XX. Heartless
In the night I hear 'em talk
the coldest story ever told
Somewhere far along this road
he lost his soul
To a woman so heartless
How could you be so heartless?
-Kanye West
"Incoming blimp," Hope said as she slowly lowered herself onto the couch in the living room.
Pogue smiled, grabbed her elbow to help ease her down. "A beautiful blimp."
"Ah, but you do not deny I am blimp-status," she replied playfully, not taking umbrage at his teasing. She knew she only had one more week to go before she popped.
Pogue kissed his wife's cheek. "Can I get you anything?"
"Back rub?"
"Can do," he conceded, and proceeded to rub clockwise motions into her lower back. Light rain pattered against the windows as gray lighting shone through.
"That feels great," Hope sighed. She had to admit to feeling somewhat tense these last few weeks. Her older vampire brother, Justice, had been receiving some obsessive letters as of late. He hadn't wanted to tell his younger sister, especially in her condition, but after Rowan had picked up some images through her psychometry at the last vampire murder site, he couldn't exactly keep it a secret.
"He'll be fine, Hope," Pogue assured her again.
She gave a rueful grin. "I know."
Pogue knew his wife was worried about her brother. Justice had been counseling this wayward vampire, trying to get her on the right track – not killing humans for food. Justice hadn't known it was Gia for certain, not until Rowan picked up a face two weeks ago where the most recent victim was found. Turned out Gia was trying to get her former counselor's attention. When the letters weren't enough, she stepped up her game.
"Has um…Rowan found anything yet?" Hope asked, wondering if her surrogate sister-in-law had managed to scry for Gia.
"Not yet, babe," he answered.
xx
"Ugh! I had completely forgotten how tough vampires are to track," Rowan exclaimed, pinched her index and thumb against the bridge of her nose. She had been in and out of light trances and staring at a topographical map, swinging a crystal around so much that she was beginning to get carpal tunnel, not to mention a stellar headache.
"Rest, Row," Hunter said, handing her a hot cup of tea.
The Whitelighter pursed her lips. "I can't. The longer that Gia woman is out there, the more chances she has to hone in on another hapless victim." She sipped her tea, staring at the map again. Even with one of the letters Gia had written to Justice, it was difficult to pinpoint her location. Vampires weren't technically alive, and scrying was meant for those of a heart-beating, pulse-feeling nature.
"Come on," Hunter commanded, taking her arm gently to force her off of her stool in the apothecary and into the sitting room.
Tippy was having a staring contest with the fish, Bruce Lee II was asleep on the recliner, and Erwin was upstairs sleeping at the foot of Lucius' crib. Reid was at school.
Rowan curled her feet under her, willing herself to relax for a few minutes while feeling the warmth of the roaring fire. It was still raining, and she did not anticipate an end to it any time soon.
Hunter made sure his friend was going to stay seated before he went to the kitchen to get himself a drink. He then joined her on the couch, his considerable weight shifting the placement of the cushions.
"Is your mom still feeling up to meeting Lucius later this week?" Rowan asked.
Hunter smiled at the thought of it, something he was still getting used to as joy was not an emotion he often felt in association to his mother, not until their reconciliation almost a month ago. "She wouldn't miss it," he answered. "If we had to put it off she'd fight it tooth and nail."
Rowan grinned at that. "I'm glad she's still in good spirits, Hunter." She had been so happy for Hunter and his mother for clearing the air. There was a lot of time to make up for, especially with his mother having cancer. Not to mention Hunter had had the big talk with Gabriel, mending that fence in the process. Pinkie had been extremely delighted and immediately called for a double date between Hunter and Gabe, and him and Laurie. All was right in Pinkie's world again.
"She'll beat it," Rowan said again. "I know she will."
"Thanks," Hunter said. He had to believe it, he had to. Losing his mother now after just coming back together, he couldn't stand to think of it. Lorena had the cream of the crop when it came to oncologists, and Rowan had made up a large kit of healing incenses and teas to soothe the wreckage the chemo and surgery had wrought on Lorena's body as well. His mom's hair was even to starting grow back, thicker and more luxurious than it was previously which baffled the doctors, but was due to Rowan's infusions. Unfortunately, there was nothing Rowan could concoct to actually combat the cancerous cells within the body.
They sat in silence for a while. Hunter watched his friend's brow furrow as she sipped her tea.
"Row," he said softly, "you're doing it again."
She sighed heavily.
xx
A few hours before the sun rose, Justice awoke in his sun-proofed house. The vampire listened to the clear sounds outside through the rain – birds, leaves rustling, a couple fighting a block away.
He thought about the fifth letter he'd received the previous day from Gia - another love letter espousing her undying love for him, and how she would make him notice her, no matter the cost to anyone else. When he was counseling her those many months ago, he had thought she was a promising pupil, that she could overcome her violent tendencies. But Gia had already been too immersed in the vampiric power that had been so recklessly bestowed upon her, in many ways reminded him of…him. Justice's maker had been irresponsible, blood-hungry. When she had threatened his sister, Hope, Justice had killed his maker.
Justice had had no one to teach him to control or harness his newfound abilities. No one taught him how to shut out the noises and the incessant thrumming of a red-hot pulse in a jugular vein. After trying to kill Rowan a decade ago, he had been forced to see the abject error of his ways by his mentor, Raphael Spellman, and Justice was forever grateful to that man. So he took classes in psychology and aberrant behavior, he wanted to help others as he had been helped.
"You really missed the mark with that one, J," he berated himself, not for the first time.
Realizing he had been deep in thought for a while now, the metal shutters that were set on a timer rose with the slightest of clatters, startling him out of his reverie.
