Drawing Down the Mist

by Sheri Lewis Wohl

  “Don’t be. Vampires are really good at blending in and making you believe whatever they want you to. The practice goes back as long as humans have been around.” She’d actually had the same sense of incredulity when she’d been turned, wondering how she’d never noticed. How she’d never realized what Katrina was, particularly given how intimate they’d been with each other. She’d had enough time to come to understand the skill of her kind in the intervening years.

  “I suppose you’re right, but I still feel oblivious. I thought I could really see the world and the people in it. I thought it was what helped to make me a successful writer. Boy, was I wrong.”

  “Think of it more as being aware while not completely tuned in. Now you are. After this, you’re going to see everything differently. You’re going to be better armed.”

  “Oh, isn’t that the truth. Now that I’ve seen it, I can’t not see it! I’m pretty sure nobody will be able to miss it from here on out. Things are going to change on the third rock. Now, explain to me again how you and Rodney are going to save the planet?”

  This time she didn’t hesitate. Her trust issues had been resolved. Sasha told her everything.

  ***

  Dee’s head was still spinning as they paid absolutely no attention to speed limits on the way back north with the precious cargo still hanging on Sasha’s body. Once she understood what was in the works, she was as anxious as Sasha to get back to Rodney. Only one question remained with no time to ask it. Sasha once more had the car parked in the trees, and once more they were running through the dark woods. This journey back, she did a little better. Maybe she could be a trail runner.

  About the time she was patting herself on the back for her smooth footing, she stumbled and tripped, though she managed to stay on her feet with her eyes on Sasha’s back. Her ankle burned and would hurt for days. Following the sure-footed vampire through the woods took a lot of concentration, and when they arrived at the entrance to Rodney’s bunker she was immensely relieved. Then they were back inside and dashing down the stairs to the big metal door, which opened before they had a chance to pound on it.

  “You’ve got it?” Rodney’s eyes were flashing with what? Excitement? Yeah, she was pretty sure that was excitement, and why not? He was about to become one of the saviors of the humans they counted themselves among. Pretty cool, if she did say so, though she wasn’t going to say it out loud. They hadn’t actually saved anyone yet, and Grandma had always told her not to put the cart before the horse. Grandma had a lot of those snappy sayings.

  “I do.” Sasha tossed him the flash drive that she’d pulled from her pocket. “It’s the money shot,” she said.

  “Hot damn,” he muttered as he spun away. “I don’t know about you ladies, but I say let’s fry some vampire ass.” He stopped, turned, and looked at Sasha with a contrite expression. “No insult intended.”

  A little smile turned up the corner of her mouth, and the look of hope in her eyes matched his. “None taken. There’s a fair amount of vampire ass I’m very anxious to fry.”

  Without warning, Prima shoved a hot cup of tea into Dee’s hands. “Drink this,” she commanded.

  Neither thirsty nor hungry, Dee tried to hand it back. She was keyed up for this vampire-fry-ass thing. “I’m okay.”

  “No, you’re not. Whatever happened out there has taken a toll. You look like somebody beat the tar out of you. Now drink this or else.”

  Dee looked at her friend and cocked her head. “Or else what?” Prima didn’t typically mete out threats of physical violence. She was more the conscientious-objector type.

  “Or else I’ll have to call in reinforcements.” She nodded toward Sasha, who was hovering over Rodney’s shoulder as he navigated the many files on the flash drive. “Don’t think I won’t either.”

  Dee had the urge to resist again just because she wasn’t totally opposed to seeing what Sasha might do. The thought of having Sasha’s hands on her body was most decidedly exciting. Then again, maybe now wasn’t the best time to press it. Nobody needed a distraction. If Sasha and Rodney did save the world, well, then perhaps she could revisit this scenario with the lovely vampire.

  “Fine, fine, fine,” she muttered as she put the cup to her lips. “I have a mother, you know.”

  “Don’t act like a child.”

  She stuck her tongue out at Prima before she took a sip. Surprisingly, the tea was quite nice. She wasn’t sure what Prima had put in the clearly custom brew, but it was sweet and bitter all at the same time and filled her with a boost of energy she didn’t even realize she needed. She hated it when Prima was right. Then again, Prima usually was, and no, she didn’t actually hate it when her friend was right. She liked it quite a lot.

  “Better?” Prima had her hands on her hips and was looking at her like her mother used to when she was being particularly naughty.

  “You know it is.”

  Prima gave her a knowing smile and a nod. “Why yes, I do. Dr. Prima at the ready.”

  “I’d call you a bitch, but you’d know I mean it in the most loving way possible.”

  “Of course you would. Who doesn’t love me?” She spread her arms wide. “I’m infinitely lovable.” Dee glanced over at Rodney and in her heart knew he’d wholeheartedly agree with that statement. She hoped when this was all done, the two of them could spend some quality time together. Despite having just met Rodney, she was convinced they were meant for each other.

  “This is going to work out, right?” Her ADD mind did one of its lightning jumps from therapeutic tea to vampire apocalypse.

