7. Evil Within

When Calo walked back into the room he had recently re-purposed to a holding cell a few hours later, he greeted a weakened and very, very cantankerous Tika with a smile that didn’t take long to turn more sinister as he started circling him.

“I see you finally decided to wake up… good. I’m glad. Now..” he stopped before him to face him. “…How’s my captive doing?”

“Captive?” Tika tried for a derisive laugh but it came out weak. “In your dreams, vampire.”

Calo raised an eyebrow. “Really? So you consider yourself, in your current position, a free man?”

“There’s a door right there, isn’t there?” Tika snapped, pointing at the door.

“Sure. I mean, it’s locked, but… you can go for it. Try to open it. Get out. Thing is, you don’t look so good, buddy. You look kind of… feeble. That bite took a lot out of you, didn’t it? I mean, I admit, I may have drank a little too much. I just couldn’t resist. So tasty you were.”

“Oh yeah? I can’t relate. You were so shitty I…”

Calo struggled to contain himself. “Angering your captor… not the smartest of moves,” he snapped in response.

“You keep saying those words,” Tika spat back. “Captive… captor… you know I’ll escape in a heartbeat. Any moment now. I’ll wipe your memory clean… I won’t even have to escape. You’ll let me go… in a heartbeat.”

“That so? Then why haven’t you done so yet? It surely isn’t because you’re physically incapable is it? Like I said… that bite… it was a good one. You look like you barely have the energy to stand, let alone use those powers of yours. You see, I did actually do my research. And I found out just how energy-consuming they are. It’ll be a while before you get to use your powers again. And if I just keep draining you… who knows how long it’ll be?” Flashed him an arrogant grin, then left again – locking the door behind him.

As much as Tika hated to admit it – and he never would, not to Calo – the latter was actually right. He wouldn’t be able to use his powers, not in this state. Calo had him, and he was all but powerless to stop him. Irate, he saved up the last bits of energy he had by removing his disguise and cursed.

He had been reckless ever since he landed on Earth… or maybe even before that… and it finally had come back to bite him in the ass.

***

“You know,” Calo started as he walked back into the room later that day. “There’s really nothing to worry about, Tika. You see, I’m not dumb. I know aliens have their share of powers, just like vamps do. Some of those powers of yours… they could actually come in handy for me. Maybe we can come to an agreement here. I let you go, you lend me some of those powers, that kind of thing. How about it?”

Tika scoffed at Calo’s nerve. “In your dreams, vampire,” he snarled. Calo shrugged.

“Fine. Suit yourself.”

***

Calo spent most of those next days pestering Tika in all the ways he could think of. Finally learned to use the same useful power Vered had dared use on him back in the day…

Calo made sure to show Tika that vampires really weren’t to be messed with.

But to Calo’s annoyance, nothing he did seemed to really scare the alien in front of him. He’d growl at him? The alien would just snarl back – and for some reason, said snarls still managed to leave Calo unnerved.

Maybe there was slightly more of an equitable power play between aliens and vampires than Calo had thought there would be. He still had no doubts about the fact that in the end, vampires would prove themselves victorious in any real fight against them, but perhaps he had minimally underestimated the ease of the road to said win.

Tika, meanwhile, hadn’t felt scared ever since he got taken. Annoyed, definitely, but scared? He had been through way worse back on Sixam. Had spent months in a tiny cell awaiting the sentence that had ultimately led him to Earth after he was arrested. And as much as he tried to, Calo really didn’t give off any scary vibes to him. If anything, he looked laughably ridiculous in his attempts to be. Sure, he’d commanded him a few times, made him do some workouts, boohoo.

Way to only make your captive stronger, blondie, he smirked to himself. He knew he’d get out. Sooner or later, he would.

And sure enough, after Calo made the mistake of entering his captive’s room on some low energy after a morning snack he shouldn’t have had, Tika showed him.

Even under Calo’s compulsion, he still managed to defeat him.

“Where is that power of yours now, vampire?” he barked at a dazed Calo, standing over him triumphantly.

It was no more than luck that Calo was still close to the door and managed to quickly lock it.

“Power isn’t about strength,” he finally snarled back.

