Collide, page 19
I winced and sank down into the grass as my legs gave out, again, and my anger slowly drained away. I knew Maria’s habits when she was lying, she liked to twirl her hair around her index finger and look off to the side. She stared right into my eyes as she recounted her story, which meant that she was either a damn good actress who had been able to fake mannerisms for her entire life, or she really was telling the truth.
She sighed and settled down across from me and winced slightly as she touched the swelling on her face from where the Oni had slapped her during the earlier fight. I crossed my arms slightly in my lap in an effort to not give into the urge to start ripping on my fingers or touch the identical swelling that, while it felt a little better thanks to Akira, still pulsed with warm pain.
“I could sort of feel my attacker lurking in the shadows, and I think I heard something about having a strong soul and needing to wait until I was weaker for something to happen, but I was fading in and out at that point and couldn’t keep up with what was going on around me. It was during one of those moments that my attacker’s presence vanished and Dellar arrived.”
Akira stiffened beside me and I glanced up to find him staring at Dellar, his head cocked slightly to the side that reminded me of the raven I had seen earlier that night in the trees. I decided to put that thought far into the backburner of my mind, and returned my attention to Maria.
“I don’t remember much more, just Dellar crouching down and touching my neck. My mind is pretty much blank after that, I kind of remember waking up, and Dellar being there, but nothing really concrete until the day I returned home. It was like I had woken up from a long dream that I couldn’t remember, only Dellar was still there. That’s when he introduced himself, because I had plastered myself to the far wall of the room we were in. If it weren’t for the fact that I was able to vaguely remember him I probably would have climbed out of the nearest window. Good thing I remembered, because it turned out that he rents out the attic of a three-story house and I wouldn’t have had a good ending if I’d followed through on my first impulse. It was Dellar who told me to return home, but I still didn’t have any idea of how much time had passed until I walked into the front door and saw the cops in my parent’s living room.”
“Dellar didn’t tell you how much time had passed?” I asked and gave the man in question a suspicious look.
“No, but I didn’t think to ask. To me, it felt like I had fallen asleep under that oak tree, had a long and very disjointed dream that I couldn’t remember, and then woke up the next morning.”
“What were you doing in the park?” Akira asked the other silent member of our group.
“I prefer to wander around after dark for obvious reasons,” Dellar said quietly. “I will go out if I have to during the day, but it’s very hard to hide ones . . . deformities in the light of day.”
“You are not deformed!” Maria said heatedly as she turned and glared up at him. I could tell this was an old argument between them, and my irritation rose again at the thought that she had kept this from me.
“So how’d you two become so close? And you never mentioned him to me,” I said, unable to keep the hurt from my voice.
“I didn’t know how to,” Maria said. She looked down at her hands and then back up at me. “He’s, well, different.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” I muttered and gave him a dark look that he returned.
“Don’t be prejudiced,” Maria snapped, and I blinked at her. “You’re always the first to say don’t judge a book by its cover.”
“When that book is putting the moves on my best friend and she hasn’t told me that she’s been reading it, then I’ll judge it as much as I want to until said book proves that he’s worth my friend’s obvious high regard,” I shot back.
Both Dellar and Akira made muffled noises that sounded like snorts of amusement, but I ignored them.
“So what’s up with the mood swings?”
“I don’t know.”
“Oh, not that again,” I started, only to be cut off as Maria cried, “I really don’t!”
“I don’t know how to explain what’s going on,” she continued after she took a steadying breath. “We have theories, but can’t confirm them. All I know is that when I ‘go weird’, to quote you, it’s like I’m splitting in half again. Part of me is in my body watching what’s going on, hearing what I’m saying, but unable to control myself, and the other half is elsewhere.”
“May I try something?” Akira asked, drawing everyone’s attention.
“It won’t hurt like last time, will it?” Maria asked suspiciously.
“I don’t know,” Akira said honestly. “But if you were attacked by the person I’ve been hunting, I have an idea of what I’m looking for and I might be able to confirm one of your theories if you’ll tell me which one you think is the closest to being correct.”
“I think that my soul has been split somehow,” Maria whispered, and her hands tightened in her lap. I could only stare at her, my words having dried up at her statement.
“I can test that,” Akira said and moved forward to kneel down in front of her. He stretched out with two fingers, and she flinched away when he lightly touched her forehead. “Relax, this won’t be like last time. I was searching for an individual that time, this time I’m just taking a quick peek at your soul.”
Maria stared at him for a second and closed her eyes. Dellar watched closely as Akira touched his first two fingers to her forehead in the same spot that he had touched last time. Akira’s eyes closed, and for a brief moment I thought I saw a light glow start to shine where his fingers met her forehead, but I blinked and the glow was gone. The area was quiet for a few moments, and then Akira opened his eyes and sat back with a weary sigh. He glanced at Dellar.
“You fed from her?” he asked.
“What does that mean?” I asked, but Akira looked at me and this time I was the one to snap my mouth shut. I was confused, but in that one look Akira conveyed that things would be explained, but only after he got his answers.
