Rise of the Dark Sun (The Blood Lust Plague Trilogy Book 1) (9 page)

“This is a token of our gratitude,” Cedric said
. “Thank you for taking such an interest in the betterment of our kind. It is truly a blessing to have such an intelligent and resourceful Quencher as an ally.”

“Thank you, sir.” Samantha replied, obviously flabbergasted by the beauty of the piece.

Gingerly closing the box, Cedric extended it to her. Accepting it, Samantha took his outstretched hand and shook it firmly.

As she returned to her seat, an eruption of applause broke out. 

When she passed Micah, Samantha caught his eye and smiled. Micah nodded and smiled back at her.

Despite the fact that he held nothing but distrust for everyone, save two individuals in the hall, he was still abundantly proud of Samantha. Regardless of whether the intentions of these vampires were pure, Samantha deserved every ounce of praise she received. She had worked hard for the vampire race. It was only a shame that Micah felt so strongly that this was
all a ruse, not only to throw Samantha off guard, but also Micah. If he did not suspect anything, then they could sweep in and take over. However, Micah most definitely suspected something. With every kind word and appropriate gesture, Micah could see the mire behind the mask of kindness. The Vampire Government was never kind. In some instances, they have been just, but in those instances they acted out of necessity, not an overabundance of warm-heartedness. No. The government was planning something.

Micah did not know what or when they would strike, but there was definitely something brewing behind the words which gave her the praise his beloved genuinely deserved. Knowing this only made Micah hate them more.

Watching as Samantha showed Constance the medal she had just received, Constance’s bright smile feigned, ever so slightly, but enough for Micah to notice. After Samantha turned to greet someone who came to bid her congratulations, Constance looked at Micah and made a face as though worried.

Micah, having to sit f
urther down the table due to his lack of stature, could not see the medal nor speak openly with Constance. His head tweaked to the side in askance.

Finally, realizing there was no way for her to express her concern
, Constance shook her head and motioned that she would tell him later.

Skeptically, Micah nodded, knowing that there was nothing she could do at the present time.

After dinner, vampires began to get up and leave. Daybreak was dawning, and many vampires had come from far-away portions of Europe to attend this feast. Although they could now walk in the day, most, like Constance, distrusted daylight and would still rather use the otherwise useless hours to sleep. As they lined up to say goodbye to Samantha, Micah’s beloved received each of them warmly, as she had done at their dwelling for countless others, and a few of the same.

Finally, only the three of them remained, with Cedric still sitting at the table, awaiting the last of the guests’ departure as a true vampire gentleman is supposed to.

Samantha moved over to Cedric, hoping to thank him for the wonderful feast and beautiful medal. As she approached, Samantha bowed again and Cedric nodded.  When Samantha rose back up, she said, “It was a pleasure meeting you. I cannot thank you enough for this beautiful ceremony and such a magnificent medal.”

Cedric smiled, “It is nothing, Samantha, compared to the work you are doing for our kind. It is you who deserves the gratitude.”

“Well, thank you. However, I do this because I have a passion for your race. I set out to make a difference, no matter how small, but I never dreamt that the repayment would be this rewarding. Not only this generous offer, sir, but the kindness and acceptance vampires have given me are wonderful and encouraging. Vampires are intrigued by my thoughts, and not all of them come asking for my blood, but even if they do, they always have a reason and they are always respectful. So, I just wanted you to know that I have never thought, for a moment, that my efforts have been in vain. This experience continues to be magnificent,” Samantha said.

Again, Cedric nodded
. “That is good news indeed, my dear. I look forward to following your progress.”

“Thank you, sir. Good night,” Samantha replied.

As Samantha turned away, Cedric said, “Why don’t you stay here? It is almost first light and I am sure you are all tired. Why make the long trek home when there are plenty of rooms.”

Samantha looked up at Micah and he stepped out. “Thank you, sir,” Micah said
, and although he loathed the idea, he took a slight bow in order to advance his chances of leaving, “Although, we do not live far and would not want to impose.”

