“Yeah, it wasn’t fun. But I’m good now. I just need some more time to wake his lazy ass up.”
He chuckled and I could hear how relieved he was to have me back to normal. I cringed thinking about how close I had come to giving up on my friends, on the world. I knew I couldn’t let that happen again, which was why I planned on keeping my man alive and well for as long as my immortal life lasted.
“Luce. Luce! You still there?”
“Yeah, sorry. I’m here.”
“So what do you think happened to Helen?”
“I don’t know, but whatever reason she has for the radio silence, it can’t be good.”
“Shit.”
“We’ll find her. Don’t worry.”
After we ended the call, I glanced around and noticed the foot traffic had increased. My hair whipped around my face in a dark whirlwind, and I dragged my fingers through it to comb the thick waves back as I searched. Spotting a clothing store on the other side of the street, I crossed at a stoplight and headed inside to browse the racks. I went straight to the jeans section. The darker the wash, the harder it was to see blood stains. I grabbed a few pairs just to be safe. Sadly, my wardrobe suffered worse than I did from occupational hazards.
As I scanned the tops, I thought about Helen’s behavior before everything went down with the assassins. Her recently acquired drinking habits would have made a frat boy proud. She became despondent and a tad paranoid. Something had her spooked, and the longer I thought about it, the puzzle pieces slid easily into place.
Shane had known where to find me. Long before the assassins arrived he’d been spying on me, even sent his freshly made baby vampires after me. Before Shane put a knife through Gavin’s heart at the ball, he told me his partner in crime was none other than the father I spent my whole life believing was dead. I still had a hard time swallowing that bitter pill. Who knew if it was a lie, but my gut was telling me it wasn’t.
And if my father were still around, it would be no stretch to assume Helen knew him since she and my mother were besties. I couldn’t guess her true motives, but I knew she betrayed us and sold me out to him.
I moved through the store, grabbing a few t-shirts and nicer tops I thought would make Holly proud. I still missed my best friend every day and thinking of her just reminded me of how I owed Shane a stake through his heart.
When I moved to the checkout line, I stopped in my tracks. Up on display was this killer red skater dress with a flared skirt and cutouts on the sides. I automatically pictured Gavin seeing me in it and had to have it. I never passed up an opportunity to throw that man off kilter, and if I was being completely honest with myself, I needed to see that look on his face again, like the one he was sporting at the ball, the one that said I was the rarest, most prized weapon at auction, and he just had to have me for his collection.
I picked up a few more supplies just as the sun was setting. The days finally felt like they were getting longer. It was the beginning of March, and although it was still cold as hell outside, spring was right around the corner.
Hallelujah!
I was definitely more of a summer girl, always craving sunshine and warmth.
Back in the apartment, I deposited my bags on the little oval breakfast table that was shoved up against the wall opposite the kitchen.
“Honey, I’m home,” I shouted.
Ever since I found out Gavin could hear, and obviously feel, me in his sleep, I liked talking to him every chance I got. It felt like he was still there with me. It also made me much more careful with what I said around him.
When I was a wreck over his death, he heard every pathetic sob and plea for him to come back to me. And yes, I may have promised something along the lines of not arguing with him anymore if he came back.
Big mistake. I will never hear the end of it.
I took my new clothes into the bedroom and looked over at Gavin, expecting him to crack his eyes open and peek, but my shoulders sagged, knowing that wasn’t going to happen.
“I’m changing in here so don’t look,” I teased.
I threw on a pair of yoga pants and t-shirt to lounge around in before settling next to Gavin on the bed. It was difficult leaving him alone. Part of me still felt anxious when I did, like when I returned he would be gone for good.
I sat against the headboard and stared like a total creeper, but I didn’t care. My man was very easy on the eyes. From his hard, chiseled jawline, to the scar above his left eye, he was beautiful. I wanted to reach out and touch that handsome face. Then, my eyes traveled the length of his body, and I wanted to touch other parts, like those broad shoulders and the look-at-me eight pack that was still noticeable underneath the thin sheet and blood-stained t-shirt he had on underneath his button-down at the ball. I really should have changed his soggy, rumpled clothes after the accident but refrained for this reason alone.
