A Vampire's Reward

I covered my tracks and carefully remove myself from the older woman's mind. I watched in my mental vision as she reached out to Levi, grabbing his hand and saying, "You must be home before dark, Levi. Please don't ask me how I know this, I just do."

"I'll do my best grandmother, I promise," he answered as he hugged her.

I stayed there a few more hours watching and listening. Once Levi's grandmother went to bed my attention was all on him. He seemed restless now instead of being tired like he was when he first arrived home. I observed him trying to watch television, to read the newspaper and then listen to music but nothing he did was able to hold his attention. He ended up pacing from the living room to the kitchen, always pausing at the back door of the house and staring in my direction.

I had to find out what was upsetting him like this but when I tried to probe his mind again I found myself blocked from entering. How was he doing this to me? He couldn't know about me not after what I did before dawn this morning. I tried to get in several different times but it was useless. Puzzled and a little upset at this turn of events I decided to leave and set off to see if I can find any vampires over in the tourist areas of the Smokey's.

***

It didn't take long for me to reach the main drag of one of the bigger tourist spots on the mountain. Since the weather had warmed up and the snow had melted off the slopes there were quite a number of people in town for the night.

I kept my senses open as much as I dared and not put myself at risk for discovery while walking along the streets. Weaving my way through small crowds of talking and laughing people, I had a wave of longing come over me to be human again. I missed having friends to chat with about normal things, especially when I was first turned. Why if it hadn't been for having Dante in my life I believe I'd have gone stark raving mad back then.

Walking away from a friendly group, I turned around the nearest corner and froze. My senses exploding off the charts as the presence of another vampire swept over me. My steps were slow as I began to move down the side street that started out well lit but eventually narrowed into complete darkness.

Coming upon an alley, I edged my head around the corner peering into the darken cavern that the brick walls had created, unable to see anything out of the ordinary. My eyes scaled up the sides of the building, over fire escapes and tiny windows in search of my prey.

And prey is exactly what I labeled this vampire and his underlings. I've hunted him in one form or another for years now, the first five years I personally searched this globe over for him. Then I started slacking off little by little. I felt guilty at first for my waning need to hunt him down, but in a way I didn't want it to end. The longer it took to find the last underling the longer I could hold on to my beloved. It was a way to keep Dante alive for me. But if I had known that someone like Levi would come into my life, I would have kept up my hunt, would have killed this line of vampires off and maybe, just maybe I would be happy right now instead of miserable.

My eyes roamed the rooflines and my blood surged inside me when I spotted a form moving about. Knowing that if I use the fire escape he would hear my approach, I let my fingernails lengthen into claws and pulled myself up the side of the rough brick building. I reached the top and flung my body over, landing on my feet. The underling had his back to me but spun around in an instant. "Well I can see you're not Jackson, so you must be one of his new underlings."

His eyes glowed red in the darkness and he emitted a low growl from his throat. "Just as I figured your father hasn't taught you to respect your elders. But then again how can I expect your father to teach you anything since he is a spineless wimp." The young vampire charged me and I waited till the last second before moving to my right, turning and watching the underling flip over the side. One hand was all that ended up saving him from falling to the concrete below as it caught the edge of the roof.

He used his strength and flung himself through the air, slinging his arm out and catching me across my upper chest, taking me down with him. He quickly came to his knees and started to throw one leg over my body to straddle me but instead he ended up crying out in pain as I brought my leg up, kneeing him in the crotch. He rolled away from me with his hands between his legs holding his balls.

"Bitch!" He growled at me with his teeth bared.

"I've been called worse things," I answered him calmly, standing away from him knowing that he would recover quickly and attack again.

Back on his feet we began to circle each other on the rooftop. I could tell he was still in some pain by the way he moved. My teeth began to protrude from my mouth and saliva dripped down my chin as anger ran rampant inside me mixing, with the need to eliminate this underling. He came forward throwing a punch toward my face and just missed as I ducked, returning my own to his stomach and doubling him over. I followed swiftly with a knee to his head that sent him flying backwards onto his back.

