The Darkness Ch. 06

All characters are over 18 years old. There are no acts of sex in this chapter. Please leave me a comment, and don't forget to vote.

Lexicon

Rutane-rogue vampire

Sharer- council member

Aquitaine- Council Leader of City

Chapter Six

April 23

Gabriel left for New York several weeks ago. He has instructed me to remain in the city and to work with Vincent as cause arises. Since he left I have been spending time with Markus, investigating what we think is a mole. Someone has been leaking vital information to the Baden's.

It seems there are more and more dead bodies surfacing around the city. Since the flood of 1994 there are plenty of empty homes for a rutane or two to make new packs. Normally this would not cause alarm but most of them are Baden's. With Gabe in New York I am concerned it may be an attempt on the city. I sent word to Alek that I would like a meeting. But he hasn't responded yet.

Vincent has asked me to stay at his place for the time being and I agreed. The streets are no longer safe for any of us. I figure since 'they' cannot travel by day and I can, I can actually get work done. I told Vincent I was heading to Panama City for a week or longer to follow up on a lead. He thinks it's a bad idea, but he won't stop me.

May 3

I hate to admit it, but Vincent was right. Panama City was a waste of time. I did not find what I was looking for, although I did see an old friend there. I didn't approach him, I just kind of watched from afar.

His name is Noah, and seeing him brought back the pain of my former life. Noah and I were close and if I hadn't ended up with Gabe, I would now probably have a life. I realize this sounds petty, but I have never wanted anything before. Gabriel has always given me everything I have needed. Or at least I thought so. Tonight I ached for what should have been.

October 12

Gabriel has been gone nearly six months now. I have spent my days on the streets and I actually have a semi-balance of a normal life. I met a man. He is a surfer and his name is Johnny. We have gotten pretty close to each other. Hell, I have even stopped carrying a gun when I am with him. I know it's not wise, but how do I explain to a mortal human why I carry guns? He seems fun, and I find myself interested. But I also know he isn't Noah or Marcus.

January 3

Gabriel has sent for me. I leave for New York in the morning. I'm excited about seeing him again. It has been too long. I didn't realize how much I missed him until he called me. He has also asked Vincent to come with me. It seems there are some major changes coming for House Michelson. Georgia is seeing the biggest as well as Maryland.

I have it on good word that Vincent is taking over the SouthEast United States as the Regional Junta. It is a huge position and responsibility. I think he can handle it though. I think I will miss him. He grows on you in time and I have a lot of time with him.

March 13

I returned to Albany, Georgia after receiving word the Aquitane was missing and most of the sharers as well. There is a meeting of the Houses taking place tonight at Alexis' home. What happened after the meeting has changed me forever. I wasn't prepared for what we found when we went to Leesburg, Georgia.

A strange cold front had moved over the area as Yada drove to meet Markus and the rest of the representatives from the Houses. It had been three days since anyone heard from the Council or any of its members. The phone lines to the Hall were disconnected and there was no visible power to the building.

She reached over the back of the seat for her leather jacket and nearly swerved off the road. After recovering from the near miss, she called and left a message for Gabriel that the mood was worse than she had expected, and she would be in touch just as soon as she left the Hall. Turning into a full parking lot, she had a sudden chill move across her neck. The parking lot should have been empty. She recognized several of the cars belonging to the sharers. It didn't make any sense.

She approached Markus, slowly. "What's going on?" she asked quietly.

"I'm not sure yet. I just got here. But it seems we are waiting on Anthony and Erin. Anthony called a few minutes ago and said don't go in until he was here. Elizabeth noticed the front doors have been bolted from the outside."

Nodding she answered, "It makes sense, since he is the second in command of House Arcane, and this is an Arcadian building." Yada removed her cigarettes and lit one. She noticed a man standing just inside a shadow. "Markus, if you will excuse me, I see someone I need to speak to."

He nodded and watched the front door of the building. He had been here many times over the last twenty years and this was the first time he had ever known the doors to be locked from the outside.

Yada walked to the edge of the building and spoke to what seemed to be no one. "Alek, interesting you would be here."

