Ray was handcuffed and dragged away, screaming. The third officer, a Haitian man with gray hair and a lined, hard face looked at me with concerned eyes.
“Are you all right, Mercedes?”
“I’m fine, Officer Trine,” I said. I had to fend off the women around me, insisting that I see the nurse. “Really, it’s just a bruise! He has an arm like a wet fish. It’ll heal by tomorrow!”
“You won’t have to worry about Ray, again,” Trine continued. “He won’t get bail after something like this.”
I smiled at him. Charles Trine was one of the police officers who protected Women’s Aid from people like Ray even before my father started donating money to their station. Thanks to my father, there were more cops in the area, and men like Ray who sought to enslave their victims again were easily thwarted.
“Would you like me to drive you home?” Trine offered.
“No thanks,” I said. It was kind of him, but I wasn’t in danger from Ray anymore, and Trine needed to be on duty in case of an emergency. “I’ll take the monorail.”
***
Shadow
I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from ordering Blackhole to devour that revolting fleshbag who called himself Ray. Innocent humans could not afford to see him. No matter. In fact, it was better this way. Blackhole would get his share, but I wanted mine first.
It was difficult to wait for night to fall in the mortal world. The red haze that fell over my vision only darkened as the hours passed. Seeing Mercedes be struck by that fleshbag ignited feelings of rage and protectiveness I had never felt before. He would pay. He would pay.
***
Ray
The cell was cold and dark. I had been told an hour before that I would not get out on bail this time. My record was far too incriminating, and there had been too many witnesses at Bitch Aid.
That miserable rich bitch. Her bastard father could rave all he wanted, he could buy an army of lawyers. But I would be long gone by the time he could press charges. It was only a matter of time before they would finally allow me bail thanks to the big ace up my sleeve: I had irrefutable proof that the rich bitch was a criminal. I had seen her meet Janelle at a Starbucks and hand her a package that was so small and thin, it could only hold something no bigger than a credit card.
Or a new social security card.
The rich bitch was a criminal who could forge identity papers and hand them out like party favors to whiny, ungrateful women who didn’t know their place like Janelle. Once I released the recording of the rich bitch and my girlfriend on my comm, I would be a free man.
Once I’m free, you little rich bitch, I’ll stand at the podium at your trial and laugh when the judge gives you three life sentences without the possibility of parole.
It was a cheerful thought. So cheerful, that I fell into a peaceful slumber when the sun set.
Two hours later, I was rudely and very painfully awakened.
“What the hell--?!”
When my vision cleared from the blow to my head, the blood drained from my face when I saw myself staring into pitiless blue eyes, and the face of Lucifer himself.
A bloodless mouth grinned, revealing long, glistening fangs.
“Welcome to hell,” the devil whispered and proceeded to devour my neck.
***
Shadow
I drank slowly, but in the most painful and terrifying way a human could experience. His fear saturated his blood, and the taste grew more satisfying by the second. Once he was properly weakened, I called Blackhole. The Evanescence emitted a low, feral growl as it approached the helpless, petrified wretch.
“Feed, my friend,” I commanded.
I watched with great satisfaction as Blackhole devoured everything. Everything. When it was over, not a molecule remained.
“Well done,” I said, patting my well-feed Evanescence companion who burped contentedly.
You’re worried, he said through our bond.
He was right. I needed to see Mercedes right now.
***
Mercedes
“Miss Mercedes! What happened to your face?”
“Did someone hurt you?”
“Call the police, now!”
“Do you need a doctor?”
“Everyone, please!” I let my voice rise. “I’m fine. Officer Trine put the man who did this to me away, and he’s not getting out on bail. I don’t need a doctor. I just need to put a little cream on it.”
There were collective sounds of relief and satisfaction from the servants. Though I was grateful for their concern, I escaped their fussing by telling them I had homework that was due tomorrow. Which wasn’t far from the truth.
“Miss Mercedes! Do you need--?”
