Black Blood - 11. Chapter 11

11

They walked for a long time. Josh insisted that his steps should be taking him to vampires. He just couldn’t feel any such creature close by, so his instincts told him to keep walking. Rain was still falling softly, but it threatened to become more intense any moment. Skylar kept looking at the clouds in the dark sky, blurred by city lights. She should’ve grabbed a jacket before heading out.

“So… did you sleep with her?” asked Skylar as they walked down Sixth Avenue, with its street traffic, US flags on high poles rippling in the wind and towering buildings.

“Huh?” Josh glanced at her sideways. Thankfully, his teeth were normal again, and she had given him a tissue so he could wipe off that blood. Now he looked like a handsome young man again with his fancy clothes. “You mean Charisma?”

“No, I meant Hilary Clinton.”

“What?”

“Did you sleep with Charisma or not? Just curious.”

He nudged her. “Why? Who would you be jealous of? Her or me? Florence told me you were bi.”

“I wouldn’t be jealous of anybody. And it’s not like it’s a secret.”

Offended, he said, “Well you never told me.”

“I don’t tell people when I meet them. Hey, I’m your new roommate, and I swing both ways. Is that what I should’ve said?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Are you ever going to answer my question?”

They had to speak somewhat loud to be heard over the cars, buses and cabs with their engines roaring and frequent horns honking. Josh just kept leading them south-west.

“No I didn’t.” There was disappointment in his voice. “She was with that Xievon guy. She said I had to prove myself before I could share her bed, and then she closed the door in my face. And I heard Xievon laugh, too. I think they were making fun of me.”

“That’s very mature.”

“Charisma’s only seventeen, you know? I didn’t know when I made out with her. I thought she was like, twenty one, or something.”

“Mayrin told me she’s from a royal family, but she was never really respected or valued. Maybe that’s why she wants to be queen so badly, even if she’s going to be the queen of bloodsuckers.”

“Don’t say that. We’re not that bad.”

“Not that bad?” echoed Skylar, baffled. With a start, she realized she reminded herself of Mayrin a little.

“I think being a vampire is cool.” Josh did that enumeration thing on his fingers again. “We get a better eyesight and hearing, we never get sick, we don’t grow old…”

“But you can’t go out in the sun and you have to drink human blood to survive,” Skylar countered. “You can’t even eat normal food anymore, right?”

He shook his head sadly. “I can still drink beer. Although it feels kind of funny.” He put his hand on his stomach. “Anyway, I asked Xievon if I could drink animal blood, but he said that unfortunately it had to be human. So I don’t know what to do. I’m actually really thirsty right now. I’m scared, Skylar,” he admitted. “Back there I think I would’ve just kept drinking that girl’s blood if you hadn’t stopped it.”

As they stepped on the curb after crossing the street, Skylar grabbed Josh by his red sleeve and dragged him to a mostly empty public parking lot. There were a few cars but no one in them. She dragged him all the way to the corner, against a brick building adorned with graffiti. If anyone glanced at them from the street, they would just think they were a couple making out.

“Drink my blood.”

Josh’s brown eyes went wide. “What?” His mind was slower than his body; his teeth were elongating and sharpening again.

“Go on. I’d rather you drink my blood. I can stop you if you start taking too much, whereas if you bite some innocent person you’ll just end up killing someone. Besides, I heal fast.” It was true. She had never given it much thought before, but whenever she hit herself or cut herself, she always healed faster than normal people. Also she never got sick. Now she realized maybe that was because of that immortal ancestor Mayrin kept talking about, with the powers having awakened in her for some reason.

“Okay,” Josh nodded, his hands trembling slightly as he reached out to hold Skylar’s waist. He leaned closer, and the moment felt more intimate than Skylar had thought.

His fangs pierced the soft skin of her neck, and she gasped but didn’t scream. It stung, a lot, but she needed to bear with it for a little while. If Josh was going to help her, she couldn’t have him running off to randomly attack people. If people happened to look at them, what Josh was doing would be hidden by her hair, so she wasn’t worried about that.

He drank her blood in long, thirsty gulps. She could hear him swallowing like he was parched and draining an enormous bottle of water in one go.

The problem was that she didn’t really know when to stop him, because after a little while she didn’t feel the pain of the bite anymore. She just felt calm and slightly dizzy, but it wasn’t that bad a feeling. When her ears started buzzing, and her vision blurring, an alarm rang inside her head. She pushed him away firmly.

But at first he clung to her and kept drinking.

