by T M Linville
Martin raised LaShay by himself. He rarely even had anyone babysit her. He was with her day and night, nearly her entire life. He helped her with her school work and made sure that she had the best education. He would have teachers and tutors come in and teach LaShay things that didn’t come with the extranet curriculum. Things from art history to gene splicing. He joined her for martial arts training and they would spar together, that is until LaShay got too good to challenge her dad. She was taught to draw and paint and she loved it. It was all done on computers and she learned very quickly. She took a special liking to her father’s television stations and the broadcast graphics. So Martin brought in the top designer at the local station and had her train LaShay personally.
When Shay was old enough she went to work for her father. They remained close until Shay started dating a guy named Todd. He was the first guy that she felt serious about. She had dated a few others but she didn’t feel a real connection to them. Even the guy that her father introduced her to. He wasn’t happy about it, but he never pressured her to date anyone she didn’t want to. Until she brought Todd home one night. He had long hair, a scruffy five o’clock shadow and wore clothes that looked twenty years old.
“Is he a bum?” Her father asked her.
“No! He works in the mail room at NY26. You’re TV station,” she gleamed.
Martin made a mental note to update the hiring policy in the mail room.
Luckily for Martin, Todd turned out to be a two timing ass hole and Shay dumped him after three months, but not before she had moved out of her father’s estate and into her own apartment. He knew that it was inevitable so he let his baby girl go out on her own. He had a body guard follow her for the first year. She hated it and it took that long for her to talk her father into getting rid of the twenty four hour surveillance.
She moved into a nice one bedroom apartment on West 70th street. It was across from a nursing home so she was glad she wouldn’t have to worry about rowdy neighbors.
She dated various men and most were approved by her father. She dated one guy for about five years before they just grew apart. Nick was a great guy. He was a fellow designer at NY26 and his office was just down the hall from Shay’s. They had gotten pretty serious early on. They talked about marriage and having children and moving outside the city. They could talk about anything and they often did. They were like best friends with benefits. The sex was great and frequent but Shay still felt there was something missing. They stayed together for eight months after he proposed.
After three months, Shay had a nice long talk with her father about marriage. She wanted to know what her mother was like and how he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
“How did you know, Dad?”
“I just knew,” he said. “I knew because I felt like I would die if I didn’t marry her. I couldn’t picture her not being in my life. It’s like a part of me died when I wasn’t with her.”
He had told Shay since she was old enough to understand that her mother had died during childbirth. He wasn’t referring to Andrea, the surrogate, but the wife that was killed in the helicopter crash. He never told LaShay that she was created in a lab. He told her that her mother was his late wife and that it was her that died delivering Shay.
Martin had told the story so many times it was almost like telling the truth. He never told Shay that he had just let her biological mother die. He didn’t have her killed, he just denied her any further care after Shay was born and she hemorrhaged to death. Her death was considered a tragedy and no one bothered to look into it any further.
“So you just knew?” Shay asked.
“Yes. It’s like that was the only option for me. I loved her so much.”
“So what if I don’t feel that way?” She asked.
“Then don’t marry him,” her father said flatly.
Nick and Shay’s relationship fizzled out shortly after that conversation. There were no hard feelings or broken hearts involved, at least Shay didn’t think there was.
About eight years later she met Josh. He was a corporate lawyer for her father’s many businesses. He handled things like people trying to sue for whatever reason. From falling in the parking lot to wrongful termination. She really liked him. He was funny and kind and was a perfect gentleman. Her father was ecstatic when Shay brought him to dinner at his estate one Saturday night. He knew Josh in passing and was proud that his daughter had finally made a good choice in the man she was dating. Josh was a little older than Shay, about twelve years, but her father didn’t seem to care.
