by Kimbra Swain
Gunshots echoed in my ears as I tried to move. I’d been hurt and in fights plenty of times. Vampires had the knack of healing up quickly when feeding. A human probably would have died, but since I’d already done that, all I had to do was get my ass up. My eyes refused to focus, but I could make out splotches of blood on my body.
“Get up, Asshole!” Stanley screamed.
“I’m trying,” I muttered.
“You should feed more often. You are weak,” he grumbled, as he continued to shoot until his gun clicked. He cursed then changed the magazine. “Thirteen more and I’m out. We gotta run.”
The faded sounds of sirens approached in the distance. The last thing I needed was a bunch of humans pawing at me. Using my shoulder, I nudged the bashed door open. The sun hit my cheek searing it. I screamed, covering my head quickly with my hood.
“Where do we go?” I asked with bullets striking the crumpled SUV. I tried to focus, but couldn’t between the sunlight and the dizziness. Stumbling to the back of the vehicle, I saw the other cars on the road stopped. The doors were open. Their drivers had run when the shooting started. I slumped against the hot metal, but Stanley jerked me up. “Easy.”
“I heard you like it rough,” Stanley said.
“Oh! We’re gonna die, and he’s finally got jokes! I didn’t know you had it in you, Stella,” I said, as he slammed me into the first car that we came to that was still running. A Prius. “Oh, poor Stella. She will be so upset if you die.”
“She will live,” he said, smashing himself into the tiny vehicle like stuffing a rainbow trout into a sardine can.
“Too bad it’s not a convertible,” I lamented.
“I need you to focus,” he said, handing me the gun.
“Oh, hell no. You don’t want me shooting that thing in traffic,” I said.
“Just fucking take it, so I can drive this tin can,” he growled as he shifted the car into gear. He darted to the right and up an off-ramp into the outskirts of downtown. He pushed the accelerator, but it seemed as though we were the turtle. A gray rabbit chased us in the form of a sedan. It had some grill damage from where they rammed us on the highway. Whatever it was, it was faster than us. I stared at the tinted windows of our pursuers in hopes to see who it was. “Gore is driving that vehicle.”
“You saw him?”
“Yeah.” Stanley sounded defeated. He and Gore had been partners for a long time. His friend was now trying to kill us both.
“Give me to him. You go to my father. He will protect you,” I said.
“I’m not going to give you to that cocksucker.”
“I thought we were bloodsuckers,” I quipped.
“He’s both.” I wasn’t sure if he meant it literally or not.
I focused on the vehicle following us. They had stopped shooting as we raced through the streets of Nashville. My heart rode high in my chest, because the passenger without a doubt was female. I saw the silhouette of her hair. Tierney. I’d slept with the enemy. I groaned realizing my idiocy.
“Did you see the woman?” I asked.
Stanley grunted. That was enough of an answer for me.
He drove through one red light, sending the cross-traffic screeching in different directions to avoid a wreck. An eighteen-wheeler sat just ahead of us at another red light. Stanley jumped the Prius over the curb, down the sidewalk and hung a right under an overpass. The tiny car wasn’t made for off-roading. I looked behind us to see if we had left the muffler or oil pan behind. The grey vehicle gained on us, but they would hit the traffic to slow them down.
Turning on to the side road, three vehicles waited for us blocking the way. Stanley jammed the brakes and tried to back up, but two other cars plus the one chasing us pulled in behind us.
“Fuck!” Stanley said, slamming his hands down on the steering wheel so hard that it broke off into his lap.
“Well, I guess we aren’t driving anymore. Wanna run?” I asked.
“No. They only started shooting last time because I started it,” he admitted.
“Good job, dip shit,” I huffed and raised my hands up so the men hiding behind their car doors wouldn’t shoot me. My passenger door opened, and a large man dragged me out of the car. I had something smart to say, but he smacked me in the back of the head, and I passed out.
Jolting awake I screamed, “I’m sorry Gore sucked your dick!”
