“We’re immortal… with thick skin and bone density… many times thicker than… humans! Let me go… I will survive…”
Maryl let Desiree dangle while she spoke. “Oh child, you believe us to be immortal? We’re close but don’t, for a second, believe the lies our ancestors have maintained over the centuries. If I were to throw you off this cliff, you would surely perish, especially eating human food. I know because I have thrown plenty of vampires down there using the same technique I used on you. As a matter of fact, I threw a traitorous vampire over the railing a little more than an hour ago.”
Desiree held her stomach. She felt nauseous. “Why? What did… he do to you?”
“It was a female vampire. She was rising rapidly in my ranks, and as a reward, I allowed her to have fresh O negative blood with me instead of the units of blood that can be days old. As you may or may not know, if you drink a lot of fresh blood in a short duration, you can get drunk, similar to what humans feel when they drink too much alcohol.” Mary looked at Desiree. “Am I boring you?”
“No, I’m… intoxicated with your story.”
“I like your pun, Desiree. Anyway, after we drank in excess, I was feeling pretty good and made a grievous error. I told the woman my most private secret! Can you believe it?”
“And… Is she down there now? How… can you be sure?”
“Because I myself threw her down there. And in the past, I have climbed down the steep hill to witness firsthand the deaths of our kind!”
Desiree coughed, and dry heaved. “You… you lie! And even if it were true, it’s illegal to kill… your own blood types!”
“That decree is only for the A’s and B’s. There is nothing in our laws or bylaws that state the same thing. I should know, I rewrote them after my family died in battle several centuries ago!”
Desiree looked at Maryl upside down. “I would live if you threw me down!”
“Do you have a death wish, Desiree? It’s as if you want me to throw you down! You wish to prove me wrong and that you might live?”
Desiree spit and hit Maryl in her eye. She took her free hand and wiped it off.
“So be it,” she said. Maryl was about to let her go but hoisted her back up and let her down on her feet.
Maryl looked at Desiree and laughed. “I was only joking, Desiree. I wasn’t going to drop you.”
Desiree took a few deep breaths and smiled. “For a second there, Maryl, I thought you were really going to throw me over.”
“Don’t be silly. Now stand straight up and let me straighten your beautiful, messy hair,” Maryl said as she put her hands through Desiree’s long black curly hair. “There, is that better?”
“Yes, thank you,” Desiree said warmly.
With a swift undetectable motion, Maryl grabbed Desiree by her hair, tilted her head up, and sliced a thin long line across her throat.
“I wasn’t going to throw you over the railing without giving you human food and draining your blood like all the other vampires I threw down. Don’t worry; I didn’t slice you too deep. I want you to take a long time to perish.”
Desiree’s eyes bulged in fear as Maryl held her in a tight grip.
“Yes, I see your lifeblood slowly draining your existence. How exquisite!”
Desiree’s eyes were going in the back of her head when Maryl slapped her across the face.
“I’m not done talking with you! I have one thing left to say; then I will throw you down the cliff. If you were at full vampire power, you should survive the fall. I‘m not sure because my other victims weren’t at full strength either. Don’t you see it, Desiree? That’s how I ensure a zero survival rate and remain in control of my O negative vampires.”
Maryl grabbed Desiree by her throat. Her blood slowly dripped onto Maryl’s hand. “Goodbye, Desiree.” She took her to the wooden rail guard, lifted Desiree in the air, and threw her over the side.
Maryl pointed to Draven as she licked Desiree’s blood off her hands. “You! Wait until sunset, and retrieve Desiree’s body. I want her death to be agonizing and slow in the hot sun. When her body is brought up to me, I want her corpse on display in my front yard before Ray’s troops arrive. I want to show the vampires what it’s like if they were to betray me!”
Maryl sat down and closed her eyes and started humming a tune.
Chapter Fifteen
Desiree’s Predicament
Present Day July 23rd
By all accounts, Desiree Maholmes should have died falling down the steep terrain. However, luck had been on her side. Some may have called it fate.
Desiree frantically reached out with all of her dwindling strength and tried to latch onto anything within her grasp.
After several futile attempts at snatching loose tree limbs, her hope almost depleted, she reached out and felt something solid-like and immediately clamped down with her flailing hands.
The sudden stop of her falling at high speed from grasping the tree limb made her smash into the side of the hill. In such a weakened state, ribs had to be broken, she surmised. Desiree looked down with blurry eyes and saw her dress was covered with her blood. She knew she was still losing lifeblood and was close to death. Refusing to perish while clinging to a thick limb, Desiree saw that at least fifty feet below her were grasslands spread for miles with trees scattered over the expanse of the land. Further out, she could discern trails of some sort. There were two hikers, and they were walking on one of the paths.
“I will die whether I stay up here and lose all my blood, and I will surely die if I jumped the fifty feet to safety,” Desiree grieved out loud.
Hanging on a tree limb and steadily losing
