"Derry won't mind," Ciaran said.
"He will mind," Lorcan said. "He will very much mind, especially if anything happens to her."
"That's silly," Ciaran teased. "What could happen to Selma with me around?"
"There are people looking for her," Lorcan said. "She should stay here until Derry gets back."
"You can come with us," Ciaran said.
"No," Lorcan said. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Well," I said. "I like the idea. I feel just as safe with Ciaran as I do with Derry. I think we'll have a blast, and I'll talk to Derry when we get back. I'll explain to him that we just wanted a bit of fun."
Ciaran was jumping up and down with excitement.
"I have clothes," Ciaran volunteered. "Can you help me find something nice to wear?"
"Of course I can," I said.
It only took a few minutes to find jeans, a clean t-shirt, and a clean hoodie from the multiple piles of collected clothes in the back rooms. Ciaran was as happy as a child on his way to Disneyland as I brushed back his silky blonde hair.
"I wish I looked more alive," Ciaran said. "Then I'd really be able to mix in with the humans."
"Have you ever tried makeup?" I asked.
"Makeup is for girls."
"I can make you look human again," I said.
Ciaran took me up on my idea, and after about a half an hour of work, he looked very much like a lovely human boy. I clapped at my results, and Ciaran danced around the room while Lorcan giggled.
Ten minutes later, and the two of us were streaking through the night sky. Flying with Ciaran was different than Derry. Ciaran was rougher and quicker in his movements. Derry tended to move rather slowly in an effort to hide his true nature, but Ciaran had no such worries. He had no fear.
We arrived at the party, and Ciaran clutched tightly at my hand as we walked in and amongst the people. I'd put sunglasses over his black and reflective eyes to better camouflage the vampire, and I worried that my efforts wouldn't be enough to conceal him.
There were girls everywhere, and many of them seemed drawn to the vampire as if they'd succumbed to a love potion.
"You're very popular," I whispered.
"I don't like it," Ciaran said.
"You're handsome," I explained. "You're very handsome even though you're hiding underneath the sunglasses and the hoodie. I did a good job on your makeup."
The vampire hunter boy was nowhere to be seen.
My heart dropped, but it was early. The party had just gotten started, and more and more people were beginning to arrive. Ciaran was wrinkling his nose.
"Is something wrong?"I asked.
"I smell something unnatural," Ciaran explained. "It smells like fuel, but it's different. I haven't smelled anything like it before, but I'm wondering why this house needs so much fuel."
"They probably have a generator," I said. "Generators are great for power outages, and they need fuel to run."
"I guess that's it," Ciaran said. "It seems a bit dangerous to have so much of it, though. Humans take senseless risks. One spark could destroy this entire house."
"Do they really have so much fuel?" I asked. "Perhaps they just like to be well-stocked. Or maybe it's for tonight. Perhaps the generator is for the party."
Ciaran only shrugged.
He was clearly bothered, and that worried me. If he wanted to leave early, I'd have no choice but to go with him.
The vampire hunter boy walked into the back yard.
He stood with a group of older men about twenty feet from Ciaran and me. My heart began beating faster and faster.
Ciaran noticed.
He was staring at me, and then he was looking around.
"What's wrong?"I asked.
"You tell me," Ciaran said. "I can hear your heartbeat."
"I thought my old boyfriend had just arrived," I said, "but I was mistaken."
Ciaran looked at me, intently.
And then he lost interest and started watching the goings-on with the party. There were laughing people, arguing people, dancing people, and excellent music. Ciaran was still attracting a lot of interest, but he was having fun.
What I didn't realize, what I never even considered was how his attractiveness would affect the other male partygoers once they'd had a few drinks.
They were growing angry.
Ciaran and I were quickly at the center of attention, and even though he was a bit shy at first, Ciaran very quickly delighted at so many compliments. When he first started dancing, I found it rather amusing. His dance was old fashioned, and only half-remembered, but for the first time ever, Ciaran seemed just a little bit human.
