Drew came trotting out of the house, headed in my direction, and I immediately perked up, turning my attention back to the immediate problem.

“We’ve contained him,” he confirmed as soon as he was within range.  “He was more powerful than I’ve ever seen a male witch before, which I assume is thanks to the techno vampire luck he’s been stealing?”  He shook his head, looking a bit disgusted.  “Murdering people just for some increased magic levels.  So pointless.  Anyway, he put up more of a fight than we’d initially expected, but man am I glad your informant knew what kind of magic he’d use – helped us a lot, though it really pissed him off.  Anyway, there’s a lower level, we’ve confirmed the door is bolted on the outside and no windows, and the rest of the house is empty, so we’re pretty sure that’s where the techno vampire is.  Looks like you’re up.”

I took a deep breath and pushed myself off the car.  Time to rescue this vampire, maybe even from what she thought about what was going on around her, and fulfill my promise.

Downstairs, Captain Dennis unlocked the door and let me inside, shutting it behind me.  From here, it was up to me to convince the techno vampire we were friends – and that she was free now from a fate she may or may not know she had.

The room was lit, but darker than outside, so it took a few moments for my eyes to adjust.

“You shouldn’t be here,” a voice met my ears.  Then a pause.  “Who are you, anyway?”

“My name’s Sorrel,” I told her, my eyes adjusting enough that I could see where she was sitting, reading a book.  No electronics in the room, I noticed.  “And why shouldn’t I be here?”

She closed the book and set it aside.  “Because it’s not safe.  For you,” she explained.

“How so?”  I kept my tone calm, even.  Did she mean from the witch, or did she believe some lies he had given her?

It soon became clear it was the later.

“I’m dangerous.  I could hurt you.  It’s better if you go.”

I leaned casually against the wall, crossing my arms.  “Well, first, I’m a fairy, it’s doubtful you could hurt me much.  Can you explain why you think you’re dangerous?”

Her bright green eyes searched my face as if trying to find something else there, but after a long pause, she complied.

“I was in junior high, and some of the students were bullying me.  I was just trying to walk home, and they – the things they were yelling were harsh.  I remember getting mad, I remember turning towards them – and that’s it.  Nothing, for hours.  I awoke in my room, blood on my clothes.  On the news, I saw that those kids had been attacked by something – someone, I guess.  Beaten within an inch of their lives, but – with magic.  It wasn’t normal injuries.  I didn’t remember, but…I knew I must have done it.  I thought about telling my foster parents, but I was worried they would send me back, so I just said nothing, waiting for the police to come.  They never did.

“Freshman year of high school, it happened again.  Kids were bullying me, and I could feel the anger just as it started to go dark too.  This time, I remember seeing a silhouette of a man, and when I woke up, I was in an unfamiliar house.  He explained to me that he’d been investigating the first incident, had figured out it was me, and stopped me before I could do it again.  He offered to keep me with him, safe from hurting anyone.  He helps keep me weak by having me fast for a long time so I don’t overwhelm him by accident.”

So, deception, then.  Enough to even make her cooperate with the whole idea of fasting for years.

I hesitated, trying to figure out how to say this without completely shaking her to her core, but there wasn’t any good approach here.  “What’s your name?”  I asked at last.

“Anna.”

“Okay, Anna, how long have you been here, do you know?”

She had to think about that.  “A few years, at least?  I’m not sure, exactly.  I can guess based on how I look in the mirror now.  Andrew, he…limits my access to the outside world, otherwise I grow stronger.”  There was a hesitant look on her face.

“Because you’re a techno vampire,” I confirmed.

She hadn’t apparently been expecting me to know what she was, so her face showed her surprise.

“Anna,” I said slowly, “you didn’t cause the attack on those kids.  Techno vampires’ powers only affect electronics.  They have no effect on living creatures.”

Her brows drew together.  “But…it must have been me.  Why else would I black out like that?”

“Did you know the – that Andrew was a witch?”  Her eyes widened at my question and she shook her head.  I continued, hoping my tone was calm and reassuring.  “Andrew has the ability to manipulate your consciousness.  He also has magic which allows him to quite literally rip things – or people – apart with air.  It’s very likely,” I admitted, keeping a careful eye on her response, “that he simply knocked you unconscious when he saw you were about to get angry, then attacked them himself.”

“But…” she seemed confused, “how – why?  And how did the blood get on me?”

