“Well, what time is it?” he
asked her, looking at the clock.
“Soon it’ll be three o’clock.”
She answered.
“Oh, well, really—that’s not all that late.
Since he sleeps all day, he stays up all night, Ave.
He probably won’t come back ‘til the sun’s almost up.”
He said reassuringly.
She looked over at Zac. “Would
you wake me up when he comes in?” she
asked Isaac absently.
“If I hear him, I will, ok?” he
said, sitting up, “Let’s get you back in bed.
It’s still nighttime.”
And so, Isaac walked her back to her room and tucked her in next to
Jessica. “Good night, pretty
girl.” He said, kissing her on
her forehead.
“Night, Ike.” She said,
turning over. As he walked back to
his room, Isaac couldn’t help but be reminded of the last time Avery had
awakened him looking for Taylor.
~~~~~
At 3:17, Kirk and Melanie walked into the room where Sonya and Camille
sat on a sofa, watching the fire burn in the massive fireplace.
The Lady Beatriz stood, her arms folded across her chest.
All three looked up at the sight before them.
As Kirk flopped Taylor down onto the floor like he were some old used
carpet, Camille shrieked, “What have you done?!!”
and she ran to him, kneeling and inspecting him, pushing his sweaty hair
away from his forehead. Blood had
traveled from his mouth to other parts of his face, making him look worse than
he really was.
“How dare you.” Sonya
said, standing and stepping over to them. “I
told you what I’d do to you if you did this…”
“Enough.” Beatriz said
joining the tense group. “You two
go back where you were.” She said
to Sonya and Camille. But neither
of them moved from the spot. Camille
continued to look at Taylor and wipe the blood away from his lips and his chin.
Sonya had locked eyes with Melanie.
“Sonya, he wasn’t going to come on his own—“
she started.
“I don’t give a fuck why you did it, all I know is I told you what
would happen if you did.” Sonya
said coldly, and then she stooped down and placed her hand on Taylor’s chest.
“Taylor, can you hear me?”
she called to him silently.
A moan came from his lips and he opened his eyes very slowly.
Camille and Sonya both smiled down at him as Melanie rolled her eyes.
“Do you see what it’s like?” she
said to Kirk.
“Yep. I see alright.”
He said back.
“Do you care to tell us all what happened?”
Beatriz asked Melanie.
“Well, we found him in an alley downtown, feeding from some gross
drunk.” She said, glancing down
at Sonya, who shot her a look back. “Then,
we told him he had to come here and when we started back, he took off.
He ran all the way back to the park before we could catch up to him.”
She stated, looking over at Kirk, who nodded.
“I’d say you weren’t trying very hard then.”
Sonya commented, standing up.
“Bullshit, Sonya! I
don’t think you understand—he is very, very fast.
Plus, I guess we wouldn’t have caught him at all if he wouldn’t have
had all that booze in him from that guy. It
made him sick.” Melanie said,
glaring back at her.
Beatriz furrowed her eyebrows, “He outran you two for that long?”
she asked.
“Yes! And, he fell out of
a tree, and he still tried to get away—“
“A tree?!” Beatriz
asked, “What…no, never mind.” She said, “What else?”
“Well, when we caught up with him at the park,” Melanie continued,
“He had climbed some big tree, and when Kirk went up to get him, he backed up
‘til he fell and that was when we were finally able to get him.”
Beatriz looked down at the young man, thinking he was obviously much more
powerful than she had believed. Kirk
and Melanie were both very capable. Melanie
was cold and calculating and Kirk was physically about as strong as she’d seen
other than the old ones. She looked over at the two, Melanie’s usually silky
hair was tangled and dirty as were her clothes.
Kirk looked like he’d been drug through a dumpster, his hair coming
loose from the neat ponytail he usually wore.
“Why are you bleeding?” she
asked him.
“Oh—“ he said, looking
down at his elbow, then holding it up for her to see, “He bit me!
He is mean as shit—oh, sorry Lady.”
He said.
Beatriz shook her head, and with a wave of her hand, she stepped over and
shooed Camille away from Taylor. “Get
up.” She said to him.
He had rolled over on to his side, ignoring her.
As the seconds ticked by, Sonya was concerned that Taylor would make
Beatriz more angry than she already was. “Taylor!
Stand before her!”
she commanded. He
looked up at her, anger in his eyes, but he continued to ignore both of them.
Melanie looked at Taylor, then at Kirk.
He met her eyes, then they both walked over to him.
“C’mon, dude.” Kirk
said, reaching down and grasping Taylor’s arm.
Melanie got on the other side, and together, they pulled him up.
Pain played out on his face, but he managed to remain standing on one
leg.
Beatriz’ eyes went to Melanie’s face and she raised one perfect, dark
eyebrow.
“He wouldn’t stop running.” Melanie
said quietly.
“How bad is it?” Beatriz
asked.
“Uh, well. It sounded pretty
bad.” Melanie replied.
Sonya immediately moved towards the girl, but Beatriz held her hand up,
commanding her to stop.
