No one.
Where did they go? I lift my nose into the air and draw a sharp breath through my nose. The smell is faint, but it is there. Ashes.
Jesus. What sorts of people live here? Apparently, people who are good at making traps and killing vampires. Poor guards. I didn’t know them, but I am a good guy now. I have to at least pretend I care.
I guess I am on my own now. I decide that sneaking around the perimeter of the house is a very bad idea. The grounds seem well protected. I must go for the least obvious entry. The house. The front door. A vampire coming to attack would try a window. Or sneak in through the back of the property. That was probably a stupid idea. But not many would be so bold as to rush the front door.
I return to the front of the house. All is quiet, but if the guards set off traps, I must assume the people, or unwelcome vampires, inside have been alerted to a presence. I must be prepared for anything. Strike hard. Strike fast.
I hit the ground running and push the full force of my body into the front door. At impact I bounce right off and fly backward, landing on my ass with a thud. Ouch!
I sit up. I didn’t even make a dent in the door. What’s it made of? I rub my shoulder. If they didn’t know I was here, they do now.
“Get up. Slowly.” I hear a deep voice behind me. “And don’t try anything. I’ve got a nice chocolate-coated arrow pointed at your head.”
No winning. This plan needs a do-over.
I get to my feet, keeping my hands elevated. When I turn my head, I see an older man in overalls, with Brandi’s large brown eyes, pointing a crossbow at me.
“Move!” he barks. “I’m taking you to the barn with the other leeches.”
“So I take it Romanovich does not have your family prisoner, then?” I ask.
The man laughs. “You think your boss can best the Botellinos?”
“He is not my boss. I came to check on your family and to take him out.”
“Yeah, sure. Get marching.” Floodlights come on all around the compound. They were definitely prepared for intruders.
I start walking toward the barn. “And my men? Are any still alive?”
“’Fraid not. Spikes got ’em.”
“Impressive. Oh, I mean, how very sad.” I keep forgetting I am a good vampire now.
We get to the barn door, and he has me slide it open. Inside, the floor is covered in hay, and the place smells like animal dung. Lovely.
We go inside, and he marches me toward the back. Behind a wall of hay bales is a large steel cage. Puffy red eyes stare back at me.
“Brandi?”
“Racker?” She hops to her feet.
I turn toward her father. “What is the meaning of this? You cannot use your daughter as bait. Nails will come for you, and he won’t be easy to best. She must be able to defend herself. Or run.”
“Over here, idiot,” says a familiar male voice.
I turn my head. There is another cage with a pale puny man inside. He has a large nose, and his brown eyes are too big for his head. He reminds me of a nerdy owl, but I know better than to judge a vampire book by its cover. This one is a mean little bugger. Nails.
I look at Brandi’s father. “I’m pleased to see him in a cage, but why is your daughter locked up?” The rage begins to build inside me. She is mine to protect and has been since the day I saved her life. I do not like seeing her treated like an animal.
The man refuses to answer and opens the door to Nails’s cage. “Get in.”
“Can’t I be with her?” I ask.
“In!” the man yells.
I am about to make a move when I notice we are not alone. There are men in the rafters all around us, pointing their crossbows in our direction.
“We need to have a discussion about your parents’ hospitality,” I say to Brandi.
I go inside the cage, and the door clanks behind me. I snarl at Nails.
“I’ll be back at noon for the vampire roast,” Brandi’s dad says to the men up top. “Going to get some rest.”
I look across at Brandi’s cage. I am glad to see her alive, but I had not expected this. “Why are you caged?”
She sighs and looks down at the hay-covered floor. “Because my parents hate vampires. They kill vampires.”
“Yes, but you are…you are…” I notice something is different about her. There’s a sheen to her tan skin. She does not smell human. No. Nooooo… She looks lovely, of course, but someone touched her. Someone fed her their blood. Someone killed her and turned her against her will. They will pay! “When did this happen? Who turned you?”
“Julia,” Brandi says quietly. “The night I rescued you.”
I frown with confusion. “But you said…you said the police showed up and then this clown.” I point to Nails.
She shakes her head. “I lied. I didn’t want to make you feel bad. Julia had already beat me pretty badly before you found me in the shower. She forced me to drink some of her blood to heal and stop the bleeding before Romanovich showed up. Then you came and helped me escape, but I couldn’t leave you there. I found a big rock outside and went back in, to find Julia drinking you to death. I hit her in the head, but that only made her mad. She slammed me against the wall. I think I blacked out for a minute. When I woke up, the police were there, fighting that jerk.” She points to Nails.
“Careful, woman. I will rip out your tongue,” Nails snarls.
I turn, punch him in the face, and he falls over. Out like a light.
“Continue, Brandi.” I dip my head.
Her eyes go wide. “You’re strong. You’re a vampire again. How?”
“Never mind that. Finish, please.”
“Not much else to tell. I started dragging you out the back but didn’t get very far. My head hurt so bad, and I couldn’t see straight. You came to for a few minutes, groggy and bleeding, but we made it to that park together and collapsed. I woke up about an hour later. Dead. Changed. Whatever. You woke shortly after.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” And how come I didn’t notice she was a vampire?
