by Janice Jones
Alex sat back and let the information embed itself in her brain. She may have to call on this information in a pinch in the near future. It had to be committed to memory now. She stretched and yawned. When she glanced at the screen, it was black. No activity for a while, Alex hadn’t noticed that she hadn’t touched the computer for quite some time.
“What’s on your mind?” she heard Xavier ask as he stood, bent back slightly with a groan. “You zoned out there.”
“Yeah,” Alex shrugged. “I guess I did. Just tired I guess.”
“Well,” Amy said as she hopped to her feet,” I’m gonna go to the toy store before my flight’s called. My niece loves Frozen.” She swung her purse over her shoulder, “Anyone wanna come with?”
Male mumbles rolled around the space. Heads shook quickly without making eye contact. Then she turned in Alex’s direction. “Alex?”
The look on her face was too pathetic for Alex to say no. She slid her laptop back in her pack as she stood. The others stifled laughter as Alex followed Amy out the door. When she stuck her head back in, she frowned at the group. “I hate y’all and you owe me,” she whispered. “Big time!”
She heard them howl with laughter as the door closed.
“Hey,” Amy called from a short distance away. “You comin’ or not?”
“I wish not,” Alex mumbled as she walked toward her and the toy store.
_______________
“No fucking way,” Kai laughed. “You can’t fly!”
“I didn’t say I could,” Sebastian replied. “I said levitate.”
“Whatever,” he frowned. “You can’t do that either.”
Sebastian stood, pushed him to the side and kicked off his Vans. “Alex says I probably can.”
“She may be right,” David said and joined them in the center of the room. “If your sire could do it, you might have inherited that ability through her blood.” He scratched at his chin as he circled Sebastian slowly.
Xavier stretched out on the couch to watch. “What are you doing,” he chuckled. “Looking for wires?”
“Try it,” David said as he waved Xavier off. “Focus on lifting your body off the floor.”
Xavier joined the others in the center of room. Sebastian hoped it was to help them catch him if he fell, but he was pretty sure it was to laugh when he did. He closed his eyes, then pushed out a hard breath. Not that he needed the air in his lungs, but kept some there, just in case sometimes.
With the thought of lifting his own body from the floor, Sebastian raised his arms for some reason. He opened his eyes to see his friends as they stared with bored expressions.
“Dude,” Kai huffed. “I swear if you start flapping your arms, I’m gonna shoot you.”
“Shut up,” Sebastian huffed back. “Gimme a second.”
David pushed his brother back. “Remember what it feels like to float on water?” Sebastian nodded. “Same thing, only you’re floating on air. Relax your body, think weightless.”
They all stepped back and Sebastian tried to imagine being weightless. What it felt like to float on the water after a long day of surfing. At first, he didn’t feel anything. Then, a slight tingle ran up his spine. His eyes popped open to see his friends, their eyes wide as they stared at the floor then back up at him.
“Holy shit,” Sebastian whispered to the group. “You see this! I’m floating!”
“Can you go higher?” Xavier whispered too.
Before he could will his body up, he dropped to the floor again. “Dammit!”
“Sweet,” Kai chirped. “Do it again!”
“Alright,” he smiled big. “Gimme some room boys.”
He rolled his head right to left, closed his eyes and wished. But no tingle. The more he thought about it, the more lightheaded he became. His eyes opened and his friends sighed.
“Oh well,” David said with a pat to his shoulder. “It was a nice try. You need more practice.”
Sebastian felt good about his first try at levitation. He’d be sure to tell Alex and Amy when they returned, maybe rest and try it again when they got back. Suddenly, he realized how long they’d been gone.
_______________
She’d left Amy on the stuffed animal aisle to explore this place on her own. It would give her time to think without Amy’s constant, “What about this one?” every five seconds.
As she browsed through what they called vintage toys, Alex couldn’t remember ever having played with a toy. Her first memory of any sort of game was poker. Ben taught her when she first arrived at 51. He said it would be a way for her to fit in with the team—build trust.
“I mean, you’re a girl and these guys are kinda skeptical about this whole setup,” he’d said as he shuffled the deck. “If they could just get to know you over a friendly game of Hold ‘em, then you’re in.”
“What’s that got to do with my skills,” she replied.
“If you cheat at poker,” Ben frowned. “You can’t be trusted with anything.”
Alex laughed at that memory. He looked so serious. But he was right in his own dumb-ass way. She was a quick study and won after a few hands. So every free night they had, the card game moved from room to room. And the more they respected her card game, the more they respected her.
An anxious feeling moved through her out of nowhere—that feeling of being watched. Heading back to where she’d left Amy, Alex scanned every row. At the end of an aisle filled with movie characters, she saw Amy. A young woman, about her age, tugged at her arm with a frantic look on her ruddy face. Clearly, something was wrong.
Her cheeks flushed red as tears rolled down them, her olive skin slick with them, but Alex didn’t get the feeling those tears were from fear. Amy followed the young woman toward the front of the store, with Alex trailing after them.
When she reached the main concourse, Alex saw the young woman take Amy’s hand as she pointed down the tiled path that led back to the lounge.
