Black Blood - 7. Chapter 7

7

They returned to the apartment. Josh was out, probably at school, either playing basketball or sleeping in class. Florence was in the hall, giggling as she followed Mike to their shared bedroom. She wore only a tank top and pajama shorts, and her pixie hair was messy.

“Did you clean the kitchen?” asked Skylar.

“We will later!” Mike waved with his hand, smiling like he didn’t have a care in the world. “I promise!”

She could tell he was lying without using her sixth sense.

“Do you guys ever go to school?”

“What are you my mom?” Florence stuck out her tongue at her.

It smelled like marijuana in the apartment. That would explain a lot.

“Where’s Micah?”

“Said he went to school!”

Micah attended the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, near Lower Manhattan. Skylar doubted he’d gone back to his parents’ place before heading there.

They went in Skylar’s bedroom, closing the door. Skylar laid the newspaper on her dresser, while Mayrin sat at the light wood desk, pushing aside the laptop and opening the sketchbook at a blank page. She started tracing a map that looked exactly like the eastern side of North America. Skylar stood next to her, shifting her weight from one leg to the other and making the old wooden floor creak. Her hand was resting on the back of the chair. Some long strands of light hair tickled her fingers.

“This,” Mayrin pointed where New York should be, “is Zarien, where the royal family lives, and where the Academy is. It’s our capital.”

“You mean your people?”

She nodded. “Farensi. Immortals, if you prefer. There are other towns and villages along the East coast. Humans live in the West. Here,” her finger indicated where Vermont and Montreal normally were, “are the main Malkye cities, or towns. I don’t really know what to call them – the way they live, it’s a little ancient, honestly. There are some other Malkye villages among the human countries in the North-West. But that is where Blake is from.” Her finger tapped the same place again on her roughly traced map. “And they’re the ones who mainly give us Immortals trouble.”

“Why do they give you trouble?” Skylar looked down at her.

Mayrin sighed. “There have always been conflicts. It would be difficult to explain.”

“You mentioned a battle earlier. What was that one about?” Skylar just wanted to try to grasp as much information as she could. If she was at war with Blake, might as well know who she was dealing with exactly.

“The royal family sent a group of human merchants to get fur and some other fabrics and material from the Malkye, in exchange for gold. It was a normal trade, and there shouldn’t have been a problem. But the Malkye are difficult. We should’ve known better than to try again. They just took the gold and killed the human merchants, keeping everything. Of course, the human city we dealt with demanded that we punish them. So Airi led our soldiers to battle.”

“Did he win?”

Mayrin looked up at her. “Of course he won. He went and took all the fur too, so he could bring it back to me. That way my employees were able to make the clothes I had designed.”

“Sounds like everything ended well for you guys.” Skylar leaned her hip against the desk. The laptop was closed, but the light was flashing. Micah had probably used it earlier, needing his dose of social networks before heading for school since he didn’t have his cell phone.

“So who’s Charisma?”

“Nafi was one of the princesses of the royal family. But she hated it, and she was bitter. She went to Zarien Academy of course, but she lacked the magical skills. She couldn’t summon her wings, or anything for that matter. She couldn’t—”

“Her what?”

Mayrin smiled. “Remember how I summoned that rope? Not all immortals can do that. But for the ones who can, there is a technique that allows us to summon wings the same way.”

“Are you telling me you can fly?”

“Well, yes.”

“Prove it. Show me. Fly out my window!” Skylar smiled, bewildered. She couldn’t believe this.

“I won’t do that. What if someone saw me? I can’t risk that.”

“Do you think I could do it? You said you’d teach me to summon stuff.”

“I’m sure you could. But to finish what I was saying…”

“Sure, sorry.”

Mayrin chuckled. “I was tutoring Nafi when she was sixteen. But I could tell she hated me. Not only did she lack magic, but she also failed her other lessons – science, history, languages, athletics, art; she hated all of it. She knew she didn’t have the skills and she had given up trying. Instead she lived a rebellious lifestyle, flirting with the boys, stealing her family’s horses and running off to other villages or even to human villages to meet new people and – and party, I suppose. She made love to as many men as she could. I assume she figured if she didn’t have any special skills, she could at least give her family a new heir. But it became obvious she wasn’t fertile, and she grew bitter after that. Besides, she had destroyed her reputation for nothing.”

“Oh, that sucks, I guess.” Skylar didn’t really know what to say.

“Not all immortal girls are fertile,” Mayrin explained, “in fact most of us aren’t, otherwise there’d be too many of us, since we live for centuries. The royal family has a lot of fertile women though, since the kings and princes always marry them. Infertile girls are looked down upon at the main castle.”

