Read Vampire Apocalypse (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #3) Online

Authors: Jennifer Malone Wright

Tags: #fantasy, #vampire hunters, #mythology, #vampire series, #vampire books, #books for teens, #the vampire hunters daughter, #books for teen girls, #ya book series

Vampire Apocalypse (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #3) (4 page)

BOOK: Vampire Apocalypse (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #3)
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We will allow anyone who
comes forward and pledges themselves to the Vampire Council to
live. The condition being that every pledge has to willingly give
blood twice a month. Each pledge will receive a tattoo signifying
their loyalty to the Vampire Council. The tattoo will be placed on
the right cheek. Any human who has not given their pledge to the
Vampire Council is fair game to every vampire.”

The cameras panned the audience
crammed into the tight space before the podium. Loud murmurs and
shouts of unfairness rose from the disgruntled crowd. The new mayor
held his hands up for silence, but the shouting did not cease.
After waiting a few minutes for his audience to settle down, he
just spoke over them, continuing on with his speech. Regardless of
how pissed off they were, the people still wanted to hear what he
had to say … their lives depended on it.


We have designated several
human guards who will replace the regular police force which you
have previously known. The law enforcement and laws that you once
followed no longer exist. As of this moment, they are null and
void. These law enforcement personnel will be present and in charge
at the pledging areas. The pledging areas have currently been
secured in the public libraries. If you choose to pledge, simply go
to any of the libraries in the city, day or night, and you will be
accepted in, allowed to pledge, and required to give your first
blood donation. You will also receive your tattoo upon
pledging.


These law enforcement
officers will also be in command at the blood banks where those who
have pledged will go to give blood. The first donation will take
place at the library, then an appointment will be made for you at
one of the local blood banks. If you miss an appointment to give
blood, the consequences will not be something you want to endure.
So
do not
miss
your appointment. Beginning immediately, anyone can come forward to
pledge themselves. As I stated before, those who are not pledged
will not be protected, so the longer you wait, the more danger you
put yourself in.”


Chloe!”

I snapped out of another memory and
the world came into focus around me. I realized that Drew was
beside me, staring into my eyes with concern. “Are you all
right?”

I nodded and adjusted my bow again.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking about how crappy things have gotten
already.”

Drew nodded that he understood. “I
know what you mean. There is no going back now, society has been
too traumatized. Even if we manage to win this war, it will have
affected so many. Too many people have been lost
already.”

It was my turn to nod that I
understood. It was true, the world would never be the same as it
was. “Let’s keep moving.” I shook off the memories and marched
forward. Once we were up on the sidewalk, the people out in the
streets began to notice us. They knew what we were; Hunters always
carried a lot of weapons and walked with a purpose. The survivors
moved with caution, practically running wherever they
went.

Almost everyone stared at us as we
passed. Most looked at us with awe; knowing that we were actively
searching out the enemy put us on a level to be looked up to. “This
is weird,” I whispered.

Drew didn’t respond, but I knew he was
thinking the same thing. For so long, especially for him, the fact
that vampire hunter’s even existed was kept secret. If the world
had discovered the vampire hunters, it was only a given that the
existence of vampires would have been exposed. The Hunters had
worked very hard for a very, very long time to stay hidden, now …
now we were saviors in a world being taken over by
demons.

After a few minutes of walking and
ignoring the stares of the survivors, Drew finally said, “I wish
these people would go to the training centers and learn how to
protect themselves. Most will probably end up pledging simply
because they have no other options.”

I nodded. “Me too, but until then,
it’s our job to try and protect them.”

The people who roamed the streets at
least had some spine. The weakest and the most fearful had already
pledged to the Vampire Council. The ones with the most will to
survive had gone to the training centers or taken off with their
families. There were also the preppers who were prepared for some
kind of “end of the world” to happen, those people were in hiding,
too. But these who were left, they had something in them that told
them pledging was wrong, they just didn’t have the strength to
actively fight against them.

I didn’t blame them, though. Vampires
could kill you within seconds and no one in their right mind would
want to go up against them one on one. Vampire hunters weren’t just
humans who fought, we were bred from the blood of angels and
demi-gods. In my case, I was half vampire, a dhampir, which made me
even more powerful.

My brother, Zander, is also a dhampir,
but not a true vampire hunter as far a blood and power. He’s a bad
ass, though, and that goes a long way when fighting the
undead.


This looks good.” Drew
paused and gestured to the bakery on our right. It was an old
structure, built out of red brick. The door was newer than the rest
of the place; double glass doors with a dark tint over them.
Perfect for seeing out, but harder for people to see in.

The place also had a balcony on the
second floor. The aging but sturdy looking balcony ran the width of
the building and extended about four feet over the sidewalk where
we stood.


Yeah. This is as good a
place as any.”

I followed Drew to the tinted double
doors, silently slipping my gun out of its holster. Drew held his
gun in one hand and cautiously reached for the door handle with the
other. I stayed a few feet behind him just out of habit. It was
part of how we worked, he usually took the lead and I stayed back
to cover.

He pulled on the door handle gently,
giving it a testing tug before he yanked it open completely. Then
he held the door open and I moved forward, into the darkness of the
building with my gun out in front of my, ready to shoot pretty much
anything that moved.

Contrary to what a lot of people
believed, vampires could be up during the day as long as they
avoided direct sunlight. So, it was completely realistic that a
vampire could be hiding out inside any of the buildings. Entering
the buildings without being prepared was a common mistake amongst
the survivors. A lot of vampires actually hid out, waiting for some
unprepared human to come along like a meal delivery
service.

