by Melody Raven
The girl huddled in the corner of the car, avoiding any spaces where the tinted windows were letting in light. She still had Alyssa’s sweatshirt wrapped around her, covering all but the top of her head. Two dark brown eyes popped out of the top.
“What’s your name? Is there anywhere you want me to take you?” Because she really didn’t want to take this thing home with her. But the girl didn’t say anything. She just sat there, curled up in a little ball and trembling. The poor thing was traumatized, and Alyssa couldn’t blame her.
“All right. I’ll take you to my place and we'll get you better. But we’re going to get you home soon, okay?”
The girl blinked a few times. Finally, she looked over at Alyssa. Those dark eyes met hers and a bolt of fear went through her, even as her heart broke more. There was so much sadness there. So much pain. “No home,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.
Dante couldn’t take his eyes off Tela. Everything she did was so normal, yet so extraordinary. She’d been human just two days ago. Yet now she was so similar and so different at the same time. She looked the same, but her vampire senses had altered almost everything else. She was still getting used to them, so every time there was a little sound, even floors above her or multiple rooms away, she’d flinch or jerk. The light, although affecting all vampires, especially hurt her.
But what surprised him most of all about her transformation was that he was the one who caused it.
“Thanks for waiting.” A woman walked in, carrying a computer and stack of papers in her arms. “I’m sorry I got held up. Dr. Elizaveta Connors. You can call me Eliza, though.”
The woman was ordinary looking by many standards. She appeared to be mid-forties and no taller than five foot five. But the speed that she scanned over the papers in her hands and placed them on the desk on the other side of the room let Dante know that this was a vampire too. He was in a room with two female vampires. It had been a while since that had happened....
“How are you doing, Tela?” asked the doctor. “I know you’ve been through a lot.”
Tela let out a soft laugh. “You could say that.”
John, her mate, wrapped his arm tightly around her shoulders. “She’s been handling it remarkably well,” he said, his defensiveness coming off clear.
“Are you?” asked Dante.
Tela’s eyes bounced between him and the doctor. “I think so? I guess. I don’t know anyone else who’s gone through this. I’m really hungry.”
“I’ve helped a few newborns before, and I promise you that you’ll get through this. Let’s do a quick rundown and we’ll get you back home.”
Tela snorted. “Not sure what home I have to go back to.”
John’s free hand reached over to grab hers. “We’ll find somewhere.”
“I’m sure we’ll have no problem finding a place for you.” Eliza pulled out another chart and her eyes bounced over it. “Aleksander is very grateful for everything you’ve done.”
Tela glanced down, obviously still uncomfortable with her bit of notoriety among the vampires of Earth. Dante could understand why. Until two days ago, with the exception of John, the Vopura had been no friend to Tela. And he had a feeling she wasn’t too concerned with the differences between vampires and Vopura.
If he was being honest with himself, he was still learning those differences. It made so much sense now, of course. How else would the humans already have a name for them? Sure, they got things like garlic and mirrors wrong, but they had so much right. The sun would burn his skin like a flame, and blood was the only food that could sustain him. He could eat human food, and he had enjoyed the various dishes he’d tried, but he never craved it. He didn’t need it.
“Let me start with a very general question. How do you feel?”
Tela bit her lip. “Umm... good? I mean, on some level, I feel better than I ever have. I don’t get tired. I have energy for days. And I... I don’t know how to say it exactly. I just feel better. My skin has cleared up. As far as I know, I had a good complexion to begin with, but now I’m smoother. Softer. It’s odd.”
“Yep, all that’s normal. How are the cravings?”
“The cravings?”
“You’re a newborn. You need a lot of sustenance.” Eliza turned to John. “So that means you need to listen to her. If she’s hungry, you get her food.”
John sat up straighter. “Are you implying I can’t take care of my mate?”
“I don’t do implications, honey. I just do facts. And I don’t want to sugarcoat anything here. It’s a tough adjustment. Even the ones who choose this can’t fully prepare. And from what I understand, you didn’t choose this.”
Dante shifted in his seat. He knew that particular dig was aimed at him. He debated letting it go ignored, but he was done not speaking up. “I did what was best for everyone at that moment.”
Eliza looked over her shoulder at him and squinted in judgment. “You only had to keep her alive for maybe an hour. You could’ve found a way.”
Dante stood. He was used to more respect than this. He’d gone from an elite to a second-class citizen in just hours. “Do you require me here?”
Tela stood too, which of course led to John standing. Eliza noticeably stayed seated, making her opinion of him more than known.
He wanted to speak to Tela privately, but he knew John was much too overprotective of her for the moment, rightfully so. And asking Eliza to leave would imply he cared more about her opinion than he did.
“I had reasons.” He looked right at Tela. “I couldn’t have Mikel dead. I needed him—” He broke off. He couldn’t put this on Tela. She already had enough on her hands.
