by Jen Pretty
“You don’t say,” his little eyebrows shot up under the brim of his hat. “Very well, come inside. Just keep your bloody vampire fingers off my wares,” said the elf as he hopped off his swing and opened the front door to the cottage.
I snorted a laugh and Vincent gave me a harsh look which only caused the laughter to bubble up harder. I managed to get myself under control as we walked into the tiny cottage and were suddenly in a giant warehouse with dozens of small men and women working. It was so hot I took off my jacket, but it was still much too hot for long pants and boots. I prayed we wouldn’t have to stay long.
As we walked farther into the building, we passed people heating metals and pouring them into moulds, the sound of hammers hitting steel met my ears, and the smell of the fires singed my nose.
“You may have any you choose, but choose well, Durga, for the blade will never leave you.”
“What does that mean?” I asked my attention mostly on the rows of glistening knives and swords.
“Magical weapons will always return to their owner. Once you touch one, it will be yours for life and never lost.” He waved me towards the display of weapons.
Well, that sounded perfect. Weird, but perfect. I would never have to worry about misplacing it or someone taking it from me.
I strolled along the row, taking in the details of the various weapons. Some were plain, others, so ornate, they appeared to be more decorative than utilitarian.
There were easily hundreds to choose from. I had no knowledge of swords or knives beyond steak and butter knives.
I was just about to start asking questions when I saw it. The blade was no more than the length of my forearm and narrow but etched into the steel was a lark in flight. The detail was so delicate, it looked like a silver lark was flying out from within. Its wings clipped the top and bottom of the width of the blade. My hand moved of its own power and picked it up before I thought about it anymore.
“An excellent choice!” the Elf clapped his small hands, popping me from my fascination with the knife.
“Beautiful,” Vincent whispered, looking me in the eye.
I had never thought of a knife as beautiful before, but this one certainly was. It fit in my hand well, but I had never used a knife as a weapon before. I wanted to set it down, unsure what to do with it, if I was holding it correctly, and afraid I would cut someone accidentally. Of course, as I set it on the table, I bumped it somehow and nicked my palm.
I hissed a breath, but my palm healed, and I wiped the blood off my hand on my jeans. The blood on the knife, however, disappeared, like the blade had soaked it up.
“Ah, good, the knife has chosen you too. Very well, take your vampire and off you go. Make the world a safer place and whatnot,” he dismissed us with the wave of his hand.
Vincent walked back out the door, and I followed behind him, holding my blood sucking knife awkwardly. Isn’t it just my luck that I would choose a weapon that wanted to drink my blood. Fucking vampires. I wondered if all the knives and swords the elves had made were bloodthirsty. Some weird magic.
At the car, I pulled the handle to get in the passenger seat but startled when I flipped the handle and realized it was locked.
I turned back to say something to Vincent about it, but he was right behind me. Way too close. I took a step back, bumping into the car and he took a step forward.
He wordlessly took my arm, bringing my hand with the knife up and moving my fingers until they aligned nicely on the handle of the blade. I thought he was showing me how to hold it until he then wrapped his hand around mine, tightening my grip almost painfully around the knife handle. He moved my hand until the tip of the blade pointed at his neck.
“Stop, what are you doing?” I asked him.
He ignored my words and even as I began to struggle to get my blade away from his neck, he pushed his neck onto the razor edge and drew a small cut. Blood leaked down towards the collar of his shirt.
“What is wrong with you?” I screamed, thrashing in his hold but he simply took a small step back, let go of my hand and looked at me with a resigned look on his face, saying nothing.
I shoved him and scrambled to the far side of the car. My breathing laboured, heart pounding in my chest. Durga looked out through my eyes and then slipped away again, uninterested.
After a few more moments he finally spoke.
“I always wondered if Durga would kill me if we crossed paths. Someday you might, but I suppose today is not that day.” He pulled the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the doors. The sound of the locks releasing and the alarm disengaging with a beep, startled me. He began walking around the car toward the driver’s side, approaching me. I circled the vehicle, keeping the car between us.
He got in the car but didn’t start the engine. He looked disappointed. That I hadn’t killed him? Why would I have killed him? I was missing something, as usual. I stood beside the passenger door for a long time before I finally opened the door and got in the car.
As soon as I did, Vincent started the engine and backed out onto the main road. He drove for a long time, eyes forward, no expression on his face.
When my body stopped shaking, and my heart returned to normal, I felt strong enough to speak.
“Why did you do that?” I whispered.
He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. “Durga decides who should die.”
I rolled the words around in my head for a few minutes. Durga decides. I’m the freaking Durga. He thought I would want him dead?
“Why would I want to kill you?” I asked, afraid of the answer.
He looked at me sadly. “Durga decides who deserves to die.”
“Stop speaking in riddles, you shit head. Are you saying I don’t decide?”
He shook his head. “My blood would tell you if I should die. Every time we fought, you bloodied me, but you had no means to kill me, I had to know. If I was going to die, I wanted it to be on my terms.”
“Pull over,” I said.
He looked at me.
