by L. M. Justus
“What is it that you desire, Kyle?” Nathaniel asked as calmly as he could with his heart racing. “Let us discuss this in a civilized manner.”
“I want to finish what I started,” he practically shouted. “No filthy human is going to get the best of me, or take priority over me. How could Marcel betray his own kind by sentencing me to death? For taking the life of a human? What kind of vampire ruler is he?”
“If your quarrel is with Marcel, you should go to him. Release Trudy. She has done nothing to you,” Nathaniel pleaded.
“I don’t think so,” he said, continuing to tighten his hold on Trudy as her face turned a deeper shade of red. “As long as I control her, I control you. I’ve been watching and I know you care about her. A stupid mistake on your part, giving yourself such a weakness. When I finish taking care of you, I’ll return to Montreal and take over Marcel’s realm. Have you heard . . . the humans already suspect the existence of vampires, thanks to the fiasco in New York. I have no problem letting them know vampires exist, and I’ll make sure it’s clear we’re at the top of the food chain. It’s time for vampires to come out of the shadows. This will–”
He yelped in pain, releasing his grip on Trudy, allowing her to wriggle free. She stumbled away with a bloody knife in one hand. Apparently, she had managed to stab Kyle in the lower abdomen. Enraged, he turned to give chase when Sophie ran forward with a battle cry, sword raised.
“Sophie, stop!” Nathaniel shouted. “You will get yourself killed.”
She ignored him, so Nathaniel darted to intercept as she swung the samurai sword in a curving arc. The blade whistled through the air and he ducked, narrowly missing its deadly path himself. Nathaniel shoved Sophie to the side to keep her out of harm’s way, and ran to protect Trudy.
Kyle’s half-second head start was enough for him to reach Trudy before Nathaniel. She aimed a kick at his chest to ward him off, but the vampire caught her leg and threw her to the ground face first. Then he grabbed her by the hair and resumed his hold around her neck.
“Come any closer and I’ll rip her head off,” Kyle growled.
Nathaniel froze. Blood dripped from a cut at the corner of Trudy’s mouth and Nathaniel’s nostrils flared.
Nathaniel glanced to his left where Sophie was getting back on her feet. The sword lay discarded in the snow. If he could figure out how to retrieve it, he would use it to cut Kyle to pieces. He clenched and unclenched his fists as his mind fought to come up with a solution.
“Listen closely,” Kyle said, “and do exactly as I say. Don’t even think about–”
A thin object embedded itself in Kyle’s neck, cutting him off mid-sentence. He ripped it out with an infuriated roar, only to have two more appear, one in his shoulder and the other in his right arm.
Tranquilizer darts?
Two more darts shot into his arm and his face fell slack. To Nathaniel’s great shock, Kyle fell to the ground, unconscious.
“What the hell?” Sophie said.
Two young men stepped out of the forest, tranquilizer guns in hand and grins plastered on their faces. They reeked of skunk. Nathaniel gaped at them, dumbfounded.
“It looked like you could use a hand,” the one on the left said. He was tall and slim, with auburn curly hair sticking out from under his winter hat. “My name is Justin, and this is Alexandre.”
The shorter man, with a mop of shaggy blond hair, waved. He gestured to Kyle’s still form. “This vampire killed my brother. We’ve been searching for him ever since.”
“He murdered my fiancé too,” Trudy said, her voice raspy. She rubbed her throat and swallowed, cringing with obvious discomfort.
The look of quiet determination on her face, despite her bruised and battered state, evoked a sense of pride in Nathaniel. While he admired her strength and bravery, he was overwhelmed with a feeling of sheer and utter relief.
He ran to her and she turned to face him. He lifted his hand to her face and gently wiped away the trickle of blood with his thumb. Without thinking, Nathaniel leaned forward and sealed the wound with a swipe of his tongue’s healing saliva. The scent of Trudy’s attraction for him swirled into the air, drowning out everything else. The world seemed to melt away as though they were the only two people on Earth.
She pulled him closer and their lips met. Fireworks burst from every nerve ending in his body. It was his first kiss in over two hundred years. He could barely remember the last time he had felt so good.
