Turned: The Inari Council

by Katherine Rhodes

  “It’s why Talia and Rayna are carrying the crossbows,” he said.

  “This isn’t fair. He’s my little brother, and I should be there.”

  “I know,” Michael said. “But there’s nothing we can do. Even covering you up completely will still kill you.” He looked at Tommy and the two girls. “We’re going to go check out the park and see if we can scent or feel anything. Maybe we can get him back before sunrise if we can find him. Rachel will be back in an hour or so, so just sit tight.”

  “Can’t I at least come with you to check the place out?”

  “And will you give up the chase if the sun comes up, little one?” Tommy asked. She snapped her jaw shut. Of course, she wouldn’t. “It’s better if you don’t come with us. Viloras will have my ass in a sling.”

  “Since when did Viloras become my father?” she snapped.

  “Look, I told you, he likes you,” Tommy said. “He thinks you’re a good person and he wants to help you and keep you alive. So, you stay here, so we don’t have to sweep you into a dust bin at seven thirty.”

  She sat on the couch and harrumphed.

  And so, she sat and waited. Rachel didn't appear an hour later, or even two hours later. There were no phone calls from Michael or Rayna on what was going on. Sara found herself pacing and dying to call them, but she knew she couldn't. She could give them away if she called. She couldn't even text them.

  Just about a half an hour before sunrise, there was a flash in the room, and Rachel was standing there. She looked at Sara sitting there and was instantly confused. “What are you doing here?”

  “Waiting for you to come back so I could tell you where they are.”

  “I know where they are, why aren't you there?” Rachel asked.

  “I can't go out in the sun.” Sara stated the obvious.

  Rachel was still confused. “Sure you can.”

  “Um, I'm a vampire. The sun will kill me.”

  “Oh,” Rachel drew the sound out. “Oh. Did the one who made you explain the rules?”

  “He was beheaded before I woke,” Sara said.

  Rachel sat on the couch next to her. “You've never spoken to another vampire?”

  “Unless you call me threatening Danielle and snarling at Dang 'speaking',” Sara said, “Then no. I haven't.”

  “I didn't realize Michael literally pulled you out of the dungeons,” Rachel said. “I would have found you sooner, and explained all of this. Have you been living in the dark all this time?”

  “Yes, of course,” Sara said.

  Rachel shook her head. “You can go out in the sun. Lapis will protect you. Most of the time if you wear regular lapis, you can only go out on cloudy days or in the shadows.” She held her palm out, folded the fingers over and then opened it again to reveal a ring. “If you wear this, you can go out at noon on the summer solstice.”

  Sara looked at the ring in her hand. It was a bright blue stone set in something that looked like silver. “What is it?”

  “Lapis lazuli in platinum,” she said. She looked at it and held it out to Sara. “It was Talia's father's ring. I pulled it off his finger to make sure that he was destroyed by the sun.”

  “Talia's father...” Sara said.

  “You know she's half vampire,” Rachel said.

  “I thought that everyone called him her sire, not her father,” Sara said.

  “It makes them feel better,” she answered. “He was a cruel, heartless bastard made of pure evil. But he gave me her when I needed her. I took this for her in case she couldn't go out into the sun as she got older, but I realize now that will never happen because she's part of me as well. You can't live in the dark. Lapis is how that bitch who has your brother is getting around in the daylight. This ring,” she held it up, “is far more powerful than just plain lapis. It was bespelled by a very specific witch to magnify the power of the lapis.”

  “Why don't all vampires have one of these?” She studied the stone.

  “A lot of them do,” Rachel said. “Some of them even have them bespelled. But this one is different. It was enchanted by a half-witch- half-vampire and the power it has over the sun is considerable. Please take it.”

  “Your daughter enchanted it?”

  “No,” Rachel said. “Though she could do it if she had to once she gets her powers. There is only one who can now. Her father did the spell. He was half vampire, half witch.”

  Sara touched the stone. It was ice cold. So cold it pulled some of the warmth from her finger. “Your daughter could make one of these?”

