Blood and Fire

by Willow Rose

  Heart in my throat, I got out too. "Exactly where is here?"

  She threw out her hands. "This is it, Robyn. The great outdoors. Take a deep breath."

  I did as she told me. "But what exactly are we here for?"

  "For learning!” she said.

  "Learning about what?"

  How to kill someone and get away with it?

  My mom rushed ahead, and I followed her, not going nearly as fast as she. She stopped at the side of a cliff, threw out her arms again, and took in a deep breath. I stared down the side of the mountain, the steep cliff beneath me almost screamed my name. My mom came up behind me. My heart stopped beating.

  She's gonna push me, isn't she? Or kick me maybe? Let me fall into the abyss?

  "Isn't it marvelous?" she whispered in my ear.

  I looked down and didn't really see the marvelous part of it.

  "Look at how small our town looks from all the way up here. I think I can see our house. Isn't it amazing?"

  "S-sure."

  There was a silence where I wondered if I would hit my head first on those rocks beneath us, or if I would break every bone in my body before I finally died.

  There was another whisper by my ear. "You lied to me last night, didn't you?"

  I turned with a gasp and looked into her eyes. My foot slipped, and I was about to fall when my mom grabbed me by the neck. She held me while grinning.

  "Mo-om?"

  "Just tell me, Robyn. Be honest with me. You know how I always expect you to be honest. How I detest it when people lie to me."

  "Okay! Okay. I lied. I lied, yes, Mom. I lied!" I almost screamed. The words echoed off the mountainsides and came back. "Yes, I lied."

  My mom grinned. "I thought so."

  She pulled me in and I fell on my knees in the snow. It took a few seconds for me to catch my breath and calm my heart down. I looked up at her. She bent down toward me.

  "I knew you were still in love with him, Robyn. A mother knows these things. Now come. Let's look for animals."

  I stared after her as she started to walk. "W-what?"

  Was that it? Was that the part she believed I had been lying about? When I said I wasn't in love with Jayden anymore?

  "Animals," she said. "I thought we could learn a little about them by actually going for a hike."

  I got up and brushed snow off my knees. "But…don't most animals hibernate in the winter?"

  She shook her head. "Not all of them. Come see over here. There are paw prints—uhh—this looks like a big animal and look…there seem to be human shoe-prints right next to them. Well, it's almost like…like someone came here as an animal and left as a human, huh? Ha-ha, that's hilarious, don't you think? Come, let's follow the prints and see where they lead."

  My mom started to walk. I stared at the prints in the snow, then realized she was following the human shoeprints and not the paw prints.

  Chapter Thirty

  Where do I go? Where can I go?

  Melanie was walking in the freezing cold, the icy wind feeling great on her warm face. She was tired, completely worn out, and her body was so sore it was unbearable. But she had to keep moving if she wanted to get back to town, somehow. She wasn't certain she wanted to go back to Amy's house. The vampires did, after all, live on the same street, and it would only be a matter of time before they found her. She wasn't certain she wanted to sit there and wait for that.

  Besides, she missed her mother. She hadn't seen her in weeks and wanted to make sure she was all right. Melanie had always been there to protect her mother when her boyfriends beat her or when she needed someone to help her to bed because she had gotten too drunk. It had always been Melanie's job. Who was holding her hair now when she threw up? Who cleaned up all the bottles? Who kicked the men out when they became violent?

  I should never have left you.

  Melanie had learned new things about herself while living in the shelter. One thing was that her sight had gotten a lot better and her hearing. She could hear everything, even the smallest sound of an insect moving across the walls of the shelter. She remembered waking up one morning because an ant was walking across the floor and it sounded like thunder.

  Now she heard another sound that made her stop and stare. It was the sound of a small mouse rustling inside the bushes. How did she know? Because, somehow, she could zoom in on it and see it, even though it was far away, and even though it was hiding.

  Melanie heard her stomach grumble. A growl grew in her throat. She cleared her throat to make it go away, but she couldn't stop staring at the mouse. Why did she feel like catching it, like hunting it down? Why couldn't she stop thinking about it? Why could she smell it like was it some delicious roast standing right in front of her?

  Melanie shook her head and decided to move on. She walked a few steps more, when she suddenly heard something else, very clearly. It sounded like human voices cutting through the icy air. But not only human voices. They belonged to people she knew.

  "That's Robyn!" she said and turned to look but couldn't see anyone. What was Robyn doing out here? Happily, Melanie was about to turn around and see if she could find her and then maybe she could help her get back to town, but then she heard something else, something that scared her far more than anything else in the world.

  The sound of Robyn's vampire mother laughing.

  "Pawprints," she heard her say. "Let's follow the prints and see where they lead."

  Startled and terrified, Melanie began to run and soon realized she was able to run very, very fast; even though she was sore from all the running the night before, she quickly forgot all about that and, pressing through the pain, she soon rushed through the landscape, seeing the town approach in the distance.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  They continue over here, come," my mom yelled as I tried to catch up with her. "Look, there are more here and look…look now they're over here…I think this person is…running, very fast."

