Fledgling (The Vampire Manifesto, Book Two) (10 page)

We were heading out when she paused, looking at the only Agent left alive. “What about him?”

“Don’t worry about him baby, he’ll be dead soon.” I pulled her out the door.

We were on the front lawn and I looked up and down the block, searching for more Agents, but I didn’t see any. I headed towards the black SUV that was parked in front of Dakota’s residence and let off two shots, one to the front and rear tire. I tucked the gun in my front waistline.

I looked at Dakota. “You okay?”

“Sure.” She replied.

Something was wrong, her voice was all slurred.

“Why do you sound like a heroin addict?” I grabbed her face with my hands, holding her steady as I inspected her eyes. They were still cloudy, obscure, not the sharp, winter cold ice blue that I remember. “Damn it.”

I focused everything I was, every ounce of mentality that I could gather inside of me, the complete totality of my soul, mind and heart. All of my determination and ferocity, everything that made me what I am, I pulled it all together in one place in my mind and then I spoke.

“I want you to act as you were before. I want you to be as you were before, but I also want you to do as I instructed earlier.” I let go of her face.

She stood there momentarily as if in a stupor, then it was like someone had given her an invisible blow to the chest and she stumbled back, dropping her bag, falling to the ground. She brought her hands up, staring at her palms, a state of confusion on her face. Slowly self-awareness began to flood her features and her eyes began to revert back to their original color. She looked at the house then looked at her palms again, then back at the house.

“Mommy...” Dakota began crying, her hands at her face in an attempt to conceal her sobs.

I knelt down and wrapped my arms around her. “It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

She placed her arms tentatively around me, crying in my shoulder before scurrying backwards from my grasp, not stopping until there was a few feet worth of distance between us.

“You!” She cried, looking back towards the house, then towards me. “You killed them all!” She was scared, more frightened at this moment than any other time in her life. What she had just been through, what she had just witnessed, it was sufficient to drive even a grown man insane, let alone the delicate flower that she was.

“I know.” I sat down fully on the grass, Indian style and just waited, not wanting to rush anything. I needed to let it all take its course; I needed to let her absorb what was going on at her own pace, not at mine.

“You saved my life.” She stretched her legs out on the grass, setting her book bag in between them. She was just staring at it, turning it around, over and over. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I said.

“Who were those men?” She queried. “They said they were from Homeland Security but…”

“They weren’t from Homeland Security.” Dakota looked up at me when I told her this. “But they were from the government.”

“They were looking for you.” Dakota said. “They were after you.”

“Yes.” All this death is my fault.

“They killed her.” She was starting to cry again. “They killed my mother.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” I wanted to hold her in my arms, I wanted to wash all the pain away, but I couldn’t.

“They shot my mother in the head because of you.” She wiped her eyes. “They almost shot me because of you.”

“Yes.” My heart just broke. “I’m sorry.”

Dakota shook her head in disbelief at her situation. “Who are you?”

“I’m Madison.” I said.

“Right. I’m Madison.” Dakota said mockingly. “What the fuck does that even mean?”

“It’s not safe here.” I stood up. “We need to go.”

She didn’t move. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“It’s your choice.” I acknowledged softly. “I’m not going to force you Dakota.” She was still just looking at her fingers, not even bothering to concede my presence.

I came over to her, taking a knee, placing my hand on her shoulder gently, but she jerked away from my touch. I pulled back, not wanting to hurt her anymore.

“I truly am sorry for your loss.” I turned and walked away, leaving her where she was, alone on the front lawn of a house that contained four dead bodies and possibly a fifth. All this death because of me. If I had never stopped her today, if I never had that conversation, never took that stroll down the beach, then her mother would still be alive. Dakota would still have her innocence. Yet, if I had never stopped her, if I had never walked on that beach with her, then the one positive thing to come out this night wouldn’t have happened.

“Hey!” Dakota called out from behind. “Wait up!”

She wouldn’t belong to me now.

“No problem.” I flashed that razorblade smile of mine for just a moment to myself, then became stoic in my demeanor before turning to face her. “I would never leave you behind.”

She continued to jog to make up the distance. “Sure as hell looked like it.”

Dakota grabbed my hand and our fingers locked as we strolled down the street.

“So what’s the plan?” She asked. “What do we do now?”

“We’re going to my house.” I said.

“Your house?” Dakota seemed doubtful about my strategy.

“Yes, my house.” I repeated. “It’s really not that far from here.” I paused. “I think.”

“You think?”

“Well…I’ve never really done it at this speed before so I don’t know.” That sounded idiotic even to me and I’m the one who said it.

“Okaay.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Well, is it at least safe there?”

I contemplated her question. “Probably not.”

“Oh.” Dakota was glaring at me cynically. “FYI, your plan sucks.”

“Well I do have my friends and my family there.” I added.

“They all have superpowers like you?” She asked.

I squeezed her hand. “Maybe.” I could see she was still scared even though she was trying to put on a valiant front.

“Here.” I said. “Take this.” I reached behind me and pulled out the gun that was inserted in the small of my back and offered it to her. “Do you know how to use it?”

“Sure.”

I was startled by her response. “Really?”

Dakota was turning it over in her hand, examining it, before unzipping her book bag and shoving it inside. “My last boyfriend, him and has dad were like, really in to hunting. I went with them a bunch of times; they taught me lots of things.”

“Your mom would allow you go on hunting trips?” I asked.

