Authors: Faleena Hopkins
She reached out for the door handle and pushed it open.
She didn’t see the junkie hiding just outside the door, holding his breath as
he waited.
He had to get more. He
had to. As soon as she stepped outside, he was on her and with a violent shove
he knocked her down onto the sidewalk as he lunged for her bag, grabbed it with
a grunt and sprinted away through the parking lot away from her.
Taken by surprise she watched him, her senses coming
alive in anger. From where she sat, she scanned the street for witnesses. A bus
in the distance - but it was driving away, not toward. A dead leaf falling from
a tree. Two rats to her left, their little toenails tap
tap
tapping against the cement. Another in
a garbage
can,
its sharp teeth gnawing into a take out bag.
To the right,
her attacker’s heartbeat.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
His drug
withdrawal feet losing momentum.
One shoe had holes and the flesh
slapped the ground every other step. A bead of sweat flew off his
forehead.
She sat up and crouched. With a firm push she leapt high
into the air after him and landed just behind him, her arm shooting out and
grabbing his as she yanked him onto the gravelly cement with a powerful thud.
He groaned in pain, the gravel embedding itself into the exposed parts of his
body as he skidded on impact.
Shock
still hiding the pain, he lifted his head and looked up, confused. She stood
above him for a minute and didn’t say a word. His chest heaved with each breath
he grasped for.
She calmly walked
to her purse, picked it up, and dusted off the gravel.
She slowly turned her head, looked at him with an intense
stillness and said, loud enough for only him to
hear,
“Don’t fuck with me.”
“I’m sorry.
I
just needed …”
“Stop. I know
what you needed. Get it elsewhere.”
“Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Sorry.
But, but… how did you…how did you just…
I mean, how?” he stammered.
“Black belt,”
she answered.
“Black belt in what?
Super powers?”
he
asked.
“Get out of
here,” she ordered.
He scrambled up
and winced with pain. “Go to a hospital,” she added.
“I…I…ouch…I
don’t have any health insurance,” he said.
“They’ll
treat you at the clinic on Grand St.
Go. Now.”
He nodded and she
watched him limp painfully in that direction. He looked over his shoulder once
to see if she was still watching, and moved more quickly when he saw she was.
She didn’t believe he’d go to the hospital but it was worth a try.
So young, she thought. A good looking
guy if he cleaned up, too.
He’d
just gone down the wrong path. Sad.
But she wasn’t stupid enough to let him see which vehicle was hers.
People can be very vengeful.
Certain he was gone with enough time passing for
safety,
she walked to her Jeep and got in.
She never thought to look up.
If she had she would have found Julian
watching from his window, his expression unreadable as he watched her drive
away.
He had seen all of it.
20 June 1812
“France is so beautiful!” Dani said, gazing adoringly out
the coach’s windows as it bounced along the rough road. “When do we arrive in
Spain? How long will it take?
Are
we to stop along the way and see Paris?
Oh please! Oh please!”
She was like
a schoolgirl, grinning and pointing out anything of interest that captured her
attention. It made Elizabeth smile to be with her, a fledgling.
She saw the world anew again when she
looked through Daniella’s eyes. It was enjoyably refreshing and the nights
didn’t seem long anymore.
“We can do
whatever you wish, my dear.
But
first we must stop in La Rochelle. There is a matter of great importance that
demands my attention there.”
Elizabeth’s face grew somber and darkness clouded her expression.
Daniella saw the change immediately. Living with a
gambler, never knowing which way the wind blew until the doorknob turned or she
saw his face, heard his walk; these things had made her an expert at judging
people’s moods. “There’s trouble. We aren’t safe anymore are we?”
“My dear
– you will always be safe if you follow my lead and remember what I teach
you,” she said with a kind smile. Seeing Daniella’s doubt, Elizabeth made the
decision to tell her what lie ahead. “Daniella, don’t look so. I’ll tell you
what I know and trust you to use your intelligence and do as I say when the
time comes. La Rochelle is
a beautiful town on the coast of
France just two days ride
from here.
There is a vampire there that must be
dealt with. A group of us are coming together to deal with her and restore
order. Some are friends. Others are not.
I don’t wish to know the latter, nor work with them, but I must, for our
common good.”
