The Valley

by Annie Graefnitz

  “But John shot back before I could even twitch. ‘What concern is it of yours?’ And then he mumbled under his breath to me, ‘Do not provoke them.’

  “And then another man, this one with greasy, long, yellow hair jumped out of the circle, landing inches from me. ‘The concern is we do not allow your kind to roam around freely through our city. In fact, we do not like it for you to be moving at all.’ His lips peeled back, revealing his newly crimsoned teeth.

  “The warlord walked toward us. ‘Vitro, down,’ he said calling off his dog, but he still looked down his deformed nose at us. I could feel Jack’s body tighten beside me, terrified. The man noticed too. ‘Ah,’ he said, focusing on Jack. ‘Do not be afraid, young one.”

  Will snorted, shaking his head. “But Jack here stood defiantly next to us. ‘I’m not afraid of you,’ he said.

  “The man didn’t see his defiance as strength. ‘Of course not. You want to be strong like… your father.’

  “He then focused on John. ‘You’ve been looking for me for along time, my old friend.’ I knew that John didn’t like that label on their relationship. And I was right.

  “You are no friend of mine,’ he snarled.

  “The man went on as if he didn’t hear John. ‘And now that we have come together once again, I do find myself in a predicament. In between your attempts to end my existence, you’ve been busy.’ He flashed a look at Jack before continuing in his annoying sneer. ‘I’ve always told myself that if the time came that you and I should ever meet again, it would be unjust for me to let you live. I mean, you have killed over half of my coven.’

  “Get on with it then,’ John whispered.

  “The guy was enjoying the situation too much and wouldn’t attack him, so John stepped forward, in front of Jack and me so that we would be partially shielded in case the others decided to lunge for us.

  “The man laughed, inciting the others to join in. ‘I’m afraid it’s not that simple. You’ve taken people from me that were very dear to me. And now I’m wondering if returning the favor would be the best justice for them. What do you think, Vitro?’

  “The greasy man grinned, ‘They would have wanted nothing less, father.’

  “The scarred man sprang toward Jack before we could move to stop him. The weight of his body at that speed blew the two of us to the ground. Instantly the other vultures had us pinned. Jack was frozen under the man’s grasp. That’s how it works…when they get you. Even the strongest willed and most fearless men become completely petrified under the clutches of a vampire. Once you’ve been caught, there’s no way out.

  “The man sank his teeth into Jack’s neck, and then they shot up, disappearing in the night sky.

  “They were distracted by their father’s flight and were surprised at how skilled we were. It didn't take us to long to destroy them after that, all of them. But even with the quick end to the attack, we still weren't able to find the warlord, or Jack's body. We searched for a long time, hoping that maybe he was still alive and left to wander. But after weeks of searching, we realized that he wasn't coming back.”

  My head whipped around to see Jack. “But you were okay.”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “I don't understand. You were alive. I mean yeah, you're a vampire. But you're alive. Isn't that a good thing?”

  He slowly turned and my heart sank when I saw the shame that flooded his eyes. “I was left in the streets to die. I thought I would. The excruciating pain throughout my body made me welcome death. Every breath I took brought a new wave of pain, so I stopped breathing and waited. But I did not die. I was hungry.” His eyes fell to the table.

  “How do you survive?”

  Jack ran his fingers through his hair and blew out a breath. “Someone found me. She taught me how to survive. I was able to live with only a small amount of, um, damage. I do not have to drink often, every few weeks.”

  “Weeks? Is that good or bad?”

  Kie blurted out the nutritional facts before Jack could answer. “Weeks are good for a new vampire. Very good actually. He should be feeding everyday, until he’s been around for a few years. Then his body will have the ability to go for months without it if needed.”

  I looked at Jack in shock. “Months? That’s crazy. I know that I’m new to this whole thing, but that seems like kind of a long time without food.”

  “No,” Jack smiled once again, showing his dimpled scar. “I can eat food.” He and Kie shared short laugh. “Do you like chocolate?”

