by Jen Pretty
“Yes,” I replied still standing in the doorway.
“Good, I have to go deal with some business; Frankie will stay here tonight and keep an eye on you.”
I glanced at Frankie.
“We can watch movies or something. It’ll be fun,” Frankie said.
“Alright,” I replied.
“Good,” Vincent said before he picked up his briefcase and brushed past me out of the room, leaving Frankie and me in his office.
“So, movie?” Frankie asked.
“Sure.”
Down the hall, in the entertainment room, Frankie flicked on the TV while I poured two glasses of whiskey at the bar, then tucked the bottle under my arm and carried our glasses towards the couch.
My phone rang in my pocket halfway across the room. I set the drinks down on the coffee table in front of the couch and hit the answer button on my phone.
It was Randy letting me know my old yoga instructor was looking for some extra classes and agreed to cover for me whenever I needed her. Finally, good news. My dream wouldn’t crash to the ground.
Frankie and I watched an action movie, though my mind was too distracted to pay attention. This was a waste of time, but I couldn’t figure out what I should do instead. Should I be trying to talk to Shiva again? Trying to figure out how to avoid going to jail? Hunting down rogue vampires? Quiet nights were not my normal anymore.
“Did you find Mr. Fellum?” I asked during a lull in the action on the screen.
Frankie looked at me with a sad smile. His eyebrows were drawn down and I saw his throat bob.
“Oh my God. You didn’t kill him, did you?”
“No, Lark. Mr. Fellum passed away almost a month ago.”
“Oh, poor guy. Shit. He was always nice.”
“I’m sorry.”
We sat in silence for a while, except for the bombs exploding on the TV screen.
“If he didn’t identify me to the police, then who did?” I asked, pulling out of my thoughts about poor Mr. Fellum.
“We don’t know, Vincent is going downtown to find out though. He has vampires on the police force. He will get answers, Lark.”
When the bottle of whiskey was gone, I pulled out a bottle of vodka, and we toasted Durga. The vodka went down like water.
“You know, it’s pretty weird that you have another person living inside you,” Frankie slurred.
“I know, it’s like sharing a room. When I was fourteen, I lived in this foster home and had to share a room with three other girls. They were always taking my things and making a mess.” I laughed. “Durga totally takes my things and makes a mess.”
“She is making a huge mess of your life,” Frankie laughed. “God, I just realized you are never really alone.” He lost his smile and looked at me like he had just figured something out. “Is she here right now? Like sometimes you say she is sleeping. Is she sleeping right now?” He moved closer, inspecting me like he could see her if he looked hard enough.
“She’s never gone, it just seems like sometimes she is closer to the surface and sometimes she is sleeping. Unless the world turns red, I’m not sure she is watching what is going on.”
“Like when your eyes change, she is watching?”
“I think so.”
“Your eyes aren’t red now.”
“No.”
Frankie leaned until his lips were so close to mine, I could feel his hot breath on my lips. The smell of alcohol mixed with his own scent of leather and my pulse jumped. Finally, his lips touched mine and I leaned my head back into the couch. The moment stretched until my mind was mush. Frankie’s strong arm came up and wrapped around the back of my neck. Lost in the moment I was surprised when he pulled away until I heard feet shuffling behind us. Some vampires walked in. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my stupid heart. I was too drunk to be kissing men. Heck, I was too drunk to be doing anything, but passing out. I took another sip of the vodka anyway.
I’d like to see Durga try and climb out a window this drunk. I laughed, snorting alcohol out my nose.
“What’s so funny?” Frankie asked. He was a hilarious drunk.
“You can’t read my mind?” I asked.
“I’m too drunk, just tell me,” he replied.
“Aha! Now I know the secret. Get you really drunk!”
“Shit, you know my weakness,” he laughed. “Now tell me what is so funny.”
“Durga is so drunk, she would probably fall down if she was here,” I laughed. “Durga, come out and play.”
“Don’t call her. She’s such a downer.”
He was right. I didn’t want her here either. Boring old deity.
The vampires who had joined us pretended to watch the movie, but they mostly watched Frankie and me. I wasn’t sure vampires could even get drunk.
We sat in silence, side by side, pretending to watch the movie too.
“What the hell have you two been doing?” Vincent’s stern voice echoed from the doorway. Startling me momentarily, but his angry look made laughter burst up from some place deep inside me that had no sense of self preservation.
I leaned over and buried my face in Frankie's shoulder. “Uh oh, busted,” I whispered between bursts of laughter.
“I thought you were going to take care of her, not get her intoxicated,” the bossy vampire said.
“Lighten up, Vinny. We are having fun,” Frankie said. Vincent’s face had gone beet red.
“Oh shit, Frankie, I think you broke Vincent,” I whispered again between giggles.
The rest of the vampires who had been sitting around watching us get wasted scuttled out of the room, leaving us to face him alone.
“Chickens!” I yelled.
In a flash, there was an angry vampire right in front of me. “Why have you done this?” he asked, his rage barely controlled by the concern on his face.
“Why not? Everything is going to shit. Who cares?” I said.
