by L. L. Ash
Immersion
Bloodlust Series Volume 1
L. L. Ash
Copyright © 2018 by L. L. Ash
All rights reserved.
Disclaimer
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Chapter One
Crap… I didn’t mean to be out so late. Mom was going to kill me.
Ding-ding-ding
Damnit! Of all the times to need to fill up on gas!
I saw a big glowing sign up ahead advertising their fill-up station and swerved out of my lane to turn in. A car behind me honked but I didn’t care. They didn’t know that if I wasn’t home soon there would be hell to pay. Worse than there already was.
All I did was go to a bridal shower for my best friend. A couple drinks later I forgot to pay attention to the time and before I knew it, it was 11 pm.
“Shit shit shit shit...” I mumbled to myself as I tore open my gas cap and shoved the nozzle in.
It clicked along, taking its sweet damn time to fill up when I heard voices. I looked over my shoulder. It wasn’t safe for a twenty-something year old girl to be out alone this late at night. Especially in this neighborhood. People got kidnapped all the time and were never seen again.
My stomach turned immediately in anxiety as I gave up on filling the tank and just worried about getting enough to make it home. I shoved the nozzle back into the slot and pushed the button for the receipt. It slowly printed as I heard the voices again.
There was a woman’s voice, and she sounded in distress.
I stood there, receipt hanging precariously off the printer as I had an inner war with myself.
Logically I knew I was safer if I just got into my car and left, but to leave someone who might need help… I couldn’t do it. Too many people had done it to me for me to be so heartless towards another human being.
I cautiously took a step toward where the voices had come from and peeked around the corner toward the back of the gas station convenience store.
A girl was shoved up against the wall, her arms and legs flailing silently as a man pushed up against her, his mouth on her neck, hand over her mouth and nose as if to suffocate her.
Oh shit… This was a bad idea.
“Hey!” I yelled, stomping toward them in the most intimidating way my 5’9” frame would allow. “Get off her! You’re hurting her!”
The girl’s eyes looked panicked but glassy, as if it were almost too late to help her. My audacity went into overdrive.
The man didn’t move, just kept doing what he was doing until I reached them as quickly as I could, shoving him with all my might.
He moved alright, but what greeted my eyes would haunt me for the rest of my life.
Blood dripped down his lips, large teeth showing as he glared and growled at me, his skin was pasty white and his eyes… Lord his irises were almost clear.
I took a step back as the girl fell, blood gushing from the wound on her neck.
“Time for dessert,” the scary looking man said, tweaking his neck a little as a grin spread over his blood-stained lips.
My mouth dropped open and I started backing away until I felt a solid mass at my back.
“Be quiet. Do as I say,” came a whisper into my ear.
“This isn’t your fight, Drakos. Go home to your master.”
The solid mass of man behind me pushed a little closer until I was moving forward against my will.
Now I was literally surrounded.
My heart was pumping out of my chest.
“Drakos...” the man growled and suddenly the scenery was flashing by me and I was pushed into a room, a heavy door shut behind us.
Within a microsecond there was pounding on the door from the other man, the metal denting as he beat on it. The other man leaned against it, keeping it from opening.
“The room is concrete and steel. He can’t get in,” the man said with a deep, quiet voice.
“What the hell!” I shrieked in a voice so shrill it didn’t register as mine to my own ears.
“Calm down.” He sighed, still pushing back against the door as more dents were made. “And you’re welcome, by the way.”
I heaved in big breaths as my head started to get foggy. So much of what was happening couldn’t be happening.
“Who are you?” I managed to force the question out of my mouth. “What’s happening?”
“That—” The man grunted as a particularly hard bang resonated through the cold cement room. “—is a vampire. And he was about two seconds away from eating you.”
“A V—” I couldn’t even get the word out of my mouth.
“Yes. Now please, sit down and breathe before you pass out.”
I sank down to my knees, the cold concrete leaching into my skin.
“And your name is… Drakos?”
He shot out a single laugh. “No, Paidi mou. It’s what I am, not my name.”
“What do you…?”
The words stopped their assent out of my mouth when he looked at me for the first time. The hoodie over his head had blocked him from my sight before, but now I saw the same pale skin and icy eyes as the man outside. His almost black hair fell over his forehead a little and his nose was prominent and straight, leading up to thick dark eyebrows and high cheekbones. The man was nothing less than exquisite. Intimidatingly so.
“What do I what?” he asked curiously, eyebrow lifted.
I stumbled over a few nonsensical syllables before I managed to ask a half sensible question.
“What’s your name?”
“Calix.” He smiled condescendingly down at me. “What is your name?”
“Lily. Lily Dahlia James.”
“Lily Dahlia?” He almost scoffed. “Parent’s weren’t very creative, were they?”
I bristled, even in the intense circumstances.
“I like my name, thank you.”
Calix rolled his eyes but stayed silent.