  Prima turned her gaze on Rodney and Sasha. A frown darkened her usually bright face. “If those two can’t save us all, then we really are doomed.” When she turned back to look at Dee, the frown was gone, and brightness reilluminated her face. “I have a good feeling about this. I think they’re going to do it.”

  Despite everything she’d seen both earlier in the day and once night had fallen—the blood, the death, the creatures that were running with such abandon—she couldn’t help the feeling of hope that embraced her as well. Part of it was Prima’s confidence. Part of it was the way Sasha had reacted at Duncan Gardens.

  If she’d understood what was written between the lines, and she was sure she did, the woman she’d seen standing at the fountain was the same one who had not only had a hand in gunning down Sasha’s family but had subsequently turned her into a vampire. And that was after she’d made Sasha believe she was in love with her. All she’d done was cruel on so many levels that Dee wondered how Sasha had been able to stand before her and not tear her apart. Dee didn’t think she’d have that much restraint. She’d have gone ballistic the second she was in her face. Sasha had been amazing. She’d focused on saving people she didn’t even know instead of avenging her family and herself.

  She watched now as Sasha and Rodney spoke in low, urgent tones. She detected excitement underneath as well and had the impression that whatever the man, the vampire, had given her, it was a game changer. Would he survive what had happened? She had the feeling he wouldn’t. She also had a feeling he didn’t care. He’d gotten his revenge.

  “Got it!” Rodney threw a hand up in the air, and Sasha slapped his palm with her own. “Hot damn, we got ’em.”

  “Yes!” The look of triumph on Sasha’s face was bright and glowing. Real hope bloomed inside Dee.

  Rodney jumped up from his command center chair and pointed at Sasha. “Start making the calls, my clever friend, and I’ll get the syringes ready. Take that, you bloodsucking assholes!”

  ***

  Eli stood with his legs apart, glaring at her. Katrina had never seen such a look cross his face. It wasn’t defiance. It was hatred so clear and intense that, had she been a mere mortal, it probably would have seared her skin. Instead, it only served to increase the fury that engulfed her. He had no right to do what he’d done, and oh, he was going to pay in ways he couldn’t imagine. There would be no quick death. He would suffer.

&
nbsp; “You fool,” she screamed as spittle hit him in the face.

  He slowly shook his head. “Oh, how wrong you are. That was the least foolish thing I’ve ever done.”

  “You’re dead.” Her fingers twitched at her sides.

  “Fuck you, Katrina. I’ve been dead for a hundred years, and there’s nothing you can do to me now. I’ve been dead since the day you slaughtered my wife and my daughters.”

  That remark momentarily cut through the red haze of fury, and she had to think. Sometimes they all blended together—the people, the meals, the places. It seemed like Eli had been at her side forever, but as she now thought about it, Katrina realized it had been only shortly before Sasha’s betrayal. He had been there with gun in hand when they destroyed her family, just as she’d commanded him to be. He’d been there when they realized that Maria hadn’t died from her bullet wounds. He’d been there when Katrina gave her a second chance. And he’d been there when she’d turned her back on everything Katrina had offered her. He had been there for it all.

  All along she’d believed that he was unwaveringly loyal to her. With all they’d gone through together, she had no reason to believe otherwise. Now she was stunned. How could she have missed the blackness in his soul all these years? She was better than that.

  “I’m a very good actor.” He answered her unspoken question. “I played you. For years, I’ve played you, and you have always been such an arrogant bitch you never noticed.”

  If he’d truly been her enemy all this time, there had been many opportunities over the years to take revenge. “Why now?”

  His smile was not sweet. “Sasha’s idea, and a damned good one, if I do say so. She always was a smart woman. A century to think about it has made her even smarter.”

  Now the fury inside her morphed to something like molten lava. “She knew?”

  “Not about you. I kept that little gem close to the vest and only just let her know. About your plans, well, yes, she’s been in the loop.”

  “How long?”

  “Since before we took over Kramer’s empire. He was the match that lit the fire.”

  “He was the key I needed to make all this happen. To finally track down Maria.” She waved her hands in the air, then realized her actions made her look as though she was losing it. No way was he going to get her to melt down. She dropped her hands and stared at him.

  He raised his eyebrows. “That’s what you were supposed to think. Hate to break the news to you, darlin’, but you’re not quite the genius you like to believe you are. I manipulated you, and now you’re going to watch everything you wanted crash and burn. You aren’t going to be the queen of anything.”

  “No!” She couldn’t help it. All her good intentions to stay calm disappeared. This creature was going to die. She was going to rip his head from his body and drink his blood.

  He smiled broadly, and this time she thought she saw joy in his expression. “Oh, yes. Better get your white flag ready, Boss, because you’re going to have to wave it if you want to stay alive. Then again,” he shrugged, “you probably won’t survive this no matter what you do. You can wave a white flag all night long, but in the end, it’s going to turn crimson.”

  A trickle of fear entered her heart, and she hated him all the more for it. “You will pay for this, you bastard.”

  “As I said before, Katrina, fuck you. I’ve been paying for years and waiting for the right time and place to make you pay for what you did to me. Well, it’s finally time. It’s your turn to pay up.”

  “I will tear you limb from limb. I will make you suffer in ways you can’t imagine.” Her mind was racing with what she intended to do to him. She could envision his blood dripping through her fingers.

