by Harold Wall
"Of course. Mari, I want you to listen to me very carefully. Now this may sound untruthful but it is true. I never lie Mari. We have you here in this castle to protect you. I—" Before
he could continue, Mari cut him off with a short burst of girlish laughter. False, of course, but mocking enough to show that she wasn't as gullible as he'd hoped she would be. And to
stop the hurt. She hadn't felt it in so long that it seemed like it was slicing through her heart, more than just an emotion being made somewhere in her brain. The man
still staring darkly, so she gave a shrug.
"Sorry. Just that it was my first James BondX files moment there. Okay, okay, I'll listen now." He cleared his throat and began.
"Since you have no will for beginnings, I'll get right to the point. I'm a vampire. See?" He curled his upper lip, revealing long needle like fangs. He seemed to be in no mood for
interruptions but Mari was curious. She moved closer with narrowed eyes. They looked real… She moved up until she was a few inches away from him. Before she could touch them
they retracted back into normal sized teeth. Those were definitely not fake.
"Hell spawned?" she asked with a shaky laugh. Then she sighed and shrugged at the ceiling. "Why not? Kidnapped by ravishing, Speedy Gonzalas men, trapped in a castle, my
friend is killed, and nobody would ever know. Not enough reasons to make me believe, but the fangs will do it." Besides, it wasn't that strange. It was like discovering a hidden
tribe in the Amazon, or learning that a mythical fish in the ocean was real.
Not that strange? Her mind repeated angrily. Getting a paper cut is not that strange. Being kidnapped by vampires is pretty fucking strange!
"Eep," she let out with almost comical fear.
"I'm sorry, this isn't going the way I planned. It's a shock, I know, to have these horrible things thrown at you at once, but you must listen. We're keeping you here to protect you
from the people who killed your friend. This organization is called the Night World." He paused when she made a face. He rolled his eyes and said, "What?"
She shrugged, unused to being forced to explain herself. "The 'Night World'? It just sounds little cheesy that's all. It's like as cheesy as…okay I got one. The Dark Planet. The Evil
Black Hearts. The Midnight Stalkers. Mess with them and you'll rue the day you were born." He sat humorless and impatient. Mari sat back disappointed. She had even showed
genuine movie effects there and he hadn't even appreciated it. Then he gave a little smile. Yes, she liked this man.
"If we're done with the movie trailers, I'll continue. The organization consists of witches, werewolves, and shape shifters, who change forms from human like to animals. They live
among your people, as if they were one of your kinds. But there are some who are against us. They don't believe that our kind should carry on their ways of living."
Mari didn't like that careful tone of voice. "Ways of living, you say? And, do tell, what would that be?"
"Do you condemn others for eating chicken? Steak? Pork Chops? We are vampires, and in order to live we need your blood. Earlier you called me hell spawned. Well perhaps this is
it. In order to live, we need you. We need your blood. Yes it's terrible, but do you expect us to ignore our instincts? To slowly die because of starvation. And we don't kill your
people when we drink their blood, like so many humans think." His voice was compelling and reasonable.
If not for his tone, she would have giggled over the word "vampire." True, she had eaten meat, for protein and because it tasted good. What made her feel guilty was the fact that
cows, piggies and chickens did die for her to live. Here vampires just sipped the juice box and left.
"What about those animal people?"
He smiled again, that gentle, amused smile. "Well they need guts. No, I don't mean the expression, dear, I mean they must eat the guts. Some can control themselves and eat
them from animals but if they hadn't fed properly over a period of time, they may be driven to kill humans. But it's the same way a wolf kills a rabbit so he won't die." It all made
sense to Mari. There were times when she watched in psychology, videos of coyotes, bears, and lions hunting and devouring beasts, large or small, for the sake of life. It had never
affected her like it did the others then, so why should it now?
"Why," she began slowly, avoiding his kind, emerald gaze, "would you want to protect me? I mean, what do I have to do with anything?"
He took a breath and she could see he was searching for the proper way to tell her something. Something very important. She suddenly didn't want to know. The news he was
about to tell was somehow going to change her life and she didn't want her life changed. But he took a breath and she saw she was about to receive her life sentence.
"They have three people who are like you. These people have powers. And in order to have that peak of that power they need you by the end of the year. But we don't want them to manipulate you like they did the others, Maria. We don't want that to happen again. So we're going to protect, hide you until then. Please don't think that we abducted you to lock
you up in this prison. We're going to make everything comfortable. Please," He stopped, unable to go on.
Mari had no idea why he was saying please. Please what? Did she really have a choice in the matter when there were supernatural beings ready to stop her even if she wanted to
leave? He shook his head.
"I'm sorry but I couldn't help hearing—"
"Hearing? I didn't say anything."
"Er…your thoughts. Vampires can hear your thoughts."
"Hey buddy, my thoughts are off limits," she protested heatedly. "And…are you sure you can?" Mari didn't like the prospect of constantly guarding her sarcastic and violent thoughts
from those around her. For instance, almost against her will, her eyes flickered over the vampire sitting before her.
Great bod, she noted, face never losing its icy veneer.
