“If that knife is for the vampires, I think you’re wasting your time.”
“Better than nothing,” replied Angela. “You have a better idea?”
Lucy looked at Jenna. “Are you okay?”
Jenna nodded. She wore an expression like a child who was recently slapped by a parent for throwing a tantrum.
“This place has to have a back exit.”
They ran into the kitchen.
Lucy flipped on the lights. “There,” she said, pointing to a door in the back.
They ran across the kitchen, dodging counters, and Lucy flung the back door open.
Immediately, several hunched over figures with savage expressions and ravenous eyes rushed the door. The three girls screamed, and Lucy slammed the door shut.
“We’re trapped!” said Angela. “We’re fucked. We’re totally fucked.”
“Calm down!” said Lucy. “We’ve got to think.”
She watched as Jenna was straightening out a cutting board so its edges were parallel to the edge of the counter. The poor girl was losing it. Then Lucy’s eyes lit up and she snapped her fingers.
“I have an idea…”
* * *
“Friends? No. I just met him today. He’s on the same tour as I am. I was supposed to keep him out of trouble.”
“You haven’t done a very good job, have you, Paul?”
Paul swallowed hard. “No, I suppose I didn’t.”
“Your tour mate slayed one of my children. I was going to make you one of us, but when I returned to your room, I found that you had run away. Why would you run away from me?”
“I-I was scared.”
“Do my children frighten you?”
“N-n…yes.”
“Children, back to the house! Justice is done. We don’t want to attract any more attention.”
The other vampires glided away from Viktoriya and Paul, never turning their backs on them, and drifted out of the front door, vanishing into the thick fog.
“There, is that better?”
Paul didn’t know how to answer.
“Paul, do I frighten you?”
“Yes?”
“Is that a question or an answer?”
“I-I admire your strength, your power.”
“Do you wish to become one of my children?”
“I-I want to go home.” He sounded like a lost child. To Viktoriya he was exactly that.
“Your home is now with me, to serve me, to pleasure me.”
The mere mention of that final duty elicited an erection even though he was terrified.
“You no longer have to bow to your father. You no longer have to feel guilt over your pursuit of pleasure. You’ll just take it as you see fit. You’ll be able to seduce women by sheer will and feed on their life’s blood. You’ll never grow old, and your existence will never grow dull.”
This all sounded good in theory, and he thought that was what he wanted, but not the way this creature was offering it. His father always told him that the relentless pursuit of pleasure came at a price, and Paul knew that the price of this monster’s offer was unfathomable.
Who didn’t want to remain young forever and live life on the edge, never worrying about responsibility or obligation? However, now that it was being offered to him (or imposed upon him), he wasn’t so sure he wanted it. Paul began to cry as he wished he had listened to his father, and he regretted the fact that he wasn’t going to ever see his father again.
Viktoriya slashed at her own wrist, just enough for some blood to ooze out. “Drink, Paul. Let me free you as you have always wanted to be freed.”
Paul whimpered, choking back sobs as he accepted her wrist and placed his mouth over the wound. As he sucked the salty blood from her wrist like a child sucking at his mother’s tit, he felt his humanity slowly slip away and replaced with something dark, something wild…
…something evil.
* * *
“This is a kitchen,” said Lucy.
“You think they have garlic?” Jenna asked.
“I wasn’t thinking of that, but that’s a good idea, too.”
“Well, what did you have in mind?” asked Angela.
“According to legend, vampires are OCD, right?”
“Yes,” said Jenna. “In the old days people used to throw straw on a fresh grave, so if the departed rose as a vampire, she’d be up all night counting the straw.”
“What if that’s just bullshit?” asked Angela.
“I used to think vampires were bullshit,” said Lucy.
“Good point,” said Angela.
“Okay, split up. Let’s find anything we can spread all over the ground. Something for them to count,” said Lucy.
The three girls split up, searching the kitchen.
Lucy found an old wooden door.
