Two Halves Box Set

by Marta Szemik

  “There’s no demon keeper?” I asked.

  “No. Demons are not natural.”

  The warmth from his body was gone. The chills that would normally run down my spine were gone. Cold passed through my back slower, teasing, thawing in some parts only to refreeze again.

  “Some time ago, a high-ranking warlock became a demon. He wanted to take over the vampire and human world, using warlocks as his disposable minions. His name is Aseret.”

  The wind whistled outside, forcing itself through cracks and smaller openings.

  “Is?”

  William nodded.

  I knew I wouldn’t like this demon and pictured a giant monster with horns on his head and smoke spewing out of his nostrils, juggling little red spheres of molten rock from claw to claw while wild fires raged behind him, casting him into black silhouette.

  “Sarah?”

  “I’m listening.” I shook the image off.

  “The keepers created a prophecy to bring him down. We are part of that prophecy. He’s now bound to the underworld and cannot escape to do more damage, but he has seekers and demons working for him. We’re supposed to bring balance back to the underworld.”

  I looked at him incredulously. “You and me? But I don’t have the muscles you were talking about.”

  “Didn’t you listen? We don’t need muscles.”

  “Because their orange eyes will fry us before we get a chance to flex,” I quipped, and laughed, the sound tremulous. “Well, it’s about time something made sense in my life. I can’t believe I missed so much. I thought I was the only one—the only weirdo.”

  William let go of my hand. The picture on the wall disappeared.

  “Don’t say that.” He brushed his fingers against my face. The electricity that trickled from their tips ignited my body. “You’re special—we’re special. You’ve suppressed your most natural vampire instincts and functioned on a different wavelength from me. That’s why you couldn’t sense me the way I always sensed you.”

  “You sensed me?” I bit my lower lip. “Since when?”

  “Since you were taken away to live in Pinedale. Since I can remember.” He took a deep breath and added, “Even before I knew about you, I had a memory of you.”

  A faint memory flowed through me. “I crawled behind you on a marble floor.”

  “That’s right. We had to squeeze between the legs of a table.” He took my hand again.

  I closed my eyes. “The cookies in the garden room. I followed you, but my sun hat slid forward when I bopped and blocked my view.”

  “You were quick to push it up and grab the treats.” William laughed.

  “How old were we?” I asked.

  “Almost ten months.” William stared at me and I recognized the longing in his eyes. He missed me and needed me as much as I needed him.

  “So we are connected, you and I.” A rush of energy passed through my body, as if seeking to confirm the connection.

  “The problem is . . . I can sense more than just our connection. I feel when trouble is brewing in the world. I hear whispers from far away if they have anything to do with me. I can feel the powers shifting as fears and desires change.” William stared at one spot on the wall across the room as he spoke. He clenched the bedding and twisted it in his fists. Sweat beaded and dripped from his temples, as if he were reliving those fears and desires all at once.

  “William?” I touched his shoulder, and he jumped. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, nothing to worry about.” He moved over to the chair.

  The twenty-one years of my life that I had thought to be complicated seemed so simple now. Supposedly, I was to be part of a secret prophecy. I closed my eyes and shook my head like this was like another bad dream.

  A growl escaped my mouth, as if arguing with someone of higher power. My throat tickled when I thought about the mammals lurking outside. Being part of something greater . . . I had no clue about that, but it was not at the top of my list. A few hours ago, I was worried about telling Mira and Xander my secrets and whether someone can fill in at the store for me, but now William made it sound like we had to save the world.

  “I’ve been working with my parents on a serum to help us get through to the locked underworld. Aseret has sealed it off with magic,” he said.

  “While I’ve been trying to find a serum that could change me into a human,” I said wryly.

  We sat in ominous silence. William wanted a serum that had a different effect to the one I sought. Were we so different? One moment I wanted to explore the side I denied, the next I felt ashamed. But the pull toward a world I’d just been introduced to was getting stronger.

