Chapter 13 - Makeover
Sherilyn
All of us watched as Erica sped off from the group, her husband hot on her heels. It was so sweet to see that their love had survived the harsh changes of our transformation. And then there was the woman Nicole, only slightly releasing her death grip on Lane's arm. The bond of love between them was strong too.
I had wondered about love and the rest of our emotions when I had woken up as a vampire. Not every story was as kind to them as appeared to be for us. We got the bodies rich with other worldly glamour, powers that most fake psychics would give both of their legs for, as well as super strength, senses, and immortality. And we didn't burst into flames in sunlight but rather got to sparkle and dazzle like a million carat diamond. And forget sleeping in a coffin. David told us they'd been awake ever since the change had been finished.
David. I studied him as he turned back to face the group. He was still as handsome as he had been just a few nights ago when he had changed both me and Teresa. I wasn't really mad at him about it, I guess. I had known that vampires didn't suffer from the medical pain I did when I was a human and was all to glad to be rid of it.
But all the same I couldn't help an irrational feeling of anger at his precious gift that he'd given me. I'd demanded he admit what he had done more out of needing to know who to thank than who to blame for my condition.
David turned his eyes away from Erica and Jeremy's retreating bodies, a resigned look on his face. Erica had interrupted him while he was searching for my psychic gift. And almost as irrationally as my anger had flared up at David I was ready to attack Erica, physically as well as verbally. It was so incredible, these powerful new emotions coming in such fits that it would be enough to put any normal human in a mental institution. Luckily with the vampiric gifts came a wholly expanded conscious. Maybe I was finally using my full brain, and not just the limited amount of consciousness that humans are cursed with.
It would definitely explain a lot.
"David," Lane said quietly, concern plain as day on his face.
David held up his hand to stop him. "I know what you're going to say Lane," David said. "And its not necessary. I trust Erica."
Trust Erica with what? What had she really been doing that required David's attention?
Lane studied him for a split second, his mouth open slightly, indecision on whether he should press his point warring with David's words. "Very well," he said resolutely.
"Thank you," David answered with a curt nod. "You are all that's left my young Sherilyn," he said, turning to me.
I smiled in spite of myself because I knew that in human years I was old enough to be his, much older sister. "Okay David," I said. "Shoot."
He smiled at me and I saw his eyes slid into focus. And I couldn't help but wait with apprehension as to what he would discover about my gift. It could be any number of things from what I'd seen about the others. The senses and abilities were amplified so strongly that they could do amazing things, and I was just as anxious to join their ranks.
David stared at my face, making me feel a little self conscious. I knew that I had never looked better in life. The intensity of his stare was still a little disconcerting though. I almost felt like he was trying to see into my very soul. And a small part of my mind was still remembering what had just happened between he and Erica a few moments ago. What if he had hurt her and threatened her not to tell anybody? It would fit with the authoritative position which he had taken.
I studied David's face as he studied mine, searching him as best as I could. But I couldn't find a single trace of evil in him. Nor in any of the others' faces as I watched them.
"I don't understand," David said softly. "I'm getting nothing."
"What do you mean nothing?" I asked slowly, the words sounding terrible to my anxious hope.
"I mean I can't mimic you," he said slowly. "Let me switch over and try someone else."
With a blink it was like I was looking at someone else. I almost couldn't believe how different he had changed with just a blink of his eyes. Somehow I could physically see the difference between his eyes and the pair of borrowed eyes that he was using.
"Your aura is telling me nothing," he said, frustration only barely audible in his voice. "Your aura is as natural as the rest of ours, but something is keeping me from reading it."
"What color is my aura?" I asked curiously.
"Its a soft royal purple," Teresa said. "It really is a beautiful color. But I can't see anything else either. I should be able to interpret the swirls and sparks of color around you into emotional responses, but I can't. Its weird. I can read everybody else just fine."
I chuckled. "That doesn't surprise me that much," I said. "Even as a human I was difficult for people to read." I sighed deeply. "Though it does make it very difficult for times like right now."
"Indeed," David sighed. "Let me try Lane's gift."
I nodded my head in assent, my collected calm torn apart by impatience and my own frustrations. I had watched as David stared for no more than a few seconds with his special gift and figure out tiny nuances in that time period. And now he couldn't figure out my reading.
