A Wind of Change

by Bella Forrest

  They can’t see me.

  I whirled around to see the man watching me with almost boredom.

  “What’s your name?” he asked.

  Ripping out the flashlight that was still stuffed in my belt, I hurled it at his face and darted in the opposite direction. Even though I couldn’t pass through the barrier, that didn’t stop me from trying to get as far away from this man as possible. I didn’t stop to see if the flashlight had hit its mark. Whatever the case, it hadn’t done enough damage because he caught up with me in a matter of seconds. He tripped me up and knocked me to the ground again.

  “Come now,” he said, bending down closer to me and touching my cheek with his cold fingers. “No need to get us off to such a rough start.”

  The blonde woman was now standing right next to us. Her eyes looked swollen from crying and black mascara stained her cheeks. “What are you going to do with this one, Michael?” she asked.

  Michael.

  “I need to consult Jeramiah,” he said.

  Jeramiah?

  I made another attempt to scramble away, but he was unnaturally fast. He’d gripped my waist before I’d even managed to stand up.

  “You’ll do better not to struggle,” he said calmly.

  Lifting me from the ground, he flung me over his shoulder. Then he lurched forward with such speed, it knocked the breath out of me. The wind whipped against my ears. It felt like I was falling, not being carried.

  He stopped at a large trapdoor fixed into the sand. The blonde girl stooped and pulled it open, then Michael carried me inside. Still wrestling with me as I fought him, he descended a narrow staircase.

  I gasped as we touched down on a shiny marble floor. We were standing on a platform surrounded by glass walls at the top level of a huge atrium. It had too many layers for me to count, and it was lavishly decorated, with a sprawling garden in the center and massive chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

  “Who the hell are you?” I shouted again, kicking and pounding my fists against his back. He barely seemed to notice my struggle as he headed with me toward an elevator. Marilyn entered after us and pushed a button.

  “Why don’t you just tell her?” the young woman said, rubbing her temples as the elevator began to descend. “Her questions are giving me a headache.”

  Michael shot a look at Marilyn.

  “I’ll tell her when I tell her,” he snapped.

  Marilyn crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at Michael.

  I continued to attack my captor’s back—and any other part of his body I could reach—but he didn’t seem to feel a thing. My attempts to break free only made his freezing hands close more tightly around my legs.

  “Please,” I gasped. “Please. Let me down!”

  Both of them ignored me as the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open. Marilyn took a left turn and headed in the opposite direction from Michael and me. I strained my neck to see where he was taking me as he sped up along a wide veranda. We passed closed door after closed door, his footsteps echoing off the sleek floors. Finally Michael stopped in front of one of the doors and rapped his knuckles against it.

  I held my breath as there was a loud click and the door swung open. Michael’s hands ran up my thighs and gripped my waist. He lowered me to the floor. I tried to dart away from him, back out of the door, but he held me firmly in place—my back against his chest, forcing me to face forward.

  My eyes fell on the man standing before me in the hallway of a luxurious apartment. He was tall, even taller than Michael. He had a robe draped around his broad shoulders, partially revealing a chiseled torso. He had dark shoulder-length hair and harsh blue eyes that roamed me curiously.

  “Who’s this?” he asked, his voice low and deep.

  “Jeramiah, she walked right up to us. I couldn’t resist…”

  I flinched as the blue-eyed man stepped forward and placed a hand beneath my chin, tilting my head upward. Then he let go and lowered his face to my neck before breathing in.

  “Hmm,” Jeramiah murmured. “Take her down to the basement.”

  I felt the blood drain from my face.

  I was still holding out hope that this was all just a dream. I must’ve fallen asleep in the car on the way to the tanks. The trauma of losing my sister had brought about this crazy nightmare I couldn’t escape from…

  Jeramiah took a step backward and a beautiful ebony-skinned girl appeared by his side. Dressed in a short nightdress, she wrapped her arms around his waist and settled her gaze on me.

