A Time To Kill (Elemental Rage Book 1)

by Jeanette Raleigh

  “We don’t want you dead. You’re fighters and intelligent. You have other gifts. You’re meant to be turned. Those are my orders, unless you cause too much trouble, in which case, I’m to kill you like the other one.”

  He meant Claire.

  Raven reacted as he would expect to the news of Claire’s death, but it was an act. Air had already given her news of her sister.

  “You’ll like being vampires. We’re stronger, live practically forever. We have our own gifts,” the vampire spouted some more nonsense, but Raven stopped listening.

  “We need to take Mindy to a hospital,” Raven said.

  Raven hated the vampire talking, the one who hit Mindy. He was pompous and full of himself and his own importance, going on about vampires and his own role in the group, how important he was and how they could be, too.

  She hated him more when he said, “A dose of vampire blood will do the trick. Gladys loves the little ones,” Waving to a pair of vampires hanging on the periphery who wore polyester green pants and looked like they belonged at a disco, he said, “Put her in the Hummer.”

  Raven felt wobbly, but she pulled herself together. No one was going to touch her sister. She growled at the vampires, “I’ll do it.”

  She gently lifted Mindy, cradling her sister. They were being picked apart one by one. First Mom, then Jade, now Claire. She and Mindy were the only ones left and Mindy wasn’t even conscious. Raven ignored the vampires as much as she could. Their mouths opened and saliva dripped when Raven passed by.

  They were hungry. Mindy’s blood reminded them that she and Raven were prey.

  Raven sat with Mindy in the back. The woods surrounding the van were dark, but the movement gave her the feeling that there were more vampires there than she had first suspected. While they were fighting, the number had grown, as if they were herd animals, drawn one to the other.

  When one of the vampires crawled in back with her, Raven shifted away. She felt the bottle in her pocket then, a hard lump and a reminder that she still needed to save Jade, once they saved themselves. And after that, Mom.

  Raven accepted the handkerchief the vampire handed her, inspecting it before she held it to Mindy’s wound. She wondered how they were supposed to get pure water now…and if they would remember each other once they were vampires. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad since Jade was a vampire, too.

  She glanced at the creature sitting next to her. His eyes were glued to the blood on the handkerchief, as if he couldn’t pull himself away.

  Yes, it would be bad.

  ~~ Jade ~~

  Gladys was keeping something from Jade. Early in the morning, in the wee hours before dawn, several vehicles entered the compound, parking in front of two of the manufactured homes that looked more like prisons than homes. The tall iron gates with barbed wire blocked the view. Someone had come for a visit.

  Jade decided to check out the house, to see if they had brought in some of the more vicious vampires, the beasts with no control.

  She didn’t get far.

  Seeing her start toward the stairs, Gladys stopped Jade, “Where are you going?”

  “I need some air,” Jade said. It was a lame excuse, but all she could think of on a whim.

  “Not until I have your oath,” With a flick of her fingers, Gladys commanded two vampires to escort Jade upstairs.

  They not only prevented her from going downstairs, but escorted her to a bedroom on the far side of the house. When she pulled aside all of the vampire layers of protection to look out the window, all she saw was woods and the fence. One of the vampires pointed to the opening, “It’s an hour to dawn. You’re going to burn yourself to a crisp.”

  Jade shrugged.

  The beast moved forward with a will. Not only did it return the window to its former sunless state, but the beast moved a table to block the curtain to buy time in case Jade took control again.

  Tired of losing to the beast, Jade struggled to regain control. Even though she seemed to have the upper hand most times, the beast could be impossible to overcome when it made a firm decision on something. The shades on the window gave the room a stifling feeling.

  Jade would never see the light of day again.

  She felt the beast’s fear as she imagined the sunlight on her arms. The vampires weren’t afraid of much, but they were afraid of light. She also felt something sinister, a hidden glee, a secret between the beast and the other vampires.

  Jade found the bed and sat down hard, her mind half twisted trying to read the beast’s thoughts, which was strange since the beast was inside her, a part of her. It made Jade wonder how deeply this creature was entangled with her. Perhaps it was like a parasite or a virus. With enough struggle, maybe Jade could beat it out of her.

  She listened to the beast, trying to hear the thoughts. She knew the other vampires were talking to it. When she was closer to the beast and fighting less, she could hear their voices, too. Jade almost gave up the struggle out of sheer curiosity.

