Page 84 of Thirst

“But you still did the right thing,” Shawn rebuts. “Aaliyah is a grown woman. Telling her she can't do something on some, ‘I know better,’ type shit is not the right play. She needed to confront Von on her own, without you there as her pitbull. It’s what she wanted to do, so letting her do it, even with your reservations, was the right move. When shit got sticky, you did your thing.”

“And now she's recovering from a bottle in her neck. Nothing about that feels right to me. Plus, I just have this feeling in my stomach that tells me I forgot something at the club.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don't know. I know she's safe, and I can see that the wound has healed, but I just don't feel settled. Something is still wrong.”

Shawn and I sit in silence for a moment before he finally says, “Were there cameras there?” I look at him, and he continues. “Weren’t there cameras in all four corners? I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think there were. I remember them being there when I peeped the scene for you before all this shit started.”

I let out a breath, realizing he's right.

“But it’s cool,” Shawn goes on. “That fire was blazing, so they probably went up with the rest of the building.”

“What if the fire department put it out before the command center for the recordings could burn up?” I ask.

Shawn doesn't reply. We just stare at each other, and I know what has to be done.

“Stay with her,” I tell her as I turn on my heel.

“You can't go back there,” Shawn says. “That place will be crawling with all types of investigators. It’s too late.”

I spin back around as heat fills my chest. “Too late for what? To fix what I broke by letting her go in there alone? To protect her now after I failed the first time? I think you've let the last fifteen years of witnessing my complacency make you forget who I am, bruh. I'm The Vampire, Amari Goddard. I decide when it’s too late, and there isn't anything anyone on this planet can do to stop me, especially when it comes to protecting my woman.”

I flash from the living room to the elevators, and spend the ride down contemplating how this will play out. Shawn is right, the burned out club will be swimming with investigators, but I need those recordings destroyed. By any means necessary.

The doors open and I look at the car, wondering if I should drive myself for the first time in a while. But I decide against it. Driving is for humans, and I'm done acting human. I close my eyes, and take a deep breath. The air around me begins to vibrate as I bend my knees and dig the balls of my feet into the concrete. Then, I flash.

Fantasies on Fourth is a fifteen minute drive from Black Coins. I get there in fifteen seconds.

From the end of the street, I see everything I knew I would. The smoking building is lit up by the flashing lights of cop cars and emergency vehicles, and surrounded by fire fighters as they finish putting out the blaze. A small crowd has gathered to watch the scene play out—some of them are random bystanders, some are former employees of Von’s. In front of them is a scattered grouping of police and paramedics, patiently waiting for the fire to be doused completely. They’ll be waiting for the temperature to drop, too, before they go in and find Von’s and Shay’s bodies in the ash. I don't have time for all that.

I calmly walk down the street, and the second I reach the first officer, I raise a hand and snap, pausing the entire block. The flashing lights freeze in place, water from the final hose hovers in mid air, and every person moving around comes to a stop. From there, I flash into the still-hot building, searching for where the security footage may have been stored. I find it in what I assume is Von’s office, all of it completely intact—a bit charred with a few melted spots here and there, but not enough to eliminate saved recordings because Von kept his door closed and the flames didn't have enough time to get through it. Even the monitors are still intact.

Out of curiosity, I turn on both monitors and press rewind. I give it enough time to go back a while, then press play. A recording with four cameras on one monitor and four more on the other comes to life. I ignore the second monitor that shows me everything on the second floor, and focus on the four of the main floor. Sure enough, I see strippers leaving the club after closing. Then Von and Shay sit down at the bar for a drink and a smoke. Then Aaliyah walks in. A fight breaks out, which Aaliyah wins until the moment Shay breaks a bottle on the bartop and jams it into Aaliyah’s neck. Watching it fills me with rage all over again, but seeing me enter the building and crush Shay’s head like a watermelon makes me feel much better. I watch myself tear out Von’s throat before forcing my blood into Aaliyah’s mouth and carrying her out, then the flames destroy each camera one by one. If I didn't come back here, the investigators would've known everything. Now, they will get nothing.

I place a hand on each monitor and close my eyes. I have to focus, because this is a power I haven't used in years. It’s like I told Shawn—I have been complacent for far too long, and in that time, even I have forgotten what all I can do. This particular ability is a bit rusty, but I manage to raise my own energy enough to heat the cells in my hands. It starts as a simple warmth before erupting into blistering heat. My palms ignite and I set both monitors on fire before doing the same to the storage unit where all of Von’s security recordings have been saved. I set fire to the entire room, then walk out and close the door behind me so that the heat is contained in that area. Nothing will remain.

In the main seating area of the club, where I once watched Aaliyah dance at the top of the pole, I find Shay and Von’s corpses. They both have been completely melted, with far too much damage for anyone to identify them. Nonetheless, I wish I could bring them both back to life just to kill them again. Since I can’t, I choose to bring down the place where they wreaked havoc. I walk over to a supporting beam and push until it snaps, then I do the same to the beams holding up the stairs to the second floor. I find another support beam and break it, too. Everything stays in place for now, but only for now.

I flash back outside and find everyone still frozen in time. I could leave them all this way until I'm off the street, but I decide to give us some insurance before I go. I flash over to a rotund man who is clearly the fire chief, and while he is in his frozen state, I place a hand on his shoulder and whisper in his ear.

“The two bodies you will find inside were victims of the fire, but before that, they were scorned lovers. They fought after the woman set a fire that quickly became out of her control. In the fight, the man did extensive damage to the woman’s face before she clamped her jaws onto his throat and wouldn't let go. In her fury, she managed to tear out his trachea before being crushed by a falling beam from the collapsed ceiling. Of course, you will only come to this conclusion after a long investigation, but you will ultimately decide that no one else was involved in the fire besides the two victims inside. You will not become suspicious of any of the former employees of this club. You’ll simply be glad it and its owner are gone.”

I tap the fire chief on the shoulder and walk away like nothing happened. Once I reach the end of the street again, I raise my hand and snap. Life returns to the bodies of all in attendance, the water from the fire hose sprays onto the smoking building, and all of the lights begin flashing again. But before I flash back to Black Coins, I watch over my shoulder as the roof of the club collapses in on itself.

AALIYAH

Fifty-One

“Amari, I think she's waking up.”

“Shit. Okay, don't panic.”

The sound of voices helps to bring me out of my slumber—if I can call it that. My head hurts when I move, so I bring my hand up to rub the bridge of my nose. It’s agonizing, and I swear my heart is beating twice as fast as it should. The lightheadedness returns when I open my eyes fully and sit up, and then a dam breaks in my mind and memories begin flooding in.

I was at Fantasies. Amari was there. So were Shay and Von. A fight broke out. There were gunshots. There was a fire. I was attacked. I was stabbed.

My hands instantly move to my neck, touching and prodding every inch of my skin in search of a broken glass bottle lodged there. But there's nothing. No bottle. No blood. No pain. Nothing but the smoothness of skin so healed it feels like it was never touched to begin with. After being bombarded by memories, I suddenly find myself questioning all of them. Did it actually happen, or was it just a dream?