Darkness Comes This Way Part 8

It had been six months since he had disappeared...since they had been ambushed that night and he had been bitten and dragged away by the rabid that still plagued her nightmares. Thomas looked the same with the exception of those burgundy eyes.

Those deep, crimson irises had stared straight into Zarah's soul that night as he stood before her-and all she'd done was gaze back at him without making a single move. How many nights had she wandered the streets secretly hoping to run into her lost brother? She felt like she'd even allowed him to approach her, because when he did, she still didn't move. She had been frozen...stunned.

She snapped out of it though when he began speaking and tried to reach for her.

"Zarah..." he said, his voice barely audible.

Like the one who had stolen him from her, he spoke. Though he seemed to struggle with the words as if he was still learning, she'd heard him, and the confusion swept through her once again. It couldn't be possible.

Trying to reach for her gun, she fumbled, and he charged at her with his teeth bared. His voice chilled her. Her hands shook...and tears instantly stung at her eyes as she choked on a sob.

"You're not supposed to talk!" she screamed, still fumbling to grab her gun, dodging his attacks at the same time.

Their fighting was evenly matched. Where he was always the stronger one, she was always the faster one. She threw up a high kick to his jaw and knocked him back a few feet just as she managed to finally pull her gun free from the holster on her hip. Before she could fire, he was charging her again, knocking the gun from her grip and sending it flying across the roof.

He'd had her in his grip then, and no matter how hard she'd struggled, she couldn't break free...

"Little sister..." his tone was sinister in her ear. "Don't fight. You're only losing anyway."

When he bit into the tender flesh of her neck, a scream pierced through the cold night air. It only took a second for Zarah to realize that it was herself as her nails dug in and clawed at his back, and she continued to fight.

She remembered her scream slowly dying out as he continued to drink from her. She thought he was draining her dry rather than turning her Rogue until he released her moments later. When his grip loosened, she stumbled forward, landing on her hands and knees. He knelt down in front of her, taking her chin in his hand and turning her face up to meet his gaze. Their eyes met...and for a brief flash, she saw their father instead of him. Thomas looked so much like their father had...

Their parents. That was another story in itself. When they were young, still not fully fledged Vampires, their mother, a human, had been out shopping one evening when she had been attacked by a group of Rogues and ripped apart. As soon as their father found out, he went after the group on a mission of revenge, only to commit suicide by being turned Rogue himself. Three years later, Zarah and Thomas had to burn him one night. They promised each other that very night they would do what was necessary for the other if there was another situation like that. She was supposed to be Thomas' ticket to a release, but now how was that going to be possible if he'd just turned her too?

She had begun losing a lot of blood after that, but knew it wouldn't take long before the wound would heal as the rabid poison had already begun setting in. Her vision swam.

He stood, picking her up and carrying her into the building where he sat her back down. He hadn't said another word since biting her, but she knew what he was doing. As she lay on the cold, concrete floor on her stomach, shivering and convulsing violently, Thomas had placed her there so she wouldn't be caught out in the sunlight. She had tried to crawl, to move and get out. What comprehension she'd had left told her to destroy herself before it was too late but the pain was too much, paralyzing her in place. Thomas cleaned her of all her weapons to be sure anyway, tossing them off of the roof.

"Thomas..." she stuttered out in a whisper, but he only started to walk away from her in silence.

"Thomas," her voice rose a little higher as she continued to watch his back retreating. Her lips were trembling then, her body frozen and paralyzed, and her head was spinning wildly as she tried to focus.

"Thomas! I'm going to kill you!" she finally screamed, hoa.r.s.e. He stopped in the doorway, turning to face her....

And he smiled.

With that final image of him etched into her memory, he slammed the heavy, metal door, plunging her into darkness as she continued screaming for her brother. A few seconds later, she could no longer fight the pain or the spinning in her head, allowing her body to succ.u.mb to unconsciousness....

"Zarah?" Draven said, pulling her away from her thoughts and back to the present again. He was looking down at her with worry.

She swallowed the lump forming in her throat quickly, and regained her composure as she stood up straighter.

"There's not much to tell, Draven. He attacked me. He bit me. He left me. That is all." She tried to say it roughly but her voice cracked.

