Darlings of Darkness: A Vampire Anthology Part 187

When we first approached the gate at the end of the long driveway, I saw no one. The trees surrounding the driveway were dark and still. Then one of the beams from my headlights illuminated a vehicle parked across the road. It was an old conversion van that barely looked like it could run. There were several figures standing there across the road. The tallest of the three was pacing back and forth and glaring in our direction as Alex shifted my truck into park.

"This is bad, Sarah. We should wait for the others."

I could not see Katie, but I knew they had to be keeping her somewhere nearby. I glanced quickly over at Alex and shook my head, "No way."

"d.a.m.n it, listen to me!" He started to reach out for me and then pulled back, remembering the issue we seemed to have when we came into contact with each other. He leaned over near me, getting as close as he dared. I felt a spark of heat on the skin of my face and neck, and I tried to let my eyes skip away from him.

"The two of us don't stand a chance against those guys, Sarah. The second you let them in, they could kill your sister and both of us without the other vampires even knowing what happened. This is a mistake."

"They can't kill me and expect Michael to be able to walk away. He is bound to this place and I am the only one who can let him out. They know that, Alex." I hated the fear that was creeping over me, but I was not about to let it prevent me from saving Katie. Alex could not possibly understand the connection that I had with my sister, so his reluctance to face these undead creeps was not very surprising. However, I wanted so much for him to step out bravely by my side and not hold anything back; no matter how badly we were outnumbered. And that was the gist of it. I wanted Alex beside me. But just for his support during this confrontation? I wasn't sure. But I needed him.

I met his fierce look steadily, "I'm glad you're here. I do need your help. I need a friend who understands something about what I'm facing. That's you."

He gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands and shook his head, "We can't do this by ourselves."

"Then let's just make sure she's okay and keep them talking until the others get here, okay?" Instead of waiting for an answer, I opened my door and stepped out. The tall one had come across the road and was standing near the gate.

He was well over six feet tall and had short red hair. He was wearing a denim jacket with strange patches all over it and a pair of worn jeans. His face was dark with anger when he glimpsed the man walking beside me.

"Where is Michael?" He growled.

"Where is my sister?"

"Let us start again, shall we, love?" The male visibly relaxed, gave a light little sigh, and smiled, "You will see that she is unharmed." He lifted one hand and glanced behind him toward the van.

"Lucas, bring her out." he said.

One of the men by the van opened the side door of the vehicle and reaching in, dragged a girl out by one of her upper arms. Katie looked over at us with tears in her eyes, and I felt a great weight fall away from me knowing she was safe. I sighed in profound relief. Two of the other vampires brought her forward.

I nodded to the leader, "And you are?"

He laughed without a trace of humor, "You are a treat, my dear. I am Nathan."

"If you want Michael, you must come into the containment field." Alex spoke with surprising force beside me. I glanced over at him in astonishment. His jaw was clenched in either anger or fear, but other than that, he looked completely confident. Warm grat.i.tude gave me a few moments of confidence. I turned my eyes back to Nathan.

"Only one of you. The rest stay out." I added. One vampire of theirs against three of ours sounded like a winning strategy to me. Somehow, I did not think Nathan was going to go for that idea.

"I don't think so." Nathan replied with a feral grin, "It's all or none."

That was when I saw the female of the group step calmly forward to the gate. She seemed small for a vampire, but she carried herself as if she were eight feet tall. Her every movement indicated that this was no ordinary human but a supernatural being with extraordinary abilities. She was dressed in a simple dark gown that fell to her ankles, and it appeared like something women would wear back in the nineteenth century. She wore black Mary Jane's with silver buckles (a little more modern than her dress) and her hair was twisted back into a severe knot at the base of her skull. The idea that sprang to mind was that this was a clever disguise. She was not some farm girl from the 1800's. She was a very deadly and talented vampire.

Nathan glanced behind him at her approach and then waved one hand at us, "They are being a little difficult, Victoria. I apologize for the delay."

She nodded quickly, "Of course. Their companions are not with them. They are afraid." Her voice was that of an angel, lilting and perfect in tone. She closed her eyes for a fraction of a second and sniffed lightly. Then she looked pointedly at Alex and a small smile curved her perfect little rosebud mouth.

