Vampz Macabre

by N. R. Larry

  He stared at me, clearly unconvinced. Then slowly, he pulled his phone out of his back pocket. “Do it again.”

  I glanced down at his cell. “Do what again?”

  “Try to move my phone.” He paused, the tiniest bit of amusement sparked in his eyes. “Will your mind.”

  I snorted, and he waved his phone in the air as if to taunt me. After staring at him for several seconds, I let my arms flop back to my sides and then squinted at the phone. Several moments passed and Ryland chuckled. The sound was so dark and erotic, I wanted to strip my clothes off and roll around on it.

  If I fucked vampires, which I did not.

  “Are you even trying?” he asked.

  I glared. “I’m not telekinetic.”

  Footsteps echoed behind us, cutting off whatever reply he was about to make. I turned. Dario stood in the door frame, covered in blood and death, glaring at Ryland. Flinging a dirty towel over his shoulder, he switched his gaze to me with obvious effort. “You have one minute, if I don’t like what you say, all bets are off.”

  I nodded. Dario turned and went back into his kitchen. I sighed, lifting my gaze to meet Ryland’s. “Are you good with this?”

  He didn’t answer and my heart damn near stopped beating. I knew that if he wanted to, he could storm in there and claim everyone. I knew he could bring The Narrows down.

  Finally, he sighed. “Your twenty-four hours are up.”

  The words stung, and reminded me of our unofficial deal, that I had one day to clear up things with Bao and the jingshi. He was right. I had gotten nowhere, and worse than that, more people had died, under my watch. My knife vibrated against my skin.

  With another sigh, he gave a curt nod. “Handle this your way.” His dark eyes opened slightly, and then he growled, “But then, he pays. For all of them.”

  Relief loosened the stress around my heart, and I nodded. Without saying anything else, I ducked into the kitchen. Dario was seated at a small, round table that sat in the middle of the room. I glanced around before sitting down.

  “That’s the danger of having a bunch of vamps get into a scrap in your house.” I eyed cabinet doors that were half off their hinges. “Repairs are a bitch.”

  “This is the deal,” he shot back, jabbing the table top with his finger. “I listen to you. And you—” He pointed at Ryland. “Undo whatever you did to Vanessa.”

  Ryland practically floated across the room and stood behind me. I couldn’t see the look on his face, but the tension pulled at my heart again. He wasn’t one that did well with demands, especially from someone less powerful—especially from someone that had erased everything important to him.

  “Fine,” he said in an even tone.

  I had to work to keep the reaction off my face. His hand clamped onto my shoulder and he squeezed. Hard. It was a lie, then. That hand on my shoulder told me he was grappling for control, and that I better hurry up before he changed his mind.

  Dario was such an arrogant prick that he grinned, and leaned back in his chair, a triumphant smile on his face. It clearly didn’t occur to him that it was a bluff on Ryland’s part, to get me what I wanted. “Digame,” he said. “As I said, you got one minute.”

  As quickly as I could, I told Dario everything I knew about the vampires that were gravitating to The Heights, and apparently, the Narrows, leaving out any parts that involved Bao. I gave him enough information to hopefully take his suspicion off Ryland. When I was finished, I studied him, trying to gauge his reaction. Unfortunately, vamps were universally hard to read.

  After sitting like a statue for several moments, Dario finally grinned and toyed with the hairs of his goatee. “You expect me to believe that?”

  I sighed. “Why would Ryland attack humans?” I scoffed. “It doesn’t make any sense. He has suppliers for blood.”

  Dario flicked his gaze up at Ryland, before settling it back on me. “Maybe he just misses the hunt.”

  Ryland’s grip on my shoulder tightened. I winced slightly. Good thing I was unbreakable. “If that were the case, I’d pick a more challenging prey,” he hissed.

  I held my hands up before their spat could continue. “Bottom line is, if you two go to war, even more, people... Familes are going to wind up dead. We need to work together on this.”

