by Jen Pretty
I liked Vlad; he was very fatherly, but these vampires couldn’t protect me. I knew they couldn’t, and still, I put my trust in them. I should always go with my gut; it had kept me safe this long.
“It’s not your fault,” I muttered despite my brain screaming it’s all their fault. My stomach was still churning, and my mind was fuzzy. I just wanted to go home and take 60 showers.
The rest of the team piled into the vehicle silently, Cedric was the first to speak once we were moving.
“That won’t happen again, Lark,” he promised.
I just muttered a reply, eyes firmly on the city outside the window. He took out his phone, spoke into it silently for a moment, and then set it on the dashboard.
Nobody spoke until we got back to the house. Mr. Crowden waited on the porch, fire blazing in his eyes. There was a string of muttered curses from the team at the sight of him. If I thought he was mad before, I was mistaken. He looked like he was ready to lop off some heads.
The team slowly got out and moved around to the front of the vehicle, but I stayed put. I was not in any shape to deal with his anger issues. Through the window, his eyes locked on mine and slowly drained back to the usual vamp colour.
When he spun on his heel and went into the house, I saw the shoulders of most of the team members’ drop-in relief. I guess they were waiting for him to explode too.
I climbed out and stumbled up to my room. I started stripping as I walked towards the shower. I flipped on the water as my tears started and my breathing hitched. Now that I was alone, fear and pain overtook me.
I slid down to the floor in the shower and let it all out. I had almost died. I could still feel the monster's teeth scrape my neck. The side of my face where that brick had scratched me was tender, and I gently fingered the scratches as the water washed away my tears.
When my breathing returned to normal, I stood on wobbly legs and washed my hair twice before harshly scrubbing the rest of my body with soap until my skin was red. I stepped out of the shower and wrapped myself in a thick robe.
I knew he was there, sitting in the shadow of my room, but I didn’t say anything to him. I just went into the walk-in closet and got dressed in clean, soft jogging pants and a big hoodie sweater. I pulled my wet hair up into a ponytail and tucked it into the hood of my sweater then went out to face the monster in the corner.
“I’m sorry,” he said in a soft voice. I almost didn’t hear it because he was so quiet.
“Ok,” I replied, confused. Where did the angry vampire on the porch go?
I curled up on the bed, under the heavy comforter. He didn’t seem interested in yelling at me, so we sat in silence for a while. I wasn’t tired, too wound up still, but laying in the big bed helped me come to terms with what I had seen. Beyond almost being killed by the monster, what Vlad had done so easily terrified me too.
Vlad had saved my life, but the casual violence was not something I was used to. The world of vampires was a brutal, bloody world. I had already known vampires were killers and even if these vampires weren’t out to kill humans, they still hunted and killed.
“I would like to show you something,” he said finally, startling me out of my dark musing.
I slid off the bed and put on some socks and shoes then stood to wait for him. He frowned a moment and gestured for me to follow him.
He led me to the main floor gym. A few vampires lifted weights in the far side, but Mr. Crowden led me to the mats. Once there, he grabbed my wrist. His hand fit around it a steely grip, and I jerked back, but before I could panic, he spoke again, “You already know how to get out of this hold.”
His voice was so stern that it shocked my memory.
I did exactly what I had learned in self-defense, and I escaped his control. I had forgotten it when I really needed it – in the alley with a vamp about to drain me.
“Do it again,” he said sternly, grabbing my wrist.
We did this a dozen or so more times until I was doing it quickly and effortlessly, though my wrist was red and sore.
“You will train with your team every night for the next month,” he said, his usual bossy tone returning. “I have the information you requested about your heritage. You may collect it from my office. In the morning, I have a real estate agent prepared to show you some studios that may be suitable for your business.” As he left, I sighed heavily. Twice. Taking a break from dirty night clubs sounded great. Training with the team sounded like it might be good too. I needed to learn to fight back since I couldn’t run from my problems anymore.
First, it was time to learn something about myself. Why I was cursed? Maybe even how to undo that curse?
At Mr. Crowden's office, I knocked gently on the door. A moment later, the vampire himself opened the door, speaking a strange language into his cell phone. He handed me a file folder before closing the door again. Not that I expected a polite conversation, but really?
Back in my room, I started reading through the papers. Most of the documents were photocopied information about vampires. They look like they had been taken straight from a textbook. There was information about their strength and speed, what they ate, where they lived. It was everything I had been looking for all my life, but everything I had already figured out from being around them these last few days, except for one piece of vital information I didn’t know.
To kill a vampire, his spine must be severed, or head completely removed. No mucking about with stakes, no sunlight or crosses. That was it. I had no idea how I was supposed to do that, but the next piece of information I came across was the most important to me.
One human would be possessed by Durga, the mother goddess and consort of the Hindu God, Shiva. She would bestow them with the sight so that they could do her work. The blood of the vampires would bring Durga forward, making the human she has chosen faster and stronger than average and giving them one singular desire – to destroy evil vampires.
Those demons who killed indiscriminately, the ones who were out for nothing but themselves – they were Durga’s target and would be hunted and destroyed.
