"So anyway," Lena began again, "Rebekah shouted at me."
"What did she say?" inquired Officer Meyer.
"She screamed 'Blood Whore! Over here!' Lena's blush turned into an angry flush. "The whole school probably heard her."
"Blood Whore?" asked Rod, bemused.
"Yeah. Their special little name for donors. See, they think we're like hookers, selling away parts of our bodies for scholarships. Honestly, they just want the vampires to themselves but are too scared to go under the needle for them. Guess they need to lash out somehow."
Meyer crooked an eyebrow. "You two weren't on the best of terms, I take it?"
Lena glared, not wanting to dignify his taunting remark with a response, instead, she continued her story.
"I was mad at all of them, and embarrassed, so I dropped my blood on his foot and walked away to go give my blood to Elliot. Hannah called me a bitch, but I just kept walking. And that's the last I've ever seen of Rebekah Knight."
There was silence for a moment as both officers looked at her. Lena began to squirm, feeling decidedly uncomfortable. Finally, she spoke.
"What? That really is it." She looked both of them in the eye, wanting them to realize that she was serious. Officer Rod's blue eyes continued to bore into hers a moment longer.
"Some would consider your relationship with Rebekah to be confrontational. She embarrassed you and I'm guessing that that wasn't the first time. Clearly there was no love lost between the two of you."
Lena saw what he was driving at and opened her mouth, a little stunned.
"I never touched her!" she finally insisted, once she had regained her ability of speech. "Take my fingerprints! Take my DNA! Do whatever you want and you'll see I've never hurt anybody."
More of the terrible silence followed her remarks, but it was Officer Meyer who finally took pity on the sweating Lena.
"That's not necessary. You would not have been capable of committing this murder."
Confusion caused Lena's brows to furrow. "What?"
"Someone well over six feet tall attacked Rebekah, and according to the autopsy reports, it would have taken a massive burst of strength to crush her windpipe the way it was completely crushed."
Picturing what he was saying, Lena felt a little sick. Her windpipe was crushed all the way through? God…
"Not to mention, the bruises found around her wrists and neck were much larger than your hands could’ve been capable of leavin. One of the killer's hands would have nearly been able to wrap itself completely around her throat; your hands are way too small."
Looking down at her fingers, Lena felt a heady mixture of relief and queasiness. She steadily tried to banish the images of Rebekah from her mind, gripped at neck and wrists by some menacing stranger… however her breakfast continued to churn uncomfortably in her stomach.
"Who could’ve been responsible?" she found herself musing out loud. For a moment, Officer Meyer's face changed into something more human, less professional; a man worried over the death of a teenage girl.
"I don't know. But with that kind of strength, it wouldn't be anybody normal."
"What do you mean?" Lena was taken aback. Of course whoever it was wasn't normal; they were a killer!
"What we mean," Officer Rod said, hefting himself to his feet and crushing his empty water bottle in his hand and holding her front door open for his partner before stepping outside himself, "is that the killer is a vampire."
The door shut behind them.
Chapter Five
Sugary flakes swam in random circles in a bowl full of water as Lena used a plastic spoon to stir them. In hindsight, using water instead of milk wasn't one of my better ideas. Either she needed to go grocery shopping, or she needed to force Ness to do it for her. Lena's stomach grumbled. Their refrigerator was painfully bare, it held nothing more than a few bottles of Vanessa's perfume and a take-out box of Chinese food from Ming's.
Searching through the cluttered mess on her kitchen table, she found some scrap paper and a pen.
1. Doughnuts, she wrote, then scribbled it out. That was just her stomach talking. Better be more practical with mom's money. She tried again.
1. Milk. 2. Eggs. 3. Chicken…
A honk from outside caught her attention and she hastily stood, dumping her uneaten, disgusting mess of a breakfast down the sink. Glancing towards her father's bedroom where she could hear soft snores, she jammed her sweater over her arms and, grabbing her backpack while making sure to lock the front door behind her, she hustled into the driveway, abandoning her list behind her.
Claire, Robert, and Megan waited in the truck, Megan and Claire's travel mugs of coffee steaming the windows. As Lena hoisted herself into the truck's blissfully warm interior, Robert tossed a scone over his shoulder into Lena's lap. She sniffed it. Mmm, pumpkin.
