Innocence and Evil (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #6) (8 page)

I wanted to come up with some snarky comment
to annoy her, but she was right. We might very well have been
walking straight into a trap if that librarian upstairs knew who we
were. Or, there might just be too many down there for Christina and
I to take on our own.

I was right too. We had come this far, we
were inside, now we just needed to find out where the lair was and
the best way to infiltrate and we were golden.

Christina naturally had a light step, she
had been raised to be stealthy. Keeping my boots from pounding on
those stairs was more of a conscious effort than I would have
liked. On the way down, I pulled out my gun so that I’d be ready in
case anything attacked us.

We made the turn and saw that there was
another turn just like it coming up. Damn, wherever this led, it
was deep beneath the main floor of the library. We were just about
ready to make the next turn when my stomach tightened and a wave of
hatred washed over me.

Oh crap
.

They were down there, that part I knew for
sure. I followed along behind Christina, trying to push the
hateful, murderous thoughts away. I needed to maintain control of
myself. I’d lost it more than once, and I couldn’t stand anyone,
let alone Christina, seeing me check out like that.

With each step the more I felt the evil that
radiated off of whoever … or whatever, was down there. In a sudden
uncharacteristic flash, my conscience began to conflict. On one
hand, every fiber of my being wanted to run down there and
slaughter anything that so much as thought about something sinful.
On the other hand, the human in me wondered if this wasn’t such a
good idea after all. Maybe Christina was right to question how safe
it was to go down there.

What if I couldn’t control myself and ran
right into a pack of vampires without thinking?

Oh, that’s right, I had a special power that
could dust them with the swish of a finger. On that thought, I
actually looked down at my gun and wondered why in the hell I was
carrying it in the first place if I had super powers.

Christina stepped off the last stair and
turned to wait for me. I was right behind her though, so she didn’t
have to wait but a second. Neither of us wanted to speak, it was
too dangerous now.

What lay beyond us was just as dimly lit as
the stairwell was. It was dank and dungeon like. The whole place
seemed to be made of stone, the floors, the walls, even the ceiling
was. Pipes of different sizes ran the length of the hallway above
us and the only light came from single bulbs dangling from in
between the pipes every fifteen feet or so.

The place was just freakin’ creepy.

We followed the hallway to wherever it was
going to lead us. At first, there weren’t any doors or openings
along the stone wall. It just kept going and going. I realized,
after a short while, that it was sloping downward, delving further
beneath the library. This wasn’t good at all. We were going further
down into a vampire lair and probably trapping ourselves down
there.

I was far from scared, but for Christina’s
sake, I seriously considered turning around and going back topside.
Of course, thoughts were quickly squelched by the emotions churning
inside of me. The fiery hate that chanted, ‘kill the evil, kill it,
kill it, kill it.’

Christina paused when we arrived at the
first door. It was wooden and ancient. The thing looked like it
would fall to the floor in splinters if I even touched it. I closed
my eyes for a moment and focused, trying to sense if there was
anything on the other side. I couldn’t feel anything that was
stronger than the pull I already felt, so I shook my head.

She acknowledged and then moved on. We
passed a couple more doors and I did the same thing. It was a lot
easier than having to kick open a door and clear a room, all the
while hoping that no one was inside to surprise us.

And then, finally, a brighter light could be
seen ahead. Silent and stealthy, we crept the rest of the way down
the hall until we reached the source of the light. Before rounding
the corner into the room, we each stood up against one side of
cold, stone wall. On a three count from Christina, we stepped out
into the open with our weapons raised.

I’d known that no one was in our immediate
vicinity since I was actively using my ‘find the evil’ sense. We
did play it how we were supposed to, though. Better safe than
sorry.

We found ourselves in a room that had been
furnished with a couple of couches, a wooden table with four
matching chairs … and a chandelier. Who in the world hung a crystal
chandelier from a dank dungeon ceiling? Freakin’ creepy.

