My thoughts reached out—something awful had happened to his mind—a jumble of impressions—death, gore, blood, feasting. A shiver quaked through me. This human had been abused, made into something he wasn’t and the beast, whether it be skin-shifter or vampire, had taken possession of his body, mind, and soul.
I shook my head, ridding my mind of the residual effects of the rogue in front of me. He tasted my particular odor, drinking it in, trying it on, to discover what I was. I gazed back, one … thought … made its way to me … Prey or hunter? Growling low in the back of my throat, I let my own beast out a little, answering the one before me. Prey I wasn’t, and equally deadly.
Recognition sank in his eyes and he snarled in return. We circled each other for a few moments, until he stepped into the moonlight. His face was unlined, youthful, little more than a child, surely no more than seventeen or eighteen years old. I’d seen pictures of him on television, somewhere from Indiana. He’d been missing for more than a year, maybe two.
“David?” I called out to the boy. “David Banton?”
His feral eyes looked back into mine and he found his voice, squeaky as if rusty from disuse. “Do I know you? Can you tell me where I am? What’s happened to me?” he croaked. He’d been lost to the beast and vampiric hunger for so long, he’d almost forgotten how to be human. It was time to remind him.
I sped fast as a blink to stand before him. “No, kid, you don’t know me. I was sent here to find you.” Reaching out with an open palmed hand, I tried to draw him closer, but he was skittish and backed further away.
“No, you were sent here to kill me.” He sniffed the air again, scenting the truth. “I don’t even know what happened to me, I’m not me anymore.” Red stained tears gathered in his eyes, he circled around me and I turned with him.
“I don’t want to die,” he uttered in a despondent voice.
His words echoed my own from so long ago … I don’t want to die … but death had already claimed him. How lost was he? Could he be helped? And to the bastard who’d done this to him? Our true rogue? He deserved to answer for his crime. No more or less. The older and deadlier fragrance I’d detected earlier. I longed to reach out to my father but distractions were not what I needed.
My gaze roved over the surrounding area, eyes always on the lookout for the lethal ancient. My hand sought the spot where his claw had hunted for my heart. The injustice of it seized me.
“You’re right, David. If you can’t or won’t let me help you, then I’m going to have to kill you.” I spoke in hushed tones, taking a careful step forward. His feral eyes blinked back—distrust, suspicious, used to being abused.
“Just do it then,” David shouted. His hands thumped on his skull, groaning. “What have I become? Why?” He stormed around, watching me watch him.
“I don’t know, kid, but if you’ll let me, I’ll try to find out.”
“What are you? You don’t smell right.” A fleeting breeze raced by as he stood before me.
“What would be the right smell?” I asked him.
“I crave … what you don’t have,” he growled. “What are you?” he demanded again. “What am I?” he whispered.
“Kid, I’m either you’re savior or executioner—it’s your choice. Please make it a wise one.”
“Can you tell me?” He cleared his throat, his voice thickening. “What happened to me?” He gazed back at me, defeat, resignation in his features.
Maybe he was contemplating truly giving up. But, was he giving up the only kind of life left to him or merely giving up the hunt of the undead?
“Were you attacked almost two years ago?” I questioned.
“Yeah, knocked unconscious, and when I came to … I was a prisoner in a dark place, the walls spongy. He attacked me, over and over, biting me again and again, each lance piercing. I screamed, thought I was going to die, hoped I would. He … fed from me, used me.” David lifted his tattered sleeves and the shredded neck of his old shirt, revealing gouged marks, raised and reddened. “He kept me weak … too sick to run. He was wrong.” He revealed his story in broken pieces. “He hunted me but I stayed on step ahead. I’m real good at hiding.” He shuffled his feet, kicked the dirt clots where grass should have been.
