by Kate Martin
I wandered further into the park, watching the birds and squirrels that fled at our arrival. The night air was cool and welcoming. I took a deep breath and drew the calming air into my body, realizing how long it had been since I had really relaxed, and cleared my head. With that thought, I could almost feel my depression sloughing away from me, like an oversized skin that had begun to shed but still clung to my joints.
“Take off your shoes,” Cade said, still lingering behind me.
“Why?” I kicked off the first even as I asked.
“You will feel the vibrations more easily if there is nothing between you and the earth.”
“Oh.” I wiggled my bare toes against the grass, smiling at the sensation. Across the park, a robin intermittently hopped and stood still. A part of me realized the bird was farther away than I should have been able to see, especially in the dark. Maybe I was actually getting stronger, better. The red-breasted bird cocked its head a few times, then dug its beak into the ground and pulled out a nice fat worm which it promptly swallowed.
I suddenly remembered my third grade teacher, telling the class about how robins hunted by feeling for worms and other bugs in the ground with their feet. As the happy and full robin bobbed its head and started hopping off again, Cade’s lesson didn’t seem so crazy.
My feet tingled, a buzz humming over my skin and up my legs to my knees. I stepped back, as though off a hot plate, but the vibrations remained. A steady beat lay beneath everything, rushing by like a river, while above it little beats flashed and jumped, poking at me for my attention.
“Good. You feel it now.”
I spun around to look at him. “That is so cool!” My knees started to twitch, little muscle spasms flaring up here and there. “Or very annoying,” I amended. “You’re going to show me how to turn this off, right?”
Cade laughed. Honest to god laughed. It wasn’t anything big, hardly a chuckle by normal standards, but it was a laugh nonetheless. “You cannot turn it off. You will always be aware now. But it will not bother you. You will learn to push it to the back of your mind, to set it aside, just like any other sense.”
“If I put my sneakers back on will I lose it?” I padded across the park, heading for the jungle gym.
“It will muffle the sensation, yes.”
“Good to know.” I stopped and looked up at the geometric pattern before me as I sheathed my dagger. Grabbing one steel bar I pulled myself up off the ground and into the air, swinging my legs up and hooking them across the top bar. The vibrations disappeared. “I can’t feel anything now,” I said, letting go with my hands and hanging upside down.
“You have placed a manmade object between yourself and the earth.”
“Don’t look at me like I’m playing and not paying attention. I’m experimenting and taking notes.”
“Good. But come down now.”
I had never been good at this whole jungle gym thing, but now I pulled myself up, took hold of the bars and dropped my feet back to the ground in one smooth motion. The vibrations returned immediately.
“How do I sort through it? It all feels like one big mush to me.”
“The steady, constant hum is the earth. You will have to set that one aside first. Humans feel like a normal heart beat, and will change as a heart beat changes. The cariosus feel like a frantic, desperate, yet dying pulse.”
I closed my eyes. I had heard once that turning off one sense would heighten the others. The vibrations tickled the bottom of my feet. I found the earth first, recognizing it as the one I had at first compared to a river. Tinier, fainter beats lingered at the edges of my senses; birds and other small animals, I assumed. I couldn’t feel anything like my long missed heart beat, but given the fact that no humans were around, I figured that was normal. What I did feel, was something darker. A pulse that dragged, staggered, and flew at a pace that could only be unnatural. And it seemed close.
My eyes flew open.
“Ah, good. You found it,” Cade said.
I reached for my dagger, breathing a bit easier when I wrapped my fingers around the hilt. “Is it really as close as I think it is?”
“It is in the park, yes.”
“Where?”
“I can’t give you all the answers, Kassandra. Do you remember how to kill them?”
Oh, I remembered all right. I remembered the gore and the blood and the smell of rotten flesh burning in the night. I turned so Cade had my back, feeling incredibly vulnerable. “Yeah, I think so. But I don’t have anything to burn it with.”
“You should carry a lighter with you at all times.”
“A little late for that now, isn’t it?”
“We will get you one.” The telltale sound of a lighter flaring to life in his hand came from behind me. At least Cade was always prepared.
I took a few steps forward and tried to detect any changes in the vibrations. Nothing. Another few steps gave me the same result, so, checking to make sure Cade didn’t look likely to abandon me, I dashed across the park, going far enough that Cade became a small figure in my vision. Then I tested the vibrations again.
Stronger.
The park was less developed here. The playground had ended and given way to flawless grass and walking paths. Wood benches sat every twenty feet or so, and a water fountain occupied the fork in the running path ahead of me. At the fence, a maintenance shed stood between two old trees. At first it seemed a likely hiding place, but then again, the cariosus had to avoid the sun and hide all day. I knew the shed was open and used often throughout the day. A failed vampire would never be able to hide unseen there.
But the wind shifted, and I could smell the decay.
I looked upwind towards the dilapidated building that housed the old toilets. No one used it anymore because of the stench, and because new facilities had been built on the other side of the park. Most people opted to make a run for it rather than chance the rancid air and questionable stalls.
Definitely a better place for hiding if you were a dead gross thing. I pulled my dagger from its sheath, and started forward.
