Authors: Violet Walker
E
liza pulled into her apartment complex and her heart was racing again. Losing Levi made her want to crawl under her covers and cry for several days, but that would be nothing to what it would feel like to lose Rachelle. She didn’t think she could survive that. Or even worse, she would survive it. Her body could heal after just about anything, but she knew that it wouldn’t work that way with heartbreak. She’d just be alive and alone in a strange, violent world.
Eliza walked back up to her apartment slowly. When she got to the door, she knocked, which felt incredibly strange. She lived here, and even if she didn’t, she and Rachelle didn’t knock at each other’s doors. The waiting felt interminable. Eliza looked through the window on the side of the door, watching for movement. Maybe Rachelle was so angry she was ignoring her. But how did she even know that she was the one at the door? It could be the UPS guy. Or her latest flavor of the month boyfriend, whatshisname. It could even be their father, and she would always open the door for him.
She knocked one more time, and then took out her keys. It was possible that Rachelle had left. Maybe she did go to the minor emergency room to get stiches. Or maybe she’s cowering in fear with her boyfriend or their father. She wanted to see her father badly, but she didn’t think she could look him in the eye right now. She also didn’t want him to see her transformation and think she had abandoned both her Irish and African roots simultaneously.
As soon as Eliza opened the door, she smelled the blood again. She took a deep inhale like she did when she walked into her grandma’s house on Thanksgiving and smelled the turkey and sweet potato pie. She licked her lips unconsciously. It was all so gross. Her body thought blood was as decadent as melted chocolate, but her mind still thought the whole thing was icky.
“Rachelle?” Eliza walked in further and saw Rachelle’s phone sitting on the coffee table. Rachelle didn’t go places without her phone. Even in a state of panic or fear, she probably wouldn’t have forgotten. Her instinct to grab the phone had become second nature. In fact, she would have been talking on it as she walked out, sharing the gruesome details of their encounter.
“I’m so sorry,” Eliza said, her voice breaking. “Just come out and talk to me. I want to make sure you’re okay.”
Eliza headed toward Rachelle’s bedroom now, expecting to find her hiding under the covers or behind a locked door in her bathroom.
“Do you need stiches?” she asked. “I’ll drive you to the urgent care.”
Eliza probably should have realized sooner that her sister wasn’t going to answer. She wasn’t the hide and cower type of person. If she were mad, she would yell. She’d say exactly what she was thinking. Eliza had always respected that about her sister. She wasn’t afraid to speak her mind.
A trickle of fear crept up her spine as soon as she saw the white flash out of the corner of her eye. There was something extra on the kitchen counter. Something that shouldn’t be there. There could be a million reasons why a white piece of paper would be in the kitchen. Rachelle could have left a note for her. It could be an unrelated shopping list or the electric bill. But somehow, Eliza knew it was not.
With tunnel vision, she headed toward the note in what seemed like slow motion. She read the words.
Follow the blood.
As if she needed more explanation, a few drops of dark dried blood had been left under the words. Her sister’s blood. She recognized the smell.
Every muscle in her body tensed at once. In moments like this, heightened senses weren’t helpful. She felt her heart hammering against her ribs. She sensed her blood pressure rising, constricting her veins. She could even fill the cortisol from the stress starting to spill into her nervous system.
“Rachelle,” she said quietly.
Her mind swirled with questions. Had Levi done this? No. He may have used her for sex, but he didn’t seem like the kidnapping type. And this note was clearly meant to lure her out, and Levi made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with her. And if he wanted to lure her out, he would have learned by now that there were easier ways.
Eliza crushed the note in her hand with surprising strength, managing to crush her own bones a bit. She ran out of the house—her mind again once again simultaneously empty and focused, as it had been when she was making love to Levi. But this time, the feeling was much different. The only thing in the world was her sister, and absolutely nothing mattered other than getting her back.
