Forbidden Drink

by Nicola Claire

  We just stared at each other for a while. Why wasn't she doing anything? Why wasn't she dropping the male and fighting me? Biting the male in front of me? Snapping his neck and waiting for me to go ballistic? She was just watching me, waiting. I got a very creepy chilling feeling up my back at that moment. She was waiting, watching, just like all the vampires overseas who could sense me now. But, waiting for what?

  “So, are you going to eat him?” I just had to ask.

  “Are you going to fight me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I shall eat him.” And her fangs came out and down in a flash. Huh, she hadn't had them out before, such control. And her head bent to his neck, her eyes still on me, daring me to do something to stop her. That was why I was here after all.

  She probably expected me to come at her, to get within staking distance, or to try to pull the male out of her hands, but I'd been practising throwing my knife recently. A silver knife can't kill a vampire, only the perfect shape of a silver stake through their heart, but the knife will get their attention, that's for sure.

  She still had the human in front of her, but she had turned slightly to the side, to get better access to his neck. I feinted a move one way, making her turn further to use his body as a block, but flicked out my knife the other way, sending it flying towards her side so quickly, even she, a powerful level two or three master couldn't beat. The knife landed in her side and she screeched, releasing her hold on the human and spinning away to grasp her upper chest, under her armpit.

  I didn't waste my time, leaping forward, grabbing the male who was already slumping to the pavement and simply tossing him several feet down the street. I couldn't worry about him getting more hurt, I needed him away from her fangs. They were the greater danger right now.

  She had already removed the knife and thrown it away. Stupid. If I had been her, I would have kept it and used it against me. I don't recover as quickly as a vampire from a knife in my side. She was already healing it would seem.

  “That wasn't playing nicely, Nosferatin.” Her voice was dripping acid.

  “Who said I played nicely, vampire? They lied.” Mine was low and even, the voice I adopt when I am in the zone, ready for the kill. This vampire had no redeeming qualities, whatever game she was playing, it was to the death and I had to get there first.

  “My mistress will be pleased with my efforts tonight. I go unto the Elysium willingly. My reward awaits me there.”

  And before I could even think about what she was saying, that she was talking about the vampires' version of the afterlife, she came at me in a flash, arms wide, chest bared, a small smile of release upon her face. And I had no choice but to raise my stake in front of me and aim for her heart. She didn't swerve, she didn't protect herself, she just ran onto my stake at exactly the right spot and and turned into dust all around me.

  What. The. Fuck?

  I choked back the dust that had entered my gaping mouth and spat a fair bit of black gunk out onto the footpath. Damn vampire dust, it just got everywhere.

  I glanced over at the human, now curled in a ball, but watching me, watching what had just happened, with large fearful eyes. Shit. I can glaze vampires, but I can't glaze humans and this human needed his memory wiped. I couldn't shout out to Gregor in my mind, he was probably knee deep in shit right now and didn't need the distraction, nor could he have come to my aid. What to do?

  I walked over to him slowly, returning my stake to its pocket out of sight, opening my hands in a peaceful movement, I mean you no harm type of thing. He looked like he was going to scamper. The vampire wasn't the only thing that freaked him out right now.

  “Hey, you OK?” My voice was soft, quiet. I was trying not to scare him, but he just yelped and crab walked backwards away from me.

  “Look, I'm not going to hurt you and she's gone, she won't either. You're safe now, OK?”

  “Wh...wh...what the hell are you?”

  I took a deep breath, this was what I feared most, humans knowing too much about my world. Hell, even I could easily do with not knowing half the shit I do now.

  “You need to forget what you saw here, it didn't happen. You just got caught up in someone else's war. It's not yours and as long as you stay off the streets at night, stick to crowds if you have to go out, you'll be OK. You'll be fine. But, what happened here, is not for you to worry about. It's nothing. Don't think about it again.”

