And on top of all that, he’d betrayed King William, his brother. An act that had put Liam out of commission for twenty years, allowing Lucien to rule in his absence. He’d no doubt do whatever necessary to get back to Velum Mortis and the throne eventually. Only death would keep him from it.
“Yes, Lucien. It is necessary.”
“I much preferred when you didn’t come into my establishment for our little chats. You said this place was beneath you. I wonder what has changed… Oh,” he said with a grin. “I’ve seen that look before. Which one is it?” he asked, turning to glance at the human workers bustling around the place. “Which one of these little tarts has caught your eye? Which one are you going to suck dry? I do have a policy in place that prohibits over-indulging, but I’d make an exception for you. Just say the word.”
“I don’t do that anymore. You know that.”
“Ah, yes. How could I ever forget the punishment my brother placed upon you all those years ago? You know, you and I aren’t so different. We’ve both been cut off from what we truly are. Neutered, you might as well say.”
“I don’t see it that way.”
“Of course, you wouldn’t. You’re ‘boring Stellan’ now. Remember how much fun we had back in the day? Back when you were ‘sucky Stellan’, the vampire who couldn’t stop until he sucked down every last drop of nearly every beauty who crossed his path. I really miss that guy,” he said, a faint look of nostalgia spreading over his face.
“Have you been behaving yourself?”
“Don’t I always?”
“No.”
“Well, I have been. The thought of spending eternity here instead of at home in Velum Mortis is almost enough to make me go on a permanent bunny-centric diet. I do miss my chambers, though I suppose my brother has them occupied now.”
“You’ve still got a long way to go before you’re able to go back there, and even then, I doubt you’ll ever dwell in the castle again.”
“I am aware.”
“And you really don’t expect me to believe that you’re sipping on woodland creatures when the whole of your business revolves around using humans as blood donors for vampires, do you?”
“The whole of my business is to cater to non-humans and giving the humans the illusion of a vampire experience while they are none-the-wiser to the fact that they are actually mingling with the nearly dead. What kind of businessman would I be if I didn’t offer what gives our kind sustenance?”
“If you cater to all non-humans, why is it that vampires are the only supernatural species to frequent this place?”
Before he could answer, a different waitress approached the table, setting down the coffee I’d ordered. Something akin to disappointment settled over me at Sydney’s absence, though I quickly pushed it aside.
“Sydney had to duck out a little early, so I’ll be taking care of you. Is there anything I can get you?” she asked, her gaze settling on Lucien as a faint smile crossed her lips. “I’ve got AB positive on tap.”
“Sounds delish, but since I’m no longer allowed to play with your kind,” he said, annoyance coating his words as his gaze settled on mine. “No.”
She nodded and turned her attention to me. I didn’t believe for a second that he hadn’t tasted her, judging by her reaction to him.
“I’m good,” I said.
“If you need anything else, just let me know,” she said and left us alone.
I pulled out my wallet and left a five-dollar-bill to cover the two-dollar coffee and a tip.
“I’ll be in touch,” I said and got up from the table, cutting our meeting short, though I doubted Lucien was unhappy about it.
“Rushing out so soon?” Lucien asked and stood. “I thought we’d be having another one of those tedious sessions where I reiterate every bloody detail of my life since we last met, you accuse me of lying, I assert that I’m not, yadda, yadda, and so on and so forth.”
“Something just came up that I have to attend to, and it doesn’t involve you.”
“So be it,” he said. “Thank you so much for wasting my time.”
He disappeared toward the back of the club while I headed toward the front.
I hadn’t meant to let her slip out alone. It had been my plan to follow and make sure she arrived at the meeting with her mother safely. I couldn’t track her based on her scent like I could if I were at my full abilities, but at least I knew where she was headed. I only hoped her early arrival wouldn’t complicate things and that I would get there before the shit hit the fan.
3
Sydney
I’d ducked into a book store to kill a little time, debating on whether to show or not, but at the last moment, I decided to give her one last shot to prove that she had changed, knowing that she probably hadn’t and that this would likely be the last time I’d ever see her.
Her hair was grayer than I remembered, the circles around her eyes much darker as well. She looked worse than I’d ever seen her, and I decided then that I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t sit down with her and eat a meal, pretending that we were all good and hoping she had changed for the better, when it was painfully obvious she had only gotten worse. I couldn’t make myself forget the horrors she’d exposed me to when she was supposed to be protecting me.
Her current state could only mean one thing. Her addictions continued to rage on and she was likely out of money, which I didn’t have the means to give her even if I wanted to. I didn’t want to, but at least I could sooth my guilty conscience later when I reminded myself that I was barely getting by on my own at times, and she was at least partly to blame for that when she’d failed to give me a stable childhood and a glimpse of what life should be like. Every extra dollar I made went into a savings account that I vowed not to touch unless an emergency came up. No way in hell would I compromise that fund for her.
