Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
As she dragged him toward her lair, I slipped out behind her and grabbed the man by the arm, pulling him toward me.
Vera swung, her eyes crimson red, and she let out a hiss. “What the fuck—”
“Time to give it up, Vera,” I said, pushing the man away.
Camille raced out from behind the furnace, grabbed the man by the arm and dragged him toward the stairs.
Delilah swung out, carrying a crowbar. It wouldn’t work as a stake, but it could make a nice dent in the head.
But I knew that, as strong as she was, Delilah wasn’t strong enough to handle a vampire.
I let down my fangs and gave a little hiss in return.
Hissing was more of a rogue vamp thing, but I wanted Vera to know who she was dealing with.
Vera held my gaze, and she tilted her head. “Sister, don’t interfere.”
“I’ll give you one chance,” I said. “You know that rogue vampires have a low life expectancy, so stop now and I’ll get you help. I’ll take you under my wing and help you find support while you learn the life.”
I wanted to give her that—I’d had it. I’d been sent home a rogue, and I’d managed to come through. It wasn’t Vera’s fault she’d been turned, so I couldn’t blame her for that. But now she had a choice to make, and I prayed she’d make the right choice.
“I didn’t want this,” she said, her voice strangled.
“I never wanted this. I just wanted justice. I wanted to take him to court, to make sure he was punished for using me. I thought he was different, but all he wanted was the one thing I wasn’t going to give to him.
He said he wanted to fund my work. I’m an artist, for the sake of the gods.
” Bloody tears began to trickle down her face.
“When he said he wanted to meet, to discuss my future, I thought he meant he wanted to sponsor me.”
Her strangled voice told me more than I wanted to know. “And when you met…”
“He got hands-on busy with me. I told him no. I pushed him away. But I’d invited him in. He told me I reminded him of his wife, that he missed her. I tried to run out my door, but he stopped me. He…wouldn’t let me go.”
I watched the bravado crumble as she melted to the floor.
From one hundred to zero in ten seconds, I thought.
I wanted to go to her, but I wasn’t sure yet whether she was playing a part, or whether I was actually watching her breakdown.
As a newly minted vampire herself, Vera was likely standing on the edge of the whirlwind.
“You have two endings to choose from,” I said. “Make the right one.”
Vera hesitated for a moment, doubt crossing her face.
“I didn’t ask for this,” she said. “He wanted to take me with him—to make me his mistress. When he was finished, he drained me and turned me. But I was so angry, and when I came to, he was laughing with his buddies, and I was lying there like a rag doll. He told me that I didn’t have any more excuses.
That he’d teach me.” She was crying in earnest now, angry tears of blood splattering down her face.
“What did you do?” I asked, having a feeling I knew exactly what she’d done.
She rose again, standing tall. “I picked up the nearest sharp object—a pair of scissors—and before he could say another word, I staked him. As he turned to dust, his men were so in shock they didn’t make a move. I ran out into the streets. And now, here I am. A bounty on my head and nowhere to go.”
I wanted to argue that we could find her a safe space to stay, that we could help her acclimate.
“No, you didn’t have a choice. But it happened, and now it’s up to you what you make of the rest of your life.
I didn’t ask for it, either. But like it or not, we have to face reality.
I can help you, Vera. I can help you choose to make a life for yourself.
Don’t take what happened to you out on anybody else. ”
Vera paused, piercing her lip with one of her fangs. I could tell she was considering what I said. “I don’t want…” But then, the feral light returned to her eyes, and she leapt at me.
I met her midair, colliding with her. She was tall and strong, but I was stronger—both thanks to my Fae blood, and to the time I’d been a vampire.
I caught her midair and rolled to the ground, spinning her beneath me. She raked at me with her nails—vampires had long nails that stayed ever-sharp, unless someone cut them, and very few people had that opportunity. I dodged her attack, spinning in midair to clip her on the chin with my stilettos.
She fell back and I grappled her, attempting to keep her down. She was surprisingly strong, for being so new to the vampire life, and we scuffled our way across the concrete floor.
“Don’t do this,” I said, holding her shoulders as she thrashed. “Don’t make me stake you.”
