by Mia Archer
It was absolutely silent. Eerily so. Almost to the point that I could imagine a certain vampire had sent out some of her minions to make sure nobody came upon us while she did whatever it was she was about to do to me.
My body let out another involuntary shiver as I thought of some of the things I’d like Ivy to do to me. I hated that I shivered like that, but I couldn't help it. My body had no control when it came to her.
My ears strained in the night. I wished I had the magic with me. If I had the magic then I could use a spell to enhance my hearing. To pick out the sound of anybody pursuing me who meant me harm.
Then again if I had the magic then I wouldn't be nearly as worried about being confronted by a vampire. Sure a vampire hunting me would still a concern, but not quite as pressing.
Then again it’s not like having the magic had done much for Selene, though she’d always been one to go to pieces when confronted with a dangerous situation.
As it was I was helpless. And even with my regular hearing I could pick out the familiar sound of somebody running and then skidding to a stop when they realized I’d stopped.
My heart nearly stopped. Whoever was running out there was running far faster than any human had any business moving.
They weren't fast enough to stop in time either. No, whoever was out there had given herself away. I was sure it was a she out there. I didn't know if it was Ivy or Diana, but neither one meant anything good.
Though I had a feeling Diana would be worse for me than Ivy. Maybe that was a silly crush talking, but I couldn’t shake the feeling.
I turned and started running again. I didn’t want anything to do with whatever was back there.
Dorm lights twinkled off in the distance, rising above the darkness of the student ghetto. I thought I could even see my dorm.
The only problem was there was a lot of darkness between me and that dorm. I didn't know how I was going to make it.
Faster than a human. Able to hear better. Able to see in the dark. Without the magic I was completely useless facing down a vampire.
So I ran. My blood pulsed behind my ears and I wondered if the next time I felt blood pumping with this intensity would be when it was going into the mouth of a vampire greedily sucking up my lifeblood.
I ran until I got a stitch in my side. I tried to ignore it. I'd never been good at running, and now wasn't any better even though I was pretty sure my life was literally on the line.
My body was on fire. My lungs felt like they were closing up and burning at the same time which wasn’t exactly a fun sensation. It was like I was on a treadmill and the more I ran the farther away the dorms seemed to get.
I could see the cross street off in the distance that marked the boundary between campus and off-campus housing.
I had to stop and take a breath. I doubled over and my chest heaved as I took in deep gasps of air. I didn't know how I was going to do it. I looked up and nearly let out a cry, only my lungs were burning so much that all I got out was a strangled gasp.
Someone stood in front of me in the darkness. I didn't know who it was. Only that she looked too tall to be Diana and too short to be Ivy.
"Who are you?" I asked when I could finally stop gasping long enough to talk.
The dark figure stepped forward. I also thought I heard steps coming from behind me. Only those steps stopped as the figure in front of me got close enough that I could make out her features.
I couldn't believe it.
“Kendra? What are you doing out here?”
Kendra walked up to me with an easy-going smile. Like she didn’t have a concern in the world. Like she had no idea there were vampires lurking in the shadows around us hunting.
"None other than."
I turned and peered into the darkness behind me. I knew there was something lurking out there. Something dangerous. Something that could easily rip Kendra limb from limb.
I didn't feel safer now that she was here. Her arrival only meant there were two victims in danger now instead of just me.
I didn't hear more footsteps back there, but I wasn't stupid. No footsteps didn't mean they weren't there. Just that whoever had been back there was being more cautious now.
A new player had entered the game, and I'm sure whoever was back there was trying to figure out whether or not that was a problem.
I didn't want to wait around for them to decide it wasn't.
I turned to Kendra. Grabbed her arm and tried to drag her along.
"Whoa there," she said with a laugh. "I'm flattered, but where did this sudden desire to…"
I let out a disgusted noise that shut her up. Here I was trying to save her from a fate worse than death and the only thing she could think about was whether or not I was putting the moves on her.
"We need to get out of here," I said.
I kept trying to pull her along, and she kept right on refusing to budge no matter how hard I yanked. She was surprisingly strong. More than I would’ve figured with that lithe frame.
"Hold on," she said, suddenly looking serious. "What's the big deal here? You look terrified. Did someone try to hurt you?”
I wasn't in a mood to explain. She didn't have any idea about the supernatural world lurking out in the night on campus.
If she did she wouldn't be out here. No sane person would be.
Though I suppose the chances of getting caught in a vampire attack, even on campus, were still probably less than your chances of getting in a car accident or something equally mundane like that.
Not that those statistics made me feel any better. Not when I knew my statistical likelihood of having my blood sucked out of my neck had gone way the fuck up after going to that party.
Every moment I wasted here was a moment when whoever was lurking out there could decide to attack.
"Can we please just go?" I asked, looking up at her. Begging her with my eyes.
There must've been something about that look that finally got through to her. She grinned, unconcerned about the danger, and shook her head.
