by C. J. Pinard
As he reached home, his fifteen-year-old daughter met him at the door with a smile. His other two children, both under ten, hopped excitedly on their little feet upon seeing their father home from work. He hugged them both.
“What’s for dinner, Marie?” he asked the teen, removing his hat and setting his tool bag down on the rough stone floor of their home. The thatch roof was a modest covering for the home he had built with his own two hands. Still, it barely protected from the elements when the weather became inclement.
“Stew, father,” she answered, heading back to their crude little kitchen. Her long, curly blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail.
He walked over and kissed her on the top of her head and then went outside to the pump to wash his hands. While scrubbing his hands under the cold water, he thought about his wife, Sarah, who had passed two years earlier. He missed her dearly, but he was proud of Marie for picking up the household duties in her absence, even though he knew she shouldn’t have had to.
After dinner, he tucked his children into bed and grabbed his father’s old bow and quiver of arrows, heading into the night to hunt for any kind of stray animal he could find to feed his family with. The bow, something his father had taught him to use when he was just a teen, was his pride and joy.
A large thicket of trees emptied into the bottom of the hillside on the other side of the village he lived in, and this is where he preferred to hunt. He would occasionally find a few squirrels or raccoon to kill. On a lucky night, he would find a deer, which would feed his small family for weeks, but those nights were few and far between.
He had been perched behind a large tree for a few minutes when he heard the sounds of leaves rustling about fifty yards away. Standing statue-still, he listened for the sounds of what kind of animal might be tomorrow’s dinner.
His eyes widened as a terrified scream ripped open the quiet night.
Without thinking, he sprang into action, leaping over tree roots and downed branches. He came to a small clearing and saw what appeared to be a man who had a small woman pinned down. The man was straddling her midsection and had his mouth at her neck. One of his arms was pinning down both of hers above her head, while his other hand was clamped over her mouth.
He got closer and quietly snuck up on the couple. He could see a mass of blood leaking down the woman’s neck, pooling onto the soft leaves below her. After shaking himself free from disbelief, he slowly pulled his bow up and yanked an arrow quietly from the quiver on his back, loading it. Ever carefully, he held his breath and pulled the bow up level, aiming it straight at the man’s head.
As the arrow let loose with a whisper, the assailant whipped his head in the man’s direction and jumped off of the woman. She did not move at all after he dismounted her. Seeing that his arrow had missed, he swore under his breath and looked around. Spotting a felled tree branch, he went running toward the man – who was now running away – and swung it violently at his head, knocking him down.
The man let out a horrifed scream and then fell flat on his back. The hunter jumped on top of the assailant, pulled his hunting knife from its sheath, and raised his arm. But as he looked down into the attacker’s eyes, he flinched back when he saw the man’s eyes had no whites at all, just solid black pupils. Out of fear, the hunter stabbed the man through the heart and jumped up off of him. More shock shot through him as the man then began to turn brown, then gray, essentially disintegrating into a pile of powder before his eyes.
The hunter fell to his knees and ran his hands through the pile of ash on the forest floor. He was wondering if he was dreaming – maybe hallucinating – maybe he would soon awaken from this madness. The sound of weeping quickly knocked him out of that fantasy. He snapped his eyes up, remembering the victim.
Getting to his shaky knees, he walked over to the woman, taking an occasional glance back at the ash pile. Upon reaching her, he could see she was still alive and bleeding from the neck. He took his jacket off, throwing it to the ground, and then removed his shirt, wadding it up and placing it on her neck. She was still moaning.
“Shh, it’s going to be all right. I’m going to get you to the village doc,” he whispered to her.
He peered down at her. Beautiful red hair framed her milky-white elfin face, and she had a perfect cupid’s bow for a mouth. Her eyes were closed.
Bending down, he picked her up and carted her out of the forestry, purposely kicking at the pile of ashes on his way out, scattering them in a puff.