He staggered to his feet, blood dripping from his nose and mouth. The scent of it drove the beast in me wild, causing him to claw his way to the surface past my self-control. The sound that came from me was pure animal and the underling knew that he had unleashed something he was not prepared to fight. He turned, sprinting toward the roof's edge and jumped to the next building.

I let out a fierce sound; the beast in me loving that the young vampire was running. The hunt was on and I had found prey to track down. Jumping to the next building, I was only a few feet behind the scared underling. Every moved he made I shadowed till I let him get ahead of me, making him think that he had a chance to escape.

I now stood on the highest rooftop around this group of buildings and watched as he stayed in the darkest corners of the roofs below me, working his way toward the end of the street where no lights lit up the surrounding area. I smiled, my blood surging through me as I raced ahead. The young vampire thought he was free and ran hard toward the edge of the final roof, his footsteps echoing in the night air.

Timing it just right, I tackled him, slamming his body down against the hard surface of the roof. I pulled him to his knees by the hair on his head and kneeled behind him. Placing my hand over his mouth to muffle his screams I jerked his head hard, pulling it to the side, scraping my teeth against his skin. "You will die underling but you will be shown more mercy then what your grandfather showed my beloved."

And with that I sank my teeth into his neck, shredding his jugular as he struggled in my arms. Heat filled my body putting color into my normally pale cheeks as the beast inside me feasted upon the underling's blood. When he was completely drained I snapped his neck in two and let his body slump to the rooftop.

Blood dripped down my chin as I looked up into the night sky. "Two more to go, Dante, then my vow of avenging your death will be fulfilled. That is a promise I will keep even if I have to die, it will be done."

I turned from the lifeless form at my feet and scaled down the side of the building and headed off into the woods. I left the underling behind on the roof, deciding to let the morning sun burn his body and let his ashes scatter to wherever the four winds may blow.

***

Now that I have conformation that Jackson was here I took my time returning home by zigzagged my way up the mountain. I circled around the cabin checking for anyone or anything and found it clear. But as I started toward the kitchen doors I wished that I had another place close by that I could go to rest.

Once inside I made my way to the basement for a shower and change of clothes since I was covered in blood, then returned upstairs. I didn't bother turning any lights on because I saw things way to clearly as it was. Images of Levi splashed in front of my eyes, the night I first held him in my arms, the night I first tasted his blood, the night I first made love to him.

I couldn't resist the pull of the guest bedroom any longer. The memories played like a movie through my mind as I took in the sight of the unmade bed. The scent of us, of him, still hung in the air.

I stood beside the bed and placed my hand on the mattress where he had laid, stroking my fingers across the sheets and remembering the warmth of his skin. I climbed onto the bed and curled on my side holding the pillow he slept on in my arms. The loss of Levi was no where near as hard on me as the loss of Dante was. Dante was ripped away from my life, where as with Levi, I had to make him go away to protect him, but that didn't mean my heart wasn't breaking. I brushed my hand across his pillow. "I did what I thought was best and I may not ever be able to have you in my life again but at least you will go on to live a normal life and to die a natural death. I have no regrets for making you forget me except one and that is we didn't have long enough to live and love together."

Dawn was near and I rose to my feet and walked away with his pillow still in my arms. I stopped once on the way out and took a last look at the bed then close the door behind me, wishing that I could close off my memories as easily as I could close off the room.

***

Sunset was an hour ago and I'm already back in Cherokee. Something told me I needed to be here tonight. I approached the edge of the trees and saw one person standing outside on the front porch of Levi's grandmother's home. I opened my senses and instantly they register that this was no person, it's a vampire.

I saw the front door open and I drove a message into the grandmother's mind. "No! Don't open that door." But I was too late. The vampire got the invitation he needed to enter.

