The Feelings in the Blood

2 District Two

“This is so gross,” Tara whimpers, crawling into the trash can her father brought from the kitchen.

Bruce emptied the cans, but they still smell of old trash and decomposing food. I put cotton balls soaked in a bit of coffee and rung out in her nostrils, telling her to breathe through her mouth. It helps to block some of the smell, but not completely. We just have to tolerate it for a short time. Once Bruce wheels us out to the dumpster, he will close the gates, giving us time to get out and gently crawl into the back of the trash truck when it gets here.

“You will be fine, Tara. You have to be,” I reminded her, helping her to crouch down inside so the lid could shut. Her duffle bag with her few belongings is between her legs, and she is clutching it like a lifeline. It has everything she owns inside, including a photo of her father and her taken about a year before Sebastian’s return. I’m surprised Bruce had it hidden away in the barn with the rest of his ‘treasures’.

He even had a picture of me with my parents, and another of me and Sebastian as young teens. I don’t even remember the picture being taken. I was sitting in his lap, my forehead resting against his, bright smiles on both of our faces. The look on his face was unfamiliar. He was looking at me like I remember my father looking at my mother. Like I was his entire world.

This has to be photoshopped or something. This bastard, even when we were friends, never looked at me like that. I was like his sister. No, closer than a sister. I was his best friend, but nothing more. The picture suggests we were more, though. His hands are gently gripping my waist, making my shirt ride up and I’m gripping his handsome, teenage face, my thumbs almost touching his lips.

He doesn’t smile like that. Ever. It had to be photoshopped. I would remember taking a picture like that.

I was going to throw the picture away, but something stopped me. He may never have truly looked at me like that, but this is how I wish to remember him. This was what I was hoping for upon his return. When Tara came running into the kitchen that day many months ago, exclaiming that Sebastian was coming back, I hoped for a reunion like this.

I got the opposite. I was met with cold indifference, then started enduring abuse and resentment from his cousin almost instantly.

He just turned his nose up at me when he walked in, Charlene trailing arrogantly behind him. I was nearly bouncing on my feet in excitement, but when I said “hi Sebastian,” he returned the greeting with a growl, telling me to address him only as Lord Ettoreheart. When I scoffed in disbelief, his cousin backhanded me, making everyone gasp.

I almost kicked her shin, but a sire reached out and grabbed me, dragging me to my old room, the one that had a bed, locking me in for the rest of the night. Sebastian didn’t look back once when I was hit. He kept walking as if it was no concern to him.

Asshole. I hope he gets hundreds of papercuts today. I hope he always misses the last step on the stairs, making him fall on his face. I hope that cane of his magically finds its way up his tight ass. I keep thinking of more and more misfortunes I wish upon him, his shoelaces to always be untied, his coffee to always be bitter and cold, his toe to always be stubbed, when Bruce wheels the second trash can into the kitchen’s utility closet. There are no cameras between the basement stairs and here, but there are cameras out in the kitchen and the main rooms. It’s a tight fit, but the three of us managed to squeeze in with the trash cans.

Bruce helps me to crawl into my trash can, putting my bag between my legs before I squat down. “Protect my baby, Mariana. I know she will always be okay if she is with you,” he tells me.

“I will, but what about you? He might kill you if he finds out you helped us.”

“He can’t. The contract won’t allow for it. He can punish me, but not kill me. I will be okay, Mari, as long as you and Tara are safe.”

A tear falls from the corner of my eye, and he swipes it away with his thumb. “Your parents would be so proud of you. Never come back, Mariana. You both live your lives and forget this place.”

“I’ll miss you,” I smiled sadly, “Thank you. For everything.”

“No, thank you,” he lifted the corner of his lips, but the expression was too sad to be considered a smile. “You have taken the brunt of mistreatment from them for all of us. This is the least I can do for you and your father.”

He bends and places a gentle kiss on my head, his tears falling as he sets the lid in place above me. I can hear him speaking with a sobbing Tara, and can only imagine the heartache the two of them must be feeling. Tara’s mother died during childbirth, and Bruce has been her everything her entire life. He treasured her above all else. I will protect her. I will keep her safe in his stead.

The can starts to move, and I know I’m being wheeled out first. I’m the one strong enough to help pull Tara from her trash can and the least emotional of the two of us. She will be too grief stricken to think clearly to help. If she went first, we might get caught. There is a camera out back watching for deliveries. I know Sebastian always has sires watching.

When the can stops moving, Bruce unfastens the lid, leaving it slightly ajar so I can get out.

“Be safe, Mari. I love you like a daughter. Know that I will be praying for your happiness.” With that, he walks away to get his daughter, leaving me to blubber on my own as I lift myself from the trash can.

“I love you too,” I whisper, though I know he can not hear me.