I often thought about what it meant to have a “normal” childhood with at least one parent who wasn’t battling addictions and how that led to a “normal” adult life. I would likely have been graduating college by now and maybe even securing the first job of my career. Instead, I worked at a bar with a “supernatural gimmick” that actually did cater to all the things that went bump in the night, mostly vampires though, where I got paid for my blood. I’d traded selling my body for someone else’s gain to selling my body for my own gain. It wasn’t ideal, but at least it was my choice and it didn’t involve taking my clothes off.
I’d wanted to go to college and become something, save lives or help people in unfortunate situations like myself, but I’d barely finished high school due to being uprooted every few months and no responsible adult encouraging me to do my best. Now, I was twenty-three and stuck in a life I didn’t think I’d ever break free from, drowning with no life preserver in sight.
“Sydney, baby,” she yelled just as I turned to leave.
Hurrying toward me, she threw her arms around my neck once she reached me, and as much as I tried, I couldn’t reciprocate. The scent of stale cigarettes and cheap perfume assaulted my nose as she latched onto me.
“I can’t do this,” I said, tears welling up at the corners of my eyes, half from emotion and half from the horrid smell. “I’m sorry. This was a mistake.”
“Please,” she pleaded. “Don’t go. We don’t have to go in the restaurant if you don’t want. Take a walk with me, like we used to.”
I couldn’t recall one single instance where the two of us had gone on a walk as a loving mother and daughter. I remembered walking to the local drug dealer’s apartment so she could feed her addiction more times than I could count, but I didn’t remember any leisurely strolls through the neighborhood that might have bonded us together. No walks to the park or around the block or to a legitimate friend’s house. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
“When I’d heard you moved to Edgington City after you left, I decided to get my shit together and get a place in town. It took me a while, but I’m here… I live a few blocks over and I’d like you to see my ne
w place. I know I don’t look like it, baby, but I’m doing real good now.”
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “This is all a bit overwhelming.”
“Just let me show you where I live. That way you know where you can always find me.”
Doubtful. History had told me I could maybe find her there for the next few months, but after that, it was anyone’s guess where she’d end up.
“I guess, but I’m not staying long,” I said, the assertion met with a nod from her.
We walked a few blocks up to a trailer park that was much nicer than a place I expected her to live. The lawns were well-manicured with trailers that looked like they couldn’t have been more than five or ten years old situated every so often with plenty of space in between. It was well-maintained and nothing like the stereotypical trailer park you see on TV or in the movies.
During the walk, she told me about the job she’d taken serving dinner at the senior citizen center and how she was cleaning houses as a side hustle. She’d supposedly stopped with the drugs and the gambling after I finally left. Her rock bottom had been losing me and she was determined to make things right between us. When I asked why it had taken her nearly three years to contact me and wondering to myself why she looked so bad if that was really the truth, she’d said it was because she wanted time to heal herself and have time under her belt as a productive member of society so I would believe that she’d changed.
Her words were everything I’d ever wanted to hear, but I still couldn’t allow myself to believe her.
Once we arrived at the front door of her trailer, I was determined to make a break for it.
“Come on in,” she said with a smile.
“Actually, I think I’m going to head home. Maybe we can meet for that dinner in a few weeks,” I said. Heaviness settled in my chest, squeezing the air from my lungs, and for the briefest of moments, I thought to myself that I just needed to get back to Stellan to feel okay. Shaking the thought from my mind, I continued, “I feel like I’m about to have an asthma attack. Probably from all the walking.”
“Asthma? Since when?”
“Officially diagnosed? Twenty-one,” I said. “But I started having issues around when I turned eighteen. My chest increasingly felt like a load of bricks had landed on it, and it’s hard to breathe when it gets that way. The inhaler doesn’t even really help all that much, but I’ll take any little bit of help I can, so I use it anyway.”
“Oh, nonsense. You must have started having problems after you left me, because I would’ve known if you had problems breathing when you were eighteen.”
“Would you have?” I asked.
“Let me make you a sandwich or something before you go,” she said, no doubt changing the subject so she didn’t have to face what type of mother she had been. “Spend some time with your old mama.”
“I’m not that hungry,” I said, thinking about how much I wanted to ignore my empty stomach, take off what I’d worn to work, and slip into my pajamas at home. My bed was calling, like it always did, providing an escape from reality that I longed for almost every waking second, though I wondered if I’d be haunted by those disturbingly beautiful gray eyes of Stellan’s once I closed my own. Hoped for it really. In my dreams, I’d be free to explore his body, free to feel things I’d convinced myself didn’t exist, free to allow pleasure into my life…
“I heard your stomach growl a minute ago. I know you’re hungry,” she said, a hint of sadness in her voice. “Just stay with me a little longer. Let me feed you.”
“I guess I can stay for a few minutes,” I said while reminding myself that I was in charge of my life now and there was nothing she could force me to do that I didn’t want to do. She couldn’t make me take off my clothes for money anymore. She couldn’t force me into situations with men that made me feel disgusting and dirty as they pawed at me and treated me like a piece of meat. Forcing me might not be the correct term, but when I was told it was either do as she said to get her out of a financial bind or it’d be my fault when she ended up dead, forceful is what it had felt like.
