Rise of Midnight Read online

  I cried for what felt like hours until I ran out of tears and the energy to cry them. At one point, I laid down on the blanket. Such an insignificant thing brought me a sense of comfort that helped me fall asleep in my exhaustion.

  “Good evening, Latresma.”

  Awakened by a voice that literally come out of nowhere, I bolted upright. A man stood in the entryway, his frame nearly as large as the door’s. His ash gray sweater hung loosely over his form, contrasting with his perfectly blackened hair. Something about him was familiar…

  He was one of the men from The Red Emerald, another one of the people I’d caught staring so weirdly at me.

  “Welcome to the Rivière de Sang Clan,” he said.

  I felt my pulse rising.

  “Relax,” he advised as if he could hear the rapid beating himself.

  His teeth—his fangs—became visible when his lips drew back. This created a rather intimidating, possibly genuine grin on his face. He came in and closed the metal door.

  “Allow me to explain what’s going on, Latresma,” he said as he ran his hand through his shoulder-length hair to move it out of his face.

  “My name is Autumn,” I corrected him with an attitude. “You have the wrong person.”

  He laughed once loud and sharp. It made me jump.

  “Believe me. We are not mistaken. You will understand everything soon,” he assured me. “Allow me to explain.”

  He sat down directly in front of me. I inched away from him while he spoke.

  “My name is Shane. I am of earth-demon blood—what you humans call, a vampire. I’m half—half-vampire, half-human. We all are here. We are called ‘havidens’.”

  “Half what?” I ridiculed.

  But he didn’t need to explain. I already understood what was going on.

  “Half vampire,” he began. “Half human.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” I shouted and jumped up, pulling the knife from my pocket and extending the blade. “I don’t know what kinds of drugs you people are on, but I—”

  “Lady Latresma,” the man named Shane cut me off, but I wasn’t finished.

  “You, you’re all part of some satanic cult. Aren’t you? If the fake fangs and glowing contacts didn’t give it away, then the human sacrifices did. You people are crazy!” My voice rose. I didn’t even recognize it as it resonated throughout the little room.

  “I assure you, no one here is crazy.”

  “Are you kidding me? You’re murdering, dismembering and eating people down here, and you’re trying to tell me you think you’re a demon…or vampire or...whatever! This is the most idiotic, most delusional—”

  “You’ve been blinded by the human world. These are not delusions.”

  “You’re sick!” I retorted.

  Shane motioned. I sprang back and held the knife out further. My back hit the wall.

  “Stay the hell away from me,” I warned through my teeth.

  “Latresma, please. Calm yourself.”

  “It’s Autumn! My name is Autumn, you lunatic!”

  His mouth gaped open like a black hole. Like long white knives, his teeth burst through from behind his lips. His mouth, nose and forehead wrinkled up unnaturally and his eyes rolled back into his head like a shark, leaving his face a disfigured nightmare.

  He lunged at me.

  I drove the knife into his chest. He pulled, then pushed me in the other direction. I tumbled across the ground. He landed on his hands and knees directly over me. Terrified, I shrank into a ball under him.

  “That petty little weapon won’t do you any good!” he howled.

  His voice, distorted and deep now, rang loudly in my ears. He yanked the knife from his chest, licked the blood from the blade and threw it aside. He bared his fangs at me before bolting into the air. He’d pounced maybe ten, fifteen feet into the air, spun over and now hung from the ceiling on all fours.

  Upon his ascent, he'd disturbed the hanging light bulb. It dangled around wildly on its cord while casting eerie shadows about the room. I sat up and snatched my pocketknife off the floor again. Shane crawled like a spider to the other corner. His eyes brightened fiercely at me. I got up, my back against the brick. He crept from the ceiling, down the wall and onto the floor like a nightmare come to life. His disproportionately wide mouth shrank down to size, and his face relaxed, returning to a more human resemblance. My entire body shivered uncontrollably. I wasn’t sure if he really was half vampire, but I knew at least he definitely wasn’t human.

