by Gayla Twist
Fred and Don were more gentle than the vampire would have liked, but they managed to roust Liz to at least some level of consciousness.
The senior Vanderlind’s eyes began to glow like hot coals. His voice became soft and coaxing like a pervert offering candy to a child. I knew what he was doing. He was using his influence over my friends. I turned my head away and shut my eyes as he said, “As soon as you leave here, your memories will start to fade. You’ll know that something unpleasant has happened, but you won’t quite be able to remember what. By the time you reach help, it will all be so very cloudy, like a bad dream after you wake up and get out of bed. You’ll know you were frightened, but you won’t quite remember why.”
“The police will want to know something,” Jessie informed him. “You have to give them some type of excuse.”
“Fine,” Grandpa Vanderlind said, sounding very put upon. “You were kidnapped and blindfolded. You don’t remember anything about your captors beyond that they were men. They didn’t abuse you in any way, and then you woke up one morning and they were gone.”
“But what about Fred’s arm? What about Liz?” I demanded, my eyes still closed. “They can’t say they weren’t abused when they obviously have injuries.”
“Just say you can’t remember,” the vampire snapped. “People will ask you questions about what happened, but you can’t remember.”
“When it comes to a story, you’re really quite the craftsman,” Jessie said in a dry tone.
“Enough of this nonsense,” Grandpa Vanderlind snapped, his temper rising. “I’m not here to coddle mortals. Just open the damn door and let’s get them the hell out of here.”
I cracked open my eyes as I heard Jessie moving toward the door. Fred and Don were rubbing at their eyes as if they’d just woken out of a sound sleep. Liz was very still. She looked dazed, and I wondered how long she had left if we didn’t get her to a hospital soon.
There was some clanging as if Jessie was trying to get some machinery to move that hadn’t moved in a long time. “Do you know what you’re doing?” his grandfather snarled.
“No,” Jessie snarled right back. “I’ve never done this before. Would you like to come over here and help?”
Mr. Vanderlind did the opposite of stepping forward to help. He actually retreated a few yards back down the tunnel. “Just figure it out.”
After a bit more struggle, Jessie began turning something that made a steady clicking noise. The wooden wall seemed to quiver for a moment, then something broke loose and it began to move, rising and folding like a garage door. Sunlight began streaming in.
“Jessie,” I exclaimed, dashing forward. “Get back. I’ll open the damn door,” I said, shoving him away from the light. He stepped back to stay out of the full glare of the sunlight but stayed as close to me as he possibly could.
I looked down and could make out a small metal crank with a wooden handle. I grabbed it and tried to give it a turn. It was much more challenging that I had anticipated. Jessie had appeared to be doing it with very little effort, but I had to brace my feet and really put my body into it. The door rose an inch and then another, the light from the afternoon sun pushing the vampires back a half step at a time. I built up a bit of speed at the crank, and the door rose higher and higher.
Don went to get to his feet, but Jessie yelled at him to “Stay with Liz,” causing the boy to sink down to the ground again. Fred came up by my side and stood very close to me even as the light pushed Jessie further away.
“Are they really vampires?” Fred asked.
I nodded, staying focused on the crank.
“So you could walk out into the sunlight and there’s nothing they could do to stop you?”
“It will be dark again in a few hours, and then there would be hell to pay,” I told him, breathing a little heavy from my efforts.
“Isn’t it better to take your chances than to just hand yourself over?” he wanted to know.
“I wouldn’t just be risking me,” I informed him. “I’d be risking the lives of everyone in Tiburon. I’d be risking my mom. I’d be risking your parents. Everyone.” I finished hoisting up the door and locked the crank in place so it wouldn’t come crashing down again.
Jessie stood on the very edge of the sunlight. I could tell that even the indirect sun was causing him pain, but he still stood there. “Go with him,” Jessie said. “Go now.”
“No,” I said, whirling around to run back into the tunnel.
Fred caught me by the wrist with his good hand. “Aurora, this is our only chance. We have to go now.”
