Saxon and I were working on our third plate of nachos drenched in beautiful, orange, fake cheese sauce and topped with a mountain of jalapenos while we gossiped like a couple of teenagers. Each bite was pure heaven in my mouth, or was. To be honest, the jalapenos were so hot, I really couldn't feel my tongue anymore, and my teeth were pretty much numb at this point. Luckily, there was an endless supply of Diet Coke on tap to help relieve the pain, and chase down the half-ton of sodium and yellow number six I was consuming like it was my last meal. But thanks to my new found vamp status, I no longer had to worry about the amount of toxins I was happily dumping into my system. Not that I ever really did. The government may have forced me to have health insurance, but they could never force me to respect my body. Besides, I figured if I was going to have to pay for the stuff, I might as well make my doctor earn his money.
For the most part, Saxon was pretty easy going and fun to talk to. I mean, the man actually mourned the loss of the McDonald's McDLT. How can you not respect a guy like that? But he had one major default. He was an ice-chomper. In-between his slurping and munching was a non-stop chomp-chomp-crunch-crunch cacophony that made my eye start to twitch. Seriously, the sound waves emanating from his mouth from the constant grinding of ice was beginning to damage my brain cells. The only time the annoying noise stopped was when he was talking, and I suddenly came up with the perfect plan to keep his lips moving and his gnawing on ice silenced.
"Tell me more about immortals," I said loudly over the crushing of the iceberg he had just dropped into his jaw.
Crunch-crunch-squeak-slurp-chomp-chomp. I think I just lost my ability to do addition, I thought as the annoying sound rattled through my head.
"What do you want to know?" he finally asked as he swallowed.
"How are they made? I know they drink the blood of a vampire, but how does that work exactly?"
That question made him narrow those mesmerizing oceanic eyes at me. "I am sure Drake has told you that creating immortals has been outlawed for centuries, and the turning of one will result in an instant death sentence for any vampire caught breaking the law...including the Queen."
There's that word again, and I cringed, my face burning hotly. "Yeah...yeah...I get it. No turning humans into immortals." Sheesh...these vamps were like broken records. "I just wanted the gist of it," I said moodily. Picking up a chip, I scooped up an enormous amount of cheesy goo, and popped it in my mouth.
After hesitating for a moment, he leaned in, and crossed his well-muscled arms on the counter. "It's fairly simple. A vampire bites down on a major vein, usually the jugular, and drains most of the blood of whomever they've decided to take on as an immortal. It's important not to go too far or their heart will stop. You have to find that sweet spot right before that happens by listening for the sluggish sloshing of the heart. It makes a low swish-swish sound, sort of like if you were plunging a toilet in slow-motion. Then the fun part begins." His eyes grew large with excitement while my stomach started to do lazy somersaults.
"The body becomes really cold and twitchy, turning a bluish-grey tinge. When that happens, you know you are in the right range. Once they are minutes away from death, you quickly bite or slice your own vein, and feed them your blood. You have to pick a real good gusher because at this point, if you fart around too much they'll up and die on you. Most pick their wrists. You slice that sucker open like you are committing suicide, and make sure you hit an artery." Taking his finger, he made a cutting motion down the inside of his wrist. "Just remember, cut down the street not across the road. They're a little limp and unwieldy, so you have to make sure you tip their head back so the blood can flow down their throats easily." Plucking off one of the jalapenos, he stuffed it in his mouth, licking the leftover cheese sauce off his fingers one by one.
It should have been a fairly sexy thing to enjoy watching. Though he didn't make my blood sing like Fang, Saxon was the epitome of hotness. His long tongue snuck out of his full lips, and lapped seductively across his fingers. But given the current topic, my stomach was twisting and churning in repulsion. I didn't have time to enjoy the view, I was too busy working double time to keep from erupting a steady stream of soda and nacho cheese all over the place. Er-mah-gerd! These vamps were gross. The visuals alone kept me hurping, but the way he just casually described it like he was showing someone how to make toast was downright disturbing. I had learned another valuable lesson, careful what you ask for, especially when it comes to vampires.
"Poor Bubbles," I mumbled behind my hand as an acid burp burned up my throat.
"Bubbles? Who's Bubbles?"
I rolled my eyes and leaned heavily against the counter, shoving the nachos out of my visual range having recently lost my appetite thanks to all his grody descriptions for probably the next ten years. "Courtanya," I grumbled.
