Song of the Vampire (Vanderlind Realm Book 3)

by Gayla Twist

  I believed her to be sincere, but that was no reason to use my progeny as a guinea pig. “You could always get a dog.”

  “For what? A snack.” She dismissed this suggestion with a vexed little wave. “I need a child,” she insisted, pressing a hand to her heart. “My child, a being that is of me.”

  “There’s adoption,” I suggested. I wasn’t sure Elaina would be the ideal candidate at most adoption agencies, but with the right amount of money, she could probably pull it off.

  “No.” She shook her head, her eyes practically spilling over with emotion. “I…” She took a deep breath, trying to get her feelings under control. “I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’ll do my best to call off the people I sent to find Haley. But you have to promise me that if there is any truth to Haley’s father being a vampire, then she will at least submit to some test.” When she saw that I was about to give an absolute and definitive no, she quickly added, “Under your supervision, of course. I don’t want your progeny being dissected, I just want a damn child.”

  “Why? I know what you said, but you’ve never struck me as the maternal type. And ennui isn’t a good excuse.”

  “I just want to feel the emotions of motherly love,” she explained, sounding on the edge of forlorn. “My own mother was quite wonderful and I never doubted her love for me.” She folded her arms across her body, as if wrapping herself in a blanket. “I want to know that emotion. I want to remember how it feels to be mortal again.”

  “I can talk to Haley about maybe seeing a doctor.” I wasn’t sure how open my progeny would be to the idea. She wasn’t overly fond of people lying to her and trying to force her to do things she didn’t want to do.

  “You’re her maker,” Elaina pointed out. “You can command her.”

  I was unable to suppress a chuckle. “Ours isn’t that kind of relationship.”

  “You’d better go,” Elaina said while walking over to the phone. “I’ll do the best to stop my people, but several wheels have been set in motion. It’s not just me; there are a lot of vampires out there hunting your progeny; a lot of money is being offered.”

  I felt rage bubbling up in my body and I reconsidered throwing Elaina’s precious vase.

  “Fortunately for you,” she went on, “everyone wants her alive, so you’ve at least got that going in your favor.”

  That did give me some solace, but it didn’t mean the bounty hunters would abstain from hurting Haley, or torturing her in some way. I couldn’t stand the thought of it. I forced myself to control my emotions. “Where was my progeny last seen, and in which direction was she headed?” I asked.

  “She was brought here, to Chicago,” Elaina said, returning to her chair and sinking into it, the phone left untouched. “She made her escape just a few blocks from here. She crashed through the window of a high-rise. It was rather daring, if I do say so myself. I haven’t heard word of anyone spotting her since then.”

  “But where did she go?” I asked, mostly speaking my thoughts aloud, rather than expecting Elaina to have an answer.

  The vampiress shook her head. “You know your progeny best. Put yourself in her place and try to think of what she would do next. You two must have a connection as maker and progeny. And she’s a fledgling, so I’m assuming your connection is still quite strong. You would be the best person on the whole planet to know where she’d go.” She thought it over for a moment. “I’m sure other members of the undead are aware of that as well, so watch your back. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re already being followed.”

  I couldn’t help but give a snort of annoyance. Elaina was probably right; there was a good chance I had picked up a tail. Or would, in the near future. It wouldn’t surprise me if Elaina ordered someone to follow me as soon as I left her apartment; her tremulous words professing desires for motherhood be damned.

  “I’m afraid I’ll have to cut our visit short,” I said, bowing to my involuntary hostess.

  This made her laugh. “I have no doubt.” She got to her feet and led me to the door, as if I’d dropped by on a social call. “I hope you find that progeny of yours,” she said, her tone pleasant. We paused at the threshold, waiting for the elevator. “But I especially hope that you remember what is best for our kind. Try to think what a discovery of this magnitude could do for the undead world. And I’m not just speaking of a way to fill your pockets; I mean for the happiness of the undead.”