I tried to hide my smile by casting my eyes downward. It sounded almost as if I was waiting to have my palm or tea leaves read in some psychic's hut in a traveling carnival. What would she see in the lines of my hand? How long is my life line? What career should I pursue? What is in my future? And then asked to be paid for her fake reading.
David wasn't that kind of psychic though, I reminded myself. I could imagine him with this gift, only not quite as powerful, in his human life. Teresa had always been hyper aware with her visual senses, and it definitely made it more difficult to find her a date. But she never complained when I got it right.
I continued to imagine the other gifts that I'd witnessed and heard about today. I could just see Nicole side stepping trouble as easily as stepping around a broken jar of strawberry jam on a white linoleum floor. Or little Laci, the firecracker she is, just cheering up everybody with her boundless energy. And Lucy being persuasive wasn't that difficult either. With experience comes wisdom and logic, all of which she had in abundance.
David swore loudly, snapping my thoughts back.
"What is it?" I asked startled.
"I'm still getting nothing," he said. Pacing frustrated, he kicked a nearby rock, sending it sailing out of the clearing to smash into a boulder. With a powerful clap the smaller rock obliterated on impact, the larger boulder cracking around the edges from the force of the blow.
"Maybe she doesn't have a gift after all," I heard someone mutter.
I felt completely crushed. I knew that it was a silly thing to be upset over, but I had set my heart on gaining a new ability. And I felt an irrational feeling to put the hurt on whomever had suggested it. I fought the urge though, trying hard to keep my powerful new emotions in check.
"Its not entirely unheard of," a new voice said from above and behind me.
I whirled around with the other newborns to face a pair of figures looking down at us from atop a rock cleft. I could easily label them as vampires, their glamour identical to ours in the sunlight and red eyes focused and unwavering.
"What do you mean?" David demanded acidly.
The female leapt off lightly to land just a few feet from me, bending her knees to perfectly absorb the shock almost noiselessly. Her mate, or at least I could only assume it was her mate with the protective edge he placed around her, was only a split second behind her landing. "Its more common than not for vampires to not have a special gift," the female said matter-of-factly.
"Really?" I said, trying hard to not be depressed at the news.
"Yes young one," she replied, sickeningly cheery.
"I'm sorry," David said slowly. "Lane, Nicole, Sherilyn, Teresa; this is Barbara and Logan. Our creators."
The two vampires bobbed their heads to us in greeting. I stood rock still, not knowing any protocol for greeting a vampire. But they didn't seem offended so I sighed quietly.
I turned at the sound of approaching footsteps. Jeremy and Erica rejoined our ragtag group, Erica stepping carefully behind Jeremy's more assured steps. It seemed like the whole band was together. But the feeling was far from friendly. The tension was so thick I could have cut it with a knife. The air almost crackled with the dark energy that clashed between the two factions in the clearing. Logan headed up the one, most of the energy seemed to glower from his direction. The surprise from our side was David. He spearheaded the negative vibes like a lightning rod, channeling feelings that I could feel flowing off all of the original eight.
I seemed to be the bridge between the two opposing precipices. Neither side said anything, but I could feel hostility rolling off in waves toward Logan and Barbara. It unnerved me more than a little to be between such negative emotions.
Barbara, seemingly oblivious to the whole atmosphere stood there an admiring glaze in her eye. She simply smiled at everybody, as merry as though she were a little girl strolling through a park with a balloon and an ice cream cone. It was so absurd I almost didn't hold back the laugh that bubbled up inside of me.
"Well," she said finally, drawing the attention though not the glower of the group. "Its time."
"Time for what?" the blonde vampire named Delilah practically hissed, her teeth grinding in her jaw.
"Time for your training of course," Barbara replied as though it was the most matter of fact thing and that we should have known.
"What training?" asked Nina, a vampire with purple highlights in her hair, which gave such a strange youthful presence.
"You need to be trained in combat," Barbara said with a small frown on her face, her brow furrowing together narrowly.
