Blood and Fire

by Gabriela Fišerová

  With a sigh Arkemoz got out of the car, noticing that Adley had pulled over in a shady area, which made sense. There would probably be no way for Arkemoz to open the door and not let in sunlight otherwise. As he walked around the car, Adley moved to the passenger seat, so Arkemoz seated himself behind the wheel, narrowing his eyes at it.

  “Just press the pedal on the left and turn the key,” Adley said, smiling at him. Arkemoz frowned, moving his feet to find the aforementioned pedals. There were two of them, and he hadn’t seen Adley actually push any of the buttons there were on his right, so Arkemoz was assuming these were used for stopping and going. Though he had no idea why starting the car required him to press one of these. He decided to do it anyway without asking.

  Despite being the one doing it, Arkemoz flinched slightly when the engine rumbled to life.

  “Great! Now just do this….” Adley moved his hand over to the lever between them, moving it back. “There. And let go of the brake and press the other pedal instead.”

  Arkemoz did as he was told, grimacing as the car began to move forward sluggishly. He gripped the steering wheel with both his hands, staring out at the road in front of him with apprehension. This seemed dangerous.

  Adley let out a soft laugh. “You can go faster, you know.”

  Arkemoz knew that, thank you you very much. He just didn’t think it was a good idea. But seeing the vampire smile at him encouragingly made it hard to keep up his attitude. The demon sighed, speeding up a little.

  They ended up using the entire day just driving around, by the end of which Arkemoz had actually gotten semi-confident in it. He hadn’t seen much aside from trees, but being out of the town he’d spent weeks in now had made him feel kind of good. And Adley’s presence had a similar effect on him.

  Even though he felt a bit guilty about wasting the whole day as he went to bed, he couldn’t bring himself to care too much. He felt like he’d accomplished something anyway as he fell asleep in the comfort of his new t-shirt.

  6

  For once James was in a good mood. He knew very well why, but he wanted to point it out to himself anyway. Prior to meeting Arkemoz, he hadn’t really realized how much more difficult it was to smile in a convincing, genuine way when he wasn’t feeling up to it, which was most of the time. Ever since Aegis had made him what he was now, he hadn’t been feeling exactly peppy.

  So naturally, that good mood was bound to be ruined sooner or later. And James had been fully expecting it. But what he hadn’t expected was who would end up raining on his parade.

  Since he didn’t really have anything to do right now except for sleeping—and the nightmares he usually had made him steer clear of that—James had decided to just walk around town, keep an eye out for trouble, and maybe get a drink or two. He was getting a little hungry, and he really didn’t want to try to eat his powdered snack without dissolving it. A memory of Black recommending having a water bottle on him at all times flashed through James’ head, and he rolled his eyes. James didn’t care if Black was right, he wasn’t going to listen to him just because he didn’t want to do what he was being told.

  Subconsciously, his fingers traveled to his right wrist. To that damned, metal bracelet. He understood the necessity—if he were making the decision to put these on vampires like James, he wouldn’t hesitate either—but he hated being controlled like this. He didn’t even want to drink blood. Just the idea of it made him sick to his stomach, but knowing that he couldn’t even if he wanted to? Well, that made him feel even worse.

  Though it wasn’t the actual drinking of blood that was making him feel nauseous. No, it was that he wasn’t as opposed to the idea as much as he should have been.

  James shook his head, quickly abandoning this thought process. He’d thought about this countless times, and the mental monologues had never led anywhere good. That was partly why he liked being around Arkie, he supposed. The demon’s presence let James forget about the thoughts constantly plaguing his mind otherwise.

  And there was also the fact that Arkie was impossibly adorable, of course. James wasn’t sure what he was feeling on a deeper level there, but he liked it. It made his forever still heart feel warm and fuzzy, which he was sure he hadn’t experienced in centuries. There was a certain, similar feeling that had accompanied most of the vile acts he’d committed during his long, long life, but this felt very different somehow. More...pure.

