My Beloved

by T.M. Mendes

  Dominica shoved him off and turned her steely gaze to her. "You try anything like that again, and he won't be your only problem, got it? Now get inside. I need to take care of him. I'm sure you wouldn't want to see it."

  Wendy understood what she was saying and quickly turned around. Her stomach was in knots and she felt sick.

  "Hey!" Dominica shouted after a few moments and Wendy was some feet away. Wendy turned slightly to let the other girl know she had her attention. The wind blew her blonde hair into her eyes slightly, irritating her. "....thanks."

  She barely heard it but she did. Nodding in reply, she quickly got out of there.

  Her head was reeling from what just happened. Why did that guy say Darcy's name? Did she really have a close encounter with death? The whizzing sound from the bullet echoed in her brain like a track stuck on repeat. She was definitely shaken up and probably would be for a while.

  'Wendy?! Please answer me!' she suddenly heard in her mind. It caused her to pause just outside the entrance to the hospital. She moved out of the way of the walkway path as she concentrated.

  'Vincent?' she thought. She felt relief flood through her, and she knew it belonged to him.

  'Are you alright? I felt your panic. I've been trying to get a hold of you for some time now.'

  Wendy could hear the naked worry laced in his voice as he tried to find out if she was hurt. 'I'm fine. A guy... well, he tried to kill me but Dominica saved me,' she thought in reply to him. It was taking a lot of concentration and it was causing a quickly building headache.

  'Show me,' he thought toward her. It confused her for a moment before she realized he wanted her to replay her thoughts. She walked inside the entrance to sit on a nearby indoor bench. She felt less exposed this way.

  Replaying what had happened, she could feel the anxiety and the anger seeping into her mind from his. When she got to the part with the make-shift bat, she could hear him growl. 'You went back?! How could you be so stupid?! Do you realize you could've been killed?!' he all but shouted at her.

  Angry tears threatened to spill over. 'Don't talk to me like I'm a child! I knew what I was doing, and I wasn't even hurt! I'm not about to sit here and listen to you berating me on what I should've done! What happened, happened. Now I'm going to go upstairs and wait for my brother to get out of surgery, so goodbye 'Lord Vincent!' She sneered toward the end and managed to cut him off.

  She realized she's much braver when she wasn't face to face with him. Scrubbing her face with her palms, she got up and sluggishly went to the elevators. The adrenaline she was sporting earlier was quickly draining, making her lack of sleep quickly come to the forefront. With a start she realized she really did succeed in pushing him out of her head this time. Not knowing how she did it, she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Plucking her cell out of her pocket, she saw it has been an hour since she left earlier. Groaning, she rolled her head back and waited for the elevator to stop at her brother's floor.

  "Will this day ever end?" she muttered.

  When the elevator dinged, she walked off and sat in front of her brother’s room on a long plush bench. She didn't want to face her parents yet. Not when she could feel her face still pale from what had gone down not too long ago. Flexing her fingers, she tried to get the blood pumping in them once more. The warmer air inside was bringing her body temperature back to normal. Her eyelids drooped as she curled herself further onto the seat. When the elevator dinged again, she saw it was Dominica. Silence grew thicker when she sat next to her.

  "A fire truck should be heard soon," Dominica uttered before a nurse ran past them.

  "Oh my gosh! The dumpster out back is on fire!" the nurse said in shock to another worker.

  Wendy's eyes snapped to Dominica's but all she saw was a slight, barely there smirk. "I work quick," she murmured before dialing a number on her phone. "One is out, not sure how many more players are in the game, but I'll stay on home base to keep the bases loaded."

  Wendy's head swam, and tried not to think of what that means. With that said, Dominica snapped the phone shut and stared at the wall.

  Knowing she was fairly safe, Wendy let her eyes close and fell asleep.

  Chapter 10

  Vincent

  “Can you believe her?! She just... She just shut me out!” Vincent huffed and continued pacing.

  Darcy watched him lazily from the couch and yawned. “You woke me up for this?” His lazy yet slightly irritated drawl reached deaf ears as Vincent continued his outward thinking.

