by Jen Pretty
As the two vampires stepped into the hall, Drew mouthed the word ‘oops’. I bit my lip, hoping that Vincent didn’t start yelling.
“You had better watch your tongue or I will rip it out!” we all heard from the hall and then a moment later, a door slammed on the other side of the house.
A few moments later, Clive peeked his head back in.
“Let’s go,” he said, looking unhappy, but he was alive so it couldn’t have been that bad.
I shared a look with Drew and followed the rest of the team out the door.
Frankie stopped in the hall and waited for me. “I was thinking about taking the bike,” he said. “You want to ride with me?”
“Heck, yeah,” I replied. I hadn’t been on a motorcycle in a month. Those snowmobiles were a terrible substitute – given the fact I was too frozen to actually enjoy that ride at all. Plus, Darya had been added to our team, I assumed, since she was following along with Vlad. Which meant the van would be uncomfortably full.
“Meet you there,” I called to Cedric as we entered the garage. He waved me away and climbed into the driver seat of the van.
I trailed Frankie out into the driveway to his parked bike. He pulled out a second helmet and set it on my head. I did up the strap and climbed behind him, locking my arms around his waist as he revved the engine and took off down the driveway. The van couldn’t keep up as we weaved in and out of slower moving vehicles until we made it to the highway that led north. Frankie opened up the bike until the speed dumped adrenaline into my veins. Durga wiggled inside me, making my stomach jump and dance like grease on a hot pan. I shoved her back down.
Eventually the adrenaline settled and the thrum of the motorcycle engine combined with the heat of being wrapped around Frankie and my eyes tried to slide shut. I shook my head to keep me awake. Riding a motorcycle was no place for a nap. It wasn’t long before Frankie turned off the highway and into a medium-sized city. The sun had set and we passed quiet streets of suburban sprawl as we made our way towards the east side of the city. The van was probably miles behind us so when Frankie pulled into a coffee shop, I didn’t argue. I hopped off and followed him into the small shop.
We sat down a few minutes later with our coffees.
“I’m glad you’re here, Frankie.”
“I missed you while I was gone. Text just doesn’t cut it,” he said before blowing on his hot coffee.
“I missed you too. Spending all my time with vampires is weird. They are strangely into sports and domestic beer. You’d think with centuries of being alive, they would be, I don’t know, different. I guess.” Frankie laughed and sipped his coffee.
My phone binged. I pulled it out my pocket and saw a text from Drew saying they were in the city.
“Time to motor,” I said before chugging half my coffee and abandoning the rest in favor of strapping on my helmet.
Frankie pulled up behind the van and shut off the motorcycle. The team was in the alley that the police had cordoned, though the scene had been abandoned.
I swung off, leaving my helmet on the seat and crossed the alley to catch up with Vlad and Darya.
“We have picked up a scent,” Vlad said as he held the police tape up so I could walk under.
“Good, maybe we can make this quick.” A yawn caught me off guard.
“You bored with this life already, Lark?” Drew asked from about half way down the alley.
“No, I’m just tired tonight,” I replied.
Clive gave me a concerned look from where he was crouched inspecting the ground. I assumed that was where the body had been. Durga wasn’t interested yet, so I found a cleanish area and sat down on the ground, crossing my legs. I rested my hands on my knees, palms up, and cleared my mind. I found a few vampires in the area. None of them interested Durga, so I kept checking. Moving my senses as far as I could, there was still no interest from Durga. The vampires in this city were not fallen or evil. I came back to myself and stood, dusting the alley dirt off my pants.
“I’ve got nothing,” I said.
“I might have something,” Frankie said. He had a glowing orb in his hand. “There was a drop of blood here, I don’t think it’s from the victim.”
Vlad walked down the alley to the place Frankie knelt and sniffed towards the ground. He grunted.
“That is vampire blood,” Vlad confirmed.
“My magic won’t last very long, but if the vampire is close by, it should lead us to it,” Frankie said.
