Darkness Fades

  "You know that he is gone, right?" Aiden's voice rises up behind me. I whirl around in surprise, ready to fight. He's standing in the doorway at the end of the hall, staring at me with a guarded look. "But here you're still hoping that somehow he'll be inside one of these cages."

  "I thought I heard a noise." I give him a dirty look then.

  Choosing to ignore him, I check the rest of the cages, but of course they're all empty. When I turn back around, Aiden's no longer standing in the doorway and I quicken my pace until I reach the end of the cells. I stop when I get to the papers, then glance at the spot on the floor where Sylas and I kissed, memories hitting my mind like pinpricks. I tear my gaze away before it becomes too much then bend over to scoop the papers up from the floor. I stack them in my arms and head towards the door when Aiden steps in front of me, putting his arms on the doorway like a barricade.

  "You're really going to do it, aren't you? Can't you see that you're wrong? We need to change the world. Make the rest of the world like us..." He pauses and I see a threatening glint in his eyes that puts me on high alert. "Well, at least the people in the world that we feel are worthy to be like us."

  "Move out of my way, Aiden," I say in a calm, yet firm voice. "This isn't the place or time to fight about this." I shove him, but he doesn't budge.

  "I can't let you do it. I won't let you." His fangs slide out and he bares them at me.

  Tucking the papers under my arm, I aim the knife at him. "Now get out of my way, or I'll make you get out of my way.

  He laughs, however the amusement quickly leaves his face as a misshapen form emerges from the room to the side of us. My body tenses as I hear the growl. I slowly turn, pointing my knife at it, bending my knees, ready to plunge into the monster. Another one appears just behind Aiden, snarling as it creeps towards us on all fours.

  I set the papers down, moving slowly, eyes fixed on the monster to my side. I take a deep breath and then without warning, I dash over to it. It nips at me as I reach its front and I skitter to the side, going around. Blood drips out of its mouth as it turns with me, following my movements as I shuffle towards the wall.

  Its crooked legs bring it closer to me as I back towards the wall, searching for a way out. When it's within reach, I bring my foot up and slam the tip of my toe into its mouth. Blood splatters on the ground as it lets out a shrill howl then barrels at me. I swing my knife down right as it's about to take a bite of my leg. The blade enters its spongy body and it cries out as I plunge the knife deeper. Blood gushes out as I wrench the knife out and flip back as the monster lurches towards me. I spin and sink the knife inside of its chest, slashing open the skin. It howls again, so loudly I want to cover my ears, then it flops down on its side, blood pooling around it.

  It continues to snap its teeth at me for a moment until its head falls to its side as its body goes limp. For a second I just stare at it, wondering if it could have been Sylas, which only hurts to think about.

  Panting, I spin around just in time to see Aiden finish off the other beast, slamming his knife deep into the monster's chest. Blood spurts out of the wound as he removes the knife and backs up. The monster lets out a furious cry and then drops to the floor like a bag of bricks. I wipe the blade of my knife over my jeans, pick the papers up, then without saying anything to Aiden, I hurry to the plastic and duck outside.

  I can hear Aiden's footsteps as he rapidly catches up with me and grabs my arm. I shrug him off and continue walking.

  "Kayla, we need to talk," he demands, striding alongside of me.

  I turn the corner and stride towards the park, hugging the papers tightly to my chest. When he grabs my shoulder again, I whirl around and push him back, ready to get out of here, save the world and forget. Forget about everything. The choices I've made, the things...

  I stop walking as I reach the spot where the land opens up. There are dozens of abominations standing in front of us, down on all fours, drooling on the ground as they look at us with hunger in their eyes.

  "Let's take them," Aiden says, stepping forward with a pleased look on his face.

  I grab his arm and pull him back. "No way. There's too many of them."

  He looks torn, glancing back and forth between them and me. He surprises me, though, when he nods and we spin around together to start running back in the direction we came from.

