by Megan Hawke
I reached for my sword, but found only air. It was in the back of Heidi's SUV. And then I was tackled around the knees, driving me face first into the floor. The other two piled on. I cursed, and bucked, trying to throw them off as one of them held onto my right arm. Why were they trying to capture me?
"You are so dead," I said.
The third zombie did something unexpected. He pressed a wet cloth over my face, covering my mouth and nose. It was the oddest smell. Before I could place it, my world flipped over. My mind began spinning and I lost control of my limbs. I felt someone binding my wrists, knees, and ankles.
Blackness crashed down upon me.
Chapter 10
"Uugh." It hurt. Hurt bad.
"About time you woke up." It was a strange sounding voice. Deep. Female. The problem was the accent. Kinda British sounding, but an odd cadence. "Wake up, Sleeping Beauty."
I opened my eyes. Not an easy task. Dizziness claimed me for a long moment.
"What did you do to me?"
"Did you not like the chloroform, Miss Black Heart?"
"Chloroform?" I managed to get my eyes open, but everything was still blurry. Blinking helped. A tall, slim figure coalesced before me. "African?"
We were in a dark, barren room. There was a stale quality to the air, like this room wasn't used much and was left shut up. Bare hardwood floors, dirty walls. Five dead men lay on the floor in a line. Were they the zombies that captured me?
Just below my face, and reeking of that same foul smell that took me out, was a mask with a cloth inside. It was hanging from my neck.
"Oh now, I knew you wasn't so dumb. My sisters disagree," she said.
The woman was very dark, wearing afro-centric robes and a head wrap. Did they call them turbans? Well, it looked looser than a turban. Everything was in pale greens, browns, and blues. Though she wore several rings, I didn't see any gems or crystals for her magic.
She regarded me coolly.
"Sisters? Like in a coven?"
"There you go again, being way too smart for your own good."
I was upright. My wrists and ankles burned with unholy fire. Looking up, then down, I surveyed my predicament.
"You nailed me to a cross?" Actually, it was a St. Andrew's Cross, holding me spread-eagle. Just like poor Geoffrey Huddleston, and that didn't end well for him. It was leaning against a wall, so I wasn't perfectly upright. Close enough. "You're sick."
"You feed off humans," she said with a look of disgust. "And you have the audacity to call me sick?"
"That's me. Audacious."
I was still dressed, save for my boots. I guess they got in the way of nailing my feet down. At first I thought it was my ankles and wrists hurting, but was the effects of the blessed silver. The silver nails penetrated my feet and hands.
Technically, I possessed more than enough strength to pull myself off those nails. Bones might break, tendons snap, but they would all heal remarkably fast. But I was as weak as a newborn kitten. Blessed silver could enervate me, but not that much. Then I spotted their setup.
"You're draining my blood?"
"You killed our vampires. We need replacements, Black Heart." She smiled cruelly. "Seemed only right that you provide the means of making those replacements."
The witch drained my blood. That explained my profound weakness. I had no idea how long it took for my body to regenerate ten pints of blood. There was a pair of one-gallon glass bottles to my left. Neither was completely full. Plastic tubing, pink with blood residue, was coiled up next to them. Large gauged needles were at the end of each tube. Just eyeballing the bottles, it looked like ten pints. All of my blood.
"You won't get away with this."
"Of course we will, Black Heart. We've been getting away with it for over a week," she said. "We know things. You surprised us, and probably everyone else, by getting the packs to give you until Sunday night to resolve this problem."
"That's a long time," I said.
"Not long enough for you," she said. The witch picked up a large syringe. She opened one of the bottles of blood, put the needle in and pulled back on the plunger. After filling the syringe with my blood, she walked over to the first dead body. He was a Hispanic man in jeans and t-shirt, who looked like a construction worker. She injected the whole syringe into his chest. "And that's how we create vampires, Black Heart. In three days he will rise, and be ours to control." She smiled at me. "Of course, we actually injected them last night, shortly after we captured you."