“You want to walk around the city with a glowing ball in your hand? That might raise some eyebrows,” I said pointing to the blue orb.
“Only you and I can see it Lark,” he replied. I noticed the confused looks on the faces of the vampires.
“Oh, that’s weird, how come I can see it?” I asked, moving towards him.
“Because I want you to,” he replied. A beat passed where no one spoke. I bit my lip.
“Alright then, uhm, well, let’s go find a vamp then,” I said turning on my heel and striding out of the alley. Drew snickered as I walked past him and I pointed a finger at him, making him stop. He had a healthy fear of Durga, though I had no idea where she was tonight. She had been right below my surface for the last month, now she didn’t care about hunting vampires?
I paused at the end of the alley to let Frankie go ahead and we all trailed along behind him as he weaved through the seedy streets lined with run-down apartment buildings and abandoned houses. Eventually, the light Frankie carried started to flicker and went out. He stopped and looked around. The thick layers of graffiti on the buildings were probably all that was keeping them standing. There were no buildings with intact glass windows. Some were boarded up, but most were left open to the elements. It was a perfect place for junkies, squatters and vampires.
“Sorry, that’s it for me,” Frankie said.
Everyone looked at me. I still had nothing. If the vampire was here, Durga didn’t care.
We turned to walk back towards the van and, about halfway up the block, Vlad stopped and raised his nose to the sky. Pulling in a deep breath, his nostrils flaring, he turned and began walking towards the vacant apartment complex.
“What is it?” I asked. The rest of the vampires started sniffing too. God, I wish I had a better sense of smell. Whatever it was, we all marched through the weedy area beside the building and stopped at an open sewer drain.
Clive and Vlad exchanged a look, then Vlad led the way, splashing down into the hole. We each followed behind. I called my blade and thanked God I had worn my boots. The water smelled terrible and familiar. Though I couldn’t place it.
Drew pulled out a flash light. We all had pretty good night vision, but I didn’t want to run into any gators, so I stuck close to Drew until we came into an open area where one drain met another and they combined to flow out of town.
The grate up ahead had caught something. When Drew’s light flashed over it, the features came into stark relief against the black murky water. It was a head. A vampire’s head. His eyes were open, but grey and cloudy instead of glowing. His teeth were unmistakable though.
“Jesus,” Drew whispered. “Do you think that’s our guy?”
Vlad splashed over and gave the head a sniff.
“That is definitely him. But what the hell happened to him?” Vlad replied, picking up the guy’s head. Water and other things drained out and, between the smell of the water and the sight of the headless vampire, it was too much for me. I covered my mouth, not wanting to puke in the water we were all standing in, but lost my breakfast anyway. We got out of there quickly after that. We left the fallen vampire who had been tormenting this city where he, well, fell.
The water had breached my boots, and my socks squished all the way back to where we parked. No one spoke, we were each lost in our own thoughts. Someone had killed that vampire and done a tidy job of it. I wasn’t sure if I should be grateful or worried. A vigilante? A human couldn’t have done it, but there were other things that could have. I was so
tired, I knew I wouldn’t make it back to the city on the bike, so I ended up cramped between Drew and Vlad in the back seat of the van.
I hope my snoring didn’t bother them.
CHAPTER SIX
Back at the mansion, feeling refreshed from my nap, I changed into some workout clothes and hit the gym. I had been so busy lately, between hunting vampires and teaching classes, that I hadn’t had time to work on my yoga or meditate. I walked down to the gym considering the death of the vampire in Marksville. Something was gnawing at me about it.
