by Kristie Cook
My hand banged on the steering wheel restlessly, and my left leg bounced with nerves as I made my way through traffic to the west side of Key West, to the old part where the tourists partied and the Daemoni . . . hunted. Come on, come on, come on! If this didn’t happen quickly, Owen would eventually figure out where I headed. And, even if he didn’t, I was afraid I would lose my nerve.
I didn’t know what to expect. I thought maybe they would be on top of me as soon as they sensed me. Then I remembered they couldn’t read my thoughts, so they probably didn’t know I’d entered their hunting grounds. It wasn’t like they expected me to walk right into their hands. Not like the last time they got what they wanted. But this was the only way I knew how to solve the problem. I didn’t have the ability to recognize the best solution, like a certain someone else did. I worked with all I knew—my heart and my soul telling me what was best for everyone.
I’d promised him I would come for him. Although he never knew that promise, I would do my best to keep it. I hadn’t quite changed over, but I’d run out of time. My family needed the protection. They needed to be left alone. I hoped to give that to them.
The funny thing was, I realized, I did this as me. Real Alexis. At least . . . the closest I would know of Real Alexis, since I’d probably never make it all the way through the Ang’dora. But this wasn’t Psycho acting out in anger or Swirly confusing me with a mix of fact and fiction. Foggy disappeared a couple days ago. I embraced this newfound purpose as me, clear minded, though a little frightened. Okay, more than a little. But definitely all me. Definitely Real Alexis.
As the sun began to set and darkness came from the east, I drove up and down the side streets of Old Key West, lined with ivy-covered hotels and inns and stately trees hung with moss. Avoiding the overcrowded Duval Street, I tried to decide the best way to attract the Daemoni. I hoped to find one or two on their own, separated from the crowds. And I hoped to set the scene up so I could pull them even farther away. I saw no need to involve innocent people. It took nearly an hour to find what I searched for.
I glanced down an alley as I slowly passed it and saw two men, a woman, and a college-aged girl walking my way. I slowed the car. My sharp eyes recognized the dangerous situation immediately. The girl wasn’t exactly walking. The others pushed and pulled her along. The Daemoni alarms sounded in my head. The group stopped about fifty yards from me, from the end of the alley, and the men started harassing the girl. I assumed they planned to rape her . . . or worse. I took a deep breath. Here we go.
I kicked off my flip-flops and left the keys in the ignition and the car door open behind me. I walked down the dark alley. Several trash bins and backdoors lined the brick walls on each side. Security lights over the doors provided pools of light between pits of darkness. The Daemoni surrounded the girl in a dark area between two garbage bins. They pushed her around and tore at her thin, red blouse and white, satiny shorts, laughing wretchedly. Even the woman. The girl hunched over, trying in vain to protect herself. She looked taller than average and thin, but her arm and leg muscles were quite defined for a female. She looked as though she could hold her own against most normal humans. But these weren’t normal humans. In fact, they weren’t even human.
“Leave her alone,” I said when I came close enough for them to hear me without having to yell.
“You ought to mind your own business, missy,” the tall white-blond said without looking at me. He held the girl by her long, dark hair. She trembled so fiercely, the edges of her shape seemed to blur.
“You are my business,” I replied, stepping closer.
They finally looked at me, and they all froze. Even the girl, her face plastered in a grimace of pain as the first Daemoni still held her by the hair. She looked at me with pleading, fear-filled eyes, realizing she’d put herself in a bad situation. I could see why she willingly left her friends and went with them. The two men were quite attractive, dressed in silk shirts and dress pants, and they smelled nice—vanilla, freesia, rain, citrus, cinnamon . . . Their looks and even their scents pulled her in.