  “Does she not realize how close she came to dying?!” He turned to Darcy with a glare. “And it was because you couldn’t pay another vampire from a loan he gave you?!”

  Darcy yawned and laid back against the couch. “Oh, so now you acknowledge me?” That only set off another round of pacing for the elder vampire.

  “Well… you did yell at her. Wrong or not, you never yell at a woman. That only sets them off. You should know better than I on that,” Darcy said in a semi bored tone. He was ready for bed and had just fallen asleep for the day when Vincent barged in. He was going to be cranky for the rest of the day, even if he fell asleep at this moment.

  “Did you not hear what I said?!” Vincent yelled down at him.

  Darcy grumbled to himself in a childlike manner and rolled his eyes. “Yes, I did. I’m sorry this prick has turned his targets on Wendy, but you wanted protection for her. That set off a red flag for this guy. He thinks whatever I protect is important enough to me.” Darcy was quickly losing his patience with his sire and wanted nothing more than to crawl back into his plush bed.

  “Why on earth did you need to borrow money anyhow?! You’re well off!” Vincent was losing more steam but sounded exasperated.

  Darcy chuckled and shook his head. “Who said it was money? No, I merely borrowed without asking.”

  Vincent was close to ripping off Darcy’s head if he continued to play coy. “What-” he spat out through gritted teeth, “-did you ‘borrow’?”

  The tired vampire yawned once more before offering a sly grin. “He had this… companion, as he would call her. He kept her because her blood was so sweet. I simply had a taste of her is all and played a little with her. Wasn’t my fault she got sick and died, but Ramiro is determined that I had somehow had a hand in killing his ‘prized’ blood source. He really should get over it, the big baby,” he muttered at the end.

  “I would shut your mouth right now, Darcy. You have no idea how close I am to killing you.” The threat rang true, making the smart mouth pause, but only for a moment.

  “She’s fine! I’ll fix this, but-”

  Vincent cut him off by getting in his face. “No! I will deal with him! What. Is. His. Name.”

  Darcy gulped and noted for the first time since he was rudely awakened, just how far Vincent’s anger goes when messing with his Beloved.

  “Ramiro, Ramiro Delenta. He lives just North of here.”

  His answer made Vincent nod to himself. “Good, because you and I are going on a little trip.”

  Darcy groaned and let his head fall back in annoyance. “It’s daylight,” he tried but Vincent only gave him a cruel smile.

  “Don’t test me. I saw in your mind how you have a car that has tinted enough windows that we can drive it. Now we’re going!” Vincent was in no mood to be tried now.

  Darcy growled and grumbled to himself. “I hate your face so much right now.”

  Vincent ignored the jab and proceeded to get ready. This Ramiro had no idea what he just got himself into. Vincent was one of the few more powerful, elder vampires left. He was to be up most respected by his kind. The commission had yet to learn of his awakening, and he was glad for that. Although most of the vampires in that board were close ‘colleagues’ you could say, they were always stiff. With monotone voices and blank stares it made any vampire, even himself included, cringe inwardly.

  Going into a closet, he grabbed a very large, long, black cloak that would cover his frame, enough
to keep away from the sun’s harmful rays. Although it was going to be overcast, the UV rays are always poking through. He saw Darcy dragging his feet behind him toward the underground garage. He rolled his eyes at his less than enthusiastic friend. He was already angry from the brief conversation that he had with Wendy. Yes, he was a little harsh toward her, but all he could see through her memories was how close that bullet got to her! And then she had the gall to run back into danger?! Feeling his anger come back up a few levels, he took a deep breath to calm himself. He tried to reach her again and nudged at her mentally, but to no avail.

  ‘Damn it,’ he thought. She figured out how to shut him out. Only she could do it, since they were now bonded by blood. He hoped she wouldn’t know how she did it so it didn’t happen too often. Not being able to reach her left a worrying feeling in his gut that refused to go away. He would be sick with worry by nightfall if she kept this block up. He needed to know she was okay twenty-four-seven.

