I felt it then. Evil. It was stalking me. I knew how enticing I looked to it. In the eye of the demons that stalked humans, I was prime pickings, female and alone. I went to start to jog again. Evil was apparently impatient.
A tall man with sandy blond hair that hung to his mid-back stepped out from the side of the building nearest me. I gasped, pretending like I hadn’t sensed him. His pale grey eyes locked on me. His body was toned, not extremely muscular but that meant little in the world of supernaturals. This vampire was as deadly as any other thing out there. Maybe more so. He wore the obligatory monochromatic outfit all the bad guys seem to have. Basically, they went with black from head to toe. He smiled. I cringed.
“It is not wise to be out on your own at such an hour,” he said, evil lacing his voice. He took a step towards me. “It is most unfortunate for you that you took this path.”
I stood still.
He moved next to me quickly. Had I been human I wouldn’t have seen him move. Since I wasn’t, I watched the entire thing. I gasped and played the role of victim perfectly. “How?”
Smiling wickedly, he raked a fingernail down the back of my jacket, splitting it open. “It matters not, human. All you want is for me to touch you, to be near you, to have you.” The compulsion he was laying on with his voice was thick enough to choke on. I laughed so hard on the inside that I almost shook with it.
He pulled my jacket open, exposing my upper left back. Instantly, his hand went to my tattoo and branding spot. He laughed and the sound made me sick to my stomach. “Someone has placed the mark of the devil on you. Oh,” he laughed, “are you the devil’s whore, Karri? That’s what he thought, wasn’t it? William told you that you were evil, spit forth from hell and delivered to them so that you could have the demons within you exorcised.”
I stood, sensing more of his buddies close to us. Watching us. I couldn’t make my move too soon or they’d run. I had no choice but to stand there listening to a soulless demon bring up horrific memories.
The vampire ran his fingers over the outside of the brand. He traced each symbol on the tattoo and laughed again. “So, you are more than just human, yet not so much so that you resist my hold on you. Your mind has been exposed to shadow demons most recently, making it so easy to read. It is an open book, young one. It is a shame for this mate your back speaks of that you shall not live to see him.”
He took a deep breath in. “I am right, you are not mated. I wonder, would you have told him of the man who burned your flesh knowing he would see it? Would you have revealed the number of lashes you took defending his honor? How William tore your arms open, ripped your face open wide, thought of taking you in ways only your mate should?”
The vampire ran his hands over my arms lightly. I shivered. He laughed. “Ahh, Karri, so young, standing up to such an evil man. Was defending a man who cared nothing for you, your mate, worth what William put you through.” He touched the brand on my upper back again. “What became of the rest of these? The ones you received while screaming and crawling on the floor? What of the rest of the scars from the whip? And the bite marks, Karri? What of those? Did you make them go away or did the angel that came to you and held you trying to make you believe that her brother did not know that it would happen--did not know that you would spend your life being treated like an animal, not able to look your foster parents in the eyes or be seen with them in public, do it? Did she heal them?”
Brother?
“Yes, the one who abandoned you and let you be William’s demonic play toy is the brother to the one you held so dear. Ah, yes, PJ? Yes, let your mind race, little one. Show me it all.”
That couldn’t be right. Evil ones loved to lie. I pushed him from my mind and stood still.
He laughed as I let off a signal of fear. I had no fear of him so it was completely invented. “That is it. You are still afraid of William today. You can still remember screaming out for a man who never came as William bent your lush body over the table and offered to show you what it was the hero in your head would do to you. What all men did to sluts, to demon whores.”
Tall shadowy figures walked out into the street and joined us.
“Did you like it when William made the woman--Madge bind your wrists and begin to undress you? You must have liked the bites, Karri. For he bit you when you struggled and you struggled non-stop. What was the horrible rage burning in you? Did you wonder if it was the evil they accused you of being surfacing? Was it?”
A slow smile crept over my face as I waited for him to get to my favorite part.
