Night of the Fallen (Dark Tides, Book Two) (2 page)

“No, no! These are sick vampires.
Violent, vicious. They’ll destroy everything in their path, including us.”

“That sounds like every vampire I’ve ever seen.”

She pushed down the need to scream, remembering how exposed they all were in the house. How weak. The wrong sound, a too-obvious move or flicker of light and they could be overrun any minute. But every cell in her body was fighting to let that scream out in frustration.

“It’s not. These are not only
monsters, they have no control over their instincts, their needs.” A pause, a second of doubt. “Which is why they’re not afraid of going out into the sunlight.”

She had expected gasps of surprise at the news. Even snorts of disbelief, maybe.
But all she got was silence. A silence so sharp that the flicker of the candle suddenly became the loudest sound in the room.

“That’s not possible, is it?” Anna
said, her voice cracking. “I mean, they’d burn to death if they did.”

Isabelle shook her head. “Not immediately. Vampires can be in the sunlight for several hours before they get hurt.
And the rabids, they… don’t care. They’re so sick, they don’t even realize they’re in pain. Or maybe they do and it just fuels their anger. I don’t know. The point is, they’ll be hunting during the day. Do you understand what that means? We’ll never be safe again.”

For some reason the news
didn’t have the effect she expected. At first she thought maybe they didn’t believe her, but the look in Robert’s face said otherwise. It was the look of defeat. That feeling you got when you thought you had the world figured out and then you were dealt another unexpected tragedy. None of them had ever expected to see the world die in front of their eyes, and now every time there was another setback, another fateful discovery, it felt like the world was dying again. Another crushing blow. And then another. Over and over.

“Why have we never seen one during the day, then?”

Belle raised her eyes towards Robert. “Have you really seen one during the night? We just assumed they were night creatures because those were the reports we heard. They don’t go out during the day unless they have to. The point is that they can. And these sick vampires, the rabids, they lack the mental capacity to avoid the daylight.”

“And you say there are many of them?” Sarah asked.

“More every day,” she confessed. “That’s why I’m here. They attacked the compound and I had to escape.”

A few murmurs radiated through the room. “So maybe the king is dead?” somebody from the back said. “Maybe these… rabids, they did us a favor.”

Her chest tightened. “The king dying does
not
help us. I was wrong. We were all wrong. That’s not what we need to focus on right now.”

Eric, who had been quiet until then, stepped forward. She had almost forgotten about Eric, who rarely talked unless it was to plan the killing of vampires. It seemed like ages ago that they would sit together at the back of the house, plotting the demise of the king. “What the hell are you
talking about? We dreamed about this for so long. This is what we wanted, what’s gonna change everything.”

How did you tell somebody it had all been an illusion? How did you take away their reason for fighting? “I was wrong, Eric. The king is not the one we should worry about.”

A wolf howled in the distance and the entire room froze. For endless minutes, they listened, scrutinizing the silence for clues of danger. A tiny crack here and there, the wind whistling around the house and fighting its way in between the closed shutters. As the seconds ticked by, Belle felt exhaustion wash over her. She had been running on pure adrenaline for almost twenty-four hours, and her body was ready to give up. The pulsing of a headache inched closer and her arms and legs felt heavy and sluggish.

After a minute, everybody in the room went back to breathing normally, each of them probably convinced that there was nothing undead lurking outside.
And she found herself thinking just how clueless everybody was. How clueless she would have been too just a few weeks before. How innocent. How ignorant of the silent majesty of vampires. One could be standing right outside the door and they would never hear him.

“Why don’t you try to get some sleep, Isabelle?” Robert finally said. “You look exhausted. We can talk more about this tomorrow.”

And although she wanted to protest, she realized it wouldn’t make much of a difference. She was having trouble keeping her eyes open. Maybe a night of sleeping would do her good. In the morning, she could look forward to seeing her brother again. And maybe then she would be able to explain the threat better—because right now, the reality of what was coming towards them, of what was about to hit the world, didn’t seem real.

Or
maybe—and even more terrifying than anything else – nobody cared that much anymore.

