by L. M. Justus
“No, if that’s what I’d meant, that’s what I would have said. So . . . it’s true then? I’m really a vampire? How could you tell? I look the same as before. I feel the same as before . . . well, mostly.” Reed’s questions continued to tumble out, although Nathaniel did not pay attention, lost in his own train of thought.
“You went into the sun,” Nathaniel breathed out in a whisper.
“Yeah, I was in the sun all day today, big deal. You’re totally ignoring my questions, Buddy. Don’t you get it? Do you have any idea what I’ve been through today? You’re not even paying attention. If you’re not going to help me, go away and leave me alone. My life is ruined, and I don’t know what to do.” His voice had started to crack on his last few words, and he turned away.
Good grief, this boy was an emotional whirlwind. Ignoring the outburst of questions and accusations, and his decision made, Nathaniel said, “You must come with me. The Queen will want to see you.”
“The Queen? What Queen? You don’t mean the Queen of all vampires or something like that, do you?”
“Not the ‘Queen of all vampires’, no. The Queen of San Jose. King City is a part of her realm.”
“The Queen of San Jose? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of! God, just go away you weirdo freak!” He stormed off and shook his head.
Nathaniel moved in front of the boy. Reed stopped, narrowly avoiding walking into him. “Get out of my way,” Reed said, enunciating each word.
Reed’s fangs started to emerge. Strong emotions tended to have that effect and Nathaniel’s own fangs punched through his gums. “It was not a request. You will come with me,” he growled in a voice that no longer resembled anything human.
“No!” Reed retorted in his own growl with a threatening glare.
“Impudent child!” Nathaniel ground out between clenched teeth. He grabbed the newling by the front of his shirt, and slammed him headfirst into the ground with a sickening crunch. Then he dragged the unconscious body of the boy the block and a half to his car, popped the trunk, and stuffed him inside. He took care not to slam the trunk so hard in irritation lest he damage the car with his superior strength. He climbed into the driver’s seat and started the drive towards San Jose, hoping the newling wouldn’t heal and awaken before they arrived.
Reed
I awoke with a gasp. “What the . . . ?”
I was on a hardwood floor in a normal-looking living room. It was still dark outside, and there were two men standing on either side of a closed door to my right: a tall black guy and a thin guy with a big beard. They barely spared me a glance, and I shook my head to orient myself.
“You’re awake,” a voice said. I whipped my head to my left to find the source.
“You!” I snarled in disbelief. My memory returned in a flash. It was that thin, dark-haired jerk who’d slammed my head into the pavement. “I’m going to kill you!” There was a tingling in my gums again.
“I would not attempt to do so, if I were you,” Nathaniel calmly replied, his dark gaze boring into me. “I am over two hundred years old, and you are but a day old. Your strength could not possibly compare to my own. Any effort to attack me would be futile, not to mention there are two other vampires in this room who would come to my aid.”
The two men, okay, vampires, stood by the door. They were paying attention to me now. I turned back to Nathaniel, swallowed my anger and the tingle in my gums subsided. I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest, and gave him a defiant look. “Fine. What do you want?”
“I mean you no harm, Reed,” Nathaniel said. “I am sorry for the method I used to bring you here, but there was no blood shed, and you experienced only a brief moment of pain. As you can see, you are fully healed, and we have arrived at the Queen’s residence without further incident.”
“This is the Queen’s house?” I asked. Not only did it seem like a perfectly ordinary house, from what I could see out the front window it looked like the house was in a very regular-looking, suburban neighborhood. “I was expecting more of a castle or something.”
“We prefer to maintain what you would call a ‘low profile.’ Inconspicuousness is imperative for our kind.” He paused, maybe to assure himself I had my anger in check. “It is time for me to present you to the Queen. You would be wise to treat her with utmost respect and the best manners you can muster. If you do not, more than your life will be forfeit. As you have seen, your body is capable of healing grievous injury, however, as long as you remain conscious, you will suffer pain. Do you understand?”