“Lulu, please, I just escaped from the servants. I don’t need you fussing over me, too. I’m fine, I promise.”
Sigh. “If you insist.”
Guilt crept up as I applied a soothing cream to my bruise. “I’m sorry, Lulu. I don’t mean to be snappy. I know you’re just concerned.”
“Miss Mercedes, I wish you wouldn’t work so hard. You’ve accomplished so much good at such a young age. If you ever feel stressed, you should take a few days off and rest.”
“My life is in danger, Lulu,” I replied calmly while I washed my hands. My voice dropped. “And so is the life of someone I care about.”
Lulu didn’t say anything for a while. Then…
“Do you love him?”
I froze, a tempest of emotions running through my mind.
“I shouldn’t,” I whispered. “I barely know him.”
“I may not be human, Miss Mercedes, but my knowledge of the human psyche is extensive. Love does not care about rules. You don’t have to know him completely to love him. You just have to feel a connection to him that you know in your heart is love. Listen to your heart, Mercedes. Listen to what it tells you, and trust in it. Your mind may be capable of deceiving you, but your heart isn’t.”
I bit my lip.
“I don’t know what my heart is telling me.”
“That’s because you are afraid. Don’t be. When you next see him, let go of your fear, look into his eyes, and listen to your heart.”
I didn’t reply, and Lulu said nothing more, knowing that I needed quiet and privacy for a while. I downloaded all the files that I gathered from hacking and stored them into my comm. Then I sat on my bed and waited. I was so lost in my thoughts that it took me a moment to realize my neck was growing warm. I shot to my feet and sped out the backdoor. I skidded to a halt when I reached the end of the patio and stared into the darkness of the forest.
Heart pounding, hand touching my scar every now and then, I turned on my comm light and picked my way through the trees. This time, however, he didn’t make me go in deep. When I saw him standing there, breathtaking and majestic as ever, I nearly threw my arms around him, just to assure myself he was real. Suddenly, he was right in front of me, tenderly examining my face.
“Are you all right?”
His soft, silky whisper was filled with anger and concern. I put my hands on his wrists.
“I’m fine,” I said.
His cool, marble fingers brushed my injured cheek. I closed my eyes at his soothing touch. When I opened them, I saw him bite the inside of his wrist and hold it out to me.
“Please,” he said.
The injury was far from serious, but something in his obsidian eyes told me he wasn’t offering his blood just to heal it. He was offering something he hadn’t offered the last two times I drank his blood.
I gently took his beautiful hand in mind and put my mouth to his wrist. I drank slowly, my lips moving tenderly over his injured flesh. I felt his other hand cup the back of my neck, telling me to drink more. As I did, I heard a groan well up in Shadow’s throat. It was a sound torn between agony and ecstasy. When he pulled his wrist away, I looked right into his eyes, and nearly gasped at how open they were. The pain, confusion, longing, and hunger were completely naked and
vulnerable for me to see. I reached up to lay my hand on his face.
“Shadow,” I whispered.
His gaze raked over my face, my neck. His eyes bled into that predatory icy blue color as his fangs emerged, as his hunger became more prominent. I knew what he wanted, and while I was scared, I wanted to repay him for what he just did for me.
Tilting my head to the right to expose my jugular, I let my gaze pierce his.
“I…I do not need…” His hunger and want were palpable, but so was his fear and uncertainty.
“Let me do this for you,” I whispered. My hand ran down his face. “This…whatever this is…you and I both know it exists. So let me do this for you.”
He groaned, but the sound progressed to a desperate growl. He seized me in his arms, bent his head and pierced my neck. I gasped at the pain, but it wasn’t just pain. It was a feeling I couldn’t describe. Pain, pleasure, bonding…what…?
He didn’t take much. I only felt slightly tired when he pulled away. My wound healed quickly since his blood had yet to leave my system. He stared at me with an expression that contained both wonder and torment.
