by Jen Pretty
Durga kept pushing at me. I tried to ignore her and get some rest, but when she pushed harder, I relented and sat back up. It wouldn’t hurt to check for the old vampire one last time. I took some deep breaths and centred myself, then sent my senses out of the room. The living room was still busy with vampires and so were a few of the other rooms. I couldn’t see the humans, but when I sent my senses out further, there seemed to be a vampire near the outside wall, or was it outside? I watched this vampire for a moment. Then did a quick count of the vampires in the house. I knew there were 12 vampires living here, but there was one extra. I counted again. Then flashed all my senses back to the vampire at the wall, except he was walking away from the house now. Nobody should be outside. My eyes flashed open.
“He’s outside!” I yelled. A massive blast rocked the building with a deafening sound. It blew out my eardrums, muffling the cries and sounds of wood splintering. I leapt from the bed and tried to run back into the living room, but the doorway collapsed in front of me and snow fell into the room, blocking my exit. There were no windows in this room, but I backed towards the outside wall, hoping it would stay upright. An intense ringing filled my damaged ears. The sound of splintering wood and breaking glass as the house crumbled around me seemed distant even though I knew it had to be loud. I put my hand up to the warm trickle of blood that ran down my cheek from my ear.
“Lark!” I heard Cedric's voice, muted, like I was under water.
“I’m in here!” I yelled back. “It was Vernon!” Durga pushed at my skin, but there was nowhere to go, trapped in this room. When the sounds of the building collapsing ceased, I crept towards the door and began pulling gingerly at the fallen ceiling tiles and destruction. I pulled one tile off and found Cedric using a tile to scoop snow off the doorway. He had a small hole dug already, so I raced back to the bed and grabbed our bags and some of the winter clothes and shoved them out to him. There was no way we would survive in the extreme cold without some protection. Once he pulled that stuff through, I reached up, and he grabbed my arms, pulling me up and out into the early morning light.
CHAPTER THREE
One thing I knew for sure was that vampires were tough and hard to kill. I pulled on a heavy coat and hat and started digging. Clive and Vlad were helping Ajax pull the vampires out from the buried living room. Across the disaster area, where one of the back rooms used to stand, was smoke and I could hear the snap of a fire. I knew there were vampires in there and the fire was relatively small, so I crawled across the rubble of the house and started yanking at the pieces of wall and ceiling.
“Hello?” I yelled into the debris. There was no response, but I went back to digging. The small fire grew bigger. The wind blew the smoke towards me, and my eyes teared. My fingers went numb from the snow. I knew any vampire that was buried here would be alive if I could get them out.
Sweat ran down my back beneath my coat as the fire’s heat intensified. It melted the snow, making it heavy and soupy. Eventually I hit something. Make that someone.
A hand appeared through. I tossed my make-shift shovel away and started digging by hand. I needed to clear some of the slushy snow from around whoever was trapped there. Once I could see more of the arm, I gave up trying to dig them out and grabbed ahold of them as firmly as I could with numb hands.
I leaned back, pulling hard until a face emerged from the debris. Like a newborn foal, the vampire was soaking wet and limp, her long dark hair startling against the snow. When I finally got her clear, she pushed her hair back from her face and I realized it was Darya.
“Thank you, Lark,” she mumbled as she scraped snow and slush off her arms and face. I slid back across the wreckage to where I left my bag and pulled out a sweater for her. It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than nothing.
She smiled and put it on. I knew she wouldn’t die from the cold, but it couldn’t feel good to be buried under it.
“Devon was near me when the roof caved in,” she said.
“Ok, I’ll go look for him,” I replied.
My limbs shook as the adrenaline waned and left my system. I wasn’t going to be able to do much more, but thankfully Ajax came over and helped me dig. I couldn’t stop until I found the missing vampire, Devon.
