Chapter 11
"Come on, I blinded the tail!" I say, and we run under the beast, making sure it doesn't see our retreat. It smells us, though, and it turns towards us, then charges. Jesse trips, and I jump between him and the beast. I feel its hot breath as the lion head bends down to bite into me and Jesse, so I knock him out of the way as the chimaera's jaws close over me.
I jump up to avoid the teeth, and I just barely manage to escape being chomped in half. I feel hot now. I'm hot, and I'm wet with chimaera saliva. And if that wasn't bad enough, the movement of the tongue underneath me tells me that it's trying to swallow me whole. And it's working.
My vampire sight can see almost perfectly in this darkness, so I can see the opening of the lion's throat not even three feet ahead of me now. Two feet. One foot. My feet slide into the chimaera's throat, and my legs are following quickly. I think fast, and I flip over, then dig my claws into the lion's tongue.
It throws its head back and roars, and I can see the stars as it opens its mouth. I start to claw my way back up its tongue, but then it shakes its head, and I lose my grip for a second. I manage to sink my claws into the tongue again, but now I'm up to my breasts in lion throat, and the esophagus is trying to drag me in as it repeatedly swallows.
"Hell no!" I grunt as I start to fight against the swallows, struggling to drag myself out of the tunnel behind me. "Fuck you, pussy cat! Fuck you!"
I reach out and manage to get my hand around the point of one of the lion's back teeth and I use it for leverage as I focus on freeing one of my legs.
I slowly but surely make progress in freeing my right leg. My knee is now out of the throat, so I pull harder and manage to yank my entire right leg free. The lion roars again, and I can hear Jesse screaming for me outside, pleading for some sign that I'm still undead, and not dead-dead.
I scratch at the Lion's gums and it lets out a horrifying screech that seems to be enough of a signal for Jesse.
"Okay! Got it! I'll go get help!" I can barely hear him shout.
I prop my foot up against the upper jaw and use my entire body to pull my left leg free, then plant it against the lower jawbone to steady myself. I catch my breath before I realize I have no breath to catch, then I scratch at the roof of the lion's mouth again to make it roar. When it opens its mouth again, I jump with every ounce of strength I have left, and I fly out of its mouth, grateful for the wide open space that is the world. I shake to rid myself of as much saliva as I can before I crouch low to make myself smaller, hoping the chimaera wouldn't see me.
It doesn't work. What did I expect? It's got three fucking sets of eyes! At least one eye was bound to spot me. So, instead, I stand up and hope that Aubrey was right about these guys being docile. I don't have any more pheromones on me that I know of, so maybe this thing'll leave me alone.
That doesn't work, either. Apparently, I pissed it off when I wouldn't let it eat me.
It opens its three mouths and, much to my surprise, lets out a gigantic burst of flaming breath. I jump and roll to the side, barely avoiding the fire. I come to a stop, then have to roll to the side again immediately as it lets loose another stream of fire.
Unfortunately, though being swallowed whole by a chimaera won't kill me that I know of, fire is still very deadly to my kind.
I dodge forward, running towards the chimaera, hoping to get in its blind spot, dodging jets of flame in the process. I jump back suddenly as the serpent breathes a stream of fire that hits the ground right where I was just about to run into. I run around it and finally manage to get under it, but it's learning.
The tail swoops under the chimaera and tries to sink its fangs into me, but I backflip and kick its mouth closed, landing in a crouch. I spring forward and wrap my arms around the serpent's mouth to keep it closed. The snake doesn't like that. It comes back out from under the beast, taking me with it into the air, then starts shaking wildly, trying to throw me off, but I manage to hold on.
Finally, it slams down into the ground, and it stuns me enough for me to let go, so I quickly roll again to avoid the flames.
I have to find a way to either escape or beat this thing, because I've gotten lucky enough to avoid the flames so far, but my luck is going to run out, and soon.
And, of course, the moment I think that, my luck would run out.
I hear Aubrey call for me, and I turn to see her, Chloe, and Jesse all running towards me.
And that distraction is enough time for the chimaera to find me and fire all three jets of flames right at me. I turn to look, and I'm like a deer caught in the headlights.
I don't feel a thing as the flames engulf me. I can hear Aubrey scream in horror as she watches the flames surround me, knowing that she'd never see me as anything more than a pile of ashes again. I hear Chloe shout my name, though it's more in anger, probably pissed at me for dying and breaking Aubrey's heart. I don't hear Jesse. I'm betting he's in shock right now, unable to react at all.
