Midnight Girl Part 6

"Nothing that can harm you." he said. "Don't worry."

"We survived it." Zoraida patted the sofa beside her. "First indulge us, then indulge yourself."

Cat dropped onto the cushion between her mother and cousin and said, "I love my family. My real family."

Zoraida hugged her. "And your real family loves you." "True," Baldomero said. "As much as life itself." "More," said Zoraida. "My fury, you must have questions." Cat felt as if her mother had offered to tell her what her Christmas presents would be. She should say she would wait to be surprised. That's what Tarika would do.

But Tarika was part of Old Cat's life. Why should New Cat care what a human would do? "How soon can I become a wolf?"

"When you've learned what a wolf is." "Meaning?" "Some things are easier to show." "When can I try?"

Zoraida glanced at Baldomero, said, "In a few days," and he nodded. "Can I turn into anything else?" "Anything you truly know, you can become." "Anything?"

"Anything living that weighs more than three pounds and less than your human weight. The science of what we are is fascinating."

"To your mother, anyway," Baldomero said. Cat said, "Why three pounds?" "Because even we have limits," he said. Zoraida added, "Perhaps because a human brain weighs about three pounds. The spinal cord adds a little over an ounce. Do you know about stem cells?"

"My first night surprise is a science quiz?"

Zoraida smiled. "In human embryos, stem cells have two properties, self-renewal and unlimited potency. Self-renewal means they can replace themselves and grow. Unlimited potency means they can become any kind of cell the body needs. Those properties weaken as humans age. But they grow stronger in us."

Baldomero said, "Or it's magic." "Which only means it's science we don't understand yet."

Baldomero nodded. "Or it's magic." Cat said, "So nighters are mutants?" "Perhaps," Zoraida said. "No one knows." "Or--" Baldomero began. "It's magic," Cat said with him, and they laughed together. She thought of her day and looked at her mother. "How much does a raven weigh?"

"An average one? Two and a half pounds." "Oh." Zoraida smiled. "But once you know something, you don't have to imitate it exactly. If a raven's not near you, who notices if it's a little larger than average?"

"You followed me to Ms Arkan's!"

"I often stayed up to see you to school. Sometimes I woke early to check on you."

"Then why are we called night people?" "As humans, we can't bear the sun. As animals, we can." "So why not stay animals? Isn't it fun?" "Very! But as animals, we rely more on instinct and less on thought --" Baldomero said, "Ah!" and Cat looked up. The servants came from the kitchen with three crystal juice gla.s.ses on a tray. Both servants had large Band-Aids on their left wrists. Cat wanted to ask how they had been identically clumsy, but the smell of the drinks took her attention.

Two gla.s.ses held a deep red liquid. The third held water. The dark liquid smelled like strength and delight. She wanted to s.n.a.t.c.h both gla.s.ses and snarl at anyone who tried to stop her.

As Zoraida and Baldomero drank, tipping their gla.s.ses back until they were empty, Cat thought, It's not tomato juice. It's something night people love. Would strawberry juice look and smell like that? She said, "Is this like an initiation? I get bread and water while you get the good stuff?"

Baldomero set his gla.s.s on the tray. "You'll have the very best when you're done with your questions."

"Okay. Done with questions." He laughed. "Learn all you can, my princess. Preparation matters." Zoraida handed her gla.s.s to the woman and said, "It'd be nice to have more." The woman's eyes went wide in fear, then narrowed. She said softly, "Of course, Ma'am." Baldomero said, "Don't exhaust them." Zoraida stuck out her lower lip. "I haven't indulged myself in fourteen years." She glanced at Cat. "Which I chose gladly. But now" "Patience, Aunt. Tomorrow, we'll drink to remember Ysabel, and you may have all you wish, and more." Baldomero glanced at the woman. "That's enough." A grateful smile flickered across the servant's face. She backed away quickly and stopped with the man by the wall. Baldomero told them, "You may retire. Don't be troubled by anything you hear tonight." As they bowed and went upstairs, Baldomero smiled at Cat. "More questions?" She nodded. "The Medianoches killed Tia Ysabel. Shouldn't we tell the police?" Zoraida and Baldomero stared at her. Cat added, "There's blood in the parlor. The police don't need a body, not if we say we weren't doing anything when they attacked." Zoraida looked at Baldomero. "What did you tell her?" "That we're night people. I didn't get to what that means." Cat said, "They'd believe us if you did the wolf trick. Then they could arrest the Medianoches for murder, and we could give magic shows in Las Vegas. We could be famous!"

