Vampiric: Chapter Five, Part 2

I found that by telling her about my childhood, I could keep her satisfied and quiet. Though the wide eyes were still childish, I could ignore them and forget the insanity plaguing her by looking elsewhere, or convincing the memories to come alive for me. Occasionally she would interject with questions or memories of her own which I listened to carefully, soaking them up when something useful came to light. There wasn't much that wasn't useless babble or vaguely related train of thought.

When I ran out of stories about Dad and growing up, I started on stories about my first year at the safe camp Drei took me to. I didn't tell her they were real. She didn't need to know, and she was quieter thinking they were fairy tales or something. Unless she asked, I wouldn't tell her otherwise.

I was afraid she would ask when I started crying while telling her about how Nick—the boy who didn't belong there (whom I had wanted to stay), but was willing to give up anything to fix the trouble he had caused—had said goodbye to me. He tried to make it easy on both of us, but there's no such thing when you love someone. Though my love for him was nothing in comparison to my love for Drei, saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I’d had to do. He had promised we would see each other again, but he’d never said when. As time progressed, I had given up hoping.

Nick was a bounty hunter, charged with finding and turning in elementals to places like this. He had helped us escape, and no one knew what had happened to him because of it. I didn't have eternity—as Drei and Valetta so frequently reminded me—to wait for him to show up again.

“He sounds as nice as the one night guard,” she said excitedly.

Wiping away my tears, I looked at her, wondering if I should tell her she was wrong. More than likely, Nick was dead and he had lied again, hoping to soften the blow of completely losing him with fanciful wishing. As little credit as it seemed, it wasn’t entirely unlikely. It seemed very much like him if it meant diverting or lessening pain.

Something in my stomach was heavy. It took me a moment to realize relinquishing hope was the reason my mom had lost it in the first place. No matter how bleak everything seemed, I had to keep holding on to it. Even if, in some cases, it wasn’t logical to keep hoping anymore.

“Did she ever see him again?”

I stared at her, her wide eyes sparkling and joyous for no reason. That joy caused a seed of resentment, but I kept my negativity to myself. “Not yet.”

She was quiet a moment, staring past me, before jumping up and down in her giddy way, saying, “The night guard I told you about is coming tonight.”

“How do you know?”

Ty rolled her huge eyes at me. “You don't know? It's one of the most useful tricks in the history of ever!”

I wondered if my mother—my adoptive mother—had ever felt the same way I did now. It was almost like a slap in the face, but on a completely different level.

“He's coming!” she squealed, dashing over to the door and straightening out her wrinkled sun dress.

“Who?” I was lost in her stream of bubbling remarks and forgot my momentary pain at being insulted. She could be worse than a brook or a spring some times. I didn't know how long I had been here, but so long as she was making noise, it seemed closer to forever.

“The night guard,” she hissed, turning to face me briefly. “The nice one.”

The door swung open further than the person the night before—if it really had been just last night—had opened it as I stood. There was the darkness again, spilling into the room, but this time a shadow was stepping forth from it. The light peeled away the shadows hiding the figure, revealing a man in his twenties with bright jade eyes and a chiseled face, shadows softening his jaw line; his pine colored hair was crew cut short though it didn’t seem to fit him. His eyes sparkled at my mom as he greeted her, not seeing me.

“Good evening, Ty. How have you been?” he asked in a familiar, playful tone.

“I've been ever so wonderful,” she said, spinning, trying to keep her eyes on him. “My daughter even got in a pinch of trouble;” she giggled secretively, holding her thumb and forefinger close together.

“How would you know?” he teased easily, an eyebrow cocked and his lips curved in crooked grin. “What have you been up to, Ty?”

“Nothing, I swear.” Her eyes grew large again and she crossed her heart. “She's here.”

His eyes followed her accusing finger and met mine. My breath caught as it dawned on me exactly who he was and why he was so familiar.

Tears flooded my eyes and I fought them back, trying to grasp onto something, anything that would make sense. He wasn't supposed to be here. She wasn't supposed to be like this. And I couldn't think of one sane thing to say to him as he stood, realization dawning over his features, his jaw dropping.

“Abriel,” he whispered, making any doubt in my mind dissipate.

A sad smile spread across my lips, a few tears crawling down my cheeks. “Nick.”

