Dark Descent (Vampire Hunter Book 5) (3 page)

I grabbed one of
his shirts and headed to the bathroom, locking the door behind me. Even though
Lucas had proven he could get through any locked door. I smiled.

It felt good to
pull off my bloodied, ruined dress. I wadded it in a ball and hurled it against
the floor, imagining I was smashing it into Bartholomew’s face.
But you
already did one better than that. You killed him.

The thought sent
chills down my spine. How had I turned from an innocent, sixteen-year-old girl,
into
this
? A murderer. Even if it was just vampires,
monsters
.
And even if they deserved it. Hell, what I did was self-defense. But it still
felt weird. I was changing yet again and I wasn’t sure what I was becoming.

Pieces of dried
blood fell off of my face and arms as the warm water ran over my skin. I
watched them go down the drain – gone forever. The last pieces of Thomas
and Bartholomew.

I continued
scrubbing my skin long after the blood was gone. I wanted to feel
clean
again. But I wasn’t sure what that would take. Finally, I turned off the water,
dried my body and pulled Lucas’ t-shirt over my head.

Like the last one,
it looked ridiculously huge on me. But maybe I could tie a knot in the back, to
pull in some of the extra material. Then it might pass for a t-shirt dress.

I tied the knot
and stepped back, trying to see as much of my body as possible in the small
mirror over the sink. It wasn’t a great look, but it wasn’t terrible either. I
could pull it off without my mom thinking I was wearing Lucas’ clothes again. I
didn’t have a brush, so I ran my fingers through my wet hair and hoped it
wouldn’t dry in a tangled mess.

“Any change?” I
asked Lucas as I stepped outside the bathroom.

He shook his head.
“I gave Henry the second dose of the antidote a few minutes ago.”

“Really?” I asked
in surprise. “It’s already been an hour?” I walked to the couch and perched on
the armrest, next to Henry. The blood on the floor was probably dried by now,
but I didn’t want to sit in it.

“Yes, you were in
the shower for a long time,” he answered.

“I couldn’t get
rid of the icky feeling from all that blood,” I admitted. “Lucas…” My voice
trailed off.

“Yes?” he
prompted.

“You’re a seasoned
hunter. Does it get better? How do you ever feel clean? Do you always come home
drenched in blood and guts?”

 “It’s true that
not all creatures die the same. Some are messier than others.” He shrugged.
“I’ve been doing it so long now, I just don’t think about it anymore. If you
were
to start hunting, you’d become immune to it very fast. But that’s not going
to happen,” he added quickly.

“It seems to be
what everyone thinks I’m fated to do,” I muttered.

“If you were out
there hunting day in and day out, I’d go crazy with anxiety. I’d probably take
a stake to my own heart,” he joked. “But you’ve proven that you can take care
of yourself,” Lucas added.

“Except I was a
minute too slow to act,” I said morosely.

“Hey, don’t beat
yourself up,” Lucas said softly. “Without you, Henry would be a vampire now,
loyal to Bartholomew forever.”

I shuddered.

“Henry will have
to stay here tonight,” Lucas said, changing the subject. “Can you text his
parents, make up something about spending the night at a friend’s house?”

“Good thinking. My
head’s so fucked right now I would have completely forgotten.”

I reached over and
grabbed Henry’s phone, which was sticking out of his jean pocket. “It’s locked,
and I don’t know his passcode,” I told Lucas. “Now what?”

“That’s not a
problem. Be right back.” Lucas went into his bedroom and returned with what
looked like a piece of plastic. I handed him Henry’s phone. Lucas pressed the
device against the front of the phone for a couple of seconds. “Unlocked now,”
he said, holding up the phone to show me.

“You have the
strangest gadgets,” I said, shaking my head. I took the phone from Lucas. It
felt a little funny scrolling through Henry’s texts, but what choice did I
have?

The most recent
text was from Bunny.
Ugh.
It was unread. I forced myself not to look at
it.
How annoying. What does she do, wake up on a Saturday morning and start
texting him? Planning their day together?  
Henry had said he was playing
basketball. Maybe he was lying to me as much as I was lying to him.

“What’s wrong?”
Lucas asked.

“Nothing.” I
quickly typed a message to Henry’s mom.
I’m planning to stay at Tad’s
tonight.
I hesitated before hitting send. Did I have to ask for permission?
Hell, Henry was 17 now. Almost an adult. I sent the message and set Henry’s
phone down next to him on the couch, so I could see if his mom responded.

Almost
immediately, she texted back:
Thanks for letting me know. Have fun!

Of course Henry’s
mom didn’t care. He had never given anyone a reason to doubt him. He was the
nicest, most loyal and trustworthy person I had ever known.

I leaned forward,
placed my elbows on my legs and rested my head in my hands.

Now, we just had
to wait.

Lucas had just
given Henry the fourth dose when there was a knock on the door.

