Within the Cards (13 page)

“What’s wrong with this girl? He wants to be alone with her, and she’s so stupid that she rejects him. If he asked me, I’d drop her in a minute.” I heard Trish’s thoughts ring out, and I saw that Ellie had too. Her piercing fang from the right side of her mouth was slightly exposed.

“Trish” I started to ask, but Ellie interrupted me. She glared in my directions. I looked at her letting her know I wouldn’t allow her to hurt this girl.

“Ok, if you have to be a nerd right now, let’s go to my dorm room. I have the research material there.” She lashed back at me. I saw the evil in her thoughts. They were no longer directed at Trish, but now they shot daggers in my direction. She read my intentions that if I couldn’t get her away from Trish; I would get Trish away from her.

“Daught, did you want to ask me something?” Trish said in a soft, sexy voice. Her anticipation jumped out of her skin. She waited for the answer she hoped to hear. My eyes locked on Ellie’s as hers locked on mine. I shook my head.

“I was just going to tell you to have a good night.” I replied. I saw the disappointment in her eyes. However, she had no idea how close she came to dying today. Her disappointment should be appreciation.

“Trish, I’ll see you in class tomorrow. I hope you don’t hate me for dropping you.” Ellie directed her response to Trish with a devilish smile. I looked in her direction disgusted that she enjoyed the pain of this girl.

As we walked away, I could hear the thoughts of Trish in the background.

“Bitch. Why do they all want her? She’s nothing special. I’m prettier than she is. I know I am. I think.” Her thoughts lashed at her insecurities as she turned to walk away. Ellie again seemed to get some enjoyment out of the thoughts of Trish. I just wanted Ellie to remember who I was.

We walked to her dorm room in silences. I thought at some point, she would disappear leaving me to my dream. It would be just a dream to think she might actually invite me up to her living quarters. As we reached the door to her room, she turned and looked into my eyes. I knew her thoughts, and she didn’t have to worry I wasn’t going to cross the line. Of course, I think she would enjoy my attempts because that would give her a compelling reason to kill me.

“You coming in vamp, or are you going to stand there like a school boy ready to pee in your pants?.” She snarled. She held the door open with one arm and motioned toward the opened room. My mind wandered. I wasn't sure, if she had a plan to kill me or if she genuinely wanted me in her room.

“Why have you invited me up here?” I asked as I stood in the doorway.

“You seem to think you know me from somewhere, and I want to know where,” she smiled. Her facial expression was almost pleasant with her response to my question.

“Ellie, is everything we shared gone?” I begged her to remember. I leaned against the wall in the hallway outside her door. She held the door opened and stepped to the side motioning for me to enter again. My curiosity was getting the better of me. I knew if I went inside I might never leave the room, but at the same time, I hoped she would remember me at some point.

“Are you coming?” She snarled.

I entered the room. I heard the door close behind me. She walked around me and laid her books on the desk that looked similar to the one in my dorm room. She turned in my direction.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. Why do you think we were lovers? I would never lower myself to your kind. I have told you this, but why do you continue to insist?” she asked as she slammed her hand down on top of the books she just laid on the desk. She hissed at me.

“It was many decades ago Ellie. In Cuba. Don’t you remember Cuba?” I asked softy wishing she would acknowledge that she did remember. I lowered my eyes so I didn’t enrage her further.

“Dear Daught, I've never been to Cuba. It's a pathetic little place. Why would I go there? It's full of drifter vermin like you.” She lashed at me. Her actions were calmer as she moved toward the window that overlooked the river. I stood in the middle of the room waiting for her attack.

“You pulled me out of the water after my ship blew up. You carried me to safety. I was dying. You changed me. We were in love.” I pleaded for her to remember.

“In love? You say we were in love. I bit you and doomed you to a life of hell on earth, never ending hell, and you say we were in love. Isn't the love you speak of supposed to be kind and gentle, but I damned you to an eternity of hell.” She lashed out as she turned in my direction and then stopped and turned back toward the window.

