The Village Cafe

by Eraine Rivera

before she pulled away. Ariana sat on the couch drained and watched in delight as Dine trashed around on the floor. He screamed and clutched at his stomach.

  "It burns. My veins are going to explode." Ariana's laughter echoed through the office as Dine's body fell limp. A few minutes later Dine awoke pale skinned and smiled at all he saw. He raised his hands and looked at them awed by the marble smoothness.

  "What am I?" He cooed.

  "A vampire. My vampire." My eyes snapped open. I was on the floor in Rick's arms.

  "You were trashing about like a wild woman." I told him about what I saw.

  "There is no order to your visions."

  "That is how it is with images. They come in bursts with no sense of time or order. Forgive me for intruding but Mortakie's followers have been very edgy since Devilynn started having these visions."

  "Why would my visions affect the other vampires Helena?"

  "Well like Adam and Eve, vampires stem from one vampiric mother and father. It is how we are linked to one another. Vampires can sense each other whether the connection is strong or not."

  '"Devilynn is not a vampire." Helena smiled at Rick as she made her way over to us. She held out her hands and we each took hold of one. Helena knelt down and looked at me.

  "No she is not one of us Rick but she has tasted the blood of a vampire and has been bitten. It does not take more than that for her to be connected to the other vampires out there."

  Helena explained that if Mortakie's followers were at unrest every time I had a vision then she could not imagine what vampires all over the world could be feeling. She feared that Ariana knew of everything and might attempt to come after me along with every other enemy of Mortakie‘s. Helena said I stay somewhere safe where vampires would not be able to sense me. Rick suggested that I stay with him. Helena was against it. She said that I had to stay with someone who wasn't a vampire so the others wouldn't be able to find me. I agreed with Helena and rose to leave with her.

  "Wait. I will not see you for quite some time and I am unsure if I could bare that." Rick said taking hold of my hands. I looked into his saddened eyes and kissed his lips.

  "It's for the best. Besides think of how many issues I'll be able to write on these visions alone. You're gonna be rich." Rick laughed as I walked out with Helena and back to my apartment. I walked in to see Belinda on my sofa smoking a cigarette. Her eyes lit up when she saw me. I ran to Belinda and hugged her.

  "You'll be staying with me for a bit love. Don't worry you will be safe."

  "You should pack a few things Devilynn." Helena said as she turned around to leave. I ran into my room and collected a few things. We left my apartment as the sun rose and headed down into the subway. At the end of the platform Belinda hopped down and I followed. She guided me down the tracks weaving through different tunnels before stopping.

  "I have to blind fold you now. If your ties to the other vampires are that strong they will see what you see and that would put us all in hot water." Belinda said as she put a black cloth over my eyes. Lights flashed around me. I could see Dine standing over me covered in blood. He smiled as I turned my head to see other vampires draining me. I tried to struggle but the effort was useless.

  "So you are the famous Athena, half demon and vampire. It's a damn shame you sided with them, I could have saved your immortal life but now you must die." Dine sat on top of me and bared his fangs. Ariana came up behind him. Her lips didn't move but I could hear her voice clearly in my head.

  "It’s just as well that you die. You are an abomination and there is no telling what would become of future wars if your offspring were to survive. Your children would be unstoppable. I cannot risk either side getting a hold of them."

  The light closed in again before exploding into darkness. I opened my eyes to see that I was in Belinda's arms.

  "Are you alright? You were twitching the whole time I carried you." I sat up and looked around. We were in a large abandoned station. I looked at Belinda.

  "I'm fine. I, ah, just been having these strange dreams ever since last night. They kind of spook me out."

  “Well make yourself comfortable. The others are out now feeding and getting some things for you to eat as well." I smiled and plopped down on one of the ragged sofas. Belinda sat down next to me and lit a cigarette.

  "I have reason to believe that Dine murdering you was no accident Belinda. Your name was on a list."

  "What list?"

  "I don't know. Some chick named Ariana gave it to him. I'm not sure who she is because everyone’s so quiet about her. All they do is make faces when I say her name."

  "Ariana is feared and loathed because of what she is. A mystery." I looked up to see Marcus..

