Zack chose to speak. “But-”
The moment Zack opened his mouth, Kyli shoved the piece of food down his throat. Zack recoiled back. Slightly choking, he gagged on it. Kyli struck him in the chest to help him swallow. It worked. Zack got the steak down and stared at Kyli as he recovered.
“See. Good isn't it?” Kyli smiled.
Zack coughed. “It's horrible.” Zack spit out the blood from his mouth. He didn't actually taste the steak. He was complaining more than anything. Zack licked his lips.
“Now you’re not leaving until you eat all of these.” Kyli commanded.
Zack was chewing and felt something was off. The steak wasn’t cooked. He had made the argument, but thought they were merely very rare. He was eating warm raw meat. A wave of overwhelming nausea hit him. Kyli stepped back as the small piece of steak ended up on the floor in a puddle of not-so-fun fluid. After its return trip, Zack coughed.
“Are you trying to kill me? I told you I can’t eat this stuff, it makes me, well.” Zack gestured to the floor. “Do that.”
“Do you see your leg? Do you know why it’s not infected right now? You've spent several hours in a cold chair with two open wounds. Don't you think it's a little odd that you haven't caught something from that dirty warehouse room yet?” Kyli was upset with Zack. She crossed her arms in protest.
Zack examined his calf. There was dried blood, but no signs of puss or even dark, dead blood. The wound had stopped bleeding. It had closed under the bandages. Yet it was never treated except for being washed and set by Kyli.
“Normal people don’t survive injuries like that Zack and laugh about it the same day. Not after that long without treatment. It would have clotted and killed you by now. That thick of blood would have been sent directly to your heart and caused it to stop. Do you know why that hasn't happened?” Kyli barked at Zack.
Zack slowly shook his head.
“It’s the blood Orhn poured on it. Your body has already made some progress. We just need to help it along at this point.” Kyli relaxed. She cut another piece of steak.
“How?” Zack’s stomach was settling as he hunched forward.
“You have two options. You can clean these plates off with your tongue until their spotless, or you can do it the hard way.” Kyli grinned devilishly. She poked the cut meat with her fork. “Well I can do it to you the hard way.” Kyli held the piece of steak up.
Zack didn't like option one. “What’s the-”
“-The hard way is waiting until your body needs the blood to function and you end up attacking anyone that's near you.” Kyli lowered the fork, setting it down on the platter.
“Okay, that doesn't sound that bad. I thought you were going to force it down my throat.” Zack took a deep breath and realized what she meant. “Wait. By attack, you mean bite?” Zack had concluded.
Kyli responded with a cold tone unlike herself. She unfolded her arms, slumping her shoulders. She was disturbed about the subject. “No, I mean viciously ravage until you severe their mortal coil. You will take everything from them. When you’re done they’ll lay there dead at your feet. When that happens and I assure you it will, you’ll actually feel full and giddy from the experience. Outright happy that you have your mind back after the constant biological starvation you had put yourself through during the past week of scratching your eyes out from the sick dreams. After it’s over, they’ll be dead. And you’ll feel better for it, even if you don’t like it. Even if it makes you want to scream out loud in agony and curse your soul for what you've let yourself do to them.”
Kyli turned away and headed to the bathroom. A few tears shimmered as she passed out of Zack's view. Kyli flipped the light on and shut the door with a slam. This was something personal. She spoke not as a bystander, but as a former aggressor. In Kyli's past, there had been a person close to her. A human that died by her inability to recognize what she was and what she was becoming. Zack could see that Kyli didn’t want the same thing to occur with him.
Zack wasn’t sure what he should do, he knew that consoling her might go well. Though not eating the food would be ignoring the very moral of her story. So he sat, picked up the knife and fork, and sliced. He ate one bite at a time. Methodically, carefully, and with lots of added streak sauce poured over each bite. He tore through four steaks until he felt sick. Zack truly was squeamish of a wet steak. He hated to eat anything that felt alive. He was doing this because of how Kyli reacted. Against his own free will, he continued. Eventually Zack became very tired. Several hours passed and he blacked out on the couch.