“If you don’t
wish to… then why must you?” Daniella asked, impatient as a child.
“Because we
have been given the same gift does not mean we have the same feelings or
dispositions. Not all personalities mix like honey and bread. I’m sure you have
people whom you trust and enjoy their company, and then there are those who you
must deal with even though you’d rather not,” Elizabeth looked to her young
audience for understanding.
“Millie,”
Daniella said quietly and nodded.
“Yes,
Millicent Blackwell is exactly like those of which I speak. In your society you
had to be polite to her and in our society, the same is true. In a life where
one does not die – one does not wish to have enemies.”
Daniella nodded again, transfixed by
this confidence.
“Centuries ago we
put in place traditions. Rules were set up that provide freedom through their
guidelines and also safety for us all,” Elizabeth said, looking out the window.
“What has
this vampire done then, that you all must come together?” Daniella
asked.When
she saw Elizabeth’s
eyes darken she felt she’d overstepped and hastily added, “If you do not wish
to tell me, or you do not feel I am ready for this news, I’ll not pressure you.
I trust you to take care of all that must be done.”
Elizabeth smiled at this and let her gaze fall on
Daniella. “My mood lightens with your gentle ways and naiveté. But no, that
which is dangerous must be made known to you.
What has happened is this;
In
very rare cases, when one is given the gift, they become
cacodemonic. Uncontrollable.
A danger to us all in that they
do not abide rules, traditions, nor care for anyone but themselves and their
thirst.
They cannot be reasoned with. They threaten themselves and all
of us equally as they heedlessly engage in murderous rampages without the
slightest desire to protect our secret. Humans are not stupid. Were they to
discover us… we cannot let that happen.” She looked out the window again.
Daniella ventured forward, “I am familiar with the term,
cacodemonic. It means evil, I believe, yes?” Elizabeth nodded, still gazing at
the passing view.
“How do you know
when this happens? Could not it be a mistake?”
Elizabeth replied, “Their eyes turn black with nothing
spared. There is no mistaking it.”
Daniella, horrified and with rounded eyes, asked, “With
nothing spared – you mean they turn black in their entirety?”
She received a nod in answer. She squirmed
in her seat, the conjured vision of a vampire with eyes like holes, heavy in
her mind. “Will you be safe, Elizabeth?”
Another nod. “How will you deal with such a creature? Will you do so
alone?”
“No, my child – as I said.
That is why we must work with those with
whom we’d rather not. We come together, to solve the problem together. Letters
were sent.
A date planned.” She
looked at Daniella then, her voice heavy.
“And together
- we will force her out, into The Sun.”
2012
“I was just thinking
about you,” Adrian confessed with a
crackingly
wicked, as Dani sat down at the bar.
“Really?
What were you thinking?” She felt sure
expression and the tingling on her skin that she knew exactly what he had been
thinking.
“Wouldn’t you
like to know,” he teased.
“Jameson?”
“Yes,
please,” she smiled.
“See, I
remembered this time,” he said, reaching for a glass.
“Yes, you did.”
She watched him reach for and grab two glasses.
She loved watching him move.
“You know, you never finish your drink,” he said.
She shifted in her seat and shrugged, “I’m not much of a
drinker,”
“Well, I’m
glad you’re here. So, what have you been doing today?” he asked. What had she
been doing… what had she been doing… Her mind searched for a story. She
single-handedly knocked down a mugger?
No, not that story, though it was the only one she desired to tell
him.
She wanted to share her real
thoughts with him, her real life.
“I spent the
day recovering those images I mentioned,” she lied.
“Ah,
yes.
How’d that go?”
Adrian asked, pouring them both a shot.
“Who
cares?”
she
retorted, to which he let out one of his laugh-bursts and plunked the bottle
hard onto the bar.
“Fair enough!
God, you are a funny one.
What
would you like to talk about, instead?”
he
asked, raising his glass to toast. She
lifted hers, but only touched her lips to it, watching him down his and pour
another. His neck was so strong. Her body liked looking at it. Her
body like
looking at it very much.
She wanted him.
