My Darkest Hour Pt. 02

Taylor said nothing and looked down in shame.

"I'll take your silence as admission." Maggie told her sarcastically, then darted to the computers.

Michael stood up, and offered a hand to Taylor who accepted it.

Taylor motioned for Michael to follow her, and she ran to a pallet covered with a tarp. She removed the tarp, revealing several gas cans and a box of matches. She tossed the box of matches to Michael and handed him a gas can. Once they both had one, they returned to the massacre scene. Taylor began to cover everything with gas.

Michael covered all of the tables, as well as the chains that had bound him with gas, and all of the blood. He retrieved Gavin's phone off of the body, and placed it in his pocket. He then doused Gavin in gasoline and they both made a trail of gasoline to the car. Once they were in the gravel, Michael retrieved the box of matches and quickly lit several. He then threw it down on the stream of gas, and watched it ignite. Once they observed everything being consumed by flames, they got in the car.

Maggie looked at Taylor in the rear view mirror. "You have a lot of explaining to do. The only reason you still live is because I trust Michael. Don't make me regret my decision." Maggie told Taylor angrily.

There was silence in the car as they drove to Maggie's house.

CHAPTER NINE - EPILOGUE

"As I said before, you are alive, because I trust Michael. The same cannot be said for you. Explain yourself now." Maggie demanded.

Both Michael and Taylor were sitting on the couch, staring at the man in between them sitting still as a rock in confusion.

"Umm, what did you do to Paul?" Taylor asked. She was dumbfounded at the sight of her former ally frozen in place.

Maggie looked at the man she called Paul. "I gave him some motivation to stay put until I returned. He thought that he was going to kill me with a stake. I say thought because I was much quicker than him. I'm not interested in what he has to say though, only you. Why are you trying to kill vampires?" Maggie replied nonchalantly, then sat down on a rocking chair.

Taylor nodded. "I am- err, was part of a secret organization that was formed in Salem. We called ourselves the Human Coalition. We had started linking the disappearances of humans around the area and found a pattern. Most of the disappearances happened at night, stemming from a bar- the bar that you frequent and the one in which I met Michael. Our mission was to find out what happened. When we investigated, we found that the bartender had no memory of the people being there despite knowing the missing people frequented the bar." Taylor told Maggie.

Maggie's eyes widened in surprise. She had never thought that humans would be smart enough to investigate the disappearances. She thought she had covered every track, compelling anyone who ever knew the victims to forget everything about the victim and everything they saw. She never took into consideration that people not directly involved might investigate. "Who are we? How many of you are there?" Maggie asked.

Taylor shrugged her shoulders. "I actually have no idea, I've only ever met Gavin and Paul in person, I don't even know their last names. We use an anonymous chat board on the internet, and use codenames for each other as well as the things we talk about. If I had to guess somewhere near twenty people. All of whom as far as I'm aware live in Salem." Taylor told Maggie.

"You know I'm going to compel you afterwards to see if you're telling the truth, right?" Maggie asked in an intimidating voice.

Taylor nodded. "I have nothing to hide." Taylor replied.

Maggie leered at her, then continued questioning her. "Why do you use codenames? There has to be a reason." She asked.

"That requires more explanation before I answer. When we discovered disappearances we started slipping GPS beacons into the pockets of people at the bar. They are very small, very inexpensive and the mark doesn't even know that they're being tracked. We noticed a pattern of pretty much only men, so we started putting them in men's pockets. Most of the time they came back normal. Except for one." Taylor responded.

Maggie was once again dumbfounded at their ingenuity. "What did you discover?" She asked.

Taylor's expression turned dark, as though she was remembering something she didn't want to. "We found that the signal stopped south of Salem, in the forest. When we visited the last pinged location we found a recently dug pile of dirt. When we dug about ten feet down, we found a body. He had two puncture holes in his neck, and was completely drained of blood." Taylor told Maggie.

Maggie didn't respond. She knew the exact place that Taylor had mentioned very well. Most of the time she burned the bodies in a crematory that she compelled a mortician to use. When the crematory was in use though, she would bury the bodies in the forest.

Taylor took a deep breath, then continued. "At that time, it was only Gavin and I as well as another person we met anonymously who gave us the tip. After we found the body, we did some research, and came to the conclusion that a vampire had killed him. After that, we looked into the mythology of vampires and all of their potential powers. Compulsion was one of them. We decided that the best way to investigate further was to make ourselves anonymous as well as use codenames, in the event that one of us gets interrogated. That way, the vampire would have next to nothing to go on." Taylor told her.

Maggie shook her head and stood up. She started to pace nervously back and forth.

"Who is this other person you speak of? Is he the one who runs the coalition?" Maggie asked.

Taylor once again shrugged her shoulders. "Unfortunately, I don't know. I would assume so, but how he set us down this path is still unknown to me." She responded.

Maggie shook her head in frustration. "This is really, really not good." Maggie said aloud, to no one in particular.

Michael turned his attention to Taylor. "You had mentioned you discovered werewolf attacks. How did the coalition discover them?" He asked her.

Taylor nodded. "Werewolves were pretty easy to discover. The rate at which the animal attacks happened were way too much of a coincidence to be a random animal. The Coalition was originally created for the discovery of the werewolves. It was only after the discovery of vampires that we ramped up the members and anonymity. We set up a trail cam and got video footage of the werewolf. The goal of both the werewolf video and vampire video was to prove the existence- and kickstart the eradication of supernatural beings that threatened humanity. We knew that if there were vampires and werewolves in Salem that they certainly existed all around the world." Taylor told him.

