by LM DeWalt
She fixed a few strands of my hair with her fingers and moved back. “Fine. Maria. Just call me Maria.”
“Maria,” I repeated. “You said vampires are no different than animals. If you have too much compassion for vampires, why are you doing this?”
“Because I have my orders. If I don’t do what they want, I don’t get what I want. I only said that because I’m jealous. I didn’t mean it.”
“So what you want is to become a vampire. Have you thought about what that really means?”
“Of course I’ve thought about it. It’s all I think about,” her eyes suddenly teared. “It’s what I’ve wanted for years but they say I’m not ready.”
“Have they said why you’re not ready?”
“They say I’m too soft. I have to toughen up and stop caring about people’s feelings. They said I couldn’t kidnap you, that I couldn’t force you to drink from a child, but I did all that. I proved myself to them.”
“Yes, I suppose you did. What about the man? Who is he to them?” If she only knew I hadn’t actually fed from the child.
“He’s just an old hunter, no longer able to fight. They keep him around to do all the work they don’t want to do. He’s pretty much useless.”
“Is he looking to be turned too?”
“Are you kidding me? Can you imagine him as an immortal?” She laughed.
“I guess you’re right. And what about you? What will you do once you get what you want? Will you go off on your own?”
She stood and took a few steps back. “Of course not. Being an immortal will give me strength. It will give me the powers I never had as a witch. I was never one, only my mom, but they never knew that, they just assumed. Anyway, can you imagine the hunter I could be with all the powers?”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You would continue hunting, killing your own kind?”
She backed away a few more steps, nearing the door as if trying to run from me. “It’s the only way they’ll do it. I promised them. We only rid the city of danger.”
“But Maria, you’ll be a vampire then, able to take care of yourself, able to leave whenever you want. They cannot keep you their prisoner,” I explained. “What I still don’t understand is how a vampire can be giving commands to hunters. How can Melinda have that much power over people who supposedly rid the city of vampires?”
She looked behind her and then back at me, her mouth opening to speak.
“That will be quite enough!” Melinda commanded as she stepped into the room, Ryanne, her sister, right behind her. Melinda’s hair was different again, long, dark, and covering half her face. But there was no mistaking her voice and the icy look of her visible eye. Ryanne’s eyes froze on my face, sending chills down my spine. It was obvious she did not forget Fergus’s death and never would.
“What the hell do you want from me?” I snapped. I tried to mask my fear with anger, not sure if it was working.
“Well, it’s nice to see you again, too,” Melinda mocked. “It’s been way too long.”
“Trust me, it has not been long enough.” I yelled. I pulled at the chains in the wall with all my might but it was getting me nowhere.
“You’re going to hurt yourself. You don’t have enough strength to do anything. I must say I like seeing you so helpless and alone. Ryanne, what do you think we should do with her now?” She turned to her partner in crime with a smirk on her face.
Ryanne put her index finger to her chin. “Oh, I know! Now that she’s here and all tied up and all, we should go find her husband. Without her to protect him, he is totally at my mercy. I can do with him what I like… Perhaps torture him a little and then end his miserable existence.”
“No! You leave him alone,” I struggled to free my arms again though I knew it was pointless. “He had nothing to do with what happened at that cabin. He was not the one who killed Fergus. It was my fault. Kill me!”
Both Ryanne and Melinda laughed. I looked at Maria who stood by the entrance, panic in her eyes. She looked away from me and lowered her gaze to the ground. I concentrated on her nonetheless. Maria, please. Do something. Warn Christian, please. She raised her head. She was listening. They’ll never give you what you want. You’re wasting your time. If you do this for me, I’ll make sure…
“Stop!” Melinda barked. “Just because I can’t hear you does not mean I don’t know what you’re doing,” She turned to Maria. “Leave us!” Maria backed out of the room, running as soon as she crossed the threshold. Melinda turned to me again. “That’s some pretty good control you have, if that is in fact what you were doing, sending your thoughts only to her.”
“I wasn’t doing anything.”
