No Man's Land: An Imp World Novel

by Debra Dunbar

  “Wait. I’m …uh …maybe you’d like to share some of this with me? Wine and liver, I mean. And stay for a bit? If you don’t have anything else to do. I mean, I’m sure you’re busy, so maybe some other time.”

  Crap. She sounded like an idiot. Why was it so hard to talk to this woman? It had never been difficult before, but then she hadn’t really needed anyone before. Just delegate work, bark out some quick orders if they were one of her vampire staff, or bite first and ask permission later if they were a human. And here she was, alone, surrounded by these weird smelling others, asking one to hang out and have a drink with her. Good Lord, what was the world coming to?

  All the tension seemed to fall from the tall, lanky woman as she turned to face Kelly and smiled. It transformed her thin face, turning her from serious to playful in an instant.

  “I’ll pour the wine.”

  Kelly went to get the liver from the fridge, her hands shaking slightly. She was so weak she was beginning to feel light headed. She’d expected to find the meat carefully packaged in the sealed plastic the butcher shops used, but instead they were in heavy–duty zip–lock bags. Pulling out the bag with the liver, she examined it in surprise. Usually meat packages only held the residual blood from the raw meat, but this liver was literally swimming in about a pint of blood. The heart was too. It was as if Jaq had added a large quantity of blood to the meat.

  “Do you want some of this too?” She asked, pouring the blood into a large glass. It came right to the rim.

  Jaq pulled two more glasses from the cabinet for the wine. “Nah. You drink it. I wasn’t sure you vampires ate solid food at all when I first found you.”

  Kelly took a huge swig of the blood and hid a grimace. Cold cow blood. Ugh. At least it was reasonably fresh, though. “We do. It just doesn’t metabolize if we don’t have blood.” Everything would eventually shut down. Her body was probably already beginning to devour itself, and this cow blood would only delay the inevitable.

  The other woman nodded, seemingly unbothered by Kelly’s beverage. “I don’t really know that much about you all. Hard to tell what’s myth and what’s real.”

  Kelly watched Jaq pour the wine and dug a fry pan out of the bottom of the stove. She was tired of eating raw meat, and she assumed the other woman would want it cooked. It had been over a century since she’d actually prepared her own meal, but frying up a piece of liver couldn’t be all that hard.

  “There’s a grain of truth in most of the myths. Don’t bother with the garlic, though. That’s complete bullshit.”

  Jaq shot her a quick grin. “Werewolves don’t need the full moon to change form.”

  “And I still wear my cross pendant,” Kelly continued. Well, she would have still worn it if it hadn’t been silver. The very thought made her cringe.

  “Silver bullets,” the tall woman added as if she had read Kelly’s mind. “Those things burn like the fires of Hades. Grabbed a candlestick once when I was a kid and nearly wound up in the hospital. Hives everywhere, blisters all over my hands. Took me forever to heal. Me! It was bizarre.”

  It was how the other woman smelled that was most bizarre. “Are you really a werewolf too, then? You don’t smell anything like the other guy — the one down at the bar.”

  Jaq turned to jam the cork back into the wine bottle. “Yes, I’m a werewolf. We don’t all smell the same.”

  Kelly got the odd feeling the woman was lying, although she had no experience with werewolves. Perhaps they did all smell different.

  “So what happened that you got turned into a vampire?” the werewolf continued. “Accosted in a dark alley one night?”

  More stereotypes. “Humans accosted in a dark alley find themselves dead, not turned. I chose this. We’re Candidates for a while and if everything works out, we get turned.”

  “Can you guys change your minds?”

  Yes. And wind up dead. Same with those who didn’t “work out”. It was another thing the vampires never told anyone, not even in the fine print.

  “Of course. Once you’re Chosen, though, once you get the venom, it’s irreversible.”

  Jaq took a big gulp of her wine. “How bad is it? The transformation, I mean?”

