Daisy After Life (Book 1): Perdition

by Demers, Raven J.

  Daisy sniffed. "That, too."

  "What then?"

  "Your habit of not telling me beforehand what you intend to do. I'm not a mind-reader like the honeysuckle woman."

  He barked with laughter. "Honeysuckle woman?"

  Daisy folded her arms. "She was never introduced to me."

  "Her name's Addie, and I suppose you're right, she does smell somewhat of honeysuckle." Nathaniel thought for a moment. "What do I smell like to you?"

  She glanced at him. "You'll only tease me further. Tell me about this vegetarian jogger who likes this park so much."

  The playfulness in his eyes told her he wouldn’t make it easy on her. "I'll tell you about the woman if you tell me what I smell like to you."

  "Why? What does it matter? Do we smell different to each person or something?"

  Nathaniel thought about it. "Not exactly, but we each pick up different elements of another vamp's scent that define them to us, while the other elements are relegated to—what's the perfumer's term—notes?"

  Daisy wondered how he knew any words perfumers used, but sighed and told him. "You're a mix of leather, probably from your coat, some gamey scent like musk, likely because you haven't bathed in a while, a blend of black pepper and ash, and a sweeter note of almond oil. There's more, but as you implied, these are the notes that are strongest for me."

  Surprisingly, he didn’t laugh but considered her words. "I think the first part you're right about, this leather duster has been a part of my life—or unlife—for a long while. The 'gamey' scent as you call it is from helping hide the deer's body the other night, my personal hygiene has nothing to do with it, thankyouverymuch. As for the almond oil and spices, that's my allure. We each have it, you know. Some scent to drive the humans to distraction." He flicked the collar of his coat as if to show how hot he was.

  Nathaniel leaned in close, and whispered, "Rather like yours. Strawberries and a warm summer day." He twirled a finger around her hair. "They help mask the lingering odor of grave dust and mint liniment."

  Daisy kept her face stony, which as a vampire, was far easier for her than as a mother. "You were going to tell me about the woman from whom you stole the sock?"

  "Oh, I didn't steal it. She just didn't need it anymore."

  Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him. "What do you mean 'didn't need it?'"

  His finger trailed the line of her jaw, as he ignored the stiffness of her spine. "At the end there, why did you run around and stop before coming back?"

  There was a growing sense of sickness in the pit of Daisy's gut. "Because her trail went ... dead."

  Before Nathaniel could consciously register what happened, Daisy held him high in the air above her, holding him by his throat. Her fingers pressed into his neck, gouging the flesh. Despite her hold, Nathaniel had no trouble speaking. "Daisy."

  Within a heartbeat, the park filled with the presence of other vampires. Daisy could feel them—smell their cloying scents, hear their papery sub-vocalizations—as they moved in rapidly. Darkness came in a tight ring around them, and the one Nathaniel called Addie stepped forward. "Daisy Margaret, you are in the process of killing yourself."

  Before Daisy could question it, or perhaps because Addie could read minds, she continued, "You are violating the most absolute rule. Do not expose our kind."

  She recalled the humans who idled in the park, perhaps four in total when last she paid attention, and realized how odd it would look to see her move so fast and, small as she was, to raise a tall man above her head.

  Daisy dropped Nathaniel, almost throwing him away from her. He landed with a resounding thud. She glared down at him, fuming at the fatal trail he led her on. Nathaniel threw her a cutting glance, as he righted himself and came to his feet. She regretted not hurting him when she’d had the chance.

  "It is best you make your way back to the cottage. We will not clean up any further messes without consequence to yourself." Addie's icy tone made it clear she’d be quite willing to be the one to bring about those consequences. I just want to get out of Atlanta as swiftly as possible. Addie turned her head to the side and gave a brief smile to show she’d heard the thought.

  The dark ring faded from around them. The park emptied of everyone—vampires and humans alike.

  Nathaniel escorted Daisy home, although they remained silent the whole way. The moment they entered the copse around the cottage, he disappeared, leaving her to make her way back alone. All through the night and the next day she played the piano in the attic, choosing all the songs that echoed her anger and disgust.

