Scorned (17 page)

Will: Shut up, Tate.

SirMarxALot: Yeah, Tate. Shut up.

Tate: They aren’t too witty either. Guys,
this is LeKrista. She has vamps in her head.

SirMarxALot: lol

Will: lol

Will: You might want to try a
psychiatrist.

SirMarxALot: How many vampires, exactly, do
you have in your head?

Will: Yeah. Do they tell you to do things to
yourself?

SirMarxALot: LMAO Will!

Tate: Guys, stop. You really aren’t as funny
as you think you are.

I decided it might be funny to see what they
had to say.

StaciDoll: There are two. Roman and Perdita.
Roman lives up the street from me. Perdita, well, I don’t know
where she lives, but I killed her lover and now she wants me
dead.

The room went quiet. Will and Marx had no
more smart remarks to make.

Will: Wow.

SirMarxALot: Tate, isn’t Roman your
vampire?

Tate: He didn’t tell me about Perdita.
LeKrista, see if you can get Roman to bring you to us. I think I
know someone who can help.

StaciDoll: Where is here?

Tate: Oh. Stupid me. Charleston.

I called to Roman in my head and while I
waited for him to answer, I continued to talk to Tate, Will, and
Marx. I felt Roman move in the back of my mind and sift through the
conversation. When I finally signed off, Roman was behind me.
“You’ll take me to Charleston?” I asked.

“I will.”

“Right now?”

“Do you think it wise to do so much so
soon?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I barely feel anything.” I
wrote a quick note for my aunt and uncle, told them I was going to
Charleston and wasn’t sure exactly when I would be back.

“What about Pierce?”

I shrugged again. “He’ll be alright.” I felt
Roman’s joy before he was able to lock it all away.

Bastard.

Roman wrapped his arms around me, but I
didn’t like it the way I once had. I guess now I understood what
price came with it.

I knew the moment we were in the air and
flying. The air rushed around and through me and I lost the need to
breathe.

The flight was short because he was very,
very fast and we didn’t have far to go. We touched down on the
sidewalk of downtown Charleston in front of a shop called, I kid
you not,
Vamp-Lightenment.

“So hokey,” I said aloud and Roman chuckled
before I realized I couldn’t breathe. I reached out to grab Roman’s
arm and missed. “Roman.”

“You can’t breathe.” Roman scooped me up in
his arms and carried me inside the building, pushing through the
doors with his broad back. “I need a place to lay her,” he told
someone I couldn’t see for the spots in my eyes. “She can’t
breathe. Help me man!” I heard Roman’s urgent plea, but it was like
I was listening from the other end of a long tunnel. Just an echo
of what it was.

I guess he’s not going to help.

And that thought chased me into
unconsciousness.

I was drowning, but there was no water. I
couldn’t breathe, but I could smell the comfort of sea salt,
sunblock, and coconut tanning oil. I heard seagulls, the soft lull
of Roman’s accent, and...was that a lion? Some kind of giant cat
was in the distance. There was a mourning lilt to the sound of its
call and I thought “that can’t be right.” The cat was sad, hurt,
heartbroken, but I couldn’t tell why. I wanted to comfort it, but
didn’t know why I should.

I came back with a sudden jerk and sat up
very straight, thunking my head on something hard as I did. I
gasped for air and choked on oniony, stale breath.

“What the hell?!” I gagged. “What
the...hell?” It was the only thing I could think to say.

“LeKrista?” I looked up into Roman’s
concerned eyes. “I told you this was a bad idea. It was too
soon.”

“What were my options?” I rasped. “Take the
risk and fly out here tonight or let Perdita try and kill me
again.”

“I was not going to let that happen,
LeKrista. I promised. It was my fault she was able to get to you in
the first place. If I hadn’t left you alone...”

I coughed and tasted onion again. “Who the
hell was eating onions and why am I tasting them?”

“You weren’t breathing,” said a small,
hesitant male voice from behind me. “I wouldn’t let him give you
mouth-to-mouth. Sorry.”