“It doesn’t matter anyway. Maria won’t do anything to defy us, not when her fate is in our hands,” She turned to Ryanne. “What do you think we should do with her now?”
Ryanne’s face lit up. “Kill her.”
“Just like that? That’s not much fun. I thought maybe you’d want her to suffer a bit first, the way you’ve been suffering since she took your love from you.”
“I did not kill Fergus myself. It was a battle. He was killed because he wasn’t strong enough to fight. It was nothing personal against him. It was self-defense.” It was nothing personal? Even I knew that sounded bad.
“But he was killed because of you. Everything is because of you,” Ryanne’s stare sent chills through my body. “I have an idea.” She turned to Melinda who stood with her arms crossed, waiting.
“Anything you wish shall be yours. After all, you deserve it.” She nodded for Ryanne to continue.
Ryanne smiled and her eyes glowed like a child spotting the presents on Christmas morning. “I think Christian should be our next guest.”
“No! You stay away from him. If you want your revenge, then kill me. I’m here, totally helpless. Kill me and get it over with,” my voice shook even though I tried to sound determined.
Melinda ignored me. “I must say I like your idea, Ryanne. We should bring Christian here. There’s plenty of room for one more. Besides, I’m sure he’s worried sick about Lily. He’ll want to be with her while she dies.” Melinda took a few steps closer to me. “What do you say, Lily? Want some company? We could torture him first so you can watch, then torture you, let him watch, it’s only fair, and then kill you both.”
“Please, I’ll do anything you want, just leave Christian out of this,” I begged though I knew it was useless. Neither woman had a heart. Or a soul.
“Can we have Arturo and the boys go get him?” Ryanne asked.
“We could but, I think I have a better way,” Melinda went to the entrance again and stuck her head out the door. “Maria, bring Leilani,” she yelled.
“Why are you bringing her? I’m not feeding again,” I protested, horrified of where this might be going.
“Oh, that’s not what I want her here for. She…” Melinda stopped as Maria came to the door holding Leilani’s hand. Leilani rubbed sleep out of her eyes with her free hand, her hair tousled.
“Yeah, Melinda, I’d like to know what you intend too,” Ryanne said.
Melinda took Leilani and waved Maria out of the room. Maria left without a backward glance. “I am going to dial Christian from my phone and you are going to invite him here, alone.”
“I will do no such thing. What makes you—”
“That’s just the thing. I know you will do this because if you don’t, the girl dies and you get to watch.”
Ryanne clapped her hands in excitement. If it were possible for a vampire to throw up, now would have been the time. “Are you really that heartless, that crazy?”
“Apparently, I am. So, what is it going to be? Your husband or this innocent, helpless little girl?” She wrapped an arm around Leilani’s neck. Leilani’s eyes grew wide and a tear rolled down, leaving a trail on her dirty cheek.
I had to buy more time, keep her talking. “Who is this girl to me anyway? Why should I really care whether she lives or dies?”
<
br /> Melinda laughed. “I know you better than that, Lily. Of course you care. You care about everybody, no matter how much you try to deny it. You care about the boy you took in, the one who held a gun to your husband’s head. You even care about your lovely sister, Maia. So don’t try that tactic now.”
“But I thought you wanted this girl. I thought she was one of your so-called feeders. Why would you give that up just for me?” I looked at Ryanne who stood mute watching the whole exchange.
“Though I must admit the little girl is quite tasty, she is otherwise useless,” she held Leilani even tighter. Leilani’s eyes looked close to rolling back in her head and her skin took on a sick bluish hue. I was running out of time. She was going to kill her before I could decide anything.
“What do you mean by useless? She’s just a little girl,” I pleaded.
“A little girl with a very powerful talent. The only problem is, she doesn’t know how to control it. She has no concentration, no aim, just fire everywhere.”
I balled my hands into fists. My fangs poked through my gums as my anger surfaced. She really was Jose Luis’s sister.