_______________
“I just turned my back for a second,” the young woman, who had told Amy her name was Sasha, cried.
“Maybe she just got turned around in the store,” Amy offered, as she tried to keep her calm. “What makes you think she came out here?”
She didn’t want to spook Sasha any more than she already was, but Amy felt a twinge of fear about what could happen to a little girl alone in a big place like this. She’d seen the horrible news items every time a child went missing. The poor mother, frantic and guilt-ridden, pleaded at the camera for her child’s safe return. She didn’t want that for this mother, or any, for that matter.
“I told her not to move,” Sasha sniffed, then wiped her nose on her already damp sleeve. “She’s only six!”
Amy let her lead them closer to the space that was under construction. Maybe her daughter had wandered in there by mistake, she’d said. As they passed through the heavy plastic sheets that hung in place of real doors, the young woman stopped her tears and began to laugh.
“Everybody’s a sucker for a lost kid,” she continued to laugh.
“I don’t understand,” Amy replied. But when Sasha smiled, long white fangs descended. Her laugher bounced off the sheetrock walls. Her pink tongue slid across those sharp teeth as she smiled at Amy.
“Well,” she pouted with devilish grin. “I’m hungry and you’re gonna die. That clear enough for ya?”
Out of fear, Amy tried to focus her power on the danger in front of her. Instead of sending Sasha into the air and running, the big green trash bin behind her shot out its contents like a cannon. Soda cans and assorted trash rained down around the bin and Amy felt her heart sink with disappointment.
Sasha laughed, shaking her head as she approached. “You need more practice, witch! Too bad you won’t get the chance to visit Eastwick for those lessons.”
No matter how hard Amy tried
, her target laughed as everything around them exploded in a fury of debris. Pretty soon she had nowhere to go.
The dusty sheetrock wall Amy found herself pinned to wouldn’t budge. She pulled at the cold hard hand that wrapped around her neck to no avail. When her feet left the floor, all hope left her body. She really was going to die, wasn’t she?
Good news. She could still breathe. Bad news. She couldn’t scream for help. Amy figured that was the point, right? Keep her alive while she fed. From everything she’d learned, mostly from Sebastian, the victim should be alive in order to benefit from the taking of blood.
Human blood contained all kinds of tasty vitamins and minerals that did a vampire body good. And when adrenaline was thrown into the mix, Sebastian said that concoction was like no other drug he’d ever taken when he was human. In that moment, Amy wondered what her fear would taste like.
_______________
The low rumble of noise drew Alex to the construction area. She eased between the plastic sheets and tried not to trip on anything as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting.
From where she stood, she could see Amy try and fail to zap her assailant successfully. She could smell Amy’s fear and her attacker’s desire mixed in the air. That triggered an excitement in her she hadn’t let out in a long time. A clean kill was coming and she wanted it. Of course, she’d save Amy’s life in the process, but the kill called her name now and she’d answer that call with pleasure.
On her approach, Alex picked up a stray piece of rebar. It had a sharp edge at one end so she flipped it over in her hand, held it like a spear. The soon to be dust vampire kept up an irritating laugh at Amy’s failed efforts to get away. Not that it would have really hurt to be zapped, but it may have given Amy a chance to run, had she hit her mark at all.
“What are you grinning at?” Alex heard the girl growl. “You’re about to die!”
Amy winked at her, or maybe that was meant for Alex. The she eeked out a meek retort, “So are you.”
_______________
Amy thought she was seeing things. Just a trick of her brain because she had very little oxygen available to hold on to reality and her breath too. And she wasn’t even aware of the smile on her face until Vampira mentioned it. She relaxed her grip just enough for Amy to reply.
The smug look on her face disappeared as Sasha turned her head and Alex’s fist rearranged it slightly. Amy’s feet hit the ground as she coughed and gasped for air. Sasha was doing the same, slumped against the wall. Blood poured from her busted nose, much to Amy’s delight.
Alex jerked her forward, then pushed her behind her back toward the exit. “Go!”
“But,” Amy stumbled back as Alex slapped the key card in her hand.
“NOW!”
Alex barely got that order out before she was blindsided by another vampire, fangs bared as they tumbled across the trash strewn around them. All Amy glimpsed over her shoulder as she ran was tangled bodies.
Almost taking out the cleaning cart in her path, Amy ran at top speed or what passed as top speed in a pair of Doc Martens anyway. She slid to a stop at the door, practically tore out her pocket for the key card and forced the door open when the lock beeped. Sebastian was three feet in the air when she entered the room with the others cheering him to go higher.
_______________
“Alex! Trouble,” Amy puffed and waved her hands at them.
Sebastian’s focus disappeared as a mental picture of Alex being killed popped into his head. He fell like a stone only to be saved from a face-plant by Kai and Xavier.
“What?” David grunted as he tried to stop her from leaving the room.
Amy took a deep breath, jerked free and ran as she let out a loud, “Come on! We’ve got trouble!”
