by Jen Pretty
He smirked, and I mentally berated myself for my traitorous thoughts.
“Hey,” I said as he straightened and held out a helmet for me.
“You ready?” he asked.
When I nodded, he strapped on my helmet and off we went.
He drove through town obeying the speed limit but making fast turns and accelerating quickly after stop lights. It was exhilarating.
I realized there was so much I didn’t even know about myself. When I closed myself off from people, I closed myself off from living. I had never tested myself; never imagining that I would like speed and adrenaline. I still wasn’t sold on the vampire hunting but riding a motorcycle, and self-defence class were definite improvements to my life.
Frankie pulled up to the vampire house, and the guard slid the gates open. At the house, Frankie cut the engine and stood up to let me off.
“I’ll call you tomorrow. Stay safe tonight, Lark.”
“Ok, thank you. For today, I mean.”
“Anytime, Lark,” his serious expression gave his words a deeper meaning, but I wasn’t sure what it was.
I turned towards the house and scaled the steps.
Drake held the door open for me at the top of the stairs, and I smiled as I passed through.
“Do you have everything you require, Lark?” He asked, smiling. “If you would like anything in particular stocked in the kitchen or your room, I can ensure that is taken care of.”
“Thank you, Drake, I have everything I need. More than everything,” I laughed, the house was full of everything I could imagine.
That seemed to please the older man, and he nodded. “Mr. Crowden asked to speak with you. He is in the conference room.”
That made me frown. I wasn’t looking forward to another encounter with bossy-vamp.
Drake laughed at my expression. “Don’t look so glum. He’s not as bad as all that.”
“That’s what people keep saying, but he isn’t exactly pleasant to be around or communicate with.”
“You will both figure out how to work together soon enough,” he said, shutting the door.
“I guess. Thanks, Drake.” He just nodded once deeply, and I took the hall to the conference room.
I knocked once and heard the muffled “come” from within, pushed the door open and was greeted by the whole of team Lark.
“Hi, Lark,” Cedric said, “How are you doing now?”
“I’m better, thanks.”
“Good,” Cedric replied pulling another chair up to the table for me. My eyes fell on Mr. Crowden who was scowling. I wondered if he even had a first name. I’d have to ask Frankie. His scowl didn’t surprise me. He always seemed grumpy.
“You are supposed to be available to me at night,” He said shortly.
“We caught the bad guy, what else do you want from me?”
“I want you to abide by my rules and not go running off in the middle of the night.” His tone was serious, but I was not going to let him keep pushing me around.
“I didn’t go running off. We were done for the night, so I went out with Frankie. Excuse me if I wanted a little time away.” I fell in my seat, exhausted. The sun was up now, and I really needed to get to bed. The rest of the team leaned back in their chairs looking from me back to Mr. Crowden and back to me again like this was the best show they had seen in a long time.
Standing slowly, Mr. Crowden raising his voice slightly, “The rules were clear. You may do as you like during the daylight, but at night you work for me. From now on you will obey the rules, or there will be consequences.”
“Fuck you,” I stood and tried to walk out of the room, but there was suddenly a solid chest blocking my way. “Move,” I said, pushing against the demanding vampire’s chest.
He grabbed my arm in his cold, steely hand “I didn’t dismiss you,” he said in a low, threatening voice
I was done with this garbage. “In case you didn’t notice, its daylight, now get out of my way.” I spun my arm just as my self-defence instructor had demonstrated. I was stunned for a moment when it worked, but then I zipped past him and strode out of the room, slamming the door behind me.
I was seriously pumped up and grinning from ear to ear at my success in defeating the monster. That is until I found myself suddenly on my back in the hall with a raging vampire pinning me to the ground. His red coloured eyes were as bright as headlights, his glistening teeth had grown to be at least 2 inches long, and his ragged breathing hitched in and out of him with a hiss. He pressed me down to the floor and moved his face down to just an inch from mine.
“Vincent,” a male voice spoke softly, stopping the vampires decent towards my jugular. After a moment I realized it was Drake who had spoken. Mr. Crowden pushed away from me, then stood and disappeared, leaving me panting on the floor.
Cedric and the rest of the team came forward, and Cedric offered me a hand. As I stood, he patted me once hard on the back, the way football players might.
“That was a good show, Lark. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that mad,” Cedric said.
“Take this conversation somewhere else,” Drake said, shaking his head and walking off down the hall, following the angry vampire.
“Let’s go, guys,” Gabby said, walking towards the dining room. We all followed behind her, then moved into a line at the buffet. I was exhausted, but eating was a good idea. There were only breakfast foods, so I grabbed some bacon and eggs. I wasn’t about to ask them to make me dinner foods when they already made so much food for the vampires.
The team chatted about various jobs and told me stories about some of the hunts they had been on for rogue vampires. I asked just enough questions and made enough comments to be considered part of the conversation, but when they started asking questions about me, I excused myself to get to bed. I had to sleep, unlike vampires and I wanted to make it to the self-defence class tonight.
Back in my room and had a quick shower before falling into bed in a heap.
