Reclaimed (Morta Fox Book 2)

by D. N. Hoxa

  “Dublin is neutral. He doesn’t want a part in any of this.”

  “But how can he not?” I asked. “We can't destroy the world now, can we?”

  “He has his own reasons, and you should trust him,” Bugz said. “Besides, we’ve been fighting for years. Mohg has been keeping us undercover in all parts of the world while he works on this new drug that’s supposed to save us from our craving. Unfortunately, he’s giving Chandra more than enough time to prepare herself.”

  “Chandra?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she said, turning to me abruptly. “Do you remember her?”

  The look in her eyes pissed me off. “No, Bugz. Of course I don’t,” I hissed. “You still think I’m that guy, and you know how much it pisses me off.”

  “I was just wondering—”

  “Well, stop wondering. I’m not Hammer, okay? I don’t know anyone he used to know.” Bugz looked away from me. I leaned closer and took my mask off. “Look at me,” I said and she didn’t. “Damn it, look at me, Bugz! I’m me. I’m Matias.” She turned her head slowly. “This face you see, it isn’t of a dead guy. It’s mine. I need you to see me as Matias.”

  I needed her to accept me for who I was, not who she thought I was.

  And that’s when Bugz kissed me. She moved so fast that I didn’t see it coming. I just felt her lips pressed to mine. I was too shocked to move or even think long enough about whether I liked it or not.

  “I see you, Matias. I do see you,” she whispered.

  She leaned back against the wall, leaving me speechless and confused for a long time. It got awkward. I hated awkward.

  “So, yeah…” Bugz whispered. “It’s Mohg against Chandra now. We’re doing what we can to help—”

  “Exactly what do you do?” My voice sounded dead. Well, dead-er.

  “Information, mostly. We run around and gather what we can about who exactly is in their group, what their plan is, when they plan to attack, things like this. And then we report back to Mohg,” Bugz said.

  “I can do that with you, can't I?”

  “Getting information requires social skills, which—I’m sure you’re aware—you lack. And you need people to owe you favors,” Bugz said.

  “I don’t lack anything,” I said. “And I could learn. If you give me the first lead, I’m pretty sure I could take it from there.”

  Bugz smiled at me. “You want to do this badly, don’t you?”

  “Of course I do,” I said. “I’m not going to just sit back and watch.”

  Bugz’s smile grew wider. “It’s good to know your heart hasn’t changed,” she said and I immediately flinched. She added, “from when you were human, I mean.”

  I nodded, though I knew that wasn’t what she had meant. She still didn’t see me as Matias.

  In the end, it didn’t matter. Once I made a name for myself, nobody would confuse me with Hammer anymore. I would be my own person.

  “I want to meet Mohg. Can you take me?”

  Bugz’s eyes grew wide immediately. “No.”

  “Why not? I want him to know me and to tell me how to help him,” I said.

  “M, that is a terrible idea. Mohg cannot see you now,” she whispered.

  “Why? Because he’ll think I’m Hammer, too?” I stood up.

  “Yes, and that is not going to be in your favor,” Bugz said.

  “I don’t care! How the hell am I supposed to be someone when everyone seems to think I’m someone else?!” I shouted.

  “M, please calm down.”

  “I need to do something, Bugz! I can't just sit around and wait, or I’m going to lose it!”

  “You won't just sit around. You can help me,” she said. She stood up and came to face me, smiling. “I will not take you to meet Mohg, M, but I will let you help me.”

  “Promise?” I asked, just to make sure.

  Bugz smiled. She came close to me, much closer than normal. “In a year or two, you’ll learn that that’s something you never ask of a vampire.”

  “But I’m asking you,” I said, unsure whether to move away or stay where I was, since I was still confused about our last kiss.

  “Yes,” she said, still smiling. “You are.”

  Her hand moved fast to take my mask off, and then she kissed me for the second time. But this time, it was nothing like the first. Her arms moved around my neck, and she pulled me to her. My hand instinctively wrapped around her waist. A low moan escaped her throat, and she pried my lips open with her teeth before she thrust her tongue inside my mouth.

