Marty Phillips (Book 2): The Taste of Blood

by Kieran Double

  “Does Ashley know about this?”

  “Of course. Why d’you think she went out with me in the first place? Chicks dig the magic angle, even Ashes.”

  “You call her Ashes?”

  “Yes, she hates it,” Nicolae said, smirking. I was tempted to punch him. “Always has.”

  I smiled. “I’ll remember that, Nicolae. Thanks.”

  Nicolae and I carried Sharkey’s body out to the Gran Torino, and shoved it in the trunk. I went back out and carried the woman back inside. For the first time, I looked at her properly. Her hair was black, her eyes brown. Painfully aware, I could feel her heartbeat against my chest. She was light in my arms, like a child. Her frame was bare and fleshless. I guessed she was a model of some kind or a socialite.

  I went back to the Jag, putting the woman in the passenger seat. She seemed faint, but I suppose that was hardly surprising given she’d lost a lot of blood. As I started up the engine, I asked her softly, “What’s your name?”

  “Karen. Karen Arthurs,” she answered dimly. Whether it was shock or the loss of blood I didn’t know, but she seemed very distant.

  We were both silent for some time. When Karen spoke again, we were nearing the mansion, leaving the city behind us to the north. “They… they were… vampires… weren’t they?”

  “They were, Karen. But don’t think about it too much. Think about something you like, something good.”

  “I’ll try,” came the struggled answer.

  “Good. Look, I’m sorry, but… I’ll have to blindfold you now. If… it’ll be safer for all of us this way.” I pulled over as I spoke. “Get in the back, please. Lie down. It’d be better if people don’t see this.”

  Karen did as I asked, clambering over the seats. The few times I had to kidnap Verstecktvolk – to help with our clandestine investigations – I’d used a black bag, which was still in the glove box. I placed the black bag over head, cursing myself. It had to be done. If she found out where the mansion was, she could tell anyone, and then we’d be in a lot of trouble. But that didn’t mean I had to enjoy it.

  “So what are we going to do with Karen?”

  “We’ll keep her here until she recovers, which could be some time,” answered Ashley softly. Karen was sleeping in the other room, just out of earshot.

  “What about her friends and family? They’ll get worried if she doesn’t turn up,” I continued. Keeping a woman locked up in our cellar for some time wasn’t the most appealing thought.

  Ashley just shrugged. “She’s got a phone, hasn’t she? Give it back to her. She can just text them that she’s out of the city for a while, and won’t be returning any time soon.”

  “And that’ll reassure them? Really? Ashley, you’ve been tactless before, but this is ridiculous.”

  “Well, then what the hell do you suggest we do, Marty? Any bright ideas up there?” said Ashley indignantly, prodding my forehead. She seemed to calm down after a few seconds. People rarely stay angry at me for long, I’ve noticed. “Anyway, you should have called me, or at least brought Susie. You still haven’t got a clue what you’re doing.”

  I shrugged. “I had my very own Abraham Van Helsing here. And as much as I don’t like him, Nicolae seems to know what he’s doing.”

  “‘Seems to know’… I’ll have you know, Martin Phillips, I know exactly what I’m doing,” chimed up Nicolae. “More than Ashes does when it comes to vampires, actually.”

  “Well, in that case, you’re my Dean Winchester.”

  “Your Dean who?”

  “Winchester. Do you watch any TV, Brasoveanu? Big blonde-haired guy in ‘Supernatural’, played by Jensen Ackles, one half of the female fan-fiction couple Destial, Dean and Castiel?” I said passionately. Annie had got me into ‘Supernatural’ way back “Goes around killing demons and vampires? And says things like ‘saving peoples lives, killing things. The family business’, and ‘asshat’? Drives a 1967 Chevy Impala? And gets the Mark of Cain? You really need to catch up with everything fantasy on TV if you haven’t seen this.”

  “Who the hell says asshat anyway? And what kind of Huntsman likes fantasy?” retorted Nicolae “Are you having a mid-life crisis or something?”

  “Hey, you’re older than me,” I protested indignantly. “And, as far as I know, thirty-two isn’t middle-aged. Another ten years, maybe.”

