by Ally Thomas
“We have to save her. It’s my ass if we don’t.”
A frown crossed my face, and I was sure Death noticed it. “What are you talking about? May I remind you? You are the Angel of Death, not the Angel of Life.”
He sprang up from the chair and started pacing in front of us. He seemed more agitated and frustrated than I had ever seen him. “She has a mark. She’s important to one of the houses. J told me if I found a girl like this anywhere on Earth that I had to protect her. She’s not a soul that is to go over. And now I may be too late. I’m screwed.”
“Show me,” I said.
Slowly he pulled up the left flannel sleeve of her shirt. Beneath the fabric, right below the bend of her arm, she had a tattoo. A detailed symbol of a lion fighting a snake in black and red ink with blue and silver shadings. It was exquisite. It reminded me of paintings I’d seen in my art books.
“The mark of the dragon,” I whispered.
“What?” Death asked. “What do you mean? Have you seen this before, Rayea?”
“Something I dreamed about,” I mumbled, not wanting to divulge to Death the insanity of my blood-induced dream. “What is her name?” I asked, trying to think coherently.
“Grace.”
Immediately, the girl sat upright, shouting at us. Her eyes blazed and her lion tattoo began to glow. Her entire body was scalding-hot to the touch.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the tattoo actually moving along her arm as the lion whirled a few times around. She wasn’t a normal human, I thought to myself. It’s not possible. If J wants her saved, she has to be saved, I decided.
“Go get me a knife from the kitchen,” I said to Death.
He looked at me, then at Grace. “Rayea, do you know what you’re doing? Why can’t you use your fangs?”
“Go get me a knife,” I repeated. When Death left the bedroom, I spoke to Grace. Actually I put her in a light trance, so that she would obey my commands and calm down. She was in too much pain and I knew she needed a few moments of relief. “You’re going to be okay. I know we haven’t met, and I’m sorry for that, but you will be okay. I won’t hurt you.”
She blinked her vivid green eyes at me a few times. “The bar. I saw you in the bar.” Her voice was a hoarse whisper.
I ran to the bathroom and got her some water.
Her body temperature cooled somewhat as she drank the liquid and I dabbed her forehead with a damp towel. “He wanted to sell me off.”
I placed my hand on her right temple, hoping to access her memory. Maybe she could tell me what bar she meant, so I could get a location. Who wanted to sell her off? It sounded like she thought she had seen me before. Then the memory surfaced. She had watched me the night before drinking in Max’s bar, the Golden Skull. She had harmed herself because she’d rather die than exist with a boyfriend she despised. His name was Nathan and she loathed him. He wanted to sell her off to a woman he had met on the internet.
“The new Medusa,” Grace breathed, lightly laughing afterwards before she grimaced in pain and coughed.
I wiped a few spurts of blood from her lips. No one but Stephanie would use the new Medusa as her new super freak name. Now I knew I had to do something. If my plan didn’t work, I’d be in even more trouble, not really with the Council, but with J. That thought seriously frightened me. He could burn my brain into a clump of ashes with a snap of his fingers. If this girl was important to him, I had to do something. And if Stephanie was on the loose, I couldn’t begin to think what that meant. Lynn. Ashton. I had to know they were okay.
“Grace, can you hear me?”
She nodded.
“How long have you had this tattoo? Is it recent?” I pressed my index finger into her left arm to show here where I meant.
“After that night. The first time. Nathan. He sliced me up.”
I put my hand against her face again, reading her thoughts. Her boyfriend wanted to be a vampire. In a bloodletting ritual, he had harmed her and somehow she had survived the first set of injuries. He wanted her to be a vampire too, but Grace’s change had gone wrong.
“Fire,” Grace whispered. “Fire shoots from my hands now.”
