Season of Sin

by JL Caid

  “You, my sweet angel, control the entire underworld and dark world of every existence.”

  I swallow hard. “Oh. Is that all?”

  Layre starts to laugh.

  “She’s so fucking cute,” Darick says. He growls. “I want to fucking eat her up.”

  “I second that,” Kyran says. “We can’t make her bleed, but we can make her scream.”

  “That we can,” Seth says, his eyes still locked to mine. “In time. First, we need her to remember what she can.”

  “And we’ll tell you the rest,” Layre says. “It’s going to be a busy day for you.”

  “I can see that,” I say. “This dress though… I’m not a dress person, am I?”

  “Seth picked that out,” Layre says. “He’s a bit of a pretty boy.”

  “Fuck off,” Seth says.

  “Why don’t you ask her what she wants to wear?” Darick asks.

  “I don’t know what I want to wear,” I say. “I want to be comfortable. I prefer something other than a dress.”

  “To be fair, the dress makes your chest looking amazing,” Seth says with a grin.

  I put my hands to my cleavage. “I don’t give it all away for free.”

  “Oh, she puts up a fight,” Layre says. “I like that.”

  “Be careful with that, babe,” Darick says. “We’re beasts by nature. Created through sin. Spit from hell. And… immortal.”

  “Are you threatening me?” I ask.

  I slide from the island to my feet and walk toward Darick. Okay, he’s a seven foot tall, leather clad biker looking dude. With shoulders a mile wide and a jaw that looks like it’s made from steel. And he has fangs.

  Here I am, walking up to him to challenge him because I just have the urge to do so.

  “Hey, babe,” Darick says.

  “You smell bad,” I say.

  “Ouch. You smell like pizza grease.”

  “Good.”

  “Good,” Darick says.

  Is this flirting? What am I doing here?

  Darick reaches for me, touching my hair.

  There’s a smell to him… bad, maybe. But it’s a rough smell. Like that of wet leaves that are freshly fallen. That dead smell you experience in autumn.

  “So, babe, mind if I have you as my snack?” Darick asks.

  “Only if you tell me what’s happening right now,” I say with a grin. “Tell me what I want to know and I’ll give you what you need.”

  I have this intense sensation running through me. Power. A sexual prowling kind of feeling that made me feel bigger and stronger than him.

  “Wait, wait, wait,” Layre says. “Why does he get first bite?”

  “It should be me,” Seth says. “I worked to find her. I made sure she was safe this entire time.”

  “I was with her when she woke up,” Kyran says.

  “You were passed out on the floor,” Layre says. “You tried to touch her and she attacked you.”

  “That doesn’t matter right now,” Kyran says.

  “You fucking cheater,” Seth says. “We had a pact together for her. For the blood. For everything she meant to us. You went against that.”

  “And you tried treating her like a toy,” Layre growls at Seth.

  I roll my eyes. Now there’s another vampire argument happening.

  Darick winks at me and slips away. He moves back about a foot and then he’s suddenly gone. What’s left is what looks like a black smoky ash cloud that dissipates.

  I turn and see Seth, Layre, and Kyran all standing close, trying to figure out who found me, saved me, loved me, wanted me first.

  I put my hands out and squint my eyes a little. I put my hands together and then quickly spread them apart. The three men break away from each other, putting a safe distance between them.

  Then they all look at me.

  Blue eyes. Red eyes. Green eyes.

  “I’m tired of hearing you all argue,” I say. “Someone give me some fucking answers right now.”

  “As you wish, babe,” says Darick’s rough voice.

  He comes into the kitchen from the opposite side of the room, carrying a box.

  “What are you doing?” Seth asks, his voice shaking all the glasses in the kitchen.

  Darick puts the box on the island. He looks around and nobody dares to speak a word. Then he speaks.

  “It’s time for her to start figuring out the truth.”

  12.

  I lift the lid, wondering what secrets could be hidden.

  It’s clothes.

  It’s a pair of blue jeans.

  I take them out of the box and study them. They look like regular jeans. But they’re not.

  “These are mine,” I say.

  “Yes,” Seth says.

  “So I came here and you all undressed me?”

  “No choice,” Layre says. “And nothing happened.”

  “Much to our sadness,” Darick says as he flashes his fangs.

  I swallow hard and put the jeans down. I touch them and can feel a swell throughout my body. I wore these jeans the day or night I met the vampires. An idea then comes to me. Check the pockets.

  “Did you go through my stuff?” I ask.

  “Of course,” Kyran says. “We needed to.”

  “So you know who I am… my name…”

  “Yes,” Seth says.

  “And you want me to do this myself.”

  “Correct,” Layre says. “It’s important for you, angel.”

  “Is my name Angel?” I ask.

  “Not quite,” Kyran says. “Close though.”

  Now I’m a little excited. I reach into the front pocket and pull out a cellphone. I press the button for the home screen and nothing happens. I press the button on top and see a lightning bolt flash on the screen. My phone is dead.

  “Nobody thought to charge this?” I ask.

  “Not our job,” Darick says.

  “Right.”