I heard the scream before it was ever voiced. I ran to the front door, unable to enter without an invitation from her. I blast another message to her, "Invite me in before he kills you. Please, I'm trying to protect you." She hesitated and then screamed as the underling started to bite her. "Now old woman, now!"

Somehow she was able to do it. I don't know if it was a mental invite or verbally through her scream, but suddenly I gained entrance. I ripped the front door off of its hinges, which caused the underling to look up and stopped him from sinking his teeth into the older woman's neck. I left my feet diving at both of them, all of us landing on the floor in a heap of bodies. I was able to jab the vampire in the face with a punch before he countered back with one of his own hitting me below my left eye.

By now my canines had extended completely and the beast in me was raring for the fight. We rolled around the living room floor, knocking lamps and photographs off tables. He got to his feet and easily picked me up, slamming me into a wall so hard that I left a body size indentation in it. He went to punch me in the face again but I moved a split second before it would have made contact. Quickly I surge forward wrapping my arms around his waist and drove him across the room into another wall. But instead of stopping we kept right on going, busting all the way through and into the next room.

Both of us growled as we crashed against the floor amid chunks of drywall and splinters of wood. We both jumped to our feet, clothes ripped, bits of insulation clinging to our skin and hair. Just as I started forward, he dipped down to the floor and grabbed a long thick wooden splinter, wielding it like a sword. I stopped my charge just in time and jumped back when he tried to stab me in the chest.

We danced around each other in the small bedroom we had busted into, him lunging and me dodging, trying not to get impale on the splinter. I tried looking for something to help me get the underling unarmed but there just wasn't anything large enough to use.

The young vampire suddenly lunged forward to far; grazing my side with the piece of wood as it went by. I felt splinters breaking off in my skin but I couldn't let the pain stop me. With some quick footwork I was able to keep from tripping over his feet and somehow got myself behind him and pushed him into another wall. I planted my forearm into the back of his neck and used my body weight to hold him in place. I then grabbed his arm and slammed it against the wall, trying to make him release the piece of wood.

I slammed his arm against the wall again when out of nowhere something swung by my head and hit against his wrist. The underling screamed out in pain and I turned my head to see Levi's grandmother holding a fireplace poker. "Hit him again; don't stop till he drops that piece of wood." Again and again she swung, bringing it down with more strength then I thought she had till finally he dropped the splinter to the floor.

"Go and don't come back in here, no matter what you hear." After she grabbed the splinter from the floor she ran from the room. I grabbed a hand full of the underling's dark black hair and smashing his face repeatedly into the wall. I put everything I had into it, smiling as I heard the drywall cracking, louder and louder till finally his head went through the wall.

When I pulled his head from the wall he fell to his knees, head tilting back and I felt my smile grow even wider. His nose was broken, blood poured from it and I saw a bit of bone protruding. "Please, don't kill Me," he whimpered.

"Begging is a waste of time underling. But I will show you a small amount of mercy by making it quick." I pulled him to his feet and jerked him against me. I wrapped my arms around him tight he started beating me upon the head and my back, fighting a useless battle to get loose. I tried to muffle his scream when my teeth sank in but he jerked away from my hand piercing the silence. Levi's grandmother screamed from the other room, scared from the animalistic sounds she was hearing. Once drained I quickly broke his neck and let him fall to the floor with a loud thump.

A minute of silence fell over the house before she called out, "Is, is everything all right in there?"

I came out of the bedroom, the dark color of crimson coating my lips, chin and neck, holding my side and grimacing in pain. "It's all right now, he's dead." The blood seeped from my side onto my fingers as I leaned up against the wall.

"You're bleeding," She simply said, then left the room, coming back quickly with a towel and medical supplies.

"You really shouldn't do this, ma'am."

She handed me the towel. "It's the least I can do since you saved my life. Now come to the kitchen so I can get a good look at that wound." After I wiped my face and neck clean I followed and stopped in front of her where she had seated herself at the table. I hissed as she pulled my shirt up, the material catching on the splinters in my side. She took a pair of tweezers in her hand and then looked up at me. "Now this will hurt because of the size of the splinters but I'll try to be gentle."