When my eyes opened again, someone was in my room. “Get out,” I yelled, pulling the pillow out from under my head and heaving it towards the invader. The pillow just fell on the floor beside the bed. I never was good at throwing things.
“We need to talk,” the ass dared to say to me.
“Then we can talk when it’s dark out. It is still daylight, and right now I want to get ready and go to self-defence class so I can learn to kick your vamp ass.”
He chuckled. Jerk.
I gave him an evil glare, but he didn’t burst into flames, so I threw the blankets back and walked across the room to the large walk-in closet where all my clothes were now carefully hung and folded by some amazing housekeeper that I never saw. I had fallen asleep in my boy shorts and a tank top, so the vamp got a pretty good view of most of me as I walked away, but I was too mad to care.
I put on some yoga pants and a sweater. Pulled on some socks and running shoes and returned to my room to find the vampire had left. Thank God.
I walked down the stairs, and Drake was waiting for me. “I’ve had your car brought up from the garage,” he said.
“Thank you, Drake.” I smiled at him and skipped out the door. There, at the bottom of the steps was a brand-new Honda SUV. It was the same original colour as my old Honda, but beyond that, it was not my car.
“Is this a joke?” I asked Drake who was standing at the door.
“No, Mr. Crowden wanted you to have a safe vehicle, so purchased this one for you to drive.”
“Where is my car?” I asked, turning back to look at the brand-new vehicle still running quietly.
“I believe it has been turned into a small block of steel by now. Did you know that the brake lines had nearly rusted through and there was a hole in the floor in the back seat?” he asked.
“Ya, but I bought it with my own money. It was my car.” I walked down the steps and opened the driver’s side door of the new vehicle. It even smelled new. I was a bit sad about my old car, but it had been a death trap.
In another year I would have enough money to buy my own vehicle, I’d just have to suck it up till then and drive the damn vampire’s car. As long as I had a car, I had some independence.
At the gym, the women’s self-defence class was brimming with chittering ladies. The instructor was speaking quietly to some older women, so I did some stretches to get warmed up. My muscles thrummed, eager to release the tension caused by the overbearing vampire.
“Ok, ladies, I would like to introduce you to our dummy,” the instructor said, bringing everyone’s attention to the front of the room. “This is Ed. He is very well padded as you can see.”
The lumbering man waved at us. He seemed to be mostly padding, and I wondered how hard he expected us to hit him.
“Today, we will go through a few possible scenarios. Mainly the attack from behind and the attack from the front by one attacker. As we go through the weeks of class, I have another dummy who will come in and help us with situations where you might have two attackers.”
“Let’s begin and see how we do. Who wants to go first?” a few women raised their hands, and the instructor went through the procedure of escaping an attack from behind. I was amazed at how hard some of the women kicked and punched poor Ed. I guess the padding wasn’t overkill.
“Do you want to practice with the punching bags instead, Lark?” the instructor asked from right beside me.
Ugh, I was hoping she had forgotten my bruised face from last time. “No, I’m ok with this,” I said.
When my turn came, I had the pattern of defensive moves down and easily broke free from the dummy. I apologized to him when I shoved him too hard, and he toppled over, but he just laughed and told me it was all part of the gig. Some gig.
Back at the mansion, I pulled up to the front of the house and left the keys in the ignition for the vampire who parked the cars. At the top of the stairs, a vamp held the door open.
“Your presence is requested in the conference room,” he said.
“Thanks,” I said as I passed by.
Inside the conference room, I expected to see the whole team waiting, but it was Mr. Crowden, Frankie and Drake. I stopped in the doorway. It looked a bit like an intervention. I narrowed my eyes at them.
“Don’t look like that, come in and sit down, Lark,” Frankie said pulling out a chair for me. Since the vampire was sitting, I sat down too. Frankie took the seat beside me.
“It has been brought to my attention that I may be approaching you and our business together incorrectly,” the vampire said.
I snorted and added a sarcastic “you think?”
“Lark, hear him out,” Frankie said.
“Why should I?” I asked throwing my chair back and standing. “This was a stupid idea. I shouldn’t be working for a vampire anyway. I can’t do this job, Frankie!”
Frankie stood, filling my vision and blocking my view of the rest of the room. I tipped forward to rest my forehead on his broad chest. The smell of Frankie - leather and rum - filling my nostrils.
Frankie rubbed my back and rested his chin on the top of my head for a minute. “You can do this, Lark. You did amazing work last night and helped catch a very bad vampire. You can save this city from the monsters who are killing the young women. You just need to work out some things with the monster in this room first.”
I snorted a laugh. Mr. Crowden growled, mostly just proving Frankie’s point. I took several deep breaths, and when I straightened away from Frankie, I felt calmer than I had in weeks.
“Alright, fine,” I said, “Tell me what you want, vampire.”
He sighed “I would like to say that I am used to dealing with vampires. They do not accept authority from anyone except those who can demand it. The only human I have regular contact with is Drake, and he has informed me that humans do not operate the same way as vampires. This is the reason he is employed in our house, so I am taking his word for it and will attempt to address you more gently from this day forward … so long as you obey the rules I have set out.”
