by Maria Arnt
“So tell me, Tatiana,” he said as he set a cup and saucer in front of her, with one of the rescued pastries beside the cup. “Have you really met a vampire? What are they like?” He sat opposite her and leaned over his tea like an over-eager student.
“Yeah...” she blew on the tea, thinking. She wasn’t much of a tea drinker, but she thought it would probably be rude not to drink it. Still, she waited until he took a drink and a bite of pastry. “They’re um... they’re really awful, Seth. I hate to burst your bubble.”
He tilted his head and frowned. “What do you mean?”
Tanya took a sip of the tea. She was surprised to find she liked it, it was much lighter in flavor than she would have imagined. “Maybe this is how it started out,” she flipped through the book pages, “but it’s... it’s different now. They’re evil. They kill people, and they don’t give a damn about it. Almost happened to me about six years ago, that’s why I started hunting them.” She rubbed her arm thoughtfully, pushing away the memory of cold, steel eyes.
“Again, you thought I was a vampire?” he sounded less flattered this time.
“I... well... someone gave me your name.” She realized that Etienne du Lac must have thought it was quite a joke, sending her after another potential enemy instead of a vampire. “Before I kill a vampire, I promise them that if they tell me the name and location of the most powerful vampire they know, I’ll let them go.”
“You don’t kill them?” he seemed confused.
“No, I lie. But they believe it and tell me anyway. You should see the look on their faces,” she laughed, and then stopped when she saw his expression. “See, when you kill this guy,” she pointed to the big demigod in the book, “all of these guys die too,” she dragged her finger across the minions below him.
Seth nodded. “It makes sense, they would be dependent on him for power. But what about...” he turned the book around and flipped forward a couple chapters to another illustration, “this. If a priest served this man-made deity long enough, say a century or two, he was released from service and allowed to go found his own temple as a god in his own right. If you killed his maker, would he still die?”
She stared at the picture. “Damn, I don’t know.” Sitting back, she thought about it. There were a lot of Master vampires. If you killed the Master of a Master, would they die? Somehow, she doubted it. “Well, fuck. There goes my brilliant plan.”
If he was offended by her colorful language, he didn’t show it. “It was a good idea, Tatiana. Knock off the top of the pyramid, and the rest of it will crumble.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” she moaned, and dropped her head on the table.
“Well, no, I suppose not.” He was thoughtful a long while, sipping his tea.
Suddenly Tanya’s phone beeped, and she checked it to find a text from her dad. Where had the time gone? It was already 8:00! “Shit, hang on, I gotta give my dad a call.” She hit the call button and waited for him to pick up. “Hi Daddy, yeah, I’m okay. No, I just... It was a bust. The guy’s not a vampire. He’s actually pretty cool.” Glancing up, she gave Seth a quick smile. “Yeah. Yes, I’m fine, I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner, I forgot. Right. Okay, well, give Mom my love, and I’ll call you later, okay? Love you too. Bye.” She hit end.
Seth looked surprised. “Your parents know what you do?”
“Just my dad. Mom doesn’t believe in vampires,” she rolled her eyes.
“I see.”
There was a long pause, although it wasn’t too awkward, where they drank their tea and thought. When he spoke again, his voice was low and quiet. “What if... what if there was a way to make you more powerful, so you could fight them more easily?” he asked.
Tanya put her teacup down. “Like what? Some kind of magic spell?” The sarcasm was rude, she knew, but she had just lost her best idea for the eradication of vampires.
To her surprise, he smiled. “Something like that.” He glanced at the book. “It could be risky. But if you could, Tatiana, if it would make you strong enough, would you take that risk?”
She looked from him to the book. What had he stumbled on, searching through all those dusty pyramids? She doubted it would be superpowers like on TV, but still.... “The truth is, without even meaning to, I’ve devoted my whole life to this,” she told him. “I would do anything to get an edge. I won’t stop, not until they kill me, or until I kill every last one of them. Even this guy,” she pointed to the demigod in the book.
“Well then.” He set his teacup down as well and took off his glasses. “You might find that more difficult than you imagine.”