  “The basement?” she asked, her voice silvery. “Really, Jeramiah? She’s a beauty.”

  Jeramiah heaved a sigh and studied me again.

  “She is a beauty,” he said thoughtfully, after a pause.

  “I was going to suggest that I keep her,” Michael said.

  Keep me?

  “Please!” I stammered. “Where’s my sister?”

  Jeramiah raised a dark brow, then spoke as if he hadn’t heard me. “After the kidnappings this week, we’ve already selected enough humans to half-turn. Keeping her in the upper levels would upset the ratio,” he said.

  Half-turn?

  Ratio?

  What is he talking about?

  There was a pause. “I could… restore it,” Michael said.

  “You know I don’t like waste, Michael,” Jeramiah replied, his eyes stern.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll pick one of the servants who’s been slacking recently… I already have one in mind. Leave it to me.”

  Jeramiah still looked doubtful. “When will you do it?”

  “By the end of the week,” Michael replied.

  “No later than that.”

  “Agreed,” Michael said.

  “But Michael,” the beauty standing next to Jeramiah said, “I was thinking this newcomer could be good for our new member, Joseph. What about you and Alexandria?”

  Michael breathed out impatiently and gripped my arms tighter. “Alexandria and I are tired of each other. And as much as I appreciate your opinion, Lucretia, it isn’t required. Joseph isn’t interested in a companion anyway, according to Jeramiah… So this girl has arrived just in time. We were planning to do it this evening, right?”

  Jeramiah’s eyes were still fixed on me, but he nodded. “Yes, this evening.”

  “What is this evening?” I asked, hysteria shaking my voice.

  Again, nobody bothered to answer me.

  “Have you been to see Joseph?” Michael asked.

  “No. I’m going to do that now,” Jeramiah replied.

  “Are we sure that he’s ready for it?” Michael asked. “He seemed… unsteady.”

  “I think he’s ready. We’ll have him see people one by one, so it won’t be so overwhelming. I’ll stay with him in case there is any trouble.”

  “He’d better be ready,” Michael muttered. “He won’t be newly-turned for much longer…”

  Michael moved back down the hallway toward the door, dragging me after him.

  “I’ll bring Joseph to your quarters, yes?” Jeramiah said, already pulling on a shirt that his girlfriend was handing him.

  “Yes,” Michael said. “We’re headed there now.”

  “We might as well bring him to see this girl first then,” Jeramiah said.

  “I agree,” Michael replied.

  “Who’s Joseph?” I shouted.

  Michael threw me over his shoulder again and left the apartment. He ran along the veranda outside so fast I could hardly breathe. My surroundings were a blur. I could barely even open my eyes until he stopped outside another door.

  “My sister. She’s not well. She has asthma. At least take me to see her!”

  “Don’t worry about your sister,” he replied calmly. “She’s in capable hands.”

  Whose hands?

  Withdrawing a key from his pocket, he opened the door and stepped inside. I shivered as he locked it behind him. We were standing in another apartment that looked similar in luxury to Jeramiah’s. He
carried me down the hallway, pushed open the door at the end of it, and stepped into a bedroom. He placed me down on the large circular bed in the center of the room.

  As soon as I hit the mattress, I scrambled away from him and ran for the door. He whizzed across the room and shut it before I could reach it. I staggered backward, moving toward the far corner of the room and looking for anything that I could use to defend myself.

  “What are you?” I breathed.

  A smile curled his lips, his brown eyes fixed on my face.

  “Come here and I’ll show you.”

  I grabbed hold of a table lamp and pulled it from its socket, brandishing it to create as much distance between him and me as I could.

  Calmly, he removed his jacket to reveal a thin shirt beneath it. He walked toward me slowly, like a lion stalking its prey. Then his arm shot out so fast I didn’t have the speed to react in time. He ripped the lamp from my hands and threw it out of reach. Now defenseless, I stood flush against the wall.

