Elegant Death

Book Two

The Vampires of Rock and Roll Series

By M.L. Bullock

Text copyright © 2020 M.L. Bullock

All rights reserved

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o’er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

She Walks in Beauty

Lord Byron,1814

Dedication

To all the little rockers.

Chapter One--The Creep

1978

Another concert, another hunt. The crashing of drums and screeching of guitars made my hunting all the sweeter. The heartbeats of mortals were as predictable as those of cornered rabbits. They thumped and banged all around me making their own concerto. Their living bodies responded to vibrations, to sound rather instinctually, and without any consciousness of such activity. They had no consciousness about the workings of their own hearts--or their souls for that matter. What did I know of souls?

I lost mine long ago on the shores of an island lost to time.

Nothing changed much in the human world, I observed sourly, as I watched one male stroke the arm of an interested female--unbeknownst to his current mate. Mortals were always reaching, grasping, taking. Not much better than grunting primates, to my mind. They assumed their own superiority not realizing that they were the weakest of creatures. Humans continue to covet their neighbor’s wives and feasted regularly upon their unholy thoughts and went about like worker bees as if their lives mattered. Humans were bees with no queen to reward them for their toil.

Ah, but I had a queen.

Loved and hated. Revered and reviled. Queens could be all those things although I dare not express any of those emotions. Dared not even think her name for that would assuredly spark her interest and I was too sour of a mood to draw attention to myself. She could hear my thoughts, as I could sometimes hear hers. That is our fatal flaw I think. We live forever but our thoughts are never our own. Someone was always listening.

Oh, but it wouldn’t pay for Queen Alice to hear me now. The queen did enjoy her mortal lovers and she had many. At least she was more selective these past few centuries and for good reason. Queen Alice had her throat cut. By Emerus, her choice of consort before this one. But his blade had not severed the queen’s head. She’d come back with a bloody vengeance.

And after? Oh, it had been a time bathed in blood. Almost as bloody as Hungary during her brief rein. Hungary would never forget Countess Bathory. No, not quite that bad. I had been there too, still young in my immortality, young in my naivety. I believed her promises in the beginning, that Alice would raise me up to rule at her right hand but we had our moment in the sun.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of that phrase.

Fog machines noisily forced synthetic smoke out of their black tubes as the band’s music took on even darker tones. How I loved this age and the music of lust and anger. We were building a kingdom, the queen reminded me recently. And upon this angry worship we would build wide and deep. The Frenzied will be the masters of this age!

A kingdom built on music and worship and everything we need to rule, Nikolai. 

Nikolai...

A name I rarely heard anymore save coming from her wine-colored lips.

I preferred the name of my choosing--the Creep. Let me have no mortal name. I smiled at the cavorting young females; they did love their new king, even though they did not know of his new royal status. They chanted, “Rex! Rex! We want Rex!” This was the part of the show where the band pretended to be finished but they were merely toying with the screaming young people. The band gathered off stage to smoke their choice drugs, to consume alcohol or blood while they waited for the cries to reach epic proportions. It was dark in here now, oh so dark. The lights were dimmed and I felt alive. So very alive! What rich irony! I smiled at that thought and remembered to keep my eyes cast down or else they would flicker. They would sparkle with excitement. The lights would pop back on any moment to signify the continuation of the performance.

Rex! Rex! Bring us Rex Teaser!

They wanted him--demanded him. No, there had been nothing like this in previous centuries.

Alice, Alice.

I thought her name as hunger for her rose within me. Not merely in my groin but also in my slow, thumping heart. Oh yes, I still had a heart. But it was only for my queen. Queen Alice, as she was known now among the Frenzied, was here tonight to enjoy the festivities. How she loved to dip her pale toes in the tempting waters of the mortal world. 

I sometimes wondered if she secretly hoped to recapture her lost humanity. Perish the thought, I mused as I stepped over a sleeping partier. I growled at him and did not bother hiding my sharp teeth. The inebriated man would be crushed by the throng if someone did not move him. I would like to see that.

Queen Alice, you are brilliant, my royal one. Look at this. I could drink him now and no one would know or notice.

She did not answer but I sensed her annoyance with me. When I first met the queen, I thought her another statue. Like the blue marble statue perched in the inlet of my homeland. She stood next to it and the sight of her surprised me. Yes, a statue except her long dark hair blew in the sea breeze. There were no stars that night. Only fog rolling in off the sea. She had taken me without much fight, but I did not die. She drained me and left me abandoned on the shore, but I resisted Death.

As it turned out, I was not merely a mortal, a source of warm blood for the Frenzied of whom I knew nothing then. Later I would understand that I was no Sustainer either. I was something else altogether.

Yes. Something else altogether. And that is why I should be king!

I was strong and I sought her out easily after my rising. Her blood, the tiny amount she had deposited in me as she sucked me dry made me immortal.

Forever living, forever hungry.

Forever needing her.

I knew from the beginning that it was a rare privilege to be made by someone as strong as the Queen of the Frenzied!

She had given me the gift of eternal life. But it was up to me to avoid being stabbed, burnt, or otherwise vanquished by one of these crafty humans. What a funny word. Hu-man.

Thump, thump, thump.

The drums tapped threateningly and the audience cried out for more. Oh, the band would come back; they always did. Of course, they would. Taking an encore was nothing new but it always amused me. The enraptured audience screamed with delight as the drums tapped harder. The bass guitarist strummed a few ominous notes. A red light flicked on, and then another. Soon, the stage appeared awash with blood. Somewhere in the not too far distance, a woman screamed. The crowd answered with a collective and excited howl.

What fools these mortals be. Ah, Shakespeare. He would have made a suitable vampire.

With my inner eye, I explored around me, searching diligently for Levi or his mother. Or the other one. Jackson was of no true merit except for he had escaped Crush with his life. It was no matter. He would be no more. Who knew what plans the queen would have for him? Or this Levi and Naomi.

Ah, Naomi. I once knew a woman named Naomi. She had been quite mad in a beautiful way. Such deplorable things. I did not need to inspire her to do evil for her soul was made of darkness. Yes, over the centuries, she had been the most notable. The only human whose company I could deign to share.

Enough with these faraway memories.

I did not have a sentimental bone in my undead body.

Levi would come. Eventually, he would come and I would be ready for him. How Levi avoided me and the other searchers for so long was a mystery but he clearly had help from someone who knew us. Knew the ways of the Frenzied. Orders had been given—I had given them in her name. All betrayers would die tonight, regardless of the danger. Anyone suspected of working to hide Levi and his mother would meet their doom.

I stood in the center of the auditorium watching the lights flash; thick smoke rose to the ceiling. The band strutted and strolled across the stage like the jesters of old. Thousands of worshipers exclaimed their fierce love for Rex, Bryce, and the others. My, what a cacophonous sound! What an absolute luxury to experience. 

A smile stretched across my face as I watched the sensuous captor dance in her cage. The cage had been my idea. Literally living bait. And her name suggested her fate...Lisa Dance. It came to me as the queen pondered over what to do with this morsel.

She would be the siren call, the reason for Levi to return to us. That is what I told Queen Alice but something entirely different stirred in me. Lisa Dance had power, over nothing and no one, except perhaps some dead part of me.

No, you are the Creep. That is who you must remain.

At the appointed time, Rex removed the key ring from his oversized belt and strode over to the cage to release his captive. She would obey him for she wanted Levi as much as we did.

The females in the audience screamed with jealousy as Rex opened the door and led Lisa out of her golden prison. This whole scene was a tribute to their much played song Golden Doll. She was a lovely girl with her dark hair and well-shaped lambs. She spun as Rex sang; she did not need to be coerced into cavorting, she heard music in her brain. The music demanded obedience. Lisa adored music, all kinds, especially the music of the Black Knights.

More’s the pity for her. She will enjoy a short lifetime of listening to it. However long that might be.

Why did that make me feel such bleakness?

After a long session of undulating and writhing around his muscular body, Lisa collapsed in the rocker’s arms. Rex played up the scene by scooping her up and carrying her around the stage, as she laid her head limply on his shoulder. He carried his microphone too and sang about possessing the Golden Doll. The crowds screamed in unison. They were roaring. Lisa’s mind buzzed with many thoughts but none of them were of escape. She thought of school, her parents, her dog and sometimes her runaway boyfriend. Most of the time she pondered her own questionable future.

Even when alive I could read the minds of others. As poor as I had been and on so remote an island did I live, I never thought much about this ability. And now here I was, nearly six hundred years later reading this mortal’s mind. Ah, Lisa Dance, the human trap that would bring us the strongest Sustainer the Frenzied had ever seen. Why? Why did I care to listen in on her thoughts?

To make things more interesting, I could feel Alice watching me, but I did not have to glance in her direction. She wasn't far away. She would be observing her king and all the mortals in her red hooded coat. One day soon, she would insist Rex place a throne on the stage for her. Queen Alice allowed him to have his worship now, but that would not satisfy her forever. Rex returned Lisa to her cage where she commenced dancing just as before.

The show was ending and there was no sign of the Sustainer but there would always be another show.

I had no doubt he would come. But not yet. The show ended and the magical combination of canned lights and fog vanished as the stadium’s lights came on and the fans of the Black Knights streamed out of the place, many of them high or drunk, all of them were thoroughly entertained.

Hordes of humans would be backstage offering themselves to Rex Teaser soon, but there will also be treats for the Frenzied too. A few of us, only a few of the Frenzied would satiate themselves tonight but we had to be careful now. We had to be very careful.

Loomis! What was that detective doing here? Did he think he could come up against us and live?

I cocked my head slightly although it wasn't necessary. I saw him very well with my inner eye. Oh, but I wanted to lay eyes on him and for him to see me. Let me see this human who dared think he could unravel the workings of the Frenzied. Yes, Loomis was a stupid man. I shook my dark hair and growled at him but he did not notice. His mind was full of stupid thoughts. The girl beside me whimpered and got out of my way.

Alice’s voice filled my head.

Nikolai, come now.

With one last glance at Loomis, I swung around and slid through the crowd without much struggle. It was very simple to do that, I used the powers of my mind to project negative thoughts ahead of me. Humans were sensitive to negative energy, even though they didn't acknowledge the power of such things or express it. They chalked up those feelings to deja vu or rabbits running down their spine. As I envisioned a cone of unhappiness before me, my path cleared just as it would have for any celebrity. Or a king.

Let Rex Teaser pen his ridiculous song. Let him put our vision, a vision for our bloody world, on paper.

I will be the one to use its power.

I would be the true king of rock 'n' roll.

Chapter Two--Virgil

If my information was correct and I had no reason to believe that it wasn't, my son was hiding out at Jimmy's Burrell’s place. More specifically his grow shack. It was amazing how kids thought you didn't know what they were up to when you weren’t around. Levi had always been one to push the envelope. But I guess I had to share in some of the blame. I’d been out of his life for well over a year, more than that if I was totally honest. But this wasn’t the time for shrink talk or navel picking. Levi was a grown-ass man and he could make his own decisions.

The problem was he usually made pretty bad ones. Much like his old man.

Yep. Coming here, believing the Frenzied would be afraid of some fluorescent weed lights was a stupid assumption! Fake lighting didn’t faze vampires. Thank God Agent Ford came by to see me. It was Ford that told me about Levi’s encounter with Alice. He’d escaped, but for how long? Once the Frenzied knew you were a Sustainer, you couldn’t avoid them. They could smell you in ways I could not understand. You couldn’t disappear into the woods or into a sea of people. It was as if a world full of bloodhounds--vicious bloodhounds with a thirst for your particular blood were hunting you. They would certainly come for Levi.

In the beginning, I begged Ford to bring my family here, but as always he refused saying it was too risky. I was making too much progress, my work was too important. My blood was needed to defeat the Frenzied. Finally, he suggested that it was better for them to stay put. How could he think that leaving them in the crosshairs of the Frenzied could possibly be the best thing to do? I pleaded and begged, promised and cajoled but at the end Agent Ford confessed the decision was out of his hands. He couldn’t get permission to bring Levi, Debbie, and Naomi here. They were to stay where they were, but the agency would keep an eye on them.

Agent Ford was good like that, dropping me disturbing information from time to time. Like my wife had taken up with the neighbor again--the kid was half my age--and my son sold my car. The old Virgil Wallace would have shrugged these responsibilities off. Once upon a time, I cared about no one but myself. Naomi had been right about me in that regard, but that was before I made that horrible delivery.

Before I understood how fragile and precious life was for humanity. Now I knew what these creatures were capable of I could not forget it. Before I understood what this meant for my family—and all living people. No way would good old Agent Ford have any idea that I would do something reckless. None whatsoever. But I was tired of being as reliable as bran flakes. I could no longer sit back and wait for this story to come to an end. This was my life, my family! Breaking out of the Lab, stealing the van, heading back to my hometown, this was all on me.

And the agency knew nothing about my spying on my family, or at least they didn't let on if they did. It was wrong to spy on people--that's what the government tells us, but when it's your family and you're worried about a pack of crazed vampires murdering them in their sleep, well then yeah. You'd be spying on them too.

That's what I intended to say if anyone ever busted me listening in on the occasional conversations, but no one ever did. I’d heard nothing remotely relevant, except Naomi’s feeble attempts at finding a job and Levi’s dirty talk with Lisa.

I wheeled the white van behind Jimmy's ramshackle house as quietly as possible. It was a newer model government vehicle so it ran quietly and thankfully it had a full tank of gas. It was fifty miles from the Lab, I was surprised the folks in white coats weren’t waiting there to greet me.

Whatever.

I didn’t care what they thought about my van jacking, my family was coming back with me or I wasn’t going back into that underground prison. I couldn’t live another day knowing I couldn’t protect them. Naomi had made her choices, but I had to do the right thing. Be the father my kids deserved.

Not the father that I deserved.

I beat on the door of the ramshackle grow house. I tugged on the door handle but the damn thing didn’t give right way. I tilted my head towards the door and listened. Yep. Definitely voices. I glanced over my shoulder. The sky would change colors soon and then it would be full-on dark.

Man, I didn’t want to be out here after dark. They knew my scent! And Levi’s! We had to go!

The Frenzied was repulsed by light but not all of them were afraid to step into the sunshine. Those that were strong--or those are just feasted would be perfectly fine. At least for a few hours.

We did not have a few hours.

Only a few minutes. I wasn’t even sure where we’d go if this half-assed rescue were successful; there was no time to get back to the Lab. There was plenty of time to drag us out of this grow house and drain us. No, that's not what they had planned for him. There was something unique about Levi. Always had been. I wasn’t sure what that was but I shuddered at the thought. I could not allow my son to endure the kind of agony that the Frenzied had in mind for him. It wasn't his fault that he had unique blood.

Naomi was another story.

That's when the horrendous buzzing began. First as a whirring, like a few insects maybe mosquitoes, only larger. The sound occurred in both ears and the volume steadily increased. These weren't bugs I heard but the call of the collective. The scream of the vampires who targeted us. It was not normal to hear such a noise but I was deeply familiar with it. Memories of my bloody encounter left me breathless. I wasn't in the salt-covered walls beneath Area Six. Perhaps this had been a fool’s errand, but my nightmares have become too disturbed as of late.

Not only of my own savage attack but my horrific dreams now included my family.

Something happened, something bad, and I couldn't shake the feeling that my family was in greater danger than the agency wanted to admit. Or tell me. My nightmarish encounter with the Frenzied told me otherwise. The Agency found me quickly enough, apparently, they’d been watching me for a while, but they did not move fast enough to save me from receiving a wound that would hardly heal.

The Frenzied was humming, singing, a single note. And then the buzzing became whispers and soon they would be full-on voices and there were many voices. Too many to count.

Closer. We're getting closer. Closer to you. closer. We see you, Wall-ace...

I tugged at the door and it opened. I raced into the grow house and pounded up and down the aisles in hopes of finding Levi quickly and quietly. The hiding space beneath the floor was remarkably easy to find. How these kids hadn't got busted by local police already was a mystery to me. The hole couldn’t be very large. Large enough I'm sure to hide Jimmy Burrell and his weed but not his friends. From what I knew of the kid he didn't have too many buddies.

Except for Levi. Way to go, son. Pick the biggest losers you can find to hang out with. I whispered his name as I squatted next to the trap door.

“Levi! Where are you? Naomi?”

