Kiss Me Before I Die

by Rena Marks

  Besides, my mother needed him. It was necessary to try.

  I wrote it down for the breakfast and lunch injections. At the dinner meds, he would zone again but it would be a good night’s sleep for him. He would slowly get back to a more normal schedule. Hopefully, the overworked staff wouldn’t have the time or energy to wonder why his narcotics were balanced with a reversing agent.

  I slipped his chart back into the holder on the wall before I leapt from the balcony, walking quickly around the facility to where we’d left the car.

  Ethan was standing next to it. Out in the sun, he looked like an everyday human. Just pale. He could stand the sun if he wasn’t injured but he wasn’t as strong as he normally was because of the sun’s draining abilities. On the other hand, neither was he a new vampire who couldn’t yet adapt to the change of life between human and infection. Still, I hurried. The sun wasn’t good for him and it was my fault he was in it.

  “What did you learn from your mother?” he called out, holding open the car door for me.

  I never broke my stride. “Nothing. She’s insane.”

  Chapter Nine

  Contrary to what I’d told Ethan, I had learned something. I’d learned that my original hatred of vampires was born from fear. Not my own but my mother’s. It had been instilled early, in my developing childhood. A critical formation period for mental growth. But how could I share such a prejudice with him?

  I’d been with her until I was three, when the government had taken me. But back then, there was a lot of red tape to go through before the Academy of Extinguishers finally got their way. She still had legal visitations for quite a while, in fact, I was bounced back and forth between her home and the government for a few years.

  One judge decided that was too stressful for a child. While the legal hassles were underway, I was sent to live in a catholic orphanage. One solitary nun taught me my humanity, though I’d spent more years with men trying to make me forget those early lessons. The government had thought ahead to keeping me permanently by committing my mother, knowing there was no one else to want her bizarre child.

  When it was all said and done, the judge had no choice but to return me to the Academy.

  I didn’t remember that fear, for I’d never seen a vampire. But it was triggered over my first encounter with the one I’d killed at thirteen. The one who taunted me about my gene pool.

  I believed his full name had been Ramon Durant.

  Although, in a way I should be grateful. He was the one to instill upon me the need to search into my government records. To search and destroy the hidden files kept by one solitary man, as detailed as a personal diary.

  Dr. Fokusovich.

  I parked the car but instead of heading up the staircase to my apartment, Ethan took my hand and we headed to the lush green yard around the building. “Come, let’s relax. Let it all go before we bring the tension inside.”

  I wasn’t aware I was tense. But I let him lead me because his hand was warm and large and comforting.

  We settled on the soft grass, against a tree, the scent of orange blossoms wafting in the air. Sitting behind me, Ethan wrapped his arms around me while I leaned back against his chest. “Do you remember our first time, bella?”

  “Why do you think of it? I almost killed you,” I murmured.

  He traced a finger down my bare arm. “Here we both are. Alive and well. I know it’s hard but it’s meant to be.”

  “It is hard,” I agreed. “I barely trust you and you’re asking me to trust your vampire tribe enough to live with you.”

  He pressed a kiss to my shoulder. “Yes. Just as I ask them to trust you. It is just as hard for them, you’ve killed many of my kind.”

  “Another reason why we cannot coexist, Ethan.”

  “I’m the connecting reason. And you are the only Extinguisher I would ever expose my family to.”

  “I’m not different from the rest.” I hated the guilty tone in my voice, for I knew good and well I was different from other Extinguishers somehow, in a way I refused to face. For one, it was exceptionally difficult to experiment on me, a lot of medications neutralized in my bloodstream, rendering them useless. Each experiment turned into a puzzle, causing further delay because then the scientists had to stop and figure out what caused that effect before they could get back to the original experiment. And unfortunately for them, anything they changed couldn’t be reversed to an earlier point, like the simple procedure of drawing and testing blood. For my blood couldn’t be frozen. It died within minutes of leaving my body, to the frustrations of the Russian doctors.

  During later years, they wanted to clone me. My cells died.

  Someone got the bright idea to breed me.

  That was a fight in which I’d almost allowed them to witness what powers had grown inside me. I was extremely careful to keep many secrets from the doctors, especially since the killing of Morovich, along with the demented demon-vampire I’d slain.

  All I knew is I wouldn’t allow another child like me to go through the horrendous training facility. And that’s what they wanted to create. Another me, but this time one they could control.

  While I was at full strength, I wasn’t at my full skill level. Eventually, I was overtaken by the guards and shackled onto a lab table. A familiar fate.

  One medication that was broken down by my strangely immune blood was narcotics. Therefore, I had to endure experiments without anesthesia.

  First, the drawing of my ripened eggs from my ovaries. Long, hollow needles injected deep into my highly sensitive female parts while I had the equivalent of tons of steel bands strapping down every inch of my body to keep me from bucking.

  Most of the eggs died as soon as they left me. Others died when they were fertilized, as if incompatible with sperm. Further experimentation proved they even died if frozen, collapsing like dust upon the thaw.

  Though not fertilized, one solitary egg somehow made it far enough to be injected into the uterus of a pig. I myself hoped it would live for a little while, for as long as it did, they wouldn’t turn to me to draw more.