My mom looked from him, to me, back to him. “Is he the Nick from the story?” she questioned, sounding perfectly sane for the first time since she had pulled me from the darkness.

“Story?” he asked, his eyes finding her again.

“Yes,” I replied, nearly choking on the word. How could I have given up hope on seeing him again? It seemed ludicrous now that he was standing there. I had been an idiot to think he had lied.

My mom whipped her wide eyes on me. “Then you're the girl;” she faced him again. “And you saved her—and hurt her—and—and…” she stumbled for the rest of her thought, fighting against the deterioration of her brain.

I went to her, pulling her small, flighty form into my arms.

“You should go,” I said to Nick without facing him. “This isn't good for her.”

“And what about you?” he asked, reaching to put a hand on my shoulder.

My head whipped around, his hand freezing inches away. “I don't know how to answer that.” My eyes watched his hand; it was safer than meeting his eyes. “I spent the last few years thinking you had lied to me and were dead.”

“Well, I'm not dead,” he offered, shrugging in his signature way. Even working in a place like this he still managed to be almost too relaxed and way too cocky. If my mind hadn’t been reeling, I probably would have smiled and told him so. But that wasn’t the case.

“No, you aren't.”

Mom started babbling in my arms again, trying to finish what she had started to say earlier. Repeating her last few words until even those escaped her and she started bubbling forth a string of disconnected words.

“I'll come back later…before my shift is up.”

I had already disengaged myself from our conversation, trying to shush my mom into sleep. It was impossible for me to deal with Nick and my mom simultaneously; as he wasn't my fellow cellmate, he'd have to wait.

Vampiric: Chapter Five, Part 1

Chapter Five: Old Flame

Mom had babbled herself to sleep. Her head rested in my lap and, in this state, she seemed more like the woman I had expected. But that might have been because she was quiet now and her eyes were closed. I absentmindedly stroked her hair, trying to make sense of things for myself. My brain refused to believe this was my mom, though it could find no suitable explanation to explain away the evidence.

The door opened slightly spilling a slice of darkness into the bright room. Someone on the other side dropped a tray of food and seemed to wait. I bowed my head, pretending to be as fast asleep as my mom. After a moment, the door slammed shut and the breath I hadn't realized I’d been holding escaped.

A few minutes passed and then the lights dimmed to a nearly nonexistent glimmer. As the overhead light dimmed, the light outside the window did as well. So much for sunlight.

Mom moaned in her sleep, readjusting herself in the cushioned corner. Again, I couldn't help but observe how unexpected all this was. She was the one who was supposed to pet my hair until I was asleep, or fuss over what was happening and how twisted everything had turned out. Never, in my four odd years of imagining this moment, had she ever been crazy—or anywhere close to it.

“You were supposed to let me be the child,” I whispered, a tear rolling down my cheek.

Part of me longed for Drei. He would know what to do, and he would help me find sleep. But he wasn't here, and I was helpless to stop the thoughts and disappointments streaming through my mind.

Vampiric: Chapter Four, Part 4

The problem with being trapped in a white room with hardly anything in it was there was nothing to hide behind when the other occupant started to drive you batty. So I settled for pouting in a corner, my back to her as she started babbling on again about the guy she thought would come for her. There didn’t even appear to be dust in the room, otherwise I probably would have entertained myself with a mini dust devil. So I half listened to her nonsense about a guy with cinnamon hair and deep brown eyes while I tried to imagine what it would be like when Drei burst through the door. I didn’t expect it to be any time soon, but if it happened—

Forcing the doubt out of my mind, I silently cursed her for putting that seed there in the first place and then returned to my images of Drei storming in with guards draped hopelessly over him, trying to stop him. It was melodramatic and ridiculous, yes, but it was better than listening to her tell me it would never happen. Looking at her, it was obvious what happened when you gave up hope in this place.

“…I felt so bad disappearing for all that time and then showing up again with a baby. And that I led him on for hours before taking him to see her; he was so angry; I knew he would be. I hated dropping it like that on him. I hope he’s forgiven me. Charlie never did forget well…”

I turned to look at her then, leaving behind any thought of completely ignoring her. Something in her ramblings was triggering a memory of mine—no, not mine. It was my father’s. The one I had taken all those years ago before leaving him. My mom had left for a year and then she showed back up with me, leaving me in his married hands, trusting him to protect me from ending up in a place like this.

