Heart of the Dead: Vampire Superheroes (Perpetual Creatures Book 1) (12 page)

“Pay it no mind,” Taos said, leaping to his feet. “True death will come to you soon enough.” Taos came at Jerusa, his hands twisted into claws at his sides.

“No,” Foster screamed. He leapt through the air, covering the length of the room in a single bound and landed between Taos and Jerusa. Foster swayed on his feet for a moment, shocked by the strength in his own limbs.

“Out of my way, fledgling,” Taos snarled. “She is a heresy. She and the boy must die.”

Thad’s eyes bulged and had he been able to, he would have backed straight through the wall.

The dark-skinned woman joined Foster. Jerusa felt a sudden pang of love for the woman, followed by a humbling shame that the woman would risk Taos’s wrath to protect her.

“Suhail,” Taos said, looking to the dark-skinned man. “Your sister is brave but foolish.”

“Shufah,” Suhail said, pleading with her.

“You overstep your authority,” Shufah said to Taos.

Shufah was small, petite, a seemingly delicate woman, though Jerusa sensed in her a great power. She looked no more than a teenage girl, except for the wisdom abiding in her eyes.

“We must kill them,” Taos demanded. “The Stewards will command it so.”

“Are you the counsel of the Stewards?” Shufah asked. “Do you have access to their mind? Do you speak with their tongue? No, you do not, so do not presume to wield their sword. You are not a Hunter, even if you wish to be.”

Taos’s bravado faltered, but his icy blue eyes retained their hatred. “But the boy bears my bite. I cannot allow him to live. The law forbids it.”

“The law is not set,” Shufah countered. “Foster is proof of that. Look at the boy and tell me he wouldn’t be welcomed.”

Taos cast his gaze upon Thad. The boy, who just minutes ago had seemed so large and strong to Jerusa, now squirmed like a mewling in the talons of a hawk.

“Perhaps,” Taos said. He turned and pointed as Jerusa. “But she is an abomination.”

Shufah glanced over her shoulder at Jerusa. Her eyes were cold and a little curious. “We don’t know what she is, but enough blood has been spilled tonight. She will live, at least until we have answers.”

Suhail darted over to the broken window, scanning the rain-blotted landscape. “We must find shelter,” he said. “Kole may return.”

“The basement,” Foster suggested.

Taos gave a derisive laugh. “And what would keep Kole from burrowing through the floor to find and feast upon us?”

“Come and see,” Shufah said.

Suhail stepped up next to Taos. “No, we must flee. Even if Kole does not linger, we still have to worry about humans showing up in search of these two.” He indicated Jerusa and Thad with a nod of his head.

“And where would we go, dear brother? The sun shall rise soon. And what if we should stumble across Kole during our search? Or what if we find a lair to ride out the day and find Kole has already occupied it? We have no choice but to take refuge here until tomorrow’s nightfall. And we must go now.”

Jerusa glanced over at Alicia, but the ghost was squatted down with her back to the group, touching her face with her hands.

“You know the Stewards will kill us all for this,” Taos said.

“Perhaps,” Shufah replied. “They have always done what pleases them.” There was an air of spite in her voice and the words seemed bitter in her mouth.

“So be it,” Taos said. “Let us hide in the basement like rats.”

Shufah began to usher the group toward the basement door.

“Wait,” Jerusa said. “I’m not … I’m not clean.” The stench of her own bodily functions sickened her. She knew that they could all smell her too, and she felt wretched and shamed. “Can I take a shower? I need to change my clothes.”

Foster looked down at himself as though only now was he aware of his own filth. He swallowed hard and seemed on the verge of vomiting. “I would like to shower, as well.”

Shufah regarded Jerusa coldly, but her eyes softened when they fell upon Foster. “We must seal ourselves in. If Kole should return — ”

“I know,” Foster said. “But I don’t think I can stay like this. It’s maddening.”

Jerusa thought it an apt description. It was so much worse than the smell or even the dirtiness of the act. There was an unnatural sensation to it, as though something alien was pressed against her and all of her being rebelled against its touch.

Shufah seemed to understand as well. “You two must hurry. Kole has gone savage. There is no telling what he might do. But one thing is certain: If we stay in the open, he will hunt us.”

