by SARA FREITES
His charcoal eyes no longer glowed when he came into the light. I caught a whiff of smoke on his clothes with his movement.
“My name is Thade Overton. I'm the leader of the Yeux Nocturnes Clan. It’s an honor to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too. I guess,” I responded insincerely—I didn’t want to endure any more small talk. “Look, I’m sorry to sound rude, but I need to know when I can go home.”
“This will be a little hard for you to hear,” he answered. “So, I'll be upfront with you. You can never go home.”
Chapter 8
Part 1
Living Among the Dead
The temperature in the room seemed to rise. Or maybe, it was just me. Either way, the change happened so fast that it made my face tingle. I could feel my stomach burning.
“What?” I hissed and reared back.
“I’m very sorry,” Thade said through a drawn-out sigh.
“Is this a joke?” I questioned, now frantic. “Screw you. I’m out of here.”
I started to leave. Thade maneuvered in my way so fast that I walked into him. He put an arm out to stop me. Blocked, I waited in place, looking up at him in disbelief.
“I’m afraid not,” he replied blandly.
“You’re now officially holding me here against my will!” I shouted.
“We have to keep you here to protect you from Arlos, as well as—”
“I don’t care about Arlos and this ‘vampire prophecy’ and ‘reincarnation’ bullshit!” I cut him off.
“Autumn!” the vampire leader shouted, and I swore the walls shook. “No one here wants to be your friend.” His voice tempered while he spoke certain words through his fangs. “The only thing keeping me and everyone else here from having you for dinner is the fact that you’re our former vampire leader‘s reincarnation and the key to destroying our enemy. If not for that, you would have been the main course tonight!” he growled with bared fangs.
Frustrated, I tore my gaze away from his penetrating stare. I noticed a small hanging picture of a cardinal just over his shoulder. The picture’s black background showed a reflection of the room against its glass. Baffled to find Thade’s reflection nonexistent, I had to do a double-take. An empty space filled the void where the glass should have captured him. I could see myself standing there in the reflection’s foreground, but where was Thade? According to the reflection, he wasn’t even in the room.
“I didn’t ask for this,” I informed him through my teeth. “Why can’t I leave?”
“You can’t leave because you have to become one of us in order to awaken Latresma inside of you,” he answered. “Only then, can you—can she—rid us of Arlos.”
“What?” I cried and backed away.
“Not now, of course, but when we find him. That will be the time.”
“No! No, I’m not doing this!” I yelled as I began to pace. “Take me home!”
“You’re safest here. Arlos will never find you. That is, if you stay within these walls. The minute you step outside, you become free game to those who can see your aura. Your blood-aura is what gives you away. This is why you cannot go home.”
“Ever?” I blurted out. “In that case, I’m not interested in helping you!”
“I’m afraid you have no choice in the matter,” he countered.
“Then what choices do I have?” I asked and took him by his sleeve. “Do you even know what happens to me after Latresma appears?”
“We don’t know for sure what will happen to your body upon her rising.”
“So, I could die?” astounded, I guessed.
“Or you could go on living as a vampire like the rest of us,” he bounced back, then pulled away from me.
“Either I die or live forever? No one knows for sure? I don’t know which is worse. Do you realize that you’re asking me to…that you’re forcing me to give up my life for people who kill my kind for food?”
“It’s not just our kind that is in danger,” he pressed. “It’s yours, as well.”
“Sounds like my kind is already in danger with you people around,” I accused. “Look, I did not ask for this. I refuse to help you.”
“Don’t be so selfish! None of us asked for this! Do you really believe I woke up one day and wished for someone to come along and change me into what I am now? I never wished for this, but I had to make a choice for the wellbeing of my children. Do you think I enjoy taking human lives and murdering innocent people to stay alive?”
He snatched something small off the dresser and flicked it at me. It bounced off my collarbone. I caught the cigarette pack against my chest.
