“My own sire betrayed me. She forced me to take the lives of my family and of the man I loved...the man I planned to marry. She stole my future, replacing it with one so dark and perverse that I had no choice but to accept it. She molded me in her heartless and callous image. She taught me to have no remorse for my actions. Centuries later, I haven’t changed. Part of me doesn’t want to, so it’s useless to forgive myself.” They continued down the sidewalk. “There’s so many of them. So many humans.”
Hallie turned to Anastasia for confirmation. “Is that what I’m smelling?”
“When we lock on to a scent, it doesn’t take much to track it. These humans...they’re your food. Like any animal in this world, you take special notice to a potential meal.” The human scent led them down the street, past empty store facades and a parking lot. Not once did she feel any eyes on them, but the amount of human cops on the street still puzzled her.
“They aren’t just food. They’re living people.”
“Not when you’re hungry.”
“So what about Nathan and Veronica? Obviously you don’t see them as food. Don’t you think about who they are before you just kill them? You can read their thoughts better than I can. I think you should do that before you decide. If I saw my foster parents and foster sister again, I wouldn’t just eat them.”
Anastasia picked up her pace. She felt her blood traversing through her veins at a tremendous speed. She wanted to get far from Hallie before her annoyance turned to rage.
“Just because we are like this doesn’t mean we have to act like animals.”
Anastasia halted. “Then what do you suppose we do?!” She snapped her head at her. “Do you think we should eat squirrels and rabbits? Who are we to decide who lives and who dies? What do we base our decision on?” She saw Hallie jump back slightly. Nervousness settled in her eyes. “Every human out here is connected to someone else.” Anastasia forced her hands on Hallie’s shoulders and spun her around to face the street. “See that one over there?” She pointed to a tall male dressed in a business suit. He sat at a bus stop, his head immersed in a newspaper. “Read his thoughts. He has no children. He has an older brother and a younger sister who’s a lesbian. They disprove of her lifestyle. Do you think he’s an appropriate meal?”
Hallie slumped. “You know I can’t read their thoughts. I’m not good at that yet.”
“That’s why I’m doing it for you.” She pointed to a group of teenage females who had just exited a clothing store. “See that one? The brown-haired girl in particular just stole her father’s credit card and decided to go on a shopping spree. She just spent” —she concentrated on the girl’s thoughts before continuing— “over three hundred dollars on a dress that’s too revealing for any girl her age to wear. She’s disrespectful to her parents. She’s a brat. Would you choose her over the male?” She turned Hallie to face her. “Answer me. Who would you choose?”
Hallie’s eyes swung back and forth between the two individuals. “I’d rather eat a rat,” she finally said.
“Eat a fucking rat, if that’s your decision. It might take you another year or a decade but you will eventually realize that you can’t live on that forever. You’ll come face to face with reality and what we are. You’re not human, Hallie. You’re Deamhan.” She picked up their victim’s scent again, directing her to a dark alley a few feet away. “Now, shut up and follow me.”
Hallie dug her chin into her chest. “You didn’t have to be so mean about it.”
Rats scurried across the ground in the trash-filled alley. Anastasia heard the sound of a garbage lid slamming shut and she now moved in, her eyes turning dark as charcoal. In the dark with her Deamhan vision, she saw the homeless man—their victim—rummaging through an opened garbage bag. She lowered her body to the ground and halted in making her move. Nothing stopped her from sinking her teeth into his warm skin.
In precipitating speed, she ran toward their victim, surprising him. She pushed him to the cold, dirty pavement and the garbage bag exploded, sending trash scattering around them. She saw the fear in his wide, gray eyes. The stale stench of alcohol permeated his shivering body. His mind filled with the thoughts of fighting back, fleeing, and screaming for help. She wanted him to do just that so she could silence his voice by ripping out his throat. She moved his head to the left by force and her fangs dropped from her gums.
She bit into his flesh, finding his veins and puncturing them. Immediately his blood spewed down her throat and she could feel every droplet coating her insides. The warm liquid regenerated her almost instantly and she felt her muscles tighten, taking only enough to leave the man alive.