She was so smug. So pleased with herself. I could use that.
"How do you control them?"
"Magic," she replied.
That wasn't helpful. Of course they used magic. Unfortunately, she seemed to be losing interest. My heart started to race. I had to know.
"Who are you working for? Who is the head witch of your coven?"
"Head witch?"
"Yeah, the witch with the most mojo. The queen of witches, or whatever you call your ignoble leaders."
"Ignoble?"
"Who is she? You aren't it, that’s for sure. I suspect you are low girl on the totem pole, left here as my guard because the other more powerful witches were needed elsewhere," I said. Oh, I was pissing her off, big time. I must admit to a certain, natural born gift in that area. "You do know, right? You're not so low that they don't trust you with real names, right?"
She walked up to me. Even though my feet were a few inches off the floor, she looked down into my face. She began speaking a spell. Her hands started to glow golden, and she held them up so I could see. I guess she liked the look of fear in my eyes. And finally she ended by placing both hands flat on my chest.
"Aaaaaaaaggggggghhh!" I cried. The pain was incredible. It felt like every single nerve in my body was firing with pain, like I was on fire inside and out. The magic slowly faded from her hands. "Oh, man, that hurt. But it answered my question. I hit a nerve, so you are that low."
That earned me a slap across the face. I just grinned at her. I felt no real joy, but I knew it really pissed her off. Her being pissed off enough to make a mistake was important.
"What? No more magic? Did you use it all up with that pathetic display?"
"I will kill you!"
"Too late. The late, never lamented Yuri Romanov beat you to the punch," I said. "Try again."
"I will finish the job."
"No. You will do as you are told. And no one told you to kill me."
She seethed. "I only reframe from killing you now, Black Heart, so that I can watch those five bodies come back to life, and slaughter you as their first victim."
"You know, they will make you clean up all the blood," I said. "Little wannabe witch."
She scowled at me, but said nothing. I bet I struck truth again. It's a gift.
"I don't like the sound of your voice," she said. The witch pushed the mask back over my lower face, covering mouth and nose. I held my breath, since I didn't need to breath. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough. The chloroform fumes rose right up into my nose. "You can sleep until it is time to die."
My world began spinning again. Blackness crept in slowly. I tried fighting it, but vamps were highly susceptible to drugs. I might've lasted one minute before the blackness pulled me down.
Chapter 11
I woke to thunderstorms. Window rattling thunder boomers. My vampiric senses immediately registered the sun was still up. Behind thick, dark clouds, but still up. But it wouldn't be up for long. Late afternoon, was my guess.
The lights were off, and the windows sealed against light. So it was pitch black in there. My night vision was good enough to see I was alone. The five bodies were gone. The mask still covered my face, but there was no odor coming from it.
I could hear someone moving around elsewhere in the house. She was humming. The clatter of silverware and dishes made me think she was either eating or washing dishes.
"Idiot." Even I know chloroform evaporates, and rather quickly. Did she not know it? More likely she
got distracted and forgot to resoak the cloth. Or she lost track of time. Either way, I was awake and feeling stronger, more alert than before.
There were no bottles or tubes around. How much blood did I regenerate? Half? All of it. I didn't know how long I had been out that last time. It could've been one hour, or a year. All I knew was I felt tons better than last time I was awake.
Let me tell you, hanging by your hands and feet on a cross was not comfortable. All my muscles were on fire, especially my shoulders and back. I pulled myself up higher a bit, just to try and relieve some of the stress and strain.
"Oh. That's interesting." Before, I wasn't able to do that. I was too weak. Not anymore. My heart raced. I licked my lips, took a deep breath, and braced my back against the St. Andrew's Cross I was nailed upon. And then I pulled my hands off the nails. Really, it was more like a powerful thrust. Bones snapped, pain knifed down my arms, and I fell straight forward. "Aaggh, Jesus!"