“I said pull over!”
As the car rolled to a stop, I flung the door open and skidded down the ditch and lost the dinner I had eaten before we left the mansion. Some of it hit my shoes. That would never come out. That fucking vampire. He would have let me kill him right there.
Vincent and I had a rough start, but he and I had made some common ground, and I even started to think of him as a friend.
“You fucker,” I yelled up to him where he stood on the side of the highway watching me.
I stomped up the ditch, wiping my mouth, wishing I had put my hair up in a ponytail. I was going to be smelling vomit all the way home.
I shoved him hard, his back hitting the car, but his hands remained at his sides.
“How dare you! You don’t get to decide anything for me. I decide who I stab. It is on my terms, not yours, and I don’t want you dead. I never want you dead!” I screeched the last part, making me wince a little at the sound of my own voice.
He bit his lip and nodded his head. What was wrong with him?
Fast as lightning, he grabbed me and switched our positions, pushing me against the car again. This time, I didn’t have the knife in my hand, it was on the floor in the front seat of the car. When his lips met mine, I was so shocked I didn’t even try to shove him away until I remembered what had just happened in that ditch and turned my head to the side, breaking the kiss.
“You idiot, I taste like vomit,” I said, covering my mouth with my hand.
He just chuckled. Hearing the lightness return softened my anger. I kept my mouth covered but looked back at him as he moved back half a step. There were no street lights on this section of the freeway, but the moon was full, and I could see his expression. He looked like a man reborn. Maybe hearing that Durga didn’t want him dead had given him a new lease on life. His mood sure as hell couldn’t have been improved by kissing my polluted lips. I wanted to barf again at the taste in my mouth.
Vincent
flashed me a toothy smile and walked around behind the car, getting into the driver’s seat.
He stopped at a gas station rest stop and filled the car’s gas tank. When he returned from the convenience store, he handed me a pack of gum, and I thanked God for the vampire.
Spearmint was the real hero tonight, saving me from the torture of my own mouth for the rest of the drive home.
At the mansion, Vincent stopped at the front door and turned off the car, but as I turned to get out, he stopped me.
“Please don’t tell anyone what I did. I won’t be able to control the vampires if they think…well, it just wouldn’t be good for anyone. I will teach you how to fight with a knife starting tomorrow.” He pushed some hair that had fallen forward behind my ear and ran his fingers down my cheek and kissed me gently before abruptly sliding out of the vehicle.
I shook my head and got out too, only to be greeted by a practically vibrating, angry warlock.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“What are you all huffy about?” I asked as I climbed the steps to the mansion.
“I don’t know, Lark. Maybe the fact that I come over here to talk to you and find you kissing the asshole vampire.”
I turned on him. “And where is your fiancé tonight?”
He had the decency to look ashamed but still followed me into the foyer.
He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “Can I please talk to you?”
“You can use my office, Lark,” Vincent called as he climbed the stairs towards the bedrooms.
“Come on then,” I said and led the way. The warlock trailed behind me without a word, until he shut the door.
“Lark,” he said, stepping into my space. “I’m sorry about Cindy. What she said is true, but I won’t ever marry her. She knows that but insists on making my life miserable.”
I took a step back. I had real problems to deal with, like rogue vampires and stuff. I had never had to deal with this kind of problem before. Boy problems. I had no idea how to make this all go away, and I didn’t want to get close to someone and have them ripped away from me again.
Unfortunately, Frankie read that thought and responded, “I’m not going anywhere, Lark. I’ll be right here.”
I sighed. “Ok, well I need to get to bed, Frankie. I’m tired, and I don’t know how to deal with this right now, ok?”
He nodded but didn’t say anything more about it. Thank God.
I walked him back to the front door and waved goodbye. Frankie was important to me, but my life was already so complicated.
I realized I had left my knife in the car, but as soon as I thought that, the blade was in my hand. I laughed. Magic.
✽✽✽
“So, did you smooth things over with your lovesick warlock?” Vincent snickered as I stabbed my plastic training knife towards his eye. Vincent was too scared to let me use my real knife for practice. At least that’s what I taunted him with when he handed me this safety knife. I didn’t think I would feel good about accidentally stabbing him, though. Truth be told, I wasn’t sure I wanted to stab anyone with my knife, now that I had it. A little scrape or a broken nose was one thing but cutting off a vampire’s head was grotesque. Thinking about it made my stomach turn.
I couldn’t get the hang of stabbing. It seemed like such a simple thing, in theory, but in reality, it was a very demanding form of fighting. The stakes were higher when your opponent had a knife and the target smaller when you were trying to hurt them with yours.
The minor damage didn’t even slow a vampire down. It had to be immediate, significant damage, or you would be dead before you got a second chance.
I swung my plastic knife towards Vincent’s head. He blocked it and grabbed me, spinning me around into a headlock. I stabbed him in the leg, but it just slid off his pants. The bendable blade tip probably didn’t even leave a bruise.
“You aren’t concentrating,” he whispered in my ear then spun me back around to face him, holding me at arm’s length.
