Darkness Comes This Way Part 2

"The human is unharmed. I only brought him here to get your attention," Thomas said. Slowly, she began to reach for another gun that was snug in the holster on her hip.

"I wouldn't if I were you."

"And why the h.e.l.l not?" she growled, her hand still placed on the gun, prepared to draw it and begin shooting. It was her chance at taking him down. She'd been waiting for this opportunity. He remained still, nodding his head briefly toward Draven.

"If you do, Alyssa certainly won't mind turning your partner Rogue before you could attempt to pull the trigger again. We all know it only takes one small bite," he answered, eyebrows raised with interest to see what Zarah would do. She narrowed her eyes and glanced between the two Rogues, noting the positions. Alyssa, the female that had arrived on the scene, still stood dangerously close to Draven, who was unarmed after the struggle. They stood several feet away, near the edge of the roof. She looked back to Thomas' scarlet eyes and nodded, slowly taking her hand away from the holster, holding it up in defense.

"Good girl. Now we can talk." Thomas smirked. Zarah looked past him toward Draven and clenched her jaw in anger.

"What do you want, Thomas?" She brought her focus back to him.

"I just want to talk."

She sighed in defeat, but kept her body tensed, prepared for more fighting. This was an unusual scenario, and she couldn't help but to be confused by it.

"You're intelligent," she noted, eyeing him with suspicion.

Thomas let out a dark chuckle and nodded.

"You think that just because I'm a Rogue, I'm completely lost to the world and unable to communicate?"

"Rogues are lost. Once a Vampire is gone to the bloodl.u.s.t, all previous intelligence is gone, and the only thing lived for then is sustenance," she remarked angrily.

"That is what we have been trained our whole lives!"

"Oh? Like how you suddenly were cured?" he asked with a mock tone, raising an eyebrow. She growled, her fangs glinting in the moonlight.

"I am cured," she hissed.

"Perhaps," he started. "But I can imagine you still hear that dark voice at the back of your mind every so often."

She stared at him in silence, refusing to respond. There wasn't a chance she'd let him get to her. Thomas was her past-and Draven was witnessing this sweet little reunion.

"I'm not your problem, Zarah, and we didn't entice you here to kill you. There are things you're not aware of," he continued when she didn't say anything.

"Like what?" Draven asked, his voice laced with a mixture of curiosity and anger.

"I'm not speaking with you, Guardian." Thomas turned around and growled. The wind picked up, sending a chill through the late night air. The two Guardians and two Rogues were staring at each other, tension clear in everyone's eyes.

In the distance, sirens sounded in the city. Longview, Texas wasn't the cleanest of places as it once had been. Now growing overcrowded through the years, and full of crime amongst the humans, she'd seen many changes in her own time. She had a feeling she was going to continue seeing more as the country continued on its path of expanding cities while the population rose and with that, violence. The humans were a strange species themselves. Shouts could be heard from somewhere below the building on the street, and Zarah picked up the scent of smoke and fire.

"Okay, Thomas. You have my attention for now. What are you trying to tell me?" she finally spoke with a frown. He smiled.

"Guardians need to be more careful. You're being fed lies."

"What kind of c.r.a.p is that?" she snapped, taking a step toward him, once again reaching for her gun. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alyssa grab Draven's arm, bringing his wrist dangerously close to her mouth. Zarah took a deep breath to calm her anger, and let her hand drop from the holster again. Once Thomas saw she was not going to attack, he made a motion at the female, and she dropped Draven's arm. Draven rubbed his wrist where the woman's strong grip had held and then met Zarah's eyes with fury.

"I mean Rogues are evolving, Zarah. We're not all completely mindless killing monsters like you're being taught. Sure, a lot of the species is. But not all." Thomas appeared controlled, sincere. She saw honesty in his features and swallowed back her nagging troubles. He took a risk to seek her out, and after witnessing a few of her own weird events with other Rogues while hunting, she knew something wasn't right.

"You know I'm telling the truth. Think about your hunt last night."

She swallowed. Had Thomas been following her? Apparently. He knew about the Rogue she had killed the previous night-the one that she had heard speaking, conscious and intelligent. She shook her head in disbelief.

"How? How did your kind get like this?" she asked.

"Some Vampire made an elixir to better control our desires. He fed it to a Rogue, and then every vampire he bit after that or vampires that were bit by the conscious ones, became like him. Intelligent, controlled. I don't know all the details exactly," he explained. She furrowed her brows and looked over at the human.

"You call that being controlled? Still taking humans to kill?" She held an angry accusation while staring at the unconscious human laying nearby.

"That was merely bait. You wouldn't object to the death of a child molester, would you?" He blinked before a slow smirk spread across his face.

"I found that fool trying to rape a thirteen year old girl."