Frankie reached toward the bottle on the coffee table, but Vincent grabbed it and launched it across the room, shattering the bottle against the far wall.
“Calm down, Vincent,” Frankie said, standing up and swaying slightly. Vincent pushed him back down on the couch easily.
“This is not the way. Who knows what effect this will have on her. Do you really want to have an intoxicated Durga in a house full of vampires?”
Frankie scratched his head. “Yeah, I didn’t think of that.”
“No, you didn’t think,” Vincent replied with a sneer.
Vincent turned his angry eyes back toward me, but the anger melted into a look of helplessness as our eyes met. Vincent angry I could deal with, Vincent worried? Nope, that just made me worried and I was already freaking out enough. I pushed forward and tried to stand up. Vincent backed up, giving me space, but my legs were numb, and I tripped, falling into his arms. He held me for a moment, staring into my eyes. The world turned red for a moment.
“Please, Durga. Let me keep her,” he whispered. Durga moved inside me, but then she was still. “I’ll do anything,” he said pressing his forehead to mine. I closed my eyes and relaxed into his arms completely.
He picked me up and carried me through the mansion, leaving Frankie behind. I remember him setting me down in my bed and pulling off my boots and then I don’t remember anything else.
CHAPTER NINE
DURGA
Proving my point.
Idiot girl thought she could poison me with that vile liquid. Fool. I can’t believe these are the people at the top of the hierarchy. The vampire is smitten with the stupid girl as is the most powerful warlock I have met in all my millennia. It seems power and intelligence are not one and the same.
I rose to discover there were several vampires in the room. They were members of the team who travelled with the foolish child I am tied to.
“What do you want, vampires?”
“Oh, shit that is so creepy,” one of them said, I believe his name was Drew. An absurd name.
“We would just like to assist
you in your work,” Vlad said. I knew him from a previous incarnation. I pulled on Lark's boots and grabbed her money cards. They had proven quite useful.
“I do not need assistance.”
“Perhaps you might let us come along? We could drive you wherever you want to go,” he persisted.
“No,” I replied and walked out the door.
“But we can help. We can clean up the bodies and ensure no one knows about what you have done.”
I spun to face the one who had spoken so foolishly. Clive.
“This is why the vampires persist in their murderous ways towards the human race. They do not see my work and they do not fear me. I have chosen poorly this time and the body is small and frail. I will prove to vampires everywhere that they should still fear me and I will regain the balance that is necessary for your species to survive.” The knife flashed into my hand. “Unless you step out of my way, I will start attaining that balance with your head.”
“Move, Clive.” The vampire lord spoke from the end of the hall and the vampire who dared to defy me turned and walked away.
“Please, Durga. Can we speak for a moment?” the lord asked. He was lovely to look at so I agreed with a nod. My work could wait for a moment longer. I followed him down the stairs and into his office.
“Please, won’t you sit?” He gestured to a chair in front of the desk. I instead circled the desk and took the chair he usually sat in when he lorded over his vampires.
“You look so much like your brother, I trust he is well.”
“Yes, thank you. He is quite well. I think he would have liked to speak with you if he could have stayed away from his home a bit longer.”
I pushed the dark hair out of my face and smoothed it down behind my ear. “Of course, he would have.” Vaughn had a more interesting personality than Vincent, but they were indeed identical.
“Why are you doing this?” He asked. I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Because Lark is too simple. She is distracted by her own desires and has already let your fallen brother Vernon escape twice. Once when he was just outside the door of that frozen house.”
“That wasn’t her fault.”
“It was absolutely her fault!” I yelled, rising to my feet. I slammed my knife down into the surface of his desk. “I will not suffer your evil brother to live any longer. He will die by my hand and soon. He is creating more vampires and upsetting the balance beyond an acceptable level. I have had enough!”
Vincent leaned back and dropped his eyes from mine before using his canine to slice his lip, releasing the scent of his blood into the air.
His show of submission pleased me. I am to be feared by all, even the oldest of the vampires should show me due respect.
I pulled the scent of his blood into my nose. I would allow him to live despite his continued questioning of my motives. He was neither evil nor fallen and his features, so much like his twin brothers, were nice to gaze upon.
His eyes met mine, as though he knew my thoughts and his lip curled in a defiant smile.
I slammed my hands down on the desk. “You and your vampires will not meddle in my business.” Rounding the desk, I strode towards the door.
“Please, Goddess,” he begged. His voice sounded submissive now, which caught me off guard.
“Please, what?”
“Please don’t keep her forever.”
I continued out the door, he wisely did not follow me.
The night was cold and it was thrilling to be out hunting in the dark. Taking the shadows, I walked down the lane this time. I was done hiding from these lesser beings. I needed the vampires to know and fear me if I was going to find the balance again. The gate opened as I approached and the vampire in the hut by the end of the lane wisely kept his head down.
At least some had respect for me.
I walked to the bus stop and waited. No bus arrived. Inconvenient.
I continued towards the dirty section of town on foot. The evening was pleasant and the walk invigorating. I sensed several vampires in the city which should not be there. No respectable vampire would live in this foul part of the city.