  “There’s no working together after this,” Ryland hissed, his patience for Dario gone.

  I turned around in my seat and peered up at him. “I’ve never known you to let your emotions rule your judgement,” I hissed. I wanted to add, think about Bao, but I couldn’t, not in our present company. Instead, I swung back around toward Dario. “Everything you two built is about to go the way of everything else in the hood.” I shook my head. “Unless you pull your undead heads out of your asses.” Standing up, I sighed and planted my hands on my hips. I eyed Dario as I stepped away from the table. “You know damn well Ryland’s crew didn’t do that to those bodies in the basement.” I inched toward Ryland. “We know what did. We need to focus on the only important thing. Stopping them.”

  Silence choked off the air in the room. I thumbed the belt loops on my jeans, glancing from Ryland, to Dario, and back again. Finally, Dario cleared his throat. “Undo what you did to Vanessa.” He shrugged. “Then, I’ll let both of you walk away.”

  Ryland chuckled. “You must think I’m some kind of fuckboy you’re dealing with.”

  Dario stood up and narrowed his eyes. “Your old lady is right,” he said, nodding in my direction. “Besides, that was the deal.”

  I chewed on my lower lip and tapped my foot against the floor. Sweat beaded on the back of my neck as I stared at Ryland, a silent plea in my gaze. He made it a point to avoid looking at me. Finally, he sniffed and snapped his fingers. Moments later, Jaylen appeared at his side. Without turning his gaze from Dario, he muttered, “Bring the Wiccan in here.”

  Jaylen crossed the room, tossed Vanessa into Ryland’s arms, and then stood at his other side. “I’m giving you back this bitch as a show of good faith.” He reached up and ripped away an emerald that was pulsing with a green light from around Vanessa’s neck.

  She gasped and an energy pressed against me. I backed away from her.

  Ryland tossed Vanessa across the room. Dario caught her.

  Holding up the emerald, Ryland said, “I smell even a taste of her whack ass magic in The Heights, all deals are off. You wait for my call.” With that, he started out of the kitchen with Jaylen at his heels.

  Dario grinned at me. “You ever get tired of working for that puta, you know where to find me.”

  I gave him my best, fake smile. “I’ll be sure to remember that.” I was about to leave when something occurred to me. Turning back to him, I asked, “Hey, do you mind if I take one of those bodies in your basement home with me?”

  Chapter Eleven

  Hours later I had taken a shower and managed to slip in a fifteen-minute power nap before I gathered a garbage bag filled with the pieces of some stranger, and then headed down to Blood N’ Fangs. The door was back on its hinges, and my kids were inside, cleaning up the rest of the mess and rebuilding. I paused inside the door frame and stared at them, allowing a warm sensation to fill me up. I always loved my kids, but I loved them, even more, when they were working.

  “Stop painting in my area!” Fiona stomped her foot and shoved Darnell a few inches away from her.

  I grinned.

  Darnell narrowed his eyes and slowly inched back toward her, brushing a streak of navy blue paint on top of an area of matching paint she had her brush hovered over.

  “It’s the same color, dumbass, what does it matter?”

  I covered my mouth and swallowed laughter.

  She threw up an elbow and shoved him. “It matters because I don’t want you messing up my strokes.”

  He snorted “Man, I’m making yo shit better.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Darnell,” I said, inching into the room. “Language.”

  He turned to me, his dark brown eyes wide. Before I
knew what was happening, he dropped his paint brush and rushed at me. I dropped the bag of human bits to my side, right before he jumped into my arms.

  The warm feeling the kids brought out turned into a sappy bubble that made me feel the good kind of light headed. I chuckled and ruffled his hair. “Good to see you, kiddo. Who did your hair?” I asked, holding him out in my arms, and running my hands across his new braids.

  He scowled at me. “Where the hell you been for the last two days?”

  I pinched his side and he squirmed out of my arms. By that time, the rest of the kids had gathered around me. “Watch your mouth,” I scolded, pointing a finger at him.

