Inferno Read online

  Inferno

  Erica Stevens

  Copyright Heather Cox 2012

  Published by Gilmour-Cox Publishing at Smashwords

  CHAPTER 1

  “This is the center of town?” Melissa inquired softly, surprise and disbelief evident in her voice.

  Devon stared out at the small buildings as they drove slowly past. There was a tiny post office with two mailboxes out front, a barber shop, tailor, feed store, dry cleaner, a bank, and a rather large general store he suspected passed as their grocery store too. He turned down a side road, passing by a Catholic church, a synagogue, and a Lutheran church. The road came to an end, splitting back toward the woods and back roads, or back toward the center of town.

  Though a few cars lined the roadsides, they were all in parking spaces. They had not been abandoned but placed there by their owners. Even the homes they drove by still had cars waiting expectantly in their driveway, just hoping that their owners would come out and take them for one final spin. Devon knew that was not going to happen.

  “Go back,” Chris said softly.

  Devon turned back toward town, trying to get a sense of the place, trying to figure out if there were still people living amongst the small array of buildings. “Do you sense anything?” he asked softly.

  Chris’s hand tightened on the back of Devon’s seat as he leaned forward. “No,” he whispered. “Nothing. But a lot of people may not live close to town. Just because there appears to be no one left in these homes doesn’t mean there still aren’t people somewhere else.”

  “Go further down that way,” Luther instructed, pointing ahead of Devon.

  He kept to the left, heading down a small road that was lined with woods, but dotted with antique stores, a couple of bookstores, another dark gas station, and one log cabin that sold honey. “There’s a school about a mile down, but I don’t think that will do us any good,” Luther said softly, watching the GPS. “We’re going to need to find a place to stay soon.”

  Devon made another left, heading back toward the main strip. “We can return to the hotel, I don’t think they would go back there after exhausting their prey, but I don’t know for sure. Daylight will offer us no protection either, some Halflings can go out during the day, they are still part human after all.”

  Melissa shuddered, shaking her head forcefully as she wrapped her arms around herself. “Absolutely not, I am not going back to that hotel. That room was awful, just awful.”

  “Maybe we can find a house to hole up in,” Liam said softly.

  “You mean one of the homes where the people have either disappeared, or are splattered all over the walls?” Melissa demanded. Terror constricted her voice as it took on a note of raw panic.

  “We have to stay somewhere,” Liam responded reasonably. “And we all have to eat eventually.”

  Melissa turned away, her dark eyes scanning the night as she bit hard on her bottom lip. It was more than apparent that she didn’t want to stay in this town, but there was no way that Devon was leaving it. Though he had no proof that Cassie was here, it was the closest they had come to finding anything since she had disappeared. He knew that none of them wanted to be in this godforsaken town, but they would not leave it until he knew what was going on.

  Devon drove back through the main street, trying hard to get a sense of what was going on, but still finding nothing. “Did Halflings kill all of these people?” Chris asked softly.

  Devon shook his head as he gripped the wheel tighter. “No, they couldn’t have. There would have to be at least a hundred of them to kill all of these people before their neighbors noticed. I don’t know what is going on here, but no one would be crazy enough to allow that many Halflings to roam the earth,” Devon said softly. Though he said the words, he wasn’t completely convinced of them as they made their way slowly down the deserted road. This place was far too strange and quiet to rule out any possibility, even one he didn’t want to think about.

  “Do you think something else happened to them?” Melissa inquired worriedly.

  “There’s no way to know that right now,” Annabelle answered.

  They all grew silent for a moment. “Well if I start trying to eat your brains, you have my permission to cut my head off,” Chris said softly.

  “Excuse me?” Liam asked in surprise.

  “You know the zombie movies where no one ever knows how, but all the people start to go crazy and try to eat everyone else’s brains,” Chris explained patiently.

  Liam stared back at him for a moment, his nearly silver eyes questioning and thoughtful. He finally shook his head, his shaggy brown hair falling in disarray around his handsome face. “That is why I don’t watch TV.”

