Chapter 4 #2
The compulsion power could wrap around a human or supernatural mind and body like an inescapable web. The victim’s body would no longer feel like their own. I could become a puppet dancing to the vampire’s desires.
And so far, I didn’t know of a human or a supernatural who had the strength to break free from a vampire’s compelling grasp.
I opened my eyes and pretended to choose a snack off the metal shelves, but my body trembled. I held my breath as he passed behind me. He strolled down the aisle and halted at the end. A middle-aged woman rounded the corner and almost collided with him.
She blushed and smiled at him, profusely apologizing. I didn’t blame her for gawking at the man. Like all other supernaturals, he was created to attract his prey with his seductive voice.
But I knew it was too late when an alluring smile appeared on the vampire’s face.
In a low voice, he said something like, “Follow me, dear.”
No, don’t.
The woman’s eyes turned dull and unblinking. She was in a daze, under the vampire’s compulsion. It was game over. He could do anything he wanted to her now.
It was unjust how some vampires used their powers to their advantage. Vampires could feed on willing humans, who could then be compensated for their blood.
Humans paid for their food, so why should vampires be any different? But vampires were arrogant and believed they could get away with anything.
The woman dropped her hands to her sides and followed the supernatural man toward the store exit. I only had a few seconds if I wanted to stop them.
But could I?
It wasn’t the first time I’d witnessed a compulsion, but this time, the guilt of not helping the woman from being used weighed so much more on my shoulders. I couldn’t fight the vampires in the store or the streets, exposing the supernatural secret.
I could call the police but what would I say? A woman got into a car with a man, not of her own free will, but she did get in anyway. They’d hang up on me.
The werewolf King banished anyone who exposed the secret to the humans. Not that I was afraid of being punished, since I’d banished myself from the kingdom seven years ago, but I didn’t want tension between species to escalate.
As a human, I could do nothing but watch their retreating backs. I stood in the middle of the aisle, watching out the window as the woman got inside the vampire’s car. The familiar hollowness in my chest grew larger, making my breathing shallow.
I did nothing. I couldn’t even protect my own kind.
When I finally looked down, I was crushing a bag of cookies into crumbs without realizing it. I tossed it in my shopping basket and headed to the cashier.
I kept on taking deep breaths while the elderly man behind the counter gave me curious looks until I calmed enough to visit Lisa. I shook my head as if I could shake off the guilt piling on my shoulders. With a slouched posture and an achy chest, I began the walk to Lisa’s apartment.
Our four-story apartment complex was clean and safe. The stairwell wound up in the middle, and on each floor, six apartments were situated on each side. I had to wait a long time before renting an apartment in the same building as Lisa.
I knocked on her door and waited patiently, knowing she’d move slowly. Sometimes, she’d miss deliveries by the time she got to the door. She thought I hadn’t noticed how her health had deteriorated over the years, but she wouldn’t let me talk about it because, as she said, she was fine.
After a moment, Lisa opened the door wide and smiled the warm and contagious smile she always gave me.
I lifted the two grocery bags in each hand. “I bought stuff for cookies.”
Sometimes I caught myself practically shouting while talking to her about hiring help for her daily needs, but when we watched movies together, she didn’t increase the TV volume. I’d guess she suffered from a selective hearing problem.
As her smile widened, the long wrinkles on her cheeks and around her eyes deepened. Her white hair was braided to the side and fell over her collarbone.
“I like your braid.”
“Ben liked it too,” she said, motioning for me to come in.
Ben was her deceased husband. That was another reason I thought it was best if she lived in an assisted-living home. She was utterly alone, having no kids with Ben.
Nothing had changed inside Lisa’s apartment for the last seven years, and probably even before I knew her. Although her apartment was bigger than mine, with an extra bedroom, her living room and kitchen were connected just like mine in one open space.
Unlike my white walls, Lisa’s walls were covered in sunflower wallpaper—dark orange and brown shades, but the petals might have been light yellow at one point.
