Heartbeat (Morta Fox Book 1)

by D. N. Hoxa

  “See those?” He pointed above our head, grinning. “Tranquilizer. They think it’ll knock me unconscious.” He laughed. “But you want to know a little secret? It won’t, unless I stay here all night,” he whispered and leaned even closer to me. A whimper escaped my lips. “You want to know another secret? It’s poison to humans. They don’t care that they left two of their doctors and another girl here with me. They don’t care that you’ll die.”

  “They…t-t-they’ll come. T-t-they…” I couldn’t keep my voice from shaking.

  “T-t-they…” he mocked me, “are not coming, human. But you can say hi to them for one last time.” He pointed at the far end of the other side of the room where a small camera I hadn’t seen before followed the monster’s every move. And he waved at it, smiling brightly.

  They could see us. They could see us, and they didn’t care?

  I had no idea why the hell I was surprised. They left their own doctors to die. Why would they care about me?

  Now, even if by some miracle the monster didn’t eat me, I would die from the tranquilizer. My fingertips had already begun to feel numb.

  “You filthy creature!” I shouted, because I’d always imagined I would die fighting. Since I was in no position to fight, I could at least shout. “How dare you c-c-come in here and eat people! Who the hell d-d-do you think you a-a-are?” The stuttering didn’t exactly make me sound like a fighter, but I took what I could.

  He started laughing again and came closer to me, too close. I gasped when his hands, fast as lightning, grabbed my face. It was like being held in place by steel.

  “Filthy creature? Why, I use the same words for humans!” And he laughed some more. “I love the hatred I see in your eyes, silly human. It reminds me of me,” he said, grinning, and opened his mouth. I could swear I saw his teeth slowly starting to turn into sharp points.

  “I am nothing like you,” I spit.

  “On the contrary. I had the same look in my eyes the day I was turned. One thousand and ten years ago.” He grinned widely.

  “I hate you,” I said and closed my eyes. My time was up. I would feel his teeth in my throat any minute now; I would be drained of blood and fly away from this world. For a second there, I welcomed the knowledge without fear. It was okay to die. No one would miss me; no one would even notice that I was gone. I had nothing to live for. I never really belonged here in the first place.

  But, same as the day I saw my house burnt to the ground, the place that was never even my home, I felt a longing I couldn’t explain. A pull that threatened to not let me give up. I remembered that I still had the knives in my hand, though I’d dropped the syringe somewhere. I could always push one in his neck—he was standing too close to me. But my body wouldn’t move.

  I should’ve just stayed on top of the Howling Building. I should’ve never climbed down. It was just this thing I once read on a notebook. I was three, and it was right before the explosion, but strangely, I still remembered. The covers of it were so pretty that I had to stare. Harley told me what the words were when she saw me looking. It said Follow your curiosity.

  Somehow, those three words had gotten inside my skin, and I’d been living by them since forever. A little smile spread on my lips from the memories of a world whole.

  “Oh, you think it’s funny? You wouldn’t think I was a monster if you were like me, would you?” The cold, soothing voice blew on my skin and traveled to my ear with ease.

  “I’d kill myself first.” Any second now…

  He laughed loudly. I couldn’t open my eyes. The thoughts in my mind were swirling around each other fast. I was slowly losing consciousness. I couldn’t have been luckier.

  “You know, that’s exactly what I said right before my Lord turned me. See? You’re exactly like me,” he said cheerfully. “Therefore, I am going to do to you exactly what he did to me. I promise you, you will thank me one day, just like I did my Lord.”

  And then it started. I wanted to scream, kick, move, anything.

  Nothing.

  I couldn’t even move a finger. The tranquilizer had done its job. I felt the sharp pain of a bite—literally—on the side of my neck, and I heard the sound of my own skin tearing. Strength left me like a leaf does a tree in fall.

  After that, everything went dark.

  * * *

  II

  The smell of fresh orange juice filled me from head to toe. I was so damn thirsty. And whoever was walking around me exactly three and a half steps to my right, was evil for putting it so close to my nose. I checked the clock, and once the pointer ticked eleven times, I knew it was past midnight. The air was cold, exactly ten degrees lower since the last time I was awake. I was high up, at least ten stories.

