Her Vampire Ward

by Britten Thorne

  Alek nodded, and opened his mouth to say something else just as the alarm's tone changed. It rose a note and pulsed faster. The third alarm. Still not meant to induce panic, but waking everyone into a sense of urgency. It was effective - I felt like my breathing and heart rate rose with it.

  I spoke into the walkie. "Report?"

  Carolyn's voice was tight. "They pinged a truck."

  "Shit. Didn't we cast on the garage?"

  "Yes, twice. This guy is good."

  "No kidding."

  "We're going to maintain the spells at smaller intervals. Cast on your room and stand by."

  I sprung from the bed, opened the closet, and punched in the code on the little electronic safe.

  "What's going on? Eve?" I could hear the strain in his voice as he said my name, rather then the formal "Ms. Ballard." I wondered again what the warlock had done to scare him so badly.

  "Stay calm, Alek." I'd found that unless the information put them in danger, it was best to explain to a client what was happening. No matter how scary, the unknown was always worse. "The warlock detected matter that isn't from this area, that entered it very recently. Something small, some dust or dirt from the city, maybe. It traveled outside the range of our magic after our spells were cast, and he found it. That's the ping." I pulled the contents of the safe out - a bowl, some packets of herbs and mystery bits of things, a pack of matches. "Basically, foreign matter touched by magic.” I tried to keep the concern out of my voice. We'd had witches and warlocks penetrate our spells before, but never from so far away, and never when we were working so hard to maintain the protective magic that hid the motel. I opened a packet and emptied its contents into the bowl. "Now, a ping alone is worthless. You could cast that detection cloud anywhere at all and ping all day. If he decides to take a closer look, investigate at all, though..." I lit a match and dropped it into the bowl. It produced a sweet odor, like basil. I muttered the incantations and a thin, tiny trail of blue smoke rose. "Another few layers of protection. No reason to worry." Even though the alarms hadn't calmed, yet.

  "I see. Are you always so honest with your clients?"

  "As long as they aren't hysterical." I set the smoking bowl on the desk.

  "What now?" he asked.

  "More waiting."

  -

  The fourth and fifth alarms sounded two hours later. The field team had gone silent, afraid that making contact would open opportunities to locate the motel. I worried about Daniel.

  Alek and I played cards while I flipped through the feeds on my phone. None but the magical detector showed any activity.

  I taught the vampire gin rummy, more to keep him calm and distracted than to pass the time. It gave me a chance to study his face as he pored over his cards. He'd drunk the cow's blood, but still looked haggard. I supposed the alarm wasn’t helping in that regard - it was getting to me as well. I felt as if the whole room pulsed with it. Like the motel itself was breathing.

  I watched him consider his hand. His green eyes weren't as cold as I was used to seeing in his kind. They were expressive, bright if I managed to make him smile. And that smile caught me off guard every time. It was warm, and contagious, and increased my anxiety. I did not want to lose this one. We lost clients more often than we liked to talk about, almost always because they broke our rules. If we lost Alek tonight, though, it would be our fault alone. My failure. He’d fought so hard to stay alive this long. I had to keep him safe, now.

  He read the concern on my face.

  "What happens to you if they find me here? Do you run?"

  "It's not going to happen." I shuffled through my cards, not paying attention to their faces.

  "Still, though. What would happen? Would you leave?"

  "I won't leave you." I made sure to look at him as I said it. "We do not escalate to violence. The team will call the authorities for that, if they hadn't been called earlier. My job at that point is to try to negotiate or try to stall them."

  "Then why the guns?" He indicated the pile of weapons on the bed next to me.

  "If they shoot first."

  His hand brushed mine as he took a card from the deck. He kept his gaze averted, studying my weapons.

  "And the sword?"

  I flashed him a grim smile. "Some things need to have their heads removed to die."

  Then the fourth alarm went off. The lights dimmed, and fog would be clouding the windows outside if we opened the curtains to look. The humming alarm's pulses sped up, though the tone dropped in volume.

  "What is it?" Alek asked.