The sounds of Kyli in the bathroom crying gave way to delusions in Zack's dreams. Visions of clouds and blood swirled in his mind. The words and actions of the day mixed together in an ocean of memory. The scenes deluded Zack’s worries and cares. Soon the events didn’t matter and the trouble that had found him easily faded away. The world became silent. He was alone in the void of the moment. A desolate beach with no one around. Solitude. A red sea, splashing at the sand. Black clouds traveling across a flashing sky. Lightning ripping moments of turbulence for Zack's eyes to see.
“Did the aroma of her blood entice you? So much effort intricately examining her throat?” Zack knew this dark voice. It called out from the shadows of his mind. “Do you think she doesn't know what you really are? That you were the ephemeral demon in that warehouse room, not Orhn.”
Zack knew this feeling, the pressure as it weighed on his nerves. Hatred was a taste in the back of his mouth. Seething, licking at Zack's subconscious doubts and worries.
“There are few creatures that will ever know the terror I wield, that you presently wield. Blood is the fuel that burns through your veins. I am the match.” The sound emanated from all around Zack.
Zack said nothing. Holding his tongue out of more than caution, he was gripped by these words.
“Did you like the vision of her throat torn out? The serene meadow brushed back to reveal her slaughtered body?” The voice was pressing Zack. From beyond the shoreline. From far out in the red ocean before him.
Zack refused to answer. His will was coming back to him. A small perseverance was returning.
“Eventually you will crave the flow of fresh blood from every heart that still beats. Eventually you will call to me.” The voice rang through Zack's ears without sound. It was prying at him.
Zack bit his lip, trying to shut the message out. Cold fingertips slid over the back of his neck. Sending stern chills through Zack's body.
“It comes slowly at first to all who dare to taste. The feeling of power, the pleasure of lust, the pain of immortality. Everything will slow as you drink it in. The wine will last, the meat will abound, the blood will flow. Once you awaken me, once you accept me. There will be no confusion to the course, no hesitation to cause doubt. You will be mine, and behind your cold eyes I will force you to perform.” The ocean rumbled, waves were crashing at Zack's feet.
Zack screamed out, seething with anger. He was suffocating from the steady whisper. It was gnawing at him, causing Zack pain. He turned around, slowly. Not knowing what he might find.
Nothingness sat waiting for Zack.
“Focus Zack.” The voice called.
The sky began to rain black liquid. It soaked Zack. The voice was toying with him. Zack's anger gripped his thoughts.
“Your emotions are good, they will serve me well in my war. The contender within your own body. A stage that we will play the motions we must. Anger will prime your flesh to do my bidding. Cementing my puppetry over your life. The hatred I provoke in you shall be the key to the gates of my personal Avalon.” The voice sighed. “If they let you live.”
Zack steadied himself, trying to calm down and resist the demon’s influence over him. He was being attacked. His mind forced into complying with each wish, each word the voice was spewing out. Zack hated it. He wanted the voice to stop. He said softly and without essence. “Stop.”
“Petty attempts to stave me off are futile to no measure.
Greater men have tried and greater still have succumb to my lush dreams. I will show you horror. I will show you pain incarnate. Blood with no end. You will be trapped with no other route less my gift, my key cast in blood at your broken feet.” The voice breathed heavy in the distance. The rain stopped.
Zack squinted, looking out into the abyss of the nightmare and saw nothing.
“Blood tells. It changes what you are inside. The hunger that resides in you is a pitcher waiting to be filled. You will watch it rise and I will watch it overflow and spill. Let yourself slip, become what we both feel you are.” The rumbling voice waited. “You won’t last long with her. You can smell it already, calling you, tugging at your white virgin teeth. Rip, tear, rend, and enjoy swallowing her silken blood like smooth warm milk. It will only take time until you accept my offer, until you accept me.”
The same cold fingers slid across the back of Zack's neck. Smoothly clasping his throat. Lips pressed to Zack's left ear. A breath without wind spoke. “Until you need me.”
Chapter 3
The Island in the Pale Still Water and the Fleeting Humanity Within It
Zack awoke to Kyli. She shook him hard, trying to wake from an apparent nightmare he was having. Zack was sweating, panting. He spoke, clear as day. His eyes were firmly closed. “I will never need you!”
