by Jen Pretty
Singh growled at his boldness, and he took a step back, raising his hands in a placating gesture. “I’m sorry. Don’t eat me.”
Durga pushed forward and had a look at him, then sunk back. She rarely took an interest unless someone had been breaking her laws, so I took a second look at the weird skinny vampire. He wasn’t thin the way Trevor had been. It was more like this vampire just moved so much. He burned off his meals. He stood there fidgeting and shifting from foot to foot.
“What do you want?” I asked. Singh rubbed his face on my stomach again, like he was marking me as his. I tried to push him away, but that just made him lick my hands, so I gave up and let him rub his damn head on me.
“I just… uhm. This will sound strange.” The spike-haired vampire was fidgeting twice as much now. Scratching his neck, biting his nails, tapping out a rhythm in the puddle under his feet.
“Spill it,” I said.
The nervous vampire startled. “I saw a witch once. She told me to look for you. That I would crown the king. That’s what she said. I would crown the king and save the Lark. Crown the king, save the Lark. See I remembered it all this time.”
“What’s the matter with you?” I asked.
“I’ve been waiting here a very, very long time.”
Of course, Drew could be counted on to ask the question I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer to.
“How long?” Drew asked.
“243 years,” he said, smiling. He looked kind of demented when he smiled. His fangs were a yellow colour instead for the white of normal vampires. I wished he would stop, but he kept on smiling.
Vilen stepped up behind the sketchy vampire and put his hand on the smaller man's shoulder.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
The vampire looked back at me, calmer now. Like having Vilen's hand on him had grounded him and made him more normal. “My name is Alex.”
“How are you doing that?” I asked Vilen. I wasn’t sure he was doing anything. But Alex stood quietly, his arms at his sides and a relaxed look on his face.
“He is sketched. Has been out of direct contact with another vampire for too long. He needs to hold hand for a while,” Vilen said with a hearty chuckle.
“There are plenty of vampires down here,” I said.
“They don’t like me much,” Alex said leaning towards Vilen.
“Why is that?” I asked against my better judgment. I was sure I wouldn’t want to know the answer to that one.
“Because I will save the Lark and crown the king.” He smiled again, but now it was a sleepy smile.
“Am I collecting vampires now? This is ridiculous. Wait, what are you doing?” Vilen had picked up the smaller vampire and tossed him over his shoulder.
“We take home sketched vampire,” Vilen said.
“If he is telling the truth, he will save your life, Lark,” Drew said. “We both know those powerful witches see things. Besides, if he waited here all those years, you can’t leave him behind, can you?” Jerk. He knew I couldn't stand a sob story like that. This vamp was another stray for my collection. Durga pressed forward and used my tongue to speak.
“He is mine,” she declared and retreated again. I was tired of her popping in and out, and I expressed my displeasure by giving her a shove. She didn’t care. I was sure I couldn’t hurt the ancient deity that lived inside me. I imagined I could sometimes. It brought a smile to my face.
The waterproof pants were brilliant. I was still dry. The narrow tunnel went on for miles but eventually opened into what seemed to be a bunker. Vampires were laying on bunk beds or sitting on old sofas that must have been carried down through the tunnels. Alex, who had been doing an impression of a dead person, looked up. He patted Vilen’s arm, and Vilen set him on his feet.
“Look guys! I found the Lark!” He said to the vampires in the room. Then he held out his hands towards me like I was the top prize on a game show.
“Holy shit,” one of them whispered. The rest sat up and stared at me like I was a ghost.
“I’m looking for someone,’ I said. “He looks like Vaughn, your city leader.”
After some head shaking and mumbled apologies, I sighed and turned to go. This was a bust.
“You check Metro two?” A Russian voice called from the back.
“You can’t get in there anymore. It's a myth,” Alex called back.
“Not myth,” grumbled the same voice.
“What is Metro two?” I asked.
