Turned: The Inari Council

by Katherine Rhodes

  He looked down as his shoes. “Okay. Can we at least be friends? I had a great time, and it's been so long since I've met anyone like you. Even if you don't want a boyfriend, I would like to be your friend.”

  “Friends don't kiss,” she said.

  “Then we won't,” he said.

  She took a deep breath. She could always use a friend. She just hoped she wasn't going to break his heart. “Alright. You're a nice guy.”

  “Good,” he said. “Busy Friday?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “I have the feeling I am now.”

  “I know a great little bar with loose morals,” he said. “You can get some of that chianti that you wanted.”

  Sara laughed and felt relieved. She didn't want to push him away. She just didn't want to drink his blood. She made sure that when she went out that night to feed, she got a large deer; she didn't want to even be slightly tempted.

  She ran to get the phone as it was ringing in her purse. Marius was going to call her when he was on his way because he had something to take care of at the DMV before they caught the movie. But the number on the front wasn't his. She wasn't even sure whose it was, but something told her that it was okay to answer, so she did. “Hello?”

  “Sara?”

  She gasped. “Michael!”

  “Hi,” he said. “How are you?”

  “I'm okay. Thank you so much for all you've done, by the way. I really appreciate it.”

  “Oh, no problem. Are you busy?”

  “Just getting ready to go to the movies,” she said.

  “Made friends?” Michael asked.

  “Yes, actually,” she smiled.

  “Good,” he said, and she could hear the honesty in his voice. “Look, I have a question for you, and you're not obligated to this in anyway. We have a bit of a vampire problem, and I was wondering if you'd be willing to help.”

  “Vampire problem?” She dropped her voice so Keelan and Rayna couldn't hear.

  “He's viscous,” Michael said. “He's killed hundreds, that we can figure. We need to take him down, and we can. But I started thinking that if you could help us, we might not have as much trouble taking him down.”

  She sighed. “Michael, I'm not going to be much help, honestly. I know how to hunt, and that's it. I know you said I'm supposed to have some kind of unique powers, but there's nothing. I'm just starting to get the hang of the whole thing.”

  He was quiet a minute. “Ok. I had the feeling you were going to say no. Just thought that I'd try. Check in on you too.”

  “That's very sweet of you,” she said.

  “You don't mind that I asked you, do you?”

  “No, not at all. It's nice to talk about it without making up some lie.”

  “Alright, Sara. You can call me any time, you have my number now. Have a great time tonight.”

  “Thanks, Michael,” she said. She hung up and stared at the number. After debating for a moment, she stored the number in the phone.

  ~*~*~

  Marius agreed that movie was awful, and they both agreed to never speak of it again. The bar was not quite a dive bar, though it was getting close, but as they drove by she could see a bouncer. She looked up at the sign and saw that it was called The Demon Den in bright red neon with horns on the ‘d’s. She was about to laugh when she caught a whiff of something acrid and pungent and not familiar at all.

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  “What’s what?” Marius asked.

  “The smell. Are we near a chemical plant?”

  “I don’t smell anything.”

  “Weird.”

  “Hey, since this isn’t a date, I hope that you don’t mind that I asked a few other people to meet us,” he said.

  “Of course not. The more, the merrier!”

  The smell was overwhelming as they walked from the car to the front door. It started to smell like burning sulfur, and it was more than just a little nasty. They walked up to the bouncer, who had a weird, red hot aura thing going on. It was very close to his outline, but it was bright and intense, and Sara smelled a bit of sulfur on him. Marius pulled a few bills out, but the bouncer smiled at Sara and waved them through.

  She got a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  They walked in, and she was completely overwhelmed.

  There were a dozen or more people around with that same tight, red hot aura surrounding them. There were a dozen more with a cold chill she could see around them somehow even though she couldn’t really see it. One of the cold ones turned and looked at her as she walked in and nodded at her. She saw the faint flash of fangs that weren’t there.

