by L J C Fynn
I grabbed two of my knives from my pocket as I heard the same voice from the rooftop, “Can’t be her, Blythe said that girl has long dark hair.” I scrunched my face up, I must have made it to Blythe’s radar.
With help from the ambient lighting from the Eifel Tower, I memorized the shapes of each of the men. When the vampire finished speaking, five of the heads turned to the man in the middle, as if they were waiting on a confirmation. Their mistake. Their small action told me who their leader was. He didn’t acknowledge the vampire speaking, he just stared in my direction. I couldn’t read his facial expression because his face was heavily marked. It was too dark to see the pattern, but not dark enough for the markings on his face to break up his natural form.
He lifted his head up, and the two outside vampires walked closer in to me. “If all of you want to walk out of this alley alive, you shouldn’t come any closer to me.” I finally broke my silence.
Six of the vampires were laughing, the leader just continued staring at me with his marked-up face. I felt the air move, rather than actually seeing the two infected men move. The two vampires came at me from the side, but failed to see the daggers in my hand from earlier. It was too easy. When they got within my arm’s reach, I gave them a kill stab straight into their hearts. They stiffly fell to the ground before they even realized they were dead.
I was on five kills tonight. Five more to go.
“That’s gotta be her.” The tallest man of the group approached me from the center. He was smart, and didn’t immediately get within my arm’s reach. His intelligence stopped when he got close. He showed me his poker hand, because he held his fist up to his face like a good boxer. I shook my head and laughed.
I re-holstered my knives, and lifted my fist like I was going to fight him. Instead of the classic boxing stance, I bent my knees in a Capoeira stance. He smiled the moment I bent my knees, but tilted his head to the side when I started rocking side to side gathering my momentum. I took my movement close in to him, but I didn’t stay still long enough for him to land a solid punch on me. It was obvious he had no training beyond his fists because he didn’t move when he missed his punches. He only tried to hit me over and over again. I kicked my heel on the pavement, and a blade slid out of the heel of my boot. I used the side-to-side movement and lifted my bodyweight onto one arm. Boxing guy never saw it coming. The blade from my heel sliced his head off cleanly. Body and head fell to the ground as I was regaining both feet on the pavement. I kicked my boot again to make the blade slide back into the sole of my shoe.
“Six.” I counted out loud as the three men, not including the leader, ran towards me.
I unsheathed one dagger and threw it into the heart of one of the men, stopping him dead in his tracks. “Seven.”
When I was distracted, throwing the dagger, one of the men managed to sneak up behind me and grab my waist. I threw all my weight forward, not allowing him to keep balance and move me at the same time. I kicked behind me, and landed solidly on a knee cap. I knew I broke it when it sounded like a carrot snapping and him landing on the other knee. I unsheathed a knife on my waist, slit his throat cleanly and got the money shot—his heart. “Eight.”
The last guy between me and the leader actually looked scared. He kept moving his head between me and his leader, not saying anything but looked the least experienced of all the men. He took off running into the street, so I grabbed my longest dagger and threw it at his back. I watched the blade rotate as it made its way into his heart. “Nine.”
“Ok big boy, ten and I can go home. That leaves you.” I unsheathed two daggers, ready for him to approach me.
He hadn’t moved one muscle the entire time. So, he kind of took me back when he spoke. “You just destroyed one of my best teams in a matter of minutes. Who are you?”
I didn’t say a word or move back from his direction. I was waiting on him to make a move. When he did, he surprised me. It wasn’t to grab a blade. It wasn’t to aggressively move toward me like his men. He pulled a small black object out of the side of his pants. When he pointed it at me, two long wires popped out latching onto the front of my shirt. Shit, this was going to hurt, I thought as the wires lit up, and my entire body started convulsing dropping me to my knees. It was too late, he got me with an electricity shot and I was too focused on everything but what he was holding. I should have been paying more attention to him. I felt myself being picked up by the marked-up man. Before I lost conscience, I heard him say, “Kill her, my ass.”
Chapter Three
11 p.m.
The cramps woke me. The electricity killed my energy, forcing me to burn through the pills I took earlier extra quick tonight. My bed was cold and hard. I peeked open one eye, and sure enough I was eye level with a cement floor.
Somehow, I didn’t make a sound when I woke from the cramps. There were people walking my way if the sound of high heels clinking on the cement floor moving closer my way was any indication. I took a few deep breaths, slowed my breathing and heart rate. I shut my eyes and pretended to still be passed out.
“That’s her?” A husky feminine voice asked as the sound of a door closed in the background.
“I believe so.” That was the voice from earlier, the marked man.
The heeled steps were so close to me now, that I could feel the air move around my face when she stopped walking. She couldn’t be more than a few inches. “How many?”
“Nine tonight. We can directly relate five hundred more over the past year. There are probably more than that.” He quietly added on the last part of his statement, like an afterthought.
“Kill her,” the female said in a business tone as her heeled steps walked away from me.
“Hhhmmm….” Marked man responded as his heavier steps move closer to me, “Wouldn’t it be better for us to learn who she is? She fought better than any of our trained recruits. Imagine the possibilities.”
