Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Dawn
“ T here’s more to the world than this shit hole.” Liz popped her hip and dropped her tray on the bar. “You need to get out more. Have some fun.”
Her idea of fun and mine were very different. When I left Saint Mary’s Parish, the sisters tried to convince me to take the vows. My parents, whoever they were, dropped me off on the doorsteps when I was a baby, so I was raised in the comforting arms of the church. The sisters were my mothers. They didn’t want to see me go. But I could do more good out in the world. Sinners were out here.
I scanned Liz’s meager outfit. Her breasts were spilling out of her red shirt and her black jeans may as well have been painted on. “I play bridge on Saturdays.”
Honestly, I didn’t think Chicago would be so overwhelming. There were so many people and none of them took time for one another. In the first two hours, I saw beggars on the street being ignored, hungry children, and so many acts of violence that my heart ached. That’s when I met Liz.
“Bridge with Mrs. J and the other old bitties is not fun.”
Even though Liz didn’t know me, she took me under her wing. Moved me into her apartment and got me a job bartending. She said she only did it because someone as innocent as me would get eaten alive on the streets, but I knew it was because she had a good heart. God knew it too.
“I have all the fun I need here,” I said, looking around the dingy bar.
Luke’s pub and eatery had plenty of sinners in need of guidance. Like Charlie, one of our regulars. He had a wife and two children, yet he spent every night drinking away his family's money while hitting on me. Lust and greed were two of the deadliest sins.
“Look at you, Dawn,” Liz pulled on my shoulders, steering me to stare in the mirror behind the bar, “You’ve got this whole innocent thing going on with a sweet little ass, that half the guys in this dive spend all night drooling over.” She gave my butt a quick smack, then added, “Use that shit.”
“You shouldn’t cuss.”
I didn’t spend the time Liz did getting ready in the morning. Pride was also a sin.
“Whatever.” She rolled her dark eyes and waved me off as she waltzed away to deliver more drinks, “I’d kill for your hair, just saying.”
Envy was another sin.
My hair was the reason I got the name Dawn. Sister Mary Agatha said the rose highlights in my blonde hair reminded her of the amber glow cast in the sky at sunrise. Liz should be happy with her dark chocolate locks. She was perfect the way God made her, yet she insisted on marking her body with tattoos and putting holes in her ears and nose. Accessories she called them. I called them mutilations.
“Hey sweet tits, fill me up.” Charlie bellowed from the end of the bar.
Sighing, I grabbed the whiskey off the back shelf and headed over.
“You shouldn’t speak to women like that, Charlie.” I tipped the bottle to refill his glass. “Women are the bearers of life. They should be respected.”
Perhaps that was why he had trouble at home? I’d only been working at Luke’s for a little over a week, and if this was how he talked to me, I couldn’t imagine how he spoke to his wife.
“Tell you what sweet tits,” Charlie lifted his scruffy chin. “I’ll respect you as soon as you get on your knees.”
“I get on my knees every night.” One shouldn’t go to sleep before thanking the lord for their blessings.
Charlie seemed to brighten up at my comment. He even smiled a little. “Well, shit baby, how much does that service cost?”
“Why would it cost anything?” My brows furrowed. Didn’t he know prayer was free?
“Really?” His light eyes brightened up with a spark of hope. “You want to meet me out back?”
Maybe Charlie coming around? Had God finally spoken to him? I’d almost given up working with him, but Father John said that sometimes the lord required sacrifice. In order to reach the people turned astray, I had to go into their world. Maybe that meant praying in a dark, dirty alley? God wasn’t just in palaces of gold after all.
“My break is in ten minutes.” I looked down at my watch. “I can meet you then.”
Charlie jumped up excitably and headed out the right side door, which made hope rise in my heart.
Liz was always telling me one person couldn’t make a difference. I told her that all it took was one person to make a difference. Though I have to admit, a tiny part of me was starting to believe her.