There was a flurry of noise, but I could not detect the source of it. Not immediately. Huh. Not a trap door. Okay, back to square one. I hurried up and down the empty raised beds. I looked under each table, pulled back every piece of heavy plastic sheeting, but found no trace of them. Yet, they were here. Absolutely. If I focused hard enough I could almost detect their heartbeats. It was at that moment that I spotted the second floor panel. The dirty floor looked disturbed and they were steadily whispering to one another.

I lifted the wooden panel to reveal the faces of three terrified people who were doing their best to hide. It was Naomi that spoke first, her pale face looking even paler than before. She looked frail and helpless, as she always did. Funny how that used to turn me on. Not so much anymore.

“Virgil?"

"No time for reunions. You can welcome me home later, Mrs. Wallace. We have to go. They're coming!" I growled at them, unhappy about their stupidity... or my stupidity, I couldn't be sure.

“What are you doing here?” Levi asked as if he was disappointed at being rescued by me. God forbid.

“I can't believe you got your mother involved in this,” I whispered angrily to Levi as I reached in and pulled him out by the arm.

“You've got a lot of nerve,” he began to argue with me but I pushed him to the side and reached down for Naomi. She came up as light as a feather and briefly hugged me, but then again she was a hugger. This personal contact didn’t mean that she had any regrets about what she did. More like she was glad that she’d been rescued. I helped the other guy out of the dirty pit, suddenly recognizing him as my son's friend and Naomi's new lover.

Oh yeah. They weren't fooling me. I knew about them long before I left.

She can say what she wanted-- Naomi was no innocent. I stared down into the darkness looking for the face that I hoped to see the most, but there wasn't anyone else there. In fact, I don't even know how the three of them managed to fit in that hole. But not seeing my daughter there agitated me.

“Where is Debbie? She should have been with you. Levi? I told you to get out of there. Did you leave her behind? Where is she?”

Even as I asked the question, I knew the answer, yet they gazed back at me not saying a word. The three of them looked frightened. I couldn't help but ask the same question repeatedly. I had to hear someone say it!

“Where is Debbie? What has happened to your sister?” I reached for my son's brown jacket collars. I pulled him close and kept him tight. We were face-to-face and I snarled at him but the sobs were coming. The buzzing in my ears ramped up. It was almost as if the Frenzied were excited by all this. They were excited about us being together.

Yes, together! As they flew toward us the buzzing got louder and too quickly became actual voices. Yes, they were harsh and foul-mouthed; they hated me, but wanted me.

“Virgil, please,” Naomi said as I released my son. As I let Levi go I let the sorrow take over. The voices of the Frenzied spoke heartbreaking things, they told me what they’d done, but my heart couldn’t take it. Not another minute. 

“What happened to Debbie?” I asked the three of them as the voices droned on.

She's gone. All gone. Only the voices answered me. 

I heard a singular scream in my head and all the other voices were silenced. I moaned in agony as my hands covered my ears. Just one voice and it was so familiar. Oh so familiar.

The Creep. My attacker!

I am coming for you, my pet.

My brain commanded me to run, but I struggled against it. They were outside, or very close at least. I worked my mouth but nothing came out except for a moan of sorrow. My daughter; my Debbie. She had been the only good thing I had left. The whole reason I came here.

A vehicle pulled up to the grow house. It was loud with obnoxious mufflers. Some sort of hot rod. I didn't recognize the sound, but that didn’t mean anything. I had been hiding away in the Agency’s Lab in Area Six for so long everything sounded loud.

The phone began to ring. It was by the door hanging near a corkboard. Who puts a phone in a grow house? But sure enough, it was there. The four of us stared at it and the door. What do I do? Have we been found out? Levi scuffled to the window and peeked outside.

“I can’t see anything, but I think it’s Jimmy.” After a few seconds he said, ‘“Yeah, it’s Jimmy.” He would find us in just a few seconds, so there was nothing to do but wait. His loud footsteps wouldn’t help us stay hidden from the vampire collective. This person was slightly overweight and had a bit of a strange stride. Yep, Jimmy Burrell. He opened the door and came inside before realizing we were there.

“What’s up, Levi? What are you doing here? And you brought your parents? Not cool, man. I don’t let people in here. You know that. Jackie? What’s going on?" He had a frozen Rocket Pop in one hand and a paper bag of soggy groceries in the other. Apparently, Jimmy had planned on having a night alone; just him and his weed and if he got the munchies, he’d be all set. The phone began to ring again.

"Jimmy, don't answer that phone," I said in a calm voice. Jimmy acted as if he didn't understand me. I don't know how I could be any clearer. "Jimmy! Don’t do it!" I said with some lead in my voice this time. "Do not answer that phone!”

With a scowl of disapproval, an indignant Jimmy did the exact opposite of what I told him. Just like every other teenager I knew. He picked up the phone and said, “What? Who is it?” I could hear the humming from the receiver all the way from the other side of the room. By the look on Levi's face, he heard it too. There was someone singing, others humming and there were too many voices.

"Hello?" Jimmy said as he deposited the bag on the wobbly table near the door. He still held his Rocket Pop in his other hand. He licked at it absently. It was beginning to melt. "Who is this? If you think you're going to prank me, you’ve got another thing coming." Jimmy’s mouth suddenly went slack as the music got louder and louder. His eyes widened, but he didn’t drop the phone.

“Jimmy, hang up the phone, man!” Jackson shouted at him. Suddenly the Rocket Pop fell to the ground and Jimmy's hand went to his throat. He turned his head slightly toward us as if he wanted to ask us for help, but there was nothing we could do. I have never seen the Frenzied attack through the phone line before but I knew it was them. No doubt this was the Frenzied. What was I witnessing?

Jimmy was going to die. Long strains of some strange and deadly instrument played into the phone so loudly that we covered our ears to block out the music. A horrendous nasty voice chanted repeatedly.

It was the Creep.

Levi grabbed my arm. "Virgil! Snap out of it! We have to go! Come on Virgil! Give me the keys!" I watched in horror as a kid I watched grow up buckled at the knees; his eyes poured blood. His hands were shaking like he was having the most horrible of seizures. And there was nothing I could do about it.

Nothing at all.

No! This can’t be happening! I would never be able to stop them. This was the truth and I knew it now.

Jackson was screaming in my face and anger boiled up inside me. I was pissed. And my anger is what broke the spell. The buzzing in my ears ceased and I watched as Jimmy Burrell flopped on the ground in a pool of his own blood his melted Rocket Pop beside him. Suddenly the music stopped and the phone line became static.

I looked at Naomi hopelessly.

“It's too late. They're here.”

Chapter Three--Levi

“Give me the keys, Virgil!” I grabbed for them and managed to get the engine started. It was a small white panel van. It didn't have any markings on it which said to me this was some kind of police vehicle. Was Virgil in some sort of trouble? Seemed unlikely, the guy did everything by the book, except take care of his family. But I didn't have time to ask questions. “Where to? Where should we go?” I asked Virgil again, but he had no answers for me. He was rolling up the window furiously and staring up at the sky.

It was nearly dark now. Twilight was the name Lisa called this time of the day when she felt romantic. There wasn't anything romantic about the prospect of being in the dark with vampires. Not at all.

Jackson was screaming from the backseat. "Oh my God! What happened to Jimmy? What the hell is going on? How can they do that? They're going to kill us! They're going to kill us. I have to go home. Levi. My wife, my kid. What do I do? What do we do?”

Jackson was always the kind of guy that had to take action. This wasn't something he could just solve. "Shut up! Jackie! Keep it together man! You," I said as I grab my dad's arm "Snap out of it! Where do we go?"

"There is a place, it’s called the Lab. It was specially built to be a bunker against the Frenzied but it is too far away. I only left the Lab to find Deb...you all. Getting back there is not a possibility tonight. They are onto us and they will be coming. I have no doubt about that. We’ll have to go somewhere close. And fast. And we need a place where there is lots of salt. Salt weakens them. Salt and silver. It makes them sick, powerless." He went back to staring out the windshield.

“You were hiding in a Lab and you left us out of the loop? You knew about these things? What a bastard!” Naomi shouted at him. She slapped the back of his head, but he barely flinched. His face reddened, but he said nothing else. I agreed with Naomi, of course.

"There's an old salt mine, Levi. If he’s telling us the truth, we might be safe there. Is that what you're talking about, Virgil? That kind of salt?" Jackson was banging on my seat as I punched it.

Naomi was between us now, as livid as a wet cat. My dad's expression changed. Was that hope I saw there? “Yes. That'll be perfect until tomorrow; until we can get back to the Agency. We could hide there until tomorrow and then make our way to the Lab. We’ll be safe at the Lab, I promise. We just got to get through the night. Head to Denton.”

"What’s the fastest route to Denton?" I drove as fast as I could away from the grow house. I headed towards the highway.

“That’s right! Take the highway and head south, Levi! There is safety in numbers. They won’t reveal themselves to too many people. Not yet. They have a big reveal planned but this isn’t it.”

“How do you know about any of this? How did you get involved?” Jackson asked from the backseat. He was holding on to the back of mine still and I could hear the anger in his voice.

“I met one and it changed me forever.”

“Changed you how? Are you one of them?” Naomi asked as she pulled away and sat back on her seat. “No, but it was close. Look, there’s a lot to talk about, but let’s save the chit chat for later.”

Best guess, there was about a twenty-minute drive between us and the salt mine, maybe less if I could get there without getting pulled over.  To my surprise, Virgil flipped on the radio. He was playing my favorite radio station and Hillbilly John was doing his thing. He was running his show as if nothing happened. As if people weren't dying left and right in Eureka Springs. As if he had nothing to do with it.

Rotten bastard.

He was another one that I would make sure paid for Lisa and Debbie.

“Turn the radio off,” I barked at Virgil who ignored me and tinkered with the station. His fingers spun the dial; he was trying his best to get a better signal. "I said turn the radio off!” I reached over, but Hillbilly John let out a yee-haw as he always did before he was going to announce a song dedication. “The sun is going down; this one goes out to Levi. It’s from Lisa who says, ‘Don’t let the sun go down on me, lover. You know where to find me.” Then Hillbilly John let out another howl and I turned the radio off.

I banged my hands on the steering wheel as I floored it. It didn't have much gas left in it; I hoped we’d have enough to get to Denton, but I kept my worries to myself. Mom was quietly crying now while Jackie talked to himself. We were all a mess and we were never going to be the same.

Never.

"He's just taunting you, Levi. You do know that, right? He knows you are listening. I don't know how to say this to you, but he's one of them. Just a different kind.”

I shook my head in horrified amazement. “There is more than one kind? Great. Just great.”

“This radio personality, he's one of them. He's one of the Frenzied. Probably a recent addition though. They have a plan. They want to take their music to the airwaves; they want to...hurt everyone who will listen.” 

“Why don’t you tell me--tell us--exactly what was going on? I think you owe us that much. Don’t you think you owe us that?"

"How about you tell me exactly what happened to your sister? I left her in your care,” he said in his accusatory tone.

“I don't know what happened to Debbie. She wasn't supposed to be at that concert; she knew I had tickets, but she didn’t have one. I don't even know if she went to the concert all I know is that she's dead and you knew about all this and you didn't tell us! You split on us. Debbie’s death is on you!"

He twisted in his seat to stare at me. “Watch the road, Levi! How do you think you're still alive? If it weren't for me you would all be dead. What happened to Debbie shouldn't have happened, but I tried to stop it. I made sure you were safe. I gave up my life for you guys and this is it; this is what I have left. Unbelievable, Levi. Always so damn ungrateful.”

“That’s bullshit, Virgil. You are always blaming everyone else for your shortcomings. Typical!”

Naomi broke into the argument, “There's the turn off, Levi. Keep your mouths shut, please. This is on you, Virgil.”

Now I remembered why it didn’t upset me that these two were separated. I did not remember a time when they got along. I couldn’t believe we've made it this far, but there was the gravel driveway as plain as day. It would turn to dirt soon.

That's when the first bird flew past our car. It was such a large bird that I momentarily hit the brakes because I was afraid to hit it. If a bird that size crashes into your vehicle you're going to know it. That’s not a bird! It’s some sort of creature! It had flown ahead of us and stood on the left side of the gravel road. The wings--it had two and they appeared to be body length, unfurled and it flicked them at us as we drove by. Naomi screamed as the thing’s face contorted, snarled and snapped at us, but somehow I managed to avoid getting too close.

“Sonofabitch!” I tilted the wheel and the rear end of the car slung slightly to the right.

Nobody asked dumb questions like, “Did you see that?” or “What was that?” We’d all seen it and we all knew what it was--it was evil incarnate.

“Look!” Dad shouted as he pointed to the right. “The mine is right there! We're almost there! We're going to have to move fast and pray to God that this works. You get this van as close as you can, Levi. I mean sideways. Are there any tools back there, Jackson? Can you see any?”

“Talk about bad breaks,” Jackson swore under his breath as he dug around the van. “Looks like the doors been nailed shut. I’m looking for a crowbar or something. Hey, this might work!”  Jackson came up off the ground with a tire tool in his hand. I spun the vehicle sideways as another creature flew past us. Was this going to just get worse or what?

“Are you sure the salt is going to keep them out?” I asked Virgil. I can't imagine that he knew what the hell he was talking about. He never did before. I curled my fingers around the steering wheel tightly as I twisted the wheel to the right again.

Grip the ball with these three fingers to get a good knuckleball, son. You can do it!

Yeah, right. What a crock! Virgil Wallace was the worst baseball coach on the planet and an even worse father. Why on earth was I relying on his word now?

Oh yeah, because I don’t have a choice and I’m desperate to find Lisa!

Another one of the creatures sailed past the side of the van; very close this time. So close that it made the antenna wobble. It had white wings with no ears and a strange, flat face. As it landed it immediately crept out of the fading sunlight and hid, but it didn't hide completely. Its narrow eyes glowed slightly. They were glowing with hatred and hunger.

Oh, very hungry. Yes, we are...very hungry.

Jackie started screaming like a girl while Naomi got quiet. Virgil was fumbling with the lock on the door. As I slammed on the brakes in front of the mine I twisted in the seat and said, “Naomi, stick with me! No matter what! You stick with me! Jackson, shut up!”

His screams only served to make this ordeal that much worse. If I was going to die--if we were going to die-- we would go down fighting. Or at least I would. Not screaming and begging for my life. Maybe Jackson would but I sure as hell wasn’t going to do that. How in the world Mom--I mean, Naomi--got involved with this married twerp, I would never understand.

Then the radio flicked on again and it was the end of the song that had been dedicated to me. I always hated Jefferson whatever their name was. This was that Alice song, the one about the rabbit. This tune was quite a few years old, but it had been popular in its day. The music faded and I heard Hillbilly John's voice as clear as day. It was as if he were right here in the van with us.

“It doesn't have to be like this, Levi Wallace. It doesn't have to be like this at all.” 

But it wasn’t coming from the radio. It was one of the creatures, the last one to land. As he stepped out of the scrubby, dark green bushes I could see very plainly the bird creature transforming. He went from dead gray to pale white with a few patches of pink on its skin, presumably in an effort to make itself look more human. The creature’s large eyes became oversized glasses and long, stringy blonde hair grew right before my eyes. This thing was Hillbilly John! What the hell was this thing? What am I looking at? His mouth didn’t move but his voice continued to seep through the speakers.

“You can’t fight the Frenzied, Levi. Time isn’t on your side. Rex needs you. Remember your promise? You promised him Lisa and so much more. You were to be his right-hand man. He needs you, Levi. The King of Rock and Roll needs you.”

His words made me dizzy. There was no other way to describe this strange ass sensation. Dizzy, like I was about to fall down a dark well after teetering along the edge for a sustained amount of time. I almost wanted to take that tumble.

Make that fall. Hit those rocks. End it all.

“No, Levi. You are much too valuable to us. We need you. We need you all. We won’t hurt any of you...come with me and we will let everyone go. Yes, that’s it…”

The keys that were in my hand were now on the floor.

“Lisa,” I said in a broken voice. Next thing I knew Virgil had leaped out of the passenger door with the crowbar in hand and was beginning to work at the boards that were keeping us from a potential shelter. There were only two boards on the old door, but it was not proving to be an easy job. Suddenly Hillbilly John became the white leathery bird thing again. He dropped to his knees and then his stomach. I watched in horror as he belly crawled toward us. John wasn't making a sound. No more smooth radio voice. Nothing at all. It was as if he wanted to sneak up on my father, but I suddenly felt myself pounding on the van horn.

Virgil let out a shout as he saw the creature that had been Hillbilly John coming closer. I kept honking the horn as Jackson joined my father to work on the door. Finally, after a few seconds, the boards gave way and the four of us ran screaming into the dark, presumably deserted, mine shaft.