“What have you done to me?”
It wasn’t a rhetorical question. Judging from his tone, it was a question that had been haunting him since the day we met. He was desperate for an answer. However…
“Only you can answer that,” I told him.
He was far from satisfied with that I could tell, but his face suddenly smoothed into a calmer expression.
“You must come with me now. We have much to discuss. Did you bring your findings?”
I forced myself to have control over my raging emotions, and schooled my features. We weren’t safe. We still had to deal with Xavier.
“Yes,” I said in a business-like tone and held up my comm. “I have them right here.”
He nodded and lifted me in his arms. “I will take you to a location different from the last one.”
This new location happened to be a vast field of grass dotted with bushes and trees. It was well into the night, but I could see well enough thanks to the brilliant stars that shone in the sky.
“What have you found?” Shadow asked me.
“I won’t know for certain unless you tell me a bit about vampire society,” I answered.
I could sense reluctance about him, but after a moment, he nodded.
“Very well. I will give you a brief outline. I am certain you already know we reside in a dimension different from your own.” At my nod, he continued. “Because of my place in vampire society, I am not privy to the secrets of our origins, so I cannot tell you exactly how our species evolved.”
“What is your place in vampire society?” I asked. I kept my tone quiet and neutral knowing it was a personal question.
Shadow’s face grew grim. “Our society is based on a caste system. We are led by the royal family, who are the oldest vampires is history. However, even they must at times answer to the Brahmins, or the priests who speak to our gods. Next is the Kshatriya, the warriors. Officially, the elite class of vampire society is considered to be Kshatriya, but even the warriors must answer to them at all times. Then there are the Vaisyas, the ones who manage currency and business transactions. Under them are the Sudras, the lower class workers.”
He didn’t continue, but I knew there was one more.
“And I assume the Harijans are at the bottom of that pyramid?”
He looked at me sharply, incredulously. “How did you know that?”
Now it was my turn to be surprised. “You don’t know?”
“What don’t I know?”
“The Brahmins, the Kshatriyas, the Sudras…Shadow the vampire caste system is exactly the same as the one in India! The Harijans, also known as the Untouchables or the Outcasts, are considered to be the lowest of all Indians. In fact, according to a lot of elites, the only reason they exist is to be tormented for sadistic pleasure.”
Shadow looked away, but not fast enough for me to miss the look of intense hatred and pain that contorted his features.
“You’re a Harijan, aren’t you?” I whispered in a horror-filled voice.
“I am a warrior,” he seethed. “I am as old and skilled as any soldier under the royal family. I am a Kshatriya, and no one will tell me differently.”
For a while, we continued to walk in silence. I was at a loss for words. Helplessness, anger, and intense sympathy warred through me. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what a miserable existence this man must have suffered. What constant horrors, losses, and humiliations had he endured at the hands of the elites? I didn’t know. I didn’t want to know. But that was fear talking. I loved Shadow, and I wanted to help him.
Yes. I knew it now, beyond any doubt. As Lulu said, the heart does not lie. I loved Shadow, and even if I didn’t know him very well, even if I couldn’t put myself in his shoes, I could still be there for him.
“Good,” I said firmly.
He was clearly surprised and like me earlier, he looked like he didn’t know exactly how to respond.
“I assume Xavier is an elite?” I continued.
Shadow nodded, looking grateful for the change in subject. “He is. He is an incredibly sadistic and powerful elite.”
“And arrogant?”
Shadow smiled grimly. “Mercedes, I doubt this entire planet could contain his arrogance.”
“Then we can use that to our advantage,” I said. “Arrogance makes people stupid. If he has all this power and influence, then he must be under the impression that he can get away with anything. But that’s not the case, is it? I mean, the royal family must have a list of rules that the elite have to abide by, right?”
“Yes, but it is a very short list,” Shadow replied. “An elite will earn the full wrath of the royal family if he or she refuses to obey them, openly rebels against them, destroys or steals their property, or commits a blasphemy.”