"h.e.l.lo, brother."

I was completely floored. Sending another shocked stare over at Alex, I noticed he had gone very still and his face had lost all of its color. With wide eyes, he returned her look but kept his lips sealed. His hands began trembling and yet again, I wished I had the freedom to reach out to comfort him. Questions snapped back and forth in my brain like a whip.

Victoria continued, "Miss Wood, if you would invite us in I would be very appreciative. If it makes you more comfortable, we will all enter and bring your sister with us."

I looked over the group again, trying to a.n.a.lyze which of them would be more likely to kill my sister if things went badly. Victoria jerked her head in my direction with a gesture that stilled my thoughts.

"Your sister will not be harmed."

Holy c.r.a.p. She could read my mind? The implications of this were more frightening than the three big vampires accompanying her. As I carefully watched her, she nodded imperceptibly and turned back to Alex, "If you would, please open the gate."

He still had my keys in his hand and I nodded when he turned to me for confirmation.

"It's okay. Go ahead. It's the gold key."

He swung his head back to Victoria then walked over to where the lock and chain were holding the gate closed. He had some trouble getting the key into the lock because his fingers were quivering. Eventually, the key slid into the lock and he turned it. The lock popped open, and Alex unwrapped the chain from around the steel gatepost.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. What I was about to do might get people killed. If I did not do it, my sister was in danger. My palms began to sweat and I rubbed them against my jeans. It was too serious of a burden for someone like me, I thought. Too many things had gone so wrong lately. Surely, I was not the person to make these kinds of life-altering decisions. However, if not me, then who? Certainly not Katie. It was all up to me. Whatever decision I made would change things forever. Nevertheless, there was no other way.

Gritting my teeth and crossing my fingers, I said the necessary words. And I hoped to G.o.d that Gunter and Luanna had convinced Michael to help us. If not, it was very likely that Katie, Alex and I would end up dead.

Chapter Eleven.

Victoria entered with the grace and unerring patience that had served her for centuries. She stopped for a moment at Alex's side, touched his arm gently, and whispered a few eloquent words that seemed to calm him. He dropped his look to the gravel driveway when she turned from him and approached me.

"I'm pleased to meet you, Miss Wood. Perhaps we can become friends once this momentous evening comes to an end."

Her pleasant hazel eyes and genteel words were soothing and I found myself hoping that if things went wrong with the rogues she had come here with, she might intervene on our behalf. Once the thought entered my head, she pressed cool fingers to my jaw and nodded.

"Victoria?" Nathan approached us, followed by the two goons who were holding my sister. Katie still had tears trailing down her cheeks but the intensity of her fear seemed to have subsided for the moment. Nathan gestured at my sister, "Shall we release her or wait until we see Michael?"

"Keep her for now." Victoria replied crisply, "And I'm tired of sitting in that awful excuse for a vehicle. We're walking from here." She turned and began marching up the driveway, holding her skirt up slightly as she made her way toward the house. I cast a quick look at Katie again to make sure she was calming down. The tears had stopped and she was only sniffling a little bit.

She answered my questioning expression with a little nod, "I'm okay."

I hoped she was being sincere and not just putting on a brave face. Given the amount of emotional upheaval we had both been through lately, it would not shock me if Katie totally lost her mind after this night was over. As for me, I was a tough cookie. My father had known exactly how much I could handle. I kept telling myself that as I accompanied four vampires, a former vampire, and my recently kidnapped sister up the driveway in the direction of the house. Sure, no problem. I could totally handle this.

Alex fell into step beside me, "You okay?"

"Scared." I tried to suppress a shudder that gripped my spine and twisted through me sickeningly.

"Me, too."

"Alex, why did she call you her brother?"

He stared ahead, indecision darkening his pale face, and it took a moment for him to answer, "I'm not completely sure."

I watched Victoria's slim figure striding ahead of us, past the house, barn and ever closer to the creek and meadow. Whether or not I could trust her, I had no faith in the vampires holding my sister. I wanted to rip her away from them, run to the house, lock the door behind us and pray that the vampires would lose interest and go away. However, I was no fool. They would rip her delicate throat out before I could even so much as turn my head, and her bloodshed would haunt me for the rest of my life.

