Everyone cheered again. What was happening?
“What the hell are they are cheering for?” Beverly whispered.
I hunched my shoulders and looked around me. Everyone’s fangs were showing. I rubbed my tongue along my upper teeth, nothing. How had they done that voluntarily? One of the girls handed Dixie a brown box. Everyone instinctively stood and gathered around the science lab table.
“Let’s go,” Casey said and she and Beverly stood up following the others.
“Make sure the door is locked,” Dixie said as she opened the box. Every eye was glued to her every movement. Finally, head of a squealing baby pig popped out.
I gawked at the girls as they doted on the pig proclaiming its cuteness all while, petting him and licking their own lips. Dixie suddenly levitated into the air and hung in an upside-down position, as if she was hanging from the ceiling. She held the pig over the girls and teased. “Ready girls?”
They girls screamed in delight, abandoning all decorum. With her fangs, Dixie bit into the pig’s neck until blood dripped down into the eager crowd of girls who opened their mouths and licked their lips and licked each other until every drop of blood was collected. My fangs were now out, and I involuntarily felt the alter ego that lived inside me crawling to the surface. I waited for more blood to drip, and I too lapped it up like a puppy laps up milk. I was barbaric.
By the time I left the lunchtime meeting, I had forged an unshakable bond with my sisters, we shared an experience that only those of out caliber could share. We were the same. We desired the same things. I took a long shower and washed the evidence of hedonism from my body. Images of my first kill flashed in my mind, the couple in Yosemite. My mother. The desire for blood had been a drug that lured us to do things.
“Mommy where are we going?”
That night I followed her, in the rain we walked down the dark sidewalk until we got to our destination. She’d been so poised and proper during the wedding that night. Her best friend Waverly had just gotten married. She was happy for her, but she cried the entire time. Her best friend was like a second mom to me. She knew our secret, but never disclosed any of it, now she was moving away with to India. They would be halfway around the world. Too far away to contact in an emergency.
“Stand back honey,” My mother had filled her purse with bricks from the creek. She had said that she wanted to paint them, to place the rocks at our door. The uber driver nodded and smiled at me. The blue box had not come from the council at the beginning of the month. They had abandoned her. There was no family in the council. They left her alone, to prey upon the innocent to survive. The warm rain had drenched them both. Her mother swung her purse at the window, the letters on the glass broke and the word Bank was now divided. She swung again and now at the word Blood. The alarm sounded and she reached into the window to open the front door. She cut her arm. The blood trickled; water washed it away. My mother went in while I stood outside in the rain. She was back within minutes with a purse full of blood samples. When we got home, we both feasted on the blood. Two pouches each, my mother hid the others in the freezer.
“Go take a shower,” she told me. I heard her crying while I was in the shower. Her sobs were loud, but I pretended not to hear, I sang from the shower. A happy song, one to make her feel better. These memories brought my own tears to the surface, I allowed them to run down my face as the water washed them away. The memories subsided and I eventually got out and wrapped myself in a towel.
I wrapped my hair in a different towel and found Natira in the room. She was standing at the window, looking out at the turbines.
“Is the noise is starting to get to you too?” I asked. The swooshing was beginning to sound more like something being dragged.
She didn’t answer.
“Natira?”
“The noise doesn’t bother me as much as what lies beyond the turbines. In those hills,” she pointed at the hills. “There are evil men watching us. They are planning to attack.”
I looked out of the window, “I don’t see anything, how are you able to see that far?”
I looked at her and she had slipped into a silence again.
“Natira?” I sat on the bed and dried my hair before I started brushing through it. “Where have you come from?”
“Since I’ve been here, no one has ever asked my about where I’m from except them.”
“Them?”
“My captors.”
I wanted to know more, who were her captors? Were they the same as mine, the council?
“Their mission was almost over; they had been on our planet for 21 days. My people and them had been in negotiation for a while. A deal was made between our planet and theirs. In exchange for the knowledge and intelligence of Zarmina, they would in turn allow three of us to live on their planet to learn their ways in agriculture. Two Americans and three Zarminians boarded the spaceship and were headed back to earth when something went wrong.
Earth somehow lost contact with our planet and thought that we had sabotaged the mission, so they had no choice but to abort. They could not risk allowing alien life forms to enter this planet unless they knew for sure that we were contained. There was an explosion before we entered the earth’s atmosphere and no one was supposed to survive, but I did. I have been on the run since. In my training, I was told that this school existed and that they would give me shelter in case I needed a hideout, but I was in Maine and needed to get here, so I used my shape shifting abilities to disguise myself along the way.”
“How did you do it, how did you survive?”
“My journey began in the Main bus station. I disguised myself as the ticket clerk first. I was a woman with dark skin and a gold tooth. When I first entered her body, she was taking a bite of a huge sandwich filled with a very distinctive type of meat. I’ll never forget the taste because we don’t eat meat where I’m from. The minute it went into my mouth I knew I’d be sick. I quickly helped several passengers with their purchases then printed a ticket for myself.”
“How were you able to work for a ticket counter? How did you know how to operate the machines? Weren’t you out of place?”