  He looked at me as though I was mad and I had to admit, he had a point. How could he forget this evening, how could he not be afraid of what happened and not want to know more? Everyone has a little morbid fascination with their death, he'd just looked his in the face and survived, he wouldn't drop this. And I had no idea how to wipe it from his mind.

  I racked my brain for a solution. Nut obviously hadn't thought of this outcome, if the vampire I just toasted thought I was not playing nice, then she most definitely was breaking the rules. Vampires always glaze their meals. They never leave anything to chance. So, why had she? Nut hadn't provided me with a power that countered this. I was on my own.

  “OK, look, you can either do what I say, which by the way, is actually the only thing you should be doing if you want to survive this world, or you can go to Desire de Sang and ask for Gregor. He'll tell you everything you need to know, but, be careful what you wish for my friend, sometimes getting it is not the solution to your problems that you think it will be.”

  That little speech made me think of Michel, I knew now he loved me, loved me so much he would protect me from myself, he would prevent me from my task, but although it was something I had wanted to know for so long now, it was also a curse. And me sending this human to Gregor was as much a curse as that. I hoped Gregor would understand my outing him. I hoped he'd be able to glaze the human retrospectively, removing him from harm. But, hoping and receiving are two different things entirely.

  I should know, I'd had my prayers answered and look where it had got me?

  Alone. Again. Naturally.

  Chapter 12

  Dockside

  I left the human getting into a taxi back on Lambton Quay. I wanted to make sure he was going to be safe, that female vampire may not be able to come back from the final death, but there could be others around. Once he was safely on his way home I allowed myself to feel what I had been holding back for the past ten minutes. Fear. Fear of what had just happened. I have never had a vampire commit Hara-kiri on my stake before, it had stunned me. Vampires didn't give up eternal life that easily. Why had she?

  And it was that question that left me cold, chilled to the bone. What was worse than the final death to a vampire? Facing their master's wrath?

  If only she had told me her mistress's name, given me something to go on. She was beautiful, like all vampires tend to be, but there was nothing to her that was any different from thousands of other vampires in this world. Even describing her to Gregor would do me no good. But, I knew, I needed to find out who her mistress was. I had that awful gut instinct that this was more important than it seemed to be right now, that this was the key or missing piece to a puzzle. But, was it a puzzle I really needed to concentrate on now?

  I blew out a long breath and centred myself. Best to find out where Gregor and Erika were and lend a hand. I sunk into the black nothingness that allowed me to seek and sent my senses out all around me. They weren't too far away and they were no longer alone. Gregor had called in reinforcements. Although I couldn't see how many humans were there, there was now close to twenty vampires. If there'd been twenty humans attacking before, they were now well and truly toast. Shit. I did not want those humans killed.

  I shifted into Nosferatin gear and sped towards the scene. It only took seconds, but I knew I was too late when I rounded the corner of a side street and was met with a scene from Underworld.

  There were four or five humans on the ground and a whole lot of blood. The vampires, bar none, had blood coating them; their bodies, their faces, their mouths. Holy shit. This h
ad been a massacre. But I couldn't equate the number of bodies with the blood, where had all the human corpses gone?

  Gregor glanced up as I arrived and took in the shock and horror on my face. He took a step towards me, away from the tightly coiled vampires surrounding him and the last humans remaining visible at the scene.

  “What have you done?” My voice was quiet and uneven, I hadn't realised I was shaking until I heard how quaky it was.

  He was in front of me in an instant, holding me by my arms, trying to get me to focus on him and not the diabolical scene before me.

  “Lucinda. Lucinda! Look at me.”

  I dragged my gaze away from the lifeless forms on the ground and looked into his silver and platinum eyes. They were ablaze, swirling with blood lust and hunger and something else, I couldn't quite determine, but made me shudder at the same time.

  “We had no choice, they were too organised, we couldn't hold them off without fighting back.”

  I let a small breath out. “And you couldn't stop once you started, is that right? You had to keep going until they were all gone?”

