by Pepper Pace
He walked to a wall of books and he pressed gently on one of the shelves. The entire wall swung slowly inward. I held back a gasp. Very James Bond...or Underground Railroad--I wasn't sure which.
He finally turned to me, offering me his hand to help me into this new room. I hesitated before taking his hand. I didn't like the feel of his skin. It was cool and dry. It felt like the hand of a dead guy. I was a bit preoccupied with the thought that my hand would feel like that too.
The new room we entered was very dark, but strangely, I had no problem seeing.
The floor was hewn of stone. William led me down a set of stairs, also stone, warning me to be careful. I was really on the verge of backing out of this. I didn't like basements, especially in strange vampire's homes.
"William-"
"Shh." He hushed me. I clamped my mouth shut. We finally came out into a large room. The ceilings were high and the floors and walls still stone and mortar. There were beautiful rugs covering the floors and beautiful paintings and tapestries on the walls. The ceiling had huge wooden beams crossing them. A fireplace took up a large percent of one wall. It was so big that I could have walked right into it. The room was furnished comfortably with leather chairs and sectionals the color of pale honey. The wooden cocktail tables were of a pale wood that gave the otherwise cold room warmth.
There were three men and three women sitting and talking until William and I entered.
All but two of them were white. They were so pale. If I had ever seen them walking the streets it would have instantly caught my attention. The other was an Asian woman, dainty and beautiful. Her skin wasn't exactly pale, but she could have used a bit of tan in a can, too.
The other was a man, black. I took a double take. For one second I thought I was looking at Omar Epps! I think my mouth even dropped open before I realized that it wasn't him...but dayum! Brother man had a chocolate complexion that didn't need any enhancement!
The six people stood but it was William that spoke first.
"She went back to the club.
"Most of them do." A woman spoke. She was dressed in a flowing gown that looked like something out of Greek mythology.
Alarm bells were going off like crazy in my head. They were talking around me. I didn't even know where I was. Shit, I was completely at their mercy.
I tried to swallow but my mouth was dry. "I...I don't understand what's going on."
"You have no memories of your liege?" The Asian lady asked me.
I shook my head confused. "My what?"
"Where is Tige?"
"The Rasta? I don't know. When I woke up he was gone. Can somebody tell me what is going on?"
The lady dressed like a Greek goddess glanced at one of the men. He was dressed conservatively in a grey suit. His dark hair combed straight back. His style was straight up early eighties politician, as if he were going for the Ronald Regan look.
What was wrong with these vampires?! Didn't they know that people didn't walk around dressed like that anymore?
Brother Man, though, was different. He wore all black. I didn't miss the fact that we were matching. He had on nice pants and a very expensive looking silk shirt. His almost shaved head gleamed and he sported a neat goatee. He even had a gold stud in his lobe and nice understated jewelry on his fingers and wrist.
He gave me the eye starting at my feet and stopping at my eyes. He frowned slightly then crossed his arms and turned away.
A bit insulted I dismissed him, too. Obviously he was going to be of no help to me.
"Look. If you can tell me anything at all that might help, then...I'd really appreciate it. If not-"
"She still has human in her." The wanna-be Greek Goddess said.
"Yes. And she knows nothing about her liege and can't even retract her teeth."
"She is as useless as a kitten."
The Asian looked at her fellow Council people. "Is it unanimous then?"
Another woman, thin, unattractive but handsome in a K.D. Lange sorta way spoke next. "She must be put down."
Oh shit! "Put...down?" I crept backwards.
They didn't seem to care, as if my actions were futile.
"Yes. You see, you were turned by an outlaw...a rogue. Only a Master can turn a human. When a Master turns a human you are left with all of our memories and instincts and an understanding of our abilities."
"Why bother explaining-" The Politician began.
"Because she's an unwitting victim," the black man spoke in a tight, harsh voice. He still would not look at me, though.
The Asian lady chuckled. "Ah...I see something has gathered Tony's attention. She gave me an unfriendly look. Before I was no more important than a discarded newspaper. But suddenly, I was someone worthy to glare at.
Tony scowled at her and then looked at me only marginally less friendly then the Asian lady had.
"When a Master turns a human we have a Second Generation. But if a Second Generation tries to turn a human the results can be..."
"Cruel." Miss K.D. Lange said.
"You have our abilities but none of our instincts. You retain your...human qualities, memories, desires."
I ran my tongue over my teeth nervously. "I don't feel human." I lied. "I feel a...desire to drink blood. Also, I...have some memories. I just haven't sorted through them yet." I kept trying to figure out how to make my teeth retract, fear didn't do it. Maybe happy thoughts like puppy dogs or clowns. Nah, that wasn't doing it, either. Oh god, please-
Uh oh! That did it. I could feel them draw back up into my gums. Thank you, god. Thank you!