“Oh. Are you…?”

“No, I can’t have children,” Mayrin said simply, but Skylar thought she could detect a tinge of that same bitterness she had been talking about. “At some point Nafi just ran off with her favorite white horse, and we didn’t hear of her again. I assume she came back to steal some of my files though…”

“Yeah. You should’ve been more careful with those. Hey,” Skylar pointed at the map, “you only drew a small part. What about the rest of the world?”

“It would be easier if you show me a map of yours.”

She opened her laptop and typed in the words online. A world map appeared in seconds.

“I love how technology-oriented your world is.”

“We’re awesome like that.”

Mayrin pointed where Spain was. “Another country of immortals live there, and we have ships to travel across the ocean. I know little of the rest. I know there are humans, but I couldn’t name their countries or show you where they are.”

“Fair enough. Hey Mayrin, was there ever anything between you and Blake?”

Her cheeks flushed lightly. “Why do you ask?”

“There was definitely something there, I mean, from the way you two looked at each other.”

“We had an affair. I was young, and it was a mistake. I always regretted it. Only my family and friends know, and they’ve kept it a secret.”

“Why? Would that have ruined your reputation or something? Because Blake is a Malky?”

“Malkye,” Mayrin corrected. “And yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

“Well that’s okay. You shouldn’t have regrets. Stuff happens. Well, enough of that. Now teach me. I want to learn how to fly.”

“That is not what we will start with.”

Skylar’s expression turned into a scowl. “Why not? That’s what I want to learn.”

“In time.” Mayrin rose from the chair, and indicated for Skylar to take her place. “It’s good that you already know how to draw.”

“Huh?”

“That is how we do it, at first. Well, some can do it without drawing right away, but that’s rare.”

“What do I draw?” Skylar took hold of the pen and flipped the sketchbook to a new page.

“Anything you’d like.”

She thought. “Anything? You can make anything appear? Like, even food?”

Mayrin sighed shortly. “You’re like that one silly boy I was tutoring, who asked me if he could draw a cake and then eat it. The summoning magic will bring to life items that are an extension of you, of your energy, for a limited amount of time. And they will only be visible to you and others who possess the same magic. So even if you somehow drew food and summoned it, I don’t think you could eat it.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense. Could I draw a stake?”

She gave a brief laugh. “Sure. Draw your stake.”

***

They were at it all day, pausing only to order some pizza around three in the afternoon. Mayrin deemed the pizza a brilliant invention, and she decided she would be the one to come up with it in Zarien. Apparently, on top of being a designer and a dimension traveler, she was also a restaurant owner.

The summoning magic wasn’t that easy. Skylar drew the most-detailed stake possible, but the next part was the hardest. She had to gather her magical energy, all of it, in her hand, and then visualize the stake as sort of an extension of herself, like Mayrin had explained before. Looking at the drawing did help. Skylar could do it, but at first it didn’t last very long. She would lose focus and the stake would disappear after only a few seconds.

Mayrin said that a part of her magical energy needed to always remain in the stake even after the summoning. If she released that magic, then the item would stop existing as well. She supposed it made sense. It was just really hard, and she got frustrated easily. She was reminded of her magic training sessions after school when she was younger. She used to get so frustrated whenever the flame of her lighter wouldn’t budge, or the pond water wouldn’t move.

As dusk drew near, the sky turning orange and pink, they got ready. There was no time to lose. Since Skylar had kept the newspaper, she showed Mayrin the article in the crime section, about the girl with the bitten and torn neck who had been thrown in a dumpster. They decided that showing up at the scene of the crime and exploring the surroundings might be a good option before going back to Sound and Blood to see if some vampires still dared to go party there after the events of last night. So that was basically their plan.

Skylar changed her skirt for some black jeans, and she forced Mayrin to change into more practical clothes, too. There was no way she was going vampire slaying in Skylar’s beautiful satin dress.

They walked right into Josh as they were about to leave. He stood in the hall after slipping off his athletic sneakers.

“Where are you girls headed? Casual double date with your boyfriends?” He eyed the skinny jeans and long sleeve shirts.

“Actually,” said Skylar, “she’s the one with the boyfriend, and I’m newly single.”

Josh nodded thoughtfully, and he pointed a finger at her like a gun. “Gotcha.”

“Bye Josh.”

The scene of the crime happened to be down in Hudson Square district, so they had a rather long subway ride.

“Can vampires go out during the day?” asked Skylar as they sat next to each other in the train. She was leaning closer to Mayrin confidentially. “I mean, we’re only chasing them at night, but do we actually know if daylight’s a problem for them?”