Drake cleared his throat pointedly.
Mr. Crowden growled. “I will address you without violence from this day forward,” he corrected himself.
“Ok,” I said.
“Ok? You are supposed to reciprocate my pledge to accommodate you,” he said with a sneer.
“Fine, I will try to follow your rules and will make sure I am around at night.”
“Excellent,” he stood, slapping his hands down on the table, startling all of us “I will summon your team, and you can head out for the night.”
Once Mr. Crowden and Drake had left, Frankie pulled my chair around, so I was facing him.
“I heard what happened this morning. If that kind of thing happens again I will fry his ass,” he muttered, staring down at his hands.
I laughed, and his eyes met mine, humour flashing in them finally. “Thank you,” I said. “For having my back here and being a good friend.”
“You got it. Now get to work, so the vampire doesn’t have a heart attack.”
I laughed again wondering if vampires could have heart attacks and got up, Frankie following behind me. We walked out the front door of the house to find my team standing beside the large van in the driveway. Frankie went to the garage and came back a minute later on his motorcycle. He waved to me and drove out.
“Damn, that’s a hot warlock you’ve got there,” Gabby said, elbowing me.
I snorted, “We are just friends.”
“He doesn’t look at you like he just wants to be friends,” she replied.
I was saved from having to continue that conversation by Cedric calling us to get moving.
Time to make friends with the underbelly of the city.
CHAPTER NINE
We drove across the city into my neighbourhood. As we passed Arnie’s, I pointed it out, hoping I could solve the mystery of what type of weird mythical being Arnie was, but none of them had ever been the bar. I should have asked Frankie, but in all the commotion of the last few days, I had forgotten.
We drove past my old apartment building. A for rent sign was in the front door. I missed my old apartment a little. It was small but homey, and it had been mine. Soon someone else would be living in my little attic. I hoped, for their sake, they were short and deaf with a poor sense of smell.
Cedric parked the van in front of a much cleaner nightclub than the ones we had been to yesterday, and we all filed out and past the bouncer. He was a vampire, and I gave the team a not so subtle signal, pointing and mouthing the word ‘vampire,’ but apparently, we knew him because no chaos ensued. As we entered the club, the upbeat music washed over me and there were a lot of lightly clothed college kids dancing and drinking.
Cedric pushed me towards the dancefloor. I had never gone to college but was the right age to be here – it was full of early twenties men and women dressed casually, like me. I didn’t want to dance with Cedric every night, so I tentatively started dancing with a group of girls, and when they didn’t shun me, I let myself get lost in the music. I was supposed to be looking for vampires, but instead, I tried to pretend I was just a single college girl with no knowledge of vampires.
My delusion was shattered half an hour later when someone started dancing close behind me. I peeked over my shoulder and quickly pulled a fake smile when I realized it was a vampire. His hands on my hips, we danced for a few minutes. I looked around but didn’t see anyone from team Lark.
The vampire whispered in my ear, “Let’s get out of here,” and wrapped one steely arm around my back, pushing me through the crowd. It was definitely more packed in the club now than when we had arrived. I didn’t want to cause a scene in front of the humans, but as we got to the door, there was a different man there. Not a vampire.
I started to panic.
“Actually, my friends are inside. I shouldn’t leave them.”
“I just want to talk to you for a minute,” he smiled. His teeth flashing in the light from a street lamp.
Shit, I w
as going to die. Where the hell was the team?
He pushed me around the corner into an alley, and I started struggling against him. His grip tightened painfully, and I inhaled to let out a scream, but he covered my mouth with his hand and pushed my face into a wall.
I started kicking, my face scraping painfully on the brick exterior of the building. I felt the monster's teeth slide against my skin and then I was suddenly released and fell to the ground. I spun around on my ass just in time to see my attacker lose his head. Literally.
I lost my lunch and any hope of ever sleeping again.
Vlad was covered in blood. It had sprayed across his face and down his white shirt in a morbid form of art. I vomited one more time before Vlad scooped me up and carried me back to the van, leaving the remains of the vampire in the alley. He put me in a seat and fastened my seatbelt whispering “I'm sorry” repeatedly in his thick accent. My hands were shaking, and I felt like I might be sick again but covered my mouth and forced it to stay down. That was so gross. Vlad got in beside me grabbing a box of wet wipes. He began to clean off his face. He handed me a bottle of water and another box of wipes, and I took a small sip to clear my throat and rubbed the worst of the blood splatters off my face and shaking hands.
“Where were you guys?” I asked unsteadily. My voice hitched with my ragged breath.
Vlad looked guiltily at me then turned his head away. “Gabby thought she saw a vampire take a girl into the restroom. We went to check, but no one was there. By the time we got back, you were gone. I’m so sorry, Lark.”
I liked Vlad; he was very fatherly, but these vampires couldn’t protect me. I knew they couldn’t, and still, I put my trust in them. I should always go with my gut; it had kept me safe this long.