Such a creeper.
I shot out of bed and began pacing the room. These were not appropriate thoughts to be having about my unconscious boyfriend.
Get it together, Lucy.
To divert my stray hormones, I thought about where Helen might be and whom she might be with. I didn’t want to believe she was working with my father. She may not have had warm and fuzzy feelings toward me, but I didn’t think she’d put the rest of the Keepers in danger.
Whatever the case was, her reasons behind it didn’t matter. She sold us out. Whether she was working with my father the entire time or she was threatened, she made her own choices without asking for help. For someone who dedicated her whole life to finding and protecting the Daymarked vampire who would fulfill the prophecy and stop the cancerous spread of evil, to protect me, she sure went in the opposite direction of the cause and put herself first. At this point I wasn’t sure there was any way to help her.
Worrying myself, I bumped into the poorly built Ikea dresser and rattled the candle sticks. They toppled over in their holders, but with vampire reflexes, I caught them at the last second before they hit the dusty surface. With just my own thoughts to occupy me, I was agitated. Restlessness was knocking on my door, and the only thing that ever answered was recklessness. There was only one thing left to do.
Time to go to work.
†
“Okay, baby. I’m going out. Don’t wait up. And don’t worry, I’ll be safe.”
Was it wrong to get some sort of pleasure out of knowing he couldn’t talk back? If he could, I imagined it would sound like an old PSA about wandering into dark alleys when the most dangerous vampires in the world wanted your head. I walked over and pressed my palm to his cheek as I leaned in to kiss his other side.
“See you soon.”
I glanced down at his full lips, which I had purposely avoided up until this point, for good reasons. Very… very good reasons. Reasons that seem to have escaped me. I felt myself drawing closer, going against my previous resolve to stay strong.
My heart jumped in my chest and I felt the blood pumping harder. I needed to get out of here. Now. I wrenched my gaze away from those problematic lips.
“Feel free to wake up anytime, Gavin,” I breathed. It came out labored, like I had just run ten marathons. With one last lingering look, I turned and grabbed a new coat from one of my shopping bags, letting the door latch softly behind me on my way out.
I wanted to tell him I loved him, but we still haven’t spoken those words in the light of day, even though we were both crazy about each other. There just hadn’t been a right time.
It seemed like every time I formed an attachment to someone, that person became a target for my enemies, so we’ve been keeping our love for each other hidden, where no evil can corrupt it or use it against us. We kept it close to our hearts to protect it, but that idea has been losing its appeal lately. It’s become less about keeping it sacred and more about hiding it. It feels like evil has been succeeding in driving our love into the dark, when it should be free to live in the open and grow in the light.
Maybe I was r
eading too much into it. I tended to overthink things when stir crazy, which made hunting all the more necessary. It was probably wise to take Gavin’s omnipresent, ingrained advice and not draw attention to myself, but having the whole vampire community after me was not a new threat.
So, what the hell? Why not have a little fun.
2
“Ms. Masters.”
Every muscle tightened at the sound of my name called from the shadows behind me. Not because it evoked fear, but because I was used to hearing that particular name in Gavin’s disapproving adult tone. He usually said it with either impatience or frustration, mixed with an absurd amount of authority.
His tone would grow soft and more sincere when he used Lucy, but now we had all those fun pet names. The way he said baby was quickly becoming a favorite of mine. It was a bit low and mouthwatering and a whole lot of mischievous. I loved all the ways that man said my name, and this little punk didn’t do it justice.
I turned to face a vampire who looked about eighteen. He wore dark washed jeans and an old worn out hoodie over a black t-shirt. His hair was black and cut short on one side while the rest flopped over his eyes on the other side of his head. I imagined before he turned he might have had several piercings and tattoos, but once you go vamp, you have that nifty ability to heal any marred skin. Alas, no outward expressions of teenage rebellion for us.
