I remember being utterly still, not feeling the hard roof beneath me or the wind moving my hair. She’d smiled at me,
“I’m not ready to die. I never understood the significance of Steve’s offer ‘till now. You know, now that I’m going one way or another.” Aura laughed, and I managed a smile, vision going blurry pink from tears. “I don’t want to trigger you, because god knows you have to have PTSD from what happened to you, but…” she wiped her nose with the sleeve of her sweater. “Can you come home? Please?”
Of course, I’d be there. Even though I planned on staking Steve after reading the text that ‘pinged!’ cheerfully just as I stepped off the flight into the rainy Oregon night.
James is coming. I’m sorry. I didn’t know Steve asked him until he showed up an hour ago.
My bond with my asshole Sire never severed over those years, I felt him most keenly when something was dangerous or really dicey, plucking at my nerves, his smooth voice echoing in my cranium, whispering caution, urging me to run, ordering me sometimes to get the hell out of whatever mess I was currently waist-deep in. There were times I tried to scream back through the bond, telling him to fuck off, to leave me alone.
But there was one week...
I’d reluctantly agreed to help take down a rogue vampire. Steve wasn't there, which was apparently warning number one from the insistent voice inside my head.
I had to pass for human, because the other hunters agreed I was the closest thing they had as a "baby vampire." That sparked another warning from James, hissing curses at them, telling me to leave. I ignored him, of course.
This fucker may have been rabid, but he was still cunning, he'd kill at a club, hidden in plain sight in a thicket of dancing, writhing bodies and slip out as the screams started. We’d chased him from every club, to rave, to concert in Sydney. It was a city I’d always loved, but apparently, I’d never realized how many places were filled with blank-eyed twenty-somethings with plenty of money for clubbing and drugs and no goddamn common sense.
With three others, we finally cornered him and he'd killed two of them in the blink of an eye.Like Volkov-I'd thought, shuddering. I was hurt pretty badly, but one of the tricks Steve taught me about using a silver blade in one hand and a vial of holy water in the other worked for me. The other surviving vampire staked the feral dickhead and was gone before our quarry turned to ash. He left me in the street, blackish blood flowing sluggishly from multiple wounds all over me, too many for my undead nature to heal.
"Thanks a lot, asshole," I yelled after him, leaning against the crumbling brick.
You need blood, little one.
"Yeah, dad. Gotcha," I tried to sneer back, but my eyes were trained on the horizon and I knew I didn't have much time before the sun rose.
I know where you are. There's a park a block away with a grove of trees thick enough to protect you. You have to move.
"I don't feel great right now..." I was squinting, it almost felt like his bossy hand was on my neck, turning me in the right direction. So, I stood up and fell down again. "Aw, dammit..." I groaned, pushing my hand against a nasty slice on my abdomen, just above where that horrible old French cow nailed me on the night I died. No scars, of course. The undead didn't scar. "We're too pretty," I giggled to myself.
You have to listen to me. Get your ass up and move.
"Why won't you ever shut up?" I hissed, "Gimme a minute to catch my breath."
The sun is rising. Now get up and do as I say!
Reminding my Sire of all the reasons I hated his fucking guts, I pushed myself up, using the brick wall for support and stumbled in the direction I was told to go. I fell down twice more but got up again as his voice grew louder and louder in my head. But I found the grove of trees as directed, so thickly overgrown that the leaves inside were piled deep on the ground, muffling the noise of my fall.
Such a good girl. My sweet, good girl. It will be all right.
"Fuck y..." I managed before the sun's rays rose over the horizon, and falling deeply asleep.
You need to wake up. Wake up now, lovely. You have to feed.
Why? Why did James have to wake me up? The sun was setting and I were shaking and the cheese grater that attacked my stomach on nights where I forgot to grab a bite was in full force. I felt shredded inside, even though my wounds had closed up. Even the slightest move felt like shards of glass shifting and moving inside me. Why wouldn't he just let me lie there and-
"Oh...."
I sighed rapturously. I couldsmellthem, the couple chatting on the path just outside the trees. So sweet. They were young, and I could hear their hearts pumping cheerfully, bodies plump and filled with such-
No, listen to me, baby. You will never forgive yourself. Look around. There will be animals. A squirrel, a cat? A dog?
Yeah, there was something blathering at me but oh ... fuck. My slitted eyes could see the heat signature spiraling lazily up from their warm flesh, veins bloated obscenely and the beating of their hearts throbbed in time with the waves of agony overcoming me. They were going to be so delicious I could just rip their necks wide open they won't scream and I can just bathe in their essence just cover myself and gorge and-
He shouted my name. Just roared it.
Meghan you listen to me! Stop and listen!
It was searing my ganglia and setting neurons on fire but I halted, one hand still up as I'd been crawling through the brush to the couple. Had he ever called me by my name before?
