NOVEL NEXT Chapter 17 – The Calm Before the Hail of Bullets
The car ride back home was uneventful. The only change was the additional vehicle that followed us back to the penthouse. It looked like a black Cadillac sedan, but every window was tinted darker than the night sky. Both Chelsea and Tory seemed unconcerned, so I assumed it was Adrian starting to follow up on his protection promise.
Once we got back home, Chelsea immediately changed and left without a word to me or Tory. I was worried something was wrong until she came down the stairs sneakily, dressed to the nines. She was still wearing her staple color black, but the diamond necklace, earings, bracelet, and heels plus her massive smirk indicated something much more mundane. It took me a whole of two seconds to piece together that she was both still slightly intoxicated and more than likely going to meet Adrian at his so-called “important meeting.”
The ding of the elevator and the quiet closing was the last I heard as Chelsea fully left. Tory sat down next to me on the couch. Well sat down is an understatement. She flopped more like it. She’d changed too. Leaving behind the stuffy clothes, she was wearing sweats and a college sweatshirt with the NYU logo on it.
“What a fucking day,” she groaned, as she poured more of the wine we were drinking earlier back into her glass. “I think I’m gonna drink this whole fucking bottle to forget that shit show. Care to join me?” Her eyes settled on me, still in the same clothes I’d been in earlier.
I was starting to realize that I felt terrible. My teeth felt weirdly itchy and my whole body was pulsing in soreness. “Yeah, why not,” I said standing up, “but if we’re gonna get shark-faced I need to get changed.”
Continuing my motion towards my room, Tory’s laughter was filling the room. I paused and looked at the absolute insane person. “What?”
She sat up still laughing slightly. “I keep forgetting your ass can’t curse right now.” I frowned and had to go over the sentence I’d said.
Shoot-faced? What’s wrong with me saying Shrug-faced? I absolutely cursed.
“Shark-faced?” She looked at me still laughing. “It’s shit-faced dummy,” she explained, at the behest of my absolute confusion, it was necessary.
I groaned extremely loud which only encouraged her laughing fit. “Fine, so I’m not even noticing I’m not cursing anymore. It’s not that funny Tory.”
Her giggles were slowing down. “I think it's funnier to me because that has to be Chelsea’s like favorite punishment if you’re blood bonded to her. She didn’t let me curse for,” she paused looking up at the ceiling trying to think, “almost like fifty years.”
My eyes bulged. I prayed to whatever vampire god existed that she would let go of this hold on me so I could at least curse soon.
Tory laughed again, “Everytime you say some slant word, I just remember what it was like and how stupid it sounds. For reference, it’s fucking hilarious from this side and I get why she likes it.” She grinned.
“Whatever,” I resigned. “You want me to change and come back out here right?” She was still smiling, but nodded. “Cool, then let’s shut up about the curse thing, stop making fun of Isabelle, and let’s unwind.”
“Boo, but fine.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Go get comfy and get the hell back out here. It’s drinking time!”
Chuckling at her absurdity, I hurried up and changed then headed back out.
We continued drinking, watching movies, and just hung out for the rest of the night.
Notably, Chelsea didn’t return, but we were both too drunk halfway through the night to care.
***
My head was pulsing in the morning, but it wasn’t from the drinking. I could tell because my fangs were both itchy and I felt like all I wanted was blood. Apparently, vampires dream of blood when they’re hungry. Who knew?
I turned to my side, righting myself from the blanketed floor that I was laying on. I looked up to orient myself and saw Tory drooling on the couch. The TV was still playing episodes of Adventure Time.
I remembered that it come up at some point during the night that Tory hadn’t seen it, and, in my drunken haze, told her that we had to watch it right then. Clearly we passed out at some point after that. The sun poured through the windows, both illuminating the room and burning holes into my brain.
The more I woke up, the less sure I was that I was only craving blood and there wasn’t some sort of hangover mixed in there.
After a few minutes of just staring out the window, I finally picked myself up and moved toward the fridge. It took me a little bit of searching, but I eventually found a blood bag and threw it on the heater. I was starving, but, for some reason, warm blood sounded better than cold blood so I decided to try microwaving the bag as an experiment. I clicked the buttons until a “1” popped up on the display and clicked start. My mind was slowly coming together as the familiar hum of the appliance began.
I still wasn’t sure how everything that had happened yesterday would fully affect me, but I figured I should talk to Chelsea soon to see what she had to say. I was pulled from dwelling on it when the ding resounded throughout the kitchen.
I quickly grabbed the door handle, opened it, and yanked out the bag. It was warm, but, judging from the slight melting around the rounded corners of the bag, it might not be microwave safe to do this for any longer.