The smell only got worse the closer I came to the rickety ramp that led up to the door. The handle had rusted over, and I knew from the days before the nice new bathroom that I would have to give the door a good push to get it open. Or maybe not. That had been when I was human. Either way, I would still have to touch it. Yuck.
Hoping for a flash of good luck, I pushed at the door with my toe. I was still barefoot, and I had to remind myself that germs weren’t anything to be afraid of anymore, but it was still gross, and feet had always seemed more resilient than hands.
The door creaked open, making more noise than a rusty hinge in a horror movie. The stale air hit me in the face, far worse than I remembered it. When I heard the rattling breath, I knew my luck had run out.
It sprang at me from around the corner, knocking me into the open door and tearing it down. I hit the cracked tile floor, wooden splinters from the door showering down around me. The closest sink had a leak, spilling water all over the floor and causing me to slide further away. My dagger clattered against the porcelain basin, knocked from my hand.
The creature landed on top of me, yellow and black teeth bared and snapping at my face. I slammed my hands into its jaw, holding it shut and shoving it back. Centering myself under it, I drew up a leg and kicked, catching it directly in the stomach. It flew off me, crashing into the nearest stall door and breaking through both it and the dividing wall on the other side. It moaned and didn’t get up.
My dagger hadn’t gone too far. I grabbed it and stood, never taking my eyes off the cariosus. When I approached the shattered stall, I smelled the blood before I saw it all over the white toilet seat. The blackish fluid mixed with the green water in the bowl, swirling and sloshing over the sides. A pipe hung broken beneath, spilling more water over the creature and floor.
A broken board from the door stuck through the failed vampire’s chest. Yet it still writhed, moaning and twitc
hing.
For the first time, I got a good look at the thing’s face.
The eyebrows had been plucked once, but were starting to grow in, and the roots of the hair were darker than the bright blonde strands that were now covered in dirt, blood and stagnate water. The nose was upturned and small, sitting perfectly above cupid’s bow lips. I recognized them all; everything except the crazed brown eyes that rolled around in their sockets, in pain, but still hungry.
Her name was Dana. We had been in the same English class since sixth grade.
I dropped my dagger and stepped back.
I couldn’t kill her. I knew her. We had done projects together, been in the same reading groups. I had sat next to her through American Lit and she had laughed at the faces I made when our teacher professed her undying love for the words of Charles Dickens.
How had she ended up like this?
In desperation, I leaned forward, hoping she would see me—really see—and spoke softly. “Dana?”
The screech that ripped from her throat sent shivers down my spine. She launched herself off the floor, board still firmly imbedded in her chest and grabbed for me. Her teeth scraped my arm when I tried to defend myself, and we both tumbled to the ground once again. She landed on top of me, the jagged end of the board jamming into my shoulder. The wood scraped against my bone. Dana snapped, her hands firmly gripped around my arms. She lowered her head and began to lap at my blood from my shoulder.
I acted without thought.
I grabbed her head and twisted.
A sickening pop echoed through the room, and she collapsed, her dead weight pressing down on me. I shoved her away, the point of the board leaving my shoulder at the same time. As I sat up, wet from the floor and both her blood and mine, she began twitching beside me, hands reaching blindly towards me. Her head, which had been twisted completely around so that her chin lingered above her shoulder blades, bobbed without muscle control in the neck.
Her eyes stared at me as though I were a traitor who had stolen something from her. Stolen her meal.
I ripped her head clear from her shoulders and threw it across the room. I pulled her arms off next, then her legs, unable to block out the sick popping sounds that signaled her joints disconnecting. Only then did I scoot back against the wall, bury my face in my knees and wait for Cade to show up.
My face was wet with more than just toilet water and blood when he finally strode through the door.
“Well done,” he said.
I lifted my tear-stained face and glared at him. “I knew her!”
He had the decency to look surprised. Stepping inside, he walked to each of the pieces I had made and examined them. “I am sorry for that. But it happens. And you did what was necessary.”
“I killed a classmate!”
“She was already dead. Don’t forget that. What you did for her was an act of mercy.”
I huffed.
“Would you really leave her as she was? Hungry, caught between life and death, until she finally decayed to the point of falling apart yet still alive?”
I wiped at my face, then gagged when all I accomplished was getting more blood in my eyes. “No,” I admitted quietly. “But that doesn’t mean I liked it, or that I wouldn’t have rather you did it yourself.”
“If you can do this for a friend, you can do it whenever necessary.”
I still wanted to be sick over it. “You’re proud of me, aren’t you?”
He flicked open his lighter and held it out to me. “Yes. Now finish your job.”
I just stared at the little metal fire-starter. “I can’t.”
“You can.” He offered me his hand as well.
I took it and stood. Then, hand shaking, I took the lighter.
Cade nodded his approval. “Burn the entire thing to the ground. We can’t leave evidence.”
“No one will care. This place should have been torn down years ago anyway.”
Cade said nothing else. He just turned and walked back outside.
