Rise of Midnight Read online

  “I don’t have any cash,” I said in a harsh tone as I drew closer to my car, assuming it was a panhandler.

  I pulled my keys out. With a free hand, I took Jacoby’s pocketknife from my purse where I’d left it since he’d given it to me. I pressed on the thumbscrew, and the blade extended. A hissing rose from the alleyway. I whirled around. Someone appeared around the corner of the restaurant. The closer he got, the clearer it was that something was off.

  His eyes.

  They reminded me of something I’d seen in a wildlife documentary once—a team of activists filming a tigress and her cubs late at night. When the camera’s light hit the animals’ faces, their eyes refracted it, causing their pupils to hauntingly glow.

  It was similar to the way this man’s eyes appeared from where I stood. And it scared the living hell out of me. All I could see were those foggy eyes out of the shadows, and I knew it was him—one of the figures who’d stalked me for days now. I fumbled with my keys to find the one belonging to my car but accidentally dropped the keyring.

  Plucking the keys off the ground, I cursed and mashed the unlock button on the keypad. I swung the door open, jumped in, slammed the door shut and started the engine all in what felt like one swift motion. I took one last look at the restaurant through my passenger’s side window as I took my car out of park.

  When I whirled back to drive off, I found the man standing at my driver’s side door. I didn’t even stop to wonder how he’d moved so fast from the building to the other side of my car. Instead, I hit the gas and sped off with tires screeching. I shivered out of both relief and shock—a delayed reaction. I checked my rearview mirror, but he was gone. I fastened the pocketknife into the waistband of my jeans as I drove.

  There was nothing I could think up that would explain what just happened. It felt like a nightmare. It had to be a nightmare. As I tried making sense of it while driving toward city limits, I noticed another unsettling sight. A dark-colored SUV seemed to follow my every turn. It rode up behind me uncomfortably close, so closely that I couldn't even see its headlights in my rearview mirror. How long it’d been back there, I couldn't say, but as paranoia swept over me, I decided to make sure it was just a coincidence. I made a few random turns. The SUV relentlessly followed. My hands became sweaty over the steering wheel.

  I swerved into a gas station to make a U-turn. The SUV drove past without slowing and was out of sight in seconds. A sigh of relief escaped my lungs. I came to a complete stop. The smell of oil and tar filled my car. I put it in park to call Gemma before going on. It was already 9:30 PM. I knew she’d soon wonder where I was.

  And then, before I could grab my phone, it dawned on me. While trying to lose the SUV, I’d driven into an unfamiliar part of downtown. I didn’t recognize the buildings or street names, and this part of town was gritty, older. There were a lot of unlit and empty lots around, as well, and the lack of traffic on this road made me even more uneasy. I reached for my phone and pulled up my GPS.

  A loud thud erupted from just above. The roof of my car slightly caved in, the cab abruptly bouncing. I yelped and practically came out of my seat. My phone slipped from my hand. I immediately slumped down in my seat. All was still now. Shaking, I ever so slowly shifted the car out of park. The vehicle rolled forward as I let off the brakes, ready to hit the accelerator.

  A loud pop pierced my ears. The passenger side window shattered. Glass blew into my car. I mashed the accelerator and peeled out onto the street. I heard something heavy move across the roof of my car as I sped away. My mind couldn’t grasp what was going on, and I incoherently rambled cuss words over and over as I drove. My tires screeched when I spun the wheel, taking a sharp left turn. I heard whatever it was on the roof of my car slide off, the sound so loud I swore it could have been a body.

  That’s when squealing tires roared up from just behind. The SUV appeared in my rearview mirror again. This time, it gained on me ridiculously fast. I hit the gas hard to pull out into mainstream traffic. As before, the SUV shadowed my every move and more aggressively than before. Without hesitation, I went for my phone to call 911. I glanced about but found it lying on the floorboard where I dropped it. I worried my reach might not be far enough.

  The light ahead turned red. A car carelessly cut across my lane. I was going too fast to slow down. Instead of braking, I let off the gas and sharply spun the wheel. This sent me careening into oncoming traffic. Panicked, I overcorrected again, this time in the opposite direction. I ran the light. Desperate, I hit my brakes. My car skidded through the intersection.