  “Do as I say, and you have nothing to be afraid of.”

  As he took his final step, his body pressed against me, pinning me to the wall. He gripped the collar of my shirt and ripped it downward, baring my neck and collarbone.

  “No!” I screamed, clutching my ripped shirt with one hand while trying to push him away with the other.

  He pinned my hands up against the wall and held them there, then lowered his head to my neck. I tensed up as his lips pressed against my skin. I thought he was kissing me at first, then two sharp stabs punctured my flesh. I was too shocked to even scream.

  What is happening?

  His tongue brushed my skin, and he began sucking. He groaned deeply, and I felt his entire body begin heaving against me.

  He’s… drinking my blood?

  I felt close to passing out as he continued to take deep gulps of me.

  Wake up, River. Please… wake up.

  When he finally raised his head, my head was faint. His lips were covered with deep red liquid. My own blood. He smiled, revealing sharp fangs.

  “Do I still need to answer your question, treasure? Or have I shown you enough?”

  He had shown me enough.

  These people were vampires.

  Chapter 7: Ben

  I’d been trying to keep my head down as much as possible. Jeramiah had consulted with Michael and Amaya, and he’d given me a few other jobs—mostly menial tasks like tending to the lily pond. I did them dutifully. My plan was to do as I was requested until I felt the time was right to propose that I accompany them on one of their hunts.

  I had to gain their trust first. It seemed like the most obvious thing that a vampire would ask if he wanted to escape—to accompany them beyond the boundary. I needed to be patient and show Jeramiah that I was committed to being a good citizen of The Oasis.

  I was invited to join more parties at night, but I declined. I just told them I was a recluse and had never been one to party. Nobody seemed to raise much objection to it. Marilyn didn’t bother me again either. Nobody other than Jeramiah sought me out, and even then just when there was a specific task he wanted to talk to me about, or to deliver more blood. There never seemed to be any shortage of it—indeed, he encouraged me to drink as much as I wanted. Though I didn’t, of course. I just drank the minimum required to survive without climbing the walls from hunger. I was just grateful that I hadn’t needed to do any killing myself. The moment I did that again, I’d be plunged back into the same black state I’d been in while drifting in the submarine.

  When there was a knock on my door in the early hours of the night, I assumed it would be Jeramiah. I was right.

  “Jeramiah,” I said.

  “Would you come with me?” he said.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s easier if I just show you.”

  “All right.” I wasn’t wearing a shirt, but I just went with him as I was. I doubted he’d keep me long, whatever it was.

  He was silent as we walked along the veranda. He stopped eventually outside the door of an apartment.

  He knocked on the door. “Michael,” he called.

  So this is Michael’s apartment. I wondered why he was bringing me here of all places.

  There were footsteps and the door opened. Michael appeared behind it, his lower lip stained with blood. Perhaps we’d interrupted him during a meal. The traces of human blood on his mouth made my stomach lurch, even though I had already downed three glasses earlier this evening.

  “Come in,” Michael said—more to Jeramiah than to me. He opened the door wider and stepped aside as we entered.

  I still didn’t understand what Michael found so objectionable about me—I’d never done anything to insult or harm him. Not that I gave a damn.

  “Through here,” Michael said, leading us along the long corridor. He took a left down another hallway and stopped outside a door at the end of it. He drew out a small key from his pocket and opened it. Before I even realized what was happening, Jeramiah had stepped behind me and pushed me through the door into what turned out to be an unheated sauna room. Following closely behind me, he slammed the door shut after us.

  I was confused at first as to Jeramiah’s hurry to get me in the room, but then I was aware of nothing but the scent of hot human blood overwhelming me. As I laid eyes on a young woman cowering in one corner of the paneled room, puncture wounds in her neck still bleeding, I realized that agreeing to come here with Jeramiah had been a terrible, terrible mistake.

