Night of the Fallen (Dark Tides, Book Two) (6 page)

“Tonight,” Marcus added, then looked towards Shawn. “My offer still stands. I’ll let the compound know.”

Shawn nodded but didn’t respond. It seemed strange that nobody had anything to say. This was probably the first time since the invasion that vampires and humans had come face to face without blood being spilled and nobody felt the need to talk.

This moment was nothing like what Marcus had imagined the aftermath of the invasion to be.
He’d imagined the war would end and everybody who was left would accept their place, their new reality.

This silence
wasn’t at all what he had been expecting.

It served him well enough, though. He
wasn’t in the mood for making friends anyway.
 

By the time darkness arrived, everybody was back in the house, sealing windows and doors like the encounter in the barn had never happened. Silence had fallen over the group.

When Belle walked back into the house, right after the last person had left the barn, everybody scattered to complete unnecessary tasks somewhere else. It was obvious eyes were avoiding her and when she tried to ask Sarah a question, Sarah nodded an “I don’t know” and quickly exited the room.

Belle pretended to go along for the first few minutes, then lost patience and approached the first person who crossed her path. It was Anna on her way to the kitchen. Belle wanted to say something meaningful, but found herself at a loss for words, so she whispered a quick, “Are you OK?”

Anna nodded, looking down into the sink full of water. She looked so much like her sister Sofia and yet somehow so different. Sofia was always in the background, observing the world pass by. At only nineteen, Anna had all the right in the world to do the same, but she was always volunteering for work, always willing to take that extra step into chance.

Anna moved closer and grabbed a plate, sinking it into the water and watching it disappear down towards the bottom. Such a mundane action, washing dishes as the world ticked death outside. So unnecessary. So indispensable.

It was Anna who
broke the silence. “What’s it like?”

“What is what like?”

Anna’s eyes stayed down. “You know… sex with them… what are they like?”

Oh, God
.  

“Anna…”

“What, don’t I get to ask? I saw the way the… he looked at you.”

Belle felt heat pooling into her stomach. “Did you?”

“We all did, I think,” Anna said with a soft smile, then grew shy all of a sudden. “Can you keep a secret?”

Belle was so tired of secrets. So tired of trying to remember what to say and what was best to swallow, keep hidden from everybody she once swore
to never lie to. She nodded anyway.

Anna looked up towards her, her voice soft. “They’re … hmmm… beautiful, you know.” She blushed and waved her hand, as if trying to push away the words. “That’s so horrible, I know. I mean, I know what they are. Monsters, monsters, I keep telling myself. But… do they all look like that?”

Belle smiled, the absurdity of the situation almost sweet. Two women talking about the hot guys who happened to catch their eyes. Never mind these were no ordinary guys and this wasn’t the kind of world where innocent girl chitchat had a place. Right now, she could pretend for a second or two. Ignore the silent world outside and pretend it was all okay. “More or less, yes.”

“They’re nothing like I expected,” Anna whispered and there was a spark in her eyes.

“I hope everybody else can see that too. Because we really need them to survive right now.”

“So what is it like?”

Fine, Anna needed to know. Anna had been only fourteen when the invasion started, so she had missed out on everything normal teen girls went through. No kissing games, nothing like the excitement of meeting the boy who made your heart flutter for a first date. When Belle’s group had found the sisters, they had been holed up in an old bomb shelter in an abandoned building for months. They had been surviving on scraps they scavenged during the day. Back then, it was still possible to find food without venturing too far, but if Belle’s group hadn’t come across them...

There were few men in her group and even fewer a
girl like Anna would find attractive. Too old, too lost, too ready to give up. Anna still had a spark that Belle recognized in herself as well. The kind of spark that had made her take off towards the compound to face the world of shadows.

“I don’t know if it’s the same for everybody, Anna. They can charm you into submission if necessary, so you can relax and… enjoy it more.”

“Is that what he did to you?”