Everyone came to a halt at the edge of the meadow. There was a complete absence of sound-from the trees, the lack of wind, the birds roosting sleepily in the branches of the big oak by the creek. It was as if the whole world were holding its breath, waiting to see what tragedy might unfold there in that s.p.a.ce.

I tried to reach out with all my senses, trying desperately to catch some hint that the tide had turned in our favor. There was no phoenix rising to rea.s.sure me of the fate that was about to befall us. There was only simple, terrible silence and the bitter scent of fear thick as morning mist hanging in the air.

There was a singular precious moment when I felt oddly alone there at the edge of that familiar field. It was an instant of internal warmth, infused with the solid knowledge that this place belonged to me, and I to it. However, it was not nearly enough to quell the rising fear inside me.

"Michael, come out." Victoria's voice was elegant and precise, while her eyes blazed with new pa.s.sion.

A shadowy silhouette emerged from behind the thick trunk of the oak tree. As it moved carefully in our direction, I recognized the smooth and natural movement as Michael's. His beautiful face materialized in the darkness inch by inch until he stood a hundred yards from us.

"You are well?" Victoria asked simply.

He did not answer right away. He surveyed the group before him with a sweeping, deliberate look that never reached all the way to me. He noted the presence of my sister with a hint of surprise on his face, but his mouth was set in a firm line that did not give away much about how he felt about his visitors.

"I have been locked up here for far too long, but I have not suffered."

I waited for his eyes to skip over to me, to drink in my image and hold it tenderly. I must have overestimated his feelings, because not once did he even glance my way. Victoria took a few cautious steps forward, and then went down on her knees in humbled supplication. Her hair gleamed serenely in the moonlight that filtered through the trees.

"My prince, it is a joy to be in your company again." she whispered reverently.

Michael waved a hand at her. "Rise. We are not at court, Victoria. There's no need for such civilities here."

A courtly prince? I watched this exchange carefully and began to wonder about the whereabouts of Gunter and Luanna. Would he have attacked them to secure his release? Were they somewhere in the shadows, lying helpless and bleeding and cursing the Council for sending them here?

"I have come to free you, my prince." Victoria murmured as she rose from the ground, her eyes still downcast.

Michael shot a quick look at me that warned me clearly to keep my mouth shut. A hundred sharp retorts sprung to mind, but my temper could hold until I was sure that my sister would be safe. I clenched the muscles in my jaw to fight the anger swelling in me and looked away from him. If Katie were not in so much trouble, I would have walked up and hit him. Stupid vampires.

"I trust you've been properly introduced to my hostess?" Michael said.

Victoria glanced at me briefly over her shoulder, "I gave her my name, nothing more."

"Sarah," Michael began steadily, "This is Victoria Stanley. We met in Boston in 1816."

My mouth remained closed.

"She was one of the last vampires I created." His eyes flicked quickly over to Alex, whose face was a mask of instant hatred.

"Are you going to try to leave with them?" I asked Michael quietly.

"What do you propose, Victoria? You have Sarah's sister for a good reason, I presume?"

She sighed, "As insurance only. I needed an invitation."

Nathan, who had remained silent up to that point, suddenly spoke out in a harsh tone, "Insurance? You promised we could have her once you got Michael. You promised some of his blood as well!"

The two burly vampires that stood on either side of Katie tensed. One of them let loose a growl that sounded like the throaty cry of a cougar. I saw Katie begin struggling, and then Nathan echoed the same spine-tingling scream of his companion. One of the vamps holding my sister turned to Katie with eyes that were lit with fiery, desperate hunger, and I saw large canines in his mouth suddenly lengthen as he howled in anger.

However, it was the lightening flash of movement across the clearing and sudden heart-wrenching scream from Alex that frightened me more than anything else did. Gunter had come to join the party, and he was hungry. Jerking Alex's head back using a fistful of hair, he promptly sank his teeth into the flesh right above Alex's shoulder and tore a steaming chunk of flesh away, blood dripping thickly on the gray lapel of Gunter's silk sport coat. Alex collapsed in the vampire's arms, his eyes wild with pain and his screams shrill in the cool night air.

