by Kristie Cook
I stared at the last line for several moments and finally typed The End. My chest tightened with grief. Besides Mom, my characters had been my best friends, pulling me through my darkest hours, and now we had to say good-bye, never to visit each other again. Their adventure was over and so was that whole part of my life…or it would be shortly.
I emailed the entire book to Mom. I didn’t know whether the vampire had been telling the truth about having Daemoni planted at my publisher, so I didn’t send anything to my editor. Mom could do whatever the Amadis council dictated when the time came.
I then wrote two letters—one to Mom and one to Dorian—explaining how I did this for them, to keep them safe. I wanted to call Dorian, to hear his voice one more time, but I feared what he and Mom would hear in my own voice. Mom would know something was up. So I wrote my good-byes, tears streaming. I knew I couldn’t email them—she would get them too soon—and I had no way to print them at the beach house. So my fingers trembled with my sobs as I saved the two letter files on the computer’s desktop, where Mom would easily find them.
I took a deep breath and focused on the rest of the plan. I hadn’t figured out yet how to do it. Owen had regularly checked on me, reminding me he stayed close by. I’d tested him once, pretending I needed to go to the store. He appeared suddenly and stopped me as I sat in the car, asked what I needed and was back with a box of tampons in four minutes. I felt bad for putting him through that and since he made the trip without so much as a complaint, he clearly wouldn’t let me go anywhere. However it happened, I needed to be ready to act on a moment’s notice.
I showered and studied myself in the mirror, trying to see what I could do to make myself as attractive as possible. It was surprisingly difficult to do any more than what my body had already done on its own. My skin looked and felt smooth—no wrinkles or lines of any kind, no dark and puffy circles under my eyes, the light-olive tone tanned. My hair, now full and vibrant, waved down to the middle of my back and my body was small but strong. I actually looked like my age.
I eyed the sundresses Tristan had bought me on our honeymoon and I’d forgotten to pack in our hurried departure. The property management company apparently had the dresses cleaned—they hung in plastic bags in the closet. I’d seen them my first day at the beach house. Mom must have had the wedding dress shipped because it wasn’t there and I knew I hadn’t packed it when we left in such a rush. I was glad it was gone. Seeing it would have been too much for my fragile self of a couple days ago.
I chose a black dress with purple flowers, spaghetti straps that crossed over my back and a full skirt that ended about three inches above my knees. It was probably out of style, but I didn’t care. Almost all the clothes I’d brought were dirty and the dress was better than baggy shorts and a holey t-shirt anyway. I checked myself in the mirror—the dress did the job.
“Wow, you look…” Owen was caught off guard when I called for him. I flashed him my best smile. He narrowed his eyes and said flatly, “You’re not going anywhere.”
I tried to act casual. “Of course not. I was just tired of looking like a frump. I feel good. I finished the book.”
He smiled. “Great! Now we wait for it to be published and let it do its thing.”
“But we can celebrate now,” I said suggestively.
He looked surprised, the sapphire eyes wide, eyebrows raised. “You and me?”
“That’s all we have right now, right? Why not? If you get some steaks and the trimmings, I’ll cook. And we need some wine, of course.”
His brows pushed together, creating those three vertical lines between them. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. We need to be completely alert.”
I fluttered my eyelashes and stuck out my lower lip in a pretend pout. “Just a glass. Just for a toast to the Amadis and whatever it is they have planned.”
He studied my face. I really wasn’t trying to seduce him. Honestly. I just needed him to disappear for a while…just long enough. I smiled warmly at him.
“Okay,” he finally agreed. “You stay here. I’ll be back in ten or fifteen minutes.”
I followed him out the door and watched him walk down the driveway, into the brush and disappear. As soon as he was gone, I jumped into the Ferrari and took off, my heart pounding with anxiety and fear. I’d left the keys in there earlier, knowing I needed every second I could get when the opportunity arose. I sped down the highway, clearing as much distance as possible before Owen returned and found me gone.
