by Aiden James
The door started to give, the splinters giving way to larger cracks. A moment later, the hole was large enough to accommodate a human fist―or face, and I half expected ‘here’s Johnny.’ I cowered behind the last coffin in the row of five next to my bed to await my impending doom. It was the smallest one, which belonged to Raquel. Wood shrieked in protest as the door fell in to the room, and the creature’s angry maw opened as it hissed in triumph and, perhaps, delight. At that moment, the lid to Raquel’s casket flew open and she sat up facing the doorway. She screamed, and the combination of movement and sound was almost too much for my heart to handle. I was as frightened by her sudden appearance as I was of the fiend in the hall. Her eyes glowed blood red, quite unlike their usual lavender beauty. Her teeth looked a hell of a lot sharper than I remembered ever seeing, even from the side; the fangs in particular seemed elongated and far more viper-like than usual.
I scurried under the table nearby, terrified and unsure what to do next.
I realized the shrieking from Raquel wasn’t an incoherent challenge as I had first assumed. I could make out guttural syllables and words in some language unlike any I had heard before being repeated in a regular cadence. Whatever Raquel chanted had some effect on the dragon. It slammed itself against an unseen force powerful enough to hold it back and prevent it from crossing the threshold into our room. It howled with furious impotence as the invisible barrier repulsed it again and again, each blow resounding with an almost sub-audible thum like a massive kettle drum. Finally, it hurled itself against the wall facing the hall one last time. I heard the brittle crash of breaking glass.
From the sound, I knew that the creature had exited via the immense window that faced the highest reaches of the Himalayas. My gaze turned fearfully toward the window in my own room. I remembered well how the creature had seemed to scurry over the statues like a garden lizard over a wall, but thankfully, either Raquel’s sorcery protected that entrance as well, or the creature was too dim to try and go around to it. Instead, the monster’s angry cries grew softer and softer as it retreated. When the sounds finally faded away to silence, my diminutive protector stopped chanting, closed her mouth and eyes, and lay back down inside her casket as though nothing had happened to disturb her. I tentatively stood and stole a peek into her daytime resting place. She looked calm and peaceful, like an angel at rest.
here’s no way we can stay here!”
My latest protest landed upon the same deaf ears as the previous ones had. After pacing around my bedchamber for hours while waiting for the sun to set, I was in no mood for the collective nonchalance that greeted me when my vampire “friends” awoke. Only Tyreen shared my anxiety; her repeated glances through the gaping maw of the empty doorway into the gathering darkness beyond the palace at least reassured me she was listening to my concerns, or perhaps had some of her own. Beyond the physical threat to me and my unborn child, their callousness to the horrifying fate of that poor woman reminded me that despite their beautiful exterior and fact they drank blood in fine crystal chalices, I was still in the company of monsters.
It should have been telling that while my own companions were blowing me off, the team of Chinese vampires tasked with the nightly ritual of scaling the palace walls to light the hundreds of torches covering the main building seemed concerned by the fifteen-foot jagged hole in the third floor window. It’s worth mentioning here that we had recently learned that the glass was nearly four inches thick, and designed to withstand hurricane-strength winds or any other assault from Mother Nature. No doubt, the window would prevent certain caliber bullets from breaking it, as well… but not a furious vampire/dragon.
“I’ve already spoken with Gustav. He agrees with Huangtian Dadi that you interrupted the feeding time for one of the descendants of the founders of Xu Zheng,” said Chanson. “As long as you don’t willingly seek this one out, you’ll never encounter him again. Personally, I’ve not even seen this kind of vampire before―that’s how rare they are.”
“So, you’re okay with what it did?” I was incensed and incredulous. “You’re saying that you… and it are the same thing and it’s okay? Are you justifying it? Or yourself? That thing is a demon as far as I’m concerned! It orphaned two children who watched while it fucking devoured their mother! There’s no way—”
“Sh-h-h!” She placed her cool hand over my mouth to prevent me from saying anything else that could get me into trouble with her. “It’s not for us to judge the customs of another culture, Txema. We are not the same as them, any more than we are the same as you. I don’t like this either, but we’re in no position to enforce our ways upon any members who follow the Order of the Dragon. The leaders of the Order are connected to an ancient power, older and greater than even Gustav or Huangtian Dadi.”