The fire smoldered now, having burned what it could. Everything else was frozen and wet. The melted snow became ice. We had to get everyone out fast or they would be stuck. My arms and legs burned with exhaustion, but I kept digging. As Ajax pulled off pieces of wood that used to be the frame of the house, making a hole down into the ruined building, I pushed more snow out of the way.
“Is Vernon still nearby, Lark?” Ajax called from down in the hole he had created.
“I can’t tell. My senses only work when I’m calm. It’s still a pretty new skill,” I said as I pulled up what looked like part of a bed frame and tossed it behind me.
“Now would be a good time to try, darlin. I don’t like feeling like a sitting duck.”
“Ok.” I moved just beyond the wreckage and sat in the snow. My ass was wet and frozen anyway; a little more snow probably wouldn’t hurt me. I took a deep breath in through my nose and let it out slowly through my mouth, letting my body find peace even in this hell. I moved all the negative thoughts to the back of my mind where I couldn’t touch them.
At first, nothing happened, I couldn’t sense a single vampire anywhere. Then my senses slowly started moving away from me until I saw all the vampires around me. Like red dots on a radar map, I watched as they moved around me. A few seemed familiar and I assumed they were my team. I didn’t have time to focus on those. There were still a few under the snow, but most were opening the garage doors to get out the snowmobiles. The garage, still standing, was our saving grace. I remembered there were humans in the house, and my mind tried to focus on that thought, but I pushed it to the back and sent my senses further.
I moved out miles from the complex before I finally found one lone vampire. He was moving fast on a snowmobile. I watched as he pulled up to the small airport where our plane landed not even twelve hours ago. He was getting away.
I came back to the present just as the snowmobiles pulled out of the garage with sleds attached.
“He’s at the airport now,” I said as Clive hurried towards me. I stood and ran for the snowmobile. Durga was pushing me to hurry and catch our prey.
“We won’t make it in time,” Clive called after me.
Durga shoved forward in anger and kicked a singed piece of the destroyed building, launching it across the mess created by the bomb.
“He will pay for this!” She yelled before I shoved her back into the corner she occupied inside me. I turned and dropped to my knees, vomiting in the snow.
I wiped my mouth on the sleeve of my coat and the cold finally took hold. My whole body started shaking and my teeth chattered as I struggled to my feet and continued towards the snowmobile.
“We lost eight humans. I would hear their heartbeats if they were still alive.” I overheard Ajax tell Vlad as I walked past him. The look of devastation on Ajax’s face said everything. These were his people and he had lost them in the blink of an eye. I didn’t need Durga’s rage. I was pissed enough for the both of us. If I had only thought to check a few minutes sooner, I could have saved those eight lives. I was too damn late.
The snowmobiles were overcrowded as we moved across the snowy fields and through tree-lined paths towards the small town, where we could stay until our plane arrived. I watched the sun rise above the trees from the back of Ajax’s snowmobile. My sunglasses were lost somewhere in the disaster that used to be a home for these dozen vampires, so I closed my eyes and let my mind drift away. When I calmed enough, lulled by the buzz of the engine, I sent my senses out as far as they would go. Every vampire in range was with us. Vernon was gone.
When we arrived back at the frozen landing strip, our plane was waiting.
“I’m sorry about your people. I should have never stayed with you,” I said to Ajax.
> “That wasn’t your fault, Lark. We had no way to know he would do that.”
I nodded, though I could have imagined it, had I tried. Vernon nearly blew me up once already. I should have kept checking for him. I put a target on that house, and he aimed right for it. I wouldn’t be so careless next time, but that was little consolation to the humans who died or the vampires who lost their human friends.
As predicted, Darya came back with us. She and Vlad spent the flight to Ottawa with their heads together, speaking softly in Russian.
For me, the flight was miserable. I was freezing cold and in damp clothes still. Luckily, when we got to the Ottawa airport, we were able to buy new clothes and change. Vincent's private jet was ready to go, so there was no delay in boarding. I slept the rest of the way home and only woke when Vlad shook my shoulder.
“We are home, Lark,” he said.
