Nightfall (Nightfall Book 1)
Chapter 21

Arkemoz couldn’t believe this was happening. Not only had James apparently drunk blood, but he was now nowhere to be found. While the demon was still not entirely sure what it does to a vampire to drink blood—and neither did he know why—he knew it was bad, and the fact that James was gone was worse.

The demon had helped search the warehouse and the surrounding area, but of course they’d found nothing. The car was still here, so they hadn’t left using conventional means. Arkemoz had known that before even starting to search, but he had needed something to busy himself with.

He had known it would go wrong. And James’ assurance that Aegis could replace him through the tracking spell didn’t help much now that it was apparently not working. Qironin had already tried to locate the vampire, and from how he’d described it, it sounded just like what had happened when they’d tried replaceing Azralis.

Arkemoz knew that Qironin was trying other spells to try to replace James, but the demon was about ready to cast some of the spells he knew to try it himself. He knew he wouldn’t succeed—he didn’t know nearly enough about magic to even try to challenge angelic magic, and he certainly didn’t know nearly as much as Qironin—but standing around doing nothing was unbearable.

He sighed as he walked back to the warehouse. He didn’t really pay any attention to the people standing around it, though he couldn’t help but notice Denise, who was very obviously looking at him.

She was probably planning on assuring him again that James could handle himself, and while Arkemoz didn’t doubt that she was right, he wasn’t sure if this applied in this situation. Of course, maybe everything was going according to plan, and James was learning important information from their enemies, but how were they supposed to know if they couldn’t locate him or contact him?

He sincerely hoped that everything was going well, of course, but somehow, he didn’t think it was. Maybe he was overly pessimistic, though.

Arkemoz stopped in front of the warehouse, a bit away from the group of vampires waiting there, and watched as through the half-open metal door Qironin was trying a spell to reopen the portal that had been there.

At least that was Arkemoz’s guess because how else would James and the other vampire had left? And angels knew portal magic very well, even better than demons, possibly. It would make sense to use them to travel on Earth.

“Hey, you all right?” Arkemoz almost flinched when he heard Denise’s voice and realized she was standing right next to him. He hadn’t noticed her move toward him at all. Vampires were far too fast.

The demon just shrugged, not sure how to answer her question. He supposed he was okay, aside from being annoyed and worried. He wasn’t used to worrying about others so much, though. He wasn’t sure he liked it.

“I’m worried about him, too, you know.” Denise sighed, shaking her head. “We’ll replace him.”

Arkemoz was about to bitterly point out that the two of them could do very little to actually help with that when suddenly the warehouse door slammed shut. Everyone turned to it in shock, with a few of the vampires immediately rushing to the door and trying to open it.

But it didn’t seem to be working, no matter how much they pulled. Arkemoz was about to try to help, him being a lot stronger than them, but he found himself frozen where he was standing as an intense, dark red light shot out through the small windows of the warehouse.

The light was so concentrated it was almost hard to look at, but it shone for only a moment before dissipating and retreating back inside the warehouse. They all stared at the building for a moment longer before someone finally managed to open the door.

Arkemoz’s eyes widened when he saw the red light again, but this time it was in the circular shape of a portal. Had Qironin actually done it? Arkemoz found himself drawing his stake immediately, worried that enemy vampires were about to pour out of the portal at any moment.

“Just a moment,” Qironin called at them from where he was standing in front of the portal, his voice surprisingly grim. Arkemoz had barely noticed him before then, and he blinked in surprise as the warlock waved at them and walked into the portal, disappearing with a flash.

Confused murmuring filled the air around them, and Arkemoz couldn’t blame the vampires at all. He wasn’t sure what exactly had just happened, either. That portal was supposed to lead to their enemies, was it not? So why had Qironin carelessly walked into it, knowing he would could be attacked immediately? Sure, he clearly knew how to fight, as he’d demonstrated back at the Aegis headquarters, but walking right into an enemy base like this was something completely different.

Everyone rushed to the portal, as if by instinct, but no one dared go too close to it. Arkemoz followed behind Denise as she too made her way to it, her own stake in hand.

There was a tense moment of silence as they all watched the shifting portal, and everyone collectively flinched when it flashed. Out came Qironin once again, casually dusting off his shirt, a blood-stained wooden stake in his hand.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Black asked him, his tone sharp but also somewhat resigned, as if he was used to Qironin doing things without consulting anyone.

“They blocked this portal site. I opened it. You’re welcome,” Qironin replied, clear annoyance in his tone. Arkemoz didn’t think he’d heard him use that tone before either. “I killed the vampires guarding it on the other side, but others will notice soon. I suggest we move fast.”