  And it gave the doctors a false sense of glee over their success.

  As soon as my exhausted mental fight was rested, I knew the egg had to die. As if linked to my mental impulses somehow, it did and the scientists cursed their luck as it vanished in the tissues of the pig.

  Frustrated doctors haggled over reasons and solutions. When modern-day fixes wouldn’t work, they always turned to primitive or natural methods.

  Hence the pig uterus as opposed to a man-made incubator.

  Dr. Trubachev, the assistant of Dr. Fokusovich, pointed out the success of the implantation of the pig-inducted egg. He claimed it was due to returning to the basics. Therefore, he determined, breeding was best induced the old-fashioned way. I was enslaved to a solitary confinement with another Extinguisher. An Original, so we would “have something in common”. As if a courtship was possible in the sterile laboratory environment.

  What they didn’t realize was HB-8 Hartley was a male pumped full of testosterone by the doctors. He had to win at all costs and since I was a better experiment than him, he was eaten alive with jealousy.

  Hardly an amorous mood setting.

  When two months of being cooped up with my hated enemy went by, along with two of my female cycles, it was decided the week before ovulation, when I was prone to “mating cycles”, I would be injected with a female aphrodisiac. Yohimbine. Along with the usual basic female stimulants like estrogen to encourage the ripening of more eggs.

  To the glee of the doctors, Yohimbine was not broken down by my blood upon contact. For once, they didn’t care about determining the reason why, though I suspected it was because it was a natural ingredient and not chemically man-made.

  But to add to my hatred toward them, a side effect was permanent dilation of my pupils. A constant reminder, each time I looked in the mirror. I now had to forever wear black sunglasses outside, adding to their marketed “Extingui
sher” look.

  And as I said, Yohimbine worked. My tested levels were sky-high. The doctors knew. I couldn’t hide it from them. Somehow I had to twist the results to suit me, to keep them from achieving their purpose. I did the only thing I knew how.

  Being cooped up with Hartley meant I had to release my pent-up frustrations somehow. So I kicked his ass.

  He was nearly dead before panic alarms began to sound, signifying the scientists watched from cameras posted in solitary confinement. And Hartley was an important Extinguisher, another of the Originals who had survived this long. Too important to let die without purpose.

  All locked gates opened, releasing five armed guards. The battle was on, for I found a way to release my drug-heightened sexual tension. In the past, I’d fought for survival. Now it was a fight to the death, for I wouldn’t be bred.

  Two guards headed straight for Hartley. Three headed for me.

  The first guard made the mistake of looking me up and down, as if I were a piece of meat. I grew cold when I realized word had spread about this latest experiment and I was suddenly interesting.

  He reached for me. I grabbed his wrist and spun under his arm, moving behind him and bringing the arm up behind his back. Normally, one would stop at this point, until the one trapped agreed to your demands.

  However, my demands were to hear bones pop.

  Mercilessly, I twisted his arm until it broke and he screamed. I grabbed his other one.

  “Never reach for me again. If you so much as ever look at me, I’ll pop your eyeballs out. Got it?”

  He nodded and I tightened my grip on his arm. Then I cracked it in half anyway. He wouldn’t be able to shoot.

  Another guard came at me but I dropped and rolled, striking out a kick to his groin. When he fell, I noted another guard moving in too close for comfort. Grabbing the knife from the fallen guard who held onto his ruptured testicles, I swung it over the back of his ankles, severing his Achilles tendons.

  He flopped like a fish, blocking the path of the guard who approached. The latest guard stumbled and fell, staring in horror at the spread of blood from the ankles of his partner. Calmly, I took the gun from his belt, set it to medium stun and zapped him.

  His body twitched, wet from the blood on the floor. It intensified the electricity from the laser gun, paralyzing him instantly.

  The three guards who’d entered mere seconds before hadn’t been much of a fight. Not even close to the fight I’d enjoyed with Hartley, another Extinguisher and therefore more up to my strength. The humans were weak by comparison.

  I watched all three writhe on the floor, wondering when they’d send the next batch in.

  The overhead loudspeakers came on.

  “Afton! We need to you stop. To take control. We cannot have you exterminating guards.”

  “Then let me have Hartley,” I called out. His broken body had been taken away on a stretcher by the first two guards.

  “We need HB-8. You cannot destroy him.”

  “Then I’ll destroy them.” I motioned around the room at the groaning guards. “I’ll twist their necks, one by one.” I moved to the paralyzed one.

  “Afton! Stop. We have a compromise. We know your rage is caused by the drug flowing through your veins, it’s not quite the effect we wanted. But we’re willing to make amends.”

  Of course it wasn’t the effect they wanted. They wanted me to lose all control and fuck Hartley’s brains out.

  Well, they got the first half of what they wanted. I was out of control.

  The voice over the loudspeaker conveyed urgency. “Afton, we have word on where a hidden vampire tribe is. A dance club downtown, called The Ravine. You can release your rage with the monsters you were trained to search and destroy.”

  I paused, my grip on the jaws of the helmeted guard, where the idea had occurred to snap his neck.

