Darkness Comes (10 page)

Nodding towards his brother, ignoring the carats of sparkling diamonds and the bleached blond hair, he opened the doors to the mall in the middle of bum fuck nowhere; somewhere in Southern California. The abominated hordes swarmed in and he could hear the ecstatic cries of fools too stupid to be allowed to go on living. Yet it was too dangerous to let them be converted; the Aradians who were creating vamps were already a pain in his ass. If the vampires would only behave it would be almost tolerable; unfortunately, too many humans were enamored of vampires, making the detestable creatures even more arrogant and careless.

As he walked into the building, a scent that was at once familiar and long forgotten washed over him, more powerful than he remembered, more intoxicating than he could withstand. Closing his eyes, he drank deeply of the fragrance, letting it wash over him and through him. It was powerful and a smile curved his lips, knowing what it meant even as it grew closer.

Glancing around, he briefly wondered why none of the others could smell it but then he saw her and it didn’t matter; just so long as they remained ignorant, he didn’t care. She had been rushing towards the door, anxiety and fear making her rush until she saw Jiro, his brother. Almost as if in a trance, she followed him with her eyes, perhaps drawn to the sparkle of his diamonds or the sense that he was an Aradian.

She was an attractive little thing, with long, honey colored hair pulled back into a pony tail and graceful limbs. He had caught a glimpse of wide, gray eyes and a delicate face; her nose slim and straight, her mouth lush and wicked. She had the delicious curves that he loved: a glorious pair of tits and a slender waist with hips that curved enticingly; the purely feminine body of a Breeder.

Without a second thought, he slid his arm around her trim waist and hoisted her off her feet, bringing her neck to his lips. He only intended to taste her, to confirm his suspicion that she was a Breeder, but the moment her blood exploded into his mouth, he couldn’t get enough. His body tightened with painful arousal; he wanted to fuck the woman as he drank his fill. She was delicious and her blood…. It was ambrosia, the food of the gods long since sleeping.

The hot, sweet nectar filled him, bringing back memories of the day his child had been born. The day his child had been taken from him. He drank until he could forget, drinking until he drained her if need be.

“
Feryn!” Jiro cried out, grabbing his arm and bring him back from the edge. “Feryn, stop!”

“
Let her go,” Royle murmured calmly, holding his other arm. “Come, Feryn, this is not like you; let her go.”

Pulling his fangs from her throat, he rolled his head on his neck, trying to find his equilibrium. He opened his hands and the girl fell forward, weak from the lack of blood. He would have bent down to help her but his brother and his friend held him too tightly. He could only watch as she rolled over and looked at up him with bewildered gray eyes.

If he wasn’t careful, he would lose himself in those eyes.

He had to remind himself that she was merely a Breeder; it didn’t matter that it had been assumed that all of the Breeders had been destroyed nearly four hundred and fifty years before. As great of a find as it was, she was only a Breeder. Holding her eyes, he touched his fingertips to the drop of blood that stained his lips, letting her know that she was only a means to an end as he licked the delicious blood from his fingers.

Her eyes rolled up and she passed out, releasing him from the spell she so unconsciously cast over him. Collecting himself, he shook off Jiro and Royle, “Gather her things and get those fucking vampires out of here.”

With one final glance at the girl, he turned around and left, whispering the words that would bind her to him, making sure to delay the spell long enough for her to recoup her blood.

*****

She opened her eyes and looked up at him, seeing the confusion mirrored in his expression. Touching her kiss-sensitive lips, she whispered, “What was that?”

Without answering, he grabbed her by her upper arm and jerked her to her feet, painfully dragging her behind him. Calling over his shoulder, he bellowed, “Find the two males and bring them to me! Now!”

She would have struggled, but she was lost in the flashes of memories he had unwittingly shared with her, the reasons why he wanted her so badly. If she wasn’t careful, she might sympathize with the man and in the end, agree to give him anything he asked of her.

Chapter 5

1557

There was something wrong; urgency and dread coiled agonizingly deep in his gut. His unborn child, who was due in less than a week, was vulnerable and in grave danger. Fear tripped down his spine; he couldn’t lose his child. He had waited a thousand years to be granted the right to a Breeder. She had been his reward for proving himself to the Aradians who came before him, for his brilliant mind, for his diplomacy in Aradian-non-Aradian affairs, for his mental and physical strength and his natural leadership. He may have been Breeder-born but he had proven himself to the Aradians, time and time again. He had earned his Breeder.

Feryn crashed through the forest towards the hidden village, the crushing terror of losing his child tightening his chest. Oblivious to the branches that reached out and scratched him, the prickly thorns puncturing his bare feet, Feryn ran. His shirt billowed out and his hair tangled with leaves and sweat as he ran. The pungent odor of burning flesh filled his senses; he could see the black plume of smoke above the trees. He ran faster, covering the remaining distance in a matter of heart beats. The stench was stronger, acrid and foul, seeping through his skin. “No.”

Stumbling through the clearing, he froze, seeing the destruction more clearly. The vile vampires were swarming over the small village, destroying everything in their path like a plague of locusts. Gods, he hated vampires; he got over his vamp phase when he was still a child. The power gained was corrupt, no matter how formidable. But the vamps could not harm Breeders unless ordered to by their maker; they wouldn’t attack the village without direct orders; who….

Before he could even begin to fathom such betrayal, vampires spilled out of the forest. Focused on reaching his child through the carnage, he only managed to fight off a dozen or two before his limbs were grabbed and immobilized. The answer to his unasked question walked into the glade, a chilling smile on his lips. Feryn hissed, “Marayal.”

