The Series that Just Plain Sucks: The Complete Trilogy

by Charissa Dufour

  In one of those lightning fast movements that only a vampire can manage, Josh was back by my side, wrapping one arm uneasily around my shoulder. “It's gonna get better. I promise.”

  “You can't promise me that.”

  Josh opened his mouth, as if to say something, but was interrupted by a knock on my door. We had both been so engrossed in our conversation that we'd missed the sound of someone ascending the stairs up to my apartment. I felt the air in my apartment drop a few degrees—a clear indication of who stood on the other side.

  “Come in,” I said.

  As expected, Periphetes entered, dressed in the same suit he'd worn last night to my joining.

  “Walk of shame?” I asked, nodding toward his wrinkled suit.

  He sighed at me. “I stayed at a hotel last night so that I wouldn't have to drive back down from Seattle.”

  “Likely story,” I said, trying to sound light hearted, as much for Josh as for myself.

  Periphetes laughed at my joke, and I found my lips pulling up into a smile without my permission.

  “I'll leave you two alone,” grumbled Josh before scooting past Periphetes and jogging down the stairs.

  “What's wrong with him?” asked Periphetes after we heard the exterior door at the bottom of the stairs bang shut.

  “I have no idea.”

  We stared at the stairwell for a few seconds before shrugging it off. “You ready?”

  “Yep.”

  I hoisted a small duffel bag onto my shoulder and started for the door. Before I could get there, Periphetes took the bag from me with a look of consternation. I wasn't offended by the gesture like some women might be. I knew it stemmed from him being a gentleman of the old world, rather than from any perceived weakness on my part. In fact, I was probably physically stronger than him on my worst day, which just might have been this day.

  “Bye, Tereus. I'll be home in a couple days.”

  My cat's response was a low, throbbing growl. He didn't like Periphetes, being that he was a Winter Fae while my cat was a Summer Fae. Evidently the two seasons had a long standing feud. I refused to pick a side.

  Periphetes ignored my cat and guided me out of my own apartment, one cold hand on the small of my back.

  The drive to Seattle was a relaxing experience. Most of the sights, visible thanks to my heightened vampire senses, were new to me thanks to my memory loss. Periphetes allowed me to sit in silence and watch the state of Washington go by. It was only about two hours up to his brick home in the Queen Anne district, but by the time he pulled off the freeway I was starting to drift to sleep.

  Unlike thinking of things to say, sleeping was effortless.

  We only remained in the fae's home long enough for him to change and for me to get acquainted with the room where I would be spending the sunlit hours—it was well draped with thick curtains.

  “Where are we going?” I asked as we climbed back into his car.

  “Well, I thought we'd make some new memories, rather than trying to get your old ones back. So, what do you say we start with the tourist locations?”

  “Do I actually have a say in this, Perry?” I asked, tacking on the nick-name just to see what his response would be.

  Periphetes' lifted one fine, blonde eyebrow and revved the engine as he turned onto a main thoroughfare. Fifteen minutes later, we turned down a street that ran directly under a giant bridge and Periphetes pulled over, parking next to one of the massive pillars that supported the bridge. I was looking out my window, at nothing in particular, and didn't notice the giant statue until I had climbed out of the car.

  Its sheer size would capture you if nothing else, but its contents grabbed you and took a bite out of your imagination. It was a giant troll, one hand reaching out toward you, the other grasping a Volkswagen Bug, and I mean a real VW Bug.

  I stood by the car, not really interested in approaching it, though even from this distance I could see footprints all over the statue where tourists had climbed it. Before I was turned into a vampire I would have loved to climb all over the fake troll, but now that I questioned its reality, I wasn't that interested in such activities.

  I couldn't tell why, but the statue reminded me of a giant, cold monster. Though, as a vampire I never felt the mundane cold of a Washington winter, I suddenly began to shiver. My body was a step ahead of my brain; I began to remember the monster picking me up and freezing my skin and then dropping me. I nearly toppled over as my body remembered the sensation of falling a great distance and landing on something that crunched under my weight.