Kyli stepped back and let Zack fall forward and off the couch. “Then that's all you get.”
Zack opened his eyes as he hit the floor. He wasn’t tired, not dazed at all. He felt better, much better. Despite landing on his face. Zack's body was light, almost springy. He looked around the room. It was bright, but his vision was still blurry. The sun stung his eyes through the blinds. Though Zack didn’t have to squint for some reason. He pushed his glasses up his nose.
“Kyli, are you there?” Zack looked around, the whole room was blurred. “Why are my eyes so out of focus?” Zack was randomly searching for her as best as his eyes would let him.
“You're very considerate for saying what you did just now.” Kyli crossed her arms and began tapping her right foot. Waiting for Zack's answer.
“What? What did I say? I had a bad dream. I was resisting something, screaming out to it to go away and leave me alone. But I couldn't say it out loud. It was disturbing.” Zack propped himself back up on the couch. “Sorry. I didn't mean to say it to you.”
“Thank you.” Kyli accepted Zack's apology and uncrossed her arms. “To answer your question. I’m right here, and I’ll help you after you drink this.” Kyli handed him an insulated cup with a lid and straw. It was blue and white, with the same cloud pattern as the room.
“Are you sure you know what’s wrong?” Zack asked, his vision wasn't getting any better as he rubbed his eyes.
“Yes, Zack. Have I lied to you so far?” There was something about Kyli’s intentions that Zack didn’t want to trust. She was holding back.
“Well, no. I guess not.” Zack sniffed the end of the straw. “What is this?”
“Cranberry juice.” Kyli said in confidence.
The cup smelled of a heavy cream. “I don't think that's what it is.” Zack contested Kyli's gift.
“If you don’t drink it, I won’t help you. Take it or leave the hotel.” Kyli’s tone was stern, she was giving Zack a real ultimatum.
“Okay.” Zack took a sip from the cup. It didn’t taste like cranberry juice. It was cold like juice, but thicker, smoother. There was a slight film to it, like drinking thick chocolate milk. Whatever it was, it tasted good, very good, and wholesome to Zack's tongue. It filled his appetite and satisfied his thirst. “What is this? It's good.”
“I told you, its cranberry juice, remember?” Kyli’s playful tone had come back. However, she was hiding something from him.
“Okay. Then what’s wrong with my eyes?” Zack was trying to adjust his glasses up and down, change the angle, anything to help get things into focus. Nothing helped.
“Sure, close your eyes and open them the second I ask you to without any delay or complaints like you normally give.” Kyli sat next to Zack on the couch.
“Complaints? I don’t complain.” Zack replied.
“Less complaining, more complying.” Kyli instructed.
“Why aren’t you helping me?” Zack asked impatiently.
Kyli stood, silent. She was waiting for Zack. She wanted him to say something that would let her continue helping him with his focusing issues.
Zack thought about it. “Okay, you can go on.”
“What? I don't speak half-assed apologies.” Kyli was playing hardball.
“Sorry.” Zack said quietly.
“What was that? I didn’t quite here you. You were mumbling.” Kyli’s wit was sharp. She wanted a full apology, not a flimsy placation.
“I’m sorry for complaining, Kyli. Can you please help me.” Zack gave Kyli what she wanted.
“Close your eyes.” Kyli commanded.
Zack closed his eyes tight. “Sure.”
Kyli swiftly and quietly lifted Zack’s glasses off his face without a sound or reaction from him. “Now open your eyes and look right at me!”
Zack flung open his eye lids and focused on Kyli immediately. “What’d you do? I can see you so clearly, so vividly.” Zack was admiring her. He absorbed every part of her being as he looked her up and down. She had changed clothes since last night. She was wearing a thin black low-cut tank top with navy blue boy-leg shorts. Zack knew she was tall, but her milky legs were far longer than he imagined. The skin was just as flawless as he had dreamed. Kyli’s shirt left little for him to fantasize over. The ribbed cotton fabric was light and hid only the most intimate features from Zack’s sight. She appeared slimmer than in the club.