“I truly thought she would have made a powerful weapon but, no matter how much training has been offered to her, she has learned nothing. She has absolutely no control of her fire,” Melinda explained. “We really don’t need her so it’s no loss. She’s more of a liability to us than an asset.”
“So what will it be?” Ryanne finally lost her patience. She was enjoying this way too much.
I swallowed and took a deep breath. “Dial the phone.”
FOURTEEN
As soon as I finished talking to Christian, Melinda took the phone from my ear and put it back in her back in her pocket. I tried to keep my tone as even as possible as I invited Christian to join me, telling him I had a surprise for him. I didn’t want him to hear my fear. I didn’t want to give Melinda the satisfaction of knowing I’d lured my husband into her trap. Though I told him to come alone and say nothing, I knew Fiore or Aloysius would be able to read his mind anyway.
“You’re doing the right thing, you’ll see.” Melinda said and turned to Ryanne. “Take the girl back to her room. She needs rest now that she’ll be dinner for two.”
Ryanne nodded, a wide smile on her face, and dragged Leilani out of the room without another word. I raised my eyes to Melinda. “Why are you so hell bent on revenge? Are you really that protective of your sister; did Ian mean that much to you, or is there something more?”
“Not that it’s any of your business but, yes, there is more. Maybe in time, if we let you live that long, you will get your answers. For now, just sit here and wait for the love of your life to join you in your prison.” Without another look, she turned and left the room, slamming the metal door behind her, making me jump.
The minutes ticked in my head as I sat, weakened by my rising hunger and the wooden bullet in my leg. What were they going to do to him? Was he strong enough yet to protect himself, to fight back? I hoped he had fed recently though I knew he had never fed alone. Maybe Aloysius or Fiore had taken him to hunt. Hope rose in my gut as a thought hit me. Hopefully Aloysius and Fiore were home when before Christian left. Maybe they would stay close behind him, ready to rescue us. Maybe they had a plan. Maybe…
Faint laughter interrupted my thoughts as the key turned in the lock. I blinked fiercely against the sunlight entering through the door. The shapes were darkened and hard to make out as the sun blinded me. Two shapes, no, three, four, maybe five? I blinked again and again.
“Put him over there,” Melinda commanded as two men dragged a third between them. What? Who?
“Christian!” I pulled as hard as I could away from the wall. “Let me out of here. Let me go to him.”
“Yes, put him over there where she can see him,” Melinda pointed to the cuffs across from me, next to the door. “Leave his ankles tied.”
The men obeyed, one of which I recognized as Arturo, the leader of the hunters. They dropped Christian on the ground as if he were an object. He moaned and tried to look around the room but Arturo blocked his view. He knelt in front of him, his hands on Christian’s chest keeping him against the wall, while the other man pulled his arms up and fastened the cuffs around his wrists, the chains clanging and echoing. I still couldn’t see Christian’s face. How had they subdued him? Why wasn’t he fighting?
“Thank you, gentlemen,” Melinda said. “Now leave us.”
The men made sure Christian was secure before standing to make their exit but not before Arturo smiled at me. Christian lifted his head and blinked, his left eye swollen almost shut. His right eye grew wide as he laid it on me. “Lily? Are you ok? What’s happening?”
“What did you do to him?” I snarled looking at Melinda and Ryanne who both smiled with satisfaction.
“Nothing that won’t heal within minutes, after all, he’s not human anymore. However,” She turned to Ryanne and handed her something I couldn’t see. “We still need to keep him calm, don’t we?”
“Of course we do, Melinda. We wouldn’t want him to escape after we went through all this trouble to get him here. I am so glad I get to do this, thank you,” Ryanne smiled at Melinda.
“What? What are you—” I followed Ryanne’s arm as it rose. “Oh, God! Please don’t.”
Ryanne aimed at Christian’s torso, her hand shaking slightly. Christian’s good eye grew wide again.
“Not at his heart, my dear,” Melinda said as she placed a hand on Ryanne’s arm and pushed it down gently. “We don’t want to kill him quite yet.”