  "He's suspicious. He's got eyes in the area. No physical beings, but he's looking for visible signs, now."

  "That's bad?"

  "It's... a new challenge." I picked up the walkie. "Carolyn?"

  "We're going silent," she said, "Stand by. Be calm." Don't worry yet, but don't take off your boots. But, watching the vampire, knowing they were trying so hard to find him, I was worried.

  "What happens if we need to leave?" he asked, putting down his cards.

  "It won't happen."

  He touched my hand. "Please."

  I sighed, tossed my cards onto his pile. "Just a little night stroll to a bunker in the woods. I'll cast as we walk. It will take a couple hours, I can't run and-" He shook his head. "What?"

  He avoided my eyes. "I've been on the run since long before you all were called. I won't make it, unless..."

  Starving. My suspicions were right. "You can walk?"

  "Yes," he said, "But not for long. I'm light-headed even now."

  "Shit."

  "I'm sorry."

  "No, no, that wasn't directed at you. I'm sorry." I pulled my jacket off, revealing a black tank top and a harness holding a knife below each arm. "Better to be over prepared and ready to move. Though we won't need to." With my hair braided to one side as it was, I was as ready as I could be. I turned my back to him and tilted my neck.

  "This is not what I meant." His voice was hard, angry. "I wouldn't ask this of you."

  "No, but I'm telling you to do it. We have no feeders, here," I said. "This is part of the job. I can't keep you safe if you're too weak to walk."

  I felt the mattress sink as he knelt behind me. "I'm sorry I brought this down on you."

  "Stop it. You're doing the right thing. This is our business, we know the risks." I didn't understand why he was so apologetic. Just because of the warlock? It wasn't his fault that maniac had been brought in to deal with him.

  He touched my neck with one finger, raising goosebumps. I shivered. "You've done this before?" he asked.

  "Yes." I was nervous, then. I didn't know why - I could stop him in his state if he lost control, though I somehow knew he wouldn't. So what was there to be afraid of? "Do it."

  He gripped my shoulder to hold me still. His lips touched my neck, cool and wet as he moistened the area. It sent a little thrill of anticipation through me, and I stiffened. Oh, no.

  "I won't hurt you," he whispered, misinterpreting my tension. I heard his fangs snap out, and then he sank them into my neck.

  It wasn't the sting that frightened me, or the prospect of him attempting to drink me dry. It was the touch of his lips. They moved against my skin as he drank, his tongue and teeth firm against the punctures. I found myself leaning into him. Do not become attracted to a client, I chanted in my head.

  He sucked on my neck with the rhythm of the pulsing alarm, probably without realizing. When he wrapped his arm around my waist and held me tight against him, I knew I was in trouble. He was nothing like the other vampires we had dealt with, so arrogant, so disdainful of being protected by humans. For some reason, he trusted me.

  My hand found its way into his hair, gripped and pulled him closer. He groaned. Bad, this is bad. I tried to stamp my feelings down, force myself to pull my hand away, but it was so hard with him sucking on my neck. His tongue moved against me now, lapping at my blood but also dancing across the sensitive skin.

  I'd gotten so good at ignor
ing my own feelings that I hardly recognized them sometimes, but it was so much easier to stay in denial when no touching was involved. It felt like a floodgate opening. No wonder I want protect him so badly. My body pressed into his with a will of its own. I was moving with the same rhythm, the rise and fall of the low hum of the incessant alarm. I could feel it all around me, like the whole building throbbed with it, with us, with the beating of my heart like a drumbeat in my ears. He was so firm against my back, his grip growing stronger with every pulse. My head spun, and it took a moment before I remembered that blood loss was a concern. "You have to stop."

  He pulled his mouth away with a shudder and rested his chin on top of my head, still holding me trapped against him. "You taste so good," he whispered, "It's like-"

  "Shhh." I was breathing heavily myself. I wrapped my arms around his, holding it in place around me. "Shhh. Alek. Don't say anything." This is a problem. I had never become aroused when being fed on before, but my panties had become wet very quickly. It was intense. I wanted his mouth on me again.