  Ashley coughed softly. We both looked at her. An angry Ashley Phillips is a force to be reckoned with. “If you two are finished flirting, Marty, I think it’s time you go home. You’ve got court in the morning. I’ve told Susie to expect you. If you’re not there at least half an hour early, she’ll call me. And Nicu, don’t call me Ashes. You know how much I hate when you do.”

  “Don’t I just,” he said, smiling.

  “I’m sure he does, Ashes,” I said, backing away to avoid the slap. It made contact anyway. It always did.

  “Look what you’ve started, Nicu! Get out of my house now. You too, Marty,” said Ashley, shooing both of us away like animals.

  Nicolae and I walked out the mansions big double-doors together. “You know, even though you’re a cheating bastard, I’m rather starting to like you Nicolae, or Nicu. Whichever you prefer.”

  “Only close friends and family call me Nicu, Marty,” answered Nicolae. “And you’re not my friend, and we’re not close. Not that that doesn’t mean I don’t like you, ‘cause I do, just… you know…”

  “Where are you staying anyway?” I asked curiously.

  “Can’t remember the name of it. Some sleazy hotel on the outskirts of town. Why?”

  I burst out laughing. “That’s exactly what Dean Winchester would have done.”

  “Oh, okay, if you say so, Marty,” said Nicolae, befuddled. “Is that good?”

  “Depends on your definition of good, Nicolae,” I said, admiring the Gran Torino “Nice car by the way. Copying Clint Eastwood a bit, though.”

  “Copying who? I’ve had this car since I was eighteen, back in 1989. I’m not copying,” he called out the Gran Torino window as he clambered in “Your car is beautiful too, for a European car.”

  “It’s beautiful for a car. End of story.” I said, indignant on the Jag’s behalf.

  “Yeah, whatever, Phillips. You lot always were odd.”

  4

  Sisters

  The descent to

  hell is easy. The gates of hell stand open

  night and day. But to retrace your steps and escape to upper

  air, that is the task, that is the labor

  (The Aeneid, Book 6, Lines 126-129)

  I dreamt of Anne that night. I sometimes still do. A part of me believes those dreams will always haunt me. This time, I was seeing the whole thing happen again. Blood was everywhere. She was lying down on the tiles of the kitchen, the life draining out of her. I didn’t feel the pain as much as I used to. It echoed in my brain, reverberating around the hollow space of my mind.

  I was about to feel Wil’s hand on my shoulder, tearing me away from my Annie, when I woke up. Susie had shouted me awake from inside the office.

  A woman was standing over me. Her skin deeply tanned like Nicolae’s, her black hair and her brown eyes the same too. I could see the collar of a leather jacket around her neck. Fangs, thin hypodermic needles, were protruding from her upper lip. She’d been Turned, even I could see that.

  “Tasaria! Stop it.”

  She paused, long enough for me to grab my machete from the nightstand. I held it to her throat. Tasaria Brasovneau didn’t flinch.

  “I have no intention of harming you, or your daughter, Martin Phillips,” she said, her voice smooth, confident. “Take me to your sister.”

  “You have a vampire. Let’s see her,” Nicolae said. “Why didn’t you kill her?”

  I hesitated, then pulled the bag away from Tasaria’s face. I’d tied her down on a wooden chair. Nicolae didn’t say anything. “That’s why I didn’t kill her, Nicolae.”

  When Nicolae spoke, her voice was taut and cracked.
“You should have killed her anyway. She’s a vampire. She may as well be dead already. What’s left… this isn’t my sister, Marty. It’s a monster.”

  “That’s what I thought first. But I soon realized it was a curse and a blessing,” answered Tasaria. Her voice retained the same confidence as before. I could see her properly now. She wore all leather, biking gear probably. Tasaria Brasovneau would probably be about five foot standing up. I’d tied her to a chair in the Bat-cave.

  “Look, I know, in your position…” began Nicolae softly.

  “No, Nicu, you don’t. You have no idea what it’s like. No idea. But like this… I can hunt vampires and werewolves easier now.”

  “But you kill to survive,” continued Nicolae, his voice strained. Had I thought he would appreciate it, I would have pitied Nicolae. “You murder to survive. You’re a parasite. What kind of life is that?”

  “I don’t kill humans. Animals, sometimes, but even that’s rare, too conspicuous,” argued Tasaria. “It’s disgusting, of course, which is why vampires rarely do it, why they rarely do the right thing. Ignorance.”

