Available Darkness Season 1

sure. It’s not like he’s had a lot of feeders to work his magick on. I’ve been having these vivid dreams of killing people, feeding off of them. Now one of the girls I dreamed about the other night, someone I don’t even know, is missing.”
    “Come on, it could be a coincidence,” Larry said, “you know you sometimes pick up on things just because of what you are. I’m sure this is one of those times.”
    “I want you to follow me,” John said. “I need to know what I’m doing after I go to sleep. And you can’t let me see you! If I’m not myself when I’m doing this, then God only knows what I’d do to you if I caught you following me.”
    Larry paused for a moment, “And what if it IS you? What then?”
    “Then we go with a full wipe. A total reset.”
    Larry shook his head, “No, we have no idea if he can even do a total wipe. He said it was a theory, a last resort. There’s too many dangers. You could die. You could forget everything. Like, total blank slate.”
    John nodded, “I know. But I can’t put Hope in danger. I’d rather die than risk—”
    He didn’t need to, nor could he, give voice to his ultimate fear.
    They both knew.
    “I need to know you can do this for me,” John said. “I know we’ve been friends for a long time and I’ve taught you a lot of cool magick and shit, and if you lose me, you might need to go back to a life of actually working for a living instead of sitting on your ass watching TV and eating Cheetos, but—”
    “Fuck you, buddy,” Larry said with a laugh.
    John smiled, “Seriously, though, I need you to reach out to Adam. Ask him if he’ll do a total wipe, if I need it.”
    Larry’s smile faded, “ IF you need it, okay. I’ll do whatever you ask me to do, you know it, brotha. I owe you my life. But let’s just see what happens over the next few nights before we go making plans for your permanent vacation, eh?”
    “Agreed,” John said, “I’ve gotta get to work, and you need sleep so you can stay up tonight.”
    “Sleep is for the weak,” Larry said, popping the top on a fresh can of Mountain Dew and taking a swig, “See you tonight.”
    “Yeah, but I better not see you.” John turned around and headed towards the door.
    “Hey,” Larry said with a devilish grin spreading across his face, “do you and Hope keep your blinds open when you’re bumpin’ uglies?”
    John shook his head, “Don’t ever change, Larry boy.”

    * * * *

CHAPTER 8 — Jacob

    The van had gone maybe a quarter of a mile before Jacob saw something he had to have. A young woman jogging on the side of the road, her dark hair in a ponytail, bouncing with each footfall.
    There was something about Hope which had gotten under Jacob’s skin. He’d never met someone so full of life, so energetic, so intoxicating. He could see why his brother chose her. Though he couldn’t see why John chose to fuck her when consuming her whole would have been so much more of an experience. While Jacob was no stranger to sexual urges—though he could never indulge them without killing a partner—sex was nothing compared to the ecstasy, or the intimacy, of swallowing someone’s life force. The younger and more vibrant, the better.
    It was all he could do not to take Hope right then and there in the house, absorb every ounce of her life, mission be damned. But he was better than humans. He could control his animal urges, for a little while, anyway.
    But then, from his spot in the back of the van with its specially treated dark windows, he saw the jogger, her skin glistening with sweat as waves of her bright pink aura swept off of her, beckoning Jacob.
    “Pull alongside her,” he instructed his driver. “And make it dark.”
    “Here? Now?” his driver asked.
    “Now!” Jacob barked. And moments later, the world around them was cast in shadows.
    They followed the jogger up a narrow residential street. Sensing them, she moved over a bit, but was still close enough to the van’s sliding door.
    As they pulled up beside her, Jacob slid the door open, and reached out to grab her and yank her into the van. However, she was quick, and leaped aside as Jacob tumbled out of the van and rolled onto the ground.
    “What the?” she screamed and turned to run.
    Jacob leaped and connected, hands on her shoulders, shoving her face down into the ground. He fell on her like a beast and began to feed.
    Energy rushed through him as her memories flooded his mind. He closed his eyes, now