  A breath intake. The heavy smell of onions. Onions made me sick, but I remembered that smell. Anthony Bush left that smell in Mom’s room after each visit.

  I checked the space around me, measuring the air. At least forty square meters. And where was I lying? Leather. Probably old. Worn. Dated before the explosion.

  And what was that smell? That smell of dirt and rain and hospital, mixed with the faint smell of vomit and…blood.

  I felt my pupils dilate even though my eyes were closed. It was all there, so very clearly like I’d never before seen it. I felt spiders, three of them, quiet behind something big and wooden. Their moves were in such harmony, so peaceful.

  I could almost feel the small amount of blood in them. But, more importantly, I felt Anthony’s pulse like it was pressed against my ear. I felt his heart beating, pumping fresh, warm, dark red blood. I was drooling.

  I imagined it on my mouth, slowly sliding to my throat, the rich taste filling me, caressing me like a song. I wanted it so, so badly, now.

  Memories rushed back to me, flooding my mind. I heard a scream. I knew that scream. It was my voice. It was filled with fear. My fear, my terror. I remembered his face, his green eyes, his shiny hair. His teeth, razor sharp and long, his hands cold and strong like steel. My Lord.

  My hands flew up to cover my ears from the sound that was coming from my own mouth. I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t know how.

  “Morta! Morta, stop! Stop screaming!” Anthony said, his shout lost in my scream. Even the spiders shivered.

  He had turned me. He had made me like him. A monster. A freak. A murderer.

  I felt Anthony’s hands on mine. “Morta, please. Calm down,” he was saying, his blood racing in his veins, so inviting, so torturing with its smell, its flavor. Another image of me sinking my teeth in his skin, and I was ready for another scream. The door opened.

  “No! Get out! I got this, she’s fine! She’s fine!” Anthony said. But he wasn’t fine. He wasn’t safe with me. He needed to leave me. He needed to run as far away from me as he could. I didn’t want to hurt him. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter.

  “Leave,” I said to Anthony, and the voice that came out of me, so powerful and so quiet, gave me the chills. This wasn’t my voice. I knew my voice and this wasn’t it!

  “Morta, can you sit up?” He pulled my arm up. I let him, concentrating on the thirst, the ridiculous thirst that easily turned into pain, so much pain that the teeth of my Lord had nothing on it.

  “Here, have some water.” Blood, I thought. I wanted blood, I didn’t want water. I felt the rim of the cold glass against my lips, and I felt the taste of water, pure and flavorless, wash through my mouth and fall onto my empty stomach.

  I finally opened my eyes. A burst of lights hit me hard in my head, and my thoughts screeched. So many things were in the room, starting with the dust hanging in the air, each and every fiber of the small carpet on the ground, every piece of junk hidden beneath them, the thin layer of dust on the grey tiles, the broken window in front of us. It was perfect. It was just a small crack, but I could break it all the way. And jump.

  Jump, before I could hurt anyone. End this for good.

  “Morta, here. Look at me.” Anthony’s hands framed my face and pulled my head up to
look at him. I pushed his hands away with too much force and walked to the broken window.

  “Are you okay? How do you feel?” Anthony said.

  “How long have I been asleep?” I asked instead. I still couldn’t recognize my voice.

  “Two days. I kept you here. After we stopped…” His voice trailed off.

  “Stopped what? The monster?” I was very aware that I was one and the same with the monster I was talking about, who was also my Lord. I didn’t know what that meant, him being my Lord, but I had a feeling I didn’t want to find out.

  “Yes,” he whispered. He shook his head and rubbed his face, taking his sweet time. I pulled the dark curtains to the side and checked the glass with my cold fingers. It didn’t look like it would be too hard to break.

  “Morta, I’m so sorry. I had no idea that—”

  “You saw me. You saw me and the two doctors. No one came down there.”

