She ran a finger over his mustache. “I used to know a man who wore something similar on his face. He wore it well even with his head on the pike. Dashing lad.”
Twig felt her power dig into him. He bit his tongue, hoping the pain would distract him. He kept his eyes fixed on hers. “What is it you want?” He asked.
“Want. What do I want,” she looked around the room as if she had forgotten why she had come. “Oh yes. Now I remember,” she pushed a stiletto heel into Twigs chest, which was still sore from his fight with Damon. He grunted.
“Oh you are a tough one aren’t you? So much willpower. I want what your father has hidden. The elixir he hid those years ago before he went mad in this little chicken coop. I think you know the one I’m talking about.”
“I think I do.” Twig squirmed under her heel, which felt like it was going to break him in two.
“I have a sudden interest in it. A sudden lust for preservation, if you will.” She removed her heel from Twig’s chest and he gasped and wheezed.
“You want to use it on your father? Or should I say husband?” Twig said between labored breaths.
“My father died a long time ago. A stubborn man full of pride.” She gave a pitying shake of her head. “Damon is my husband, we simply play the role of father and daughter for appearances.” She took a long drag off her cigarette.
“But yes, I wish to use it on Damon. With my son taking a new bride it’s only a matter of time before Damon grows jealous and wants a new wife of his own. Under all that bluster and bravado he is as petty as a child. And that Winters bitch has been coming around too. I have to strike first.”
“Good luck with that,” Twig said, shaking his head. “Just don’t try it near any bookshelves. They hurt like hell to bounce off of.”
“Do you take me for a fool?” Vivian asked. “You see, my husband loves his wine. Old habits die hard I suppose. Once I get the elixir, I figure a few drops in one of his bottles should do the trick.”
“And your son? Wouldn’t the whole killing-of-his-father thing upset him a little bit?”
Vivian laughed boisterously and stood up. She straightened her dress. “No…my son is loyal to me. With Damon gone, we could control our own destinies.”
“And if I tell you, will you release me?”
Vivian smiled. “Of course. You have my word.”
“Alright then. Guess there is no point in hiding it.” Twig inhaled deeply. “He hid it in the Shire. He gave it to a group of wily hobbits to destroy. No wait, it was in the Honey Comb Hideout. Yep, that was it. Sorry, I always get those two confused.” Twig braced himself. He knew he was a lamb in a lion’s cage. He only hoped it would be quick.
Vivian pursed her lips at him. “Stupid boy,” she said. She twisted the end of her cigarette into the desk before moving towards him.
22.
Old fashioned street lamps stood tall on either side of the road leading to Whispering Pines, along with perfectly spaced rows of apple trees. Zara drove into a large roundabout and parked the car near the entrance of the building. An old wooden sign that read Whispering Pines Wellness Clinic stood by the front doors.
She left the car running and charged into the building. Inside, the bright lights stung her eyes. A girl sat behind the front desk. She was crying and cleaning blood from her face.
Zara looked at her sadly. “Oh my god! Are you okay? What happened to you?” she blurted out all at once.
“I don’t know…” the girl said confused.
Zara looked at the fresh wounds, the wet spots of blood, and felt feverish. She wanted to taste it. Just the sight of it made her ravenous and dizzy. She fought hard against it.
“Open the doors. I’m here for my friend.”
The girl looked at her and blinked several times.
“Do it now.” Zara said impatiently. She was exercising an amazing level of restraint by not pouncing on the poor girl.
“Of course, yes…” the girl said. Zara was slightly surprised. She wasn’t used to getting her way so easily.
When the door buzzed and opened she went in and was stopped by a giant orderly with a blank expression on his face.
“Where’s your badge?” he asked.
“You work too hard,” Zara said calmly, “you can take the rest of the night off. Go on home,” and the man nodded and went by her without a word.
By the time she reached the rec room she had sent two more people home. Her new power of persuasion seemed to have a cost. Every time she used it she felt weaker. It seemed to drain her. And the last guard had shown a little resistance. He’d even argued a little.
There were no patients in the room. She noticed light coming through a window of one of the rooms. The blinds were closed but she could see shadowy movement. The room was situated so that it had a clear view of the rec room. It has to be the office, Zara thought. Whoever was in there would know where Twig was being kept.
She tried the door handle. Locked. A sudden thud came from behind the door.
She pulled hard on the door and it sprang loose from its hinges. She looked inside and was shocked by what she saw. Twig was lying on the floor, bleeding from his neck. Vivian Caspari: the kind sweetheart from the party, was licking the blood from her lips. “I’m sorry future daughter-in-law, but I’m afraid I have to finish this one off. We can’t have him as one of us. It would just be a bit too risky.”
Zara stepped into the room and glared at Vivian. “Get away from him!” she yelled. Vivian snarled and leapt forward, tackling Zara, taking her off her feet and the two flew across the rec room. They smashed into the ping pong table and it broke in two.
