In the Banyan Trees

Attack

“I can’t do SoHo this weekend, I have the fundraiser. Remember?” I balanced my cell phone between my ear and my shoulder as I reached into the desk drawer for my bag.

“I know you do, but remind me, why can’t you skip it?”

“Jess, you know I can’t skip it. Brandon expects me to be there.”

“Brandon just wants to sleep with you! Will you be managing any office staff at this fundraiser?” Jess’s tone was dripping with sarcasm.

I rolled my eyes as I clicked around on my computer, saving documents and closing windows, before shutting it down for the night. “Regardless of his ulterior motives, he’s my boss, and he expects me to be there.”

“I still think you should f**k him just to get him to leave you alone. Do a horrible job in bed and wail way too loud like the pornstars do.”

“Right, I’ll let you know how that goes.” I stood up from my chair, switched my phone to my other ear and left my office, bag in hand.

“Do you want to come by for dinner tonight?” Jess asked, finally changing the subject, “Sam is working third shift, so he’s asleep right now, and he’ll be leaving for the hospital at 10-ish.”

“Sure,” I agreed, as I made my way down the hall towards the elevator, “Let me stop at home and change out of these stupid heels.”

“You got it. See you around 6?”

“See you then.”

Click. Jess hung up. The elevator came to a halt on the first floor, the doors opened up with a ding, and I exited. I said goodbye to Reese at the front desk, and stepped out into the streets of Manhattan.

The sun was still high above the skyline. The air was warm, and it was thick with humidity. My senses were battered with the bustle of human city life—the smell of cheap perfume and metal jewelry against sweaty, late-summer skin, car exhaust and rubber and hot garbage, the sound of civilians on the sidewalk shouting and chattering, the vibrations of their hurried footfalls and the turning of wheels of bicycles and baby strollers.

I turned right, and began the trip home to my apartment. I didn’t mind walking to and from work. I liked people-watching. As I ambled along, I politely returned smiles at passerby, my high-heels clicking on the pavement with each step.

I passed an Italian restaurant, Rossi’s. It was one if my favorite spots in all of Manhattan. I inhaled deeply and smiled to myself.

But then, I caught a whiff of something that made my stomach turn. With my heightened senses, it was impossible to miss.

Blood. Lots of it.

I felt something stirring in the back of my consciousness. Not something, someone, while stood rooted in place in the middle of the sidewalk.

Don’t be a coward. Go, Natalie.

I did as she said. My pace and my heart rate were both quickened. I passed cute little cafés and clothing boutiques and restaurants with outdoor seating areas, where people were eating and laughing and smiling, completely unaware that there was something very, very wrong.

Cross the street.

I veered left without a second thought, directly into traffic, albeit slow-moving. I ignored the angry shouts and blaring car horns.

It’s coming from the alley, right up there.

I could see it, the break in the buildings, about 30 feet ahead. I hurried there, and found myself standing in front of a totally empty alleyway, save for a dumpster and some debris on the ground. My brow furrowed. The sickening metallic smell was so strong here that I couldn’t even detect the stench of garbage that was undoubtedly radiating from that dumpster.

The alley forked about midway down, and then continued straight back, to end at a tall chain-link fence.

On the right.

As if it was on cue, over the sounds of the city behind me, I heard scuffling and grunting, and then it was quiet. I quickly kicked off my high-heels, dropped my bag on the sidewalk, and darted silently towards the source of the struggle. As I got nearer, the smell was overpowering.

I turned the corner, and what I saw made my breath catch in my throat. I froze, tuning out the frantic yipping and howling in the back of my head.

A body, a woman, was sprawled out in the dirt, limp and unmoving in a massive puddle of blood. There was a man crouched down in front of a second woman, with his back to me. He had one hand on the back of her head, holding her upright awkwardly, while he held his other wrist to her mouth. I could see the upper half of her face. Her eyes darted around erratically. She was panicking.

Vampire! Move, Natalie! Move now!

I was snapped back to reality, and I barreled into the vile bloodsucker’s side without hesitation.

How is this possible? It’s still daylight.

The vampire immediately lost his grip on the woman, and he tumbled onto the ground, dazed. The woman fell flat on her back and gasped for air.

“He drugged me!” the woman yelled, “I can’t move!”

The vampire quickly got to his feet and lunged for me, but I was much faster than him. I grabbed the woman by the arm and flung her behind me; she screamed but I didn’t have time to tend to her right now. I backhanded the monster and lifted my leg to kick him hard in the chest. He flew backwards and slammed against the weathered brick wall, but got right back up and charged me again.

I guess it’s dark enough here.

I leapt at the bloodsucker, grabbed him by the face, and roughly jerked his head to the side, effectively breaking his neck. He crumpled, but I knew a broken neck didn’t kill him. I couldn’t decapitate him in an alleyway in the middle of Manhattan, but as I stood over his incapacitated body, I surveyed the situation. Across the way, on the left side of the fork in the alley, the sun poured over the roof of the building, providing me with a good-sized patch of light.

I turned my attention to the woman, realizing she’d gone silent. I could still hear her heartbeat, and I could still see her chest rising and falling with every breath, so I busied myself with disposing of the disgusting creature that was beginning to stir at my feet.

I took ahold of his shirt, fisting it tightly in both hands, and dragged him out of the shadows. He awoke, and I grimaced as he turned his head and bones loudly snapped and cracked back into place.

He immediately began to thrash and hiss and tried desperately to get away from me, but he knew that my strength coupled with my speed meant he was a goner.

I tossed him into the patch of light, and he howled and kicked and eventually began to gurgle as his skin burned and smoked. I wrinkled my nose at the stink, and cautiously peered around the corner of the wall. Nobody was there. Nobody had noticed anything was amiss.

