People like me? “American?”
He closed one eye and the other struggled to follow but stayed half open and he nodded heavily. “Um Hm.”
I wondered if he had seen my family, or the ladies. But clearly, by the fact that he was ready to collapse in to an alcohol-induced coma, asking him any more questions was out. I looked up the street then back around to the crowd. No one had tried to speak or even acknowledge me. Perhaps if I tried to do a little scouting on my own I could find where the people had been moved. I would be okay as long as I knew Will was not far behind me. If all else failed, I had the vial.
The music from the band faded away before a new, far more haunting song reverberated through the streets. The chill returned but I kept going determined to find the source of the music.
I rounded a corner, following the music to its source. A palatial three-story stucco house covered in windows and topped with a red tile roof was completely lit up. The music flowed from wide-open French doors situated on the second story balcony and danced through the night air. Despite the thick wrought iron gates that guarded the entrance to the house, it seemed so inviting. I hid behind a tree catty-cornered from the gates and studied the house and courtyard through the iron spindles.
The lyrics were not in any language that I had ever heard before, but the female voice that carried them was understated and powerful. She was sad or alone as if she were singing for someone to help her, she was confessing. My shoes made no noise as I crossed the street and crouched close to the gates. I moved closer to them and kneeled down, peering between the rods at the balcony. To my surprise, when my knee touched the gate, it moved. This had to be the place that the drunken man was referring to because there was no sign of life in any of the surrounding houses. The residents were all at the festival and what breathing creature would chose to miss a festival like that?
I listened for footsteps or any other sound of movement coming from the house, but there was none. Only the evocative professions of the lonely woman came from above. Again the gate moved when I gave it a little push, and groaned as I pushed it far enough to slip through. I jogged through the open courtyard and slouched next to one of the large pillars beneath the balcony.
The large inviting windows weren’t as easy to see through as they’d seemed from the street. Although light flooded from within, they were only opaque enough to let out the light and any effort to get closer would probably end up getting me caught by any occupants, human or vampire.
“What are you doing?”
I choked on my breath and slipped to the other side of the pillar, then peaked around again.
A girl that I estimated to be about my age stood near another pillar petting the long blonde braid of hair that draped over her bare shoulder. Her questioning eyes were encircled with thick black eyeliner that came to a fine point at each temple. Above the liner, electric blue eye shadow was carefully smudged over the rest of her lids.
“I, uh.”
She rolled her brown eyes and stepped toward me, but I backed away before she could reach me. I had no reason to be stalking this house, other than the fact that it might contain a small army of vampires. Was she one of them? And if not, I couldn’t exactly tell her what I was doing.
She stepped forward again, this time her blackened lips turned into a smile. “The entrance is in back.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t be scared. This is my first time too,” she stated and then grabbing my hand, pulled me behind her as she walked down the stone pathway between the house and a row of palm trees.
She let go but didn’t break her long stride. “I couldn’t believe they picked me. This has to be the coolest vacation ever.”
I paused at one of the windows, letting the girl disappear around the corner, and tried to look in one more time. This couldn’t have been the house that the others spoke of. People were going in, willingly. Trying to see in was of no use; those windows weren’t going to give up any secrets. There was only one way to find out.
The entrance led us down a short, dimly lit hall before opening into a grand room. The ceiling opened all the way to the roof three stories above, where a large mural had been masterfully feather-painted. Except for a few sparsely placed ornamental pieces of furniture, the room was empty. I hurried to catch up with the girl.
“This way,” a female voice commanded from a shadowed hall. We jumped and turned toward the voice.
A short, plump brunette woman with a lip piercing stood perfectly still with her hands folded behind her back. She clicked her tongue impatiently at the pair of us causing the blonde to jump again and shuffle toward her with myself following closely behind.
When we were within better view of her, she examined the blonde from head to toe and smiled. However, the smile quickly faded when she saw me and my lackluster attire. One hand-drawn eyebrow rose in dissatisfaction before she spun on her heels and glided down the hallway.
My counterpart clapped her hands excitedly and followed the woman.
What seemed at first to be another short hallway turned into a downward spiraling stone staircase fit for the interior of a castle. Large torches illuminated the curves as we moved lower into the earth.
The under-impressed woman and blonde moved much faster than I down the stairs and by the time I reached the opening of the staircase, they had disappeared into the sea of people happily dancing to the hypnotic rhythms that filled the air.
I hesitated before entering, attempting to gain my bearings. Apparently, I had come from a turn of the century palace above ground to what appeared to be a dungeon like nightclub below.
Laughter and music filled every available space and through the strobe lights, I realized I’d entered the land of the beautiful people. With every white, purple, or gold light that flashed, a portrait of perfection appeared on the figure I was looking at. Everything down to their shoes complemented the wearer.
To my right, a slightly parted satin curtain draped from the high ceiling all the way to the floor. It appeared to be covering an alcove. VIP, I assumed. To my left was a bar that was lined with glass shelves stocked full of multicolored bottles being plucked by the servers and handed to the eagerly waiting masses.
