by Serena Robar
I figured he wouldn’t be too thrilled to hear how I left Thomas stuck in California. When I found Carl at the massive dining room table, poring over some paperwork from his briefcase, he smirked as I entered the room and commented, “Never a dull moment around you, is there?”
“Ah, I see Thomas has filled you in.” I grabbed the chair across from him and sank into it.
“Breaking rank and leaving your partner essentially locked in a safe house while you placed yourself in danger is grounds for an inquiry.”
“I did not lock anyone in a safe house!” I hotly refuted. “I left him asleep in his room in the middle of the day! It’s not my fault he can’t go out in the sun. And, for your information, I am the Protector of the half-bloods and I shouldn’t have to wait for an Investigator to go talk to them.”
Carl raised an eyebrow and replied, “Thomas is not any Investigator, he was the one assigned to you on this case and he’s your senior.”
Before I could reply, a new voice added itself to the conversation.
“And by ditching him and playing Wonder Vamp, you kind of rolled his face in the fact that you didn’t need him there and that he has no value. No value as an Investigator or as your boyfriend. Nice job.”
I turned to glare at Piper. “I did not devalue my boyfriend. He knows how much I, uh, I value him.” Who uses “value” in a sentence that doesn’t include “shopping,” anyway? Not value Thomas? Sheesh, how could Piper say these things to me after I shared my pain with her?
“I’m just saying …”
“Well, don’t,” I said, cutting her off rudely. “Thomas and I are fine. He’ll be just fine. You just don’t get it. Our relationship is complex,” I added a little lamely, feeling myself sink into a shame spiral. Thomas was always doing whatever he could to help me and I had kind of slapped him down on this one. I shouldn’t have let my anger about our personal situation affect my job.
It’s just he made me so mad, acting like he knew everything and I was a newbie loser who couldn’t even walk on the beach in the middle of the day without wreaking havoc. Well, I did just fine. And my success would be just the eye-opener he needed to see I could take care of myself.
Piper threw her hands up and muttered, “Whatever,” and walked back into the living room. I stood up and glared at Carl, daring him to contradict me. He turned back to his paperwork, effectively dismissing me.
Well excuse me for living, er, not living.
I stomped away in a bit of a huff. Didn’t anybody see my side of this? I was doing the best I could do at this stupid job. A job which I never asked for, by the way, and no one seemed to appreciate how hard I’d been working at it. Not Piper, not Carl and especially not Thomas.
I climbed the stairs to my bedroom and threw myself on the bed. I lay on my back, looking up at the ceiling, hugging my fluffy pink throw pillow to my chest. Would it ever get any easier? I thought and then my stomach growled. I groaned at the injustice.
Just then a timid knock interrupted my pity party (I hate that) and my door cracked open to reveal Lucy.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” I returned her greeting.
“If you have time, do you, uh, want to see what we picked out shopping?” she asked shyly.
Ah yes, the infamous shopping trip to Nordstrom. The event that would forever leave me in Piper’s debt.
I hemmed a bit. “Well, actually …”
Lucy rushed to add, “And I hoped you could go with me to feed? You know, show me where …” She paused with a hopeful look on her face.
What kind of ogre was I, anyway? Poor thing just wanted some company and to eat, but was too timid to go alone and I’m all “poor me.” I sucked as a Protector.
“I was actually going to suggest feeding. Great minds think alike, I guess. We’ll see who else wants to come with us. Then you could show me your stuff, if you’re still up for it?”
Lucy blinked twice and said, “Sure, great. Let’s do that.”
I smiled at her enthusiasm. Maybe everything wasn’t a complete disaster. I could make some friends out of this gig and maybe, just maybe things would turn out okay.
“Great, let me grab my fangs and we can go.” I reached for my nightstand and pulled out the familiar box which housed my headgear fangs.
“I’m sorry, I thought you said you had to get your fangs.” Lucy giggled at the thought.