Hybrid
Lily was a vampire like no one had ever seen before or since. She was part human, part vampire and a small part of her DNA was from a wolf. She had jet black hair, crystal blue eyes, stood five foot six and weighed all of one hundred and twenty pounds. She had a thin layer of human skin over her vampire skin, but like any other vampire, she had a reaction to the sun. She had to cover up or wear sunblock like any other vampire if she went outside. Without it, the outer layers of skin would slowly tan like any human’s but the burn accelerated very rapidly after only a short time. McGoo and Lily figured that she could last probably twenty minutes in direct sunlight without protection, but she never wanted to test that theory. If she had sunblock on, she could almost guarantee to be burn free as long as she didn’t miss any spots. She had learned to cover every inch of her skin every single time when Robert, Mary’s oldest son, began to train her to hunt. Since she could eat meat, wild stock like deer, salmon, rabbit or squirrel could be killed and she could sustain herself if the need ever arose. Robert, with the help of Onyx taught her to hunt in the wild. Onyx lived on meat alone and they would share the kills they made. Erica also thought it wasn’t a bad idea to teach Lily how to hunt for her own meat. Erica was more like a mother to Lily than anything else and of course she would be all for something that would give Lily any sort of advantage. Say, if all of the feeders decided to protest against the vampires. What would the vampires feed on? Lily wouldn’t have that problem since she could hunt, at least that’s the way Erica saw it.
Onyx would go along with Robert and Lily and would help chase prey back in their direction if they missed the kill. He would also go to hunt for his own food. They usually had an uneventful day in the woods, hunting various prey but the day that Lily chased the wild boar had to have been the day that she got her hunting stripes. It was a big boar, two hundred and forty five pounds with four inch tusks. Yeah, he was big and thought he was making her his dinner. Robert made the first shot with an arrow and glazed the shoulder of the pig so it would start chasing one of them. Since Lily closer, the boar thought she was just great for the taking. She wasn’t. After chasing her just under a half a mile she decided that it was time to stop and fight. She was half the boar’s weight but she thought could take this dumb animal. She wasn’t spending all day wearing him down just to let Robert put an arrow in the worn out pig’s head. If she was going to hunt for her food, she was going to need to do it efficiently. Onyx was always her backup plan, because even if she just barely missed dinner, Onyx was right behind her setting up another chance.
Onyx and Lily just knew where the other had to be in order to make a kill. Sometimes she missed an obvious takedown but rarely did Onyx miss. They preferred to hunt deer but the day they killed the boar was one she’ll never forget because the thing actually got a piece of her. She was attacking him from the side when he whipped his head around and his long snout and protruding canines caught Lily in the thigh and threw her to the ground. Onyx didn’t wait for her to recover. He was on the boar and had broken its neck before she had barely even hit the ground. At the time she was pissed because Onyx didn’t let her fight, but he was only doing what he was supposed to do. Protect her from danger and apparently really pissed off wild boars was on the top of the list. She did get a chance to fight one of equal size and nearly the same ferocity only a few weeks later. That time, she’s the one that broke its neck.
&nb
sp; Erica did a very good job of raising Lily. Although Lily looked like a child for only a short amount of time, Erica made sure that she had time to be a kid, time to make mistakes to learn from them. Like any child in the coven, she was given a formal education. Reading, writing and arithmetic was only the short list. Biology and chemistry where also part of program and computer sciences came later. She caught on quickly and excelled in every subject. Erica taught her at the coven since Lily was unable to attend school. Lily looked eighteen when she was only nine and that would not have gone over very well in the classroom in the 1930’s. Erica also made sure that Lily could do other things, like sew, mend clothes, ride a horse, and cook. Erica taught her everything a mother would teach her child.
She also protected her from Eric during this time. Since Erica was the daughter of the leader, she and Lily both got away with more than most. Skipped curfews, missed work days and forgotten task assignments were all too often overlooked.
