by Jade White
“You still think I’m going to run,” she realized. “You think I won’t fight on your side because it’s Daisy.”
Luke’s face took on a pained expression, but he didn’t deny it. “I don’t know if you realize how shocked you are. It’s going to affect your judgment as long as you’re not fully here.”
“Then give me a minute,” Kim repeated, gritting her teeth. “Or just tell me where you’re going, and I’ll be right behind you in the car.”
“What about the baby?”
“You’re leaving Anton here, aren’t you?”
Sonia hesitated, then nodded.
“He can watch Evan, and I can text Suzanna with an SOS to come keep an eye on them both.”
“I don’t want to involve another human,” Luke said desperately.
“She’ll want to be involved,” Kim insisted. She was looking around the room for her shoes, ignoring Sonia’s cagey looks. “She’s family too, Luke.”
Luke didn’t say anything, just nodded once and turned back to Sonia. While they discussed a plan of action, Kim texted Suzanna a brief rundown. Surprisingly, she got an immediate answer; she said a silent prayer that her best friend was both a night owl and the most loyal person she’d ever met.
She inhaled and stood up, actively tuning back into the room’s conversation.
“I understand how we can take her down,” Sonia was saying impatiently. “I just don’t know how the fuck we’re supposed to find her.” She was pulling her black curls back into a ponytail and letting the locks bounce back around her shoulders, apparently a nervous tic.
“We know who she is, all we need is something of hers so we can track her,” Luke said impatiently. His nervous tic was similar to Sonia’s – ruffling his hair with one hand every few minutes, as though it were helping move thoughts around in his brain.
“That takes too long,” Sonia complained. “We need to know a good starting point. We can’t go to her house because she’ll know we’re on to her.”
“How do we know she doesn’t already know?” Kim cut in.
Both vampires looked at her. Her cheeks burned, but she kept talking.
“She knows Anton is alive, and that he was healed enough to be moved. That’s probably why she was already out of the apartment when we arrived. She wanted to see if we’d give chase, but didn’t want to be cornered.”
Neither of the vampires said anything, and then they both swore at the same time.
“Shit!”
“But where would she have gone?” Sonia asked desperately. “Back home? To some kind of base camp?”
“Where would a base camp be?” Luke wondered aloud. “It would have to be near our outposts, because she disappeared very quickly each time she killed in one.”
“One of the other shacks, maybe?”
“Humans can’t cross our lines,” Luke reminded Sonia. “It would have to be her own structure.”
A light bulb went off in Kim’s head, and she started to jump up and down. Sonia’s look was withering, but Kim was too ecstatic to care.
“I know where her base is,” she said breathlessly. “And you’re right. It’s not far from your outposts. It’s basically right in their backyard.”
***
Sonia was crouched in the back seat of Kim’s Fiat, peering out the rear window while Luke scanned their sides in the passenger seat. Kim was pushing the car as fast as it would go, using her heightened eyesight and her memory to navigate the dirt road. Daisy and Mark’s sprawling house sat on an acre all its own, a Spanish-style dwelling with a long stone driveway leading to its front. Kim picked out the driveway nearly a mile before they got to it. I hope this never goes away, she thought. No more contacts.
“What was that?” Sonia asked suddenly.
Kim’s heart jumped to her throat, but Luke waved his hand in the air. “A rabbit.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Sonia sighed. “Everyone clear about the plan?”
“Yes,” Kim and Luke said together. He had one hand on her thigh, and the weight was comforting in a way nothing else was right then.
“We’ll only have one shot,” Sonia continued. “And if she’s killing people the way I think she is, the hematite stone is going to be too small to see in the dark. And if she touches us, the draining starts, and there’s no way to stop it besides removing it from your aura.”
“We know,” Luke said tensely. “But she likely has some other magical stones with her. It might not be that simple.”
The Fiat finally reached the long stone driveway, and Kim turned sharply, the butt end of the car swinging wide before she was able to right it. “Sonia, we’re going to be fine.”
Kim knew the other vampire could read the terror in Luke’s aura as well as she could, but neither woman said anything more.
