Vampire in Silver

by Mia Strange

  The young women had always fawned over him, and now that he was outed as a vampire, it seemed he had even more admirers.

  Guess everyone loves a bad boy. And being a vampire? Kinda added to that.

  His stage make-up was a cross between an old rock band member of Kiss and an 80s Halloween mask. It was effective, I’d give him that. But then everything about Traveler Hale made it hard to look away.

  I chewed my bottom lip and wished he would put on a shirt. His incredibly ripped body was lean and strong and now I knew, somehow otherworldly. A suede string hung around his neck. A long tooth dangled at the end. I had always wondered if it was that of a wolf, or a large dog. But deep down, I knew it wasn’t. And not wanting to know, I made it a point to never ask.

  He wore leather theater pants that fit him like a second skin. They hung low beneath his navel, and it was impossible not to glance down at his muscular thighs, and ‘other’ lines of his anatomy. I felt myself blushing, and I quickly looked away.

  “See something you like, Lovely?”

  I hated when he whispered like that. It was as though his voice washed over me like the caress of a hundred feathers.

  “No.” I turned back to face him. “Only that I see I’m underdressed.”

  “You look amazing. When have you not?”

  “Well, you should have seen me an hour ago.”

  He smiled. “Not to take anything away from you, but I do believe all eyes will be on me.”

  “You too, huh? You’re sounding a lot like Dark.”

  Traveler shrugged and his muscles rippled. His abs were, well amazing. It was annoyingly distracting.

  “Don’t suppose you have a T-Shirt handy.”

  “Why?” Amusement danced in his eyes. “Do I look cold?”

  Okay. He got me there. “You do,” I lied. “Freezing.”

  A pretty, young student walked into my makeshift dressing room. She held what looked to be a bottle of oil in her hand. She wagged it in his direction and winked. “There you are. Wanna go oil up?”

  I rolled my eyes. I knew Traveler always coated up with body oil to literally make him glisten on stage. How he applied that oil never crossed my mind. Until now.

  “No need,” I said taking her by the arm and showing her the door that she didn’t even bother to knock on. “You heard he’s a vampire, right?”

  Her eyes lit up. “Oh yes. Indeed, I have.” She tried to look pass me to see him. What was I tonight? Invisible?

  “Well then, you know he won’t be needing this,” I pointed to the oil. “Because you know, he sparkles.”

  She looked confused.

  “Old School Lit. I suggest you take the class next semester.” I put my finger on her chest, applied pressure, and pushed her out the door. I shut it in her face. Wow. It was kinda fun being the mean girl. No wonder Anastasia Hunt got off on it.

  “Jealous, Skye?”

  Oh yeah. Him. He was still here.

  “In your dreams, Hale.” I turned to face him once more.

  “Is that an invitation to enter my dreams? How do you know you haven’t already?”

  That gave me pause. “Nope. Think I see enough of you in your waking hours.”

  He laughed. “You do realize I now have to go find her?”

  “I do. So. Run along.” I mimicked walking using two of my fingers in front of his nose. “I don’t care if you oil up. Just not in my dressing room.”

  He smiled, bowed, and blew me a kiss. “As you wish. See you on stage, Lovely.”

  Now only a few minutes later, the crowd had really, really gotten out of hand. Anastasia Hunt had shifted back to her obnoxious human self in order to find me. She grabbed my arm and damn near pushed me through the curtain on stage right. With her superhuman strength, she would have sent me flying onto the stage and had me falling on my face.

  “Get out there,” she hissed. “We can’t fucking hold them off forever.”

  I had braced for her shove. I knew it was coming. The concrete and rock walls had whispered a warning. One only I could hear.

  Jerking from her grasp, I glared at her. “Don’t do it, Ana.”

  “Do what?” she challenged.

  “Don’t you ever put your hands on me again.”

  “And if I do?” She smirked and tipped her head, her wolf eyes flashing blue flames.

  “You’ll end up like your Alpha. Only worse.” I purposely let my Chaos Magic whisper around the floorboards underneath her feet. The vibration sent her off balance, and she almost fell. She visibly paled. She regained her footing, tossed her hair and turned on heel to go. A good decision on her part. My magic was turning dark, moment by moment.