I had no idea what lay before us.

Chapter Four--Levi

The thing with the wings was standing upright. It had begun to run frantically toward the van while we exited out the passenger side. I didn’t have eyes on the other two creatures and had no way of knowing where they might be. Naomi was at my back and now we were running deep into the gaping black hole in front of us. Virgil was waving his hand signaling for us to follow, but Jackson was nowhere to be found.

His candy ass was probably deep into the mine by now.

The ground shook and I heard heavy stomping behind me. Yes, I can hear stomping! Yes, all three of the Frenzied birds were getting closer. They were going to attack us. That much was for sure. It was so dark in the cave I could barely see my hand in front of my face or anything at all really, at just ten feet in. Eventually, it got so dark we had to move along using our hands and feet, each one of us took turns tripping, falling and dragging one another forward until we came to a large open cavern. I knew it was large because of the echo. Jackson was crying somewhere in this room. He was talking to himself, talking to God, and crying. I hoped he could get a message through because we needed all the help we could get.

I remembered coming here a few times when I was young, just on a lark with some friends. Jackson had not been one of them. It was scary back then but was even scarier now that we had no lighter or anything to use as a flashlight. We held one another's hands and waited for whatever was going to happen, to happen.

I heard rocks being tossed into the cave--not small rocks either. And then there were scratches and odd purring sounds, like the kind of purring a cat makes when it’s about to kill something and it’s very happy to do it. Those things made God-awful noises. Similar to the noises we’d heard on the phone when Jimmy Burrell melted into a puddle of blood with his Rocket Pop in his hand.

What kind of a nightmare had I gotten myself into? All because I wanted to go see the Black Knights? I made up in my mind that this was all the effects of the hallucinogens. Maybe some of the acid we’d done or some of the pot Jackie had laced.

But there's no way that could be true. No way Virgil would be seeing what I'm seeing if that was the case. The Old Man and never so much as smoked a doobie, much less tried any hallucinogens. But then again he was wearing a lab coat and driving a military van so he might have a few secrets. I hunkered down on the ground sitting on the dry, salty dirt. I felt around with my hands.

"They don't like salt?" I asked Virgil as he squatted down beside me. I could see a little bit now that my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I wanted to distract my father as I watched Naomi go to comfort Jackson. They were together and I could hear them whispering, but I couldn't really see them now. “We should probably all stick together,” I said to them, but Naomi and Jackson weren't listening. They were both kind of freaking out but also taking comfort from one another.

At least there was that.

"Yes. If you want to really get rid of one immerse it in a saline solution, or run saline into his veins. That’s harder than you could imagine." Virgil sat on his butt and avoided looking in Naomi’s direction. He breathed deeply as if he’d just ran a marathon. Although I couldn't see very well I knew he was looking at me now. Observing me. Studying me. We had a lot of things to talk about, but right now the sounds of those rocks popping into the entrance of the cave and the growling screams had my full attention.

Jackson whined as Naomi held his hand. What was she his mother or his girlfriend? "What are they going to do? Just wait till we come out? We're sitting ducks, man. Sitting ducks. What are we supposed to do?"

"I don’t have an answer for you. I just came to help my family. The agency wouldn't get involved so here I am.”

“What agency?” Jackson whispered as he rocked back and forth.

My Dad shook his head. “Not one you would have ever heard of.”

I twisted my leather bracelet, a gift from Lisa, and I waited to hear more.

“Debbie is really gone?” he asked me point-blank.

It was Naomi that answered. “Yes. She's dead. Not once, but twice. They got her and I don't know how. I don't know what happened. I had no idea any of this was going on, Virgil! You should've told me."

He had nothing to say to that. It was his turn to sob. Was nobody else paying attention to the rocks popping at the front of the cave?  Virgil was a broken man and now he was weeping. And to my surprise, Naomi left Jackson and sat beside Virgil. Unlike Jackson, she didn't put her arm around him, or whisper in his ear, she just sat beside him listening and waiting. We were all waiting, but for what? I wasn't sure.

Waiting to die? Waiting to live? I don't know. The sounds of my father's crying didn't melt my heart. Not like it probably should have. All I could think about was Lisa and that horrible Hillbilly John creature. If I could get to him I would choke the life out of him. I had to get some facts. I had to wrap my mind around all of this.

"We're all sad about Debbie. We're all broken, Virgil, but we need answers. I don't know how long they're going to stay out of this cave. Time ain’t on our side. Why did they kill Debbie? She was just a kid? Why do they appear to want to kill us all? Why do they have Lisa? What the hell is a Sustainer?"

"Sustainer?" Virgil wiped his nose on his white coat sleeve. “It's what you are, I assume. What I am to some degree--and your mother. They must've thought Debbie was the same; it’s our blood, but it's not necessarily hereditary."

"Like a weird blood type?" I asked not sure what he was talking about, but at least we were talking about it.

"No, it's more elegant than that. These creatures can drink our blood and it won't kill us unless they drain us completely. And then, in that case, you die. Their blood contains a little bit of poison. Yes, I’d say that’s accurate. It has some poisonous qualities. Some people report experiencing a kind of pleasant hallucination. They don't even understand that they’re dying. Other people hate every minute of it, but some of us have the kind of blood that they prefer. They can drink from us repeatedly and it doesn't kill us. It helps them because they don’t have to kill so frequently. And it makes them strong. Our blood makes them strong."

"They killed Debbie," I said flatly. It wasn't a question, rather a statement.

“Yes, they did. I'm sure in their quest to find my offspring they just assumed… but it doesn't matter now. You say she died twice? You mean she came back?"

"Yes, she did. She came back and she wasn't the same,” Naomi answered in a wooden voice. I could feel her trembling beside me.

Jackson crept closer to us, but not too close. The room was so dark and so far from the entrance of the cave that there wasn't a chance that we’d see anything that came in here. At least not before it pounced on us.

“We're certainly not the only ones in the world, but they need every Sustainer they can get. New vampires are hungry and this Rex Teaser, he's as hungry as they come. They have a leader, they call her a queen. Alice, Queen Alice. She chose Rex as a kind of co-ruler which means he has to be strong too. But he is tied to you. These new leaders always choose a Sustainer. But you have to agree to that arrangement. I guess you know that. You must know it. He chose you. You know this, don’t you?"

I fell silent. I finally admitted it. “Yes, it happened, but I don't remember all the details. Not right away. Lisa and I were together. I did meet Rex Teaser.”

"And?” Naomi asked me in an unsettled voice. The noise at the front of the cave had grown quieter, but that didn't mean anything. There could've been hundreds of them out there and if not for the salt all around us we would have been devoured.

“I shook his hand. He liked my music. I was supposed to work with him. We had a drink, I think. Maybe we smoked together. I couldn’t say. I can’t remember much.”

"You have to remember, son. They remember. And they will hold you to your promises."

I glared at him in the dark. “How do you know about this? What did you promise them? Or am I supposed to believe you’re innocent? You knew this shit was going down and you didn't say a word. Who does that? Who would do such a thing?"

Naomi put her hand on my arm, "Hey, cut it out you two. This isn't the time for that. Just be quiet for a minute. I hear something. Yeah, I hear something." And she wasn't wrong I heard it too.

Crying. Pitiful crying from the cave entrance. And I knew that voice just like I knew my own. Just like I would know my own sister’s voice, but that wasn't my sister crying out there begging for my help.

"Levi? Levi? How could you do this to me? Help me? Come save me, Levi."

Lisa's words stung my heart and I was on my feet before my brain understood what I was doing. Virgil and Naomi both reached out and pulled me back. Virgil said in a stern voice, "It is a trick, son. That's no more Lisa than it is me standing out there. That's what they do. That's what they're good at. Tricks. They can make you think it's me; they can make you think it's you. Please. Don't go out there."

Jackson was in front of me with his hands up. "For God’s sake, listen to him. That’s not Lisa. What would she be doing out here in the middle of the woods in Denton? That's not Lisa, Levi."

And then the voice changed and it was Jackie’s turn to cry.

Chapter Five —Lisa Dance

I was left in a cage as the band began to party with the groupies. I would be the Golden Doll forever, however long that would be. I felt true sympathy--and disgust for the fans who would willingly put themselves on the altar of their favorite rock star. They did not know, as I had not known, what that truly meant. I would never forgive myself for pinning Rex’s pictures to my bedroom walls or taping them up in my school locker. His beautiful face was only a mask, a mask for the darkest evil. Rex had a broad nose, almond-shaped eyes that penetrated your soul, even from a poster. He had full lips which were always beet red. He was tall, wiry and every teen’s dream. He was the bad boy of rock and that had made him so appealing to me. Rex wasn’t as handsome as Levi, but Rex had been an ideal.

A fantasy which was now a nightmare.

Not only was Rex Teaser and his band here tonight, but I’d seen many familiar rock stars strutting around backstage like peacocks.

Furious Peacocks! What an atrocious name for a band and it had been my suggestion. I hoped and prayed that Levi put his guitar away forever. Things would never be the way they were.

Would they?

Another sparkly-eyed visitor passed by my prison. The stagehands had led me into this room, along with the rest of the stage props and then quickly put me back in the cage. I was handed a soggy bag of fast food, a cheeseburger and fries, but there was nothing to drink. I curled the bag up and left it in the corner. I couldn’t eat. I was sweating from my furious dancing and I was so thirsty. The passing visitor smiled at me. Yes, I knew her. That was Mickey Occidental, the lead singer for Spark. Not her too! Was everything I knew about rock and roll a farce? She licked her lips as she walked by me. Not once, but twice. She did not dare take a step in the room, but she wanted to.

Something stopped her. It was my silent keeper. I wasn’t alone. The creature I named the Keeper hovered in the corner. It didn’t want me to know it was there, it was only Mickey’s presence that had awakened it. The whites of the creature’s eyes flashed open and it stared at me and then the doorway, its eyes were a strange blue color. Not quite as shimmery as the others, more focused. More hateful. And then it stepped back into the wall and vanished.

Yes, it was gone. Completely gone. But for how long?

It was not unusual to be forgotten in the cage. When I wasn't being led from one vehicle to the next, sometimes with a cloth draped over my head, I was mocked and ridiculed. Once in a while, like tonight, they remembered to feed me, but strangely enough, I had not been harmed in any significant way other than being forced to dance during Rex’s performances. How long had it been now? How long have I been held against my will? Two week? Three weeks?

I figured out early on in my captivity to keep my humming and singing to myself. Music attracted these things like nothing else, except blood. How they loved their music! Any music. All music. Except for my sessions on the stage, I saw no living people. In fact, I saw only a handful of vampires briefly on nights before the performance and they were always fascinated with me. Too interested. Like lions stalking a prairie dog. I did not let my guard down. I made no eye contact; I kept my eyes on the ground. I challenged no one. That would be a foolish thing to do. I even managed to train my thoughts, to keep them still.

No singing, Lisa. No crying.

I believe that their intention for me was nothing good. There would be no happy ending for Lisa Dance unless I remained disciplined. I knew discipline. Yes, it’s true that Daddy spoiled me, but he didn’t buy my spot on the squad. I earned that. How? By practicing for hours every day. People often wrote off cheerleaders and girls with pretty faces, but that would be a mistake because I was not going to go down without a fight. I would keep my shit together. I had to and not just for me.

My hand fluttered over my stomach, but then I remembered myself. No, don’t go there. Focus on something else. Anything else. I felt them listening. The Keeper studied me. I felt her attempted intrusion, but I shoved her out with my most boring thoughts.

Mrs. Watkins’ math final was a real pain in the ass. High school math was the worst. Algebra had too many letters in it. I wonder if Kirby would make the track team this year. He wasn’t the fastest runner, but my little cousin would work hard to make it.

Oh, why did I think about Kirby?

I would be going to college soon. Freshman year. Nursing would be my course of study. That or fashion design or dancing. I couldn’t make up my mind. There would be more money in nursing, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to take care of sick people day in and day out. All that loss and sickness and blood.

And somehow I fell asleep. When I woke up the bag was still in the corner of the cage. Hours had gone by. How many I couldn't say. I sat on the floor of my golden cage with my knees pulled up to my chest and my arms wrapped around them. I desperately wanted to go pee and find something to drink. My tongue felt large in my mouth and my lips were dry, but I truly had much bigger problems than that.

Don’t even think about it, Lisa.

I was so desperate. I felt so desperate.

Math was never my favorite subject. How much math would I have to take for nursing?

I needed help but who was going to help me? There was no one. No one but me. And I was so tired. For the first time in my life, I had to truly rely on myself. Not my father, or Levi, or anyone who thought I was cute or pretty or helpless. I wasn't one of those girls that really thought about these kinds of things too much, but now I wished I had.

I heard girls giggling down the hallway. Run, girl! Run far away! Didn’t anyone pay attention to these girls? But then again, it wasn’t long ago that I’d also been a fan. Oh, I’d had such a secret crush on Rex. Something about the song Elegant Black spoke to my soul.

Once upon a time.

One of the stagehands looked remarkably like the Creep. Could it have been his younger brother? His hands were busy finding their way around the body of a young woman. The excited young woman was all over him and her back was turned to me. Jessica? Jessica from school? She wasn’t even a senior! What was she doing here? 

Oh no! It was the Creep!

Some of the vampires, like the Creep, wanted you to know what they were. They were proud of being evil and different. But then others were more subtle. They liked fitting into the mortal world, laughing and walking amongst us. I could hardly believe how blind I had been all this time. How absolutely blind I had been to evil!

Math, do the math, Lisa. I could hardly focus. I was hungry and thirsty. Imagine this whole devilish world existed alongside mine all this time. While I was at cheer camp or sprinkling glitter over glue-covered stars, other girls my age were being killed by vampires.

The young woman was all over the Creep. I could warn her, maybe I should. But what good would it do? Hey, Jessica! He’s a vampire! Get your tongue out of his mouth! I could say something like that to her but why draw attention to myself?

As the pair moaned and groaned over one another, I watched in horror as Jessica’s body went limp in the Creep’s arms. If anyone were to walk past they would think that she was drunk, maybe high. Certainly inebriated. Without hesitation, he bit her and his eyes were clamped on me. Oh, how terrible! He was killing her right before my eyes! “Jessica?” I whispered as her long golden blonde hair slid over to reveal her slender neck. The Creep was orchestrating her movements, making it easier to dine on his prize. He glared at me, yet I was helpless to do anything except watch.

And then suddenly, he was gone. With Jessica. He’d moved so quickly that his absence barely registered in my brain.

That’s when I saw the shiny piece of metal next to the cage. It was odd-looking. Silver in color. A key? The key had a boxy, rectangular shape. I’d seen it before, it wasn’t the same key that Rex wore on his belt; that key was for show. On stage, the cage door was left open, in order to make my removal easier for the King of Rock and Roll. Why was this here?

Math shouldn’t have letters in it. X times Y plus the fraction? Or was it Y plus the fraction?

I tapped my fingers on the board beneath me as if I were truly trying to figure out this math puzzle. Best to keep part of my brain busy. They could see me. Hear me. They knew my thoughts at times. Not all the time. No, not all the time.

I wasn’t great at Algebra, so I decided to go with something I knew--the Gettysburg Address. I had to recite a lengthy section of Lincoln’s speech in the sixth grade. This I could do with my eyes closed.

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Oh no! I can hear someone coming! Footsteps in the hall! Heavy boots. I positioned myself to put my back against the bars and my hands close to the silver key. Someone must have intentionally left this behind but who?

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.

I heard a hissing sound. Oh, whoever this was approaching would be here any moment. It was now or never! I didn’t even look as I blindly reached behind my back praying to God I got it the first time.

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

My fingers grabbed the cold, silver key and I slid it into my back pocket just as the door opened fully, swinging wide now. The hall was empty except for Rex Teaser. His dark eyes glittered wildly and I felt like a creature caught in the headlights of an oncoming train.

A train with no brakes, no whistle, and no living passengers. He moved purposefully towards me. He squatted before the cage and tilted his head as he studied me. With the light behind him and his strange eyes, he looked like a true creature of the night. Only, he was heartbreakingly beautiful with his mane of luxurious dark hair and half-open shirt. 

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

And then my mind went blank. That was it. That was all of the Gettysburg Address I knew. I couldn’t start over, because I suddenly forgot the beginning. My mouth moved, but nothing came out. If I was about to die there wasn’t much point in talking, was there? Rex leaned closer and reached his hand out to me. What was this? Was he offering me something? Could I leave?