“One night he found me and tore open my throat, told me not to be scared anymore. I was really dead.” David brought his hand to his neck. “I laid in the dirt, bleeding out. The sun came up and …” He released a shivering sigh. “I blistered, skin on fire. I ran, but not fast enough, I ached all over … my muscles, my blackened skin. I broke into a house, an old woman’s, I—she died before I could stop myself. Then, I didn’t want to stop. I’ve been staying there, the hunger claws at my gut but food sickens me …” He sounded old, too long alone with the untrained madness of vampiric need. “She watches over me, the old woman.”
“The dead one?”
His eyes cut away and he shrugged. How long had he lived with the dead woman? Could he be saved or had the madness claimed him? Someone needed to dispose of the body and the property.
I tried a different tack. “Who found you, David?” I asked. This would be my true prey.
“I don’t know … He had crazy eyes, but I never heard his name. He was just the master.” His eyes roamed the area, fear glowing in their depths. He gazed at me with his red hazed stare. “What’s the matter with me?”
Closing my eyes, I tried to see the onslaught through his eyes. There it was … in a glimpse of a memory. Moving through the fog of his thoughts, most tinged red with rage, I found what I was looking for, my eyes opening wide. It had been a wolf attack. How had a wolf come to be in central Illinois?
“You were attacked by a wolf. No, not a wolf … I don’t know.” Stunned, my gaze swept the area again. “I’ll know more after we get out of here. Come on, David, let me try to help you,” I coaxed with an outstretched palm. “I’m part of a powerful family. Let’s see what we can do.”
“No.” He backed away in fear. He must have read my face. “If I go with you, you’ll kill me.”
“If you don’t come with me, I will end you because I can’t just leave you. This isn’t how we live. If you come with me, I’ll try to help you.”
“Promise?” Distrust leaked from his eyes, abuse has a way of doing that to a person, but he wanted to believe, to trust.
“Nothing in life is a sure thing, kid, but yeah, I promise to do everything I can. Now, what’s it going to be? Certain death or maybe life?”
“I’m fucked either way.”
“Probably.” Sighing, I glanced up, the night near its end. I was tired, ready to be done with this one way or the other. “So, which is it? The easy way or the hard way? Because, kid, I can’t let you go and I’m sick of doing things the hard way.”
“Fucked, I’m so fucked.” He raised his eyes, decision made. “Okay. I really don’t have a choice, for sure dead if I don’t and probably dead if I do. I’ll go with you.”
Relief washed through me. Kids were strictly off limits to vampires, and I didn’t want to start off by killing one now, vampire or not. I motioned to the car down one of the side roads. “Come on, kid. Climb in.”
“Cool car,” David said, a peek at what was left of his humanity asserting itself. “You must be loaded.”
“Yeah, well,” I shrugged. “Perks of the business. Home’s pretty far, so we need to find a place to clean you up, get you a room. Tomorrow evening, we have a long drive back to Chicago.”
“I’ve never been there.” He leaned back uneasily.
The cunning of the Council struck me. A rogue running wild in central Illinois wouldn’t go unnoticed. Now, I had to drag David back to our home.
I turned away, touching Lucius’s mind. “Father, our rogue is only a boy. Something bad has happened to his mind. It’s a jumble, a nonsensical mess. He was attacked by a skin-shifter or a vampire hiding in wolf form.”
His response was exact. “Is this the Council’s …” I felt him wondered. “Bring him home.
I’ll deal with the situation.”
That didn’t have a good feel to it. There are some things better said in person, and if I was going to plead for his life, I needed to know it was worth dying for because, ultimately, the Council would decide if I didn’t.
*
David was like nothing I’d ever seen before, and existing in a place where his victim lay. Surely that alone was a reason for insanity. I contacted a local doctor—one of our kind. He normally worked in the morgue as a medical examiner and we arranged to meet. In these modern times, having a vampire working with the dead was essential. It was one way to locate vampiric and unlawful turnings before problems like David occurred. An untrained vampire could be deadly, and to more than the human population, to all vampirekind. The GPS took us to the morgue, and the doctor waited for us, the door open to the alley entrance. We slipped in the entrance.
“Whoa.” The man looked us over. David stepped further inside, eyes searching everywhere.
