by Dylan Keefer
“Makes sense,” Clayton said.
“I’ve been watching Dr. Boyle for a long time. It wasn’t until about a week ago that I found out that he was talking with the Dominion. I thought that he might be one of them or something, but I cut my finger around him. No reaction to the blood. But I knew there had to be something so when he told me about a special think tank and the subject of that think tank coming here, I did what I could to get on board. If I can get that book, I can defeat the Dominion.”
“You’re going to take on the oldest living vampire coven by yourself?” Mei raised her eyebrows. “Your blood may be poison, but how is that going to stop them from killing you.”
“It isn’t.” Clayton said. Madi looked down and cleared her throat.
“Listen, there is time for more questions later, but I need your help. In return, I’ll help you find out your past.”
“Before you kill her? She’s Dominion. You said it yourself. You’re going to let her live?” Clayton growled. “No way. If you have gotten yourself mixed up in something than you have to figure your own way out. So, stay away.”
“No one is killing anyone,” Larent said. “So, calm down.”
“I don’t need defending, Larent, but thank you,” Madi said. “Mei, it’s up to you. Don’t let your feelings for this guy mess things up for you.”
Clayton laughed and stepped closer to Madi. The girl didn’t seem too worried. “You can leave now.”
Madi turned to Mei, who wasn’t sure what to do. She trusted Clayton, but he didn’t have the powers that Madi had. Of course, if Madi wanted to kill off the Dominion, that meant killing Mei off herself.
“Those visions getting worse?” Madi asked. That got Mei’s attention. Madi nodded. “They are. What if I told you that I could find a way to explain them? All it would take is your help.”
Clayton pulled out the gun again and pointed it at Larent. The tech mogul clenched his teeth. “Madi, I’m going to give you ten seconds to get out.”
“Clayton, wait.” Mei gasped.
“Mei, Summoners were not the good guys.” He looked at Madi. “You want to tell her how the Summoners were traditionally assassins and hired killers as well? It’s in your blood. Literally. You all were blackballed by witches because you served for a price. You bowed down to the same Royalty you want to kill because they realized they didn’t need you after a while. Now, you are just a little girl who has no idea what she’s doing.”
“You want to play that game?” Madi fumed.
“Guys, stop!” Mei cried, but it continued.
“You want to tell her how you are just delaying the time when you have to kill her?” Mei’s mouth dropped open. She looked at Clayton to see his reaction and obvious denial. He simply glared at the messenger.
“Clayton, what is she talking about?”
“He’s not a vampire hunter. He was mentored and raised by them. He knows all the tricks of the trade. He knows all the secrets. He can fight. But did he tell you why he isn’t a vampire hunter?” Madi looked directly at him. He closed his eyes and turned to Mei.
“Mei, I haven’t been truthful to you, or to myself.” Mei shook her head. “I’m not a vampire hunter because I haven’t made my first kill yet.”
“Your first kill? What do you mean?”
Clayton looked down. “A vampire hunter is meant to kill vampires. They’re meant to destroy what they believe is evil and do it for the good of saving humans. Now, that doesn’t mean we kill every vampire. We have the ability to have self-control, but when we feel the presence of evil, we have to kill it. And it’s not just vampires--it’s all evil. We have certain powers and abilities that help us to do this as well as weapons, but we have to earn those powers.”
“And,” Mei gulped, “How do you earn those powers?”
“I have to kill an evil love,” Clayton said with a pained looked on his face. Mei frowned with misunderstanding. Clayton groaned. “I have to kill something that I love that is considered evil.”
“You,” Madi said. “He loves you. You are Dominion which is considered evil all by itself. You are the evil love.”
Mei felt the pain that was on Clayton’s face. He had to kill her? She searched his eyes. “What happens if you don’t? Do you just not gain your powers? Do you unbecome a vampire hunter?”
“I can’t do that. Being a vampire hunter is ultimately a part of me. It’s who I am, and if I don’t--do it--then I will either drive myself crazy and probably go mad and kill myself; or I’ll be forced to go after you.”
“And you might have to kill him,” Madi said. “There is no win/win here.”
Clayton reached out to her. “Mei, I…”
Madi jumped a little as her cell phone rang. She looked at the screen and a scowl came across her face.
“It’s Dr. Boyle,” she whispered. She looked up at the three of them. None of them knew what to do. Madi gave an audible gulp before answering the phone on speaker.
“I’m still alive,” she said curtly.
“Madison.” The voice was low and barely understandable. “They told me what you are. A Summoner. Intriguing.”
“Do you really want to see intriguing? You chose the wrong side, Dr. Boyle. How could you be working with them. They’re…”
“Powerful? Wealthy? Dangerous to all who oppose? Yes, I wonder why I chose their side.” Madi bit her lip so hard it brought tears to her eyes. “We have nothing to talk about then.”
“We want Larent.” Larent’s eyebrows raised at the mention of his name. No one said a word. “And we are willing to make a trade for him.”
“You have nothing I want,” Madi spat.
“I’ll tell you what I do have. Recently, a family was picked up from their home. It’s believed that they have been associating with enemies of the Dominion and helping vampires disobey laws against the Dominion. A father. A mother. A boy. A girl. I’m going to have the father talk to you.”