  “You coming?” Periphetes asked from a few feet ahead of me, cutting into my memory.

  Simply because I didn't want to tell him what was bothering me, I followed him to the very edge of the enormous troll statue.

  “Is it real?” I asked.

  Had I asked a human this they would have bound me in a strait jacket, but Periphetes knew what I was talking about. He was a fae, after all—unfathomably old and bound to a deeper magic than what made me a vampire.

  He chuckled deep in his throat, shaking his head.

  “I don't think so. After all, Seattle isn't that old; it was formed in the mid-19th century, around the time humans started building with iron and my people began to lose their power. It would have taken a very, very strong fae to capture a troll like this and keep him here this long.” Periphetes stopped talking for a few minutes to let me admire it, but a moment later he leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Besides, I'm pretty sure it was sculpted by some local artists in 1990, or there abouts.”

  I glared up at him. He was teasing me and loving every minute of it. To show him my annoyance at being teased, I elbowed him in the gut. This also got him to take a step away. Other than Josh, being near people made me jumpy.

  “Want to climb on it?” he asked after a moment of silence.

  I was just beginning to shake my head when I spotted movement near the encased car. “Umm... Periphetes...” I pointed at the car, unsure what I had seen.

  “What?” he asked, looking in the direction I was pointing, but unsurprisingly the car remained perfectly still, just as it had for nearly twenty-five years.

  “Nothing. Let's just go.”

  Periphetes frowned down at me, but graciously offered me his arm in an old-fashioned gesture and began to lead me away. I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see a giant creature, much like the statue, burst forward and begin to charge down the street toward us. Evidently Periphetes noticed the small earthquakes that accompanied the monster's feet or maybe he noticed my gasp, but he turned and pushed me toward the car. The giant, vaguely man-shaped thing slowed his tread as he swung down with his clawed, three-fingered hand to scoop up Periphetes.

  To my astonishment, Periphetes let himself get caught; in fact he practically jumped into the thing's grasp. Instead of retreating to the car, as he probably expected me to do, I rushed forwards, determined to help or hinder as best I could. Before I could reach it, Periphetes had frozen the troll’s hand and started clamoring his way up the beast's thick arm. This confused the dumb thing. It waddled around, trying to follow Periphetes' quick movements with its one enormous eye.

  I grabbed hold of one of its thick legs as it took small steps, and began climbing up. I used my vamp-strength to plunge my hands into the squishy flesh to create hand holds.

  “What an incredible smell you've discovered,” I mumbled to myself. (Hey, I'm a Star Wars dork; Don't judge!)

  It took me a few, tiring minutes to reach the cyclops' hip via this method. I discovered, rather intimately that the giant thing wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing. This encouraged me to speed up. As I began to drive my hands into its midsection, it suddenly took notice of me. To my surprise, it ignored Periphetes completely and snatched me up off its abdomen. With a lot more power than I had given it credit for, it chucked me down the street. I hit the pavement, leaving a dent in the street much like Superman does when he lands.

  Before I could haul mys
elf out of my own little crater, the Cyclops had turned its attention back to Periphetes, who had reached its shoulder. I nearly vomited when Periphetes thrust his hand into the Cyclops ear all the way up to the elbow.

  The Cyclops swatted at him as it turned in circles, trying to see what was bothering its ear, but Periphetes was too well planted between his arm in its ear, and his feet tucked into the troll’s armpit. In a moment of complete stupidity, the beast began jabbing at its other ear, as though maybe he could dig in there and scratch the itch of Periphetes' violation.

  I had no idea what Periphetes was planning, but I charged forward, despite what I was sure were a number of broken bones and bruised innards. It's easier to ignore pain when you're super-human and when you're thoroughly pissed off!

  I thought I was done with this life for good. After all, my enemies had already destroyed me in every way, other than actually killing me. What more did they want? Well, whatever it was, they weren't going to get it without a fight.

  I used the hand holds I had already made and scampered up the troll’s leg just as Periphetes' efforts began to take effect.