Good god. I had to think about this. If she was something like me, able to send flames from her hands, she would be even more dangerous if I turned her into a vampire. I didn’t know how to turn her however, so we did have a situation. I gritted my teeth. Then my mother’s words came to me. “Protect your friends. Keep them safe.” Ra’s words overlapped my mother’s as they walked through my mind. “You will not always be a fledgling vampire. Knowing who is of a pure heart and soul will guide you. You will defeat all evil. It’s who you are. The mark of the dragon will guide you.” I could recall everything from the dream, meeting Ra, meeting my mother, their conversations, the blood tea, and the supposed blood god racing around in my veins. Despite it all being a dream, I knew those events were real. It had actually happened as far as I was concerned.
Then the voice inside my head said one simple phrase: “The angel drank your blood. Why can’t this girl drink yours?”
Maybe that could work unless I still had some of the poison in my system.
“Can I show you something, Grace? We aren’t so different after all. Watch.”
Her body stiffened when she saw a small ball of fire I summoned to rise from my fingertips.
“Oh my god,” she whispered.
I straightened one of my hands out and waved the other hand over the flames. Quickly they extinguished. A few streams of smoke floated upwards.
“Do you understand? I’m like you, and we’re on the same side. It’ll be okay.”
She chewed on her lips, nodding her head against her will.
“There is one other thing,” I said as I raised my left sleeve of my shirt.
Her eyes widened as she observed a tattoo of a dragon on my upper arm. It hadn’t been there before Michael had laid me in my bed to sleep off the power of Ra’s blood. But after my dream with meeting my mother and Ra, I had awakened up with a stinging sensation radiating from my arm like a burn. It was a tattoo similar to Grace’s. That couldn’t be by coincidence. Mine was an illustration of a dragon fighting a snake in black and blue ink with red and gold shadings. Anyone could tell it was created by the same artist, same shadings and similar colorings. It looked like it had been lifted from the walls of a pyramid. It had to be the mark of a house. Maybe it was the House of the Dragon. Ra’s story about the two sisters, Maia, the good daughter and Mehen, the evil flashed before me. But what did Grace’s lion tattoo mean? What house did it represent? I didn’t have time to process all of it. Whether or not we had been marked by the gods, I had a responsibility to try to save her. Or maybe I was rather bleary still from my blood dream and I was envisioning nonsense. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t letting this girl die, not in my house anyway.
“Grace, I want you to trust me, okay? I can help you, but I know you fear vampires.”
She stiffened again in the chair, pushing backwards into the fabric and winced in pain.
“It’s okay. It’s okay,” I said, taking her hands in mine. “I won’t hurt you, but we need to heal you. You must want to live though. I can’t make you want this. Live for revenge if that is enough. You can seek vengeance on Nathan, your asshole boyfriend.”
Rigid with fear, she managed to nod at me. She bared her teeth at me when another seizure of pain hit her. No fangs. Maybe she wasn’t like me after all.
I glanced around and saw Death standing in the doorway. “Do you think it’ll work?”
“I have no idea,” I stated flatly. “But I have to try.”
Slowly Grace dropped my hands and extended her arm towards Death. “Demetri,” she whispered.
He rushed over to her in the chair and took her hand in his. “I’ll do whatever I can. If you don’t survive, I’ll come for you. Do you understand me? I’ll find you no matter what.”
Seeing him respond to her request and verbally vomit a slew o
f promises he may not be able to keep, a slight smile played across my face. My eyebrows raised in amazement as my eyes widened. I exhaled slowly. My ex-boyfriend was finally in love. It was a glorious sight. As my face shifted into a wide grin, Death bumped me with his hip.
“Shut up,” he mouthed with his lips.
I continued to smile like an idiot at him. We’ll save her. Don’t worry. I let my thoughts pass quietly to him, not knowing if he could hear me telepathically.
“Do whatever you can please,” he replied. “I’m not giving this one up without a fight.”
Death’s words resonated with me. How many guys did I have to let get away before I figured out what I was running from when it came to love. What was I so scared of? Getting hurt? Deciding to leave the topic to discuss another day, I returned to my task before me. Before I could back out on my decision, I yanked the knife from the floor and sliced my right wrist open. As I let the blood from my right wrist fall onto Grace’s stomach, she screamed in pain. The blood sizzled as it rolled over her flesh.
