by Jen Pretty
He grabbed my wrist and twisted, fracturing my arm in several places. The pain radiated, and I landed hard on my ass as he shoved me away. Jumping up before he could get the upper hand, I called my blade to my left hand. I was about to attempt another slice to his neck when Vlad appeared behind him and abruptly ended our fight by removing the vampire’s head with his hands.
Blood gushed like a geyser as the body crumpled to the ground.
I lifted my shaking arm and pulled it into my chest. The vampire’s death popped the happy bubble that fighting gave me and now it fucking hurt.
“Sorry, Lark. Vincent said not to let you get hurt. You will get the next one,” Vlad said with a weak smile.
I turned around, dropped to my knees and vomited on the grass. Shit. I was never going to be taken seriously as Durga if I puked every time things got extra messy.
Cedric silently offered me a tiny hotel size bottle of gin. I took it and used it to rinse my mouth.
“Holy shit that was crazy cool.” This came from the new guy. What was his name again? Drew. I stood up and moved away from the place I had dropped.
“I have never seen a human move that fast. I know you aren’t a human, but you are fast as hell. That was insane. We have the best team ever.” He held up his hand for a high five, but when I just raised my eyebrows at him, holding my broken arm to my chest, he dropped his hand and mouthed the word ‘oops.’
“Chill dude,” Tommy said patting the over-excited puppy on the back once as he walked by.
Tommy took out his cell, made a silent call and within moments a couple vampires appeared in the clearing and started bundling up the headless vampire.
Cedric checked the victim but shook his head at Vlad and then herded us out of the park.
A phone rang, and Tommy answered it, then handed it to me. It was awkward to hold it with my left arm, but my right wasn’t entirely healed yet.
“Hello?” I said into the phone.
“Are you alright?” Vincent’s voice came back down the line.
“I’m fine, Vincent,” I replied. Why the hell was he calling me? And on Tommy’s phone?
“Come back to the house,” he said and hung up.
I handed the phone back to Tommy and reached around, awkwardly to my back pocket with my left hand and fished out my phone. The screen was shattered, and the case had cracked Ugh. All my good stuff was on that phone. As I mourned, we entered the parking garage.
The lower level we had parked on had a few lights out, so it was dim, and one bulb flickered, giving the place an eerie feel. We were walking in silence towards the van, the sound of our feet echoing through the underground structure the only sound, when suddenly my knife was in my hand. Before I had time to question its appearance, I spun and slashed my blade across the neck of a vampire who had sprung up behind me, his teeth aimed for my throat.
As he dropped, two more vampires took his place in front of me, and I realized we were under attack. There were probably ten vampires against the four of us, but I didn’t feel any fear. The scent of blood from that first vamp spilled adrenaline into my veins and blocked the pain from my injured right hand. I switched my knife back to that hand and faced the rogues straight on. I saw Gabby fighting Tommy and cursed. That bitch.
My rage made me see red, and I started slicing and stabbing by instinct alone. The more blood I spilled, the more I craved. These demons were not going to hurt my team.
When there were only three rogues left, including the traitor, Gabby, they ran for it.
I was about to go after them but saw Tommy lying on the ground. He was still breathing, but his skin was pale, and a puddle of blood was quickly expanding around him.
Vlad scooped him up, and Cedric opened the van door. They slid Tommy in, and we all piled in after him.
I could see Tommy's wound closing, but he was so pale, and his breathing was ragged.
I covered my mouth as a dry heave wracked my body.”
“Don’t you puke in this van, Lark,” Cedric ordered. I called him some choice names in my head, but I didn’t dare open my mouth. I just thought of happy places and times. When that failed, I closed my eyes, slowed my breathing and dropped my hand. Thank God for meditation. I let the world slip away as my mind travelled to somewhere my body couldn’t follow.
✽✽✽
I was sitting in front of Shiva again. This time he was staring right back at me.
“Hello, Durga,” the ancient God said. The snake around his neck hissed and coiled like it would strike. Shiva noticed my trepidation and raised his hand to the snake who just coiled around his wrist. The snake was content to play a strange game of jungle gym over the deity’s body.
“My name is Lark,” I replied.
“That is an unusual name. Durga does like unusual though. I’m not surprised she chose you. Where is she now?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, still keeping my eye on that snake.
“Usually she comes to me, why are you here instead?” He rolled his hand, and the snake slithered up his arm. He petted its head with his other hand and cooed at it.
I shivered at the sight. What the hell?
“I have no idea.”
“Very well, you may come to me for the guidance of my will, but I am a very busy God and have much to do. Farewell,” he said as he faded to black.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Come back, Lark.”
I peeled my eyes open. Somehow, I was in my room in the mansion. Hadn’t I been in the van? And did I talk to Shiva? That was weird. Maybe I hit my head or something. You would think the god of destruction would be more … something. All-powerful, scary, perhaps not someone who would coo at a pet snake.
“You smell like candy when you meditate,” the vampire informed me.
“I told you to stop sniffing me. Gross,” I moaned, rolling off my bed and staggering towards my bathroom. I stopped dead in the middle of the room when I looked at the window and realized it was daylight. What the hell?