  As I rode the elevator down to the lobby, I thought about Elaina’s words. Would having a child bring her happiness? Bring any member of the undead happiness? Bring Haley and me happiness? Could a child thrive with parents that the mortal world considered monsters? And what would happen to a child after coming of age? Would another member of the undead be made or would the child be allowed to age and die like humans were intended?

  When the elevator doors opened, the doorman barely looked up at me as I breezed past. Once outside, I paused. If I had been mortal, I would have breathed deeply, filling my lungs with the cold night air. I needed to center myself, I needed to focus, I needed to figure out where Haley might go and then be there before anyone else found her. Without even bothering to check if the doorman was watching me, I launched into the air.

  Chapter 19

  Haley

  It wasn’t easy remembering how to fly as I was plunging toward the ground. For the first few seconds I was just focusing on screaming and falling. But then I remembered that I was a vampire. After that things got a lot better. Yes, I was in my panties and a backless medical gown, but at least I wasn’t about to splat onto the pavement.

  Once I actually started flying, instead of falling, I realized that I was still clutching the metal bedpan. My first thought was to pitch it. But then I realized that I could hurt someone or seriously damage a car if I dropped it from such a height.

  “Got you!” I voice said and I simultaneously felt a body collide into mine.

  It was Randolph. He’d somehow magically freed himself from the guards and had followed me out the window. ”How did you know I wasn’t your dad?” he demanded.

  “Because for someone who hasn’t been around for the last seventeen years, you were… Too! Damn! Nice!” I shouted, clocking him with the bedpan for each of the last three words to emphasize my point. I guess that caught him by surprise because he put up his hands to deflect the blows and that gave me a chance to break out of his grasp.

  Of course he was after me in an instant. “But I care about you Haley,” he insisted. “I really do. I could be like a father to you.”

  “If you cared about me, then you’d stop chasing me!” I yelled as I darted around the tops of some very tall trees.

  “I can’t leave you alone,” Randolph told me, the cuff of his pants getting snagged on a branch and tearing, but that only slowed him down for a second. “That would ruin everything. I’d lose my apartment. I’d lose the money. Don’t you even care?”

  “I care that you lied,” I yelled as I flew as fast as I could, in a feeble effort to get away from him.

  “But what about having babies?” Randolph said, easily keeping up with me. “Do you know how incredible that would be for the undead community?” And then he added, “Do you know how much money could be made?”

  “I have to become a guinea pig so that you can make a fortune?” I asked, ducking under some power lines.

  “You would be a hero,” Randolph insisted, still dogging me. “Every vampire on Earth would know your name.”

  “That psycho doctor wanted tissue samples,” I said diving low as he made a lunge for me. “They’d end up dissecting me. If you cared about me at all, you’d care about that.”

  “Stop thinking just about yourself!” he thundered. “Don’t you want the chance to have a baby with that maker of yours? Don’t you want to give birth to a Vanderlind?”

  I felt tears instantly pricking at my eyes. I knew that vampires couldn’t reproduce, so it never even occurred to me that Dorian and I might try to have a baby. Bu
t suddenly I realized that having a baby with my maker was the thing that I wanted most in all of the world.

  “You can’t outfly me, Haley,” Randolph said, grabbing my foot, but I managed to kick myself free. “You’re just a fledgling and I’ve been flying for over a hundred years.”

  “I know,” I yelled as I pulled a sudden reversal and went rocketing straight up in the air, skimming past a set of power lines.

  Randolph was right behind me, so intent on catching me and making his fortune that he wasn’t looking where he was going. He hit a line. There was a burst of fire and sparks. A moment later his scorched body fell to the ground.

  “But I still remember how I died,” I called after him. It never paid to not look where you were going.

  After that I just flew like a crazy woman in what I hoped was a general south-east direction. I was half naked and totally freaked out, but it didn’t appear that Randolph was able to follow me, so that was good.