Sebastian forced his feet back into his shoes and brought up the rear. He saw Amy and then the others jump through the plastic covers over the doorway of the empty space. When he reached the entrance, he could smell ash, lots of ash and blood.
Alex was faced off with a giant. Way bigger than her, or any of them for that matter. All shoulders and back muscles, she dodged his punches and landed a few kicks to his massive chest with no real effect. He laughed and spit in her direction.
There were three men and a young woman watching the show. The young woman seemed the most engaged in the action.
“Kick her ass, Jolly,” she yelled with hunger in her voice. “That bitch broke my nose!”
“And she killed two of our brothers, Sasha,” Jolly barked back.
“Yea, I did,” Alex baited him. “And you’re next, Jollytime!”
The group laughed as Jolly growled at her again. When Kai kicked a glass bottle, all the action stopped. All eyes moved in the direction of the sound.
“You started without us?” David chuckled in their direction.
“Well there’s plenty more,” Alex replied, then took a back hand to the face from Jolly. It spun her into the wall with a thud. She shook her head like a dog to steady her brain. “Take your pick, please!”
Xavier cracked his knuckles as he stepped forward. The first thing Sebastian noticed about the vampire was his shockingly blonde hair. Against the dark chocolate of his skin, it was practically white. He flared his nostrils, then spit on the floor. Xavier smiled.
“Well, I guess I get you Billy Idol,” he said. “Nice tan by the way.”
“Ello, was that a joke?” he smiled at Xavier.
His cockney accent was thick and boorish. However, his roundhouse was powerful and quick and sent Xavier through two partial walls in the distance.
Kai took one step in Xavier’s direction, but found it blocked by a creature the size of a chubby little kid. He did a little jig and a cartwheel then clapped his stubby hands together like a wind-up toy. Sebastian felt a tingle crawl up his spine at the sound of the trollish man’s high-pitched giggle.
Kai laughed as he looked down on his opponent. “Really, dude? You’re like three feet tall!”
The troll laughed again, only the tone had dropped to a deep timber. “Don’t let my height fool ya, boy!” From across the space, he smiled at Kai, raised his tiny hand and a flash of blue light shot out, then lifted Kai off his feet and into the side of a metal bin with a loud bang.
As Amy raced to his aid, David took a right hook from the most normal looking of the bunch. His nerdy demeanor enhanced by the horn-rimmed glasses he wore. There was no evil smile, no witty reply. One punch after another landed where he threw them and David was on his ass before long.
Sebastian realized he would get the girl fairly quickly, and not in a good way.
“Well,” she giggled as she pulled her long stringy hair into a ponytail. “I get the traitor! How fun!”
That insult stung him deep. He’d never been called a traitor before. Then again, he’d never faced off against his own kind either. You couldn’t count the turf wars he’d participated in when he was still working for his sire. That was expected and for a good cause. Taking up with humans against your own was not expected or appreciated.
“I’m not a traitor,” he sniffed at her.
“You work with these filthy humans, fight by their side against your own! That makes you a traitor in my book!”
Her long leg shot out before he knew it. It felt like being hit by an iron post; it rattled his teeth and sent him to his back, hard. He rolled over in one smooth move and was on his feet. Because she was already hurt, he’d have to use that to his advantage if he wanted to win this fight.
His first punch landed squarely on her nose. Blood splashed down the front of her shirt and mixed with the dust on the floor. It turned a rosy color with the consistency of clay as it dried at their feet. She howled in pain mixed with laughter. A roundhouse sent her head over heels across the floor. One side of her face was powdered with the rose colored dust. Before she could recover, Sebastian grab
bed her by the messy ponytail at the base of her long neck.
He swung her into the side of the metal bin and kept bouncing her head off it until she passed out. That side of her face was a bloody mess of dust and green paint flecks. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t be out long. Once her body started to repair itself, she’d come back with everything she had.
_______________
Alex felt her teeth rattle when he threw her into the wall. Her body left an impression in the sheetrock as she landed on her feet, then rolled to her left right before Jolly’s foot drilled through the sheetrock and got stuck there instead of her stomach.
As he struggled to free his leg, Alex forced her elbow into his spine. A low pop and he collapsed like a rag doll. The spine would mend in a few minutes, but that was all she needed to finish him off. She rolled across the floor, taking out a glass bottle in the process, and grabbed a piece of two-by-four. When she tried to stand, her right leg buckled under her weight. On her way down, she threw the makeshift stake as hard as she could at Jolly. As he began to rise, the stake entered his back and part of it came out of his chest. She knew she’d hit his heart when his flesh began to crack and glow orange as the tiny cinders burned him from the inside out. His body disintegrated to ash after a couple of seconds.
Her leg was on fire with pain. She tightened her grip around her thigh as Xavier brought down his opponent by using a shovel as a sword. Billy’s head separated from his body, rolled over to where Alex sat and glowed orange then turned to grey ash as well. His body did the same. She dropped back on her elbow as Xavier stomped through the mess to help her.
“Here, let me,” he said as he removed his belt and wrapped it around her thigh. “You ready?” She nodded and before she was done, he’d ripped the shard of glass from her leg.