Dianne Duvall: Night Reigns

After giving himself another minute to get his breathing under control and stop his trembling, he set off again. The trees parted on a bucolic scene: a rolling meadow that glistened from the evening’s rain laid out like a carpet around a sprawling single-story frame house with a wide front porch and peeling white paint.

Several tree stumps littered the yard. Dennis had ordered them to cut down any trees that grew close to the house so they would be able to see their enemies coming. If those enemies should ever find them, that was.

Considering what had happened to Bastien’s army, Eddie hoped this place remained off the Immortal Guardians’ radar.

Of course, had they not been too lazy, the vampires could have simply uprooted the trees. They sure as hell had the strength. Eddie had once uprooted one to show off for a girl he had dated before Dennis had recruited him. But instead of oohing and ahhing over his new super-strength, then giving him a blow job, she had freaked out, and he’d ended up killing her.

Dumb bitch. Making him lose his temper like that.

(Usually at this point in his recollection of the event, a voice in his head would make a tching sound and say You know your mamma raised you better than that. What the hell’s wrong with you, boy? But that voice had grown quieter and quieter of late, until it had ultimately disappeared.)

Eddie crossed the large lawn in a mortal lope, clomped up the stairs, and entered the unlocked front door.

The interior of the house had been gutted and turned into a huge den. Instead of load-bearing walls there were support pillars that gave the place an open, loft feel. Sofas, lounge chairs, coffee tables, end tables, stools, and even a picnic bench—all scavenged from lawns, porches (gotta love some small town Southerners’ propensity for putting indoor furniture on their front porches), and curbside offerings the night before heavy trash day—filled most of the room.

Vampires, all male and almost all Eddie’s age (twenty-five) or younger, lounged by the dozens, laughing, bragging of the night’s kills, and watching one of two big-ass flat screen televisions.

“’Sup?” Henry asked from his position at the front window. He must be one of the four lookouts tonight.

“Is Dennis here?” Eddie asked, nerves still jangling.

“Yeah. He’s in The Hole with some new recruits.” The Hole was the only bedroom that had been left standing. All four walls, as well as the door, had been reinforced with a butt-load of concrete and steel, then outfitted with manacles. The ceiling had been removed, and the walls extended up into the attic, where Dennis had replaced a large portion of the roof with glass supported by steel bars, allowing the mid-day sun to bake any vampire left in there who had gone so psycho Dennis could no longer control him.

Or any immortal unfortunate enough to be captured.

They’d yet to manage that one.

“Why?” Henry asked, gaze sharpening. “Somethin’ happen?”

Nodding, Eddie sidled closer to him and lowered his voice. “I think I found Roland.”

Henry’s eyes bugged out. “Roland the Immortal Guardian Roland?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re shittin’ me.”

“Nope.”

“Daaaaaaamn. We been lookin’ for him for months.” He looked past Eddie’s shoulder, as if expecting to see Roland standing there, then met his gaze. “What’d ya do with him? Where is he?”

“Chapel Hill.” Eddie fought the urge to squirm. He didn’t relish telling everyone he had been unable to defeat the immortal.

Henry’s eyes narrowed. “You left him in Chapel Hill?” Eddie grimaced. “I didn’t exactly have a choice. Me, Skinny John, Walter, and Kurt met up with Jason, Max, Big John, and Karl over at the Walmart off of 15-501 and were headed for UNC to see if we could find some fresh victims when this Immortal Guardian comes out of nowhere and ...” He shrugged. “It was on.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t Bastien?”

“Yeah. This guy had a woman with him like Roland did.”

“Did she have brown hair?”

“I think so.” It had been hard to tell with her hiding in the trees.

Henry nodded and slapped him on the shoulder. “Good job, man.” He glanced through the window for a second, then once more abandoned his duty. “So the guys are holdin’ him in Chapel Hill?”

Eddie swallowed, stomach souring. “No.”

“What do ya—”

“I’m the only one who made it out alive.”

Henry stared at him. “What?”

“The others are all dead. Roland and his woman destroyed them.”

“They’re dead?” he exclaimed, voice rising.

Eddie looked around as every eye in the house focused on them. “Yeah.”

“Who died?” he heard someone mutter.

Henry shook his head. “You outnumbered him eight to one!”

Eddie bristled at the scorn in his voice. “He had the woman with him. She was armed and—”

Henry sputtered and waved a hand. “The woman doesn’t count. She’s human for shit’s sake! If you can’t kick a human woman’s ass, what the hell good are ya?”

“Well, she sure as hell didn’t fight like a human!”

“Are you saying she was immortal?”

“No, but—”

“Then you should have killed her and kicked Roland’s ass.” Some of the other vamps rose and strode forward to form a semicircle around them.

“Look, you weren’t there,” Eddie snapped. “You’ve never even seen an Immortal Guardian. They aren’t like us.”

“What do you mean?” Wes asked, his butt-ugly mug alight with curiosity. He was a fairly new recruit, turned by Dennis himself only a few months ago.

“Yeah,” Howard tossed in. “How’re they different from us?”

“They’re faster,” Eddie began, his apprehension falling away now that Henry’s contempt had been overshadowed by the other guys’ awe and eagerness to hear a firsthand account of a fight with an immortal.

“How much faster?” Norm asked.

“Like ... fifty times faster,” Eddie said. “And stronger. A lot stronger. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“So what happened?”

He named the guys who had fought beside him again, then—giving plenty of bloodthirsty description and exaggerating his own skills—laid out what had transpired.

“So you just ran?” Henry growled as Eddie wrapped it up.

“No, I didn’t run,” Eddie lied. “At least not the way you make it sound. He cut down seven guys, Henry. I was the only one strong enough to fend off his death blows, but even I could see I wouldn’t be able to take him alone, so I came back here for reinforcements.”

“What for?” Henry pounced. “If he’s as fast as you say he is, he could be all the way to Winston-Salem by now.”

Eddie racked his feeble brain for a response that wouldn’t make him sound like a wuss, opting not to mention the second encounter that had led to Keith’s and Bill’s destruction.

“At least he can confirm what no one else has been able to,” Wes said. “Roland is still in North Carolina.”

Howard nodded. “Which means Bastien probably is, too. I bet Dennis will be happy to hear that.”

Eddie heard the heavy door of The Hole open and moved until, between the vamps congregating around him, he spotted Dennis in the doorway.

“Eddie,” Dennis spoke in that commanding voice of his.

At least he seemed to be in a decent mood tonight. Eddie would rather face Jason, Michael Myers, and Freddy Krueger all together than Dennis in a temper.

Straightening, Eddie said, “Yes, sir?”

“A moment, please.”

“Yes, sir.”

The other vampires parted, allowing Eddie to slip through them and join Dennis in The Hole’s doorway.

“I could use your help evaluating some potential recruits,” Dennis said, drawing him into the room.