“Oh, my God . . . finally,” Sophie said. “Nothing like a near-death experience to bring two lovebirds together.”
Nathaniel pulled back, a myriad of emotions playing with his psyche: embarrassment, relief, elation.
Trudy reached into her pocket and pulled out a silver sphere: a UV ball, the hunters’ most effective weapon against vampires. She looked at Nathaniel and he nodded, understanding.
Nathaniel sped off into the woods and hid behind a shelter of trees. Moments later, he registered the light from the flash of the UV ball.
When he returned to the cottage, Trudy stood over a pile of ashes. Nathaniel went to her and they embraced.
One less enemy to worry about, he thought.
Sophie pulled her scarf over her nose. “No offense guys, but you stink,” she said, addressing the newcomers.
Justin and Alexandre shared a look. “Sorry about that,” Justin said. “We doused ourselves with skunk spray to disguise our scent from the vampires. We’ve been following you all the way from Montreal.”
“We’re friends with Sarah and Reed,” Alexandre added.
“You are?” Sophie said. “Sarah never mentioned you. I’m Sophie, by the way. Sarah’s sister.”
Alexandre continued. “When we discovered Reed was a vampire, at the dance club in Montreal, we took him and Sarah to our place. We were hoping, as a vampire, he might know where we could find the one responsible for killing my brother.”
“Wait a minute, Sarah did mention you. You’re the ones who kidnapped her! You lying creeps! How dare you call yourselves their friends.”
“Hold on. Take it easy,” Justin said, raising his hands. “Once we had a chance to talk to them and explain, we figured out we were all on the same side. They promised to help us out and they did. They figured out Kyle was the one we were looking for, and when he escaped, they called to let us know. They also told us about your plans to head up north. We decided to follow and a good thing too, considering how things turned out, no?”
“We are extremely grateful for your assistance,” Nathaniel said. The feel of Trudy’s warmth next to him soothed him and excited him at the same time.
“Really, that’s an understatement,” Trudy said to the two hunters. “You saved my life.”
Nathaniel bowed his head to acknowledge the seriousness of her words. “For that, we owe you everything.”
“Well, how about a shower?” Alexandre said.
“You might need several showers,” Sophie said. “You guys are cute, but the smell is a real turnoff. Hey, you’re not gay by any chance, are you?”
The young men shared a quizzical glance. “Uh, no . . . why?” Justin asked.
“No reason,” Sophie said with a satisfied smile. She started walking toward the cottage and then paused, turning back. “Maybe you should strip out of your clothes right now, before you go inside and stink up the whole cabin,” she suggested, waggling her eyebrows.
“And I thought the vampires were scary,” Justin joked, elbowing Alexandre in the side.
Sophie narrowed her eyes and Alexandre laughed.
Reed
The coppery tang of blood tickled my nostrils. I raised my head and shook it, showering snow around me. I was alone in the forest. Alone except for the dead deer lying in a pool of its own blood several feet away.
Where the hell was I?
I closed my eyes and tried to figure out what I’d been doing.
Sarah and I had shown up at Marcel’s second cottage and surprise, surprise . . . the Queen of San
Jose was there. We’d fought and I’d taken a real beating. That was the last thing I remembered.
My thirst must have taken over because of my injury. Forced to find a source of blood for an emergency feed, I’d killed that poor animal. But what had happened to Sarah and the Queen?
The first flutters of panic snapped me back to the present. Oh, God–the Queen had taken Sarah.
I scrambled to my feet and spun in circles, clueless about which way to go. Panting heavily, even though I hadn’t started running yet, I forced myself to stop and think. If I backtracked by following my own footprints to the cottage, I could pick up their scent trail from where I’d last seen them and track Sarah down.
I took off into the night, darting through the trees, dodging rocks and undergrowth by instinct. The trees whipped past in a blur, the scent of pine and earth perfuming the air.
How long had I been out? What if I was too late? Even if I found them, what could I do to stop the Queen?
