Fatal Retribution

by Diana Graves

  “Damn it child, we have a business to run,” she said.

  My mind was an inferno of outrage, but I smiled sweetly at my aunt. Through tight lips I said, “I’m sorry.”

  Her eyes were wary, but she nodded and left us alone without another word. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. I was trying to let go of the rage, to cleanse it from my mind. Like I was taught in meditation, I imagined my anger as feathers clinging to my clothes. I shook and the feather and my anger fell from me, drifting out and away.

  “Alicia,” I began to say, but was interrupted by yelling. It was coming from the front of the shop. I looked at Alicia and she looked pissed.

  “No!” Fauna screamed from inside the shop. And on that note we both ran through the door, through the storage room and into the store.

  The store was small, with dark shelves against the walls and three long shelves running the length of the store. The goods ranged from the freshly baked and brewed to the pricy exotic. It was lit by many wall scones made to look like torches, and long beautiful rugs ran down every aisle. Normally customers quietly shopped while soft music played, but not today. Today you couldn’t hear the music at all. Today it was a mad house. Fauna was holding a woman away from another man, who was red with anger. The woman kept yelling “I’m going to kill you!” over and over again as she squirmed in Fauna’s arms. Other customers were fighting each other near the front of the store.

  “What happened?” Alicia shouted angrily.

  Mom came around the corner with another customer in her sights, and her wand out. The customer she was aiming for was beating a child ruthlessly.

  “Everyone’s gone mad!” shouted Fauna, her own eyes looking a bit too wild.

  Alicia ran for the customers fighting in the front, and dove into their fight with punches flying freely.

  “Shit!” I yelled.

  Mom finally managed to get the customer away from the child, and had her wand pointed at the woman’s chin. The kid wrapped himself around a man’s leg and started biting him! I didn’t know what to do.

  I grabbed the little boy by his shirt and tried to pull him away.

  “Stop!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, and everyone stopped and looked directly at me. Some came around shelves so that they could see me. They didn’t speak. They just looked at me, long faced and limp. Mom, Fauna and one man seemed to be the only people who were as perplexed as me about what just happened. The man took advantage and punched the man he had been fighting square in the face. “Jerk off!” he said, as the man he punch hit the floor.

  “Mom?” I asked. She was looking at me, her mouth open in shock. “Mom what should I do?”

  “What the hell’s going on!” shouted the man.

  “Sir, we’re trying to figure that out,” said Fauna in a reassuring voice.

  “Mom?” I was feeling restless under their stares.

  “Go to the back room,” Mom said between heavy breaths.

  “Okay,” I said. I slowly walked to the back room, though I kept my eyes on the people. Once the door closed behind me I almost wanted to lock it. I couldn’t get the picture of the zombies from Dawn of the Dead out of my head. “Brains,” I imagined the customers chanting as they came through the door.

  I sat on a box in the dark. I could hear a lot of apologies from a lot of different people. Eventually the door opened wide, letting in light. It was Mom who walked through. She paced the storage room for a bit, her gorgeous blue robe trailing after each elegant movement.

  “How did that happen?” she eventually asked.

  I looked down, searching for the right words. “I don’t know.” I just shook my head. I couldn’t meet her eyes.

  “No one seems to remember the fight, except for Fauna and one customer and myself. His family wasn’t hurt so he’s willing to keep quiet for a sizable lifelong discount,” she said.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “You think this is your fault?” she asked softly, sitting on the box next to me.

  “Maybe,” I said with my head in my hands. I was almost in tears. “I was angry, so angry, but I let it go. I sent it out.”

  “You’re an empath, Raina. You sense emotion, you don’t create it in people,” Mom said, but she looked scared.

  “But it felt like I did, create emotion I mean in them. Their anger felt like mine.”

  Mom hugged me tight, “Maybe you couldn’t tell the difference between what you were feeling and what they were feeling.” I gave Mom a raised eye brow. Did she even know how empathy works?

