The Turning (28 page)

“Brian, no, I can’t do that. I don’t want to, no.” I turned on my heel.

He grabbed my arm and spun me back around. “I am not saying kill. I said hunt, and you have to learn how to. What if something happens and you cannot get a pint of blood somewhere? You have to learn how to do this, and mesmerize humans, in case something happens.”

“No killing, no hurting, and no just messing with people, okay?” Brian nodded and we continued on our way. I was all for learning new things and as long as Brian stuck to those rules, I was excited to see what else I could do now as a vampire. “So what’s the plan? I like knowing the game plan.”

“First, you watch a couple of times, then you try a few with me. That is all we are going to do tonight. This is not something you can learn all in one night. This will give you a solid foundation for what you need to know if something ever happens, or happens to me.

“I talked to Julie while she was here and if anything should ever happen to me, Julie will take care of you in any way you need. She will become your maker in name and be for you like I am. Well, not in every way I am.” He shot me a smirk as if he was being oh so clever.

I flinched at his words and more than a little annoyed he was teasing me while talking about his death. “Why are you saying this stuff, Brian? What do you mean if something happens to you?”

“I am just explaining, like how humans leave wills and tell their children where they are. Nothing should ever happen to me, but I have made enemies over my years so I want you to be prepared. We can live forever, but that does not mean we always do. Sometimes things happen.”

“Okay, message received. Now we’re going to switch topics because I’ve got enough on my mind. I can process this later,” I snapped.

“How do you do that? Put it away like that and deal with it later?”

“I don’t know. I’ve always been able to compartmentalize like that, the military helped teach me how to do it well. Now, back to the task at hand, where are we going to do this hunting?”

“We are going to a more ‘red light’ area. I saw the way you were with that man trying to hurt the girl,” Brian answered. “I figured it would ease your mind to hunt people who hunt others and hurt people.”

I nodded, thinking that one over, learning how to be a vampire and maybe setting some people straight in the process.

He gave me a wink before taking off. I rolled my eyes as I headed after him. I swear, if I didn’t know better, he just came up with any excuse he could so I would end up looking at his backside.

“Okay, you can smell the group nearby, correct?” he inquired when we stopped running, neither of us even flustered from it.

“Yes, a few of them smell different, rotten. They are sick, aren’t they?”

“Yes, good catch, they have hepatitis. You will learn over time the difference in the smells of the sicknesses.”

“Okay, I smell two sick, two normal, and why do the other two smell differently, but not rotten?”

“Very good, my love. One is drunk, and one has drugs in his system. That changes the makeup of the blood. Once liquor or drugs mixes with the blood, it changes the smell and quality. Be careful, if you drink blood with chemicals in it, it will affect you and in a way you will not like. Drinking the blood of a drunk will make you very drunk, very fast. You will probably end up throwing up more blood than you drank.”

“Understood. What is this, a drug deal going down?”

“No,” Brian muttered slowly. “The two sick girls and one sober girl are prostitutes, the one with drugs in his system is their pimp, one healthy guy is a bodyguard and one drunk is with the girl, and owes the pimp a lot of money. They are going to hurt the guy who owes, since he does not have the money, and raid his house and rape his wife.”

I blinked at him. “How do you know all of this?”

“Every vampire has a gift bestowed to them. Mine is the ability to tell what people have done and are going to do that is evil. I can sense it, like a shopping list, within the last five years, in chronological order. Your gift will come to you in the next few months. It will start slowly, so if you feel anything, you let me know. Last thing you have to remember, we still have our fight or flight reflexes, so you will get a burst of adrenaline. Adrenaline will burn through the blood in your body fast, so you will have to keep it as short as possible,” Brian explained, his teaching cap on.

“Okay, what’s your plan?”

“You grab the girls and get them out of the way. I will take care of the rest, but watch me, learn.” I nodded.

I got the girls out of the way the moment we hit the alley, putting them against the wall and blocking them with my body. They all huddled together scared out of their hooker clothes. Brian took out the bodyguard first, knocking him out. Then grabbed the guy and put him over by the other side of the alley. When he got to the pimp he grabbed him by his coat.

