Vamped Up

by Kristin Miller

  Lilith smiled wide, showing a set of pearly white teeth. Had to be veneers. Nobody had teeth that perfect. As vibrant images of that fateful night from Eve’s childhood jumped in and out of focus, she caught hold of one in particular: the woman’s brilliant white set of fangs. She fought a gasp, her airway constricting. The mysterious vamp, Lilith, had returned.

  “You must understand that the necklace around your neck never belonged to your mother. She wore it until the day she was killed, that’s true, but it was yours. Always was, always will be. I guess you could say your mother was keeping it safe, as your blood is her blood, until you were ready to bear its responsibility. I took it from her neck minutes after she passed and delivered it to you when you were ready to receive it. You see, it’s not just a necklace made of silver and onyx. It is much more than that. May I?”

  Although Eve couldn’t speak, her heart pinched and her throat seized. Lilith was the woman who’d saved her—the one who was there that night to protect her. There was so much she wanted, needed, to say.

  Lilith reached out, open palmed, for Eve to remove the necklace and place it in her hand. Eve reached around her neck, twisted and turned the hinge on the chain, trying to pull it off and grant Lilith’s request. The clasp didn’t budge.

  Lilith smiled as if she knew her request would be denied. “It has powers unlike anything the world has ever known. You are the one destined to harness that power—the only one who would never use its energy for evil, no matter how tempting. You are not simply the true blood source of the mundane race, Eve. You are much more than that. Your spirit has been sent back to earth more times than any other. Because of that gift bestowed upon you by the Ever After, your spirit burns the brightest.” She untied the rope holding her cape together and let the velvet pool to the couch. She sported a red lace corset underneath, her full breasts pressing out the top, and a skirt that flowed to her feet in a waterfall of black velvet. “It’s quite warm in here, don’t you think?”

  Eve couldn’t answer if she wanted to, but the necklace was buzzing in response, heating her chest to feverish levels. Eve opened her mouth to ask a gazillion questions, then clamped it shut, realizing she was still prisoner to Lilith’s whims.

  Lilith waved a hand in the air as if cueing music from a distant room, then scooted back and propped her head up on the back edge of the couch like they were old college roomies. “Speak, Eve. What’s on your mind?”

  Like a nail was removed from her voice box, Eve’s words took form. “You were the vampire who saved me that night?”

  “Yes.” Smiling, Lilith’s face lit up. “I had a feeling you might remember me if you saw me again. Made quite the impression, did I?”

  Unable to hold back, Eve asked the question that had burned into her soul every night since her mother was killed. “Why me?”

  Lilith flinched, though she tried to hide it by dragging some hair behind her ears. “I should think a thank-you is in order.”

  “Thank you,” Eve blurted, then blinked quickly. “What I meant was, you could’ve let me die. I was close to being a goner anyway, and if you had been caught at the scene, you could’ve been implicated in our deaths . . . or my mother’s, anyway. And then you didn’t just leave.” Eve’s mind reeled. “You stayed and revealed yourself to me. And I don’t remember anything after that. The next memory I have is being at my mother’s funeral. It was like I fell asleep that day on the sidewalk and woke up standing over her casket, surrounded by family.”

  “I thought it only right to take away the memories that would cause you the most pain.” She spoke simply, slowly, as if she was ordering dinner. “My maware wasn’t strong enough to erase all the memories surrounding your mother’s death. You wouldn’t release them.”

  Erasing memories. Easing pain. Lilith could . . . control people’s memories?

  “Why me? Why did you care about some young, orphaned girl on the sidewalk?”

  “Did you not hear a word I said before?”

  Eve thought about Lilith’s words, no matter how crazy. “You saved me because you think I can use some sort of power in my mother’s necklace?” Man, she sounded certifiably insane.

  “Your necklace,” Lilith corrected, lips pinched. “And yes, to say it plainly. It was not your destiny to bleed out on the street at six years old. It is your destiny to be here . . . now.”

  “Why can’t I take it off?” Eve held up the amulet, turning the side with the opal toward Lilith.