  “What if my empathic abilities have changed because of the vampirism?” I asked.

  Mom looked sad. “Maybe,” she said, but she didn’t look like she thought that could be the case at all. “Just go to the vampire class tonight and ask the instructor. You might feel better once you have some answers. You never know.” She clapped her hands on her legs.

  “I don’t want to go alone Mom.”

  “You’re a witch, get used to being alone.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I don’t know. It’s just something my mom told me once, when I said something similar before heading to Mythos University. I’ve been alone since your dad left, so I guess she was right.”

  I didn’t agree with that. Mom was alone because she wanted to be alone, because no man was ever good enough for her, or could take her ultra feminist life style. I admired that about her, her unrelenting demand for just the right man. I guess she learned her lesson with Dan, never settle for less.

  We looked toward the door. The talking had stopped, and all I could hear were light footsteps.

  “I guess Fauna closed shop for the day. No matter, it’s five anyway. Why don’t you go help your aunt clean up?”

  “I’m so sorry, Mom.”

  “Whatever for?”

  15:

  I ARRIVED AT Bastion Fatal early. I’d only been there once before, when Uncle Seth was directing a play, Anna in the Caribbean. I’d never been to the Bastion on my own. I was intimidated to say the least. Alicia offered to lie to her father so that she could come too, but I was too mad at her to have her around. She shouldn’t have to lie to be with me. She was my best friend of fifteen years for Goddess sake! We survived public schools together, and college, and now that all meant nothing.

  The Bastion was built half on land and half in Commencement Bay, with a large part of it under water. It looked like an Indian palace, all gold and white, with the water behind it. The only entrance was through a gilded wrought iron gate, guarded by three humans. I thought the guards’ uniforms were a bit odd. They wore white and gold getups that looked like pajamas. And, besides a slim red sword, the guards didn’t exactly posses intimidating guard gear either. But what they lacked in weapons and armor, they made up in numbers. The place was lousy with them.

  The parking lot was full of both cars and people. Some were just standing around in clicks; others were making their way toward the building like me. It was warm for a summer night in Washington, and most of the women were wearing skimpy clothes that showed off a lot of skin. I felt frumpy in my baggy jeans and flip-flops. My hair was combed neat and short in the back, while the front was allowed to cascade over my shoulders long and red.

  I didn’t mind the long walk through the massive parking lot. The Bastion looked breath taking in the growing dark, with the bay in the background. Most of the Bastion was painted white with red accents. At the top was a huge glass dome, gilded and shining. The marble steps that lead to the large front doors were crowded by guards. I had to squeeze my way through. There were two more guards standing just inside the doors, like Wal-Mart greeters.

  “Thank you for visiting Bastion Fatal, please refrain from going beyond the first two floors, as those are off-limits to guests.” The guard smiled down at me with big white teeth, and an excessive amount of makeup.

  I entered the grand hall. You would think the inside would be just as bright as the outside, but it was all plain d
ark marble walls, floors and ceiling. Small round lights in the ceiling barely lit the hall.

  “Excuse me?” I asked a woman standing at the entrance of a door along the hall. Her dark hair was pulled back tight, leaving her face bare to the world. All her features seemed too much, eyes too big, lips too plump, eyebrows too thick and dark.

  She didn’t move a muscle as I approached her. She didn’t look at me, she simply replied, “Yes.”

  The pamphlet didn’t have a room number, just the address of the collective’s compound. “Um, I’m here for the class taught by Damon. The one for vampires, and I was hoping you could—.”

  “Down two floors,” the woman interrupted.

  I nodded, “So, it’s okay that I go beyond the first two floors?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she said with her eyes still staring straight ahead. By looking at the other guards I knew standing still, eyes front was not a rule for them, which meant she probably took her job way too seriously.

  “Do I need a pass or something?”

  “No,” she said loudly and with an inflection that told me I was rubbing her the wrong way.

