“Perhaps my fellows in town, who I have not been in contact with and do not know personally, are the ones in the wrong. Perhaps they too were following the vampire I’ve been tracking and made a mistake. Of course, that wouldn’t explain killing again unless they are still following false leads. Or, of course…unless I’m missing something that would suggest the Leonards weren’t as good as they appeared to be.”
“No way!” Emery jerked forward, fists clenched. Connor had the urge to hold him back, but Alec stood there watching in apparent amusement. “There have never been any murders around here, not until the hunters came. The Leonards never did anything wrong. They were good people.”
Wendy remained perfectly composed and calm as she kept her gaze centered on him. “But William turned you. With your permission?”
“Uh, he…” Emery faltered back a step.
“I thought not. And as you’ve become accustomed to your abilities, I’m sure you realize how easy it would be to travel to nearby communities to feed and leave your lair far removed from your hunting grounds. So in truth, with so many small towns nearby, and the larger Twin Cities only a few hours away, you can’t really say you know whether or not they ever killed anyone. Can you?”
Connor felt sick, because he’d been the one to defend the Leonards initially, and now this woman was making so much sense that he hadn’t considered. He’d just assumed. But the truth was they didn’t know anything. They didn’t know much about Alec either. Connor eyed the vampire on the other side of Emery warily, who noticed and tossed him a raised eyebrow as if he could read his mind—and maybe he could. He wasn’t exactly jumping to the Leonards’ defense.
“However,” Wendy said grandly, loudly, to recapture their attentions, “I would be terrible at my job if I didn’t investigate thoroughly, and there is always proof whether or not a vampire is killing unwarranted. As I’ve said, so far I’ve found nothing to suggest the Leonards are at fault. So while I’d ask that you not jump to defend someone without evidence, please understand that I don’t condemn without evidence either. You certainly don’t seem to have any ill intent, Emery. Your friend there is human, after all, and he’s still breathing.”
Connor shivered under her stare as her dark eyes drifted to him.
“Are you offering your services then, Wendy, darling?” Alec asked, crossing his arms with a twisted smirk, no doubt because of the play on her name to match Connor’s own train of thought.
She met Alec like a worthy challenge, the humor gone from her expression as she said, “The pact means something to me,” and inclined her head like a subtle bow, which seemed strangely formal, Connor thought, given the rest of this odd exchange.
She turned to Emery once more. “Be careful. The vampire I’ve been tracking is still active. She killed last night, here in this town. It won’t be in the papers, maybe barely even noticed. He was a drifter, an easy mark to keep things under the radar. She’s…dangerous, erratic, but keeps to a weekly schedule as if she were otherwise following the rules. She won’t hunt again for another week, which might buy us some time. Hopefully, the other hunters will be busy following her trail, assuming it’s yours. But I know my mark, and you were busy at play practice and then headed straight home last night.”
“You’ve been following me?” Emery scowled at her.
“That much I said already.”
“Yeah, but…everywhere? Night and day? So much for my police babysitter…”
Connor opened his mouth to second that, before realizing the guy was probably looking for them in the woods about now if he’d come upon an empty car.
“He’s not inept,” Wendy said, and then grinned, “just not as good as I am. But the other hunters in town are my equals to be sure, as I haven’t caught any sight of them. They don’t know your identity yet, Emery, or where you live, but they may very well know your face, which is more than enough. If I found you, it won’t be long before they do as well. You must be vigilant any time you’re out in the open. They won’t always wait for nightfall to strike.
“For now, I wanted you to be aware of my presence, and to know that as long as I have no reason to suspect you of breaking the pact, I am here to help.” She looked right at Connor, right at him with a twist of her lips, which made him gulp at how penetrating her stare was. “Hunters aren’t like the movies, love. We aren’t mindless killers, assuming all vampires or other supernatural creatures are evil. Some monsters aren’t monsters at all, just like people. There is a strict code we follow, in line with a pact made in the late 1600s when the current vampire king took over. He didn’t like wayward vampires giving others a bad name, and made a pact with the hunters of the time to keep things in line. If vampires kill, they are killed in return. If they don’t, they are left alone. Quite simple, really. If these other hunters here are doing otherwise, it’s murder like any other situation. We square on that?”
Connor and Emery both looked to Alec, who nodded on their behalf. A pact between vampires and hunters? Alec hadn’t mentioned that before. Maybe he hadn’t wanted them to know. After all, even if this was all a misunderstanding, these hunters still killed Alec’s children. Maybe he didn’t feel like being forgiving.
Wendy reached into her jacket pocket, and Connor tensed, wondering for a split second if she was going for a weapon, but while Emery went rigid beside him, Alec remained stoic. She pulled out what looked like a simple white business card and walked cautiously forward. Alec moved to meet her.
“My information, should you need to contact me. Though I will be keeping a close eye on Emery,” she said as she handed Alec the card.
“How diplomatic,” he said. There was an air between them as though neither fully trusted the other. Connor felt the same way about both of them, and shifter closer to Emery until their arms bumped.
