Touched by A Dragon:

by K. T. Stryker

Ashe crossed her arms in front of her chest. “If you can’t come inside the church to talk to me, then we have nothing to talk about.”

  Peter stood his ground. “You’re being ridiculous.”

  “Come up here and prove to me you’re not, then,” Ashe said, her voice cracking with desperation. She dared him to try and deny what they both knew to be the truth.

  “You know I can’t,” Peter said, his own voice shaky. “Please, Ashe. Let me explain myself. I wanted to protect you. I care about you.”

  Ashe took a step backwards into the church. “No you don’t. If you cared about me, you would have told me the truth. You would have told me about my father when I showed you his picture. Nearly ten years I wondered where he was, why he’d abandoned us, and that whole time in the café you knew where he was and you didn’t say anything. I hate you, and all of your kind. You’ve done nothing but hurt me and I never want to see you again.”

  The look on Peter’s face nearly made Ashe want to take back her words, but the hatred burning inside her told her he deserved it.

  “If that’s what you want, I’ll leave you alone,” Peter said, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “I deserve your anger and I’m sorry for all of the lies. It was my fault for putting you in danger like that. My kind and yours are not meant to be together. You’ll never see me again, I promise. I’m gone.”

  He pulled his coat close and walked away from the church, his dark silhouette soon obscured by the rainy mist that had begun falling over the city. Ashe watched him go before retreating into the church. She thought she would feel better having confronted Peter about his betrayal, but she only felt hollow disappointment. There had still been a part of her, however small, that had believed Peter to be innocent. She had wanted him to follow her into the church and prove he wasn’t a vampire. She wanted to believe he was good.

  Ashe took a seat on one of the wooden pews in the back row. There were few other people in the church and the silence was welcome after the heated argument outside. Dim candles illuminated the altar and overhead lanterns cast their yellow light through the hall. Ashe leaned back to look up at the vaulted ceiling, feeling lost in the cavernous space. She wondered how people all throughout history had felt when the wool was taken from their eyes and the truth of the supernatural world was revealed. Professor Sharp had no idea just how relevant his class was! He would probably be over the moon to discover the existence of vampires in the modern day. Ashe, however, only felt dread.

  Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she quickly excused herself outside, not wanting to disturb the people trying to pray. Whoever had been trying to call gave up before Ashe could get to it and she didn’t recognize the number. Apparently they had tried to call twice, once while Ashe had been talking to Peter. She dialed the number back and waited, watching the rain drip steadily from the brown-leaved trees standing in the churchyard.

  A man picked up after a few rings. “Hey, I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. It’s Landon.”

  Ashe was surprised, but glad to hear his voice. “I’m not at the bookstore today. Did you need something?” she asked, thinking he was calling about a last-minute book he needed for finals.

  His voice came through the phone confidently, “No, I was wondering if you were free this afternoon.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Peter clutched the steering wheel hard, trying to ignore his shaking hands. He hated driving in the city, but Vanessa had insisted. She wanted to find David before the others did. She wanted first dibs on the blood. Everyone was feeling the effects of the hunger, some worse than others. Peter himself was barely hanging on to his sanity. He was almost glad Ashe didn’t want to see him. He didn’t think he could control himself if he were to go anywhere near her. Peter had the nagging worry that the church had been the only thing keeping him from attacking her earlier that afternoon. His thirst for blood had been that strong, but it had also weakened him enough that he had struggled to reach her in time. Maybe his curse had also been a hidden blessing. Who knows what he would have done to her, alone, and in the rain.

  David had been missing for days and Peter knew why. Ashe had told him that her father had gone to see her. No doubt the man had decided to give up his life in the vampire underworld and try his hand at an honest living, for the sake of his family. Peter could have admired the decision if he wasn’t so delirious from hunger. Right now, all Peter could think about was the iron tang of fresh human blood and he knew David was the only one who could get it for them. Peter didn’t know enough about the hospitals in the area to try stealing blood on his own. David had the schedules of blood bank deliveries memorized and knew enough about the movement of blood through the hospitals that he could take bags without them being missed. Peter only knew how to get blood from live victims and he wasn’t about to start that again.

