Until Dawn

by brett hicks

  I really need to start an AA meeting for Gingers Anonymous!

  That thought would have been hilarious, if it hadn’t been so damn accurate!

  A pair of donkey-like bodies with long floppy ears and massive goofy grins shot by me at a fevered pace. I nearly yipped in surprise, but somehow managed to stamp down the girly noise.

  “Hey, watch it you stupid pukas!”

  A low-tone feminine voice shouted from behind me. I spun in time to see a silvery-blonde twentyish-year-old girl who could have been Legolas’ sister! She was almost six-feet tall, and she had a long thick braid that reached her rear. She was two miles of legs and succulent, if lean curves. Her breasts were average, but the plump kind. She wore black business slacks and a slightly snug fit hunter-green dress blouse. The most noteworthy part of her body was her very long, very slender sharply tipped ears.

  Her charcoal eyes widened a fraction at the sight of me and she nodded politely.

  “Welcome back to the land of the living, sorry about the insanity around here. Pukas take their means very seriously, and their pranks, so don’t ever accept a ride from a puka.”

  Her tone was very serious, like a woman who spent far too many hours working and not nearly enough time playing. She extended her long limb in a gesture of friendship.

  “I’m Bix, well my name is Betty Shannon, but everyone calls me Bix. How are you feeling?”

  I shook her firmly gripped hand. She seemed to ooze with power, similar to what I felt from Liam. She was likely a powerful type of inhuman, if I had to guess.

  “I’m Thea, Thea Salvo. I’m doing better than one might expect, but still expecting to wake up and find an empty baggie of mushrooms in my hand.”

  She nodded, if she had any opinion about hallucinogens, I didn’t see it on her face.

  “Um, is it rude to ask…”

  I started, and she smiled a little ghost of a smile.

  “I’m a Forest Elf. I am light fae, and I am Seraphina’s third in command. I will also be your new teacher while you adjust. Seraphina will instruct you in the needs and cravings of vampires, but I will teach you how to avoid the blades while killing four redcaps, next time.”

  So, her full name was Seraphina, interest name!

  I nodded and tilted my head to the side a bit.

  “Why exactly do I need to be prepared for more redcaps? Do they often attack here?”

  Liam came over and leaned a shoulder against Bix’s, a clear move to display his interest in the girl, since he knew my proclivities ran towards women. I could have snorted out in laughter at his passive-aggressive “marking” of his turf.

  Bix was very lightly complexed, like the vampires I had seen, but not as light. I still noted the slightest trace of flushing in her neck and cheeks. So, they weren’t an item yet, but this was a two-way road. Very interesting, but why would they not be an item? She clearly loved him brushing up against her.

  “Lass, you need to learn more proper arts. A little bit of Jujitsu might have helped you take down a few measly redcaps, but much nastier buggers will come out of the woodwork once they know who you are, and that Seri changed you, making you kin to The Princess.”

  Rapid blinking and dried throat, my world felt suddenly like it was tipped on its ear again. Liam lightly punched my shoulder.

  “Don’t worry Tex-Mex, your whole domain has your back now. You are one of us, for better or worse.”

  As if illustrating his point, the two pukas decided to shift to their butt-ass naked human forms and chase a hobbit-looking inhuman around while singing some weird song in a musical language I was convinced didn’t exist in the real world.

  Bix massaged her temples with her fingers.

  “I try to keep those damn pukas on a short leash, but they just have to go and show their asses at every opportunity.”

  Liam elbowed her lightly.

  “Literally, in this case.”

  She gave him a stern schoolteacher look that said, “You’re not as funny as you think you are!” Liam just gave her a dimpled smile and I saw the pink crawling up her neck, reaching her cheeks. These two seriously needed to put themselves out of their misery and find a room, any room!

  “How many people leave here?”

  I asked, realizing now that I would be sharing space with an unknown number of inhumans. I would be lying if I said this didn’t bother me. You can turn the girl into a vampire, but you cannot take her mortal years out of her. I still had the very fresh memories of human normality, even if it was my strange brand of normal.

