by Bob Dattolo
“Motherfucker!” Rachel nearly yelled, getting a frown from her mother.
“Young lady, we do not allow that kind of language in this house!”
My friend glared at her mom, “Seriously, Mom? Seriously? I died in the attack that turned me and lucked into coming back. Do you seriously want to try to enforce language restrictions on me after going through that?”
Her mother squinted, “You can’t hold that over me forever! You’re only 17! When you’re 18, you can curse all you want.”
Rachel waved her away, “Fine, I’ll try to watch it. I happen to think that this situation warrants it, though. I ran into two gangs in Philly before you guys found the school for me, and neither of them are good news. Did you happen to get their name?”
Mindy shrugged, “Not really? Kevin won’t tell us, either.”
“Let me guess, he hasn’t been home recently?”
Her dad nodded, tears in his eyes, “He didn’t come home Thursday night.”
Rachel growled and rocketed to her feet in a blur of motion that the adults couldn’t follow.
“Did they wear anything distinctive?” It took repeating it before they heard me. Rachel freaked them out just that much.
“Umm, black sneakers? They all had on black sneakers. And some sort of white shield looking thing on a hat. I don’t know what any of that means, though.”
She practically vibrated through her anger, “Scudo.”
“Scudo?” I can’t say that name sounds familiar.
“They’re a vampire gang. Their symbol is the shield.”
“A gang? Like an actual gang?”
“Yes.” Her muscles calmed down, but I could tell it only happened because she was basically getting so tense that they couldn’t move any longer. “They found me a week or so after I was changed. They kept me for days before I escaped.”
My rage skyrocketed and the blackness came out of the cubby, filling me. Her parents and their girlfriend shoved their way back from me as I stood. “They kept you for days?” She had tears in her eyes as she nodded, “And now they may have your brother?”
She shrugged, making me look at her parents, “Is that where you think he is?”
“What…what are you?” Her mother asked.
I ignored her and stared at Mindy, “You think he’s with them?”
“I think so? I’m not sure, but I think so.”
I pulled my phone and called Mom immediately, and hearing her voice almost calmed me down. Almost.
“Daughter-mine? You called?”
“Mom. Do you know anything about a vampire gang called Scudo in Philadelphia?”
Her happy voice cut off and I nearly purred at the clipped tone that came back, “Scudo? Yes. Why? Have you somehow run into them?”
“Not yet. Apparently, Rachel’s brother, Kevin, may have fallen in with them. What can you tell me about them?”
She laughed, but it came out like the cold breeze of death across a battlefield, “They’re a disease trying to spread in Philadelphia. They’re known for their crimes, and they’ve been untouchable for the past ten years.”
“Why untouchable?”
“They’re powerful. Very much so. And they’re ruthless.”
“If we find them, what’re the chances they’ll let Kevin go?”
She considered my question, “It will depend on if he has been changed yet. Everything I have heard in the bureau tells me they won’t let him go. If they’ve changed him, then he probably won’t want to be gone. They control from the top down, and their leaders don’t give their underlings much in the way of independent thought.”
Huh, that could be bad. “So, if we go to find Kevin, how much trouble will we get in if they attack us?”
She laughed, “Oh my, thank you for asking. It will depend on what you do and how you do it. If you are attacked by them, then by all means kill them. Just not the way you did in your challenge. If, however, they challenge you? Then let yourself go wild.”
“Okay, I can do that. How hard will this group be?”
“Hmm, hard to say? Their leaders are decently old, being somewhere in the neighborhood of 500, so they’ll be faster and physically stronger than anyone you fought in your challenge. That being said, I don’t feel the need to be there with you. Does that explain things at all?”
Huh, that’s…interesting. She has enough faith in me and my strengths that she’d willingly let me go up against them on my own without here there? “Thank you. I’ll let you know how it goes?”
“Thank you. And, if things start to go downhill for you, feel free to open a portal and I can step in and assist. I don’t know that it will be needed, but I’d like to throw that out there.”
