“Yes Daddy,” I answered sarcastically. I certainly didn’t want him to know I was thinking of taking a bite out of Tameron in a very non-Vampiric way.
I went back into the kitchen. I wanted an apple or maybe an apple pie. Hell an apple pie together with a gallon of icecream, whipped cream and a ham sounded good. Maybe some cake too? Father Mike was still cooking. Boy, I loved Father Mike! “Hungry again,” he asked still wearing that silly grin.
I nodded vigorously. “Yeah, I am. Is it normal?” I was feeling a little self-conscious. Sure, I’d always had a good appetite, but right now, I was feeling like I could eat a whole village.
He chuckled softly to himself. “Very normal, you need to fuel the new powers coursing throughout your body.” My father came out of the garage with a suitcase in tow and headed off toward his room. Father Mike watched him go. His smile slowly slipping away making his face look worn. “Is Caden taking a trip?” He asked me softly. He frowned after my father as if he were his father or something.
I nodded at him. “Yep.” I popped some grapes into my mouth. “Peru,” I said as I chewed, feeling rather smug with myself. It hadn’t taken me too long to convince him and everyone was acting like it was a major feat or something. How long had they been after him to go?
“Really.” Father Mike practically yelled. I cringed away from his loud voice. The little priest was nearly jumping up and down with excitement. I stepped back a little not wanting to be trampled by the ecstatic geriatric.
“Yep,” I answered and took the club sandwich he had made for me. “We got any Pepsi?” I asked. I could get used to this. Having someone cook for me non-stop was making me a very happy girl.
He put one on the table next to me. “How did you convince him to go?” He whispered conspiratorially. Like I’d tricked him into it somehow using my superior intellect, yeah, umm, yeah. Have I mentioned I’ve been in college for three years and have yet to choose a major? There’s a reason for that.
I shrugged, “I said he should go. He said no, I said you should go. He’s going.” I took a big bite. “Had to promise to stay away from Tameron,” I chewed some more.
He laughed, “That’s good advice about Tameron.” He was obviously very happy. So was I. He was pulling something that smelled very much like pumpkin out of the oven. Not apple pie but I’d take it. I licked my lips in anticipation, while wondering how long it took a pumpkin pie to cool.
Chapter 6
My dad and Deanna left a little after five. Once he made up his mind about something, he got it done. “Stay away from Tameron,” he demanded again. “Promise me,” he said and grasped my shoulders hard.
“I will do my very best, my utmost to avoid the big nasty Vampire who wants to eat me.” I promised him and I would, damn it… except in my dreams where he seemed to have a starring role lately. A starring nude role, damn Vampire, I hated that. Except most of the time I didn’t. I was confused and kind of glad my hero was going to be out of my life for a bit while I sorted my crazy emotions out.
He left me a books worth of instructions. What I should do if this or that creepy crawly came calling. I laughed at him. I knew what to do. Shoot it and run like hell. Only that was the old me. The new me was a fighter, so I guessed my new way of dealing would be to shoot it a couple of times, and then lop it’s head off before it could recover. I know not very chivalrous of me but chivalry is dead, and I didn’t want to join it.
Father Mike offered to stay on and help me take care of myself, but, I was twenty years old, really close to twenty-one, and I was an AoD. I could take care of myself, so I sent him home too. He wasn’t really pleased about it, but my big concern was if something icky did come a calling, could I protect me and Mike? Not likely, so out he went just to be on the safe side. I didn’t want the sweet old man’s death on my conscious. I had enough to deal with without guilt. But I did let him cook me a couple of meals I could nuke later. I wasn’t crazy or anything. The man could cook.
By six, I stood alone in my house for the first time in my life. I had no idea what to do next.
Laurna called me around two o’clock. “What are you up to?” She asked. Her voice was overly cheerful. But I didn’t question it as I explained about my dad leaving. She laughed at me for being so nervous about being alone. Her comment went something like big tough Angel afraid to be by herself. I stuck out my tongue at the phone. I heard her laugh and hung up. I put the phone back on the pedestal and looked around the room.
