City of the Fallen (3 page)

She reached behind her back, looking for something solid. Nothing. She walked a step backwards into the empty space.

He didn’t move and she knew he was playing with her. The way a cat played with a mouse it was about to kill. Just to enjoy the hunt longer, just to get the bite in when least expected.

“Come out and play,” he said, echoing her thoughts.

Her hand found the deadbolt—and he jumped towards her. She ducked, screaming, and fell against the door. It slammed open with a loud thump. The first hints of sunlight burned into her eyes and spilled into the room. She scrambled to her feet and then ran towards the car.

As she jumped in, she dared look back and found his eyes boring into hers from the safety of the darkness. It took several minutes of speeding down the highway before her heart stopped booming against her chest in a maddening race.

~*~

It took every last ounce of daylight to make it to the compound.

At some point during the drive, she stopped at an abandoned gas station. She filled her tank with the little gas she had left in a gas can, then walked into the bathroom to change into clean clothes. The woman looking back at her from the mirror was one she barely remembered: bright bluish eyes, soft caramel hair, pretty. At least that was what she used to be called before she became a fugitive, always covered in dust.

Five years ago, she had been a medical student completing her internship, complaining to whoever would listen about the long shifts and the sleepless nights. Five years later, she would give anything to be back in the tiring corridors of a hospital. Only because at the end of the day, she would get to go home and sleep in her own bed, by her own rules.

She looked at the reflection again. She didn’t have any makeup or perfume, but at least she was dirt-free. The jeans and T-shirt she’d chosen embraced every curve—and she was hoping that’d be enough to catch the eye of somebody important within the compound. The closer she got to the king, the easier her impossible mission would be. Or at least she’d have a chance that way.

She got back into the car and sped up. Darkness would be coming back soon enough and there was no way she wanted to get caught out on the roads again.
 

The vampires had established special “surrender points” throughout the state, where humans could walk in and offer themselves as pets. However, surrendering at any of those points would mean getting stuck there. If she wanted a chance to cross paths with the king, she needed to make it to the compound, where he lived. She’d never seen the compound before, but she had an idea of what to expect. She knew the king had taken over an old mansion and then built other structures around it. Some people said dozens, others claimed hundreds, of buildings now surrounded the main home.

There’d been human scouts before, stories passed down and spread around the country about how the vampires had built an impenetrable wall to seal the compound. She always wondered if the wall was meant to keep prisoners in or to keep something else out. Maybe they were selective about who was allowed inside the compound. Of course that meant that getting out of the compound would be impossible—if she even made it in at all. And whether she managed to kill the king or not, chances were high that she would die within those walls.

Her only hope was that her actions would create enough chaos that the whole reign would fall. Or at least falter enough for somebody else to come along and finish what she’d started.

In the distance, the outline of a wall extended into the countryside. The place was definitively a fortress.
The closer she got to the structure, the faster her heart beat—and the more her stomach quivered. Her mind kept replaying the events of the night before and the effect the vampire’s presence had had on her body. She knew vampires had the ability to charm their victims—cloud their minds to make them docile and responsive—and all she could think about at the moment was that she hoped they did that before touching her.

The compound looked serene, even from a distance. She couldn’t see any movement and wondered whether the place was guarded at all during the daytime. The only way they could do that was to use humans as sentinels. The walls were empty of any sign of life. No watching towers either. Were they really this careless? Or was it simply a matter of confidence, knowing that the humans were no threat at all anymore—so there was no need to create any protection against them?

The feeling that washed over her was a mix of sadness and hope. Sadness that in the five years since the invasion, no human had come up with a plan to attack the place. And hope that maybe, just maybe, the vampires’ lack of concern would be their demise.

The sun would be down in less than thirty minutes. She stopped the car near the compound gate—a massive metal structure that was at least fifteen feet tall—and closed her eyes. Part of her wanted to jump out and walk around, but the property was huge and she didn’t want to get caught out in the open when darkness finally came.

Eyes still closed, she tried to tune in to any sound coming from inside the compound. Nothing. The silence was a lot more unnerving than she had expected.

Back in the house, they would be closing all shutters by now, sealing themselves in for the night. She thought about Shawn, her last connection to the world she knew and loved.

A light flickered on above the gate and her chest contracted. Then another light. And another. The compound was awakening.

She stood in front of the gate for what seemed like hours, trying to figure out how to get in. The idea of knocking—or ringing some sort of doorbell—seemed ridiculous, but how else was she supposed to let them know she was there? As she extended her arms forward to touch the gate, looking for some sort of doorknob or bell, she realized they were shaking. Trying to get her heart to slow down was a lost battle, so she tried breathing in as best she could while her hands explored the cold metal.