“Rub the blood into her wounds,” I said to Death.
For a moment we watched in amazement as the blood cauterized the wounds.
Then I motioned for Grace to lift her chin. “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
When I raked the knife across my left wrist, cutting it as well, Grace wrinkled her face at me and shut her eyes. “No, I won’t.”
“You must,” Death said to her. “You must. You’ll die otherwise.”
“I want to die,” she retaliated.
Gently cupping Grace’s face in his right hand and pushing strands of her long red hair over her left shoulder, he stared into her eyes.
My heart sank. The memory of Ra and my mother showing compassion for one another in my dream surfaced. Two people in love.
“Grace, sweetheart, you have to do this. I already know I want to spend my life with you. Please, do this for us.” Despite the blood splattered on Grace’s face, Death kissed her and she returned his kiss.
I smiled at Death slightly when we briefly made eye contact again.
He nodded, and, patting me on the shoulder, stepped away for a moment.
“Grace, I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. But Demetri is right. You will die if we don’t do this. Trust me. Please. You won’t be like Nathan and his friends. You won’t be evil. There’s an alternative to those evil snake vampires. And we’re it. Do you understand?”
Grace slammed her eyes shut and fiercely nodded again. “Okay! I’m ready!” Opening her mouth widely, she tilted her head back against the wall.
The blood from my wrist fell into her mouth and down her cheek. I prayed it would be enough. I prayed it would work because ultimately I had no idea what I was doing.
“Where did you learn how to do this?” Death asked as he hovered in the doorway.
“Would you get over here and hold her hand please?”
“How much of this do I have to drink? This stuff is really warm!” Grace yelled as she spit some blood on Death’s face. “Sorry,” she giggled.
Death glanced over at me speechless.
I laughed at his expression. “I learned it watching Blood Realm,” I replied. Realizing he had failed to understand my response, I rephrased my answer. “Ashton’s TV show.”
“Oh, that’s just great. We’re in trouble now for sure.”
I nodded to Grace again and placed my other slashed wrist over her head. “Let’s drink a little bit more, okay?”
While Death sat with Grace, who had finally drifted off to sleep and was resting comfortably in the guest room, I bandaged my wrists, changed into a sleeveless blue t-shirt, faded jeans, and a black leather jacket, and decided to get some fresh air. My day had gone to Hell in a hand basket, and that was putting it mildly. “Check her pulse often and call me immediately if anything happens,” I had told Death.
“Rayea, we have to do that meeting thing at some point.”
“You wanna do it now? Or wait and see if she wakes up?” I had asked him.
“I’ll make some calls and see if I can put them off a little bit longer. J said I could use the ‘doing inventory/too busy’ excuse if necessary.”
So, I had a stay of execution for a few more hours and I wanted to put it to good use. I needed some downtime, if that was possible. Bouncing out the door like a free man, I decided to make a couple of calls while I wandered around the streets of the Haight-Ashbury district and see the nightlife. Surely I can get some privacy in a sea of tourists, I thought.
I texted Blick and few times and got no response. Lynn, as well, did not reply to my text messages. She was probably busy with work. Finally, while I waited at the light next to the Golden Skull bar, I texted Ashton. Was the world mad at me? A few moments later, he sent me a reply picture. He was in makeup and had his set of vampire fangs in. His text said, “Sexier than a gnome, right? xoxo.” I laughed out loud at the picture and text message. Ashton was the only guy I knew who sent xoxo’s as hugs and kisses in text. When I got one of his first text messages, I had to ask Lynn what it meant. Okay so maybe the entire world wasn’t mad at me. I realized I shouldn’t be worried about just my circle of friends, but after the day’s events, I was dreading having to start my new job at some point, or dying, if that was the case instead.