  That was a stupid question. Who doesn’t? “To say I like chocolate would be an understatement, Jack. It’s a daily part of my diet.”

  “Because it makes you feel good, yes?”

  “Well that and it tastes awesome.”

  He laughed again. “That is what blood is like for us, except it is a necessity to live. But not very often. It’s just that the more a vampire drinks, the stronger they become.”

  Blood tastes awesome? My body shuddered. The only time I’d ever tasted blood was if I had a paper cut and would instantly shove my finger into my mouth and even then it was a tiny amount. I guessed the larger the dose, the better it was? I felt my face squish at the thought of actually drinking it.

  “So what happened after you were fully changed?”

  “I didn’t know how to tell John – my father. I thought that Will would help me because he has always been like my brother. So after a while, I went to find him where he was before coming to see me. It was lucky that I found them,” Jack’s eyes scanned the people surrounding us.

  “It was kind of a frenzy after that. I barely could get a word in after the boys rushed to his side. They were all super interested in him and why he’s all nice. No offense, Jack. But, he’s a vampire, you know, and others…aren’t. It was weird.” Kie’s face contorted

  “Ava decided that Ronan and Joaquin were going to go find Will. I wanted to tell him myself, but she said it was a terrible idea and my unexpected arrival might be too much of a shock for him, that he might kill me when he saw me. But I knew she was wrong and I argued with her. Joaquin tried to calm me down, and I bit him.” His head dropped in shame. “I shouldn’t have done that. I still do not have complete control.”

  “Jack, stop that!” Kie demanded. “He was not out of control, Cami. Joaquin just tormented him after the final decision was made. He was the only one of us that didn’t trust him. He said some pretty nasty things to him and it was only natural for Jack to fight back. He wasn’t very fond of vampires before that incident, but now you can say he really doesn’t like them. That’s when Jack left us.

  Ronan and Joaquin came back from their journey, fuming mad. They learned of your creepy little town’s secrets. Joaquin claimed that Will was a traitor for staying there when he knew what vampires were capable of. But Will had given them a new target. People that were in the midst of changing humans and if we hurried, we could stop it. That very night we were packed and heading to Costa Rica. They don’t mess around.”

  I gasped, realizing that she was speaking about my own parents. “You thought my parents were changing people here?”

  She nodded ferociously but stopped when she saw my horrified expression and quickly moved on with her story. “Kazi, being the people person that he is, befriended the owner of a restaurant. He let us use it as a place where we could watch the town without being too conspicuous. We stayed there for the night before journeying out here, to the Red Jungle, as it’s known to the locals, because of the amount of people that die here. No one ever comes out, they told us.”

  “Jack must’ve thought I was crazy for wanting to come out here.”

  “Will caught up with us while Ava was in the middle of planning a rescue of the humans. He was very upset that they had threatened you, and warned them to stay away from the town and your family. He thought that your parents were also in danger and stayed with us to help arrange the rescue of… everyone. But then he got worried that you would be in danger too, so he went bac
k to get you. He was a rollercoaster then, not sure of what to do. Ava had to order him back to get you just to get him out of her hair.

  “The festival ball. You came back for me.”

  “I did.” He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed.

  “Why did you leave again?”

  “That night, I saw your grandmother with those men at the Inn. I’ve seen them before; they are very well known in your world for their resistance to human trafficking. But we’ve had, um, trouble with them in the past. The Romanian would’ve recognized me, and that would have been the last of me. I knew you would be safe with them,” he chuckled. “But then you show up here! All feral and ready to bite Kazi’s arm off.”

  I broke free of his embrace while Kie and Jack laughed. “Because I thought you were going to kill my parents, Will!”

  “And you brought –what was it you called him? Jay back here.”

  “Yah, Joaquin wasn’t very happy about that!” Kie elbowed Jack’s side.