Vivian was on her feet quicker than Zara. “Now, don’t make me rip that pretty little head off your neck, darling,” she said. “Show your new mommy some respect.”
Zara felt a wave of rage take over her body. She rallied against her exhaustion, got to her feet and grabbed hold of Vivian. Vivian hissed as Zara threw her across the room into a steel door. Vivian bounced off the hard steel and went limp on the floor. With some effort, she rose shakily to her feet. She took a step forward, but suddenly faltered. She began shaking wildly. “What, what have you done?” she cried, suddenly frantic, her once angelic voice now filled with unbridled terror.
Zara looked on in horror as Vivian started contorting and twisting in quick, violent motions. Her bones cracked and popped as she writhed, which, along with her anguished screams, created a horrible inhuman sound that filled the room and pierced Zara’s ears.
A part of Zara wanted her to help her, to try to save her from whatever horror was befalling her. She had never seen or heard anything so horrible in her life. But she stood there, watching as Vivian’s skin began to boil and bubble. Her wail became deafening. And finally she turned away, unable to watch. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light and a shockwave shook the room and threw Zara back. When she got up, the room was thick with smoke, and a foul, acrid odor like the smell of burning hair filled her nostrils.
She wiped the dust out of her eyes. She walked timidly through the smoke, fanning it out of her way as she went.
The linoleum tiles had melted and warped where Vivian had been standing, and nothing was left of her save for some ash and dust on the floor. She felt a breeze and watched the cloud of smoke suddenly flow out of the building. The explosion had left a giant hole in the wall, and as the smoke thinned and dispersed out into the open air, she could see a group of dark trees quivering in the breezy night air.
She ran back to check on Twig. She suddenly realized how lost she would be without him. She couldn’t lose him. Not now…
He wasn’t moving, and she thought the worst. She dropped to the floor next to him and lifted his head off the ground and cradled it. Tears began to well in her eyes, and she started cursing herself, cursing Micah, cursing them all.
Twigs eyes fluttered and he seemed surprised to see Zara.
“Don’t bite me,” he muttered.
Zara squeezed him tigh
t and he hugged her back. “I thought you were dead,” Zara said softly in his ear. She laughed and cried at the same time, overwhelmed with relief.
“No,” Twig grunted and sat up. “But I’ve been better.” He touched his neck.
Zara touched his neck too, gingerly. The sight of blood was unnerving. She had to stand up and look away.
“How?” Zara asked, vaguely referring to Vivian exploding.
“Oh, my dad put some weird chemical in my blood. You know, in case anyone tried to drink my blood. Very standard parenting techniques Zar. I think he picked that one up from Doctor Oz.”
Zara laughed and reached down and plucked Twig from the floor. “We had better get—”
Twig grabbed her by both her arms and pulled her in, kissing her. She closed her eyes and kissed him back. She leaned back when he stopped and smiled.
“Well, okay then…” Zara said, swooning a bit.
“I know…I just…” Twig blushed. “I just didn’t want to drag you into all this. And when I thought I had lost you for good, I…”
Zara kissed him again. Then she put her hands on his shoulders. “Let’s get into all that later. I think we should worry about this whole turning-into-vampires thing first.”
Twig nodded and looked around the room. “Right. Good point. But I don’t think I’ll be turning into one. I had a little chat with Damon. He told me the only way to break the blood bond is to destroy whoever bit you. And it must be done quickly. Three nights. I couldn’t be sure if he was lying, but I don’t think he was. He thought I was going to rot in here forever, so why would he?”
Zara frowned. “Micah.”
“Yeah,” Twig said softly.
“I don’t know if I can…” Zara said, turning away from Twig.
He held her hand. “We have to. They are not alive, not really. You have to remember that. When he turned his soul became trapped, enslaved to darkness. I can’t see that happen to you…I won’t let it.”
“I know,” Zara said, with tears in her eyes. “I don’t want it to happen either.” But there was something deep inside her that thought otherwise. Hadn’t the power been a rush? Couldn’t she make a grand life with the power to command anyone to do what she wishes? But the hunger…it was maddening. But for the first time in her life she felt…strong. She felt in charge. She suddenly remembered a quote one of her history teachers often said in class: Absolute power corrupts absolutely. She couldn’t help but wonder what her teacher would say absolute mediocrity does.
“Let’s go,” she said, and walked back out into the rec room.
Twig followed after her. He observed the giant hole in the wall and the smashed ping -pong table. “I missed a good one didn’t I?”
“Fairly epic,” said Zara. She began to walk towards the exit.
“Wait,” Twig said. “My dad…we gotta get him out of here.”
Twig ran down the hall leading to the patient rooms. Zara stayed close and kept looking behind her. They came to a room at the end, but the door was locked.