They were vampires. Although subtle—they projected themselves as bait, not predators—I saw the unusually pale skin, the red tint to the irises, and the slightly longer, pointy eyeteeth I knew were fangs. I wondered how she couldn’t see any of it, and then remembered I was specially tuned to them. The process of the Ang’dora had already sharpened my senses beyond her human abilities. My resolve tightened when I realized what they would have done to her.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” the woman sang, her voice low and throaty. How original. The vampire sauntered away from the girl and closer to me, a smile spreading across her face. She was a bit unattractive for a vampire, with a head of dull, pink hair that had the texture of a baby-doll’s, obviously a wig, and very masculine features. And she stood quite tall, nearly as tall as the white-blond, her legs long and muscular under her miniskirt. Her shoulders were nearly as wide as his, too, her tank top stretching across a flat chest . . . Oh! She wasn’t a she. She was a he. Huh. A transvestite vampire.
The third one moved toward me, also checking me out. He was shorter than the other two and not as muscular. But he was still dangerous . . . still a vampire.
The first one, the white-blond, still held the girl by her hair but had no interest in her. His red-tinted, ice-blue eyes felt vaguely familiar as he studied me with curiosity, his full lips twitching with a smile.
“I think you know exactly what you have,” I said. My heart sped, as if trying to run away, as if it knew how much the vampires wanted it. The frantic pace probably excited them. But I acted as bravely as I possibly could, still trying to keep control of the situation. “So let her go and take me.”
The blond let go of the girl’s hair and seemed to pat her shoulder. She fell to the ground in a heap, as if shoved down by a great force. She looked up at me, her eyes wide and wild. Streaks ran down her cheeks as tears turned her makeup into little black rivers. I momentarily wondered what she would tell her friends . . . if she got back to them. Which was up to me.
“Are you insane?” she whispered to me.
I snorted at her choice of words. If she only knew . . .
“Probably,” I said. “But you can go.”
I glanced at the vampires. They paid her no attention, their eyes never leaving me. They walked slowly toward me, seemingly hesitant. They had to know something was coming. They surely weren’t expecting Amadis royalty to simply hand herself over. No, there are probably only two of us stupid enough to do that. And I was the truly ignorant one because I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.
I looked back at the girl, and she crouched on the street, still shaking uncontrollably. If they really were anything like my vampires, they could feed off her fear. I had to make a move.
“Now!” I yelled. “Run!”
The girl moved awkwardly to her feet and stumbled away. I needed to keep the vamps interested in me so I took off the opposite way, toward the car. My scheme worked. They took no notice of her escape, all three chasing me. I could barely feel the ground under my feet as I ran, nearly flying down the alley. But I didn’t know if I would be fast enough until I finally reached the car and sprang into the driver’s seat. They hit the car just as I slammed the door. Their fingers clawed at the convertible top. I flattened the gas pedal to the floor and peeled out. Game on!
The Daemoni kept pace with the car as I raced through the streets, pulling them into a darker area of town. I tried to get away from the residential area, but couldn’t find a way out. Every street I turned down was lined with more houses. I rounded a corner. A brick wall rushed toward me. Oh, shit! I slammed on the brake and cranked the wheel, spinning the car around in a one-eighty, tires squealing. The smell of burning rubber filled the air. The three vampires rushed at me. I could see and hear people—innocent bystanders—not too far away. This isn’t good enough!
I jumped out of the car, bounded on the back, and hurdled the six-foot br
ick wall. I landed in the backyard of someone who wasn’t home. No lights shone through the house windows, dark rectangles staring vacantly at nothing.
But I wasn’t alone.
I straightened up from my crouch. I first noticed white legs that seemed to never end in a black leather miniskirt that would have been a belt on anyone else. Her perfect breasts practically burst out of the black leather halter barely covering any of her pale skin. Her long hair was white-blond, like the other vampire’s, framing a striking face with red-tinted, ice-blue eyes that narrowed at me. This familiar blond beauty stood there as if she’d been waiting for me. And I remembered her clearly. Not just from the pub in Cape Heron the night I met Ian, although she’d been there, too. But from that Arlington street the night before we moved to Florida, when I was only eighteen and attacked by creatures I’d never believed were real, until now.
She glanced up, behind me, at the other three standing on the wall, then made a face of disgust, revealing her fangs, as she looked me over.