Micah swore he saw a glint of ire rise up in Cedric’s eyes as he replied, “Oh, but I insist.”

Micah did not like this at all, and he could tell by the way Constance grabbed his wrist that she had her reservations as well. However, knowing that tone better than Micah, Constance replied, “Thank you, sir. We are all tired and would appreciate a warm bed.”

Cedric smiled
. “Splendid!”

As though on cue, other
Vampire Government workers came out from around the corner. The count included Simon, who smiled and waved at them as though they were old friends.

Micah swallowed hard and Constance squeezed his wrist in warning.

“These vampires will show you to your quarters. Sleep well.”

“Good night, sir. Thank you,” Samantha said, completely unsure of what was going on.

The three friends followed the vampires to two separate doors. One door led to a private room for Constance and the other door led to a private room for Samantha and Micah.

Micah turned, wanting to talk to Constance
. “Hey, we can handle ourselves from her.”

“Sir, the sun is rising and it’s unfortunate, but these walls are not secure. I have strict orders, for your safety, to ensure that you are in your respective rooms before sunup.”

“We’re here. You can go,” Micah hissed.

“We have our orders, sir,”
the one government vampire replied, while Simon said nothing.

“Then we will share a room. Forgive me if I do not want to be separated from the company I came with in a strange place,” Micah responded.

Finally, Simon spoke up: “Let them do as they wish. They are our guests, after all.” He smiled at Micah.

Knowing that he had to be polite killed Micah, but he smiled back and replied, “Thank you, Simon.”

The man nodded and ushered them into the same room.

The men closed the door behind them
, and Micah automatically noticed a rancid, musty smell. Beginning to get drowsy, his thoughts were shared by Samantha, who yawned loudly. “Sorry,” she replied sleepily.

Feeling his mind numbing as he stood, Micah smiled at her. “Yea, I think we’re all tired.” Thinking was beginning to give Micah a headache, but he knew there was a reason he had to think. There was something he had to ask Constance.
What has she not been able to tell me?
Micah thought as he and Samantha made their way to the bed on the other side of the room.

Micah looked around for Constance
, but noticed she was already asleep on the sofa across the room. Samantha was also already asleep on the bed next to him.

As Micah’s eyes grew abnormally heavy, he struggled to remain conscious
, for even though he was having a great amount of trouble thinking, one thought was predominately clear in his pounding head:
Something was definitely wrong!
  Then, right before Micah was encompassed by the darkness of a drug-induced sleep, he remembered the medal and felt the despair of knowing that they were in the heart of the danger and he was completely helpless to stop it.

Samantha awoke with a start. Breathing heav
ily and feeling as though she were deathly hung-over, although she had only had one glass of red wine, Samantha gathered in her surroundings.

Curious and unsure of exactly where she was, Samantha got up and went to the door. Opening it slightly, she noticed that it was still daylight. As she moved to close the door
so as to not disrupt Micah or Constance, she heard voices down the hall.

Slipping out of the room
and closing the door behind her, she moved toward the voices.

“The time of Operation Dark Sun is upon us! We have the girl. She is the last of the Quenchers who have eluded our grasp…until now. We must act before we are consumed,”
the voice of a man was saying, “Does the feel of a bright, sunny day not warm your soul?”

Hearing this, Samantha’s headache and the feel of her lagging limbs were replaced by fear.
Operation Dark Sun?
Samantha thought, moving closer to the room which was brightly lit with natural, noon-day sunlight.

“What of the elder vampire and the boy?”
another voice said.