This was yet another glowing difference between this guy and Gavin. There were two types of vampires in this world, the Shadowmarked, like this A-hole, and the Daymarked, like myself. I have blood descended from Lucifer, himself, which meant I had super special cursed blood. It’s more angelic, giving me a shot at redemption and the ability to walk in the sun.
The Shadowmarked were spawned from the demon, Lilith. They instantly lose their soul upon transition, giving them zero chances of redemption. They can’t walk in the sun and aren’t as formidable as the Daymarked. Because of this imbalance of power between the two, the Dark bloodlines hunted the Light lines into extinction. Or so they thought.
Gavin and I were still here despite the odds, and now, the man who helped conceive me might be out there somewhere.
Speaking of my father, any Daymarked vampire could forfeit their chances of redemption by murdering humans. The way I understood it, there was a blood chain, and the last vampire to drink from a person assumed responsibility for either their life or death. If my father had someone’s fresh blood in his system when they died, he would lose his soul permanently, and I assumed if my father was working with Shane, he must have been pro-homicide.
I’ve never seen a Daymarked without a soul and had no idea what it was I’d be up against, but I have seen a vampire with a soul. Gavin’s had been fully restored, and there was proof. He no longer needed blood to survive, and a stake through his heart couldn’t even kill him. The scar above his eye was further evidence that a piece of humanity remained after turning and wasn’t completely erased.
I came back to the present when the kid spoke. “I heard you’re the most wanted vampire in the world.” The punk looked me up and down with a smugness that betrayed his naïveté, leaning against the brick wall beside him while crossing his arms over his chest, clearly unimpressed with what he saw.
“Aww, I’m flattered. You looking for an autograph?” I flashed him a toothy smile and batted my eyelashes.
“Nope, just want to be the one to take you down. You don’t look as legendary as they all say. Hot, but not that scary.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“I also hear your blood will make me fly.”
My howling laughter echoed through the empty alley, carrying over the whistling wind. “Yeah, it’s like a shot of sunlight. Your ashes would probably fly high for miles with these gusts. But go ahead, make my job easy.”
I extended my arm to him, dragging up my sleeve to expose the blue veins beneath my flesh. While he was distracted by the offer, I wondered how everyone knew about drinking vampire blood.
There was a way to gain power from it, in sort of an opposite kind of blood chain, but it had to be done very carefully, and I wasn’t lying to him when I said my blood would light him up. No vampire could drink my blood without bursting into flames. It just wasn’t Kosher with them. But if they wanted to start going all Hannibal Lector on each other, it really would make my job easier.
I could see his wheels turning, scared yet still enticed. His greedy eyes stayed on my outstretched arm, power hungry and determined.
“Seriously, can we get this over with? There are much smarter vampires I could be fighting tonight.”
This snapped him out of it. With a furious growl, he lunged at me. I sidestepped his slow advance. When I spun around, I kicked him in his retreating backside, propelling him into a dumpster. It left a douche-shaped dent in it. He righted himself and whipped his head up, but by the time his eyes narrowed on the spot where I stood, I was behind him.
I cleared my throat, and his head snapped toward me. “Do you really want to keep doing this?”
His eyes bulged and his mouth formed an O. “How did you…?”
“Listen, you seem young and not as big of a pain in the ass as the others I’ve faced, so I’ll make this quick. I’ll even give you one free shot at me.”
His eyebrows pinched together in confusion. “You will?”
“Yeah, and I swear I won’t even budge until—”
Before I could finish my sentence, he dove for me. The lust for power was back in his eyes, and when he directed those exposed fangs toward my neck, I gave him my forearm instead. If that’s the way he wanted to die, so be it. I was a bit curious to see the affects of my blood on another vampire firsthand, since I had yet to witness its full potential.