She was older than in the memory, but that was a given. What I didn’t expect was that she had the same build and features. How could it be that the person in my father’s memory, and the woman in front of me, were one in the same. They couldn’t be.

“What’s your name?” I interrupted, praying she would say it was something other than my mom’s.

She gazed at me, smiling softly. “You’re not mad at me for being honest?” she asked, her pale cerulean eyes large and doe-like. “I was really worried about that.” She fidgeted with her fingers, twisting one fingertip between two fingers on the opposite hand.

Her comment made me wonder how long I had been ignoring her, how much I had missed, and how much of it I might have wanted to know.

“What’s your name?”

“What’s yours?” she countered, springing up and darting across to sit in front of me.

“Abriel,” I said, wondering how someone her age could have so much childish energy; especially when I was feeling exhausted. Perhaps it was a side effect of whatever experiments they conducted there.

She clutched my hand excitedly, bubbling about how pretty my name was and how she’d always liked that name. Then she abruptly changed subjects, saying, “My name’s Tyrene, but everyone calls me Ty—I guess I should say used to call me Ty; no one really calls me that anymore—except for the one night guard.”

My mind felt like it overloaded and shut down.  She couldn’t be my mom. This bubbly woman who had looked so worn and defeated to my father the last time he saw her. This person who shared my element, who had given up hope on anything ever changing. She just…couldn’t.

“You look really familiar, do I know you? From before obviously,” she babbled, oblivious to what I was going through.

“I’m—I mean, I think I’m—” The words stuck to the roof of my mouth and I couldn’t seem to pry them loose. Though I had learned to cope with so much that never made any sense, this topped it all. I couldn’t even manage to say it.

“Come to think of it,” she prattled onward, “I named my baby girl Abriel. I don’t know how long ago that was; you kind of lose track. I think the one guard who is really nice to me all the time said my record shows I came years ago; like—”

“Twenty-one?” Part of me prayed she’d say that wasn’t right.

“Yeah!” she screeched, bouncing again before sitting on her feet. “How’d you know?”

“I’m your daughter.” The idea kept being rejected by my brain, even after I said it aloud. It wouldn’t fit; I had thought I’d find her dead, or out doing something, but I never thought I would find her here. Not like this, at least. I had convinced myself, when I thought on it, that she would be serious and plotting; that was so far from the truth.

“Really?” she squealed, her eyes nearly bulging out of her skull and clutching me close. “How’d you get here? I gave you to Charlie so he’d take care of you. You weren’t supposed to end up here at all.”

Nothing I came up with could fully answer her questions. I ended up here by accident. By sheer chance. He did care for me—until everything blew up in my face. And I was still figuring out how to cope with finally meeting the one person who started it all.

Vampiric: Chapter Four, Part 3

“You’re okay,” a soft voice whispered to me. So far, it was the only voice that managed to penetrate the darkness. “Relax; you’re safe.”

My mind tried to hold onto the voice, to keep its comforting words close. The blackness didn’t harm me, but I was terrified of it because it blocked everything else out. All I wanted was to be free of it again. And it seemed everyone but this voice was insistent on keeping me from that.

“Breathe; that’s right. Calm, relax—listen to my voice.” The longer it spoke, the more I began to realize someone was brushing hair off of my face and the air around me was cool on my surprisingly warm skin. A bright light was shining through my eyelids, and the voice became distinctively feminine—motherly, to be more accurate.

“You’re safe,” she cooed again, combing her fingers through my hair.

When my eyes opened, the first thing they saw was her face. She had faded cerulean eyes and dark blond hair mingled with strands of gray. She had a long, somewhat round face, very motherly in appearance, especially with the naturally full pink lips.

Past her visage, I could see the room. This one had white walls, one high, narrow window with a grid of bars over it, and a menacing metal door in the corner. There was what I guessed to be a toilet in one corner and a padded area in another. The air in the room was stifling. It took me a moment to realize the woman had been removing the warmth from the air and circulating a cool breeze around me. Her power might have explained how she had penetrated the darkness.

“Don’t exert yourself,” she said.

