Sequel: New Beginning

Columbine

Chapter 37

Valentin slammed the door to the tavern’s back room shut once we’d all been rushed inside. I flinched at the too-loud noise.

It was mere minutes after the FFH had left the tavern, and I was still shaking. I knew full well by now that I was going to be in some deep shit, and that I might not come out of it unscathed. Sarah and Scarlett looked extremely worried. Charlie had his trademark expression of cynicism on, and Valentin looked like he was just about ready to murder Dennis. I had a feeing that in a moment, those same murderous urges would probably be transferred to me.

“What the hell was that just now?” He growled at Dennis, who was standing to my left. Sarah was to my right, holding my hand with her trademark iron grip.

Dennis stepped closer to Valentin, looking just about ready to set his all-too-willing fists on him.

“You know perfectly well what that was just now.” Dennis sneered. “The FFH wants the Blood Bank’s help.”

Valentin glared at Dennis.

“Oh, really?” He snarled. “That’s not what it looked like to me.”

“And what did it look like?” Dennis snapped.

“It looked an awful lot like you were playing matchmaker.” Valentin growled.

My eyes widened in shock and everyone looked at Dennis with horrified expressions.

“So what if I was?” Dennis snarled. “You heard them -- they’re fighting for Egypt’s freedom!”

There was a rushing noise in my ears that was getting louder and louder.

“Holy shit.” Sarah squeaked to herself. I couldn’t help but share her sentiments about the situation.

Dennis had betrayed me, and he’d betrayed me bad. When he’d been telling me about the FFH’s progress, I hadn’t thought that it was anything like a test. Obviously that’s exactly what it had been. A test to see my reaction. Apparently when I hadn’t run out of the room screaming, he’d assumed that I’d be peachy keen about joining up with a terrorist cell. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

“Well, it had to be done, didn’t it?” He snapped at Valentin.

I felt my mouth fall open.

“Y-you mean you did this?” I stammered. Dennis looked at me.

“I thought you’d be fine with it. You didn’t react like this when I told you about it back in the lab!” He said.

…And after that everything just went downhill.

Now everyone was looking at me, almost like they didn’t want to believe what they’d heard. My mouth went completely dry, and I wanted very much for the floor to swallow me.

“Columbine?” Valentin turned his gaze toward me. “You knew about this?”

He didn’t sound happy. In fact, he sounded downright predatory.

“I…” I stammered. “I knew about Dennis being in the FFH, but --”

“How long?” Valentin interrupted.

“W-what?” I stammered.

“How long have you known about this?” He repeated. The fact that he hadn’t raised his voice was scarier than if he had bellowed the question out at me.

“A-a couple of weeks.” I swallowed. “But I didn’t know this was going to happen! I had no idea that we’d get set up like this!”

Valentin didn’t say anything to me.

“You mean you kept this a secret?” Sarah asked, sounding like she was going to cry. “You knew and you didn’t tell me?”

I didn’t know what to say to her.

“I thought we’d agreed to trust each other.” She said in a low, insulted voice. “At the very least, I trusted you.”

I wanted to throw up. The horrible juice I’d had churned inside my stomach like a nasty, acidic hurricane.

“It’s not her fault.” Dennis attempted to save me. “I asked her not to tell.”

“And what did you think you were going to accomplish by putting her in your little scheme?” Valentin growled. “Do you even know that she’s a wolf’s head?”

“I’m not stupid! Of course I knew--” Dennis was interrupted by a sudden fist to the face. He flew back into the wall and landed on it with an extremely loud crash.

Everyone froze.

We all stared in shock at Valentin. I, for one, had never seen him so angry before. I’d never seen him hit anyone either. My heart was hammering in my chest so hard, I thought it might break my rib cage.

“Wolves’ heads are killed on sight, you idiot!” Valentin yelled at Dennis, who was struggling to regain his balance.

Dennis stared at Valentin in sheer surprise. None of us had been expecting this kind of reaction. It felt almost unreal.

“Hey, take it easy, Val.” Charlie came up and gave Valentin an odd pat on the shoulder. “Go and get some air. I’ll deal with this.”

Without another word, Valentin walked back out into the tavern. Scarlett followed suit -- probably to make sure he wouldn’t repeat the same performance with anyone else, leaving me, Sarah, Charlie, and Dennis alone in the back room.

“What the fuck!” Dennis spit blood out onto the floor when the door gently closed after Scarlett. “Half my teeth are loose!”

Charlie knelt down until he was at eye level with Dennis.

“That’s what you get for fucking with a half-demon’s sweetheart.” He smiled, and looked up at me with that leering grin that he was so well-known for.

I was still trembling and in shock, so I didn’t bother defending my established position on the matter.

“I honestly haven’t seen this kind of courtship since…I can’t even remember.” Charlie feigned a nostalgic sigh.

“Oh, my God.” Sarah squeaked. “Did you see that?”

She nudged me in the rib.

I looked at her, and saw that there wasn’t so much shock in her eyes as there was outright excitement, like something extremely good had happened. That familiar look calmed me down just a little.

“Should have known.” Dennis grumbled. “Demons are nothing but trouble.”