“Maybe we can use pasta,” shouted Jenna from across the room.
“Too big,” said Lucy. She opened the door and saw shelves along the walls stocked with various food items. “Besides, they probably make their pasta fresh. I found a pantry.” She looked down and saw large sacks sitting in the dark. She reached out and pulled on the chain hanging from an exposed light bulb, and the pantry lit up. She smiled. “Thank God we took a tour of Northern Italy.”
“Why’s that?” asked Angela.
“They have rice.”
Angela and Jenna walked over to the pantry.
“Help me get these sacks out,” said Lucy. “We’ll sprinkle the rice all around the edges of the room. What time is it?”
“I don’t know. My phone’s up in my room,” said Angela. Jenna shrugged.
“It’s got to be around 3 am,” said Lucy. “We just need to buy ourselves a couple of hours or so.”
“What if they’re not OCD and they walk right over it?” asked Jenna.
“Then I guess we’re dead,” said Angela. Lucy shot her a dirty look. “Sorry.”
They scattered as much rice as they could find around the room. As they just finished emptying their fourth sack, the door creaked open and they saw a pair of glowing eyes in the darkness of the dining room.
Viktoriya drifted into the room looking like a pale wraith, death incarnate. Lucy, Jenna, and Angela huddled in the center of the room. Viktoriya immediately looked down at the ground and hissed. She stooped down, hunched over the spilled rice, and began to count the grains.
“Holy shit,” said Angela. “Holy shit. It’s working. It’s actually working.”
“This is a mere distraction,” said Viktoriya. “We are fast counters.”
“Well, you better count fast. Sunrise is in a couple of hours,” said Angela.
“Despite your efforts, one of you is going back with me,” said Viktoriya with a conviction that was unnerving.
The three girls heard whispers from the dark corners of the room and huddled even closer together. It felt as if countless eyes were watching them from the shadows, probing with their gazes. Lucy and Jenna held hands.
“None of us are going anywhere,” said Lucy.
“Happy counting, bitch,” said Angela. “Twenty-four, thirty-seven, fourty-nine…”
Viktoriya smiled, flashing her ample fangs. “My mind is not weak like yours, my child. You cannot distract me, just as I cannot distract you from the reality that one of you will choose to join me.”
“Keep dreaming, whore,” said Angela.
“It’s true,” said Viktoriya, still counting. “For one of you, it will seem like you have no other choice.”
“Don’t listen to her,” said Jenna. “Ignore her.”
“Child, you couldn’t ignore me if you tried. Your heart pounds at the mere sound of my voice. And, you, Angela…”
Angela went white. “She knows my name. How the fuck does she know my name?”
“…you know much about monsters….”
“Don’t listen to her,” said Lucy. “She’ll try to manipulate you.”
“…your whole childhood was fraught with them. It’s not easy b
eing adopted, is it?”
“Fuck you,” snapped Angela. “You know nothing about me.”
“…you’ve been victimized by those who vowed to care for you, the ultimate betrayal of trust. They took you in, and then the husbands put their hands all over you when their wives weren’t around. Only you couldn’t say anything, because who would believe an orphan, and a troubled one at that?”
“So, what, you’re going to adopt me? Take me in and take care of me? Given all of my experiences, what makes you think I’d trust you? You’re just another monster with empty promises.”
Viktoriya chuckled. “Who said I was offering you admission into my family? Maybe I’ll just string your innards from the rafters and make a meal of your flesh.”
“I told you to ignore her,” said Lucy.
“Ah, Lucy, you always possess such poise under pressure. A natural leader…”
Jenna took Lucy’s hand in hers. “Ignore her.”
“…always so smart and so independent. So independent that men won’t even look twice at you for more than a screw. So inaccessible, an outsider in matters of the heart, so lonely.”
Lucy looked away from Viktoriya, but she felt the vampire’s fingers crawling on her skin, under her clothes…from across the room. She looked into Jenna’s eyes. “She can’t get to me. I’m proud of who I am.”
