The Forgotten: A Vampire Story

by Clary, Michael

  Lorcan left without a goodbye. He wasn’t angry, he was just excited. We were having fun despite Selma’s absence. It had been too long since we’d last had an adventure.

  Ciaran and I jumped down from the roof when a middle-aged man in a family-sized SUV pulled in for gas. I stayed in the shadows of the building while Ciaran pulled up his hoodie and walked over towards the man.

  “Excuse me, sir,” Ciaran said.

  “Hello, young man,” The middle-aged man said.

  Ciaran moved slowly closer and closer to the man until he was able to lock eyes.

  “I’d like to enter your vehicle,” Ciaran said. “I’d like you to take me home to meet your family.”

  “What…wait…why….I don’t understand.”

  “Take me home with you,” Ciaran said. “I want you to love me like you love your children.”

  “I don’t feel right…what are you saying?”

  “I want to come home with you,” Ciaran said under the harsh lights above the gas pumps.

  “What’s wrong with your eyes?” The middle-aged man asked. “Stay…stay away from me.”

  I watched the man snap back to reality. Ciaran had lost him, and his escape was inevitable. My youngest brother could do nothing but watch as the man fumbled with his door, gained entrance, and drove away as fast as he possibly could.

  Ciaran was furious.

  I thought it was hysterical.

  “You think that’s funny?” Ciaran asked.

  “What did you think was going to happen under those lights?” I laughed. “You don’t look even vaguely normal.”

  “Head tricks aren’t my thing,” Ciaran said. “I prefer a more direct approach to situations.”

  “I know you do,” I agreed. “That’s why this is so funny. You marched over there like you had everything under control, and then you end up scaring the hell out of that man.”

  I was laughing harder and harder.

  “You think you can do better?” Ciaran asked.

  “Of course I can,” I said. “Head tricks are indeed my thing.”

  We waited.

  It only took about half an hour.

  A young woman drove up to the gas pumps, and I walked forward to meet her. I had my hoodie pulled up to hide my appearance, but her heart rate still jumped about a mile when she saw me walking towards her.

  That didn’t matter much to me.

  The two of us locked eyes, and I had her.

  “Take me home with you,” I said. “My brother and I are in trouble and we need a safe place to stay.”

  “You poor boy,” the young woman said. “Of course, I’ll take you home.”

  I was still laughing when Ciaran finally approached the two of us and climbed into the back seat of her car. Ciaran was pouting pretty heavily, and I couldn’t help but pick on him.

  “Black-eyed children,” I said.

  “Shut up,” Ciaran said.

  “Do you remember all those times you tried to use your head tricks on people?” I asked.

  “Leave me be,” Ciaran said.

  “Suddenly, everyone starts talking about black-eyed children trying to gain entrance into their homes.” I laughed.

  “I was trying new techniques,” Ciaran said defensively.

  I laughed even harder, and the woman driving us to her home laughed as well. Both Ciaran and I found her sudden intrusion hilarious.

  “Can we keep this one?” Ciaran asked. “Maybe I need a little human girl as well.”

  “You’d be bored in about one hour,” I said.

  Ciaran reached out with his clawed hand and started stroking the woman’s hair while she was driving.

  “If you accidentally cut her,” I said. “She’s going to crash this car.”

  “Her hair is so soft,” Ciaran said. “I think I love her.”

  “Oh, whatever,” I said.

  “No, I mean it,” Ciaran continued. “I’m in love with this human girl. I want to turn her and spend all my time with her.”

  “She probably won’t have you,” I said.

  “Why not?” Ciaran asked as if he were genuinely troubled.

  “You’re too moody,” I said. “You’ll end up terrorizing her just like you did to poor old Bob.”

  “I miss Bob,” Ciaran said. “We need to get another one.”

  “We just did,” I laughed.

  Ciaran stopped stroking the woman’s hair and moved his mouth close to her ear.