I laughed and cheered him on as did a number of other partygoers, but good times are fleeting. Trouble was brewing, and when the first of the rowdy college-aged boys started taunting Ciaran, Derry's warnings came back to me.
Ciaran ignored the taunts. He seemed only interested in dancing, but the group around us was becoming uncomfortable. A few of the girls asked the trouble-makers to go away, but they were ignored.
A beer bottle landed near Ciaran's feet.
The vampire stopped dancing.
The crowd took a collective breath, but Ciaran only waved the trouble-makers away as if he were an un-amused royal before he resumed his dancing as if he hadn't a care in the world.
It was a mistake.
One of the trouble-makers approached the vampire, grabbed him by the arm, and spun him around. The college boy was well over six feet tall, with wide shoulders and muscular arms. There was no reason in the world for him to be picking on such a young person.
To the casual observer, Ciaran was very much over-matched.
I stepped forward. I wanted to stop what was about to happen, but all the people rushed around me as Ciaran and the bigger boy fell to the ground. There was a lot of cheering from the bigger boy's friends, as he rained down punches.
I pushed at the people in front of me. I tried so hard to reach Ciaran, but in the end, I could only see flashes of what was happening. The boy pushed up and away from Ciaran, and I alone noticed the fear on his face.
"Help me!" The boy cried as Ciaran pulled him down.
The trouble-makers stopped cheering, and the crowd moved to block my vision. I pushed and shoved, and finally, I made it through the crowd just as the college boy pushed up a final time.
There was blood all over his cream-colored shirt. Thick and dark blood that gushed from the boy's savaged throat. With but a glance, I knew that the wound was fatal. I screamed. Others started screaming as well. The dying boy gurgled and cried, but Ciaran wasn't finished. I could only watch as he ripped and tore at his attacker from underneath him.
And then I felt a blast of heat that singed the hair on my arms and forced me to back away with the rest of the crowd. The vampire hunter boy was dousing Ciaran and his victim with a flame-thrower. In seconds, the shocked crowd was running for the exits as I stared stupidly at the blazing fire, and the vampire burning inside of it.
The vampire hunters work was something to behold.
I felt a hand on my arm, and then I was running with the rest of the crowd.
"Hurry up!" the vampire hunter boy screamed. "We need to get out of here. I wasn't supposed to attack, but I had no choice."
At the end of the street, he pushed me into a little car and peeled past all the other fleeing partygoers. I bounced all over the inside of the vehicle as he drove over curbs and front lawns.
"What's your name?"I asked.
"I'm Donny," Donny said. "We've met before."
"Yes," I said.
"Glen's going to be pissed," Donny continued. "I was only supposed to gather information, and leave you another note, but that kid was being torn apart. I didn't know what to do."
"Just keep driving," I said. "Take us far away from here, because if you didn't kill Ciaran, if you only hurt him, he's going to be looking for you."
"He won't come looking for trouble any time soon," Donny said.
>
"I wouldn't count on that," I said.
"I burned away all his skin," Donny said. "He should be a pile of ash right now."
"I doubt you're that lucky," I said. "You have no concept of how powerful they are."
"What?"Donny asked.
"Nothing," I said. "I'm sorry. I'm…, I'm just tired. I'm very tired, and I've been tired for a long time."
Derry
I was in downtown Los Angeles when I felt the attack. I was in a filthy alley amidst a small army of homeless people that had camped out with cardboard walls and torn tents. Some of them were mumbling at me for disturbing them, and others were doing their very best to ignore me.
There was no vampire intruder in our territory.
The only blood I managed to sniff out was old, but only recently placed in the alley. It made no sense. Could a human have been carrying vampire blood?And if a human managed to find vampire blood, did they accidentally spill a drop or two?
It didn't make sense…unless…unless the blood was a distraction.