  "Did she have you killed as well?" Marcus nodded.

  "I met Ariana in the late eighteenth hundreds. I found her very enchanting and even fell in love with her. Then she asked the unspeakable of me, to murder other vampires. She knew the code as well as I did and that it was forbidden to hunt your own. When I refused she left me but not before she vowed to seek revenge. I had not seen her since, that is until I was murdered a hundred years later by vampires."

  "Was it Dine?"

  "No. Ariana has been creating these strong legions of vampires for quite some time. In those days the humans known as slayers disposed of these vampires. Her army would grow and then disappear and the cycle continued. However now in the twenty first century things have changed. It is harder to track down her vampires."

  "Some of the others believe that Ariana would create these vampires and then have the hunters kill them before they would have a chance to revolt against her." Belinda said as she ditched out her cigarette.

  "So she decided to keep this army for now?"

  "Yes." Marcus said.

  "I still don't understand how you guys were turned into werewolves. I always thought the species were different."

  "The blood of a vampire is a parasite that evolves over time. The first vampires were not the same as we are. The slightest bit of light used to irritate them but as you can see we are fine with artificial light." Marcus said looking around the brightly lit station. Marcus went on to explain that a vampire cannot be completely drained of blood no matter how many vampires feast upon them. A small amount still remains within the dormant vampire and that blood begins to mutate and grow into something else. These vampires become a lesser form of what they were. They become weaker and that is why they hide out. Marcus said that if the vampires ever found them and burned them alive there would be nothing left of the disease to mutate into something else.

  "Shit! Belinda, Dine was shocked to see you were alive right?"

  "Yes he thought he killed me."

  "Well I was attacked by this girl named Tanya and."

  "Wait. Tanya, long dark hair and dark green eyes?"

  "Yes."

  "She was one of the girls who took me to the club. I met her on campus when I was going to school. We had the same night classes for almost a year. She disappeared after I was killed."

  "Yeah well she is one of them."

  "Damn."

  "That's not all. Tanya knows that you guys turned into werewolves after you were drained. I don't know how she knew it and Dine didn't."

  "I have to admit this is most disturbing news. Ariana must know of us and has informed her army. We have to remain on guard and find some way to speak with Mortakie about this. Did you tell him about this?"

  "No Marcus. It didn't hit me until now. Maybe I should leave."

  "Where would you go? They will find you. Here we can protect you."

  "I know Belinda but things are just to hectic now. What if I get you all killed?"

  "I doubt that will happen. If Ariana knows of us and wanted us dead she would have already done so."

  "Why do you think that Marcus?"

  "As I said before Belinda, We pose no threat to Ariana as w
erewolves. She has more pressing manners to deal with. Her main objective now is Mortakie."

  The three of us sat in silence for quite some time. In my head I tried to piece together everything that happened over the past few days. All I know is that there was a war brooding with what or whom still remains a mystery. I excused myself and found a nice quiet spot to write and reflect. In only three days my life has been taken from me and I don't even know why. There's no use crying about it now, hopefully in my time here I could learn more about what's going on. I'm deathly afraid of what it is but I guess I have no choice.

  DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK

  I wish I could say I got some sleep last night; instead I was tortured by visions. Most of the visions were of Dine and the others dispatching of vampire elders and humans. It sickened me that I could feel the psychotic pleasure he took in destroying people. I was dying for a shower in order to rid myself of these disgusting feelings. It clung to me like mud, thick and heavy it weighed me down. I dragged myself to the couch with my notebook and sat down. I tried to write as my skin crawled making me shiver as my eyes closed.

  Dine was lying on his couch in his office with his feet propped up. He had a paper in one hand and a red pen in the other. He smiled as he made dash marks across the page. Ariana entered quite urgently. Dine smiled.

  "Hello beautiful."

  "You are slacking off Dine. I thought I created a warrior but it looks like I was wrong."

  "Relax doll." Dine said as he sat up and rose, "Dine's got it all covered."

  "There are at least one thousand names of half-breeds on that list that need to be taken care of. If they are allowed to come into their full powers we will have a major crisis on our hands. I abhor the devil as much as the rest of the religious world but I cannot stand another millennium of good will. A sorceress cannot thrive in a white world."