  I toss the phone aside and reach back into the pocket. I find cherry lip balm and earbuds. There’s a folded up piece of paper. A receipt, but it’s so faded, I can barely make out anything other than a few printed numbers. Again, more useless stuff.

  “What’s the point of this?” I ask. “Just to torture me a little? This is insane.”

  “Keep looking,” Layre says.

  His voice is warm and soothing.

  I curl my lip and roll my eyes.

  “Feisty,” Darick says. “I like that.”

  I don’t reply. I’m already starting to know better than to respond.

  I reach for the other pocket and feel something metal. I pull out a set of keys. There are three keys on the ring. Two brass. One silver. Each one a different size and their teeth are cut differently.

  “Wow!” I yell. “This is amazing!”

  “Yeah?” Seth asks. “You know what they are?”

  “Keys,” I say. “I have keys!”

  “Keys to what?” Kyran asks. He inches closer to me. He smells like lavender… which is weird but comforting.

  “Do you know what those keys are for?” Seth asks.

  He’s very interested.

  “No,” I say. I throw the keys at him. “I don’t know what they are used for. I don’t know anything.”

  Seth points to the keys on the floor and they slowly levitate up to his finger and slide onto it.

  I swallow hard. I don’t want to cry in front of these hunky vampires. I apparently have some control over them. But they’re still vampires. They’re still seven feet tall each. I’m still in their house and I have no idea where it is.

  They all stare at me, those different colored eyes.

  I realize something.

  I matter to them.

  Besides the passing comments about my blood or whatever, I mean something to these men. These vampires. They could have sucked me dry. They could have done anything they wanted to me while I was asleep. But they took care of me.

  I touch my hair and realize it’s clean. It smells
good. My skin is soft and clean too. I’m not dirty and greasy, even though I should be. Which also reminds me that the four of them have seen me naked. And I have only seen Layre without a shirt on.

  I slide my hand into the pocket again.

  There’s nothing left.

  I flip the jeans over and stuff my hand into one of the back pockets. I curl my lip. I’m really irritated. And I’m still a little hungry. I want more of that pizza. It was pretty good.

  The first of the back pockets is empty. But there’s something in the other one.

  It’s a piece of paper, folded and stuck together. A sticker folded in half.

  Words printed on it and then a word written on it.

  My name is

  Then I see the handwritten word.

  “Astrid,” I say.

  I look up from the folded sticker and I let out a scream.

  All four of them are an inch from me.

  Seth with his icy chill and smell of snow. His blue eyes wide and gorgeous. The pearly, diamond fangs poised for an attack. Kyran with his lavender smell and sadness that radiates from him. Green eyes that silently promise freedom. Darick with his smell of October. His dark brown eyes making me feel so uneasy. Then Layre. Burning hot. Red eyes. Showing his fangs that are so full.

  “What…?” I whisper.

  “That’s you,” Layre whispers.

  “Me?” I look down at the folded sticker again. “Me… I’m Astrid.”

  13.

  “My name is Astrid,” I say. “That’s who I am.”

  “Yes,” Seth says with a growl in his throat. “Sweet Astrid.”

  “Astrid,” Kyran says and flicks his tongue to his fangs.

  “Astrid, babe,” Darick adds with a nod.

  “Beautiful Astrid,” Layre says. “A nice ass on Astrid.”

  “Shut up,” I say. “How do I know… and why do I have this sticker?”

  “Questions and answers only you possess,” Seth says.

  “I don’t believe it,” I say. “Give me a pen and paper. No, a black marker. A black, permanent marker.”

  Darick walks to a drawer and opens it. He gets a notebook and a black marker.

  I side step and bump into Seth. A chill goes through me and he doesn’t move an inch. Seth turns and gives me space to walk away.

  I grab the marker and rip off the top. I put the folded sticker on the counter and place my hand over it so I don’t see it. I stare at the blank page and take a deep breath.

  “What is she doing?” Layre asks.

  I look over my shoulder and curl my lip. “Number one, I’m not deaf. Number two, I’m going to write the name and see how it looks.”

  “Compare signatures,” Kyran says. “That’s smart.”

  “No,” I say. “The smart thing would be for you all to tell me what’s happening and why. But instead, you want to play this stupid game. And you think you’re getting something from me out of this? Yeah, right.”

  Darick lunges forward, slicing through time and distance like Seth can do.

  Seth does the same and blocks Darick from getting to me.

  “No, brother,” Seth says. “You can’t give in to your urges.”

  “It’s not an urge, it’s a need. I’ll tell her everything and she’ll give me her body.”

  “Deal,” I say.

  “No,” Seth growls, shaking the entire kitchen.

  “Back off, Darick,” Layre says.

  “What are you going to do about it?” Darick asks without looking back.

  “You know where this will end up,” Kyran says.

  “Just write your name,” Seth says. “Astrid.”

  I focus on the paper.

  I put the marker to it and write the name.

  Astrid.

  I mean, it’s a cool name. I guess. It looks cool on paper.

  I put the marker down and slide my hand away from the folded up sticker. I move the notebook next to it and stare down.

  The signatures are exactly the same. There’s no denying it.

  “I’m Astrid,” I say.

  “Yes, you are,” Layre says.