Maggie was in full blown panic mode. She knew that humans possessed the technology and weaponry to destroy vampires, and was terrified that this could mean the extinction of the vampire race. "Do you know where the videos are stored? I searched the computer and found nothing. I already destroyed the camera." Maggie asked.

Taylor shook her head. "No, I don't. That's something that I never found out. The video with Michael was streamed, so unfortunately you didn't destroy it. Our leader has the hard drive on which the evidence is stored." Taylor told her in a grim tone.

Maggie sat back on her chair, and placed her head in her hands. "Do you know where your leader is or how to get the evidence?" She asked.

Taylor shook her head. "No. We operate off of anonymity because of the fear of compulsion and don't know the identities of any member including the leader, and don't know where anybody lives because of the same reason. I have told you all that I know. Feel free to compel me if you want." She responded.

Maggie nodded, then stood up and walked over to Taylor and peered into her soul. "You will tell me the truth- did you lie or use any deception in your information?" She asked.

Taylor shook her head. "No." She responded.

Maggie sighed, and sat back down with a defeated expression on her face. "We are in a world of shit. We have next to nothing to go on, and not nearly enough people to help. Michael and I aren't enough, and we can't go into homes without being invited in if we need to. Not that we could in the first place because the members have made themselves anonymous." Maggie told them in a bleak tone.

Taylor walked over to Maggie. "I want to help. You are arguably in this position because of me." She informed her.

Maggie looked up at her. "How do we know you won't stab us in the back? I should compel you to forget everything." She argued.

Taylor looked at Michael. "Because Michael proved to me that even though you are vampires, you are still good people or have the capability to be good people. Besides, I owe you my life. I know I am in no position to make requests, but can I ask something?" Taylor responded.

Maggie huffed in an annoyed voice. "What is it?" She asked.

Taylor once again looked at Michael. "I don't want to see Michael ever go through that again. I have read about vampires befriending humans for the purpose of drinking their blood. What is that called?" She asked.

Maggie raised her eyebrows. "Well, first of all it is not voluntary most of the time. Vampires will compel humans to be blood bags. Second of all, it's called a familiar." She replied.

Taylor looked at Michael. "I want to become a familiar- his familiar. He would never have to worry about blood as long as I live. It's the least I can do after what I have done." She replied.

Maggie was hesitant to answer. "Do you know what this entails? You would be at risk of him losing control every time he fed on you. Not only that, but he can't heal you from a bite wound. It would require immediate hospitalization if I wasn't around to heal you. He can't store your blood, because it has to be taken from a living host." Maggie informed her.

Taylor nodded. "I understand, and I accept the risks." She replied.

Maggie sighed, then nodded. "It's up to Michael. If he is okay with it and understands the risks then I don't care." She told her, then looked at Michael for his input.

Michael looked back and forth between Taylor and Maggie. After a few minutes of consideration he nodded. "I am okay with it." He replied.

Maggie nodded. "Well, that's one problem solved. I guess we should address the elephant- err, motionless human in the room." Maggie informed them, then turned her attention to Paul.

Maggie stared deep into his eyes. "Go to the police. Tell them that you killed Gavin by snapping his neck, and that you acted alone with no one else involved. Tell them that you set fire to the crime scene to burn the evidence. Then, tell them that the reason you turned yourself in was because you didn't want to live with the weight of what you had done and the fear of getting caught for the rest of your life." Maggie commanded him.

Paul nodded, then got up and left.

Taylor was in disbelief. "Compulsion is that easy?" She asked.

Maggie nodded. "Yes it is. I am also a witch and can cast spells, but I stopped practicing witchcraft after the last spell I did. Don't ask, it's a very long, stupid and bordeline crazy story." Maggie told her.

Taylor's eyes widened in surprise. "Noted." She replied.

Maggie's expression hardened. "To be clear, I still don't trust you. You have done a lot of things to wreak havoc on our lives, and earning my trust is going to be a long road." She informed her.

Taylor looked at Michael. "I understand." She responded.

Maggie got up and sat on the couch, and motioned for Taylor to take the chair. Michael sat down next to Maggie. "Now, tell me about this werewolf, so I can kill it. They are quite savage beasts." Maggie asked Taylor.

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ONE WEEK LATER

"Don't stop love!" Maggie moaned as Michael made love to her.

The two were tightly intertwined in the throes of passion. Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door.

Michael ignored it and continued pumping in and out of Maggie. She looked like a fiery red haired goddess underneath him.

The knock on the door grew exponentially louder and more frequent.

Maggie groaned, this time in annoyance rather than pleasure. "Why the hell would someone be knocking at this time of night? It's like two in the morning!" She asked.

Michael sighed and rolled off of her. By the time he hit the mattress, Maggie had already darted out of bed and had her clothes on. He decided he would get up too. There's no way it was Taylor, she always texted before coming over. Over the past week they had become close friends, but this was hardly the time for a friend to stop by. Michael followed Maggie to the door, who opened the door.

Maggie was in disbelief at who stood before her. "You've got to be shitting me. What the hell happened to you guys?" She asked.

Standing in front of her was Colton and an unknown woman, as well as Blake and Sarah. Colton, the unknown woman and Blake were cut up and bleeding. Blake was bleeding profusely from a wound in his stomach.

Colton was the only one to speak. "Can we come in? It's a long story." He asked.

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Author's note cont'd: Thank you for reading this story. I am excited to finally reveal the crossover I have been working on between my series of interconnected stories. The worlds from My Soul Mate, My Darkest Hour and Ill Met By Moonlight are going to collide in my next story as they work together to prevent the discovery of their existence to the rest of the world. Make sure you read all the stories, as all of the stories this far will affect the coming story. Michael and Maggie's story is far from finished, and I have several stories planned after the big crossover.