Why would they? Humans were oblivious, and the sounds of the city must have drowned this mess out.

I glanced back at the vampire as he burst into flames, and wasted away into nothing but a pile of ashes and tattered, charred clothes.

The woman on the other side of the alley was still silent, and I was positive that the first body was a dead one.

He turned her. The process will begin soon. Leave her and leave the body.

I scooped up the vampire’s clothes and threw them into the dumpster on my way back out into the street. I put my shoes back on and picked up my bag, marveling that they were still there and untouched. I straightened my skirt and smoothed my hair, and resumed the trip back to my apartment.

You need to contact your father.

I will, but first I want to come back here tomorrow evening. I need to see if she’s okay.

She’ll be gone by tomorrow evening. Don’t come back.

I have to.

No response.

As I ambled along, I politely returned smiles at passerby, my high-heels clicking on the pavement with each step. But now, I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling in the pit of my belly. A vampire attack at full sun, in a hardly-concealed fork in an alleyway.

I sighed, and my face fell, as I knew I needed to contact my father as soon as possible.

•

•

•

I sent Jess a text to let her know I’d be over closer to 7 rather than 6.

“Just get here, b***h,” was her response.

I chuckled and smiled at my phone, and then I set it down on the counter in my kitchen. I placed my bag on a barstool, kicked off my shoes, and took down my hair. As I shook out my loose, chocolate brown curls, I pulled a can of Dr. Pepper out of the refrigerator.

I sighed and slid down the fridge to sit on the cold tile floor. With my knees pulled up to my chest and my soda clasped in both hands, I looked up at my phone warily.

Please call him.

I sighed again. I’m going to.

My Wolf rarely spoke to me these days. When we first left our pack, she grieved and lamented and howled for days. She knew why we left, but she didn’t agree with our departure. Eventually, her sorrow turned into absolute rage, and when that simmered, she slowly grew to dislike me, to the point where if she spoke to me at all, it was an insult, more often than not.

I couldn’t blame her. I questioned my decision to leave the pack often, and how rarely the opportunity arose to let my Wolf out to run was one of the reasons why.

I left almost 5 years ago. A few things had happened, all one after another, but it all came to a head on my 19th birthday. I was gone just one month later.

I wasn’t sure exactly what led me to leave the pack altogether, but it was what I felt I had to do. I wasn’t a rogue. If I ever chose to, I could return to my pack.

My father was the Alpha. Of course I could return home. He was Alpha Christopher of the White Mountain pack, and my mother was the Luna. I had an older brother, Graham. He would take over the pack someday, but my father was to wait hand over the reigns till Graham found his Mate. It was customary in our pack.

When I left, it caused an uproar. The Alpha’s daughter left to live among humans! Rival packs taunted us, and gossip swirled endlessly around my departure—five years later, there was still gossip. My father was concerned at the time that someone would have the gall to challenge him, as rumor had it was that the reason I left was simply because I could get away with it. And if Alpha Christopher couldn’t even keep his unruly, impulsive daughter in check, how could he run an entire pack?

In reality, my father tried to keep me from leaving. We fought for weeks. He told me I was being petulant and I told him to leave me alone. Ultimately, he stepped aside and let me leave, after asking me what I would do once I arrived in Augusta, and I told him, flustered, that I would figure it out once I got there.

He was sure I’d return within just a few weeks, if that.

But, I didn’t. I made it to Augusta, and used the credit card that I’d swiped from my mother’s wallet to check in to a hotel. I stayed in Augusta just long enough to figure out what I was really going to do.

I found myself in New York City, quite a ways from my pack. I forged a bachelor’s degree in business administration, along with a very studded, impressive résumé in order to get the job I still held to that day. I moved into the same apartment I was still living in, across the hall from Jess.

Jess! I glanced at my watch. It was 6:17. I stood up from the kitchen floor, set my soda down on the counter, unopened, and reached for my phone. I’d call him and just get it done, like ripping off a Bandaid.

I held the phone in my hands and just held it for a moment, staring at the screen. I willed my fingers to dial the number, but they didn’t.

I was scared. My father and I didn’t get along.

Just call him. You aren’t doing it just to chat. This is important, My Wolf urged.

She was right. I took a deep breath, dialed the number, and put the phone to my ear. It rang three times.

“Natalie.”

I stiffened at the sound of his voice. “Father.”

“To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Something happened today.”

“Don’t beat around the bush, Natalie. What is it?”

“A vampire attack—“

“It happens,” he interrupted. I detected a hint of irritation in his voice. Like he thought I was wasting his time.

“Let me finish,” I said. He was silent, and I cleared my throat uncomfortably. “A vampire attack, in full sun, in an alleyway in Manhattan. I smelled blood, and I followed it. It was shadowy in the alley. He had taken two women. One was dead, and he turned the other.”

“What did you do?”

“I killed him.”

“That’s good. What about the woman he turned?”

“I left her, and the dead one, too.”

He sighed. “Were there many people around?”

“Yes, it was a little after 4pm.”

“Interesting.” My father clicked his tongue, and I waited. “Did he put up a good fight?”

“Not at all. He was weak.” That was true. In retrospect, I was surprised at how easy it was to take him out.

“The humans will find the dead body. The turned will die before another bloodsucker finds her, if she even survived the transformation.”

I frowned and didn’t speak, remembering the way her eyes flicked around the alley in a panic.

“I’ll report this to the packs in your area. We’ll keep an eye on it. Thank you, Natalie.”

“Yes, Father.”

The line went dead. And as I usually did after speaking to him, I felt like s**t.

It’s okay, Natalie. We should get to Jess’s, My Wolf said softly.

I was surprised at her attempt to comfort me. Yes, we should.