"I thought we deserved something, since these two are rubbing the no-caffeine thing in," he told her even as she unwrapped it. "Split it in half and give some to me, will you?"
Lena happily complied, shoving hers into her mouth. Crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. Thank God for Howie's. It wasn't a doughnut, but it would more than do.
It was after Robert had started the truck up again and Lena had begun to pick the crumbs off her sweater when she noticed Claire's fixed glare and posture; arms crossed firmly in front of her chest, refusing to look at her step-brother. Nudging Megan, she nodded to Claire and mouthed "what's wrong?"
"I can see you," Claire snarled from the front seat. Lena froze. Did Claire have eyes in the back of her head?
"Robert is being the world's biggest prick, if you must know," Claire continued. "He thinks he owns me. I simply… explained to him that he didn't."
Lena didn't like the nasty way Claire pronounced the word 'explained'. And sure enough, on closer examination of Robert, she saw a fist-sized bruise gracing his upper arm. (Robert thought he was too manly to wear sweaters until icicles practically formed in his hair) The bruise was dark and misshapen enough to insinuate many punches in the same spot. Ouch…
That also explained Megan's unusual silence; the earlier fight must have scared her. Lena slipped an arm around the smaller girl. "What do you mean, 'owns'?" she asked, unable to keep the hostility from her tone. She would have gladly fought for any of her friends, but was well aware Robert didn't want her to.
"I told her she wasn't going trick-or-treating," Robert spoke gruffly without turning around, keeping his eyes focused solely on the traffic. "And she's not," he added. "I don't know how many times I have to explain to you, Claire, but I'm not letting you get your sorry ass strangled. Someone killed Rebekah; do you want to get killed, too?"
Megan cringed against Lena's side, so for her sake, Lena cut in before Claire could snarl a retort (or begin punching again). "That's right! Halloween's a week from today, huh?" Without waiting for a response, she turned to Megan and loudly asked, "Do you have any plans? Because I was just going to hand out candy and watch some scary movies. Want to spend the night?"
Relief sparkled in Megan's doe-like brown eyes. "Yes! That'd be wonderful. You come too, Robert," she smiled, a dimple forming in her cheek. Lena saw the dimple and bit her lip. She had noticed a while back how Megan's dimple always appeared for Robert, how her gaze followed him as he walked. She didn't know whether or not Robert returned any of the affection, but wondered how this development would affect their friendship in the long run.
"Can't," Robert replied. "I'm supposed help out with the Trunk or Treating."
At Lena's confused "Hmm?, Robert explained: "it's something my extended family decided to try this year. A bunch of people park their vehicles in a circle, trunks faced inward. Then they pop the trunks and decorate them. The kids go to all the cars and get candy from us while we sit in our trunks. So much safer than trick-or treating really, since there are adults around and only people you know are involved."
At Claire's grunt of annoyance, he turned to her. "Why don't you come to that, if you want ca
ndy?"
She snorted. "Oh, please! Hanging out with a bunch your weird Jewish relatives when I could be at parties or something with my friends?"
Robert frowned. "Your side of the family is there, too, and my family isn't weird."
Claire smirked. "Oh, what? They're not all crazy alcoholics like your mother?"
Lena winced. Yeah… that went too far. A crunching sound caused her to look up; at Claire's words, Robert's hands had tightened so much around the steering wheel that his knuckles threatened to pop from his skin. He ground his teeth loudly in an effort to keep his mouth shut. Even from behind, she could see him start to shake, his face turning red.
Megan leaned forward, resting her chin on the back of Robert's chair. Her short hair tickled the side of his face and he turned to her for a moment before putting his eyes back on the road. Her hand crept around the seat to touch his too-tight grip on the steering wheel. As Lena watched, Robert began to relax. Incredible, she mused, as his face slowly returned to its normal color.
They made it to school in silence as Robert maneuvered in the cramped student parking lot before they found a good spot. "You all go," he told them in a strained voice. "I'll catch up in a minute. I just need to… compose myself." Lena nearly smiled at his choice of words. Compose himself… Not surprising that his stepdad is an English major and an author, really.