  It wasn’t long before they were in the sleek car with the dark windows. Vincent touched the interior. “This is quite remarkable,” he muttered and looked longingly at the driver’s side but knew that he couldn’t try to drive today. There were more important things at hand than learning how to operate one of these things.

  “Ugh, this is such a waste of my time. I could be sleeping right now!” Darcy complained moodily and kept his gaze out the windshield.

  Vincent scowled at him. “What if it was Anya?” he questioned, knowing that Darcy cared for her more than he would admit.

  Darcy spared him a side long glance. “It’s different. I’ve trained her since the day I found her. She knows how to protect herself. So, I don’t worry about her.”

  Vincent shook his head at him, knowing that wasn’t the truth, at least not all of it anyway. “I would have thought after all this time you would stop running from any sort of strong feelings,” Vincent spoke with a sigh.

  Darcy shot him a glower. “You have no room to talk! Just… Ugh, shut up please. Your voice is giving me a headache.”

  Normally, Vincent would be offended if it was anyone else talking like that to him, but since Darcy and he were so close, he really didn’t care. His sole purpose right now was to make sure his Wendy was safe. It was so surreal for him. To care so deeply for someone this fast, it nearly made his head spin. Such strong emotions that spanned over different spectrums. The worry he bears for her, against the love that all but spills out of his being. He could feel her fatigue through the bond and tried once more to get to her, but her wall wouldn’t budge. He was hoping once she fell asleep, her guard would be down.

  “Darcy! Call your guard and ask how she’s doing,” Vincent asked when the thought popped up.

  Darcy heaved a big sigh like Vincent had just asked him to work over-time. “Fine… oh, you’re in luck, she’s calling me.” Without further instructions, he pushed the speaker button located on the console. “Yes?” he answered, “is everything alright?” There was some rustling before the hired guard spoke.

  “One is out, not sure how many more players are in the game, but I’ll stay on home base to keep the bases loaded.”

  Vincent was thoroughly confused by this. His mind sifted through the information that Darcy had relayed to him and that sentence told him she was talking about baseball. He sat quietly though knowing his friend would explain after the call.

  “Good. Strike them out. If our team is intact, then I will make sure to give you a raise. Call me if things change.” Without waiting for a response, he hung up. “Dominica said she took the guy out, and destroyed evidence. She’s still on high alert since she doesn’t know how many that bastard had sent. Knowing him, he’ll probably send a couple more once word gets out the first guy is dead. We should get there though before word gets out.”

  Vincent sat on edge thinking of the dangers that lay so close to his Firefly. It took another thirty agonizing minutes to reach where they were going. It was silent the whole time, and Vincent wished they could’ve just flitted here. That would have gotten them here much quicker, but with the sun up higher, there was no chance of that.

  What lay before them looked much like Darcy’s place. A quiet looking one-story house, but the wrought iron gate gave away the importance of this place. Vincent knew there was an underground home much like his friend’s. He saw there was some sort of keypad when Darcy pulled up, but there were no numbers.

  Darcy turned to him. “Bite yourself.”

  Throwing him a bewildered look, Vincent furrowed his eyebrows. “Why in the world would I do that?”

  Darcy rolled his eyes, looking tired. “Because the scanner scans blood. More specifically, vampire blood. The gate will only open if a vampire sides, and since I highly doubt my blood wouldn’t set off some sort of alarm, I need yours. Now bite yourself, we’re losing time.”

  Complying with his explanation, Vincent bit down on his palm and watched as dark blood pooled there. Darcy took his pointer finger and with a slight grimace, he rubbed it in the blood before placing the now coated digit on the scanner.

  “Ow! Ah, hell! He added in a pricker!” As soon as he spoke, an almost undetectable alarm sounded. Human ears wouldn’t have heard it.

  “Shit. I knew he’d do that. Well, here goes plan B.”

  Before Vincent could ask what he meant, Darcy floored the gas pedal and stormed through the gate. The driveway was long but with Darcy speeding, they got to the front in seconds. The front door opened revealing humans armed with guns. They began to open fire but the bullets ricocheted off the window shield. “I’m so glad I invested in a bullet proof exterior,” Darcy muttered, making Vincent agree in silence. He could tell these bullets were silver and that meant they were deadly.