  It was a good feeling, I decided. And it did clear my mind. So I pushed her against the wall and continued to kiss her.

  When we let go, it came naturally to me to want to breathe heavily, but instead, there was only silence. I looked into her eyes, and it was disappointing that I didn’t feel like I wanted to continue. Or maybe I did—just that I didn’t mind if I didn’t.

  I took a step back. The expression on her face was painful. I expected her to cry for a second, until I remembered that she couldn’t even if she wanted to.

  It was much too early for words between us, because that kiss seemed to have taken more from her than from me. It was unfair. That’s why I took my mask, and I left. I could find shelter in another building for the day.

  XVI

  The sound of footsteps was undeniable. That, and the heartbeat. I’d been up for about an hour, thinking about Mohg and Bugz and the human I used to be, too much of a coward to confront her just yet, when I heard them outside.

  I stood up so fast, I should’ve felt dizzy. There was a beating heart and…and it smelled like a vampire. I squeezed my eyes shut. Maybe I was just thirsty, and my brain was playing tricks on me. Or maybe, there was a vampire with a human out there. Probably.

  I wanted to run for the door, but then I thought better of it. Whoever was out there wouldn’t know we were here if we didn’t show ourselves. So I stood still, heartbeat or not.

  I didn’t know where Bugz was. I could only hope that she was inside the house right across from me, because I hadn’t heard her come out. Maybe she heard the footsteps, too. Maybe she had decided to stand still, like me.

  But then I heard her voice.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” she hissed.

  “Hello, Bugz,” another woman said. The voice was soft and musical, yet strong as a rock. I couldn’t tell whether that was the vampire or the human.

  “You shouldn’t fucking be here,” Bugz said. She was trying to keep it down. She obviously didn’t want to be heard. “Follow me.”

  She began to run, and she was followed. The beating heart was gone, too.

  It was obvious what she did. She ran away so I couldn’t eavesdrop. I thought about staying behind and asking her why she would hide from me. But then, I really, really wanted to see who she was talking to. I wanted to know who the owner of that voice was.

  So I took the stairs and ran up and up the building until I reached the roof. I was higher than most buildings around, and I immediately saw two vampires running like the wind, but no human.

  Curious.

  They turned left behind a big enough building, and I could no longer see them. I ran back to gain momentum and jumped on the roof closest to me. Trying to be silent slowed me down, but I had no other choice.

  Soon, I heard them again. I followed the whispers until they led me to the building in front of which both vampires were talking. Or maybe yelling at each other in whispers.

  The strangest thing, there were only the two of them. And I could hear the heart beating inside the other vampire’s chest.

  Maybe I was delusional. Bugz had told me a million times that vampires didn‘t have beating hearts. It was just part of the process. But there it was and I was witnessing it. Maybe I had misunderstood.

  The other woman’s back was turned to me so I only saw her hair. It was white, a cloud of white that sometimes looked like gray and silver, like it was only tricking you into thinking that it was white. Her
frame was small, and her leather pants and jacket looked brand new.

  “I’m telling you, Bugz. Something doesn’t smell right, and if you were half as smart as you think you are, you’d look into it,” she said to Bugz. It was the same voice I’d heard minutes ago, but now it had an angry edge to it.

  “You are out of your damn mind, Morta! You can’t be fucking serious. We all know Mohg, and you should be here helping him, not conspiring against him,” Bugz said.

  Morta. The name was weird. For some reason, it was the good kind of weird, and a smile spread on my lips before I realized it. I liked the name very much.

  “I’m not conspiring, you fool. Don’t you remember the first night we met? He suspected, too! He was the first to think that Mohg is…”

  “Don’t you dare bring him into this!” Bugz shouted. Like, really shouted. I’d never heard her do that before. This other woman was pissing her off in a major way.

  “I dare! Oh, I dare, you idiot! Do you think it hurts you more than me? Are you out of your fucking mind? I loved him,” the woman said. She was even angrier than Bugz. “I still love him. So, no, I’m not going to leave him out of this because he suspected Mohg first, and he was right,” she hissed.