  Vanessa clacked her nails against the passenger window, pointing at a side street up ahead. “You should turn here. Landon and I stopped here once to get a fix from David. I think his apartment’s near here.”

  Peter tried to ignore the casual mention of the vampire who had started this whole mess. If Landon’s family hadn’t turned David in the first place, Peter wouldn’t be out here trying to track down their supplier. Right now it was only Vanessa; Agatha and him, but once the sun set the rest of the clan would join them. Peter feared what would happen if they were unable to locate David.

  “You’ve got no clue where he is. Stop acting like you do,” Agatha groaned from the back seat. All she had done so far was complain.

  “Shut up,” Vanessa snapped. “He’s around here. We’ll find him.”

  “If we don’t I’m hunting tonight. I don’t care.”

  “We’d have to move again,” Vanessa said as if she dreaded the very thought. Peter wondered if there wasn’t something going on between his sister and Landon. It would explain a lot.

  Peter glanced in the rearview mirror at Agatha, who was watching a young man walking on the street with a hungry gleam in her eye. “No one’s hunting, tonight or ever,” Peter warned her.

  “Maybe I’ll put a stake through your heart instead,” Agatha retorted.

  They were all on edge and at each other’s throats from the hunger. Peter ignored Agatha’s cruel words. They reminded him too much of his fight with Ashe. She had dared him to go into the church with her, knowing full well he could not. Even the view of the altar through the open door had been dangerous, inflicting on him a physical pain to match the one that had pierced through his heart. He wished she could understand how much she meant to him. Peter hated his desire for blood, his instinctive urge to harm her. It was only because of this affliction that he had to be dishonest with her. But she had refused to let him explain.

  Peter slowed as he turned onto the side street Vanessa had pointed out. It was little more than an alley between two apartment buildings. Either one of them could have contained the man they were looking for, but Peter had a feeling they would not find him there. If David had reconnected with Ashe, he would be with his family.

  Peter parked the car and the three of them got out.

  “Check the names on the door buzzers. I doubt David used his real name, but if any of them are blank or look brand new we should check them out.”

  Peter and Vanessa took the apartment building nearest the car and Agatha went across the street.

  “You don’t think this is Landon’s fault, do you?” Vanessa asked as Peter scanned the names of the apartment’s tenants.

  “You tell me,” he replied. Most of the labels were yellowed with age, the ink used to write on them bluish and smudged. Only one lacked a name.

  “I don’t know why you hate him so much,” Vanessa said. “He’s been keeping us fed better than you have.”

  “Because he stole our supplier,” Peter replied as he pushed the nameless buzzer. The voice that answered was female. He wondered if she lived alone, and if she’d be missed were he to go up there and surprise her. His mouth watered.

 
“Sorry, wrong apartment,” Peter replied into the intercom, banishing the dark thoughts from his mind.

  He waved Vanessa to follow him back to the car, telling her, “You shouldn’t trust anything that man says or does. He’s a snake, and we’re better than that. Did you know his family was still hunting out in the country before we moved here?”

  Vanessa shrugged him off and went to join Agatha at the car.

  “He wasn’t there,” Agatha said sullenly as they got back into the car.

  Peter pulled out onto the street, planning to circle back to the city hospital for the second time. He was out of ideas.

  Vanessa was already busy talking on the phone to Landon; it sounded like. Peter tried to control his disgust. He didn’t like the smile playing across Vanessa’s lips as she listened to whatever the asshole was saying.

  Vanessa removed the phone from her ear. “I need you to drop me off at Landon’s. No, never mind. I can walk from our house. Yeah, let’s go back to the house.” She sounded anxious and Peter tried not to read too much into it. She was free to date whoever she wanted to, whether Peter approved or not. In any case, he was glad for a break from the search for David.