“So, you are saying that we should just turn a blind eye to what’s going on around here?” I moved away from her hand to at least try and get out what I wanted to say. I desperately needed her to hear it. I needed all of them to hear me loud and clear! Wrong was always wrong, regardless of whether it offended someone to speak up about it or not. I couldn’t have cared less about some ancient Order’s moral or political code. Chanson, as my cousin, should’ve appreciated my stance, since the women in our family would’ve never put up with this kind of shit! It was as integral to our birthright as the fact we can make some vampires handsome or beautiful. “At least we now know why there are only a bunch of kids running the place―their parents have all been eaten!”
Chanson stepped back and studied me. She knew exactly what I was talking about. Tyreen, being from a more contemporary age, shared my values. Raquel nodded in agreement, though with her, it could have been she simply wanted a fight, although it was clear there had to be more than a single rogue vampire orphaning the palace staff.
I looked to the guys for help. “Come on, you know this is bullshit Garvan.”
He refused to meet my gaze and opened his mouth to speak, but wandered over to stand behind Chanson in silence before finally noticing something incredibly interesting on his shoes.
“Unbelievable.” I was somewhere between furious and disappointed.
“Very well… we shall agree to disagree. Okay?” She stepped closer, lowering her voice to just above a whisper. “But for now, I ask that you act as if this unfortunate event never happened. At least—”
I started to protest, but she stopped me.
“At least until it’s safe enough to do otherwise.” She nodded in an effort to get me to do the same. The weight of her stare burrowed into my frazzled psyche, and I relented. “And, I mean safe enough for us all.”
In other words, I needed to keep my mouth shut until we were no longer guests of Xu Zheng Palace.
With such an unpleasant start to Christmas Eve, I assumed the entire holiday would be a somber, and thus a lonelier, affair. Especially since I seriously doubted our Chinese hosts gave a flip about this predominantly Western holiday. There wasn’t a single hint that Christmas even existed in the palace… no decorations, colored lights, and certainly no Christmas trees. Not even Asian or bonsai style. Yes, I knew that is Japanese, but it would have been cute anyway. Just the mundane Eighteenth century comforts.
Lovely. Just fucking lovely.
I believe if it had only been me this upset, my companions might’ve been tempted to lock me up in a dark closet and not let me out until January arrived. But Tyreen was also dealing with deep sadness—despite her new nature as a vampire. The human side of her would take decades to die off, unless she was as resilient as the vampires in our immediate circle. They usually seemed ‘human’ enough despite all were at least three centuries in age. Even so, I certainly was seeing more and more where compassion for the true human condition was a perspective of convenience.
“Hey, sister, how are you holding up?” she said, when the others prepared to leave the room for what I assumed would be another typical night of ‘pick your plasma preference while Txema picks at her food’.
/> “I’ll be okay, Tyreen. I just need to take my mind off this shit for at least a night.” The soft-hearted girl I once knew lingered in her eyes. They were glistening as if she might cry. Pink halos formed around the rims and a deeper spot of crimson filled the edge of her left eye. “How you are doing is the more important thing.”
“I’ll be okay, too,” she said. “But I really miss my mom and dad back in Atlanta… and I miss Johnny even more!”
Her lips trembled for a moment, and I so admired her efforts to hold in the pain for my sake. There wasn’t much mercy for a new vampire. Tyreen was expected to tough it out on her own. Surely, this had been the case long ago for my immortal companions when they were ‘turned.’ Assuming this, none of them could be expected to behave differently, or faulted for not showing compassion to a new vamp struggling with the steady decay of her humanity. Just five weeks earlier, Tyreen talked excitedly about traveling home to Atlanta from Knoxville for Thanksgiving break to introduce her parents to her college beau, Johnny Ayers.
