Vampiric: Chapter Ten, Part 6

By mid-April, Caroline had deemed me emotionally stable enough to move out if I wanted. At the risk of sounding unappreciative, I had to admit I was more than ready to do so. We had already toured a few apartments on the upper side of town, at her insistence. What I wanted to see was apartments on the older side of town, though. I wanted the old brick building with no elevator—as crazy as she claimed it to be.

“This is it?” she asked uneasily, finding the building without much trouble. We had just finished at the spa, using our Christmas gifts for much needed relaxation.

“This is it,” I confirmed. I adored it from the outside with its old redbrick and traces of climbing ivy. The windows were shiny as though newly replaced, but the front door had seen better days; the stoop was narrow, but provided enough shelter if you needed to open an umbrella before stepping out.

“There’s not even a park nearby,” she complained, still trying to convince me to stay on her side of town. “And parking is ridiculous.”

“I don’t drive,” I said as she turned the corner, finally finding a space.

“But I do.”

Smiling, I said, “It’s not going to be your apartment.”

“That’s not what you’re going to say when you find out the bathroom is in the kitchen.”

“You’ve been watching too many old movies.” This apartment was at the top of my list and I could hardly wait to see it.

“Slow down,” she called after me.

Glancing over my shoulder, I told her, “No. You hurry up.”

The apartment I was looking at was on the fifth floor, and Caroline had plenty to say about that as well. The landlady was waiting inside for us, opening curtains and windows. Though the space was devoid of furniture, it was amazing and beautiful. The living room had hardwood floors and was spacious for as old as the building was. Off to the side was the kitchenette, complete with stove, refrigerator, and microwave. There was even a pantry disguised as a closet. The bedroom was on the opposite side. It was small, but workable, and the closet space was well worth it; the walls were a beautiful shade of pale violet and the floors were hardwood as well—I’d need to buy some throw rugs. Next to the bedroom, also accessible from the living room was the one bathroom. It was also a fabulous size considering I was the only one I had to worry about really using it. There was even baby blue tiling on the floor and in the shower.

I was in love. No matter how many things Caroline counted as negatives, it was all I wanted. The landlady admitted it was actually a little above the price range I had been looking for when I spoke with her on the phone, but it was all inclusive so my utilities would be on at move-in without any work on my part.

“Of course,” I said, still taking it all in. Something about the space just felt right. It felt like what I needed to move on completely.

 “Are you sure?” Caroline asked, still pouting a little. “You’d need to hire a super cleaning crew to get all of the dirt out of this place.”

“You’re one to talk,” I replied, grinning. “With as much carpet as you have, you can’t even see all the dirt you’re harboring.”

“Hey,” she said, indignantly. “Be nice. I’m driving you.” Walking through the bedroom again, just to remember everything until it was mine, she checked her cell phone. “Speaking of rides, we’re supposed to be meeting Ian.”

Glancing back at her, I nodded. Since the letters, we had started biweekly broadcasts and were working on setting up a march. At this point, we were finalizing the details, preparing to announce our plans.

“Come on already,” she insisted, grabbing my hand and pulling me away, briefly explaining we had a business meeting to the landlady. She smiled and I promised to be in touch.

“It’s perfect,” I said as we raced down the stairs.

“Glad. But I wish you’d live closer to me. It’s safer.”

“Nowhere is safe.”

Caroline started saying something else as we emerged onto the sidewalk and headed for the car. My attention had been drawn elsewhere, though. Something had changed in the air, some emotion. There were only a handful of people on the street and it was easy to tell they weren’t the source. Turning around, I saw it; the source of the change was a black SUV. Whoever was inside was sending out a unique mix of bitterness and concentration, as though stressed out. The passenger window rolled down as they neared, and, listening, I could hear the click of a gun being cocked.

A thousand different words and thoughts ran through my mind. Turning back, I reached out, trying to warn her, certain she was the target. “Caro—”

The air was sucked from my lungs as I was stopped in my tracks. The same instant I stopped, I was propelled into Caroline, her eyes wide and terrified. She was hysterical, nearly beside herself as she searched for her cell phone, demanding I stay with her. Caroline kept repeating it. That I needed to stay with her. All I could think was how I had been wrong. How, for some reason, my blood seemed to be covering her hands.

Vampiric: Chapter Six, Part 7

More time passed, and more wounds crisscrossed my arms. At first, I had tried to block his slicing, but it was taking far more energy than I had thought possible. I couldn't sleep at all; who knew what else they might try. Despite knowing I couldn't last much longer, I still tried to avoid the knife; each time, though, it was easier for him to slice through any attempt I made against it.