  The enormous Cyclops' movements, which had been nominally fast and efficient, began to slow, as though it was drunk. I reached its chest and held my breath in the hopes of avoiding the worst of its foul breath. As I started to reach for its one, gigantic eye, I figured out what the winter fae was doing—he was freezing the Cyclops' brain with the hand still encased in its ear.

  Well, I wasn't about to be outdone by the fae. I began jamming my hand into its eye socket. In one swift jab I knew it couldn't see anymore. Another punch and it began to topple to the ground. I jumped off before it hit the ground, rolling with my landing and gasping in agony. Yep, definitely broken bones.

  Periphetes rode the Cyclops to the ground and extracted his arm from its ear. From where I lay, I gagged as the fae tried to wipe the greenish-brown wax off his arm onto the Cyclops' small tuft of hair. He was far from finished when the beast began to twitch and shake. Before I could even make it to my feet, Periphetes climbed onto its head and jumped into its eye socket—I mean that literally!

  One minute he was standing on the Cyclops' cheek, the next he was knee deep in Cyclops brain.

  Chapter Seven

  We climbed into the car, opened the windows—due to the Cyclops stench emanating from both of us—and careened back toward the freeway. I think Periphetes was a little surprised when I immediately fell asleep, despite the cold, wet air blowing in through the windows. I didn't wake up again until I felt the car slow to town speeds. I looked around, recognizing our surroundings.

  “Why are we back in Olympia?” I asked as I blinked the haze of sleep from my eyes. I had assumed he would just take us back to his house in Seattle, and we would continue our weekend of fun at the next sunset.

  “I don't know if that Cyclops was after me or you. Either way, you're not safe with me.”

  “Fine,” I grumbled. “Just take me home.”

  “Go back to sleep.” Periphetes sounded just as annoyed as I felt.

  I ignored his mood and went back to sleep. I don't think he had actually expected me to obey, but it passed the time, and since the sacrifice it was what I did best. I woke again when the car came to a stop and the engine cut out. Again, I was angered by our new location.

  “Nik's?” I demanded.

  “You really thought I'd just dump you at your apartment without any protection? You're more messed up than I thought.”

  “I'm not messed up!” I snapped back, stung by what I knew to be a joke, but it was the fear that kept nipping at the back of my mind—was I really as broken as I felt?

  Periphetes made it around to my side of the car before I had managed to undo my seat belt and open the door. He gathered me up in his arms and carried me along the manicured path leading to Nik’s enormous mansion.

  Nik was already standing in his opened doorway, a slightly disgusted look on his face as we approached.

  “What happened?” he asked Periphetes in a dark voice that promised violence if the fae's answer wasn't satisfactory.

  “We need to get her some blood,” he said, ignoring Nik's unspoken threat.

  I wiggled painfully until Periphetes set me down in the foyer. I ignored them and their antagonism, as I limped my way into Nik's opulent living room. It was decked out with multiple sitting areas, a miniature library, and a grand piano. I crossed to one of the more casual couches and flopped face first onto the thick cushions, not worrying about any blood or Cyclops-gut stains, I might leave. It was probably dry by now anyway.

  I hadn't noticed as I crossed the room, but it turned out Nik's whole “family” was present, including Jordan and Chloe. As though from a great distance, I heard Chloe cry out and the pounding of feet as she ran to where I had collapsed.

  “Get away from me,” I growled into the cushion. If she wasn't careful I was going to gnaw my way through the couch just to get to her pounding heart.

  I heard her whimper before Nik broke in. “Chloe, it may not be safe near her.”

  I knew I had hurt her feelings, yet again, but I couldn’t fix that; I couldn't fix her jugular, either. I could hear Chloe struggle against Nik, but finally give in.

  “She can have some of my blood,” offered Jordan from the far end of the couch. He was wise enough to keep his distance until invited closer.

  “Ashley?” asked Nik, his voice coming from some place quite close to me. I guessed he was sitting on the coffee table.