  Thunderous screaming tires rang in my ears. The explosive sound of crunching metal and glass deafened me as my front and side airbags burst from their havens. All of this was like hearing a shotgun go off in my car. I screamed, having instant flashbacks of my previous wreck almost three weeks earlier. I felt the right side of my car tip upright. The brute force of the impact picked my car up and sent it sailing through the intersection. I felt a weightless sensation, my car flipping. When it landed, I crashed upside down against something that stopped me from colliding into the buildings. To me, the impact felt earthshaking.

  Sparks flared from the now bent light pole just outside my car. In an instant, everything went quiet. My ears rang, and I burst into a frantic cry. Airbag dust filled the car and clouded my vision. As it dissipated, the faint smell of oil and smoke made me cough. I could feel the stinging of a possible cut on my right arm, but I never searched for it. My mind wouldn’t focus as I aimlessly looked about.

  The sound of an approaching engine caught my attention. Helplessly hanging upside down, I peered through a broken window and watched as the pursuing SUV came to a sliding halt in the middle lane. Coming into focus just beyond it, a semi-truck driver, who I assumed was the one who’d hit my car by the damage on his rig, stepped out. The door to the SUV swung open.

  Without thinking, I frantically unbuckled my seat belt. I dropped and landed on the back of my neck and shoulders. The impact sent a shockwave of tingles and pain down my spine and legs. The taste of blood in my mouth scared me as I tried regaining my sense of direction. I rolled over and saw a tall man in a long coat emerge from the SUV with a phone to his ear. He noticed the semi-truck driver who neared from across the street.

  “I’m calling an ambulance. You should be on your way,” the tall man from the SUV told the truck driver sternly.

  “But I’m the one who hit her. I need to stay and—” the stout man replied, but stopped himself in mid-sentence.

  He stared blankly at the driver of the SUV. The little man’s face gradually drained of color. Without another word, the truck driver grabbed his chest with one hand and ran back to his semi.

  “No, wait. Come back! Help!” I desperately shouted out to him, but he didn’t seem concerned by my screams.

  Without hesitating the short man hopped into his truck and drove away.

  “I need you to make a distraction of some sort,” the SUV driver spoke in a loud voice on his phone. “My team and I are drawing too much attention.”

  His now glowing eyes shot in my direction. His free hand tightened into a fist at his hip. Unable to pass, several cars stopped in the middle of the street. As people began getting out of their cars, I watched the driver of the SUV fidget. His eyes darted left and right. A loud explosion caused the ground under me to shake. People in the street screamed. A few blocks down, bright flames and the wreckage of a burning car appeared. Smoke billowed into the air and surrounded nearby buildings. People jumped in their vehicles and drove off while others ran. In a matter of seconds, the streets whirled with absolute chaos.

  “A little overdone, but it will do,” the driver of the SUV said to himself as he glared at the burning car down the street and jammed the phone into his pocket. “Take her!”

  He got back in the vehicle as several people with glowing eyes hopped out of it. They began weaving their way through traffic toward my car. The SUV sped off, leaving them.

  “The
human better not be dead!” I heard one of the men shout. “We can't afford another screw-up!”

  “Help!” I shouted.

  I scooted across the roof of my car. Broken glass littered my way. I crawled to the shattered passenger window, all the while searching the twisted metal for my phone. Before looking any further, I felt my car lurch across the concrete. Sparks hopped around the windows.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  The shouted order startled me.

  “Trying to dump her out. What’s it look like I’m doing?” asked another.

  “Afraid she’ll bite or something? Just reach in there and grab her, damn it!”

  Terrified and confused, I cried and went to slip through the shattered window, but the hand of a man reached through it first. He grabbed me by the back of my coat and pulled me through the wreckage. A wave of relief washed over me.

  “Thank you!” I exclaimed, but as the man continued dragging me from my car across the sidewalk, I realized something wasn’t right. “Wait, what are you doing? Let me go!” I ordered and struggled to get loose.