“Yeah, sure. Let’s get this over with then,” I said. I hoped I didn’t look as terrified as I felt.
One of the vampires guarding the door opened it for us, and I followed Nathaniel in, and then down a set of stairs.
“The skinny guard with the beard looks like freaking Abraham Lincoln,” I said, hoping I could talk to cover up the deafening pounding of my heart.
“It would be best for you to keep any extraneous comments to yourself,” Nathaniel replied when we reached the bottom of the staircase, and entered a hallway with several closed doors.
“I don’t suppose you were buddies with old Abe back in the day, if you’re two hundred years old or whatever,” I said, my voice wavering slightly.
“No, I was living in New York during Lincoln’s lifetime, but I did not meet him,” he replied. “Please, do not speak further unless you are asked a direct question. The Queen’s chamber is through this door.”
He opened the last door at the end of the hallway, and my breath caught in my throat as we walked into a shockingly large space. The room was half the size of my school gymnasium, and the walls were a mix of brick and stone. The entire floor was laid with an intricate design of mosaic tiles, and a dim, flickering light came from what seemed like hundreds of candlelit wall sconces. The room was deserted except for a middle-aged woman standing on a raised platform at the end of the room, and the large throne in the center of the platform, occupied by someone I assumed was the Queen. If this was the Queen, she was definitely not what I was expecting. She didn’t appear to be a day older than twelve or thirteen.
“Your Majesty,” Nathaniel said with a respectful bow.
The Queen’s gaze rested on Nathaniel, and then swept over to me to size me up from head to toe. Her skin was deathly pale, her eyes a cold crystal blue and she sat eerily still. Her long, blond hair fell in a thick curtain of ringlets over her shoulders. She looked like a zombie child, and if I could use just one word to describe her, it would be ‘creepy.’
“So this is the newling of whom you spoke,” the Queen said in her young, yet commanding voice. She shifted her icy gaze back at me and said, “Come forward.”
I took a reluctant step closer to the throne and stopped.
“Closer,” she snapped. Her gaze darkened and she pointed to indicate a spot on the floor right in front of her.
I stole a quick, questioning glance at Nathaniel, and he nodded urgently for me to obey. I stepped forward until I was only a few inches from the Queen. The tips of my shoes nearly touched her own.
“Kneel before me,” the Queen commanded. She was clearly used to being obeyed despite looking so young and tiny.
I did as I was told and knelt before her. She tilted her head to the side while she inspected me, like she was a predator considering how she might attack her prey. I had the scary thought maybe that was exactly what she was doing.
“You’re a pretty one, aren’t you?” she said and placed her hands on either side of my face. I tensed, expecting her to strike at any moment. Suddenly, she pressed her cold lips against mine. I tried to jerk away, but her small hands held me firmly in place. I froze, and I was overwhelmed with a series of images flashing through my mind like a movie on fast-forward.
I couldn’t make any sense of what I’d seen. There was a castle with people milling about, then dark, empty rooms where I could almost feel the chill; a man who’s face drifted in and out of view, almost always with a lo
ok of cold anger; women cringing in fear and children screaming; a lifetime’s worth of fear and suffering, and one final image of a reflection in a mirror–a reflection of the Queen–but she had mussed hair, red-rimmed eyes, and a normal human skin tone that wasn’t pasty, vampire white.
The Queen leaned back suddenly, breaking her hold on me, as she stared at me with a look of wonder on her face. It took me a few more seconds to realize where I was. I thought I’d just seen the Queen’s memories from when she was still human. It was disorienting to witness so many memories in a matter of seconds. At least, I thought it had only been a few seconds.
“I have absorbed your memories, youngling,” the Queen said with a satisfied smile. She resettled herself on the throne. “I see you do indeed possess a fascinating and unique ability to walk in the sun.”
Wait a minute . . . she had seen my memories? I stood up, and backed away to a safer distance.