“Oh, Taylor,” Camille
said, “I’m so sorry I did this to you…”
she said, crying.
Beatriz closed her eyes, willing them all to calm down.
She was beginning to see what an intricate problem she
actually had here. Not only did she
have an unwilling, yet powerful, new vampire to contend with—but she had two
who were in love with him already. In
very different ways, but love all the same.
“Kirk, take him to the guest room.”
She said. But, as Kirk moved
toward him, Taylor backed away from him awkwardly. Kirk looked back at her and
she nodded her head. As he went for
Taylor, he was surprised by a shove that sent him backwards, falling into
Melanie. When he looked back at
Taylor, his eyes had gone shiny and his teeth were extended and bared.
What with the blood on his face and his clothes already, it made for a
frightening sight. But, Kirk had a job to do, and he was determined to do it.
Camille and Sonya stood back and Beatriz joined them as well as Melanie.
“Lady, can’t you do something?”
Sonya asked. “This is
just…wrong.”
Beatriz looked back at her, “It would have been good to have thought of
this before you made him into a vampire.”
She said back.
“But, I didn’t know he was changing—“
Sonya started.
Beatriz raised her hand, “What’s done is done!
He must accept it, or be eliminated.
That is the way it is. It is
for the good of all of us, it’s always been this way, as it always will be.”
And with a flash of her eyes, Sonya knew there was nothing more to be
said. Sonya closed her eyes,
attempting to make Taylor listen to her—“Do not interfere.”
Beatriz said to her, “You
are not his mother, he must learn this if he is to survive.”
As the women talked, Kirk had managed to get Taylor off his feet again.
But still, he hadn’t managed to subdue him enough to get him where
Beatriz wanted him to be.
Finally, straddling him, Kirk was able to grab Taylor’s
wrists and pin them to the floor. The
weight of him on Taylor’s leg was becoming unbearable, and so, with his mind
as well as his body, Taylor threw Kirk back with all his might.
Sonya and Camille had turned away, but Melanie’s eyes
bugged out when she saw Kirk thrown backwards freeing Taylor’s hands.
Immediately though, they went to his head as Beatriz had seen enough.
Taylor forgot the pain in his leg as the one in his head was much
greater. Beatriz, in her anger, had
held nothing back. Blood trickled
down his lip and he curled himself into a ball.
She stood over him, “Kirk is going to take you to the guest room.
If you still have it in you to fight, I would suggest that you hold it
inside or I will be forced to end this new life of yours much more quickly than
you lost the first one.” But, the
threat was unnecessary as Taylor was incapable of anything at that moment.
“I’m sorry, Lady.” Kirk
said.
“Don’t be. You’ve done
nothing to be sorry for. I can see
that you had no choice before. Take
him away from me. I need to think
on this—then, you’re free to go.” Kirk
nodded his head to her, then he went to Taylor and pulled him up, once more
throwing him over his shoulder. As
they left the room, leaving a trail of red drops on the white marble floor, the
four women all watched.
Sonya sat down on the couch and crossed her arms over her chest, and
Camille gave Melanie a cold stare. Turning
toward them, Beatriz gestured for the two of them to sit as well.
Once all three girls were on the couch, she looked at all of them before
speaking. Melanie had a look of
shame on her face, while Camille looked heartbroken.
Sonya wore a mask of nothingness. “Well,
what do we do now?” she asked.
None of them responded as they all understood it was not actually a
question she wanted answered. “This
boy has caused quite the problem for the three of you—four if you count
me—and you should.” She said,
anger just under the surface of her stoic demeanor.
Kirk came back in the room then and she turned again to face him.
“He’s in there—who wants to tuck him in?”
He said, smiling.
Beatriz shot him a look and shook her head, “We don’t need your
input, thank you.” And she winked
at him. “Please ask Mr. Jones to
see to him. I suppose we should see
if we’ve damaged him beyond repair.”
Kirk smiled at her, then bowed dramatically, “Yes, Lady.
Good Night.” And
he turned and went out the door.
“Now then, I understand what you all see in him.
I’m sure he is quite lovely to look at when he’s not growling and
grimy and covered in blood. And,
I’ve seen him perform. He is very
talented and charming. In fact,”
she said, staring pointedly at Sonya, “I saw him on television just
today. His eyes reflect a
lovely…sort of aqua color when he gets aroused.”
Sonya looked down at her hands. “But,
all that aside, you will control him and teach him, or I will make sure he
disappears for good.” She was met
with three pairs of eyes, one blue, one green, and one amber.
Just then, a tall, distinguished looking gentleman entered the room.
Beatriz walked over to him and discussed something very quietly.
He then left, going down the hall in the same direction Kirk had taken.
She turned to the three, “Go on, it’s after four.
If you need to feed, you’d better hurry, and I don’t want to hear of
any trouble.
Do you understand me?”
she said, giving all of them motherly looks.
Sonya stood and went towards the door, “Yes, Lady.”
She said without turning. Melanie
and Camille followed quickly, just glad to get out of her gaze once more.
