In case she ever had an opportunity to try and kill the vampire who was after her? Yeah, that was probably never going to happen.
“Well, to start, you can’t just grab anything and put it through a vampire’s heart. If you use the wrong weapon, it won’t do anything but piss him off and make him kill you harder,” Kyle said forthrightly.
“What do you have to use?” she asked, still not quite able to believe this sort of conversation was necessary.
“A stake made of petrified wood. Real petrified wood that only comes from a few places on earth.”
“Is that what those are made of?” she asked, pointing to the pouch of gleaming shards strapped to his leg.
“Yes. The wood to make these stakes came from a forest in Arizona. It takes six hours to hone just one,” he told her.
“Why does it have to be petrified wood?” she wondered, actually curious. She couldn’t see any good reason why a table leg wouldn’t do.
“True fossilized wood is the hardest substance on earth next to diamonds. The organic material has been replaced with half a dozen elements, including quartz and iron. The quartz makes the stakes hard enough to pierce through a vampire’s flesh and bone and reach his heart, which has been turned into something shriveled and petrified itself.”
“Really?” Lanie asked dubiously, though she had no reason not to believe what Kyle was telling her. “But, I heard…well, I didn’t hear….you-you have no…heartbeat, right? So, why…how…”
Kyle’s heart had been turned to stone? That was why had had no heartbeat?
Kyle gave her a patient smile. “A stake through the heart doesn’t kill the vampire. The iron and the other elements in the fossilized wood poison the vampire, keeping him immobile until he can be relieved of his head.”
“Oh,” she said. “So, beheading a vampire is what kills him?”
“Yes, but there are a couple more steps to ensure that he stays dead,” came the answer.
Stays dead? That statement gave Lanie the creeps.
“First, you can’t behead a vampire unless you have a blade honed of the same material as the stake, because nothing else is strong enough. Once the head has been severed, both the head and the body have to be burned until they become as petrified as the stake that ran the vampire through. And then the pieces have to be buried separately in the earth, with the stake left in the heart.”
Well. That sounded like a lot more work than necessary. Shouldn’t it have been stake the vampire, the vampire bursts into flame, end of…movie?
“What happened if one of the steps aren’t followed?” Lanie questioned, feeling her stomach wobble with trepidation.
“I have no idea, but I don’t think I want to find out,” Kyle told her.
She would not argue that point.
Kyle suddenly gave her a serious look, something dark wafting through his green eyes. “I’m not letting him take you, Lanie. I lost my sister to him. And I’ve never been able to save anyone else because I’m always too late. Until now. I won’t let him take you, too.”
Kyle Vincent felt responsible for her. And even though she didn’t know him from Pete, she didn’t want him to blame himself if…something happened to her. It was obvious that he was carrying enough weight on his shoulders.
“Why does he want me? Why…me?” she asked him, wishing she did not need to utter that question.
“That’s the way it is. A vampire choses a mate on sight. They see someone they like and they…take them,” Kyle said, looking pained.
Lanie felt a jolt go through her. “He wants to make me his mate?” she asked weakly.
When he’d been trying to call her outside, she hadn’t thought about him making her his mate. Mating with her, yes, but not taking her as his vampire wife!
“Lanie, please, try not to think about it. I’m not going to let him take you. I promise,” Kyle assured her, his handsome features set tight.
She knew he was trying to make her feel better, but it was not working. She was feeling the opposite of better. “H-How do they…make a mate?” she didn’t exactly want to know, but just in case, she wanted to hear what would happen to her.
“It only takes a bite. That’s it,” Kyle said simply. “Their bite will turn you. That is, if they don’t drain you first.”
“So, if you don’t die…you get turned? Even…even if he doesn’t want to turn you?” she wondered, feeling sick.
“Yes. But, that doesn’t happen often. At least not with Frederik. He’s greedy. He leaves them without a drop in them.”
“So, he’s never…left someone?” she went on, wishing she could stop herself.