  “Yes, but I didn’t know it was you. And when I did, I sent soldiers. They got there before he could tear you apart. They saved you.” He attempted to give me a weak smile.

  “Saved me?” I asked, raising my brow. That wasn’t the way I remembered it. I touched my neck, the spot where I had felt two sharp teeth pierce me. Nothing, not even scratches. They didn’t get there on time.

  “What happened to him? And me?”

  “He ran. Fought the guards and ran. But we’ll get him, don’t worry. And as for you, you were unconscious when we found you. Nothing was wrong with you, but you were unconscious. You must’ve hit your head at some point,” he said and came to stand beside me.

  Then I remembered. My ribs, my ankle, all of my cuts. I moved, I bowed, I twisted my leg. Nothing. Everything seemed perfectly fine.

  “Morta, I’m so sorry. I just…I thought you were dead. If I’d known you were alive, I would—”

  I didn’t want to hear those words.

  “Just because my mother was your mistress, I am not your burden to bear. I was fine on my own. I lived well until I saw one of those things on the other side and ran here to tell you. Stupid mistake. They’d have never let me near you,” I said, realizing how very stupid I’d been to come off the top of the Howling Building in the first place. The strength that swam under my skin now gave me a clear idea what that monster could have done to me if he wanted. Try as I might, I couldn’t even freak out. I was cold. Just…cold, even though I was mad with anger.

  “You saw them on the other side?” Anthony asked.

  He hadn’t changed much, I realized. Aside from a couple more wrinkles on his forehead and around the corners of his mouth, he’d stayed the same. Tall and a bit round. He was very close to a handsome man.

  “Yes. That’s why I crossed the wall.”

  “How on earth did you do that? You could’ve gotten yourself killed,” he said, and this new thing I could feel, a vibe, like waves transmitting from his body, they spoke of sincerity.

  “That’s not important. What’s important is what that was and why it was here,” I said. Even I was surprised by my authoritative tone. It was very much unlike me.

  “Well…” He sighed and went to get a drink from the collection of unlabeled bottles on the small wooden desk. He opened one, and I smelled whiskey. Fine, old whiskey.

  “I’d like some of that,” I said. The smell was so strong that for a second, it drenched the thirst I had for blood. Only for a second. Maybe if I kept it close, it would make me forget about the warm, thick liquid under Anthony’s skin. Before I could start tearing myself apart, I remembered that I would soon be flying off the tenth floor and die, like my mother wanted. No need to rush things.

  He offered me a half-filled glass, and I drank it in one gulp. I was right. The smell was strong, the taste stronger. It took my mind off blood for exactly one minute.

  I took the bottle from Anthony’s hand and ignored the way he looked at me.

  “So?”

  He coughed and adjusted himself with one hip on the table that cracked under his weight, but I suspected that only I could hear it.

  “He’s a…vampire,” he finally said.

  I had already thought of that name the second I’d seen my Lord feed off that doctor. I’d read books about them, even seen the movies. But they were myths. Legends.

  “How sure are you?” I asked, because though I’d seen it with my own eyes, and was feeling it that second, there was still a possibility I was unconscious and dreaming. That could also explain why I could keep so calm, despite how easy it looked to grab the man and sink my teeth in his throat. I filled my mouth with whiskey again.

  “We’ve been sure for the last few decades. The one who almost attacked you is a very powerful vampire. We managed to imprison him, but that night, he escaped. He somehow managed to—”

  “Wait, a few decades? And you haven’t told anyone?”

  “Of course not. Imagine what people would think if they knew…” The fear in his voice was unmistakable. I could smell it all over him. Did he know that I was a monster as well?

  “But you’re doing nothing about it,” I said.

  “Of course we are. People have been trying to wipe them off the face of the earth for as long as I can remember.”

  My breath caught in my throat. “The explosions?”

  He looked away from me and nodded. “The biggest countries on earth created a secret organization to hunt and kill vampires. They worked for decades before they were able to make a map of all their covens, the vampires’ homes if you will. They wanted to bomb them, take out the majority. The rest would be easy to track and kill afterwards.” He smiled at himself as he shook his head.