Foster touched Jerusa’s shoulder and pointed to her bag of clothes still sitting beside the front door. She hurried over, giving Taos a wide berth, and snatched it up. Taos and Suhail both seemed irritated by Jerusa’s and Foster’s need to shower, but they said nothing against it. Perhaps the thought of being confined to the basement with that foul stench was more than they cared to endure.

Jerusa started to follow Foster into the bathroom, but Thad grabbed her by the wrist as she passed. When she looked down on him, he snatched his hand back as though he was afraid she was going to bite it. He seemed genuinely afraid of her, which confused Jerusa. She had never frightened anyone before, let alone Thad. Perhaps it was just the shock of the situation.

Thad stood to his feet.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Taos asked.

“I’m going home. If my parents wake up and realize I’m gone, they’ll freak.”

Taos laughed. “That’s not going to happen.”

“I want to go home,” Thad insisted. “Just let me go home.” Jerusa could hear his heart thundering within his chest. She could smell the panic building within him.

Jerusa reached out and touched Thad’s shoulder, but he jerked away. He regarded her with cold eyes full of hate, but his face quickly changed to regret.

“You cannot go home, young one,” Shufah said in a soothing voice. “Not tonight. Perhaps in the morning.”

Suhail started to interrupt, but she held up her hand to silence him.

“The situation is dire,” Shufah continued. “Decisions must be made. Questions need answering. But first, we must hide. Kole is not our only enemy.” Thad’s eyes were distant and he nodded as though he understood what she was talking about. She looked at Jerusa and Foster. “Clean yourselves, and do hurry.”

Foster ran into his bedroom for a fresh change of clothes, stopped at the linen closet for some towels, then took Jerusa by the arm, and pulled her into the bathroom, shutting the door behind them.

Jerusa stood with her hands on the sink, staring in awe at her reflection in the mirror. Her auburn hair fell about her shoulders in a tousled mess, but it had never before been so full and lustrous. Each thread of hair seemed to not only reflect the light, but amplify it. Her skin was pale with a healthy glow, smooth and flawless as porcelain. Her green eyes burned like two glowing emeralds, fierce and frightening. It could not be her face. It seemed a mask of her face, or a painting of her face. Jerusa reached up and touched her cheek. Her full lips parted in a smile, and that was when she noticed the small, sharp fangs, one on either side of her incisors.

No wonder Thad had recoiled from her. The being in the mirror was a beautiful yet fearsome creature.

“What’s happened to me?”

“You’ve seen the movies,” Foster said as he placed the towels on the toilet. “You’ve read the books. You know the answer. You just won’t accept that it is the truth.”

She turned to him, beholding, for the first time in the light, the change that had taken place in his own body. Always before, Jerusa had felt the differences between her and Foster. He was a man and she was a girl. She was young, he was older. But those notions seemed simplistic, if not downright foolish, in light of what had just happened to her. There was no age difference between them now. They were both newborns in the world. The divide of gender bowed to the union they shared in blood. Jerusa felt these things as deeply as she had ever felt anything. She knew what she had become, but she still couldn’t say it.

Foster smiled, but Jerusa sensed a sadness hidden within. He turned away before she read him further and pulled back the shower curtain. “You go first.”

Foster turned his face to the wall so that Jerusa could undress in private. She tossed her bloodstained and soiled clothes into the trashcan near the sink and stepped into the shower.

Jerusa gasped as the water hit her body, not because the temperature was too hot or too cold, but because her sense of touch seemed amplified beyond measure. The water massaged her strengthened skin, sending a shudder up her spine. She turned the water as hot as it would go and her flesh called for it to be hotter still. The pores on her skin were almost nonexistent and the filth melted away from her without the aid of soap. She turned her face up into the stream, letting the scalding water soak through her hair down to her scalp. Though she didn’t need soap, she washed anyway, relishing the pleasant scents that her heightened nose now detected.

Jerusa rinsed and turned off the shower. She stood for a moment as the water dripped from her, evaluating the wounds of her body. The bite on her shoulder from Kole was completely healed without even a dimple of a scar. So too was Kole’s original bite mark on her neck, and the dagger cut from Silvanus. She ran her fingers across her neck and down her chest. The scar she had received from her heart surgery, however, was still there. The bubbled line, running from the top of her breastplate downward, stood out, bright and pink, more noticeable now than ever against her flawless vampire skin.

