A Wind of Change

  He stopped at the door right at the end of the corridor, and pushed it open. It was dark but, bizarrely, I could see everything clearly. It was a small room, bare except for what looked like a huge freezer in one corner.

  He moved so fast, I barely realized what happened next. He dragged me over to the container, lifted up the lid, and wrestled me inside. I submerged in icy water—so cold my body seized up. My breathing came hard and fast as the agony intensified in my bones.

  “No!” I screamed.

  He slammed the lid shut above me. The container was so filled up with water, even my mouth was submerged. I was forced to breathe through my nose.

  I bashed against the lid, but it wouldn’t budge. I kicked, and realized that I was too short to even feel the bottom. I moved my body as rapidly as I could, trying to generate warmth. I wondered whether even as a human I would feel as much pain as this. No matter how much I moved around, I was unable to conjure up even the slightest bit of heat.

  I had no way of knowing the time, but it felt like an eternity before Michael raised the lid again. My body had become so stiff I was barely able to keep myself above the surface. If he’d come even ten minutes later, I was sure that I would have drowned.

  He reached inside and picked me up, and set me down roughly on the floor. Unable to stand, I collapsed.

  He bent down to my level, touching my forehead with his palm.

  “That was uncomfortable, wasn’t it?” he asked softly.

  I was in too much pain to even respond.

  “River, I’m sorry. I don’t like to do this to you. But you need to learn to do as I say.”

  He scooped me up in his arms even as I shook, and carried me out of the dark chamber. We re-emerged in the corridor and he headed back to the sauna. He set me down on one of the wooden benches and I backed up against the wall as he turned the dial up high. He didn’t say a word as I sat in the corner, still trembling, until the sauna grew hot enough for the pain to begin to subside. The shock remained with me much longer, however. I was still breathing in rasps, my body still in some kind of trauma.

  He reached for a towel and handed it to me.

  I clasped it in my hands and buried my face in it. It was the only barrier I could form between him and me in that small room.

  “Now,” he said, after perhaps twenty minutes had passed. “Come here.”

  Even after the pain he’d put me through, I couldn’t find it in myself to give in. Instead I shot him a glare. “I know your type,” I spat. “Who were you before you became a vampire? Were you bullied at school? Unable to get girls based on your winning personality alone? Stay away from me, you creep.”

  He got to his feet slowly, and closed the distance between us. As he extended his fingers, claws shot out. He pressed his forefinger against my cheek, cutting a thin line. The blood seeped down my cheek, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing that I was in pain. I kept my face as expressionless as possible, even as my cheek stung.

  He bent down closer, his face mere inches away from mine.

  His lips parted and he was about to speak when instinct took over. Stiffening my fingers, I thrust them toward his right eye.

  I was shocked that I met my mark. I’d expected his reflexes to be too quick for me to do any damage. Perhaps he just thought me so weak that I wouldn’t even attempt to fight back.

  He groaned in pain and clutched his right eye, giving me the two seconds I needed to push past him and scramble toward the door. The door was closed, but the lock had been damaged thanks to that Joseph man who had stormed out of here earlier. I started dashing along the corridor, skidding and slipping on the shiny floors as I ran with speed that took my breath away. I headed straight for the exit of Michael’s apartment. My heart pounded as I slammed up against it. I gripped the handle and try to open it, but it was locked.

  Oh, God.

  I looked around frantically for a key, but found none. I couldn’t spend any more time looking. I kept expecting Michael to race up to me and grab hold of me at any second. I gripped the handle again and pulled down as hard as I could. To my shock, the handle snapped off and I was able to push the door wide open. I might not have had the strength of a vampire, but whatever I had become, I was stronger than I could have imagined. It was an uncanny feeling to possess such strength while having done nothing to earn it. It was like… magic. My whole body had transformed into this bizarre species that I hadn’t even known existed until only hours ago.

