Bitten by Darkness (2 page)

It lay in
a clearing, but there was no moon to illuminate the old, weathered rock from
which it was built. She’d been there so many times she didn’t need light. She
could sense its shape, using memory to supply the details. It had broad front
steps that reached to a long portico running the length of the house. Two
towers stood at either end of the building. She believed there might be a rear
courtyard, but Sienna had never explored around it or been inside. Always, she
approached from the front, walking up the steps slowly. No one else even knew
it was here. She wasn’t sure why she could see it: a curtain of energy that made
the castle invisible to everyone else, like some kind of futuristic shield
device. When she’d dragged Linda here once, her friend had thought she was
crazy and refused to even leave the trees.

The
barrier prickled her skin as Sienna passed. When she reached the steps, she sat
down and let her body relax on the stone. She didn't know why this place made
her feel so … content. It just did.
Even though she couldn't
open the door.
Couldn't even walk up further than the
third step without another, secondary barrier blocking her way.
It
didn't matter. She closed her eyes and gratefully let the dark settle over her
like a blanket.

Chapter Three

Jasper
stood on the balcony of his penthouse, in the tallest building of
Kroy
City. Below him, the reddish light of unending
twilight lit the streets, filled to bursting with people hurrying about their
business. He hated this place.
Hated the oppressive
atmosphere, so unlike the crisp air of Earth.
He hated the sun, hanging
like a red eye on the horizon, always watching … watching. It usually made him
want to crawl out of his skin, but today more so than usual. He’d discovered a
secret cache of data in the Blood Council’s database. It was encrypted, but
that wasn’t what worried him right now; it was only a matter of time before he
broke into the data. No, it was discovering that the Council, of which he was a
member, kept secrets at all. Secrets that needed to be hidden so thoroughly
that they’d locked it in a vault then encrypted the files, and then neglected
to inform most of the other members of the government. He wasn’t naïve. He knew
power led to corruption, but he was … disappointed to find proof.

He ran a
finger along the metal railing, knowing that he could break it to pieces if he
wanted. He was that strong. Not that doing so would serve any purpose. It
wouldn't even soothe his bitter anger, held so long and so tightly in his gut.
His enemies had broken many things over the years, thrown them at him in fits
of anger. None of it mattered. He healed. He stood up. He left, turning his
back on their teeth. And now, it was almost time to go.

A
footstep behind him had him turning sharply. “I thought I'd asked to be left
alone.”

“Forgive
me, master. Count
Alucard
insisted.” The old man who
played at being his servant wouldn't meet his gaze.

Jasper
knew it was because he wasn't really the old man's master. He knew it was
because Count
Alucard
had paid him to spy on him.
Jasper also knew Jack tormented himself because he dishonorably accepted the
money the Count offered as compensation. Jasper didn't blame him or hate him.
He knew
Alucard
had the man's daughter in his
dungeon.

“Well,
well, Count
Librae
.
Brooding on
your balcony.
Again.
How cliché.”
Count
Alucard
stepped onto the metal shelf and leaned
uncomfortably close.

Jasper
imagined the rivets of the railing giving way.
Plunging to
his death alongside with this worm.
He shook the image away. The fall
probably wouldn’t kill them, anyway. Satisfying though it would be to watch his
enemy bleeding out on the concrete far below, his true revenge was already
plotted and set into motion. He wouldn't get to see
Alucard
suffer personally, but his eventual death would take longer and be all the
sweeter for having kept his patience so long and so well.

“
Alucard
.
Go away. You bore me.” Jasper resumed his
position, staring down at a taxi shoving its way between two smaller vehicles.
The driver of one of them shook a hand out his window in an obscene gesture but
the taxi ignored it, squeezing into the parking space. Jasper knew how the man
felt: cut off, pushed aside.

“No
manners. That's what happens when one loses one's parents so young.”
Alucard
rubbed a finger over his sleeve, smoothing
imaginary wrinkles.

One
must always be perfectly insulting
, Jasper thought. Out loud he said, “Manners preclude barging into one's
house.”

“Oh come
now, Jasper. Must we do this verbal sparring thing every single time?”
Alucard
huffed. “The council, of which you are a member,
may
I remind you, demands your latest research. If you don't
produce it, you won't get paid.”

Jasper
rolled his eyes. “I don't need the money. Go away.” He felt the older man stare
at him.

“I
haven't wanted to bring this up, but I see I must since obviously you still
bear some sort of grudge or disgruntlement or childish attachment to the past,
even after all these years.”

Jasper
held back a laugh. He was going to mention it now, was he?
The
bigot.
The imbecile.

“Let it
go. Your family is gone.
Both families
, your natural
parents and your adopted one. Your step-brother and his vile offspring are
dead. They broke the law, daring to stay on that wretched planet, what was it
called…”
Alucard
frowned in thought then his face
cleared.

Jasper
knew the entire display was affectation.
Alucard
knew
very well the name of his lost home.

“Oh yes,
Earth,”
Alucard
continued coldly. “They paid for
their rebellion. We have forgotten all about it. So should you.” He ran a hand
down his sleeve, checking to see that his cufflink was perfectly displayed at
the end of his jacket. The diamond glittered obscenely.

“Go
away.” Jasper's voice stayed perfectly level. He knew the creature standing
next to him had no idea what he felt. What he was capable of doing, to this
city and to
Alucard
, personally.

“Count
Librae
, you have five cycles. If you don't hand over your
research, you will face the Blood Guard.”
Alucard
spun abruptly and stalked away, never knowing how close he'd come to a
premature death.