I landed face first on the floor. Yeah, my faced hit first, and bounced. Ouch.
"That was stupid." My feet were still nailed to the cross. "Note to self, next time pull my feet off first. Lesson learned."
"What's going on it there?" she called. "Are you awake?"
I looked at the door. The sound of footsteps coming my way filled the air. I had no time.
It was a lot harder, and even more painful ripping my feet off the nails. Wide heads. The pain and injuries paralyzed me. My sweet keeper barged into the room.
"Sweet Jesus! She's free!"
She started to speak a spell. I locked eyes with her, bared my fangs, and growled. Her eyes went wide, she stuttered, and her spell fizzled. From her grimace I guessed it hurt for a spell to be broken like that.
"You die!" I cried.
She screamed and ran out of the room. I was still healing, so couldn't even stand up yet. But I couldn't stay there. The witch could find her spine and come back. Without the element of surprise I probably didn't stand a chance against her magic. I've never fared well when attacked with magic. Then I heard two things that put the fear of God deep in my bones: the sound of a pistol being charged and footsteps running my way.
"This is going to hurt so much," I whispered.
Gathering my brutalized feet beneath me, I thrust up, jumping straight up and through the sheetrock ceiling. A second later I was crawling desperately across the attic. The witch started shooting up into the ceiling.
"Black Heart, you will not escape. Surrender now, or I will do very bad things to you."
I carefully crawled into a corner and curled up, waiting for my body to heal. I felt the tingling, tickling of knitting bones. Time was my friend. As long as the witch didn't get a lucky shot and hit me, I'd be fine. And without blessed silver within my body, my vampiric powers returned in their entirety. I could feel her location, feel her raging emotions. She reeked of fear and dread.
My flesh healed fast. The bones took longer, tingling and tickling the whole time. But the cessation of that tingle signaled that I was healed. Ready for action, baby.
I located her position with my vampiric senses and keen hearing. I levitated up a few inches and glided across the attic until I was directly above her. Then I stood up straight, and stopped levitating. I fell straight down through the ceiling.
"No!" she cried, swinging the pistol around and slapping it across my left cheek.
She fired three times. One silver bullet struck me in the lower back, and continued through my body. It burnt for a second, and healed up. I laughed, and was about to taunt her when she shot me in the left shoulder. That bullet stayed, and stripped me of all my vampiric senses and powers. No surging, levitating, mesmerizing for me.
We were in the living room, and it was decorated in bare bone starkness. One couch and a small dining table with four straight back chairs. Not much else. So I threw a chair at her as she tried to shoot me again. She missed, and the slider locked back. Empty.
"Ha! Out of bullets, witch. I guess counting isn't your strong point."
She threw the gun down and narrowed her eyes at me. "I don't need a gun to take you out, Black Heart."
For a second, I wondered if she knew that being addressed as Black Heart irritated me. She used it a lot. I had a real name. Even being called "vampire" was preferable.
The witch started a spell, speaking swift and soft. I charged her. That was enough to break her concentration. She dodged aside, but I cut fast. I might not have any powers, but I was still fast and strong. Just before I laid hands on her, she barked a spell, and shot straight up. I missed and she came down behind me.
"You don't have your powers, Black Heart. You are no match for me."
"You're a funny girl. If you were so powerful, I'd already be dead or captured," I said. "I was right. You're low monkey in the tree, stuck with all the shit jobs like babysitting me." I narrowed my eyes and showed her my fangs. "I'm going to kill you now."
"No, you're not." She opened the front door and stepped outside. There was a shallow porch, so she was out of the heavy rain. It was dark like twilight outside. "I'm only going to give you one chance to surrender, Black Heart."
I scowled at her. She looked so smug. What was her secret? Was the door booby trapped? She seemed to be luring me through it.
Instead of attacking her, I walked over to the dining table. There was a plate with just straps left upon it. The glass was overturned, but all the silverware was in the plate. I picked up a steak knife, wiped it clean with a used napkin, and sliced open my shoulder.