She smiled and nodded, but her chin trembled as she turned away to open the door.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I followed her inside. She almost never cried unless she was trying to cry her way out of a bad spot. Her tears triggered that bone-burning feeling again and the urge to flee strengthened. “Are you sick?”
That had to be it. That’s why she’d reached out now. That’s why she looked so terrible.
“Nothing. It’s nothing. You’re just so grown now, and you’re standing on your own two feet without me,” she said, shaking her head as she walked over to the kitchen. “You really don’t need me anymore.”
Just as the words left her mouth, the door that sat off to the side of the kitchen flew open and hit the wall with a slam. Two men I’d never seen before entered, cramping the already too-small kitchen. I grabbed the closest thing I could find—a butcher knife—and pointed it at them.
“Get the fuck out of here,” I yelled. “We don’t have any money or drugs.” Maybe we didn’t have any drugs. I couldn’t be sure. I knew I didn’t, but my mother? The jury was still out on that one.
“Call her off, Susan,” the tall, lanky one had commanded.
“You know these men?” I asked, shifting my gaze to my mother quickly before settling back on the two men. The way they’d crashed into her home made me think they weren’t exactly invited guests, almost like they wanted to catch someone off guard.
And then it hit me.
This was it. This was the bad thing that had nagged at me for days, and I cursed myself for not running earlier. Cursed myself for meeting with her at all. Cursed myself for following her to a place where I could be caught off guard in the first place.
Glancing back at my mother, I watched her nod and sit on a stool at the bar that separated the kitchen from the living room.
“Put the knife down,” she said, bringing a cigarette to her lips and lighting it. A puff of smoke drifted from her mouth before she spoke again. “They’re friends.” Everything progressed in slow motion from that moment forward. An eternity passed in the few seconds it took me to decide what to do next.
Every instinct told me to hold onto the knife, but it would do me no good. One man had a gun prominently displayed in the front of his waistband and the other had one strapped to his hip. Even if I wanted to charge at either of them, the other would surely have me dispatched before I hit my mark. It seemed to me that the odds of surviving might improve if I didn’t have a weapon in hand. Sure, I could have lunged at them like a raving lunatic, waving the knife around and jabbing it into anything that got close, but it would only exacerbate the situation and I’d probably end up dead within seconds.
Placing the knife on the counter, I took a step back.
“Okay, sorry about that. I’ll just leave y’all to it,” I said and tried to make my way toward the front door. “I’ve got an early shift anyway.” A lie, but they didn’t need to know that.
A stocky man with tattoos that looked like they’d been scratched on in prison quickly stepped in front of me, blocking the way. Taking a deep breath, I tried to stay calm.
“Excuse me,” I said. “I’m leaving now.”
“No, you ain’t,” he replied with a grin that exposed a missing front tooth and a strong waft of halitosis.
My back stiffened as an icy cold chill shivered down my spine. We stood there, looking eye-to-eye for a few seconds that ticked by like hours. His arms darted out about the same time I tried to shove my way past him.
“No,” I shouted, clawing at him as he grabbed me around the waist. My nails dug into the flesh on his face, leaving four thin slashes behind as I struggled to break free from his grip.
“You’re gonna regret that, bitch,” he said, low and stern.
The stench of body odor hit my nose, nearly causing me to gag. Grabbing my arms again, he pinned them to my sides to try and subdue me, but it
didn’t stop me from trying to break free. I writhed and kicked as much as I could, desperate to loosen his grip on me.
“Don’t let them take me,” I screamed as loud as I could, but my mother only looked away like she hadn’t heard a word I’d said, and in that moment, I hated her. It wasn’t the first time I’d had to do things to ensure our safety or to pay off a debt before I’d gotten away from her, but this would likely be the last. This was going to be far worse than anything I’d ever had to do before. These men weren’t waiting for me to perform some salacious act that would make me feel like I wanted to vomit afterward. No, they were going to take me away somewhere, and no one would probably ever see me again.
“Mom,” I mouthed, but the word was only stifled by my tears and the stinging in my throat.
The fight in me drained away to almost nothing, and I went nearly limp in the man’s arms as he carried me outside. The fight drained from my body, numbness settling in. My worst fear for as long as I could remember had been realized. She’d traded me away to save her own ass. She truly didn’t love me. Some part of me, tucked away into the depths of my mind, had hoped that I was wrong, that accepting that I could never know true love if my own mother didn’t even feel anything for me had been short-sighted. That part of me flickered and faded into nothingness. There was no hope for me now. And the worst part was, there was no one out there who would miss me. Lucien and the girls at Club Dead that I worked with would probably think I had simply quit and moved on with my life. It wasn’t the type of job where people stayed long-term. My absence would barely register.
Into the Storm (Vampires of Velum Mortis Book 2) Page 2