Chapter 5: Be Still, My Beating Heart

 

“Do you have it?”

 

“Yeah, I got it back in the freezer.”

 

“How fresh?”

 

“You’re lucky – Manny stole it two nights ago.”

 

“Sergio, you know I don’t trust Manny’s stuff. Can’t you just get some from work?”

 

“No, man! I can’t take any more from the bank, at least for a couple of months. They’re starting to get suspicious.”

 

Kalvin sighed as the young man called Sergio handed him a white case, which was still encrusted with frost from the icebox. He set it on the nearest table and opened it; five plastic intravenous bags of a dark red opaque liquid lay inside. With a cautious glance towards the back room’s door, he closed the case and looked back at his supplier. Sergio was a lean Latino man of medium height, with jaw-length black brown hair, a discreet moustache, and a small goatee. He raised his eyebrows, as if to ask, “Well?” Kalvin nodded his head once in reply, to say, “It’s good, thanks.” With a wave, Kalvin departed with his furtive package.

As soon as he stepped foot outside the corner store, his cellphone buzzed in his pants pocket, alerting him of an incoming call. Kalvin quickly retrieved it and flipped it open.

 

“Hello?”

 

“…I’m sorry to say this, Kalvin. You tried so hard to protect her, but you really can’t keep an eye on the vermin during the day, can you?”

 

Kalvin stopped walking. “…Who is this?”

 

“You know, you really should have warned her… She walked right into my office without suspecting a thing. Pity, that the Vessel should be so gullible…”

 

Kalvin’s expression passed from dreaded realization, to rage. “Where is she, Aronius?”

 

“Oh, I’m afraid I can’t let you in on that. You see, Kalvin, you have this nasty penchant for bursting in at the last moment and ruining things. Take last night, for instance. Ah, but you’ll probably find a way anyhow. Do me a favor, Kalvin – prove me wrong.”

 

The line cut.

 

Sergio looked up from the Rolling Stone he was reading behind the counter as Kalvin dashed inside. “Back already?” he asked with a bewildered smile. Kalvin wasn’t in the mood.

 

“I need weapons.” He sounded breathless and distracted as he paced for a few feet, trying to think up a plan.

 

“Weeelll, you know me, I’m the go-to man for everything,” Sergio returned, with just a hint of sarcasm. “What, you havin’ a craving for vampyre butt-kicking?”

 

“They’ve got her, Sergio! I have to save her before it’s too late. They’ve got her…”

 

“Whoa, hey, slow down man. Who’s got who?”

 

Kalvin stopped pacing and leaned across the counter into Sergio’s face. His face couldn’t have been stonier . “Aronius has the Vessel.”

 

Sergio’s eyes widened. “No way.”

 

“Do you think I would joke about this!?”

 

“Okay, okay! Take it easy…” He took a deep breath and set down the magazine. “C’mon back. The secret arsenal’s behind the freezer where I keep the bodies.” Kalvin gave him a chiding shove on the shoulder. “Okay, jeeze! I got some stuff in the storage room…”

~

The room she was in was dark, and felt claustrophobically small, though it was hard to tell in such blackness. Veronica’s hands were bound behind her back by itchy ropes, but she doubted she would get up anyway. Her body still felt so weak… and she was left to languish about what she knew was to come. She had been bitten by a vampyre, and it would only be too soon until she became one as well.

Goodbye sun, she thought miserably. Goodbye humanity. She sighed. I wonder if I’ll ever see Joey again… Not that I really care. I was going to leave him, anyways…Veronica growled in frustration and slumped against the cool concrete wall.

 

“Auuugh, how could I have been so stupid!” Meeting with a vampyre who owns the freaks that attacked you? C’mon, Veronica…

 

Well, you humans aren’t known for your intelligence…Oops! My mistake. You’re not human anymore, are you? At least, you wont be… The invading voice that Veronica now identified as Jesse’s lilted into her mind, its cackles echoing inside of her skull. She’d been hearing the vampyress’s taunts for the past hour. Her only comfort was that when she gained whatever new abilities come with immortality, she could use them on Jesse.

 

Ah! Veronica winced and doubled over as a sharp pang went throughout her abdomen.

She felt light headed again. She groaned as it passed, as quickly as it had come. I guess it’s starting now… Won’t be long… Again her thoughts went from vengeance to sorrow.

 

She blinked hard as a long, bright stripe of light entered her little prison. Apparently there was a door in the blackness, as it was open now. A figure once again shadowed the light as it entered and approached.

 

“How’s it coming along, Veronica my dear?” Only one person could be attributed to that chilling voice that she now hated so much: Aronius. “Your turning, I mean. It’s a nasty process…” He bent down to look at her face. Her body quivered with rage. “…and as far as I can see, you’re resisting it quite resiliently. Interesting.” He walked away, and the light once again shown into her face.

 

“Give her another hour or so.”

 

The door was shut once more, and the madness ensued.

 

~

 

There were at least five of the Maktashe clubs scattered around the city, but there was only one that housed their leader. Kalvin screeched around a corner as he sped on in its direction. There was no doubt in his mind that he knew where the place lay; how could he forget what took place there? It would forever haunt his thoughts. As it will haunt Veronica, if she makes it through this alive, he thought morosely. Kalvin was pushing the speed limit, and the time of night was fast approaching when every cop car would be hiding near the bars, on the lookout for their drunken prey. The club had to be just eight or so blocks away.

 

He picked up his cell phone from the center console and flipped it open; while keeping glancing eyes on the road, he flipped through names, searching for allies he prayed would come to him now. Kalvin was a skilled fighter, yes – but he knew he could not fight all of Aronius’s goons alone. They would easily overpower him, in strength and numbers. The dial tone sounded, and he began his search. Fifteen numbers he tried; eleven never picked up, two declined (rather rudely), and two said they were on their way. Kalvin had known Danielle and Victus for at least twenty years, and he would have been quite shocked if they had not come to his aide now.

 

Club Crimson was fast approaching, and the battle would soon begin. Kalvin only hoped that it was not too late.

 

~

 

Even in the pitch black of her prison, Veronica could see and feel the pulsing red behind her eyelids. Her breath came short now, and oftentimes if she didn’t keep focused, she found herself gasping for air. She figured that this was her body dying; it was fighting to stay alive. The pains were more frequent now, and were not isolated to her abdomen as they had been before. As her tongue passed gently over her teeth, two somewhat sharpened points that were her incisors made her cringe, in fear of what transformations might come next. The end of her mortality was close at hand; it was strange, how acutely she felt this premonition.