Bound to the Vampire Chapter 9

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CHAPTER 9

Kayla

Garrick stood in Marnie’s doorway while they all watched. Her intestines tied into knots as she watched him.

Garrick put one hesitant foot in the doorway as though he was expecting to spontaneously combust. Truth be told, she half expected Marnie to have a trapdoor underneath the welcome mat ready to suck him in. Or a pressure sensor explosive at the very least. Neither seemed to be the case when he stood tall in her doorway.

“Huh.” Surprise cocked Marnie’s head back slightly. “That’s new.”

“What is?” Garrick asked.

“It looks like you’re worthy, vampire. You may come in. But know this, try anything and I know how to kill your kind.”

“I mean you no harm.”

She shot him a look of disbelief, then said, “You’ll have to move so I can close the door.”

“Yes, of course.” Garrick moved to the side. Once he was cleared, the door closed on its own accord. Marnie turned to him.

“You got a name, vampire?” she asked.

“I am called Garrick Shaw, servant of the Great King, fifty-seventh legion of the Twin Empire.”

“All that, huh?” Marnie took another drag from her cigarette as she studied him in her entryway. “Do you have something shorter or must we say that mouthful?”

“Also, I am called Garrick.”

“Okay then, I am called Garrick. Come on with me. You too.” She motioned toward the room and ushered them into a kitchen that was a dressed match to the exterior. Placing her cigarette into an ashtray on her Formica counter, Marnie told them to take a seat as she rummaged through the cabinets for a tea kettle.

“Would any of you care for tea?” she asked, filling the teapot with water from the tap.

They each declined as she placed the lid on top and turned on the gas burner with several short clicks.

“Now Donovan, are you going to tell me why you’re sitting in my kitchen at this god-awful hour or do I have to ask?”

Immediately, Kayla’s head perked up to look at her father. He sat at the table, his hair slightly windblown, his eyes cast down at his folded hands on her floral tablecloth.

Her father was worse for wear. The sockets of his eyes were more pronounced, his skin a shade more ashen. The color of his eyes dulled, but were bright with emotion. In them, she saw terror. He gulped before giving Marnie a level gaze.

“I messed up, Marn,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “He’s found me.”

The clattering against the stove brought their attention to the tea cup and saucer that fell from Marnie’s hands. Her head bounced back and forth, checking every exit in the room. “And you’ve come here with him after you?”

“Who?” Kayla asked as fright took up residence in the room. Her father’s gaze slid from Marnie, then onto her, but Marnie was already talking.

“Your father’s personal demon, that’s who,” Marnie said, snatching the cigarette off the counter and putting it back to her lips, forgetting about the tea cup. Confusion must have been evident all over her face because Marnie looked between her and her father. “You never told her about him?”

“About who?”

“The rogue, keep up.” Marnie shifted; her calm swagger was gone. In its place was a frantic ball of energy that made her grip the countertop so hard it creaked. The lights in the house went darker. Marnie turned to her father. “Were you followed?”

“No. I made sure of it.”

“Did you two split up at any time?”

Her father glanced from Marnie to her. “No. Why?”

“You can never be too sure. I’ve heard things about him. They say he uses all kinds of tricks. Even send duplicates to give you the feel goods, then next, you’re in his clutches.” Marnie’s suspicious gaze was on her and didn’t let up.

“She’s not a duplicate,” her father said firmly.

“Are you sure this is your daughter?”

“Of course, she is.”

“Positive?”

“Of course, Marn, I’d know my own daughter.”

“Are you sure it’s not your eyes making her real? I know you’re you because I can feel you. The girl you bore was magic, wasn’t she? Can you feel her? Because I sure can’t.”

Every head in the room turned to her.

“I am!”

Foremages, I sound guilty, she chided herself when the words came out too fast.

“Then where’s your magic, girl?” Marnie pressed. “You give it to someone?”

“What? No.” First off, she hadn’t even realized she could pawn it off. That sounded a whole lot easier than living with her curse.

“Where is it?” Marnie pressed, leaning forward.

“I-I don’t…” Kayla looked at her father whose face was parallel to the floor. “Dad. Tell her. I’m me.”