Every day, I saw new atrocities on the news. Read about crime lords distributing their merchandise and pimps disposing of theirs. It seemed as if things just got worse, but I never should have lost my faith. Jesus would always show me the way. If I could save just one soul, it would all be worth it. Salvation was the true reward.
I finished up my orders and headed out back to meet Charlie with my bible and rosary.
“What passage would you like to read–”
My bible slipped from my grasp when I rounded the corner.
At first I thought Charlie may be engaged in homosexual activity, but the terror I felt when his eyes met mine told me otherwise. And then I saw the blood streaming down his neck. The large man wasn’t doing inappropriate things to him. He was biting him. Charlie’s demons had come to life!
I held up my rosary and yelled, “Begone, demon. I banish you back to hell!”
The demon feasting on Charlie’s soul pulled away and arched a brow at me.
For just a second, when the moonlight hit his face, my breath hitched. He was breathtaking. Black hair, a chiseled jawline that I’d heard Liz talk about so much, and bright, almost glowing blue eyes. But I knew better. This was how the devil worked. He tempted you and lured you in with his beauty.
When the demon tipped his head, I felt a tingle in the sparkle of his eyes. A strange sliver of cold that shot through my skull.
“You will not possess demon.”
He seemed oddly surprised by my response. For just a second, his brows knit before he released Charlie, letting him fall to the ground in a heap.
Then he took a step towards me.
“I said begone!” I tried very hard to use the same commanding voice Father John did, but it was hard to stay strong when the demon’s bloody lips twisted in a smirk. “Go back to the foul depths from whence you came.”
He took another step closer.
I stood strong despite the rapid beating in my heart. One must not show weakness in front of evil.
“Are you trying to exorcize me child?”
I thrust my hand out, using my rosary as a shield. “Stay back.”
Another step.
The coppery scent of Charlie’s blood dripped off the demons face and clothes, staining the air around us.
“Put those away.” His voice was deep and almost hollow.
I lifted my chin. “I will not.”
I would stand strong and defeat him.
“Do you really think your bible and prayers will protect you?”
Of course they would. It was trying to weaken my faith. “You can’t fool me. I will not fall for your tricks demon.”
He threw his head back and let out a laugh that chilled me to the bone. But when his bright eyes locked on mine, I felt dread in my very soul.
“There are far worse things in this world than demons child.”
Before I could blink, he was standing in front of me. He moved so fast the air itself sucked past my body. Still I held my resolve, until he snatched the rosary out of my shaking hand. That’s when my heart dropped. Demons shouldn’t be able to put their hands on holy items.
Suddenly it was as if the walls of the alley were closing in on me. I could feel the suffocating shadow of his looming presence filling the air. As if his mere existence stole the very light from the sky. Heat radiated off his body, but it felt cold and empty. Like the glint in his eyes.
I was frozen in place. I couldn’t move. Not even when he leaned in and whispered, “Where’s your God now?”
He was there. Or at least I thought he was. I’d never questioned my faith until that moment. It made me angry that this thing made me mistrust my devotion. Even if it was for just a fraction of a second. I was so angry that I reached up and slapped him across the face.
That really shocked him.
He stood up and stared down at me like he was searching for something. For a moment I thought he might kill me. I accepted it. If it was my time to meet God then I would go with open arms.
Then he spoke. “What’s your name child?”
“I am not a child.” I don’t know why I said that?
“Yes you are.” He snickered. “You are all children. Weak, scared little lambs.”
“And you are a stain upon this earth.”
“No, child.” A grin should not be a sinister as his was. “I’m the monster that’s going to devour your soul.”
I’m not sure how I wound up pushed back against the wall with his hand in my hair. It all happened so fast, I barely had time to blink let alone comprehend what was happening. But there I was, trapped by a man who was so strong it was as if he was made of stone. I tried to fight back. I threw my arms and kicked my feet, but it was useless. That’s when I saw them.
