by Diana Graves
Flames erupted from his body and I screamed as I ran to him. Without a second thought I dove into the flames that encompassed him and cradled his burning body. “Nick! No!” I screamed. The flames were hot, and I felt the pain of their strength, but I didn’t burn, only my clothes.
The door was busted down moments later, kicked in by Kevin. Frank came in close behind him. He tried to pull the curtains shut, but they had already caught fire. Kevin ran to the bedroom and came out with a heavy blanket. Together they tried to put out the fire by smothering it with the blanket but it wasn’t working. Light was still coming in from the front door, hanging on its broken hinges, and the window.
“Shit!” Frank shouted when he burned himself.
The heat was becoming too much, “Stand back!” I yelled to them.
“How are you not dead?” Frank asked, cradling his right arm. I didn’t answer him.
“Call it back!” I heard Alistair yell from my cell phone. It was still in my purse, now lying forgotten by the door where I had dropped it. “Call the flame, Raina!”
I looked down at what was left of my brother in my naked lap and took a deep breath, but the flames left little air for breathing. I closed my eyes and imagined that the flames were something I could breathe into myself, like a vacuum, but that didn’t work and I coughed madly for a long moment.
“Fire is yours. It will come if you call it!” Alistair yelled again.
I looked down at the fire that was eating my brother and I called to it. The same way I’d command a person to do as I liked, I commanded the flame. “Come to me!” I screamed. “Come!” I did not brace myself for the pain of it. As the flames crashed into me, soaking through my skin, I screamed wordlessly, a deep and retching scream until the flames were gone and my brother’s burnt remains lay lightly in my lap.
I began to cry, running my finger down his face with the lightest touch. Frank and Kevin just stood there, looking down at me. It was Alistair’s voice that cut through the horrible silence.
“Men are approaching from the distance, cover him somehow and get out of there. Now!”
“Cover him,” I said, trying to put a cap on my hysteria.
“He’s dead—,” Kevin began, but I cut him off. I was not in a patient mood.
“Someone is coming, and we’re taking Nick with us! Cover him up, now!” I shouted.
They did as they were told without argument or delay. I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure I didn’t use my powers of persuasion on them. But, I didn’t really give a shit right then either.
We hustled down the stairs and through the parking lot with Nick’s body covered in a blanket. It wasn’t until we reached the SUV that a group of men began shouting at us from across the parking lot. Alistair must have seen them from a mile away for them to have just now arrived.
Kevin knocked on the back door three times before opening it. He placed Nick in on the floor and ran around the SUV. Frank was at the driver’s side door when we heard the first gun shots. The three of us ducked at once, hiding ourselves as best we could.
“They’re shooting at us!” I yelled in surprise, though it was obvious.
“We’re stealing their next paycheck!” Kevin yelled back before he pulled out his own gun and shot back at them.
Frank cautiously got into the driver’s seat and started the engine, but he yelled at us over the gun fire, “We’re trapped. They’re blocking the only fucking exit!”
“Release it, Raina!” Alistair shouted from somewhere inside the SUV.
“Release what?!” Kevin shouted.
I was running on pure adrenaline in that moment, and I was feeling reckless, crazy. Like a wild thing cornered and running out of options. “Just cover me,” I said before I moved out from behind the SUV and ran toward the men who were shooting at us.
They were closing in on us. They probably thought they were winning; that we were easy pickings, trapped and whatnot. But, when I ran at them they were confused for a second. I used that precious second to brace myself. I planted my feet wide and I pushed all the fire that I forced inside me back out. I was prepared for the pain and I suffered through it with gritted teeth as the flames roared from my body. I didn’t want to see them catch fire and burn, so I closed my eyes as tight as I could, but I could still hear them screaming, crying out. I let the fire pour from me until I was spent, and then without looking at the carnage I turned to run. But, I didn’t have to. Frank pulled the SUV up behind me.
Kevin’s window was down. “Jump in!” he called out.