Apparently coming to a decision, the Queen looked at Nathaniel and said, “You have done well to bring the youngling before me. He shall remain here until we find a use for him. You may–”
“Hold on a sec,” I interrupted. “What do you mean I’ll ‘remain here?’ No way am I staying here. So now we’ve met, yadda yadda, but no offense, this place seriously freaks me out! I need some time to . . . process everything, and–”
“Silence!” the Queen shouted, her voice a threatening growl, her fangs extended. “How dare you interrupt me and refuse my hospitality.”
“Hospitality?” I asked in disbelief.
“Hold your tongue!” she demanded, rising from throne. “Did you not instruct this newling to treat me with respect, Nathaniel?”
“Of course, your Majesty,” Nathaniel replied, looking daggers at me. I swear there was a touch of fear behind his eyes as well, and I wished I could backtrack our conversation about thirty seconds. Me and my big mouth.
“Constance,” the Queen addressed the woman behind the throne who I’d almost forgotten about. “Fetch the others.” I thought it was a bad sign she was still growling.
With a quick head bob, Constance slipped through a door at the far right of the raised platform. She returned seconds later followed by several burly-looking guys. Last, but not least, a scrawny vampire with greasy-looking black hair sauntered in with a smug look on his face. He held up what looked like a pair of gardening shears and gave me an exaggerated, sly wink. He immediately replaced the Queen as the creepiest looking being I’d ever laid my eyes on.
“These two require disciplinary action, my dear Thomas,” the Queen said to the creepy-looking guy. Her voice had lost its growly sound. “Nathaniel, for bringing this newling before me without properly instructing him as to how he should behave in my presence and this insolent boy for his dismal behavior.”
Thomas broke into a bizarre grin that didn’t reach his eyes. He looked like a raving psychopath. “Hold him,” he instructed in a nasal voice, with a curt nod in Nathaniel’s direction.
Two of the men moved to either side of Nathaniel and pushed him roughly to his knees. The one on his right side grabbed his wrist and held his hand out from his body. Thomas stalked over, opening and closing the shears with each step. He grasped the end of Nathaniel’s little finger and snipped it right off. Nathaniel stiffened, but he didn’t utter a sound or react in any other way. Stunned, I stood frozen to the spot as two of the guards dragged Nathaniel out of the room.
Everyone turned their attention to me. “You–” I began, startled to realize my growly voice was back. “You people are INSANE! What did you do that for? Nathaniel didn’t even do anything!” I felt nauseous, and I wondered if it was possible for a vampire to throw up.
“Now, now . . . we haven’t forgotten about you, youngling,” Thomas sneered, while the vampires surrounded me. They tried to shove me onto my knees, but I fought with everything in me.
“Please! Please, stop!” I begged, as they wrestled me down to the floor. “I’m sorry!”
“It’s a little too late for that, isn’t it?” Thomas said. He pried my little finger out of my tightly clenched fist. Four other vampires held me down, and no matter how hard I struggled, I couldn’t escape.
There was a crunch, and then a fiery pain in my finger. I knew it was gone. I screamed wildly, and my vision went red. My mouth felt dry, like all the moisture had been sucked out. The thirst that overcame me was almost worse than the pain in my finger.
They manhandled me out of the room through the same door they’d taken Nathaniel. My injured hand was a fire of agony, and I clutched it firmly to my chest, blood soaking into my shirt. They dragged me down a narrow stairwell, and I wondered if we were headed to the pits of Hell.
We entered a room with four barred cells, each surrounded by a mesh screen. They threw me through the open door into one cell, and Nathaniel into another. I rolled onto my side, clutching my hand to my chest. One of the vampires stepped into the opening of my cell, and leaned over to place a jug on the ground in front of me. After he stepped back a safe distance, another vampire flicked a switch on the wall. The door to my cell slammed closed with a crash.
I glanced at Nathaniel. He was drinking out of a jug similar to the one placed in front of me. As he drank, his gaze turned to me, his eyes glittering with anger.
