by Bob Dattolo
“I’m just not sure what to do about that.” She finally said.
“I know. Please believe me that I do. It’s not an easy thing. Honestly, what helped me when I was fighting so much of this was the realization that I was focusing on the fact that I’m not human and staying away from the other things. I had to step back from my focus and say huh, it doesn’t matter what I was before, the reality is that now I’m a supernatural. I stopped paying attention to the fact that things changed. Like with the accident example? Stop thinking about your attack. Just think about the fact that you’re a vampire now. Your instincts are trying to tell you how to react, and you need to accept that. Like with me accepting having sex with everyone. While parts of my brain still scream about letting someone see me take a shower or even use the bathroom, I have to let the larger part of me roam free, because that’s my version of not having legs. For you? Don’t become a killer, but don’t hold back when you’re threatened or those you want to protect are threatened.”
More silence. It remained there until a cop flew by us, siren blaring, “So…if we find the gang and they attack, I should fight back? Kill them?”
“Yes.”
“That’s it? Just a yes?”
“Well, if you can beat them and leave them broken and bleeding? Then sure. But with the way you guys heal, I can’t really imagine what you’d have to do to take them out of the picture. Remember, these are criminals and attacking. They’re not innocents. Again, don’t go out and drain some little kid just because it feels good. But stand up for yourself. For those you want to protect. For your family.”
“God…”
“I know it’s hard. Is it really any harder than talking to your parents about their girlfriend? You accepted that really quickly. I get why, it’s easier to accept something like that. But the death thing? It’s the same to you as a vampire. It is. Just like with challenges? They’re part of this world, and you have to learn to deal with them. Either that, or someone will walk all over you and kill you. Or worse.”
She was silent over the bridge to Philly as I followed the GPS. “Thank you. I’ll try. Or, I guess I’ll try not to fight so hard. It’s been really difficult not to let things happen.”
Squeezing her hand, I laughed, “I know, right? The part of me that I let out in the challenge is still floating around, but I’ve managed to keep it back. Lord knows that I don’t want to let that part out all that often if I can help it.”
She snorted, “Yeah, I’m thinking that wouldn’t be great to let that out all that often.”
“You’re telling me. The things I think about just aren’t right. Fun seeming, but not right.”
Chapter 21
Philly is the first city that I’ve been in and actually been out on my own. Or, somewhat, since Rachel is with me. It’s certainly the only one I’ve ever driven in. That being said…what a mess. And I don’t mean the city. I mean me.
Next to me, Rachel bursts into laughter again, “You didn’t know that he was gonna squeeze in there?”
Smacking the wheel, I glared at her and contemplated trying some magic to mess with people, “No! Why would I think that a 15-foot-long taxi could fit into a 6-foot opening? What in the world would make me think that?”
She laughed again, “It’s the city! If there’s a space there, assume a car will try to fill it. Or a bus. Or a pedestrian.”
“So, what, I’m supposed to ride everyone’s tail?”
“Pretty much! If they see you leaving a spot, they assume you’re leaving it for them.”
“This is so frustrating!”
She laughed again, continuing for most of a block. Since we’re crawling, that’s a lot of laughter. “You’re funny. Do you want me to drive?”
Yes! Yes I do! Instead of screaming that and diving through the window, I fought to ask, “How much farther?”
She wiggled her hand, “Maybe two more blocks? This is right around where I saw Scudo the first time.”
“Is this where they took you from?”
She frowned, but I only caught it out of the corner of my eye as I tried desperately not to wreck her expensive car, “No. Or, close enough? Maybe 15 blocks that way?” She waved to the side. “They roam a lot. They’re not like a drug gang that you see on TV? They don’t fight with the neighboring gangs. Or, they fight with the vampire ones, but it’s not the same.”
I groaned and continued driving, taking the next turn, “Fine. Then no, it’s just easier for me to drive.”
A short 16,000 years later, I parked in a parking garage. So many firsts in the past month that it’s ridiculous.
