by Jeff Schanz
Brandt sat calmly and listened to Viktor’s pitch. Finally, Viktor sat back to listen to Brandt’s response.
“We’ve agreed to just be friends,” said Brandt. “That’s all.” He wasn’t sure the next words were accurate or necessary, but he felt it was the right thing to say to derail Viktor’s plan gently. “She doesn’t want me. And I do not wish to become a vampyre.”
Viktor might have blown out an exasperated breath if his lungs were capable. He sat quietly and contemplated the situation. It became even more awkward than it already was before Viktor spoke again.
“Perhaps you will agree to be her protector temporarily? You would stay until we can find a suitable husband for her. And you would be well paid.”
Brandt wasn’t even necessarily opposed to a security job, but the danger he brought just by being on the island made any kind of arrangement pointless. Brandt told Viktor as much.
It took another long pregnant thinking session in silence before Viktor relented. He nodded, then wished Brandt well. Brandt returned the gesture.
As Brandt left the house he wondered if he knew what he was doing. He had turned down a whole island, a lot of money, an exceptionally long life, and the hand of a pretty girl because of… what? Principles? Fear? He knew what he had done felt right, but he was starting to wonder if it made real sense.
Even if he never turned into a vampyre, and even if Lia wanted him, and even if he wanted her, how would a human and a vampyre get by in the real world? No one would freak? Hey, everyone, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend. She has fangs and sucks blood. Don’t tell anyone else. Lia couldn’t hide in his world, and he wouldn’t want her to have to, but she had isolated herself on this island for a reason. Waiter, I’ll have the shrimp tartare, and the lady will have a cup of your best “A positive.” Brandt sighed. Not a damned thing on this island made any sense, including his own mind. But it was done.
He had other things to worry about.
CHAPTER 16
Brandt slid down the slope to the beach. The entrance to his beach was never graceful, and managing to descend it without busting his butt was an acceptable feat. He was a little surprised to see Lia down there near the shore.
She was bent over the tarp covering the dead bodies and Brandt startled her as he approached. His footsteps had been drowned out by the white noise of bubbling, hissing surf, and probably only became noticeable only when he got closer. A glass test tube was in her hand with a dark viscous liquid inside, appearing like she was taking blood from the corpses. She stopped what she was doing and looked at Brandt with an apprehensive face.
“It’s not what you think,” she said, rising stiffly.
Brandt hadn’t decided yet what he thought. He was just curious.
She clutched the vial self-consciously. “I was not going to… We do not feed on human blood on this island. I forbid it. This is for something else.” Her tone was guarded.
“It’s ok. Relax,” soothed Brandt. “I wasn’t thinking what you were thinking I was thinking.”
She blinked a few times and her hard expression softened. She might’ve picked up on Brandt’s honest thoughts. “Oh,” she mumbled. “I suppose you weren’t. I was worried you might assume I intended to ingest this.”
Brandt placed a hand on her shoulder. “Listen, Lia, if we’re going to be friends, we’ll have to trust each other. Ok? I trust you. And even if you were going to use this blood for – something else, I wouldn’t judge. Your father obviously needed a transfusion and there’s plenty here.”
“No, Brandt,” she said firmly. “We get our blood from other sources, like animals. We can’t have exceptions. We might allow it once, then twice, and then we start doing things we would regret. We’ve been hunted all our lives. I will not give anyone any reason to hunt us ever again. Even if I’m the only person who knows it, I will know. And that is enough.”
She obviously had vitally stringent lines that she was not willing to cross. Brandt had them too. He could respect that.
“Alright, I believe you,” he said.
Lia sighed and closed her eyes. “Forgive me for being defensive. Sometimes I expect…”
“Hey, you’ve had good reason. I’ve kinda been an asshole, so –.”
Lia cocked her head with a curious stare. “You insult yourself quite often. I don’t always understand you, Mr. Dekker.”
“There’s not many who do, including me. And stop calling me Mr. Dekker. That’s my father.”
