he door to the entrance of the loft creaked opened slowly as Sage, Cristian, and Anna peered inside. “Lisa,” Anna called out. “They heard sounds of whispers as they walked down the hallway in the darkness. Cristian noticed how both Sage’s and Anna’s eyes glowed like felines’ in the darkness. “Lisa!” Sage cried out. “In here,” she replied. They walked into the living room and saw John, his face covered by his hooded jacket, sitting on the covered antique chair with Lisa standing over him.
“What do we have here?” Anna said. “Don’t kill me, please,” John pleaded. “Why should we spare you when you tried to kill Queen V?” she replied. “I didn’t want to do it. Rafael told me to do it.” “Where’s Pearson?” Sage asked. “He was in the hospital,” John answered trembling. “He had a broken arm and a concussion.” He looked up and was stunned to see Sage well. “He staked you,” he said, incredulous. “I saw the silver stake go inside your chest.”
Sage took out the silver stake from under her arm. “You mean this silver stake?” she asked. “That was the stake that Rafael said was used to kill your parents,” John said. Sage winced, dropping the stake from her hand. Cristian looked at it, stunned.
“Rafael wanted to use the same stake to kill you,” John said. Sage blinked away the tears, sniffing softly. “He didn’t succeed,” she said angrily. “How did he know to find me?” she asked. “He got a phone call—that’s all I know?” John replied.
“You’ve never killed a vampire before…?” Anna said. John shook his head “no.” “I could tell.” “Rafael hired me to help him with the computer stuff because he’s computer illiterate,” John said. “Then he was teaching me how to track and kill a vampire. I never thought that vampires existed until I saw it for myself,” he said.
He stared at Sage. “He always talked about the vampire queen that no one could kill, and he wanted to be the first to accomplish it.”
“After the death of the vampire king and queen,” Sage fumed, “he wanted to kill the surviving heir.” “You,” he said, staring at her. “He lives and breaths it…”
“And will never rest until he achieves his goal,” Sage said, cutting him off.
Cristian shook his head, frowning. “It’s important for Rafael to live up to his family’s expectations,” John said. “Killing the vampire queen would be a big feat for him.” “And why aren’t you with him now?” she asked.
“Because he fired me for being incompetent,” John replied. “I’m not a vampire killer,” he said. “I found him sitting on the sidewalk in Times Square,” Lisa said.
“I have nowhere else to go.” John said with puppy-dog eyes.
Daniel, Billy, Cody, and Samuel appeared into the living room, shooting Lisa an irritated glance. “Sorry,” she said sheepishly. “You leave us just sitting there, and we didn’t know what happened,” Billy said, agitated.
They looked at Sage and went over to hug her. “I’m so glad you’re alright, Queen V,” Cody said. Daniel looked at John, remembering that he tried unsuccessfully to stake him. “What’s he doing here?” he demanded. “He was telling us how obsessed Pearson is with killing Queen V,” Lisa said.
“You know vampires get a bad rep,” Billy shouted, waving his arms in the air. “Vampires are thought of as foul-smelling, fangtoothed, bloodsuckers that prey on humans for food.” Everyone stared at Billy while he ranted.
“Well, isn’t it true?” John asked. “No!” the coven all replied in unison. “What are we going to do about him?” Anna whispered into Sage’s ear, looking at John. “We’ll find out how loyal he is to Pearson,” she replied. “We’ll see by his actions.”
Sage asked Samuel to take John to be bathed and clothed while the others waited in the living room, taking a seat staring at her and Cristian.
“So what happened—as if we don’t already know,” Billy said. “Cristian saved my life,” Sage said. “And I don’t believe he led Pearson to me.”
“I would never betray you, Sage,” Cristian said. He stared at each member of the coven. “I want you all to know that, because I can see what she means to all of you.”
“Queen V is special to us all,” Anna said. “She took us in when we had nowhere else to go.” She stared at Sage who smiled graciously. “She is special,” she said smiling warmly.
“How did you all come to be the coven seven?” he asked, curious.
“We never really talked about that,” Lisa said. “Because it’s a life we all left behind, and it’s of the past.” “But what do you all know about each other?” Cristian asked.
“I can see that you’ve all lived and traveled together. But what was it that brought you all into each other’s paths?” They all looked at each other, dumbfounded.
“I never really thought of that,” Sage said.
“Sage and I have known each other the longest,” Anna said. “We met right when she fled to Egypt after her parents died and she was still newly a vampire, and hadn’t learned of all her power yet.” She sighed. “I was part of another coven in England, and I saw them all slaughtered by vampire killers. I was the only one who escaped.”
Everyone gasped. “I never spoke of it to anyone until now,” she said with a grimace. “But Sage accepted me and welcomed me without any pretext or judgment,” she said. She and Sage clasped each other’s hands.
“I met Anna during the eighties, as you can all tell from my appearance,” Billy said to chuckles around the room. “I moved from place to place around L.A., and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life, so she offered me this world of eternity. Ergo, I took her up on it and became a vampire, and she introduced me to Queen V.”
