A Dark Hunger (4 page)

The pain
subsided and Surquyn slumped forward, held up by the chains before
she could hit the floor. She felt her stomach roll with each hard
breath she took but swallowed to keep anything rising up down.

The human
lifted her head up. “There is a twist, of course. If you scream,
just as you demonstrated, I will slice open the neck of this
beautiful human, and all the others within this place, and make you
watch them die.” He pulled a blurred whimpering figure to his
side.

“Now. Where is
Layla?”

Surquyn didn’t
answer.

Tutting, the
man pressed the button on his remote.

Surquyn
clenched her teeth together, trying to combat the pain of being
electrocuted. She tried to keep quiet, so she could protect the
humans in danger even as her brain screamed to do the opposite.

The small flare
of hope rose inside, lighting up the dark situation she was in.
Riyzan will rescue me. I just need to hold on.

The pain ended
and Surquyn slumped forward again, sweat dripping from her skin and
her body shaking with the currents that still pulsed around her.
She swallowed heavily but that did nothing to calm the raging beast
inside, the one that wanted to break free and rip everyone to
shreds to satisfy her hunger.

The human
lifted her head and put his face close to hers.

Surquyn could
hear his blood pumping through his veins and hear the blood
travelling around his body.

She lunged for
him, snarling but he was quick to press the button and she wasn’t
prepared for the pain that shot through her. Unable to stop the
shrill scream escaping as pain exploded behind her eyes, Surquyn
writhed on the floor. The scent of blood filled the air,
her
blood. She felt it slide from her eyes, nose, mouth and ears and
choked a little on it when the pain went, leaving her with an
almost numb feeling even as she was pulled back up.

“Whoops.” The
human laughed.

A scream filled
the air and then a gagging sound.

Surquyn growled
when the scent of the woman’s blood overpowered her blood and felt
the beast rise quickly. She screamed again, screamed with anger and
hunger, trying to get to the source of the blood, to sink her teeth
into flesh while it was still fresh.

When Surquyn
kicked out, catching the human in the face as he laughed, she saw a
flash of silver and then blinding pain. She gagged, struggled for
breath while her blood ran a river down her and then everything
went black.

Chapter
Seven

“Are you sure
she is here?” Riyzan asked, his breath rising like mist in the cold
night.

“The traces
they left are unmistakable. I’ve been with the humans, Riyzan,”
Shade replied.

Riyzan bowed
his head in apology, knowing the boy didn’t like to talk about the
past any more than his daughter did. He stared at the small
neighbourhood with houses on either side of the street, all the
same build and colour. All identical and non-descript.
How are
we meant to find Surquyn without alerting and possibly killing
innocent humans?

A loud scream
filled the night, jerking his attention to the house it came from.
“Surquyn!” He ran forward when Shade stopped him. He struggled to
keep his anger at bay, resisting the urge to throw the boy’s hand
off him and kill any human, regardless of who got in his way.

“Not yet,”
Shade whispered as though he could read his mind. “Wait until we
know the humans are preoccupied,” Shade finished as another scream
filled the air, this time from a different woman.

“And how will
we know when that is?” Rhijakh asked, his anger visible from his
white-knuckled and shaking fists.

Shade inhaled
deeply, his fangs flashing in the dark and hunger showing clearly
in his eyes.

Riyzan inhaled
and caught the scent Shade had caught first. Blood.

“Now!” Darkness
swirled around him and he disappeared as Riyzan, Uilasel, Kiovel
and Rhijakh ran forward.

When Riyzan
heard Surquyn scream again, this time with anger, he pushed himself
harder, reaching the door to the house within seconds. It flung
open without him needing to touch it, scattering the humans inside
as his anger continued to magnify.

Uilasel and
Kiovel followed them, drawing their swords and swiftly taking them
down, using their confusion to their advantage just as they had
before when battling with Riyzan in the past.

Riyzan strode
across the room, leaving his two guards to their duty with Rhijakh
following close behind. He could sense Shade’s anger and hunger as
though he himself was experiencing it and found Shade easily.