  Visitors

  Nathaniel didn’t return that night, and after the first two hours after dusk alone, Daisy returned to the attic. She didn’t feed, though her hunger ravaged her gut and made her body ache with need. She ignored it. Instead, she decided to make herself a bundle of clothes as she had for Perdy. One outfit alone would not last long, and needed cleaning every few days. Continuing in this way would quickly leave her clothes threadbare.

  Daisy set to work sewing until she had a dress, two pairs of pants, and two blouses. She also sewed a knapsack for herself should she need to travel long distances. A needle and thread proved faster than the sewing machine could, and she completed them in under an hour. With the yarn, she knit herself two pairs of socks and a sweater. The cold wouldn’t affect her, but if she needed to blend in among the humans, it would be prudent to have appropriate attire for any given weather. As the night wore on, and her task complete, she checked her inner clock. It was still early enough that she could go hunting in the forest around the cottage, or she could feed on the last IV bag in the fridge.

  After a night of productivity, she didn’t want to soil it by ending a life, so she finished off the pint of blood and tidied up the main rooms of the cottage. The dustless state of the house corresponded with the boredom of the individual residing within it.

  The next night, when Nathaniel still didn’t appear, Daisy stepped out of the house and roamed the grounds, strolling rather than running through the trees. While speeding about like a jackrabbit in spring was exhilarating, there was still something to be said for taking one's time in the woods. The magnolias, at the end of their season, opened their broad leaves over her head, and she took a moment to inhale the intoxicating scent of their final blooms. In the moonlight, their white petals stretched out giving off the last of their aroma as the chill came again—it was the humidity of the day that held that fragrance close to the earth so everyone could drink of it.

  Scurrying animals passed by her in fear, and their movement excited her instinct to chase them, but she resisted the urge. Birds, too, hopped from branch to branch nervously protecting nests from the predator who walked close by. Gone from jackrabbit to hunting dog, she thought.

  The deer she smelled on the first night in this forest had wandered further away to graze, and she didn’t feel it wise to chase after them. At some point she would need to hunt, but for the time being, she moved as a human would, touching the bark of a birch, caressing the leaves of a magnolia, and enjoying her contemplation.

  Since Henry's death, she’d spent a good deal of time being alone. Walking in this way through the trees and underbrush allowed her communion with him after his death. In her mind, she held a one-way conversation. "Henry, can you see what's become of your Daisy? I feel young again, Lord help me. Are you happy where you are? I'm sure you're skipping over daffodils with joy if you were right about the afterlife." Daisy took a seat on a large rock far from the cottage. "I'm not sure if I'll be joining you. Either this is a forever kind of thing, or I die in some horrible, fiery death, and I don't know what God thinks about vampires. From what the Good Book says, He doesn't favor demons in the night."

  Daisy picked a bluebell and sat in stillness, while the forest hummed and buzzed around her. At a point when her hunger shook her resolve, she snatched out at a passing opossum, apologized to it, and sank her teeth home. The rodent tasted revolting after her daily infusions of
IV bags, but those were gone now. Soon she would fend for herself for the rest of her existence, and had to accept that those treats from Valerie's house were a pleasant dessert she would only partake of when made available to her. Though, she admitted to herself, the deer proved far tastier than the rodents and birds upon which she first fed, and provided far more sustenance.

  A few hours before dawn, she made a quick circuit of the grounds. As she ranged far from the cottage, she picked up an unusual, sweet scent. It reminded her of a perfume her daughter bought her with a frangipani base. It didn’t belong in this forest. A lingering, second fragrance of oak and wine moved and twined with it. As she drew closer to the source of the odors, she saw unmistakable movement in the branches.

  The quiet whispering motion, the stirring of leaves, and the near hiss of subvocalization caught her attention. They watched from the trees. She did her best to gauge what she could from their scent and whispers alone. Unsure of custom and decorum, she chose the direct approach and straightened herself. "Hello. What are y'all doing this far from the city? Have you come for a visit?"