  “I really wish all this would end already. I’m growing quite tired of repeating myself to you.” Lilith sighed, batting heavy lashes. “A little piece of each elder’s maware is encased in that amulet, preventing the white shades of elders from reaching the Ever After. Until both the light and dark shades meet again as one in the Nether Realm, the white shades of elders roam the earth, lost as ghosts. Not real, tangible creatures, nor figments of people’s imaginations.”

  Eve massaged her throbbing temples. This was too much to take in at once. Ghosts were the earth-bound white shades of elders? And what the heck did she mean about repeating herself? Eve was sure she’d remember hearing something as kooky as this. Her gaze shot to the door, to the only way out, and back to reality.

  Lilith continued, her scarlet eyes bright. “Somewhere along the rough road of time, divine evil cursed this amulet, imprisoning a fragment of each elder’s maware within it as a way to hold vampire elders captive on earth. By holding a part of their energy in that amulet, our spirits can never reach the Ever After. But there was an inherent flaw in the spell caster’s curse. You see, duality is in everything: light and dark, good and evil, heaven and earth. As this amulet was cursed by pure evil, the spell can only be reversed by pure good. That’s where you come in, my dear.”

  Eve shook her head, fisted the amulet, and tugged at the chain as hard as she could. “I don’t know what you’re taking about. Ghosts, evil trapping elder mawares into an amulet, my pure spirit. You’ve got your facts twisted. Here, take the necklace back. I don’t want it.” She had to be missing something. “What’s the real reason you’re here? You’ve come back to kill me, is that it? Finish what was started?”

  Lilith brushed her hand over Eve’s, stopping her from pulling at the amulet. Warmth and love spread through Eve’s body like fine wine, soothing every frayed nerve. “Every hundred years you’re reborn into mundane flesh, Eve. Your soul meets Ruan’s, the perfect match for your spirit, and you fall head over heels in love.”

  “You’re talking about past lives?” Eve blurted. “Reincarnation? There’s not even a mention of reincarnation in the bible. Try your mumbo jumbo on someone less educated.”

  “Leave it to the biblical studies teacher to throw something like that in my face.”

  “How do you know what I teach?”

  “I know more than I should, darling, I’m almost a thousand years old. What you must know is that no one can harness the energy in the amulet but you, and you can’t take it off until the chain is broken. The time has come to change history. To break the chain.”

  “What chain?”

  Lilith leaned close, whispering, the smell of cinnamon and sugar overpowering. “What you don’t remember, what your memory can’t carry over from one life to the next, is the knowledge that he kills you. Your immortally beloved Ruan claims your body and drinks your blood, draining you dry.”

  “I’m sorry, but I think you’ve got your facts twisted. He wouldn’t let that happen.”

  “Oh, he would kill you. And he does. Over and over again.” Lilith stood and strode to the wall by the flat screen, to a picture of Golden Gate Park at sunset. She stroked a hand over the tiny hills and valleys like she was stroking a lover’s cheek.

  “He’s been nothing but protective of me since the moment I met him.” Eve’s world spun. “What you’re saying and what he’s showed me are two completely different things. He can’t even drink from my
vein for more than two seconds without beating himself up about it.”

  Lilith turned from the picture, her fire-red hair nearly brushing her knees. “And why do you think that is?”

  “Because he loves me.”

  “No.” Flicking her tongue out, Lilith licked the corner of her lips like a serpent. “Because he knows what he’s capable of. He has to keep his distance because if he doesn’t, he knows he’ll kill you.”

  “You don’t know him.” That couldn’t be right . . . could it? Time and time again, Eve had gotten the feeling that there was more to the pain in Ruan’s eyes that he was letting on. It was more than regret for biting her. Was this really the reason for the torment Eve knew existed deep inside him?

  “I don’t believe you,” Eve said, though her voice was too meek to be believable, even to her own ears.

  “Fine.” Lilith snatched Eve’s hands, warming them until her palms were sweating. “How about a little glimpse into his true character? Let’s try the year 1812 on for size.”