“Dante, I don’t know you well, but you only did what you did because you wanted to help. And that shows that you have empathy. And John told me that you were one of the only ones who actually treated him like a human.” She frowned. “Not human, but you know what I mean. Either way, right now I know that you and John are very unique. I think it would be best if we stick together. Work together.”
But John wasn’t moved by Tela’s sincere pleas. Instead, he narrowed his eyes as he considered Dante. “Why did you need Mikel alive?”
Dante took a deep breath. He smelled the three in the room with him as well as the dust brought up as the vampires had installed their light-cancelling curtains around the building they’d taken over.
Tela was right. He was alone now. He’d betrayed his own by saving Tela, and there was no going back. And he didn’t want to.
“I needed Mikel because he had my daughter. She was in seclusion in the Sorenson for her own protection, and I needed him to keep her safe.”
Dante knew that John hadn’t known about this, but he hid his shock well. “You were so loyal to Mikel because he would hurt your daughter if you weren’t.”
“More than that. She was chosen to be his mate. He had the rest of her life in his hands. As soon as she was of age, they’d bond.”
But it was Tela who asked the really important question. “Wait. Where’s your daughter now?”
“From what I can tell, she escaped during the uprising and now she’s missing. And as soon as this sun disappears, I’m going to find her.”
Alyssa pressed the button to lower the garage door, and for a few moments, her beating heart drowned out the sound of the machinery lowering the door. The adrenaline was still racing through her, and as the sun was completely blotted out, it dawned on her how stupid this was. She was here alone with a vampire.
And it wasn’t like a fuzzy, cuddly, sparkly vampire. A vampire who had probably helped with the invasion that had killed thousands of humans.
She looked in the rearview mirror, but it was too dark to see the girl now. The light that automatically came on when the garage closed was too dim to compete with the tinted windows of the military-issued vehicle.
“Are you hanging in there?” asked Alyssa.
There was no sound, though. Had the girl’s throat been injured in the fire? Tho
ugh, at this point, she didn’t know whether the sun or the fire had done the most damage.
Alyssa had seen the portal they came through. She highly doubted that they spoke English back wherever they came from. Now she had an injured vampire she might not even be able to talk to.
Well, she wasn’t going to be able to figure anything out in the car. Even though this kid might not understand a single word, it felt too awkward to just stay silent. “I’m going to slowly get out.” She reached for the handle. She kept her eyes glued on the mirror but couldn’t make out anything through the darkness. “Then I’m going to open your door and we’ll get you inside. Okay?”
Silence.
Okay. She could just leave the girl in the car. The vampire could always get out and come in when she was ready.
But Alyssa wasn’t keen on not knowing where a vampire was in her house.
And those terrified eyes kept on flashing in her mind. This wasn’t a monster. This was a kid. Fuck.
What was she doing? Risking her life for this thing? Alyssa wasn’t moral. She wasn’t ethical. Hell, she wasn’t even nice. Her job was to lead the public to believe whatever lie she wanted them to believe. Nice people didn’t do shit like that for money.
And people like her sure as hell didn’t pick up stranded monsters and drive them home.
And yet here she was.
Alyssa tentatively got out of the car and cursed under her breath once more as she reached for the passenger handle. “I’m going to open the door,” she announced, not sure the girl could hear her anyway.
As she pulled the door open, she kept waiting for something to leap out and devour her. But nothing happened. The light was now shining into the SUV, and she could see why the girl hadn’t said anything or moved.
She was passed out. Alyssa let out a deep sigh. She definitely didn’t know enough about vampire first aid for this. But she wasn’t too worried about the girl’s safety. Because in this light she could see the unblemished skin on the girl’s face.
All of her burns were gone.
That was another myth about vampires that wasn’t actually a myth. They healed incredibly fast. How had the military ever beaten back something this powerful?
“Hey,” whispered Alyssa. She didn’t want to startle the girl awake. She’d had plenty of dogs in her life, and there was a saying she’d always remembered: Let a sleeping dog lie. She was willing to bet that she didn’t want to startle a vampire awake either.
“We’re going to get you inside.” She gently put a hand on the girl’s leg and gave a little shake. But she didn’t move. “Okay, now I’m going to pick you up. And since I’m just doing this to help you, I know you’re not going to do anything rude like bite me. I don’t know much about vampires, but I bet you don’t just go biting humans who are trying to be nice to you.” She got her arms beneath the girl and lifted. Still no sign of consciousness. Only the gentle rise and fall of her chest let Alyssa know she was alive.
So there was one myth that wasn’t true. Vampires breathed. The girl was also very warm to the touch, but she had literally just been on fire, so Alyssa didn’t put much stock in that. She carried her to the doorway to the house and kept on talking. “Oof, you’re heavy. Makes me feel like I should be going to the gym more often. I used to work out all the time, you know? I was squatting my body weight and it was the best I ever looked. It was like yoga pants were made for my ass.” And she’d cursed in front of a kid. Again. But, like, it wasn’t a human kid. She really needed Joshua to give her some sort of rulebook.