  “If she had to,” Rachel said. “Will you accept it?”

  “Why are you giving it to me?”

  “Because one, it was my siblings who helped me get beyond the evil that Ubiecz raised me in and I know how important brothers and sister are. And two, Michael likes you a lot.” She held the ring up. “Take it. For Keelan and for Michael. I will teach you some of the other lore that you would normally get from your master.”

  “How would you know that stuff?” Sara asked, taking the ring from her.

  “I was raised by them for the first fourteen years of my life.” She smiled. “I know a lot about how to be a vampire. They wanted to make me one after I got my powers.”

  Sara looked at her, surprised. “Really?”

  “Oh quite,” Rachel said. “Now. Slip that on. You have a brother to save from a vindictive bitch. I will help you with the rest.” She stood and held her hand out to Sara. Sara slipped the ring on her right hand's middle finger. It seemed to fit best there. She stood and put her hand in Rachel's. Rachel flicked her hand, and there was a crossbow there. “Yours, I believe.”

  Sara took it and saw that there was a small gold plate with her name on it. She smiled and slung it over her shoulder. “Let's get this bitch.”

  ~*~*~

  Sara knew the Lincoln Monument Park well. She used it a lot for her hunts. There was a field at the other end of the park, far away from the parking lots and the people and swimming pond. It was a large field, with a tableau-shaped boulder in the middle, almost a sacrificial alter. She had figured it for the best place for Danielle to keep Keelan in the sun.

  She didn't know whether she was glad or upset that it was December. It was cold, but Keelan had been dressed against it; still he might have hypothermia. If it had been summer, he would probably get sun poisoning. Six one way, half dozen another.

  Sara led Rachel up the path to the field, and she could see the sun starting to brighten the sky. She could sense Michael in the area, as well as Tommy who was a hot presence. Talia and Rayna were nearby, but they weren't as clear as Michael.

  “You're already pretty good with your abilities,” Rachel said, quietly.

  “Your brother is a good teacher,” she smiled.

  “It's cold out here, viciously so,” Rachel said.

  Sara nodded. “We won't have much time once the sun comes up.”

  “What are you doing here?” Michael growled from the right. Sara smiled; she had felt him moving over towards them.

  “I'm here to get my brother back,” she said.

  “The sun is going to be up in less than ten minutes,” he said.

  “I'm well aware,” Sara said.

  “Michael, darling,” Rachel said. “You've taught her how to survive. Now, give your big sister a chance to teach her how to live.”

  “There!” Tommy hissed, pointing across the field. “There she is.”

  She looked across the field and saw Danielle and two others dragging Keelan between them. He was as limp as a wet noddle and covered in blood. Sara touched the ring her pocket. She wanted to tear across the field and rip the woman throat out of her neck, but she couldn't. Not with Keelan still in danger.

  “Good,” Tommy said. “Nice and calm.”

  “Oh, I'm a powderkeg, Tommy,” she said.

  “That'll work too,” he said, with a smirk. “What's the plan?”

  Sara looked up at the sky. “Cloudless and blue. Rachel, will s
he be able to go out?”

  Rachel shook her head. “No way. Too bright. She'll have to stick to the pines.”

  “A nice small area,” Tommy said.

  “Can I also mention she's going to be really pissed about her condo?” Rayna whispered.

  “Ooh, right,” Talia said.

  “I know you're out there, little girl!” Danielle screamed. They looked to find her directing the others two in what to do with Keelan. He was tied hands and feet, and he was slopped on to the rock like a sack of potatoes. They all heard him hit. “I'm going to take this out on your ass and his! You get to watch him die exposed in the sun, and then come sundown I’ll find you and drive a stake so far up your ass you’ll taste it!”

  “Well, I guess she knows about the condo,” Tommy said.

  Sara motioned every one to move to the right of where they were as she stood up. She gave them a minute to move a good distance away. “Why don’t you come find my ass now!?” She darted to the right and looked at her watch; three minutes to sun up.

