I Hope They Taste of Me Forever

“Don’t make any sudden movements,” Andy mumbled under his breath. “And be as quiet as you can. We’re entering Dandy territory now.”

I felt a chill ripple through the air and hit me, as though we’d just passed through some invisible force field. The entire atmosphere altered in a simple step. The nighttime clouds seemed darker, the buildings seemed distant and threatening, and the cars parked in the street seemed strategically placed, as though we were unwary adversaries in some sick puppet show. Patrick’s remedy had brought me back from my state of unconscious quickly and I was feeling a lot better already after only twenty minutes (although I was doubtful whether or not this remedy consisted of anything more than strong whisky). I could feel my blood pumping fast through my veins, ready for the fight of my life. I was ready for anything.

I thought I was ready for anything.

“They’re probably already aware that someone’s here,” Joe murmured. “Let’s just hope that they don’t know it’s us yet.”

“Too late for that, Mr. Trohman.”

We spun around, weapons at the ready, entertaining a malicious laugh from pale lips perched upon a dusty red car. Beckett’s voice was deeper than I remembered, his posture more greedy, stealing space with the taut length of his spine. Though the pinstripes he adorned made him seem thinner, he had never looked larger or more threatening than he did now. His eyes were bright, his teeth stained red from his last feed. My mind flashed back to my first encounter with the once-man, the way he dug to my core with mental tendrils of pain. This man could initiate the ultimate, most excruciating pain without lifting a finger. This man was powerful beyond reason. This man had to be stopped.

“Elle, my dear, you don’t look too pleased to see me.”

I rearranged the snarl on my face to one of polite contempt. He grinned.

“Well this time, you have sought me out. You must have come looking for something.”

“No more games Beckett,” Pete growled, with somewhat feigned polite intentions. “You know why we’re here.”

“Perhaps,” Beckett mused, his stony face giving naught away. He could be clueless, but still inspired the most chilling fear that no singular being should have the ability to do. “I guess you’ll just have to follow.”

He laughed chillingly again before leaping ahead to the next car, gracefully maneuvering his way across every hood, every roof, every bonnet. My suspicion had been correct; the cars were merely props to glamourize the scene.

“Follow him or follow our instincts?” Andy snarled. “Because those are two entirely different things.”

We walked the never-ending street timelessly, cautiously. I could be walking to my death, but it was worth it for the adrenaline. I’d never felt so alive. I’d never felt so ready to die. I don’t care what stigma is attached to martyrdom these days, but if I was going to go I’d want it to be like this. Pete seemed to have other ideas. He refused to leave my side. But in a way, being so close to a vampire made me feel more vulnerable, and in a way that made this entire risqué operation all the more thrilling.

Eventually, as we walked, we began to hear whispers. Whispers turned to cackles, cackles turned to shrieks of all emotions. I was ready to fling a stake in the air just to see if it caught anything, but I thought against wasting my weapons.

“Well well well, look who it is.”

We spun around faster than should be possible, as a beautiful white grin and fiery hair taunted us. Taunted me, more like.

“Can’t say I’m surprised,” she yawned falsely. “No one else would be stupid enough to come looking for a fight in Dandy territory.”

“Hayley,” I addressed her bluntly. “I’d almost forgotten that you existed.”

She snarled, but quickly transformed it to feigned nonchalance.

“Been having too much fun fucking Petey, have we? Planning on retiring from the hunting business to be a housewife?”

I was ready to leap at her, but Pete’s cool hand on my shoulder kept me in check. I was about to come up with some witty retort, but I was far too preoccupied with the ghostly figures that had descended from hiding, the primarily pinstripe army that circled us, blocking off both ends of the street, blocking off our escape.

With Beckett’s cold laugh ringing in my head, I looked around. This was my life. This was my history, laid out before my eyes. Some were brief encounters, almost expelled from the back of my mind but still just within grasp… Cameron and Aiden, I believed? I only remembered due to the vampire child Alayshia standing between the two vaguely familiar faces, and Hayley’s protective stance in front of them all. Scanning the figures, I found more. Brendon’s eyes looked somewhat sympathetic, standing beside a very noticeable Travis McCoy, the only vampire not dressed to the nines for the ‘occasion’. A few more faces caught my attention, their names evading me, until I came to the ones we had come looking for. I had momentarily forgotten my mission, but it came zooming back at full speed and punched me hard in the gut.