  “What’s your name?” Ciaran asked.

  “Gwen,” the young woman answered.

  “It’s very nice to meet you, Gwen,” Ciaran said. “I can’t wait to see your home. Do you live alone or do you have roommates?”

  “I live alone,” Gwen answered.

  “That’s unfortunate,” Ciaran said. “I would have loved to meet all your roommates. Do you have a lot of friends?”

  “I have some very good friends,” Gwen answered, “but I wouldn’t say that I have a lot of friends. I’d rather have a few good ones than many acquaintances.”

  “You’ll have to invite your friends over,” Ciaran said. “I’d love to meet them.”

  “I can do that,” Gwen said excitedly despite the tears flowing from her eyes.

  Gwen lived in a very suburban sort of family-friendly neighborhood for such a young woman. I’d have expected her to live somewhere closer to people her own age, but this would be so much better.

  There was silence on her dark street. I couldn’t see any neighbors hanging around outside, but I could see the many lights burning brightly in all the homes.

  “Invite us in,” I said to Gwen.

  “Please, both of you, won’t you come inside my home?” Gwen asked after a few moments of hesitation, and once again, she began to cry.

  “Go to your room,” I said to Gwen once we were safely inside. “Don’t come out unless I come and get you.”

  The young woman left without another word.

  “We could have had fun with her,” Ciaran said.

  “We may need her later,” I said. “Try and keep your claws off of her.”

  “What now?”

  “We wait for Lorcan,” I said.

  “Lorcan should have come back to us a long time ago,” Ciaran said right before we felt his presence.

  I retrieved Gwen, had her invite Lorcan inside and sent her back to her room for the evening. Lorcan was unnaturally excited, and that made both Ciaran and me excited as well.

  “She’s definitely at the police station,” Lorcan said. “They know who she is, and they believe she’s somehow in cahoots with the serial killer.”

  Ciaran started laughing loudly.

  “Cahoots?” I asked.

  “Oh, leave me alone,” Lorcan said. “I’m trying to tell you that your human girl has become famous. You should see all the reporters and news vans at the police station.”

  I stopped laughing.

  “I’m going to go get her,” I said.

  “You can’t,” Lorcan said. “If you take her from the police station, the entire world will start looking for her.”

  “So?"

  “We’ll never get any peace and quiet,” Lorcan explained. “I can’t even begin to imagine how taxing it’ll be to keep her safe.”

  “Keeping her safe won’t be taxing at all,” I said.

  “Please!” Ciaran interjected. “You’re not going to turn her. I don’t believe you.”

  “Well, I’m not losing her to a bunch of humans,” I said. “That simply won’t do.”

  “She won’t do well with us,” Ciaran said. “She especially won’t do well under our current circumstances.”

  “The world will forget,” I said. “They always forget. We’ll lay low and stay quiet for a bit, and then we’ll leave California.”

  Lorcan shrugged. He’d given his best advice, but the choice was ultimately mine. My brothers spoke their peace, but they truly weren’t against any action I decided upon.

  A half an hour later, we landed on
the limbs of a great tree in the park across from the police station. Lorcan hadn’t been joking. If anything, he didn’t properly convey just how large the media circus had become.

  I needed to get Selma far away.

  Listening carefully, I found her heartbeat in amongst the great throng of people between us. Her heart was beating steadily, but she was frightened. For that alone, I wanted to kill every human that stood in our way.

  “I found her,” Lorcan said.

  “So did I,” Ciaran said.

  “She’s frightened,” I added.

  “Not terribly so,” Lorcan added. “She’ll be fine.”

  “There’s no back door,” Ciaran said. “I looked for one when we flew overhead.”

  “There are windows,” I said. “I saw two of them on the side of the building.”

  “Do they open?” Ciaran asked.

  “Yes, but they’re barred.”

  “Well that won’t be a problem,” Ciaran laughed.

