There would be shopping to do for all the supplies. That would eat up valuable time. Venjamin would be in Phoenix by nightfall, Charlie had no doubt of that. He would just have to try his luck.
The sun was down.
“Everyone up!” Charlie said springing out of his chair. “We’ve got to get moving.”
His family stirred and sat up, their appearances aged more in one day then in all their years, especially Valerie. He could not imagine the last time he had seen her without a full face of makeup, beauty shop hair, and an elegant dress. This morning her eyes had circles beneath them, her hair was a tangled mess, and she wore a wrinkled dress. Somehow she was still beautiful. More so.
“I’ve got some errands I have to do before we can leave town. I’ll be gone an hour, max. Under no circumstance do you let anyone in here. I don’t care who they claim to be. Not a maid or the manager or a bible salesman. Understand?”
They nodded. “Where are you going?” Valerie asked. She seemed anxious to be without him. It was kind of nice in a twisted way.
“Just to get us some supplies. I won’t be long.”
“You’re not going to hurt anyone, are you?” Amelia asked. Her voice was cold.
Startled, Charlie stared back at her. “Who could I hurt, pumpkin?”
“Humans.”
“Why are you worried about humans?” he asked her slowly.
“Just promise me you won’t hurt any humans,” Amelia repeated slowly.
“I promise,” he lied. “I’ll see you soon.”
“What was that all about?” John asked standing and stretching. “They’re just wild humans out there. No different than farm raised.”
Amelia ignored her brother. In school she had been taught about humans. They resembled vampires physiologically but intellectually they were inferior, their acumen barely above a monkey’s. They possessed no conscience, no sense of right and wrong. They were all instinct which made them dangerous and unpredictable without sedation. Their means of communication were primitive. Cries and grunts. They were incapable of forming words or complex thoughts. Nomads, they traveled in packs like wolves. They were food. Period. But Amelia had only been out in the real world for one day and already she knew that all that she had been taught was a lie. Dr. Venjamin was a human and he was nothing like she was led to believe humans were except dangerous. Humans were just like vampires. They were intelligent. They thought and spoke and felt and loved.
Valerie rubbed her eyes. “Everyone, get washed up. We want to be ready to leave the moment your father gets back.”
John entered the bathroom first.
“Mom, I’m hungry,” Harry whined.
“Your father will bring us home something soon.”
“I could just go outside and catch myself a human. It can’t be that hard—“
“We are not to leave this room! Understand?” Her violet eyes burrowed into her son’s. She didn’t know what was on the other side of the door. But she knew it was dangerous. It could be Venjamin waiting out there wanting to breed her children like animals or humans who wanted to drive a stake through their little hearts.
“Yes,” he sulked.
One by one they shared the restroom coming out bathed and dressed in crumpled clothing. Harry turned on the television—he had become a master at the remote—and it revealed a radically different world from the one they were familiar with. At first it was a news program. The country was at war in far off places named Iraq and Afghanistan. Valerie had only read about wars in school text books. She thought the United States had been at peace since the Civil War. Unemployment plagued the country like an epidemic. Families were losing their homes. Everyone in Sangre Valley was employed. Everyone owned a house and a car and there had never been any fear of losing any of it. Murders and rapes happening daily within cities. Mothers murdering their babies, teachers having sex with their students, kids going on murdering sprees in their high schools. Humans were violent. They were dangerous. That was one thing Venjamin hadn’t lied about.
The news show didn’t hold Harry’s interest, and he flipped the channel. It was an infomercial for some kind of home gym. Who had ever heard of a home gym? Why would a person need that? He flipped the channel again. A woman was having an orgasm in the shower caused by her shampoo! It was only seven thirty at night! She looked at her children’s faces. They were wide-eyed and blushing. More commercials. There were so many choices out there. Twenty different cereals. Ten different soda pops. A phone that fits in your pocket. A home computer. It was space aged.
Then Harry landed on some kind of drama show about privileged high school kids. The girls wore almost nothing. Cleavage, mid-drifts, skirts barely below their privates. All three of her children were consumed by the skin and outfits of the girls, even Amelia. The boys on the program were just as bad. Constantly taking off their shirts. Then there was sex! Eight o’clock at night! Underage children taking their clothes off and rolling around in bed. It was indecent! But Valerie did not shield her children’s eyes. Like it or not, this was learning. This was the world they now lived in. As uncivilized as it was . . . there was something empowering about it. Moms didn’t have dinner on the table by five o’clock. They actually held jobs while having families. They were divorced and went on dates. They even got to have sex too. The girls weren’t going to school in preparation to be wives. They were going to go to college to have careers. Some dads worked, some dads stayed at home to care for their children. Valerie had never heard of such a thing.
The show ended and Harry began flipping through stations again. He stopped when a character said the word vampire. Until now, they knew they had been watching humans. Despite the consumption of food, they could have been vampires. Their speech and actions and emotions all mimicked vampires. But now they had found a window into how humans viewed vampires.
Valerie did not like it. It was another half naked blonde teenager. She was a student, a cheerleader, and a vampire hunter. Vampires were these stupid, aggressive, blood lusting creatures that she would stab through the heart with a stake after some gymnastic filled fight scene. It was crude and wrong.