The Council watched me with more interest.
"See." I smiled widely. "No more pointy teeth." I took another step back. "You know, I can just see my way out-"
This really creepy looking man with a craggy face and lank dark hair was suddenly at my side. I almost screamed.
He stared at me closely. "She's quite human, but she has some abilities." He turned away from me. "What says the Council?"
"We have no use for a Third Generation. Put her down." That Asian bitch said.
"I agree." K.D. Lange said.
"Concur." Greek Goddess spoke.
I sighed. "Wait. You say that I don't have any Vampire instinct-”
The Asian laughed. "If you did you would not have used such a passé term. Vampire? That's for myths and legends. We are Neratomay; The Undead. You would know that if you weren't thoroughly human."
"I may not have Vampire instincts, but I do have survival instincts. I grew up in the hood, Bitch!" I thought about the other room and like lightening I was there. The craggy faced Vamp was there with me just a half second later with a look of surprise on his face. My vision was sharp and I could see things in a different way than just with my eyes. It seemed that Mr. Craggy face was trying to claw me, but instinctively I knew and managed to jerk or circle, spin, dodge and duck out of his grasp. This couldn't have taken more than a second or two but my thought process had sped up so that seconds felt like minutes and I could react with split second precision.
William joined Craggy face, but his face had split at the mouth and he resembled a monster! It scared me so bad that I reached for the first thing that I could grab to throw at him.
By now we were back in the pretty little jewel toned room and my hand was holding the leg of a side table. With no thought I slammed it onto him like I was swatting a fly. The effect was exactly as if I had tried to hit him with a little plastic fly swatter because the damn table shattered! His big teeth were coming at me and before I knew it I made a fist and swung at him like Mike Tyson!
William went flying backwards and hit the wall with a satisfying thud. But I was losing my balance. I couldn't afford to hit the floor on my back because I knew that the rest of them would be on me. Since Craggy face was closest I clawed at his neck in a death grip and used his body to knock over the person behind him.
I did hit the floor but thought about the ceiling and was suddenly there. Unlike a fly, I couldn't stick to
the ceiling. As I bounded from the ceiling to the couch I saw that four bodies were clawing at the floor where I had been just seconds before. They were ripping at the expensive rug before realizing that I wasn't there. In a blink they were on me again but I had picked up a piece of the splintered table and had jabbed it out in front of me with my eyes squeezed closed.
I both felt and heard a cry of such pain that it made me cringe inside. Something had impaled itself on the leg of the table that I was holding; that I had used to protect myself.
It was The Politician. He looked down in surprise and instantly turned to ash. There wasn't any melting or crumbling. He was just ash.
Tony and the Asian lady were standing at the bookcase/doorway watching me, a look of surprise on their faces. They were the only two that hadn't joined in the fight.
William was crouched ready to leap at me but he just stayed frozen. The others were just staring at me in disbelief, either lying in a tangle with each other or in various attack positions.
I didn't wait for round two. I thought about my car and was there in two seconds. I had slipped my purse under my seat and my keys were in my pocket.
Expecting something to rip my throat out I quickly got in and sped away.
I was shaking and crying from the battle. I mean, I’ve been in little scraps back in high school, but I never thought I'd get into a fight with a group of Vampires!
I kept looking around for something following me. Unless they were tracking me on foot I wasn't being followed. Just to be sure I hit the highway.
I was scared to go home not wanting to lead anything to my place of rest. Isn't that what Vampires did? Protect the secrecy of their resting place. Girlfriend wasn't sleeping in any coffin or graveyard so my resting place was going to be my apartment! And thinking about that caused me to check the time. Shit! I needed to be home before sunrise. I couldn’t stop thinking about that Vampire that I’d killed—well…that had made me kill him. He was ashes just like that. Poof! I sped up faster.
By the time I got home my stomach hurt so bad that I almost doubled over with cramps. I was so hungry all of a sudden.
Before, when my stomach hurt, it was just because I was sore from vomiting. Now it was different. My mouth began watering again and I felt that tingling happening with the gums and the pointy teeth lowered.
I grabbed my purse and hurried into my house before any of my nosey neighbors saw me and thought I was on something.
I opened the fridge and remembered how the soda had made me sick. Maybe meat would be better. I grabbed an opened pack of hotdogs and shoved two into my mouth, chewing ravenously.
Instantly they came up and I was sicker than ever. I fell down to my knees and cried. How was I supposed to satisfy this hunger? I didn't crave blood, even still. And I was in no condition to go prowling the night looking for somebody's neck to experiment on.
Oh, wait a minute. My ex. He was always wanting a bootie call; the asshole. I crawled to the phone.
"Hello, the drowsy voice spoke." Oops, it was after four in the morning.
"Neal?"
"Yeah, who is this? What time is it?"