There was a scuffle in the background of the call and then, ”Hello! I don’t know who you are, but please save my family!” Mei stood at alert. She looked at Clayton who started towards the phone. Madi backed away.
“No!” Clayton said. “That’s Garrett! I know his vo…”
Madi snapped her fingers, and Clayton stopped moving. His mouth was open, but no words came out. Clayton’s face turned red with anger as she spoke into the phone. “Where are you? How can we get help to you?”
“For him, it’s too late,” Dr. Boyle voice interrupted. The sound of a gunshot echoed from the phone and all four of them gasped in horror. A scream sounded from the phone. Mei felt her fangs go out as she started to let tears fall from her eyes. They didn’t really shoot Garrett, did they. “One hour. My house. I want Larent. Alone. Or his family will die, too.”
The line disconnected. Madi stood there with the phone in her hand just staring at it. Clayton continued to grow redder until she waved her hand, and the invisible wall dissolved.
“You!” Clayton reached out and grabbed Madi by the neck and threw her up against the wall.
“Clayton!” Mei yelled. He felt his body thrown back. He got up quickly and stood face to face with Mei. For a moment, they stared at each other. Mei looked down and realized that he had a hand on his gun. He followed her eyesight and dropped his hand immediately. Mei shook her head. “This isn’t her fault. It’s isn’t yours. It isn’t anyone’s.”
“I can’t be responsible for innocent people dying,” Larent said shakily. “I can’t. I need to go.”
“We can’t just give you to them,” Madi said. “We need to figure out a way to get them out and keep you safe.”
“They want me alone,” Larent said. “I need to go alone.”
“You aren’t going alone,” Clayton said. “I’m going because I’m the one that convinced that family to come out tonight.”
“For me,” Mei said. “I should go, too.”
“You’re Dominion, and the half-vamp they want to end,” Madi said. “Not a good i
dea for you to go.”
“I can’t just stay here!” Mei protested.
“Then help me,” Madi said. “I need to get to my apartment before it’s ransacked. I have a lot of important stuff there that can’t get into anyone else’s hands.”
“We should split up,” Clayton said. “Madi, you know what stuff you need to get from your apartment. Mei will go with you to get it.”
“How will you go in with Larent by yourself?”
Clayton nodded to her. “With your blood. It won’t affect us, but no vampire is going to come near us, and the Dominion won’t be able to touch us.”
“That might just work,” Madi said. She clapped her hands together. “You’re going to need a good draw of blood.”
She reached over and grabbed Mei’s hand. “I may need you again.” Mei looked down at the girl’s hand. Something about the soft, yet strong touch made her heart skip. Madi smiled. “We can do this.”
Clayton walked up to her and kissed her. Madi dropped Mei’s hand. She felt Clayton’s tremble. He wasn’t as confident, but he looked her in the eye. “Okay?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Mei put on a pair of shorts and shirt. Before she met Madi outside of the hotel room where she was waiting, she dug into her bag and grabbed the necklace. Something told her she shouldn’t leave it behind.
Outside, Madi paced back and forth until she saw Mei. There was a quick glance up and down before the girl nodded and started walking.
“I’m not too far from here. You could probably run it in less than a minute,” she said. “Must be cool having that power.”
“Being a vampire isn’t cool at all,” Mei said. Madi sighed.
“You mean not knowing who you are isn’t cool.” Mei had to admit that she was right. That was the main issue. They walked in the shadows of the street lights in silence for a moment. “You must think that I’m horrible; the way my mind is set on this whole mission.”
“I don’t think you’re horrible,” Mei said. “I think that you’re alone. I can’t imagine facing what I’ve had to face without anyone by my side. How do you do it?”
Madi looked at her. “It’s easier,” she said. “At least, I like to tell myself that it is.”
“Why lie to yourself?”
“Because it’s easier,” Madi said. “My mom lives in Salem along with my step-brother and his wife. My mom was in an accident about seven years ago. She was hurt pretty bad. They say that she fell out of a window somehow, but I know what really happened. It was my fault.”
“Why would you say that?”
Madi laughed. “Because I hid from her the fact that I was experiencing changes. I had these dreams. I started being contacted by the Summoner whose powers I was inheriting. I thought it was a joke at first.” She watched the ground as she walked. “Do you wanna know how a Summoner is chosen? She sweats out blood—her blood—as it’s being replaced with the poisonous one. It burns from the inside like you are on fire, and it lasts for hours. I was headed to school when it happened, and I found a place just off the shore where I was hidden. No one was there. I cried and screamed for the entire time.”
Mei felt like crying for her. She could only imagine the pain that Madi had gone through, and without anyone there to comfort her. Maybe that was the difference between her. She had always had someone there for her. Madi didn’t.
“Anyway, I didn’t know how to control the power that I was gaining, and I tried to run home. I saw my mom from the street in the window of the top floor and reached my hand out. She flew through the window and down to the ground.” There was a sudden change in her voice as if she was putting it out of her mind. “In any matter, I visit sometimes. But they don’t know about what I am, or what happened. I keep it that way.”