  “Did you ever find a serum that could change us into mortals?” I asked.

  “Would you really want that?”

  My mind screamed, “Yes!” but I couldn’t say it aloud.

  “You don’t want to admit it, but you answer is ‘no.’”

  “All I’ve ever wanted was to be a normal human being,” I insisted.

  “Sarah, you are normal. You’re just a little different.” He took a deep breath. “The serums that kept you hidden make it hard to accept yourself as a half-breed. It will take time for you to understand, but you will. And I’ll be here with you for every step. I’ll help you learn how wonderful it is to be who we are. I’ll bring you back, Sarah, I promise.”

  William’s gaze warmed my insides, melting anxiety and any logical arguments I might form against accepting my sadistic vampire side. There was no ice around my spine when he spoke that way. Still, freeing the emotions after twenty years of suppressing my instincts wasn’t easy. Could I really accept both our sides?

  “But what we are is—”

  “Not what we are, Sarah Who we are.” William smiled gently. “It hurts me to hear you refer to yourself that way. You are a person, not a monster. You’re just like me.” He took my hand and pressed the palm against his chest. His skin sizzled, but I didn’t pull it away. My mind drifted off, coaxed by his warm touch.

  We danced toward the bar, and William sat on a stool. Our lips never parted, our bodies never separated. The lights dimmed down to a romantic red, bouncing off the disco ball that hung from the ceiling to sparkle around us. The music was subtle and slow, changing to match our mood.

  As much as we wanted each other, we took our time. “I love you,” William breathed as he gently pulled his mouth away.

  “I love you.”

  The tips of our noses touched. Our breathing became heavy and deep. My fingers moved deftly up William’s white shirt, then to his shoulders to slide it off, revealing his muscled torso. His gaze fell to my halter dress, to the swell of my breasts. He grabbed my bottom to lift me onto his lap. My legs swung around his hips. We began our passionate kissing sequence once again.

  The telephone in the lobby rang again and interrupted my daydreaming.

  William jumped off the armchair and came to my side. He leaned forward and took my hand in his as if he’d sensed my distanced thoughts. “Are you all right, Sarah?”

  “Yes. The serum in the park kept us hidden from the seekers. How?”

  “The red one guided our dead cells to wrap themselves around the live ones and shield their existence. We cannot be sensed in a pure vampire form. They can only smell us, and I took care of that too—no heartbeat detected, no blood pulsing through our veins, no warmth. It’s the best protection vampires have from demons—being lifeless. If they can hide their scent, they’re almost undetectable. The serum lets us become comatose, but unless taken with a more potent one, it only works for a few minutes.” Smiling, he showed the mark on his wrist.

  “The blue orchid makes the serums potent,” I said.

  “Yes. And the pink serum gives life to the cells long enough to drink the blood. It took a long time to research the orchids. We used the discarded leaves and flowers to make rare wrinkle creams and perfumes for the human market. Our parents were the owners of Les Fleurs Exotique. Your Aunt Helen was part owner
. She inherited your mom’s share, and you inherited hers.”

  William was talking about the emerging company Helen had invested in. Of course I knew Les Fleurs Exotique. The company dominated the cosmetics industry and I was a share owner—a majority share owner, I presumed. This explained where Helen’s funds came from and her continuous following of the stock market.

  “How did I miss all this?” I asked, then suddenly yawned. Glancing at the clock on the bed table, I realized it was almost midnight and I’d missed my date with the siblings. They have to be worried since I never showed up.

  “Human senses are weak. Vampire senses are strong. You were not told for your safety. The serums kept your senses asleep until now.”

  “Why did they separate us?”

  He looked at me from under his brows. His breathing deepened as he moved his face closer to mine until it was inches away. I closed my eyes, ready to accept his kiss. Then he touched my hand.

  “Ouch!” I jumped back, startled by the electric current that flew from him to me.

