Vampin' Ain't Easy

by Kimbra Swain

  She muffled a whimper as I snapped his neck. I pivoted to face her. She wrestled with Stanley, but he held her in place.

  “Malik, I can tell you everything. I wanted to tell you. I didn’t want to do it this way. Gore said we would have to show force. I just did what he wanted me to do,” she said.

  “I don’t believe you. You could have told me whatever you wanted the night you showed up in my bed. You never mentioned anything.”

  “We were in his house! What was I supposed to do?”

  “Not kill my innocent neighbors.” Suddenly, I felt just as much wrath toward her as I had Gore.

  “Time to back down, Boss,” Stanley warned.

  I ignored him and stalked toward her. She trembled. “You said you weren’t going to kill me.”

  “That was before I remembered that you killed Karen, then you taunted me with it after you ordered Gore to shoot me. His blood is on your hands, and I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to take you back to Daddy so you can explain it to him,” I said. She paled and heaved breaths. “Stanley, take her out to a vehicle. Give me a minute.”

  “Sure thing,” he replied.

  “Lydia, tell the rest of your men to stand down or they will get what Gore got,” I said.

  Stanley dragged her out of the room before she could answer. I took a deep breath. Vampire blood had no appeal to me, and this room reeked of it in the aftermath. I closed my eyes and looked to the ceiling. The overly metallic smell of the blood around me assaulted my nostrils. When I looked down at Gore’s body, I sank to my knees and hurled. I’d unleashed the demon inside of me. The monster that I fought so hard to keep back. I’d seen the monster before I’d seen it in me. I saw it in my father. I’d never seen another vampire do it. I had to assume that Blackburn and MacFarlane could do the same thing as direct heirs to Timothy Demonbruen.

  I wiped my mouth off with my shirt, then tugged it over my head to wipe the blood off my face and arms. I tossed the blood-soaked shirt to the floor and left the carnage behind. I didn’t have long before I had to choose. I knew what I was going to do, but that would depend on me getting home without being kidnapped.

  When I stepped out of the room, several men stood in an outer room against the wall. They watched me as I walked past them without acknowledging them. The sun descended in the western sky, and I only had a little bit of time to get this shit straight.

  Stanley waited for me in a pearl-colored BMW X5 which I knew belonged to Lydia. She sat in the back seat bound at the hands and ankles. He’d shoved a piece of cloth into her mouth.

  “Nice look, Liddy,” I joked as I buckled my seatbelt. I’d had enough injuries for one day.

  “Back to yourself?” Stanley asked.

  “Yeah. How did you know I could do that?” I asked.

  “Secrets of the family. I’m just surprised that Gore didn’t take that into consideration,” he said. I lowered my head, feeling nauseous again. “You had to do it, Malik. They were going to kill us both. Me before you. So, thanks.”

  “You’re welcome,” I mumbled while convincing my stomach not to retch again. We rode in silence, except for the occasional whimper of my stepmother.

  My father stood over Lydia who laid at his feet begging for her life. I stood with Stanley inside Father’s private residence within the building. He stared down at her.

  “Cease this! Now!” he yelled at her.

  “He agreed to kill you. He hates you just as much as everyone else,” she whimpered, then kissed the toe of his glossy dress shoe.

  He looked at me, and I decided not to provide him with an explanation. If I knew my father, he didn’t need one. I’d returned with his traitorous wife and assured him that Gore would never betray him again.

  “Lydia, go to your room,” he said.

  She rose without a sound. Her face was blank as she walked past us. “Stanley, your assistance in keeping my son alive is appreciated. Gore’s responsibilities now fall to you. Please ensure that our evening will not have any outside interruptions.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Stanley said. I gave him a pat on the back, and he left me alone with my father.

  Surprisingly, Father didn’t move toward the liquor. Instead, he walked to me. He put his hand behind my neck.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I hate this shit,” I said.

  “You let go,” he said.

  “How do you know that?”

  “I see it in your eyes. I’ve seen it in mine.”