“It’s government tunnels. Everyone knows someone who says they know someone who can get in, but it's sealed up. It’s impossible to get in,” Alex replied.
One thing Vincent had taught me, nothing was impossible if you knew the right people and had enough money.
“Ok, let's get out of here. I’m freezing my ass off,” I said.
“I know a shortcut,” Alex said, trotting off in the opposite direction from which we had come. Tugging my coat close around my neck, we strode off after the eccentric vampire.
CHAPTER FIVE
After sloshing through several more tunnels and one bit of climbing, we were back on the streets of Moscow, but not anywhere near the hummer.
“This way, we take metro,” Vilen said.
That is how I found myself standing on an ornate underground platform, with hundreds of other people, a twitchy vampire and an impatient lion man in human form.
Singh paced the edge, past the line painted on the cement that warned of danger. Bored looking commuters and gawking tourists packed the platform behind us. The pillars supporting the ceiling were arched, and the floor was tiled like a chess board, not that I could see much of it under the horde of pedestrian feet. Looking up, the vaulted ceiling was reminiscent of a cathedral. Giant chandeliers hung from the top, and ornate stucco designs were carved and painted all the way down the platform. It seemed to go on for miles.
“Traffic is light right now,” Ninel said.
“Really? It’s pretty crowded,” I replied, keeping an eye on Singh as he paced.
“Rush hour, you can’t move in here,” Ninel replied.
The space could easily hold thousands of people. I couldn't imagine being down here with that many people.
“Calm down, Singh,” Drew said.
Singh narrowed his eyes at Drew and kept pacing. I could hear the subway train coming, its rumble shook beneath my boots. Singh turned towards the noise and watched, a small smile pulling at his lip. The train wasn't slowing down though. It wouldn't stop at this station. Singh shut his eyes, and the train flew through, inches away from him, blowing cool damp air onto the platform. Singh’s hair swept back, and his coat flapped under the insult.
Ninel reached out and grabbed the back of Singh’s coat and pulled him back across the line, out of the danger zone. Singh sighed, and his face fell as the train continued, the rumble getting further and further away.
I slapped his arm. “What is the matter with you?”
“I miss running. I need to get out,” he complained.
“We are in a city, Singh. You can’t go tearing around here,” I replied.
He sighed again.
There was a low rumble. Another train was approaching at a more sedate pace. This one stopped at the platform, and the doors slid open. Most of the people who had been standing around now pressed to get on the train. It was a tight fit, like sardines in a tin can, but it seemed like everyone made it in. I lost sight of Drew and Alex, but Ninel pressed up behind me, and Singh was at my side. When the train stopped again, we funnelled out, and new people clambered on. I was glad to be off, my first breath of fresh air as we climbed the steps to the street was like heaven -- If heaven was in the arctic circle. The wind had picked up, and it was snowing again. I pulled up my hood and followed along behind Vilen and Ninel to the hummer parked a few blocks over.
The heat, full blast, I rode shotgun back to Vaughn's mansion, shivering and holding my hands over the heat vents. The guys discussed the tunnels and how we could get in
to Metro two lines, but I ignored them. Something was gnawing at me. It wasn’t Durga, but she was alert like she could feel it too. Some other force was pressing at me; a weight on my chest. I had no idea who or what it could be.
As we got out of the vehicle, Singh shifted to his lion form and swaggered into the mansion. His head was low, and I wondered if all this city living was too hard for him. Once we found Vincent, maybe we could spend time in the country.
“Any luck?” Vaughn asked from the doorway.
I shook my head, and he frowned. We both knew something was wrong, despite the assurances that Vincent was fine.
I stumbled up the stairs to the room they had given us and stripped off all the heavy outerwear. Once locked behind the bathroom door, I stripped off the rest of my layers. The hot water sprayed painfully on my skin, leaching out the cold and washing it down the drain. When I regained feeling in my hands and feet, I threw on the shorts and t-shirt I had hastily packed and abandoned the bathroom. Leaving the steam of the bathroom, I found the heat turned up in the bedroom too, but I knew the lion on the bed was even warmer. I slid under the blankets and curled up next to the purring Singh.