  She stopped at what she thought was a safe distance to get in the final word. “Just do your job, St John.”

  I shook my head. She could walk a mile away from me and it still wouldn’t be far enough. What the fuck. Let her think she had a victory here. Being underestimated? Was never a bad thing.

  I turned my back on her, and listened for the cue of music. Jin had picked out something from a band that had been called Vampire Weekend. I quirked a smile. It seemed appropriate enough to me. I took in a deep breath, and walked on stage.

  The spotlight was on Traveler. I couldn’t believe the height he had already climbed to on the pole. He had donned black gloves and he swung out with wide looping circles. The man was liquid grace in the air. He was careful never to let his skin graze the silver pole. He saw me, gave the nod to our lighting crew and the spotlight swung on me. Oh joy. Time to dance.

  Don’t, Skye.

  His voice was in my head. I found it jolting and I almost tripped before I had even begun. Well shit. If he wanted ‘talking heads,’ I’d give him talking heads. Don’t do what? I almost yelled at him through my thoughts.

  Hearing me, he faltered, slipped, and almost made contact with the pole.

  Serves you right, Hale. I projected at him. You wanna talk? Talk.

  Don’t dance, he answered. Don’t incite this crowd. Just walk, back and forth, that will be enough. Don’t fight me on this, Lovely. I can’t test the silver and keep you safe at the same time.

  I nodded. I believed him. I did.

  Plus, I was no idiot. No one wanted to see me dance.

  I walked across the stage, smiling, waving, blowing a kiss here and there.

  Dark had told me The Ignored would not yet be in their seats, it was too early to expect their arrival. As I glanced up at the box seat The Bishop of the West would be seated in. I was more than relieved he hadn’t shown yet either.

  The crowd went wild when they saw me. Guess Traveler spinning round and round was starting to bore them. At least the throwing had stopped. But the catcalls and whistles? Earsplitting.

  Nice sashay, Traveler whispered into my head.

  Sashay? Really? Nobody, says sashay anymore, Hale. How old are you anyway? I was getting way too used to talking to him this way. It was just too damn easy.

  Old enough, Lovely. Old enough.

  My eye caught Dark’s. He and Dagger were standing stage left. He smiled and gave me the nod. Okay. Distraction time.

  Ready Hale? I glanced up at him.

  Ready, Lovely.

  I stopped smack in the middle of the stage. Gathering my long hair in my hands, I piled it on top of my head and tried like hell to be Sexy Skye. I rotated my hips the way Jin had taught me, trying not to pull a groin muscle. Because, come on. This was me. It could happen.

  It worked. Apparently, Sexy Skye didn’t know her own sex appeal.

  The crowd rushed the stage, the wolves, rushed the crowd. There was swearing, there were screams. And unfortunately, I saw blood.

  I fell to my knees, covered my head with my arms and watched as Traveler purposely guided his side to touch the silver pole. I heard his scream in my head, before I saw him fall.

  The lights snapped off, and the theater was thrown into darkness.

  13

  Traveler Hale would live.

  And
, so would I.

  The men who rushed the stage? Not so lucky.

  What a mess. The magic coating for the silver? Not working. The wolves? Doing their job and getting fed at the same time? Trust me. Not a great combo.

  But of course, the show. Must. Go. On.

  Traveler had healed, because, he had assured me, that’s what vampires do. And as for me? I had a sunburn of sorts on my side in the exact location of Traveler’s injury. It was sore, annoying as hell, but nothing and I mean nothing compared to Traveler’s blistered and bubbled skin. The sight had brought instant tears to my eyes and ignited my hatred for the Bishops all over again. Or maybe it was more like pouring gasoline on an already burning fire.

  Teetering on heels that I swear, were taller than Jin, I stood on stage, peeking between our heavy velvet curtains we had adorned in what was left of The Neptune Theater.

  Holy.

  Wow.

  As Dr. Dark would say, we had superbly packed the house.

  Packed it, and then some.

  We had just given a new name to the phrase, ‘standing room only.’ There were kids propped up on shoulders, people sitting in the aisles. They sat on rafters, on chair rails, on each other. My ears rang as the impatient roar of the crowd reached deafening levels. People punched, shoved, stomped and attempted to stand on each other–all trying to jockey for a better angle.