“Hell, not even those can kill me now! I’m not even addicted to them. Addiction is a human weakness. I only smoke because it reminds me of the days when I used to be human. I miss those days. You don’t have the slightest clue how many other people have to live this way as I do. Yes. I used to be human. Seventy years ago, I was human just like you. But now, yes. I miss being able to walk in broad daylight without exploding into flames. I miss the simple human life and pleasures. Most of all, I miss being with my wife. She was a vampire when we met, but she died long ago, purposely stepped out into the sunlight. I guess she’d had enough of living forever. I chose this life so my son and daughter would have a father to watch over them for the rest of their immortal lives. I hated this life at first, especially without her, but I got used to it because I had to. And so will you.”
“That’s great and all, but you don’t actually care that Arlos is a threat to humans," I insisted. “You only care because he’s a threat to your food source.”
Thade lean directly into my face. I recoiled and dropped the pack of cigarettes at my feet. The smell of smoke on his breath made the back of my throat itch.
“You must have missed what I said,” he growled in a threateningly low tone. “Arlos is not just a threat to the human race. He’s here to annihilate all life on Earth. He wants to open a portal to hell and bring his demon followers into this dimension with him. He wants everyone here dead, not just the vampire half of the population. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices, Autumn. Whether human or vampire, sacrifice is a part of life. Unfortunately, your humanity is what will have to be sacrificed to protect the world as you know it. Now, I’m not going to stand here and argue with you all night long. I have other matters to attend to.” He picked up the cigarette box from the floor. “I know there is no easy way to accept this. You’ll just have to adapt like the rest of us have.”
I could feel myself on the verge of crying. And then, the tears came. “You...I...” I stuttered. “This is so wrong.”
There wasn’t much else I could say. Words swirled out of control in my head, but I couldn’t form a full sentence out of them. Thade patted the top of my head the way my dad used to. He motioned for me to walk with him to the room I’d woken up in.
“This will be yours while you’re human,” he told me. “I had wanted you to stay in the lower levels amongst the vampires, but unfortunately, the basement is the first place the havidens would look for you if they attacked. You are safest up here,” he said and pointed to the boarded-up window. “Take comfort in the number of eyes I have watching the building perimeter. Goodnight, Autumn.”
When he left, I heard him lock the door from the outside.
So much for not making me feel like a prisoner, I thought.
I could hardly sleep that first night. When I dozed off, the sound of the door being unlocked woke me. I opened my eyes to find a silhouette of Thade peering in. He closed and locked it, exhaled loud enough for me to hear him through the other side, then spoke. With his voice muffled, I could just make out his words.
“That entire race of havidens is a race of slaves, and they don't even know it. It's pathetic. Arlos has most of them brainwashed into believing they will rule this world together. In reality, Arlos is only using them to take control. He has them all trained like obedient little dogs awaiting a treat that will never come.”
> “Those havids don’t know what’s good for them,” another voice, this one full with a French accent, replied.
I’d later hear the word “havids” used more often to refer to the havidens.
“Not only that, but once Arlos opens that portal to hell, those havidens won’t mean a damn thing to him,” Thade went on. “He will simply discard them without a second thought after he gets his army of demons through to this plane of existence. I can only hope we can find those daggers soon.”
His words faded when he left. Baffled by their conversation, I dozed off again. I woke up early the next morning with the intention of escaping. I was up and dressed in the clothes I’d been given the night before just after 8:00 AM. My sides ached from crying through the night, but that didn’t stop me from trying to break the doorknob and try to pull the boards away from the windows—none of which worked. I couldn’t call for help. I’d left behind my phone and other belongings in my car after the wreck. I was trapped there. But I knew there had to be a way out, and I was hell-bent on finding it.
I heard my door unlock.
“Good morning, Autumn!” Eden chirped cheerfully as she walked in like she owned the place, a tattered backpack slung over her shoulder. Her hands were like lightning as she set the backpack down and gathered notebook paper and pencils from one of its fraying pockets. “I hope today finds you well! I’m sorry about the lockdown last night. My father was only taking precautions. He wanted me to let you know it won’t happen again.”