Before even a second had passed, Claire had sprinted off to the portables, no doubt in a hurry to meet with the seedy bunch she called friends. Dying leaves crunched underneath the boots of both Lena and Megan as they slowly made their way to the buildings, leaving an upset Robert behind them. Megan turned to face her best friend, and then her bright-toothed smile died the moment she saw the dark smirk on Lena's face.
Correctly interpreting that smirk for what it was (Lena's imminent teasing of her behavior towards Robert), Megan stammered out an escape tactic.
"I—I'm hungry! Robert didn't buy me breakfast. I'll go buy something from the cafeteria. I think they have muffins, and… and…" she finished her stammering and scampered off, leaving Lena shaking her head in silent amusement. Gotta love Megan…
The deliciously crisp-smelling fall breeze whooshed at her and her hair was briefly forced on-end before it calmed down. Spitting strands out of her mouth, she sighed. Messy hair was one thing, but hair that looked like she had suddenly had the urge to poke her toe into an electrical socket was another. She made her way to the nearest bathroom in order to pull it away from her face.
Eyeing her reflection critically in the mirror as she used water to pat the mess into some semblance of a style, she frowned. A pimple was making itself known on her cheek. Hate-being-sixteen, she grumbled to herself, trying to stave off the compulsion to poke at it. The rest of her was okay-looking, she supposed. Not adorable like Megan, or beautiful, like Hannah Miller, but she was fairly passable.
A stall opening behind her caused her to glance over her shoulder. Her eyes took in the girl standing behind her… And then she stopped, stunned.
A long, skirt-clad leg shown off in a pair of pretty heels lead up to a fashionably cinched red jacket buttoned over a white shirt and… was that necklace shaped like a bat? A beautifully shaped clavicle peaked from underneath the necklace. A very pale clavicle. Tipping her face upward to see the girl's face, Lena was struck by how tall the girl was. Her facial features were exotic, reminding her of pictures she had seen of Cleopatra. High, sharp cheekbones, almond-shaped brown eyes... The girl's hair was maroon, and stranger than that was that it almost looked natural.
"Hello," Lena said, attempting to smile. The girl returned the grin, revealing extremely long fangs that dripped well past her bottom lip. Lena stepped backwards in shock. A girl vampire? She had never heard of such a thing. It was well known that the vampire strain affected only the Y chromosome. And not only was this girl a vampire, but she was starving. A vampire's fangs extended in accordance to their hunger; generally they were barely longer than any human's canines. To have fangs that made one look like a saber-toothed tiger, one probably hadn't had a sip of blood in nearly a month.
The strange girl stepped uncomfortably close to Lena, her smile turning darker as she advanced. Her hands—nails long and painted red, Lena noticed absently—stretched out to grip Lena's arms. Bending down to bring her face close to Lena's hair, she sniffed.
"You sssmell familiar," she lisped, fangs causing it to be hard to speak. Her voice was dry and husky; it hurt Lena's own throat just to hear it. Lena cringed away, until the girl forced Lena close to her, in a tight embrace, her long arms tightly clutching Lena's back. Oh no… In a second, Lena completely lost her fear. In fact, it seemed that she had completely lost control of her body. Sagging in the girl's grip until she was being held up by her strong arms, her head rolled back, her eyes fluttering closed. Dammit, a worried voice whispered in the back of her mind, but Lena couldn't bring herself to care.
"I'm Lessslie," the girl informed her, scraping her teeth slowly across Lena's neck. Even through the fog in her head, Lena could hear the slight twang of a Southern accent. The thoughts in the back of
Lena's mind screamed, danger! Danger! But she couldn't bring her body to move.
The tips of two sharp fangs pressed into her skin; she felt a tiny trickle of something wet trickle down her neck. Help me…
The bathroom door burst open, letting in a bright blast of early-morning sunshine, and something else. Shoving the maroon-haired vampire aside, whoever it was grabbed Lena around the middle as she fell forward. Her nose pressed into the buttoned shirt of her rescuer, Lena's cotton-fuzzy mind struggled back to focus.