“He has.”
“And what happened to them?” she asked hoarsely.
“I killed them,” Kyle stated. “They’re easier to kill when they’re first turned. It takes time and ingesting human blood before a vampire can become as strong as Frederik.”
Kyle Vincent had killed people. Could they be called people? Should she be upset by that fact?
“Well, is there anything I can do to…stop him? Or slow him down? Wearing a crucifix or…or…” she let her voice trail off.
Or what? Throwing a garlic clove at him? She’d seen him. She somehow doubted that a tasty little clove of garlic tossed at him would faze him in the least.
“Removing his head is the only thing that will kill him. Blessed water will burn him. Iron will poison him. A stake to the heart will stun him. All else will gall him,” Kyle answered, sounding as if he was quoting instructions from a manual. “But, you aren’t fast enough to use either against Frederik.”
Well, neither was Kyle Vincent, when it came right down to it. “How do you know this stuff? I mean…is it because you…you…”
“I wasn’t made knowing this stuff. I had no one to teach me because the person who sired me left me in a dump. But, I did find a man who helped me,” Kyle stated, his voice softening.
“A man? How would a man know—“
“He’s a vampire. Father Cristos taught me everything I needed to know about living like this and about killing Frederik and his kind.”
Father? There was a vampire priest someplace out there who was an expert in killing other vampires? Somehow, that didn’t surprise her as much as it should have.
A sudden thought struck Lanie and she felt her chest swell with excitement. “Where does Frederik go when he’s not…killing people?” she asked. “He must go someplace. He can’t just roam the streets all the time.”
“He doesn’t. He has to rest. Unless he’s changed his habits since coming here, he rests during the afternoon and evening and then goes out hunting just before sunset,” Kyle answered.
That was when she’d left Stacy. Just before sunset. “Where does he usually stay? I mean, does he just check into a hotel?” If that was the case, then couldn’t they just find him, barge in, and stake him?
“I wish that was an option,” Kyle said, obviously knowing what she was thinking. “But, he doesn’t stay at a hotel. He just picks a house and makes that his home base.”
“So, we can find what houses are empty in town. It shouldn’t be too hard. There aren’t—“
“No, Lanie. He doesn’t stay in empty houses. He chooses a house he likes and he moves into it. He’s not an animal. He may be a vampire, but he likes to have comforts.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, her stomach tightening. “He has to be invited inside, right? Who would invite him inside? Especially here? No one knows him, no one would just ask him to come inside!”
“He kills the people in the house, Lanie,” Kyle said to her. “If someone’s in enough pain, they’ll invite anyone inside. And once he’s in and the people are dead, he can come and go as he pleases.”
Lanie felt ill. Frederik had killed someone in Fells Pointe and was using their house as his nest? That was…twisted!
“Well, but-but, at least for a few hours a day the people in town are safe, right? You said he has to rest, so if he’s resting then he’s not killing
anyone,” she offered, wanting to find some good in this situation.
“Right. He sleeps for a few hours, which means that he’s not out hunting. And sometimes he doesn’t feed every day.”
Well, in a situation that seemed impossibly hopeless and dark, there was at least a tiny ray of light. A very tiny ray, but a ray nonetheless. Maybe for a few hours a day, she wouldn’t have to think about the people in Fells Pointe being killed and left in the park like so much garbage.
Kyle suddenly reached out and took hold of her hand, his large fingers closing over hers and giving them a gentle squeeze. Lanie forced herself not to flinch at the cold feel of his flesh against hers. She did not want to embarrass him or hurt him.
“You really can’t spend all your time thinking about who he’ll go after or how many people he’ll kill,” Kyle told her. “You aren’t responsible for this. You can’t stop him. He’s like a disease. He strikes some people and he leaves some others to live. The most we can hope for is that someday I finally get to wipe him out.”