The door was still open and I climbed in. We were racing out of the parking lot before I had time enough to close the door, but when I did Alistair appeared from behind a thick blanket.
THE FIRST OF YOUR KIND
I WAITED ALONE in Alistair’s room, huddled on his bed in nothing but a blanket after a long bath, while Doctor Gabriel worked on Nick. I was crying. I didn’t think Nick’s survival was possible. Alistair came into the room first, and I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes. Gabriel followed him. They both looked too serious, and I didn’t trust to hope for the best. I was fully prepared to hear the worst news.
Gabriel wasted no time. He came to the bed and ran a pale hand through his short blond hair. A nervous gesture. “When I saw Nil’s body, I was sure he was truly dead, but Alistair pressed me—I didn’t think anyone could come back from that, but your brother is strong, Raina. Nil’s condition is terrible, but I’d say he’ll be well and healed in a week or two, and. Ready for transport at least.” I smiled, and almost laughed with relief.
“Transport?” I asked.
“I’ve contacted the Nascosto. They’ve agreed to take him in,” Alistair said, and I smiled wider and mouthed the words, thank you, because I didn’t trust my voice. Heart retching pain, to hope and joy was too great a transition for the mere seconds that had past.
Gabriel left us and Alistair held his hand out to me. I took it and stepped off the bed, still holding the blanket to my naked body. He looked down at me with soft, thoughtful eyes. It was still strange to see it. An enemy turned hero twice over. But, I guess the Alistair I knew before wasn’t really him, not really. This was Alistair, and I was only just meeting him, but I liked what I saw.
“Demigoddess,” he said. “I wouldn’t have guessed it.”
“Was that an insult?” I asked.
He smiled. “No, it’s just been so many centuries since any have existed. They don’t last long. You think humans are scared of creatures like us, you haven’t seen the kind of fear Gods bring.”
His words made my brows pinch with thought. “My mom said being in the presence of the muse was the most terrifying thing she’d ever felt.”
“Yes, it wouldn’t be just humans hunting you if your secret got out. Your brother’s methods were cruel, but he saved your life by killing those people and taking the evidence.”
Even though I knew what he would say, even if it was a lie, I had to asked, “Can I trust you to keep my secret?” I was naked in a room with Alistair for the second time this week, at his mercy once again, and I felt vulnerable. I hated that feeling.
He moved in close, and put his massive hands on my naked shoulders. “You are a rare thing, Raina. The world would be a sadder place without you in it.” Those were probably the kindest words anyone had ever said to me, but I was not comforted by them. He knelt in front of me and placed his right hand over my locket. “I swear that I will never do you harm. I swear that I will protect you at all costs.”
“You don’t need to make vows, Alistair. I’m not a queen or anything.”
“No,” he said with all seriousness. “You’re a mortal Goddess, and when you die a mortal death, you will be an undead Goddess. The first of your kind. I can’t think of anything I wouldn’t do to see that future realized.” I didn’t feel as important as all that. I felt like a half dead, mixed blood mutt from a broken family.
SORRY
FOR THE THIRD time in as many days, I found myself wearing s
omeone else’s clothes home from Bastion Fatal. If every time I went there I lost my clothes, I was going to have to start packing extra. When I got home I plugged in my dead cell phone and found a voicemail from Fauna. The inspection went well and Robert would be over shortly with the mortgage paperwork.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of relief. I couldn’t help the long smile that grew on my lips. I was going to get my dream house! I was still smiling and feeling lighter than air when I came out of my room dressed in my own clothes. My good spirits didn’t last long, though. Ruy was standing in my aunt’s living room waiting for me. He watched me step down the stairs with stern eyes.
“Hello, Ruy,” I said, and already I was nervous. I didn’t have to read his mind, as easy as that would have been, to know he was upset with me.
“I saw everything. I watched you enter, exit and kill those men,” was the first thing he said.
My heart fell. If he turned me in for killing those bounty hunters, I would be marked. The courts wouldn’t care if it was in self-defense. I, a monster, killed humans. It was an unforgivable crime. Add aiding a violent marked non-human, and I was as good as dead. I moved to the arm chair because I had to take a seat. The amount of anger coming off of him was staggering. I couldn’t bring myself to meet his eyes again.
