by ML Michaels
Then, there was a pair of lips on hers, and her mind once again began to cycle through a host of memories that she’d never lived. This time, however, was different than it had been before.
With the vampire, she’d clearly been able to see his memories, as if they were playing before the curtain of her mind like a movie. By the end of it, she’d felt like she knew everything there was to know about him.
This new sensation was scattered and disjointed. Blurry images from memories bled into one another, not seeming to follow any rhyme or reason. She saw an African-American girl glasses stuck together with scotch tape at recess flipping through an unabridged version of “The Brothers Grimm Tales.”
Without warning, the image flickered and was gone, replaced by one of the same girl, but more mature. She was a young woman now, and though she had come into her body, she was still isolated from the other students in the college cafeteria. The scene seemed so similar to Danielle, as she watched the girl eating alone, voraciously flipping through a text of western paranormal entities and theorems.
The rest of her life sailed by in the same fashion, glimmering flickers and peeks, all seeming to point to the same conclusion. She was intelligent, hard-working, and damn good at her job, but when it came to connecting with people, she had no idea what she was doing.
Danielle, her mind finally coming back to the present, took stock of her situation and pondered how she would be able to use this morsel of information to her advantage.
“Where are my sisters?” Her voice came out hoarse and she was surprised to feel how sore her neck was. That vampire had really done a number on her.
If the woman driving heard her question, she gave no indication, and just kept speeding down the road, swerving and cutting people off like a maniac. Danielle could feel a knot building in the pit of her stomach at the silent answer to her question.
The car that had been speeding and weaving through traffic madly suddenly screeched to a halt, sending Danielle hurtling forward onto the passenger seat.
“Damn,” Beck cursed, hitting the steering wheel. She put the car in park, unstrapped her seatbelt and begun massing her temples vigorously. The traffic back-up on the highway wasn’t too bad—it would probably be cleared out in the next ten minutes. Unfortunately, Zack didn’t have that long.
Without even looking at him, Beck knew that he’d be in the third stage blood overdose. His eyes would be bloodshot, his body would be shaking uncontrollably, and he’d be well on his way to the final stage—death.
Beck turned to the passenger seat and looked at Danielle, the only option she had left if she hoped to save her partner. “I’m going to level with you. Your sisters are dead—there’s no other way to say it. There’s nothing I can say to bring them back.”
Danielle felt the knot that had been steadily expanding in her stomach explode, releasing a wave of emotion and pain that she couldn’t let herself experience fully. Not yet. Not in front of her.
“It was my fault.” As Beck continued, two lone tears slid down Danielle’s heart-shaped face. “I knew he wasn’t ready for a mission like this, and I should have stopped him before…,” Beck paused, trying to find the words, “…before everything went to shit.”
“The only redeeming quality about this whole situation is that you two found each other. I can’t pretend like I know everything about Zack or his feelings for you, but I do know this. He’s a new vampire, he’s never learned how to truly control himself, and as far as drinking directly from a body like tonight, he’s never done that.
The sheer amount of willpower it must have taken him to stop, to leave you with enough blood for me to actually bring you back—well, sweetheart, that’s nothing but love.”
“Love?” Danielle scoffed, her voice coming out with anger. “He’s a liar, a manipulator, and who knows what else? And you—you’re a crazy stranger bitch that has brought me nothing but trouble. Why the hell would I help either of you?”
“Because despite what my employers may think or what I may have thought before, I can see that you’re different. You don’t have the predatory senses that most of my marks have—you look like a good person. And despite what you may believe, Zack is a good person too.”
“You’re lying!” Danielle screamed, hoping to block out everything about this nightmarish situation and just wake up.
“I’m not, but I understand why you don’t believe me. You don’t have to, though. I felt your power when I kissed you. I felt you wading through all of my memories like a peeping tom. All it would take is one kiss—you’d take away some of the excess essence from Zack, and you’d be able to see the truth, how he really feels about you.”
“Honestly,” Beck looked over at her as she spoke; the tension in the air was palpable as their eyes locked, “What more do you have to lose?”
***
Danielle had to fight back another wave of tears when she got in the backseat and saw Zack. He was in bad shape, leaking cold, dark blood from his eyes and ears. Seeing him lying there, convulsing and shivering, looking as if he was teetering on the brink of death, scared her more than she imagined it would.
Maybe it was because she had already lost everything that had been important to her, or perhaps she couldn’t deny her feelings when face-to-face with Zack, anymore than she could pretend he was nothing but the vampire to her. When he started coughing, his body shuddering and shaking from the force, she felt her heart race and did the only thing she could.
She reached down, cradled his cold head in her hands, softly wiped away the small specks of blood from his cheeks, and then kissed him.
And in that moment, once again, they were one. His memories were hers. His emotions and aspirations were hers. His life and everything in it were hers.
She felt the pain that he was in now. It was nothing compare to what he’d felt before, when he lost control and thought that he’d gone too far. Or the agonizing pain of having to watch himself commit unspeakable acts, paralyzed by some dark part of his fractured soul.