Lanie felt a stab of sympathy for Kyle Vincent. This handsome person was not only carrying the weight of this monster on his shoulders, but he was also carrying the weight of everybody this monster had killed. It was a heavy burden. And it showed in his sparkling green eyes. That guilt, that darkness, that weight, was a dreadful thing to see.
Lanie was looking at a person who hadn’t known a minute’s peace in a very long time.
“Do you want to come out with me for a while?” she asked him, knowing even as the words were coming out of her mouth that she was playing Russian Roulette. If her dad heard that she was seen with a strange man…she’d be dead long before Frederik could get to her.
“Come out where?” Kyle asked, suddenly suspicious.
“I actually don’t know. I just want to get out of the house for a while,” she answered, getting to her feet. “Do you want to come?”
Kyle regarded her for a minute, unsure.
Lanie didn’t want to nag him, so she simply headed out of the kitchen. “It’s alright if you don’t want to. I’ll see you around,” she said.
It was only a second before Kyle appeared beside her. “Where are you going? You shouldn’t be running around town by yourself. Just because I think Frederik might be resting doesn’t mean he is.”
“I’m not running around by myself,” she said. “You’ll be with me.” And wasn’t that safest thing for her?
“I really should be out trying to find him. I’ve wasted a lot of time already today,” Kyle said as they made for the entryway.
Lanie shrugged. “Alright. I’ll see you later, then,” she said, taking her sweater and purse from the coat tree.
“Wait. You’re really going out on your own?” Kyle questioned, right on her heels as she headed for the door.
“I am,” she said, opening the front door, but then pausing to stick her head out and glance up and down the street, making sure that no one was in sight.
She moved to step outside, but Kyle quickly put himself in front of her, stepping out onto the porch first and pausing for a moment before taking Lanie’s hand in his and pulling her over the threshold. She pulled the door closed, deciding to leave it unlocked. Now that she knew what was happening, she didn’t see a need to bother with dead bolts and keys. And actually not having to lock the door made things seem almost…normal. Almost.
“Where are you going?” Kyle asked as he led her off the porch and over to her Bug.
“I dunno,” she answered easily. “I’ll probably just wing it.”
“Well, you don’t have to drive,” he told her. “I can get you where you want to go faster than your car can.”
She thought about that and found the thought rather intriguing. However, she also figured that the handsome Kyle Vincent just might benefit from a little dose of…normal. “I think I’d rather drive. Are you coming?”
Kyle opened her door for her, shut it and then rounded the car and climbed in. As he belted into his seat, Lanie had to note just how large and uncomfortable he looked sitting in her small car. It was…kind of cute.
“So, where are you going?” Kyle asked again, clearly needing this information from her.
“I thought I’d start with a coffee and just go from there,” she said, starting the car and backing out of the driveway. “I have to be at school by three, though.”
“Shouldn’t you be at school now?” he asked, sounding rather parental.
“I should,” she said and left it at that.
Kyle didn’t say anything else as Lanie maneuvered through the streets and into town toward Katy’s Korner. Once there, they parked down the street and as they walked back toward the building, Kyle kept his hand firmly on her back. Lanie couldn’t help but notice how uncomfortable Kyle was looking as they passed people on the sidewalk, people who were shooting him some rather questionable glances. Perhaps because of his appearance, or perhaps because, despite his appearance, Sam Bancroft’s daughter was walking with him.
“Maybe I shouldn’t be walking around. The Sheriff is still looking for me, isn’t he?” Kyle asked, pulling the door of the restaurant open for her.
“Yes,” Lanie told him. “But, I don’t think anyone around here knows that. You’ll be fine.”
Kyle looked dubious, but followed her into the diner anyway. At the counter, Lanie ordered them both iced lattes and then, not liking the fact that the customers all had eyes on her, the Sheriff’s daughter, who was hanging out with an unknown man, she decided maybe they should abandon the diner and find someplace a little less crowded before one of the concerned citizens placed a call to her father.