My scan of the dungeon found the brunette. She was introducing the chosen one to a group of equally impressive men and women. Their expressions indicated that they too were very pleased with her. The brunette shot a glance at me over her shoulder and then quickly turned back to the rest. I could take a hint. I would not be joining that conversation.
What had I just walked into?
A small glass of red wine appeared in front of me. “Drink this.”
The voice was just above a whisper, but somehow even with the pounding music, it was clear. One of the beautiful males broke free of the pack and offered me a drink. “It’s on me.”
“I don’t drink.”
His sculptured brown face soured. “No?”
I shook my head and tried to break free of his hypnotic gaze. His eyes were smiling, though his stubbled face remained stoned. He looked in the direction of the brunette. “Ah.” The stone cracked into a grin. “You are a treat.”
“What?”
“If you came with her, and you don’t drink…” He leaned closer until his nose grazed my jaw line. “…then you are a treat.”
I jerked backward. “What? No!”
Startled by my reaction, he too jumped. “If you are not here to drink…” He held up the glass of wine. “and you’re not here to give…” His head nodded toward the brunette as she walked away, leaving the blond surrounded by the group. “What are you here for?”
My eyes fell on the blonde as she closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side. The shortest of the beautifuls lowered his head to her neck and opened his mouth. My stomach plunged as his teeth sunk into her skin. She let out a silent cry before opening her eyes again.
My own eyes snapped shut before I could witness anymore. I was definitely in the right place
. I felt sick and began to breathe heavily while a wave of hot air swirled around me forcing my knees to weaken.
“Oh, I see now,” the man said holding my back so that I wouldn’t fall. “You’re new.”
His wide smile was beaming when my eyes opened again. His demeanor had changed to absolute delight and he let go.
“New? Yes. I’m very new to this.”
He chuckled and held up the glass he’d previously offered and threw his head back letting the entire contents of the glass spill into his mouth without even a drop spilling out. He slammed the empty glass onto the table next to him. “It’s that simple.”
A woman appeared next to him with another full glass. She looked at me and smiled. “Miss?”
“No, thank you.”
Her head cocked to the side reminding me of a confused puppy.
“She’s new,” the man offered.
Her posture straightened and the smile returned. “Oh. I didn’t think they were accepting new ones.”
The man shrugged, “Guess so.” He then turned back to me, extending his arm. “I’m Antoine, by the way.”
“Oh,” I said shaking his hand.
He slowly let go and leaned back and resting his arms on the table, not taking his eyes off of me. I looked around the room trying to diffuse the awkwardness. I wasn’t interested in making conversation and he could see that. I hoped he would attribute it to the fact that I was new and fascinated by the event.
“Drink,” Antoine said again.
I turned to refuse him again, thinking that he was offering me a cupful of wine-or blood, but this time instead of glass, a simple plastic bottle of water waited for me.
“Oh. Thank you.” I twisted the cap off the bottle and drank.
“You are not old enough to drink,” he mused, “not even in this country.”
His comment caught me off guard. “There’s a drinking age for vampires?”
The second glass slammed to the table and he laughed again, that it was enough to catch the attention of surrounding guests. “You are a funny little one. You think I’m drinking blood from a cup.” His nose and mouth squished in disgust. “I meant alcohol. One never knows with us, you know. How old we are. But I can see that you are too young to have a drink. If I let you, it’d be anarchy. We do have rules to follow. “ He paused and looked at my vacant expression. “I’m only teasing you. Drink all you want. No one cares, not even the humans. Did you see the festival out there? Everyone’s drinking. They’re too busy celebrating I don’t care what. Clueless.”
Clueless was right. I could’ve been lumped into that category as well. I had no idea what was happening or more importantly what I was doing just hanging out with a group of drunken model slash vampires. Where were the bad guys?
I caught sight of the blonde again with her arm extended and a woman’s mouth attached to it. I chugged the water down to prevent the lump in my throat from coming up.
“Hey listen, if you are going to live this lifestyle, you have to get used to that.” Antoine was also watching. “I don’t know how you were, uh-raised, but it doesn’t hurt her. It doesn’t hurt any of them.” He motioned to other humans willingly giving their blood.
Everyone looked so happy, confusing me. I didn’t see anyone being turned into vampires, or being forced. It was the complete opposite. It was a party.
“So what is the celebration down here about?”
Antoine pushed himself off the table and grabbed my hand. “Who needs a reason to celebrate? Let’s dance.”
Unable to resist his firm grip, I followed him to through the crowd and into the center of the dance floor. I’d never been a good dancer, but I could find a beat to sway to on occasion. So I stood in the middle of the flashing lights, bouncing people, and laughing Antoine, swaying back and forth. He did not approve and scowled before grabbing both of my hands.
In his arms, we moved to the Latin beats before he let go and threw himself into a break dance as the song shifted to a pop song. It was amazing to watch him contort himself effortlessly as everyone, except for an old man peeking from the curtains of the VIP room, continued in their own world.