  He held his arms in the air and mouthed; I’m sorry.

  “Thank you.” Shaking my head, I added, “Stay out of grown folks business.”

  Fiona huffed. “If one of us disappeared like that, we would have to tell you.”

  I sighed. “Just, come give me some love.” I held my arms out, and one by one pulled them into an embrace.

  “Seriously, where were you?” Amir asked me once I’d finished hugging everyone.

  I peered into his multi-colored eyes, so much like the view through a kaleidoscope, and grinned. “I should ask you the same question, stranger.” Stepping back, I counted the kids as they started to fan back out into the club. “Where is Bao?”

  “Cheerleading practice,” Amir muttered, kicking at something imaginary on the ground.

  I narrowed my eyes. “What?”

  He shrugged.

  “Ryland?”

  “Out getting dinner,” he said, flicking his gaze down to the bag at my feet. “What’s in there?”

  I considered him for a moment. “Actually, something you might be able to help me out with.”

  He hunched over and crossed his arms as he often did whenever he was talking to anyone. “Cool.”

  I clapped my hands, and my kids stopped what they were doing and turned to me. “Hey guys,” I said, sauntering into the middle of the room so they could hear me better. “Listen, I need you guys to watch each other’s backs.” I glanced at Sergio and he nodded. “I don’t know why Bao is at cheerleading practice—”

  Fiona raised her hand. “Ryland said it would be good for her.”

  I bit down on my lips so I wouldn’t curse in front of them. “Serg, can you run up to the school and go get her?”

  He sighed and put down a hammer. “I really think you should let her do this, Mal.” He glanced at everyone, and they nodded at him one by one. Finally, he peered at me again. “It’s not going to hurt anyone, and she really needs an outlet.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Then, I want you up there, for the entire practice.”

  Sergio started to smile, and I held my hand up.

  “I’m not saying she’s on the squad, but I have too much on my mind to deal with it now.”

  He nodded, and then swept passed me and toward the door. “I want you back here as soon as practice is over!” I turned back to the kids. “From now until when I say, school and back. Got it?”

  Fiona snorted. “What about our powers?”

  I sighed. “House rules are back on. You defend yourselves. Something is going on, and you need to be aware of your surroundings.”

  “What is it?” Darnell asked.

  I shook my head. “Let me worry about the details. But you see anything weird going on, don’t hold back. And find me. Or Ryland.”

  Darnell muttered something under his breath.

  “What was that?” I asked, inching closer and making a show of cupping my hand over my ear.

  “I said you need to stop treating us like kids.” He stood straighter and puffed out his chest. “We know something is going on with Bao. She’s acting weird as sh... She’s acting weird.”

  I looked at him and he looked to Fiona and balled his hands into fists before turning back to me. “We family. We need to know what’s going on, so we can protect our own.”

  Luckily, I had plenty of practice keeping my expression neutral, so I didn’t smile, even though I wanted to. “Let me guess, you all feel this way?”

  At first, no one said anything. Finally, Fiona cleared her throat and tossed her carrot colored braid over her shoulder. “Who better to look after Bao than us?” Her green eyes flashed. “But, we need to know what we’re up against.”

  I sighed. “Look. I love that you guys want to have each other’s backs—”

  “That’s what you taught us to do,” Darnell shot.

  I glared at him and he looked at his feet.

  “But, just because you have powers doesn’t mean you’re ready to hunt things.” I planted my hands on my hips and shook my head. “You’re just kids. My kids. My foster mother didn’t ask much of me, but she trusted me to take care of you. She taught me I had a responsibility to take people in like she took me in, and your parents in. So, that’s what I’m doing.” I took the time to look each of them in the eye. “Are we clear?”

  Fiona snorted again and dipped her brush into the bucket of paint that sat on a work bench on her left.

  I couldn’t help but smile at that. “Something to say, Fi?”

  She sighed and threw her hands up in the air, spraying herself with droplets of blue paint. “We’re not just kids Mal. We’re... creatures, and on top of that, hood rats. We’re not sheltered, we can take care of ourselves.”

