by Unknown
“Your point?”
“Don’t have one.”
“Clearly. Now will I see him or are you going to kill me?” I bluntly questioned. It was risky, but I hated the game of cat and mouse.
“Do you realize who you’re talking to?” he asked stepping right in front of me. He leaned down in hope of intimidating me.
“I probably should be scared, but I’m not. I don’t know you and sorry if this offends you but I can’t take a barefoot, half-dressed vamp seriously on the threat radar,” I stated without hesitation. Despite their weapons, I felt comfortable with these vampires. I didn’t feel at risk though I knew I was. They had weapons and spyware all over.
In walked another vamp. He looked as if he could be Kai’s brother. He had the same tattoos on his arms but was wearing khaki pants, loafers and a white button up shirt. He was laughing as he entered. “I told you bro. You got to look business to do business.”
He pushed Kai off to the side and extended his hand. “I’m Kalel, Kai’s older, smarter brother.”
“I’m Lexi. Nice to meet you,” I said shaking his hand.
“I like her,” he said turning to Kai. “I don’t pick up on a threat and she’s the only one honest enough to tell you about your horrible attire.”
“I guess,” he mumbled.
Gabi returned. “You two nit-wits need to make a decision. I took care of the spy next door.”
“You killed Stacia already?” Kalel whined.
“What the hell was I supposed to do? Wait for her to call for back up? I’m already behind on reports. That’s the problem with men. They get side tracked. You two can never stick to a schedule. I do everything around here! I handle a million things yet you two struggle with the one or two I give you. If you weren’t such good muscle I would toss you both,” she growled.
“Rafique!” she called. “Bring me a drink!”
“Yes ma’am,” a male replied from a distance. His voice carried and echoed loudly so he wasn’t far, but nowhere in sight for me to see.
“Did he just call me ma’am again?! He is done! He’s fired!” she nearly yelled as she stormed out the room again, probably after the servant with manners.
“Is it me or is she always cranky these days?” Kalel asked and stated.
“What do you think Alexa?” Kai asked.
“Honestly?” I checked not wanting to dig my own grave.
“Of course,” Kalel answered.
“So far, first impressions, she’s a temperamental terror. She’s moody, always yells and stomps instead of walking everywhere. On the flip side though, I think she’s just frustrated. She feels like she has to do everything on her own. If she wasn’t afraid of being alone, I think she would have cut ties by now. Every woman, vamp or not, wants to feel appreciated. She clearly doesn’t,” I explained.
“Huh. That was actually enlightening,” Kalel said.
“Brains and beauty. I’ve decided I’m keeping her,” Kai announced. He put his arm around me and led me to the door. “Come with me Alexa. I’ll give you a tour of my home.”
“Kai, think with your head. She needs to be scanned first,” Kalel cut in.
“I was getting there,” he said.
Out in the hall all that was visible were doors lining the walls all with alarm stations on them, almost like the home keypads that are installed in residences. They led me down to the last door on the right. The inside reminded me of the vamp army headquarters since it was an 8x8 white room.
Suddenly I was tossed to the corner and had two gold daggers pointed at me. Kalel got right in my face and pressed the tip of the blade to my jacket. It evaporated and sizzled as if it was dipped in acid.
“Why were you in the Vamp Army’s building?” Kalel demanded. I remained calm but was shaken. Whatever was on or in those weapons would fry me like Connor said. Luckily I thought quickly.
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch. I sort of destroyed a vamp who they were after so I was summoned by the High Authorities. They interrogated me over it, threatened to send me to some camp and then shuffled me out,” I detailed. I stuck to the truth as much as possible.
“That sounds like them,“ Kai said, his expression said he believed me which allowed me to calm down.
“Indeed. Our apologies. We can never be too safe,” Kalel offered. They put away their weapons. “We still need to scan you.”
“Sure,” I shrugged as if I wasn’t worried. “Where do I stand?”
“You’re fine where you are.”
“Art!” Kalel called.
“Yes sir?” a thin, balding man appeared. He somehow reminded me of Skinner from the Simpsons.
“Scan her,” Kai ordered.
He pulled out a pair of glasses and put them on over his grey eyes. The laser spread over me all at once, unlike with the ranks.
“She has a cell phone in her left pocket, but no other tech equipment or devices,” he confirmed.
“You’re dismissed,” Kalel said.
“Come with me sexy lady,” Kai smiled. “You’ve passed the test. You’re the first in fifty years.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-six,” he winked.
“Do you know how old I am?” I pressed.
“Of course. But what is the saying? Oh yeah! Age is just a number.”
“Um, okay. I can go along with that,” I shrugged. He pulled me into his arm and led me to the door at the end of the hall.
“I have a few sinners to kill brother. I’ll catch up with you later.” With that Kalel punched in a code and entered another room.
Kai punched in a code and the door opened in front of us. It opened to stairs going up.
“How do you remember all those codes?” I asked.
“I don’t. We each have our own and it allows us access to the entire place,” he explained. I was guessing he trusted me to have given me that information. “Not one-hundred percent, but I trust you enough to show you around,” he added in response to my thought.