“Then what is it about?”

“It’s about power.”

He quickly darted out the door, then, his energy drained – and his pride very much wounded. At least he still had him. At least, even if he may not have the strength, he still had the power. And soon, he told himself, he would have the strength again, too. All he needed was a good day’s sleep to recharge himself, and then he would show Tika. It was a good thing he wasn’t all alone in this house; he trusted Bella enough to watch Tika for him as he slept. Calo smiled just thinking about her. Still couldn’t quite believe that Bella Goth, THE Bella Goth, was still with him. A small voice in his head told him to define ‘with him.’ but he tuned it out. She was still there, and that was all that mattered.

***

Bella looked out over the neighborhood she had loved to live in for decades. She looked out from the house that had been her home for just as long, only now it no longer felt like hers.

It wasn’t her home anymore.

As she stood and stared, she found herself laden with memories. Memories of better times; of Mortimer and then, after she had to let go of him, Thomas. Memories of her children.

And here she was, today, alone.

Or, well… as it related to her current co-inhabitant, she wished she was.

Watching him sleep that morning, Bella felt another strong rush of hatred course through her and decided.

Walked over to the door of the room of the captive Calo had told her about (the room that had once been Cassandra’s, and then Riley’s), and opened it.

When she sat down next to him he looked at her in boredom – not in the least bit intimidated.

“So you’re his girl,” Tika stated indifferently.

“He wishes.”

That earned a look.

“Then why are you here?”

“This is my house.”

“So why is he here?” Tika reformulated his question.

Bella heaved a sigh. After a moment of contemplation, she decided not to answer his question. “This room used to be my daughters’,” she said instead.

There was a sadness in her tone, behind the cool exterior of her face, that Tika couldn’t help but pick up. “Where is she now?”

“They’re both grown. Went their own ways… they’re doing well, last I heard from them. I’m proud of them.”

“I have a daughter,” Tika spoke. He wasn’t really sure why he was telling her, but he couldn’t stop himself.

“Yeah?” There was a curiosity in Bella’s tone that Tika wasn’t used to; people generally didn’t really care much about his life. Granted, he didn’t have many – or any? – people in his life outside of his family, but…

It felt refreshing, to talk about them to an outsider. “Turned twelve just last month.” A smile crept up on his face as he spoke. “I still remember when she was just a little bit, no more than the size of a basketball. A really blue basketball, but…” his smile grew.

Bella returned it. “They grow up so fast, don’t they?”

“They really do… Got another one on the way, actually.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You do?”

He nodded. “He’ll be here any moment now… or maybe, he’s already here.”

“This… scheme of Calo’s… it might actually make you miss your son’s birth?” Bella looked at him in disbelief. She knew Calo was cruel, but this… this was a level of cruel she wouldn’t have expected on anyone. On the other hand, Calo didn’t know the first thing about family. Not like she did.

“I’m not sure,” Tika answered. “But… weird as it sounds, I feel like I did. Can sort of sense it. Maybe that’s just another one of my cool alien powers,” he joked. But Bella could only feel really, really bad for him.

***

After seeing him – and talking with him – Bella could no longer ignore the alien held captive in their spare bedroom even if she wanted to. She walked off, sat around to fret for awhile, then checked on Calo… who was still sound asleep.

And just like that, she made her decision. Walked back to that room, and opened the door. She didn’t close it. Woke up Tika…

…who at first looked grumpy at her, annoyed to have his beauty sleep interrupted… until he saw the open door.

Bella just stood there, saying nothing, moving slightly aside to allow him a clear path to the door. He initially squinted his eyes at her, suspicious, but as she continued to just stand there, grin on her face, he slowly started inching closer to the door.

And then, in one swift motion, he slipped through the door and all but ran out. Free at last. He couldn’t believe it – had to suppress a scoff, too.

He stretched luxuriously.

Happy as he was to finally be free, he had kind of hoped for a more epic escape on his part. Shot one last look at the manor. Maybe he should leave a note… “Ha-ha,” “You’ll never catch me,” “Now you see me… now you don’t.” But then he saw something move inside the house and immediately decided against it. Nah – he’d have his revenge on Calo later. First things first, he was going home.