“Why are we parking here and not on the street?”
She took her keys and shrugged, “We could, but then you run a higher risk of having your car dented and crap like that. It can still get dented or stolen from here, but it doesn’t seem to happen quite as often. Or maybe I just don’t hear about it.”
She tugged my hand to get me to follow her to the stairs.
“Why not the elevator?”
She nodded up, “We’re underground, so I was hoping to get more scents and see if I can track who’s been through here before us.”
My sniffing pulled in too many scents to be able to weed through. God, I hope I get a handle on things soon. If Mom is telling me I need stronger senses, I’m pretty sure I can take that to the bank.
“I’m not getting much that I can understand. Are you?”
She sniffed a few times, “A ton, but not much helpful. I’m getting almost every type of shifter that I can think of, plus some that I don’t even know what they are. Some trolls. A bunch of magic users. Vampires. Except for the overwhelming human smell, it’s pretty much like school that way. This is a pretty busy parking garage.”
Exiting on the street, she continued tugging my hand as she headed towards a cross-walk, “Come on, the first time I saw them was over this way.”
“How do you want to play this?”
She shrugged and wouldn’t meet my eyes, “Umm, I was sort of hoping you’d lead the way?”
That…actually, that makes a decent amount of sense based on what she’s seen from me.
“Umm, I can try? I think you should because I don’t really understand vampire dynamics, but I can try. How about you do it when we meet and then signal me or something if you’re having issues? I’m sort of on edge, and if you don’t want to end up with people being slaughtered in job lots, it might not be a great idea for me to lead right out of the gate.”
She froze, nearly tripping, before continuing to walk again, “Oookay, yeah, how about I lead to start then?”
We waited for the crosswalk lights, then moved across in a small group of people. Everywhere around us are darting cars, people walking, and the smell of food.
“Do you mind if we grab some food and you fill me in a little on these people and what I might see?”
She pulled me into the next little restaurant, and we ordered enough food for four of us and waited the few minutes for it to be ready before finding an out of the way table in the corner. The place is packed, but folks are moving pretty quickly. Frankly, we got lucky that we’re not sitting at the little bar with people pressed right up against us.
“So, Scudo?”
She shrugged, watching me start plowing through food. “I’m not sure what to say. They’re a vampire gang. From what they told me, there are a few in the city, but only really two at their level? Scudo is the stronger one. No idea why they allow the other to exist, but they do. I guess they all have their businesses or something? They run guns and drugs and loans and blackmail and girls and host pit fights.”
“Okay, that’s a lot. Why did they take you? Just to fuck you?”
She shocked me by not looking away at all, “Pretty much? They had plans to keep me permanently, but the guy that was going to pull me in wasn’t there. I managed to get away before he got there, so I didn’t get sucked in.”
“He’d have pulled you in? Like controlled you?”
>
“Yeah, pretty much.” She shrugged, “Stronger vampires can do that. It’s part of the eye-thing?” She raised her eyebrows, “Shifters can do the same thing by pulling others into their family groups. When vampires do that, they can directly control people with rules and things like that. They’re not puppets, like they can’t make you dance with their mind, but they can tell you to dance and you do.”
“Okay, that makes sense. How long did they have you?”
“Umm, just about four days?”
“How did they treat you?”
“They only beat me the first time to get me to go with them. After that, it was fairly consistent fucking but no beatings. Some of them would hit me, but not to beat me?”
“I’m not sure I get that?”
She waved it away, “Never mind. Neanderthal love punches. Otherwise, they fed me when I was hungry and kept me locked up, but it wasn’t completely nightmarish.”
A normal human would think it was nightmarish in the extreme. It’s just another way to highlight how supernaturals think differently.
“What do you think we should expect with this whole thing?”
Her eyes drifted for a moment before coming back, “I’m not really sure. I doubt we’ll luck into finding Kevin on the street. I just don’t know what to expect, honestly. If he’s changed? Then he’ll be on their side until we can break the connection. If he’s not, then he may still fight us. It’s just that he’ll have no chance of doing anything to us then.”