The wicked flicker in his eyes clued me in on the truth. There would never be any going back for me. Never.

“Never,” he purred in agreement. “No going back.”

That’s when the unbidden tear slid down my cheek.

Chapter Six--Lisa

“You are beautiful, my pet. My Golden Doll. So very lovely. I can see why he would want to keep you all to himself. From that first moment to this one, I have thought only of you.”

What is he trying to do?

“Levi Wallace loves you, but can a boy truly know how to love a woman?” Rex purred as he took a seat beside the cage. He stretched out like a long, lean cat. His eyes were fixed on me and I felt my stomach doing somersaults. I couldn’t focus on math, or history, or anything good and simple. Instead, my mind was flooded with images of lovemaking, specifically with Rex. In my mind, he was touching my face and rubbing my cheek. His hands were on me and my head was thrown back in ecstasy. I was kissing him, with all my might...

“No!” I said aloud. I thought of Levi, his warm brown eyes fixed on me, his golden hair curling up around his perfect face. Walking in the sunshine together. Body surfing at the beach on summer break. Dancing at prom. I’d worn an off the shoulder coral dress…

“You deliberately provoke me. I am your king. Why would you be so foolish? I can offer you the world.”

“You are young, Rex and I’m not as foolish as you, I think. I haven’t sold my soul,” I said as I held back the remainder of my tears. Vampires weren’t moved by tears in my experience. But Rex was a fairly new vampire, from what I gathered. Perhaps somewhere inside him, there was still a bit of who he used to be. A bit of human. It was a risky gamble. As if he heard me, he pulled his hand back and clutched the bars, his face poked between two as he continued to study me.

“Haven’t you? What would you do for love, then?”

“For love? Love would never ask me to do anything. Love doesn’t cost you a thing.”

To that, Rex titled back his head and laughed. The Keeper appeared now, her white and blue eyes riveted on him. He didn’t even look in her direction. He waved his hand over his head and she vanished, not merely into the wall, but she was gone. Completely gone.

We were very alone here.

“Why are you doing this? Why are you keeping me here? Levi isn’t coming. You don’t need him, you don’t need me. Let us go, we won’t say anything. I swear it.”

He pulled up his knee and cradled it with his long hands. He moved gracefully, like a dancer and I couldn’t help but be attracted to him, despite my disgust. I’d been waiting for this moment all my life, waiting to meet him and now we were together. More images of sexual scenes filled my mind and I realized that this was his doing. We were two naked bodies writhing together amidst clouds of smoky incense.

“Stop that,” I said softly.

“Stop what?” He bit his lip and showed bright white teeth. “You are beautiful. There are so many beautiful girls here tonight, but I only have thoughts of you. Why is that? Why do I want you, Lisa Dance? Tell me?”

“Why have you done this? You were the best, the absolute best, Rex. You didn’t have to do this.” I flicked away another unwanted tear. “Why?”

“Alice made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I will be young and beautiful forever. I will always be the King of Rock and Roll. Always.”

I shook my head at his statement, “But you already were.”

“I am thinking of the future, Lisa. I want to live forever. My music matters. It will always matter.”

“But the price? Doesn’t that matter to you? It cost you everything to be something you already were, Rex Teaser. You would always be those things to the people who followed you.” Strangely enough, I saw a shift in his expression. Was it regret? Was it reality? Good, let it be. “Let me go, Rex. Let me go and I won’t tell a soul, I promise. You know I am telling you the truth. I can’t lie to you. You can read my mind. I am not stupid, Rex. I am telling you the truth. I will go far away and never come back. You won’t have to worry.”

“You’ll never know what’s it is like. Nobody knows me. You think you do. You only know what you see. I thought you might be different.” I had no idea what he was talking about, but I felt that he was trying to connect with me in some kind of way. Or perhaps he was toying with me. That was a possibility. I was no one important, except for my relationship with Levi.

“I see you,” I whispered to him daringly. “I see you right now. It’s not too late, Rex. You can be who you truly are without doing anything terrible. Without hurting your fans. They trust you but you let these things in. You have some responsibility here.”

“Be mine, Lisa. Truly mine. You would make me happy, I think.” What was he proposing? That I become a vampire? That I become his girlfriend? What the hell was this? I really wasn’t anyone special. Just a girl whose boyfriend made a deal with Rex Teaser, a deal that apparently included his soul.

And maybe mine.

“I can’t do that, Rex. Hearts can’t be given away like cards on Valentine’s Day. I can’t just give you my heart.”

He pulled back and smiled sweetly, “No, but I can rip your heart right out of your chest. Quite easily too. I can do that, Lisa. But I won’t. Alright then, we will do this the hard way, if that’s how you prefer it. But there will be no one to protect you, you know. No one at all. And I know you have a secret--one that you would like very much to keep. They don’t know, but I know.”

I felt the blood drain from my face and instinctually my hand went to my belly. I was too early in my pregnancy to show, only two months but I was certain about it. Very certain. I meant to tell Levi after the concert, but now he may never know.

I can rip your heart out...

His threat was one that I would remember. Forever.

“And you think that if you have my ‘secret’ you’ll have what you want? Even if Levi doesn’t come for me?” It wasn’t a question. His satisfied expression verified my suspicions. His sexy full lips promised me nothing but pain. Either way, I go.

“What do you want from me?” I asked feeling my soul collapse beneath the weight of my responsibility. Not to myself, but to my baby. I had to stay alive if no reason but for him. Tears slid down my face as Rex opened the door of the cage.

“You will be mine. All mine. In every way possible.” It hadn’t been the answer I expected, but I believed every word of it and knew that he wouldn’t accept anything less than complete obedience.

He rose to his feet and extended his hand to me as the door opened. It hadn’t even been locked. How sad is that? How very sad. I hesitated, but what choice did I have? None. Not really. My soul had been laid bare before Rex, he knew the truth. What should have been a joyful experience, bringing a new life into the world, became too terrible an act to contemplate. Tears fell freely now, but I did not cry aloud or beg Rex to let me go. I wouldn’t do that again. There was no letting go. This couldn’t be the end. I had too much to live for. Too much to look forward to.

I had to believe that.

Until I stole back my freedom, I would do what I had to do to stay alive.

Whatever that meant. I stepped out of the cage and into the hallway with Rex. To my surprise, the concert corridor was lined with those familiar faces, rock stars and their lackeys, all of them. I recognized many of them from my favorite magazines, Tiger Teen. There were no smiles, but soft applause and a whole host of emotions. I could feel their thoughts. All of them at once. It was an overwhelming experience and it threatened to take me down.

Hate. Jealousy. Lust. Death. Hunger. Oh, lots of hatred. Much more of that.

As we walked the length of the corridor Rex’s entourage moved to the side with a tilt of their heads. He wasn’t hiding me but smiled down at me as if he truly loved and admired me. A rueful, lopsided smile stretched across his handsome face.

At the end of the corridor, he turned to glance at the crowd behind him. We were heading outside. The skies were clear and I could see the stars twinkling above us as if this was all normal. All of it. The tour bus was waiting for us, doors open, windows blocked out. It was black, all black.

Elegant Black...

Rex purred in my mind.

I felt a strange warmth creep up my arm, despite the fact that Rex’s cold skin was brushing against mine.

Was I going to die? Was that my fate?

No. You’re alive. One more day.

I nodded in surprise and pretended that I wasn’t shedding tears.

I stepped on the bus and the doors closed behind me.

Chapter Seven--Levi

Dawn was approaching and I was ready to put the night behind us. Surely they couldn’t abide the sunlight. Please, let that be true! I didn’t know the first thing about vampires before this horrible encounter. I knew too much now. What I needed to know was how to destroy them. How to defeat Rex Teaser and save Lisa from a fate worse than hell.

The creatures outside the cave had given up with their impersonations and rock-throwing, but I wasn't foolish enough to believe that they were gone completely. Who knew that vampires didn't care for salt? I sure didn't, but I was glad for Virgil's knowledge. Without him, we wouldn't have made it past the grow room doors.

Poor Jimmy. He was an ass, like most of my friends but he didn’t deserve that death.

Naomi was sleeping on her side while Jackson snored a few feet away from her. As always he slept flat on his back. Virgil wasn't making a sound, but I was pretty confident that he was asleep. He hadn't moved in quite a while. I was the only one unable to catch some winks. I would pay for it tomorrow-- if I lived that long. I heard the sound of light steps at the cave entrance. This wasn't the sounds of those hulking winged creatures. These were huge and there was no way they would be able to enter the cave without making a lot of noise. But this was the sound of a person, a human.

Or one that looked like a human. She didn't come inside far, but I could see her figure as I moved closer to the cave entrance. It was black outside, but not as black as it was inside this smelly hole. What now? Was I dreaming? No. I hadn't fallen asleep. This was actually happening.

By her long hair, I quickly knew who came to visit me. Queen Alice! The vampire I met briefly at the Crush nightclub. The one responsible for the death of Charles Coleman and maybe even Debbie! How many others? Yes, when I made the horrific deal with Rex to be his Sustainer she had been present. In fact, it was her kiss that took the memory away from me. Until I was to recall it later in horrible fashion.

Alice paused with her hands in front of her, fingers clasped together peacefully as if she were a Catholic school girl about to recite her first prayer. She wore her hair parted in the middle, her lovely face turned up to me. If I met her on the street I would put her at about eighteen. Maybe nineteen, but she was actually ancient. Ancient and evil. Oh, but those eyes. They sparkled with devilish delight.

No way could she be human.

"We meet again," she smiled as I scanned the outer fringes of her silhouette; I saw tiny puffs of smoke around her. Virgil was right. Vampires were very uncomfortable around salt. That settled it. I was never leaving this cave again.

“Where is Lisa? What do you want from us?" My eyes searched the periphery, but there was nothing to use as a weapon. What did one use as a defense against a vampire? Traditionally, or at least according to the movies, my options were stakes, crosses, and holy water. I had none of those available.

"I think you know why I am here. Really, Levi. I expected better questions from you."

“Where is Lisa? Where is my girlfriend?"

She smiled, but it was an impatient smile. "Why play games? You know where Lisa is and with whom. You know what I want. I cannot offer you a trade. You and I both know I have the upper hand. I am not in the mood for trading. Except maybe your life for the three of those behind you. Then again, one at least is a Sustainer so trade would not last very long. Sustainers are such a rare commodity. Sleeping peacefully, aren’t they?”

I swallowed; my voice appeared stuck in my throat.

“You wouldn't want anything to happen to them, would you? It's only a matter of time before you starve and I will be here. We are ageless. We can wait. For eternity, in fact."

"We can wait too,” I lied with no belief in my own declaration.

She laughed but it was a pretty, hollow sound. “For how long? A few days? A week at the most?”

“I know you need me–you need my blood. I am not going to give you anything. I want my girlfriend here now. Where is she?"

“Foolish boy. Mortals are so reckless. Like any man, mortal or immortal you have no patience. Imagine turning down what I offered you? What we offered you." She tsked at me and then said viciously, "Sustainer, you have an obligation! Unlike humans, vampires adhere to their promises, and you made a promise to us.”

“A promise you forced me to take. You know you did. What human would agree to become your slave?”

“You will come with me! You will keep your promise! You belong to Rex!" And to my surprise, my feet were moving in her direction. Slowly and with purpose, as if I were being manipulated like a puppet. Yes, that’s right and she was leading me out of the cave. I would have no say so in the matter. I would have no choice!

I belonged to the Frenzied. I’d signed over my permission to my own soul and for what? To be noticed by some rock and roll group? "Stop it!" I shouted until my mouth was shut by an invisible hand. Alice waved her fingers and the motion pulled me closer to her as if she had some sort of magical attachment tied around me. Closer and closer and then suddenly I heard Virgil’s voice behind me.

"Levi!"

It was just enough to distract Alice and with that distraction a bright light appeared. It was brighter than the sun. I heard a vehicle roll to a stop as Alice fell to her knees and began to scream maniacally. Four men-- no make that six, jumped out of the vehicle as Alice proned out face first on the ground, her body seizing under the power of the massive light.

What was happening? I felt her turn loose of me, those invisible fingers freed me. I watched in horror as the men threw a silver blanket over her and wrapped her up in it. She screamed like a captured animal and I guess in some ways she was. But I had no pity for her as she had none for me or anyone else. Virgil ran to the man leading the way.

"Agent Ford! How did you know we were here? I'm so glad to see you."

The man tucked his hat down on his head. It was a plain blue with no lettering on it at all. The other men wore matching hats. What was this? "Glad to see you too. Get the rest of your group and let's move out. Time is short and I want to get the cargo into the Lab without completely destroying her. You must be Levi. Nice to meet you. I'm Agent Ford."

"Nice to meet you, too. Yeah, I’m Levi."

Naomi and Jackson were on our heels and the four of us scurried out of the cave and into the massive vehicle that waited for us. It wasn't until I got inside and Naomi collapsed on my shoulder that I could breathe a sigh of relief.

Maybe now things would go in my favor.

Lisa, I’m coming baby! I haven’t forgotten you!

Chapter Eight--Levi

I must have fallen asleep because I jerked awake when the vehicle finally came to a stop. There were no windows to peek out of; nothing to do but wait for the doors to open. What was taking so long? Where exactly were we? Man, I sacked out. I’d been exhausted but I hadn’t been sleeping long. I could tell because my muscles were sore and achy. Always happened when I skipped sleep. There were other folks in this vehicle besides Virgil, Naomi, Jackson, and me; none of them looked friendly and they were all wearing shades and a sidearm. And Jackie was still asleep. Naoma reached over and shook him awake and he unhappily sat up.

"We will be safe here," Virgil promised with a twitchy smile. “We will be safe. Agent Ford is a good guy."

Pardon me if I don't take your word for it, I thought to myself. From somewhere nearby I heard a whisper in my head, a familiar voice pounded inside my brain.

Sustainer…

I climbed out of the vehicle and pretended nothing was happening. Pretended that the vampire wasn't in my mind; that she wasn't reaching out to me.

As if I would help you. How could you believe such a thing? You killed Debbie. I hope you die--I hope you rot.

No…Not me...

That was her lying reply and then there was nothing but silence. We were escorted through a chain-link fence down the sidewalk and then down concrete steps. I could see the lake in the distance. Had to be Big Creek Lake.

“Move forward, please,” the man behind me instructed. He nudged me along toward the a set of hidden steps that I could not see from the road. I wanted to take a look around, get a good grip on the layout but there wasn’t a chance of that happening..

“What is this place? Some kind of government institution?” Jackson queried the man with the gun that walked beside him. He didn’t respond. Yeah, I needed to take a look around. Get a glimpse beside and behind me to try to get my bearings, but Agent Ford wasn't having any of that. We’d barely gotten down the stairs when the door shut behind us and Ford lit into my father Virgil.

"You went way beyond the limit, Wallace. You put us all at risk by leaving. All of us! You could've gotten yourself killed on your little adventure and then what?”

“Clearly my little adventure had its advantages and now I have my family. I asked you for help, Agent Ford. I told you I was going. What more do you want? Debbie is dead. She's dead because I waited too long!” Virgil sobbed as he poked Ford in his bony chest with his index finger. “Debbie is gone! My daughter is dead!"

The agent’s face went soft with emotion. If he did know Debbie was dead he was a damn good actor. "For that, I'm truly sorry, Virgil. I did not know. I swear I didn't know. I...I thought they would be safe. I'm so sorry for your loss. You too, Mrs. Wallace and Levi. Listen, we can talk later. I’m sorry. For now, Priscilla, let's find these folks a bed to bunk in and some food to eat."

An older woman with a silver eye glasses approached me. "I don't want food. I want Lisa. Where is she? Tell me where to find her."

Agent Ford tapped my shoulder patiently. "She's alive and I am sure they plan to keep her alive. We know what they are after and they won’t risk losing her too. That much I do now. But beyond that, I have nothing to report. Now if you will excuse me, I have a vampire to secure. "

We watched as Agent Ford and his two goons hurried down the hall to another large door. He disappeared beyond them and I began to wonder exactly what kind of facility this was.

"And this is where you were hiding out? This is where you were vacationing while we were fighting for our lives? Every day, Virgil. Every day I had to fight to keep food in the house. And you were here?" I wanted nothing more than to press my forearm into my father's throat and pin him against the wall. Everything I loved had fallen apart and I need someone to blame.