I wrapped the blanket around me and did a zombie walk from the plane to the car.
“I spoke to Vincent,” Cedric said as the car weaved out of the airport parking lot.
“He would like to see you when we get home.”
I caught Cedric’s eye in the rear-view mirror and nodded. I didn’t feel much like talking to anyone, so I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep the rest of the way home.
Finally, back at the mansion, I climbed the stairs to my room and locked the door. I cried in the shower until I was clean and then collapsed in bed. Vincent would have to wait.
∞∞∞
I woke but didn’t open my eyes. I knew he was there and he probably already knew I was awake, too, through some weird ass vampire sense. Maybe I smelled different when I was awake. Or perhaps I snored. No one ever told me I snored, but it would be a good sign I was awake if I stopped snoring, and it would solve the mystery of how he always knew. I hoped I didn’t snore.
“It’s almost midnight,” he said softly. His voice came from the direction of the chair in the corner of my room. I could picture him there, looking all regal and kingly. I let my mind imagine what he looked like for a while. He was a beautiful man, err, vampire. I wasn’t ready to face him yet, so I kept my eyes closed.
“It wasn’t your fault, Lark.” I huffed out a breath. He couldn’t read my mind. Only Frankie could do that as far as I knew. Though I was feeling pretty guilty about getting the vampires and humans in Canada blown up, so, he had a point.
I turned on my side, facing him, but pulled my blanket up to my cheek to stay in the warm cocoon for a while longer. I wasn’t sure I would ever be warm enough again.
He watched me as I tried to find some words to say. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Eight humans had died. A sneaky tear fell out and rolled down my cheek onto my pillow. I remembered Ajax’s face. The loss in his eyes. Another tear followed, but this one was caught by the cool hand of the vampire who was now kneeling before me. He moved so fast, I had missed it.
“Don’t cry, Lark,” he whispered.
I took a deep, shaky breath. I needed to get it together. Durga wanted to look for rogues and I wouldn’t be much help to her if I were a blubbering mess. I took one more breath and threw back the covers.
I went to bed in my oversized t-shirt and ended up flashing a whole lot of legs at the vampire as I scooted out of bed and into the walk-in closet to get dressed. Vincent’s eyes followed me. I needed to get some food and hit the street. I would get Vernon next time. I would be ready.
When I came back out, Vincent was sitting on the end of my bed.
“I meant when I said I missed you, Lark. I want to take you out. On a date,” he said looking at my feet. He raised his eyes and they flashed red as he took in my appearance. I had started wearing leather pants and jacket as protection when I went out hunting because sometimes Durga took liberties with my body, and even if I healed quickly, the scrapes and bruises still hurt when the adrenaline left my system. I admit I looked pretty badass, too.
I had my knife sheathed to my thigh with straps that went around my waist and leg, adding to my badass image. My hair, pulled up in a high ponytail, swayed when I walked and swung around like a live wire when I fought. I was more like a comic book character than a person, but I suppose when you are the chosen body of an ancient deity, a comic book character was small potatoes.
Dressed like this, I didn’t cry. This was my protection. My armor. Durga made me in her image and we fought the creatures of the night.
I wasn’t sure what to say to his date proposal. I had been carefully avoiding the thought of relationships because I was off kilter with a deity sometimes taking over my body.
“I’ll think about it.”
He nodded, dropped his eyes to the ground, then stood and strode out of the room without another word.
Fabulous. A sulking ancient vampire. I rolled my eyes and went to find my team. Hopefully, they were ready to go. Durga and I had some frustrations to relieve.
The streets were pitch black near the docks. Any street light that had ever shone on this area had long since burnt out and wouldn't be replaced. No one wanted to know what went on down here at night so the lights stayed off.
My team had taken to making a stop here at least three times a week. The homeless people who resided here were at highest risk from rogue and fallen vampires and, since I always saw at least one family with small children, it was a place I had to keep safe.