I couldn’t break free. Fred’s grip was like iron. “Stop it!” I shouted at him. “Let me go!”
“No!” Fred shouted back.
“Go,” Jessie said to me imploringly. “Just go with him.”
“Fuck this,” Don said, getting to his feet. “You do whatever the hell you want. I’m out of here.”
“Stay there!” Jessie shouted at him in such a commanding voice that Don became instantly rooted to the spot. Whipping his head around, Jessie said, “Aurora, you must leave. Go!”
“No,” I said, thrashing against Fred’s grip. “You know what will happen if I do. You know I can’t.”
“Oh, for pity sake,” Mr. Vanderlind snarled as he stormed forward. “Get out of the way,” he said, shoving Jessie aside so that he could stand the closest he possibly could to me without stepping into the sunlight. “Boy!” he called to Fred, his eyes starting to glow like two embers. “Listen to me.”
That’s when Jessie snatched up Don and physically hurled the teen with all his might at his grandfather.
Chapter 33
Mr. Vanderlind went sprawling into the sunlight as Don crashed into him. The vampire let out a scream of pain and rage, his body instantly beginning to smoke as soon as the light touched his skin.
Don immediately rolled off of the man, surprised and disoriented. But Fred was right there. He abruptly released my hand and dove on top of the vampire, tackling him as he tried to stagger to his feet.
The senior Vanderlind wasn’t going down without a fight. He hadn’t survived in the middle of the ocean for eight decades without being tough. He flung Fred off with a swing of his arm and sent the boy smashing into the trunk of a nearby tree. There was a loud crack. Fred let out a shriek of pain and slumped to the ground.
“Aurora, silver!” Jessie shouted.
Yanking an earring out of my ear, I dove on top of the vampire, slapping the silver mesh against his face. I was aiming for his eye, but only got his cheek. The vampire shrieked and thrashed violently. I felt a sharp blow to the side of my head, knocking me to the ground. Everything went fuzzy then dark for a moment. When I was able to see again, the vampire was towering over me.
“Aurora!” Jessie shouted, trying to rush out into the sunlight.
“Stay there!” his grandfather commanded, pointing at him with the full expectation that his orders would be obeyed. “I will deal with you later.”
Jessie desperately wanted to disobey his grandfather, I could see that written across his face, but he couldn’t. He had to do as his maker decreed.
I started crab walking backward on my hands and feet, my butt dragging on the ground, trying to put a little space between me and the member of the undead who was now looking at me with the crazed eyes of a rabid dog. I scrabbled at my sweater, trying to free a piece of one of the shattered stakes that were slicing into my skin.
“I am going to drain you now, you little slut,” the elder Vanderlind said, grabbing me by the hair and dragging me back to the shade of the tunnel. “I am going to suck out every ounce of your blood and then spend the next hundred years teaching my grandson a lesson about loyalty,” he told me as he flung me to the floor.
“No,” I whimpered, giving up on the stakes. I’d landed on the wood too many times. They were nothing but splinters.
“Leave her alone!” Jessie bellowed, straining against his own body to come to my aid.
&nb
sp; I tried to get to my feet. I tried to run. But Mr. Vanderlind shoved me back down, pinning my shoulders to the ground. “You should be happy,” he told me. His skin had stopped smoking; it was starting to heal. His fangs glinted in the shadows. “You’re about to experience a true vampire kiss.” As he bent his head to drain me, I could see his eyes. They were gray like the ocean after a storm. They were Jessie’s eyes.
“No,” I shrieked, thrashing beneath him, flinging my head from side to side trying to avoid having his fangs pierce my flesh.
The vampire let out a hiss of pain and jerked away from me. I had been writhing so violently that my remaining silver earring had grazed his face. “You bitch,” he snarled, raising his hand to strike me.
That’s when Fred came up behind him and smashed him upside the head with a broken tree branch, doing his best imitation of a pro ballplayer swinging for the fences. Grandpa Vanderlind was caught so unaware that he partially slid off of me, freeing my left hand. I ripped the remaining earring out of my lobe and aimed it for his eye. This time I didn’t miss. The vampire fell backward, shrieking and clawing at his face.