Four sharp pointy fangs grew from the top of his mouth. One word flew through my mind as horror cooled my heart. Vampire.
People always said that your heart sped up when you were truly terrified, but that wasn’t true. It stopped all together. Everything did. The world slowed down, seconds ticked by like hours, and your body ceased to function. My lungs got heavy, or the air did. I wasn’t sure which, and I couldn’t feel my heart beating. I couldn’t even blink.
Oddly enough I noticed small thing. A drip somewhere to my left echoed like a thundering drum. How my shoulder blade was digging into an extra rough patch of brick. The hiss of a steaming grate, chill in the air, and blinking streetlight were all amplified. That is until I felt his breath on the side of my neck.
My entire world suddenly became nothing more than the feel of his fangs tearing into my flesh. I expected it to hurt. It did for a second when he pierced my skin. That was quickly washed away by a strong tingle that warmed my veins and pulsed through me with a sense of need. A need so strong that it was hard to think past it. The way his body felt, strong and hard pressed up against me, was like a drug drawing me closer.
My hands moved of their won accord. Over his shoulders, down his back, and up to the soft hair on the back of his neck. And God help me, I enjoyed it. Every inch of him that I touched was like pure bliss.
Then it ended as suddenly as it began.
The monster holding me, pulled away and stared deep into my eyes.
“It’s you.” He whispered, and I felt every syllable deep in my bones.
My mind was slowly coming back to me when his lips met mine. Even his kiss felt euphoric, but it wasn’t incapacitating like his bite. The instant I tasted my blood on his tongue, I tried to pull away. Tried being the operative word. This beast was not letting me go until he had his fill.
He growled, pressed in on me and deepened the kiss. And I froze. Not because of what was happening, but because of the hardness I felt digging into my belly. The possibility of what that meant terrified me, but not as much as the hand forcing its way into my jeans. One kick was all I could manage before his finger pushed through my folds and pressed down on something that made my eyes roll in the back of my head.
“I have waited centuries for you.” He purred while laving his tongue up the side of my face.
I didn’t care what he said. I barely heard it. Whatever he was doing to me had my entire focus. His finger swirled around that spot, numbing all logical thought. I hated it and loved at the same time. He was touching an intimate place that only husband should touch. But Lord help me, it felt amazing. I think I slapped him and possibly said no, but I couldn’t be sure.
“You can fight me all you want, but you were made for me. And you will come for me.”
I shook my head. “No.” I would not. He couldn’t make me.
Boy, was I wrong.
I didn’t know what was happening when my body seized. Was I dying? Did he kill me? It felt like my heart stopped as an explosion of tingles erupted deep in my core. It spread through me blinding my vision while stealing my breath. For a second I forgot where I was. Until I came down from whatever high I was on, and it all came rushing back.
The alley, the blood on a smirking face, and the piercing blue eyes staring down at me.
“Say your goodbyes little girl.” He let me go and took a step back. “I’ll be back to collect my queen tomorrow night.”
Out of breath, I glared back at him and balled my fist. “I won’t go anywhere with you.”
I would not give into evil.
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Then I will kill everyone you hold dear, until you do.”
With that he was gone as quickly as a passing breeze. Leaving me alone in the shadowy alley to contemplate my fate.
I came to this city to steer people on the righteous path. Instead I found a monster. A monster that the church believe had been eradicated centuries ago. There was texts on vampires, but I didn’t pay much attention to them. The father said it was unnecessary studies.
Perhaps that was my true mission. An evil like that could not be allowed to walk this earth. How many people had he killed? How many people would he kill? How many people had he turned? Could he turn people? Were there more? I never felt more inept in my life. I knew nothing about this creature, let alone how to kill it.
I looked over at Charlie’s body as Sister Mary Agatha’s voice rang through my mind.
“One must know their enemy before they can defeat them.”
That’s what I would do. When he came for me, I would go with him, and study him. So I could kill him. I would rain the wrath of God on the spawn of the devil.