  “I love him, too,” Bugz said dryly. “But that doesn’t mean he was right. Mohg is preparing to fight against Chandra.”

  “But what if he isn’t? What if he’s working with her?” Morta insisted.

  “Don’t say that,” Bugz hissed. “Never say that out loud again. Listen to me, stay out of this. The CFPH is going to tear the world apart if we don’t stop them first. And Mohg will.”

  Morta took a step back. “Tell me something. If he had asked you to believe him, would you have?”

  “Of course,” Bugz said without missing a beat. I could’ve been wrong, but it seemed they had both been in love with a guy who was no longer here.

  “Then trust me, Bugz. You know he would’ve at least looked into it, if I asked him,” Morta said. Her words pleaded, but her voice was still hard, like a rock with smooth edges. It was very close to perfection in my ears.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t. Not now,” Bugz said.

  I could tell the moment Morta’s shoulders fell. Her heartbeat didn’t change. I stepped closer to the edge of the roof so I could see them more clearly, when I stepped on a piece of plastic that broke. The noise it made was that of lightning and thunder.

  Both women turned their heads up to look at me with weapons in their hands while I stood there like a pathetic little kid, looking down at them.

  “He’s fine,” Bugz said immediately. “He’s with me.”

  “Who is he?” Morta asked, and her voice brought my eyes to her face.

  If there was ever a time I felt like I had received a huge, imaginary fist to my stomach, that was it.

  Her face was the most special face I had ever seen. It was a waste to call her beautiful, because she was more than what the word made you think. Her eyes were dark like the night sky and her lips long and full. I wanted to jump down and go meet her, make Bugz introduce me to her, but I was stuck. I couldn’t move.

  “That’s M. He’s a newbie,” Bugz said, and she raised her brows to me in a warning.

  “He smells a bit like it,” Morta said, and the strangest thing was that she smiled. It was like seeing the sun in the sky for the first time in my life. A million emotions exploded in my chest.

  “I need to go,” Bugz said, and she started to run.

  “At least tell me where I can find Dublin!” Morta called after her.

  “You’ll know when he wants you to find him,” Bugz called back, and a few seconds later, she was in front of me. “Don’t you dare say a word,” she whispered so slowly that I almost missed it.

  My mouth opened, but she spoke before I could. “Hush. Please, just for a minute.”

  I couldn’t understand why she sounded so desperate, but when I turned around, Morta was gone. I hadn’t even seen which way she’d left. I pushed Bugz away.

  “What the fuck, Bugz?” I asked, but she was still looking around, completely ignoring me.

  After a while, she was back in her own skin. “We need to move.”

  ***

  “Stop it,” I said when she refused to settle for a perfectly safe-looking building for the third time. “There’s no one following us. This right here is fine.”

  I was tired. I was confused. I also felt like we were running away without reason. And I was pissed that Bugz hadn't let me talk to the beautiful white-haired girl.

  “If we can get a little farther away, there’s this—” she started, but I stopped her again.

  “We’re not going any farther. I’m staying here. And you,” I pointed at her face,” have some explaining to do before the sun rises.”

  I left her and jumped on the second floor balcony of the building in front of me.

  Inside, there wasn’t much, but there was a faded yellow couch, and if I hit it hard enough, I could get all the dust off it.

  “Fine. This is fine,” Bugz mumbled as she landed behind me.

  “What the hell was that, Bugz?” I asked while I dusted off the couch.

  “Nothing. Just an old acquaintance.”

  She went for the door on our left to look for a place to crash.

  “Don’t bullshit me, Bugz. Who was that? And why didn’t you let me speak?”

  “Just somebody I used to know, M. She can’t know who you are.”

  “Why the hell not? She was asking for your help. That doesn’t seem like the type who would want to hurt me. So who is she?”

  “No one.”

  “Right. A no one who can’t hear my voice,” I hissed.

  “It’s not just her, okay?” she exploded. “Nobody should hear your voice, or see you. Not yet, anyway.”

