by B. N. Toler
“What—” he starts, but is immediately attacked by Sarah who slams him against the wall, seizing his neck. I’m frozen as I watch the initial shock wear off of his face and his eyes start to roll back in his head. Neither Sarah nor Rhett have ever fed on a human in front of me before. I stand, unsure if I should stop her or let her finish. I’m tormented with the fact this is a defining moment in my life. Do I let his life be taken, or do I stand back, satisfied with karma’s ultimate revenge?
“Sarah!” I shout. She pulls back and glares at me, her lips pulled back exposing her fangs.
Blood covers her chin and my fangs pop out at the sight. My stomach roars with a hunger I can feel in my soul, and before I know it, I’m tearing Sarah off of him and straddling his body, clenching my fangs in his flesh, sucking out every drop of blood I can. His heartbeat begins to slow, and I tell myself to stop, but I can’t. My thirst is too strong. Finally, when I have drained him of every drop, I fall back to the floor, breathless.
Sarah stares down at me, arms crossed, her mouth curved slightly. “Enjoy your snack?” she asks casually.
Holding back the sob I want to let out, I nod yes. Maybe Lucas deserved what happened to him, but I couldn’t have stopped drinking his blood even if I had wanted to. I’m still weak—a loose cannon some might call it—some being Daniel. I can’t be trusted to feed from humans yet. “Think I need more.”
“So you know?” She grabs a towel from the bathroom and tosses it to me.
I wipe my mouth with it. “Yeah, thanks for the heads up,” I say dryly as I try to get up. The blood has energized me, but I’ll need more to heal completely. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I manage to push myself up on the bed.
“Rhett thought he could keep you from the transition. As long as you didn’t drink blood, you’d never know.”
“So you just planned to hide it from me, too?”
“I suppose you could look at it that way. He wasn’t sure you could handle it. You’re not the best at dealing with hard truths.”
“You should have told me Sarah,” I scold her.
“I knew you’d find out eventually.” She leans back against the dresser.
“How?”
“I saw it.” She shrugs.
“So you and Rhett have known all along?”
“Lisa was bitten minutes before you were born. I didn’t tell Rhett because I didn’t think the bite could have affected you. I did tell Lucy and I gave her Daniel’s number, just in case.”
“You know Daniel?”
“Not personally, but I was part of his alliance until I stole the three of you and left.”
“So you trust him?”
“I trust no one.”
“Not even Rhett?”
“Not where you’re concerned.”
“Rhett didn’t seem too happy about me knowing Daniel.”
She rolls her eyes and plops down on the bed beside me. “Because of what I saw.”
“What did you see?”
She stands quickly and pulls the curtain back slightly to peer out of the window.
“Go shower. We need to get out of here. We’ll talk about it later.”
“But Corbin will be back any min—”
“I can handle him, now go.”
“Don’t hurt him Sarah,” I warn. He may have betrayed me, but it was to get his wife back. I walk into the bathroom and shut the door. I proceed to shower and when I finish Sarah is standing at the door, a wicked smile on her face. She has placed a change of clothes for me on the sink.
“Where did these—”
“They were in his bag,” she nods, interrupting me.
“Lucas?” I ask, not remembering if he had anything with him when he entered.
“No, the other one.”
My heart drops to the floor as I realize she means Corbin. I jump out of the shower, not caring I’m naked in front of her. When I enter the room, Corbin’s body is slouched over a chair, lifeless. I fall to my knees at the sight of him.
“Sarah,” I whisper in disbelief.
“Get up,” she says coldly.
“He wasn’t a bad guy,” I implore.
“Get the fuck up!” She yanks me up and stares me in the eyes. Her face is its usual stone-cold emotionless mask and I can tell arguing with her is pointless. “Aldo, he kidnapped you.”
“To save his wife.”
“Stop blubbering,” she says disgusted.
“I don’t want to kill innocent people.”
“He’s not innocent!” she growls, her fangs erupting with her frustration.
Her obvious anger and the threat of her fangs cause something to snap inside of me. I shove her away from me, slamming her against the wall as my fangs erupt. “I’d be careful if I were you.” I glare at her as anger absorbs every bit of rationality I possess.
Not surprisingly, she smirks at me as if my threat means absolutely nothing. “Aldo is the big bad hybrid now. Should I bow in awe of you?” She extends her arms obnoxiously and does a half curtsy.
“Fuck you, Sarah. And fuck your constant insults.”
She shakes her head as she straightens her black suit jacket. “Please share with me why you would have let this man who kidnapped you, drugged you, and planned to hand you over to a nest of vampires live?”
“It’s complicated,” I hiss as I think of Corbin’s wife. All he wanted was to get her back.
“Just get dressed and let’s get out of here.”
“Why are you helping me?” I ask her as I dress, still fuming from our confrontation.
“Because Whit asked me to.” She rolls her eyes as she lies on the bed, staring at the ceiling as if there aren’t two dead bodies in the room with us.
“He did?”
“He told me if I knew you were in trouble and I didn’t help you, he’d never forgive me.”
“Does he know what I am?”
“No,” she answers plainly.