  He closed his eyes for a long moment and then when he opened them again I saw bright yellow flames flickering inside. I blanched, I couldn't help it. I'd only ever seen those flames once before and I was sure they were not a good thing at all. He growled, low, his fingers now digging into my upper arms, his hold going rock solid. I lifted my stake as though in slow motion and placed it against his chest, right above his now thumping heart.

  “Don't make me do it, Gregor. Please.”

  “You know you have to. Do it, ma cherie, end it now.”

  And here we were, back where it all started. Gregor wanting me to end his existence, me unable to do so.

  The flames in his eyes had vanished, replaced with a pain that rocked my soul.

  “Did they all die?”

  He shook his head. “Most escaped, but they are harmed, some will not survive this night.”

  Shit. I wanted to rejoice that some had escaped, that only those five bodies on the ground were the total of it, but some will not survive this night seemed to put a dampener on it for me.

  “You realise what you've done," I said still in shock. "You've given them purpose. You've given them the fire they needed. They will be determined now, they will be unstoppable.”

  He looked at me strangely, as though he didn't believe a word I said. For intelligent, cunning and manipulative creatures they had a woefully poor understanding of human nature.

  I looked him firmly in the eyes, only partially aware my stake had dropped to my side. “Humans are survivors too, Gregor. You threaten their world, the safety of their young, they will hunt you down and they will not stop from fear. Not now. Not after this.”

  I saw a flicker of understanding cross his face and then he growled, so loud I covered my ears, but I could still hear it and I could still hear the accompanying growl of his vampires around him, as though it was a call to fight, a call to do battle. The humans may have started this, but the vampires were prepared to finish it.

  I had never felt so removed from their world than I did right then. The thought that I loved one of these creatures, that I slept with him, allowed him so close to me unguarded, froze me in that spot. Oh dear God, how do I escape this? How do I survive this? How do I save the humans from this?

  Lucinda. It was a whisper in my mind. A plea. Michel begging me not to pull further away. I held onto the sob that was rising and clamped my shields shut, barring him and anyone else from my mind.

  I waited for Gregor and his vampires to calm and then I simply turned away from his now looser grasp and walked towards the lights of Lambton Quay.

  No one followed, well none that I could tell and I was beyond seeking, although not sinking into the Dark. I was awash in Light; Nut trying to comfort no doubt, but I was hollow, empty, a void of emotions, just a shell. I wandered the still busy street of downtown Wellington, club and bar central, watching humans interacting with each other, watching life spill out around me and unable to connect.

  I found myself down by the waterfront, at Queens Wharf, under a canopy of sun shades, blocking out the stars, but giving me a sense of protection. I walked on automatic towards a bench seat and sat down numbly to watch the late night pub crawlers cross the paved expanse before me. All dressed up for a night on the town, all safe in their perfectly normal worlds, with their perfectly normal beliefs and their perfectly normal expectations of life. I envied them that normal perfection, I so envied them tonight.

  I'm not much one for regrets, for second guessing the path you're on in life. So, I didn't have much say in where my world had taken me, I didn't have a choice to be a part of this Nosferatin-Nosferatu world, but I am a part of it now. The decision to join with a vampire may have been made on my behalf, but I could have allowed myself to die. Not many people can play those odds and get away with it. My ancestors had, but I was not them, I could not throw away life so easily. It is precious.

  So, here I was slap bang in the middle of a war and it was getting complicated. Not only was I battling the Dark, but now the vampires were battling the humans too. What side was I on?

  What side was I on?

  I didn't realise I'd leaned forward and placed my head in my hands, closed my eyes and given in to the moment. Hell, I was so deep in that moment, not crying mind you, but consumed by thought, that I didn't even hear him walk up. He could have been a vampire hell bent on taking out the Sanguis Vitam Cupitor, he could have been a human against vampire activist wanting to take out the vampires' key Nosferatin asset, he could have been a bloody shape shifter taking advantage of my lowered guard and ridding opposition to their genocidal plans back in Auckland.

  But it wasn't. It was Tim.

