Song of the Vampire (Vanderlind Realm Book 3)

by Gayla Twist

  “Okay, cool.” Picasso’s enormous bull sculpture was on my list of Chicago attractions that I’d always wanted to check out. And, conveniently, it was outdoors, so that made for easier viewing at night, a constant challenge for art-loving members of the undead.

  Being with my dad was actually kind of fun. He just seemed so happy to be with me and he was so easy to talk to. I found that I could go whole minutes without thinking about Dorian, as long as we were actually doing something together. Maybe that was the key to me feeling better; I just had to get out and do more stuff. That wouldn’t help me during the long days when I had nothing to do but think about my maker and cry into my pillow, but it seemed like a good way to deal with the nights.

  “I think we should do this more often,” Randolph said. We were sitting on top of “The Bean”. The sculpture was a shiny silver shape, slightly reminiscent of a bean. It was about sixty feet long and forty feet high. I wasn’t sure if it was the sculptor’s intent, but Cloud Gate really tapped into a childlike joy for people. At least it did for me; I loved it.

  And the homeless people of Chicago’s downtown seemed to love the fact that Randolph and I were sitting on top of it. In fact, they very much wanted to join us, but the sculpture was too sleek and smooth. “Should we be worried about them?” I asked Randolph, nodding in the direction of the disturbingly unwashed.

  He shook his head. “They can’t hurt us. And I would doubt that any of them can climb high enough to hurt themselves.”

  This made me laugh. “I what I meant was… should we be worried that people saw us fly up here? I mean, what if somebody takes our picture or something?”

  Randolph shrugged. “People will just think it’s trick photography. And besides, not that many homeless people have iPhones. Not the real homeless, at least.”

  I decided not to ask what he meant by the real homeless. “Let’s go do the tests now,” I said as I watched one man getting way too overly excited about our perch. Having a mentally ill mother meant I found it a challenge not to empathize too much with our new friends. If I’d had any money, I would have given it to them.

  We flew out of homeless range before landing and walking through the streets of downtown. This was something I never would have considered doing as a mortal. But as vampires, we were like the biggest, baddest bikers on earth. But even the biggest, baddest bikers on earth weren’t bulletproof. We were.

  One of the weirder things vampires was that mortals didn’t necessarily recognize us as creatures to be avoided. In fact, it was frequently the opposite, with unsavory men thinking that a woman, alone and in an isolated area at night, was a prime opportunity. Having a guy with me dissuaded a lot of that type of behavior, but it didn’t stop some men from thinking that they should relieved us of our valuables. In fact, a group of three men in their late teens and early twenties decided it would be a good idea to follow us.

  They weren’t very discrete about it; there was a lot of whooping and loud laughter. There were comments that were meant to frighten us like, “We’re gonna getcha’,” and “Ain’t gonna be Daddy’s little girl no more.” I guess their expectations were that we would become terrified and start running so that they could chase us down like a pack of rabid dogs.

  My father and I were walking arm-on-arm, but we had no intention of running. Instead, Randolph turned to me and said, “Are you in the mood for a late night snack?”

  This made me giggle, which the men hadn’t anticipated. “What’s so fucking funny?” one of them called out to us.

  “You are, obviously,” Randolph said. “And if you knew what was good for you, then you’d go home and sleep off whatever stimulants you’ve taken.”

  “Hey, old man! Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?!” the guy yelled in response.

  “Nobody,” Randolph said, keeping his voice low, but clear as we kept walking. “I think I am speaking with nobody.”

  “Yeah, well what do you think of this?” the guy said.

  I peeked over my shoulder to see that the guy had pulled a gun out of the folds of his clothes. “Um… Randolph...” I said.

  Apparently waving a gun around wasn’t enough; the guy wasn’t willing to let it drop. “How about I shove this down your throat and make you watch while we get to know your daughter a little better.”