“Do you know where you were kept? Maybe that’s their clubhouse or something?”
She grimaced, “No. I ended up escaping through some tunnels, and I was running at random. No idea where it was or even how to find the tunnels again. I came out in an alley and kept running…no idea where it was.”
“Crud.”
She smiled at me, “Yeah, crud.”
“Are you making fun of me?”
She nudged my arm, “Big-bad whatever you are says crud and you’re trying to talk me into killing people.”
“What’s wrong with crud? It’s a perfectly fine word!”
“Most people would have said fuck or something like that.”
“I’m trying! I don’t exactly have a long track record of being able to curse.”
She nudged me again, “Well, you’re still adorable.”
Her smile had me returning it, “Thanks, I guess.”
Wrapping up the empty paper plates, we left after I hit the restroom, finding the streets just as busy as before. Which I rather expected.
“So…which way?”
Scents lead us through block after block, but that combined with our random turning at times didn’t let us find anyone. No vampire gang members of either flavor.
Three hours into our trek, a tantalizing scent had us heading deep into a trash-strewn alley, only to find that it disappeared at the end. Neither of us could tell where it went, although she’d be a better judge of that than I would.
Halfway down the alley on our way back, a mass of people strolled around a corner not even 15 feet ahead, effectively blocking our exit. Shockingly enough, the darkness coiled up inside of me took a look at them and shrugged. Not impressed.
A huge woman in the front of the group smiled at us, “Huh, looky here. We got trespassers.”
The telltale scent of hyena hit me, smelling like Lorde at school. “We’re not trespassers, we’re just visiting.”
The massive woman tensed her arms, making me realize that she’s actually bigger than Steph is. This is one big chick. “Did I give you leave to talk?”
Rachel nudged me as I shrugged, “Well, you spoke to me, so it’s kinda up for interpretation. I chose to interpret it as this being the United States of America, and I can talk whenever I want to.”
The people behind her began to mutter, making me laugh, “You guys are funny. You can obviously smell that my friend here is a vampire. You don’t have a clue what I am, but you should be able to tell that.”
The woman sneered, being joined by some of her little army of people, “Such a cute little vampire. I’m gonna enjoy sitting on her face and selling her ass. She’s too young to do much of anything to us. Do you have any idea how old I am?”
The blackness inside of me uncoiled just a bit, “No…no I don’t know how old you are. I do know though that you won’t be getting any older if you continue. As for enjoying sitting on her face? She’s fantastic in bed, so I can see that. Then again, you won’t be getting a chance to do any of that.”
Rachel nudged me harder, practically pushing me into the alley wall, “Are you fucking mental? There’s like 20 of them!”
She froze at my smile, “Yeah, there’s 20 of them and here’s you trying to get back onto your bike.” She didn’t move as I created a portal to Mom.
“Daughter-mine?” It was easy to tell when she saw our visitors. “What seems to be the issue?”
“Well, we’re looking for Rachel’s brother, and these wonderful people decided to trap us in an alley. They’re talking about selling Rachel. They haven’t mentioned anything for me yet.”
Mom laughed, making some of the hyenas exchange looks, “Oh my, that’s horrifying. I do so hope they don’t hurt you.”
“I know, right? That’d be awful.”
“Did you open this portal for…assistance?”
This time I laughed, loud and long, “Oh no, I just wanted you to be along for the ride, so to speak. Rachel’s working on accepting herself, and I have a feeling she’s going to need to…”
The hyena darted in and hit me with a colossal fist before I could react, sending me catapulting back across the dirty ground, skipping and crashing through debris before hitting up against the wall in a spray of blood and puddled water.
Mom’s voice reached me from where the window stayed open, “Oh, look at that, Rachel. It seems your friend has been attacked.”
I stayed put against the wall, trying to look pitiful as her anger came on again, and she quickly passed through vibrating to rock solid before she turned back to the hyena that was just starting to laugh with her little friends. She managed to say, “That shut her…” before Rachel was on her.