She got in her car and started driving before she even realized what she was doing. What was she doing? Or more specifically, where was she going? The note said to follow the blood. She panicked, first thinking that she had begun barreling down the highway with no destination in mind, wasting precious time. Then she realized that she had been subconsciously following a call. The “smell” of the blood was imperceptible, but she seemed to have a deeper sense that knew how to follow it. At least, she hoped she did. She felt pulled in a direction, but what if she was wrong?
Eliza had spent so much of her life following black and white facts. Everything could and should be explained. Her sister was the one to follow her instincts. Eliza needed proof. She had to fight against her instinct to enter coordinates into a GPS. She had to just follow the call. There was no other way.
Eliza exited once again at exit number 152—the phantom exit. This time, she at least knew what she would find. Levi’s neighborhood—full of luxury homes and cars, from a bizarre scattering of time periods. It was all part of the Gate World. Eliza wondered what Rachelle was seeing if they had taken her here. She had never tasted vampire blood and therefore did not have access to the Gate World. To her, this neighborhood was nothing but an empty field.
She drove past Levi’s house, feeling a bit stalker-ish.
“I’m not here for you, asshole,” she said under her breath.
Eliza continued down the street, ending at a cul-de-sac. At the end of the lane, sat the largest house in the neighborhood, a massive plantation home with a sweeping two level-porch and large Greek style columns. A beautiful fountain sat in the middle of the red brick drive. This had to be where the “Queen” lived. It was so strange to think of a queen in America, let alone a vampire queen. But if there were any kind of queen in Louisiana, she would live in a place like this.
She pulled her rental car up the drive, aware that she was driving right into a trap. She didn’t care. Once she stepped out of the car, she felt even more sure that her sister was in this house. She could easily smell her blood intermingled with the overpowering scent of magnolia blossoms. She only hoped that Rachelle hadn’t lost too much of that blood.
Eliza ran up the steps and walked through the unlocked front door. Yep. They wanted her to come in. The “queen’s palace” wasn’t exactly well guarded.
It didn’t take Eliza long to realize this wasn’t exactly true. Fifty or so vampires waited patiently for Eliza’s arrival, standing in two lines on either side of the queen in the grand parlor, like a real medieval court. Some of them even fit in medieval times, or at least the 1800s. Some of the vampires were Southern belles that had gotten stuck in time, still wearing their long dresses and corsets. Weren’t they hot? If they were damned to live for an eternity, they could at least enjoy the benefits of women’s rights, flip-flops, and blue jeans? A gorgeous ginger haired Belle blinked at her darkly as she passed. If it weren’t for the lacy fan she waved, Eliza might have assumed she was a life-sized porcelain doll.
Rachelle was tied to a chair in the middle of the parlor.
“Eliza,” she cried.
Eliza had never seen her sister so terrified. Her eyes were wide and glassy. Her hairline was wet with sweat and her cheeks were red. She had dirt smudged on her arms, although that might have been dried blood. That meant that her only injury had come from Eliza, and not the hordes of vampires around her. She didn’t know if that made her feel better or not.
Her chest shook with sobs. She had been crying so long that the neckline of her shirt had become wet with her tears.
“Rachelle,” Eliza said. She ran to her sister and did her best to hug her with her arms tied around her back.
“What’s happening?” Rachelle asked in a shaking voice. “I think I’m going crazy.”
“What do you see happening?” Eliza asked, gently caressing her hair to calm her.
“I don’t know,” she said, crying. “Something invisible grabbed me in our apartment. I shot across the ground into this empty field. I’m tied up and I don’t know how I got here. I’m so scared.”
Eliza went around her back to untie her even though she knew it wouldn’t be as easy as untying her and walking out.
“Not just yet, Eliza.”
Eliza looked up to see the same female vampire that had attacked her in front of Levi’s house. She looked much like Levi, but all the vampires kind of looked the same. She had paper white skin and long blonde hair. Although from what she knew now, she figured it was white, not blonde. She might have been living for hundreds of years, but her hair had died long ago. She wore a 1970s style off the shoulder dress made of blue taffeta, and her hair similarly styled to make her look like a ghoulish Farrah Fawcett. She might have looked glamorous if it weren’t for the dried blood at the corner of her lip.