  “You’re different to how I remembered, Tasaria,” I mused aloud.

  “How so?”

  “Less shy… less quiet, more confident.”

  She shrugged non-committedly. “Part of that’s the vampire blood in my veins, but… I was a teenage girl – you know how they are – and I’m only this confident with people who know what we know. That offer you made, I might just take you up on it.”

  “What offer?”

  “You know the one…” said Tasaria, smirking dirtily.

  “Oh, that one. I wouldn’t have any objections to that. None at all,” I said, smiling back at her.

  “Dude! D’you mind not flirting with my sister in front of me?” interrupted Nicolae. “Besides, we’ve got more important things to talk about.”

  “You flirt with my sister in front of me, and don’t seem to have a problem with that, and she’s got a boyfriend, who just happens to be my best friend,” I said. “Are the rules different for you or something?”

  “Yes, they are. I make the rules up as I go along,” said Nicolae. “And the rules say, don’t flirt with Tasaria in front of me.”

  “Oh, really, I wasn’t aware there were any rules, Nicolae Brasoveanu.”

  “Well, now you know…”

  “Boys!” shouted Susie. “Serious discussion going on here. Someone we know has been turned into a vampire, which is far more important than wen, or when it is not, it is permissible to flirt with Tasaria Brasoveanu, the damn vampire in question, as it happens.”

  “He started it…” I said lamely, pointing to Nicolae.

  “I don’t care who started it, Martin Phillips. Just stop it,” Susie said. “You’re both grown men. Act like it. Or I will make both of you act like it.”

  “Susie…”

  “Martin!” Susie grabbed me by the ear and squeezed hard.

  “Owe! There’s no…” I relented. “Alright, you can let go… I won’t get into a mock-argument with Nicolae.”

  She released me and I fell to the floor. Susie looked down at me. “Was that really that hard, Martin?

  “Don’t call me Martin, Susie. It’s Marty. You know that.”

  “I’ll call you whatever the fuck I want, Dad. Got it?”

  “Yep. But you really need to get your swearing under control. I know you’re a Wolffrau and all, but, to most people, you’re just an eleven-year-old girl. Act like it.”

  “I will, if you act like a thirty-two-year-old man.”

  “And is Dad much better?”

  “We’re not having this conversation now, Marty. Later.”

  I shut up. I’d woken the beast inside. Susie had gone full tragt, as we call it. I saw her for what she really was; a Wolffrau. For some reason, it didn’t scare me, not really. Her face had turned lupine, long-nosed and hairy-faced, but, as always, Susie’s eyes remained the same. Blue, speckled with green and gold. “Sorry…”

  “Forget it, Marty…” Susie went back to normal.

  Nicolae paused. He looked puzzled. I suppose that was understandable. He couldn’t see what I could. “Did she just… tragt?”

  “Yeah, I did. That happens when I’m angry and Marty just seems to make me angry all the time. He’s so stubborn,” answered Susie, punching me playfully. “But that’s why I love him.”

  “You’ve never said that before,” I said.

  “No. I haven’t. Now forget I ever said it, or you’ll rue the day you were ever born,” said Susie, her mask of masculinity going back up immediately. There would be no talk of emotions anymore.

  Someone cleared their throat. We all looked back to Tasaria. We’d spent five minutes kidding around. “Hello? Loved-one-turned-vampire here. I’m sorry to break up your bonding session, but don’t you need to sort out what you’re doing with me?”

  Ashley turned towards her purposefully. “The animals, Tasaria. Do you kill them?”

  “I did originally, but it’s messy and I don’t like stealing,” Tasaria explained. “What I normally do is take a pint of blood from a few different animals using a hypodermic needle. Animal blood tastes awful, even to a vampire, but it works and it’s better than the other option…”

  “No human blood?”

  “Never. I… nearly, at the start, but never since. I just need to make sure I’m well fed all the time and I won’t need to control myself. The sight of blood, though… that’s dangerous,” answered Tasaria. There was a sarcastic tinge to everything she said. She took a deep breath, then said, “This is like Vampires Anonymous… Hi, everyone, my name is Tasaria and I’m a blood-addict.”