  “Look, the doors are open. Gates are raised. If you kill that guard, you’ll be tried for murder. Go release your steam and find your way back to the lab when you’re done.”

  My hands shook on the jaws of the terrified guard, aching to do the deed. That statement infuriated me in my already heightened rage. They were so positive I’d return.

  And I would. They had made sure I had nowhere else to go.

  Still, I got to see the outside world. On my own. This would be another turning point for me. They didn’t know it but I would always hunt alone from now on.

  I’d met Ethan and other vampires before, of course. I’d hunted him—stalked him—for years at this point. Injuring him many, many times.

  As soon as I found him and similar to countless other times, his other vamps showed up for the fight. To die themselves, if necessary, to protect the leader.

  I had entered the club full of squirming, sweaty bodies. Amid the loud music and frenzy, I sensed him. The one individual I sought. Yet, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted. Violence, yes. But something more brewed within me with this particular vampire.

  I watched covertly until I noticed when couples began to disappear. The next set, I followed.

  The giggling, drunken female was led down a narrow concrete staircase in the back and through a set of drapes. I couldn’t morph somewhere I’d never been but I wasn’t afraid to enter, for it would be easy enough to morph out at that point.

  Underground, it was vampire quarters. All I had to do was find the one male I’d scented. The leader, the original vampire. I waited until the male and female entered another room, closing the door with a click. Oddly enough, my eyesight was extraordinary, even through the darkened glasses Extinguishers were provided to protect their eyes from the spray of body fluids. I’d never before had a problem with the glasses and like most people, always took them off when indoors.

  But this one time, I never bothered to remove the lenses from my face. I entered a large room and felt excitement. This was it, I could feel him nearby as easily as if he breathed onto my skin.

  He was ready for me.

  I never paused. I struck with a series of punches that he blocked easily, although I may have seen him wince. I cornered him with an arm to his throat but he flung me off. I hit against the wall, bouncing back to return to him, my adrenaline so high I hardly felt it. He kicked me away and the door swung open to other vampires of his nest.

  But this time was unusual. Breathing heavily, Ethan still spoke commandingly. “Leave us.”

  Incredulous gazes focused on him.

  “Are you mad?” one asked.

  “There’s something different with this fight. I need the rest of you to flee, I will find you later.”

  Saving the clan? I raised my eyebrows. “You take a lot for granted that you’ll live, vampire,” I spat.

  My statement caused his men to hesitate. Ethan never took his eyes from me, but he locked into a fight stance at the same time as he bellowed to them. “Go!”

  There was only a slight pause before they disappeared. It didn’t matter to me, I would extinguish the leader. It was a coup greater than the quantity of death. It was the quality of the fight. The Original monster who had spread the infection among the rest would be mine.

  For now, I turned my attention to the confrontation in front of me. Staring into his eyes, I bent my arms at the elbows in a common sparring stance, a deliberate challenge.

  “What are you after, Extinguisher?” he said.

  I struck out, a toying jab right across his face. It whipped his head around and my head snapped back when he returned the favor.

  I kicked out, connecting with solid chest, lined with muscle. He grabbed my foot and tossed me into the air over the bed but not before I kicked out with my other across his own ankles, flipping him over.

  He landed directly on top of me, a tiny bit of blood in the corner of his mouth. My sunglasses were flung from my face in the skirmish. His hands held mine above my head, where the headboard was. Shock held us still for a brief moment. His next statement held me still for longer.

  “What’s wron
g with you?”

  I was slightly confused, which I was sure he meant to do.

  I broke his hold on me, but instead of letting me hit, he grabbed my wrists again. Something different in his voice held me still.

  “What is different with your eyes?”

  I could only look at him, puzzled.

  “They’ve done something to you. Your pupils are hugely dilated.”

  Was the monster trying to distract me?

  “What do you speak of, creature?”

  “You’re not even behaving as yourself. Your mannerisms are different.”

  Was I really having a conversation with the one I was to kill?

  “Focus, Afton,” he continued. “Yes, you kill vampires. But is this truly your will?”

  I thought about the Yohimbine injected into me.

  “Yes, they have done something, haven’t they? What is it, Extinguisher? A drug? Your reactions are slightly slower than usual, but stronger also.”

  I must have been coming down from the effects to answer the monster on top of me, because I nodded.

  “So this isn’t you—”

  “Of course it is,” I spat. “I hunt the monsters, just as I always have. I hunt you and those like you. I’ll exterminate your entire race.”

  “Perhaps,” he agreed and I was thrown for a loop.

  It was then that I noticed his body. Lean and hard and tightly pressed against mine.

  “Your eyes just dilated farther, if that’s possible,” he said and dropped his gaze to my lips. I licked them slowly, wetting them while he watched. Leisurely. Testing out my never-before-uncovered wiles.

  The look on his face was worth the experiment. It filled with a need I’d never noticed. An urgent need I was ready to explore with my newly heightened, drug-induced, senses.

  His eyelids seemed to grow heavy. We were breathing hard, never more aware of the differences between us. His hardness, pressing against my soft flesh. The size of his body, completely covering mine.