by S. Coop
Katya walked over to a red leather couch, sat, and propped her Jimmy Choos on the coffee table in front of it. “Calm down, man. You can’t rush into this. We need a plan.”
Lasandro slumped into a recliner. “So let’s make one.”
“I’m thinking of one, damn,” Katya said. “Hold your fucking horses.” Katya smiled. “Marcus really hates you more than he hates vampires who break his precious rules because you stole his precious baby’s heart.”
“She isn’t that precious,” Lasandro said. “She’s treacherous.”
“Ooh, trouble in paradise?”
Lasandro looked away. “This ain’t no paradise.”
“You got that right,” Katya said. “But it could be a lot better with Marcus gone. I think I know what we can do …”
Chapter Fifteen
Bite the Hand
Morgan knew there was no sense in tracing Lasandro’s steps. She knew that when she found him, he wouldn’t listen to a word she had to say.
And she didn’t blame him one bit.
She decided instead to go straight to Marcus’s mansion. Her plan was to submit to Marcus and finagle her way back into his good graces. Then she could strike while his guard was down. She would have to deal with Pony, too, but Morgan would cross that crazy bitch’s bridge when it came. With Marcus and Pony dead, Lasandro would be safe, regardless if she and Lasandro was a couple or not.
Long iron bars with sharp silver tips surrounded the grounds of Marcus’s mansion, and she wondered if they were to keep people out or keep people in. She carefully ascended over the bars and landed in a courtyard where a huge fountain of Aphrodite stood. Marcus’s taste for material things had hit an all-time high. Those higher ups in the AVA always lived such lavish lifestyles. Morgan remembered when Marcus preferred sleeping in a cave, but she figured he had a certain reputation to uphold now.
Human and vampire bodyguards stood at every entrance, and as Morgan walked up the long pathway to the front door, she readied herself for a fight.
None came.
When two bodyguards saw her and one of them started to rush toward her while talking into his watch, he pulled up short and returned to his post. Morgan took the steps leading to the main entrance and passed by four guards who continued to look straight ahead.
He’s expecting me, she thought as she opened the door. My Maker must want me in one piece for our reunion.
Inside the main entrance, two half-circular staircases above a décor of mostly marble, stone, and glass led to the second floor. Morgan climbed the right staircase and headed down the east hall. Samurai warrior statues stood at the ready against both walls leading up to Marcus’s office door.
Morgan stopped, stood outside the door, and took a deep breath. She hated what she was about to do, but because she loved Lasandro more than she loved herself, she had to do anything to keep Lasandro safe. She reached to twist the doorknob when the door flew open to reveal an excited Pony.
“Hey, sis! I knew you’d come back! We can be a family again!”
Morgan walked past Pony and looked around the big office. Marcus was sitting at his marble desk with his chair facing a huge aquarium that covered half the wall. “I’ve been expecting you, Jasmina.”
“Then you probably know why I’m here,” Morgan said.
Marcus exhaled deeply, stood, and clasped his hands behind his back. “Unfortunately, I think I do. Since I can still sense your little mistake floating around, I suppose you’re here to beg for his life.”
Morgan lowered her eyes, trying to appear meek. “I am.”
“Humph,” Marcus replied, as he studied the fish. “Come. Join me here. There is so much we can learn from these fish.”
Morgan joined Marcus at the fish tank.
“Do you see how the fish are swimming harmoniously, seemingly for the pleasure of the viewer? Well, it may surprise you that fish fight over the same things that humans and vampires do: food, mates, territory, and so forth.” Marcus pointed to a small yellow fish with dark blue stripes across it. “This one.” He tapped on the glass. “Watch its swimming pattern.”
Morgan watched the fish swim in the tank and didn’t see the point Marcus was trying to make.
Marcus chuckled. “You didn’t see it? This fish only swims to a certain point and turns back around, meaning he knows his territory, his place. He knows where to go and where not to go.” Marcus pointed to a larger fish on the other end of the tank where the smaller fish would not swim. “In nature, the strong dominate the weak just like human and vampire nature.”