Someone besides these vampires. They didn't know me. They weren't related to me. They weren't my parents. They were creatures for sure, but they had not abandoned me or sacrificed their family for their own happiness. Just looking at Naomi and Virgil sickened me. I didn’t have much love for Jackson either at the moment. Imagine being my friend and sleeping with my mother. What the hell?

The woman in the white coat cleared her throat. "Welcome aboard. Welcome to the Lab. As you heard, my name is Priscilla. I'll lead you to the residence section. The cafeteria is just next door to it. It is open 24/7 so just follow your nose when you get hungry.”

“How many people live down here?” Naomi asked nervously as she clutched her frumpy purse and ran a dirty hand through her equally dirty hair. “What were you doing down here, Virgil?”

“I can’t say,” Priscilla answered without making eye contact with any of us. “A few dozen probably. We do work in shifts so nobody stays all the time. Well, except for a few folks. Virgil your room is still open. Nobody touched a thing. Ma’am, you could room across the hall, if you like. This wing is empty. Each room has a small desk and a private shower. Actually, all of these rooms are large enough for two people, if you’d like to bunk together.” Priscilla said cheerfully, but I could see that she wasn’t sure how all this would work. Virgil, his wife, and her boyfriend did not make for a cheerful group. I pushed past them all and reached for the doorknob about three doors away. I didn’t want to be too close and I was exhausted. I was running on fumes and angry as hell.

“Hey, what about this one?”

“It’s available,” she answered as I walked inside and slammed the door. Unfortunately, the hydraulic hinges didn’t make it easy to slam.

Why? Why was I so angry? Debbie. Lisa. Everything I’d seen and experienced. That’s why.

I saw a full-sized bed and collapsed onto it. I wanted to cry, scream, beat my fists against the wall, but I had nothing left. I needed to sleep, damn it. My body was demanding sleep and food. I didn’t want to slow down at all, but I had no choice if I wanted to stay on my game.

And that damn vampire wouldn’t leave me alone.

It didn't take long for me to surrender to sleep and I was out cold, despite the vampire’s weak pleadings. I slept so hard I woke up drooling and wondering where the hell I landed. It wouldn’t be my first time waking up in a strange place. After washing my face, I heard a soft tap and thinking it had to be Naomi I opened it without question. No, she wasn't my favorite person, but she was still my mother and the only connection I had left to Debbie. Except for Virgil who I secretly blamed, or not so secretly blamed, for all of this. Imagine being down in this freaked out governmental commune while the rest of us were fighting for our lives and we didn't even know it.

What a douche!

To my surprise, it wasn’t Naomi standing in the hallway, but Jackson. My ex-best friend and homewrecker. He too had fallen asleep and looked a little more rested. Apparently, he found his way to the shower because his hair was still wet. I didn't ask him what's up or anything I just stood there.

"We need to talk."

“Get lost.”

"Come on, Levi. We've been friends for too long. You can't hate me, or blame me. You had to know they were on the outs. Neither one of us meant for this to happen. Can’t we just talk like two adults?"

I leaned against the door frame, but I wasn’t inclined to grant him entry. "I'm all talked out, Jackie. I've got other things on my mind. Like getting my life back. Adios." I slammed the door in his face, but again the hydraulic hinges wouldn't allow me to get a good slam. Before it closed completely I heard him say

“I need to go too, Levi. I have to go. Jewel and Randy are my responsibility and I would be the worst kind of man to allow the wolves to rip them to shreds. You know that. Look, I’m sorry about Debbie. She was a sweet kid, but you have to know this broke Naomi. Broke her. And she wasn’t firing on all six cylinders to start with.”

I answered with a sound of disgust. But I had no advice to offer him. My lack of emotion must have surprised him. He shrugged it off. “I've got to check on my old lady and my kid. You aren’t the only one hurting. I've got to get out of here and I need your help to do it. After all of this, you owe me that."

I pulled the door open and it slowly moved. “I owe you that? I owe you nothing. Whatever you think I owe you I'm sure Naomi has paid you in full."

Jackson flinched at my turn of phrase. “Don't talk about her like that. Naomi is a good woman. She’s just lost. Like all of us. Like you are. You wouldn't believe how much alike you two are in so many ways."

"Thanks, stepdad. I'll look for that on this year’s birthday card.”

"You’re a shit, Levi Wallace. You’re hard on everyone except yourself. You don’t give anyone a break. No one can live up to your expectations. Not even Lisa. You need a reality check and fast. This ain’t going to go down good for her if you don’t get it together. You’re all she’s got. I’m willing to help you, if you help me, but I’ve got to see Jewel and the kid too."

I pulled on the handle and opened the door wide again to allow him entry. I might regret this, but at least I could hear him out. He might have something important to say and I agreed with him. To an extent. I did set the bar too high, as my football coach would say. No, that’s wrong. He’d say I set the bar too low. That I didn’t expect enough from myself. Whatever. Couldn’t please everyone. No wonder I flubbed out in football.

Time to make a real plan.

Chapter Nine--The Creep

"Where is Alice? Bring her to me, Creep. Now!"

I couldn't help but laugh in his face. How dare the upstart believe that I ducked and fetched at his command. As if I were a teenage girl obsessed with his preening stroll or somewhat handsome face. How dare he believe that Alice our queen was his to command! He had so much to learn about how things worked amongst the Frenzied--of which he was a newcomer. There weren’t many of the older vampires on tour with us. This had been Alice’s idea, making this rocker the so-called king. 

I silently agreed with him that her absence was strange; I once found her in a butterfly garden weeping. She'd been there for quite some time and she was so depleted of blood that her skin was nearly translucent.

How would I feel if Queen Alice were truly in jeopardy? How would I feel? Would I feel sad? I wasn’t sure I could experience sadness anymore. No, I did not study my feelings. I could not risk Alice catching me plotting against her. Not that I would do such a thing. But this Rex Teaser was her problem, not mine. He had been a mistake to begin with.

I warned her that this was the wrong move to make, the wrong way to go.

We don’t need a king, Alice.

Deadly, powerful Queen Alice, we only need you. Come back to us and lead us. This is a new time, a modern time and we must change with the times. She’d listened to me for a while, but changed her mind again, as she frequently did. There were few of us left in her old counsel. Very few. Of the remaining three, only I traveled with her.

Despite my extreme dislike for her choice of consort, I would not leave such a powerful young vampire unattended. But I would certainly put him in his place if he didn't mind his manners. Even Emerus had been smarter than this silly pretense of a man.

“Where is she? You will not do. I don't want to see your face again. Leave me." Rex whined as he paced before me. He was a tall man--he stood a half a foot above me and tended to look down his nose to accentuate that height difference frequently. Why did I care how tall he stood? I would always be more powerful. I would always be stronger. I had nothing to fear from this Rex Teaser.

A seductive fragrance caught my attention. It was warm and inviting like an ancient perfume. The ancient balms were far more evocative than any perfumes found today. Perfumers of old knew their arts. They were careful to allow the scent to permeate in layers and they distilled the plants at the right time; such as when the moon was in the perfect position, or when the sky yielded the right warmth. It all depended on the plant or flower.

Yes, this fragrance was an ancient one.

Oh, my. It was gone.

I glanced about me, but there were only the Frenzied here. Rex and his band--which looked worse than before they became vampires--and a few of the stagehands, who had accidentally been changed. They all watched the two of us like owls in a haunted forest.

This entire tour would be a mess to clean up. From top to bottom. We’d already drawn far too much attention. Rex Teaser was becoming a complication. It wouldn't take long before others like Charles Coleman put it all together and the connection between the concert tour locations and the bodies wouldn’t be difficult to make. Drained bodies tended to draw attention. I didn't think for a minute that this Loomis had the wherewithal to track us down, but he might be the noisy spring in the trap. As they say in modern culture, it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. And there was much squeaking going on now.

The aroma was back!

I smelled it again and wanted to get lost in it. Just a hint of citrus and amber and the holy incense that once permeated Egypt. But there was no one here that smelled so wonderful. Not any of the Frenzied and the only human present was the dancer.

The pretty dark-haired girl with wistful eyes. But this couldn't be her scent. I had taken deep breaths of her before and would have noticed such an intoxicating odor. I couldn't understand it.

Rex observed my interest and immediately changed his tone, which heightened my distrust of him. No, I didn't trust the so-called King of Rock and Roll. I certainly didn't expect he would tell me the truth if I were to ask it of him.

“I told you to leave. I will repeat my earlier statement: I do not want to see you again." And with a dismissive flick of his wrist, he turned his back on me. What a mistake to make. My hand shot out and I grabbed him about the back of his neck. I lifted him a few inches off the ground before dropping him. He sprang to his feet like an angry cat and growled at me. I took the opportunity to repeat the process only this time we were face-to-face and I did not let him go. I wanted him and all his “family” to see who was truly the most powerful between us.

"Do not make that mistake again. You may be the king, but in name only, I promise you that. If you are hungry then I suggest you feed but you will change your tone with me. I am not beneath you; I am beneath no one except Alice. And when she comes back, when she returns, she will judge between you and me."

With a quick choke I deposited him again and this time he landed on his feet. He rocked a little in his boots and his fists were clenched tight, but he did not take the bait. The other musicians stood behind their friend as if they stood a chance against me. I needed no entourage, nor did I need a friend. There were no friends amongst the Frenzied. Only positions to be attained to and often with much blood and suffering. The sooner he learned that the better things would go for him.

"I suggest you get busy with the song you promised the queen. Elegant Death, it’s called, correct? Do the gig and finish the song. That is all that is required of you." To the girl in the cage who curiously was not caged now, I said, “You should see that he stays inspired, young lady.”

"Where is the queen and where is my Sustainer? This is not what I was promised! All this murder--all this killing! We were promised a Sustainer! Bring him to me or I will tear this place to the ground. I will tear her up too." He did not look in Lisa’s direction but pointed at her rather awkwardly.

Oh my. The King of Rock and Roll had developed an attachment. Ah, what a risk, making such a high profile personality one of the Frenzied. I would have to kill him. How unfortunate for him.

Maybe the queen would kill him? I would leave it to her pleasure.

"What will you threaten me with? Do as you like. Tear this place up. Tear her up, as you say. I did not make you--I do not even like you. If you have anything against your queen, if you have regret over becoming one of us, I suggest you speak with her. I will let her know that you inquired about her well-being. It will be time to perform soon. Would you like some blood now, or do you want to wait?" I saw him melt before me. Just the mention of blood made him hungry for it. For all his pompous bluster he was a slave to his new hunger just as much as the rest of us. I could see that his teeth had gotten slightly longer. This was a clear indication that he was indeed very hungry and certainly not thinking clearly.

"I need blood now."

With a glint of a smile I joked, “I suppose it's too much to ask to hear you say please.”

I laughed as Rex raised his right shoulder as if he were fending off a blow. Oh, but he was a proud boy. I laughed again. No, he wasn’t meant to be one of us. He had no stomach for this life, such as it was and as it would be.

For all eternity.

I offered a mock bow. “Yes, my king. I will send you someone and when the queen arrives I will let her know that you wish to air your grievances with her.” With one last glance at the trembling girl on the couch behind him, I added, “I am sure you have a lot to talk about.”

I left laughing and firmly committed to killing Rex Teaser in the most horrible of ways. If only I could figure out what that would be? My feverish mind raced with the possibilities.

Hmm...

Chapter Ten--Lisa

“Everyone out! Go find your own food!” He said as his band grumbled and cursed at him. The one that wore too much eyeliner was so angry he could spit and in fact, he did spit. On the ground in front of Rex. They were clearly not happy with one another. Rex had believed Alice’s promises to live by the blood of a Sustainer and for some reason he believed that Levi would be strong enough to feed his entire band.

Rex wasn’t happy about this turn of events, having been sold on the idea of immortality with no strings attached, but outside of Queen Alice, no one cared. Not anyone amongst the Frenzied. 

I wondered at what all this meant but then remembered myself. I had to train my mind to stay on subjects that would not anger Rex or cause him to suspect me of planning anything. Keep your thoughts under control, Lisa, because Rex can read you like a book. As a kind of defense, I began to summon up the Gettysburg Address again when he growled at me.

"Stop it, Lisa." His full lips were pale pink, not their usual red. His front teeth were odd now, the incisors showing slightly. No doubt he was hungry. Even as I recognized his hunger he smiled in my direction completely forgetting that he was angry with me. In the blink of an eye he went from angry to aroused--and ravenous. “You do not understand the hunger I feel. I need you. Help me, Lisa. Let me feel your warm flesh, your lively bones beneath mine. Let me live again. Help me,” His seductive tones did not belay my fears. Neither did his tears. Yes, those large, almond-shaped eyes were luminous with unshed tears. Imagine that the leader of the Black Knights, the most popular rock star on the planet wanted me, needed me. It was beyond my reckoning and every girl’s dream, except he was truly Elegant Death.

Murder with a sexy voice. The practical side of me knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Rex Teaser would not be satisfied with a single sexual encounter. Even if I were to allow myself to be seduced by him it would not be enough.

And my baby.

"No, Rex. Think about this. He said he was sending someone. Please." I pleaded as I backed away from him, but there was nowhere to go. We were alone now, just the two of us. He could kill me and nobody would be the wiser. Dead bodies disappeared without a trace wherever this tour went. Didn’t anyone know? Didn’t anyone care?

On the tour bus, I had been fortunate enough to be left alone, the Frenzied slept together in the back of the bus with the blackout windows while I was left alone to sleep under the table like Rex’s dog, but occasionally the band sniffed in my direction. As the baby grew it would be more difficult to hide the fact that he had an appealing scent. I was sure that Rex would not be able to protect me, nor would he have the heart to do so as he clearly regretted his decision of making me his own.

Whatever that meant.

I assumed that I would be his lover, I was certainly no Sustainer, but I could be food.

A one time meal. I would not survive a mauling at his hands.

"Think about it, Rex. Think about this. We have to remember my secret. What will this do to...my secret?” I couldn’t bring myself to say baby. That would make the horror of this situation that much more real. Rex tilted his head at me; it was an odd angle and didn’t give me hope. An inhuman move, but luckily for me before he pronounced judgment, there was a tap at the door. Bryce had returned along with a woman. I immediately took note of her appearance as I was sure one day someone would ask me about her. She sported a light brown Afro, probably in her late thirties with large gold earrings and a gold pendant necklace. She smiled nervously as she clutched her notebook and pen. She wore eyeglasses, oversized pink eyeglasses which were perched at the end of her tiny nose.

"Are you up to an interview, your majesty?" Bryce asked without hiding his sarcasm. “I thought maybe an interview with the whole band? It would be good to include us all, mate.” Without getting into the details I knew exactly what was happening here. Bryce wanted to feed on the reporter, and so did the band. They would all feed on her and probably tear her from limb to limb. That was certainly a possibility. I didn’t think for one minute Rex wanted to conduct an interview. He strolled to the table and picked up his pack of cigarettes. Slinging one out, he lit it lazily and eyed his possible victim. I could almost hear his mind singing with joy.

“No, not at this time, Bryce. Just this pretty lady and myself. What is your name, dear?”

“Erma Logan. I would be happy to interview the entire band, but you’re why I am here. I am so honored that you would see me and just minutes before the concert. I have so many questions for you, Rex.”

Rex smiled with some amusement as he dismissed Bryce with the wave of his fingers. He was good at doing that, dismissing people. I could feel the tension rising in my throat.

"Rex, please," I whispered wondering without truly wondering what was about to happen. This woman was going to die. She was going to die in the most horrible way and there was nothing I could do about it except reason with him. But what reasoning was there with a blood-hungry vampire? Just as I've been forced to make a decision between Jessica and myself the other day, I was now forced to make the decision to live not only for me but for my child. When he growled slightly I shut my mouth. I removed myself from the couch and went to the corner of the room to sit in a lonely blue chair.

Suddenly, the radio kicked on and the woman settled on the couch with her purse, notebook and apparently a handheld recorder. She didn’t speak to me, but ignored me, as most people did nowadays. I twisted the ends of my long hair nervously as Rex joined her on the couch. He flashed a devilish smile at me momentarily, but then all attention was on her. And she welcomed it.

“I’ve been hoping to speak with you for some time. I’m with Voyeur Magazine, we have chronicled your work for years.”

“For years? Would you like something to drink?” He took a long drag off his cigarette.

“No, thank you. I don’t drink. If you don’t mind, I’d like to turn this on, to record the interview. It’s common practice nowadays. I don’t want to misquote you,” Erma Logan offered up a plastic smile. She was all business, unaware that this would be her last interview.

Forever.

