Scorned (19 page)

Her shouts were cut off by the sound of
cracking thunder. I saw nothing, but Tate’s blood red face, and
then I didn’t see that anymore. She dropped to the ground
unconscious and smacked her head on the stone. Marx and Will would
have grabbed her, but Xiomara’s voice came loud and strong as a
thunderstorm. “Do not touch her.” She enunciated every word, making
her point. “She is not deserving of your help.” Then she turned to
me. “I hope you have learned something here today. Those who oppose
us must be punished. I have given the decree. You will get no help
from us.”

I shook my head and did exactly what I was
told not to do. “I know I learned I don’t like you very much. I
know I learned that you are not fair and you are not gracious or
merciful, and therefore, you are not a good leader. You’ve no need
to worry anything from me. I won’t be asking for your help again. I
don’t need it from the likes of you.” I knelt down and picked Tate
up, carrying her in both my arms. I could feel her heart beat and
knew she wasn’t dead, but she was so limp. At least she didn’t
weigh too much.

Marx and Will leapt to help me. “No,” I
said. “You had your chance. You don’t leave your friends to die at
another’s hand if you’re able to help them. I don’t care what
you’re told to do.” And I carried her from the room.

I didn’t stop until we were in the hall with
the door closed. Then, I lowered myself and Tate to the floor.

“What did she do to her?” I asked.

“You’ve seen
Lord of the Rings
?” Marx
asked.

“Of course.”

“You remember the part where Gandalf and
Saruman fight in the tower?” Will said.

“Uh huh.”

“It’s kind of like that. She hit her with
her power and knocked her out.”

“So, she’s not going to die?” They shook
their heads. I still didn’t like that they deserted their friend.
“Let’s get her where we can lay her down,” I said.

Marx wouldn’t let me carry her. He took her
from my arms and led the way back to the waiting room where he laid
her on one of those ultra-plush, super-soft sofas, and we
waited.

“Give me your shirt,” I ordered Marx. I
could tell he wanted to argue with me, but not after what I’d said
earlier.

Marx whipped the shirt over his head before
asking, “What are you going to do with it?”

“I’m going to get it wet in that fountain
over there and see if I can’t bring her around with some cool
water.”

Marx nodded and whipped his tank top off. I
saw his naked torso out of the corner of my eye and was impressed.
A rippling six-pack decorated the landscape of his stomach and his
biceps reminded me of the cartoons where they flex and muscles keep
popping up, one just a little bit smaller than the last until they
come to an almost point. He handed me the tank top and I thought a
little less of him for caring too much about his t-shirt.

“It cost me almost seventy-five bucks,” he
informed me, as if sensing my disdain, and shrugged.

Okay. So I probably would have done the
same, dammit.

I dipped the tank in the fountain on the
other side of the room and was astounded at how incredibly cold the
water was.

“Damn,” I whispered as my fingers became
instant icicles.

“It’s fresh,” Will informed me. “Some of the
best water you’ll ever drink, but it’s so cold you have to draw it
out and let it sit before you can drink it.”

“Damn,” I said again. I wrung out the shirt
carefully so I wouldn’t freeze my fingers, then went and knelt
beside Tate. I dabbed at her forehead with the wet cloth.

Tate sat straight up and pulled away from
me, cowered against the back of the sofa, and shivered. I sat back
on my heels. “What’s wrong?” I asked no one in particular.

“Nothing,” Marx answered. “She’s just
disoriented. She may not remember you right off. Give her a
minute.” To Tate, he said, “Tate, Doll, you alright?”

Tate nodded. “That was so cold.”

“I know. We had to wake you up. The Wicked
Witch of the Underground knocked you out because you were being a
bitch again.”

Tate rolled her eyes and uncurled from her
hunched up position. “Please. She’s the bitch. She-" Tate looked at
me with those freaky pink eyes. “I remember you now. LeKrista.”

I nodded.

“You alright to go back upstairs?” Will
asked.

Tate nodded and stood carefully. “Yeah, I’ll
be fine. My head is killing me!”

“You smacked your head on the floor,” I told
her.

“Yeah, I’m sure I did and I just bet that
bitch loved it. Nasty, bitter old hag.”

“You used some colorful language to describe
her,” I said with a smirk.