Morgan glanced at Marcus. “That’s an old mentality.”
Marcus smirked as he glared at Morgan and gently brushed a strand of hair out of her face, “Old or not, it is the way of all things.”
“That’s what I came here to talk to you about.” A weak smile formed on Morgan’s face. “I’m back if you’ll have me. I shouldn’t have left in the first place. See what a mess I’ve made? I just ask that you let Lasandro live because none of this is his fault.”
Marcus motioned to Pony, and she exited the room. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, as though he were taking in Morgan’s scent. Shaking his head, he took a seat at his desk and folded his hands under his chin. “You upset the balance, Jasmina, when you left so long ago. How you stayed gone so long will always be a mystery to me.”
Morgan occupied a chair facing Marcus. She hated sucking up to him like this. The look on his face was pure satisfaction. She knew he had always dreamed of the day that she would come crawling back, and that is why she fought the urge to return so hard.
“It was hard,” Morgan said.
“Well, you see, that’s funny, Jasmina, because it was very hard for me. The moment you left me I was empty … I felt … empty.” Marcus looked past Morgan as Pony entered the room with a woman. “Darling.”
Morgan quickly turned to see a beautiful, black-haired woman with ocean blue eyes walking toward them. She let out a gasp when the woman was close enough for her to recognize her. Maria! But how? I have to warn Lasandro!
Marcus let out a loud thunderous laugh. “What, Jasmina? Did you think you were irreplaceable?”
Morgan jumped out of her chair and raced for the door, but Pony was already there blocking the way. Then she felt Marcus grab her from the back of her neck and toss her around face-first into the fish tank, cracking the glass and knocking Morgan out cold to the floor.
“Get her out of here!” Marcus ordered Pony. “We’ll save her until her little bloodcon shows up. Then we will kill them together.”
Morgan felt a wet rag swiping her lips as she slowly came to. Bit by bit, she managed to open her eyes to see Maria tending to her wounds.
“You’re almost all the way healed,” she said as she wrung out the rag in a bucket next to Morgan’s cot.
Morgan tried to speak.
“Shh.” Maria looked around. “No one knows I’m here. Marcus has gone to a meeting. Use the rest to heal yourself.”
Morgan glanced around at her surroundings. She was in a dark damp basement with actual cells. Marcus had locked her up like a common criminal.
“I’m sorry I can’t let you go,” Maria said.
Morgan nodded, concentrating on repairing her body.
“I remember you,” Maria whispered. “You saved my boy. You saved his life, and I will always be grateful for that. Thank you.” She looked at Morgan with sincere eyes, ocean blue eyes.
Morgan had never seen vampires keep their original eye colors they had when they were human. It was a phenomenon. “I … I may have saved him then but only to kill him later …” Morgan shook her head, tears forming in her eyes.
“No, no,” Maria said. “You saved him. Not once, but twice.” She pressed the cool cloth against Morgan’s forehead. “You see, I’ve been watching him. I watched him grow up. In those times I could sneak away from Marcus, I would visit him in silence. I watched the life he led, and I saw the bad things he did. He wa
s going down a terrible path. I was sure he would end up like his father, wasting away in a prison somewhere.”
“But how? What about Pony? She didn’t know?”
“Pony is not so bad,” Maria said. “Often she would go with me. I don’t know if she did it out of guilt, because guilt is not an emotion Pony possesses, but she did. Maybe it was to rebel against Marcus, I don’t know. All I know is that she would accompany me as my protector. When I couldn’t go, she would go for me. One night she came back and told me that Vinny had been turned. I had mixed feelings, but now I see that it was probably for the best.”
“How did Marcus turn you?” Morgan asked. “When we left there, I was sure you were dead, drained of every ounce of blood in your body.”
“I don’t remember much,” Maria said as she stood up and retrieved a fresh hand towel sitting on a bench near the bars. “Pony told me some things about how it happened, but only bits and pieces. She told me they came to get me at the morgue. When the ambulance arrived with my body, they were already there to retrieve me. I guess I still had some life left in me. From what Marcus told me, Pony really enjoyed herself that night. She killed every living person there at the morgue, even the ambulance drivers.”
