by Kiki Howell
“What could you have to do with my face? No one knows why when I become a vampire the supernatural healing powers that come with the change didn’t work on the injuries I sustained to my face in the accident. You keep saying you were there? I don’t understand. How in the hell would I know your magic, or recognize it, as I think you said?”
“I was there that night of your accident. I remember it like it was yesterday. You were just barely a man, what twenty years old?”
“Yes, exactly. How do you—?”
“I was just a teenager then,” she interrupted him. She sounded like one all of the sudden too. Her voice held a high pitch of over-excitement. “I was sixteen to be exact. I saw you from time to time around town. You were back in the Willows working that summer between college semesters, right?”
“How do you know all of this about me? Were you some kind of teenage stalker?” He gave a faint laugh, the feeling vibrated in his chest, let him know he was barely breathing. Not that he needed to, but it was a habit even the dead never outgrew.
“Stalker? Well, maybe. Ah, lets say though that I was a teenager infatuated with a college guy.” She waved her hand at him as if she’d erased what she’d written on some imaginary chalkboard. “Actually, I think I secretly had a crush on you long before that. Anyway, no real need for me to embarrass myself by divulging all of that information, we – as in me and a few other young witches – were in the woods that night, the evening of your accident, we were playing with our new and growing powers, as teen witches will do. It was the full moon. Do you remember that?”
“Yes, of course. I remember every detail of that night in vivid color. I saw the moon as I lay there on the ground, as I died, a bright gray ball in the sky. I remember thinking that it was like something out of a horror movie to die under such a thing. Just one of the millions of thoughts, half sane, half not, that go through your head when you know death is coming. That night something had run out in front of my car, instinct had me swerve, and I hit a few trees – going too fast – driving like I was invincible of course, as teenage males will do. Were your spells making the animals scurry away, out into the dangerous roads?”
“I have no idea. Wasn’t really a concern. Can’t even say anyone thought of it. We were reckless with our gifts at first. All I know is we heard it, the accident, your car hitting the tree. The crunch of metal and wood carried in the silence. But, by the time we got there from where we were, Drake was already there with you. It looked like he was feeding from you at first, but when he bit into his own arm and squeezed the blood from his wrist into your mouth, we knew he was actually saving your life by turning you. The witches I was with took it upon themselves to see if they could prevent another vampire from being brought into this world. They wanted you just to die.
“I couldn’t let that happen. You were so young, so...well, so much a thing of my fantasies, that even if you were the walking dead, it just didn’t feel right to me for them to interfere. I felt protective of you. I couldn’t let you go. So, I blocked their magic as best I could, me against them. Drake sensed it, the magic, and came after us. But, we hid, used an invisible spell, our only real protection against your speed if you come after us like that. Anyway, I never knew what happened to you after that, only what the town knew, that your car had been found and your body had not.”
“My face then, the reason it didn’t heal like it should have, was because of the magic?”
“I can only assume. We interfered with the process, the change. At some point, they were stopping the change and I was trying to stop them. Whatever happened, the result was that you didn’t heal on the outside like you did on the inside, I guess. I mean who knows what can happen when a magical sort of war is going on as a body makes the change from human to the walking dead. It’s too much for even the paranormal world to reconcile, or explain, I guess. I’m sorry for my part in it.”
“No, it’s not your fault. Everyone there tried to alter my fate, it seems. I was meant to die from a human standpoint, which is all I was going into that night. After my conversion, to this town I had to die. Drake hid me away. I could no longer walk in the sun. There was no way to come back to my family and live among them as a vampire and explain why I couldn’t go out during the day and other such things. Besides, this face, as it is now, it isn’t meant for light. It works best for me in the shadows.”
“No,” she spoke softly. “I still see a beautiful man, a strong, intense…”
He cut in when she left off. “I’m not. I’m a monster. Don’t forget that,” he clipped, moving her hand from his face, because it just felt too good there. He couldn’t give into that right now. It had to be her magic, something that had saved him from death; just as Drake had so his body craved it like a lifeline. But, he wasn’t worthy of such a beauty. And, for fucks sake, this siren is a witch. Could you at least remember that? He spoke in his mind to his dick.