“Kill her.” She didn’t even take a pause to think, as she talked about my death.
“Think about all we could learn from her.”
I felt a whoosh of air against my exposed skin, and then silence. I opened on eye, no more than a slit through my eyelashes. A thin, blonde vampire was holding the marked vampire against the wall, by his throat. His large incisors were out, almost hissing at her.
“Do not question me, Rafe. Kill her.”
His nose flared out. “The only reason I am not fighting you is because of the respect I have for Damien. Don’t. Overstep. Your. Place.” She released his neck. “Listen to my words, Blythe. You didn’t see her in action tonight. We need to know about her.”
Blythe turned her head toward me, and damn her profile was breathtaking. The other fighters have warned me about her, but this is the first time I have seen her up close. Too bad I had to feign sleep or I would have loved to see her fighting skills in motion. She walked toward the exit. “You will kill her by daybreak.”
Rafe was still against the wall as Blythe’s heeled steps walked out of hearing range. He stood there for a few minutes not saying anything. “I don’t know how you did that, but I can only hear your heartbeat because I was listening for it. I know you are awake, fatale… we need to talk.” I was expecting him to demand I open my eyes, but instead he followed Blythe’s footsteps out the door.
Chapter Four
11:30 p.m.
As soon as Rafe left, I sat up and really took in my surroundings. I was in a blue painted cement room. There was a bed hanging on the wall behind me and a table with two chairs near the locked exit door.
I still had on my clothes from earlier, but they took all of my knives, boots and pills. With socks on covering my bare feet, I sat in the chair waiting on Rafe to come back. The minutes felt like they kept ticking backwards from the clock on the wall behind me, as the cramps in body progressively became more intense. I probably have a few hours before they become debilitating. Rafe doesn’t need to see my weakness. I just need to get the hell out of dodge before the cramps r
eally start. I tried to fake it as best as I could when the cramps pulsed in my stomach. Naturally, Rafe choose that moment to walk into my containment room.
He didn’t say a word, instead sat down. His appearance was even more unnerving up close. His marked-up face looked like a skeleton with black circles around his eyes. His face had several piercings in his eyebrows, nose, lips, and all up his ears. I knew his face could not have been tattooed because even if they had tattoos before they turned, the skin healed after the turn. If an infected got tattooed, it would only take a matter of days for the tattoo to completely disappear. It would be insane for an individual to have that much inkwork replaced constantly. For whatever reason, Rafe painted his face this way. The piercings would also heal almost immediately, unless they were pure silver. The silver would instantly cauterize the piercing, making a permanent hole until the he took out the stud. I heard that it hurts like hell, and most vampire don’t do this. The fact that he has so many says that he either enjoyed the pain, or has a very high pain tolerance. Either route was scary as shit to me.
After we sat their studying each other, he was the first to speak. “Who are you?”
“Human.” Was the only appropriate response I could come up with.
“Debatable.”
I tilted my head to his answer, to whatever the hell that meant.
“Who are you?” Rafe repeated his question.
I gave him my kill smile—the smile that didn’t quite reach my eyes. I reserved the smile for those that I was planning on killing. “To you? Insignificant. I still have one more kill to make before I can go home. Don’t think just because you have my blades, I can’t use my hands.”
He looked over my shoulder at the clock on the wall. “Being mouthy isn’t going to get us anywhere. You have less than six hours to convince me not to kill you tonight. So, I repeat, who are you?”
I smiled again, “The last human you will ever see.”
He stood up so abruptly that the chair he was sitting in flew behind him. Using his fast vampire movement, he had the table between us pushed away and me pushed against the far wall. My hands were pinned above my head by one of his hands and my legs were trapped between his. I have never in all of my training seen a vampire move this fast or be this damn strong. I have never been this vulnerable.
With his free hand, he pushed my head to the side. He pushed his nose into my pulse, breathing in my heartbeat. I felt his tongue follow the length of the vein on my neck, replaced by the sharp incisors of his fangs. He never broke skin, he stayed still, smelling and tasting my skin.
After what felt like forever, he moved his mouth to my ear. “I could turn you right now, and you would have no say in the matter. I can easily overtake you.” He moved back down to my neck. His fangs pressed a little harder into my skin. I felt the slightest warm trickle of blood flow down my neck.
I took a few deep breaths. “Teeka.”
He growled deep in his chest, but pushed away from me like he was disappointed he couldn’t finish. Rafe fixed the table and chairs. He sat down. “Was that so hard?”
Good to know the pills were still working, I thought as I touched my already healing neck. He didn’t break the skin too much, and I don’t think he took much blood, if any. I sat back down across from him.
“Teeka.” He said slowly, like he was tasting my name. “Who are you?”
I shrugged. I have to be careful about sharing information here, or I could be listed a traitor.
“Let’s do this a different way. I will tell you what I know about you.” He smiled brilliantly as he was talking. His smile softened up his facial features, face-paint and all, rivaling Blythe’s beauty. “I know you are a skilled fighter.”
