Night of the Fallen (Dark Tides, Book Two) (8 page)

~ * ~

Marcus
cursed as the sky turned to pinks and oranges. One more wasted day of hiding. The factory was still an hour or more away, so he needed to seek cover somewhere else until dusk returned. After a few more miles of deserted roads, he veered into a cluster of houses and discovered a small town sprawling beyond them.

The drive had been uneventful and silent. He welcomed the silence because it gave him a chance to concentrate on the tick
-tock of the night around them. Belle remained quiet at his side, stealing glances or touches once in a while. He suspected she was doing it to comfort herself, but he felt the weight of his gaze easing on the road ahead and realized he was getting just as much comfort from the gestures as she was.

He parked at the end of the block, across from a small plaza. The town hall still had most of its windows intact so it would serve as an effective makeshift camp for the night. The front door was half-ripped off its hinges but it didn’t matter; he wasn’t planning on staying in the lobby anyway. The building was large enough to hide their presence but still easy to defend, and a room somewhere inside would be perfect for a few hours.

The other engine died down behind him and he stepped out of the car.

The first remnants of sunlight fizzled on his skin but he ignored the pain and instead looked back towards the highway. The first houses they passed hid the town well, and by the looks of the vicinity, there was nothing left to scavenge. The chances of either rabids or humans passing by were very small.

The breeze smelled of the approaching sunlight. He closed his eyes and tuned his senses to the surroundings. No living heartbeat anywhere beyond the group. When he looked back towards Miles, Miles nodded in agreement. He couldn’t hear or smell anything either.

Belle grabbed
Marcus’ hand and pulled towards the building. “Let’s get inside, Marcus.”

He held firm, raising her hand to his mouth. The skin was warm against his lips, the sweet smell of her blood reaching into him. Her breathing
quickened and his body reacted to the sound. His queen. 

“I’ve been here,” Shawn said from behind them. “There’s a meeting room on the second floor that only has a few windows.”

Marcus turned around to face him. Everybody was out of the cars, waiting for instructions. As a group, they were undoubtedly weak, and he was surprised they had lasted that long on their own. A few too old, a few almost too young. A drunk. Holding on to their guns as if they were impenetrable shields. Maybe it had been just sheer luck they were still alive.

“Lead the way,” he told Shawn. 

~ * ~

They stepped into the room as the sun came over the horizon. The two large windows fac
ed north, so even though it was bright, there was no direct sunlight streaming inside. Miles stepped in behind him, searching around for a darker corner. Behind a series of bookcases, set into the west corner of the room, darkness was deep enough for them to slip into if necessary.

The air was thick and hot, but to
Marcus that was just a sign that there were no unexpected access points anywhere. With the entry door now locked and the windows intact, the only other way to get into the room was the secondary door to the right. It led into a second, smaller room and then a hallway that extended deep into the belly of the building. There were no locks on that door, but Miles and he could split guard duties on the two entrances.

The large table in the middle of the room was covered
with a thick layer of dust and the rest of the furniture was either pushed aside or knocked over. Even the glass on the windows was heavy with dirt and grime, a few handprints pressed against it as if somebody had leaned over to watch over the world outside.

“Stay away from the windows,” he told nobody in particular and the few people standing near the glass took a step backwards. “Miles?”

“I’ll take this door,” Miles responded.

Marcus
walked through the second door and stepped into the room tucked behind it. No windows there and no sound coming from down the narrow corridor. The hours ahead felt long and an empty feeling fluttered in the pit of his stomach. Even after darkness came and they were back on the road, the only thing ahead was a ravaged compound and a sea of rabids rolling over the world.

He felt Belle’s presence before her hand touched his back. She walked around him and stared down the barren corridor. “Nothing down there?”

“Just us in here. Are you OK?”

She nodded and rested the weight of her body against his side.

He breathed her in for an instant before grabbing her face and closing his mouth on hers. Her lips parted to let him in, her tongue tangling with his. The scent of her blood danced inside him, pulling strong. His entire body ached with the need to touch her, hold her. He suspected that the longing would never go away, no matter how many times he satisfied his body in hers, how many times he drank from her. The need to own her was sharper, deeper.

“I don’t want to lose you, Belle,” he whispered against her lips.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

He pulled his face away to look into her eyes. “I don’t mean just now. I mean fifty years from now. Ever.”