She carefully juggled the girl in her arms as she bent down to twist the doorknob. “My ass is still good, don’t get me wrong. But it’s just a little jigglier. Though in this day and age that’s considered a good thing, so—”
She tried to take the girl inside, but she tripped over herself and fell back. What the hell had she tripped on? There was the one step up, but besides that there was nothing in the way. She shook her head at her own clumsiness and started for the house. But this time she realized she wasn’t tripping. She was running right into a wall.
But there wasn’t a wall there. She could clearly see the living room, kitschy wallpaper and lace doilies and all. Still not believing what was happening, Alyssa stuck a foot out, tapping on this invisible barrier.
Yep. It was safe to say there wasn’t a scientific explanation for this. Her little vampire needed an invitation.
“Umm.... Please come inside?” It was more of a question than a statement. After all, it wasn’t as though she owned this place. The idea of this working seemed so unbelievable to her, but sure enough, the next time she kicked her foot out, it went inside like normal.
Had she imagined that? Was she officially going crazy?
Crazy or not, her arms were starting to shake. The sun was still setting, but the light wasn’t in her way because the windows had been boarded up. Alyssa walked quickly through the house and set the girl down carefully on the floral sofa.
The girl melted into the cushions and Alyssa just stared at her in amazement for a few minutes. “What the hell am I supposed to do with you?” she asked the girl, not expecting an answer even if she was awake.
But she was absolutely sure she couldn’t handle this on her own. She would need backup, and right now she only had one option. Joshua.
She headed back to the SUV, looking over her shoulder constantly to make sure the girl wasn’t following her. Once she was back in the driver’s seat, she grabbed her phone out of the computer bag.
Joshua picked up on the third ring. “Hey, Lys. I trust you’ve already started lighting the internet on fire?”
“Oh yeah. It’s burning. I wanted your help with something, though. Sooo... I’m working on a few hypothetical situations and I want to make sure any stories I make up aren’t too close to the truth. Do you mind divulging a few trade secrets?”
There was a pause on the other end. “What kind of secrets are we talking?”
“Nothing serious,” she assured. “Like, what’s happening to the vampires that you’re rounding up? I don’t want to say they’re being taken to some super-secret prison in Sacramento if the prison actually is in Sacramento.”
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that. Most of the survivors are being executed on sight.”
Alyssa tensed and slowly started back into the house. “Understandable...” she said slowly. “But that guy, the vampire I saw. He wasn’t executed.”
“He was an exception. A rare exception. For the most part, the only ones who upper management wants to keep alive are the ones worth studying.”
She cringed at the thought. Being studied like a science experiment by the US government might actually be worse than death. “Interesting.” What had Joshua said about female vampires? He’d said there were none. She was positive. But that would make the girl on her couch impossible. Because there were no females and it took two to tango, she was going to guess children vampires were even more rare than grown women. Alyssa let out a deep sigh. “All right. I appreciate the help.”
“No problem. I don’t think I gave you anything you didn’t already know. I hope you’re taking care of yourself.”
Alyssa reached the living room, where she could see the young thing sleeping. “I’m not a daredevil,” she said more to herself than Joshua. “I always try to keep out of trouble.” Then why did she physically carry the trouble into this house?
“I’ll be the first to admit that we need you working your ass off, but you’re a friend. I don’t want you burning out. Make sure you take some breaks. Never underestimate the power of a good night’s sleep.”
Sleep? She had just smuggled a vampire into her house. She had a feeling she would be working the night shift for at least the next few nights. “Thanks. I appreciate it. Take care of yourself.”
She hung up the phone and brought a hand to her mouth, holding her breath. Part of her thought the girl would bolt while she went to the garage to pick up the phone. The sun w
as just minutes away from being fully down. But she was still under the afghan and in a deep sleep.
She looked almost peaceful. There was no sign of her injuries, and her chest was softly rising and falling with each breath.
Okay, so she officially couldn’t depend on the military to help her. At least not right now. For all she knew, this girl was evil and totally deserved to be executed on the spot. Looking at her right now, Alyssa just couldn’t imagine turning her in. She knew all the terrible things the vampires had done during the Siege of Seattle. Scratch that—she couldn’t even comprehend all the terrible things they’d done. What she knew probably barely scratched the surface.
But all that felt so far removed when she could feel the girl’s heartbeat. She’d looked into her eyes and seen how sad she’d been after the attack. It wasn’t just fear or pain. It was sadness.
If they were capable of emotion, that meant Alyssa had to have some sort of empathy.
And it wasn’t as if she had to go hang up missing posters outside. She could try to help this girl and never leave the safety of the house. After all, she had the power of the internet at her fingertips.
Filled with resolve, Alyssa went upstairs to her computer and started logging into her fake profiles. She used the crazy ones, the ones that had agreed with the theory that real vampires had come in and taken over Seattle.