He carried the injured woman the kilometer back to his village, and reaching the town doctor’s house, he knocked loudly.
“Doctor Porter, please open up! It’s of the utmost urgency!” he called out, pounding his large fists on the door.
The weary doctor eventually opened the heavy wooden door, fastening his spectacles around the crooks of his ears while yawning.
“What is it?” the old doctor asked. Then he saw the woman in his arms and let him in. “What’s happened to her?” the doctor asked, instructing the man to lay her down on his doctor’s cot in one of the tiny house’s back bedrooms.
The man looked nervously at the doctor but kept quiet.
“Son, I don’t have all day here. You have to tell me what’s wrong with her so I can treat her accordingly,” the old doctor ordered.
After a long pause, the man answered, “I think a demon attacked her.”
The doctor just looked at him but said nothing. He then inspected her neck and saw two holes. He went to an old wood cabinet and pulled out a brown glass bottle. Using a clean white rag to dump the antiseptic onto, he placed it on her wounds. The weary woman flinched and cried out in pain as the liquid stung. She then passed out again.
“There there, dear,” the doctor said, smoothing her hair back from her brow. He turned to the man and said, “I’ve seen these wounds before.” He took a deep breath and continued. “About a year ago, William Daniels brought me a little boy with similar wounds. He found the boy in the woods, but never saw this so-called demon.”
“Well, I’m glad you don’t think I’m crazy, but doc, I swear, as God is my witness, when I stabbed the man – the demon – he literally disappeared before my eyes. Turned to ash as if he had burned at a thousand degrees.”
The doctor arched his eyebrow at him then just shook his head. Changing the subject, he said, “Who is this woman?”
“I don’t know,” he shook his head. “Never seen her before, as I can recall.”
“Well, she can’t stay here. Take her to the reverend’s house or take her home yourself,” the doctor said curtly.
“Will she be all right?”
“She should be. Those holes seem to have started healing already. I don’t think she has lost too much blood. She will need rest and lots of fluids.”
The man nodded his head, picked up the woman, and carried her back to his small house.
He entered the home as quietly as he could and laid her down on a blanket on the floor.
Just then, he saw Marie coming out of her bedroom wearing her nightdress, and she was rubbing her eyes. “What’s wrong, father?” she asked. Then she looked down and saw the strange woman lying on her living room floor. Pointing at her, she asked, “Who’s that?”
“I don’t know, sweetheart. I was out hunting and she was attacked. Doctor Porter says she will be okay but needs to rest.”
Marie walked over closer to the woman and knelt down, feeling her forehead. She then inspected the wounds in her neck.
“What sort of animal did that?” She pointed to her neck, bewildered.
He was at a loss for words. He most certainly was not going to tell his already overstressed teenaged daughter what he saw tonight, so he just replied with, “I don’t know.” Then he added, “Go back to bed, please. You need your rest, for tomorrow I am going to require your help with her. I will stay with her tonight.”
“Okay, father,” she replied. She kissed him on the side of his unshaven cheek and shuffled back to the be
droom she shared with her two younger siblings.
He walked over and lit a kerosene lamp and carried it to the table closest to the woman’s makeshift bedside. He sat down in the rocking chair he had crafted himself and watched her for a while before he drifted off to sleep, sitting up.
The next day, young Marie cared for the woman while he went to his job, working in a nearby village, building homes, stores, and offices for the budding community. He was a skilled carpenter, the best in the area, and he was paid fairly well for his talent.
The routine of his working during the day and taking care of the strange woman at night went on for two days. On the night of the third day, the woman came out of her semi-comatose state. While Marie was preparing dinner, he was sitting in the chair next to the woman, reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He heard moaning and looked down to see the beautiful redhead looking up at him with big blue eyes.
“Well, hello,” he said, smiling as he snapped his book closed. “You look better.”
The woman – whom he could now see was no older than nineteen or twenty – sat up, confused, and looked around.