“We kill them,” The first voice replied, without hesitation. “Friends, this is quite literally the dawn of a new era! We will rule supreme, having enslaved every Quencher on the planet and thus, being able to continually milk the spring which produces the
purest blood in all the land
. Removing the bounds that sunlight has placed upon us will truly allow us to use the otherwise useless human population to our advantage. Finally, we will be free to create our army as we see fit. We have waited far too long for this day to come. We are the better species and when we are free from the sun, the humans will have no choice. They will either bow to us, or die at our capable hands! ”

Samantha unwittingly gasped and covered her mouth, flattening herself against the wall so that he would not be seen.
They’re going to kill Micah and Constance…I have to warn them! We have to get out of here!
Samantha thought, turning to get back to her room, but she was intercepted by a guard.

As the guard dragged Samantha into the sunlit room, she screamed to Micah and Constance for help, but to her horror and utter dismay, they did not come.

“Well, who do we have here?” A man that Samantha had never seen before smiled down at her, his teeth stained with crimson.

After Samantha had been forced into the room, she was pushed down and held to kneel in front of this tall, pale vampire.

“Who are you?” Samantha asked as she glared up at him.

“The insolence of ignorance.” The vampire laughed. “My dear, I am not sure if this is your lucky day or not. You see, there are only a handful of vampires in the world that have seen me, much less Quenchers, and I am not even going to waste the breath to express how many true humans know the color of my eyes.” With that, his eyes glistened, exposing a deep, purple hue which was unlike any vampire Samantha had ever seen, and throughout her journey to this moment, Samantha had experienced a catacomb of variety within the vampire race.

Sensing Samantha’s discomfort, the vampire sneered. “Tell me, what were you doing? Was you
r intention to spy on us?”

Immediately, Samantha answered honestly
: “No, I was surprised anyone was awake. I heard voices.”

“What was the root of your surprise?”
the vampire asked.

Samantha looked around
. “Well…it’s daytime…”

Tweaking his head to the side with interest, his lips parted and he pressed for more information.

Feeling increasingly uncomfortable, Samantha replied, “Not any disrespect, but you’re a vampire, and it’s daytime.”

Laughing genuinely
, the vampire said, “You mean, neither your boyfriend nor your guardian told you what the purest blood in all the land actually was?”

As the rest of the crowd began to laugh, Samantha felt her head begin to spin.

“You Quencher, the purest blood in all the land is none other than the vampire’s Holy Grail that courses through your veins. I am shocked that your so-called friends kept that little tidbit of information from you.” The vampire’s eyes lit up. “How interesting!”

“Is it true, what you said? Have you just been using Quenchers as slaves to remedy your own inadequacies?” Samantha was not sure where the strength inside her came from to speak out in such a manner, but after the words had crossed her lips, she did not regret saying
them. Samantha figured, for whatever reason, that she was on her own, and if she was going to be taken into slavery, she might as well use the chances she had left to speak her mind.

However, after Samantha spoke, the whole room quieted to a hush, with all eyes looking at the purple-eyed vampire, awaiting his reaction.

Samantha glared up at him, refusing to break eye contact. The vampire’s smug expression sullied and his eyes flashed with ire once more. “Inadequacies?” Regaining his arrogant composition, the vampire sneered. “I do not think you know very much about me. For if you did, you would know what a fatal mistake you have just made. Do you know why I have remained in power all of this time?” The vampire did not wait for Samantha to answer. “I have remained in power all of this time because I am feared. Respect and fear go hand in hand, and in order to earn both I have spent my life, both as a true human and as the first vampire, pushing the limits of humanity and even sanity to derive the essence of human nature, so that I may grade its spirit to dust. Do you think it was an accident that I became the first vampire?” The vampire shook his head. “No. I do believe you can comprehend the gravity of that, considering I am still alive and well, expanding my reign as well as my ideals. I have perfected evil. I enjoy misery. I am enticed by inducing pain. The fear in your eyes is almost as nourishing as the ribbon of life flowing through you at this very moment. Every vampire deserves the gift of sunlight, and Quenchers are just tools that help vampires acquire such a feat. Where you perceive us as inadequate, we are actually supreme. You are no different than oil or water for humans. You may get us what we want, but it is we that reap the benefits.”