“Turn off the lights,” Sonia suggested.
Kim shook her head. “She already knows we’re here.”
She stopped the Fiat and put it in park, staring at the two-story house, its cream-colored bricks stacked on top of each other like so many boxes. There was nothing around it except a ring of dense green bushes, the same ones that dotted the scenery a few hundred yards behind them, on the way back to the main highway. Kim turned off the car, and the familiar silence of the desert flooded the vehicle, though it didn’t comfort her as it normally did; it was so deafening that she opened the door and hurried out, thinking she could escape it by being in the open air.
Luke was by her side in an instant. Sonia was on her other side, staring straight ahead with her jaw set and her muscles rigid.
“Call her,” she said tensely. “Let’s get it over with.”
Kim pulled out her cellphone and selected Daisy’s number, feeling sick to her stomach. It only rang once before she picked up, and her voice was so cloying that it intensified Kim’s nausea.
“Hi, Kimmy.”
She bristled. “Don’t call me that.”
Daisy laughed; t was so high and cold that Kim wondered how she ever managed to laugh like a regular person. “I don’t think you’re in any position to order me around, you harlot.”
Sonia and Luke, who were both listening with ears leaned toward the phone, looked at her apprehensively. Don’t let her bait you, Luke seemed to be saying. Focus on the plan.
“Okay,” Kim said slowly, forcing herself to sound calm. “Just tell me something.”
“Hmmmm,” Daisy intoned. “I’ll think about it, I suppose.”
Kim ignored her simpering tone. “Why the fuck are you doing this? You raise vampires in your daycare. Why go around murdering their parents?”
When Daisy spoke again, the sweet facade had melted, revealing a razor-edged hatred Kim now knew had always been there. “Are you being serious, you idiot? I did it because of those children. Those poor, sweet, innocent babies, so perfect and pure. They didn’t ask to be brought into this world, and they certainly didn’t ask to be born to such freaks.” She spat the word out like it tasted bad on her tongue. “I give them stability, normality….wholesomeness,” she said in a satisfied tone. “But that cannot last with those disgusting pieces of trash serving as parents.”
Sonia was shaking with rage, glaring at the house with tears in her eyes. Luke held out a hand as she took a step forward, stopping her from charging.
“So...you think you’re a better parent?” Kim asked furiously. “A bigoted, hateful, delusional old twat with a gap tooth bigger than Texas?”
Daisy was silent for a moment. “I’ll be a better mother than you. Especially to little Evan.”
Kim’s mouth was bitter all of a sudden. “Don’t you fucking go near my baby! You’re the freak, Daisy, that’s why my brother never wanted children with you!”
“You take that back!” Daisy screeched. “Mark didn’t want to pass on that minefield you Moodys call genetics, that’s the only reason he had that vasectomy!”
“If my genetics are so bad, why do you want my baby?”
Daisy laughed. “Halflings are special, Kimmy. They have powers, and those powers can help me out a lot. They have healing powers, you know, and they are vampires. Vampires don’t get the same kinds of diseases we do. And when you turn, your body is wiped of all imperfections.” She sounded smug, and Kim finally got the full picture of her insanity.
“You want them to turn you,” she said, her voice slowed by her dawning horror. “You’re going to turn – and then what? Get knocked up by a vampire somewhere?”
“Don’t be silly,” Daisy said. “I’m going to turn Mark, and he’ll knock me up. It’ll work, I’ve asked around.”
Kim backed away from the house, her eyes still on its darkened windows. “My brother would never agree to this.”
“He doesn’t have to.”
Luke was now struggling to keep Sonia by his side. He looked back at Kim, his expression a mixture of anxiety and doubt. I need you to believe in this, Luke, she thought.
“You’re going to make him turn,” Kim said breathlessly. “Oh my God. You’re sick. You’re disgusting, Daisy. I regret ever letting you back into my life.” She looked at the front of the house, making sure all the blackout curtains really were drawn shut. “You deserve whatever hell you’re going to.”
