The Afterlife of the Party

by Marlene Perez

  Vaughn was sitting on the sofa across from Granny, so I plopped down next to him.

  “What a night,” he said.

  He smelled so good. He must be using a new cologne now that he was single because I could barely restrain myself from snuggling into him. I fanned my face, ignoring the twinkle in Granny’s eyes. She’d caught me checking out Vaughn and his hotness, but I played it off like it was the heat making my cheeks flushed. We didn’t have AC. That was my story. Sticking to it.

  “What do you think is wrong with Skyler?” I asked.

  I wound my hair up into a bun and secured it with one of the hair ties I always kept on hand. My hair was thick and unruly.

  “Where’s your necklace?” Evelyn asked. She and Granny exchanged a look.

  “Sky’s wearing it,” I explained. “She was upset she didn’t have hers.”

  To be honest, my neck felt bare without it, but Skyler had needed it more than I did.

  “What’s that on your neck?” my grandmother said. There was a strange note in her voice.

  “That asshole Travis sniffed me, and then he bit me,” I said indignantly, not wanting to think about what that might mean. “Without my permission.”

  Vaughn glared at the mark on my neck. “I wanted to kill him for what he did to Skyler, but I really want to watch him bleed for what he did to you.”

  Granny put her hands on my shoulders. “Sit here, in the light, so we can get a better look.” She guided me to a barstool in front of the kitchen counter.

  Evelyn and Edna put down their drinks and joined us. Granny put on her glasses and examined the small wound.

  “I’ve never heard of a golden vampire bite. I’ll research it,” Edna said. “I like the weird stuff.”

  I shivered. Golden vampire bite? I wasn’t ready to ask more questions about that yet.

  “You are the weird stuff,” Evelyn replied. “And I love it.”

  Edna became absorbed in Granny’s bookshelves while I made myself a glass of iced tea. I was so thirsty.

  “Is Sky a vampire?” I asked.

  Edna shook her head.

  “Why not?”

  “Think of vampirism as a transformation,” Edna explained. “There are steps to it. Sometimes, vampires only compel their victims and drink their blood until the victim either gets away or dies. Usually the latter. Those victims will never become a vampire.”

  “Then what’s the first step?” Vaughn asked.

  “The first step is when the vampire creates a psychic bond as he drinks his victim’s blood,” Edna continued.

  “The more he drinks, the stronger the connection,” Granny added. “And the harder that connection is to break.”

  “So what’s the big deal about my bite, then?” I asked. “He only did it once, and it happened so fast, there was definitely not a connection, psychic or otherwise.”

  “There’s good news,” Evelyn chimed in. “You have not yet received the kiss that kills.”

  I stared at Granny, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes. Evelyn said I wasn’t a vampire yet.

  The kiss that kills?

  “Although vampirism is transmitted through the blood, it requires the maker to completely drain the victim dry to the point of death,” Edna said. “And then the vampire feeds the baby vamp their vampire blood. It becomes irreversible when the baby vamp finds and kills a human by drinking their blood.”

  “Gross,” I said. “That’s never going to happen.”

  “Witches are special cases,” Granny said. “That’s why vampires go out of their way to avoid biting a witch. The smart ones, anyway.”

  “Then what exactly is going to happen to Tansy?” Vaughn growled.

  Evelyn turned to Edna. “You know what a vampire bite does to a witch.”

  “Striga vie,” Edna crowed triumphantly. “There hasn’t been one in hundreds of years.”

  “What does that mean?” Vaughn asked. He stood a few feet away, watching us with storm-gray eyes.

  “Vampire witch,” Granny translated, and I flinched. “A hybrid. It can only happen when a vampire bites a witch, which rarely happens, resulting in someone who has the strength of a vampire and the magic of a witch. When those two powers are combined…”

  She didn’t finish her sentence. I wasn’t ready to think about what that meant.

  “Do you know how she got mixed up with this Travis fellow?” Granny asked.

