Emma unscrewed the cap off the little bottle of blood and held it out to Barry.
He cocked his head with quizzical eyes, “Is this living weapon blood?”
“No,” Emma said as he took the bottle from her. “It’s not, I promise. Just drink it.”
With hesitation, Barry slowly rose the bottle to his lips and tipped it back. He never lost eye contact with her, as if waiting for her promise to falter. For that split moment, he anticipated dropping dead; anticipating the moment coming rapidly. However, it didn’t. He suddenly felt like all of his organs were having an internal battle; his muscles began to ache, his stomach hurt, his head was pounding. He felt an awful sensation in his chest that was as if he was suffocating.
Emma, Zachariah, and Daniel all waited with baited breath to hear his heart start up. As they watched him rigidly fall down on his back, they were unsure of what his fate was. Just as they were about to give up hope, they heard the rapid “thud thud thud” of his heart sputtering to a start. Barry suddenly gasped for air, inhaling deeply through his mouth as he clutched at the ground. He began breathing heavily, just like Vivienne did when she turned back to human.
“Oh my gosh, it worked,” Zachariah said in awe with wide eyes and a smile.
“What’s happening to me?” Barry gasped in between breaths. “Why do I have to breathe? What was that blood?”
Deep down, Emma was somewhat hoping that the blood wouldn’t work. Then, she wouldn’t have to watch Zachariah become human again, and she wouldn’t be riddled with the choice herself. But, once she saw the sheer joy and Zachariah’s face, she couldn’t help but be happy for him. Since she couldn’t go back and change the past and let Zachariah die, she was glad to let him live once again and finish his human life.
“Barry, the blood that you drank was not from a living weapon…it was from a cure,” Emma explained. “Looks like we have a new breed of supernatural that we never knew could exist. What this means for you, well…you’re a human once again. Welcome back to the land of the living, Barry.”
As Barry’s breathing began to stabilize, he realized what Emma said was true. He pressed his fingers to his neck and felt a strong pulse beating through it. Unfortunately, he also felt weak since his vampire strength and speed was now gone. At that moment, however, he didn’t care! He was just glad to be out of his grave.
“Another test,” Daniel said as he took Barry by the shoulders. He locked eyes with him and charmed, “Barry, I want you to pick up the nearest sturdy stick and stab yourself in the stomach with it.”
“What?!” He exclaimed. “Why? I’m not doing anything like that! Are you crazy?”
Daniel looked back Emma and Zachariah, “He can’t be charmed.” He turned back to Barry and assured him that he was just testing him and that he wouldn’t have allowed him to follow through. “Do you have any more vampires buried around here, Emma?”
“I do, why?”
“Let’s dig up another one and see if Barry can be turned back to a vampire. Like you said, I don’t think we should try it ourselves. I also think it would be good to check and see if their blood can be ingested by us. If we can’t charm them, who’s to say what they could do to us.”
Emma and Zachariah were impressed with Daniel’s forward thinking. They hadn’t thought of either of those things. They asked Barry to sit on the ground nearby as they dug up the vampire next to him. Barry knew better than to try and run, especially since he no longer had the speed and it was three against one.
They dug up the next vampire, Eugene Crawford, who had been buried there since the 1950s. They pulled his decrepit body out of the ground and brought him to the surface. He was weak, but the sound of Barry’s heartbeat made him go mad internally. He began crawling in the direction of Barry, who was beginning to panic as Emma held him down.
“If he feeds on me, he’s going to drain me!” He exclaimed.
The Royals did not respond to him and watched as Eugene inched closer and closer to Barry. He did not have the strength to reach up to bite his neck, so instead he took him by the wrist. With his fangs descended, he chomped down on Barry’s fresh, human skin. Immediately after he took the first drink, Eugene collapsed onto the ground. Dead.
“Oh my gosh,” Emma whispered as their mouth hung open with shock. “When a vampire gets turned back to human, they become living weapons.”
“I’m a living weapon now?” Barry asked with fear. During his time as a vampire, he knew that living weapons were destroyed immediately when found. He began to try and wriggle out of Emma’s grasp.
“Hold on! Now we need to dig up another one to see if they can turn him back to vampire,” Zachariah reminded.
“Geez, should we just dig up all of our prisoners? We should be taking notes on this,” Emma said with irritation. However, she knew that they needed to cover all bases before proceeding with it.
They dug up yet another vampire, Tilly Lundgren, who was Eugene’s accomplice in the crimes he committed. They fed her some jugged blood so she could regain her strength. She saw Eugene’s unrecognizable body laying on the ground next to Barry, whose heart was racing with fear.
“Tilly, I want you to turn this man here. Do not drink his blood, inject him with venom first,” Emma commanded. “After you do, wipe any blood off of your fangs.”
Tilly was hesitant, especially since she had no information as to why they were having her do this. But, she knew better than to disobey her Queen once again. She knelt down beside Barry, and struck his neck like a cobra, quickly injecting venom into his veins. She used her fingers to wipe off any blood that was on her fangs, which was minute.
