The II AM Trilogy Collection Read online

  “We cannot fight him, and even if we could, even if we pulled off the miraculous, what would be the purpose? The inevitable end for those we would be trying to save does not change. It is too much risk for no reward.”

  “Well that’s fucking great. I hate all of the choices, Theroen.” Two was beyond anger. Beyond tears. Her voice was hollow, exasperated, depleted of hope. Melissa gave her a look of sympathetic commiseration, as if Two was the true victim.

  “I’m not fond of any of them myself. I’m not entirely certain which I would choose, if the choice were mine. It is not. Melissa knows, has known for decades, that it is not. The choice lies with her, and I will abide by her decision, even if she chooses your fourth scenario.”

  Melissa sighed, shut her eyes, leaned back against the couch. Tears, tinged pink with blood, slipped down her face, but she did not lose her composure. After a long minute in which Two felt as if her own heart had ceased to beat, Melissa looked up at the ceiling, and then over at Theroen. Her face was hard, and rage danced behind her eyes. Rage at them? Rage at Abraham? Rage at the situation? Two could not tell.

  “I want a promise.”

  “Anything, Melissa.”

  “Take Samantha with you. Don’t leave her behind. Don’t leave her here for him. I know it goes against what he asked, but I can’t do that. She’s just a human. Promise me you’ll take her and get her home. You can make her forget. Will you promise?”

  “You have my word, Melissa.”

  “Good. Then I want you to kill me. I’d rather you than that bitch who shares this body. Kill me, and kill Tori, and when Abraham rages, spit in his fucking face and tell him it’s from me.”

  * * *

  It had been twenty minutes since Melissa had departed, and Two still felt numb. There had been little more conversation after Melissa’s choice. She had asked Theroen when, and he had said only, “Not yet.”

  Melissa had nodded, and left to hunt. The expression on her face was dark and distant, and Two did not envy whomever Melissa might choose as a victim.

  Theroen sighed, stood, turned off the television. He turned to Two, his face set in its typical expression. “Hungry?”

  “Starving,” Two admitted. “But I think if I drink right now, it’ll overwhelm me. I’d never be able to stop crying. How can it be like this, Theroen? Why aren’t there more choices?”

  “Abraham makes it so. His age, his power, his will. There is something I neglected to mention to Melissa, something that makes me willing to risk his wrath and do as she asks. He believes he has found a way to make more children.”

  “I don’t understand,” Two said. Theroen was quiet for a moment, organizing his thoughts. At last he continued.

  “Eresh blood is too weak to make fledglings for a very long time, and then within a century or two, it becomes too strong. The power of the blood makes our offspring go mad, as Melissa and Tori have. Another few decades, and the fledglings begin simply dying from shock.

  “Through great study, and having watched your progression, Abraham believes he has learned how to dilute his blood and, by doling it out in minute increments over a lengthy period of time, create a sane fledgling.

  “I left this out because Melissa does not need to know. It is bad enough that Missy will engulf her, let alone that she someday will become useless to Abraham entirely. When that happens, Abraham will butcher Melissa, Tori, and Samantha without a second thought. Whatever death I can offer Melissa will be much better than anything Abraham might deliver.”

  “God, Theroen. How can you talk about this? How can you be this … this …”

  “This cold? I have been contemplating it for decades, Two, as I have said. Melissa’s fate is of great importance to me. I wish I could provide her with more choices. I wish I could save her, but I don’t know how. Every emotional fiber of my being screams against the decisions that are being made here. But I don’t know what else to do.

  “The young man whose body I occupy is still here, somewhere, Two. Vampires do not age as human beings do, and the hot blood of youth is still very close to the surface in me. I simply have centuries of practice controlling it. That young man rages against this. He would try your impossible deed, if I let him.

  “I have firsthand experience, awful beyond description, that vampires of my age and power can be killed easily by their elders. Lisette’s destruction came at the hands of a vampire only a few hundred years her senior, and that vampire lived only ten more years before Abraham destroyed him. It has been centuries since those events, and Abraham has only grown more powerful. If we challenge him, we will die.”

