That was good. Sitting there on the chair next to Dad’s bed, with Domination in its sheath sitting across my lap, I didn’t want to give up this sword. It made me feel safe, even though I still wasn’t very good with it yet. It reminded me of how I felt whenever I read my Bible during troubled times, though that just reminded me that I had forgotten to bring Dad’s Bible from the house with me and his hospital room didn’t seem to have one handy. I felt guilty about that, but told myself that I would get it later, when I went back to the house.
But I sure could use the Word of God right now. Staring at Dad, I needed any confirmation I could get that things were going to be all right. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure if reading the Bible would be very helpful at the moment. After all, I was the one who started the fire, albeit unintentionally. If I hadn’t started the fire, Dad wouldn’t be in this situation right now. We’d both be back at home training, with Dad teaching me how to use Domination and my magic, rather than here, with Dad unconscious and me feeling guilty for putting him in this situation in the first place.
My thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. I looked up in time to see Lucius open the door and enter the room, closing the door behind him on his way in. He still wore the bandanna and sunglasses, but he raised the sunglasses again to get a better look at Dad.
“Lucius?” I said, sitting up straighter in my chair. “What are you doing here? And where were you this whole time?”
Lucius lowered his sunglasses again. “I hid when the fire fighters showed up, because I didn’t think my presence there would be particularly helpful for you or Richard. But I came here as soon as I found out what hospital they had taken you two to in order to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine,” I said with a shrug. “Most of the burns on my skin seem to have healed already.”
Lucius nodded. “Not surprising. Vampires have quicker self-healing abilities than humans, which is ironic given how we’re basically animated corpses. Or perhaps it’s your human half which is providing the healing. In any case, how is Richard?”
“Better than I thought,” I said. “Doctor says he’s going to be okay. I’m just surprised that he managed to gather enough strength to take out that vampire like that.”
“Well, there’s a reason he was known as the Hunter when he was younger,” said Lucius. “I thought he might have lost some of that spark in his old age, but he’s clearly still got it left in him.”
“And it must not have passed down to me, because I was useless for dealing with that vamp,” I said, looking down at Domination in my lap. “Even when I thought I’d killed it by stabbing it with Domination, it somehow survived long enough to try to kill me. How does that even work? I thought silver was supposed to be deadly to vampires.”
“It is,” Lucius said. “But only wooden steaks can actually paralyze a vampire when applied to the heart. As for outright killing us, you need to lop off our heads or shoot us in the brain. That’s about the only sure way to keep us down for good, otherwise we’ll just get back up and keep coming after you until you’re dead.”
I looked up at Lucius again. “Do I have some of that vampire resilience?”
“I don’t know,” said Lucius, folding his arms in front of his chest. “Given how you’re a half-vampire, you might very well be immortal. But that doesn’t matter right now. Tell me what happened in the basement of your house and where that vampire even came from.”
I hated the idea of reliving what I considered to be my greatest failure, but I decided that Lucius needed to know. So I told him everything that happened in the basement, starting with Dad training me in swordplay and spell casting and ending with Lucius’ dramatic rescue of me and Dad from the flames. It really didn’t take very long to relate, but I felt exhausted by the end of it because I still felt like it was all my fault.
“So Lord Taranas is getting impatient,” said Lucius once I finished my story.
“What?” I said.
“The Nosfer who came after you,” said Lucius. “He said that Lord Taranas had decided to do away with the week deadline and wanted you on his side now.”
“Uh, yeah, I guess so,” I said, rubbing the back of my head. “Is that significant?”
“It is,” said Lucius, “because if Lord Taranas is getting impatient, then something must have happened to make him change his plans. He clearly wants the Vampire Sword now, rather than later, and something tells me he isn’t going to leave you alone just because of this one little setback.”
“Of course he isn’t,” I said in a glum voice. “He’s just going to keep sending Hordeling after Hordeling after me until one of them succeeds. Hell, he might even come after me himself if he’s really persistent.”
“I agree,” said Lucius, nodding. “Lord Taranas is clearly not going to let you live your life in peace. Vampire Lords generally do not give up until they get what they want.”
I sank my head into my hands. “Then my life will never go back to normal. I’ll have to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder to make sure that Lord Taranas or one of his minions isn’t there.”
“It appears that way,” said Lucius, “unless you directly confront him yourself, that is.”
I looked up at Lucius. “What are you talking about?”
Lucius leaned against the wall, his arms still folded in front of his chest. “Well, if you can’t outrun him, then maybe you should come to him, but on your own terms.”
I gulped. “I don’t want to fight him. I can barely cast a minor fire spell without burning down a whole house, and don’t get me started on my pathetic sword skills. If I confronted him, I’d either die of fright or run away.”
“And if you refuse to confront him, he’ll keep coming after you,” Lucius pointed out. “It’s usually better to deal with enemies on your own terms, if at all possible. That way, you have a measure of control over the situation, even if your odds of success aren’t great.”
