Raven thanked the butler and entered the bathroom when he’d walked away. She was again struck by the elegance of the room and couldn’t believe she was actually in it. She locked the door and stood at the sink. She washed her hands and splashed some water on her face before drying off. Sure, she had just made a tiny scene but this was too much!
Vampires eating actual food.
An immortal human.
A King vampire and a Queen who can command something and it’s forced onto the listener. Human or not!
Raven stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was only human. There was nothing supernatural about her. She had the pressure-point technique she’d created (Quick Points) but anyone with proper training could duplicate it. Especially if they had photographic memory… like her sister.
Raven sighed.
Her father had been smart to train her in private. Anise was in advanced classes and other extracurricular classes to get a scholarship into a college so she had no idea. If she had seen just one of her training days, Anise would have been able to fight like her too.
The hours and years that her father had spent training her were cruel and horrible hard work. She often wondered if her father still loved her whenever he put her in life-threatening situations. But then when she’d survive, he’d hug her for so long that her doubts were put to rest. Then he’d continue her training. His lessons were engraved into her memory,
Never stop, Raven. There’s always room for improvement. Don’t get soft.
Raven suddenly remembered when she had the bright idea of joining a massage therapy course in a community college and nearly laughed. Her father had been so against it that she’d had to make a five-page report on the benefits behind the class before he consented. Thus, her Quick Points was born and she became an efficient killer.
He was so proud.
Her knuckles suddenly tingled as she remembered the training for that. Punching solid brick had to be the worst part.
She leaned onto the sink, rubbing her temples as she remembered her tenth real test of the Quick Points. Isaac. Poor, Isaac. His expression at having lost all motor skills of his arm was horrible and chilled her to the core. His fear flooded her and she felt so cruel having done that to him. She had put that fear into him. She was just as a monster as he and now, she was even turning into a monster!
She was crying.
Raven gasped as she pulled herself back together.
Again, she washed her face. She was strong. She could face any obstacle and overcome it. She had to. She had to keep Anise safe and to do that, she had to fix her own problems. This was something she excelled in better than her technique.
Ready, Raven took a deep breath and opened the restroom door to step out. She could do this, she chanted to herself as she closed the door. She looked up and froze to find Isaac leaning on the wall a bit further up the hall. He had his good leg folded over his prosthetic ankle and his massive arms crossed, staring at the carpet. He seriously looked like the warrior type and she found herself staring at him for a count of five before blinking.
Forcing herself to step toward the behemoth sized man, Raven reminded herself to play it cool and not like she had just had a moment of pure freaking out. He looked up and she met his yellow eyes head on… even though he was taller.
“How are you?” he asked.
Raven shrugged as nonchalantly as she could. “Fine. Why?”
He blinked at her. “You’ve been in there for twenty minutes.”
Raven fought the blush from her face. “Whoops.”
“Are you sure you’re fine?” Isaac asked. He emphasized the word like he didn’t believe her but wasn’t going to press the issue.
“Yes, quit asking,” Raven snapped. “Now that breakfast and introducing me to the others is over, can we discuss what our next steps are?”
Isaac looked her over quickly as if trying yet again to figure her out before he sighed. “Follow me,” he said and led her up a flight of stairs and down an elegant hallway with a door every ten feet. At the very end, he opened the door and allowed her into the room first.
Raven fought her gasp as she entered a magnificently huge bedroom with giant windows and a King-sized canopy bed with a thin white curtain. The floor was wood but the area surrounding the bed was carpeted.
“This will be your room,” Isaac explained in her silence. “Here, let me show you where the closet is.”
Raven followed him deeper into the right of the room. He indicated toward double doors and Raven opened it. She stared at a large, empty walk-in closet. “I don’t think I’m going to need this much space for clothes. But for all things weapon-like, it’s perfect,” Raven said.
“We have something different for that purpose,” Isaac said and went to the wall beside the closet. He pushed at a groove in the wall and opened it.
Raven couldn’t stop her gasp this time to see a display case already equipped with the basic weapons: a hand gun, a few blades, a harness, extra ammo, a wet stone, and throwing stars. She recognized her own gear already polished and added to the collection.
“That’s more like it,” Raven said with a smirk as she reached for a blade.