  I shook my head, my face still buried in the cushion.

  “You have to feed, Ashley.”

  I shook my head again.

  “Can I at least look at your wounds?” he asked in a deferential tone.

  I suspected he was just working his way up to making me feed on a human, but that didn't negate the fact he needed to make sure I didn't need bones reset. I hoped I didn't, considering the two hours that they had had to heal.

  I nodded.

  “Okay, everyone with a heartbeat out of the room.”

  I listened to the numerous footsteps clamber up the distant stairs.

  “Jordan, you too,” I mumbled into the cushion. I was growing sleepy again, which meant it was harder to resist his blood. “I can hear your heartbeat,” I added when he didn't obey.

  “Fine,” he snapped, and stomped off.

  Once I heard him reach the top of the stairs, I carefully maneuvered into a sitting position. It hurt worse than I expected. Perhaps the feeling of safety was lowering my defenses, and therefore, I was feeling the pain more, or maybe I was just running low on human blood in my system.

  “Do you have any blood bags?” I asked Nik while he cut my sweatshirt off—another article of clothing to go into the trash.

  He shook his head. “Knowing I would likely give them to you, Mikhail has cut me off.”

  I didn't respond. It took too much energy.

  Nik helped me strip down to my undergarments. He had seen me this de-robbed before, so it didn't bother me, but having Periphetes watching too was a little more disconcerting. I quickly got over my discomfort when I saw my body in all its glory.

  There was no more than three patches of skin not covered with deep, black bruises. If I were human I would be in surgery for internal bleeding. As it was, I suspected Nik was going to need to shift some ribs around. My chest didn't look like it was quite the right shape.

  “Holy shit!” whispered Periphetes from the end of the couch.

  “You said it,” murmured Nik, for a moment forgetting his antagonism with Periphetes.

  “What do we do?”

  Nik looked up at me, his brows knit together in a look of uncertainty I had never seen on him before. He glanced at Periphetes.

  “We have to get those ribs back in place... but ummm... this is gonna hurt. A lot.”

  “I kinda figured. It wasn't much fun breaking them in the first place.”

  “You're gonna need blood.”

  “Nik. I'll kill
'em. Especially in this state.”

  “What if we cut them, and drained their blood into glasses?” suggested Periphetes.

  Nik glowered up at him. Unlike other vampires, Nik tended to be emotionally connected to his stock; in fact, I was emotionally connected to two of them myself. Still, it seemed like a better plan than me ripping their throats out.

  “I'll go talk to them,” he sighed as he stood up from the coffee table. “Try not to let her get hurt again while I'm gone.”

  I glared at Nik's back. I'd pay him back for that comment later, when I felt better. It wasn't long before he returned with three water bottles full of gorgeous, red liquid. I reached out for a bottle, which hurt, but Nik pulled it back and set them on a table that was much too far away from me.

  “If you drink now, your healing will speed up. Right now, your healing is our enemy. Periphetes, I will need you to hold her down.”

  “I have a better idea. I can cool her body down and essentially put her in a coma. Doctors do this to humans sometimes, and they can often revive them. With her vampire healing, and no heartbeat, all it will do is shut her brain down.”

  Nik looked at me, as though he sought my opinion.

  I nodded, “Do it.” I just wanted to be unconscious.

  Periphetes sat down next to me, placed one hand on my head, and the other on my chest near my collar bones. I quickly grew cold, started to shake, and finally felt the blackness take me.

  I sighed.

  Chapter Eight

  When I woke I was laying prone on the couch; my chest blazed with a sort of fire I had never felt before. The first thing I noticed, beyond the fire in my chest was a wonderful smell filling my senses. I opened my eyes to the sight of a water bottle from which the smell emanated. Instead of reaching for it, because I didn't think I could move, I opened my mouth. Whoever was holding it tilted it toward my lips and poured the sweet liquid. I gulped it down as fast as it entered my mouth, completely ignoring the discomfort of my fangs sprouting in my mouth—it was something I had grown accustomed to over the past couple months.