“How did you get the nickname Queen V?” Cristian asked. “Queen Vampire,” Anna said. “One day Cody called her Queen V, and it stuck.”
“I ran away from home,” Lisa said, staring out toward the window. “My father used to beat me and my mother,” she said quietly. “I couldn’t take it anymore and ran away, and that’s when I met Samuel.” “He turned me and brought me to meet Queen V, and that’s where I’ve stayed ever since.”
“Did you ever find out what happened to your mother?” Cristian asked.
“I went back a year after I left and I found out that she’d died,” she said tearing up. “I’ve always regretted leaving my mother behind,” she said. Overwhelmed, she got up and ran out the room.
Anna went after her.
“I had never thought to ask what your lives were like before you were vampires, because I thought that that was your life before,” Sage said, feeling guilty. “Maybe I was being selfish.”
“No,” Cristian said. “How were you to know what their life was like before?”
Samuel came into the room. “Where’s the little stinker?” Daniel said. “He’s changing clothes,” Samuel replied. “He’s not wearing the pinstripes anymore,” he chuckled.
“I’ll go watch him,” Billy said with a grin. “I need some fun after tonight.”
“What happened with Lisa?” Samuel asked.
“We’re talking about what our lives were like before we became vampires and met Queen V,” Daniel said. “Interesting,” Samuel replied.
“So what was your life like before becoming undead?” Cristian asked.
“I escaped from the slave traders in Barbados,” Daniel volunteered. “They were about to ship me as cargo when I escaped from the boat before it set sail.” I saw others captured, chained like some kind of animal, and shipped away,” he said, his eyes tearing in anger.
“And I refused to share that same fate, so I escaped and lay low in Alexandria. “I met Anna, and she brought me to Cairo where I met Sage, and I decided to become a vampire, and have been loyal to her ever since.”
An uncomfortable, heavy silence fell across the room as everyone stared at Daniel. Sage could remember her father often speaking of escaping from slave traders that came to Barbados.
“I came from a noble family,” said Samuel, breaking the silence. “They were keen on tradition. I felt trapped—like I couldn’t have my own life—that I was always in my parents’ shadows, having to live up to their high expectations of me. One day I left and never looked back. I met Anna and, well, you know the rest.” He sighed.
Cody fumbled with his cowboy hat nervously. “I lived on the farm with my father in Kansas, and I was about to get married to my girl,” he grinned shyly. “But she became ill. The doctor said she had scarlet fever and her body just gave out. My sorrow overwhelmed me, and I was no good to my father. He told me to get my act together or leave. So I left with just the clothes on my back. I met Lisa, and she offered me a new life. I decided to become a vampire, and I met Queen V; and slowly but surely, I’ve been able to come to terms with losing the love of my life.”
Sage and Cristian stared at each other, pained.
Anna and Lisa reentered the room. “Are you alright?” Sage asked. “I’m fine,” she said.
“This room is so rich with history,” Cristian said in awe.
“Yes,” Anna said. “We’ve all come from different walks of life.”
“And different centuries,” Cristian said.
“Billy is the youngest vampire among us,” Sage said.
“The only story we haven’t heard is Pedro’s,” Daniel said. “You’ve known Pedro the longest,” he said, staring at Lisa. “What do you know of his life before he joined the coven?”
“Not much,” she said, staring down at the floor and chewing her lower lip nervously. Sage could see that Lisa was hiding something.
“So what have you decided to do about John?” Lisa asked, attempting to change the subject.
“He’s going to show me if he’s still helping Pearson,” Sage said.
“How so?” Lisa asked.
“I’ll go into more detail later,” Sage said. She got up and walked over to Lisa. “What was it about Pedro that you couldn’t tell Anna over the phone?” she asked.
“He was really upset about your being hurt,” Lisa said. She glanced over at Cristian. “And that you were with Cristian. Pedro loves you Queen V,” she said. “I’ve known it for a long time, and I’m afraid of what could happen if…”
“Mi reina. Soy feliz de verle bien y justo tan hermoso como jamás,” Pedro said as he walked over and gave Sage a hug, glaring at Cristian as if he was marking his territory.
Rafael left the hospital before he was to be officially released, complaining that he didn’t want to stay overnight. He felt his cell phone vibrating against him as he was wheeled out to the taxi but was unable to reach it with his arm in a sling.
The phone continued to vibrate once he arrived at the motel and he fumbled with the keycard to enter the room. John was gone and had taken his laptop with him.
His cell phone vibrated again. “Okay!” he yelled. He took the sling off and reached into his pocket to take it out.
“It worked,” the text message read. “I’ve been able to successfully infiltrate the enemy.” “Good,” Rafael grinned. “The vampire queen didn’t suspect a thing,” the message continued. “She’s practically putty in my hands.”
“I’m surprised that the vampire fell for the ruse,” Rafael said, thinking back to the moment he concocted the plan while in his hospital bed, giving John a chance to redeem himself.
“The end justifies the means, so it works for me in the long run.”