by Chris Cannon
When I pulled up to Zelda’s house, I had a surprise for Jake. I hoped he wouldn’t be opposed to wearing it. I wouldn’t mention that it had some of Carol’s blood in it.
The door to the shop was open, and Zelda stood behind the counter, going through a book of receipts. Why wasn’t everything computerized? She must like to do things the old-fashioned way.
“Hello, Meena.” She beamed at me. “Here to take Jake to lunch?”
“Yes.”
“He’s upstairs in the television room.”
I paused. Carol had given me a letter to pass along to Zelda. I hadn’t asked what was in it, but I was sure she shared about Vi and Sybil. “Can you wait to read this until Jake and I come back down?”
“I’m intrigued.” Zelda held the envelope up to the light like she was trying to see through it.
I headed through the shop area down the hall to the staircase. Jake was halfway down the steps. “Hey.” He smiled at me.
My heart tripped a beat. The T-shirt he wore stretched across his chest and shoulders, making him look distinctly male. “Hello.” I pulled the leather cording with an engraved silver charm out of my pocket and held it out to him. “I come bearing anti-vampire gifts.”
Jake met me at the bottom of the stairs and took the necklace from my hand. “What’s this?” He held it up to the light and checked out both sides.
“It’s infused with herbs that smell bad to vampires.”
He sniffed it. “I don’t smell anything.”
“That’s because you’re not a vampire.” I took it from his hand and put it over his head. “You can wear it under your shirt if jewelry isn’t your thing.”
“I don’t mind,” he said. “And I guess it’s a good way to start a conversation with Aunt Zelda.”
I followed him back to where his aunt was holding the envelope. She took one look at his necklace and frowned. “How did you get mixed up with vampires?”
Jake told her the story of Vi and Sybil.
Wait a minute. “How could Sybil be on your porch?” I asked.
“It doesn’t have a door. So technically it’s still outside of the house.” Zelda tilted her head and studied Jake. “Why didn’t you tell me the minute this happened?”
She wasn’t admonishing him but she did sound disappointed.
Jake shrugged. “You had enough on your plate. I thought it would be better if I told you after I fixed it.”
Zelda came forward and placed her hand on Jake’s shoulder. “Despite my epic fail with Bane, I do know a thing or two about how this town works. I’m glad Carol made you the charm, but there are other things you need to know.”
“How to keep creatures out of the house?” Jake asked.
“To start with.”
“Sorry I didn’t tell you.” Jake ducked his head.
“No harm done. Just make sure you keep me apprised of any and all otherworldly weirdness that you experience from now on.” She smiled. “I understand if you don’t want to stay in Crossroads for your senior year of high school, but I hope you’ll consider it.”
“Really?” Jake lit up, maybe because someone actually wanted him around.
She nodded. “It’s nice having company again. Now, why don’t you two run out to lunch while I take care of a few things. We’ll talk vampires when you come back.”
“Just a minute.” I pulled out my necklace. “Carol gave me this charm to try and help me fly under the radar. My mom has a scar on her arm in the same shape. Do you think that means anything?”
Zelda frowned. “I’m not sure. It wouldn’t be hard for a cut to look like that. It’s a simple line that dips in the middle. Do you remember her having the mark when you were younger?”
“It doesn’t stand out. I doubt I would have paid attention to it.”
“More than likely it’s a simple scar, but I’ll let you know if I think of anything else.”
“Thank you.”
Chapter Ten
Jake
Aunt Zelda asking me to stay just about choked me up. What was wrong with me? She was an old lady who liked having someone around to help with the house. It would be cool to stay here with unlimited food and a steady supply of electricity and clean clothes. Something my mom hadn’t always managed. Not that it was her fault. She’d done her best.
What if Mom popped up and wanted me to stay with her? That thought made my stomach hurt. Then again, I was probably hungry.
“Where do you want to go for lunch?” I asked Meena as we headed out to her Volkswagen Bug. For the first time I noticed her license plates:
EMABUG.
“Shouldn’t it say I’M A BUG?”
“My mom’s name is Emma,” Meena said. “This was her car.”
Crap. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. You didn’t know.”
Once we were headed down the road, she said, “After we have your vampire issue under control, I want to see if there is any magic that can help revive my mom from her coma.”
That had bad idea written all over it. What happened if she woke her mom up and all she could do was stare at the wall and drool? There was no way I could say that to Meena, though. If it was my mom I’d want to get her back any way I could.
“Once we have this situation under control, I’ll help any way I can.” I reached over and put my hand on hers. “So what did you learn from Carol about vampires?”
“Most of the movie lore is true. Cutting off their head or staking them through the heart will kill them.”
“Great. I’ll have to work on my decapitation skills.” I took a few practice swings with an invisible machete.
“Carol also said the vampires around here are mostly civilized. They have relationships with humans who allow them to feed. That’s not to say that you should go jogging after dark near their territory, but they aren’t aggressive feeding machines like you see in the movies, unless you cross them.”
“So they just live here, and everyone knows about it?”