The group went tense and silent around me. I couldn't even hear them breathing anymore. And in that silence I could feel the gravity of their words pushing me down. I had been created to be a weapon. A perfect sword to cut through enemies selected for me, wielded in the hand of a master foreign to my creation. I suddenly felt very self-conscious of Barbara's eyes on me.
"Very well," David said, a low growl echoing in his normally mellow voice. It startled me so much my attention jumped momentarily from Barbara.
All of the others, except for Teresa, Erica, and Nicole were standing taut, waiting for some invisible sign of an attack. Erica was standing slightly behind Jeremy, her eyes wary, while Nicole clutched even tighter to her husband's arm. Teresa was just as at ease as I felt.
I turned back to see Logan smiling wickedly at David. "You first," he said, the menace plain in his voice. I felt a chill run up my spine, completely taking me off guard.
I didn't know a vampire could get chills.
David and Logan locked eyes and started circling each other slowly. The rest of us backed away on an invisible instinct, pushing into a wide circle, several feet standing between each of us. The two combatants didn't seem to notice though. They circled each other, squaring off like two roosters about to attack each other with sharpened razors.
The tension was building with each step that passed. I could hardly breathe, watching for the first move that would start the deadly fray. I watched David's eyes hold Logan's with an unflinching gaze. But Logan's eyes were cold and calculating. I could almost see the gears in his mind working as he watched David's movements.
And then it happened.
In a flash Logan flew at David, leaping easily across the small clearing. David jumped to the side, rolling on the ground only to leap back to his feet. And as soon as David was on his feet again, Logan was barreling toward him again.
It was an utterly terrifying and exhilarating dance to watch. With feral grace the two roosters danced around each other's guard, looking for the unnoticed opening to bring their opponent down. Strikes were exchanged and blocked just as quickly. If I hadn't been witnessing it with my new eyes I would have missed every single movement.
Logan swung his arm at David in what seemed a powerful right hook. With blinding speed David caught his arm, spun behind him and with his free hand clutched the back of Logan's neck. "I win," he growled hotly.
I cheered in spite of myself. David smiled briefly, but it was grim.
"Not exactly," Logan said calmly.
He spun on the spot, catching David's grip and flipping him around so that he held both of David's arms behind his head and was kneeling on the ground. I was so totally shocked I gasped. It had happened so fast I almost didn't see it.
"Always remember that the only way to win is to kill your opponent," Logan hissed in David's ear. "And the only way to do that is to rip them apart with your bare teeth."
"Disgusting," I heard whispered.
"But the only way my young one," Barbara said softly. "Enough with this one Logan. Move on to the next."
Logan released David, stepping back a pace. David stood up and glared at Logan but said nothing. Bowing slightly at the waist, though not taking his eyes off of Logan, he stepped to stand between Laci and Amanda in the circle, arms tight across his chest with indignation. With a wicked gleam in his eye Logan turned to me and beckoned me forward with a slow curl of his finger. "You next sunshine," he teased.
I gulped in fear. I had just seen this vampire trash the most powerful vampire I'd met. It wasn't that I'd ever seen many, but the sheer scope of David's talent made him pretty powerful in my opinion. And this guy was brutal, reminding me of some kind of sadistic Roman gladiator.
As I stepped into the ring that the position of our bodies produced I got a better look at his features. He was well sculpted, his muscles rippling along his body like a bronze statue of Hercules gone Arnold Schwarzenegger. With every flick of his eye and change in his stance I knew he was stalking and sizing me up, testing my reflexes.
With a flurry Logan sprung at me. I reacted instinctively and jumped to the side, sliding into a light crouch. I watched as he pivoted, transferring his momentum in one rapid stroke, and lashed out at me again.
My body once again seemed to know exactly what to do. With an almost lazy air to my reflexes I reached out and deflected each one of his strikes, batting them away easily. I was rewarded for my momentary pride with a swift kick to the side.
I flew across the ground at break neck speed, my rock hard body creating a rift in the earth. I jumped back to my feet. I was mad now. I had tolerated the assault on my creator, but now it was personal. Logan was going to go down.
I jumped back into the fray, my anger fueling my limbs to move at speeds alien even to me. I discarded the false illusion that by protecting myself Logan would leave me be, and went on the offensive. With a relentless assault I fought back. I focused so hard on Logan's every move I couldn't remember why we were fighting or where we were. Logan was my enemy and I was not going to let him live through this.