“This?” she spat, looking at me but obviously talking to the others. “This is what he left me for?”
I stood frozen as she sauntered around me, studying me from every angle. I tried to make my heart slow down, knowing its frenzied pace didn’t help matters. I couldn’t comprehend at first what she said.
“You’re the little cunt Seth has been dying for?”
I flinched at her vulgarity. But then I realized the meaning behind her words. She used his old name, his Daemoni name, and she knew where he was. And she used present tense—not died, but dying. My heart sped even faster, but now with hope. And the hope gave me courage. I narrowed my eyes.
“You know where he is? Are you the coldhearted leech who’s been keeping him away from me?”
She laughed, the silvery chime both appealing and frightening at the same time. Her face was serious, her voice mocking. “If I had my way, I would be home with him right now, doing everything I’ve always fantasized about. Instead, I have to deal with you.”
Her icy fingers suddenly gripped my throat. Not tight enough to choke me, but firm enough to communicate who was in control here. I held my ground, my eyes narrowed and my hands balled into fists at my side, trying to remain calm. After all, this was what I wanted.
“Vanessa!” The transvestite admonished. “Lucas wants her alive.”
“To hell with Lucas,” she hissed. “I’ve been waiting to tear her throat out since before she was born, when my Seth took off with that whore of a mother of hers.”
Oh, ho, ho. Now you pissed me off.
Something horrible washed over me, penetrating into my very core. A sick, cold, hard feeling. One I’d never felt before in my life. My blood boiled with it. My head throbbed with it. My eyes saw red through it.
Hatred. Murderous hatred.
It wasn’t jealousy. I knew whom he loved. The feeling came from knowing she was the epitome of the Daemoni—the whole concept of everything I hated about my life, everything that had destroyed the normal life I so much desired, everything that had taken my love, my heart, my soul away—everything wrapped up in this white-blonde beauty. I hated her, and all I wanted to do was kick her dead ass into nonexistence.
One of the others—the blond—chortled, the maniacal sound echoing my own madness. “He was never yours. You’ve never been right in the head, sis. But, hey, if you want to take her, I won’t stop you.”
Vanessa laughed again as her hand tightened around my neck. “You’re damn right I do!”
“I don’t think so, bitch!” I grasped her arm with both hands and yanked her hand away from my neck as I kicked her in the stomach, launching her back several feet. She landed with an ass-plant on the grass, astonishment quickly turning to outrage. I turned to the others.
“I’ll go with you, but you keep her off of me.”
She sprang from the ground and lunged at me, shoving me into the brick wall. My head and back smacked hard against it, and pricks of light flashed before my eyes. She pinned me with her hand on my neck again. I pulled my legs to my chest and pushed out, driving her back. I ran for the middle of the yard to avoid being cornered against the wall. She lunged at me again.
I ducked, and she flew over me, her nails grazing my back, cutting one of the dress straps loose. Then I did something I didn’t know I had in me. Something I would never be able to duplicate if I tried. I went all ninja on her ass.
Bent over at the waist, I twisted my hips and threw my legs upward as if attempting a new kind of cartwheel. My feet thudded against her hard body in quick succession as she soared overhead. My torso followed the spin of my lower body, bringing me around upright, and I landed lithely on my feet. So did she.
Her eyes blazed, her stunning face screwed into hideousness with fury. She looked like the monster she was. I wondered what the hell I thought I was doing, fighting a vampire. But only for a moment. That’s all she gave me before she charged at me again. I wasn’t quick enough. I wasn’t a vampire.
We soared across the yard and crashed through a glass patio table. Oh, shit! Not glass! She landed on top of me and yanked me over onto my back. Her left hand once again gripped my throat, pinning me down. The glass shards under me stabbed through my skin. I gasped for air. Pain shot through my torso and pierced my lungs. Something’s broken. But that wasn’t the worst problem.
The worst was the blood. I smelled the acrid iron of it first. Then I felt the wet warmth spreading on my face, and the taste of salty rust filled my mouth. Blood is so not good.
