by Lelana Croft
Lunging toward me and throwing me off balance, we both landed on the floor. She was so strong, I wasn’t sure exactly how I’d kept her off of me, and I was still a little tired from the night before.
I reached for my dagger, but I couldn’t get to it and hold her off at the same time. My one arm just wasn’t strong enough. I resisted as hard as I could as her fangs reached my neck and pierced the skin.
I knew what was going to happen next and I didn’t want to watch. The blood running through me was part angel. Any vampire who tried to drain me would die a horrible death, much worse than being skewered by my silver dagger.
But before her body registered my blood, she was pulled off of me and thrown over into a corner. I looked up and it was Miles. He tossed her into the corner like an old rag doll.
The vampire stood up and began to run towards Miles, but stopped midway as my blood began to work through her system. The bone-chilling screams began to fill the building as my blood mingled with hers.
First, it would turn her blood to ice before turning it to flame. It would devour all the evil out of her body, turning her into something that looked like crystal. Once she turned to crystal, then she would turn into ash and the ash would start to sparkle, then disappear into the ether, never to be seen again.
It was the purest way to cleanse the soul and leave nothing behind. It was brutal for the recipient, but the one good thing was that afterwards, her soul would be cleansed and she would go to heaven as a new spirit. At least, that’s what I’d been told.
Miles and I watched the process happening before us. I could never get the screams out of my mind. The pain and agony that the woman must have been put through was almost too much to bear. Especially, because this woman had been a perfectly normal human just the day before. Sebastian had turned her into a vampire and now, she was going to go through another awful transition.
Once the last speck of sparkle floated away, I released the breath I’d been holding and looked over at Miles. Looks like we both had some explaining to do.
“Thanks. I could have handled things, but thanks anyway,” I said, trying to make myself sound grateful.
“Anytime, but you need to tell me how you did that.”
I sighed heavily. I’d already spilled the beans about my abilities to Katie and Patty and hoped they would keep my secret. I really didn’t need it to be known throughout town. Then again, he was also a supernatural.
“Okay, on one condition…you tell me about yours. And how Sebastian is your brother.”
He nodded and leaned against the wall, folding his arms over his chest, “We both have the same father. My mother was a faerie and I have a big gun with superpowers.”
His smug expression made me almost want to slap him.
“Okay, I told you mine…” he said.
I pursed my lips. I really didn’t want to reveal too much.
“My blood is toxic to vampires,” I said, matter-of-factly.
“That’s it? I mean, how? What are you?” Now, it was him probing.
“I…” There was a squeak and then the basement door slammed. Someone was here. Thank goodness, it saved me from any further explanation.
Hobbs pushed open the door to see us standing in the lab, looking suspicious. He looked at me and then at Miles. Then back at me and gave me a weird grin. I looked at Miles, then it dawned on me that Hobbs was probably thinking we were doing something frisky down here.
“I just stopped by to see what work I had ahead of me. Miles happened to be…”
Hobbs interrupted me. “Where’s the other body?”
“I…uh…” I searched for the words to explain what had happened.
“She wasn’t actually dead. Scarlett was being attacked as I came in, so I had to dispose of her,” Miles said as he pulled out a strange gun that looked like it had been crafted from an episode of Firefly and flashed it, before sliding it into its holster which was in his belt.
I kept my mouth shut, which wasn’t easy. Apparently, Hobbs knew a few of the supernaturals around here to some degree.
He patted Miles on the shoulder. “Thanks, Miles. I always know I can count on you to handle these creatures. Ya’ll lock up when you leave. Scarlett, please put the bodies in the cooler before you leave. I’ll see you on Monday.”
My mouth dropped as Miles stood there and took credit for dispatching the vampire. My hands found their way onto my hips as I raised an eyebrow and cocked my hip.
“Handle these creatures? What are you, some kind of vampire hunter?” I asked, half expecting him to blow me off.
“Yes, actually. At least, around here. I’ve been working with law enforcement for years now, trying to just keep the peace. I’ve always had a few powers that I can use, like the speed. Plus, I’m kinda strong. Much stronger than most vamps,” he said as he straightened up and brought his shoulders back, giving his stature an even broader look.
“So, why’d you show Hobbs the gun then?” I asked.
“Because most of the humans around here don’t really know of my powers, and I’d like to keep it that way. They don’t need to know my speed or my strength. Plus, every now and then, having a really big gun just helps matters.”
“What is that thing anyway? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one?”
“Oh, that’s my Peacemaker. It’s actually an antique that has been modified to shoot special bullets made to kill vampires and other bad guys.”
“Other bad guys? So I guess you’ve killed other things with it? Like what?”
“You sure ask a lot of questions,” he laughed. “I tell you what…I’ll answer all your questions, if you do me one favor.”
I gave him the side eye. This should be interesting.
“Oh really? And what makes you think I owe you any favors?” I snarked.
“Well, I did just save your life…again.” He put one hand on his hip and leaned onto the wall, his grin telling me he was playing this game again.