I turned to find a small, bald man with
glasses perched on the end of his nose squatting next the end of
the sofa where my head had been. We were in a bookstore/souvenir
shop done in black and red, gothic vampire style. The sofa I lay on
was a rich red velvet material and very comfortable. The floors and
walls were just black painted concrete, but free of any dust or
dirt. It was commendable. The book shelves looked like a special
order, made of twisted wrought iron. They were beautiful to say the
least. Above was a fantastic black crystal chandelier. It was so
amazing that I knew it had to be handmade by someone in town and I
wanted their number.

“Did we bump heads?” I asked, still looking
around in wonder.

“Yes.”

“Sorry about that. I’m LeKrista.”

“Herman.”

“Herman.” Typical. The geeky man had a geeky
name, but he seemed cool enough. “I’m here to meet Tate?”

“I’ll go call her up.” Herman walked away,
he wasn’t very tall, but he made sure to keep an eye on Roman and
me. I guess he didn’t trust the vampire. Couldn’t blame him,
really.

“He won’t hurt me, Herman.”

“If it’s all the same to you...he doesn’t
care a thing about me.”

I looked at Roman, who stood and plastered
himself against the black, black wall, standing out against it like
an orchid amongst roses. “You won’t hurt the nice man?” I
asked.

“I have no reason to. He saved your life. I
owe him.”

I looked at Herman and shrugged. “He owes
you.”

Herman stared at me, he stared at Roman,
then picked up his phone and looked down to dial. “Hey, Tate.
There’s a woman here to see you.” Herman pulled the phone away from
his face and looked at it quizzically before setting it back down
in its cradle. “I guess she’s on her way up.”

“Thanks, Herman.” I looked over at Roman. He
was still plastered against the wall, his eyes fixated on something
across the room, but I don’t think he was actually seeing anything.
Nothing that I could see, anyway. I watched him. He’d gone still as
death. There, but not alive. Another fixture in the room to add to
the ensemble, and it was amazing how much he seemed to belong in
this dark coffin of a room.

“Don’t look into his eyes,” Herman said. His
voice didn’t match the feel in the room and it helped to pull me
out of the spell some. “He’ll catch you.”

“He won’t use his eyes on me,” I told
him.

“
Would you call to my blood even though
you know it could kill me?”

“
Come to me, LeKrista. Stand before me
and I will share some of myself with you.”

I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that.
“What do you mean?”
I asked, because that hadn’t been an
answer to my question.

“
I will not call to your blood. Come.
Stand before me.”

I stood and walked around the sofa to stand
before him toe to toe and I looked into his face, but not his
eyes.

“
You wound me, but that is good enough,
LeKrista. Just watch.”

I fell from my world and into Roman’s, a
world of darkness and blood and death. I wasn’t really sure what I
was watching, it was more feelings than images, but it was
interesting. I knew he was sharing a part of himself that he hadn’t
shared with Adelina or Calliope.

“
The young man is afraid for you,
LeKrista.”

I felt Herman’s fear like I’d never felt
anything in my life. It was so real and tangible like it was my
own.

“
He thinks you’ve caught me. He thinks
you’re hurting me. Feeding from me. Let me go so I can tell
him.”

“
You are free to go anytime you
want.”

But I couldn’t break free. I didn’t know how
and Roman knew that. I felt my anger rise and Roman’s humor
grow.

“
You anger so easily, my sweet.”

We were slipping out of whatever this was
and I felt the room again. I could smell the cleaning products used
on the floors and walls. I could smell...blood? I could smell the
blood of four people and I knew one to be Herman.

“I don’t think that’s it, Herman, honest.” I
recognized Tate’s voice.

“He’s caught her,” Herman insisted, his
little voice so high and squeaky it sounded like it hurt. “He has.
Do something to help her.”

“Look, man.” The voice of a man. “They’re
coming out of it.”

“I don’t think it is what you think it is,
Hermy.” Tate’s voice again.

I had full control of myself now. I took a
step back and crossed my arms over my chest, scowling.

“If you weren’t already dead, I’d kill you,”
I told Roman, and I heard the other’s chuckle. The scent of blood
was fading quickly, and I was glad for that. I turned to the
others.

“Hey,” said Tate.

“Hey.” I looked up at the two men she had
with her. “You must be Marx,” I said to the tall, broad-shouldered
one to her right. He was attractive, but looked like he knew it
well.

