Daisy After Life (Book 1): Perdition

by Demers, Raven J.

  "Aunt Arabella," Perdy said, as if it answered all of Daisy's questions.

  "Is Arabella your other aunt? The one you lived with before?"

  Perdy's stuffy nose affected her voice. "Yeah. She says I have to go back with her, and she's going to take Aunt Espie to court if she doesn't give me back."

  Daisy covered the phone. "Why would that woman want her back?" Nathaniel didn’t answer, but he pawed at her backpack and pulled out another IV bag to drink. "Nathaniel," she hissed. He shrugged, and sank his teeth in to tear open the bag. She removed her hand, but stepped away from him so Perdy wouldn’t hear the deliberate slurping noises Nathaniel made near her.

  "What does Arabella want, Perdy?" Daisy asked.

  "Don't know," the child said and quickly added, "Please don't let her take me back. Randy will hurt me if I go back. Please," she said, and another round of sobbing started.

  "Perdy, I'm sorry, I can't. It's not safe for you to be with me," Daisy said, her forehead creased with remorse.

  The girl cried harder and started pleading louder. Esperanza's voice picked up in the background, and soon the woman had retrieved the phone from the girl's hand and put it to her ear. "Hello? Who is this?"

  Daisy said, "Hello, Esperanza. This is Anthea. It seems Perdita called me to inform me Arabella is trying to take her back. Is this true?"

  Esperanza took a deep breath and sighed. "Yes," she said, and weariness tinged her voice. "She’s worried about the stipend she loses if she’s no longer her legal guardian." In the background, Perdy's wailing and pleading grew louder.

  "Surely the courts would not let her return if they knew the kind of environment she was living in?"

  "No, they might not, but I can’t afford to go to court, even if we won, I ..." she said and trailed off.

  Daisy brushed her hand over her mouth, and glanced at Nathaniel, who now leaned against a wall looking healthier and completely bored. "Hold on a moment," she said to Esperanza. "Nathaniel," she subvocalized, "would Valerie give a loan—"

  "Oh no," he said at normal volume. "I'm in enough trouble with her, without my child going into debt over some cute little blood bag. She's not your problem, Daize, let it go."

  Daisy growled at him, and renewed strength or no, he visibly stiffened against the wall. "Esperanza? How long do you have before you have to give her back?"

  "She's coming tomorrow morning. I doubt there's anything you could do. Thank you for asking," she added, although she didn’t sound grateful. It was the voice of defeat, and what Daisy had given their family was as swiftly stolen from them.

  Daisy said, "Don't give Perdita any false hope, but I will see what I can do." She hung up the phone, but placed it in her jacket pocket. While Nathaniel glanced at the motion, he did nothing to stop his cell phone from being claimed. "Feeling better?"

  He nodded slowly, wary of her intentions. "Good. We're dropping these off at the cottage, and then we're paying a visit to the Queen."

  Nathaniel pounced on her then, or tried to. Daisy sidestepped him and ran ahead. The blood he drank still worked its way through his body, and though he picked up speed, his healing was incomplete. She left him far behind until he could no longer see her form in the distance He swore loudly, causing a few lights to go on in apartments around him.

  Daisy, already halfway across town before she could be sure she lost him, continued on her way toward the Queen's mansion. When she arrived, the house stood dark except for a single, dimmed porch light and a few glittering spotlights rising up from the pool in the back, setting the trees aglow. Nevertheless, Daisy picked up the scent of several vampires and recent activity. A hunger stirred in her she couldn’t name, it tugged at the back of her neck, and shivered its way down her spine, quite different from the dry need in her throat urging her to take human life. Lord, please forgive these violent thoughts within me, she prayed, and guide me so I might help an innocent soul find solace.

  The sweet notes of honeysuckle twisted their way around Daisy before she realized Addie had come out to greet her. Long, thin fingers gripped her arms and the lilting voice spoke close to her ear. "Welcome back, Daisy Margaret, savior of children."

  Addie's nose nuzzled the back of Daisy's ear, slipping up toward the top of her head. Daisy heard the intake of breath as Addie sniffed her scent. "I hear you have a question to ask of our Queen. Nathaniel told you not to come. Foolish child, you should listen to your elders."

