Chapter Twenty
Julien and Karim’s neighborhood was as quiet as ever. As he creeped closer in his car, he could see lights on inside their house. Nothing looked amiss, there were no foreign cars in the driveway, no obvious signs of anything having gone wrong.
Still, Luis parked down the street and got out to walk up to the house, nerves buzzing. There were regular streetlights to see by, but they only amplified the shadows beyond.
The back of his neck prickled and he hurried up the drive.
He knocked loudly on the front door, and then couldn’t stop knocking. The sound was loud, and he felt eyes on him. Luis turned his head to peer at the dark behind him, expecting at any moment Eric or one of the others to appear.
They were going to get him and tie him in the basement again and this time he wouldn’t escape. This time they’d ship him off to that camp and–
The door was whipped open and Luis jumped. Karim was there, looking pissed.
Then he realized it was Luis, covered in blood and grass stains and concrete dust.
Luis pushed his way into the house in thoughtless panic.
“Luis, what the fuck?” Karim said as Luis slammed the door shut behind them, fumbling with his bloody hand on the lock.
“Luis?” Karim’s voice had gone stiff, worried. “What’s going on?”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t know where else to go, and I had to tell you they might be coming, they might–” He stopped to suck in a needed breath, the words all tumbling together.
His whole body was shaking. Karim placed a careful hand on his shoulder. “Hey, hey, slow down. What’s wrong?”
A sob tore its way out of Luis’s chest, and then it was like a toppling house of cards. The tears came and he couldn’t stop them, his shoulders caving in.
Karim enveloped him in his arms. “Hey, hey, I’ve got you. It’s okay, you’re safe.”
But Luis didn’t feel safe, not even here. Still, he took the offered comfort, pushing into Karim’s chest. A gentle hand soothed over the back of Luis’s hair and down his neck.
“S-sorry,” Luis said when he could speak. His eyes were swollen and his aches were beginning to really hurt.
“Don’t apologize. But what happened? Who do I need to kill?” Karim asked. The last part came jokingly, but Luis’s forced chuckle was wet.
He sniffed, extricating a hand to wipe at his eyes. “I–I don’t know, I–” He swallowed and his throat was dry. Fuck, he was thirsty.
“Okay,” Karim said steadily, as if Luis had managed a real answer. “Let’s… let’s go get Julien and some water, and we can talk about it.”
Karim went to pull back from their embrace, but Luis clung to him.
“Hey, c’mon, I’m not letting you go. We just have to walk a little, let’s go to the living room. Can you do that?” Karim was being so careful with him, and it made more tears drip down Luis’s cheeks.
He nodded and Karim pulled back but kept hold of his hand. When he tugged forward, Luis couldn’t help glancing back at the door.
“The house is warded,” Karim said, “If you’re worried about someone getting in. Only those invited can enter. We also have some outdoor cameras we can check to see if anyone’s around.”
That did help. When Karim tugged again, Luis stepped forward.
“Actually, let’s go to Julien’s office first,” Karim said. “We can check the cameras, make sure it’s all good.”
“O-okay,” Luis said, voice rough.
“I’m just going to text Julien to meet us there,” Karim said. He kept one hand in Luis’s and used the other to pull out his phone and text.
They all arrived at the office at the same time. Julien took one look at him and frowned as Karim led him to a chair.
It was only then that Luis let their hands part so Karim could wake the computer.
“Luis,” Julien crouched down beside the chair, setting a glass of of water on the desk. His hands fluttered like he wanted to touch but couldn’t decide if it was okay. “Your hands… what happened?”
“He’s worried someone might have trespassed on property,” Karim said.
He pushed the monitor to turn it more toward them, pulling up the camera feeds.
“I’ll check the motion logs for the last day.
” Karim clicked through the activity log and clips appeared: someone walking a dog, a package being delivered to the front door, and a squirrel climbing up and down one of the backyard trees.
“Looks normal,” Karim said after a minute more of looking through the log. “But I’ll turn on the push notifications.”
