by Eric Asher
“Faith!” I heard him call my name just a moment before everything went completely silent...
I woke up to the sound of my name being spoken by the same female voice from outside of the barn. I was lying on top of a small bed in a dark room. I sat up, alert and ready to fight. My restraints had been removed; whoever held me had no worry of my being able to escape.
“Settle down.” She said softly. I could hear her voice but she was hidden completely in the shadows.
“Who are you?” I had a flashback to when I first met Vander. Vampires sure did love that creepy hidden voice act.
“My name it Melissa.” She spoke and then paused as if waiting for me to understand what she was really trying to tell me.
“Melissa,” the name settled into my mind for a moment. “As in… my mother?”
“Yes,” she was still hidden by the shadows.
“My mother, I thought you were dead. No one knew what happened to you.” I spoke, but it felt as if I wasn’t really there. None of this was happening; I would wake from a dream. I wanted this moment for so long but something felt so wrong about it.
“No, I am very much alive.” I could hear the smile in her voice and for an odd reason it made me feel like screaming.
“Wait,” I sensed her as I did everyone else, as I was taught. The cool vibrations, the sickly sweet scent that came from her and the airy musicality to her voice. My instincts told me it was true but I still had to question it. “You’re a vampire?”
“Yes, it seems Vander has taught you well. You can tell that without even seeing me.” She chuckled.
“How? This doesn’t make sense.” I racked my mind and not once did I remember Vander or anyone else saying a thing about my mother becoming one of them.
“It does. I was turned. It was a punishment to your father. This is not anything I would have elected to do on my own.” There was pain in her voice that I tried to ignore. I needed answers.
“My father, was he turned as well?” A moment of hope, no, I didn’t want him to be a vampire, but that was better than him being dead, right?
“No, unfortunately we were not so lucky as to be gifted eternal life together.” The sadness, her heart was broken and I could hear it on every word.
“His death, was it your doing?”
“No!” She finally stepped from the shadows to reveal herself to me and I held my breath.
“Sorry, I had to ask.” I whispered.
“I loved your father, and you, more than life. That was taken away from me.” Her eyes were rimmed with tears, voice quivered as she spoke.
“Why are you doing this? Why kill all of those innocent people?” I stood and paced the floor. “What point does it prove?”
“I am not the one responsible for that, Faith. I didn’t turn anyone, and I damn sure wouldn’t send them out to harm you.” She stepped a bit closer and paused, testing the waters.
“Then who?” She had to have known, how else would she be there in time to save me?
“Samiel, he is the one who turned me.”
“Why is he doing this?” I interrogated her further expecting her to shy away from my questioning but she did not.
“He wants you. He wants to turn you into a vampire.” She said simply. His intentions were straightforward. It explained why the ones who grabbed me had been fussing over making sure I was not harmed.
“What? Why does he want me? Is this to get back at my father, he is already dead. What more can he do to hurt him? Nothing was making sense but I was becoming accustomed to the feeling. Eventually the pieces would fall into place…I hoped.
“I had to get you away from there. You all did exactly what he wanted; I can’t believe Vander didn’t figure this out. Samiel lured you there; he knew that you wouldn’t let him go on long killing off all of those humans.”
“Why me? What does he want from me?” She still hadn’t answered my question. There had to be more to it for her maker to want me specifically.
“You are special, Faith. Samiel, Vander, Hani, and everyone else, they all know it.”
“Special how?” I remembered Vander saying it was under special circumstances that he was called to train me. I never really questioned it but at that moment, I wished that I had.
“There is something in your blood. A gift bestowed upon you while you were still within me. A very old witch poured her magic through me and into you. That magic is in your blood and they all believe that it will make you unstoppable.” She stared at me as if she pitied me. There was more to it than she was saying.
“So he wants to change me,” I couldn’t even begin to process what she had told me, “and use me as what?”
“I don’t know. What I do know is that he intends to turn you into a vampire. I am sure that he thinks it will somehow make you some type of super hybrid that he can command. As you know, makers have a certain bit of authority over those they create. I’m not even sure that would happen. No one is sure what will happen. They are all working off of theory. All I know is that I cannot allow him to get you.”
“Where are we? I have to go back. I have to help my team!” It didn’t matter who was after me. I had to get back. She’d taken me, and the last thing I could remember was Vander. He was down and calling my name.
“No, you cannot go back and neither can I! If Samiel finds either of us, he will kill me and take you. It is best that we stay here. We are hidden here, they cannot find us.” Her eyes told me she felt like she’d done the right thing. She was a mother protecting her child. Nothing was right about it; I couldn’t let others die because of me.
“You have got to be kidding me! You expect me to turn my back on them? What about Vander?” I yelled at her.
“Vander will be fine; he is the least of my worries.” She sighed.
“I am not staying here.” I moved to the window and pulled back the curtains prepared to jump out, but the glass pane sat safely inside a set of metal bars.
“Yeah, you are.” She said sadly, as she turned and left the room. After she closed the door, I heard her turn the key inside of the lock securing me inside.