  And yet no one came near the front row seats. The deadly Gov automatons had made sure.

  At Dr. Dark’s request, the seats had been reserved.

  Reserved for The Ignored. For the scum that had attacked me.

  “Perhaps if we treat these outcasts with a bit more humanity, it will be easier for you to control them,” Dark had told the confused Gov agent who had someone else in mind for front row seats. Namely himself and the rest of the attending Gov Force. But the always persuasive Dr. Dark had won out. With the help of his pocket watch, of course.

  Every one of The Ignored who were responsible for my almost death, had shown up. One wore my hat, another twirled my knives. The one I hated the most, the guy that had slid the wicked knife into my belly loaded with tracing magic, had my clockwork watch. My blood pressure spiked.

  In anger, I crumpled the curtains in my hands. I wanted a rematch. And I wanted it now.

  Once Dr. Dark had used his unsealing spells and opened the flimsy rusted gates that lead to the now mostly outside venue, the crowd tumbled in.

  If not for Dr. Dark’s powers of illusion, the huge crowd could have easily pushed the rickety barrier down and crowded in hours ago. Still. It was business as usual, insults flew, fights broke out, there was blood on the floor.

  The chaos was still raging. I sighed. Yep, nothing new here. Just the usual, disgusting, stomach-turning behavior.

  I wasn’t a fan of The Gov, but I had to hand it to their skeleton automaton, ‘Ushers.’ The six-foot, smash and grab machines, really knew how to keep control of a crowd. Decked out in top hats, bowties, and nametags welded to their metal frames, the automatons managed to keep the bloodshed to minimal proportions. Armed with silly little flashlights, they swept the crowds, spotlighting trouble. And trouble was everywhere.

  After a snapped neck here, a bashed skull there, the rowdies, both drunk and sober, finally learned. Fall in line, or die.

  Dr. Dark hated The Gov’s security tactics. We all did. But as the popularity of the Sideshows along the rails grew, so did the revenue. And where there was revenue, there was The Gov. And where The Gov went, violence followed.

  “White? You’re wearing white? What are you? A bride?”

  Jin’s voice startled me. I lost my balance and almost fell through the curtains. If she hadn’t grabbed ahold of my leather corset laces, I would have tumbled out, and rolled like a snowball, right off the stage.

  “Damn it, Jin. Stop with the sneaking around.” I pulled away from her. I tried to stand up straight. But the damn heels just wouldn’t let me. I was so not a high heels girl. I was more of a boots-that-will-kick-your-ass girl.

  “Who’s sneaking around?” Jin said. “You’re the one spying on our customers. And Skye? White is so not your color. It adds pounds, ya know?”

  “I’m not spying. I’m looking at The Ignored in the front row, the ones who attacked me.”

  Jin pulled a lethal little knife and gave it a twirl. “No worries, Skye. We’ll get ‘em. Now. Again. Back to what’s important. White? Really?”

  Wait. White? What? I let the curtains drop back in place, automatically sucked in my stomach, found my balance, turned, and glared at her.

  I put my hands on my hips. “And what are you wearing?”

  She spun in a circle. “You like?”

  “Jin. That’s way, well–too damn skimpy.”

  She glared. “Way too what?”

  “Skimpy. I mean, where’s the material? Where the hell is your skirt?”

  Decked out in full theater makeup, Jin wore a French cut, one-piece black lace teddy. Her satin, blood-red corset laced over it, cinching in her impossibly small waist. The corset accentuated her breasts, and the fishnet stockings hooking into black garters made Jin look years older than her actual age. This kid looked every bit like a grown woman. And the kind you’d want to take home to mother. When mother wasn’t home.

  The multi-buckled, black, knee-length leather boots she wore had higher heels than mine. Jin, of course had no trouble walking in hers.

  The outfit looked sexy, hot, and totally inappropriate for a kid her age. Hell. It looked inappropriate for me.

  “You’re so not wearing just that. Jin. It’s dangerous to draw so much attention to yourself with a crowd like this.” My fear for her was real. I had been way younger than Jin when that kind of attention came my way in Gov Care.