Kyli leaned forward. Suddenly, her scent filled the air. Cherries and lavender overcame Zack as the smell rushed through his lungs. This girl, this goddess was far more seductive when she was relaxed at home than buttoned up at any Gothic night club. Zack’s eyes were staring at every inch of her body. He couldn’t stop himself.
“You’re doing it again.” Kyli crossed her arms in protest, blocking Zack's view.
“Doing what?” Zack's eyes rose to meet Kyli's. Glimpsing her cleavage as his eyes passed by her.
“Staring where you shouldn’t. And after I helped you too.” Kyli snickered at him.
“You are so… beautiful.” Zack continued to scan her up and down.
Kyli's black hair showed darker than normal. Her eyes a fresh blue. Zack was in awe of Kyli.
“Thank you, Zack. You’re cute too.” Kyli leaned over and kissed Zack on the cheek. “Now I don't hate you anymore.”
“You hate me?” Zack blushed.
“Not anymore. Not with that face.” Kyli chuckled. “But it’s part of being a vampeal.”
“How so?” Zack couldn’t get her scent off his mind. It was overwhelming.
“What do you remember about the vampires you've read about in books? The facts they mentioned. Everything and anything you can think of concerning vampires.” Kyli propped her head on her hand, with the elbow pushing into the back of the couch as she laid down.
“For real? You mean those popular fiction books?” Zack cleared his throat, it felt much better. The soreness was gone. Zack actually felt stronger than before he was kidnapped.
“Yeah, everything, all of it.” Kyli stared at Zack's face. “Start with the basics. Tell me what you think you know.”
“Well, there’s the need for blood and stakes. I remember something about stakes, and sunlight too. They burned in sunlight.” Zack’s eyes were surprisingly sharp this morning. He was noticing things about Kyli’s face that were even cuter than he remembered. Zack tried adjusting his glasses. He realized they were gone. “Hey, when did you take my glasses?”
“You don’t remember the part about self regeneration? Powerful healing abilities?” Kyli was holding Zack's glasses and taping them on her very toned bare right thigh.
“Hey, give those back! I need them to see.” Zack lunged fo
r the glasses and Kyli jutted backwards. The glasses were millimeters out of his reach. Zack fell onto Kyli.
“You can see me fine right now, can’t you? I know I can see you.” Kyli was flirting with him. Zack’s body was pressed against hers. His weight fully on her. Kyli used one hand to push on Zack’s chest, she lifted him with ease. “Next is strength. All the books always talk about how strong all the vampires are.”
Kyli set Zack back in the couch. She got up and went to the middle of the room. Zack could feel Kyli's fingertips. They were warm, like hot knives on his skin.
“About finesse and agility.” Kyli turned and bent over into a full handstand, facing Zack. Her hair fell loose to the floor, long and black, shinny and straight.
The color in Kyli's eyes were piercing to Zack. “Such blue.” He managed to say.
“What was that? You like my shorts?” Kyli bent her legs and twisted them to the side. “Do they really look that good?” Kyli straightened them out.
“No, I didn't mean that.” Zack continued.
Kyli pouted. “You don't like my legs?”
Zack knew he should have seen it coming. “Really?”
“Okay. I'll stop.” Kyli relaxed as she held the position.
Zack was skeptical. “Yes, a handstand is impressive, but I don't see what that has to do with proving-” Zack stopped mid sentence.
Kyli lifted herself onto her fingertips, and then took the left hand away.
“But you’re only a little more than a hundred pounds, that would be easy for someone in shape that knew what they were doing.” Zack was defending the fact that Kyli's acrobatic prowess was skilled, but still very human. Zack focused on her face. She wasn't even exerting herself.
“And this?” Kyli supported herself with five finger tips, then shifted to her index alone. She was balancing on one digit. “Hurts just looking at it, doesn’t it?” With her other hand Kyli put on Zack’s glasses and pivoted into a standing position. Shifting her legs down and lifting her head back up. She sat next to Zack again. “Still think I’m merely talented?” Kyli smiled as she wore Zack's silver glasses proudly.
Demon Vampire (The Redgold Series) Page 10