“Humph,” Morgan mutters. “Sounds like her.”
“I was so near death that Marcus had to feed me his blood. From there, the transformation began. He said he needed me, that I was his perfect replacement. That I would know my place better than you ever did.”
“I’m sorry,” Morgan said. “If I hadn’t left …”
“What’s done is done, sweetheart. All I remember is waking up in a strange place. I felt so different. I was burning with fever, and I possessed an appetite no food could satisfy. I was restrained for maybe two or three days, I’m not sure. Maybe the third day, Marcus came to me. He told me I had been made into a vampire and that I now belonged to him. He showed me how to feed and how to survive as this new creature I had become. Pony taught me many things as well, mostly combat type things. Everything was so new to me, and I so missed the life I once had. But I felt that I owed you because you saved my Vinny. I will be forever grateful.”
Morgan cracked a weak smile and mouthed “you’re welcome.”
“It was a very big change, though,” Maria said, “and I became very depressed. I couldn’t feed regularly. Marcus made sure to keep me close to him at all times, except when he had to travel to meetings. Those were the times I went to visit Vinny. That was the only thing that kept me going.” Maria returned to Morgan’s bedside and looked at Morgan with a maternal smile. “You love him, don’t you?”
Morgan looked away. “Yes, I do.”
“And you have protected him, haven’t you?”
“I have.”
“I am glad.”
Quick steps pitter-pattered down the basement stairs. “Daddy’s back!” yelled Pony.
Maria grabbed the towels and bucket and disappeared upstairs. Morgan sat up on the hard, creaky cot and looked at Pony.
“Don’t worry, sis. If you think I’ve gone soft, then you’re wrong. Maria was just the sister you weren’t.” Pony too disappeared upstairs.
Morgan sat there in helpless awe. What would happen when Lasandro showed up here? She knew Marcus would kill him, there was no doubt about that, but how would Lasandro react if he saw his mother? She could only sit and wait.
“You directly disobeyed an order, Pony!!” Marcus yelled.
“But Daddy!”
“Silence! I told you to stay away from him! We have a certain reputation to uphold here and you’re running around with that skinny, roamer garbage! It ends today! Do you understand me?”
Pony lowered her eyes in shame, “Yes, Daddy.”
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, I won’t see him anymore.”
“Good girl, not that that will be a problem anymore.”
“What do you mean?” Pony asked.
“Did you call someone to clean my office? Where’s Maria?”
“She’s resting,” Pony said.
“From what? I swear that woman rests like she’s a thousand years old.”
One of the bodyguards entered the foyer. “Sir, there’s a Katya here to see you.”
“Tell her I’m not here,” Marcus said, rolling his eyes.
“I think you need to hear what she has to say,” the bodyguard said.
Marcus growled. “Let her in. I’ll be right down.”
Marcus made his way downstairs and to his surprise saw Katya standing there with a bound, beat up Lasandro. Marcus smiled with delight. “Katya, you sweet girl. You’ve been busy.”
“Sure the hell have,” Katya said. “I know you’ve been wanting this guy so I decided to bring him to you. Of course, in exchange for the favor we agreed on.”
Marcus motioned to the guards to put Lasandro down in the basement. “Pony, escort these buffoons, please, so that nothing unexpected happens.”
The four men dragged Lasandro around the corner toward the basement stairs. Lasandro looked up at Marcus in passing and scowled.
Marcus chuckled and turned, motioning for Katya to meet him in his office. “After you, dear.”
As Marcus’s guards dragged Lasandro to his temporary cell in the basement, Lasandro caught a glimpse of Morgan in her cell.
Morgan tried to leave her cot as his devastation washed over her, but she fell back in pain. She watched two guards bind Lasandro to an old wooden chair with silver handcuffs.
Lasandro screamed as the guards tightened the cuffs as far as they could go.
