by RK Close
A toddler had climbed up onto one of the cafe-style chairs, trying to reach a holiday decoration that hung just out of his reach. A woman and man stood nearby, engrossed in conversation but unaware of what the child was up to. I looked back to see Cole trying desperately to reach the hotel. I was closer but still didn’t believe that I could make it in time to prevent the horrific event.
The crowd was too loud, so yelling wouldn’t capture the woman’s attention. In what I feared would be a failed attempt, I pushed through the crowd violently as I watched the child lose his balance and fall from the second-story balcony.
My heart felt like it would burst from pain because, even though I had only a few feet to reach him, I wasn’t going to make it.
Everything happened so quickly. At the moment the child would have hit the ground, Olivia was there, on her knees, catching the child at the last second.
I reached her and the little boy a couple of seconds later. Several screams erupted around us. One was the mother on the balcony as she realized what had happened. A crowd pressed in around us, and the child began to cry loudly in Olivia’s arms.
Olivia’s eyes were huge as she looked at the crying child and then at me. Her expression was panicked rather than relieved. She glanced around wildly. Judging the response of the crowd, I didn’t believe that she’d exposed herself when she caught the boy. Olivia had managed to save the day, but she looked like a wild animal about to bolt.
Several things happened at once. As the mother burst from the hotel, Olivia shoved the child into my arms and then began pushing her way through the crowd.
“Olivia,” I called after her. She didn’t respond.
The woman snatched the child from my arms as she collapsed onto the steps of the hotel, crying and rocking the toddler as if she’d never let him go again.
“He’s okay. Someone caught him. He’ll be fine.” I tried to reassure the mother, even as I was searching for Olivia. Only the top of her head was visible in the mass of bodies. She was still pushing herself through the crowd at a frantic pace.
I watched as the news reporter tried to stop Olivia. But she shoved the female reporter and kept going. The reporter looked shocked but then turned and headed in my direction. I started to slowly move away from the scene. Several bystanders patted me on the back as I went.
They must not have seen Olivia hand the child off to me, and they assumed I’d saved him. I wanted to talk to Olivia, but she was gone. Cole found me and pulled me into the Burning Moon Bar. We ordered a beer and sat in a corner.
“What happened? I didn’t think you’d make it,” Cole said quietly.
I looked at him. “I didn’t.”
Cole’s brows came together in confusion. “But—”
“It was Olivia. She must have seen what was happening and somehow managed to get there before me.” I knew vampires were fast, but damn—she’d been farther away than either Cole or me.
Cole looked shocked. He couldn’t see the entire situation because of the crowd. And the fact that Olivia had caught the child so low to the ground meant there was a good chance nobody actually saw what happened until seconds after it occurred.
“Why would she do that?” he asked.
“Same reason we would, I guess.”
“But she’s a vampire. I thought they didn’t care about human life, didn’t you?” Cole looked troubled by his question. Suddenly, Olivia didn’t fit in his neat little vampire box.
“I don’t know what I thought, but I never wanted to think of Olivia as a monster.” I didn’t volunteer to tell him that she was feeding off some drunk college student at the Moon the night before. Again, the memory made me want to punch something or someone.
Was I angry that she was feeding off someone or that she may have enjoyed who she was draining? Would it have been better if it was some old guy or a woman? None of it sat well with me. Why did I care so much?
“You like her, don’t you?” Cole asked, breaking into my thoughts.
“I don’t know. There’s something about her, but I can’t put my finger on it. It bugs me more than anything,” I lied.
I was most definitely attracted to the feisty little brunette with the large amber-colored eyes, but I didn’t want to admit that to Cole. He wasn’t crazy about vampires. And to be honest, I wasn’t certain how I felt about them either. That’s what made everything with Olivia more complicated. I didn’t do complicated.
“That’s not an answer,” Cole said.
“It’s the only one I’ve got. You know me, little brother. I can’t settle for just one. I love all the ladies.”
Cole didn’t look convinced, but he nodded and gave me a half-smile anyway. “I’m just thankful that kid didn’t get hurt. I’ll even thank Olivia if I see her.”
Wouldn’t that be a sight? Cole saying anything nice to a vampire, or being grateful for that matter. Maybe hell would freeze over.
7
Olivia
I could barely control my emotions as I pushed through the unsuspecting crowd. Hopefully, most of the people around me didn’t know what had happened.
I was almost free of the throng of faces, but then a hand grabbed my arm and I spun to see a tall thin woman holding a microphone. “I’m Brenda Jeffrey with KUTV News channel. Can I ask you a few questions about what happened?”
A new panic came over me. The cameraman pointed his lens at me. Without thinking, I shoved her away and hurriedly dissolved into the flood of people. I had to get away from there.
Had they caught what happened on film?
I didn’t see how. It was only a fraction of a second before the child would have hit the ground before I caught him. We were well below the line of sight of almost everyone. There may have been a few who caught enough to question what they saw, but they would make excuses rather than try to accept what their minds would refuse to believe. Human denial was much appreciated, under the current circumstances.
Once I’d left the crowd behind, it didn’t take long to ramp up my speed to an inhuman level. I was home within minutes.
