Available Darkness Season 1

in time. The idea died on the vine.
    He paid the driver, shuffled into the lobby of the hotel, grabbed a copy of USA Today , and went upstairs t0 spend the night in his room, alone.
    Caleb slid the key card in the door, surprised to find candlelight and music playing. He did a double take at the number on his door and was about to curse the hotel for giving out cards which worked on multiple rooms, when a familiar face appeared from behind a wall—Julia.
    “Hi honey,” she said, slinking forward in red lingerie and holding a glass of wine, “I’ve been waiting for you.”
    “What are you doing here?” he said, pleasantly surprised. No, pleasantly shocked.
    “Wu told me where you were, and helped me arrange the whole thing.”
    Caleb smiled, “That bastard never even hinted at a thing.”
    “We never do anything spontaneous anymore,” Julia said, “remember when we used to do stuff like this all the time?”
    Caleb thought she was remembering things through rose-colored glasses, but she had a point. Their lives were flying by—routine on their way to stagnation.
    She took a sip of wine, crimson moisture pouting her lips. Caleb, though tired, was surprised how quickly he’d become aroused. Julia offered her glass, but he set it down and took her, instead. Kissing her softly at first, then deep, then ravenously. They fell to the bed in a tangled mess as she tore at Caleb’s clothing.
    He was dizzy. Caleb hadn’t felt such burning desire in years, if ever. He wanted nothing more than to be inside her. Reclaiming her more with every thrust.

    * * * *

CHAPTER 7— Hope and John

    Hope

    When Hope came to, she was groggy and lying in a bed, disoriented. The room was small, sparsely furnished, and lit only by a few small lamps with red shades.
    Where am I?
    The door, a blur on the wall, opened and John entered. At least she thought it was John. He was a bit blurry. She remembered something bad was going to happen, though she wasn’t sure what, and she scrambled back in the bed, knees to her chin.
    “Wha’ did you doooo t’ me?” she cried. Her words were garbled, barely coherent.
    “It’s starting,” John said as he sat next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder and pulling her into a hug.
    She relented, though she wasn’t even sure why she was mad. Something he’d done, or was going to do.
    “Wha’s hap’ning?” she asked, her head hurting, the room spinning.
    “You’re going to go to sleep again, soon. When you wake up, you’ll be someone else. You won’t remember any of this. You, me, anything that’s happened. But you’ll be safe, and you’ll be happy.”
    “Someone else?” she asked. “Whooo will I be? Whooo will youuu be?” She laughed at the silliness of the question, her thoughts a drunken slur.
    “I don’t know who you’ll be. But I’ll be me,” he said, “And I’ll try to find you. But there’s a chance I won’t be able to. There’s a chance that once I become a vampire again, I won’t be able to revert.”
    John’s words were making less sense, but something in them seemed incredibly sad. He was crying.
    “Why are youuuu so sad?” she asked, reaching up clumsily to wipe a tear away. Her hand had gained a few pounds and fell to her lap instead. She leaned into John harder, embraced him as best she could. Something bad was happening was all she knew. And that she never wanted to let him go.
    She slipped into darkness.

    **

    John

    John sat with Hope for more than 20 minutes, unwilling to let her go. This was it, the last time he might ever see her. Definitely the last time she would remember him, or them. Wipes in humans were not reversible so far as Adam, or anyone else, knew.
    John had lied about erasing Hope from the minds of her family and friends. That would be next to impossible without an entire team at his disposal. He didn’t have that kind of resources. Instead, he would have to plant a few memories of Hope and he running off to another country. A spur of the moment sort of thing which would work for a while, he figured, to prevent suspicion or worry, or an all out search for her. Even if the authorities (or Jacob) looked for her, they weren’t likely enough to find her.
    Adam would use magick to change Hope’s appearance—her hair color, her eyes, and a few minor changes. Just enough to throw off anyone who might run into her. John was pretty sure that the Guardians had done similar work on Caleb, even though John had recognized him. And even