  I think that Aiden is following me until I throw a glance over my shoulder and realize he's run in a different direction towards a few dead trees. As he yells at the beasts and makes a lot of noise, I wonder what he's doing, but then I realize he's trying to get them away from me. I'm not sure how I feel about this since I've pretty much made up my mind that Aiden was no good anymore.

  His plan almost works and most of the monsters chase after him, tearing up the ground with their claws, but a few of them look at me with their hungry eyes and run after me. I pump my legs faster, barreling back towards the building, knowing I've outrun them before and I can do it again.

  All but one of them starts to fall behind and I begin to relax until one seems to be gaining on me. It's nipping at my heels, making loud growls, ripping up pieces of the ground with his force. I feel myself reaching maximum speed and I don't know what to do because it seems to be getting closer. There is a pile of rusty cars just in front of me. Not knowing what else to do, I quickly dive to the side of them and squeeze in between a metal gap. I barely get my legs in as it tries to take a bite, barely missing my skin. As I shimmy farther into the pile of cars, I draw out my knife. It puts its eyes up to the gap and watches me, letting out a low growl. I keep going until I reach the end of the gap and, when I turn around, the monster is gone.

  I tentatively stick my head out of the hole and glance around. It's silent, but it makes me uneasy. I lie there for a little bit longer, clutching onto the papers and my knife.

  Finally, after it's been quiet for a while, I duck my head out and fall to the ground, rolling out. I get my feet back under me and stand up, brushing the dirt off my pants. I let out a breath of relief before I hear a deep growl from behind me, making my hairs stand on end.

  I turn around slowly and meet the eyes of a beast much larger than the rest of them, the flesh rotting off and falling to the ground. I start to bring my knife around, but it dips its head towards the ground. Teeth pierce through my pant leg and my flesh, sinking deep into my muscles.

  My knife falls to the ground as my legs give out on me and I fall. The last thing I see is the monster watching me.

  I know that soon I'll become one of them.

  Chapter 15

  Everything hurts. Throbs. I don't know where I am.

  What happened? What's going on? I don't know anything.

  Then my mind starts to focus and I let out a small cry, almost by instinct. Oh God. I start to remember. The feeling of teeth sinking into flesh. Am... am I becoming one of them?

  My eyelids flutter open. I'm no longer in the park, but in a dark room, lying on my back on top of some sort of blanket that is spread out on the hard stone floor. How did I get here? How long have I been unconscious? Am I changing now? Or am I immune like with the vampires?

  I raise my arms up in front of me and check them over then slowly sit up and inspect my legs. Besides the tear in my jeans and the teeth gashes on my skin, I show no signs of turning into an abomination. The bite marks on my leg is tender, aching, and I can still see blood trickling out of it. They haven't healed yet. Not a good sign.

  In the corner of the room is a stack of crates, and on top of it, my knife is lying next to the papers I was carrying. I gradually get to me feet, scanning the room as I carefully make my way over to it.

  I need to get out of here, find Aiden in case I do end up changing and make sure he understands that he needs to kill me before I do, and get the papers back to Mathew. Although, if his attitude is the same, I have no idea how I'm going to get him to agree to this and trust him to do it.

  When I reach the crate, I crouch down to gather my th
ings, my muscles aching in protest. I get the knife in my hand when I notice movement from the other side. I quickly stand back up and step back, trying to listen for the sound of a heartbeat, wishing I'd hear one because it'd make this so much easier, but deep down, knowing that's not the case. The only noise that I can hear is labored breathing and I'm not sure what it belongs to.

  Moving vigilantly around the crate with my knife in my hand, I peer down at the other side. The first thing that comes into view is a hand, but it's not a human hand. It's starting to rot, flesh peeling away. It looks like it belongs to someone who is in the process of turning.

  I continue to round to the other side, but then the hand rapidly pulls out of my sight as someone scurries farther behind it. I detect that it's a human form, though.

  "Back off, Kayla. It is not safe... I'm not safe." His voice is rough and scratchy.

  "Aiden?"