Belle shook her head. “No. I
can’t… He didn’t have to.”

Anna’s eyes had a spark of amazement in them. “So it’s good?”

Amazingly, breathtakingly good
. Was there a point to denying it? Belle nodded and put a couple of mugs into the sink. “Yeah.”

A moment of silence, almost as if Anna was trying to digest the idea. Then she said, very casually, “Shawn and Sofia are sleeping together.”

“What?”

Anna shrugged. “It makes sense, I guess.”

Maybe it did, but it still hurt that Belle hadn’t seen it. Not a hint, a single flash of suspicion. It had taken Anna a few minutes in the barn to see the electricity zipping between Marcus and her. And yet Belle had had no idea the brother she loved, the only family she had left, had grown close to somebody else.

“Since when?”

“Just before you left. I think it’s supposed to be a secret.”

A well-guarded one, apparently.
Belle forced her memory to find any image of them together, touching as if by accident, sharing a silent nod—the kind lovers shared when they were protecting a secret. She couldn’t see anything. “Are they in love?”

“I don’t know.
Sofia’s strange. She doesn’t want to talk about it.”

Even then, when there was nothing left to hide from, secrets still had their place.

“Do you love him?”

Anna’s words reached deep and tugged hard. For another brief moment, they were again two young women sharing secrets in the kitchen, whispering about love into the night air. When it came down to it, maybe the world hadn’t changed that much
—and that thought alone brought tears to Belle’s eyes. “Yes.“

Anna handed her a clean plate to put aside. “I won’t tell anybody.”

And maybe they were all keeping secrets after all. 

~ * ~

Ten minutes later, she decided to go back to the barn. They had no made clear plans about leaving—how or when. But it had to happen soon, before they wasted too much darkness or before she had a chance to rethink the next move.

Eric
was still passed out in the adjacent room, snoring away the memory of the day, when she headed towards the front door. She turned the handle and pushed the door. It started to move and then it stopped dead. She pushed again before she saw Marcus’ fingers locked on the edge of the door, holding it in place. His eyes were dark, predatory, and a spike of cold fear shot down her spine.

“What is it?” she whispered.

“Rabids. Stay inside.”

Her breathing went up a notch, her heart suddenly thundering against her chest.
“How?” 

“Get everybody away from the windows, as close as possible to the center of the house so the scent is weaker.”

This was it. The thing they had feared so much for so long. “Marcus…”

He reached in and grabbed the back of her head, his lips closing on hers quickly. Fear and warmth melted together for a second, his touch reassuring and comforting. She desperately wanted to hold on to that feeling but he pulled away too soon, pushing her back into the room. “We’ll keep them away. Just do as I say.”

She stepped back and he closed the door, melting back into the night.

“What’s going on?” Shawn said from behind her.

“Rabids,” she whispered before turning around to look at him. “Marcus says they’re here.”

Shawn stiffened and she recognized so much of herself in the way he twitched his shoulder and his neck tensed up. “Are you sure?”

“He’s sure. Move everybody away from the windows and doors, to the living room.”

“Jesus Christ, how did they find us?”

“I don’t think we’re that difficult to find. Robert, get away from the window. Where’s Sofia?”

“Bedroom,” Anna said. “I’ll get everybody.”

Belle walked backwards into the living room, her eyes still on the front door. Suddenly, the thick wood seemed flimsy, almost like a paper screen. If the rabids got to it, they would tear through it in minutes. Seconds. The reverberating of the metal door back at the compound echoed in her ears, the rabids pounding to get to her.

This door
wouldn’t hold.

She grabbed the rifle sitting against the wall, almost as a safety crutch. Even if it did little to stop a rabid, she still felt safer holding it.

When her back crashed against another body, she gasped. Everybody was there already, backs towards the center and forming a circle. Anna reached over and grabbed her hand and she squeezed back in return. Then she let go and raised her gun against her chest. The rifle clattered against her breasts and she realized her hands were shaking.

