Vicious (7 page)

“He has seen us. He knows what we are. You have to kill him anyway,” Lea snarled, practically spitting between her words.

Anna just stared at her, motionless.

“Protecting your pet again?”

Anna was protecting me and wouldn’t be moved. “I need your help, Lea.” She said the words one more time with more pain in her voice than the first time.

Lea growled and hissed violently at her. Anna didn’t react at all, but I could see her muscles tense, ready for whatever was next. Suddenly, Lea stood up and ran away from us towards the nearest wall. Before we could do or say anything, she crouched really low and sprang into the air. The height that she was able to achieve in that jump was insane, and I kept waiting for her to come back down.

I managed to stand up and look around, afraid she would end up behind me, but she never made it back to earth. Anna looked up, and I followed her gaze to watch a shadowy figure run and leap over the rooftops above us. Lea had managed to jump from a still position to the top of the roof in one leap. She was now successfully making her escape while Mardi Gras raged on below her.

Anna sighed and let her shoulders slump as she relaxed her muscles. She turned around to me, and I saw the black in her eyes retreat instantly, leaving only the blue and purple that I had known before. She reached for my neck, and I flinched in response.

“Oh, please. If I wanted you dead, I would have let her do it.”

She said this so matter-of-factly that it played the tune of a normal sentence. I looked for her fangs as she spoke to see if they were still there, but I saw no trace of them. I relaxed as she examined my neck. She put her hand to my forehead like a doctor, and I staggered a little from the pressure. For the first time, I realized how tired and dizzy I was. She examined my face.

“What is happening?” I asked.

Delirium was settling into my spinning head.

“You mean with us? What does it look like?”

There was that nonchalant tone again. I staggered a little, caught her shoulder and tried to talk again.

“What are you? What is she? What’s going on?”

I started to fall backwards, but she caught me effortlessly and pulled me back to my feet. She began to drag me towards the back door of the bar as though I weighed the same as a small child.

“Easy there. She took more from you than I thought. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“What?”

My head was starting to spin again, and by the time we reached the door, she was practically carrying me. She unlocked the door, opened it and carried me inside after she had checked to make sure that no bar staff was in sight.

We found a decent-sized employee bathroom just down the dark hallway, and she plopped me down on the dirty floor. With a quick click, I heard her lock the door behind us. Even the terrible fluorescent lights couldn’t take anything away from her beauty, and I stared at her, dizzy and confused as she examined a few red spots on her face where Lea’s fist had made contact.

“Does it hurt?” I muttered.

“Not really, and these will be gone by the time we leave here. A little make up will cover it for now, but you, dear Grant, need some help.”

My gaze wandered up to meet hers as I held my hand to my neck. It seemed like my mouth might be hanging open, but I couldn’t be sure. I was certain I would pass out at any moment.

“No, no, no. Come on now, I need you to stay awake for me a little longer.”

She squatted down in front of me and propped me up against the bathroom wall. She took some wetted paper towels and held them against my neck. They felt cool, and the sensation woke me up a little. I looked at her as she used some more wet paper towels to clean the blood off of my hands and neck.

“Are you feeling a little better now?”

“Yes. Are you going to kill me?”

Anna stopped what she was doing to look me in the eyes. I was woozy, and I knew the question sounded strange, but it was a strange evening. I figured I was allowed a few crazy questions.

“I’m not going to kill you.”

“Who was that?”

“That was Lea.”

“What is happening? Why did she attack me?”

“That is my fault and just bad timing on your part. I was following her because I needed to talk to her, but I knew that I couldn’t confront her in a crowd. I was watching her from afar, trying to think how I could get her alone, when you came up to me. I tried to leave when you turned around so that she might not see you, but it was too late. She saw you, and I knew what she planned to do, so I followed you two outside. I just wish I had gotten there sooner.”

“So…I was your…bait?”

“You were my unintentional bait. I didn’t mean for this to happen. She saw you talking to me and just couldn’t stand it.”

“Why?”

“That’s a story for another time. Right now, we need to get you somewhere safe and away from here. I assume you are here with those guys?”

“Guys?”

“The dumb drunk ones with the tall leader?”

The thought of Eric and the guys flashed into my brain for the first time since I had followed Lea out into the alley. They were probably wondering what had happened to me. I suddenly hoped they were too drunk to remember they had a friend named Grant at all.

“Uh, yes. What do I do about them?”

“That’s easy. Hand me your phone and bring up one of their phone numbers.”

I did as I was told, too weak to do otherwise, and she began writing a text to Eric on my behalf.

Don’t wait up. Going back with blond to her hotel room. Tell you all about it tomorrow.

It was full proof. I had to give her that. No way would the guys try to interfere after reading that message. A man never denied another man a night with a hot girl. She pressed the send button, and I wondered if that text had just sealed my doom.

“Okay, hold still while I get some more paper towels.”

I sat there while she pressed new paper towels against my neck delicately as I flinched. Next, she unwrapped her scarf from around her neck and wound it carefully around mine, which both held the towels on my wound and masked the injury. She stood me up and positioned me in front of the mirror, and I held onto the sink for some much needed stability and balance.

When I looked into the mirror, I saw a ghost of myself. My dark hair was all disheveled, my green eyes looked almost yellow, and my skin was almost as pale as Anna’s. I was shocked but said nothing to her as she ordered me to wash my hands and face with cold water.