“…ah, yes, the lonely are so proud, their pride a wall around their hearts. Your friends, Lucy, are leaving you behind. They’ve found love and they are cultivating a life around it, a life that does not include you.”
Lucy gazed at Viktoriya. “And, what? You’re offering your love to me. You’re not my type, Honey.”
Viktoriya licked her lips. “Oh, I’m everybody’s type, and everybody is my type. Especially you, with your AB negative blood. You, my dear, are a rare delicacy.”
Jenna pulled on Lucy’s arm. “Lucy, don’t.”
“And what about you, Jenna, always living in such fear. I, as you can see, understand your compulsion to count and how it rules your life, how it prevents you from taking what you want, just as these grains of rice are preventing me from feasting on you three, slaughtering you like the wild boar roaming this beautiful countryside…”
Jenna whimpered. Lucy held her close and Angela stepped in front of them, blocking Jenna’s view of the monster. “You leave her alone.”
“…but, Jenna, I can teach you to embrace fear, use it to get what you want, whenever you want it. Fear doesn’t have to be your enemy. You dress up as bold heroes, pretending to be one who possesses courage and strength. I can make you one of those super heroes. You need only take my hand and come with me.”
“You know,” said Angela, “it occurs to me that maybe you’re the one who’s lonely. That’s why you kidnap all of the men in this town. You offer them love, but they only fear you. You try to take solace in the loneliness of their wives and children left behind, but the feeling leaves you empty. So, you try to create your own family of abominations because misery loves company.”
Viktoriya smiled as she kept counting. “My dear, you are so very wrong about me. Too much pop culture vampire books. The pain and loneliness of others sustains me; their suffering is my sweet nectar. You are nothing but food to me. The fact that I elevate some of you into my ranks as goons is only to aid in my protection from primitive farm folk and their pitchforks. I am not lonely. I am singular in my evolution. I am a master vampire.”
“Then why the taunting? Why don’t you just kill us?” asked Angela.
“I taunt you because it’s fun, like a cat toying with a mouse before it makes a meal of it, and because I’ve not finished counting.”
Lucy released Jenna and stepped next to Angela. “That’s funny.”
“Child, I assure you that there is nothing funny about your predicament.”
Lucy ignored the threat. “You said you were a master vampire, not the master vampire. That means that you were made, which means you were once ‘food’ like us. Your hypocrisy knows no bounds.”
“That was many moons ago,” said Viktoriya, “but my Maker made me more than a goon. She made me her protégé, and now I’m a master. That intrigues you?”
“No, I’m just pointing out what a hypocrite you are.”
“But, Lucy, on some level I believe it does intrigue you. You are an ambitious young woman, placing achievement above all else. Perhaps you would like to become my protégé, like Anya was. She was something special, much like you, until that ape slayed her in our own home.”
“I assure you that I have zero interest in becoming your protégé.”
“You would have status, power, and an army of lesser goons at your command. We could rule this countryside together. There is no greater status than the title of master. You could snatch husbands from their marriage beds, make them do your bidding. Men will no longer be a mystery to you, but you would be such a mystery to them. They will adore you, Lucy.”
“Keep counting,” said Lucy. “The sun will be rising soon.” But Lucy was astonished at how quickly Viktoriya was counting the grains of rice. Would they make it to dawn?
“Let’s face it,” said Viktoriya, “you three are not getting out of here intact. I’m taking one of you with me, whether I finish counting or not. This is a fact. You are each wondering who it’s going to be, and none of you think it’s going to be you. But, the fact of the matter is, that I already have my hooks in one of you.”
“She’s bluffing,” said Angela.
“I’m already in one of your minds. You feel it, don’t you?”
“She’s full of shit,” said Lucy, but she felt this monster’s dirty little fingers probing her memories, violating her most private thoughts. Angela felt it, too.