She nodded. “I’ve seen them getting burned by the sun in another dimension. I was spying on them. It looked like they were just trying it out themselves.”

“Did they burst in flames?”

Now she was shaking her head, looking thoughtfully ahead as though studying the interior of the tunnels. “Nothing like that. Their skin just gets red, like accelerated sunburn. If they stay too long, blisters start forming. And then, finally, they burn. It’s a slow and painful death.”

Skylar arched an eyebrow. “How come those idiots stayed out so long if it was this bad?”

“Because I tied them up with my rope before they could find solace in the shade. I had to kill them anyway, and I got to see what happened. Two birds, one stone.”

“You’re a cruel woman, Mayrin.”

She seemed to take it as a compliment.

After getting off the subway they walked to Vandam Street, where the body of the girl had been found according to the newspaper. It didn’t say where precisely though, so they walked along the buildings lining the street. The wind was nice tonight. Without being too cold, it was refreshing.

Skylar couldn’t help but stare a little every time she passed someone on the sidewalk. She supposed she was becoming somewhat paranoid, imagining vampires everywhere.

“Hey, I was wondering, why didn’t you just use summoning magic whenever you needed a knife to cut your wrist?” asked Skylar as those events came back to mind.

“Those items can’t harm us. Like if you’d try to attack me with your stake, it wouldn’t hurt me.”

“What about my flames?”

Mayrin hesitated, eyes scanning the area as they walked. The sight was pretty boring right now, just plain brick apartment buildings.

“It depends. If you’re taking an actual flame that already exists, like with your lighter, and making it bigger, before spreading it toward me, then yeah, you might hurt me. But if you’re creating magical flames out of nowhere, those can’t hurt an Immortal.”

“I can’t even do that. Creating flames out of nowhere, I mean.”

“You’ll learn.”

“Could such flames hurt me?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“It’s almost like you think I’m an Immortal.”

“But I do.” Mayrin glanced at her sideways. “I think the blood and genes of your ancestor skipped many generations, and awakened in you.”

“What about Blake?”

A displeased expression painted itself on Mayrin’s face. “What about him?”

“Is he like us? Can he do magic?”

Again, she was hesitant to answer, like she was choosing her words carefully. “The Malkye are immune to magic in general. They can sometimes use it, but a different kind… It isn’t like our two people are friendly, so we don’t know that much.”

“Do they live very long too?”

“Yes, but—”

Mayrin interrupted herself. She went still and gripped Skylar’s arm. They were in front of a chain link fence, beyond which the remains of a demolished building hadn’t been cleaned up yet. Next to this was a parking storing some trucks. It all seemed deserted right now. Something would eventually be built here, or so it said on the signs hung on the fence, bearing the real estate company’s name. But for now it was just a wreck.

“But what?”

Mayrin hushed her, stepping slightly closer to the fence. “Do you hear that?”

After a car drove down the one way street, Skylar was able to focus and listen properly. She thought she could hear moans coming from the ruins.

“Could be just people having sex.”

Mayrin shot her a glance. “In the debris of a demolished building?”

Skylar shrugged. “Some people are into weird stuff.”

“Come on.” Mayrin sounded annoyed. She pulled at her sleeve and they went to climb up the fence.

Mayrin was able to climb it faster even though she was wearing heels. Skylar couldn’t comprehend that. They both made it though, jumping into a crouch on the other side of the fence. Hastily they marched among the piles of tile, metal, and other various materials that had been crushed to pieces. It was hard to discern in the dark. Skylar just tried not to stumble too much.

The moans were getting louder.

“I was right.” Skylar frowned, swallowing hard. The sight before them was clearly a rape. The man was a vampire indeed, and he was biting his victim at intervals while violating her.

Mayrin was already on it, yanking the vampire away from the girl with that incredible strength she kept hidden in her tiny arms.

“Skylar,” said Mayrin while struggling to pin the vampire down against some heaped debris, “if you’re waiting for a moment to try your stake, now would be perfect!”

She gathered the magic in her hand, the skin there feeling warm and tingly. She took a deep breath and exhaled to calm down and focus. She thought of the drawing, and the rest just worked itself out. The weapon looked in all aspects like a sharp wooden stake, except it was a crystalline white.

Mayrin was still fighting the vampire, not with magic but with good old fashioned hand to hand combat. She seemed to have received some hits, but she had the upper hand as she threw a kick to his face, using a technique similar to what tae kwon do had taught Skylar when she took lessons.

The vampire went down, still baring his fangs. He wouldn’t stay down long though, which was why Skylar was already running, wielding her stake. She knew that she had to put all of her strength into it.