“He’s my brother and they were shooting at me,” I said to the floor. “What did you expect me to do? Let him be murdered?”
“He murdered three people, three people I knew!” he shouted.
I couldn’t tell him why Nick had killed them, and just saying that he had his reasons would be too mean. “What would you have me do, Ruy? I can’t shut people out of my heart so easily as my mother. I can’t.” He didn’t reply, but he took a seat on the sofa and put his head in his hands. “Are you going to turn me in?” I asked.
After a moment’s pause he said, “No. It won’t bring back the dead, or put Nil’s corpse in the ground. And, you’d be marked.”
We sat in awkward silence for a time. I looked out of the window. The sun was out in full heat and kids were playing in the streets. I never really had carefree days like those, and I couldn’t imagine I ever would.
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. “You were there. Were you waiting for daylight to make your move?” I asked out of curiosity.
“No, I wasn’t. Mato and I tracked Nil down easily enough. He didn’t go home right away, but when he did we knew the moment he stepped into that place. We had lookouts planted and his phone tapped the night he escaped the VCC. We were going to make our move the night before last, but Mato called it off, because of you most likely. You probably wouldn’t sleep with the man who killed your kin, huh? Anyway, he passed on the contract and it was picked up by the men you killed this morning.”
“You heard him call me then,” I said.
“Yes, and I called the bounty hunters and told them to strike immediately, before you got there. Obviously they didn’t listen to me. Textbook vampire hunting; wait till morning to enter a nest.” My anger flared knowing he tipped them off and planned to have Nick killed before I even got there. “I kept watch to make sure they got there first, but when I saw you step out of that SUV… I’ll be honest; I didn’t know what to do. I watched and waited. The sun rose and still you didn’t come out with Nil, and then I saw him rip the black plastic from his windows and burn.” He smiled then, and I frowned. I could appreciate his anger toward Nick, but I didn’t like it. “And, I saw you not burn. I saw you soak up the fire, like a God damn sponge in water.”
“It’s a vampire thing,” I said.
“I know,” he said. Of course he did. It was his business to know the monsters. “When they started shooting at you I put them in my sights. I was conflicted. Do I protect them or you? I hesitated, and then you set them on fire.” The look on his face was one of confusion. “What I don’t get, Raina, is that you’re an elf, same as Tristan and Anna, yet you kill so easily.”
I sat up straight. “No, I don’t! Or, was I supposed to let them shoot me? I’m sorry, Ruy. I’m sorry I’m not everything everyone wants me to be. I wish I was, I do. I hate being this hodge-podge creature and I hate that I’ve killed to protect myself and others. I hate it, I hate myself…”
I did. Deep down, I hated myself more than anything or anyone. I’d never be good enough, smart enough or strong enough. But I had to ignore all that and push on. I couldn’t just let myself drown in self-hate. People depended on me. Ruy didn’t say anything, and eventually the tension in the room was interrupted by the ring of the doorbell.
I got up and checked the peep hole. It was Robert, come to finish the paperwork. I turned back to Ruy, “I’m just plain sorry, but I have some paperwork to go through, so if you don’t mind.” I gestured toward the door, saying with my hands that he should leave.
Ruy stood, but he stopped at the door and turned to me. “I didn’t come here to pick a fight. I was sent here by Melvern to tell you some troubling news that concerns you.”
“What is it?” I asked.
He pulled me away from the door by my elbow and I let him. “They got her. Nenet is gone. They took her from deep inside Darkness’s nest just before dawn this morning. Those God forsaken creatures cut through every vampire that stood in their way like they were ants, leaving their empty husks behind like garbage. Over thirty of Darkness’s legion is dead, and one besides Nenet is missing.”
“Who?”
“Mato.”