“I don’t
really care, but let’s talk about something other than work. I know you can’t
really care if I saved those images or not.” Her eyes shone brightly as she
smiled, watching him laugh again. He made her feel good. She brought her glass
up and touched it to her lips again.
She wished that it tasted good, wished she could drink it. He made her
wish she
was
human again. She shoved that unwanted
thought away.
No feeling sad
tonight, she vowed.
“No, I guess you’re right. I was just making small
talk.”
They stared at each other.
The bearded regular shouted at him, “Adrian!
Who sings this?”
Adrian listened briefly, maybe the length of a heartbeat,
and shouted back, “The Editors.
‘Even an end has a start.’”
“The Editors!
See I told you,” he said to the longhaired tiny regular, who shrugged his
defeat.
“You know a
lot about music,” Dani said.
“I’ve got
about six hundred gigs at home,” he nodded.
“Wow! That
sounds more like a passion than a hobby.”
He shrugged it off, “It’s only scratching the surface of
what’s out there. I always want more. I know all the songs, could tell you all
the artists, and know most of the words. It’s a lot of useless knowledge.”
“If you love it, it isn’t useless. So, do you want to be
a music supervisor on a show, or are you a musician?” She was going to ask more
but trailed off when he shrugged and left to pour drinks for a dimwit looking
guy with a baseball hat flipped backwards.
She didn’t know that the wall that flew up around him had
nothing to do with her. Adrian had dreams that he wouldn’t admit, even to
himself. His passion for music and his knowledge of it surpassed that of many
professionals in the music business, and he knew he had more to offer than they
did. Where to start was the question that stopped him, and as the years passed
the question grew insurmountably louder.
His schedule got in the way because of the hours he kept
for work. He tried in spurts to fight the exhaustion. The social circle he ran
with, also, didn’t promote growth. They, as a group, had become like crabs in a
bucket with partying being the bucket. If you put live crabs in a bucket, they
won’t escape. Not because they can’t, but because every time one crab makes it
to the top, another grabs its leg and pulls it back down.
He loved films, horror films in particular, and it had
occurred to him to become involved in making them, to put his two loves
together. He’d thought of exactly the job she’d just mentioned, a music
supervisor, the person who finds the music and chooses where it goes in
television and films.
It would take
time and discipline to learn how to do it, to make the contacts, to prove his
worth. It would be hard.
Hard work
he didn’t mind, it was taking the first step that was the problem.
Dani knew she’d hit a nerve.
She watched him talk to customers, his
normal showmanship and personality missing. She searched her mind for ways to
make up for it or to help. Maybe she could do something for him, she thought.
Soon he came
back.A
smile
masked the raw nerve. She could easily see he was still mulling over her
questions but she didn’t tell him that.
He leaned
onto the bar. “Your eyes…” he said, looking into them.
“Yes?”
“They’re so… intelligent.”
“Intelligent?
Not what I was expecting you to say…” she
laughted
.
“Well, I could have said a great many things, but truth
be told, they are really, really intelligent. They’re different from other
women.
You look at me like you know
me, and it’s not just me. You look at everything like you
know
it - like
you’ve lived a hundred years.”
Her smile faded in surprise. She wanted to say,
“Close.
Two hundred.” It was so
awful to never be able to be honest about things like that.
She instantly wanted, more than
anything, to tell him the whole truth. In two hundred years she’d only told one
person what she was and that hadn’t gone well.
She looked away, got up, forced a smile, “Now that’s
something every woman always loves to hear. You look a hundred years old.”
He started to explain but she
interrupted him as she stood up and said, “Excuse me.” He was afraid she was
going to leave and was relieved to watch her turn toward the ladies room.
She coaxed herself to be calm as she walked into a stall;
what she now regarded as her sanctuary and torture chamber. She was alone this
time, not surprising, as it was early. The place didn’t usually fill up for
another hour or so and she was thankful for the privacy. Looking at herself in
the mirror, she saw what he saw. She’d lived so many places, led so many lives.
Of course she didn’t really look like she was twenty-eight anymore, not really.
Her skin did, younger even, but her eyes and her essence, did not. She saw
loneliness staring back at her. Who cares how much you see or how much you do
if you do it all alone?
She smoothed her hair and went to put on lipstick. Her
bag wasn’t there. Where was her bag?