  Omg, what is this place?

  Some of the cold ones were sidled up to people who had neither of the auras. There were some without auras who were clustered together. There were some of the red and cold auras clustered either with their own or mingled. As they walked to the table of non-aura people in the back corner, Sara saw there were a lot more of the auras around than she thought at first, and they were plainly out numbered.

  She had a hard time concentrating on the people at the table as Marius introduced him. She caught a few of the names, and the rest just slipped away. A minute after they sat, a waiter appeared. He had the red-hot aura and smiled at her with a knowing smile knowing something she didn’t know.

  “Drinks?” he asked.

  “I’ll have a Flying Fish IPA,” Marius said. “And a generous glass of Chianti for the lady.”

  “Naturally,” he said and walked away.

  The table was animated, and they were a group that had been hanging out together for a long time, so Sara not only felt the weirdness around her but the barrier of the little group that knew each other well. She casually looked around as everyone chatted.

  She felt the eyes of different people flicking over to her. Some of them smiled knowingly, some were smiling wantonly, and a few were staring at her with hate. The knowing and wanton ones she could dismiss. But the angry ones, the ones with hate burning in their eyes were the ones she couldn’t just summarily dismiss.

  None of them came over, however, and eventually, she started to melt her way in the group at the table. She found herself laughing and talking to several of the other women at the table and a second glass of Chianti in front of her at some point.

  “Hey, handsome.”

  The words were right in her ear and could feel the cold aura slide its arm around Marius. She turned and looked, to find a tall willowy brunette leaning down to whisper in Marius’s ear. Marius turned his head to see who it was and clearly didn’t want to deal with it.

  He let out an exasperated sigh “Danielle, right? I have to tell you every time I come in here I am not interested in you or your so called generous offer.”

  “Come on,” she breathed. “It’ll be fun.” Her arm started to wrap around him, over his chest.

  “Excuse me,” Sara said. “Do you mind?”

  The woman’s head snapped around and looked at her. “Is he yours?”

  “He’s my friend. Hands off.”

  “You’re so young,” she said, disgusted. She took a deep sniff of the air. “You’re new.”

  “Could you remove the hand from my friend?” She didn’t want to get into a fight with this woman, but what she was insinuating with her hands and those whispers was not something she wanted to leave poor Marius to.

  Everyone in the bar who didn’t have an aura suddenly froze and the woman snapped her jaw down, barred her fangs and hissed at Sara. Sara, without thinking, did the same thing in response. She left her fangs down, and said, “He’s my friend, and you’ll leave him alone. Go find someone else to feed off of.”

  The woman clearly didn’t expect to be challenged. Sara also had the sneaking suspicion this was not the first time she had gone after Marius or someone in the group. She leaned down and whispered at her, “You have no idea what you’re doing, infant.”

  “I’m a fast learner,” she growled. Sara looked around the r
oom, and all of the people went into motion again. She leaned over to Marius. “Hey, man. It’s late. I gotta go home and relieve the babysitter.”

  He looked at her and hiccupped. Sara rolled her eyes and held her hand out. “Keys.”

  He plucked them out of his pocket. “Sorry.”

  “No, you’re not,” she laughed, standing up. “Come on. It’s time to go.”

  He pushed his chair back and stood, unsteadily. Sara looked around at the table and saw that they weren’t planning on leaving. She felt something tickling her mind and swept her gaze over all of them. “You should all think about leaving, soon.” Several of the others blinked rapidly, and two or three of them looked confused for a moment. She took Marius by the elbow and headed him out the door. Most of the other people at the table started to gather their stuff to leave.

  The waiter with the red-hot aura walked up to her and pressed close, his heat burning through her skin. “You’ve just made a terrible enemy in Danielle. But I applaud you for getting her off your friend. Get him and yourself out and don’t let him come back here.”

  “Done,” Sara said.