“Not exactly. Carol said that the mayor and the police know pretty much what is going on around here, but they’ll deny it to your face if you aren’t part of the inner circle of families who’ve lived here for generations.”
“I guess there’s a reason so many horror movies take place in creepy small towns.”
Meena laughed. “True. Most people are happy to look the other way. Some businesses hire the vamps as nighttime help or as extra security. Anyone who tries to rob a gas station or a Quick Mart around here probably ends up involuntarily giving blood.”
“So the police let vampires kill people?”
“Carol didn’t say that.” Meena frowned. “At least I don’t think she did.”
“So if we’re keeping track, we now have vampires, ghosts, demons, and witches,” I said. “And a smart girl like you never noticed any of this?”
“Hey.” She laughed. “I tend to avoid large gatherings of people. I thought the leather-wearing Harley people were bikers. I’ve never had a reason to make a deal with a demon. And I pretty much thought Carol and Zelda were odd ducks. That last one makes me feel kind of bad.”
We pulled into the parking lot of a Chinese restaurant and Meena cursed under her breath. “What’s wrong?” I checked the area but didn’t see any vampires or other supernatural creatures headed our way.
“I’m being summoned.” She shivered and clasped the bracelet with her other hand. “It must be serious because he amped up the cold.”
“So back to Carol’s house?” I asked.
“Why don’t you go in and order for us. I’ll see what he wants and then I’ll come back.”
I didn’t love that plan.
Blue light flashed in the corner of my vision. All of a sudden Bane was in the back seat of the car. “I’ll return her in fifteen minutes,” Bane said. And then the blu
e light flashed again and Meena was gone. Just gone. Poof. Disappeared.
“What the hell?” Heart beating like a jackhammer, I climbed out of the car and looked in every direction. No Meena or Bane in sight. Now what? I pulled out my cell and dialed Zelda, blurting out the details of Meena’s kidnapping.
“That’s bizarre,” Zelda said.
“What do I do?” I opened the car door and peered inside. “The keys are gone.” So no driving around to look for her.
“The good and bad news is that Bane seems to like Meena. If he said he’s going to return her, he will.”
Unless someone trapped him. “I hate feeling useless.”
“You’re not useless. You just don’t have many options at this point.”
“This blows.” I leaned against the car. “I guess I’ll stand here and wait for Meena to magically reappear.” Anyone who overheard this conversation would think I was nuts.
“Text me when she’s back so I know you’re both okay,” Zelda said.
“Great.” I stood for a few minutes. Then I gave up and sat in the car. Without the keys I couldn’t turn on the air and the heat was already bad. Now what? The restaurant wasn’t crowded from what I could see. And no one was sitting in the front by the main window. Maybe I should go in and order food. Sure, that was a logical thing to do right after a damn demon swiped my date.
To recap, I could sit and stew in my own sweat in a hot car or I could go into an air-conditioned building. Self-preservation kicked in so I headed into the restaurant.
“Table for two,” I told the hostess.
“Hot tea while you wait?” she asked.
Was she joking? “How about iced tea. Two glasses.”
I sipped my drink and pretended to read the menu while I checked the time on my cell. As the minutes ticked by my grip on the phone tightened. When it hit fifteen, I watched Meena’s car. Nothing. No blue light. No flash. What the heck was going on?
And then Meena came walking out of a back hallway that led to the restrooms. She didn’t seem surprised to see me but she did look unbelievably angry and kind of pale, like she didn’t feel good.
“Want to leave?” I asked before she even sat.
“No.” She sank into the chair, grabbed her tea with a shaking hand, and drank a third of it.
The waitress approached and Meena ordered chicken fried rice. I had no idea what was good so I ordered sweet and sour chicken, egg rolls, and crab rangoon.
I waited while she stared off into space. How bad could it have been? “Should I ask, or do you need more recovery time?”
“Bane took me to collect someone’s final payment. The guy pulled a gun on me, so Bane ripped his head off and sucked the rest of his soul out of his body like he was eating a crawfish.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“Yes,” Meena said. “That was pretty much my reaction.”
“Some guy pulled a gun on you?”
“And I froze, so apparently my survival instincts suck.”
“Yeah.” I ran my hand back through my hair. “In the future, I suggest running.”
“You think?”
“Sorry.” There was something I didn’t get. “Why did Bane need you?”
“I don’t know. He probably knew the guy would try to get out of his final payment…maybe Bane was waiting for the chance to rip his head off.” She stared at me. “That’s not a figure of speech. There was blood everywhere…and it was hot when it hit my skin.” She rubbed her hand across her forearm, which was clean. “He must have magicked it away.”
My muscles tensed like my body was looking for an enemy to fight. Bane was long gone. “So either you were collateral damage, or he traumatized you for his own amusement.” Either way, I hated this guy.
She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m not hungry. Can we get the food to go?”
I flagged the waitress down and changed our order to carryout. My cell buzzed. A bunch of question marks floated across the screen in a text from Zelda. I let her know we’d be home soon.