"Oh, yeah." He grimaced, shooting me a sheepish smile. "You really stirred up the shit pot around here by showing up with her in tow."
My lips quirked in an unamused smirk. "I got the general idea of that from Sinclair, thank you very much." Saxon shrugged his shoulders and started to raise his glass to dump more cubes into his gaping maw, and I quickly reached up to stop him. If he continued with his incessant chomping, I may lose more brain functionality than I could afford. "What I don't understand is why everyone around here is so afraid of her. I mean, seriously, you'd think I brought Typhoid Mary home for Thanksgiving."
Saxon threw his head back and laughed. "Now there's a trip down memory lane," he said shaking his head in amusement. "I knew her, she was a real spitfire before she went schizo. Luckily, the humans back then were rather easy to manipulate, and accepted the cover story we created after she went on a bad binge."
"What are you talking about?" The fact he actually knew Typhoid Mary didn't shock me as much as it should have, which meant...I was growing accustomed to all this weirdness I found myself plopped in the middle of. Even though I was getting used to stuff, I still had to wonder why I always seemed to attract the weirdos. It didn't matter where I was, they came to me like I was a homing beacon. I could be sitting in a half empty room minding my own business, and the one person who believes they are a fairy, carrying around a feather duster as a wand, decides they need to sit right next to me. Then again, I was the one now who was surrounded by what was supposed to be mythical creatures. Not only was I encircled by them, but I was one mattress mambo from becoming their Queen. Drat! I had become one of the weird people!
On the other side of the counter Saxon rattled his cup, snapping my attention to him. "Mary Mallon, aka Typhoid Mary, didn't actually have typhoid. Vampires can't carry human diseases, and..." he made a sad little face, "she would have been far more welcomed at the holiday table than your immortal ever will be."
"Typhoid Mary was a vampire?" I almost swallowed my tongue in shock. Holy Moses on a pogo stick! They never taught you that shit in history class.
His blond hair bobbed as he nodded his head, and polished off the rest of the nachos. "It's true. The Elders had a hell of a time covering that one up, but, fortunately, humans were a lot more gullible back then. Not like now. These days, everyone thinks they are a fucking paparazzi. If something like that happened in this day and age," he shuddered, "it'd be on YouTube before you could whistle Dixie."
"All those people who died," I gulped, "she...killed them?"
Saxon sighed, brushing his bangs out of his eyes so he could level me with one of those pitiful looks you reserve for children when you have to tell them their goldfish floating in the bowl isn't really sleeping.
"There are good and bad in all people and species, Mel. Just as there are bad humans who do despicable things, there are also bad vampires. Back then, we were forced to depend on the human populace for our needs." When I simply kept blinking back at him, he explained further. "Our...ahem...nutritional needs. And some, like Mary, would get carried away with their blood lust and the thrill of it all."
"Oh," I gulped. Those nachos were once again marching their way back up my throat as the memory of what I had done to poor Mr. Tinkles flashed through my mind. "How...how do you get your...um...needs now?"
Reaching out, he patted my hand reassuringly. "Those of us who aren't lucky enough to have mates, use blood banks. The invention of those suckers were the greatest thing since sliced bread to the Vampyre communities. Each commune of vampires own several to supply their people. Most of us get our blood that way."
"Most of you?" I squeaked out, swallowing hard. I don't know what freaked me out more. My head was spinning at the thought of dark cloaked creatures of the night swooping down, and biting the necks of hapless victims. But I was equally repulsed by the idea of walking into a blood bank, and ordering two serving of O negative like some kind of fast food joint. Maybe I didn't have as good of grip on all this weirdness like I had previously thought.
Now it was Saxon's turn to cringe, his ears turning bright pink. "There are some, older vampires who refuse to give up the old ways mostly, that believe it's their right to still hunt humans." He lifted his cup and dumped the rest of his ice in, grinding away a little more of my sanity. "That's where we come in," he said after he slurped back the mouthful of slush. "As members of the Guard, it's one of our jobs to protect both Vampyre and humans. We keep the peace between the two, and patrol those who refuse to accept the use of blood banks from stepping out of line."
"You mean you still allow them to hunt?" And here PETA thought they had problems.