Her body went still, her heart thumping so loudly it echoed in his own chest. The fact that she didn’t move away or cry out in disgust said a lot about the link between them, strong and ticking even when faced with the most unthinkable of challenges.

“Marcus, I don’t…”

He pushed her away slightly so he could tilt her head up with one hand. “I want you by my side, as my queen.”

A
shiver ran through her, the slight tremor flustering over her skin and flushing her cheeks. Then a slight flicker in her eyes, a hint of “what if” rushing through for a fraction of a second. And he held on to that even after it was long gone.

She bit her lower lip and took a step back. He wanted to reach for her but fought the urge. If there was any chance at winning the argument, it had to be because she had taken steps towards his side.

“I thought you said there were no female vampires anymore.”

A hint of hope stirred in him. Despite the quickened breath bursting in and out of her and the visible pulse on her neck, she wasn’t backing out. Not yet, anyway, and despite the implications of what he was asking. “There ha
ven’t been any for centuries, no. I put a ban on turning females because of the void.”

“
You
did?”

He nodded and stepped closer so he could keep his voice down. “The void affects the females of our species differently. Quicker. More violently. Back then, it spread through continents like a virus, destroying everything in its path. Centuries later, our scientists theorized that female vampires carry a dormant gene for the void.”

She eyed the door, then closed her eyes and took in a breath. “I thought the void was a result of low blood supply.”

“It is. But once it’s alive, female vampires seem to be able to contract it, like you would a virus.”

“Why?”

“I know as much as you do, really. All our females died before we were able to test this theory. And then I put the ban in place to avoid this from ever happening again.”

“Then why is this even an option now?”

“Because we might have a cure now. And because you are here and I refuse to let go of you.”

He reached for her then, despite wanting her to make the first move. She flinched, then relaxed as he drew her closer, her breathing easing to match his. 

“I can’t live without you, Belle. You can’t ask me to.”

She reached up to touch his face and he grabbed her hand, lifting the fingers to his mouth. Pressing her thumb to his lips, he flickered his tongue over the skin and she instinctively moved closer, erasing the distance between their bodies.

Her voice was low and raspy. “What about the ban?”

“I’m the king. I can do whatever I want.”

A quick hint of a smile flashed in her eyes. “I see.”

Then silence as his teeth came out and ran over the pad of her thumb, pressing down without breaking the skin. She sucked in a breath and the thundering of her heart reverberated around the room.

“I want you, Belle,” he whispered and his teeth pressed harder. “Your smell is all around me, inside me. Your blood, your sex, your skin.”

Her eyes softened. “Marcus…”

His free hand wrapped around her waist, bringing her closer. “If I thought we could be quiet, I’d take you right here.”

“We can’t.”

His teeth pressed down harder on her finger, piercing the skin and letting a single drop of blood sip out. He licked it, the honeyed thickness burning on his tongue. She gasped under her breath, a soft moan forming in the back of her throat. It was almost like a purr of ecstasy, and his entire body buckled with need. “You and I together, Belle. We could be so powerful, so strong. Nothing would stop us.”

Her breath quickened. “I can’t betray these people, Marcus. I’ve already turned my back on everybody, on everything. This would be… I can’t just abandon who I am.”

Maybe not yet. But the truth was that he didn’t care. He wanted her with him, for him. If necessary, whether she agreed to it or not might become unimportant. But for now, he was willing to let things go. For now.

His arms closed around her. “I’m sorry about your friend.”

She nodded and pressed against his chest. He was very aware of the tingling of her skin, as well as the eyes watching them from the other room through the open door.

Oh, how the world had changed. A couple of months ago, all
Belle had ever wanted was to kill the king of the vampires. Kill him slowly if possible, make him feel the pain he’d inflicted on humanity. See his reign collapse so humanity could rise once again from the ashes.

And then today she’d actually paused for a second when he’d suggested she should join him. Become like him. Jump the line to the side of the monsters who had destroyed everything and everyone she had ever loved.

Abandon hope. Abandon the people she loved.

And share forever with him
.

She hated everything about the idea except that possibility. Forever at his side, in his arms. And as much as she hated what vampires had done to her kind, that thought alone had stirred something breathtaking inside her. Something that she couldn’t allow herself to consider. Something she needed to push down, bury, kill before it grew roots and took hold
—just like her love for him had done.

There had already been enough betrayal.