“Where am I?” I asked, sitting up, hoping that was the end of the blackness.

“I’m glad you’re here,” she said, avoiding the question. “I’ve seen so many earth and water elementals. But never any air elementals; I’ve been so lonely. I’m afraid I may not be the best conversation. It’s been so long; I thought I was going crazy. One of the night guards was nice and stopped to talk with me some times. He saved me from losing it; otherwise they would have put you alone and then you would have ended up like me—”

“Where am I?” I interrupted.

She stared at me, as though it was the stupidest question in the world. How I loathed that expression.

“Sweetie, you’re in a secret government facility,” she said when I didn’t withdraw my question. It sounded absolutely ridiculous, like the sort of thing you’d dare someone to say without cracking a smile. For some reason, it sounded more so because it came from her. “You really didn’t know? I thought you would have known that. Were you somewhere else first; usually they just bring you right here.”

“I was in a black room the last time I woke up,” I said, hoping she might be able to explain where that had been though I doubted it.

“Oh. Then they didn’t know at first.” She thought about this for a moment before continuing on very hurriedly, wearing a bit of a crazed smile on her lips, “Well, you’re here now, anyway. With me. Sorry you didn’t have better luck, but there aren’t many air elementals; and since you’re with me that must be what you are—but, yes, you’ve been abducted by our very own government, sworn to protect and treat all justly and blah blah blah—so much for that. We’ll be here until we die…or they kill us.” The smile disappeared from her lips fleetingly at her last words.

“You’re wrong. Someone is coming for me. When he gets here, you can come with us,” I said before I could stop myself. I wasn’t sure I would want to bring her with, but if I didn’t at least offer, I knew I’d feel guilty for it later.

“Sweetie,” she said again; her voice softened and her head shook almost pityingly. “No one is coming. No one even knows we’re alive—otherwise he would have come for me years ago. I think about him a lot, you know,” she changed the subject suddenly, her face lighting up. “He was married, but we loved each other more than anything in the world. My baby was by him—I don’t know where my baby is—”

“You’re wrong,” I said again, not wanting to believe her or think about how I might end up like her before he arrived. “He’s coming for me; he promised.”

“He’s not coming. Just like he didn’t come for me. Why would he come for you?”

“Not your ‘he’. Mine. And because he loves me.”

“Not coming,” she singsonged evilly, breaking into giggles as though it were humorous.

“You’re wrong,” I seethed, tired of her insanity and doubtfulness—she hadn’t seemed like that at first, giving me hope it wasn’t so bad. I hadn’t been there more than a few minutes and already we were on the wrong foot. Besides, even if her hope was gone, why couldn’t she let me have mine?

Vampiric: Chapter Four, Part 2

It felt like forever before I came out of the darkness again, which, if they had drugged me, would make sense. Someone was talking, but the words weren’t quite registering in my brain. The conversation was about me, and about moving, and was slowly becoming more understandable the more I came out of the blackness.

“She’s dangerous,” a voice said.

“And I said I want proof,” another, gruff voice snapped.

“What kind of proof?” the first again, sounding uncertain and nasally.

Instead of trying to move my entire arm, I tried just my fingers this time, finding they moved quite easily. I slowly tried sitting up, rubbing my eyes in hopes everything would stop being so blurry.

I saw the light glint off the metal before I heard it slice through the air. Shifting the air, I diverted the object, sending it straight into the wall. One of the people had just thrown a knife at me. Though definitely wide-awake now, I found all I could do for a moment was stare in disbelief at the projectile. These people were crazy.

The only thought in my head said to run, but I wasn’t sure I could do that. Standing, I was so shaky, I was sure I’d fall over. I didn’t know where I was, and suddenly that was a very big deal. I didn’t know how long I’d been here, or if Drei had given up looking for me.

Everything around me was becoming more distinct, and I could see I was in a small, black room with one blinding light overhead—which may be why I had thought it was a white room earlier—and a small work area with small lights over a paper-strewn desk. There was a silvery cart in the corner near the two—

One of the men was moving quickly towards me, something in his hand.

“Take it easy,” he said, brandishing a syringe with a needle big enough to scare any sane person.