“The kid needs a shower. Think you can scrounge up something for him to wear, a pair of jeans, a T-shirt? I can’t take him anywhere the way he is.” Someone was sure to notice the homeless teen. The hotel staff would have to be manipulated or I’d have a visit from the Champaign PD.
“Showers are around the corner, disinfecting soap and shampoo in the stalls. Towels are in the first cabinet.” He pointed, nose wrinkling. “I’ll see if I can locate some clothes, those need to be burned. When he’s ready, let me know.”
“The doc’s got a shower for you.” I called to the boy, his back pressed to the wall of the refrigeration units. His wild eyes roamed the space, the pungent scent of antiseptic and filth overriding the frigid air.
“Where?” His head bobbed one way then another.
“Just around the corner. Don’t worry, it’s safe. I can’t take you back to the hotel like you are now. Follow me.” I turned, giving him my back, spine tingling up to my hairline, and led the way to the showers.
As luck would have it, David was eager for soap, water, and shampoo, luxuries he’d forgotten.
I searched out the doctor. “Doc? We might have a little problem.” I explained David’s living conditions. The doc had a good contact inside the local PD, the body would be disposed of and the property scoured.
“Hey,” David said, returning from the shower. “Thanks, I …” He looked away, confused.
“It’s cool. The doc’s going to take a look at you.”
He nodded.
“I’ll be back in a few.” The doc caught my eye and I nodded too.
*
“So, what do you think? Is he true vampire or some form of mix?”
“Honestly, his canine development follows along the line of vampiric. I’ll have his blood work tomorrow. If a mutation exists, you’ll be informed.” He glanced over in David’s direction, then back down to his paperwork. The morgue was busy tonight. “Good luck, Mr. Draco.”
“Thanks, Doc. Send us the bill.”
My next task was to set David straight about the way of life for the newly turned, killing and leaving dead bodies wasn’t it. What the Vampire Hierarchy would tolerate, and what would earn your true death. He’d lived so far ruled by the beast.
“You have to live within vampire protocols,” I explained to my young charge. “The governing Council of the Vampire Hierarchy brings swift death to those either unwilling or unable to conform. There is no mercy and you, my young friend, have been living on the outside, drawing attention. It has to stop.”
“I don’t want to live this way. I want to be normal. I want to go home.” David stood before me, still damp from his shower looking even more vulnerable than he had before.
“I’m sorry. There’s no going home. This,” I pointed to his body and mine, “is your new normal.”
“And if I don’t want to live like this?” he questioned, eyes downcast.
“Then I can’t help you. It’s death you want.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. Lucius would be so much better at this than me.
“This is living? Starvation all the time?” He lifted his muddy eyes to mine, licking his ruddy lips.
“Vampires live … exist … for a very long time if you’re careful. If not … ” My shoulders lifted, the word death hung between us, unspoken. Better to understand the hard truth now than when a splinter of wood was being forced through his heart or his head cleaved from his shoulders. But if the Council demanded his death, it would be delivered quickly and expertly, no possibility of reprieve. Probably along with my own.
*
Isabella met us as we arrived with a room for our guest. “He’s waiting for you in his office.”
I glanced over at David, then back at Isabella who read my eyes.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of our new friend. He’ll be fine. Hi, David. I’m Isabella. Come on, let’s find your room.” She smiled, holding out her small hand, beauty and peace radiated from her. David, like the youth he really was, openly accepted her offer and followed willingly.
I was glad to see him accepting one of us. I went in search of Lucius, I had a feeling David’s case was going to have to be pled before swift judgment came.
*
Lucius was going over paperwork—even vampires had bureaucracy—but he seemed to be adapting well to the new position the Council had thrust upon him. He looked up when I entered the room and met my eyes. I had a hard sell in front of me, that much I knew. What I didn’t know was if he was willing to buy.
“Father,” I greeted the man that I’d known for centuries, “do you want to hear what I have to say, or is the decision already made.”
