Bite Marks

by Resca Rojas

  She laughed. “I think a stuffed dog would have been better, cause that’s how I would remember you by if we would go by how you’d been with me these last two nights.”

  He looked at her.

  “What? I was just giving you a hard time. I do love it Nero.”

  “No, it’s not that. I am going to buy your freedom.”

  “Don’t joke like that. No one has bought a slave from Bartholomew in thirty years. He puts high prices on us so that no one would even think to try it.”

  “I know about that. I was the one who bought that person their freedom.”

  “Why her?”

  “She was my sister.”

  His answer took he by surprise but she was still filled with doubt. “Why? I-, I mean, why me?”

  “Redemption. Just come with me.”

  “And do what? This is all I know. Do you get that?” She stopped, looked around the room, and fought hard to not cry and show weakness. “It’s not just customers who abuse me, the staff too.

  “The guy who was just here?”

  “Yes.”

  Nero grabbed the room’s phone and dialed the front desk, he then requested for the waiter to return to his room, saying that he had made a mistake and had forgotten to give him a tip.

  Two minutes later, and the waiter knocked on the door. Nero opened it and asked for him to come in while he went to get his wallet.

  “Hey, can I ask you a question? This girl, Mila?” He looked at her and then back at the waiter, “do you guys really get to do anything to her and all the other girls?”

  The wait laughed nervously. “Our boss lets us blow some steam from time to time, yeah.”

  Nero moved quickly and placed a firm grip around the man’s neck. He raised him high up with one hand.

  “What?” The man panicked. “You. Can’t.”

  Nero snapped the man’s neck, then he dropped him on the floor. Mila slowly walked towards him and then hugged the man who was going to free her as he kissed her forehead.

  While still wrapped in his arms, she asked him, “So, you are going to own me?”

  Nero looked at her. “What? No. Once we exit the building, you’re free to accompany me, or go wherever you want to go.”

  “What are you doing after this?”

  “I’m going to travel the world. You should come. Going to see friends that I’ve known for years. Going to build an army. A new generation of vampires. I have to end the Celestial Elders, and let any vampire be free to do whatever they please.”

  “Turn me into a vampire and then let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Nero pierced his arm with his teeth and cut himself. He then let Mila drink his blood. She took more than she had to, and her body began to shut down. He carried her to the bed and then gently caressed her as her body began to tremble as the vampirism overtook her body thru her bloodstream.

  15

  The house that they were in was made with steel walls protecting the outer ones. The windows all had steel bars that prevented anyone or anything from coming in. There was one front door and one back door, both made out of reinforced steel, and only able to be opened with a keypad code.

  Inside the house, everything was luxurious. There was five bedrooms and two bathrooms. The house’s basement acted as an entertainment center and had a built-in safe room.

  All these things, Klayton had requested to be built for him, and the architect and his workers made a promise to never reveal their work.

  The Kordovah brothers, Ethan, Amber, Mason, and Marianne were all now in the living room of the cabin. “So, what’s the plan?” Amber said.

  “For Kayla? We take the war to her and kill as many sons of bitches as we can. Garrett killed our mom, of that we are certain and we are going to make them all pay.” Klayton answered.

  “So, you’re going to kill my kind? Not all of us vampires asked for this.” Marianne said. Mason agreed but he remained quiet. They had heard of each other but this was the first time that they had met.

  “Just those who oppose us.” Dante said. Marianne decided to stay quiet as she was not happy with that answer.

  Klayton grabbed her hand and then looked at Dante, “Let’s just all try to be civil, okay? It’s been a tense night.”

  “Look,” Ethan said, “we got two vampires, two werewolves, a cop, and me. We are all good at fighting anything that comes our way, but I have to ask, what’s the threat level? Shouldn’t Amber and I be a vampire or werewolf already? I would have more peace if I knew that I was not going to die so easily.”

  Mason decided to speak up. “Well, are only five Elites right now, scattered around the world.”

  Amber asked, “And an Elite is, what exactly?”

  “A powerful vampire. The sun does not damage them, their thick layer of skin protects them more than a normal vampire’s skin would, and they are known to have the strength of ten vamps combined.” Marianne said.

  “Don’t forget the wings.” Klayton said and then took a sip of his beer.

  “Wings?” Ethan asked.

  “Wings.” Klayton repeated.

  “Is there something like that for werewolves?” The firefighter wondered.

  Before Klayton could answer, Amber said, “What are the possibilities that we will face one?”

  “Counting Kayla, there are a total of three in her group.” Mason answered, “so I’d say it’s pretty high up there that we will encounter one. I don’t know the percentage exactly.”

  “Nero was not at one-hundred percent by the way. He won’t run away to recover next time.” Marianne stated.

  “And why is that?” Klayton spoke now.

  “He needed blood. He had just given his to a rich guy, his wife, and kid. He offered Nero millions, and of course, he accepted the offer. That’s why he was fatigued and not as strong as he should have been.”

  “Was that why you were all in my town? To create monsters that could kill innocent people?” Amber was now pissed off.