“Not yet,” Isaac said, pushing her hand away and closing the door. Then he steered her toward a door at the opposite end of the room, to the right of the bed. He opened it and Raven walked into the largest bathroom she’d been in years.
“Alright, now I’m impressed,” Raven admitted as she went to the large tub set into a foot-high platform. The faucet was a large hole in the wall with a spout to let in a waterfall of water. It was beautiful. She picked up a bottle of body wash and sniffed in a gust of lavender with a sigh.
“I wouldn’t have figured you to enjoy amenities such as this,” Isaac’s voice said, intruding on her euphoric moment.
Raven placed the bottle back quickly, recollecting herself, “I’m not used to so much. In my apartment, I only had a bar of soap and 2-in-1.”
“Yes, I noticed how bare your apartment was,” Isaac said. “Why is that?”
Raven turned to him. “Weren’t we going to discuss next steps? I’d also like to figure out Anise’s protection.”
Isaac nodded after a pause and led back to the room where she saw two very cushiony chairs with a low table in between. Isaac pulled out a cell phone and spoke into it quickly in a language she didn’t understand before gesturing for her to take a seat first.
Raven took the furthest seat before he sat down opposite her.
“Now, what did you want to discuss?” Isaac asked, putting the phone away.
“What sort of protection will Anise be getting and how often?” Raven asked immediately.
“We cannot go out in sunlight… yes, Hollywood’s gotten that right,” Isaac said with a sigh when she raised her eyebrows. “So, we are going to put the cop on the job while the sun is up.”
“A cop?” Raven asked, suddenly apprehensive.
“We have a few cops on our payroll. He’s… ah, one of us,” Isaac said. “His name’s Connor and he couldn’t join us for breakfast but you’ll meet him later.”
“…Sure. Sounds great,” Raven just nodded to be polite. She didn’t want to meet this cop and she could tell he’d noticed her reluctance.
“He’ll be on the job in the daylight hours and when it’s night, we will take turns. You’ll need to give us her complete schedule and where her likely places to go are,” Isaac added.
Raven sat up, “If you want to go now, we can.”
Isaac smiled ruefully. “No, we can’t. It’s about four in the afternoon right now.”
Raven slumped with a soft “oh”. She had been looking forward to seeing her sister safe at college. Guess she’d have to wait. “Why isn’t the sun shining in here if it’s still early?” she asked, glancing toward the windows behind her.
“We have special shutters that will shut out light automatically so at sundown try not to get frightened of the sound they’ll make,” Isaac said. “There’s a code pad on the outside of the main door that will deactivate that. I’ll give you the code in a bit.”
“Disciples aren’t sensitive to daylight, are they?” Raven asked and watched Isaac frown.
“No, no they’re not,” he said. “You’re not a disciple yet. You won’t be.”
Raven tried to be assured by his words but it was hard. “What are the treatments going to be like?”
“I have no idea. This is the first time this sort of thing has happened. The doctor can answer your questions on that when we call him in later tonight. For now, try to remain calm,” Isaac said. “He has already been briefed on this since the night in the park so he’s been doing research and experimenting.”
“Experimenting?” Raven asked and watched Isaac’s eyes suddenly grow dark.
“On a few test subjects we had acquired for him,” he said softly. Raven felt that she shouldn’t ask more on the matter so she changed the subject.
“You think he’s gonna have good news for me?” she asked and his eyes returned to their bright yellow.
“I hope so,” he sighed. “He’s the best doctor around so if he’s got nothing, we’re pretty much on the clock.”
Raven nodded and felt her head suddenly grow heavy with a headache. She didn’t allow herself to show pain or weakness or distress. She was stronger than that.
“I know you are frightened,” Isaac said softly and she met his eyes, surprised. “You do not have to hide from me.”
“Hide what?” Raven stupidly asked.
“Your true feelings,” Isaac said. “You are in no danger here.”
“What makes you think I’m hiding anything?” Raven asked, watching his face closely.
He sighed and rubbed his temples before answering with a bit of annoyance, “Fine, don’t talk to me but I know you’re scared. You’re in a new, strange world with creatures you didn’t know existed. You are infected with a virus that is slowly spreading through you and you have to rely on complete strangers to get a chance at a cure. You’re only human. There is absolutely no reason you shouldn’t be scared out of your mind,” he paused and Raven took a deep breath for him, surprised and feeling his words sink in. “But until you want to open up and talk to someone, I won’t waste my time trying to make you.”