Jasper
ran a contemplative finger over his palm, over the scar put there by the Blood
Guard two hundred and fifty years ago on the distant planet he still considered
his true home. Then he turned northward, gazing at the night side of the cursed
planet on which he stood.
Not long now
, he thought as
Alucard's
tiny figure crossed the street below him.

“I will
never forget,” he whispered to the dark.

Chapter Four

Sienna
jerked awake, frowning into the silent night. Not even a lone cricket broke the
quiet. “Something's wrong,” she said aloud, just to make sure she wasn't going
deaf. “Linda. Are you there?” She listened, straining to hear something.
Anything.
No response, not that she expected any so far from
camp. Suddenly, a low growl drifted through the trees.

“Shit.”

She was
off the steps and running out of the clearing before her brain fully realized
what her body was doing. She ran past the barrier and hit the trail, hardly
slowing. She couldn't hear it anymore, but the urge to find Linda and the guys
was strong. She pounded up the trail and lurched into the campsite, panting.
Linda stood by the fire, her hands red.

“Linda,
what happened?” Sienna walked over. She didn't want to touch her until she
found out what was going on.
If it was safe.

Linda
looked at her, eyes blank.

“Linda?
Where's John?” Sienna twisted around, trying to see where Dillon was, too. He
wasn't sleeping near the fire anymore. His bag was rumpled and empty.

“She's
dead, I think. Sienna, I think she's dead!” Linda exclaimed, her voice rising.
“I didn't know what to do. Oh my God, oh God…”

Sienna's
heart gave a slow thump and started pounding. “Who's dead, Linda? Where's
Dillon?”

Linda
started crying. “They're up the trail. My hands are all dirty.”

Sienna
grabbed Dillon's canteen and tugged at Linda's elbow. “Here, let's rinse you
off.”

Linda
stood awkwardly with her hands held out. Sienna ran water over them, but it
didn't do much. Her hands were coated in blood, hopefully not John's or
Dillon's.

“Linda,
what happened?” Sienna urged as gently as she could. The need to find John and
his little brother was growing stronger. She knew that she had to get Linda
somewhere safe first, though.

Linda
blinked and her eyes cleared a little. “I had to pee. I didn't want to go by
myself so John came with me. I went up the trail to that spot with the tree and
the big rock, you know the one we ate lunch at yesterday?”

Sienna
nodded, handing her a handkerchief. Linda took it from her and scrubbed at her
hands. “When we got there, a man had a girl bent over the rock. I thought they
were having sex but when he lifted his head, his mouth was all red. I tried to
scream, but something blocked my voice. It was like being in a dream and trying
to yell and you can't make a sound. How is that possible?” She was sobbing now,
hiccuping
and panting. Sienna hugged her.

“
Shhh
, it's okay. You're safe now. Is John still up there?”

Linda
nodded. “He's calling the cops. Dillon stayed with him.” She shoved her face
into Sienna's shoulder. “The girl … she's dead. I know she's dead.”

Sienna
closed her eyes, frustration bubbling up inside her. She wanted to go see, to
help, do something, but Linda was in no shape to move. “Did you get a good look
at the man?”

Linda
shook her head. “All I could see was his white face. His mouth was so red. He
wore black all over. I don't know where he went or how. The girl, her head kind
of flopped over and there was blood on her neck.” Linda clutched at her. “The
stories, they're all true.
Oh my God, Sienna.”

She
tucked Linda's face back down. “
Shhh
. Don't
think
about it now. I'm going to call your dad and the cops
will be here soon, too.” Linda nodded.

“Let's
sit.” Sienna eased her down in front of the
embers, all that
were left of last night's fire. Linda trembled and shook and Sienna kept an arm
around her as she stared into the dark. She knew what had happened. Her mother
told her, years ago, about the vampires.
Warned her.
Explained how they fed on humans and why most people had no idea they existed.
When Sienna was little, she didn't believe her, but as she grew older, she'd
seen things in her mother’s face that told her it was true, but no one talked
about it out loud. No one dared.

Sienna
started roaming the woods alone when she was sixteen. At first, her
mother forbid
her to go, but after Sienna had sneaked out a
dozen times, she gave in, knowing that her daughter had something wild inside
her that needed the solitude. She understood. She was the same. The first time
Sienna came home injured, after a man attacked her in the park, she stopped
worrying. Sienna remembered the way the man's bones felt when she crushed his
arms with her bare hands. She was different. She could take care of herself.
Except … she'd never encountered a vampire, never seen a kill. She never wanted
to. She liked to pretend that her world was safe. That she was safe.

She knew
better.

She
always had.

Chapter Five

The
star-skimmer woke him up at the appointed time. Jasper checked the controls,
satisfied when he saw that he was in Earth's orbit. He knew the technology on
Earth had grown at a breakneck pace since he'd last been here, two hundred some
years ago, and he'd adjusted the ship's systems accordingly when he built it.
It should be invisible to all but the most sophisticated sensors. If anyone did
happen to see it, they would think it one of the small asteroids that passed
close to the planet.
Harmless.
Inert.

It had
only been two days since he'd left
Dekcol
. Two days
to cross nearly twenty-one light years. His research had paid off, the
grav-lensor
functioning perfectly. No one else could travel
the stars so fast. No one else would, especially not those vermin he'd left
behind. It took them at least a few weeks' travel, still, to journey from star
to star. He knew they’d catch up with him eventually, but he had enough time to
complete his plans. To perfect the vengeance he’d hidden so carefully for so
long. Everything would happen perfectly in its time. No one would ever suspect
his hand when they all died. They would have administered the poison to
themselves. He smiled grimly, feeling a sense of peace for the first time in
centuries.