The other three instantly hovered over us, their tongues swiping across their lips. All four faces looked down at me hungrily, their eyes glowing red. Hissing-snarling sounds rumbled in their throats. Vanessa peeled her lips back into a detestable grin, exposing razor-sharp teeth and pointed fangs.
“She’s mine!” she growled at the others. And I knew then, without a doubt, she was the woman in the street in Virginia. She’d said then I was always hers. And now she finally had me.
The others pulled slightly back but started crowding over us again, drawn to the blood. Low growls rolled in their chests.
With her right hand, Vanessa shoved my left shoulder down against the glass and cement. She moved her left hand to my right shoulder. Her knee pressed sharply into my thigh. I couldn’t move. But I could breathe again. I inhaled, but it was more of a choking gasp as pain seared through my chest. My vision blurred and dimmed as her face came down to mine, her scent of lavender, vanilla, and cigarette smoke enveloping me.
I knew this was it. She was too strong for me. Fear and pain replaced my anger, eradicating any inhuman power I’d possessed just a few minutes ago. She hovered over my cheek. Her cool breath slid over my hot, wet skin. She inhaled deeply, and a satisfactory smile overcame her face, lighting it up with more beauty than she’d ever shown before. Some part of me—the human part falling for her inhuman glamour—ached for her touch. For her bite.
“Ah, at least you’ll be delicious.” She ran her tongue over my cheek, lapping the fresh blood. “Mmm. Tasty. Ready to join your man in hell?”
“If that’s where he is,” I whispered, my voice gurgling with blood.
She bent her head lower, to my throat, her hair feeling like soft wisps of silk as it fell on my face. I closed my eyes, hoping it would be fast. I felt the teeth and fangs cut through my skin, like a knife slicing into a tomato—slight resistance at first, then an easy glide through the soft flesh. Then she sucked. My blood seemed to gush through my body, rushing through my veins, looking for that outlet into her mouth, as if it wanted to be drained.
Goodbye, Dorian. You’ll be safe now. Mommy loves you.
Just as everything went nearly black, I no longer felt her weight on my shoulders and thigh. What happened? Owen? I couldn’t move, could barely see, but I could hear the fighting sounds clearly. Hisses and growls and thuds and screechy, scraping sounds, like metal against stone. It had to be Owen. And others. Too much action went on for Owen to be alone.
I wanted to yell at them to stop, to let the Daemoni have me, to not sacrifice their lives to save mine. That this was what I wanted and what they all needed. But I couldn’t do anything but lay there and listen. Then the sounds and movement suddenly ceased. All I could hear was heavy breathing. I tried to move, to see what was going on, but I couldn’t. My body felt numb, lifeless.
“You’re really doing this?” Vanessa shrieked. “You’re still choosing her?”
She heaved the last word.
“You’re damn right. Until death.” The silky, smooth voice still lovely, even in anger.
“If you think I won’t kill you, you’re wrong!” Vanessa screeched.
More fighting sounds. All I saw were flashes of darker black against the gray of my vision.
“Get them both!” one of the male vampires yelled.
“I can’t!”
“He’s too strong!”
Several Pops! And then silence.
Except for my raspy, gurgled breaths.
It was over. They were all gone. I was left here to die. And I welcomed it. I welcomed the final darkness so I would never have to feel the pain again. I was ready to sink into it, looking for the relief of death.
Blood filled my lungs and throat. My vision blurred and darkened. It went black. And there he was. My Knight in shining armor, my hero. I’d never seen anything so beautiful.
“Alexis,” he said softly, his voice more sublime than I remembered. His hand lightly brushed the hair out of my face. Tiny grains of glass scratched across my skin. “My beautiful Alexis.”
He bent closer, his face filling my dim vision. Through the dark blur, I saw my sweet love. The hazel eyes had the same gold sparkle, even in the anxious expression. He picked glass off my face, and each time he touched me, ever so gently, I felt a small electrical pulse. Then he carefully slid his arms under me and lifted me off the ground.