“Are you all right?” Foster asked.

“Yes,” she said, but that was a lie. The noises of the storm, of the house, were screaming about her like a raucous crowd. It took great focus to shut out the clamor. Her mind was a cluttered mess of questions. How could vampires possibly exist? The others said that Kole had gone “savage”, but what did that mean? Would she live forever? Would she have to continue taking her rejection medication? Did she have to drink blood? Crucifixes? Garlic? Holy water? She obviously had a reflection. Would the other myths prove just as false?

Foster pressed a towel through the shower curtain and Jerusa took it and dried off. She wrapped the towel around her body and pulled the curtain back. Foster’s bronze eyes lingered for just a moment upon the top of her scar poking out from the towel. Jerusa couldn’t be certain, but she thought she detected a bit of fear and sadness in his face.

Jerusa stepped out of the shower, allowing Foster to take her place. She changed into clean clothes while he showered. She wanted to brush her hair, but Foster was finished cleaning himself before she had a chance. She faced the wall, giving him privacy to dress, then the both of them exited the bathroom together.

The storm dwindled. The rain still fell steadily, but the lighting and thunder had moved on. The lights flickered, but the power stayed on. Thad remained where he had been, a weary and weatherworn look upon his face. She could smell his fear, feel his anxiety, but when he looked at her, his eyes lightened and he managed a small, brief smile.

Shufah, Suhail, and Taos had dowsed most of the lights and were making a circuit of the ground floor windows, staring intently out into the rain-flecked night. They moved without sound, scanning the viewable perimeter of the house while listening for any uncommon noise. Suhail was about to move from his post when something caught his attention.

“I see something,” he said, his voice stricken with panic.

“Is it Kole?” Shufah asked, moving to her brother’s side. Taos crowded in behind them.

“I’m not sure,” Suhail said. “I believe so. It’s circling, moving fast.”

Shufah turned to Jerusa and Foster. “Into the basement.” She grabbed her brother by the arm, shoving Taos before her.

Jerusa took Thad by the hand. Taken with fear and panic, he tried to pull away, to snatch his hand back, but he no longer possessed the strength to overpower Jerusa. She tightened her grip, careful not to crush his hand and dragged him to the basement door.

They filed down the stairs, one by one, into the inky blackness below. Foster, first down the stairs, flipped a switch, bringing several fluorescent bulbs flickering to life. Shufah remained at the top of the stairs. She closed the door and engaged the deadbolt lock just as a crashing
thud
rattled across the floor above their heads.

“He’s inside,” Foster called out. “Shufah, hurry, close the safety door.”

Heavy footsteps thundered above, moving quickly from the living room to the basement door. A thundering blow rang out against the wooden door, rattling it in its frame, but the deadbolt held. The knob shook as the intruder struggled to gain access. A low, guttural groan filled the air and drifted down into the basement like a poisonous mist.

Thad cried out and Suhail moved to silence him.

The creature let loose a hideous scream, causing all of them to cover their ears with their hands. Jerusa’s knees went weak. Her borrowed heart thrummed faster than she thought possible.

Alicia appeared next to Jerusa. The ghost stood still, staring up toward the source of the calamity, a strange look of confusion poised upon her face.

Another blow shook the door, this time loosening the hinges. Shufah reached above the door to a thick nylon strap hanging barely visible from a recess in the ceiling. She wasn’t quite tall enough to grasp it, but in a motion almost too fast to track, she leapt up and took hold of the strap. She pulled down and a heavy steel door made of segmented plates rolled down, guided on tracks hidden within the left and right walls. The steel door hit with a hard
thump
and Jerusa heard the sound of a lock engaging.

Shufah backed away from the steel door as though she doubted its ability to withstand Kole’s attack.

“It’ll be all right,” Foster assured her. “Even if he rips the oak door out, he’ll not get through that door. Not with just his hands.”

Jerusa took inventory of the room for the first time. The basement had the same large square footprint of the house. The walls were reinforced concrete, windowless. The floor was concrete as well, polished to a high shine. The floor joists above were exposed, except for the thick gauge grating bolted in place of a ceiling.