  “Two-hundred in this building, but this is just the main court of the domain. This is Seri’s seat of power, so to speak. We prefer the quainter and relaxed vibe here, so you wouldn’t have known this was a special place, hence why those little gobshites were trying to kill someone outside here to make a statement.”

  The high-rise above this club was supposed to be a mix of small businesses and apartments. I guess they just used all the apartments for the inhumans. This was one of the larger buildings just a few blocks from Brighton Beach.

  “That’s a lot of people…”

  I said lamely, and Liam smiled in amusement at my surprise. I hadn’t imagined so many people, or whatever inhumans preferred to call themselves, were living right beside us—I mean humans.

  With a laud cacophonous, crash the pukas and a very large bulky seven-and-a-half-foot-tall one-eyed monstrosity were all in a tangle on the floor. Bix growled in annoyance.

  “Dammit Biggie, I told you not to go fully Cyclopes inside the damn club! You three, clean this mess up, now!”

  The large and wide-bluish skinned cyclopes struggled to his feet, but then he seemed to deflate a bit, and now he was only about six-five. He was small by his standards, but still an imposing presence to any outsider.

  “His name is Biggie?”

  I asked slightly incredulously, and Liam snorted.

  “Oh, he took a shine to the name after meeting that rapper with the same name in the mid-nineties, shame about that bloke, good records and all.”

  My eyes widened, everyone knew about Biggie Smalls, he is a legend. Besides, he is even bigger here in New York, even where I grew up in Boston. It had to do with the whole east coast vs. west coast rap back then.

  “I see…”

  “You thought what, that inhumans don’t like the same things that humans do?”

  Liam was only slightly scolding, mostly teasing, but he was also reminding me that they were people. Even in the very short time I had known about this new reality, I seemed to keep forgetting that. Even if I wouldn’t dare admit that aloud, it bothered me a lot. If I was having this, much trouble reconciling inhuman existence, then what hope did a real human have? Prejudice was almost a guarantee.

  “OK, I think she gets your point fang boy, go fix some more lunch, lest the pukas stage a revolt.”

  Bix sassed at him.

  “They only staged the one revolt!”

  Liam retorted, and Bix rolled her eyes.

  “You should have seen what they did to my underwear drawers, and then you can talk!”

  I raised my hand as if I was in a classroom.

  “Um, pukas are panty thieves?”

  Liam shook his head no, and Bix nodded her head yes.

  This is my teaching staff?! Training my big toe!

  Seven:

  Walking out into the sun had been like being stung by five-thousand bees. It hurt, to say the very least! I was red, and my eyes were practically burning out of my sockets. Liam had not stopped me, since I had watched more than one vampire walk outside with no ill effect, I figured, what the hell.

  Now I sat across from Liam with a searing look of pure rage twisting my features. He looked repentant, at least until I caught the twinkle in his eyes.

  Oh, this bastard is getting his rocks off at my damn expense!

  “Why can’t I go outside?”

  My voice came out slightly gravely from all the screaming I had been doing about ten-minu
tes ago. He slid me a thick crimson filled glass.

  “Don’t even start; I can guess what you’re going to say. For once since I’ve known you, just shut up and listen to me. Drink that and you will heal. Blood is now your largest source of nourishment and it replenishes what the body loses when injured.”

  I reached out and gingerly picked up the glass of blood, as in human blood! What scared me most, was now that I was closer to it, I could smell the delicious scent. It was like the best BBQ chicken off the grill you could ever imagine! Moreover, human blood was giving of that heavenly aroma.

  Dear lord, I would be seven kinds of crazy if I came across a human bleeding on the streets!

  Not that I would ever tell her this, but I now understood why Seri had told me to stay inside for the time being I was dangerous. Just the glass of the cold stuff was making me shake like a junkie in withdraw. I have tried drugs a few times at parties as a teen, and I am not a fan. I loathe anything that alters the mind!