The Durga and her chosen one would work seamlessly to maintain the balance.
I was freaking possessed by some Hindu deity? How the fuck did I get rid of her? This was insane. There was no other information. Nothing that said how to undo whatever it was this Durga had done to me, but I was pretty sure I didn’t want to be possessed.
On top of that news, ‘Hunted and destroyed’ didn’t sound like something I was likely to be up for. Maybe I could just let Vlad and the team do the hunting and destroying. They seemed to like that. Although the speed and strength stuff would be super great, I wasn’t looking forward to being possessed.
I put the paper back in the folder and stuffed the whole thing away in the bottom of my sock drawer, like that would stop whatever shit was about to hit the fan.
I was not currently stronger or faster than anyone above the age of five. I had never trained to fight, but I had been training in yoga for many years, would my apparent superpowers not have shown themselves already? Superpower yoga? I snorted. Ok, maybe not. That was the end of the information though, and I still had many questions. Well, if this was true, and I assumed it was since Mr. Crowden didn’t seem the type to perpetuate myths, that meant I was supposed to, someday be possessed by some creepy spirit and be able to kill vampires. Let’s not forget the only way to kill them was to sever their spines. Gross.
It was nearly morning, I had yoga first thing, and then I would go out with the real estate agent, so for good measure, I took another shower, got dressed in clean clothes and put the night behind me.
I had breakfast in the dining room with the vampires. Most of them now knew who I was and waved or said hello. It was still hard to interact with them but getting easier to look at their smiling faces and not see vicious teeth wanting to rip out my throat. I shivered at the thought and filled my plate.
I ate quickly and hustled out the front door of the mansion. I h
ad forgotten to ask Drake to bring my vehicle up, but that didn’t matter because Frankie was sitting on his motorcycle at the bottom of the steps.
“Hey,” I said as I approached.
“Hey, yourself. I heard you almost got eaten last night.” He frowned at the scrapes and light bruising on my cheek. I had tried to hide the marks with makeup but wasn’t very successful.
“Almost. Not quite.” He snorted a laugh and got on his motorcycle, waiting for me to get on behind him. As we sped down the driveway, all thoughts of vampires cleared out of my mind as the rush of speed and comfort of Frankie’s presence took their place.
Frankie let me off at the yoga studio and then crossed the road to the coffee shop.
Inside the gym, the muscle-bound man at the desk shook his head when he saw the scrapes on my face. I rolled my eyes and went to the locker room to leave my wallet and cell.
Shanti started the class, working us through some of the poses we had learned this session. Today’s class was a great distraction from the last twelve hours. I felt calmer and almost hit deep meditation at the end.
“Great job today, Lark,” Shanti said as I was rolling up my mat and getting ready to leave.
“Thanks,” I replied, “It was a great class.”
She smiled. “I hope you will stop in to visit us once you have your studio open.”
“How did you hear about that? I haven’t even purchased a studio yet.”
“Your father called to say you wouldn’t be able to teach the beginner classes here anymore because of work commitments but mentioned you would have your own studio closer to home soon.”
I snorted; that pushy bastard, and why did he always introduce himself as my father? Creepy. “That’s true, but I do plan to keep coming to your class, I have more to learn.”
She laughed. “You could easily teach my class. You are too hard on yourself. I’m glad to hear you will still come around though. You have such great energy.”
“Thank you, I’ll see you next time,” I said as I took out my phone and threw an angry text rant at the bossy vamp who had just cancelled my beginner yoga classes. I loved those classes, and now I would probably never see the hockey kids or the old sweethearts again. Mr. Crowden probably had the agent showing me places much closer to his side of town, and I doubted any of my current students would want to drive across town for yoga.
I sighed.
Outside, there was no sign of Frankie but right at the curb was the Tesla driving vamp, Randy.
“Hey Randy, what happened to Frankie?” I asked, sliding into the shiny little coop.
“He had to go deal with some magic stuff. Those warlocks are a strange bunch.”
I laughed and said, “And you vampires are super normal, right?”
He bit his lip and looked a bit abashed. “I guess we are pretty odd too.”
Randy drove me to the other side of town, as I predicted, and we met with a real estate agent at an old studio that had been vacant for several years, judging by the grime on the floors, walls and windows. The front windows were huge. The space had high ceilings and was airy and bright, and there was ample open green space behind the building where I could offer outdoor classes on nice days. The building needed quite a bit of work and elbow grease to bring it up to code and make it shine, but I knew it was the perfect place right away. It was exactly what I imagined in my mind when I dreamed of my own studio.
The agent insisted I see the other locations, though, so we drove around town and saw four more. None had the same feeling as the first, so I made the agent take me back there again, now even more confident that it was the perfect place.
I stood in the large open room that would be my yoga studio and imagined little old grandmas and hockey kids and single ladies and moms and tots. All the different classes I would offer and all the smiling faces of the people I would help. I turned towards the front door and imagined where the front desk would be for registrations and information. Someone could work for me during the day. I could have an employee.