“That was the longest spike we've had,” the feminine voice said.

“Good. Then we'll go a—”

Screams erupted from the darkness, cutting the man off. He stared off in the direction they came from as though trying to find the source of disturbance. The air seemed to fill with a floral scent. Then a black figure stepped partially into the light, its long coat brushing the toes of its polished shoes.

“Step away from her,” its low voice growled, dangerous and threatening. My heart fluttered in my chest—weary, excited, relieved, and so many other things simultaneously.

The man ran toward Drei, the knife out ahead so as to stab him. I knew he didn't stand a chance; I'd seen Drei take out two armed thugs before. The man went flying, crashing painfully into what sounded like a good deal of metal; his knife fell at Drei's feet, harmless.

“Drei,” I whispered as he appeared at my side, undoing the straps holding me and pulling away the sensors.

His hands touched my face, ensuring I wasn’t some illusion before his forehead met mine. I reached my hands up to cover his, afraid to believe he was real. I would have squeezed his hands if my arms hadn't felt so weak.

“Thank God.” He kissed my forehead and inspected the rest of me, his eyes catching on the wounds and various states of dried and wet blood running across my arms.

“What did they do to you?” he queried softly, a hand lightly brushing over my wounds before pulling me into him.

All of the tears I had held at bay while that madman cut me burst forth. I knew we had to be going, but I couldn't move. He had come. He was here, holding me tight. I didn't want him to ever let go again.

Without asking, Drei lifted me into his arms, cradling me so gently. Silent tears continued to stream down my cheeks, my arms wrapped around his neck in assurance he really was here. We weren't safe yet, but I fell asleep anyway. Just knowing he had come, he had kept his promise, was enough for me.

Vampiric: Chapter Six, Part 6

“She's still resisting,” a man with a clipboard said, his face shrouded in shadows.

“She will cooperate,” an angry voice growled from the shadows. A tall, wrinkled man following the words into the light. “Won't you.” A too long nose and tiny, wide-set eyes leveled with me.

When the lights had come back on, two men in black combat gear collected me from the cell—rather roughly considering I wasn't going to fight them; I could have, but it wasn’t worth the effort or the energy. They dragged me into another black room with one bright light, like where I had been before but different. Here, I could hear the whirring of machines. I was shoved into a chair that looked like it would better serve a death sentence than “research.” Straps were tightened across my wrists, shoulders, and ankles, as if anticipating some thrashing; they had also placed sensors on my temples and either side of my collar bone.

I didn't know how long I had been there, but so far the specialists had thrown objects at me, trying to scare me into submission. Each time, I diverted the object. What they hadn’t realized was I had no intention of fighting them directly, but they were not going to make me lose control.

“What will you do?” the other man asked, a scratching sound coming from his clipboard.

A sneer spread across the cracked lips of the one in front of me before he backed away. He reached for something on the tray—where the knives they had thrown earlier had come from. His face was hidden again in the darkness, but the object in his hand glinted in the light, a biting edge of metal smiling maliciously at me.

The man gaited slowly towards me again, my eyes locked on the long blade in his hand.

“I think we'll have to try something different, James,” he said in a low voice, a perkiness to it that didn't fit the mood. At least, not from where I was sitting. “You see, the other two elements have no choice. They don't have water or earth to come to their rescue. But with her,” he sneered again under the light, “we can't deprive her of that use. She's no good to us dead.”

“So what's the plan?” James inquired amidst more scratching sounds.

“A direct attack,” he replied, as if it had always been so simple. “We take the object we've been trying to scare her with, and make it so she has to acknowledge its existence.” He sliced the knife across my forearm.

I flinched, gasping, jerking my injured arm in an attempt to pull it out of danger and cover the wound. It hurt, more so because I hadn’t expected it.

“There was a spike in her brain activity,” a feminine voice called from the darkness.

The man turned toward the voice; “The kind we want?”

“Affirmative.”

She talked on about something dealing with my mom and the other experiments in progress, but my mind had raced to other things. If that had sparked the start of a reaction they wanted, I was in trouble.  Not just a little bit, either. They were closer to getting what they wanted, and I was fairly certain I was helpless to stop them.

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.

Elemental: Chapter Ten, Part 4

The rain had returned, gentler, but still managing to melt my anger into tears.

I debated whether to go straight to Drei or leave it until morning. The best choice, much as I hated to admit it, was telling Drei. I prayed his wrath wouldn’t be as terrible as I imagined.

Drei was holding a mug of what I guessed to be tea—mostly from the herbal scent floating around the cabin—between his hands, Valetta sitting across from him at the small table in the front room, sipping from her own cup. Both gazed up slowly.