“Are you scared?”

“Yes,” the guy whimpered.

“Good, you should be. Now look into my eyes,” Brian cooed the last part in a low almost soothing voice. “You are going to forgive this man’s debt, do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“You are going to give these girls a high percentage from now on, and you will stop doing your drugs or allowing your girls to do drugs.” The pimp nodded. “Now you will sit down and take a half hour nap, and forget you ever saw me, but will follow what I said.” The pimp nodded again and sat down.

Brian then came over to us, waited for me to move out of the way, before talking in that low voice. “You girls will stop doing any drugs and will start respecting yourselves better, maybe even start looking for another job.” They all nodded. “Now you will sit down and take a half hour nap and forget you ever saw me, but will follow what I said.”

They all sat down then and instantly fell asleep. “Holy shit, Brian. How did you do that?”

“You take a deep calming breath, visualize your mind and theirs being one, almost to the point you can see inside it. Then you see your words running through their brain like a typewriter, going from your mind to the middle of theirs.”

Yeah this was a cool perk. Finally!
“Okay, let me try.”

“As you wish.” He shot me a smirk and swept his arm out for me to go ahead.

I went over to the drunk guy, placed my hands on his shoulders, took a very deep breath and visualized everything before I started talking. “You will sober up a bit, call a cab, and go home to your wife. You will tell her you are a slime ball, and you will start being a better husband to her. You will never hire another hooker or gamble again, do you understand?”

“What the hell are you talking about, bitch?” was his slurred answer. Well, that didn’t work like it was supposed to. I tried again and again. Each time the guy tried harder and harder to get away from me. After about the fifth attempt, I started cussing like a sailor.

“Fine, you do it, Brian. We’re running out of time before they all wake up from their half hour naps,” I bitched. Brian nodded and did what I couldn’t do. I watched intently mainly focusing on this control and how calm he was. When we finished and walked away, I turned to Brian. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disappoint you.”

“That could never happen, Kelly. No one gets it their first time. I have seen vampires who cannot do it at all. Be patient with yourself, my love. I know you are an overachiever and a perfectionist. This is something you do when you believe you can, and something you feel when it’s time. Neither one you are very good at.

“Feelings and beliefs, not your favorite topics or things to deal with. Other things you have dealt with and learned faster than any vampire I have ever seen.” He leaned in, giving me a half hug and a kiss on the head. “It is time for the hunting part. You hunt and I will work on their heads for now, okay?”

“Yeah, I’m so angry with myself I could use a good run and attack.” I took off, and heard some thug robbing a liquor store. I ran in there, grabbed the guy and the gun before he could even blink.

I went to put the safety on the gun, but it was already on.
Idiot.
Doesn’t even know how to use a gun. I took stock of the scene, like you would see in a scrap book. I noted the scared guy behind the counter, late forties, graying hair.

I tucked the gun in the back of my jeans, and took a long sniff of the guy. He was clean, so I bit into him. I saw out of the corner of my eye Brian moving up to the guy who ran the store and put the whammy on him after getting the tape. I took my fangs out of the robber and looked at Brian over his shoulder.

He was right about the adrenaline, I wanted to jump his bones right there. I had never felt such rush of command, of control, over everything around me.

He came over to me, taking the guy from me, and he put the whammy on him, telling him to get a real job and to never touch another gun. Then we left and I was just about skipping with excitement. I couldn’t even believe that I had done that. I had actually
stopped a robbery
. I had just fed off a stranger and the idea would seem gross if it weren’t so stimulating.

“Kelly, wait for me next time. I want to make sure what you are drinking is clean.”

I nodded but still said, “I smelled him. I checked it was okay.”

“I understand that, and you catch on quick, but there are a few things you do not know yet. Certain drugs and alcohol smell sweet, like a clean human. So I want to check them out with you, and I would prefer no more guns. They cannot kill you, but they hurt like hell, Kelly,” Brian warned me.

