Darkness Follows (Book Two)

*Charlotte’s POV*

I went with Zane into the hall where Serena was talking to a group of older vampires.
“Serena, we have a visitor” One of them called to her. She turned to face Zane and me, and then smiled a smile that would fit a mother smiling at her child.
“And what do I hold the pleasure of you being in here Charlotte” she asked
“I have information on that little problem we have” I said, holding up the piece of paper.
“Oh, bring me it” she demanded. The other vampires watched me walk up to her; I straightened my back and walked with confidence as they began to mumble amongst each other. I handed the piece of paper to Serena as she began to read it.
“May I ask what you are all so keenly talking about?” Zane said to the others, this caught Serena’s attention; she gave a harsh glare to them as if, if they didn’t answer they would be in trouble.
“She’s that hunter” someone said
“Yes that child of Alejandro’s”
“She should not be one of us. She should be killed”
“I agree, slaughtered with pain like many of our kind”
I looked at them, fear in my eyes, Serena and Zane looked furiously at them.
Zane walked to the one who had said for me to be slaughtered and grabbed him by the throat and turned into his other form, a large dark wolf.
A great howl came from his throat, and he suddenly and ferociously ripped the vampire into pieces. I was so shocked of what had just happened I backed away from the scene. Serena looked towards me, pity in her eyes.
“That’s enough Zane” She said
Zane slowly began to turn back into his human-like form, turning towards me with blood dripping from his mouth.
“I’m sorry that you had to see that young one, but he should not speak of you like that, and be that a warning to all others that try to test you” Zane said
“I...Um... Thanks... But I already knew that they would never act in a calm manor to me so don’t worry” I replied.
“But...” Zane started
“Leave the girl alone Zane, Charlotte carry out on our plan, keep on following, especially on the day mentioned” She said, trying not to give everything away to others.
“Yes Serena” I said walking away from the hall.

I went looking for Corbin everywhere and yet I could not find him, I was starting to panic. I raced to his room to catch a scent of him, while I was snooping in his room to find some clue as to where he was, the door slammed shut, I whirled around to find Corbin himself standing there.
“What are you doing in my room?” he said threateningly
“Looking for you” I said
“Why?”
“It’s... Ugh... Time for your duties” I said seeing the time smirking.
“You think you’re so fucking great don’t you! Stupid Bitch” he said taking threatening steps towards me.
I walked towards the door straight past him, he grabbed my arm tight.
“I wouldn’t if I were you, Serena would not be happy” I said, rage filled his eyes as he let me go.
“Watch your step Charlotte” he said as I left the room.

A couple days later it was the day that I was meant to be tracking Corbin, I watched as he did his duties that Serena made him do and watched as he slinked out of the building. I gave him a few seconds head start before leaving the house myself.
I caught his scent, he was running so fast.
What I came across was an absolute shock, two black trucks were now on fire, signs of a fight were seen everywhere, bodies lay on the dusty road. These were hunters lying dead and bloody.
Two people stood in the middle of the blood bath.
“You stupid, stupid boy!” Corbin’s voice rang out
“I...I...I...I’m sorry, it was your guys fault as well, and they attacked us!” the boy opposite him stammered
“I told you to bring them here and then we would have them captured, you were not to start firing at them! That’s why they got aggressive! They were supposed to be the part of my plan, and what have I got now?! Nothing!” Corbin screamed at him, hitting the other man in the face
“You do have someone though; one of your guys took Taylor”
“Taylor? As in the Taylor from Charlotte’s hunter group?” Corbin asked, a smirk came to his face
“Yes sir”
“You know what? This could be perfect. You shall have to now come with me, no doubt the hunters are going to be looking for you all. Come, I shall make an excuse up to Serena, have her clear it up” He said, both of them slinking off.

I waited until they left before I got out from my hiding place in a bush nearby.
The road was a complete mess of blood and bodies, some of them I knew from headquarters, I’d been around these people once and now they were dead. I had to stop this, stop the war or I could guarantee that there would be a lot more bodies on the ground.
I could not stay long, they had Taylor and I had to get her away from them as fast as I could, she was the bait.
I smelt Corbin’s odour and followed, weaving through bushes and trees. Already I had been following for about half an hour when the trail just disappeared. I was at a small opening to a cornfield. I could see nothing to show where they had gone, I carefully scouted the area, but I still found nothing.
“Shit” I mumbled, I had no way to find them, no scent, no trace of them could be found, none of the corn had been disturbed, no clues.
I re-scouted the area before deciding to go back to the house to tell Serena what had happened.
Re-tracing my movements I found myself at the area where the trucks and bodies had been, but they were gone, all traces of it were gone. I was so stumped by this, I flitted away.