  We listened to all the people gathered in front of the police station, but there wasn’t very much to learn. All anyone knew was that a suspect was in custody, and the suspect was a young woman.

  Still, people gathered.

  I listened to them. They were hopeful that their recent nightmare was coming to an end. Finally, they’d be able to once again safely walk the streets at night. Little did they know that the real monsters were gathered silently across the street.

  Lorcan stayed behind while Ciaran and I took to the air. In mist form, the two of us made our way to one of the open windows and easily passed through the bars.

  In between human and solid, we entered a brightly lit room.

  Without a word, the two of us separated into the maze of hallways to locate Selma. Both of us could hear and smell her, but we still needed to navigate past all the police officers to find her.

  An older policeman noticed me almost immediately, but he froze solid, wondering what he was looking at. I was on him instantly, but there was no time to feed.

  Or was there?

  I held the struggling officer in one arm, and I had my hand clamped over his mouth with the other as I weighed my options.

  As far as law enforcement went, they were best left alone. Feeding on a police officer never went over well. They took that kind of thing seriously, and while the police have never exactly been a big threat to us over the years, no vampire wanted to see that to change.

  Tonight was different.

  The policemen took my girl, and that could absolutely not be ignored. My actions now would inform anyone that knew of our existence what it truly meant to cross us.

  I drank deeply, and then I hid the corpse in the hallway closet just as another officer entered the hallway.

  I took this new officer as well. He died in my arms, not understanding what was happening, and his hot blood quickly flooded into my belly. From there, it warmed my limbs with a wonderful tingling sensation.

  In the midst of death, a vampire truly comes alive.

  I passed an office and noticed that it was occupied by two women in business wear. I entered and locked the door behind me. Both women started questioning me immediately, and one of them even rested her hand on her pistol.

  Slowly I turned around and faced both of them.

  The room became still and quiet as I pulled down my hood and showed my face in the bright lights.

  “What the hell are you?” The woman with her hand on her pistol asked.

  I didn’t answer.

  I only attacked.

  When I was finished feasting upon both of them, I was giggling with blood-drunk happiness and wondering if Ciaran was having as much fun as I was.

  Quickly, I pulled down the shades on the office window and closed the door behind me. It was best to not disturb the dead.

  I giggled at my joke.

  There were too many humans nearby, and I was so very thirsty. It was all I could do to control myself. Perhaps coming here was a bad idea. Once the killing started, it was often difficult to stop.

  A woman entered the hallway, not two steps away.

  I tore her throat out and rushed to clamp my mouth over the gushing wound before she made a mess all over the hallway. I wasn’t entirely successful.

  I dropped her body when I was finished and surveyed the damage.

  I was about to be discovered.

  The mess was just too…messy.

  So what.

  I was no longer interested in doing things quietly. I wanted my summer girl, and I wanted her immediately.

  Selma

  Detective Pearson finally looked away from me when he heard the first scream. When he looked back, I smiled at him sweetly and told him to run.

  I’ll never forget the look on his face when I told him that. The poor man seemed so shocked. By the time the first gunshot echoed throughout the building, Detective Pearson pulled his weapon free and rushed from the room. The sad, brave man wanted so desperately to help his fellow officers.

  I felt nothing as the world around me crumbled so far from sanity. I heard the screams and the growls, yet I never recoiled. My love was coming for me. My undead lover would free me.

  Detective Pearson never bothered to close the door behind him, so when the injured woman ran down the hall and passed by my room, she froze in her tracks.

  I saw the badge on her hip. This limping and bleeding woman was a police officer of some type, and the look on her face was that of concern.

  “Why are you still here?” The woman asked as she took a step into my room. “We need to get you somewhere safe.”

  I looked away when she was yanked from the doorway.

  I expected Derry, but it was Ciaran that stood before me with gore running from his mouth all the way down the front of his shirt. Aside from the blood and tissue, he looked for all the world like a fourteen-year-old Kurt Cobain.

