I was failing to find any sense in what he was saying and the more he divulged about Will, the more clouded I became. “But why? Were they looking for them? You said they are strategic. What could they possibly want from my parents and our town?”
He looked hesitant; there was more coming. What else could there be? I had just learned that not only were the stories true, they were ongoing. And the only person in the world I wanted to be with right now was a vampire killer.
"Your parents do more than simply work with the Peace Corps. That is just a cover to their other activities."
"Other activities?" He made them sound like drug dealers.
"Yes. You see, the places they travel to have very little to no resources to help themselves and therefore more vulnerable to vampire attacks. So your parents, among others, aid them usually by providing protection and relocation if necessary."
I knew they have been in very hostile situations before but now it seemed that these situations were not out of the ordinary. And to learn that they provided the protection made the whole thing even more bizarre. The one thing it cleared up was why they never wanted me to visit. They didn't want to put me in danger.
The image I had of my parents as goodwill ambassadors was shattered, and in its place, a pair of gun toting renegades appeared. I blinked the ridiculous picture out of my head. I realized that I really needed them now more than ever. I wish they had been the ones to tell me this. The amount of unanswered questions was building. Why did they keep all this from me? I was strong enough to handle it, and maybe I could even help them. For now I was stuck here, completely helpless. I shoved my head into my hands, trying to hold back the tears.
“What would Will and these hunters want with my parents if they are just protecting people?”
“Camille, hunters do not make the distinction between good and bad when it comes to vampires. Their only mission is extinction. Once they locate a vampire or a coven as they have found here, they will stop at nothing to destroy it. I am sure that he has realized that it will be easier to do that if your parents are dealt with first. They are very well known individuals in your world, and very well respected. Eliminating them would send a silent, but very strong message. If they could get to them, they could get to anyone. No one would object to paying them.”
I felt my entire body turn inside out.
“I know this is a lot to take in, but your family is in real danger now. Your grandmother and your father lost contact and that has never happened before.”
Ignoring the weakness of my legs, I jumped to my feet and began to pace. “I have to do something. I can't just sit here and wait for them to die!”
Anxiety was burning in my chest and I knew it would only get worse until I knew my family was safe. I stopped moving and closed my eyes, hoping that if I kept them closed long enough, this would all go away. I wanted to go downstairs and find Will working and completely covered in saw dust, Dorothy and the ladies gathered on the back porch, and my parents off rescuing the world from famine.
No such luck; when I opened them it was just Tom staring at me from where he sat.
“I'm afraid there is nothing more to be done from here. It is being handled as well as it can be under the circumstances. However, they do not have all of the facts now.”
I started pacing again. “All of the facts,” I repeated. “You mean Will. They don't know about him and they certainly aren't aware that he knows where they are. Do you really think it was Will that she saw?”
“Yes.”
I clenched my jaw to hold back the scream of rage ready to fly out of my throat. “So they need to know. We have to tell them! They're on the plane now so I can't call. Tom, is there any way to leave a message with someone already there?”
He chewed on his lip before denying my question. “No. I wouldn't know that.”
Then I remembered that I did have a number to call. “Oh! Tom, I do. I have a number. It's the one I've had for years. I'm not supposed to call unless it's an emergency. I think this counts.”
I darted toward the door but Tom stood up quickly and moved in front of it. “It’s already been called.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because you have already met the people on the other end of the line.” He raised his bushy white eyebrows and then added, “Our mysterious visitors from last night.”
“You saw them? I thought you left.”
“Everyone knows about them. They arrived at the Inn and a short time later, a fire started? They attracted the attention of the fire chief.”
“A fire?”
His expression twisted in disbelief. “Ms. Fisher, did you not hear me when you asked what the smell was? Did you not see the charred kitchen walls? Or the fire chief as you entered?”
“N-no, I didn’t.” I’d been too focused on finding Will to see anything but what I needed to apparently.
Those people didn't start any fire anyway, and I was pretty sure Tom knew that, too. They had only been in the building for a few minutes...and what reason would they have? If the chief did decide to investigate them further, his efforts would be futile. He would only run into vague witness descriptions and old ladies with bad memories.
“That's ridiculous.”
Tom's fingers tapped lightly on his chin. “Nevertheless, they were the last call to be made. The severity of the situation must be rather high.”
“Well. I’ll just have to go myself,” I blurted, offering myself up without thinking and immediately regretted it.
Tom opened his mouth and closed it again. After a few seconds passed, he opened it again. “I do not think your family would be very pleased with me for agreeing with you, but I have to. You may be their only hope of any advantage. So I will help you. Are you sure you want to do this?”
No, I wasn't sure. I was seventeen years old and while all my life I’ve had the need to feel like I've done something important, I didn't see this as that opportunity. I wasn’t ready. Tracking down my family in the middle of the jungle, while trying not encounter rabid hunters was not how I pictured my moment of greatness.
"I'm sure," I forced. The bubble of anxiety pushed further up my throat. "But I'm not sure where exactly they are. The last I knew, my parents were in Costa Rica, on their way to Mexico. How would I find them now?"