  "You should be a politician love."

  "You should get off your ass and finish your job. The only advantage we have over these half-breeds is that they are not aware of the legacy they carry within their bodies because all ties to them have been disposed of not long after they were brought into this world."

  "I got it covered."

  "Really. The second name on the list has not been crossed out."

  "She was hard to find."

  "Yes. Well the third on the list is lost to us now. He keeps very powerful company and soon she will too."

  "So what. We could still take them." Dine said circling two names on his list.

  "My dear Dine. You do not know their power or Mortakie's wrath. They are to be feared, all five of them." Ariana finished as she turned to leave.

  "So what should I do now?"

  "There is still hope of obtaining the girl. You have to hurry though, the others are fast on her trail."

  My eyes snapped open when I heard a blood-curdling scream ring out through the station. I shook my head as my eyes adjusted to the chaos that surrounded me. Dark shadows loomed around the station as the werewolves growled and snarled. I rose and was knocked to the ground by a werewolf.

  "It's Belinda," I could hear her voice in my head, " Stay down, they have come for you." I nodded and looked around as the shadows transformed into vampires. They surrounded the werewolves who were poised and waiting for the first sign to attack. Tanya turned and looked down at me. Her eyes turned red as she hissed showing her fangs.

  "Kill them!" She shouted as hundreds of vampires lunged at the werewolves.

  "Run!" Belinda screamed. I rose and ran toward the exit then stopped. Turning around I saw about ten vampires jump on Belinda. They sunk their fangs into her as several others came with bats and began to beat at her. I cried out to Belinda but she didn't answer as she tried to fight them off. I ran over to the table and picked up one of the wooden chairs. I smashed it over the head of one of the vampires and the chair broke into sharp pieces. Quickly I snatched up the broken wood and drove it through the hearts of every vampire I came in contact with. One of them dropped their aluminum bat, which I picked up and began swinging in a violent rage. Vampires were knocked from side to side. One grabbed the end of the bat and broke it in half with his hand. I shoved the pointed handle into his heart and watched as he dropped to the floor. I knelt down beside Belinda, she had returned to her human form. There were bruises all over her body and her face and hair were drenched in blood.

  "Devilynn I told you to run."

  "I just couldn't leave you here."

  "They won't kill us. They are here for you. Go. I'll be fine." I was grabbed from behind by my hair and thrown to the floor. I looked up to see Tanya towering over me.

  "I told you I’d kill you bitch." She grabbed my hair and tossed me across the room, my back hit the table breaking it in half. I grabbed my side in pain and felt a large piece of wood stuck in there. Tanya was already over me and grabbed my throat. Growling she slammed me into the wall and tightened her grip. “I’m going to enjoy squeezing the life out of you."

  "Tanya what are you doing? You're not supposed to kill her."

  "Shut up Josh! I don't care what Ariana wants. I will have my revenge for what she did to Dine." Josh grabbed Tanya's arm, she hissed before knocking him aside with her other hand. While she was occupied with Josh, I pulled the wooden shard from my side and raised it over my head. Tanya turned her attention back to me in enough time to see me ram the stake through her arm. Tanya screeched and let go of me. I fell to the floor like a ton of bricks. Tanya's eyes glowed as she pulled the stake out of her arm and tossed it aside. I turned and ran a few steps before I was thrown back again. Tanya grabbed my hair and sank her fangs into my neck. I cried out in pain as I felt my blood flow out of my body. My hands flailed around before my fingers felt a long wooden stick. Clutching it I rammed it into Tanya's back. She pulled her face away from my neck and howled like a banshee. I tackled her to the floor and took hold of her bloody arm and sank my teeth in.

  In the heat of the moment you’ll do anything to survive. I was aware that she had drunk a lot of my blood and that I would be dead in a matter of minutes so I drank her blood to sustain my life long enough to get away and find Mortakie to warn him and get help for the others. I felt a hand on my hair trying to yank me off. Pulling away I saw it was Tanya trying desperately to yank me off of her. Smiling I pinned her hand to the ground and sank my teeth into her neck. The blood flowed like a river into my mouth and I drank it well aware of what I was going to become. At this point it didn't matter to me. They would continue to come after me and I couldn't risk putting any more people in danger. At least if I were a vampire I could protect myself better and not have to rely on others to protect me.

