The Way of Escape

by Kristen Reed

  “Very well then. Follow me.”

  I trailed behind the slightly less terrifying vampire and into the hallway. Upon seeing Augustus, Lisette bowed low and he responded with a slight nod. Between that submissive gesture and the effortlessly confident air surrounding the Italian vampire, I had a feeling that he held a position of power or had somehow earned the coven’s respect.

  Despite Augustus’ little speech about indulgence and the importance of self-control, I found myself doubting that his temperance came from true morality. Whatever he had done to gain Lisette’s and Emmanuel’s respect probably wasn’t good. After all, why would an oppressive monster bow down to anything but a more frightening fiend?

  “Here we are,” he announced as we reached the end of the hallway. “For your safety, your door will remain locked and you will only be able to come and go by my side.”

  “What about going to the bathroom?”

  “Our bedrooms share a Jack and Jill bathroom, and don’t worry about the water here. It’s perfectly safe to consume.”

  I nodded in understanding and reached for the doorknob, but Augustus stepped in front of me and blocked my path.

  “I’m not going to hurt you, Clara. You don’t have to be afraid of me.”

  “You drink blood from humans and your friend here enslaves them,” I pointed out. “I think our definitions of hurting people may be a little different.”

  “I won’t hurt you according to anyone’s definition,” he clarified, finally unlocking and opening the door.

  Augustus gestured for me to enter and I reluctantly walked into the bedroom with him on my heels. My gaze immediately fell upon the open door to my left that led to our shared bathroom and then my bedroom. Before I could flee to my room, he closed the door behind us and spoke again.

  “As for the enslavement of humans, I’m just as disgusted by it as you are. It’s a barbaric, antiquated practice that puts our kind in danger of exposure.”

  “If you’re so against enslaving humans, then why are you friends with someone who does?”

  “Emmanuel isn’t my friend. I’m here on business.”

  “What kind of business?”

  “I’m visiting on behalf of The Vampire League. As the lord over this area, it’s my responsibility to assess every coven in my constituency and make sure they’re following the laws set forth by the league,” he explained. “Every coven leader seeks to impress me and bribe his or her way into my good graces, but very few of them are truly my friends.”

  Augustus turned his back to me as he removed his suit jacket and hung it on a wooden hanger in his closet.

  “Is Emmanuel on your good side?”

  “No. Aside from my own personal reservations about human slavery, the league has recently outlawed the practice. Even though the league sent a decree to every coven ordering them to stop harvesting humans and to release or kill their current slaves, there have been numerous reports of native Haitians and foreigners going missing,” he said. “Emmanuel is blatantly disobeying an edict from the league, and he thinks he can buy my silence with money, blood, and sex.”

  My stomach turned at the sound of Emmanuel’s idea of bribery.

  “Since he can’t buy your silence, why are you still here? Shouldn’t you be telling your superiors that he’s breaking their rules?”

  “If I tell the league about his insubordination and seek its help to rectify this situation, they will kill everyone on this island — vampire and human alike. However, I have stumbled upon a way to end Emmanuel’s defiance and preserve the lives of his humans.”

  “Why do you care about saving the humans?”

  “Because I used to be one. I may drink their blood and enjoy playing with their minds from time to time, but I’ve never forgotten that I was once as weak and ignorant as they are.”

  “How touching,” I retorted.

  Even though Augustus smiled at my unchecked sarcasm, I instantly kicked myself for it. In the years before I became a Christian, sarcasm had been like a second language for me. I might not have physically harmed people like he and Emmanuel had, but I was no stranger to cutting people with my wit if they got on my bad side. My sharp tongue had hurt many friends and family members over the years. Thankfully, I’d been able to break that habit and more or less get it under control since my unexpected conversion.

  As much as I disliked Augustus and Emmanuel, I didn’t want to backtrack and revert to my old habits in the face of tribulation. With that in mind, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to center myself before continuing the conversation.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “For invalidating whatever compassion you have for humans. It was rude and uncalled for. Will you forgive me?”

  Augustus shrugged.

  “Yes, but there’s nothing to forgive. I probably wouldn’t believe it either if our roles were reversed.”

  Augustus clearly didn’t see anything wrong with my sarcastic slip of the tongue, but we had more important topics to discuss.

  “What’s your plan and why are you being this loose-lipped about it with me? I’m a stranger, and I might decide to become a vampire and sell you out to Emmanuel so I can get on his good side depending on how the next three days go.”

  “I’m sharing my opinion with you because I know that you won’t choose to align yourself with Emmanuel. You’re also an integral part of my plan for freeing the slaves,” Augustus revealed. “Do you believe in prophecies?”

  “I believe in some prophecies.”

  “Well, The Vampire League has a record of prophecies spoken by witches, vampires, and humans alike. I believe that one of them is about you.”

  “What does it say?”

  “The child of light and dark has been anointed to bring good news to the poor in spirit and to proclaim liberty to the captive children of the light by drinking of the dark by the light of the blackened sun,” he recited. “There was more to the prophecy explaining the events that would follow the drink in question, but I believe that the portion I just recited is about you.”