  I was eyeing that glass of blood like it was going to bite me, which is about how I eyed crack. I really didn’t want to be wrestling with an addiction.

  “Is there any way to not drink this shit? I don’t get the impression that this is going to be easy to manage, and I hate addictions.”

  I managed not to snarl at Liam this time, and he seemed to comprehend my meaning.

  “Well, you could take plasma injections, or eat a lot of rare meats. That will not stop your body from craving blood. The best way to learn how to be a vampire is to rip the Band-Aid off and just let us help you through the worst of the cravings. Blood-hunger becomes easily managed with some practice and force of will.”

  I eyed him over the rim of my blood.

  “I really hope you’re not shitting me Liam.”

  Liam gave me an innocent smile.

  “Would I do that to you?”

  I growled and pointed with my left hand.

  “You just let me walk into the freaking sun, because you thought it was funny!”

  Liam chuckled; he looked like he was replaying the events fifteen-minutes-ago in his head.

  “That was pretty funny, but Thea, I would never lie to a fledgling vampire about blood. Blood is life, and I cannot mislead the kin of my mistress in such a matter.”

  “What would Seri do to you, if she knew you watched me walk out into the sun?”

  He flinched and twiddled his fingers.

  “I see, so that bad?”

  I grumbled, “I might be hanging by my testicles for a few decades, nothing too bad really. Best thing about being a vampire, everything heals, except destroying the heart, or cutting off the head. Remember that, so you don’t flip out the first time a berserker troll disembowels you.”

  I can’t tell when he’s joking anymore!

  Liam seemed to read my thoughts and added, “Seriously, those buggers can make you hurt something awful.”

  “Wait, if we cannot die from blood loss, then why can’t we just abstain from blood?”

  Liam flinched at the question.

  “Lass just drink yer fuckin’ blood. You will starve, and you will dry up into a husk, and your mind will be lost to the blood-hunger. Even once you drink, you will not be able to stop yourself from mauling and murdering many humans. This could go on for decades before you are brought back to your sanity. Then, you will have the fallout of the many victims you have to live with forever. Trust me lass, I see the many dead that I have stolen from loved ones. We are immortals, not monsters devoid of compassion and empathy after all.”

  ON that sobering note, I drank my fuckin’ blood. It actually did taste meaty like chicken, and steak had a love child, and it was lathered in honey barbecue sauce! I moaned as I turned up the glass and gulped down the blood like the filthy animal I was. My body surged with the newfound strength and vigor that had been missing mere moments before. My magic crackled and sizzled in my veins stirring from its sleep.

  “Holy honeypot, Batman!”

  Liam sniffed and rolled his eyes, snatching the glass from me.

  “Now take a step outside lass.”

  I stared at him as if I could decipher his true motive. Was he kidding me, or was he being serious? I was too new to all of this to be sure.

  “He’s telling the truth this time Thea.”

  I spun in shock, Seri was now perched on the end of the bar as if she was posing for a centerfold shot. I did note the ire in her icy-blue eyes, and it was directed at Liam.

  Shit, he’s going to be swing by his balls, and not in a good way!

  Nodding, to Seri, I hopped off the stool and I walked to the front door. My muscles coiled, preparing me for the pain to come, but as I stepped into the light, I felt only a slight itching. Like a dull ache, or an elusive skin irritant, nothing more.

  When I opened my eyes, I hissed at the pain in my eyes. My eyes were far more photosensitive than they ever had been before.

  “Here, try these on.”

  Seri was standing right behind me looking very unaffected by the light. She was holding a pair of dark sunglasses. I snatched them greedily; my eyes were practically on fire, so I didn’t have time to be polite.

  My eyes felt as if they had been dunked in cool water, without the strange feeling you get having your eyes open underwater. I sighed in obvious relief and I took a few more steps experimentally outside. The light irritated my skin a little, but nothing as noticeable as my first attempt.

  “You make this look too easy, what’s the trick?”

  Seri gave a weak smile.