  With each luscious gush gliding down my throat I saw visions of Tanya's past and her loving relationship with Dine. I saw how she loved the sun and cried for days when she realized she had to give it up to be with the man she loved. Tanya didn't want to be a vampire but for Dine she would do anything and that became her undoing. I saw all the vampires and half-breeds she killed and how she came to know Belinda at college and became friends with her. Tanya relished in the fact that she got to play with Belinda's emotions eventually leading Belinda to her demise. The visions stopped and so did Tanya's twitching. I pulled away and looked at her motionless body. Her eyes were closed and her chest wasn't moving. I looked over at Belinda who was also motionless. I ran over to her and dropped to my knees and attempted to find a pulse.

  "No Belinda. Please don't die on me. I'm so sorry this is all my fault." I lurched forward in pain and fell back against the sofa. The pain traveled through my body at the speed of a bullet. My veins tightened and my head pounded like there were a thousand people playing their drum solos in my head. I cried out before the darkness consumed me. I don't know how long I was out or what happened during that time. I came to when I heard Rick's voice and felt a pair of arms cradling me.

  "Devilynn. Yo
u should have stayed with me. I could have protected you."

  "I am truly sorry Rick."

  "This is all Ariana's doing, Mortakie."

  "I do not think that Ariana wished Devilynn's demise."

  "If only we came sooner."

  "I told her to run Rick but she came to my aid when I was attacked by the vampires. Tanya grabbed her and the two of them fought like wildcats. I was too weak to help her." Belinda apologized through sobs of guilt and pain.

  "Is it too late to turn her Mortakie?"

  "You are not strong enough to do that Rick."

  "No but you are and so is Helena, Eraina and the twins."

  "No Rick. She has been dead for some time now."

  Rick said nothing else. I tried to call out to him but he couldn't hear me and I couldn't open my eyes. I stood up in the darkness and ran in the direction of the voices I heard. Helena was trying to comfort Rick with soothing words while Belinda continued to sob. They were getting closer as I ran faster and faster. Feeling a drop of liquid hit my hand I stopped and looked at my arm to see a puddle of blood on it. Looking up I saw more droplets of blood begin to fall on me like a rainstorm. I closed my eyes and opened my mouth to taste the blood as the hunger burned in my veins. My eyes snapped open to see Rick's eyes closed and tears of blood streaming down them. I raised my hand and wiping them away I put my fingers in my mouth and tasted his blood. A vision of Rick and I by the Brooklyn Promenade looking over at the Manhattan skyline flashed before my eyes. The smoke cleared and I could see the shock in Rick's eyes as he stared at me.

  "Devilynn. You are alive but how?"

  Mortakie and the others made their way over to us. I looked at each and every one of their faces; some were relieved while others were still in shock. Rick covered me in kisses and held me tight.

  "I love you! I promise to protect you and never leave your side ever."

  "I love you too Rick and I will be by your side for all eternity."

  Rick pulled away and looked into my eyes. I could feel him trying to scan my thoughts to find out what happened. I slammed the door shut and he jumped. Rick looked up at Mortakie.

  "She has been transformed Rick."

  "Devilynn. What happened?" Rick asked as he helped me up and sat me down on the couch. I looked around the station and saw the werewolves were badly bruised but still alive. They were busy carrying the bodies of the vampires over to a huge pit of fire and tossing them in. Belinda was on the floor staring at me with tears in her eyes.

  "Is everyone alright?" I asked. Many yeses echoed in my head but no one's lips moved. I nodded and smiled as I looked at my skin. It was pale and smooth like a porcelain doll. Everything around me seemed brighter than it was a few hours ago. I let my hand caress the couch and I could feel every single fiber down to the 1978 quarter that was under the cushion I sat on.

  "Devilynn?" I turned to Rick and smiled seeing him for