  I began to walk away, but then I turned back to the guard. “How will they know I’m going to class and not trespassing?” I asked, so not wanting to get in trouble in this place.

  The guard looked down at me. The weight of her stare made me hold my breath. What big dark eye coated in black eye makeup you have.

  “There are no other rooms being used two floors down due to construction, so that would be the only reason for anyone to be down there. Normally his class is held on the first floor. However, that space is being used for something else, due to construction.” She gave me a stern look. I backed away slowly. The other guards seemed to be friendly and smiling. Lucky me, I decided to talk with the one with a chip on her shoulder.

  I followed the plain black and white signs hanging from the ceiling that pointed the way to the elevator as I walked down the hall. I found the elevator with a crowd of people hanging around it; most of the people weren’t human. Don’t ask me how but I could always tell. The guards, all of them, were human. But most of the people standing around me were other things; witches, were-creatures, Sasquatch. Well, it’s not so hard to tell Bigfoot from human. Bigfoots are big, and if the size difference somehow escapes your notice, there’s always the thick fur jump suite and exposed genitalia.

  The doors opened, and we all piled into the redwood box that was the elevator. I didn’t like elevators because I didn’t like heights and elevators usually go up. Thankfully I was going down. It was a big one, but I still managed to get squashed against the wall in the back.

  “Floors?” someone shouted out from the front of the elevator. People started shouting out numbers. I waited until everyone was quiet before I said, “Two floors down!” I didn’t think anyone could see me behind the two Bigfoots standing in front of me.

  “Down is first!” announced the same voice.

  I felt a pull when the elevator started moving and I clutched at the bare wall, trying hard not to touch the people in front of me. Why oh why don’t Bigfoots wear clothes?

  “Negative two!” shouted the voice.

  “Um, excuse me,” I said as I squeezed my way out of the elevator. I didn’t look anyone in the face, just their feet, as I made my exit.

  “Sorry.” “Excuse me.” “I’m so sorry,” I muttered until I nearly fell into the hall. The doors closed behind me before I could apologize one more time.

  It was a part of Bastion Fatal I’d never been in, not that I’d been in much of it, mostly just the grand hall and auditorium. The hall was empty, dark and all the doors were open or missing. It was smaller than the grand hall, narrower. As I walked down the hallway, past all the open dark rooms, I had that feeling of being watched that you get when there’s too much darkness surrounding you. The lights in the hall were dim and unlike the marbled walls on the first floor, this floor had thick old wood paneling and tapestries. It looked better to me. More sophisticated and warm. There were carvings in the wood. I walked up to one of the panels to get a closer look. The carvings depicted creatures, vampires and humans in various situations. I ran my fingers over the dusty, cobwebbed walls. I admired the care and talent that had gone into making them. One carving was a woman with long curls flowing in the night’s sky. She looked familiar.

  “Beautiful,” I whispered.

  “Yes, she was.” It was a booming voice that cut through the empty hall and I jumped high and screamed—just a little.

  “Shit,” I spat. I put my hand over my heart to calm it. It didn’t work.

  “Sorry,” said the silhouette of a man standing in the doorway of one of the rooms. He appeared to be crossing his arms and leaning against the door’s frame, but there was no knowing for sure. He was simply that dark. The only thing that was clearly visible was his teeth, ultra white in contrast. He stepped into the light of the hall and still he was a shadow of a man. He was complete darkness, like a walking talking man made of tar, without the luster.

  “Are you here for class?” asked the dark figure. His voice had lost none of it boom. Like Ruy’s deep masculine tone, it was unsettling, but strangely alluring.

  “Yes,” I admitted. My voice quivered just a little, but enough to make me ashamed of myself. I hated being afraid, probably more than I hated heights, and since I was afraid of heights that was all the more reason to avoid them.

  “You’re early,” he said. He had no whites in his eyes, smooth black skin and short black hair. He wore black on black clothes, shirt and slacks and shoes and belt. I stared at him for a moment longer than was polite until I realized that this man was the silhouette from the pamphlet Tristan had given me yesterday.