Hunter looked to be in so much pain, I just wanted to run to him. Long blonde hair cascaded over his shoulders, its owner holding Hunter’s arms behind him in a white vice grip. He was a complete mess to her evil grin. The twitching spasm of the muscles in his face, the mingling of sweat and tears shining on his skin in the dim street light, the streams of dry blood crackling on his neck. I’d never seen anything so positively horrifying in my entire fucked up life. Nothing could ever bring a man to his knees like this. You’d never believe it, never truly understand it without witnessing it firsthand. It was death, and eventually, Hunter fell limp to the dirty gravel floor.

“Never fear, Elle my dear,” Beckett smiled almost lazily as he lay atop the closest car. “He’s not gone. That’s what we do… We preserve life. We’re not the evil villains you peg us for.”

“Bullshit,” I spat. “Don’t give me that crap. You’re the epitome of all that is bad in my life.”

“Okay,” he laughed. “You caught me. I was lying. But what you need to realize, Miss Williams, is that this moment, this city, this world, is not all about you.”

That shut me up. Made him laugh.

“Can you save him?” I whirled around to talk to Pete, pleading. “Can you stop it?”

Pete sighed, glancing at the collapsed body, and shook his head.

“I’m sorry, Elle. It’s too late once he’s lost consciousness.”

I refused to cry. Not in front of these sadistic bastards.

“You know what would be ironic?” Beckett mused, ignoring our exchange. “If he turned out to be one of those unstoppable new ones, and he ended up killing his supposed ‘saviours’, oh that would be a blast!”

We all glared at him, our best attempts to remain unaffected. He simply smiled, jumping off the car and wrapping his arms around his beautiful bride as she appeared by his side. For stretching moments, there was silence. It seemed we were all waiting for something, though we did not know what. I still felt there was some way to save Hunter… and even if not, there’d be some way to stop him from becoming a Dandy. It made me sick to think about.

Minutes or hours passed by in eerie quiet. There was no pre-battle adrenaline, no waiting for the first strike. There was just waiting. Waiting for something unknown. I finally realized what we’d been waiting for at the first shift of movement from the tormented lump on the floor, the friend we had come to save, changed forever.

I grabbed Pete’s hand tightly, watching anxiously as Hunter rose anew as the hunted. When I first saw his face, he looked confused. He was slightly wobbly on his feet and still looked like a dirty mess, but generally not much different from before. If it weren’t for the very prominent punctures in his neck, punctures that I’d seen many a time, I might not believe his newly acclaimed immortal status.

“Damn,” Beckett sighed. “Not quite as dramatic as I’d hoped. Nevertheless, it was worth the chance. Now, we’ve spent quite enough time dwelling here. Miss Williams, if you’d be so kind as to assist Mr. Carden as our prisoner back to the mansion… I’m sure you still remember how unpleasant it was last time you didn’t cooperate, no matter how long ago it may have been…”

“We’ll come with you when Hell freezes over,” Andy snarled.

“That can be arranged,” Beckett sneered back.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I swore through gritted teeth.

“Fine.”

His icy tone, patience all used up, set the Dandies in motion, positioning themselves for a fight. It shot adrenaline into my veins again, and I was ready for this.

“Stop! Don’t hurt her!”

I was ultimately surprised to see a wounded Hunter dragging himself between Beckett and I. Perhaps he hadn’t changed all that much at all. The thought of him defending me in such a state made my heart swell.

“I’m sure we can figure something out…” he continued.

“The jig’s up, little brother. Time to come back to reality.”

Little brother. Little brother? Little brother.

My head, my life, my trust, my mistakes all swirled before me, and I thought I was going to pass out again. This could not be happening…

“You two have grown pretty close, right?” Beckett grinned maliciously. “Who knew my brother was such a charmer? I must say, when this plot first formed, I didn’t think he’d have the guts to pull through with it. I guess even I can be proved wrong.”

“Elle…” Hunter began, but I couldn’t hear him. I didn’t want to hear him. “I’m sorry… I never meant for it to turn out this way…”

I had never felt the way I felt in that moment. Such anger, such hatred, such inescapable fury had completely taken over me. Rationality was entirely out of the question. My mind wasn’t in control, nor was my heart. It was purely physical, such speed I could not know, such movement I could not ever really explain. None of my senses even existed, I didn’t even exist in this moment.

This existential moment where I plunged a wooden stake into the heart of my best friend, my traitor, my crumbling dust.