Fading Darkness (Bloodmarked #1) (4 page)

Taking a few steps back until the ledge was
flush with my calves, I opened up and channeled all my power then sprinted at
top speed toward the opposite edge of the building, getting that weightless
feeling like a stone skipping water. My feet only touched the ground briefly
and each push off the ground drove me harder and faster. I sprung one step up
onto the ledge at the end of the building and went right into the leap over
toward the adjacent rooftop.

It was happening in what I think of as my
own warp speed, but in a way seemed like slow motion because it made my heart
jump and my breath stop for a split second, forcing me to take in every aspect
of my surroundings and how they affected me. I felt the cold wind pricking my
face and stinging my eyes as they began to water in the real-time speed, but
they saw everything in what felt like a slower motion because my eyes could
adjust so fast to each new stimulus. When I hit the concrete of the next rooftop,
I felt my heart beat again, and each step was like breathing to me. The rush I
got from my powers was like nothing I have ever felt before.

I was getting the best endorphin high off
the speed and weightlessness of the run because it was the closest thing to
flying there was. It was better than any rollercoaster at Six Flags, even the
freefall of the Superman.

I was approaching a rooftop at a lower
level, about two stories lower, and as I jumped there was a feeling like I
imagined being similar to when a bird glides through the air without effort. It
felt as if I was suspended there for a moment, and as the roof below me came
closer I braced myself for the harder impact. I used all my leg muscles to
absorb the shock of impact, and regained my previous momentum once again. As
awesome as this was, I couldn’t avoid my problems all night. Somewhere out
there, there were vampires working together, conspiring against me. Awesome. There
went my element of surprise. And it worked so well for me all that time.

The next day, I woke to the sound of my
phone ringing and was still half asleep when I fumbled my way to the phone
which, surprisingly, made it to the nightstand considering how tired I was last
night. I answered on the fifth ring with a raspy, “Hello” knowing it would be
Holly without opening my eyes to see the caller ID.

Her voice rang loud through the receiver,
“Just checking to make sure you were getting up in time to make it to lunch.
Obviously your phone is working so I know you got my message.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m getting up right now,” I
mumbled.

“Really? Cause your voice sounds a little
muffled like your face is smashed up against the pillow,” she added in an
upbeat tone. She was being way too peppy, which meant she was being sarcastic.
“Time to wake up sunshine!” Yeah, definitely fake.

“Whatever, I’ll be there in a while,” I
said, hoping that confirmation would satisfy her.

“Fine, just get your ass up,” she said in a
normal, acerbic tone. Ah, there’s the real Holly. She and I shared a more sisterly
bond. There was a lot of bickering and sarcastic banter passed back and forth
between us, and we never worried about hurting each other’s delicate feelings,
because neither of us was all that delicate. “I’ll get us a table, but try to
be there by 12:30. That’s in forty minutes, just to clarify, since I know you
haven’t opened your eyes yet. And it’s 67 degrees out so I want a spot on the
patio.”

“Ok, see you in a while, darling,” I
countered in the most bubbly voice I could muster this early in the day. I hung
up before she came back with a witty retort.

I climbed out of bed and stretched feeling
much better. Normally, I would have slept much later, but I had so many attacks
last night, I was worn down much earlier than usual. Fortunately, none of the attacks
were against me. There was no sign of vengeful vampires, but there were several
random attacks on drunken stragglers. What good was being a freak with
supernatural powers if those powers were so limited?

I made my way to the living room and turned
on the TV in time to catch highlights of the 12:00 news. Apparently, my powers
were more limited than I was thinking. There were four murder victims last
night, all brutally attacked and ripped apart at the throat, completely drained
of blood. Most of the time they were good about not raising human suspicion and
awareness, but it seemed as if they were getting sloppy. I remembered Shane
telling me once that that typically only happened when there was an
overcrowding in the vampire population. I had an idea of what might be causing
the recent influx of undead assholes, or maybe I was just being self-absorbed
to think it was all about me.

†

The outdoor patio at the ‘Ol Café was packed
with people trying to soak up every bit of the warm weather before it was drowned
out by bitter cold temperatures and fewer hours of sunshine. The longer winter
nights definitely kept me busier with more hours of vampire play time. I
spotted Holly’s long black hair shining in the sunlight from the sidewalk and
hopped the wrought iron fence instead of going all the way through the café
entrance. There were a few angry glares tossed my way from the tables I had to
weave around. Holly looked up from her menu and saw me approaching, and I
caught a glimpse of annoyance from her slate gray eyes.