When they
entered the room, Shade was flying around the room with the speed
of a bullet, dodging bullets the humans fired that spread around
the room.

Riyzan launched
into attack, plucking a human from the group and punching him hard
before baring his fangs and sinking them into his neck. He drank
deeply from him, knowing that when he found Surquyn, he’d need to
be as strong as he could to help her. He could feel her somewhere
close, but didn’t know where. All he knew was that she was weak and
needed help fast if she was to survive.

Once dead, he
dropped the human to the floor and turned to see Shade surrounded
by humans who seemed to have come out of nowhere, large
rocket-launcher type weapons aimed at him.

Riyzan jumped
in the middle, smashed one of the weapons into a human’s face,
shattering his nose and destroying the weapon with his strength
before spinning, avoiding an attack from the others, and hit one of
the humans, knocking him down while blood sprayed from him.

He yelled, a
sound that didn’t sound quite human, and fired his weapon.

Riyzan spun to
avoid whatever came out of it, and grabbed one weapon for himself
and fired.

A large silver
spear shot out of the launcher and sank into one of the human’s
stomach. He flew black, smashing into the wall and staying there
when the spear kept him up. He gasped and then his eyes widened
with fear. He opened his mouth, but before he could scream, sharp
dagger-like objects shot out of the shaft of the spear and sank
into the human, killing him, and anyone around him instantly.

Riyzan dropped
the weapon in disgust. When had the humans created weapons that
surpassed even military weapons?

More humans ran
into the room, and for a brief moment, Riyzan wondered where they
were all coming from, before he jumped up, landing behind them all
and grabbed two humans by the heads. He smashed their heads
together and felt their skulls shatter. Blood, bones, muscle and
brains oozed from their wounds when he let them go, and then he let
his emotions reign over him, causing the humans Shade fought easily
to clutch their heads and drop to their knees, screaming with
pain.

Shade closed
his eyes and Riyzan felt the change before he saw it. The room
darkened and grew colder when dark shadows seemed to come from his
skin, slithering along the floor like a snake awaiting its next
meal.

When the
screaming humans were covered by darkness, Shade inhaled, and
curled his hands into fists as the shadows retreated, leaving
nothing but lifeless and clearly bloodless bodies in its wake.

He opened his
eyes and they flashed blood-red before returning back to its
original silver colour.

Riyzan saw the
remaining humans huddled in the corner of the room, and strode
forward to end their lives, when Shade appeared in front of him and
stopped him again.

“The only human
responsible for this mess is lying unconscious across the room—the
others are innocent, owners of this house who were threatened into
giving up their home for the human’s sick games.” Shade turned his
attention to a woman laid on the floor, her eyes open and lifeless,
blood spread all around her. “They killed her because Surquyn
screamed while they tortured her.” He moved away slowly, obviously
not wanting to scare the humans, and reached down to the dead
woman’s face so he could gently close her unseeing eyes.

Riyzan inhaled
deeply, calming his anger and turned to Rhijakh. “Take the
innocents and see what you can do to help them.”

He nodded and
moved forward, slowly and calmly.

Shade stood,
and glanced at another body lying near the woman, and then met
Riyzan’s eyes.

He glanced down
himself and felt his blood boil and his anger rise. Too caught up
in the battle, he had failed to notice Surquyn convulsing on the
floor, blood flowing from a wound on her neck, her mouth, nose,
eyes and ears. He rushed forward, placed his hands either side of
her face, brushed her hair back and stroked her cheeks. “Surquyn?
Can you hear me?” When she didn’t respond, Riyzan bit into his
wrist and let his blood drip into her open mouth. She responded
instantly, swallowing and growling.

Her eyes flew
open, full of anger and hunger, and she lunged for Riyzan, knocking
him back.

Acting quickly,
he rolled backwards onto his feet, horrified to see his wife act in
such a rabid way, pulling against the chains and baring her
fangs.

Riyzan glanced
at the blood sliding down his hand and then at Surquyn. He stepped
forward.