I try to keep the trash can in place, not wanting to arouse suspicion when the gate opens again. I hurry to grab my stuff out, set it next to the dumpster, then lift the lid back in place. I can hear Bruce wheeling Tara out now, so I have to hurry and hide from the camera’s view.

Tara is gagging and whimpering inside her trash can, and Bruce’s face looks pained, leaving her like that. He whispers down at her, telling her how much he loves her and that she will always be her baby girl. The second he backs away, I nod at him, a silent understanding. I will protect his most precious person in his stead now. She is now my responsibility, and I know he trusts me to keep her happy and safe.

Once I knew the gate was closed enough to not see me on the camera, I moved around the dumpster and lift the lid all the way off her can, helping her out and removing her bag just in time for her to puke inside the empty space.

“There, Tara. You did it. You did so well,” I whispered to her, rubbing her back as she emptied her stomach.

“Daddy,” she whimpers.

“I know, Tara. I will miss him too, but you have to do this for him. If we turn back now, we will get caught and he will get in more trouble than he can endure. We have to do this.”

I pull the cotton from her nose, replacing it with fresh ones not covered in snot and grossness. We still have a long ride in the back of a dump truck. She will have to endure a bit more.

We sat against the wooden fence, waiting for the truck to arrive. We need to be clear of the dumpster when he dumps it, then hurry to jump in the back before it pulls away. He won’t crush the trash, giving us cover while we travel. It would be gross, but this is what we have to do to escape.

When the truck gets there, the older man comes to open the double gates, swinging them wide. He sees us, but tries not to acknowledge our presence, knowing the cameras are watching. I nod to him, telling him we are ready, and thankfully I think he gets the message. He hurries back to his truck and works the controls to lift and dump the dumpster. We hurry to jump in the back the moment he sets the dumpster back on the ground, me pulling Tara to follow behind me, knowing her reluctance. I won’t let her go. If I do, I know she won’t be able to do it. The trash is rancid, burning my nose. She will likely puke a few more times before we are in the clear. I’m glad we didn’t have anything to eat yet. That should help her to not be as sick.

Once in the back, the man quickly comes back to close the gates and I arranged Tara in the filth to hide her before burying myself down in the rotting garbage. She starts to whimper about her hair, so I try to keep it free. I know her blonde locks will show much more filth trapped in them than my dark hair.

“I’ll drive slow,” the man says quietly under his breath, not looking at us, “hold on tight.”

That’s it. After that, he gets back in the truck and begins to drive off towards the second district.

We’re free. We are finally free from the oppression of the mansion. Tara is sobbing, gagging from the stench. I am saddened too, because everything I once loved is now lost to me forever.

Sebastian did this. He and his horrible cousin ruined everyone’s happiness, and ruined the peace we once all felt. I looked back at the mansion disappearing in the distance, barely lit by the sun rising in the sky behind it. It no longer looks like home. It doesn’t feel like a refuge. It holds no more happy memories of my childhood. Those were overridden by the torture we endured the past few months.

He was once my everything. My world revolved around him. He was once my most cherished friend. Now, I hate him, with everything in me. He took my home and made it into a place of terror, wanting me to submit to the monster he had become.

Never. I will never bend my will for a man like that. I know my worth, and he obviously didn’t. I deserve more than the abuse he and his cousin dealt out. I'm angry we had to resort to escaping in the trash like cockroaches or rats. We should have been able to leave on our own free will. He took everything from me. Everything that once made me happy and made me feel safe.

I deserve happiness, which I know I can no longer find in this place.

“Can we save daddy?” Tara asks. “Can we go to the Lord of the 2nd district? I heard he was powerful and fair. He was friends with the former Lord, wasn’t he? Maybe he will help?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered, lifting myself out of the steaming trash enough to look at her. “We can try. I don’t know how to get a meeting with someone like him, though.”

“We have to,” she chokes. “I can’t leave my daddy there.”

“We will try,” I smiled sadly at her. “Once we are safely over the border, we will find a way. We will try.”

I don’t want to leave Bruce any more than she does. There has to be a way to get him free.

After a few hours, we finally pulled into the landfill that sits between the districts. Tara only threw up two more times during the drive, and her sobs quieted to mewling whimpers.

She made it. I made it. We are almost to safety.

Technically, we are already to safety. We should be, anyway. The mansion held no power over us, both of us too young to sign ourselves into a blood contract. You have to be 27 for that, the same age that vampires reach full maturity according to the old laws. We should have been free to leave, but I know Sebastian would never have let us. We are his property now. His cousin and uncle tainted his way of thinking. His parents would have been mortified to learn of the state the mansion was now in.