Black gave him an irritated look, but he didn’t tell Qironin anything in reply, only sighing angrily before turning to everyone else. “Kill when necessary, capture if possible. If we are to stop whatever these angels are plotting, we need information. Now let’s move out before we lose the element of surprise because someone didn’t bother consulting anyone before opening this portal.”

Arkemoz would have taken issue with Black not mentioning that they were also looking for James, but that didn’t matter when he thought about it. The demon could handle that himself, never mind with Denise helping him.

With his heart beating wildly in his chest, and his hand tightly clenched around his stake, Arkemoz watched Black and Qironin disappear in the portal, followed by other members of Aegis, who for the most part didn’t look very eager, but they didn’t protest.

As soon as he got the chance, Arkemoz joined them, stepping into the red light of the portal. He stumbled as he was pulled forward, barely managing to catch himself to stop himself from falling as he came through on the other side.

He blinked at all the vampires picking themselves off the ground in front of him, looking about as confused as he felt. This portal must have been very unstable to be this aggressive. He wasn’t surprised that most of the vampires had a problem with it, as he had not fallen only because he had presumably much more experience with portals.

Noticing that next to him Denise was getting up, they moved off to the side of the well-decorated room to give space to everyone still coming through. Arkemoz scanned his eyes over the large, glass chandelier above them, the wood-covered walls, and the long, red curtains that covered up any source of sunlight that might come through.

And then his eyes drifted back to the portal. Even though his mind was mostly preoccupied with his desire to go search for James immediately, he couldn’t help but stop and wonder just what kind of magic Qironin had used to open the gateway. The fact that the door to the warehouse had slammed shut the way it had….

Arkemoz might have not known that much about complex portal magic, but he was fairly certain that there was nothing about it that would have closed that door as a side effect, so Qironin must have done it himself. And he’d also apparently not told anyone he was going to do it. But why?

Arkemoz’s thoughts ended there, however, as he heard a surprised cry coming from his left.

“Oh, fuck, how the hell did you get here?!” yelled a brown-haired woman from the hallway, gawking at them. Arkemoz didn’t need to focus on her to know this was one of the angels’ vampires.

Unfortunately, before anyone managed to react, she bolted, running away to warn anyone else in the building. Black muttered something under his breath before waving his arm at everyone. “Half of you come with me, the other half go the other way with Qironin. Stay together.”

He pointed at the other corridor behind him to make it clear to everyone what he meant, even though there wasn’t really anywhere else to go.

“Now let’s secure the building,” Black added, twirling his stake in his hand as he started walking down the corridor. Arkemoz wondered if he should go with him or not, but with the number of vampires rushing after Black, the decision was made for him before he even had the time to decide.

“Come on, gang,” Qironin said, what would have been an easy smile on his face if not for the hard, determined look in his eyes. “Let’s ask these vampires a few questions.”

Arkemoz wasn’t very interested in taking any of them alive, let alone interrogating them, after they’d drained his blood and had likely done even worse to the other demons, but at the moment he didn’t really care. He wanted to replace James more than he wanted revenge.

Hopefully, if he was here, which he should be—it hadn’t been long since his disappearance—they would replace him as they advanced through the house. Arkemoz took in the cream walls and dark hardwood floors as they left the room and quickly moved through the corridor, looking for any sign of either an enemy or a clue as to where James could be.

But as they moved from one corner of the building to the next, they didn’t come across any resistance. The most they’d encountered was seeing a flash of movement as a vampire ran away from them. Was there so few of them here that Aegis’ forces were enough to scare them into abandoning it? This base was certainly not that small, as they’d yet not reached an end yet, and this was only one floor. Arkemoz had seen stairs, so he knew there were more of them.

“I think we should split up. Cover more ground,” said a woman in the front, and Arkemoz gave a nod, even though she couldn’t actually see him. If they were running, it would make sense to split into smaller groups, so they could search more of this place faster.

“Well, if you think it best…” Qironin replied, though he sounded a bit dubious, like he didn’t think it was a good idea. “Yell if you need help.”

Denise tapped Arkemoz’s shoulder then, pointing at the corridor behind them with her thumb when he looked over at her. Frowning as he followed her, he did his best to keep up with her too fast run.

Arkemoz blinked when after a while she finally stopped, realizing that they were back near the room they’d started from. He was about to ask what they were doing here since they should be searching places they hadn’t been yet, but she explained before he could say anything.