  There's no response, but it has to be him. It makes no sense, though, because I'm not changing and I was bitten, too. I glance down at my arms, turning them over, my skin still as pale and smooth. I'm not changing yet, but he is. Why? I thought we were the same.

  I look around at the unfamiliar room again. Why did he bring me here instead of taking me out of the colony where we'd be safer? Or to the desert?

  "Did you bring me here?" I ask, stepping around the crate, wondering if maybe there's someone else around. "Did you save me from that monster?"

  I take a few more steps towards the crate, listening to his labored breathing. His arms come into view, but the flesh is strange looking, like it's trying to melt. "Maybe if we hurry we can go back to the town and get help."

  "I can't," he croaks. "I can't go anywhere just yet."

  "We have to," I say, swallowing hard, not sure if I want to take the last few steps to see him changing. "If you're changing... if we both change... we have to make sure the papers get back to the colony."

  "No," he says almost sharply.

  Frustrated, I turn for the door, ready to leave, knowing that I might be running out of time... I might have to run the entire way there.

  As I'm getting ready to exit, the memory of Sylas replays in my mind. I remember him begging me not to let him turn; pleading with me to end him before he changed. Guilt spreads through me and I pause in front of the door. I can't just leave him here like this, let him change into one of those horrible creatures, even if he's done things I don't like and made me mad. He still deserves not to go down that way.

  I set my papers down on the floor and turn around. I slowly walk back towards the crate, worried about what I'll say, what he'll say to me with what I'm about to do. Then the crates abruptly shift slowly and he pushes himself to his feet, standing tall with his back towards me, like he knows what I'm about to do. He doesn't have a shirt on and his dark hair is matted to the back of his head.

  I carefully walk up behind him, wondering if he knows, if he understands. I almost back out; however, I swallow my feelings as I take in the sight of his skin that hangs loosely from his body with open wounds which are bleeding.

  Elevating the knife above my head, I aim it at his back, ready to plunge it deep into him, end him and help his suffering. But he spins around, his dark eyes focusing on the knife I hold in my hand. He looks scared. Before I can change my mind, I quickly thrust my arm downward towards him.

  His eyes widen, his arm snaps up and he grabs hold of my wrist, stopping the knife just a fraction before it clips his skin.

  "Kayla, stop." He tightly grips my hand and I struggle, trying to break free, twisting my arm. "Kayla, look at me."

  I'm not sure what registers first. His command, the change in his voice, or the calm feeling being throw at me. I stop fighting and look up at him, meeting his gaze. I gasp when I see him and he lets me go. My hand falls to my side and the knife slips from my fingers, landing on the floor with a clink. It can't be.

  Yet the more I look at him, the more I know it's true. The cold, dark eyes that are looking back at me don't belong to Aiden, they belong to Sylas.

  Chapter 16

  It's quiet for a while. Neither of us can speak. Or maybe he's just waiting for me to say something, but I've lost my voice. He looks so different, still him--black hair, eyes like charcoal, a slight cocky expression--but beneath it is pain. Pain from his flesh rotting. He's changing. Still?

  "Aren't you going to say anything?" he finally asks, stretching out his long legs.

  Say what? I'm too speechless to speak. "Why... I mean how are you changing, just now... when I saw you last, you were so close and that was a while ago?"

  He shrugs nonchalantly but there's emotion in his eyes, though I can't tell exactly what. "I did turn. I turned into one of those horrible monsters. It was like being stuck in a bad dream..." His forehead creases in puzzlement as his head cocks to the side. "Until I bit you."

  "What? You changed and then you changed back?" I ask, shocked, wanting to pick up my knife so I can maybe be comforted by this lost, helpless feeling inside me; one I've never felt before. "I don't understand, Sylas. Aren't the effects of the bite permanent?"

  He sighs tiredly then steps backward to the crate and hoists himself up, his arms wobbling, then he sits on it with his bare feet hanging over it. "Oh, the effects were permanent. Well, at least they were supposed to be. But when I bit you, I could feel something in me start to change. The instant my teeth sunk into your skin, something ignited inside me and I knew I had to stop hurting you, like it was an instinct."