  I could hear Michael cursing in the background as I dashed off down the wide veranda. I must have hurt him quite severely.

  I’d had to defend myself once like this before, in my neighborhood back home. I’d gone out to the convenience store too late one evening, and on my way back, someone had tried to mug me. I’d jabbed him in the eye. God knew what would’ve happened that night had my reflexes not been so fast.

  I had no idea where I was running to. I just kept speeding as fast as I could.

  I threw a look over my shoulder, fearing that Michael would already be chasing me. Thankfully he wasn’t—yet. I ran round and round the circular veranda, and when I reached the elevators, I entered one and traveled upward to the very highest level—the one directly beneath the trapdoor that Michael had brought me down through. I hurried up the winding staircase and began fumbling with the latches. The metal clanked and was so noisy, it was a struggle to work in silence. Every time a voice came from down below, my heart jumped into my throat.

  Please, open up.

  I have to escape.

  I still had no idea where my sister was, but if I went looking for her, I would end up getting caught and then there would be no hope for either of us, or Hassan. I had to call for outside help, somehow get the attention of those tanks that were set up not far away. I believed now more than ever that they had to know about this coven of vampires. Otherwise why would they be so near?

  This door proved much harder to budge than Michael’s door had been. But to my relief, just as an elevator creaked, I managed to open it.

  As soon as my feet dug into the sand of the desert, the brand in my right arm began to burn. I had to pause for a moment to get a handle on the pain before hurrying forward again through the dark. I bit my lip, trying to focus on the boundary in the distance, where it appeared the sun was out. After I had traveled perhaps five miles, to my horror, I hit an invisible barrier. I didn’t know what I’d been thinking. Perhaps, as a half-blood, I would be able to walk right through, just as the vampires seemed to be able to do. But that wasn’t the case. I ran all around the area hoping that there would be at least one weak spot, but it was hopeless. I tried screaming and shouting for help. Nobody answered. The tattoo on my arm continued to burn mercilessly. I looked back toward the entrance of The Oasis and was relieved to see that nobody had followed me out yet. Perhaps the groaning of the elevator had been someone descending to the lower levels, not coming up to me.

  The thought of willingly returning down there made me shiver. I was surprised that Michael hadn’t already followed me out here, but I suspected that he would be looking for me around the atrium, perhaps with a dozen other vampires, just waiting to punish me.

  Still, I had no other choice. There was no way I was going to break free through this barrier.

  I hurried back across the sand, hoping that at least nobody had noticed me come out here. I reached the entrance, but before climbing back down the iron staircase, I looked around to see if anyone was on the platform beneath me. There was nobody. Gathering all the courage I could muster, I began my descent down the staircase, easing the trapdoor shut above me. Once I touched back down on the floor, I crept to the nearest wall of glass and looked around at the atrium. I could see several vampires milling about along the verandas, but nobody seemed to be in any particular hurry.

  With their sense of hearing, I would’ve been shocked if nobody had detected me leaving, not to mention hearing my screaming above ground. Perhaps nobody had paid it any mind be
cause for whatever reason, half-bloods couldn’t pass through the invisible barrier the same way vampires could.

  I took a deep breath as I walked back into the elevator. It was clear there was no escaping to bring help from outside. I had no choice but to figure out how to help myself from the inside.

  I had this time away from Michael—time I couldn’t help but think would be horribly short-lived—and I had to do what I could to locate my sister and Hassan. I prayed that Michael hadn’t been lying to me when he’d said that my sister was okay.

  I descended all the levels of the atrium until I reached the ground level. I had no idea where to even start, but I figured that the ground floor was the logical place. I ran into a rose garden and crouched down among the bushes, barely even breathing as I listened as hard as I could. I was hoping that I’d overhear some snippet of conversation that could give me an idea as to where she could possibly be.

  There were a number of conversations going on in the chambers surrounding me. But one in particular caught my attention, perhaps because it seemed to be the closest one to me, only ten feet away. Keeping low against the ground, I crawled through the bushes.

