Wombstone (The Vampireland Series) (11 page)

“Thanks,” I said tightly.
 

He leaned against the doorway, crossing his ankles lazily. “I’m sorry about before.”

I shrugged. “Whatever.”

He rolled his eyes, further irritating me. “Don’t roll your eyes!” I yelled loudly. “I’m not going to forget what happened,
Ryan
.” I said his name with such derision that his smile vanished, replaced by what looked like exhaustion. It was the first time I’d seen any real reaction from him, he was normally so composed.

“Plug that in. Your phone should turn on in a few minutes.”

“It probably doesn’t even work,” I said angrily, but I stomped over to the wall and plugged it in anyway. After I attached my phone I returned to the bed, sitting with my arms crossed like a sullen child.
 

He came into the room, sitting on the bed beside me again. I shifted to the furthest end, as far away from him as possible.

“Did you mean it?” I blurted out suddenly. “That you were going to keep me after Caleb was finished with me?”

His face lit up in understanding. “Oh, you remember that.”

“Yes,” I hissed. “I do.”

“No, I didn’t mean that. Mia, I want you to think for a few minutes. Your phone’s charging, you can call your family in a minute.”

I raised my eyebrows questioningly.

“This is going to be hard for you. Becoming a vampire – it’s a huge process.”

“It hurt,” I said quietly, staring at the floor. “Does it hurt for everyone?”

Ryan frowned, pressing his palms together. I could practically see the cogs turning over in his brain. I could tell he wanted to answer my questions carefully. “Yes,” he said finally. “Some don’t even survive the Turn. I’m very surprised you did, with the way you fell.”

I touched the fine bones structured around my eyes, eyes that could see better than ever before. “I still don’t really believe it,” I said softly. “I felt my skull smash. I’ve never seen so much blood. How could I not have died?”

“You did die. For all intents and purposes, your heart stopped beating, you weren’t breathing.”

“I was dead?” I blinked back fresh tears. “For how long?”

“Mia, I don’t think –”

“How. Long?”

Ryan sighed. “A few hours, maybe more. I got you out of there as soon as I could and took you to the motel.”

“And?”
 

“And I fed you my blood. Through an IV at first, to get you back, and then from my wrist.”

“So, if I was dead …” I was at a loss for words. “Where did I go?”

He shook his head and spread his palms. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t lie,” I said tiredly. I don’t know how I could tell with such certainty that he was being untruthful, but I just
knew
.

He cleared his throat. “You were probably on your way to what we call The Underworld. Your soul, I mean. It’s where all souls go after they pass. Once you enter The Underworld, you can never leave.”

I shook my head. “I believe in stuff like physics and gravity and the big bang theory. I do not believe in Heaven and Hell.” I thought of my father, then. How, when I had seen his coffin being wheeled into the crematorium, I had wished so badly that he was going somewhere better, but I knew that he was just dead. Gone. Ceased to exist. If there really was an afterlife … well, it was just too good to be true.

Ryan smiled knowingly. “You don’t believe in vampires, either. And yet, here we are.”

“Yes, we are. So tell me what I need to know, so I can make my call.”

“You’re not in prison. You can make more than one call.”

Prison is exactly what this is like.

“Whatever. You want my attention, here it is. Talk.”
 

“How do you feel?” he asked.
 

“Sick,” I replied honestly. “Sick and tired. I can see a little better, I guess. That’s about all.”

“The sickness will pass,” he said, not at all convincingly.
 

“That sounds like a lie,” I grumbled. “Not a very good one, I might add.”

“Well, the more blood you drink, the better you’ll feel.”

The thought of drinking blood was simultaneously interesting and nauseating. “Forget the blood,” I waved my hand dismissively. “Just give me the short version of Vampire 101.”

That made him smile in amusement. Which pissed me off. I wasn’t there for his amusement.

“The order to take you that night came from Caleb,” Ryan began. “I was in New York doing some recon work –”

“We call it ‘stalking’ where I come from,” I interjected caustically.

“– when I was told to come to you. I took you, yes, but I didn’t realize what he had planned for you.”

“Huh, what? He bit me, like, one time when I pissed him off. You did a lot worse, buddy.” I prepared to launch into a checklist of the injuries he’d given me, but I couldn’t be bothered speaking words that would fall on deaf ears.

