by D. N. Hoxa
I had probably less than three hours before the sun showed. Bugz must’ve been worried sick. I would think about how to make it up to her on my way back.
The white-haired vampire was in a two-story building, going through cabinets from what I could hear. I went inside the house across, which looked exactly the same as all the others around it. I waited, a bit nervous, because I didn’t know what to expect. Would she attack me if Bugz wasn’t there?
The door to the house opened, and she came outside. I stood still and watched from behind the thin curtain of a broken window. The steady beating of her heart rang in my ears. I felt no urge to feed, though.
She was even more beautiful from closer up. I found myself smiling as I watched her push her straight white hair back and blow on the shorter strands that wouldn’t stay behind her small ears.
She had a few things with her, and she put them on the porch of the house before she went back in and took more stuff. Leather belts and a pair of boots. Good ones, too. She also brought a few plastic bottles and what looked like a small blanket.
She had a big black bag next to her feet, and she started to put everything in there. I was mesmerized at how easily she moved. It was like there was no bone in her body.
“Why the mask?”
I was stunned to silence for a long second. She’d spoken. And she’d spoken to me.
Unless there was someone else around us with a mask on.
I was far enough and high enough that she couldn’t possibly have smelled me, could she? Frozen in place, I hoped I’d imagined at, just as much as I was thankful not to have to hide any longer. Until she looked up, straight into my eyes.
I felt a tug in my stomach that made me stand up and show myself.
“I wasn’t stalking you,” I said, my voice terrible from my lame attempt at changing it.
Shit, that was so pathetic I could’ve died. Of course I was stalking her! I was hiding and watching her through a curtain!
She only smiled. “That’s okay.” She continued to put her things in her bag. “So, why the mask?”
“Uh…” What was I going to do?
Go down there, of course. She had seen me. She was talking to me. She had not yet attacked me so that was a good sign. She looked calm enough.
I gathered my wits, and I jumped to the ground. She didn’t even look up. I had the urge to clear my throat, but I knew that would make it even more awkward.
“I like it,” I mumbled. I wasn’t sure whether to approach her or not, so I just stood there across the street.
“Good for you,” she said and looked up at me for a second. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-one.”
Morta smiled. “I meant as a vampire. When were you turned?”
“Oh,” I said, feeling like an idiot, but her smile put me at ease. “About three months,” I said.
She grinned. “When I was three months old, I would’ve died if I tried to stalk somebody.”
“I-I…” I was stuttering now. It probably had something to do with the fact that she was looking up at me, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how beautiful she was. “I wasn’t stalking you. I told you.”
“Yes, you were, M,” she said.
“It’s Mask,” I told her. I just wanted to hear her say it. Mask was better than telling her my real name, which I wanted to do at first.
“Mask,” she repeated, and like I suspected, I liked the sound of it. I liked everything she said in that voice. “Well, Mask, why were you stalking me?”
“I wasn’t…”
“Okay, why were you following me?” She stood up then and with her hands on her hips, made this motion with her head, which I thought was an invitation for me to approach. I did so with great pleasure.
The closer I got, the more perfect she became. She was small, the kind of small that made me think about how well she would fit in my arms, which was crazy. Thoughts like that had never come to me so fast before. I hadn't even touched her hand.
“I…uh, I heard what you said to Bugz.”
It was the first thing that came to my mind.
“About?” she asked and crossed her arms in front of her.
“About Mohg. About Chandra.”
I was trying not to stare, but concentrating on that on top of trying to change my voice was beginning to be a little too much.
Morta took a step closer to me. “Say that again?”
My brows rose at her sudden suspicion, but she couldn’t see them. “About Mohg? About Chandra?”
She came even closer. I instinctively took a step back. Her black eyes grew and grew and the brown around them disappeared. It was such a nice brown.
“Again,” she demanded.
That’s when I realized what was going on. She had heard my voice and immediately thought about fucking Hammer.
“Chandra, Mohg,” I said, and this time put all of my efforts into making my voice sound as weird as I could.
Confusion flashed through her eyes for a second. “What about them?” Doubt leaked from her words.
“You think Mohg’s teaming up with Chandra against the humans.”
Morta looked at me for a long time in silence. She seemed to take in every detail of me. My hair, my hands, my arms, even my feet. She finally blew out air and shook her head. She fell on her knees in front of her bag again.
“Sorry about that,” she mumbled. “And yeah, I seem to be the only one.”
I had only a second to feel the relief. She no longer suspected me.
“Why do you think that?” I asked.
“It’s a long story,” she said, shaking her head.
I wanted to get down on my knees, too, just to be closer to her. It was crazy how attracted to her I was.
“Maybe I can help,” I said before I remembered myself. Before I remembered Dublin and Bugz.
Morta stood up again. Her eyes watched me like an eagle. I was tempted to take a step back. She looked dangerous.
“I don’t work with newborns, Mask,” she said, raising her brow. “Who’s your Doyen?”
The question was sudden, so I just shook my head. I needed to calm down. If I panicked, she would know I was trying to hide something. Thinking about Ray was definitely not going to help me relax.
