Page 1 of Salvation
CHAPTERONE
Wolfe stoodin the doorway and watched the sky turn from gold to red with a deep sense of dread. He longed for the solace of the night but knew it would only bring more anger and frustration. With each passing minute, his temper festered, and his patience wore thin. The plan had been for the group to leave LA sooner rather than later and make their way east in the hopes they might eventually meet up with the others. That was providing Ryder and Decker were still alive. His communications had been cut off right after the other two vampires had left Site R to head out into the vast, nasty-as-fuck world. There was no explanation why his satellite phone had stopped working, but like everything else in this godforsaken shit hole, it had quit. A dead phone was the least of his worries, however. The moment all his vampires, including him, had become deathly allergic to the sun, and burned, or worse, turned to ash, caused him great concern. It also made travel plans far more complicated. It meant they had to go out under the mask of darkness, which would be fine with their exceptional sight, but every other dangerous creature also hunted under the cloak of night, and he had a lot of humans here to protect.
“What’s our plan tonight?” Xavier, who was Wolfe’s right and, many times, left hand took up space beside him.
“Fuck if I know. Seems like every damn time I make one, things go to shit. I thought we might try winging it this time.”
“We’ve certainly done that enough in our life.”
His friend was correct. Being Navy Seals––or rather ex-Navy since he doubted there was a fucking military left out there in this dead world––meant they had to improvise a lot in the field. They were used to changing plans, but when on a mission, there was always a Plan B, C and so on. Now, he had nothing, and it pissed him off.
He sighed and finally looked over at his friend. “I don’t know how much more of this I have left in me.”
Xavier narrowed his green gaze. “Seems to me you got no choice.”
“I have the choice to step into the sun and end it all. It sounds better every day, but fate has thought to fuck up that plan as well.”
“You referring to Luna?”
“What else?” He went back to studying the setting sun which had dipped behind a ten-story apartment building he knew to be occupied by demons. At least those creatures were smart enough to stay out of his way.
“I still can’t believe it, but at least now we know. The men are freaking out, however.” Xavier shifted his weight out of a small ray of light that penetrated the doorway.
“They are not the only ones. Luna was completely inconsolable the other night. This is no world to have a baby in and I don’t need to tell you we have no doctor.” It was another reason they needed to leave LA.
“I stick my dick in it once and look what fucking happens.” Well, his fangs had been first and both he and Luna had surrendered to their lust as he was feeding from her. She had begged him, and he was still a man with needs. He’d be lying if he said he tried to tell her no. Besides, there had been plenty of sex between the vampires and the humans without incident. They all had become complacent.
“Well, wasn’t reproduction part of the plan here?” Xavier pulled him from his thoughts.
“Yes, but it wasn’t supposed to be me who did it first. Neither of us bare a marking, either.” He recalled the conversation he had when the angels last visited. Tegan, his mate Rhea, and their newborn son had paid them a visit to announce the news. Luna was with child, and she was the first survivor to become pregnant. Seemed when the angel babe was born, his energy helped in humanity's procreation or some such bullshit. Then there had been the mention of mate markings. He was already aware of Ryder, Decker and a few of the others who fate had intervened and dictated who they were going to spend the rest of their lives with. He also understood the vampires’ mates had become something other than human. Ryder’s mate was a cat shifter and Decker’s apparently, a powerful witch.
All Wolfe could think of when the angels had been here was why the fuck hadn’t they offered any help.
“The angels can’t interfere too much.” Xavier read his thoughts.
“Oh but they interfered. They are the ones who sent Arsenia to turn me and the others into bloodsuckers.” Wolfe thought back to that night when he had been minding his own business and having drinks with his friends, Ryder, Decker, and Shade. He had left shortly after Decker, eager to head back home to spend time with his girlfriend before he had to go on mission again. He never made it. Outside, he had been attacked, shocked at the strength of a female who had dragged him into the back alley and bit him in the neck. He recalled little after that except an eternity of bloodlust and feeling like he was in a fog. When he'd finally come out of it, he learned about the primordials.
Ryder, Decker, Shade and himself were the first to be turned into vampires. All Navy Seals, all friends, and now they were tasked with keeping humanity alive. Well, what was left of the humans after Morbus, a demon known to start catastrophic plagues, had been freed from Hell. The Red Death, as it had been named, started out as a cold. By day three, open sores filled with green puss and a fever took over and by day seven you started bleeding through your skin, eyes, and nose until you died. If you were one of the lucky ones, your heart exploded, saving you from days of suffering. Millions had died, driving the entire planet into an apocalypse. It hadn’t taken long for infrastructure to shut down and demons to take hold of their world. If having Hell’s finest among them wasn’t enough to contend with, they now had rogue vampires who seemed to portal in without notice and try to suck dry any human they could get their fangs into, thus creating more of their kind.
Each day was full of surprises. He had grown to hate surprises.
“Maybe you and Luna will get a mating mark. Maybe you won’t. Does it really matter?”
He sighed again. “No. I will take care of her and the baby when it comes. Just as I take care of all those we have among us.” There were one hundred females and three hundred males in his camp. A lot to deal with, but luckily, seventy-five of the men were now vampires. Most turned either by him, Xavier, or one of the others.
“Sun is down now. Ready to go?”
Wolfe supposed he was as ready as he was ever going to be. He hated this city, but until they stopped turning to ash in the sun, or figured out a way to travel safely, there would be no moving out of Los Angeles and her towering protection.
* * *
Aurora slippedfrom the only home she had known for the past year. It was surprising how many stayed away from the cathedral, but she supposed it made sense that demons would have no use for Our Lady of the Angels. It wasn’t like they would make any confessions anytime soon. Even her friend Lilith came no further than the sidewalk, professing she would burn the second she crossed the threshold.
“There you are. I was beginning to worry about your safety.” Lilith leaned against a broken streetlight.
“I had some praying to do,” she lied. She had stopped asking God for any help when she had been changed against her will. She figured he was busy finding new ways to torment them because he certainly wasn’t trying to save them.
“Why do you bother? Has it done you any good?” Her friend hissed.