“If you say so. Fine. You’re the big bad vampire now. My mind, it just hasn’t caught up. To me you’re still twenty. You still look it of course. And, you’re still the boy I wanted so badly. Listen,” her voice had softened as the blush on her face had grew. “I’m sorry about your maker. I don’t know what will happen now to this town. War has been declared on all three sides. The clans are going to battle, and who knows what or who will get caught in the crossfire. I never understood why we couldn’t all just get along, why we had to be natural enemies. Yes, we each have powers over the other, but does that mean we have to use them against each other? Do we have to hate each other just because we are different? Or should we be joining together because we are different from the mortals, the thing we have in common. We’re sitting here talking, the walls of this house haven’t exploded out, and the world hasn’t imploded in on itself.”
Maybe not yours!
“We are talking,” he agreed. “And, not exactly how I’d expected the conversation to go. I had thought I would have to glamour you to get the information I wanted. But you never gave me the chance.” He looked down at his watch when a yawn took him, made his eyes water. “Shit, we have been talking for some time. I’m sorry. I can’t take you back now. The sun is coming up. I can feel it. I’m not sure what to do with you now. Fuck!” His mind had gone, the day sleep made his body feel lethargic, his eyelids heavy.
He’d created a real problem for himself. He’d really intended to grab a witch, glamour her for information, and return her to her world. This witch, though, he hadn’t planned on.
“It’s not a problem. I mean, they already know I’m gone, I’m sure, or will soon. Anyway, got a phone?”
He pulled his cell from his pocket. The brief touch of her hand on his as she took his phone sparked a few more minutes of life into him.
“Penny, it’s Winter,” he heard her say into the cell phone, her name rushed over him like a cool breeze. Her pale skin was definitely of winter, but not the fiery red hair that cascaded over her white shoulders. “Listen. Yes, I know someone broke in. I tried to go after them, but of course lost them in the woods. They were too fast for my magic to stop. Anyway, I didn’t feel like coming back, so I grabbed an empty cabin. I’m going to sleep. Will see you later.”
She hung up the phone and handed it back to him. He shoved it in his jeans pocket as if he was afraid to touch anything she’d had in her possession.
“See there, all solved,” she gloated. “Many cabins are still empty this time of year. No one will come looking for me. Trust me, I disappear all the time and no one cares. As I said, I’m kind of an outcast among my kind these days.”
Isaac just shook his head. “Thanks, I don’t know what to say. You covered my ass. But, what will you do now?”
“Stay here if that’s okay with you. I promise, I won’t hurt you if that’s what you’re worried about. I won’t stake you in your sleep or put a spell on you. After all of these years, I’m just too relieved to see you alive.” She looked to the bed across the room. Everything was in one place, one big room l
ike a one room studio apartment underground with the exception of the bathroom in the back. Sparing no expense, Drake had even managed some sort of plumbing system. The entire place ran off a generator in this underground suite, due to the fact there were no windows at all.
“Well, in my sleep fogged brain, I hadn’t thought of getting staked or spelled, but thank you for putting the thoughts into my head. I don’t fear death though. Well, dying again that is. I should have died years ago, alone with that moon on the side of the road. So go ahead and stake me if you wish.”
He gave her a sly smile as he moved to the bed like the walking dead, not energetic enough to care if he was even capable of fearing this beautiful creature.
As he fell like a wooden soldier onto the mattress, she whispered, “I’m glad you didn’t die. I’m thrilled that I got to talk to you tonight. It has always a dream of mine.”
He turned to look at her; beauty, sheer, exquisite allure, too pure, too innocent, too golden for the likes of him. But, he appreciated the view as his eyes closed.
