by Marian Tee
Mrs. Humphrey’s eyes widened. “That kind of pain?”
She blinked.
But the nurse was already nodding understandingly, opening the door to let Zari in. “Dr. Anton? A student is here to consult you about an unplanned pregnancy.”
Zari sputtered in disbelief. What was the nurse saying? Before she could correct Mrs. Humphrey’s erroneous assumption, the door to her left opened, and a tall woman with short brown hair strode out of the room. She walked with both confidence and grace, and her aura was warm and friendly when she saw Zari fidgeting near the infirmary’s main door. “Hello.” She had a cool, clear voice, the kind that belonged to someone used to being in command. Like those of her kind, her face was unlined by age, and the only hint that she was not human was when she smiled. It was a beautiful smile, but it also showed the barest hint of her fangs.
Jumbled thoughts ran through Zari’s mind. How old was Katarina? Did she grow up with her Master? Were they each other’s first love?
Her imagination went into overdrive, and suddenly all she could see was her Master…with her. Alexandru and Katarina holding hands. Kissing. Drinking from each other. Fucking.
Zari’s tummy hurt, this time for real.
The female vampire stopped next to Mrs. Humphrey. Still smiling, she said, “I’m Dr. Katarina Anton.” She offered her hand.
Zari really didn’t want to take it, but good manners forced her to, and just as she shook the doctor’s hands, Mrs. Humphrey said, “This is Lady Zari, Doctor.”
The hand Zari was holding went still.
Did she know? When the doctor released her hand, Zari immediately looked at the other woman’s face, and what she saw in the doctor’s eyes told her she wasn’t the only one aware of who they were in her Master’s life.
“…she’s one of the best doctors among her kind,” Mrs. Humphrey was saying. “So it’s quite a coup LSL has managed to acquire her services.”
When the nurse had finished, the doctor gestured to her private clinic. “Perhaps you could join me inside?”
Zari could only nod and as she followed the doctor to the clinic, feeling like she was about to walk to her own death, the doctor suddenly stopped. Turning around, she told the nurse, “I’m sure I can handle it from here, Mrs. Humphrey.”
Zari’s eyes widened. No, wait – did that mean she was going to be alone with this woman?
The doctor glanced at her wrist, the sleeve of her lab coat falling back to reveal her watch. “It’s getting late anyway. It’s okay for you to leave for the day.”
The nurse’s face brightened. “Really?”
Behind the doctor, Zari shook her head wildly at Mrs. Humphrey. Don’t leave me!
The nurse frowned. “Lady Zari?”
The doctor turned to Zari.
Zari immediately schooled her face to be expressionless. Or at least she hoped it was.
The doctor asked pleasantly, “Is there a problem, Lady Zari?”
Was it just her imagination, or was there a threat in the way the doctor said her name? Zari gulped. “Umm, nothing, Doctor.”
Before she knew it, the nurse was gone and she was all alone and locked inside the doctor’s office. Looking at the doctor as she took her seat behind the desk, Zari could still feel herself battling with disbelief. Was this really…Katarina? The woman her Master loved?
The thought had her wanting to run away, but she knew it would be pointless. Lord Erou was away from school again, but even if he was there, he wouldn’t be the right person to talk about this. There was Rhapsody, too, but it didn’t feel right either, troubling the other girl with her problems when they barely knew each other.
She really had no one to run to, Zari thought painfully. None except her Master, but it seemed like even her Master wouldn’t be hers much longer.
“So, Lady Zari…” The doctor – Katarina – inclined her head to the side in question. “Would you like to talk about your---”
Her eyes widened, and she belatedly remembered what Mrs. Humphrey had said. “I’m not pregnant,” she said quickly. “Mrs. Humphrey…she thought…wrong.” Her voice trailed off, her cheeks flaming in color.
“Oh.”
Was that, Zari wondered, relief in the older woman’s eyes? When Katarina smiled at her again, it also seemed warmer, and unease started to stir inside of Zari.