I didn’t have anything to say to her. Instead, I sat on the bed, studying the old wallpaper while she spoke. I didn’t care if Thade locked me in that room every night for the rest of my life or not—I was a prisoner there, either way.
I looked to Eden with my mind wandering. Her hair hung in braids today, pulled back. She reminded me of an exotic princess.
“I know you’re upset, and I get it—” she began.
“Good morning,” I barely had the energy to cut her off.
“Okay. I understand. You’re not ready to talk. Soon then. For now, I need you to write down your clothes and shoe size along with a few other things. Things like what shampoo you like, what kind of makeup you like and so on. Just little things I can get for you to help you feel more at home here. This is probably a depressing time for you, so we want to keep you mentally and physically healthy as best we can. Oh, be sure to add a few of your favorite things to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
“I don’t have any money,” I told her.
“I won’t need any money.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “You’re stealing everything?”
“Don’t make me feel worse about it than I already do,” she said. “Store security cameras can’t pick up how fast I swipe things off shelves. It’s not like I have to do this all the time. Vampires are very low maintenance, you see. Anyway, let me know when you’re done.” She handed me the paper and pencil. “I’ll leave for the store as soon as you finish. And again, we don’t want you to feel like a prisoner here. We want you to feel at home.” Her smile faded. “Well, at least that goes for my father and me. I’ll be right back.”
It took me an hour to conjure up a small list of things I needed. Everything I did that day was in slow motion. I could hardly remember my favorite food or the brand of makeup I wore. To me, those little details weren’t so important in the scheme of things anymore. Eden returned just as I finished up. I broke from my daze and handed the list to her. She stared after it long enough to make me wonder what she was thinking about.
“Wow, you print like a typewriter,” she said.
She folded the list neatly as if not to disturb the words on the paper. “I’ll be back in about an hour,” she assured me. “Here. This will help pass the time.”
She went through her backpack once more and handed me a white handheld game console. “It’s mine, but you can have it. I never use it anymore. It’s kind of childish, but believe me, it’s better than nothing. I'll get some books and magazines for you, too. I can probably get you a TV from downstairs and have one of the gentlemen hook it up for you later today, just something to keep you occupied while you’re human. You won’t be interested in trivial things like that once you’re…never mind. I won’t bring that up right now. I’ll return shortly.”
And with that, she left.
*
One might have guessed I felt content living there among the vampires. Everything I needed was provided. I had a comfortable bed to sleep in, privacy, food every day, new clothes and a TV along with a few other things to keep myself entertained, but it never filled that empty void left behind where my friends and family used to be. I hurt so deeply that the release of crying did nothing for me.
Throughout each day, I floated in between a constant state of numbness to an off and on sick-to-my-stomach feeling. Not to mention, I was still being held there against my will. I wasn’t allowed to leave the greystone, not for any reason. Hell, I couldn’t even look out of my own window. Being unable to see the sun for so long made me feel as if I were already a vampire.
After just three days into my stay with them, I quickly realized the vampires were cold-hearted and emotionless, so distant and uninterested in me it was as if I didn’t exist. They never displayed any range of facial expressions. Their faces were blank, pale masks with pink-rimmed, dead eyes focused high above me as they walked by. Eden warned me they’d act this way. She mentioned I wouldn’t be harmed in any way, but that my presence probably wouldn’t be acknowledged by the majority of the vampires. Despite the partial vampire soul I carried, I wasn’t their elder vampire leader in the flesh. I was human, their prey, and Eden advised me to stay out of their way.
Eden was the only one who paid me any attention, who tried to be my friend. She stopped by my room as often as she could, bringing with her a book, sometimes even a coloring book or DVDs, and even more clothes from the store when she found time to “shop”. Her constant presence comforted me. She became like a big sister—even a mom—to me. But I felt like a ghost only she, and sometimes Thade, could see.