  Two opened her mouth to reply to this, when a scream, long and wailing, echoed from somewhere below them. She shut her mouth with a snap, eyes wide, looking at the floor.

  “Samantha awakens,” said Theroen.

  * * *

  It was Two who went down to see the girl. She had asked to, and Theroen had simply held his palms up to the air. Be my guest. Two wondered if sometimes he understood her motivations better than she did herself. Two did not know why she needed to talk to this half-vampire woman whom she had never met. Two only knew that it felt right, and after a life guided mainly by instinct, she had learned to trust her feelings.

  She knew the girl could hear her footsteps, coming down the long stone staircase. She could sense a sudden panic, could hear already rushed breathing speed to a near hysterical pace. She spoke into the darkness: “I’m not going to hurt you, Samantha.”

  The girl’s panic seemed to break, and she found her voice, questions bubbling out of her like water. “Who are you? Where am I? What’s happening to me? Where am I? Help me! Where are you? You have to help me!”

  Two’s eyes were better than a human’s now, and even in the dark she could see the bars of the cell, could see the girl behind them, on her knees, shuddering. Samantha was wearing a pair of jeans and a loose, brightly-colored blouse. No socks, no shoes. Two tried to remember waking up in that cell. Only a few weeks ago. It seemed forever.

  “I’m going to light a candle. There’s one down here. Everything’s going to be okay. You’re fine, and I’m here to help. Try to relax, if you can. It will be better for you.”

  Samantha lapsed into gulping, panicky breaths, staring out into the darkness. Only half-vampire, her vision was not as good as Two’s. There was a candle on a small table by the cell, a box of matches sitting beside it. Two struck one, and held it to the wick. The flame glowed and flickered, casting enough light that Samantha was able to pinpoint Two’s whereabouts. She scurried down the length of the bars, pressed up against them, held her hand out, and cried, “Help me! Help me!”

  Two sat on the floor and extended her hand. Samantha gripped it tightly, enough so that the pressure would have been painful, if Two were still human.“Samantha. It’s okay. You’re okay. You’re not hurt.”

  “I feel wrong. Help me!”

  Two laughed a bit at that. “Yeah, I imagine you do. Let me guess: right now you can hear better than you ever could before, and see better in this light than you should be able. Am I right?”

  “Yes. I … yes.”

  “Okay. Look … I’ve been through this, and I’m okay. You’re okay too, I promise. Can you take the facts straight, Samantha?”

  Her matter-of-fact tone was working. Samantha closed her eyes and, with visible effort, forced herself to breathe deeply, to get control of herself. Her grip on Two’s hand loosened slightly.

  “Just tell me,” She said after a moment.

  “How much do you remember?”

  “I don’t know. I was … I was at the club. Some Goth chick kept smiling at me, and I couldn’t stop staring at her. Look, I’m not normally into that, okay? I couldn’t help it. I remember finally getting up to go talk to her … and then I woke up in this fucking hole.”

  Two nodded, and said, “Okay, well, here it comes. When you don’t believe it, I’ll prove it to you. But I’ll tell you first. Last night you came home with a vampire n
amed Missy. You uh … hooked up with her, and she bit you, and drank a lot of your blood. Normally you’d either die, or wake up somewhere and not remember anything, but she decided to give you some of her blood in return. Since she didn’t drain you all the way, you’re not completely a vampire yet, but you’re about halfway there. After that it gets … complicated.”

  The girl was silent for a long time. Her response, when it came, didn’t surprise Two much.

  “What?”

  “I know it sounds hard to believe …”

  “Hard to believe?” Samantha gave a tiny, hysterical laugh. “Hard to fucking believe? I pass out somewhere, and I wake up in a fucking prison, and some random chick comes down and tells me that I’m in some fucking Brad Pitt movie, and it’s only ‘hard to believe’? Dios … this is fucking impossible!”

  “It’s not impossible. Trust me.”