I laughed as I stood up, concentrating and sending out a wave of magic that should block people from entering. Or leaving.
Mostly leaving.
The hyenas attacked as I stalked forward, and Rachel was a freaking whirling dervish that made me proud. I’ve never seen them before, but she has these wonderful black talons that come out when she’s angry enough, and she used them to good effect as she tore the hyenas to pieces. They managed hit after hit on her, but the injuries healed with rushes of clicking bones and knitting flesh, and I stopped next to the portal to watch.
“It seems she’s coming along?”
“We had a long talk on the way here. I didn’t think anything like this would happen, but I’m not shocked.”
“Hmm, she seems more powerful than she should be for her age?”
I giggled at that as she tore a guy’s head clean off and threw it against the wall, “Well, that’s what happens when I make her a vampire strength charm that ramps her up 400 percent.”
Mom giggled, “Oh my, 400 percent? How long did that take you?”
“One of our classes. Or a little less. About an hour.”
“Hmm, I wouldn’t make many of those if you can help it.”
“I won’t. Only me or you can take it from her, and only you can take it from me. We can change who it’ll work for, but right now it’s only for her.”
“Even better. Your skill with charms is incredible.”
“Thank you.”
“How much have you charged her for this ring?”
“Nothing yet. We’re working on what it’ll cost. I know it has to cost a lot, but I’m considering it a permanent loan for a lover right now.”
She made contemplative sounds, “Yes, I can see that. You’ll want to nail down a cost somewhat soon, but this will work.”
> My friend was tied up with two different shifters as one managed to get around her. His hand just touched her head before I was on him, pulling him back and latching my teeth onto the side of his neck. He fought and twisted, but couldn’t break my hold as I drained him, feeling the power inside of him flutter and fight to escape me.
It didn’t escape, sliding down into my belly, where it joined the power already there, making me smile as I dropped him.
“That’s simply wonderful.”
Mom laughed again, “I imagine it is.”
Rachel stood up from the mass of bodies, sloughing off the last two that she took out, and looked around in a daze, “Oookay, so…that’s messed up.”
Mom and I laughed.
Rachel looked a little unsteady as she stepped out of the pile and looked down at her body, finding her clothing torn to hell and blood splashed pretty much everywhere you can imagine. “I…I killed them?”
Mom laughed again, “You did, Rachel. That’s what supernaturals need to do when attacked. We’re too powerful to brush aside in all too many instances. In their case? They may have been old and powerful, at least some of them, but they’re no match for even a decently strong lower-age vampire. Given what I’m picking up from you? That’s not you any longer. You would have been a threat a week ago, but now with the item my daughter made for you? You’re far, far more than they could have appreciated.”
My friend started to look upset, “But I didn’t want to kill anyone!”
My raised hand got her to stop before she began crying, “I think there’s a communication thing I need to clear up. I think you’re looking at this as a want to thing. I didn’t want to kill anyone in my challenge. Or, no, I wanted to rather badly, but I never would have. I didn’t set out to kill them. Mom? Did you want to kill those lions?”
Mom laughed again, “Oh my, no. I’ve killed tens of thousands of people in my long life. More than that, actually, and I only ever rarely wanted to kill them. I made a decision long, long ago that I would not give in to my baser desires. Part of that is because I knew that if I did I would never be able to stop, which would stop me from gaining the daughter I have waited so long for. Don’t look at it as murder, because what we witnessed here was not. Did you enjoy it? You’re a vampire, of course you did. Don’t let the fact that you enjoyed it make you think that you wanted it. You don’t strike me as the type of vampire that wants it. There are plenty out there, but that does not seem to be you. Will it be at some point? Maybe. But the good ones hold that tendency at bay for whatever reason. Personal. Societal. Familial. It could be any reason whatsoever. For my daughter? I know, I know that she wants to go over to that pile of bodies and start rolling in them. She hasn’t ever said that, but I know she does.”