"Fine," she said. "If you want to get out of here then we'll get out of here. The only question is your place or mine?"
I glared at her. She was pretty and all, but seriously? We were both in danger of our lives and she was flirting?
Though was that really any better than the flirting I'd been doing with a fucking vampire back at the sorority house?
Probably not. Either way, now wasn't the time to have that debate.
"We need to get out of here. Now."
There was no room in my tone for argument. Kendra still wore that unconcerned grin on her face, but she shrugged.
"Sure. Why not?"
And so finally we started moving back towards campus. Back towards safety and not back into the neighborhood towards her house. Wherever it was. I let out a sigh of relief, though that didn't drain the tension from my body.
Not when I knew there were monsters still lurking out there that could attack at any moment.
16
Ivy
I moved swiftly through the night. As I moved I realized there were fewer and fewer people around.
There was a time when I would've found that emptiness eerie or unsettling. When I would've thought there was something supernatural at work. Something keeping prying eyes away from the hunt.
Still, I couldn’t knock the convenience for all that it was an unsettling convenience.
Nobody out and about meant nobody to witness me moving faster than any human had any business moving. Nobody out meant no witnesses to see what happened when I reached Diana.
I fervently hoped I wouldn't come across her killing the girl. Or worse, find the girl already dead.
Even worse than that. Diana could somehow manage to turn her.
I shivered, and then I shivered again at the strangeness of feeling. I wasn't sure that I liked it, but it's not like the spell that had come over me since I first saw the girl was anything I’d asked for.
I slowed as h
er scent grew stronger. She was close. I stopped and inhaled deeply.
There was another scent on the air. One that was more familiar than the girl, though far less interesting. Far less intoxicating.
I let out a noise of disgust and looked around. Sure enough, there behind a tree was Diana. I could see her as plain as day even in the darkness.
Her fangs were down. A dull red glow filled her eyes. She flexed a hand and the claws were obvious.
But she wasn't making a move even though she was poised to attack. Why wouldn't she…
I followed her gaze. My eyes came to rest on that girl. She stood with somebody that made me let out an involuntary hiss.
A slayer. And not just any slayer. The head of their organization on campus. Kendra.
Most of them were too incompetent to cause us much trouble. Most of them were content to posture and talk about all the great work they did in between watching reruns of that show that’d utterly failed to get anything right about their lives and work back in the late ‘90s.
They were no better than intramural sports teams trying to relive their high school glory days and convince themselves that intramural was the same as playing for the college team.
It was different with Kendra. She could be dangerous. Very dangerous. Dangerous enough that she could kill Diana. Dangerous enough that I hesitated to attack her.
Directly, at least. Attacking her indirectly was one of the few pleasures I’d drawn from my undeath.
Until I met this new girl who was talking with Kendra while being hunted by that idiot Diana.
I turned my attention back to my pledge who looked poised to strike.
I hesitated for the space of a breath. This presented me with a very interesting scenario.
If there was one thing I could count on in this world it was Diana's stupidity. Her tendency to bite off far more than her fangs could suck.
I could let it happen. I could allow her to do something stupid. I could let her stupidity take care of my problem.
There was no chance she’d survive against Kendra, and I wouldn't have killed her. Not directly, at least. No, that would be entirely her fault for making a suicidal run against a slayer who was far more powerful than a new vampire had any hope of taking down.
I sighed. That might be the truth, but I would be violating the spirit of Mother’s order even if I wasn't violating the letter of it. And Mother and the High Coven could be very particular when she or they thought somebody was violating the spirit of a direct order.
Not to mention they could be very thorough in finding out whether or not someone had violated the spirit of one of their orders. Which meant I had to take care of this in a way that didn’t end with Diana as a pile of ashes to be blown away on the wind, damn it.
I let my own claws come out. I rushed forward and grabbed Diana as she tensed to strike.
She wheeled around and another clawed hand came up. There was a brief scuffle.
Very brief.
She didn't have a chance against me any more than she had a chance against Kendra. As soon as she realized who I was her eyes lost their glow.
Almost. Her hand did come down towards my face as though she wanted to rake me with her claws. I could have chalked it up to an accident, but there was something about her face screwed up in fury that told me she was in complete control as she tried to claw me.
Not that I was worried. I grabbed her wrist and held it. It was no trouble at all.
She might be stronger than a human, but she had nothing on me. She didn't have nearly enough age to even begin to hope to take me on in a strength contest.
The beautiful thing about how our people aged is she would never have that sort of strength no matter how long she lived. Though something told me her time on this world, even with the advantages undeath gave her, wouldn't be terribly long.
"Let go," she hissed. "What are you doing?"
I arched eyebrow. Turned to look at the girl. Diana had been on the verge of harming her, and that infuriated me. The girl was looking back towards us, but I was confident we were far enough back, deep enough in the darkness, that there wasn't any worry of her seeing us back here.