“Why is that?” She frowned as he pushed away from the table and stood up.
He smiled at her. Not the polite, friendly smile he had been using that evening. It was a sharp, deadly one she had glimpsed only once before, at the museum. Suddenly the room was full of that strange but familiar electric buzz she knew all too well.
He reached up and pulled off the bandage on his forehead. There was no bruise beneath it. “Because I have absolutely no intention of dying,” he said, and his voice was liquid power. His eyes flashed, clearly glowing like small blue flames in the dim lamplight.
What. The. Fuck. The wheels of her mind locked up and then tried to peel out, getting no traction. She darted for the door, knocking over her chair in the process. He got there first and clotheslined her, moving faster than she could see. She managed to get her knife out of her boot as she came up, and slashed him in the chest. He jumped back and glanced down to see the line of red across his white shirt.
She took the opportunity to turn and try to dash for the door, but he pinned her against the wall, his long, lean body pressing into hers. “Where are you going, Tatiana?” he teased.
Oh god. Tanya suddenly realized he’d been using her full name all evening, and she had never said it. Nobody called her that, except her Nana. She tried to stab him again, but he caught her hand and pressed it against the wall, too, squeezing until the knife clattered to the floor. With his free hand, he wrapped his long fingers around her neck.
“You said... you weren’t...” she gasped.
He brushed his nose against her cheek gently, inhaling deeply before whispering in her ear, “I lied.”
A thought tried to form in her mind, but it was getting harder to breathe as he squeezed her neck very slowly. She tried to speak, but couldn’t get enough air. She punched him with her free hand, in the ribs, but it had no effect. She kept doing it anyway.
“Shh, shh, shh...” he murmured soothingly. “It’s all right, we will speak again when you rise.”
His words barely registered in her mind. Everything was going dark around the edges, and there were funny blotches in her vision. Is this really how I’m gonna die? she thought distantly. Is that it?
And then the world tilted and winked out.
2
Tanya drove the stolen car out of the St. Louis traffic and into an alley, turned the engine off, and closed her eyes. “You can do this,” she whispered. She repeated her usual pep-talk, dredging up the memory of Jake and the vampire with steel-gray eyes. It didn’t make her feel any less nervous, but it did make her angry, and she could work with that.
With a deep breath, she opened the car door and squeezed out between the rusting metal and the rough brick wall. The July heat was oppressive, without even the briefest breeze to relieve it. She could almost feel her red curly hair frizzing out in the humidity.
Tanya tugged down the hem of her t-shirt, a couple sizes too small to keep it from getting caught in a fight. It smelled strongly of the musty thrift shop where she bought it, but she was just going to burn it later anyway.
Glancing up at the sky, she saw the sun almost directly overhead, flooding the hidden spaces between buildings with light. Funny thing about TV, she thought, just from looking you don’t realize that most alleys smell like piss and garbage. She checked the nearby dumpster and the bag of supplies in the car one last time, then rubbed her hand
s together to try and calm down. You can do this. You’re always nervous before a kill, but as soon as you get going, it’ll be like running downhill. Couldn’t stop if you wanted to.
Summoning that first leap of confidence, she made her way down the alley and took a left, then knocked on an unmarked metal door. It didn’t even have a doorknob, and the sunlight made it hot enough to hurt her knuckles. There was a long pause and she fought the urge to rub the sweat off her palms on her pants, but eventually the door opened just a crack.
“Whath’fuck d’youwan?” slurred the man on the other side. The one eye she could see was bloodshot and in constant motion.
Tanya recognized the symptoms of a vampire’s daytime grogginess. Probably not a Master, she reasoned, he didn’t open the door all the way. No wonder he’s sleepy—it’s the middle of the freaking night to him.
“Jimmy had a thing,” she said. “They sent me instead.” In reality, Jimmy was handcuffed to a railing in a parking ramp five miles away. He’d have a hell of a headache when he woke up in police custody, but she wasn’t in the habit of feeling sorry for drug dealers.
The door opened a hair more. “You’re late. It wuz s’posed t’be’ere las night.”