  Instead, she hung on, fighting with every bit of strength to retain her own identity, to keep the beast out of her heart, away from her soul. An image of Mindy lying still on the ground floated across Jade’s memory like a dream. In that instant, Jade knew exactly what had happened. She knew who was in the house next door. Not some horrible vampiric thing, but her sisters, alive so far, but far from well.

  Jade pushed off from the bed, but the vampires guarding her knew that the beast had been subdued. They stepped forward. In that moment, she also felt the sun rise. The beast taunted her with the knowledge. “You’ll die, too.”

  She tackled the beast. Her spirit dominated the creature, pounding it down, but not into oblivion. Somehow it stayed, stubborn and insistent, like a thistle in the sock only in her mind.

  Gladys laughed in her thoughts, the mocking sound worse even than the beast’s constant hunger, “You’ll never escape. Your sisters have a chance. Swear your oath to me, and I’ll see them free.”

  Lies. Jade knew what kind of freedom Gladys offered. Maybe death. Maybe life as vampires. Not all freedoms were equal. She didn’t bother with a response. Jade shoved the beast again, not because it had risen, but because she was angry, “Let me see my sisters. I won’t do anything until I see them.”

  “It’s daylight. You wouldn’t survive the journey.” Gladys had a grating voice. It reminded Jade of the cheerleaders in her school, specifically Danika McGregor, whose taunts generally ended with a fake hyena giggle that somehow drove the boys crazy. Maybe they were just pretending, too.

  The door opened and the vampires dragged in a teenager. He looked petrified, especially when he saw Jade. The beast roared, and Jade knew what it wanted.

  She also caught the psychological warfare in the choice of candidates, or as the beast thought, food. Jade couldn’t deny that the fellow was handsome, a popular clean-cut type who would please his parents with straight A’s.

  Jade’s type.

  The beast forced her mouth open. Her legs walked to the teenager who was trapped between two vampires with two more blocking the door. The only problem was that Jade didn’t want to walk. She thought a nice place to be would be across the room from the teenager who seemed to the beast like a hamburger and milkshake all rolled into one.

  Taking a page out of Gladys’ book, Jade grabbed one of the vampires holding the kid by the shirt. Using the beast for emphasis, she growled, “I like to play with my food first, and I don’t need an audience.”

  It was the right thing to say. The vampires stepped back. One of the guards at the door said, “Good to see you back.”

  Jade watched as the vampires, even her guards left the room. The beast was so close now that she could hear the kid’s heart beating like a runner having just taken a lap. He was scared. She was hungry.

  Jade yanked herself away. Not she. The beast. The beast was hungry. She realized how close she stood to the kid. He was shrinking away, looking for a weapon. Even though he wouldn’t go down easy, Jade knew in
her heart of hearts that if they got into a fight, the beast would defeat the boy. She also knew that if he roused the beast enough, there would be no way for her to stop him.

  “Wait,” Jade said to the boy, “I’m fighting it. I haven’t had blood yet. Just move slowly. I’m trying to control the beast.”

  Shaking, he nodded. He swallowed a few times and asked, “How long have you been a vampire, then?”

  “Two days, well, I turned at night,” Jade found the strength to take two steps back.

  “I’m sorry,” the boy took a step back, too.

  Jade sank down onto the bed. She sat on the edge, not trusting herself to get comfortable. The beast was strongest when she was relaxed. She couldn’t afford to get to that degree of comfort.

  “Me too,” Jade said.

  The beast freaked out inside Jade, like a neurotic animal trapped in a too-tight cage at the zoo, lashing out and trying to get free. Jade closed her eyes and tightened her grip. She was intelligent, much more so than the thing inside her, and that made her stronger. Using that strength, she locked the beast down tighter.

  With her eyes closed and her mind focused, Jade didn’t see it coming.

  The door opened.

  Four vampires burst in, grabbing the boy. They murdered him, stabbing him while he screamed.

  Jade opened her eyes, and suddenly she was remembering another stabbing.

  “Daddy,” Jade whispered the words. She had watched her own father die. She had watched him die at the treachery of a trusted friend.

  She couldn’t bear what was happening here.

  There were no weapons in the room other than what the vampires brought with them. Blood poured on the carpets and sprayed on the walls.

  The beast leapt like a dog on a chain.

  Jade found herself crawling on her hands and knees toward the blood.

  He would make her drink. If she got too close, that vampire born inside of her would turn her into an evil creature just like the others.

  “I will not.” Jade screamed the words, flipping herself around and dragging herself toward the bed.

  The room reeked of copper, iron, the things that fed evil.

  Jade remembered her Dad’s last words, “I’m so proud of you both.”