“Zarminians have the ability to touch and know, if I touch something the programming automatically downloads.”
“So, you are a walking genius.”
“Something like that,” she smiled.
“Then what? You purchased a ticket, then?”
“I went into the restroom and regurgitated the contents of my stomach. Then, I touched a lady who was walking into the restroom and went into a stall and came out as her. I got into the bus as a blond woman with blue eyes. I was wearing a white tank top and denim shorts. When I sat down, I started reading through a leaflet and when I looked up, the lady from the restroom was getting in the bus, she immediately made eye contact with me and her face changed colors, her eyes grew large and her mouth opened in awe. She turned to her partner pointed at me. I had to do something fast or I’d blow my cover.
I quickly put my head down to retrieve something from my bag and the leaflet I was holding had a woman wearing a green top and red hair. I came up as her and when the woman turned back around her face changed again. She was confused now; I was just her identical twin now I was a lady with red hair. Her partner shook his head and pat her shoulder, assuring her that she was seeing things. I was so fascinated with everything on this planet but didn’t really have time to observe and learn because I was on the run. I’d taken Earth 101 on Zarmina, but there’s nothing like seeing the real thing right.”
“When the bus driver started to drive, I was finally able to close my eyes. I slept a little bit on the bus, but every time I opened my eyes, she was staring at me, as if she expected me to become her again. I looked at her eyes, the black circles inside were filled with information about who she was. I looked closer and saw that she spent many hours in the gym, perfecting her weight. She was insecure and desired love from her parents, who were always too busy for her. They ring aroun
d her iris, said that she would die at an early age. A car accident. She would never have children. I smiled at her and she turned away, rejecting my kindness. She took out her phone and started to look through her social media account. I closed my eyes again and when I opened them again, she was feigning a selfie, but I was in the frame. She jumped and turned to her boyfriend. A few minutes later she was frantically searching through her phone for the image she had just taken, but I had already deleted it. She looked back at me as if she knew what I was, what I had done.”
“Kind of like when you read through my notebook.”
“Yes, kind of. Well, when I got off the bus in New York City, a girl came up to me asking for my autograph. I was a little confused, but then I looked at the leaflet she was holding and realized that I had taken on the persona of the woman on front. I signed her leaflet and smiled for a picture. Then I turned to see if the woman from the bus was still in the station. She and her boyfriend were arguing nearby so I made my escape. Inside the bus station was a group of school children on a fieldtrip, I touched a backpack and went into the restroom and when I came out someone grabbed my hand.
“You, young lady- are not allowed to leave the group. On a fieldtrip we stay together. Got it?”
“Yes ma’am,” I glanced at my reflection in the mirror and I was a ten-year-old girl with long brunette hair.
“Look,” another student said. “Her necklace in glowing.” Three students gathered around to glare at my glowing sparkling necklace. It had been a gift from my father on the planet Zarmina. Its dark black background was layered with a swirling and turning pink and silver funnel. Its movement was mesmerizing and soon the three children were still and lost in its movement, sinking further and further away from reality as they stared.
“Kids, lets go, did everyone use the restroom?”
“Everyone answered and cheered except the three student who were transfixed.
“What’s going on over here,” a teacher stood over the girls. “Hey, where is your name tag? What’s your name?”
“Macy, and I- I lost it. She placed her hand over her necklace and blew softly into the faces of the three kids. They blinked and came to, unsure of what had just happened.
“Let’s go, go, go.” The teacher directed them. Through the bus station. When they exited, I bent down on the street to touch a homeless man. Then I sat down against the bus station wall and became him. No one even noticed me as they were so busy minding their own business as New Yorkers do. In this state she was able to sleep for a while. When I awoke, there were bags of food, left-over coffee and a few coins left at my feet. I got up and walked through the bus station again and touched an old lady as I walked by. When I emerged from the stairs of the underground terminal, I was an older lady with gray hair and glasses.
Next I got into a cab and rode to the LaGuardia Airport where I purchased an airline ticket to LAX using my senior citizen discount. On the plane I was given the best treatment, and everyone seemed to want to assist me with my bags and seating. An old man talked to the entire trip, then he asked me to have coffee with me when we landed in Los Angeles.”
“He wanted some senior citizen smooches,” I laughed. Listening to her talk was like listening to an action-packed movie. I touched my hair and it was almost dry. I threw on a white t-shirt and denim shorts.
Natira continued, “In California, I found myself at a loss of where I was going. I stopped to eat something, green salad with kale and spinach and quail toppers, which I threw away.”
“Wait, what?”
“What?”
“Who eats green salad with quail? Quail? You mean chicken?”
“No quail.”
“What kind of stuff do they eat where you’re from?”
“We have a plant-based diet.”
“Tell me about your planet.”
“My planet is known to your people as Zarmina, one year on my planet is equal to roughly 1/3 of yours. The Zarminians are a very structured and intelligent people, we are like chameleons, we adapt to whatever environment we are placed in and take on the characteristics of our surroundings. We flourish with energy and our intelligence is fueled by the sun. We have families like you, we love like you, we have babies but not like you and we die like you. We have one God, the Sun God.”