  “Hey, um, Amber?” Klayton tried to distract her.

  She got up. “I need to clear my mind.” The world was filled with supernatural beings, and now it had come to her knowledge that the people she swore to protect, were now in danger of becoming a vampire’s meal, she felt powerless.

  The room was quiet for a moment until Dante spoke up. “We need to reorganize our plan. Things have changed, new people have joined us, and we all must come to the same terms and viewpoint. I can’t go to war and not be sure if my soldiers will have my back.”

  He had been looking at each one of them in the room simultaneously as he spoke, but now he had turned his full attention to his brother and Marianne. “You are vouching for her, despite everything?”

  His brother nodded.

  “Why?

  Klayton looked at Marianne who was sitting across the room. Then he quickly glanced at Ethan and Mason. “I can sense her. The way her blood pumps and her heart beats. The way her breath exits her mouth as she speaks. I can’t detect dishonesty coming out of her, and you know interrogations are one of my specialties.”

  “Alright,” Dante turned to Marianne, “if my brother trusts you, then that is good enough for me. You have my word t hat I will not have any doubts about you.” He then looked at everyone else in the room and said, “Let’s all rest tonight and pick things up tomorrow.”

  Ethan stood up and went to look for Amber. Marianne smiled at Klayton and mouthed the words, “thank you.” He nodded and then went upstairs.

  Mason looked at Marianne and Dante and said, “We need to get provisions. Stock up on food, ammo, clothes, and fill up our gas tanks. You guys want to do that now?”

  ●●●

  Lillian was the only way that Klayton could distract himself from everything else. The night before, when they arrived at the cabin, they both agreed to share a room together. It was later on in the night when Klayton woke up from a nightmare, and Lillian was affectionate towards him in order to help him relax.

 
Time passed, and she stopped caressing his face so that she could slide her hand down to his hard on that she had felt from him. It caught him by surprise, but he did not stop her. He leaned forward and kissed her lips. When they were done, Lillian had told him that she would never have any problem if he ever needed to release any tension with her. Now, all he wanted was her. She would not leave his thoughts, and he craved her.

  Klayton opened the door to his room and there she was; wearing his black hoodie and gray sweatpants, both of which were two sizes bigger than her, which made him adore her more.

  “Hey, how did the meeting go?” Lillian had chosen to stay in the room and just have him summarize all the important details.

  “Slide your pants down.” He ordered. She smiled and obeyed.

  16

  With the help of her successful drugs and blood trafficking operations, Kayla had created an empire. With this lucrative underground business, she had gained enough money to keep her vampires and the law enforcement happy.

  There were no competitors. She had managed to unite the city’s criminal organizations into an alliance, and then having the city’s territory into different factions. No one complained.

  Now in the privacy of her home, which was heavily guarded, she undressed in her room and put on a black lace kimono robe. After that, she went into her study room, grabbed a book that she had been reading, and sat down on her favorite leather chair.

  A few minutes later, Elias walked in and handed her a glass full of red wine with a few drops of blood mixed in for her.

  “I have an update on the Kordovah brothers. Our agent that you had carefully planted has finally been able to reach us.”

  “And?” She had no patience for his dramatic pause.

  “Dante has an army. He has his brother on his side, and he has two vampires and one normal human being with him.”

  “Has there been any changes with how we view them?”

  “So far he has destroyed the bases of operations that we let our informant leak to him.”

  Kayla smiled because those bases had become unimportant to her. She had decided to plant all the vampires or humans that she no longer needed in those locations, and used them as bait for Dante and his followers to eliminate for her.

  “But if we don’t stop him soon, it could become an issue.”

  “Do we have information on who his people are?”

  Elias informed his queen about Amber who was Klayton’s high school sweetheart and now a police officer of Oakhaven. The last report that he had gotten, it was not mentioned that she had supernatural abilities.

  “Then there is Ethan, her boyfriend. Not much is known about him, but our informant told us that the brothers turned him into a vampire a week ago.

  Of course, there is also Mason who we already know about, and last but not least, there is Lillian.”

  “Who is that?”

  “She arrived with Klayton. Seems like a vampire that they rescued from one of our bases.”

  “Do we know why Dante is set on destroying everything that I’ve built?”

  “Yes. About fifteen years ago, when the Kordovah brothers were young, a vampire killed their mother.”

  “Okay, but he has allied himself with vampires. He doesn’t hate vampires. Right?”

  “Only the one that killed his mom. And he believes that the killer is part of our organization.”

  “What makes you sure about that?”

  “Because the description that he has given about the killer matches Garrett perfectly. Every time he takes down a base, he questions our soldiers about his mother’s killer. Everyone so far has been pointing at Garrett.”

  Kayla set her glass down after drinking the final sip of her wine. “Christ. What about Nero?”

  17

  Alaina was the right hand of Garrett. He had made her his apprentice four years ago after he had rescued her.

  She was now a disciplined combat technician who was one of Kayla’s most loyal and powerful vampire. She was at The Escape.

  “Hello, how may I help you?” Was how the front desk agent, whose nametag read Leo said.