Guilt pierced my conscience when I thought of him searching for me. But I had to do this. At least he wouldn’t be left heartbroken and helpless like I’d been when I was left behind. I just hoped he wouldn’t immediately guess where I headed, but would think I went after my family. Because once he knew, he would be there in a flash.
Chapter 7
I made the fifty-mile drive to Key West in twenty minutes. I barely remembered any of it—just the gray pavement passing under the car—my mind first on Owen and then on Dorian. My son’s face swam in my vision, so much like his father’s. I ached to hold him one last time. I’m so sorry, little man. Please forgive me. I love you so much. As the tears pooled in my eyes again, making it difficult to focus on the road, I reminded myself, though now with no parents, he had Mom and the Amadis. He would be well taken care of. And he would be safe.
Then I forced myself to think about what lay ahead, rather than what I left behind.
My heart picked up speed the closer I came. My chest squeezed with panic, making proper breathing difficult, and my stomach rolled with anxiety. What the hell am I doing? This was probably the stupidest thing I’d ever done—second only to letting Tristan leave me at the safe house. But I had to do this, if it was the last thing I did for the Amadis.
My hand banged on the steering wheel restlessly and my left leg bounced with nerves as I made my way to the west side of Key West, to the old part where the tourists partied and the Daemoni…hunted. Come on, come on, come on! If this didn’t happen quickly, Owen would eventually figure out where I headed. And, even if he didn’t, I was afraid I would lose my nerve.
I didn’t know what to expect. I thought maybe they would be on top of me as soon as they sensed me. Then I remembered they couldn’t read my thoughts, so they probably didn’t know I’d entered their hunting grounds. It wasn’t like they expected me to walk right into their hands. Not like the last time they got what they wanted. But this was the only way I knew how to solve the problem. I didn’t have the ability to recognize the best solution. Tristan did, but not me. I worked with all I knew—my heart and my soul telling me what was best for everyone.
I’d promised him I would come for him. Although he never knew that promise, I would do my best to keep it. I hadn’t quite changed over—my body was still preparing for the Ang’dora—but I’d run out of time. My family needed the protection. They needed to be left alone. I hoped to give that to them.
The funny thing was, I realized, I did this as me. Real Alexis. At least…the closest I would know of Real Alexis, since I’d probably never make it all the way through the Ang’dora. But this wasn’t Psycho acting out in anger or Swirly confusing me with a mix of fact and fiction. Foggy disappeared a couple days ago. I embraced this new-found purpose as me, clear minded, though a little frightened. Okay, more than a little. But definitely all me. Definitely Real Alexis.
As the sun began to set and darkness came from the east, I drove up and down the side streets of Old Key West, lined with ivy-covered hotels and inns and stately trees hung with moss. Avoiding the overcrowded Duval Street, I tried to decide the best way to attract the Daemoni. I hoped to find one or two on their own, separated from the crowds. And I hoped to set the scene up so I could pull them even farther away. I saw no need to involve innocent people. It took nearly an hour to find what I searched for.
I glanced down an alley as I slowly passed it and saw two men, a woman and a college-aged girl walking my way. I slowed the car. My sharp eyes recogni
zed the dangerous situation immediately. The girl wasn’t exactly walking. The others pushed and pulled her along. The Daemoni alarms sounded in my head. The group stopped about fifty yards from me, from the end of the alley, and the men started harassing the girl. I assumed they planned to rape her…or worse. I took a deep breath. Here we go.
I kicked off my flip-flops and left the keys in the ignition and the car door open behind me. I walked down the dark alley. Several Dumpsters and backdoors lined the brick walls on each side. Security lights over the doors provided pools of light between pits of darkness. The Daemoni surrounded the girl in a dark area between two Dumpsters. They pushed her around and tore at her thin, red blouse and white, satiny shorts, laughing wretchedly. Even the woman. The girl hunched over, trying in vain to protect herself. She looked taller than average and thin, but her arm and leg muscles were quite defined for a female. She looked as though she could hold her own against most normal humans. But these weren’t normal humans. In fact, they weren’t even human.
“Leave her alone,” I said when I came close enough for them to hear me without having to yell.
