He didn’t acknowledge a word I said.
“Damn. Wish I had my phone. I could update my status on Facebook to: ‘Getting chauffeured around by a vampire…in a Ford Focus.’”
“I’m not a vampire. But I am…mostly a vampire.”
“Look, either you are a vampire or you aren’t. It’s like Coke or Pepsi. It’s not a difficult concept. Then again, vampires are dead, right? So maybe you’ve got a minor case of brain damage. I mean, you’re probably decaying as we speak.”
“I’m not a full-fledged vampire. I just have vampiric tendencies.”
“Is that like psychotic tendencies? Some days you just have to go out and kill a person or two. And others, you’d rather just stay in and, what, watch Downton Abbey?”
“You weren’t going to settle for silence or vague answers, so I decided to be honest.”
“Did Grams ask you to follow me?”
“Today? Yes.”
“What does that mean? Today?”
“I kind of…look out for you sometimes.”
My skin crawled at the thought. “Like peering through my windows? Watching me read in bed at night? Maybe even—”
“No. What is it with you and obscene thoughts? Your grandmother asked me to watch after you today. She said you would be attacked.”
I sensed honesty in his tone. Goosebumps formed on my arms. “How could she have known that? Is she a demon? Or a vampire?”
“She’s a witch.”
“Oh, of course,” I said immediately. “What else would an elderly lady be, other than a witch? Then again, she could be an angel I suppose, although they live up in heaven. But she can see the future, so who knows what else she can do.”
“She’s not clairvoyant. When a woman in your line turns twenty-one-years old, she obtains certain powers…if not earlier.”
“Women wait in line to get powers when they turn twenty-one? No, I think I would have remembered getting notified about that. Oh, wait: maybe they got my email address wrong!”
He sighed, losing patience with my sarcastic remarks. “No, your family line.”
“You’re saying I’m a witch? If I had superpowers, then I should have been able to kill that demon.”
“That depends on the witch. And the power she wields.”
“So if I had super-strength, and you tried to bite me, I’d be able to rip your head off.”
“You’re quite violent, aren’t you?”
“Don’t you know? After all, you’ve been stalking me. Some people have personal assistants. Or personal shoppers. Well, I’ve got my own personal stalker! Thankfully, you’re not the twisted, psychotic kind. Just one with vampiric tendencies. By the way, where are you taking me? To your coffin?”
“I don’t have a coffin.” Seeing me about to interject, he said, “Or a castle.”
“Only because there aren’t any castles in Chi-town.”
“We’re going to see your grandmother…and the rest of your family.”
“Are you saying Grams lied to me for all these years about a family I never knew I had?”
“She believed that by shielding you, she was protecting you.”
“To keep the demons, vampires, and witches out of my life? Like that worked tonight!”
“That was the first demon to appear on Earth in nearly a hundred years. And I’m the only living person with vampiric abilities. Besides, your grandmother, I—”
“Wait, you’re dead, so how can you be a living vampire? Do you breathe?”
“Yes.”
“Do you eat food?”
“No.”
“How old are you?”
“Three-hundred and twenty-two.”
“Of course. You don’t eat, but you’re over three centuries old. And you still think you’re ‘living’? Did it ever occur to you that, maybe, you’re just insane? Normal people don’t go around saying they have ‘vampiric tendencies.’”
“And how do you explain the demon I vanquished?
“A trick. Magicians use them all the time.”
“If you didn’t believe me, why did you get in my car? Why aren’t you now screaming for help?”
“I don’t know. I felt like…I could trust you.”
“But you just met me, and I just killed someone. That’s not something a normal person would do.”
That reminded me of vampires and their telepathic ability. There was no other explanation as to why I’d followed Darius into his car. Anger roiled inside me as the notion that paranormal forces truly existed and that Grams kept that information from me. “You tricked me to trust you. That’s why I’m here.”
“I compelled you,” he said.
Darius hadn’t attempted to harm me, nor did he seem intent to do so. Still, he didn’t find it unethical to force me to do something against my will, so while I didn’t regard him as a threat, I couldn’t entirely trust him. “So if the creepy dude was dead, how did the demon get inside his body?”
“There are only three ways a paranormal creature can enter a human host. First, the host was either weak-willed or weak-minded, meaning it didn’t put up a fight; second, the host had been weak in physical form, which often occurs during a major illness or disease. Finally, the host may have invited him.”
“Invited? That man could have actually welcomed the demon to take over his body?”
“It’s rare but it happens.”
“So an illness: you make it sound like a virus—if your immune system isn’t strong enough, you get sick…or in this case, a demon enters your body.”
“Good analogy. If the demon remains and isn’t kicked out within three days, it stays, and the human is locked inside, helpless to do anything about it.”
“That demon’s eyes flashed black,” I said. “Does that only happen when a demon takes over?”
Darius nodded. “If it’s been less than twenty-four hours, a demon’s eyes will flash black three times to any human he locks eyes with. He’s mandated to show his true self to those on a human plane.”
“Who ‘mandated’ that rule?”
“Again, your grandmother should share this information with you.”