“Do you mind if I drink?”

Say no. Say no, lady!

“Sure, go ahead, Rex. If it helps you loosen up.”

“Oh, it helps me a great deal. And thank you.” Rex flicked his cigarette on the floor behind them. I stared at the smoke as the cigarette burned on the bare floor. These backstage rooms were always disgusting, I’d seen far too many concert backstages recently.

The woman screamed briefly, but I couldn’t look. Rex was on top of her, his long wiry body covering her completely. She moaned once and then there was nothing to hear, except Rex who was infused with her blood quickly. He was on his feet and walking to the door.

“Come on then, Bryce. You can have her. I left her for you.” Bryce wasted no time making his way to the near dead body. His face was the picture of evil, dark, soulless eyes, pinched cheeks, and dead looking skin. The others poured in behind him. Now I couldn’t help but look at the sight of the band crawling over Erma stealing the rest of her life. She was dead and a red-lipped Rex Teaser was coming for me. Not for my blood but for something else. I had a choice.

Fight and die or give in and live. His lips were on mine. I gagged at the taste of blood in my mouth. Undoubtedly Erma’s blood.

Strangely enough my disgust melted away, my body yielded to him. I smelled him, tasted him, wanted him. Oh God! What is wrong with me? I wanted Rex!

No! Levi!

But images of Levi vanished as Rex carried me out of the room and into another. A room I’d never seen before. A comfortable room with purple painted walls, scented candles, and a soft bed. Was this real or an illusion?

A bed just for us.

We fell into the silk sheets together.

Chapter Eleven--Virgil

“Look, Virgil. We need answers. Enough of this covert, secret agent bullshit. What the hell are we doing here? What is this place? Better yet how can we get out of here?" Levi tossed his spoon into his half-eaten plate and shoved it to the side.

The four of us were sitting together in the cafeteria. We half-heartedly raided the refrigerator and pantry. Naomi had smartly stashed bags of chips and other snacks for our escape. We’d already agreed that that was the goal. We couldn’t just sit back and let the rock and roll world be decimated by the Frenzied. The cafeteria staff had gone missing along with the rest of the residents sometime during the night. Or day. I was already confused about the time.

It was clear to me, although the rest of the group hadn’t quite caught on that we were being kept prisoners. In soft cells. For a reason. Agent Ford was making sure that there wasn't a repeat performance of what happened with me. We weren't leaving anytime soon. We weren't to interfere. We wouldn’t be rescuing Lisa. That's what I gathered. As heartbreaking as it sounded it was the truth of the matter. Even though it was absolutely contrary to what one wanted to believe about his or her own government this was the truth.

The Agency was going to resume its defensive posture. They were good at sitting back and watching. As if that were a strategy. That meant Lisa Dance was going to be sacrificed for the greater good. I barely had the stomach to say that to Levi but now was the time to be honest. I wasn't going to hide anything from my family anymore.

"They don’t want you to find her. They didn’t want me to bring you here either. And, I lost my job, Naomi. I lost my job at Hoffman about two years ago."

"What? Why?” Naomi gasped at my confession. Levi didn’t appear as if he believed me. About Lisa at any rate. He always knew I was a loser. I assumed he’d figured me out a long time ago.

"Because I have sticky fingers and wanted a little extra. I was doing some side jobs for another group, providing them with information. I got caught.”

Naomi put her hand to her mouth briefly. “Selling secrets? Selling corporate secrets, Virgil? How could you?”

I did not remind her that she’d agreed a long time ago to get a job to help make ends meet. Once Debbie is in high school I’ll find something. That had been her promise for years but it didn’t happen. She did nothing, except drift away from me. She even stopped waiting up for me at night.

“Huffman agreed to let me go and not press any charges but I lost my job, my reputation, my retirement fund. I lost everything. You didn't even notice." I had meant to tag on that indictment but it was still shocking to me that she hadn't noticed a thing. Didn't observe that I was not wearing my suit every day. Didn't see that I was no longer dragging her to countless board dinners and events with the company. It was as if she were relieved. Her expression said it all.

Disappointment. Always disappointment.

Jackson slid out from the table and awkwardly cleared his throat. “Uh, I'm going to get a can of soda. Anyone want anything?” Nobody wanted a thing except for this conversation to be over but I was on a roll now and I was going to tell it all.

"After that, I got some work, equally bad but certainly not as well paying. I got messed up with the wrong kind of people. People that didn’t take no for an answer when you owed them money. I was in trouble. I didn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel until I got the call about a job."

Naomi interrupted me. Her speech slurred slightly leading me to believe she’d taken her “medication” recently. How long until she ran out? Would the Agency provide her with more Valium? "You mean to say that after all of that struggle and effort, after all we went through you lost your job? Why did we even go through that? You got a degree for God’s sake! I couldn’t get my degree because of you. Why would you work for the mob? That's what you're talking about, isn't it?” Naomi’s pupils were doing weird things. Clearly, the drugs were having an effect on her. “Your cousin Dale.” That wasn’t a question, more like an indictment--and certainly the truth. “I can't believe you. You lied to me all this time."

"You lied to me every day, Naomi. Every day. Don't pretend you didn't." Our son slapped his hands on the table.

"Enough! I don't want to hear all this garbage. You can do your bitch session later. I want to hear the rest. How did you get here, Virgil? What is this place and how do we get out?" I glanced around the room looking for cameras but I didn't see anything obvious. That didn't mean they weren't listening or that they weren't watching. They were always listening and always watching.

Being purposefully vague I spoke in low tones. “I was delivering something for somebody. I can't tell you more than that. As I dropped off the delivery and went to leave I was assaulted. He got me from behind and took me to the ground. It happened so damn fast. I would later find out his name was Nikolai but they call him something else. He’d come looking for the guy I was working for and found me instead. I am pretty sure I was set up."

"Dark hair? About my height?” Levi asked me curiously.

“Yeah, why?”

“The Creep. That’s who started hassling me first; after I got the letter from the radio station. Dark, shaggy hair. Kind of raunchy looking?" I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, that's him. Anyway, that’s how I found out that I had this unique blood. Blood that they all wanted.” I rubbed my tired eyes and cleaned my glasses with my handkerchief before putting them back on. “It’s not just a type; it's our DNA that makes us much more substantial than their usual blood diet."

Levi asked the million dollar question, "And that's me too, right? I’m what they call a Sustainer."

"Yes, that's you but it's also your mother. Only her drug habit keeps her under the radar. It dims her scent."

Naomi visibly flinched at my observation but she didn’t argue with me about it. How could she? "And Debbie?" Naomi asked, her expressive eyes relaying the depths of sadness she was experiencing.

"No. Not all children of Sustainers become Sustainers themselves. If she was similar to us she may not have survived anyway, if the attack was savage enough. Even though we have special blood we are only human. The human body can only take so much blood loss and trauma. I am sorry to be so blunt but you want the truth,” I eyed Levi who closed his eyes for a moment. 

Naomi sobbed into her hand. "Why didn't you tell us this, Virgil?"

Levi answered for me. “Because he doesn't want to be seen as a failure. That’s his fatal flaw. But enough about our broken family. How do we get out of here? How did you do it?"

Jackson returned with his soda and sat beside Levi.

"I thought I was being clever. I used a card to get out. It’s a relatively new technology but these cards make it easy to move around the facility. The key cards are just that, they open doors.  They are some kind of computer lock. I wish I’d thought of it. That’s a million dollar idea." It was a difficult admission since my job at Huffman had been Chief of Technology. We were on the verge of breaking into all of this computer stuff when I got let go.”

“Fired, you mean fired.” Levi shook his head. “I would have been there if you’d included me. Debbie would have forgiven you.”

“Thank you for saying that. Of course, I have no one to blame but myself. Not really. I, Virgil Wallace, am my own worst enemy. Anyway, I grabbed the card and went up the same steps we used. I found keys in the van and headed towards home."

Levi twisted a straw in his fingers nervously. "How did you know where to go? How did you know where to find us?"

"I guessed."

"That's bull," he declared as he kicked back and eyed me suspiciously. “You aren’t that smart.”

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, maybe that’s true but that's the answer I'm giving you. I took a shot on finding you at Jimmy's. That's usually where you liked to hang out to get high. You guys were so close to getting busted. You have no idea."

Jackson and Levi passed a surprised glance to one another but neither confirmed nor denied they ever got high.

"How did you get away from the Creep? He's pretty powerful."

I looked down at my hands. I was so cold and my wound throbbed on my back. I rubbed them together to warm them up.

"The Agency. They found me. I'm not even sure how I got on their radar. I'm not sure if it was just an accident or what but they found me. I can thank them for that, at least. They scooped me up in their van and brought me here. I was out of it for weeks and then when I came to you I was made to understand what happened to me. I have the scars to prove it; if you'd like to see them.”

Naomi accepted Jackson’s can of soda and took a swig before passing it back to him. A tad too personal for me but I didn’t complain about it. I’d abandoned my family for my own safety. “What kind of scar?” 

“I have a wound. One that won't heal. I had some kind of infection that they can't figure out. They’ve been studying me but I don't know much more than that.”

Levi interrupted me, “And they just let you walk out of here? Don’t you see they let you leave? They let you steal that van. Virgil.”

“I don’t know that and neither do you. It’s possible. At the time I thought they just let their guard down. Did they know that I was going to come find you all along? I'm not sure. I don't regret going but of course, I regret not going sooner. I hope you guys can forgive me. Eventually."

To my surprise, my wife reached over and squeezed my hand momentarily. She's always been good at comforting people. I squeezed her hand back.

"Thank you."

Levi did not thank me but brushed off the emotional exchange with his typical eye roll. “Okay, Virgil. How do we get out of here and where are we exactly?"

"We are about fifty miles from our house. So it'll take us a good hour, hour and a half to get back. The questions are how do we get there and how to get out of this building? I'm pretty sure they aren’t stupid enough to leave the keys lying around again. We will need a vehicle and we need a way to get these locks open. The only thing we can do," and I lowered my voice to share this idea, "is to wait until one of them comes back. Then we overtake them and steal the key. That's it's the only way. But it doesn't look like they're in any hurry to come back here. There is another residence hall and all of their computers and offices are located in the middle between the two halls. That's probably where they are keeping her. You know...her. I don’t want to say her name too loudly.”

Jackson said dryly, “Ford is so busy studying her they aren't worried about any of us or our loved ones.”

"Let me see your wound, Virgil. Where is it?" Naomi asked in her pretty voice. She’d always hoped to go to nursing school. Another dream lost. I felt uncomfortable at the prospect of bearing my body to my family but they wanted to know the truth. They wanted to see the truth. I pulled off my turtleneck and twisted in the seat to show my back. I wasn’t prepared for their collective gasps.

“As you can see, the Creep’s fang marks left a permanent scar. It’s decayed and the bite left an area about four inches wide. Like a black widow spider leaves. It killed the skin and it is deep in the flesh too. The Agency has worked on it for quite a while and they stopped the spread of the decay but the hole is having a difficult time healing."

Naomi asked softly, “Are you in a lot of pain?”

"Strangely enough it doesn't really hurt anymore. It does make me tired and sometimes I get sick but I'm feeling better than I did." Even Levi’s eyes were worried. That was something at least. Only took a four inch wide hole in my back to move my son’s heart.

"I thought a Sustainer was supposed to repel the poison? I thought that you and I were immune to it?"

"Typically, yes but the Creep is no typical creature. That’s what they tell me. He is incredibly strong and venomous, some sort of creature hybrid that they can’t identify. I can't say anything else about it because that is all I know."

Jackson shivered at the sight as I put my shirt back on. “Sorry, man. I had no idea. I for one am not for waiting around until one of these so-called agents come back. They could wait us out for months with all the food and everything we have at our fingertips. Maybe that was their plan?”

Levi added sourly, “Yeah, and we could knock on doors until the cows come home and they could ignore us. What else can we do? There's no air vent or attic or basement or anything like that?"

It felt good to have my shirt back on. I was extremely cold now. "Not that I've seen but there is another way. There is someone that might be able to help us. If they haven't weakened her to the point where she can't communicate. She’s reached out to you, hasn’t she?”

Levi didn’t answer right away but eventually, he came out with it. “Yes, but I haven’t made it easy for her. I told her to get lost.”

“She’s the key. She can move things, like locks, when she’s willing--and when she is strong.”

Naomi said in her quiet voice, "I don't like the sound of this at all, Virgil. I don't like it. Are you suggesting that Levi speak to this creature and ask for her help?"

I squeeze her hand and then remembered myself. We were husband and wife in name only but at least now we could try to be friends. Maybe. If I could manage to get us out of here without getting our son killed. “It’s the only way, Naomi. The only way I can think of.”

She wasn’t going for it. “Keep thinking. There has to be another way.”

Levi rose from the table. “There’s not. I have to do this. Come on, Virgil. Show me how. Let’s get this over with.”

The four of us left the cafeteria and headed to the common area. It was closer to the Lab which I assumed would help us connect with Alice.

Time to wake up the queen.

Chapter Twelve--Levi

Naomi left us to our own devices. She wanted no part of this and made that quite clear. Jackie tried to reason with her but there was no changing her mind. Naomi stormed out of the common room and presumably went to her own bedroom to either cry herself to sleep or take another pill and forget all about it. I hated that but there was nothing for it. There was no going back now. Virgil guided me through the process of focusing my mind on Alice, visualizing her, reaching out to her. I didn’t ask how he knew all about this hippy stuff, but I found it humorous that he could lead a guided meditation. The trick was to talk to be open to Alice and speak with her not just with my voice but with my brain. It was harder than I first thought. I’d always been on the receiving end of these mental invasions, never the one making the call out.

It didn't take me long to connect with Alice.

“Hey, can you hear me? I'm not sure how to do this so I hope you can hear me. Hey, Alice. It's me. Levi Wallace."

Lee-vi...

Her voice had a dreamy quality, kind of like Naomi when she overindulged with her nerve pills. It sounded distant as if Alice were whispering to me from the stars or some cloudy space above us.

Lee-vi. You there?

I cleared my throat nervously and kept my eyes closed as Virgil reminded me. God, this was uncomfortable. Her voice made my skin crawl.

“Yes, I’m here. I need your help, Alice.”

Help...Weak...Can't...

"She said she's too weak,” I conveyed the information to Virgil and Jackie. “She says she can't help.”

“Keep trying, son. She’s our only hope. Focus on Alice; not us. Focus on her.” 

I took an even breath and leaned back in the chair in an attempt at relaxing, which was supposed to help me focus harder on connecting with Alice, according to Virgil, at any rate. Who the hell knew? This was some serious voodoo, mine screw crap. I decided to try talking to her with just my mind. I already had a plan and knew what I wanted to say to her. I knew how far I was willing to go to get this creature to help me. I knew but nobody else did.

I reached for her clumsily, like a teenage boy on his first date reaches for his sweetheart. I wouldn’t speak aloud what I had to say. Virgil would argue me down but this was the way it would have to be.

Alice, can you hear me like this?

Yes, Levi. This is better. Stronger.

Good.What now genius? What are you going to do now?

Locked in here. You have Lisa. I want her alive. If you help me, I will help you.

Help? Help how, Levi?

Give me Lisa and you can have me.

"What is she saying, Levi? Is she there?" Jackson asked nervously as my father reminded him to keep quiet.

"Yeah, she's here. Hold on. I can’t talk to both of you."

I will not let you out if you are going to kill my family. You killed Debbie. I owe you for that. I will not forget.

Debbie? What Debbie?

My sister. You killed my sister. I will not forgive you for that.

No. Not me. Nikolai. Help…Levi...

I shook my head unsure about her denial. Could she really be innocent? What vampire was innocent? None that I knew and I knew far too many at this point.

I can have you? Promise, Levi?

Yes, I promise but Lisa has to live and these that are with me. You cannot hurt them.

These?

Virgil, Naomi, and Jackson. Do not pretend you don't know who's here. I can feel you moving around the room, Alice.

I didn't hear her laughter but I sensed it. Wicked laughter.

Strong. Levi is strong. I am happy.

Promise. I know that you have to stick to your promises. I know that about you. Promise me, Alice.

Prom-iss, Levi. Lisa for you.

Lisa for me.

Promise, Levi?

Tears streamed down my face. I felt Virgil's hand on me. He was trying to calm me down, give me advice. I didn’t hear a word he was saying to me. I ignored him because I didn't want to answer his questions and I was sure he would have many.

Rex. Alice whispered his name with fervor.

What about him?