“Yeah, well, Jimmy’s an ass, Okay? I just got the stuff,” Tanya whined, shoving her hands in her pockets. Maybe if she acted irritated he would hurry up.
He chuckled at that and opened the door wide enough for her to pass through. “Alrigh, c’mon in.”
“Uh-uh.” She shook her head. “I dunno how Jimmy does it, but I follow the rules, man. You gotta come out to the car.” From the marks on Jimmy, he’d been making a little extra on the side by giving them more than crack. There was no way in hell she was going to go inside and let them make a meal out of her, too.
“Don’ be a bitch.” He scowled. “A’least pass it through.” He held out a hand, just inside the door.
She noticed he sounded a bit rushed. Probably wants to get the door closed as soon as possible. She hid a smile, glad to have regained the advantage.
“Nope. Rules. I show you a sample, you give me the money, I give you the rest.” She’d watched Jimmy long enough to know his routine, after his brief “chat” inside.
“I don’ave time fr’this shit!” He growled and lunged at her. A hand on his shoulder stopped him short, and a much more attractive man stepped into view, just inside the door.
“It’s alright, Randy. I’ll take care of it.” Fair skinned and sandy-blonde, the newcomer looked much younger, but Randy nodded without question and drifted off into the building.
When he opened the door wide and gave her a winning smile, Tanya recognized him and knew she had the right man. This was Etienne du Lac, the killer she had been trailing for the last two weeks. There was also that tell-tale buzz of static. It rolled off him, making her skin itch.
“My car’s just around the corner,” she said.
He made an elaborate bow to indicate she should lead the way. Late 17th, early 18th century, she guessed from the fancy gesture. Some habits never wear off. Belatedly, she realized he was trying to flirt with her, so she flashed him a smile.
She led him around the corner and was surprised he didn’t even blink as they stepped into the sunlight. He’s gotta be the most powerful one I’ve done so far. Good. You can do this.
“Will you be making all of our deliveries from now on?” he asked, eying her breasts as she pretended to fumble in her pocket for her keys.
She responded in an unintelligible mumble. When he leaned forward to hear her better, she pulled out a miniature can of mace on her keyring, spraying it directly into his pretty face. Just because it wouldn’t do him any real harm didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt like a bitch. And make it harder for him to see.
He screamed, doubling over. That gave Tanya all the opportunity she needed. She wrapped her arm over his head and twisted with everything she had.
His neck didn’t break on her first try. Etienne let out a string of French curses and punched her hard in the ribs. Her whole left side burned like it was on fire, and he pulled out of her grasp when she gasped for air.
Damn. She had missed her first chance, her best chance, but she couldn’t stop now. His head was at a bit of an odd angle, though. Maybe with the right applied force, she could still break his neck.
He rubbed his eyes with one hand and swung blindly at her with the other, spewing more French profanity. When he called out for Randy, she knew she had to act fast, before any of his minions were stupid enough to brave the sun and save their Master.
She gave the side of his face a hard right hook, and then followed it up with the best roundhouse kick she could manage in so much pain. There was a dull crack, and Etienne’s body sprawled on the gravel.
“Son of a bitch...” Tanya put a hand to her side. There wasn’t any blood, but damn did it hurt, especially when she breathed. She probably had broken a rib or two. She kicked him for good measure, but he was unconscious. Oh well, she thought, that’ll make the next part way easier.
She grabbed the roll of industrial-sized plastic wrap she had stashed in the car and set to work, winding it around his legs. It hurt to move, but she didn’t have a lot of time before he woke up and not much more before his broken neck would heal. She hoped the plastic would hold—she hadn’t tested this method.
Once she had his legs wrapped up, she started on his torso. Working with his dead weight was awkward, and the pain in her side was getting worse. She pushed herself to keep going, she had to finish quickly before anyone saw her. At last, she had him all wrapped up except for a thin slice of his chest, right over his heart. Sliding the six-inch bowie knife out of its sheath in her boot, she sat on his chest. She slapped his face a few times, and finally he woke up.