Jenna shook her head, as if she was trying to clear it. Lucy embraced her. “Don’t let her trick you, Jenna. We’ve got you.”
Jenna dropped to her knees, placing her hands on her temples in pain as if she was experiencing a migrane. Lucy dropped beside her and hugged her tighter as Jenna began to tremble. “You stop it right now! Leave her alone, you witch!”
“I’m so afraid,” whimpered Jenna. “I don’t want to be afraid anymore. I want it to stop.”
“Not like this,” said Lucy. “You have to be strong. Dawn is coming.”
“Enough,” boomed Angela. All eyes were on her. “Enough. You can’t have her. You can take me, but under one condition…”
“Angela, no!” protested Lucy.
“I’m listening,” said Viktoriya.
“You take me on as your protégé, to replace the one Barry killed.”
“Angela, you don’t have to do this,” said Lucy.
“If I don’t, she’ll take Jenna. I know what it’s like to be an orphan, adopted by monsters. No one should have to experience that. I’m already all fucked up. It wouldn’t be such a fall from grace for me.”
“We can wait this out,” insisted Lucy, cradling Jenna in her arms.
“Jenna can’t,” said Angela. “She’s not strong enough.”
Lucy glared at Angela. “This has nothing to do with Jenna. You want the power. You fucking bitch, you want the goddamned power.”
Angela ignored Lucy’s attack and looked at Viktoriya. “If I leave here with you now, you’ll leave them alone?”
“For now. I would not recommend they stick around for the tour.”
“Angela, don’t!”
Angela stepped over to Viktoriya, who stood and offered her hand. Angela took it. She had time to look back at Lucy and Jenna one last time as she drifted out of the kitchen and into the darkness of the dining room with her new master.
Angela was gone.
* * *
Paul stood at the crest of a hill outside of town as the sun began to rise. He stood, facing the rising orb of fire as he wept. He wept, feeling profound shame in how he lived and what his life had become. He wept because he would never feel the warmth of his father’s pride. He had been a tremendous disappointment to most and a
burden on all with his selfish pursuit of pleasure and meaningless existence.
He placed a hand up to shield his eyes from the burnt orange conflagration in the sky as his fingers began to turn to ash and dissolve into the morning breeze. The pain of his purification drowned out the psychological pain of his wasted life.
Paul flamed out of his existence on earth in a quick blaze, no trace of his existence left behind to testify that he was ever here.
* * *
Stefania ran into the kitchen of the hotel to find Lucy and Jenna still huddled on the floor, embracing each other. Jenna was crying. Both girls looked weary.
Stefania ran over to them. “What happened?”
“We were attacked last night by your Russian vampire strippers,” said Lucy.
“From Feral Hearts?”
“They got Barry and Paul. The master took Angela.”
Stefania looked around the floor at the spilled rice. “Clever girls. How did you know?”
“Took a wild stab in the dark,” said Lucy.
“That saved your life.”
“Not Angela’s,” said Jenna, sniffling.
“We need to go to the police.”
Stefania’s face went hard. “I’m so sorry. As a town we should’ve done something about them a long time ago. Maybe it’s not too late.”
* * *
Lucy and Jenna sat in the hotel lobby with every business owner and housewife in the town of Derosso. Stefania stood in front of them, glad they had all responded to her call for a town meeting. The policia were standing nervously by the doors.
“You really don’t need to stick around for this,” said Stefania. “This is no longer your problem.”
“We owe it to Angela,” said Jenna. Lucy nodded her conviction.
“Okay. Here we go.” Stefania turned to the group as the Mayor stormed into the lobby. “Thank you for coming to this emergency meeting,” she said in Italian.
“What is the meaning of this?” demanded Mayor Medici. “You have no authority to call a meeting.”
“I have every authority to call this meeting as a concerned citizen. Our town is under attack. A cancer has descended upon Derosso, and it’s preying on our people.”
Feral Hearts Page 16
