An Echo of Royalty

3

    A delicate face peered up at me. Even in the dark, I could see it was a girl from all the hair and the feminine curves of her jaw. Joe moved behind me, something ripped, then light patched into the room. I squinted over my shoulder at him. What he must have tore from the wall, he let drop to the ground.

    I turned back to see the girl shy away and hide her eyes. She finally blinked back at us, her eyes moving from one to the other. How young is she? She didn't look quite like a teenager. She didn't seem to be scared of me either. Would she be scared of humans finding her?

    "You okay?" I whispered. 

    Part of her face appeared a little darker now that I could see her better. I reached for her jaw and she didn't move away from me. I tilted her chin to the left. The black that covered it was a bruise. She'd been through multiple beatings. My heart sank. Why would anyone or anything hurt a child?

    Her eyes darted to Joe, then back to me before she answered. "I'm okay, what's going on?"

    "How 'bout you tell us? What're you doin' here?" I replied.

    Wiggling, she sat up. She examined the room as if she'd never seen it before. "I don't know. I'm not sure how long I've been here."

    "How often did they do this to you?" I gestured to her chin. She's lucky they didn't do worse than beating her.

     Her face tilted down. "Not sure, I guess a couple of days. Like I said, I don't know how long I've been here." She looked at me with wide eyes. "Are you going to leave me here?" 

     "No, you're comin' back with us. We can't leave you out here by yourself." How long would she survive if we did leave her? "How old are you? What's your name?

     She pulled her arms out of the blankets. "Sindy Griggs and I'm thirteen." 

     Wow, older than I thought. Standing up, I helped her out of the bundle in autopilot. Not saying anything about it, unable to get over her age. What would they want with a thirteen year old?

    She stepped out, her hand in mine for steadying. Mine engulfed hers. She's so petite.

    Joe came up behind me to watch her over my shoulder. He was close enough I could hear him breathe. I inhaled and stepped away, moving to the stair case. 

    Half way across the room I felt eyes on me. I turned to the boxes. They hadn’t rustled, but I sensed something. Someone else? My gut told me no, to keep on moving, but I pulled my gun up in front of me and stepped towards the cardboard cases. 

    The boxes shifted and I aimed my gun at them. A package suddenly came at me, followed by a vampire. The impact from his body was hard enough to knock me on my back. My gun was gone, again. A scream rang through the room. I scrambled away but my arm slipped on the edge of a hole, stopping me. No escape. 

   The monsters skin smoked from the reflecting sunlight flooding the room.

    Joe ran at us and pulled at the blood sucker reaching for me. At the break I was given, I looked around for my weapon only to see it one floor down through the hole next to me. s**t. Joe grunted, pulling back my attention. He flew into some of the containers near Sindy and she yelped. The vamp turned to me, baring its teeth.

     I shuffled back again, but the holes continued to stop my escape. So much for wanting to come up here alone.

    It reached for my leg and I kicked at his scabbed hands. This was an older vamp. Something about him I just knew, not from his looks, but not something I could say either. 

     He caught my ankle and squeezed. 

    I winced, still tugging. 

   He pulled me to him and climbed on top of me. 

   Joe ran at him with a stake. Jumping at the vamp, he shoved it in, but it didn't hit home. 

    The vampire reared back, howling in pain. I flipped over and got into a football squat before I lunged at him. I hit him in the side and we rolled towards the windows. More direct light shined down on us. 

      He fumbled for my arms so he could climb back on top of me, but I pulled my legs to my chest.

In the sun, his cheek bubbled and melted. My breath caught as a piece slid off and landed on my neck, searing my skin. I cried out.

     Then he punched me. Pain blossomed across my jaw and my eyes watered. Warm liquid slid to my lips and then down my cheeks. I wiggled but couldn't move with my arms pinned down. 

    He leaned down to lick it off. His tongue barely touched my cheek and I turned my face to the side, pushing up with my legs. I grunted and bucked my legs, sending him through the window. I curled into a ball as it shattered around me.

    When all the glass landed I crawled over to the opening and looked down. Even in the sunlight, the flames were visible on top of the melted muddy pile. They were small, and more of a molding formation. Not an open fire. "Prick," I said rolling onto my back glancing around me.

     Sindy stood in the corner she had come from. Joe kneeled down next to me, breathing hard, his eyes scrunched as he looked me over. Pulling out a rag from his pocket, he reached for me. Grabbing my chin gently, he wiped blood off my face. "Are you okay?" he whispered. 