I was locked in the room for hours, until the sun came up. When it did, there was a small knock on the door. A woman’s voice that I didn’t recognize announced that she was opening the door and that if I attacked her she would kill me. I moved to the back wall of the room and waited for her to come through. I had no idea who or what she was or if I was even capable of fighting her. I wasn’t about to prove her point.
“Faith?” Her head poked through the crack of the door at eye level. Dark brown hair worn in braids, hazel eyes, and a gold nose ring. She smiled timidly at me.
“Yes, who are you?” I asked her and she stepped fully into the room.
“My name is Tabitha.” She said as she shut the door behind her softly.
“What do you want with me?” I stilled myself making sure not to have her think that I was going to try to attack.
“I want to help you. You have to get out of here and you won’t be able to do that without my help.”
“How exactly are you going to help me get out of here?”
“I am a witch, it’s what I do.” She smiled proudly.
“How?” I couldn’t tell if she was trustworthy or not. I wanted out, but was she the person to aid me?
“I can give you a gift. The gift to travel.” She smiled with eyes bright now as she whispered her secret.
“You mean that freak travel thing, like Vander and my mom?”
“Yes, but first you have to do something for me.” She pulled a small bottle from her pocket and held it out to me... “Drink.”
“What is that?” I eyed the bottle, but did not take it.
“Tea.” She said simply, but we both knew it was more than that.
“I am sure the favor you want isn’t for me to have sip of ordinary tea.” I folded my arms across my chest and waited for further explanation.
“It will create a mental link between you an
d Vander. I need you to be able to communicate with him. A phone call isn’t going to cut it right now.”
“Why can’t you do it? Drink the tea and chat away.”
“It doesn’t work that way. It has to be someone who is already close to him. Someone who has a connection.”
“What exactly makes you think that I fit the bill?”
“You trained together, fight together, and as far as I know have spent every waking moment by each other’s side for the past couple of months. I think that means you are connected in some way.”
“Being forced to spend time together does not mean two people are connected.”
“It means he cares about you and you care about him and that is a connection that will suffice.” She was convinced of her assessment of our relationship and pushed her hand out to me. “Drink it.”
“Fine. And after I do this you will help me?”
“Yes.” She nodded and moved within arms’ reach still holding the bottle out to me.
I grabbed it from her and rolled it over in my hands a few times before deciding to actually consume its milky contents. Tea, my ass, this was no Lipton’s. I popped the cap and lifted it to my nose to find the smell wasn’t too terrible. It only mildly reminded me of wet dog. Pinching my nose, I tossed it back like a shot. We all know that never helps with masking taste. The stuff was a disgusting combination of puke, liver, what I image a dirty diaper to taste like, and…mint. I expected there to be pain or some obvious side effect. Outside of the revolting of my taste buds, there was nothing.
“Okay, what do you want me to tell him?” I handed the bottle to her.
“Tell him that it is time for Hani to step down.” She said as she put the bottle back into her pocket.
“Wait, what?” This was the first time I moved since she had entered the room. I stepped forward towards her and she looked at me appraising my demeanor. I stepped back again and held my hands up to show I meant no disrespect.
“Just tell him, he will understand.” She rolled her eyes and moved towards the door.
“How do I even get this connection to work?” I asked before she made her exit. I didn’t expect her to have a ready-made manual but some direction would be nice.
“You must do it just before sunset. When his body is still at rest but his mind is beginning to wake. That is the only time the link can be activated. If not you will have to drink the tea and try again tomorrow and every day after until you do it right.” She didn’t wait to find out if I understood what she had said or to allow for any follow up questions. She left me alone in the room and made sure to lock the door behind her.
I waited all day. Periodically food and drink were delivered. I had a private bathroom so that made things a bit easier and I spent an extended period soaking in the large tub beneath the rays of the sun. I had parted the blinds to find that the windows in the bathroom were also secured with bars. This place was a true prison. I tried to pry them free assuming my newfound strength would make a difference, but they wouldn’t budge. I spent most of the day staring out the window at an unnamed mountain peak waiting for the sun to begin to fall. The entire time I kept my thoughts on Vander. I had no idea what I was doing, but I didn’t want to have to suffer through that horrible tasting tea again.
When the light of the sun touched the peak of the mountaintop, I felt it. This was what I had been expecting when I first drank the tea. Pain stretched across my skull as my eyes slammed shut. If I had been standing, I would have fallen over. My face burned and tears began to fall from my eyes as a piercing noise assaulted my eardrums.
“Vander?” I said aloud as the pain began to recede.
“Faith?” His voice was frantic but brought me relief. It had worked.
“Yes, it’s me.” I found myself smiling at the sound of his voice. ”Are you okay?”
“Forget about me, where are you, I will come for you.” He paused. “How am I hearing you now?”
“I don’t know where I am, and I am not sure how long this connection is meant to last. I have a message for you from Tabitha.”
