The atmosphere shatters as she immediately bursts back into Raging. She’s across the room in an instant, and I’m right behind her in my own Bleeder form. A few humans shout as we blow by, jumping out of the way. I reach for her wrist and stop her as she halts just a foot away from her stepmom. With heavy lids, the woman acknowledges Mikey with a drunk, sardonic smirk, her speech slurred.
“Mikaela,” she drawls with a small chuckle. “The monster.”
The acid on her tongue even makes me cringe. I swear smoke is billowing from Mikey’s ears.
Her emerald eyes bore into the woman that abandoned her flesh and blood, unable to find words. Bits and pieces of insults string themselves together across Mikey’s mind, but there aren’t any coherent sentences. Her speech is still impeded, and her frustration is growing.
“How are my children?” she asks Nickolas comes to see what’s happening. Vampires position themselves around the room, closing in. “Have you killed them yet, like you did your own mother?”
Mikey tries to jerk forward but I wrench her back. She stumbles into me, and I grab her other wrist to keep her restrained. Fury swirls in her irises, but there’s something deeper. Emotions of betrayal, sadness… they douse the inferno, creating a hurricane.
“You…” She shakes her head, unable to get anything more out as tears well along her bottom lashes.
“Mikey, let’s go. Don’t stoop to her level.”
Mikey hesitates before her shoulders slump, and she takes a ragged breath in. I feel her letting go of the situation, calming herself with slow breathing. She even turns to me like she wants me to ground her. Like she needs me as much as I realized I need her.
The woman snorts. “Just like your insolent father,” she chirps as, her words slur more. “Weak.”
A fire ignites in Mikey, and she rips her wrists from my grip.
“Mikey!”
My voice cuts through her and she stops in her tracks, her breath ragged. I step in front of her and stare her stepmother down, letting myself revert to my normal self. “You left Mikey with two children and a father that checked out. Mikey’s a lot of things, but she isn’t a monster. She’s been more of a cornerstone to everyone she’s come across than you have, and you have the gall to insult her before those you chose over your family. A mother that discards her child isn’t a mother at all.” I lean in. “If you want to find a monster, look in the mirror.”
I lift my chin, noting the drunken stupor and hatred tingeing her countenance like rust. “Let’s get out of here, Mikey. I think we’ve overstayed our welcome.”
When I turn to Mikey, gray tears line her lids. She looks at me like no one else has before, like she’s been waiting all her life to hear what I’d said.
Tingles rake across my chest.
I begin to lead her up the stairs as Nick pipes up, appearing from the shadows. “Is that true, Bellatrix? You left a family behind when you decided to donate your blood to our house?”
She continues resting her head against the back of the couch she’s sprawled out on. “Why does it matter? That was a long time ago.”
“How old were they?” Nick pries, crossing his arms as his face twists with scrutiny.
She rolls her eyes. “Like I remember. It’s been years.”
Nick squats before Bellatrix with the ghost of a smile on his lips as he laces his fingers together. “I’ll have you know that woman you refused to raise, she saved the human race, and she’s about to save everyone that relies on you for food. In fact, she recently died and was resurrected, and that’s the reason she is currently unable to stand up for herself. And the way you are so nonchalant about abandoning a child, that means you are someone unworthy of life.”
He rises, the woman finally sobering. “What? No, I… I tried. Her own father was even terrified of her. She was out of control and needed serious psychological help—”
“So you threw her and the rest of the family to the wolves instead of trying to understand her?” His mouth quirks as he runs his tongue over his right fang. “It’s women like you that should never reproduce.”
“I—”
Nick turns to us as we watch from the base of the stairs. “What would you like for us to do with her? Throw her on the street? Suck her dry?” He smirks. “Send her with you as punishment?”
All eyes are on Mikey. She inhales deeply and exhales, fiddling with the sphere. She presses the second button, her body struggling to stay in her regular form as she stares Bellatrix down. “Keep… her. Treat… her… well…” Mikey bares her teeth, her extended canines nowhere as long as a normal vampire’s, but they’re definitely not human size. Even her irises flash a brilliant green. “Mercy.”
She drops the device into my hand, and she tears away to run up the stairs, her frame trembling. She stumbles up one step, growing exhausted from forcing herself to change so many times.
Nick frowns, turning back to Bellatrix. “It’s your lucky day,” he hisses, breaking me from my stunned position. “You heard the Bleeder Queen, my family.” He grins widely. “Treat her better than she deserves. If she has a heart somewhere in there, we’ll see it in her guilt.”