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” Brandi shakes her head with despair, tears rolling from her eyes. “I don’t know. I guess, I just…I was trying to process it. I had no idea what to do. I mean, look around.” She waves toward the men keeping guard over us. “I knew they’d disown me and never let me see my little sister again. But I never expected them to want to kill me.”
Now I understand why she did not want to return home right away and why she wanted someone by her side when the time came. She feared how her parents would react.
“You should have said something,” I scold. I could have been a source of comfort.
“I couldn’t say it out loud. Then you told me about your situation, and I thought if I said anything, you would just try to get me to turn you.”
“You wouldn’t have done it,” I conclude.
“No. Never. Well…that’s what I thought at first, but then,” she sighs, “I really started liking you, Racker. I promised myself that if you proved you could be a good man, an honest man, I would turn you. I’d save you if no one else stepped up.”
All along I had the solution right next to me. Brandi. And of course, I couldn’t tell she was a vampire. I’d lost my mojo, and she was very good at concealing it—unlike Liza. Oh, Liza. Such a terrible vampire. But such a nice person.
Anyway, I should have caught on to Brandi’s secret. She kept picking at her food, and I never actually saw her eat a real meal.
“Liza knew, didn’t she?”
Brandi nods.
When I told Liza about my vampire-hating girlfriend, Liza gave me a strange look. She knew all along that Brandi was a vampire. That’s why she took us to the ball. She wanted Brandi to see that vampires could be good, do good. And of course, being the honorable woman that she was, Liza never gave away Brandi’s secret.
“I am very sorry you felt you couldn’t trust me,” I say. “I would have helped you adjust or figure things out.”
“Would you have?”
I give it some thought. “No, probably not.” I had been too caught up in my own selfish needs. “I would have helped you speak with your parents though.”
“Yeah, well, a lot of good that would have done. They threw me in here the minute I told them. They won’t even let me see my little sister.” The tears start coming again. I cannot bear to see Brandi like this. She’s lost everything. On the other hand, I would not feel too bad about losing a family such as this. They’re a bit much.
“I have a solution,” I say. “We will tell them about the cure and take you to Cincinnati. They can come if they like to ensure you follow through.”
“I already told them I planned to take the cure, but they’ll never let me out of here. They think everything that comes out of a vampire’s mouth is a lie.”
They have a point. My mind scrambles, searching for a solution. I have been in many predicaments throughout my existence. Some I have fought my way through, but most I bullshitted through. This feels like a situation that calls for something entirely different.
Honesty. That is what Liza would advise me.
I look up at one of the men. “Hey, you. Go get Brandi’s father. I wish to speak with him.”
“His name is Hugo,” says Brandi.
Ah yes. Hugo and Katarina. “Go get Hugo. Tell him I have information he’ll want.”
I hope this works. Because if not, we are screwed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Two hours later, I hear from one of the men that Hugo is on his way. Guess he was in no hurry to hear what I have to say. Fine by me. I passed the time telling Brandi all I went through searching for her, about how I would have eventually turned back to a vampire, but Liza helped me speed things along. Brandi cried when I told her about Liza getting dusted and said nothing about me torching the bar.
“I’m glad you won’t be dying of old age, but I’m not glad it’s going to end like this,” she says.
“All right, I’m a busy man. What is it you want?” Hugo says, finally arriving. He is freshly shaved and has on a clean pair of brown overalls.
“I want to tell you I am going to rape your eye socket!” Nails snarls from behind me. “Let me out of here.”
“I told you to be quiet.” I turn and punch him again. Nails falls over onto the floor. He had it coming.
“Mr. Botellino,” I say, “I would like to make a trade. Your daughter’s life for the vampire king.”
“Racker?” Brandi says. “What are you doing?”
I ignore her. She will simply have to trust me.
“Yeah? And how do you propose to give him to me?” Hugo asks, his tone filled with smugness.
“He and I are close. I will simply call and ask for help. He will come and attempt to rescue me. When he does, you will take him. As for your daughter, she will be released, and you will not follow her or ever try to find her.”
“If you and he are close, why do you want him dead?” Hugo asks.
“It is a very long story. Five entire books, actually. But the short answer is: He will come because he cannot help himself. Hero complex.” I shrug.
“Racker, don’t do this,” Brandi says. “I don’t want someone else dying in my place. Remember what I said before? Punches and wins?”
Ah yes. “You can’t hijack someone else’s life. And you get to live the life that’s given to you. Take the punches with the wins.” Blah, blah, blah.
“I already won,” she adds. “I met you. That’s enough for me.”
“Sorry,” I say, “but you’re not done living yet. And if I must choose between his life and yours, I choose you.”
“Shut up. We’re having a conversation here. How many men will he come with?” Hugo asks.
“A lot. Which presents a grand opportunity for you to take out more vampires. And after you deal with them, more will come.”
I can tell by the twinkle in his eyes that he likes the idea of killing as many vampires as possible.
“So do we have a deal?” I ask.
“Yes. But you and that guy stay. You’ll die with your king.”
I shrug. “Fair, I suppose, since I am double-crossing him.”
