Nevermore, the Complete Series (39 page)

“Welcome, Alexis,” an unfamiliar voice met my ears as I inched the door open. “I’ve been waiting for so long to see you again.”

I gulped and forced the door the rest of the way open, finding the auburn-haired vampire sitting in the center of Paul's queen-sized bed with her legs crossed underneath her. The only other piece of furniture present in the room was a dresser, and atop it I noted something that might come in handy – one of Paul's crossbows. How had she missed it? I avoided looking at it for too long, in case she caught on.

My father was nowhere to be seen. It was remarkable how much she reminded me of myself. Her eyes were the same hazel; the shape of her face was almost a mirror image of my own.

“Come now, don't be shy,” she said with an alluring smile, “come say hello to mommy.”

“You aren't my mother,” I blurted out, “She was killed by a vampire eighteen years ago. This is some sort of trick!”

“Ha!” Her laugh was light and sarcastic. “Had your father made even the slightest attempt to find me, maybe he would have managed to save me. But...he never did. He just assumed I was dead.”

“What? No, he said he saw…he said…” I wracked my brain trying to recall if my dad had said for certain he saw Destiny get killed. He had only said she was taken from him. “What really happened?” I asked, cautiously entering the room with Salem directly behind me.

“It wasn't the vampire's intention to turn me. He was in search of a Waldron, and mistook me as the hunter!” she laughed and shook her head, “you see, his grand plan was to turn a great vampire hunter into a weapon. He wanted to use them to take over families of other vampires and rule them – but when he found that I was only a mere ordinary human, he was furious. He called me weak and useless and offered to sell  me as a slave to any other vampire who would take me.”

“A slave?”
I asked, wondering just what she had been put through.

“He would have kept me himself to do his bidding, but he had his hands full with some child. We traveled as far as Transylvania – how typical, right!” she burst into a fit of laughter, then resumed her story, “a man named Malik was instantly interested and Raziel bartered with him on a fair price.”

“What could a vampire possibly trade for you?”

“Vampires need money too, Alex! How do you think they travel or afford homes?”

“How did you find your way back here...?”

She smirked and her eyes appeared glossed over. “Come sit with mommy, and she will tell you the whole story.”

“You can tell me from where you are.”

“No, I need you closer, Alex...please...after all of these years, you must understand how much I need to touch you, to hold you.”

With little hesitation, I stepped closer to the bed. Salem was right at my heels with each step until I sat beside the woman. She smiled pleasantly, almost fooling me into believing she was sane and friendly.

She brushed a snow-white hand across my cheek and smiled admiringly at me, “You have grown so much...” Before I had the chance to respond, she gripped my hand tightly. “Malik taught me at least one useful trick,” she said darkly, then swiftly turned my head to face her and look into her eyes.

It was all too familiar. Her eyes became pools of darkness, and then slowly images began appearing within her pupils. I felt myself being dragged in, pulled away from reality and into whatever vision she wanted me to see.

Suddenly I was standing in a courtyard. There was an elegant fountain in the center of the courtyard; however it was not filled with water. Blood trickled down from two holes in the throat of a statue depicting a horrified young child, and filled the pool at the bottom. I shuddered in disgust, and then a sound caught my attention and distracted me from the astonishing sight. To the left of the fountain was a woman hunched over the side of a cement bench. Her bare back was exposed through tears in the thin blue blouse she wore. Footsteps came from behind me, and soon a tall, slender man was in sight. He wore a cloak made of burgundy velvet over a white collared shirt – he appeared almost to be royalty. The hair atop his head was short and black, and he wore a devious smile as he approached the woman. He walked with his arms crossed behind his back.

“I hear that you have been misbehaving again, Destiny,” his voice was soft, yet I detected a hint of malice behind it.

“I haven't done anything wrong!” she cried. “Please, let me go! I’ll get back to work, I’ll do better…I promise!”

“Ah, but what would be the joy in that?” he laughed, “You know the rules. You disobey Lord Malik and you are punished for it.”

“Tell me, then – what have I done wrong?!”

“Guardsmen overheard you discussing your past with another slave. That is not allowed. You are not to speak to the other slaves, especially not on such topics. There is no friendship here, so don't go seeking it. You are to do whatever job is assigned to you and nothing more. No conversations with anyone beyond myself or a guard. You have no past. You have no future. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” she whimpered.

“Then let this be a reminder for next time.” I watched as Malik unveiled a thick black whip from behind his back. Destiny wailed as the whip lashed at her skin three times, leaving large red gashes.

He laid the whip against the bench and offered a hand to Destiny. She reached out with intent to slap it then shut her eyes, inhaled and took it. I watched with confusion as he leaned toward her and kissed her delicately on the lips.

“You will forgive me, won't you?” he whispered into her ear. “We all have rules we must follow, no?”

She didn't reply, but he didn't appear to expect an answer.