“Just asking because it’s weird for newborns to be around these days. Doyens refuse to turn people anymore,” she said.
I felt it in my bones. The instinct to prepare came all at once, and I felt my muscles tighten while I looked at her. She looked like she was about to attack me. The suspicion in her eyes was all-consuming.
“Well, one of them did,” I managed to say.
“Take off your mask,” she took half a step closer to me. I took one back.
“No,” I whispered.
She searched my eyes while the corners of hers wrinkled, and I could tell her hands were curled into fists. Shit. I wished I hadn't listened to Bugz. I wished I had just told her that everybody thought of me as Hammer, but I wasn’t. That would’ve been out of the way, and now I wouldn’t be in this position.
But then she froze. Her head turned to the side. I’d seen Bugz do the same every time she heard someone coming. I strained my ears and listened carefully. I heard them, too. Two pairs of footsteps.
Morta didn’t run like I expected her to. Like Bugz always told me. Instead, she reached in her bag and brought out a knife, straightened her back and waited. She gave one look at me as if to make sure I was there, and then she waited, calmly.
I was amazed. Maybe because I’d never seen someone be as calm and actually wait for others to arrive and find her. No trace of fear could be found on her face or body. She looked like she could take on the world and then enjoy the victory afterwards. I was in awe, until the strangers arrived.
The vampires were big. One was dressed in black, and had long brown hair, and the other was bald and had a dark red leather jacket on. Both were bigger than me and much bigger than Morta. I risked a glance her way, but she didn’t even
move a lash. All she did was raise her brow.
“Gentlemen,” she said with a very curt nod, like she knew them. But she didn’t put the knife back in the bag.
“Morta Fox,” Red Jacket said.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. Her voice was naturally authoritative. It made you think she was in charge.
“They sent us for Dublin,” Red Jacket said. “Because Jordy and the others are dead.”
My knees would’ve shaken if my body had allowed them to.
“And the word around is that they’ve been killed by a mask,” Long Hair said. He pushed his jacket back and pulled out two small daggers from his belt.
I was in trouble. It looked like Morta and the boys were on the same team. That left me on my own and their enemy. Fuck. I’d blown it. I’d blown it completely.
“You don’t think he did it, do you?” Morta asked and pointed the tip of her knife at me. “He’s a newborn. Can’t you smell?”
“Have you seen anyone else around here wear a fucking mask?” Red Jacket said. He took a menacing step towards me.
That was it. I was going to put to the test all I’d learned from Bugz in three months. It better have been worth it, because I’d done nothing but run and train all night long.
“Barely born and you think you can come around killing ours to make a name for yourself?” Long Hair asked me.
I knew I wasn’t supposed to answer. I was supposed to concentrate and try to predict from where they would most likely come at me.
“You have to start somewhere,” I said.
Dublin’s face came to my mind. Do not show weakness. Words were fine. I could speak them all day long. What scared me was the action. Once they came at me, I would be as good as dead.
Unless…the instinct that had taken over me last time returned. I never thought I’d come to a point where I’d wish to be someone else, to lose control of my own body, just to keep living.
“You fucking…” Red Jacket said, and he took a step closer to me.
I wasn’t ready. I was far, far from ready, and I knew I was going to die. I could see it all over his face.
But then Morta spoke.
“Stop it, Johnny,” she said. Easily, calmly. And they stopped. Oh, they froze dead in their tracks.
“This doesn’t concern you,” Long Hair hissed. His eyes had taken on a silver tint, just like Johnny’s.
“It concerns me, since he’s with me,” Morta said, and she took a step forward.
I couldn’t believe my eyes or ears. Johnny was twice her size, and Long Hair even bigger. Yet they didn’t move.
“We’re taking his head, Morta. He owes it to us,” Johnny spit dryly.
“Maybe. But not tonight. Unless you want to fight me for it. In which case, I’ll happily oblige. It’s been a few days since I’ve had a decent fight,” she said and she smiled. She actually showed them her razor sharp teeth. I didn’t know what to think. I was completely dumbfounded.
It was impossible to believe that I could see fear in the vampires’ eyes. Couldn’t they see how small she was? Even I could take her!
But they stood in their places, frozen, for a long time.
“We’ll meet again, Mask,” Long Hair said, and after another hateful look my way, they ran off.
I didn’t move until I was completely sure that they were gone. Not Morta, though. As soon as they turned their backs on us, she returned to her bag. I wanted to thank her for protecting me. Even ask her why, since she didn’t even know me, when she faced me again, bag in hand.
“Take the mask off,” she said.
“I like my mask just fine.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, we heard someone coming again. I was expecting Johnny and his friend, but Bugz appeared at the other corner of the street instead.
She looked terrified when she saw us. Like the world was ending right in front of her eyes.
“M,” she breathed.
“Why the hell does he have a mask on?” Morta hissed.
“M, get out of here, now,” Bugz said as she approached us.
“Who the hell is he, Bugz?” Morta said, her voice carelessly loud. But then again, I’d seen how those vampires had left. She had no reason to be afraid. The question was why?