She turned around towards the open door and tried to listen for signs that Marcus was still there. Nothing. He was silent, as predators must be. Probably just scanning the surroundings in perfect stillness, waiting for the right moment to make a move. 

In the silence of the morning, the reality of what had just happened was a lot heavier to digest. Almost impossible. Sarah was gone and they were on the road, escaping towards the same fate they had just left behind. She could feel time breathing down on her neck. It was getting shorter, more urgent. Taut with the unavoidable.

If they didn’t manage to get the rabids under control, they would take over soon. She wondered if there were other groups of survivors out there and how they were faring against the void. Without an alliance with vampires, they wouldn’t last long, no matter where they were hiding.

Perhaps an even bigger tragedy was the fact that she hadn’t shed a single tear for the woman who had just died. Sarah had been a part of her life for over two years. It wasn’t even that
Belle didn’t feel the loss. She did. But rather than an intense pang of pain, loss in the post-vampire world was a sort of pulsing in the background. It was something you pushed down and then hoped it would stay buried. Because otherwise, there was no way to go on.

Perhaps it was just survival instinct. Or maybe over time you did grow immune to everything beyond what kept you alive. Wasn’t that the way animals survived in the wild? The strongest made it. The ones that stuck to the basic instincs: feed, sleep, kill. Ignore anything that doesn’t get you to tomorrow. Ignore those you might foolishly grow close to only to lose them.

Mankind had spent centuries building a world of rules, of etiquette. Teaching each other how to love, how to care, how to properly express what they wanted or needed in a way that wouldn’t offend social values. And now here they were, the world razed by those who had always owned it from the shadows—and it had taken them just a few years to let go of most of those rules already.

She caught a glimpse of the sisters in a corner, sitting side by side in silence. Trying to become grownups in a world where being one was pointless. Time was running out for all of them.

~ * ~

“Shhhh. Let me try.”

The voice trailed down from the other end of the corridor. Hard but lush, almost musical. It took her a second to realize the words belonged to Miles. He never spoke much around her, though she understood the deep bond he shared with Marcus. He would die for the king, there was no doubt in her mind. Perhaps in part because of duty, but not only. She understood the kind of passion Marcus could awake in others. She guessed that was how he’d managed to lead his kind to victory in the war against humans. There was only so much any being – human or vampire—could and would do without the strength of a leader. 

And she guessed Miles could feel that as much as she did.

She took a step into the corridor, the first shadows of the evening hiding some of the corners from view. Everybody else was back in the office, eyes locked on the roads beyond the glass, waiting for enough darkness to head outside again.

Another step. The corridor turned sharply towards the right, deep into the shadows. She heard a creak from that direction and knew Miles wasn’t alone. Even before she turned the corner, she knew it. Could almost see Miles standing there, his body a rock just like Marcus, the air immovable around them.

It took a couple of seconds for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Then the silhouette on the other end of the room came into shape.
She wasn’t sure of what she was seeing at first, except Anna just standing there, her eyes closed and her head tilted back. Her breathing was shallow, uneven.

Then realization hit her and she gasped. She was witnessing what charming did to women. The shallow breathing, the heavy eyes, the flushed skin. They were all signs of pleasure. Miles’ eyes were locked on Anna’s body and she could see the transformation taking place. His hand was on the back of her head, almost as if he was ready to kiss her, but she was sure Anna’s obvious signs of pleasure were more from his mind than his touch.

Then again, she probably didn’t have a choice.

“It doesn’t look so bad, does it?” Belle heard the whisper before she even realized Marcus was standing right behind her. Then he moved even closer, the heat of his body radiating towards her. His lips reached for her ear and her entire body shivered in response. “Then again, your body likes me just as much without the need for that.”

She could hear the smile forming on his lips as he moved back and away from her.

Her eyes returned to Anna. She had never seen charming in action, and she didn’t like it. It seemed invasive, almost like drugging somebody into submission, making them want something they might normally find horrific. And while she didn’t have a say on how they dealt with it out there, this was her territory. This was her family.

She shook her head. “Marcus, no. Not like that.”

He understood immediately. As much as Anna’s body seemed to be enjoying the attention, she had promised everybody they’d be safe. Mind tricks were out of the question, they had to be.

