by Laura Marie
Chloe looked at me in the mirror. She wasn’t putting on makeup, which I had expected her to do.
“I look terrible,” she said. “What is this shit?” She gestured at the dress. I noticed she had a wide Victorian-style choker around her neck, and it made her look regal.
“It’s better than what I had to wear for mine, trust me,” I said. “You actually look hot.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “I look like a vampire.”
I didn’t answer. She did look like a vampire, but it wasn’t a bad thing. To her, it was.
“Are you girls ready?” Chloe’s dad said, coming into the room. He was dressed in a stiff suit with coattails and a cravat instead of a tie. Chloe’s mom was dressed in something equally stiff, a black dress that had a corset and she wore lace-up boots with it.
The whole picture was like something from a movie.
We piled into a car which was out of place with our outfits, and we drove out of town.
Why were all the meeting places outside Safety Beach? Why did no one meet in the Town Hall or something?
While we drove, Chloe looked out of the window in silence. Night had fallen, and I couldn’t help but notice the full moon. Did it affect vampires as much as it affected wolves?
We didn’t drive in the same direction as my mom drove when I went to the coven. Instead, we headed toward the diner where Chloe and I had both gone to talk to Old Sal, the one person in Safety Beach who didn’t seem to be a monster of some kind, but knew everything about them.
When we passed the diner, Chloe and I both looked at it. The lights were on, glowing golden in the windows, and I knew if I wound down my window music from an old jukebox would float toward me on the wind.
After we passed the diner, Chloe’s dad turned onto a dirt road that led into a thicket of trees, and it was as if the mystical world swallowed us whole. Everything changed, and I didn’t feel like we were still in Virginia.
“What’s happening?” I asked. I thought only witches could cloak something, but I was sure this was some kind of magic that had nothing to do with the witches.
“It’s called the Fog,” Chloe’s dad said. “It throws anyone off who tries to find the Kiss.”
A Kiss of vampires. I remembered that Chloe’s dad called the clan a kiss. Apparently, it was a little more archaic. With the outfits they all had on, it fit perfectly.
Finally, Chloe’s dad pulled into a parking lot with smooth tarmac and sodium lights, as if we were stopping at a mall, or something. It didn’t feel like we were on our way to some mystical place where a vampire initiation would take place.
We all climbed out and followed a cobbled path between the trees. There was nothing eerie about how it was all set up. It was nothing like the creepy atmosphere I had felt when the witches had inaugurated me.
We walked into a stone building that looked a lot like a Gothic church, complete with stained glass windows and high ceilings. How ironic that they were congregating in what looked like a church.
It made sense that they were trying to stop people from finding this place. It wasn’t just a clearing, like the witches’ meeting place. This was a building, and it must have cost a lot of money and effort to make it happen.
We slid into wooden pews that all faced forward, and sat down. Everyone around me was dressed in clothing that seemed dark and Victorian, and I felt out of place in my skinny jeans and an oversized hoodie. Chloe chewed her lower lip next to me, her eyes large and darting around and I could practically feel her anxiety.
I didn’t reach out and squeeze her hand. I had a feeling that physical contact now would push her over the edge.
The chattering died down and, when I turned my attention to the front, a man had stepped up to what looked like a pew. He was dressed as neatly and as archaically as everyone else, but that was where the similarity stopped. Unlike the other vampires, this one was tall and muscular.
The vampires all seemed to be built with certain femininity – not that the males weren't manly. I was sure they could crush me without thinking twice. But they were thin and not all that tall, and they moved with a fluid grace that wasn’t human at all. But the way this vampire presented himself made it clear he was the leader of the clan. The master vampire.
Chloe leaned toward me a little.
"That's Dmitri. He was the last of the vampires to come over from the old country, at least, in this clan."
Chloe's dad shot us a look, and Chloe stopped whispering.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining me this evening," Dmitri said. His voice was smooth, velvet against my skin. It was mesmerizing. I wanted him to keep talking. I would listen to his voice all day. "Tonight, we are initiating our Chloe."
Chloe squirmed when he referred to her that way, and I understood why. The term was strangely intimate but not in a comfortable way.
"Being initiated into the vampire clan is a great honor. Bloodlust is a part of our genetic make-up. And accepting who we are, and thus, not turning away from the bloodlust, we become true vampires."
Chloe shifted uncomfortably in the seat next to me. She twisted her fingers together, and her lips were pursed into a thin line. She didn't want to be here, that was clear to see. But maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she thought it would be.
"In the past, vampires were very different than they are now," Dmitri continued. "Even though we may have turned away from our vicious nature, excepting the more socially agreeable approach to taking care of our carnal needs, there is a part of our nature that we cannot deny, no matter how hard some might try."
I watched the rest of the vampires as Dmitri delivered his speech. He was a great public speaker, that was certain. But there was something beneath the surface, something that didn't seem quite right. And the way he spoke about the vampire nature seemed almost resentful. But maybe that was just me.
"Now, without further ado, Chloe, please join me."