“Well, actually I did. I don’t have real fangs.” I was embarrassed each time I had to explain my lack of canines to another vampire. It wasn’t my fault I had six teeth removed for braces when I was twelve. My orthodontist (also known as Dad’s best friend, Ted) suggested oral surgery to remove my wisdom teeth and two canines. Unfortunately, though I now had a killer smile, I no longer had my feeding fangs.
So my dad, a gifted orthodontist in his own right, created special headgear with stainless-steel fangs so I could still feed. Yes, it made me look like the biggest geek in the vampire world but at least I didn’t starve. Which normally seemed like a pretty good trade-off until I had to explain why I had to wear the headgear. Like now.
I showed them to Lucy, who wanted to see what they looked like on. I slipped them into place and she carefully examined how they fit, the sharpness of the fangs and its overall effectiveness. She didn’t laugh at me and nodded in support.
“Ingenious,” she announced. “You’re very lucky your father would make these for you.” She sounded so solemn I asked about her family.
“I have no one,” she answered, then quickly changed the subject.
In the end we picked up Angie and surprise, surprise, Ileana to make the feeding rounds. Sage and Tina were worn out and not at all hungry. They decided to kick back and watch reruns of The Simpsons and veg out downstairs.
Instead of driving we opted to walk to the nearest park by the university. There were bound to be dozens of students or teens hanging around, bent on misdemeanors.
After I informed Carl where we were going (to which he just grunted in response—men are so touchy) we headed out the door, where I found Piper getting into her car.
“Hey,” I said, noting she was leaving without saying good-bye.
“Hey,” she responded, looking a little guilty at being caught sneaking out.
“We are headed out to fee—er, get some fresh air,” I finished lamely. Sometimes it was really hard having a best friend who wasn’t Undead. The Living were kind of squeamish about the whole feeding thing.
“Cool, I’m just on my way home. Gotta get some sleep and all before we have to catch our flight.”
My mouth fell open as I remembered that Piper was leaving tomorrow, er, today since it was after midnight. She would be gone for ten whole days in England with her mom.
She took one look at my face and retorted, hands on hips, “You do remember I’m leaving for England, right?”
The problem was, I hadn’t remembered she was leaving. I mean, I knew she was leaving but with having to go pick up Sage and Tina, then leaving Thomas in California, I completely lost track of time. Instead of pouting about my circumstances, I should have been spending the evening with Piper before she left the country. It was official. I was the world’s worst best friend.
“Of course I remembered.” I decided to take the wounded friend role, since I wasn’t about to admit I’d lost track of the days. “I just thought you wouldn’t leave without saying good-bye first.”
Ha, dodge that one, Little Missy.
Piper, of course, was way too smart to play my game, which is one of the reasons she is my best friend. She doesn’t put up with my crap. A blessing and curse, I can assure you.
“Dude …” She drew out the word and tilted her head to the side as though she couldn’t believe I would even try the wounded friend thing on her.
I walked over to her car, leaving the other vamps clumped together in an awkward circle, trying to pretend they couldn’t hear every word of our conversation.
“Piper, I didn’t forget you were going out of town,”
I tried to reassure her but had to add, “I just … didn’t remember you were leaving so soon.”
Whereas I didn’t want to hurt Piper’s feelings by admitting I forgot, she had no such problem with me.
“You suck,” she said pointedly.
Ugh.
“I know, I know. It’s all part of the insensitive vampire package. I’m sorry, Piper, I really am. I, I just didn’t want to think about you not being around, is all.”
My voice broke toward the end of this dark confession. I didn’t want to think of Piper leaving me alone with all my Protector responsibilities. She’d been by my side since I turned Undead and I wasn’t sure I could do it all alone. Really alone, since I was sure to have pissed off Thomas with my freedom flight out of California.
Piper put her fingers on my lips and mocked, “Stop. You had me at insensitive.”
Man, with friends like these, who needed enemies?
She dropped her fingers away and I laughed. So we would be okay. I moved forward and gave her a quick hug.