  “I’m Astrid. And I was at some kind of event with a sticker that had my name on it.” I looked to my right. “So what happened to me? How did I go from wearing this sticker to being in that bed upstairs?”

  Seth looks at Layre. Layre looks at Kyran. Kyran looks at Darick.

  Darick just stands there, stoic. Like a statue. He’s blocking the island. All I can think is that there’s something else in the box. More clothes or something that would give me a bigger hint about what happened.

  Did I drink too much and get into trouble? Maybe I was walking…

  Walking.

  No. Running.

  That dream.

  Running.

  Then… lights…

  “Angel,” Layre says.

  “Give her a second,” Darick says. “Nobody say a fucking word from now until she gets it.”

  I look at the paper with my name on it. I look to the folded sticker.

  Things are swirling around in my head. It’s like the building of a wave. At first, it’s so subtle you don’t feel it. And even when you do begin to feel it, your body is so used to the water that you don’t realize you’re moving with it. And if you don’t pay attention, a wave can creep up and just slam against you.

  I move from the counter and Seth doesn’t try to block me. Layre and Kyran stand shoulder to shoulder as I approach the island that Darick is still blocking.

  “You need to move,” I say to him.

  “I know, babe,” he says. “But remember this moment. This is where your innocence is still alive. The existence of not existing is something beautiful. But we all lose it.”

  “And when did you lose yours?” I ask.

  Darick curls his lip, one fang showing. “You’ll know everything soon enough.”

  “Darick, it’s time to move,” Seth says. “Let her see the clothes.”

  “Clothes? My clothes? I just saw them. They’re clothes. Normal clothes. A shirt. A hoodie. Jeans. What else is there to see?”

  “The truth,” Layre says.

  “Good luck, babe,” Darick says.

  He side steps and there’s a whooshing sound around me. A soft breeze swirls around me like a one second mini tornado. I can smell all of them and I see quick flashes of red, brown, green, and crystal blue. I gasp for my breath as I’m suddenly overwhelmed.

  And I’m suddenly alone.

  They left me.

  To look at my clothes.

  I take one step forward and realize why Darick had been hiding the clothes from me.

  They’re the same clothes… but they look different.

  My hoodie is ripped up with black marks. Red marks. Blood. The jeans look even worse. The knees are ripped to shreds and there are big splotches of blood everywhere.

  I touch my stomach and feel like I’m going to be sick. The pizza churns in my belly, wanting to make a second appearance.

  I grab for the island and look in the box.

  There’s one shoe.

  One shoe.

  Its white laces are dirty and spotted with blood.

  Everything is covered in blood.

  Ripped. And there’s this smell to it… it sort of smells like…

  “Death,” I whisper, even though I don’t know what that exactly means or smells like.

  Then something else hits me.

  My fingertips touch the jeans and my mind flashes a memory.

  The super bright white light. Blinding me. As I’m out of breath, crying, running for my life.

  I can’t escape the light.

  And now I can’t escape the truth.

  I put my hand to my chest and wait.

  There’s nothing there. There’s no heartbeat.

  And therein lies the truth.

  I’m dead.

  TRUTH

  1.

  Okay, I’m dead. I was obviously run over by a car or truck or someth
ing and I died. That weirdly makes more sense than the fact that I was in a mansion with four vampires. I sit in comfortable clothes - finally - eating two more slices of pizza. Darick sits with his chair turned around, straddling it. He drinks from a bottle of beer and hasn’t looked away from me.

  Kyran stands in the doorway as though he’s guarding it.

  Layre and Seth are gone.

  They won’t answer the question… where did they go?

  “You can talk, babe,” Darick says.

  “I’m dead.”

  “Yes. You are. The good news? So am I. We all are.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “We’ll explain everything in time, babe. Right now we need to keep you protected until we feel that things are good.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Your blood. We already mentioned it.”

  “My blood. That’s what this is all about.”

  “Yeah. You have the rarest blood in centuries. You know that wars were fought for your blood type. Nobody in our family line has ever come across it. And here we are.”

  “If my blood matters so much, then why am I… I mean, how am I talking? Walking? Thinking? I’m dead. If I was dead, you could have taken my blood.”

  Darick nods. “That’s the logical thing. But it’s never that simple.”

  “Of course it’s not,” I say. “Nothing is going to be simple with you. Or your brothers.”

  “Now you’re getting it,” he says.

  “Where did Seth and Layre go?”

  “For a walk.”

  “Seriously.”

  “Speaking of which, do you want to take a walk with me, babe?”

  “Where?”

  “To answer some questions for you.” He stands and throws back the bottle of beer, drinking it all.

  “Drinking before driving?”

  “We’re not driving, babe,” he says with a grin. “Hey, Kyran!”

  Kyran turns, a thin wisp of green light follows his eyes. “Yeah?”

  “I’m talking her for a walk down the long hall.”

  “Is that smart right now?”

  “No,” Darick says. “But it needs to be done.”

  “Okay. We didn’t vote on it. Seth is going to get pissed.”

  “I’ll keep us hidden,” Darick says. “Let me know when they get back. I'm sure we’ll be hungry by then.”