“Tabitha, so the witches took you? You aren’t with the vampires? How did you get away?”
“No not exactly, listen. She will help me escape but I have to deliver the message in order for her to help me.”
“And what is the message?”
“She said to tell you that it’s time for Hani to step down.” I was no longer speaking aloud. I used my mind to speak, hoping he would still be able to hear me and it worked. I sighed in relief because I was afraid someone would overhear my one sided conversation. “What?”
“Sounds like a coup to me but she said you would know what it meant.” I tried not to sound accusatory but it was difficult not to.
“Okay, right.” He paused as if he had suddenly understood. “I understand. When will you be back?”
“That I don’t know. I am assuming that it will be after sunrise since she came to me during the morning.” I stared out the window. The sun was nearly gone from the sky, which meant Vander, and all of the other vampires would be waking soon including my mother.
“Good. Get back as soon as you can. Please be safe.”
“I will.”
Vander fell silent and I was alone again as the last of the sunlight disappeared. My solidarity didn’t last for long. The key turned in the lock and the door pushed open. I didn’t turn to it. I knew who it would be.
"Faith.” My vampire mother said my name and I attempted to ignore her. “Please look at me.” I turned to her and for the first time I really looked at her. I favored her in some ways. I could see we shared the same lips and nose, but my eyes must have been from my father. Mine were more soulful than hers were. She was a shade or two lighter in skin tone, but I imagined that was because of her new half-dead status in life.
"Still here, where you locked me up like an animal." I couldn’t help taking the jab at her. She had in fact locked me in my room.
“Please don't be the way." She sat on the bed and looked up at me.
“And what way would you have me be mother?" I turned away from her again and stared out of the window. I thought of Vander again hoping the connection would come back but it didn’t.
“I’m sorry."
"I don't think you really are but none of that matters.” I turned back to her. “Let me out of here."
"I can't… not yet. Not until I know that it is safe for you." She looked at me and I wanted to believe in what she was saying. I wanted to believe that my mother simply wanted to protect me. Unfortunately I didn’t. There was more to it, more that she wasn’t telling me.
"And when will that be, considering the person you are trying to protect me from is an immortal?"
"I am working on a plan. Don't worry." She smiled and the look in her eyes told me that my dear ol' mum had lost her mind. Whatever she was planning wouldn’t work. The witch was right. I had to get out of there.
"Please stop. You know… I cannot believe this." I shook my head and sighed.
”You can’t believe what?" She stood, “I can protect you!”
“No you can’t. You're a coward. All that Vander told me of you was wrong. You’re weak! You run and hide and you expect me to do the same thing." Her jaw tightened and her fist clutched, my words were angering her but I continued. “I will not desert my team like you did. I will not sit here in this place like some caged dog waiting for you to tell me its okay for me to go back to my life.”
"That is not true!" She yelled at me and I could see her fangs lowered. “You have no idea what I have been through. Don’t you dare stand there and judge me!”
"Yeah it is. You've been hiding all of this time. Everyone thinks you're dead!"
"I had no choice." My stomach clutched at the sight of the blood tears falling from her eyes. I had been told that vamps cried blood, but I’d never witnessed it. “I lost everything! I did what I thought was best, to protect myself, to protect you!”
“What is so differe
nt now? Suddenly you have the choice, are you no longer under his command?"
“I had help. As long as I am here, I am hidden. Faith, you are safe here, but it was a one-time deal and I had to wait for you." She quickly pulled me into her arms, an uncomfortable and unwanted embrace.
"Sorry mother but I don’t want to live my life hiding in some corner of the earth. I have this annoying little tick of wanting to actually enjoy living." I stepped away from her. “If that means having to fight for the right to do so, then that is what I will do.”
"You don't know what you're talking about. I am your mother. I know best. In time you will see that as well."
“Yeah, you may have given birth to me, but you are not my mother.” I knew my words were harsh but I needed to strike a chord.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Faith.” She dropped her head and moved for the door. “I will check on you again tomorrow. I’ll have dinner brought up to you.” The door locked behind her.
TRAVEL
“Did you deliver the message?” Tabitha stood in my room again after the sun had touched the sky.
“Yes. I told him what you said.” I redressed and was ready to go. She had to get me out of there. “Now, what about your end of the bargain?”
She said nothing, just handed me another small vial. I frowned at it.
“How does it work?”
“Visualize where you want to go. You have to focus and allow the magic to take you there.”
“That isn’t really all that helpful.” Once again, no instruction manual included.
“I am sure you will be able to figure it out.” She smiled and left me alone.
I drank the concoction, this time it was sweet and thick like drinking honey. The slime coated my throat and landed heavy in my stomach. Of course there was pain, I doubled over and writhed on the floor. Sweat covered my flesh and I felt like I would lose the steak dinner that I was given the night before. Eventually the pain receded and I was left breathing heavily and wiping the sweat from my brow. It took a moment to compose myself. There would be no training course, no lesson on jumping. Visualize a location and go there. That was all I had to do.