Her living room had a fireplace, which Lisa never turned on because, in her words, it was Ben’s job to do so. On the mantel, Lisa had four different sizes of round clocks, but they all showed slightly different times, and the ticking noises were not synchronized.
Once, I asked her to let me get the clocks fixed, but she said she liked the familiar sounds that brought her memories and peace. After that, I never asked again.
Next to the fireplace, Lisa and I spent time together on the dark-brown fabric chairs with throw pillows.
When I arrived in London and had no place to go, I was grateful Lisa had taken me in. I didn’t have anything planned, and my trip was sudden.
I dumped some items in her fridge and some on the kitchen countertop. Lisa pulled out a deep bowl for the cookie batter.
Although I had the annoying itch under my skin to go to my apartment and try to open the book, I planted my feet firmly on Lisa’s floor. Ben had died more than ten years ago, and Lisa had only me now.
“What are you wearing to the fundraiser?” She cracked one egg into the bowl.
A few tiny pieces of eggshell fell inside, and I averted my gaze.
“Whatever I have in my closet. You know I don’t like wasting money on fancy dresses I get to wear once a year.”
“How about that cute boy who visited you? Will he come back to be your date?”
Lisa referred to Hayden, who’d stayed with me for a few days three years ago.
If I asked Lisa whether she took her vitamins in the morning, she’d say she couldn’t remember, but she remembered Hayden from three years ago. My friendly neighbor also suffered from a selective memory problem.
“So you forget to lock your door, and I have to check on it on a weekly basis, but you haven’t forgotten that man. I don’t know what to think here, Lisa.”
She let out a small laugh and poured a cup of sugar into the bowl.
“Well, he was very handsome and hulky,” she said, pouring a second cup of sugar into the bowl.
My eyes widened. I’d rather not think about his muscular body right now, and I directed my thoughts to the extra calories I’d get from the sugary cookies.
“I hope you find a young man who will think the world of you like Ben did of me. And have many kids.”
I smiled. “Sounds like a good plan.”
But the truth was I didn’t know if I’d ever find anyone to stay by my side.
Hayden seemed to have feelings for me. He was first my bodyguard, then my friend, and finally a lover. But I wanted him to be my friend again.
Once we’d crossed the line, our friendship morphed into a constant sexual tension around each other that made me hot and uncomfortable. I didn’t know how to act when he was close to me.
And last night, I’d found out he was supposedly my mate.
Hayden stayed in California to serve my father as one of his best warriors. I left the kingdom when I was eighteen because only by shedding the privileges of a princess—although I only had a few—would I be able to test my own abilities.
My father had high hopes for me to lead after he retired. But I questioned if I deserved the position of a Queen or to even be in the kingdom.
I didn’t belong there, as my cousin made sure to remind me every day while growing up together. I’d left the kingdom in a hurry one day with nothing—only with a backpack full of clothes and money I’d saved from working summer jobs at the cafe.
London was the obvious choice for me because it was on a different continent, and it would be easy to start school and work since the spoken language was English.
Seven years ago, I walked the streets and had almost given up on finding shelter. I had been about to spend all my savings on a hotel room when I noticed an older lady limping and pulling a rolling bag behind her.
She must have bought more groceries than anticipated, the bag near bursting. I only helped the lady to her apartment, stayed to talk to her, and after she heard my story of moving away from California to London for school, she offered me shelter in her empty room.
Never in my life had someone shown me such hospitality, kindness, and trust. And yet, this lady was smiling as widely as she could at the thought of having a roommate.
I looked like an average Jane with my long brown hair and brown eyes—my appearance didn’t scream serial killer, but Lisa trusted me and took me in, and well, she made me cry that day.
She only knew me for a few hours and showed me more kindness than my cousin with whom I shared DNA. My first lesson away from home was that blood didn’t make a family.