Zoraida shook her head.

Cat said, "If people knew about us, the government couldn't kidnap us to experiment on us. Could they?"

Zoraida said, "Your father and I let you watch too much television." Baldomero said, "Night folk avoid attention." Cat said, "It's a tradition thing?" "You could say that."

Zoraida asked, "What do you think you are, my darling?"

"Thirsty." Cat drained her water. It felt good on her throat, but it didn't ease her need for something richer.

Zoraida said, "And?"

Cat shrugged. "We're like witches? If people knew what we were, they'd try to burn us at the stake?"

Zoraida nodded as Baldomero said, "Or worse." Cat said, "Witch hunts were centuries ago!" "Humans never change, my fierce heart," Zoraida said. "They hate us." "The people upstairs don't." Baldomero said, "We can only make a few servants." "You couldn't go on TV and glamour everyone?" He smiled and shook his head. "Would that we could." "But why do humans hate us?"

"Because of our freedom. And our power."

Zoraida glanced at Baldomero, then told Cat, "And we drink their blood."

"Wait." Cat stared at her. "We're--" Zoraida nodded. Thinking she must have misunderstood, Cat said, "Vampires? Like, vampires?" Zoraida shrugged. "It's one of the names humans use." Baldomero added, "Werewolves. Ghouls. Wendigoes. There are many names, but what inferiors call you doesn't matter, so long as they fear you."

Cat kept staring. Vampires and werewolves were made by the bite of another vampire or werewolf, right? They weren't girls who had their fourteenth birthdays and turned into something that was perfect in every way, except for the drinking human blood part. "Tia Ysabel didn't turn into dust."

"The only thing less accurate than folklore is Hollywood."

Baldomero said gently, "Choose any name for us you please, Catalina. We are what we are. Most of what they imagine is false. They're children afraid of the dark."

"Truly," Zoraida said. "It's good to be of the folk, my fury." Cat said, "When we drink their blood, do they die?" Baldomero said, "If we drink deeply." "But we avoid killing," Zoraida said. "Alarm them, and someone like your father will come. We don't have to drink so much that we must kill. It's quite civilized."

Cat nodded. It was good to be better than humans. It was smart not to alarm them. Why should drinking their blood bother her? She had tasted her blood whenever she cut her finger and licked the wound. It had never bothered her. She liked hamburgers and steak medium-rare. Her family was right. Why should she care what humans called the folk who were infinitely superior to them? She said, "Okay."

Baldomero smiled at her. "Any more questions?" "When you turn back into yourself, do you get different clothes?" He laughed. "Focus on new clothes before you change. As a bird or a beast, it's best to plan on nothing more than your destination." Zoraida said, "When I was a girl, I would wear something new before changing, then return to myself in my favorite old dress. It drove your grandmother mad." Cat smiled. So her family were vampires? What family doesn't have quirks? She said, "The real Granny Lupe?" Zoraida nodded. "I'm sorry you only know her through my charade."

"What happened to her?"

"She died as most of us do. Killed by the a.s.sa.s.sins of the Night Council."

"Who--"

"Humans like your father, Olujimi Udofia, and Fong Shu." Zoraida shook her head. "I'm exhausted. It'll be nice to go to sleep early."

"True," said Baldomero.

If I'm supposed to drink blood, having a gla.s.s of it now would be nice. She said, "Don't forget I'm thirsty."

He nodded. "Quenching thirst is the heart of every first night. Come."

The B&B's stairway reminded her of Casa Medianoche. She told herself that stairs are only stairs. The upper floor was decorated--or over-decorated--like the one below. The hall had many doors. She suspected the B&B lost a lot of business when Baldomero stayed there.