  Kelly grimaced, glancing over at Jaq as she gave the frying pan a quick swipe with a towel and put it onto the stovetop. “Bad. It’s like having the flu with non–stop charley horses throughout your body. That’s the first couple of decades. You beg them to kill you, even try to take yourself out. It gets better about fifty years in, although the genetic change isn’t totally complete for a few thousand years.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the werewolf shift nervously. Kelly took a deep breath and dug through the fridge for butter, trying to appear nonchalant about the whole experience. It still shook her — so recent and raw in her memories. Another thing they didn’t disclose. The pain had gone on forever, more terrible then even her worst imaginings of hell.

  “Why did you do it?”

  Kelly turned around, still kneeling in front of the fridge. “Huh?”

  Jaq’s gray eyes held a mix of sympathy and morbid fascination. “Why would you choose to become a vampire? What was appealing about …this?”

  The question should have been insulting, but Kelly felt no anger. The glaring fluorescent light from the refrigerator warred in her vision with the soft golden sunlight streaming through the window. Why had she? Kelly couldn’t really put it into words.

  Human life had always been a struggle, and her future had been …bleak. She had grown into a woman cleaning pots and chopping vegetables — the same thing she’d been doing her whole life. The only difference was the men who cornered her in the pantry, squeezing her budding breasts and pressing onion–laced kisses on her lips and skin. She would have become pregnant and been tossed into the streets, or if she was lucky, one of the delivery boys would have proposed to her. Then she would have spent her life working her hands raw and birthing children until one killed her on the way out. So many would have chosen the devil they knew, but Kelly couldn’t face that particular demon. Anything had to be better than what her future would have been as a human. Anything.

  “I was fifteen,” she replied, her voice dry and hollow. “A bastard child, a girl. I worked in the kitchens for as long as I could remember. I didn’t want to live and die a nothing. I wanted to feel I had some control over my destiny, even if it was deciding to abandon my humanity.”

  Kelly turned away, snatching the butter from the fridge and slicing a generous chunk into the hot fry pan. She could feel Jaq’s gaze on her back, sympathetic and kind. It was too much. The air was thick with emotion and memories of the past. Kelly rubbed her chest to loosen the knot there and searched for a way to lighten things up once more, to put all the horror and sorrow back into a little box in the back of her mind.

  “How did you know that I was a vampire? Have you seen us before?” Her tone was brittle and forced, but it worked. A ghost of a smile crossed Jaq’s face.

  “Y’all smell funny. And yes, I see far more of you vampires than I ever want to. If I catch them, they all wind up dead. Every one of them.”

  Kelly shifted, uneasy. There had been an odd connection between them, like two friends chatting about their lives. It was strange to think that the woman she’d just bared her soul to had never said more than a word to another vampire before slicing their head off. It snapped her back to reality, and reminded her that as nice as this werewolf seemed, her loyalties were elsewhere.

  “This place is considered the buffer zone between two large families. The only vampires coming through here are scouts and spies. Well, and me.”

  Jaq nodded. “That’s another reason why you can’t stay. I’m assuming you’re from that family up north. Most of the vampires that come through here are the southern ones. I don’t know much about vampires, but I’m guessing they’d kill you if they caught wind of you here.”

  They would. Kincaid spies wouldn’t hesitate to rip her head off. An u
naffiliated vampire was a disgrace and would be culled. Kelly put the butter in the pan and grimaced. One day at a time. Just survive. She didn’t have the luxury of thinking that far ahead when starvation stood right outside her window.

  “Why do you have — ouch!”

  Kelly turned and saw Jaq waving her hand frantically, a small silver ring rolling across the table.

  “Don’t touch it!” With vampire speed, she snatched the ring, shoving it in her pocket. The werewolf’s eyes widened. “I mean, don’t…it’s personal. I’m sorry, just please don’t touch that.”

  Jaq tilted her head. “No problem. Are your fingers okay? It was silver.”

  Kelly nodded, turning back to the cooking liver. Her fingers were red and blistered just from that quick touch. She took a deep breath, getting her emotions under control. Jaq must think she was a complete fool, acting like that over a cheap band of silver.

  Within minutes, the smell of cooking filled the small trailer, and Kelly’s glass of blood was empty, replaced with one filled with wine. She felt better. Maybe it was the nasty cow’s blood, maybe it was the wine. Any alcohol effects would be quickly burned off with her ramped–up metabolism, but the slight buzz the sweet liquid gave her was welcome.