  Ouch.

  I looked down at my forearm to see a line of blood. I instinctively raised it to my lips and sucked on it, hoping that my saliva would help it clot faster. I almost choked. My blood tasted… horribly bitter. Then I noticed something that made me doubt my eyesight. My wound was beginning to heal before my very eyes. Soon I would never even have guessed that I’d scratched myself in the first place, had it not been for the bloodstains on my skin. I reached up to touch my cheek where Michael had cut me earlier with his claw. The skin felt completely smooth—again, as if there had been no cut in the first place.

  This isn’t real.

  What other powers does my new body possess?

  I tuned in again to the voices surrounding me, particularly the conversation going on ten feet away. It was hard to make out what they were saying, because there were multiple conversations going on at once and the voices blurred into each other.

  I moved closer, looking all around me to be sure that there were no vampires, before leaving the rose garden and heading straight for the veranda. I kept close to the wall until I reached the door where the conversation was coming from.

  From the sound of it, they were eating and talking at the same time. A delicious smell wafted from the room. Even though my stomach was in knots, it still grumbled. I hadn’t eaten properly since the day of the dig, before Hassan and Lalia had been kidnapped.

  I listened for about a minute longer, but when I was unable to pick up on anything interesting, I motioned to move away and continue listening in another part of the atrium. But then the door clicked open and an elderly woman appeared behind it. Her white hair was tied up in a tight bun.

  I feared at first that she was a vampire—I still wasn’t sure how to tell the difference when a vampire’s fangs and claws weren’t extended. But as a smile spread across her face, she looked like the friendliest person I’d come across so far in this ghastly place.

  “You look lost,” she said. “Are you one of the new recruits?”

  I wasn’t sure whether to stay and respond to her, or run. But something about her evoked trust in me, so I nodded. “Yes.”

  She stepped back from the door and opened it wider so I could see into the room. There was a crowd of people—if I could call them people—sitting around a long rectangular table. They had plates of food in front of them and were eating away while chatting.

  “Are you hungry? Would you like to join us?” the woman asked. “I’m Pamela, by the way. I’m a half-blood too, in case you couldn’t tell.”

  Although my stomach could have done with some food, I still didn’t think I had enough of an appetite. But I nodded all the same and let her lead me inside. I was still thinking about Michael lurking around looking for me. Going into this room with these half-bloods might hide me from him a little longer and I could ask them about my sister.

  “When did you get here?” Pamela asked.

  I wasn’t sure how much time had passed. A part of me had been avoiding thinking about it, because it only made me feel more desperate about Lalia.

  “Just very recently,” I replied, my voice stiff.

  “Where were you taken from?” another half-blood asked—a girl who looked no older than thirteen.

  “Just from the desert outside,” I replied.

  “Whose half-blood are you? Or perhaps you’re just a general servant like most of us here?”

  “A vampire named Michael took me in.”

  No sooner had I said the words than a hushed silence fell around the table and all eyes fixed on me.

  I stared back at them. “What?”

  “Michael Gallow,” a man in his forties replied. “And he made you his slave?”

  “Apparently.” I was beginning to feel impatient. “Please, I need your help, if there is anything you could tell me at all—my sister, she’s been taken—”

  The middle-aged man stood up from his seat, his hands clenched into fists. He looked from me to the rest of the half-bloods sitting around the table.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked, uneasy.

  The atmosphere was suddenly electric with tension.

  “We don’t know that Michael is definitely going to get rid of one of us.” Pamela set her fork down on the table. “Calm down, Frederick.”

  “Don’t tell me to calm down.” The man glared at the old woman, then looked round the table. “What are you waiting for? This is Michael’s new muse, for whom one of us slaves is going to be sacrificed by the end of the week.”

  My stomach flipped.

  Oh, no.