“I will tell the world about your plan and they will come after you. Somehow, I will make the world see you for who you really are. I have seen your face. I swear that the moment I get the chance, I will do anything to watch you burn! Porphyrias may be the original disease
, but you and vampires like you are the sickness,” Samantha spat, glowering hard at the purple-eyed vampire.

After another long and dramatic pause, the vampire knelt to her level and took her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him whether Samantha wanted to or not. “I will take that as a personal challenge. Now, not only will I make it a hobby to drain you like I do the rest of my slaves, but also to br
eak you utterly and completely. You just earned my complete attention. I am going to enjoy devastating and humiliating everything you hold dear, starting with that little vampire boy and his whore of a creator you seem to be so fond of.” The vampire smiled, tightening his grip on Samantha’s face so much, Samantha began to fear that he was going to crack her jaw.

However, Samantha knew that she could not break eye contact. He could not see any more fear than he already did. She did not want to give him any more reason to go after Micah and Constance. Knowing now that they were certainly drugged, Samantha was terrified to know they were helpless, only a few feet way.
However, it was this thought that gave her the strength to keep her eyes steadfast on the elder vampire’s eyes. No matter how much it hurt, she could not break away.

“You have awakened in me the passion for a game of cat and mouse, where the cat knows far more than he should. I suppose I should be thanking you, my dear. My lust for blood has not been this great in over one
hundred years!” With that, the vampire forced Samantha’s head to the side as the guard who had brought her in grabbed her arms and held them back.

Exposing his teeth, the elder vampire sank them into her throat, ripping arteries and flesh messily. Samantha screamed out from the pain
, and after taking in a few hard, rough gulps, his lips traveled up to her ear and he hissed, “Go ahead and scream. No one will hear you. Your friends are incapacitated, so don’t expect their help, and to be perfectly honest, the more you scream, the better your blood tastes. Your pain and fear ignites a fire in a Quencher’s blood that creates a flavor that is unmatched by anything else.” With that, the vampire grabbed her hair, pulled her head down and bit jaggedly into Samantha’s neck again, making sure that it hurt enough to force a scream from her no matter how much she tried to resist it.

Samantha tried to fight the guard holding her back and the vampire who continued to leach off of her throat, but it was to no avail. The more she struggled
, the rougher the elder vampire became, until Samantha felt too weak to fight any longer.

As the vampire drained Samantha by taking long, drawn out sips from her, biting her often and ripping far more flesh than Samantha knew was necessary even to drink a Quencher dry, Samantha felt the life being zapped out of her
: sucked into his mouth.

The process was slow and arduous. After as many people as this vampire had forcefully drained, Samantha ventured to guess he knew exactly what he was doing. Samantha began to feel like a grape being exposed to the sunlight, drying up into a raisin. She felt the tips of her fingers prune and the blood be
ing sucked away from her lips. She felt her body weaken and her skin pale, more with every drop of blood he dragged out of her. Although, even with the amount of blood he pulled from her body, Samantha did not pass out.

After a while of feeling entirely robbed of life, Samantha began to wish for death. She had never felt this way before. She could no longer scream, even as the pain worsened by the second. Samantha could not move
due to her own feeling of weakness, though the guard continued to hold her down. Besides the pain and the relief of death she yearned for, Samantha could not think or feel much else. Yet, even as he drank more than enough to fill two vampires in one sitting, neither death nor unconsciousness came to her rescue.

Samantha longed to see Micah again, because she feared she never would. From the elder vampire’s promise
, though, Samantha was even more afraid that she
would
see Micah again, under the worst of circumstances. As Samantha weakened, trapped inside her own head with only her morbid thoughts and past words echoing around in her head, she began to regret challenging the vampire. She could not bear to see any harm come to Micah or Constance, especially on her account. However, it seemed as though she had made a deal with the devil himself, and now they all would have to pay the price.