  “This isn’t funny, Tasy…” began Nicolae. He started forward. I put my arm out. Nicolae looked at me. I held my gaze. He took a step back.

  “No. It isn’t. I wish it was. But I’ll deal with it.” She hunched down hiding her face, without a sound. There wasn’t a discernible difference in her voice. “Ashes, I guess you’ll want me to stay here,” said Tasaria, using Nicolae’s nickname for my sister. “So you can study me, make sure I do as I say?” When she looked up again, I realized why she’d hid her face. Tears were dripping down her cheeks silently.

  “Yeah, Tasy. I’d rather you stayed here, but for your own protection, if anything else,” answered Ashley, more concern entering her voice than I’d ever heard for anyone but me. Perhaps she had always thought vampires were better than Wolfvolk or her views were generally changing. I hoped it was the latter. “If another Hunter… finds you, they mightn’t be so merciful. We need to protect you, and you’re right, you’re a weapon now, but not everyone will understand that.”

  “You don’t have to treat me like a teenager, Ashes. I’m not going to have a tantrum and run out on you.”

  “You’ve done it before,” said Ashley, all empathy for Tasaria gone from her voice. “One day you’ll throw on your jacket, jump on your Harley-Davidson and drive away, leaving us dazed in the dust.”

  “I’ve never seen you dazed, Ashes…”

  “Will you two stop calling me that? It was a joke, fifteen years ago!” exploded Ashley, only half joking, I suspected. It was hard not to see the small sparkle of joy in her eyes. I suppose they’d had a good time when Ashley was in senior year, knowing what they knew. I couldn’t help but feel a small twinge of jealousy, like a knife in my gut.

  “I know. I miss you, Ashley Phillips. I always have. Every moment of the day,” said Tasaria passionately. The tears had cleared, but her dark brown eyes were hurting.

  For once, my sister seemed to have nothing to say. She was silent for a few seconds, then continued as if Tasaria had said nothing, “You’ll be staying with Marty and Susie.”

  “She will?” I said, completely unaware of this plan.

  “Yes, she will,” Ashley said. “It’ll look strange if Tasaria suddenly starts living with me.”

  “And if I say no? It’ll look strange if Tasaria suddenly starts living with me, too.”


  “If you say no, it won’t change a thing. Besides, Tasaria is an old school friend of yours. If I say Tasaria is staying with you, then she’s staying with you.”

  “No,” I said. “You know Tasaria better than I do. I won’t have a vampire near my daughter.” I glanced at Tasaria. “Even one I trust. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take.”

  “Don’t be such a fucking coward, Marty. I can look after myself,” said Susie. “I have fangs of my own and I know how to use them. I’m as strong as her. I know that might be hard to understand, but it’s the truth. Besides, the chances of… it isn’t that dangerous.”

  “Susie…” I began, fading into silence.

  “Don’t ‘Susie…’ me, Marty. Tasaria’s staying with us. If you’ve got a problem with that, you’re welcome to try and get me to change my mind. But I won’t, and you know that, so cut the fucking bullshit.”

  Nicolae whistled softly. “If I spoke to my father like that when I was eleven, I would have gotten a hiding.”

  “I’m not your father, Nicolae. And she’s been raised by a pair of Wolfvolk for most of her life,” I said. “It’s hardly surprising she’s picked up a few bad habits…”

  “Don’t talk about me as if I’m not even here,” interrupted Susie. “Now untie Tasaria. I’m too tired to do it myself. I’ve got school in the morning, and you’ve got court. We need a proper sleep for tomorrow.”

  I did as Susie said, untying the ropes that strapped Tasaria Brasoveanu to the chair. She gave me a grateful glance, but didn’t say a word.

  “So how does this… vampire thingy work?” I asked Tasaria, as we went back to my apartment. She sat in the passenger seat; Susie had been relegated to the back. “I mean… normally, it depends on the fantasy setting in TV shows and books, but how does it really work?”

  I could tell Tasaria was suppressing a giggle and she wanted me to know. Her voice was dry, humorless, nevertheless. “I am, effectively a normal human being. I still need to and my bodily functions work. I just use up oxygen slower than a normal human being, and my blood cells degenerate quickly, which is why I need to drink blood, to keep my supplies high enough.”