“I’m sorry you are unhappy,” I whispered.
He rolled over and licked my cheek, scraping the skin with his harsh tongue.
"Ouch, you oaf!" I said trying to wipe his drool off on the pillow beside me.
He rested his massive head on my stomach and closed his eyes again. I fought an arm out from the blankets and pet his silly mane until he purred and I drifted off to sleep.
“Where were you before you came to me?” I asked Singh that evening as we had dinner.
“Here and there,” he replied. I had convinced him to eat dinner at the table, like a person, with Vaughn and some of his vampires. I filled in Vaughn on the information we got and suggestion to check Metro two. He assured me he could get us in there, but it would take some time. The system ran the full length of the city three times over and was an underground city, of sorts. It would take a long time to search it all.
Alex made everything awkward with his strange fidgeting. He was tapping out a rhythm on his wine glass with a knife for fuck sakes. Vilen switched seats with one of Vaughn's vampires across from me and rested his massive arm across the back of Alex seat. The contact slowed the sketchy vampire.
“Will he get over this?” I asked Vilen as the rest of the table went back to the polite conversation.
“Yes, he needs time,” he replied.
“I’m sorry Lark. I spent so long in those tunnels. They called me the ghost and new vampires would run from me. Some bigger vampires would chase me away.
I reached across the table and took his hand that was still twitching occasionally. Durga seized the opportunity, and I felt my hand get hot. Alex screamed and threw his other arm out, knocking dishes and glasses everywhere. He tried to pull back, but my grip was solid.
“Let go, it burns! Please!” he cried.
Durga had him now and wasn't going to let go. She pulled him across the table by his arm, then clamped a hand to each side of his face. He wriggled and thrashed like a fish on the dock.
The rest of the vampires had gotten up and stood along the wall watching with horror on their faces. I was afraid she would call our knife and kill Alex, but she didn’t. She used my mouth to chant in what I now recognized as Sanskrit. My hands got hotter as my arms split and multiplied. I stood, knocking my chair backwards. Singh shifted and leapt up onto the table. He stood over Alex like a menace.
The heat peaked, and Alex let out a single scream before the heat vanished and he collapsed to the table. I released him, but he lay panting and gasping for several minutes. Alex laboured breathing was the only sound in the room. Drew, of course, was the first one to speak.
"Fuck," he said, righting his chair and straightening the tablecloth as much as he could with a 120 lb human and 400 lb lion holding it down. "Thank you for a wonderful meal."
“You are ... quite welcome,” Vaughn said. “Could I speak to you in my study, Durga?”
Durga had curled up in her corner as soon as she destroyed dinner and did whatever she did to Alex, leaving me with the mess. Again.
"Yeah, she’s not here anymore," I said, surveying the damage. "But I would be delighted to accompany you to your study."
I set up my chair and pushed it into the ruined table before turning and following Vaughn out of the room. The rest of the vampires shuffled out of my way. As we walked down the hall, the conversation began in the dining room. I wanted to smack Durga sometimes. She couldn't just be cool once! Now all these vampires would know she is a psycho too.
I followed Vaughn into his office, and he shut the door behind me. A Roar in the hall had him opening the door again to let Singh in. The lion huffed and then hopped onto the couch and collapsed. The couch groaned under his weight.
“Would you like a drink?” Vaughn asked.
“Sure,” I replied. “Something strong.”
Vaughn smiled and poured us each a drink. I sat in the armchair in front of his desk, and he set the glass down in front of me before walking around to take his seat.
He bit his lip for a second before he spoke. “I thought you said you and Durga worked together,” he said it like he worried it would offend me.
“We do. But she is kind of dramatic sometimes and goes off.”
He nodded. “Could I talk to her?”
