Mortality Bites - The COMPLETE Boxed Set (Books 1 - 10): An Urban Fantasy Epic Adventure

by Ramy Vance

  I’d worry about that later. For now I had bigger demons to de-fang. Namely, myself. Looking at myself in the mirror, I growled, “I’m human now.” I didn’t know who I was speaking to—Deirdre, myself, whoever was left in the universe to listen. “I will not be taken back to who I was. Not now. Not ever.”

  Deirdre stepped forward and clasped me with two strong hands. It was a changeling show of solidarity—a clasp meant to be strong and unbreakable. In other words, she meant to hold me tight to let me know that she was on my side … but I pulled away as if she were a toddler trying to grab my legs.

  Even at my most vampiric I couldn’t have so easily pulled away from a changeling who meant to hold me. My strength wasn’t just back … I was stronger than ever.

  “Milady,” Deirdre said, her voice quavering in near helplessness.

  I smiled. When the changeling saw my fangs, she growled. I retracted them, making my smile more human. “Find Egya and tell him what’s happened to me. Tell him that everything will go ahead as planned. That we only need to break the curse and I’ll be human again.”

  Of course, in my vampire-y selfishness, I didn’t add: “And we’ll save everyone else in the process.”

  ↔

  POPPING MY FANGS BACK IN, I went to my room to dress for tonight’s festivities. It was strange, but only hours ago I’d dreaded tonight. Now I relished the hunt. I would smash my fist through Wizard Crusader’s helmet, imprinting its metal into his brain. I would—

  “Do no such thing,” I said out loud. “I am human. HUMAN. Humans do not kill unless absolutely necessary.”

  Quite the contrary, said the evil voice of the demon within. Humans kill all the time and their reasons are so petty that to say they are anything but evil is a lie.

  When I was a lonely vampire living in my castle on the highlands of Scotland, I used to listen to that demonic voice—my voice—and relish its words. It was the only company I had … and even though it was me, it wasn’t, for so much of what it conjured in my mind were thoughts I would never have.

  It was like being schizophrenic or suffering from multiple personality disorder. Two voices, both mine, but one was just a bit more me than the other.

  “Shut up,” I said. “I will not kill unless it is to save another life.”

  Like your own. You are hungry, are you not? And blood—that is what sustains you. That is what will make you whole, give you life. Without it you will perish, so do as you say. Save a life by taking a life. Save yourself.

  “Ahh,” I said frantically, pulling an outfit together. I put on a Mango v-neck sweater, and as I considered my North Face goose-down jacket, my hand stopped. That monstrosity of fabric was something I had needed to stay warm … as a human.

  But cold was something that affected my fragile body. I was no longer fragile. I was no longer so susceptible to such weaknesses.

  So instead I put on a Barbour Summer Liddesdale quilted jacket, more to complete the outfit than anything, and left my dorm room to battle evil with an evil of my very own.

  A SONG, A PARTY AND A BITE

  J ustin came through. More than came through, I thought as I walked into the abandoned theater across from Mama’s Diner. The seats had been stripped from the old cinema, leaving behind a giant cavity where hundreds of people could party.

  Abandoned and mostly unused, the old cinema was one of the only large spaces you could book at a moment’s notice. Seemed its owner had tried to sell the monstrosity several times, but this place must have had a curse of its own: no one wanted to buy it. So he took whatever little rental fees he could get when someone wanted to book the place for an event or a party.

  And since partying was exactly what we were trying to do, this was perfect.

  Justin sensed my approval. “Not bad, eh? See, here’s me being useful to the team.”

  “Very,” I said, pulling him down for a kiss. Our lips locked and, forgetting my newly regained old strength, I got a bit too enthusiastic as I pulled him close.

  Too enthusiastic—and fangy. My canine teeth popped out, cutting his lip and releasing the sweetest nectar known to mortals and gods alike: blood. Warm, fresh blood from a healthy human.

  I think I would have drained him right there if he hadn’t pulled away. He touched his lip. “Oww … I didn’t think we were into that.”