I can see…Lisa is with Rex. He wants to make her one. I see him...

One of you?

Yes… One of me. Soon, Levi.

We have to stop him, Alice or no deal. I will kill him if he hurts her.

Nooo! You will kill no vampire. Those are mine. Mine to kill.

Lisa better be alive.

She laughed again but did not answer me right away.

“Alice?” I asked aloud. “Where did you go?”

I go see. Very much alive. More laughter. I didn’t like the sound of that.

“Now what? Alice?”

We swim...come to me.

“Swim?”

Come now...I will show you...Levi...

Chapter Thirteen--Levi

Without warning the green lights on the white painted ceilings above us began to flash and until that very second, I hadn't even realized that there were green lights on the ceiling. Or that the place was rigged with alarms. Along with the flashing lights, the normal lighting dimmed and a terrible screeching sound, like a tornado siren, blared through the place. And then just a few milliseconds after that, the doors connected the residence hall to the inner rooms began popping open.

Naomi reappeared in the common room clearly shaken by what was happening. She was still clutching her fringed purse and her blonde hair wildly framed her pale face. “Levi?”

Virgil grabbed my hand, “What did Alice say? What's going on? Tell us! This is Alice’s doing, isn’t it?"

I rubbed my face and watched Jackson who was heading down the hall without waiting for us. So much for going together, huh? "She said we were going to swim. I don’t know what that means. There’s no water down here.”

My confession puzzled Virgil but only for a few seconds. He snapped his fingers. “She's talking about the lake. We're so close to the lake. There's no other water source that can do what she needs. Alice is going to flood this place; they’ll have to open the doors if the place is flooded."

“I can’t swim!” Naomi confessed as she held on to Virgil with both hands. “You know I can’t swim, Virgil! What do we do? I have to get out of here!”

"She’s right but I have to get Alice out too. Go!” But neither one of them listened to me. Not at all and Jackson wasn’t waiting for us either. He disappeared down the hall. Old buddy, best friend, my ass. Surprised Agency folks were scrambling around trying to figure out what was happening. We walked through two hallways before someone tried to stop us.

"Hey! This place this area is off-limits to civilians! You can't be in here!”

“You don’t understand, this place is going to flood. Please, you have to let us out. All of us!” I begged the closest person, a man holding a clipboard and a set of silver keys. He wasn’t wearing a white Lab coat but was dressed like a security guard. “Where is Agent Ford?”

Suddenly the man's eyes rolled back in his head and he simply collapsed into the chair behind him. Once again I could feel Alice’s laughter around me.

Closer, Levi.

The security guard’s partner who was about ten feet away witnessed all this and smartly didn't come at us. The outer doors were opening, I could hear them. Water began to fill the place. Cold icy water.

Levi…here...in here...

Another door that led to a smaller unlit room unlocked and inside the room nothing but blackness. Whatever was in this room had no lighting whatsoever.

“Virgil! Take Naomi and Jackson and get out of here.”

Yes, just Levi…

“I’m not leaving you,” Naomi swore as the water rose to her knees. “Levi, come on!” She was sobbing now. Virgil was holding her but he looked as unsure and nervous as she did. I had no words of comfort to give them. What did they want from me? The doors were open--they needed to make a run for it!

“Please, listen to me, Virgil. I have to help Alice. You can’t be here; I have to go in alone. It’s not safe for you--either of you. I’m not arguing about this. Get out of here, Virgil! Take her and go!”

I waded through the cold water towards the opened door. A woman in a white coat warned me not to go in. When she saw I wasn’t listening she added some colorful language to her threat but it did not deter me. As she reached for me she got slapped by an invisible hand for her trouble. Alice, don’t kill her! The woman fell back in the water but she wasn’t harmed in any significant way. She rose out of the water rubbing her face with both hands. She moved quickly in the opposite direction.

I gave Virgil one last look. I hoped it conveyed all I mean to say.

I forgive you. It’s okay. This is my decision. I have to do this.

Whether he got the message or not he nodded briefly and led Naomi out by her shoulders. A trio of white coats scrambled towards me. I hurried through the open door and watched in surprise as it closed behind me. The white coats were banging on the door but there were no windows and it was pitch black in here. I couldn't open it if I wanted to. I hope they had enough sense to get out of here. I stumbled forward remembering that I had seen the edge of a silver cylinder as I came in. Was that a silver coffin? No doubt it was something similar. Probably insulated with salt. No wonder Alice was weak.

I tapped on the cylinder with my knuckles trying to feel my way around for a latch or an opening of some sort. I could see none.

"Alice? It's me. Levi. Are you there?"

Levi. Help. Too weak now.

"Just a little bit more. Tell me what to do. I can’t find the handle! Alice!”

At least the water wasn’t coming in this room but the building creaked and made weird sounds all around me. It was certainly possible that I would be crushed and I was no damn immortal! “Alice!” I screamed as I smacked the smooth human-sized canister. I couldn’t see a thing but I must have hit the right button because it cracked open. Yes, there were flat buttons on the surface of the canister. I heard a hissing sound, like the kind of hissing you hear when big trucks release their hydraulics. And I could feel the canister moving beneath me. It was opening!

The floor had a few inches of water in it; I sloshed backward, my eyes blinking furiously in an attempt at adjusting to the light. I couldn’t see a thing; it was darker than the salt cave.

Le-vi…help…

“Help you do what?” I asked nervously. “It is opening. You can get out, Alice. You are free!”

No, can’t rise...Levi, help…

Her voice in my head pleaded pitifully with me but I was suspicious. She could easily kill me and nobody could stop her.

No. Not kill. Lisa. Help Lisa. You for her.

With some misgivings, I sloshed back to the open cylinder and peered into the void.

With the quickness of a striking cobra, Alice’s hand flew out of the canister and pulled my neck to her mouth. She wasn’t even present, not in a real way.

I could hear her thoughts...so hungry. So hungry! Her thoughts were so much larger than mine, much more all-consuming. They weren’t my thoughts anymore.

There was no Levi only Alice. Beautiful Alice. Queen Alice.

Only Alice.

Le-vi...I need you, Levi.

As I lay in her grasp I believed her. I believed she needed me but that did not negate the terror I experienced. A few seconds later I was sliding to the floor, grasping my neck with one hand. It was still bleeding and I wanted to do nothing but weep. That had been one of the most traumatic experiences of my life.

Why was I here? Was I going to die? Lisa?

A subtle movement behind me interested me but I was in shock. Too shocked to fight Alice off if she came at me again.

“Get up. You are young and healthy. I did not kill you, Sustainer. No time for this, Levi. We must get out.” She stood over me and I could feel her impatient stare, even in the darkness. “I will open the door but you must be ready.”

“Ready for what?” I asked as I struggled to my feet.

“For the water. I will open the door--move to the side. I am strong now. Very strong. Thank you, Levi.”

“Uh, you’re welcome?” The door snapped off the hinges and water poured into the room with the power of a breaking damn. “Oh God! I’m going to drown! Where is the exit?”

“I’ll show you, Levi. I will show you. Take my hand. I can swim fast. Hold your breath now. We will go!”

I gasped one last breath of air as she dragged me beneath the surface of the water and suddenly, I was flying through the water. There were no air pockets, only lake water, I could even see fish swimming by looking lost and confused.

I have to breathe!

You are a baby. You can do this…

No, Alice. I need…

My body shook with pain. How long had it been, only thirty seconds? Surely not a minute.

Too much smoking.

Then her lips were on mine and she pumped air into my mouth as I forced carbon monoxide out my nose as she commanded me. It was a trippy experience but it was enough to provide the air I needed. I could see the light at the literal end of the tunnel. Alice shuddered beside me but she did not slow her swimming.

It was light outside. Bright afternoon light. How was she going to get out? She’d burn up if she were left outside. Wouldn’t she?

Won’t this burn you, Alice?

Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. Probably yes.

How am I going to help you?

The van...the one with no windows. Carry me, Levi!

The water vibrated and as I stepped out into the sandy ground I realized the earth was shaking too. Could this be a result of the water being redirected? Alice lay on the ground beside me; her pale white skin smoked slightly, her glittering blue eyes bore into mine. Her wet hair, long and dark clung to her like a giant, black octopus.

“There she is! Stop, Wallace!” Agent Ford screamed at me or Virgil, I wasn’t sure which. Whichever Wallace he meant he was coming for Alice.

“Virgil! Dad! Help me with her! We have to get her to the van!”

Without questioning me, my waterlogged father helped me pick up a squirming Alice and together we shoved her in the nearby van. The vehicle cranked on its own and Naomi was screaming Jackson’s name as she spun around in circles. Her boyfriend was nowhere to be found.

Good, I hoped he died in the desert!

“Naomi! Get in the van! Now!” I shouted at her as I held the door open. Virgil had shoved Alice toward the back of the van and was covering her face with his wet jacket.

Close the door! This hurts!

Alice, where is Lisa?

I will take you! We have to go!  Remember your promise, Le-vi. You for her. Promise?

Promise.

I slammed the van door. The van doors locked and I waved at Naomi one last time. She wouldn’t budge. She shook her head and backed away.

“Go, Levi! Just go! She’s made her decision!” Virgil yelled at me as he closed the partition between us. Keeping the curtained partition closed would help protect Alice from the sun’s harmful rays. I hoped it was enough protection. A few others were racing to their vehicles too but apparently, their vans weren’t starting. Alice was still trying to help us. Maybe she would do exactly what she said.

Maybe I finally caught a break.

I spun the van around and headed out across the desert.

Chapter Fourteen--Lisa

The music thumped and resonated through and around me as I hung from the top of the cage and waved to the cheering audience. First I hung by one hand and then another as my lower body twisted and I did the splits with my legs. Who knew that all that cheerleading training would help me stay alive? Who could have predicted that I would have to dance for life? What would Rex and his band have said if I couldn’t dance? I’d been in the Golden Doll, or as some called me, the Girl in the Cage, for one showing only, most likely.

I smiled as I landed on my feet. How could these screaming idiots not see that I was dancing for my life? I smiled and twisted to the music. It had been my idea to add this simple acrobatic routine but nobody complained. In fact, the Black Knights barely spoke to me anymore.

Including Rex.

Not since our brief hookup after Erma’s murder. However, I always found expensive gold colored clothing and jewelry and makeup beside my cage. At least I got food regularly now.

Yes, this swinging choreography gave my legs a break. Dancing for forty-five minutes straight took a lot out of me, especially now that I was feeling so weak. I needed to rest but I couldn’t sleep, even when I was exhausted. I wanted more than anything to dig a hole in the ground and cover myself up. Or at the very least, sit on the floor and cry until I died but my survival instincts kept my feet and body moving.

It's almost over. Almost over, Lisa. You can do this.

The dead reporter’s notes revealed that the concert tour was coming to an end. Only two more shows until the Black Knights were scheduled to end the tour and began working on their new album, Elegant Death.

Maybe Rex would release me? Maybe this would come to an end?

It was a pleasant fiction I told myself to inspire hope. 

Rose petals fell from the ceiling of the auditorium and incense spewed out of the smoldering burners. It was an exotic scene. A sea of screaming faces demanded the drama from their rock idol. Rex strutted around bare chested. I knew him well enough to know that he spotted a girl in the audience; she looked very much like me only her hair was a bit longer and she might even be younger than me. As he swung around his mic pole he grinned at me. I smiled back and swung my hips to the side as if I knew nothing.

Being in the midst of the Frenzied without a protector would be a sure path to death. I quietly noted earlier that many of the Queen's friends had left the tour. The only ones that remained on a consistent basis were Rex’s band and of course, the Creep who was going to keep his eye on Rex--and me no matter what. There's been no more arguments between the two, no more fights but it was coming.

As sure as my name was Lisa Dance.

I glanced again in Rex's direction but he resumed ignoring me. Usually, I was out of the cage by the third or fourth song but now here we were, eight songs in and I was still stuck in the box. Just when I contemplated throwing myself into the crowd. Maybe someone would catch me. Maybe. 

Something had happened. Something that didn't bode well for me. Had I thought the wrong thing? I couldn’t recite the Gettysburg Address every minute of the day. I smiled and wiggled my hips as the music pulsated through my body. Sparkling lights struck my eyes but not from the outside, these weren’t laser lights. These lights were on the inside of my eyes.

God, what is wrong with me?  Oh, this wasn't good. Was I going to faint?

I staggered back in my high heels and I held onto the back of the bars. I kept a smile slapped on my face and moved my waist slowly.

The music shifted, the rhythm slowed and the vocals ceased as the lone guitarist begin plucking his unearthly tune. This one had been a favorite of mine from the Elegant Black album. It didn't get much airplay but it was seductive and expressive. Two of the things I used to love about the Black Knights’ music. Little did I know these guys had sold their souls to become eternally young.

Someone screamed on the side stage. Someone had fallen! No! There was a fight! One of the production crew was flying through the air! Who would be fighting? The audience could not hear or see the action but I had a perfect view of it all. I slowed my movements but kept rhythm as I watched for danger.

Queen Alice had returned!

And she was not happy with us; her head was tilted down, her long hair was parted in the middle. It fluttered behind her like ripples on a dark ocean. Her vampire blue eyes were fixed on Rex but they glittered with something more. Homicidal rage. Oh no! She knows about me! She’ll kill me for sure! She bared her teeth as she stormed on to the stage; her teeth were white and fierce. Rex obviously sensed her before he saw her. He swung his tall frame around and gripped the microphone stand like it was a weapon, the scarf dangled from it awkwardly as he watched his maker come for him.

But then she was there right beside him.

And as quick as a flash her hand went up to his face. To anyone in the audience it probably would've appeared that she slapped him, so fast was her movement but actually, she scratched him. Her long nails gouged into the side of his lovely face and blood streamed down. Bryce stopped playing his guitar and the crashing drums faded away.

Everyone on the stage and in the audience went silent. Something was happening. But what? I could hear them whispering curiously. Was this a part of their act? This wouldn’t be the first time a rock band used blood and gore in an act. And then on the outer wings, I saw more movement.

Vampires were leaving! Like sharks sensing the threat; they must realize that there was blood in the water and the mother shark was going to feed on anything that passed in front of her.

Where is the Creep? He’s the one who deserves her anger!

I don't know where those thoughts came from but then they were gone.

I was suddenly distracted by an additional guest in the wings. Levi! My Levi! And Virgil was with him. Is this real?

Next thing, I knew Rex wrestled with Alice--he managed to slap her but she did not fall to the ground or cry, not as I would have done. Suddenly music began playing. Oh right. The band usually played the finale with a premade track; their live music was just the whipped cream on top. It was surreal hearing the vocals singing Bloody Love as an actual fight occurred on stage. Suddenly the crowd roared their approval.

The band looked at one another unsure what to do. Rex struck Alice with the mic stand and she gripped it and threw it off stage. She wasn’t going to stop until he was dead, and she didn’t care if the whole world saw her do it apparently.

Why? Why this rage for Rex?

Some of the audience crowded away from the stage; others were pushing forward. It was a nightmare--someone was going to get hurt. I screamed for Levi as he raced towards me. He gripped the cage and shook it but it wouldn’t come open! He was real and not an illusion of some sort!

“Where are the keys?” He demanded as the crowd roared behind him. Despite the volume of the noise, I could hear Alice's voice low and rumbly.

I know your thoughts, Rex Teaser. You thought you would betray me. You told them about me. You are no king. No king.

Levi paused as if he heard it too. His brow was sweaty and his brown eyes told me the truth about our situation. It was about to go down. We needed to get away. Where was the key?

Oh God! I left it behind!

“It’s here, it has to be here!” I patted my pockets to be sure. No, I remember putting it in my pocket. It must have fallen out. I searched the floor of the cage.

“Lisa! Hurry!”

“I’m trying!” I shouted back. In the few seconds that I took my attention off the stage, Alice had managed to pin Rex to the ground with her tiny foot.

“Cheater, Unfaithful!”

He rolled away and clambered onto his feet. The music became louder. The thumping was louder. Rex circled Alice. He was between her and the audience as if he were their protector. What was happening here? I knelt at the door of the cage and cried. I couldn’t find the key, it was gone. Lost. There was no getting out. Levi held my hands and cried with me.

“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay. I’m not going to leave you.” Virgil joined us; he studied the trap and couldn’t find a weak spot and there was no budging the door. Usually, the door was left unlocked for Rex. It occurred to me now that he never intended to let me out of the cage tonight.