***
The Vampire’s Wolf by Kiki Howell
At War in the Willows Series, Book Two
Chapter One
Into his arms she fell, knocked them both off balance until they landed on the bed with the grace of lovers long kept apart. That’s to say, no beauty or finesse at all; just two bodies which came together, joined as close as they possibly could from head to toe, connected by what felt like the beat of only one heart. Even though the fall was enough to take one’s breath away, Amberlyn felt like she’d really taken her first real breath in a long time when Kane’s mouth took hers. His lips claimed hers, pressed down hard, consumed her own. He nipped at one spot, kissed another, and parted her lips with his tongue. She relented, gave herself to him, more than willing, ready and able.
As they rediscovered all a simple kiss could be, their limbs tangled together, warred for closeness that would never be enough, could never be enough unless joined as one. Sometimes, not even then.
No matter what people were, no matter what the social laws, regardless of the social conventions, beyond the uninformed beliefs, the rulers of their clans could not police or keep apart two hearts such as theirs – so hopelessly in love. Her Vampire heart wanted a Werewolf and she had to live with the consequences of her actions. They’d held back, not seen each other since her maker, Drake, had been killed when her relationship with Kane went public. Still, no amount of time apart, blood shed, threat of war or all-consuming guilt was going to change the way she felt about Kane.
This week her traitorous, dead heart had broken, had missed Kane and Drake. All she’d really done with her time was lay low as if she’d been told and get pissed about with the way things were. In their small resort town of the Willows, in the mountains of Tennessee, Witches and Werewolves and Vampires were supposed to co-exist, mingle for show in public, but not form relationships and never, ever fall in love. But, sadly, the announcement that she loved Kane had gotten Drake killed and a Witch dead in the crossfire. Now it seemed war had been declared against the clans.
She’d had hours to pine away the last few days, lost in all of her losses, to think on such things – what she’d done right, what she’d done wrong, how to make herself love no one – but there was no reasoning with the cold, dead organ which beat no more in her chest. Though the guilt was a bitch, she would forever long to be in Kane’s arms. These were the sad facts, her own catch-twenty-two.
For all that poetry claimed in sickening-sweet language about the heart, love must reside somewhere else. It had to. As one of the undead, her heart simply did not beat. This was another fact, sad or not. It was all in the perspective. Yet, her humanity – well most of it – remained and with it the ability to love, fiercely, deeply, so that the earth felt like it was just about to shatter around her when the object of her affection was not near. Yes, love had to come from somewhere other than the heart; the soul maybe, which must carry an essence or energy of the human she used to be, something that still swirled around inside of her. Yes, she was colder to touch and she had cravings she fought daily for blood, but still, for the most part, she felt basically human, mortal and desperately, head over heels in love with a Werewolf.
She would no longer become the head of her clan like her maker, Drake, had groomed her for. Everyone in the clan, save maybe her Vamp brother, Isaac, and her Vamp grandmother, Willa, blamed her for Drake’s death. Probably rightly so. She blamed herself most minutes of the day, the ones that ticked by at a dreadful, slow pace, taunted her with their foolish beat. Achim, her Vamp grandfather, couldn’t even look at her. Even when he was forced to speak her name, it was with disgust and pain. While these Vampire family members weren’t blood family as in her family of origin—who by the way were people she wished never to think about again—these Vampires were her family of creations, the ones she wanted to be around. Going by the created bloodlines of the maker made more sense to her. Her human family had nearly destroyed her when she was alive anyway. Yet now, she felt cast aside, yet again, by another family. Orphaned by choice or by force still sucked either way.
“Amberlyn, baby, what’s wrong? In the last few minutes, I’ve lost you. You are in my arms, but still, miles away in your mind. Do you regret calling me and coming here to meet?” Kane questioned.
