Chapter Three
A weak, muffled cry from the bathroom made up my mind, and I yanked open the bathroom door. I ran in and slid in a pile of blood, going down hard on one elbow. My jaw hit the floor with a loud crack. Looking up through a curtain of sticky hair, I saw a pale figure looking up at me from a young woman’s body. She twitched and a quiet moan escaped her bloody lips.
The man kneeling over her appeared to be in his early to mid thirties. His hair was a greasy red color and his eyes were black, sunken and expressionless. His cheekbones were high and sharp, and there were dark purple circles under his eyes. He looked like a walking corpse.
The red that stained his lips looked out of place against the whiteness of the rest of his face. Bloody spit dribbled down his chin and onto the collar of his shirt. He stood and wiped his face with the back of his hand. It looked like the woman beneath him had stopped breathing, but I couldn’t be sure. If she was still alive…
I picked myself up off the ground, trying to keep eye contact with him. He took a step forward and I caught a flash of red in his eyes. He bared his fangs in a snarl, and crouched down into a defensive position. I looked around me as quickly as possible, and came up with a grim conclusion.
With the line of stalls, the row of sinks, the position of the vampire and the woman, this room wasn’t large enough for me to shift, without putting myself directly in front of the vampire. I’d be exposed to an attack. I’d have to make do with what I had.
I knew I should have shifted first.
The vampire seemed to reach the same conclusion I had. He smirked arrogantly, and left his defensive crouch. He sauntered forward slowly, believing that I’d just sit back and die easily.
He was in for a big surprise.
I launched myself forward and slammed into his rock-hard body, knocking him back against the tiled wall. His head smacked against it, denting the plaster, but it didn’t seem to faze him the slightest bit. His hand quickly shot forward, connecting solidly with my already sore jaw. There was a loud crack, and I spun away from him, tripping over the body on the floor, landing in a heap beneath the sink.
He grabbed my arms and hauled me up, pinning them behind my back. He pulled painfully on them as hard as he possibly could. Oh, my god. He’s trying to rip my arms off!
I thrashed wildly against his grip, trying to free myself. He only pulled harder and I whimpered in pain. The vampire was breathing down the back of my neck, making the little hairs there stand up on end. His breath held a hint of decay and old blood, and I tried not to gag at the overwhelming stench.
He kissed the back of my neck, before nibbling gently. I tried not to flinch away from him. “If you’re going to kill me, please just do it and get it over with already.”
“I may have other plans for you,” he hissed.
“Get your hands off of her!”
Quinten stood in the doorway to the bathroom, looking more furious than I’d ever seen him. His hands clenched either side of the doorway so hard his knuckles were white. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. It was amazing how menacing he looked, lurking there in the doorway.
The vampire, feeling my new hope, chuckled. “What does one little human hope to change? Your fate is sealed,” he hissed.
He threw me against the wall, where I slumped, unable to get to my feet. He advanced on Quinten, who stood there, oblivious to the danger he was in. “Quinten, run!” I screamed.
He refused to move and the vampire laughed. “A mere boy, a blind boy, hopes to best me, a century’s old being?”
That was a lie, and I knew it. The tremor in his voice gave him away. He’d probably been a vampire for little more than a week or two. He was still weak compared to a full-grown vampire and, for a minute, my pride was hurt that he’d bested me.
But I had hope that Quinten might manage to get away. If only he’d actually leave!
“I may be blind, but that doesn’t make me easy prey. Be careful who you insult.”
The vampire snorted in disbelief. “Boy, you’ll wish for your death before I’m through with you.”
The vampire reached out for Quinten, who grabbed the arm and twisted as hard as he could. There was a loud pop, and the vampire howled in pain as his shoulder flopped uselessly out of its socket.
Quinten ducked behind the vampire, wrapped one arm around the vampire’s throat, and using his position as leverage, swept the vampire’s legs out from under him. They crashed to the ground and Quinten kneeled on his chest.
The vampire wasn’t finished though.
With a snarl of rage, he reached up, grabbed Quinten around the shoulders, and kicked him up over the vampire’s head. Quinten hit the wall near me with a thud, and he slid to the floor. He groaned once, and I shakily got to my feet.