“I know, but I just can’t do it,” I said, shaking my head. I gestured at Dad. “Look what happened to Dad when I fought that vampire. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt because of my stupidity.”
Lucius tilted his head to the side. “Don’t you realize that Lord Taranas isn’t going to target just you? If you refuse to confront him, he’ll hurt everyone you know and love until he can get to you. Every friend, every family member, even coworkers and acquaintances … he won’t stop until he gets you.”
“Then I’ll run away and go somewhere else,” I said. “I’ll draw his attention away from everyone else. I’ll—”
“Tara, that won’t work,” said Lucius. He pushed himself off the wall and walked up to me, stopping in front of me. “Do you still not realize the true nature of my people? We’re not good. We’re not honest. We’ll use every trick in the book to get what we want, and make up a few new ones along the way. Things like family, friends … those concepts mean nothing to us. We just want power, especially Vampire Lords, and we’ll do anything to get it.”
I looked up at Lucius, surprised by the vehemence in his voice. “I know, but—”
“No, you don’t,” said Lucius, shaking his head. “If you knew, you wouldn’t be saying any of this. You would be agreeing with me, but you don’t because you’re afraid and ignorant.”
My mouth fell open. “Afraid and ignorant? Why—”
“I don’t care how that makes you feel, because it’s true,” Lucius cut me off without even the slightest apologetic look on his face. “Listen, I understand the pressures and stress you’re going through, but the only way to end this for sure—the only way to keep your father safe—is to confront Lord Taranas directly. It’s the only way to keep your loved ones safe. Can you do it?”
I looked Lucius directly in the eyes, even though I didn’t want to. And it wasn’t because of his hypnotically handsome face, either. I wasn’t even thinking about how attractive he was anymore. I was forced to come face to face with my own unwillingness to fight by looking at h
im. He was challenging me, challenging me to do the right thing, even though I was unprepared to do it.
So I looked away and muttered, “I’m sorry, Lucius, but I can’t. I just can’t.”
I half-expected Lucius to grab me by my hair and drag me out of the hospital room kicking and screaming anyway, but then I heard him say, in a soft voice, “Okay.”
I looked up at Lucius again. “Okay?”
Lucius’ expression had returned to its usual calm indifference. “I said okay.”
“Okay—?”
“I understand.” Lucius stepped away from me. “I can’t force you to do anything. If you genuinely believe you can’t face Lord Taranas, then so be it. You’re not the only person in the world who opposes him. I’ll find a way to stop him myself. Still … I thought you would be braver, given how you Christians are supposed to not let fear dictate your actions. Maybe your God isn’t as big as I thought he was.”
With that, Lucius turned and left the room, leaving me sitting all alone next to Dad, feeling even worse than I did before and wondering how I had managed to mess everything up so badly in such a short amount of time.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
I wanted Lucius to come back and tell me that he had been joking, but I knew he wouldn’t. I didn’t know Lucius all that well, but I could tell that when he made a decision, he did it, no matter what anyone else thought. He didn’t care about convincing me to join him or help him. He was just going to go and confront Lord Taranas himself, with or without me by his side.
My arms hung loosely by my sides and I bowed my head. I was still convinced that I couldn’t beat Lord Taranas, but I couldn’t get Lucius’ disappointed expression or those last words—”Maybe your God isn’t as big as I thought he was”—out of my mind. Whatever amount of respect Lucius had had for me, I had blown it completely with my constant denials to confront Lord Taranas. Even worse, Lucius seemed to have less respect for God himself now because of my own cowardice.
But what was I supposed to do? I may have had more potential due to my status as a half-vampire, but I still barely understood even half of my new powers. Lord Taranas was hundreds of years old and at the very top of the vampire Hierarchy. There was no way that I could compete with that. I could cast maybe a small fireball, but then I’d probably be just as likely to burn myself as I was to burn him. And Domination was even more useless in my hands. It made me wish that Dad was conscious so he could go and do it instead.
But the fact was that Dad was unconscious and would probably stay that way for a while. And I couldn’t just leave him, either, because he was now in a very vulnerable state. There was no doubt in my mind that Lord Taranas would send someone to kill Dad in his sleep once he found out where Dad was. So even my plan to run away and try to draw Lord Taranas’ attention away from my friends and family likely wouldn’t work.
I looked up at the ceiling, wondering if God was watching this or not. When I prayed for deliverance back in the house, Lucius had appeared to save us, though whether that was because God had answered my prayers or it was just a coincidence, I didn’t know. God had endless grace and mercy on those who humbled themselves before him—it was one of Dad’s favorite things to preach about in his sermons—but I still didn’t feel worthy of asking him for help, especially after making such a fool of myself in front of Lucius.
Yet I knew Lucius had a point. He wasn’t right about God being strong, but he was right about me being weak. I was now starting to realize that this was all my responsibility. Maybe it hadn’t started out that way, but over the course of the last couple of days or so, that’s what it had turned into. The only way I could end this was if I went and confronted Lord Taranas himself, regardless of how skilled I was.