“Must be Nic,”
Lucas said. “He can take you home now.”

But when the door
swung open, it wasn’t Nicholas standing there. It was Emmett.

“Emmett!” I
exclaimed. “What are
you
doing here?”

“I was just about
to ask you the same thing,” he said, walking into the room.

It wasn’t until he
had come several steps in that he noticed Henry. “What’s happened?” he asked in
panic. Emmett ran forward to Henry. “The blood!” he screamed. “Is that Henry’s?
Is he okay?”

“Calm down,” Lucas
ordered him. “You have to keep your voice low. I have neighbors now.”

“Henry is sick,” I
said. “But it’s not his blood. It’s Bartholomew’s and Thomas’ blood.”

Emmett’s knees
buckled and he started to pitch forward. Lucas reached out to stop him from
falling.

“You need to sit
down,” Lucas said. He helped lower the still shaken Emmett to the floor, away
from the bloody mess I’d left.

Emmett was
breathing heavily, rapidly. I’d never seen anyone have a panic attack before.
“It’s okay, Emmett,” I said gently. “At least, it’s
going
to be okay,” I
amended.
I hope.

Lucas left the room
and returned with a glass of water and a pillow. He wedged the pillow behind
Emmett’s back so that he could comfortably lean against the wall. Emmett took a
sip of water. His breathing, although not normal, was less frenzied now.

Emmett’s eyes were
bloodshot and glassy. He looked like a man on the edge. I had seen him stressed
out before, but this was the worst it had ever been.

I’m killing
him,
I thought sadly. But this was a slow death, one where he was plagued
by images he didn’t understand, burdened by the weight of the world on his
shoulders.

“Emmett, are you
okay?” I finally whispered.

He looked at me
and ran his fingers through his hair – his greasy hair. It was then that
I noticed Emmett was in the same outfit as yesterday. He was so screwed up
– because of me – that he hadn’t even showered.

Despite the fact
that Emmett and I didn’t always get along, I couldn’t live with myself knowing
I had ruined someone’s life. And that’s exactly what I’d done.

Finally, Emmett
spoke, but he didn’t answer my question. “What happened to Henry?” he asked
quietly.

“We were trapped by
the twins,” I explained. “Henry didn’t realize the spell to keep them away was
only temporary. We went to Night Owl so we could talk and Henry could get
breakfast, and they locked us in the place. It was a setup. They were listening
to our calls and knew where we were going. You’ve been right all along about
not talking on the phone.”

“What happened
next?” Emmett asked. His face was expressionless.

“At first we
thought they were going to kill Henry, but Bartholomew was actually planning to
turn him. They wanted a warlock on their side. Knew he would be their brother
– eternally loyal – if they made him a vampire,” I continued.

“Bartholomew bit
Henry and something happened to me; something inside of me changed. I can’t
explain it. Suddenly I had the strength to break out of the ropes,” I said. “I
smashed a chair and killed them both.”

Emmett’s eyebrows
shot up in surprise.

“Bartholomew
didn’t get a chance to take enough blood to make Henry a vampire, but he’s been
poisoned from the bite. We won’t know if the antidote has worked until tomorrow
morning,” Lucas explained. “He may or may not recover,” he added grimly.

“Okay,” Emmett
said slowly. He leaned back into the pillow and closed his eyes.

“Are you okay?” I
asked again.

“I haven’t slept,
in case you can’t tell. I know that you met with Magnus last night,” Emmett
said.

“How?” I asked.
“Never mind,” I said, shaking my head. It wasn’t important. And I had never
understood Emmett’s psychic ability that well, anyway.

“I came here to
talk to you about a plan, a way to deal with Magnus,” Emmett said.

“That’s great,
Emmett!” I responded encouragingly. “But how did you know I was with Lucas?”

“I didn’t,” he
replied. “But going to your parent’s house wasn’t a stellar idea. They’d
probably call the police if a thirty-six year old man showed up on their
doorstep asking to see their seventeen year old daughter.”

“That’s true.” I
snickered.

“So I came to
Lucas’ apartment instead.” Emmett shook his head. “I’m just really
pissed
off
at myself. I should have seen this coming. If I hadn’t been so caught
up in dealing with the whole King of Hell situation, I would have been able to
sense that the twins were after you.”

“It’s not your
fault,” I said earnestly. “How were you to know? Your psychic abilities are
real – I’ve seen it over and over again – but you can’t kick
yourself for missing one tiny thing. Especially when you were totally engrossed
with Magnus.”

Emmett shot me a
grateful look.  “I appreciate your support, Aurora. But regardless,” he
said, “I could have stopped this. I shouldn’t have assumed we were safe from
the twins because of the spell. If Henry dies I will never forgive myself.”

“I won’t forgive
myself, either,” I whispered.
Even if he lives.

