call of night: beyond the dark (2 page)

Call of Night                                                                                                                                                          9

             
There were a thousand questions running around in his head, but there was only one that clanged to his mind; did he do the right thing by letting an outsider like Katya into his world? It was something he had never done before, never really much cared. Would it have been best to have just taken her completely?

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              The Town of Thornton Lake was quiet as the residents lay sleeping in the safety of their homes, except those who enjoyed causing a lot of trouble. Ruth Saunders was known only for her drinking and not good parenting which her daughter suffered for. Lily spotted her along the road not far from her home; if only she had a car to get further away as tired as she was she would have never made it on her own. It might have saved her life if she had turned around; escaping into the darkness only led her to more pain.

Her death was not quick yet fulfilled the need that consumed Lily since the night she became what she feared most. As the blood seeped through her veins, Lily could see flashes of Susie’s life which were not pleasant. The curse that haunted Lily’s family for generations had strengthened more than she thought.

Lily could no longer fight the monster within as she savored each drop of Susie’s blood, but was it a change she was ready for?

The world around her would be different now; the cravings would soon take control. The person she once knew would be dead, a new life reborn into darkness.

Call of Night                                                                                                                                                          10

             
It is a silent whisper that eats at his heart. His daughters, now gone. Their faces he could see in the shadows. Their voices, an echo in the wind. Frank Fallon was prepared for the war between the living and the undead. He had known for years they walked the earth, by keeping it a secret it became the biggest mistake he had ever made. He accepted his wife leaving to save her, he knew she would never understand but it was better than knowing the truth. His brother joined him in the fight as long as their identities of what they were remained hidden from the vampires.

Frank met his brother at Harley’s Tavern not far from his apartment. George sat at the table with a disappointed look on his face.

“Did you do it?” George asked even though he was sure he already had the answer.

“Less vampires in this town, the better.” Frank answered.

George wasn’t at all surprised by his brother’s foolish act. Vampires could smell the blood of a hunter a hundred miles away.

“You know what you just started then?” George knew his brother just killed them both.

“I did what I had to.” Frank knew he went about it the wrong way, but he had nothing left now so what did it matter?

“They’ll be everywhere.” George took a shot of his whiskey, he needed it.

“We got the tools, we got everything we need.” Frank said with certainty.

“We don’t have the man power.”

“No, but we have Katya and Lily.” Frank was determined to make the world safe again where children could play without fear. 

“You plan to use your own daughters? They are not the same anymore, they don’t have a soul.” At this point, George was starting to believe his brother may have lost his mind.

Call of Night
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As daylight set, Dana Boyd opened the bookstore. It had been in her family for years and recently been passed down to her. The store wasn’t the kind most of the residents in Thornton Lake would have approved of or dared to enter. None of them knew what lay in wait in the dark, though there are those who had gone missing, they never were able to put two and two together. Dana knew one thing for sure if she could go back into the past to the day she had her first encounter with a vampire she would have destroyed him instead of being paralyzed with fear, the question remained in her head, why hadn’t he killed her?

She had done all her research, had gotten all the protection she needed. The vampire haunted her dreams, he was still out there. She saw him through the women’s eyes as they screamed with horror.

In daylight, Dana had the chance to feel what peace was like. For a while, she almost forgot how good it was.

On the counter was a package waiting for her as she unwrapped it chills began to run down her spine. There was an old photo she had never seen before of her great grandfather and what looked to her to be a younger woman until she read the message written on the back.

Her name was Gwen and she was the key to ending it all. On the bottom of the package, there was an old skeleton key and an address taped to it. Not sure who sent it to her or how they found her, but it was meant to reach her. Another time and place she would have never thought twice about what was expected of her in the here and now.

Call of Night
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She had her mother and grandmother’s strength, but the fear lingering inside of her made her question how far she was willing to go. Any mortal who walked directly by them in the night would never know the real darkness until it was too late. She had a decision to make and had to make it alone.

“This is your destiny, this is who you are.”

Her mother told her once after they had just buried her grandmother. It wasn’t what she wanted. She wasn’t about to go against her family and ignore the expectations they had of her. She refused to turn her back on them, her older brother Christopher did so and became a doctor; it was perhaps his way of not feeling guilty may be one of the reasons he chose to work the night shift.

She was always close with her brother until they lost contact, he could never forget who he was or meant to be. Sometimes, Dana did wonder how her life would have been if she had taken the same path.

Christopher hadn’t seen his sister since she was fifteen although he thought about her constantly. The family refused to speak to him or about him. He thought he would never see her again. Dana could imagine the shock that he felt when he saw her for the first time in the hospital parking lot; she had approached him as he was unlocking his car door.

Dana sat staring out the passenger side window on the way to her brother’s downtown apartment. The morning traffic made for an awkward silence as the thought a way to begin their conversation explaining why she was there.

Christopher’s apartment was on the seventh floor, a small two bedroom of a more modern style that didn’t fit her brother’s taste. He wanted to escape his past and it didn’t really matter how.

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“You want to tell me what you are doing here?” Christopher felt he would need a drink before asking that question but it was far too early. “You’re quite quick to get to the point, not in the mood for conversation?” Dana’s sarcastic tone didn’t help much.

“No.” He answered, “I just worked a twelve hour shift, one of the other doctors called in sick I had to cover for him.”

Christopher knew what she was about to say he wasn’t going to like.

“Something came for me, I need your help; something of the supernatural element.” Dana never asked her brother for anything, but this was more in his area. Dana took out the skeleton key and held it out for him to see.

Before Christopher left the family he took an interest in studying history not because he needed to because it intrigued him. His eyes were drawn to the key as hard as it was to want to look away, he simply couldn’t.

As he held it in the palm of his hand, a strange sensation came over him one he had never felt before.

Christopher hadn’t used his powers in years, he chose to ignore they were there; the key reminded him why.

Call of Night                                                                                                                                                          14

             
“Where did you get this?” Christopher asked curiously.

“It was waiting for me when I went into the store, why? What are you feeling?” Dana’s facial expression turned to concern.

“Nothing good.” He replied.

From that moment on he was involved, no way out. The key was meant for both of them.

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Frank admitted to not being a very good father, if he could go back and change the way things were now, he would do it in a heartbeat. The last thing he ever wanted was for his beloved daughters to ever become the monsters that he killed.

Lily, she had a heart of gold. She always sought to help others in any way that she could. Katya, she had the most incredible imagination he had never seen in a child before. As vampires, their innocence was gone.  The sweetness that remained in them after they became teenagers even, it was gone from their eyes.

He hadn’t seen them since they turned; he got the word from another hunter. He wasn’t ready to face what he had done. He wasn’t sure how he could continue to live with himself, but there was work that had to be done.  The vampire who made Lily and Katya his target was the same one he had been hunting since Lily and Katya were five years old. There was a memory they had forgotten with or without their powers in which he was thankful for.

The memory unfortunately was what Frank could not let go of.

It was right after his sister Katherine opened her own diner. Katherine had gone with Frank to pick up her son as well as daughters from a play date before it was time for Katherine’s shift. Frank and the kids were going to have late supper. Katherine was first to step inside and tried to hold in her scream; she was able to yell to the children to stay back.

Frank stood beside her to see what her reaction was to. The customers were all dead laying in a pool of their own blood what was left of it as well as the waitress.

Call of Night
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Frank closed the door quickly so the children wouldn’t catch sight of it, but one child was missing; Katherine’s son.

Frank asked, “Where’s Charlie?”

Katherine had her hand over her heart as Lily answered, “A man took him.”

Frank often tried to block out the memory although it didn’t seem fair since his sister couldn’t.