  A swift bouncing of a branch and the slightest rustling of leaves behind Daisy, and the oak-and-wine-scented vampire stood close behind her. She turned to face the intruder. For a brief moment, the fair face and black hair of a small woman appeared with clarity, but shot past her vision and returned to hiding. Tinkling laughter, a tenor, came from above her and she looked up to see a young man with curly brown hair watching her in a crouch from above. "Visit you?" He gave her a vicious smirk as he gazed down, and he swayed from side to side.

  "Heard a young one went unattended, did we," said the female, her long, straight hair cascading to her knees. This time she openly revealed herself. They moved in circles around Daisy, slowly getting closer. The male jumped from branch to branch, the woman staying on the ground.

  Oh bother, Daisy thought. She probably ought to be scared. After all Nathaniel told her about vampires feeding off of one another, their predatory movements suggested they intended to do that with her, but she couldn't muster enough of a sense of self-preservation to warrant fear.

  Perhaps it was the word choice that held her natural wariness at bay. She offered a genuine laugh. "Young?" she asked. "I haven't been called that in a long while. I'm old enough to be your grandmother."

  The female sniffed. "Smell young to me, but ... strange." She scowled at the next sniff. "Feeding off animals?"

  The brunette above gave an amused laugh that rippled like silk. "We would be doing her a favor, Fanille."

  Fanille purred a response and shot forward, reaching for Daisy. Daisy jumped up to a free branch, but the man caught her in the side, throwing her to the ground.

  Her instincts took over: she twisted to her back and used both legs to kick the man in the solar plexus, which sent him flying backwards. He managed to grab a branch, and swing himself in a back flip to land again in the trees. Fanille slid herself up behind Daisy who had yet to find her feet. The woman's ivory fingers clasped Daisy's neck.

  Daisy, used her left hand to reach back and pull at the woman’s hair now covered in leaves. Fanille turned her head to the side, but it did nothing to prevent the rending of scalp from skull. A ripping sound mingled with the woman's scream. The hold tightened on Daisy's throat, pushing long nails deep into her neck, much as she had done to Nathaniel at the park.

  The man jumped down to assist his companion, and Daisy pushed at the ground, throwing the woman backwards into a tree trunk. She used the leverage of leaning into her chest to round a kick to his torso and a swipe at his face. The thick toenail on her bare foot slashed across his cheek, leaving a small gash that slowly knit itself together.

  Being trapped and out-numbered still didn’t bring on a state of fear or panic. Instead, Daisy's focus intensified. A stray thought in the back of her mind reminded her that her attackers possessed the same concentration.

  Fanille’s fingertips pressed further into Daisy's flesh and tore at muscle beneath. A screeching sound erupted from Daisy's throat. She threw herself forward, tossing the woman over her head, the fingers held on, but loosened, as her blood began repairing her throat. With her feet firmly on the ground, she took Fanille's wrists, and twisted them hard until she bent them at an awkward angled, crushing the bones inside. Fanille hissed and jumped to her feet, swiveling around so as not to leave her back exposed.

  The man saw his companion hurt, her scalp still dangling sideways from her head, and he came to her side, affixed the hair back in place, as though straightening a wig, and the skin healed along the seam where flesh met flesh. As the man took Fanille's hands in his, he looked her straight in the eyes, an apologetic look, and Daisy could see that he was about to reset the bones of her wrists and hands back into place. It would be painful to watch, as well as to feel, and Daisy took the opportunity of distraction to run.

  Her legs carried her far and fast over thicket and ferns. She made a straight dart toward the cottage, which was close enough to smell, but still out of range of sight from the trees blocking her way. If she was their prey, her running would only incite them to chase after her in feral mindlessness, yet she had no other choice. The scream carried over like a teakettle coming to boil. Already more than halfway to the house, she readied her key, and made an arc to get to the front door.