“I thought I was taking you to be Turned. Usually, that’s all he does. Simple, straightforward, easy. I had no idea what he’d been doing while I was on the east coast, you have to believe me.”

“That doesn’t make it better!” I exploded. “Minus a few torture sessions, I still end up like this! Burning, sick,
alone
. None of that would have changed if he had just Turned me.”

“You’re not alone” Ryan said gently.

“Fuck you,” I replied.

“You don’t understand,” Ryan pleaded. He was starting to lose his cool, and I realized it was because he was afraid – of me leaving. “Vampires, we’re just regular people who were infected with a virus. We used to be able to have children just like everyone else, but now, vampires can’t reproduce. The only way to make sure we survive is to Turn humans.”

My whole body went still and cold. “Vampires can’t have children?”

His eyes were sad. “No.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “I can’t have a baby?”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mia. The last known baby born to a vampire mother was over four hundred years ago. The virus basically freezes your reproductive cycle.”

I thought of the plans I had had for my future, the dreams. I was going to go to college, get an awesome job somewhere. Then eventually Jared and I would get married, and have tiny babies together. I was in no rush to have kids, but I had always imagined one day I would be a mother. Two kids, a girl and a boy.
 

And this asshole had just taken all of that away from me.

“I fucking hate you!” I screamed, picking up my phone and hurling it at him, followed by the charger which I ripped out of the wall socket, the lamp from the bedside table, and then the bedside table itself. He dodged each item with ease, but the poor wall behind him didn’t fare so well.

I just hurled that solid wood table like it was a bag of cotton candy.
 

“Mia –”

“Get out!” I yelled, sobbing.

Ivy appeared in the doorway. “What’s her deal?” she asked Ryan, watching me rage.

Ryan glared at her. “You’re not helping,” he scolded.

“Wasn’t trying to,” she replied, never taking her eyes off me. “Sam?” she called down the hallway. “Can you come here a minute?”

I stopped throwing shit around the room. “Who’s Sam?” I demanded.
 

“Sam doesn’t need to get involved in this,
Ivy
,” Ryan said tightly.
 

“Who’s Sam?” I repeated, louder this time.

“I’m Sam.” A voice answered me first, and then a tall handsome vampire (I was starting to recognise them on sight) with shaggy brown hair, dark brown eyes and incredibly sleek, muscled arms appeared beside Ivy in the hallway. He looked from me to Ryan, balling his hands into fists. The two had a very tense stare–off, until Ivy cleared her throat.

“Sam,” she said pointedly. “Ryan has brought Mia here to help her adjust to our way of life. She doesn’t really
trust
him though, seeing as he kidnapped and tortured her and made her jump out a window.”

“I didn’t make her jump,” Ryan said weakly.

“Oh, well in that case,” Sam answered sarcastically, “What
are
you
doing here?”

Ryan started pacing the length of the large bedroom.

“I didn’t know who else to trust, okay? Caleb has eyes and ears everywhere – I figured you guys were my only safe option. It’s not like he can get into either of your minds.”

Sam appeared to relax slightly. Ivy looked bored.

“These people don’t even like you?” I said to Ryan incredulously. It had all just clicked for me. These two
hated
Ryan by the sound of things. “Why
are
we here?”

Ryan threw his hands up, frustrated. “This thing that connects you and me? It also connects me to Caleb. I can feel him right now, trying to get into my head and figure out where we are. All of my friends? Are vampires, either made by Caleb or somehow connected to him. So he’s pretty much sifting through all of their brains, right now, trying to find us.”

“Do you have protection from him?” Ivy asked.

“Only these stupid hex bags.” Ryan pulled his from his back pocket and threw it on the bed. “The other reason I came to you. I need a witch to help me stay hidden. You’re the best there is.”

“You have the heart, too,” I said automatically. Ryan glowered at me.
That was supposed to be a secret
, he said silently.

I smiled.

Ivy looked pissed. “You didn’t tell me the whole story, Ryan. Let’s talk.
Now
.” She stormed off in the direction of the kitchen, and Ryan followed closely behind her.
 