“Turn it off,” Valerie exclaimed when she couldn’t take anymore. It was a make-believe show, she knew that. But how far from the truth was it? Was this what awaited them on the other side of the door? Charlie said most humans didn’t believe in vampires. But apparently enough knew about them to make a television show. And the people who watched that show must think that was an accurate representation of vampires.
“Mom, it’s not real,” Harry said. “You can tell the fighting’s fake.”
“Turn the channel or turn the TV off.”
He sighed and turned the channel. More half naked young people whose sense of humor revolved around sex and violence. She preferred her children watch that than the perverted distortion of her species.
“Humans are like us,” Amelia said quietly.
“No, they’re not,” John said obstinately. “They’re just more evolved than the humans in Sangre Valley. Monkeys who were taught to talk.”
“The humans in Sangre Valley were kidnapped from this world and drugged. They aren’t any different than us—except they don’t murder for a meal.”
“They eat meat. Isn’t that murder? Where do you draw the line? Why not stop eating cows? And humans murder us too. You saw it.”
“Of course they kill us! We murder them for food.”
“What is wrong with you, Aims? So what if they’re a little bit more like us than we thought? It’s like Dad said, we’re still on the top of the food chain. It’s nature.”
“Enough,” Valerie said. “My head hurts. Just turn the damn thing—“
The door swung open, the lock breaking the frame of the door. But it wasn’t Charlie who came through. It was Rhett, dressed in tight black leather pants, a crimson shirt, and a sleek leather jacket. He looked nothing like himself. He was smiling—grinning really. Behind him entered Drew with another vampire who w
as short and muscular with sandy blonde hair and beady eyes.
Slowly Valerie stood up placing herself between the vampires and her children. “Rhett?”
“Hi Valerie. You’ve been a bad girl.”
“What is he doing here?” she asked gesturing to Drew. “Does Venjamin know what he did to my daughter?”
“Every salacious detail,” Drew said. “Hi there, Amelia.”
“Go to hell,” she said.
“One day in the twenty-first century and the girl gets a filthy mouth. I like it.” He grinned.
“Stay away from my sister,” John threatened. Drew just laughed at him.
“Where’s Charlie, Valerie?” Rhett asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Takes you on the run then abandons you? Doesn’t sound like Charlie to me.” Rhett turned to his two henchmen. “Get them back to St. Vladimir. I’ll stay here and wait for Charlie. He won’t be coming back to Sangre Valley.”
The stocky vampire grabbed her by the arm. She pulled back but to no avail. “Do you know what Venjamin plans to do to my children? To Amelia?”
“As a matter of fact I do,” Rhett said.
“What makes you think he won’t do the same to Marie or Bobby or your unborn child? You’re a husband and a father—“
“No, I’m not. I have a job. That’s all.”
Suddenly Valerie realized how truly different Charlie was from the rest of his kind.
All three vampires were suddenly in the room. The third vampire started pulling her towards the door. Drew clamped a hand on the arms of Amelia and John, both who tried to pull away.
“Let go of my mom!” Harry yelled and jumped off the bed and onto the vampire’s back, his teeth sinking deep into the back of the vampire’s neck. Valerie got pushed to the floor. As if on cue, Amelia and John attacked Drew, Amelia kicking, John punching. With one arm Drew flung John across the room and into the wall with such force that the drywall cracked. He slid down the wall to the floor, dazed. Amelia was tossed onto the bed. In a blink of an eye, Drew was on top of her, pinning her down. “I’ve been craving this,” he whispered in her ear. This time he had no interest in getting under her skirt.
She stared back at him, courage in her eyes. “So have I.” And with all her force she pushed him off of her, across the room, and into the TV which exploded into sparks. Drew fell to the floor with shards of glass in his back, smoke rising from his leather jacket. Her strength from the other night was still with her.
Rhett tried to detach Harry from the back of the third vampire, but his teeth were sunk in like a leech.
“You little bastard! Get off of me! Get him off!” screeched the short vampire.
Charlie appeared in the door. He pulled Rhett away from Harry and threw his former friend across the room and into the bathroom. The tiled wall cracked. With lightening speed he tossed a dazed Drew into the bathroom. He knocked Rhett back down with a punch to the face. The unnamed vampire was trying to smash little Harry into a wall. Back on her feet, Valerie took the phone off the night stand and swung it into his face. The vampire went down and Harry leaped off of him.
“He tasted putrid,” Harry said spitting on the ground.
Charlie helped John up. Amelia jumped off the bed. “Into the car. Now!”
Valerie grabbed the suitcase and pushed Harry out the door. She didn’t see the car though. Instead there was a rusted blue van with the side door open idling in front of them.
“Where is the car?” John asked panicked.
“Get into the van!” Charlie yelled slamming the driver’s side door.
“What happened to the car?” he asked again as Valerie pushed him in. Before the door could slam shut, Charlie was speeding away checking the rearview mirror to make sure none of the vampires were coming after them. “Is everyone okay? Is anyone hurt?”