  “Okay, that’s enough,” I said, turning around. What was the point of being a vampire if I had to put up with a bunch of scumbags threatening to rape me? “Leave us alone or I’m going to make you regret this evening for the rest of your life.”

  The thugs all laughed.

  An instant later and Randolph had the leader by his pinky, with his arm bent around behind his back. Randolph had the guy’s gun in his other hand and he was pressing the barrel the punk’s forehead. “Do you enjoy terrorizing people?” He whispered in the young man’s ear. “Is this the emotion you wish insight in others? The feeling of pain. The almost certain knowledge that you are about to die. Is that what you enjoy?”

  “Fuck you!” the thug said, even though it was obvious he was terrified.

  Randolph clucked his tongue. “Manners,” he scolded, moving the gun from touching the man’s temple to between his legs. “That is, unless you’d like me to blow off your equipment instead of just scattering your brains across the pavement.”

  His two buddies went to make a move to help him, but there really wasn’t anything they could do since Randolph had the gun. I caught one of them in my line of vision and focused on him with a steady gaze. Then I drew the other in, until I had both of them under my influence. “You should just leave,” I told them.

  “But…” the taller one tried to protest.

  “You don’t want to see what’s going to happen to your friend,” I said, infusing my words with as much malice as I could.

  “I really don’t,” the guy said as he stared into my eyes.

  “The best thing that both of you can do is just to go home. You need to get some sleep.” I stared at them even more intently. “When you wake up in the morning, you’ll realize that you need to make some major life changes.”

  “We really do,” the second man said, nodding in complete agreement. “I’ve been thinking that for years.”

  “Stop hanging out with scummy people,” I told them. “Get your lives on track. Try finding joy by doing good in this world, instead of taking delight in doing bad.”

  “Okay,” the men said in unison, nodding their heads.

  “Now go,” I instructed.

  Without another word, they turned and left.

  “Nicely done,” Randolph told me.

  “Where are they going?” the remaining man asked in a small voice.

  “They’re going to go make a fresh start,” I explained. “You won’t be seeing them again.”

  “You won’t be seeing anyone again,” Randolph whispered in his ear. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”

  “Are you really going to kill him?” I couldn’t help but ask.

  “Yes,” was Randolph’s reply, but then he threw me a wink over the man’s shoulder.

  “Please don’t,” the thug sobbed. “I know I was being an asshole, but I don’t want to die.”

  Randolph laughed at this comment. “Then why do you constantly do things that put you in a position where just regular people on the street wish you dead?”

  “I don’t know,” the man blubbered.

  I began to wonder if Randolph was really going to kill the guy. He had a crazy look in his eyes and, if he was like me, his stomach was starting to rumble.

  “So why should I let you live? Tell me one way that you make this world a better place.”

  Here’s where I had to intervene. “Uh… Randolph,” I began. He continued to stare intently at the mortal. I tried again with, “Dad?”

  He looked up.

  “Maybe just give him a good warning about living a better life and let him go,” I suggested. I mean, the guy was about to wet himself and he had probabl
y already learned a valuable life lesson.

  After wrinkling his nose, as if he found it hard to stomach the idea, Randolph said, “Alright, fine.” He turned his gaze back to the quivering thug. “I’m only letting you go because she asked me to. Do you understand that? You owe your life to one of the women you were harassing,” he said, his eyes blazing so intently that I thought he might burn a hole through the guy’s skull. “And if I ever find out that you’ve been disrespectful to another female, I will hunt you down and rip your head off. Do you understand?”

  “I understand,” the man managed to croak.

  “Okay.” Randolph released him. “No get out of here. Go do some good in the world, instead of being a jerk.”

  The man staggered, fell to one knee, then was up and running. As we watched him disappear into the night, I asked, “Why did you do that?”

  “What?” Randolph asked, innocently.

  “Why go after that guy? We could have just flown away.”

  Randolph offered me his arm so that we could continue on our way. “No one talks like that about my little girl.”