  "So, you bit me?"

  He shrugs again, but there's a hungry look in his eye that make my skin feel hot. "Well, do you really blame me?"

  I try my best to shake it off, but the fact that he's sitting here, not hurt and almost not an abomination, is making it hard not to want to do anything except hug him and tell him that I'm sorry for leaving him. "So do you think my bite cured you?"

  "Maybe... Monarch did make you special after all, but then again we know little about the abominations," he says with almost a thoughtful expression as he assesses me. "The one he wanted to be perfect." He pauses, glancing down at his skin, amazed at the sight of it healing.

  I walk closer to him and pick his arm up. I'm not even sure why I do it other than I feel this need to touch him, to feel that he's real, so I trace my fingers over one of the open wounds on his arm. The bleeding is barely noticeable as the skin works to stitch itself back up.

  "This is amazing." I say. "You're really changing back."

  "Yeah, it is."

  I look up and meet his eyes. The hunger is there again and instead of wanting to run away from him, I want to get closer to him, like I did when I thought he was dying. I place my hand on his cheek. His skin feels cold and sort of rough, unnatural almost, yet I don't pull back.

  I'm not even sure what the point of my touch is, but before I can rack through my thoughts and figure it out, he grabs my hand and jerks me into him, eliminating any space left between our bodies. He slams his lips against mine and kisses me with passion, his hands wandering to my back as he presses me closer to him. He tastes strange, like rust, yet at the same time, he tastes good, and I realize how much I've worried about him while we've been apart.

  What does that mean? About my feelings towards him? Something... I can feel it... this is so much different than with Aiden... so much more... sweltering and hard to breathe.

  He pulls back abruptly, his lips a little swollen, giving me barely any time to react as I stumble back from the disconnection. "I shouldn't have done that," he says.

  "Why?" I frown because it doesn't sound like something he'd say at all.

  "Because..." He drags his fingers through his hair roughly, looking stressed out and Sylas never looks stressed. "It may not be safe; I may not be safe. I mean, we know nothing about this process... changing back." His gaze encounters mine. "What if I hurt you or infect you?"

  I'm not sure how to respond. Part of me wants to be irrational, but the other part wants to rationalize that it could hap
pen; that we know nothing about the abomination or the process. "There's something that I don't get," I say. "Why are you healing after biting me, but vampires have bit me before and haven't changed back?"

  He shakes his head. "I don't know, other than maybe there's something different about the process of an abomination then a vampire. I mean, I know they're different..." He trails off, lost. "I just wish we had the answers."

  "So do I." I glance back at the papers. "But hopefully I can get some now."

  "Is that why you came back here?" he asks and then a playful, arrogant look crosses his face. "Or was it to save me?"

  I roll my eyes, but have to bite back a smile. "We came back for the papers... the one's you and I found before we were captured."

  "So Aiden's going to help figure out what they say? So you can save the world? Save humanity?"

  "No..." I'd almost forgotten about Aiden. "So you saw Aiden then?"

  He nods, but seems reluctant. "During the chase, yeah, but not afterward... I hope he wasn't bitten." He doesn't sound that convincing and I'm not surprised. The two brothers never did get along very well.

  I sigh. "Well, if he hasn't been bitten now, he's still changed."

  He looks at me curiously. "What do you mean?"

  I sigh again and then pick up my knife from the ground and hop up on the crates beside him. "He took the injection, Sylas."

  He stares at me with his mouth agape. "He what? Why did he do it? He's always been against it... arguing with us about it. What the hell?"

  "Because of me...Tristan told him what happened to us; that we were captured. He thought the only way he could save me... us, would be to become a Day Taker."

  "He changed for you. To save you..." He considers this with a strange look on his face. "I'm glad he did."

  He reaches out to lightly touch my cheek with his finger. I'm not sure how to react, be on guard or not, but I end up just sitting still.