  “You see?” he smirked and sat cross-legged. “What I said is true. Please, have a seat,” he said politely but sternly with a glare from under his brow.

  I had no words. He pointed to the blanket before him, but I couldn’t move.

  “Sit down!” he shouted.

  I moved toward him, feeling unexpectedly faint. My hands shook as I sat down. I took part of the blanket and collected it up to my neck as if it alone would protect me from him.

  “Latresma,” he began, his voice far friendlier now.

  I decided against correcting him on my name this time.

  “Paris, France,” he began. “Just over three hundred years ago. A hell-demon called Arlos found his way between hell and Earth. After living in this dimension for a time, he sought to create a new race of half-human, half-vampire beings. They were to become part of what he called his hell army. He called that race the havidens. Over half of the havidens that live today are alive to serve and were created by the demon Arlos. Unlike the full-blooded earth-demons, or the vampires as they are called here by the humans, we havidens blend in more adequately with the beings that populate this plane of existence, with the humans. This aids Arlos in his efforts to get rid of the vampires here. You see, the vampires are infesting the world. Arlos won’t have this.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My stomach churned while he continued.

  “Along Arlos’ journey, he came across a vampire named Latresma. Latresma practiced a very old vampire sorcery that made her stronger than the others, yet her heart lay with the humans. Despite what she was, Latresma agreed to help Arlos rid the world of the vampires to protect the humans. However, due to the dangers of what they were about to face together, Latresma proclaimed that in the possible event of her death, she would return reborn a human to further aid Arlos in vanquishing the vampires. It’s obvious to me who you are. You bear two of her most predominant physical attributes—a lock of her white hair and her eyes, which were said to be the color of a topaz, like the one you have. As a follower of Arlos, I know this.

  “Thus, your body is the holder of not only your soul, but Latresma’s, as well. I can sense them both within you. Because of her vampire soul, anyone who isn’t human can sense that you undoubtedly aren’t, either. There is something else about you, too. Your being glows with a blood-aura, a red aura radiating from your blood that is visible through your skin. This occurred when Latresma’s soul awakened inside you. Your aura is only detectable to anyone who isn’t human. I can see it around you right now. The blood-aura is something Latresma cast on her soul in order to help Arlos find you, Latresma’s reincarnation. This was all part of what she promised to Arlos. The two, Arlos and Latresma, are widely known throughout the Vampire Nation. Those, vampire or haviden, who laid eyes on you when your aura appeared days ago knew what and who you are.”

  It hit me like a ton of bricks.

  As irrational as it all sounded, what he said made perfect sense. I couldn’t say I believed everything he told me without a shadow of a doubt, but it explained everything that I couldn’t.

  “All those people who stared at me so—” I began, thinking aloud.

  “Though they may have appeared human, they were havidens, likely gawking in disbelief. They knew who you are. However, not many believe in the story of Latresma anymore…until your aura appeared.”

  This sickening realization gave me chills that racked my body as I pictured the glowing-eyed people, all those staring
faces from tonight. Even Raquel, even she was one of them. I shook my head, fighting with myself. There was no way this was real.

  “As far as the full-blooded vampires are concerned, I highly doubt you’ve encountered one,” Shane went on. “They keep themselves well hidden from the humans.”

  “I can’t believe this. I—” I stuttered before my wandering eyes found his. “You’ve been stalking me.”

  “We have,” he confirmed.

  “Why?” I asked in awe.

  “The only thing you need to know right now is that you must cooperate with us,” he answered in a gruff voice. “I will take you to Arlos in just a few hours. He will explain what’s to happen next.”

  “What do you mean? What does he want with me?” My voice shook, afraid to hear the answer.

  “Shane, sir!”

  The man I recognized as Eric from the alleyway burst in. He spoke out of breath. Blood stained his shirt. What could have been bite marks and knife-like wounds on his arms and chest seemed to close and disappear.

  “What happened?” Shane questioned.

  “We have intruders,” Eric panted.

