THIRTEEN

If only I had been able to feed, I would have gained back some strength. Unfortunately, it would not be until the wooden bullet was out of my leg that I could hope to have enough strength to break the chains holding me here. But feeding from Leilani, especially if it was the Leilani we were looking for, was not an option. The problem was, would I be able to resist her blood the next time she was brought to me? I was hungry this time but not to the point my hunger would have forced me to feed from a child, at least not yet.

The key turning in the lock snapped me from my thoughts. The woman entered carrying a bucket. “It’s time to wash you up,” she said as she turned the light on, shedding a yellow glow on the dingy room.

“What for?” I asked and sat up straighter. My leg turned into dead weight as I dragged myself back on the dirt.

“You can’t meet my boss looking like this, now can you? You’re a mess.” She knelt next to the bucket and rung out a cloth. She brought it to my face. I tried to turn away. “Sit still.”

“Unchain me and I can wash myself.” It was worth a try.

She laughed. “That’s funny. You’re funny. But do you think I’m crazy?” She wiped my forehead with flowery smelling water.

“Who is your boss? Is it Melinda?” I asked as she wiped my cheeks roughly.

“I can’t tell you that. You will be meeting, um, my boss…very soon.” She dunked the cloth in water and continued.

“They will find me, you know. Aloysius has connections all over the city and they will come for me,” I said as she dragged the cloth from my chin to my neck.

“I wouldn’t put too much trust in Aloysius if I were you.”

“Why not? You don’t even know him. You’re just someone’s human servant,” I answered as she unbuttoned my shirt. I tried to push myself into the wall, trying to fade onto it.

She looked up at me without an ounce of emotion in her eyes. She wrung out the cloth again and started wiping my chest above my bra. “I may be only a human servant, for now, but I do know some things. Let’s just say you’re putting your trust in the wrong vampires.” As her fingers reached for the button on my jeans, I stiffened.

“That is enough. I don’t need a bath. I don’t even sweat,” I said. She looked up at me and threw the cloth into the bucket, splashing some water on both of us. She sat back on her heels and put her hands on her knees. “What do you mean you’re human for now?”

“I won’t be human much longer. Can I fix your hair?” She reached toward my head with a tentative hand. I nodded. It couldn’t hurt to get on her good side.

“Did they promise to turn you?” She nodded and pulled a comb out from her back pocket. I hung my head forward so she could reach the back. “They’ll say anything to get what they want from you; you know that, don’t you?”

“But they really will. They promised. I stink at everything else. I’m a terrible hunter, I have too much compassion for your kind, they say. I have no witch powers, no job training, no family. I would make a great vampire.” She seemed so sure of herself. I hated to tell her they would most likely use her up, chew her up, and spit her out.

“What is your name?” I asked. “I’d like to be able to call you something.”

“I’m not supposed to tell you.”

“I could just dig around in your head, but I’d rather not.” I didn’t think she knew that it wouldn’t be an easy task in my weakened state.

She fixed a few strands of my hair with her fingers and moved back. “Fine. Maria. Just call me Maria.”

“Maria,” I repeated. “You said vampires are no different than animals. If you have too much compassion for vampires, why are you doing this?”

“Because I have my orders. If I don’t do what they want, I don’t get what I want. I only said that because I’m jealous. I didn’t mean it.”

“So what you want is to become a vampire. Have you thought about what that really means?”

“Of course I’ve thought about it. It’s all I think about,” her eyes suddenly teared. “It’s what I’ve wanted for years but they say I’m not ready.”

“Have they said why you’re not ready?”

“They say I’m too soft. I have to toughen up and stop caring about people’s feelings. They said I couldn’t kidnap you, that I couldn’t force you to drink from a child, but I did all that. I proved myself to them.”

“Yes, I suppose you did. What about the man? Who is he to them?” If she only knew I hadn’t actually fed from the child.

“He’s just an old hunter, no longer able to fight. They keep him around to do all the work they don’t want to do. He’s pretty much useless.”

“Is he looking to be turned too?”

“Are you kidding me? Can you imagine him as an immortal?” She laughed.

“I guess you’re right. And what about you? What will you do once you get what you want? Will you go off on your own?”

She stood and took a few steps back. “Of course not. Being an immortal will give me strength. It will give me the powers I never had as a witch. I was never one, only my mom, but they never knew that, they just assumed. Anyway, can you imagine the hunter I could be with all the powers?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You would continue hunting, killing your own kind?”

She backed away a few more steps, nearing the door as if trying to run from me. “It’s the only way they’ll do it. I promised them. We only rid the city of danger.”

“But Maria, you’ll be a vampire then, able to take care of yourself, able to leave whenever you want. They cannot keep you their prisoner,” I explained. “What I still don’t understand is how a vampire can be giving commands to hunters. How can Melinda have that much power over people who supposedly rid the city of vampires?”

She looked behind her and then back at me, her mouth opening to speak.

“That will be quite enough!” Melinda commanded as she stepped into the room, Ryanne, her sister, right behind her. Melinda’s hair was different again, long, dark, and covering half her face. But there was no mistaking her voice and the icy look of her visible eye. Ryanne’s eyes froze on my face, sending chills down my spine. It was obvious she did not forget Fergus’s death and never would.

“What the hell do you want from me?” I snapped. I tried to mask my fear with anger, not sure if it was working.

“Well, it’s nice to see you again, too,” Melinda mocked. “It’s been way too long.”

“Trust me, it has not been long enough.” I yelled. I pulled at the chains in the wall with all my might but it was getting me nowhere.