She paid for the tab, shooed away Kyle’s protests, and then led the way out of the diner and back to the car. Once they were belted in, she decided to point them out toward the edges of Fells Pointe, where it wasn’t likely there would be too many prying eyes wondering why Sam Bancroft’s kid wasn’t in school and was, in fact, keeping company with a very strange looking man.
The outskirts of Fells Pointe, at least on Lanie’s end of town, were made up of a few scattered businesses and stands of woodland. Lanie rarely spent time out that way, except to go to the Drive-In, because there really wasn’t much of a reason. She had no need for a used book store or a used tire center. However, there was a quiet little street that held a small park that no one really used because it was next to a rundown bar called Stoney’s.
Most of the people in town tried to avoid having anything to do with this side of Fells Pointe. The good upstanding citizens didn’t frequent seedy bars with motorcycles parked outside. They preferred The Pub, which was a more polished and refined establishment. But, people driving up the interstate heading onto Princeton or Richmond didn’t share the same view, and Stoney’s was usually pretty busy.
Lanie actually had no problem with Stoney’s. She’d been in there a few of times for a soda, they had a root beer float that was to die for, and the owner, Ralph Stoney, was a nice man who looked like Santa Clause. Ralph and her dad had gone on a couple of fishing trips together over the years, so she was welcomed when most of the other under aged kids in town were not.
The little park just down from the bar was pretty space filled with dappled sunlight and peppered with large trees and stone picnic tables. It had been planted with a variety of flowering shrubs and rosebushes at some point, but since it wasn’t a popular spot, it had been left to its own devices, so the shrubs and roses were overgrown and taking over in some spots, which Lanie kind of liked. There were even still a few rose bushes blooming from the summer, making for a very lovely scene.
Lanie parked in a spot on the street and she and Kyle exited the car, Kyle appearing at her door and opening it before she had the chance. Kyle took her hand and led her across the sidewalk and into the little park, where the air was filled with birdsong and the sunlight was flecked on the ground and those late blooming roses were filling the air with their sweet perfume.
They made their way over to o
ne of the stone picnic tables sitting near a massive oak tree. The table was surrounded by a three sided wall of overgrown green things, making the spot seem rather intimate and cozy. They sat down and quietly sipped their coffees, listening to the birds chirping and the wind rustling through the boughs of the old oak tree, all the while Kyle keeping his wary gaze darting about and his shoulders tensed. He was prepared should trouble present itself and Lanie was glad. With Kyle next to her, she didn’t have to worry. She didn’t have to be afraid.
Lanie suddenly found herself wanting to know about this handsome young man. She knew about his life since Frederik had…left him this way, but she wanted to know what his life had been like before that. And maybe talking about something ordinary would get that dark and heavy look out of his eyes.
“So, where are you from, Kyle Vincent?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Lanie pulled up outside the high school and cut the engine, turning to Kyle. It was nearly three o’clock and time to get to her committee meetings, though she couldn’t say she was looking forward to it. She’d much rather stay with Kyle and keep talking to him, despite the fact they had just spent the entire day talking.
She’d never spent so many hours talking to anyone, not even Johnna and Devyn. But, talking to Kyle Vincent was easy. He was very interested in hearing all about her life and seemed to have a voracious need to talk to her about his. It was obvious that he hadn’t talked to anyone in a long time and he…needed to be heard. Lanie had learned a lot about him during those hours.
The things he’d been doing since he’d lost his sister to Frederik were amazing. She had wanted to hear about his life before Frederik, which he’d reluctantly told her about. But, it seemed to hurt him reliving those days that he would never get back, so she’d left the past to bury itself and let him talk about whatever he wanted.
After he was sired and left on his own, he’d eventually stumbled across Father Cristos and had lived with him in New Mexico, learning all he could and fashioning the proper weapons. Once he was capable, he’d lit out after Frederik and hadn’t stopped chasing him since.
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