“How did you . . . yes, yes I did,” was the reply.
Akira sighed again, and, unable to deal with the suspense, I demanded, “What does that mean?”
“Maria’s friend here is like me, one of the ‘paranormals’, so to speak,” Akira explained as he stood up and moved to stand behind me. Confused by his position, I craned my neck in an effort to see him.
“Paranormals? Is he another Tengu?” I questioned, feeling very slow.
“No. He’s a vampire,” Akira replied. I whipped around and stared first at Dellar, then Maria, who gave me a slight nod in response, which confirmed what Akira said.
“You bit my friend?” was the only thing I could think of to ask.
Before Dellar could answer my question Akira went on, drawing my attention back to him. “He’s not just any vampire, he’s a member of a very rare clan that we all thought was extinct years ago. In fact, no one has heard anything about this particular group for over three hundred years.”
“That’s because the majority of the clan has passed on,” Dellar said quietly. “There’s only about a dozen of us left on the earth.”
“I thought you were one of them, but it wasn’t until I looked inside Maria that I knew I was right.”
“Special clan?” I asked. “I don’t understand.”
Akira sighed again and I got the impression that he really wasn’t looking forward to what he had to say next. Dellar finally settled himself back on the ground across from me and put his arm around Maria, who leaned into him. She looked nervous, which only increased my confusion.
“Dellar’s clan is a type of vampire that doesn’t drink the blood of the living. They drink the blood of the dead.”
“But I thought I read somewhere that dead blood was poisonous to vampires,” I said, now thoroughly lost.
“It is for normal vampires,” Dellar said, “but my clan evolved in a way that we were able to survive feeding off of the dead. This is convenient because we don’t have to feed as often as other vampires. Once every other week will work for us, but other vampires have to feed about every other day. And unlike our ‘living blood’ brethren, we are rather grotesque to look upon and become more so as time passes. This isn’t usually a problem, since we do not have to rely on glamour or illusions with which to lure our prey, but because of modern burial practices in most first world countries, being able to find fresh human dead to feed upon is rather difficult. This is why the majority of what’s left of my clan lives in third world countries. Less chance of downing embalming fluid instead of what we need for nourishment.”
“I still don’t understand,” I said, my brain failing to connect dots in a way that made any sense. “What does that have to do with him biting . . . Maria . . .”
Realization was a rolled up newspaper to the back of the head, and I whipped around to stare at Maria as horror bloomed in my heart.
“I’m so sorry, Jane,” Maria said as her lower lip trembled and tears pooled in her eyes. “I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“You . . . you’re . . .,” I stuttered.
“I’m dead,” she said and her tears broke and spilled down her cheeks. “I think I’m now what would be called a zombie.”
Needless to say, I didn’t take the news very well.
Chapter Twelve
I surged to my feet and turned to run. I didn’t get further than two steps before Akira grabbed me and wrapped his arms and wings around me yet again. I flailed. I kicked. I punched. I struggled with everything I had. I landed blows here and there and the entire time I screamed and screamed and screamed.
Eventually I tired out around the same time my voice dissolved into a high-pitched whisper. I became aware that someone murmured in my ear, words in a language I couldn’t understand, but the voice was familiar and penetrated the fog of grief and impotent rage that had engulfed my being.
I came back to myself. First I recognized the voice as Akira’s, and then I noticed that he had sunk down onto the ground and had pulled me into his lap, arms and wings wrapped around me as he rocked me back and forth. One hand rested on the back of my head and pressed my face into his shoulder. His cheek was warm against mine, and was sticky from the tears that had soaked both of our skin. His breath blew across my ear as he continued to murmur in what I figured was Japanese, and my sobs slowed into sniffles and hiccups that were interspersed every now and then with a broken moan.
My fists were clenched so tightly in his jacket that my fingers had started to ache, and I worked to open them, unable to prevent a wince as tendons that had been strained almost to the breaking point flexed again. I shifted slightly when I realized that I held something soft in my right hand, and Akira leaned back a bit so that I could pull away slightly, though he didn’t let me go completely. I didn’t care about anything other than the comfort he offered, so I was fairly content to stay sheltered in his arms as his wings formed a large, feathery barrier against the rest of the world.
I gasped when my hand finally opened all the way and several large, very crushed black feathers drifted down onto my lap. I lifted my swollen, aching eyes and nearly dissolved into tears all over again when I saw that blood trickled slightly from a cut on Akira’s lips. The result, I had no doubt, of one of my fists as it connected rather painfully with his face. I reached out a shaking hand and gently wiped some of the blood off.
My first attempt at speaking was nothing more than a pained croak, and I swallowed convulsively for a moment before I tried again.
“I’m so sorry,” I managed to get out, my voice harsh and rough. I vaguely wondered if I’d be able to talk tomorrow.
“You have a mean right hook,” Akira said wryly as he moved his arms so he could stroke my cheeks. He removed some of the remnants of my tears with his thumbs. “And quite the death grip. It takes quite a lot to actually rip out a Tengu’s feathers, they’re usually a lot sturdier than that.”