But in the end, the strongest and most penetrating thing in his mind, blotting out all the pain and darkness and regret, was love. The way he felt about her was clear from the way his mind, body, and soul seemed to yearn for her. Her face, her laugh, and how badly he wanted to see her, hold her at least once again.
She felt it all, in the span of a kiss, they became one. He was hers completely. And as she felt the power surging from her to him, and his eyes, white and alight with life, opened and locked on to her, she knew that she was completely his also.
“Danielle, I’m so--”
She pressed her lips to his again, cutting him off and feeling the electricity surging through her at his touch, like he was the conduit and she was his life-force. “Shh, don’t say anything. Just hold me.”
Zack didn’t say anything else, he just wrapped his arms around her, and counted the rapid beats of her heart as they laid together in the backseat for what felt like an eternity until Beck’s COM began rang and she got out the car to answer it.
After a few seconds of shouting, a string of obscenities, and a thrown punch at the dashboard that was strong enough to crack it, Beck got back in the car.
“Well, lovebirds, I really hate to break this up, but now we have to deal the matter of wrapping up the loose ends.”
Zack shot up, his head still reeling from the whole ordeal, with anger his voice. “You can’t still be talking about taking her back! Not after everything.”
“The Director just called. The scene at the house has been reported and they know that the job is done. They’re expecting us, hell they’re probably looking for us by now. A-list missions, we’ll either come back with her, or they start looking for us.”
Zack clenched his fist. “I’d like to see them try.”
Right after that, like an answer to his threat, the small piece of tech that lay embedded in his left arm, which was usually dormant, began to beep quietly and intermittently.
Beck laughed. “Careful what you wish for. They’ve activated your tracking chip. They’ll be here in the next fifteen minutes.”
“Tracking chip?” Danielle asked, gripping Zack’s shoulder worriedly. “They can’t do that. It violates like--”
“Look here, sweetheart,” Beck said, cutting her off. “As cute as the whole innocent pro-government spiel is, right now we don’t have the time. I just need you to accept and understand that there’s a lot you don’t know about the government.
In my line of work, we consider creatures like you and Zack to be less than human. In other words, there are no basic rights, not even for those that are on our side. If you think them being able to track his whereabouts at anytime is bad, I guess I shouldn’t even mention the remote kill-switch that all Junior Agents have.”
“What?” Danielle screeched, her face turning to Zack, as if he would deny it. She took one look at the somber gaze he was giving her and knew that Beck was telling the truth.
And it was at the moment that Danielle broke into tears. All the pain and tears that she’d been holding back came bursting out of her in a fit of sobbing. She couldn’t take it anymore. It seemed like everything in her life was destined to be ripped away from her.
Zack held her and rubbed her back, attempting to console her even though he knew that there was nothing he could do about the kill-switch. Freedom had never been an option for him, but as he held the most beautiful girl in the world in his arms, he was glad that he’d felt love. No matter how short-fated it seemed.
Beck cleared her throat, breaking up their moment for the second time. “It’s a good thing that I have a plan, as usual, then.”
Zack broke their hug and moved closer to Beck. He’d seen firsthand how smart she could be in a pinch, and if he’d ever needed her brain, it was now. “What’s your plan?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
One explanation and three minutes later, Zack was lying shirtless in the backseat of the mini-van while Beck crouched over him, a large thin blade aimed at his chest, and a slightly maniacal smile on her caramel-toned face.
For the next minute screams echoed around the car. Thankfully, traffic had begun again and Zack’s yells were drowned out by the cacophony of beeping horns behind them. Beck was intensely focused and didn’t hear any of the background commotion. She knew that any twitch, wrong move, or accidental slip-up could result in her activating the self-destruct feature.
She’d only read the manual once, but that much had stuck with her clearly. As she clipped the last nanofiber, the beeping stopped and she removed the blade from Zack, smiling and laughing.
“I know. I know. I’m amazing. No time for praise though.”
“The world is a dark place kid, I know you think you’ve seen some monsters, but trust me—you haven’t seen anything yet.” She stepped out of the car, garnering a middle finger or two from the waiting cars behind them. She returned the gesture then beckoned for Zack and Danielle to get out the car too.
“I’m not good at these.” She was yelling now, her voice carrying over the wind and the sounds of traffic. “Goodbyes, I mean. I’ve never really had to say one that mattered.”
Without warning, she pulled the two of them close. Zack was surprised. He’d never taken Beck as the hugging type, but he gladly returned the love.
“Get your hands off me stupid,” she spat. “I just needed you to get in close so you could hear me. When I let you go, Zack, attack me. Drink my blood—but control yourself this time. Only take enough to make it look believable, then drive off in the van.”
“What about all these people?”
“The people are the perfect distraction,” Danielle answered before Beck could.
“Exactly,” Beck said with a smile. “Once the cleaners get here, they’ll have to spend time controlling the situation and keeping the media from reporting a vampire attack before they can chase after you.”
Beck pulled Zack closer, squeezing his head to hers, and whispered in his ear. “She’s smart and beautiful. Don’t lose this one. The type of lives we lead can get lonely, so if you find someone, hold on to her. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Beck let the two of them go, and Zack wasted no time, baring his fangs and sinking his teeth into her. There was no worry that he was going to go too far or that he would lose control again. He could feel when her heartbeat began to slow and when her limbs began to lose feeling and go limp.