Eric and Lily were always fighting and one day, when they were living in the Atlanta coven in ‘95, he got the upper hand. It was Lily’s week to help with trash collection for the coven, which she absolutely loathed. She was trudging along, picking up a bag or two at a time, carrying them to the four wheeler they used and then took them to the dumpster on the outskirts of the coven. At least they had four wheelers. It beat the hell out of the horse and cart that they had started with so many decades earlier. But Eric was waiting for her, hiding in the brush just beyond the edge of the coven’s property. While Lily was unloading the trash bags into the dumpster she felt a sharp pain and a burning on her cheek. Almost instantly she literally saw fire. Eric had shot a burning arrow at her and had hit her in the face. Without thinking, she ripped the arrow from her cheek and went after Eric. It was a bloody fight, all claws and fangs ripping at each other at almost blinding speed. Lily finally had him pinned, with his face to the dirt under her claws when Vincent pried Lily off of him.
He thought he had won and even though he was punished to the highest degree, he was smug. In addition to taking all of Lily’s task assignments for the next six months, he was forbidden from leaving the coven for the same time period. That really pissed him off. Still, when he wasn’t tormenting Lily or Erica, he was often away from the coven, wreaking havoc in other places where Vincent wouldn’t catch him.
The main place he would go was the Underground. He had a high rank among the fighters in the most prestigious fight club and most everyone knew him down there. The Atlanta Underground was very similar to the Nashville one. Atlanta’s was much bigger and housed a thousand more vampires but the rules were the same. Homeless or traveling vampires stayed in the Underground tunnels to conceal their identity from the rest of the world. The occasional human police officer would sometimes venture into the tunnels chasing someone. They didn’t often make it to the congregation areas, but when they did it wasn’t a good thing. Other human officers that were aware of the tunnels and the vampires that lived there would take over the case if one where to arise from the tunnels. It would soon be swept under the rug and forgotten.
On one particular day, Eric had just finished a fight when Lily and Onyx walked in. Lily fought there occasionally but she and Eric never fought each other. Vincent made sure of that. The odds of them killing each other was too great. But the bets for their fight alone would bring in enough revenue to run the place for months. Ellen, the woman that ran the place, named affectionately, Ellen’s, often poked and prodded Eric to fight Lily. He was all for it, of course. But Vincent was a strong motivator and Ellen didn’t want to cross him.
Lily went to Ellen and she walked back to the where the fighting rings were. Onyx stood in the doorway and waited. There were only two rings in this fight club and between them was a small table with a computer on it. Ellen tapped a few keys and a list of names came up. The computer was new and Ellen was having trouble getting the “ranks” board to open. Even vampires have to learn new technology, and Ellen hated it. She jabbed at the keyboard and finally the screen changed.
“What was wrong with the paper lists? Hard copies can’t get glitches,” she complained.
“You’ll get used to it, Ellen,” said a man from the back of the room.
“Pft!” Ellen spat.
Lily looked at the floor and tried not to laugh.
“OK Lily,” Ellen finally said. “You’re fighting Taylor today.”
“Yeeeessss!” Taylor shouted from beside ring one. “Been waiting for this day.”
“This will be a ranks fight, the winner will increase in rank, but only if it’s a fair fight,” Ellen announced.
Lily climbed into the ring with Taylor. Eric sat down against the wall beside Onyx and watched. He wished it was him in the ring with Lily. Onyx sat down beside him and waited.
A referee climbed into the ring and soon a buzzer sounded. Taylor didn’t wait around. He came at Lily with teeth and claws bared. He jumped at her and came down swinging. Lily ducked and slid sideways. She took a swipe at Taylor’s leg but barely made contact. He was on his feet and jumping backwards before Lily could swing again. Taylor turned around and came back with a roundhouse to Lily’s cheek. She went down but was back up in an instant. She took a swing with her left then her right and made contact. Taylor went flying backwards into the ropes. He rushed Lily and tackled her at the waist. She landed on her back hard then kicked her opponent off. She was on her feet before he was. She swung with all five claws and made solid contact across Taylor’s face. Blood sprayed across the wall closest to the ring. He shook his head and staggered backward.