I did as I was told groggily while she applied some powder to the red spots that were slowly disappearing on her face. This was all so surreal and strange. What was happening? Why was I obeying her? Suddenly, I recalled what Lea had said about how she would have to kill me anyway since I had seen what they were. Seen what? What were they? I got the feeling I should run out of this bathroom and back to my friends immediately, but I was too weak, and my feet refused to move. I gazed at her in the mirror, terrified.

“All right. I think that will do it.”

She put her hands on my arms and turned me to face her. I looked into her beautiful face as she inspected my appearance. I loosened a little as I remembered the scene only moments ago where she’d stood in between me and certain death. If she wanted to kill me, she would have let Lea do it.

“Now listen to me, Grant. I know you are hurt and very weak right now, but we have to get you out of here and to a safe place.”

I groaned at the thought of the hoard of people outside.

“I know, but I have a way. Just think drunk. Okay? Not hurt, just drunk. Act drunk for me. Stumble if you must, but remember that you are drunk. You are just another drunk guy going home with a girl after drinking too much. Do you understand?”

She spoke to me like a child, but I did understand, and it might just work. My stumbling and rolling eyes could easily be interpreted as drunk. I nodded my head.

“Good. Now remember, smile, laugh and act drunk. Come on.”

She pulled me out of the bathroom, and the music got louder and louder as we made our way toward the main bar area. We reached the bar and I was both blinded by the lights and overwhelmed by the amount of people. The bar had swelled to maximum capacity in the time we’d been gone, and it seemed almost wet and alive with the humidity of so many bodies. Anna began laughing a silly, tinkling laugh as she pulled me through the crowd, and I tried to stumble along with her smiling goofily whenever she did. She moved so fast and was so agile she had maneuvered us in and out of the bar’s crowd quicker than I had expected possible. Maybe this would be quick.

As she practically carried me out the door and into the street, I managed to spot my friends leaning again the stone wall of the bar. They saw me when I saw them, and part of me wanted to call out to them for help, but Anna quickly grabbed my face and locked her lips on mine. I was distracted to say the least, and I felt suddenly euphoric kissing this strange girl who may or may not kill me tonight.

The lack of blood made me loopy, and I kissed her back with little thought. Anna pulled away with a large grin on her face and trotted forward a few feet holding the tail of her scarf in her hands. She tugged on it a little in a flirty way like I was a dog on a leash, and I stumbled after her like a good drunk dog should with a big smile stretching from ear to ear. I caught a glimpse of the guys before we ducked into the street crowd, and I saw Eric waving a phone at me with a sly grin on his face while Reggie vomited just a foot away from Kyle’s feet. Obviously, Eric had gotten my text. My fate was sealed, one way or another.

She continued to pull me through crowds, practically carrying me at times, and I tried to help whenever I could. My strength was waning fast. I was very grateful for how fast and strong she was. We weaved through the crowd and dodged the cops whenever we saw them, all the while trying to keep our drunken personas. I could tell her patience with it was wearing just as thin as mine. She smelled like roses and blood.

Finally, we broke out of the last of the mobs and ventured down one of the side streets of the French Quarter. She kept cutting across alleys and through side streets until we were the only people out and it was dark and quiet. The buildings changed from bars and restaurants to homes and local grocers.

“How much farther?”

“Not much. The hotel is just around this corner.”

“What about a hospital?”

“Hospitals ask questions that I can’t answer.”

“You think they won’t be booked up for Mardi Gras?”

“There’s always a room at this hotel for me. Just trust me.”

I looked at her for a moment as we made our way around the corner, and our destination became clear when I peered down the rows of old buildings to spot a red neon sign that read
The Waiting Room
. She carried me over to the red front door and set me down on the street just to the right of it. She bent down and met my eyes, examining my condition carefully.

“Are you okay?”

“What is all this?”

“You are going to be okay. We’ll get you some rest in a minute, but you need to wait out here first while I talk to the owner.”

“No, I mean, what is going on? What are you? What is all of this?”

Anna looked at me thoughtfully for a moment. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she spoke again.

“What do you think it is?”

“Some really bad vampire movie?”

She laughed out loud at the comment, but I wasn’t entirely kidding. Everything tonight seemed like it came out of a movie, and with how dizzy and weak I felt, who knew what was real anymore. Surely Dracula would make an appearance any moment and she would bow to her prince of darkness and offer me as a midnight snack. When she managed to stop laughing, she held my face in her hands. They sure didn’t feel cold like a vampire’s should, and I blushed at the intimate contact.

“Yes, it is something like a bad vampire movie.”

The answer should have been shocking, but I was too weak to be shocked. She began to walk up the steps to the red door when I called out to her.

“Anna, wait. Does this mean you are going to kill me and drink my blood like Lea was trying to?”

The question came out weak and indifferent, and I suppose if I were sober and heard someone ask me that, I would have laughed. However, I was serious and frightened, and given my current condition, I couldn’t count on my own judgment to deliver me from my own confusion. Even though it was not funny to me at all, Anna laughed out loud again.

“No, Grant. You are perfectly safe. I don’t do that anymore.”

I heard her open the door, and a little bell dinged inside as she waltzed gracefully across the threshold. All became quiet then except for the muffled murmurs of the voices inside. She had left me to sit alone on the street to consider the full gravity of a simple, innocent word like
anymore
.

Chapter Nine

Lea

I ran fast across the rooftop even though everything in my body screamed for me to go back and finish off what I’d started with Anna’s pet boy. I had not fed enough, and the smell of his blood had corrupted my judgment. That was the only way Anna could have gotten the upper hand on me.