  “I didn’t think we were going to get out alive. He was unarmed when I killed him.”

  “Did he deserve it?”

  “Not any more than Lydia, but I spared her. I’m not judge and jury. Or executioner for that matter.”

  “I can control Lydia. I admit that she did more behind my back lately. I’ve been distracted.”

  “How so?”

  “It’s true about the blood sharing. I can control her and any other female that has shared blood with me. As can, Richard and Lorcan. But you know our deepest secret. The transformation that happens when we unleash the beast inside of us. I’ve fought it for years. I controlled it, but lately, it’s beginning to control me. It will happen to you in a few hundred years, too. It is the inheritance that I passed to you. A curse. And I’m sorry.”

  A tear rolled down his cheek as he looked at me.

  “Father?”

  He quickly composed himself, stepping away from me.

  “If you do it now, you can handle the ceremony tonight.”

  “I’m not ready to do that.”

  “But you will. Soon?” I knew what was inside of me. I knew how much I fought against it. Running from my father’s protection and home, I tried to sink that monster into the depths of loneliness and separation. It wasn’t going away, and one day, I’d stand before my heir and beg him to kill me. “When I came to Tennessee, I had run from my family. I tried to forget what was inside of me. I hid in a cave and traded with the indigenous peoples knowing that at any moment I could die. I wanted death, but it never came. I learned to control it, just as you have. In fact, you probably have more control over it than I ever had. It’s because you have a good heart. The physical one might be dead inside of you, but the piece of your soul that remains is good. Better than I ever was. This is why you are my heir.”

  “How am I supposed to contain that as the head vamp of the South?”

  “There are times when you will have to use it. It will be brutal, but we are a brutal race. Savagery is needed to control a savage race. I used my blood to influence Richard’s staff, because there have been incidents. He’s losing control. It is only a matter of time before Lorcan does too. I’m afraid he will do it and kill Tierney. You must prevent that.”

  “Gore and Lydia have her tied up somewhere. I don’t even know where to begin to find her,” I said.

  My father grinned at me. “Do you want to find her?”

  “I don’t want her to die.”

  “Do you want her?”

  “We shouldn’t be talking about this.” Father knew I’d slept with her. Nothing went without his knowledge in his house. That’s why the attack on me was so strange.

  “Exchanging power too quickly will destabilize the realms. I want you to agree to stay here until next year when I will step down. Perhaps you can invite Tierney to stay as a guest. It will keep her out of her father’s clutches.”

  “Who are you going to threaten to kill now?” I didn’t have many friends left.

  “No one. In fact, I release you from your previous deal. Beauregard and his family no long need to fear me. Please consider it, Malik.”

  “I want the condo down by the river,” I said.

  “That is a nice one. It’s yours.”

  “When do I have to decide?”

  “We have time,” he said. Finally, he moved toward the liquor and poured himself a drink. “Check with Stanley to see if they can find out where Gore stashed Tierney. For stability’s sake, she needs to be at the
meeting tonight.”

  “I’ll find her, but I should probably find some clean clothes.” I moved toward the elevator when he called out to me.

  “Malik.” I turned to face him. His eyes darkened and his claws extended out of his hands. He looked just like I had just a few hours ago. “This is part of who you are. You will never control it fully until you embrace it.”

  The elevator dinged behind me, and I backed into it. My father’s form morphed back into his normal self, and the doors closed.

  Rushing through a hot shower, I managed to get the blood off of me after a deep scrub. I’d called Stanley on the way to my room, and he assured me that he could find Tierney. Apparently, Lydia had decided to cooperate. I knew that meant my father had forced her to tell through his control over her.

  When I stepped out of the shower, Stanley stood there waiting on me.

  “You find her?” I asked.

  “Yes. I thought you might like to go with me to get her,” he said.

  “Let me get dressed.” I slipped into a pair of jeans and a Five Finger Death Punch t-shirt. I looked out of place beside Stanley in his fresh suit. He jammed the button for the basement. “She’s here?”