I growled deep in my throat as she removed the first one, making her jump in her seat. I did my best to keep from making a sound as she withdrew the rest of the splinters. This was after all Levi's grandmother. "I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Marina."

She kept right on working, packing the wound and then applying bandages and tape. She looked up at me again and had the gentlest eyes I've seen in a long time. "My name is Sarah."

"Sarah," I said with a smile. "I had a sister with that name. Thank you for patching me up, Sarah, you really didn't have to do that. You put yourself in more danger then you know by treating my wound."

"I wasn't worried, Marina, I knew you wouldn't hurt me. Not after going through all that you just did to save me." She pulled my shirt back into place and gathered up her supplies.

I looked around the kitchen glancing at the clock on the stove, "Wasn't Levi supposed to be home by now, Sarah?"

She came back into the kitchen, "Yes, yes he was. I wonder what is taking him so long? I told that boy to be back before sunset."

I tried to hide my worry as I asked her for a pen and paper then write down a phone number. "Now I know you don't have a phone but tomorrow, if you can during the daylight, use someone's phone and call this number. Tell them that Marina told you to call, they will help repair all of the damage that I caused tonight."

"I can't let you do that. I should be paying you for coming in the nick of time and saving me."

I took hold of her hands and gave them a gentle squeeze. "No, I almost didn't make it in time, Sarah. I got lucky is all. Now tell me where is this farm that Levi is suppose to be working on located and I'll go check on him for you."

After she gave me directions I gathered up the dead underling and went out the back door into the woods, placing the body where animals and sunlight would eventually take care of the remains. I came back did one last search around Sarah's home and then followed the route that she said Levi took every day to his cousin's farm.

I was over halfway there when I saw Levi's truck off the side of the road in a ditch, lying on it's top. Fear shot through me as I raced down the steep incline thinking the worse because my senses didn't pick up any signs of life inside the cab. Not smelling any smoke or gasoline, I ripped the door open and looked inside only to find the front windshield busted out and no Levi.

What I did find was a note attached to the steering wheel that turned my un-beating heart even colder:

"Marina, Levi is still alive and will stay that way unless you try to do something stupid such as rescue him tonight. If you want to keep him alive, then you will meet me to settle this feud once and for all. I had a package delivered to your home this evening with directions on where we will meet tomorrow night. What time we meet is up to you for I shall be waiting. I'm tired of looking over my shoulder and want this ended."

Jackson

My hands shook as I read the letter. The beast in me lost control and howled out a cry of injustice as I beat my fists against the bed of the truck. After wiping all those memories away from Levi's mind and letting him go, he still got involved in this. How could that be? I just didn't understand.

Once some of my anger had been vented I climbed back in the truck looking to see if there were any clues that may have been left behind. All I found was the coat that Levi must have wore to work that morning. I wanted to feel close to him so I slid my arms into it and wrapped it around me. His scent and cologne filled my lungs. "I'll get you back Levi. I swear to a God who no longer recognizes me that I will get you back."

*

Back home I found Jackson's package propped against the front door, which I picked up and took inside. I tore it open and found a map with directions written out to an abandoned sawmill where the meeting was to take place. I made several phone calls, rounding up friends and calling in some favors that I was owed, asking them all to get me any information they could on the site. I wanted everything, from the lay of the land to if Jackson had brought any mortals or underlings to guard it or to try and trap me.

Worried, I paced in front of the unlit fireplace all night. Worry over whether or not Levi was warm enough, if he was dry enough, if he was being fed and most of all if he was still alive. On top of that I'm also worried about Levi's grandmother. She hadn't took the news well that he had been kidnapped. She looked so pale and fragile, nothing like the woman who beat the hell out of an underling's arm earlier in the evening. I did the only thing I knew to help her and that was to place a command in her mind to sleep for the rest of the night.