They were too late. Or, maybe, if Aubrey hadn't called me, then I would've been able to react in time to save my own life. Then, we all would've fought the chimaera off together.
But then, something happens that I couldn't have foreseen if that moment had lasted a thousand years. The flames die down. At least, the ones from the chimaera's mouths do. I'm still standing in a large circle of fire. The flames are covering my body. I'm surrounded by flames, and I can feel the heat, but it's more like I have a fever than I'm on fire. And I'm not burning up.
I look around myself in shock, and I put my hands to my body just to make sure I'm not seeing things. But I'm not. I'm really not dead! I'm covered in flames, and I'm not burning up! I look over at the others and Chloe and Jesse are staring at me in shock. Aubrey's looking away right now, curled up on the ground, sobbing.
Not looking away from me, Chloe taps Aubrey with her foot, and Aubrey hesitantly looks up at her to see what the hell she wants. The redhead points to me, and Aubrey follows her gaze, and her mouth drops open in shock. Shock turns to relief on their faces. And relief turns to confusion, and maybe a touch of fear, in the case of Chloe and Jesse. Aubrey's face is nothing but relief, and she starts sobbing uncontrollably in relief.
I hear the chimaera roar again, and I turn my attention back to it. I jump and slash at the lion's face with my claws. I grab onto its nose and swing myself up onto its snout, then start slashing wildly at it. It's growing weaker now as it loses blood, plus I'm sure the fire breathing took a lot out of it. I slide down the chimaera's neck and tear at its fur at its throat until I create a bald patch.
I feel the familiar hunger rise in me, and I realize I haven't eaten anything since that half pouch of blood from the nurse after the consecrated shower incident. My fangs grow longer, and I can't help but let a growl escape my throat as I throw my head back, then lurch forward and sink my fangs into its jugular. I start drinking, and the creature falls to the ground, too weak to do anything but whimper. Finally, it lets loose its dying breath.
I drain every last ounce of its blood, then wipe my lips as I slide off its corpse to the ground.
I look down and see the flames still dancing on the ground, so I do what I learned in elementary school back when I was still human. I drop to the ground and start rolling around to smother the flames.
But they won't go out.
I finally notice a tingling on my neck, and the tingling becomes a burning sensation, and I start to panic, thinking that the flames are finally burning me. But instead, the burning dies down after a minute, and I'm able to relax as I realize that I'm not in any danger from the flames.
I look around and see that there's no more danger to me, so I fully relax, which, for some reason, causes the flames to finally go out. I slump to the ground, suddenly exhausted, and that must have snapped the others out of their shock, because they rush to my side.
"Unbelievable..." I hear Chloe whisper.
"What?" Jesse asks.
"Her skin's hot! Even a vampire who was standing near a fire for hours loses the heat of it after a few seconds, but here we are, about five minutes later, and she's still hot! And look at this!" She points to my neck. "Her bite scar is gone!"
Aubrey and Jesse gasp as they look at my neck.
"What?" I mumble. I feel my neck, and sure enough, the bite mark where my sire bit me is gone.
"Beca, are you alright?" Aubrey asks.
"Yeah, I'm... I'm fine... just... exhausted." I mumble.
"Beca, you were on fire! Like, literally! How can you say you're fine?" She asks hysterically.
"I'm just... tired..." I assure her.
She sighs. "How can you be tired? You just drained an entire chimaera dry! Do you have any idea how much blood that is?!"
"Maybe it was the fire..." Jesse suggests. "I mean... what if she literally burned the calories or something?"
"Maybe..." Aubrey admitted.
"Well, first things first, maybe we could, like... get her some clothes or something?" Jesse coughs.
"What?" I ask. My eyes won't open, I'm so tired. Though, now that he mentions it, I do feel a little... bare.
"Apparently, your clothes aren't as fireproof as you are." Chloe jokes.
"Here, Beca... Drink up." I hear Jesse say, kind of. I'm slowly losing consciousness.
"No!" Aubrey says, and she holds my jaw shut so the blood doesn't drip into my mouth.
"What? What's going on?" Jesse asks.
"She's a Ripper, Jesse. If she tastes human blood, it drives her insane, and she can't stop killing. She gets addicted to it with even the slightest taste."