“Oh, sweetie, you’ll always be able to count on me to be there for you.” I reached out to embrace her, and a deluge of pent up emotion exploded from her. She wept bitterly. “There, there…it’s okay.”
A good thing I didn’t wear something white that night, or I would’ve needed to change my wardrobe. But if I could wear her genuine tears on my dark burgundy sweater for the night—which I intended to do—it was a burden worth carrying. Especially since she seemed revived after her cry had ended.
She wiped her cheeks with her hands and saw the blood. Hunger and revulsion in equal measure filled her eyes. I put my hand on her chin, lifted her eyes to meet mine, and gave her a small smile, which she returned as she pushed the monster back into some dark closet of her soul.
“What will I do when you get old and gray?”
That’s the ultimate question that seems to haunt all immortals when faced with the loss of those they’ve cared most for while still human. Raquel once mentioned how the first such deaths are always the worst to endure.
“You’ll make her into a vampire and call it a day!” Armando inserted himself into our conversation quite literally.
He floated beneath us and popped up his face between ours. His comical expression and timing were impossible to resist, and both Tyreen and I laughed a little. It felt good. Really good.
“But I suggest you not wait so long to do it.” He continued his playful rant, after somehow disappearing from between us and reappearing next to Tyreen’s right shoulder. “Sometime before Txema turns into an old, craggy witch of a woman. Maybe when she’s thirty, no? Unless you two keep chit-chatting tonight away. If you’re not careful, I’ve seen how Chanson’s great, great, great, grand-niece gets when she hasn’t received prompt nourishment―and you have too, Tyreen. Txema might become that craggy witch much, much sooner and be completely ready to become a vampire this very night!”
“Only if you’re eager to experience the ‘true death’ from Gustav, since that would happen long before the bearer of the last birthmark of life gets turned into one of us!” said Chanson, sort of playfully, sort of not. She appeared in our midst out of nowhere. “In the meantime, I have a little surprise for both Txema and Tyreen tonight!”
My extremities were numb from all of the vampires gathered close to me, along with the arctic air pouring in through the gaping hole still present in the window. It, and our door, wouldn’t be fixed for a few more hours, since suitable lumber wasn’t easy to come by. I envisioned little Chinese orphans chopping wood in the dead of night, while their lazy vampire overlords told Gustav ‘our window and door repair crews are working diligently around the clock to get your issue taken care of promptly!’
“What kind of surprise?” I didn’t wait for the answer, anxiously digging out my coat and some gloves since the room’s temperature had dropped to where my breaths rose in progressively longer mists.
Chanson motioned for Garvan to bring over a long dress box to me. At the moment, I was wearing jeans and the sweater I mentioned earlier. Since arriving at the palace the month prior, fashion had become far less important to me than warmth. I should’ve known something was up, since they all were dressed up more than usual. While the guys were wearing semi-formal Pierre Cardin, all the girls had these amazing evening gowns that bore only slight differences in design despite different colors―all the latest fashion.
In fact, I had seen the same designs on some starlet at a premier for Cosmic Smash 2 or something like that just last week. Don’t judge, I had a lot of time and nothing but some magazines I had taken off the jet when we landed. Raquel always looked splendid no matter what color or style she chose to wear, and went for a fuchsia evening gown. Tyreen’s gown was almost hunter green, but it was softened with some other hue to where it matched her eyes perfectly. Chanson wore traditional black, but there were slight ruffles along the neckline and lower hem. I seized upon the minute details of each dress, drinking in the normalcy of them and pretending for a moment to be a regular person, with regular friends.
I had to admit I was deeply curious about what awaited me in the box. When I opened it, I was pleasantly surprised to find a pearl sequined gown. As beautiful as it was, I worried I’d likely freeze my ass off in it.
“That is why you will also wear this,” said Armando, beaming as he brought a beautiful white mink stole over to me.