  He sat down quietly next to me on the seat and sighed. “You don't seem well, cousin.”

  My hand was on my stake and my body turned and braced in an instant. I may have been distracted, but my reflexes never failed to kick in when needed.

  “Tim? What are you doing here?”

  He looked startled at my hand in my jacket and the flash of silver now glinting in the lights of the mall. I quickly re-pocketed it and tried to ease the tension in my shoulders.

  “I recognised you from across the way. I'm with some friends at a bar over there. I didn't know you were in Wellington, why didn't you phone?”

  “It was a last minute trip and I planned on phoning you tomorrow, getting together for a coffee and chat.”

  I was a little uneasy that Tim just happened to be here at this exact moment and that he happened to see me too. I don't believe in fate. I don't trust it. But, he did seem surprised and he did seem genuinely concerned. And he had been startled by my stake. So, maybe, just maybe, I was over reacting.

  “Great. That would be cool. But, I'm here now, how about a drink?”

  I wanted to say no, I wanted to say just leave me alone. I needed to think, but his face was so open, so friendly and the thought of going back to the vampires right now scared me shitless I guess, so an open and friendly cousin was perhaps the exact thing I needed. So, I just nodded.

  He beamed at me, like a little boy on Christmas morning, grabbed my hand and led me towards a bar across the way.

  Dockside was a bar and restaurant, brightly lit, with moss green weatherboard sidings and white painted window frames, copious amounts of outdoor tables and white canopies, people milling around drinking, shouting, laughing. It was a beacon of light and life on a dark night at sea. Inside was a warm combination of wooden panels, bright lights and loud music, the warmth of so many bodies making the chill in mine ease. I needed to be around humans, I needed to feel that combined beat of their hearts.

  Tim asked what I wanted to drink, then he left me with a couple of his friends and dashed off to the bar to grab it. His mates looked about his age, maybe older and were casually dressed in black jeans and shirts. They were quiet and just kept flicking glances at me, but they seemed OK. I didn't bo
ther to talk to them, if they wanted to chat, they could have, but I also wasn't in the mood to make conversation for the sake of it. So, I just continued to take in the life around me, relishing the sounds and feel of humanity.

  Tim returned and one of his mates stood and said something in his ear that I couldn't pick out. They all three shook hands, unusual for young guys and then his mates just nodded at me and left.

  “Is it something I said?” I joked to Tim.

  He just shook his head. “They've got work tomorrow, they're not up for a bender.”

  Neither am I, I thought, but gratefully accepted my Bacardi and Coke anyway.

  “So, what brings you to Wellington?” Tim asked while he nursed a Heineken Beer.

  “Oh, just some business that needed attention.”

  “For your bank?”

  Tim knew I worked in a bank, he also knew I was a Nosferatin, but he didn't know how entrenched in the Nosferatu world I was and I planned on keeping it that way.

  “Actually, on behalf of a friend who couldn't travel. I also wanted to talk to you about a certain visit you made to a vampire in this city.” I had lowered my voice and leaned across the table towards him, he had copied my stance and we were now almost head to head over the table top. I'm sure none of the patrons in the bar could have heard our conversation over the noise, but you had to play it safe and we just looked like two friends having a chat in a rowdy room.

  “Oh, that.” He actually look abashed. Hmm, maybe my job here was going to be easier than I had thought.

  “You know that wasn't wise, don't you, Tim?” I prodded gently.

  “Yeah, he was one scary bugger, that was for sure. I just... I don't know... I just wanted to help.”

  “Help the humans?” I could understand. Tim had recently found out about his family heritage, although not a Nosferatin, he is descended from them, he is related to me. He may not have the vampire hunter mojo, but he was close enough on the family tree to feel hard done by it. If you coveted that sort of thing, that is.

  “Yeah. I know you help them in Auckland and now the vampires are here and I don't know of any Nosferatins in Wellington. Certainly, no one left in my family, um, our family, has the gene, so I guess we're on our own.”