"Dot?"
"Comeon. We'll take your Jeep. Where are we going?" I asked the group insteadof their self-proclaimed leader.
"Themall," one of them answered meekly.
"Themall is closed. That's trespassing," Chief said firmly.
Itwas going to be a long night.
∞∞ ∞
Vampiresmade it look easy. I, however, usually tripped going down the stairs. There'sno way in hell I was going to drop into the center of the food court and trustin my vampiric abilities. They were sketchy at best. Instead, I pulled Nana'sbroom from the thong around my neck and whispered, "Ag fás." It cracked in my hand as Ihoisted it over my head, and it exploded into full size.
"Okay.That was pretty fucking cool," Chief said in awe.
Show-off, Yuki muttered in my head as Idropped through the open skylight and floated to the floor.
"Hey,Dot? How am I supposed to get down," Chief called from the roof. Then hescreamed.
Yukilanded next to me with Chief in a princess carry. Rolling her eyes, she set himon his feet.
"Thanks."He straightened his clothes, coughed, and tried to act cool.
Hidingmy mouth behind my hand, I tried to contain the snicker that was threatening toescape.
Hepulled out a flashlight from his pocket and flicked it on, finding himselfstanding in a semi-circle of hissing vampires, shielding their eyes from thebright beam. "Sorry! Sorry." He flipped it off and stuck it back inhis pocket.
"Whatwere you doing in the mall?" I pulled the leader, Damian as I found out hewas called, back away from the others as the rest of them headed toward thewestern section of the only indoor mall in Cedar Falls. I'd been there once,found exactly zero stores that piqued my interest, and left. The mall inAmersville was twice the size and didn't have half the mall empty from failedbusinesses. If I really wanted to go to the mall, I wentto Syracuse.
"There'sno security or cameras in the entire place. With the open roof access, we cancome and go as we please. Just a place for us all to hang out," heanswered embarrassedly.
Inodded. "And do you bring humans to the mall often?"
Heblushed furiously. "Sometimes."
"Why?"I already knew the answer.
"Snackpacks."
Agrowl tore itself from my lips. Yuki calmed me again with a hand on my back. "Why?It's not like you need the blood anymore!"
Thevamps and chief ahead of us, picked up their pace, putting some distancebetween us.
Damienlowered his head. "I'm sorry, Lady Blackwell. Old habits."
"Habits?"I wanted, needed, to punch something. "Humansare not habits. They're people."
"Master,"Yuki said calmingly.
Damienheld up his hands defensively. "We don't kill them!" He realized whathe said and blushed. "Usually. This time… Franco didn't stop and… Wecouldn't pull him off her."
"Nomore humans. Got it?"
"Yes,Lady Blackwell." He bowed and I could feel the truth from him.
Westarted walking again. The other group had stopped by the fountain and wasstaring. I guessed that it was the scene of the crime.
"Didthe humans know what you were?"
"Yes.It's why they agreed to feed. Our bite, as you know, is quite pleasurable. Someof them swear it is better than sex. We have several that we fe–used to feed from."
"Thebagged blood not good enough?" I snarled in anger.
"Wecouldn't always afford to eat…" He trailed offnervously.
Myfears had come to pass. By charging the vampires, they had resorted to feedingoff humans. Exactly what I'd been afraid of, happened. Every day, I wanted tokill Abernathy more. More than I already had. Reanimating his body soundedbetter and better. "Well, you can now. Don't let this happen again,Damien."
"Yes,Lady Blackwell."
"Oh,for fuck's sake. Call me Dot."
Yukicoughed behind me.
"Masteror Lady. Something other than dropping the B-word every time you address me."
"Yes,Master." He blushed and dodged ahead to the group surrounding thefountain.
"Donot become friends with them or show them any familiarity," Yuki whisperednext to me.
"Why?"
"Theybecome harder to control."
Inodded, not really agreeing with her, but letting it go. Now was not the timeto get into a debate. I wanted to lead the vampires like I wanted to have abarium enema and a CT scan.
Aswe approached, the group split, and I gasped in horror. The bloody vampiresitting beside the fountain between two burly bouncer-looking vamps stared upat me defiantly, not caring an iota about the girl floating face down in thefountain with half her neck chewed off. I wanted to bash the smirk off his facewith the broom still in my hand.
"Franco?"
Heignored me, earning a cuff in the back of his head from one of his guards.
"Yes."
Istepped around the throng of spectators and stopped when I was standing infront of him. Sniffing the air, there wasn't a hint of fear coming from him,which was unusual for someone as fucked as he was. He didn't care. Shaking myhead, I left him there and moved back to the others, staring at the floatingbody in the bloody water, her blonde hair stained red.
Ireached for her, just to flip her over, but the power within me had betterideas. Black flames burst from my hand and enveloped her, unimpeded by thewater. She convulsed a moment and then stood in the shallow water, staring atme blankly. I'd unintentionally animated her, and almost gagged when the bloodfrom her gaping neck wound started pumping again, landing in the water with alittle splash.
"Youpoor thing. I am sorry," I said to her forlornly.
Herhead wobbled a little as she bowed it in greeting, unable to speak. He hadn'trefused to stop feeding, he had tried to chew through her neck. He'd wanted to kill her. If the damage hadbeen localized to one spot, I might have thought the other vamps did it pullinghim off her. The only question left was why he wanted to kill her.
Leavingher standing there, I walked back to Franco. After seeing his murder victimbrough back from death, in a matter of sorts, the fear coming from him wasalmost tangible. I could see it floating from him in black threads of dread. "Howdid you do that?"
Isquatted down in front of him, balancing myself with the handle of the broombeside me. "That isn't the question you should be worried about right now,Franco. The question is…why," I paused to point