“I didn’t need your help. I didn’t need it last night either. We had it all under control and this poor woman who just went to ash would have been stopped shortly after she'd bit me.”
I was irritated that he felt like he’d rescued me when I knew I was fine.
“Yeah, but me being here allowed me to tell your boss a different version. So, I saved you from having to reveal your secrets.”
He knew he had me there. I rolled my eyes.
“Okay, what do you want?” I asked, leaning against the opposite wall.
He sauntered over to me, and put one hand on the wall next to my head, just slightly leaning into my personal space.
“The winery is having their last fall festival tomorrow. Let me take you and give you the tour. I promise, it's a fun trip.”
I swear, his eyes twinkled. Either that or I was seeing things. It’s probably the latter, but it didn't matter. The heat that was radiating off of him was intoxicating and my stomach began to knot.
“I…” my breath hitched.
My resolve began to disappear when he leaned into my space and looked directly into my eyes, a subtle grin showing.
Exasperated and a little worked up, I finally agreed, “Fine. What time should I meet you there?”
I looked down at my wrist as if there was a watch. There wasn’t.
“I’ll pick you up at noon. Will that work for you?”
I swallowed hard. This weekend was turning out to be pretty interesting. It was all just happening so fast.
I nodded and slipped out from under him. “Noon will be fine. I need to go now.”
I walked over to the doors and held one open for him, signaling him to leave as well. He walked through and I followed him, catching the faintest hint of his cologne as he passed me.
Locking the door, he waited for me to get onto the orange demon. I waved and took off towards the library. I'd have to wait and use my powers later on the mummy to see what else I could learn. In the meantime, I wanted to see if I could find anything else about
Marilyn.
I decided not to waste a lot of time, so I asked the librarian if she knew who Marilyn was and if there was anything historical on her there. Being such a small town, most of the time the locals would probably know more than anything. Unfortunately, when you deal with locals, you sometimes get more folklore than actual truth. But I figured it'd be a good place to start.
She didn’t have anything specific about Marilyn, but she did give me a couple of books with a lot of history about Ste. Geneva. I wasn't sure how that would help, but I checked them out anyway to learn a little more history about the town. It could be something to keep me from being bored. Plus, this was the first town settled west of the Mississippi River.
I carted the books out and put them in the milk crate that had been bungeed to the back of the orange demon. I really needed to get a better ride.
Stopping by the store, I picked up a couple of pieces of fried chicken and headed back home. Something about stores out in the country, they always had the best fried chicken.
After devouring the chicken and giving Adonis some too, I pulled out the books.
I began to flip through one of the books on the history of Ste. Geneva. It was actually quite fascinating. Being settled in 1735 by French Canadians, a lot of the French Creole colonial construction still remained with the vertical wooden post construction. It was such a charming town and the people that lived here worked hard to keep as much of the original history intact.
Flipping through the pages, I looked through the pictures and was in awe of how life must have been back then.
I froze when I flipped to the next page. I was looking at a photo from the mid-1800s, and right in the middle was the building I'd seen when I had memory walked through Marilyn’s memories.
Chapter 15
Jumping up from the couch, I sprinted upstairs to grab my laptop. I needed to find as many photos as possible of this place that had people in it. I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for, but if the mummy was Marilyn, then maybe I’d find a photo with her in it.
I began to search the internet. There were so many things to look at and sometimes, the searches didn’t bring up what I was looking for.
Pulling out my phone, I made a call to the library to ask them if there were any older books on the history of Ste. Geneva that weren't sitting on the shelves, or if they had another place where I could find out more history of the town.
The librarian told me about a small museum downtown that had a lot more history, as well as many older photos that I could look through, but they weren't open again until Monday afternoon.
Damn. Well, I’d just have to wait until Monday then.
Lying back on the couch, I closed my eyes and tried to pull the memories back into my mind that had come from Marilyn…or whoever it was. They were too faint now. I’d had too many things happen between the memory walk and now. I’d need to go back and pull more memories to see more of her life.
But resting on the couch began to work its magic and I could feel myself drifting off. Any more research would have to wait until tomorrow. I decided I'd wait and head back over to the morgue, after the trip to the winery with Miles.
I closed my eyes and tried to push the images of Miles out of my head, but it was impossible. How was it that this guy could already get to me? I had no time for this kind of thing. Not to mention, I always seemed to get into a lot of trouble and most guys couldn't handle the stress of it all. I had my ways about me and not too many people could deal with it.
Being alone was just safer. It was always harder to be involved with someone in this world. If there was no one to worry about, then I wouldn't have to suffer the heartache and pain that came from loving someone and then losing them. I had seen how that’d hurt my father when my mother had passed.
Even though she was also now an angel, she had other duties that didn’t involve those of us who were either still human or had to be in human form. She wasn't at that level. My father had the ability to be either, but his responsibility was great and it was his job to stay in human form in this realm.
