The Fangs of Bloodhaven

by Cheree Alsop

  With a start, Everett realized he was looking at Monique before she was a zombie. Leon took a step into the room. The bloodlust ran through him with fervent demand. Everett shook his head, fighting, trying to pull the vampire back, but he was merely a spectator from Leon’s point of view. There was nothing he could do. Leon took another step.

  Everett shoved the memories away with a jolt that sent fiery pain through him. His head felt like it weighed a thousand pounds with the memories he had yet to see. He felt sick to his stomach and his breath caught in his throat. He rested his forehead on the table in front of him.

  “I suppose it’s a bit much your first time,” Leon apologized.

  Everett tipped his head to the side so he could see the vampire. He wanted to shout, to demand answers, to ask what the vampire had been thinking, but he couldn’t. To do so would be to admit that he knew Dr. Transton and what the vampire had done to Monique. Because of Leon, she was a zombie and would stay that way for the rest of her life.

  He wondered if Leon knew what he had done, if that was the reason he stayed away from the Pentagrin, if he hid out of guilt. Somehow, looking at the vampire, Everett doubted the vampire had ever felt guilty in his life.

  Protectiveness filled Everett. Dr. Transton was his friend, and he had others to keep safe. He wouldn’t give the vampire the location to his family, not if they farmed humans like they did the pods, and not if Leon had no remorse about turning a little girl into something from which she would never break free. He would never know Everett’s secrets.

  “Ready to share?” Leon asked.

  Everett sat up. “No. I’m not.” He watched the Sovereign closely. “I shouldn’t have let myself get distracted from my purpose. I didn’t come here to share vampire stories or blood let or thirty-six AEW homo sapien beverages.”

  “Thirty-five,” Leon corrected.

  Everett fought back the urge to slam his fist down on the table. “I’m here to save Nectaris. They’re being attacked by wendigo and vampires are their only hope. Will you come back with me?”

  Leon crossed his arms. All humor had vanished from his face. His shoulders were straight and he studied Everett as he spoke. “I appreciate your frankness, Everett. Unfortunately, I decline your request.”

  Everett stared at him. “What? Why? You could save all those lives! They need you.”

  Leon shook his head. “They’ve never needed us. How is it living there, Everett? Do you enjoy your life of secrecy, of having to hide who you are? Do you enjoy being excluded from school and activities because if they found out you’re merely a subspecies, they’ll banish you and punish your family?”

  The truth to the vampire’s words hurt. Everett pushed it aside, keeping his thoughts clear. “Leon, you could help. It might be enough to let vampires come back inside. Maybe we could live in peace and not hide what we are. If we save them from the wendigo, we’ll be heroes. We’ll be accepted.”

  Leon’s laugh in reply was cruel and bitter. “Haven’t you realized by now that humans don’t bend? They don’t learn, and they refuse to believe that their preconceived notions don’t apply to every creature under the sun. They’ll never let us back in.”

  “They will,” Everett replied stubbornly.

  Leon was quiet for a moment. He picked up the cup Everett had drunk from in his pale fingers and studied it. He then stuck his tongue inside and licked out the remains of his own blood. A drop caught at the corner of his mouth. He used his little finger to catch it, then licked his finger.

  “Good to the last drop.”

  Everett couldn’t control himself any longer. He rose from the table. “Leon, we need your help. Please. I’m begging you!”

  Leon gave him a look so predatory a shiver ran down Everett’s spine. “Give me your blood and I’ll decide.”

  Everyone Everett knew would be at risk. Perhaps vampires were a greater threat than the wendigo. At least the beasts were animalistic, attacking with the same thought patterns of an animal. If Leon released his horde of vampires from Bloodhaven on Nectaris, the humans would be at their mercy. From what he had seen in the blood sharing, Leon had no mercy even for his own friends. If he knew how to get back into the walls, no one inside would be safe.

  “No.”