  “Before tonight, she hadn’t even mentioned him,” I admitted.

  I would have to be a sucker not to consider that we were dealing with some serious supernatural stuff, but I was relieved to hear Granny say it, like saying the word would lessen its power somehow.

  “What else can you tell us about vampires?” Vaughn asked. His expression was deadpan, but his knee jiggled nervously.

  “Vampirism is transmitted through bodily fluids,” Granny said.

  “Like an STD,” Edna supplied oh so helpfully.

  Evelyn paced. “It might still be possible to save Skyler.”

  “We’ll save her,” I said. “Tell me how.”

  “Tansy, have something to eat,” Granny said. She nudged a bowl of dip in front of me and then handed me the tray of crackers.

  I scooped up a big bite of the delicious-smelling dip and shoved it in my mouth. I realized I hadn’t had dinner and shoveled in another helping but stopped mid-chew. “Why are you all looking at me like that?”

  “Like what?” Evelyn said, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes.

  “Like you know something I don’t?”

  “There’s a ton of garlic in the dip,” Granny replied calmly. “Evelyn was worried that you would spontaneously combust once it hit your bloodstream.”

  “And you let her eat it?” Vaughn asked. He reached over and snatched the cracker out of my hand. He glared at the older women, but they ignored him.

  I took the cracker back and swallowed it, practically without chewing, before I said, “Stop worrying, Vaughn. I’m fine.”

  “You’re not fine,” Granny corrected. “But you were able to resist a vampire. He was probably one of the younger ones.”

  “He almost did get me,” I admitted. I told them about how the closer I got to the music, the more I was drawn to it. I shook my head, suddenly not hungry any longer. “What can we do about Skyler?”

  “You and Vaughn should get some sleep,” Granny said.

  I hesitated. “Will she be okay?”

  “I’ve given her something to counteract the effects,” Granny said.

  She hadn’t answered my question. My stomach clenched, roiling from tension and fear. I couldn’t lose my best friend. “We have to fix this, Granny.”

  “We’ll do our best,” she said as she folded me into her arms. This was as close to a promise as I’d get from her, but it was enough.

  Suddenly, I was exhausted.

  Granny took one of the vintage charms off her bracelet and handed it to Vaughn. “Keep this on you at all times.”

  I tried to see which charm she’d given him, but he put it in his pocket before I had the chance. “Thank you,” he replied. “I will.”

  Granny said, “Tansy, help Vaughn get settled in the library.” Vaughn was tall and muscular. One night on the library’s small daybed might kill him, but walking home after midnight definitely could.

  I narrowed my eyes at her. She just smiled.

  I showed Vaughn where we kept the extra toothbrushes and helped him put clean sheets on the bed.

  He hesitated. “We’ll figure everything out.”

  I bit my lip, still worried about Skyler.

  “We’ll help her, Tansy,” he said. “I promise. Tomorrow we’ll research The Drainers. Get some sleep, and things will look better in the morning.”

  “That’s a good idea,” I said. “Good night.”
/>   The night had been one of the weirdest of my existence, but I brushed my teeth and put on my pajamas like always.

  I headed to the kitchen for a glass of water. Granny and her friends were talking in the living room, and I was in the hallway, out of sight, when I heard a name that made me stop in my tracks: Vanessa.

  My mother.

  Granny rarely talked about my mother. She’d dumped me with Granny and never looked back. And then she’d died. Or at least that’s what I’d been told.

  “I think you should tell Tansy the truth,” Evelyn said.

  “She’s better off not knowing,” Granny replied. I recognized that stubborn tone. She wasn’t going to tell me anything, which made me feel a little better about eavesdropping.

  “She’s already met a vampire,” Edna said. “That’s a lot for one night. Maybe we should save emotional revelations for another day.”

  Evelyn cleared her throat. “What about Vanessa? Tansy should know her mother is still alive.”

