“That’s the one. She mentioned him to you too?”
“Briefly. She said he worked with James and had come by to check on him.”
“Came by to admire his handiwork is more like it.”
Next I told him what Alucard had just told me about Jackson.
“Brea can never know,” I said.
“I agree.” He was silent for a minute or two. The only sound was the grass crunching softly under our feet.
“Vincent, I’m sorry for what we did. We had no right. It was stupid … and costly and I apologize.”
He took a deep breath and since I knew he didn’t need to breath I took that to mean he was upset.
“If I put myself in your place … If someone showed up the night before, claiming to be a vampire, a vampire I thought I’d made up. Well, I guess I’d want proof too.”
Chapter Fifteen
“You’re not angry?” I asked.
“A little. But I can’t blame you for not trusting me.”
I looked at my feet while I continued to walk and worked up the courage for my next confession.
“There’s more.”
“I imagine there is.”
“Alucard and I have spoken a few times now.”
I told him about how I had felt compelled to contact him after that first night and everything we had discussed.
“He said that I could speak freely to him, that there were no laws that prevented it. Is that true?”
“Yes.” Vincent’s lips had formed a taught line across his face. Man was he pissed off.
“He said the situation might be different if I was your human and I spoke out of turn. What does that mean exactly?”
“It means that if you were to become my human servant and you said something he didn’t like he could hold me responsible by hurting you.” Vincent glanced at me and must have read my look of confusion. “If you became my servant you would be bound to me by blood. You would retain your humanity, but share my lifetime. You would become my eyes and ears during the day and share a portion of my strength as well. Our lives would be linked. If someone were to kill either of us we would both most likely die. Most don’t survive as Luis did.”
My heels were sinking in the grass, so I stopped and took off my boots. I hadn’t worn socks and I enjoyed the way the cool grass felt against my bare feet. I tucked the boots underneath my arm and continued slowly toward the roses.
“I didn’t want to keep our conversations from you, but he told me not to tell. I didn’t want to make things worse, so I kept it to myself.”
“Why are you telling me now?”
“Because after the way he acted tonight you deserved an explanation. He must have known I would tell you after tonight.”
“I understand. I’ve known Alucard for an unfortunate length of time and I know how he is. It is not my place to question his motives or to speak against him, but I must warn you that he is not what he seems.”
“I know that. He’s playing human for me.”
Vincent stopped and turned toward me. “He said that? He actually used those words?”
“Yes. Why is it important?”
“It’s disturbing. I hate to put you on the spot here. I know that you love me, but what do you feel for Alucard?”
All the bad things I wanted to do to him suddenly came to mind and I felt myself blush. I told Vincent the truth.
“I don’t know, but I feel something.”
“Shit.” He ran a hand through his hair and looked up at the moon as if it could give him answers. “Alucard has never taken a human servant. In all his years of existence he has been alone. It’s one reason he is so frightening. He needs no one and yet he has power over all.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
I put my hand on his shoulder and as Vincent turned back to me the look in his eyes broke my heart.
“I think he’s found the one he wants.”
“No,” I gasped. “That can’t be.”
“He doesn’t behave this way. It’s just not normal for him.”
Now we both stood, staring up at the moon for answers. I would not become Alucard’s servant. If I was going to belong to anybody, it was Vincent. Why me?
“Is there anything else?” he asked softly.
“Yeah. He says that you’re a motherfucker too.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
The voice came from behind us. It was deep and resonated with evil. We turned to see a tall African American man step out of the shadows. He looked like a linebacker, but it wasn’t his size that impressed me. It was his fangs. His eyes glowed an eerie blue and long claws replaced his fingernails.
“You must be Jackson,” I said.
“And you must be stupid,” he spat. “Standing out here in the open, you might as well have targets painted on your backs.”
Vincent snarled in a way that sounded more like an animal than a man as he stepped in front of me.
“Leave now,” he hissed, “and I might spare your life tonight.”
“Ooo,” Jackson mocked. “Big words.”
He motioned for someone else to step forward and I took a step back. Out of the shadows walked three of the most hideous creatures I had ever seen. They had the torsos of men, but their legs bent horribly backward just after the knee before reaching their monstrous feet. They were covered completely in fur and my first thought was “werewolf.” But that wasn’t right. There was something more blunt about their faces, something different in the shape of their ears.
“What are you?” I couldn’t resist asking.
“Wererats,” one of the monsters growled.
“This is not your fight,” Vincent said. “You can go in peace.”
If their faces were capable of showing emotion, then regret passed over the features of the rat who was speaking. “We owe him a favor. After tonight, our debt is settled.”
“Then you leave me no choice,” Vincent said.
He removed his coat and tossed it on the ground at my feet. I thought he was just preparing to fight, but I was wrong. In an instant his skin became so pale that he seemed to glow from within. His eyes became solid black and his fangs extended to twice their usual length. Claws grew from his fingertips as well and to my surprise, from his feet. His shoes were shredded in the process of this transformation.