“You’re going to hurt yourself. You don’t have enough strength to do anything. I must say I like seeing you so helpless and alone. Ryanne, what do you think we should do with her now?” She turned to her partner in crime with a smirk on her face.

Ryanne put her index finger to her chin. “Oh, I know! Now that she’s here and all tied up and all, we should go find her husband. Without her to protect him, he is totally at my mercy. I can do with him what I like… Perhaps torture him a little and then end his miserable existence.”

“No! You leave him alone,” I struggled to free my arms again though I knew it was pointless. “He had nothing to do with what happened at that cabin. He was not the one who killed Fergus. It was my fault. Kill me!”

Both Ryanne and Melinda laughed. I looked at Maria who stood by the entrance, panic in her eyes. She looked away from me and lowered her gaze to the ground. I concentrated on her nonetheless. Maria, please. Do something. Warn Christian, please. She raised her head. She was listening. They’ll never give you what you want. You’re wasting your time. If you do this for me, I’ll make sure…

“Stop!” Melinda barked. “Just because I can’t hear you does not mean I don’t know what you’re doing,” She turned to Maria. “Leave us!” Maria backed out of the room, running as soon as she crossed the threshold. Melinda turned to me again. “That’s some pretty good control you have, if that is in fact what you were doing, sending your thoughts only to her.”

“I wasn’t doing anything.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway. Maria won’t do anything to defy us, not when her fate is in our hands,” She turned to Ryanne. “What do you think we should do with her now?”

Ryanne’s face lit up. “Kill her.”

“Just like that? That’s not much fun. I thought maybe you’d want her to suffer a bit first, the way you’ve been suffering since she took your love from you.”

“I did not kill Fergus myself. It was a battle. He was killed because he wasn’t strong enough to fight. It was nothing personal against him. It was self-defense.” It was nothing personal? Even I knew that sounded bad.

“But he was killed because of you. Everything is because of you,” Ryanne’s stare sent chills through my body. “I have an idea.” She turned to Melinda who stood with her arms crossed, waiting.

“Anything you wish shall be yours. After all, you deserve it.” She nodded for Ryanne to continue.

Ryanne smiled and her eyes glowed like a child spotting the presents on Christmas morning. “I think Christian should be our next guest.”

“No! You stay away from him. If you want your revenge, then kill me. I’m here, totally helpless. Kill me and get it over with,” my voice shook even though I tried to sound determined.

Melinda ignored me. “I must say I like your idea, Ryanne. We should bring Christian here. There’s plenty of room for one more. Besides, I’m sure he’s worried sick about Lily. He’ll want to be with her while she dies.” Melinda took a few steps closer to me. “What do you say, Lily? Want some company? We could torture him first so you can watch, then torture you, let him watch, it’s only fair, and then kill you both.”

“Please, I’ll do anything you want, just leave Christian out of this,” I begged though I knew it was useless. Neither woman had a heart. Or a soul.

“Can we have Arturo and the boys go get him?” Ryanne asked.

“We could but, I think I have a better way,” Melinda went to the entrance again and stuck her head out the door. “Maria, bring Leilani,” she yelled.

“Why are you bringing her? I’m not feeding again,” I protested, horrified of where this might be going.

“Oh, that’s not what I want her here for. She…” Melinda stopped as Maria came to the door holding Leilani’s hand. Leilani rubbed sleep out of her eyes with her free hand, her hair tousled.

“Yeah, Melinda, I’d like to know what you intend too,” Ryanne said.

Melinda took Leilani and waved Maria out of the room. Maria left without a backward glance. “I am going to dial Christian from my phone and you are going to invite him here, alone.”

“I will do no such thing. What makes you—”

“That’s just the thing. I know you will do this because if you don’t, the girl dies and you get to watch.”

Ryanne clapped her hands in excitement. If it were possible for a vampire to throw up, now would have been the time. “Are you really that heartless, that crazy?”

“Apparently, I am. So, what is it going to be? Your husband or this innocent, helpless little girl?” She wrapped an arm around Leilani’s neck. Leilani’s eyes grew wide and a tear rolled down, leaving a trail on her dirty cheek.

I had to buy more time, keep her talking. “Who is this girl to me anyway? Why should I really care whether she lives or dies?”

Melinda laughed. “I know you better than that, Lily. Of course you care. You care about everybody, no matter how much you try to deny it. You care about the boy you took in, the one who held a gun to your husband’s head. You even care about your lovely sister, Maia. So don’t try that tactic now.”

“But I thought you wanted this girl. I thought she was one of your so-called feeders. Why would you give that up just for me?” I looked at Ryanne who stood mute watching the whole exchange.

“Though I must admit the little girl is quite tasty, she is otherwise useless,” she held Leilani even tighter. Leilani’s eyes looked close to rolling back in her head and her skin took on a sick bluish hue. I was running out of time. She was going to kill her before I could decide anything.

“What do you mean by useless? She’s just a little girl,” I pleaded.

“A little girl with a very powerful talent. The only problem is, she doesn’t know how to control it. She has no concentration, no aim, just fire everywhere.”

I balled my hands into fists. My fangs poked through my gums as my anger surfaced. She really was Jose Luis’s sister.

“I truly thought she would have made a powerful weapon but, no matter how much training has been offered to her, she has learned nothing. She has absolutely no control of her fire,” Melinda explained. “We really don’t need her so it’s no loss. She’s more of a liability to us than an asset.”

“So what will it be?” Ryanne finally lost her patience. She was enjoying this way too much.

I swallowed and took a deep breath. “Dial the phone.”