“So you, Kalel and Gabi read thoughts?”
“Only me and Kalel.”
At the top of the stairs I looked around and was shocked to realize we were in a house across the lake. If memory served me right, we were in the biggest home in the middle of all the others. It was fenced off of course but still visible to everyone.
“It’s what we call hiding in plain sight. People and vamps tend to over think everything. The vamp army has never found us here and never will. They forever search the forest in ignorance. And we are smart. You are the second vamp aside from us and a few staff members to enter,” he boasted.
“You seem to dislike the vamp army. Did they do something to you?” I asked.
We began walking through the living room which was open and airy with the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the lake. There were several chaise lounges and a sofa flanked to take advantage of the view. He led me through a swinging door into a wide galley style kitchen. It was modern and everything still appeared brand new.
Kai opened the French door stainless steel fridge to display rows and rows of glass bottles. Each one listed a blood type. “What’s your flavor?” he asked as he picked up an AB negative.
“Umm… I’m still new to all this. I don’t even know what I’ve tasted.”
“It comes with age. You have to spice things up after a hundred and twenty-eight years,” he said handing me the same kind as him.
“Is this synthetic or real?”
“Real,” he laughed. “Not even we have come up with a synthetic. We’re close to replicating blood in mass quantities though.”
“So you have a factory then?”
“Yes. It’s underground, around where you were.”
He chugged the blood and dumped the empty container in the trash. I mimicked feeling stronger immediately. We trailed through a formal dining room. I noticed the side of the house facing the road outside was covered in black out drapes while the other side displayed bare windows. The first floo
r was rounded out with a large library stocked up to the ceiling with books of varying ages and wear. He stepped in and picked up a dusty photo book.
“I do have a past with the ranks. They killed my father Kalohn because I told him what happened to me. My father was a noble man. He loved me and helped me through those first few months even though I could have killed him at any moment if I lost control. He stood by me because in Hawaii, ohana is everything. Regardless of who they are, what they do or don’t do and how they treat you, you stand by your blood. And those bastards killed him for doing so.
“I told my brother Kalel when he returned from a visit with my mother. He had me change him so we could fight together in honor of my father. We vowed to destroy the entity that rules our world with an iron fist; no one shall ever steal from my family again. My father was an innocent man. He told no one, threatened no one and yet they treated him as a common criminal and executed him. I will never forgive them for that,” he explained. He clutched the album to his chest and mumbled in a language I didn’t know.
“I’m so sorry Kai. I can only imagine how terrible that was for you and your family.” I ping-ponged with the idea of comforting him in the human way like a pat on his shoulder or a hug; I opted against it given his age. Most older vamps don’t take touch as endearing but rather invasive.
“Kai!” Kalel called.
“Come with me.”
I followed him back down to the hall of rooms. We entered one toward the middle to find Kalel and another captured vamp. Inside the room looked exactly like the one I was in before.
“He’s a spy from Sparrow’s Edge,” Kalel announced.
“Why have they sent you?!” Kai demanded.
“To… to…” the man stuttered.
“Spit it out!” Kalel ordered.
“To steal a gold dagger,” his voice cracked. He was wrapped in the same netting as me and was lying on the floor.
“What was your reward?” Kalel pressed.
“Two million,” he answered, this time his voice was steady.
“Where is your panic button?” Kai asked.
“My… I… Um…” Both brothers withdrew their weapons which pressured him to speak or die sooner. “My ring! My ring! The stone of my ring!” he cried. “Please don’t kill me. Take pity on my lost soul,” he pleaded.
My throat tightened and serum rose up. I couldn’t think about it; couldn’t think it.
Kalel squatted down beside the captured vamp now weeping blood. “Which hand?”
“L…Le…Left.”
Kalel seared through the wrap on the left side. He pulled the man’s hand through the slit to reveal a class ring with a ruby stone set as the button. “Does it track?” he asked through a tightened jaw visibly angry and frustrated. The man sniveled. “Does it?!” he yelled.
“Y…yes.”
“Damn it!” Kalel screamed. “Errgh!” He took his gold dagger and cut off the vamp’s hand. The sound was of acid burning though the knife sliced as if his wrist was butter. The vamp cried in agony and writhed about on the floor.
I cringed and squirmed by the door. I wanted to bolt but had no place to go. My serum filled my mouth and despite being a vampeen, I wanted to faint at the sight of the man’s blood squirting from the severed hand. His skin already began to heal at the wrist but it looked like he’d forever lost his hand.
“We will not be made fools! Our weapons are our weapons! Any vamp who tries to touch them will suffer your fate,” Kai proclaimed, his voice echoed off the walls.
“Alexa,” Kalel called. I had been standing but frozen with my eyes glued on the tortured vamp.
“Yes?” I replied shaking myself a bit to move past the shock.
“What do you think? Should we kill our spy or send him back as a warning to others?”
“Please miss. Please spare me. I promise…” he groveled.
“Shut up!” Kalel scolded kicking at him.
I swallowed hard and clutched my own wrist with my ring a few inches down. Pull yourself together Lex! I took a deep breath. Think business, be business. I needed to be my mom in this moment.