"Still perceptive I see," he said, stepping to her right side. "I expected you to be here." He nodded. Alek had been tracking her since she got off the plane. He had an interest in her. She piqued his curiosity.

"So what has happened?" Yada tried to get him to give her anything. She knew Gabriel relied on his Intel.

"I don't know. But when we go inside, you will stay near me." It was not a request. "Whatever we find in there may not bring about the reaction you are used to."

"Fine," she grumbled under her breath. Looking back to the crowd gathered she spotted Anthony and Erin. "Looks like the gangs all here," she mumbled.

"Yada, remember whatever happens, stay by my side." Alek reminded her. He had been to many slayings and knew some of the lesser vampires may not be able to control their blood lust. He wanted Yada close just in case.

She nodded as they walked to the doors. Anthony took a pair of bolt cutters and removed the lock. The moment the door opened, the stench of death and decay overwhelmed the group. Yada fought the urge to empty her stomach. She stepped closer to Alek and tugged his sleeve as her knuckle rested under her nose.

"I want everyone to go in two-by-two. Touch as little as possible until the trackers can get a scent." Anthony said in a stern tone. He looked over the men and women. Spotting Alek, he waved him forward with Yada in tow. "I want you to go in first."

"Of course Anthony," Alek said. He looked over his shoulder to Yada. "Stay one step behind me, do you understand?"

Yada nodded, but didn't say a word. They went inside. Yada held the colt in her right hand and a PT/24.9 mm in the left, over top of the colt. The stench of rot became thicker and the air thinner. Yada placed a finger under her nose again in an attempt to block out the smell. Alek led them through the main hall before unsheathing his katana. The floor and walls were covered in blood and matter. He brought his finger to his lips before opening the first office door.

His hand moved to the light switch but the light was out. In the pale light seeping in the room from a flashlight in the hallway, he could see a figure slumped over the desk. He moved forward gradually. Someone from the hall turned a light in.

Yada was not ready for what she saw. Kevin Harden of House Baden was flayed, his chest ripped open and his insides splayed on the desk. His hands were hung to the walls with wire. His tongue had been pulled through his neck and nailed to the desk. Alek turned to Yada. She buried her face in his chest. She fought the urge to release the contents of her stomach. Alek quickly led her out of the room and outside.

Once away from the doors he looked at her. She was pale and green. Yada could not hold it any longer. She rushed to the side of the building and puked several times. Alek kneeled besides her rubbing her back. When she had nothing else to left, she wiped her mouth. He held her to his chest until she could talk.

"What the hell," she gasped. Until now she thought she had seen just about everything. But seeing Kevin like that was too much to handle.

"Hell is the right word," Alek agreed. "It's going to be like that all through the building. You don't have to go back inside. I want you to stay right here. Don't move until I get back. Do you understand?"

She nodded. With a shaky hand, she reached for a cigarette. Leaning against the side of the building she watched as fourteen people filed from the building one by one. Each had the same expression of remorse or regret. Alek was one of the last to come out. Anthony pulled him to the side and talked briefly. When Alek returned he quickly took Yada to her car.

"Send word to Gabriel that we are under siege and get to the coven as quickly as you can. We are going to clean the mess here. I'll meet you later tonight."

"I'll meet you at the apartment," she whispered.

She called Gabe, but he was most likely with Michael. She left an urgent message with Cindy to find Gabe and have him call her back. Yada drove back to the riverfront and not to the apartment but to Johnny's house. After seeing the death and destruction, she knew she could never have a life outside of the House. Yada recalled Noah and the life denied, and she knew she would have to stop seeing Johnny. But she needed to see him one last time. Standing outside his apartment and watching through the window, he was there playing his guitar. She did not have the nerve to knock so just watched. An hour passed and she knew she could never see him again. Slowly she walked away.

About a block from the car, she heard someone behind her. As she spun around to see who it was, she felt the first sting to her cheek. She fell back against the wall. A moment later, she felt her body being lifted several inches off the ground and then the intense pain as a silver stake was jammed threw her shoulder.

