Escaping from the Vampire Rogue- Chapter 8.2

Published: February 26, 2020

Brief Author’s Note— I split chapter 8 into two parts. Welcome to part 2. I hope you enjoy!

8.2

KAYLA

Garrick put one hesitant foot in the doorway then the
other like he was expecting for them to spontaneously combust. She half expected
Marnie to have a trapdoor underneath the welcome mat in front of the door,
ready to suck him in. Or a pressure sensor explosive at the very least. Neither
seemed to be the case when he stood tall in her doorway.

“Huh,” Surprise cocking her head back slightly, “that’s
new.”

“What is?” Garrick asked.

“It looks like you’re worthy, vampire. You may come in.
But know this, try anything and I know how to kill your kind.”

“I mean you no harm.”

She shot him a look of disbelief then said, “You’ll have
to move from my doorway so I can close the door.”

Garrick’s thick frame moved several paces. Once he was
cleared, the door closed on its own accord. Marnie turned to him.

“You got a name?” She asked.

“I am called Garrick Shaw, servant of the Great King, fifty-seventh
legion of Magest.”

 “All that, huh?” Marnie took another drag from her cigarette studying the vampire in her doorway. “Do you have something shorter or must we say that mouthful?”

“Also, I am called Garrick.”

“Okay then, I am called Garrick.”

She ushered them into a kitchen that was a dressed match
to the exterior. Placing her cigarette into an ashtray on her Formica counter, Marie
told them to take a seat while she rummaged through the cabinets for a tea
kettle.

“Do you want any?” She asked, filling it with water from
the tap.

“No thank you,” her father answered for all of them as
she placed the lid on top and turned on the gas burner with several short clicks.

“Now Donovan, are you going to tell me why you’re sitting
in my kitchen at this God-awful hour or do I have to ask?”

Immediately, Kayla’s head perked up to look at her
father. He sat at the table, his hair slightly windblown, his eyes cast down at
his hands folded on her floral tablecloth. Her father was worse for wear. The
sockets of his eyes were more pronounced, his skin a shade more ashen. The
color of his eyes dulled but bright with emotion. In them, she saw terror. He gulped
before giving Marnie a level stare.

“I messed up Marn,” he said, his voice barely above a
whisper. “He’s found me.”

The clattering against the stove brought all of their
attention to tea kettle that fell from Marnie’s hands. Her head bounced back and
forth, checking every exit in the room. “And you’ve come here with him after
you?”

“Who?” Kayla asked as fright took up residence in the
room. Her father’s gaze slid from Marnie than onto her, but Marnie was already
talking.

“Your father’s personal demon that’s who,” Marnie said snatching
the cigarette off the counter and putting it back to her lips, forgetting about
the tea kettle. Confusion must have been evident all over her face because
Marnie looked between her and her father. “You never told her about him?”

“About who?”

“The rogue, that’s who.” Marnie shifted. The calm
swagger of the woman before was gone. In its place was frantic fear. The lights
in the house went darker.

“Were you followed?” She turned to her father.

“No. I made sure of it. Did you two split up at any time?”

Her father glanced back at her. “No. Why?”

“You can never be too sure. I’ve heard things about him. They say he uses all kinds of tricks. Even send duplicates to give you the feel-goods, then next you’re in his clutches.” Marnie’s suspicious gaze was on her and didn’t let up when her father vehemently tried to convince her otherwise.

“She’s not a duplicate,” her father said firmly.

“Are you sure this is your daughter?

“Of course, she is.”

“Positive? Are you sure it’s not your eyes making her
real? I know you’re you because I can feel you.  The girl you bore was magic, wasn’t she? Can
you feel her? Because I sure can’t.”

Every head in the room turned to her.

“I am!”

Great way not to sound guilty, she chided herself
when the words came out too fast.

“Then, where’s your magic girl?” Marnie pressed. “You
give it to someone?”

“What? No.” First off, she hadn’t even realized she could
pawn it off on someone else. That sounded a whole lot easier than living with
her curse.

“Then where is it?” Marnie’s investigation was not complete.

She looked at her father whose face was parallel to the
floor. “Dad. Tell her. You know me. I’m me.”

“Where did this vampire come from then?” Marnie’s questions continued. In an instant, a red swirl erupted from her palms and circled her hands. Garrick was on his feet and taking a defensive stance in front of her.

“You will not harm her.”

“I will take you down before you could bear your fangs
vamp,” Marnie warned before planting her feet.

“Wait, this is a misunderstanding. I’m not a duplicate
or whatever it is you think I am. I’m just me. Dad, you know that.”

“When’s the last time you saw your daughter?” Marnie
asked.

“When I dropped her off at school at the start of the semester,” his gaze turned just as suspicious as Marnie’s. He backed away from her but didn’t draw his magic like Marnie had. At least some piece of him, maybe very deep down, knew who she was.

“I was taken,” she pleaded with a shaky voice and
holding back tears, she recanted the events of her entire night to them. From
being abducted on her way to the party, to Derrek, to being taken to the warehouse.
“They said they were going to hold the Mage’s daughter for ransom. You must
have wondered where I was when they called you to pick up Breanne.”

Her father shook her head in confusion. “I don’t know
what you’re talking about.”