Thoughts of Miles kept creeping into my mind. How his dirty blond hair always looked a little disheveled. He totally had that whole Chris Hemsworth thing going on. He knew it, too. He knew exactly what he was doing. The confidence that bordered on cocky.
My body was reacting to thinking about him. I could sense his heat and almost smell him. That, combined with the sensation of some kind of awesome power, made me wonder just how good he really was. I'm sure I could ask any girl in town and they’d know. But that didn’t matter right now.
Right now, he was in my dreams and I could live with that.
I could feel his hands on me. His fingers slowly traced down my neck and chest, caressing me ever so gently but with a kind of reserve that let me know he was holding back, making sure he wasn't hurting me. I didn’t care, I wanted him to touch me.
His hands moved skillfully over me, avoiding the most sensitive areas which made me groan in anticipation of what was to come. Down my belly and my hips, over the outside of my thighs, stopping for a moment to let me catch my breath. I felt the back of his hands between my thighs, giving them a gentle nudge apart. My body complied. Regardless of what my mind thought, my body reacted to his every touch.
I felt him move in between my legs and gasped as his clothed manhood rubbed up against my most sacred parts. The weight of his body lay on mine as his mouth came closer, moving in for a kiss.
As I reached down to run my fingers through his hair, I inhaled his scent…which caught in my throat and I coughed.
It was like I was breathing in something caustic, both acid and metal singed my brain as I woke from my dream, or what I thought was a dream.
I looked down and in the soft glow of the kitchen hood light, Sebastian was lying on top of me.
“What the?!” I screamed as I forced my hips outward, pushing him off of me and rolling off the couch and onto the floor. I got up on all fours and started to crawl towards the kitchen. But he grabbed my ankle and pulled me down, flipping me on my back.
Crap! My dagger was on the coffee table, just out of reach.
Sebastian was straddling me and had my arms pinned down to the floor.
“Well, hello again, pretty thing. Did you miss me? I know you did, I could feel you dreaming about me just now…” he said as he gyrated his hips against me.
“I could never dream about something like you!” I yelled, struggling to get free.
“Don’t be so sure.” His gravelly voice was arrogant as he leaned over and buried his nose into my neck. He inhaled deeply as if he was taking a toke. “You smell so…clean. But different. You are different, aren’t you? You’re something special, I can tell. I’m curious, what are you exactly? Some kind of sweet faerie? A witch? Did you cast a love spell on me?”
“Get off me!” I yelled, struggling to no avail. These were the times I wished my power was something other than healing or memory walking.
Fighting was getting me nowhere, I had to try another tactic. I finally stopped struggling and just looked up at him with sad puppy dog eyes. Sometimes it would work, depending on the guy. If I hit the right nerve with them, they'd think of me as some kind of fragile little girl and lower their defenses.
I let my lower lip begin to quiver, as if I was scared and frightened. I felt Sebastian’s grip on me lighten and then he released my hands. I immediately covered my face and pretended to cry. I just needed to be able to reach the dagger and I could rid myself of this creep, even if it was only temporarily.
“Oh, now, looky there. I made the little girl cry,” he said sarcastically. I was hoping he’d take pity on me and let me go, so I could stab him in the heart.
“Would you please get off me? You’re hurting me,” I said with a weepy voice, still trying to gain his pity.
He laughed. “Oh, if you insist,” he said as he lifted his body off of me and stood up. He reached down his hand to help me up. I grabbed it and as he
brought me up off the floor, I grabbed the dagger and backed away, swirling it in the air towards him.
“Now get out!” I yelled as I readied myself for a fight.
“Oh, so this is how you treat your guests? That’s not the southern hospitality we’re used to out here in the sticks.”
He let out a laugh as he amused himself with his own humor.
“I didn’t invite you, so you aren’t a guest. GET OUT!” I insisted.
Sebastian put both his hands on his hips and looked down at the ground, shaking his head. He then began to saunter towards me, wagging his finger at me.
“Now, now. All I want to do is get to know you a little better. There’s no need to get hostile.”
I flipped the dagger from one hand to the other as I crouched ever so slightly and took a stance. If he was going to come at me again, he'd at least get a few battle scars.
He made it halfway across the living room and froze when his eyes looked past me, his expression changing to one of concern. I saw him visibly swallow and thought that maybe I was finally getting through to him.
That was when I heard it. The low growl of something large and animal. I slowly craned my neck back to see what had caught Sebastian's attention.
There was the most beautiful and largest white tiger I’d ever seen in my life, standing behind me in the kitchen. His teeth were bared and he was crouched down, as if ready to pounce on prey.
I heard Sebastian move and looked back over toward him. He was taking a step backwards and toward the door.
“Well, it looks like I’ve overstayed my welcome,” he said as he slowly made his way to the door and opened it, all while the tiger followed him with his eyes.
No sooner than the door opened, then Sebastian disappeared into the night. I stood there frozen, not knowing what to expect next with this tiger in my kitchen.
The tiger pulled himself upright and into a seated position. It was then, I noticed it. One gold eye and one blue.