“Shut-up, Malik,” Stanley muttered. He sat behind me. They had tied us to each other back to back. Kidnapped again. This was getting old. These people needed new tricks. A bright light hung over us to illuminate our position and conceal those outside its range.
“Please don’t molest me. I do not consent! Do you hear me!? I do not consent!” I screamed. My voice echoed in the dark room with no windows. I blinked several times trying to get my eyes to focus in the dark. Figures moved outside of my vision on the edges of the room. Gore stepped closer to me, so that I could see him.
“I wouldn’t touch you, Reject.”
“Phew. I was worried. Stella here told me that you liked it that way. I mean, you do you, man. But I’m completely hetero. In case you had any questions about it.”
Gore squatted down at my feet and put his gun on my ankle. “We are going to start at the ankle and move up the joints until I get what I want.”
“Well, tell me what you want. I’d like to keep my joints connected. I’d go gay once as long as I get to top.” Someone in the darkness laughed. “Yes! Thank you! At least there is someone with a sense of humor here!” I nodded in the direction of the laugh.
Gore pressed my ankle with the gun. “You are going to go back to the building, and during the ceremony tonight, you are going to kill your father.”
“Nope.” My mouth moved before my brain did. The sound of the gunshot exploded in the small room, and I screamed like a girl. “Motherfucker! Daddyfucker! Whatever!”
Gore’s eyes twinkled as pain ripped through my body. Why couldn’t vampires be void of feeling? What good was this immortal bullshit if I still had to feel everything?
“Step-mother fucker?” Gore asked. A female moved behind him, and I waited for Tierney to walk into sight. Instead, Lydia, my ex, stepped into view.
“Been there. Done that,” I groaned. Gore pressed the gun into my other ankle. “You know if you shoot that one, I won’t be walking anywhere or killing my father. Why don’t you weak fuckers do it yourself? Oh, that’s right you can’t. Daddy has the big bad winged demon inside him.”
Lydia tossed a bag of fresh O-Positive blood. The blood type was better than orgasms for vampires. We’d kill each other over it. Thankfully, the bag was sealed so there was no frenzy. I could almost smell it through its plastic container. “That won’t be enough to fix it, but the donor is sitting in the other room waiting for you to drain him. Did you know that Karen was O-positive? She was a delight.” She licked her finger, as if she had sampled the donor. I should have known that Lydia had been a part of this. She had backstabbed me when we were together. Of course, she’d do it to my father.
They knew I’d give them what they wanted to keep another human from dying. My eyes remained fixed on the bag of blood. It would be enough to heal my shattered ankle. Gore nudged my good ankle.
“Kill my father. Got it. What else?” I asked.
“Gore would like to get in your pants,” Lydia smirked.
“No, thanks. I already have one asshole down there.” Stanley laughed. I wanted to high five him, but our hands were tied. Even Lydia smiled.
“When your father is dead, you will take over his household. Including his wife,” she said as she shoved Gore out of the way with a long heel. She straddled my lap and rocked. Her beauty didn’t escape me, but I couldn’t see past her black heart and the stabbing pain in my ankle. I kept my eyes on the bag of blood, because nothing mattered more than gulping that hot elixir down.
“Stop moving! My ankle hurts,” I whined.
She picked up the bag of blood and held it over my head. My fan
gs erupted from my gums, and I snapped at it like a dog wanting a treat. She lowered it just enough for me to catch it in my mouth. Piercing through the plastic, the blood poured down over my mouth and down my neck. She released the bag and licked the blood from my skin. I felt the surge of sweet nectar as it coursed through my body. I moaned, enjoying the blood. Lydia grinned even though she knew it wasn’t for her.
The others in the room bristled at the smell of the fresh blood. Even Stanley tensed and groaned.
I sucked the bag dry, then dropped it to the floor by my side. Lydia grabbed my chin, licking it. She ran her tongue over my lips, drinking down the leftover blood. When she tried to kiss me, I moved to my mouth. Jerking my head away from her, I snarled showing her my fangs.