“I was only teasing to lighten the moment, as you tend to do.”
“Your teasing needs work.”
She shrugged demurely. “I will keep trying.”
“I’m a bad influence on you.”
Lia’s mouth creased in a sardonic smirk. She opened her palm and revealed the test tube of blood. “I need non-afflicted human blood for my experiments. I don’t have access to much around here, and when the opportunity arises, even a detestable one, I have to take it.”
“Experiments about what?”
Lia gave him a soulful look. “I am working on a cure for my affliction.”
“Oh?” Why? Vampyres had super abilities, lived extra-long lives, and healed fast. Yet, despite that, he didn’t want to be a vampyre himself, so perhaps he could understand. “Being a human isn’t so awesome, either,” he said.
“I want to go wherever I wish, amongst other people, and not be worried or hunted. I want to dance in the sun. I want to eat real food. I want to swim in water. I do not wish to harm anyone or anything for my own survival.”
She probably wasn’t thinking about meat with that statement, but perhaps she would be a vegan human.
Brandt asked, “Swim in water? The ocean is right there. Can’t vampyres swim?”
She shook her head. “We sink. Our body’s density isn’t conducive to floating.”
Brandt waggled his head. Maybe try floatees? “Have you made any progress with your experiments?”
“Progress, yes, successes, no.” Lia sighed. “I’ve been working on it for years and all I’ve truly discovered is that it is improbable to find a cure. But I am still determined, and with some new samples, I shall be re-inspired.” She ended the statement with a slight smile.
“Good. I hope it works this time. And if you need some more blood, I’ll be glad to donate.”
Lia looked mildly shocked. “You would do that?”
“I’ve donated blood before. The Army took plenty without asking me. Just don’t take so much that I’m dizzy.”
She put her hand on his shoulder. “Thank you. That’s kind. But I think I have what I need from these men. And as you said, there’s plenty.”
“Mmm. Well, get as much as you can now because I need to get these bodies dumped in the ocean. They can’t stay out here.”
Lia didn’t argue, but she gave him a questioning look.
Brandt explained. “We don’t know if these men called in their position, or if this position was even known. If someone is looking for them, and is running around in a boat with binoculars, they’ll see a pile of bloody corpses sitting here and they’ll know this is the place. If no one knows exactly where this team went, then it will take longer for them to assume this is the island.”
“I see. How are you going to dump them?”
“The only way I can figure is to blow up the inflatable raft that the sloop had, toss the bodies in there, paddle out a ways, then tip the raft over. There’s no way I can heave bodies over the side and stay upright, so I’ll just let the whole thing tip over. They’ll sink, I’ll right the raft, then paddle back in.”
Lia’s eyes widened. “Will the raft support two people?”
“Yeah. It’s made for several people, but…”
“Please let me come!” She nearly cracked her blood vial between her palms as she clapped them together. “I haven’t been in a boat in so very long. I would love to ride in one again.”
There was that “denying the
puppy a cookie if he said ‘No’” look again. “The raft is hardly a boat. It’s more like a giant life preserver. And I’ll have to tip the raft over, and you just told me that you’d sink.”
Lia’s bright mood crashed into crestfallen. Her mercurial emotional meter still had no grey area.
“I’m sorry, really,” said Brandt. “Whenever the next time is, I promise we’ll get you on a boat then.”
“Promise?”
What did I just promise? The next boat on the water will be the trawler.
“Sure,” he said. “You do know that sad puppy dog face of yours isn’t fair, right?”
Lia shot him a comedic pout and rolled her eyes. But she looked content. She walked around to the other side of the tarp and took out another glass vial. She lifted the tarp and started working on another body.
Brandt went to get the inflatable raft.
When he returned, he was dripping wet. He still hadn't designed a method to go in and out of the cave without either swimming or wading. Lia had finished what she was doing but hadn't left. She was sitting cross-legged in front of the tarp. Brandt walked in his squishy, squeaky shoes and flopped down next to her.
“I thought you wanted to get started on your experiments,” said Brandt.