The cruelty hasn’t made its way out into the rest of the district, but it’s just a matter of time. With a monster now in control, I fear we will never be safe if we stay. His jurisdiction can’t reach us in another district. I hope we are able to meet with the 2nd district Lord. I hope he is powerful enough to stop the digression of our former home.

When the truck stopped, I quickly pulled myself out of the filth, then helped Tara to do the same. We took out bags which were hooked onto our arms during the drive, and shook out the numbness in our legs. Once we gained all the feeling back in our limbs, we ran. The driver was distracting the sire guards, giving them his papers and having his cab inspected before he drove onto no-man’s land. The area between districts is neutral, which is why landfills can be found here. No one wants to keep the filth on their own land.

I take Tara’s hand, and we sprint for the border, hiding behind piles of garbage and debris. We make it almost all the way to the wired fence marking the start of district 2 when guards from district 3 spot us, yelling for us to stop. No district wants to lose humans to another district. Our blood is very valuable to the vampires. Not that Tara or I have ever had to donate. We worked in the mansion for the Lord our whole lives, meaning we were exempt. Not that those guards know that.

It takes months of paperwork and permission from your former lord to change districts. We obviously don’t have that. I hope the driver is able to avoid getting in trouble. I hope he can claim he was unaware we hitched a ride in the back of his truck. There should be no evidence to suggest otherwise, and vampires are prohibited from using their powers to take our freewill from us and force that kind of confession. Even with blood contracts, it’s a practice the former Ettoreheart rulers completely banned.

The current ruler may not keep those same laws, though. I can only hope for the best for the driver and for Bruce now. We are not stopping. Not when we are so close.

When we get to the wired fence, I can see the electricity warning on the closest post. Great.

“Stop!” I yelled at Tara, pulling her to my side, “I have to toss you over. It’s electric.”

“What about you?” She cried, fearing the guards closing in on us from behind. District 2 guards are just watching, not stepping in to help, but not stopping us either. Less blood for district 3 means more blood for them, and we are both young and pretty, especially Tara, even covered in garbage. They won’t prevent us from getting across.

“I’ll climb the post. Here.” I cup my hands together, bending over to create a step for her. She looks back with a frightened expression, then quickly steps into my hold, screaming as I toss her over too fast for her to second guess herself. She clears the wires, and safely falls in a heap on district 2 land.

I ran to the nearest post, then touched it hesitantly, hoping it was not electrified like the wires. I toss my bag over the fence, then grab the top of the post. With all my strength, I pulled myself up, careful not to touch the metal wires on either side of me. Tara is screaming her encouragement on the other side, telling me to hurry as the guards get closer. I cried out with a roar, swinging my body over the wires, then landing on my feet on the other side.

We made it. We are in the clear. We are safe.

“Mari,” Tara sobs, running over to me, throwing her arms around my neck as she cried, “I thought they were going to get you.”

I combed her hair away from her face before hugging her back. “We made it, Tara. We’re safe. We got out. We’re safe,” I panted with relief.

I looked over at the district 2 guards leaning against a guard tower, hearing them clapping at our accomplishment, cheering for us for making it. The district 3 guards are cursing at one another, walking back to their posts, probably to call the head office to notify Sebastian of our escape.

Or maybe they will try to keep this hidden to save face. They have no clue who we are, so they may just try to sweep this under the rug to avoid punishment. That’s what I would do.

Either way, we made it. We are safe.

One of the district 2 guards walks over to us, grinning widely, showing his fangs. “That was quite the escape,” he says, his voice light with a hint of teasing. “We haven’t had runaways cross the border in quite some time. You look too old to be running away from home, though.”

I narrowed my eyes untrusting at him. “You look too much of a moron to register that we clearly are too old to be running away from home. We are running away for a better life, asshole.”

His smile stretches on his face with laughter from my insult, that is until Tara turns her tear-stained face towards him and he inhales deeply, his eyes widening with surprise. That’s when I see the gleam in his eyes, and I realize he isn’t just a vampire. He is a hybrid. He’s half werewolf too.

“Mate,” he whispered, taking a step forward, reaching out for Tara. She looks frightened, and my protective instincts kick in. I turn her body so she is behind me, blocking her with my own frame. I have never met a werewolf before, only heard of them from visitors to the mansion. District 3 was only inhabited by vampires and humans. Many of the other districts had mixtures of races. This district must be one.

“She’s scared to death as it is, Rover. Back the f**k off.”

He glares at me, but puts his hands up. “She is my mate. I would never hurt her. And my name isn’t Rover. It’s Alex.”

“Alex?” Tara whimpers softly, gripping the back of my filthy shirt. “Are you going to make us go back?”

His face softens, his eyes glimmering as he stares at her. I’ve heard about this. It’s his wolf looking out through his eyes. His red irises flicker to an orange hue when it happens.

“Never,” he shakes his head. “Your friend was right. You will be safe here. With me.”