15

Dayne was happy, giddy with excitement. The publishers were interested and all they’d seen were the first sketches and the outline of Kaelin’s story. They liked what she had even though they said it was too long for a Graphic Novel. Then they had the most brilliant idea, they wanted to make it a series, four novels.

Four!

She hadn’t been sure about showing them the portfolio, it wasn’t as if she’d set up a meeting for a new book, all she’d been doing was going to pick up another check and some itinerary for an event they wanted her to attend.

“And they gave me a sword.” She murmured glancing down at the Katana in her hand. Sales for the Graphic Novel had been better than they expected and Janine was so happy she had it made just like Dayne had drawn it. Janine she was raking in the dough so it wasn’t as if the sword was a pain especially when she wanted Dayne to stay happy with her rep at the Publishing house. The Katana was an exact replica of the one her character carried in the novel, all the details were the same, even the glyphs she’d drawn on the blade.

“Ken would love this.” Dayne smiled sadly remembering the geeky little Japanese boy who got her into Manga. If it hadn’t been for him she’d never have started the Graphic Novel. Dayne helped him with his English and he helped her with the background info not to mention the language.

Duque would give him a hard time when ever he caught them together especially if they were at home. Mr. DeVega had gone so far as to tease her he’d end up with Japanese grandchildren but Ken had never looked at her that way. Poor Ken had been a good sport though and thanks to him she had her little work out house in the back yard. He was by the far the best friend she’d ever had and the smartest as far as she was concerned. Then life happened…

Dayne stuck her key into the lock opening the trunk. A bottle clinked making her turn around, breath held as she listened. She didn’t see anything though she peered intently. Dayne stepped away from the Chevy frowning though she didn’t dare call out. Something was wrong, she could feel it and deciding it was smartest to get out of there turned back to the trunk.

The scream echoed in the underground garage bouncing from one wall to the next in an endless chorus. Two strong hands clamped on her upper arms to keep her from falling. The portfolio slipped and though she clamped her fingers on it the sheets spilled out of the open sides.

“Sorry.” He smiled dropping his hands from her arms. “Did I scare you?”

Dayne nodded jerkily as she stepped out of his reach. The smile did nothing to make the anxious pit in her stomach dissolve. She shivered wondering at how cold his hands had been. Again she had a strong urge to run. She didn’t believe his apology and hearing a soft step turned to find a woman sauntering towards the. Dayne frowned unsure as to what either of them was doing there. Neither looked as if they’d come to visit the publishers and the entire building was owned by them. For that matter how did they get in without a pass?

“Excuse me.” Dayne’s voice sounded calm though she felt anything but. She moved to retrieve her portfolio still clutching the Katana as if she’d use it. The blade was the real thing, made to be used though it was intended as a show piece but Dayne had no intentions of ever drawing it. Why would she ever need to? Yet, here she was, in a dark and secluded parking garage with two strangers that gave her the heebie geebies in a major bad way.

“You're not leaving yet.” The words were icily polite though it was a statement not a question. “Are you.” Dayne halted as he stepped in her way. She swallowed glancing over her shoulder at the woman. She was heavily made up and her blond hair was almost white, a match for the contacts in her eyes. They had to be contacts; no one had eyes that pale.

‘Vampires.’

For once she didn’t fight the idea, in her mind she saw it again, the man bursting in a puff of ash and sparks just out of her line of sight that night.

‘Take their heads, They’re vampires!’

“No.” she mumbled slightly shaking her head. She couldn’t just attack someone, it wasn’t- no, no one had a right to just start hitting someone.

No.

The man smiled wider, his lips pulling back, revealing abnormally long incisors. Dayne shook her head trying to swallow past the lump in her throat. She couldn’t believe it was happening, not again. “Just when everything was going great, when life starts making sense.”

“We’ve been looking for you.” The woman’s voice was high pitched and angry as if it were all Dayne’s fault they hadn’t found her sooner.