“No! I’ll do what you ask, but I don’t want you. I don’t care where you go, but you can’t stay here. Pack your bags and take as much of the money as you want, but I will never have you in my bed again.”
“We were so good together,” she purred as she tried to move my face back to her.
“I meant it, Lydia. Just kill me now. I’d rather die than fuck you ever again,” I said.
She had ruined our relationship by going behind my back. But to come back and find that she had married my father buried any hope of renewing my feelings. I meant it when I said I’d die before I slept with her. Now, she grasped at straws thinking she could make it to the top.
“I could make you,” she said. Gore stepped up with his gun again, but he held it to Stanley’s temple.
“Sorry, Stella. I have limits,” I said.
“They are going to kill us both anyway,” Stanley replied.
“But if she kills us, she won’t get what she wants,” I said.
“What do I want, Malik?” Lydia asked.
“It ain’t me. There is something else,” I replied. I couldn’t figure it out, but she had an angle. Something I couldn’t see. I racked my brain.
“What if we killed your pretty little red-head?” she asked.
“That’s still a no. What Tierney and I did was with no strings attached. You can threaten me with her, but I assure you that it won’t work. Then you will have Lorcan to deal with,” I explained, knowing that Gore had access to the security system in the building. These two had probably watched the whole thing. I heard myself say it didn’t matter, but it didn’t feel right. I wondered if they really had Tierney or if it was a bluff.
Gore handed Lydia a cell phone. She turned it to face me. Seated in a chair, bound to it by her ankles and hands, Tierney sat, screaming at the ceiling. She jerked around in the chair trying to loosen her bonds. A masked man walked into the picture and knocked her out.
“Have you kidnapped Little Dick, too? I might budge for him. He’s a looker,” I smirked.
“Actually, no. Tierney’s father gave her to us. We have other plans for Richard,” Lydia replied.
“Damn. There went your chance,” I replied.
She held her hand up, and Gore stepped up to help her off my lap. She looked down at me. “If you cross us, she dies. Stanley will be staying here too.”
“If I don’t go back with Stanley, Father will know something is wrong,” I suggested.
“He’s right,” Gore said.
“Shut-up,” Lydia snapped at him. He lowered his head. I knew who was in charge now. My bitch ex-girlfriend turned evil step-vampbitch. I generally preferred not to call women foul names, but she deserved all of them. When I started laughing, she got pissed and kicked my healing ankle. “What are you laughing at?”
“You shared blood with Dad, and he can make you self-destruct,” I said through my laughter. “I thought that whole blood sharing thing was just so wrong and deviant. But, I kinda like it now. You know there is only one person that can bring him down, and it’s me. He would flip that switch on you in an instant. Beats me why you can’t get your little harem here to do it for you.”
“Well, you aren’t as smart as you think,” she hissed.
“Give me a minute. I’ll figure it out,” I replied.
“She sired all of them except Gore. If she crosses our Lord, they lose his protection,” Stanley said flatly.
“Stella! That’s brilliant. I knew I loved you for some reason. So, what about the overgrown monkey?”
“He’s just stupid enough to follow her,” Stanley replied.
I howled to the point my side hurt, but promptly stopped when Gore pressed the barrel of his gun to my forehead.
“I’ll take Timothy down,” he said, waiting for the order from Lydia.
“You have other obligations. Put the gun down. He will do what we say or Tierney dies.” Gore lowered the gun but showed me his fangs. Mine were bigger. Just saying.
Gore really was stupid, because when he shot me, he frayed the rope on my ankle. I’d finally laughed and wiggled enough to break it free. Now that I had movement in one limb. I worked on the ropes on my hands which I had to admit were small. Small hands, long fangs. I managed to work one loose which also freed Stanley, but we remained still after that, waiting for the moment to move. Apparently, the two factions didn’t compare notes when it came to kidnapping me.
Stanley whispered, “Time to put away the hatred of your abilities and use them.”