  “What’s all this?” Jaq asked, sorting through the contents of Kelly’s plastic bag of found items. It seemed that werewolves weren’t particular about respecting privacy. Coming and going in each other’s homes, digging through personal belongings.

  “Are vampires like magpies? Are you a hoarder? That would make a great show. ‘Vampire Hoarders of the Appalachian Mountains.’ I’d watch it.”

  Kelly paused, spatula in hand, and turned to face the other woman. That little smile had turned up one corner of her mouth, and she wiggled her eyebrows as she waved a bungee cord at the vampire. The woman was teasing her. Teasing. Kelly stood there, speechless, unable to think of a reply — unable to think of anything.

  “I know where there are some abandoned cars in the woods,” Jaq went on. “Or maybe you’d like that bag of rusty nails just past Melody’s place.”

  Kelly knew she was trying to lighten things up, but her comments just brought home how bleak her situation was. What the hell was she planning on doing with that junk anyway? All the thoughts of vampire MacGyver she’d had while collecting it seemed foolish right now. Accumulating random junk off the road was a futile act. It was a way to lie to herself about her terrible situation, to pretend it would somehow be better. Her eyes strayed to the knife drawer. Perhaps that was the best thing for her to do.

  “Hey. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been making jokes after all you’ve been through.”

  In a blink, Jaq’s arms were around her. The woman’s sharp, clean sent filled her nose, the pounding of her heart so close to her ears. Could this day get any weirder? Frying liver in a kitchen, being hugged by a werewolf. Kelly held the spatula awkwardly in her hand and remained stiff in the other woman’s embrace, wondering what she should do. Hug her back? Beat her with the spatula? Rip her throat out with dull incisors? Just as she thought she couldn’t take any more, Jaq pulled away, sniffing the air.

  “You’re burning the liver.”

  “Shit! Shit!” Kelly spun around and lowered the heat, fanning the meat with her spatula. Was it burnt? She thought it was supposed to be that dark, although come to think of it, the liver Cook had prepared back in her human days hadn’t smelled quite this charred. She looked up and saw Jaq watching her. The woman’s lips twitched.

  “Maybe I’ll cook the liver.” Gripping her arms, Jaq led Kelly over to the sofa and pushed her gently down onto it. “You sit right there. I’ll bring your drink and finish cooking.”

  The werewolf relieved Kelly of her utensil and walked back to the kitchen area. Kelly gripped her wine in both hands and watched the tall woman flip the liver once more, expertly sliding it onto a plate. Why had she invited a werewolf to share a crazy dinner of liver and blackberry wine when she should be out trying to find a human to drink from?

  “Thank you,” Kelly said, taking the plate of liver from Jaq and glancing past her to the window on the other side of the trailer. As soon as it was dark, she’d head out. And in spite of the warnings from two werewolves, if a neighbor had to meet with a bloody accident, so be it.

  8

  Jaq eyed the setting sun with trepidation. Pink and golden rays streaming over the distant mountain range should have filled her with peace, but not this evening. Drat Jonah and his customs. What should have been a quick one–hour meeting had turned into dinner and a tour of his back property. It’s not like she’d never been here before. It’s not like she didn’t see her Alpha weekly.

  “There’s a vampire one trailer down from me. I’m respectfully asking everyone to keep their paws off.”

  Jonah turned to her, his ruddy face tightening with displeasure. Interrupting the Alpha was not polite, but Jaq had been more than patient this evening. It would soon be dark, and she’d need to hurry back to make sure her new neighbor didn’t start eating the locals.

  “Yes, Dale told me this afternoon. He’s more upset that you’re protecting a vampire than the fact that one has moved in half a mile from his place of business.”

  “She’s injured, and pretty young from her scent. I just want to give her a chance to heal up a bit, then I’ll chase her off.”