Charlie grinned.

“And I’ve been thinking that punks that join terrorist cells are nothing but trouble.” He said.

“I was only trying to help!” Dennis said.

“Help the Blood Bank or help the FFH?” Charlie asked, crossing his arms. There was a calm sadism about him that I couldn’t help but be happy about. I had a feeling that if Charlie were ever to lash out, it would be either out of necessity, or just for fun.

“Both.” Dennis managed to say before he spat out another bloody gob of spit.

“Ah.” Charlie said. “I see.”

“You do?” Dennis asked in disbelief.

“I think you’ve been misinformed about the Blood Bank’s purpose.” Charlie said. “You see, the Blood Bank is a dance club. The FFH is a terrorist cell. The two have nothing in common.” He sounded like he was trying to explain the concept to a five-year old kid.

Dennis glared up at Charlie. Charlie smiled in response.

“I thought you, of all people, would understand.” Dennis glared at me. “I thought you wanted the Demataxt gone as much as I did.”

Before I could think of anything to say, a tirade came tumbling out.

“And I thought you, of all people, would understand that I also want to stay alive! I can’t believe you’d spring this on me without a word beforehand.”

“You should be ashamed of yourself.” Sarah jumped in, which I was instantly grateful for.

“Look.” Dennis finally stood up. The mark Valentin’s knuckles had left on his jaw looked gruesome. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d freak out like this.”

“Well, you should have.” Sarah informed him. “I mean, what did you think was going to happen? My life’s for sale just as much as Columbine’s. We can’t risk exposure like this.”

Dennis massaged his jaw.

“The FFH would have protected you.” He assured us. “You know what they’re capable of. They blew up the Cairo branch, for fuck’s sake!”

“And I’m sure they’re all quite proud of themselves.” Charlie said.

“They captured a prisoner -- don’t you get it?” Dennis said. “They’re here to help!”

“And the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Charlie smirked.

“Shut up.” Dennis spat.

“Okay, let’s try to deal with this in a calm and reasonable manner.” Sarah took a deep breath. “How can we reach an understanding with the FFH without getting too involved?”

“They did say they’d be dropping by tomorrow.” Charlie reminded us.

“And what makes you think they’ll behave any better tomorrow?” Sarah frowned. Apparently no crisis situation could force her to form any kind of bond with Charlie.

“I’ll talk to them.” Charlie smiled.

“Oh, and I’m sure you’ll just intimidate them into being good little boys.” Sarah snapped.

Even if Sarah wasn’t prepared to admit it, Charlie had a point. Out of all thirty two vampires on the planet, not a one of them had come close to dying yet. If Charlie wanted to be the muscle of the operation, I’d gladly let him.

“Even if we do manage to strike a deal, what then? Whose to say they won’t take advantage of us the next time they’re in trouble or need a place to hide when they inevitably attract an army of mages?” Sarah ranted.

“Don’t think so negative.” Charlie grinned at her. “You’ll get old before your time.”

“Shut up, Charlie.” Sarah snapped.

“Anyway,” Charlie turned back to Dennis, “You’re going to go out there and tell dear old Valentin that you’re sorry for endangering his sweetie-pie.”

“Hey!” I interrupted. Charlie ignored me.

“And then you’ll go back to that FFH of yours, and tell them that if they want to stop by for a party, that’s fine. Anything beyond that is out of bounds. Basically, what sweetie-pie here told them before.” Charlie explained. He’d definitely have made a good member of the mafia. He certainly had the knack for bossing people around.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Dennis shook his head.

“Congratulations, Denny-boy.” Charlie give him a hefty pat on the back. “You’ve just become our mediator.”

The term ‘mediator’ had never been made as clear to me as it was now. It was possibly the absolute worst profession that existed in the world, and Dennis had unwittingly become a mediator just by being stupid. I couldn’t help but pity him the tiniest bit, but even if he had been trying to help make a better life for humanity as whole, I was still livid that he’d decided to use my precious Blood Bank as a conduit.

We came out of the back room and back into the tavern. I came out last, not wanting to risk coming into contact with Valentin any sooner than I absolutely had to. Even a couple spare seconds concealed by the wall was a golden way for me to spend my time.

Charlie led Dennis to where Valentin and Scarlett were standing. Valentin appeared to have cooled off a bit. Scarlett could be very soothing when she tried, so I was grateful for that.

Sarah stuck with me, and we both sat down at the bar.

“I’ll have a beer, please.” She told Steve. He set a brand new bottle out in front of her.

“And for you?” He asked me. “More juice?”

“No thanks.” I said. I wasn’t very thirsty any more.

“Are you serious?” Sarah asked me. “Now’s the perfect time to get drunk!”

“I’m underage.” I muttered.

“I don’t care.” She said. “I’m getting you a beer no matter how hard you say ‘no’.”

Steve, having overheard us, set a bottle of beer out in front of me.

“No thank you.” I told him. “Give it to someone who actually wants it.”

“Don’t you dare!” Sarah warned Steve. “This girl needs to have some fun more than anyone else in here.” She wrapped her arm around me in a very possessive, big-sisterly sort of way. I’d never had any siblings, let alone a sister. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Sarah claiming that position.