My first stop was to a run-down building. It was filled with humans sitting in their own waste. The smell was overwhelming when I entered and worse as I moved deeper into the structure. I could smell human blood over the scent of excrement and followed it to a back room. I pushed the door open and discovered a vampire feasting on the blood and flesh of a dead human. Disgusting.
The vile creature hissed at me and I called my blade to hand.
He dropped the dead body with a wet thud and launched himself towards me. I brought my blade up as he approached, but he managed to dodge at the last second and the blade slammed into his collarbone instead of his neck. When he reared back, the knife was embedded so deeply that I lost my grip. I called the blade back to me, but in the split second that took, he managed to bite down and tear out a piece of my flesh. The pain was irrelevant. I swung my blade down hard on his neck, severing it completely and his head rolled to rest beside the body he had been dining upon.
Fallen vampires were definitely the worst of the lot. Animals.
I wiped the blade clean on the vampire’s shirt, not that it was much cleaner. As I stood up, the engraved lark flying across the blades flat edge caught my eye. I didn’t have time to consider the strange loneliness that settled over me at the sight of the image. I had work to do.
I exited the building and followed the road down to the river. Humans were sleeping in makeshift tents and against the cement girders. I saw a small child curled up beside her mother and wondered how the cities had grown so large and yet one so little could be left to rot in the grass. The injustice was rampant among the humans, but my only job was the vampires. I forced myself to look away from the small form and went back on the hunt. Another vampire was here. Feasting upon the homeless and the helpless.
I crept along the silent river, scanning the area for the beast that would be my prey. I kept my mind still and my steps silent -- hunting the hunters of the night.
Finally, in the distance, I saw her. This one was female and she was bent over a body on the ground. She wasn’t feral like the last. Her eyes flashed up and she immediately knew who I was. She turned and ran, but she would not be fast enough tonight. I bolted after her, slowly gaining ground as she ran down the dark streets of this forgotten part of the city. We ran past overflowing trash bins and more homeless humans lining the back alleys, sleeping on flattened boxes.
She emerged on the main street a few steps ahead of me and paused a moment too long. In a flash, I was on top of her. My knife slid deep into the back of her neck, and she collapsed to the ground. I rode her down and ensured her spine was severed. She would not feast on the unwilling ever again.
I stood slowly after drying my blade on her back. That is when I noticed lights flashing and four humans with their weapons pointed at me.
I had never faced down a group of humans before. They usually stayed out of my way and I stayed out of theirs. These were innocent humans. I could not injure them and flee.
“Drop the weapon,” a fat man in uniform, said. It was the same one that had been in Vincent’s office earlier, Officer Blane.
“Lark, you need to put the knife down. Don’t make this situation worse.” I glanced at the other speaker. I recognized this one as well. He had been at the house and introduced himself as Officer Jeffery. But I could sense he was not human, and his stark white hair reminded me of something. When his eyes flashed yellow, I smiled, recognizing my old friend and I dropped the knife.
A human behind me grabbed my arm and twisted it before knocking me to the ground.
“Go easy Frank. Her lawyer will have a field day if there is a mark on her,” said Jeffery. Such an unfitting name. I would have to remember it though. His real name was much nicer.
“She just stabbed that woman in the neck and killed her. Her lawyer is not getting her off this time.”
The ma
n, Frank, ground his knee into the middle of my back. I had half a mind to kill him right here for daring to treat me like this, but if officer Jeffery, with his beautiful yellow eyes, wanted me to play human, I would do so. Perhaps I could speak with him later. In private. Once this mess was cleaned up.
The imbecile on my back put steel handcuffs on me and then dragged me up off the ground. He then shoved me forward roughly. This type of handling was unacceptable. I was about to change my mind and destroy these humans when Officer Jeffery’s hand came down on my shoulder.
“I’ll take her in,” he said.
“Sure, why not. Let you deal with the paperwork,” Frank said before he released me to Singh.
Singh, for that was his correct name, not Jeffery, grunted, wrapped his hand around my upper arm and led me to the backseat of his waiting police car. He gently placed his hand on my head and pressed down as I stepped into the vehicle.
He and his partner, drove me away with lights flashing as two more police cars and an ambulance arrived.
Foolish humans. No paramedic would heal that dead vampire. I laughed to myself at the absurdity of the human race in this era.
“Something funny, you psycho?” The fat human asked, half turned around to glare at me from his place in the front seat. If he only knew who I was, he would be thanking me right now.
I turned my head and looked out the window, pointedly ignoring him. The lights of the city passed us until we pulled into a garage below the police sign on the side of the station.
The officers exited the vehicle and Singh came around to my door. He opened it and helped me to my feet and then led me through the building to a cell made of heavy steel. I could probably destroy it and escape, but these humans didn’t deserve to die and I would probably have to fight my way free. Very well. I would be still and wait for guidance.
“Please, stay in here. I will inform Vincent,” Singh whispered as he led me in and then he walked back out, locking the heavy door behind him. His eyes stayed locked on mine for a moment, until I curled my lip in a smile. Then he was gone to get the vampire.
I didn’t want Vincent’s help, but if he could arrange my exit from this building, I would allow him to do that.