“Blasphemy?”
“All vampires worship the god Chaos and his brother Order,” Shadow explained. “The priests are the only ones who can communicate with them on a regular basis. It is why they are an invaluable part to our society. In fact, if it ever came down to saving the life of a priest or a member of the royal family, the priest must always come first.”
I would have to admit to being very skeptical. Granted, I now knew vampires…trans-dimensional vampires existed, but gods? Or maybe just god-like beings. I didn’t know.
“If Xavier is as arrogant as you claim,” I said slowly. “Then I doubt he respects these gods as much as he should.”
“He does not,” Shadow said. “And he is not the only elite to believe he is a law unto himself. But so long as he keeps up a pretense at being religious, no one will question his devotion.” His mouth tightened. “In fact, I would be greatly surprised if he hated Lord Chaos and Lord Order.”
“Shadow…” I looked at him closely. “Abraham Smith was a priest, wasn’t he?”
“Did your findings tell you that?”
“I found some emails that were sent by some of the people in his inner circle. They always called him ‘Your Holiness’ whenever they addressed him directly.”
He peered closely at me. “How exactly did you find these emails?”
I shrugged. “When I want to find something, I always go for a thread and I follow it until it takes me where I need to be.”
“He was a priest and a warrior,” Shadow said after a pause. “He often carried out the will of the gods himself. Your Senator Young was once an ally of the vampires, but during a meditation period, Abraham received a message from Lord Order that if Young ran for a higher office, it would create an imbalance that would negatively affect humans and vampires. Abraham warned Young, but Young scoffed at the existence of Lord Order, calling him a crazy superstition.” Shadow smiled grimly. “That was unwise.”
“I can imagine,” I said as a chill went up my spine. “But according to my findings, Abraham’s dead now.”
“Yes.” Shadow’s vo
ice was darker than the night sky. “A human killed him approximately twenty years ago.”
“Was his name Jared Ford?”
“Yes. And he endured agony beyond the imagination of any mortal before dying. In the eyes of vampires, there is no greater crime than murdering a priest.”
“Why do you think Ford killed him?”
“There are several humans who are aware of the existence of vampires and harbor great hatred for us. Ford was a member of Organization 42, a fanatical group who dedicated their lives to finding vampires and killing them.”
“But how could this group sneak up on Abraham? If he was a priest, he must have been surrounded by guards whenever he came here.”
“I do not know. Only the priests, the royal family, or the elites would be privy to that informa…”
We both came to an abrupt halt and looked at one another.
“Shadow, your technology is far more advanced than human technology. There’s no way Jared Ford could have killed a priest without help. Inside help.”
“No,” Shadow said slowly. “I agree.”
“I was looking for information on Abraham’s guards over the past few days in the hope they would lead me to more vampires, and they did. A few days before Abraham was killed, one of the guards sent a message to someone called Vincent. Vincent then sent it to someone called Xavier.”
Shadow went still as a statue.
“Show me this message,” he said hoarsely.
I activated my comm and brought the message up. “It’s written in some alien code. I couldn’t find a way to decipher it yet.”
“You would not be able to,” Shadow’s voice was grim, but more triumphant than I had ever heard as he read the message. “This is a code that only high-ranking vampires are allowed to use. I can understand it, but if I dared to use it, I would be put to death.”
“What does it say?” I asked excitedly.
“It says ‘His Holiness mediates alone. You will have five minutes to get the human in. Make certain the silver stake is shielded from the detectors.’”
My heart pounded in my chest. “Shadow…”
“You would be so arrogant, wouldn’t you, bastard?” he hissed, eyes blazing in triumph. “Yes, you most certainly would.”
“Is it enough?” I demanded.
Shadow lowered his arm, and his excitement vanished. “No. ” He bared his teeth. “I am an Untouchable in vampire society. My word is nothing compared to an elite’s.”