“You’re not part of the clan yet,” Jie said, with a funny look on his face. I was getting pretty worried.
“Is my family all right?”
“I’ll stay with her,” Thomas said. “Y’all have your meeting.”
“Nice try.” Silvus shoved him toward the bedrooms. “Wait here, pet. I’m sorry to keep leaving you alone.”
“I prefer being alone,” I said, glaring at him. “I just want to know if my family is all right.”
“They are,” Jie said.
They were off talking for the next hour while I was left to amuse the cat, who started running around the cabin and climbing on and off the couch.
Finally, Rayner came out and the other three followed. Silvus picked up Calrose and carried him back to the bedroom. Jie started tossing food and pouches of blood into a cooler.
“We’re going home, Tulip,” Rayner said.
“Home where? What about my family?”
“We need to arm ourselves,” Rayner said. “Jie and Silvus both feel the village is dangerous to attack without planning and I have to trust their opinion. It wouldn’t be my choice, but we wouldn’t all be here if we didn’t trust each other. So—on a more pleasant note, I’d rather keep you far away from the fray and get you out of this…cabin.”
“Where is home?”
“We’ll go to Baltimore for now,” Silvus said, emerging with Calrose in a carrier and picking up a cell phone. “I’ll tell Adam to tidy up and find another place to stay.” He tapped the phone and then swiped the phone and then handed the phone to Jie. “You do it.”
“It’s not that hard to use a phone.”
“Well, it didn’t used to be.”
Jie looked at him. “You’d better drive, Sil. I ate three potato chips.”
“Why!?”
“Father Joshua gave us the forbidden fruit and we were trying to prove we were human,” Thomas said. “I ate the whole bag. I don’t regret it.”
“Oh, dear god.” Silvus groaned. “You stupid, stupid children. Let’s get out of here. Dearest, you must have the front seat.”
The vampires had a luxurious older black Mercedes sedan. The front seat was extremely comfortable and the leather smelled wonderful. Rayner definitely wasn’t having the best time sitting back with the other two. Calrose’s carrier went at my feet. Rayner didn’t say so aloud, but I don’t think he could drive. I couldn’t believe I was about to leave with them, possibly forever. None of this seemed real to me at all, but I relaxed a little more than I had at any prior point while they were arguing and trying to get everything packed up. It felt normal—sort of. Mom and Dad acted like this with me and Carrie sometimes, but their behavior was much more muted, like they had a father of their own who would punish them if they spoke too loudly. Mom always had to defer to Dad, but it wasn’t something he demanded of her. It was just the way things were. They both understood.
I was very tense on the road too, but in this case, I kept expecting to see members of the Order blocking my way. The cabins were in a state park and the roads to get out of the park grounds were narrow and empty, and remained that way for a while. I couldn’t believe Father Joshua would let me go.
At some point, we pulled out onto a road with other cars on it, lined with homes and gas stations and small towns with cafes and insurance agent offices and junk shops. I was actually seeing normal humans. Normal human stores and work places. School buses. Women jogging in tank tops. Women with their hair down.
I couldn’t stop staring, although ironically I had traded the somber black dress and head covering of the Order for the green and brown wool and cap of the ‘little Dutch wife’ outfit. At one roadside food store I saw some Amish women talking next to buggies and they looked more like the Order, but even they were out shopping and riding on human roads, and they didn’t keep their heads pointed at the ground. Father Joshua occasionally mentioned how pure the Amish were, but he wouldn’t actually approve of them at all, I thought.
Everyone out here has so much freedom.
“Carrie would love this,” I whispered.
Silvus looked at me. “Your little sister?”
“Yeah…she tried to lie and say she heard spirits telling me not to marry Father Joshua. She’s a smart kid.”
“It ain’t right,” Thom said.
I glanced at him, surprised to hear him chime in.
“Not right to leave her little sisters at the mercy of a man like that,” he said. “Darlin’, we’ll save them too.”
