Darkest Before Dawn (A Guardian's Diary Book 1) (16 page)

Chapter 18

At Addy’s house there wasn’t just a pile of bodies, these people seemed to be between life and death. They had pulses, but barely. Some could talk, while others only moaned and made eerie sounds that raised the hair on the back of my neck. Each body had a single bite mark, which looked infected.

“Animal bites?” I asked Addy as I examined a girl who didn’t look a day over sixteen. She had dirty blonde hair, and huge brown eyes. She had tears running down her face, as she rocked in a fetal position on the floor of Addy’s bedroom.

“You remember that one werewolf movie we watched? Mmm, what was it called…An America Werewolf in Paris? It almost looks like those kind of bite marks….or am I just fantasizing at like the worst possible time? Totes, right?”

“Totally, Addy…the word is totally, not totes,” I mumbled distractedly.

“Emma, those straight-up look like wolf bites, right?” she continued.

“That’s because that’s exactly what they are,” Lachlan said grimly as he strolled into the room and looked down at the girl.

“But werewolves don’t exist,” she argued.

I almost laughed at the irony of her telling a genuine werewolf that he didn’t exist. Would she freak out? I hadn’t, but it still felt more like a dream than reality to me. I could feel the heat of the vampire’s eyes on me, as well as the posturing between the two. I chanced a peek at Jaeden, and then Lachlan.

Both seemed to be fully aware of my arousal, and the state of wetness in my panties. Could Lachlan smell as well Jaeden, and did he guess at what had gone down between us? Was this really my life? Discovering newly changed werewolves, and then lying by omission about it to my best friend?

“Lachlan’s a werewolf, and Jaeden’s a vampire,” I blurted it out and smiled as she sighed dreamily. Whelp, that was off my chest.

“Oh em Gee! You’re Bella!” she screamed excitedly with a disbelieving look in her eyes as she laughed. “Wait, you didn’t like Twilight. Does Jaeden sparkle? Does his
dick
sparkle? Does Lachlan like doggie style more than any other style?” She laughed some more, until she realized we were all watching her waiting for it to fully sink in.  “Oh my God, Emma! You bitch! Wait, you’re not a bitch right? You’re still you, no running around on all fours or sucking down O positive?”

I rolled my eyes. “Didn’t like Twilight, they needed to buy a clue…I’m not a werewolf, and no, I don’t suck down bags of blood.”

“Oh fucking hell! You’re all serious!? Is that how you got healed and didn’t die?” She looked floored. It was sinking in, and with it, I knew the way her wheels inside her mind were turning. “You could have fucked a vampire and you didn’t?”

“It’s not as simple as that,” I said as I leveled her with an irritated look. It was my best shut-the-hell-up look.

“Why not? I’d jump on it!” she admitted.

I rolled my eyes at her antics. “It’s kind of a big decision which hasn’t actually come up.”

“So you want to bone her, but you didn’t make her immortal?” Addy leveled Jaeden with are-you-fucking-serious look.

“Addy!” I growled.

“No, don’t you Addy me, Emma. If he can bone you, he can damn well reward you for it.”

Jaeden shook his head and awarded with me with an
is-she-for-fucking-real
look. I rolled my eyes, and was almost relieved when the girl who’d gone silent on the floor started up again. Lachlan leaned over her, and spoke in some weird language, and then sat back on his haunches.

I kneeled down beside her, and placed my palms on her arm…and everything changed.

I was no longer inside the house with them. Instead, I was transported to a dark alley, filled with corpses. No, they weren’t corpses. They’d all been bitten. I looked around, unable to leave the dark corner where I had hidden. I looked through the throngs of the changed and swiped angrily at the tears on my cheeks.

My family was in there, my brother, sisters, and my mother. I needed to find them, but how could I? There were so many of them, and each one moaned with pain from what the men had done to them.

“Two hundred,” one of the stragglers said as he punched numbers into a hand held device. “At least ten percent should live through the change. Jeb got a decent number changed in Seattle. The rest of the west coast is ours.”

“Braden will be pleased.”

“And the pack in Newport? Lachlan and his men are there. Jaeden as well; does he have a plan to deal with them?” The man said to the guy still hidden in the shadows.