"Now, goodnight."

How could she be standing in front of him, acting so emotional, and expect him to care anyway?

As she started to close the door, he stopped her again.

"That's all? I hardly believe that is all there is to it..." he tried to argue.

Zarah narrowed her eyes and leaned forward. As she did so, she shoved his hand away from her door so that she would be able to close it.

"Thomas took a piece of my soul that night as he smiled and walked away. I don't think I can forgive that so easily," she said as she began to shut the door. Draven was left standing out in the hallway, stunned at her words.

Fourteen.

Draven stood at Zarah's closed door. Leaning his forehead against the cool steel, he shut his eyes and took a deep breath. He could smell her on the other side; her scent was intoxicating as always. She smelled of a sweet mixture of fresh lilies, honeysuckle, and a hint of pineapple.

As thoughts began to race through his mind of how hurt she had looked when recounting her memories with Thomas and the night he had turned her Rogue, the fury started to build within him.

Draven opened his eyes and glanced down at his watch.

Three A. M.

He had plenty of time.

Listening at Zarah's door another moment longer, he heard that she was in the shower. Then, he pushed away and headed back toward the elevator to leave the Compound.

Zarah stepped out of the shower and walked into her room to grab sleeping clothes. That was when she noticed Draven had left from her door at last, and it made her let out a sigh of relief. The lump formed at the back of her throat was hard to swallow as her emotions ran rampant. His scent still lingered and she inhaled deeply, closing her eyes as she did. She couldn't allow herself to think, to get attached, like that. But, perhaps it was already too late.

"Such a fool," she chastised herself out loud with a shake of her head as she walked toward her little kitchen and grabbed a fresh bottle of blood. She was angry and embarra.s.sed with herself for having opened up so much to Draven.

Draven...

Who had once annoyed and p.i.s.sed her off so much...

Now, it seemed as if he genuinely cared. Even if he still liked to push her b.u.t.tons to the boiling point. To top it off, she actually trusted him. More than anyone could even begin to imagine.

While she drank slowly from the amber-colored bottle, a small thought crossed her mind that nearly made her drop it.

It was possible she could be falling for him.

Driving, Draven looked around to see the streets mostly deserted at the late hour. It would have been peaceful if the anger in him hadn't been so much in control. He jerked the wheel to turn a corner, making the tires squeal. The radio blasted, heavy drums and blaring electric guitar riffs filling the s.p.a.ce of the interior.

Zarah's voice edged into his thoughts.

"Thomas took a piece of my soul that night as he smiled and walked away."

He had remained silent throughout it all, and secretly had read her memories while she dredged them up. Draven knew she wouldn't tell the whole story...but he saw what exactly happened through her eyes as she stood there before him. There was something unusual there. Rogues were gaining intelligence long before he was aware of it, before this mission. Zarah knew it though. She had known the night Thomas was turned, and then again when he came back for her...

But it was that statement, the sorrow in her eyes, the pain in her voice, that'd struck him. When she closed the door in his face, he was floored beyond words. He didn't know how to comfort her.

He wanted to comfort her.

The rage grew as his drive came to an end and he slammed on his brakes, throwing the car into park violently. He climbed out of the car and stalked up to the door, and pounded on it.

After beating loudly, non-stop, for a few long seconds, the door in front of him finally opened.

"What?" Thomas asked in confusion, swinging the door open with a frown. He smirked when seeing Draven.

"Oh, Guardian, it's you," he began, looking around, frowning again at the odd situation.

"Is everything okay?"

Without a word and a sudden loud crack, Draven had brought his fist up and connected it against Thomas' jaw. It sent him flying backwards into the apartment, hitting a nearby bookshelf and landing hard onto the floor.

Thomas shot back up quickly, growling and baring his fangs. Draven, already inside the apartment, closed the door to the rest of the complex to keep the noise level down to a minimum as best as he could, but knew it wouldn't do any good if they were going to fight anyway. At that point, he didn't really care. His anger was winning out with his emotions, even if it was a little out of character for him.

The Rogue charged at the Guardian and slammed him against the wall. Draven swung again, trying to get another punch in, but missed when Thomas ducked. His hand went into a picture frame instead. Gla.s.s shattered onto the floor.