The gym was empty at this hour of the night so I turned on my old iPod. It still had all the same music it had when I bought it from the thrift store, but it was like my theme music now, I couldn’t replace it. I left half the lights off, so the room was only lit from one end, casting the matted area into darkness. I walked to the middle of the mats and started my warm-up routine. My body groaned and joints creaked as I worked out the kinks from sleeping in the car propped up between vampires. I reached up towards the ceiling and wished I had thought to go out on the back patio so I could try and touch the stars. Then I swept my hands down to the ground, wrapping my arms around my legs and pulling my body tight. My heart set into a calm heavy beat, sending my pulse thrumming through my ears. Continuing through my usual routine until I had a light sheen, I finally moved into some of the more complicated positions.
Durga always stayed near my surface when I did yoga. It was a strange feeling. Like she was filling my limbs and moving with me instead of staying curled up in my middle. It felt like a partnership.
I slid into the downward facing dog pose, my feet and hands planted on the floor and felt the stretch deep in my lower back and across my shoulders before shifting my weight forward to go into the crow pose.
My body centered itself, giving me the freedom to balance in ways that seemed impossible a few years ago when I started getting more serious about my yoga. I couldn’t find my center, back then.
My hands planted firmly on the floor my knees on bent arms. Every ounce of concentration went into steadying myself on my hands, grounding me in the moment.
I tilted forward and lifted my feet off the mat so I was balanced perfectly over my hands. I stayed in that pose, feeling Durga’s energy mix with my own and the peace my body felt at being so balanced and in control. I uncoiled my body and stretched out into a plank. My strong core easily supported my body.
I moved through my advanced routine, ignoring the muscle complaints and stretching out the stiffness before going into my cool down stretches and relaxation, lowering my heart rate and easing the muscles into a more relaxed state.
Finally sitting cross-legged on the floor, I pressed my palms up on my knees and shut my eyes. I counted my breaths until I faded into nothing.
***
“Back so soon, Durga?” Shiva said in a raspy voice as his snake slid up his arm to wrap around his neck.
“I’m Lark. Remember?” I replied, horrified as the snake made its third loop around the god’s neck and bit its tail in an oddly playful manner. I had no idea snakes could be playful, but that’s what it looked like -- a puppy biting its tail.
“Oh, yes, of course. Welcome back child, why have you come?” He said quickly. I raised an eyebrow at him before I continued.
“Someone killed a vampire in the city to the north. Do you know anything about that?”
“What?” he asked. I knew he heard me. He was an ancient Hindu god. He started fiddling with his long dreadlocked hair and then adjusted his animal skin loincloth.
“I said—”
“I am a very busy god. Perhaps you can come back some other time when I am not so busy.” He said, cutting me off. “Goodbye now.”
***
I fell over with the force of Shiva expelling me from my meditation.
“Jesus, that is a weird god,” I said, standing up and turning to head back to my room.
“You know that is a bizarre statement,” A voice said from the doorway. I looked up to find Darya standing there.
“What?” I asked.
“You said, ‘Jesus, that is a weird god’,” she replied.
I thought about the words for a second and laughed. “I guess you’re right. Shiva is weird though. Not what you expect from a deity.”
“I lived in Russia when the Durga was there. Her name was Elliana. She and Vaughn were pretty close and I lived in his coven at the time so I had occasion to hear her speak about Durga. She never spoke about Shiva, though.”
“Oh,” I said, taken aback by the information. There weren’t any notes about Shiva and Vincent had been pretty concerned when I started visiting with the deity, but I assumed that was normal. I remembered Shiva had expected Durga the first time I visited and this time he expected her too.
“Perhaps it is because you meditate,” Darya offered.
“Ya, maybe that’s it,” I agreed, mostly to drop the topic. It could be as simple as that. But today Shiva was weird…er than usual.
“I am heading up to have breakfast, would you like to join me?” She asked.
I took a deep breath and let go of the feeling of unease that had settled quite firmly in my stomach.
“Sure, that sounds great,” I replied. “I’ll meet you in the dining room. I need to run and have a quick shower.”
“Alright, I’ll save you a seat.” She flashed me a smile before turning, and we walked up the stairs to the hall where she turned one way, and I, the other.