“What did you find
out about Magnus?” Lucas asked.

Emmett didn’t
immediately answer. He struggled to stand up. Lucas reached out his hand.
Emmett grabbed it, letting Lucas pull him to his feet. He still seemed shaky.

Emmett motioned
for us to come into the kitchen. Lucas’ apartment was small; Henry was only a
few feet away.

“Can Henry hear
us?” Emmett hissed, once the three of us were in the kitchen.

“I don’t know,”
Lucas replied in a low voice. “Why? What’s up?”

“We can’t talk
here, if there’s any chance he can hear us,” Emmett whispered.

“Then where?” I
asked.

“I can drive
around.” Emmett turned to Lucas. “I assume you have to stay with Henry. Can you
get in touch with Nicholas? I’d like for at least one of you to hear this.”

“He’s cleaning up
the mess at the diner,” Lucas responded. “He’ll be back here after.”

Emmett nodded. “Let’s
wait for him then.”

We sat in silence,
all watching Henry, until Nicholas finally arrived at the apartment.

“Any change?” he
asked as soon as he came into the room. “Oh, Emmett. You’re here. I didn’t know
you were coming over.”

Emmett smiled
wanly. “I need to talk to you and Aurora.
Alone.
” He motioned towards
Henry.

“His breathing is
stronger,” Lucas said, answering Nicholas’ original question. “He still looks
like he has a fever, though. And I doubt the fever will break until the middle
of the night, if we’re lucky.”

“How did it go?” I
asked Nicholas nervously.

“All cleaned up.
They slit the owner’s throat with a kitchen knife. I left that part of the
crime scene alone, got rid of the vampire bodies and blood. I also brought
Henry’s car back. It’s parked outside. There’s no evidence left of what really
happened,” he assured me.

“What did you do
with the bodies?” I questioned.

“Burned them. That’s
what took me so long.” Nicholas turned his attention to Emmett. “You
look….tired. I’ll drive. Where are we headed?”

“I don’t care,”
Emmett replied.

“Before you go, I
have a phone for you. It’s secure,” Lucas said. He handed Emmett a cell phone
just like the one he’d given me last night.

“You’re certain no
one can listen in on it?” Emmett sounded skeptical.

“Positive,” Lucas
said.

“Promise me you’ll
call if anything changes with Henry? Even if it’s bad news?” I asked Lucas.

“Of course.” Lucas
walked us to the door. “One of you can fill me in on the plan tomorrow. After
Henry goes home.” Lucas forced a smile.

“Bye,” I
whispered, and followed Emmett and Nicholas to the car.

I got into the
back seat and Emmett sat in the front. “Are you hungry?” Nicholas asked Emmett.
“I could drive you somewhere, get some food.”

“Food,” Emmett
repeated blankly. “I can’t remember when I last ate. I’m not hungry, though,
thanks. But you know what I would like? A stiff drink.”

I could see
Nicholas’ worried expression in the rearview mirror. “Um, okay,” he said. “It’s
kind of early in the day…” his voice trailed off.

“Don’t lecture
me,” Emmett said. “I was never even a drinker until
this
.”

Great, on top
of everything else, I’m turning him into an alcoholic.

Nicholas drove to
a bar a couple of blocks away. The lot was nearly empty. “This should do,” he
said.

We walked inside
the dimly lit bar and headed for a booth in the corner. I looked around
nervously, half expecting it to be another trap. But there were people here.
And a bartender. And besides, with the twins dead there was no other imminent
threat. At least, I didn’t think there was.

“I’ll have a
bourbon and Coke,” Emmett said when the waitress came over.

She looked at
Nicholas and me suspiciously. “If you two are drinking, I’ll need your IDs.”

“I’m not,” I said.
“Just water for me.”

“And me, too,”
Nicholas chimed in.

When the waitress
left, I told Nicholas about the meeting with Magnus last night so that he was
up to speed.

“And you knew
about this, without talking to Aurora or Lucas?” Nicholas asked Emmett.

He nodded. “Yes,
and I was up all night thinking about it. I have a plan. It’s risky, but if it
works we’ll have at least some of our problems solved.

His drink arrived.
“You can go ahead and bring another,” he told the waitress. She gave him an odd
look and walked off.

Emmett downed the
drink in one long gulp. He leaned his head against the back of the booth and
closed his eyes. “Ah, that’s better.”

Was he up all
night drinking? Maybe that’s why his eyes are so bloodshot.

Nicholas and I
exchanged concerned glances.

The waitress set
down Emmett’s second bourbon and Coke. I was relieved that this time he sipped
the drink.

“Okay, so here’s
what we know,” Emmett said. “Leon had you killed because of the whole demon
killer prophecy. We also know that Tobias put the protective order on your
life, because he thinks you’re going to win this war for him.”

I nodded.