Barry began to writhe in agony, clutching his stomach and falling to the ground in the fetal position. The pain was so excruciating he could hardly take a breath of air. The vampires listened intently to his heart; if it would stop beating like it was supposed to or something else. They didn’t know what to expect. After several minutes of torture, Barry began to calm down and his breathing slowed to a normal pace. However, he still had a heartbeat.
“Is he…” Zachariah started as he stepped forward. “Tilly, drink his blood now.”
She reluctantly did what he commanded, nervous about what would happen to her. As she bit into Barry’s neck to drink the blood, the same thing that happened to Vivienne happened to her. Zachariah’s theory was confirmed.
“Barry’s another cure,” he finished. He had to think of the steps in his head before he listed them. “If a vampire drinks the blood of a cure, they turn into a living weapon. If they’re bitten by vampire, then they turn into a cure. This is crazy.”
“And now they’re dead,” Emma stated before she zipped around and snapped both of their necks. She had enough and didn’t want all these cures and living weapons running around. Plus, they were former vampire criminals, serving a sentence for their crimes. Realistically, she had just done them a favor by killing them quickly instead of putting them back in the ground.
“Man, you can be tough,” Daniel commented. “I don’t think I’ve truly seen the authority side of you before.”
As Emma, Zachariah, and Daniel walked back toward the house, they discussed what a huge turn of events this was for all vampires. So many had been turned without consent and some even wished they could go back to being human once again. Then, there were those that ended up enjoying their immortal lives and wouldn’t change it for the world.
As they entered the house, Todd was just coming down the hallway from the kitchen.
“So, did it work?” He asked, extremely curious.
Zachariah smiled with anticipated, “It did.”
“This means you’re no longer deadly to us—in fact, we could almost say you revive life instead,” Emma added.
“He needs a fancy name for what he is now,” Daniel stated. “Before he was a living weapon, now he’s…a cure?”
“Nah, that’s kind of boring,” Todd disagreed, enjoying his new status. He had to admit, he always like the sound
of being called a living weapon. It always sounded so bad ass.
“A reviver?” Zachariah suggested.
“A life giver?” Emma threw in.
Todd shook his head with each suggestion. “A Lazarus,” he said.
They all nodded and agreed with his choice for a new name. It obviously fit his entire situation as he could bring vampires, who were dead, back to life as humans. They would be modern day Lazaruses. He was well aware of the Bible story and knew that Lazarus was the one that was raised from the dead. But, he liked the name—it had a very profound ring to it.
“Todd Foster,” Emma said as she raised her hand in the air, performing a silly, makeshift ritual. “I declare you are no longer a living weapon. You are now known as a Lazarus, the first our kind has ever seen.”
Todd took an over-exaggerated bow.
“I did let Aidan know about the situation,” Emma continued. “He had made a good point. He suggested that you stay under my protection, at least for the time being. We aren’t going to tell anyone about what you are, at least not just yet. But, once we do, we don’t know how many vampires are going to want a sip. I have to keep you protected.”
Neither Todd nor Emma would admit it, but deep down they were both secretly glad that they had an excuse to keep Todd in the house.
They filled Todd in on everything that had happened that afternoon and the domino effect of it all.
“So, Zach, have you decided?” Todd asked him.
Zachariah took Emma by the hand, looked directly in her eyes, and sympathetically nodded. He knew that she was sad, but also supportive of him changing if that was what he wished. He would be lying if he didn’t say that he was nervous and if he was making the right choice. Being a vampire certainly had its perks over the years; he got to see the world and all the changes in it, he was used to being fast and strong, and he was used to the power that he had in the vampire world. Being turned by the reigning vampire queen of North America wasn’t such a bad gig. However, he was tired even though he couldn’t sleep; his brain was mentally exhausted from living each and every day for over one hundred and fifty years. He never got to go to sleep to shut the world off, which meant that he had been awake since 1839.
He looked forward to being able to enjoy human food again as there were so many varieties! He even looked forward to the feeling of adrenaline rushing through him, butterflies in his stomach, and even little aches and pains that came with the territory. He felt as though he had been numb for one hundred and seventy-six years; to feel was to be human. The one thing that did make him nervous was illness. He had been turned because he was dying from being sick, and he remembered the feeling all too well. Even after all these years, he remembered struggling to breathe and the way his entire body ached. However, this was the price he was willing to pay to be human again.
“When are you going to do this?” Emma asked.
“I’m not sure yet, but I don’t want to jump into it. I’m going to take my time and make sure that I’m ready,” Zachariah replied.
As Vivienne’s flight landed in LA, she awoke as the plane’s wheels touched the ground, jarring her. It was the oddest feeling that was going to take some time to get used to; being tired and actually falling asleep. She had been awake for centuries and the mere action of becoming unconscious unnerved her. Not being constantly aware of her surroundings made her uneasy.
Once the flight attendant made the announcement that they could use their cell phones, she checked hers to find that there was a voicemail from Zachariah. He was letting her know about the experiment they did with the prisoners and the outcome. He went on to tell her that he had made the decision that he was going to turn human as well, which genuinely surprised her. She had to admit to herself that she was actually excited; she would have a friend and fellow former vampire who could go through this with her. She decided to wait until she got home to call him back; that way she would have plenty of time to chat with him.