The air formed a large slab and smashed him into the opposite wall. I wanted to curse the light for not covering more; there didn’t seem to be a door anywhere, but there had to be. There used to be three people in here and I didn’t see any corpses—then again, did I really want to? I spun around, trying to find some telltale sign of an exit: a handle, a break in the black walls, anything. Then there was sharp prick in my neck, a gloating voice, and the spiraling return of the blackness I had nearly escaped.

Vampiric: Chapter Four, Part 1

Chapter Four: A Mother’s Love

I didn’t know where I was or how long I had been there. There was a bright light beyond my eyelids, but that wasn’t often. Sometimes there would be voices, but nothing they said was comprehensible. Not to me, at least, and definitely not in my current state.

At some point during a period of receding blackness, I thought to move my arm, convincing myself it was to prove I was still alive to the voices. My arm was too heavy, though. No matter how I tried to shift and lever my weight, I couldn’t. I came out of the blackness again later and realized the exertion had sent me back; I noted not to try that again.

I didn’t seem able to just wake up, and that terrified me. Who knew how long I had been here, or where I even was. The voices obviously, but they were just voices and I could have been hallucinating.

Then I finally started coming out of the haziness. The blur of voices surrounding me started making sense and the bright light became more distinct. I opened my eyes to a white room, filled with dark figures and the discussion of shots. Someone was saying I needed another one until they found out more about me. Another person argued they’d never know if they kept knocking me out. A third party voted in favor of another shot and performing more tests. What tests had I already been subjected to?

The figure who had suggested another shot moved toward me, a syringe glinting in the bright light.

Without thinking about the consequences, I pulled the air into a boulder shape and rammed it into the person, the syringe twinkling before it shattered somewhere far off. The tinkling sound of glass scattering was the last thing I remembered before the blackness closed in once more.

Vampiric: Chapter Three, Part 4

Suddenly, I caught a hint of conversation.

“So what are we doing?” a hushed male voice questioned.

“Taking out some dangerous people or something like that,” a feminine voice answered brusquely. “Something about a threat to national security.”

“Over a broadcast?”

“Quiet in the back!” a cruel voice shouted, shushing the two people immediately.

Dashing back to the party, I sifted through the noise for Caroline's voice. She was talking with Conan and Ian in a side office. Their conversation stopped when I appeared in the doorway.

“Everyone needs to get out now,” I asserted, fully realizing how overly dramatic the statement sounded. Caroline just stared at me and I could have sworn Conan was throwing darts in my direction. “A whole bunch of government troops are on the way here right now.”

“How much time?” Caroline asked. She knew better than I realized how important it was to act, whether the information was valid or not. I was grateful, not because she didn't need verification, but because I didn't have the time to prove any of it. Unless they wanted to wait around.

“Minutes if we're lucky.”

“Not enough time to evacuate,” Conan said very matter-of-factly. I couldn't help wondering why he would be so negative. He was her secretary and in as much danger as the rest of us, if not more.

Ian shook his head at Conan, sharing a look with Caroline. “Get the passage open,” she said after Ian had already started on his way out of the room. She cursed under her breath a few times before leaving as well. Conan followed me out to see the table by the door had been moved aside and now revealed a black space with stairs leading downward.

“We built it in when we first decided on this place,” Caroline said, though I wasn't sure if it was for my benefit or Conan’s. Turning to the party guests—who had stopped to stare curiously at the gaping passageway—she barked, “If you want to live, you'll get your carcasses down those stairs now!”

I stepped back into the small office as people stampeded past, unquestioning but panicked. Conan stepped beside me and whispered in my ear, “If you'll be mine, I can protect you.”

Stepping back, I stared at him. He was serious. I’d had my suspicions but I couldn't believe he would make such a remark at a time like this. “I have someone,” I said bluntly, suddenly wondering where Drei was. “You should join the others.”

“You'll regret that,” he warned, turning away suddenly and forcing his way past everyone else and down the staircase.

“Someone needs to stay behind,” Caroline said as Ian and Drei made their way to where we were standing.

Before anyone else could say anything, I volunteered. Drei, Ian, and Caroline stared open-mouthed at me.

“No,” Drei said, shaking his head emphatically. “I will stay behind.”

“Be logical, Abs,” Caroline said. “We need you.”