“You knew what William was going to do. You knew he was going to take you and ram himself in your body until you renounced all that was evil. You knew that the way he’d watched you for years was wrong. You laid there bound, staring at the floor, screaming for a man who would not come. A man that had put you there. A man who could leave a child in the hands of that sort of evil is a man I can learn to admire. Did you like growing up with William? Never knowing if he’d done something to your food again because he liked watching you be so sick you could barely move. He got great joy out of his psychological torment. I can only imagining the joy he had when he had you laid out before him, a dark angel offering.”
As he said dark angel I broke into a full smile. Waiting for him to put it all together.
“Tell me why you are not as terrified as you should be, Karri?”
The other vampires moved in on us slowly. Once I was sure they were all in an area I could contain them, I laughed.
“This is funny? It is funny that a man raped you while you screamed, begging him to stop. While you screamed out for someone named RJ to come but he never did.”
I snorted. “Just like a vampire to get some of the story only to invent the rest.”
He stepped back fast, clearly realizing he didn’t have quite the hold on me that he thought he did. “You will remain silent.”
I shot power up and around the area, locking them in with me along with any sounds of a fight. “And you will remain here with me.”
I felt him draw on the last of my memory of William. He hissed and backed away quickly. Pulling the ripped jacket off, I turned a bit and wagged my brows. “Oh, did you get to the part where I figured out what that rage inside was and what it was trying to do?”
“It cannot be. You are too young to be her.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot.” I pulled my knives from my arms sheaths and smiled. “Oh and about the rape thing. It was a little hard for William to rape me, being pinned to the ceiling by pitchforks and all.” I laughed at the thought. It was sick but called for. Besides, I didn’t regret it.
The vampire looked at his friends with wide, horrified eyes. “Go, go now!”
All of them scattered. I leaned against the building and waited for them to figure out what I already knew. They weren’t going anywhere. One of them shrieked out and shot a wave of power at me. Putting my hand up, I batted the invisible wave of it back at the vampire, sending him hurdling into the air. Another tried to use his power on me too and I did the same thing. “Well, boys, we can continue our game of volley power or we can jump to the part where I kill you. You decide. Keep in mind that I’m meeting a friend for coffee in a few hours and I’ll need time to pretty up.”
They all rushed at me, doing partial shifts as they came. I giggled slightly and nodded my head. “Morons. It must be a male thing.”
I sheathed my knives fast and ran at the charging group. That seemed to shock them. I thought it was funny. A second before we where to collide, I sprung high into the air, twisted as I went over their heads, yanked the button legs of my pants open, grabbed my P226’s from my thigh holsters and fired at the line of them as they ran in the other direction. Each shot was a direct back of the head hit. A ball of dust erupted in place of where each vampire used to be.
As I landed, I sensed one behind me. Turning fast, I brought the gun up and pressed it to his forehead. He snarled. I pulled the trigger. I shook my head as dust went
fell all over me. “Mmm, breathing in dead guys is the highlight of my job,” I said, sarcastically.
“Combine powers, quickly, the dark angel cannot fight us all at one time. She works to separate us,” the blond vamp yelled.
Why the idiots believed the rumors they’d heard about me was beyond me. Knowing that in a minute they would hit me with a huge shared wave of power and that I’d be knocked backwards, I holstered my handguns.
I felt it coming, the huge rush of evil energy. Bracing myself, I waited. It slammed into me, throwing me into the air. Every inch of my body burned from the pressure. The second I struck the side of the building, pain shot through every limb. I hit the ground hard and fast.
Something moved over me. It didn’t seem evil nor did seem to really be there. Opening my eyes, I blinked but saw nothing. I still felt it though. As a hand touched my cheek, my eyes widened as I stared at nothing but air. “Tripp?”
The nothingness caressed my cheek before lifting my arm as if it were checking me for signs of injury. It didn’t feel like Tripp. “Who and what are you?”
It didn’t answer.
“See she cannot fight us all,” the vampire yelled.
