by Lucy Lyons
“Dom, I feel something,” I said hesitantly, as she paid the check for dinner. “Can you feel whoever is watching us?” She nodded but didn’t say anything.
“It’s okay Caroline, don’t worry about that one. It won’t harm you,” she reassured me.
“How do you know that? I’ve never felt anything like it. It’s strong, but,” I sighed and stumbled over my words. “It’s mindless. She nodded.
“Exactly. That’s the spell I gave Eru. It only activates if someone is looking for it. Keeps things out of his head.” I sighed with relief.
“Okay then. I’m okay with that.” She patted my arm and smiled at me.
“Cheer up, you’re going to see your first ballet,” she reminded me, then added telepathically, “and maybe that handsome master vampire you’ve been secretly pining over.” I avoided her eyes and slammed the door of my mind shut on her. If Nicholas saw us he might not even recognize me or care. I couldn’t’ afford to be sentimental or romantic about him.
The seats were directly to the right of the stage, so close that we could look down into the orchestra pit and watch the musicians fiddle with their instruments before the performance started. Simi brought us each a glass of wine. Though Dominique arched a perfect eyebrow at her, she didn’t tell me to stop. I sipped the fruity garnet liquid and felt like I was finally an adult. My hope grew again, thinking that perhaps Nicholas would notice it as well.
“Notice what tiny huntress? That you’ve grown from a beautiful girl to a breathtaking woman? Indeed, I have noticed.” His voice was like a caress in my head. I coughed as I inhaled wine instead of swallowing it. Simi patted my back until I stopped choking on my own air; Dominique just looked at me strangely. She glanced around, then back at me with a question in her eyes.
“He’s here, or at least he knows we are,” I said when I could speak again. I reached out for him but came up against a blank wall instead of his warm thoughts. “Did you leave me?” I thought, a lump of gloom settling over me like a cloud.
“There’s something wrong with your thoughts Caroline, you have patches of memory missing; clouded over; things I can’t see.” I nodded as though he could see me. Then I realized how stupid I looked.
“I took a memory potion so I could some see you. There was Venatores business that you aren’t supposed to know, so I blocked those memories.” I could feel him pause, then realized he was closer than I had first thought. Simi refused when I tried to leave our box to find him.
“You aren’t going anywhere without Dom or me,” she objected. “You don’t have the training to go it alone.”
“I’ve already experienced the worst-case scenario of going off by myself. I’ve got to use the restroom. If you feel like you’ve gotta come with me, that’s your call.” I stepped behind the seats and through the velvet curtain to the corridor. It wound around the balcony and down into the sublevels if you followed it long enough, but I didn’t need to go far at all.
Just around the curve; standing outside the ladies’ room was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. His long, black hair was pulled back from his face and tied in a loose tail that fell below his shoulders. His skin was more pale by contrast. The narrow, shiny scar that ran down the side of his face from forehead to earlobe was displayed rather than hidden the way it was usually hidden under his hair.
I touched that smooth, pink skin as he stared into my eyes. His own were the same emerald over onyx green, the color so dark that his eyes looked black until the light hit them. Then they sparkled with an inner light, like the ocean under the night sky.
“Nicholas,” I breathed, running my fingers over his jaw. He didn’t stop me, so I grew bold, and brushed my fingers over his lips. “You stopped visiting me, and I thought I would never see you again,” I confessed, hating the pathetic bleating of my voice.
“I didn’t want to, but I was afraid I was putting you in danger. I might still be,” he added, and he pressed me into an alcove, shielding us from observers with his body. His smell, of earth and musk and soap, filled my nose and I breathed him in deeper.
“I don’t care if there’s danger, Nicholas. Just kiss me. Kiss me hello, or goodbye, if you must. Do you realize how long I’ve waited for you to find me?” He laughed and leaned in, and I felt his lips soft against mine. He brushed his mouth across mine once, then twice. Then, with a groan, he tried to eat me from the mouth down. His tongue was in my mouth, searching, tasting every surface of the wet warm cavern of my mouth. His hands worked in tandem with that soft, searching tongue, and I felt him stroke his hands down my body from my shoulders over my breasts to my hips.
Then, he slammed me harder against the wall behind me. I saw his fangs descend from his gums, and his tongue flicked out between them to taste my neck, drawing a wet line over the jumping pulse in my throat.
“God, I’ve missed you,” he muttered into my hair. “You are good enough to eat girl, you’d better get back to Dominique and your friend. He kissed me again; I tasted blood an instant after I felt a sharp prick in my tongue. He told me to stick out my tongue so he could see the damage. When I did he took it gently into his mouth; sucking the blood from it. The sensation of it made little things low down inside my stomach go tight and hot with a need that I didn’t understand enough to do anything about. I kissed him the way he’d kissed me; searching and tasting him; watching out for his fangs so they couldn’t scratch me again. “You taste like wine.” He accused me.
“Simi gave it to me. I thought it couldn’t hurt to have one glass of wine while I enjoy the ballet.” I said defensively.