  “You want me to tell Tansy that Vanessa is alive?” Granny’s voice was tight.

  My mother is still alive? I blinked away tears. What else had she lied to me about?

  When I was in fourth grade, Granny had told me that my mother had died. Skyler had helped me through that terrible year. I hadn’t known my mother, but that didn’t mean I hadn’t missed her. You can miss what you’ve never had.

  I returned my attention to eavesdropping, where they were still handing out truth bombs.

  “You know it, and I know it,” Granny said. “Skyler will run back to that creature.”

  There was a long silence, and I could feel my granny’s displeasure, even though I couldn’t see it.

  “You haven’t shown her enough to deal with this.” Usually when they tried to convince Granny of something, Evelyn was the more diplomatic of the two, but tonight there was no good cop/bad cop. It was bad cop/bad cop all the way.

  I almost felt sorry for Granny until I remembered that she’d been keeping secrets from me.

  “Vanessa had read all the books and was nearly finished with her training when she was Tansy’s age,” Edna said.

  “And look how that turned out.” The grief in Granny’s voice cut right through me. “I can’t lose Tansy, too.”

  I tiptoed away, hydration needs forgotten as I analyzed the conversation I’d just heard.

  When I went back to my room, Skyler was sleeping like the dead, barely moving, the quilt over her despite the warm night, one arm dangling off the bed. I touched her skin. It was so cold.

  Nobody had called asking where she was. Mr. Avrett was away on business (he was always away on business), so I’d texted stepmother number three to let her know Sky was sleeping at my house. Gertie texted a short ok back. Skyler slept over at my house a lot, so Gertie didn’t ask any questions.

  I grabbed some blankets from the linen chest and made a pallet on the floor. I wanted to be nearby in case Skyler needed anything.

  It had been a long, stressful evening. I’d learned my dead mother was alive and my best friend had hooked up with a vampire.

  And that wasn’t even my biggest problem. You know how sometimes you crave chocolate? Like when you’re PMSing, or feel bloated, or just epically failed your bio exam, or broke up with your boyfriend, or all of the above in the same day? Since the party, I’d been getting that feeling a lot.

  But it wasn’t chocolate I craved. It was blood.

  Worst. Party. Ever.

  Chapter Four

  It was barely six a.m. when I stumbled into the kitchen, and Granny was already drinking coffee at the counter. A new wreath of garlic hung in the kitchen window.

  “How’s Skyler?” Granny asked.

  “Still sleeping,” I said. “Vaughn up yet?”

  “Already left,” Granny said. “Something about summer conditioning. He said he’d text you later.”

  Vaughn didn’t get all those muscles by sleeping in. He was either practicing with the baseball team or running a mile or ten.

  Granny hesitated like she knew I wouldn’t like what she had to tell me. “This musician most likely has created a physical and psychic connection. Abruptly breaking it could do more harm than good.”

  “Is that why Sky freaked out last night?”

  “Most likely,” Granny said.

  “I have to help her,” I said. “Is there a spell that could work?”

  “Not one that I know of,” Granny said. “I’ll ask the book club for help. I have to go to pick up an author at LAX. Will you be okay?”

  “Sure,” I said.

  Granny had a long day ahead at work. She had the closing shift at the library because they had some famous nonfiction writer presenting a talk on the science of folk medicine.

  She was dressed for work, except for the rubber ducky slippers on her feet. “There’s some elixir in the fridge,” she said. “Make sure Skyler drinks it.”

  “I will. Granny—” I hesitated again. I wanted to ask her more about being a striga vie—and about my mother, but she needed to get to work.

  She slipped her heels on and grabbed her car keys but waited for me to finish my sentence.

  “Have a good day,” I finally said.

  After she left, I sat at the kitchen counter, thinking.

  I didn’t know any spell to get me out of an AP Calc test or a magical way to erase the tiny freckles on my nose. I’d always thought spells were more about “the peaceful way,” which was the main thing Granny emphasized when she was raising me.

