Darkness Comes This Way Part 15

As she was being dragged out by the Rogue with the others following, laughing menacingly around her, she could hear Draven faintly in the distance over the disorienting noise until she finally succ.u.mbed to unconsciousness.

He was screaming her name.

Twenty-Four.

Draven started coughing. There was too much smoke. With his head spinning wildly and his legs taking some time to push his body up from the wall, he looked around at the damage.

The Compound was destroyed.

And Zarah was gone.

"Thomas!" he began to shout, pus.h.i.+ng through piles of trash, stepping around burning books and destroyed computer systems that lay scattered along the tiled floor.

"We're here."

Draven breathed a silent sigh of relief when seeing the Rogue and his mate come stumbling from the room they had been tossed into, also coughing from the heavy smoke. He rushed over to them and they all looked around in silence.

Movement suddenly caught their attention in one corner of the room, causing Draven to draw his gun in a flash and steadily move to the area.

"It's just me," a hoa.r.s.e voice said after debris had been kicked away from his body. It was a Guardian, injured but alive.

"Jerry?" Thomas breathed out in surprise. The Guardian was rising to his feet, slowly moving. Upon hearing Thomas' voice, he snapped his attention to him and his jaw dropped.

"Thomas? But it can't be... You're-" he started, stuttering in disbelief. His eyes s.h.i.+fted warily to Thomas' eyes, noting the red irises. As he swallowed a lump in his throat, he began to reach for his gun.

Seeing the situation, Draven quickly stepped in front of Zarah's brother and shook his head.

"No. He's on our side. There's no time to explain right now. Just trust me."

The Guardian hesitated; his hand wavered over his weapon while he stared hard at Draven, before nodding.

"Alright."

So at least they had Jerry on their team as they began to search the Compound for more survivors and come up with a plan to go save Zarah.

"And you're sure that's where they're going to be?" Draven asked, eyeing Thomas timidly.

"Yeah. That was the plan. I hope, anyway, that things didn't change as soon as they realized I was fighting against them. It doesn't hurt to go check at least, right?"

Draven looked down at his watch. They couldn't afford to waste much time so he nodded in agreement with Thomas.

"Right."

During the brief check of the Compound, they had found three other surviving Guardians along with Jerry. Many were dead, and a few were missing. Nathanial was among the missing. They'd managed to get the fires out with a few fire extinguishers, but due to the extent of damage, had to take refuge in the Lounge. It was the only place in the Compound that hadn't been critically hit, as well as the gym.

After convincing the survivors to help, they had formed a small team to prepare a rescue mission. Thomas informed them that the Rogue army and the Commander could be at an old abandoned military base on the outskirts of the city.

Standing around the pool table in the Lounge, he looked at the team that had a.s.sembled. There were six of them in all including himself. The odds were going to be bad and he knew it, but he would risk it to save her.

"Let's go."

He attached several rounds of ammunition to his vest, two pistols in holsters, and a large silver dagger in a case at his hip as the others followed suit. They had stocked up on weapons during their sweep of the building.

"We're going on a suicide mission, Draven," one of the Guardians said as they headed out. It was James, at one time was his pool-playing buddy.

They all entered the elevator and headed up toward the parking garage. Draven turned to the young Guardian, his face full of determination and rage, his frame dominating compared to his.

"Maybe. But I'm going to save her."

"You'll probably die trying, just like we all will," James hissed back. At that moment, the elevator doors opened, and as they did, the rage so carefully controlled inside of Draven snapped. He yanked the Guardian forward by the straps of his vest and threw him outside onto the concrete with a snarl.

"If you want to be a coward, then go! Get out of here, because I certainly don't have time to mess with your foolishness!" he screamed furiously. An old couple pa.s.sing by in the garage stopped briefly to stare. They all grew silent for a few heartbeats until Jerry casually stepped forward with usual charming smile.

"How are you lovely folks doing tonight? That's good... We're just some military brats-" He led them away some distance toward their car, out of sight. They were making eye contact constantly with him. The others could taste the mysticism in the air: Jerry was hypnotizing the elderly couple to believe they hadn't seen anything.

Thomas reached forward and touched Draven's arm tentatively, his eyes widened in shock. James was also starting to stand, a look of disbelief on his face as well.

"Draven," Thomas started.

"You're..." and then he stopped, quickly pulling his hand away.

"What?"

"Cold. And I don't mean the normal kind of cold for our kind. Just look at yourself."

Draven looked down at his hands and gasped.

In the darkness of the garage, he emitted a faint silver aura. He approached the metal elevator doors again and used them for a mirror. It faded in the instant that his emotions calmed, but his eyes remained the same, and they had changed in the last forty-eight hours. No longer a solid bright blue, they were a mult.i.tude of colors swirling together. His blue was the dominate color, but within the depths of his irises now danced a swirling mixture of gold and violet flecks.

"What the h.e.l.l is going on?" he whispered, mostly to himself, touching his cheeks with awe.

"You've been changed because of her," a sudden strange voice boomed from behind them all at the entrance of the garage.

Turning, they were all met with an unexpected sight. There stood eight Fallens in formation and geared for a battle. Their full, towering frames blocked out much of the light from the nearby streetlamps. Gold eyes glowed and glared at the six of them through the darkness as if they were being scrutinized mentally, and their large, black wings were tucked neatly behind them.

Draven swallowed nervously, unsure of the situation.

Then the Fallen in front, a six and a half foot tall, muscled man with long blonde-red hair, stepped forward and turned his gaze toward Thomas. He must have been the leader, Draven a.s.sumed, the one who had spoken the first time to get their attention.

"Thomas, we've come to fight as a favor to your mother. A last request of hers that we shall honor."