    He tilted my neck to look at the burned skin. It had stopped melting, but when Joe touched it, I winced. "Ouch. I'll live."

    Sindy crept closer, watching us with brilliant green eyes; a rare color for anyone. Why wouldn’t they eat her? What could they possibly want from her?

    I turned back to Joe who finished wiping my face off and held my chin. I gazed into those eyes that always wanted to engulf me. His thumb rubbed the side of my face. Exhaling, I stood. As much as I wanted to let him continue, to let him hold me, like we both wanted, it was something I just couldn’t give into. Every touch would make it worse.

    Staring at me, he let his hand drop, a pain in his eyes. Just like I said, every touch.

    I turned to Sindy. "We need to get her out of here." I stepped around him. 

    He said, "We need to talk when we get back." 

   I nodded as I went to Sindy and offered my hand. She took it and we walked around the holes and down the stairs as Joe followed us.

    Everyone stare as we came back down, at the young woman beside me. 

   Carter spoke first. He sat on a desk while Elizabeth bandaged his wounds. "Who's the sheila?"

    Sindy looked at him, her face confused. "Sheila? My name is Sindy, not Sheila!"

   He put his hands up and winced. "It's not an offense, just a name for women." He put his arms down slowly and rested them on his legs. "Ouch."

    "You big baby," Elizabeth said before turning to me. "He'll be fine. A couple of cuts and bruises, both nothing we can't fix with some antibiotics. We are low on them though. We'll need to find some at the hospital or pharmacy." 

     I nodded.

    As we left the building, James handed me the gun I'd lost from the upper floor and I thanked him.

    Nicks group still stood watch outside. Emily came to me. She looked at Sindy, who was staring up at the bright light. Closing her eyes she let the sun waft over her like a blanket. Her own quilt dropped to the ground, her arms out. Brown, knotted hair fell down her shoulders, just passed her waist. It would have been beautiful if it wasn't so tangled. 

    Emily said, still eyeing Sindy. "Who is that?" she whispered. "Was she captured?"

   "Her name is Sindy," I spoke normal. "You don't have to whisper." I looked back at Sindy enjoying the sunlight. "She's only thirteen. My guess, they were goin' to use her as a donor, 'til she was old enough to turn. She's not big enough to feed even one of them. At the same time though, it would take a long time before she could donate much. I don't know." 

    Sindy ran her fingers through her hair, bending over and combing through it as it swung in front of her, perfectly at ease with everyone watching.

    "Or, she could have gone to them," Joe said behind me. 

    "Why would anyone do that?" When I turned to look at him, his warm breath smelled like butter. My gaze landed on his lips before I ripped my eyes away to glance at Emily and then Sindy. 

    I picked up the blanket from the ground and wadded it into a ball. "We need to go, um, it’s afternoon, we need to get ya to camp." 

    She looked at me. "Okay." I handed her the blanket. 

    Joe fell into place beside me. "Are you going to go to the pharmacy with us or are you going to stay with Sindy?" 

    "I'd like to go, but I should probably ask her if she's okay with goin' with everyone else." I turned to her ahead of us. "Sindy?" 

    She stopped and looked at me. 

     "I'm going to go find some bandages with these guys, are you gonna be okay?"

She nodded. "I'll be okay."

     "Allright, then we’ll go get some supplies and I'll be back in camp tonight. Just go with them. They'll get you cleaned up." 

     She nodded. 

    Emily stepped up beside her. She was at least a foot taller than Sindy. With everything around pointing out how small this girl was, I couldn't imagine what they would have wanted her for.

     "She's tiny, isn't she?" Joe said, still behind me. His breath tickled the peach fuzz on the back of my neck. 

    I closed my eyes. Would it feel like that at night as well? Laying side by side.. A twig snapped. My eyes shot open and I took a step forward looking around.

    "Enjoyin' the sunlight, Love?" James said, grinning at me, the broken kindling in his hand.

I glared at him. "Let's go, before it gets dark." I passed them both as I headed back into town.

    We'd been to the store before. Wanting to make it safe for future visits, we had pulled everything away from the windows so that vamps wouldn't decide to live there. They were still clear and we took that as a good sign and walked in. Still being cautious, we had a gun or stake out; just in case. We searched the pharmacy for gauze and alcohol, and anything else we could use. There were still things all over the shelves; pills, Band-Aids, towels, and other medical supplies. We only took what we needed, in case someone else came through here needing supplies. The vamps didn't really mess with any of it. Besides the fact that our medicine didn’t work on them, they probably wanted healthy food.