“You ought to mind your own business, missy,” the tall white-blond said without looking at me. He held the girl by her long, dark hair. She trembled so fiercely, the edges of her shape seemed to blur.
“You are my business,” I replied, stepping closer.
They finally looked at me and they all froze. Even the girl, her face plastered in a grimace of pain as the first Daemoni still held her by the hair. She looked at me with pleading, fear-filled eyes, realizing she’d put herself in a bad situation. I could see why she willingly left her friends and went with them. The two men were quite attractive, dressed in silk shirts and dress pants, and they smelled nice—vanilla, freesia, rain, citrus, cinnamon…. Their looks and even their scents pulled her in.
They were vampires. Although subtle—they projected themselves as bait, not predators—I saw the unusually pale skin, the red tint to the irises and the slightly longer, pointy eye-teeth I knew were fangs. I wondered how she couldn’t see any of it and then remembered I was specially tuned to them. The process of the Ang’dora had already sharpened my senses beyond her human abilities. My resolve tightened when I realized what they would have done to her.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” one sang. How original. The female vampire sauntered away from the girl and closer to me, a smile spreading across her face. She looked surprisingly unattractive for a vampire, with a head of dull, pink hair that had the texture of a baby-doll’s, obviously a wig, and very masculine features. And she stood quite tall, nearly as tall as the white-blond, her legs long and muscular under her mini-skirt. Her shoulders were nearly as wide as his, too, her tank top stretching across a flat chest…. Oh! She wasn’t a she. She was a he. Huh. A transvestite vampire. I hid my mild shock behind a stoic face, trying to maintain a calm demeanor.
The third one moved toward me, also checking me out. He was shorter than the other two and not as muscular. But he was still dangerous…still a vampire.
The first one, the white-blond, still held the girl by her hair but had no interest in her. His red-tinted, ice-blue eyes studied me with curiosity, his full lips twitching with a smile.
“I think you know exactly what you have,” I said. My heart sped, as if trying to run away, as if it knew how much the vampires wanted it. The frantic pace probably excited them. But I acted as bravely as I possibly could, still trying to keep control of the situation. “So let her go and take me.”
The blond let go of the girl’s hair and seemed to pat her shoulder. She fell to the ground in a heap, as if shoved down by a great force. She looked up at me, her eyes wide and wild. Streaks ran down her cheeks as tears turned her make-up into little black rivers. I momentarily wondered what she would tell her friends…if she got back to them. Which was up to me.
“Are you insane?” she whispered to me.
I chuckled to myself at her choice of words. If she only knew…
“Probably,” I said. “But you can go.”
I glanced at the vampires. They paid her no attention, their eyes never leaving me. They walked slowly toward me, seemingly hesitant. They had to know something was coming. They surely weren’t expecting Amadis royalty to simply hand herself over. No, there are probably only two of us stupid enough to do that. And I was the more ignorant one because I didn’t even know what I was getting myself into.
I looked back at the girl and she crouched on the street, still shaking uncontrollably. If they really were anything like my vampires, they could feed off her fear. I had to make a move.
“Now!” I yelled. “Run!”
The girl moved awkwardly to her feet and stumbled away. I needed to keep the vamps interested in me so I took off the opposite way, toward the car. My scheme worked. They took no notice of her escape, all three chasing me. I could barely feel the ground under my feet. I ran pretty damn fast now, nearly flying. I just didn’t know if I would be fast enough. I sprang into the driver’s seat. They hit the car just as I slammed the door. Their fingers clawed at the convertible top. I flattened the gas pedal to the floor and pealed out. Game on!
The Daemoni kept pace with the car as I raced through the streets, pulling them into a darker area of town. I tried to get away from the residential area, but couldn’t find a way out. Every street I turned down was lined with more houses. I rounded a corner. A brick wall rushed toward me. Oh, shit! I slammed on the brake and cranked the wheel, spinning the car around in a one-eighty, tires squealing. The smell of burning rubber filled the air. The three vampires rushed at me. I could see and hear people—innocent bystanders—not too far away. This isn’t good enough!