Logan rushed at me, and I smiled as coolly as I could. Like a snake I struck out, pounding my open fist into his chest. With a startled look on his face he tried to steady himself but I was already on the move again. I spun around him and twisted his arm into a vice grip with one hand and with the other grasped his shoulder. With one final sweep I placed my lips next to Logan's strong neck.
The taste of victory was on my lips. Logan was in my power. It suddenly seemed very erotic, like a twisted dominatrix story. I had conquered my man and was about to take him. I took a deep breath, his scent filling my head.
A tickle at the back of my mind made me hesitate, my mouth still hovering right next to his neck. I tried to hide the smile that crept onto my lips. It was so empowering to have bested Logan, but I wasn't done yet. I wanted to humiliate him for David's sake. I knew he would get a kick out of it anyway.
"I win," I said in a quiet whisper. Slowly I began to realize my surroundings again. I could more feel than see the surprised looks on everybody's faces. I had surprised myself with my skill.
"That's what you think," Logan taunted.
I felt his body tense and then release. "Sherilyn!" I heard someone yell. But nothing happened.
"Impossible," Barbara gasped.
Logan tensed and released his muscles again. I risked a glance around and saw that everyone was watching me, expecting something to happen that hadn't. It raised an internal alarm, making me worry. I searched my grip, my position, I felt nothing that would give me away into his power.
As I searched the space around us I could feel a powerful under current of energy coursing around Logan's body, arching toward my own where my fingers touched his skin. But beyond that I couldn't feel anything. It might as well have been a cell phone vibrating in my hand for all the effect it had on me.
"It can't be!" Logan hissed venomously. "You shouldn't still be standing!"
"And why not?" I asked coolly, enjoying his unease.
"Because he's been shocking you," I heard Laci, a small pixie-like vampire, say quietly.
The confusion must have been plain on my face, even from the odd angle that he say it from because David smiled coyly. "Logan can create powerful bursts of static electricity Sherilyn," David said.
"Like the kind of shock when people drag their feet across a wool carpet, kind of static?" Nina asked.
"Precisely," David answered. "It was how he attacked our store and managed to slip in under cover of shadows. But he had to use a powerful electric source to help with that."
"So how come I can't feel anything?" I asked stupidly, turning my head to look at him.
"I don't know," David admitted, a frown dragging his eyebrows together.
In that moment when my attention was distracted, Logan pulled himself free from my grasp. I immediately turned to face him again, but he stood stock still, scrutinizing my face with an unfathomable fervor. He was scared, though he would never, ever, admit it. A small smile turned up the corners of my mouth, making him hiss under his breath.
"Unless," Lane said thoughtfully, drawing everyone's attention to his face.
"Unless what my young one?" Barbara asked intrigued, her eyes alight with joy.
Lane turned to her, his face a perfect mask of calm though his eyes showed anger at the possessive undertone to Barbara's comment. "Perhaps her gift is to undo our own," Lane said cryptically.
"That was descriptive," Delilah huffed. "In plain English please."
Lane chuckled softly. "What I'm saying," he said with growing confidence, "is that maybe her gift is to block ours. Maybe she can shut down our gifts."
"But, is that even possible?" the brunette vampire Amanda, asked.
Lane turned to study her. "I don't see why not," he said matter-of-factly. "I mean think about it. We all saw that David couldn't mimic her, Teresa's aura perception couldn't get more than a general color from her, and my gift is worthless against her. She also just ignored Logan's static shocks against her. She repelled four separate gifts. I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of our gifts didn't do anything against her either."
"Well," Delilah replied, sounding bored, "Let's test it out." Focusing on me, Delilah stared intently. After a moment of intense silence, she blinked. "I have no heartstring for her," she said quietly, almost disbelievingly.
Bekka, the brunette right next her, lifted her hand up toward me, and I waited to see what would happen. She was the telekinetic after all, and was only limited by her imagination. She could fold me into a pretzel if she wanted to. I swallowed down the image of spending eternity as a vampire pretzel.
"Nothing," she said. "I can't lift her off the ground, spread her arms, or even ruffle her hair."
