Dissension

by Adrienne Monson

  “How come?”

  Leisha swallowed. “I was really depressed,” she explained. “The first few years, I would sneak into my village and check on Adanne. I tried very hard to refrain from drinking any blood. But I couldn’t fight it.”

  “So, when you finally gave in to truly being a vampire, you couldn’t bear to see Adanne anymore?”

  “Sort of. You see, I tried to live off the blood of animals for a time. It didn’t last more than ten years though.”

  “Why?”

  “When a vampire drinks from a life source, we take more than just blood. We absorb a piece of them as well. Some believe we drink in their aura, or their chi, but no one really knows. When I drank from animals, I started to lose my brain capacity. Literally. I was beginning to act and think like an animal myself, and it made me do some really embarrassing things, not to mention that I would eventually end up drinking human blood out of instinct, anyway.” She shrugged. “So, I decided if I was going to drink from humans, I should at least be fully aware of what I’m doing. It was hard, though, feeding off a human. I became so depressed I only functioned on the surface. I was too numb on the inside to try and keep my sanity. This lasted for three hundred years.”

  “Oh, wow.”

  Leisha did not respond.

  “How were you able to come out of it? And how did you stay alive for so long if you were that depressed?”

  Leisha’s lips twisted. “Ptah kept me alive. He didn’t like that I was lost in my own dim world, but he took what he could from me, and he liked me warming his bed. I was like a prize to him.”

  “I’m sorry, Leisha,” Samantha said softly.

  Leisha ignored the sympathy. “It was what I deserved. If I had been stronger, maybe I could have sacrificed Adanne’s life as well as my own, but I wasn’t, and that was the consequence of my choice.”

  Samantha shifted. “So, are you and Ptah still . . .?”

  Leisha chuckled. “No, we’re definitely not. You asked how I came out of my depression. Well, it was when Ellery came along.”

  “Ellery?” Samantha took extra effort to pronounce the name, slowly.

  Leisha smiled at the memory of Ellery. “Yes. I guess you could say she was kind of like a savior to me. Ptah had gotten sick of me after a time. I wasn’t entertaining to him anymore. So, he went out to find a new mate, and he came home with Ellery.”

  “The woman who replaced you brought you out of your depression?”

  “I know, it’s pretty ironic. But she was kind to me, and I felt a kinship toward her. She would come and visit me every day while I sat in my room feeling sorry for myself. She was so full of life. I guess she started to rub off on me.”

  “Did Ptah trick her into becoming a vampire as well?”

  “No, I was the only one he did that to. She wanted to be a vampire. She felt we existed for a reason, and that killing people wasn’t exactly bad as long as you stuck to it for food. She didn’t approve of torture or being sadistic like a lot of them. She just thought it was the proper way of the food chain.

  “I never fully accepted her mindset, but it helped me realize that just because Ellery was a vampire, didn’t mean she was completely evil. So, that’s when I decided to make a real life for myself and to stop feeling sorry for my mistake.”

  Samantha gave a look of exasperation. “But you didn’t make a mistake. You had no choice!”

  Leisha’s smile was rueful. “I can’t use that excuse anymore. I did have a choice, and I can honestly say I made the wrong choice. But I can also honestly say if I had to do it all over again, I’d probably do the same thing. I do take comfort in the fact that my daughter was able to grow up, and hopefully be happy.”

  Samantha’s brow wrinkled as Leisha spoke, and changed the subject. “Will I be meeting Ellery?”

  Leisha grieved for a moment, but pushed it out of her heart. “No, you won’t,” she said. “Ellery died over three hundred years ago. She was burned as a witch in France.”

  “They still did witch trials in that time?”

  “It was a smaller village that still held on to their superstitions. Ellery could have escaped, but she was watched all the time and didn’t want to do anything that would expose us—our kind—to the public.”

  Samantha shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense. They would just have thought it was some kind of witchcraft.”

  Leisha lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “Maybe she was sick of living. I don’t know why she didn’t fight for her life, but I do know it broke my heart for her to go.” Leisha paused, her face pensive. “But if she hadn’t died, I never would have gone out on my own.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Ellery had been my best friend for hundreds of years, and I relied heavily on her emotionally. Once she died, I had to rely on myself. I became independent and didn’t want to be with Ptah and the other vampires anymore. Over time, I convinced Ptah to let me go on my own.”

  “And he just agreed?”

  “Well, there were some conditions. But I was setting a bad example to the others since I wouldn’t listen to him anymore. I continued to show a lack of respect; he was compelled to let me go since he had no desire to kill me.”

  “But now you’re going back to him.”

  “Unfortunately, yes. Like I said, there were some conditions. But you need not worry yourself over that. I promise I will do everything in my power to protect you, and get you back to your home as soon as possible.”

  Samantha shifted a little. “I . . . I don’t know if I’ll want to go back. It doesn’t seem like there’s anything to go back to.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Samantha explained about her father. Leisha immediately connected the dots—her torturer was Samantha’s dad.

  “I am truly sorry, Samantha.”

  The girl nodded and looked away. They sat in silence for some time until Samantha fell asleep, her head tilted back, her mouth slightly open.

