Welcome to the Darkness (Darkness Trilogy) (16 page)

“God, how the hell do you keep track of all that?
Is there a vampire territory handbook or something?”

A small smile curved Nathaniel’s lips. I tried to reme
mber if I’d ever seen him smile before. It was such a tiny change in his expression, yet it completely transformed his entire face. He almost looked . . . normal.

“How are we going to get permission to go into Salt Lake City if the kings normally say ‘no’ to that kind of r
equest?” I asked.

Nathaniel’s face fell into his usual bland look. “I expect we will be granted permission based on our promise to v
acate the area expeditiously.”

I shifted my position and wished I had something more comfortable to sit
on than the rocky cave floor. Sarah was still sound asleep. Her shirt was dusted with sand and smears of dirt, and it clung to her side, emphasizing the perfect curve of her waist.

“Nathaniel,
do vampires ever have . . . you know, relationships with humans?” My cheeks felt warm.

Nathaniel
looked at Sarah before turning his glance back at me. I wasn’t fooling him for a second. “I do not wish to meddle in your personal affairs, Reed; however, a romantic relationship with a human is not the wisest course. You should be very careful.”

“
Sure,” I said. That wasn’t the answer I’d been hoping for. I lay down on my back and studied the ceiling of the cave. It was going to be a long day of waiting for nightfall.

The sun made its slow trek across the sky from east to west. The shadows shrank when noon approached, then lengthened once more as evening neared.

Nathaniel had spent many a day throughout his long existence waiting for night to fall,
forced to remain sheltered from the sun. He sat patiently, while Reed shifted position yet again.

At last, the sun sank below the horizon amidst a
curtain of orange and gold. The twilight sky enveloped the desert landscape and Nathaniel’s senses sharpened.

“We must depart,” he stated, rising
to his feet.

R
eed’s head whipped up. “Finally!” He stood and shook out his limbs.

Nathaniel started toward Sarah’s sleeping form on the cave floor, but then stopped. “Perhaps
you
should rouse her,” he suggested. “You can carry her while we run. If you prefer.”

“Oh, okay. No problem,” Reed replied
, a slight blush coloring his cheeks.

Nathaniel moved to the
cave entrance and scanned the desert, listening to the crickets and the soft breeze blowing across the sand. He stepped outside and walked a few paces and used his natural sense of direction to orient himself.

Moments later,
the other two approached from behind. Reed gave him a lopsided smile and stood waiting with Sarah in his arms. Nathaniel stifled a grin of amusement at the innocent looks on their faces. He cleared his throat and said, “Follow me. Try your best to keep up.”

They sped through the night, mere blurs in the dar
kness. Their excellent night vision made it easy to avoid obstacles. Even Reed, brand new to his vampiric abilities, traveled through the desert with effortless grace.

After a
solid half-hour of running roughly north-west, they hit a highway. They veered north to follow it, and a road sign confirmed it was the I-15. Now they required a vehicle and Nathaniel planned to commandeer the first one they encountered.

Less than a
minute later, he spotted a tan-colored sedan speeding down the highway up ahead. He ran past it and stopped in the middle of the road, waving his arms to catch the driver’s attention. The tires squealed on the pavement when the driver slammed on the brakes, and Nathaniel danced back several steps. Humans were never quick to react at the best of times.

The driver was a lone male,
similar in size and build to Nathaniel. With little effort, Nathaniel mesmerized him into giving up the car as well as his clothes. He changed into the driver’s garments, discarding his burnt clothes on the ground at the side of the highway. Adding insult to injury, Nathaniel instructed Reed to feed from the man. Why waste such a convenient opportunity?

Reed obeyed with some reluctance and then crawled into the back seat of the car for his death sleep.

Sarah gritted her teeth and shot Nathaniel an accusatory glare.  It was unfortunate, but necessary for him to continue breaking her precious human laws. Soon enough, she would accept this fact and the reality of their situation. As it was, she didn’t argue. They drove off, leaving the confused and mostly naked driver at the side of the road, his memory safely erased.

After an hour of stony silence between Nathaniel and Sarah, Reed gasped when he awoke in the back seat. Reed sat up and scrubbed his hands through his hair, creating a disheveled mess. 

“Hey,”
Sarah said.

“Hey, yourself,” Reed replied with a smile. Nathaniel frowned at the smell blossoming within the car’s interior. He wished the attraction between the other two didn’t have an odor.

“Can you switch spots with me so I can try to get a little shut-eye?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Reed answered.

They squashed past each other in the confined space. Sarah lay down in the back to rest, while Reed buckled himself into the passenger seat.

“So, what
’d I miss?” Reed asked.

“A lot of silence,” Nathaniel answered. “I believe Sarah is upset with me for stealing this car.”

“Ya think?” Sarah said.

Nathaniel turned to Reed and
grimaced.

They continued driving for another
hour in quiet, their high beams cutting through the darkness, lighting up the empty highway ahead of them. Eventually, Nathaniel turned on the car radio, hoping Sarah would be able to remain asleep with the music on. He found a station to his liking and allowed himself to relax.

Nathaniel’s mood lifted
when one of his favorite bands came on the radio. As he got into the music, he began to sing along softly. “Honey honey, how you thrill me, ah-ah, honey honey . . . bop bop bop wa-ooo.”

Reed turned
his head very slowly. “Are you . . . singing?”

“Does
it bother you?” Nathaniel asked.