  Samantha pulled her hand from Two’s and gripped the bars, stared out at her, furious. “Listen, you crazy bitch, I don’t care who you are. I don’t care what the fuck hallucinations you’re having. Tell me where the fuck I am, and then let me go. Right now.”

  Two felt anger for a moment, and forced herself to react as Theroen would. She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, they were calm.

  “Samantha …”

  “Sam. Everyone calls me Sam.”

  “Sam. Get up. Go look in that mirror on the wall. You couldn’t see it in the dark, but I know from experience that the candle’s more light than your eyes need, now. Go look, and tell me how hard it is to believe.”

  Sam stared at her for a moment, then curled her lip in defiance and stood up. She took two quick strides over to the mirror and peered into it. Her reaction was immediate, and very similar to what Two’s had been. She flinched, stumbled, fell backwards, crying out: “Jesus!”

  What had Theroen said? Jesus has nothing to do with this.

  “I’m sorry, Sam.”

  Two watched as Sam covered her face with her hands and wept.

  * * *

  “I’m dreaming.” Sam was staring at Two with horrified eyes. Two had not moved, was still sitting Indian-style on the cold stone floor. She shook her head.

  “No.”

  “Then I’m insane. Locked up somewhere. Hallucinating. Someone gave me some bad acid. Something …”

  “No.”

  “How can you say ‘No’? This shit is not possible.”

  “I sometimes find it hard to believe, myself. I’ve only been a vampire for a few days, and I was human less than a month ago. You grow accustomed to it pretty quickly, though.”

  “Somebody wake me up,” Sam moaned.

  Two shrugged. “Okay. I don’t really care whether you accept this or not, right now. How about this? At least play along. It will make things easier in the long run.”

  Sam sighed, shrugged, said, “Fine. You’re a vampire. I’m a vampire, too, I guess? What do we do now?”

  “Do you want to get out of the cell? I can take you upstairs to meet the others … or Theroen, at least.”

  “Who’s Theroen?”

  “Theroen and the girl who made you, Missy, were made by the same vampire. If you follow the whole vampire lineage thing, I guess he’s something like your uncle.”

  Sam grimaced. “If I pretend to believe you, will you let me out of here?”

  “You have to promise me a few things.”

  “Like?”

  “Like first, you’re not going to bolt out the door the moment I open it. You wouldn’t make it past me, and you definitely wouldn’t make it out of the mansion. Theroen would know what you were doing before you got up the steps. Even if you did get outside, you’d have to deal with Tori, and I think she’d probably kill you. So when I open the bars, let’s stay calm, okay?”

  “I can do that, I guess.”

  “Good. Second, try to keep an open mind. I know how hard that is … believe me, I know. Try to at least give what you’re seeing and hearing a chance, before shutting it all out.”

  “I … okay, I’ll try.” Sam didn’t sound like she held much faith in herself on this point, but at least she had regained some of her composure. Two produced the key Theroen had given her, unlatched the door, and opened it.

  “Okay. Let’s go upstairs.”

  * * *

  It was evident to Two, simply by the expression on Sam’s face, that she was no more accustomed to such opulence than Two had been. Sam seemed unable to decide what to look at first, and was moving her head about in quick motions, like a bird, taking it all in.

  “Interesting, huh?” Two was walking slightly behind Sam, letting the girl take her own meandering course through the first floor’s many interlocking rooms.

  “It’s incredible.”

  There was silence for a time, as they walked. Eventually, Sam spoke again.

  “So … you said the girl I met in the bar was Missy, right?”

  “Yes, her name is Missy.”

  “Who are you?”

  Two laughed. She’d forgotten to introduce herself.

  “My name’s Two. Like the number. It’s a long story.”

  “Do you live here?”

  “I do now, yes. For the time being, anyway. Like I said before, I’m pretty new to all of this myself.”

  “Did Missy do this to you, too?”

  Two suppressed a shudder. “No. Missy is, well … it’s complicated. Missy is Theroen’s sister, so to speak—sister vampire anyway; the same person made both of them. She and Theroen, and another girl, Tori, were created by the elder vampire who lives in the other wing of the mansion. His name’s Abraham, and if you never meet him, then consider yourself lucky.