Hugo nods.
“But you must let Brandi go first,” I say. “She must FaceTime me from a safe location—the airport—so I can see she is genuinely there.” They cannot bring their weapons into the airport, and she can fly anywhere she pleases. “Make sure she has what she needs to buy a ticket. And let her say goodbye to her sister.”
“You’re adding to the terms,” Hugo says. “Not sure you’re in a position to make demands like that.”
“Killing the vampire king and putting a dent in his army is a big prize for you and your Keeper cult.”
“We are not a cult. We are dedicated to cleansing the world of your kind, doing God’s work to behead the army of Satan. We will not rest until every last one of you is purified by his glorious sunlight and burned alive. Then we will dance on your ashes under a full moon so you never rise again.”
Yes, doesn’t sound culty at all. “Well, if that sounds like a fun time to you, who I am I to argue? I never was a fan of vampires myself. We’re pretty rotten. Well, except your daughter. You raised a truly beautiful and remarkable woman.” How did they manage it? These people seem a little nuts.
Hugo winces with disgust. “My daughter is dead.”
“Technically she still has a heartbeat, and after she takes the cure—if that’s her desire—she will be human again.” I look straight at her. “Whatever she chooses, I want her to know Liza showed me there was another way, but your daughter was the reason I took the other path. She was my motivation to change.” It is true. Doing right felt like doing right by her. It made me feel good.
Brandi stares with adoring, but sad eyes.
I stare back, offering my own look of adoration. “I can say, with all honesty, I will die a happy man. To be looked at that way, by such a wonderful woman, is the best feeling in the world. Thank you.” I dip my head at Brandi.
Nails starts to stir with a groan. I lean over and punch him. “You do not get to die happy,” I growl. “You are a very bad man.”
Hugo shakes his head. “You ready to do this?”
“Yes.”
“Racker, no!” Brandi says.
“This is the only way one of us gets to live. And the deal is struck. Too late to back out now.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Brandi is dragged from her cage, and I show no emotion. I do not wish for her last memory of me to include worry on my face.
She must remember me as I am now. Strong, protective, and fearless. Also, with thick waves of dark hair and smoldering bedroom eyes. At the very least she will have a good memory to pleasure herself to after I am gone.
An hour later, Hugo appears with his phone in hand. He shows me the screen. I see Brandi’s face.
“Are you safe?” I ask, being as cold as I can so she stays calm. Meanwhile, my heart is in turmoil. I genuinely wish to tear these people to shreds to get to her and be by her side.
“Yes, I’m at the airport.” She sniffles.
I can see from the activity in the background that she is. “Good. And you know where to go if you wish to get the cure, yes?”
Her lower lip quivers, and she pushes her messy chocolate-colored locks from her face. “Yes.”
“I love you. Thought I would throw that out there in case you had any doubts.” In fact, she is the first, I realize. The others, not that there were many, weren’t really love. Miriam was right about that. But Brandi, I can say with all honesty that she has found her way into my heart. I place her above all else. “Goodbye.”
Hugo ends the call. “You’re a smooth-talking devil, aintcha? Time to call your friends. Number?”
I give it to him, and he dials. After a few rings, Vanderhorst’s voice comes on. “What happened? Why aren’t you on your way back?”
“Unfortunately,” I say, “the guard
s were dusted, and now I’m cornered. I need your help.”
“What happened?”
“I’ll tell you when you get here. Just come. Quickly. I’m holed up in the barn at the Botellinos’.”
Hugo ends the call. “This’d better work.”
“It will.”
Hugo grunts and leaves.
“You’re really double-crossing our king?” Nails asks, slouched over in the corner.
I nod.
“I never liked him.”
I raise my fist, and he goes to block it. “Okay. Okay. I’ll stop talking.”
“Good choice.” Hey, I never said I planned to be a pacifist. Nails planned to enslave Brandi and torture her so her parents would suffer. He deserves much worse than a few fist poundings. “Why did the Botellinos go after your coven anyway?”
“I’d rather not say. Long story.”
“We’ve got about four or five hours until Vanderhorst arrives.” And I need to keep my mind off the fact that I will never see Brandi again.
“I got involved with a family member. It was years ago, but Hugo didn’t take it well.”
Oh. I wonder who Nails nailed. “Well, good job. Next time, try sticking to your own species.”
“You’re one to talk. And for the record, she came on to me.”
As if it matters now. “Hope she was worth it.”
“I’d do it all over again if I had the chance.”
I suppose I understand. I would trade anything for one night with Brandi. “I’m going to get some rest. Things will get interesting once the vampire army shows up.”
“You really think the king will come?”
“Yes.” And I hope he forgives me. Miriam and Stella will not be happy either. But sometimes a vampire must be a little evil to do good.
It is almost midnight by the time I wake. Hugo’s armed men are hiding throughout the barn. I can hardly hear them breathing, they are well trained, but I know they are there, and more are outside, waiting to ambush Vanderhorst.
I cannot believe how long I slept. Vampires do not have to sleep, but it helps to keep our axes sharp. And after everything I’ve been through, I needed it.
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