"I wonder," David said with a strange look on his face, "If its a conscious or subconscious reaction."
"What do you mean young one?" Barbara asked, her tone loving and doting enough to make me want to hurl.
David turned slowly, at least for us, to face her. "Its like the difference between your power and mine Barbara," he said flatly. "You don't have to think about finding or following the gifts you can feel, it just happens. I have to focus on another gift to activate my gift."
"That makes logical sense," Bekka said with a nod. "Its just a matter of how you think. Sherilyn?"
I turned to face her. "Yes?" I said slowly.
"I think your gift may be a little of both. Kind of like a mental block that some children get to protect them from bad memories. So I suggest that you try to let go of a need to protect yourself while I try my gift again."
I felt like someone had just hit me with a dump truck going eight miles an hour downhill. "I don't know if I can do that," I stammered, my head lowered slightly so I could stare at the ground. My need to protect myself was strong.
I had lived with so many self-conscious issues as a kid it was something that became second nature to me, to push away from everybody else and just be myself. It didn't really matter what everybody else said, so long as I could be myself. And for a while I was happy.
But just like all teenagers, I eventually realized that I did care what others thought about me. It hurt every time someone criticized the way I dressed, who I hang out with, and when I wasn't included in some things. Pain meant I was alive though right?
And then the spells started. I was about sixteen when I started having epilepsy. At first everybody gave me such a wide berth it made me feel like I had some kind of communicable disease. No one wanted to be around me that much, afraid that I might hit them or scream secrets they had confessed to me. So I became very alone.
I had my true friends to get me through the rest of my schooling years, and one of them was still my best friend. Teresa. She was and is one of the truest friends I had ever met.
I looked at her, out of habitual need for a second opinion. She smiled knowingly and nodded ever so imperceptibly. If she thought I could do it I would try.
I took a deep breath to steady myself, a small amount of my focus on the smells around me. I looked at Bekka, waiting patiently for my response, and nodded once.
She nodded back and lifted her hand again, palm flat as before. At first I didn't feel anything. But as I stood there, relaxing every ounce of self preservation I could, I could feel a rising power around me. It was hard to describe. The sensation was like swimming in a lake of carbonated fizz while being caressed by the finest silk sheets.
I focused on that sensation and allowed it to fill me. It was so odd, not fighting the sensation as it tickled my senses. I felt my clothes start to flutter, like I was standing in front of an industrialized fan. Slowly, I felt my feet leave the ground. I was being levitated. Inch by inch I rose until I was about a foot off the ground.
I gasped in shock. And like a rock I fell back to earth, my need to protect myself having resurfaced with a vengeance.
Instantly I was surrounded by worried faces. All of the vampires were staring at me, searching for any sign of damage. I shook my head slowly, feeling very self-conscious again. I hadn't wanted to be the center of attention, but I frequently found myself placed in it.
David squatted down in front of me, holding my gaze with his. "Do you want to continue right now?" he asked gently.
I shook my head.
"Okay," he said, tapping my leg lightly with his hand.
With a small gesture he invited everybody back into a loose circle. And slowly their attention left me and back onto sparring, this time with David leading and Logan watching like a hawk from the side. I watched Logan for a moment, his arms folded across his chest, casting an imposing glare onto the two combatants.
Teresa knelt by my side, taking my hand in hers. "You okay?"
I couldn't bring myself to look at her. Somehow I felt completely ashamed and violated when all that had happened was I had been lifted off the ground for a few seconds.
"Listen," she continued softly, "I know what you did was hard"
"Don't," I whispered, looking away quickly. "Don't try to tell me it'll be okay."
Teresa looked at me, her eyes soft and warm even with the blood red tint in them. And like a good friend she didn't push the subject, but squeezed my hand reassuringly all the same.
And we sat there, watching David and Logan train everybody in combat. Teresa took her turn dutifully with everybody else, but I could tell she was still thinking about me. She missed several chances to take David by surprise but still picked up fast.
The sun began to set in the west, casting a fiery glow on our skins when Barbara said, "Its time."
"What now?" I muttered under my breath, rising to my feet with ease. I still loved my new body even though my emotions were jarring me every chance I felt them.