But I still didn’t want to. I didn’t want to face Lord Taranas, especially by myself. I wasn’t worried about being killed, per se, but about falling under his spell. He might be able to enchant me to serve him. Lucius may have been right that my status as a half-vampire meant Lord Taranas had less control over me than most of his Horde, but I was still very much a part of his Horde and I was afraid that if I got close enough to him Lord Taranas might override my will and take control of me.
Would I really have to confront Lord Taranas alone, though? No, not really. True, I wouldn’t have Dad or Lucius with me, but I would have God with me. That’s what Dad would say, at least, that we Christians are never truly alone because we always have the Holy Spirit within us.
But did I really have the Holy Spirit in me anymore? Was God actually on my side, given what had happened to me and what I had become? Or had God forsaken me because I was too dirty and unclean to even exist in his sight?
I looked down at Domination again. Without God, I would only have my nascent magical powers, my silver sword, and my claws. In the hands of anyone else, that might have been enough to deal with Lord Taranas or any other Vampire Lord, but in my hands, it was about as useful as a rubber duck.
My hands balled into fists and tears started to form at the corners of my eyes. Damn Taranas. If he hadn’t done this to me, I wouldn’t even be in this situation in the first place. I’d be back in my apartment in Greensboro, where I would be playing with my cat and chatting with Jane, getting ready for work tomorrow morning. Maybe I would have even met the love of my life and gotten married and had children.
But Taranas had taken that all away from me and now he had nearly taken my father away from me. And if Lucius was right—and I had no doubt that he was—then Taranas would continue to take away everything from me until I gave up and joined him.
I stood up, holding Domination in my hands. I attached the sheath to my belt, just as Dad showed me, and looked down at Dad. He looked rather peaceful, sleeping under the blankets that the hospital staff put on him.
Then I looked at the ceiling again. I still didn’t know if God was listening or not—I had no idea if God was even paying attention—but I decided to put my life in his hands, because whatever my doubts, I knew I couldn’t do this on my own. Dad always said we shouldn’t presume anything for God and that we should let him act as he saw fit. Well, I was going to let God decide if I was still saved or not, if I was worth helping or not. It would be nicer if I knew, but I also knew that you can never be entirely certain about God and that was part of what having faith was about.
For now, I had a Vampire Lord to kill.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Later that night, I stood alone in the South Side City Park, on the edge of the pond where I used to feed the ducks when I was a kid. It was almost pitch black tonight due to the heavy clouds overhead, though the weatherman said he didn’t think it would rain tonight. Not that I believed him. Those weather people were right as often as they were wrong. Not that it mattered, anyway, because I was only in the park to meet someone who would take me to see Lord Taranas, regardless of the weather.
Earlier that day, after I left the hospital, I contacted Lord Taranas through our mental connection. I told him that he didn’t need to keep sending men after me, that I would willingly come to him, wherever he was, and that I wouldn’t resist. I didn’t mention my plans to confront him and kill him, but luckily Lord Taranas didn’t seem to sense what I really wanted to do. He just told me to wait in South Side City Park at midnight by the pond, where one of his Hordelings would come to pick me up. He seemed eager—too eager—to have me brought to him as soon as possible, which made me dread seeing him more than ever, because I still wasn’t quite sure what he wanted with me.
So I’d spent the rest of the day staying out of the light and trying not to draw attention to myself until the sun set, at which point I made my way to the park, where I’d spent the last several hours waiting for Taranas’ minion. I wasn’t concerned about someone stumbling upon me accidentally. No one was ever out in the park at night, and even when someone was, they wouldn’t see me, because I could drape my form in shadow that was invisible to the naked eye.
That was a technique I’d learned almost accident
ally when I got to the park. Because I had gotten bored waiting, I tried to test out the various vampire powers I had. Of course, I still didn’t know everything I could do, but I’d learned that I could manipulate shadows in such a way that they could conceal me from the rest of the world. It was even comforting to be wrapped in shadows in such a way, like covering yourself with a big warm blanket during a cold winter night, but at the same time, I stopped doing it because I worried that I was becoming too comfortable with my vampire side. I still remembered what Dad told me about how my vampire side was always trying to eat away at my human side and I didn’t want to make my vampire half stronger by using the powers it gave me.
I was crouching by the pond, occasionally skipping rocks across the surface, when I heard movement in the trees behind me. At first, I thought it was just a raccoon or a squirrel, because there were a lot of those in the park, especially at night, but the footsteps were too heavy to be those of a raccoon or squirrel. I looked over my shoulder at a particularly dark spot between two oak trees, and in the next instant, a vampire stepped out from between the trees.
The vampire looked similar to the one Dad had killed in front of our house, except smaller and even creepier. He might have been what Lucius called a Newborn, but I didn’t know for sure because I still didn’t entirely understand the whole Hierarchy thing the vampires had going on. All I knew was that his big red eyes and oily skin made me shudder.
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