Raven didn’t know how to respond, not having met someone like Isaac before. How could a man born for battle be so outspoken? Or was she just so cold?
“And yet, I would be honored if you came to me for help,” Isaac said.
Raven didn’t answer and Isaac stood up after a second. He went to the wall at the foot of the bed and pushed at a second groove to open it up and reveal a TV.
“We’re going to give you a cell phone with all our numbers on it and you are allowed to call your sister. Only her,” he said. “If you need me, I’m three doors down the hall.”
He moved to the door and left without a glance back.
Raven remained seated, surprised by what had just happened.
She leaned back and thought about it for a second. She didn’t need to open up to anyone here. She’d rather tell Anise everything than these giants. But then she’d freak out and want to be around her every day, forsaking her education and her own life.
Raven sighed, silently faux cursing her sister.
She didn’t need to open up. Her father had taught her that.
Raven stood up and went to the weapons cabinet on the wall. She grabbed a Gurkha and then went into the bathroom, removed her clothes, filled the tub with hot water and the lavender bath salts and submerged herself into the warm bubbly mess. She sighed, and forced herself to finally relax. She had locked the door and had a weapon just in case. She could allow herself a moment of peace.
Raven hit the side of the tub, pinning the Gurkha between two tiles.
Why did Isaac have to be so intuitive? Yes, she was freaking out. Yes, she had a bunch of stress. Why couldn’t he just deal with the fact that this is how she coped; by hiding it all away until the situation was handled?
She didn’t want to tell him about herself, especially not about her Quick Points. She hoped she didn’t have to stick around long enough for them to find out anything about her. She already had enough to deal with. Having to fight off a bunch of muscle clad vampires would be hell.
Looking at her bandaged hands, Raven undid the material to check her healing process. Her knuckles needed to air out but they also needed to be cleaned. She slowly submerged her hands into the soapy water and hissed as they stung angrily. She finally checked her side and saw the large bruise that had formed there. Pressing lightly, she concluded that her rib was not broken.
Raven softly rubbed her knuckles clean under the water and checked herself for any other injuries. There was definitely bruising around her stomach from the punches and one on her chest from a boot. Her side was the darkest one and second only to the ones on her forearms. Defensive wounds from all the blocking she’d done.
Leaning back onto the side of the tub, Raven closed her eyes with a sigh. She sunk down until the water lapped at her collarbone. She focused on meditating for a while, listening to the silence around her and imagining her life different. She was in a Jacuzzi at a tropical resort surrounded by leaves and trees and vines. She heard a soft knocking sound and turned to see a toucan clicking its giant beak. Then she imagined someone coming up to her with a drink. A well-muscled man, shirtless, wearing low track pants to reveal as much of his defined muscle as possible. He bent down to hand her the drink and she looked up into his yellow eyes. “Miss?”
Snapping her eyes open, Raven quickly checked her surroundings to make sure she was alone. Then she relaxed with a frown. What was that? Why was Isaac in her imaginary moment?
“Miss?” came a voice from the other side of the door. “I’m sorry to intrude. I came to inform you that the doctor shall arrive within the hour.”
So soon? Raven frowned and suddenly realized the water was a lot colder than before. Had she fallen asleep?
“Thanks,” she called out and heard the butler move away again.
With a sigh, Raven got out of the bathtub and let the water run down her body. She’d forgotten to grab a towel. She carefully made her way to where a towel hung and grabbed it to dry off, careful with her knuckles. She leaned over to start on her hair once her body was dry and turned to the mirror. She took in the scab on her lip and the one on her eyebrow. There was a slight bruise on her jawbone but it looked worse on her pale skin. She eyed it and realized if she hadn’t turned with that punch’s momentum, it would have dislocated her jaw.
Raven wrapped the towel around herself and forced her mind away from what-ifs. She left the bathroom and noticed the fresh clothes laid out on the bed. She neared and took in the simple black short sleeve shirt and jeans. They were her size. How did they know that?
She quickly changed into the clothes, surprised to find underwear had also been provided. She noted her own cellphone was also on the bed but didn’t pick it up just yet. Just as she brushed her hair out, she heard a knock at the door.
This was it.
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