His cell phone flashed. It was his sister. "Hey, Hope."
"Hey, big brother," she replied. "Did I wake you?"
"No, no, I've been up for a while."
"Are you okay?"
xx
Pogue heard his wife ask the question. Dinner was being prepared, but his wife had wanted to call her brother to check in beforehand. Pogue was worried about her worrying so much over her brother; not that there was no cause for concern, but just in her state, Pogue wanted his wife to be as stress-free as possible.
"Justice?" she asked after her brother paused.
"Yeah, sis," he hurried to answer. "I'm fine."
"I don't believe you."
Justice chuckled wryly. "I think you know me too well. Really, Hope, don't worry about me, okay? Just worry about that bun in the oven."
"Hmmph!" Hope sat down at the kitchen table. "This bun is ready to come out."
"I have no doubt. You're huge."
"Hey!" Hope exclaimed, though she wasn't hurt by the comment at all. She was about to rebuttal, but heard the call-waiting pause on the other line.
"It's Rafe," he said.
"I'll let you go, you should take that."
"Thanks, I'll call you later, okay? And I mean it, don't worry about me, sis."
xx
He heard his sister say goodbye, and then clicked over to Raphael Spellman.
"We have yet another one," Raphael said before any greeting could be spoken.
Justice shut his eyes tightly, then opened them. "Where?"
The vampire quickly got dressed, something stirring in his static heart, that feeling he dreaded since Gia first killed, the feeling he would never confess to his sister – bloodlust. Not for humans, no, but for Gia. Justice couldn't help but feel that her victims were shared with him, and his eyes would tinge red at the idea of ending Gia's life.
xx
When Justice got to the murder site, Rowan was already there with Hunter. The Shepherd stood a few feet away, eyes sharp, as if waiting for a specter to jump from the darkness. The vampire didn't say anything, he was familiar with the trance-like state of Rowan tapping into her psychometry to get a picture of what had occurred. The witched umbrella was at her feet, nothing liking to touch anything, lest they impede the vibrations of her magic.
Another few minutes later, Rowan let out a slow breath of coming back into the present.
"It was her," she said. She had goose-pimples from the sight - the vampire, Gia, stabbing her victim with her sharp fangs, the victim screaming, the victim who still lay there. Rowan tried not to look, already having got an eyeful. It shook her.
Hunter put a strong, assuring hand on her shoulder and drew her a bit away. Even in the dark he could see the loss of color on her face, hoped she wasn't getting too many nightmares, although it would be an appropriate reaction to the events.
"How long ago?" Justice asked.
"When the sun set," Rowan answered, tightening her jacket around her. "She didn't waste any time." Hunter knelt down and retrieved the umbrella and propped it open over his friend's head.
"Excuse us," Niles, another elder vampire, announced. Niles had been one of the vampires who had aided Raphael Spellman in apprehending Justice a decade ago. He was imposing, being over six feet tall; pale as the moon, with hair the color of bleached sand. He now approached with what could only be called a "fixer," someone who made crimes disappear from sight.
Two vampires now worked; one unzipped the body bag, the other knelt down in front of the victim, going through his pockets for identification.
"He was a runaway," Rowan said softly, knowing the vampire wouldn't find anything. "Only seventeen."
"Then he won't be missed," the man replied absently.
"Hey," Hunter told him sternly. The Shepherd locked eyes briefly over Rowan's shoulder with the one who spoke callously.
"I meant nothing by it," he said in way of apology.
"This is Dorian," Raphael introduced. "And Mario," he gestured towards the other undead, whom was placing the body bag parallel to the victim.
"Track marks," Dorian said to himself. He shook his head.
xx
"Track marks…"
Gia heard the vampire speak from miles away. Her keen eyes watched as they tried to make sense of what had occurred. A bitter, cruel smile marred her face. She could not stand them, their righteousness, their pride. She only wanted to live her life to the fullest, feasting on the unworthy, the lesser; yet, she was told that she had to properly fit in with society, drinking from blood bags. Well, Gia thought humans were the blood bags. The only thing she regretted, that in her actions, she alienated Justice. A vampire she thought to be her like, someone to join in her celebration of death.
She remembered when she first glimpsed him during a group therapy session. She had gone, reluctantly, after being given a business card by a vampire whose name she cared not to recall, some middle-aged vampire who had judged her wrongly from the beginning, believing her able to be "saved." Gia was beyond saving, she knew that. She did not want to hide in the shadows, to be a shadow. She wanted to roar over her human victims, and watch life fade from their eyes.
When Justice told his story in group, for the newcomers, of how he had killed innocents, something inside her stirred, felt a calling to him, for him. And Gia knew that Justice would be hers, a mate for life. So she sought private counseling sessions with him. To be near him made her skin flush with a heat she had not felt since she'd been a human. After a few months, she made a move on him, only to be rebuffed. Justice had referred her to another a counselor, a female, but Gia was not to be moved. So she killed brazenly to get his attention, wrote to him feverishly. And she had one more victim in mind that would draw him closer to her than ever.
"I will have you," she whispered to the night.
xx
Hunter sensed Rowan tense. "What is it?"
"She's here," Rowan replied.
"Where?" Justice demanded.
Only Raphael and Niles searched. The other two, Dorian and Mario, were intent on their clean up, knowing tracking was not their area of expertise.
Justice scanned the gloaming for her, and in the hunt he felt his fangs tingle.
"There," Rowan pointed.
Raphael and Justice were gone instantaneously, before she and Hunter could blink.
And the bloodlust filled Justice's heart.