Mei wanted to say something but didn’t think that anything would help the situation. She would just have to be there for the girl.
When they approached the street that the apartment was on, both kept an eye out for anything suspicious. Madi led them to a fire escape at the back of the building, and the old rickety ladder made several squeaks as they climbed up to the third-floor window that led into her room. She placed her hand on the sill, and Mei heard the latch snap as the seal was broken. Madi slid the window open and climbed through. Mei stood up straight once her feet hit the floor and was pleasantly surprised when she looked around the room. She would have expected something dark and ominous by the way that Madi acted, but the one-bedroom apartment had beautiful greens and blues decorating it and lot of plants artfully scattered about. Pictures of vibrantly beautiful Ireland and nature from all over the world covered the walls.
“You have a very nice place,” Mei said. Madi snorted.
“You act surprised. I’m not as cold and heartless as I come across being.”
“You don’t come across—okay,” Mei corrected with a smile. “You do come across that way, but that’s not how I see you.”
Mei’s comment hit unexpectedly. She could tell that Madi was taken back. Madi’s surprised look revealed a beauty in the girl that she kept hidden. For a moment, Mei felt warm inside. Madi started to smile back, but she shook it off and walked to one of the paintings. Mei started to follow but was immediately repelled by a familiar smell.
“You might want to wait back here,” Madi said. “I laced the painting with my blood. I refresh that every few days. Just in case.”
She removed a painting of rolling hills surrounded by trees, and behind it was a small board that covered up a hole in the wall. Mei assumed that it was also laced with blood seeing as it wasn’t very conspicuous. Reaching down into the hole, Madi pulled out four small boxes. She placed them on the floor.
“I have thumb drives in this one,” she pointed to the first box. “It has everything that I’ve researched saved on them dealing with the Dominion, the Fallen, and everything surrounding them.”
“What is in the other three boxes?”
“Artifacts I’ve collected,” she said. “Artifacts that have power.”
Mei reached down into the pocket of her shorts and ran her fingers over the necklace. She wondered if it held power like Madi’s artifacts. She pulled it out and held it up.
“Can you take a look at this?”
Madi stood up and held out her hand. Mei dropped the necklace in her palm, and the girl gasped. She closed her eyes and enclosed her fingers over it. A look of concentration melted over her face. All was silent for a moment before Madi opened her eyes.
“Where did you get this?”
“I was wearing it when I awoke in that tomb. I think that it is what kept me hidden and safe in that tomb.”
“It’s more than that,” Madi said tossing it back to her. “Don’t let that out of your possession. We have to get out of…”
Madi stopped speaking. Mei heard it when the girl did. Footsteps. Heavy heartbeats. Anxiousness. Whoever they were, they weren’t human. Madi looked up.
“Run!”
She tossed Mei two boxes, and she took off for the window with the others. Mei was through the window first, but once her feet hit the ladder, she was hit from the side. She was airborne for what seemed likes minutes before her body slammed into the ground. The boxes rolled out of her arms as she lay there gasping. Her eyes regained clear vision just in time to see someone hurdling through the sky towards her. Her fangs came out just as the vampire landing with his feet straddling her, his arm shot down. Mei rolled her head to the side as the fist slammed into the ground. Quickly, she kicked up and knocked him over her head. She bounced to her feet; still somewhat disoriented. Her attacker was up and ready for the next round. Mei could only rely on instinct. She didn’t know how to fight. All she knew was that she needed to survive.
The air shifted behind her causing Mei to instantly duck and swing her leg around catching another vampire off guard. A hand grabbed her by the hair and whipped her into the wall. Mei cried out, but only got a little out before a hand clos
ed around her throat. She felt the vice-like grip ready to snap her neck. With all her might, she brought her knees to her chest and thrust them into the vampire. She landed on her feet and grabbed the second one by the head. She smashed it with all her might into the brick wall she had just been held against. Quickly, she turned to see a body fall from the sky and land on her first attacker. She ran and snapped their necks. Where are the boxes?! She glanced around for them and saw them laying on the ground. The one with the flash drives had opened and contents spilled out. She quickly retrieved them and threw them into the other box.
Looking up, she saw Madi with her back against the railing holding her hand out with some invisible shield holding back several vampires. The boxes still in her hand, she was looking down at Mei.
“Catch!” She tossed down one box and then the other. Mei caught them easily. Madi looked up at the vampire gang and smiled. “Just one of you.”
She waved her now free hand, and one vampire rushed forward to get her. She braced herself as it latched its teeth into her neck and immediately flung back in a scream. The poisonous blood causing it to writhe on its feet. Madi dropped her hand for a second and kicked the vampire back into the group before bringing back the shield. One by one they came in contact with the poisoned vampire who was now spewing out its guts all over them. Madi launched herself over the railing and fell to the ground and into Mei’s arms. Madi’s adrenaline was pumping as Mei cradled her for a second.
“How did you know I was going to catch you!”
Madi slid off her. “I didn’t! Come on! Let’s go!”
CHAPTER TWELVE
“What’s your plan when we get to him?” Clayton looked at Larent with a raised eyebrow.
Larent shrugged. “You got weapons, right? We have Madi’s blood.”