  I didn’t need a lot of wit about me to know that it was time I left this room. I darted for the exit, but four male half-bloods formed a wall in front of it, blocking my way. Each of them held knives. Then they began to approach me.

  “I don’t know if this is a good idea,” Pamela said, eyeing the men. “You might all get into more trouble than it’s worth if you touch a half-blood Michael has already claimed as his own.”

  The rest of the half-bloods in the room acted as though they hadn’t even heard Pamela speak.

  “Pamela’s right,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “I wouldn’t do this if I were you.” I didn’t want to show fear, because fear was the first sign of defeat. I’d just survived several encounters with blood-sucking vampires, I couldn’t allow myself to be finished off by a group of half-bloods.

  Five of them lurched toward me at once. They were fast, just like me, but I managed to throw myself under the table in time to miss their blades aimed directly at my chest. More half-bloods chased after me, trying to grab me as I emerged at the other end of the table. The room was small, and there was only one of me. I knew my tactics were just a way to delay the inevitable—unless I managed to reach the door in time.

  I might have been safer with Michael after all…

  I tried to make my way toward the exit, but I was hopelessly outnumbered. I’d managed to fight my way within five feet of the door when a man lurched for my midriff and sent me crashing to the ground. Straddling my waist, he raised a bread knife and brought it down toward my heart. If I hadn’t forced my leg upward and kneed him in the groin, the blade would’ve sunk right through me.

  He backed away from me, doubled over in pain, and I scrambled to my feet again. Fighting my way to the door, I pushed it open and staggered out. I headed straight for the rose garden and dove into a cluster of bushes, ignoring the thorns scraping my skin. I tried to keep hidden within the bushes as I scrambled away, but a strong hand closed around my ankle, dragging me out of the bushes toward the clearing in the center of the rose garden. Another large man stood over me, and while he wasn’t armed with a knife, his fists were like iron balls as they began pounding down against my face. They were merciless, and by the sixth blow, I felt close to unconsciousness. Any second now, another perso
n would arrive and hand him a knife. This would be my end…

  “What are you doing?” A deep voice spoke.

  The man on top of me didn’t let up his pounding. If anything, he hit me with more vigor. My eyes were so puffy and bloodshot, I could hardly see through them.

  “Why are you beating this girl?” The voice spoke again, more aggressive this time.

  I barely heard the half-blood’s answer. All I was aware of was the pain coursing through me, and the pounding of blood in my ears.

  Then I felt arms beneath my body. I was lifted from the ground by a man and he began carrying me away from the gardens. He sped up and then the sound of an elevator filled my ears. We ascended several levels, and after walking some distance along another veranda, a door clicked open.

  I began to struggle. Whoever this man was, I couldn’t believe that his intentions were anything but evil. Just like everyone else in this godforsaken place.

  I groaned as he laid me down on a bed, my battered limbs brushing against the mattress.

  His weight pressed the bed downward by my side, and then the man’s face appeared above mine, staring down at me.

  “Don’t hurt me,” I gasped. “Please.”

  A cold hand touched my forehead, and then withdrew. My ears caught the sound of slicing flesh. I feared for a moment that it was my flesh, and I was just so numb that I couldn’t feel it. But when the man’s wrist pressed against my mouth and cool blood trickled into my mouth, I realized that he’d just cut himself. I coughed and spluttered. His blood tasted even more disgusting than mine.

  “You’re a wreck,” he said. “Stop spitting out my blood. Drink it. It will speed up your healing.”

  I still didn’t know whether to trust him, but the thought of relief from the pain was enough to make me begin swallowing his blood. I held my nose to make the taste more bearable, though the strange texture of it remained off-putting as ever.

  Within a minute of drinking the man’s blood, a miracle happened. The pain all over my body and face subsided. My vision returned to me. I found myself staring up into the face of a handsome dark-haired man with vibrant green eyes. It was the same man who’d stormed out of the sauna earlier, after Jeramiah had asked him to half-turn me.