“She’ll kill
you,” Shade called from the other side of the room.

“She needs
blood or her hunger will kill her first.” Riyzan glanced at Shade.
“She has not yet controlled her hunger. If I leave her, bloodlust
will take her life before she can take mine.”

“You are sure?”
Shade looked worried.

Riyzan smiled.
“Shade, son, I am Lord Riyzan Theraux, the first of the first. I
have been through many things in my life, both with and without
Surquyn by my side. She helped me through my own bloodlust—never
leaving my side even when it meant she was faced with death by my
own hands more times than we could both count. As long as I am
careful, I can bring her back.”

Shade took a
deep breath and nodded. “I’ll step in if I feel you need it.”

Riyzan moved
forward slowly, making Surquyn fight harder to get free. When he
stepped within reaching distance, Surquyn lunged for him but before
she could sink her teeth into his neck, he lifted his arm up so he
could keep her away from his major vein. She chewed on his arm,
covering her face with his blood.

Her hunger
slammed into him, knocking him to his knees with Surquyn following,
still chewing and drinking from his arm. He inhaled deeply,
resisting the urge to sink his fangs into her flesh, to taste her
blood while she drank from him.

Instead, Riyzan
broke the chains holding her and pulled the needles from her
wrists, thighs and neck. He watched her wounds knit back together
and felt her life-force and energy grow stronger with each
swallow.

She moaned
softly, her breath tickling his skin, causing Riyzan to groan when
he inhaled deeply, taking in her arousal.

He looked at
her and saw her watching him, and smiled. “Welcome back.”

She pulled her
fangs out of his skin and swallowed the last of the blood in her
mouth before speaking. “I knew you would rescue me.”

“Always and
forever.” Riyzan pulled her close and buried his face into the
crook of her neck, inhaling deeply. Her scent forced the anger
inside down and made him feel calm, just as it always had done. And
just like usual, his hunger for both her blood and body rose.

Surquyn
chuckled and put her lips to his ear. “Even in a time like this,
you cannot stop your body and mind from reacting.”

Riyzan growled
and pulled her closer, rubbing himself against her, letting her
feel just how much she affected him.

Shade cleared
his throat and raised his brow when Riyzan looked over. “We have
some questioning to do. I’d rather do this first before I leave you
to…bask in your glory.”

Riyzan glared
at the human knelt at Shade’s feet. Keeping Surquyn tucked against
his side, he strode forward. “Why?”

“You’ll have to
elaborate. I don’t speak vampire,” the human spat.

Shade laughed
and dug his fingers into the human’s shoulder. He let the human
scream, and the sound of bones breaking filled the air and then
eased his grip. “Why did you do this?”

The human
didn’t answer.

Shade tightened
his hold on him again. “Believe me, I can do this for hours,
torturing you just like you humans did to my kind.”

The human spat
at Shade’s feet. “You don’t scare me! You’ll never find out why I
did this!”

“He wants
Layla,” Surquyn spoke up quietly.

Shade growled
menacingly, grabbed the human around the throat and slammed him
into the wall. “Why do you want Layla? What do you want with
her?”

The human
laughed. “A war is coming, a war you creatures won’t be able to
stand up against. I’d pick your sides before you end up like your
precious Layla.”

Shade’s anger
flared, filling the room with darkness that oozed out of him and
the human squeezed his eyes shut tight, his entire body shaking and
the scent of fear seeping from his skin.

“Who is behind
all this?” Riyzan asked, knowing the puny human cowering in Shade’s
grip couldn’t have orchestrated anything like this.

The human
didn’t answer.

“Who do you
answer to?” Riyzan asked angrily.

“I answer to no
monster!” Before anyone could react, the human pulled a gun from
his jacket and shot himself in the head.

Silence fell in
the room as everyone watched Shade drop the human to the floor,
half of his head sliding down the wall.

“Well, a fat
lot of good that was.” Shade sighed and then stiffened. The lights
flickered and a tremble ran through the room when Shade’s eyes
flashed with anger. “I have to go,” he spoke through gritted
teeth.