  Her beautiful eyes, shadowed in smoky gray glitter, and lashed to an incredible length, glared at me.

  “I so am. You’re just jealous.” She mimicked me by putting her hands on her waist. The ant in her magical bracelet raised its head and blinked at me.

  “Jealous?” I raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

  “Yeah. Just because you have to wear frumpy white.”

  “Frumpy?” I looked down at the soft layers of my skirt. Micro short in the front, falling into longer layers in the back, the material twinkled as the light played on the silver threads running through it.

  The beautiful, white leather corset laced from behind did an amazing job of highlighting my own breasts. Double strands of pearls wrapped around my neck, choker style. My bare arms and shoulders winked with silver glitter.

  Garters, holding opaque stockings hid just enough flesh to look enticing. And the heels from hell accentuated my legs. Trust me. I looked anything but frumpy.

  “I don’t look frumpy. I look like a–a–Snow Queen.” I really had no idea what I was supposed to look like, Dark had just instructed I wear white, I still didn’t know why.

  Jin laughed. “Whatever, Skye. Bride, snowman frump-paul-lious. Whatever.”

  “Frump-a what?” Now I was mad. I hated it when Jin made-up words. And used them to describe me. While using air quotes.

  “Jinghua? Catch.”

  A mass of black tulle fabric lined with glittering red sequins flew between us and caught Jin off guard. The material draped over her head, and she struggled to yank it off.

  “You forgot part of your costume, I believe,” Dr. Dark said calmly.

  My young Eli, who had shared most of today with me, was gone.

  In his place stood Dr. Elijah Dark, in complete transformation. He was now, showtime ready.

  Perfectly groomed, every detail in place, the elder Dark looked serious, formidable, and ancient. His ghostly gray beard was braided tonight. He wore a black military coat, trimmed in gold, with hammered brass buttons that ran the entire length on both sides. A crisp white dress shirt, complete with silver cufflinks, tucked into perfectly tailored black slacks. These too had a strip of gold fabric that ran down the outside of each leg.

&nbs
p; Tonight, he wore no vest, which told me his coat had inner, secret pockets. His signature bowler hat had an elaborate pair of onyx trimmed goggles strapped to the brim. The wool coat, that reached his ankles, was lined in a blood-red fabric. His boots, polished to an unbelievable hue, had pointed toes. Hidden in those points were blades–long, razor-sharp, lethal.

  Jin tugged the material down, shook it out, and quickly wrapped the long skirt low on her waist. The delicate tulle floated around her like a black cloud. Next, a small, black leather shrug appeared. Jin caught it and slipped it on. And finally, as if flipping a coin, Dark tossed a brooch through the air. Jin caught this too, and fastened the brass octopus into the leather, closing the garment under her chin.

  She still showed a hint of cleavage. Jin had just gone from dangerously inappropriate to adorable wear in under six seconds. Her cheeks were aflame with color. She had just been good and busted.

  I swallowed my smile. I didn’t want a visit from the KRYLON fairy in the night. Plus, ‘I told you so’ was not in my vocabulary. I’d heard that too many times myself.

  “Ladies, you look beautiful,” Dark said.

  I looked into his milky blue eyes, easily finding my Eli hiding in there.

  “Jin?” She looked at Dark nervously. “Red is your color, my dear. You should always wear it. You look amazing.” Jin’s dark eyes lit up, and she gave him a dazzling smile.

  “And, Skye? This is what I have in mind for you tonight.” He tapped his cane on the wooden floor, and on cue, Dagger trotted up. Grabbing the curtain behind us with his teeth, the dog pulled aside the layers. There, sitting on a skeletal mahogany frame, was a set of mechanical white wings. Angel wings.

  “Wow,” breathed Jin.”

  “Double wow,” I said.

  Dr. Dark smiled. “Allow me.” Cradling his cane under his arm, he held out his hand. I took it and together we walked over to the amazing apparatus.

  “I’ve seen these before.” I couldn’t hold my smile back.

  “Well, I haven’t,” said Jin. “Not fair, Skye. You get to wear all the cool stuff.”