Nick waves over his shoulder as his coven and their humans settle down, sending a ripple of hush over the room as Bellatrix stares at the floor. She trembles with the fear of a thousand criminals. The sharp-suited vampire places his arm around my shoulders as we make our way upstairs, Mikey already waiting at the top.
“Tell me, Zeke, do you have a means of transportation? I know you were a zombie before you’d been turned, so I’m not sure if you had any drive time.”
“Just our feet,” I respond, still in a stupor. Mikey let her walk away unscathed, even after fighting the urge to rip her cranium from her shoulders. “I think I’ve only driven a handful of times.”
“Well, if you’d like, I have a spare car.” Nick shrugs. “Call it insurance.”
I’m struck once again into speechlessness. “What if we find nothing?”
Nick pauses, considering my question. “I trust you will.” He pats my shoulder. “After all, the one who tipped me off was Maverick.”
I lift an eyebrow as we reach the top of the stairs. “Is that so?”
Nick nods deeply, his focus lingering on Mikey, who rests against the island in the kitchen, attempting to calm herself down. He pats me on the back. “I’ll go get those keys. Meet me in front.”
I’m all out of protests as he removes himself from the area. He says something to Esmeralda across the way as they disappear from sight.
I watch Mikey, her hair shrouding her features as I approach.
“Mikey, I think you—”
She twists and wraps her arms around me, digging her face in the crook of my neck as she struggles to keep from Raging Out. I can hear her pressing the button as her gray tears soak my jacket. “Thank... you...” she whispers. “I’m so... sorry. For... everything.”
Coming out of my stupor for the third time in the past five minutes, I slowly return the embrace. “You’re welcome,” I breathe as she guides me nearer, her skin trembling. “Hey, we should probably go outside.”
She holds me tighter. “Not... yet.”
Absently, I stroke her hair. After a solid minute, she finds herself and straightens her back, my arms loosening. She stays like this for a few moments before she slowly reverts. Carefully, she wipes away her tears and follows me to the front door.
We step out into the sticky night as she gives me the device. Nick leans against a sleek black sports car, repeatedly tossing the keys in the air and catching them. Esmeralda turns to see us approach, her eyes sweeping over us with an amused smirk. “The love bats have come out of the cave. How nice.”
I huff in disapproval and pass her. She reaches out to touch Mikey, pulling her to the side.
“Here are the keys. This is a specially designed McLaren, one that’s been unused a hundred years. But no worries, I like to tinker with cars.” He pats its roof. “This bad boy can fit so much magic in it, Inspector Gadget will be jealous.”
Not wanting to tell him I don’t know who he’s talking about, I stay quiet.
“The metal’s been reinforced. Taking damage is not an option with this beauty, but it isn’t completely indestructible. Nothing truly is.” He holds my gaze. “I’m sure you’re familiar with that concept.” He shifts his stance as discomfort rises in my chest. “It’s an automatic, seats up to two people, and runs on blood instead of gas.”
“Blood? Where am I going to get enough blood to—”
He waves his hand. “Don’t worry, it gets excellent milage per gallon.” He pops the hood. Instead of an engine—or a modified one so fae could use automobiles—is a pulsing sphere of shadow. It reaches deep into the car with long tentacles, and an eyeball bubbles up to the surface, white with a single black dot in the middle. “This is Vaporface. He has two hundred other brothers and cannot reproduce. These creatures come from cursed vampires. After the cursed vampire dies, if they have not lived out the full extent of their punishment or curse, they become this ball of energy. Without blood, they’re unstable and wreak havoc on the world.” He pauses, taking a breath. “But that’s a different story. This guy should be good for a month. A gallon a week is what’s normal for a vampire, but since this guy doesn’t have a body, it’s quite a bit less. As for where to find the blood, just ask Maverick. He’ll take care of you. If not, you have my number.”
“Thanks,” I say, remembering a little of what he said from college. We learned the basics of vampires and werewolves, since they were the second and third runners-up to zombies population-wise. “Really.”
“No worries,” he says as Mikey and Esmeralda come walking back up, Mikey with lines of determination on her face. I transfer the book to her, and she juts her chin toward the car. It’s time to drive to Sonny’s, but I don’t believe Maverick will be as much help as Nick’s assuming. He’s coming unglued... and I’m terrified an ally as powerful as he is might turn on us.
We climb into the car, Mikey moving the passenger’s seat back as far as she can. While she opens the book and reads, I try to remember where I’m going and how to get there.
We peel out of the driveway, our new vampire friends waving us off, and I hope we didn’t make a grave mistake with trusting them. But what else can you do when everything is on the line?
Some risks are worth taking.