I looked at Sam awkwardly. “So …” I said. “What do you do? Besides drink blood and kill people.”

“I’m a doctor,” he answered, looking confused. “A professor, actually. I work at UCLA. What happened to you?”

I shrugged. “You know. Vampires take you from a parking lot, you wake up in Mexico, they shove little taps into your brain. The standard B-grade horror movie.” I fidgeted awkwardly, not sure what to do with my hands.

Sam looked horrified. “You saw Caleb?”

“Oh, yeah.” I pointed to the disgusting round bite scar on my neck. “He had the buffet.”

Sam stepped closer, studying my neck. “There’s nothing there,” he said.
 

“What?” I turned and rushed into the ensuite bathroom. I leaned in as close as possible to the large mirror, studying my neck with my new laser–accurate eyes. Nothing. Not even a scratch. In less than a week, my infected, pus–leaking vampire bite had completely healed without so much as a scar.

Sam stood in the doorway that led from the bedroom to the bathroom, but I could tell he didn’t want to come any closer. I had the distinct feeling it was because I was a girl, and that made me wonder. Ryan didn’t care about my personal space. I was surprised he cared for me at all, after the things he’d said and done back in Mexico.

“You’re a doctor,” I said, turning to him. “How did I lose a massive vampire bite?”

Sam frowned. “How long since you Turned?”

“Since I
was
Turned,” I corrected him. “You’re implying that I did this to myself. Quite the opposite. I expressly asked that this
not
be done.” As I heard myself talking, I realized that I sounded like an entitled little bitch, but I was beyond caring.
 

Sam blinked. “Right. How long since you
were
Turned?”

“I don’t know,” I answered quietly. “A few days? Less than a week. I don’t remember a lot of it.”

“Well, the good news is you’re not going insane,” Sam said, obviously trying to lighten the mood. “Vampirity is caused by a virus. It attaches itself to your DNA, makes its way into every cell in your body, and takes over. Vampires can heal from a wound in a matter of minutes. Have you attacked anyone yet?”

“What?” I looked at him incredulously. “No. Ew! Why?”

He shook his head, seemingly pleased. “It’s just ... you seem remarkably lucid for a newly infected vampire.”

“Remarkably lucid?” I echoed. “All I’ve done for the past few days is throw up, cry and bleed.”

“Thank God for that,” Sam replied. “Usually, vampires spend their first few weeks – or months – attacking everyone and everything they can.”

I cast a sidelong glance at the broken lamp and overturned bedside table in the corner and tried to appear calm and generally non–violent. “Is that what you did when you were Turned?”

He paled. He looked like an injured puppy dog.

“Sorry,” I apologized. “It’s none of my business.”

He just searched my face, as if looking for the answer to a question I didn’t know.
 

This is awkward.

“That’s what all vampires do,” he said quietly. “The bloodlust, it’s quite horrific.”

“Bloodlust?” I echoed. “Like being hungry?”

He stared at me like I was a freak. I shifted uncomfortably under the weight of his eyes.
 

“Like being a homicidal maniac,” he said, “with zero impulse control.”

“Oh,” was all I could think to say. I tried to imagine Sam as a homicidal maniac with zero impulse control and failed. The guy looked too normal. Ryan, on the other hand …
 

“Do you want something to eat?” Sam asked, abruptly changing the subject. “I just put a pizza in the oven.”

I wanted to ask if the pizza sauce had blood in it, but I stopped myself. This guy seemed nice enough. I figured I should really save all of my snark for Ryan.
 

“Um … sure,” I shrugged, suddenly starving. My last meal had been in Mexico, like, ten hours ago at the diner. All I’d eaten in the car was a half–melted Snickers bar and some salted potato chips.

“This way,” Sam said, taking off down the hallway. I grabbed my favourite Yankees sweater from the pile of clothes I’d emptied onto the floor and followed him out into the kitchen area. Ryan and Ivy were nowhere to be seen, which made me feel better. Sam seemed genuine and pretty normal, whereas Ivy seemed volatile and on edge. And when she had told me to
get inside
, I hadn’t been able to resist her, which scared the crap out of me.
 

How had she made me do something just with words? Was it because she was a witch? Or was it because she was a vampire?