  I want to eat you, I thought.

  “After,” he said with a wink. Guess I thought that out loud. “First I’ve got some more setting up to do, and you said something about Cassy singing.”

  As if the mere mention of her name summoned her, the cinema front doors opened up and Cassy walked in. “Speak of the devil,” Justin said.

  “Never speak of the devil,” she said in an ominous tone, “lest he leave his apartment in Paradise Lot and come knocking on your door.”

  Justin gulped. “Ahh, so he’s real.”

  “Very,” Cassy said. “But from what I hear, his kingdom is a one-bedroom apartment on a wretched island one public funding disaster from becoming a slum.”

  “Got it,” he said. They stared at each other awkwardly before Justin jogged over to a folding table near the wall. He pointed at a boombox, lifting a wireless mic. “Kat said something about you needing to sing a song. This was all I could get on such short notice, but maybe—”

  “Thank you, but I don’t need such augmentations for my song to be heard.”

  “You don’t?” I asked. “More magic?”

  “No, just the essence of who I am.” She narrowed her eyes as she looked at me. “Speaking of essence, something is different about you.” She leaned in close to get a better sense of me, and then she did something I didn’t think sirens, muses or humans did. She touched my eye.

  It happened so quickly and so unexpectedly that, even as a vampire with supernatural speed and reflexes, I had no time to react.

  Instead I recoiled, a hand over the eye she’d touched. “What did you do that for?” I groaned, then muttered to myself, “I hope your hands are clean …”

  She ignored me, touching her own eye with the finger that had invaded mine. As soon as her fingertip touched her eye, she looked at me and said, “You are—”

  Justin was making his way back to us, so I pulled Cassy into the corner. In a harsh whisper, I said, “I’m fine … I mean, I will be fine as soon as we finish this and your little curse is broken.” Drawing in a deep breath, I added, “Seems your curse doesn’t just make them superheroes. It also does this.” I opened my mouth and pointed to my fangy canines.

  Her eyes flicked down to my extra-pointy teeth. “Is that what you were?”

  I nodded.

  “It makes sense that you would seek old powers to help you this day. Also, the mere fact that my curse has touched you means—”

  But before she could say anything, Justin tripped over his own feet and fell with a yelp, drowning out Cassy’s words.

  “Tell me,” I said, “stopping this wizard crusader guy … that’s not going to lift the curse, is it?”

  She shook her head.

  “So there’s a greater danger lurking in the background?”

  Cassy didn’t say anything.

  “OK,” I said, “I get it. I hate this, mind you, but I get it.”

  I had just turned to see if Justin was OK when she grabbed my arm. There were more tears in her eyes. “I am sorry. I was trying to help and in doing so, I caused so much pain. I am sorry for what I did to them. But I am especially sorry for what I have done to you.” She looked down at me with pity in her eyes.

  I don’t know if it was my vampiric temperament or if it was just unsettling being looked at by someone such as her, but I didn’t like it. I pulled my arm away. “Don’t worry about it. The curse will be broken and I’ll be me again. Let’s focus on that.”

  Cassy drew in a deep breath and nodded. “Yes, what is done is done. Let us focus on what we have control over while we still have that control.”

  ↔

  CASSY WASN’T KIDDING whe
n she said she had a song. I honestly could not tell you if she sang acapella or if a full orchestra accompanied her, if there were lyrics or just music, or if she even opened her mouth.

  All those details were lost in the beauty of music unlike anything I had heard before. Cassy may have been a human, but she was touched by a siren and a muse—two powerful creatures made from beauty itself.

  And that touch was a part of Cassy in ways that made me shiver with awe.

  As the final note of her song left her lips, she closed her eyes and said, “There. Now they will come. And so will he.”

  PART IV

  INTERMISSION

  There are so many phonies. So many people who just love hearing the sound of their own voice as they blab their way through life. Good for nothing phonies whose only accomplishment in life will be that they took up way too much space.

  But every now and then you meet someone you think is special. Someone who is supposed to break the mold and do something meaningful.