  Not that everything he was feeling towards Arkemoz was pure, though he was keeping that to himself unless Arkie made it clear he was interested. James may have thought about pulling on those horns of his a couple of times. Not to mention that punk thing Arkie was going for. James definitely approved, even though he wouldn’t mind seeing Arkemoz without that coat sometimes.

  It was sort of funny, though, how much Arkie didn’t fit the clothing style personality wise. But, honestly, the disparity between the two just made him cuter. James couldn’t say Arkemoz was anything like what the vampire had imagined a demon would be like. But he’d also never assumed that there were demons who were good, so maybe he shouldn’t be so surprised. Angels sure weren’t any saints, so there was no real reason to think all demons were terrible. No matter what Neriah seemed to think. What she’d said had so far never really left James’ head, for some reason, no matter how many times he’d rejected the idea. Arkemoz wasn’t a ‘foul creature’, or whatever it was that she’d called him. Certainly no more foul than any other supernatural creature James had encountered. But no matter how much he rationalized this, Neriah’s words were staying with him.

  “Mr. Adley,” said a voice behind him, cutting through the stillness of the street sharply. James stopped and turned around after a moment, scowling at the woman who was now standing in front of him, a few feet away. She looked perfectly ordinary, species-wise, and her pose with her hands in the pockets of her beige coat was incredibly casual. But James had no doubts. This wasn’t a human, no matter how much she looked like one. No one here knew him by his surname.

  “Suspicious stranger,” James greeted her, automatically putting on a sarcastic smirk. She looked familiar for some reason. Had he seen her somewhere before?

  She laughed in what sounded like genuine amusement and took a step closer. One or two more, and James would reach into his pocket for the wooden stake he always kept on him. Especially now that there were apparently vampires around that he couldn’t spot.

  “I’m a representative of the Circle. I assume you already know what that is,” she continued.

  James narrowed his eyes, his mind already putting together what she was probably here for. “I’ve heard some things.”

  “Bad things, right?”

  She shook her head in disappointment, to which James rolled his eyes.

  “Whatever you’re selling, I’m not interested.”

  He turned around, already reaching for the stake. He wasn’t stupid enough to think she was just going to leave it at that, but he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Definitely not if this Circle wanted him to join them. Because what else would they want? Why did these organizations keep trying to force him to join them?

  At least Aegis was trying to keep some kind of balance in the world. But these people? Since when did evil have to be organized? It was ridiculous.

  “So you’d rather be a slave to Aegis?”

  James almost flinched, but he managed to disguise it by shrugging in an exaggerated way and kept walking.

  “Yep, slavery’s great.”

  “You would know, wouldn’t you?”

  James just brushed that comment off, just happy that she wasn’t following behind him. He just needed to round the corner and he’d hopefully lose her. Unless she had friends around, which was also the reason why he hadn’t tried attacking her. He was pretty sure he could win this fight if she was alone, but he couldn’t know that.

  “We can remove that shackle on your wrist.”

  James came to a halt, frozen in place for a moment. Of course they
’d offer that. But he didn’t believe a word she was saying. He had no idea how the bracelets worked, but he did know that they couldn’t just be removed. There was no lock on them, no seam. And any attempt at breaking the metal would alert Aegis immediately.

  “You can do that, huh?”

  He turned around, folding his arms and frowning at the other vampire as she started walking towards him again.

  “Yeah, we can. The angels know how.”

  James chuckled, nodding. “And I assume that in exchange for that, I’ll have to join your little gang. No, thank you.”

  The woman finally closed the distance between them and shook her head. “No. You don’t have to join. But you have to let me give the sales pitch, so to speak.”

  James scowled harder. She was definitely lying. There was no doubt in James’ mind about that. But he couldn’t reject it outright. He did want the damned thing off his wrist.

  “Right, so you can force me to drink blood without Aegis knowing and finding you?”

  “You’re so suspicious.”

  “That’s the secret to long life.”

  She also hadn’t denied it immediately. That was pretty much all he needed to know to be sure he couldn’t trust her. Not that he’d been planning on it.