  His hold on me was like a vice. I screamed and tried wrenching my coat from his hand. He ignored my pleas to let me go and took me into a dark alley out of view from the street. I tried catching glimpses of his face, but his burgundy jacket, hanging halfway off of his shoulders as if he’d stopped in the middle of taking it off, blocked my view.

  Once we were hidden in the alleyway, the man released me. I started for the street but had to stop. Another man with freakishly glowing eyes appeared in my way. His jacket… burgundy. This wasn’t a different man. He was the same one who’d forced me in here. The speed he’d moved in my way frightened me. I jumped back as he went for me. Light from a small floodlight high above shone down on his face with his movement.

  I recognized him. He was one of the people who’d stared so intensely at me at the Red Emerald, but now, his eyes illuminated fiercely behind strands of his long blonde hair. My heart pounded wildly out of control. My mind raced with thoughts of what to do. If I couldn’t run, then I knew I had to fight.

  I ripped my brother’s pocketknife from the waistband of my jeans, readying the blade. The man moved. I had no time to react. He shoved me. I fell to one side and scrambled to my feet. In that short time, the man had taken hold of my coat along with several locks of my hair. He pulled me to him. I let loose an ear-piercing scream.

  “Shut up!” he shouted and moved us through the alley.

  Without hesitation, I twisted around with the knife and slashed at him. He snatched his hand away and avoided the blade. I stood and pushed past him toward the street. In the alleyway entrance stood another figure followed by four more moving in behind him. Altogether, there were six. I came to a sliding halt before them.

  “Good evening, Latresma,” a man with wavy brown hair spoke up from the front of the group.

  I didn’t recognize him.

  “No use trying to run,” he continued. “You’re only holding us up.”

  I heard the man with the burgundy jacket slink up behind me. He wrapped an arm around my waist and held me against his chest. I sliced at his forearm with my knife, but this time, he didn’t react.

  “She’s a feisty little thing, Eric,” he warned the man who stood before me.

  The dark-haired man, Eric, stepped up. “I wouldn’t expect any different from a former leader of the Vampire Nation.”

  Chapter 6

  A Night in Hell

  I dove for Eric with my knife, slicing the side of his face. He backhanded my wrist, and this sent the knife sailing across the alleyway. I heard it bounce off the brick wall and hit the ground somewhere close by. My hand instantly throbbed. I swore he'd broken it.

  The man named Eric took a few steps closer, his eyes ceasing to glow as he came into the light of a nearby wall lamp. I could see him clearly now. The gash I’d left on his shallow cheekbone shrank, and I had to blink twice to be sure of what I saw. He smiled deviously as the wound vanished from his face. I noticed something else, too—something strange about his teeth. As I watched, his canines grew.

  I drew a slow and quivering breath as his tall frame engulfed me. I shrank back into the man holding me. The one named Eric cradled my face in his clasp, and I felt his thumb wipe away tears I hadn’t realized I’d shed. The three men and the woman closed in behind him. I cautiously watched them over Eric’s shoulder. They smiled at me, but it was in no way comforting.

  “Dear Latresma,” Eric cooed at me.

  “My name is Autumn!” I snapped in tears. “You have the wrong person!”

  He smiled and bared his unbelievably distinct fangs at me. His chortle rang in my ears along with the others’, their laughter like a low hum.

  “Oh, I’m afraid not,” Eric spoke again. “It’s been too long since our search for you began, Lady Latresma. There is no doubt who you are. You will be taken care of. I can promise that much.”

  The others hummed a hushed laugh again. The man holding me finally let me go. Eric walked into me, yanking my arm as he moved by. He dragged me deeper into the alleyway darkness. The others followed right on top of us. I screamed, bit, cursed and fought to escape, but nothing I did affected my assailants.

  I was taken down an opening in the concrete. It might have been a manhole, but I couldn’t be sure. It was so much darker there that I thought I’d gone blind. The only things reassuring me I hadn't lost my sight were the illuminated pairs of eyes flashing by and hovering about like fireflies.