"I'm not human, remember? My blood's tainted by the wolf. I'm a werewolf, not human."
"Oh... Right..." Aubrey says softly, then lets go of me. I lick my lips and taste the blood. It's richer than I'm used to, but not like a human's blood, so I should be fine. My eyes finally open enough to see Jesse offering his wrist to me. His own mouth is dripping blood a little, so I'm assuming he bit into himself to draw blood.
I nod slightly, and he places his wrist to my lips. I open my mouth again and taste the blood. The hunger rises again, and I don't even try to fight it. My jaw aches as my fangs grow out, and I bite into his wrist, starting to drink.
He immediately tries to pull away out of the pain, but my hands come up instinctively to hold him there.
"It's going to hurt, Jesse, but you have to be still, or she may accidentally rip your wrist out. You could die if you move." Aubrey warns him.
He nods frantically and tries not to struggle, though I can see that he's panicking, afraid that I'll drain him dry. He may be a werewolf, but werewolves aren't undead, especially in human form. Right now, anything that would kill a human will kill him. Including substantial blood loss.
I drink and drink until I see his eyelids flutter slightly, then I release him, and he jerks back.
Chloe tears off a piece of her shirt and ties it around his wrist as a tourniquet. "Thanks..." He says, and Chloe nods grudgingly.
I sit up slowly. I'm still tired, but at least I'm not gonna pass out.
"Here." Jesse says, taking off his shirt and handing it to me.
Our eyes all grow wide when we see Jesse shirtless. I mean, yeah, I saw him rip his shirt to shreds, but somehow, his body shifting around and growing hairy just didn't give me a good idea of what he really looked like.
I expected him to be fit and everything, 'cause transforming month after month, I've heard, gives you an extreme full body workout, and so werewolves are kind of naturally fit. But I never expected this.
To put it bluntly, Jesse is ripped. Both literally and figuratively. Every single muscle is pretty much outlines like a cartoon character, and he has a six pack to end all six packs. It looks like he had everything drawn on him, but it's all real. But he's also scarred. All over the place, he has scars. It looks like he's been put through a meat grinder, then regenerated, but left the scars behind.
"What the hell happened to you?" I ask, pointing to his scars.
"Oh... That's... From my first shift." He says. "The first full moon a werewolf changes on, the human scars where the wolf tears the skin off to free itself. The fewer scars you're left with, the faster you changed, and the less it hurt. That sets the standard for every shift to come after that. I have twenty-five scars over my whole body from my first shift. That's not many for a werewolf. That shows that I tend to change pretty fast. It means that I'm pretty much a natural at it. After the first shift, your body knows what it's going through, so it knows how to heal itself after you tear your skin off, so you don't scar again from the shift."
I looked him over. "I thought you said you were bitten in?" I asked. "I don't see any bite marks." He flushed. "Jesse?"
"Look, just take the shirt and cover up so we can get you back to your dorm." He said, avoiding the question.
I look at him in confusion. Why is he getting so defensive? I nod and take his shirt, sliding it over my arms and buttoning it closed again. Aubrey and Chloe help me to my feet, then the four of us head for my dorm.
...
"How are you feeling, Beca?" Aubrey asks.
"I'm... still a little warm, I guess." Aubrey feels my forehead and gasps as she yanks her hand back.
"Geez, you're still hot!" She says. "I mean it, you feel like you're on fire still or something! I think I'm going to blister!"
"Are you okay?" I ask, jumping up to check her. She flinches away when I try to touch her, and I have to fight back tears.
Jesse walks up and touches me.
"Come on, guys, she's not that hot." He says. "I mean, she feels just like a human or something. I swear, you vamps and your icy cold skin. Anything hotter than seventy degrees, and you're running from lava or something. At most, I'd say she's about ninety-five, a hundred degrees."
Our eyes grow wide.
"I... I haven't been that hot in fifty years." I say, and Jesse shrugged.
"I'm sure you'll be back to normal in no time." He said.
"Maybe..." I say, unsure. "Anyway, I'm gonna get changed for bed." Jesse nods and turns away, but Chloe and Aubrey just look at him. "What? I'm not going to bed yet." I say to him.
"Well, I figured that, just thought I'd give you some privacy to change." He says.
"Dude, it's alright." I say. "If you're going to stay, then you're gonna see everything, anyway. I don't wear anything to bed."