“I’m really so, so sorry,” I wheezed out. My voice had degraded from a croak to barely a whisper.
“Jane, you’ve had nothing but a series of shocks tonight, several of which would have sent someone who wasn’t quite as strong as you are to a mental hospital several times over. You’ve handled this a lot better than I, or anyone else, for that matter, could have expected. The last human that witnessed something similar to what you have tonight didn’t do quite as well. In fact, she’s the reason I knew to let you go a little while ago, she wound up vomiting all over my wings.”
I winced again and made a face. “Wet feathers and vomit,” I rasped.
“Not a pretty combination,” Akira said, his voice dry.
“Is Maria, is she really,” I couldn’t get the word out, but Akira understood without me having to say it.
“Yeah, though I’ve never seen anything like it,” he replied, and there was a rustle of feathers as he pulled his wings back and away, dispelling the illusion that we were alone in the clearing. Tears started to trickle down my cheeks again, and I idly wondered if it were possible to cry yourself into dehydration. Wasn’t there only so much water a person had in their body?
Maria was curled up against Dellar in a mirror image to my own perch on Akira’s lap, tucked up under his chin with her face pressed against his chest as he gently stroked her hair and rocked her back and forth. His pale eyes were focused on Akira and myself, and when Akira pulled his wings back he whispered something and Maria pulled away slightly and looked up. Her eyes were just as swollen as mine, and her cheeks were streaked with the remnants of her own tears. I gulped, pushed against Akira’s chest, and he reluctantly removed his arms and allowed me to pull away from him. I tried to stand, but my knees buckled and I kneeled on the ground, my breath harsh. Maria walked to me and went down on her knees within reaching distance. I stared at her and tried to find any signs of a difference, but there was nothing that outwardly showed proof of what she had told me. It wasn’t until she took my hand and placed it on her neck that I realized the truth of her words.
“No pulse,” I rasped, and my eyes filled again.
“Please, don’t,” Maria said as she reached forward and dragged me to her, hugging me tightly and I closed my eyes at the familiar sensation of the sister of my soul being near me. I had missed her so much.
I sniffled and battled with my tears, and somehow I managed to vanquish them, but only barely. It was time that I got myself back under control, and as Maria held me I concentrated on finding my footing again on ground that was rather shaky, but still capable of holding me. We pulled away and I sat back, only to bump against Akira, who had come up behind me and didn’t waste time to encase me in his arms again. Dellar did the same with Maria, and we just sat there for a few seconds while every now and then a gentle breeze would stir the fallen leaves.
“How,” I rasped and waved my hand in the direction of Dellar. Thankfully, Maria understood.
“It’s a long story,” she began.
“I want to hear it,” Akira said, “but I don’t think now is the time to go through it. Too much has happened already and I’m sure that your parents are worried.”
“Oh crap,” Maria moaned. “Mom’s probably called out the National Guard!”
“Just the local base,” I rasped and reached up to rub at my neck.
“You need to stop talking,” Akira said and shifted. Before I could register what he was doing, he had stood up and held in his arms, bridal style. I tried to squeak a protest, but he glared at me. “Remember what I said about not having to be strong all the time? Let me help you, ok? I doubt you could walk back to Baker’s, anyway, when you couldn’t even stand a few minutes ago.”
I huffed and resigned myself to being carried, though I wasn’t very graceful in my giving in, a fact which had Akira rolling his eyes at me. Maria quickly caught up and walked by our side, with Dellar next to her. The gentle tinkle-clink of my coined scarf, which Maria had picked up, broke the silence, but it was still a very somber group that made their way back to my car. As soon as I was within a signal range my phone started to ring like crazy. I jumped a little and pulled it out of my jacket pocket, which, thankfully, was the one that faced away from Akira’s body, and checked the screen. The whole entire ordeal had only lasted about thirty minutes, but I had at least that many missed calls, voice messages, and texts from my mother and Mrs. Dupree.
I wondered just what I was going to say when I called them since the truth would most likely get me committed to that mental hospital Akira had mentioned earlier. The decision was taken from my hands, literally, when Maria reached over and snatched the phone from me. She hit a few buttons and my jaw dropped when I heard her talking to someone that sounded like an emergency dispatcher.
“What,” I said, but she held up her hand and continued to speak, giving our location and who all was with her to the operator before she hung up.
“Look,” she said, “you were hurt by the Oni and I’m worried about you. We also need a story to tell about what happened and why I’ve been gone for so long that doesn’t involve vampires and the like. Now, give me an idea of what to tell my Mom, because I don’t remember most of what happened.”
“Serial rapist,” I rasped. “He mentioned other girls. He worked at a gas station. And you were hurt, too, you know.”
“Yeah, but due to my . . . condition, I don’t get injured like I used to. Now, just follow my lead after I call my Mom.”
Maria leaned against the hood of my car, and I squirmed, embarrassment having finally crept upon me when I realized that Akira still held me snugly against his chest.