While we waited for our order, I stroked Meena’s forearm and searched for something comforting to say. The best I could come up with was, “It’s going to be okay.”
She gave a manic laugh. “Right.” She sniffled and kept her gaze out the window. “Thanks for making the effort.”
Once we had our food, I held out my hand. “Why don’t you let me drive.”
“Good idea.”
Zelda met us inside the front door. She was holding a gray-and-black striped cat with gray-green eyes. “I thought this might help.”
Meena reached for the cat and cradled it to her chest. “Where did he come from?”
“He was sleeping on the front step when I opened the door to check the mail. He walked inside like he lived here.”
The cat purred loud enough for me to hear as Meena rubbed its ears.
“You have a good purr,” Meena told the cat.
“Thank you,” the cat said, in perfect English.
Meena froze and then she said, “Did he just…?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“I guess he was meant to be here,” Zelda said. “Let’s go to the kitchen.”
“I smell Chinese food,” the cat commented in a male voice.
Meena sighed. “I’ll share my chicken fried rice if you pretend to be a normal cat and just purr or meow for the next ten minutes because I can’t deal with anything else at the moment.”
“Meow,” the cat said, and winked at me.
…
Meena
We went inside and sat at Zelda’s kitchen table. The cat was soft and warm against my chest. He nuzzled his head under my chin and purred while I tried to get past the exploding-head-trauma I’d just encountered.
Jake shared the story with Zelda. While I sat there, the scene replayed in my mind like a bad horror movie. Bane should have warned me. He must’ve known the guy would resist giving up his last bit of life.
And zapping me from the car to some office was total crap. No warning. Just bam. Instant relocation and a tsunami of nausea. Before I’d oriented myself a man in a suit had started yelling at Bane.
“She’s here to collect your final payment.” Bane held a syringe out to me.
The word “final” seemed to register with the man. He opened a desk drawer, pulled out a gun, and pointed it at me. Before I could even panic, Bane pounced on the man, ripped his head off and then inhaled what was left of his soul like he was breathing in the steam from a hot cup of peppermint tea. But peppermint tea didn’t spray hot blood and bits of skin across the room.
Bane didn’t register how upset I was until I bent over and puked on the industrial beige carpet. He seemed annoyed by my response and then there was a flash of light and I was in the bathroom at the Chinese restaurant. At least he’d cleaned me up before zapping me off. Still, I washed my hands twice to make sure there wasn’t any blood.
Zelda set a glass of ice water on the table in front of me. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I shook my head.
“Eat.” Jake pushed the white paper carton of chicken fried rice toward me. “It’ll make you feel better.”
“Not sure I can keep it down.”
“Has it been ten minutes?” the cat asked.
“Are you really a cat?” I asked the cute feline who was staring at me with intelligent eyes.
“Yes and no. I can take human form, if you like.”
“Let’s stick with this form for now.” I set him on the hardwood floor along with some chicken fried rice on a saucer. Unlike my cats, he ate in a slow, dignified manner.
“Did you two have a chance to talk vampires before Bane ruined your lunch date?” Zelda asked.
Jake recapped what I’d shared with him.
“Holy water can help,”
Zelda said. “I have a flask you can carry.”
“Will it work if I add some whiskey?” Jake asked.
“No. And don’t even think about it,” Zelda admonished in a good-natured way. “Tell me more about Vi.”
“According to her, she’s the disembodied souls of dark fairies who were sort of like sirens.”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Zelda said.
My perverse brain tossed out images of Tinker Bell in leather.
“Now she’s sharing the body of Sybil, a vampire who offered to turn me,” Jake said. “So I was thrilled to be rid of Vi for about thirty seconds before my life took another strange turn.”
“The good news is you’re no longer suffering from possession,” Zelda said. “The bad news is both Vi and Sybil seem to have a thing for you.”
Jake blushed.
“I know why I like you,” I said, “but you’re seventeen. Shouldn’t Sybil be looking for someone closer to her own age?”
“Is there an online dating site for vampires?” Jake asked. “’Cause I’d be happy to set up a profile for her.”
“Speaking of profiles,” I said. “Do you know Sybil or any of the vampires? Do they mingle with witches or do you all stay clear of each other? And if that’s the case, can we teach Jake some spells so Sybil will lose interest in him?”
“Mostly we keep to ourselves. Sometimes vampires come to us for charms or spells. But it’s not like we trust each other. The demons and the vampires compete for human resources.”
“You mean they compete to see who gets to eat or drink people?” I asked.
Zelda nodded. “A human who has made a deal can’t be fed off unless they give consent.”
“Still doesn’t make a deal sound worth it,” Jake said.
“The only thing that would make a deal worth it is saving someone’s life or saving your own,” Zelda said.
“One of the people I collected from was in remission from cancer,” I said. “Do people go to demons for that kind of stuff a lot?”
“Have you ever wondered about the Lifeforce Clinic?”
Some strange pieces of the Crossroads puzzle fell into place. “I always thought that place was more cult than clinic.”