He approached and sank his fangs into my arm. I winced at the sharp sting but held still as I watched in morbid fascination. I saw the exact moment my blood took hold of him. It must have only been a few drops, because his Adam’s apple had barely worked itself up and back down when he stiffened.
If I thought he was scared before, his eyes were saucers now, and he jerked back clutching his throat. He made horrible gagging sounds. Seconds later, the brightest flash of white appeared in front of me, followed by his remaining ashes sailing away on the hair-whipping wind.
“Hey, I was right. My blood did make you fly.”
The sight of it in all its potency had me thinking of Gavin’s warning. What if it could do that to him, and he was just worried about being dust?
I couldn’t believe that. He had a soul and he was half Daymarked. I didn’t believe I could hurt him when I was the reason he was still alive.
I turned and left the alley the same way I entered it, restless and in need of a real challenge.
I had just rounded the next corner when I heard it. A scream broke through the whistling wind. Divine intervention or just plain luck?
Next victim.
†
When I came within a block of the assault, I dropped my head in disappointment. It was a common mugger shaking down a middle-aged couple. No matter how much they deserved it, I would never kill a human.
Translation- I couldn’t have too much fun with this one.
I stepped behind the movie theatre where the light haired man was on his knees in front of the assailant, who pointed a gun at his head. The man’s wife was crying hysterically. I squeezed between them to shield the couple from the bullet.
“Excuse me, do you happen to know where the restrooms are? I think I took a wrong turn. I really don’t want to miss too much of the movie. Christian just won Anna back and I think it’s about to get pretty good. If you know what I mean.”
The wife shut up and everyone paused in shock. The mugger aimed the gun at my face. “Honey, you must be pretty damn stupid to walk in on this. All of you, empty your wallets. Now!”
“You’re going to have to empty it for me,” I incited.
His beady eyes roamed the length of me, and his slimy smile revealed a missing tooth. “If t
hat’s the way you want it, sugar, I’d be happy to oblige.”
When he advanced, I snatched the gun out of his hand and turned to shout, “Run!”
By the time I spun back around, the mugger was already lunging. I caught him by the neck, which probably didn’t feel too pleasant, but his air supply was adequately suppressed, so I couldn’t hear his complaints.
“Get a real job, dude. This life will only get you locked behind bars with a bunch of guys to keep you warm at night. I’m sure you don’t want that. You should leave now and rethink your options.”
I began loosening my hold on his neck when I was shoved violently from behind. The mugger dropped to the ground below me while I sailed through the air above him. I heard crunching noises when I landed, but they weren’t coming from me.
Minor bruises were sustained, but it was nothing that wouldn’t heal within seconds. Splintered wood poked through my clothes from the less fortunate stack of wood pallets that broke my fall. A gallon of glue wasn’t going to heal them. For good measure, a case of empty beer bottles was left on top of the stack. It wouldn’t be a real brawl without a little broken glass.
I peered up from my sprawled position on the spikey and very vampire-unfriendly mound to witness a small group of Shadowmarked hovering over me. They paid the bloodied and defenseless human no mind, but me, they wanted. I sighed, bearing my burden of popularity.
“Nice night for some Pokemon Go, isn’t it fellas? Is there one behind me or something?” I rolled off the pile, avoiding the worst of the stabby pieces.
They continued to stare at me with malicious glee as I brushed off remaining glass shards and plucked wood chips out of my hair while I climbed to my feet. I was starting to get the feeling I was Pikachu.
“Well, you gotta catch ‘em all, right?” I opened my arms in welcome.
“We’re going after your immobile boyfriend once we take you out, so I wouldn’t look so smug if I were you.”
At the mention of Gavin, my insides went cold. Word traveled fast among vampires. How were the Shadowmarked so connected? Did they subscribe to a blog? If these little bastards knew about Gavin’s state, we had about zero seconds before he became a target. Suddenly, I had the urge to plow through every vampire in the city to get back to him.
Beautiful Eternity (The Bloodmarked Trilogy Book 3) Page 2