  Raven was with her when Dad died. Jade had almost forgotten. Grasping the comforter in both her fists, Jade pressed her face against the cloth, breathing in fabric softener and detergent. It couldn’t mask the smell, not even remotely.

  She could hear the others feeding. Just that thought brought the beast to the surface, and she felt her mouth water. Ripping the comforter off the bed, Jade dragged it past the four vampires. Her guards were feeding. She didn’t dare the slightest glance over. She knew what horrors she would see.

  Forcing the door open, she walked unchallenged out of the room and down the stairs. The beast was in ecstasy, and Jade learned another thing about vampires. They lived life through one another. When one fed, they all participated in some weird telepathic way.

  The beast wanted to return, but Jade was in control. She tried not to think too hard about her plan. It was like a strange meditation where the very thing she wanted to do was the very thing she couldn’t think about. At the front door, she covered her head with the comforter. Not an inch of skin was open to the sun.

  Still, Jade didn’t know if she would survive the next twenty minutes. Pushing the door open, she walked outside.

  The beast started howling.

  It was too late for the vampires inside to stop her. She’d already gotten down the porch and halfway across the yard when the beast’s screams drew their attention. It reared against her, trying to wrest control, Jade said, “Just try it and I’ll let the sun in,”

  The beast stopped cold. Jade couldn’t see where she was going. She looked down and just moved one foot in front of the other. She had a feeling for the general direction she should take. That would have to be enough.

  It started with a sunburn. Jade’s skin flushed, and then peeled. Walking through the gate, Jade felt a strange smoke rising from her skin. She could smell her skin burning.

  Jade didn’t know where the house with her sisters was. Although Jade tried to move quickly through the sun-drenched yard, she couldn’t move fast enough. She might never see her sisters again.

  Chapter 18

  ~~ Amy ~~

  Tony found Amy sitting on a stump in the forest trying to figure out her next move. He looked almost rueful, as if he’d known she would make the attempt to escape and fail. He said, “Are you ready to come back?”

  “This isn’t even Earth, is it? You’ve used the Gate to bring me to a new dimension.” Amy’s feet bled freely where the blisters had broken and where sharp rocks had scuffed and penetrated her skin.

  “No, this isn’t Earth. You’re a long way from home. It’s not a bad place, really. We have movies, books, a beach to walk on…everything a person could want, really.”

  “Except my family. My very own desert island in the middle of nowhere—how thoughtful. How many of us are captive?” Amy said with a hint of sarcasm. She refused Tony’s hand and stood up on her own.

  “We are all captives here, Amy, even me. This way…” Tony pointed toward a space between two trees. He didn’t help Amy as she stiffly picked her way across brush and plants, rocks and pine cones. She wouldn’t have taken his help anyway.

  “You?” Amy scoffed, “You expect me to believe that?” It wasn’t the first time she felt anger toward Tony, but this anger was confused.

  “I’ve been here since a few weeks after the funeral. This may be the only chance I get to talk to you. The house is bugged. I know you passed the gift of Time on to someone else. I don’t want to know who. The Keepers think it’s in the necklace. I helped them so that they would trust me knowing full well that the power isn’t there.”

  “You can never find what doesn’t exist. Tell them that.” Amy was a half-step behind Tony. She couldn’t see his expression when she told him…and he didn’t see hers.

  She had practiced that particular lie in front of the mirror for hours. Not all at once, but over the course of several years while she was married to Lawrence as they were planning for the worst.

  Tony glanced over his shoulder at Amy. Their eyes met, his grey to her green. She thought he was about to say something important. He hesitated. She could tell when he discounted what he was originally going to say, Instead he said, “The necklace is our best bet for now. It will take them time to test it.”

  “I want it back,” Amy said. She stepped on a sharp piece of bark. She bit her lip and refused to react. She wouldn’t give Tony the satisfaction.

  “Look, I’m a prisoner, just like you. They may trust me a little more, but they’re not going to listen to a word I say. I’ll ask, but just by asking it will probably guarantee that you’ll never see it again.” Tony stopped at a giant rock and sat down. He unlaced his sneakers.

  Amy wasn’t about to give up on the necklace, but for now, she accepted that Tony wouldn’t be able to help her. Changing the subject, she asked, “What are you doing?”

  “You can’t walk all the way back barefoot. I’m giving you my sneakers,” Tony said as he pulled of the first one and handed it to her.

  Amy shook her head, “What difference does it make? If I have your shoes, you won’t have any.”

  “I have tough feet. Please? I feel bad for taking your necklace. Let me make it up to you.”