‘Maybe she doesn’t like being a vampire. Do her a favor,’

Dayne felt a hand on her shoulder; the fear that had her frozen fell away. Her focus sharpened, every sound clearer so that the thumping of her heart drowned out anything else. Turning she struck with the sheathed Katana hitting the woman’s head. There was a screech and hands yanked her aside, Dayne stumbled though her eyes searched for the next attack, swinging blindly. Dayne was going on instinct; it was an alien emotion comparing it to an animal’s impulse to feed or survive.

He caught the Katana with a satisfied smirk and bared fangs. The heat of anger burst in her chest and pulling freed the blade from its scabbard Dayne attacked. She was a little frightened with how natural her body felt, the way it moved and how her mind was working. It was as if there were another Dayne living inside her, an instinctual being and this was her only purpose.

He was still smirking as the sharp edge of the blade bit into his neck. Dayne winced at the momentary feel, like a dull knife cutting into soft butter… once again she felt she had no right to be doing this, hurting people but it was they who’d attacked her. They were the ones who wanted to hurt her and for what? Why did they want her?

“We can’t protect you if you're out here.” King’s words echoed in her head and she was regretting having told him to leave her alone.

The bright flash made her wince as he burst into ash. The woman screeched but Dayne only stared at the pile by her feet.

‘That’s what happens when you stake ‘em or decapitate one.’

She hadn't wanted to believe it, to admit she’d seen one. That life wasn’t the way she’d thought and that some of those stories were based on fact.

‘Everything is based on fact.’

Her body tensed, her right arm lashed out and the blade pierced soft flesh but unlike before there was no papery dull butter knife feel. The sword pulled down and Dayne turned, her mouth dropped open with a horrified gasp watching as the woman’s hand gripped the blade protruding from her chest.

‘Oops.’

Blood slid down the shiny blades edge as she dropped to her knees. The weight dragged Dayne with her as he legs gave out. Her eyes latched onto the blonds face unable to look away even as blood began to spill out of the corner of her mouth as she gasped. The woman fell back sliding off the blade with a sickening wet squish, blood immediately began pooling under her as the light left the pale eyes.

“She’s not a vampire.” The phrase repeated over and over in her mind. Dayne had just murdered a human being, stuck a sword in her chest. “She’s not a vampire.”

Tears welled blurring everything, the sharp pain in her temples made her drop the sword as she reached to clutch at her head. Something wet trickled from her nose and wiping it saw blood staining her fingertips. Panic seized her making it difficult to breathe as her chest constricted. Why was she bleeding?

‘Get out! Get in your car, now!’ but she couldn’t begin to move, not when she’d just killed another human being.

‘More will come to find you! Get up and go!’ Dayne nodded not wanting to confront any others. Her fingers fumbled with the sword hastily getting up and going towards the Chevy when she turned back to pick up her portfolio and the scabbard. She dropped them in the trunk grabbing a rag to wipe the blade before setting it in the trunk. The rag she stuffed in a plastic bag before closing the trunk and heading around to the driver’s side. The Chevy started sounding overly loud in the parking garage but she pulled forward as calmly as possible.

Once on the street she took her usual route to the freeway and when she was in the midst of the flowing traffic the horror of what she’d done of what had happened began to play out in her mind again. She had blood on her hands, she killed a human being, she was a murdered, a killer, a criminal. Tears spilled down her cheeks which she quickly wiped away with a harsh hand. A sob escaped her throat and more tears spilled but she couldn’t stop, she had to get home, had to get clean, wash it all away, figure out what to d-.

‘Do? What do you mean do? They were vampires!’

“They weren’t! They weren’t vampires! She was a human being. A human and I- I killed her…” Dayne shook her head as if trying to deny what she knew she’d done. “Oh my God … I kille-.”

‘Oh, yeah. Well, I guess you're right but it’s not like she was completely human. She was his familiar, so don’t feel bad. She was practically a vampire.’

Dayne couldn’t help the hysterical laughter that tore from her throat. “This isn't happening.” She shook her head. “I have to call someone… I have to report this.”

‘And what are you going to say?’