"Thanks," he replied, blushing a bit.
"Damn," she muttered, and tried with all her power to block out mortifying thoughts. "Continue."
"They picked you up so I could explain it to you. But if you want you can go. You can go back to your Blossom Fields and wait to be picked up by the Daybreakers, so they can
persuade you to become another one of their victories. A trophy, a pawn. You can go back," he repeated.
Mari sat very still and began to think. First of all there was no way out; no windows and no openings except the door, which most likely led to a dark hallway. So the option was to
stay and cooperate for the time being. Then she would see whether she wanted to be protected, or if they were all psychos who thought she had powers. Then she reviewed the
people who might help. This man said she had powers, so he was offering protection in the form of a castleprison. Protection from another group of whatevers who might
brainwash her. And this man was being really nice to her. Nicest anyone has been for a long time… too long. After all he said he never lied.
"Um…you just heard everything I thought, huh?"
"Pretty much," he answered with a small grin.
A slow smile spread across her lips, what some people called her killing smile. But it wasn't; it was just a little curve that showed she made a decision. If they were violent, blood
thirsty decisions, it was their own fault. "Well, a castle isn't so bad."
This time Mari was able to see a full, happy, actually exuberant, smile on his face. "I'd hug you, but that's improper. We have a lot of work to do. First you have to meet the man
who found out about you and decided to save you."
July 15, 1999
"She did what?!" The couple had come for a visit to their favorite mansion, despite protests from several daybreakers who were assigned to protect them.
"With that, that…snake
. We're going to die, that's for certain. Dammit! We worked so hard. Dammit!" He kicked a chair across the room for emphasis.
"You know," Maggie told Jez, "one of the reasons I love him is his optimism. He's always looking at the bright side of things. And when he says 'dammit' it's only because he cares."
She and Jez laughed, making Delos's head turn.
"I find no humor in the fact that the last person we need to save the earth just did a blood tie ceremony with a dead Hunter Redfern." His soul mate rose from the couch and
wrapped her arms around his neck. Morgead thought this would only infuriate him more, but Delos visibly relaxed.
Oh, he thought, she must have said something to him. Morgead cleared his throat. "Not dead, pal. A witch brought him back, then she died. And as for the girl, we still got five more months. Something's bound to happen." He hoped Jez noticed his calmness. She had told him the other day that he never looked at situations rationally. "It's all just kill
somebody, save the day to you. Never thinking," she had told him. He saw she nodded approvingly and he smiled back.
"We have to go save her," a new voice broke in with absolute certainty. Four pairs of eyes turned to greet Lord Thierry and Lady Hannah as they walked into the living room. Maggie ever the woman of etiquette, squealed and jumped from Delos's arms to greet the couple.
"I thought you guys were out on a meeting or something," Maggie said as she hugged Hannah. The girls were almost the same age yet when they were together it was as if Hannah
was a grandma Maggie came to visit. Delos guessed it was an Old Soul thing to always look wiser.
"We were. Then we came home." Delos came to shake hands with the Elder and then to kiss the hand of Hannah. Jez and Morgead simply waved.
While Maggie gave the customary punch to Thierry's arm that he really didn't feel, Morgead asked, "How do you propose we do that?"
"We're sending some of our best to 'spy' on the castle. The limited number of men will go to investigate or kill them. That leaves the girl with another limited number of men that
our people will kill; cue sweeping the girl to safety." Thierry's manner suggested there wasn't any other plan.
"Any other residents nearby?" Maggie asked what Jez was wondering herself.
Hannah shook her head. "We had Aradia do a little psychic searching on the island she's on. Apparently, Redfern wants her completely isolated from any other Night World citizens
other than the ones she's already begun to trust. It would ruin the image of the innocent vampires, werewolves, shape shifters who have no choice than to listen to their instincts
blah, blah, blah."
"Guess they don't want her to see that most of the hunters take pleasure out of their meals," Morgead remarked.
"Duh genius," Maggie said as she plopped down next to him. He gave an annoyed look but could never really scare the girl, especially with her prince near.
"This human was willingly brought into the Redfern Clan by the head of it himself." Jez said wonderingly. "A human, for goddess' sake, and he was the one who hated half breeds,"
she said with a supercilious sniff.
"Maybe she won't stay human for long," Delos said what nobody else wanted to consider. Then Thierry ruined the properly gloomy atmosphere by noticing:
"Who broke my chair?" Though never admitting to the crime, Delos sheepishly volunteered to find some super glue.
July 16, 1999
Mari wore an Asian red silk dress and found that the narrow skirt hindered her walking. Proper attire was a must when she endured a meeting with Hunter Redfern, for he clearly
disliked her normal jeans and tank top armor. For the first two weeks she was given the same dresses she saw out of fairy tale books but they were simply unbearable. However
did Snow White manage to run through the woods without accumulating half the forestry under her petticoats?