“Josh,” she hissed, “stop!” She struggled and twisted in his grasp, remembering her self-defense classes. When all else failed she used her knee to hit him in a very specific area.

“Ow!” he exclaimed before cursing colorfully, bending over.

Skylar held her neck, scarlet liquid pulsing between her fingers. She needed something to stop the bleeding.

“Give me your sleeve or something.”

“Huh?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be strong? Rip off your stupid shirt.”

He did, and handed her the piece of red fabric. She folded it in two and pressed it to her neck. She was a bit weak and nauseous, feeling like her dinner was rushing up her throat, but it passed. She sighed, relieved it was over.

“You better bring me to some vamps now. You owe me.”

***

They ended up at Sound and Blood. Why hadn’t Skylar seen this coming?

“This is where I felt the strongest vampire presence.” Josh stood next to her in front of that god forsaken black painted door.

“No kidding,” said Skylar.

People had been staring at her in the streets because of the blood stain on her white shirt. It was raining now, too, so the stain had spread a bit and her shirt was partly pink. So much for the symbol of purity.

They went inside, because what choice did she have? Either she was doing this or she wasn’t.

Once again she found herself in a world of fog and flashing green lights. She looked up, wishing she had Blake’s powers so she could pulverize those stupid machines by sheer will. With Josh they stayed next to the door, studying their surroundings. There were some people chilling here and there with drinks in their hands, some people dancing; maybe thirty in total, with some vampires mixed in there with the humans. Skylar saw one boy wearing white powder on his face, eyeliner and a cape, still clinging hopelessly to a gothic trend that belonged in an earlier decade. She also saw some girls here and there wearing accessories like fishnet thighs, arm warmers and sporting tight, dark colored outfits. The giant speakers spilled loud electro music from each corner.

“That’ll be twenty dollars each, please.” A vampire suddenly appeared before them.

Skylar recognized her as the girl that had been working the bar on her first night visiting this place. The one with the plump lips and long brown hair, that looked kind of like Angelina Joli.

“Oh,” she exclaimed, seeing the blood on Skylar’s shirt and widening her eyes in desire, “that’s… interesting.”

Skylar ignored that. “So you got promoted to both vampire and douchey door person then.”

“Excuse me?” The girl narrowed her eyes.

Discreetly Skylar pressed on her white lighter’s switch. The girl was soon burning, bluish flames contorting her face in agony.

“Fire!” shouted Skylar. “Everyone out! Now!”

Humans panicked and rushed out, some of them taking out their cell. Good, Skylar thought, if they called the cops then maybe this damn place would finally get shut down. Some vampires hesitated, looking at the flickering sparks and ashes that had been one of them just a minute ago. Skylar could count them now; there were eight. Some tried to get away.

“Josh, block the door!” Skylar urged him.

He did as he was told, preventing the vampires from escaping.

One of them had disbelief plain in his eyes as he wrestled with Josh to get out. “Blake confirmed you wouldn’t come back here again! He said it was safe!”

“Well Blake got his memos mixed up,” said Skylar darkly.

Beckoning the very source of her power, deep inside her, Skylar spread out her bluish flames to all of the vampires in the room—except Josh of course. She was breathing hard, and black spots filled her vision for a moment. She felt warm, too warm.

The horrendous screams and cries of agony filled the underground structure as well as an almost unbearable heat. From the corner of her eye, she saw that Josh was leaving.

“I’m sorry Skylar, I can’t… I can’t do this!”

She closed her eyes, but kept her power flowing out, so she could finish off the writhing vampires. The adrenaline was still there, rushing through her veins, and it felt just as addictive as before. She just felt a bit weak from blood loss, but somehow she was comforted by her magic, like she knew it would never fail her.

Then as the floor was strewn with nothing but ashes and remains of scorched bones, two things happened at once. The vampire that had been hiding behind the DJ booth in the opposing corner made a run for it, sprinting to the door behind Skylar with the incredible speed his race was capable of. She would have stopped him, but the back room’s door was kicked open. Through the fog, Skylar recognized none other than Jacy. Her eyes blazed viciously as they met Skylar’s for a brief instant.

The next moment, the lucky vampire escaped, and Jacy hid back in the employees’ room, shutting the door. Adrenaline making her feel way more invincible than she really was, Skylar decided to ignore the vampire DJ and instead go after Jacy. She ran across the dance floor, ashes lifting like dust under her sneakers, and she was about to push the door open when she stopped short. Her heart thumped loud in her chest. She truly remembered who she was up against, and she hesitated.