  “You’re very young,” he said, sniffing her. “Take care. Learn what you can do.”

  She pulled Marius out the front door, past the bouncer and down to the car. She was nearly holding him up as they walked along to the car. “I’m sorry, Sara. This wasn’t very gentlemanlyish of me. I invite you out, and I get drunk.”

  “I thoroughly enjoyed my Chianti, Marius. Let’s get you home.” She looked at the sign and realized—the hot red auras were demons. She had just sat in a bar full of vampires and demons. Michael hadn’t said anything about demons.

  She managed to get Marius into the house and made sure he plopped down on the couch. He looked up at her. “I’m sorry.”

  “Stop it,” she smiled. “At least I’m sober enough to drive.”

  “Take my car home, I’ll pick it up tomorrow.”

  “I already have a cab on the way,” she lied. “Take it ease, Marius. Lay down. I’ll lock the door on the way out.”

  He plunked his head down on the couch. “Whoever you do decide to date, I hope they know how lucky they are.”

  She shook her head and closed the door behind herself. She leaned against it, letting out a breath. A bar full of vampires and demons. Danielle was probably just like Ian, too. Using and discarding as she saw fit. Marius might have been one of her discards too if she hadn’t been there and hadn’t realized what was going on. And then, how easy would it be to go from using and discarding to using and disposing?

  She remembered the strange feeling in the back of her head, and how everyone else stood to leave as they were walking out. Danielle’s angry hiss at her was fresh as well, and so was her own response. These vampires were experienced, and they were right. She was an infant, and now she had to protect Marius and Keelan from them. She couldn’t do that if she didn’t know what she was doing.

  She started walking down the street. She felt drained after that confrontation, and she wanted to feed even though she had only fed the night before. She hurried along, hoping to come across a field or a forest she could do a quick short hunt in. Sara’s brain halted, and she put a hand to her forehead. She was going hunting because she had just let her vampire self out for the first time on purpose.

  The red-hot aura had told her to learn what she could do. She had seen all those vampires and demons in there and had been aware of them. She was still pretending she hadn’t died, hadn’t been full of Ian’s blood, hadn’t woke in the dungeon of a castle, undead. She was still pretending she was human—and that scene back there in the bar told her something else. She needed to stop pretending she was a human and starting learning how to be a vampire. She didn’t have a choice. This was who she was going to be for… for a very long time.

  She pulled out her phone and dialed Michael’s number.

  He was only about a third awake when he answered after four rings. “Yes?”

  “Michael, it’s Sara,” she said.

  “Oh, hey,” he said, clearly trying to wake up. “What’s up?”

  “Are… are you still planning to go after those vampires?”

  “The Run Hunt?” he yawned. “Yeah, why?”

  “Count me in.”

  He snapped awake. “Really?”

  “Yes,” she said, shortly.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “A bar full of vampires just like Ian,” she said. “I’ve made an enemy.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I took her snack back to his house,” Sara said.

  “Uh oh,” Michael said. “Is he okay?”

  “Marius is fine,” she said. “But the whole thing just convinced me I need to stop pretending and learn what I can do. I think that a Run Hunt with you will help that.”

  “We’re planning for next Friday,” he said. “Can I send you an email with the details?”

  She laughed. “An email. I still think I should be walking around in some Victorian dress, turning into a bad, and you’re going to send me an email. Yes, it’s fine.”

  “And yes, it is funny,” Michael said. “Heading home?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I just want to…”

  “Refuel,” he provided.

  “Yeah, that.”

  “Be careful,” he cautioned. “You don’t know anything about those others in the bar.”

  “You didn't tell me about the demons.” There was dead silence on the other end of the phone. It was so permeating that Sara thought he had hung up. “Michael?”

  His voice was quiet. “Demons?”

  “Yes,” she said. “They all looked human, but I could see their auras, which were different from the vampire's. Really different.”