So she made Hunter settle for the present day styles, and Mari's shrewd eyes saw he was none too happy to relent. Hunter Redfern was all fake and no fun, so she believed, and
she didn't trust him as far as she could throw him. Though, really, it would be fun to try and toss that full grown man out the window…
Now the first man she met, however, was an entirely different story. The tough façade was, what she believed, a cover up to…something softer. She once had a child hood friend, a
one eyed alley cat was named Mr. Shamblepix, and just as she had used the name to irritate the ugly feline, she did so now to the aging father figure. From her former driver, Leo,
she learned his name was Carn Lancin and that he wasn't "the greatest guy in the world." But to the best of her own knowledge, Carn was indeed a softy named Mr. Shamblepix
underneath the layer of evilness. Most people just couldn't see that, just as most people couldn't really see the real her.
They were both misunderstood, Mari rationalized. In the others' absence, he'd linger longer than necessary to chat, or debate, or give her stern lectures concerning the lack of modesty in her wardrobe. Mari had been at first surprised, and then amused by his grudging fatherly attitude. Carn told her he wasn't being soft, just doing what he wanted to do.
Of course.
Lancin had informed her that his team would not bother her, and would most likely to treat her as a little sister in need of protection. But facts were they did bother her, and their
brotherly thoughts appeared incestuous and in need of latex protection. After weeks of denial in Carn's part, he finally ensured with a few threatening words that no "coupling," as
he worded it, would happen. And in addition to these changes, Mari had a new family. A large new family from what she had heard, with grandsons and great grandsons and distant
relatives in other species. Hunter was acting like the model father, but in Mari's opinion, Carn was surpassed him easily.
At the moment she was sitting on her wide bed, which was also covered in silk. She didn't like living like this, with strange beds that would teeter like a see saw and nobody but the
boys to talk to. Ancient indoor plumbing, no electricity, and drafty marble floors. Through the narrow slits some might call windows, she heard the boys training and planning. The
boys, she mused, were under the authority of a leader, who was under the authority of Carn, who was under the authority of Hunter. And Hunter was definitely not the type to be
under anyone's thumb.
That leader…what was his name? Valdis…Valdis Eldson. He didn't like her or the way his men were distracted when she came to visit. That's why she was sitting very still on her
bed, thinking about how he had told her to go back to her room after she slipped out while Hunter was detained. As if I was a child, she thought disgustedly. No, she thought,
was vermin. She had heard him say it enough to know she was the subject. "That vermin this, that vermin that," she mocked him, childishly. "To tell the truth I am getting rather
sick of it." Unlike the girl who just looked at her wrong and got fired, Carn pretended not to notice Valdis' words.
Without knowing why, she began to dwell on the subject. Valdis didn't like her because of her species. But if she was a vampire, would he begin to like her? She pushed the thought
aside hastily. Pleasing that bigot was the last thing on her todo list.
True, he was handsome, but not exotically so like the rest of the men. His red hair was unlike any color she had seen on anybody before, his eyes a mixture of cerulean blue and
jungle green. But they weren't very original. Red hair and blue eyes, big deal. And even though there was always an argument when they met, there was always respect for each
other's stubborn looks in their eyes when they regarded each other. Mari told herself it was just a small, tiny crush. No, not even barely qualifying as a crush, just a small trip to
insanity.
The side of the bed where she sat rose suddenly and she turned, expecting to see Mr. Sha
mblepix, but found the silver blond haired boy grinning at her. Oh yeah, she thought,
the one who caught me when I tried to run. She hadn't seen him since the first day she was brought here.
"That dress suits you," he said. "Then again you would look beautiful in anything." He smiled that almost made Mari's heart melt. But she refused to show it. Mari was becoming
tired of every vampire here thinking she would be unable to resist them and that meant a ticket to a bounce on the mattress. Mari liked to remind them she wasn't another helpless
victim to their stunning looks. And this man expected for her to warm up with merely two sentences.
But then again, some incurably vain part of her mind thought, it was the truth. The dress made her look even more exotic, as if she would fit in perfectly somewhere in Asia. Mari made a point of finding out who her parents were when she left the castle, and kick their asses for not keeping her.
"Is that all?" she asked with her old voice. She liked using it, and enjoyed the way it made others cower. But it did nothing here save annoy Valdis. "I'm trying to think." That was as
composed as she could be when her side of the bed was still up in the air. He stood up abruptly, making her land back on the bed boards with a thump. He sat close beside her but
not close enough to make her uncomfortable.
"I know you've been restless." Of course you know, nit wit, you can read minds. "And I also know that Carn has been teaching you how to fight, protect yourself and, if necessary
kill." She nodded, not really interested, but so that he'd continue. "Well, I found out that there are Daybreakers near here. In a cottage in the woods, trying to pass of as Night
people." He sighed when he saw she was examining her nails. "Maria, it's them. The people who killed your friend when they were trying to get you."
Mari stopped breathing long enough for the stranger to notice. When she wasn't vexing Valdis, or chatting with the others, she thought of Dorian. It took her a while to think of some
other qualities he had besides charm. Like humor, or what he thought was humor, but at least he tried to make her laugh. And the way he still talked to her despite the numerous
times she had been inexcusably cruel to him. Loyalty, one of the few things valued. I think I cried, she told herself, but I'm not sure. From the beginning she was angry with the