call of night: beyond the dark Read online

  Call of Night:

  Beyond the Dark

  By

  Lucretia A. Richmond

  Call of Night 1

  The thirst;

  It beckons you. Katya Fallon questioned her sanity as the hunger crawled through her veins. She chose not to feed. She chose to ignore the monster inside of her. Micah wondered how she could have survived that long without the nourishment her body needed until he followed her to the velvet room; a party house for the undead. Katya could feel someone watching but couldn’t stop herself as the bouncer let her into the club. Usually, by now Katya learned to listen to the warnings she was given and how dangerous it could be if she hadn’t. The club was busy as it normally was, the music was mellow and Nico was bartender for the night. Almost every head turned when Katya walked in. But there was only one she was interested in. The fact she showed was no surprise to Nico, he knew she couldn’t stay away and knew how soon she would give in.

  His desire for her was driven by the longing in her eyes.

  He could feel the passion in her that consumed her every being; the passion she often tried to deny even existed, but couldn’t hide when they shared a kiss he would never forget. Katya sat at her regular table as the waitress brought her drink, pretending not to notice Nico talking to the blonde with a pulse.

  Call of Night 2

  Still, Katya had to keep an eye on her; she was a human in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was a feeling that rose in the air, she couldn’t explain it but it left her uneasy.

  Micah knew he was following her for a reason. He approached her silently.

  “I think you should come with me.” Micah whispered in her ear. Katya didn’t argue. They moved toward the front door of the club without Nico noticing. At a far distance, Micah and Katya stopped where they were.

  “You’re not Katya.” He was sure of it even more as he spoke the words.

  “I am her sister Lily.”

  “You look so much like her.” Micah said with confusion, “Do you know what you just walked into?”

  Not too stunned by his question, Lily replied, “A nest full of vampires?”

  Bold, was the only thought he could come up with to describe her.

  “My sister was seen in that night club before she disappeared, the vampire who turned her also turned me.” Lily continued.

  “You’re determined to find her alone?” Micah shook his head knowing that would be impossible.

  “The vampire you are looking for is Julius; he came into this town four years ago, no one can track him not even the best of hunters.”

  The information she was just given intrigued her, “you know him well?” She asked curiously. He should know better than to trust a woman who has something up her sleeve.

  Call of Night 3

  “You can’t go after him alone.” Micah’s tone of voice changed. If she was anything like her sister Katya, she would have surely argued with him.

  Lily had been searching for two months, since she had woken up in the morgue. Katya, no matter what the situation was would never leave her for dead. As children, they were always able to sense when the other was in pain or sad it grew stronger as they grew older. Lily couldn’t feel it now, it would have made it easier to find her if she still had any emotion at all.

  Although, Katya knew Lily would never give up.

  She was given a life she never wanted for her or Katya. She was focused on becoming a successful business woman, already on her last semester in college. She saw herself providing for their family. Their mother and father could no longer do it due to a car accident that left them both in a wheelchair. She didn’t know that in an instant her plans for the future could change.

  Call of Night 4

  Micah understood how she felt, he’s been around this earth for three hundred and forty years trying to forget the memories that haunted him, when he was mortal he knew happiness and he knew how to love. He wasn’t an enemy as he was now in the immortal world. He crossed a line when he tried to kill Julius’ brother, Xavier. If he hadn’t been interrupted, the vampires would not be facing extinction. Julius would not stand to reason with Micah.

  Xavier was making his killings known to hunters. Julius wasn’t the least bit weary as he should have been. Xavier was charming when it came to women, he could draw them in with his deep dark penetrating eyes; they couldn’t see the deceit that hid behind them. Katya was different; Julius had to have her first. Lily would lead Micah straight to him.

  ***

  Katya had a fire in her soul that was what attracted Julius to her. As he lay in the bed, he watched as she stood on the balcony staring at the glistening full moon; her night gown blowing softly in the breeze. Julius couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking; her thoughts were closed to him; impossible to read. She wanted to believe she was safe even when he held her in his arms it wasn’t enough to reassure her. She missed feeling the morning light upon her face and seeing skies so blue. She wondered about her family, her father in particular. Their mother left when they were children. She knew his anger would get the best of him.

  Katya felt the touch of Julius’ hand upon her shoulder.

  “Come to bed, darling.”

  Those words did not surprise her; it was never enough for him.

  Call of Night 5

  A knock on the door would disrupt their entire night. Xavier stood before his brother not sure how to say what Julius would not want to hear.

  “The club, someone set fire to it.”