“It’s you or me, babe. Do what you have to,” she said, struggling. And then, the feral light retreated from her eyes. “Do what you have to,” she said again. “Please.”
It was then that I knew what she wanted.
I looked up to see Delilah hurrying across the room, carrying an ice pick she’d found somewhere.
She tossed it to me and I caught it midair.
As I pinned Vera down, using my legs to hold her arms against her sides, I realized that I had to make a decision.
It would be less painful than her walking into the sun.
And it would relieve her of having to make the decision.
“Are you sure?” I asked, raising the pick.
She swallowed hard. “I can’t trust myself.”
One thing I’d learned long ago: trust people when they tell you who they are.
Even when I’d been sent home to destroy my family, there was part of me hanging on, desperate for someone to stop me.
Vera didn’t have that. I could hear it in her desperation.
She knew she didn’t have what it took to come back from the edge.
She had already crossed over and she liked it.
I nodded. “All right. I’m so sorry for what happened.”
“Hey, at least he’s toast,” she said, then she steeled herself. “Now, before I lose myself again.”
I brought the pick down, thrusting it through her heart.
She shrieked once, then froze, and then dissolved into a flurry of dust beneath me.
As she vanished, I slumped on the ground, staring at the whirl of ash in the air.
Vera was dead and at peace, but I wondered how many she’d left in her wake.
Laddy had found us in time, but how many other rogues were out there now, walking the streets?
We got Vera’s latest victim to the hospital and explained what had happened. I called Chase to let him know, and Tavah so she could tell Laddy.
By the time we were done, it was nearly four am, but dawn still seemed a million miles away as we drove home. As we reached home, Camille glanced at me as we headed into the house.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I have to be.
It’s just…I remember what it was like. I remember that desire to destroy.
And yet…with all Dredge did to me, I managed to hold on, and you came to my rescue even though I tried to kill you.
But Vera couldn’t. I know she was attacked, and turned like I was but… ”
“Some people just have stronger wills than others,” Camille said. “Don’t think about it. Life is what it is, and nobody’s born the same. We all have our strengths. Maybe Vera just had a streak in her that wanted to go after people, and it came out after her death. I don’t think we’ll ever know.”
She was right, I thought. Nobody knew how much they could endure until they were put to the test, and some people weren’t cut out to handle adversity.
It wasn’t a failing. It just was. There was no special Olympics dedicated to seeing just how much you could suffer and still come through.
One man’s pleasure was another man’s pain.
At least Vera wouldn’t be siring any new vampires, and Laddy—I had hope for Laddy. He was good-hearted. With proper training he could probably manage to make it in the vampire world. And I’d keep in touch as much as I could, to remind him that there was life after death.
I pulled a bottle of blood out of the fridge and sat at the table as Camille foraged for sandwich fixings. “Well, I wonder what’s coming our way next,” I said.
“I don’t know, but somehow, we’re managing to get this Earthside gig down, you know? I think we’re going to manage just fine,” Delilah said, joining us. “Though I hope that we make more friends as time goes on. Sometimes the house feels awfully quiet.”
“I’m sure we’ll meet more people as we go along,” I said. “I think life has a lot more in store for us before we head back home. Who knows, maybe we’ll end up liking it so much we won’t want to go back.”
“I doubt that,” Delilah said.
“You never know,” Camille said. “Maybe Menolly’s right. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. At least we have each other. And that, is a blessing.”
As I settled into slumber for the day, I found myself wandering in a fog bank.
I was in Seattle, I could tell, but yet the world around me felt all too warm, and a dark red mist settled around me.
It felt familiar, but I couldn’t tell why.
And then the fog gave way to a radiant curtain of blood that sparkled like rain.
I stood there, watching it stretched across the horizon, beckoning me.
My hunger rose as my fangs descended, and I wanted to rage across the globe, feeding.
Behind the blood rain lurked an immense power, and I was suddenly afraid.
Before the mist that boiled out of it could reach me, I turned and ran, desperate to get away from the crimson veil.
But everywhere I ran, it was still there, until all I could do was whimper and hide.
I hid until sunset, when I finally broke free and woke to life again.