"We'll be leaving soon," she said quietly anxious. "So I want everyone to hunt before we leave."
I blinked slowly. Hunt. Food. Sustenance.
The dull burning that I had all but ignored through the whole day suddenly flared white hot. I clutched my throat in reflex, but I knew that I couldn't assuage the flames without hunting. Without blood.
David muttered something about leading the hunt and Barbara looked at him with a curious face. After a moment of silent thought she nodded her head. Hand in hand she and Logan took off into the night; hunting on their own I supposed.
David rounded us all up and said he knew exactly where to take us. We could get our fill without having to look too far. He would help to coordinate our assets to keep from being noticed.
I smiled as I listened half-heartedly. It sounded like we were in the CIA or FBI and were going to be performing a sting operation. My gift, of course, wouldn't really be needed since I couldn't make myself invisible or boost the other's gifts. I was the opposite. The lone assassin who would have stopped them.
With a last look at Delilah and Lucy, David nodded and took off into the night. All of us followed behind him, keeping pace easily even though he had more than a few inches of leg on most of us. It was so exhilarating to run through the twilight like we were. It made me feel wild and free. The natural surroundings around us almost seemed alien to me now. With my super-powerful senses it was so sharp and clean it was amazing that I could take in the breathtaking detail without falling flat on my face or running out of breath.
But I didn't have to worry about things like that anymore.
After a few minutes we were off the mountain and coming down toward the valley. David struck out his hand silently to the right and we all moved with him, smooth and clean like a well oiled machine. Like a flock of predatory birds we moved through the open desert in our little valley, heading to the feeding grounds.
And soon we were beyond the signs of humanity. Only an ever stretching asphalt stream on our left told us that man had even passed this way. But in the distance sat a cluster of flickering lights. It seemed strangely familiar, though I couldn't quite place my finger on it as to why.
"Where are we going David?" Jeremy asked quietly, stretching to catch David. "There's nothing out here."
David turned to look at him, his stride unbroken, and blinked once. Then he whispered quietly, "I'm taking them to the one place where regret and shame will mean much less. We're going to the prison."
Jeremy didn't say anything, but the set of his jaw said volumes of what he didn't.
But I didn't have time to think about it because in those few seconds we crossed the remaining distance until we stood at one of the state prisons in Arizona. It was a massive concrete building, complete with three chain link fences topped with vicious barbed wire. Spotlights were roaming along the outer perimeter, giving the place a venerable fort appearance. It would have seemed impregnable if it weren't for the knowledge that I could rip this place to shreds in a night if I wanted to. I smiled wryly at the thought.
"Nina," David said quietly. "I need you to project your cloak around us."
Nina nodded and with a ripple of energy I could almost see we were encircled by a shimmering glamour. The world around us was muted, not a sound penetrating the bubble around us. The colors were also oddly distorted, like looking through a soap bubble in a sink of water. Everyone was safely tucked inside an impenetrable field.
Except for me.
I could feel the difference around me like I had my own personal atmosphere in the world. I was the lone one standing out of a blanket of darkness. A shroud of darkness counteracting the cloak that Nina projected around my body. David glanced over and sighed lightly. With a few steps he was standing next to me.
"Sherilyn?" he said lightly, his eyes kind as he looked into my own worried eyes. "I know its hard to let go of the need to protect yourself. God knows I can level with you on this. But that burning in the back of your throat is only going to get worse if we don't take care of it."
I couldn't think of anything to say. I nodded once to show I had understood him.
"So I'm not going to ask you to let go of yourself entirely," he said, carefully choosing his words, his expression guarded. "Just let a small amount of yourself show and I'll try to help as best I can with the rest."
I looked at him curiously, but nodded, resigned to do what as best as I could. I closed my eyes and exposed my body and spirit to the gifts around me. It was like sliding into a bath filled with salts. A wave of tingling sensations coursed through my very bones as I fought the urge to shut down and push the feelings away.
David nodded at me encouragingly and then turned to Bekka. With a nod she and he lifted their hands away from them. Delicately we were lifted off the ground, the bubble intact as Nina focused her rapid attention on maintaining our illusion. We floated over the top of the fences, the light pacing right around us as though we weren't in its path at all, before we landed lightly on the roof of the complex.