“I do. But I can at least help you load these bodies. It will save you some effort. And I’m stronger than I look.”
“I’m sure you are. It’s gross work, though.”
Lia’s brows pinched. “Do you think I’m squeamish around blood?”
“No, I guess not.”
Brandt pulled the tab that inflated the boat and stood back. It did its job admirably, and the compact, plastic blob blossomed into a plump, stable, hexagonal craft. Lia was wearing a very plain tan dress which didn’t look stain proof, but she seemed to give it no regard as she tugged at a bloody arm on the half torso of one corpse. Brandt found the lower half of the same man. They tossed their parts into the raft, and then double-teamed on the crumpled man. That corpse’s lack of skeletal stability (all his bones were crushed) made it hard to get a good balance while holding him, but the two of them managed. The raft looked like the trash heap from a slaughterhouse. Streaks of blood drizzled down the sides of the raft.
Lia looked over the raft somberly. Brandt thought she was still upset she couldn’t ride on it, but when she spoke, something else was on her mind.
“Father did this,” she said. It wasn’t a question, though it felt like one.
“Yeah. It wasn’t much of a contest.”
“I knew he could do this, but I have never seen the aftermath before.”
Brandt pressed his lips together thinking of a response, but he wasn’t sure where Lia’s point was going. Something was bothering her besides the bodies.
In a softer voice, she said, “We told you we could defend ourselves and protect you – and we can. But I think I understand why you wish to leave.”
Brandt nodded. He was a little surprised that it had finally sunk in. “There will be more men. It’ll be days before they come back, but when they do, they’ll bring more firepower. They aren’t going to stop. Not until I’m dead, or they are.”
“So, you believe that if you leave they will follow, and my father and I will be left alone?”
“That’s the idea. Even if you survive their assault, maybe your house or barn won’t. They won’t hesitate to burn or blow up anything to get to me.”
Lia took a deep breath. “I understand. You are sacrificing your safety for the safety of others. As you did in the Army.”
Brandt waggled his head. “Yeah, I guess if you put it that way. Except, when I was in the Army, we didn’t usually get to see all the faces of the people we were protecting. We were risking our lives for a concept. It’s nice to actually know the person I’m trying to keep safe.”
Brandt didn’t mean for that to come out as maudlin as it did, but he got rewarded for it anyway. Lia leaned forward and gave him a light kiss on his cheek.
“You may be many things, Mr. Dekker, but you are not an – aaa… You are not the bad thing you said you were.” The attempted word, “asshole,” just wouldn’t come out of her mouth. Apparently, swear words weren’t in her acceptable vocabulary.
Brandt chuckled. “I appreciate the endorsement, but I’ve done things in my past life that even I’m not ok with.”
“We all have stories that are hard to hear or tell.”
“Fair enough.”
Lia gave him a small smile. “I’ll leave you to your task and I’ll get started on mine.” She turned to go.
“Ok, goodnight.”
Brandt started whistling something as he tossed the paddle into the raft. It was the Bobby McFerrin song, “Don’t Worry Be Happy.” Lia stopped and turned back to him.
“Is that the same song you were singing earlier today?” she asked.
“Hmm? No, it’s a different one.”
Brandt froze. He bolted upright and stared at Lia. She stared back with a mischievous grin. How did she know he had been signing earlier? I’ll bet she heard every damned note, even the squeaky ones. Where the hell had she been hiding?
“You little shit!” he said, in mock anger. “I thought I was alone. You were eavesdropping!”
“I am not – not a – a shit,” she countered. She immediately slapped her hands across her mouth and tried to stifle a laugh.
“You better be laughing at yourself and not my singing.”
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” she pleaded. “It sounded like one of my animals was in distress.”
“Oh, that’s just mean.”
She pulled her hands away and tried to look ashamed, but she failed and simply looked adorably impish. “Is my teasing getting better?”
“I’m a bad influence on you.”
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.”