His warm blood felt good massaging her insides. She pulled back. “You’ve never had the pleasure of rat, have you?” She looked over her shoulder. Hallie stared back at her with fully formed black eyes. “For a Ramanga, their blood is stale and feels unpleasant going down our throats.” She wiped the excess blood from her lips. “But for you, Metusba, you don’t get that sensation. Rather, you feel how thick the essence is as it enters into your cold body. That’s why Metusba Deamhan have no problems feasting on rats, unlike Ramanga.”
Hallie wrapped her arms around her midsection, still hesitant.
“The trick to masking any horrendous taste is the same for all of us. You have to lead it to where it goes. Ramanga can force the blood to soak into our skin from our mouths. Metusba can hold it and allow the essence to settle before absorbing it. Either way, it will regenerate your body.”
Still cautious of her explanation, Hallie’s eyes meandered back and forth from her to the homeless man. Eventually Anastasia moved in a quick speed, grabbed the human, and threw him at her feet.
“He’s food. Nothing more. Nothing less.” She approached her. “If we leave him alive, he’ll go to the cops. Maybe he might pay a visit to the researchers at their Chapter.” She stepped aside, allowing room for Hallie to get her fair share, yet she still didn’t react. “We still have to remain unknown, regardless of what’s happening around us. Now, if you don’t eat him. I will.” She paused, picking up another scent different from their own. A man, this one not homeless, walking by. A scent coated with cologne and the human thought of having sex that night with his girlfriend came to her. She quickly left, returning only seconds later with their newest victim.
Hallie remained where she stood. Her eyes bulged wide in their sockets. “What are you doing?”
“Pick one.” Anastasia’s suggestion did little to move her. Fed up with her procrastination, she pushed the human to the ground.
“Didn’t you read his thoughts!?” Hallie spoke in a panic. “He has a family!”
She stared down at their victim who whimpered in fear. Not once did she think of reading his mind. His thoughts meant little, if anything to her—unlike to Hallie, who remained tuned to them. Anastasia didn’t care if other humans would mourn the man after his death. Nothing mattered except the elixir running through his veins.
“Don’t you feel anything for him?” Hallie stepped away. “We were human before we were Deamhan. Doesn’t it bother you?”
“And now we aren’t. Consider yourself lucky.” Seeing the warm blood made her dive back in again. She bit their first victim again, this time just inside his thigh. Then she tilted her head back in pleasure, letting her blood-coated tongue swirl around her lips.
“I can’t.” Hallie stepped away. “He has a family!” She repeated the phrase over and over.
Anastasia allowed her fangs to drop from her gums before biting into their second victim’s neck. His warm blood poured down her chin and onto the pavement. Out of the corner of her eye, she witnessed Hallie on the verge of tears. But Deamhan didn’t cry. They couldn’t. It was impossible.
“Just look!” Hallie pleaded again.
Anastasia finally decided to take a peek and when she did, the voice inside their victim’s head rambled on and on about his newborn daughter and his wife he hadn’t seen in three months. Visions of their time together appeared i
n images familiar to a silent film of the early 1900s. Suddenly the images ceased.
She pulled back from his mind and pushed the lifeless victim aside. “Don’t mourn for him. He wouldn’t mourn for you if he were in your position.” She licked the crimson nectar from her fingers, letting it absorb into her mouth.
“I don’t want to do this anymore.” The more Hallie continued to protest, the more Anastasia became enraged. Her anger increased to an abnormal height and for a mere second, she saw herself lashing out at her naive Deamhan acquaintance, silencing her annoying gibberish forever. She gripped her hands around the neck of their victim and in a quick jerk she snapped it.
It was a harsh lesson that Hallie had to learn. At no point should images of their victims’ families stop them from doing what was in their nature.
“Go. Get out of my sight before I kill you.”
By now, Hallie had backed away, afflicted at the altercation. With dark eyes and her lips quivering in concern, she turned and in quick speed ran out of the alley, disappearing around the corner.
