by Trisha Telep
“Who’s there?” She called out in a firm and no-nonsense voice. It was the kind of voice she used when she worked as a cashier at the marked-up grocery during the summers when the cityfolk would complain about the price of arugula.
She wasn’t scared. Just curious. What would cause the lights to blink on and off and the door to bang open like that?
“Nobody,” someone answered.
Hannah turned around.
There was a boy sitting in the chair in the corner.
Hannah almost screamed. That she was not prepared for. A cat. Maybe a lost squirrel of some sort, she had been expecting. But a boy … Hannah was shy around boys. She was fast approaching her sweet-sixteen-and-never-been-kissed milestone. It was awful how some girls made such a big deal out of it, but even more awful that Hannah agreed with them.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?” Hannah said, trying to feel braver than she felt.
“This is my home,” the boy said calmly. He was her age, she could tell, maybe a bit older. He had dark shaggy hair that fell in his eyes, and he was wearing torn jeans and a dirty T-shirt. He was very handsome, but he looked pensive and pained. There was an ugly cut on his neck.
Hannah pulled up the covers to her chin, if only to hide her pajamas, which were flannel and printed with pictures of sushi. He must be a neighbor, one of the O’Malley boys who lived next door. How did he get into her room without her noticing? What did he want with her? Should she cry out? Let her mother know? Call for help? That wound on his neck—it looked ravaged. Something awful had happened to him, and Hannah felt her skin prickle with goose bumps.
“Who are you?” the boy asked, suddenly turning the tables.
“I’m Hannah,” she said in a small voice. Why did she tell him her real name? Did it matter?
“Do you live here?”
“Yes.”
“How strange,” the boy said thoughtfully. “Well.” He said. “Nice meeting you Hannah.” Then he walked out of her room and closed the door. Soon after, the light blinked off.
Hannah lay in her bed, wide-awake for a very long time, her heart galloping in her chest. The next morning, she didn’t tell her mom about the boy in her room. She convinced herself it was just a dream. That was it. She had just made him up. Especially the part about him looking like a younger Johnny Depp. She’d been wanting a boyfriend so much she’d made one appear. Not that he would be her boyfriend. But if she was ever going to have a boyfriend, she would like him to look like that. Not that boys who looked like that ever looked at girls like her. Hannah knew what she looked like. Small. Average. Quiet. Her nicest feature were her eyes, sea-glass green, framed with lush dark lashes. But they were hidden behind her eyeglasses most of the time.
Her mother always accused her of having an overactive imagination, and maybe that was all it was. She had finally let the winter crazies get to her. It was all in her mind.
But then he returned the next evening, wandering into her room as if he belonged there. She gaped at him, too frightened to say a word, and he gave her a courtly bow before disappearing. The next night, she didn’t fall asleep. Instead, she waited.
Three in the morning.
Lights blazed on. Was it just Hannah’s imagination or was the light actually growing stronger? The door banged. This time, Hannah was awake and had expected it. She saw the boy appear in front of her closet, materializing out of nowhere. She blinked her eyes, her blood roaring in her ears, trying to fight the panic welling up inside. Whatever he was … he wasn’t human.
“You again,” she called, trying to feel brave.
He turned around. He was wearing the same clothes as the two nights prior. He gave her a sad, wistful smile. “Yes.”
“Who are you? What are you?” she demanded.
“Me?” He looked puzzled for a moment, and then stretched his neck. She could see the wound just underneath his chin more clearly this time. Two punctures. Scabby and … blue. They were a deep indigo color, not the brownish-red she had been expecting. “I think I’m what you call a vampire.”
“A vampire?” Hannah recoiled. If he were a ghost, it would be a different story. Hannah’s aunt had told her all about ghosts—her aunt had gone through a Wiccan phase, as well as a spirit-guide phase. Hannah wasn’t afraid of ghosts. Ghosts couldn’t harm you, unless it was a poltergeist. Ghosts were vapors, spectral images, maybe even just a trick of the light.
But vampires … There was a Shelter Island legend about a family of vampires who had terrorized the island a long time ago. Blood-sucking monsters, pale and undead, cold and clammy to the touch, creatures of the night that could turn into bats, or rats or worse. She shivered, and looked around the room, wondering how fast she could fly out of bed and out the door. If there was even time to escape. Could you outrun a vampire?
“Don’t worry, I’m not that kind of vampire,” he said soothingly, as if he’d read her mind.
“What kind would that be?”
“Oh you know, chomping on people without warning. All that Dracula nonsense. Growing horns out of my head,” he shrugged. “For one thing, we’re not ugly.”
Hannah wanted to laugh but felt it would be rude. Her fright was slowly abating.
“Why are you here?”
“We live here,” he said simply.
“No one’s lived here in years,” Hannah said. “John Carter—the caretaker, he said it’s been empty forever.”
“Huh,” the boy shrugged. He took the corner seat, across from her bed.
Hannah glanced at him warily, wondering if she should let him get that close. If he was a vampire, he didn’t look cold and clammy. He looked tired. Exhausted. There were dark circles underneath his eyes. He didn’t look like a cold-blooded killer. But what did she know? Could she trust him? But he had visited her twice already, after all. If he’d wanted her dead then, he could have killed her at any time. There was something about him—he was almost too cute to be scared of.
