Darkness Breaks by Jessica Sorensen Excerpt

Darkness Breaks is the sequel to Darkness Falls and will be released May 26

The rain pours down like needles against my skin. The sky booms, lightning bolts flashes of sliver across the cloudy sky.  The vampires are screaming, begging me to stop. But I can’t. This is what I am meant to do.

I pursue them, running down the vacant streets, weaving through rusty cars, my boots kicking up the glass and mud on the road. The vampire I target, a tall one with fleshless skin and bloodless eyes, scurries around a burning barrel and jumps onto the steps that lead to a building stacked of shiny steel.  It bolts for the doors, bare feet shedding skin. Clutching the stake, I charge after it and with a swift launch off the bottom step, I’m airborne, flying through the darkness. But my boot catches against the railing, and just as quick as I caught up to the monster, it vanishes inside the building.

“Damn it!” I crash to the muddy ground, skinning my hands on rocks, and I let out a frustrated scream. With each passing day, my strength and fighting skills slip away from me.

“If you’d just take the medicine, then the vampire would be dead by now.” Sylas creeps from the shadows of the cars, dressed head-to-toe in black, dark eyes that light up like coals against the fires burning in the streets. His hands are stuffed in his pockets and his dark hair brushes across his forehead.  “You’re humanity is your weakness, Kayla.

Pushing to my feet, I scowl at him.  “I’ve told you, I’m not going to do that… yet. I’m not sure if I want to."

He backs me against the railing and traps me between his arms. “I think you want to, you’re just holding back because of a certain someone.”

“You mean Aiden.” I straighten my shoulders, confident and strong, and look him straight in the eye. “I’m not going to change until I know what I’m supposed to do.”

“Always following Monarch’s orders.” He twirls a strand of my long, black hair around his finger. “I thought after everything you’ve learned, you’d have given up on him by now.”

“I’ve learned nothing.” It takes a lot, but I shove him back. “Emmy’s gotten nowhere with my memories."

He lets out a low laugh and touches his chest where I shoved him. “Always so feisty.”

A sharp nip pierces the air.

“Shouldn’t you be hiding out with the rest of the Day Takers?” I flip the stake in my hand and slide it in the back pocket of my jeans. “Or do you have a death wish.”

He winks at me and backs toward the street. “I was just seeing if you’d made any progress with the whole slaying thing.” His dark eyes wander to the top of the stairs where I lost the vampire.  “Looks like a owe Emmy a shot of amortire.”

Amortire is the Day Takers “special” medicine. It’s a numbing solution they take to block out there cravings, but honestly I think they use it more for recreational purposes than anything, just like they do with most things.

“You were placing bets on me.” I stomp after him, past the fires, and dip into the shadows of the cars.

“Hey.” He grins through the night, long legs stretching as he maneuvers gracefully over the dented hood of a small car. “I was betting you’d be kicking ass.”

“Sorry to disappoint you.” I hop over the hood of a car and slip clumsily onto the ground.

“Take the medicine, Kayla.” He calls out, barely a silhouette anymore.  The rain lets up, the sky calming down. “You’ll never be able to pull anything off if you don’t.”

I stop in the center of the street, listening to the vampires shrieks rattle against the buildings’ walls as monsters hide from me, the one and only person they want nothing to do with.

It hasn’t been that long since I left Aiden and the others, but it feels like an eternity. I don’t regret my decision to leave. Not yet, anyway. If it turns out Emmy can’t extract my memories, then I might be kicking my own butt.

I sigh and head down the street. I can’t see Sylas anymore, but I don’t care. I know where I’m going; to a place where I feel just as uncomfortable as I did in The Colony.

I take my time, lollygagging along the curb of the street, my boots grazing against the broken pieces of concrete.  My hand moves for my knife as I spot a vampire crawling from the shadows, fangs drooling, skinless fingers clawing at the sidewalk. I pause and take a step back, knocking my hip into a bumper.

“What on earth?” I squint through the dark at two outlines of pale white figures with feathery white hair and flawless skin.  

Highers.