Still, it would be wise to be as quiet as possible. Kendra very well could find us back here. And while I was fairly certain I could take her in a fight, that wasn't a fight I was interested in. Not least because me scuffling with Kendra would mean I wasn’t free to keep Diana in check, and I didn’t want to think about what she’d do while I was distracted.
Besides, Diana had already been enough damage. We'd already inadvertently potentially started one war with the witches. The last thing I wanted was to start another with the damned slayers.
"You're lucky I don't kill you where you stand," I hissed.
She stared in defiance for a moment before she deflated and all the fight went out of her.
Good. The last thing I needed was her calling me on my bluff. As long as she didn't know I couldn't kill her everything would be fine.
"Why did you have to come out here and ruin my fun?”
My eyes flared. I looked off to where that girl was disappearing into the distance with that bitch Kendra.
I couldn't believe she was with her. It made my claws come out. It had me wanting to reach out and rip Diana’s head off.
I raised my hand as though I was about to strike. My hand hovered for a moment on the brink of doing something that would get me in serious trouble.
It was either a credit to my self-control or to my worry about what Mother would do to me that I stopped myself. Forced my hand down as my claws retracted. I took a deep breath.
Meanwhile, Diana stared at me the entire time in disbelief. Disbelief that I would raise my hand to her? Or disbelief that I stopped?
"What have I told you about questioning my orders?" I asked.
My voice was low. Quiet. Dangerous. Though it seemed to have no effect on Diana. And why should it? She'd heard that voice often enough by now that it held no terror for her.
All the more reason to kill her and be done with it. Why had Mother given me that ridiculous order?
That order was going to cause more trouble than not by the time Diana was through screwing things up for me.
"You were really going to do it, weren't you?" Diana asked.
Her eyes went wide and she took a step back. She seemed to finally realize the terrible danger her life had been in. Or her undeath.
Once I dug my claws into her she would go on to whatever eternal reward awaited every creature when they were killed, alive or undead.
Something told me that wouldn't be a pleasant place for the undead. I hoped for the void, but feared some of the ancient fairy tales told by the religious would turn out to be as true as the reality of vampires.
“Why didn’t you…”
Alarm coursed through me. There was something unpleasant in her voice.
Diana was stupid, but she was also crafty. That was part of the problem with the idiot. If she was simply stupid she wouldn't be much of a problem.
No, it was the mixture of stupidity and occasional intelligence that made her a constant thorn in my side.
And now I could see the stupidity taking a backseat to the clever side. I hated when that happened. It made it so much more difficult to deal with her.
"What's going on here?" Diana asked.
"Nothing," I growled.
Diana looked over her shoulder. The girl was almost gone in the distance. With Kendra.
She was safely away from Diana, at least. For now.
Safely away from me.
I sighed. I don't know why I should feel a loss after she disappeared from my sight, and yet I did. It was a big campus. I might not ever see her again.
I told myself that, but I had a difficult time believing it. I couldn’t shake the sneaking suspicion that she was in league with the witches. Oh yes.
She would be back. Along with all the trouble and complications that came with her.
"You've never held yourself back like that before," Diana said. "It's almost like… Are you under orders?"
I locked eyes with her. I could see the dawning realization there.
Diana didn’t know of the conversation I had with Mother, but I'd just given away the most important takeaway from that conversation with a look.
Diana’s fear turned to a grin. Her fangs descended. It wasn't a pleasant smile. Not because I felt threatened by those fangs so much as because I knew exactly what she was thinking.
"That's what it is, isn't it? You can't hurt me!"
She did a little dance. That growing sense of invulnerability infuriated me more and more as I thought of everything she’d done to complicate my life since becoming a pledge.
She’d killed that witch. She was the one who went chasing after the witch that night which necessitated me chasing her down. She’d sliced her fatally before I could stop her.
Diana was the architect of all the trouble and misery I'd endured over the past year.
Well, Anne had small part in that misery as well, she always did, but Diana was a large part of that misery.
I looked at her smiling and laughing. So confident that I couldn't do anything to her. So full of herself. So cocky. So arrogant.
Something snapped inside me.
I stepped forward and my fist connected with her stomach. Only I didn't stop with socking her in the gut. Though it was infinitely satisfying watching her double over in surprise and pain.
She locked eyes with me. Her smile was gone. Now it was my turn to put a little of that terror back in her.
My claws came out. I opened my hand. Pressed against her body. she let out a cry of pain as my claws dug into her flesh. As I squeezed around something soft and squishy. As I raked my claws along her insides.
All the fury and frustration I'd felt this night, not getting that girl's name, dealing with Anne, enduring the usual bullshit from Diana, came out as I ripped into her.
Her cries were loud enough that I would’ve worried about us being caught if I was in a rational state of mind, but the fury had taken me and I didn't care.