I turned back to look at the back wall where I could have mirrors to help beginners find the right poses and with daydreams all floating through my mind. I didn’t even notice the new presence until he spoke.
“This is the one you have chosen then?” Mr. Crowden asked.
I jumped, completely caught off guard, and turning towards him I nodded, giving him a grin.
“Very well. It will need some repairs and updating, but Randy will be at your disposal. He can organize contractors during the day and will update you on the progress in the evening.”
“Ok,” I said, going back to my daydreaming.
“Lark,” he interrupted again. The agent and Randy had already left, and Mr. Crowden was holding the door for me. I didn’t want to go, but I was getting tired now and needed to get some sleep. I followed the vampire out into the daylight and slid into Randy’s Tesla.
Randy shook me awake a few minutes later, and I climbed the stairs, collapsing on my bed and falling to sleep for another day with the plans for my new studio swirling through my head.
CHAPTER TEN
“Oof” the wind was knocked out of me for a second time, and I gasped like a fish trying to reclaim my lung function. In my mind, I used every colourful word I could remember to curse the blood-sucking jerks!
“Sorry, Lark,” Gabby said, again.
This was the third night. They were trying to teach me to fight, but mostly it was just a bunch of vampires repeatedly knocking me down. The only thing I was learning was my lungs would start working again before I passed out. The panic was still real, every time.
“I’ve never tried to teach a human to fight before,” she complained. She had already said this several times. Apparently, she had a slow learning curve.
I still couldn’t speak, so I just shook my head at her and kept gasping. My eyes watered, blurring my vision, but I knew who had just walked in when the rest of the vampires shut up and stood quietly looking at their feet, trying not to provoke the already angry vamp.
“Why do you people keep damaging the Durga? Are you completely incompetent?” he growled, and team Lark backed up a few more steps.
I would have loved to express my feelings about him calling me the Durga, but I was starting to think I was going to pass out this time. The room was hazy, and darkness decreased my vision as the angry red-eyed vamp leaned over me.
“Stop falling down,” he said helpfully as he grabbed me under my arms and lifted me to my feet. The action seemed to kick start my lungs again, and I took a huge gulping breath, finally filling my neglected airways.
“Why didn’t I … think of that,” I gasped.
He frowned. “I've had enough of this...”
“You and me both,” I interjected.
“… I have found you a proper instructor,” he declared. “He will arrive tomorrow night. For now, you can take the rest of the night off.”
Excellent. I limped out of the gym and towards the front door of the house. I wanted to see my studio anyway. The sale had closed the day after I told the agent and Mr. Crowden that it was the one I wanted.
At the door, I started to ask Drake to bring my car up, but Mr. Crowden calling my name stopped me.
“I assume you are going to see the studio. I have to go and sign some papers in that neighbourhood anyway. I’ll give you a ride.”
Stuck in a car with the grumpy vampire didn’t sound like fun, but as it was only a few minutes away, I could probably manage it.
“Alright,” I said cautiously. When I hadn’t seen him for the last two nights, I assumed he was off travelling somewhere until he popped up in the gym just now.
“Don’t look so concerned. It’s just a ride in a car.”
Hmm, guess I’m not good at hiding my emotions.
Drake had brought the boss vamp’s car up. It was a very sporty BMW. I knew it would be.
He drove fast too, which I wasn’t wholly opposed to, and we made it to the studio in reco
rd time. I hopped out, thanked him, and he took off down the street.
Randy held the door open for me. He had already done a lot of cleaning in the reception area. The front windows were beautifully clear now. Some contractors had started tearing up the old linoleum floor while others had begun remodelling the bathrooms and locker rooms. I had chosen the paint colours for the walls and had hired an artist to do a mural of a sunset on the inside front wall, surrounding the windows. The outside was going to get new vinyl siding and a large sign that read Sun Down Yoga, the business name I had chosen years ago.
I sat on a paint can and admired the space. It was amazing to think that in a few short weeks I could be doing classes here. Randy had gone back to painting the newly built reception desk. I couldn’t believe how hard that vampire worked. Not needing to sleep made for excellent productivity.
When Randy finished the second coat, he put the lid back on the paint and sat beside me.
“Thank you for helping with this,” I said indicating the whole room.
“I’m glad to be able to help. I’m not much use to Mr. Crowden, so having this project has been wonderful.”
“What do you mean, not much use?”
He rubbed his face. “I shouldn’t have said it that way. It’s just that he only really has jobs for warriors. I am not much of a fighter, so I mostly get in the way.”
“That’s ridiculous! Not everyone can fight monsters. You have a great talent for organizing. Look at what you have done here.”
His cheeks pinked slightly. “Thank you, Lark, but vampires aren’t supposed to be interior designers or project managers.”
“Well, you are a vampire and an excellent interior designer and project manager. I bet there are other vampires just like you who wish they could be doing more creative things.” I don’t know when I developed this ‘vamps are people too’ attitude, but my righteous indignation at the non-inclusive nature of vampire culture was strong.
Randy laughed. “Maybe we can start a trend. A be-the-best-vamp-you-can-be, kind of thing.”