  Ashe sat quietly on the high-backed wooden chair trying hard not to cry. Landon lounged on an antique velvet sofa across from her, an amused grin curling up the corners of his mouth. It was dark outside, but there were few lights on in the room, making the shadows around them long and sinister. Ashe didn’t know how long she had been here, only that she wasn’t allowed to leave.

  “Shouldn’t you tie her up or something?”

  A woman came into the room. She couldn’t have been a college student, but she must have still been in her twenties or at the very most thirty. She had long black hair and green-grey eyes that Ashe thought looked like Peter’s.

  “Don’t worry, Vanessa. She knows I’m faster than her and if she tries to run I drain her,” Landon said casually.

  Ashe felt stupid for having gone to meet Landon. He had tricked her and threatened her into following him to his house. He was a vampire after all and now he was going to kill her, or worse, turn her.

  “Why did you bring me here?” Ashe asked. “If this has something to do with Peter, you’re wasting your time.”

  “I know about your fight,” Landon said. “I have visions sometimes. Precognition.” He tapped his temple with a long finger. “Why do you think I called when I did? I thought you’d be vulnerable after finding out about Peter’s dirty little secret. But this isn’t about Peter. This is about your father.”

  Ashe suddenly felt dizzy. She should have known her father wouldn’t be able to leave the vampire world so easily.

  Vanessa moved to the sofa to sit next to Landon. He put his arm around the back of the sofa where she sat. “You know what he is, don’t you?” she asked.

  Ashe nodded nervously. “But what does it have to do with me?”

  “You’re insurance, collateral for a debt that needs to be paid,” Landon replied lazily. He crossed one leg over the other as he spoke. “Our clans are getting hungry and we need the blood David supplies us. As soon as he gets us the blood, he can have you back. If he doesn’t give us the blood, you’ll take its place. We’ve got a lot of mouths to feed and you’ve only got eight pints of blood in you. There are ways of keeping you alive while we drain you. We’ve had centuries to perfect the practice.”

  Vanessa leaned in towards Landon and whispered into his ear, but Ashe was close enough to hear her. “Have you called him yet?” she asked.

  Landon replied in a regular voice. “No, I’m going to have the girl do it.”

  He handed his phone to Ashe and she could hear it already ringing on the other end as she accepted it.

  “Tell him what we told you. He has to deliver the blood here by midnight, or we’re taking yours instead.”

  Ashe held the phone to her ear with a shaking hand. After a while, her father’s voice came on the line.

  “Landon, I told you I’m done. Stop calling me.”

  “Dad?” Ashe said in a scared voice, “It’s me, Ashe.”

  “Ashe? What are you doing with Landon’s phone? Is everything okay?”

  Ashe felt like she was going to cry, but she didn’t want Landon to have the satisfaction of seeing her afraid. “I’m at Landon’s house. He said he wants the blood you owe him. If you do that by midnight, I can go home with you. If you don’t, he’s going to—”

  Ashe was unable to finish her thought.

  Her father sounded like he was trying to remain calm for her sake, though his panic was all too obvious. “Okay. I’ll be there. Hang on.”

  “And tell Mom I’m sorry,” Ashe cried. “I know we only fought so much because we loved each other. Tell her I never blamed her for you leaving.”

  David’s voice cracked as he replied, “Stop saying those things. You can tell her yourself when I bring you home. Landon hasn’t hurt you, has he?”

  “No,” Ashe replied. “Please come soon.”

  “Are you alone? How many of them are there?”

  Ashe had only seen two of them, but Landon had made references to the rest of his clan and she assumed that they were nearby. “I don’t know,” she replied. “Landon and a woman are with me.”

  Vanessa snatched the phone from Ashe’s hand and shoved it at Landon. “I think he got the message.”

  Landon shrugged and put the phone into his pocket. “And now, we wait,” he said.

  Ashe hoped that her father would get there soon and that they would let her leave as promised. She feared that they would never let him free; that they would keep using Ashe to threaten him into working for them until she grew old and died. She didn’t think she could handle always being in danger like that. Even now she was on the brink of bursting into terrified tears.