But she shouldn’t have, because that cost her. Jacy suddenly opened the door and kicked Skylar’s stomach, knocking the air right out of her, and propelling her far onto the cement floor. She landed on some ashes, a charred bone cracking under her leg. She couldn’t repress a pained moan but she managed to stagger back up. Anger stirring inside her, she ran toward the back room again, raising her hand.

Only to realize that she had dropped the lighter when Jacy had kicked her. But it didn’t slow her down. So what if she couldn’t use fire? She could still fight her. The buzz of the magic she had used really played in her disadvantage, because she actually believed she stood a chance at hand to hand combat against the skilled fighter that was Jacy. She later realized she had been more naive during that one moment than she had ever been in her life.

Skylar pushed her down with a cry, and Jacy dragged her down too, sending them rolling across the cold hard floor, knocking over one of the plastic chairs in the process. A single neon light cast a flickering glow in the small room, and everything seemed like a blur. Jacy had landed on top, and she grabbed Skylar’s hair to smash the back of her skull into the floor. Jacy snarled and pulled back, only to lift Skylar like she was a ragged doll, and fling her harshly into the lockers with a clang. Skylar struggled to stay on her feet. She eyed the door in the back, which she knew gave to a set of stairs leading out in the alley. She wasn’t that far, if maybe she could find the strength to sprint up those stairs and push that steel door.

But Jacy shook her head, as though following the train of Skylar’s thought. “Don’t even think about it, witch,” she hissed.

She came at her with a roar, baring her fangs, her expression pure seething rage. Skylar’s quick reflexes saved her. She ducked and crawled away on the floor, but it was difficult to leap back up. Jacy moved so swiftly and lightly that Skylar didn’t stand a chance. The maddened girl was on her in no time, eyes like fire. She tugged at Skylar’s hair and went for a bite, uncaring that there was already dried blood there and that she was having someone’s leftovers.

Skylar’s survival instincts kicked in. She thought of the only thing she could do. She felt the warmth of her magic tingling in her right palm, and let the image of the sword she had drawn earlier fill her mind. Almost immediately she felt the hilt in her hand, and the blade was piercing right through Jacy’s chest.

Having merely sunk her fangs in Skylar’s neck, Jacy gave a light gasp and yanked herself away, the blade sliding out of her. Skylar frowned, swallowing hard; it didn’t look like Jacy was hurt. She was touching her chest through her ripped black sweater. No blood stained her fingers. Warily, Skylar rose on long, weak legs, still wielding her sword even though she doubted its effectiveness now. It felt much heavier than she would have thought in her hands. She glanced at it for a second. It was exactly like she had drawn in class, except paler and whiter, almost crystalline and glowing, just like Mayrin’s rope or her stake had been. Skylar had made the sword pretty, with sparkly gems at the hilt, and inlaid bluish stars along the metallic blade.

She felt silly for getting carried away like that. What difference did it make if it was pretty? It was supposed to be a weapon.

Jacy laughed sharply. She spoke in a thick accent from another world. “That magic doesn’t work on me, thanks to Charisma giving me so much of her blood! That just tingled a bit, took me by surprise is all.” She pushed her rebellious brown hair behind her ears in annoyance. Her laugh died in her throat. “You ruined my shirt though. Charisma gave me this shirt.”

“Of course she did.”

With a spasm of rage crossing her face Jacy growled and lunged toward Skylar, knocking over a second plastic chair. Skylar stepped back, but she was stuck as she bumped into the sink counter opposing the lockers. Reflexively she slashed the air with her sword, though her arms were already a bit tired. Surprisingly, it worked. Apparently Jacy was all talk. She had stopped her trajectory just before hitting Skylar, so she could back away from the sword. Despite her words, she feared the blade.

“Where is it?” Jacy said more to herself, eyes locked on Skylar’s hands holding the hilt.

Breathing hard, Skylar felt hopeful again. Mayrin had said that those who didn’t possess the magic couldn’t see the summoned items. Didn’t that mean the blade could hurt her, too?

It was worth a shot. Perhaps the second or third try would be the charm. Skylar gripped at the shining hilt tightly with both hands.

But then there was another problem. She had no idea how to use a sword. Aiming at Jacy, she flung the heavy blade across the air with a strained cry. But Jacy was way too fast. And Skylar was no good. She had just ended up slashing the table in the center. Before she could raise the sword and try again, Jacy kicked her back nastily. The sword hit the floor with a hollow dang and Skylar, falling herself, lost control of her magic. The weapon disappeared.