“How long was I meditating?”
“About five hours. I was about to call your warlock to see if he had some spell to wake you.” He looked at me expectantly, like I had some answer to the obvious question of what the hell had happened.
Five hours? I finished my walk to the bathroom and flicked on the shower. “I’m going get the gross off me,” I said, trying to buy time to figure it out myself. I had definitely seen Shiva.
“And he is not my warlock,” I said, slamming the bathroom door.
I pulled out some mouthwash and gargled liberally before spitting it in the sink. When I looked up in the mirror, my eyes flashed red for a second. What the hell was that? I remembered my vision turning red when I was in the park. Was I turning into a vampire? I stumbled back, knocking over the mouthwash and tripping on the bath mat, falling on my ass.
“Are you alright, Lark?” Vincent called from my room. Was I alright? I didn’t know how to answer him. Everything was spinning. My breath came in and out in harsh puffs. The door crashed in, and suddenly a raging vampire had scooped me up.
“What is wrong?” he yelled from the smashed doorway. His booming voice snapped me back to reality.
“My eyes turned red,” I said as he sat down on the edge of the bed with me. “I think I’m becoming a vampire.”
He snorted and started laughing. It wasn’t funny. I didn’t want to drink blood. Jerk.
“You can’t be a vampire, Lark. You are Durga. You will never be a vampire.”
I considered his words for a minute and thought back to the photocopied information he had given me when I signed his contract.
Oh, no. He did not. I looked him in the eye and spoke very carefully.
“Do you have more information about being a Durga, Vincent?” my quiet, controlled tone knocked the humour right out of him. He didn’t have to reply, I could tell from the look on his face that I had caught him red handed.
I pushed off him and stood up. Pointing my finger right in his fac
e, I scowled and said, “You will produce all the information you have about Durga or I will kick your ass and you know I can do it, Vincent Crowden.”
He stared at me for a moment and then nodded.
“Good, now, get out. I need to have a shower, and you broke my bathroom door.”
He stood and left without another word.
Smart vampire.
✽✽✽
Later that evening, when I woke, I found a book on my nightstand. The book was called Vampire and Durga – a history. The book was old, pages yellowed, but the type was still legible.
I sat and read. Most of it was the story of the ancient vampires. Vincent, Vlad, and a few others including Vernon, the fallen vampire that Vlad had told me about.
It said that they were all brothers. Turned into vampires and left behind by a vampire who had happened upon their settlement. The brothers didn’t know what they were or why they craved blood, but their story was long. Most of the book was dedicated to their early years, figuring out who they were and what they were. Eventually, they met up with other vampires and created more of their kind. Those seemed like dark years for the brothers, filled with bloodlust.
I flipped to the middle of the book and found the story of Vincent crossing to the new world. He had run because of stories of a hunter, Durga, who was slaughtering vampires in their native country. The story told of some vampires who were spared because they were careful not to kill humans, and Vincent believed he would not be spared if he stayed. He wanted to start a new life. Vlad soon followed, but the rest of the brothers scattered to the wind.
No wonder Vincent had been so angry our first few meetings; Durga had run him from his home.
The last few pages bound in the book were a letter from Vaughn. I recognized the name from the notes I had found on Vincent’s desk. The pieces clicked together. Vaughn must have been another brother. His letter included a ton of information about Durga.
Strength, top speed, abilities. They were all listed there in the form of a scientific study. The fact they couldn’t be turned into a vampire. The desire to hunt their prey, the day sleeping. The Sight.
The letter also told of the story of Durga which I already knew thanks to my study of Yoga. Her name meant the inaccessible or the invincible. She was the warrior goddess of Hinduism and the slayer of demons.
Satisfied enough, I set the book down and went to start my night.
The dining room was full, but I caught a glimpse of my team on the far side of the room. I filled a plate and joined them.
“Lark!” they called as I sat down.
“You ready for another fun night of hunting, Lark?” That was Drew. He always seemed to be excited.
“Sure,” I replied between mouthfuls of food.
“It’s going to be awesome,” he said before standing to take his dishes back to the kitchen.
“Conference room in twenty!” Cedric called. Drew waved and continued on.
“Mr. Crowden wants us to wrap up early tonight,” Cedric said as he grabbed up his dishes and followed out behind Drew.
I wanted to ask him why, but he was already gone.
I turned to Vlad. “Do you know what’s happening?”
He smiled. “Lark, I think it is supposed to be a surprise.”
Ugh. “Oh goody. I love surprises,” I said.
He laughed at my expense, then patted my shoulder and left with Tommy to return his dishes.
That night we drove around for hours, everyone in the van watching me for some sign we might be near a vampire I wanted to hunt and kill. It was pretty annoying actually, their eyes crawling all over me, so eventually, I told Cedric to park the van, so I could get out and walk.
It was several blocks later when I felt a pull, or maybe it was a push. Drew cheered when I suddenly turned, crossed the street, and hustled towards an abandoned building. From the outside, it looked vacant, but in this area of the city, a building with a solid roof and boarded up windows was never empty. It was a hub.
