We will be ready...

AM Darkness Presents - A ROUGH from the Dark World by Gabriel Maestas

Good morning, my lovelies, the darkness is beckoning a story for you, but not from the fantastical realm of fiction and possible make-believe. Oh no, this tale comes from our modern age and a frightening world.

There are Hollywood yarns, spun for our entertainment, stories of vampires and werewolves, but this is DIFFERENT. These creatures don’t sparkle, they don’t shine, and a crucifix is something they admire for its simple elegance. A silver bullet might hurt them if you fire a hundred.

These are creatures from The Dark World, and this tale is one that will leave you asking, “Who’s going to save us from this terror?!”

October 31, 2007

Shannon could feel the weight of her eyelids as they slowly lifted, the ache in her back, and the warm blood dripping down her neck. Her lips quivered as she tried speaking, her long dark hair moving as her head tilted to the side. Pain near her throat radiated down her arm as she winced.

“You’ve been bitten.” The voice was calming, soothing to her, beautiful and horrid all at once.

“Lu…” she tried to speak. “Lucius…”

He emerged from the other side of the doorway, tall, older, a once handsome man. Now, a weakened, embattled undead, yearning for new life. Relief from the hard time was clearly on his mind.

Normally, Shannon would be enraged, reaching behind her back and under her black leather jacket for her dagger, her .45 full auto, or whatever the hell she could find to stab the demon vampyre right through the heart.

But there was no dagger.

Her hands were not bound.

The weight of her .45 on her black leather pants wasn’t there.

“And you have no desire to hurt me,” Lucius said, “Do you?”

She searched her heart, probed her thoughts, and looked around the room. Nothing, no instincts or reactions that she’d trained for over the years. Everything the Order taught her about dealing these creatures of the night…

“Suppressed,” Lucius slowly began walking around her, “Gone but not forgotten.” He stopped in front of her. “When we turn a Knight of the holy warriors, it’s not a move born of fear.”

He stopped near her feet, knelt down, and placed his pale, weathered hands on her thighs. “It’s one of desire, my dear. You see, the vampyre have a deep reservoir of desire. Not from a Godly…”

He stopped, as though the words made his tongue ache. There was a moment to regain his composure.

“…No. Not from that place in the hearts and minds of men. We vampyre make decisions so that our kind might operate in freedom and…safety, to be quite honest.”

He leaned forward, his old nose nearing Shannon’s face. “Knights of the Order, Regulators, Separatists, and any men that saw fit to raise arms against us have sought our destruction from the moment they laid eyes on one of us taking a donor. From the moment a willing human shared their lifeforce, other men, women, and even children have longed for our utter destruction.”

“I…I can’t…”

“Oh my dear,” the vampire gently pushed on her thighs, helping himself stand as he stepped away. “You can…and you will…”

Shannon could feel her chest tightening, and she slowly leaned back in the chair, her mind feeling heavy and her thoughts flooding with a terrifying voice…

“Cammie will come for you.”

“No…” Shannon said, “Charles…Charles and the Knights…I know they got her. I know they drove a stake through her damn heart…”

“Cammie will come for you.”

“Oh, they got her,” Lucius said. “Your friend Charles is the first person to kill one of her kind in a thousand years. And THAT is the problem.”

“Cammie will come for you…”

The sound of sure-footed, quick-stepping heels slowly began echoing toward the door connecting to the hallway. Shannon willed her eyes open, turned her head towards the door, and saw her. The demoness hurried through the door and into the room, her glowing red eyes trailing a hue that covered her sultry body with a devilish glow.

“Lillith…” Shannon managed to say.

“You’ve heard the legends.” Lucius said, “And now you will feel her wrath.”

The demoness stopped at Shannon’s feet, grabbed the Knight’s chin and raised her face, ensuring her gaze was looking deep into her dark red glowing eyes.

“Your friend,” Lillith began, “Where is he?”

Shannon slowly shook her head, “No one knows.”

A growl came from the other side of the room, and Lillith smiled.

“Maximus failed me,” she said. “But Tiberius…that’s a whole other animal.”

Shannon turned toward the growl and saw the large man standing there, his long dark hair tied back tightly, his eyes intense and his gaze dead set on her. The Knight shook her head, finally feeling an appropriate emotion.

Fear.

“And now,” Lucius smiled at her, his face and body having reversed in age, young, strong, and sinister. “The game begins. Charles will come for you…and we will be ready...”

Several miles away, at an empty supermarket

Detective Wallis reluctantly opened the driver’s side door of his unmarked unit and set his feet down on the asphalt, his dress shoes making a light tap. He took a deep breath, his burgeoning beer gut making labored breaths. His hand crept to his face, as he wished he could keep his eyes on the parking lot, but relax with a soothing caress over his forehead.

Jesus, he thought, what have I seen?

Vampires, menacing beasts that could only be a werewolf, and warriors. Fighters dressed in black leather attack suits drove motorcycles from an underground fortress beneath the church on Sara Road.

He didn’t believe it, none of the events.

Wallis didn’t want to.

Weeks had passed since the terrible disappearances, murders, and mayhem exploded into the small suburbs, and yet he was in denial. Which he hated, because he knew better. None of this was going to get any better, and the detective had no idea what he’d do to stop it.

I need to go to the church, Wallis thought, talk with Father Rodriguez. He’ll share some insight. If not, I’ll arrest his ass…

The howl echoed from the other side of the parking lot, a frightening tone from a feral beast. Wallis had heard it before. He’d seen what one of those monsters could do and knew the menace they posed.

“Oh, Christ,” he stood and reached for his weapon, watching as the huge, manlike and muscular werewolf emerged from the shadows on the other side of the parking lot. It was sprinting toward him…