PAPERWORK
RUY LEFT ME with my nerves in shambles. Nanuet and her larva had Mato and Nenet, and there was no telling what they were doing with them. I couldn’t focus on the paperwork in front of me with such horrors running through my mind. I needed to contact the EI department and let them know what’s happened if they didn’t know already. I needed to find Mato, and somehow save him. He came for me when I was kidnapped. I had to repay the favor…and I loved him.
I skimmed the documents and tried not to rush Robert or be rude in any other way, but in all honesty, I wasn’t too concerned about niceties in that moment. Sign, sign, sign, date and done.
“Is that all the paperwork?” I asked.
Already, I was running through game plans. Would Damon help me? Would fire kill a larva? I needed to do some research before I left. Hell, when I realized that they were interested in me I should have done my research, but I was more concerned with pretending that I could depend on other’s to deal with this problem. Obviously, I was so very wrong.
“I thought this was going to be harder,” Robert said with a nervous chuckle that I would have been more concerned about if I wasn’t so focused on saving Mato and Nenet. “I’m so sorry, Miss. Kirkland. I had to do it.”
“What-what are you talking about?” I said, only half hearing him.
“They have my children. They already killed my wife.”
He showed me a picture of her. His words still didn’t make much sense to me, not until I looked at the picture in front of my face. She was one of the Jane Doe’s from the jerky files! Her eyes were striking when they weren’t shriveled little raisins clinging to a mummified corpse.
“Robert?”
“They’re here,” he said, and then there was a knock at the door.
My heart was in my throat but I couldn’t move, not at all. “I can’t move,” I whispered with my voice full of fear. I could feel my body changing, becoming not my own. Even my face was not my own to control. My body was moving, I was smiling, but I wasn’t doing it!
“The paperwork,” he began on his way to the door. “You just signed an enchanted contract.”
When he opened the door I felt my body turn, I felt my lips smile wide at the sight of Nanuet. She came in wearing rich furs and jewels. My mouth opened and I wanted a scream to come out, but my mouth said, “Hello. How nice to see you again, Nanuet.”
She smiled, “And you, Raina.” She looked me up and down, examining my body as though I were a show dog. “You do good work, Robert.”
“My kids?” he begged. “Where are they?”
She waved her gloved hand at him. “They’re in the car. Bayard!” she called out and he stepped into my aunt’s house. He looked as he did before, but this time he was wearing a wide smile. He’d won, I’d lost, and he was gloating.
“Mum,” he said with a low bow.
“Take our friend to his children,” she said, but the way she said it made me cringe on the inside, because the inside was all I had left. On the outside I laughed a hardy vile laugh.
Bayard bowed again and escorted Robert outside. I heard him scream moments later, and then nothing. Nanuet was watching me intensely; I chuckled at the sound of his cries, though on the inside I felt horrible for him. I knew without knowing that they killed his children, and him. Bastards!
“Come, Raina. Your husband waits.”
As I walked unwillingly out of Fauna’s house I could smell death. Even though my head would not look at it, I knew that to my left were the nauseating remains of a father and his children. Cole wiped blood and thicker things off the back seat before moving out of Nanuet’s way.
“Sorry, Mum. The children made a mess. I’ve cleaned it though,” he said, and he looked good and frightened of her. She smiled at him, and let him help her in.
“Raina sits with me, Bayard. You can join Cole in the front.” He gave a slight nod, and both men climbed into the front seat. I hopped in beside Nanuet, smiling all the while. “We need to discuss your new wifely duties, of which there are many.”
A REPLACEMENT
MUCH WAS AS I had guessed. Nanuet explained that they wanted me for breeding little gianes and as a renewable source of food. Living vampires were just tougher humanoids. They could be as rough as they liked with me, they could drain my body of most of its fluids, and as long as they didn’t push too far there would never be any lasting physical damage. Some things, however, were news to me. They didn’t just come to Washington to find Nenet, but to start a new Larvae colony, far away from the well trained huntsmen of Africa and the Mediterranean. Nenet and I weren’t the only women they’d taken and Nenet’s daddy wasn’t the only Larva that they brought here.