  When they arrived to the velvet room there was nothing but ashes. Katya could feel Lily’s presence lingering in the darkness; Julius was too distracted to sense it as well. It was the second club he’d built that had been destroyed; those who were inside never made it out.

  Julius knew there would be a price to returning to Thornton Lake, he also knew it could be death.

  “We should go; there is nothing we can do here.” Katya’s voice often calmed him, although he couldn’t deny the rage which filled his head.

  At the mansion, Julius stayed in his study for hours. Katya took that time to seek out her sister.

  The lake was always her favorite no matter what hour it was especially as a child. Their parents owned a small cabin and when they would argue, the lake would be Lily’s escape.

  It was like looking at a ghost.

  “Surprised to see me?” Lily asked not knowing what else to say, the expression on Katya’s face gave her the answer she needed.

  “Why would you come back here?” Katya asked curiously, “with all the memories?”

  Lily’s strawberry blonde hair reminded her so much of their mothers, she couldn’t help but wonder why she hadn’t been blessed with such beauty before her immortality.

  “Because, Katya memories are all I have now; you’re boyfriend took away the only life I had.” Lily didn’t like confrontation especially with family; she was always known as the quiet one. It was funny to her how things had become very different.

  Call of Night 7

  “You blame me for this?” Katya stunned by Lily’s reaction.

  “You invited him into our house that first night, making father and I vulnerable.” The last thing Lily felt was pity for her dear sister.

  “How was I to know he was a vampire?” Julius’ voice rang in her head now, he was curious as to where she had gone.

  “I think you know more than you’re telling.”

  And quickly as soon as Lily finished that sentence, thick fog rolled through and Katya vanished into the night.

  Micah waited for Lily back at his motel room. The desert sun motel was on the outskirts of Thornton Lake, he never planned on staying. She came in as soon as
the rain started to fall. The look on her face told him things didn’t go well.

  “Do I need to ask?” Micah closed and locked the door behind her as she stood in the center of the room.

  “What do you think?” Lily replied.

  “We need to leave this place, it isn’t safe.” Micah suggested, “When Julius senses our presence and it won’t take him long, it won’t be pretty.”

  It wasn’t enough for Lily to change her mind.

  She was on a mission, a dangerous one and would not be satisfied until it was completed.

  Call of Night 8

  “My mother left my father, my aunt drove her back to their childhood hometown because she couldn’t stand the sight of him anymore; leaving her daughters behind with a drunk. I am different I never give up.” Lily didn’t have to say those words for Micah to believe it.

  “What about your sister? How are you going to stop her?” Micah asked.

  “I’ll do what I have to do, what I know has to be done.” Lily didn’t feel much when she spoke those words. Micah had seen that look Lily had in her eyes before, the look when any human mortality that once existed, even just a small amount no longer remains. Lily felt betrayed by the one person she thought she could trust most in the world. Micah knew she was willing to risk it all.

  ***

  “What’s the plan?” Xavier asked his brother eagerly.

  “We do nothing; we go on as we have been.” Julius knew if another club was built it also would be destroyed. They were trying to draw him in.

  Katya walked through the front door of the mansion, Julius came down the staircase knowing there was no one around him he could trust.

  Call of Night 9

  There were a thousand questions running around in his head, but there was only one that clanged to his mind; did he do the right thing by letting an outsider like Katya into his world? It was something he had never done before, never really much cared. Would it have been best to have just taken her completely?

  ***

  The Town of Thornton Lake was quiet as the residents lay sleeping in the safety of their homes, except those who enjoyed causing a lot of trouble. Ruth Saunders was known only for her drinking and not good parenting which her daughter suffered for. Lily spotted her along the road not far from her home; if only she had a car to get further away as tired as she was she would have never made it on her own. It might have saved her life if she had turned around; escaping into the darkness only led her to more pain.

  Her death was not quick yet fulfilled the need that consumed Lily since the night she became what she feared most. As the blood seeped through her veins, Lily could see flashes of Susie’s life which were not pleasant. The curse that haunted Lily’s family for generations had strengthened more than she thought.

  Lily could no longer fight the monster within as she savored each drop of Susie’s blood, but was it a change she was ready for?

  The world around her would be different now; the cravings would soon take control. The person she once knew would be dead, a new life reborn into darkness.

  Call of Night 10

  It is a silent whisper that eats at his heart. His daughters, now gone. Their faces he could see in the shadows. Their voices, an echo in the wind. Frank Fallon was prepared for the war between the living and the undead. He had known for years they walked the earth, by keeping it a secret it became the biggest mistake he had ever made. He accepted his wife leaving to save her, he knew she would never understand but it was better than knowing the truth. His brother joined him in the fight as long as their identities of what they were remained hidden from the vampires.