  “Theroen created me, but I’m not really his daughter. More like his girlfriend or wife, I guess. Like I said: complicated.”

  Sam said nothing. She glanced briefly at Two, and the expression spoke volumes about her skepticism.

  “I know you don’t believe me, Sam. Just … let’s go on, okay? Maybe Theroen can convince you.”

  Sam shrugged. “Don’t get your hopes up.”

  Theroen was nowhere to be found. Eventually, Two lead Sam back to the media room. “We might as well wait here for him. You can watch TV or something.”

  “I want to get out of here.”

  “We can’t, yet. You need to talk to Theroen first. Trust me.”

  “Why?”

  Two opened her mouth to explain, but before she could, they were interrupted. The mansion’s front door opened, closed, latched. Footsteps in the hall, growing louder, coming toward them. Two turned, expecting Theroen. She was greeted instead by a nightmare.

  * * *

  Missy. It had to be Missy. She was standing in the doorway, drenched in blood. The red liquid coated her face, her neck, the collar and upper buttons of her blouse. Her hair was tousled. Her eyes burned like embers.

  “What are you doing in this room, with my child?” Missy’s voice was calm, but her expression bore malice beyond anything Two had thought possible. She leaned her weight on one hand, resting on the door frame. Her fingernails made repeated clicks against the beveled wood.

  Two breathed deeply, steeled herself, met Missy’s gaze and held it.

  “Talking.”

  “If I wanted you talking with her, I would have given you my permission.”

  “You weren’t around. Your better half went out hunting.”

  Missy retained her composure, but her lip curled up at this. She glared at Two for a moment, and then her lips formed a smile. Her eyes still held nothing but hate.

  “The woman you’re referring to is gone. She gave up. She let me in. First time in my life I haven’t had to wait for the stupid bitch to go to sleep to take over. She just … gave up. It was marvelous. She gave me control, and that tells me everything. I know it, and she knows it: I am the better half.”

  Two opened her mouth to reply to this, and Missy held up her hand.

  “Save it. Melissa’s stupid and scatter
brained and she doesn’t remember anything about me, but I remember lots of things from her time in this body. Like what Theroen’s planning. His little parting gift to his sisters. I know all about your little plot: the priest and the prostitute, safe and happy and away. I know what Theroen has planned for me and Tori.

  “But oh, Two, he doesn’t know what I have planned for you!”

  Without further warning, Missy sprung forward into the room, moving at the same uncanny speed that Two had seen before, in the forest. Sam shrieked something incoherent, terror in her voice. Two felt adrenaline flood her body, felt herself springing to her feet as if propelled by some outside force. She shoved the sofa at Missy and backed away, holding her hands up. Her hip bumped an end table, and she put it between herself and her oncoming attacker.

  Missy vaulted the sofa with ease, came to rest on the carpet in front of it, and leapt again in one fluid motion. Her timing was nearly perfect, and Two was only able to dodge out of the way by fractions of a second. Missy hit the hard oak end table with the full force of her weight, and it shattered under the impact, vomiting pieces of itself in a spray around the room. Two dodged flying debris and moved behind the couch, looking for escape. The door led to the hall, but then what? Missy would catch her before she reached the mansion’s entrance.

  The other vampire, the woman who shared the body with someone Two considered a friend, almost a sister, was back on her feet and raving.

  “You weak, stupid, useless whore! Where is your protector? Your lover? Your Superman? He is with Abraham. Abraham called to him, and he went, and left you helpless. I’m going to bring Abraham your heart on a plate, and he’ll laugh and laugh, and there’s nothing Theroen will be able to do about it!”

  “Missy, Missy, wait! You don’t have to do this. It doesn’t have to be like that!” Two heard herself speaking, heard the fear in her voice, and could accept it. It was the tone that made her hate herself. The pleading tone sounded like old memories, like her time with Darren, like empty despair. This situation was out of Two’s control and there was no hope for salvation. Theroen was not here to swoop in and save her.