“Where am I? Who are you?” she asked in a high-pitched voice, looking down at herself, as if she expected to not be clothed. Her hand found its way to her neck and it was then she felt the bandage around it.
“There there, be calm. I found you in the forest three nights ago. You had been attacked. The doctor said you would be okay with some rest,” he said.
Just then, Marie and the younger children came bounding into the room. Marie wore an apron and was holding a spoon. She was wiping her free hand on the apron.
“She’s awake!” the youngest one yelled.
“Janie, hush!” he scolded. “Go back to your room, you two,” he ordered the youngsters. “Marie, please set a place for our guest at the table,” he said.
“Yes, father,” she answered, turning around and heading back into the kitchen.
He walked over and helped the young woman up, leading her to the old pine kitchen table.
“Thank you. This is just all so… overwhelming. I am trying to remember what happened,” she said.
Not wanting to discuss the demon attack in front of his daughter, he sat her down into a nearby chair and then pulled the bandage off her neck, inspecting the wounds. He sucked in a shocked breath.
“Oh my, your wounds, they’re… they’re… well, they’re gone!”
“Let me see!” Marie said, rushing over. She gasped with her hand over her mouth.
“How did you heal so fast?” he asked her, narrowing his eyes.
The woman shrugged, but said nothing. Just then, Marie brought her a bowl of soup and a spoon. Curls of steam were wafting up from the bowl.
“What’s your name?” he asked the stranger.
“Emma,” the beautiful redhead replied. “And what is yours?” she asked, looking at her hero.
“Jonathan. Jonathan Murphy,” he replied.
CHAPTER 2
∞∞∞
Portland, Oregon – Present Day
“What is the council going to do to the vampires?” Thomas asked, pouring a cup of coffee from the pot.
“Discipline,” Jonathan answered without looking up from the morning paper.
It was the Saturday morning after they had captured Pascal, Angel, Joshua, and Mike from the Oregon Vortex.
After his bad luck of drinking Enchantment at the Oregon Vortex and aging instantly, poor Darius had been deposited at a local nursing home by the Immortals. They had told the authorities that he had been found wandering aimlessly around the streets and didn’t know his own name.
Darius had said nothing to protest. What could he have said?
“What does that even mean?” Thomas asked, puckering his lips at the hot coffee.
Jonathan folded the paper and set it on the dining room table. “The Zie Council does all kinds of things to vamps who break the rules,” he said. “I’ve seen them do anything from incarceration to death, just like the humans do. Thank the heavens that it doesn’t cost as much money as the humans spend on enforcing the law.”
Thomas shook his head. “I think they should just kill them. I’ve had it with those leeches.”
“You wouldn’t have a job if it weren’t for those leeches,” Jonathan quipped.
After Jonathan, Thomas, Kathryn, and Lillian had arrested the vampires at the Vortex and turned them into the Zie Council, Lillian caught a flight back to Los Angeles. Everyone was ready to go back to business as usual. Except Seth, Malachi, and Sheena – the shot-callers of the Portland shapeshifters’ clan – were still missing.
Just then, the doorbell rang. Thomas walked over and peered through the peephole.
“Delivery for Jonathan Murphy,” the young man called out from the other side of the door.
Thomas opened it up and said, “Can I help you?”
The young man was chomping loudly on gum and handed Thomas a plastic clipboard and asked him to sign a ledger. After Thomas had done so, the messenger handed him an envelope with a hand clad in half-gloves that left his fingers exposed. Thomas tipped the young man and closed the door.
“It’s for you, boss,” Thomas said, handing the envelope to Jonathan. There was no return address. The envelope, however, had a slight glittering to it.
“It’s from the council,” Jonathan said, taking the envelope and tearing it open. He unfolded the paper and studied it with a worried look on his face.
“Everything okay?” Thomas asked, placing his coffee cup in the sink and putting on his black leather jacket. The blue polo shirt he wore under it made his blue eyes stand out.