My mind raced as quickly as my feet, but I still didn’t have a plan. All I knew was that I had to find Sarah and keep fighting until I couldn’t fight anymore.
When I reached the clearing with the cabin, I sniffed until I found traces of Sarah’s familiar smell. Everything mixed together–from the odor of the shampoo she’d used to the unique honeyed scent of her skin–to burn a trail through the forest. My eyes stung when I thought of losing her, but I pushed through my despair to chase after them into the woods.
Racing as fast as I could, I knew by the Queen’s single set of small footprints I was on the right track.
“Sarah!” I shouted into the darkness.
Her scent grew stronger by the second, until a new odor hit my nose.
Blood.
Too much blood.
I burst out of the trees onto a scene of horror. The Queen was nowhere in sight. There was a body on the ground.
Sarah.
There was blood everywhere and Sarah’s stomach was a ripped up mess. An anguished wail escaped my throat and I sank to my knees.
Time slowed as I slapped my hands over my ears to drown out the noise of drums, but it was the sound of my own heartbeat thundering away. I screamed and hollered. I felt like running away and never stopping.
I wanted to drown myself in the lake.
I wished I could tear the world apart.
I couldn’t stand to lose anyone else.
With tears streaming down my face, I made myself crawl closer to where her body lay deathly still. Her skin was ashen, her lips drained of color.
I didn’t understand. Why hadn’t the Queen turned her? Hadn’t that been the whole point? I couldn’t smell any vampire blood, so obviously she hadn’t even tried.
And then I heard it.
The faint, faltering thump of a heartbeat.
“Jesus . . . Sarah? Help me!” I yelled to no one.
She wasn’t dead! But she would be soon if I didn’t do something. We were in such a remote area, even with my vampire speed it would take ages to get her to a hospital. Desperate to do something, I considered trying to turn her. Could a brand new vampire even make another one? What had Nathaniel told me about turning someone?
There was no time to think about it; I had to act. I leaned over and bit her neck, to drain what was left of her blood. I was surprised how much blood was left; I felt like I was already drowning in it. A sob built up at the back of my throat, but I managed to hold it back so I could keep drinking. Tears rolled down my face and I worried that I was the one killing her.
What if this didn’t work? What if it did work?
Her heartbeat slowed to a flicker and I pulled back, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. A wave of nausea swept over me; the glut of blood in my stomach was too much. I would lose consciousness soon, so I quickly bit down on my own wrist, slicing my vein open.
I pried Sarah’s mouth open and held my dripping wrist over her. Blood trickled in until my wound sealed itself. Had I given her enough?
My belly churned. I barely had a chance to throw myself to the side before I was sick, the contents of my stomach spewing in a gory fountain all over the ground. My brain felt foggy as sleepiness dragged me down. I collapsed into the disgusting red-splattered snow and died.
I woke up to the warm sun beating down on my back. There was a squishy, sucking noise when I lifted my head from a pool of muck–a disgusting mix of blood and God knows what else. I tasted something awful and spat out the scum that filled my mouth.
After sitting up, I grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed some of the gunk off my face.
I froze, suddenly remembering what was going on.
Sarah!
I twisted around to find her, but she was gone.
Tilting my head upward, I squinted into the sunlight. Damn it, I’d been unconscious so long the sun had come up. I stared at the spot where I’d left Sarah, trying to register what I was seeing. Or, what I didn’t see.
There was no pile of ashes, only blood and other gross remnants from her disastrous run-in with the Queen. Had someone taken Sarah, or had she somehow managed to leave on her own?
I raked my hand through my hair and swore loudly.
Blowing out a heavy breath, I stood and brushed myself off. A quick glance around the scene revealed a set of bloody footprints leading to the east. I set off to track them through the snow. Eventually, the traces of blood grew fainter and the prints continued clean.
I was pretty sure the prints were Sarah’s because the Queen’s tracks I’d followed earlier had been much smaller. It also seemed like Sarah had been running based on how far apart the boot prints were. If my attempt at turning her into a vampire had succeeded, she would have been overtaken with thirst. I couldn’t bear to think about the possibility of my attempt being unsuccessful.