“I apologize for the misunderstanding.” The other woman paused. “But if that wasn’t what you’ve come here for, then…is there any other thing I may help you with?”
Zari bit her lip.
“I’m sure,” Katarina continued, “you didn’t come here for no reason.”
Hating how the other woman made her feel so defensive, Zari blurted out, “I can say the same for you, don’t you think?” Unable to bear being rude, she added reluctantly, “Dr. Anton.”
She expected Katarina to deny it, but instead the doctor’s smile faded, and her face turned serious.
“Very well,” Katarina murmured.
Unease turned into panic, and Zari suddenly didn’t feel like hearing the truth. She burst to her feet. “I don’t think---”
But Katarina had also come to her feet. “I---”
She shook her head wildly. “I don’t want to hear this---” She hurried to the door, but of course Katarina beat her to it. Human speed would never be a match against vampires.
When their eyes clashed, Katarina said, “I was wrong.”
Zari froze.
The older woman’s voice shook. “I know, you have your own lives now. But I just can’t…I just can’t not…I know I was wrong. I was wrong to make him leave. To push him away.”
She asked tremulously, “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I want him back.”
Shock caused Zari to sway.
Katarina’s eyes widened in alarm. “Lady Zari---” She reached for Zari, and the moment her fingers curled around Zari’s arm, everything changed.
A vision.
One that may be her last---
Zari started to scream.
Chapter Seven
“Where is she?” Alexandru roared. Rationality no longer had a place in his mind. He didn’t care how many vampires he had to knock unconscious, didn’t care how many he had to fucking kill. If he had to turn the entire dukedom upside down, he would. Whatever it took to find her again.
“Cease this.” Mihail appeared at the doorway, his eyes cold as he surveyed the destruction his younger brother had caused. Dozens of his own soldiers littered the ground, and their only sin was that they had followed the command of their marquis.
Alexandru whirled around to face his brother, his face white with rage. “I do not want to fight you, but I will if you do not tell me where she is.”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop with the lies,” Alexandru roared.
Mihail’s tone didn’t change. “Listen to me, brother. Truly listen. My voice. My heartbeat. I do not know.”
Alexandru staggered back.
“It was her choice to leave.”
A vision, just a vision, and visions can’t hurt.
She whispered the words over and over to herself, but still her fears escalated, still Miranda kept walking towards her, and the closer she got to Zari, the less she resembled a human. When she was in front of Zari, she was no longer Miranda but a demon.
He lunged at her, and Zari screamed.
DON’T INTERFERE.
The demon threw her into the water.
She flailed and gasped, but it was as if someone was forcing her down. Water rushed into her, and she began to choke.
She squeezed her eyes shut. A vision, just a vision, and visions can’t hurt---
ZARI.
The voice.
That voice.
It was her Master’s voice.
****
Alexandru was back in the mainland, scouring nearby towns in the off chance that he could sense the demon’s presence, when he heard his pet scream.
The sound was filled with so much terror he immediately checked on her using their blood bond.
Her pulse was faint, but her heartbeat was racing, and he knew she was having a vision. The kind where the person she was seeing had also sensed Zari’s presence…and turned the tables on her.
Zari. He used their bond to call her name. Cold sweat enveloped his body as he waited for his pet to respond. He dared not do anything, concentrating all his efforts on reaching out to her.
Something in their bond stirred.
Zari.
M-Master?
Come out of your vision.
I’m drowning.
No. You’re not. The panic in her voice made him want to kill someone. Just follow my voice---
B-but I c-can’t b-breathe---
ZARI. His voice turned into a command. Do you trust me?
Her heartbeat raced faster at his question, and he knew, whatever Zari was fighting, it was trying to literally scare her to death.
Master…
If you trust me, follow my voice and I will take you out of your vision.