I showered and changed into clean yoga clothes since I had classes this morning. Durga was restless the whole time, but I managed to keep her at bay. I walked back down the hall towards the dining room, staring down at my phone as I sent a text to Trevor to make sure he was coming. I tried to include him in as many classes as possible. He fit best with the teenagers because he was so young. They accepted him and, once I told them he had been sick, they made an extra effort to make sure he felt welcome. It was a good environment for him.
I was about to hit send when I walked straight into a solid chest.
My phone spun out of my hand and I crashed to the floor as the rest of the person I had run into came into view. It was a huge vampire I had never seen in the house before. He hissed and leapt upon me, pinning my body to the ground. He didn’t waste any time, sinking his teeth into my throat before I even had the chance to scream. Durga shoved me out of the way and called our knife. The knife sunk hilt deep in the throat of the vampire above us, and he went limp, but the damage was done.
I tried to scream, but the vampires jagged teeth had shredded my vocal cords. I gaped, trying to pull in air. All I got was thick blood, filling my lungs. Durga attempted to push the heavy dead body off us, but her strength was wavering as my vision tunneled down. The sticky wetness on my neck ran down and pooled below me. It spread around me, soaking into the plush carpet of the hallway. I screamed in my head, unable to make a sound. As my world turned grey, the heavy weight lifted off me and saw Frankie’s green eyes staring into mine and then there was nothing at all.
***
“I’ve already closed the city, what more do you want from me?”
“I want to know how that bloodsucker ended up in your house!”
“And I told you that all vampires must present themselves to me. He had just arrived from overseas and was here to pledge his allegiance to me. That’s how it works!”
“That’s not good enough! She could be dead!”
“She is the Durga. She can’t die!”
I moaned, having heard more than enough of the two idiots fighting. I was decidedly not dead, but my throat felt like mincemeat. I was pretty sure something had died in my mouth. Durga was restless under my skin, like an angry snake, slithering just under my surface. The sun was burning through my closed eyelids, and, oh yeah, some vampire had tried to eat me.
“Open your eyes, Lark,” Frankie said from right beside me. His voice was raw like he had been yelling for a while.
I peeked out one eye but immedi
ately closed it again. I heard the blinds close and darkness fell on my face. I opened my eyes and looked into Frankie’s worried ones.
“Thank you,” I said to Vincent who stood behind Frankie, beside the window.
“I’m sorry, Lark,” Vincent said, his voice calm now too. “The vampire who bit you had a reference letter from Vaughn. It was a forgery. I should have realized sooner.”
“It’s ok. I’m pretty tough,” I replied, closing my eyes again. My voice was hoarse and raspy like I had smoked a pack a day for thirty years. My neck was whole though, and the vampire was dead.
“Do you think your fallen brother sent that vampire here?” Frankie asked, pulling me back from the edge of sleep.
“That is what I am thinking. If not, someone else wants Lark dead bad enough to make up this elaborate scheme.”
He had a point. One enemy was better than two. Shit. “Did you check for bombs?” I asked, sitting up so fast my vision dimmed.
“Yes, Cedric led the sweep. He had the same thought you did, but there are no bombs in the house or on the grounds,” Vincent assured me. I crumpled back to the bed. At least, there was that.
My eyes closed of their own free will this time. I could still feel Durga rummaging around inside me, but I was too tired to stay awake.
“Good night, Lark,” Frankie said, smoothing my hair back from my face. The last sound I heard was the door clicking shut behind the two men as they left me to my day sleep.
DURGA
Foolish girl, she is too easily distracted by her mobile telephone.
I pulled on Lark's boots this time, before grabbing her money cards, and sliding out the window into the bright sunlight. The vultures were circling. That old bloody demon had sent more than one of his minions to my city and today I would ensure they all paid for their insolence.
The streets were crowded downtown when I got off the city bus and walked through the streets following my senses. These humans had no idea the danger that lurked under their noses.