  Chapter 8: River

  My head was still spinning.

  Vampires.

  They exist.

  Did this mean that other creatures my mother and I had seen reported on TV existed too? Witches? Dragons?

  I felt like I’d gone insane even entertaining the thought.

  And yet here I was locked in this sauna room with fang marks in my neck.

  I was past hoping that I would wake up.

  This was no dream.

  When the door opened, I was terrified that it would be Michael back for more of my blood. The sight I was met with was no less terrifying: two vampires—Jeramiah, and another young man who looked over six feet tall, with deep green eyes and dark, almost black hair.

  My first thought was that this must be the Joseph person Jeramiah and Michael had been talking about earlier.

  Now I wondered whether it would have been better for me if Michael had shown up again.

  I was expecting one of them, perhaps both of them, to launch on me and inflict more pain, perhaps even end my life. Instead, the green-eyed man jerked backward the moment he laid eyes on me and darted toward the door. Jeramiah reached it before him and blocked his exit. Joseph’s shoulders were heaving as he kept his back facing me.

  “What’s wrong?” Jeramiah asked.

  “I’m willing to serve The Oasis, but not like this,” Joseph said, his voice deep and strained.

  “I’m not going to ask you to kill this girl. Just half-turn her.”

  “Step aside.” There was urgency in Joseph’s tone.

  “You said that you felt you were ready to come out with us on a hunt,” Jeramiah continued, making no motion to step out of the way. “Half-turning humans shouldn’t be difficult. And I’m here to oversee it. I’ll make sure you don’t take things too far—”

  Joseph gripped Jeramiah’s shoulder and shoved him aside. Casting him a glare, he said through gritted teeth, “I can’t… touch this girl.”

  He clutched the handle, forced the door open and stormed out of the room.

  I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or dread what was to happen next.

  My stomach squirmed as Michael stepped back into the room with Jeramiah.

  “Now what?” Michael said, eyeing me.

  Jeramiah looked quite unfazed. “Joseph isn’t going to do it,” he replied. “So that means we’re going to have to create another new vampire from one of our humans.”

  “Which one?”

  “It doesn’t
matter much,” Jeramiah said. “Just choose one who is smaller than us—someone who won’t be impossible to control soon after their turning. Because I’m not willing to wait days for a new vampire to calm down. As soon as they turn, they’ll begin work right away.”

  “A damn annoyance only new vampires can half-turn humans,” Michael muttered.

  Both men stepped out of the room. The door shut behind them, leaving me alone.

  It was all I could do to not lose myself to despair when I imagined what my sister might be going through. I could only pray that she was being treated better than me. But what do they want her for? What do they want me for?

  My chest ached as I imagined how sweet Lalia’s blood might taste to them.

  Please, Laly, wherever you are, be safe. I’m here. I’m gonna come for you as soon as I can.

  I almost leapt out of my skin as the door swung open again. It was Jeramiah, alone this time. He was holding a syringe. Panicking, I scrambled to my feet and tried to distance myself from him, but he closed in on me.

  “Be still,” he said calmly as he slid a hand around the back of my neck and positioned me against the wall. I struggled until the needle pricked my skin and the drug seeped into my bloodstream. Consciousness soon left me after that. The numbness was an unexpected mercy.

  Chapter 9: Ben

  I was fuming as I returned to my apartment. I shouldn’t have been surprised that the day had come when Jeramiah expected me to half-turn humans. After all, Jeramiah had said all along that was what I was useful for—but I couldn’t help but feel furious at the way he’d sprung it on me. The fact that he hadn’t told me what he’d come for when he’d first knocked on my door made me believe that he’d thought that I would disagree.

  As much as I knew this would set me back in my attempt to gain the vampires’ trust and escape this place, I simply couldn’t bring myself to bite into that innocent girl’s flesh. I knew that the moment I held her in my arms, I would lose myself in her and resurface again only to find her a shriveled corpse.