I took to the air right as the fire reached out and licked at my youngest brother. I screamed, and crashed back down amongst the fabric and cardboard. Ciaran had been injured, and I was suffering right along with him.
And then the pain was gone.
I stood up, and the homeless men and women backed away from me. My hood had fallen from my head, and even in the dim light, I was beginning to frighten them.
I didn't care about that. I only cared about my brother. I took to the air once more and headed straight home. Lorcan was waiting for me when I arrived. He'd felt something as well, but nowhere near on the level that I had. That made sense, of course, I was the one that turned Ciaran.
"He was burning!"Lorcan shouted. "He was in pain!"
"I'll find him," I said. "It won't be difficult."
"He took Selma to the party," Lorcan said.
"Did he?"I asked.
"Yes," Lorcan cried. "Derry, I know he shouldn't have done that, but you need to find him. He's in great danger."
"Stay here," I said. "If anyone else but me show's up, I want you to leave immediately. Hide out somewhere, and I'll find you tomorrow evening."
I took to the air once again, and Lorcan looked after me for as long as he possibly could. I was on a mission. I knew where the party was, but even if I wasn't positive, the air still reeked of fire, accelerant, and burnt vampire.
I stayed in the mist as I hovered over the backyard of the party. Below me, there were paramedics, police, and the fire department. Towards the back of the back yard, I saw a blackened patch of grass and the blackened bones of a human body.
The police were doing their best to calm all the witnesses. I heard young men crying as they spoke of torn out throats and burning bodies. The flashing lights irritated my sensitive vision.
My brother wasn't here.
I touched down a few houses away and assumed my physical form. I needed my senses to find Ciaran.
One sniff in the air was all it took.
What was left of my brother was only a block or so away. He'd moved fast in his pain, and a closer inspection revealed all the property damage he'd caused in his wake. Burning, and in what must have been agony, Ciaran leaped over some fences and tore through others.
I quickly found the swimming pool in which he'd extinguished himself. The family inside the house of which the pool belonged, were out in front of their house, waiting for the police to arrive. Ciaran must have made a lot of noise. The family was terrified.
Following the scent of burnt flesh led me through some more back yards until I finally came to a two-story house with a back yard shed that had a recently broken window. I could hear Ciaran whimpering from within.
I leapt quietly through the broken glass.
"Ciaran," I whispered.
"It hurts," Ciaran whispered. "Derry, it hurts so badly!"
"Of course it does," I said. "Fire is the worst pain we can experience."
Poor Ciaran was huddled in the far corner of the dusty room. Somehow despite his pain he'd managed to find a blanket and wrap it around his damaged body. The smell of burnt vampire flesh was overwhelming.
"I'm scared, Derry," Ciaran cried.
"Let me see," I said as I moved the blanket.
I gasped out loud. The damage was severe. In many places, the fire had burned him so badly his very bones were visible. In other areas, the flesh was seared and deformed. There wasn't an inch of him that wasn't charred, except for his wet and shining black eyes.
"This is it for me," Ciaran said. "It hurts too much. I've never felt anything like this."
Inside the house, a family of three slept soundly despite all the sirens the neighborhood. I needed to act fast. Sunrise wasn't far off, and Ciaran certainly couldn't stay here during the daylight hours.
"You'll be fine," I said. "You can heal from this, but we'll need to feed you."
"I can't hunt," Ciaran said. "I can barely move."
"Then I'll hunt for you," I said.
I rushed from the shed to the top of the house. Casting my senses out into the neighborhood, I found more than a few neighbors that were waking up and leaving the safety of their homes in order to investigate all the flashing lights and sirens.
I hit the sidewalk and began slowly walking towards a young couple. The man was drinking a bitter smelling coffee, and the woman was headed back inside her house for a refill. My slight presence did nothing to set off any of the man's alarms, not with all the police so close by.