She’d left it on the bar. Oh well, no lipstick.
She took a deep breath, and opened the
door to find Adrian there, alone, leaning against the wall.
“Hey.”
“Hi.”
He walked to her, and in her surprise she backed up a
step. His right hand reached out to her and wrapped itself around her hip as he
guided her back up against the wall. His eyes held hers and he brought his
mouth an inch from hers. “You’re cold,” he whispered and she could feel his
breath on her lips. “I’m warming up,” she breathed.
His lips were so close. The heat inside
her was growing fast. His eyes were hooded and so sexy. He held her prisoner
there, teasing her, slowly bending in a way that asked her to meet his mouth
and bridge the distance.
But when
she tried to kiss him, he would pull back and smile.
He wanted her to know that it was he who
was in control.
Not her.
He caressed her hip and reached around and grabbed her
ass, squeezing and pulling her body tighter against him. She could feel his
hardness against her. He lightly brushed his lips against hers, the heat of his
breath melting her mind.
“You
are
warming up,” he smiled against her lips. She nodded, speechless. He kissed her
as he pulsated against her hip. Their tongues touched, played with each other,
teased. Then suddenly, he walked away, back to the bar, leaving her dazed and
aroused.
Her teeth had sharpened. The arousal had brought out her
fangs, but just a little.
She knew
he didn’t notice, but she really wished he had.
She looked down, adjusted her dress and
smiled.
Her skin looked almost pink
from the excitement.
Fun.
She could hear Adrian behind the bar talking to the
regulars.
Four cans of Guinness,
poured one after the other upside down to foam, the way a Guinness should.
His feet on the rubber
mat.
The pen on black napkin as the little one doodled.
Beard scratch. Combined laughter.
That heartbeat, his heartbeat still beat fast from their
kiss. “Nah! They were good right up to the point where the lead singer got
sober. That’s when they lost their edge.”
“No, they lost their edge way before that,” the bearded
one argued, waving his hand no.
“
Wayyyyy
before,” the little
one nodded.
A lady always knows when to leave. She made a beeline to
the bar, ignoring them, grabbed her bag,
then
waved
goodbye casually to head for the exit.
“Dani,” he
called out. She turned. “I’m working Friday,” he informed her. The regulars
stopped talking and watched her with interest.
She shot back, “So?”
“So I’ll see
you Friday,” he winked at her.
“Maybe you
will,” she said and smiled.
His
eyes got serious.
“I’ll see you
Friday,” he said.
She stood dumbfounded for a moment and nodded, turned away
and walked out, stunned. Had a human just told her what to do?
____________________
She knew that on Friday the bar would be packed and to
sit alone with no one to talk to, sounded worse than ignoring his order and
staying home. Looking like a stalker wasn’t sexy.
She invited her friends and they were at
the bar waiting for her when she arrived, discussing the shark-eaten
accountant. The bar was at capacity and
Def
Leppard’s
“Pour Some Sugar On Me” blasted from the
speakers, with most of the patrons singing along for the chorus. Throwback
time.
“Dani, did
you hear that they were investigating a homicide for that accountant who got
eaten by the shark?”
Anjelica
asked.
“Oh? Are they
questioning the shark’s family and co-workers to look for motive?” Dani asked
which made Stewart do a spit-take he was laughing so hard.
“Sorry. So
sorry,” Stew said, wiping off the jacket of a girl he’d sprayed. She shot him a
look and moved off down the bar. “It needed to be washed anyway.
What is with everyone being dirty and
calling it hip? No, but that’s freaking hilarious. They investigated further
because the security cameras were turned off at his place!”
“Interesting,” Dani said and looked at Adrian who nodded
hello to her. His hair was wet but she couldn’t tell why.
“Yeah, but
then they threw it out because the coroner ruled it to be accidental. No
bruising on the body, except for the pieces missing from the shark. He was
drained of blood,” Dani looked at Anjelica then, her attention caught. “
but
that would be because of the ocean, the shark, etc.”
Anjelica counted on her fingers the reasons and then threw up her hands at the
end, “And one of his legs was just gone.
Gone! Ripped right off.”
“Well, a
shark will do that,” Dani mused.