“We have a gift for them, one which should level the playing field. We’ve taken Seattle, and now Wenatchee. Soon we will move inland, right to their little stronghold.”

I stepped back, but my foot caught on a metal pipe. My heart hammered against my ribcage as I turned to run, but before I could even take a few steps, I’m grabbed and held against a hard body. He growled in my ear, right before he shoved me to the ground.

“Well what do we have here?” he sneered as the man from the shadows stepped out, to look down at me.

“I get her first,” he said as I took in his cold, empty eyes. He smiled and shoved the other man away, then pushed me down, holding me there. Fangs protruded from his gums. I screamed for help, but only grunts of pain and moans filled the stale, dirty alleyway. He watched as I struggled against him, his eyes ice blue and filled with lust as they took in my helpless state.

“No! No, stop. Please, I just want my family!” I shouted, but no one would hear me, they’d all been bitten. My skirt is hiked up, and the panties are ripped off harshly. I’ll never save my family like this. Never. I had to be strong, had to get away. I had to live through this and kill them.

He pushed into me, and pain ripped through my entire body. I screamed, and screamed though there’s no one left alive to help me.

“Emma!” I was back in Addy’s room, on the floor and wrapped in Jaeden’s arms, my eyes locked with the innocent girl who’d survived that hell.

“They are changing us into monsters,” I whispered brokenly as Jaeden and Lachlan both watched me.

“What the fuck was that?” Jaeden demanded.

“I…uh…I was her. I was there. She was searching for her family,” I replied. Had that just really happened? “How did you do that?” I asked her, but she had closed her eyes. “I was her! She was…” I stopped. I wouldn’t tell them what had happened to her. That was her story. “Save her.”

“It doesna work like that, lass,” Lachlan said grimly.

“Make it!” I snapped. I wanted her to live, so she could have her revenge. I felt it to my bones, as if it had happened to me. More so, I needed to know what the hell she’d done to make me see her past.

“Emma,” Jaeden whispered.

“Turn her, do something!” I demanded but neither of them moved. Addy sat huddled in the corner, sobbing as she watched me. Why was she upset? She hadn’t seen what I had, hadn’t had to mentally feel a rape that hadn’t actually happened to her. It had felt real, the pain had been staggering, but now, back inside of myself, I felt no pain. I only felt the need to give her revenge.

“Emma, she’s dead,” Lachlan said as he reached up and closed her eyes. “They were all left here tae die. None of them were strong enough tae survive the change.”

“Then why turn them?” I asked as a single tear slid down my cheek.

“What they are doing is a bit like trial and error. Only some humans can survive it, and live through the wolf attaching tae their soul. The rogues have been trying tae increase their numbers by biting as many people as they can. Because of what the rogues are, less survive their bites than if they had been bitten by a werewolf that was born tae it.”

“They know we’re in Newport,” I said brokenly. “There’s a vampire with the wolves, working with them. He said they have a plan for us, for you,” I said as I lifted my eyes to Jaeden’s.

“We know about the plan,” Jaeden said. “Raphael is with them. He’s been scouting the pack for months and has reported on the traitor.”

“You guys could stop this, so why haven’t you?” I asked.

“You explain the facts of life, Jaeden. I have more tae put down,” he growled as he straightened up to leave.

I watched as Lachlan walked out, but Jaeden was staring at me as if I was an alien. He narrowed his eyes and lifted his hand to mine.  Was he serious? Were
they
serious? The world was seriously nucking futs!

“Emma, I will not discuss this in front of the human.”

“Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of her.”

“I want to fuck you,” he said as the cocky smile slid into place.

“I need air, Emma. You have it out with Adonis while I go toss my cookies in the closest bush,” Addy said as she slid up the wall on wobbly legs.

“Addy—”

“No, Emma. I can only process so much shit in one day. If I have to learn anything else today, my head is going to explode.”