  "Why are we following some human prints when we were supposed to learn about nature?" I complained, panting heavily. "It makes no sense, Mom. Why are we…?"

  My mom didn't seem to want to listen to me. She was on some sort of mission that I had no idea what was about and frankly couldn't care less about. I was tired and didn't possess her supernatural strength.

  She sniffed the air and had obviously gotten the scent of something, and soon she was no longer waiting for me. She moved so fast I couldn't really see her anymore.

  "Mom?"

  But she was nowhere to be seen. For a second, I was certain I saw her jump into the top of a tree, but then I blinked, and she was gone. Not knowing what else to do, I sped up, following the prints in the snow.

  "What the heck is she so eager to find?" I asked myself repeatedly. When the dime finally dropped, I felt so stupid for not seeing it before.

  "Melanie," I whispered into the icy wind. "That's why we had to come here, wasn't it? You knew she would go to the mountains; you knew she needed to go where she could run because you knew she was a wolf and you knew it all along, didn't you, mommy dearest?"

  I was shocked. The entire field trip hadn't been about me at all. It hadn't been about scaring me because I had lied. She had said it herself on the phone when speaking to Jazmine's mom.

  "Something needs to be done."

  I said the words out loud and my breath crystallized in front of my face. I kept moving to keep from freezing, while thinking about the entire thing.

  My mom had come here to find the wolf. Did she know it was Melanie? It was possible. She could have seen it on the night when she tried to kill her, the night in the abandoned house. After all, if anyone knew, it had to be my mom. She had seen it before anyone else did. She had known all along since she had looked into her eyes and tried to kill her.

  But what happened next? What if she did find her?

  I stopped, suddenly realizing there was nothing I could do to stop my mom. She was so much stronger than I. The only way I knew a vampire
could die, the only one I had seen was when Melanie bit down on that pastor, the vampire pastor. He had turned to dust.

  Would Melanie end up killing my mom? If they were in a fight, then yes. I couldn't really see any way this could end well. I was terrified of my mom, yes, and I hated what she was and what she did, but I certainly didn't want her to die. She was still my mother.

  I stopped, feeling completely helpless. I looked at my phone, contemplating calling the others, but what could they do? All we had right now was the hope that Melanie somehow escaped my mother's claws once again, and hopefully without killing her in the process.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Melanie felt like someone was chasing her. Someone was closing in on her. All her strong senses told her so. She stopped to look but couldn't see anything. She could, however, hear something. The sound of someone breathing. It was coming from the top of a tree, where she—now that she looked up—spotted Robyn's mother sitting, staring at her with her blazing emerald eyes.

  Their eyes locked across the landscape for a few seconds. She was still far away, but both of their enhanced sight made it feel like she was right next to Melanie. Robyn's mother smiled.

  "Hello there, Melanie," she whispered, but it was loud enough for Melanie to hear. "Told ya' I would find you."

  Melanie felt her heart race. She knew this woman could move a lot faster than she could. She was faster than the wind and could be right there in the blink of an eye. Yet, all Melanie could think of was to run. It was her natural reaction, but as she was about to, she suddenly remembered what had happened the night before.

  I killed him. I killed a vampire.

  That was right. Melanie had killed that vampire simply by biting him. And the rest of them had been terrified of her. Robyn's mother had to be too. She had to be scared of her since she could kill her with just one bite. She probably just thought Melanie didn't know that yet.

  "Leave me alone," Melanie growled.

  She could tell Robyn's mother heard her by the sudden change of expression on her face. Melanie stared at her, then blinked her eyes and, suddenly, Robyn's mother was right in front of her.

  Melanie growled. Robyn's mother grinned. "You think you scare me?" she said and walked in circles around her. "I ain't scared of no wolf." She hissed and showed off her fangs.

  Melanie looked down at her hands that had no claws on them and she knew she had no fangs. She only transformed at night. It happened automatically, without her being in control of it, whereas Robyn's mother seemed to be able to force it to come. Was it different being a werewolf than a vampire? Suddenly, Melanie realized she had no way of surviving a fight with Robyn's vampire mother. If she didn't have her fangs, she couldn't bite her, could she? She couldn't kill her.

  Melanie remembered her taekwondo and how Coach Mike had taught her to fear no man. Yet, Melanie felt suddenly terrified, standing face to face with this creature who now turned into a bat-like beast, hissing and showing its teeth, reaching her claws out for her.

  As she lunged for her, Melanie gave her one of her famous tornado kicks and slammed her foot straight into Robyn's mother's face. The vampire sizzled but didn't move. She lunged at her again and Melanie screamed, just as they both heard a loud sound. It was the sound of a car crashing through the trees. They turned to look and spotted it.

  The car bumped towards them and slammed into Robyn's mother and threw her through the air. Out of the window of the car peeked a girl.

  "Robyn!" Melanie said.

  "Run," she yelled. "Run before she comes back!"

  Melanie didn't think twice before she leaped into the air and ran faster than ever before, faster than what she even believed to be possible.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  I watched Melanie disappear, then got out of the car and looked for my mother. She was lying in the snow, her leg twisted the wrong way, a huge wound on her head.