I jumped out of the car, bounded on the back and hurdled the six-foot brick wall. I landed in the backyard of someone who wasn’t home. No lights shone through the house windows, dark rectangles staring vacantly at nothing.
But I wasn’t alone.
I straightened up from my crouch. I first noticed white legs that seemed to never end in a black leather mini-skirt that would have been a belt on anyone else. Her perfect breasts practically burst out of the black leather halter barely covering any of her pale white skin. Her long hair was white-blond, like the other vampire’s, framing a striking face with red-tinted, ice-blue eyes that narrowed at me. This familiar blond beauty stood there as if she’d been waiting for me. I remembered her from the pub in Cape Heron the night I met Ian…and from the attack in the Arlington street the night before we moved to Florida, when I was only eighteen.
She glanced up, behind me, at the other three standing on the wall, then made a face of disgust, revealing her fangs, as she looked me over.
“This?” she spat, looking at me but obviously talking to the others. “This is what he left me for?”
I stood frozen as she sauntered around me, studying me from every angle. I tried to make my heart slow down, knowing its frenzied pace didn’t help matters. I couldn’t comprehend at first what she said.
“You’re the little cunt Seth has been dying for?”
I flinched at her vulgarity. But then I realized the meaning behind her words. She used his old name, his Daemoni name, and she knew where he was. And she used present tense—not died, but dying. My heart sped even faster, but now with hope. And the hope gave me courage. I narrowed my eyes.
“You know where he is? Are you the cold-hearted leech who’s been keeping him away from me?”
She laughed, the silvery chime both appealing and frightening at the same time. Her face was serious, her voice mocking. “If I had my way, I would be home with him right now, doing everything I’ve always fantasized about. Instead, I have to deal with you.”
Her hand suddenly gripped my throat.
“Vanessa!” The transvestite admonished. “Lucas wants her alive.”
“To hell with Lucas,” she hissed. “I’ve been waiting to tear her throat out since before she was born, when that whore of a mother of hers took my Seth.
”
Oh, ho, ho. Now you pissed me off.
Something horrible washed over me, penetrating into my very core. A sick, cold, hard feeling. One I’d never felt before in my life. My blood boiled with it. My head throbbed with it. My eyes saw red through it.
Hatred. Murderous hatred.
It wasn’t jealousy. I knew who he loved. The feeling came from knowing she was the epitome of the Daemoni—the whole concept of everything I hated about my life, everything that had destroyed the normal life I so much desired, everything that had taken my love, my heart, my soul away—everything wrapped up in this white-blond beauty. I hated her and all I wanted to do was kick her ass into non-existence.
One of the others—the blond—chortled, the maniacal sound echoing my own madness. “He was never yours. You’ve never been right in the head, sis. But, hey, if you want to take her, I won’t stop you.”
Vanessa laughed again as her hand tightened around my neck. “You’re damn right I do!”
“I don’t think so, bitch!” I grasped her arm with both hands and yanked her hand away from my neck as I kicked her in the stomach, launching her back several feet. She landed with an ass-plant on the grass, astonishment quickly turning to outrage. I turned to the others.
“I’ll go with you, but you keep her off of me.”
She sprang from the ground and lunged at me, shoving me into the brick wall. My head and back smacked hard against it. She pinned me with her hand on my neck again. I pulled my legs to my chest and pushed out, driving her back. I ran for the middle of the yard to avoid being cornered against the wall. She lunged at me again.
I ducked and she flew over me, her nails grazing my back, cutting one of the dress straps loose. Then I did something I didn’t know I had in me. Something I would never be able to duplicate if I tried. Bent over at the waist, I twisted my hips and threw my legs upward as if attempting a new kind of cartwheel. My feet thudded against her hard body in quick succession as she soared overhead. My torso followed the spin of my lower body, bringing me around upright, and I landed on my feet. So did she. Her eyes blazed, her stunning face screwed into hideousness with fury. She looked like the monster she was. I wondered what the hell I thought I was doing, fighting a vampire. But only for a moment. That’s all she gave me before she charged at me again. I wasn’t quick enough. I wasn’t a vampire.