  “You know damn well that we’ll go up like smoke!” Danielle walked away from where Keelan was tied down. “And I want the satisfaction of driving a stake through your pathetic little body!” Her voice moved to the grove of pine to the right. “You deprived me of a toy, and you destroyed my home.”

  “Home?!” Tommy yelled. “That was worse than any morgue I’ve ever seen! How’d you get it not to stink?”

  She yelled something at Tommy in another language that was distinctly not the Romanian Rachel, Talia and Rayna had been using. She saw Tommy stiffen and Rachel snapped her head around to Tommy. She barked something in the same language, and she saw Tommy’s face relax.

  Michael leaned over, and said, “Daemon tongue.” He looked at the horizon. “We have to get you out of here.” He held his hand out.

  “Thirty seconds. No. I’m not going anywhere but out there to get my brother.” She mentally counted down another fifteen, then stood from where they were hiding and walked out into the field.

  Michael stumbled then jumped after her. “Sara!”

  She stopped and looked at him. “Trust me. Just trust me.” She resumed walking and was only about a third of the way there when the sun slipped over the horizon and threw it’s beams on her, striding to where Keelan was.

  It felt magnificent. Five months in the dark and the shadows and now the cold winter sun bounced off her, not even leaving a malignant tingle. She felt the shock rolling out of the pines on the right. Even if Danielle had the lapis, she couldn’t do this. She very clearly felt Michael’s astonishment next to her. She smiled and winked at him, and kept up her strides to where Keelan was tied.

  She was nearly running by the time she got there. He was beaten black and blue, and there was blood and horrible cuts on him everywhere. She kneeled, and saw there were puncture wounds on his neck, and his arm and they were fresh and still bleeding. She could feel her rage growing. “Keelan,” she said, slipping a hand under his neck. “Keelan, can you hear me.”

  He started to thrash against her. “No! No more, no more!”

  “Kee, it’s Rah-rah,” she said in his ear. “Calm down. Sissy is here.”

  He flickered his one good eye open. “Rah? Is that really you?”

  “Oh, Kee,” she gasped, starting to cry. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  “She hurt me,” Keelan said.

  Michael cut the ropes with the knife he had brought with him. She looked up to find him standing there, and the others right behind him. She looked at Rachel. “Could you take him to the castle and have Nancy look him over? He’s hurting bad.”

  “Yes,” Rachel said, walking over and sliding her arms under him.

  “Rah?” he asked.

  “Rest, Keelan. Rachel is going to take you to Peitra and get you better, ok?”

  He opened his eye and looked at Rachel. “You look like Miss Sandy.”

  Rachel smiled. “She’s my twin sister. Hang on, Keelan. This is weird stuff.” And in the next instant, the two of them were gone.

  Michael was at her elbow in an instant. “How are you doing this? How are you not dissolving?” He was overwhelmed. She held out the hand with the ring on it and smiled at him. “What’s that?”

  “Lapis…” Tommy hissed. “Of course. But you should still be getting a serious sunburn.”

  “It’s enchanted,” she said. “I’ll explain later. We have a vampire to catch.”

  She turned and stalked over to the pine grove where she could see Danielle staring out at her in the pure sun light. Sara hefted the crossbow into a firing position and pointed it at Danielle. “Head or heart, bitch. Your choice.”

  “You destroyed my home!” she screamed at her.

  “You bit my brother!” Sara screamed back. “You fed from him! Don’t you dare yell at me about that den of death you call a home!”

  “Tommy, tell her we don’t attack each other! She clearly knows nothing!”

  Tommy folded his arms. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m a durzon. We have different rules. Rules that don’t allow attacks on family.”

  “She burned my house!” she screamed, moving further into the grove.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Sara saw Talia and Rayna move around the grove, arrows at the ready. She looked at Danielle standing there. “Why don’t you come out here, and we can talk about this like civilized people.”

  “I don’t fucking think so,” Danielle said.

  “As I recall,” Michael said, “your house contained six everydays chained to the wall under your influence. There was a pile of dead and dismembered body parts. There were the remnants of dozens of lives that you stripped away. Now, the police will be able to give those people the closure you stole from them.”