She screamed in pain as a heavy hand covered her mouth. It was only then did training take over. With her right foot, she kicked the man's knee from the side. Hearing a popping sound and his attack slowed. She reached for a weapon, but he punched her again, and she lost track of what she was doing. Finally, she reached forward and gripped him by the hair. With all the strength she had, she forced his head toward the stake. Impaling him she watched as his body jerked and finally stilled.

Panting she rested her head on the wall. Biting down on the collar of her shirt, using her knees she pushed the body. It fell with a heavy thud. Looking at the spike in her shoulder, she placed her feet on the wall and pushed her body forward. She tried to muffle her scream as she fell towards the ground. Laying for several minutes in shock, she wanted to die. She wanted the pain to end. She gathered her thoughts. She had to go; she had to get as far from the scene as possible. Staggering down the street, she felt a hand catch her. Reaching for the small of her back, she tried to free the colt.

"Yada," a familiar voice invaded her thoughts. Looking up she saw Alek. He was the last thing she saw before her cheek hit the pavement.

~~~

Yada woke to the worst pain she had ever known. She tried to sit up but the intense burning on her left side kept her from moving too far. There was a woman screaming and then Yada knew it was her voice she heard. Another scream reminded her of the pain as the courage to sit up finally came. Noticing a light under the door, she looked around the room. Glancing at the bandages on her shoulder, slowly the memory of what happened flooded her mind.

"FUCK!" she cried out when she tried to lift her left arm.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Aleks voice broke the intense moment.

"Where the fuck am I?" She snapped as the pain spiked.

"In a safe house, for now." His voice was unreadable.

Slowly she leaned back on the pillow. She glanced at Alek. "I'm not going to ask you how I got here. But I want to know how you knew where to find me?"

"G.P.S. on your cell phone. When you didn't answer Gabriel's call he had me track you. It looked like I got there just in time."

"Next question, where is Gabe?" She was sorting out puzzle pieces in her head.

"He will be here tomorrow night."

"Then he is safe," she sounded relieved. "What about the city?"

"We are under attack." He coldly said.

She rolled on her side. "God that hurts," she mumbled, holding her shoulder and letting her eyes close.

"He used a silver stake." Alek offered.

"Yeah, I knew that. Remember I'm the one he impaled. So who the fuck was he?"

"We don't know. As far as I can tell, he was a wolf. He had your picture in his pocket, nothing else was found on him." He waited to see her reaction.

She searched the room for her coat. "Where are my cigarettes?" She asked offhandedly. She had been taken back that it was a wolf. She had no contact with the pack in years.

Alek walked to a chair in the corner of the room and tossed her coat on the edge of the bed. After watching her light a cigarette, he sat on the corner. He saw a hint of recognition in her eyes.

"I have to ask you some questions." This was the part he was dreading. Yada had disobeyed a direct order and now it was his duty to find out why.

"What?" She sounded angry, although she was just exhausted and in pain. Being part wolfin and impaled with silver was far worse than the bullets she normally took.

"Why didn't you do as you were told and go back to the coven?" He narrowed his eyes and studied her for clues.

"I had something to do." She looked at the door. She didn't want to tell him why and who detained her.

"Something to do? You had something more important to do then follow my orders." It was more a statement than a question. His hand slid to the handle of his katana. He had laid it on the frame of the bed before she woke.

"I don't like the direction this is going. What are you trying to get at Alek?" She saw his wrist muscles tense. Yada knew he had a weapon.

"On the very night we discover the entire Council slaughtered, you decide to disobey a direct order and go off by yourself, and I want to know why."

"I had personal business to attend to. Business I started before Gabe summoned Vincent and I to New York. I can assure you it had nothing to do with what had happened or what is happening."

Alek read her body, she wasn't lying. "I don't know why I believe you," he whispered. "But I do. Now I have to do something you may not like."

"What's that?" She sounded relieved.

Alek moved closer. His hand hovered inches from her shoulder. Without warning he ripped the bandage off. Biting into his wrist, he allowed his blood to flow across the slow healing wound.

Yada bit the pillow and mumbled curses as a wave of intense heat moved down her arm. "Why the fuck did you do that!" she grunted. Looking at the small wisps of smoke rising from the wound she gripped his shirt.