“I’m just happy that I could taste it,” he replied. “To share the physical senses that we no longer have requires a very special connection between a vampire and a human.”
“Like taste? You can’t taste food?”
“I can’t eat or digest food. There are a lot of things to get through before we worry about silly little things like that. When we’re done here; I’m going to give you the attention I’ve withheld from you and then some.” He kissed me again. Then I felt his hand move down to my hips; pulling my body tight up against his and holding me in his embrace.
Abruptly; he released me and I stood alone in the hallway with no one in sight in either direction. I crossed the hall to the ladies’ room to fix the damage to my hair and makeup from my unexpected make-out session. I was still in front of the mirror when Simi came looking for me.
“You worry too much, Simi,” I laughed, and painted lip gloss across my mouth. “Oh, let’s get back to our seats quickly, I can’t wait to watch the ballet.
I wanted to watch the dancers, but my mind kept going back to Nicholas. My eyes roved the theater throughout the show. As it ended we filed out of the building with a thousand other people, all chatting about their favorite principals and how they would have directed the performance if it was up to them.
Somewhere in the crush of bodies that flooded out the doors, I was separated from Simi and my mentor. I was tugged to one side; when I glanced back, Rachel was standing there. Before I knew it tears had filled my eyes and I was clinging to her in the alley; laughing into her shoulder.
“Rachel, I’m so sorry,” I sniffed after a moment. “I didn’t realize how much I missed you. I certainly wasn’t expecting to get blurry-eyed.” She chuckled and patted my arm.
“I’m glad you’re here too. Not surprised though. Are you with the hunters that are going to clean up the city?” I drew back, appalled that she was so blasé about it. I knew there had been deaths in the city and that the Venatores were in LA to search and destroy night creatures.
There was a wind at my back. Suddenly Rachel was pinned to the brick wall of the theater stage entrance by Simi. I yanked at her arm and yelled at her to let Rachel go. She did as I asked and I tried to explain that she was my friend.
“I apologize, Rachel,” Simi told her. “I’m not used to vampires being our friends. This will take some getting used to.”
I almost laughed; I was
so shocked and relieved to see Simi handling my restrictions as though they weren’t the antithesis of everything she’d been taught. Simi tracked Dominique down, and with her came Somayo. Rachel explained that her king would be happy to receive us in his home. However, he was busy for the evening looking for the thing, or things, that had been killing the people of LA for the past few weeks.
My face flushed as I thought about our stolen moment earlier in the night. He was busy trying to save lives and he’d taken the time to come to me. My faith in him was restored as I vowed to prove that he hadn’t done what they were saying.
“Caroline,” Rachel said as we parted ways so we could set up a base camp. “The master has invited you to dinner tomorrow night.” She held her breath as I looked around the circle of my friends.
“Of course you can go Caroline, if permission is what you’re waiting for.” I clapped my hands and nodded my head to Rachel. Tomorrow I was going to see Nicholas again.
Caroline’s Mark Part 2.
Chapter 5
I was grateful for Simi’s suggestion that we spend some time patrolling the city after Rachel had met us as Nicholas’ emissary. I secretly applauded his choice in sending a newer, more human-appearing vampire. Not to mention, Rachel was turned as a middle-aged spinster. She looked like she could be a mother to any of us; even Somayo had difficulty disliking her. But that I knew that was her power. She’d comforted me when I was a prisoner because she’d chosen to treat me like a guest and protect me. Because her vampire power was calming it made sense for a predator to be able to soothe and pacify potential prey. Rachel was a vampire version of an angler fish. Somehow, the visual didn’t make me laugh.
As far as pacifying us, that power was wearing off and Simi was itching for a hunt to shake off the leftover soothing feelings Rachel left behind. I paired up with her to make sure she didn’t decide our only current vampire emissary was too dangerous to let live.
“Simi, stop moving for a second; I didn’t dress as patrol-friendly as you did. Let’s go back to the room first.” I pleaded. The straps of my sandals were cutting into my feet. “At least let me change into something I can walk in quietly.” She glanced at me feet and rolled her eyes.
“Always wear shoes you can walk in quietly; to them, we are food. You don’t need to pretty up for them.” I balked as her words hit their mark.
“It’s not as cut and dried as that Simi; I think you know better,” I countered. She sighed and flipped her long braid back.
“Fine, we’ll go back to the room, pick up some more weapons and get your shoes changed.” I nodded my thanks and slipped the sandals off completely. I knew I could handle a few city blocks of rooftop running barefoot, just not much more than that. While we ran, I tried to mull out how to explain what I now knew of vampires to Simi without getting pulled from the assignment.
For example; I’d learned Rachel was the vampire version of a vegan. She was a God-fearing woman before and after the virus changed her. She refused to kill innocents and hoped that one day God would cure her. Because of her I’d stopped finding quite so many reasons to avoid Mass at the compound. The clerics had applauded my piety and suggested it was relief at my escape from the clutches of the evil undead. In truth, I went to Mass to pray for Rachel and sometimes Evensong too. It seemed like the right thing to do.