  “I knew those damned vamps were trailing us!” Shane barked, then cursed.

  The light in the hallway flickered and went out. Shouting broke out just outside. A tall man with powdery white hair and skin came into the room with us. The man appeared far too young to have whitened hair, and I assumed it was bleached along with his stubble and eyebrows. The veins in his arms and neck were odd, too—risen and the color of moss. It looked like he wore some strange type of contacts, the ice gray of his irises overflowing where his pupils should have been, a dome of solid color and darker in the very middle.

  With one hand, the pale man took Eric by the neck. The sound of cracking bone made me cringe. Eric’s body fell like a bag of bricks separated from his head. I was close to losing my dinner again at the sight of the decapitated body.

  “Sean! Allison!” Shane hollered.

  “Your guards are dead,” the tall, white-haired man growled.

  Another man appeared. He looked younger but just as pale as the other. His off-white hair and pronounced blue veins drew my attention. He lunged at Shane and took him to the ground. On reflex, I sprang for the exit, terrified the pale men might stop me as I ran. Oddly enough, the one in the doorway stepped aside and out of my way.

  “She’s headed your way, Garrett!” he shouted over me while I darted into the dark and narrow hallway.

  “I’ll get her, Harper! You and Terry just take care of the rest of those havids!” another voice called back in the chaos ahead.

  Through the darkness, a dim light arose within the corridor. It silhouetted the people packed inside who fought each other like wild animals. Before I could take it all in, someone bumped me from behind. I spun to face another man, this one with brilliant honey brown eyes and lightly bronzed skin, a far cry from the pale men I saw earlier. But it was his fangs that caught my eye first. I did an immediate about-face and tore down the passageway.

  “Wait!” he shouted and pursued.

  I carelessly weaved between people who ripped each other limb from limb. I caught glimpses of bloody body parts scattering the ground as I ran, but they didn’t have time to faze me. I managed to escape the crowd when something wet rolled down my arm. Looking down, I found my shirt splattered with blood. It wasn’t mine, or at least I didn’t think it was. Someone caught me by the back of my shirt and yanked me into an entryway.

  “Whoa! Wrong way, human!” the man yelled at me.

  A small light bounced off his honey eyes before I realized he was the same man I’d just escaped from.

  “I’m going to get you out of here!” he shouted over the noise and guided me into a poorly lit area, then pointed. “Go!”

  I hoped he sincerely wanted to help me. I had no other option but to trust him at that point. I took off running almost blind in the direction he pointed. The man dashed ahead of me like a track star. Floodlights lit our way, and we fell in and out of their rays as we ran down another hallway. Three pairs of glowing eyes appeared a few yards ahead of us. The man stopped in his tracks. I didn’t put the brakes on fast enough and blew past him. He took my already aching wrist to stop me. He wrenched me back so hard I was forced to spin and face him. Losing my balance, I slammed into his chest.

  “Hold on tight,” he ordered, his dreadlocks whipped around his shoulders as he searched about.

  “To what?” I asked loudly.

  “To me!” he snapped with a glare.

  I didn’t ask questions, but I had the notion to. Instead, I folded my arms around his neck and tried hard to ignore the pain in my wrist while pulling myself into his chest. His knees bent slightly before he shot us into the air. He flipped over upside down and caught hold of the ceiling on all fours. I screamed while frantically wrapping my legs around his hips at the same time. We bolted past the three men on the floor, but they miraculously scaled the walls after us. We moved swiftly along upside down, leaving everything below a blur of dull colors.

  The man unlatched from the ceiling. We dropped. He landed gracefully, but I slipped and landed on damp ground. He helped me to my feet and we were off. When we stopped again, an awful stench filled the air, and an overhead light revealed our surroundings. The dirty slate walls curved inward from the floor, and the dingy, bug-infested ceiling rounded off, leaving me no doubt about where we were. I recoiled, realizing I was standing ankle-deep in murky sewage water. I put my hand to my nose and tried to step out of it.