  “That’s one reason. The other is our safety. We’re useless to them on our own.” He shrugged. “But . . . I feel useless without you.” His eyes held mine, and I knew what he meant. With William beside me, I could conquer the world. It didn’t matter that I didn’t believe it. As long as he was with me, everything made sense—even when it didn’t.

  “We are the only proof that vampires can be turned into ‘weaker’ humans. If the demons got their hands on us and the serums, they could use our research to weaken the vampires. There has to be more, though.” William sighed deeply and his gaze fell on the diamond pattern on the wall. “Why both of us together? Why can’t we touch without pain? Think how easy it would be to spike human drinks with the serum before a vampire’s meal. A vampire feeds on polluted human blood; with resurrected cells, they could become defenceless. Demons would win.”

  Every time William mentioned the demons, my skin crawled, an unpleasant sensation, given that I feared anything that could crawl: the tiptoeing of tiny legs up my arms or torso, the slithering of mucus-like worms, the unpleasant tickle of waving centipede legs on my arms . . . Goose bumps formed on my skin, and I shivered.

  William rose and walked toward the pattered wall where he stopped, rested his right elbow on his left hand, and chewed on his thumb. “There has to be more to us than just our serums,” he mumbled around the digit.

  I chuckled, but he continued chewing.

  “Demons know that vampires need humans to survive. But ever since they began receiving blood donations from prisons, they no longer have to hunt. Vampires provide protection to humans. That’s why the human species is safe with vampires in this world. But no humans, no vampires; no vampires, no humans.”

  I imagined a world without compassion and care, where fear and power ruled. Raging fires burned forests to ash, destroying any life, feeding on the energy released at death. I heard tortured screams, cries for help that would never come beneath a smoke-choked, lowering sky that blocked the sun and allowed darkness to suck any remaining life from the earth. These dreams hunted my nights. They were the ones I never spoke of. I didn’t dare move. William’s gaze was still fixed on the other side of the room, and for now, I wanted it to remain there.

  His voice deepened. “If the demons overpower the vampires, their hunger would drive them to defeat everyone above ground. The keepers had to stop the destruction and created the prophecy. That’s where we come in.”

  “But how? What are we supposed to do?” I asked.

  “I don’t know.” William’s lower lip quivered. His eyes emptied, as if they’d witnessed the death of millions at once. “Two species will become extinct unless we’re able to save them.”

  I filled my lungs with a deep breath. My life was taking on a new meaning as I came to understand who I was. We understood both sides, William and I. We could save them.

  Chapter 8

  William caught my gaze, then looked away. “There are rumours in the underworld that your father was captured a few years ago. All these years, he’s been leading the demons down false trails so you could be safe,” he blurted.

  “My father was captured?” I held my breath through five flashes of the outdoor sign, but it seemed like a dozen passed; I wanted to move, but my limbs wouldn’t cooperate. My father could still be alive. How would I react when I met him? Would I meet him? Would I be able to move then?

  A tear rolled down my cheek and I tasted its saltiness in the corner of my mouth. I had a relative, one who for all these years was closer than I’d thought. He meant more than I could ever imagine, this father I would have dismissed before today. He’s been struggling to keep me safe.

  I nodded to William to go on. The pressure built in my eyes. One blink would relieve the weight, like an overflowing dam.

  “Ekim sacrificed himself to protect you and your mother. He kept the seekers distracted so Saraphine could return home safely. She made it back to the cabin just in time, where they could no longer find her. Ekim covered her trail and led them away.” He drew a deep breath; his gaze shifted to the floor, then he squeezed his eyes shut and hunched his shoulders. Losing her hurt him as much as if he had lost his own mother.