  The Alpha halted and turned to face Jaq, his hands on his hips. “What, like a wildlife catch and release? Seriously, Jaq, this isn’t a bear cub for you to bottle–feed then return to the wild; it’s a vampire. You’ve seen what they can do, how little regard they have for any life but their own. What in the world are you thinking to allow such a danger to live?”

  “She was severely wounded,” Jaq argued.

  In truth, she wasn’t sure what the heck she was thinking. The broken and bloody girl in the trailer had tugged at her sympathies somehow. Maybe Jonah was right. This was complete folly. Kelly wasn’t a little kitten in need of help, she was a predator that would most likely turn on Jaq the moment she was strong enough.

  “Severely wounded now,” Jonah said, echoing her thoughts. “Give her twenty–four hours and we’ll see how quickly she tries to take your head off. They’re fast and strong, sneaky with no sense of honor. It doesn’t matter that you fed or sheltered her; she’ll try to kill you, and you won’t be able to take her by surprise like you’ve done the others.”

  He was right, but something inside Jaq still rebelled when she thought about killing Kelly. “Her own family beat her almost to death and dumped her here to die. They know we’re here, that we’d kill her. What kind of people do that?”

  “Vampires do that,” Jonah’s voice was firm. “And don’t you ever forget it. Don’t go thinking that this one is different because she’s a little tiny thing covered in bruises. Dale told me what she looked like, and said even he felt a bit sorry for her himself. I don’t blame you. You’ve got a big heart, Jaq, and you’re full of kindness and optimism when it comes to others, but you’ve got to snap out of this sentimental crap and face the reality. Kill her tonight and be done with it.”

  No. Jaq held back the word. The circumstances of her birth had always allowed her great privilege when it came to the pack and the Alpha, but she knew better than to draw a line in the sand with Jonah.

  “Can I please have one month? I’ll take care of her, be personally responsible for making sure she doesn’t break any rules. One month, then I’ll drive her back over the border.”

  Crap, she did sound like a child pleading to keep a found pet. I promise I’ll feed it, and clean up if it pisses on the floor….

  Jonah muttered a soft explicative. “I swear, Jaq, if you weren’t a First–Born, you’d never have the balls to ask such a thing of me, your own Alpha for Christ’s sake. If this gets out, I’ll have a riot on my hands. Full–fledged riot, pitchforks and torches and the like. Vampires.”

  Jaq smothered a grin. He’d spat out the last word like it was rotted possum in his
mouth, but she knew she’d won. “How’s the leg doing?”

  Jonah instinctively reached down to his thigh and rubbed it. He was still young, barely fifty, and with more blond to his beard than gray, but even a werewolf in the prime of his life found it difficult to take down an enraged bear. “Not even a twinge,” he replied, gratitude in his voice. “Just a scrape. Nothing compared to what I did to that bear.”

  Jaq nodded, her eyes solemn. It wouldn’t do to have their Alpha bleed out on top of a dead bear. She’d kept his secrets, and he’d kept hers. They’d all kept hers. That’s what a pack did. She felt a twinge of guilt for putting them at risk. A vampire — what was she thinking? But then she remembered Kelly, twisted and bleeding on the floor of the trailer, the look of fear and loss that crept all too often into the woman’s brown eyes. She didn’t seem like a monster. Maybe Jonah was right, but maybe he was wrong. Could there be more to this vampire than a dangerous predator, or was she once again being a sentimental fool?

  “One week,” Jonah warned her. “One week, then either she goes or she dies.”

  9

  Dusk was slipping into night as Kelly looked at her assortment of items and went through the alternatives in her head. She needed to find something tonight, hopefully something alive that walked on two legs, or she’d be in the agony of starvation by dawn. Already she felt it gnawing at her sanity.

  Options. Top choice was to grab a neighbor, but Jaq’s brother was keeping a close eye on her. She could occasionally hear him nearby, catching a whiff of werewolf in the air. The wiser alternative was to waste precious energy losing the werewolf and head down to that bar. But would that other werewolf from the afternoon be there? Would she have enough strength left to defend herself against one or more of them? It would be difficult to poach a human customer right from under their noses and not get caught, especially with no fangs. No, that bar was almost as risky as snatching one of the neighbors.