"Oh..." Jesse says. "Then... I'll just... I'll see you tomorrow, Beca."
"Wimp." I tease. He flips me off, then walks away, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Vampires." He mutters under his breath just before he closes his door.
"Why do you think the bite mark disappeared?" Chloe asks. "I mean, yeah, you just drained an entire chimaera, but according to Aubrey, you've drained thousands of humans, and the bite mark never faded. Bite marks never fade. And human blood is a hundred times more powerful than chimaera's blood. If anything could have erased your bite mark, it should have been the human blood. So why did it happen this time?"
"I don't know." I say as I start to undress.
"Well, what did you do differently this time?" Aubrey asks.
"She was on fire. Maybe that's what did it." Chloe says. I get the feeling she's only half joking.
"No, that can't be it." Aubrey mutters.
"Why not? I mean, fire is supposed to kill our kind, but it didn't even affect her. In fact, it seemed to me that, somehow... the fire wasn't just on her... it was coming from inside her." Aubrey and I look at Chloe incredulously.
"What are you talking about?" I ask. "That's impossible."
"Well... The Mitchell clan is supposedly directly descended from Count Dracul, just like the Posen's... And some accounts of Count Dracul say that he could turn himself into fire..." Chloe points out.
"No. That's not true. That's just something made up to make him seem more powerful than he actually was." Aubrey says.
"How would you explain it?"
I shrug.
"I don't know..." Aubrey admits. She turns to me. "Maybe it's just some special power you've got. I mean, some vampires in the past have developed immunities to certain methods of destruction. Some develope immunity to sunlight, some of them can grow their head back after decapitation, and some of them can regenerate their heart after being stabbed with a wooden stake. Maybe you just developed an immunity to fire."
"Maybe... Either way, I'm going to have to have a serious talk with King Michael."
"Then let's talk." We all whip around to see my sire standing right there in the room with us.
Aubrey and Chloe hiss at him as they back towards the door.
He raises an eyebrow at them, then turns towards me, ignoring them completely.
"We must speak at once, Rebeca." He insists. I sigh and get out of my casket. I walk over and open the door.
"You should probably leave." I say to Aubrey and Chloe. They nod, then risk another glance back at my sire before they walk away and I close my door behind them.
"Really, Rebeca? Fraternizing with a Posen? Two of them, no less?"
"Actually, Chloe's a Beale."
"Wrong. She serves the Posens. That makes her a Posen. She has turned her back on her clan, and therefore, they have turned their backs on her."
"Whatever. Why are you here?"
"For precisely that reason, among others. Why on earth would you allow the likes of them to taint your atmosphere?"
I sigh. "Because I didn't know they were Posens until last week. And by then, we were already... close friends."
He waves his hand, brushing that away. "Yes, yes, yes. Friends. Rebeca, you are naïve. Those in our position do not have friends. We have servants. We have family. We have, when necessary, allies. But no friends. Friends are for the weak, Rebeca."
"I'm weak?"
"No, Rebeca, you are strong. That is what I am saying. You are strong; therefore, you do not have friends. You do not need friends. You have servants. You have family. You have allies, when necessary. And most of all, you have those who want your strength. Your power. And they will do anything to get it. Even offer you what you want most. I do not say this because we are superior. I say this as a fact. We do not have friends because it is not possible. This world is made of many different types of people. There are those who are afraid of those with power. There are those who covet the power of those who have it. There are those, like us, who have power, and are content with what we have. I am content to continue as we are, never attempting to rise above what we are, but never allowing myself to fall to below what I am. But then there are those with power who only seek more power. Do you know who you can trust, Rebeca?"
"Yes." I answer simply. Because I do. I know I can trust myself. I know I can trust Aubrey. I know I can trust Jesse. And, as weird as it sounds, I know I can trust Chloe, too. Notice whose name I didn't list?
"Do you? Because at a first glance, it would appear that you think you can trust the Posen girls."
"Look, forget about that, okay? There's something more important that I need to talk to you about." I say suddenly, and he raises an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Tell me, do I look like a vampire who was just on fire less than an hour ago?"
He freezes. "Pardon?"
"Yeah. Don't suppose I even remotely resemble a pile of ashes, do I? So tell me, why is my skin warm?"
He touches my skin, and we both recoil. I never really noticed how icy cold his skin was before. But now I do.