  How wrongly could I have perceived my father? I’d always blamed him for my deformation, but now that I’d heard the truth, a new space in my heart began to fill. It had been waiting to be completed all my life, waiting to understand where I came from and my purpose. Now I was loved. I’d been loved by more people than I could ever have hoped. The love of two unique beings could save the worlds of two species. Was I that wrong to refuse my other side? To vanquish any memory associated with my traits? To crush the gift from the one who had given up his freedom for me?

  “Why did they allow me to…” I swallowed. “To feed on—”

  “They didn’t know what would happen after our birth. They had no idea we would share the traits of humans and vampires equally. And with all the running, you were born early. Our parents had no time to prepare. A child doesn’t know any better in the beginning, and a vampire baby would be hungry. By the time Helen came back into the room, it was already too late. Saraphine lost too much blood. My mother told me your aunt has never let go of the guilt.”

  I quivered, remembering the tiny red palm prints on my mother’s freckled, pallid face. I remembered more now: pin-sized dots in her bosom; red drops welling, collecting, and flowing down, a stream of blood getting wider and heavier. It wasn’t a dream after all.

  “Once you fed, Helen took you away, gave you the serum to control your thirst that Saraphine couldn’t reach for, and followed her directions about your rearing.”

  “I’ll never forgive myself for that,” I whispered. The dam spilled over.

  “No one blames you, Sarah.” He wrapped his arms around me.

  I rested my head on his shoulder. “Then why do I feel so guilty?”

  “Because you’re human.”

  “Human.” I pulled away to look at his face and shook my head. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to—”

  “I know, I know.” He stroked my head.

  I sobbed. William hushed my whimpers and brushed the tears away. After I finished crying, which took awhile, I wiped my cheeks with the ball of my palm. “They chased my parents because of Aseret?”

  William nodded. Hatred for the demon lord trembled my heart, and the aching pain reminded me of the same throbs I’d felt in my nightmare a few days ago.

  “Aseret figured a vampire and a mortal had become enamoured of each other and feared the union. Our conception caused chaos in the underworld.” William squeezed my hand again and another image from the underworld appeared, pictures of seekers, pain and exhaustion in their orange eyes. “Punished by Aseret after failed missions to bring the half-breeds they searched for,” he explained.

  “And if they find us?”

  He looked at me. “We’d be killed quickly, if we’re lucky.”

  “I would never le
t that happen.” I growled, then lifted my other hand to cover my mouth. The thought of someone hurting William was unbearable, yet somehow closer to a possibility than I wanted to imagine.

  William smirked. “Your dead cells are fighting the live ones. They’re trying to coexist, not be suppressed. Once you accept them as your own, it will be easier to control. Don’t worry, no one will find us if we get to where we’re going.” He smiled and released my hand. The image winked out. “The seekers never found the lab, and they never will.”

  Never say never.

  The air in the room became stale again. Outside, a motorbike passed with a throaty rumble, leaving exhaust fumes in its wake. It would be fruitless to open the window now.

  “You’re more like a half-breed than you think you are.” William stretched his legs forward.

  I fluttered my lashes like an experienced temptress. He weakened and curled back his stretched legs. I pouted. William liked that even more and came closer so I could feel the warmth of his breath.

  He kissed the tip of my nose, then pulled back.

  My gaze skidded away from his mouth as soon as I began imagining how juicy his lips would taste. I didn’t want our bodies to interpret this as non-platonic and zap us. And there was nothing platonic in the way I would kiss William. Stepping away, I put my face in front of the ten-inch fan, feeling the need for air conditioning.

  “Really? And I just wanted to be ordinary.” I said, my voice breathless.

  “There’s nothing ordinary about you.” The words rolled out of his mouth in a murmur. He moved his body closer.

  I wasn’t used to receiving compliments that stroked my needs and desires contained until now.

  William carefully studied my response. “Your dreams—we’ve known about them. My parents knew you’d be expecting me. Your ability to dream about me came from a spell so you’d trust me.” He sounded guilty.

  “Did . . . did you know about them?”

  “Yes,” he said, lowering his voice. William looked away.