“Can they protect us?” Sarah asked.

She thought of the scars on Marcus’ chest and the ground seemed to expand into a giant black hole, drawing her in. “If anybody can, it’s them.”

And
she hoped it was the truth.

~ * ~

He heard the rabids coming long before he saw them. Their hearts thumped wildly in the darkness, their steps uneven, their breaths raspy. Then one darted behind the barn and knew they had arrived. Sick eyes blazed in the night. They were being careless, too eager. And that could only mean one thing: they were desperate.

“How many?” he asked Miles.

They were both standing side by side near the front door. The house had weak points all around. The windows were barely covered with wood shutters that would fall down with a couple of knocks. The door was not much better. If the rabids were moving in large groups, nobody would stand a chance.

“Not many. They’re moving fast.”

He tuned his senses into the darkness around them. Two rabids at least, maybe three. He had no way of knowing whether more were on their way. If they could get rid of these ones quickly, they might be on the road before more arrived. Rabids always moved in groups, hunting like a pack of wolves. For all he knew, a hundred more were closing in.

The first rabid charged from around the barn,
its eyes shimmering with madness. It came straight for them, a wail cutting through the darkness with as much desperation as pain. Marcus had a second to wonder whether it was aiming for them or the door before two other rabids flew right into them and knocked them down.

They all crashed to the ground at once and rolled together, dust exploding in all directions. He kicked the rabid off him and it flew into the blackness. He was up on his feet again by the time the next rabid closed
its claws around him, tearing at flesh and wailing in mad desperation. Miles dropped on top of them, tearing the rabid away. The loud crack of bones breaking, followed by blood splashing in his direction, and the rabid was gone, its dead stare piercing the night.

Marcus hurled his body over the third rabid, a cloud of dust swallowing them. This one only took a few seconds before Marcus dug his fingers into
its neck, severing an artery. A gargling scream reverberated through him. The rabid fought its own death with desperation, thrashing on the ground and clawing at the air in a futile attempt to stop the blood loss. 

And then
the night went silent and Marcus jumped to his feet with an urgency he hadn’t felt in centuries.

~ * ~

When he pushed the door to the house open, it took a few heartbeats before the humans came out of the darkness. Shawn first, wielding a rifle, his eyes still. Then Belle, sliding past Shawn to get closer.

She took a deep breath, steadying herself. “Are you ok?”

Marcus nodded, then searched for Shawn’s eyes. “How many working cars do you have?”

“Two,” he answered. 

“Miles will get ours too. Leave everything behind and be ready in ten minutes.”

“We’re not going anywhere with you.”

He felt his eyes darken and saw a couple of the humans take a step back. “I have no time and no patience to deal with this right now. You want to stay behind and be torn to pieces by the next group of rabids coming this way, it’s your choice. But if you want to live, I suggest you do what I say and you do it now.”

Belle’s heart rate quickened as she took a step forward. It was always captivating, hearing her blood react to the world around her. “Shawn, we can’t stay here. We’ll be safer with them.” Her voice softened a notch. “I’m not leaving you behind again.” Belle leaned forward, her heat spreading forward and away from him. “Shawn, please.”

Shawn took his eyes off Belle and looked directly at Marcus. No hesitation in the glance, no alarm. In a different world, under very different circumstances, Shawn would have made an excellent warrior. The passion Marcus loved in Belle, that fire she exuded in everything she did, Belle seemed to share that with her brother.

Shawn nodded,
then turned back to his sister. “Fine.”

Maybe humanity had a chance after all.

~ * ~

The first hour on the road was silent. Marcus’ car took the front position, with Miles at the back. The third car, driven by one of the humans, sat shakily in the middle. He was used to driving with the lights off, so having a car with a shining beam pointing down the highway felt like a terrible intrusion. It also felt like a beacon. Lights meant humans were behind the wheel, and that was always a very dangerous admission.