The locals who weren’t transient knew us by sight. They knew we weren’t police, but they didn’t ask questions beyond that. They would point out anyone who didn’t belong, though usually, it was just a creepy human and not a vampire.
This night was different though.
“Hey, how’s it going?” I muttered to the group of regulars. One of them nodded towards the pier footer. There was a small crawl space where the ground met the pier that was a perfect shelter from the wind and rain. It was usually packed with homeless people, but tonight there was only one shadowy shape in the middle, the rest was vacant -- a clear sign of a shady individual taking up residence.
I expected another human, perhaps one who needed medication for a mental disorder. As I walked closer though, Durga shoved me out of the way and bolted forward in a dead sprint. Our excellent vision tinted red as we narrowed in on our prey. The team had gotten used to this and I heard swords unsheathe as I ran. I jumped around the girder and heard a hiss as red eyes that nearly matched my own flashed in the darkness ahead of me.
“He’s mine,” my voice said, ensuring the team knew what was in front of us and exactly how much of this would involve them.
Durga pushed us off the ground and up into the crawl space, landing nearly on top of the wild vampire who snapped his teeth and hissed like a cornered cat.
I reached out to grab hold of the demon, but he caught my arm and pulled me forward, aiming to bite my neck.
My knife flashed into my hand and I managed to stab him in the gut making him holler, but not stop in his effort to relieve me of my blood. I sliced again, higher this time just as he gave up on my neck and bit down into my arm which he was still holding in a death grip.
I screamed and stabbed my knife straight down towards his neck, but missed and hit his shoulder. His teeth ripped out of my flesh, removing a good chunk. Blood poured out as the vampire flung his head back and I finally got the chance I needed.
Sinking my dagger deep in his throat, I severed his spine and he crumpled to the ground beneath the lonely dock. The moon glittered off his face stained with my blood.
Durga fell back with a satisfied moan like she had spent the whole day on her feet and could finally rest on a soft couch.
“Shit,” Vlad said, as he ripped off his shirt and wrapped my arm tightly to slow the flow of blood. I was already feeling a bit queasy.
“She’s gonna blow,” Clive said helpfully from behind Vlad.
I covered my mouth with my free hand but couldn’t hold it in. For the second time in twenty-four hours, I vomited. I would die of starvation at this rate. The thought of food turned m
y stomach one more time before it calmed and I felt like myself again. A very satisfied Durga was curled up sleeping now. At least someone was happy. For once.
CHAPTER FOUR
By the time we got back to the mansion, my wrist had healed and I was ready to teach some classes at Sun Down Yoga. My studio was an oasis of calm.
“Hey, Lark. I heard you had a bit of a crazy night,” Randy said, as I walked through the door, munching on a granola bar.
“News travel fast,” I smiled. “Were you able to reschedule yesterday’s classes?”
“Yup, no problem. Yoga people are so nice.” That was an understatement. I had already had to reschedule four times in my first month but hadn’t lost a student yet. I hoped I would be home for a while so I wouldn’t miss any for a while though I doubted that Vernon would be thoughtful enough to go into hiding now.
“Good morning, class,” I said as the last of my beginner level women’s class filled the open space of my studio. The sun shone through the large windows at the back of the room. It was almost too bright so I closed my eyes and got started.
“Let’s start with mountain pose. Standing tall, press your hands together over your heart, and focus on your inner sun.” We held that pose for several moments.
“Good, now stretch your arms down along your torso with your palms forward,” I said demonstrating from the front of the room. “On your next inhale, sweep your arms down, out and up to the sky, bringing your palms together over your head.” I demonstrated in front of the room. “Gaze up at your thumbs and lift as high as you can, then gently arch your back and expand your spine. You should feel no pressure in your lower back.”
We continued through the sun salutations until everyone was sweaty. Even basic yoga was hard work when you weren’t used to it. This group of women came from all backgrounds and activity levels, but, by the end of class, every one of them was sweaty and smiling.