“Thank you. I’ll try to keep you up to speed.”
I hung up and shrugged at my classmate, “So there we go. Do you know where they’re based in Philly?”
She watched me put my phone away, muscles relaxing more than I expected. Not that my anger has diminished. At all. “I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to you calling up Rasphael like that.”
Mindy’s mouth fell open, “That…that was Rasphael? As in the Rasphael?”
I shrugged, “If by the you mean my adoptive mother? Then yes. Otherwise…I’m not sure what to say there.” The shadows inside started to coil back up in the cubby. Reluctantly.
“Don’t let her fool you. Yes, the Rasphael. The fey? She talks to her like it’s nothing.”
“She’s going to be my mother, so why not? Otherwise, let’s get in the car and go find out if your brother is still alive and if we have to kill a bunch of people.”
Her mother began to cry, “But…you can’t do that! You can’t kill people! Killing is wrong!”
I jerked back to stare at her, finally picking up where Rachel probably picked up her peacenik approach to things. “Not to be that girl, but yes we can. I won’t go in there killing, so it’ll depend on what they do. I won’t allow myself to be hurt. Or Rachel. Or Kevin. If they come after me, I’ll do everything in my power to destroy them utterly.”
Rachel laughed, “She destroyed five entire families in challenge at the same time. Then her mom went and killed a family of shifters that threatened them.”
Her father clutched the hands of the women he loves and nodded at his daughter, then at me, “Bring him home safe. Please.”
“We’ll do everything we can. If he’s already changed, there won’t be much we can do that way.”
He stared at the two worried women next to him, then turned back to us, “If he’s changed, bring him home anyway.”
Rachel growled, either at the thought of her brother being changed or in agreement with her father, “We’ll do everything we can.”
My vampire friend was a bundle of coiled muscles as I basically shoved her into the car and backed out, firing up my phone to get us to Philly. I’m quite the little traveler all of the sudden.
As we hit the street outside her house, I patted her leg, “Chill for now. Just relax. We don’t have anyone here to go after.”
I was shocked to feel her leg muscle ease up a tiny bit, “I…I don’t know what to do here, Ceri.”
“What do you mean you don’t know what to do?”
She waved around the car, indicating everything, “I don’t know what to do! My brother and I were really close growing up. I know we lost contact and I drifted away when this happened to me, but I still love him.”
“Aaand? I’m not sure why that’s a problem.”
If looks could cause actual damage, I’m pretty sure I’d have a hole in the side of my face as she glared at me, “We’re going to Philly to find a gang, Ceri. A gang. They were violent fucks when they took me and held me for days, so I can’t imagine that it’s gotten any better. In the slightest.”
“I’m still lost.”
She smacked my arm, “I don’t want to kill anyone!”
Oooooh! Okay, that makes more sense.
“I don’t know what to do! I love him, but I d
on’t want to walk into this killing anyone!”
She didn’t seem to like my shrug, but I’ll stand by it, “I’m not sure what to say to that? You’re a vampire, Rachel. A vampire. From everything I’ve learned so far, you guys are the pinnacle of the human-based hunters. Yeah, trolls are stronger, but they’re not human. Demons and angels and the fey can all be stronger…but you guys are the shit. You’re faster than pretty much everyone. You’re stronger pound for pound. You’re aggressive and angry and manipulative…”
“But I don’t want to be any of those things! I work my ass off not to be some sort of deranged murderer!”
She twitched when I started to chuckle, “You’re funny. I agree, you do work your ass off. You do. I just don’t think you need to be working it quite as hard as you are. I get why you’re doing it. I do. Don’t think I don’t. Do you know how hard it was for me to get naked in my room that first day?”
She continued to stare at me, “No? What does that matter?”