  Frank met his brother at Harley’s Tavern not far from his apartment. George sat at the table with a disappointed look on his face.

  “Did you do it?” George asked even though he was sure he already had the answer.

  “Less vampires in this town, the better.” Frank answered.

  George wasn’t at all surprised by his brother’s foolish act. Vampires could smell the blood of a hunter a hundred miles away.

  “You know what you just started then?” George knew his brother just killed them both.

  “I did what I had to.” Frank knew he went about it the wrong way, but he had nothing left now so what did it matter?

  “They’ll be everywhere.” George took a shot of his whiskey, he needed it.

  “We got the tools, we got everything we need.” Frank said with certainty.

  “We don’t have the man power.”

  “No, but we have Katya and Lily.” Frank was determined to make the world safe again where children could play without fear.

  “You plan to use your own daughters? They are not the same anymore, they don’t have a soul.” At this point, George was starting to believe his brother may have lost his mind.

  Call of Night 11

  As daylight set, Dana Boyd opened the bookstore. It had been in her family for years and recently been passed down to her. The store wasn’t the kind most of the residents in Thornton Lake would have approved of or dared to enter. None of them knew what lay in wait in the dark, though there are those who had gone missing, they never were able to put two and two together. Dana knew one thing for sure if she could go back into the past to the day she had her first encounter with a vampire she would have destroyed him instead of being paralyzed with fear, the question remained in her head, why hadn’t he killed her?

  She had done all her research, had gotten all the protection she needed. The vampire haunted her dreams, he was still out there. She saw him through the women’s eyes as they screamed with horror.

  In daylight, Dana had the chance to feel what peace was like. For a while, she almost forgot how good it was.

  On the counter was a package waiting for her as she unwrapped it chills began to run down her spine. There was an old photo she had never seen before of her great grandfather and what looked to her to be a younger woman until she read the message written on the back.

  Her name was Gwen and she was the key to ending it all. On the bottom of the package, there was an old skeleton key and an address taped to it. Not sure who sent it to her or how they found her, but it was meant to reach her. Another time and place she would have never thought twice about what was expected of her in the here and now.

  Call of Night 12

  She had her mother and grandmother’s strength, but the fear lingering inside of her made her question how far she was willing to go. Any mortal who walked directly by them in the night would never know the real darkness until it was too late. She had a decision to make and had to make it alone.

  “This is your destiny, this is who you are.”

  Her mother told her once after they had just buried her grandmother. It wasn’t what she wanted. She wasn’t about to go against her family and ignore the expectations they had of her. She refused to turn her back on them, her older brother Christopher did so and became a doctor; it was perhaps his way of not feeling guilty may be one of the reasons he chose to work the night shift.

  She was always close with her brother until they lost contact, he could never forget who he was or meant to be. Sometimes, Dana did wonder how her life would have been if she had taken the same path.

  Christopher hadn’t seen his sister since she was fifteen although he thought about her constantly. The family refused to speak to him or about him. He thought he would never see her again. Dana could imagine the shock that he felt when he saw her for the first time in the hospital parking lot; she had approached him as he was unlocking his car door.

  Dana sat staring out the passenger side window on the way to her brother’s downtown apartment. The morning traffic made for an awkward silence as the thought a way to begin their conversation explaining why she was there.

  Christopher’s apartment was on the seventh floor, a small two bedroom of a more modern style that didn’t fit her brother’s taste. He wanted to escape his past and it didn’t really matter how.

  Call of Night
13

  “You want to tell me what you are doing here?” Christopher felt he would need a drink before asking that question but it was far too early. “You’re quite quick to get to the point, not in the mood for conversation?” Dana’s sarcastic tone didn’t help much.

  “No.” He answered, “I just worked a twelve hour shift, one of the other doctors called in sick I had to cover for him.”

  Christopher knew what she was about to say he wasn’t going to like.

  “Something came for me, I need your help; something of the supernatural element.” Dana never asked her brother for anything, but this was more in his area. Dana took out the skeleton key and held it out for him to see.

  Before Christopher left the family he took an interest in studying history not because he needed to because it intrigued him. His eyes were drawn to the key as hard as it was to want to look away, he simply couldn’t.

  As he held it in the palm of his hand, a strange sensation came over him one he had never felt before.

  Christopher hadn’t used his powers in years, he chose to ignore they were there; the key reminded him why.

  Call of Night 14

  “Where did you get this?” Christopher asked curiously.

  “It was waiting for me when I went into the store, why? What are you feeling?” Dana’s facial expression turned to concern.

  “Nothing good.” He replied.