  “You’re lying. I can tell you’re lying, Bugz. Tell me the damn truth. Who is Morta?”

  “Don’t say that name!” she hissed and appeared right in front of my face. Her eyes were wider than I’d ever seen them.

  “Why? Why not? Who the hell is she, damn it? And how could she be a vampire and have a beating heart?” I shouted in her face.

  “Nobody knows. But she is trouble, M. Trouble. You hear me? Stay as far away from her as possible.”

  I could see her lower lip tremble.

  “What kind of trouble? She said that Mohg was working with the others. With Chandra. How would she know?”

  Bugz turned her back to me. I wanted to keep shouting, but I knew that wasn’t going to get me any answers. And I wanted them. I wanted answers, and I wanted to know why this vampire with a heartbeat had Bugz so freaked out.

  So I pretended to breathe deeply, hoping to calm my nerves. I stepped around her, and I sat on the half-dusted couch. I patted the seat next to me and looked at her. She blew a fake breath out and came.

  “You don’t need to get mad, Bugz. I’m just asking because I’m trying to understand. If you’re going to treat me like a kid, you will not like me.”

  Bugz laughed and it wasn’t even forced.

  “I know. I know…it’s just that I don’t want anything to happen to you. We’re fine, you and me. Aren't we?” she said.

  “Yes, we’re fine. Why wouldn’t we be?” I asked, taken a little off guard by her question.

  Bugz’s smile was huge. “Right. So we need no trouble.”

  “So why is she trouble? And really, why does she have a beating heart?” I was trying to not come off too curious. Just curious enough. Normal. I wasn’t sure if Bugz could see through it.

  “Because…” Bugz said and turned her head to the other side. “Didn’t you hear what she said? She’s accusing Mohg.”

  “So? What if she’s right?”

  I had no idea about any of it, but I wanted to hear what Bugz thought.

  “She has no proof,” she said, furious again. “And you don’t just go around accusing a vampire—the vampire—of something he’s trying damn hard to stop! She’s delusional. Eve
ryone can see that Mohg is trying to help the damn humans.”

  I wanted to drop it. I hated to see her pissed, or hurt. She put up with a lot of my moods, and I guess I should’ve given her a break, but the reason why she was so pissed wouldn’t let me say the words I needed to say.

  “And who was he? You said if he had suspected something, you would’ve trusted him.” I regretted it the next second when Bugz stood up, ran to the door, and disappeared behind it.

  My head was a mess. I’d done nothing but make matters worse since the night before. I hated those nights when I had nothing to do but lie all alone and wait for the sun’s rays to take my conscience away. Normally, thoughts bad and worse made me restless, but that night, despite worrying about Bugz, the white-haired vampire stayed in my mind, longer than she should have.

  There was something about that heart that beat inside her, and her scent that was definitely a vampire scent.

  I understood Bugz—I really did. No one was supposed to see me, but I just needed to meet Morta. To hear her heartbeat from close up and see those big black eyes that made it clear to the world around her that she was on her own, and that wasn’t going to change.

  It was kind of sad. Even I, a newborn vampire with three hundred lost years had someone. I had Bugz, and I had Dublin. But Morta had no one. She had no friends. Why else would she have asked Bugz for her help?

  My mother used to say that a life without friends isn't a life at all. I’d never been alone long enough to prove that theory, but I just knew that Morta had.

  All of a sudden, I had the urge to run after her.

  When consciousness breathed into me the next night, the urge hadn't disappeared.

  I shouldn’t have been out in the streets all by myself. I should’ve talked to Bugz first. But the truth was, I knew that if I didn’t leave right away, the white-haired vampire would disappear and I would never see her again.

  What harm could there be in meeting her? Morta wouldn’t be dangerous—it was a feeling I had. And to make sure she wouldn’t think I was Hammer, too, I would just change my voice when I spoke to her. It would be easy enough.

  Half the night I spent chasing after her. There were times I heard faint heartbeats, and the thirst grew within me like a wave, but then she would disappear again. She was fast. But I wasn’t giving up.