“Yes?” Drei questioned distantly.

I couldn’t stop the tears from coming; I had never screwed up so much in my entire life. Why hadn’t I seen this coming?

Valetta came to me, hushing my tears, pushing my dank hair from my face. “Is it Nick?” she asked.

I nodded, knowing it was nowhere near what she thought it was.

“What about Nick? Did you two have a fight?” she probed softly, a hand rubbing circles in my back for comfort.

“He’s a bounty hunter,” I whispered, scared for my life, knowing it needed to be done. Not for myself, but for everyone else here. Whatever solution was found, I doubted it would be extended to me after this. I didn’t deserve it.

Drei was before me in a flash, looking as though he wanted to shake me senseless, his face flushed and eyes brilliantly amethyst. “What?”

I inhaled, trying not to fold under his harsh eyes. “Nick is a bounty hunter; he just told me”.

“Why did you not listen to me?” he thundered, shoving Valetta—my one companion in this place—away. “If you had just trusted me, this would not have happened!”

“It would have happened anyway, Drei,” I said, holding back my tears, but my voice cracking. “You wouldn’t understa—you couldn’t even see I was alone;” I ran from the room.

Just outside the door, I heard Valetta start to rip into him, so I kneeled below the window, listening.

“You had no right to yell at her in that manner,” Valetta whispered threateningly. “She did something for herself, which makes sense since she does so much for everyone else.”

“And what about our situation because of this?” Drei hissed, equally hostile.

“It was going to happen sooner or later,” she responded, reeling her anger in slightly.

“No,” Drei yelled back at her. “If I had been able to do what needed to be done, this never would have happened.”

“No, it just might have been worse,” Valetta replied, keeping calmer than Drei. “Abriel might have just run off by now and wound up in a worse mess. Then you would have been in an irrevocable moodiness.”

“That is not the issue!”

She didn’t flinch; “Drei, it does not take an elemental to know sometimes the heart sees in people what people are unable to see in themselves.” As she turned on a heel and disappeared into one of the rooms, she added softly, “Why do you think we love you?”

Elemental: Chapter Eight, Part 2

I jumped away from Nick, instantly recognizing the voice. I could have sworn my heart stopped two beats too long. Moving was probably my greatest mistake; Drei went straight for Nick.

“You have no right to be here,” Drei said, his voice deep and sending tremors through my skin.

Nick was shaking, but his jaw was set in defiance. “I have just as much right to be here as you do;” he held Drei’s harsh gaze steadily.

“Not with her;” Drei’s hand jerked in my direction.

“She likes to be here with me.” Nick stood, falling just short of Drei’s height. I felt horrible he was in such a position, but even worse they were fighting. My two favorite people in the world—so similar, and so different—were fighting because of me. “Which makes sense since I don’t go around bullying everyone and scaring the kids shitless,” Nick continued, his green eyes seeming to darken.

“I at least know better than to take advantage of a girl,” Drei growled. “You have no idea what she has been through. You are both poor judges of what is right for her.”

My sense of injustice had stirred and overcome my fear of Drei’s anger; Nick wasn’t some mindless hooligan. But Nick jumped in before I could.

“From the sound of it, you don’t know her at all.”

“I know her better than you,” Drei countered; something in the way he held himself changed, as though he became taller and more hunched; he emitted a threatening hiss, advancing on Nick. I didn’t know what to do, let alone how to help; I couldn’t even comprehend what was happening.

Nick backed away from Drei, his eyes wide in horror. When they had circled around, Nick took off running just as Drei lunged for him. The leaves and flowers jostled noisily in their sleep, protesting at being disturbed in such a manner.

Seeing Nick chased off like a lout awoke such a vivid passion I couldn’t see for a moment. Whatever was happening, it wasn't right.

“What was that?” I demanded, standing and rising to my full five feet six inches.

“It is for your own protection,” he whispered, turning quickly away from me.

“Don’t you dare;” I spun him around, adrenaline pumping through my veins so quickly I feared if I stopped I’d fall down. “Why don’t you want me to be happy?”

“You do not know what will make you happy. As I said, you are not capable of judging such things currently.”

“You don’t know that!” The night replayed in my mind from the peaceful chatter to the abrupt interruption and ensuing madness.

“What would make you happy, Abriel?” he asked, quickly adding, “Besides Nick.”

For a moment I wanted to say Drei, but immediately felt guilty. Valetta had been kind to me the last month or so; she was really making an effort to be friendly. She knew about Nick, though I never admitted anything; and I knew about Drei, though she kept equally quiet.