She flashed a quick look over her shoulder as she walked back to the base of the slope. When she got there, she paused and said, “Forgive me for teasing you. I very much liked your singing.” She went up the slope like she went everywhere: she glided. Only a few pebbles rolled down the slope to attest that she had ascended it.
Brandt shook his head. He still hadn’t gotten used to that.
The task of dumping the corpses took about an hour and actually went as planned, more or less. Brandt paddled out against the current until he was well east of the beach. That was the hardest part, as it turned out. He was tired after getting to the spot he wanted, far enough out but not too far that some mistake could have him floating out to sea in a rubber raft with only a paddle, and no rudder to guide it. Once he reached his destination, he rested for a moment. Thankfully, the current was mild and he didn’t drift far. He set to work shoving the bodies into one side of the raft. When that was done, he went to that side, himself. Leaning over the lip of the raft, the whole thing obliged his wishes and tipped completely over. Bodies gone. He held onto the paddle while treading water, working to right the raft. He wasn’t waiting around to see what the effect of suddenly pouring bloody chum into the night sea might bring. A little leverage from the paddle and the raft flipped back over. He scrambled onto the lip. The raft threatened to tip back over, but he balanced, shifted a leg, stabilized the raft, and finally fell in. He was still well east of the beach, drifting slowly west toward the open ocean, so he took another moment to rest, knowing he had plenty of time before he passed the beach. Rest period achieved, he began to paddle back in.
He decided not to deflate the raft. It was unknown how long the thing would hold the air, but it may come in handy again, plus he didn’t have another instant inflation gizmo, and the manual inflation port would require a whole lot of lung power to achieve maximum inflation. He slid the raft to the rear of his cave.
He sat in his pile of sail bedding and lit a fire. The sea was chilling and his muscles were tired from his crazy exercise in mortuary rafting. He didn’t have time to fish tonight, so he promised himself h
e’d do it tomorrow. An MRE would have to do for this evening’s bedtime snack. He fished one out of his backpack and looked at the label. “Chicken Fajita.” Ugh. Not in his top ten list. More like in his top five worst list. But he was too tired and hungry right then, so he downed the fajita facsimile, winced, and burped. He lay face up for a while resting, assuming that he would eventually fall asleep. There was a lot to do, but it could be started tomorrow.
He briefly wondered if he should just drop this charade and go sleep in the soft, warm bed at the house. There really wasn’t a reason he shouldn’t. It felt like he’d be rushing things, or somehow being weak. Plus, he was too tired to climb up to the surface.
His thoughts drifted to Lia and her father. Life just kept taking weird new turns. He was friends with vampyres now. The relationship with Viktor was more complex than with Lia, but the old vampyre was not an enemy, and Brandt was ok with it. So, what do you do when you have vampyre friends? He had no idea. But he had them. They would’ve fought for him and protected him. Viktor had proved as much and Lia promised the same. Brandt felt so ashamed of how he had acted when he originally found out what Lia was, and though he had since apologized, it wasn’t enough. The devastation on her face was burned into his memory. And now that he knew better, he wouldn’t blame her if she never forgave him. But she seemed to have done so, anyway. He wanted to make it up to her somehow. It was more than guilt. He really wanted to. He wanted to see her happy. She was so captivating when she was happy. He wasn’t under any illusion that they could have a romantic relationship, but seeing joy on her face was something that made him feel good, and would also simultaneously snuff the guilt. And if there was a chance that granting a few of her easier wishes would do it, then he would try. It was worth it.
He needed to reevaluate his life once again. Second time in six months. I seem to be endangering everyone’s life that I come in contact with, and I have no idea what I’m doing anymore, or why. He wasn’t sure this war he was fighting was worth it any longer. He had believed he was saving lives, and he was definitely getting revenge, but there was far more to it than revenge. Admitting it to himself was difficult, but he had wanted to give his life to destroy the cartel that had killed so many of his friends and left him the only one alive. But even that death wish seemed selfish now. Lia and her father may be in danger from it, and even though he was willing to trade his life for his cause, he couldn’t risk theirs.