The people behind them had gone silent or had begun recording the spectacle on their phones. They watched, completely baffled, as the tall pale kid laid the middle-aged black woman on the highway gently after attacking her neck. Then, he pulled a beautiful young woman into the mini-van, gave her a kiss, and drove off into the sunset.
Although there were at least a dozen different witnesses who got the attack on camera, none of the footage ever made it onto the internet. In fact, after the cleaners arrived, none of the people that had bore witness to what happened on the highway that day were ever heard from again.
But Zack and Danielle? They still pop-up on The Order’s radar time and time again. Sometimes in Paris, sometimes in Australia, but always together. And each time an agent is dispatched to track them down or execute them, Agent Rebecca Smiles just sits back and laughs, knowing that there’s no way those two are going to let themselves get caught again.
Not when freedom tastes so sweet.
The End
*****
Julia’s Daddy: A Secret Baby Brother’s Best Friend Sports Romance
By ML Michaels
"Are you sure you don't want to stay at home a bit longer?" Edmund North asked, hefting the cardboard box up the stairs. "I'm sure Patsy won't mind if you changed your mind."
Valerie rolled her eyes, grabbing the box from him and setting it down on the counter. "I’m not even moved in yet. Just because she's a friend of the family, doesn't mean I can cut out on her after two minutes of living in rental," she replied.
Edmund chuckled, wiping the sweat from his brow. "I know, I know," he said. "We're just going to miss having you at home, kiddo. Both of you."
At that moment, Julia ran up the stairs, tripping over the last step in her haste. Both Edmund and Valerie ran to her side.
"Jelly Bean, you've got to be careful," Valerie cooed, chuckling as she pulled the girl back onto her feet.
As always, Julia seemed unfazed by her clumsiness. "I wanted to see my room!" she cried, struggling to get out of her mom's arms. "Is it really pink?"
Valerie let go of the struggling child and watched her race to the end of the hall, not waiting for an answer. She was a blur of messy brown curls and a pink, her favorite color, hairband.
"Just be careful!" Valerie called after her.
A moment later, Hannah North walked up the stairs. She put her box down on the kitchen table and sat down on one of the dining room chairs. "She's going to be trouble, that one," Hannah said, smiling. "You sure you don't want to stay at home for a bit longer so we can keep an eye on her for you?"
Valerie smiled back, walking over to pat her mum on the back. "I'm sure, mom. Dad already tried that."
Hannah leaned back against her daughter's hand. "I can't believe it!" she cried. "Both of my babies and my grandbaby out of my house!" She looked over at Edmund. "What are we going to do with all the space? We'll have to close up the downstairs like they did in the olden days."
Valerie smiled at her mother's usual fit of dramatics. "I'm sure you'll get by," she said.
Edmund began to poke around the house, inspecting it. It was a simple upper floor suite, with a laundry room downstairs and a fully equipped kitchen. It was modest but clean and would be perfect for the young mother and her rambunctious child. He already knew all that but was always thorough when it came to his children.
"How many more boxes are left in the car?" Valerie asked.
Her mother threw her hands in the air. "Millions! We'll be here all night," she declared.
Returning from his ramble, Edmund laughed. "Probably another two loads," he said. "I think the movers got most of it this morning."
Valerie walked over to the fridge and grabbed the bottles of water she'd stashed in there the night before. She threw one to each of her parents. "There," she said. "Rehydrate, then our quest shall continue."
The pounding of little feet on laminate announced Julia's return. "Momma!" she cried, her mouth wide in a toothy grin. "It is pink!" She ran over and hugged Valerie.
"I told you, kiddo," Valerie said, tousling her mop of hair.
"But where will grandma and grandpa sleep?" she asked. "I only counted two bedrooms. Will they be with me?"
"Look at you go!" Edmund said, beaming. "You're counting already. You're gonna be a rocket scientist, kid."
Julia scowled. "I want to be a firefighter."
Edmund laughed, taking a big gulp of water. "With a brain like yours, you can be whatever you want."
Valerie crouched down to Julia's level, pinching her nose and looking into her green eyes. "Grandma and grandpa are staying at their house," she explained. "And this is our house now."
Julia cocked her head to the side, eyes wide. "Did we do something wrong?"
Both Edmund and Hannah laughed. "Jelly Bean doesn't want you to go either, Val," he said. "Guess you'll have to stay with us forever.”
Valerie shot her father a withering look. "No, honey, we didn't do anything wrong," she said. "But it's time for us to go out onto our own. Mommy's done school and has a job in the city. We need to be a little closer."
Julia screwed her mouth to the side. "But what about the park?"
Valerie smiled and rubbed her daughter's arms. "There's a park just down the road from here," she said. "I'll take you there later, after we have pizza."
"Pizza?" the girl exclaimed. "We're getting pizza?"
Valerie nodded. "Yep! Now go with grandpa and see if there's anything in your room you want moved around before we start unpacking."