The referee held up his arm and went to Taylor. His face lay open with five deep gashes. The ref examined the wounds. When they were nearly healed, Taylor was coming back at Lily as soon as the referee dropped his arm. Lily ducked, turned then landed a hard kick to Taylor’s chest. He gasped for air and stepped back three steps. He made an angry face at Lily as he grabbed his chest. After about 15 seconds, and he had caught his breath, he lowered his head and came running at Lily. Lily simply stepped aside and pushed him away using his own momentum. He bounced off the ropes and came at her again. This time Lily swung at his head and it was lights out. Taylor went down, face first.
The referee raised his arm again and the buzzer went off.
“Fight goes to Lily,” the ref said.
After a few seconds, Taylor came to. He sat up and looked at Lily.
“Hell of a right hook,” Taylor said rubbing his jaw.
Lily walked over to Taylor and put her hand out. Taylor shook it and then Lily helped him to his feet.
“Next time,” she said to him.
“Yeah,” he sighed.
“Do you want to fight again,” Ellen asked the both of them.
“Yes,” Taylor answered.
“Not today,” said Lily.
Lily walked to the door and Eric was standing in it. She stopped in front of him and waited for him to move. After a few seconds, Onyx growled.
“Shut up,” Eric snapped.
“Move Eric,” Lily replied.
“Or what?” Eric smirked.
Lily shifted her weight and crossed her arms. Onyx stood up and walked over to stand beside Lily. Lily just tilted her head and stared at Eric. Finally, Ellen walked over to the door to leave and Eric moved. Lily stepped through the door and Eric punched her in the arm. Without any warning, Lily took a swipe at Eric’s face and made contact with three claws. Onyx jumped on Eric and knocked him down before he had a chance to hit Lily again.
“Break it up!” Ellen yelled as she ran over to them. “Eric! Out!”
Eric flung Onyx off of him and stood up.
“You know better, Onyx. Just wait until I tell Vincent,” Eric said as he walked out.
“I can revoke his membership permanently,” Ellen said to Lily.
“Wouldn’t do any good,” Lily said. “He’d still be an ass hole.”
Ellen didn’t say anything.
Lily went to the club every other d
ay for nearly two weeks. She was beginning to get bored with the fighting. She was faster than the vampires and that gave her the advantage. She won every fight. She had never lost a fight in the ring. The only fight she had ever lost was against Eric. He knew her moves and could anticipate what she’d do next. She did after all learn most of her fighting skills from fighting him.
One day after the fights, Lily got a call on her cell from Vincent. He wanted to speak to her. So when she got home she rode the elevator to the seventy fifth floor, the penthouse, of the Crown Building to see Vincent.
“I spoke to Ellen today,” he began.
“About?” Lily questioned.
“About fighting Eric in the ring,” he said.
Lily was shocked. She never thought Vincent would ever allow that. It was just too risky to put them together in the ring. Eric has always been out for blood and could possibly get it if they were to fight.
“What?” Lily said nearly choking.
“She didn’t ask if you two could fight, but she did ask what she was going to do when you both reach the top rank.”
“I’m not fighting him in the ring. Not that I’m afraid I’d lose. I’m not. I’m afraid I’d kill him. He knows I’m faster than him and in a fair fight I can beat him. But Eric would never play fair. You know that, Vincent. It would end badly and you know it.”
“Yes, Lily, I know.”
LaShay
Eric had caused the coven to have to leave Atlanta. The only coven that they could move into was in New York City. The most prestigious building in the whole city was once the home to a large coven. It was empty at the time because the coven that was there was forced to leave because their numbers had dropped too low to justify living in such a large estate.
The vampire coven had only been in New York for a couple of months. The first time Lily saw Shay, the person that would forever change her life, Shay was on the balcony outside of her apartment. It rarely got above 75°F just about anywhere, especially this far north, but on that day the temperature was pushing 90°F. A layer of perspiration covered her from head to toe. The tight outfit she was wearing left very little to the imagination. She was beautiful, absolutely breathtaking actually. She was exercising on a stationary bicycle and bobbing her head rhythmically as she mumbled breathy words.