  His ink-black eyes and expressionless face revealed nothing, and the two of us merely looked at each other for an uncomfortably long time until his arm slowly rose, and he made a motion for me to follow him.

  I hesitated.

  I didn’t trust Ciaran. I didn’t feel safe around him. Again he motioned for me to follow him. This time, I rose from my chair and made my way towards him. When I was close enough, he reached out and grabbed my arm.

  I was trapped in his iron-grip as he led me from the room into the blood drenched hallway. The woman police officer that wanted to help me looked as if she’d fallen into a meat grinder. I stepped over her body, and almost slipped on all the blood.

  Ciaran held me upright without effort, but the sudden motion made him turn to look at me. His black eyes bored right into mine, but without expression, I had no idea what he was thinking. I couldn’t even tell if I was in danger.

  Would Ciaran hurt me?

  I wouldn’t think so. Derry would never allow that, but sitting here next to this blood-drenched demon, I truly wondered if anyone could control him.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  Ciaran reached his hand up and gently stroked my face with his extended claws. I didn’t move. I’d seen how dangerous Derry’s hands were when he slapped Felony, and I had no interest in getting cut.

  Ciaran didn’t bother answering me.

  Instead, he led me further into the police station until we came to an open window. Suddenly Ciaran turned and wrapped his slim arms around my body. In moments we were changing, becoming intangible. I reached for the corner of a nearby desk. The change was too sudden. It was overwhelming. Derry had always been gentle.

  I was unbalanced and confused. By the time I was once again clear-headed, I was hovering over the police station’s parking lot, and moving quickly across the street into the park. Lorcan was waiting there for us. He kindly helped me back to my feet after I landed clumsily in human form.

  “Where’s Derry?” I asked.

  Ciaran ignored me, but Lorcan looked at me with his gentle smile.

  “He’ll be back soon
,” Lorcan said.

  “There was so much blood,” I said.

  Ciaran started laughing.

  Across the street, sirens were blaring, and people were still screaming as they evacuated the building. Lights were flashing as the press searched in vain for information. All in all, it was complete and utter pandemonium, and Lorcan and Ciaran seemed to enjoy the show.

  Without warning, Derry landed silently behind the three of us. Without Ciaran pointing him out to me, I never would have noticed him standing behind me.

  “What kept you?” I asked. “I was so frightened.”

  “I’m sorry,” Derry said. “Leaving you in that motel was a horrible mistake, but I came for you immediately.”

  “How many people did you hurt?” I asked.

  Ciaran was laughing again.

  Even Lorcan chuckled the tiniest bit.

  “I hurt as many as I could,” Derry freely admitted.

  “Why would you do that?” I demanded. “I thought you didn’t hurt people?”

  “I had to free you, didn’t I?” Derry asked.

  “You don’t get it,” I said. “There are security cameras all over that building. Now the entire world will see your face. We can never be safe.”

  “Cameras don’t work on us,” Lorcan explained. “We just appear as a sort of blur.”

  “Well, what about me?” I asked. “I’ll be the most wanted person in the world because of this.”

  “That doesn’t matter much,” Derry explained. “I expect the police will still be looking for you, but they’ll never find you.”

  “How many times have you done something like this?” I asked with a growing sense of dread.

  Derry looked at me silently for a moment before speaking.

  “I only wanted to keep you safe,” Derry said without answering my question.

  “Well, how safe am I now?” I asked.

  “The police won’t chase after anything supernatural,” Lorcan attempted to explain. “It’s not how they do things. They’ll be scared now.”

  “I get that,” I said, “but that doesn’t mean I’m okay with brutality.”

  Ciaran started laughing again.

  “Stop laughing at me,” I said.

  “No,” Ciaran said.

  Derry began whispering, and Ciaran began whispering back, but I couldn’t understand anything they were saying. Their volume was simply too low. Occasionally Lorcan joined in with a whisper of his own, but I couldn’t understand him any better than his brothers.