This wasn’t about the poor woman he’d fed on or even about me anymore. This was about protecting Quinten. He’d risked his life to come and save me, and I owed him the same thing.
The vampire popped his shoulder back into its place, and he advanced on me.
I met him head-on, and ducked under his first wild swing. I sidestepped the second and dodged the third. When the fourth punch came, I grabbed his wrist and, like Quinten had done, I snapped it with all my might.
Instead of releasing his arm though, I pulled him closer and kneed him in the stomach. He doubled over, wheezing for air. I slammed my knee up into his face, satisfied when I heard the crunch of his nose, and slammed my cupped hands into his face, knocking him onto his back.
Quinten got up slowly, unsteady on his feet for a minute, before running out the bathroom door.
The vampire used my second long lapse of attention to attack again. He brought one leg up and kicked me savagely in the chest. I flew back and slid across the hard bloody floor, skidding to a stop near the body of the woman he’d been feeding on.
The vampire dove over to where I sat, in a puddle of quickly cooling blood, and knocked me back over. He grabbed my head with his hands and slammed it down hard onto the concrete once…twice…three times. My vision started to fade around the edges, and with each crack, the quiet hum in my ears turned louder and louder until it was a dull roar.
I felt myself begin to fade away.
The vampire grinned down at me, preparing my head for the fourth and final crack that would end my life.
That crack never came.
When I opened my eyes the first thing I noticed was Quinten looking down worriedly at me. Even though he couldn’t see me, his hands were busy cataloguing my body for injury. If I’d woken with any other person swiftly touching my body everywhere, I might have seriously hurt them.
But it was over quickly and I didn’t complain.
“Quinten, I’m fine, really,” I assured him.
He snorted in total disbelief. “You just got your ass kicked by a fucking vampire. I do not consider that fine.”
I sat up as slowly as possible, taking my own inventory of bodily harm. My jaw was stiff and sore, but thankfully it wasn’t broken, or if it had been it had already healed. The rest of my head was another matter.
The ringing in my ears was almost unbearable, and I gritted my teeth against it, trying to ignore the ache in my jaw. The back of my head felt bruised and broken, and when I touched it and pulled away, I found my hand wet with blood that probably wasn’t mine.
My head throbbed painfully in time to the beating of my heart. Each new throb made the ringing in my ears even worse.
I looked around the bathroom for something to do besides noticing how much pain I was in, and I saw the vampire’s unmoving body perched near the bathroom door. His skin was shriveled and gray, and his shirt was spattered with blood: his, his victims, and mine. I was surprised to see a long thin stick protruding from his chest.
“Quinten, what happened?”
“When I left, I searched the ground outside the bathroom for a stick that I could sharpen. Luckily there was one close by, and I snapped it in half. Then I came back and jammed the sharpe
ned end into the vampire’s heart while he was busy with you.”
The only reason I wasn’t dead right now was because Quinten had somehow managed to save my life.
He was never going to let me live this down.
On sudden impulse, I threw my arms around Quinten’s shoulders and hugged him fiercely. He had managed to survive his first vampire encounter much better off than I had. My pride was a little hurt that a blind human boy was able to best a vampire, yet I hadn’t, but it didn’t matter.
I was alive and so was he.
“The woman?” I asked. “Is she ok?”
Quinten shook his head sadly, looking slightly embarrassed after my hug. “I think she probably died sometime during the fight.”
“What are we still doing here?”
“I locked the door to keep anyone else out and used your phone to call Ray. He and another werewolf who asked him to lunch are on their way here to help us dispose of the vampire’s remains. He said he’d find a way to notify the police about the woman after. He said something about an animal attack, but I don’t know if that will actually fool anyone.”
Quinten’s hands were clenched tightly by his sides. He was pale and sweating, and I realized that he was worried about meeting this other werewolf that was with Ray. Strictly speaking, outsiders weren’t supposed to know about werewolves or vampires; they tended to just get in the way when they did.
But, Quinten had noticed certain changes in me after my first shift. I’d become more stealthy when I moved, stronger, and faster. In the first months after my transformation, Quinten and I had had a serious fight about where I was always disappearing to.
I couldn’t tell him that Ray was taking me out into the woods to teach me to control the shift. He would have probably thought that I was lying to him, and we would have fought even more. So it was better if he just didn’t know about any of it.