“You should have heard what LeKrista said to
her,” Will grinned.

Tate’s eyes went big and round. “Oh my god!
What did you say?”

By the time we got up stairs, Tate still
wasn’t over what I’d said to Xiomara and she was having a field day
with what I’d said to Marx and Will.

“That’s what you get,” she said as we
stepped through the door into the club, “for not being chivalrous
and gentlemanly. I hope you’ve both learned your lessons.”

Marx and Will protested, saying they would
have if...

“Me thinks they protesteth too much,” I
quoted.

“Me thinks the same damn thing,” Tate said.
“I know you both love me,” she told them, hands on her hips, her
burgundy hair shaking about her shoulders as she shook her head at
them. “You don’t have to deny it.”

Marx and Will shut up, but not without a
gentle punch in the arm, at the same time. Tate grabbed both arms
and dropped to the floor like she’d been shot. Or like she’d been
zapped by the evil Mage Head again. “Ow, you broke my arms!” She
writhed as if in serious pain.

Marx scooped her up and shouted, rather
valorously, “I shan’t not leave mine friends behind if’n I may be
able to helpeth them!” Will picked up her hair like it was the
train of a wedding dress and they carried her across the room. I
laughed and glanced around, but there was no vampire to be
found.

“Your friend stepped outside for a moment,”
one of the employees said to me. He was cute, blonde with blue
eyes, and dressed in a black t-shirt and slacks. The t-shirt said
Vamp-Lightenment Security
in bloody red letters across the
front. Cute.

“Thanks,” I said. “What happened?”

He shrugged. “He had a bite to eat,” he
seemed to think this incredibly clever, “then got all worried and
stepped outside to use a blue and green cell phone.”

“That’s my cell phone,” I said, as if the
guy would care. I sprinted back up into the main part of the shop.
Roman was just outside the window on my cell talking fast and
furious, hand motioning as he spoke. I pushed the front doors open
and stepped out to join him. He moved aside vampire-quick, knowing
I was trying to hit him with the door.

Damn those vampire powers.

“That’s my phone. Get off.” Roman held up a
finger, and that really pissed me off. I held out my hand for the
phone. “I want the phone in my hand now.”

“It’s the human girl. She demands her phone.
I must play nice for now.”

“Excuse me?” I demanded. Roman turned his
eyes down to look at me, but there wasn’t the look of annoyance I
expected, or anger. There was only shock and complete and utter
surprise.

“I must go.” He pulled the phone away from
his ear and hit the “end call” button without looking. “What did
you hear?” he asked.

“That’s all this is? You’re just ‘playing
nice’?” I made quote marks with my fingers.

“LeKrista.”

“Shut up. You get on my last nerve. I wish
you’d just leave me alone.”

“LeKrista, please listen to me.”

“No, Roman. I’m tired of listening to you.
When you’re not telling me that I’m not ready to hear what you have
to say, you’re lying so just shut up.”

Roman grabbed me by my arms and lifted me
off the ground enough that my toes were barely touching the
concrete. “LeKrista, be quiet or I’ll have to use force.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” I said.

“You should be." He was a vampire and I was
human. I should have been terrified, but I wasn’t.

“LeKrista?” I heard my name as the bell
above the door tinkled. Marx and Will had come to my rescue.
“Everything alright?” They were as afraid of the vampire as I
should have been.

“Tell them everything is alright,” Roman
said. His blue eyes flashed, hot and angry. He’d fed and drank his
fill so his power was at optimum performance. My throat constricted
and I gasped, trying to get air. It was only a flash, only a
tightening and then release, but it was enough to make my heart
flutter.

“I’m fine,” I said. I remembered that first
night three weeks ago when Roman first used his vampire mind tricks
on me. It hadn’t worked the way he’d wanted then and it wasn’t
working very well right now.

“I don’t believe you,” Marx said. “You’re
looking straight into his eyes. Tell him to put you down.”

I flashed a look at Roman. “I wish you
would,” I growled so only Roman could hear me. Roman only smiled,
infuriating me further.

“LeKrista is fine,” he said aloud, but he
never looked away from me. “I would not hurt her.” Roman set me
back on my feet. “Tell them that I did not hurt you, my sweet.”

