The Vampire from Hell

Chapter 26 - Dead Girl

"We have to save her. It's my ass if we don't." 

A frown crossed my face, and I was sure Death noticed it. "What are you talking about? May I remind you? You are the Angel of Death, not the Angel of Life." 

He sprang up from the chair and started pacing in front of us. He seemed more agitated and frustrated than I had ever seen him. "She has a mark. She's important to one of the houses. J told me if I found a girl like this anywhere on Earth that I had to protect her. She's not a soul that is to go over. And now I may be too late. I'm screwed." 

"Show me," I said. 

Slowly he pulled up the left flannel sleeve of her shirt. Beneath the fabric, right below the bend of her arm, she had a tattoo. A detailed symbol of a lion fighting a snake in black and red ink with blue and silver shadings. It was exquisite. It reminded me of paintings I'd seen in my art books. 

"The mark of the dragon," I whispered. 

"What?" Death asked. "What do you mean? Have you seen this before, Rayea?" 

"Something I dreamed about," I mumbled, not wanting to divulge to Death the insanity of my blood-induced dream. "What is her name?" I asked, trying to think coherently. 

"Grace." 

Immediately, the girl sat upright, shouting at us. Her eyes blazed and her lion tattoo began to glow. Her entire body was scalding-hot to the touch. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the tattoo actually moving along her arm as the lion whirled a few times around. She wasn't a normal human, I thought to myself. It's not possible. If J wants her saved, she has to be saved, I decided. 

"Go get me a knife from the kitchen," I said to Death. 

He looked at me, then at Grace. "Rayea, do you know what you're doing? Why can't you use your fangs?" 

"Go get me a knife," I repeated. When Death left the bedroom, I spoke to Grace. Actually I put her in a light trance, so that she would obey my commands and calm down. She was in too much pain and I knew she needed a few moments of relief. "You're going to be okay. I know we haven't met, and I'm sorry for that, but you will be okay. I won't hurt you." 

She blinked her vivid green eyes at me a few times. "The bar. I saw you in the bar." Her voice was a hoarse whisper. 

I ran to the bathroom and got her some water. 

Her body temperature cooled somewhat as she drank the liquid and I dabbed her forehead with a damp towel. "He wanted to sell me off." 

I placed my hand on her right temple, hoping to access her memory. Maybe she could tell me what bar she meant, so I could get a location. Who wanted to sell her off? It sounded like she thought she had seen me before. Then the memory surfaced. She had watched me the night before drinking in Max's bar, the Golden Skull. She had harmed herself because she'd rather die than exist with a boyfriend she despised. His name was Nathan and she loathed him. He wanted to sell her off to a woman he had met on the internet. 

"The new Medusa," Grace breathed, lightly laughing afterwards before she grimaced in pain and coughed. 

I wiped a few spurts of blood from her lips. No one but Stephanie would use the new Medusa as her new super freak name. Now I knew I had to do something. If my plan didn't work, I'd be in even more trouble, not really with the Council, but with J. That thought seriously frightened me. He could burn my brain into a clump of ashes with a snap of his fingers. If this girl was important to him, I had to do something. And if Stephanie was on the loose, I couldn't begin to think what that meant. Lynn. Ashton. I had to know they were okay.