  Before Eve could argue, she was slammed by a heat wave that snapped her head back and her eyes closed. Her body went numb, her arms and legs limp like jelly. Pressure filled the room, her head, and her ears. A low whooshing sound increased until she thought her head might explode.

  But it didn’t.

  When Eve opened her eyes, she was lying in a wild grass bed on the shores of a small creek, listening to water trickle behind her. Mission San Francisco de Asis’s wooden cross peaked over large hills to the east. The sun had fallen below the horizon to the west. Sweet fragrances of honeysuckle and lavender smothered her. She didn’t have to look at her clothes to know she wore a wedding dress. It was off-white, buttoned to the neck, adorned in lace with pearl closures at the wrists. She’d stayed up all night making sure the dress, her shoes, and her makeup were perfect.

  She’d married Ruan, the love of her life, earlier that day.

  Soundless, he approached her side. Leaned down, tickling her skin with his whiskers as he pressed a kiss to her blushed cheek. She looked at him then, her heart beaming with pride. Her husband, her love, Ruan, had come to join her on this beautiful evening. Only, his expression didn’t match hers. He looked miserable, his emerald eyes so dark they were nearly black, his color ghastly pale.

  “I’m sorry, Eve,” he whispered against her neck, his moist breath clamming her skin. “I didn’t know my own strength.” He fell back on his haunches and scrubbed his face. “Never in my nightmares would I have dreamt I was capable of such a thing.”

  “It’s all right, Ruan. I’m okay, I’m here.” No sound escaped Eve’s lips. “Ruan?”

  Shoulders trembling, he buried his face in his hands.

  “Ruan, what’s going on?” Her heart cracked in two, seeing him so torn apart. Eve tried to sit up, but couldn’t. Pinned to the earth, she squirmed and fought, desperation clawing its way through her. “Ruan, can you hear me?”

  He choked out a breath and pressed a kiss to her lips. “I love you so much, Eve . . . forever.”

  “I love you too.” Unable to kiss back, Eve gazed into the hollow pits of his eyes. He hadn’t heard. Something terrible had happened. “Ruan?”

  “I promised you a lifetime together, my beautiful wife.” Using two fingers, he gently closed her eyes. She fought against him, against whatever power was holding her down, but it was no use. His tone went flat, distant. “I never thought, not in a million years, that I’d be the one to cut your life short . . .”

  With another blast of hot, cinnamon-filled air, and a few seconds of agonizing pressure against her head, Eve was sucked back to the present. She gasped for air, legs trembling from the vision, and rolled back on the hardwood of her apartment.

  “What happened?” Sitting upright, Eve rubbed a hand against her neck. It was still warm and clammy where Ruan’s mouth had been. Her gaze shot to Lilith’s. “That was Ruan . . . and me, but not me. Ruan was here. He was right here.” Wasn’t he? God, she was so confused.

  Lilith rubbed her shoulder with slow, massaging strokes. “I had to show you the truth.”

  “You didn’t show me anything,” Eve said, replaying the scene in her head. She took a deep breath, trying to grasp a hint of the lavender that had enveloped her, and caught nothing but the sugary sweet cinnamon emitting from Lilith’s side.

  “The Ever After restricts me from showing anyone their death, so revealing the exact moment when he drains you dry is an impossibility. His confession in 1812 should be more than enough proof for you.” She leaned close. “He kills you, Eve. He said so.”

  “No.”

  “You could hear the regret and pain in his voice. It’s undeniable. Deep down you know what you saw and what you felt within him . . . what you still feel in him to this day.”

  Eve shook her head, pulled away from Lilith to clear her head. As her gaze focused far off, Eve thought back to the first time he bit her thigh in the training warehouse and how panicked he was that he’d hurt her. His eyes had darkened to the same ominous black. His color had changed to the same solemn gray. And when he’d pierced her vein in ReVamp’s office, he practically shoved her off him when he lost control. Each and every time she’d gotten close to uncovering the truth behind his fear, he’d pulled further away.

  Lilith was right. Eve couldn’t deny what she felt in the vision. What she picked up from Ruan’s grief and his pain in this life. God, what did it mean that Lilith was right?