  Daisy didn’t struggle at first, but as soon as Addie pushed her toward the mansion, she attempted to dig in her heels and push back. Addie proved stronger. Looks like Nathaniel was wrong. What strength do I have here?

  Sensing it pointless to fight her, she allowed herself to be guided forcibly to the back of the house. There they came to a recessed door beneath an archway leading down a short flight of stairs into darkness. Regardless of the night, Daisy recognized bloodstains from previous horrors staining the stone and clay.

  Belatedly, Daisy recalled Addie could read thoughts, but realized she’d probably given everything away that mattered to her the moment she approached the house. Multiple scents hit Daisy at once, mingling together in the small room, which as she realized, had once been a wine cellar since emptied of wine bottles and their racks. The illumination from the pool provided ample light for vampires to see by, even in the darkened space. Addie released Daisy, but remained as the blockade between the door and Daisy.

  Around the room, Daisy could name most of the vampires. Jared stood with his hands clasped behind his back, watching her without expression. The short-haired woman named Jill sat upon a credenza made of oak and inlaid mother of pearl, almost a match in design to the piano in the cottage. Two vampires she couldn’t name stood near one another in a corner, seeming more interested in watching Addie than Daisy. Most surprising was the other person standing in shadow toward the back.

  Guilherme stared at Daisy with a curious expression caught between pleasure and tragedy. His chestnut hair no longer held the same body and curl it had before, and as Daisy focused on him, she saw it was matted with blood. His companion, Fanille, was nowhere in sight. Though Daisy took in the air of the place, learning the scents of the two new vampires, she couldn’t pick up the oak and wine scent of Guilherme's partner. The eagerness she saw in him was a warning for her. Whatever excited him, would likely be trouble for her.

  The Queen, she noted, wasn’t in the room, or the chamber beyond where Jared stood. The silence wrapped around them for several minutes, no one saying a word, but all of them remaining unreasonably still. Only the movement of the eyes as they each exchanged meaningful glances showed signs they were not, in fact, statues. Will I ever become used to these creatures? This waking hell into which I've fallen?

  Addie laughed, shattering the stillness as every other vampire tensed and turned their attention toward her. "Oh, Daisy!" she said. "This is no hell. You must learn to embrace your gifts, instead of moping about mourning the loss of – what, exactly?" She paused, and Daisy wondered what her mind gave away.

  "Ah, true love, was it?" She snickered. "Guilherme can sympathize with you, then."

  Guilherme growled and took a step forward. Jared was next to him in a fraction of a second, not touching him, but standing as a warning. "What could she know of love?" He sneered. "How—?"

  "Silence!" The Queen entered with a command. Her eyes focused sharply on Guilherme. He stepped back, cowering, and narrowly missed tripping over Jared. Daisy realized he acted as weak and clumsy as Nathaniel had when he arrived at the cottage earlier, covered in wounds. Guilherme had suffered some other fate, for other than the circles beneath his eyes, he showed no signs of having been drained.

  "Daisy?" The Queen's head swiveled around to study her. "Nathaniel is unworthy of you, it seems. Such audacity is to be admired. Coming here, uninvited, untrained, and begging for what?"

  "A loan," Addie stated.

  Valerie laughed, and the rich sound filled the chamber, echoing off the walls. "She wants money
!" The others in the room tittered with her. "For what?" She asked, all mirth drained from her.

  Daisy thought it best to hold her tongue and instead focus all her thoughts on the lyrics to "Georgia on my mind." Given the previous "savior of children" comment, Addie might already have guessed, but didn't seem to know for certain.

  The Queen glanced once to Addie and scowled back at Daisy. "Clever girl."

  As if on cue, all heads turned toward the door, Nathaniel's scent wafting through the door. Addie moved aside, and he walked in, giving Daisy a disapproving look. "Valerie, I—"

  "Nathaniel, do you think I want to hear it?"

  "No ma'am," he said, and stepped to the side, not wishing to associate any further with Daisy than he already did.

  Everyone remained quiet, awaiting Valerie's word. When the Queen spoke again, it was as a whisper. "Guilherme, show our guest to your room."

  Guilherme grinned wildly at Daisy, growling, and moved to her. Too slow from his own trauma, Daisy dashed far away from him, into the other chamber beyond Jared. She remained tense, in a crouch in case the weakened vampire tried to touch her again. Instead, he laughed, as did a few of the others. "Oh, well done, Guilherme," said the Queen. "That was easier than I thought it would be."