  I stared at her, my heart throbbing in my chest. Had I killed her? Had I been wrong about her? She wasn't moving.

  I closed the door and approached her, kneeling next to her in the snow. "Mom?"

  I stared at her lifeless body, worrying that I had hurt her when she suddenly moved her arm. Her leg twisted back into place, the bones creaking, and my mom soon sat up and looked at me. I watched as the wound on her head closed up.

  "What happened?" she asked.

  "I…I think I hit you with the car," I said and looked back at the car and the huge dent in the front of it. "I…I lost control of it and blasted through the trees over there and then I…"

  My mom sighed. "You always were a terrible driver. I’ve told you that before. How they agreed to give you a license is beyond me."

  "Are you okay?" I asked.

  She nodded. "I think so."

  "I was scared there for a moment that I might have…hurt you."

  Our eyes met. "I bet." She paused and felt her forehead. "Say…why was I…wait…what happened to…I was with…did you see…was I with someone?"

  I shook my head and prayed that she would believe me. "You were all alone when I got here."

  She gave me a look. "Are you sure about that?"

  "Absolutely. We were looking for paw prints and I lost you, so I went to get the car and drive it down here when I saw you and drove through the trees. I lost control of the car and hit you by accident."

  "Did you now?" she asked suspiciously. She stood up and wiped snow off her black pants.

  I acted surprised. "It was an accident, Mom. Don't you believe me?"

  She gave me another look, then smiled. "Of course, I do. Of course." She reached over and touched my cheek, running her sharp nail across it. "You would never lie to me, right? Not again."

  I shook my head. "Of course not."

  Her eyes looked into mine, examining me. It felt very uncomfortable. Could she somehow tell that I was lying to her? She was my mother, she could tell, couldn't she?

  "So, you didn't see…anyone else here?" she asked.

  I sighed and pulled away, trying to use another strategy to get her off my back. The one of the angry teenager.

  "For cryin' out loud. No, Mom, it must have been something you dreamt while you were out. Now, let's go. I’m freezing. I want to go home."

  "And you didn't see…me…"

  "I told you, Mom. I didn't see you at all. How else would I have hit you with the car? It all went very fast and I didn't see you standing there. Otherwise, I would have steered around you. Now, let's go."

  I walked toward the car, feeling how her eyes followed my every move carefully. My palms were sweating even though it was freezing out. I wondered if she bought it; I prayed that she did.

  "Enough field trip for now," she said and caught up to me. "You have a blackberry and kale smoothie with your name on it back at the house."

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Melanie ran till she reached town, then slowed down. She found that she was hardly panting, even after running for so long. She was growing stronger and was getting better endurance. It was slightly intoxicating.

  As she reached town, she found her way toward her old neighborhood, and she walked past the many old small houses. She nodded at a few of the neighbors, who stared at her like they had seen a ghost before she finally reached her own house.

  She stood for a few minutes outside and stared at the entrance. In the window next to it, she could see her mother inside the living room. She seemed to be looking for something, lifting up the pillows on the couch.

  Probably searching for change, as usual.

  The thought made Melanie chuckle. Miserable as their lives used to be, she had missed it. She had missed her.

  Melanie took in a deep breath, then walked up to the door. She wondered if she should simply walk inside but figured that might frighten her mother since she hadn't been home in weeks.

  She knocked, then waited. It didn't take long before the door opened. Her mother stood in the doorway, an amazed look on her face as she laid eyes on Melanie.<
br />
  "M-Mel?"

  Melanie nodded. "I'm home, Mom." Tears were shaping in her eyes as her mother said:

  "What are you doing here?"

  Melanie shook her head. What an odd thing to say. "I'm home. I’ve come home."

  The look on her mother's face made her heart drop. Wasn't she pleased to see her?

  "Come in before anyone sees you," she said and glanced out at the neighbors before she stepped aside so Melanie could walk in. "Have you grown? I believe you have and what…big muscles you’ve gotten?"

  "It's so I can better beat up anyone who messes with me," Melanie said, chuckling.

  Her mother studied her face and wiped her hair away from her cheek, then touched it gently.

  "Have your ears grown too?" she asked.

  Melanie chuckled again. "I’m not doing the whole Little Red Riding Hood thing with you."

  "I'm sorry," her mother said with a sigh.

  She turned away and sat heavily on the couch, making the empty bottles on the coffee table rattle. "I just don't feel like…I can hardly recognize you. I feel like I hardly know who you are anymore."

  Melanie sat next to her. She sensed her mother pulling away like she didn't want to sit too close to her.

  "But, Mom. It's me. It's Melanie."

  Her mother shook her head. "You're not her. Something has changed."

  "But…but…Mom, it's still me, look into my eyes."

  She did but only briefly. "I need some coffee. I'll make some for both of us." Her mother shook her head and walked into the kitchen.

  Melanie felt tears in her eyes as she heard her mother fumbling with the coffeemaker in the kitchen. Why did she say she couldn't recognize her? She was still her daughter. She was still her child. Nothing about that had changed.

  Right?

  Chapter Thirty-Five