In one sharp movement, she lashed at the vampire and drove her stake through the left side of his chest. She had undoubtedly pierced his heart. The vampire screamed in pain while choking on blood, making a bloodcurdling sound that made Skylar shudder. In that moment of shock she lost focus on her magic, and the stake disappeared. But it didn’t matter. The damage had been done.

The creature was still alive though, just very weakened.

“It didn’t work.” Skylar cleared her throat. She felt embarrassed. “I thought it would make them burst into ashes, or something.”

Mayrin didn’t seem to care. She was busy healing the girl and helping her up.

“I’ll take her out of here,” said Mayrin, looking over her shoulder, “while you finish him up.”

Skylar got to work, taking the lighter out of her pocket. Flames were indeed more effective.

She made sure to kill the flames only when the vampire was reduced to a pile of dust.

The poor girl was in shock, so Skylar called an ambulance for her. They waited until they heard the sirens, and then they left.

As they lingered around the area a little longer, exploring some more, Skylar got a phone call from Micah’s mother. It was 10 p.m.

“You’re the only friend of Micah’s I know the number of. I asked him to give it to me after he started sleeping over at your place often, and so I thought maybe you knew where he was?” Her voice sounded strained and hopeful at once. “It’s just that, he hasn’t been answering any of my phone calls, and we had a little argument last night, so I was worried.”

“Oh, no, don’t worry. He slept over at my place last night. And he, um, forgot his cell there before going to school.” She glanced at Mayrin, who shrugged apologetically. “I’m sure he’s still with his friends from school. Maybe they went for a drink after class. I mean, for a non-alcoholic drink,” she added, remembering that not all parents let their kids drink wine starting at fourteen years old. “I’ll tell him to call you.”

“Thank you, that’s really nice of you. I’ll be waiting for his call, then.”

After she hung up, Skylar asked, “You left Micah’s phone at my place, right?”

“On your desk. I thought he’d go there after school and find it.”

“Apparently he didn’t. That or he just doesn’t want to answer his mom’s phone calls.”

There didn’t seem to be anything else going on in the area, so they made their way to their next stop; Sound and Blood.

The West Village was much livelier. People were spending the last nice summer nights on terraces, drinking, smoking, partying. Skylar and Mayrin walked the familiar path to the narrow brick building with the black painted door. This time, there was no vampire chilling outside. They also tried the service alley next to the pizzeria. Nothing.

They went back to the black door. “I suppose we should check out inside,” said Mayrin, turning the knob and pushing it open.

Walking down the dim, narrow stairs, Skylar could already see the artificial smoke and hear the beat of the music. It seemed the place hadn’t gone out of business just yet, despite four vampire deaths in two days. After stepping on the landing Skylar reached out to press on the bell. But there was no answer.

Perhaps no one had replaced that nerdy vampire from two nights before. Not that Skylar missed him or anything. In fact, as she remembered, she regretted not taking her twenty dollars back before burning him.

Mayrin tried the door. It was open.

Inside, the fog shrouded a wide, empty dance floor. Skylar looked to the left. No Angelina Joli look-alike worked the bar. In fact, no one was here at all. A few yellow spotlights illuminated the room. They weren’t flashing.

Suddenly, the music stopped. The back room door reading ‘staff only’ was slammed open. Skylar felt a chill running down her spine.

Three people walked out, although one of them looked as if he was being dragged forcefully. Through the fog it looked like they were in slow motion, like a scene from a bad action movie.

Blake and Viko appeared before them, the latter holding Micah by the arm. There were signs of struggle; he had been grabbed so tightly that his arm was bruised under the hem of his blue short sleeve. There was black tape on his mouth, preventing him from making a sound, and his wrists were tied behind his back. His gaze was lowered. He felt ashamed. Skylar could feel it. She wanted to go to him but Mayrin held her back with a stare. So for now Skylar remained quiet.

For a moment, in fact, the silence was so thick that it hung in the air like humidity before a storm. Those stupid smoke and fog machines were still working, too. It was suffocating

As if reading her mind, Blake looked up and gestured with his hand. “Huh, I forgot about those. Doesn’t matter. It adds to the atmosphere, wouldn’t you say?”

Skylar couldn’t hold it in anymore. “What the hell is this, Blake? Let him go.”

It was Viko holding her best friend, but she could tell he was troubled by all this. So she knew Blake was pulling the strings here.

“Honestly, Skylar, you should’ve seen this coming.” His voice was bittersweet. He grabbed Micah’s arm, yanking him from Viko’s hold and pulling him closer. “You two came back here because you know the vampires don’t have anywhere else to go, am I correct? You wanted to carry on joyously with your killing spree. We thought that might happen, so we were prepared.”