Inside drug addicts were shooting up, and vagrants were bedding down. The stench burned my eyes and throat, making me want to leave again, but the pressure to continue was stronger than my desire to flee.
The main floor didn’t produce any sign of a vampire, so I moved to the second floor, the team close behind me.
I opened the first door to the left, but the room was empty. To the right was a pair of rooms with their doors open. The first was occupied by a naked man snoring on a mattress on the floor. Ick.
The last room was darker than the rest. The windows covered by an opaque material blocking out the small amount of light from the moon.
“I’m sorry, Durga. I didn’t mean to kill that girl,” a voice whispered from the darkness. “You have to believe me,”
Cedric walked in behind me to look at the man cowering in the corner. My eyes had adjusted, and I could now see the small shape of him. He was only wearing pants. His dirty bare feet trembled on the floor in time with his trembling lips. I could count his ribs and his arms, thin as sticks, were wrapped around his legs. His face was tucked into his knees, but his hair was long and dirty.
I was stunned at the sight of him. He didn’t look like he could even hurt a fly, much less a person.
“Rise,” I said, my lips moving against my will.
The man’s sobs wracked his tiny frame as he unfolded to a height not much more than my own.
“Why does he look like that?” I asked Cedric, not taking my eyes off my prey.
“That is what a starving vampire looks like,” Cedric replied in a hushed tone.
“Why are you starving?” I asked the man.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone. Please, Durga!” He begged.
“How do you know I am Durga?”
“The rogues told me. They warned me the human with red eyes was going to kill me. They tried to get me to join them, to fight for them, but I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“And what are the names of these rogues?” my voice was stern now. I had accepted that when Durga took the wheel my eyes were red, though it still surprised me when this small vampire mentioned it. I didn’t expect it was something I would get used to.
“I don’t know! Please, you have to believe me. I left, I didn’t want any part of them or what they were planning.”
“Come forward,” my voice said.
He was shaking more violently now, his eyes still looking at the floor.
“Give me your hand, vampire.” I wasn’t sure what was happening right now, but I wasn’t in control anymore. I felt the pressure to release control to Durga. Maybe Vincent had been right. Perhaps we were two different people. If I was about to slaughter this man, I was not looking forward to having a front row seat to it. I struggled to stop myself, but as his hand came up, I grabbed it, my knife appearing in my other hand at the same moment and slicing down his arm. The scent of his blood filled the room.
The man squeaked but didn’t pull away. Like he was ready to have whatever fate I decided for him.
“You are spared,” with that, my body was once again under my own power, and I dropped the vampire’s hand.
“Thank you,” the small man whispered before collapsing to the floor.
After a long pause of quiet, it was broken by Drew who whispered, “That was fucked up.”
His words seemed to bring us all back to the present. Vlad caught the petite vampire as he passed out and carried him out the door.
I followed the team out of the house, consumed by my thoughts. Durga had taken complete control. I didn’t want to cut that vampire, but she forced me. I was not ok with this arrangement.
The little vampire still hadn’t woken when we arrived back at the mansion, so Drake led Vlad to a small bedroom and set up an IV of bagged blood for the starving man.
“Vincent would like to speak to you,” Drake said as he put a blanket over the slight figure on the bed. He looked even smaller laid out like that. Frail. His arms and legs were mere sticks, an
d the blanket lay nearly flat on the bed, giving little indication that anyone lay beneath it.
I turned and left, hoping the new vampire would make it.
“Come in,” Vincent said from his office when I knocked on the door.
“Hi,” I said softly, sitting down on the chair in front of his desk.
He smiled and shook his head. “I hear you brought home a stray.”
“He didn’t deserve to die,” I said sullenly.
“So, you didn’t kill anyone, and that makes you unhappy?”
I snorted, “No, it’s just, I think you were right. I couldn’t stop myself. I tried, but I couldn’t stop myself from cutting that vampire. I thought I was going to kill him, and I couldn’t stop it.” I pulled my feet up onto the chair and hugged my knees.
“I’m sorry, Lark.”
“What are you sorry for?” I asked.
“For dragging you into this life. You probably could have kept running from it your whole life, if I hadn’t pushed you so hard.”
“It’s not your fault. It’s better, not being afraid all the time, but I don’t feel in control right now. Like my old life is gone, and my new life is all about death and destruction.”
He sighed then stood up. “I have something that might cheer you up.”
“I doubt it.”
“Don’t be like that, Lark. Come on. You will love this.”
I trailed behind him as we left the mansion and got in his car. He drove out, and when he stopped the car, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
“It’s beautiful,” I gasped.
The sign on the top of the building read Sun Down Yoga in bright red letters on a yellow background in the half-circle shape of a sunset.
The front of the building had been completely redone in new vinyl siding.
Randy stood at the door, beaming, as I walked up. I hugged him and walked into my new yoga studio for the first time. I had hardly had time to eat, much less visit to see how construction was coming along the last few weeks, so I was amazed to find the whole place shone with peaceful, positive energy. My vision come to life.