David turned to face us. "Nina, keep the field up," he said firmly, sounding like a command captain. "Lane and I are going to go shut the power off so there's no video feed to catch anything that's about to happen. Don't breathe until you see the power go out. After that, well your body will show you what to do."
He studied everybody's faces quickly before he and Lane ushered out of our protective field. No sooner had the two passed from under Nina's protection than David threw one up over the two of them, causing them to disappear from my sight. The surprise startled me to where I felt my own image flutter momentarily into view before I corrected my nerves.
Pin drop silence hung around us as we waited with held breath for the power to be cut. I watched as Bekka, Laci, Delilah, Laci, Nina, and Amanda kept their faces stone like and resolute, like a gargoyle being sculpted by Raphael. Something was troubling them I thought to myself, but what?
Then with a start the lights cut out, and I felt Nina's field disappear. Like shadows the remaining old-timers slunk off, the bodies curved into a hunters crouch. Like tigers they leapt off soundlessly into the silent night, prowling around their prey with a hungry air and bloodlust deep in their eyes.
I took a deep breath, tasting the crisp air from the desert winds. The night was alive with new smells and tastes, each more delicious and irresistible than the next. With a quick jerk of my body I followed a scent trail, the warm scent drawing me off the building and down through a concrete wall.
I leapt lightly off the roof, not even thinking about it. The air around me seemed to cushion me for the prolonged time I had to adjust how to land as noiselessly as the others had done. I scanned the area where I could feel the scent coming from, an open window with bars on it. In two easy strides I was next to the window and pulled the bars from the wall with an easy flick of my powerful muscles. Then with a measure leap, I soared through the open window and rolled up to my feet in a liquid smooth move.
It was a prison cell. Void of any color or personality it was dreary and disinteresting. Movement in my peripheral view drew my attention to a middle aged man, his button up prison shirt open to his hard lean chest. Slowly, as though he couldn't believe his own eyes he slid from his bed into a sitting position. His gaze flickered up and down my body appreciatively, whistling softly. "Hello beautiful," he said with a low growl.
I couldn't help but smile at how naïve he was. I could only imagine what random thoughts or fantasies were playing through his mind this instant. But still, it was hard to resist being a tease. I curled my finger to him, inviting him closer.
He tried to be cool and rise from the bed with a swagger, but I could see the anxiousness in his eyes. He was excited, aroused maybe.
I reached out and grabbed his shirt, pulling him close to me. Ever so slowly I stretched up onto my toes, his long limbs putting him a few inches taller than me, and inhaled deeply. The scent was so highly erotic. It was beyond any kind of description that I could try to give it. It carried with it a promise. A pleasing and satisfying sensation very much like a drug.
And in that moment I wanted it more than anything.
Before he knew what was happening I sunk my teeth into his neck. My teeth sliced through his muscles as easily as a hot knife through melted butter, spilling warm nectar from his body. He resisted my crushing grip feebly, but I held him firm, drinking vigorously.
It was all that the smell had promised and so much more. I felt strength coursing through me like an ocean current rolling in like a wave. My mind was in overdrive, every drop of his blood propelling my need to have more. I abandoned myself to the euphoria, reveling in this new ecstasy.
And so I hunted. Again and again. Pushing through body after body, each man I met never guessing what was about to happen to him as I absorbed his life right out of his still beating body. Sometimes I kissed them first, savoring the taste of their weak flesh on my own hard exterior, but very few earned that privilege before I stole their living essence.
And all too soon I found more bodies. Bodies that I had never encountered before, drained of life as I had left my own victims. I panicked. Someone was stealing my nourishment, my blood. And I couldn't let that happen.
I took off down the long hallway, bursting through iron bars as though they were made of straw. But more bodies strewn the hallway, faces a mix of horror and shock, sometimes with an intense feeling of bliss.
My searching became more and more frantic until I heard a small gasp from outside the building. With a huge burst of strength I plowed through the concrete wall; the scene that met my eyes both terrifying and exhilarating. Several other vampires were stalking toward a group of guards, their weapons drawn on the intruders.
I smiled at their stupidity. I had just smashed through a wall with no more force than I might have used to pop open a can of soda as a human. They were already dead.