“Qu’est-que ç’est?” he murmured, and then felt the point of the knife under his chin. He thrashed his head wildly looking around for help, but he was still paralyzed below the neck. All he succeeded in doing was getting his chin cut up on the tip of her knife.
“Hey!” she grabbed his jaw. “I just want to talk, okay?”
He stopped wiggling but didn’t look convinced.
“If you tell me what I want to know, I promise not to kill you,” she said in her most persuasive voice. “I’ll leave you here and let your minions come get you when it’s dark enough.”
He gave her a long, hard look through narrowed eyes. It was clear he didn’t trust her, but there was curiosity there, too. “What do you want to know?”
Tanya smiled. “Tell me the name of the most powerful vampire you know.” Her eyes flashed. “And where I can find them.”
Etienne smiled slowly, not the expression she expected. Most of the time they were surprised. “Why do you want to know?”
“That’s my business,” she said, and poked his chest with the tip of the knife for emphasis. “Now tell me, or I will kill you.”
“All right, all right!” he shouted.
She slapped him. “Quiet.”
He glared at her and then muttered “Salope fou. His name is Seth, and he lives in Chicago.”
Hm. Chicago. It was further than she’d had to go so far, but it made sense to her that a fat cat vampire would live in a big city. “Seth what?”
“Just Seth,” he insisted, “like Cher.”
She rolled her eyes at the out-dated reference. “He has to use a last name, even if it’s just an alias. What is it?”
“Uhhhh...” He looked like he was trying to remember, but she could feel his hand wriggling under the plastic. She pressed the first half inch of the knife into his chest, and he stilled—she would have to finish quickly; he was already regaining movement.
“Walker! He uses the last name ‘Walker.’ Now get off me.” Clearly, he wasn’t used to people resisting his charms.
“Sure, just a sec.” She slammed the knife down between his ribs, severing his aorta and piercing the heart. He screamed as she jerked it sideways a few times, making sure the hole was big eno
ugh that he would bleed out before he could heal. The old stake myth was a bit of an exaggeration, just about anything through the heart was enough to kill a vampire. It was a messy business, though, and his blood gushed over her hands and pooled beneath them.
“Why?” he rasped, blood rattling in his lungs as she stood up. “You said...”
Tanya smiled, triumphant. “I lied.”
Etienne shook his head weakly. “But… he said…” Then he lost consciousness.
Tanya frowned. He said what? Who said what? But it was clear that Etienne would forever hold his peace.
Shrugging, she wrapped up the rest of his body, head and all. By now the pain in her side had almost stopped registering, which was probably a bad sign. The vampire let out a last groan, muffled by the plastic. Sadly, the plastic suffocating him wouldn’t be enough to kill him, so she waited until the rush of blood had slowed to a trickle before she pulled out the knife and wrapped the plastic back down over the wound. A wave of nausea hit and her hands shook a little, but it wasn’t from the sight of the blood. How was she going to get his body into the nearby dumpster with a broken rib? Even whole and healthy it would have been a challenge. It’s not like I have superpowers. She huffed, blowing the hair out of her face.
Wrestling with the plastic-wrap mummy, she managed to prop him up against the side of the dumpster. The blood under the wrapping and on her hands was starting to make him slippery. Just a little bit more, Tanya. She grunted with the effort. One last push. She crouched down, put his legs over her shoulder, and stood up. The body lifted, teetered on the edge of the dumpster, and then crashed into it, knocking the lid shut.
She stood there a moment, wiping her hands on her shirt and trying to breathe. The pain had returned with a vengeance so she would need to make a stop at the hospital.
First things first, though. She surveyed the blood on the gravel. It wasn’t much, considering—the plastic wrap had turned out to be a good idea—but still, it would need to be cleaned up. She kicked her shoes off and threw them in a different dumpster, swapping them out for a pair of cheap flip-flops she had stashed in the trunk. When she returned to the metal door, she was pleased to find it had been left ajar. When a Master vampire died, all of his dependent minions died too. With no one at home to answer, it would have been difficult to get back in.
