by Amira Rain
“However, for all my Watcher-worship, by the time I was in my early twenties, my father had convinced me that I was destined to follow in his footsteps. I was destined to fight the Watchers, just like he’d always done. After all, he always said, what right do they have to tell us what vampires in our coven should do? This made at least marginal sense to me at the time; so, I allowed my dad to turn me into a vampire, and I got the Warren tattoo as a symbol of my loyalty. Not long after, though, I realized I’d made a huge mistake. I knew that I could never hurt innocent humans, not even just to drink a bit from them and then erase their memory. I also knew that I could never fight against the Watcher vampires, who defended and protected them. My only problem when I realized all this was that I knew my father would never simply let me go. See, all Warren covens are a bit like the mob. You don’t just walk away with all their secrets. You either stay, or they kill you to silence you…and I knew that my father would have no problem doing that to even his own son, because his mentality has always been the Warren coven as a whole above any single person.”
Again, there was a pause, and I heard Paul take a deep breath before continuing.
“Once I realized that I just didn’t have it in me to be a Warren, but maybe wouldn’t survive leaving, I fell into a depression. It was around this time that my father got word that one Hayden MacGregor, from a Watcher community in Michigan, was ‘hiring,’ so to speak, new Watcher recruits to grow his community in response to a nearby Warren community getting larger. To make a long story short, my father talked to the Sweetwater Warrens, and they all agreed that I would make the perfect spy, because unlike with the Sweetwater Warrens, none of you Watchers here on the farm would recognize me as being a Warren myself. When my father proposed this idea to me, I agreed to become a spy, knowing that this was my only way out. So, my father forged some documents, and got a few vampires from a non-Warren coven in the state to claim me as one of their own so that I would have a non-Warren history when vetted by your dad.”
Listening to Paul, I’d long since stopped crying, and I now finally lifted my face from my hands. “And just how long were you planning on deceiving my dad after coming here?”
Standing in front of me, Paul heaved a sigh. “I was always going to tell him, and I still am going to. All I ask from you, Chrissy, is for just a little more time. Then, when the time is right…when your dad trusts me enough…I’m going to come clean to him. I’m going to tell him the truth, and tell him that I’m fully committed to renouncing my Warren kinship and becoming a Watcher. I’m also going to tell him that from the day I first arrived here on the farm, I’ve been giving my contacts from the Sweetwater Warrens the wrong intelligence. I’ve been trying to confuse them about the timing and direction of different guard patrols, and I’ve been trying to keep them off the property in the first place by making up different lies to make them think that a Watcher attack on their own compound is imminent…all because I want to protect everyone here on the farm, and prove myself as a Watcher. I really hope you can believe me about all this, because it’s the truth.”
Folding my arms across my chest, I snorted. “And how do I know that you’re telling me the truth? How do I know that you’re not just lying to me just to keep me quiet until you and all your Warren friends finally launch a full-scale attack on everyone here at the farm?”
Unsure of what to believe at present, this seemed like a real possibility.
As if he thought the mere idea was absurd, Paul just gave his head a small, slow shake, looking at me with sad eyes. “You just either have to trust me, or not, Chrissy.”
“No, you’re actually wrong about that. I don’t have to do anything.”
Except find my dad, I thought, suddenly tearing off up the trail.
*
It occurred to me after a few paces that Paul might try to follow me, catch me, and kill me to keep me quiet. However, glancing backward, I saw that he wasn’t running after me, and was instead just leaning against a tree with his face in his hands.
Even though he was a Warren and spy, and even though I still wasn’t sure that I could believe a single word he’d said, the image of him like that, against a tree with his face in his hands, made my heart ache for some reason. However, instead of making me slow or even turn back around, this ache just made me run faster, suddenly desperate to just get the hell away from him so that I could think clearly. I was also desperate to find my dad and tell him everything, knowing that he’d be able to tell if Paul was telling the truth or not.
For a while, I just kind of zoned out, with my overloaded brain seeming to just need some respite from shock after what I’d just experienced over the last hour or so.