  “Listen, human,” the bronze man said through his fangs. “Climb to ground level. You’ll be safe there. Someone will be waiting for you.”

  He pointed to an old ladder built against the brick. Its fern-colored paint peeled like the skin of a molting reptile.

  “This place is about to blow,” he added in a murmur.

  “About to what?” I exclaimed. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?”

  “We ain’t got time to be standing around talking! Get your little ass up there! Now!” he shouted.

  Voices arose from farther down the tunnel.

  “Go on!” the honey-eyed man demanded.

  An explosion burst forth deep within the tunnel. Its shockwave almost knocked me off my feet. My hair whipped about. A bright light burned my eyes.

  “Go!” he shouted again as my sight returned.

  This time, his eyes gleamed a white pearl-like color. There wasn’t much else that could have gotten me up that ladder any faster. At the top, I climbed out of an open manhole and into the middle of a busy street. A car parked on the side of the road caught my eye. Other vehicles swerved to avoid it while another pale-skinned, white-haired man sat in the driver’s seat. He waved and shouted for me to come to him. A pale woman with short, perfectly whitened hair got out of the passenger side and started my way.

  A car horn blew. The blood ran cold in my veins. I whirled around. The headlights of a large vehicle blinded me. Its tires screeched and ground against the pavement to stop the barreling mass. But I knew there wasn’t a chance in hell that thing would stop in time.

  On some kind of weird instinct, I dropped down on all fours and whispered something—a phrase or a verse. I wasn’t even sure if it was even English. And then, an instant surge of energy pumped through my body. My legs uncoiled like springs, and they sent me rocketing into the night sky. Below, the van shot past and missed me by inches. Out of control, I launched forty, fifty, then sixty feet in the air. Mesmerized and baffled by the sight of the street so far below, I tried making sense of what was going on when gravity took hold of me. Oddly unbothered by the drop, I started my descent back to the busy street. I landed painlessly on all fours with my body feeling off balance.

  Another oncoming car. A second rush of energy rose within the core of my being. Every muscle I had tensed, tingled even. I dodged across the road on all fours, and it somehow felt more natural. Car horns blew. Vehicles crashed into one other. Everything around m
e moved so quickly that it surprised me when my eyes kept up so well. I made it to the sidewalk, and that’s where I let out a building pressure in my chest in the form of a scream. But that wouldn’t describe the sound that came out of me. It was a booming roar that vibrated the ground I stood on and echoed off the walls of nearby structures. I leapt and effortlessly scaled the closest building. I moved so fast. I hoisted myself onto the roof of the corporate bank. My head would have normally swooned when I peered over the edge. The street suddenly appeared hundreds of yards below, but the height didn’t bother me.

  What the hell was going on? Had I been pulled up this building by something or did I climb it myself? My mind swam in confusion. A calming breeze blew against me. It was quiet up there. My eyes found my hands gripping the rooftop’s edge. I reared back, stunned at the sight of them. They were no longer the hands I knew—small with thin, delicate fingers. The huge hands—no, paws—at the ends of my arms did not belong to me. They were cleanly skinned to the bone all the way up my forearms. Four dagger-like claws protruded from my knuckles and a fifth, smaller one at my wrist. That was where my skin began—no, wait—it was short and course ebony fur with a deep violet undertone. Every inch of me was covered in it.

  Panicking all over again, I jumped back from the ledge. A black mass followed me across the way. I froze. It did too. Curious at first, I inched in to get a better look. The figure neared me as I neared it. I traced over its form with my eyes. The hair on my back stood on end, my muscles tensed as I readied for a possible fight. I paused in place as the being came into the moonlight. What I saw rattled me even further. Its massive feline head bobbed about, possibly trying to get a better look at me, too. Enormous saber teeth hung from its mouth, each nearly a foot long. A flickering object appeared over its right shoulder then. It looked like a tail where at the tip, like a dangerously curving katana, bone extended from the skin. These bone-colored blades protruded from almost every joint on its body—its shoulders, elbows, and knees. The ridged exposed bones looked like battle armor.