  Leisha laid Samantha across the seats, securing the girl with a blanket. It had been so long since Leisha had acted in a nurturing way, and she was surprised at how naturally it came to her. She looked down in wonder at the girl’s pale face.

  Samantha was bringing out a side in her she thought had died. This young woman was truly destined for amazing things in her life. At that thought, Leisha worried about taking her to the vampires. There was only so much she could do to keep them from touching her, but she would die before any harm came to Samantha.

  Mason rolled onto his side in his cot and groaned. He knew he needed to get some sleep, but he remained alert so he could find Samantha.

  He felt a sense of protectiveness over Samantha he had never felt before. She would have had a better life without him—he’d encouraged Mary to take her when she left him—and now that Mary was gone, taking care of their daughter was one responsibility he’d failed. Samantha was only in his life for a minute before she was snatched away by the most dangerous creatures on the earth.

  He wished he knew what his daughter was doing at the compound in the first place. Security cameras showed her wandering all over the place, and it looked too obvious she had aided that vampire’s escape. But Mason wouldn’t believe it.

  He had to find her before it was too late. The idea of what she must have been going through at that very moment gave him a painful headache. He pinched the bridge of his nose. She had to be alive still. If they had wanted to kill her, they would not have gone to all that trouble to take her with them. For some reason, she seemed special to them, and he needed to find out why. He wanted to know how she had gotten mixed up in this mess. Maybe these creatures had emotionally seduced her. Samantha was in a vulnerable state with her mother’s death; she was prone to do something outside of her character.

  A cold chill slithered through his belly like a snake. What if they turned her into a vampire? He panicked at the thought and jumped to his feet.

  The door opened to illuminate the room and Carter walke
d purposefully toward him. He matched Mason’s six-foot-three frame perfectly, but that was the only similarity they shared. Carter had dark curls that took fifteen years off his forty. He was also skinny, making him appear lankier than he actually was. His skin was pasty pale, like the nerdy kids who sat in front of computers all day. They were not alike in personality either, but they got along just fine.

  Mason read Carter’s expression in the dim room as clear as day—he’d worked with Carter for fifteen years. Whatever Carter had to say, Mason was not going to like it. Mason sat back down on the cot, his panic forgotten as he prepped himself for the unpleasant conversation they were about to have.

  Carter sat next to him, slumping in his usual manner. “How are you feeling, old buddy?”

  “I’ve been better.” He shrugged awkwardly.

  He hesitated. “About your daughter—”

  “She’s not dead,” Mason interrupted. “I know they wouldn’t have killed her yet.”

  Carter put a hand on his shoulder in reassurance. “No, not that we know of. But I was able to track them to a small airport just outside of Vegas. They were somehow able to slip through security. Their flight plan checked out. They went to Madrid. I don’t know if they picked up another flight from there or not.”

  Mason’s mind swirled at the possibilities. “Let’s get our people out there now. Check to see if maybe they rented a car. It will take a while to check all the flights, but if they continued on from there, it would be on a private plane. The vampire woman can go out in the sun, but none of the others we’ve worked with could, making privacy of the essence.”

  Carter was slowly shaking his head.

  Mason felt defensive. “It may be a long shot, but it also might not be. We could find them pretty quickly if we just jumped on this.”

  “Mason,” Carter started. “I just came from a meeting with the big dogs.”

  “So?” Mason scowled.

  “So, they have ordered us to let them go; we’ll continue with the samples we already have.” He paused. “You know, we have more than enough to work with now. They think it’s a waste of our resources to try and get more.”

  Mason felt his heart exploding in a fury, not being able to contain his anger anymore. “A waste! My daughter’s life is not important enough for us to tap into a couple of agents in the field? Spain has nothing going on right now, anyway. They would probably jump at the chance to stop sitting around twiddling their thumbs. How can they say that? It’s my little girl in the hot seat and they just want me to drop her?”

  Carter’s tone hardened. “Mason, you know where the priorities of this company lie. Like everyone else here, you have agreed to make the necessary sacrifices for the greater good.” He pulled a hand through his curls. “I think you and I have a mutual respect for each other, and I’d like to keep it that way. Just remember, if you begin to do anything outside of the norm, I’m going to have to report it.” With that, he stood and walked into the hallway only to pause for a moment halfway. “You’ll get a day to recover from your tragedy, and then it’s back to work.”

  A cloud of despair engulfed Mason as he watched Carter walk away. Carter was right; the company had no feelings for its employees—they were expected to follow orders. Mason hadn’t felt this helpless since he was a boy being locked in the closet. There wasn’t anything he could do to save his little girl.

  No, he couldn’t sit and let his grief blind him. There had to be a way, but it wouldn’t be through the help of the company—that was abundantly clear to him. He would have to use and push all of his connections to get the help he needed. He didn’t care if he used up all the favors he’d collected over the years; all he cared about was setting Samantha free. Before it was too late.