Being forced to think allowed the anger to blow over. I felt exhausted and weak in the knees, but he wouldn’t have the satisfaction of my needing him now.

“You should just be happy for me,” I said softly, feeling tears close at hand. “Nothing I do will ever be enough to repay you for what you've done for me, but that doesn't give you the right to make my decisions. I will not give him up just because you don’t like him.”

Drei stiffened and in the next instant his face contorted, amplifying every crease in his frowning visage as he loomed over me, his fangs glinting in the moonlight. “You will not see him,” he seethed, but I wasn’t afraid after the initial shock of the change; I had almost forgotten he was a vampire, but now the truth was before me and I couldn’t imagine ever choosing him over Nick; Nick wouldn’t try scaring me into submission, let alone threaten me.

“If you want me to be happy,” I stated calmly, turning away from him, “leave me alone.”

I felt the air thicken in his disappointment, whether it was directed at himself or me, I couldn’t be sure, but I wasn’t sticking around to find out.

Elemental: Chapter Two, Part 11

I was in the bathroom, applying a new coat of lip-gloss when Heather and Sara thundered in, livid at some tidbit of gossip they had acquired. Typically, when gossip disturbed them—before they called for a shopping day—they came to the girl’s restroom to scream at each other about the incredulity of it all until they felt better. Then they morphed back into smiling snakes with perfect hair and made the appropriate phone calls for hooky.

Just as I had put everything back into my purse, Heather smacked it off the counter, sending the mascara, blush, and other contents skittering across the white tiled floor. My gaze rose to meet theirs and it was apparent this was not the typical tidbit of upsetting gossip.

“What have you heard?” I asked coolly, not wanting to suffer more of a verbal thrashing than needed.

Sara shoved me backwards, a sink jabbing me hard in the side as I stumbled. “Everything!” she screeched, her features transforming into a distorted form of spite.

I grabbed the sink and used it to steady myself as I looked back to her; I was thoroughly befuddled as I had no idea what “everything” meant. Violence wasn’t in her usual modus operandi, though, so whatever the gossip was, it was personal.

“How you plan to steal my boyfriend,” she vociferated, slapping me across the face. Her new manicure broke the skin of my cheek. “How you’ve already been fucking him!” She landed another cruel blow, her nails feeling like an animal claw on my cheek. “How you’ve been fucking him since this summer…and it explains why you never gave names!”

A hailstorm of blows poured upon me, knocking my from my feet; I was too stunned to think of some definitive action to take other than to shield my face and make myself as small a target as possible. I knew I couldn’t continue accepting this torment as that would possibly result in the eventual bludgeoning of my skull, but my mind seemed frozen when it came to offering solutions. It didn’t help that her acrid voice continued to echo in my thoughts, chasing away the few frail attempts my mind tried to make at thinking. She would have to tire eventually, or someone would come into the bathroom. As she took up kicking at my arms and shins, I tried distancing myself from it all, numbing my body to the blows and blocking out her voice.

It wasn’t until she proclaimed me numerous, colorful names of increasing insult that my mind made itself up without my knowing it.

“Stop!” I yelled, a gust of air forcing her away from me. My voice sounded cold and distant; it wasn’t mine, though I knew the words came from me. Inside, it felt as though some part of me had awoken and taken control. I no longer dominated my body. Some other entity, who had seen enough of Sara’s petty battle, did. It stood taller, straighter, and radiated with a divine anger that sent Sara and Heather whimpering into the hallway.

Slowly, my body followed.

The two had already gathered a crowd that imprisoned them. My body's gait stopped some distance from them. When their terrified faces met my gaze, my lips spoke, a slow, deep sound erupting from my throat.

“What right have you to judge based on rumor?” the unfamiliar voice thundered. “What right have you to blame your faults on another?”

Sara seemed to pluck courage from the curious onlookers. She stood and moved towards me, wobbly on her feet, but determined.

“Bitch! You think you’re hot stuff screwing around and lying to everyone!” she screeched, lunging to recommence her attack. I sent her slamming into the lockers where she slumped to the floor, cradling her head in her arms.

“Leave me alone,” the voice said slowly, articulating every syllable so she’d be sure to understand through her concussion.

With that, whatever had been inside me disappeared, leaving me with a strange sensation of having too much room in myself. Realizing everyone was staring at me, I walked away as calmly as I could manage, the crowd parting to let me through. Shocked, horrified, and curious faces looked on. No one said anything, though. They were all terrified...of me. This fact didn’t hit me until much later as I sat at home listening to music.