by Jen Pretty
I sat on the hard bench that ran along one wall and waited.
Eventually, Singh returned. I stood and approached the bars of the cage he had left me in.
“What word have you, Singh?”
“Goddess. I have spoken with the vampire. He has sent the warlock to erase the memories of those who witnessed your work, but there were many. It will take time.”
“Very well, my beautiful lion, I will await your return.” Singh grinned, flashing me his pearly teeth, reminding me of his great power and then he walked away.
I sighed. Sitting here was a waste of time, but hopefully, now the vampires would know the stakes and they would change their treacherous ways. I lay down on the hard bench and shut my eyes. Surely, I wouldn’t be here for long.
I opened my eyes again to find I was still in control. This suited me.
I stood and started through a routine of stretches to release the stiffness bought on from sleeping on such an uncomfortable surface. My neck prickled and I turned to find Vincent sitting in a chair beyond the bars of my cage.
“Have you come to release me?” I asked him. He didn’t reply immediately, so I went back to my stretches.
“You can’t just keep her locked away,” He muttered.
“I can do as I please,” I replied from the filthy floor where I was stretching my spine.
“She gave up her life to do your work and now you would steal what little she has left?”
I did not like his tone. Who was he, a vampire, to question me? “I let you live, you should not be so ungrateful.”
“But you kill Lark. She is more innocent than any of us.”
I turned away and continued my routine.
A few minutes later I heard the lock click and the slide of the door. I turned back to find it open, and the vampire had vanished.
Finally, I could get back to my business. But first, I needed to find Singh. He would be invaluable in the battle against evil.
CHAPTER TEN
DURGA
I walked through the police station and wove between the desks and cubicles until I found him. He looked up at me and gave me a half smile.
“Will you come with me, great lion?”
He gathered his coat and belongings and led me out into the waning daylight. I had been trapped for the whole day and it was now nearly night again. As we strolled along the city streets my mind wandered to my past. I had not seen Singh in many centuries. He was the power and will that I rode into battle.
“Why have you not come to find me before now, my lion?”
“Goddess, forgive me. I had not thought you needed me until now. What have you become?”
I gasped. “I am the great hunter. I balance the tides.”
“At what cost?”
A human walked by, forcing us to pause our conversation. I had not considered that Singh would not understand our mission.
“At all costs,” I replied as the human moved down the street.
“Is it truly a holy mission if you misuse trust and destroy one life to save another?”
“You refer to the stupid little bird? She is of minor consequence when there is such great evil running through the world.”
“Is that the way?” he asks, his eyes trained on the ground.
“Of course, it’s the way. I say it is the way.”
He bowed his head and spoke no more.
We took the city bus and transferred to one that would take us to the yoga studio. It would be quiet there at this hour and perhaps I could seek Shiva for guidance. Singh had brought doubt to my mind and now it would not let go.
We got off the urine scented bus close to the studio and I found that the vampire named Randy was inside.
“Lark,” he said as I walked through the door.
“Lark is busy right now, I have come to use this space. Do not interrupt me vampire.”
I felt a flutter within me. Surely that small bird couldn’t be flapping her wings. I was in control now.
I moved into the studio proper and sat, crossing my legs and resting my hands on my knees, palms up. I reached out to Shiva, clearing my mind of my troubles.
“Lark, you have come back.”
I scowled at Shiva, the foolish man.
“Durga,” he said in a much less enthusiastic tone.
“Yes, it is I,” I replied.
“Will Lark be coming back to see me?” he asked, sounding cautious.
“No.”
“But she was nice, Durga. Why must you do this?”
“Because, she is weak and useless. I am much better prepared to fight our battles than the tiny girl.”
“Perhaps you have let ego win the war already,” he muttered, looking at his slimy reptile. I always hated that thing.
“How dare you question me!”
“Perhaps if you made better choices, you would not need to be questioned. However, from where I sit, you are making a poor decision that will not only lead to your destruction, but also ruin the life of a pure soul who has already suffered much.”
“But—”
“No, Durga,” he cut in, his voice unusually harsh. “This is not a wise road you travel. It is not the way.”
We sat in silence for a while and I considered his words. He pet his disgusting snake. I found it difficult to take him seriously when he cooed at it as though it were an infant. I began to feel restless. Doubt ate at me.
“Singh has returned,” I said, to break the silence.
He scoffed. “A clear sign that my words ring true.”
“If I allow Lark to be in control, she will not kill as many vampires as quickly,” I argued.
“Perhaps, but if you assist her, the balance will be restored before long, then you and she will work in harmony, as it is meant to be. I understand you have already caused problems for her.”
“Nothing her warlock and vampire couldn’t handle.”
“And do you believe they will keep handling the problems you create if you have forsaken their beloved?”
“Alright! Shiva, no need to beat a dead horse. I will make some concessions. But you must educate her more fully. I will not be ignored. She must pay attention.”
“Very well,” Shiva sighed.
“Goodbye,” I sneered.
“Goodbye,” he said, his word cut off as I relinquished control to the Lark in the night.