Zarah narrowed her eyes and tried to access his thoughts. Images and voices swirled together and she saw Thomas wasn't lying about the human. He had found the man on the first floor of the same abandoned building they were on about to force himself on a young girl. Alyssa had led her home while Thomas knocked the man out and carried him up to the roof. When she pulled away from his thoughts, Zarah stared at him in shock.

"The sun will be up soon. You two should get back to the Compound," he told her before glancing over at Draven. Zarah nodded.

"I don't understand though, Thomas, why would you tell us this?"

"This guy has big nasty plans. I don't know what yet, but we would like to help figure this all out with you."

Draven remained quiet, but Zarah could clearly see the anger working its way through his features. His jaw was set; his normally bright blue eyes were clouded and stormy. And with what she was about to do, she'd never live it down from him.

"Okay," she said, agreeing to work with the two Rogues. There was definitely something unusual going on, and she had every intention of finding out what. No matter what it took.

"Good. We'll find you again soon." Alyssa approached then, taking his hand in hers as they turned to walk away from the scene. Zarah stared at the young woman, remembering her from before also. She hadn't known Alyssa had sacrificed her life to be with Thomas until this night. Her disappearance had never been discussed before.

Draven walked over to Zarah, staring down at her furiously.

"You're just going to let them go?" he asked in a low growl. His voice came out in a husky whisper, the accent winding harshly around the vowels.

"Yes, Draven. I intend to find out what is going on. He wasn't lying. I could tell," she replied with a simple nod.

"Thomas!" she suddenly called out. He stopped, turning his body slightly to look back at her. Alyssa tensed beside him, waiting.

"You do know that I will still kill you one day, right?" There wasn't any joke in the question, but a fact...a statement that was left hanging in the fogged air as if this had been said before.

He smirked and nodded.

"Of course, Zarah. And I certainly look forward to dying by your hand."

The two disappeared over the ledge, leaving the Guardians on the roof alone.

Draven turned to Zarah and looked down at her in confusion.

"Who was that anyway?" he asked curiously. She should have known he'd ask. She dreaded answering, bringing back the memories that she tried to tuck away and forget.

"Thomas?"

When he nodded, awaiting her response, she pulled her gaze from his and stared straight ahead, out over the city. The breeze ruffled her hair lightly, and the air had grown colder in their time up there. She sighed sadly.

"He was my brother."

Four.

The sun began to rise in the distance as Draven sped through the downtown streets to get back to the Compound. Zarah gripped the door handle tightly at each sharp turn he made, the tires screeching cries around the curves. She glanced over at him briefly, the light on the dashboard illuminating his face. He looked both furious and determined. Angry at what occurred on the rooftop, adamant to get back before the sunlight burned them to ash.

She watched him accelerate even more when the light of the sky began to grow brighter behind them. They weren't far from the base and if they could make it into the garage in time, Zarah knew they would be safe. Thinking about the hues of orange and pink chasing them, she dared a look backward only to be met with pain in her eyes, causing her to let out a hiss and turn back to the front. Her reaction made Draven glimpse over at her momentarily as she covered her face with her hands and slide farther down in her seat.

Zarah felt the familiar b.u.mp of the garage entrance when Draven raced into the dark concrete parking garage but continued keeping her hands over her face. Her eyes burned from the flash of light that had hit them. She knew she would be okay though. When he came to a stop, parking the car at the farthest, darkest corner of the parking area, she remained still, taking deep breaths to calm herself through the pain.

After a few minutes, she began to feel lighter and cooler, her eyes only mildly stinging. Pulling her hands away, she slowly looked up. Draven continued to sit there quietly, staring straight ahead at the gray wall he had parked in front of.

"Are you okay?" he finally asked, breaking the awkward silence. Zarah didn't hear any concern in his voice, only its usual rough, cold edge.

"Yeah," she muttered, pulling the seat belt off and getting ready to climb out of the car.

"Nice driving, by the way," she added, though her tone was sarcastic.

"Wait, Zarah." He reached out his hand to quickly grab her arm and demanded her stay seated in the car.

"We have to talk."

She let out an exasperated sigh and glared over at him with impatience. All she wanted to do was get inside, splash water in her eyes, and take her rest. She didn't want to sit out there having a discussion with him, knowing well enough that the talk would just lead into them fighting anyway.

"Can't it just wait?"

"No. I want to know what is going on right now. Did you let Thomas go because he is your brother? Or did you let him go because you really believe what he was saying? Either way, both are crazy moves on your part."

It was obviously bothersome. A vein was popping out in his forehead from frustration and she restrained from snapping back.

"I don't want to argue about this right now," she growled, pulling her arm out of his grip. She wasn't exactly on friendly terms with him anyway, so he didn't have the right to know about her past.

"Well, I do," he replied through clenched teeth, leaning across the center console and staring at her. She hated it when he stared at her like that.

"Either you tell me what is going through your crazy little head about this, or I tell Nathanial that you failed miserably tonight and let two Rogues go. Plus I will tell him about their intelligence and other such interesting facts. He probably would be fascinated in that, don't you think?"