“Until then…stay safe,” she said with a glance at Emery and Connor, and then turned to head into the trees behind her like a creature of the night herself, disappearing into the shadows.
“Wait!” Connor called before he fully realized he was intervening. The others all turned to look at him, and he scrambled to think of what he’d meant to say. “This is all vaguely daunting and very ‘the night is dark and full of terrors’ and all, but…how can human hunters take on vampires so easily? I mean, should we assume there are dozens of these guys, because, no offense, but with the things Em can do, and with Alec on our side too,” he decided not to bring up that he was a little distrustful of the vampire right now, “just how much could someone like you do?”
Alec gave an over-exaggerated eye roll in response while pocketing the business card, and took two measured steps back, perpendicular to them, to give Wendy a clear line of sight, which seemed…terrifying. Wendy and Alec shared a glance that looked suspiciously like he was giving her permission.
“Simple rule, love,” Wendy said as she stalked back toward them. “There is always someone bigger and stronger than you. It isn’t about power. It isn’t about numbers. It’s about timing, planning, and skill. And sometimes…” she reached swiftly into her jacket again, “misdirection.”
The flash instantly blinded Connor, but before he could cry out, he heard Emery shout instead—his senses had to make the light much worse. Connor stiffened, blindly groping with both hands to find Emery, only to come up empty. He was incapable of preventing whatever hit him and sent him crashing to the ground, landing on his back with a thud and puff of air.
When his vision cleared, Emery was above him, with Wendy positioned behind him, holding a large machete to his throat—and where had she even been keeping something like that?
“If I had really wanted to attack, I simply would have staked you from behind about now,” she whispered beside Emery’s ear, who looked as though he was still blinking spots from his eyes, and snarled at her with a glint of fangs to prove his discomfort. She stepped back
and released him, hands raised in surrender. “Of course, beheading works too.”
Emery blinked rapidly, wearing a deep grimace as he spun around to glare at her, before noticing Connor on the ground and reaching down to help him up.
Alec’s laughter filtered over to them, having known to shield his eyes and stay out of her way. “Shall we cover potential hunter tricks to be aware of next training session?” he said with a humored tone.
Emery huffed.
“Fangs,” Connor whispered. They were still out from reacting to Wendy.
Emery covered his mouth, then closed his eyes to help will them away. They were gone and his eyes less bright and intense when he nodded to Connor in gratitude. He had to work on that.
“Goodnight, boys,” Wendy said as she crossed the small clearing in the direction she’d initially headed toward. The machete was conspicuously missing again, hidden somewhere unknown. “Do work on your reflexes,” she added, and smiled dangerously over her shoulder before disappearing into the trees.
Chapter 12
I finally got to meet my police escort when Connor and I trudged out of the trees. He was shining a flashlight into the park after checking over Connor’s abandoned car. Thankfully, Connor had a lie ready, spewing off something about kids throwing a rock at his window, and him darting out of the car after them. He said that I’d followed in concern—making me out to be the responsible one—and repeated how sorry he was for doing something so foolish.
“Em knocked some sense into me, Officer. It won’t happen again,” he said.
Somehow we convinced him not to report the incident to Tim or our parents, since we swore it was just middle schoolers out in the park, and yes, he should totally check that out. He followed us in his cruiser first at a visible distance as we made our way home, but nothing else eventful happened.
Most of the tension in my chest lifted after meeting Wendy. At least now I knew who had really been watching me all this time, and that—as far as I could tell—none of the other hunters had gotten as close. Connor didn’t trust her, or Alec really, but I couldn’t believe either of them meant us harm. Alec had obviously kept things from us, but maybe they just hadn’t come up yet. He was sort of flighty and weird anyway. Besides, if it was all because he intended to kill the hunters when he found them, I wasn’t sure I could blame him.
I plodded down the stairs the next morning feeling like I hadn’t slept a wink. Unfortunately, vampirism does not beat out insomnia.
“There you are, honey,” my mom’s cheery voice greeted me, along with the smell of her signature French toast—which was odd. She usually only did something larger for breakfast on the weekend, since she left for work before Dad.
Mom worked at the local radio station, one of the regular on-air personalities in the mornings, and Dad did design for a sign workshop. A couple of times, when Connor had to get something really crazy built, he’d ask for my dad’s help, like with the completely unnecessary neon ‘Man Cave’ sign in Connor’s prosthetics workshop. Dad had also helped put LED lights in several of Connor’s first arm designs, but Connor had grown out of that lately.
“Why didn’t you tell us Mr. Leonards’ brother gave you a job?” Dad said.
“What?” I stuttered in the doorway to the kitchen, blinking away the remaining blurriness of having just woken up and getting dressed on autopilot.
The familiar sight of Dad digging into a helping of French toast while Mom worked on another batch at the stove was overshadowed by Alec sitting at the table with his own plate. He twirled his fingers at me in a semblance of a wave.
“Alec!” I said more accusingly than in greeting, which I hoped was the name he had given my parents for whatever ruse this was, since I did not have a working filter yet this morning.