"Impossible..." He whispers. "It... It's impossible..."
"Do you know something about this?" I ask. "Because I'd really like to know why in the hell I seem to be fireproof, and somehow retain the heat from it, even though I'm a fucking vampire."
"Not fireproof." He says suddenly.
"What?"
"Not fireproof. Fireproof means that fire doesn't affect you at all. If this is what I think this is, then you are not fireproof. It also means that... you and I are about to have a long talk."
"About what?"
He sighs. "About your mother."
"What about my mother?" I growl.
"I'm afraid... I'm afraid I've been lying to you for the past fifty years, Rebeca..."
"What are you talking about?"
"Please... Let me explain. Have a seat..." I grab my robe and throw it over myself before I sit down in my desk chair, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Alright, I'm sitting. Now spill."
He hesitates, taking a deep breath.
"Alena was... special, Rebeca. She was... not human, as I let you believe. At least, not wholly. She was half human."
"Half human and half what?"
He's silent for a long time before he answers. "Phoenix. She was half phoenix."
I laugh. "You really want me to believe that my mom was half flaming bird?"
"That is a common misconception. No, that representation of the phoenix was created by mortals. Rather, it was created by the ancient mortals, back when they used images to write. They used images of a flaming bird to show that it was immensely powerful, as a bird is powerful. Birds are the very symbol of power. So powerful are our aviary friends that they can even defy the laws of gravity. Thus, the misrepresentation of the phoenix as a bird. Over time, the image merely stuck, and what was meant as a metaphor was taken to mean literal. No, the phoenix was not a bird. Instead, the phoenix was quite humanoid. They looked every bit as human as you and I. Minus the pale flesh, of course. No, as a matter of fact, their flesh was much hotter than human flesh, the exact opposite of our icy cold flesh."
"Please stop saying flesh. It's making me... some weird combination of hungry and sick."
He chuckles. "As I was saying, the phoenix was not a bird. It was merely a race of superior beings that could set themselves on fire at will."
"And my mom was one of them...?"
"No. She was only half phoenix. Half phoenix, half human. You see, Rebeca, phoenixes and vampires were natural enemies. We of the icy skin, and they of the fiery touch. We were constantly killing each other. Finally, we vampires drove the phoenix to the brink of extinction. So, they used one last method of defense to ensure their survival, to continue their lineage. They mated with humans. Their progeny were then half human and half phoenix. Many of them never knew what they really were, so they went on to lead normal lives. Others trained to harness the phoenix powers they inherited from their fiery parentage. The ones that knew bred with other half phoenixes so as to never tarnish their blood. Such was your mother's line. Both of her parents were half phoenix, half human. That, Rebeca, is why fire does not harm you. Not only will it not harm you... it heals you. Because you inherited your mother's phoenix powers."
"What about my father? Was he half phoenix, too?"
"No... Your father was... quite a different monster."
"What? What was he, then?"
"First... You must know that the man you call your father was not actually your father."
I fall into silence, stunned. Suddenly, it all clicks into place.
Why did no one ever question King Michael's choice to make me the next leader of our clan?
Why did he choose me, of all people to make his own daughter?
Why do I remind him of his own biological daughter?
Why does he favor me above everyone else?
Why am I a Ripper?
Because...
"You're my father..." I say out loud, and I see the truth reflected in King Michael's eyes. My eyes.
*Cue ominous music!
Okay, I'd like to start off by thanking Ali Davis once again for being such an awesome Beta.
Also, I'm going to be generous now and give everyone the same hints I've given her as to who exactly is behind these attacks. The one behind these attacks IS someone that has been introduced already, so I'm not going to be throwing a curveball and creating an entirely new character to play the part of the attacker. And the second clue is that it is a vampire.
Now, I'm going to throw you guys a bone here and assure you that the attacker is not Chloe. Frankly, Chloe's one of my favorite characters, and, though I may make her a bitch at times, I'm NOT going to EVER make her a bad guy in any of my stories. I just couldn't do that. So, with this new knowledge, who do you think is behind the attacks?
Also, why do you think Jesse was attacked by a chimaera? I meant to answer that question in this chapter, but I just got in the zone while writing, and I completely skipped over that on accident, so I'll answer it next chapter. It'll also explain how Beca got the pheromones on herself in the first place. So, until next time...
I love you, awesome nerds!