He tried to say something to me, some form of acknowledgment. Perhaps he even wanted to ask me if I knew what was happening. It didn't matter. I had him by the hair with one hand, and then I was running. His adult body bounced clumsily behind me, but I refused to slow down until his hair ripped out, and his body went flying.
I stopped in my tracks and wrapped my arm around the man's waist before he could get over the shock of being scalped. Within seconds, I had his body stuffed through the broken window of the shed, and then I was tearing out his throat so that my brother could feed.
Ciaran drank feebly at first. His pain had gotten the better of him, and his movements were slow and robotic, but that was before the first gush of blood hit the back of his dry throat.
Ciaran moaned loudly and squeezed the man against his body until I heard the popping sounds of breaking ribs.
It wasn't enough.
It wasn't nearly enough. The blood would bring Ciaran an awareness, but he needed more to heal his body. Before he finished with his first victim, I was already out of the broken window and rushing down the street.
The woman had returned, and she was looking for her man. I waved my arms to get her attention without scaring her.
"Where's my husband?"The woman shouted.
I waved my arms, but I didn't speak. I didn't want the strangeness of my voice to raise any alarms until I was close enough to grab her.
"My husband was just out here," the woman continued. "I went inside for coffee, and now he's gone. Have you seen him by any chance?"
I waved happily. I wasn't close enough to do anything else, but I could sense the rising alarm inside of her. She was worried and wary, but a few steps later and none of that mattered.
I had her in my arms, and I was running with her just like I ran with her husband. She cried and fought as I shoved her through the broken window of the shed, and then she saw what was left of her husband.
Crying turned to screaming, but that was okay. The screaming would make her that much more appetizing to Ciaran, who was already reaching out for her.
Silence.
Ciaran was drinking slowly with his hand clamped over the woman's mouth. I watched her eyes widen as my brother drank, but she was already long past struggling.
Ciaran wasn't healing. At least he wasn't healing quickly enough for me to tell any sort of difference. I was worried. I was extremely worried. I didn't know if I could save my brother.
"How do you feel?"I asked.<
br />
"More," Ciaran said. "I need more."
I was out the window and on top of the house once again. At the end of the street, I saw a slowly moving police car shining a spotlight into every dark nook and cranny they came upon. Ciaran wasn't going to be safe for much longer.
I stalked the police car silently for just a few moments before darting out in front of them on the street. The driver hit the brakes, and the car came to an abrupt stop, but I kept on walking.
"Hey, kid!"An officer shouted. "Get over here!"
I moved over to the sidewalk and gave the officer my middle finger. The engine turned off, and the policeman exited his vehicle.
"Why don't you take that hoodie off," the officer said as he approached me.
There were many things I could do to drag out the moment, but I didn't have time. I rushed the policeman, and struck him hard over the head, right as his partner attempted to join him.
The partner shouted, but before he could react, I had him in my arms, and then we were in the air. I wasted no time moving back to the shed, and once we were hovering a good twenty feet or so above the shed, I released the officer.
He didn't land well. Both of his legs were broken, but it was easy enough to stuff his screaming body through the broken glass to my brother as I went back for his partner, who was still unconscious in the middle of the street.
The man woke up in my arms.
"You aren't human," the man said.
This time, when I approached the shed, I was hoping to see Ciaran in much better condition, but he was still so damaged. I had to stifle a small cry that forced its way past my lips.
Ciaran fed hungrily on his latest victim while I watched and waited patiently. Finally, his small form rolled away from the body, and I could see clearly that all the blood he'd been drinking was leaking back out of his body, and all over the floor. There was simply too much damage.
My brother was dying.
I had only one idea left, and that idea would leave me weakened beyond belief.
"You're dying," I whispered.
"I don't want to die," Ciaran cried. "I want to stay with you and Lorcan."
"I have an idea," I said as I knelt down on the bloody floor with my little brother, and cradled his head in my lap.
The Forgotten: A Vampire Story Page 25