“When we were back here, I thought for a second that I could…I dunno, smell James?” Denise grimaced after she said this, shaking her head. “That sounds weird. But the point is that I think he went through here.”

Did vampires have such a good sense of smell? Then again, Arkemoz supposed he was the same way when it came to demons. They could tell each other apart just by their sense of smell, and while he couldn’t really do the same thing with vampires, Arkemoz supposed it was possible that Denise could.

“I can’t pick up on his scent now, so maybe I just imagined it, but we haven’t gone through here yet, so we might as well check it out, right?”

Arkemoz nodded. There was no reason not to explore the other side of the corridor, though it didn’t look like there would be much to explore. It seemed to him that there was only a short stretch of corridor with a couple of doors before there was a turn to the left, presumably leading the same way they’d originally taken.

As they went, they opened doors one by one, quickly checking what was inside before moving on. Denise seemed to be paying more attention to the rooms than Arkemoz, probably looking for anything important other than James, but Arkemoz didn’t care about that right now. They could check that later, anyhow, but he didn’t stop her, simply moving onto the door farther down the corridor.

As he turned the corner, he was about to open yet another door, when he suddenly saw a heavy, metal door at the opposite end of the corridor, almost hidden beneath a flight of stairs heading up. It looked like nothing else in this place he had seen so far, the simple metal surface a stark contrast with the rest of the décor.

He found himself heading to it immediately, aiming his gaze at the round, metal handle. Whatever was behind this door, hopefully it would be more important than the others he’d seen so far.

As Arkemoz reached the door and grasped the doorknob, he glared when he found the door locked, huffing to himself. He was still not used to physical locks, and they annoyed him very much. Thankfully, unlike magical locks, he knew very well how to get past these.

Gripping the handle and putting his stake back in his pocket, he put his other hand against the door. He showed against it with all his strength, ignoring the squeal of the handle bending in his grip. He did it again, feeling the door giving in, and with one last push the door flew open with a loud crash, the handle ripping off as it went.

Arkemoz only had a second to take in the stairs leading down into what looked like a dark basement before he heard a voice.

“What the hell?”

Arkemoz glared, clenching his fist around his stake as a vampire appeared at the bottom of the stairs. The demon expected the man to attack, of course, but he hadn’t thought the vampire would grin at him with delight before charging up the stairs.

Arkemoz was ready to meet him just as the vampire reached him, however, aiming the stake right for his heart. His attacker managed to dodge at the last second, jumping back a few steps down to do so, which the demon used to push him farther back as he jumped down.

The vampire didn’t let the fact that he had been forced to get back to the bottom of the stairs stop him as he grabbed Arkemoz’s wrists, presumably so he could drink his blood. Arkemoz gritted his teeth as fury filled him at mere thought of it, slamming his head into the vampire’s, causing him to stumble back once again.

Arkemoz raised his stake, prepared to try to strike again when Denise rushed in, punching the vampire before he could attack Arkemoz again. Seeing his opportunity, the demon leaped forward, pushing their adversary to the ground, and finally managing to stab his stake through his chest.

Arkemoz let out a breath as he jumped back while the vampire on the ground disintegrated into dust. They probably could have tried to capture him, but it was too late now. And as far as Arkemoz was concerned, it was for the best. The fewer of these creatures there were, the better.

“A-Arkie!” came a familiar voice from the right. “That was fast.”

Arkemoz quickly turned, finally noticing the wall of metal bars taking up half of the basement. Relief washed over him when he saw James sitting there, grinning at him, but quickly Arkemoz grew furious when he studied him further.

There was blood on James’ face, flowing from both his nose and his split lip, and his cheek looked swollen, even in the dark. His hands were chained up above his head, as well, which only added to Arkemoz’s anger. Had the vampire they’d just killed done that to James? The wounds looked fresh enough to make any other theory unlikely. Now Arkemoz wished he hadn’t killed him so quickly.

He wanted to rush to release James from his bonds when a sudden rattle off to the left drew Arkemoz’s attention to a second person in the cell, one he had completely missed until now. He felt some of his anger melt away, only for it to be replaced by confusion as he frowned at James’ old…acquaintance.

Unlike before, he looked quite pathetic now, huddling in the corner with fear in his eyes as he looked up at them, but Arkemoz was mostly confused why he was even here.

“Why the hell are you here?” Denise asked Nathan, voicing Arkemoz’s thoughts.

“It’s not for fun, I assure you,” Nathan replied with a whisper, his voice shaky and weak. He barely even kept eye contact as he spoke, choosing to stare down at the ground instead.

“Nate upset the angels,” James explained, making Arkemoz shake his head. What did he care about Nathan? He was here to rescue James, and he should be doing that.