He did so, then both their attentions turned back to him.
“I–” Luis coughed, his throat achingly dry.
“Here, drink,” Julien said, offering the glass.
Luis was still shaking but he managed to get it to his mouth, smearing blood on the cup. It was cold, tasteless, and he swallowed gratefully.
He didn’t come back up until it was mostly empty.
“I’ll get you another,” Julien said as he started to rise, “And something for your hand.” Luis’s hand snapped out to grab his arm.
“Wait, wait,” Luis said. Then pulled his hand back because he’d left blood and dirt on Julien. “I need–I need to tell you what happened, please. You might be in danger.”
Julien turned back to him and resumed his crouch, expression serious. “Okay, I’m here.”
His hand touched the back of Luis’s, careful.
Luis wanted to jerk away and apologize for the grime, but then Julien was gently squeezing, and he didn’t have the strength to deny himself this.
On his other side Karim scooted closer and gingerly took his unwounded hand.
Luis’s lip trembled at the gesture, and he forced himself to breathe.
Then he told them everything.
##
It took a while to get through it all. Luis kept having to backtrack for context, and because all the events were so jumbled in his head.
He told them about his mom, her beliefs, the fights they’d had before he’d moved out, and the fight they’d had last week. He told them about Eric’s true intentions at the bar, and how he’d been at the church. He told them about All Pure, and what kind of a place he understood it to be.
By the time Luis got to how he’d escaped from the basement, he couldn’t stop the shaking, horrible energy that quaked through him. Just remembering the desperation, the fear of it, was awful. He felt sick at the memory. He kept his eyes down while he talked through it, gripping Karim’s hand.
“I don’t know if they know where you live,” Luis said, winding down, “But–but they might also target you. Especially if they think it’s your fault. I’m—I’m so, so sorry.” There were tears dripping down his cheeks.
“Luis,” Julien sounded heartbroken, “sweetheart none of that is your fault.”
“Don’t apologize for fucking monsters,” Karim snarled. He was breathing hard. “Your own fucking mother? What kind of fucking parent–”
“Karim,” Julien said softly, cutting him off.
Karim let out a breath. “I hate this Jules, I really fucking hate this. I–it reminds me of–” Karim’s teeth clattered together, biting off the rest of the words.
“I know darling,” Julien said. “Do you need a minute?”
Luis felt Karim look at him, then at Julien. “Maybe. I–I just–” Another gusty breath.
“Okay,” Julien said soothingly. “Luis, Karim needs a moment, he’s just going to step out and get you another water and something for your hands, okay?”
Luis nodded, letting him go. Karim’s expression was terrifying, like he was about to rip into someone. Fear clawed anything Luis might have said out of his throat.
“Be right back,” Karim said with barely concealed rage, and marched out.
Luis sucked in a breath, then turned to Julien. “I–is Karim mad at me?”
Julien’s expression softened further. “No, no sweetheart.” Julien took his freed hand. “He… has a complicated history with bad parents. He just needs a minute to cool off so he doesn’t say or do anything he’d regret. He’s not upset at you, he’s upset for you.”
Luis licked his dried lips and tasted blood. Had he been biting his lip? “Okay.”
Julien’s thumb smoothed over the back of his hand. “I think the first thing we should do is call the police, and report the kidnapping attempt,” Julien said after a small gap of silence. “It’ll help to have a record of what happened, and you can get a restraining order.”
He was saying things Luis knew needed to happen, but it was hard to feel like he wanted to. All he wanted to do was curl up in a ball and pretend none of this was happening.
“I should’ve reported Eric after the bar,” Luis said. Fuck, would this have happened if he had? If he’d gone to the hospital they would’ve found the drug in his system. Maybe they would’ve investigated, discovered what that church was doing.
“Hey,” Julien said gently. “I understand why you didn’t. This isn’t your fault. How were you to know this was bigger than one incident in a bar?”
The guilt lingered. Hadn’t there been signs? Hadn’t Cassie even questioned his mom’s religious vigor a time or two?