“What kind of name is Calix anyway? Sounds like an apocalyptic video game name.”
Calix threw his head back and laughed, turning around with his back pressed to the now quiet door before sliding to the cold, hard ground.
“It’s Greek.” He grinned at me, this time it was genuine.
“So Calix, what the hell is going on here? And please stop messing with me. That dude just murdered that girl out there. We need to call help or the police or something!”
Calix shook his head.
“The body is gone by now, Lily Dahlia. I wish I could say the same for us.”
“The body is… gone?” I choked.
“Most likely.”
Panic swirled around me in a daze again.
“I-I have to get out of here. I have to go. Right now.”
I stood and moved toward the door, toward him but he stopped me with an outstretched hand.
“He is likely still waiting out there for us to open the door. If you leave you will die.”
Chills blew through me and I began shaking, my teeth chattering.
“What do I do?” I whispered to myself.
Did I risk murder by a stranger’s hand or just wait so it would be done by my mother’s hand.
“I’m in so much trouble...” I groaned, hyperventilating again. “She’s going to kill me… She’s going to kill me!”
“Who will kill you?” Calix interrupted my panic attack.
“My mother...” I panted. “I’m already late. She’ll kill me if I get home after midnight!”
“What mother would kill her own child? Or do you
mean figuratively?”
God I wish it were figurative.
“She...shit. She doesn’t believe in figurative.”
His thick brows dove in a frown and knitted together as he watched me with those icy eyes.
We sat in silence, no more attempts at the door to echo through the concrete room. I explored it with my eyes but didn’t see much in the dark.
“What is this room?” I asked finally, after something close to an hour had passed.
I was irritated at myself for leaving my phone in my car.
“It’s a storage room. They use it for overflow and cleaning supplies.”
Pressing my thighs together I looked around again. Spotting a yellow mop bucket an idea sparked. A disgusting, embarrassing, resourceful idea.
“I have to pee… Is he gone yet?”
Calix looked up at me from the spot he’d sat perfectly still in through the silence.
“He wouldn’t give up. And he’s probably called backup by now. The Dorians just can’t leave well enough alone. They’re a bloodthirsty lot. No pun intended.”
He smiled at his joke. Actually smiled.
“Did you just make a joke about the poor girl who was murdered out there?” I whispered disbelievingly at him. “She died Calix. That guy… He slit her throat or something.”
“He bit her.” Calix shrugged. “It’s an awful waste, but I have no power over them. Yet.”
“Yet?” My stomach was still upset and churning, and the things he said made no sense.
“How can you be ok with a girl being murdered?”
“People are murdered every day, Antheia. Life goes on.”
“Not for her it doesn’t,” I growled. “Her life ended tonight.”
Calix waved his hand, fingers long and slender. Well groomed.
“Yes but it was her time. You mortals live very short, very meaningless lives.”
There was so much wrong with that statement.
“Mortals?”
“Did you miss the part about vampires?” He tilted his head, looking at me like I was stupid.
Throwing my hands in the air, I prowled around the small room like a caged animal.
“I’m sick of you fucking messing with me! There’s no such thing as vampires and I don’t know why you’re being such an asshole about it!”
His eyes darkened and suddenly I was afraid. I was so, so afraid.
“Pretend as you will, Lily, but the truth is looking you in the face and you are choosing to remain ignorant. You know what you saw. You can’t explain it away.”
What did I see?
“Just stop… Please stop...” I pleaded, finding a spot as far from him as I could manage before I slid against the wall to sit down again.
Calix looked another way and it was silent again.
After a while my bladder got so full I kept looking over at the yellow bucket I’d spotted earlier. Eventually it turned into an emergency and I stood.
Calix followed me with his eyes.
“I have to pee,” I explained. “I’d like some privacy please .”
“Privacy? In here?” He snorted. “Are you delusional, Lily?”
“It’s called being a gentleman, which I’m sure you never heard of,” I practically yelled.
“Gentleman.” He scoffed again but did turn away as I hovered by the yellow bucket.
I watched him like a hawk as I reached for the button of my jeans, but got no further than the zipper when his eyes turned to me again.
“Hey! watch where you’re looking!”
“Enough of this stupidity, Lily. Dress, bathe, do whatever it is you’re going to do.”
“I want some privacy please,” I whispered, wondering how I would pee if he didn’t turn around.
“You’ve nothing particularly special.”
It was supposed to be helpful, but the words stung. Mom always told me that, too.
“I know.” I felt tears springing to my eyes like an idiot.
Calix rolled his eyes again but he could sense the hurt in me. It radiated off me like toxic gas.
“Think not of your sadness. You won’t have to deal with it again. ”
Of course he didn’t understand.
“Please… just cover your eyes or something. Please Calix.”
He met my eyes, intrigue shaping his face.
“Fine. As you demand.” He dipped his head, leaning his forehead against the arms crossed over his propped knees.