  He felt it, too. “I think I’m getting the hang of the new name,” he said, voice low. He flipped my braid behind me, tilted my head to expose the other side of my neck. Stop this. His mouth met my skin. He didn't sink his teeth in this time. His fingertips played along my jaw as his lips left a wet trail, wandering up towards my earlobe. He nipped it between his front teeth before drawing it between his lips.

  I clung to his arm like I was drowning, and I was. He drew my head around, kissed my eyelid, my cheekbone. My lips parted, waiting-

  The final alarm went off. It sounded only in my head. The pulsing hum stopped, the air conditioner stopped. The silence was audible.

  The alarm in my head was an urgent wail, like an ambulance. It wouldn't stop until I started the incantations and got out.

  This was not supposed to happen. There were more levels of escalation before evacuating was even a thought. Something had gone wrong.

  I sprung into action as if programmed. I jumped to my feet as soon as the wailing started and threw my jacket back on. I strapped on my weapons as Alek stood behind me, asking questions I couldn't hear.

  "Grab my belt and don't let go. Whatever happens." We had to stay in contact for this to work, and I needed my arms free. He did as I said. I pocketed the herb packets and matches, held the still-smoking bowl in my hands, and started chanting.

  Translated, the words meant simply, "We are not here."

  I led Alek out of the room. Two more agent/client pairs appeared as well, in the same configuration, repeating the same phrase.

  We made our way down the stairs in the dark and found Carolyn waiting in the basement doorway.

  She strapped a backpack to Alek's back, gave me a considering look, and motioned for us to go.

  Of course. The cameras. I was just grateful it hadn't been Ian watching. Or worse, my brother.

  We and the other two pairs went separate ways into the woods, chanting without pause. Alek followed in silence, grasping my belt. I was glad I had warned him, though I had never expected it to come to this. Especially not so soon after letting him feed off me. We were going to be in trouble.

  -

  My voice was raw. I was stumbling, unsteady. It was so bright. Was the vampire still with me?

  I turned to check. He was trudging along blindly, covered by a large, black tarp discovered in the pack. How many hours had it been? I should never have let him drink. My steps were shambling.

  Refilling and relighting the bowl were the only breaks I took. He held me steady as I went through the motions, terrified that I would drop the match or spill the bowl and open us up to detection.

  I followed my path through the woods like an arrow, a trail only I had been trained to see.

  I was chanting in a whisper. Alek stopped me, turned me around. He peered out from beneath the tarp. The method was not the most effective - the man was sweating blood.

  My blood, I thought, and fought down a giggle, giddy with exhaustion. "If you lose your voice, does the spell stop working?" I shook my head. Whispering was enough.

  “What if I took over the words? Would that work?” I shook my head again. Nothing could vary. Any change, any pause was an opening. So I whispered and walked and trailed the vampire behind me.

  I wanted to cry when we finally reached the spot. It had taken so much longer than it should have. Hours. I just couldn’t move fast enough. I sank carefully to my knees, placed the bowl on the ground, and brushed away the dead leaves and foliage. There, a large wheel. I struggled to turn it as if steering a bus, heaving at it with two hands. Alek tried to help, but it exposed his hand to the sunlight and he pulled back with a hiss. I had to stop and rest twice before I managed to open the hole in the ground, pulling the heavy door upwards. I indicated for Alek to climb down ahead of me, to keep holding my belt. He went down into the darkness by a small ladder on the side of the hole, and I followed, bowl in one hand.

  I pulled the door down, slammed it shut above me. The wheel turned easier now, locking it closed. The climb down was long, and I chanted the whole way. It was probably about four stories from top to bottom. I worried that it wasn’t deep enough, but we’d have to trust it. The place was heavy with old spells, old magic. I could feel it, and I didn’t even have much of an affinity for such things. It felt like a grave, but it felt safe.

  I finally stopped chanting once we reached the concrete floor. I yanked a cord in the ceiling, switching on the lone lightbulb. Shelves of canned goods and military rations lined two of the walls. Another shelf of nothing but water sat against the third, and a cot was pushed up against the fourth. There were two offshoot rooms - one with a toilet, and another with a tiny stove.