“Oh, right,” she aimed toward his thigh. “That wouldn’t be as much fun.” She pulled the trigger. Christian’s scream shook my whole body. I pulled my legs up the way he did, feeling every bit of his pain with him. Was I imagining that?
“Good. They should both be good and helpless now,” Melinda said as she took the gun from Ryanne’s still outstretched hand. “Let’s leave them a while now. Let them catch up a bit, say their goodbyes before we end them.”
Ryanne smiled and nodded, never taking her eyes away from Christian. Her fangs glowed in her mouth as her hunger boiled to the surface. Melinda put an arm around her shoulder as she led her out of the room. Before she slammed the door behind them, I heard, “His blood will flow through your veins soon enough. Just hang in there a bit longer.”
As soon as the door was secured, I turned back to Christian. “Are you ok? What did they do to you?”
He lifted his head and looked above him, giving the chains a yank. “I guess that’s not gonna work, huh?” He dropped his gaze back to me.
“Not with the wooden bullet in your body. Believe me, I tried. What did they do to you?” I asked again.
“A taxi dropped me off about half way up the mountain. I walked a bit and then as soon as I rounded a corner, someone dropped on me and knocked me to the ground. There were hands all over me as they tied my ankles and hands, and then put some disgusting cloth over my head. Next thing I know, I’m hanging over someone’s shoulder in front of this metal door.”
“How did they do that to your eye? Did someone hit you?”
He laughed. “Someone’s knee landed on my face when they knocked me down. How did you get here?”
“After I left Mateo, I was walking up the street. I was trying to call you when someone grabbed me. I dropped my phone. They did the same thing to me only they threw me into the trunk of a car. I know we’re on a mountain by the way I rolled around in the trunk. I think Jose Luis is up here too.”
“Did they say anything about him?”
“No, but I met Leilani.”
“Our Leilani?” he asked pushing himself up as best he could against the wall.
“Yes. They were trying to train her. I think they intended to use her as a weapon but she’s not advancing enough for their liking. They threatened to kill her if I didn’t get you up here.”
“You did the right thing, Lily.”
“I had no other choice. With this
bullet in my leg I’m pretty much useless. I don’t know how we’re going to get out of here. Does anyone know where you are?”
“You said I had to come alone so I didn’t say anything,” he answered.
My hope deflated. “Oh, well, you did the right thing too.”
“Yeah but… That didn’t stop me from thinking about where I was going.”
“Hopefully that will work. What do we do in the meantime?”
“I have no idea. They plan on torturing us and then killing us both. I won’t let them touch you. I won’t let…”
“Lily, have you forgotten I am also a vampire? I’m not totally helpless. We’ll think of something. I just hope they don’t come back too soon.”
“Can you use your power at all?” It was worth a shot.
“I don’t know. I can try…” He looked around the room. His swollen eye already opening more and more as the minutes passed. He focused on the wrapped bundles on the table and his face scrunched in concentration as I watched. The bundles did not move. “Ugh! I don’t think I can.”
“When is the last time you fed?” I asked.
“Yesterday morning. Fiore took me,” he answered and turned back to the table. I kept quiet so he could focus. This time, one of the bundles rose a few centimeters and shook before falling back down. “I did it!” he yelled with excitement.
“Shh,” I cautioned. “We don’t want them here any sooner than they plan. Think you can focus on the bullet in my thigh, maybe lift it out?”
“What if I hurt you?” His face showed his panic.
“You can’t. It doesn’t even hurt anymore and since the bullet didn’t completely enter my leg, the skin didn’t heal around it. There’s a little piece sticking out.” I figured that might give him an advantage.
“I can try but if I hurt you…” His sentence was cut off by someone talking outside the door. We both froze. After a few seconds, the talking faded as if someone was walking away. “Thank God,” he said. “Not ready for that yet.”
As he concentrated on my thigh, tingling sensations ran throughout my leg. It was hard to stay still since it was almost a tickle but I bit my lip and resisted giving in to the laughter I felt coming. My leg was rising without my control. “Oops. That’s not right,” he said with a faint smile. “Let me try again. Ready?”