The smell of humans was stronger upstairs. The smells of perfume, deodorant, and air freshener grew stronger, too. She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Baldomero said, "We have beds in the bas.e.m.e.nt. But if you're up late, don't worry. There are heavy curtains on every window, and the Changs know better than to draw them."

"Why would I be up late?" "That depends on how quickly you choose to drink." Cat laughed. "I'm dying of thirst. I bet I'm in bed before you." Zoraida gripped her shoulder. "Don't be so sure, my fierce one. You didn't ask two important questions." "Which ones?" Zoraida smiled fondly. "Why do we call you our miracle?" Cat said, "Because that's what my middle name means?" Baldomero said, "Your mother scoffs, but there is a prophecy. One born between the worlds will lead the folk to glory." Cat stopped to stare at him. "Me? That's silly." "There's never been another like you, a child of the folk and the humans." Zoraida said, "Your uncle isn't the only one who believes it. True or not, it'll help you rise to greatness with us. Believe me, timing your birth so precisely was not easy, my fury, not even for one of us."

Cat smiled. When she was small, she had wanted to be a fairy princess. Being a princess of the night folk had to be as good. It might be better. "What's the other question?"

Zoraida stroked Cat's hair, then said, "How do we learn to control our thirst?"

"We don't just do it?"

Baldomero shook his head. "No one has mastered it without killing the first humans they drank from. They say one of the folk in China learned after his second. I think that's a myth. I know of no one who killed fewer than four."

He stopped in front of the door at the end of the hall, then opened it. "Here's your first."

On the bed, eyes wide in terror, mouth gagged with a white scarf, body writhing in a desperate attempt to escape, ankles and wrists bound behind her back with steel cuffs, the source of the familiar scent Cat had noticed when she approached the house-- Tarika.

Chapter Seven.

Thirst.

Drink! Cat thought, and took two steps into the room. Something inside her screamed, No! and she fell hard onto the floor. What screamed inside was screaming outside, too. She could hear it echo in the room. Zoraida seized Cat's wrists and said, "My fury! Think!"

How could she? What she craved lay before her, but its source was her best friend.

Old Cat's best friend.

Old Cat who loved cheeseburgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, and tuna salad. Food is food. Who cares what it comes from? Take it!

But this food had a name. Cat said, "It's Tee." Zoraida nodded. "Someone else. Anyone. Please. Someone I don't know." Baldomero said, "You must learn control."

"Not Tee!" Was Old Cat in tears, or New Cat, or both? "It's the only way." "No! Baldomero, please, please, no!" "Each night, someone you love will be given to you. Tomorrow, your father. Then Olujimi Udofia, then Fong Shu, then a favorite teacher or a school friend. Until you learn control."

All people whose lives had made hers happier. "Give me strangers. Baldomero, please!"

He shook his head sadly. "If strangers mattered, humans would never make war. I can't count the strangers I killed before I learned control."

"Please, if you love me--"

"With all my heart, Catalina. That's why you must learn quickly. Nighters who can't control themselves are hunted and killed. Or they hate themselves so much they go out to greet the dawn."

"Not Tee. Don't give me Tee." "Who then? Your father?" "No!" "Someone from school?" "No, please!"

"Then I'm sorry, Catalina. You'll learn. And afterward, you'll honor your friend's memory for what she taught you."

"No! You can't make me do this!"

Zoraida said, "My brave one? That's true. So we'll leave you now. Come to the bas.e.m.e.nt when you're done."

"Catalina?" Baldomero said. She glanced at him, and he added firmly. "You will not drink from any other human." His voice was quiet as something cut through her panic, a command she could not ignore. "Only this girl is permitted to you. You will not break her bonds or help her escape. You will not leave this house. You will not do anything to harm yourself or any of our kind."

Each word was a padlock closing.

Cat looked from Baldomero to Tarika, who lay still, listening intently. "Please, Baldomero--"

"I'm sorry, Catalina. You'll understand in time." He turned, then looked back with such sadness that she thought he would say she didn't have to do this after all. He said, "Be quick. If you wait for the feeding madness, you'll learn nothing. Then your friend's death will only be an incentive to act sooner next time." He went out.