Rayner shifted a little and I could tell they hadn’t agreed on this, but he said, “Thom had little sisters.”
“Did you?”
“Yeah, I was the oldest and all the other Whitman kids were girls. Three girls. Boy, I tell ya.”
“Too much girl for you?” I ventured.
“Nah, I guess I needed ‘em to scold me,” he said. “When Ma died Eliza took it on herself to box my ears. She was about this tall and I was nearly afraid of her.” He lifted a hand to his chest.
I felt a little glow I recognized as both hope and happiness, for the first time, although I realized I was still sacrificing myself to save my family. Even in this moment, I was still extremely aware of what I was dealing with. All of the vampires had such a potent presence, a preternatural calm that preceded a storm. I could never fool myself into thinking I was with ordinary men, or that they would go easy on me.
“I need to get gas.” Silvus pulled over to a pump and walked into the small attached store. The woman pumping gas at the next pump watched him every step of the way, only to be distracted anew by Rayner getting out to stretch his legs. I wondered what a normal human saw when she looked at them. It was very obvious that even though the vampires had once been human, they didn’t look like other humans now. The books I read in the Order used to warn me that vampires could be hideous but still use their seductive powers to force humans into submission. I believed it. All of the clan were attractive, but I was sure I couldn’t even judge just how attractive they had been as humans. They had a dangerous glow that radiated off them like fragments of stars.
Even men were not immune. An old man wearing overalls and a brimmed cap stopped and stared before catching himself and shaking his head like he’d seen a mirage.
I was seeing, right before my eyes, a vampire’s natural power to charm everyone around them into submission.
The shocking marvels of the human world continued to fly past my eyes. The small towns along the country highways were not unlike the Order’s village, with 19th century houses, some brick and others wood, and occasionally older ones constructed from stone. Neighborhoods of newer houses popped up now and then on rolling hills. But even run-down towns had a cheerfulness to them. Pumpkins decorated porches. Roadside apple stands were piled with fruit. Signs were advertising fall festivals, Halloween parades, apple dumpling feasts and slippery pot pie at churches and the Ruritan Club.
Halloween was a very wicked holiday when the mundanes celebrated it, with horribly bigoted depictions of witches and familiars, according to Father Joshua. But it all looked like so much fun to decorate and go to festivals.
“What is that!?” I cried, spotting a massive warehouse of a building with a huge, packed parking lot on the hill ahead.
“A Wal-Mart,” Rayner said. “It’s a store that sells everything the humans need and plenty more that they don’t.”
“One store? So big?”
“Have you ever left that village?” Jie asked.
“No…,” I had to admit. “Only the men get to leave, and even then, rarely.”
“We might need to stop in there,” Thomas said. “In fact—we definitely should.”
“Why? A plague upon the Wal-Mart.” Rayner stopped as he seemed to realize that the potato chips must be upsetting their stomachs. “Never mind. I suppose these large stores are, at least, anonymous.”
We parked in a sea of cars. I couldn’t stop staring at people. They were all so different and interesting. Kids skippi
ng along with shoes that lit up. Moms talking on phones. Old couples walking together holding hands. A skinny boy with long hair and a shirt with superheroes. The mundanes were pushing carts with tons of plastic bags or a single large item, like a vacuum cleaner or a mini-fridge.
“What are those?” I asked.
Rayner looked at the long hot pink foam cylinders. “God only knows.”
“Pool things for floating in pools,” Jie said. “They probably put all the pool stuff on clearance.”
“Jie is our translator even to this day,” Silvus said.
The doors opened on their own and we were blasted with a smell that made me think of hot dogs and plastic, but was generally beyond my description. Inside, it was even more astonishing. The ceilings were so high and music was playing and kids were screaming and there was a little cabinet with hot pizzas in it and a display of light up wire cats. My mouth was hanging open. I had been catching glimpses of this world all my life whenever any kids in the Order got their hands on music or comic books or any other piece of the mundane world, but this was like going to a carnival.