“Men.” I raised my hand and let my magik out. I tried to stand but the nothingness pinned me down. I pushed up hard, the nothingness that held me eased but didn’t stop touching me. I got to my feet quickly. “Thanks. Though, I should say that the bad guys do that all the time.” I smiled at thin air. “Neat, are you the ghost from my house? How cool would that be? I’m working on a new name for you. I’ll admit the other doesn’t suit you. Oh, and if you interfere again, odds are, I’ll be joining you on the whole ghost side.”
I looked at the row of vampires suspended in various positions by my magik and glared at them. “That does not kill me, idiots. Who the hell started that rumor? All that does is piss me off. And when I’m pissed,” I drew my handguns, fired into all but the blond one’s hearts, “I am not a nice woman to deal with.”
The blond one stood frozen in place, glaring at me. Something smoothed over my tattoo and pressed lightly on my brand mark. My entire body warmed instantly. My breath hitched as I looked over my shoulder but found nothing. Stunned, I dropped my magik on accident.
Instantly, my body was ripped backwards. Evil power had hold of my hair and neck, yanking me straight towards the vampire. I fought hard to turn with no luck. The second the vamp actually got his hands on me, he laughed, pressing his mouth to my ear. “The dark angel so many fear is nothing but a child. A gifted, foolish, traumatized child. One who I will enjoy showing exactly how William should have ended things.”
His dagger-like fingers nails raked over the side of my neck. Warm blood ran down. He took a deep breath in. “She is nothing but a shell of bad memories that haunt her every waking moment. She is....”
“Sick of hearing your voice.” Throwing my head back, I struck his face hard. He released his hold on my neck, giving me the edge I needed. Dropping down fast, I spun and swept his legs out from under him. He flipped into the air and defied gravity.
“You are nothing. In our world you are a legend, a myth to be feared. A monster even bigger than we are.” He laughed. “You are nothing but a devil’s whore. A zealots whipping post. Without your weapons you are but a gifted Fay.”
“Hey, asshole. I’m missing the equipment to play mine’s bigger so stop trying to get me to toss my weapons. Pissing matches aren’t really my thing. Oh, and I’m no Fay.”
“I can smell your fear, your terror each time I merely say William’s name, Karri.” The vampire licked his fangs. “Karri-Lynn.”
I froze as he mimicked William’s voice perfectly.
The vampire seized the opportunity to keep going, using William’s voice as he went. “Get up! Stop crying, girl! Madge, stay out of this. It’s between the demon and I. You’re the one who let the devil bring this ... this ... monster into our lives.” The vampire stared at me. “You didn’t need a baby that bad that you had to open us up to evil. Just look at her. Years and years of trying to rid her of her demons hasn’t done a damn thing. Oh, Lucifer knew what he was doing with this one--makin’ her so she would tempt any man. Take a good God fairing man and give him thoughts he need not be having. Thoughts of lewd, sinful acts. Things only the devil and his whore would dare do.”
I tried to move but couldn’t. It had been over ten years since I’d heard that voice and the vampire was right--it still terrified me.
“Shut your mouth, Madge. She doesn’t need no doctor. She needs to beg for forgiveness from the Lord.” The vampire dropped and stood before me. He slashed out. Pain radiated throughout my cheek. I knew it was an illusion but that didn’t stop me from touching it. “Aren’t you the lucky little demon? I was aiming for those eyes. They’re always watching me, looking at me like I’m the evil one. I know what goes on in your head. You think of ways to kill me. You still hope someone will come. Someone will take you back to hell.”
The vampire ran his magik over me. Instantly, I was covered in lacerations, burn marks and bite marks. Barely any skin was left untouched. I knew it was an illusion to make me remember exactly what William did. It didn’t stop the pain of the actual ordeal from sneaking up on me.
The vampire continued on, goading me. “You’re thinkin’ of him now aren’t you, temptress? Hoping he’ll show up and fix it all, take you back among the other demon waste that seem to huddle together. You have ideas that he might forgive you for what you did--lettin’ your father die while you just sat there cryin’ your lil’ eyes out. He hates you. He won’t come. He won’t listen to your cries anymore. No, not unless you promise to give him what he wants. Tell me the truth, are you thinking about him?”
