Promise Me Anthology (17 page)

“That’s it?” Danial said skeptically.

“Pretty much,” Danial said persuasively. “My
home is here in New York. Garrett is not doing his job, and I’m
tired of putting out fires like the one I called you about a few
days ago. I need someone who can handle a state. I know you
can.”

Danial let out a breath, then nodded once.
“I’ll accept, but I need a month or so to make arrangements and
move.”

Devlin beamed. “And my problem?”

Danial smiled back, fangs bared. “Take me to
her and I’ll solve it.”

* * * *

“Jonas told me if I met you here you’d make
me a vampire.”

If only I had that power
, Danial
thought. “No, Angelica,” he said enticingly. “I’m here to make you
another offer, one I believe you’ll welcome.”

The beautiful young girl gazed at him, her
blue eyes suspicious. “What?”

“Become my donor,” Danial said seductively,
taking her in his arms. He kissed her throat, then pricked it
lightly with his fangs.

Angelica sighed happily. “You’ll bite
me?”

Pity; all that beauty and no brains
.
“Yes, and drink your blood. I’ll also pay you a stipend.”

The suspicious look was back. “What else are
you expecting?”

Like you wouldn’t give me sex if I
asked
, Danial thought. “The stipend is for your promise to save
your blood just for me. It’s the normal arrangement.”

“But you won’t turn me,” she said
plaintively.

“If I did, I couldn’t drink from you
anymore,” Danial lied. “This way I can over and over, Angel.
Besides, there’s that rule about turning someone so young. It’s all
right if I call you Angel, isn’t it?”

Angelica was excited, but still reserved.
“Yes, of course. Will you turn me when I’m older?”

“You can turn at twenty-one if it’s
approved,” Danial replied carefully. “Until then you have to agree
to keep me and our arrangement secret. Will you do that?”

Angelica stared at him, then kissed him.
“Yes, please. Will you bite me now?”

Problem solved.
Danial grinned. “Come
to me, my darling.”

* * * *

After solidifying arrangements with Angelica
for next month, Danial boarded the aircraft to find Theo
waiting.

“How can you consider Devlin’s offer?” Theo
asked incredulously. “Or were you just playing him?”

Danial shook his head, taking his seat. “The
price was right, Theo. I’ve wanted this for a long time. A few
human deaths are of no consequence, especially if they’re
vermin.”

Theo sat down a seat away. “You aren’t who I
thought you were.”

Danial whipped around to face Theo, his eyes
blood red. “I am who I’ve always been. You’re like the rest,
glutted on tales of benevolent vampires. This is the real world. I
do what I can. That’s all I can do.”

“You didn’t even introduce me.”

“That was on purpose,” Danial replied evenly.
“Devlin rules the United States, if you haven’t already guessed.
You know what would happen if he knew your name and you don’t sign
on with me? You’ll be killed. I was giving you a way out.”

Theo didn’t reply. The silence stretched.

“Did you kill that girl?” Theo finally
said.

“Of course not,” Danial replied. “She wants
the thrill of being with a vampire. As she ages, she’ll outgrow it.
By being my donor, she can have both. It’s a simple solution.”

“What are you really offering me?” Theo
asked.

Danial’s expression softened slightly.
“Friendship as well as partnership. A fifty-fifty split on all
profits above the needs of the business. Protection, to an extent.
Your life doesn’t have to be like it was.” He paused. “What
happened to you?”

“I’d rather not talk about it,” Theo said
stiffly.

“That’s fine,” Danial said hurriedly. “But I
need to know now if you’ll be my partner or not.”

“No,” Theo said softly.

Danial got to his feet, livid. “You
ungrateful ass. I offer you the chance of a lifetime and you throw
it away to go back to scrounging in garbage for scraps?”

“I can’t murder people—”

“Who asked you to?” Danial snarled. “I can
take care of the killing myself.”

“I’m sure. You shot at me just because I
startled you.”

“I didn’t know you were there.”

“Yes, you did,” Theo replied.

Solution’s Inc. wouldn’t grow without someone
Danial could trust to help him. He needed Theo.

“Yes, I did,” Danial sighed, swiftly
switching tactics. “Dev has become a monster. Every year I see more
and more pain and suffering and too little good. The line between
evil and good is growing indistinct. I’m starting not to care and
it terrifies me.”