****
Katarina breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Zari Baltimore’s eyes blink open. Vampires didn’t really have heart attacks, but if they did, then it would probably be similar to what she had felt at seeing Alexandru’s pet scream herself into a faint.
The young girl was disoriented at first, looking at Katarina as if unable to even remember who she was.
This girl was everything that stood in her way, but at that moment, she forgot all about it. At that moment, Zari Baltimore was a patient, and it was Katarina’s duty as her doctor to make sure she was all right.
“Lady Zari.” She kept her voice soft and soothing, seeing how the young girl was still trembling with shock. “It’s all right. You’re safe now.”
Consciousness started to return, the cloud of confusion gradually clearing from the girl’s gray eyes.
“Relax. Don’t speak just yet. You’re still in shock.” Katarina checked the girl’s pulse and placed a stethoscope on the girl’s chest, listening. What she heard confirmed her thoughts, and she said quietly, “Lady Zari, it’s really all right now. You’re fine. You’re safe. You’re no longer trapped in your vision.”
The girl’s eyes widened.
“Yes. I know what you are.” The question in the human’s gaze was easy to read, and Katarina said, “Your Master told me.” She knew, the moment she had said the words, it was the wrong thing to do. It was petty, the way she had this uncontrollable urge to prove to the girl that she was still in contact with Alexandru even after all these years. Even if Alexandru was her Master and Zari his pet.
But just looking at Zari made the urge stronger, more irresistible, and Katarina heard herself saying, “He talks to me every time he finishes a hunt. It’s to let me know he’s safe.”
The girl turned her face away.
“Please don’t think I will tell anyone about you. Your secret is safe with me.” She said the words even though she knew it wasn’t why Zari was desperately trying to hide her crying face, and she had the same reason for not telling the girl that in the past few weeks, all Alexandru had been able to talk about was her. His human pet.
Her Master had been talking to Katarina all this time. It felt like betrayal even though Zari knew she had no right to feel that way. She may be Alexandru’s most cherished pet, but at the end of the day, she was still just his pet.
Did they talk about her, too, Zari wondered painfully. And if they did, what did her Master say about her? Perhaps everything – including the fact that she was so clearly crazy in love with him, the same way he was crazy in love with this woman?
It was so tempting to cry, to lose herself in her pain, but Zari knew she couldn’t afford it. Lives were at stake – and not just hers.
She forced herself up, taking silly satisfaction in the way her actions had so obviously surprised the doctor.
Katarina frowned. “Lady Zari, I don’t think---”
“Thank you for taking care of me, Doctor,” Zari said, taking childish pleasure in cutting the doctor off. “But I have someplace to go.” She didn’t bother saying goodbye, yet another thing she took foolish pleasure from.
When Zari reached the school’s gates, she hesitated. As the doctor was the one to trigger the vision, it was very likely she had been to a place that the demon frequented. The question was – where?
If Katarina had only just arrived, then there could only be one possible place she had been to before this. The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that she had the right place. But…would she really go there alone? Wasn’t it be better to tell her Master---
A shudder of distaste ran through Zari. The thought of telling her Master anything felt repulsive. She imagined her Master telling everything she said to Katarina, and it made her want to gag.
Zari squared her shoulders. She could do this herself. It was time she stopped acting like her only role in life was being her Master’s pet. It was time for her to learn how to be a soul seer. Soon, it may be all she had left.
****
Key Sanguis was one of the largest keys in Florida, a place that otherworlders had turned into a nest of haunted legends to discourage humans from visiting. Every place in the island was foggy, but none more so than Key Sanguis’ port. Since this was the first thing humans would see, it had been deliberately built to dissuade and repel. The boardwalk was old and creaking, the alleys surrounding it dark, twisting, and narrow. The water was empty of boats, for everyone who lived in the island knew that Key Sanguis had another port at the back, a beautiful secret that only locals were privy to.
Here, Key Sanguis appeared to be dying, and the only sounds one could hear was the whistle of winds that blew nonstop and turbulent waves that were just as relentless as they rose and crashed.