  “Well, they’re not gone,” I said.

  “Yeah, they found out about the bombs. They replaced them without us realizing it, and they put them all over the world,” he said, and I thought how many bombs had they planted? “When they went off, they destroyed everything.”

  I almost laughed. We’d destroyed our own world. Our own home. Somehow, it didn’t come as a surprise to me.

  I didn’t even have it in me to despise them, so I focused on the matter at hand instead. What was done was done.

  “Who was that vampire?” I asked, and he knew I meant my Lord.

  “His name is Everard. We only know that he is powerful, centuries old.”

  “Centuries?” He had no idea.

  “Well, if you know anything about vampires, some of the myths are true.”

  “Like what?” The urge to know was unexplainable.

  “Like the sun. They can't get in the sun. The garlic and mirror are bullshit. Alcohol doesn’t work on them, and they can eat human food, not just blood. But they can't survive without it. They have twice as many teeth as we do that turn sharp when hungry or in need of blood. Strength doubled, tripled even. Senses enhanced. A beast. A predator.”

  With every word he said, especially the last ones, I could see the face of my Lord Everard in front of me. He did this to me. And he did it just for fun.

  I looked at the ceiling and thought, God, what have I done to deserve this?

  “Damned creatures. Frames, with no soul,” Anthony whispered, his glass to his lips, his head shaking in wonder.

  No soul.

  I put the bottle back on the table. It was time I did myself—and the whole world—a favor.

  “Morta, what are you doing?” Anthony said, standing up. I turned around and touched the window, as if my fingers would somehow tell me where to hit to break it faster.

  “Anthony, you have to think of a way to let the people know. At least those that are left.” My fingers did know where the weakest spot was, somehow.

  “Morta, what has gotten into you?” He moved silently towards me, fear and suspicion a heavy scent around him.

  “Don’t you realize, Anthony? Your soldiers didn’t save me,” I said and slammed both my fists on the glass. It broke so easily. Fresh air hit me like a slap to my face. “He made me one of them.”

  “But…but…your heart�
�”

  Before he had the chance to finish, I jumped out the window. Just like that.

  I felt no remorse, no regrets, no pain for the ending of what I had become. It was the second time that I was looking death in the face. I closed my eyes and held my breath, waiting to hit the ground—until I did.

  My head slammed against something hard, and my bones crushed from the intensity of the fall. I felt every curve of the hard surface beneath me, and I stopped breathing.

  Only—I didn’t die. I heard the whisper-like sounds from a mile away. Soldiers, who heard the crash and were organizing to come check what it was.

  I didn’t die. I jumped from a ten-story building and I didn’t die.

  So much for not freaking out.

  Pain started at the middle of my left knee and spread too fast, like fire to a curtain, throughout me. It ended with my head, exactly where it had slammed. I did my best to hold a scream. I feared that I was going to go insane if the pain didn’t lessen soon. Insane and sharp teeth just didn’t click well together. Tough luck for whoever was coming to check on me.

  But then, just as fast as it started, the pain stopped abruptly. And nothing hurt anymore. Not the bones I’d felt break within me, not my head that I was sure I’d cracked.

  Nothing.

  I was as good as new in a blink of an eye.

  I jumped to my feet so fast that I should’ve gotten dizzy, or at least the view should have gotten darker in front of my eyes. But no. I saw with clarity, as if the sun was shining bright. I looked at my legs and watched them in wonder under the white and blue robe I still had on. I watched my hands and touched my head where I’d hit it, only to feel that it was in perfect shape.

  The soldiers were almost there. Before I let myself be amazed by what was happening to me, I turned around and I ran.

  There were trees around the ROB building, all around to the center. I jumped the security cabin easily, feeling like freaking Spiderman and hating myself for slightly enjoying the wind on my face. Blood, everywhere I turned.

  I could feel hundreds of pulses beating under all kinds of skin around me. People in cars, at home, in the streets. The life on the other side of the wall was fancy. I didn’t stop to check, though. I knew what would happen if I did. I would break necks and suck on any human who came near me.