  “Seriously?” Chris snorted in disbelief, looking as if he believed the zombie story more than Liam’s statement.

  “Really,” Liam stated. “I prefer to read. Remember, I was born in a time before electronics.”

  “Yeah, but things have greatly improved since then. You need to join the age of technology. I mean, you drive this big Caddy with a GPS and every new technological device in it, but you don’t watch TV?”

  Liam shrugged again; Chris glanced toward Annabelle who lifted her dainty shoulders in response. Her normally lively sea green eyes were dull and flat, exhaustion and stress had taken their toll on her. “I like the Caddy and technology,” she told Chris. “Liam still prefers horseback.”

  Chris chuckled softly as he slapped Liam on the back. “Oh man, I have so many great things to show you! Once this mess is over I’m gonna introduce you to the wonderful world of the twenty first century!”

  “Yes, and until then, can we leave the TV talk till later,” Devon growled.

  Everyone within the vehicle grew quiet as he drove down another road, discovering the small firehouse and police station. A half a mile away from them was an ice cream stand, boarded up for the winter, and a tiny movie theatre that had no showings listed. Though they passed a few more houses, Devon still could not pick up any hint of human life.

  “Go back to town Devon. The General Store will probably be the best place for us to hole up for a bit. It should have supplies, and maybe even some weapons,” Luther said softly.

  Melissa shook her head forcefully, her dark hair spilled around her as she hugged her knees tight to her chest. Chris rested a hand lightly on her arm, seeking to comfort her. Though she had not seen the inside of the manager’s office with his broken, bloodied body, the vision she had received of it had shaken her greatly. “Can’t we just stay in the car?” she whispered.

  “Melissa, we need a place where we can relax, move about, eat, go to the bathroom, maybe even sleep,” Annabelle said softly. “And we can’t keep the car running all day, we don’t know if we can get gas out of the stations.”

  “We can siphon it out of other cars.”

  Annabelle sighed softly as she leaned forward to grasp hold of Melissa’s arm. “We’ll stay in the car for a little longer,” she conceded. “But we can’t stay forever, and we do need to stay in this town for at least another day. There may be survivors out there that need our help, and we have to know what is going on here.”

  Melissa hesitated for a moment, biting hard on her bottom lip before nodding slowly. Her shoulders stiffened as resolve settled over her pretty features. “Ok.”

  Devon wound his way back through town. “I’m not so sure I want to know what is going on here,” Chris mumbled.

  Devon silently agreed, but he wasn’t leaving this town until he knew for sure that Cassie was not here. That she was not somehow caught up in the oddity that was this town. Chris bolted suddenly upright, his hand slammed down on the back of Devon’s seat. “Stop the car! Stop the car!”

  “What the hell!” Melissa cried.

  “Is it Ca
ssie?” Devon demanded, jolting everyone forward as he slammed on the brakes.

  Chris was sitting eagerly forward, his normally bright eyes dark as they scanned the night. “No,” Chris said softly, his voice tinged with an odd sense of disbelief. Devon’s hope plummeted; he gripped the wheel tight as he fought the urge to rip it free of the car. “It’s Julian.”

  Devon turned to him in shock, his mouth dropped as Chris’s words sank in. “What!?” Annabelle gasped in disbelief. “Are you sure?”

  Chris’s forehead furrowed in confusion, he frowned in perplexity as he shook his head slightly. “I’m sure it’s him, but it’s different. He feels different.”

  “What do you mean?” Devon growled, unable to believe that Julian was actually here.

  It made no sense, what could he possibly be doing here? What the hell could he be doing in this strange town? Though Devon didn’t trust him, he knew that Julian would not have created the monsters that were running loose here. Julian knew better than to do that, he knew what kind of havoc and death such creatures could render. And though Julian loved mayhem and murder more than most, even he would not want to take the risk of having the vampire population exposed to the outer world. Vampires liked to keep their secrets, and they liked to keep their identities safe from terrified humans that would only want to destroy their race.