“What? I made it on time,” I said in
response to the attitude she was copping. I pulled out the metal patio chair
and took a seat, scraping the legs across the cement.

“Yeah, but you could have dressed a little
nicer than an old pair of running shorts and t-shirt. I didn’t know I’d be
dining with a bum,” she said, adding more petulance to her voice. Holly always
dressed like she stepped right out of a Gap catalogue, and today was no
different. She wore grey capris and a simple white tank top that she dressed up
with a bright, multi-colored scarf with a gauzy look to it.

“You’re getting a little picky. Just be glad
I made it here at all. You know I hate starting my day so early.”

“I know, but I had a lot to get done today
and was hoping to eat early enough to run all my errands this afternoon.”

“Sorry to interrupt your busy day. You could
have just called. What did we need to come all the way down here for?”

“I just wanted to see how you were doing…
you know, with everything,” she said, lowering her voice at the last part.

“Oh, you mean with killing vampires?” I said
in an equally conspiratorial tone. “I’m fine, same as always I guess. Oh,
except now I have vampires hunting me,” I added as nonchalantly as I could,
trying to brush off the seriousness of it. Holly tended to worry more about me
than herself.

But of course my effort was a lost cause
because she could pick out the severity in anything I said when it came to
hunting. She looked at me disbelieving for a moment before she laid into me,
“What the hell?! Why didn’t you tell me about any of this sooner?”

“Well, because it just started happening,
and since there is nothing you can do about it, it didn’t make much sense
telling you about it.”

She knew I was right about her not being
able to help with that particular problem, so she didn’t take offense. “Why are
you telling me now then?”

“In case I have to stay away from you for a
while. If there are vamps out there closing in on me then I don’t want you
getting caught in the middle of it. If they can find me, then they can use
anyone close to me as bait,” I told her honestly.

She considered this idea for a minute then
began shaking her head, “No. No way. I’m not about to abandon you in all this.
And you can’t abandon me either. What if something happened to me and you
weren’t around?”

Damn it. She had me again. It was the same
argument she used ever since the first time I met her and tried to leave her
be. She was right. If I wasn’t there for her and she was in real trouble, then
I would feel responsible if anything bad happened.

I gave a last ditch effort by saying,
“That’s why you shouldn’t go out at night.” It was something I always told her
because it was so unsafe at night, but I knew if I left her alone she would go
out anyway. No one wanted to stay cooped up every night in fear of the dark.
And Holly didn’t have enough fear of the night to stay in. That was always the
reason I knew I couldn’t leave her alone, and why I couldn’t just leave her
now.

“Come on, I know you don’t think that’ll
work do you? Actually, that’s one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you today.
I want to go out tonight. I’m going stir-crazy, so I need my bodyguard,” she
said triumphantly.

There was really nothing I could say,
because she knew I wouldn’t let her go out without me. Defeated, I sighed,
“What time are we going out?”

“Yessss! That’s what I’m talking about!” she
exclaimed in excitement. “Come over at nine and we’ll go from there.”

“Can’t wait,” I said around a mouthful of
Caesar salad. I finished the rest of my lunch in defeated silence while she
babbled on about this new night club that just opened up in one of the newly
renovated buildings downtown. It had a really cheesy name like The Dark of
Night or something like that.

She still had my fake ID from the other times
we snuck into 21 and over clubs. We usually used back doors, so the ID was more
of a precaution in case we encountered a bartender who was a real hard-ass and
wanted to see it. She had just turned 21 a month ago, so she was finally legal,
not that it mattered for her. And it wasn’t like I benefited from drinking.

I couldn’t get drunk unless I consumed my
weight in alcohol. My body just recovered from poisoning too quickly. But Holly
loved the escape from life when she got the chance. She didn’t have a completely
terrible life, though, as she would say.

Being the chief of police’s daughter had its
perks, like all the cops knowing who you are and not arresting you. She could
do anything she wanted in this town and a lot of people knew who she was. In
fact, I‘m sure we would not have even gotten into this café without a two-hour
wait if not for her pull with the owner. Another added bonus was that she had
all the protection a person could get. That was one of the main reasons I
thought I could tell her about my world, because I knew she could handle it.
Plus, she was freaking out so much after her attack that she kept going on and
on about telling her dad what happened. I thought if I told her and helped her
understand I was doing something about the vampires she wouldn’t involve the
entire force. It would only cause mass panic and there was nothing cops could
do about vampires anyway.