“Yep,” I replied. My ankle had almost healed along with the other wounds from the car accident. Amid the darkness, I couldn’t tell how many men were in the room. I knew there were a dozen or more when they took us. However, this room wasn’t that big. I closed my eyes and focused on my sense of sound. The slightest movements caught my attention. I counted five in the room including Gore and Lydia, who had never been much of a fighter.
In my life as a vampire, I’d only had to do this a couple of times, but I knew I could no matter how much I hated it. Even with all of her crap, Lydia wasn’t on my kill list, but I knew if I went berserk, I’d lose control. Anyone in this room could die. Digging deep into my hatred for this life, I held the string between sanity and death in my hands. Gore walked toward me, and I snapped the thread.
Rolling to my right, I kicked Gore’s knee and it shattered. He crumpled to the floor, wailing in pain. His gun slid across to where Stanley had freed himself. He snatched it up, taking out one of the advancing men. The other charged me, knocking me back to the floor before I could get to my feet. We rolled toward Lydia who howled in protest.
Long dark claws extended from my hands and my fangs lengthened beyond their norm. I’d seen myself in the mirror. My eyes turned the color of the blood that I drank. The skin around my eyes blackened like an Instagram influencer on smoky eye day. The man that struggled with me went from trying to fight me to trying to get the fuck out.
I kept him on the floor as he struggled to get away. With each passing second, I grew stronger. Father’s blood pulsed through my veins. I craved the death that was coming. I wanted it for every person in this room. My morality skipped out of the room like a child on a playground.
“No, no. You decided to play with the devil, now it’s time to pay!” I said, slamming my claws into his stomach. I felt the squishy parts of his insides, and instead of cooling my anger, it fueled it. I closed my fist around whatever was in there then jerked it out. I threw him off of me with a shove, then reached out with my other hand decapitating him as he fell away.
I rose to my feet to find that Stanley had taken the other random out, and now held Lydia in a choke hold. Gore pleaded with me even though I hadn’t set my sights on him yet. Blood dripped from my arm covering the blackness of my curse that climbed up to my shoulder. Bit by bit, the darkness took over all of my senses. I didn’t want to feed. I wanted to kill. My body craved the blood of my enemies.
“Malik, this wasn’t personal. I had to do what I had to do,” he said, backing away from me.
I stopped and put my claw on my chin, tapping it lightly. “Hey, Stella, didn’t Gore just shatter my ankle with a bullet?” Even with the demon in control, I felt myself in there somewhere.
“Yep,�
�� Stanley replied.
“I had to do it. You have to stop your father. He’s going to kill us all,” Gore whined as he backed himself into a corner.
“All I hear is blah, blah, blah.” I moved my hand, opening and closing like a mouth talking. “I’ll do you a favor and skip the gut ripping.”
“Please, Malik. I’ll do anything. I’ll serve you like I did your father.”
“You betrayed my father. Are you dense?”
“I serve him still. He just needs to be let go. He’s going to flip that switch and kill us all!” Gore cried out. Tears rolled down his face as he clutched his knee. I didn’t like killing someone helpless, but the demon didn’t give a fuck. The moment he shot me; he was already dead.
He sank to his knees in front of me as a sign of servitude. I wrapped both of my hands around his head, digging my claws under his chin. I lifted him slightly off the ground and looked into his eyes.
“Tell me what Trey has to do with this,” I said.
“Nothing. Trey is not with us. He supports your father,” Gore said.
I screamed out like a buzzer on a game show. Gore flinched. “Wrong answer. He’s already tried to recruit me.” Gore’s eyes widened and through my hands I could feel him, trying to shake his head.
“No. No. He’s not with us. I swear it. I know lots of things. If you keep me alive, I’ll tell you everything I know,” Gore said.
“Shut-up, you fool!” Lydia screamed before Stanley could cover her mouth.
I leaned my head down to meet his forehead with mine. I saw the fear and despair, but with the power of my father’s blood ripping through my veins, I knew I couldn’t stop myself.
“When I’m done with you, I’m going to take Lydia and kill her slowly. She’s going to tell me everything I need to know, so I don’t need you. Just for old time sake. Right, Liddy?”