Fives months after I’d shifted for the first time I finally broke down and told him. I’d decided to value Quinten’s friendship more than the laws that governed werewolves. I shouldn’t have, but I didn’t want to lose my best and only friend, so I told him.
At first, he was skeptical, and I couldn’t blame him. But finally, I was able to prove to him that I wasn’t making the whole story up. Quinten was one of the only humans with knowledge of the supernatural world. It was dangerous information for him to have, and I couldn’t help feeling a little guilty, but for the most part, I was just glad to still have my best friend.
He had to know that nothing would happen to him just because he knew about us. Werewolves didn’t go around killing innocent people, at least, not anymore. But, nothing I could say would be able to give him any comfort. This would be his first meeting with any werewolf other than me, Ray, or Ilene.
We didn’t have long to wait. Within ten minutes there was a loud knock on the door and I heard Ray call out, “Alanna?”
I got up, ignoring the ache that spread all over my body, and unlocked the bathroom door. Ray was standing there with another werewolf. Without a single word they walked into the bathroom. Ray went first to the woman on the floor, to assure himself that she was dead, and then he looked at the dead vampire.
Ray was just over six feet in height, with a muscular build, and strawberry blonde hair. He had a strong jaw, curved nose, and thin lips. His eyes were a warm, blue-gray color. He looked to be in his early thirties, but he was almost fifty years old.
I narrowed my eyes at the back of the other werewolf, who hadn’t even bothered to check on the woman. He was obviously older, probably close to a couple centuries, even though he looked to be in his late thirties. His hair was deep black and kept short in a military buzz cut. His jaw was strong and his nose was hooked. His eyes were cold, hard, and gray.
The most distinguishing thing about him was probably the long jagged scar that extended from his left temple, curved in front of his ear, and reached down his left cheek to end somewhere below the collar of his shirt. His body was comprised completely of muscle. He was in his prime, and I had absolutely no interest in ever fighting with him.
I didn’t think even Ray could have taken him, and Ray was one of the most natural fighters I’d ever met. He was trying to teach me to be the same way, and it was going alright. He told me that there were three types of werewolves: those that were born natural fighters, those that never learned to fight, and those that became natural fighters.
Ray was the first type. I just hoped that if I couldn’t be the first, I could be the third. Ray was hopeful about my fighting abilities though, so I wasn’t too worried.
The man looked at Ray first, then at me and Quinten. “What happened here?”
I stared at him, at a loss for words. It had just dawned on me who this man was. Roger Mason, one of the oldest fussiest werewolves left in our world. He commanded respect everywhere he went. Only a fool would dare consider angering him.
“Alanna, tell him what happened,” Ray ordered.
“Quinten and I were on our way home from a shopping trip to Muskegon, and we–”
“Decided to stop at a child’s park?”
I couldn’t help but notice the obvious disdain in his voice.
“Quinten wanted some fresh air. He doesn’t like noisy crowded places, so the park seemed like the best place for us to stop.”
Roger Mason’s eyes flicked over to Quinten once. “Why does the boy not like crowded places?”
“He lost his sight in an accident as a child. It makes him feel lost,” Ray said.
The corners of Roger’s lips turned up in a sneer. “A blind human boy?” He looked ready to laugh. “Well then, let’s hope that your daughter’s taste in a mate is better than her taste in friends.”
I stiffened, in total shock. What did he just say? How dare he talk about my future mate to me, let alone with Ray present!
Ray bristled and looked ready to confront Roger, but in the end he backed down, and I didn’t blame him. Roger was dangerous, and he wouldn’t hesitate to punish someone who disagreed with him. He wouldn’t do it in public though. He’d probably stage an accident of some kind, and nobody would ever accuse him.
I looked over at Quinten, glad that he hadn’t leapt straight for Roger’s throat. I reached over to discreetly grab Quinten’s hand. He was trembling, which no doubt Roger would notice. I just hoped Quinten didn’t do anything stupid.
“Continue,” Roger ordered.
Reluctantly, I went on. “We were messing around in the park by the swings, when I noticed the scent of something that reminded me of death. Then I could smell the blood, and I knew that something was here feeding on some poor unsuspecting person. I followed the scent of the blood to the bathroom and engaged the vampire in a fight. I was hoping to save the person he was feeding on.