And then the gates moved.

She jumped backwards when the clank of the gate’s mechanism sprang alive. Her whole body was pulling for her to run in the opposite direction and it took every ounce of strength to keep her feet planted on the ground. The gates slid open in slow motion, revealing the inside of the compound inch by inch. She could see flashes of walls, buildings and pathways here and there—but no vampires, nobody to welcome her or pull her inside. It was like being frozen in time, waiting for destiny to come rushing forward to meet her.

The gates stopped before they reached the halfway point. The opening was big enough for her to walk right in, but not to drive her car inside. The bag hanging on her shoulder felt suddenly heavy and irksome. She took a step in. Then another. Dozens of bright lights shone in her direction—obviously meant to blind her so she couldn’t see beyond a few inches in front of her eyes.

As soon as she was inside, the gates closed behind her and the lights died off. Blinded by the brightness and trying not to panic, she just stood there. Electricity had become a thing of the past for humans. The grid had gone down just months after the invasion and the entire country had been plunged into darkness since then. Besides, even if electricity was still running, turning lights on at night would’ve been a very bad idea. Almost like turning on a giant billboard screaming “Humans here, come get us.” The shock of the flashing lights was more than just a shock to her eyes, it was a shock to the mind too, a clear sign that she had entered a new world.

When the first vampire stepped into her line of vision, all she could see was an outline of darkness and light. It seemed fitting, being blinded into submission.

And then when the vampire finally ordered her to follow him, it all became very real.

She was in.
 

~*~

By the time her vision got used to the brightness, she was inside a large room. It looked like a ballroom, with its high painted dome and colossal marble floors. Although chandeliers hung from the ceiling, the lights were off and the entire room was illuminated by what seemed like a million candles. It was a smart choice, she thought, because it gave the place a slightly supernatural feel, an air of mystery that washed over her the second she stepped in.
Fit for a king,
her mind whispered. And a far cry from the destruction claiming the cities everywhere.

The vampires looking at her reminded her of the one back in the factory—the half smiles on their faces, the look of hunger painted on their features. Except these ones knew she had nowhere to run.

“Wait here.”

A wave of nausea hit her. Part of her reeled with anticipation and fear, and part of her was just angry at herself for being there, for the way the world had turned out.
No turning back now, Isabelle
, her mind taunted her.

She was still trying to steady her breathing when he entered the room. She gasped and any hope of keeping her heart steady was immediately lost. There was absolutely no doubt that she was looking at the king.

He was massive. Tall, broad, powerful. Incredibly beautiful. She could guess the muscles flexing and tightening under the shirt he was wearing. A few strands of his black hair fell over his face, partially covering his eyes. Frosted silver eyes seemed to melt into a liquid dance the second they found hers.

He was… majestic. The soft movements, the silent steps that made it seem like he was gliding above the ground, the stately look in his eyes.
His movements had the elegant majesty of an aristocrat, the kind a monster should not have.
The trembling of fear that had been rushing through her body for the past couple of hours was gone in an instant—and a very different emotion stirred inside her.

His eyes locked on hers, almost passionate. She knew it wasn’t possible. He was a monster, the reason humanity was gone, their king.
He’s nothing but a killer
, she told herself. Her mind searched for more words to describe the beast standing in front of her, but she was drawing a blank because all of a sudden, all she could think about was the shadowy softness of his movements, sensual and strong and… delicious.

The air in the room felt thick and she was having trouble breathing. She closed her eyes for a second, just to regain her composure, and when she opened them again, he was right in front of her. He was fast. Inhumanly fast.

She staggered backwards in surprise, stumbling. He moved so fast, she couldn’t even see his hand shooting forward to grab her—but when his fingers made contact with her skin,
fire flashed through her body. The silver in his eyes danced, as if caressing her. Was he trying to charm her? Her body felt warm, aware. So very awake. None of the fog she expected to feel if he was trying to charm her, to take control over her senses.

He raised an eyebrow and let her arm go. Her skin was burning where his fingers had been.

He pointed towards a massive glass window taking over the western wall. “If I asked you to jump from that window right now, would you?”

The question was so unexpected, she had to think for a second. “What? No, of course no.”

He turned away and gazed out that same window for a second. Then he fell into a chair a few steps away from her. Or maybe fell wasn’t the right word. He glided in slow motion into the chair, easing down into it as if the air was sustaining him.

“What’s your name?”

It made no sense to lie. “Isabelle Bryant.”

Everybody she knew had given up on last names a long time ago. They no longer meant anything, except a reminder that the conventions of society no longer applied. Which was why she insisted on holding on to hers, so she wouldn’t forget what it meant to be human.