During the day, I worked as a tutor at the English department at the college I attended, and at night, I worked on the laptop I borrowed from the school’s library as a proofreader for an online comics company, making sure the translation to English made sense and was grammatically correct.
I used my calligraphy to deliver stunning graphics of quotes or turn recipes into art.
For the three and a half years of college, watching the professors during lectures with half-closed eyes was my norm. Even if a classmate asked me out, I’d turn him down while yawning. I meant no disrespect.
Lisa and I placed the cookie dough in the oven, and I turned on the timer I’d gifted her last year. I said my goodbyes and headed for my apartment across the hall.
My pulse speeding up, I dropped my jacket on the couch and opened my bag to pull out the book.
I let out a frustrated sigh. An image of my hands holding a can opener prying the book open popped into my mind, and I almost laughed.
My next brilliant idea was to soak the book in water to dissolve the glue.
A vibrating sound and a ping came from my bag. I took out my phone and swiped it to read Tammy’s text reminding me to get my butt moving to the Crimson Sunburn Club.
She knew me too well.
With a sigh, I put the book back in the leather bag and hid it under my bed. In a blur of motion, I showered and dressed in the first pair of jeans my hands found in the closet. I stuffed my pockets with my ID, a credit card, and some cash.
A T-shirt and my leather jacket completed my look. I didn’t want to stand out in the crowd, but then I remembered everyone else would be wearing costumes.
Another heavy sigh escaped my mouth.
Once we drove by the people lined up at the front doors, I asked the cab driver to drop me off at the back of the club.
The gray exterior of the building blended with the surrounding bustling city. The tall windows were covered with thick curtains, not giving away any clues about the place where people escaped from the mundane.
I walked to the side wall of the one-story rectangular building and leaned my back on the cold surface, pulling out my phone.
A painful groan echoed from nearby, followed by a muffled noise.
My body tensed. Maybe I was too focused on the magic book, and my exhausted mind had imagined things.
But then whimpering and cursing followed from the back of the building and put me on high alert.
I lifted my gaze from the phone and twisted my body to peer around the corner to a small parking lot.
A black SUV with tinted windows had pulled right in front of the back entrance. Metal signs saying No Parking Anytime lined the sidewalk, and a few orange construction cones circled around the car.
The back entrance must have been reserved for the club’s important guests. Nothing looked suspicious until the front doors of the SUV swung open, and two men in black suits stepped out.
Their narrow black ties and shiny cuff links that glimmered in the light from a lamppost reminded me of secret agents from thriller movies.
The men were of similar height—about six feet—and were lean and muscular but not in the hulk-like way werewolves were in the kingdom.
Both had black eyes and dark-brown hair, cut short on the sides and left longer on the top, with bangs that fell over their eyes.
“Get him to stop making any noises,” the man closer to my side said.
“Yes, Master,” the other said, moving to the back doors.
My shoulders tightened so much that the muscles between my shoulder blades ached. I took a gulp of air and stood still.
Something was very wrong.
The man who was called Master suddenly twisted his head in my direction, and his eyes flashed red.
No, it can’t be.
I quickly retreated behind the wall. My legs moved as fast as lightning to the busy front entrance of the so-called fake vampire nightclub. But how fake was it?
Had he seen me?
Flashing red eyes was a sure sign of a vampire. I didn’t think humans could fake that.
Goose bumps broke out on the back of my neck as the presence of supernaturals hit my senses. I rubbed the skin between my thumb and index finger, pinching the inked daisy there.
To say I was on dangerous ground was an understatement. I dropped my head back and stared at the dark, starless sky. Was this another omen that I needed to go back to the kingdom and live among the supernaturals again? The Fates had a peculiar way of sending me warnings.
My heart dropped into my stomach.
Tammy.
She was unsuspecting of the real danger inside the club, but I wasn’t.
I knew what I’d have to risk to protect her, and I was about to put everything on the line to do just that.
Or die trying.