Karim returned, much too quickly to have been moving at a walking pace. He had a first aid kit, another glass of water, and a plate.
“I don’t know if you’re hungry, but I brought some cookies too,” Karim said. He set it and the drink on the desk and offered the first aid kit to Julien.
Julien let go of his hand slowly. “Is it okay if I…?” He gestured from the kit to Luis’s hands.
Luis nodded.
Julien worked carefully then, using sterile wet wipes to clean the grime and blood off of Luis’s hands. He went slowly, being extra gentle around the cuts on the one hand. When that was done, he disinfected the cuts, which were now bleeding fresh.
It was followed by bandages.
When it was done, Karim offered him water.
“Do you want me to take care of calling the police?” Julien asked as he packed up the kit.
Luis finished half the water and then set it aside. “I don’t have my phone,” he said. He wondered where it had gone, if he’d ever see it again. It was at least password locked, so they wouldn’t be getting any more information off of it.
“Okay,” Julien said as he stood. “I’ll take care of it. Be right back.”
Julien left, and then Karim was pushing the cookies toward him. “I’m sure that hurts,” Karim said, nodding at his hands. “Eat and you can take some pain killers.”
Luis wasn’t hungry, but he picked up one of the cookies. Chocolate chip, freshly made.
“You didn’t know I was coming,” Luis said.
Karim shrugged. “It was a test batch; I was going to make some on Friday.”
Luis bit into it. It was sweet and rich. Delicious really, even as twisted up as his stomach was right now. Before he knew it, he’d finished the whole thing.
A desk drawer opened and ibuprofen appeared. “This okay?” Karim asked.
Luis nodded and took two pills and swallowed them down.
“I’d offer you some clean clothes, but if the police come, it’s best they see the condition you’re in,” Karim said apologetically.
“It’s okay.” Before clean clothes, Luis wanted a shower. There was sweat and concrete dust still covering him.
There was a light tap on the door, and they both turned. “They should be here in about ten minutes,” Julien said.
Ten minutes later they were at the kitchen counter seats. Karim had put together a small charcuterie of cheese, crackers, and fruit to try and ply Luis into eating more. Luis was nibbling at the cheese trying not to think about what he had to tell the police when they arrived.
A knock came and Julien left to get it. Luis only set the cheese down and turned on the chair when he heard footsteps returning.
“This is Detective Sarris,” Julien said as he led the man in.
Detective Sarris was a tall, dark-haired man with a neat beard that was graying in spots. He wore a burgundy button up and dark slacks.
“Detective Vince Sarris,” the man said.
“Luis Vázquez,” Luis said.
“I’m from the VPD for Reigns, Fresco and New Haven counties,” Detective Sarris said. “Mr. Dubois called about an incident involving a group of suspected Purists.”
“Yeah,” Luis said. Then, “Vampire Police Department?” What the detective said had just registered. “Shouldn’t I… report this to the human PD?”
“The VPD works a lot of cases involving humans,” Detective Sarris said.
“Vampire hate groups are of particular interest to us, of course. Mr. Dubois believes that himself and Mr. Singh are targets of this group as well. I’ve been working similar cases in the area involving Purists, so it falls under my jurisdiction.
Do you think if I showed you photos, you could identify who attacked you? ”
“Well, we know one of them,” Karim interjected. “I got his ID, hold on.” Karim left the room to retrieve it.
“That would be very helpful,” Detective Sarris said. He pulled out of his pocket a recorder and set it on the table.
“Next, I’d like you to walk me through what happened, both tonight and the prior incident at Bite Back. Do I have your consent to record?” He asked.
Luis nodded.
“Verbally please,” Detective Sarris said.
Right. “Yes,” Luis said.
Detective Sarris then gave his own name, identification number, and the date and time for the recorder. “Now, please state your name, and then you may begin with what happened at Bite Back.”
Luis took a shaky breath. He could do this. He had to.
He hadn’t crawled out of that basement window to be a coward.
He leaned toward the recorder, “My name is Luis Vázquez,” he said.