  Leon knocked Everett to the floor. The puppy fell out of Everett’s arms and slid across the stones with a whimper. Leon’s hands closed over Everett’s throat. Everett struggled to breathe. No matter how he channeled his strength, he was no match for the Sovereign.

  “I can’t use your blood if you don’t offer it willingly, but I can kill you,” the vampire growled. “Human blood makes us so much stronger than the animal garbage you feed on. You’re no match for me.”

  Anger filled Everett over what he had seen and what Leon wanted to force him to do. He grabbed the vampire’s arms. “Then do it, Leon. Kill me and add my life to all the others you’ve taken. You deserve a life of misery haunted by your choices.”

  Leon stared down at him, his gaze filled with hatred. He looked as though he would finish Everett without remorse. His dark eyes narrowed and his fingers tightened.

  A second later, the pressure let up and he stepped away. Everett rolled to the side gasping for air. He fought to draw in a breath through his bruised throat.

  “Rise, Everett.”

  Everett pushed backwards to a sitting position and felt the puppy behind him. He pulled the animal close and wrapped it in his shirt to calm its whimpering. His limbs shook when he pulled to his feet. He watched Leon warily.

  The vampire leaned against the table with his arms crossed nonchalantly as though nothing had happened.

  “What now?” Everett asked, his voice a rough growl.

  Leon snapped his fingers. This time when the doors pooled, four vampires appeared armed with bladed staves. They surrounded Everett.

  “To a life of misery haunted by your choices,” Leon said with a cruel smile.

  Two vampires grabbed Everett’s arms.

  “Don’t do this, Leon,” he said.

  Leon lifted his shoulders in an elegant shrug. “You made your choice, Everett. I shared something very personal with you. Unless you retaliate in kind, your life is mine.”

  The thought that at least it was only his life that would suffer at Leon’s hands made him follow the guards without protest. Instead of the dungeon he pictured as the place Leon would throw him in which to spend the rest of his life, he was taken back up to the room with the pod roots. His heart slowed at the sight of the cells along the far wall.

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. He tried to break clear of the vampires.

  As if they had been ready for just such a maneuver, their four bladed spears sliced deep into Everett’s body. Two drove into the backs of his shoulders, grating along the bones, and the other two jabbed deep into each side. Everett gasped in pain. He could barely think. A gate was opened and the vampires used the spears to shove Everett inside. They pulled the spears free and he fell to his knees. The door slammed shut behind him with a resounding bang.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  “May I have a drink? Just a tiny one?”

  Everett turned his head to see the vampire caged on his right leaning against the bars between them. The vampire’s cheeks were sunken and his gaunt, bare chest looked like skin stretched over a birdcage of bones. He realized the vampire’s attention was on the blood dripping from his sides. A warning rang in the back of Everett’s mind. After drinking Leon’s blood and everything else his body had been through that day, Everett could barely get his thoughts in order.

  “Just a small sip,” the vampire cajoled. “I could even just use what’s been gathered on your shirt. Anything will help ease this pain.”

  The vampire’s voice cracked and he closed his eyes. Everett’s heart went out to him.

  “Don’t do it,” a voice on his left warned.

  Everett glanced that way.

  A girl vampire watched him with bright blue eyes that looked l
ike ice against her pale, emaciated skin. She leaned her forehead against the bars as if even holding up her head took too much effort.

  At his questioning look, she said, “You wouldn’t share your blood, right? That’s why you’re here?”

  “That’s right,” Everett admitted warily.

  She lifted a bony hand to gesture at the other vampire. “Let Leander have a taste willingly and Sovereign Leon will drain him dry to learn what you know. It’s a trick.”

  A chill ran through Everett’s body. He looked back at the other vampire. His eyes were narrowed and he lifted his lips in a snarl aimed at the girl.

  “Curse you, Angel!” he screamed, looking more like an animal than a vampire. He reached through the bars of the cell, trying to grab Everett.

  The vampire’s arms were longer than Everett expected. Strong fingers grabbed at his shirt, pulling him forward with strength spurred by desperation.