  “Yes,” he replied.

  “Damn it, Man. Why did you wait?”

  “It was only a minute. We have eyes on her. She’s fine,” he said. “They left her tied up and alone. One of my men is bringing down some water.”

  “Have food and water sent to my room,” I said.

  “Are you the head boss? He asked.

  “Not yet.”

  The doors opened to the basement, and the damp smell wafted around us.

  “This way,” Stanley said. A flashlight appeared in his hand. I hadn’t noticed it before. I followed him down a long corridor which opened up to a concrete block room in the dark. He handed me the flashlight. “Go through there. I’ll keep watch here.”

  “Thanks,” I said, flicking on the light. I ran to the opening which led into another dark room. Against the back wall, Tierney sat, tied to a chair, and slumped over. “Oh, shit.”

  I ran over to her. Her head bobbled as I tried to tilt her back up in the chair. While working at the knots, she muttered. “Malik.”

  “You know, I can’t escort you to the ceremony tonight if you don’t get cleaned up. I’m not showing up on the arm of some mildew smelling she-vamp,” I said, as I loosened the last knot. She fell out of the chair into my arms. I wrapped them around her as she buried her face into my neck.

  “I wouldn’t be caught dead with a man in a Death Punch shirt.”

  “Good thing you are already dead.”

  “They just up and split a little while after they showed me to you on the phone. Not before taking a few free shots at my face,” she said.

  “I’m sure we have some blood here to heal you up.” I maneuvered my legs under me, then lifted her off the floor. She didn’t say anything else while we rode the elevator to my room. “Get what she needs,” I told Stanley.

  “It’s already inside waiting for you,” he said. “I’m posting Danny as your personal guard for the night.”

  The hulking man standing at my door nodded at me. I looked at him, then back at Stanley.

  “Is it me or does he look like you? I can’t tell all you, meatheads apart,” I said.

  “He’s my little brother,” Stanley said.

  “Danny, what’s it like having such an ugly sister?” I asked. Danny cracked a smile.

  “We all have our crosses to bear.”

  “I like you already,” I said, then took Tierney into my room. She bolted out of my arms to the fresh blood bag sitting on the coffee table. She drank it down, then smiled at me with blood red lips. “Better?”

  “Yes. How did you get away from them?” she asked.

  I faced the windows and wished I had one of my father’s glasses of liquor. “We just did.”

  Watching her reflection in the glass, she sat the empty bag down on the table. “I thought you were going to leave me with them. I’d deserve it after that shit with Dick and Trey.”

  “No,” I said. “But there’s one thing we need to get straight, Tierney. I may hate who I am, but I am on my father’s side in all of this. If you can’t deal with that, you can go now. I won’t hold it against you.”

  “Because you are like him,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

  “Yes. We are cut from the same monstrous mold. The evil inside him lives and breathes inside of me. You do well to fear it. Hell, I fear it, but I can’t run from it anymore,” I said.

  “Mind if I use your shower?” she asked.

  She wasn’t running. “Go ahead.”

  I found the alcohol while she showered. A knock at the door surprised me. I opened it to find Danny talking to a very vibrant Stella. She wore a navy silk suit with a hot pink scarf tied around her head.

  “Hiya, Malik,” she said with a shift of her hips.

  “Hey, it’s Cam Newton! I didn’t know you were a vamp,” I said. Danny snickered, but Stella looked puzzled. “He’s a football player. He looks like, well, you.”

  “He must a devastatingly beautiful man,” she said, then sashayed past me into my room.

  “I guess she’s coming in,” I said.

  “Guess so,” Danny replied.

  Following her into the room, Danny reached across and closed the door behind me.

  “Stella, to what do I owe the honor of your presence?” I asked.

  “Stanley said that Tierney was here, and I came to attend to her,” she said.

  “I’m disappointed. I thought you were here for me,” I said, taking a sip of my drink.