Now I was following behind my mother as she stalked quietly through a crowded city. It was dark and scarcely anyone was seen walking along the sidewalks. She came upon a small house and stopped for a moment, taking a whiff of the air – she was searching for a particular scent. She carried on down the street until suddenly she turned around and gazed up into the window of a two-story brick house.

I watched as she crept along the sidewalk leading up to the house. At first I thought she was going to knock on the door, but instead she burst through the window. My feet led me into the house without me willing them, and I followed her up a short flight of stairs. Down the hall, to the left, and into a small bedroom was a young boy sitting at a desk reading a book.

“Hello, darling,” Destiny said in the sweetest, most alluring voice she could manage.

Startled, the boy jumped up from his chair and opened his mouth to scream. Destiny was at his side at once, her hand tightly sealing his mouth.

“Please don’t scream,” she whispered. “I just want to play a little game with you is all. Do you like games?”

The boy nodded his head slowly.

“Good. This game is all about being as quiet as possible,” she smiled against the warmth of his cheek, “I am going to remove my hand, but if you make the slightest sound you will lose the game. But, if you are a good little boy and don't make a peep, you will get a reward! Understand?”

Another slow nod.

“Perfect,” she smiled again, removed her hand and studied the young boy. Her eyes tore away from the child and focused on the piece of paper lying on his desk. It was a childish drawing of a house surrounded by a lake and trees, with a scrawling of his signature.

Destiny gasped and pushed away from the boy. She looked frantic. “Your name...” she whispered, “Alex?”

The boy opened his mouth to speak, then remembered the rule of the game and nodded yet again. He was trembling as she pulled his face into her hands. “I’m sorry…we can’t play tonight. Don’t tell anyone of this, understand?” Without another word, she crashed through his window and fled through the night.

“Malik...I want to discuss something with you,” I heard my mother speak as we appeared in a room lined with walls built into bookshelves. Every inch of which was filled top to bottom with books. A rounded crimson couch sat in the center of the room, upon which she and the other vampire sat.

“What is it?” he asked as he twirled a glass of thick red liquid in his hand.

“Do you ever intend to free me?”

“Why you would want to be free?” he glanced at her and frowned. “Do you not enjoy it here?”

“I would like to return to go back home.”

His expression darkened. “This is your home! This has always been your home, and shall always be your home!”

“That's not true, Malik!” she shouted. “You can feed those lies to all of the other slaves, but I know the truth! I was human once! I had a family. I had a daughter.”

“Oh, is that what you want?” he asked with a playful smile, “I could have one brought to you – any child of your picking could be ours.”

“No! That's not what I want!”

He set down his glass and sighed. “You will never be pleased, will you? I give you everything you could ever need – your own living quarters, no chores but gathering food, better apparel than all the other slaves, and my undying love – and yet you still remain unhappy.”

“I want my daughter back! That's all I want. You have all the slaves here that you could ever need; losing me won't hurt anything.”

“Oh come now, I need you Destiny. I need you here,” he stared longingly at her. “Do you not love me?”

“You beat me and lock me in the chambers. It isn't easy to love someone who treats you like a slave.”

“If anyone knew the way I felt for you, a slave...” Malik shook his head.

“If you loved me, you would make me your queen.”

Malik almost laughed until he noticed how serious she was. “Are you suggesting that we wed?”

“Only if you love me,” she replied, “make me your queen and prove that you love me as much as you say you do, and take this slave title away from me.”

He pondered her proposition for a moment, and then his lips formed into a wide smile. “I shall announce it at once.”

“Wonderful,” Destiny said with what I took to be a false smile as Malik kissed her.

After he left the room, my mother got to her feet and began pacing around the room. She was plotting something, but I wasn't sure what. Was this all a trick she was playing on him? Judging by the mischievous grin on her face, I was positive that she was.

It took me a few minutes to realize I had been pulled out of the visions and Destiny was now speaking directly to me.

“Malik married me the following night, granting me the same power that he held. We dined on the finest of blood – the blood of children – and I grew stronger as time passed. He taught me how to hunt on my own, taught me how to be a true vampire and not just a slave. I grew to love him, but I was plagued with memories of a young girl named Alexis and I desired nothing more than to find her. He would become furious any time I mentioned you and tell me that he was my life now – none of the past mattered anymore. He would use his tricks of the mind on me, and for a time I would forget…but your face always haunted me…until I remembered again.

“Eventually not even his suppression could mask it and I became obsessed with finding you. I spent hours dwelling on the vague pictures of you I saw in my mind – I saw the trailer, a brief glimpse of Paul, and suddenly I remembered Willowshire. I remembered the night that Raziel killed me, and how Paul never came to find me.

“It was difficult to betray Malik after I had developed such strong feelings for him, but I had to find you. He offered on numerous occasions to find us an undead child to love as our own, but that was not what I wanted – I wanted my child. The daughter I remembered giving birth to, the one I remembered holding in my arms as she fell asleep...and now here we are together at last.”