"It's Kim and it's almost four thirty. Sorry to wake you but I need to speak to you."
"What? Kim." I heard him come awake. "What's going on?" Neal was that guy that saw you two years after a bad breakup, yet still leered at you as if his eyes could penetrate your clothes.
"I...uh. Was just wanting a little company. It's been a long time and I was thinking about you." I almost gagged on that. It had been a long time...and for good reason. He was a cheating bastard and nothing more to say on that topic. Neal chuckled on the phone. "What, you want me to come over there?"
"Yeah," I tried to sound sexy. "Come over. Keep me company tonight."
"Okay. I'm going to get cleaned up and I'll be right over."
I began to panic. "Neal, hurry! Um...before I change my mind... you know?"
"I'll be there in half an hour!" He hung up leaving me to wonder if I was more Vampire then those Council members gave me credit for because I was getting ready to take someone's blood and I had no hard feelings about it. Neal was quite the asshole, though. I checked myself in the mirror. Damn, I still looked good. I reapplied some lipstick and lay on the couch in a tight ball until the next round of cramps passed.
Neal wasn't even half an hour with his stank self.
I opened the door before he even knocked. I could hear him, smell him from outside.
His eyes got wide. "Damn..." His eyes traveled across my body and it felt like dirty fingers crawling across my skin. I definitely didn't like the sensation!
"Kim...you look so different..."
I took his hand and led him inside. My teeth were really big in my mouth. Bootie Call or not, he was going to run if he saw them.
He chuckled in anticipation. "What made you call me? It's been a long time. Two years?"
My head was turned so I could answer discreetly. "I missed you." A pain so severe hit me that I doubled up. Drops of saliva fell from my mouth and hit the floor.
"Baby, what's wrong?" He grabbed my shoulders. “You ain’t on that stuff, are you?!”
The hell with the foreplay! I reached up and gently pulled his head to me, lips shielding the sight of my teeth. He had such a concerned look on his face and I almost felt sorry for inviting him over for the sole purpose of drinking his blood. Almost.
I placed my lips on his neck and heard him gasp. He gripped me, hands on my ass and breasts frantic to touch everything at once in case I changed my mind. I held back a gag that sounded to him like I was moaning and he increased the urgency of his touch.
I let my tongue test the texture of his neck where I discovered a pulse that intrigued me. Suddenly I was panting because I could smell something wonderful just beneath his skin. It made the pain in my stomach even more sharp. But now even my limbs tingled and my head swam. I was going to pass out, I just knew it. Neal would probably still have sex with me, but I would miss my opportunity to take blood.
Swiftly I struck that pulse in his neck. Neal jerked but I held him tight with my new strength. Now I groaned for real. A gush of warmth flooded my mouth and throat. The sensation was like eating a filet mignon after being on a tofu diet!
I wanted his blood in my mouth and belly and I wanted my fingers in it. I wanted to roll in Neal's blood. Thinking that, realizing that I was thinking about taking all that he could give made me back off. It was difficult because Neal just stood there with his eyes closed, swooning. I licked my lips. I could have eaten more, but the hunger was sated and the terrible cramping had disappeared.
My body felt different, too. It seemed that I could smell and hear things that I hadn't noticed before. For instance, I could hear a mosquito buzzing around the lamp in the bedroom...and I was in the living room!
I suddenly understood something...my bite was an aphrodisiac. Damn, but his neck was a bloody mess! If Vamps left people in such a mess then the existence of them would have been confirmed years ago.
With more desire then instinct, I licked the wound, not using my teeth. Saliva flooded my mouth again. It was fairly embarrassing to be drooling in such a manner but when I finally pulled back again the wound was neat and clean.
I guess it was all I could do with my limited knowledge. Then he could go back to his girlfriend no worse for wear.
"Neal."
"Hmmm." His eyes were still closed.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. Do that again."
"I can't. I'll take too much, then you'll be screwed. Can you get home?"
"Home?" He opened his eyes slowly and looked at me. "I can get home."
"I guess you're under my power or something." Shit, if I'd had this power years ago...okay, never mind that. "Uhm...you won't remember any of this. You...You won't even remember coming to my house. You had a craving for...uh, chocolate donuts." I made myself stop because I was being too elaborate. "Uh yeah, just go home."
"Can I-" He reached f
or me.
"Hell no! Go home!"
CHAPTER 3
After Neal left I tried to sort through my feelings and thoughts. There was no mistaking it. I was no longer the person I had been 24 hours ago...if I was a person at all. I wasn't going to get any help from other Vamps, they were just going to try to kill me.
Tige, the Rastafarian was who I needed to be talking to. Somehow I didn't sense malice in his actions. He had turned me because of the accident. But where was he? That guy, Tony had mentioned a rogue who made a Third; me. Why hadn't he come back to help me, though?