"Well, yeah. It's frowned upon, but it's not against the law or anything." His lips twitched as if he was trying hard not to smile. "If any hunter becomes a problem, we step in. Part of our job description is to keep the human population from knowing about our existence, and that's a little hard to do if there are dead bodies piling up everywhere." He frowned into his empty cup. "At least that's what we used to do. Now, things are far more serious."
"Because of me," I groused. He didn't come out and say it, but I didn't need a big neon arrow pointing at my head to know what or who he was referring to. Besides, Sinclair had already done a pretty good job of playing the blame game, and I was crystal clear on who he was pinning it on.
"Yes...and no." Saxon sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. I could tell he was getting uncomfortable. "Stoker has been causing problems for a lot of years, something like this was bound to happen." His lips curled up into a little smirk. "There has been a disturbance in the force for a long time, it's not just you." He shoved his elbow good naturally into my ribs.
"The force?" I rolled my eyes to the ceiling. "Really? Everybody blames me for the downfall of the vampire empire, not to mention a high percentage of them want to see me dead, and you're going with a Star Wars reference?"
A full grin stretched across his face, revealing a small peek of his long canines. "I thought I would lighten things up a bit. You were starting to look really pale."
I returned his jab with an overly affectionate punch in the arm that sent him tumbling off his seat. I would have apologized for it, but...yeah...it felt too good, and I wasn't all that sorry. "Thanks a lot Saxon, but I'm always pale. It's part of the charm of being a redhead." I tossed my mane of red curls over my shoulder, and glared at him. "Besides, I'm sick of everyone keeping me in the dark or being all uber mysterious in their responses to my questions. If I'm going to be a vampire, I need to learn this stuff." No matter how much it made me want to toss up my cookies or in this case...nachos...I thought to myself.
"It's a little late for ifs, Mel. Once a vampire, always a vampire. You might have become one in an unconventional sort of way, but, for better or worse, you are the Vampyre Queen," he said, giving me a little wink.
I coughed, turning my head away from him so he wouldn't be able to read my not-in-this-lifetime-bucko expression. "Back to minions...or...urm...immortals. You never explained why everyone is so spooked about Courtanya being here?"
"Because she's Druilla's immortal. She belongs to her."
"But Cruilla doesn't want her anymore, so that makes her like...adoptable, right?"
Saxon snickered. I wasn't sure if it was at my nickname for the crazy bitch or my question that he found so amusing.
"Hardly. An immortal is forever bound to whoever creates them, and are fiercely loyal to only them, and their family. If their master or mistress no longer has a need or aren't around anymore, then they become property of any remaining heirs."
"So, other family members inherit them like pieces of crappy china?"
"You certainly have an interesting way of looking at things."
"What can I say? I march to my own glockenspiel," I snapped, thrumming my fingers against the counter as my anger began to flare to life. "What about Courtanya? Druilla doesn't want her anymore and threatened to kill her, so does that mean one of her dysfunctional family members inherits her?" My mind already began scheming on how to prevent that from happening.
"Druilla doesn't have any family. If she indeed wants her dead, then that is her choice. She created Courtanya, and the decision remains hers alone to make. Look, Mel, I know all this is hard to understand, but really, it's better if Druilla gets her back than allowing the immortal to become a rogue."
"What! How can that be better? Did your brain take a laxative, because there's a lot of crap coming out of your mouth right now, Saxon."
"Mel, if an immortal loses whomever they are bound to, they don't have a reason to live anyway, and you know they usually...end it before someone else has to." He made a slicing motion across his throat.
"That's just insane!" I cried, throwing my hands up in the air. "If an immortal doesn't have some vamp's ass to kiss, they're expected to just off themselves?"
Saxon raised an unconcerned shoulder. "That's the way it has always been. But since she's been hanging out with you and hasn't shown any sign of disposing herself, she's considered rogue and highly dangerous." He leveled those blue peepers at me, and I wanted to poke them out with a sharp stick. "For everyone."
"That's seriously stupid," I scoffed. Sure, Courtanya had a murderous streak in her a mile long, but since I was still standing and breathing, I had to believe her heart really wasn't in it. Besides, I had seen for myself Bubbles attack her former mistress, and those weren't some love taps she was bashing her over the head with. Those were strikes of one pissed off woman, not some distraught simpering servant wanting to commit suicide. I had to believe, deep down...like really deep, deep down...Bubbles was happy to be free of Druilla, and kind of sort of liked me. Maybe...a little teeny tiny miniscule bit. "What could she possibly do?" I asked with a snort over my shoulder as I went to go refill my soda. Yes, I was on Diet Coke number five, don't judge me. I was stressed. Not only was I still worried about Fang being out in the field, and what the hell was happening inside me causing my lady parts to scream for him, but now I had to worry about my minion either killing herself or becoming rogue and going bat shit crazy. Add that on top of being worried someone might murder yours truly, I had every reason to be troubled. Basically, at this point, they were damn lucky I didn't lay across the machine, and let the stuff flow straight into my mouth.