Morgan’s wrists felt as if they were on fire. How am I feeling what he’s feeling? She fell out of the bed and crawled to the cell door, futilely kicking at it as her wrists burned again. She put her back against the door and willed her legs to push her up. Once she stood, she turned and grabbed the bars of the cell door—
And nearly set her palms on fire.
Pure silver!
She screamed out in pain as she grabbed them again and used all of her strength to get them to budge, but they wouldn’t.
Don’t, Morgan, Lasandro thought. I’m okay.
Morgan let go of the bars and slumped to the floor. But you were screaming! I thought …
Trust me, it’s not what it looked or sounded like.
The guards left the basement.
What did he do to you, Morgan? Are you hurt?
I’m fine. I’m more worried about you.
Don’t be. This is exactly where I need to be.
Why? Morgan thought.
You’ll see.
A short figure burst from the shadows, unlocked Lasandro’s handcuffs, and unlocked Morgan’s cell door before Morgan could blink, disappearing before Morgan could take another breath. Was it Maria? Morgan thought. It couldn’t be! Only one person I know could do that! But why would she?
Morgan struggled out of her cell and approached Lasandro, who stood rubbing his wrists and shaking his head. “So far so good,” he whispered, and then he grabbed her and hugged her so tight she thought she would explode. He lifted her chin with his hand and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “It’s okay now. I don’t blame you.”
“Lasandro,” Morgan whispered, “there is something you should know.”
“What?” he asked.
Heavy footsteps thundered down the stairs. “Let the torture begin!”
“Marcus!” Morgan cried.
“Go to your cell,” Lasandro whispered, returning to the chair and putting his hands loosely into the silver cuffs. They burned but not nearly as bad as before.
Morgan limped into her cell and shut the door, making sure not to engage the lock. Then she fell onto the bed.
Marcus swept into the basement and paced back and forth in front of Lasandro. “Hmm, I’m not big on torture, but I just might have to take a stab at it for this one.” He grabbed Lasandro’s face. “Look at me, boy! Do you know how much of a pain you have been for m
e? How much covering up I had to do, because Jasmina over there was too love-struck to kill you?” Marcus grabbed Lasandro by the neck and squeezed.
Morgan summoned up what strength she had, rolled off the bed, kicked open the cell door, and dashed toward Marcus—
But Maria flew across the basement in front of her, wielding a sword and slicing the air.
Marcus pivoted and knocked her back, sending her and the sword clattering to the floor.
“Look here, it’s a family reunion!” Marcus bellowed, laughing wildly. He walked over to Maria and picked her up by her neck until she was high in the air, her feet dangling. Like a mastermind watching the final pieces of a plan come together, Marcus paraded Maria into the center of the basement.
Lasandro couldn’t believe his eyes. Mom? How can this be? I can’t let Marcus kill her again!
Lasandro darted out of the chair and tackled Marcus with every ounce of strength he had. He knocked Marcus from behind, freeing his mother from Marcus’s grasp and sending her reeling into the wooden chair, which splintered into a million pieces.
“Mom!”
“Run, Vinny!” Maria ordered.
Not this time, Vinny thought. My days of running are over.
“Guards!” Marcus screamed in rage. “Pony! Katya! Get down here!”
Katya is busy, Lasandro thought with rage, killing as many guards as she can before helping me finish you off, but the plan has changed. I have to save my mother first.
Lasandro ran around Marcus to Maria, and as he scooped her up, she let out a bloodcurdling scream. “Oh no!” Lasandro cried when he saw blood oozing from her chest, a hunk of wood from the chair impaling her chest.
“Lasandro, let’s go!” Morgan yelled.
Lasandro darted up the basement stairs and toward the mansion’s exit, carrying his mother with Morgan close behind him, to where Katya was already waiting for them by the front entrance.
“Is it done?” Katya asked as the trio raced by her and out into the night.
“No!” Morgan shouted behind her. “Run!”
Katya turned and joined them as they made their escape to the front gate, where Pony stood with a sword, blocking the way.
