Eternal Darkness - Book One ✔

Chapter Eighteen

Getting above ground was like getting punched in the face. A soft breeze swept past and lifted the hair from my back. I inhaled the fresh air like it was the very first time. A mixture of gasoline and something salty I couldn't identify filled my nostrils, and I sighed with a sated smile. It may not have been the clean and dry air from back in the desert, but it was still better than the mouldy and confined air from the tunnels.

We were standing by a deserted street corner, tall, grey buildings surrounded us, making everything look the same no matter where you turned. Everything around me was vacated. Cars stood where people had left them back in the day, but the majority of them had been stripped of any valuables a long time ago. I didn't know what I had expected standing in the middle of a vampire city, probably that there'd be more vampires roaming the streets, but thankfully it was just me and the weird company of fangers I kept these days. 

"What is that in the air? I've never smelt that before?" I asked Sam as we stood idly waiting for everyone to arrive up the wide staircase that led down to the metro station. Sam inhaled and smiled in my direction.

"That must be the ocean you can smell," he said, "the beaches of Santa Monica aren't far off in that direction." He pointed a finger down a street to my left.

The ocean. Growing up in a desert hadn't exactly given me many opportunities to see the vast sea I knew surrounded us all, one way or the other. 

I'd heard about it, of course, but something big, wet and blue hadn't been on top of my to-see list. I don't think I even had a list like that. I'd always been too busy staying alive. 

Growing up in a place like this, kids, or adults for that matter, didn't really have the freedom to fantasize about anything other than a vampire free world. But it was all just wishful thinking, and I didn't have time for such things. Not when my life was at stake. 

I stayed close to Sam as the whole group formed a circle with us in the middle. All these vampires wanted to fight Shax as much as we did, and I couldn't help but feeling a little less hatred towards them. I knew by now that not all vampires were bloodsucking fiends. Okay they all drank blood and was cursed to a hellish life on Earth, but at least they tried to make amends, like protecting humans and saving their lives. 

Was I actually talking pro vampire right now? Dammit girl, focus. 

I zoned in on Sam as he explained the current situation to the group. He informed them on the state of the hotel when we'd left it, and the few times he'd gone back to check up on it. A couple of the vampires chimed in with other information they had picked up around the city; Shax had started keeping his men in a closer perimeter than usual, which had apparently meant that more than a few humans had up and left since their guards had been called back. That at least lifted my spirit a little. 

They finished the briefing and everyone got ready to move out.

"I don't like doing this with a witch in our midst. I don't trust her." A voice complained from behind us and both Sam and I turned to stare at Charles who was leaning against a brick wall, arms crossed. He was eyeing me with an unnerving intensity, his red eyes penetrating mine, making me want to shudder. This guy was plain scary, and a pain in the ass. 

"No one asked for you to come," I hissed in response, "you can run back to your little lair and we'll take on Shax by ourselves." My confidence level rose, which seemed to only agitate him. Charles pushed off the wall and Sam growled a warning as he stepped right up to me, leaning his unshaven, grimy face in towards mine. I wrinkled my nose at the smell coming from him, but otherwise kept my stance. 

"I have my own personal reasons for wanting to take out Shax, and no little girl will decide that for me." He bit the air right in front of my nose, which made me flinch, causing Sam to push Charles backwards who simply chuckled.