Louder Than Words

Hayden slid open the door to the storage unit effortlessly. He nodded to his brother, then took his place in the chair Fozzy had left, facing the vampire. She was still asleep from the last dose of Dead Man's blood they had given her. He looked at her. She was pretty, for a monster. Vampires didn't take on an unnatural beauty when they changed, so he was almost a bit surprised to find her face so attractive. She looked like a porcelain doll that had been rolled in a bit of dirt and blood. Red dirt was smudged just underneath one of her high cheekbones. Her stained red lips were parted slightly and there was blood matted in the hair brushing against her neck where she had received numerous injections over the last few days. Hayden bit the inside of his lip and watched her as he thought.

Not two hours later her eyes squeezed tighter shut and then fluttered open. She watched him with cold blue eyes from her immobilized state on the floor. Her lower lip dropped slightly, revealing the bottom row of white teeth. Her lips started working, like she wanted to say something, but she could barely even manage a cough. Hayden just watched her. When she started wiggling her fingers and toes, he picked up a miniature crossbow and made a show of dipping arrows in blood and loading the weapon. Soon, and with much effort, the vampire had achieved an upright position. Her thick blonde hair stuck up at odd angled where it had been against the floor.

"You decided to let me wake up," she croaked. Instead of answering, he rolled her a water bottle filled with a red liquid. She undid the cap and sniffed it, then looked at him. "Cow's blood?"

"You thought we were gonna give you human?" he asked. She sniffed it again, then took a tentative sip. Her lip curled in disgust, but some color rose in her cheeks almost immediately. She drained the bottle. "I need to ask you some questions," Hayden said, standing. He towered over her huddled figure.

"Oh? What could a monster possibly tell you?" Her face showed no emotion, but the words came out bitter.

"A few things. Does the Alpha know about this? Your little trafficking business?"

A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Of course he does. He knows everything about us. The better question, dear Hunter, would be if he takes part in it?"

"Does he take part in it?"

She smiled wide now and said, "Of course he does! Just not... wholeheartedly, I would say. He has his own matters to attend to. I'm sure he would call on us if he really needed to, but he has his own thing going. Specifically with children. Sweet guy, huh. Now don't you want to know about something interesting, like how many nests are in on this little 'operation'. Or where they're at. Or even something else that your big Hunter brain has thought of." Hayden paused, looking at her, then nodded for her to speak. "All of the above, huh? Well... you got me," she shrugged. "Way to catch one of the newbies. They don't tell me anything. I just transferred in. I'm the new guy."

"You don't know a thing." The vampire shook her blonde head, bracing herself against the wall and standing on wobbly legs.

"Not a damn thing. I hope you nabbed one more of us, cause I was a bust."

He stepped forward, pressing his body against hers, unsheathing a knife at his hip. The blade edge shined red with Dead Man's blood as he held it against her neck. "How about you tell me what you do know. If you aren't useful in some way, I'm going to have to kill you."

"Then do it," she whispered.

Hayden looked at her hard, masking his surprise beautifully, but she knew she had shaken him at least a little bit. He bared his teeth ever-so-slightly as he pressed the knife into her throat harder and slid it, creating a long thin cut, just enough to mingle the blood on the knife with hers. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she slid out from between him and the wall. He re-sheathed the knife and left the storage unit, frowning.

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It was dark by the time Bayleigh decided to head out. She climbed in the Dodge and started him up. She followed Caton Avenue to Stafford Street and then onto Hurley Avenue before turning onto Fredrick. She drove up the road for a minute or two before pulling over onto the side of the road. She jogged up the road, turning into the cover of trees, until she reached the bridge. She nearly fell twice coming down onto the railroad tracks. She followed them for nearly a mile before turning onto Gwynns Falls Trail. From there, it didn't take him long to find her.

His pale face loomed out of the darkness and seemed to float atop his dark clothes. His soft mouth was stretched in a smile. He was exactly the same as she remembered. Tall and pale with those warm chocolate eyes. As they neared each other, he stretched long thin fingers towards her, his leather jacket creaking as he did, and grasped her hand in his long, slim one. He raised it to his lips and kissed it. "Amare," he whispered, so low that only she could hear him. [AM-ah-REE]

"What is it, Evagoras?" Bayleigh asked.

"Oh, my Amare," he whispered, seeming to have not heard her. He released her and placed his hands on her face, still smiling. His translucent skin seemed to glow against the moonlight. "How I have missed you." His soft words were lilted with his ancient Greek accent.

"Evvie," she murmured, equally as quiet. "Evvie, what's wrong."

His cold hands slipped from her face and he wrapped an arm around her waist, having to stoop a bit to make it comfortable, and turned her around to walk back the way she had come. He didn't speak and she soon found out why. As they rounded a corner, a night patrolman was walking. He slowed and watched them suspiciously, so Bayleigh smiled up and Evagoras, then flashed the patrolman a light smile. His step picked back up and they soon lost sight and sound of him, but Evagoras only moved his hold on her to a more comfortable position around her shoulders. He leaned into her ear and murmured, "We'll talk in your car." Even with his lips right there, she had to strain to hear him.

It seemed to take nine times longer walking back to the Dodge, perhaps because she was walking attached to a man or because she was nine times as nervous as she had been. Whatever it was, sliding into the front seat was sweet relief. She silently started the car and took off up the highway. That's when Evagoras decided to talk.

"I assume you know about this crusade against our enterprise."

"How could I not? I was even underground for a few months and I still got word."

He looked at her like he wanted to ask why, but continued his story. "They almost got me just a few days ago. I had Perenna. I had to do like what I did to you. They got her and let her go, but I think she found us again. I wouldn't know," he added, suddenly bitter. "I have stopped being included in the affairs of what they do with our final Valens."

Bayleigh looked at him. "Do they know?"

He shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid they do."

She sighed, shaking her head. "What do we do?"

"Well I have to go into hiding. No one knows what happened to you. You just... disappeared. And I'm glad of it." He looked at her hand sought her hand again, curling his fingers with hers. "I missed you, Amare my s'Agapo. It has been too long."

"It has... So I take it the genetic reproduction of the Serum didn't work."

Evagoras shook his head sadly. "No. Perenna miscarried thirteen times before we gave up on her. I fear if she had been a legitimate human it would have proved to be fatal."

Bayleigh choked on a fleck of spit and had to talk herself through the next few seconds. Suddenly, a few things had become just about crystal clear. "Miscarriage?" she asked.

"Nai. All within the first few weeks. Jason was very frustrated." She swallowed and regained her bearings.

"And they still cannot recreate the Serum," she said, steering it away from the depressing topic.

"Ou. No." He looked at her. "You were pregnant."

"I thought I lost it because I didn't want it," she admitted. "And I'm glad I did. The life I live these days doesn't have room for a baby."

He squeezed her hand. "Agape."

It was quiet for a moment and then Bayleigh spoke. "Where are you going to go, Evvie? Now that they're looking for you?"

Evagoras chuckled. "Maybe I'll go home."

She shook her head. "No. That's too far away. Come with me."

This time he laughed out loud. "It's too dangerous, Amare. You and me, we're up there with their most wanted."

She couldn't help but catch his smile. She was smirking as she replied, "Oh, come on, Evagoras. One of the oldest vampires known to man and a Valens. What could possibly go wrong?"

"Well plenty of things-"

"Stay with me. At least for a while. Then we can decide what to do." When she looked at him, he was grinning.

"How could I deny you, s'Agapo?" He raised her fingers to his mouth and then replaced them on the steering wheel. "My sweet Amare."