As Zari made her way to the port, she was slowly able to piece together a plan. It should work perfectly as long as she didn’t panic.
Once she saw Miranda, she would do Step 1, which was to send a text to Rhapsody to get the enforcers to come here.
Step 2 would be to call Erou and set the phone to loudspeaker. He would be her witness to their conversation, and he would be able to prove that Rhapsody wasn’t the killer.
Step 3 was if Erou didn’t answer. That was the only time she would call…him.
Now, she only had to wait for---
There.
From the opposite side of the road, Miranda was walking alone. Zari hid herself behind one of the trees as she watched the other student suddenly stop moving. She was visibly shaking, but her face was determined – it was the first time Zari saw the other girl without her Madonna-like smile.
A second later, thunder began to clap above Zari. She waited for it to rain, but none came, and yet thunder still roared above her. When she looked up, Zari realized in horror that what she had been hearing was actually a demon’s wings. They were dark and veined, vast and seemingly with sharp edges. The demon’s wings flapped over her, and then it was swooping towards Miranda. Caught between its vicious-looking jaws was a man, whom the demon held by his collar.
When the demon was flying right above Miranda, it dropped its burden.
The man screamed, first in fright at the thirty-foot drop, but soon the sound turned into one of agonizing pain, Zari hearing the bones on his back snapping as he hit the boardwalk.
You know what to do.
Zari quickly covered her mouth at the sound of the demon’s voice, not wanting to risk accidentally making a sound. Terror rose inside her because she knew that voice. It was the exact same voice she had heard in her vision.
The demon flew away, but Zari remained crouched behind the tree, fear making her extra vigilant and cautious.
Soon, the darkness had swallowed the sight of the demon, and even the thunderous sound of his flapping wings had faded. But even so, Zari couldn’t make herself move, was no longer sure if she really had it in her to face the demon aga
in, if that was what it would come to.
From a distance, she heard something stir, and when she looked back at Miranda, she saw that the other girl was reaching for the man’s neck---
Oh my God, this was not part of the plan!
Zari panicked. Her mind skipped the first steps and went directly to #3. She called her Master, set her phone to loudspeaker, and hurried to Miranda. “Wait!”
The other girl’s head jerked up.
Zari “accidentally” dropped her phone midway, not wanting the other girl to notice it and realize what she was planning.
“Step back!” Miranda screamed. The man on the ground didn’t stir, his injuries having rendered him unconscious.
Zari forced herself to a halt just a few feet away from the other girl. “Why are you even doing this?”
“Someone like you would never understand,” Miranda spat. “You don’t even know how lucky you are!” The girl’s eyes were crazed with despair and fear. “Everyone knows your Master will never replace you---”
“I-is that what this is about?” Zari stammered. “Your Master?”
Miranda let out a wild laugh. “You idiot! You really don’t understand anything about being a pet, do you? Everything is about our Master. As it should be!”
“Make me understand then. Because I just don’t see why you’d ruin your life by killing someone---”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Hatred blazed in Miranda’s eyes. “You really are an idiot. A perfect life?” Her tone was harsh with irony. “My Master is being forced by his parents to replace me. I’ve tried so hard to be the perfect pet, but no matter what I do---” She shook her head. “This is the only way.”
“How can killing someone be the answer?”
“Because I’ll be a demon. I’ll be the only demon pet in the world, an immortal. Someone who can feed my Master and make him powerful forever.”
Miranda’s plan actually made sense, Zari realized in dismay, but only in the most heinous, inhumane kind of way.
A cold light entered the other girl’s eyes. “And now you know too much.” Her voice was calm. “You have to die.”
Zari slowly took a step back. There was something menacing about the way Miranda sounded so calm and rational. Weren’t the craziest people like this? The calmer they were, the more dangerous they were because they were utterly convinced that they were sane and that everything they did was right?