Eliza sneered at her, ready to strike, even though she knew it would be useless. Eliza and Rachelle were both as good as dead. She could fight with all her strength—even her amplified half-dead strength, and it wouldn’t do any good against a hoard of vampires.
“What are you doing?” Rachelle asked desperately. “Why won’t you untie me?”
Eliza put her hand on Rachelle’s shoulder to comfort her, but she doubted it helped much. To Rachelle’s eyes, she was tied up in an empty field with no understanding as to how she got there.
“What do you want from me?” Eliza asked the Queen.
“What?” Rachelle asked, presumably thinking Eliza was talking to her.
Eliza gasped. Levi stood next to the Queen. The way he stood by her side, he might be high up in the court as well. Either that, or he was her lackey. Her assassin. Perhaps the whole thing had been an act, just to bring her here. To kill her. Eliza’s throat felt dry while her eyes burned with impending tears. She hated herself for being so hurt. Her and her sister’s lives were in danger. She shouldn’t be wasting energy feeling betrayed by Levi.
Levi looked into her eyes, apparently not even ashamed enough to look away. He still had that kind look, and now the look had turned sad. It might have been her imagination, but she thought he might be ready to cry too.
“This is the part of my job that I hate,” the Queen said with a barely restrained smile. “But I’m afraid that half-deads are illegal.”
“I didn’t want it to be this way,” Eliza said. “It was an accident.”
“That doesn’t matter, I’m afraid. You see, we can’t have humans walking around in our world. It’s not personal. Vampires have managed to exist in secret for thousands of years because we have strict laws. And your kind is not allowed.”
“Eliza, please,” Rachelle whimpered.
“So, you’ll let my sister go?” Eliza said. “She’s a human and she’s done nothing wrong.”
“It’s true, I used her to lure you here,” the Queen says. “I don’t intend to kill her, however she’s unlikely to make it out of here without becoming someone’s dinner. But don’t worry. The unnecessary killing of humans is also against the law. We feed. We don’t kill. She’ll be frightened and weak, but alive, when she leaves here.”
Eliza looked at Levi now. “Do you promise?”
He didn’t reply. He just swallowed deeply. He had perhaps grown even paler than before.
“Your problem is with me, and not my sister,” Eliza said to the Queen. “Kill me and let her live. Please. If not for me…or for her…then for our father. He couldn’t bear to lose both of us at once.”
One of the vampires in the line coughed, but it was a strange sound, like they were trying to stifle a sob. She glanced in that direction, but moved her attention back to the Queen and Levi.
“Go on,” the Queen said, now turning to Levi. “Kill the half-dead.”
Eliza gasped. Of all the horrors she had faced in the past few days, this one seemed especially cruel. The Queen seemed to agree. She had her lips curled in an especially devilish snarl. Perhaps this was Levi’s punishment as well. At least, he seemed to see it as punishment. Despite the fact that he was closer to the Queen than he let on, he clearly was not a cold-blooded assassin. The tall, sturdy man looked ready to crumble. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to hit him or hug him.
“No,” he said firmly.
The Queen snickered at him. “That’s not the right choice, Levi. Haven’t you considered the advantages? If you wanted her, then you wanted to drink from her too. Now you can. And you don’t even have to restrain yourself. You can relish every…last…drop.” She drug out the last few words for effect. Levi did seem tempted. He sucked on his bottom lip.
“You don’t yet know who shared their blood with her,” Levi said. “That person is the true criminal. She is the victim. If you kill her now, you’ll never find the person who truly deserves to be punished.”
The Queen’s sneer faltered. She looked like she had become bored with this game. “If you won’t kill her, then we’ll just need to kill both of you, won’t we?”