“I’ll listen, but don’t ask for the sun and the moon, and expect to get the stars as well.”
“His name is David, and he should never have been turned. I had to try. He’s only a kid. He doesn’t even know what the hell’s happened to him. Did you just want me to kill him, without giving him a chance to learn? Is that what you did with me?” I stated in rapid fire bullets. “He’s barely older than I was when you found me,” I whispered, dropping my gaze.
Lucius rubbed his hand across his weary face and sighed. “No, Ben, I didn’t expect you to kill him. Hell, I don’t know what to expect or what to think. I haven’t run into anything like this in all my years. The young are forbidden, too easily do they give into the hungers, but if he’s lost … If he can only see the prey, if he can’t learn to accept what was done to him, he will die. If not by your hand or mine, then the Council’s.” He studied his papers then glanced up again, deciding. “If they step in, I can only assume you and I will have already been taken.” His black stare found my grey one. “Are you willing to make him your responsibility? Do you know what it means?”
“I think I do.” I grimaced. “He won’t be easy. He’s mostly feral.”
“Make sure you understand.” He sighed again. “If you vow to help him and he can’t or won’t accept this new life, it’ll be your hand that finishes the job.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“And the Council may demand your death as well.”
“Figured that much too.”
“So long as you understand. I don’t want to lose you.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t want to be lost either.” I scrubbed my tired face. “I better go get David. I left him with Isabella.”
“Great, she has someone else to mother. Just what she needs.” His gaze was stern but pleasure lurked in the depth of his blue-black eyes and he sighed. “All right. Go get him. Let’s see why you’re willing to stick your neck out.”
“Sure, but he’s a little skittish.”
He leaned forward, his fingers clasped over his papers. “Damn politics,” he muttered under his breath.
I went to find the boy I’d staked my life to save.
*
My fate seemed to be sealed with Lucius’s words. I searched for the presence of David and Isabella, finding them upstairs where she was showing him around, trying to put him at ease. When
I entered the room, David looked closed off, hands fisted tight and shoved into his pockets. His brown eyes were hooded, his thin stature rigid. It would take some time to undo a year’s worth of damage.
“How’s it going? Did Isabella show you your room?”
“Yeah, I don’t think I can stay here.” His gazed roamed nervously, system overloaded. “It’s too closed in here.”
“Hey, calm down, it’s going to be okay.”
He held himself tight, ready to bolt. “How can I hunt here?” He circled around the room, stare crazy.
“I’ll help you, show you how and where to hunt.” I reached my open hand to him, like trying to make friends with an angry dog. “Come on, I want you to meet my father.”
He edged away, backing to the wall. “You promise you’ll take me out? Show me where to hunt?” Panic filled his scared eyes.
“Yeah, kid. Come on.” I eased over to him to drop my arm around his bony shoulders. “Let’s go see Lucius, then we’ll work on the whole hunting thing, promise.” My voice flowed with calmness and he visibly relaxed.
Though he seemed unwilling, he allowed me to guide him from the room, still dressed like a skater boy, skinny jeans, grey Metallica T, and black Chucks.
Chapter Eighteen
I strode to Luc’s office, the young vampire, our rogue, trailing behind. But not our true rogue if my perceptions were correct. I moved with a relaxed calmness that I didn’t feel. If one thing can be said for vampirism, it grants the ability to move with a stealth-like quietness, emotions masked when needed. As we walked, David’s behavior mollified, the blood fever gone, for now.
He tensed for a moment, his vision shot wide as he took in his surroundings. Wealth oozed from every surface. I wanted to touch his mind, but the jumble of his thoughts confounded, even scared, me. David remained a puzzle, one that I didn’t want to figure out on my own.
We entered the room and Lucius eyeballed the young man next to me. A look of shock flashed across his face. The boy was so young. Muscles strained to cover his meager bones, his frame long and lanky, not yet filled out. Who would have turned a boy, no more than a child? His feelings bled into mine as he peered at me, understanding my need to help.
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