"Are you crazy?" a familiar, male voice boomed. Stepping backwards and briefly lifting Lena off her feet as he did so, her brain finally connected the dots. Gabriel?
"Do you want to get kicked out of this school, too, Leslie?" Gabriel demanded. "I told you; you can't bite anybody here. Didn't I give you blood on Tuesday?"
Leslie didn't reply, and Lena struggled from the boy's grip. He kept a tight hold on her wrist, tight enough to bring tears to her eyes. "Let go of me." Her voice was oddly quiet and dry. He ignored her, still scowling intently at the other vampire. She struggled. "Let go of me!" she managed to shout. He looked down on her.
"Oh, I'm sorry for saving your life, you stupid idiot," he growled. She felt his eyes burning into her neck as he freed her wrist and she brought her hand up to touch it; blood smeared on her fingertips, and she let out an alarming squeak.
Turning to Leslie, Lena spoke. "I don't know what's going on," she told her. "But at Chillhowie, you can't bite people. Ever. Go to the nurse if you're so hungry; she has extra bags frozen for emergencies."
Shaking her head and snorting, Leslie stormed from the tiny bathroom. "This is ssso dumb," she grumbled underneath her breath. "Bagged blood? What’s next?"
Turning to the mirror, Lena moistened a paper towel underneath the faucet and dabbed at her neck. It wasn't so bad, really, just a tiny prick in her skin, barely bigger than a needle's puncture. If she turned her collar up, nobody would even notice.
"What just happened?" she finally asked Gabriel. An immature voice in the back of her mind sniggered. He's in the girl's bathroom.
He sighed, leaning against one of the walls and running a hand down his face. "That's Leslie. She's my cousin. They kicked her out of Texas for… I promised not to tell. The point is, she's here to stay, so keep your dumbass self away from her." Gabriel made his way out the door after his cousin, but not before Lena saw that his fangs were longer than usual, as well. Guess he really did give my blood to her on Tuesday, she realized. No wonder she said I smelled familiar. Wonder why she seemed so hungry, then.
What he said made sense. The vampire epidemic was only prevalent in North America, caused by a newly-created drug given to ill pregnant women by their doctors. The purpose of the drug had been to give the women more strength and reduce their anemic problems, but something had gone terribly wrong. Once this was pieced together, the
pills were destroyed, but the damage was done. Although vampires were not permitted to travel outside of the country, even inside the country they faced difficult times. Conservative states like Texas did not offer any sort of respite towards these children, all teenagers now.
No, the fact that Leslie was kicked out of Texas was not a surprising one, nor was the fact that she was sent to Pennsylvania, which had the largest vampire population, considering it was Pennsylvanian scientists that created the drug in the first place, as well as the people's generally Liberal beliefs. The surprising thing was that Leslie was female.
Even more surprising, she mused, as she made her way past posters proclaiming Remember Rebekah Knight, accompanied with pictures of her in her cheer uniform and announcements reading "Funeral: Sunday, November second, 2:00 pm" as well as smaller messages reading "Grief counselors available upon request", is that Gabriel actually caring enough to help me.
Still, she decided, offering Megan a weak smile as she entered the sewing classroom, his emotions must be crazy, considering he just lost one of his friends. No wonder he's being weird.
Behind her in the large window of the classroom, fall leaves twirled gently to the ground.
Chapter Six
After the eventful week of murder, police interviews and that one bizarre morning in the bathroom with Leslie and Gabriel, the rest of the week seemed to pale in comparison. Seven days had passed with nothing more interesting than the occasional Claire tantrum.
Laden with her plastic lunch plate (loaded to the brim with spaghetti doused in runny sauce and hard garlic bread), Lena uncomfortably squeezed into her seat at the picnic table across from Megan and Robert. Her tights made it hard to climb over the plastic bench.
"Hi!" she smiled warily, feeling her face stretch over her bones into a feigned smile. She had been plagued with more nightmares lately; girls with their throats crushed out and long dripping fangs scratching at her skin.
"Ugh!" Megan exclaimed, reaching across the table to take her friend's chin in her hand to tilt her face this way and that. "The bags under your eyes are looking worse than Elliot's!"
Bag of Blood - Vampire Mystery Romance Page 3