I was one of the taken.”

  His confession triggered an involuntary shudder. Memories she’d fought to suppress came creeping out from the darker corners of her mind. Brutal, vicious images flashed across her mind’s eye, a juxtaposition of mouths with sharp teeth biting deeply into her flesh, eagerly sucking up the blood seeping from the savage wound.

  Jesse remembered the feel of consciousness ebbing away and of the coldness of death beginning to wash through her . . .

  She didn’t want to remember. She
didn’t need to remember. Every day she lived with the aftermath of the attack.

  “You’re infected, too.” At least she wasn’t alone. It was the first comforting thought she’d had in a long time.

  Closing his shirt, Maddox shook his head. “No. I’m not. By the grace of the heaven above, I was born with an immune system capable of resisting the demon’s invasion. Instead of spreading through my body to latch on and grow, the poisonous thing shriveled up and died.”

  She stared at him a moment. “Man alive. What luck.”

  He chuffed again. “Not luck. I’m a Palindrome.”

  She blinked at the strange word. “I don’t even know what that means.”

  Maddox smiled slowly, but no mirth moved the act. “Simply put, Palindromes are sentinels created to fight the Telave on Earth.”

  Jesse narrowed her eyes. “Well, isn’t that convenient? What makes you so special that you earned immunity while the rest of us drop like flies?”

  “Since you don’t believe in the ancient lore, I don’t suppose it would do any good whatsoever to tell you that the Enlightened One has sent her own warriors into the battle.”

  “Ah, right. So some humans get a free pass while the others are thrown to the vampires?” She folded her arms across her chest. “Sounds like this Enlightened One, as you call her, didn’t have much of a plan in place.”

  His brows rose. “Actually, I’d say sending her archangels to breed with select human females to create an entirely new bloodline resistant to the Telave’s infection is fucking brilliant.”

  “If it’s even remotely true,” she groused. “It all sounds too incredible to be believed.”

  His features took on a serious cast. “Although we don’t like it, Jesse, there are some things we have to take on faith. You ask me how I know all these things, and I can give you the same answer I give everyone else. When you are in doubt, go off alone, where the only sounds you hear are your own thoughts. Close your eyes and meditate. If your heart is sincere and open, you will receive a visitation from the Enlightened One. It is then she will show you what your purpose is.”