Heather Graham - Kiss Of Darkness

Jeremy went flying, slamming back against the doorframe.

Nancy’s eyes darted back to the woman. She saw the fire in her eyes, felt her own terror rise. Watched the fangs, dripping with anticipation.

And she could do nothing but weep in her soul. The woman’s touch, her eyes…it was as if Nancy had been stung by a paralyzing spider. She could not prevent her own demise. She could not even cry out, only hear herself scream in terror inside her head.

Then there was a shattering sound. As if someone had burst into Mary’s room through a window. The sound changed everything. Or maybe the arrival of whatever…whoever…had caused the that sound. Nancy felt something stirring in her, a sense of herself, of strength. She stared at the screen. There was someone else in that room now…a presence. Broad-shouldered, tall, dominating. A man, and something about his appearance…

What?

Changed everything. Evened the playing field. Gave her…hope.

He was wearing a large, low-brimmed hat and a floor-length leather trench coat, like an old railway frock coat. And he carried what appeared to be a longbow.

The man moved with the speed of lightning, stringing his bow in a blur.

He stood still for a moment, a bastion against the insanity.

“No,” gasped the woman at Nancy’s side. “No.” she repeated, a whine of protest and even of horror.

Nancy no longer had any idea what was real and what was not, but she, too, knew that everything had changed.

The man had burst not just through glass but through the spell that had been upon them, the miasma…

The evil.

The dominatrix reached the room. She hadn’t been prepared for this, hadn’t believed…

She threw open the door, her heart thundering with fear, with anticipation. What had been conjecture was now proved to be true. He was there.

But someone else was there, as well. Someone unknown to her, yet she sensed his power.

She straightened, hesitating, knowing she had to make a split-second decision.

And then she saw the other man more clearly. Not his face, for his hat was drawn too low, but she saw the longbow, the way his head was bent, eyes on his target.

She backed away.

Who? What?

Then she heard screams coming from below.

Screams of shrill, uncanny terror.

All hell had broken loose.

Indecision tore at her for a moment.

Alone. She shouldn’t have been alone.

She should have seen to it that she had help with her. But she hadn’t really known what would happen here. So she was alone.

What to do?

Whatever was happening here, there was a force at work to counter evil, while down below…

The screams continued.

She turned and ran.

She could move, Nancy realized. The sound of the shattering glass had somehow freed her.

She stood, screaming—aloud, this time.

On the screen, the arrow was fired. It caught the fanged monster in the shoulder. The creature hissed, then gave an ungodly roar of fury.

It seemed to echo and echo….

A hand fell on Nancy’s arm. She looked down and shivered. Not a hand, a talon. She looked again at the woman who had tried to seduce her, who looked even less human than before.

Her grip, again, was powerful.

Chaos broke out. People were rising all around. Some, like her, were screaming…fighting.

And others—like the woman beside her—were shrieking in fury, attacking.

Something seemed to fly into the room. A shadow, the essence of darkness and speed. As Nancy stood, a continual scream flowing from her lips, the woman was ripped away from her.

“Get out!” The command was harsh. Male? Female? She couldn’t tell.

She was all too willing to obey, however. She ran for the entry, terror lending her speed.

Behind her, someone cried her name. She was afraid to turn, even though she knew it was Mary calling out to her. She was afraid to stop.

Mary caught up to her, still dressed in the gossamer gown. In the back of Nancy’s mind, she knew it was cold out and that her friend would freeze.

Tears were streaming down Mary’s cheeks. “We’ve got to get out.”

Someone shouted behind them. They heard a cry of savage fury, saw a body go flying across the room and slam against the bar. They heard a snap, the sound of bones breaking.

They stumbled for the door and burst out into the night. Mary stopped dead still. “Jeremy is still in there.”

She turned. Nancy grasped her by the shoulders. “You can’t go back in there.”

“Jeremy tried to save me,” Mary said. Her teeth were chattering.

Someone burst through the door behind them, someone they had seen at the bar. He practically shoved them out of the way, then stopped, staring wildly around.

He turned back. He was large and well muscled. His eyes, however, echoed their own terror.

“Got to get away,” he said in German-accented English. He started to run, then stopped, stripping his jacket from his shoulders, throwing it toward them. Nancy caught the jacket and automatically wrapped it around Mary’s shoulders. The German man continued to stare at them. “Get away,” he said tonelessly.

“To where?” Nancy wailed.

But the man was gone, running blindly toward the forest.

“We’ve got to go, too,” Nancy said.

“Jeremy,” Mary repeated.

Others began to burst out the door. Like the man before them, they began racing madly toward the mist-filled forest.

Nancy dragged her friend in the same direction, though Mary felt like lead. Nancy stared at her and realized that she was in shock. Her eyes were wide; her teeth continued to chatter. She was as pale as ash.

Nancy knew she had to move for the both of them. She dragged Mary with her, heading toward what looked like a trail.

A new sound made itself heard, but what it meant didn’t register in her mind. She just knew they had to get away.

“Come on, come on,” she pleaded. And then, at last, Mary began to move. Through the mist, Nancy saw the trail more clearly. She staggered toward it.

Jeremy was in agony the minute consciousness returned. The bursting pain in his head was overwhelming. He tried to open his eyes but couldn’t. He became aware of movement, of shouts, of a fight.

He heard grunts of ferocious determination and raw anger. Something fell, close to him. He forced his lids open. He could see figures…men, flying at one another. Something else landed at his side.

Eyes open. Steady his head. Ignore the agony.

Get to his feet.

Using the wall, he managed to rise. Once he was up, he fought a savage wave of nausea that threatened to cause him to black out again. There was a thud. And then…

Silence.

He turned, aware that he needed to flee, but he stumbled. Someone was striding toward him. He screamed, throwing up his arms, too exhausted to fight.

His mind cried out that he should remain standing.

But his body gave out, and he began to fall.

Nancy found a place under the trees where at least the blast of the wind was blocked. She remained in terror that any minute they would be attacked by a monster, but she knew she couldn’t possibly walk all the way back to the village with Mary. Her friend’s feet were bare. She all but needed to be carried, and Nancy didn’t have the strength for that. She lowered her head, suddenly recognizing the newest sound.

Sirens. Thank God! There were police, even here, deep in the shrouded forest, in this no man’s land of darkness and mist….

The police would find Jeremy.

“Miss?”

She froze. The voice had come from behind her. Terror snaked up her spine once again. She couldn’t turn.

It had been a man’s voice, deep, husky. There had been nothing threatening in it, but still…