I gave Durga a nudge, but she was not coming back. I shrugged my shoulders. “I think she can hear you. She never seems to miss an opportunity to pop in, so she must be listening.”
Vaughn smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. "I wanted to say how much I’ve missed her,” he said with an unhappy laugh. "Others never understood, but she was perfect. She was everything. When Elliana died, I hoped she would return in her new form. When I heard Vincent found her..." He paused and looked me in the eye. "Found you, I was jealous. I thought she had chosen him, over me." He shook his head and laughed at himself.
“I was so selfish. I see now why she couldn’t stay with me. There was so much to do, but I missed her. I think... I thought it was Durga that I loved, but I see you and her together now, and I know, it was Elliana that I loved back then. Maybe Durga knew all along.”
Durga flashed in my eyes, and I knew what he said was true. It was still sad though.
“How did she die?” I asked. Vincent said I was immortal, and I healed so fast from even major injury, I believed him.
“I don’t know. One morning she never woke up. We didn’t have tests and things back then.”
Durga flashed into my mind. She closed my eyes and played the memory back like I was watching an old movie on the backs of my eyelids.
Vaughn was lying in bed with Elianna. She was laughing, but there was no sound in my memory. Vaughn's eyes were bright, and his smile, wide. He said something, and she got a serious look on her face. Then she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him hard like he had just given her the most amazing news. Then Durga flashed me an image of Elianna dead in her bed, eyes half open, mouth relaxed. Vaughn shook her, and she flopped like a rag doll. Durga stood at the side of the bed. Her arms lowered with a solemn look on her face. Then she vanished and I my eyelids opened to find Vaughn right in front of me.
“What just happened?” he asked.
I bit my lip; I think it might have been his fault that Elliana died. Why would Durga show me that?
“Please?” Vaughn said.
“What did you say to her the night before she died?” I asked, already knowing the answer and dreading it too. I crossed my fingers in my lap, hoping it was inconsequential. That it was nothing.
“I asked her to marry me.”
I pushed him out of the way and grabbed the trash can beside his desk, emptying my partially digested dinner into it before collapsing back into the chair.
“Whoa, are you ok?” Vaughn asked.
Singh got up and came over to purr at me. He shoved Vaughn and tried t
o get up in my lap in the armchair. Freaking lion.
I slid out from under his paws and ended up sitting on the floor, still nauseated and now 100% sure, I would die.
Because loving a vampire would kill me.
And I loved a vampire.
CHAPTER SIX
I went back to my room, Singh hot on my heels. The halls cleared as I walked down them and nobody looked me in the eye. I mean, Durga healed Alex. She had claimed him, and the heat meant healing, so nobody had any reason to fear her or me or us. I climbed the stairs and swung open the door to the room we were staying in.
“Thank you!” Alex said as he rushed over. Of course, he was in my room. I wanted to be alone and sulk for a few minutes, but that was too much to ask.
“Sure, no problem,” I replied falling onto the bed.
Singh hopped onto the bed too and lay beside me; his furry body pressed up against my side. This was not what I was here for. I needed to stop focusing on Vincent and concentrate on his fallen brother. This was all a stupid idea. Chasing a vampire down, professing my love to him? Dumbass.
I sat up on my bed, ignoring the incessant chattering of Alex. Crossing my legs, I placed my hands palm up on my knees. I was not a normal girl. I would not have a normal life. Time to get my shit together and stop pretending I could have any of the things I wanted.
I slowed my breathing and focused inward. Alex's voice faded away, Singh’s warm back anchored me in the moment, and I let my mind drift until I was numb.
✽✽✽
I opened my eyes sitting in front of Shiva. His dreadlocked hair was whipping about like he was Medusa. His snake was slipping in and out of the wild locks as if he was a great serpent swimming through the water.
“To whom am I speaking?” Shiva asked. He had kept up this greeting since the time Durga took over my body and fooled him.
“It’s Lark,” I said, though I wasn’t sure there was much of a gap between Durga and me anymore.