Ian recovered just as I was about to turn away their objections. “She knows what she's doing, C. Let her do her part.” He looked at me, saying, “All you have to do is push the table back over and it'll close tight.”

“What if—”

“It’s almost impossible to open if you don’t know how,” he said hurriedly, trying to be kind but niceties weren’t really available with the current time constraint.

“She's saved our asses twice now,” she argued, looking as though she would set Ian on fire for agreeing with me.

“Do not be ridiculous,” Drei chided, reaching to pull me toward the last few people cramming into the opening.

“You can't change my mind. I need to do this.”

“Come on, C,” Ian said, dragging her away. She didn't stop staring at me until he started pulling her down the staircase.

“It's Conan,” I confided, knowing I didn't have much time before I had to force Drei to follow everyone else. “Either he tipped them off or they followed him.”

“You cannot be serious; I am not letting you stay.”

“I've made up my mind,” I said simply, forcefully. “Besides, who knows what they'd do to you.” He pulled me into his arms, squeezing me until I felt like I would suffocate, but I didn't complain. I was sure he thought this would change my mind, but it only reinforced my resolve. “Promise to find me.”

“That will not be necessary.”

I kissed him, praying it wouldn't be the last time I was able to. Then I pulled together a wall of air—hearing heavy footsteps outside—and shoved him into the passageway. “Find me,” I repeated, closing the entrance before he could escape and argue the point further.

I felt empty as I turned to face the desolate, disarrayed room. The footsteps were on the stairs now, so I didn't have long to wait. I walked to the middle of the space, not sure of how I was feeling; I knew I had to be the one to stay, I just wasn't sure why.

Being taken didn't scare me knowing Drei would come—I had no doubt he would. What scared me was the feeling I'd been having since we first met Caroline. It had dissipated slightly now that this second scrape had come to light, but it was still there. I didn't know what else it could be warning me about, though. And that was the worst part.

The door flew open and a few dozen people poured though, dressed in combat black, pointing blinding lights attached to weapons of which I caught only glimpses. A burly guy in a black suit stepped through the doorway last and stood behind the troops.

“Where did everyone go?” he questioned in a deep, booming voice.

I stared at his shadowy face, trying to determine what he wanted to hear. But the only thing filling my mind was Drei and my hope I would see him again. When I didn't say anything, he turned away, ordering, “Take her.”

It hadn't occurred to me what might have happened when he gave that command. I had just assumed there would be someone reading the Miranda Rights as someone else slapped on a pair of handcuffs and stuffed me into a car downstairs.

They weren't the police, though.

I felt something hard crash into my head. All I knew afterwards was a spiraling darkness.

Vampiric: Chapter Three, Part 3

“To us!” Caroline shouted over her team, standing on a table, now dressed in a hippie skirt and wrap blouse. We all quieted as the last of the champagne flutes were passed around. The gold in her eyes shined brighter as she gazed around, seeming to compliment everyone’s efforts in turn. “To a successful first broadcast. To everyone here. And to Abs, for getting us out of there before a run-in with the wrong people.”

Drei smiled at me from across the crowded room on the top floor of the warehouse. My cheeks flamed as everyone else turned and smiled, those nearest me giving a friendly pat on the back. I tried shrugging it off as though it were no big deal, but the attention was quickly returning to Caroline, so it didn’t matter.

“Let’s drink to a better tomorrow!” She downed the flute’s contents.

Someone started up some music and more drinks were passed around. While people paired off to dance or grouped to talk about the night and anything else, Caroline made her way towards me, Conan and Ian not far behind her.

“Conan doubled back after everyone cleared out,” she said, barely audible over the music. “Gov goons. If you hadn’t noticed it, we all would have been locked up by now…” She let her voice trail off, but I knew what was coming.

“You don’t owe me anything,” I said before she could say what she wanted. Personally, I didn’t want her to owe me anything. It would make when I left her operation that much easier.

Confusion and then some version of relief crossed her features, followed by her business-like demeanor. “You say that now, but everyone wants something sooner or later. I don’t forget my debts.”

I nodded for lack of something better to do; I wasn’t going to say what I was thinking.

Caroline stepped closer to me so her next words were spoken directly into my ear, her breath warm and unnerving. “I'm glad you signed on. I was wrong about you.”