He had to have. Maybe he misheard her, so she repeated. “They
said they were going to ransom the mage… I traded places with her so she’d be
saved. You picked her up. You had to have. They said—”

“You weave a good tale girl, but no one can validate it.”

Tears rushed into her eyes when her father’s head continued
shaking like he had no clue what she was talking about. She looked to Garrick,
who still stood eyeing Marnie, his fangs drawn in warning.

“He saved me.”

“As far as I’m concerned, he was sent by the Rogue too. You
have one shot before this ends up in you.” Marnie lifted her palms to display
the magic bursting from her hands. “Where is your magic?”

She looked around, giving up hope that her father was
going to come to her rescue, then spoke around the dryness in her throat. Shame
washed over her as she confessed. “I-I take a tonic to suppress it. I know I’m
not supposed to but I convinced an old friend of mine makes it for me. Chem
doesn’t even know what I use it for. I just need it while I’m in school. My
magic is out of control if I don’t take it. I’m so sorry, daddy,” she looked
into her father’s disapproving face. He shook his head then returned to staring
at the floor like he didn’t trust himself to look in her eyes.

“Who makes your tonic?” She asked, not buying a single
word of truth that tumbled from her lips.

“A friend of mine. He was supposed to bring more to me tonight but… ” she trailed off, they already knew the rest. “His name is Chem.”

She paused. “As in, the alchemist?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “You know him?”

“He is known in many circles. But not in the Rogue’s. If
Chem makes your tonic, then Chem will confirm it.”

More magical essence swirled up her body and into her
open palm. When it receded, a phone lay in its place. Without putting her remaining
magic away, she dialed with one eye on the vampire and the other on her. It
rang loudly over the speaker.

Come on Chem, pick up. She pleaded when it rang several
times.

“What?” He asked abruptly.

“Get up, I have a question for you.”

“The fuck, Marn? Do you know what time it is? Does anyone have any fucking decency around here anymore?” Chem’s sleep-soaked foul-mouthed voice barreled over the speaker.

“Child, I’ve changed your diapers. Do not talk to me in that manner. ”

“Sorry ma’am,” he replied sheepishly.

“Now, I have a duplicate sitting in my kitchen claiming you brew a tonic for her.”

“Fuck no. I don’t work with duplicates. Even, I have
standards.”

Marnie gave her a raised brow, the magic in her hand flashed.

“Chem, it’s me!” Kayla shouted across the kitchen.

“Fuck, Kayla?!” His annoyance morphed became encased with
irritation. “Where the fuck have you been?”

“So, you know this girl?”

“Yeah, but she isn’t a damn duplicate. Is she there with
you?”

“Standing right here.”

“Tell her I want my fucking money with interest. You
hear me?”

“She hears you. So, you can vouch for her?”

“I can vouch that she called me late with an order request with delivery. Had me drive all the way out to bumfucktown nowhere and she never fucking showed.”

“What do you make for her?” Marnie keeping her watchful glare
on her while she fidgeted in her chair.

“She said her magic goes haywire when she’s stressed. It’s
just a little something that helps keep it calm.”

“Will it make it go away altogether?”

He was silent for a second. “I knew it, I fucking knew she
was taking too much.”

“Does it make the magic go away?” Marnie repeated
sternly.

“It can if you take too much. But you can’t bottle your
magic inside of you, that shit is dangerous. Fuck, if I knew that what she was
doing, I wouldn’t have made it. Now, I’ve created a goddamn explosive. She’s a
fucking ticking timebomb over there. Jesus. Is she crazy?”

“I’ll handle it from here,” Marnie pressed the end
button to disconnect the call then turned back to her. “For now, your story
checks out.”

Marnie dropped her hands to her side letting her magic fizzle out and placed the kettle back on the stove. Kayla relaxed back in her chair but caught the disapproval raking off of her father in waves. Apparently, he trusted her again since he was no longer looking at the dust bunnies crawling across Marnie’s floor.

“I told you not to take that,” he scolded.

“I know,” her voice grew small.

“It makes you weak.”

“I know,” She said ruefully, her voice equally as quiet
as before. She wasn’t strong enough to look in his eyes, even though everything
inside of her wanted to be mad that he didn’t have her back a few minutes ago. The
truth of his words sunk in. Tears stung her eyes.

This entire night had been her fault. If she hadn’t
taken that damned tonic none of this would be happening. She could’ve broken
out of the warehouse. She wouldn’t have been abducted in the first place. She
would be back in her room and Breanne…

“We have to find Breanne,” Kayla said abruptly.

“No one is going anywhere, tonight,” Marnie replied. “It’s
only halfway safe out there right now—”

A roar of breaking wood and fumbling on her front deck
drowned out the rest of her sentence.

Marnie shot up from her chair, electricity zipped across
her palms as she poked her head into the hall to investigate the calamity on
her front porch.

“I thought you said you weren’t followed?”

Chapter 9 is coming Sunday!

Author’s Note: I’m knee-deep in Love Game so no voting this week. But I will leave you with a question. I said to one of my coworkers “That’s all you have to do. Then, Bob’s your uncle.” He had no idea what that meant. Am I the only one who knows what this phrase means?

So how did we vote?

See you on Sunday!

-Sabrina

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