“Lucy! Luce, hello, pay attention,” Holly
said, and my mind drifted back to the present.

“Nine ‘o clock, yeah, I got it,” I said
hoping that was enough to show I was paying attention.

“Actually, I was telling you to dress nice
tonight, but I have my doubts that you even own anything club worthy. So I’ll
just find something in my closet,” she said peeved.

“And it just keeps getting better,” I
complained.

The waitress came back with our bill and
strategically placed it closer to Holly. Smart girl.

“Hmph, Guess this one’s all you. Thanks for
lunch, Hol,” I said.

“Yeah, what else is new? So I’ll see you at
nine,” she said, solidifying the plan for the last time in case I was still
contemplating a way to get out of it. The waitress was approaching as we were
standing, and Holly handed her the money as we made our way back through the
café.

We parted ways, and I breathed a sigh of
relief for not having to bring up the more persistent concern that was gnawing
at my brain, the one who now had a name that I refused to let surface.

Gavin. Shit! What was wrong with me?

I never told Holly about Shane because I
have always adamantly voiced my hate for vampires, and trying to explain Shane
to her would only confuse her. Gavin was different though, somehow. I didn’t
even know anything about him, so bringing him up would open up a whole new
round of questions I couldn’t answer. Thinking about him only stirred something
inside of me and gave me that odd sense of familiarity again. I shut out those
alarming feelings before I could identify the root of them. Something about how
he looked at me that night was disarming, and now was not a good time to get
into a fight with implacable vampires while I was unarmed.

†

After a shower and a long nap, I called a
cab to take me out to Holly’s high rise condo over in the Central West End of
downtown. It was a gift from her parents, but she had to finish college and
agree to grad school if she wanted to keep it.

Her mom wanted her to follow in her
footsteps and go into med school, but her dad didn’t care either way, so long
as she sought higher education. She would be living under her parents control
whether she was out on her own or not, and she did it willingly without
complaint. She was a good girl and for that, the least I could do was get her
out of her place and give her a carefree night out every once in a while.

It was about twenty minutes to nine when the
cab showed up, and I hopped in and prayed the spruce-scented air freshener and
cigarette smell wouldn’t rub off on me. The cab driver was a grungy guy,
probably in his 40s but looked closer to late 50s, no doubt due to the
excessive smoking and, I assumed, years of partying. He had long, stringy
unwashed hair with a grayish colored beard, bloodshot eyes and sunken face. His
skin hung off his bones loosely and wrinkled around his eyes and mouth. The
only thing he muttered our entire trip was my toll. Clearly, this was not the
direction he pictured his life going. Before I could offer to trade places, I
gave him my money and jumped out the door so he could get on with his dull
night, wishing mine could be that boring.

I made my way through the spinning doors of
Holly’s condo preparing myself for the grand and overelaborate lobby. Every
time I saw it, I had to stop and seize a moment to take it all in. I felt like
I was walking into a museum because everything looked so valuable that I didn’t
want to touch anything. The marble floors were polished so well I could see my
reflection in them. The paintings on the walls looked expensive, and there was
a large seating area in the middle of the room made up of giant beige leather
couches that was crowned by a massive crystal chandelier hanging from the
24-foot ceiling. There were gold and deep blue and red accents throughout the
room, and the walls were coated in a rich Venetian plaster.

I walked over to the main desk that was
straight ahead, past the seating area, and announced myself. “Lucille Masters
to see Holly Beckett.”

The clean cut woman with slicked back short
brown hair barely regarded me with a nod as she scanned her visitors list. She
picked up the phone receiver after a moment of silence, she responded to the
voice on the other line, “A Miss Masters is here to see you Miss Beckett… Thank
you, I’ll send her up.” With a brief, tight smile she tilted her head up,
glanced at me and said, “Go on up.”

I tilted my head up even higher than hers
and with the haughtiest voice I could manage, I said, “Thank you so much for
all your help.”

Then, I turned toward the elevator and
punched in the visitor’s code. It was all very high tech and secure, which was
very good for Holly. I made my way to the 14
^th
floor and down the long,
golden hallway. Her door was open for me, and I let myself in following the
sound of Lil Wayne blasting from the bedroom, down the hall past the huge open
living and dining room area, decorated in Holly fashion with animal prints and
bright colors, and the large gourmet kitchen that was only separated from the
main room by a very large breakfast bar.

“Hol, you in there?” I shouted, not sure my
voice could break through the heavy pounding of the speakers.