When I arrived back at the large mansion-like house Serena and Zane were talking outside the front door.
I walked straight up to them, slightly ragged; my clothes were a mess from going through bushes and trees.
“My god Charlotte what happened to you?” Serena looked shocked at my appearance
“Corbin” I said, I would not say everything out loud.
“Come, we shall go to my office, it’s more private. Zane shall you be joining us?” Serena asked
“Yes I shall, I would like to know what has happened to this young beautiful girl” He said smiling at me, I blushed, although he was like my enemy I had not been flattered in a long time.
I followed both Serena and Zane to Serena’s room which she had been allocated as her office.
A large robust man stood affront of the large door.
“John, make sure no one comes in” Zane told the broad-shouldered man.
“Yes Sir” he asked in a gruff voice.
We entered the room, Serena sitting in the large Victorian chair behind her desk and Zane and I sitting in front of it.
“Now please tell us what happened” Serena motioned
“Well, I followed Corbin, just like you told me, and we came to a small dirt road, I hid in the bushes and watched and listened to the conversation that Corbin and some guy were having. Corbin was shouting at the guy, they had set a trap for a group of hunters, but this had gone wrong, they were all killed by some of Corbin’s men and only one was taken, the rest were killed, their trucks burnt and even a couple of vampires were dead on the ground, blood was all over the ground.”
“What about the one that was taken?” Zane asked
“Well, she was taken by someone, Corbin and the other guy then took off and I followed them from a distance but after half an hour I got to a cornfield and then the scent and any traces of them just disappeared” I told them
“It just disappeared?! But that is not possible” Serena said confused
“Yes and I scouted the whole area twice, no sign of them at all. But that’s not the weirdest part” I said
“Why? What else did you find m’love?” Zane said, looking direct into my eyes.
“I re-traced my steps and got back to the small road where the fight had taken place, but nothing was there, the trucks were gone, there was no trace anyone had been there. But I had heard Corbin say he was going to come back and make an excuse to you Serena that something had happened and for you to get a team to clean up” I said
“But he has yet to return, I did not know of this until you arrived here”
“Well someone has to of done it. We have to find Corbin; he’s planning on using the girl to trap the rest of the hunters”
“You still care for them don’t you?” Zane said softly
“No...I...erm...Just want Serena and you to take the win of battle not Corbin, Corbin wants only power, he must not be the one to get it though” I said quickly, trying to throw them off
“You’re right, we shall get a search team and you shall show them the area where the scent dispersed” Serena replied
“I wish to go, surely it would be better for someone you trust to go with young Charlotte, and I am much wiser than any of the teams in this place” Zane said
“You are right Zane, you two shall leave immediately, but if you find them, do not go in their alone, you come back and retrieve a team, or myself”
“Yes Ma’am” I said, standing up alongside Zane as we both left the office
“It shall be great to get some time alone with you Charlotte” Zane said
“Yes Zane, I just hope you can keep up old man” I joked with a smirk, Zane smiled a wide Cheshire smile
“Ohh trust me, it shall be you having to keep up with me” he chuckled
We got outside and Zane yet again change into the large dark wolf. I could hear him talking within my mind, werewolves had that ability.
We raced off; I led Zane first to the small road where the fight between hunters and vampires had taken place. Zane yet again turned back into his normal form.
“Uggh, I can smell the stench of hunters all over the ground, whoever cleaned up did not do a good job” he said sniffing the air.
“Come Charlotte, we must not dwell too long” Zane said, once again in the form of a wolf.

When we got to the cornfield yet again there was no trace that I could find of any vampire. But Zane had a better trained nose than I did.
“I smell something faint upon the ground. If they are hiding here then it is most definitely underground” Zane said with his large muzzle to the ground.
We scouted the ground looking for an entrance; it reminded me of the book ‘The Lovely Bones’ where the character ‘Mr Harvey’ used an underground bunker to rape and kill the lead character ‘Susie’, that bunker too was in a cornfield.
I had an idea.
“How far could they jump into the field?” I asked Zane, he looked out over the field
“Why do you ask young one?”
“Vampires and werewolves have great strength and agility right?” I said
“Yes” He answered simply
“So what is stopping them from jumping into the middle of the cornfield from say... a tree? We may be looking in the wrong place” I said looking at the tree behind me
“Clever girl, let’s have a look shall we? Ladies first” he said, letting me climb into the tree first, following behind closely
I was right; I could smell Corbin’s scent over the tree and branches.
“Go higher, look out onto the cornfield” Zane said
I climbed onto the higher branches of the tree, I could see the whole field, and right in the middle a small area was cleared of corn.
“There’s a small clearing in the middle, I can’t see what’s in the middle though” I said, Zane changed back into his human form.
“Let me look” he said, I climbed back down so he could take my place, he placed his hands on my hips as I had a slight fall from a branch.
“Thanks” I blushed, as he smirked and climbed up.
“It’s some sort of hatch to an underground tunnel of some sort. I think we should leave this place and tell Serena, we will come back another day” He said from above me
“But what about Taylor” I whispered unexpectedly
“You knew the one captured?” he had heard me
“Yes, she was part of my team. Which makes it all the more difficult; Corbin will use her to get the rest of my old team first” I said, Zane sighed.
“I do hate all this fighting; it does get a bit old”
“Then why do you do it?” I asked
“Because I have to seem strong for my kind, I have to protect them or risk our species going extinct, werewolves were once peaceful creatures only feasting on animals, until one day a royal was corrupted, that Royal was the one who changed me”
“You were once human?”
“Yes” he said, getting closer to me, he put his hand on my face caressing it. He leaned in.
“Never let someone do something you do not wish to happen, it will corrupt you and ruin your life, even if it causes something bad, you have to do what will make you happy, or you’ll end up like me, sad and alone, unable to do what you always wished to do” he looked genuinely upset, could it really be that the King of the werewolves was really doing the only thing he could because of corruption.

We both heard a creaking noise and quickly turned to the hatch.
“Someone is coming out, lay low, and be quiet” Zane said pulling me down low onto the tree; he took out a small vial. I gave him a look to show my confusion.
“It is a scent that vampires despise; I came across it a few years ago, hold your breath or you shall feel ill smelling it” he said, I did as he said and held my breath, also listening out towards the field.
“You smell tha’ stench, bloody rancid” someone said
“Let’s get out of here, Corbin its dinner time” someone else chuckled then moaned in pain.
“Shut up you idiot” Corbin’s voice rang out.

We waited until no sound could be heard from the cornfield before Zane slowly rose up looking out.
“They have gone my sweet, we shall now take leave” Zane said.
We decided it was time to finally leave, it was dark and the moon loomed in the black night sky, a perfectly clear night. Zane told me about his history, from when he was a boy until now.