Forbidden Darkness

Chapter 4

"A weak man has doubts before a decision. A strong man has them afterwards."

-Karl Kraus

---

Augustine was thrown to the ground with incredible strength. Her ribs ached and her mouth pooled with blood from the punch she received just moments before. Calloway stood in the back corner of the training room and watched the scene unfold with a blank expression. Augustine had never performed this badly during practice, even when she was young and just beginning her career as a hunter. She glared at the boy she was fighting against, her eyes brimming with anger. He was much stronger than she was, and he had the same level of training.

"Enough," Calloway announced flatly when he took notice of Augustine's wreathing figure. Augustine had never won a match against Garrett, and he generally congratulated her afterwards, despite her performance. Something about Calloway's presence seemed to scare him off today, and he left the room without a second glance at her.

"We need to talk," Calloway spoke, his tone dangerously calm. He grabbed her forearm and yanked her to her feet, causing her to wince at the pain. The ache in her ribs threatened to pull her back to the floor, but she refused to do as they commanded.

"About what?" Augustine questioned coldly as Calloway dragged her from the room. On her way out, she slipped her blade into its position on the wall, directly in the middle of a variety of other weapons. The room was strangely organized considering the types of activities that took place. The walls were lined with hundreds of glistening weapons that were only removed during training or for a hunt.

Calloway released her arm and strutted angrily to the end of the dingy hallway where a single door stood. He shoved it open aggressively, and the wood cracked against the wall behind it as it made contact.

"Do you have any idea how much danger you put us all in?" Calloway roared. Augustine stood motionless in the doorway and shifted her gaze to the floor. It was a bad habit that she needed to learn to control. It made it obvious to anybody around her that she was feeling uncomfortable.

"What were you thinking? Giving that creature a way to contact you?" Calloway questioned and set his hands firmly on his desk. His eyes were blazing with fury.

"I..." Augustine began, unable to find the words she was looking for.

"You weren't thinking. Not only are you going to get killed, but you're going to get all of us killed." There was no doubt that everybody in the inn could hear the conversation. Augustine bit her lip as Calloway shouted, wanting nothing more than to melt into the wooden floor and hide from his words.

"You had the perfect opportunity to take it down," her leader continued and brought a hand up to his forehead in annoyance. He lost his temper at times, but Augustine knew that it was with good reason. She should have killed Bridger the night before, but instead she let him roam free and she willingly offered personal information. She didn't understand how the vampire was able to pull such a reaction from her, and she regretted her decision.

"How did you know?"

"Rosaline." Calloway answered her question in an instant. She felt a twinge of betrayal from the girl she considered to be her closest friend. Augustine had never told Calloway about Rosaline's mistakes, and she couldn't understand why Rosaline would mention hers. Augustine blamed her friend, but she knew that Calloway would have found out eventually, especially if she performed distractedly like she did in training today. At Augustine's inability to form a response, Calloway left the room, his shoulder brushing against her as he slipped out through the door. Augustine pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind and gave herself a few more moments before following him out.

---

The moment Augustine returned to her room, her eyes stung from tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. She lazily fell onto her bed and gazed at her gray ceiling. Her room was tiny and was only adorned with a bed, a nightstand, and a desk that were all built of the same shade of wood. The only hints of color were her violet curtains and the red gown that peeked from behind her closet door. It was a bit depressing at times, how lifeless the room seemed to be, but Augustine never spent enough time in her chambers to be bothered by it.

She reached to the side of her bed and slid her cellphone off of the surface of the nightstand, briefly scanning over its contents. A text message from an unknown number flashed through the screen, and Augustine's lips spread into an small, unexpected smile. The letters in the message questioned when she was free, and she instantly replied, telling the recipient to meet her at the small coffee shop down the road on Friday.

Augustine bit her lip as she thought about what she'd just done. Hadn't Calloway specifically told her not to contact him in any traceable way? She knew her leader was right, so she knew that she had no choice but to kill the vampire when she encountered him next.

---

A pair of razor sharp fangs and amber eyes were all that Augustine saw when she forcefully stuck her blade between the creature's ribs. The girl limply sunk to Augustine's feet as the life left her body.

A soft chuckle drew Augustine's attention away from the vampire girl, and her eyes met Calloway's.

"Amelia Abbott," Calloway spat the words. "Remember that name, your first kill," he grinned as he motioned for her to walk away from the body, which was now soaked in a crimson red. Augustine knew that she should feel guilty for killing the girl, but she felt nothing. She had been taught that vampires were a poison to the earth, and they must be eliminated. She looked down at her small hands that were coated in the vampire's blood, and a small grin spread across her face. Her first kill was an accomplishment that she should be proud of.

---

Augustine woke from her dream in a cold sweat. Only it wasn't a dream; it was a memory. Her room was dark and she found herself shivering atop her covers. She forced herself underneath her blanket, but sleep was unable to grab hold of her.

She knew that she recognized Bridger, but she had never thought that it would have been Bridger's sister whom Augustine remembered. She now understood why Calloway was so upset; if Bridger knew who she was, he could be taking his revenge on her and the league. She knew that if she didn't kill him, he would try to kill her first.