I turned in a circle, orienting myself and
checking the place out. “Hey,” I whispered.

Christina was already at my side, standing
so close our shoulders were touching. “Hmm.”

“There.” I pointed in the direction I wanted
her to look.

On the far wall there were two openings like
the one we had just come from. Spaced about five feet apart, each
of the cave-like hallways were covered with a burgundy curtain. The
couches were the same shade of burgundy. I couldn’t help but laugh
to myself. If these vampires were worried about coordinating the
color scheme of their nasty basement, then they had their
priorities messed up.

The question now was which path did we
choose? Christina marched toward the one on the right and pulled
the curtain aside.

Just as we were stepping into another dimly
lit hall, my flesh prickled and a wave of white-hot hate crashed
down onto me. It was stronger than just feeling that there was evil
close by. This meant they were practically right beside me and
whoever it was, was sooo not a nice guy.

“Is there something I can help you find?” A
smooth, male voice asked from behind us.

We both spun, weapons at the ready.

“Oh.” The vampire waved his hand at our
weapons in a dismissive manner. “Is that really necessary?”

Neither of us said anything. I was trying
not to just blow the bloodsucker away right then. Something in the
back of my mind, the sensible human side of me, told me that we
shouldn’t kill this guy right away.

He was dressed in black denim and a black
button up shirt. His hair was blond and slightly long, it hung
about ear length with a few strands falling over his unnaturally
bright, blue eyes.

When neither of us spoke, the vampire let
out a big, long dramatic sigh. “You can try to kill me if you want,
but you would never get out of here. We all know you’re here, we
knew as soon as you walked in.” He lifted a pale hand and snapped
his fingers.

Immediately, two more vampires entered from
the hallway which we had come from. They joined the blond one,
posting themselves on either side of him.

Christina snorted. “Really. Do you actually
think that we can’t take three of you? We’re Vampire Hunters you
fanged freak.”

The leader seemed slightly disappointed with
Christina’s outburst. “You assume so much young Hunter, there are
far more of us here than you see. Now, I shall extend you a welcome
and suggest that you make yourself comfortable with your
surroundings …” He snapped his fingers again. “Since you won’t ever
see the outside again.”

The two vamps at his side blurred as they
used their vampire speed to burst forward in an attempt to capture
us. I didn’t think, I only reacted. The gun fell from my grip and I
threw my hands outward. A white light burst forth from my
palms.

The light flashed out in front of me a good
six feet, and the sound of death resounded off of the stone walls
as the white-hot power scorched the vampires. They shrieked and
hissed, but it didn’t last long. Only seconds later, they were ash
on the floor.

“Let’s go!” I bolted for the hall from which
we had come. Christina was right behind me and probably would have
bowled me over if I slowed my pace. We had to hurry and get the
hell out, I could feel more of them coming and they were coming
fast.

“We’ve been compromised!” I heard her say.
She must have been radioing in. “Copy?”

There was no answer. The radio wasn’t even
omitting any static. “It probably doesn’t work down here for some
reason.” I swung around the first corner.

And then, the air in front of me blurred and
a vampire was there, reaching out to grab me by the throat. I heard
Christina scream and then grunt. I couldn’t see, but she was
probably fighting back whoever was attacking her.

They had us from both sides.

Dammit.

I stretched my hand out and let the power
flow out of me. A loud scream filled the small space and then his
hand fell as the white light ate his body away and he was nothing
but ashes on the steps.

I turned to find Christina lunging at the
vampire who attacked her. She slashed at him with her knife,
cutting his torso open. Blood spilled from his body, covering the
stairs with the thick, slippery wetness.

Christina’s boot slipped off the edge of one
of the steps. I reached out for her, but I wasn’t close enough. She
fell backward, her eyes widening as her knife flew from her grasp.
Her arms flailed out as if she were searching for something to grab
onto. Unfortunately, her fingers found nothing and she hit the
stairs hard, her head whipped back and cracked against the stone
step with a sickening thud.