“Stake him!” Jessie yelled. “Stake him, now!”
Fred stood frozen for a moment, unsure what he should do. “You want me to … what?” he stammered.
I leapt to my feet. “Give me the damn stake,” I shouted, grabbing the broken branch and yanking it out of his hands. I raised it high in the air and then, without hesitation, drove it down with all my might straight into the vampire’s chest.
“No!” the vampire screamed, a spray of blood spurting from his lips. “I can’t have lived this long to die by the likes of you.”
But it was already too late. His body started to shake and twitch as soon as the wood pierced his flesh. His skin split and cracked and peeled away from his bones. His eyes, so much like the beautiful gray eyes of the man I loved, shriveled in his skull. A blanket of black gas escaped his mouth, filling the air and making me cough and gag. I ran for fresh air with Fred hard on my heels.
I don’t know if it was the black gas or just the horror of having staked my second vampire in the space of a few months, but whatever was in my stomach came out in a hurry. I found myself retching against the tree that had so helpfully provided us with a branch to conquer our enemy. I felt profoundly grateful to the tree and knew that kneeling on the ground and puking on its roots was not the proper way to show my appreciation.
Once I had stopped heaving, Fred came over and slumped to the ground next to me. “I think I need to go to the hospital very soon,” he said in a voice that had a disturbing wheeze to it. He closed his eyes. “I’m worried that Liz might be dead, and I can’t find Don.”
I lifted my head. “Don?” I called. “Don!” I called louder.
I held very still, listening for the reply. That’s when I heard the sirens. I whipped my head around to look at Jessie. He was standing over a pile of rags that used to be his grandfather. “Can you bring Liz out here?” I called to him, finding it hard to get to my feet without the world spinning. “I think those sirens are for us.”
Jessie immediately grabbed Liz’s limp body and carried her over to the edge of the shadow. I heard him take a few deep breaths; then he rushed forward. His skin immediately started to smoke. I could see layer upon layer burning away.
“Throw her!” I shouted. “Just throw her away from the door.
Jessie flung the girl’s limp body over the threshold of the door and then scrambled back inside. His face looked like he had been in a fire. The sirens were getting closer. “I’ll come to you tonight,” he called, smoke still radiating off his body. But he was already starting to heal. He must have hit an emergency release bar on the garage door because it abruptly slammed shut. We were left staring at a perfectly normal-looking garage door in somebody’s backyard.
The sirens were only a block or two away. “Let’s move Liz away from the garage,” I said, limping over to her body.
“I don’t think I can,” was Fred’s faint reply.
Fred was not looking good. I hoped he only had a few broken bones, but I shouldn’t have wanted him to try to move Liz. I felt like a jerk for even asking. Unfortunately, there was one more favor I felt compelled to bring up. “Fred, I know it’s a lot to ask, but is there any way you can avoid telling the police about the vampire?”
“The what?” he said, giving me a funny look.
A police car squealed into the driveway. “The vampires. Please don’t mention the vampires,” I said hurriedly.
“I’m sorry,” Fred replied. “I’m not feeling great. What are you asking?”
“Nothing,” I told him as two officers jumped out of the squad car, guns drawn. “It was nothing. I just wanted to thank you for my beautiful earrings.”
“You’re welcome,” he said with a faint smile. “I’m glad you like them.”
Chapter 34
A few hours later, I was released from the hospital. I had some pretty bad bruises and they wanted me to take it easy for a few days, but I apparently didn’t have a concussion and nothing was broken. Fred’s shoulder was a mess. He also had some broken ribs and a punctured lung. The doctors were amazed by how well he was functioning given the state of his injuries. I knew it was mostly adrenaline from fighting the vampire, but I wasn’t going to tell anyone else that. Don was fine, just a little low on blood. He had run to a neighbor’s house and pounded on the door, telling them to call 911. Liz was in a coma, but they were transfusing her some blood and thought she would make it.