  Everett knew if he reached the cell bars Leander would drain him dry and then Leon would have all of his secrets in spite of his resistance. He jerked back and his shirt tore from the vampire’s grasp. He fell against the other bars. Cold ran through him. He expected at any moment for the girl vampire to grab him from behind and do what Leander had been about to.

  He pushed off and spun. Instead of reaching for him, Angel was at the far side of her cell as though she couldn’t put enough distance between them. Her arms shook around her knees, a sign of the self-control it took to stay away. She could barely bring herself to meet his gaze, and when she did, the pain he saw in her eyes made a knot in his stomach.

  “You really should be more careful,” she said tightly.

  Everett nodded. He could feel his wounds closing. His shirt was a hazard. Leander could snag it again, and all he would need to do was drink the blood while it was fresh.

  Careful not to awaken the sleeping puppy still wrapped inside, Everett ducked out of his shirt. He set the shirt of the pup inside it the middle of the cage. The creature shifted and let out a tiny sigh, then fell asleep again. A quick check of the wounds showed that they were healing, a result of the fresh blood he had drank with Leon. The fact that he had the vampire to thank for his fast recovery stung him with its irony.

  “They let you bring that in here?” Angel asked.

  Everett followed her gaze to the pup. “I don’t think they noticed it in their haste to stab me.”

  Angel sighed. “Yeah, they do that. The more blood you lose, the thirstier you become. It makes all this that much worse.” She waved her bony hand to indicate the room.

  The dripping of the blood from the pod plant roots became audible to Everett’s ears. Everywhere he looked, blood was being poured into vats, filtered, skimmed, and bottled. It was a living nightmare. His stomach growled. Angel was right. The loss of blood from the wounds the guards had given him was already taking its toll.

  “At least you came with a snack,” Angel commented.

  Everett shook his head. “I won’t drain it.”

  She lifted an eyebrow. “Would you rather die?”

  “After seeing what my kind is like? Yeah.” Everett slumped against the back bars of his cage. They were cold to his bare skin.

  “You mean the fact that we’re blood-suckers?” she asked dryly.

  Everett didn’t want to answer, but silence meant listening to the dripping blood. He shook his head. “No, the fact that King Leon, or whatever you call him, thinks vampires are superior and would rather farm humans than work with them.”

  “Sovereign Leon,” Angel corrected with a grimace at the title, “Thinks he’s superior to everyone, vampire or human, it doesn’t matter.” She rested her head against the bars of her cell. “My mouth refuses to stop getting me in trouble, hence...” She patted the floor of her cell. After a moment, she asked, “You’re obviously not from here. What did you do?”

  Everett didn’t answer.

  Angel let out a frustrated breath. “Look, you’re here for a reason, and you’re not getting back out. Take a glance that way.”

  Everett followed her gaze reluctantly. Beyond Leander’s cage was another cell. The figure in it that Everett had thought was alive most definitely wasn’t. The vampire had become truly nothing but skin and bones as its organs had drained the last of the blood and liquid from its body. The skeleton hung against the bars with its skull head and shrunken eyes locked on the dripping blood from the pod plants.

  Everett shuddered. “That’s horrible.”

  “That’s our fate,” Angel replied. She closed her eyes tiredly. “So anything that can take my mind off the way my stomach is filled with daggers, is definitely welcome.”

  Everett knew it would only be a matter of time before he felt what she did. He took pity on her. “I need vampires to save Nectaris. It’s about to be overrun by wendigo.”

  “When whats?” she asked.

  Everett cracked a smile at her confused tone. “Wendigo. Dark creatures. Apparently vampires are like their antivirus or something. Our bite kills them.”

  “You bit one?” she asked.

  The thought of sinking his teeth into the wendigo brought back the unpleasant taste.

  She let out a little laugh that died away as if it took too much energy. “That good, huh?”

  He nodded. “But one bite and they’re gone, crumpled in a pile of ash. Nectaris is full of humans. If we don’t help, it’ll be overrun and they have no way to fight them.”