Okay my first big night at home by myself. What was I going to do? Popcorn and channel surfing of course. That’s what people did when they were all alone, right? Normally I would be in the gym working on my aim or learning to use a sword that was two times my size, but tonight I was taking a break. I sat cross-legged in the middle of the big leather couch. The bowl of popcorn sat precariously in my lap while I flipped channels.
I rolled my eyes at the newest Vamp film and settled on UFC, pro-wrestling for a while. After a bit, watching half naked men beat each other got boring, so I started flipping again.
Shit, I paused; did Tamcorp hold stock in channel 12? Dayton Tameron was doing another interview. He smiled at the talk show host. Bah, I booed at the TV. He sat there in his dark silk shirt, and he looked like he’d just climbed from bed. He just oozed charm. “The questions my viewers want answered the most Mr. Tameron is, are you actually some sort of walking dead?” The host leaned forward, and I wondered how she kept her enormous implant-augmented breasts from falling out of her shirt. Was there like shirt glue to keep them in?
Tameron laughed. Damn Vampire power. I could feel the urge to laugh along with him. “No, Dana. I am as I was born. I have never died, but I have come close. As I said before, there are those who hunt us, but thus far, they have been unsuccessful.” He made a little pouty face, damn demon. He must truly be powerful for his powers to work on me over the TV because I so wanted to bite that bottom lip. Apparently so did the host.
She licked her over-glossed pink lips while staring at his mouth. “That’s terrible,” she gushed at him. “What happened to those who failed?” Ha, chalk one up for journalistic integrity. I leaned forward myself to hear the answer to that one. I knew it would be a lie, but I was curious as to just what the lie would be.
Tameron shrugged. He had his arms spread out across the black leather sofa he was sitting on. He petted the leather without moving his arms just a soft brushing of his hands. I watched his hands move almost mesmerized by the way they glided over the soft fabric. He had graceful lovely hands. “I must admit in the past, when others have tried to kill me, I have returned the favor.” He said it like I might have said I bought bagels at the bakery. Then he looked directly at the camera, his amber eyes burned as he said, “But the man who was the most successful, the one who came the closest to ending my existence, is still alive.” He smiled, but it wasn’t that seductive smile. It was almost sad a small turn down of the lips. The part that was truly impressive was the eyes, his eyes looked so very sad. For a moment, with his arms spread out like that, he looked quiet martyred. Had he taken acting lessons? Probably. I booed him again and threw popcorn at the screen.
Dana Peirce, our local talk show girl, gave him all the sympathy he needed. Blah. “I don’t suppose you’d be inclined to give us a name?” She asked, flashing those super white teeth at him. They were so white I thought about having my own teeth bleached. I bet she did dental commercials. I don’t know why I didn’t just change the channel, but my hand seemed to be stuck.
He did that lowered lashes thing again as if he were shy or embarrassed. Those perfect dark crescents kissed his pale skin. Yeah, I bet, bastard. “Reece,” he told her. I felt ill. He did not give her my dad’s name!
The host seized on the name. She looked as if right after the taping she was going to run out and get my father’s head for him. I laughed at the thought of my father besieged by tons of stupid little women like her out to protect the poor misused Vampire. “Reece, is that a first nam
e or a last?” She asked eagerly.
I held my breath. If he said my father’s name, we would be in more danger than ever before. “That would be telling,” he returned to that ultra sexy smile, showing off strong white teeth but no fang. “And I wouldn’t want anyone trying to hurt my dear friend Reece for me.” His eyes turned that neon yellow and I heard in my mind. I want that pleasure for myself. Holy fuck! I just heard that Vampire’s thoughts. I gasped to myself.
Tameron’s head snapped up. He looked directly at the camera again. Ao, has no one taught you it is impolite to browse through a man’s thoughts? I dropped the popcorn; it plinked all over the white carpet. He smiled another seductive smile, but I knew this one was just for me. I felt his power actually flow over me, and he wasn’t glowing at all. He had gotten control of himself again. His fangs were dormant, his eyes weren’t glowing, and I felt my breath quicken. This was not supposed to be happening. He had none of the tells that said he was using his powers. Nasty, nasty powerful Vampire, I trembled. Where are you sweetheart? I will come to you? I felt the menace in his words. Sweetheart, my ass. The buttery popcorn smell I had so been enjoying not ten minutes ago was suddenly upsetting my stomach. I felt like I was going to hurl.