~~~~~
“Did you tell everything?” Sonya
asked Melanie once they were out on the street.
“Yeah. Except, I’m
pretty sure Kirk broke his leg—it sounded just awful and he pretty much
freaked, so it had to hurt. I
swear, we tried to get him to come. I
didn’t want to hurt him, but—he’s just so stubborn.
God, you should have seen him run—it was like a gazelle or
something.” Now she smiled,
“And big ol’ Kirk was trying to keep up.”
Now she looked at Camille, “Where were you?
I figured you’d catch him before we did.”
Camille still sported a pout on her young face, but she was beginning to
believe Melanie, especially after witnessing what Taylor was capable of.
“I was in the hotel. God,
they have a bunch of bodyguards. But,
he never came out of the room.” She
said, crinkling her eyebrows together.
Sonya looked down the street at the hotel where Taylor and his family
were staying. “He must have gone
out the window.” She said.
“But, he came out the front. Elise
told me.” Melanie stated.
“Hmmm, I guess he went out his own window and came back in someone
else’s then. For crying out loud,
that’s like forty stories or something.”
Sonya exclaimed. “Does he
think he really can’t die?” she
asked.
“Sonya, when he fell out of that tree, I was sure he was gonna be hurt
bad. But he wasn’t.
First this big limb he was on crashed to the ground, and then
he came right on top of it. SPLAT!!!
I was sure he was gonna look like road kill.”
“Melanie!!!” Camille
hissed, “Don’t say that.”
“Well, it’s true. You
shoulda seen it. It was insane.”
She replied.
“Hmph. It’s a good thing
I wasn’t there.” Sonya said.
“Yeah, where were you?” Melanie
asked. I really thought you’d be
the one to find him, since you can sort of track him or something.”
Sonya looked down at her shoes, “I think I was being punished.
I was with him last night and I knew he was going to be on MTV today.”
“WHAT!!?”
both girls were aghast.
Now Camille spoke, “And you didn’t take him back to the Lady?
Sonya, that’s just not like you.”
“I know. I just…I really
feel guilty about killing him.” She
said, almost losing her legendary composure.
“I never should have let it go this far.
This is all my fault…” her
voice broke and Melanie and Camille looked at each other, having never seen
Sonya upset in this way. She looked
away from them and brushed away the tears that threatened to fall.
The wind blew their hair around wildly and all three girls stood silent
on the corner, not knowing what to say to each other.
Finally, Melanie broke the silence.
“I think all three of us caused it—but, whatever.
Let’s go find some good eats. There’s
a nice little crowd outside the hotel—“
“Melanie!!!” Sonya
laughed, “have you been hitting the fans?”
Melanie looked back at her, “Yeah.
Just a couple though, it’s not like they’re gonna miss ‘em.”
“You didn’t kill them, did you?”
Camille asked, knowing they’d been specifically told not to.
“No, but, damn—it would have been so easy.”
She said, dreamily.
Sonya shook her head, “Come on, we don’t have much time.
Let’s hit it.” And the
three girls turned and walked in the opposite direction of the hotel.
~~~~~
In the dim light of
one of Beatriz’ many guest rooms, the man known only as Mr. Jones inspected
Taylor’s injuries. Looking up at
the Lady, he spoke. “He must have
had some very rough treatment. It’s
not easy to hurt one of your kind like this.”
He said. Beatriz bent down
closer, looking into the boy’s face.
“Well, it’s not very often one of my kind resists like he has.”
She answered him.
“The leg is broken just below the knee.
An x-ray would be a beautiful thing right about now.”
He said, raising an eyebrow.
“Hmmm, I trust you can do a fine job without one.”
She said, “However, if things do not improve as you expect them to,
I’m sure I can lay my hands on whatever you need.”
“What caused him to be sick tonight?
I’ve not seen many vampires throw up.”
He inquired.
She rolled her eyes, “He seems to be very….special.”
“And why is that?” he
asked.
Sighing, she sat down on the bed, “It’s been years I think, since
we’ve had one changed like this. He
never drank to make the change. It
happened very gradually. He seems
to have retained some bit of human qualities.”
“I see—“ he began.
“Oh, but you don’t.” she
cut him off. “On top of that, he
has drunk now from two other vampires. I
don’t know what we are facing here—but he has shown incredible powers and
yet, he is so young. He has no idea
how to use them. He seems to get
lucky now and then though…” she
said, smiling slightly and using her finger to push his sweaty bangs out of his
eyes.
“Well, he’s definitely got some internal bleeding, look at the
bruising here.” He said, pulling
back the covers so she could see his stomach. “And whatever you did to him out
there, well, I fear he will have a headache for longer than it takes for his leg
to heal.”
She looked coldly back at him, “Only what he deserved.”
She said.
“Of course, my Lady.” He
said, averting his eyes.
Now she stood, “Is he going to be alright, or not?”
she asked impatiently.
“I’ll do everything I can.” He
said.
“That’s all I ask.” She
said as she left the room.