While I sent a reply text to Ashton asking him if I could have a rain check tonight, he replied that he had to work late anyways. I saved the image of him in his makeup and stuffed my phone in my jacket pocket. Once I realized I had wandered past the bar and ended up near the alley on Clayton Street, I looked for a parallel street sign to see how far away I was. It was a bright night in San Francisco and the moon hung low. I enjoyed being able to see in the dark so well which really didn’t matter when a light was on every street corner anyways. At night, many of the neighborhoods were lighted well. I stopped near a café. Leaning against a brick wall, I reached for my phone. Time to call Blick, I thought to myself.
This is Blick at Cloud.com. Leave a message after the beep.
Dang it! No answer. Why doesn’t he answer?
As I contemplated my next call, that being to Lynn in which I would beg her forgiveness for standing her up for lunch, I heard a few guys yelling in the alley next to the cafe. Their cheers were mixed with a dog barking and what seemed to be another animal screaming. Against my better judgment, I decided to investigate.
“There ya go, Zeus. You want that cat, don’t ya? Let ’em go at it again, T. I want this cat good and freaked out when we release him,” I heard one guy say.
Several of the others were too distracted with the scene in front of them to see or hear me as I silently watched from atop a dumpster behind them. I had used my vampire speed and agility to land just where I wanted to so I could survey everything. Sneaking around the city at night like a ninja was a vampire pastime I secretively enjoyed, but I’ll deny that if anyone tells the guys. Just saying.
The group of guys, all dressed in black sleeveless T-shirts, green camouflage pants, and black army boots, centered around two other guys in the middle of the circle. One held a brown stripped dog by a red leash and silver choker collar. When the other guy instructed him, he would let go of the leash so the dog could terrorize a medium size, fluffy orange cat they had obviously put in a wire cage. It made me sick to my stomach.
Finally, when I hit my boot against the metal of the container, I had everyone’s attention.
“What do we have going on here, guys?” I asked the group politely.
The leader, who seemed to be the thinnest one in the lot of them, whirled around at me. He was certainly displeased with the interruption.
“Who the hell are you?”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “Wow,” I replied, crossing my legs. “You’re one sassy punk, aren’t you?”
Several of the other guys laughed. The one called T reined the dog in and bent down to check his wounds. “That cat tore a chunk out of Zeus’s cheek, Nathan
. Let’s call this off, man. I need him tomorrow in the fights.”
The voice inside my head rallied. “Nathan? As in Grace’s Nathan, Rayea?”
I faltered for a second when I heard the voice call my name. “You just said my name?”
“I did,” the voice replied.
“What’s wrong with ya, you dumb ass? Cat got your tongue?”
The guys laughed at their leader’s words. Nathan, alive and in person. And within my grasp. I could take care of him for Grace, if I wanted to. Instead, I went for the Jeremy plan of action.
I leapt off the dumpster, landing just outside their circle, inches from Nathan. “You don’t wanna mess with me, friend,” I said. Baring my fangs, I hissed at him.
His cloudy blood-shot eyes almost popped out of his skull, and the color drained from his gaunt face.
Nathan and everyone else fled, running for the exit to the street and leaving the dog and cat abandoned. Taking a second look at me, the dog nodded.
“Well played, vampire.”
Telepathically, I heard the dog speak to me and then watched as he too ran down the alley.
“Zeus, the dog,” the voice inside my head commented. “Fancy that.”
As I retracted my fangs, I knelt down near the cat. Every stitch of his fur was puffed up. He was trying to make himself look like a huge threat, hissing and growling at me.
“You want me to call the dog back, little one?” I asked him.
He bared his fangs at me as a response and crouched down in the middle of the cage. A row of his fur stuck up high along the ridge of his backbone.
“Come on, you can go home with me. I’ll stop at the Lucky Mart at the end of my street and get you some tuna. What do you say?”
Signed,
Rayea
Chapter 3
Grace’s Diary
***
“I should tell you that I'm a daughter of Satan, and I’m a vampire. But I’m not your average, run-of-the-mill vampire. It’s kind of complicated. Please don’t let any of that alarm you. I’m on your side.” ~ Rayea, the Vampire from Hell