The intoxicating smell coming from the jug was irresistible, and I snatched it with my good left hand. Without a second thought, I chugged it down as fast as I could. When I finished, I placed the jug back on the dirt floor. Bits of red liquid dribbled down the side.
I felt insanely tired. “Not again,” I mumbled. I realized I was going to lose consciousness for the fourth time in a matter of hours. At least it would be a relief from the pain of losing my finger, and the hell that had become my life.
I awoke with a giant intake of breath, and my heart gave a large, almost painful thump as though it had come to a complete stop and then abruptly jolted back to life. Maybe that’s what had happened, but it was too disturbing a thought for me to dwell on.
I spied Nathaniel in the neighboring cell watching me. He was unnaturally still, but he blinked so I knew he was awake. His dark brown eyes looked black in the shadows, matching his black hair and his mysterious character.
My finger! Jesus, how could I have forgotten about it? I glanced at my hand and discovered with shock that all five of my fingers were intact. I brought my hand closer to my face, and turned it from side to side. The skin on my little finger was paler than on the rest of my fingers and hand, and the nail was too long, but other than that, it looked . . . good. Whole.
“Fascinating, isn’t it?” Nathaniel said, raising his hand to show me his finger had also regrown.
I stared at him with my mouth open, too shocked to say anything.
“What you need to understand, Reed,” he continued, “is there are far worse things that can be cut off of your body than your little finger. Therefore, it would be in your best interest if you were to treat the Queen with the utmost respect from now on.”
“I gotta get out of this place,” I said, feeling a little ashamed to hear my voice come out in a whimper. Here I was next to a guy who didn’t even make a sound when he had his frigging finger chopped off! Had this kind of thing happened to him so many times he was used to it?
I took my first good look at our surroundings. There were two empty cells on the opposite wall. The floor was hard packed dirt, and the walls plain concrete. A single light-bulb hanging in the middle of the room was the sole source of light, and the control panel on the wall was the only other thing worth noting in the entire area.
Did the people living in this neighborhood have any idea what kind of crazy underground complex there was here? Or the crazy things that were going on inside it? Obviously not, but it made me wonder how many other vampire lairs like this existed elsewhere, right under everyone’s noses.
I was curious to know how the bars of the cell were supposed to keep us trapped in here because vampires seemed to possess super-human stre
ngth. I reached out with both hands to grab the bars in front of me to test their strength.
“Don’t touch those!” Nathaniel snapped. He sat up straighter in alarm.
I let my arms drop back by my side. “What? Why not?”
“They’re coated with silver.”
I leaned back against the wall of the cell with a sigh. “And what happens if I touch silver?”
“It burns through your flesh like a laser as soon as it comes into contact with your skin.”
“Wonderful,” I said through gritted teeth. I thought about it a moment longer, filtering possibilities through my mind. “So what if I take off my shirt, and use it to protect the skin on my hands when I pull on the bars?” I asked, feeling rather proud of myself for possibly outsmarting these vampire bastards.
“That’s what the mesh is for,” Nathaniel answered as though I were a small child. “It’s formed from pure silver, and believe me, it would be impossible to protect yourself adequately enough to prevent the mesh from touching you if you were to attempt an escape. I have witnessed not one, but two such attempts, and I have not seen very many things more disturbing. You can imagine what manner of disturbing things I have witnessed over the past couple of centuries perhaps?”
I buried my face in my hands and tried hard not to shout in frustration. After a few calming breaths to collect myself, I lowered my hands and took a hard look at Nathaniel. “Is this what your whole life has been like for the past two hundred and something years? Is this all there is? I mean, are you ever happy? Do you have friends? Is there anything else other than following the orders of a psycho woman and being tortured and caged like an animal?”
“Having any sort of relationship beyond a working relationship would be . . . unwise,” Nathaniel answered, not without sympathy. “They will use that sort of bond against you.”