The Fallen folded his fist and placed it over his heart to show a sign of protection and honor, the others followed his action quickly after.

Draven felt a smug smile tug at the corner of his mouth. Perhaps now they had more of a fighting chance against the Rogue army after all. Turning back to James who was now standing at the back of their group, he smirked.

"Are you with us now?"

Twenty-Five.

Zarah awoke to find herself wrapped in darkness. She was lying on cold concrete and strong silver cuffs were locked securely around her wrists.

When she tried to move her arms, she found that the cuffs were linked to chains that had been hooked somewhere into a nearby wall. No matter how much she tried to struggle, she couldn't break them. Her body was too weak, her mind still fuzzy and spinning from the drugs coursing through her body. Even her vision was still blurred as she continued trying to adjust her sight to her surroundings.

"Well it looks like our Sleeping Beauty awakens," a husky voice broke through the eerie, dark silence near her. She recognized it immediately, jumping from her spot on the cold floor and trying to back against the wall behind her.

Her head was swimming again and her vision still wouldn't focus well enough to adjust to see her surroundings. She could only feel the concrete beneath her shaking body and the smooth concrete wall behind her back. The cuffs on her wrists were attached to chain that led to something holding her in place, but still allowing her some movement. Even though with every move she made, her muscles screamed, tense and sore, and her head spun and ached.

Zarah heard the footsteps approaching then. She knew it was the same Rogue who had s.n.a.t.c.hed her from The Compound, the one who had stabbed her with the needle and drugged her with whatever it was coursing through her system at that time.

"Tranquilizer mixed with a dose of sedative. It put you out for quite a while, and I didn't mean for that to happen. I only meant for it to drug you up some. Guess I had too much tossed in," he said as if he'd read her thoughts. That would certainly explain her drug-induced state. Most human drugs didn't affect their kind, and in order for them to, it would take an extremely high dose or a mixture.

She jumped when his hand touched her cheek.

"Is it you?" She finally found her voice, hoa.r.s.e and dry.

"Are you really The Commander?" Somehow, Zarah knew the answer before he even responded. The Rogue before her was merely a p.a.w.n. A powerful one.

He laughed. The image of him kneeling in front of her was slowly coming into her focus, a bit blurry as her eyes tried to adjust.

"No. You'll meet him soon enough."

"The Commander told me something interesting about you..." he started after a moment's silence.

Zarah held her breath. The Rogue brandished a silver dagger and began to trace a line down her jaw, careful not to break skin. Chills erupted up her spine and she s.h.i.+vered.

"...You carry great power because of your blood. He said you'll create a new race," his voice was barely above a whisper as he continued, breathing deeply and close to her ear as she began to struggle against her restraints.

She let out a cry when the blade dug deeper into her skin. The stinging sensation followed by the burn and dizzy spells that overcame her told her senses that the silver poisoning was slowly working its way into her system. She fought hard and remained focused as she watched him pull the dagger back to him. He smirked at the sight of her blood.

"I don't u-understand," Zarah stammered.

"What is there not to understand? You're special! You will be building a new race of Vampires with your blood. It's called Elemental Magick. It's a part of a Fallen's power. I know you've felt it, and can still feel it within you even there in your drug induced mind. Why else do you think we wanted you?" The Rogue was laughing, staring at her with cold, red eyes.

"I thought you just wanted a cure." She thought she could be stalling by keeping him in a conversation. At the same time, she was learning information that she had wanted to know more about. No matter how hard it was hearing it.

He laughed harder and shook his head.

"Rumor. We weren't after any particular cure. We just wanted your blood. Plain and simple."

"The humans will overpower you, either way. They have an extensive military system. And chaos will cause people to do outrageous things. Vampires will never rule over the human world. It will be constant war."

Zarah was growing weaker, the silver getting deeper into her system from the cuts.

"War we can win, Zarah. Especially with a new race."

She saw the look in his eyes, the bright red flash of desire and hunger, and began to shake her head frantically.

"No," she tried to plead but it barely came out in a whisper.

When he pinned her up against the wall and turned her head to the side, his body pressed against hers and his breath hot on her neck, she managed to let out the scream just before his fangs plunged into her flesh.

"No!"

Draven and the others had walked to the base instead of trying to take a mult.i.tude of cars. They figured it would be a better form of attack.

"Are you sure this is it?" Draven turned to Thomas and asked when they reached the outside fence. Looking in, the place looked dark and deserted. There weren't even any Rogues standing guard around the doors like they'd a.s.sumed.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

With a sigh, they each began climbing over the chain-link fencing, landing quietly in the gra.s.s on the other side before making their way along the shadows behind old buildings toward the largest. They followed Thomas from that point.

"What did you mean, back there at the garage, that she had...changed...me?" Draven asked in a whisper to the Fallen, whose name he had learned to be Seth.

Seth looked down at him with a frown as if he were thinking on how best to explain it.

"Fallens are gifted with special powers for defense. It's called Elemental Magick. Fire, Earth, Water, Spirit, Wind, Ice. We don't have the power to use them all. Some powerful ones can, but most not. Seems you have Ice, or perhaps both Water and Ice since the two Elements can combine easily. The Fallen, and her mother, weren't sure that Zarah was ever going to develop that defense, though, since she's a Halfling."

"And she pa.s.sed it on to me? Because I fed from her?" Draven asked in shock.

Seth nodded.

"Zarah can be dangerous in her own way, Draven. She can create a whole new race of Vampires if she wanted. I'm not sure if it's even safe that she is alive."

Thomas stepped in between them and stared at Seth, his eyes dark and angry.

"Stay away from my sister." His voice was warning enough.

"Are you forgetting that I and my guards are here to help?"

"I'm not. But what are the plans once this battle is over?" Thomas asked through narrowed eyes.

"That we will see about."