  “We don’t force anyone to do anything. Unlike Aegis.”

  James looked away. Right, he couldn’t argue with that. He hadn’t chosen this—they had. But he was in no position to complain. He just wished Aegis wasn’t forcing him to work for them and watching him like this. But then again, if they hadn’t done that, there was a chance he might have reverted back to his old self already. He was weak, and he knew it.

  “Just a talk. For your freedom.”

  James shook his head. This was a terrible idea, and he would have to force himself not to agree to this. Thankfully, finding a reason not to was very easy as his mind immediately summoned an image of Arkie making an adorable, confused face. He suppressed a smile.

  “The answer’s no.”

  The woman looked disappointed but not surprised. She reached into her coat, and James’ eyes went wide, already about to attack her before she could attack him. But when she pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket, he relaxed.

  “In case you change your mind.” She reached out with the paper towards James, who glared at it, but took it begrudgingly after a few seconds, giving it a brief glance. An address. Of course. He crumpled it up in his fist.

  “I won’t.” And with that he turned around, walking away as fast as he could, the note still held firmly in his hand.

  7

  It was a few days later, and everything was quiet. Arkemoz was trying not to let his guard down, but it was very difficult with Adley constantly distracting him with things like lollipops and chocolate. Arkemoz really liked sugar, apparently, and Adley insisted on encouraging it. The demon had no idea if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but he didn’t mind. He certainly liked the attention.

  Though Arkemoz couldn’t help but notice that Adley had seemed a bit distracted. He wondered what he was thinking about, but he hadn’t asked. He still had barely any idea what could be considered normal on this planet, though he was pretty sure this wasn’t entirely socially acceptable.

  “It’s good, right? I mean I know ice cream isn’t exactly in season right now….”

  Arkemoz nodded, humming through a mouthful of his sundae. It was chocolate and vanilla ice cream with canned fruit and whipped cream, and Arkemoz really, really liked it. They were at a coffee shop, and since it was evening now, it was half-empty. But that was still too many people for his taste. Arkemoz had no problems ignoring that when the ice cream was this good, though.

  “Hey, don’t eat it so fast. You’ll get brain freeze.”

  Arkemoz looked up, blinking at Adley. He swallowed, pausing his eating. “What’s that?”

  Adley opened his mouth, but then seemed to hesitate. “Uh, headache. From eating cold stuff. No idea why it happens.”

  “I don’t think that will be an issue for me,” Arkemoz replied, and put another spoonful of ice cream in his mouth, though he was intrigued by this phenomenon. How could eating food too fast give someone a headache? Was it some sort of allergy?

  “Diabetes?”

  Arkemoz shook his head, and continued eating. “C’n’t ge’ diseas’s”

  “And I’m guessing you can’t get any other side effects from eating so much sugar, right?” Once again, Arkemoz just shook his head and kept on eating. “So you have all the vamp advantages when it comes to eating, but your taste buds are normal?”

  Arkemoz looked up again when he heard the sad tone Adley had used. He was doing the thing with his eyes again. And was he pouting? It made Arkemoz want to...do something. Touch him? No, hug him. Yes, that was it. But he wasn’t going to. He had no idea if Adley would appreciate it, or if this would even be a normal thing to do.

  “And you got those cute horns, too,” Adley added in a lower tone of voice, sniggering now. “So unfair.”

  Arkemoz swallowed, biting his lip. “Do you really like them? Or are you just teasing me again?”

  It came out sounding more sulky than he’d intended, but he supposed it represented his true feelings. He really didn't like Adley making fun of how he looked. He couldn't help it.

  Adley was now staring at him with wide eyes, shaking his head. “No, I do, I really do. They’re great.”

  A smile tugged on Arkemoz’s lips as he looked down at his ice cream. He wondered if Adley would think the same thing about the horns he had in his real form. Though combined with the rest of his real features, the vampire probably wouldn’t even notice the horns. Arkemoz rather stopped himself from thinking about it further.