“You’re nothing like him.”

You don’t know he’s my brother.
“I
need hope. I need someone to help me find the line again.” Danial
held out his hand. “I need a partner.”

Theo stared at Danial’s hand, then
reluctantly shook it. “You’re right. I’ve nothing to go back to. I
can do good as part of your company. Partners.”

Thank God
, Danial thought happily.
“Partners.”

State of Grace

(Previously published in Dark Moon’s Vampires Anthology
2011)

The broken-down factory loomed from a hundred
yards away in the pale moonlight, its broken windows like still,
jagged teeth. No light beckoned, nor did any sound break the
silence.

An old van paused for a second at the
driveway before driving up quickly past the broken chain-link gate.
Ten minutes later a furtive figure darted in. As it crept toward
the factory, another form exploded from the shadows.

Jackie turned smoothly, her gun in her hand.
“Get out of my way, Rod.”

“Get out of here!” Rodney urged frantically,
his eyes flicking from Jackie’s face to the empty road. “Kale’s
going to come down that road any minute with his buddies. If they
find you here, you’re dead.”

“I have to try,” Jackie replied, pushing him
away resolutely. “You know what’s going on in there. I can’t let it
happen and do nothing—”

“What’s going on in there’s been going on
since before there were vampires,” Rodney hissed back, his blue
eyes reddening. “One human isn’t going to stop it, especially not
you alone—”

“It’s easy to see your soul’s dead,” Jackie
threw back with a sneer as she headed towards the factory. “Someone
has to do something. Just run away, Rod. Leave.”

Leave you to die, you mean?
Rodney
thought, watching her walk away. Jackie would be no match for what
waited through those doors. He was a vampire and even he
wasn’t.

If there was ever a time she’d needed him, it
was now. Warily, he followed.

He’d only gone a few steps when Jackie
screamed. The sound squeezed his heart like a vise, galvanizing him
into action. He dashed around the corner to find her on her back, a
tall, lithe vampire above her holding her down, fangs already
sliding into her soft flesh.

“Get off her, Kale,” Rodney hissed, drawing a
survival knife. “Now.”

Kale laughed, fangs gleaming wickedly. “Make
me, coward.” He bit down. Jackie struggled and cried out in
pain.

Rodney plunged the knife into his back.
Before Kale could recover, Rodney kicked him off Jackie’s prone
form, the vampire flying back to smash into a low concrete wall. As
Kale struggled to get up, Rodney began hacking at his neck.

“Stop, Rod,” Kale hissed, pushing weakly
against Rodney. “You can’t win this. Nathan will kill you—”

Kale’s words were cut off as Rodney bore down
with all his inhuman strength. The flesh of Kale’s neck parted
completely as his spine rent, blood and fluid leaking out. Kale’s
body slumped, his arms falling limply at his sides.

“He’s dead,” Jackie whispered.

God, I hope so
, Rodney thought
desperately. “You hurt?”

“He bit into my shoulder muscle. It’s nothing
some Neosporin won’t fix.” She got to her feet, wiping at her
mud-spattered jeans. “He was guarding this entry.” She switched on
a flashlight and gestured to a yawning door, concrete steps leading
down. “That’s our way in.”

Rodney turned to face her. “No. You can’t
save them, not any of them. They’ll just find others to kill—”

His words fell into emptiness. Jackie was
already down the steps. The light of her flashlight dimmed, then
disappeared.

“Damn it.” Rodney wiped his blade on Kale’s
clothes and went after her. His eyes adjusted quickly to the
darkness, making out a dark concrete tunnel ahead. He started
walking as fast as he dared.

How had it come to this? He had been a senior
close to graduation, with parents who loved him and big plans for
the future. Instead, he’d gotten bitten late one night as he walked
home from the bus stop. His maker had been half-dead already from
some run in with a foe; half of his face missing. Rodney had
fainted dead away when the creature had burst out. He’d come to
with the thing lying dead across him, blood in his mouth along with
a newly grown set of fangs.

A sudden noise startled him, his hand
clutching the knife hard. Damn it, he was going to get killed
walking down memory lane. Face reality, Rod, he thought grimly;
you’re probably going to get killed anyway. You might as well make
your peace.

