Free No Man's Land by Debra Dunbar

hell.
    “Why did you do it?”
    Kelly turned around, still kneeling in front of the fridge. “Huh?”
    Jaq’s gray eyes held a mix of sympathy and morbid fascination. “Why would you choose to become a vampire? What was appealing about …this?”
    The question should have been insulting, but Kelly felt no anger. The glaring fluorescent light from the refrigerator warred in her vision with the soft golden sunlight streaming through the window. Why had she? Kelly couldn’t really put it into words.
    Human life had always been a struggle, and her future had been …bleak. She had grown into a woman cleaning pots and chopping vegetables — the same thing she’d been doing her whole life. The only difference was the men who cornered her in the pantry, squeezing her budding breasts and pressing onion–laced kisses on her lips and skin. She would have become pregnant and been tossed into the streets, or if she was lucky, one of the delivery boys would have proposed to her. Then she would have spent her life working her hands raw and birthing children until one killed her on the way out. So many would have chosen the devil they knew, but Kelly couldn’t face that particular demon. Anything had to be better than what her future would have been as a human. Anything.
    “I was fifteen,” she replied, her voice dry and hollow. “A bastard child, a girl. I worked in the kitchens for as long as I could remember. I didn’t want to live and die a nothing. I wanted to feel I had some control over my destiny, even if it was deciding to abandon my humanity.”
    Kelly turned away, snatching the butter from the fridge and slicing a generous chunk into the hot fry pan. She could feel Jaq’s gaze on her back, sympathetic and kind. It was too much. The air was thick with emotion and memories of the past. Kelly rubbed her chest to loosen the knot there and searched for a way to lighten things up once more, to put all the horror and sorrow back into a little box in the back of her mind.
    “How did you know that I was a vampire? Have you seen us before?” Her tone was brittle and forced, but it worked. A ghost of a smile crossed Jaq’s face.
    “Y’all smell funny. And yes, I see far more of you vampires than I ever want to. If I catch them, they all wind up dead. Every one of them.”
    Kelly shifted, uneasy. There had been an odd connection between them, like two friends chatting about their lives. It was strange to think that the woman she’d just bared her soul to had never said more than a word to another vampire before slicing their head off. It snapped her back to reality, and reminded her that as nice as this werewolf seemed, her loyalties were elsewhere.
    “This place is considered the buffer zone between two large families. The only vampires coming through here are scouts and spies. Well, and me.”
    Jaq nodded. “That’s another reason why you can’t stay. I’m assuming you’re from that family up north. Most of the vampires that come through here are the southern ones. I don’t know much about vampires, but I’m guessing they’d kill you if they caught wind of you here.”
    They would. Kincaid spies wouldn’t hesitate to rip her head off. An unaffiliated vampire was a disgrace and would be culled. Kelly put the butter in the pan and grimaced. One day at a time. Just survive. She didn’t have the luxury of thinking that far ahead when starvation stood right outside her window.
    “Why do you have — ouch!”
    Kelly turned and saw Jaq waving her hand frantically, a small silver ring rolling across the table.
    “Don’t touch it!” With vampire speed, she snatched the ring, shoving it in her pocket. The werewolf’s eyes widened. “I mean, don’t…it’s personal. I’m sorry, just please don’t touch that.”
    Jaq tilted her head. “No problem. Are your fingers okay? It was silver.”
    Kelly nodded, turning back to the cooking liver. Her fingers were red and blistered just from that quick touch. She took a