  I sobbed and struggled against Eric’s painful grip. Shrieks echoed around us, surfacing from somewhere far within the space we’d entered. I cringed at the unsettling noises and slipped on something. At the same time, a hand yanked me to my feet. A stench gradually filled the air. Although I couldn’t make it out, I could taste it. It made my stomach roll.

  Ahead a few yards, light poured onto the floor from a floodlight mounted above a rusted metal door. But once what was hidden in the dark was revealed by the light, I wished there hadn’t been any light at all. I would’ve rather remained oblivious to my surroundings the whole way through the corridor.

  Under the floodlight’s rays, I saw blood, fresh and old, splattered all over the walls. Piled against a hallway door were what appeared to be dismembered mannequin parts. But as we neared, the body parts seemed frighteningly real, and the unbearable smell brought on a gag reflex.

  In the corner, a man lay mangled on the floor. His arms were missing, and he shook as he bled out. With the quiet gurgling noises he made and the amount of blood oozing onto the concrete floor around him, I knew he was dying. Looking at him, I became lightheaded. Five shadowed figures soon gathered around him. Motionless, they watched him suffer, possibly pleased by his pain. As we passed by, the shadowy group dove in on him like sharks. I could see them tearing him apart. The man shouted as blood sprayed across the wall. I desperately fought the urge to throw up, but I couldn’t look away. At that moment, I wondered if this was all just a hallucination, a nightmare.

  “Get her secured, please,” said a woman.

  I’ll never know what she looked like. I couldn’t see her, but the sound of her voice and the gleaming of her eyes in the shadows told me she waited there along the wall. Too exhausted to struggle anymore, I turned my head, unintentionally peering through an open door. I should have looked away immediately. Just past the doorframe, an overhead light brought another bloody scene into view. At least eight people stood in that room, each ripping out the throat or bowels of another. I threw up while the men around me tried pulling me to a room of my own. One of the men even stopped to hold back my hair as I gasped for air.

  “Humans,” he sneered.

  Another scoffed. Two others laughed.

  “Shane said he’d be here within the hour,” said a voice from another unseen person. “Just throw her in there for now. He’ll deal with her.”

  “Whatever you say,” Eric replied.

  He shoved me into the dimly
lit concrete room. I tripped over my shoes and fell on a tangled blanket. A light clang resonated in the room as something small and metal bounced atop the floor.

  “You might need that,” said one of the men to me.

  Another in the group burst into a mad laugh. There, I found my pocketknife gleaming in the dim light where it came to rest in the corner of the room. The door clanked shut. I heard it being locked from the outside. I sat dazed in the middle of the small room while tears streamed down my face. My body quivered uncontrollably. I dashed for the metal door and banged on it in a panic.

  When my screaming pleas went ignored, I collapsed on the faded blue blanket. I gathered my knees in and wept into my arms. I couldn’t grasp what was happening and told myself this wasn’t real. It was a nightmare. It had to be. But if this was a dream, it was like no other I’d ever had.

  As I sat alone in that darkened room, listening to people being slaughtered just outside the door, countless thoughts raced through my mind.

  And then, it hit me.

  The realization that I might have known something like this would happen to me made me even more sick to my stomach. Everything had led up to this—all the strange and horrible things that happened in the past week leading right up to my abduction. Everything had a connection.

  And it all started with that dream.

  I went for my knife and secured it to my pocket without a second thought. Exhausted, I sat back down and brought the blanket in around me. I shivered uncontrollably, unsure of whether I was cold or just mortified to the edge of my sanity. The images of those people being eaten and torn apart wouldn’t leave my mind. Sitting still now, I realized how sore I was—my arms and legs tender to the touch, the back of my head and neck throbbing with my pulse. My skin felt cold, but I was sweating at the same time.

  My eyes bounced around my environment—this small, concrete chamber. The paint on the walls had faded, cracked and peeled away from the cement behind it. No windows, only one metal door. A single bulb hung high above. It kept the room illuminated like a lonely flickering star in an empty galaxy. Cobwebs dangled in every corner, and the floor felt unbearably chilled against my skin.