“Have fun,” Jie said. He and Thom turned toward the restrooms.
Rayner looked like the whole place put him in a bad mood, and he looked at me. I shied back a little. I could tell he was mad and might yell at me for being so fascinated. Immediately I dropped my eyes and drew my hands together against my apron.
Instead, I felt his hands on my head, loosening the pins that held my cap in place. He folded it in his hand and lifted my head back up.
“Tulip…we must get you something to wear. Just for now, until we can take you to better stores at home. We have no suitable clothes for a modern girl. Pick out something that you like.”
I swallowed, confused by the fact that one minute he was angry and now he seemed soft. “You’re not upset?”
“Upset?”
I chewed my lip, looking at all the racks of brightly colored clothes. I was afraid I would pick out something he didn’t like. In the Order every woman wore the same black dresses with long sleeves, all the time. “You should pick something out for me.”
“I despise Wal-Mart,” he said, “because I remember a time when I would have taken you to a charming little dress shop where you would be measured and I would buy you fine outfits, custom made for you out of beautiful materials. Silk gowns for dinners and balls and the opera. And good sturdy wool riding habits and clothes for working in your garden. Gloves…hats…handkerchiefs. Everything was a treasure. There are very few places like that anymore, however, even in the best stores. As much as I like you to look how I remember you best, you are attracting attention. Buy what pleases you. I am content just to have you with me again.”
“The streets were full of shit and piss back then,” Silvus murmured. “So, there was that.”
Rayner wasn’t mad at me at all, even if he hated the store and I liked it.
He didn’t care if I had a different opinion about something.
Well, I was sure that wouldn’t extend very far. He was just as possessive as any man in the Order. They would never allow their wives to declare that they loved something their husband hated.
I had a memory of my mom making a coconut curry dish that she heard about somewhere. It was so different than the usual foods we ate and she said she was “surprising” Dad. As she was shopping for the ingredients, she told me not to tell him. As she was making it, she seemed nervous, like she was keeping a secret.
When he came home he said something smelled unusual, but he added, “Maybe it’s nice once in a while to try something new.”
Then, she put the plate in front of him. Nervous. Hopeful. I could see her now, not saying a word to him, keeping her eyes down as she brought him a neat little dish of rice formed into a dome with a little sprig of mint, and a bowl of saucy chicken curry.
“Mrs. Gardner gave me the recipe,” she said. “It’s a curry from Thailand.”
He seemed hesitant as he tried a bite. He swallowed and wiped off his mouth. He looked at her.
“I’m sorry, honey, but can you just fry me up a couple of burgers?”
“Of course.” She took the dish away quickly. Her skin was burning.
“It’s all right,” he said. “I know you were hoping it would be a good surprise. I’m just not much for spicy food.”
Mom brought Dad a beer to nurse while she returned to the kitchen and took out a clean pan. She made him a whole new dinner, with baby Carrie on her hip. I sat at the table with my curry, but I couldn’t eat before my parents. I remembered wishing Dad would tell me I could eat anyway, but he didn’t look like the thought ever crossed his mind.
The curry, as I remembered, was delicious, but we never had it again.
Dad was a good man. He was just following the rules like he’d been taught to do.
Things were better before Father Joshua was in charge, my parents said, but they had still been pretty strict compared to a world like this.
I looked at the clothes and my eyes settled on some black, long-sleeved dresses. The dresses had a little gold belt and a ruffled hem but were the closest thing to what I always wore.
Then some rebellious streak stirred inside me. Sometimes I got this little feeling bubbling up like I wanted to fight somebody, but I always said my prayers to the Ethereals until it went away.
What do I have to lose now?
He’s being nice, but they have all made their intentions clear. They’re going to drink my blood, claim my body any way they want it, tie me up, and keep me close. We’re already two hours away. I don’t know where we are. Maybe we’re almost in Baltimore. They’re so powerful that I’ll never escape. I probably won’t ever see my family again.