“Why do you keep doing that?” she asked, when she found her voice.
“Oh, you mean the thing with the lights?”
She nodded.
“Dunno. For a long time, I couldn’t do anything. I was sleeping in your closet, but you didn’t see me. Then I realized I could turn the lights on and off, on and off. But it was only when you started noticing that I began to feel more like myself.”
“Why are you here?”
The boy closed his eyes. “I’m hiding from someone.”
“Who?”
He closed his eyes harder, so that his face was a painful grimace. “Somebody bad. Somebody who wants me dead—no, worse than dead.” He shuddered.
“If you’re a vampire aren’t you already dead?” she asked in a practical tone. She felt herself relaxing. Why should she be scared of him when it was so obvious it was he who was frightened?
“No, not really. It’s more like I’ve lived a long time. A long time,” he murmured. “This is our house. I remember the fireplace downstairs. I put the plaque up myself.” He must be talking about that dusty old plaque next to the fireplace, Hannah thought, but it was so old and dirty she had never thought to notice it before.
“Who’s chasing you?” Hannah asked.
“It’s compli …” but before the boy could finish his sentence, there was a rattle at the window. A thump, thump, thump, as if someone—or something—was throwing itself against it with all its might.
The boy jumped and vanished for a moment. He reappeared by the doorway, breathing fast and hard.
“What is that?” Hannah asked, her voice trembling.
“It’s here. It’s found me.” He said sharply, edgy and wired as if he were about to flee. And yet he remained where he was, his eyes fixed on the vibrating glass.
“Who?”
“The bad … thing …”
Hannah stood up and peered out the window. Outside was dark and peaceful. The trees, skeletal and bare of branches, stood still in the snowy field and against the frozen water
. Moonlight cast the view in a cold, blue glow.
“I don’t see any—Oh!” She stepped back, as if stabbed. She had seen something. A presence. Crimson eyes and silver pupils. Staring at her from the dark. Outside the window, it was hovering. A dark mass. She could feel its rage, its violent desire. It wanted in, to consume, to feed.
Hannah … Hannah …
It knew her name.
Let me in … Let me in …
The words had a hypnotic effect, she walked back toward the window, and began to lift the latch.
“STOP!”
She turned. The boy stood at the doorway, a tense, frantic look on his face.
“Don’t,” he said. “That’s what it wants you to do. Invite it inside. As long as you keep that window closed, it can’t come in. And I’m safe.”
“What is it?” Hannah asked, her heart pounding hard in her chest. She took her hand away from the window but kept her eyes on the view outside. There was nothing there anymore, but she could sense its presence. It was near.
“A vampire too. Like me, but different. It’s … insane,” he said. “It feeds on its own kind.”
“A vampire that hunts vampires?”
The boy nodded. “I know it sounds ridiculous …”
“Did it … do that to you?” she said, brushing her fingers against the scabs on his neck. They felt rough to touch. She felt sorry for him.
“Yes.”
“But you’re all right?”
“I think so.” He hung his head. “I hope so.”
“How were you able to come inside? No one invited you,” she asked.
“You’re right. But I didn’t need an invitation. The door was open when I came. But so many doors were open on all the houses, but I couldn’t enter any of them but this one. Which made me think that I’d found it. My family’s house.”
Hannah nodded. That made sense. Of course he would be welcome in his own home.
The rattling stopped. The boy sighed. “It’s gone for now. But it will be back.”
He looked so relieved that her heart went out to him.
“What do you need me to do?” she asked. She wasn’t scared anymore. Her mother always said Hannah had a head for emergencies. She was a stoic, dependable girl. More likely to plant a stake in the heart of a monster than scream for rescue from the railroad tracks. “How can I help?”
He raised his eyebrow and looked at her with respect. “I need to get away. I can’t stay here forever. I need to go. I need to warn the others. Tell them what happened to me. That the danger is growing.” He sagged against the wall. “What I ask you to do might hurt a bit, and I don’t want to ask unless it’s freely given.”
“Blood, isn’t it? You need blood. You’re weak,” Hannah said. “You need my blood.”
“Yes.” The shadows cast his face in sharp angles, and she could see the deep hollows in his cheeks. His sallow complexion. So perhaps some of the vampire legends were true.
“But won’t I turn into …?”
“No.” He shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way. No one can make a vampire. We were born like this. Cursed. You will be fine—tired and a little sleepy, maybe, but fine.”
Hannah gulped. “Is it the only way?” She didn’t much like how that sounded. He would have to bite her. Suck her blood. She felt nauseous just thinking about it, but strangely excited as well.
The boy nodded slowly. “I understand if you don’t want to. It’s not something that most people would like to do.”
“Can I think about it?” she asked.
“Of course,” he said.
Then he disappeared.
The next night, he told her a little more about the thing that was after him. It had almost gotten him once before, but he had been able to get away. But now it was back to finish the job. It had tracked him down. Hannah listened to the boy’s story. The more he talked, the closer she felt to him. He was running out of time, he said. He was growing weaker and weaker and one day he wouldn’t be able to resist its call. He would walk out to meet his doom, helpless against the creature’s will.