  It seemed unreasonable to expect they would respect Valerie's property, but it was the only safe place she knew to go, and Daisy was certain she couldn’t outrun them all the way to the Queen's house, nor did she think anyone would be willing to clean up this mess after the park incident. The front door in view, Daisy put all of her strength into the run, hoping if they broke into the house, they might not be able to find the entrance to the attic in their rush. The delay of tracking her through a building where her scent permeated every room might distract them long enough for her to think of something else.

  In a flash, she imagined herself holding them off until dawn, and then putting a hole in the attic to let the light in. A gaping hole. She might be able to dash away long enough to dig herself a new grave and hide in it until they left. It would hurt, but she knew she could spend at least a minute in the sun before it peeled the skin off her. She wasn’t sure they could last as long.

  All her plans were destroyed when the man, chestnut curls flying around his face as he descended off the roof, landed between Daisy and the door.

  Daisy straightened and put the key back in her pocket. No use for it now. She did not smell the oak and wine of his companion, only his cloying frangipani. "Well met," he said to her and bowed. "I am Guilherme." His accent sounded somewhat foreign, though she couldn’t place it. Daisy stood and waited, as he sashayed toward her, moving diagonally one way, then another, but steadily getting closer, and never allowing enough space past him to the door. "We are going to become very close, o meu bocado."

  With shoulders squared, she said, "Thank you for your interest, but someone already claimed me long ago." Henry, if you're watching, give me a hand, will you?

  A twisted grin curled around the edges of his perfect, brown lips. "We only wish a moment of intimacy with you, then we will be gone."

  "And so will I," she said. An opportunity opened and Daisy ran straight for him. He jumped over her and fell into a somersault, as she crouched down to keep from getting hit by his legs. Only a few feet from the door, she reached out, but a crushing blow to the side of her ribcage diverted her plans.

  Daisy and Fanille sprawled across the flower patch near the foundation of the house. Guilherme pounced upon them both. Daisy pushed hard against Fanille and attempted to roll. Her ribs ached, knitting out of place, as they were, and she stumbled when attempting to regain her feet.

  Guilherme swept a kick toward her ankles, and she spun sideways to the ground.

  She knocked her head against the rock path and momentarily lost her vision, but she heard a loud whomp and her nose filled with a familiar scent: cloves, chilies, and lavender.

  Daisy w
hirled around in time to see Jared tossing Fanille far into the woods, her body careening against a tree, causing it to snap in half and crash to the ground. The thunderous collision left Guilherme stunned. Even far off as she was, it was clear to Daisy Fanille's neck had been squeezed to pulp, and it would take a long while to heal. Until it did, she was immobile, and worse, exposed to the dawn, now only half an hour away. The tickle of the predawn light sent the hairs on Daisy's arm prickling straight up.

  In a gruesome self-awareness, she realized she wanted it to come. Even if it destroyed her, it would also destroy these two.

  But Jared helped me, she realized, and he continued to help her. Jared pinned the pretty Guilherme to the ground with a pair of crossbow bolts, yet he held no crossbow. The bolts stuck out at odd angles from Guilherme's shoulders. The young man struggled, but made no sound, as he gazed up into Jared's eyes.

  Jared said, "Valerie banished you from this court."

  Guilherme laughed his tinkling laugh and held himself still. "We were invited."

  Daisy’s sudden protector leaned over the pinned man. "By whom?"

  "You know," he said, and shut his eyes with a self-satisfied grin on his face.

  Jared straightened up, still looking down upon the nomad. "Dawn approaches. Your traitorous companion is incapacitated, and exposed."

  Guilherme's eyes snapped open and he tried to look frantically behind him to where Fanille's body lay broken against the cracked tree. "No," he said, real fear coming into his voice. His eyes flicked back into Jared's. "Please," he said in a desperate whine, on the verge of crying.

  Jared crooked a finger, and two unfamiliar vampires descended out of the shadows. Daisy wondered how she hadn’t sensed them before, and for only now did her chest tighten with fright. The pair moved rapidly, both dressed in shadow colors; one of them ranged out and retrieved Fanille's body, laying it over her shoulders, the other pulled Guilherme up, but left the bolts securely in his arms, preventing him from healing.