And in that instant two of the vampires leapt across the rapidly depleting distance, pouncing on a small band of the guards. With a roar, the guns began exploding in a harsh symphony of noise. A few of the bullets rocketed toward me, kissing my new body with a butterfly kiss before falling dead at my feet.
As I stood there watching the others dispatch the remaining humans I understood why David had brought us here. I looked down at my hands, smooth and perfect ivory in the moonlight. I had mercilessly killed those men. And enjoyed it. Some of them may have deserved to die, but not all of them. Not like this.
I slid to my knees as I felt Teresa come over and sit with me. "You too?" she asked softly, her eyes glowing hellfire red.
"Yeah," I whispered to myself as much to her. "Yeah."
Teresa reached out her hand and squeezed it gently. "You of all of us newborns had to have realized that it would be like this," she said with patronizing.
I nodded my head slowly. "I just didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did," I said, trying to find the words to my emotions. "It was like trying to fight an addiction."
"Yeah," Teresa said, her eyes studying a piece of concrete on the ground. "I know."
David walked over to us, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "I'm sorry," he said, squatting down to face us both. "If I could go back and change what I did that night I would. Even if it meant suffering in hell for the rest of eternity to do it."
I was beyond shocked at his words. Teresa seemed just as stunned as I was.
"David," I said slowly. "If you insist on blaming yourself than its going to be a very long eternity with us." I felt almost as though I were talking to a son who had just told me he was gay. And somehow I knew just what he needed to hear. "Its not for us to say why we have been created to be like this. But we can choose how we react to it. I'm not upset at you about what happened. I am just sorry that so many people have to die so we can live."
David reached out and placed his hand warmly on my other hand. "Thank you Sherilyn," he said softly, his eyes alight with understanding and relief.
He straightened up, brushing rubble off his shirt indifferently. "Time to burn the place," he said matter-of-factly.
"Bonfire at the prison!" Nina yelled giddily.
I couldn't help but share her enthusiasm as I ghosted back inside with everyone else, trying to avoid staring at the bodies scattered along the floor. We went into the kitchen and with a jolt David started ripping open the gas pipes, the acrid fumes quickly making it undesirable to stay there. Then he grabbed a bottle of kerosene and motioned us out, the liquid forming a trail behind us. Once we were a safe distance from the building David took a lighter from his pocket and set the trail ablaze.
We all watched with baited anticipation as the trail quickly flew back inside. A devastating boom racked the night stillness apart as the concrete building responded to the pressure of the explosion. It was almost like watching fireworks on Independence Day go wrong.
Within minutes we heard the sirens of approaching emergency vehicles. "Let's go," David said, the sorrow rich in his voice. He took off into the night and we all followed, running from the scene of our carnage. We didn't run as fast and free as before, the night seeming to have lost all its magic for us. We arrived back where we had sparred just earlier today and waited for the return of our creators, the night suddenly eerily silent.
Barbara dropped her victim, looking toward the south desert. A plume of smoke rose into the night sky, alight with dancing red flames.
"Well at least they covered their tracks," she muttered to herself.
Logan came over in a few short bounds his gaze anxious. "Are we ready my queen?" he asked her. "We'll begin to draw attention if we stay any longer."
"I know," Barbara said softly. "Its time to return to our kingdom."
The two grasped hands and sprinted into the night toward the mountain. After mere minutes they came upon the newborns, standing loosely in a huddle, silent as gravestones. Logan motioned for them to follow before taking off again with Barbara. She didn't have to bother to look behind her to feel them following, her gift flawlessly tracking her army behind her.
And so they ran through the night. Away from the sounds of the little valley trying to collect itself back together, piece back what was broken. Little ants worried about an impossible utopia that they fought desperately to save.
And looming ahead, as they passed through another set of mountains, was Phoenix. Its own glittering towers making Barbara even more homesick for her beloved city. She could almost smell the delicious scent of city blood, rich with wine and fancy food, again. The wonderful estate that would quickly become the shinning jewel of her empire once again.
She felt Logan squeeze her hand to draw her attention. He looked at her with the serene reverence he always did. "Soon my heart," he said his voice filled with promise. "Soon."