  She smiled. “I need to know if a vampire by the name of Nero has stayed here for the last few days.”

  “I am sorry, but that is against The Escape’s company policy- “

  Alaina pulled out her pistol and shot his throat. The guests that were around the lobby panicked. Some went back to their rooms while others left the building. Alaina smiled at the other clerk, who was afraid for her life.

  “If you don’t want to be next, you should help me by telling me if Nero was here or not. Why don’t you go the extra mile and ask Barry, who is hiding behind the wall, in his little office like a bitch, behind you.”

  A few seconds later, Bartholomew came out. He had a cane to assist him in walking after he had an accident a few years ago in which he never recovered from.

  He had two guards, one on each of his side, both holding a pistol aimed at Alaina.

  “If I allow one creature like you to stain The Escape’s reputation, then I would lose all the respect that I worked for. It’s one simple rule. No guest nor staff shall be harmed while under The Escape. Now I don’t care who you are, but I will make an example out of you.”

  He nodded and signaled his men; they both took aim and then pulled their gun’s trigger. Bullets rained directly towards Alaina, but none hit her, as she had manipulated the gravity around her,

  They stayed floating in front of her.

  She moved away from the bullets, and they proceeded to return to their speed and hit two guests.

  “Impossible! I had this placed warded against people like you.”

  “There are no people like me. I serve Kayla, the Queen Elite of vampires. I’m going to ask one more time. Was Nero here or not?!”

  “Go take care of the wounded.” He instructed his men. Then, he looked at Alaina, “Come to my office.”

  Alaina followed him back to his office. Once they sat down, he moved his computer monitor to show her the camera feed. “Yes, he was here. He stayed for three nights and left yesterday with a girl. One of my girls.”

  “Three nights? How did he pay?” Alaina knew that Nero had more money than other vampires who served Kayla, but it caught her off guard that he could afford three nights and also had enough to buy a woman from Bartholomew..

  “He paid cash for the room and the girl.”

  “He bought another girl?”

  “Yeah, Crazy bastard would not leave without her.”

  “Do you have any idea where they might have gone to?”

  “No. I didn’t ask. He had killed one of my employees and then paid me for “my loss” according to him. Everyone knew that the man he killed was a POS, so I looked the other way. He was getting angry that I kept countering his money offers for the girl. I asked no further questions about where he was going.

  “Thank you. Now, one last question. Of those two bodyguards that shot me, which one do you care the least for? One of them has to die for attacking me.”

  ACT TWO

  18

  Crap. Crap. Crap!

  Ethan was fifteen miles from the cabin, running away from a werewolf through the forest. The werewolf’s stomps on the floor were thunderous, and as it got closer, Ethan became more anxious.

  The werewolf leapt towards Ethan. He sensed it and dove to his right. The werewolf’s claws missed him by a few inches. They both focused to catch their balance.

  Next to Ethan was a small yet thick fallen tree trunk. He picked it up quickly as the werewolf charged at him.

  He swung the trunk with all his strength and made a direct contact with the werewolf’s face as it had once again attempted to attack him.

  The impact sent the werewolf back as the trunk shattered on impact. It growled in anger and then pounced on an unexpected Ethan.

  It tried to bite his face off, but Ethan held him off with his left hand around the werewolf’s throat, and then he swung a right ho
ok onto the werewolf’s jaw.

  The creature became furious and scratched Ethan’s chest, his claws like a dagger’s blade, cutting thru the man’s clothes.

  “You prick!” Ethan reached for his pocket knife and stabbed the ferocious werewolf on the shoulder. That made it back off.

  Ethan stood up as Klayton returned to his human form.

  “Why the hell did you stab me for?”

  “You cut me deep on my chest.”

  “You said not to go easy anymore when we trained.”

  “True,” he turned around and said, “dude, put some clothes on and let’s call it a day.”

  “It’s at the house. I’m going to transform back and head to the house. I’ll see you there.”

  Klayton turned into his werewolf form and began to run on all fours back to the safe house. Ethan looked at him leave. He wished that he had his speed. Their strength was almost the same, but a vampire always ran a little slower than a werewolf.

  He hoped that one day he will be able to become an elite vampire in order to have wings and fly to his needed destination faster.

  As of now though, he was happy with being a vampire. He was stronger, healthier, and could now live forever. He did not have to stress anymore about anything.

  He began to sprint back to the cabin. It was fifteen miles away, and he got there quickly.

  When Ethan reached the house, Klayton was sitting on the steps of the stairs in front of the house. Next to him was Lillian. She was leaning her head on his shoulders and he had just kissed her head.

  “Didn’t know when you’d be back. Left you a beer in the fridge.” Klayton said.

  “Thanks. Where is Amber, do you know?”

  “Basement. Practicing.” Lillian said.

  Ethan went inside the house and walked down the stair steps to the basement, where Amber had been doing target practice.

  The gunshots were loud, and Ethan’s ears were ringing, as he was still adapting to his new enhanced-yet-sensitive hearing abilities.