  Vanessa stood and left the room. Ashe could hear her footsteps going downstairs. When she came back she was holding an empty wine glass cloudy with dust. “You’re out of blood,” she said.

  “Tell me something I don’t know,” Landon replied sharply.

  “I can smell it,” Vanessa whined. “I can smell her blood.” She stalked up behind Ashe who instinctively flinched away. “How about just a taste? No one has to know. I won’t drink enough to hurt her.” She clutched the back of Ashe’s chair. Her long nails dug into the wood and left score marks.

  “No,” Landon refused. “The others will wake at the smell of blood. They’ll wonder why you’re feeding without them and be angry. I can’t hold them all off at once. She’ll be torn to shreds.”

  Vanessa pouted and retreated back out of the room.

  Landon leaned forward, placing his hand on Ashe’s knee. She jerked it out of his grip and glared at him.

  “If you want, I could turn you,” he said in a low voice. He glanced behind her towards the kitchen before continuing. “Vanessa might not like it much, but I have a feeling her clan’s not going to be around here much longer. It was her plan, you know, bringing you here. But she has no idea of just how much I’ve taken a liking to you.”

  Ashe felt sick. She despised Landon and all of his kind. He was just as bad as Peter. No, not quite. Whereas Peter had purposely lied to Ashe, Landon was being completely transparent about his intentions towards her. He didn’t pretend he had her best interests at heart. He only wanted her for his own satisfaction, for the blood flowing in her veins.

  “I’d never become one of you,” Ashe replied. “I’d rather die first.”

  Landon chuckled to himself. “You may just have your wish,” he said as a commotion from downstairs brought him to his feet. Ashe instinctively moved to follow him, but he gestured her back down into the chair. “No, you stay here.” He left the room.

  Ashe waited nervously, her knees pressed together as she picked at the fraying edges of the holes in her jeans. She tried to think of a way out, but she knew Landon would always be two steps ahead of her. He had seen her fight with Peter before it had happened and there was no telling how
far his power extended. She listened for footsteps before slowly standing from her chair and creeping toward the window. The outside wall of the house was sheer, with no overhangs or footholds between her window and the ground. Ashe guessed that even if she fell straight down, the muddy grass would break her fall enough to prevent a twisted ankle. She undid the latch at the top of the window and pushed it open. It slid upwards as if greased and Ashe let out a breath of relief that it hadn’t squeaked or gotten stuck halfway. She took one last look towards the ground below and steeled herself, summoning the courage she needed to make her escape.

  The sounds from downstairs were getting closer and before Ashe could commit to the jump she could hear footsteps on the stairs. She slammed the window shut and went back to her chair; trying to steady her nervous breathing before Landon and whomever he was with entered the room.

  Two new women were with him, along with Vanessa. One was a double of Vanessa herself, with long black hair and eyes like Peter’s. The other had a predatory grin on her face that made Ashe shrink back in her chair. Her canines were razor sharp and the hollows in her cheeks made her look like a corpse. She may have been breathtakingly beautiful once, but now she seemed ill and the old-fashioned, almost Victorian dress she wore did her no favors. Her black hair was pinned up intricately in a style fitting her ancient clothing.

  “How long until we feast?” the woman asked, eying Ashe like she was a prime cut of steak.

  “Yeah, you promised us blood,” the one who looked a lot like Vanessa added. “I doubt David’s coming. Let’s drain the girl and get it over with. We’re in too much pain for this to go on much longer.”

  Landon growled, “No. I already told Vanessa we can’t do anything until we know for sure. David’s loyalty to us is too valuable. We wait until midnight.”

  She snarled at Landon, but said nothing more. Ashe could see the hunger in her eyes, and as the two women settled onto the sofa across from her, she prayed that Landon would not leave her alone with them. Ashe knew that Landon was the only one keeping them from tearing her limb from limb, if only until midnight.