“Christina!” I called out as something
grabbed me from behind. At the same time, the injured vampire
yanked Christina’s unconscious body upward and tossed her over his
shoulder. I hadn’t had time to react to my own attacker, I couldn’t
look at him since he had me in a head lock. I flashed him with
white light and then he was gone.

But … so was Christina.

The vampire had been moving so fast that all
I saw as the grip from my attacker faded was a blur of movement. By
the time I was finally free to help, he had already escaped with
her. I was left alone in the hallway with only a puddle of blood
which was working its way down the stairs.

“Dammit!” I clenched my fists and kicked the
wall. How could this happen? My heart was pounding so hard it was
practically all I could hear. Should I go after her or go get help?
My first instinct was to go after her, but I didn’t know if I could
do it on my own, even with my crazy power. “No.” The word came out
a hopeless moan, not nearly laced with the anger I felt.

Then, I was forced to make my choice.
Vampires came filing in from both directions so I had to choose to
go up or down and plow my way through the vampires while doing it.
I felt sick to my stomach, I couldn’t just leave her down here.

But I couldn’t stay.

If I stayed, it was possible that I may not
be able to save her. Hell, we could both die in this dungeon and no
one above would know what had become of us. I had to bring
help.

Now I was getting angry. I shouldn’t have to
leave her down here, I should be able to go save her. So, in
response, I took that anger and I pushed it all into fuel for what
I was about to do. Turning toward the vampires approaching me from
the stairs above me, I stretched my arms out, pushing my palms
toward them … and let it loose.

The white-hot flashes were more like white
fire. I let it come in pulses, taking down a vampire and then
stepping forward, turning, taking out one behind me, then back to
the ones in front of me. It was a process I repeated over and over
again until I emerged from the vampire attack and discovered I was
nearly at the door to the main floor of the library.

I ran … No, more than that, I bolted from
the place. Sprinting over the slick hardwood of the library floor,
I made for the exit at the fastest possible speed I could
manage.

I must have looked like a lunatic as I
slammed open the door and burst out onto the landing above the
massive stone steps. The few people passing by on the street
stopped and turned to stare. I didn’t care. I searched the street
for any of the Hunters, for anyone that I knew. Where were
they?

And then, as if she heard my thoughts, my
sister rounded the corner by the café at the end of the block. She
was running toward me with a concerned expression on her face and
her bow slung across her back. Pedestrians jumped out of the way to
let her pass, mumbling things like, “excuse me” and “Jeez.”

While she continued in my direction, I went
in hers, meeting her half way. “Are you okay?” She threw her arms
around me and squeezed me against her. Neither of us were huggers,
so that actually took me by surprise. “Christina …” was all I could
get out before an unexpected lump caught in my throat. What the
hell was that? Was I choking up?

Drew wasn’t far behind Chloe. “Where is
she?”

I glanced up at him and shook my head. “They
took her? She fell and hit her head on a step. It knocked her
unconscious.” I looked away, ashamed. “You know I tried to save her
and if it was possible I would have.”

Chloe stroked my arm in what she probably
considered a soothing manner. “We know.”

“I’m going back in there. I just came for
you guys. I need help.”

Drew glared at me. “I’ll radio the team.
Hey, why didn’t you use the radio?”

“Christina has it.” I returned the glare.
“Besides, it didn’t work down there, she tried.”

He nodded, knowing that was what she would
have done. While Drew was on the radio I turned to Chloe and shook
my head in disbelief again. “I can’t believe this happened. Even
with my powers, I wasn’t able to help her.”

She shrugged. “It happens and it’s part of
the job. Look what happened to me and none of you were able to save
me at that moment.”

“We need to meet with the whole team before
we go in there. We don’t have time to go home, so let’s head over
to the park.”

Ugh. I didn’t want to go to the park. I
wanted to go in there and get my girl out. I also needed a drink.
“All right, but let’s hurry.”