“It’s a subpoena,” Jonathan said. Then he chuckled. “For killing Vampire Steve.”
Thomas looked momentarily confused. “The janitor? The Zie wants you to appear before the council for killing that little bloodsucking traitor? He was working for Pascal! You didn’t do anything wrong.” Thomas shook his head.
“I know, Tom. But there are rules to follow. I really should have arrested him and put him in the holding cell until the council could have picked him up, but I was feeling especially judicial that day,” he grinned. “It’ll be okay, I’m sure they’ll just give me a tongue-lashing.”
“When’s the hearing?” Thomas asked.
“On Wednesday at the island,” he replied. He walked over to the refrigerator and secured the paper to it with a magnet.
“Okay, well Kathryn and I will go with you. We were witnesses to it,” Thomas said.
“I appreciate it, man.”
Thomas checked his pockets for his keys and wallet and said, “I’m picking Malina up for lunch. Do you need anything downtown?”
“Nah, I’m good. Just going to watch the game,” Jonathan replied, plopping himself onto the sofa and grabbing the remote. “Have fun.”
“You need a woman,” Thomas said, shaking his head.
“I’ve had plenty. They’re nothing but trouble, especially sylphs, so good luck with that,” Jonathan replied, shaking his head and laughing.
Thomas took the elevator down to the parking garage and got into his black BMW and headed off to meet Malina at the same steakhouse they had enjoyed during their first date.
After they were seated, a young waitress came over and placed icy water glasses in front of them.
“Hi, folks. I’m Lisa. Can I get you anything else to drink besides the waters?”
“Not me, thank you,” Thomas replied. “Malina?”
“I’m good, thanks,” she replied, turning her attention back to Thomas.
Lisa left and Thomas set his menu down. He reached over the table and grabbed Malina’s hand. “I’ve missed you,” he said, raising her hand to his lips and kissing her knuckles softly.
A blush passed over her cheeks and she batted her eyelashes at him. “I know, Tom. I’ve missed you, too,” she said shyly.
They stared at each other for a few minutes, not saying anything.
“What is this between us, Ma
lina?” Thomas asked, playfulness dancing in his eyes.
She smiled slightly. “I don’t know. I am not even sure this is allowed.”
“What? Us, dating? Why not?” he frowned.
“Yes, well, when the council finds out, we may have to answer for it,” she replied.
Thomas smiled. “Answer for what? How I feel about you? It makes me even more overprotective of you than I already was. I let a vampire get away from me, for heaven’s sake, because I couldn’t leave you.” He paused for a minute in reflection, then said, “Okay, point taken.”
“Well, I don’t care. I’ll step down from queen if they want me to. It’ll be worth it,” she said, rubbing her thumb over his fingers.
“I would never, ever ask you to do that, you have to know that.”
She sighed. “Of course not. But I will do whatever I have to for us to be together.”
Lisa returned to take their orders. They both decided on the house pasta special.
After she left, Thomas continued. “Jonathan received a subpoena today from the council.”
“I know. I had to sign off on it. I’m sure it won’t be too much discipline,” she replied quickly.
“Will you be there?” he asked.
“Yes, I have to. All ten queens have to attend council hearings. And I suggest you go, too. We were all there that day. That creep, Steve was being completely noncompliant. And while I don’t condone killing him, I can see why Jonathan was at the end of his rope. Those disgusting vampires had gotten away from us twice. He was at his wit’s end; we could all see it.”
“Yes, he was,” Thomas said, shaking his head at the memory. He took a sip of his water. “Speaking of, can I ask you something?”
“Of course, my sweet,” she said, smiling.
“What did you really do to that Enchantment that Pascal stole from you?”
She grinned. “I told you, I spelled it to do the opposite of what they thought it would do.”
“Yes, but they thought it would make them walk in the sun. So the opposite of that is really, nothing, since they already can’t,” Thomas argued.