“Let me,” Zara said. “Doors are kinda my specialty now.” She took hold of the metal handle and popped the door off its hinges and set it down softly on the floor. Twig’s eyes widened. She noticed his reaction and shrugged sheepishly. You have to admit, this possession business has its upsides.”
They entered the room. James was lying on his bed, clenching the Monopoly board and mumbling. He kept saying “The place of sleep…the place of sleep.” Zara shot Twig a nervous glance. “You have to hurry,” she said.
Twig sat on his father’s cot. He told him he loved him and he was sorry for all the bad things that had happened. He told him he was going to get him out of there.
James smiled a bit and handed his son the monopoly board.
“Jesus dad, enough with this thing already!” Twig shouted, and threw it across the room. His father laughed and kept on mumbling about the place of sleep.
“I’m sorry dad. But we gotta go. Any minute now this place is going to be crawling with cops or worse.” Twig’s father grunted and sat up. It took him quite a bit of effort to rise. “The drugs…” he complained when he finally got his feet. Twig grabbed his arms and supported him. He began moving him to the door.
“Uh, Twig…” Zara said. She held the monopoly board upside down. On the back of it, an amazingly detailed map of downtown Denver was drawn. One building was circled and had the words “weapons cache” written above it.
“Holy hell…” Twig whispered.
“Is this where I think it is?” Zara said nervously.
Twig squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Dad, tell me you didn’t stash the rest of the liquid sunlight in the Church.”
His father furrowed his brow and thought about the question. “What better place to hide something from a vampire?” he said.
“He must have stashed it before it was converted to a night club,” Twig said with a sigh. “Where exactly is it Dad?”
“The organ. There’s a hidden compartment above the pedals,” he mumbled.
They went out into the hallway and made their way to the big hole in the wall where Vivian had exploded. “Least we know the stuff works,” Twig said as they stepped through out onto a dirt path that wrapped around the building. His father admired the hole in the wall. “I missed a good one huh?” Twig looked over at Zara who was shaking her head.
Suddenly a man’s voice yelled after them. “Hey! You, what the hell are you doing?”
Zara looked back the big hole in the wall and saw a doctor waving a clipboard at them. She stepped closer to him and he continued to yell and look about at the carnage with confusion.
She saw something, a flash of images, and was repulsed by them. The man’s mind was full of ugly, disturbing things. She wanted more than anything to bite into his neck, and drink until her bloodlust was quenched. If it had to be someone, why not this man?
She looked at him sternly and said quietly so Twig could not hear: “You are going to write down everything you’ve done to these patients and go turn it in to the police. You want to go do that now.” The doctor blinked a few times, smiled and turned away.
“What was that about?” Twig asked as the three of them made their way around the building.
“Nothing… another little upside. Tell you one thing, I’m never going to pay retail for a pair of Jimmy Choo’s again.” As she walked, she felt herself wobbling a little. The energy she’d spent controlling the doctor left her sapped and woozy.
They snuck up to the Porsche, and Twig helped his father into the backseat, where he immediately fell asleep.
23.
Twig insisted on driving the Porsche. He also insisted that they had to get rid of it. “I hid my Scout a few blocks from the Caspari place. It’s not exactly trading up but I have to get my stuff,” he said, while shifting into fourth. Zara winced at the mention of the name Caspari. It felt as if something was tearing inside of her. Micah didn’t choose this life, she thought. It’s the only life he ever had, was it her right to take that from him? She put that thought out of her head. He hadn’t seemed to mind ruining her life.
“What about your dad?” Zara looked back at him. He was still out cold from whatever drugs they had pumped into him. She watched his chest rise and fall. She could almost see the blood coursing through his body. She forced herself to look away.
“I dunno.” Twig said. His eyes seemed to search the highway for answers.
“Nobody will believe us, you know,” Zara said evenly. “They will twist the evidence to make us both look like murderers. They’ll say you have a history of mental illness.”
“Then we need our own evidence,” Twig said, shifting into fifth and whipping around a sluggish semi truck.
There was a long moment of silence before Twig’s father began rustling in the back and groaning. “Where the hell?” He said, looking around confused.
“It’s okay dad. We’re getting you somewhere safe,” Twig said. He found it hard to say with any confidenc
e.
“He’s not safe with us,” Zara said. She was having enough of a time controlling her now raging bloodlust around Twig.
“Jennifer Lee,” his father suddenly mumbled.
Twig looked at the rear view mirror. “Who?”
“My colleague from the institute. She knows what they did. We were…close before they did this.”
Twig took a deep breath. “This wouldn’t be a psychotic delusion, would it dad?”
James Sollero coughed and then laughed. “I might have been playing up the crazy just a little. If Damon Caspari knew it was will alone that was keeping him out of my thoughts, maybe he would of kept trying. I had to keep up the act.”
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