***Warning: This chapter contains R rated content. Proceed at your own discretion. This chapter is not intended for young audiences. If you have any questions about it, feel free to message me!***
Thursday's bloodletting didn't leave me feeling as weak as the last couple of weeks had, but I still saved the pint of blood, just in case. I now had four bags of my own blood residing in my fridge, and I gazed at them, wondering if vampire habits could rub off onto humans. I had this underlying instinct that they would come in handy somehow. Blood was useful, wasn't it? I could offer it as a snack to visiting vampires. I could line up the bags to hide the food in my fridge. I could sell it for extra money. I could use it as paint to decorate my walls. Or I could use it as my very own blood bank in the case that I was to suffer substantial blood loss.
This last possibility made me shudder, but I had to be realistic about the risks of living with vampires. Even if they didn't try to drink my blood, violence was a common occurrence in this city. Most of it wasn't viewed as a problem because vampires could heal quickly, even from wounds that would be fatal to most humans. Occasionally vampires were found dead though, the killer untraceable from the scene. These deaths hardly worried anyone because vampires had a universal custom of viewing themselves as invincible. They just wrote off the deaths as a result of the victim's own stupidity, as they swam in their nice river of denial. They didn't believe that something as silly as death could ever claim them. As a human, I suffered from no such illusion.
In spite of my worries, my life had been surprisingly calm the last few days, since the incident with Dominik. He'd been mysteriously absent from my life, which I'd only just discovered was due to some sort of heated political discussion. He was busy making speeches, attending panels, and dealing with political rallies. I found this out when I came home from work that night, and, before going upstairs to drain my blood, I saw him speaking on the TV hanging above the bar. The news showed him at various events, looking like he had never been stabbed or bitten. I wasn't surprised that he had healed quickly, but it was a little disconcerting to see him going about his day as if nothing had happened. He seemed to have bigger problems on his hands than me. Good. I didn't stay to see anything beyond this. I didn't want to think about him anymore. He freaked me out more than I was willing to admit. I had this eerie feeling that he was hunting me, rather than courting me. Maybe the feeling stemmed from the natural instincts that existed between vampires and humans, but I almost felt like it went beyond that.
I shoved the blood aside and pulled out a carrot. For a ridiculous moment, I considered taking the carrot as food for the road on the way to see Ekai. Then I imagined the looks on vampires' faces as I strolled by, eating a carrot. I laughed at myself for thinking of doing such a thing.
The impulse probably came from an old habit Novashi and I used to share. With my tendency to run late, I often didn't have time to eat before needing to leave. In elementary school, Carmell drove us to school in the mornings. Even though I never complained about my hunger, she figured out that I'd been skipping breakfast. Both Carmell and Novashi firmly believed that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. Breakfast gets your metabolism going, they'd explain. If you don't eat it, you're sure to get fat.
One morning, when I clambered into the car, shoelaces still untied and my hair sculpted by my pillow, Carmell twisted around in her seat and handed me a carrot. I accepted the carrot without really thinking and looked from it to Novashi, who was shyly picking at her fingernails. What was I supposed to do with it? Did Carmell want me to hold it for her the whole way to school?
Carmell glanced at me in the rearview mirror. "It's your breakfast, sweetie," she said.
I looked at her like she was insane. "Vegetables are not breakfast food." My dad had a special dish he liked to make on the weekends that involved slicing potatoes into strips, dipping them into an egg mixture, frying them, and then smothering them with syrup and cinnamon. He called it "Double French Fries." That was real breakfast food.
Carmell was pretty smart, and she knew she would never convince me that vegetables could indeed be eaten for breakfast. Instead, she took a different tactic. "No, but carrots are food for the road," she declared. This so called "food for the road" was a new concept to me, and, as such, I was in no position to argue which food was meant to be eaten on the go.
"Really?" I sounded skeptical, but she already had me sold on the idea.
"Of course. Carrots aren't messy, you don't have to cook them to prepare them, they're yummy, and they're an easy way to get lots of good nutrients so that you'll be fueled up for wherever you're going."