I froze for just a few seconds; my instinct to flee was at war with my need to help Katie and the horror of seeing Alex being attacked. However, Michael had intervened. One of the two vampires holding Katie was writhing on the ground, clutching his head in his huge hands and moaning as Michael held one of his own hands out, palm up with his eyes squeezed shut. The other one had dropped my sister's arm to defend himself against the sudden and unexpected attack from Victoria, who was circling him in a crouch, her eyes bright with bloodl.u.s.t.

Rushing to Katie, I twisted my ankle and landed hard on the wet ground, my hands splayed before me. Pain shot through my palms and fingers. Glancing up, I realized that Gunter was nearly done with his late-night snack and had set his sights on me for dessert. I shrieked and tried to rise to my feet only to find that my right ankle was nearly useless. The pain flowed up my leg like molten metal, curling through me with a rush that left me gasping.

The image of Gunter striding toward me, his fangs pearly white and his dark face set in determination was the stuff of nightmares. I had never known such a paralyzing fear before; it stopped my breath and made me go cold all over. Death was walking in my direction in slow motion, and my limbs refused to obey any commands to move, to help me get away from the monster stalking me.

I tried to shrink back as the vampire closed in on me. As his terrible white hands reached for my throat, I heard an awful ripping sound. Gunter froze, his fingers already brushing the sensitive skin around my collarbones. He fell partially on top of me, his eyes open but unseeing. The fingers did not wrap around my skin as I had feared but fell lifeless to my side.

Gasping and sputtering in terror, I scrambled back on two good hands and one good leg. When I saw the long wooden stake that had penetrated Gunter from the back, a scream tore from my throat that I hardly recognized as my own. I saw Victoria across the clearing, her arm still aloft and her expression cold as stone after having thrown the stake that had saved my life.

"Sarah!" I heard Katie's familiar voice and soon felt her warm fingers grasping at me.

"Alex needs help." That was Victoria's voice, hushed and serious. "Michael, he's dying."

I heard a responding curse and then Michael was there beside me, his clear blue eyes searching my face in desperation. "Are you alright?"

"Just my ankle. Don't worry about me. What about Alex?"

"He's lost too much blood, Sarah."

"Oh, no. No, you have to get help for him! Call Dr. Fleming!"

"It's too late for that."

I considered his words and then firmly shook my head, "No, he would never choose to be a vampire again."

"He's going to die, then."

Katie spoke up, "We can't let that happen, Sarah."

"You don't know what you're saying. He doesn't want that."

"You can't just let him die!"

I felt like I was on the edge of committing some great unpardonable sin. However, I could not think of losing Alex like that. He had stood up with me to try to help Katie. Was it a fair trade? Was it what he would want? My G.o.d, why did this decision have to fall on me? Hadn't he wanted to be human again? He had to have known the danger he would have been in, coming here to help me deal with d.a.m.n vampires!

"Decide, Sarah. Before it's too late." Michael demanded sharply.

What I was about to do would probably haunt me for the rest of my life. I hated myself for having to make the choice, and I hated Michael for even thinking of changing him. But d.a.m.n it, I could not just let Alex pa.s.s from this earth!

I dropped my head, "Do it."

They took him to the edge of the creek. Victoria shielded us from most of what happened. She had managed to kill one of the vampires who had been holding Katie. The other one was laying flat on the ground, not moving. Michael had dealt with Nathan. While Gunter had been stalking me, Michael had decapitated Nathan and the evidence of the battle had turned the pristine green field into a b.l.o.o.d.y mess that I barely had the courage to look at.

Katie helped me back to the house. My ankle felt like it was on fire, the pain shooting through me and leaving me nauseated. On the other hand, it could have been all the blood I had seen spilled. The knees of my jeans were dark with mud and dew from the wet gra.s.s. My hands were sc.r.a.ped and raw from falling. Katie called the doctor as soon as she had me settled on the sofa in the sitting room.