  Daisy wondered what trap she'd run into. Then she looked down, her shoes slid through a sticky substance that even with her excellent night vision could only be said to be dark. It smelled of old blood with a hint of water lily and jasmine. It tugged at the back of her neck, distracting her from the laughter that came as a signal of danger. Old blood the same as was stuck in Guilherme's hair, tangling and snarling it.

  Wasted blood, and not human.

  The others crowded into the larger chamber, blocking both the exit to the outside and the hidden one through which the Queen had entered. The Queen purred. "Since Nathaniel is proving such a poor teacher. Allow me to take you in hand and show you what happens to impudent children and trespassers here." She cocked her head at an angle and said, "Nathaniel."

  He was at her side instantly, willing to do whatever she asked. Daisy, sickened by the sight, still didn't look away. Every muscle remained tight and ready for whatever might come. Nathaniel, however, wasn’t so well prepared, as the Queen threw him down, and held him in the mass of blood with her fingers tight on his neck. "Jared?"

  The broad-shouldered man moved gracefully over the sludge on the floor, and deftly removed the coat and shirt from Nathaniel's body, revealing once tan, marbleized flesh to the room's witnesses. "How were you able to feed so quickly?"

  Addie stood behind the Queen and shook her head once. Although Valerie could not see the gesture, she heard it. Valerie lifted her eyes to stare at Daisy. "You should not have helped him, Daisy. Now we will have to punish him again."

  Jared left and returned swiftly, a meat hook in his hand. He hung it from a ring installed for this purpose in the ceiling. As he lifted Nathaniel's body, ready to force a foot onto the hook, Daisy screamed. "No! You can't," she said. "Please, you've already punished him. Whatever I've done, punish me."

  Jared held Nathaniel's body aloft, awaiting the Queen's word. "Aren’t you precious," she said to Daisy. "Ooh, Nathaniel. Maybe there is hope of rekindling that old romance. You have pined for so long."

  Daisy stepped around Jared slowly, making certain to make her actions appear non-threatening. "I can’t abide these practices. Please. Punish me if you insist on it, but do not take it out on him. We have no love between us. Not anymore."

  "Then why defend him?" she asked.

  Daisy shook her head. "Because it is just."

  Laughter. Daisy found it grating to listen to them and their leaf rustling laughs.

  "Simply because we are what we are, must we automatically become sadistic, even to the point of absurdity?"

  The Queen backhanded Daisy, who reeled dangerously as if she might collapse to the floor, but regained her balance. "Yes," she hissed. "That's exactly what it means. We are killers Daisy Margaret Shaw. We are made as killers, hunters, and take pleasure in the pain of our prey."

  "Other vampires are our prey? I thought that was frowned upon?"

  The Queen took Daisy by the hair. "The sooner you learn what you are, and embrace it, the sooner you can stop being this weakling, sick from dead blood and animals. Walking in a state of half-life."

  Daisy heard the wrenching sound in her own voice. She had once watched as an old, rusted crane fell over the side of the cliff. The rocks tore it apart as it slid sideways. She thought of the sound now as a wail escaped her, though she wasn’t entirely aware why.

  It took longer for the pain to register. She looked down to see Valerie's wrist pressed against her abdomen. No, not pressed, she realized as if distantly, not fully in her body any longer. Valerie twisted her hand, splaying the claws outward inside Daisy's belly, and gripping the substance left over after death and regeneration, she pulled hard, spilling Daisy's innards on the floor. "This is pain. Learn from it."

  For a moment, the room spun. Daisy fell onto the floor, gasping, although it did nothing to ease the sensation of having a large portion of her torso ripped apart.

  Surprisingly, cruelly, she didn’t fall unconscious. Even more surprising, she found, with effort, she could return to standing. Commanding her usual grace proved more difficult, weakened and slipping in her own, withered offal.

  Daisy swayed a little as she found purchase. She did her best to look the Queen in the eye, but her head drooped a few times before she could hold it together. From far away came the music of angelic song. Briefly, she imagined the sound might be Henry calling her home. She shook her head, and looked down at the skin fighting to reconnect, although the process was slow and impeded by the rope of intestines protruding from her abdomen.