  “Your prophecy sounds like a paranormal rip off of Isaiah 61.”

  “Yes, but what are the odds that a dhampir who realizes that parallel would end up on an island full of humans who are being held captive by vampires?”

  “I don’t know. Where did your prophecy come from?”

  “There used to be a cult of vampires called Sanguinarians who clung to a version of their old Christian religion,” he began.

  “How so?”

  “They refused to drink blood except for when they held communion. On that day, they would eat the symbolic wafers, but they would drink a single chosen vampire’s blood instead of wine during the service. The Sanguinarians would drain the vampire and kill him in the process. Since they practiced nonviolence and lived in seclusion, they saw the voluntary sacrifice as the only way to leave this world and cross over to heaven aside from fatal persecution. Since The Vampire League believed that surviving on the blood of vampires was an abomination, they outlawed their way of life and many abandoned the sect. Eventually, there came a day when only two remained: Jean and Giuseppe. Jean drank from Giuseppe and took his life, but he had no one to do him the same courtesy as the final member of the sect. Jean supposedly lived in solitude, denying himself sustenance aside from his monthly communion wafer. As the tale goes, it was in this isolation that a vision came to him. He shared his prophecy with the European arm of The Vampire League, and they imprisoned him for his Sanguinarian practices before executing him during their solar eclipse festivities.”

  While the Sanguinarians had taken the concept of Holy Communion and their Christian beliefs to an astonishingly creepy, cultish level, I felt sorry for them. They had endured persecution just like the members of the early Christian church and the believers who currently risked their lives by sharing the gospel overseas.

  Pity aside, part of me actually envied Jean’s boldness. He had been so unafraid
of death and sure of his vision that he sought out people who meant him harm. I’d never faced that kind of danger before, but I didn’t know if I’d have the guts to do what he did. Heck … Sometimes I was so nervous about creating an awkward situation that I clammed up and didn’t talk about my faith around my non-Christian friends.

  I am incredibly lame.

  “Why did they record Jean’s prophecy if they disagreed with his lifestyle enough to kill him,” I asked, shaking the self-deprecating thought from my head.

  “Because the league acknowledges that there are forces at work in this world that we don’t necessarily understand. While many vampires think Jean’s ramblings were madness, the league didn’t want to risk tossing it aside if it wasn’t.”

  “Did you believe the prophecy when you heard it?”

  “Of course not. People whisper about it now and then, but everyone in the league thinks that Jean was a depraved madman.”

  “What changed your mind?”

  “Meeting a woman who could actually fulfill it.”

  “Well, as interesting as that story was, I have a hard time trusting a so-called prophecy from a sect of vampires who practiced some perverted offshoot of Christianity.”

  “What would make you believe it?”

  “I don’t know. It took me twenty-six years to believe in God. It will take more than a single conversation to convince me to go along with this.”

  “Wouldn’t you like to free the humans?”

  “Of course, but I’d also have to believe that you’re being genuine about helping and not just pulling my leg for some twisted reason.”

  “Then I suppose I’ll have to earn your trust in the next three days,” he said. “Now, the sun is rising and I need to retire for the day. We can discuss this further tomorrow.”

  Not knowing how to end our surreal conversation, I simply nodded and walked through the bathroom and into my room. After closing the door behind me, I rummaged through the nearby dresser until I found a set of clean pajamas, changed into them, and tucked myself in. I didn’t want to fall asleep with one vampire a bathroom away and even more under the same roof as me, but I needed to be well rested to deal with whatever strange encounters awaited me the next day.

  With that in mind, I asked God for a day of sleep that would bring me the rest, clarity, and strength that I needed to deal with my present situation. I also prayed that I would awaken in my bed at Gospel Gateway and realize that my expedition to Emmanuel’s island had been nothing more than a strange, disturbing nightmare.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  CHAPTER 2

  By the time I opened my eyes, it was almost two o’clock in the afternoon. My first instinct was to throw off my covers and prepare for the day I’d nearly slept away, but I quickly realized that the silky sheets I grasped were neither the high thread count sheets on my bed at home nor the cheap cotton set I’d brought to Haiti. Unfortunately, my abduction by vampires hadn’t been a nightmare. It really happened.

  I tucked a dark curl that had weaseled its way out of my ponytail behind my ear and stared at the oil painting of a peaceful landscape that hung on the wall opposite my bed as I contemplated my predicament. According to Emmanuel and Augustus, I was supposedly half vampire and I had the opportunity to choose my own destiny. While the idea of lording over my own kind — possibly even some of my friends — made my stomach turn, living as someone’s slave and being subjected to various forms of abuse was almost equally abhorrent … Almost.

  Being born different doesn’t make my comfort more important than theirs.

  That thought reminded me of the so-called prophecy Augustus mentioned. Every prophecy I believed in existed between Genesis and Revelation, but I couldn’t simply dismiss his claim if it being true meant that I could help the other humans. Despite my desire to pull a Moses and free the slaves on the island, I had a strong feeling that Augustus was keeping something important from me. If he was withholding information, it was likely because those unspoken details would dissuade me from fulfilling the prophecy. That and my reluctance to believe the word of an unknown Sanguinarian meant that I would need some serious convincing before I sided with him. More importantly, I would actually need to trust Augustus to team up with him.