  If not meaningful, then at least different.

  Or at least try to be different.

  But even those guys are phonies. Liars who pretend they care and say they want to make a difference, but when they actually have to do something—anything—they don’t. They claim that they are tired or busy or lie by saying something like: “I tried and it didn’t work out.”

  Phonies. I hate them. I hate them all.

  But the thing I hate the most about phonies is that, try as you might to get them to see the errors of their ways—their self-deceptions and self-justifications—they don’t.

  They just walk through life with blinders on, pretending everything’s peachy. Well, it’s not. It’s so far from being good that it drives me crazy.

  They’ll never see reason.

  But that’s OK. They will still be useful, for if they can’t see reason, perhaps their lives can serve as an example for others to see reason.

  For others to take action.

  I just have to get others to see the errors of the phonies’ ways.

  But how can I do that?

  It won’t be easy, but I know exactly how to cut through the noise and get their attention.

  With a bullet and a bang.

  A SUPERHERO BALL WHOSE GUEST OF HONOR IS A VILLAIN

  A s soon as Cassy stopped singing and the awe of her voice wore off enough for us to speak, Justin muttered, “Ahh, that is an … an amazing way to invite people to a party. I just sent out flyers.”

  Cassy chuckled, her white cheeks turning a few shades of rose. “Thank you,” she said with surprisingly sincere humility, given she must have known how incredible she was.

  I could have marveled at Cassy all day, but there was still a lot that needed doing. “OK,” I said, shaking my head, “when are your peeps coming?”

  I had to nudge Justin with my elbow to get him to respond. “How long, Justin?” I asked again.

  “Oh, ahh, let’s see.” He looked at his watch. “The flyer said 7pm. It’s 9pm now, so I’d say any minute.”

  “Good. Who’s manning the door?”

  “A couple of my buddies from O3.”

  “Another good. OK, you two know what you have to do.”

  “Yeah, we do,” Justin said, then extending his hand to Cassy, he bowed and said, “Milady.”

  Cassy gave him a wry smile before taking his hand and disappearing. I felt a teeny, tiny pang of jealousy (just a pinch, really) and muttered to the air, “Just remember who butters your toast, buddy. Whatever that means.”

  Holy guacamole, the Old Librarian in my dream was right: I really wasn’t very witty.

  With them gone and presumably in place, I got ready as well. My job was simple enough.

  I would be the bait.

  ↔

  I GOT into position as superheroes of all types started walking in the door. You had your usual variety from the Marvel and D.C. universes: Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Hulk, She-Hulk, Scarlet Witch … and just about any other spandex-clad hero you could name.

  You also had He-Man, She-Ra, G.I. Joes, Street Fighters and one enterprising young man dressed in an assortment of cardboard boxes that made him look like Optimus Prime. Fairly typical stuff. Then seven ninjas with what looked like plastic swords entered, and had they been dwarves I would have had a Snow White joke somewhere. But alas, from the way they moved under their black outfits, they were clearly human.

  It was when people started entering dressed like Mangi from Blade of the Immortal or Rick Hunter from Robotech that I started to think: My kind of party. I might have enjoyed this night if I wasn’t on duty.

  Perhaps a hundred dressed-up kids entered and not one of them was an actual superhero. Barring the elderly heroes, I had expected to see the Green Guy, Rhino Boy and the Jessica Jones girl at least, but not one of them showed up, which meant our plan was working.

  “Excellent,” I muttered to myself, still crouched in position. “So far, so good.”

  Then Andrew Garner entered in a long trench coat, his blond hair caught in its collar. Typical that he would be the one guy not dressed like a hero. But then again, given his black fingernails, dog collar and leather jacket, he kind of looked like a blond Neo from The Matrix—if Neo wasn’t trying.

  Seeing Andrew was disconcerting. Not because I felt guilty or angry at him, but because I felt nothing one way or another. If anything, I just felt hungry looking at the tall goth. This was the vampire in me acting up … the apathy of the beast to anything but its own needs. And I knew that if I didn’t break the curse soon and become human again, it would be harder and harder to fend off my old ways.