I focused my thoughts, not happening demon, I managed. The last thing I needed while my dad was gone was a visit from Dayton Tameron. The mere thought of it was enough to terrify me.
Where did the AoD go, little Ao? He asked. My skin prickled like he was looking over my shoulder searching for my father. He wasn’t going to find anyone and suddenly all that fear I’d felt earlier at being alone for the first time was so much stronger.
Fuck, I thought. I was starting to sweat.
He laughed aloud on television, startling the host. She jumped about a foot and a half out of her overstuffed light blue talk show host chair. You think about that a lot Ao? So I have a filthy mouth. Lots of people do. I meant your recent nightly obsession my sweet. He was bluffing. Or, he was sending me those dreams. Either way the bloodsucker had to go.
“Well that is very honest of you Mr. Tameron and not wanting anyone to hurt your enemies is very noble of you.” She smiled brightly at him. Sensing she had lost his attention and trying desperately to reacquire it. “What kind of future do you see for your people now that you have come out of the proverbial closet Mr. Tameron?”
Shield, I thought. I could do this. I punched the power button on the remote. Hoping that by severing the visual connection to him, I could sever the mental connection I was suddenly afflicted with. Focus…
Focusing won’t save you Ao. I will find you eventually, and you don’t have the AoD to protect you. He sounded so smug. I hated smug, especially when he was right. If he could take on my dad, there was very little I was going to be able to do to protect myself. Yeah, I was going to be great bleeding all over him. That’ll teach him.
Focus, I told myself I took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly like I’d been taught… You are mistaken. I am the AoD! I severed the connection ruthlessly.
I didn’t get to see it until the next day, but when I turned on the TV they were showing the interview again, and at about the same time I’d cut him off Dayton Tameron’s nose had bled. I rejoiced. I’d made him bleed if only just a little. It was a major accomplishment. It was for me anyway.
After that little encounter, I went through the house flipping on the lights. Low-grade u.v. lights lit the rooms throughout my house. Yes I was an AoD now, but I was still a new AoD, and Tameron scared me. I did what we all do when we are afraid of the dark. I brought the light.
After flipping through the channels, and telling my Tivo to record Tameron’s embarrassment. I padded barefoot to the gym. I needed to work out and maybe burn off some of this fear. I had been planning to take another night off. Now I was more sure than ever that I needed to practice. I started with meditation. With the way I was shaking I was sure my shields were going to drop. I took a deep breath and let it out. I focused on me. I was Macyn Reece. My parents were Caden and Iris Reece. I was twenty years old. I lived in San Mateo, California. I attended the San Francisco College of Art. I had yet to declare a major. My best friend was Laurna Ericson. My breathing steadied. My pulse no longer raced. The AoD tattoo on my belly glowed with white light through my tank top. I took comfort in the sharp shapes of it on my belly. I stood. Step one, I thought…know who you are, check. Step two, call the light, check. I smiled. Step three, focus the light to your needs. I needed Vampires to stay out of my thoughts. I envisioned the light closing around my body, protecting me. The light hurt my eyes so I closed them. My skin warmed, my shoulders felt heavy, and I opened my eyes. The mirror on the walls gave me my reflection. Wow! I was awesome! White light encased most of my body. My red hair looked so dark against all that white light. I ran my hand along my belly. It felt hard. I moved, testing the feel of it. It moved like a second skin. Heck, it fit like a second skin. This was so cool. I’d never seen my dad do this.
I ran up the stairs, taking them two by two. I wanted the sword Laurna had given me. My father used a claymore. It was way too big for me. She’d gotten me a gladius.
Gladius, yeah, it was perfect for me. Short, dual-bladed, I could hack stuff up if I wanted. The handle was rough and pleasant in my grip. The blade weighted enough but not so much it tipped me over. I admired the short rectangular blade. Hell yeah! That’s what I was talking about the blade flared. My symbol wove its way down the blade white etching against the steel. I smiled again. Power is a heady thing. Briefly, I considered marching on Tamcorp.