Most of the time, Thade avoided looking in my direction unless he had something to say to me, and that didn’t happen often. Even Garrett, who was half human himself, ignored me. I hardly saw him, anyway. Just as Eden said, Garrett spent his time in the lower levels with the vampires, and I stayed clear of that place.
Terry always acknowledged me when we ran into one another. He would nod or say hello, but that was the extent of it. Compared to the others, his polite disposition always left me wondering if he was really a vampire.
Harper was a different story. He was also one of the only vampires who acknowledged me but not the way Terry did. It was like I’d done something terrible to offend Harper to make him hate me with every fiber of his being. He’d scowl, sometimes scoff at me when we crossed paths. Once, he even walked into me on his way to the basement. I would have fallen flat if it hadn’t been for the corner of the kitchen table. I started peeking around the corner of every room before continuing on to be sure he wasn’t around. I felt like I was ten years old all over again walking down the halls of my elementary school and dodging the class bully.
On any given day while living with the vampires, I’d wake up around 10:00 AM. And for maybe two or three seconds, I’d completely forget where I was. I’d wake up thinking I was at my home in my bed, excited to start a new, carefree day. But after those few seconds passed, the reality of things came rushing back like an unwanted nightmare. My stomach tied itself back into an aching knot and homesickness sank in all over again. After this three-second euphoria faded, I'd cry in the shower before Eden visited me around 10:30 AM.
She’d take me downstairs where she’d already prepared breakfast. While I ate, she’d update me on the search for Arlos. The clan hadn’t stumbled upon any solid leads yet, and from what Eden told me, Thade was growing more and more afraid that Arlos knew where we were, that he might be waiting around for the right time to strik
e.
During the day, there were usually two or three vampires patrolling each floor at ground level with us. Despite this, things were still fairly quiet. Sometimes, I forgot there were hundreds of them living under us. At first, the silence was pleasant, but it soon drove me insane. I missed the chaos that was my household. I never noticed how comforting the noises of my little brother crying or my dad and Jacoby hollering at the TV during basketball season had been. I even missed hearing Bandit bark at his shadow and Jericho obnoxiously calling for Mom across the house.
Normally after breakfast, I’d drag myself back to my bedroom. There wasn’t much to do other than read, watch TV or play video games. Sometimes I’d listen to music and draw in the sketch pad I’d asked Eden to get me. I’ve loved drawing ever since I was little, but it’d been over a year since I’d touched a sketchbook. Drawing used to help me relax, though I’d busied myself with cheerleading and friends so often that I hardly had time for it anymore. I didn’t realize how much I missed it. Now, it kept me busy, helped keep the homesickness at bay.
A little after 12:00 PM, I’d go back downstairs. At one point, I noticed something about the boarded-up window by the back door. One of the boards had rotted some, one end much worse than the other. There, I found a piece of weakened wood the size of a playing card. And I could ever so slightly peel it back, which allowed me a view of the unkempt backyard and privacy fence. Every day about this time, I'd go to that window and peer through it to get a glimpse of the outside world that didn't exist to me anymore. After taking in that little bit of sun, I'd go to the kitchen again.
I hardly had an appetite, but I forced myself to eat. Eden was good at enticing me with food that smelled like heaven. She said she loved cooking even though she couldn’t eat the food. I didn’t do much after lunch until the sun began to set. That’s about the time I started catching sight of more and more vampires. Once the sun went down, the house was alive, and I made sure to stay away as much as possible. The vampires socialized noiselessly. Some hung around Thade to discuss where they’d send the next search party in hopes of discovering Arlos’ hideaway. Most of the time, I resorted to taking my dinner upstairs to avoid Harper. And if Eden wasn’t busy, she’d come to watch TV with me for a short while. Later during the night, if the vampires weren’t hunting, Thade took a group of them onto the city rooftops to practice what Eden called their “battle tactics”.