here we go

Miah Williams slept in her bed fully clothed even in her boots—trapped in the midst of a night terror. She thrashed violently, her head tossing side to side, the beads of sweat on her forehead, soaking the pillow beneath. There small loft apartment was silent except for her whimpering, and the faint noise of city traffic muffled by the closed windows. Her arm jerked, hitting an empty glass on the bedside table knocking it to the floor, while her body raged in a battle that she was unable to control. It was that nightmare again. Familiar and frightening. It wasn’t a figment of her imagination but rather the events that transpired many years ago. They not only haunted her dreams, but every moment of her longer than average life.

Hartley Plantation, New Orleans - June 1822

The rain pounded into the clay dirt and though the moon was high, it was hidden behind dark pregnant clouds. Miah stood in the downpour in near darkness, her dress made of homespun flax and hemp, the material weighed her down, soaked head to toe. The old barn she was trying desperately to enter was behind the plantation house she worked for amongst the other wild stock. The stench coming out of the pig pen and the chicken coup across from it was unbearable to breathe, but that was the last of her worries. She needed to get into that barn and would endure the beating from Massa if she had to—for Johnathan, she would endure a lot more. She pounded her fists on the barn door once more, as her bare feet began to sink in the slippery muck.

“Jonathan,” she cried out, “Open the door. What’s gotten into you?!” She pulled on the rusty door handle but it didn’t budge. With all her strength, she yanked again but her hands slipped off, gravity knocking her back, causing her to land in a puddle of muddy water. Miah stood, drenched to the bone and stomped her way back to the door when she spotted the small window on the side. Before she could press her face to the foggy wet glass, he yelled back.

“Go away, Miah! I do not want you to see me like this!”

The lightning was getting closer now and her patience with him was leaving as fast as the rain fell.

“See you like what?” she called out to the darkened barn. When he didn’t respond, she banged her fists again. They didn’t have time for this. They were supposed to already be gone, away from that awful plantation and out of the grasp of his father hours ago. It would only be a matter of time before Paul, his father came outside to see what was going on.

“Jonathan, talk to me please!” she begged followed by a swift kick to the door.

“Stop it, child!”

Startled, Miah turned around to find Adelaide, her best friend—more like her surrogate mother, behind her. As long as she could remember, Adelaide had been a mother figure to the other slave girls without parents when she arrived at age six. Naturally, she was glued to her side since day one.

Adelaide pulled her arm and spun her around to face her.

“I don’t understand. We supposed to be leavin’ tonight Adelaide. I don’t know what’s gotten into him!”

Miah turned back to the door and slapped her hands against the wet wood.

“Was it something I did?” she called out.

There was no answer, but now she could hear his muffled moans from beyond the old door. It sounded like he was wounded or hurt in some way.

“Are you alright?” she yelled, her frustration with him gone, now replaced with worry.

Adelaide grabbed her arm again and pulled her away from the barn. They slipped through the mud and made way over to the tall chicken coop, the tin roof overhang providing some reprieve from the rain.

“He’ll be fine Miah, but we need to get out of this rain before we catch cold!”

Miah looked back at the barn and nodded her head. There was no getting him to open the door, and she put her life, as well as Adelaide’s now, in danger the longer she stood there making a commotion.

Miah ran into the wooden house that served as their living quarters as Adelaide slammed the rickety door closed before the rain could soak the dirt floor. Miah stood in the far corner of the room and huddled, shaking. Adelaide snatched a wool blanket from the tiny makeshift shelf on the wall and tossed it to Miah, then dried her hair with an old towel. Adelaide took a seat in the rocking chair by the door as Miah wrapped herself in the blanket, the warmth almost instant.

The rocking chair was made by a fellow slave named Thomas. He worked the cotton fields, and Miah always thought he had a thing for Adelaide. It was a nice gift for when she had her baby Micheline who was currently fast asleep in the cot they used for a bed. Adelaide never spoke about who the father was, but Miah suspected it was Thomas.

“He’s being real strange Adelaide. We must get out of here tonight. That’s what he said. I never seen him act like this before.”

“I know, but I told you about Master Lee and what he was. When he called for them, the only one to return was Jonathan after three days. I knew what it meant. I don’t think we will see Massa Paul again, but Jonathan? He ain’t like you and me no more.”