Ellie looked in the distance through the window. I moved across the room and sat in the chair at the desk that was next to her bed. I looked for some resemblance of the past in her actions. She continued to stare into the night. She wasn’t upset or annoyed. It was as if she were looking through the many files of her past life to find the small folder of our time together.

“Listen, I don’t know what you are talking about. I don’t like your kind. I’m here because my sister sent me. I don’t want to fight with you, but if that’s what you want I’ll tear this campus up leaving the world thinking the apocalypse had come.” She stated. Her voice was calmer, but I knew she still felt uncomfortable and kept her distance.

If Ellie decided to kill me, I would have no defense against her. She was the only one that could remove my eternal life, and I knew her well enough to know she would do it and never look back.

“Ellie, I just want you to remember. I've existed without you for a hundred years. When you walked into the lecture hall, I knew it was the answer to my prayers if that’s what you want to call it.” I said softy not wanted to push her. I continued to sit in the chair as she had her back to me.

“Please would you stop saying that?” She stated as she turned again in my direction. “You are driving me as crazy as you are. I don’t need to remember anything. You are just delusional. I think you need to see a vamp psychiatrist. You know they have medications for your problem. I don’t know you nor have I ever known you.” She began to hiss. She was irritated, but at the same time, I knew there was something about her that wondered if I was telling the truth because there was no hatred in her hiss. My mind told me I needed to back off, but my heart told me to push her. I read her thoughts and realized there was a time in her life that she didn’t remember.

“Alright Ellie, If I'm delusional I apologize. Just think about it. Is there a time in your existence that you don’t recall? A block of time that doesn’t make sense. Think about it. Please just think about it.” I pleaded with her. I pushed too far. Her thoughts wanted me to leave the room. She wasn’t irritated. It was as if she needed to be alone.

“Ellie, I hope one day you’ll remember me. I hope you’ll remember our time together. You were happy then.” I smiled at her, but she rolled her eyes at me in return.

“Go before you really piss me off. I have to go speak to my sister” She was hard. She waved her hand toward the door.

The thought of her telling her sisters about me scared me beyond the nightmare of my existence. I knew they would come here, and it would only take a few minutes before I would cease to exist. Ellie would never remember me. The Ellie I remembered would never return. She would always be this hateful monster that just wanted to kill.

“Please Ellie, don’t tell your sisters about seeing me here. I have never begged for anything, but I am begging you.” I heard my own voice tremble. She looked at me strangely.

“What do you know about my sisters? Oh wait, that’s right. They kidnapped me and made me forget you.” She laughed, and I heard the annoyance in her voice. Her look wasn’t of discussed in the sense that she hated me, but in the sense that she thought I was mad.

“Because I know as well as you what they are capable of doing. Just don’t tell them if you ever want to know the truth about me.” I responded as my voice raised and changed frequency. I felt my temperature rise. I wasn’t angry. It scared me to know what would happen if her sisters found out that she was talking to me.

“Whatever you say vamp. But there is nothing for me to remember.” She waved me off and turned her back. I stood there for a few minutes hoping she would turn to me again, but I realized Ellie didn’t want to talk any longer. I moved toward the door. I turned to look at her again, but she continued to look out the window into the distant.

She had dismissed me. She didn’t remember the life we once shared. She dismissed me as if I were a mortal male, not of her class. I left the room with my head held down. The only feeling Ellie had for me was that of irritation. She thought I was an insane mental case.

I walked back to my dorm. This time I took a human pace. I ran the thoughts of our conversation through my mind. Why had she invited me up to her room just to dismiss me as if I were no one? I ached for her touch. I wanted to lie in her arms and feel the love we once shared. This was going to be harder than I thought it would be. Ellie was under the spell of her sisters, and I was going to have to break this spell. Never did I think I would have to play the role of a knight in shining armor. However, if that was what it took to get Ellie to remember me, I would do whatever I had too. This was not some fairy tale. This was my reality. I must hunt.