“Fuck,” he growled. “They were Italian leather.”
“So sue me,” Jackson said.
Vincent roared with a fury that had nothing to do with his ruined shoes. I knew this because he had another pair just like them upstairs. He leaned forward and made a gesture that looked like he was flexing his muscles. Normally this might have been comical except for when he did this the back of his shirt ripped open and … were those wings?
His transformation was complete and though it would take me months to digest what I had seen, it had taken him less than a minute to perform. It was positively frightening and at the same time awe inspiring.
“Jewel, stay back.”
He barely had time to warn me before one of the wererats lunged at him. I didn’t have to be asked twice. I’m a writer, not a fighter. Vincent slashed his attacker across the face before bringing his wings forward and clapping him in the head from both directions.
“That was awesome.” As soon as one of the creatures looked my way I wished I hadn’t spoken.
He started to move toward me and I dropped my boots, taking off for the back of the house at a dead run. If what I had heard about were-creatures was true then I had no hope of outrunning him. My best chance at survival was to make it to the shed out back. What I referred to as a shed was closer to a small barn. I loved to garden, even though I hired someone to help me with the work. The shed was full of tools, surely I could use one of them as a weapon.
Thunder rumbled across the sky and I glanced back to see Vincent rip the throat out of one of the rats with his teeth. Lightning flashed and rain started to pour out of nowhere. Of all the times for a flash floo
d, this had to be the worst. The wererat lunged at me and I barely missed his claws.
I fell face down and rolled quickly to my feet. The closest thing to me was an oak tree and I dove at it like my life depended on it, because it did. I managed to catch a low branch and swing myself up. I hadn’t done that since I was a kid and for a split second I was kind of impressed with myself. But then I remembered what was after me and nearly peed my pants. The monster was already at the foot of the tree, stalking, watching, waiting to make his move.
Vincent was a blur that fell out of the sky. He grabbed the wererat with his clawed feet and with a single flap of his wings launched them both into the air. I watched in amazement as he flung the animal onto Jackson before diving down on them both.
I thought about staying put, but there was another wererat out there still and I needed a weapon. If he jumped me here I was dead. I figured I might as well die attempting to defend myself than wait around for death to find me unarmed. By this time I was soaked through. The rain was coming down so hard that it looked like a white curtain was just beyond the end of the branch I was sitting on.
About that time lightning flashed again and the remaining wererat looked me right in the eye. He was still several yards away, but that didn’t mean anything. I flung myself toward the ground and was surprised when I landed on my feet. But that good luck didn’t last. In a matter of seconds I was slipping and sliding in the newly formed mud, trying frantically to reach the shed. With a roar the creature leapt at me and knocked us both to the ground. I screamed. All I could think of was that if I got clawed or bitten and survived I would look just as hideous as him. Fear does strange things to the mind and at the moment it made me afraid of deformity.
Apparently when he went to jump on me he slipped too and lost most of his momentum. I rolled out from under the monster before he regained his footing and had just enough time to lay my hands on a shovel. He snatched me by the back of my shirt and I came around swinging. The shovel bounced off the side of his head, sounding like a gong.
He snarled and squealed, reeling back from the hit while I ran inside. I wished so bad that I had a real barn, with a loft I could have hidden in. But I didn’t. I only had a rather large room full of tools and a lawn mower. The wererat was recovering quickly and all I could find was a weed trimmer. Shit. I had to do better than that.
“Chainsaw,” I gasped, spotting the weapon not a moment too soon.
I had never used one, but I’d seen my dad do it plenty of times growing up. Did I have the fortitude to use something like this as a weapon? Could I actually do such a thing? The wererat slammed into the work table that separated us and I pulled the cord, cranking the chainsaw without any further thought.
“Yeah, right,” he spat. It seemed so odd to hear words coming out of his awful rat face. “You expect me to believe that a little thing like you has the balls to cut me up with a chainsaw?”
“I don’t give a shit what you believe. If you come over that table your ass is mine!”
Your ass is mine? What was I thinking? I pulled the trigger, giving the chainsaw more gas. I hoped that revving it up would scare him into backing down, but no such luck. He flipped the table over and dove at me so quick I couldn’t even get out a scream. I swung high and lopped his head right off. It was the most horrible thing I’d ever seen, the most horrible thing I’d ever done. But there wasn’t time to freak out just yet. I had to check on Vincent.
I walked carefully around the fallen wererat and over to the open door. I tried not to think about what covered the chainsaw, tried not imagine what was plastered to my clothes and face. The rain was still pouring and there was no trace of Vincent. I saw the bodies of the other two rats across the lawn on my right and a bloody heap that must have been Jackson. I knew this because what skin I could see was black, otherwise I wouldn’t have had a clue.
There were no more enemies to fight and I was starting to feel dizzy. I switched off the chainsaw and sat it down very carefully beside the door. I was terrified of accidentally cutting off a body part. Just the sound of a chainsaw had made me nervous as a child, but I was lucky that my gardener thought to keep one on hand for fallen limbs and trees.
