Dark Rain: 15 Short Tales (9 page)

That was, until the first kill. The thug who had wanted to gang rape me was my first blood. That hadn’t ended too well for the young man.

Still, I reminded myself, I hadn’t killed Nancy. I had only… partaken of her. And awakened a slumbering giant within myself. In fact, I felt her rising up through my consciousness now. She sensed, as well as I did, that the shit was about to hit the fan.

And she wanted a front-row seat.

Well,
I thought.
Enjoy the ride.

I moved away from the back doorway, and headed behind the stage and to the sated vampire who watched me near him.

With a smile on his face.

I took the seat opposite him, my back to the stage. I was missing the performance of the girl who danced like no one was watching—except, of course, most of the pervs in Colton.

The chair seemed unstable, and I wondered how many lap dances it had endured. And with that thought alone, I vomited a little in the back of my mouth.

The man with the slicked-back hair wasn’t a man. He wasn’t a werewolf either. He seemed too slight. The werewolves I had seen were big boys… growing bigger, in fact, with each full moon. The older the wolf, the bigger he was. Which made Kingsley one of the oldest, I realized.

And hairiest
.

“You killed Nancy.” My voice came out flat, emotionless, even.

“Oh, was that her name?” He hadn’t blinked yet. Oldest trick in the book. I could out-unblink the crap out of him. He kept his wide-eyed stare on me. His skin was flushed. He had had a healthy feeding, of course. After all, why waste all that good blood? I, of course, hadn’t had anything all day… and the Jamba juice didn’t count. At least, not for my kind.

Whatever kind I was, that is.

A vampire
, I told myself.
A vampire, once and for all.

Except, of course, I didn’t really believe that. I never did. I wasn’t so much a vampire as a person possessed by a very, very dark and powerful entity, an entity whose own supernatural powers leaked through.

No, not leaked… poured through.

And the guy in front of me seemed too fresh, too excited, too happy. He seemed, in fact, to revel in exactly what he was.

He’s a new vampire.

Which boded well for me. The older the vamps, the stronger they were… and the more aware of their powers. New vamps relied on strength alone. At least, I had.

Except, early on, I had had my early warning system, a slight ringing in my head, which was, even now, sounding strongly… warning the crap out of me.

“Yes,” I said, “and she was a friend of mine.” And she
had
been a friend, dammit. Even if only for the past few months.

He said, “You should turn around and pretend you never saw me.”

“Or not.”

Oh yeah. This guy was new, and a little full of himself. And, judging by the damage he had inflicted on Nancy, a certifiable psychopath. Not to mention, he couldn’t see auras—at least, not yet. Had he been able to, he would have seen what I was. No matter.

“Leave now, and I won’t kill you, too,” he said casually.

“How many others have you killed?” I asked.

He tilted his head a little. Still didn’t blink. Still a little too full of himself. If I had to guess, he probably had posters of Tom Cruise as Lestat on his bedroom walls, and probably a poster or two of Damon, too.

“You wanted to be a vampire all your life, and now, you are one, and you think it gives you a license to kill. Except, asshole, some of your victims are going to be friends with other people, people who are not really people, but say, your own kind.”

Finally, he blinked, and that might have been my greatest victory yet.

“You’re one, too,” he said, after a moment, piecing it together.

“Lucky for you, being a vamp doesn’t require an admissions test.”

“Well then, I am sorry about your friend. If it’s any consolation to you, she was delicious.”

“That’s a shitty thing to say about someone I cared about.”

“Then, that’s your problem, you care too—”

“Cut
The
Vampire Diaries
angst, asshole. This is the real world, and you just killed a friend of mine, and, I suspect, others like her.
And
, I suspect, you are going to keep doing this to people until someone puts you in the ground with a silver stake through your heart.”

He blinked again, and again, and I believe he saw that I might have been serious. And that he might be hip-deep in some serious shit.

“So, what do you propose we do?” he asked.

“I propose that
you
stop killing innocent people, for starters.”

“She was hardly innocent. She was just a who—”

“Don’t say it,” I said. “Remember that part about her being my friend.”

“You know, who are you? Fuck you, and fuck your whore friend. I just wish I hadn’t killed her so quickly.”

He was bigger than me. Physically, I had no doubt he was stronger. By how much, I didn’t know.
I’m not the oldest vampire.
Hell, I’m relatively new to this stuff, too.

Except… well, except I had some mad skills.

I saw the flame, and a blink later, I was by his side. He gasped and turned and reached for me. But I already had a hold on his arm.

The flame again, and this time, we disappeared together…

Only to reappear somewhere that I was very familiar with. In fact, I had investigated a murder scene out here… in the desert outside of Corona.

The
open
desert. Where there was no shade.

We both stumbled and fell. After all, we had been sitting in the strip club when we’d disappeared.

We stood up about the same time, although only one of us looked shocked and horrified and, well, hot as hell. His skin, I noticed, was already smoking.

I dusted myself off, pointed to the sun above, nodded, and popped out just as he lunged for me.

It’s good to be me.

Sucks to be him.

It was late, and I was waiting. Impatiently.

There were times when I didn’t like Nancy. In fact, if I added up all the time I had spent hating her, it would far outweigh the time I, well, tolerated her. But she had made the effort to see me, the effort to connect, and, dammit, there had been something there. A spark. I was sorry to see her go.

Whether or not the vamp in the desert had made it out alive, I didn’t know, but I doubted it. He was as good as dead, and I didn’t feel much sympathy for him at all. As to the entity within him, it would simply depart, only to find another host. A very sick circle indeed.

The entity within me, throughout the course of the day, had mostly settled back into the darkest corners of my mind, where she would stay, waiting for more blood, waiting for more pain, and waiting, also, for a special someone.

That special someone had yet to make another appearance, but I often sensed him nearby, watching me. Waiting for me. Waiting for me to… what? Come around, perhaps. After all, her special someone was special, indeed… none other than the Count himself. I just happened to like the guy, which made me question who and what I was all over again.

I checked the time on my phone again. 3:22 a.m. When did these places close down, anyway?

I didn’t know, but by now, there were only a few cars left in the parking lot.

At 3:45, the last one drove off. I recognized the outline of Rick’s thick neck, as the vehicle receded in the distance. I used my vampire senses to see if anyone was still inside the club.
Empty.

That was also the time I got out of my minivan, which I’d discreetly parked down the street. With a spring in my step, I approached the strip club, with a can of gas by my side.

It didn’t take me long to dowse the structure with gasoline. That I did so with a surprising glee should have been alarming. I never knew I had such an inner arsonist.

I stood a few dozen feet away, and held up the fancy lighter I’d purchased at a smoke shop for just this occasion.

The damn club had brought so much pain to my life. Hell, it had been the beginning of the end of my relationship with Danny.

I hated it, even if it did bring an unlikely friend into my life. The friendship had been bumpy and likely would have remained so. I might never have truly forgiven her, but I had been willing to try, and so had she.

Either way, it was time to close this chapter of my life…

In a grand fashion.

I held up the lighter, flicked it to life, and tossed it into a nearby pool of gas.

ome call me a vampire.