That was the vampires cue to start moving toward the house, attacking separate entrances. She couldn’t attack both of them with the hematite stone, and whoever was left would take her down and then heal the other. That was the plan, anyway; Kim didn’t feel too good about it, but she had no other ideas.
Daisy had begun to laugh on the phone. Kim frowned as she watched the vampires move toward the house, slinking through the shadows with silent feet.
“You think this is going to work?”
Kim was startled. She’d counted on Daisy to be in her basement, as all the shades were drawn around the windows, and it was the most reinforced room in the house. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb, Kimmy. I can see them running toward the house. I have to say, I’ve never noticed what a nice ass Luke has.”
Kim started to speak, but something in Daisy’s phrasing tripped her up. “How can you see his ass?” Then she gasped.
Oh, my God.
Daisy just laughed again. “It helps having a husband who’s a contractor,” she said. “He’s got all these detonating devices for blasting out the old and bringing in the new.” The smile audible in her voice was like a stab in the heart. “This double teaming thing is really rather cute. It’s too bad you’ve put all your eggs in the same basket.”
Kim pulled the phone away from her ear. “Luke! Sonia! It’s a trap! It’s a fucking trap, come back!”
Kim started to run toward them, unsure of her plan of action. Sonia stopped and looked at her, and Luke did, too, but they both just gaped at her as she flailed her arms toward herself and screamed.
“Bomb!” she screeched, unable to think of anything else. “Bomb!”
The vampires only hesitated a second; Luke was closer and had longer legs, so he covered more ground than Sonia could, zipping toward Kim faster than her eyes could track him. Sonia was trailing behind, her face set in a mask of concentration. Kim was urging her on silently, panic turning her blood to acid. The wind was knocked out of her the next moment, and she went flying backward through the air in Luke’s sure grasp, watching Sonia flee toward them as fast as she could--
--but not fast enough.
Luke threw them both into a crop of bushes at the exact moment the house exploded. He covered Kim’s body with his, but she could still feel the intense heat curling over them, sapping the oxygen from the air and singing the hairs on their exposed skin. There was a woman’s scream just barely audible over the roar of fire, long and high and piteous, like a balloon being quickly deflated. A loud thump punctuated the scream, and then all Kim could hear was the crackle of wood as it was eaten by the flames.
The back of Kim’s head had crashed into the ground, and it took a while to realize that she was in motion again. What’s going on?
She was bouncing in Luke’s arms, but she could see the house burning over his shoulder. Her eyes were blurry, but she could also make out a scorched body not far from where they were just lying, small and smoking, not moving at all. Sonia hadn’t made it.
Kim wanted to tell Luke to go back, but she knew that if he hadn’t already, she was a lost cause.
This is my fault, she thought numbly. I shouldn’t have come.
For the second time, she felt herself fall and crash head first into the hard ground. Luke went sprawling a few feet away, and he was up in seconds--
--but it only took Daisy a few seconds to seize Kim around the neck and drag her backward.
“Stop!” Daisy shouted as Luke came forward. Kim heard her unzip her jacket, and Luke’s eyes widened as he gazed at whatever she was showing him. Whatever it was, it stopped him in his tracks, but Daisy kept inching backwards.
“I’ll kill us all,” Daisy promised. “I will. I will have no remorse.”
She’s got another bomb strapped to her, Kim thought in a daze. Dear God. We’re going to die, and Mark is going to raise my baby hating him because of what happened tonight.
Luke was holding his hands before him, desperation in his eyes. “Daisy, please, please, don’t hurt Kim.”
Daisy spat on the ground. “You’re out of your fucking mind, monster. I don’t answer to you.” She tightened her arm around Kim’s neck, and Kim’s vision started to go dark.
“Stop!” Luke shouted. “Stop, please! I’ll do anything! What do you want from me, Daisy? I can get you connections. I can get you passports out of the country. I can turn you, right now.”
Daisy was shaking her head. “I wouldn’t let you breathe on me after laying with this slut.” She kneed Kim in the back, but Kim was too weak to do anything but grunt.
Luke winced, and Kim saw that he was crying. Don’t cry, Luke, she thought desperately. Please don’t cry.