The bag was nice to hold, but it wasn’t as hot as for some reason I’d wanted it. I shook my frown off and my fangs begged to bite into the tasty blood. Instincts took over my motor skills as it seemed like I almost ripped the whole thing open. I calmed myself enough to gain control and slow down my animalistic bite, keeping the contents secure enough to drink.
An explosion coursed through me. Whatever synapses that fired when I was human seemed to triple, the feeling was immense. Pure bliss shook me to my very core with each drop. The ground seemed lighter and all feelings of a hangover evaporated along with my earthly hold.
The ping of the elevator shook me out of my reverie. I glanced at the bag. It was empty.
Chelsea walked out of the elevator, heels in hand, makeup smudged, and hair completely wild. We locked eyes. Her mood seemed bright, but she was shocked to be met coming home.
“Ugh, why are you up?! It’s like 7:30 am. Be a normal baby vamp for once and sleep through the day!” Her annoyance at seeing me was less ill-tempered and more shameful.
Why is she only home now-oh…OH!
A grinch-like smile made its way on my face. “But then how would I congratulate my pseudo-vampire-mom on getting laid?”
“Oh shut up,” she made her way over to me, heels in hand. Her finger cleaned the several drops of blood that had made it all over my face in my hunger. She licked her finger clean. “If you’re gonna be annoying, be a dear and get me my own blood bag heated up.” I giggled at her expense, but dutifully made my way back over to the fridge, throwing the bag still in my hands in the trash.
I was making my way to put the bag in the microwave again when a gasp stopped me.
“Oh my god. You didn’t warm yours up in the microwave did you?” I just stared at her confused. “Did Tory never show you how to heat up the bags??”
I shook my head. “In fairness, we kinda haven’t had that much time, Chels.”
She groaned. “Ok, whatever. It’s by the espresso and coffee machine. It’s that little heating pad. Plug it in, then just warm it up. It won’t destroy the bag like the microwave probably did.”
“You know what? That makes sense that y’all would have something like that.”
“Ew, don’t say ‘y’all.’ It sounds simple.” She scrunched her face in disgust.
Having my lexicon dissected hurt, but leave it to the three hundred plus, elegant, goth, woman to be a stickler for words. I shrugged and heated up her bag.
After the bag heated, she popped open the tab and put a steel straw in it. She looked much more relaxed after taking a sip. Her face deflated from its normal scowl into a contented smile.
I sat down on the bar stool next to her. “ I assume Adrian kept you up longer than you expected?” I giggled, ribbing her.
“Yes,” she groaned. “He’s still quite a good fuck and quite a good man as well. As much as you aren’t my true daughter, I still have a sire bond to you and it’s too weird to me to talk about my sexual exploits with you.” She waved at Tory’s unconscious self. “Talk to her if you want more details. She’s resourceful with whom she gets her information from, cause it’s certainly not me.” Her last sentence came out with a huff.
“Still,” I started, “pretty interesting that the founders of New York City are still alive, well, and knocking tonsils.” I couldn’t help myself from giggling, which only earned a glare from Chelsea.
“Keep going, I’m sure I could convince Nek to kick your ass even harder today.” Her face was a deadpan.
“Nek? Am I supposed to see him again?”
“Yeah, you have a training session at 10 until 5.”
“Seven hours?!” I looked at her with shock.
“Yes,” she replied calmly, taking a long sip of the bag, closing her eyes slightly. “You haven’t had the opportunity, and don’t think I’ve forgotten about that whole apartment fiasco. You need to control your abilities, connect with your vampire instincts, and learn so much. So seven hours it is.” Her nonchalant attitude annoyed me.
“Fine,” I crossed my arms. “Can Tory join me though? I kinda like hanging out with her and we could do something after.”
She glanced towards the aforementioned then back at me grinning, “she’s gonna hate that you’re the reason she couldn’t just sleep, but sure. Why not? Better to have you two bonding than hating each other like most of my sires.” Her shoulders shrugged, trying to show it was no big deal, but her eyes held hope almost like she was thrilled. I assumed there had to be more behind what had happened with all her previous children, so I made a mental earmark of this conversation.
***
“I hate you.” Tory’s eyes pierced through my very core as we rode to the training facility.
“I didn’t want to be alone and with Chels the whole time ok!” I threw my hands up in defeat. This was the seventh time in the car ride she’d said those words and it was getting annoying. “Look, maybe helping kick my butt with Nek will make you feel better.”
Her icy stare slowly morphed into excited eyes. “Oh trust me, I’m gonna kick your ass for making me wake up this early to babysit.”