So I might as well see what I can get.
I looked at a rack of sweaters with bright, gaudy prints of hearts, stars, and rainbows. They made me think of some colorful, crazy world I could never really be a part of. I took the rainbow print cardigan off the rack. Rayner didn’t say anything. He was keeping an eye on me, but he and Silvus were discussing something about repairing a hot water heater.
“Adam should have told us if anything in the house was not kept up. My Lisbeth will want a hot bath, I’m sure.”
It was so strange and embarrassing to hear ‘my Lisbeth’ and know he meant me.
“Well, Adam says he likes cold showers,” Silvus said disdainfully.
“We don’t want the pipes to freeze in the winter. How does he wash dishes?”
“And the laundry…,” Silvus said. “He washes all his sheets and towels in cold water? Good lord. At least he said he’s already packed up and gone.”
“I hate young vampires,” Rayner told me. “Our renters seem like such children, but one must still make a living somehow. Do you like this sweater? You might want some jeans and a shirt to go with it.”
“It’s okay?”
“Yes, it’s fine. You’re a young woman. You should be able to dress as the other young women do when you’re out. Of course…” Now his voice dropped into a softer register again, the one that stroked my ear like a caress. “…when you’re home with us, you shall wear what we want you to wear…the finery that befits you. Or, sometimes…nothing at all.”
I swallowed. Just like that, I was a mere possession.
But I was getting wet between the legs again. In fact, when I went to the restroom to change into the new clothes, my underwear was soaked through. I wished I had a clean pair to change into. When I put on the jeans, which were tight around my body, I could feel the wet spot pressed against my skin. I looked like a different person in these clothes. I felt light. I could move. I was warmer. I looked sort of…fun? Normal?
But I didn’t understand how a part of me could react this way to the things Rayner and the others said to me, as if I wanted them to possess me.
I don’t. I know I don’t.
Does some part of me trust them, after all?
No, this is their seductive magic tricking me.
/> They are Sinistrals. I can’t forget that. I just hope they can save my family.
Chapter Nineteen
Alissa
The sun was slanting low, casting golden light on the skyscrapers of Baltimore as Silvus drove on the network of huge highways. Now, Wal-Mart seemed quaint. This was exactly like stories I’d read of big cities, except it looked pretty run down and rough in spots. He took an exit and we went by boarded up row houses with graffiti sprayed on the boards, side by side with homes that still clung to desperate life. The level of poverty and disrepair looked like the corrupt world Father Joshua warned me about.
“Now, pet, this is our Baltimore house and we probably won’t stay here forever,” Silvus said. “It looks rough around the edges, but it’s safe enough on our block.”
“Why do you live here?”
“This is a Sinistral neighborhood,” Rayner said. “Where dark witches and demons live side by side with humans. The humans here know there is something afoot, but they simply accept it as part of the landscape, and if you earn their trust, they’ll watch your back. They won’t call the police. If anyone troubles our neighborhood, our neighbors know that they can tell us and we’ll take care of it.”
“And when we ask for blood, the butchers don’t ask questions,” Thom said.
“We’ve lived in similar places in London, Paris, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Berlin…,” Silvus said. “And funnily enough, every building we bought ended up being incredibly expensive after a while…as the magic vanished.”
“And all these people will be replaced by hipsters,” Jie said.
“So the humans know you’re vampires, then?” I asked. “Will they know I’m a witch?”
“Not…really,” Jie said. “But some of them kinda know. Humans do this weird thing where they know the truth is staring them in the face and they believe it but they’re also like, no, that’s impossible. We all went through it, except Sil.”
“Do you make all your money in real estate?”
“Yes,” Rayner said. “And after four hundred years in real estate, despite losing a few in fires and the like, we have plenty of money to keep you in style for the rest of your life. It’s too short, Tulip. So don’t hesitate to ask me for anything.”
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