“Where did this vampire come from? Didn’t think you hung out with that crowd.” Marnie’s questions continued.

“I don’t. He was with her when she got to the house,” her father confessed.

In an instant, a red swirl circled Marnie’s hand. Garrick was on his feet and taking a defensive stance in front of her.

“You will not harm her,” he warned.

“I will take you down before you could bare your fangs, vamp.” Marnie planted her feet.

“Wait, this is a misunderstanding. I’m not a duplicate or whatever it is you think I am. I’m just me. Dad, you know that.”

“When’s the last time you saw your daughter?” Marnie ignored her pleas.

“Before today? When I dropped her off at school at the start of the semester.” His gaze turned just as suspicious as Marnie’s. He backed away from her, but didn’t draw his magic like Marnie had. At least some piece of him, maybe very deep down, knew who she was.

“And she just happened to drop by on a night like tonight?”

“I was taken,” she pleaded with a shaky voice. Holding back tears, she recanted the events of her entire night to them. From being abducted on her way to the party, to Derrek, to being taken to the warehouse. “They said they were going to hold the mage’s daughter for ransom. You must have wondered where I was when they called you to pick up Breanne.”

Her father shook his head in confusion. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He had to have. Maybe he misheard her, so she repeated, “They said they were going to ransom the mage… I traded places with her so she’d be saved. You picked her up. You had to have. They said—”

“You weave a good tale, girl, but who can validate it?”

“I’ll call Derrek. If she’s lying, he’ll answer.”

He wouldn’t this time and he never would again. Tears rushed into her eyes at the thought. When the phone rang out, her father turned to her, doubt clouding his entire aura.

“He didn’t answer.”

“I told you what they did to him.” Her voice was so soft, she barely heard it herself.

“Just like the Rogue to leave no witnesses.”

She looked to Garrick, who still stood eyeing Marnie, his fangs drawn in warning.

“He saved me.”

“As far as I’m concerned, he was sent by the Rogue too. You have one shot before this ends badly for you.” Marnie lifted her hand to display the magic bursting from her palm. “Where is your magic?”

She looked around, giving up hope that her father was going to come to her rescue, then spoke around the dryness in her throat. Shame washed over her as she confessed.

“I-I take a tonic to suppress it. I know I’m not supposed to, but I convinced an old friend of mine to make it for me. He doesn’t even know what I use it for. I just need it while I’m in school. My magic is out of control if I don’t take it. I’m so sorry, Daddy.”

Her father’s disapproving glare made her want to weep. But he shook it off, then returned to staring at the floor like he didn’t trust himself to look in her eyes.

“Who makes your tonic?” Marnie asked, not buying a single word of the truth that tumbled from her lips.

“A friend of mine. His name is Chem.”

She paused. “The alchemist?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “You know him?”

“He is known in many circles. But not in the Rogue’s. If Chem makes your tonic, then Chem will confirm it.”

More magical essence swirled up her body and into her open palm. When it receded, a phone lay in its place. Without putting her remaining magic away, Marnie dialed with one eye on the vampire and the other on her. It rang loudly over the speaker.

Come on, Chem, pick up. To her relief, the phone clicked.

“What?” he answered abruptly.

“Get up, I have a question for you.”

“The fuck, Marn? You know what time it is? Does anyone have any fucking decency around here anymore?” Chem’s sleep-soaked foul-mouthed voice barreled over the speaker.

“I do and I have a duplicate sitting in my kitchen claiming you brew a tonic for her.”

“Fuck no. I don’t work with duplicates. Even I have standards.”

Marnie gave her a raised brow.

“Chem, it’s Kayla!” she shouted across the kitchen.

“Fuck, Kayla?!” His annoyance became encased with irritation. “Where the fuck have you been?”

“So, you know this girl?”

“Yeah, but she isn’t a damn duplicate. Tell her I want my fucking money with interest. You hear me?”

“She hears you. So, you can vouch for her?”

“I can vouch that she called me last minute with an order and request for delivery. Had me drive all the way out to bumfucktown nowhere to some party and she… Never. Fucking. Showed.”

“What do you make for her?” Marnie kept her watchful glare on her while she fidgeted in her chair. She was verifying her story, but would that be enough? No one could account for her presence once she’d left her apartment that night until she showed up at her father’s doorstep.

