Welcome to the Darkness (Darkness Trilogy) (6 page)

“Let me get this straight;
I can hypnotize someone to forget the fact I bit them, just by telling them to forget? What if I try to do that with someone who doesn’t speak English? And hey . . . my spit heals wounds? Man, if doctors could use that to help people, that would be totally amazing!”

Dominic let out a patient sigh. “The words are more for your benefit when you mesmerize someone. It’s the idea you form in your mind when you capture their gaze that matters, so the language you speak is of no consequence. And you can see why it is imperative human doctors never get the chance to obtain and test your bodily fluids because you’re different now. Healing humans is none of your co
ncern. You’re still thinking like a human, but you are
not
human, Reed. It’s time for you to embrace your vampiric nature.  Now let’s go,” he said, taking a few exaggeratedly slow steps further away from me, waiting for me to follow.

I raked my hand through my hair.
My throat felt dry, my gums ached, and my whole body felt wired like I needed to run. Dominic sounded so convincing, yet the whole idea of feeding off people seemed so wrong. “Please, Dominic,” I pleaded. “Not today. I’m not ready yet. Let me wait one more day at least.”

His shoulders drooped in resignation, but he nodded his agreement. “I’ll take you out of the city limits then, and you can feed on your animal of choice.
For tonight.”

He was true to his word, and we ran quickly through the suburban streets, silent blurs in the darkness, until we reached farmland. Dominic explained to me
that I only had a few seconds after feeding before I essentially died for almost an hour. I’d thought it was weird I kept passing out, but he informed me my heart stopped beating and I stopped breathing, so it was more like a state of death than unconsciousness. I wondered if I would ever dream again.

Although it felt a bit strange, the act of feeding on a cow came
easier than I thought it would and what little instinct I had took over. When I finished drinking my fill, I automatically licked the wound. My saliva healed the two punctures within seconds. Then the blanket of death fell over me and I lost consciousness again.

When I awoke, I
was more than a little disoriented. I was no longer in a farmer’s field with cows. City lights and air pollution muted the glittering of stars above me. I sat up and realized I was several stories off the ground, surrounded by buildings in the heart of the city. In fact, I appeared to be on the roof of a building back in downtown San Jose. Dominic lay beside me asleep, or dead. Apparently, he’d carried me into the city and deposited me on this roof. Then he’d gone and fed nearby and returned here next to me before falling into his own death sleep. Was his being here enough to keep other vampires from attacking me? After all, he wasn’t being much of a chaperone if he wasn’t even conscious.

My thoughts continued to swirl through my mind
while I waited for Dominic to wake up. I tried to plan how I was going to kidnap the lady cop. How did I get into this situation? A flashback of her brushing her honey brown golden hair flitted past my thoughts. She was gorgeous, no joke. Young and beautiful, those greenish hazel eyes you could drown in . . . man; she was like a fantasy come to life. Too bad she probably thought I was a big time loser creep. Too bad I had to freaking kidnap her! Man, this was going to be a long night.

T
uesday morning at dawn, light filtered through the bedroom blinds and the sky shifted from sunrise red to daytime blue. Sarah stumbled into the kitchen and wiped the vestiges of sleep from her eyes. She had never been a morning person and thought she should seriously think about requesting the night shift.

Still in a fog of sleep, she prepared her coffee like a pr
ogrammed robot. The rich aroma of the coffee grounds helped wake her up. After starting the brew cycle, she turned and leaned back against the counter. Should she have a bowl of cereal for breakfast, or be a rebel and try something different, like . . . toast?

Oka
y, I’ll open the balcony door–I might have to force it if it’s locked–and then I’ll zip in and grab her. My new vampire strength and speed should make this easy.

Sarah gasped, suddenly
wide-awake. She recognized the ‘voice’ behind the thoughts. It was that kid who’d tried to bug her apartment.

Or maybe I could try telling her she has to come with me, and she’ll just do it.
Like she’s hypnotized. Oh, crap . . . you’re such an idiot!

Sarah dashed into her bedroom and retrieved the sidearm from her belt. As she hurried back into the main living area, she released the safety and held the gun at her side. She focused on the balcony door and stood at full alert. Shooting someone was a last resort, but that was under normal circumstances. It seemed ridiculous, but this kid believed he had the strength and speed of a vampire. She’d seen evidence that there might be some truth to this when he’d fled her apartment yesterday, faster than any human
could. Every instinct in her body screamed at her to take him down by whatever means necessary.

With a loud crack, the lock snapped and the sliding door tore open. She raised the gun and fired. She aimed at his leg, to disable rather than kill him, but he moved so quickly her shot ended up hitting him somewhere in his to
rso.

He came to an abrupt stop about four feet away, staring at her in shock and horror. He groaned and gripped his stomach, blood seeping between his fingers.

Sarah held her gun in a wobbly grip aimed at his chest. She’d never shot a person before. She watched his blue eyes fade to almost white.

“You shot me!” he growled.

Her hands shook as she watched a pair of fangs slip out of his gums. She started to pull the trigger, but he moved in a blur and grabbed her from behind before she had a chance to fire. Her gun dropped to the floor and he pulled her close, trapping her arms at her sides. Then he pulled her head to the side and there was a sharp, stinging sensation at her neck. He was biting her! She tried to scream, but he smothered her mouth with his hand. A muffled cry was all that came out.

This could not be happening. The reason she’d become a
cop was to dig up dirt on domestic abusers and help prevent others from suffering from violence or abuse like her sister had as a child. She refused to play the victim. Sarah struggled and thrashed to free herself, but her efforts were futile. Reed’s strength seemed inhuman, far surpassing her own.