I gulped.
***
We walked into the nondescript building and down the hall towards the training room. Tory hadn’t stopped staring at me like a viper waiting for the right time to pounce on its prey since we left the car. She certainly wasn’t going to stop until she finally got some payback. I stared down in slight fear and opened the door.
Nek was throwing some ropes around the carbon fiber pyramid-like structures. The ropes were about 4 inches thick and stretched taught from tip almost making a maze. Some of them were attached to appliances within the pyramid obstacles that looked like they could rotate, move up and down, or swivel.
I looked away from Nek towards the wall and saw the familiar shape of the gun he’d used on me last time, only this time it had a partner. I shifted my gaze to Tory who had followed my original one. Her eyes were alight with pure joy. Oh she was going to enjoy this.
“Ah, ladies! I was informed your arrival was imminent and was making some finishing touches on the potential regiment.” Nek seemed to float effortlessly around each thing in his path. “Tory, my dear, you’ll be helping me put our little Belle here through the ringer, so to say.” Tory seemed to infect him with her own glee.
I was starting to regret having her here, rather than Chelsea.
At least Chelsea would've just watched from above. Now I have to deal with two psychos trying to kill me.
Nek tossed a similar style suit to the one he was wearing to Tory. “Go get changed, and we can train our little assassin here.”
Tory quickly ran out the door towards some changing area, wherever it was. My eyes land back on Nek. In my distraction, he’d managed to close the distance between us and stood right next to me. He leaned in.
“What was the first thing I taught you, my dear?”
His thick muscles seemed like they were rippling out of the skin tight material he wore. His hand moved up to my neck grabbing me in a vice. My lungs airways were closed off. Time seemed to slow. His scent invaded my senses and seemed to rip away any clean air that I was gasping for. An icy pine fragrance was the only thing I could focus on. It’s like his whole body was coated in it.
“Don’t,” his grip tightened. “Trust. Anyone.”
His nails started to rip at my flesh while my windpipe was crushed.
Time slowed down even more. His eyes were locked onto me with a dark anger. In my confusion, I grabbed at his hand, anchored into it with my nails, then ripped downward. The world seemed to speed back up as air was suddenly available to me. I kicked his thighs and pushed as hard as I could to put space in between us.
I gasped for air and fell to my knees cradling my sore neck.
He slammed into the closest pyramid with a crack. His laughter echoed around the semi-hollow building that seemed to stretch above us. Blood flicked wildly as he shook his hand to rid himself of the pain.
“You still know how to protect yourself,” he grinned as his laughter still echoed, even though he’d stopped laughing. “Your little time dilation ability is strong, but let’s test its limits. I need to know the exact strengths and weaknesses it has.”
The doors to the room opened and Tory walked in. The skin tight suit hugged every inch of her. Even though we had almost the exact same body, I was certain she somehow looked better in that outfit than me. I was still reeling from the sudden attack, but Tory pulled me out of my shock. She made me remember this was training and my eyes settled on Nek. I was determined to never let him get a jump on me like that. It felt like I was burning his perfect face with hatred until a giggle garnered my attention.
“Already starting without me Nekky? How could you?” Tory’s words were laced with sarcasm, but her disappointed look was harder to discern.
“Enough chatter,” Nek flexed his hand back and forth. He gave a wayward look of longing towards Tory, then his stoic image returned. “Let’s begin.” His darkened eyes made it seem like he was gonna enjoy this. Why did he always enjoy this?
In a second, he was at the wall. He grabbed the gun, checked the magazine, reinserted it, and cocked the weapon. He checked its sister then threw it towards Tory. She caught it too easily in my opinion.
Oh god, this is it. I’m dead.
With a manic smile, Nek slammed a button on a controller he pulled out. Every rope attached to the pyramids began crossing, uncrossing, rising, lowering, and wildly turning in every direction. He pressed another button and the fluorescent lights began to strobe. The last button he clicked made the entire chamber flood with noise. It ranged from high pitches to low pitches, laced with the most overt screaming rock music I’d ever heard.
Every one of my senses was assaulted. Disorientation was obviously the key here and it was working. My hands reached to cover my ears and my eyes had trouble focusing on anything. I barely saw both Nek and Tory put something in their ears and some sort of high tech goggles on. I wanted to fall to my knees. I wanted to cry. I wanted to do anything. But I was frozen.
CRACK
My instincts flared to life. I don’t know how I knew, but both Tory and Nek had started firing their weapons and the place I was in now was about to be destroyed. As bullets started to fly throughout the room, I did what I do best. Run.