“She said her magic goes haywire when she’s stressed. It’s just a little something that helps keep it calm.”

“Will it make it go away altogether?”

He was silent for a second. “I knew it. I fucking knew she was taking too much.”

“Does it make the magic go away?” Marnie huffed in annoyance.

“It can if you take too much. But nothing really makes magic go away, that shit is dangerous. Fuck, if I knew that’s what she was doing, I wouldn’t have made it. Now, I’ve created a goddamn explosive. She’s a fucking ticking timebomb over there. Foremages. Is she crazy?”

“I’ll handle it from here.” Marnie pressed the end button to disconnect the call, then turned back to her.

Again, her intestines did that funny knotting up thing behind her belly button. Marnie gave her a long look, then tossed one over to Garrick. “For now, your story checks out.”

Marnie dropped her hands to her side, letting her magic fizzle out. Kayla relaxed back in her chair, but caught the disapproval raking off of her father in waves. Apparently, he trusted her again since he was no longer looking at the nonexistent dust bunnies crawling across Marnie’s floor.

“You’re taking a suppressant?” he scolded.

“Yes.” Her voice grew small.

“That’s dangerous!”

“It was only while I was at school. I planned to stop taking it when the semester was over…”

“School? That makes it worse Kayla. You could have hurt someone.”

“I had it under control.”

“Like you did last year?”

Her chest seized. Tears rimmed her eyes. He couldn’t have possibly thought she’d meant to do that last year. It was the reason she’d started taking her tonic over the summer when she realized Piermont was her best chance at a fresh start. She never wanted that to happen ever again and would do everything to keep from hurting an innocent.

“Is that what you wanted, a repeat?”

“Of course not! I would never want to hurt someone.”

“Well, you could have. Hell, you’ve almost gotten yourself killed. You’ve walked out into the world defenseless. I’ve done everything in my power to keep you safe. Surrounded you with the best money can buy.”

“I know,” she said ruefully, her voice equally as quiet as before.

“Do you? Because I don’t think you even see what it’s done to you. It’s left you exposed. Look, your body won’t even heal itself.”

“It was supposed to have worn off by now.”

“That doesn’t make what you’ve done better.”

The tense and uncomfortable silence that followed stamped out the available air in the room. Her father took two angry breaths, waiting for her to say something, but she didn’t have any words.

She was too embarrassed to speak. When she didn’t open up, he continued.

“What do you have to say for yourself?”

After a beat, she said, “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry isn’t good enough. I want to know that you understand the irreparable harm that you’ve caused tonight by ingesting that poison.”

“I do,” her voice barely squeezed through the ball of embarrassment tightening her airways.

“Do you?”

“I think she understands your point,” Garrick snapped from across the table. From his defensive posture, it looked like he’d take on everyone in the kitchen just like he had with the wolves at her house.

Her father’s furious gaze pivoted from her to Garrick, but before he could speak, she cut in.

“I know what I’ve done.  I know that there are people who can’t be brought back because of it.”

She wasn’t strong enough to hold back the choking tears that made it impossible to speak let alone look him in the eyes. The truth of his words sunk in. It stung, but he was right.

This entire night had been her fault. If she hadn’t taken that damned tonic, none of this would be happening. She could’ve broken her and Breanne out of the warehouse. She wouldn’t have been abducted in the first place. She would be back in her apartment with Derrek alive and Breanne…

Where was Breanne now? She’d traded places so that she would be spared, but now nothing made any sense because her father never got the call. She’d been tricked. They didn’t intend to ransom her off at all. She needed to find out what they did to her.

“There is someone we can help. We have to find Breanne,” Kayla said abruptly, rising from the table.

“No one is going anywhere tonight,” Marnie replied. “We have to lay low until—”

A roar of breaking wood from her front porch drowned out the rest of her sentence.

Marnie shot up from her chair. Electricity zipped across her palms as she poked her head into the hall to investigate the calamity on her front porch.

She jumped back into the kitchen as though a ghost holding a machete was in her hallway. Her pensive eyes drew up, then looked hauntingly at her father.

“I thought you said you weren’t followed.”