“I- I ca- it was…self- defenc… They were going to kill me!” she gasped out as the knowledge of what might have happened to her finally sunk in. They could’ve turned her, made her into- in-. No, either way she would be dead.

‘They who? Who was going to kill you?’

“There- th- ma- vam…”

‘Just one body sweet heart and that’s all the police is going to see besides, she wasn’t walking around with a big shiny sword…’

Dayne could feel tears well again at the taunting voice, her voice. ‘Who’s going to believe you?’

Everything she came up with, each solution to her problem was torn up and thrown aside. There were so many unexplained factors that if she even tried to explain they’d label her insane. She would go to jail for murder or worse, she’d end up in a loony bin! Temoc… where did that leave him?

She knew Duque would take care of him but if Sra. Leonora found out… Dayne felt as if her head would explode with all the pressure that was accumulating. All the what if’s and things she’d left undone. How could she not have thought of drawing up a contingency plan for Temoc? If anything happened to her- what kind of Mother was she to leave him unprotected that way?

‘Nadie tiene la vida segura. Todo tiene su temporada, hija…’

Her Mother's last words echoed inside the car while tears kept rolling down her cheeks. When they asked her why she'd murdered an unarmed woman what would she say? Because they’d find out. Every one always got caught; it’s how it was meant to be and as for her excuse?

“I was defending myself against vampires and I thought she was one. Oops.” Yeah, that was a great excuse and all true.

‘Who's going to believe you?’

Who indeed…

Dayne realized she’d been driving on the wrong freeway for the past ten miles and getting off grabbed her cell. She scrolled through her list grumbling to herself. She knew who would believe her and having to swallow her pride was proving easier to do under the circumstances.

NS

King flipped the cell open with a smirk playing about his lips. He was curious about the call since she’d practically sworn never to call him when he handed over his digits.

“Twenty four hours, seven days a week. Extra cheese, extra sauce, pepperoni, anc-.”

On the other end Dayne cut into the teasing which would usually annoy her.

“I lied.” Those two words caught Hannibal off guard. He frowned, glancing around he checked to see if anyone was hiding somewhere… playing a trick? “Everything you said, all the stuff you told me… It’s true. I believe you. I know its real, all of it.”

King scowled down at the ground listening to her as the fear in her voice grew, an edge of panic, it made him head for the SUV, though she tried to cover it with her non-stop flow of words.

“You were right, I was wrong and I was scared not that I'm completely ok with the whole thing-.” that she was apologizing to him barely registered.

“Woa, woa are you ok?” King cut in slamming the driver side door closed and starting the engine. “Where are you?” he asked looking over his shoulder as he turned the SUV and pulled out of the hide out. He sped along the streets to get to the freeway.

“Wonderful really, nothing a little night work-out cant tak-.”

“Night?” King's voice dropped lower as the panic and fear in her voice began to make sense.

“Yes and I'm driving.” She snapped. There was a slight pause and King began to think she’d cut off then he heard her take a shuddering breath.

“What do you think happened?” Dayne felt anger rise up into her throat. “God!” she slammed her hand on the steering wheel and tried to cover the teary voice. “Why- I mean-. Fuck! Shit!” she slammed her hand again wincing at the pain and welcoming it as well.

“Listen,” King cut in gently, changing lanes in order to get to her house. He knew the way blind folded having been there plenty of times in the past two months for Zoë. “I need you to calm dow-.”

“Don’t.” Dayne yelled hating the tone of voice he was using. “I hate being told to calm down in a patronizing tone, as if what I'm feeling is just something that’s easily put aside until there’s a more convenient time to freak out! I can walk and chew gum while reading a fucking book! So don’t be telling me to calm down you patronizing prick!” there was plenty more she wanted to say but the heaving breaths made that impossible for the moment.

King could practically see her glaring at him. He wondered if she was doing that slight huffing pose as well or if her eyes had those dark green flecks shinning again.