LARK
“How did I get here?” Shiva was sitting in front of me. His snake draped loosely around his neck and holding perfectly still. Like an imitation of jewelry. I watched it a moment longer and its tongue flicked out and back in. I shivered.
“Durga has decided she is willing to work with you but says you must listen more carefully to her. She said to tell you I will not be ignored,” he spoke in a strangely feminine voice that would have made me laugh in any other circumstance. “Those were her exact words.”
“I haven’t been ignoring her,” I argued. Ok, maybe I had been fighting her a bit.
The Hindu God scowled at me. “Do not make trouble, Lark. Listen more carefully. She will guide you.”
“Ok, I’ll try.”
“Do not try, do.”
“What are you Yoda now?”
He scowled again, crinkling his forehead in both anger and confusion. “You are just like her, no wonder you two don’t get along. Be gone, child. I have work to do and so do you.”
“Ok, fine.”
I opened my eyes and I was in my yoga studio. The police officer who I had seen in Vincent’s office was sitting cross legged in front of me.
“What the fuck?” I muttered, standing abruptly and backing away.
“It’s ok, Lark,” the officer said.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to make my brain work. Durga must have taken over again. The last thing I remember; I was in the house with Frankie. Vincent came home. I rubbed my forehead.
“Durga and I are old friends,” he said startling me out of my memory hunt. When I looked at him again, his
eyes flashed yellow for a moment.
“Whoa, what are you?”
He grinned and I got a flash in my mind of a lion.
“A lion?” I asked. I had no idea where that came from, but Durga brushed against me, making me wonder if she had shown me that. Maybe I had been ignoring her.
“Some say so, others think I am a tiger. I am the will and power of the goddess Durga. I am the reminder to control negative emotions. Durga strayed from the path, but has seen the error of her ways.”
Durga spun inside me, causing me to gasp at his words. That was weird. “Ok,” I said, still stunned by the whole situation. “So, how did I get here?”
“That is a bit of a long story. I imagine you would like to go home. Your warlock and vampire will be glad to see you are back.”
I turned and walked to the reception desk, but it was empty and the key was on the desk with a note from Randy. It read ‘gone home, please lock the door.’
I tucked the note in my pocket, grabbed the key and held the door for the weird lion guy behind me.
“What’s your name again?” I asked.
“You may call me Singh, I will be staying with you.”
“Oh, ok, sure. More the merrier.” Hopefully Vincent didn’t mind.
Thankfully my new friend Singh had a cell phone. I used it to call Vincent to come get me but warned him that his two-seated sports car wouldn’t fit me and my new bud. So, he rolled up in my SUV.
I opened the door but he got out and grabbed me from behind, spinning me and pushing me up against the side of the vehicle. I heard a distinct growl from Singh, but Vincent paid him no attention.
“Is it you?” he asked.
“Fucking vampire, yes it’s me,” I said trying to catch the breath he had knocked out of me.
His lips came down on mine so fast, I gasped. The warmth of his body pressed against mine, sent delicious shivers down my spine. He broke away too soon and finally seemed to realize we weren’t alone. He looked the other man up and down. Sizing him up.
“Who are you really, then?” he asked before his eyes returned to mine and he smoothed my tangled hair back from my face. Apparently not too worried about the lion man.
“My name is Singh. Though in society I go by Allan Jeffery.”
“Singh means lion in Sanskrit,” Vincent said his eyes still locked on my features.
“That is true,” Singh replied.
Vincent looked at the other man again with a different expression on his face. One of almost wonder and surprise.
“Did you bring her back?” he whispered.
“No, you have Shiva to thank for that. He was uncharacteristically bold today.”
“Thank you for your assistance then,” Vincent opened the passenger side door, ushering me in.
“Singh’s going to come with us,” I said, searching Vincent’s face.
“Of course, anything.”
Vincent got behind the wheel and then reached over and took my hand, holding it while he drove home, with our new friend in the back seat.
At the mansion, Singh got some sideways looks from the vampires. He was still dressed in his uniform. Vincent took him to get different clothes. Apparently, the lion man had an apartment across town. If he was going to stay here, as he had said, he would need to go get his things. Luckily one of the vampires was as tall as him and they were able to find him some clothes while I was getting cleaned up.
In the dining room, Singh and Vincent tried to fill in the gaps in my memory of what had happened while Durga was in control. Clive, Drew and Vlad sat listening in. Singh was just explaining what he knew of the vampires Durga had killed the night before when I saw a flash in my mind. Like the one I had of Singh as a lion. This time it was a location I knew.
It was the abandoned house I had found Trevor in. I recognized the stairs and the door on the second-floor room. A sense of urgency came over me. Durga was talking to me. This was what I had been ignoring before that got Durga so angry.
“We have to go,” I said, cutting Singh off mid-sentence. I stood, knocking over my chair and wove through the tables to the door of the dining room. Then, I just kept going, straight out to darkest part of the night.