  “So he was the one that did that to you?” I asked pointing to the barely visible scratch above his eyebrow.

  Jack nodded and pulled pieces of his hair over the mark. “Yes. He was angry that I tried to help last night.”

  I shook my head in disbelief. How could anyone be mad at Jack? He looked so completely fragile sitting there. Perhaps it was because he was always so reserved and polite or maybe it was the memory of the brokenness of his body that made me think that.

  “Joaquin could have killed you.”

  His eyes sparkled and he grinned. “No.”

  Kie giggled. “Of course not, it takes a lot more than a good beating to kill a vampire.”

  “You let him do that to you! Why?”

  “He needed to burn off a little steam,” Will said.

  “By beating the crap out of Jack.” His idea of blowing off steam was a little crazy, and definitely not okay with me. I wondered if he would need to do that again anytime soon. “Well, he’s got issues that I think would be better addressed in a psychiatric ward.”

  “You have no idea,” Kie muttered.

  “All right everyone, listen up!” Ava’s commanding voice blasted throughout the camp, causing anything that had once been moving to freeze, and give her undivided attention. “If anyone else has personal issues with what we are doing here, please leave now! Everyone else, gather around.”

  We rose from the table and gathered around her, along with a few people that I had yet to meet. Joaquin exited the tent and stood behind her with his head slightly bowed. I assumed from his lack of departure that he decided to keep his issues with me and Jack muted. Kazi followed him out of the tent and stood beside Ava. He eyeballed everyone before pausing at me.

  “You’re the key, kiddo,” he said, pointing a finger gun at me. He then addressed everyone else. “No one knows who Cami is, so we are going to use that to our advantage. We are going to follow Cami back into town tonight to get the humans and the family. We’re risking the chance that her family might not like us being there, so rest up. It could get ugly. We leave at sundown.”

  They mumbled amongst themselves as they left following Kazi’s instructions. This left Emery, Sylas, Jack, Will and me still corralled near Ava.

  “That’s not much of a plan, mate,” Sylas said.

  “That it is why it is the best plan to have at this point,” Kazi returned.

  “I have to agree with Sylas. I’m not sure what you want me to do. How is my wandering into town again going to help find my parents?”

  Ava rested her hands on her hips. “Those parasites, no offense Jack, notice you lurking about, they will have to investigate. You couldn’t look more out of place if you tried.”

  “Because,” Kazi added, “there is nothing more attractive to a vampire than a young lady wandering aimlessly through an unfamiliar place. Am I right, Jack?”

  Jack’s cheeks reddened slightly as he nodded. The color that was slowly returning to his face was a welcomed sign that he was healing from Joaquin’s attack last night. When, not if, there was time later for more casual conversation, I planned to ask Jack more about himself.

  “They will be suspicious enough to send their scouts to check her out. These guys don’t hunt for themselves. Also, they have probably moved on from the house where John spotted them, so we will simply follow them back to their new location.”

  “Simply,” I snorted. “You’re going to simply follow a bunch of vampires back to their house? Then what? And besides that, they know you’re here. Won’t they be expecting you?”

  Ronan put his hand on my shoulder, instantly raising the hair on the back of my neck. “It is very sweet of you to be concerned about us, but the one you should be concerned with is you.” He squeezed my shoulder but my glare caused him to retract his hand as fast as he had placed it.

  Will cleared his throat and Ronan’s smile left his lips. “I’m only teasing the girl.” He rolled his eyes. “I assure you Cami, we will make sure you are all right.”

  “Yes,” Ava punctuated his thought.

  “What about the rest of you? How do I know you all won’t get hurt?”

  “No problem,” Sylas said. “This isn’t our first rodeo.”

  So, I would just wander around like I didn’t know what was going on, not a big change for me. I drew in a deep breath. “Let’s do it.”

  “You got it, kid.” Kazi clapped his hands and walked back to the command center tent, the others trailing him.

  When they were inside, Will grabbed my shoulders and pulled me in tight. “Are you okay?”