He looked in Chloe's direction, but his eyes rested on me first. I shivered the moment we made eye contact. His eyes were the color of steel and just as cold. The way he looked at me was not as a fellow preternatural creature, but as the predator. Maybe because I wasn’t a vampire, I only imagined it.
When Chloe joined Dmitri at the front of the church, she looked small and scared. Dmitri smiled at her, and I saw the tips of his fangs on his lips. I had known that he was a vampire, but seeing his fangs was a startling revelation.
I shivered.
Chloe was my friend, and I had always been comfortable around her. I had never thought that vampires could be scary, just because there was nothing scary about her. But I had to remember that every preternatural creature had a way of surviving. Witches could be damn scary, too.
The reason why I had never feared the witches was because I was one of them. I was suddenly aware of how far from home I was. This was vampire territory.
Dmitri put his hand on Chloe's shoulder and looked at the group of vampires again.
"Drawing first blood is a rite of passage to all new vampires. Tonight, Chloe will have her first taste of blood, marking her as one of us." Chloe swallowed hard.
I was still in the audience, but I could almost feel how scared she was. But the fear was slowly being overridden by the bloodlust that she couldn't help. In fact, I was becoming aware of bloodlust all around me.
I was in a group of vampires, after all.
"You brought a friend, didn't you?" Dmitri asked.
Chloe looked at him, surprised and confused. She nodded.
"Someone who isn't one of us. I think this is the perfect opportunity to do it the right way. It saves you having to go out into the world and find the target."
Wait a minute. What was he talking about?
"I'm not going to do it," Chloe said, but her voice was small, and Dmitri smiled at her as if she were being unreasonable.
"Come now, it will be over quickly. It's just a bite." He turned and looked at me. My body went cold when those eyes landed on my face, and I
swallowed, but my throat was dry, and it felt like sandpaper. "You don't mind, do you?" Dmitri asked me.
I did mind. A lot. But I also knew that Chloe was terrified of going out into the world and finding someone whose blood she could take. I knew that she was scared she would go too far. If it was me, I knew she would control herself. Maybe this was exactly what she needed—support. I would be that support.
"Absolutely not," I said and stood.
Chloe turned wide eyes at me. "Emily, what are you doing?”
I didn't answer her. I walked to the front of the church with my head held high, even though my legs suddenly felt like they were made of lead.
When I stood next to Chloe, I took her hand and squeezed it.
I knew that she didn't like physical contact, but she needed me more than she needed me to not touch her.
"It's going to be okay," I said, and I offered her my wrist, the way they do in books and movies.
Chloe shook her head and backed away from me as if I was offering her poison.
"I can't. How am I supposed to do this?"
"It will be easy," I said. "One bite and then it's done. I trust you."
Her fear ramped up and suddenly, I was in her head.
It had happened so quickly, I hadn't seen it coming. I hadn't expected it. I saw myself through her eyes, felt the fear and emotions so strong it was almost painful.
It was all I got before I slipped back into my own mind. Thank God. I still wasn't quite sure what caused me to do this from time to time. It didn't happen very often at all, but it was unnerving as hell, and this was hardly the time to not be at my best.
"I can't do this, Em," Chloe whispered. She didn't whisper because she wanted to keep it between us. She had nearly lost her voice. The terror was too much to handle.
Suddenly, I was aware of Dmitri next to us. He was doing something, something with magic. It flared up and danced around me, a power that was a lot the same as the magic I had felt when I had been with Chloe in my room last week.
But his magic was much stronger, and it awoke Chloe's powers. Her magic suddenly surrounded me, so thick I could choke on it. It pressed against me, threatening to overpower me and turn me into prey. When I looked at Chloe, I knew it was how she saw me.
Right now, I wasn't Chloe's friend. I was food.
Her eyes were almost all pupil, and her fangs punched out of her jaw. She was scarier than anything I had ever seen, scarier than she had been on Halloween.
When I glanced at Dmitri, he had a smile on his face. He was enjoying this. Couldn’t he see how wrong this would go?
No one else was going to help me. I had to help myself.
The moment I thought it, my magic flared. Not my fire magic, because that was pointless. Chloe was highly flammable. Everyone around here probably was, I was surrounded by vampires. But I wasn’t here to kill anyone. I was trying to avoid anyone being killed.
That included me.
The magic that rose up to match the vampire power in the air was a new power that I was developing. A breeze picked up in the church, and some of the vampires yelped or gasped.
I was focused on Chloe. I didn’t care how I was being received by everyone else.
Thunder sounded outside, and the wind in the church grew. A flash of lightning lit up the church so brightly, it felt like it was inside, not outside.
Chloe’s power pressed against mine, testing it. She stepped closer to me, fighting my magic. It was hard, but she could get to me. Her jaws were open, her fangs bared. I looked her in the eyes.
They were almost completely black now, darkness eating it all up to make her look like the monster she feared she was.
When she was right in front of me, her eyes flickered with recognition. She was still in there, and she knew what she was doing. It was just the hunger that had taken over because she had pushed it away for so long.
“Here,” I said, holding out my arm.