Seeing as the door to the cell was already open, Arkemoz walked in, quickly heading to James and breaking apart his handcuffs. He tried his best to ignore James’ injuries. He knew the vampire would heal soon, but it made him angry to see it. At least they had found him.

“Thanks for the rescue, Arkie,” James said brightly as he got up, giving the demon a brief hug. He did seem a bit distracted, though. “I knew you guys would show up. Just didn’t think it would be so quick.”

The bracelet on his wrist was glowing. Arkemoz had noticed that already, of course, but he hadn’t given it any thought until this moment. Arkemoz didn’t need to be told what that meant, as he was already fairly sure. James seemed okay for the most part, but it was unmistakable how long his fangs were when he spoke and smiled. And there was something in his eyes—a sort of hunger that Arkemoz had seen from other vampires when they’d tried to drink him dry. It was intensely worrying, but at least James didn’t seem to want to drink Arkemoz’s blood.

“Good to see you again, man,” Denise said from where she was standing outside the cell. Then she pointed her stake at Nathan, scowling at him. “What do we do with Marlow?”

“If you could kill me, that would be wonderful,” Nathan said with a sigh, prompting Denise to blink at him in surprise. And Arkemoz couldn’t help but feel the same way. Nathan didn’t sound sarcastic, but surely he couldn’t be serious. “But if I could ask something before you do? How in the world did you even get here?”

Arkemoz took a moment to decide if he should answer or not, but Denise ended up doing it for him. “A warlock opened that portal upstairs for us.”

Nathan stared at her silently for a second, looking absolutely baffled. “That…shouldn’t be possible. Only members of the Nightfall can open those.”

“Well, we’ve got a good warlock, I guess,” Denise said dismissively. Though there was a hint of worry in her voice. And for good reason. Because this implied things about Qironin that Arkemoz didn’t like at all. “Is that what you call yourself? The Nightfall?”

Nathan opened his mouth to answer, but James cut in suddenly as he crouched down next to Nathan. “See, Nate? You’ve got information Aegis could use. Let’s get out of here, huh?”

Nathan gave him a fraught, pleading look. The raw despair actually took Arkemoz aback. Of course, he didn’t know Marlow much at all, but he doubted this was how he usually was. “Please, don’t make me do this, James.”

“You don’t have a choice, buddy,” Denise told him, clearly irritated. And no wonder she was, seeing as Nathan had kidnapped her just a few days prior. James gave her a surprisingly annoyed look, but she either ignored him or didn’t even notice because she didn’t react.

“Come on, Nate,” James told him softly. Arkemoz didn’t like the way James was looking at him with sympathy and pity. Nathan was evil, was he not? And he was clearly to blame for his own situation if the angels were truly unhappy with what he’d done. “They’ll go easier on you if you cooperate.”

Nathan sighed, his gaze turning blank as he stared down at the floor in defeat. James looked up at Arkemoz imploringly before turning his eyes to the chains binding Nathan’s arms. The demon was a bit dubious about releasing the vampire, but he supposed there was no avoiding that if they wanted to bring him with them.

Scowling at Marlow, Arkemoz walked over to him, ripping the chains apart. Immediately prepared for the vampire to attack him, Arkemoz raised his stake a little, but Nathan barely moved, only staring down at his hands, the shackles still clasped around his wrists.

It seemed Marlow had given up, but Arkemoz wasn’t going to take that for a fact. He could very well just be pretending and using whatever relationship he and James still had to manipulate the other vampire. It was clear James wasn’t being cautious around him.

The demon tried not to show his displeasure as he watched James help Nathan stand up, pulling his arm around his shoulders. It was difficult to believe a vampire could be this weak after what Arkemoz had seen them do so far, but he stayed silent. He would just keep a close eye on Nathan until Aegis had him locked up somewhere. And seeing the frown Denise was wearing, she seemed to be thinking the same thing.

And she was less willing to stay silent. “You sure this is the best way to handle him, James?” She waved her hand in the general direction of Nathan, glaring at him.

“Look, he can barely walk,” James argued, sounding much more annoyed than he should be, in Arkemoz’s opinion. Nathan kept his gaze firmly glued to the floor, staying silent and completely out of the conversation. “If he tries to run, I think we can catch him.”

Arkemoz scowled at James’ sarcastic tone, but he still said nothing. If he did, it would probably only make their stay here longer, and the sooner they brought Nathan to Aegis, the better. They had angels to stop and demons to save. Arkemoz just hoped Nathan actually knew something useful.