I veered right, keeping my gun up and
ready to fire while Drew came in behind me and took the left side.
Hearing nothing right away, I stepped backward a few steps and
reached out for the wall with my left hand, searching for a light
switch. My enhanced dhampir vision allowed me to see better in the
dark than full blooded humans, so Drew needed the light more than I
did. But, a well lit room was obviously better than a dark one.
After a few seconds of groping the wall, my fingertips finally
connected with a small panel of switches. I flipped them all and
suddenly the room was bathed in a harsh fluorescent
light.

The place looked empty, but that
didn’t mean anything. Unlike a lot of the businesses that had been
abandoned when the vampires attacked, this place was actually
pretty clean. The counters and tables were free of crumbs and
dishes; if it wasn’t for the light layer of dust, they might have
actually appeared shiny.

It only took a few minutes for us to
clear the room, assuring it was free of vampires, and then we were
off to check the upstairs.

As we found the stairwell and headed
up, I felt beads of sweat begin to form on my forehead. They
immediately rolled downward, threatening to sting my eyes. It was
hot outside, so that made it sweltering inside of the abandoned
bakery, which hadn’t seen any air conditioning for quite some
time.

Drew and I didn’t speak the entire
time. He and I were one of those couples, and teammates, who worked
perfectly in silence. I had trained with Drew … and killed with
him. I could read his body language and his silent cues. Words were
not needed between the two of us.

Upstairs, we found a studio apartment
above the shop where the owner must have lived. We went through the
same process of clearing the room as we did downstairs in the
bakery, and then took a moment really look at the apartment. It was
spic and span, but like downstairs the whole apartment was covered
in a light layer of dust, telling us that no one had been around
for quite some time.

There were no pictures on the wall
except for paintings and artistic photographs. On the T.V. stand
there were only two frames with pictures; one was of a woman with
her big orange cat, and the other photo was just the cat. I reached
out and touched the edge of one of the shiny, wooden frames. No
family pictures for this woman, apparently.

Feeling a rare flash of sadness for my
old life, I turned away from the photos to find Drew pushing open a
set of heavy, beige drapes. Once opened, they exposed the French
doors that led out to the balcony. The doors were made with panes
of glass squares, which allowed sunlight to pour into the dim
apartment.


Still a little while
before the sun sets. You want to sit out there or in
here?”

I shrugged. Normally inside would have
been the choice so that we could stay hidden from any of the
vampire loyal humans that might be outside, but after giving the
hot and dusty apartment another once over it felt a bit
claustrophobic. “Outside.”

As soon as he pulled open the balcony
doors, I felt the rush of fresh air and inhaled deeply. Boy it felt
good to breathe the clean air. I hadn’t realized just how much it
had gotten to me until I got a whiff of the good stuff. We could
even see the dust particles floating around where the sunlight
streamed in.

Drew and I exchanged a look and headed
out.

The balcony had a wrought iron fencing
that stood about three feet tall, effectively keeping whoever was
on the balcony safely within its limits. There were gaps between
each of the posts that looked to be about four or five inches
apart, giving us plenty of space to see through if we sat down on
the floor of the balcony. Which was exactly what we did.

Waiting out the sunset was something
that we did a lot. I wasn’t the most patient of people lately, but
it was something we had to do. Coming into the city after it was
already dark wasn’t really a good idea.

I took one side of the
balcony and Drew took the other, and we kept our posts in silence.
We wouldn’t risk speaking and giving away our positions. I didn’t
really want to talk to him anyway. I understood where he was coming
from, being worried about me and all. What I couldn’t understand
was why he didn’t understand
my
point of view.

I was so used to him being the
hardcore Hunter, the one who trained me and made me pay attention
when I wanted to quit. He was always the one who went first into
battle, and now he had gone soft on me. I just didn’t get it at
all.

Eventually the sun went down behind
the hills and veil of darkness began to spread over the city. All
of the survivors had long since abandoned the streets to go to
their hiding places or find a new one. The growing darkness was
gradual; both Drew’s human eyes and my dhampir eyes didn’t need to
adjust. Since we could both see just fine, it was no surprise when
we saw the first group of vampires strutting down the street like
it was a perfect day in the park.

Drew stretched his leg out and tapped
my foot with his, and nodded in the direction of our
targets.

I indicated that I saw them, too,
moving onto my knees so that I could get a better shot. Drew and I
had both attached silencers to our guns while we were waiting.
Silence was the key; if any of the nearby vamps heard the gunshots
it would give us away and we would be in some serious trouble. So,
we opted for the silencers. As for my bow, I wasn’t going to
sacrifice my arrows from such a high position unless I knew I could
get them back.

There were only five of them all
together, so it should be easy. They strode down the street with
ease, looking from side to side and chatting amongst themselves. If
we played this right we could take them all out with five quick
shots. Hopefully they were all fairly new vampires and the UV
bullets would take care of them.

I rose up on my knees and took aim.
Time to go to work.

I took the first shot and the vamp on
the far left went down. Before the others even had time to react,
Drew shot the one on the left. Instantly, I took the one on the
right of the three remaining confused vampires.

Two left.

One of the remaining two took off at a
dead run back the way they had come. The other one was a woman and
she had fallen to her knees beside one of the dead guys. “No!” I
heard her scream as she shook the dead vampire’s body. She had long
blonde hair that fell down in waves over her and the fallen
vampire. “Wake up!” she shouted, shaking him violently. She got no
answer except for the glowing light which appeared and began to
slowly erode through the body.

BOOK: Vampire Apocalypse (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #3)
2.38Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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