“What do you mean about babies?”
“When a Zarminian is impregnated the egg comes from the male and is given to the female as a gift. She, in then nurtures the egg by carrying it around outside her body for six months. Sometimes on her back and others on her belly. It is very fragile and many of the eggs burst before they are hatched, so life is very precious. We get our energy and sustenance from the sun. Many mothers lay their eggs out in the sun for hours at a time. But you must guard it because a grieving mother can steal your egg and pass it off as hers very easily. It is not until the eggs are hatched that the marks are placed on the family. This would be like your marriage.”
“So has this happened before?”
“Yes, it has. I was stolen when I was in the sac, but my mother stole me back. It was a huge ordeal, the entire community had to go before the Sun Council where there was a trial to determine rightful guardian.”
“Woah! What happened?”
“Well, the Sun Gods are very wise and intelligent, so they placed the sac between both mothers and ordered a magistrate to bring his sword. When the Sun God ordered that he divide the egg in half and give one side to my mother and the other to the thief, my mother interviewed. She lay down in front of the sword and begged him to give it to the thief. She was willing to both lay down her life for me and to give me away rather than see me die. So, the Sun God knew she was the rightful mother. He ordered the thief exiled.”
“Where is exile?”
“Zarminian criminals are sent to Pandera where they live in constant fear of being discovered by earth. They are always in space probes looking for other life forms, plus, there is not much Sun on Pandera which will cause a Zarminian to die within a year. The sun is like energy for us, much like the air we breathe. Being without sun, is like being under water with no air. We will suffocate.”
“Well, what do you do at night?”
“We are like solar power; we store energy like a battery and then we run off it throughout the night. I came to this school because it is close to those turbines, I get so much energy from them.”
Natira turned toward me and lifted her hands. She tapped her thumb and pinky together and the tip of her finger lit up with a blue light. Then, she tapped each of her fingers and the lights came on. Then, she took the lighted fingers and created beams throughout the room and those beams began to dance with veracity.
“What are they?”
“They are your lifelines. Each one represents a part of you. Your breath, your spirit, your soul, your blood, your aura, and your body. This is how I am able to manipulate things and people, through their lifelines.
I looked at my lifelines dancing around the room, I was curious, so I reached out and touched one of the lights. When I touched it my blood within me ran cold? I could feel it moving like ice within me. Then, I touched another light and it was as if someone had hit me in the stomach.
When they discovered the intelligence and power, we were able to harness from the sun, they wanted to know more. We taught them what we wanted them to know, but not more than they needed to know. They were aware of this and they got greedy. They wanted us to tell them out secrets, help them to save the planet they had destroyed.
“I am the daughter of the Sun God.”
“What will you do? What if they are looking for you?”
“They are, and that is why I am always looking at the hills, this place is the only place I’ll be safe, between the supernatural powers that reside under this roof and the energy I get from the wind turbines, I am strong enough to keep them at bay. The DOD Agents do not know that they are protecting me when they are protecting us.”
Suddenly I started to feel light
headed. Natira lifted her hand and pulled the beams back into her hands and then projected them back into me. I felt them when they entered my body.
The dorm door swung open and Akela came in, “Hey you two, Lucy wants to show us something. She is going to meet us in the front of the school.”
“We’re not allowed to leave without supervision,” I said.
“Don’t worry, in my spare time I became friends with the guard, he’ll let us out in exchange for a favor.”
“A favor? What kind of favor?” I’d asked.
“FYI, did you know that the guards are trolls? Those little guys love the taste of human flesh. Well…”
“No way!” I immediately interjected. “No cannibalism here!”
She looked at Natira, “That’s where you come in Natira.”
“Me?”
“I’ll tell you later, anyway you guys need to see this, let’s go.”
Against my better judgement I followed Akela out of the dorm and through the barren hallway. The halls were dark and except for a few shooting rays in search of bodies. We waited until the flashing red light shot across the length of the hallway before we made our escape. Then, we slipped past the guard who did everything but close his eyes to our presence. He gave Akela a wink and allowed us to exit the school. When we finally stood out front, I breathed in the cool night air. Akela looked around at the hills and then at the forest in the distance. Natira looked up at the sky. She raised her hands and stretched. We were each caught up in our own thoughts of freedom when Lucy appeared from the darkness; a smile spread across her face when she saw us. She was no longer the timid girl who met us in the basement, but a bold night rider, ready to explore the darkness.
“I didn’t think you’d come,” she said.
“Why not?”
She looked at me and then looked away, when she looked back at me, she smiled, “I’m glad you came.”
“Me too, now what are you going to show us?”
We have to go this way,” she pointed toward the back of the school. We walked in a single file line as if we were kindergarteners following our teacher. The gravel under our feet crunched as we walked and the loud swooshing of the turbines sounded like waves in the distance. I imagined we were on an adventure, near a beach instead of in the middle of the desert. I’d been on many adventures with my mother at night, in search of blood.
Daughters of the Damned Page 7