He’d
seen the smoke dancing into the skyline from miles away. Even before the walls came into view, the few remaining laps of fires flickering in the distance, the smoke had already told Marcus everything he needed to know.

The rabids had attacked the compound.

His fingers tightened over the steering wheel. The heaviness settling in his stomach turned to an icy fury speeding through his system. His entire body, his soul, felt rattled. He needed a clear mind to face whatever was waiting ahead, but all he was feeling was desperation.

He
couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt that way. A wave of loss washed over him. Then a mix of anguish and need for revenge spread further down, squeezing and pulling until his fingers ached over the steering wheel.

He pushed down on the gas.

The car groaned and then took off furiously down the dusty highway.

~ * ~

The moment he stepped through the gate, all silver eyes fell on him. Murmurs of relief and surprise mixed in with the crackling of the flames.

His guards were killing off the last remnants of fire consuming the compound. The entire place looked scorched, burned down to its roots. Anything made of wood was gone.
No doors, no windows. He imagined the furniture inside the rooms had disintegrated into the fire as well.

Soot moved gently through the night, almost in slow motion. The smell of death was heavy in the air. Very much like Franklin, hours down the road. He searched the darkness, hoping for a glimpse of Belle but somehow knowing she
wouldn’t be there.

Miles stepped to his side. “I’ll go find out the details,” he said.

“If she’s here, find her.”

Miles nodded and then set off towards the main building.

Out of the corner of his eye, Marcus saw Cyrus approaching. Cyrus looked disheveled but unhurt as he stepped towards him.

“Belle?”

The scientist shook his head. “I’m sorry, my lord. I haven’t seen her. We searched everywhere for her.”

Marcus’ eyes moved towards the dead bodies scattered throughout the courtyard. “What about them?”

“We checked,” Cyrus said. “I don’t think she’s here.”

Something sparked inside him. “Is one of the cars gone?”

“I don’t know. I’ll send somebody outside to confirm.”

Cyrus signaled somebody over and then gave him directions. A buzzing of movement cut through the night, but it was a somewhat organized buzzing. As the last flashes of fire were dying off, the compound was settling down, regaining its composure.

“How many dead?”

“We haven’t found any human survivors,” Cyrus said. “And we lost eight guards.”

Marcus kept his eyes locked into the distance. “What about the lab?”

“We’re fine. The doors to the lab
didn’t give in, so the rabids never got inside. All the research, we have it all. We can restart somewhere else.”

Restart somewhere else
. The compound was supposed to be his sanctuary, the one place where he could feel safe from the ravaging going on outside. And now Patrick had brought death and destruction right into his territory. A silent call to war.

Marcus felt like a fool.

He should have known what Patrick was planning the second he showed up in the compound. His gaze narrowed as he scanned the surroundings. Patrick had never been after the compound itself. No, his brother had bigger plans. With the king gone and his guards scattered, Patrick had a chance to put his own dream into play. A dream of slavery, of human farms, and forced breeding.

Patrick had always wanted to keep the human population under tight control so he could make sure there was always a steady supply of blood available
—and warm bodies he could both enjoy and torture to death.

The attack on the compound had just been
one step towards that ultimate goal of pain and chaos.

Marcus had never understood his brother’s violent hatred for humans. After all, the humans provided nourishment and pleasure, if nothing else.
And most were weak, ready to surrender. The ones who fought, the ones who had stood up to vampires back when the invasion began, should have been even more interesting to Patrick, who was always up for battle and hungry for spilled blood.

But
Patrick’s hatred was stronger. Irrational, deep-seated and much stronger. And now he had an added incentive to his venom: a human had captured the king’s attention. Marcus had no doubt his brother would do everything in his power to kill Belle. Slowly, if possible. Not so much to make her suffer but to ensure the king could feel the pain of losing his lover.

And
suddenly all that mattered was that Marcus found her before Patrick did.

“There’s a car missing, my lord,” a guard said from behind him.

Something stirred inside him. He took a deep breath, suddenly aware of every muscle he’d been clenching for the past twenty four hours.

She had escaped the attack and
was somewhere out there, swallowed by the darkness.