She walked away. I knew what had prompted the compliment; that was obvious. But it felt like there was something else Caroline had been insinuating. Something I was missing. It worried me it might be something that could make a mess of things, too.

“Congratulations,” Drei praised, appearing beside me and interrupting my thoughts. He had left his flute behind somewhere; I didn't blame him. The moment I found a table, I was ditching mine. Alcohol was not what I needed; my thoughts were jumbled enough as it was.

“Thanks.” We were back to appearing together but not in a relationship, and it wasn't easy. Part of me wanted to let go of all the pretense and kiss him right there.

“I better head back that way,” he said before I could talk myself into anything.

“Okay;” I offered a weak smile. I knew he needed to bond with the other bodyguards if he wanted to be accepted by them, but that didn't mean I wanted him to go. The words “stay with me” were on the tip of my tongue, but I held them back. Part of not being together in public was not giving people an excuse to think you were together. I think that was the hardest part for me. I wanted so badly for us to be whoever we wanted to be, and the kiss yesterday didn't help things any either.

Drei sauntered across the room, gracefully slipping through the crowd as if the room were clear.

“That was amazing how you knew they were coming,” Conan said from behind me. I turned and was greeted by his sea-green eyes studying me curiously. “How did you know?”

“Ask C,” I said, having picked up on the fact she ultimately knew everything. “If she'll divulge that information.”

“Why can't you just tell me?” he flirted, moving to clear hair off my shoulder and brushing my cheek in the process.

Before I was unable to hide my discomfort and disgust, I excused myself and walked away. Conan wasn't a bad guy as far as I could tell, but I didn't enjoy the close proximity he took with me. As far as I knew, I hadn't done anything to suggest I was interested, but who knew? When you couldn't show off your boyfriend—or he you—things became complicated.

There was a table of refreshments I hadn't noticed earlier. That's where I left my champagne flute as I left the room. The hallways on this floor were pleasantly dark and quiet, the noise of the party muffled. Walking to the end, I leaned against the wall by a window, the panes frosted slightly and fogging over upon impact with my breath. I drew a heart in the condensation, remembering when my dad and I used to draw out whole comics on the windows of our rooms during ski trips. Not for the first time, I wondered how he was doing. He seemed to pop up in my thoughts every once in a while and I felt guilty leaving him in the state I had.

After he had shared everything he knew about my mom, he was a mess. The memories were still painful, even after all these years. The next day I left without telling anyone, and I wondered if he was as destroyed by my absence as he was by my mom's supposed death. My real mom, not my adoptive mother who put me through the paces of high society.

I reached out my senses, hearing the ocean roar in the distance. It took me a moment to realize there was another sound that shouldn't be there.

I tried to remember if there was anyone who hadn't showed up for the celebration. Counting the cars parked below, I knew everyone was here. So then why were there cars approaching? This stretch of the dock was pretty much abandoned, and I couldn’t fathom why a caravan of vehicles would be coming out here so late.

I pulled the conversations from the vehicles and found nothing but silence. These definitely weren't party goers. It didn't seem possible the government would have been able to locate the headquarters so quickly. Not after all the precautions they had taken.

Unless they had seen Conan circling back and had someone follow him.

Vampiric: Chapter Three, Part 2

No one was outside as far as I could see or hear. I was relying more on my ears than my eyes—the cracked windows along the north side of the building looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in forever—which was probably closer to the truth than I cared to know.

About an hour earlier, we were all loaded into various vehicles—so as not to appear suspicious—and arrived in this other building. There were three other lookouts, each of us patrolling a different cardinal direction. Mostly everyone else was in the broadcasting room. Being an air elemental was great for me. Though most people would remain in the dark, I used my gifts to figure out what I wanted to know. In a few minutes it would be 8:30 and Caroline’s broadcast would be on every television screen within fifty miles, and I would be tuning in while keeping an ear open for anything strange.

A minute ‘til, I pulled the conversations from the broadcasting room to me. They still weren’t ready and I could hear Conan trying desperately to keep Caroline calm amongst the chaos so she could still go through with the broadcast. A few people were babbling about a traceable signal and the bodyguards were itching, just as nervous as everyone else that this would fail.