“I am trying, the problem is that I have a stupid plastic knife in one hand, so I can’t fight you, and I’m not fast enough to stab you anywhere important,” I complained.
Yes, it was the first day of trying to fight with a knife. No, I didn’t think I was asking a lot of myself to be good at it. Where was Durga, anyway?
“Call your blade, Lark.”
“What?”
“Call it to you.”
I switched the plastic knife to my left hand and held out my right. The dazzling blade appeared there instantly. I smiled as it sparkled in the fluorescent lights of the gym then firmed up my grip.
He held out his hand, and after a moment I unhappily handed him the blade.
He cut his arm, and the scent of copper pennies filled the room. I stared at him in shock as blood dripped down his arm where it hung beside him. He was so nonchalant about hurting himself. I suppose when I got used to my healing power… Nope, I still wouldn’t go around slicing and dicing myself.
He set my sharp blade down on a weight bench, and I shifted the plastic knife back into my right hand. The scent of his vampire blood dumped adrenaline into my system, and I attacked him with new found energy. My plastic knife moved more smoothly through the air and slid across his chest in an arc that would have sliced him deeply if my blade wasn’t made from the same material as Gumby.
“That’s better,” he smiled.
I spun and made to stab him in the chest, just as he ducked away and came up behind me to try and grab me again, but I was faster than him this time and shoved my blade out just as he appeared, thrusting it directly into his neck. He made a gagging noise as the plastic jammed his windpipe. I was very thankful I wasn’t holding my steel blade at that moment.
“Holy shit, you are so dead,” I laughed as he coughed and cleared his throat.
“Thank you, Durga, for this lesson in humility.”
I stopped laughing.
“Do you think we are two different people, Vincent?” I asked plainly. He had said something similar on the highway. That Durga decides. But, I was Durga.
“You must be.”
“Why must we be?”
He considered me for a minute like he was trying to solve an advanced equation.
“It’s the magic,” he said, like that answered all the questions. “You smell different when you are fighting me as Durga. Lark smells like the breeze after the rain, but Durga smells like burning leaves.
Ugh. Why must he sniff me?
“Ok, well, I assure you, I am still me.”
After a moment he nodded. “Alright, Lark, let’s go again.”
I kicked his vamp ass several more times, and he decided I was ready to get back out on the street with team Lark.
✽✽✽
“Hey Lark!” the team cheered. Of course, our team had lost two members last time we were all out together, so a new vampire had been added. He joined in the cheering even though we hadn’t met. Herd mentality, I guess. New guy looked like a surfer. His longer roguish blonde hair was styled to look like he just stepped out of a magazine, tanned skin and easygoing boyish smile.
“This is Drew. He was part of another team. A couple of them moved into private security, so Drew joined team Lark last week. We have just been waiting for our Lark to fly back in,” Cedric said, flapping his hands like birds’ wings. Idiot.
“Well, here I am. Let’s go check out some smelly nightclubs and find some dirty bloodsuckers,” I said.
✽✽✽
It was Friday night. Ladies night, which I wouldn’t have known except half-drunk men in the bar kept telling me. Like the fact it was a special night ‘for ladies’ made it more likely they would get lucky.
The smell of cheap beer and cheaper cologne clogged my sinuses as I made my way through the crowd to the front of the dance floor where a group of girls my age were dancing. That feeling of normalcy that I felt when surrounded by a group of giggly college girls took me over. I loved it, and kind of hated it.
I caught Cedric’s eye and pointed to the door, already moving through the crowd in that direction.
Out on the street, I took a left. The rest of the team followed me as I wandered the dark city blocks looking for something. I didn’t know what, but it wasn’t in the bars. Cedric kept trying to get me into the nightclubs as we passed, but they didn’t feel right.
There. A park. The grassy areas on the edge gave way to the dense shadows of the treed area. That was where my feet were taking me. I hopped the curb and jogged across the road, straining my ears to try and hear the slightest sound.
A muffled cry sent me racing forward, my palm itching to call my knife, but I held off.
I slid past some trees and in the pale moonlight I saw the flash of glowing eyes I had been looking for. My prey.
I stalked closer. The vampire hissed at me over the unmoving body at his feet like he was a mountain lion protecting his dinner. After a moment, he stood slowly, licking his bloodstained lips, aiming for a new victim already.
This vampire wasn’t a rogue. He was a wild animal. I remembered the story of the fallen vampires. How they were insatiable. That is what this vampire had become. Part of me felt sympathy for the vampire. The other part just wanted his blood spilled on the soft grass.
When he charged me, with eyes glowing bright red, my decision was already made. My blade appeared in my hand as he reached me, his teeth aiming for my throat. I danced to the side and spun, trying to get in behind him, but he was fast and fueled by bloodlust.
He turned back to me, reaching out to try and get ahold of me, but my blade came down and sliced through his arm to the bone. He screamed in rage but didn’t slow. The smell of his blood confirmed what I already knew. His time was up. Durga demanded his death. My next jab caught him in the shoulder, just shy of his throat, giving him the opportunity, he needed.