Darius had pretty much convinced me that paranormal creatures walked the Earth, which didn’t surprise me too much. There was so much violence in the world; I always figured something outside of human forces had instigated these acts of cruelty. Regardless, I had the feeling that Grams would need to spend a few hours answering all my questions before I believed everything Darius told me. “Did Grams force me to learn martial arts because of…what we’re talking about?”
“I’m sure of it. It sharpened your reflexes and your mind.”
Four times each week for over fifteen years, neither illness nor holidays prevented me from visiting Master Nakamura’s dojo, where I’d gone home countless times with bloody knuckles, bruised shins, and black eyes, among other injuries, none of which the other students incurred. Unlike any other student, I suffered verbal, mental, and physical abuse week-in, week-out…all at the hands of Master Nakamura, who seemed to take enjoyment out of the pain I’d endured. If what Darius said was true, I could understand why Grams wanted me to endure so much anguish.
More questions flooded my mind. “Why was that the first demon on Earth in almost a hundred years? Why did he come after me? Why does he want to kill…my family?”
“Your grandmother should probably—”
“Yeah, I get it.” I looked out the window. Until now, I’d avoided only one question because I feared the answer, but I couldn’t go without asking it any longer. “Do you drink blood?”
“If I lose blood, yes. Otherwise, it’s unnecessary.” He paused. “For me, at least.”
“So…you don’t need blood to live.” Catching a smart-ass, half-grin by my use of the word ‘live,’ I rephrased my question: “why don’t you need to drink blood?”
“My blood was cursed by a witch long ago. It granted me heightened senses as well as superior strength and speed. My heart neve
r stopped beating, but my cursed blood created a form of stasis that made it impossible for me to age. Only some of the vampiric legends you’ve heard are true.”
“Sunlight?” I asked.
“It burns. With enough exposure, my skin will light on fire. Otherwise, we don’t have an aversion to garlic, crucifixes, or holy water.”
“Does that mean other vampires are affected by that stuff?”
“No. You will see a vampire’s reflection in mirrors. We are immortal. Quick healing properties? Definitely. Turning into a bat or sleeping in a casket? Ridiculous! But if other vampires spring forth, they will need to feed... to maintain their strength and potency.”
“But how would they spring forth?”
“If a human was killed with vampiric blood in his system, he will awaken as a vampire.”
That put me at ease…a little bit, anyway. “Why are you so sure you won’t turn a human?”
“Special circumstances would have to occur for that to take place. And that hasn’t happened in almost a century.”
That seemed to coincide with when Darius and Grams were on “good terms.” I sensed a long-winded story about that, but I didn’t want to prevent Darius from continuing to answer my questions, so I let that one fall by the wayside. “Why would other vampires need to feed in order to stay strong?”
“Think of it in terms as a mutation in human evolution. As for me, if I bleed out, I will have an insatiable and vicious desire to feed immediately. That only happens with a regular vampire if he’s starving. Some vampires train their bodies to go without blood for extended period to acclimate their systems to hunger. By mastering their desires, they hone their skills, making them stronger, faster…when they finally do feed. That same way, I grow stronger the longer my blood remains in my body.
“Since the original curse didn’t require a vampire to feed on blood, only the most vicious of vampires feed on a consistent basis. They grow stronger that way too, but the more they drink, the more they want blood, which makes it much more difficult to control their desires.”
I hadn’t expected such a long dissertation on the care and feeding of vampires.
“And here’s another thing that’s different,” he continued. “Vampires must be careful who or what, if it’s an animal, they drink from. If they choose an individual with a disease or someone who has taken drugs of any kind, they will retain the effects of those debilitating effects. But since vampires have heightened powers, those effects will be much more pronounced, at least until a vampire’s blood eventually kills the negative effects of the tainted blood.”
“So if you drank from a person who just did heroin…”
“I’d get high, but it would be like shooting ten syringes full of heroin into my body. But the effects wouldn’t last long. The strength of my blood would overpower it within moments.”
The intensity and seriousness behind his statements knocked all of the sarcasm from my mind. I felt weakened and frightened by what I’d just learned. “I get that you’re telling me all this because I just faced a demon…and apparently vampires and witches exist, but why are you helping me?”
“Because I’m indebted to your grandmother.”
“What does that mean?”
“I assist one member of your line until she passes away. Upon her death, I select another witch in your line to protect.”
“If they’re witches, why can’t they protect themselves? Why would they need a vampire to protect them?”
“It all goes back to…” Despite facing no issues on the road, he tightened his grasp on the steering wheel, clutching it so hard that it rattled in his hands. Nevertheless, his expression seemed unaffected and, more importantly, he looked as though he had no idea how furiously he detested serving as protector. “It goes back to the curse. I’ve sworn to protect one member of your line at any given time.”
“But I’m not a witch.”
Darius’s expression turned solemn. “Denying it doesn’t make it any less true.”
What did being a witch feel like? I didn’t sense either a physical, mental, or an emotional transformation since I woke up this morning. And how would I get the powers Darius mentioned? Too many questions remained unanswered.
“Neither your grandmother nor I are on the best of terms with your mother.”