“Crocodile tears,” Daisy sneered, dragging Kim closer to the burning house. “You disgust me.”
Kim noticed her grip was loosening, and she took the opportunity to take deeper breaths.
“Let me turn you,” Luke said again. “Then you’ll really be unstoppable.”
“You couldn’t stop me if you tried,” Daisy promised. “Just watch.”
Kim’s air supply stopped again, and she heard Luke screaming – but only for a moment, thankfully; she was passing out quickly thanks to the head injuries, and now Daisy’s forearm had locked on her windpipe, crushing it. Everything dropped into silence, and she couldn’t feel anything; she wondered if she was dead now, at this moment. Her vision bled black and she felt herself sailing toward the ground, but she never felt the impact.
Am I still falling? Did she push me off a cliff? Are we in the Desert Park?
A hand pressed against her forehead. Is that God?
But the hand was cold. I’m in hell.
“Kim! Kim, wake up. You’re going to be OK, I’m here, please wake up!”
The hand was growing warmer on her skin, sending gentle vibrations slithering down her skin that almost tickled. She could still hear her name being called faintly, and there even seemed to be a light in the distance.
It is heaven. It’s getting warmer.
But the warm turned too warm – it was hot, almost burning, and the light was blinding when she opened her eyes. Her skin was damp, and she felt groggy and racked with pain--but Luke’s panic-stricken face floating above her told her she was alive.
“Luke,” she mumbled, grabbing his outstretched hand.
“Kim,” he cried out. “Can you walk?”
Kim blinked and tried to stand, unsure of why her legs were so rubbery; she stood with Luke’s help, then finally saw why she was so hot – as he was healing her, the fire had swept toward them, now only a hundred feet away.
Luke picked her up and raced away from the fire and toward her Fiat, murmuring reassurances in her ea
r as he ran. He seemed to be concerned with cutting straight toward the Fiat, and Kim soon saw why.
Daisy was running toward the Fiat at an incredible speed. She must have had more than one magical stone on her, because she was nearly flying, her feet hardly touching the ground. Luke had been hurt by the blast, and since he’d shared part of his aura with Kim, he hadn’t healed as quickly, so his run was badly impaired.
Wait, Kim thought. This isn’t right.
“Wait,” she said thickly.
Luke kept running, so Kim slapped his chest and mustered all her strength to push her voice to a shout. “Wait!”
Luke finally slowed and then stopped, looking from Kim to Daisy in anguish. “Baby, I have to catch her! She’s going to steal the Fiat. She’s going to get away!”
Kim shook her head firmly. “Luke, stop. Put me down.”
He obliged, then looked back at Daisy. “You want me to go after her alone?”
Kim frowned, that felt wrong too. She had the feeling that he was supposed to stay here. They both were. Just like her body had steered toward him all those times, it was telling her to stay there now. She shook her head, once.
The anguish on Luke’s face transformed into an anger she’d never seen before.
“You’re chickening out. You’re backing out, because she’s family, just like I said.”
Kim stared at him in confusion, trying to form words; her brain was simply too mixed up to function, however, so all she could say was “Wait.”
“You told me that!” Luke fumed, tears in his eyes again. “I shouldn’t have brought you. I’m always right about this stuff, and this time is no different.” He turned away and started to move toward the Fiat again, limping as he gained speed.
Kim’s body was flooded with anger. She still couldn’t form words, she could hardly see, and every one of her bones was aching, but it chased away her confusion in time for her body and brain to make a joint decision.
She ignored the pins and needles stabbing her feet as she stood up, and she felt her hip joints scream in agony as she propelled her body forward. Kim focused on the back of Luke’s head, driving herself through space with one purpose: to get him to stop. Like that day she’d pushed him into the wall, she wasn’t aware of how fast or forceful she was being – she was just trying to solve the problem in the way that most made sense. In seconds, she was on Luke’s heels; beyond him, fire was inching toward the Fiat, which was refusing to move forward, even though the engine was humming pleasantly and Daisy was pumping the gas.