“You forgot tall, dark and devastatingly gorgeous.” Maybe it wasn’t the best thing to say in such a situation. Silence reined for a long moment before her wavering laugh drifted through to his ear. He smiled relieved that she was able to see the humor. It meant she wasn’t totally gone or useless.

“Good, now that we’re done with pleasantries I'm heading out. Just stay on the line with me.” he wasn’t that far now, especially since he was pretty much breaking the speed limit and the carpool lane rules.

“You have a weird sense of humor.” Dayne replied much softer. He couldn’t disagree and it wasn’t the first time someone had told him that.

“What can I say? I'm one of a kind.” He shrugged though Dayne couldn’t see the annoyingly smug smile.

“I’ll say.” Dayne replied thankfully taking the distraction he provided. “You're parent’s must've broken the mold after they saw you.”

King frowned knowing there was an insult in there though her words could be taken either way except this was Dayne and she didn’t particularly have a soft spot for him. That bothered King.

“Unfortunately they weren’t that smart.”

“Dios mió.” Dayne’s voice held a soft note of taunting which he wasn’t about to ignore.

“Hey.” He’d been right to think she was insulting him but still, he couldn’t help the grin.

“Oh, come on. One of you is bad enough. How could they inflict more torture on the human race by repeating the first mistake?”

“I was planned!” King exclaimed.

“Well that’s even worse.”

“All right, all right, smart ass.” He was definitely the butt of her jokes but at least she wasn’t panicking. For the moment he was able to keep her from loosing it, so he was willing to take the insults.

“Nope.”

“No, what?” he asked confused. Had he missed part of the conversation?

“You got the wrong anatomy part. My brain is smart, not my ass.”

“See that’s my point.”

“No and what are you doing looking at my ass?” for a moment his mouth worked but no answer came. If he'd have kept doing that then he would have been better off than what ended up coming out of it.

“Oh- uh- I- was- are you almost there?”

“Are you? Why the change of subject?”

“Almost and I'm not changing the subject.”

“Sure.” The slightly bantering tone finally wore of and he could hear fear edge into her voice once more. The silence stretched as he took the next exit and had to wait at the red light. Dayne wasn’t far from her neighborhood though she still didn’t feel safe. They couldn’t say much on the phone, they didn’t even mention names, not that it made much difference. There were a million ways to interpret the call; especially for those blind to the world the NightStalkers lived in. Her worry was clear, her fear reasonable especially if she’d been attacked which he assumed is what had happened. They’d been expecting some kind of action especially since Karen warned them the vampires were going after any know human who’d been cured by the anti-virus she’d managed to engineer. King had just assumed the suckheads would come after him.

‘Oh really. That’s why you've been sneaking past her neighborhood when no one else is with you?’

Blade was tracking down those Karen knew about and some of the other cells were getting them to safe houses. There were going to be plenty of displaced people with new identities floating about in the world. As far as they knew the vampires wanted the survivors because of the varied side effects, especially anyone bitten after Daystar.

Karen had no side effects because she’d never been turned but King had been under the fang five years before he was cured. Dayne had been under almost two weeks but it was a new strain of vampirism and Faye had been sure there were other side effects besides the ones she was able to document.

How the vampires knew about Dayne… well, they’d caught the familiar who escaped the night she was bitten and thanks to Abby he didn’t have a chance to find out who the familiar was working for since he’d fallen ten stories. By the time the NightStalkers made it to the ground the familiar had been flattened out on the pavement.

“Everything’s going to be fine.” He murmured trying to reassure her.

“Uh-huh.” She replied automatically.

“I won't let anything happen.” He said in a stronger voice, willing her to believe he'd do his best to keep her and her family safe. She might give him a hard time, annoy him to no end, make him regret ever saving her life at least once every time they saw each other but right then he was done lying to himself. Hannibal King had a soft spot for Dayne DeVega. She was a strong woman, stubborn but he'd seen her, the way she loved those close to her. Temoc, her brother and now even Zoë found some warmth. The kind you only got from a Mom even if it wasn’t her own. Dayne treated Zoë as part of her family, behaved with the little girl as she did with Temoc and Zoë couldn’t stop talking about Dayne after the last sleep over. All the girly things King could care less about but made Zoë happy. Of course Abby found excuses not to let it happen again.