I glared at him, then looked at Marx. “He
didn’t hurt me. I won’t even bruise.” I saw both men relax
considerably.

“You had text messages,” Roman said. “They
were from Pierce.”

I blinked at him. “You read my text
messages?” I asked unbelieving. “That is so rude and incredibly
tacky. I don’t go around reading your text messages. Did you reply
to them too, you jerk?”

“No, though I thought about it.”

“I’m sure you did. How many were there and
what did they say?”

“Staci, what are you doing? Are you with the
vampire? Are you sure this is a good idea? Why aren’t you
answering? What’s going on? What’s wrong? Staci? Stace? Answer me,
dammit!”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly,
slid my cell phone open, and sent, “Hey, what’s up?” That was it.
Nothing but cool, calm me. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of
thinking that I cared. Not after he’d left me.

“LeKrista, look at me.”

“I don’t really want to right now.”

“LeKrista.” I looked up because there was a
hint of anger in his voice that I’d heard before and it scared me.
“What did you hear when I was on the phone?”

I glared, but quoted, “‘It’s the human girl.
She demands her phone. I must play nice, for now.’”

“How did you understand me?” he asked.

“What do you mean? You spoke in English,
plain as day.”

“No,” Roman said. “I was speaking
French.”

I frowned at him and replayed the image. I
shouldn’t have bothered. Roman played the image again for me and I
heard it. He spoke fluid, flawless French, but I understood every
word.

“Ohmigod,” I said and backed away from him.
“What have you done to me?” My breath begin came in gasps and
pants.

“Help me,” I heard Roman say, though his
voice was distant. “She’s going to have a panic attack. Get her
inside.”

Marx and Will had their arms around me,
guiding me back into the building before I could say anything. They
sat me on that tacky red sofa and put my head between my knees and
I gasped for air until the attack passed. My head spun and my heart
pounded in beat with my head.

I said something to Roman. I shouldn’t have
known the words. I shouldn’t have been able to say what I said, but
when I spoke, the words came out in French and I’d never taken a
lesson in my life.

“What the fuck have you done to me?” I
shouted.

“LeKrista.” Roman’s voice came out breathy,
as if he was not only impressed, but he found it beautiful too.

I grabbed my hair, pulled at it with my
hands and began to shout. I didn’t shout in English, but I didn’t
shout in French either.

“What the fuck have you done to me?” I
shouted in German. “I shouldn’t be able to do this!” I said in
Russian. “These aren’t languages I should know!” I told him in
Spanish. “How did this happen and how can you fix it?” I finished
in English. I ended standing, shouting up into his face, my hands
balled into fists by my sides. Roman looked down at me, a look of
complete loss on his face. He wasn’t sorry for whatever had
happened, but he wasn’t sure how it had happened either.

“LeKrista,” he didn’t seem able to find the
words. “LeKrista, I don’t know how to fix this. I don’t even know
how it happened. Please believe me.”

“No,” I shouted. “I don’t believe you. This
is your fault! All of it!”

“How so?” he asked, and I couldn’t believe
it.

“You sought me out! You came to me! Not the
other way around! You forced yourself on me, and now look what
you’ve done!”

“I don’t understand why you’re so angry,”
Roman said calmly, and I wanted to rip his head off and burn it.
“How is this a bad thing?”

“You keep ruining me!” But a face popped
into my head. Eddy’s face. They couldn’t talk about me behind my
back anymore, and with that thought I calmed a little.

“What did you just think of, my sweet? I
felt your mood change.”

“That’s none of your business,” I snapped,
and just like that I was angry again. Good old Roman, bringing out
the worst in me.

“LeKrista.” Roman reached out and touched a
finger to my cheek. I wanted to pull away from him, because I
really didn’t want him touching me, but I didn’t. I couldn’t, for
some reason. “What happened in there?” he asked.

All of my anger leaked away and I was
suddenly incredibly depressed.

“They won’t help me,” I told him.

Roman frowned. “Really? Did you explain to
them-”

“Yes,” I snapped. “I explained and I asked
nicely.” I paused. “Then I got smart and stomped out.” I left out
the part about Tate, because I didn’t think I was supposed to tell
him that. Not the way Xiomara had been talking, and for all my big
talk I didn’t want her to zap me with her “bug zapper”.