“I should have shifted, but I didn’t stop to think before attacking him. He managed to get the better of me, when Quinten stepped into the fight, and ordered the vampire to take his hands off of me. The vampire threw me up against the wall and attacked Quinten. Thankfully the vampire was fairly new, or Quinten and I would both probably be dead right now.”
Roger was watching Quinten oddly. “You expect me to believe that this blind human boy saved you from a vampire attack?”
I nodded stiffly. I didn’t like his tone.
“Yes, he did. When the vampire turned its attention back to me, Quinten found a sharp stick outside, and I don’t really know what happened after that, because I was unconscious. When I woke up, the vampire was dead, and Quinten was checking to make sure I was ok.”
Ray, who was standing behind Roger, gave Quinten a proud, thankful smile. Even though Quinten couldn’t see it, I knew that it would make him very happy when I told him about it later. He thought very highly of Ray, and would love that he had Ray’s appreciation.
“So boy, what happened after your friend lost consciousness?”
“The vampire was preoccupied with her and I was able to come up behind him. He was startled to see m
e, and I stabbed at him. I wasn’t sure I’d even gotten the heart until I heard him die…for the second time.”
Roger looked like he wanted to smile. “So, it was blind luck that you hit the monster’s heart?”
In that moment, I had never wanted to ever hit someone as much as I did then. How much trouble would I get in for doing it? Too much, I decided. It wouldn’t be worth the consequences. So instead, I settled for punching him in my imagination, where he wouldn’t be likely to notice.
Roger thought to himself for a minute, before he finally nodded. “Very well. Ray, call the police department and ask for Officer Sheridan. Tell him that a woman was attacked by a wild dog. He’ll know what that means. I will make sure that the vampire’s remains are disposed of.”
Ray took out his cell phone and began to dial.
“Sir, what should Quinten and I be doing?” I asked, hoping he would say nothing. I wanted to get as far away from him as possible.
He gave me a look that sent shivers up my spine, before he smiled lazily. “Why don’t the two of you just head home? Your father and I can take care of this.”
Ray gave me a very pointed look, and I almost sighed. I turned back to Roger. “Thank you, sir.”
He nodded.
I dragged Quinten out the bathroom door and back over to my car. I was anxious to get him home and cleaned up. The less time he had to spend with Roger Mason the better.
Not that I wanted to spend any time with him either. Something about that old werewolf severely creeped me out. I wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. From this moment on, I promised myself that I would just stay out of his way as much as I could.
Quinten and I didn’t speak until we were standing in his living room. It was then that I noticed it was well after noon. “How long was I unconscious?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s not like I can use a watch,” he said bitterly.
So that’s what was wrong with him. He was bothered by what Roger had said, and I didn’t blame him. It angered me and Roger hadn’t even been speaking about me. I couldn’t imagine how angry Quinten must have been, having some stranger making fun of him.
“Hey, you saved my life today, and you did it without your sight. You did what I couldn’t. Being blind doesn’t make you any less of a man, you know that, right?”
He turned his head in my general direction and sighed heavily. “I’m sorry, Alanna. I don’t want to sound so pathetic; sometimes I just wish things were different.”
I moved closer and put my hand on his shoulder. “I don’t. Quinten, you have no idea how lucky you are. You could have died in that accident, but you didn’t. You could have given up anytime over the last few years, and you didn’t. You could have been killed today, but you weren’t. Not only did you rid the world of an evil, vile, bloodsucking monster, you saved my life in the process. That was something that I wasn’t able to do myself.”
He looked down at me. “I was lucky. If I’d missed its heart, you and I would both be dead right now.”
“But we’re not dead, Quinten, and you’re a hero.”
He snorted. “I’m no hero.”
“You are to me, and to Ray.”
His eyes widened a little. “What do you mean?”
“You couldn’t see the look on Ray’s face as we were telling Roger our story. He was so incredibly proud of you.”
Quinten’s eyes started to water, and I realized just how much Ray’s acceptance meant to him. He smiled. “Really? Ray’s proud of me?”
I nodded. “But he can tell you that himself when we see him tonight. You’re still coming over for dinner, right?”
“Yeah, I’ll be there.”