“You could have lied and said you didn’t know anything.” I pull my T-shirt, Corbin had obviously taken from my bag in his room at the apartment over my head.
“What an awesome situation, Aldo. Your brother and my brother have been worried sick about you. They are miserable without you. What would you do?”
“Thanks for saving me,” I grumble hating having to thank her when I’m still pissed at her. “You saved me, why help me destroy the nest?” I question.
“I have a reason and you happen to have ultimate access to that reason.”
I try to imagine what she means, but I’m baffled. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Andre.”
“Do you know him?” I question.
“He’s one of the vampires that killed my mother.” Her voice lacks any emotion, but that doesn’t stop my heart from dropping to the deepest part of my stomach.
“Oh my God, Sarah,” I mutter stunned. That’s what Rhett meant when he said I had torn open an old wound. My breath hitches when I remember the image of Andre draining the woman from my dream. That must’ve been Rhett and Sarah’s mother. That’s why my subconscious forced me to watch that memory. That’s why the woman looked familiar.
“Have you seen Rhett?”
I clear my throat deciding not to share with Sarah what I saw in my dream. “Three nights ago, but I’m pretty sure he never wants to see me again. He’s really hurt.” I stare at my hands, knotted in front of me, a lump rising in my throat at the thought of never seeing Rhett again.
“Aldo, we have to keep him out of this, okay?”
“How?”
“If he does come back, we have to protect him.”
“I agree,” I nod. “He may not come back.”
“He loves you. He’ll come back.”
Plopping down beside her on the bed, I stare at the wall. “I have something to tell you.”
She sits up and looks at me, one eyebrow raised in anticipation. I proceed to tell her everything about where I’ve been working, Carter, Kaitlynn, and even Thomas. She listens
quietly, holding true to the Sarah I have come to know who can hide her thoughts and emotions behind a façade of stone. I tell her about Andre and what happened in the VIP room with him as I cry and to my surprise she pats my hand once to comfort me. I tell her about Daniel and with the mention of his name, her head raises slightly, but nothing more. When I finish explaining Daniel’s plan, we sit in silence for a moment before she speaks.
“It sounds like a good plan.”
“Really?” I question, surprised she thought so.
“Andre and his top guards will all be in one room.”
“Yeah, but—”
“This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” Her tone is aggravated when she interrupts me.
“Yes, but Rhett—”
“Oh, no you don’t!” she yells and stands, facing me, causing me to lean back on my broken hand, making me moan. “You left him. You get that, right?” She stares down at me.
“Yes,” I answer quietly.
“You set this in motion. At the very least you owe it to him to finish it. He’ll be hurt whether you continue or not.”
It was never my intention not to continue with the plan; I just wonder should we find Rhett first? “I’ll contact Daniel.” I stand and grab my coat off of the floor by the window, and stop to look at Corbin, limp and lifeless in the arm chair. There is a bittersweet feeling that consumes me as I stare down at him. I realize he acted out of love for his wife, but I was right not to open up to him.
“I’ll meet you in the parking lot.” Sarah opens the door and nods for me to leave.
“What are you—”
“Just go, Aldo!” she orders me and I exit promptly, rolling my eyes. I still feel very weak as I make my way down the stairs from the second story of the motel, but I know what I have to do to fix that now.
Sarah joins me a few minutes later and walks past me, saying coolly, “Let’s go.” We make our way through several back alleys filled with broken-down cars, dumpsters, and bums, heading towards the apartment. As we meet the main street, sirens sound in the distance and when I turn back there is a huge billow of black smoke rising in the sky.
“You set it on fire?” I question in disbelief.
“Had to cover it up,” Sarah shrugs and continues walking, but I stand frozen, staring into the sky at the tower of smoke above the buildings. I can’t see the motel from where I stand, but the sight of the smoke leaves me breathless. Part of me wants to cry as I remember seeing the smoke in the sky above our neighborhood when Whit, Hudson, and I were coming home not so long ago. I remember how my eyes watered and burned as I tried to enter the house to save Lucy, but I was too late. It seems ironic justice that Lucas’s existence should end in a fire.
Nausea washes over me and I realize I haven’t eaten in days, apparently. “I need food.”
“Okay.” Sarah grabs my arm and leads me onto the street. We stop at a diner and I manage to get down a bowl of soup with some saltine crackers, but my appetite leaves me almost as soon as I put food to my mouth.
“Why were you so angry with me after I woke up? Did you know I was planning this?” I spoon my soup with a shaky hand.
“Honestly, I was mad because I knew what you are and you didn’t.”
I place my spoon beside my bowl. “How would I have known what I was if you didn’t tell me?”
“You didn’t have to know you were a hybrid to know you had power, Aldo.” She leans back and taps her fingers idly on the table.
“I don’t understand.”
“You always acted so weak. So needy. You made my brother happy. I liked that, but I hated how you let him coddle you when deep down, you are more powerful than both of us combined.”
“Again, how could I have known that?” I ask her, frustration evident in my tone. “You and Rhett knew what I was and didn’t tell me.”
“I blame him, too. You may be mad at him for keeping it from you, but it came from a good place.”
“What happened, Sarah? Why did the blood healer bite my mother?”