My SUV was still sitting in the driveway. I climbed in and put it in gear as the rest of the doors opened and Singh and the team all jumped in. Before they even had the doors closed, I was driving down the dark driveway towards the road. The gate opened as we approached. Thank God. Otherwise, I might have driven through it.
Durga pushed at my skin, but she didn’t force me out of the way, so I drove fast out of the quiet sleeping neighbourhood and towards the old part of town.
I pulled up to the curb and slid out of the vehicle without even turning it off. Cedric called out to me, but I didn’t slow. I called my blade to my hand and felt a flash of encouragement. Inside, the smell of waste and blood hung in the air. I passed a few junkies, splayed out on the floor, sleeping like rag dolls, forgotten.
Running up the stairs now, I got to the top and shouldered the door open. What I found inside startled me even more than the revelations of what had happened in the last 24 hours.
Three bodies lay on the floor in pools of glistening red. There was a message on the walls, crudely written like a sick finger painting. The moon hung low and shone in through the open window, giving just enough light, with my enhanced vision, to read the words.
‘DURGA LEAVES OR ALL SUFFER’
Well, that was a pretty obvious ultimatum. The team came rushing in behind me.
“Awe, shit, that’s gross.” Trust Drew to state the obvious.
“Lark, you still with us?” Cedric asked as I stared out the window at the moon. Whoever had done this, it was all for me. I took some deep breaths, closed my eyes and sent my senses out into the night. The team was here, I moved farther out. I sensed something bordering the river. It didn’t feel like a vampire though it was definitely evil. I waited a moment and then it disappeared. I stretched my senses as far as they would go, but it was gone.
Snapping back to the room, I checked the bodies on the floor. They were still warm, but dead. I was nauseated, but when Cedric looked at me like I was a bomb ready to go off, I swallowed the sick feeling and walked back out of the house.
I leaned against the SUV, took some deep breaths of the cool air and calmed my racing heart.
Singh came down and leaned beside me.
“What was it that you sensed?” he asked quietly.
“I don’t know. Something evil,” I replied.
“Durga fights all forms of evil, not just vampires. There are other demons.”
“Of course, there are. I just get used to killing vampires, and now I have to go find some other demon and kill him while still trying to track down that jerk Vernon? I should just let Durga do it all.”
“That is not the way. There are those who would not bear to lose you. Call your warlock,” he said.
“Frankie? I don’t call him, he just pops in when he feels like it.”
Frankie appeared in front of us and I looked at Singh. He shrugged. Ok then.
“Hey, Frankie, you know anything about an evil that is not a vampire?” I asked, not expecting to get an answer. But Frankie’s face darkened.
“Was he here?” Frankie turned and sprinted into the house.
“Was who here?” I asked, but he was gone. I wanted to follow him back into the building, but Singh stopped me.
“This is Frankie’s personal demon. Tread lightly.”
I leaned back against the vehicle and considered Singh’s words. He was trimming his nails with his teeth and spitting the bits onto the sidewalk. I wanted to ask him how he knew anything about Frankie, but couldn’t stop staring at his disgusting personal grooming habit. The team came down a few minutes later, but no Frankie.
“Where is he?” I asked as Vlad opened the door to the SUV.
“He disappeared, as he tends to do,” Vlad said before sliding into the passenger seat. I heard the
engine start and looked to see Cedric in the driver’s seat. Apparently, he was driving my car now. I slid into the back, wedged between Drew and Singh.
“We should go find him. He would be at the biker bar off the highway.”
“You might be welcome there, Lark. But the rest of us would get some wicked hocus pocus if we showed up there. Let’s go home and see what Vincent wants us to do.”
“Call him,” I said, looking at Vlad who was just sitting there doing nothing.
Drew handed me his phone before I could say anymore. I wasn’t sure why they were being such chickens. The witches and warlocks seemed ok. Vincent had said they had a truce or something.
I dialed Vincent and it rang once before he picked up.
“What?” he said shortly.
“Hello to you too. These vampires are too afraid to go to Frankie’s without permission,” I said.
“Lark. Of course, they are. Vampires aren’t allowed on the sacred grounds,” he replied in a much less harsh tone than his original greeting.
“Well, I need to talk to Frankie about the evil that slaughtered three junkies in a house in lower town.”
Vincent grunted. Then there was a long pause.
“Leave the team here and take Singh with you. Those magic people will love him.” Then there was a dial tone. He hung up on me. Huh.
I handed the phone back to Drew.
“Alright, you are off the hook. Boss says you can stay home while I go chat with the big bad magic folks.”
Cedric slumped in obvious relief and drove us out of the dirty streets back to the clean crisp neighbourhood we all called home just as the sun was peeking over the horizon.
I got out and slid into the driver seat as the team walked back to the house. Singh got in the passenger seat and we drove out of the city.
The music at the club house was loud enough that we could hear it as we pulled up even with the windows up.
When we got out a couple of witches came out the front door and stopped, their eyes locked on Singh. I looked at Singh more objectively. He was quite handsome, really. His olive complexion and stylish messy white hair put him right in that ‘exotic handsome’ category.