Vex #2
When he slowly begins to take off his ridiculous trench coat I know shit is about to get real.
“Hide,” I whisper to Ophie. Hell, I haven’t been a vampire terribly long. A fledgling to vampires. Not once in that time did I feel like danger was imminent.
Right now I do. And I got to say, I’m not a fan.
She sits up, pulling away from me. And instead of hiding, she grabs a goddamn bat off the wall.
“Ophie, hide.” I slowly stand because if she stays out here then I can’t guarantee what she’ll see, and my sister doesn’t need to see her brother grow fangs.
“No.” She swings the bat once before resting it against her calf.
Soren’s lips twitch as he begins to roll up his cuffs. “The lady wants to stay.”
“Isn’t that…”
“Against the rules?” He looks at Ophelia. “I don’t know.” There’s spark to him, one that dimmed over the last few days. One I’m pretty sure has more to do with Lazarus not telling him why he changed me.
Honestly, I haven’t really had a chance to thank him yet. I don’t think I could have done that to my sisters. Again.
To lose their only brother?
“Fuck.” I look at Ophelia whose head ping-pongs between ours. “What do we do, I’ve never dealt with…” I look at Ophie then Soren. “Others.” I hope he gets it.
Ophie points the bat at me again. “See this is weird.” She turns to Soren who now stands at the door, his eyes closed and his shoes… off. “That’s weird too, I don’t know what kind of weird fucking kinky bullshit you two are into but—”
The door crashes inward.
“Oh you are so paying for that.” Ophie points the bat at some fucking guy who just crashed through my shop door.
The guy who just kicked in our door looks like he stepped out of a biker gang casting call. Leather vest, weathered face, and knuckles covered in faded tattoos. But his eyes... his eyes are wrong. They have that same predatory stillness I’ve come to recognize in Lazarus and Soren.
Another vampire.
“Vex Callahan?” His voice is rough, like gravel under tires. “Heard you got yourself a new lease on life.”
Vex Knight now that I’m undead.
Soren moves between us and the intruder with that fluid grace I still haven’t mastered. “This territory is claimed.”
The stranger laughs, showing fangs that look freshly sharpened. “Lazarus can’t claim everything. Especially not something he stole.”
“Stole?” I step forward, my body instinctively positioning itself between this threat and Ophelia. “I’m not property.”
“No?” The vampire tilts his head, studying me with unsettling intensity. “That’s not what the biker boys said. They’re still pretty upset about you killing three of their members.”
The memory hits me like his fist did that night. Motorcycles revving, the smell of gasoline and blood, my own scream as something sharp pierces my neck. My vision blurs, then clears. The shop disappears, replaced by darkness and the metallic taste of my own blood filling my mouth.
“Vex?” Ophelia’s voice cuts through the fog. “Vex, what’s happening?”
I blink, finding myself on one knee, hands braced against the concrete floor. The memory recedes, leaving me gasping.
“Ah, so you don’t remember.” The vampire sounds almost disappointed.
“You’re one of Dot’s.” Ophelia stands in front of me with the bat. But she won’t be able to take on a vampire.
I force myself up and push her behind me.
Soren holds a hand out, a frown on his face. “You don’t belong here. This is House Dagon territory,” he says slowly, giving the territory a name. A place.
“What the fuck.” I hear Ophelia whisper behind me.
Through the hole where my door should be I see several others. Maybe four or five. Against Soren and I. I can escape Lazarus’s chains and walls but this? This is putting Ophelia in danger.
And unfortunately, he focuses on Ophelia. His eyes roll over her and I push her further behind me. His energy feels tacky like tar. Wrong and cold and just not a healthy vampire.
“Dot died years ago.” I stand beside Soren hoping to somehow push this guy out. “We owe you nothing.”
“See that’s where you’re wrong.” He towers over me, and I just wish I could remember his fucking name.
Maybe if I knew that I could remember who he was to Dot.
But at the end, she had so many terrible toxic friends.
I just couldn’t tell them apart anymore.
He bites his lip, showing a little fang.
“I learned you lived.” He swings his amber eyes on me, where they glow just a fraction when they hit the lighting just right.
“You have so much to explain.” Ophelia nudges the tip of the bat into my spine.
“I know,” I mutter, keeping my eyes on the vampire.
Tension crackles like electricity. Soren stands perfectly still beside me, but I can feel the coiled energy radiating from him.
The vampire smiles, revealing those sharp fangs again. “You don’t remember me, do you? I’m hurt, Vex. After all those times I patched Dot up when she OD’d.”
Ophelia’s grip on the bat tightens. “Otto,” she whispers.
Otto. The name sends a jolt through me. I remember now. Dot’s dealer, her supplier, her sometimes boyfriend. The one who promised her the world while pumping her veins full of poison.
“Still protecting your sister, I see.” Otto takes a step closer, and Soren moves to block him.
“You’re trespassing,” Soren says, his voice deadly calm. “And you’re outnumbered.”
Otto laughs, the sound echoing unnaturally in the shop. “Am I? Look again.”
Through the shattered door, I see movement. More vampires, at least six now, their eyes catching the light like cats in the dark.