“Adelaide that don’t make no sense…” Miah started, but Adelaide stood and put her hand up. Miah wrapped the blanket around her tighter. The possibility of Adelaide being right chilled her to the bone.

“Open your eyes girl. It’s unnatural. Evil.”

Miah walked toward the door, the hot tears streaming down her face now. She couldn’t allow herself to believe in crazy tales. She understood that Adelaide knew a lot about witchcraft and strange occurrences in general. She was one of the most highly skilled practitioners in New Orleans, and many of her accounts kept Miah up at nights. But this new thing was hard for her to believe. Humans who didn’t age and drank human blood? She didn’t want to, it was ridiculous, and scared her to her core. She leaned her forehead against the door and closed her eyes as she spoke.

“All I know is I love him. Love freely. Ain’t that what you taught me? I’m not going to let Massa win. Not this time.”

Miah opened the door and threw the blanket from her shoulders as she raced back out into the rain. Adelaide shook her head and slapped her hands down to her sides. That girl was more stubborn than a mule and it wasn’t funny or amusing this time. This time, it might cost her, her life.

***

After spending a cold, wet, sleepless night in the hay of the chicken coop, Miah woke just before dawn broke. She batted at the dirt on her damp dress and crawled back through the hole in the chicken wire. She slid her way through the mud the storm left behind and ran her fingertips over her raw knuckles. I’d knock them bloody if it meant Jonathan opened that door finally, she thought. Miah stood in front of the barn door, raised her fist and winced at the thought of the pain that would follow. Before she did, Jonathan’s labored breathing from the inside of the barn stopped her and her heart leaped.

“Jonathan Hartley, you open this door now!” she yelled, no longer caring if she woke everyone on the plantation. Everyone would be out to get a start on the day soon and she couldn’t help but look around for any of Massa’s overseers. They were usually on the property by early morning, ready to regulate the day’s workload, and took a sick pleasure in punishing her whenever they could. She turned her attention back to the door, then stomped over to the small window. Miah pushed on it and it creaked a little. She pushed again, harder this time, and it cracked open a few inches.

“No!” Jonathan roared. His voice boomed so loud, she thought the ground shook beneath her feet. Her heart trembled when she saw his shadow and for a quick moment as he pushed the window closed, she caught a glimpse of his face. Long dark hair clung to his skin and streaks of blood flowed from his eyes. As she backed away from the window, unable to avert her eyes, she bumped into someone, startled she spun around. She was sure it was Massa Hartley, but her thumping heart slowed a bit to find Adelaide standing behind her instead.

“His…eyes…” Miah stammered.

“Miah, he’s a vampire now.”

Present Day

The alarm clock in the small space sounded like a freight train and jolted Miah out of her sleep. She was thankful she’d remembered to set it and reached over to shut it off. It showed 9:30 p.m., and that meant she’d successfully slept through the first two she’d set.

“Shit,” she mumbled as she jumped out of bed. As she slammed her black combat boots onto the hardwood floors, they crushed the glass she drank her dinner from earlier, but she’d clean it up later. She had work to do and headed for the front door.

***

Downtown Fort Lauderdale was packed as usual on a Saturday night. The streets were full of pretentious cars and the owners who worshiped them, and the sidewalks were equally packed with bodies hustling to their next bar or club destination. Miah sat at a patio table outside a local eatery and sipped on her iced tea. The waitress tried her damnedest to make it a long island iced tea, but she wasn’t interested.

At least not tonight. She was working in a sense and needed to stay as alert as possible. It was a normal hot night in South Florida so that meant most people were walking around in nothing. When it was so humid outside that you sweat for no good reason, not a whisper of breeze touched the leaves, and no amount of mousse would tame your hair, being half naked was almost a given. As she took another long pull of the crisp drink from her straw, she spotted Shawna. Shawna Coleman, with her long legs and dark skin, looked like a Broadway dancer with her six-inch black heels and her slinky red dress. The flimsy fabric barely covered anything on top or the bottom, and Miah rolled her eyes. It was like she was trying to draw unnecessary attention to herself. It was hot outside— but not that hot.