“Fine, it’s not exactly killing someone, but it’s the same for me. Except for when I was young and my brothers and sisters took care of me, no one had seen me naked. Ever. Not in my room. Not in the bathroom. Nowhere. Not even in my underwear. It just wasn’t done. We had it literally beaten into our heads and our backs that being naked was a sin and a gateway to hell. I mean that, it was literally beaten into us. Masturbation? Guess who’s going to hell. I told you guys that my older brother was punished for masturbation, right?”
“Uhh, yeah? You never said what they did.”
Tears started before I could stop them, “Yeah, I didn’t. It took me so, so long not to wake up screaming. So long. God…I was eleven, so this was about six years ago. Our parents called us all together in a meeting. I’ve told you about how they handled us, which was mainly not handling us. They called us by numbers and nothing else. Looking back, it’s so easy to see that they didn’t even remotely care for us. It was all an assembly line for them.” I took a breath, sounding shaky even to my ears, “They, umm, they stared at us for what felt like forever. I just realized one of us wasn’t there when my father started talking. Telling us about the sins of the flesh and being pulled to hell…and how one of us was on the cusp of descending. God, I can’t even tell you what that felt like. I instantly went through everything I’d done to see if it could be me. Then they pulled my brother from another room. He…I don’t have a clue what they did to him, but they beat him with something. They had to to get that amount of damage. He was just beyond bloody. They went into detail about finding him masturbating. On and on. For hours. It was embarrassing and horrifying and everything else bad that I can think of…but then it got worse. Both of our parents were practically frothing as they yelled and preached…and then my mother grabbed a knife and cut his clothes off. I’ve seen the younger kids naked as I cared for them, but never anyone my age or older. It was the first time I’d ever seen a somewhat grown up penis, and all I kept thinking was that it’s a doorway to hell.”
When I stopped talking, she grabbed my hand, “What…what did they do?”
Wiping tears, I took her hand again, “They, umm, they forced him to apologize to us all for bringing sin into the house and among us…then, uhh, then they made him tear it off.”
The smell of terror ramped up in the car, “They what? Tear what off?!”
“Everything. They made him tear off his testicles. One at a time. God, he screamed and screamed, but he did it. Blood was everywhere. Then they made him tear off his penis. When that was done, my father held up a branding iron that we had for the cows. I’m not even sure how he got it hot, but it was white hot. They made my brother cauterize the wounds so he wouldn’t die. The smell…no words for it. The screams. That wasn’t it, though.”
“What do you mean that wasn’t it?” The horror in her voice came before the scent of terror ramped up even more.
“They made him, umm…they made him eat his testicles. Then they gave him a knife and he had to slice his penis up…and he had to make us each eat a piece.”
“What?!” She screamed, clutching at my hand, “They did what? They made him…you?”
Red-tinged tears coursed down her face when I glanced at her, “My parents were monsters. Complete monsters. I’d say that was the worst thing they ever did, but really? They had us with the sole plan to let us reach 17 and then kill us and take our powers. We were an assembly line of sacrifices for them. I have no idea why they bothered to teach us or why they didn’t just cut our arms and legs off and keep us in boxes until we reached 17… They’re evil in ways I can’t even describe. I’m just barely starting to understand what they might have done with the house and the layers of spells. 31 fucking agents died as they tried to assault the house. They killed my brothers and sisters as they escaped. Those are the people that raised me. Raised us. So think about that. I was taught that being naked around someone was a sin. A SIN. Now look at that based on my brother’s punishment and what he had to do. What we had to do. Now imagine how hard it was for me to take my clothes off. Or most of the other things I’ve done. I can’t even explain it so that it will make sense to the others…and please don’t tell them about that. Please.”
She squeezed my hand tighter, “I won’t tell anyone.”
“Thank you. So, yeah, I understand why you don’t want to kill anyone. I do. You were raised thinking that murder is bad. Well, it is. No ifs, ands, or buts about it, it’s bad. But you’re not exactly going out there and looking for someone innocent to murder. You’re trying to save your brother. Even if he’s been turned and is on their side, it’s because they’re kidnappings fuckheads that deserve to die so that we can save him.”