  With a serene sense of her own self, floating on a sea of pain, Daisy smiled, lopsided at the Queen. She took her hand, pressed it into the gaping hole where her stomach once was, and got a handful of what was left. The tearing pain sent a wave of blinding light through the front of her brain, obscuring her vision for a moment. As the light faded and the scene around her returned, she lifted her bloodied fingers to Valerie's mouth, and wiped them across the Queen's face. "Is this ... what you want … your Majesty?"

  Hisses and gasps filled the room, as she smeared the blood over Valerie's face. The Queen stood speechless, staring with a mix of horror and anger. "Obscene," she said.

  "Nothing less ... than what you ... wanted. Isn't it? Taste it, Valerie. Take it all." Daisy pushed her finger against the Queen's lips, and soon found herself hitting a wall and sprawling on the floor.

  "Get her out of here," she said, seething, and rushed back up the secret stairs to the house, Jill fast behind her.

  Jared and Nathaniel helped Daisy to her feet, which slipped twice in the mess on the floor. "Come on, Daize. Time to go."

  Daisy struggled to lift her head. When she succeeded, those left in the room stared at her. Jared held her with a grim expression. Adelaide’s shock lay apparent as she gaped at her, the unnamed pair in the corner smiled with amusement at the scene. They turned and left the room, unhurried, while Addie spun around and went out the door to the backyard. That left Guilherme.

  He crouched on his hands and knees. It took her a moment to believe what she saw. Bending forward, he lapped up the remains of Valerie's work. Nathaniel cursed and swung a kick at Guilherme's ribs, hitting his mark with a crunch. Guilherme whined, and fell back, repelled.

  The two uninjured men helped Daisy outside, where she asked to sit, and they set her down on the grass. "All right, Nathaniel?" she asked.

  Nathaniel snorted. "Shut up, Daize."

  "Jared? Thank you."

  He kneeled down next to her. "She is right. You cannot continue to live this way."

  "You'd ... have me be ... a murderer, too?" Daisy shook her head.

  Nathaniel said, "Go on, tell her."

  Jared glared at Nathaniel, but finally spoke again. "I apologize, Madame. I
was dishonest with you when we spoke on your last visit here." Daisy did her best to hold up her head to look at him, but the effort proved taxing. "You wanted to know about other vampires who fed on animals. I told the truth when I said they were rare, and we keep IV bags for them and for our injured."

  "But ..." Nathaniel said. When Jared shot him an irritated look, he said, "What? I'm helping!"

  "However," Jared said, "They don't last. They are rare because we cannot live on animals or the cold, dead blood. We can survive, in a half-life, getting weaker by the day."

  Daisy shook her head, disbelieving. "I've seen it work. At least the human blood. It quickly healed both Nathaniel and me."

  "At a price," Jared said. "The thirst is stronger. One day you will either break your code of ethics and kill someone, or you will walk out into the sun. Most likely both, and in that order. If you insist on merely surviving, you will find your life ends far quicker than most."

  Daisy struggled to her feet, sliding up the wall of the mansion, leaving a track of blood to add to the less obvious stains on the stairs. "What does it matter, Jared? I lived my life. I am already dead. Now," she said, but found it difficult to move forward as she willed herself to do, "if Valerie will not lend me the money, I’ll have to find another way to ... carry out my plans."

  Jared steadied her, and repeated the Queen's words. "This is pain. Learn from it." He pulled something out of his jacket pocket and stuffed it into Daisy's hand. The outer bill of the bundle of money stuck to the blood on her fingers.

  "Jared, I can't take this from you." Daisy said.

  He shook his head. "It's not a loan, it's a gift, and it's not from me."

  Daisy looked at Jared and then to Nathaniel, who leaned against the wall watching the scene. Daisy made note of a hint of jealousy in his eyes, but set it aside for later. "It's from Valerie," Nathaniel said. When Jared shot another look at him, Nathaniel held up his hands. "Helping."

  Jared and Nathaniel supported Daisy to the front gate, and there, Jared handed Daisy—now with a mostly re-knit belly—entirely over to Nathaniel. Because of her injuries, they continued along the road, walking instead of running, and not even briskly at that.