“I believe you.” Her soft voice washed over him. There was trust in her answer. King didn’t know what to say but thankfully he was only a block away from her house, from her and he found himself wanting to be part of those she loved.

NS

“I'm here.” Dayne pulled into her drive way. There was a minute flash on her left before she drove to the back of the house and into the garage.

“I see you.” King replied and a minute later he pulled into her drive way as well. The line went dead as soon as the words were out of his mouth. He turned right parking along side the back porch where the black SUV was out of sight. Dayne walked out of the garage arms laden with the contents of her trunk. He slipped out of the SUV with ease and as soon as Dayne saw him stride towards her; tall, strong, capable... she couldn’t help the droop in her shoulders or the sob that escaped her. Tears welled again blurring her vision though she tried to blink them away.

King noticed and hurried forward, hating to see her cry. He hated to see any woman cry. It just- he felt… awful, guilty as if he were to blame in some inexplicable way. Everything fell out of her hands. He watched her drop to her knees scrambling to pick up all the sheets and King had an inkling of what they were. He wondered what she’d been drawing as he knelt beside her and gathered everything he could. Dayne took the sheets stuffing them in the portfolio, this time making sure she zipped up the sides and reached for her purse. She saw his finger close around the Katana, the blade reflecting the moonlight. His free hand picked up the scabbard even as her eyes locked on the plastic bag with the bloody rag. She didn’t know how long she knelt there just staring while silent tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Come on.” King's voice, soft and comforting coupled with his gentle touch as he helped her up broke the trance. He helped carry her things and when her hand shook so bad she couldn’t fit the key into the lock he took it from her and opened the back door. She stopped in the middle of the kitchen, glazed eyes drifting over the familiar room and suddenly she was talking.

“That arch wasn’t there before.” Dayne pointed to the wall with a decorated archway which led into the hall going to the front door. Her voice came out in short choppy sentences that made no sense. King frowned at the out of place comment and set her things on the kitchen table and took Dayne by her shoulders. He turned her until she faced him, even bent so his face was the only thing Dayne could see.

“Where’s the kid?” he asked getting her to focus on him. She didn’t reply so he gently shook and asked again. She seemed to come alive then.

“Duque!” she exclaimed clutching at his arms in a panic. “He- my brother- took him- they went camping for the weekend. Oh my God!” Her eyes went wide. “Hannibal-!”

“Woa, calm dow-. Just hold on.” He amended. King couldn’t blame her, those two where the only family she had. “When did they leave?” he tried to keep his voice even, never breaking eye contact with her. One hand cupping her face, his fingers twining in the loose waves.

“Yest- err, last night. He-he said they were meeting with a couple other guys before heading up. Duque took Temoc and there was another guy, uhh…” her brow furrowed in exasperation but remembering the guys name wasn’t important and she knew it. “God! I can’t think of his name!”

Worry was making her incoherent so it was up to him to keep Dayne on track.

“Does he have a phone?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed. “Que pendeja, como no pensé…” Dayne railed. King decided to go for some levity since it had worked before …

“Uh-huh, you know I don’t understand what you just said.”

“Perdón, sorry! Just-.” Dayne didn’t catch the implied levity instead took her cell phone and dialed.

King sighed watching the as the petite brunette chewed her lower lop waiting for her brother to answer. She paced, three steps to the door and three back to him.

“Be calm.” She looked over at him brow furrowed. “When he answers.” He explained. “Be calm…” he trailed off as she nodded. Her eyes widened and she turned away from him. All King could make out of the one sided conversation where names, si meant yes and no well, even an idiot knew that one. He could tell when she spoke to the kid because her tone was calmer as she re-assured him. He hoped she was telling him to be careful. When she hung up he walked to her side and gently sat her at the table taking a chair beside her and turning it so they were face to face. He didn’t let go of her hand as he leaned towards her.

“Now tell me what happened?”

NS