I flicked on the flame and set the edge of the failed vampire’s shirt on fire. It caught quickly, and spread to the bulk of the body. I had watched them burn before; I knew everything else would follow. Grabbing my dagger from the floor, I all but ran from the building.
Cade started walking the moment I joined him, so I didn’t have to stop. The cool breeze made me very aware of how damp I was, and my shoulder had already stopped bleeding so the blood had dried and started to itch. I prodded the wound with a finger anyway. It still amazed me how quickly I could heal. My skin was already mending.
I did my best to ignore the stench of smoke and flesh behind us. I refused to turn around and watch the building burn.
But I couldn’t stop my thoughts. Dana must have “gone missing.” Her parents would never know what happened to her. Though I was sure vampires would be blamed. How many other families were going through the same thing? How many more classmates would I have to tear apart and burn?
I wanted nothing more than to go home, crawl into Rhys’s arms and forget everything that had happened.
Life really sucked.
Cade held my sneakers out to me. “That will be enough for tonight.”
I snatched my shoes from him, dropped them on the ground and shoved my feet inside. My hair clung to my cheeks with blood and water, and now that my brain wasn’t occupied with other things, I could smell the absolutely foul stench that clung to me. “Good. I want to go home.”
“I have one thing to do along the way. Stay close.”
I didn’t wait for him to lead the way this time. I started walking ahead of him. I knew my own way home. Cade caught up easily enough. Rolling my wounded shoulder, I tried to use the pain to make my thoughts go away. No such luck.
We were back within the main part of town, with houses on either side of the road, when Cade stopped me. “Wait here a moment.”
He didn’t make it sound like an order, but I could tell no room existed for argument anyway. I plunked down on the stone wall that lined the sidewalk without a word.
Cade crossed the street and went another two houses down. We weren’t in my neighborhood, so I didn’t know whose house he approached, but there was no mistaking it as his target. He crept around the side, into the shadows of the smaller Japanese Maples and the hydrangea bushes. Almost comically, he took a small pebble from the ground and tossed it up—where it clinked once neatly against a curtained window. He caught the stone on its way back down, stepped around to lean back against the side of the house, crossed his arms over his chest, and didn’t move.
What the heck?
Less than two minutes later, the back door of the house opened, and closed again; softly, as though someone had kept hold of it, rather than letting it slam. Footsteps shuffled over the porch, down a set of steps, then around the corner over soft grass and dirt. A young woman came into view, wrapped in a thin summer robe—silk, and embroidered with vines and flowers. Her hair framed her face, curly and dark, with hints of blonde peeking out from underneath. The style had that flair that suggested hair was her business, that creative and constantly changing look that only hairstylists could ever pull off.
And when she saw Cade, her face lit up with a smile that was bright and genuine. Cade actually smiled back, and extended his hand to her. She took it without question, and Cade drew her close. He spun her around, so quickly she would have to have known he was more than human, and pressed her back against the side of the house. She laughed in pure excitement. Cade brushed her hair out of her face, the action so soft that for a moment I wondered if this was really Cade Lucas. I had never seen him make such a gentle gesture. Never. He leaned in, his lips brushing along her jaw, then down her neck . . .
Even in the dark, and at such a distance, the glint of his fangs showed in the shadows.
I fell off the stone wall, catching myself and saving myself the embarrassment of a scraped face only at the very last minute. I had leaned forward too far in my attempt to see.
>
The young woman gasped, not quite in pain, then sighed, sinking against the wall and further into Cade’s arms. The sound of her pulse beat against the night, and Cade’s thirsty gulps echoed each thump of her heart.
I gathered all my strength and dashed across the street and across the front yard. I braced myself for the collision with Cade’s body, ready to use everything I had to dislodge him from his victim—and hit nothing but air.
Pulling to a stop, I tripped over my own feet and went sprawling to the ground, digging a rut deep enough for planting in.
“Kassandra, I trained you. Did you really think you could surprise me with such a blatant attack?”
I spit the dirt from my mouth and rolled until I sat facing him. “What are you doing? Let her go now!”
Cade still had one hand on the woman’s arm, but looked at me with a bored expression. “Stop yelling. You’ll wake the entire neighborhood.”
“Let go of her.” I didn’t lower my voice.
In a very overly dramatic gesture, he released her arm. He did not, however, move away. “I don’t interrupt your meals. Why should you interrupt mine?”
“Meal? That’s what this is?” I got to my feet and stomped towards him, brushing off my jeans as I went. I looked at the woman, who had said nothing, never struggled. Her eyes were glassy, almost feverish. But she smiled brightly; happy and content. “What have you done to her?”
“She is one of my main sources. I have charmed her.”
“Charmed?” It seemed suddenly likely that he had done this on purpose. “And are you going to tell me what the hell that means?”
He stepped back finally. “See for yourself. She knows my signal for when I need her, and she comes. While we are together, she knows nothing but pleasure and happiness. When I am done, she remembers nothing.”
The woman said nothing at that, just kept smiling, the puncture wounds on her neck bleeding lightly.
I stepped closer, horrified. “He’s making a meal of you,” I said to her, my voice desperate and strained. “Doesn’t that bother you?”