I pushed the bucket into the far corner and quickly unzipped, looking over my shoulder to see him still looking down.
I hurried, trying not to be embarrassed by the tinkling sound of pee hitting the dry bucket, but it was useless, and by the time I had my pants up and zipped again, I didn’t think I could face him again.
“Are you finished?” he asked in a dry tone.
“Yeah, done,” I squeaked.
He lifted his head again, looking as if I’d just wasted his time, even though we were both trapped.
Silence for the next who knew how many hours. It was likely morning by the time I saw Calix jump up with a gasp and wave his hand around saying words I didn’t know. Words that sounded Spanish or something.
“Kariolis...” he breathed as he stood away from the door, looking at his hand.
“Are you ok?” I asked him, getting up to stand next to him.
“The sun is moving through the sky,” he said, looking at the sliver of light coming in from the bottom of the door. “It burned me is all.”
“It...burned you? Are you one of those people who’re allergic to the sun?”
He looked at me like I was stupid again.
“Right, something like that,” he mumbled before shaking his hand out again then leaving it at his side.
“Yeah! I heard something in there!” A disembodied voice filtered into the concrete room. “Look at it! Looks like someone rammed a car into it!”
The voice got closer along with another one and they talked outside the door for a few minutes before the handle jingled.
My body was instantly moving, trying to help them open the door.
“Óchi!” Calix whispered harshly, moving faster than lightning to stop me as I pulled.
He shoved me off the door and pushed so the men outside couldn’t get in.
“Hey!” the voice shouted. “You ok in there?”
“Vlaca Lily!” Calix growled under his breath at me, glaring holes through me in an expression that would’ve had me peeing my pants if I hadn’t already left it in a mop bucket on the other side of the room. “Be. Quiet. They cannot help us and you will get them killed.”
My lips tightened up immediately. Was that man still out there? I’d thought we were just stuck because the door was stuck from all the dents and warps.
“Hey!” came the voice again. “I’m calling the police. Are you ok in there? Is anyone hurt?”
We stood still, and I held my breath. I couldn’t let another person get hurt. Even if it meant staying with Calix a little bit longer.
Finally the voices faded, saying something about calling the police.
Calix kept glaring at me and glaring at me, then finally he moved away from the door and pressed his hand to my throat until my back was to the hard, cool wall.
“Vlaca Lily. That was incredibly stupid. You will pay for this.”
His hand squeezed a little and my breath hitched in my throat where his fingers cut off my air. He eventually removed his hand and started pulling at my sweater.
I shrieked, fighting off his hands when I realized he was going to rape me.
“I just want your fucking sweater, Lily,” he said, ripping the sleeve of my favorite white sweater off my arm.
I pulled it off as quick as I could and shoved it at him where he proceeded to rip it up.
“W-what are you doing?”
“I’m covering up. We’re not going to be able to wait this out, thanks to you.”
He glared at me again, wrapping one arm around his hand,
then the other before making a sort of tent with the torso of it, wrapping it over his head and face.
“Now move,” he growled, and I danced out of his way as quick as I could.
I’d never seen a human being as intimidating as the man in front of me. I didn’t feel safe, I didn’t feel ok.
I felt scared.
Calix pressed his shoulder to the door and with one great heave, the entire thing came off its frame.
“Do you have sunglasses,” he asked in a quiet voice, as if he was in pain.
“In my car.” I nodded.
“Then move. Lead the way.”
I moved through the heavy, sunny southern California afternoon, straight to my car. More strange words were rolling out of Calix’s mouth as we went at a fast clip, Calix pushing me along any time I slowed. Going around the corner, I saw that my car was gone and police were turning in.
“My car’s gone, Calix. And the police are here.”
Calix growled an inhuman sound that curdled my stomach just as his hand circled my arm. He threw me over his shoulder and we were gone.
The ground flew beneath me as he ran, then we were flying. I screamed the moment the concrete of the street left my vision and buildings flashed by.
“Stop screaming!” Calix growled at me again before we landed in front of a huge cemetery. “I’ve done nothing but save your pitiful human life tonight and you repay me with screaming and getting us kicked out of the only safe spot for me. Enough! Do as I say and be quiet about it!”
Calix was quickly at a huge crypt where he pounded on the stone door. I was beginning to think he was crazy.. Think we were both crazy when the door opened and he disappeared inside.
“Come, Lily.” His voice echoed past me.
In my head I battled. While I strangely wanted to follow him, see where the stone door led and maybe take an adventure… I also knew that I had to get home and face my mother. With any hope I would survive to see another day.
Before I made up my mind, he was suddenly in front of me again, his hand wrapping around my wrist and dragging me through the door.
“Ignorant skila!” Calix shouted, throwing off the sweater from his head. “When I say come, you come!”
“You don’t own me!” I shouted back and his face went weirdly still before he smiled, calm and cool like a crazy person.