  Chapter 15

  Haley

  The medical offices turned out to be a couple of floors at the top of a high rise. I quickly scanned the directory posted at the front when we walked in and all the other businesses appeared to be law firms or tech companies. Randolph approached a security guard sitting behind a desk and said, “We’re here for the Haley Scott appointment.”

  The guard’s eyes flicked in my direction. He leaned forward in his chair and said in a low whisper, “Is that her?”

  “Of course it’s her,” Randolph snorted, raising his voice in contrast. “That’s why I said we were here for the Haley Scott appointment.” Then he looked over at me and shook his head, as if to say, “What’s up with this guy?”

  The guard had to scan his security badge to get us up to the eighty-ninth floor. “I thought you had an appointment, too,” I said, as we rode up in the elevator.

  “I do,” Randolph told me. “But mine is…” And then he cleared his throat and looked away from me.

  “What?”

  My father sighted. “Mine is more of a date with a specimen cup.”

  “Huh?” He’d lost me.

  “Haley, I know I’m your dad, but please don’t ask me too many embarrassing questions,” he pleaded. “I’m not used to being a father.”

  “Oh.” I suddenly realized what he was talking about. They were testing his fertility, after all. And with a guy, that meant… If I could have blushed, I would have. Randolph was doing his best to have an open and honest relationship with me, but the less we discussed his sex life, the better.

  We entered a waiting room that was devoid of people, including any kind of receptionist. “Where do you think we check in?” I asked.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Randolph said, waving me off. “It’s not like this is going through insurance, or anything.”

  What he said made sense, but it also seemed a little odd. “Don’t we have to at least let them know we’re here?”

  Randolph thought about it. “I’m sure the guard who let us in already updated the staff.”

  He was right because a few minutes later a nurse entered the room, double checked her clipboard, and then asked, “Haley Scott?”

  I got to my feet, but Randolph did not. “Aren’t you coming?” I asked. I was feeling a little anxious and I really wanted my dad to be there with me.

  “To your examination?” he asked, surprised.

  This made me frown. “I thought you said it would just be a couple of tests.”

  “It’ll be fine,” Randolph said, making no move to rise from his chair. “It’s not like you’re having surgery or something.”

  I followed the nurse down the hall. She was a very attractive mortal and I wondered why she’d chosen to work for vampires. She seemed more like an aspiring actress playing a nurse than any nurse I’d ever met. But then again, it wasn’t her fault she was pretty.

  The first thing that I noticed when we entered the examination room was that there was carpeting on the floor. That didn’t seem right to me, not in an examination room. And the second thing I noticed was that the table was the kind with stirrups on it, the kind used for gynecological exams.

  “Here,” the nurse said, handing me a cloth gown. “Undress completely, including your bra and underwear, then put this on.”

  “What kind of examination is this?” I asked.

  She consulted her chart. “I’m not sure. But don’t worry; I’m sure the doctor will explain everything.”

  After she left, I put on my gown, but I kept my undies on. I didn’t mind if they tried listening to my non-beating heart, but I was not putting my lady bits on display for some random stranger in a white coat. I wasn’t even sure I was in a real medical facility. I also didn’t take off Dorian’s bracelet. But I didn’t think they’d be examining my wrists.

  I felt too vulnerable in a backless gown to sit still. I began looking through the room’s drawers and cabinets. They were filled with the usual medical-type stuff, gauze, and swabs, and cotton balls, and a metal bedpan, which seemed kind of odd. But here was the weird thing; none of the packaged stuff had been opened. It was as if someone had just made a run to the closest medical supply store and dumped all the stuff in the cabinets earlier in the evening. The supplies felt more like props.

  My gut was telling me to get the hell out of there. And, as a person who had spent a large chunk of her life in foster care, I knew to always listen to my gut. I was just grabbing my jeans to get dressed when there was a knock at the door.

  “Just a minute,” I called. ‘I’m still changing.”