  I had a temper, and when one of the kids in my class had made a smart-ass remark about my mom abandoning me (the truth, it does hurt), I punched her in her smarmy little face.

  Granny had sat me down and talked to me about why striking someone else was not the right way. Not the peaceful way. I knew people called her a witch, but to me, it seemed like it was kind of a new-age philosophy that had been handed down for generations, like the old books in the spare bedroom, which we jokingly called the library.

  I headed there and grabbed as many books as I could find with any mention of bloodsuckers or vampires or compulsion.

  I settled on the daybed by the window and hit the books. At first, my reading didn’t come up with anything I couldn’t have discovered from a quick read of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I kept looking, and finally, in a book called The Twenty-First Century Bloodsucker, I found a paragraph about vampire talents, which seemed like a good lead.

  According to the research, all vampires had a special talent, along with the ones that had made it into popular culture, such as turning into a bat, not having a reflection, and drinking blood. One of the rarer talents she listed was the ability to “day walk,” which was a fairly obvious term for a vampire who could walk in the sun.

  There wasn’t any mention of compulsion through song, but maybe that was another rare talent. Assuming all vampires were the same was like saying all people were the same.

  The words were starting to blur, so I closed the book and put it in my bag.

  It didn’t take a genius to figure out I’d been bitten by a vampire, even if he masqueraded as a wannabe emo-boy musician with an oral fixation.

  I spent the next few minutes following The Drainers on social media and reading articles and reviews. Several mentioned the amazing pyrotechnics at their shows, but I wondered if it had more to do with vampire talent than special effects. I made a note to research vampire fire and see what I could find.

  They’d posted their tour schedule on their website, and there were upcoming gigs listed in and around Diablo, a beach town north of L.A. My phone lit up with a notification. Vaughn had texted that he was coming over to check on Sky.

  It was getting late, and she still wasn’t awake. I took the drink Granny had left for Skyler to my room, but it was empty.

  Oh no. No, no, no. What
would I do if Skyler had gone back to Travis?

  My necklace lay discarded on the neatly made bed. I scooped it up and put it around my neck. I lifted my hair and studied the two puncture marks carefully. Travis hadn’t had time to get more than a sip, but the wound ached.

  The protective magic hadn’t done its job, and I needed to cast a stronger spell. It wasn’t my imagination that Travis had wanted to get rid of it, though.

  I mean, I did have an overactive imagination. Like the time I thought there was something hinky going on with Vaughn’s baseball coach, so I accused him of drinking between innings. He was drinking, but it was just Gatorade. My granny made me send him a written apology. I felt somewhat vindicated when, a year later, the coach ran off with fifty thousand dollars of the league’s money.

  I had the same strange feeling in the pit of my stomach now. I needed to get Skyler away from The Drainers for good, but I wasn’t sure how. I had to figure out what to do.

  Granny had said that it was hard to break vampire hypnosis, but I had to try. Maybe there was something she didn’t know or had overlooked. I took another quick look at her hidden-world research books. I spotted a neglected looking volume on the bottom shelf. Judging by the layer of dust, Granny hadn’t opened it in decades. Probably because it was written in German: Des Nachzehers.

  A quick visit to a translation app confirmed it was a book about German vampire mythology, and I honed in on something that looked like it could be a recipe and typed it in.

  Not a recipe—a spell. I’d found a separation spell to break a vampire’s hold. I felt my body sag with relief. And it didn’t seem too complicated, either. I needed a freshly shorn lock of Skyler’s hair. That meant I couldn’t just sneak a strand or two from her hairbrush, but it should be easy enough to get once I found her.

  But then I read on. I also needed a lock of hair or a fingernail from the vampire controlling her and a “filet of fenny snake,” whatever that was. Not as easy, but I’d find a way. I jumped to my feet and got into the shower.

  Vaughn wasn’t going to like it, but I had a plan.