I tentatively took a bite. It tasted like carrot. I began to eat with more enthusiasm.
Novashi looked at my carrot with jealous eyes. "Mommy, why don't I get food for the road?"
"You already ate, Novashi."
"But, Mommy, it's not fair."
I swear Carmell must have had magic powers because after that, she had us practically begging to be given the carrots she brought in the car each morning. The "carrots for breakfast" phase ended as soon as I learned how to manage my time enough to eat before school. The "food for the road" concept never died, though, and whenever Novashi and I needed to eat on the go, we took carrots. Sometimes we took a jar of peanut butter and passed it between us, as we walked or drove, dipping our carrots in for extra flavor. Carmell had never been a believer in salad dressing, and Novashi actually didn't like the taste of it, or so she said (I had never seen her try the stuff). So I made do with peanut butter, eventually learning to prefer it over ranch dressing, which was my family's first choice for dip.
Eating a carrot while stationary, as I was now, made me feel sad, especially since Novashi wasn't here to eat one with me. She and her mom were responsible for my existing healthy food habits, and I was responsible for their separation from each other. Even if I found Novashi, I wasn't sure I could reunite her with Carmell. Novashi certainly could never return to her old life. She would simply be sent back to be a Vein again. I wondered, though, if we could sneak in to see her mom briefly. We would just let her know that Novashi was free and safe, and then we would leave before the vampires could catch us.
After finishing the carrot, I left to visit Ekai, contemplating the plausibility of this plan as I walked.
***
Ekai wasn't there when I arrived. His room was empty and quiet, save for the humming of his computers. This unsettled me a little because even though I knew he left from time to time, I had yet to encounter the hideout without him.
Everyone else still seemed to be asleep, and since Ekai was the only person I was comfortable with waking, I decided to nap until he got back.
I threw off my combat boots and tucked myself into his bed, inhaling the soothing smell of his pillow.
***
"You're not Ekai!"
I woke up to Casey hovering above my face.
"You don't know where he is?" I asked groggily. I sat up and looked at the clock. I'd slept a couple hours. That was just enough to leave behind the rejuvenating nature of a nap and enter into the realm of feeling more exhausted than before.
Casey shrugged. "Sometimes Ekai and Mera are gone when I wake up. It's not fair. They never take me. I'm only a year younger than Mera, you know."
"Do you mind giving me some space? Your breath stinks like toxic waste. Don't you ever brush your teeth?"
"Sorry," Casey muttered, backing away a couple steps. "I don't have any toothpaste."
Holy crap! How had I forgotten about toothpaste?! I would need to add that to the list next time I went shopping for them. "You should have told me sooner! I'll bring you some next time I visit, okay?"
Casey nodded solemnly.
"You can borrow mine," Amia offered, as she stopped in the doorway. So they did have toothpaste?
Laser was close behind her. "Casey has toothpaste, Ami, he just doesn't like brushing his teeth." He wrapped his arm around her, and they proceeded to kiss, right in front of us.
Casey made a noise of disgust. "Oh come on! You guys have a room right down the hall! Ekai and Zermia know how to keep it behind closed doors."
I punched Casey in the arm. "That's not what we do when we're in his room!"
He rubbed the spot I had punched. "Whatever," he muttered.
Amia smiled at Laser when they pulled apart, and by "apart" I mean still together enough where their noses were touching. "It tastes like somebody else doesn't like brushing his teeth either." She said this like she found it cute.
"I don't need to when your mouth tastes so minty fresh," he retorted, rubbing his hands over her back, his reach slowly drifting lower.
I got up, crossed the room, and slammed the door on them. Then I turned to Casey. "You need to brush your teeth. Twice a day. It's not optional."
Casey held up his hands in surrender. "Trust me. After seeing that, I'll never skip brushing my teeth again. In fact, I'll go brush them right now." He marched over to the door.
I didn't believe he would hold himself to that resolution, but at least he would brush his teeth this morning. In a world like this, the small victories had to be appreciated. "What are you waiting for?" I asked, when I realized Casey had stopped moving.