  CHAPTER 10

  Samantha dozed off in the car. It had been a long trip—thirteen hours to Spain where they couldn’t leave the plane, and over an hour of waiting time while the plane refueled. She wasn’t sure how many more hours before they reached India; all she knew was that she was exhausted and never wanted to be in a plane again. The car was waiting for them when they landed that evening. She knew she should be awake and pay attention to her surroundings. She had never been out of the country before, and India seemed exotic and exciting, but she couldn’t keep her eyes open. Different smells filled the air, some of them pleasant and some of them not so pleasant. But that was all Samantha identified before her head dropped to her headrest, falling asleep instantly.

  The next thing she knew, Leisha was shaking her gently.

  “We’re here,” she said. “Do you remember all of the protocol I taught you on the plane?”

  Samantha numbly nodded her head. They were already there, and now she had to remember all the things she was supposed to do in order to be a proper human servant. There was so much to remember, it was like going to visit a king in a palace, making sure not to offend anyone by sneezing, or something.

  She followed the vampires out of the backseat and walked with Leisha towards—“A catholic church? This is where you vampires live? A catholic church in the middle of India?”

  “There are Catholics living in India, you know. And in case you are still wondering, no, we don’t fear the cross or holy water. Or garlic. In fact, a lot of us like the taste of it in our cooking.”

  The last comment gave Samantha another pause. “Wait, you eat regular food, too?”

  Leisha glanced at Samantha’s shocked expression in amusement. “There are a lot of myths about vampires you’ll have to put out of your mind. Yes, we can eat food just like anyone else. We don’t actually need it, but vampires tend to enjoy gourmet foods. If you were hundreds of years old and have heightened senses, you will want to delight in all the finer things in life as much as you can.”

  They followed Nik and their driver into the church building. It was a regular-size cathedral; not something that could house hundreds of vampires. Samantha wondered if they had coffins lined up in every room. She shuddered at the thought of having to sleep in a coffin.

  They walked through the pews to the altar in the very back. Once there, Nik turned to the right and slipped through a backdoor, which led to a small entryway with stairs leading up to the second floor. Samantha was about to continue up them when she realized that Nik and Leisha were just standing in the cramped entryway. Waiting. Then, a red laser came out of the paneled wall and scanned across Nik’s eyes.

  One of the panels opened inward to show a modern staircase going down. Samantha was too absorbed in her surroundings as they descended that it was not until they were halfway down the deep stairway did she notice Nik was gone. She assumed he didn’t want to go down the stairs at human speed, and was grateful that Leisha was being so patient with her. After all, she had seen how fast they could move.

  The stairway was well lit and painted a soothing taupe. Various paintings, from modern to abstract to classical, hung on the walls. She had anticipated something more like stone steps instead of the cream colored carpeting, and she thought the atmosphere would have been more foreboding. Contrary to what she thought, this place was pleasant and invigorating, as if she were entering a five-star hotel instead of an underground base infested with evil vampires. It even smelled like vanilla and lavender.

  Once they were at the bottom of the stairs, Samantha gaped. The room the stairs led to was huge. It had to have been the size of two football fields with high vaulted ceilings. Five large chandeliers hung from the ceiling to give off a warm, golden glow. Sconces matching the crystal chandeliers lined the walls, reinforcing the soft hues of the room. The floor was a dark cherry hardwood with several large rugs strategically placed, segmenting the room into different lounging areas.

  The walls were covered with paintings of sunrises and gardens and exotic animals. And then there were the disturbing ones with women being chased by frightening creatures, pictures of snakes, spiders, bats, and other dark beasts. Quite a few of the paintings were of men and women in passionate embraces, which made he
r want to giggle and blush at the same time. It would take Samantha at least a year to study each depiction on the walls.

  Once again, she was shocked that it was nothing like what she was expecting. It seemed so hard to imagine that anyone living in such a warm and grandly elegant place could be a real monster.

  A woman entered from a doorway at the other end of the room. She became a blur before suddenly standing before them with a welcoming smile on her full lips. The first thing Samantha noticed was her icy blue eyes. They were of such a pale blue that they reminded her of the arctic. She had high cheekbones and a heart-shaped face. She wore a touch too much makeup—although it didn’t look bad on her—and an old-fashioned light blue silk dress that complemented her voluptuous curves. She could not have been more than five-foot-one, but she held such presence that Samantha felt like the lady was towering over her.

  The brunette’s gaze was on Samantha. “So you are the girl who found her way into Leisha’s heart. My, you are just such a lovely little thing.” She reached up and caressed Samantha’s cheek. “Your skin is so pale and perfect.” She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. “And you smell absolutely wonderful.”

  Samantha couldn’t help but smile back. This woman was as pleasantly surprising as the room.

  “No welcome for me, Annette?” Leisha asked casually. Samantha glanced at her. Leisha held herself rigid, her body language belying her tone.

  Annette’s smile dropped and her expression turned cold. Samantha could almost feel a frosty draft emanating from her. “You are welcome as long as I can tolerate you.” One side of her mouth curved up. “Maybe if I enjoy my time with your pet, you will be more welcome than usual.”

  “She is not a toy,” Leisha responded in a low, dangerous voice. “She’s under my protection, and you will honor that.”

  “Nikita was telling the truth then? You do intend to make her your human servant. Last time I saw you, I believe you said you were above that.”