I didn’t know how to process having a mother, especially since I would soon meet her. I’d once inquired about her, but Grams’s furious glare terrified me so much that I had nightmares for weeks afterwards. I’d never dared ask about her again. Her existence seemed too impossible to grasp. Would she like me? Hate me? Ignore me? It led to self-consciousness that made me want to consider every possible angle that she might comment on: my body, my clothes, my attitude, my education, my favorite foods…everything. Self-doubt collapsed my shoulders, and the weight got so unwieldy that, I couldn’t process a single thought.
“You’re quiet,” he said.
The comment zapped me back to reality. I tried to push past the idea of meeting my mother, but I needed to get off that topic. “So, are there any other paranormal creatures I should know about?”
“At the moment? No. But soon there might be. It all depends.”
I didn’t like his ominous tone. “Depends on what?”
“On the continued existence of your line.”
I didn’t try to unravel that one. “What about werewolves? Are they real?”
“Yes.”
“Of course, they are.” I chuckled at the absurdity. “My best friend’s a ghost, and last night at a bar, after the Cubs won, I high-fived a female mummy.” I needed to expound on that comment. “I should have persuaded her to wear a headscarf like Muslim women. All those bandages on that poor mummy’s face for thousands of years? She’s going to need one hell of a beauty regimen.”
“You think this is funny?” he asked in monotone.
“No, it’s ridiculous.”
He turned to me and those intense eyes held mine in check. Even though I willed myself to glance elsewhere, I couldn’t even blink. When his pointy fangs came into view, a chill slid down my spine. I may have trusted his words, but I couldn’t trust his actions. I tensed my muscles for an attack.
But more than that, I believed him. About everything. My head ached from the revelations that he’d revealed. I grew silent once more, unable to process another sarcastic remark. I felt like my brain had been placed in a vice, and someone had turned the handle as far as it would go. If Darius attempted to attack me, I didn’t even think I’d respond. I’d just sit there, unable to move, unable to think. That rarely happened. In martial arts, muscle memory allows you to respond without thinking. But how could I defend myself against the supernatural? I felt confused, lost.
Darius’s fangs retracted, and he turned his attention back to the road ahead of us. “Quiet again?”
“Well, you kinda just threw my world into a tailspin, so I think I’m entitled a few minutes to freak out.”
He glanced at the time on the dashboard. “Okay. Three minutes starting…now!”
That remark broke some of my disillusionment. “What happened to that demon in the alley after you vanquished it?”
“He went looking for another body to possess. If he doesn’t find one soon, he’ll be forced to return to hell.”
“And because the demon’s eyes flashed three times while it approached me, it meant that the host had lost the battle. So did the man’s soul get sent back to heaven?”
“Either that or he’s a ghost. I’ve already told you about your mother,” he said, changing the subject. “You also have a sister and a niece.”
Mouth ajar, I just stared at him. It was enough to learn that I had a mother, not to mention a sister…and a niece!
“Your grandmother didn’t want you to have anything to do with them.”
“Why?” Without waiting for an answer, I said, “When I was little, I always wanted to meet my mother.”
“That may be, but you’ll soon wish
you hadn’t.”
CHAPTER THREE
After Darius pulled to the curb at DePaul University’s Lincoln Park Campus, I stepped out of the car, and we walked along a sidewalk toward the Quad, where over a dozen trees surrounded various walkways, all of which led to a circular pattern enclosed by manicured bushes. I’d spent the past four years crossing these sidewalks each day. Now that a new world had opened up for me, I looked up at the large buildings I’d once walked past daily and regarded those moments as uninformed and naive.
“What are we doing here?” I asked Darius. Opposite us, a trio of women and a teenager made their way toward us.
“You’ll understand soon enough.”
His conviction, sounding almost like a threat, made my pulse leap. “And what do you want?” A few seconds later, I looked back, only to find that Darius had vanished. I scanned the area, but I didn’t see him anywhere. I found it unnerving that he vanished without a sound.
“It is delightful to see you once again.”
Startled, I swung around and found Grams behind me wearing matching gray Chicago Bears T-shirt and sweatpants, while an orange Bears hat collected her thin, silver hair. Grams extended her arms as a vibrant smile lit her hollow cheeks. “I am overjoyed to have you join us.”
I drew back, surprised by her strange greeting, not to mention that she stood alongside three strangers. “You weren’t at the ceremony,” I said, waiting for an introduction to the others. “What happened?” Following the graduation ceremony, I’d chatted with many friends I’d probably never see again, so we all went out to dinner and snapped photos to one day remind us of past memories. Afterwards, I’d called and texted Grams, but she hadn’t responded. So to now hear her all but disregard my graduation, a ceremony she had looked forward to since I entered college, I was puzzled by her disinterest.
To deflect those thoughts, as well as to avoid asking her to break the ice with those beside her, I wondered why she wasn’t wearing her Bears’ headband and wristbands. They were probably beside her Bears’ lamp, under which lay her Bears’ slippers, which lay upon her Bears’ rug. The Chicago Bears were a yearlong love affair for Grams. In her opinion, the off-season didn’t exist: the team played year-round and won every game, existent or non-existent.
Nightwish (An Echoes of Eternity Novel Book 1) Page 2