The witch yelped and cringed. "What are you doing?"
"What's your name?"
I thrust my hand into the bloody wound. Digging, clawing I searched for the silver bullet burning my flesh and soul. Once it was out witchy poo was in big trouble.
"None of your business. Why did you do that? What are you doing?"
"I guess you never watched a vampire perform self surgery to remove a silver bullet." Something burned my middle finger. "A-ha! Gotcha!"
The bullet burned my fingers terribly, but I grabbed it and threw it at the witch. She ducked and let it pass overhead, even though it wouldn't have hurt her. I watched my finger heal while I felt my shoulder wound closing up.
"Want to take a wild guess on who has her powers back?"
She took a step back, and I surged at her. And I hit something blocking the door. It felt like being hit with a bolt of electricity. I was flung across the room, smashing into the dining table and ending up on the floor tangled in table and chairs.
"I warned you, Black Heart. You cannot escape." She stepped through the door, then back out. "All of the doors and windows are blocked against the undead."
I was captured without any weapons. But I did have my cell phone. I searched the house for it while testing the other door and all windows. I did not discover my phone or any other phone. But what really pissed me off was the witch stole my boots.
"Seven hundred dollar boots, too," I muttered. "Insult on top of injury. About par for me."
I wasn't about to ask her where my phone and boots were. That would just give her something else to be smug about. She was probably waiting for the question, too.
Returning to the middle of the living room, I looked around. "I'll smash through the walls."
"Try. It's a magical band around the house. You can't escape."
"Really?" I suspected as much. If they just covered the windows and doors, that would require a separate spell or each one.
"I thought of everything. Witches will always defeat vampires. We're smarter and craftier," she said.
"Not smart enough." I looked up at the hole I made earlier. "I've already gone up into the attic. Nothing stopped me. Here I come."
I jumped straight up and into the attic. The witch cried out. Her heart rate ramped up. I felt her rising panic. She hadn't thought of me escaping straight up. I smiled when she started to run. The roof was a lot sturdier than the ceiling. Breaking a hole through it took longer than I anticipated, and
the witch was in her car and pulling away by the time I crawled out onto the roof.
The rain was coming down hard. Thunder and lightning filled the sky.
"Just watch. I'll be struck by lightning." I wondered if that would kill me. No one ever mentioned what effect electricity had on vampires. Might be worth investigating.
After getting the house number and street name, I extended my wings and flew up above the treetops. Looking around for landmarks, I determined I was still in Oak Cliff. The witch's car turned left at the closest intersection, and I banked left and went after her. It was much harder to fly in rain. The rain beat me down and my wings felt heavier. But with a little extra effort I could make decent time. I was not fast enough to keep up with a car.
I wanted to follow her back to her glorious leader. But the witch turned onto eastbound Davis, and I had to fly higher to keep her in sight as she floored it. The last I saw of her she was turning south on Interstate 35E. I gave up. In the rain I might fly thirty miles an hour. So I took off north, making for home. It was easy to zero in on home. All of my family was together, quite distraught, and I felt them all. They were at my house, and I used that link between us to guide me home.
Soon after heading toward home I felt Heidi cheer up. Really, more of a feeling of relief. She felt me again. The sanctified silver thrust through my hands and feet had cut us off. The spell surrounding the house might've also been a barrier. They probably thought I was dead. Soon everyone felt relief.
They were almost cheerful when I reached home.
"Where the hell have you been?" Sabrina cried, leaping into my arms.
"We thought you got staked, or killed by an irate werewolf, or something," Dane said. He was glaring at me and blinking away tears at the same time. "Are you all right?"
"I will be fine, as soon as I have some hot blood." Then they were all fighting over who got to hug me, and berating me for scaring them. No one was getting my requested blood. "Hey, I haven't fed since Tuesday, so if I don't get a cup of blood right now, someone is going to get bitten."