"What could she do? I think the proper question is what she won't do," Saxon said. "Don't underestimate her, Mel. Immortals may seem to be harmless, and for the most part, they are. But, when it comes to protecting their masters, they can be extremely lethal. Immortals spend centuries at the side of their master's gathering information and learning skills, they're very observant. Most are as efficient as their master's when it comes to whatever skill set their masters are proficient in. And beings we are talking about Courtanya here," he shook his head gravely, "I wouldn't put anything past her or take her abilities for granted."
"Why? What's so different about her?" I asked over the noise of the ice cascading into my cup.
Saxon rolled his eyes in annoyance. "You mean besides the fact she's Druilla's immortal?" he scoffed. "As if that isn't bad enough, she's always been extremely independent for an immortal, and never truly acted like one. Druilla found her obstinacy amusing, but we have always thought there might have been a problem with her transformation. Nicolai was vehemently opposed to allowing Druilla to keep her, and thought she should have been destroyed."
I whipped around to face him. "And what about everyone else?" My temper was beginning to roll into a burning simmer. What was with these vamps, and their sick obsession to destroy anything they found different?
Saxon tossed his hair out of his eyes, raising his brow into a maddening arch. "Everyone agreed. Druilla was the only one who opposed his order. We think she liked Courtanya being an anomaly, and swore on her life she would control her. And she has, until now." He stood up and stretched. With a few easy, silent strides, he threw his empty cup into the trash, and my shoulders sagged in relief I wouldn't have to listen to anymore crushing of ice. "I'm sorry, Mel, but you won't find anyone here who will sympathize with you on this. Everyone considers her a menace, including me."
I gritted my teeth to the point they almost cracked. I desperately wanted to snap something nasty back at him, but I closed it without saying anything. I might not think too highly of his opinions and blasé reaction to just tossing a living being to the side like a piece of trash, but I was also new to this whole vampire business. Since Saxon seemed to be the only other vampire in this compound who didn't give me the willies, didn't want to eat me, and didn't want to sleep with me...it behooved me to mind my P's and Q's on this one.
"And Drake? What does he say?" I asked, careful to keep my tone light and appearing unconcerned.
"I can't speak for him on what he thinks ought to be done with the immortal, but he did threaten death to whomever touched her without his consent."
"Oh." That bit of information surprised me. I was totally prepared to hate his sexy ass, and I was at a loss on how to respond. It didn't happen often, but yeah, I was utterly speechless. Mark it on your calendars people, Melanie Wagner didn't have a damn thing to say, and that kind of shit didn't happen very often.
Author's Note:
Hello my FANGED Fiends!
Mel speechless? That's got to be up there with one of the seven wonders of the world. Now, both Mel and Courtanya seem to be in the same boat. Will they sail off together or will they go down like the Titanic? Stay tuned to find out...
I know this installment has been a long time coming, but at least it's finally here. I do apologize for the delay. Things in my life have been in a constant state of upheaval lately. But, I'm managing to pull myself together and get back into the swing of things.
I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter of FANGED and if you enjoyed it, you will consider giving it a vote. I love hearing from you, and comments are always welcomed. If you don't see any updates here, feel free to check out my other works Bending Steal, When Roses Collide and Steal You Away.
Now...as for the update schedule. As you know, the holidays are fast approaching. And despite loving to write for y'all, I also love all the holiday celebrations and festivities. The stuffing of the turkey, decorating the tree, being together with family and friends...the whole shebang makes my little heart giggle with delight. So, here's the deal. I will try to update as often as I possibly can! I won't make any promises though, and I hope you understand.
But...hang in there, we will get through this holiday season together and eventually, life will resume as it always has.
Thank you for reading!
Sincerely,
K
Ps...for all of you who voted for this story to win a Watty, thank you so much for your love of this book. We didn't get it this year, but hey...there's always next time. ;)