“Miles,” Marcus whispered and he turned around towards the king. They exchanged a quick glance and Miles broke the spell. The effect was immediate. Anna seemed to wake up from a heavy dream, her body slow, almost sluggish. Belle almost felt the need to grab Anna’s hand to pull her out of the room, but Anna’s eyes opened and she smiled.

“It’s OK, Isabelle. He asked permission.”

Belle’s confusion mounted. “What?”

Anna walked towards her, eyes locked on the two vampires standing just a few steps away. “I let him do it. I wanted to know what it felt like.”

“Anna…”

The girl bent forward towards her and closed her eyes again… to reminisce? “You interrupted,” she whispered.

It took Belle a second to realize what was going on. So there it was. Maybe it wasn’t her place to go around trying to protect everybody anymore. Not from Marcus or Miles or those she actually trusted. At some point she had taken on the role of armed guardian angel and maybe it was time to let go.

The room grew quieter, all of them suddenly lost in the powerful connection uniting them. When she turned her face towards Marcus, both of the vampires had a slight smile on their lips.

As if the world wasn’t complicated enough for all of them.

As if everyone in the room had suddenly forgotten the war that got them there.

~ * ~

Marcus had insisted on being back on the road before the sun had completely set. She protested
, but there wasn’t much she could say, especially since everybody else was anxious to go too before darkness arrived. Belle watched the group get into the cars, Anna switching to Miles’ vehicle for the drive. She didn’t like the implications of what had happened just hours before, but it wasn’t her place anymore to say anything. Or it had never been, maybe, despite her illusions to the contrary.

Shawn and Sophia slipped into the same car. Still nothing from them to indicate a hint of passion, a connection. It almost felt wrong.
She tucked her body into the passenger’s seat next to Marcus and felt the tug of sleep inside her. Eyes closed, she pushed her head back into the leather and took a deep breath. The night was quiet, softly moving in around them. When Marcus’ hand closed on her thigh, she just breathed deeper without opening her eyes.

“Sleep,” he said. “It will be a while.”

She nodded softly and let sleep drag her deeper. The lull of the car soothed her body and her mind and she welcomed the distraction. A chance to escape reality with all its monsters. In the back seat, the shuffling of friendly bodies and the soft murmuring of conversation felt even more comforting. She peeked out of the window once, but there was nothing out there except for the moon staring down at her. Minutes later, when sleep finally enveloped her completely, she dreamed of Sarah and her sandy white hair in the barren landscape. Both of them walking an unending road to nowhere.

She felt Marcus’ heat near her before she even realized the car had stopped. He was leaning towards her, his fingers caressing her neck and pushing a strand of hair away from her face. “We’re here,” he whispered.

The sight of the blackened compound, half-submerged into the burned ground below, immediately woke her up. All she could see was a wall of rock and an opening where the wooden gate had once stood. No bright lights signaling a welcome, none of the magnificence she had first seen just weeks ago.

Still, there was something about the place that was still very much worthy of housing a king. Marcus interlaced his fingers with hers, just as he had done when leading her through the underground tunnels, through the darkness that had once felt foreign and eerie.

In a strange way, it almost felt like coming home.

~ * ~

IMPORTANT MESSAGE
 

Originally, Night of the Fallen was going to be a longer book and have a very different ending. For a number of reasons, I was unable to have the entire story ready on time, so I decided to do something drastic. 

Rather than postponing this release again, I've decided to cut the story short and then release "part 2" of book 3 in August. If you bought this book, you will receive part 2 FREE, so this decision doesn't affect you financially at all. The book will automatically update through Amazon/B&N/Apple sometime in August. You will then receive a notification from them prompting you to update to the new version, which will include part 2. Simply click and (again, free) you'll have the entire book ready to go in your tablet or phone. 

You can also sign up for my mailing list (
http://eepurl.com/ugbm5
) to receive the new version as soon as it's available. This will probably be a lot faster, as Amazon sometimes takes a few days to send update notifications.
 

Keep in mind that there's a third book coming, so the update won't be the end of the story. It'll just get you to where book 2 was originally supposed to end. 

I know this is a very unorthodox way of doing things, but I figured you might be inclined to forgive me if I gave you part of the story, rather than nothing at all. Think of it as those two-part episodes from a TV show where you just have to wait a couple of weeks to get the whole story. 

I promise it'll be worthy!

There's a giveaway set up on my
Facebook page
.
All you have to do to participate is guess what you think will happen in part two.... There are some big prizes waiting!