  “You can call Sara an infant all you like, but at least her humanity is real,” Tommy said.

  “Humanity,” Danielle spit, moving behind a tree. “Your little brother is a real treat, sweet and innocent and oh so tasty.”

  Sara released the crossbow into the tree Danielle was standing behind. “Don’t toy with me, bitch. I have the crossbow and the sun on my side.” She quickly reloaded the weapon with a few quiet directives from Michael and then moved to the right for a better shot. “You really kidnapped my brother because I told you no on Marius?”

  “Everyone knew Marius was mine,” she hissed. “I’ll get him back as soon as I’m done with you here.”

  “If it had a dick it was yours,” Tommy mumbled.

  Michael threw a look at him, and Sara continued, “You really think kidnapping, beating and feeding off my brother was in anyway an equal offence?”

  “I--”

  “In any way?!” Sara screamed at her. “I could burn your house a thousand times, and it’s not the same! I didn’t attack you! I didn’t attack your family! If you even ever had a heart, I don’t think you would understand! I give everything for my little brother! Everything! He is the reason I am who I am today, instead of a junkie laying in an alley dying! I love him, and I will do whatever it takes to keep him safe!”

  Danielle dashed behind a tree further in. “I don’t give a shit about who you love,” she snapped back. “You’ll learn as you age that these humans, and witches and wolves and demons are all just food for us! There’s nothing special about either of the men standing by you. Everything you know dies, infant. Everything you care about will rot and be eaten by the worms!”

  She ducked behind the tree when an arrow flew at her from the right. A second later another arrow flew at her from the left, and she barely ducked out of the way. Sara took aim and let an arrow fly at her, catching her in the arm. Danielle let out a piercing scream through the cold morning air and ducked behind a thicket.

  “Sara, don’t screw with her,” Tommy said.

  “I wasn’t,” she said. “I missed.”

  “Tommy,” Michael said, “Go find Talia. See if you can find that other guy who was with her. I'm going this way to find Rayna
and figure out what happened to that guy. Sara, can you keep her in that thicket until we're done with the others?”

  Sara nodded, loading another arrow. Michael went to the left a moment later. She didn't know who the people with Danielle were, and she didn't care, but Michael knew what he was doing and if they had to be taken care of, then so be it. She walked closer to the grove of trees and could feel where Danielle was hiding. She aimed the crossbow to see if she could get through the thicket, but there was no clear shot.

  “So for all your bluster, you're hiding in a juniper bush?” Sara called. “You ensnared Marius, figured out my routine, kidnapped my brother, beat him and feed on him. And you're hiding in a bush.”

  “Marius is a tasty snack, yes no?” she called.

  “I wouldn't know.”

  Danielle laughed. “You're going to tell me that you didn't feed from him?”

  “I don't take human blood.”

  “HA!” she laughed. “You're like those Lastillions. Pathetic. Living off rabbits.”

  What the hell is a Last-ee-yon? “At least I'm not hiding behind a bush.”

  There was a sudden ruckus on her right, and one of Danielle’s companions came tearing out of underbrush straight at Sara. Sara turned the crossbow and shot it at him. She managed to hit him straight on, just above his heart.

  He freaked and began running faster, and Sara started to back off and desperately try to reload her crossbow. Before she could, and before he could get to her, he hit the sunlight. Sara would have once again thrown up if she could. As it was, she nearly dropped her weapon.

  Great boiling blisters immediately appeared and started to grow on all of his exposed skin. He started shrieking maniacally. His hair went up in a burst of flame, and his scalp started to peel back as if there wasn’t enough flesh to support the now-blackening boils on his skin. His eyes bled profusely for only a minute before he covered them with rotting hands and she heard them pop.

  She hoisted the crossbow and aimed carefully this time, piercing him right through the heart. He froze for just a moment, then collapsed to the side. The sun was taking its sweet time finishing him off, though, and Sara spotted the glint of blue around his neck. She walked over and snapped the necklace off, and almost instantly, he was a pile of slightly damp ash in the patch of snow that he had fallen on.