Something thumped on the window hard, breaking the spell of his speech. They both jumped. The glass vibrated, but held and didn’t shatter. Hannah could sense the thing was back. It was out there. It was close. It wanted to feed.
She turned to him, reached out for his hand. Her eyes were wide and frightened. “I’m sorry, but I … I can’t.”
“It’s all right,” he said mournfully. “I didn’t expect you to. It’s a lot to ask.”
The light blinked off, and he was gone.
Hannah thought about him all the next day, remembering his words, his desperation to get away from the creature in the night that was hunting him. How alone he had looked. How scared. He looked like how she had felt when her father had told her he was leaving them, and her mother had had no one to turn to. That evening, before going to bed, she put on her cutest nightgown—a black one her aunt had brought back from Paris. It was black and silk and trimmed with lace. Her aunt was her father’s sister and something of a “bad influence” (again her mom’s words). She had made a decision.
When he appeared at three in the morning, she told him she had changed her mind.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes. But do it quickly before I chicken out,” she ordered.
“You don’t have to help me,” he said.
“I know.” She swallowed. “But I want to.”
“I won’t hurt you,” he said.
She put a hand to her neck as if to protect it. “Promise?” How could she trust this strange boy? How could she risk her life to save him? But there was something about him—his sleepy dark eyes, his haunted expression—that drew her to him. Hannah was the type of girl who took in stray dogs and fixed broken bird’s wings. Plus, there was that thing out there in the dark. She had to help him get away from it.
“Do it.” She decided.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded briskly, as if she were at the doctor’s office and asked to give consent to a particularly troublesome, but much-needed operation. She took off her glasses, pulled the right strap of her nightgown to the side and arched her neck. She closed her eyes and prepared herself for the worst.
He walked over to her. He was so tall, and when he rested his hands on her bare skin, they were surprisingly warm to the touch. He pulled her closer to him and bent down.
“Wait,” he said. “Open your eyes. Look at me.”
She did. She stared into his dark eyes, wondering what he was doing.
“They’re beautiful—your eyes, I mean. You’re beautiful,” he said. “I thought you should know.”
She sighed and closed her eyes as his hand stroked her cheek.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
She could feel his hot breath on her cheek, and then his lips brushed hers for a moment. He kissed her, pressing his lips firmly upon hers. She closed her eyes and kissed him back. His lips were hot and wet.
Her first kiss, and from a vampire.
She felt his lips start to kiss the side of her mouth, and then the bottom of her chin, and then the base of her neck. This was it. She steeled herself for pain.
But he was right, there was very little. Just two tiny pin-pricks, then a deep feeling of sleep. She could hear him sucking and swallowing, feel herself begin to get dizzy, woozy. Just like giving blood at the donor drive. Except she probably wouldn’t get a doughnut after this.
She slumped in his arms and he caught her. She could feel him walk her to the bed, and lay her down on top of the sheets, then cover her with the duvet.
“Will I ever see you again?” she asked. It was hard to keep her eyes open. She was so tired. But she could see him very vividly now. He seemed to glow. He looked more substantial.
“Maybe,” he whispered. “But you’d be safer if you didn’t.”
She nodded dreamily, sinking into the pillows.
In the morning, she felt spent and l
ogy, and told her mother she felt like she was coming down with the flu and didn’t feel like going to school. When she looked in the mirror, she saw nothing on her neck—there was no wound, no scar. Did nothing happen last night? Was she indeed going crazy? She felt around her skin with her fingertips, and finally found it—a hardening of the skin, just two little bumps. Almost imperceptible, but there.
She’d made him tell her his name, before she had agreed to help him.
Dylan, he’d said. My name is Dylan Ward.
Later that day, she dusted the plaque near the fireplace and looked at it closely. It was inscribed with a family crest and underneath it read “Ward House.” Wards were foster children. This was a home for the lost. A safe house on Shelter Island.
She thought of the beast out there in the night, rattling the windows, and hoped Dylan had made it to wherever he was going.
AVA GLANCED AT the grimy alley. This can’t be right, she thought. Crushed newspapers, bags of garbage, and pools of muck lined the narrow street. But a faded sign with Accadamia della Spada hung above the door.
Odd. A famous establishment located in the armpit of Iron City.
She hitched her equipment bag higher on her aching shoulder and headed toward the building. Since she lived in the suburbs across town, it had taken her over an hour to reach this place by bus. Ava pulled her coat’s hood over her head as cold raindrops dripped from the night sky.
An unsettled feeling rolled in her stomach. She should be ecstatic and thrilled. This was a dream come true. Perhaps the combination of the location and the rainy Monday had doused her excitement.
A prickle of unease raised the hairs on her arms. She paused, certain someone was watching her, but the teenager lounging on a stoop across the street had his hoodie pulled down over his face as if asleep.
When she spotted two large blue eyes staring at her, she smiled in relief. A young boy peered at her through the dirty window of the building next to the Academy. He hid behind his mother when Ava drew closer.