He popped up, spinning me around and passing me off to other dancers before I could even see where I was. I couldn’t help but laugh. If my friends saw me now, they would probably die. I was the typical wall fly at our school dances. But something about that place, and the people made me feel welcomed. Probably because they weren’t judging me as I’d felt at school functions. They barely gave me another look as they danced by. All they wanted to do was have a good time. Will and the others had it wrong.
Before long, I was overheating and holding my hair off my neck.
Antoine grabbed me and pulled me close. “I wouldn’t do that in here,” he joked.
“I’m hot! I need air.”
“Air?” He pointed to a door at the far end of the room. “That leads upstairs and out to a patio. Go and I’ll bring you something to drink.”
“Water?”
He winked and then disappeared.
“Enjoying the party?” someone said as I passed made my way to the door. I nodded again without stopping. If I didn’t get outside to cool off fast, I was going to faint.
The stone pathway from the door led me up onto the patio where I was glad to find myself alone. Being that sweaty and out of breath was completely embarrassing enough without having anyone there to watch me. I walked to the edge of the patio and sat on a stone bench that overlooked the back courtyard. A cool breeze blew on my neck as I waited for Antoine.
I became lost in the haze of the night when I heard a door slam open. Expecting to see him coming with my water, I stood to meet him. But no one appeared, so I turned back to the courtyard admiring what I could see in the darkness. A thud pulled me away from the scenery a second time.
I twisted on the bench and leaned back to see from where the sound had originated. A light attached to the highest peak of the house illuminated the back of one of the large men that I’d seen inside as he walked away from the house and into the courtyard with something over his shoulder.
For no other reason than pure curiosity, I decided to see where he was going. Perhaps there was another hidden dance party on the property, and I wanted to find it. The possibility of gathering enough evidence to prove that vampires weren’t as bad as everyone made it seem was too great.
I followed the man down another small moss covered staircase, staying close to the trees so that he could not see me. He paused for a moment, looked over his unoccupied shoulder and then turned back around and continued walking. The rush excitement was growing inside as I wondered what I was going to find at the end of our journey.
The man stopped just before reaching a small structure that looked like a single car garage. His shoulder slumped and the object he was carried fell, landing in a pile of garbage bags. I tucked behind a tree as he turned and walked back toward the house.
“Well that was anticlimactic,” I sighed and stepped out from behind the tree when the man went back inside. Something in the pile of garbage caught the corner of my eye and I moved closer to inspect it. Poking out from between two black garbage bags was a long blonde braid of hair.
I screamed and stumbled backward. One of the bags became loose from the others and rolled onto the ground revealing a human hand. “Oh my –” I covered my mouth instantly in an attempt to control my sickened stomach. I shoved another bag off of the hair with my foot and stood back.
There she was, lying amongst the garbage, her dead eyes staring up at me. The blonde that had been so excited to be invited to the party and so eager to give herself to them had been tossed out with the trash.
“Camille?”
I swung around to see Tom hobbling quickly toward me.
“Oh my God, Tom. We have to get out of here!” I ran toward him.
“Shh!” He threw his tiny old hand over my mouth.
“No Tom, we have to get out of here now!” I mumbled from under h
is hand.
His watery eyes bored into mine. “Camille. Do not speak. Did you bring the vial?”
I nodded and pulled it from my pocket.
“Good. Drink it.” He read my questioning eyes. “Now!”
He took his hand away from my mouth.
“Why are you here?” I asked as I twisted off the delicate cap.
He nodded and looked again at the vial and then surveyed the courtyard.
I put it to my lips and threw my head back. Instantly, the blueberry ice slid down my throat and ran through my veins igniting me from the inside. My heart began to beat faster and every muscle in my body was on fire.
I gasped for air. “Tom!”
“It’s working. Follow me quickly.”
He grabbed my hand pulled me with him back toward the house. As we passed underneath the patio, I saw Antoine clutching my water and another glass of wine with a distressed look on his face as he surveyed the courtyard looking for me. I wondered if he knew about the garbage and if he treated humans that way as well.
The burning continued to course through me like acid until I couldn’t stand it anymore and had to stop running. I reached for Tom but did not close my fingers around his arm. Instead, I shoved him hard into a tree and fell to my knees grabbing my throat and coughing. The old man struggled to get to his feet.
“It will pass very soon. We must keep going.” He held out his hand to help me up.
I panted as he tugged on my arm, forcing me to follow him with surprising speed down the side of the house, staying low and ducking under each window.
“Tom,” my voice screeched under the searing pain. “Where are we going?”
He remained quiet until we reached the back of the house. After inspecting the exposed grounds, he pulled me around the corner. “They are all inside,” he said, pausing for a moment to look through the glass doors.
“Are my parents in there?”
“You must remain quiet. Do not speak in there. It will ruin everything,” he commanded.
His grip remained firm around my wrist as we entered the house again through a different set of doors. He must not have realized where we were going. I struggled to break free of his grasp. But it was no use; the fire in my throat and chest weakened my attempts to stop. He stopped at the end of the hall just as it opened into the great room that the blonde and I were in earlier. There was a click-clop of heavy shoes across the marble floor and I held my breath as they came toward us then paused, and went away again. Tom pulled my hand again and we entered the room.
The Valley Page 27