Sarah stares out the window next to our table with an odd expression. “I think your mother wanted you to be a hybrid.”
“Why?”
“To make you powerful. I don’t know, but after she delivered your brothers, she was weak. Very weak. There was a lot of blood and as you now know, it’s hard to be what we are and see that much blood without going crazy for it. Darius, the one that helped me deliver you, was struggling. It’s a great crime within the nests to bite a pregnant woman.”
“Why?”
“Because hybrid babies become hybrid grownups and they are more powerful than vampires.”
“So what happened?”
“The delivery was a C-section. No epidural or anything.”
“They cut her open and didn’t give her anything for the pain?”
“I pushed energy into her to try and ease her pain. I don’t think it helped much. Before we took you out, your mother was coming in and out of consciousness. She might have died before you were pulled out if it hadn’t been for the energy I was giving her. Right after we pulled Hudson out, she gave me a look, trying to tell me something. Then she reached down, slicked her hand in her own blood, and wiped it across Darius’s face. He seized her throat immediately. She died in seconds. I pulled you out myself.
“Darius begged me not to tell. He kept saying there was no way you could be turned when it happened so close to your delivery. Protocol in those situations would have been to kill you, but Darius would have paid for it. So, I played along. We left to take you to the complex, and I killed him before we got there. The fucker would have probably tried to pin it on me.”
“Her body?” I choke out.
She gazes at me, but her eyes are soft. “Incinerated. All of the bodies are incinerated.”
I close my eyes letting that sink in. My mother wanted me to be powerful. Her last act in life was to make me better, stronger than her, than most. I was destined for this; to fight for this cause.
“So, when did Rhett know what I was?”
“Right before you woke up from your coma is when I confessed to him what had happened the day you were born.”
“Why didn’t you tell him before?”
She sits back and taps her fingers hard against the table as if annoyed. “You still don’t get it. You possess power. Men will try to possess you to have that power. You lure in those who seek it, desire it, most don’t even know what it is, but they are drawn to you. Especially men. You are power contained in a perfect little beautiful body. They want to own it, seize it, fuck it. Rhett was very angry for a very long time after we were taken and changed. He’s different now, but it took many years for him to get to where he is. Back then, I wasn’t sure what he would want to do with you if he could have you.”
“You think he would have hurt me?”
“Not as in beat you or kill you. More like use you. Train you to be what he wanted. A vampire killer.”
“Seems so unlike him.”
“As I said, he’s changed and you’re not a newborn baby. You’re the woman he fell madly in love with.”
“Who did you see me with? I heard you speaking in the hall the first night after I woke up. You told Rhett you saw me with him.”
Sarah glances down at her coffee mug, still full. She only ordered it so she doesn’t look out of place. “I told him I saw you kissing Daniel.”
“Is that what you really saw?”
“No. I saw you having sex with Daniel.”
My mouth drops open.
“And…you have had sex with Daniel, haven’t you?”
“I—”
“Fell in love with Daniel,” she interrupts.
I stare at her speechless; my look says what I cannot.
“It was my first vision into the future.” She shakes her head as if she can’t believe what she saw actually came true.
“Sarah, I do love Rhett, but when I found out he hid this from me…I was so angry and hurt. He should’ve told m
e. You should’ve told me. Is that why he wouldn’t make love to me?”
“He thought it would make it harder to lose you.”
“You’re kidding me?”
“He loves you that much.”
“He refused to have sex with me based on a vision you said you had of me kissing Daniel?”
“Yep.”
“Why did you tell him anything? You knew it would hurt him.”
“I thought it would motivate him to tell you the truth.”
“As in change the outcome?”
“Yes.”
“So what now?”
“Now, we get ready to kill Andre.”
We return to the apartment, but no one is home, so we go to Corbin’s bedroom and shut the door. I sigh as I glance at a photo of Corbin and his wife on his nightstand. He was desperate to save her. Now they may both be dead when all is said and done. Sarah sits on the bed while I change and I toss her a fresh shirt and jacket to wear.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” I plop down on the floor and empty my purse. The vile filled with Lucy’s ‘recipe’ falls with a thud along with the five hundred dollars in cash that Andre had stuffed in my corset the other night.
“I see you do well as a stripper,” Sarah jibes.
“Andre gave it to me when I blacked out the other night. I saw it on the video.”
“Hmm,” Sarah snorts, staring at the ceiling.
“He was one of the vampires that raped you, isn’t he?” I blurt out and immediately bite my lip, unsure how she will react.
“Yes,” she answers, her voice lacking any emotion.
I watch her as she stares at the ceiling. She looks so peaceful and I wonder if it’s the idea that Andre will finally die that has her in a state of calm. Suddenly, my bedroom door rips open and Thomas stumbles in.
“Aldo!” he sighs with relief and approaches me as I stand, but Sarah quickly steps between us and pushes him back against the dresser, knocking the loose change and makeup on top of it off.
“It’s okay, Sarah!” I gasp.
“Who is this?” Thomas growls as he pushes against Sarah and I watch as his eyes widen and his face shifts from anger to shock. “You’re a blood healer.” He would know since it’s daylight outside and Sarah has super human strength.