“I’ll e-mail you every day you’re gone,” I promised.
She returned my hug quickly then pushed away. “Sheesh, not every day. I do have a life you know. I plan to be sightseeing and stuff.” But she smiled when she said it so I knew she would be looking forward to hearing from me.
“Be safe,” I reminded her as she opened her car door.
“Always,” she assured me haughtily and climbed into her car. Then she was gone. My stomach growled insistently and I turned back to my group of charges, shuffling uncomfortably on the front lawn.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, are we going to feed or not?” Ileana demanded.
I sighed deeply and motioned for the group to follow me. I was missing Piper already. We walked west for several blocks to a rather large park just south of the university campus. There were several open-all-night food places and the park always seemed to be brimming with activity. Tonight was no exception, and I suspected we would easily be able to feed without drawing any undue attention to ourselves.
“Okay, why don’t we split up and make the rounds?” I suggested.
“Do we meet back here when we’re done?” asked Lucy. I hadn’t planned on all of us rendezvousing after we were done, but the look on Lucy’s face made me realize that the others weren’t as confident on their own as I was. Actually, none of them were even from Seattle, no wonder they looked like lost little sheep.
“Sure, if everyone is cool with that?” I glanced around at the group and they seemed to be in agreement. “Shall we say one hour from now?” Again more nodding from the group.
I turned to walk into the park, on a trail that took me through a heavily treed area and noticed all the girls still standing in a group, looking around the area but not moving a muscle. I stopped and asked, “Everything okay?”
“Where should we go?” Angie asked.
“Um, anywhere. You could try near the Taco Bell or over there next to those cars parked by the video store or …” They were each staring blankly at me. Oh, for heaven’s sake.
“Why don’t you all come with me?” I suggested instead and they immediately jumped to join me. We took a leisurely stroll through the park and into the shading trees.
“What I find that works is just to hang out until someone walks by. Then I ask them to come over and stand still, I feed and send them on their merry way.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Ileana snorted.
“What do you mean, fun? It’s feeding. It’s not supposed to be fun,” I retorted, irritated by her attitude.
“We are predators by our very design. Waiting in the path for some unsuspecting person to walk by hardly seems very sporting.” It was almost pleasant to hear Ileana talk, with her soft rolling accent—if you didn’t listen to the actual words coming out of her mouth.
“How do you feed at home, Ileana?” Lucy asked.
“Well, I have Sophie bring me my meals, of course. I don’t go traipsing around a park.” She turned up her pert little nose and looked around her surroundings.
“Predators hide in the brush and wait for their prey. I see it all the time on the Discovery Channel,” Sage offered to the group. I felt a pinprick of pain start behind my left eye. Not enough to really hurt, just enough to irritate me. Much like the group was beginning to do. Looked like my migraine was coming back in full force.
“Predators kill to survive. May I remind you that none of us needs to kill to do that? We take what we need and that’s all.”
“Well, no one needs to eat more than one slice of cake but we’ve all been known to gorge once in a while.” Ileana giggled at her little joke and I rounded to face her.
I kept my tone even, eyes level with hers, and explained slowly, “No one in Psi Phi House gorges. Understand?”
Everyone else nodded vigorously but Ileana simply sighed. “Whatever. My, you really are touchy, aren’t you?”
I was ready to argue some more when the breeze changed and I caught an unfamiliar scent. I shoved Ileana to the side sharply and leapt past her in one swift motion. I landed in time to block the stake that came within an inch of embedding itself in her back. My surprise attacker was wearing black (so cliché) and his fangs were bared.
The girls screamed in surprise but I was already countering his next move. He was strong, but then so was I. He struck quickly on the offensive and it took all my concentration to keep from getting impaled. I wouldn’t last long in this fight if I didn’t think of something quick. He lunged toward me again and this time I took his arm and pulled forward, sidestepping the stake. The momentum of our combined energy threw him off balance long enough for me to kick at the back of his knee and down he went.