  If he chose to live forever on earth, that means he rejected living forever with God, I pondered. How can I believe the word of someone who rejected the gospel in such a permanent way in favor of preying on his own kind?

  I racked my brain for scriptures that could help me sort out the predicament that Emmanuel and Augustus had forced upon me, but a knock at the bathroom door interrupted my thoughts.

  When I reluctantly but promptly slipped out of bed and answered the door, I wasn’t surprised to see that Augustus was my afternoon visitor. Even though the black silk pajamas that the vampire wore made him seem less threatening, I reminded myself the he probably looked just as vicious as Emmanuel had the night before when he cornered his victims and drank their blood. He was far from harmless.

  “Good afternoon,” he greeted. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Yes,” I replied coolly. “What about you?”

  “Yes, I did. May I come in?”

  I wasn’t fond of being alone with Augustus again, but I had a feeling that he could overpower me and bulldoze his way into the room if he wanted to. Instead of testing the extent of his politeness, I moved aside and he stepped into the room, closing the bathroom door behind him. My entire body tensed and I balled my hands into fists, my eyes scanning the room for potential weapons as I waited for him to display his bloodthirsty nature. When he saw my defensive disposition, the vampire sighed and shook his head.

  “You don’t have to be frightened, Clara. I’m only here to talk,” he assured me.

  “About the prophecy?”

  “Yes, have you made a decision about helping me?”

  “If I actually go along with this, it won’t be to help you,” I corrected. “I’d love to free the men and women here and stop Emmanuel, but God will have to be the one to convince me that it’s even possible. I don’t have any reason to trust Jean’s prophecy, and I have the nagging feeling that you’re not being completely honest with me about it to begin with.”

  “Either I’m a bad liar or you have good intuition because you’re right. I didn’t tell you everything about your role in this.”

  “What did you leave out?”

  “To incapacitate Emmanuel’s coven, you will have to exchange blood with a vampire. According to the long-dead martyr, if you do this the day of the solar eclipse, the vampires won’t be immune to the sun as they usually are and every vampire in the vicinity who is exposed to its light will be killed,” Augustus explained. “Exchanging blood with another vampire would also make you a vampire.”

  “So I won’t be human at all?”

  “Correct.”

  I bit my lip and crossed my arms, fighting to keep my anger from roaring forth as I tried to wrap my mind around this new revelation.

  “Why didn’t you tell me that last night?”

  “Because when Emmanuel asked you to make a decision about whether to live as a human or as a vampire, you didn’t ask questions. You said that you needed to pray about it. Not think. Pray,” he rehashed. “Yes, I knew that you were here on a mission trip, but many young people who claim to be religious just go through the motions and check off boxes without having a faith. Go to church weekly? Check. Put money in the offering plate? Check. Go to a foreign country on a mission trip to make yourself seem benevolent to your peers? Check. Behave as if your god doesn’t exist every other day of your life? Check. However, only someone who truly believes in her god would pray in the face of such a decision when you could choose comfort over oppression without facing judgment. I understand enough about Christianity to know that your beliefs could prevent you from cooperating with me, so I was hesitant to tell you the entire story.”

  “Thank you for telling the truth.”

  “How do you feel now that
I’ve told you the whole truth?”

  “I don’t know … You’re right though. This makes everything a lot more complicated.”

  He nodded.

  “Are you angry with me for lying?”

  “Yes, but I’m not exactly surprised.”

  “Of course you’re not,” he said with a wry grin. “You’re either very wise or extremely foolish. Whether you decide to collaborate with me or not, I look forward to finding out which. That being said, I’ll give you some privacy while you sort your feelings out. Someone will be bringing you a meal shortly. I’ll let you know when it’s arrived.”

  “Thank you.”

  Augustus disappeared through the door and I sank back down onto the bed. No matter what the vampire’s intentions were, I wanted to help the people Emmanuel was oppressing. Unfortunately, I didn’t know if I could bring myself to do so possibly at the expense of my own afterlife. After all, what did becoming a vampire mean for my salvation? Even if I didn’t lose my spot in heaven by becoming a vampire, I would be choosing to live on earth for much longer than I had imagined and saying goodbye to heaven for who knows how long.

  I would also be giving up the chance to live a normal life. I couldn’t to settle down anywhere if I wouldn’t age. I wouldn’t be able to open up and be honest with my friends about what I’d become. I’d also have to give up on my dreams of getting married and having children — two things I had been praying for since before I knew who I was praying to. I also found myself wondering if I would still go to heaven when someone or something finally claimed my newly extended life. I’d been sure of my salvation as a human, but did that change when someone became a vampire?

  As dozens of concerns and worries ran through my mind, I came face to face with my own self-centeredness. Every worry I was reflecting on revolved around me. I was terrified that my life wouldn’t be the way I wanted it to be because I wasn’t trusting God enough to see past my own desires. Even after I stopped focusing on myself and turned my attention to the slaves, I still wasn’t convinced that going along with Augustus’ plan was the right thing to do.