“Jewel.”
I looked up through the rain and saw Vincent hovering over the shed. All I could do was stare at him. He was magnificent. He lowered himself slowly in front of me and remained about a foot off the ground. Only the occasional flap of his leathery wings was required. His shirt was gone and his skin was so pale it looked completely white. He glowed, like a perfect marble statue. His black hair and goatee stood out in sharp contrast and so did his pants.
“Do not fear me,” he said softly.
I didn’t. Why was I afraid of the monsters who had attacked us and not the one right in front of me? Because I knew the man beneath this monster and he meant me no harm. In the blink of an eye his feet returned to normal and he touched down a few paces in front of me. I moved forward and marveled at his new form. The rain poured over his shoulders and down the curves of his rigged abs. Parts of him looked like something out of a wet dream and the other parts, something out of a nightmare.
It was almost like I had been hypnotized, but I knew he wasn’t using any of his powers on me. He was waiting quietly to see if I would accept him for what he really was. I reached out and touched one of his wings. They looked like leather, like a bats wings, only pale like the rest of his skin. And they were smooth, almost soft to the touch.
“I’m not afraid of you,” I said.
Dark hair clung to his face and neck and as I ran my hands over his torso his eyes returned to normal. I noticed then that his fangs had already become normal as well. Unconsciously I had started searching his body for signs of injury.
“I’m alright,” he said.
His hands were still claws, but when he touched my face I didn’t withdraw.
“Is this your true form?” I asked.
“No, only another form I can assume if I need to.” He held his arms wide. “So, what do you think?”
“You look like the hottest gargoyle I’ve ever seen.”
Vincent laughed and wrapped me in his arms and his wings. He held me as if I were the most precious thing in all the world and I clung to him. Being near Vincent was like breath to me, as necessary to life as the water falling all around us.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
I nodded, but I had already begun to shake with the memory of what had just happened. The storm grew louder and rain echoed off the roof of the shed. Something caught his eye behind me and I tried not to think about what he was looking at. To my surprise he smiled.
“Guess you don’t need silver to kill a wererat.”
I tried to laugh, but gagged instead. By some miracle I didn’t throw up on Vincent, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. I staggered over to the side of the shed and stood there coughing and gagging for several minutes.
“I’m sorry, Jewel. I was only trying to lighten the mood.”
Vincent’s hands were normal now and he started to rub my back. His touch helped, but I was still shaken.
“I’ve never killed anything before,” I said.
“You did a pretty good job for an amateur.”
“Lucky shot,” I said before gagging again. “He just came at me … I swung wild.” I propped my hands on my knees and stared at the ground while I fought the nausea. “Luck of the draw. I won.”
Chapter Sixteen
A few minutes later I had stopped gagging and was back in Vincent’s arms again. I absolutely loved the wings. It was like he had two sets of arms to hold me with all at once. I had never felt so safe.
“I should call someone to take care of this,” he said.
“You mean like a clean up crew?”
“Pretty much.”
I had already learned not to question how many connections the vampire community actually had. Even though the general public didn’t know about them, they had no shortage of help in cove
ring up the fact that they existed. I didn’t know who he was planning to call and I didn’t want to.
He started walking toward the house, realized I wasn’t following him and turned back.
“I’ll be along in a few minutes. The rain feels good. I’ve never seen anything like that before … I just need to get a grip.”
“Alright. Are you sure you’ll be okay here?”
I could tell that what he really meant was “Are you okay with the fact that there’s a body right behind you in that shed?”
“I’ll be fine. If I walk back that way I’ll have to see what you did to Jackson and the other wererats.” I shook my head. “I’m not ready for that.”
“I’ll hurry.”
Of course I could have gone in the back door, but that never occurred to me at the time. All I could think about were those crumpled forms resting in pieces on my lawn, blocking my path around the house.
Vincent was barely out of sight when another tall dark figure became visible on the lawn. I looked back down at my bare feet. I knew Alucard was coming, what I didn’t know was what to say to him. Why was he here?
The back porch light was on a timer and had clicked on a few minutes before. I watched as Alucard’s shadow drew closer and closer to my feet. But when I looked back up expecting him to be right in front of me, he was still halfway across the yard. The moment he came completely into view, I couldn’t look away. He was wearing a different coat. It was long like the other one and black, but with a deep purple lining. He wasn’t wearing a hat this time or glasses and his eyes shone through the darkness. For some reason I took a few steps forward to meet him.
I think he got better looking every time I saw him. The problem with that was I wanted to look more often to check my theory. He was still wearing the white shirt from before and it clung to him as the rain soaked through his clothes. His hair hung in wet layers about his face and when he licked his lips I fought the urge to run to him and do the same. He was within arms length when something else crossed my mind.
“Did you send Jackson?”
“No.” He had walked past the bodies on the lawn without even looking down. His eyes were only for me. “I would have killed him myself if I had known in time.”
Diary of an Incubus Page 12