Chapter Eleven

WHERE DO I KNOW HIM?

ELLIE
:

My thoughts were continuing to race. I don't know why he thinks I know him. What was he talking about, my saving him from drowning? I changed him? Damn him to hell, he’s deranged. I would never stoop that low. He was getting on my nerves so bad.

When he left my dorm last night, I watched him move slowly across the campus as if he were moving at a snail's pace. Damn vamp acted too much like a human. What was it about him that pulled my attention to him? His smell was so sweet, not like the other vampires. I couldn’t believe I felt attracted to this vamp. Of course, I would never let anyone know that especially not my sisters. Daught, you’re safe on that point. I wouldn’t dare let Suzi know about what you have said. She would capture and torture you. I would want to be your maker so I could kill you and put you out of your misery.

Speaking of wanting to kill someone, this Trish needed to be taught a lesson. I knew he would never forgive me if I killed her, but I would have to teach her to stay with her own mortal little boys. She needed to stay with Mr. I bet I can hit that. I still wanted to see him try. What was I talking about? Daught wasn’t even my kind. I need to talk with my sister Dee. She would know what to do. If he could read minds then he must have cast a spell on me as well. On the other hand, one of those witches could have. They hate our kind for extinguishing Elizabeth. I had nothing to do with that act. So why was I the one they wanted to drive completely crazy?

I had two sisters, Suzanna and Deeanna. They had been responsible for running the family for over two hundred years. My sister Suzanna was the oldest and wisest or I might say the eviler of the two. She had no mercy for weakness. She was the alpha of the clan until the Lords called her. Deeanna then took her place and was now in command of our clan. We were direct descendants of the three Lords of the Witchyres. We had our own clan, but all answer to the Lords. Suzy joined the Lords because she proved herself as an unmerciful ruler. They destroyed her husband, and she joined the three Lords to extend another branch of witchyres. She earned the right to be the wife of the three and produce their children to form a stronger clan. They forbid her to have any contact with us.

I snapped my fingers and within an instance, I was in the lair that houses my sister Deeanna and her family. This lair was deep in the mountains that surrounded Vancouver, Canada. It was far enough from the large city, but still in proximity to the vast hunting of its streets. Her lair was on the other side of the mountain from where the lord’s castle laid. Their castle was the original home of my grandparents over three hundred years ago.

“Dee, are you here?” I called as I looked around the room.

“Ellie, I am everywhere,” she laughed, “you know that.” She came from one of the rooms. Her smile always made me feel welcome. Dee and I were never allowed to show our happiness when we were younger. We had to pretend to express hate, but both of us knew we cared for the other. Suzi was full of hate and vengeance. If she realized that Dee and I were keeping these feelings to ourselves, she would have killed us both.

“You seem to be in a good mood dear sister.” I said.

“We had a vampire trying to lure one of our children off. We stopped him, and we’re holding him hostage.” Dee laughs. “He will soon wish his maker would rescue him just to destroy his existence. Come see what you are missing.” Dee called to me. She motioned for me to follow her.

I followed her to the dungeon of the vast lair. It wasn’t like the dungeons of horror movies. It was a rather warm and lavishly furnished place. Servants kept the rooms neatly cleaned. There were no bars holding this prisoner where they wanted him to stay. Witchyres didn’t need these restraints. Our powers could keep the strongest of men as well as vampires where we wanted them. We didn’t need to keep them isolated in a cold, damp cell.

Vampires were known not only their thirst for blood, but their lust for sex as well. The servants kept the vampires at bay. They were beautiful, minimally clothed female witchyres that danced around in front of him. An invisible sphere of boundaries that he couldn’t move beyond bound the prisoner. If he attempted an escape, the virtual vibrations of magic would make him lose control and fall to the floor. This was how we maintained their imprisonment. It was an amusement to all witchyres. Watching the enticement of partially nude beautiful females just in reach of the vampire, but never being able to touch was an enjoyable sight. It pleasured the witchyres knowing of his torment.