Cat spun to face Zoraida. "Mama! Don't do this!"

"I'm sorry, little--" Zoraida reached to touch Cat's arm. As Cat jerked back, Zoraida said, "It's for the best."

"Who did you kill?" "My first? A boy. Fernando. I thought I would marry him someday." "And then?" "Does it matter?" "Yes! How many will I kill?" Zoraida glanced at Tarika, then at the window's heavy drapes. "My nanny was next. I loved her more than my mother. But when I had to drink--" She shook her head. "Two after that. Then I could control it." Zoraida looked at Tarika. "Baldomero's right. Don't drag this out."

"She's my best friend!" "I know. So don't make her suffer more than she must." Cat stared at her. "You chose her." "Do you think that was easy? I always liked Tarika." "How could you?" "If ever you're a mother, you'll understand hard choices." "If you loved me--" Cat halted, remembering her midnight birth as one of the folk. "Baldomero put something in the wine." "Blood. To trigger the change." "You could've stopped him." "Something would've triggered it eventually. Better you change now, with your family here to help you." "You should've killed me." "I told my parents that, too." Zoraida looked at Tarika. "It's sad for them, but they are what they are, and we are what we are. Enjoy what you've been given."

"No way! I swear--" Zoraida stood. "I'm helping you put off the inevitable. I'll go." "Mama!" Cat shouted, but Zoraida stepped out and closed the door. Cat gasped, trying to breathe, trying to stop crying. Old Cat was not dead, but if Tarika died, the old Cat would die with her. She ran into the hall. Her mother was going downstairs. Cat shouted, "Dad should've killed you! You're a monster, and you want me to be just like you, but I'm not! I'll never be!" Zoraida looked back. Her face was as as much a mask as Professor M's. She said softly, "I love you, daughter." Then she turned and continued downstairs.

Cat whirled, raced back into the room, slammed the door, and ran to the bed where Tarika lay. "Tee, I can't--"

She wanted to say she could never hurt her. But she saw the pulse in Tarika's throat and wrist. Her veins were delicate and strong, simple and beautiful. They carried all that Cat needed. They carried life.

She shook her head to clear it, then reached for the cuffs binding Tarika's wrists and ankles behind her. The cuffs were closed over each other, keeping her arms and legs folded back so she could not straighten out.

Could nighters break steel? Cat gripped the cuffs, but she couldn't pull on them. She tried, straining fiercely, feeling the effort across her chest, yet her arms stayed limp. At last, she dropped her hands and whispered, "Tee. I can't break them."

Tarika's face contorted as she tried to speak around the scarf. Cat said, "He didn't mention the gag!" She grabbed the cloth and snapped it as if it were tissue.

Tarika whispered, "We gotta get out of here!" Cat shook her head. "I can't." "Because you're afraid?" "Because he ordered me. It's glamour. Like hypnotism." Tarika nodded. "Not worrying now. Do you know where the keys are?" "If I did, I still couldn't help." "Not what I asked." "Oh. Right. Sorry. No. I don't know." "Okay. That's good. You can help me as long as you're not helping me." "Which means?" "We'll figure this out. We just have to think it through." "I'm thinking, Tee. It's not good." "Maybe they hypnotized you into thinking you're something you're not. You're my best friend, and we're getting out of here. That's all you have to think about."

"I'm thirsty."

"Stop it, Cat! You're freaking me worse, which I totally didn't think was possible. Are they really your family?"

"Yes. And they're really vampires. Or werewolves. Or something that's not--"

"Stop it! Focus on the getting out." "I'm one, too." "What part of 'stop it' is too hard? We're getting out. Got it?" "I want you out, Tee. More than anything. But I can't go unless Baldomero says so." "For sure?"

"Like I'm sure I can't get your cuffs off."

"Okay, thinking. He didn't say you should stop me from trying to escape. You just can't help me."

Hope surged in Cat. "That's right!"

"So if I escape, he'll have to change his mind about what you can do." Tarika hesitated. "Really vampire-werewolves?"

Cat opened her mouth to answer.

Tarika shook her head. "No. Keep thinking they're hypnotists who messed us up."