Shawna sauntered past the bouncer of “Infinity”, the hottest new club on the strip, and every guy within eye shot was glued to her every move as she entered. It would be a long night for Miah but this was what she signed up for. Complaining at this stage in the game was pointless. Shawna was a Coleman, a descendant of the baddest wiccan clan in New Orleans and it was her job to keep her safe. She stood from the table, threw a twenty under the precipitating glass and headed for the front doors of the club. “Here we go,” she mumbled under her breath.

When she stepped foot in the club, her senses were assaulted immediately. There was a group of guys huddled by the entrance and not one in the bunch had on anything other than popular men’s body spray. That still wasn’t as bad as the ones who hadn’t discovered the invention of deodorant. Once she made her way through the group of men she nicknamed “funk and the gang”, she inched her way through the bodies jammed packed on the dance floor. Gyrating bodies, a fog machine, blaring music and neon strobe lights filled the room to complete the atmosphere. Finally, she made her way out of the sea of armpits to a wall in the back of the room, out of sight.

Once her back was firmly planted against said wall, she scanned the room for Shawna. She wasn’t stalking her per say, they were great friends, but Miah could never reveal to her the reasons why. Not yet anyway. Finally, she spotted her on the dance floor in the middle of a mosh pit of bodies, doing what Miah could only describe as some sort of cross between Dirty Dancing and the Lambada. She smiled a little. It was nice to see people be free and let loose and she found herself jealous. She’d never been able to do that and probably never would.

Humans had no idea just how fast it could all end. Vampires weren’t in every corner of a street, but they were always around, lurking, waiting and watching. One bad decision on whether to walk home alone, versus taking a cab, and it was over most of the time. Some vampires, a very small few, housed humans for the sole purpose of feeding. Some willing, some not. Others did what she called a feed and release, while some…did what could only be described as mauling their victims beyond recognition. Her job was simple. If she encountered a vampire, she took them out. But Shawna, she was a Coleman and the most important person in her life and that took priority over anything else. Hunting vampires came second.

A couple dry humping hours later, Miah kept her eyes planted on her charge, who was currently groping a tall musician type on the floor. Whoever he was, was pretty handsy and borderline pornographic. As they continued their dance-hump a-thon, he spun her around and one of the strobe lights cascaded his face. Miah’s breath caught in her throat. It was Sam, no doubt about it. He still wore his hair spiked like he did in the 80’s, and worse he worked for him.

“Oh no. No, no, no, no, no,” she mumbled incoherently, stunned seeing one of her former foes after almost twenty years. As she stood frozen in place, a tall lanky guy in a basketball jersey and backward cap, bumped into her, spilling his drink all over her leather coat.

“Shit, Ma. I’m sorry, let me get that,” he slurred.

Miah snapped her eyes to his as he started batting at her chest attempting to rid her clothes of the spilled mess. She flashed fang at him, and maybe because he was drunk, he reacted to the long canine teeth slowly. First, he looked confused, then almost in slow motion his eyes grew bigger. Miah grabbed him by the hand, stopping the assault on her breasts, then their eyes swirled and locked into a place deep within his mind. It rendered him still, small and silent, he was under her control—be-spelled.

“I’m sorry…” backward cap guy said, but she interrupted.

“Get a cab and get the hell out of here now,” she demanded, in a quiet but stern voice, “You won’t remember any of this tomorrow.”

Her voice echoed in his mind and all he could focus on was the swirl of the cool blue hue her eyes took on as she spoke. Her voice sounded velvety and drowned out everything else in the room. In his mind, they were the only people standing on the dance floor, filled with colored fog, courtesy of the strobe lights. There wasn’t another person in sight other than Miah. He nodded his head and when she let go of his hand, her eyes returned the normal brown color, her fangs receded and he started stumbling out of the club towards and exit.

Miah wasn’t concerned about anyone seeing her display her personal shame and misery. Everyone was too busy partying to notice anything outside of themselves and hopeful one-night stands anyway. By the time she turned back to Shawna, all she caught was a glimpse of her red dress, as it and she was being led out the front door.

Shawna and Sam held hands and trotted down the sidewalk, giggling with one another like they held the secrets of the universe, one hand behind his back. When she stopped at her silver four-door sedan, he handed her a teddy bear and some flowers. Shawna, surprised by the gesture, grabbed the bear and snuggled her face into it for a moment. She took the flowers, then gave Sam a lingering kiss. He opened the car door for her and she slid into the seat and began to sneeze repeatedly.