“Smart girl,” he said. “Yeah, I’m Marx. This
is Will.” Will was shorter, stocky, with dark brown hair and eyes.
He was cute, attractive, but not my type.

I grinned. “Here’s one of my vampires,” I
said. They laughed.

Roman moved past me toward the four standing
across from us. Herman took a giant step back from him and the
laughter died in the other two men’s throats. Roman stepped up to
Tate and offered his hand, bowing deeply.

“So strong the smell of your blood, sweet
Tate.”

I frowned.

What the heck?

Tate giggled.

I rolled my eyes. “Psycho freak.”

“Well, let’s go down stairs, shall we?” Tate
asked. She didn’t wait for anyone to answer, just turned on her
heel and flounced through a dark door into a hallway. We descended
some stairs and walked toward a door.

“
Do you really have to tell her how
strong her blood smells?”
I asked.
“She doesn’t know by
now?”

Roman turned an empty, intense look to me.
“What are you talking about, LeKrsita? I spoke Latin. No one knew
what I said. You shouldn’t know what I said.”

I frowned back, or tried to because I think
what he really got from me was a look of terror.

We walked through a door into a wide open
room with a stage to one side and sound box to the other.

“You’re going to have to stay here,” Tate
told Roman. “No vamps past this room. Sorry.”

Roman sniffed the air and let out a breath.
“That’s fine,” he offered, and his eyes sparked with hunger. It was
the closest I’d seen him to feeding time and it frightened me. He
turned those glistening eyes to me - I think he smelled my fear -
and said, “I think I’d rather stay here and find
some...refreshment.”

Tate grinned. “Figured you would. We’ll take
good care of your human. Promise.”

“I have no fear of that.”

Tate led me across the club through yet
another door. And a lot more stairs.

The door closed behind us with a heavy,
thundering finality that made me jump, and a small squeak of fright
escaped my lips. Marx chuckled and I looked up at him. Something in
my face quieted him and his eyes softened.

“Nothing down here will getcha,” he offered.
With a hand on my arm he ushered me down a dark, damp corridor of
red stone.

“Why aren’t vampires allowed past that
room?” I asked mostly to distract myself from the fear creeping
into my heart.

“It’s not that we’re doing anything...bad,”
was Tate’s suspicious answer.

I smiled in the dark. “It’s just not legal,”
I answered for her.

“It’s not illegal in the way you’re
thinking,” Will replied.

“Will,” Tate silenced him. “It’s not
something we can discuss with you without permission.”

A yellow-orange light flickered like torch
flames up ahead. As we drew nearer, I realized the corridor was lit
with torches, no electric lights at all.

“Why the medieval lighting?” I asked.
Anything to distract myself from being afraid.

“Um...we have trouble keeping electricity
working down here,” Tate answered. It was a good answer, but I knew
there was more to it. I let it go and stopped asking questions for
time being.

We kept walking down, deep underground until
if I imagined hard enough I could feel the weight of the earth and
stone pressing down on us. The air was damp and smelled like musty
sea water, not fishy but old, and I believed we were most likely
under several tons of ocean. The stone soon turned slick under my
feet and I had trouble keeping them under me. I took several
careful steps until I was sure I wouldn’t fall, but I overestimated
myself. I took one more step and slid. My feet flew out from under
me and my body fell hard toward the solid stone floor. I braced for
impact. I expected pain to shoot up my spine from my tail bone and
my hands to scrape against the stone, rubbed raw and bloody. I
expected my teeth to clack together painfully and possibly even
chip.

Instead, I found myself suspended in the
air, mid-fall, feet straight out in front of me. Strong hands held
me under my arms, caught in a shrug.

“Careful,” Marx said from above me. I looked
up into his blue eyes and smiled, embarrassed.

“Damn,” I said. “I wanted you to think I was
cool.”

He chuckled and lifted me like I was light
as a feather. He expected me to ask about it. I could feel the
tension around him, so I let it go. I grinned, wiped my grimy hands
on my pants, and turned too fast. Before I knew it, I was falling
again and this time I was sure Marx wouldn’t catch me. But he
did.