“Good morning, Emery,” he said in a near flawless American accent. “Given the nature of everything that happened with my brother’s passing, I wanted to be sure your parents were aware I was in town. It really meant something running into you the other day and that you agreed to help me go through the house, but I didn’t want anyone worrying about you spending time with a stranger. I was just telling them how we met several times while I was in town visiting Will and Mallory before, and that I’ve decided to stay for as long as I can until I sort things out with their estate.”
I took a moment to process all of that. It would make things easier if my parents expected Alec to be around rather than trying to hide him, or hide going to see him. But wait. At the house? He was staying at the Leonards’ place?
I spoke up quickly when I realized everyone was staring at me. “Right, yeah, sorry, I’m still half asleep. I met Alec way back when I started working for the Leonards. He made me call him by his first name then, said it would be too confusing if there were two Mr. Leonards.” I managed a laugh and smiled as genuinely as I could as I took a seat at the table and accepted the plate of French toast my mom handed me. “Sorry I didn’t mention anything. I wanted to wait and make sure Tim was okay with it. I was afraid the police would think you had something to do with the murders.” I looked to Alec leadingly.
“Not to worry, Emery, my alibi is airtight against anything sordid having happened, including phone records of when Will called me right before…” He trailed off, the look of anguish on his face very real before my mom touched his shoulder and he pulled on a smile. “Well…I spoke with Chief Ashby as soon as I got into town, and didn’t want to bother you, of course, Emery, but when you offered to help go through Will and Mallory’s things, I just couldn’t turn you away. I’d rather not be in that house alone. I won’t be any bother or interrupt his school or extracurriculars,” he said to my parents, “and of course he mentioned his police detail, and I am all for that. I’ll be sure he’s never out at the house without his escort present.”
It amazed me that Alec had covered all of the bases that Tim or my parents might bring up, though it would have been nice if he’d warned me about this first. I looked to my parents hopefully.
Mom turned from flipping the newest set of toast on the stove, one hand on her hip while the other waved the spatula. “As long as you’re sure you’re okay with this, honey. I’m serious about you always keeping us in the know about where you are for a while.”
For the rest of the school year, she meant—or maybe the rest of my life. “Of course,” I said, and shoveled in a mouthful of French toast. I was so glad right then that it tasted as good as I remembered, even if everything I ate was useless calories now.
“Shall I see you after school today, then, Emery, before you’re off to practice?” Alec asked, pushing away from the table, signaling his intent to leave. He couldn’t quite alter the strange way he smiled, or the ethereal way he moved, or the glint in his eyes, but his eccentricities were dulled enough by his acting that my parents seemed blissfully unaware he was actually a slightly cracked vampire.
“Sure thing,” I said, wondering for perhaps the millionth time how this was my life now. “Happy to help.”
~
Connor
The next few days were so hum-drum normal—other than Mr. Leonard’s funeral—that Connor nearly forgot Emery was a vampire, and that they had a dark goddess version of Buffy the vampire slayer on their side and a way to see Alec without raising suspicion.
Mr. Leonard was cremated like his wife, which Connor thought fitting for a pair of vampires, but the urns were buried side by side in the local Catholic cemetery. Neither Emery nor Alec burst into flames standing on hallowed ground during the burial. A good portion of the town was in attendance, and the ladies of the church had made enough ‘funeral sandwiches’—as Connor called them—to feed everyone and half the state of Minnesota, which were buttered buns with slabs of ham or turkey and cheese, as well as the usual copious amounts of casseroles and desserts, like lemon bars, Special K bars, and too many othe
r bars to name.
“Is it like I am Legend, where vampires are only affected by religious symbolism they believe in?” Connor asked Emery after the funeral, feeling it inappropriate to pose the question to Alec just now.
“How should I know?” Emery said. “My parents raised me agnostic.”
Connor decided to let that one go.
As of late, he had to help out backstage before Emery joined him for practice, so Alec had taken to picking Emery up after school and driving him in for practice later. Connor found ways of getting out of his duties whenever possible so he could join them. It wasn’t as if they really needed him every day to help backstage; it depended on the scene! Of course, Aurora wasn’t too happy about that, but he just had to drop one word about wanting to keep an eye on Emery at the Leonards’ place—alone with some distant ‘brother’—and that seemed to be more than enough to get her grudging approval.
Apparently stakes and machetes weren’t the only things Emery had to worry about, or the flash bomb Wendy had used on them. Being set on fire would likely kill a young vampire, and while bullets to vital organs wouldn’t kill him, they could still slow Emery down until he healed. Over time, his resistance to everything would increase.
“Even beheading?” Connor had chuckled.
Alec just shrugged.
They also went through the Leonards’ house; that hadn’t been a complete ploy. It turned out that there were official records claiming Alec as William Leonard’s brother, and the house legally belonged to him now, though Connor didn’t believe for a second that any of their surnames were actually Leonard.
Life as a Teenage Vampire Page 10