  There was a lot going on that I needed to figure out, but my most pressing challenge was finding a place to spend the day. If my vampire senses were telling me anything, it was that I didn’t have long until sunrise. But where the hell was I supposed to go that was lightproof?

  I flew over the city, well aware that anyone outside who happened to glance at the sky could see straight up my hospital gown. After about ten minutes, I was in the suburbs, which seemed to go on forever. Early risers began rustling about, getting ready for work.

  I started frantically scanning people’s backyards for both clothes lines and well-built, yet not frequently used sheds. I didn’t find any clothes, but I did find an old canvas tarp in one yard that was covered in paint splatters. Another yard provided me with a thick wool blanket.

  My skin began to prickle. I knew that the sun was about the burst over the horizon at any second. I had to find someplace to conceal myself. I landed in a backyard and tried accessing a garage that didn’t look like it was used too often. But the damn thing was sturdy and I knew that if I busted in the side door, then someone would come to investigate, probably flinging open the garage door and turning me into cinders in the process.

  Wrapping the blanket around my body helped to shield me a little from the morning light. But the sun was rising higher in the sky at every moment. I threw the tarp over my head as well, but I needed to be able to look for someplace to hide, so I couldn’t cover my eyes. I felt them beginning to sizzle in their sockets. I wanted to scream in pain, but I had to focus. I need to find someplace, anyplace to conceal myself. It was too late to dig a hole in the ground. It was too late to break into someone’s garage.

  And then I saw a treehouse high in an oak tree. It was homemade, but by someone who knew how to swing a hammer. Without much hope of survival, I flew blindly at the tree and then, mostly by sense of feel, found the door to the little house. Flinging it open, I clawed my way inside.

  The treehouse had working shutters, just like a miniature cottage, and I quickly slammed them shut, jamming the baby blankets and stuffed toys that I discovered lying around on the floor into the cracks. “Oh!” I sighed, slumping to the ground once I was reasonably safe in the dark. My circumstances weren’t ideal, but at least I wouldn’t fry. Not for the moment.

  There was nothing for me to do but hunker down for the day. I couldn’t find clothes, or hunt for something to eat, or look at a map to try to figure out where I was. It was just hour upon hour of me trapped in a child’s treehouse, alone with my thoughts.

  I mostly just wanted to cry. I didn’t understand anything that had happened to me or why it had happened. And I desperately wanted Dorian to hold me and tell me that everything was going to be alright; we would figure things out together.

  But he wasn’t there and we weren’t together. I didn’t even have his cufflink anymore. It was at Randolph’s apartment, along with the rest of my clothes, shoes and jewelry. Everything except for my bracelet. That was never leaving my wrist, even if I never saw Dorian again.

  The thought of Dorian was making my chest ache, so I tried to focus on my current situation. If I understood things correctly, Randolph wasn’t my father; he was just some dude who looked a little like me. And he was being paid really well to pretend he was my dad. All of which was just to get me to submit to some weird fertility tests.

  But why? Someone was shelling out big money to fake a father, and a fancy condo, and a medical building complete with a doctor, a nurse and several guards. Obviously the chance for vampires to reproduce sounded like a very big payday to someone with deep pockets.

  Who the hell was behind the whole thing? And why were they targeting me? There was that one time that my mother told me that my father was a vampire. But who knew about that besides Mom and me? I don’t think I even told Dorian.

  I began to wonder about the blood I’d drunk when I was waiting out the blizzard in Randolph’s room. There was definitely something in it; that much was clear. I had originally blamed my delirium on the shock of seeing Elaina naked. Plus, I thought that Randolph had also felt the effects of the blood. But I wasn’t so sure anymore. It would have been a lot more helpful if I could remember what we’d talked about. Did I tell him about my mom and what she’d said about the undead? He already knew so much about me, but my readiness to accept that I had an undead father wasn’t the brightest thing I could have done.