Every second he stayed at the compound was one more second Patrick had as an advantage to find her.

Marcus turned towards the guard. “Fill up my car and find Miles. Tell him we’re leaving.”

The bewildered look in the guard’s face never converted into words. Instead, he nodded quickly and left again.

Marcus turned towards Cyrus, frowning. “Can you handle the place here? Regroup everybody and send somebody to one of the other compounds. We could use some help picking up the pieces.”

“Of course,” Cyrus said with a nod. “I can get the guards to pack up and move somewhere else if that’s your order.”

Marcus shook his head slightly. “No, let’s stay put for a while. I doubt we’re facing another rabid attack, now that there are no humans left. And I think Patrick has better things to do than send another army this way. As far as he’s concerned, this place is done.”

“Burn the bodies?”

“Yes, go ahead. The sooner we get the human scent out of this place, the better. Is anybody hungry?”

For several seconds, Cyrus stared at the obvious signs of spilled blood on his clothes. He knew the scientist could see the hunger screaming inside him. It burned its way merciless through him as he stood there in the courtyard. “We don’t have any blood saved up, my lord. The rabids, they…”

Marcus waved his hand. “I’m fine. How about everybody else?”

“We’ll survive.”
And then almost without thinking, Cyrus asked, “How will you find her?”  

Marcus stayed silent for a few moments, allowing the puzzle pieces to fall into place in his head. “I think I know where she went.”
Before Cyrus had a chance to ask anything else, he added, “Back to her human family.”

And
he might just have an idea of where to start looking for them.

~ * ~

It wasn’t until much later, when they were hours into the cloth of darkness that was the deserted highways, that Miles said anything.

Marcus had been driving at hair-rising speeds, tearing into the darkness with as much fury as he felt inside.
He’d left the headlights off so any passing vampire would know it wasn’t a human driving the car. He could see every paltry detail on the road ahead so the lights were just a formality, but to other vampires out in the countryside, it would be clear that the speeding vehicle on the highway had no human behind the wheel. With electricity gone and only the glimmer of moonlight illuminating the roads, driving without headlights would be a death sentence for any human.

“Where exactly are we going?” Miles finally asked.

“I have a feeling she went back to the survivors she used to live with,” Marcus said without taking his eyes off the road ahead.

“But you don’t know where they are?”

“Somewhere south.”

Miles paused for a second. “Did she tell you that?”

“No, she told me she came from the north, but I knew she was lying.” Marcus glanced at Miles. “Wouldn’t you lie, if you were trying to keep the rest of your group safe?”

“That still leaves east and west,” Miles argued.

“I’m pretty sure she took the main highway up towards the compound. And I know she slept at least one night somewhere. That means she probably drove for close to twenty-four hours. There are a few abandoned factories and farms a day down the highway, so that would put us around the right area.”

“It could take us weeks to search every one of them.”

“I don’t care if it takes months.”

But
Marcus suspected it wouldn’t take nearly that long. If there was something he had learned over the centuries was that humans weren’t as good as they thought they were at hiding. They left too many clues. They were too noisy, especially when living in groups. Besides, a house where humans were hiding would be boarded up to avoid light and sound escaping from the inside. And while that might have made the survivors feel safer, it was a red flag for a vampire out hunting.

Hiding from a vampire was hard enough. Hiding from a vampire determined to find you was close to impossible.
And at the moment, Marcus had more determination than ever.

He glanced towards the east. The sun would be coming up soon, but he had already decided to drive as long as possible before seeking refuge. Part of him wanted to keep driving through the day, but his body was still weak and exposing himself to the sunlight seemed like a poor idea. Even with the almost-black windows, the sun would still get in.

“Over there,” Miles said, pointing towards the west. “There’s an abandoned factory off the road. We can wait there until the sun goes down.”

“Let’s drive for a while longer.”

Miles looked concerned. “You need the rest.”

Marcus did. He also needed to find Belle.
And at the moment, that need burned just as urgently inside him as his hunger.

Reluctantly, he nodded anyway and veered off into a small road leading to the factory.

The day ahead felt unending and harrowing.