  “It’s too bad you’ve never seen The Matrix, otherwise I’d tell you to pull a Neo, when we get out,” Darcy said with a slight snicker. He was more awake now that there was action.

  Vincent glanced at the sky as the men that were shooting started toward the car. It was overcast, which meant even though the sun was behind the clouds, it would still harm them. Not as quickly, but it’d hurt nonetheless.

  “On go?” Darcy offered, cracking his knuckles. Vincent nodded. “Go!” he shouted and they both flung open the doors. Lucky for them three out of the four men had to switch their clips. Flitting at incredible speeds, and using their cloaks as shields from the UV rays, Vincent took out the first guy by snapping his neck.

  Darcy took care of the other one. As Vincent quickly moved to kill the last two, the one with the gun shot at him. “Arg!” he growled when the bullet bit at his skin on his arm. Luckily it was only a graze, but it burned. Forgetting the unarmed one, Vincent charged at him and flashed over to his side before breaking his neck as well. Darcy took care of the last one and soon they were inside, away from the harmful rays.

  “C’mon, I know how to get down below,” Darcy muttered, quietly going into what looked like a small kitchen. Vincent followed his lead and they both stopped at a small kitchen pantry. Darcy lifted up his hand and twisted a jar of fruit, making a distinct clicking sound to the right. Vincent’s eyes narrowed as he saw a small door revealed in the wall.

  “Now we probably want to be careful-ah!” Darcy cried out when a bullet whizzed by them. They both flattened themselves against the stone wall just inside the passage way. Vincent tuned into their minds and grabbed a hold of their will. He would’ve done this outside but he knew he could just kill them since he was angry. The gun fire stopped and Vincent gestured for them to move forward. At the bottom of the steep stairs, there were two more guards with guns ready.

  “When we step inside, shoot yourselves in the head,” Vincent commanded. He was in no forgiving mood, by any means. These men were a part of the plan on harming his Firefly, to him that was unforgivable.

  The door opened when Darcy pushed. Once inside, they both heard two separate gunshots behind them. “I would say that was cruel, but I know you’re royally pissed.”

  Be
fore Vincent could reply, an overweight vampire came into view. He had a pot belly with a goatee and a balding head of black hair. His eyes flashed black when he spotted Darcy. “I was expecting you,” he hissed but made no moves toward them. His beady eyes ran over Vincent. “And who is this?” he asked with slight intrigue.

  “I am Vincent Gilmore.”

  When he said his name, Ramiro froze.

  “Gilmore? As in the Vincent Gilmore?” Nervousness colored his tone, making Vincent smirk inwardly. “B-But you’re supposed to be buried!”

  Vincent clicked his tongue at him, now getting into predator mode. Ramiro scampered back slightly when Vincent took a threatening step. “My Beloved woke me up. Guess who you hired to take out?” Vincent’s tone was light but any fool could hear the underlining anger just simmering under the surface.

  “I-I swear I didn’t know! I just wanted him to pay!” Ramiro cried and pointed angrily at Darcy.

  Vincent sifted through his mind and grew more disgusted by the second. “I’m going to kill you, and I will do so gladly. You bring disgrace and fear to the vampire race! And I will not stand here and give you a free pardon when you threatened my Beloved!”

  Ramiro kneeled where he stood, knowing it was no use to try and escape or fight, so he took to the begging route. “Please! I didn’t know! I will call it off, I swear it!” His tone was pleading but Vincent was unmoved.

  “I’ve seen your doings, Ramiro. I’ve seen the destruction and pain you’ve caused in the last one hundred years! Harvesting children? You have a blackened soul that I will take pride in snuffing out.” With no more words, Vincent walked up to the cowering man at his feet and held out his hand for Darcy. Knowing what he was asking for, Darcy placed a wooden stake in his hands that he had in his cloak. Ramiro tried to beg once more but he was cut short when the stake pierced his heart. When his body began to deteriorate, Vincent stepped back and brushed off his hands.