My breathing was harsh and the only thing to be heard in the otherwise silent mansion. Everyone seemed to be away, and I was relieved. If they learned what I’d done, I’d be in big trouble. I had broken the cardinal rule of vampirism—never risk exposing ourselves. Exposing one of us put all of us at risk.
When my breathing returned to normal, I walked into the kitchen. There I found a note on the counter.
Your pig blood arrived. Enjoy.
My choice of sustenance was a source of contention within the clan. Supposedly, I was the only one who had ever risked death by refusing to drink from humans. I’d flat out refused to drink human blood after the first time, until last night. A chill ran through me as I remembered the lifeless eyes of the teenaged girl who’d been the unlucky human to cross paths with a newly risen vampire.
Remembering my reckless choice with the college guy brought shame and guilt once more. I felt nothing but regret after my careless behavior. And the idea that Seth knew what I’d done was all the worse. What had I been thinking?
Obviously, just like today, I wasn’t thinking. I was running on impulse and stupidity. I knew better. None of the others could understand why Victor allowed me to make arrangements to have pig and sometimes cow blood delivered to the house weekly. I didn’t understand it either. I knew he wasn’t happy about it.
When he’d first insisted that I would learn control, I told him he could just kill me because I’d never do it again. That poor girl’s eyes would haunt me forever. If I had a soul, her death ensured I’d go straight to hell. I deserved no better.
I opened the fridge and pulled out the plastic container that held the blood. I filled a coffee mug with the crimson liquid and placed it in the microwave to heat it up. There was no pleasure in the blood. It was like eating tofu instead of steak, or in my case, water instead of anything else.
The biggest joke of my existence was that even though I refused to dri
nk human blood, I’d been a vegetarian in life. Now I survived off the blood of the very animals I tried to protect. The vegetarian turned vampire was the worst cosmic joke ever.
I drained the mug and was going up the stairs when the front door almost came off the hinges.
Spinning around, I saw Edgar, looking like the devil himself. Maria had a hand on his shoulder as if trying to restrain him or talk him out of something.
“You stupid spoiled brat!” Edgar raged.
I guessed he’d seen what I did. So much for hoping it would all blow over.
I’d managed to make him pretty angry over the last few years, but I’d never seen him this murderous. Just what I didn’t need right now. My self-loathing was at a new high. I didn’t need affirmation from Edgar, the asshole.
“Who are you calling stupid, you moronic piece of sh—”
Edgar came at me so fast that I had no time to react before he had me by the throat, my feet dangling off the ground. I didn’t even see him move.
Unlike the movies’ depictions of vampires, I did, in fact, need to breathe. It wouldn’t kill me to be deprived of oxygen, but I’d pass out, making it much easier for an enemy to decapitate me or rip my heart from my chest.
I was beginning to see stars, but I could still make out Maria’s frantic voice as she tried to get Edgar to stop. She obviously wasn’t trying hard enough, and he wasn’t worried about upsetting her, at least not enough to stop him from killing me.
Would Edgar go as far as to chop my head off or stake me? My bet would be on yes.
All of a sudden, I was tossed like a rag doll onto the stairs. I could breathe again, sort of. He’d done some damage to my esophagus, but it was slowly repairing itself. Edgar was gone, and Maria stood in front of the door staring fearfully into the next room. I heard a commotion coming from the living room but had to stagger around the corner to see what had happened. Simon had Edgar up against the old brick fireplace with a metal poker held to his chest. Simon’s other hand pressed Edgar’s face into the bricks.
“Simon,” I said cautiously as I came up behind him and placed my hand on his shoulder as gently as I could. Simon had never had a physical altercation with any of the others as far as I knew.
At first, he didn’t respond. Then he glanced over his shoulder at me. His green eyes were glowing brightly. “Are you okay?”
“I am. Thank you,” I said.
“Touch her again and I’ll kill you,” Simon said casually but with the confidence of one who could deliver.
Simon released Edgar as Victor, Elizabeth, and Lola appeared. Victor quickly assessed the scene before him, then walked farther into the room with a hard expression.
“What’s going on here?” he demanded.
Simon sat the poker back in its placed and casually walked to stand next to me. When nobody answered, Victor became annoyed and directed his gaze at me. “Olivia, are those bruises on your neck?”
I glared at Edgar, who didn’t flinch as he mirrored my hatred.
“It was nothing,” I said as I started to pass him on my way to the stairs.
Victor grabbed my arm to stop me and looked into my eyes. “Who did this?”
“Talk to your golden boy,” I said, jerking my arm out of his grasp. Victor allowed it. He was much stronger than me. If he’d wanted to keep me there and interrogate me, he could have, and I wouldn’t have been able to do a thing about it.
In a matter of seconds, I was in my room and locking the door--for all the good it would do. Victor would know what I’d done soon enough, and I didn’t know how he would react.
He’d be upset for sure, but would he be as angry as Edgar? Would he finally agree that I was more trouble than I was worth? The first couple of years with Victor, I’d tried to make him angry enough to kill me. I didn’t want this life, and I let him know daily.