"That would be a good place to start. I'm sure the village where your parents were staying is where the others would have started, no doubt. You should be able to find them fairly quickly once you are there. I can make arrangements for you. But you should go soon, the sooner the better."
Right, so I can't talk myself out of the whole thing.
He turned and strode toward the door. "Go now, Miss, and prepare." He stopped and turned around, pulling something out of his pocket. It was a phone. "What is your phone number so I can tell you when the arrangements have been made?”
I told him my number and he entered it with ease. I guess technology didn't bother this old timer. He caught the smirk on my face. "Never judge a book." He winked and turned back to the door and left.
How do I prepare for what I'm about to do? I'd never prepared to save a life before. Was that even what this would come to or was I blowing it out of proportion? One thing was certain though; I had to get back to the spa quickly.
Irelynn was bouncing her legs impatiently and holding my robe when I raced into the back door of the salon. She jumped up and bounded toward me, shoving one sleeve of the robe on my right arm. She continued dressing me, snapping the entire time.
"I told you to be quick! I had to lie three times for you, so grandma thinks you have bad bowels. Now c'mon, they are waiting for us."
"Bowels?" Great. The granny talk is already starting.
She tugged on my hand and led me down the hall to where two ladies were sitting on stools next to large massage chairs. We sat down and they immediately began to work filling the tubs at the foot of the chairs with various beauty products. A good pedicure was supposed to be r
elaxing, but it was just the opposite for me. How could I just sit back and enjoy being pampered when I knew what I was about to do. I had to decide what I was going to tell Irelynn and what I was going to keep to myself. It was probably best to gloss over the fact that the man I thought was my soul mate was a murderer.
We tried to communicate in code but our system was breaking down quickly. It was if she was speaking French while I was responding in sign language. I pointed to my eye and then pointed toward the door. Her face squished as she shrugged.
I didn't have time for this. "I have to go!" I shouted, sitting forward. The woman holding my feet immediately dropped them, slid her stool backwards, and glared up at me.
"Restroom's down the hall, hon."
Bad bowels, I forgot. I sat back in the chair embarrassed. Conspiring to leave the country with my friend would have to wait.
"Oh, no," I said. “I’m okay."
She hesitated, searching my face for any sign of deceit before picking up her file and started again – probably not fully convinced I was all right. I rested my head against the chair's pillow.
How much longer was this pampering going to last? I had a job to do and the more time I spent thinking about it, the easier it would be for me to back out, which meant I would most certainly have to find another way to warn my family.
Just then, Tilly emerged into the room, lead by her masseuse. She seated her in the empty chair on the other side of Irelynn. A strange smell lingered in the air after her. Her face was covered in a smoky grey material and cucumber slices hid her eyes.
Irelynn leaned toward her and sniffed. “That mask smells like a volcano. What is that?”
Tilly burst into laughter; the apples of her cheeks cracked the dried mask. “Oops,” she whispered with tightened lips. “I’m not supposed to talk for twenty minutes. I’ll tell you the secret then.” She rested her head on the pillow and replaced the cucumbers on her eyes.
“Grandma, we are going to leave after this. We have a lot of homework to catch up on before tomorrow. And I don’t want to smell like I just stepped out of a fireplace.” I loved how she could read my mind. If I had to sit there for one more minute, I was going to explode.
Tilly whined underneath her layers of anti-aging material, but ultimately gave in; how could she argue with schoolwork?
On our way out of the salon, we overheard two receptionists commenting on the events of last night. We slowed slightly to eavesdrop and hear what happened after Irelynn and I left.
One of the girl’s voices sounded familiar, Maria St. John. She graduated two years before me, and was one of the graduates that decided not to go to college in the fall. Four months later she was pregnant and one of the examples my grandmother loved to offer up as a reason to continue with my education after high school.
“Well, I heard they think it started in the kitchen. Like a grease fire or something. Who knows with those weirdos? Anyway, I heard that Will guy was probably going to be there and he’s single. So I went and he was there.”
The other receptionist agreed from behind her computer screen. “But I heard he was seeing some girl from the high school.”
Maria checked her reflection in a metal letter opener. “Nope. My cousin said he dumped her because she’s a freak. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him anyway, he disappeared. And the next thing I know there are fire trucks and people rushing out of the building. Totally lame, but the firemen were adorable!”
She went back to gushing about the men in uniform and we continued out the door.
So the fire had supposedly started in the kitchen where Shawn, Irelynn and I were hiding. It couldn’t have been too long after I left because I heard the sirens on the way home. I wondered if they had seen anything suspicious. Surely they would have told me if they did.
Irelynn interrupted my wonder. “I can’t believe Kelsey’s telling people he dumped you. She doesn’t know anything. This is why people don’t like her, she just lies. It’s gross,” she grumbled as we pushed through the doors and entered the chilly afternoon air. Last night’s snowfall had quickly melted away, leaving the streets and lawns soggy
“I have to go find them, Irelynn.” I grimaced at the impeding lecture.
She threw her hands in the air. “I knew that’s what you were saying! No way, Cami. It’s too dangerous. Let those goons from last night handle it. They know what they are doing.”