  “They looked human...” he repeated. “They're not supposed to look human. Where are you?” She could hear him sitting up in bed.

  “About half a mile down the road from Marius's apartment,” she said.

  “Address?” he said. She repeated it for him. “Start walking back.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I need to see these demons,” he said. “Be right there.”

  “Michael, no wait—” she started, but he had already hung up. She turned and headed back to Marius's apartment at a run. Half way there, she could see Michael standing out at the edge of the curb. She ran up to him. “Michael, we can't go back there. That woman will try to rip my throat out.”

  “She won't touch you,” he said. “Come on. This is too important to let a loose cannon bother us. Where is the place?”

  “Wait, what's going on? You're panicking.”

  “The demons I know of are stupid and slow and bent only on killing,” he said. “There aren't many that are smart, and there aren't any that I know of who can appear human.”

  “Alright, but if Danielle is there, you're on your own in there,” Sara said.

  He held out his hand. “Where is it?”

  She put her hand in his and instead of the popping shift, she felt an electric shock roll up her arm. He looked at her, his eyes wide and surprised. Before she could ask a question, they were gone from the apartment building and were around the corner from the bar. Michael let go of her hand, not looking at her while the tingle disappeared. Her lust bubbled up, and not just the bloodlust part of her, but the lust part. The part that wanted Michael’s blood in her mouth and hand in her sex. Shit. She shook it off as best she could.

  Seeming not nearly as affected as she was, Michael marched around the corner and stopped.

  “The Demon Bar.” His eyebrows arched.

  “How to be obvious?” Sara offered.

  The same bouncer was at the door and gave her a dirty smirk. “Two in one night, little one? I'm impressed.” He looked at Michael, and his hot red aura flared as though a volcano had just erupted inside him. “Werewolf.”

  “Witchwolf,” Michael corrected.

  The bouncer's eyes went wide. “You're one of the Princess
's brats.”

  “Who are you?” Michael asked.

  “My name is Vilas. I am a durzon.”

  “You're a demon?” Michael asked.

  “Not quite,” Viloras said, laughing. “But that's what humans would call us.”

  “You're Ábeþecian-án,” Michael said.

  “That's better,” Viloras said. “A wolf shouldn't use human terms. Did you bring him back here to murder us, little one? Did you know he's a Hunter? A killer of things. If he were any other aside from one of the Princess's brats, I'd already have struck him down.”

  “You're not that powerful.” Michael’s tone was challenging.

  “Care to find out?” Viloras’s aura flared again.

  “Please,” Sara stepped between them. “Michael, you wouldn't even tell me why you came here. What's going on? Why am I taking my life in my hands by coming back here?”

  “I needed to know if these were true demons.”

  “We are not,” Viloras said. “You can go now.”

  “I could have asked,” she said.

  “No. I've unfairly thrust you into this. You didn't know there was a difference between Ábeþecian-án and demons.”

  “What is the difference, Hunter?” Viloras said. “You'll kill us just as dead.”

  “I'll kill you just as dead if you attack everydays,” Michael snapped.

  “Everydays,” he snorted. “Diplomatic.”

  “Could we not have this argument in plain sight of everydays or normies or muggles or whatever the hell you want to call them?” Sara asked. “They can hear just as well as anyone else.”

  Viloras looked at her. “The Infant is right.”

  Michael nodded his agreement. “Do you know if there are any true demons around?”

  “Not that I know of,” he said. “Durzon stay as far away from that shit as possible. Just because we're mistaken for them, does not mean we cavort with them. Even durzon don't summon from Tahat Sheol.” He looked angrily at Michael. “And I guess now we'll have to close up and move because this skítkarl knows where we are.”

  “I'm not here to shut you down, zalupa,” Michael said. “Sara called me and mentioned demons. And you like you said, she's new at this. I had to check. No one wants demons roaming this realm. No one. That's one point we can all agree on.” He looked at her. “I'll bring you a book on all of this.”