Another laceration appeared on my upper arm, this one showed bone.
“What do you mean who? Don’t pretend that you don’t know who I’m talkin’ about. No man does all that for a child that ain’t his. What have you been doin’ for him all these years? Huh? Are you throwing those legs around him, letting him drive himself in until you’re full of his evil seed? Are you?”
I felt something pressing in close around me. It helped to shield me from the awful memories. “It’s not real, honey. It’s just an illusion. A vampire’s trick. He’s feeding off the memories that the dark shadows found. Fight him. You’re stronger than this. I’m here with you, honey. I’m not going anywhere.”
My breath caught as I tried to figure out if the wind had just carried what sounded like Riston’s voice to me or if I was officially crazy.
“What’s this, Karri-Lynn? Do you have the help of someone close by? Maybe you’ll get lucky and your protector, your mate will show and finally do his job.” The vampire leaned into me, his voice instantly going to William’s again as he held an iron brander with the mark looking like a devil’s head with horns burning and sizzling. “Now, girl, he’ll know his whore when he sees her and he’ll know she was taught a lesson she’ll never forget. Hold still, this will only take a minute. Then we can get to what you know you want, me in you.”
The darkness I carried within me surged forward. My eyes burned for a second as they always did when they filled to black. Reaching out fast, I seized hold of the vampire’s throat and lifted him off the ground. I’m not sure who was more shocked me or him.
Shaking my head, I thrust his illusion off my body, once again back to myself. “You want to pretend to be William? Then I will pretend you are. Trust me when I say even after all he put me through, in the end justice was served.”
I let my power loose and watched as the vampire was ripped from my grasp by my power. It pulled him into the air and locked him in spot. He screamed out as the first bit of flesh was ripped from his body. I smiled and waved.
“This is so much more fun now that I’m not eighteen and scared to death. I kept begging myself to stop. But I didn’t know how. I didn’t understand what was happening. I terrified myself. I really believed the bullshit he fed me, that I was an evil demon. Now, I
not only know that he hit the nail on the head, I don’t care. See, I’m not begging for anything now and I am well aware of how to stop it. Now,” I waved my hand through the air dramatically, “let the fun begin.”
The vampire’s skin continued to peel, piece after agonizing piece. He screamed, begging for mercy. I showed him none. Smiling, I winked at him. “We here at Karri-Lynn Memory Land would like to remind you to keep your hands and arms inside the magik zone at all times. We cannot be held responsible for any lost or damaged vampires.” I thrust power out, whipping him madly around in the air, peeling faster, digging into muscle, bone all of him. “Oh, and be sure to come again. But wait, you won’t be able to because you’ll be dead.”
Ashes fell from the air and I knew the vampire was long gone but I couldn’t seem to get my power to return to me. It wanted more. It wanted justice. It wanted blood, death, destruction. Tears flowed down my cheeks as I closed my eyes, caught in the struggle between light and dark that waged within me. The harder I tried to pull it back the less it listened to my command.
“No,” I bit out. “Not today. I won’t give in....”
My power whipped around me, lifting my hair and bringing thoughts of evil to my head. I covered my ears, hoping to ignore the voices that now whispered to me, encouraging me to go on a killing rampage.
“Kill him. Your mate is so close. Find him,” they chanted, filling the air around me. “Show him what you have become. Rip his still beating heart from his chest.”
“No,” I pushed out as I fought to keep my inner demons inner.
They pushed back just as hard. “Hunt him. Kill him. Force him to choose between killing you or dying. Force him.”
The voices were nothing like mine, and it hit me then. It was evil’s attempt at trying to get me to give in. They wanted me to the point that I was theirs or no ones. I stood tall, letting the wind whip past me and the demons press in on my mind. I laughed and shook my head. “Come on, show yourselves! Stop hiding and pretending to be my inner thoughts, because I do not want RJ to have to make that choice. That would mean I’d have to face him and let him see what I’ve become. I’m too ashamed of myself to do that so try another fucking one, assholes.”
Wicked Lucidity Page 22