  I licked my lip and eyed them each again. “That’s what you think?”

  Beside me, Amir brushed his feet against the floor. “She has a point.”

  I clapped. “Okay, fine, to the world, you’re not just kids. But to me, you are. And having powers and street smarts doesn’t mean you still can’t get your asses killed.”

  Darnell cleared his throat. “Language.”

  I narrowed my eyes, while Fiona and Amir chuckled.

  “That’s not what Ryland says,” Fiona added with a smug smile.

  Something at the back of my head tightened. “Oh, and what does Ryland say?”

  She shrugged. “That you should be training us.” She turned back to the wall and started painting again. “That you started training when you were around our age. With your adoptive mother.”

  There was a series of fake coughs and the clearing of throats following her declaration. Darnell batted his eyelids in mock innocence and waited for me to respond.

  Finally, I squared my shoulders and said, “Well, Ryland isn’t your legal guardian.”

  Amir said in his overly soothing voice, “Serg and I train.”

  I massaged my forehead with my thumb and index finger. “That’s because you’re old enough.”

  Fiona whipped around. “Actually, all of us have been training, you just don’t know about it.”

  Darnell shot her a look and hissed, “What the what, Fi? Why you snitching?”

  My eyes widened as I studied her defiant expression. “Excuse me?”

  She nodded. “Yep. Tuesday nights. With Ryland.”

  I flipped back through my memory and gritted my teeth.

  “Fi, man. Shut up!” Darnell hissed.

  “He just told you he was taking us to that preternatural church service.” She snorted. “We’re more capable than you think.”

  I raised my hand. “Stop. Talking.”

  The room fell into a tight silence, which made the footsteps that echoed out a few moments later even louder.

  “Shit,” Darnell muttered under his breath. “It’s about to go down.”

  I turned and there was Ryland, carrying in large brown bags of what looked like Chinese food. He halted, stared around at all of us, and said, “What is it?”

  I stormed toward him, picking up the bag of human bits on my way. “I need to see you in your office,” I hissed. “Now.”

  “Oo,” Darnell sang from behind me.

  I turned around and glared him into silence. He swiped at his braids, and silently went back to work. Handing the bag of parts to Amir, I muttered, “Take this to the basement. Lay out the parts, and wai
t for me, okay?”

  He nodded and then trudged his way across the club.

  Ryland lifted an eyebrow at me, and almost whispered, “Fiona. Put this food away.”

  She fluttered over, took the bags out of his arms, and then flew out of sight. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Problem?”

  “In your office.” I leaped into the air, landing in the middle of the second floor hallway. With gritted teeth, I pressed my hands against his office door and pushed, not bothering to reign in my strength. It landed with a thud in the middle of the room. With a grin, I sauntered inside and leaned against his desk.

  There was a sigh from in the corner. “Childish,” Ryland said.

  I jumped and slammed my heart over my chest. He materialized from out of the corner, his gaze fixed on a paper in his hands. “I just had the door fixed.”

  “Sorry about that,” I spat, not caring that I sounded like a young girl, rather than someone playing at being in her mid-twenties.

  The look on his face was the definition of boredom. As he sat in his desk, I turned around and planted my hand on top of the wooden surface. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  He stared at me.

  I jabbed a finger into his stack of papers. “Why are you training my kids and lying to me about it?”

  The corner of his mouth twitched into a near smile. “I’m guessing my actions have offended you.” He leaned back, and the near smile vanished. “Just as you can probably guess that I’m not concerned about offending you.”

  Fury leaked into my blood. I had to grip his desk even tighter to keep from shaking. The wood started to splinter as I said, “You had no right.”

  “No,” he hissed, regaining his feet so smoothly he may as well have been flowing water. “You had no right.”

  I blinked and he was in front of me, his face lowered over mine. His nostrils flared as he said, “This is not a storybook, and I am not your fairy god mother.”