Jaeden waited until she was gone before he began speaking. “Lachlan knows more about this than I do, but I will tell you as much as I can. I do know that when a human is bitten, they begin to change immediately, but it takes a while for it move through their body and complete the transformation. It is extremely painful for most during the first change.  Some can live through it and handle the virus that is carried in the werewolves’ bites. The wolf spirit that attaches to the human DNA is a type of bacterial infection. Most of the humans who survived the flu were AB negative. We think this flu may have been introduced by a pack of rogues to get rid of those least likely to survive the change. These rogues started out by accident. We were told that it started a few centuries ago with a human who was legitimately changed by a born werewolf. A love match we understand and the pack alpha agreed to the change against his better judgment,” Jaeden said carefully before he adjusted his position and leaned his back against Addy’s bed, pulling me close to his chest.

“Just because some humans can be changed—doesn’t mean they should, and many become unstable, as is what happened in this case. She died, and he became increasingly resentful at having to hide in the shadows. Not being born into that life, he didn’t understand why they keep to the strict rules and would stay away from humans whenever possible. We understand how he feels about it, that with the werewolf’s strength it should put them in positions of power—not hiding away and refusing to be involved with human concerns. He eventually rebelled and fought against the pack or the family that was responsible for changing him. He began his own agenda and set about aligning himself with humans that had money and power and manipulated them to his thinking and eventually changed them. In turn, they have been converting steadily over the years, increasing their numbers. The eyes of the rogues are red because we believe that Braden, the werewolf responsible for this mess and the first few he changed, became—more. We aren’t entirely sure what they were enhanced with, but we have our suspicions, and it is transferable in their bite. Werewolves like Lachlan are born wolves that have been fighting against them and each day they become outnumbered. He and others in his group are pedigrees, for lack of a more descriptive word, while the rogues are essentially mixed breeds. Lately the rogues have been attacking the un-mastered vampires. Those are the ones who have been allowed their freedom for services and granted release from their sires. They are now seeking refuge with us as well as other large groups and bringing information with them. We’re at war, Emma. The vampires are fighting for humans, while the rogues are trying to turn them. We have a few traitors here and there who think that rogues have the right idea, but for the most part, we are united.”

“Why? Why change all humans?” I asked as my mind replayed what he’d said.

“If the world recovered from this, they’d have to hide or face being hunted down and killed. The humans still outnumber them and what is left of the government wouldn’t rest until they found a way to govern us. The rogues won’t allow that. We believe they started this, as a way to even the odds and tear the government down. It’s also a way to be the one remaining race. If they change over the humans who are left, we will have a very difficult time trying to feed. Imagine what would happen if the cow didn’t want to be milked and could fight back?” he raised an eyebrow and smirked at me.

“So they want it to be their world,” I whispered. “They tried to eradicate an entire race just to kill you?” He hadn’t said that, but yeah, my brain added it up and came out with its own equation.

“Smart girl,” he said as he moved closer to where I stood. “You would think that was what they had planned, but I don’t think they’d thought it out that far. They didn’t seem to recognize our people as a threat until we came out of the woodworks and started protecting our food source.”

“
Your
food source? Is that all that the human race is to you?” I seethed at his reference to my kind. “That’s just cold.”

“No. You have many other uses,” he smiled.

“Can you for once get those dirty thoughts out of your head? This is serious!”

“The world is always falling apart. It always has some catastrophe which it’s teetering on. The only way your kind goes on living, is when you are oblivious to it. So do you want to live, or have to worry about what might happen tomorrow?” he asked.

“Honesty is always better than sugar-coated bullshit.”

“Not always. Not if you stop living because all of your time is spent worrying about everything that may or may not happen. I’ve lived a long time, Emma; I was human once too, and most humans, if they really thought about it, would decide that not knowing is better than knowing what’s coming for them.”

“And that might be true, but right now we are dealing with fucking genocide! It may not have started that way, but it’s getting there pretty quick.  If what you are saying is true, and sorry, I like to check my facts; we are staring extinction in the freaking face! I’ve been to a lot of houses around here, and no one’s home. Even with those that came into the shelter in the past couple weeks, a lot of the people that we knew were hiding in town and in the cabins in the woods have vanished. And by vanished, I mean there’s blood but no bodies, and those people that were dumped at Addy’s house weren’t those people. I’ve seen those red eyed bastards; I’ve fought them. We’re out of time.”