Eventually, I grew tired of the drama, and we settled into a reluctant truce. He’d always shown more patience with me than anyone else, but I didn’t know why and I didn’t care. Sometimes, I believed it was my newbie vampire card, and that eventually, Victor would revoke it.
The little boy’s face kept creeping into my thoughts. I’d been playing back the scene, trying to think of any other way it could have played out. How could I have been so stupid? Maybe it would have been better to let nature take its course. Each time I went through it, I knew there was no way I could have let it happen. Not even if we all paid the price for my choice. The kid deserved to live—we didn’t.
There was a knock at my door. “Go away. I don’t want to talk about it,” I yelled through the door.
Then I realized that it was Simon on the other side. I could sense him. I opened the door. He was my only friend. If not for Simon, I might have done something drastic a long time ago.
I opened the door wider and waved him inside. He entered and sat on the edge of my bed while I sat at the desk.
“Does he know?” I asked.
“They’re discussing it now,” he said, looking around my room.
I rarely let anyone in my bedroom, even Simon.
“Thanks for coming to my rescue. Did I get you in trouble too?” I asked, nervously biting my lip.
“No, Victor is angrier at Edgar than me. But he’s not happy with what you did. I’ve no doubt he’ll be coming to speak to you about it.”
I slouched in the chair at the thought of yet another confrontation and what Victor would do to me. He’d never harmed me before, but he had his limit and I may have reached it.
“What was I supposed to do?”
“You did what you had to,” he said, his laidback Jamaican accent making me believe the world wasn’t coming to an end.
“What would you have done?” I asked, not sure I wanted to hear his answer.
He looked at me for a long moment before answering. His gaze was steady--he didn’t even flinch. “I would have turned away. You can’t save the world, Olivia. The consequences of your actions may be more than you gained.”
I wasn’t shocked by his response, but I wasn’t comforted by it either. It was notions such as this that made me wonder how we’d formed a friendship at all. We were truly different in how we viewed the world.
I nodded. And for once, I wondered about Simon’s soul. I’d often worried that we had lost ours when we became vampires, but I also questioned that legend because I didn’t feel any different from when I was alive, aside from strength and speed.
The emotional pain was still pain, love was still love, disappointment hadn’t changed, and I still couldn’t watch that child die if I could do something about it. So how could I be me without a soul?
“Victor is coming.” He gave me one last look before slipping out the door. He didn’t close it, and a moment later, Victor stood in my doorway, with a strange expression that I couldn’t understand.
His rath was what I’d expected but he almost looked concerned. Maybe I was imagining it.
He stood in the doorway. “Well? Do you have anything to say for your actions?”
I glared at him, but inside I was nervous. What would he do?
“I’d do it again.”
He looked like I’d struck him. “Olivia. Your choices affect everyone in this family. put us all at risk. What if you’d been recognized? What if the man who delivers your pig’s blood recognized you?”
I thought of the TV camera and swallowed hard.
“Nobody actually saw me catch the boy. It happened quickly, and the crowd was too dense for anyone to witness it,” I said weakly, hoping it was true.
“Let’s hope so.” He looked at me a moment longer, then turned and left. I let out a long sigh, wondering why he hadn’t yelled at me or gone into a rage. His mild-mannered reaction was more unsettling than his fury would have been.
If I could have actually slept, I’d be doing it with one eye open for a while.
8
A clock down the hall ticked loudly as if it were inside my head. Damn vampire hearing. I couldn’t stop
thinking about what had happened and wondering if I was no longer safe here.
Just after midnight, I crept through the house, trying to listen for conversations. There were hushed voices, but I needed to be closer to hear what was being said and if it pertained to me or not.
I stood just outside the door to the kitchen when I heard Edgar’s voice.
“She’s a wild card. She should be eliminated, but Victor won’t do what needs to be done,” he spat. His anger was almost a physical presence brushing up against my skin. I shivered.
“She’s a wild card but she’s not stupid. It was an impulse. It won’t happen again,” Maria said. “You must let this go for the sake of the clan. No good will come if you push Victor.”
Maria was always the voice of reason for Edgar. I don’t know what she saw in him. He was a hotheaded, two-timing jerk if ever there was one.
“Victor leads this clan, not you. You will obey his laws or pay with your life, Edgar. It’s a simple thing. I bore of your murderous rants. I’m going out to find a snack. Maria, care to join me?” Lola asked in her thick French accent. I sped back up the stairs in case they left by the front rather than the back door.
If Edgar didn’t have the support of Lola or Maria, I may still be safe. He’d never make a serious move against me unless he had backup. The display earlier was more for show—or so I hoped. I rubbed my neck.
Instead of going back up to my attic bedroom, I sat on the stairs that led to my room and thought about my options which were few, if any. I’d spent the last few years trying not to think about anything too serious. It brought too much pain and always led me to sad memories of my past.
I don’t know how long I sat there, but I found myself dreaming of a normal life, one filled with ordinary pleasures. Seth was at the center of all of these ridiculous fantasies. Even if it were possible, Seth McKenzie was the last guy any girl should fall for. He’d invented the title “player.”