A quick clip to the side of his temple with my foot rendered him momentarily stunned. I dropped down onto his back and wretched the stake from his hand. I’d hoped to knock the air from his lungs, but being a vampire and all, there wasn’t a lot of air occupying his lungs.
I wasn’t sure what to do next. I wanted to know more about him but I could hardly keep a vampire subdued without keeping him unconscious. And I hardly felt like carrying his body back to the house.
Just then another vampire made his presence known by grabbing Angie from behind. I quickly struck my hostage unconscious and leapt up to help her. I looked to the other girls. Where was Lucy? Ileana seemed to snap out of her daze when Angie was grabbed. She reached into her bag and pulled out, could it be? A Taser.
Ileana pointed it at Angie’s attacker and fired. The vampire released Angie, but stood frozen, shaking as who knows how many volts of electricity surged through his body. Angie fell, somewhat stunned; she must have absorbed some of the Taser’s voltage.
“Ileana!” I yelled at her. “That’s not going to stop a vampire.”
I was right but it sure did slow him down. I took both my fists and clapped them together at his temples, knocking him out. With the exception of not being in the black zone and taken by surprise, I think Cyrus would have been proud by the way I took out two vampire assailants. Well, okay, one vampire assailant. Ileana seemed to be doing okay without me.
I checked around quickly to make sure there were no more. Lucy appeared, as if out of nowhere, at Angie’s side and announced she would be fine in a moment. Ileana efficently unclamped her victim and put the Taser back in her purse, calm as you please.
“What in the world are you doing carrying a stun gun?” I demanded. Ileana simply shrugged in response.
“Who are they?” Angie asked, trying to shake off her shock.
“My guess is vampires who don’t care for half-bloods,” responded Ileana coolly.
“We should get out of here,” Lucy suggested, looking around nervously. Lucy might outlive us all because her fight-or-flight instinct seemed to be heavy on the flight, not so much fight.
I tried to concur but my stomach growled again, drowning out my agreement. Slowly, a smile spread on my face. To quote a famous Dr. Suess book, “Oh, the thinks you can thi
nk.”
“Ladies,” I announced smugly, lifting up the closest incapacitated vampire by his collar. “Dinner’s on me tonight.”
Six
There were four of us and we could feed two per vampire.
Though I wouldn’t normally feed on a vampire, the blood of the Undead was very rich and we needed much less of it to be satisfied. Anyway, it seemed only fair that these two bigoted vamps who tried to kill us would end up being our meal. Imagine their embarrassment when they awoke to find our fang marks on their neck? Served them right.
I slipped on my headgear and heard Ileana snicker. I raised an eyebrow to her in question, but she said nothing. We all fed.
“We should drain them,” Ileana spoke up after she drank her fill.
“Are you crathy?” I lisped.
“She’s right,” Angie agreed, surprising everyone. “They will only try to kill us again. They shouldn’t be allowed the chance.”
They all looked toward me, the Protector in bright pink headgear, for guidance. Hey, I didn’t want to get attacked again either, especially by vamps who might be more successful with their second attempt, but still, I didn’t think it was right to drain them in cold blood.
I popped out my fangs and shook my head. “No, we leave them alive. There are laws governing behavior between vampires and none of us have acquired a blood-war license with these two. If they don’t have ID, I’ll take their picture with my cell phone and file charges with Carl when we get back to the house. Unless any of you want to carry them back?”
There was some grumbling, but all in all it was the right decision. Our existence was precarious at best. I hardly wanted to start a blood war with a vampire clan I knew nothing about. These two could have acted alone, or be part of a larger group. Either way, we survived the encounter relatively unharmed and victorious. That would send the right message. Half-bloods were not easy targets.
We hurried home and I told Carl everything that happened. The girls went downstairs to share the tale with Sage and Tina. It was very exciting, now that we were out of harm’s way and I noticed they were exaggerating my combat prowess with each telling.