However, presently, while I continued running, I found that despite not wanting to think about anything, I could only think of one particular thing. This was that even though Jake had never told me he was the spy, I’d felt afraid of him, whereas even though Paul basically had told me, via his tattoo, I hadn’t felt afraid of him at all, at any point after I’d found out the truth. I’d felt hurt, yes, and I’d felt betrayed, yes. I’d also felt angry, and I still did. And, in fact, somewhere in the back of my mind, that anger was only increasing the further I ran. But, still, I wasn’t afraid. Not of Paul. Even though I now knew that he was actually a Warren, and a spy at that, I still knew deep in my heart that he would never hurt me. Maybe he was really telling you the truth, I thought, slowing my pace a little. Because you obviously still trust him, at least on some level.
I had no idea how far I’d run when another thought occurred to me. I’d run way past the area where my dad’s guard patrol normally came through. In fact, I wasn’t a hundred percent certain that I was even on our property anymore. I could only guess that maybe I’d missed my dad by a few minutes or something, maybe having first run into the woods just after he and his patrol guards had left the area.
Wondering what I should do, I slowed to a jog, realizing that the path soon came to an end in a small clearing in a particularly dark area of the forest. Above, the treetops were so dense and closely-spaced that they blocked out most of the sunlight.
Having been to this clearing a few years earlier, while exploring with Mel and Jen one day, I remembered that there was a cluster of huge rocks to one side, which we’d all sat on for a while. Thinking that maybe I’d now sit on one of these rocks again, just to kind of try to get my bearings and catch my breath before probably returning home to call my dad, I continued toward the clearing, although now slowing my jog to a walk, in part because the ankle I’d sprained was beginning to hurt a little. Not long after, I heard furious quacking coming from somewhere behind me, which made me nearly jump out of my skin in the quiet forest. I’d completely forgotten that I’d left Johnathan behind when I’d fled from Paul.
Turning to look down the trail, I heaved a sigh. “You scared me, Johnathan. I don’t know who else I thought would be quacking in the forest, but you just startled me for a second.”
I could hardly blame myself for having been a bit startled, because my nerves were just shot by now, to say the least.
Still quacking furiously, Johnathan continued up the trail toward me, waddling faster than I’d ever seen him go. A little bit embarrassed, I realized that because of my short-ish legs, a little white duck had nearly outrun me.
When he reached me, I scooped him up and held him to my chest, then able to tell that he was breathing extremely rapidly. Feeling terrible that I’d made him chase me down, I kissed the top of his head, telling him that I was so sorry. “I didn’t mean to make you run like that, buddy. I really didn’t. I didn’t know you were following me, just trying to catch up.”
Quacking weakly in a low sort of tone between breaths, as if to admonish me for my inconsideration, Johnathan rested with his little head against my chest. Thinking that he really had to be the tamest, smartest, sweetest little duck in the whole world, I just talked to him for a short while in a soothing voice while petting his soft feathers.
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br /> Once his breathing had at least mostly returned to normal, I told him that we were going to go have a seat on a big rock for a minute. “Just until my hurt ankle feels a little better.”
I turned, intending to stroll the last couple of feet to the clearing. However, something made me freeze, and that something was actually five somethings. Just two or three feet away from me, blocking my way to the clearing, stood five muscular men I’d never seen before. They weren’t vampires from the farm. I had a pretty good idea that they were vampires, though. This was because one of them, the tallest of them, who was standing in the middle of the group, had a black W tattoo in the center of his throat, and the W had wings.
While I struggled to breathe, this man leered at me. “Hi.”
Instantly, just acting on pure instinct, I turned to make an attempt at fleeing. However, before I could take even a single step, the leering man, who I assumed was the ringleader of the group, grabbed part of my t-shirt and whirled me back around to face him and the others.
“No, no, honey…we’re not going to run. If you try again before I’m done talking to you, things will go very bad for you. You understand?”
Still cradling an unnaturally silent Johnathan in my arms, I nodded mutely, unable to speak, even to say a simple yes.