Marayal’s smile grew, his dulled brown eyes flashing undisguised hatred, “Feryn. Why does it not surprise me that you are the first to arrive, mud lover?”

“
What have you done?” Feryn asked, struggling against the vampire hold, ignoring the odd insult. He looked past the traitor and despair swirled low in his gut and his green eyes began to glow. “You’ll destroy us all.”

“
No,” Marayal denied, shaking his head, his long dark brown hair flowing over his shoulders. “I have saved us.”

Feryn was incredulous, “How?”

“
We were getting soft,” the mad man sneered. “Aradians are a proud race, beloved of gods and goddesses; powerful, feared. We were never meant to taint our bloodlines.”

“
You would not exist without the Breeders,” Feryn roared, dumbfounded by the other man’s willful ignorance to the relationship of Breeders and Aradians. “They are the only way to we can expand our numbers; why would you do this?”

“
No! They weaken us. Breeders….” Marayal’s face twisted in disgust. “Breeders are abominations.”

“
Vampires are the abominations!” Feryn was furious, his panicked gaze moving past the traitor to the village still being devoured by vampires. He had to get to his child.

“
Vampires give us power,” the fool said defiantly, tilting his chin up.

“
Polluted and corrupt,” Feryn growled scornfully, glaring at Marayal, who’s once golden brown eyes were dull and near-lifeless. Jerking his arms, he remained restrained; he had to reach the once-vital Aradian somehow. “Breeders give us life.”

Marayal laughed cruelly, “The Breeders are all dead.”

Disbelief and denial buzzed in Feryn’s head as he heard the words that could not have been spoken. His child…. “No.”

“
You know it to be true,” Marayal sneered, vamp madness burning in his dead and dull eyes.

Cold rage replaced the grief that threatened to bring him to his knees; his child! “No!”

The traitor’s eyes widened in alarm as Feryn’s fury infused him with power. Within moments the vampires that had been restraining him were torn apart and his hand was wrapped around the traitor’s throat. Feryn’s eyes burned a brilliant green as grief and rage flowed through his veins. Fingernails clawed at his hand but he didn’t feel any pain; he no longer felt anything.

“
You are a fool, mud lover.” Marayal rasped, his feet flailing as Feryn lifted him off the ground. Feryn tightened his grip and Marayal’s eyes bulged. In a hoarse voice, he hissed, “It is against Aradian law for you to kill me,”

“
I. Do. Not. Care,” Feryn ground out, squeezing his fingers together and ripping out the man’s throat, silencing the scream before it could even begin.

Screams slashed through the night sky and the air exploded in white light as Marayal’s vampire minions were destroyed. The silence that followed was deafening but Feryn did not notice; the abominations were gone and he prayed he was not too late, that there was some small chance that his Breeder lived, that his child lived. He raced through the destroyed village, oblivious to the burning domiciles and the bloodied remains, as he searched for….

He came to an abrupt stop as he saw her lying in the middle of the town square, her white gown stained with blood, her neck gaping. Her lifeless gray eyes stared up at him but he didn’t notice; his attention was on her swollen belly. His child.

Without thought, barely daring to hope, he ran to the body, falling to his knees next to the lifeless vessel and pressing his hands down on her stomach. Anguish crashed over him and he bent his head, prepared to destroy every abominated vampire that walked the lands. But then he felt it, the slight flutter of his baby’s foot. Relief flooded him and he cried out something unintelligible.

With one hand protectively covering the child, he stretched out his fingers to grab an abandoned sword, one still covered with the blood of humans or vampires. He didn’t care. As his fingers curled around the pointed tip, he ignored the fiery pain as the sharp edge bit into his flesh.

Wiping the blade against the woman’s gown, he removed as much of the blood as he could while still pressing his hand against his child, offering the comfort of his presence to the small baby. As tears mixed with sweat and blood, he slid the tip of the blade into the woman’s flesh, into her womb. Carefully, so carefully, he sliced her open, his hand never leaving his child. There was so little time left and he could feel the baby struggling to survive.

With the Breeder’s stomach spread open, he tossed the sword to the side and gently placed his hand on the baby’s head. His heart pounded against his ribs as he felt the rapid pulse beneath the baby’s delicate skin. Smiling, crying, he pushed his other hand in, tearing the broken and lifeless vessel even further apart. Carefully grabbing the baby’s head, the shoulders, he pulled the baby half way out, pausing to unwrap the cord from around its neck and clear the mucous from its small nose and mouth.

Tears fell unheeded as he rubbed the baby’s back, its chest, willing it to take its first breath. As a piercing wail rent the smoky night, he cried out as well, pulling the child completely out.

A son. He had a son.

Laughing triumphantly, he tied off the cord, cutting it with the previously discarded sword. Holding the infant against his chest, he tore some material from the blood-stained gown. Gently, he wrapped his son in the make shift blanket. The boy looked up at him with matching, luminous green eyes and Feryn smiled. His son.

He didn’t need to look around to know that all of the men, women and children of the small village had been slaughtered; that all of the Breeders had been destroyed. It had been an unusual year in that two other Breeders had been increasing, another was ripe, and they were all gone. The millennium of careful breeding wiped out in an instant because a delusional, self-loathing Breeder-born Aradian felt threatened; had gone mad with the power of vampires.

His son squirmed in his arms, already hungry for sustenance. With a sad smile, Feryn pressed his finger against his elongated tooth. As he rocked the babe, letting the child suckle his blood, Feryn felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see his twin brother Jiro standing there, a grim expression mirrored on his face. The two of them had been the first Aradians to be born of Breeders and Feryn’s son was the last. It was a painful joy.