Anastasia continued to enjoy the blood revamping her body, taking her to new heights. She wanted to drop to the ground and enjoy the bliss she now felt. Only when she completely lost herself in ecstasy did she realize that Amenirdis’ blood had affected her beyond her control, making her do rash things that she’d never dreamed of doing before.
1
DECEPTION. DEAMHAN CHRONCILES #3
CHAPTER SIX
On Hallie’s trail, Anastasia zigzagged through streets, back alleys, and freeways. She came close into oncoming traffic. A car wouldn’t kill her, but she wanted to avoid a head-on collision with one at all costs. She stopped on the embankment of the Mississippi River and watched Hallie disappear near the Hennepin Avenue Bridge, heading away from the city.
She sighed and swooped off in an increased speed and crossed the bridge. She ran across the rooftop of an old vacant building and around a small fast-food restaurant. For a brief moment she stopped by the new Twins Stadium and watched a group of humans walk by. She saw a couple, holding onto each other tightly with their eyes locked onto each other in love.
Hallie’s scented trail took her to a dimly lit corner with a supermarket just across the street where she saw her young Deamhan acquaintance. Believing that she’d ruined the Deamhan’s first time out and away from Blind Bluff Manor, she decided to stay back and watch from a distance.
Hallie looked up at the sky, twirled her body around with her arms flapping against the wind. Her dreadlocks slapped against her face. She then stopped and laughed at herself before she walked inside the store.
“Hmmm.” Anastasia took a moment to think about what she’d seen. Maybe Hallie wasn’t as upset as she thought she was.
Just then Amenirdis’ blood jabbed into every shrunken organ in her body, making them palpitate like a normal beating human heart. She crossed the street and stopped just a few feet from the entrance. The smell of salt, cheese, milk, and human appealed to her new Deamhan senses. After she walked through the entrance, the bright fluorescent light gave her a slight migraine and she hurried down a nearby aisle while still keeping tabs on Hallie.
The young Deamhan paced quickly, down one aisle after the next. She scanned the shelves, unbothered to hide her thoughts, which remained opened for Anastasia to read. While she searched for the strongest cough medicine she could find, she came across a tan bottle of cough syrup and generic aspirin on a shelf near the back of the store. Satisfied that she found what Nathan needed, she walked toward the cash register and Anastasia moved to avoid her view when she smelled the scent of another Deamhan nearby.
On her right she saw an Asian boy dressed in a white shirt and dark blue jeans, hung low, with shoulder-length dark brown hair and brown eyes. Holding a bottle of water in his hand, he walked out of the aisle and quickly stopped in mid step, nearly colliding with Hallie. They made eye contact.
After the sanctuary fires, the infighting, and Amenirdis’ release, most of her kind scattered to the winds, creating an empty void that the Dorvo vampires moved quickly to fill. She hadn’t seen any signs of their kind in Minneapolis besides herself, Remy, and Hallie since the warehouse incident. Cautious, she eyed the male carefully. He was Lugat, fairly young, yet older than Hallie.
“Excuse me, but...” The boy took a step forward and, in fear, Hallie’s hands loosened. The medicine bottle fell to the floor.
He moved quickly and made his way over to her, grabbing the bottle in midair before it landed on the floor. His eyes moved up to her, followed by his upper body. “I think you dropped this.” He held the bottle out to her.
She remained steadfast in her stance and Anastasia sensed her thoughts moving like clothes tumbling in a dryer. She’d never met a Lugat before and what knowledge she had, she learned from Nathan’s journals.
“Take it.” He thrust his arm out to her again.
Her voice collected in her mouth, frozen at the back of her teeth. “Are you like me?” Her eyes filled with fear hidden behind their dark discoloration.
He dropped his arm. “Not exactly like you, but I’m Deamhan.” He moved his head slightly to the right as if trying to read her. “You’re not Lugat.” He then moved his body forward. “Not Ramanga. I don’t see any sharp teeth to go along with your beautiful dark eyes.”