Seemingly satisfied with my response, the man I was starting to think of as Ringleader took a step back from me and slowly surveyed me from head-to-toe, leering again, before speaking. “Now, we know there are only two red-headed girls at the farm, and we also know that one of them is Hayden MacGregor’s niece, and the other is his daughter. Which are you?”
Knowing that the Warrens had wanted to kill me, my mom, and my little brothers for years, I figured that my best bet for staying alive was saying that I was Jen, so I did, forcing myself to speak.
“I’m the niece.”
Folding his arms across his chest, Ringleader sneered. “Liar. That question was just a test to see if you’d be honest with us, and you failed. We know that the MacGregor niece is all of about ninety pounds soaking wet, and you’ve got thirty or forty more pounds of meat on you. You’re the MacGregor daughter…and now we know that you’re also a liar, which isn’t good for you. See, we Warrens tend to punish liars…very slowly and painfully.”
Completely unable to help myself, I began backing away from the Warrens, yelling. “Paul! Help me!”
I began shouting Paul’s name again, but Ringleader had lunged forward, shoving a palm against my mouth to stop me.
“Now, none of that, honey. Yell one more single syllable when I take my palm off your mouth, and I’ll cut your tongue off right where we stand. Understand me?”
Trembling, with tears welling in my eyes, I forced myself to nod, and Ringleader took his hand off my mouth.
“Good. And thanks for the little clue, too, by saying Paul’s name. Now I know just how far deep with you Watchers he’s gotten. He’s actually dating Hayden MacGregor’s daughter, I presume. Can you believe that, boys?”
Ringleader glanced over each of his shoulders at his four fellow Warrens, who were now standing just slightly behind him because of his lunge. Shaking their heads, each of the four seemed to express that no, they couldn’t believe that Paul was dating Hayden MacGregor’s daughter.
Ringleader turned back to me, folding his arms across his chest again. “Now, as for you, I bet there’s a lot about our good friend Paul that you wouldn’t believe.”
Realizing that Ringleader didn’t know that I knew that Paul was a Warren spy, I had a sudden idea and just let it rip before I lost my nerve. “Actually, I know everything about Paul. I know he’s a Warren, and I know he’s a spy. I’m okay with it, though. In fact, he’s gotten me all onboard with it, so I’m kind of a spy now, too. See, I hate my dad, and I’ll do anything to take him down, including helping all you Warrens. That’s why Paul trusted me enough to tell me—”
“Nope, honey.” Ringleader shook his head at me. “None of this is going to fly. We know what Paul has been doing. We know that Paul hasn’t been loyal to us, let alone loyal to the point of getting Hayden MacGregor’s daughter on our side. We know that Paul has become a defector. He’s given us the wrong information about guard patrols five different times now. He’s also given us false information about supposed impending attacks on our compound. We know all this thanks to a new little spy friend we recently recruited not too long ago, a spy aptly named Jake Warren, as if he was just destined to be one of us. One hell of an ambitious young vampire, that Jake. Ran into me on his way to the farm, here, the day all the new recruits were showing up, and right away, he said he wanted to work for us. ‘I admire you Warrens’ style,’ he said. ‘I’ll help you folks for a while, and then you help me wipe out all the vampires on the farm so I can set up my own little Warren coven and have all sorts of power.’ Instantly, I liked the kid, and my boss liked the sound of him, too. So, we decided to work with him on a trial basis. Now, this isn’t to say that we entirely trust our new little spy friend, but…we trust him enough at this point. Not enough to reveal to him that Paul is actually a Warren, and from what coven, but I guess enough to trust him over Paul when he gives us the correct patrol schedules and all that; put it that way.”
I stood in absolute shock, unable to speak or even really think clearly. One of the men behind Ringleader suddenly cleared his throat in a way that made me think that he might be trying to warn Ringleader that he was starting to say too much.