  “Are you—Damon?” I asked.

  “Yes, you’re Raina?”

  My heart jumped into my throat, “Um, yeah. How did you know my name?”

  Damon waved his hand as if he could shoo away my fright, “Your uncle, Seth, told me to expect a witch-elf with the deepest darkest auburn hair I’d ever seen. That’d be you,” he smiled, revealing warmth I wouldn’t have guessed would be there. “You’re a living vampire?” He came closer to me, and I almost took a step back but stopped myself.

  “That’s what they tell me.”

  His dark face leaned in closer, too close for comfort. He was in my bubble, but I didn’t back away. At this distance I should have been able to see his pores but I saw none. His skin was smooth, smooth like glass. There was no hair, no wrinkles. In fact, if he stood still and kept his mouth shut there would be no telling him from a statue.

  He sniffed the air around me. “What are you?” he asked himself more than me, but before I could think of an answer that wasn’t sarcastic we were interrupted by the arrival of a noisy vamp.

  “Yo, D!” shouted a vampire walking off the elevator. He had smooth brown skin and eyes that revealed some distant elf relation. He was wearing a hoody and a pair of light colored jeans.

  He walked right up into my bobble with Damon. Does no one understand the concept of personal space? He smiled down at me. “Hey, I’m Charley,” he said and he offered me his hand. I took it and found it cold and rough, but firm.

  “I came early so you could help me with my problem,” he said, looking over my head, to the shadow man. Damon nodded as if he knew what the vamp was talking about.

  “Well, why don’t we step inside the class room, and then we can talk, Charles,” Damon said, gesturing us with an incline of his head.

  The class room was beautiful. Like the hall, it was full of rich wood carvings and tapestries. One wall was made of thick glass, a window looking out into the bay. Right now the window was black with dark night waters. I couldn’t imagine what it must look like during the day. There were five long tables with plastic chairs, facing the chalk board at the front of the class. I sat at the first table and doodled on a pad of a paper while Damon and Charley talked in hushed voices at the back of the class room. I could have
heard them if I wanted to, but I had more integrity than that.

  Once other people started arriving Charley sat down far from me, and Damon headed to the front of the class. He wrote his name on the chalk board and turned back to the class.

  “Have a seat!” he shouted over what was now a room full of people. “My name is Damon, and before you all ask I’ll answer some common questions I get. What am I? My race is called Barguest. What the hell is that?” I heard giggling from behind me. “It’s a shape shifter race. My people commonly get mistaken for the black dog or death omen, which is part of the reason why Barguest is an endangered species.”

  “Yeah, Yo, D needs to repopulate his peeps, so if any of you hot honeys what to save a species I can give you his number!” interrupted Charley.

  Several of the vampires around him gave him high fives and Damon smiled. Charley and his pals sat away from the rest of the class, like a little gang of street smart vamps.

  Damon cleared his throat loudly, “If I can continue. To combat some rumors you might hear. I am not immortal, but barguests do live about five times that of a normal human, so about four hundred and fifty years, give or take century or two. We don’t drink blood or eat people. We eat what you would eat. Though, most of us are partial to vegetarianism. It can be hard to eat something that you can shift into. It feels too much like cannibalism.” He looked out over the class and when his gaze ran over me I looked away. His darkness was intimidating.

  “I see a few new faces today, and for those of you that are new, there is really no beginning to these classes. I teach you seven rules to live by, two hours a night, five nights a week. So, by attending seven classes in a row, you’ll have learned the tools a modern vampire needs in order to live in today’s America. Usually, before and after class I’m free for personal advice, any questions you might have or a group discussion. And, while I’m not a vampire, I have lived long enough among them and I have doctorate degrees in sociology, economics, politics, medicine, psychology and theater. Believe me, when you’ve lived as long as I have, you have time to remake yourself a few times over,” He added when many of my classmates made faces of astonishment. I was one of them. That was a lot of school. Damn.