“And this.” Garvan pulled out a dazzling diamond necklace along with matching earrings and bracelet from his coat pocket. He smiled shyly as he brought them over to me, and requested the honor to put them on me once I had changed clothes.
“And don’t forget these!” said Raquel.
She brought over a pair of stunning white satin Manolos for my feet. Wearing her patented seductive smirk, she motioned for me to go ahead and change into my wardrobe for the evening―with all of them standing right there in front of me. Of course, I still have far too much modesty to do that in front of a mixed crowd—even when all of them had surely seen me in some stage of undress before.
“Let’s give her a moment of privacy, shall we?” said Chanson, placing her arms around Raquel’s waist to get her to come along.
They all followed her out into the hallway, but Tyreen also had something to give me, as well.
“You’ll definitely be needing these,” she said, and handed me the sheer hosiery I needed to make the dress look right. “And, I remember you once said something about dressing up like Princess Di when you were a little kid.”
She pulled out a pair of elegant white gloves from a small bag she carried. The gloves came up an inch past my elbows.
By then, I had figured out something grand was going down. A very big vampire celebration was about to happen. Certainly, Tyreen had heard about the ones held in France on a regular basis, where le Chateau de Douleur would rock as hard as the Playboy mansion in California ever has. Only vampire-style. I am sure she was as excited as I was, though perhaps for a different reason. This would be her first real soirée as a member of the vampire culture.
The question in my mind was where in the hell would a party like that take place in this sterile, soulless God-forsaken monastery?
Tyreen left me to change into my wonderful outfit―the beautiful gown and accessories fit for a queen. It really touched my heart and lifted my mood. But, still there was a feeling of foreboding I couldn’t shake. I was on borrowed time… borrowed time against what fate had in store for me. The image of me in spending the evening in some sort of macabre dance party with a room full of walking corpses sent a series of rapid chills up and down my spine. Perhaps it was the deepening cold air seeping through the window-wound on the third floor of Xu Zheng Palace.
I shook my head to clear it of the dark images that threatened to ruin my evening and resolved to make the best of whatever time I had left there… And, to try and embrace Christmas with my friends.
Party on!
’m glad you let me put these on you.”
&nbs
p; Garvan’s cold fingers grazed the back of my neck while the clasp to the even colder diamond necklace was set in place.
I didn’t even need a mirror to tell me the necklace looked fabulous. No telling the worth of the piece, but the artisanship was so refined and the individual stones so brilliant that it would enhance any woman’s beauty.
“Thank you so much, Garvan, they are quite lovely,” I said. “I’ll return them to you in pristine condition when the party’s over.”
Even though he couldn’t be roused that afternoon to come to my rescue, I still considered him my chief male protector.
“Now, will you escort me to the place where this gala is to be held tonight?” I fluttered my eyes while fanning them as if I held a Chinese paper shànzi.
“It would be my ultimate pleasure to do so!” He beamed while casting a proud glance toward Armando. Tyreen had her left arm hooked inside Armando’s—a more than suitable distraction for her to temporarily forget about her loved ones left behind in America. “But the diamonds are my gift to you, Txema. Think of it as an early Christmas present.”
I gasped. I didn’t doubt for a moment that this necklace could buy the house I grew up in. My eyes met Garvan’s, and for a moment, he lowered his guard. A glimpse of his soul emerged from beneath the vampire mantel he wore. A stronger hint of amorous longing than I’d seen before shone in his eyes, and yet such loneliness therein, as well. Since I had become aware of the pheromones and subtle (and I believe completely subconscious) telepathic attraction that vampires exert upon humans, I knew better than to trust my own feelings of romantic attraction toward their kind―although I must admit that even in knowing this, I still keenly felt it. Seeing the anguish in his eyes, I knew I must do a much better job of protecting his heart than I did when I went gallivanting with Racco in France. Garvan was no mere predator, consumed by his hunger, and deserved better than that.
“Chanson… should we walk or fly to the ballroom?” said Armando.