“This has nothing to do with you, Morta!” Bugz said.
“Tell me who you are.” Morta turned to me again.
I was sick and tired of it. So before Bugz could speak, I did.
“My name is Matias del Bosque. I’m from Spain, and I was turned into a vampire three months ago. That’s who I am. I swear it,” the words left my mouth before I knew I’d pronounced them. Dublin’s warning spun in my head. No promises.
Morta stepped back as if I’d slapped her. Bugz watched me with raised brows.
I had panicked for no reason at all. I could swear that I was who I was because I was Matias del Bosque. I wasn’t lying. And I wasn’t promising a service to anyone. I was promising a truth.
“I swear it, that is who I am,” I repeated. Enough with the nonsense.
“How the hell is it possible…” Morta whispered to herself, but she waited for no answer.
She seemed disappointed. Heartbroken. She took her new bag in her arms and looked at me for a short second, before she turned to Bugz. Bugz, who looked like a fucking ghost.
“Keep him hidden. They’re looking for him,” Morta said.
Bugz only nodded.
“Wait, where are you going?”
I didn’t think she’d answer me—why would she?—but she did. “After Dublin.”
“You won't find him—” Bugz said, but she cut her off.
“Let me worry about that.”
Bugz kept her mouth shut as we both watched her walk away from us.
It was impossible to feel as shitty as I did watching her go. That was probably why I ran after her.
“Wait, Morta,” I said, but she didn’t stop. “Thank you for before. They would’ve killed me, those guys.”
Morta smiled, shaking her head. I thought I saw tears in her eyes, but I wasn’t sure. It didn’t surprise me. Her heart was still beating. Her tear ducts probably still produced tears.
“Just keep to yourself, will you?”
And she started to run.
XVII
“We’re going to stop here,” I said to Bugz, when we came across three safe-looking buildings, and she told me to run farther. She never listened to me. “This is ridiculous, Bugz.”
“What’s ridiculous is you running away like a fucking kid after her!” she hissed.
“Well, Bugz, I’m not a damn kid. So I can run after whoever I want, when I want. And you should’ve just let me be instead of making me run away from her.”
Bugz looked terrible. She turned around and went inside one of the buildings. I followed after her, up a set of stairs to the fourth floor.
“I’m not trying to control you, M. I wish you could trust me to keep you safe!” Bugz cried.
“I do trust you. I trust you when you make sense, and this time, you don’t! Can’t you see? Don’t you know that she saved me? I would’ve been dead if it wasn’t for her!”
“You would’ve been back where you were supposed to be if it weren’t for her! You would’ve been…” She was crying. No tears, but I heard it in her voice. The feelings of anger and those of me being a jerk made my head hurt. I walked over to her and took her in my arms. I hated crying, tears or not.
“It’s okay, Bugz. I’m fine. I promise you she’s not an enemy,” I said.
“Don’t say that,” she said, shaking her head against my chest. “Don’t promise me what you don’t know for sure.”
“But I do. I do know for sure. She could’ve let them kill me, Bugz. And I think she needs us. She needs you,” I said, and she looked up at me.
“Morta Fox doesn’t need anyone.”
“But she does. Why do you think she came to you for help when she obviously expected your rejection? She has no one else,” I s
aid. Her forehead fell on my chest again.
“There is nothing I can do, M.”
“You can at least hear her out.”
“Is that why you went after her? To hear her out?”
Not exactly, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. “Yes. I was curious.” Bugz didn’t believe me. She moved away from me. “I just…I just wanted to talk to her, Bugz. Why is that such a big deal?”
“It is! That’s what you always do, damn it! You throw your whole life away, because you follow your gut and not reason!” she shouted.
“What the hell are you talking about…” but she wasn’t listening to me. She was walking fast in circles in front of me and shouting.
“I kept telling you, she’s trouble, trouble, trouble! Yet you kept after her, again and again like a fucking idiot…”
“Bugz, stop it! I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!”
“And I’ve been there for you! I’ve been there through thick and thin, but there’s no fucking way you would ever listen to me! Not even once, when all I did was care for you and worry! I would’ve never let you make a promise like that! I would’ve never let you go!” she cried.
“Bugz, if you don’t stop, I’m leaving,” I warned her.
“Of course you are! Of course you’re leaving, because when the hell have I ever been important enough to listen to?”
“Bugz…”
“When, Hammer?”
Everything became clear to me in half a second. Hammer. It was him. Fucking Hammer. The him was Hammer. The man they had both loved.
Bugz looked like a caged animal. Her teeth were sharp and her eyes silver. She realized her mistake as soon as she made it.
“M…” she breathed, her hands reaching out for me.
“Just because you lost a man you loved doesn’t mean that you can treat a newborn who knows nothing about this fucking place like he was him!” I shouted. I didn’t feel like a jerk. In fact I felt like shit—hurt and a bit offended. She didn’t care about me. She cared about Hammer. I just reminded her of him, and that was why she was there, kissing me, putting up with me all this time.
“M, please,” she said, but I didn’t listen.