  But it was too late, the elderly doctor who had drawn my blood was entering the room. “Don’t worry about it,” she said when she saw that I was about to protest. “It’s just us girls.”

  “I think we need to delay the examination to another time,” I told her. “I have to get going.”

  She examined her watch. “There’s time,” she assured me. “The sun won’t be up for hours.”

  “Yes, but I just remembered I have plans to meet some friends,” I said, even though I knew it sounded lame.

  “Your friends can wait,” she said in a firm voice while taking my pants out of my hands. “This won’t take very long.”

  I wasn’t sure what to do. The whole situation didn’t feel right, but I was used to being cooperative with medical professionals.

  “Just hop up here,” the woman said, adjusting the stirrups on the table. “We’ll get the awkward part out of the way first so then you can relax.”

  There was no way in hell I was getting up on that table, even for a lady who looked like she was somebody’s sweet, old grandmother.

  “No thank you,” I told her. “I’ll pass.”

  “You’re not allowed to pass,” she snapped. “You need to listen to me, young lady. This is no big deal. I do vaginal exams every day.”

  “On vampires?” I was skeptical.

  “On… On anyone who requests my help,” she insisted.

  “Where did you get your degree?” I asked. “I mean, which medical school? And when?” I didn’t really care, I was just trying to buy some time.

  “Are you questioning me?” the doctor said, doing her best to sound offended.

  “Yes,” I told her. “I am.”

  “Listen to me, young woman,” she said. “You need to get up on this table and let me do this exam right now.”

  “Why?”

  This threw her for a few seconds. “Well… she stammered. “Because it’s necessary. And your father wants it.”

  “My father wants you to examine my vagina?” That really didn’t sound right.

  “I’m sure he wants to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are his daughter,” she said. “And, of course, a discovery like this would be a major medical breakthrough,” her eyes glistening at the mere thought of it.

  “Forget it,” I
said. “You need to leave me the hell alone.”

  “No,” was her reply. “You need to listen to me and get on the damn table!”

  There was a commotion in the hall and then the door flew open. In burst two security guards in blue uniforms. One of them was holding a device that looked like a Taser and the other was carrying a silver net.

  “What the hell?!” I exclaimed, dancing back from the door. “This is a voluntary test, you know. I’m here because my dad asked me to. You don’t have to threaten me.”

  “I can’t get a tissue sample. You’re going to have to hold her down. She’s not complying,” the doctor said to the security guards.

  “Is that right?” the one carrying the Taser said, making the device zap a few times. “Well, maybe somebody needs an attitude adjustment.”

  I decided he were right; all three of them needed an attitude adjustment. So I picked up the bedpan and started swinging. The guy with the net lunged for me, but I smacked him across the face so hard that both he and the net fell to the floor. The net barely grazed my skin, but it burned like hell. The guard with the Taser tried to zap me, but I grabbed the doctor, using her as a human shield to block his thrust and she got lit up with some volts.

  I guess nobody thought I would fight back so vigorously or they wouldn’t have sent only two guards to subdue me. Shoving the unconscious woman toward the guard, I simultaneously kicked the silver net into the corner. It burned my foot like crazy, but I forced myself to ignore the pain. The doctor slumped to the floor, out for the count, but the guard was still coming for me, and he still had the Taser.

  I yanked one of the stirrups out from the table and cracked the Taser guard across the wrist, causing him to howl in pain and drop the weapon. Then it was just a matter clearing the bodies away from the door and I was in the hall.

  “Randolph!” I shouted as I ran for the waiting room. “Dad!” He wasn’t there. Where the hell was he? Had they tried to grab him, too? “Randolph!” I ran back out into the hall.

  A door banged open and several guards poured into the hallway, all wielding weapons. I still had the bedpan and the stirrup, but I doubted that either one of them would get me very far. It was true that I had vampire strength, but there sure was a lot of them. “You’re not going anywhere!” the leader of the guards shouted.