“I can’t promise no more guns. I can’t just walk by that kind of thing, knowing I can help. I won’t seek them out and I will let you smell before I do anything, as long as you show me that trick that gets the fang marks to close back up,” I bargained with a smile.

“That is simple. I forgot I have not told you that yet, all you have to do is lick the wound. Do not let any of your blood get in their wound, a drop or two will not turn them, it will just hurt them badly. As I pull out my fangs, I lick them before I mesmerize them and send them on their way, by that time the wound is healed and there is no evidence.”

“That is cool. Our saliva heals? That is wicked cool,” I chirped, dancing, on a complete high from what I had just done.

“All right, dancing machine, a few more and we call it a night. The movers are going to be at your place at seven am.”

“Seven am, are you on crack?” I gaped at Brian. “Come on now, this is like my vacation this week! I start my internship soon.” I swung my arm around his neck and leapt up, and of course, he caught me. “This is too cool. You’re a great teacher, and I mean that in more than one way.”

I wiggled my eyebrows at him and gave him a big, loud kiss on the cheek. Then I had an epiphany. I jumped out of his arms and hailed a cab. Brian followed me in, and raised an eyebrow while I gave the driver some cross streets on the west side. We got there and I handed the driver some money and a tip and got out. Brian again followed me without saying a word.

“Kelly?” Just saying my name with that questioning tone spoke volumes.

“You said you wanted me to hunt, I just thought to change the venue,” I explained calmly. If he knew I was hiding something, he said nothing about it, and followed me. I wasn’t about to tell him this was where my dad worked days but if I was going to do some good, might as well help out my dad.

I heard some guys beating someone up, grabbed Brian’s hand, and took off. We got there and without hesitation, I told Brian, “I got the left.” And I went and grabbed the two guys on the left while he got the two on the right.

“They’re clean so you can have your pick,” he told me. I picked all of them, all four, and licked their wounds, and watched them heal, completely amazed. I felt like I was invincible. I calmed a bit to watch Brian work. When he was done, I picked up the beaten guy and started walking. “Leave him,” Brian ordered.

“No, we’ve got to get him to the hospital,” I objected with wide eyes.

“Kelly, that is not our responsibility. It was dangerous enough for you to run at two guys being so new. Now you want to get involved and take this guy to the hospital?”

“Of course, Brian, we can’t just leave him here. I’m a doctor for god sakes.”

“Then call the police and tell them where to come, and we can go,” he seethed.

“Okay, that’s close enough, but I can’t stay. I don’t want to give a statement or anything and the guy’s alive since I already found his pulse.” I put him down on the sidewalk so he was clearly visible and checked him over while Brian called the police probably blocking his number before he dialed. Or for all I knew he had a burner phone he brought with him hunting for such occasions. Brian always seemed prepared.

His lung had collapsed and I pulled a pen out of my back pocket. Good thing I never left home without one. Paper was always easy to find, but I never relied on others to find a pen when I needed one. I pulled out the ink tube, blew out as much of the ink as I could as I raised his shirt, and re-inflated the lung.

“Tell them his lung collapsed and be careful moving him. Also, he has three broken ribs and internal bleeding, other than that they focused mainly on the face.”

Brian repeated everything, and I checked the guy’s pulse one more time. It was steady and strong, so we left. “You cannot risk yourself like that. I wanted to teach you how to hunt, not how to be a superhero. That is not what we are here for.”

“I’m not trying to be a superhero. I’m trying to kill two birds with one stone. I grew up in Chicago, my dad works around here, if I can help, I will. Call it fate, karma, whatever you want, god’s intervention, but maybe I was turned because I could help. I know you did it because you thought I was a good person, moral.

“A
moral person
doesn’t just stand by and let this shit happen when they can help. I’m not talking about dressing up and ridding the streets of crime. All I’m saying is if I’m hunting, or had a night off and some energy to kill, then this is what I’ll do,” I fumed and hailed a cab. I was getting tired and we weren’t going to continue the lesson when we had a difference of view on hunting.