She fell silent for about a mile, “But I don’t want to be a murderer…”
God, the heartbreak killed me. “I’m not sure what else to say. You’re a vampire. Hell, you’re human! What would you do if you had a gun and someone broke into your house? You have it on them and can pull the trigger at any time. He has your mom in his hands and is just about to cut her throat and kill her. What do you do?”
She frowned, “Shoot him!”
“Murderer!”
“What? No, I’m not a murderer! I’m defending her!”
“Uh-huh…except he’s dead now. You’re a murderer.”
“No I’m not!” She fell silent.
I let more time pass before nodding, “Right. You’re not a murderer. You were defending your mom. You’re not looking to go out and kill people for no reason. You’re not even looking to do it to expand your business or territory or anything like that. There’s a very real possibility right now that if we go after this gang for your brother, that they’ll attack. Will you allow them to hurt or capture or kill you? Or will you fight back?”
She didn’t say anything.
“How about this. Let’s go back to when you were, I don’t know, 10 or so. You’re out riding your bike one day and you get hit by a car. It’s a bad hit and you lose your legs. Both of them. Gone at the hip.”
She stared at me before cocking her head, “Oookay. No idea where you’re going with this.”
“Just stick with me. So you’ve lost your legs entirely. When you get out of the hospital, do you go out, grab your bike, and go for a bike ride?”
“Umm…no? I mean, I lost my legs? What am I missing?”
“Nothing so far. So you lost your legs and you can’t ride your bike, right?”
“Right.”
“You don’t sit there in the garage in your new wheelchair and stare at your bike insisting that you have legs and you’re going to go for a ride?”
“No? That’d be stupid.”
I gave her a quick smile before focusing back on the road, “Yet here you are sitting in the garage in your wheelchair, fighting and fighting to say that you have legs. Why are you doing that?”
She didn’t seem to get it, “What are you talking about? I’m not doing that!”
Nodding, I shrugged again, “Are you human?�
��
“Umm, yeah?”
“Okay, let me rephrase. Are you a normal human?”
“No. I’m a vampire.”
“And yet you’re in the garage insisting that you have legs and are going to ride your bike.”
“I’m not doing that!”
“Are you a normal human?”
“No! I’m a vampire!”
“Right. You’re a vampire. Not a normal human. You’re trying to act like a normal human. You’re fighting against something that makes you what you are now. Vampires are hunters. Killers. Granted, don’t do it indiscriminately, but you’re geared to fight and get stronger and grow your territory and your reach and all of that…yet you’re not. Don’t get me wrong, the kids in our dozenal are happy that you’re staying out of it and aren’t trying to lead the group or the school because it allows them to do it, but they all know that you could do that if you wanted to. It’s just that you don’t want to kill. You could have stopped Corey with your speed and strength without really trying, but you weren’t willing to risk having to kill him. That’s admirable, but you were insisting that you had legs. Just the threat of taking them out would have been enough to get him to back off or else to escalate to kill you. I doubt he would have done that. He’s not stupid. Ignorant and a bully and an idiot, but not stupid. The only reason he came after me is that he thought I didn’t have enough behind me to back me up. With you? Everyone knows that you can back yourself up, you just aren’t willing to. Like we discussed, you accept things on the front end and then fight the tail end of things. I fought everything on the front end, yet took out Corey without even thinking about it. Hell, I licked his blood and eye goo from my hands without thinking about it. Yeah, I was sort of screaming on the inside, but on the outside? I’d have killed him except Burnes knocked me out. I wouldn’t even have thought twice about it. Even with Connor and Lacie when they attacked me? I’d have killed Connor except Lacie stopped me. It didn’t remotely bother me that she was in the hospital still. I was more bothered that no one else stopped by to be with her.”
This time when she fell silent, I let it go for more than a few miles.