“Alex – don't fall for this,” Salem said harshly, distracting me from my mother's words. “She is corrupted – worse than Hannah was. She is tricking you, just as she tricked Malik. I can feel it.”

“The boy is a liar, Alexis! I would never trick you, my only daughter – I sacrificed everything to find you!”

“Where is Paul?” I asked firmly, ignoring both of them.

“That doesn't matter, darling...we are together now, nothing else matters.”

“Tell me where Paul is, or I’ll leave!”

“Oh, he’s here,” Destiny grinned maniacally, “gagged and bound in the bathroom.”

“What? Is he hurt?”

“No. At least not yet...” The grin never faltered, “You see, Alex, your father made me a promise that he would always protect you from this secret life of hunting vampires. He swore that you would live an ordinary life, no matter what – yet here you are, without the beating heart I left you with.”

“It’s in my blood to be a hunter, I would have found out eventually anyway.”

“Not if Paul had kept his promise!” she shrieked and leapt up from the bed.

Her fist slammed into the door to the master bathroom, pushing it off its hinges and she dragged my father out. His hands were tied behind his back and a thick layer of
tape sealed his mouth shut. She thrust him onto the ground in front of the bed and I heard a faint whimper escape him.

“Don't do anything you’ll regret,” I said and jumped off of the bed.

“Why should you want him to live, Alex? He betrayed us both. It is his fault, all of it! Him and his damned hunting! I wish I had never met him, or that I would have left with you when I had the chance. He took us away from one another Alex! He didn’t even try! Oh and I pried out of him what’s happened since. He didn’t want to talk but I can be pretty persuasive when I need to be.”

She slowly licked at a bloody gash across Paul’s cheekbone before continuing. “He told me about giving you up to that Janet woman and her pathetic husband Desmond.
Pawning them off as your parents because he didn’t want to raise you.”

“You shut your mouth about them! Janet was more of a mom to me than you will ever be.”

“Is that a way to talk to your mother?”

“You’re not my mother!”

She smiled. Her eyes turned a brilliant crimson and she lunged herself at Paul.

“No! You can't blame him for this!” I shouted as she pinned him to the ground. “He thought you were gone for good – he’s been devastated at the loss of the love of his life, and tried to protect me for as long as he could! Giving me up was the only way!”

That was enough to grab her attention at least temporarily.

“Even so, he eventually told you. He brought you into this world of blood, and look what it has done to you. It is his fault that we are like this Alex.”

“It wasn’t exactly Paul who first told Alexis,” Salem chimed in.

“Ah, so this pretty boy here is the one who tainted my baby?” she growled and approached Salem, leaving Paul on the floor.

“She would have discovered the truth eventually on her own,” he replied, not even a hint of fear shown on his face. “Your daughter is more than she appears.”

“What does he mean?” she asked, turning briefly to stare at me.

With a sigh, I transformed before my mother showing her what I truly was. Her face drew a blank as she marveled at me. “You...you are a raven?”

“Yes.” I nodded, “I was born to hunt, whether I wanted to or not.”

“This can't be!” she cried, “Not my baby! You were innocent, pure and beautiful...I was meant to protect you...nurture you...keep you away from the monsters of this world...”

“Unfortunately, you are one of the monsters,” I said and lowered my eyes for a brief second. “Salem might be a vampire, and so am I now...but we do not murder people.”

“Don't you dare call your mother a monster!” she screamed.

“But you are a monster, and a murderer. Ever since I first learned of you I’ve been longing to meet you, wishing I could have known you, thinking you had died...and now, I have to do my duty in life and rid the world of one more monster, mother or not.”

“Alex?” Salem said in shock. “No...There has to be something else you can do. Something we can do. Maybe she can change…like…like Hannah.!”

I shook my head. I wished I could cry. I wanted to feel the warmth of fresh tears coursing down my face – but none came. Not because I didn't care. I did care. I wanted nothing more than to be reunited with my mother, to grow to know and love her, but she was long gone. The Destiny my father had fallen in love with was gone, and all that was left was an empty shell of who she once was. She was not Destiny Waldron anymore. I had to see her as what she truly was – a corrupted, insane, murderous vampire, beyond the point of help.

“She's gone, Salem. She can't be saved. You and I both know it's true.”

Paul kicked around on the floor with intent to trip me, but I was too fast. I moved out of his reach and stared down at him with disbelief.

“This isn't the woman you love, dad! You have to know that.”

He closed his eyes and looked away.

“I’m sorry, dad,” I whispered.

“You think you can kill me?” Destiny laughed mockingly, “You’re just a hunter with no weapon.”

“I am a weapon,” I disagreed. “Salem, leave. Please.”

“I won't leave you with her.”

“Leave! I don't want to hurt you, too!”

Without another word he exited the room, glancing back once to look me directly in the eyes.