“Okay.” She leaned in. “The key is to take little sips. Don’t be scared.” She held the nose of the bottle up to my mouth. “Go on.”

I shook my head. After a while, she sighed and spoke the golden words.

“You want to apologize to Valentin sober?”

With a definite, renewed sense of purpose, I took the tiniest sip that I could manage. When the beer touched my tongue, I almost choked.

“That’s disgusting!” I said after having spewed beer over the bar table. Steve graciously wiped the spittle off with a rag.

“You’ll get used to it.” Sarah assured me. I looked at Sarah and then at Steve. They were way too interested in watching me try beer for the first time in my life.

“You guys are insane.” I informed them, and reluctantly swallowed a little bit of the gross, bitter liquid in the bottle. After three more sips, I was starting to enjoy myself.

“I think I’ll stop right there.” I pushed the beer away before I started liking it too much.

“Well, at least I got her to try a little bit. Pay up.” Sarah told Steve, who then mournfully reached into his pocket and gave Sarah ten dollars. I couldn’t believe they’d bet on me.

“I hate you.” I hissed. “What’re you going to use it on, anyway?”

“I don’t know.” Sarah shrugged. “I’m sure I’ll find some way to--.”

Sarah stopped mid-sentence.

“Some way to what?” I asked. She didn’t answer. I noticed that she’d paled significantly in the course of a second.

“Sarah?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”

Her eyes were wide open with what looked an awful lot like fear.

“What’s wrong?” I repeated.

“There’s mages nearby. I can feel them.” She whispered. When I heard that, I knew that I probably started to share her pale face and shock-wide eyes.

“How close are they?” I almost choked.

“Very. Like less than a minute. We have to get out of here!” She yelped. As if I needed to be told even once.

She raced to where Valentin, Scarlett, Charlie, and Dennis had been reaching their understanding. I jumped from my stool, now fearing for my life. Steve, having overheard Sarah’s realization, pointed at something behind the bar table. I leaned over and saw that he was standing on top of a trap door.

“You can hide in the cellar.” He told me. “Come on, quickly!”

I stepped over to the other side of the bar. Steve waved everyone else over. They came racing up. Sarah looked as worried as I did, and with good reason. We were the only ones who were on Wanted posters.

“Get down there!” Steve ordered everyone. Sarah got down first. I followed her. The cellar wasn’t very large, or even very deep. I had a feeling that it was more of a hiding place than a storage room.

There was just enough room to fit all five of us and still leave some decent space. I didn’t know if this was enough to keep us from getting discovered and arrested. If X-ray vision was anything more than a fantasy, we’d have been majorly screwed.

About a second after the trap door fell closed above our heads, I heard everything fall silent. I assumed that that meant that the mages were here.

“Everybody please remain calm.” A voice announced. This voice wasn’t as loud as the FFH’s ringleader’s voice had been, but no one was cheering or whispering excitedly, so everybody heard it just fine. Even the people that were in the cellar -- us.

“We would like to make a quick announcement.” The voice cleared its throat. “One of our valued employees has been missing for over a day. If anyone has any information at all about anything pertaining to recent kidnappings -- especially those of men in their mid-twenties, or creatures resembling men in their mid-twenties -- please feel free to make a statement. If your statement proves to be valuable, you well be well-rewarded.”

A flurry of whispering swept the room. I swallowed, more than a little shocked that both the FFH and the Demataxt could be in the same place within an hour of each other and not catch even a whiff of the other’s presence.

“As always,” the voice continued, “We would appreciate any information relating to the incident on Halloween, or possible leads on any of the wanted criminals known to reside in this general area.

“But let it be known that if anyone is discovered to have helped and anti-Demataxt individuals or organizations directly or indirectly, that guilty individual will be awarded the same punishment as the criminal or criminals that they were protecting.”

“How about you get the fuck out of here!” A drunken, slurred voice announced from one of the far corners of the tavern. The voice ignored the insult.

“Please don’t let your human pride get in the way of your common sense.” The voice continued. “Any and all attempts at rebellion will be stopped, and when you humans finally accept that the Demataxt is here to help you live normal lives, we may just begin to achieve a more harmonious existence together.”

“Fuck you, freak!” Another voice yelled.

“You’ve been well-informed of the situation. Any future mistakes will no longer be treated with so much leniency.” The voice finished, and I could hear several loud and heavy pairs of shoes trail out of the tavern.

I waited for my pulse to slow down as the mages’ footsteps receded. It didn’t take a genius to realize that nothing the voice had just announced was in any way accurate. Even underneath the floor, I’d heard the starkly obvious hostility in the mage’s words. They’d been threats put as politely as possible.

If any of the Demataxt’s past actions were anything to go by, they wouldn’t hesitate to start punishing innocent people until they got what they wanted, and I didn’t want to know how many bystanders would be unpleasantly surprised by the day that the latest of the Demataxt’s wishes finally came true.

“So,” Charlie suddenly said, “Who wins the Best Party Crasher of the Year award this round?”