  “Practice, nothing so complex, but you will need to feed every morning, if you plan to brave the light of day. Our sun allergy was a built-in weakness to keep our kind from dominating all other life.”

  I just stared at her gapping.

  “Is that a dream of yours, ruling the world?”

  Seri’s expression went very dark and shut down a split second later.

  Shit, I must have stumbled on one of her nerves.

  “I mean, it sounds like vampires are basically running the world, right?”

  Seri nodded in confirmation.

  “The High King and the High Queen of all of Earth are a married pair of vampires.”

  There was something fragile in her expression, but I couldn’t place the look. Seri was cold and indifferent in the next moment. The supreme control she seemed to possess whenever her temper was threatening to really do some damage, seemed to make her face shut down. She has a violent temper, like me, but unlike me, she has had many years to master her anger.

  She was a riddle and she seemed very uncomfortable with the political structure of the unhuman world. My mind was like a steel trap, nothing escaped it, unless I passed out from blood loss and being turned into a creature of the night, but that only happened the once!

  Memories rushed back, our conversations and Liam’s difference to Seri. His power, power enough to rule this city, of that I was certain, yet she was something more, and she seemed uncomfortable talking about any higher ruler. Then, the final piece fit in, her anger at me calling her “princess.”

  “Shit on a stick, the High King and Queen, their your parents, right?”

  Her eyes widened in surprise and her body stilled. Even if she had tried to lie to me, she had already given me her real answer. Sometimes you only need ask a question and you can read the truth in body language.

  “Yes, hence why whoever sent those redcaps, would target me, or anyone in my proximity, or anyone who had been passing through my club.”

  So, she blamed herself for my near-death. On the other hand, she could just feel responsible for this area in general.

  Eight:

  Henry was a sight for sore-eyes. He showed up without all his typical flare and drag-drama, but he was still a welcome distraction from all things that go bump, or drink blood.

  Henry Jefferson was a beanpole skinny dark-chocolate skinned late-twenties African-American man. He usually wore blonde, or raven colored wigs of elaborate design
, but today he chose to come with his natural thickly curly stubby head of hair, and he wore a business suit of dark-blue, like he had just come from Wall Street. He even had on a pair of slickly polished black-leather dress shoes.

  This was not the typical Henry I knew and loved but any Henry would do right about now! I met him at the door, we hugged, and he swung me around and gave a throaty laugh. When he finally sat me down, he nodded to Seri, who stood back a bit, studying the exchange. She had another blank expression in place now, so I couldn’t get anything from her mood, or her feelings about me bringing him around—too fucking bad!

  “Damn girl, I leave you alone for one night and you get attacked by redcaps and bitten by a vampire.”

  I blinked at his casual statement of facts, I hadn’t told him anything. Seri saw my mood turning south.

  “He’s a Wiccan, a white witch, although, his family are Haitian descendants of a very powerful Vuduan line of power.”

  “Vuduan? Like Voodoo?”

  Henry’s eyes flashed in annoyance.

  “Voodoo is nothing more than little trinkets, baubles and small rites. Vuduan taps into the powers of the ancestors, the powers of life and death.”

  Henry was speaking very normal which was unlike him. Then again, what was normal?! I’m a vampire and a necromancer—that second part I had yet to confirm. If Henry was annoyed with me for belittling his heritage, then I could hardly be mad with him. I was still very happy to see him!

  “Where were you last night? I was waiting for you here, and I never saw you come in.”

  Henry nodded and sighed ruffling his short curls.

  “Shit, I have a man I knew once come a calling. You know what I mean?”

  His eyebrows waggled and Seri’s own arched.

  “I wasn’t aware that you bedded men Henry Jefferson.”

  Her tone cool, and very careful, she looked like she was reassessing him. Henry shrugged and eyed her neutrally.

  “I wasn’t aware that the princess was allowed to know all of my dalliances, just to allow me safe passage through her territory.”

  Seri gave him a wintery smile, one of those smiles that would scare a normal person into running for dear life!