"Um, do you think it's safe to leave?" he asked, eyeing the door.
"Let me see." I opened the door and found the couple sucking each other's faces. "If you two can't stand to not touch each other for one second, I'll tie you together and throw you to the vampires." They didn't break apart. "Casey, get the rope."
Amia looked up with wide eyes.
"Okay we get the message," Laser said. They retreated down the hall and went back to their room.
I held the door open for Casey. "Go brush your teeth," I said, in case he had forgotten already. Then I noticed the long cable tie in his hands.
"What's that for?" I asked.
"I thought we were going to tie them together," he said. He seemed disappointed. How had he gotten that so fast?
I held out my hand. "Give me that."
He did.
"Now go brush your teeth."
"Fine." He slumped down the hall.
I felt obligated to check on Camoof. I hadn't exactly forgiven him for lying to me, but I'd decided to ignore it since we were now technically on the same team. Everyone would go crazy if I tried to attack him every time I came to visit. The last time I had come here, I had avoided interacting with him, and I had gotten the sense that he had done the same.
Ekai wanted me to make an effort to communicate with Camoof, though. He thought that as the only connection to Camoof's past life, I possessed the ability to ease his transition into this new one. I had tried to explain to Ekai the nature of my relationship with Camoof, but Ekai didn't understand the complexities of relationships. He was a man ruled by reason and logic, rather than emotion. It's not that he didn't experience emotion. He just believed it could be controlled when reason and logic required it. He thought that my dislike of Camoof was harmful to our mini-community, so I needed to suck it up and be supportive of Camoof and the changes he was going through.
Fine, whatever. I didn't have a problem with sucking it up. I had to do it all the time. Camoof, however, had no reason to squelch his dislike toward me, and any help I could offer would surely only do harm. Ekai didn't believe me. Well, it would be his fault if a war broke out.
Camoof's door was open, and he was sitting at a rickety table in the corner of his room, furiously studying papers spread across it. "Hey, Camoof." I awkwardly waved my hand. "How are you doing?"
He looked up at me with startled eyes. "Get back, you vampire scum!"
I rolled my eyes. "I'm human, remember?"
"Only half human."
Maybe I shouldn't have let him believe I was half vampire. "I thought Ekai explained to you that I'm completely human. I'm only undercover as a vampire."
"I don't know what you are, but you live with vampires, you act like a vampire, you look like a vampire—"
I cut him off. "That's what being undercover means!"
"You're no better than they are. You treated me, a fellow human, like crap. You personally escorted me to be consumed by vampires on an almost daily basis. You had the power to give me freedom, but you never once considered it, until I lied about your friend."
My hands clenched into fists at the reminder of how he had tricked me. "Listen here, Camoof," I growled, "I never had the power to give you freedom. Do you call this free?" I gestured around the windowless basement. "This is a vampire controlled world. Not a single human on this planet is free. The vampires may not be aware of it, but they're keeping you locked up now just as much as they were before. You can't leave here, unless you want to be hunted down and recaptured. If you ask me, you had more freedom living in your cozy dome. I didn't do you any favors by bringing you here."
Camoof blinked at me, momentarily at a loss for a good come back. "You're free. You can come and go as you please," he finally said, "and so can Ekai and Mera. I would be able to, as well, if Ekai would let me. He's the one keeping me here. I don't remember giving him permission to order me around. He's no better than the vampires, either!"
Before he could get himself even more worked up, I put my boot on the edge of the chair, between his legs, and shoved it against the wall. Then I placed my hands on the armrests and got in close to his face. "You want to leave?" I asked. I was pissed. He could insult me all he wanted, but he was crossing a line by bad mouthing Ekai.
He didn't say anything. He stared at me with wide eyes and flared nostrils, probably still processing what had just happened. I hardly knew, myself, since I usually followed through on my impulses before I was even aware of them.
I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him into a standing position. Then I led him down the hall, dragging him by the collar. He stumbled along, still too thrown off guard to respond.