  Chris shook his head again; he rubbed the bridge of his nose as he tried to sort through the emotions he was feeling. The emotions that Julian was emitting. “I don’t know Devon. It is Julian, I’m certain of that, but he’s not the same. He’s not as angry or something, he’s not as… he’s not as…” Chris broke off, at a loss for words as he stared helplessly at Devon. “He’s not as filled with hatred.”

  Devon frowned over Chris’s odd statement; his confusion was mounting by the second. What was going on here? “How far is he from here?”

  Chris stared out at the dark road, and then pointed ahead of him. “Ahead of us somewhere. Not far. I don’t think.”

  “You don’t think?” Devon grated.

  “Devon, just drive slowly,” Annabelle said gently, soothingly. “We’ll find him.”

  Excitement pulsed through Devon; it thrummed through his skin and electrified his body. His knuckles were white upon the steering wheel as he began to move slowly forward once more. Hope filled him, anticipation consumed him. They had been looking for Cassie, and had somehow managed to stumble upon the one person that could truly help them find her. He didn’t linger on thoughts of what Julian could possibly be doing here, he only thought about finding him. And in turn, finding Cassie.

  “Dani,” Chris whispered.

  “Excuse me?” Melissa demanded, anger filled her onyx eyes as she whipped around to face Chris.

  “Dani is with him,” Chris said softly.

  Fury exploded through Devon, the world turned into a fiery haze of red. Dani and Julian were together! Had Julian helped Dani, and The Commission, take Cassie from him? If he had, Devon was going to rip Julian limb from limb. Beside him, Luther leaned away, his eyes wide as he studied Devon in horror. Chris seized hold of his shoulder, his hand clenching tight. “You have to calm down Devon; I can’t feel them over your anger. I can’t feel them over your emotions,” he said in a choked voice.

  Devon tried to calm himself but the fiery rage was building inside him, shaking him to the very core of his being. He needed to compose himself; he had to get a hold of his emotions. They had to find Julian. It may be the only chance that they had of finding Cassie, and he could not risk losing it. If Dani was near, than Cassie had to be also. It was Dani that had caused this, Dani was the one that had helped to take Cassie from him.

  He shuddered as he tried to keep himself from completely unraveling, but he had never suspected that Julian may well be in on all of this too. That Julian may have helped Dani. That he may have aided in taking Cassie away from him, that Julian may have hurt her.

  “Stop!”

  The shout, issued from Melissa, caused him to slam the brakes on again. He jerked against the steering wheel as Luther slammed off the dash. “What the hell?” Liam demanded, shoving himself off the back of the passenger seat.

  “Look!” Melissa leaned eagerly forward, thrusting a finger at the woods. “There! I know I saw something. There!”

  Devon strained to see through the woods on his left, and then he saw it. The headlights highlighted a flash of red eyes as one of the Halflings darted into some thick underbrush. He watched as it scurried out of sight once more. It was coming at the car in a zigzagging pattern that helped to keep it hidden behind the trees. “It’s coming for us,” Annabelle said softly, a small hitch in her voice.

  “Yes,” Devon agreed in a low growl, his hands twisted on the wheel as he fought the urge to go after the Halfling. He was spoiling for a fight, spoiling to get rid of some of the rage and confusion boiling through him. But there was no time for it right now. Not when they were this close to finally getting some answers.

  He reached down to shift back into drive when a flurry of motion about a hundred feet up, and to the right, caught his attention. He turned toward it as three figures burst out of the woods. They stumbled up an embankment before staggering onto the road. Devon’s mouth dropped, his chest constricted painfully as they turned toward the vehicle.

  The lights played over them, highlighting their figures against the dark night. Cassie’s golden hair shimmered in the bright glow; it glimmered as brightly and beautifully as the sun. It was the balm that he had needed, the wonder he had been searching for, the sight of her instantly calmed the furious monster raging inside of him. It brought back to him the warmth and joy that he had been missing for the past couple of weeks.