  But how did they know I’d be in Antarctica? The only people who knew we were planning an adventure at the South Pole were Dorian and me. At least that’s all I knew about. But I guess there had to be arrangements made through undead-friendly travel agents and stuff like that. We’d made reservations. Or, more accurately, Dorian had made them. Plus he had a famous last name. Being a Vanderlind in the undead world was kind of like being a Kennedy in the mortal world, as far as I could tell. So I guess it wouldn’t have been that hard to track our movements, if someone was really determined to do it.

  A searing bolt of pain shot through my face as the tiny door to the treehouse creaked open a few inches. “Gah!” I shrieked, diving under the blanket and tarp, and then curling into a ball.

  “Hello?” a little voice said, and I could tell it belonged to a mortal child.

  My stomach released a large growl, but I said nothing.

  “What are you doing here in my treehouse?” was the next questions. I assumed the child was a girl from the toys that I’d seen. When I didn’t reply right away, I felt something lightly prodding me on the rump. “Hello? Are you alright? Should I get my mommy?”

  “It’s okay,” I told her, trying to keep my voice calm. “I’m alright. You don’t have to get your mommy.” That was the last thing I needed.

  “What are you doing in there?” the girl asked. “Why are you all wrapped up?”

  “I’m hiding from the sun,” I explained.

  That made her think for a few moments. “Are you a goblin?” she asked, although she sounded more curious than frightened.

  “No,” I assured her. “I’m a fairy.”

  “Then why are you hiding from the sun? Don’t you want to play in our garden? We’ve got coral bells.” This girl obviously knew a thing or two about fairies.

  “I’m a night fairy,” I told her. “I can’t go out in the sun. I was flying home, but I hurt my wing, so I thought I’d stay in your treehouse until tonight. My wing should be all better by then.”

  “Oh.” The girl sounded impressed. “I never knew there were night fairies.”

  “That’s because it’s a big secret,” I told her. “Very few people know about us. In fact, I’d like you to keep it a secret. You can only talk about night fairies when it’s dark out; not when it’s light.”

  “Why?” Of course she had to ask why.

  “Because,” I said, my mind racing. “Night fairies are very rare. And if you talk about them during the day, and if there are any night fairies nearby, then they will turn into ashes. You wouldn’t want me to turn into ashes, would you?”

  “No,” she said, very ear
nestly. “I won’t say anything all day; I promise.”

  “Thank you,” I said, hoping she could hold out until after the sun set.

  “But can I tell my mommy before I go to bed?”

  “Yes.” I was taking a chance on the child’s bedtime, but I couldn’t think of a way out of it. I would just have to trust that the mother wouldn’t run right outside at dusk to see if there was a stranger lurking in her daughter’s treehouse.

  “Should I bring you some flowers?” she asked.

  “No,” I said, hastily. “Thank you, but no.” The longer the girl stayed, the more my stomach growled. I would have rather faced the sun than hurt a child, but there was always a chance my killer instinct would take over.

  “I thought fairies liked flowers,” she persisted. “Like butterflies.”

  “We do,” I told her. “But night fairies only like night blooming flowers. So there won’t be any food for me until tonight.” I closed my eyes, desperately wanting the precocious little girl to leave me alone.

  “What kinds of flowers are night blooming flowers?” She was at that age where answering one of her questions only led to another question.

  “Sweetie, I’m sorry, but it’s very hard for me to stay awake during the day, so I can’t answer any more questions,” I told her, feeling rather desperate. “But I’ll tell you what; if you keep my secret, then after dark, watch out your window and I’ll wave to you as I fly home.”

  “Can my mommy watch, too?” she asked, excitedly.

  “No, I’m afraid she can’t,” I told her. Kids still believed in magic, but I really didn’t want to freak some adult out. “But you can tell her all about it, once I’m gone.”

  “Okay,” she agreed.

  “Great. Now go run and play. And remember, it’s important to always be honest with your mommy and daddy. But you have to keep this one secret until after I fly by your window or you know what will happen to me.”