Zarah glared silently at Draven, her eyes narrowed with fury.

"I told you. I believe what Thomas says. Something is going on, and it is our duty to find out. You saw for yourself that those two were different."

When she answered, her voice came out cautious and soft, trying to refrain from yelling at him.

"I think the information needs to be kept away from Nathanial for now, at least until we find out what this is about."

"Fine. I'll go with this... for now... But, one wrong move from either of you, and I won't hesitate to shoot." He didn't say if he'd just shoot the pair of Rogues or include her, too.

Draven jumped out of the car and slammed the door. She climbed out slowly to see that he still stood near the car, waiting for her. He was only there so that he could hit the lock b.u.t.ton on his car remote. The chirp of the car as he pressed it announced that the alarm was set. They walked beside each other to the elevator in silence. Zarah had nothing to say about his remark. If he was right and she was wrong, she'd want him to shoot her anyway.

"I've been worried about the two of you! The sun has been up for half an hour now," Nathanial said when they stepped into the Compound.

"Everything okay?"

"Everything is fine. We were held up a bit longer than expected, but made it back into the garage before the sun hit us at least," Draven responded before Zarah could. She looked over at him, shock sparkling through her eyes. It appeared he wasn't telling Nathanial what had actually happened and that pleased her. Glad that he was keeping his word, she nearly let out a breath of relief.

Nathanial glanced over the both of them, his eyes stopping on Zarah as worry creased his brows. Now that she was in a well-lit area, she could see from a nearby mirror that the skin surrounding her eyes were a deep pink from the mild burns.

"You tried to look back at the sun when it was too close. You should know by now that you can't do that, Zarah," Nathanial chided. She looked down at her feet in shame and nodded.

"Get some rest. There'll probably be another busy night ahead of you, I'm sure. I don't want to see you back so late next time though. That makes me worry too much," Nathanial instructed the both of them before walking away.

Zarah rubbed around her eyes gently with her hands and began heading down the hall toward her apartment. She didn't bother saying anything to Draven, and didn't even realize that he was following her until she reached the door of her room and heard him clear his throat.

"Put a cold, wet rag over your eyes while you sleep," he suggested. "That should help."

"Are you suddenly pretending to be my friend?" she asked sarcastically, placing her key in the lock and turning the k.n.o.b. She opened the door, flipped a light switch on the wall nearby, and then turned back to face Draven with a frown.

"Or do you have something else you're trying to say to me?"

He looked down at her, his lips pressed in a thin line, his jaw slightly clenched as if he were trying to suppress his usual angry mood. For an odd moment, she wondered what it'd be like if they actually were friends before dismissing that thought completely with a foul taste in her thoughts.

"No, I was just trying to be helpful." he shrugged and began to turn away.

"See you tonight."

Zarah watched his retreating back from the doorway, her head tilted slightly in shock and confusion at his sudden mood change. When he disappeared around the corner, she stepped back into her room and closed the door.

Within a short time, Zarah had showered and was lying in her bed with the lights out and a cold rag over her eyes. She found getting much sleep difficult though, and the ticking of the wall clock wasn't helping matters any. Thomas' face kept flas.h.i.+ng in her mind. She knew that he'd been Rogue, but had secretly hoped to never meet up with him again no matter how long she'd been casually looking out for him.

That night was strange...seeing Thomas with his mate, Alyssa, both of them seemingly normal. If it hadn't been for the wild red eyes, she would have never known they were Rogue. However, something wasn't right, and she knew it. Zarah was determined to find out what was going on within the Rogue community, and why the species were suddenly turning back into intelligent, controlled creatures. It was evident that they still killed to survive, they were still lost to the bloodl.u.s.t, but there was an unusual change taking place.

As Zarah slowly and finally began to drift off into sleep, her mind filled with past memories of the dealings with her brother.

Six months prior to her going Rogue, she was a Guardian at the Compound with Thomas. He was one of the elite-the Vampire that you didn't cross in a fight. They had been partnered together when Rogues became larger in numbers-an "infestation", Nathanial had called them-and she had always enjoyed fighting alongside him.

One night in particular, however, tore the two apart, and nothing had been the same since.

"Zarah! We've been trapped!" Thomas yelled as he ran forward to stand beside her. Her eyes scanned the area around them, and she could see with clarity he had been right. There were dozens of Rogues surrounding them in that abandoned back parking lot, with only the two of them to fight. There was no way they were both escaping this situation alive and she knew it. Not unless there was a miracle-and she hardly believed in those.

"Thomas...what I want you to do is run. I'll be the bait. You run and get back to the Compound as fast as you can," she whispered to him, drawing her gun out slowly. If one of them was going to die, it was going to be her. He was the Compound's finest, and he had a mate waiting for him.

"Like h.e.l.l," he growled out angrily, keeping his attention alert around the both of them. He yanked two guns from his holster.