Fortunately, sanity reasserted itself. I had to get Tameron out of my head. If I didn’t, he was going to find me. I was making it to easy for him. Oh, God. What if he knew I’d thought about him, well, sexually? I couldn’t bear it. Please, I prayed, don’t let the scary ass Vampire know I thought he was sexy. I hated not knowing what he’d gotten from my mind almost as much as I hated the thought of him knowing.
Since, I felt like I needed to do something, I changed out of my p.j.’s, grabbed my sword, and headed down town. It was a Monday night, traffic wasn’t too bad. I pulled in to the mall parking lot and opened my senses. I could feel the Vampires at Deception, but I didn’t want to get a visit from Tameron. I ignored them. Besides there was something like fifteen of them. I didn’t think I was up to fighting fifteen of them even if Tameron was not home.
I wasn’t feeling anything else. I got out of the car and paced a bit. Then I felt it. A Dream-walker about six blocks away. I climbed back in, turned on the jeep, and flew toward the scene. I parked half a block away in an empty parking lot. It probably wasn’t the safest place to stick my car, but hey, I had a gun and a sword. I was thinking go ahead try and steal my car. That’s what GPS is for I would just lojack their asses.
I wanted to run head on to where the creature was, but I had been trained better than that. I moved slowly. I concealed myself in the shadows. I fought back a good amount of fear when I saw him. I thought about going back home and hiding in my room, but I knew it was time to stop being scared or at least do something about the monsters that scared me.
He stood on one of those old rusty fire escapes. His skin was black as the night. I mean like oil black. He wore black jeans and a black t-shirt to go along with his shadowy look. I once again wondered what was up with the whole Shadow-born wardrobe? If I ever took the time to talk to one of them I was going to ask. His blood red hair blew in the wind, trailing around the railway. It was long enough that it brushed the backs of his knees.
He didn’t have any other colors showing through the red. That was good. It meant he wasn’t very powerful. They started off with black hair. As they got older, their hair would slowly change color it would turn red, then green, then blue, until it finally turned a pure silver. With each change of color that black grew back in so their hair would start out black then the top would fade to red if the red was on the bottom and top was red the Dreamwalker was going to turn again soon. To my knowledge, there were
no living silver Dream-walkers. They were all extinct. Thank God for small favors. Silver Dream-walkers could rival Tameron for power. At least that was what I’d read.
I hoped my knowledge was correct. I seemed to be wrong a lot lately. It wasn’t good for a girl’s self-confidence. This particular Dream-walker was bent over a window covered in grime. His red eyes riveted on his victim sleeping inside. I started to climb the stairs. The stairs were so rusty I could smell the metal decay; it clung to the inside of my nose, making the very air I took into my lungs taste of iron. I just hoped the stairs would hold my weight. It would be just my luck to survive ascension only to fall to my death do to poor building maintenance.
I decided it’s hard to be stealthy on a rusty fire escape. Fortunately for me my prey was very intent on his victim. I reached him before he looked up and slid my blade into his back. I could have shot him, but I didn’t want to wake those sleeping inside. We were too close to the building. I wrenched the blade hard to the right, trying to sever the spinal column before he got a chance to fight back. It didn’t work. Sawing through his flesh was a hell of a lot tougher than I thought it would be. He half turned and backhanded me so hard I flipped the railing and was hurtling toward the concrete below. See what I said about falling to my death, just my luck.
I caught the railing about two stories down and pulled myself back onto the fire escape. The Dream-walker hopped down to where I was now crouched trying to remember when my last tetanus shot had been.
He apparently had no worries about the structural integrity of the emergency stairs. His blood red hair blew in the wind behind him. It looked like it was reaching back out toward the window he’d been gazing through. It was striking to watch. He turned his head to the side slightly studying me. I wondered for the millionth time why evil got to be so pretty.
It just didn’t seem right. His eyes were completely red with no white or pupil, spooky as hell. He held out his hand and attempted to draw out my fears. It felt a little like someone pulling on your skin, not painful, just tight.
Into Death's Arms Page 8