“Hell no.” She laughed. “She thought I was at guitar class mostly.”

“How are you doing with that?” I pulled her closer, positioning my arm around her waist as we walked. “You wanna talk about it?”

“Talk about what?” She asked.

“Your mom.”

She drew away from me, her body trembling just a bit. “No.”

“How come?” I enquired.

“I just…” She wiped a tear from her eye. “I just don’t want to dwell on it.”

I could tell she meant what she said. “Fair enough.”

Chapter 3

Could you rewind that please…

We walked on in silence from that point on. Dakota would relentlessly look over her shoulder, scanning the area behind us, concerned that we were being followed. I had endeavored to comfort her, explaining that I would be able to hear if we were being shadowed, but she didn’t believe me. Ultimately I stopped trying and let her do what she needed to do to feel safe. Sometimes she would grip her book bag to her chest snugly and not let go for long stretches at time. I didn’t ask her about this, reckoning that it was the weapon inside the bag that gave her some semblance of security.

I began to contemplate about how I was going to handle the whole Dakota situation. How much should I articulate to her about what was going on? Everything was organically associated and yet they were all isolated pieces as well. Is it really essential for her to know the unabridged narrative? Did she need to know the meticulous verity behind the soldiers that were at her house or is recognizing that they were in pursuit of me enough? If I were in her shoes, would I even rest without knowing the unedited truth? She lost her entire family because of me. The least I could do was offer her the insanity behind it.

Connor is going to be problematic.

If he tries to harm her…

“Are we there yet?”

I broke out of my trance, looking around. “Well...yeah.” I announced, surprised myself. I pointed to my house. “It’s right over there.”

“You kinda zoned out.” Dakota said.

“Yeah, I know.”

“You get like, deathly still.” She added. “I mean, for like the past forty minutes you were lifeless, like a mannequin, a walking statue. You didn’t even blink.”

“I do that sometimes. When I’m deep in thought, I just…I don’t know, it’s like you said, I just zone out. I can go on for hours like that now, motionless, lost in thought. It doesn’t seem that long to me, just a few moments really, I’m just thinking you know, but to everyone else…” I didn’t know how else to explain it. “Is that going to be a problem? I can understand if…”

“Nope.” She didn’t even hesitate.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Madison, I just watched you shoot three men and torture a fourth.” She explained. “Not blinking doesn’t really rate that high on my list of turn offs right now.”

I wanted to laugh, but I stopped dead in my tracks, pulling her protectively behind me.

Dakota let go of my hand and began digging in her bag for the gun I gave her. “What’s wrong?”

I placed my hand over her book bag. “That won’t help.” I scanned the area, searching every shadow for movement, listening for even the slightest telltale sign.

“I know you’re there!” I challenged.

Connor stepped out of the shadows into the light of a street lamp. “Still picking up strays I see.”

“Who is that?” Dakota asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, luv?” He answered.

She hid further behind me. “Is he one of the bad guys?”

“I don’t know baby.” I replied honestly. “I haven’t decided yet.”

“Of course I’m one of the bad guys.” Connor stepped back into the shadows. “Can’t you tell by the jacket?”

“Connor!” I cast an eye over the area in front of me, but he was gone. “Connor!”

“No need for all the brouhaha…”

Dakota screamed as I spun around. Connor was there, directly behind us, extremely close.

“..here I am.”

I pulled Dakota behind me.

He pointed at her. “I thought I told you to kill the little one over there?”

Obviously, he needed clarification. “I don’t take orders from you.”

“Is that right, now?” He folded his arms. “Then why did you bring her here?”

I took a step forward. “I don’t owe you any explanations either.”

“Yes…” Connor took a step towards me. “… you do.”

He was upset and spoiling for a fight. Not necessarily with me, but I could tell in his current mind state I would due. “Hawking sent men to her house looking for me.”

He eyed Dakota. “Oh did he now?”

“She didn’t tell them anything Connor.” I sidestepped back into his line of vision.

“And how do you know that?” He was almost feral.

“Because she doesn’t know anything to tell.” I explained. “Besides, I was there. They killed her mom, Connor. They killed her because of me.”

Connor was glaring at her again. “She doesn’t look all that broken up to me about it.”

“She doesn’t…” I risked a quick look. She was so scared. “She doesn’t want to dwell on it.”

“Doesn’t want to dwell on it?” He repeated sarcastically. “Yeah, right. You know how she makes you get Madison. Do you really think now is the time for one of your experimentations in self-control?”

“She’s my responsibility, Connor.”

“Just like that little Judas we picked up at back at the 20twelve Lounge right?” He was furious, growling. “Believe you me; it’s only a matter of time before that little dollop of joy stabs us all in the back real swift like.”

“Back off Connor. You’re not going to touch Girard.”

“Well look at you, thinking you could muzzle the big bad here and that would make everything alright, like that would make me play nice?” He made a move towards Dakota, but I stopped him, my hand against his chest.

“I can control myself around her.” I explained. “I know I can.”

“Yeah, because that line of thinking worked out so well for you the last time didn’t it?” He was still staring at Dakota. “She’s being way too docile for someone whose mother was just murdered.”

“I told you Connor…”

“Right...” His movements were fluid and before I knew it, he had slipped past me and was only inches from Dakota, staring down at her. She froze as his head moved in close, their noses almost touching. “You Jedi mind tricked her.”