After the longest minute of her life, she felt the horrid sensation of his teeth slipping out of her flesh. He ran his tongue over the wound and he pulled away from her neck.
His hot breath brushed her ear.

“Oh my God,” he choked out. “What have I done?”

He released her and stumbled away. “I’m so sorry!” He covered this mouth, but his fangs had already retracted. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. Oh, God . . . I bit you. But, Jesus . . . you shot me! I think I needed to replace the blood. I can’t believe I just did that.”

Sarah stood frozen in shock, staring at him
while he continued to babble his apologies.

He stopped suddenly.
“Oh, no. Now you’re going to kill me.”

H
e dropped in a heap onto the floor. Sarah stepped back, touching her neck. She brought her hand in front of her, expecting to see blood, but it was clean. She snatched her gun from the floor and watched Reed, her heart racing. She aimed at his unconscious form, her hands shaking badly. Was it her imagination, or had his wound stopped bleeding already?

What the hell
was she supposed to do now? Call the police? She
was
the police! Did she need an ambulance?

She stared at Reed a few moments longer before reali
zing he wasn’t breathing. She leaned closer, her breath labored and her heart beating a million times a minute. No, he definitely wasn’t breathing; there was no telltale rise and fall of his chest. There was no evidence of a heartbeat either. Was he dead? Would he
stay
dead? Or was this normal for a . . .

“Vampire,” she whispered the word
out loud.

There was
a clump of rope on the floor near her balcony door, lying where he’d dropped it after she’d shot him. He must have planned to use the rope to tie her up and kidnap her. Why on earth was she the focus of all his crazy antics? Had the secret of her telepathy leaked out?

Sarah crept over to the rope, keeping a careful eye on Reed. She could use his own rope to tie him up in case he regained consciousness. He might be strong enough to break out of his bonds, but it was worth a try.

She needed both hands to get the rope around him, so she placed her gun on the floor and set to work. She used the entire length of rope to bind him as securely as possible. Was there something better she could arm herself with?

She ran over to her fridge, popped it open, and rifled through the vegetable drawer. Her hand closed over a stale head of garlic. Success! She scrambled back to the unco
nscious young man on her floor. Vampire, she corrected herself, not a man. But that was insane. Wasn’t it?

Slowly, she brought the garlic up to his face until the dry, crispy skin of the shriveled head touched his cheek. Nothing happened. She smashed the head of garlic on the ground beside her. She touched him with it
again, making sure the fragrant inner part of the garlic came into contact with his skin. Nothing. How were these things supposed to work on vampires?

What else was there?
A cross? She didn’t have any of those lying around, and holy water was out of the question. What about silver? But she didn’t have any jewelry made out of silver because it made her skin turn green, so that was out. Wait! Grandma’s silver tea service. Sarah rushed to her china cabinet and pulled out the tea set. It was tarnished. Grandma would be so disappointed.

She selected the least tarnished piece, the teapot, and carried it huddled against her. She crossed the room and knelt down next to Reed. Then she moved the teapot toward his face. Holding her hand as steady as she could, she brought the pot closer to his skin, one fraction of an inch at a time.

Contact! And . . . nothing. Sarah released the breath she didn’t even realize she’d been holding. She placed the teapot beside Reed on the floor next to the discarded garlic bulb. So much for all the myths about vampires and their weaknesses. The most effective weapon she’d discovered so far was her gun. Considering Reed had just come in from outside during broad daylight, it was obvious the sun didn’t affect him either.

She focused on his face and gathered her resolve. No
rmally, she tried to avoid reading people’s thoughts on purpose, but right now, she felt it was necessary. She wasn’t picking up any thoughts by accident, as she sometimes did, so it was time to delve inside his mind and see what she could discover. She concentrated and tried to slip inside his thoughts, but was surprised to find . . . a complete blank. It was as if he wasn’t there at all.

Sarah stared at his face and realized with a jolt that he seemed familiar, and not just from his disastrous visit to her apartment yesterday. She kept a wary eye on him and went to retrieve yesterday’s newspaper from her coffee t
able. She flipped to the local news section and scanned the main headline. “Triple homicide in King City,” she read. Next to the article was a school photo of Reed, with a caption that read, “Teen wanted for questioning as prime suspect in triple homicide.”

The article described the crime scene as a
farmhouse just outside of King City. It had burned, and the remains of three people had been discovered inside. The bodies were identified as the father, mother, and daughter of a family of four; the fourth family member, the teenage son, was missing. Or not, she thought and turned to look at him lying on her floor.

Turning her attention back to the article, she continued reading.
A gasping intake of breath startled her, and she dropped the paper and scrambled to retrieve her gun. Planting her feet in a solid stance, she took aim at Reed’s forehead.

He
lay still, his eyes–which were back to their brilliant blue color–open wide. Silence stretched between them. Reed watched Sarah, waiting, and she was surprised he wasn’t grimacing in pain from his bullet wound. Had it already healed?

Reed’s glance flickered down to his chest, then back at Sarah. “You didn’t stake me,” he said.

Sarah’s pressed her lips together, anger bubbling up inside her. “Lucky for you, I forgot my stake in the car last night.”

“What?” Reed’s brow crinkled in confusion. “Oh . . . you’re being sarcastic. I get it. Look, I know saying sorry doesn’t cut it, but I’ve never bitten anyone be
fore, and I didn’t mean to, and–” He stopped mid-sentence and sniffed. He continued sniffing and spotted the garlic lying on the floor beside him. “What is that?”

“Nothing,” Sarah replied. Her mind whirled in circles. Why was she hesitating? She should stop talking to him and call
9-1-1. Something wasn’t right here; this kid had gotten himself involved in something deep, and she had a feeling he needed help.