  Despair welled up in his chest at the thought of his family at the mercy of the dark creatures while he was locked in a cage to starve to death.

  “Don’t give up.”

  Everett’s head jerked up.

  Angel stared around her. “Who said that?”

  “Demons,” Leander growled weakly.

  “Lisette,” Everett said in relief. “You’re here!”

  “Not that I can do much,” she said. “But yes, I’m here.”

  Everett remembered that she was a ghost. She couldn’t find the keys to the cells or take down the vampires working in the blood distillery. All she could do was watch him die.

  “You should go,” he told her.

  “Are you talking to yourself?” Angel asked. “I would go, but there’s a matter of these bars in my way...”

  “I’m talking to a ghost,” Everett told her. “She followed me here.”

  Angel gave him a skeptical look. “Are you sure you’re not talking to yourself?”

  “I’m going to get you out,” Lisette said.

  Angel’s eyes widened in disbelief.

  Everett felt a wry smile touch his lips and he asked, “How?”

  “I...don’t know,” Lisette said. He heard her sigh. “I’m not really sure.”

  Everett leaned back against the bars. “At least you’re here.”

  He had a distinct sensation of her sitting across the cell from him.

  “Not that I’m much help,” she said, her voice level with his, confirming that she had also taken a seat, or whatever ghosts did.

  The pup whimpered. Everett scooped it up and held it against his chest. It was quiet for a moment, then whimpered again.

  “Someone’s going to hear it,” Angel pointed out.

  “Let me drink it dry,” Leander suggested. He licked his lips in relish at the thought.

  Everett bared his teeth, feeling suddenly very protective of the young pup. “You won’t touch it.”

  “You will.” Leander leaned his back against the cell facing away from Everett. “Just you wait. That blood pounding in its veins is going to start sounding very good in a few hours.” He glanced over his shoulder. “You lost enough blood you’re going to be hungry soon. A young morsel like that would be very tasty.”

  Everett looked away. He held the pup closer. The animal tried to get comfortable, but it moved again and whimpered. Everett couldn’t deny that the sound of its heartbeat made his stomach turn over. He hated his blood thirst.

  “What’s wrong with it?” he asked tightly.
>
  “It’s hungry,” Lisette and Angel said at the same time.

  “It’s just a baby,” Lisette continued. “It should be nursing.”

  Angel looked in Lisette’s direction and squinted as though it would help her see the ghost.

  The puppy gave a louder whimper.

  “What do I do?” Everett asked. He looked around for anything to feed it. Of course there was nothing; that was the point.

  “You’ve got to give it something,” Lisette said. “Dogs like dog food, chicken, or...blood.” Her voice was quiet at the end.

  Everett looked down at the puppy. He found it licking one of the patches of blood on the shirt he had wrapped it in. The animal lapped at the fabric with its little pink tongue, then searched blindly for more.

  “If Leon drains it, he’ll have your memories,” Angel said.

  She was kneeling in the middle of her cage watching the little puppy as if she couldn’t tear her gaze away from seeing it eat something.

  The dry patch of blood gave it little sustenance. The pup started whimpering again.

  “I guess it’s already gone too far,” Everett whispered.

  “What are you doing?” Lisette asked.

  Everett bit his pinky finger with his fangs. Blood welled from the tip of his finger.

  “Give it here,” Leander demanded.

  Everett gave the vampire a dry look and offered his finger to the pup. The newborn creature immediately latched on it with more force than Everett expected. He looked away, unable to see the animal drinking his blood.

  After a moment, the gumming sensation stopped. He glanced back to see that it had fallen asleep. He removed his finger and held the animal close.

  “What are you doing?” Lisette asked softly.

  Everett kept his gaze on the little gray and white puppy. “It’s not his fault he was born into a cruel world. The least I can do is not let him die from starvation.”

  “You are the strangest vampire I’ve ever met,” Leander grumbled from his cell. “Wasting perfectly good blood on a cur.” He looked back out at the blood processing room. “Almost as bad as them using that blood for the Sovereign.”