Chloe’s eyes darted to my wrist before settling on my neck. She wanted something better than the vein in my wrist. But if she bit me there, I was sure she would kill me. I didn’t know how I knew, I just knew.
“Chloe, my wrist,” I said firmly. I pushed my magic at her. She had to take my wrist. For both of our sakes.
Her eyes slid to my wrist again, and I moved it, holding it in front of her, an offering, a seduction. She looked up at me one more time before she struck.
It was so fast, it was like a snake. When her teeth broke my skin, I helped. It hurt like a bitch. When she started drinking, I felt the pull, and I felt suddenly lightheaded. Silently, I begged her to stop.
She might have had only my wrist, but she could drain me dry if she carried on without letting up.
I glanced at Dmitri again. He looked a little bored, now. Couldn’t he make up his mind?
Chloe released by herself. When she looked up at me, her face was clean. There were no smudges of blood like in the movies. Her eyes were glassy, her expression slack.
Her power died down, and mine followed suit, just like before.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
She wasn’t thanking me for my blood. She was thanking me for stopping her from doing something she would regret. I didn’t know how I had done it – I wasn’t fully in control of my power yet.
But I was relieved nothing had gone wrong.
“Welcome to the clan,” Dmitri said tightly. “Take a seat.”
That was it? Nothing more?
I guess I should count my blessings.
CHAPTER THREE
My mom and I sat in front of the television. It was dark outside, but the humidity was pressing. I had been studying in my room with the windows open, but I was sick of schoolwork, and I hadn't spent a lot of time with my mom lately.
I guess that came with the territory of being a teenager.
We were watching one of my mom's series because she didn't like any of the series I liked. I was only paying half attention.
My phone beeped with a message, and I unlocked the screen.
Switch to the news.
It was a message from Calder. I hadn't heard from him in a while – we were still friends, but our friendship had been dwindling since the coven had decided my magic wasn't what they wanted. It wasn't that I held it against him, but it did sting a little.
"Can we switch to the news?" I asked my mom.
"Not now, Em. I'm almost done."
"I think it's important," I said. "The coven texted me."
My mom was irritated, I could see that. But it was something from the coven, she couldn't exactly say no. I didn't mention that it hadn't been the coven, only Calder.
Right now, it was almost the same thing.
My mom switched to the news, and we fell into the middle of breaking bulletin. I recognized the reporter – didn't they have anyone else in Safety Beach? The poor woman covered everything.
The police have just confirmed that the murder seems to have been committed by a vampire. Even though this is the first case in decades in Safety Beach, ex-players are fairly certain of the facts. The victim seems to have been a tourist or a traveler who had only been passing through town. An investigation will be opened to get to the bottom of this bizarre incident.
In a community where half our citizens have teeth, we have never had an incident like this.
Let us hope that it is an isolated incident, and Safety Beach will continue to live up to its name.
"Oh, my God," my mom said, raising her fingers to her lips. "Am I hearing this right? A vampire murderer?"
"It sounds like they think it was a vampire," I said carefully.
Like the reporter had said, vampires weren't the only preternatural creatures with teeth, but vampires had a very different MO from the werewolves. Apparently, the wounds looked different.
Even I knew that.
But that wasn’t what bothered me.
I frowned at the television that now showed citizens of Safety Beach offering their opinions on the m
atter.
"What I don't understand," I added, "is why the police are involved."
"Don't be ridiculous. What else should they be doing?" My mom asked.
"They should be investigating, but they never cared before. Why now?"
My mom shook her head without answering and stared at the screen again. We watched in silence, listening to the opinions of the few interviewees.
When I had been at the church where the vampires had initiated Chloe, I had felt the bloodlust in the air. It had been thick and hot and cloying. I could understand that one of them might have gone rogue and done something they shouldn't have done. With so much bloodlust, it couldn't be easy to keep control. It was exactly what Chloe had been scared of.
“What does this say about Chloe?” my mom asked.
I blinked at her. “Excuse me?”
“I don’t want you spending time with that girl if this is what they can do.”
“Mom,” I cried out, shocked. “How can you say that? That’s the most discriminating thing I’ve ever heard.”
My mom shook her head. “She’s a vampire, Emily. You just saw what was on the news.”
“And? There are human serial killers everywhere, but that doesn’t stop you from having friends, does it? Or mean that you’ll end up being one? I’m a witch. Do you think I couldn’t be dangerous if I wanted to?”
My mom sighed. “I’m not in the mood for a fight.” She stood and walked to the kitchen.
I followed her. “So, you’re just walking away?”
“I’m just trying to look out for you,” my mom said, starting on the dishes she hadn’t done after supper. “It’s not a crime. Do you know how much harder it is to keep you safe in a world where even the monsters are real? God, as if real life isn’t hard enough as it is.”
“I’ll be fine,” I snapped. “At some point, you’re going to have to trust me that I can choose my friends right.”
My mom glanced sideways at me, and I knew she was thinking about Valentina. That only pissed me off even more. It was because of this damn witch business that my friendship with her had happened in the first place. That, and because I was some kind of bleeding heart.