  “Why did you join Aegis?”

  Arkemoz paused, looking up at Adley again, his eyes wide with surprise. “What?”

  “I just mean….” Adley sighed. “Well, you don’t seem like you like being ordered around.”

  Arkemoz shrugged. He hadn’t even really thought about this, which he was now realizing might have been a bit foolish. But he hadn’t been on Earth long yet. He was still trying to find his way around. “Aegis seemed...like a good place to start. I didn’t understand anything about how life here works. I still don’t. And they gave me a place to stay. And I like, you know, helping people.”

  Adley was staring out the window now, frowning in thought, which made Arkemoz frown in turn.

  “Is something wrong?” Arkemoz asked when Adley didn’t say anything for a while.

  The vampire shook his head, offering a very unconvincing smile. “No, everything’s fine. Was just wondering.”

  Arkemoz scowled. He really needed to find someone willing to give him a second opinion on what was normal behavior and what wasn’t. But apparently making connections—or dare he say friendships—was very difficult. Probably not as difficult as it was back in Hell, but still…. Arkemoz wished he could learn something from how he was getting on with Adley, but the demon was pretty sure he himself had done very little to make this relationship develop. Whatever that relationship was. He would call it friendship, but that didn’t feel right.

  “Are you sure everything is fine?” Arkemoz asked as he finally decided to press the issue. He was pretty sure this wasn’t normal.

  Adley looked him right at him, and Arkemoz almost flinched at the sudden, sharp sadness that was in the vampire’s eyes. The demon had no idea what it meant, but he hated it. He wanted it gone immediately.

  And suddenly his wish was granted. A second later, Adley let out a huff of laughter, his previous sadness completely abandoned. And if anything, it just made Arkemoz feel worse.

  “Yeah,” Adley said, putting on his usual smirk. But it looked so fake right now. Had it always looked this way? No, Arkemoz would have noticed that, he was sure of that. “Yeah, everything is just peachy.” His smile became softer and more genuine then. “Especially when you’re around.”

  Arkemoz could feel his face he
at up, but he found himself unable to look away from the vampire’s eyes. And for once, Adley’s face was also getting a red tint.

  “Heh, did I say that?”

  Arkemoz swallowed. “Uh...yes?”

  Adley grinned wide, laughing. And Arkemoz couldn’t help himself. A small laugh made it past his lips, too. He wasn’t even sure why he’d laughed, it had been out of his control. If there was something funny here, he had no idea what.

  “You’re so cute, Arkie.” Arkemoz somehow managed to blush even more. “Why don’t you finish that ice cream? We can go on a walk—excuse me, on a patrol.”

  Even though it was cold outside, and Arkemoz really, really didn’t like the cold, that did sound nice. And possibly useful. They hadn’t done much for a few days. Well, actually, no, they’d done a lot, but nothing related to Aegis business.

  He finished off his sundae as Adley drank his coffee with the blood substitution dust in it. Though having seen how much whipped cream and milk was in that thing, Arkemoz wasn’t sure if calling it coffee was accurate.

  When they walked out of the café, Arkemoz shuddered as cold wind and snow hit his face, and he pulled the hood of his coat over his head, grumbling to himself about how much it snowed all the time. The hood and the hat didn’t really agree with each other but Arkemoz didn’t particularly care. He was feeling too grumpy in general to be annoyed with his hood not fitting well right now.

  “I heard this place was cloudy, but I didn’t expect so much snow,” Adley commented, shaking snow out of his hair.

  “Is that why you came here?” Could vampires survive outside during the day if it was cloudy? Maybe it was really only direct sunlight that hurt them, but Arkemoz had no idea.

  Adley nodded. “Also because I assumed it would be quiet here. Boy, did I misjudge this place.”

  “It’s been quiet until now.”

  Adley smiled. It looked mostly sad, though, which just reminded Arkemoz of what had happened just minutes ago. Somehow the vampire was very good at distracting him. “Yeah, well, quiet gets boring, doesn’t it?”