It was in that moment, Alyssa walked into the room from the back to see what the commotion was about and gasped, getting both of their attention.

"What is going on here?" she yelled at them.

"I don't know, ask him!" Thomas started shouting back.

"He's the one that came knocking, and then punched me when I opened the door."

Draven stopped fighting against Thomas and took a few steps back, clenching his teeth.

"What is your problem?" Thomas turned to ask Draven furiously, holding his jaw and shooing Alyssa's hands away when she rushed over to try and check on him.

"You did it. You attacked Zarah and turned her Rogue. You're her brother. d.a.m.n it, you're supposed to protect her, not ruin her." Draven's tone was ice.

Thomas raised an eyebrow, staring at him with interest. There wasn't any remorse in her brother's features, and that fueled his temper further. He began to ready his fist again and step toward him.

Holding up his hands up in defense, Thomas shook his head and pointed at the couch.

"Sit. There's probably more to the story you should know."

Draven froze and suddenly looked at him in confusion. More to the story? How could there be more to something like that?

Thomas glanced at him curiously as he sat in a chair.

"Trust me, Draven."

It was probably the first time the Rogue had addressed him by his name, and that was when he decided to sit and listen to whatever it was he had to say.

"I didn't want this. I knew she'd cure, and I knew it was only her that I'd want to end it for me. My sister wouldn't have unless I took extreme measures, so yes, I turned her Rogue," Thomas explained calmly.

"Do not think that I don't feel guilty about it. There's not a single day that goes by that I don't think of the pain I caused her. But, I know at the same time I protected her while causing my own end that should be done."

Draven inhaled sharply and looked at him in shock.

"You knew she'd cure? How?"

Thomas smiled then.

"A little family secret. Not even Zarah herself knows. It's rare, and if I tell you, you have to keep your mouth shut. Our father didn't want her knowing until the time was right, whenever I felt like it was good to tell her."

"Wait, wait. I'm confused now. Everyone has been trying to figure out how she's cured, but you're saying you've known all along?" Draven asked.

He frowned and shook his head, continuing his explanation.

"I wasn't there when she cured, remember? And I can't tell her right now. At this time, the main focus is to keep the Rogues away from the secret, and from getting to her blood for experimenting. It's to my understanding, they're already trying some unusual experiments."

"Yes, Mitch.e.l.l was something unlike I've ever seen," Draven remarked as Thomas nodded thoughtfully.

A few minutes of awkward silence pa.s.sed between them then as Thomas stared at Draven, lost in thought, concentrating and contemplating on what he was about to reveal to the Guardian. Finally, he sighed and uncrossed his legs.

"Unlike the lot of vampires, Zarah and I weren't born fully human or half-human first," he said at last.

"As I said, we are extremely rare cases, probably the only two on the planet, and this is highly secret."

The normal life and turning of a vampire is that a male vampire can get a human woman pregnant, bearing a half-human, half-vampire child. The only vampire traits they show during childhood most times is faster-than-average-human speed, telepathy, burns from sunlight, and raw meat cravings. Then when the child reaches a certain age, usually the average around twenty, the father fully turns them by feeding him or her his blood. This stops the aging process, they never eat food again, and rely on the sustenance of blood to survive.

If a child is born to parents that are both human, and is thus a fully human child as well, the process is a bit different. Those vampires were turned later when they were older by another vampire in most cases because they became a part of the world, either through a mate, or because they were caught up in a fight. Some cases, like Draven, are a slight mystery. He woke up in a back alley late one night craving blood. Nathanial found him some hours later, and told him what he was. He had no memory of what had happened right before his turning, but he did remember small memories of his mother. Sometimes he missed her...but it had been decades, and there were a lot of blank spots.

"Okay, you have my attention." Draven sat up with interest.

"Our mother wasn't human. She was a Fallen Angel."

Fifteen.

"What?" Draven stared in shock at Thomas, his eyes unbelievably wide.

"Are you being serious?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Thomas asked. He reached behind him and pulled a photo alb.u.m from a nearby bookshelf. He reached across the table to hand it to Draven as Alyssa sat down in Thomas' lap.