“I’m sorry, I think it’s my allergies,” she explained rubbing her nose lightly.

Sam smiled, then closed the car door. “It’s OK, love. See you later,” he drawled in his British accent then walked away.

Miah stood on the sidewalk in front of Infinity and watched as Sam turned the corner of the building. His head popped around the corner and watched Shawna start her car. There was a red shimmer of light that surrounded her in the vehicle and Miah thought she felt her unmoving heart jump. A sickly grin spread across his face, then he disappeared around the corner. Sam still hadn’t spotted her and that was good. Miah liked him dumb and unassuming and that was him all day long. Shawna’s car pulled away from the curb and by the time Miah made it across the street, Sam was gone.

Vampires moved faster than the human eye could comprehend, but he was faster than even she could see. In a flash, Miah was standing in the alley by the building Sam stood seconds earlier, stake in hand, ready to bury it in his chest. He was nowhere in sight. She flashed in different areas of the alley, trying to pick up his scent, but nothing. It was like he’d vanished into thin air.

In a flash, she stood atop the building trying to use her enhanced sight to spot him—another bust. She was certain a dirty kind of magic was at play, something that vampires dabbled with on occasion, but the familiar scent of iron awakened her senses—blood. Down below, hidden in the dark shadows of a corner, a homeless man lay in heap, the last tendrils of blood oozing from his neck onto the asphalt. In an instant, she stood next to him and touched his wrist but he was already cold. Sam had drained him completely which was not necessary for vampire survival. He was always greedy and indulgent, just like… She shook the thought from her mind. There was no use dwelling. Miah took her cell phone from her pocket and speed-dialed a number.

“Hello?” Isaac’s baritone voice was on the other end and her heart leapt, but only for a second. It had been a few years since they spoke and every time she heard him or was near him, she had that reaction. There was no time or point in that either.

“Isaac, I have a problem.”

Isaac lay across his bed in his boxer briefs and sat up as she spoke. It was almost 9:00 p.m. there, but his windows were blacked out in heavy drapes. For him, it was “early morning” and the sun had set a couple hours ago. He climbed out of the four-poster bed, walked into the kitchen adjacent his room and opened the fridge. He was around six-three, had light tanned skin and a muscular physique that was other worldly. It was, he was a vampire, but he was a beautiful specimen to women dead or alive. His pitch-black hair and goatee were a stark contrast to his hazel brown eyes and full pink lips.

“What part of that statement is supposed to shock me?” he replied, yawning and stretching. He tugged on his morning wood for a moment, thinking of the release he would give himself when he got off the phone.

“Sam just found Shawna and that means Jonathan’s not far.”

“That’s a record even for him,” Isaac replied his eyebrows furrowing as he scanned the contents of the fridge.

“Tell me about it,” Miah replied.

“When are you going to stop running from him and face him?”

“I made a promise and I have to keep it, Isaac.”

“Shouldn’t she be able to handle this on her own by now?” he asked rummaging a cabinet over the sink. He set a glass on the granite counter top as the phone fell silent.

“Not exactly,” Miah responded finally.

“Let me get this straight. You’ve been with her all this time and she still has no idea about anything? What she can do or that a clan of vampires have literally hunted her family line for centuries?”

“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to.”

“You mean like the last time?” he asked annoyed.

“Look, are you going to come and help me or not? I could do without the history lesson.” The lesson being that the last time Jonathan got close to a Coleman descendant, he murdered her before Miah could stop him.

“Where are you now?” Isaac grabbed a hospital issue blood sac and began to squeeze it into the glass. When it was filled, he took a nice slow gulp.

“Florida. Where are you?”

“Seattle, it’ll take me a couple nights to get there, tops.” He finished the thick glass and placed it in the sink, running water into it.

“Thank you,” Miah replied and in a flash, she was walking down the street, when a group of clubgoers turned down the alley.

She was pissed— with herself. How could she have gotten so comfortable? Been so stupid and not seen this coming a mile away? They were getting good. Really good. Someone let out a blood-curdling scream as Miah rounded the corner leaving the strip of nightclubs and partygoers behind her. Whatever Sam was up to, was happening tonight and she had to get to Shawna’s right away.