Why can’t I just die? Please, just let me die
,
Samantha thought, wanting to cry, but failing to have enough liquid or energy left in her body to produce tears. There was a ringing in her ears, as though his draining of her was beginning to affect the pressure inside her body. She began to feel the pounding headache of her head being squeezed.

Despite the danger, Samantha longed for Micah to come to her rescue like she knew he would if he could. At least, if he came to her rescue, he had a chance of being safe. Now, Samantha had no idea where he was or what they were going to do to either of them. This daunting weight caused Samantha’s chest to feel heavy for many long, painful moments before the breath and the life was sucked out of it as well.

Samantha now could not breathe, she could not feel and she could not hear. Spots were beginning to explode against her eyes and she knew that eventually, even the sight of the vampires surrounding her, watching her shrivel up before them, would turn dark. Even then, though, Samantha had lost hope of either dying or passing out. She knew now that she would only have relief when the elder vampire wanted her to have relief. This thought scared her immensely.

Then, finally, she felt the vampires fangs rip out one final piece of her throat and then stop draining. Samantha was tossed to the ground
, and the world began to spin. Samantha’s eyes rolled around in her head and the pounding between her ears seemed to worsen. She felt her hands being pulled back and bound, and then she was lifted up into the air.

“Yes, I am finished,”
the vampire spat.

“What would you like for us to do with her, your highness?”
the voice of another vampire asked.

“Bring her down to the dungeon and lock her in a cell. We shall keep this one under special watch. She is a great asset to us, in more ways than one
,” the elder vampire said, smiling broadly.

“Yes,
sir!” the guard vampire said, and then began dragging Samantha down the hall. It was then, at some point during the trip down to the dungeon, that Samantha finally was consumed in blackness and lost consciousness.

“Micah?” Constance called, still far drowsier than she should have been after sleeping all day, “Micah, wake up!” She raised her voice impatiently, realizing that they were both back to the dwelling they had called home for over a month now, without Samantha.

Rolling over, away from her, Micah groaned, “What?”

“Where is Samantha? Micah?” Fear was encroaching into Constance’s every word.
What happened last night? Why had they been drugged? Where was Samantha?
Constance had a million questions and no concrete answers. As she struggled to wake up Micah, Constance strained her thoughts to remember exactly what had led to them being drugged the night before. To Constance’s dismay, every memory she had of the previous night was wrought with holes and disloyalty to the assurance of facts. Constance could not stand feeling out of complete control, so the panic she felt only worsened when she realized that the events of the previous night were drawing an inconsistent blank.

“I don’t know. Check the bathroom,” Micah answered.

Constance looked him over, feeling the sedative emit off of him as he exhaled.
When we were moved, they gave him more. They’re afraid of Micah.
Constance thought as she tried to remember what had transpired the night before.

Giving up on waking Micah just yet, Constance went to the door. As she neared it, she realized that a letter had been slipped underneath. Constance picked
up the letter, which was written on old parchment paper and sealed with wax, bearing the emblem of the Vampire Government. Quickly, Constance tore open the letter and began to read:

Dear Constance,

We regret to inform you that your ward, Samantha, has been arrested for espionage. She will be tried and transported in three nights’ time.

If you wish to relinquish your rights to this Quencher, in an effort to protect your honorable name, please do so now.

This will be your only notice.

Regrettably,

The Vampire Government

As Constance read the letter, she staggered against the wall, her knees feeling weak.
Not even a name?
Constance thought.
My loyalty all of these centuries does not even deserve a name at the bottom of a letter which condemns your ward and your friend to death?

Constance felt hot tears bleed from her eyes. She was so angry and so hurt. Constance should have known better. She should have seen the writing on the wall. Micah was so young, so unfazed by the politics of this wretched government that he saw the face peering out from behind the mask. Constance was so worried about keeping them all out of trouble that she walked right into a trap. Stopping her own grief suddenly, Constance looked over at Micah, still sleeping soundly.