  Slowly he pulled a syringe out of his pocket and held it up so she could clearly see it. “Not going to happen, Boss. You can’t stop it now. The train has already left the station. She’s going to take you down like the rabid bitch you are, and I’m going to join my family. Hasta la vista!”

  Before she could reach him, he’d plunged the needle into his arm and pushed the plunger all the way down, smiling the whole time. He was still smiling as he crumbled to the lush green grass of Duncan Gardens. Shocked, she watched his body literally melt into nothing. In less than thirty seconds, it was as if he’d never been there. Katrina stood alone in the gardens under the glowing moon and a canopy of stars in a velvet sky.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Sasha stood once more in her small bedroom and stared at the egg sitting right where she’d left it at sundown. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m trying to make it right, and I will, I promise.”

  “What are you sorry about? What are you trying to make right?”

  She whirled, shocked to see Dee in the doorway. She hadn’t heard her approach, which wasn’t like her at all. She always heard the movement of anyone and everyone. Another perk of what she was. Was she losing her edge? Then the truth hit her hard. Their invisible connection let Dee move into her personal space without disruption. She could deny it all she wanted, but the reality of it was impossible to ignore. In her very long life, no one had really held a spot in her psyche like this woman was managing to do in what felt like minutes. Even though she’d believed she’d been in love with Katrina, the woman had never affected her the way Dee did. She should be upset, but she wasn’t.

  Life had thrown her curves that no one in their right mind could have ever imagined, and she’d rolled with each and every one of them. Her life of privilege had been taken away in an instant, yet she’d managed to make peace with that time in her life. She’d had her family and she’d even found love, or so she’d thought at the time. She’d made the best of every bad situation.

  Even when that love had turned on her and made her what she was today, she’d found a way to live with that too. It hadn’t been easy. Of course, revenge was a pretty good motivator, and it had kept her charged decade after decade. She’d never expected to feel about another person the way she did right now. Despite everything happening in the world above them, she wanted to survive because she wanted to walk side by side with Dee, hold her hand, and kiss her lips. It didn’t make any sense, yet there it was. Denial wouldn’t change a thing. She was falling for a unique and beautiful human.

  “Sasha?”

  She realized she’d been staring off into space and shook away the introspection. “Sorry. I was talking to myself. Silently anyway.”

  “I get that and it’s cool. What I can’t figure out is what you have to be sorry for. You’re saving us. You’re saving everyone. You’re the last person who should say they’re sorry.”

  She turned her gaze back to the egg and then walked over to pick it up. “This belonged to my family what feels like a million years ago. Everything we had was taken away and scattered throughout the world. It was like vultures swooped in and picked our bones clean. I’ve spent so many years looking for things like this and bringing them back together. I think I believed doing that would bring my family back together. I think I believed it would make me feel whole again.”

  “Things.” Dee seemed to be grasping what she wasn’t saying so well.

  “Yes, they are just things, not the people I loved. They’re gone, and spending so much energy on reclaiming our possessions won’t change that. Things such as this egg represent my father, my mother, my siblings, but they don’t bring them back. I’ve been chasing ghosts, and I’m so tired.”

  “That’s nothing to be sorry about. None of it was your fault, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting things that remind you of them. You’re right on one thing, though. You don’t need the egg or anything else to remind you of your family. They’re in your heart and always will be.”

  “Yet I’m still here.” The bitterness she felt was intense. It was as it always was, a deep sense of betraying her family by not dying in that basement with them. Their lives flowed out in rivers of red on that floor, and hers should have too.

  “And I’m glad you ar
e.”

  “I should be with them.”

  “You’re meant to be here.”

  Something about those words hit her, and she studied Dee. She was sincere. It helped close the crack that had been in her heart for a hundred years. Not all the way, but enough to instill a touch of peace. “Thank you.”

  Dee laid a hand against her cheek, and Sasha leaned into it. “Thank you. Everyone who survives this will thank you.”

  “I let her go.”

  Dee dropped her hand away and studied Sasha intently. All of a sudden, the light seemed to come on. “That woman in the park.”

  “That vampire, yes.”

  “But you got what you needed from that guy, right?”

  “I got what we needed. I didn’t get what I wanted.”

  “And that is?”

  “Revenge.”

  ***

  Dee wanted to hug her. It was just her way of comforting those she cared about, and even though Sasha was talking of revenge in the dark, kill them fast kind of way, something seemed broken in that one word.

  “She was the one who made you what you are.” It wasn’t a question because it was crystal clear to her. The conflict inside Sasha made sense to her. She could feel it as if it were her own.

  “Yes.”

  “Then let’s go back.” The words almost fell out of her mouth. Definitely one of those speaking-before-the-brain-engaged moments. Even so, once the words were out there, she was okay with them. Sasha needed to make it right, and if that meant revenge against that thing in the park, that’s what it was going to be. She sure didn’t have trouble with taking that one out of the equation.

  Besides, she was confident Rodney was on top of whatever their plan was to save the world. He was most decidedly pumped, and besides mining the flash drive, he was at this moment filling three syringes with what, she wasn’t quite sure.