"Zermia? Laser, help!" Amia's timid voice came from somewhere behind me. I ignored her.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's going on here?" Laser said.
I slammed Camoof against the wall and smiled at him, not bothering to look at Laser, as I answered. "Camoof wants to leave, so I'm showing him the way out."
"Wait, what?" Camoof seemed to realize what I was doing.
I opened the door to the stair well and shoved him inside.
"Ok, maybe we should all, like, talk about this for a second," Laser lamely suggested.
Camoof stumbled backward and tripped over the bottom step, making him fall into a sitting position on the staircase. He was scrambling to get up, but I kneeled on his foot and leaned over him, before he could get anywhere.
"Get off of me!" he shouted, pushing at my shoulders.
"Having second thoughts about leaving?" I asked in a soothing voice. His struggles faltered. I used the moment to grab his wrist and bring it to my teeth. I extended my fangs and hovered over the smooth skin. "Remembering what's out there, waiting for you?" I lightly touched the tips of my fangs to his skin. He shuddered and yanked his arm out of my grip. He shoved me off, and I let him. I lounged on the stairs, watching him walk back toward the doorway that led into the basement. "A word of advice," I said, and he actually paused on the threshold to listen. "Get over your obsession with freedom. You'll be a lot happier."
He slammed the door behind him, as he walked away, leaving me in complete darkness. I wondered if I was any better than Camoof. I was obsessed with freeing Novashi, even when this task seemed so very impossible. Not a person on Earth could convince me to stop trying, though.
It suddenly occurred to me what our problem was. Hope. We would be able to move on with our lives if only we could give it up. Giving up hope on Novashi seemed like the most ridiculous idea in the world. I didn't care how much turmoil I suffered over trying to find and free her. I would do it, anyway.
***
After waiting a few more minutes for Ekai to return, in the darkness of the stairwell, I decided that I was better off going home to get some sleep. I had no idea what he was doing or when he planned on coming back, so today obviously wasn't a good day to see him.
I left without saying good bye. They probably thought I was gone, anyway, since I had never emerged from the stairwell.
It was strange to be out during the day, as I didn't do it often. I felt exposed without the cloak of night. And it was hot. The August heat didn't touch me at night. Now, it was pulling a pound of sweat off me, reminding me of the true meaning of summer.
The city seemed completely abandoned until I got close to my hotel. Three blood drunk vampires were loitering outside of the bar, which was now closed. I tensed when I saw I would have to walk right by them, in order to get inside. I kept my chin up and my eyes forward, reminding myself that I shared walls with vampires just like these. Walking by them wasn't any more dangerous than my daily life. Still, I couldn't help but feel wary. I couldn't hide in the sunlight, and even though the sun weakened vampires, I felt like the daylight put me at the disadvantage.
"Hey, look, it's that girl!" the one with a burley brown beard and a hefty belly shouted, pointing at me as I approached. My instincts screamed for me to run, but the situation didn't appear to be dangerous. Yet.
"That rack makes me want to sink my teeth into something," the tall, skinny guy with shoulder length, greasy hair exclaimed.
"Do you know her, Abe?" the third guy asked the man with the beard. His body was so muscular that his head looked about two sizes too small.
As much as I didn't like them talking about me, their conversation seemed harmless enough. I kept walking, giving them a warning glare to let them know I could hear them. They probably already knew that, though, since vampires have excellent hearing.
"I swear, Danny, sometimes I think you don't even know what year it is. You need to keep up with the news, man," Abe said to the muscular man.
"Too much work," Danny grunted. "Every time I bother to catch up on current events, something else happens, putting me behind all over again. It is crazy making!"
Abe rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it's funny how that happens."
Danny narrowed his eyes at Abe. "I sense that you are making fun of me," he growled.
Abe held up his hands in surrender. "No, man, look. I was just trying to point out that girl. Do you know the mayor, Dominik Jäger?"
Danny maintained the narrowed eyes for a moment, before determining that he was not being made fun of. "Yes. I have heard of this Dominik Jäger vampire."