“I thought you worked out the—”

“C,” Conan chided. “Language please. The equipment will be running in twenty seconds whether the signal is traceable or not. We can’t back out now or people are going to be staring at a blank room for ten minutes.”

“I know!”

“Five…four…three…” a female voice said, silencing Caroline.

I knew the program had started, but no one said anything. For a moment, I thought it was all a waste; she wasn’t going to go through with it. Drei had been wrong about her and, after all her talk, I was disappointed.

“Fellow citizens,” she started, and there was a wave of relief from everyone in the room. “Our government has lied to us.”

The line was intended to provoke incredulity at the accusation. Our government, founded by the people, couldn’t be against us. There was no way. The gut reaction was inescapable.

“Our government stopped caring about we the people ages ago when it started redirecting funds for education to wars abroad; wars to intimidate others into falling in line. It has fed us bile and manure about why we must solve the world’s problems, why we must sacrifice our brave men and women, why we need to be the bringer of peace. Under our government, there is no peace. There is no contentment without an enemy or a cause. We feed the war machine which in turn feeds the wealthy. And while the rich become richer, the poor can barely scrap together enough to live.

“The truth is before your very eyes. The career politicians do less and less every year and still earn more than the hardworking families who keep this economy going. They sit in gilded luxury while some people work two or three jobs just to make ends meet. They tout the benefits we provide to other nations in pursuing conflict and war while we underpay teachers, underprepare students, and consistently fail to provide any solution to random acts of violence plaguing campuses, schools, and public establishments domestically.

“Ask yourself why?” She paused, letting her words sink in and the audience ponder her question. “To keep the people weak, the very people who give power to the government, gives them greater strength. If we are weak and distracted by our everyday struggles, our fight for survival, we cannot organize successfully to demand change. If we are divided along party lines, believing someone else cannot possibly support the same causes, we provide a reason for change to stall. And if we buy into the lies we are fed about our involvement abroad, we will not question the lack of attention paid at home.

“Our government is cunning. It has done well to distract, divide, and bully us into a silence, claiming we are unpatriotic or socialist or heathen if we attempt to break free of the illusion. We have been misguided; worse yet, we perpetuate the falsehoods and misguide each other.

“But it is not too late to change the future. We need change in our society, and the only way we can do that is to demand it—”

There was a staticky noise outside. I tuned out Caroline’s speech—which, if she played this last part right, would anger the general public into following her religiously—and focused on finding that strange noise. Reaching my hearing out as far as possible, I could just make out a vehicle and murmurs inside about following something. The conversation was too broken up.

I ran, searching for Caroline’s voice in the building again, hoping we could all make it out of here safe. My biggest fear was that it was too late, that she wouldn’t be able to wrap up the broadcast soon enough to evacuate. She was halfway through her lengthy conclusion when the outer ring of bodyguards let me through.

“—we’ve started over before; we can do it again—” Caroline was saying as Conan crossed the large room to me. “What is it?” he whispered shortly, as if more annoyed I was there than worried about why I was there.

“Someone’s headed this way. They’re following some trace or something.”

“How far off?” he asked, not even bothering to ask how I knew. I was grateful because there wasn’t time to explain it, and I certainly wasn’t going to be captured because of this.

Running some quick, more than likely inaccurate, calculations in my head, I guesstimated, “About eight minutes, less even.”

Without hesitation, Conan swirled around and made the guillotine motion. It amazed me at how quickly everyone jumped to work. Most of the crew started cleaning up their computers as quietly as possible so as not to interrupt Caroline’s crash ending.

“This revolution has been long coming, and it’s time we bring it out into the open. We’ll be back, and if you want to see a brighter future, you will be, too.”

Someone capped the camera and Caroline slipped into her coat, speed walking out the door, the rest of us following her. We split up into the different vehicles and they all took off in different directions. Ian sped off into the heart of the city. I didn’t know where Drei was, but those people who were coming scared me more than not knowing where he was. We would find each other. The drivers were supposed to drive in circles for an hour before converging on HQ again.

Ian said, “Don’t worry, love. We gave them the slip thanks to you.” He winked a sapphire gem at me in the rear view mirror.

But that wasn’t what worried me. That might have been the bad feeling I was having all night, but the feeling wasn’t gone. Something else was going to happen, but I dared not say anything without knowing what first.