Available Darkness Season 1

could stop herself.
    Then she froze in the darkness, trying to make sense of the muffled footsteps. There was no way that was a cop. Which meant it must’ve been the enemy.
    Did the man hear me?
    The car bounced as someone got in.
    Oh God, oh God, oh God.
    The car’s engine and radio came to life. As the car shifted into drive, Abigail gasped, trying to catch her breath. Warm piss spread across her pants as she cried out, “Larry?”
    No answer from the cabin.
    Oh God, oh God, oh God.
    “Nope,” a man’s voice said as the car sped up.
    Abigail screamed, kicking out and arms flailing like a trapped animal.

    * * * *

CHAPTER 10 — John, Caleb, and Larry

    John

    1:11 A.M.

    John and Tiny sat in a darkened van two blocks away from their target — a sprawling compound in the mountains. Lightning flashed, illuminating the cabin briefly as Tiny pulled up schematics on his iPad: Three structures — a 6,000 square foot two story house flanked by a smaller guest house to the North and a garage to the South.
    Tiny’s men were separated into three other vehicles, with 25 of the troops staying back at the warehouse, waiting for Jacob’s men to attack.
    TIny asked, “So, what’s it like?”
    “What’s what like?”
    “Being a vampire.”
    “It sucks,” John said, not intending the pun.
    Tiny laughed at the pun.
    John smiled and said, “It’s tough, a life of loneliness mostly.”
    “Yeah, but you’re powerful as all fuck, right?”
    “Yeah, but I’d trade it all in a moment for a normal life. I had traded it, in fact.”
    “What happened?” Tiny asked.
    John told him a condensed version of his story, leaving out Hope’s name and the parts about Caleb. When he finished his tale, Tiny was stunned into uncharacteristic silence.
    Tiny then sighed and said, “Wow, that’s some fucked up shit.”
    “Yeah,” John nodded. “You said it.”
    John glanced down at his cell phone again. No word from Larry yet.
    “Larry should’ve called by now,” John said.
    “Maybe he ran into traffic.”
    “At midnight?”
    “Ya’ never know,” Tiny said, clearly trying to put the best possible face on the situation.
    The ride should’ve taken Larry no more than half an hour.
    Tiny dialed one of his men on the phone.
    “Yo, B, you got any action there yet?”
    “Nah,” John heard B say over the phone’s speaker. “Nothing.”
    “Hey, have you heard from Larry and the girl yet?”
    “No; you?”
    “No,” Tiny said. “All right, let me know if you do, OK?”
    “K,” B said and hung up.
    “Shit,” John looked at his phone again, as if eye contact would make it ring.
    Then it did.
    On the screen were the words, “Abrams Consulting,” one of Larry’s fake companies.
    He answered it immediately, “Larry?”
    “No,” a voice said from the other line. In the background, John could hear a girl’s screaming and pounding.
    Abigail!
    “Who the fuck is this?” John screamed.
    “I’ve got the girl,” the man said, “tell your men to stand down. Jacob wants you to come to the house, alone. We see anyone else, we kill the girl.”
    The phone went dead.
    John dialed the number back, but the phone just rang.
    He screamed out and kicked the floor of the van, his rage and impotence going toe to toe.

    **

    Caleb

    Caleb and Mike met with the other agents of Omega at a staging area four blocks away from the warehouse John was supposed to be holing up in. The rain was starting to die down a bit, but he was already soaked and cold. Unlike his squad which usually rolled in with mobile command units and a fleet of vehicles, Omega was decidedly low key, three black vans, including his.
    In total, there were eight agents other than himself, most Caleb knew in passing.
    Mike’s second-in-command, a tall guy named Rich Hopman, updated them. Two other agents were on location, working surveillance.
    “We’re counting 25 bodies, and they’re heavily armed. We’ve not yet got confirmation for either Sullivan or the girl.”
    “Twenty-five? Jesus, where did he get that many people? Are they Harbinger?” Mike asked.
    “I doubt it, unless Harbinger is going gangster,” Hopman said.
    Mike asked, “Gangster?”
    “Yeah, like street gangs,” Hopman said.
    What the hell is going on?

    **

    Larry

    Larry woke in a pool of silver from the crescent moon above.
    His body was on fire. He was on his back, soaking wet, and sprawled on the side of the road in a puddle of mud. He reached to his gut and came back with five