After traveling through the woods for a good half hour, I finally came upon a small sign of civilization. The tracks I’d been following led straight to the front door of an innocent-looking, two-story brick home. The front door was open, swinging on its hinges in the slight breeze. It was a bad sign; no one would leave their door open in the middle of winter.
As I approached the house, I detected the smell of human blood. I walked up the creaky wood steps and nudged the door open further.
A man and a woman lay on the floor, dead. They’d been in their mid to late sixties, probably enjoying their retirement in a cozy house off the grid. My fangs didn’t even pop out at the sight of them bled out; I’d been sated with enough blood to last ten lifetimes.
There was no sign of Sarah anywhere. My heart felt like it might pound a hole through my chest.
“Sarah?” I called softly into the deafening silence.
Nothing.
A set of stairs led up toward the second floor, lit with sunshine that streamed in from a skylight above. The sitting room to my right was almost blindingly bright with its white painted walls and curtains drawn all the way open. A doorway off the kitchen to my left opened into darkness. A cellar?
I crept over, giving the fresh corpses a wide berth. A stairwell went down to a basement level. I couldn’t find a light switch, so I relied on my vampire night-vision to find my way around. I scented the air and detected mustiness mixed with something strange like . . . black licorice?
“Sarah?” I hissed under my breath.
I swallowed heavily and continued down. A single window–smudged with dirt–let in a trickle of light to my left. From the opposite side came a short sniffle.
I whipped my head around and gazed into the far corner of the room. Tucked underneath a table, Sarah sat curled into a ball with her arms wrapped around her knees. Even in the dark, I could tell she was covered from head to toe with a layer of blood. But she was alive.
“Oh, thank God,” I cried, quickly scuttling over to her. “Sarah, it’s me. Everything’s going to be okay.”
I crouched and scooted under the table. She stared at me with haunted eyes and didn’t say anything. I pulled her close, pillowing
her head against my shoulder, smoothing my hand over her hair, and whispered soothing words into her ear.
She was alive! I’d done it–I’d made her into a vampire. Now it was my turn to be strong for her, and support her, just as she’d done for me over the last few months. The only thing was . . . I felt so fragile, like if I said or did the wrong thing I might shatter into a million pieces. Almost losing Sarah had pushed me to the limits of my sanity, and I needed to pull myself together and at least act as if I were confident and in control.
I breathed in her scent; it was familiar yet different. The enormity of what had happened continued to sink in and I realized I was shaking.
“Reed?” she said at last.
“I’m here. Don’t worry; everything’s going to be all right,” I said, even as my voice wavered.
“No, Reed . . . I think . . . I think I killed two people upstairs. I . . . I murdered two innocent human beings.” Her words came out choked and desperate.
I knew exactly how she felt and there wasn’t anything I could do. “It’s not your fault, Sarah. We’ll figure this out, I promise.”
“There’s something else,” she said quietly. “I can’t . . .”
When her voice drifted off, my mind worked furiously to fill in the blank. My imagination went in awful directions. “What? What is it? You can tell me.”
“I can’t hear you,” she said. “I mean, in my head. I don’t know what you’re thinking. That couple upstairs were the same way–their minds were complete blanks. It’s like one of my senses has been switched off.”
“You mean . . . your ability to read minds is gone?” I asked.
“Yes. I’m sure of it,” she said. “I can’t describe how often I wished I couldn’t tell what people were thinking, but at the same time, my ability was part of me. The Queen has ruined everything! I wanted to spend my life helping people, and now look at me; I’m responsible for a double homicide! And I’m not . . . I’m not even human.”
I sighed heavily. “But . . . you’re alive. Hey, I’m not human anymore either, but at least I’m not dead. That has to be worth something, right? I know exactly what you’re going through, believe me. I killed someone too, remember? In New York, when they drained my blood and then stuck that poor guy’s bleeding neck in my face–that was one hundred percent the King’s fault. And this . . . you . . . that couple upstairs, that’s the Queen’s fault, not yours. She did ruin everything. But it’s over now; her stupid game is finished.”