  “I dropped your tuxedo off earlier. It’s in your closet. You can dress yourself. I can’t wait to get my hands in that head of glorious auburn locks,” she said, flexing her fingers.

  “Me too,” I replied with another sip.

  She gasped and place her hand over her heart. “You are so bad.”

  “Guilty as charged.” I took a seat on the couch. It felt so good to just relax for a minute. Listening to Stella shuffle around the room, I drifted in and out of sleep. If I was going to stay around here, things were going to have to calm the fuck down.

  I woke up to Tierney wrapped in a towel standing next to Stella. They were grinning at me.

  “What? Can’t a man sleep?”

  “She said you were cute when you sleep,” Stella said. Tierney slapped her on the shoulder.

  “I am not cute. Go away,” I said, leaning back and putting my arm over my face. Mostly to hide the blush, but to let them know that I wasn’t interested in their girl games.

  “You need to get dressed,” Stella urged. I was tempted to show up to the ceremony in my tee and jeans. “Don’t even think about it.”

  “I didn’t say anything,” I protested.

  “I saw that look. You will wear what I put in your closet,” Stella insisted.

  I waved them off. They retreated into to my bathroom. Stella’s compliments of Tierney never ended. “Oh, your skin is so perfect.” “Your hair is divine.” “If I were still a man, I’d hit that.”

  “I already did,” I muttered. Suddenly, the women were silent. “Fuck.” They had heard me. Stupid vampire senses.

  “You should keep your thoughts to yourself,” Stella called out to me.

  “Are you done yet?” I asked.

  “Primpin’ ain’t easy,” Stella replied.

  I grabbed the tuxedo and migrated to the living room. The suit had no tags which meant it had been made for me. Classic black suit, white shirt, black tie. In the pocket of the suit, I found a pair of diamond cufflinks. I used the windows as a mirror to make sure my tie was straight. The problems of the day stayed locked away in my mind for the moment, but I felt them knocking on the door, asking me what I was going to do. Just as they dared to surface, Tierney stepped out of my bedroom.

  The black dress she wore dipped low in the front, forming a “v” that went past her breasts. If she h
ad on make-up I couldn’t tell except for the dark lines and shadows framing her eyes, and the deep wine-colored lipstick.

  Stella stood behind her with a proud smile. I approached her, knowing she was waiting on a compliment. I nodded to Stella who grabbed her gear and slipped out of the room.

  I gently touched her jawline, mid-cheek. “Did you know that you have a beauty mark right here and that right now it’s my favorite part of you?”

  She looked puzzled. “What?”

  “It’s the only part I can touch that I’m confident I won’t mess anything up,” I said. Her lips parted, sucking in air. I leaned down and kissed the spot. “You are stunning.”

  Not sure where that came from, but I wanted her to smile. A moment of happiness that I could give to her.

  “The lipstick isn’t going anywhere.” She ran her thumb across her bottom lip, then showed it to me.

  “If I start something, I don’t have enough time to see it through to perfection,” I said.

  “When did you drop the stupid quips and Dad jokes for this?” she asked.

  “When I had a reason to.”

  She sighed and her forehead wrinkled. “What is going to happen tonight?”

  My concerns about the evening rushed in on me with her question. “I don’t know, but I’d like to know where you stand. I’ll be staying in Nashville after tonight in the condo by the river. In a year, the plan is for me to take my father’s place. He’s been trying to step down for a while. He’d do it now, except that he fears changing leadership all at once will destabilize the realms. I tend to agree with him.”

  She tilted her head. “You sound like a Lord.”

  “I’ve got to face the fact that there are things in the world that are more important that my hatred for what I am. If the rule of the vampire realms crumble, human lives will suffer. Look at what’s happened this weekend with just one change in power. I’m staying to provide a sense of stability. Then, I’ll decide what I want to do,” I said.

  “I think that is prudent.” She didn’t say anything beyond that. So, my mouth continued to run.

  “I’d like it if you’d stay here. Especially if you think your father wants to kill you,” I said.