Not much chance of sharing that with Somayo. Vampires had slaughtered his entire family just as mine had. Unlike me he was old enough to remember. He bore the physical scars on his face and body where the twisted vampire couple had taken turns cutting him without closing the wounds after the cutting. I lived, because in my infancy I’d been gifted with the ability to make myself invisible to the vampire that attacked my parents. Somayo survived through sheer will to live.
There was no reasoning with someone who’d suffered as he and David had. Yet Somayo believed in the laws; not vampire genocide. David had caused his own capture and been through so much less. Then he’d received healing, care and apologies from the Master of the City. David was filled with more hate. I followed Simi down the fire escape and into our room. David and his issues could wait but I still ached over losing him in my life. I had a purpose now! I had my psychic abilities, my growing magic and a unique opportunity to make our old laws powerful treaties again.
I also had Nicholas who could visit me in my dreams but couldn’t control me. Courting the attention of a vampire was beyond dangerous; even as far as Dominique was concerned. He was like an addiction to me. Every time I swore I didn’t need him; I thought of him more.
Since we were in the hotel room I didn’t settle for just changing my shoes. Simi and I both donned tactical gear complete with the new cowls the Vatican had provided. It had tightly woven mail sewn into the lining preventing bullets, blades, or fangs from piercing it. However it didn’t prevent crushing; a lesson I’d learned the first time I’d sparred with Somayo wearing one. Still it was better protection than nothing. Our soft leather breeches and vests were also lined with the same fang-proof chain mail. The new armor was only one of the reasons to be grateful for a fleet of private jets.
I slipped my soft-soled leather boots on and tied back my hair, braiding it and wrapping it at the back of my crown in a thick bun. I slid two Indonesian karambit into my hair. They were small curved blades that I could use in close combat.
I slung my shoulder holster for my Glock 9 mm over across my back and adjusted the fit for the new vest underneath. A glance at Simi told me she was ready and waiting; a gun at her shoulder and one at her hip. When she turned, the one at the small of her back was angled for a quick draw. I wasn’t proficient enough for a gun at my back. I clipped on my utility belt with five extra magazines of ammo and tied it off to my right thigh, in order to add my Beretta in a thigh holster.
“I think that’s all I’ve got for a quick patrol. You sure we’re not going into battle?” I asked as she held up her bow and a set of throwing knives; trying to decide which to leave behind.
“If we were heading into battle, I wouldn’t be leaving anything behind,” she scoffed.
“When I patrol, I usually only take a gun and a couple of knives. What on earth do you think we’re going to find?”
“I want a better look at the bodies, Caroline,” she confessed. “The damage doesn’t sound like any vampire kill I’ve ever heard of before. If there’s such thing as vampires, how could we be so arrogant as to think that’s all there is?” I nodded my head in agreement.
“Do you think the vampires could already know what’s out there?”
“I think they could be killing with or for, the vampires. If it could be monsters against humans, I’m going to err on the safe side.” She jerked her head toward the window. “Okay, let’s reset the wards and go check out this city. Have you ever seen so many lights in one place?” I looked out over Los Angeles with the city lights shining so bright that even on the top floor of the hotel we couldn’t see any stars.
“No. In Seattle, you can always run to the woods and be completely alone. Or out on the water,” I began.
“Yeah, because crazy people like you go swimming in icy water at night.” Simi interjected, shuddering. I didn’t bother reminding her that I had the ability to sense life forms around me and shield myself so I was invisible to them. She was one of the few friends I had left. I did what I could to never remind her how different I was from her and the others.
Chapter 6
Simi wanted to run and so did I. In a strange new city, unsure of the inhabitants; both human and vampire, we were forced to walk to study the shadows before entering them. We’d both added jackets to our outfits to hide the guns better. Simi wore a tactical lined leather blazer and I wore a deep blue silk kimono to cover the silhouette of my utility belt and the hip holster. I’d left the wide belt behind and Simi agreed that the silk softened the look of all the leather and helped me blend into the environment. She had no intention of blending. She was stronger than I was and had no qualms about scarin
g humans if that’s what she had to do to get the kill.
We stood side by side in front of a closed storefront and admired our reflections. She pretended to fix her hair while she watched behind us for enemies and I used my ability to reach out through the city with fingers of psychic power, “seeing” with them. My power only reached a few blocks at a time and I shook my head slightly making eye contact with her in the mirror. She nodded and I saw Somayo’s big frame on a rooftop behind us. Simi tapped her ear. With a grimace, I put in the earpiece I’d forgotten in my pocket.
“Thanks for joining us, Caroline. I know you’re used to working alone, but you need to remember your earpiece.” I didn’t respond. I knew he didn’t expect me to anyways. “You look like a tiny little celebrity Caroline,” he teased. “Which would make Simi your hot and dangerous bodyguard in all that leather.” Simi rolled her eyes as I noticed the color rise to her cheeks. I was happy for my friends, but now even more concerned with keeping them safe. The unnamed danger that could even at that moment surround us made my stomach churn.