    "Found alcohol, and some bandages," Elizabeth said. She'd walked behind the counter, the supplies in her arms, she set them on the table. "Wonder why they put them under the counter instead of on the shelves. They're not prescription material." 

    I set my backpack on the counter and they put the items into it. "Not sure; someone could ‘a moved it in the last little while too. You never know why people do things." 

    Joe walked up with a small bag of chips. "The vending machine is still working." Chip dust colored his lips and fingers orange.

    I smiled. "Did you really use quarters to buy yourself food?" I shook my head and zipped up my bag.

"No, I popped the back open."

   I nodded. "So you took old food from a vendin' machine, in a medical center where we leave medical supplies on the shelves, just in case other humans need it." I slipped the bag over my shoulder and turned for the door.

    The chip dust moved on his face when he grinned at me. I shook my head again. 

    "I do love around this time of day. Especially after we’re done hunting." 

    “Why?" I asked over my shoulder

    "Because you open up and smile at me. It's nice. On a normal basis you frown whenever I come near you. It's like, you want to talk to me, but you don't at the same time."

    I relaxed my face, staring at the scuffed white tile floor. Do I really smile a lot after a hunt? Maybe the adrenalin relaxes me? I ground my teeth. I let my guard down again. 

     Now was the time to be sober, so I shut everything down. You hate vampires, liars, the color pink, paper cuts. Shut down, be serious. I exhaled, pushing out the happiness. You are hunting, killing a monster, afraid. Be scared. I just couldn’t show him my true feelings.

    I pushed my way through the door and headed into the forest. Knowing the walk would give me plenty of time to think.

    When I got back to camp, a group of people stood around Sindy. She was sitting on a table, her legs crossed, and an apple in one hand. Her hands were in the air, as if she were telling a dramatic story. She seemed like the kind of girl that was full of drama. 

    As I walked to my tent I passed her, and she waved to me. I nodded but continued passed her.

   Trina everything else in the camp, but everything worked. I laid my pack on her table and she nodded. 

    I turned and went to my own tent. As I crossed the space between our huts, Joe and others entered camp and I rushed to sneak under the flap.

     The most comfortable place for me was right here, in my own room with my own things. The one place I could call my home anymore. 

    Taking off my gear, I laid down on my cot not even caring that my stomach rumbled. I drifted in and out of sleep, when a rustling noise brought my body to alert. Someone’s in here. 

     My body tingled as I turned my head in the direction of the door. Kneeling next to it, Joe watched me. Ugh.

    "I wasn't sure if you were asleep or not, so I didn't want to wake you by checking if you were awake."

    "What do you want?" I said without emotion. He had dropped his own gear off and was back in his army green pants and black vest, leaving his arms and a bit of chest bare. Mmm. I blinked and looked down at my hands.

    "I wanted to try something but you're tired, so I won't bother you." He stood to leave.

    I sat up on my cot as I spoke, "What do you want? If you can't try it now, you'll just ask to try it later." I stared at him, waiting for an answer. 

    He turned back around. "I want to do something that we’ve never done before, but you have to be willing."

    I closed my eyes to a slit. "What does it consist of?" I asked suspicious. 

    "You'll just have to trust me, you can even stay sitting down if you want." He came to me.

     "What exactly would you do that would let me stay sittin' down?" 

     He knelt in front of me. "Like I said, trust me." He put his arms on the edge of the cot next to my legs. "Close your eyes." 

     Kneeling put him at my height now. His brown spiky hair was a little uneven from the growing length and I wanted to run my hands through it. How could I shut my eyes from this? I didn’t want to, but he gave me that just do it look. 

     I wasn't sure if I should, but Joe had never, and would never, put me in harm's way. Okay, I can do this. I shut my eyes and let my other senses kick in. His shirt rubbed as he leaned in, then his breath was on my face. I wish we could always be this close. Please kiss me. Butterflies in my stomach were trying their best to beat down the door and make my heart jump. Cool fingers brushed my mouth and then pulled down my bottom lip. Something touched my tongue and then I tasted a sweet and bitter. 

    I opened my eyes and moved the chocolate around my mouth. My shoulders slumped in disappointment. "Really? You gave me chocolate?"

     "I got it today from the vending machine. Thought you would want some and I wanted to surprise you. You don't like chocolate?"

      "I haven't had chocolate in two years, of course I like chocolate. I thought you were gonna, well, never mind. Just get out." I pushed him back to get him to leave, but he grabbed my wrist. I pulled my arms, but he came with them, kissing me on the lips.