Apparently picking up on this, although without even giving a backward glance to his companion, Ringleader gave his own throat a clear, gaze on me. “Anyway. We didn’t come here today to spend all day chatting with you. We came here to kill Paul. Care to make this process simpler by telling us his whereabouts right now? I’m just guessing that you, as his girlfriend, might know. And, if you do, but you just don’t feel inclined to tell us, well….” Leering at me again, Ringleader pulled some sort of a dagger from his belt. “There are ways we can get you to tell us where he is. And when we’re done with you, maybe we’ll even carve up your little pet duck. Not for dinner, though, you know, because we’re vampires. Just for fun.”
Just then, a rustling in the trees to my right made us all look in that direction.
From between two tall sycamores, Paul stepped out, stony-faced. “Let her go.”
With his face lighting up with what appeared to be pure joy, Ringleader looked at his four companions. “You believe this? How easy was that?”
Paul spoke to me in a low voice. “Chrissy…start running back to the house.”
Now convinced of Paul’s innocence, I shook my head. “No…I’m not leaving. They’ll kill you.”
“Well, they’re going to try to kill me whether you’re here or not. So, I want you to run back to the house. Right now. I’ll hold them off.”
“No. I’m not—”
“Chrissy, go!”
“No!”
“All right.” With his earlier look of pure joy now having become replaced by a frown, Ringleader looked from me to Paul. “Enough of this. She had a chance to run, and we might have actually just let her go, but she didn’t take it. Clearly, she wants to be a part of this. Maybe she wants it to all go down like Romeo and Juliet, with both of you dying together.”
“Don’t you even dare touch her.”
Ringleader snorted. “Oh, we might do a little more than just touch her. Now that I’m thinking about all this, what a better way to show Hayden MacGregor that us Warrens mean business than by killing his very own daughter, and right on the border of his very own property, no less. The elders have wanted MacGregor’s kids dead for years anyway.”
The companion of Ringleader who had cleared his throat earlier now did so again before speaking to Ringleader in a low voice. “Besides…we have to kill her now. You told her about Jake.”
Swallowing, Ringleader turned a vivid shade of pink. “You’re right, Blaine. I guess I goofed. And maybe we won’t tell the elders about that, okay?”
&
nbsp; Flexing his fists, Jake stepped out from between the sycamores. “Run, Chrissy.”
Ringleader suddenly drew his dagger back as if preparing to slash at me with it. “No. She’s not going anywhere.”
In the next second, several things happened at once. Ringleader’s four companions began charging Jake, blocking him from reaching me. Ringleader began sweeping his dagger in a downward arc toward me. Screaming, I flinched, closing my eyes. I didn’t let go of Johnathan, though, still cradling him protectively. However, within a fraction of a second, he suddenly wasn’t in my arms anymore. It felt like he’d just burst right out of them. There was no other way to describe it. Before I could even process what might have happened, I heard Ringleader yell, and I opened my eyes, gasping at what I saw.
Flapping his wings furiously, Johnathan was biting at Ringleader’s face, and viciously enough to have already drawn blood. However, Johnathan was bleeding, too, profusely, clearly having taken a dagger slash that had been meant for me. The entire front of his chest was crimson.
Johnathan’s assault on Ringleader lasted only mere moments before Ringleader swatted him away, this movement slamming him to the ground, where he remained, suddenly motionless. Crying out, I began kneeling to pick him up, but Ringleader grabbed my face to stop me.
“No, you don’t. Now it’s your turn.”
*
I screamed, thinking that I might be exhaling my last breath. However, Johnathan’s assault on Ringleader had given Paul the few moments he’d needed to charge through the four other Warrens. Now, with some sort of a guttural, ferocious growl, he was charging at Ringleader, fangs bared. Scrambling backward, I saw naked fear in Ringleader’s eyes, but just for a moment, before Paul leaped through the air and tackled him, throwing him backward at least ten feet.
Not half a second later, movement to my right made me whip my face toward the sycamores, and I saw the most welcome, beautiful, blessed sight I’d ever seen in my life. My dad. Along with Matt, Trevor, and Sam. All of them charging into the fray, making a beeline for the four Warrens that Paul had charged through.