Peace. When was the last time he’d had peace?
After the first shock, his parents had been understanding, and said
they’d find a cure together. They had contacted some of the best
doctors involved in blood diseases the next day. Almost instantly,
others of his afflicted brethren had discovered their wayward lamb.
His mother, father and younger brother had been killed, their home
torched. Then Kale had come for him.

He’d tortured Rod badly, telling him this was
his only warning. “This isn’t nightclubs and teen sex,” Kale had
said harshly. “We have rules. You follow them or you die.” He’d
paused then cut another slice into Rod’s abdomen, bringing a
scream. “The first is you keep your head down. Don’t interfere in
the human world; don’t kill; don’t make friends and don’t call
attention to yourself.” He’d sliced Rodney again, this one deep
enough to make some pink intestine peep out along with a louder
scream. “You were born in this state without Nathan’s permission,
Rod. He’s the boss here in Tennessee. I’m his enforcer. That means
if he sends me for you again, you’re dead.” Kale had grinned,
baring fangs. “You’ll think your family got off lightly. Be smart
and do the right thing.”

Kale had left Rodney in a pool of blood, his
regenerative powers weak. It had taken him a week to heal. Since
then, Rodney had kept himself hidden, his hope extinguished just
like his future had been.

The noise sounded again. Up ahead, a door
opened. Rodney clutched his knife, ghosting closer, but didn’t dare
peer around the corner.

“Put him in there with the rest,” a cold
voice said. “He’s a loser. Hurry up.”

There was an animal snarl, then a curse and
the door slammed, metal rasping and clinking.

Rodney waited until the footsteps receded,
then turned the corner and ran up to the padlocked door. Pressing
his ear to the metal, he listened. There were five heartbeats, two
of those uneven and weak.

Damn it, where was Jackie?
This is
what she’d been after. She’d gone right past them.

It wasn’t the first time her compassion had
led her into danger. That was how they’d met. She’d been feeding
semi-feral cats at an abandoned farm, the same one where he’d been
hiding out. She’d glimpsed him watching from the shadows, screamed
then run. The next day she’d returned undeterred with more cat
food, a few Have-a-Heart traps, and a shotgun loaded for bear.
After feeding the cats, she’d set the traps to the side and come
looking for him.

“What are you doing here?” she’d demanded,
leveling the gun at him.

“I live here,” he told her.

She gaped at him, then took in his dirty
appearance and his ragged clothes. The next day, she brought him
some worn but clean clothes and a box of moist wipes.

They’d gotten to be good friends this past
summer. That lasted until the first day of fall, when she’d come
early one day and caught him feeding on one of the cats.

The shotgun blast had knocked him off his
feet, the cat screeching away in ball of claws and puffed fur. He’d
come to with Jackie peering at him from a safe distance, her gold
cross in her hand brandished like a sword.

“What are you?”

Rodney had smiled for the first time in a
decade. “You already know, or you wouldn’t be hanging onto your
cross for bravado.” He brushed himself off, fingering the
bloodstained hole over his newly healed chest. “I don’t suppose you
brought any clothes with you?”

Jackie shook her head, tears welling in her
eyes. “How can you feed off them? They’re defenseless.”

“It doesn’t hurt the cats,” Rodney said, his
eyes sliding away from hers. “I heal them afterwards. I never kill
any, and I feed from different ones each day—”

“That doesn’t make it okay—”

“I have to live,” he’d hissed back at her,
ashamed of how pitiful he sounded. “I don’t have another way. You
don’t know how it is—”

“There’s always another way,” Jackie had
replied evenly. “You just need to find it.” She paused, and then
said grimly, “I’m a vet. Part of the job is euthanasia. In short, I
can get you some animal blood that isn’t in use anymore. Will you
stop if I do?”

“Yes,” Rodney agreed, knowing she’d shoot him
again if she didn’t.

From that night on, Jackie brought him animal
blood in plastic containers whenever she came. It wasn’t a feast,
but it was enough to keep from starving: much more than he’d dared
take from the cats. In the last month, they’d even talked a
little...

Footsteps approached. Rodney tensed, slowly
moving back his arm for a slashing blow. Another young vampire
walked in, his red eyes scanning intently. As soon as he got within
reach, Rodney swung his knife, separating the head from the body in
one clean blow. The body fell jerking to the floor as the head
rolled down the hallway, slowly coming to rest.