“He likely put it there.  To make you think you’d done something so when he could ‘rescue’ you later, you’d go along with his plan and cooperate.”  I took a deep breath.  “We – well, the police, and the supernatural leaders in this town – believe he was hunting for a techno vampire.  He found you, decided to take advantage of you,” and her youth and naivety, although I didn’t say that.  It probably hadn’t helped that she’d been with foster parents at the time that she couldn’t confide in, but that made her the perfect target for him – someone he could manipulate and convince to cooperate without fear of being stopped.  “He wanted a techno vampire for luck – he needed that luck, apparently to grow his witch powers.  He didn’t keep you here to protect the world from you, he kept you here so he could use your abilities.  He kept you from eating until he had the proper way to ensure that your luck would almost certainly hit him – and only then would he allow you to eat.”

Her eyes were wide, but she didn’t look panicked.  Processing, maybe.  “What way?”  She finally asked.

Ah, she probably would not like this.

“He…abducted individuals with strong tech influence, who created strong energy for techno vampires.  Only then would he let you feed,” I paused, “and he would kill them before your powers would respond with luck, so instead of it being sent in the general direction of the strong energy providers, it went to him instead.”

Her face became emotionless.  “You’re saying he murdered people.”

I wasn’t sure if her response was good or bad.  This was a lot to process for anyone, really, and I hoped she’d accept what I was saying.

I carefully stepped across the room, trying to look as non-threatening as possible, and set a police folder on the foot of the bed where she could reach it, before retreating back to my spot at the door.  “Eight people that we know of,” I confirmed.

I waited while she opened the folder, slowly flipping through the police reports, looking at the pictures, coming at the end to the statement I’d repeated from Claire – the key to figuring out what all this was about – and the confidential statement from Riven, which didn’t include his name, identifying her at the university and mentioning the possibility of her being drugged.

“How long?”  Was the question she finally asked.

“This has been going on about nine and a half years,” I admitted.  “So I’m guessing he took you approximately 10 years ago.”  I waited as she continued to look through the folder, then asked a question of my own.  “He took you with him to the college for lectures sometimes, didn’t he?  Did he say why – when he was telling you that you were so dangerous?”

She paused.  “He said – he said it was so I could get out every now and then, but he insisted on drugging me so I wouldn’t end up causing issues.  I could never fully understand it, though.  If I had only one time out per year, I probably wouldn’t pick something like that, and only ever that.  It never made sense to me,” she looked down at the folder, “apparently this is why.  These dates – I know I’m cut off from the world, but…but I’m pretty sure these people each disappeared right when I fed.  Every single time I did.”  Which would support our theory, and she knew it.

I watched a parade of conflicting emotions cross her face.  “He’s been taken into custody and will stand trial for the murders,” I told her softly.  “It won’t happen anymore.  You’re not a threat to others – you never were.  You can come out, live a normal life – even if you do get angry at bullies, although I hope you don’t encounter anyone like that anymore – you don’t have to worry about hurting them.  It was never you who did that.”

Her fingers tightened on the folder.  “So, I’m just supposed to walk out of here and pretend none of this happened?”  Her voice was ridged in anger.

“No.”  My answer seemed to surprise her.  “Walk out of here, yes.  We – my family’s influential in the city, we can arrange for you to have housing, get a job, go to therapy if you want, finish school – all the things you need to start your life over.  But this did happen, and I don’t think you can just pretend it didn’t.  This was 10 years of your life – the effects won’t go away overnight.  It’ll take time.  But,” I placed my hand on the door handle, “if you want to start living again, if you want to find who you are now without the false confines that Andrew placed on you, you can do that.  We will help you, you don’t have to figure it all out alone.  But what you do now is up to you.”

“Up to me,” she murmured.  “I haven’t had a choice in things in a long time.”

I gave her time to think, to decide what to do.

She looked up at last, her eyes determined, and then she got up and followed me out the door.

~~~~

I planted a small memory garden for Claire in our backyard.  Her body was gone, but I’d taken her phone – left in her coat pocket – and decided that was the best representation of her life, anyway.  I buried it in the garden and around it planted things that reminded me of her.  A hibiscus, vibrant and attention-demanding.  Daylilies and cereus, plants that only bloomed briefly.  And butterfly bushes, to bring the living representation to her memorial.  Beauty, color, and transience.

Once done, I sat back on my heels and sighed deeply.  “You probably wouldn’t be impressed with this,” I told her.  “You never really understood plants.  I’d make you a technology memorial but I don’t know how, so this will have to do.”

I got to my feet, only to take a seat on the bench instead.  “I kept my promise.  Sooner than I think you’d have expected.  If you’d had a few more days, you would have seen it resolved for yourself.  But we couldn’t have done it without you,” I added.

I tilted my head back to look at the sky.  “Thank you for coming back to say goodbye,” I whispered, as tears stung my eyes.  “I wish – I wish we’d had more time, but thank you for that.”  I took some time to just sit there, remembering, grieving, but finally it was time to go back inside.

I rose, then hesitated and looked back at the small garden one last time.

“Good night, butterfly.”