Beautiful? She quickly covered her eyes and moved away from him. Her thoughts went into overdrive and Anastasia, who didn’t plan on making her presence known, now had to rethink her position. For the first time ever, Hallie wished for someone to be at her side and that ‘someone’ wasn’t her. Remy would know what to do, she thought. He’d chase him. He’d kill him. C’mon, Hallie. Think!
With her thoughts set on escape, Hallie looked toward the exit. She believed that if she was fast enough, she could make it back to Blind Bluff Manor before the Lugat harmed her.
“You must be a Metusba,” the boy spoke. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just...” He continued to eye her closely. “I’ve never seen you before. Are you new here? Do you stay at a sanctuary? Are you alone?”
“Don’t come any closer.” She held out her hand as a gate between herself and him. “I’ll kill you if you do.” She started to think about what Remy would do in her shoes. Remy would play with him, then kill him. One question moved to the forefront of her mind: Can I read his thoughts? Can he read mine?
“Wow! Another Deamhan!” He moved forward and his chest met the palm of her hand, still raised against him. “My name is Enlai.”
Enlai. The name repeated over and over in her head and for a moment. “Well, Enlai, if you take another step I’ll rip your heart out from your chest.” Good. That’s exactly what Remy would say.
“I doubt that. You’re much younger than me.” He smiled at her threat and, not taken aback, he moved again. “Who’s Remy? Is he your sire?”
“You’re reading my thoughts.”
“I’m sorry. It’s hard not to.”
“Remy’s older than you and if you hurt me, he’ll find you and kill you.”
“Relax. I’m not going to hurt you. What’s your name?”
She didn’t reply.
“You have a sick friend?”
Again, she didn’t say a word.
“You know I can find out by forcing myself into your thoughts, but I wouldn’t do that. I don’t invade anyone’s privacy. I’m not like other Deamhan.”
“Hallie. My name’s Hallie.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Hallie. How old are you?”
She didn’t understand his question. “How old are you?”
“Age or appearance?” he replied with a smile. “You know, Deamhan have two different ages. I look sixteen but in reality, I’m a little over fifty years old. You?”
“Sixteen but I’m about eighteen.” She forced her eyes to turn back to normal. “I think.”
“Man, you’re young.”
“You say it as if it’s a bad thing.”
“That depends on
who’s around to hear it.” He looked around the store and Anastasia ducked to avoid his gaze. “We’re the only Deamhan here so consider yourself safe.”
Hallie peered around a shelf, examining the section of the store they stood in. It was empty. Most of the humans were in line, waiting to purchase their goods. “I have to go.” She left the aisle and picked up her pace toward the exit. She looked back every so often at Enlai, who followed her.
“Where’re you going?”
“Home.”
“So you do live at a sanctuary? Are there others there too?”
She ignored the cashier and the humans who stood in line. Still holding onto the bottle of aspirin, she walked through the door, signaling the alarm. A human security guard yelled for her to stop.
Enlai moved on the defense, placing himself between her and the human. “It’s a misunderstanding.” He pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket and handed it to the guard. “Sorry. We just received some awful news and we have to get back home.” Without waiting for the security guard to reply, he gently nudged her outside.
Anastasia decided to make herself known. She stood up out of her hiding spot and headed for the door. The continuous alarm didn’t stop her stride and when Hallie saw her, she scoured away in shock.
“What are you doing here?”
She kept her sight on Hallie and ignored the Lugat.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” She stormed off.
“I’m not asking you to.” Anastasia blocked her way.
“Yes, you are. You want me to eat babies!”
“What? Of course not.”
“Did you just say that she wants you to eat babies?” Enlai stood just outside the door.
“Stay out of this.” Anastasia returned to Hallie. “I came because I thought you might be in danger.”
“From you.” She sneered.
Enlai fumbled a cigarette in his hand. “Babies,” he said before placing the cigarette up to his mouth to light it. “That’s pretty disturbing.” He inhaled. “Anyway, the name’s Enlai. I think I know who you are.”
Deception (Deamhan Chronicles Book 3) Page 6