  This plan had better work.

  Another thirty minutes passed as more and more kids dressed as heroes entered the once-upon-a-time cinema, and still no Wizard Crusader.

  Given he was one of Cassy’s cursed, he must have heard her song. And since there was no way for him to know how many heroes there were and who was who, the confusion of the situation should have drawn him out.

  But Wizard Crusader was, so far, a no-show. I was just about to give up hope when a thought occurred to me. He had stolen the powers of so many heroes, there was no telling what he could do. Also, he might have ditched his old outfit for something less … geeky.

  Batman was cool. A guy dressed in a knight’s uniform wasn’t.

  He could be here, waiting for us to do something …

  OK, I thought, since I’m supposed to be the bait …

  I stepped out from the shadows dressed in my own superhero outfit … a kilt with my family tartan, a black turtleneck, my cherub mask and dirk.

  Grabbing the mic, I said, “Welcome, welcome!” The mic screeched in my hand, which made everyone jump. At least I had their attention.

  “As I was saying: Welcome.”

  There was some clapping and cheering.

  “As I’m sure everyone is aware, the campus is closed because of a—how shall I phrase this?—a superhero fight. Forget snow days—we’re having a superhero day.”

  I chuckled at my own joke. No one else did. OK, time to retire that one.

  I cleared my throat. “But on a more serious note, the superhero fight did some major damage to the campus, so we’ll probably be closed for a while. And since none of us have any classes tomorrow, we thought we’d throw this party!”

  The crowd cheered.

  “So one last thing before we turn on the music again. I think there is one among you that wasn’t invited. A certain LARPing reject with an inflated ego. Let me ask you this, Wizard Crusader, what mask are you wearing now? I know you’re probably a sniveling little geek who was never invited to a party before you had superpowers, and you’re still a sniveling—”

  The mic cut as three kids dressed like ninjas jumped on stage. They pulled out their katanas, which, upon closer examination looked very, very real. One of them grabbed the mic out of my hand and tossed it to a fourth ninja on the dance floor.

  “Testing, testing,” he said. “Ahh, Mast
er—just as you predicted, she’s here.”

  In a flash, the front door burst open and in walked Wizard Crusader.

  Oh, so that wasn’t something we had taken into consideration … Wizard Crusader had minions.

  NINJA MINIONS AND DARTING VILLAINS

  M inions. I should have known. Every villain has a couple and it seems Wizard Crusader has a dozen. Great. But where could someone like him enlist recruits for a mini-army? As someone who has had minions herself, I can guess.

  Anywhere.

  All you need to do is walk into a place where a group of like-minded individuals have gathered around a common fear or ideal, display your power, promise you’ll help them achieve their goals, and presto! A mini-army at your disposal.

  The more vile their goals, the more gruesome the promise, the easier it is to recruit them. A couple fireballs and they’d be sold—

  Wizard Crusader laughed. “I also flew around a bit. Oh, and I dropped their last leader off in the Laurentians. Naked. It’ll take him three days to get home, and during that whole trip he’ll be thinking about how I’m the boss now.”

  “And your promise?”

  The lead ninja took off his hood, revealing a shaved head covered in tattoos of religious symbols. The Christian cross, the Muslim crescent, the Daoist bagua and taijitu, the Hindu Aum and the Zoroastrian Faravahar. A HuMan … I had heard about this new gang rising up in the cities where Others lived. They were dedicated to the eradication of Others. Think Neo-Nazis, except their hate wasn’t aimed at immigrants or Jews, but rather the new refugee class comprised entirely of Others.

  And because there was no international organization aimed at protecting Other rights yet, the group had yet to be summarily condemned. Humans and their need to officially condemn someone or something. Despite being one now (well, with the exception of my sudden vampiric transformation), I’d never understand this part of being human.

  Two HuMan ninjas grabbed my arms, and the other ninjas used swords and threats to keep the party-goers still.