"Because of your wolfin blood, the silver has caused the healing process to slow. Gabriel has instructed me to help you heal." He inspected the wound as he spoke. "You lost a lot of blood and I," he paused.

"You replaced it," she released his shirt. "Just who the hell are you Alek? I've seen you once before last night and now Gabe is instructing you to help heal me. So who the fuck are you?" Although she had Gabriel's memories, she needed to hear it from Alek.

"You know, you really have a foul attitude." He laughed. "My name is Alekzander Tomas. I'm not sure if you are going to like the rest of what I need to tell you. I'm called Alek for a reason. I'm Gabriel's bloodhound. What that means is I am the head of the Black Horde."

She laughed softly. "I'm sorry I was waiting for the dramatic music in my head to stop playing. You know when you watch a movie and the villain is about to reveal his intentions and the music becomes more intense? Well that is what I feel like right now." Yada had a sudden vision of Alek dressed as a priest in southern Italy. It was a memory coming to the surface from Gabe's blood. "Now with that said and knowing who you are I'll tell you why I didn't come back here. I became involved with a mortal before I left. I realized tonight I couldn't be part of his world. I went to say goodbye to him. He doesn't know about me, or any of us. I never spoke to him about what I do. Tonight I just watched him through a window. I was attacked on my way back to the car."

"Fair enough," he nodded.

Yada lay quietly looking at the ceiling. She knew it was about five in the morning. She didn't have to see a clock to know, she just knew. "Enough of these niceties--who is behind the attack? Do we know yet?"

"All the reports coming in lead me to one name. I believe Darius is behind everything. If not him, someone in his employ. Something doesn't make any sense though. At the Council Building there is evidence it was a mortal attack."

"What do you mean?"

"We are vampires, Yada, we don't fight in a conventional manner. I'll explain. The power was cut from a block away, so there wouldn't be any indication to those inside it was nothing more than a power failure. But we also found inside the building the lines were disconnected so when the power came back on the building would be dead. We don't play like that. I mean if I was going into that building to slaughter all ten people I would not have cut the power. I would have walked through the front door with bullets flying."

"I see your point," she sounded vague and distant.

"There is more, we found a human hand in Constance's office. It looks like she put up one hell of a fight. Constance was older than I and more skilled than even you. She would not have gone down easily. I'm guessing she had time to leave a clue for us. We are checking now for any reports of injuries involving a missing hand, but if the hit was from a group of mercs there will be no such report anywhere."

"Whoever did this was well informed and prepared." Yada lit another cigarette. "Is there anything missing from the Council Hall? Or was anything left, besides the hand I mean?"

"There was nothing missing." He cracked his neck to the left before continuing. "We did find one other object." Alek looked away from her.

"What did you find?" She asked a little more urgently. Yada knew a group of mercs capable of pulling off this job. She needed to know it wasn't them. If it was Mason and Kathleen, Yada's neck would be on the chopping block next.

"What we found doesn't make any sense, not in this attack. Markus found a.9 mm. loaded with silver tipped hollow points."

"That doesn't make any sense. Who in their right mind uses silver against a vampire?" Yada forced herself off the pillow. She used the end table next to the bed to steady her legs. "You only use silver to kill a wolfin. Vampires have no reaction to it, other than stinging like hell. Unless you are a Bauhdand. But hell they have Wolfin ties. So we either have a very smart unit we are dealing with, or they expected to find a wolfin there."

"I agree with your summation to a point. I don't think these men really knew what they were up against and just picked a lucky night when the hall was near empty. As to expecting wolfin, there is no one on the planet stupid enough to think we would deal with them. Hell I can't recall the last time we both fought on the same side."

"I can," she mumbled, looking idly around the room. "Where are my clothes?" She realized she was standing nude.

"Your clothes were destroyed in the attack. I'll have someone bring you a fresh set. But I can forewarn you...You are going nowhere!" He crossed his arms over his chest and stood taller. "You said you can remember the last time we fought on the same side. Tell me why you would know and not me."

"I'm not the only one who is perceptive. It's a long story. It happened several years ago, and I guess you didn't know about it because it was only Gabriel involved, and that was indirectly." She leaned against the wall. "Answer me something?" she rubbed her temples. "Why can't I leave?"