“You have failed to please me. You are queen no more.” Rex announced with a look of disdain on his face. His upper lip curled with disgust. “You have broken your promise I'm afraid we are through. I have everything I need right here, both Queen and Sustainer," he laughed with a glance in my direction. It was then that he saw Levi. His handsome face twisted into a devilish picture of rage, much like Alice’s. His eyes glittered blue, his white teeth became elongated. And despite all this, the crowd went nuts. They had no idea that this wasn’t a play. This was no rock drama. This was a struggle for life and death.

My life, my death.

With a scream of anger, Alice charged at Rex but he was too fast for her. With a satisfying grin, Rex fell back off the stage into the eager hands of the enamored audience and disappeared into the crowd. His eager fans carried him away from Alice and the rest of his band followed suit.

Alice roared like a lion but she did not follow him. To do so would be suicide! Rex Teaser’s fans would have stomped her to death to protect him. Levi shook the cage hoping again that it would break open but it wouldn't budge without the key. He bowed his head slightly and then Alice waved her hand behind her back. The lock snapped and fell to the ground.

Sobbing for all my worth, Levi led me out and I kicked off my painful shoes. He picked me up and carried me off stage. I wanted nothing more than to stay in his arms forever. To cry my heart out and confess all but there was no time for that.

He put me back on my feet after he kissed me.

It was time to run

Chapter Fifteen--Levi

The three of us gathered outside the van. I carried Lisa through the parking lot like my pants were on fire but nobody chased us. Everyone was too busy covering their asses. Vampires were fleeing from the tempestuous vampire queen while my fellow mortals were busy running for their lives. There were broken bottles everywhere and the cops were on the way. I could hear the sirens in the distance.

Where have the cops been all night? Usually, the police were camped out at rock concerts hoping to bust weed smokers and underage drinkers. Where was Loomis? I guess he'd given up on getting the truth about Coleman’s murder.

But the cops weren’t here yet. From the sound of it, they were on the other side of the auditorium. They would make their way over here to this side of the parking lot soon. Time wasn’t on our side. A lone figure was coming our way. Tiny, frail even by human reckoning but that was not accurate. She just took down the auditorium and shut down a sold-out concert.

Her she comes! Alice was coming!

Her black dress whipped around her, as did her hair, is if she brought a storm with her. A small storm that would sweep over everything in its path. I saw her over approaching just to the left of Lisa. By her expression, her anger had abated but she was as determined-looking as ever. Virgil saw her too; he was making his way to the van.

Le-vi…where are you going?

Nowhere. I am not going anywhere, Alice.

“Lisa, I have to tell you something. “Alice appeared an elegant, moving statue except for her hair. Queen Alice wasn't going to let me off the hook and the deal was a deal. If she wanted to kill Lisa she had every reason to, in her vampire mind.

No. I will not kill Lisa.

Rex's plan became clear; he wanted to replace Alice with Lisa. I don't know why he thought he would get away with that but his plan has been disrupted by the return of the vampire queen herself. The crafty rocker had indeed been in contact with the Agency, that’s how they knew where to find her. He sold her out and wanted her to die. He wanted to be the true king. Ballsy move.

“I have to tell you something too, Levi. Please, let me go first. If I don’t say it right at this moment I won’t have the courage. Ever,” Lisa held my hands and gazed into my eyes. I loved getting lost in her eyes; she had always been everything I ever wanted. The most beautiful woman I had ever seen or known. More beautiful than even Queen Alice. I loved her more than I loved any other soul on this planet.

“This is kind of important, Lisa,” I said as I held her hand. It was probably a good thing I hadn’t given her that ring. Alice wasn’t wasting any time claiming her prize. She watched me intently as I hesitated in my task. I could make a break for it. I could probably outrun her but only for a short amount of time. She would never give up on finding me or my girlfriend. What about Rex and the Creep? We needed to be allies, I believed.

“Levi, I love you. I only ever wanted to be with you. Um…I didn’t plan for this to happen but…”

“Me either. I didn’t plan on this either. I love you, Lisa.” She avoided my eyes even as hers were full of tears. She was shivering in her gold shorts and halter top but I had nothing to offer her for warmth.

“Levi, please. Don’t love me. I don’t deserve it. I really don’t.” Lisa began to sob and I held her tight. She smelled like cigarette smoke and incense but she was alive and that was all that mattered to me. I couldn’t imagine what she had endured.

“I have to go, Lisa. Listen, I made Alice a promise. A trade. A life for a life.”

She pulled away from me and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “What? What kind of trade?”

Virgil somehow managed to get the van cranked up—did he hotwire it? Imagine Virgil having secret ninja skills. But then again he was a noteworthy criminal. Way to go, Virgil. Alice was only fifty feet away from me.

No time. They are coming.

“You for me. That’s the trade. I want you to be free, Lisa. It’s been hard getting here but I don’t regret it,” I confessed the truth hoping Virgil wouldn’t hear me. No, he didn’t hear me. He was too busy honking the horn at us. Vehicles were pulling around the corner of the auditorium. Not cop cars but white vans, like the stolen one Virgil was sitting in. From the Agency? But what agency? I never got that information.

“Hell no, Levi! Hell no!” Lisa screamed at me but Alice was behind her. She saw me look behind her and she pivoted around to see her but turned back to me. “No!” she beat her fists on my chest and sobbed. “You can’t leave me. The baby is coming and I don’t know how…I don’t what to do…please, Levi!” Alice stood behind Lisa but she spoke not a word and my mind was silent.

“A baby? What baby?” I swear I saw Alice’s determined expression shift but it wasn’t a heartwarming sight. I couldn’t read her face. Her eyes glittered and her pretty mouth turned up in a tight, mocking smile. Virgil honked at us again. Alice moved past us as if we weren’t there at all. She didn’t come for me after all; she got into the van and closed the door.

“I was going to tell you, Levi, before all this, I swear! I wasn’t sure how. Please don’t go. You can’t go. Don’t leave me!” To my surprise, the van half circled us. I wasn’t sure what was happening.

Hey wait, Alice!

The vampire queen did not speak to me. All was quiet.

“This one is on me, son. Take care of Lisa.”

Alice watched me without expression.

We had a deal. You can’t have Virgil. Me for her.

He would say otherwise. He wants to come with me.

No, Alice.

She frowned at me, obviously displeased with my presumption to tell her no about anything. She clearly wasn’t the kind of being who heard no very often.

Yes, Levi. The world needs more Sustainers. Goodbye, Levi. Until we meet again.

Clutching one another’s hands, we watched as the stolen van disappeared down the narrow street behind the auditorium. I wasn’t worried that the Agency or the cops would catch them. They wouldn’t, for sure. They would never catch Queen Alice. And I wasn’t worried about Virgil.

He was all hers. In the end, Alice hadn’t chosen me. She found a better subject for her attention. Not me. I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Not me. Not Rex Teaser.

Alice chose Virgil Wallace. He couldn’t be in a safer position.

Alice would see to that.

Long live the new king.

Epilogue--Virgil

“Please don’t move,” I asked as I glanced up from my sketch pad. “You must be very still.”

My subject was wearing a Grecian style dress, off one shoulder and long. It clung to her figure in all the right places and I found myself feeling aroused, which I hadn’t expected. For this practice in drawing, she’d worn her hair up, curled and in the ancient Grecian style. Or so she said. I would have to take her word for it. A few touches of gold ribbon brought it all together.

“I am as still as a statue, Virgil. I have been told that many times. It is you that is moving.”

My teeth clenched the tobacco-less pipe and I tilted my head at her. One didn't argue with vampires especially one as powerful as this one.

"So I was, forgive me."

I glanced up with a raised eyebrow and continued to sketch. I certainly wasn’t stupid enough to argue with Alice. My drawing improved with each session; she always encouraged me to continue. Because of her I resumed this half-forgotten pastime and she adored being stared for hours on end. Apparently, a vampire’s pride knew no ends.

“It seems silly to have a pipe with no tobacco. I would certainly love a good smoke--and this is such a lovely gift." I was careful to offer my observation moderately. This was not a precursor to any argument. I would certainly adhere to whatever Alice commanded but I did long for the taste of tobacco.

"It will kill you and you are no good to me dead. Are you finished? I am famished and the hour is growing late."

“Yes, almost finished.” I studied the picture and then turned my eyes to the living example that I attempted to capture with my feeble strokes. Alice was perched on the balcony’s edge. One leg straight before her, a bare foot peeping out from the hem of her fabric. Her other knee was drawn up and her hands were in her lap. The balcony was made of white stone; she seemed a part of it with her ghost white skin. We remained in Italy. I assumed this had been her homeland, or maybe merely a place she loved at some point in her long life. We spent many a night exploring ruins and scouring the countryside for markers she once knew quite well. I could not read her mind but I sensed unhappiness in her, dissatisfaction with her current status. Did she regret choosing me over Levi? It had not been easy to convince her to do so in the back of that van but I gave my argument for it and clearly I made a good impression. I was here with Alice.

The sky was dark purple and in the distance, there was one lone star hanging low on the horizon. Mellow lights from the city below shone warmly and a light breeze caught her curls and caused them to softly move. Even her gown fluttered perfectly and I, for a moment, was lost in the beauty of it all.

The beauty of her.

As so many other fools had been before me. I was no vampire king; there would be no kingship or immortality for this human. I was merely her companion. Not quite a friend; vampires did not have friends, as she reminded me often.

Just a temporary companion.

It had been three months since my separation from Levi and Naomi and my previous life. Oh, I still went about in it but not as before. I was no longer a citizen of the sun. I was no longer allowed to walk the streets alone or be a part of the great sweltering mass of humanity. I belonged to Alice now and she was mine alone.

She was my everything.

We had found a strange peace with one another.

She had not killed Debbie. I could not believe for one minute that she had anything to do with Debbie's death. That had been the Creep’s doing. When he could not lay hands upon Levi he kidnapped and killed my daughter. But Debbie did not have the blood I had. She had not inherited whatever gene made me so useful to the Frenzied. The Creep had drained her uncaring that it would steal her life.

I couldn’t think about it. I couldn’t or else I would weep and get lost in my own head and then what would happen to Levi?

The Creep made the wrong call and killed my daughter but Alice would kill him. The Creep was as good as dead--long live the queen! I would never have my daughter back. My son had been lost to me a long time ago but at least I could do this one thing for him. This one thing.

And unlike before when the Creep stalked me and buzzed my mind and filled it with atrocious thoughts, Alice did not invade the space between my ears. I could not hear her thoughts nor could she hear mine. Maybe because we were not connected in the way the Creep and I had been connected. I wondered again what kind of creature he truly was and if I would ever see him again. I hoped not. I couldn’t say why what the reason for the silence between us but I was glad for it.

It was good to have privacy; I think we both craved that. But for how long? How long would Queen Alice be entertained by a pottering old fool who fancied drawing, playing cards and learning ancient languages?

Alice must be curious about her Frenzied children but if she was she said nothing about it. As far as I knew she wasn't planning to return to them and it felt good and natural that at least for now I became the focus of her attention and she mine.

Yes, there was pain involved in this new relationship but pain had been involved in all of the relationships I had ever known. Why would this one be so different?

Alice was wealthy beyond measure and there was no place off-limits to us except for the fact that she could only travel during certain times of the day or preferably at night. We had traveled far and wide already. Sometimes my joints hurt and I felt weak and feeble but I did not complain. I would not do that. I would be grateful for the time I had left and I would never again take life for granted.

But from time to time, I missed my son.

He had been such a good boy when he was little. His mother fawned over him when he was a baby. Levi had been her favorite. He was such a good looking boy with a halo of golden curls and easily tanned skin. He was busy, always moving but sweet and everything a man could want in a son. I had been a fool to have been so distant from him and Debbie. It was only because I didn’t want them to see the truth about me. That I had been such an epic failure. They would know the truth if they were with me for too long. I never wanted to see the resentment in their eyes but in the end, that’s all I saw. Levi would never forgive me I think. How stupid of me to blame the very ones I loved for my own shortcomings!

Suddenly, Alice swung her legs over the side of the ledge and slid down. “Come, Virgil. It is time. I am famished, so hungry. It has been a week, I think. Too long.”

“It has been only five days,” I smiled as I put down the pipe and began rolling up my sleeve.

“But you are so delicious, my Virgil.” She cuddled up close to me; surprisingly, her cold body warmed mine up even more. I would of course never act upon such feelings. I walked over to the settee and lay down politely. She preferred my other arm; the vein was sweeter as she’d told me once. The bruising, however, was too ghastly at the moment. I needed time for it to heal before I offered her that arm again. Soon, she might have to tap other parts of my body.

But what parts? I blushed at my own thoughts.

“Are you comfortable?” she asked sweetly, her eyes glittering with excitement.

“Quite comfortable,” I promised as I patted her hand like the old man I was. How ridiculous! “At your pleasure, madam.”

She smiled to show her approval of my willingness to serve her but her fangs had sprouted and a shot of fear and adrenalin hit me. Without another word, she was on my arm and I felt the dual stings of her teeth piercing my tough flesh. This would only last a minute, if that long, my blood satisfied her quickly but I would be weak afterward and she would be ready to conquer the world. Another reason for postponing tonight’s dinner. It would be dawn soon and I would need time to fully recuperate. Her body pulsed as she took in my blood. I watched the skin on the back of her neck and arms. A warm pinkness appeared making her almost lifelike. It was an amazing effect; every time I witnessed it I was amazed.

Oh, I needed something to drink. Perhaps some water. Alice removed her grip and placed a cloth over the wound. Normally I held it in place myself and let her enjoy the rush of my transfusion but I was overcome with dizziness. As I had been the last few times she’d feasted on me.

“Virgil, are you dying?” She sounded very put out by the prospect.

“Of course not. I am old, Alice. Something you wouldn’t understand with your eternal youth.” I smiled at her pretending all was well. A little longer. I could do this a little longer. For Levi and his son. Yes, it would be a boy. At least I hoped it would be.

“I cannot make you immortal, Virgil. As you said, you are too old. My blood is for the young. My blood would not reverse the hands of time and your hair is silver. It would only make you mad, I think.”

“I know this, my queen. But if I may be allowed to rest for a moment?”

“Of course, I have other matters to attend to. You rest tonight but tomorrow we go. We go to…” and she began telling me all the places where she wanted to go and I pretended to listen and feign excitement. She went about sorting her clothing, talking animatedly about select portions of her personal history. I interjected occasionally with the appropriate questions until I could rise off the settee. The blood had stopped flowing, thankfully. I went to get a glass of water and dug in my own travel bag for the iron pills. Taking iron helped offset the anemia I’d been developing.

How long until she knows the truth?

I watched and listened as she took her hair down and brushed out the curls. Her hair was so long and luxurious. So shiny, now that she’d feasted on me.

“Are you listening, Virgil?”

“To every word, dear. I mean, madam. To every word.”

I wouldn’t be able to keep the truth from her for long. She would taste my blood one day and know it. The disease would certainly have a negative effect on the taste and texture of it. But until that day came, I would be present for every moment. For the pain and the pleasure, mostly for the pain, for that is what I deserved.

I just hoped it gave my son enough time.

That’s all I need, a little time.

Author’s Note

Thank you so much for reading ELEGANT DEATH, The Vampires of Rock and Roll Book Two. If you have read my other books, like Seven Sisters or Wife of the Left Hand you probably know all about my love for the paranormal. I do love ghost stories but I have a sweet spot for vampires too. I guess it all began with my obsession with The Lost Boys. (Man, I miss the 1980s.) But I also love rock and roll particularly the music of the seventies and eighties. So why not put the two together? That was my idea for this set of books.

Because of some unexpected detours in my personal life, it took me a little longer than I first anticipated getting back to this story but I am so glad I did. I am reminded again about those gritty summer days of the 1970s when everyone blared rock and roll on their black transistor radios. I’m not talking about Cliff Richards. I mean what we now call “classic” rock.

The Rolling Stones was always a personal favorite of mine. Mick Jagger has long been a fascinating and wild character who to me, embodies the vampire spirit. What if vampires and rock and roll truly met? You know Mr. Jagger would be all up in that meeting. At any rate, it has been so much fun creating this fictional narrative with him as my inspiration. There are two more to come, Velvet Rope and Velvet Spider. It’s going to be a wild ride!

If this is the first book of mine that you’ve read, please consider moving on to another one of my books. Seven Sisters is a spooky saga about a haunted plantation in Alabama. If you prefer a book featuring larger casts and paranormal investigation, check out the Gulf Coast Paranormal Series. (Who doesn’t love ghost hunters?)

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M.L. Bullock