I shook my head, recalling everything…well almost everything that Tom had told me. I told her about the magical tree and all of the other vampires, about how it was in fact my grandfather that created this town. The stories were all real, as if Dorothy’s admission the night before wasn’t enough to convince her. She slowed her pace,” mulling it all over in her mind. I told her about the hunters, only leaving out the fact that Will was one of them and now the prime reason why I had to go. They all were in danger because of me.
“Well I guess all of this recent info validates Shawn for calling you Fang for so many years,” she said.
I remembered a twelve-year old Shawn on his first day of school in the valley. It was the middle of the semester and he quickly realized that his big personality was too much for this small town. By the end of the day he had grown so restless that he, sitting in the desk next to me, began quietly tapping his desk with pencils for drumsticks. He lost control of one, flinging it into the tuft of hair in front of him. The girl turned and scowled at him, completely unaware of the pencil poking out of the back of her head. I suppressed my laughter enough to not capture the attention of the rest of the class-except for him of course. He looked at me and the glint off my braces caught his eye.
“He didn’t nickname me that for my ancestry. It was my snaggleteeth.”
“And of course there’s a magical tree,” she mused. “Your grandpa was a vampire, your grandma has visions so obviously she’s witch of some kind. That would make your dad a vampire-witch hybrid and you… well; you attract super hot, super mysterious guys. So why wouldn’t there be a magical tree?”
Her laughter was short-lived and she went straight back to thinking.
“I’m going, too,” she finally said.
I stopped. “No. You can’t”
Her hands found her hips. “If you think I’m going to let my geographically challenged friend wander through the jungle in a foreign country while being hunted by some predators, you are nuts! Vampire or not, you cannot go alone.”
She seemed to have a good grasp on the enormity of the situation, but she didn’t know exactly what she was volunteering herself for. I hadn’t thought of it until she said it, but these hunters could be coming for me as well. “You can’t go. You have to cover for me. I don’t want them to know I’m coming until I find them. What if I’m being followed or something? Tilly would try to call them the second she knew I was gone.”
I hoped this was enough to convince her not to come. I had already put my family in the spotlight. I couldn’t do that to her, too.
“Well, that’s true. But still, you can’t go by yourself. Take Shawn.”
I was truly grateful to have such a protective friend.
“NO.”
Her fingers began tapping her hips. “What about Will? I know he would go with you.”
I cleared the immediate lump from my throat. “He’s gone.”
“What do you mean gone. I thou-“
“He’s gone, Ire.”
She didn’t push any farther. “Well crap. Everyone’s leaving. What the hell is going on?”
I shrugged and continued on the route home. She jogged to catch up.
“You just can’t do this, Cami. You’ll never survive on your own. I mean, you’re so picky. What would you eat?”
I laughed at her. This was her main concern about me leaving? My diet?
“I’ll manage.”
As we walked, I looked around at the houses that I’d seen my entire life. They seemed foreign to me now. This sleepy town had more going on behind closed doors than I ever
knew. I thought about the Inn’s library where numerous volumes of ancestry sat covered in dust and cobwebs. Were they in that condition because no one was alive anymore to care? Did the people in this town know what I now know? That the folklore was true and my grandfather created this haven for vampires over a hundred years ago.
My pocket buzzed, startling me. It was Tom. He told me that he had arranged for a flight out for me the following morning at eight a.m. It would be a long flight followed by a bus ride to where I would meet up with my grandmother and the others. He would have everything I needed for the trip ready for me in the morning, except my passport. I guessed it was luck that we had planned a trip to Mexico, otherwise I wouldn’t have it. A small part of me wished that plan never happened.
Irelynn was patiently twirling her blonde ponytail, waiting for my head to clear.
“I fly out tomorrow at eight a.m.”
She stopped twirling. “That’s way too soon! We are not prepared. Not to mention you’ll have to leave here at like five!” The nearest city with an airport was in Spokane, Washington, an hour or so drive from the valley.
The idea of getting up that early alone made me sick. But I kept walking without out looking at her freaked out face. “I know. But If I don’t go then, I don’t think I will go at all.”
She put her arm around my shoulder. “You shouldn’t go. Are you scared?”
“Yes, but I can’t think about that now.”
She dropped her arm. “Right, because now we have to figure out what to say to grandma.”
I sighed heavily, thinking that any lame excuse wouldn’t work, but then again maybe the simpler the better. “We could tell her I am sick and have to go home, or I am so upset about all of this I just want my own bed. Would she buy that?”
Irelynn’s teeth chomped down on the side of her lip. “She might. But you’d have to be really sick, otherwise she won’t call the school for you.”
I could do sick because I really did feel it. I wanted to curl up in my bed and hide until this all went away. Tilly would see how sick I was and sympathize. I could use Dorothy’s car to go to the airport and no one would know that I was gone until I actually met them in Costa Rica. And then all would be swell; they would be warned about the hunters, defeat them and all return safely. Yes, that was a good plan. Now all I had to worry about was having an anxiety attack on the plane and getting arrested by the air marshal.
The Valley Page 16