As she walked down to baggage claim, paparazzi that hung around the arrivals area began to snap her picture. That was the bad part about flying in and out of LAX. She wondered how awful she looked and if she looked any different to them. But, no one said anything about her physical appearance. Most were asking where Declan was, how he was doing since a press release was issued announcing his retirement, when he was really completely dead. It took everything in her to fight off the tears. If she began crying, they would know that something was truly wrong.
As the limousine pulled up in front of her house that she once shared with Declan, she trudged to the front door. She honestly wasn’t expecting to return since her whole plan was to commit suicide by Todd’s blood in Chicago. However, she had to admit that she was pretty glad that she was still around. She felt like things were going to take a different turn for the better.
She opened the front door and stepped into her empty house, which seemed far quieter than it was when she left. She realized that since she was human, that she didn’t have the sensitive hearing anymore, making everything sound much more silent than it was. She could hear little things like the refrigerator running, a car going down the street, and the birds chirping. But, she could no longer hear the other things like her neighbors talking from the house next door; she was too far away to hear distinct conversations, but she could always hear their voices speaking to each other. Now, it was completely quiet.
She took her suitcase upstairs and unpacked what little she had, quickly trying to get things done so she could call Zachariah back. Once she tidied up and put everything away, she flopped onto her couch and pulled out her cell phone to call him.
“So you’re going to really do it” she opened their conversation when he picked up. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”
“I think so,” he responded. “But, I want to be 100% sure before I do. Now that I know it can be done, I have a lot to think about. Let’s say you weren’t trying to kill yourself, are you glad to be human again?”
Vivienne took a deep breath that filled her lungs with much-needed oxygen. “I’m getting used to it, but ultimately, yes I think I am glad to be a human again. I have to admit though, I took a lot of the perks of being a vampire for granted!”
Zachariah laughed on the other end, which was such a warm sound for her to hear. It was nice having someone, a dear friend, to talk to. She had missed her conversations with Declan and was soon realizing that many were a lie. He did so many things behind her back, so many ulterior motives; it broke her heart to a little bit. Even as a human, she had never been able to see so clearly. She was crazy about him because he was her maker; it was a natural feeling. But now…the feelings of adoration were rapidly fading, no matter if they spent eighty years together.
She wasn’t sure if it was the entire situation, an overload of emotions, or the simple fact that Zachariah was so kind to her; but for some reason, she was feeling attracted to him. She had never looked at him like that before or felt that way about him. She could admit that he was a good-looking guy, but she had never been smitten by him in that way. She chalked it up to being a human again and being able to see him through different eyes.
“Zachariah, can I ask you something?” She blurted, immediately kicking herself for the thought running through her mind. When he told her to go ahead, she proceeded, “If you turn human again…are you still going to be Emma’s?”
He felt guilty and like a traitor when he responded, “No, I don’t think I will.” Since he was still a vampire, he still had a very loyal pull to her, and he felt awful for saying those words out loud. “I’ll always love her, I’ll always adore her. We have been partners in crime since 1839—that’s an awfully long time to spend with someone. And I loved her before I was turned, so I don’t know how I’m going to feel once I become human.”
“Well…if you find that you might be…interested…in someone else, maybe…I was wondering…”
“Why, Miss Vivienne, are you asking me on a date?”
S
he nervously laughed and responded that she was, feeling quite bold the moment.
“I’d love to,” he sweetly said. “If you hadn’t asked, I was going to ask you anyway.”
Vivienne was sure her face was bright red at the moment as she smiled from ear-to-ear. “Only there’s one stipulation,” she turned serious. “You’ll have to come here to LA. I’m too afraid to go to Chicago with Emma so angry at me. I would feel comfortable being in my own town, what do you think?”
“I think that would be all right! I always enjoy visiting the West Coast when I’m not working!”
They continued to talk on the phone for about an hour, each experiencing the other in a whole new light. Vivienne was her own person now and Zachariah was on his way. She was seeing a different side of him—a sweet side without the sarcasm and jokes for once. It was refreshing to talk to somebody who wasn’t as dominant and aggressive as Declan was. The longer she talked to him, the faster Declan was being pushed from her mind. It was confirmed that she spent so many years devoted to him only because he was her maker.
Once they hung up, Zachariah smiled at the phone after he hit the “end” button. He wasn’t sure how Emma would feel about him getting involved with Vivienne, but he was at the point where he needed a change. He had been living the same life, the same days, over and over for so many years that it had become redundant. He knew that if he lived long enough to be Aidan’s age, he would most certainly go mad, which would explain a lot about Aidan!
“Come on!” He heard Daniel yell from the hallway.
He opened the door to investigate and found Daniel standing there alone with rollerblades on. Zachariah laughed, which was much-needed.
“I always had to hold onto one of you,” Daniel said as he skated in circles. “Now I want to know what it feels like to skate that fast on my own!”
“Rightfully so! You better do a few practice laps or else you might end up as roadkill in the portrait gallery,” Zachariah taunted.
Revolutions (Davenport Manor Book 3) Page 15