Skylar was looking at Micah. He still wouldn’t raise his gaze. She understood why; there were tears forming in his eyes, and he was embarrassed. Skylar felt a sharp pang in her chest. And Mayrin wasn’t helping right now.

“That’s why I told you to leave him out of this from the start, but you wouldn’t listen,” she said.

“He was already involved!” Skylar glared at Blake accusingly. “You’re using this guy, aren’t you?” She pointed toward Viko, who looked to the side, his face veiled by long brown hair. “You got together with me, and then you asked him to get together with my best friend, so you could have even more control over me? You’re appalling. You should let him go, right now, or else—”

“What?” Blake’s smile was humorless. “What are you going to do, Skylar?”

She took out her lighter, her hand shaking. From what Mayrin had said, she could burn Blake, as long as it was fire coming from an already existing flame.

But now Mayrin was shaking her head, her lips thinning. “Don’t…”

Before her eyes, the lighter was shattered to minuscule pieces by a small, silent explosion. The pieces cut her hands in some places, the gas staining the hems of her long sleeves.

“I don’t know what Mayrin told you, but I’m not easy to kill,” said Blake wryly.

Skylar looked desperately at Mayrin for help, but she was gazing to the side, like she was hoping this whole setting would just disappear if she didn’t look at it, acting similarly to Viko who stood just a few feet away.

“Mayrin won’t attack me. She won’t ever attack me.”

Skylar waited for a longer explanation, but it didn’t come.

“What do you want?” She felt tears wetting her eyes, threatening to fall. She hated this. She hated that she was afraid of him.

“I want you to stop killing vampires. You have two options. Either you join my side, or you leave it alone and carry on with your life. If you stop killing them, I will let your friend live. But if you don’t…” As if to amplify the dramatic effect of his words, Blake grabbed Micah’s forearm, just above where his wrist was tied with plastic cable, and applied so much pressure with his hand that they heard the bone snap. Micah fell to his knees with a muffled cry, his eyes squeezing shut.

Skylar’s heart sank, a wave of nausea washing over her. “Blake stop!” Her strangled cry came out as the tears slid down her cheeks.

“Hey!” Viko rushed over to Micah. “That wasn’t—, you said you wouldn’t—”

With a single dark glance Blake sent Viko flinging across the room and crashing into the bar counter with a loud thud. He hadn’t even touched him. He hadn’t even raised a hand.

“Get out, both of you,” said Blake in a low voice, slowly looking up at Skylar.

“But, Micah… You have to take him to a hospital. Or Mayrin could give him her blood. I just want to know that he’s safe, please…”

“Don’t kill anymore vampires, and he’ll be safe. Now get out.”

“No, but…” She felt short of breath, her chest heaving.

“Mayrin!” Blake raised his voice.

She put her hand on Skylar’s back and obediently led the way out. Once they had stepped outside that black door, and onto the sidewalk where many other people were just walking, living their normal lives, Skylar couldn’t even remember climbing up the stairs. She just couldn’t stop crying, a hand to her lips. Mayrin still guided her as they walked in the night. Skylar hadn’t felt so helpless since the earthquake.

They just kept walking until the subway stop. Skylar’s eyes were dry, but she still felt horrified and sick, with the sound of Micah’s bone snapping replaying over and over in her head like a broken record. She stopped Mayrin before she could walk in the station. Skylar just needed to stay outside a bit longer. She needed the air.

“Why didn’t you help me back there?” asked Skylar, her voice catching. “You could’ve helped me.”

“I can’t fight Blake. He’s… too strong.” She looked to the side, a hint of distress in her gray blue eyes. She wasn’t being completely honest, Skylar could tell. Her ethereal hair danced in the cool wind, gleaming silver in the moonlight.

“But you’re strong! You’re so strong. I’m sure you could. Maybe we should go back…”

Mayrin did something that surprised Skylar. She slid her arms around her, and held her tight. Skylar tensed at first, but then she held her back almost reflexively. It felt oddly comforting. She closed her eyes and they stayed like this for just a little longer. Mayrin smelled so nice; it brought up the image of white flowers blooming at night in her mind. Skylar didn’t know if her sixth sense was finally working on her, but she felt like Mayrin wasn’t faking it, like she could actually understand her.

“It’s gonna be okay,” she said as she pulled away softly, still holding Skylar at arm’s length. “We just need to figure out our next move. I know what it’s like to see someone you love getting hurt. Don’t worry, we’ll get him back.”