  Though she was dirty, and bedraggled, her delicate features were the most amazingly wonderful thing he had ever seen. The scrubs she wore were torn, bloodied, and wet from the snow covered branches of the forest. Her bare feet were bloodied and raw looking.

  She stared at them for a moment longer, her red eyes bright in the pallor of her face. It was those red eyes that terrified him most, that left him stunned and horrified. Had he lost her? Was she gone? Was she one of the things that had devastated this town? And just what was she doing with Julian and Dani? Her mouth parted in surprise, her eyes widened in horror as she stared at the vehicle for a long moment.

  Julian was the first to react as he began to pull her rapidly toward the other side of the road. Devon’s eyes latched onto their hands, tightly entwined as Cassie scurried after Julian, Dani close behind. It was the sight of those hands that drove him into action. He would not lose her like this, he would not lose her to Julian, and he sure as hell was not going to let her disappear again.

  He couldn’t survive if he lost her again.

  Throwing the door of the SUV open he plunged into the cold. “Cassie!” he bellowed as they slipped down the hillside of the road and back into the woods.

  Cassie froze instantly, stumbling slightly as Julian briefly pulled her onward. Her head whipped toward him, her hair billowed around her as the wind caught hold of it. Her eyes met his, widening even more as tears bloomed instantly within the bright ruby depths. Even from their distance, and above the howl of the wind, he heard her gasp his name.

  “Devon!” she tugged her hand free of Julian’s. Using her hands, she pulled herself back up the embankment, scrambling through the shifting rocks that skittered under her feet. “Devon!”

  He remained frozen as she reached the road, still too stunned by her sudden arrival, and her reaction to him, to move. Her reddened eyes suggested that she was something different, someone else, but her reaction to him was what he would have expected from his Cassie. The one that had loved him wholeheartedly, the one that never would have been holding hands with Julian. Her voice rang with pure joy, her face lit with the radiance of love as she reached the road.

  He didn’t know what was going on, and at that moment, he didn’t care. Releasing the car door, he raced toward her, needing
to hold her, needing to feel her, and touch her once more. “Cassie look out!”

  It was Julian’s shout that alerted him to the danger he had forgotten about in his shock at seeing her, in his rush to hold her. The blur moved swiftly from the woods, emerging just feet from her as it raced across the road toward her. It was hunched over, using its hands and feet like an ape as it bolted across the asphalt.

  Cassie’s eyes widened, her mouth dropped as it barreled toward her. “Cassie!” Devon shouted, terror tearing through him. The thing was closer to her than he was, closer than Julian, who had raced out of the woods after her. Devon was amazed, and startled, by the strange certainty that Julian would protect her from that thing, that Julian would not hurt her.

  Cassie darted to the side as the thing launched at her, its clawed hands outstretched with deadly intent. Twisting slightly, she seized the creature by the collar of the tattered shirt it still wore, though the thing was clearly nothing even closely resembling human anymore. She moved swiftly, spinning to the side as she flung it away from her. Devon blinked in surprise, startled by the strength and speed she displayed. But his surprise didn’t slow him down as the creature rebounded to its feet. It screamed in fury and hunger as it raced back at her, causing Cassie’s eyes to widen slightly in fear. She was braced for the attack, ready to face it head on, but Devon raced past her, seizing hold of the creature before it got to her.

  His hand tightened around its throat as he slammed it onto the roadway, smashing its head off the asphalt. It howled loudly, squirming beneath Devon’s tight hold, its fingers clawing at his hand as Devon squeezed down. Disgust curved his upper lip as he crushed the creature’s windpipe with a sickening pop.

  The squeals and grunts were silenced, but the monster continued to claw and squirm beneath him. He glanced up at Cassie, horrified to find her watching as he slowly decapitated the pathetic thing. Julian arrived at her side, his eyes narrowed as they met Devon’s. He grasped hold of Cassie’s shoulders, spinning her swiftly away.