Once more Jacy loomed over her hungrily. Before she got too close Skylar gathered her strength in her fist and punched her in the face. Jacy was clearly more shocked than hurt, but her nose bled a little and Skylar smiled smugly. She punched her again before Jacy could get over it. At least that gave Skylar enough time to free herself from her opponent’s grasp. When Jacy got back up, lips twisted in rage, Skylar was ready. She landed her best tae kwon do kick, striking Jacy’s side with enough strength to fling her against the broken table. Two could play at that game.

Nothing but the sound of their heavy breathing filled the room. Out on the dance floor the music had stopped. The neon light on the ceiling was still flickering. Skylar swallowed hard. While she had the upper hand, she summoned her stake. It appeared faithfully in her hand. With a leap she drove it through Jacy’s heart. This time the wound welled blood when Skylar jerked the stake back.

“I think,” said Skylar, arching an eyebrow, “the effects of Charisma’s blood are wearing off, and you can be hurt by my magic now.” She drove the stake through her chest once more, putting all of her strength into it. “You need a pretty high dose for it to be effective, right? And now it’s—”

She had jerked it back, but she didn’t get to strike a third time. Roaring with rage, Jacy hit her arm violently, knocking the weapon from her fist. Then she threw Skylar against the lockers with a metallic clash. Shakily, Skylar brought her fingers to her temple. It was bleeding, having landed against one of the locker’s hinges. She glanced at Jacy’s chest. It had already stopped bleeding. She had been so naive, throughout all this fight, thinking she could even have a chance without using fire.

“Stupid witch,” hissed Jacy.

“Why do you hate me so much? Why do you want to kill me so badly?”

“You tried to kill me first!” she yelled.

Skylar faltered. What she said was true.

But before Jacy attacked her again she spoke once more. “You kill people, don’t you? You’re a murderer. I’m just trying to save lives.”

“What does it matter?” A flash of pain crossed her eyes. Brown hair spilled over her face, darkening her expression. “Human lives are worthless. Humans are cruel and spoiled; rotten. They enslave people. They exploit them. They hurt them. They watch them get killed. They don’t care.”

Somehow, as she expressed her disregard for the human race, she looked more human than ever in Skylar’s eyes. She looked sad and lonely beneath all the rage, and Skylar regretted trying to kill her. She just wanted it to be over.

“Jacy, wait…”

But she went on, stepping closer to Skylar threateningly, “You’re the worst scum of all. Charisma is a goddess, and she saved me from it all. And now you want to kill her? You think I’ll let you live?”

Jacy tried to strike at her face with a dangerously powerful blow, but, tae kwon do lessons finally kicking in, Skylar blocked it skillfully. Her reflexes weren’t letting her down just yet. Jacy seemed somewhat impressed, but it didn’t last long, and soon enough rage was back in her tawny eyes. Skylar was stepping back slowly, keeping her arms raised to block again if needed. Jacy did try to hit her again, but Skylar concentrated and either ducked or parried every time, as they walked sinuously around the broken table and chairs. Jacy seemed weaker and slower than before. It could have been from those wounds in her chest. That emotional speech earlier seemed to have made her more vulnerable, too.

Skylar couldn’t kid herself, though. She still wasn’t half as good as Jacy. The momentarily weakness passed, and the vampire strength and speed came back. As she hit the floor and was nearly knocked out of consciousness, Skylar didn’t even know where Jacy had hit. Her body hurt too much everywhere.

“You’re lucky,” said Jacy, “your blood tastes so good. Charisma told me to take my time, to enjoy it…”

She was going to bite her and drink her blood to finish her off softly. That wasn’t the worst death Skylar could think of. Jacy wasn’t as cruel as she seemed.

But Skylar wasn’t planning on dying just yet. Closing her eyes, she let the magic fill her just one last time. Her instincts told her to use the pain and turn it into anger, to make the magic thrive more powerfully inside her. She felt the warmth, and her entire body tingled with that otherworldly strength. It felt amazing, like a drug numbing the pain and making her feel confident. She felt the warmth but now it was too much. If it went on it would burn her. She had to let it out.

So she did. She let out the fire; all of it.

When she opened her eyes, she saw the neon light flickering, the broken tables and chairs, the smashed lockers with the blood stain, and Jacy throwing herself across the floor, face distorted in pain, growling and screaming as flames licked her body relentlessly. She was in so much pain.

Hastily Skylar summoned her sword again, and used the last of her strength to slash her throat, so she would die a quick death.

The flames took care of the rest, and then disappeared.