Darkness Falls by A.C. Warneke Page A

Her forehead crinkled in confusion as she tried to remember who she had been before but he doubted the memory would come. The person she had been had died the moment he turned her into a vampire, nearly a hundred years before. In his arrogance, he had never bothered to ask her name. It didn’t matter anyway.
    When the week came to an end, he stood amongst his vampires as they lay in languid repose around him, satiated smiles on their unnaturally beautiful faces. With a heavy heart, he looked around at his creations, his destruction, and knew that his reprieve was at an end. Slowly, dreading the ordeal to come, he dressed in the loose garments he had arrived in.
    “I’m sorry,” he said with genuine remorse.
    Forty-seven pairs of eyes looked up at him with love and devotion, completely void of any trace of humanity. How long had it been since he had seen a glimpse of the human they had been in their dull eyes? He hadn’t even known that the humanity was fading, he hadn’t cared, and now it was now long gone.
    He led the small group to the most serene spot on the Aradian grounds, a glorious waterfall that seemed to sparkle in the sunlight as the water fell. The pool was deep and the water warm and the ground next to the pool was lush in vegetation. There was a small clearing near the pool where his brother was waiting for him, wearing the same grim determination that he felt pressing down on him.
    Their vampires were as placid as sheep going to the slaughter and in that moment he hated them as much as he loved them. They had given him everything of themselves until there was nothing left and now he was going to finally release them.
    One by one he staked his creations, the source of his power, and each loss felt as if he was tearing off a limb or ripping out a piece of his soul. White hot pain radiated from each cell as he slowly made his way through his vampires, barely aware of his brother as Jiro did the same thing. Feryn didn’t know if the vampires screamed because his own screams were shredding his throat. Sweat beaded along his upper lip, his forehead, matting his hair to his scalp. His skin was on fire and he didn’t know how he was going to be able to finish it. If he stopped now he’d never have the resolve to try again.
    He had only staked four.
    It was going to destroy him to stake the rest.
    In agonizing slowness, he moved on to the next vampire, grateful that they didn’t have the desire to flee from him. If he had to chase them down he would have said fuck it. Holding onto the young vamp’s shoulders, he raised his other hand and pressed the tip of the stake over its heart and took a deep, steadying breath. It was as if he was pushing the stake into his own chest and the only way he was able to finish it was through sheer will power.
    “Feryn, I cannot continue.” Jiro’s broken voice grated over Feryn’s exposed nerves and he cringed. Turning his head, Feryn saw that his brother was on his knees, his arms clutching his stomach as blood oozed from his pores.  Reaching up, he brushed his hand over his own forehead. Blood glistened on his fingertips but he couldn’t afford to stop.
    Fuck. When he finished staking his vamps he would take care of Jiro’s since it was his fault his brother ever started creating vampires in the first place. The least he could do was clean up the mess.
    Finally he stood before the woman who was the first and who was going to be the last. Her eyes were wide with fear as she looked up at him but she still didn’t run. As he cupped her cheek, she wrapped her slender fingers around his wrist and whispered, “Please, my love.”
    “I’m sorry, Malorie.” Swallowing against the agony slicing away pieces of his soul, he closed his eyes and slammed the stake through her heart. He could still feel her hands long after she imploded and disappeared. Crumbling to the ground, he had to catch his breath before he dealt with Jiro’s vampires.
    “Feryn,” Jiro croaked. Feryn