  “Was that, um, the first time?” Eve asked, unable to muster a full breath.

  “Yes, but it won’t be the last in your history together.”

  .“Even if what you’re saying is true, it can’t happen like that this time. It won’t. Ruan is different, his will stronger. He won’t hurt me.”

  “That’s not enough this go-round,” Lilith said on a sigh. “Even if I ignored the doubt in your aura. Ruan’s will is dimming and I’m not taking chances, especially with a mad vamp on the loose who’s trying to gain control over our death shades. It is time for more drastic measures; hence my coming here tonight and surprising you like this. We haven’t much time before the evil in Crimson Bay spills over into the streets. We can’t stand by and let Ruan kill you again.”

  “Why is my life so damn significant?” Eve’s temper flared. “Why do you care if Ruan kills me a million times over? What does it matter? With me gone there’ll be another pure spirit to step up.”

  “It is not another’s destiny. It is yours. Every time we see the light at the end of the tunnel, Ruan rips our chance at peace from our hopeful fingers. Every time he prematurely takes you from this earth, our chance at salvation is gone for another hundred years.” Lilith took Eve’s hands in her own. Her sugary sweet scent intensified until Eve couldn’t think about anything other than Lilith’s next words. She whispered, “Because you’re the one who’ll bring the elders’ shades together again. You’ll unite the light with the dark. When we die, our spirits will no longer separate, one becoming bound to earth for eternity and the other fulfilling evil deeds at the hand of our murderers. You’ll bind our shades with the combined powers in this amulet. Without you fulfilling your destiny, we roam this world lost. You are our guide. Our ticket to the Ever After.”

  No, this couldn’t be right. “Ruan told me about elders. He said you guys can come and go from the Ever After as much as you please. He said you aren’t bound by laws of this earth and that you can skip from dimension to dimension. He said—”

  “Yes, dear, sweet Eve, all those things are true. But where in all that business of coming and going from the earth is the end? Where is our rest in peace? Where is our slice of heaven?”

  Eve took in the sight before her. Lilith’s timeless beauty. Her Scarlett O’Hara figure. Her ‘20s Hollywood features. Her flawlessness. “You want to die?” Eve’s voice cracked.

  “My poor naïve lamb . . .” Lilith patted Eve’s che
ek like a mother to a child. “If only it were that simple. I want you to relay a message for me. Tell Ruan I’m done taking chances. If he touches you again, I’ll mind-fuck him so good, he’ll wish he was dead.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “There is light and dark, good and evil, in everything. You see what you choose to see.”

  Fight Those Cravings! by Shea Silver

  “DAMN IT!” SAVAGE roared, slamming the chamber door behind him. He stormed to the cement wall at the far end of the room, then turned back, his hands clenched into fists. His breathing was ragged, his skin clammy. He scrubbed his hands across his head. “What the hell is going on? What the fuck is wrong with these death shades? Controlling them shouldn’t be this goddamn difficult.”

  With another thunderous roar meant for the gods below to hear, he kicked his duffel across the room. “There’s got to be something I’m missing. It has to be right in front of me.” He planted his hands on his hips and looked around the room, his mind searching through Fort Point to the Golden Gate Bridge beyond.

  He supposed the night wasn’t a total loss. He kicked serious ass in the alley behind Mirage. If that rogue group of vamps hadn’t shown up—spooking the mundanes out of the trance he’d held them under—he might’ve been able to send the death shade sweeping into the club, do real damage to the vampire race, and send a grim message about his plans for their future.

  He thought over his tally: two elders killed, two shades controlled, then lost, future-predicting maware, an orb of protection used and abused, and now . . . what? He couldn’t make all the vampires of Crimson Bay pay for their treachery by killing one elder at a time, he knew that now. Controlling a single death shade wouldn’t be enough to succeed in his plan. How long could he possibly go on hunting and killing elders before the Crimson Council started cracking down and elders went deeper into hiding?

  The element of surprise might’ve been the best weapon he had. The more time he took figuring out their powers, the more he lost his grip on that advantage.