“It makes business sense to release him. Send him out without his hand and let him be a warning label to every vamp to never cross the Leaders of the Bladangs. This benefits him in that he is allowed to live but hurts him in that he will never have two hands again. This helps you because his word of mouth advertisement should cut down on the number of trespassers you have. It also significantly boosts your reputation in the fear factor. More of your enemies should back down and run when they hear of your wrath. So it’s a win, win to release this vamp,” I concluded. I remained standing in the same spot. I couldn’t push myself into moving closer. I waited on pins and needles to see if the man would live or die.
The door opened behind me. “I will admit she makes sense,” Gabi commented.
“She’s wise for her age,” Kai agreed moving to stand beside me.
“Connor!” Kalel summoned my capturer. He was in the room within a second ready for his orders. I think he was surprised to see me because he did a quick double take with his eyes. I smiled at him.
“Carry him to the edge of the property and release him. If he steps foot on the grounds again, kill him immediately,” he directed. Connor nodded, lifted the vamp and left as he was instructed.
“Well, now that we’ve handled our business, let’s get acquainted with our new guest,” Kalel said turning towards all of us by the door.
“Indeed. I have a few questions for Alexa,” Gabi added, her tone not inviting in any way.
We all retreated to the living room. It was after sunset now and all the stars were visible in the night sky. Kai pulled me beside him on the sofa while Gabi and Kalel lounged on two chaise.
“So Alexa,” Gabi began.
“Please call me Lexi,” I requested shuffling in the seat.
“Fine, Lexi. Tell me about yourself.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Stats. Basics. Parents, siblings, dating status etcetera,” she prompted.
“Dad’s human, Mom’s vampeen, only child, single, sophomore in high school,” I spewed quickly and factually.
“Hmm. Interesting mix. What do you know about our little family here?”
“Not much. I know you’re called the Bladangs and live in the South Forest, or so I thought. The log cabin thing is called the Palace and supposedly you have enough weapons and ammo in or under it to destroy the world. But I don’t care about that. I came originally to find my ex because I heard you changed him,” I detailed.
“Kalel, is she telling the truth?” Gabi pressed.
I didn’t think she liked me being here. The boys laughed.
“What are you two cackling about?” she asked, her forehead crinkled and hands in fists.
“She’s telling the truth, but she thinks you don’t like her being here,” Kalel relayed.
“I think you’re jealous Gab,” Kai teased.
“Oh just stop. I don’t like her being here but I’m certainly not jealous,” she huffed defensively. “I’m done socializing. I’ll be in my room.” She stomped up the stairs and slammed the door. A frame fell off the wall and smashed onto the floor.
“How did you meet Gabi?” I asked.
“Now that is the million dollar question, right bro?” Kalel winked. Kai moved uncomfortably beside me, clearly uneasy with the subject.
“What am I missing?” I looked between the two of them; Kalel was smirking and Kai cringing.
“They were engaged. She came over to our island on a boat with her mother, a queen, and their royal servants. Kai and Gabi had a quick romance. He popped the question, she said yes,” Kalel explained.
“But what happened? You’re obviously not engaged or married anymore,” I prompted him.
“She caught me with her uh… with her favorite chamber maid,” he said.
“Oh. Well. That explains a lot. Not only does she feel unappreciated, she is a scorned wo
man who must relive some part of the past when she looks at you sometimes,” I expressed my thoughts out loud to save them time in reading them or whatever it was they did to know my secrets.
“We read. It’s as if your thoughts are spoken as a script within our minds,” Kai explained.
“Interesting.”
We sat there talking for hours. I found the brothers endearing. They were animated together but very much a unit. And everything that they did had a motive behind it, most of the time redemption for their father. They don’t allow anyone to disgrace their family name. They consider successful theft, even trespassing on their property a form of disrespect and will not tolerate it. I’d learned that while they were crude and strict in how they handled business; they also never killed without reason. The most telling of them all was when I opened them up and discovered their reason for launching an attack in Florida.
Chapter 11
“So the general threatened your empire?” I confirmed.
“Yes. We are not savages. We don’t attack ruthlessly without just cause,” Kalel explained.
“I bet the High Authorities don’t even realize how corrupt their union is,” Kai added. I was beginning to wonder myself…
Coming into this, I was clearly instructed that the Bladangs were the enemy. Now that I’d met them, heard their side, and spent time with them, though it’s a brief bit, I’d seen enough to know they were telling the truth. They only defended their ‘family,’ all they’d built. I believed them when they said they didn’t attack without cause, aside from murdering the three High Authorities who had killed their father. But even that was initiated due to cause.
I could find no fault with them. They ruled with an iron fist when it came to sinners on their land, but that was no different than the justice system to humans. Well, except that the punishment was issued immediately and was severe in comparison. Sometimes I think the human criminals ought to have harsher punishments. I guarantee if you start chopping off the hands of thieves and robbers the number of them would take a swift nose dive. But alas, humans would never agree to that form of ‘cruelty’ and therefore crime will continue to rise.
“What time is it?” I asked searching for a clock. I was afraid to pull out my cell and have a ton of missed calls.