  At that moment okay wasn’t the right word to describe how I was feeling. Overwhelmed might have been more appropriate. There was too much thrown at me to have a complete, sane thought about any of it. I was more than ecstatic to be with Will again, but that was tainted by the urgency I felt to find my family and get them home safely. Mixed in with that was the recent discovery of the truth about my family.

  “I don’t know what I am,” I whispered. I remembered that he too had a major discovery-Jack was alive, and a vampire. “How are you?”

  He sighed heavily, still holding me close. “It’s been a lot to take in, I’ll admit. But I guess I just have to get used to the fact I’ll have to watch my mouth around you. I wouldn’t want to meet an untimely demise because I’ve crossed you.”

  “Will!” I tried to push away, but he held me and laughed.

  “I’m kidding. You couldn’t hurt me if you wanted to. Physically, I mean. And Jack being all strong and nimble is kind of a freak out, but I’m okay. Better than okay, actually.”

  12

  Even with the knowledge that Will and the others were closer to me than I could see, the chill remained, slowly oozing up my spine until it reached the back of my neck where every hair stood. I shivered and sucked in a deep breath through my nose. I felt my heart quicken despite my best efforts to keep it at a normal pace, as normal as it would be for someone who is supposed to be lost. I pulled the hood of the sweatshirt over my head and tucked my hands in the pockets, disguising myself as well as I could before the glow of the small town’s lights could find me.

  The muffled noise became clearer as I made my way from the road, through the cramped alleyways and into the familiar square where I’d found Jack, to find a festival in full swing with a band on stage in the center of a garden. Great.

  I stood and watched for a moment, noticing how the people weren’t fully concentrated on the performers as they would have been back home. Instead, they were enjoying the company of the people around them. They were dancing and singing along and, of course, drinking. The aura of the event was incredibly intoxicating even to me, someone that was not engaged at all in the scene. I wished Kazi would have told me about this special occasion because it would have been nice to know a little bit about what was happening. Perhaps it was best though. I was supposed be a foreigner, completely lost and desperate for help.

  The first part was easy enough to portray.

&n
bsp; I snaked my way through the crowds, having no idea what to look for, or how to catch the eye of anyone that would be suspicious of me. I pulled the hood off my head; I supposed hiding underneath it wouldn’t help me stand out. Everyone that I met eye contact with only held it for a few seconds before turning away and continuing what they were doing. Perhaps I didn’t look lost enough. So I did my best to look uninterested in the festivities and more so with the landscape that surrounded the crowd, although the giant puppets and banners did nothing to help me see much beyond the square.

  I grew frustrated at the complete indifference the people seemed to have and walked out of the middle of the crowds cruising along the store and restaurant fronts. It was going to take longer than I thought to find the scouts, or to have them find me. Did I expect them to run up to me with open arms? I cringed at the thought.

  “Eh, telephone?”

  I jumped and jerked my head to the side. The man from the store yesterday was grinning at me with his eyebrows raised. He pointed to a pay phone on the wall next to me, one that I had completely missed yesterday when I walked down this way in search of it.

  I smiled and nodded. “Yes. I found it. Thank you.” I averted my eyes back to the crowds.

  “You call someone?”

  “I did.”

  “A friend?”

  Was I too friendly with this guy yesterday? “Yes.”

  He took a swig from a green glass bottle he had been struggling to keep hidden beneath his jacket. “Where is friend?”

  The odor from his mouth forced my nose to plug itself as my stomach flipped. I pretended to scratch my forehead to block the sweet stench. I bit my lip for a moment and waited for my gagging to subside. “Um,” I managed from underneath my hand. “I think he will be here soon.”

  The man swayed but caught himself on the post that stood behind me. “Eh- you no look here. They, like eh-.” With his thumb and two fingers still wrapped around the bottle, he pointed toward a darkened street leading out of the square. “Eh, like you- there.”