"That chick was his girlfriend. Rumor has it they broke up after she disappeared for several days and then resurfaced. They won't officially say what happened to her, but everyone knows she was drugged and raped. I think Jäger dumped her 'cause he didn't want to be dating such a weak ass bitch." Abe cackled, revealing a set of yellow teeth.
"I don't mind if they're weak," the skinny guy with greasy hair said. "It makes things...," he paused to lick his lips, "...easier." He inched half a step toward me.
I did my best to ignore his advancement. I wanted to look strong, not weak. Otherwise, they would soon discover how vulnerable I really was. I extended my fangs, but kept them hidden behind my lips. I wanted to be ready. If they decided to attack, I was pretty much screwed, but I wouldn't go down without a fight.
Luckily, Danny placed a hand on Skinny Guy's shoulder. "Chip. It doesn't matter how weak vampire woman is. If vampire woman is under protection of powerful vampire, you cannot touch her, unless you wish to die. Jäger is powerful vampire, yes?"
"Oh yeah, I wouldn't mess with Jäger, but the girl isn't under his protection anymore." Abe smiled right at me, and my blood went cold.
Danny removed his massive hand from Chip's scrawny shoulder. "Well, then, there is no problem," Danny said, looking at me with a new, hungry interest.
Shit. Now, it was time to run. I booked it in the direction I had come from and rounded a corner. I could already hear them gaining on me, and since I didn't want them to catch me with my back toward them, I stopped and spun around. This was the best vantage point I would be able to reach in time. This area was completely bathed in sun, with no shade, and I could hopefully surprise them a little when they came around the corner. They'd probably expect me to keep running, so this would give me the opportunity to get at least one attack in. Maybe.
I tripped the first guy that came around the corner, which happened to be Chip. He looked even more greasy and disgusting up close. In the same instant that Chip fell to the ground, I smashed my fist into the face of the second guy that charged around the corner. My knuckles exploded with pain, as they made contact with Danny's small, but sturdy head. His head tilted back slightly, from the impact, but he seemed more annoyed than hurt.
Danny reached out to grab me, but I contorted my body away from his grasp. Abe had come around the corner, his belly jiggling as he ran, and now he stood behind Danny's shoulder. Chip jumped back to his feet. They advanced on me, herding me toward the wall. I jumped to the side, out of fear of being cornered against the wall. I tried to move past Chip, but he lunged forward and caught me. Even his smile seemed greasy as he looked me over with appraising eyes. His dirty fingernails dug into my arms, but I could tell that his grip was weakened by the sunlight. I kneed him in the nuts, and, as he cringed in pain, I yanked my arms out of his grasp. His fingernails refused to dislodge, and they tore paths through my skin, when I pulled away. The bloody streaks on my upper arms looked gruesome, but I could barely feel the pain from all the adrenaline rushing through my system.
I spun around, ready to take on my next attacker, but both Danny and Abe had frozen.
"She's...human?" Abe asked, gaping at the red blood running down my arms.
Chip straightened and licked the blood from beneath his fingernails. His eyelids fluttered in pleasure. "Mmm. Type AB neutral."
Shit. Even if I survived this, I was so very screwed. In a last ditch effort, I bared my fangs and hissed. "I may not be vampire, but I'm not human either. You have no idea what I'm capable of. If you value you're lives, back off, now." I gave them the most intimidating look I could muster.
"Why does the human have fangs?" Danny asked.
"Who cares?!" Abe sprang forward and collided with me hard enough to knock me to the ground. He landed on top of me and went straight for my throat, without taking the time to remove my choker. I supposed that such a measly scarp of cloth would be no match for his fangs.
He had landed on me rather awkwardly, with half of his big belly on my stomach, and half of it drooping to the ground on my right. This, and the fact that he was weakened by the sun, enabled me to flip us over, so I was on top of him.
I didn't have time to make another move before a pair of arms grabbed me from behind and effortlessly raised me into the air. I wriggled against his hold, but this vampire was so massively strong that whatever effect the sun had on him didn't matter. He threw me against the wall. My left shoulder and arm took most of the impact, but my head snapped against the wall, as well. Pain seared through my arm, despite the adrenaline, and my vision blurred. I had also bitten my lip with my razor sharp fangs, but this injury felt like a fairy kiss compared to the rest of the damage my body had suffered.