“What we don’t
know,” he continued, “is how you were resurrected and who put the order out to
have you re-killed. When you first met Lucas, and he was supposed to send you
back to your grave.” He paused and took another drink.

“Right,” I
whispered.

“When Lucas found
out that David Matthews was a warlock, David was working to have you killed as
well. But who was he working with?” Emmett asked.

“It wasn’t Tobias.
He said in the meeting we went to that he didn’t put the order out to kill
Aurora,” Nicholas said.

Emmett snapped his
fingers. “Exactly. And that’s what I figured out last night, what spawned this
plan of mine.”

“Who was it?” I
asked. With all that was happening, I hadn’t given much thought to who was
behind the order to re-kill the living dead girl.

“It was Leon,”
Emmett replied. “Which makes sense. He had you killed once, then found out you
were back, so he immediately put out an order to kill you again. And Matthews
was trying to figure out a way to make it happen.”

“Meanwhile,”
Emmett continued, “Tobias was hatching his own plan to annihilate humans, which
includes opening the Gates of Hell and unleashing all of the monsters living
there. He wants total chaos. Tobias is delusional enough to think that if he
kills the humans he can persuade every supernatural being to worship him. He’s
greedy. Controlling earth isn’t good enough for him. He plans to bring Hell to
earth and become the ultimate ruler.”

Emmett paused as
the waitress came over. “You guys want to order any food?” she asked, eyeing Emmett’s
empty drink and our untouched waters.

“No food,” Emmett
said. “But I’ll have another. This time make it a double.”

Nicholas and I
were sitting across from Emmett in the booth. Nicholas pushed his water glass
towards Emmett. “Drink some water,” he suggested.

“I’m fine,” Emmett
snapped. “Besides, I’m not driving. What’s it to you if I have a few drinks?”

“It doesn’t make
sense,” Nicholas commented, ignoring Emmett’s question. “Leon and Tobias have
two completely different agendas. Who is Matthews really working with?”

“Precisely! David
is playing both sides.” Emmett leaned back in the booth. He was starting to
finally look relaxed, but unfortunately he was also starting to sound tipsy.

“What’s really in
it for Matthews to be the only human on earth with a bunch of supernatural
creatures and an insane ruler? With no government in place, it would be
complete anarchy. Right now, the hunters like you and Lucas keep the crazy,
law-breaking beings in check. There are repercussions for breaking the rules,”
Emmett said.

“So why is he
pretending to be Tobias’ loyal ally, if he’s really supporting Leon?” I asked.

“He’s planning to
double cross Tobias. Matthews is actually conditioning the army to obey
him
,
not Tobias. Then, he’ll give Tobias to Leon.”

“Why do both
Magnus and Leon want Tobias in Hell so badly?” I asked. “What’s so special
about him?”

“Yeah,” Nicholas
chimed in. “Tobias is a real douchebag.”

I laughed. “He
really is.”

“It’s a status
symbol,” Emmett replied. “Tobias may be a weenie; a mean, shrimp of a man, but
he’s a major player in this war. If Leon is responsible for taking him out
– for getting him into Hell – then he solidifies his position as
king.”

“So that’s the
same reason Magnus wants him,” I commented.

“Yep.” Emmett
paused and exhaled slowly. “It’s a lot to take in, huh?”

“And you haven’t
even gotten to the plan part yet,” Nicholas said.

“Why do we need a
plan?” I interjected. “If Henry’s dad is working with Leon, can’t we just let
it play out? Leon can pull Tobias into Hell and I can stay out of it.”

“And what do you
think Magnus will do if that happens?” Emmett countered. “If he can’t kill you,
he’ll kill everyone that you care about. I know he threatened to do just that
last night. If Magnus doesn’t get back into Hell as the king, he’ll blame you.
It won’t matter if it’s rational.”

“So I’ll just kill
him,” I said desperately. “Assuming I really do get the ability to kill a
demon.”

Emmett shook his
head. “Magnus is extremely powerful. He has many, many loyal supporters. If you
kill him, his death will be avenged.”

“Well the way you
put it, we’re fucked no matter what we do,” I said in frustration. “One of them
is going to be king, and whoever loses that battle will blame me.”

“Not if we seal
the gates of Hell shut. With Tobias, Leon and Magnus all inside,” Emmett
replied.

Nicholas was
shaking his head. “Emmett, it’s a great thought, but if that were possible,
believe me, it would have been done centuries ago. You think we
want
demons
to be able to come to earth? Really, them having a king in Hell is the only
thing that keeps everything in check. The king controls the gates, which are
locked. Sure, I’ve encountered plenty of demons who’ve escaped, but typically
the demons on earth are here because the king allowed them passage through the
gates.”

“I know all of
that,” Emmett said. “But there’s one person who can lock them –
permanently. That is, provided he lives long enough to do it.”

“Henry,” I
whispered.