“No. No! Fuck!” Amberlyn grit her teeth, tried to hold in all that boiled up inside her. “Kane, fuck it all, things have just gotten so messed up in our world. This war we started, just by admitting our love, is so frustrating, because it’s so ridiculous… and I can’t make anyone see any reason as to why their thinking is so old-fashioned and corrupt. In a day and age where people are fighting for gay rights and have gained – in some states – the right to gay marriage, our clans still won’t let Vamps and Weres date, will barely let Witches and Vampire talk... Shit! And, best of all is the reason I called you to meet me, my brother Isaac, after coming back into town, has been with a Witch. And, I mean been with a Witch. We caught them this evening in bed, all naked and shit together. You can’t stop what the heart or body wants, damn it!” The words hissed through her teeth. “It seems the heart and body don’t categorize beings the way the clans heads do. Just because some are foolish enough to want to control others they know nothing about, doesn’t make them not want to be together! Am I even making sense any more?”
“I was able to follow what you were saying. But babe, you need to calm down,” Kane said in a rush when Amberlyn finally took a breath. “Maybe this is a good thing. Maybe with two couples, and who knows if there are more who’ve crossed the lines of the clans social conventions, then maybe these unwritten, old social laws will be changed. I mean, they’re really nothing more than prejudices formed by fears of the unknown, passed down through the generations. Isn’t that the way it always goes? Problem is that fights seem to erupt quickly to keep these prejudices alive and well.”
“Maybe one day,” Kane spoke more slowly now, like he repeated a daydream, “just like you dreamed about being groomed to lead the Vampires, a couple like us will be able to be together in the open. I felt like I was dying all week, not being able to see you. They’ve been guarding me like a common criminal. I swear, I can’t believe they didn’t put me in shackles and beat me. The guy who killed Drake, while he got in trouble for killing and for making the clan look bad really, he was also revered while I was shamed.
“But today,” he continued, “luckily when you called, they were taking care of other matters, like what to do to those Witches who last night dared to play with a were and a Vamp, nearly bringing them to blows and blowing their cover as other worldly creatures in front of humans. Things are going to get bad before they get better I fear. We may just need to leave the Willows altogether. I mean, I have clan loyalty, but I’m no longer sure my presence or yours is welcome or wanted. Though I do feel an obligation to help stop the war we started. We really need to end the fighting the right way so others like us… I mean, they have to be
out there. Isaac and his Witch can’t be the only other couple… Anyway, we need to make it so that others like us can be together in the future. What do you think, Amberlyn?”
“Maybe we should just leave,” Amberlyn spoke to the mattress in a forlorn voice, deep and slow. “I felt an obligation at first too, still do in many ways, but everything has changed in just a matter of days. There isn’t a chance in hell of me becoming the leader of my clan. Although, it seems Achim and Isaac don’t want the position either. So, the question there becomes who will take over? We, or at least me…I’m always going to be blamed for Drake’s death. So, I can’t do it. I can’t lead. No one would feel safe, let alone listen to me now. I ran away once and started over when I was just a teenage human. Of course, I got myself killed or turned into a Vampire in the process, but it hasn’t turned out so bad. Okay, until now. But, right now, all I want is you.”
“Then show me babe,” Kane hissed. “It’s feels like it has been too long since we’ve been in each other’s arms.”
“I know. I want you too.” She gave him a quick kiss, but pulled away again with an abrupt a motion. “I just…I’m so conflicted. Loyalty and love, why do they have to be in opposition to each other? Why in this world do so many bad things happen? Abuse? Death? I’ve had too much of it in my life.”
“I know babe. I’ll do whatever you want. I love you. You know that no matter what, I’ll hold you. Even if I can only hold you in my heart and my memories. I’d let you go, if that was what you want… even though I don’t want to, even though it would kill me to do so. What I want, especially after these past few days with my were clan, being away from you, hearing all the bad things being said about Vampires, getting ready for retaliation because one of mine killed one of yours…all I want is to run away from it all. Not because I can’t face them, the challenge, the fight, but because I can’t face the time without you. I know life already made you run away once, but you ran away alone. This time would be different. This time we only need to run away just past the social conventions that keep us apart. And we would run together, hand in hand.”