I guess he was waiting for me to respond, because he paused as he was talking. I leaned back in my chair, arched one eyebrow, and folded my arms over my chest.
“You have killed so many of us, that you got Blythe’s attention. I was sent to track you down. I was sent to issue you your death. I am who they call…” He stumbled as he was searching for the right word, “…Death Bringer.”
I couldn’t help my reaction, I gasped. The markings and piercings made sense. He didn’t have on face paint, that shit was real. I thought he was just a rumor. He got the tattoos with silver laced paint. I heard the piercings were painful, but it was nothing compared to the tattoos. Rafe, the Death Bringer, was the final blow for Blythe. If she wanted someone killed, she sent her Death Bringer. I always thought he was an Urban Legend, because nobody has seen him. I must have really caught Blythe’s attention for her to send the Death Bringer after me.
“I know that you move impossibly fast for a human.” He started up again, interrupting my thoughts. “You want to know the most amazing thing I found out about you?”
I didn’t know if I should shake my head in a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ direction. I really don’t want to know what he found out. I choose not to say anything at all.
He smiled again. “Your pills. One of the pills has the pure vampire virus in them and the other is an anti-virus of sorts—not enough to turn a fully infected back to human, but enough to stop the virus from fully turning you. While you were knocked out, I took some of your blood to test. You, my fatale, have the virus running through your veins. I watched you while you were out. Your body flailed around like it was trying to change. I bet that is why you have all those blisters on your arms. You tie yourself down while you sleep. Yet, somehow you have remained human with the anti-virus. You have figured out how to have many of our strengths with none of weaknesses. So, once again who are you?”
I was listening to what he said, trying to process it all. Those pills I take were not the virus. They wouldn’t lie to me. They were to stop the cramps. They were to give me energy to fight, night after night.
“You lie.” I finally managed speak.
“Maybe. Maybe not.” He stood up to leave. “I bet right this minute your body is hurting all over. How long have you been without the pills? If you don’t take them soon, the pain will take over. Your body will either reject the virus or you will fully turn—craving blood for substance.” He left the room, and slid the lock into place. Asshole didn’t leave the pills.
My body hurt so much. I couldn’t fake it anymore. I somehow made it to the bed and curled into a ball. I just have to make it to daylight. They will all be asleep and I will figure out how to get my ass out of here.
Chapter Five
2 a.m.
My body felt a little better. I wasn’t fighting the pain of the electrical currents and the cramps at the same time. I stretch and rolled over to find Rafe staring at me from his chair on the other side of the room.
“Feel better?”
Even though his presence unnerved me, I pretended that I was perfectly comfortable with him watching me. I walked over to the seat across from him and sat down, just like we were a few hours ago.
“You have two hours to convince me to let you live.”
“Isn’t that up to Blythe?” My stupid mouth spoke before my brain had time to process what I said.
He tilted his head to the side, trying to comprehend the implication of what I meant. “We will see,” was all he said in response.
“Let’s do this again. Who are you?”
I still didn’t answer, but turned my head toward the clock on the wall.
“I figured that would be your response. I have something to show you.” He pulled out an old tablet, back from when they were still making technological devices like this. The fact that it still worked, and charged, amazed me. There on the screen was me sleeping. I was moaning in my sleep, face scrunched up in pain. The camera zoomed in on me, and I stood up when my mouth fell open in the video. I had the beginnings of fangs in my mouth. I reached up to my teeth and they felt normal.
I looked over to Rafe. “I don’t understand.”
“Weren’t you listening earlier?” He gently placed the tablet on the table. “Those pills you take have been me
ssing with your system. Last time I am going to ask nicely. Who. Are. You?”
I heavily sat back down in my chair. I looked at him, contemplating on what to tell him. If I believe what he says, then the last few years of my life have been a lie. What I believed to be good was evil and evil was good. Everything was ass backwards. He sat there, with no expectations but the truth. He didn’t expect me to go out and fight for him. He didn’t even require me to let myself be shackled in my sleep. Even though I was in this fucked up situation, he still let me be me. Gave me time to figure it myself out. I made my decision.
“I was dying.” He gave me that confused look again. I smiled, though not at him but more at my memory. “My father and I lived on the outskirts of New Paris. I was dying. They couldn’t save me. My dad did some cleaning for a compound in one of the older buildings. The owner did experiments on humans. Somehow, my dad convinced him to treat me…”
“Where is this place?” Rafe interrupted me.
I didn’t answer him, instead I continued my story. “…I was so sick when they brought me. The first time I was allowed out of the compound, one of my friends snuck me to my father’s house. It was all burned down. Not much left but his body. His throat was ripped opened by an infected.”
***
I watched her as she told her story. Damien and I lost track of her and her friend by the time they made it to city streets. I almost forgot this day had even happened, until she told me her story.
The teenager we saw five years ago has grown up to be one of the best assassins the humans have at their disposal.
Instead of this revelation answering so many of mine and Damien’s questions from that day we followed her, it opened up many more. What is she to them, and, after everything she had done for them, why are they willing to do this to her now? None of this made any sense.