  And vents everywhere, all leading very far away. The air was stale, but I wouldn’t run out.

  I sank to the floor with my back to the bottles of water. Alek hung his tarp on the ladder. He took the bowl from my hand and placed it on the stove, then opened a bottle of water and pressed it to my lips. “Drink,” he said. I grabbed it from him and drank in long gulps, spilling it all over myself in the process. He waited until I came up for air. “Can you rest now?” I blinked, seeing the blood on his face as if for the first time.

  “Shit,” I whispered, “Are you bloody all over?”

  “No. Just my face and hands. Here, lie down on the cot.” My brow furrowed. “I’ll wash it off in a minute. It’s healing already.”

  “You look like you need to lie down more than I do,” I said, trying to speak more clearly. My voice barely worked. It was high, raspy. I took another long drink of the water.

  “You need to eat something, too.” He was right, but the thought of the dusty old cans of beans turned my stomach.

  “Was there anything in the pack?”

  “Shh,” he said, “Rest your voice.” He rummaged through the backpack and pulled out a couple of protein shakes and bars, kept cool by an ice pack. Carolyn was a lifesaver. I drank from one of the cans while Alek used another bottle of water to rinse the blood off himself over the little toilet. “Eat,” he said over his shoulder, “Please. It will make me feel better if you do.”

  I just wanted to close my eyes for the next twelve hours, but I nibbled at one of the bars. He was right, anyway, I needed to regain my strength. Cleaned up, he sat on the cot and watched me. The bar slid from my fingers before I was half finished. He moved to grab my arms, but I wrenched them away. “Take the cot, Eve.”

  “No. No sleep. Help my get this sword off.” He knelt in front of me and unclasped the harness. He lifted it and hung it next to the tarp.

  “Whatever’s coming or happening won’t be for some time, still, right?” I nodded. “So you should sleep first. I’ll wake you if I hear anything. Your phone, the door, anything. Okay?”

  He was making sense. I was only being contrary out of exhaustion. There was no reason not to sleep in shifts, no reason for me to sleep sitting up on the floor. “Help me up.” He took my jacket, the gun
s from my hips, the knives. I set an alarm on my phone for four hours, left it and my walkie on the floor nearby. I flopped onto my stomach on the cot - I felt Alek untying my boot, but was out before I could protest.

  -

  “Eve.” Someone was shaking my shoulder. “Your alarm is going off.”

  “I’m awake.” Why did my voice sound so funny? My memory was slow to catch up. I opened my eyes. Alek was sitting on the floor next to the cot, leaning back against the wall. I grabbed my phone and tapped the alarm off. “All’s quiet?” I asked, stalling. Sitting up would be hard.

  “Yeah. Not a peep from anything. Do you need more time?”

  “No.” Four hours. If anything was going to happen, it would be somewhat soon. I made myself sit upright on the cot. I was sore from the long walk, and weary, but otherwise not in bad shape. The food had helped. Alek wordlessly passed me another bar and shake. “Have you had anything?”

  “Yeah. She packed some of the blood, too.” Good. Hopefully I wouldn’t have to feed him again anytime soon. I wasn’t ready for that. Any of that. “What happens now? Will your brother call?”

  “He’ll show up. We don’t get reception down here.”

  He watched me eat in silence. As I tossed the wrapper away, he said, "There's still blood on your neck."

  I touched the tiny puncture wounds. "Oh."

  "Here." He indicated the trunk, moved out from under the cot to the other side of the small room. "I found more supplies." He popped it open to reveal linens, blankets, towels. He pulled out a washcloth, poured some water on it, and knelt on the floor next to the cot.

  Shit. I couldn't have him sitting so close. It was like the rest of my body was slowly waking up

  I put my hand out to take the cloth, but he gently pushed it away. "This is my fault. There's no mirror down here. Let me help." I did little to resist. I felt frozen in place. Scared. I shouldn't let him touch me again at all.