"I still want to fuck her before we kill her," Danny declared to the other vampires.
"Yeah, me too!" Chip agreed.
"Sounds like a plan," Abe said.
All the voices sounded disembodied, as they traveled through the molasses of my brain. I watched in a daze, as Danny approached me. His figure seemed to pull apart into two Danny's, and I lolled my head back and forth, trying to decide which one to focus on. The figures merged back into one, but even then I couldn't hold my focus on one thing.
When the two black garbed figures flew off the building, and onto Danny, I thought I was hallucinating from the concussion.
"Run, Zermia!" The larger ninja shouted as he swung a sword toward Danny's neck. Ekai. Danny grabbed Ekai's wrist and flung him away with ease, before the sword could make contact. "Watch out, Mera!" Ekai shouted.
Mera had her sword pointed toward Danny's heart. She tried to drive it in, but he moved out of the way and kicked her to the side.
During the commotion, I slipped a knife out of my boot with my right hand and held it behind my back, out of sight. Danny advanced toward me. I struggled to stand, but my left arm was all but useless, and I needed to keep my right hand concealed. I braced myself against the wall and used it to help me rise.
Chip and Abe descended on Ekai and Mera, preventing them from coming to my aid.
As soon as Danny got close enough, I drove the knife into his chest, aiming for his heart. It caught on his ribs and didn't go all the way in. In response, he clipped me across the jaw with his fist. He must not have put all his strength into it because, even though it knocked me to the ground, I remained conscious. But just barely.
I landed on my stomach, managing to soften the fall with my right hand. My left hand caught the ground too, but the pressure on my shoulder sent searing pain through my arm that caused it to buckle uselessly.
Things almost seemed to move in slow motion. Above me, Danny was unzipping his pants. To my left, Ekai was fighting off Abe, and Mera was battling Chip. Chip was fending off the blows of Mera's sword, while managing to occasionally strike at her with his bare hands. He was growing clumsy under the sun, though. With each strike, Mera came closer and closer to dealing a deadly blow. He already had some flesh wounds from the sword.
Ekai was having better luck with Abe. His wounds looked much more serious, although none of them were fatal, yet. Then Abe pulled a gun on Ekai.
"I don't know if you're human or vampire, but this will kill both," Abe declared, smiling through the oozing gash across his face.
Ekai froze.
My eyes widened in horror, as I realized I was about to watch Ekai die. If I had been physically capable of doing something stupid, like diving in front of Ekai to take the bullet, I would have. But I was helpless to do nothing but watch. Danny was holding me down, hooking his fingers over the edge of my jeans to pull them off, I couldn't move my left arm, and my brain was foggy as hell. I could barely organize my thoughts enough to initiate tiny movements.
My pants were sliding off my body, but this seemed like such an insignificant fact as Abe cocked the gun. I wanted to close my eyes, but I couldn't look away.
Ekai made a movement so fast that I couldn't make sense of it until a hand, still clamped around a gun, landed in front of my face.
I didn't see what happened to Mera or Ekai after that because there was a gun just beyond the fingertips of my left hand. My thoughts drifted in and out of focus, but I poured whatever focus I had into retrieving that gun. I tried to shift my left arm to grab it. Not only did I not make any progress, but I was also rewarded with a jolt of pain. I pulled my right arm out from under my body and reached until my fingers found the cool metal. I removed the gun from the hand and wrapped my fingers around the handle, just in time for Danny to flip me over.
Neither of us had pants, so his attention was focused on one thing only. Before he had completely turned me onto my back, I raised my arm and shot him straight through the heart. Black goo exploded from his chest and drenched me. I saw that he was going to fall forward and land on top of me, but I'd been fighting unconsciousness, and I couldn't fight it any longer. I was swallowed into blackness, before I could see if he would finish his trajectory.
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