“Uh, no . . . it’s just that, you
don’t seem like the singing type. At all. Kind of the opposite–”

“I happen to like this song,” he interrupted. “It is one of my favorite modern groups, a band from Sweden by the name of ABBA. Have you heard of them?”

Reed stared at him. “Dude . . . that’s not modern. That’s like, stuff my grandmother listens to.”

“I meant ‘modern’ relatively speaking, of course. Did you know one of the most popular artists of my time was none other than Wolfgang Mozart? He
died during my human lifetime. I adore his work. His symphony number 40 is simply one of the most brilliant pieces of music ever written.”

“Yeah . . .
don’t know that one. I’ll have to take your word for it.”

“You would recognize it if you heard it,” Nathaniel said. What were they teaching these ignorant youth in school nowadays?

“If you say so.” Reed said. “Hey, you know what I just realized? I don’t even know your last name. You have a last name, don’t you?”

“Dubois. I am Nathaniel Henri Dubois.”

“Wow, that sounds really French,” Reed said.

“I was born
and raised in France, although my mother’s family was from England. My first name was given in respect to my maternal grandfather,” Nathaniel explained. He enjoyed sharing this information with Reed.

Their car crested the next rise and
emergency blinkers flashed in the distance. At least one car had been in an accident. Someone was shouting, and a man waved his arms frantically to flag them down.

“We must continue driving
,” Nathaniel said. “We cannot stop.”

“What?” Reed
said. “No! They need our help. Look at that guy.”

“Goddamn you, Nathaniel,
” Sarah snapped. “Pull over for Christ’s sake!”

He glowered, but complied by pulling off the road
when they reached the scene of the accident.

“Fine, but Reed and I will remain in the car. And be quick about it. We must leave before the authorities arrive.” Nathaniel could
not allow Reed to go near the humans; the scent of blood would cause him to reveal his vampiric nature.

Sarah leapt out of the car
and raced into the fray. Unfortunately, Reed took off after her.

“Reed!
Stay here!” he shouted. Nathaniel growled and cursed under his breath and chased after the belligerent boy.

A red Toyota Corolla rested in a slanted position across the right lane of the highway, and a mangl
ed motorbike lay several feet farther away on the gravel shoulder. A pick-up truck was at the side of the highway with its emergency flashers on. It looked like the Corolla had struck the motorcyclist, trapping him in the undercarriage of the car. Two men, presumably the drivers of the Corolla and the truck, were attempting to lift the car off the screaming victim. Sarah rushed in to help.

Reed
joined in, grabbing the back bumper. He lifted the entire car with ease and pushed the Corolla across the pavement toward the side of the road. Everyone else fell away from the sudden movement.

T
he victim was no longer pinned under the car, but remained writhing and screaming on the ground. His motorcycle helmet was cracked, but had probably done its job and saved the man from suffering a serious head injury. His legs were another matter, for they had been crushed and severely damaged. A puddle of blood expanded outwards on the pavement, and Nathaniel’s gums tingled, his fangs threatening to extend. Exercising extreme restraint, he barely managed to hold them back. Reed did not have the same control over his reactions, and his face transformed as fangs filled his mouth and his eye color paled.

Nathaniel grabbed his arm. “Come with me. Now,” he commanded.

“But–” Reed growled. His eyes widened and Nathaniel tugged him back to their car.

He shov
ed Reed into the passenger seat. “Stay here,” he said and glared at him until he felt certain the boy would obey. Then he went to retrieve Sarah.

“There i
s nothing more you can do,” he said, turning her away from the scene. “We are leaving.”

She jerked away from him
. “Are you crazy?” she said. “These people need our help! Not to mention, it’s illegal to leave the scene of an accident.”

“May I remind you we are driving a stolen vehicle?” he replied, indicating the car where Reed waited. “
Also, the smell of blood is too strong a temptation for Reed in his newly turned state, despite the fact he fed recently. There is a limit to my ability to alter the memories of the humans present and control the situation, especially if the emergency services arrive. You may call to ensure they are on their way, but we ourselves must depart immediately.”

Sarah
clenched her fists and glared at him. Then she spun around and marched back to their car. She climbed in the back and slammed the door. Nathaniel got into the driver’s seat, and pulled onto the highway. He had not bothered to exert his mind control over any of the humans even though they would probably realize something supernatural had occurred.

“I do no
t want to appear unfeeling–” he began.

“This wa
s the first time being a vampire was a
good
thing,” Reed said. “Did you see how I lifted that car? I could totally help people now that I’m strong and fast. Maybe some good
can
come out of all this.”

“I know it is difficult, but you must learn to separate yourself from the human world,” Nathaniel
said.

“Why are you being so negative?” Sarah
said. “Don’t you understand what it’s like to want to help people?”

Nathaniel sighed. “I know it is hard to understand, but it is not
that simple. We must keep our interactions with humans to a minimum. Look at how vampire mythology has pervaded mainstream forms of entertainment: movies, television shows, and books. With the advent of modern technology, information spreads across the globe instantaneously and it has become more challenging than ever to keep our existence a secret. For the most part, humans still believe that vampires are a myth and nothing more, but that will soon change if we are not careful. We may be stronger and faster, but we also have great weaknesses and a war between humans and vampires would be catastrophic for both sides.”

She shook her head.
“I’m calling 9-1-1 to make sure an ambulance is on the way, in case they haven’t already been called,” she said, pulling her cell phone out of her jacket pocket.