Once I was patched up, the police wanted to talk to me. I took my cue from Fred’s behavior as the emergency vehicles had arrived. All knowledge of what had happened to him seemed to quickly melt away. He was in pain but not all that upset. Just happy to see the paramedics.
My mom was almost instantly at the hospital. I could imagine her running red lights and breaking speed limits. She insisted on being in the room with me when I was questioned by the police. They tried to bar her, but she was so ferociously adamant that they decided it was easier just to let her be there.
I couldn’t tell them much. I said that I’d gone to the public pier. I had, after all, left my bug there. I told them I’d gotten out of my car and was headed along the shore when I heard footsteps coming up fast behind me. I turned to see who it was and then … I let my eyes grow vague. They peppered me with questions, but I wore a puzzled expression and said things like “I’m not sure.”
They did also ask me if I was fighting with my boyfriend. Had I heard from my father lately? Was anyone bullying me at school? Those answers I gave clearly, all to the negative. The two police officers questioning me, both women, had a quiet conversation between themselves. They agreed that they had to wait for the blood work to come back from the lab to see if I’d somehow been drugged.
The one question they asked me that I stumbled over answering was, “Why did you go to the pier?”
I really didn’t have a good reply. “Uh …” I said, completely caught out. Then I just shrugged my shoulders and added, “I like the pier.” But I’m not sure they believed me. At least to my own ears, I sounded insincere.
As mom drove me home, I began to worry about things. Would anyone in the neighboring town remember me from the bank or the hardware store? There was the package I’d shipped general delivery. Would that be remembered and somehow traced to Viggo?
There was also my backpack still in the tunnel. It had my cell phone and keys and wallet. I hoped Jessie would pick up the backpack because it could also be a problem if the police or some maintenance workers found it. I knew I wasn’t that great of an actress as far as playing the role of a girl with memory loss. My only hope was that since the other kids didn’t remember anything either, I didn’t look too suspicious.
“Are you doing all right, honey?” Mom asked. “Did you remember something?” She’d obviously observed the grim expression on my face.
I looked over at her, surprised. I had been so lost in my own th
oughts, I kind of forgot she was there. “I don’t have my car keys,” I said. “Did you bring the spare?”
“Honey, we’re not picking your car up now,” she told me. “I’ll figure something out to get it later, but right now we’re taking you home.”
I really, really wanted to go home. The idea of being snug in our house where we were safe from the undead held a lot of appeal for me. I could still see Jessie’s grandfather very vividly in my head, his weird skin making him look both young and old. So much sun exposure over the decades seemed to have somehow made him able to withstand it much longer than Jessie. I could see the scar slashing across his face. The hatred he felt toward me radiating off of him. And those horrible gray eyes. I knew those eyes would haunt my sleep for the rest of my life.
It was a hard thing to reconcile in my head. I loved Jessie so deeply, and when I looked into his eyes I felt pure happiness. But they were the same as his grandfather’s eyes. They were the same unfathomable gray. They were the eyes of a vampire.
How could I keep on going, loving Jessie the way I did but constantly under attack from the undead world? I knew deep in my heart that Jessie had been right the first time he had tried to end our relationship. He’d done it to try to protect me. He’d done it because he loved me. I wished I had been smart enough to know that, but I’d let my emotions overrule my head. I’d put myself in danger, my mother in danger, and everyone I’d ever met in danger because I was in love with a vampire.
I hung my head, completely ashamed of how selfish love had made me.
By the time we finally got home, it was pushing nine o’clock. I was exhausted, and every bit of my body hurt. Even the roots of my hair ached a little. “I’m going to bed,” I told my mom as I started shuffling for the stairs.
Mom hurried over to my side and put her arms around me. “I’m not going to squeeze you because I know you’re in pain, but I just have to hug you for a moment to know that you’re here and that you’re all right.” She sniffed, sounding a bit tearful. “I was so scared when the police called.”