Valerie examined her children, her heart still pounding in her chest. Harry had blood on his chin and down the front of his shirt but it wasn’t his. John had a gash on the back of his head and seemed a little dazed, but he would be okay. Amelia was fine. “We’re okay. We’re all okay. How did they find us?” she asked climbing into the passenger’s seat.
“Venjamin has a lot of resources. But we’re going to be okay. I promise.”
“How are we going to be okay?”
“I have a plan. I have a plan,” he said, half speaking to her, half to himself. He hadn’t expected Venjamin’s men to find them so quick. But it made sense. He sent Rhett after them. Rhett who was an expert tracker. Charlie had hunted with him enough to know. And Drew having already tasted Amelia’s blood once would have a better ability to trace her. Charlie hadn’t recognized the third vampire. Probably a recruiter. They were nasty sons of bitches.
“Well, it’s time you shared it with the rest of us.”
“I will. I promise.”
“When? And what was that back there? Why could you move so fast? Why were they so strong?”
“I’ll tell you everything. Just not now.” He needed to think, to plan, to plot.
“No. Now! Because now is all we’ve got!”
“Okay! Okay. Made-vampires have some special talents. We’re fast. We can move quicker than the eye can see. And we have incredible strength.” His eyes flickered to his kids in the rearview mirror. “You guys may have it too. Venjamin always thought so. There were experiments but never anything conclusive either way. Amelia has vampire strength for sure.”
“And our plan?” Valerie demanded.
“We go east. We drive day and night. I used to know a guy in New York. He can get us set up with new identities. Then we’ll travel north, Maine, maybe even Canada. We’ll live in the woods off the radar. We’ll hunt. We’ll be okay.”
Valerie sat back in her seat. That didn’t sound much like a plan to her. Used to know a guy? Live in the woods? For the first time she said what she thought. “That’s not much of a plan. Where will we live? We have three children. What will we do for money? What will we hunt? Animals? Humans? How do we keep the humans from finding out what we are? What will keep Venjamin from finding us?”
“I don’t know. But I’ll figure it out. I will.”
The car was quiet as they merged onto the expressway.
“Can we have this?” Harry asked pulling the packaged steaks out of a bag. He was asking to eat meat. He must be hungry.
“Yes. It’s for you.”
“Thank god. That vampire tasted like shit,” Harry said. Valerie didn’t even bother to scold him.
“What’s this for?” Harry asked undisturbed by the events that had dispersed just minutes ago. He held up leather gloves and a ski mask. He continued to pull out a map, a football, a cooler, a sketch pad and some pencils.
“Put the meat in the cooler,” Valerie said.
“Oh wow!” Harry pulled out a roll of cash.
“Give that to me,” Charlie said reaching his hand back.
“Where did you get that kind of cash?” Valerie asked. “Where did this van come from? And what is all that stuff? A football?”
“The football is for John. The sketch pad is for Amelia. I just thought they’d want something familiar.” He didn’t want his kids to despise him for taking them from their home and tossing them into a foreign world. Presents were the best he could do for the moment. Eventually he would make it up to them. He would spend time with them, explain how much he loved him, how he never knew he could love like that. He would make them understand. Eventually. “Harry, buddy, I’ll pick up something special for you too. You just name it.”
“I want to go hunting with you.”
He smiled despite himself. If life had continued on in Sangre Valley, Charlie never would have been allowed to teach his sons to hunt. At least now he could share that knowledge with them, bond with them over it.
“Where did the money come from?” Valerie pressed. “And the van?”
“I stole it! How do you think I got it? Don’t be naïve!”
They were c
riminals. Thieves. No wonder humans feared and loathed vampires.
“Do you want some meat, Dad?” Amelia asked. There was something eerie about the tone of her voice.
“No, no. I’m not hungry.” He had eaten with real appetite for the first time in what seemed like years tonight. He drank with purpose and pleasure. He needed strength to protect his family, not just to sit behind some desk. And he remembered the power of being able to take what he needed from humans with such ease. Power, he had forgotten what that was like. It tasted almost as sweet as blood.
Amelia didn’t say anything. She chewed her meat slowly watching her father’s eyes in the mirror. She didn’t like what she saw.
Chapter Fifteen
Back to the Lair
“He’ll go east,” Rhett told Venjamin. “He likes New York City. Easy prey, he always said. Easy to get rid of the bodies there too. Used to say how well Harry would do in a city like that.”
Dr. Venjamin nodded. It was just the two of them in his office. It had been a night of disappointments and surprises. Disappointed that the Murrays escaped. But surprising in Amelia’s display of strength—something Drew conveniently left out of their first conversation. Surprising, too, that vampires had such a strong sense of family. Harry attacking his mom’s assailant. John trying to protect his little sister. None of them running to save themselves at the expense of another. Sangre Valley had certainly proven successful in installing values and morals in vampires. Of course, those studies never truly appealed to the doctor.
“I would have taken you to be the stronger vampire,” Dr. Venjamin said. Venjamin himself was determined to be the stronger force when it came to his sickness. Right this minute he was battling his fatigue, refusing to allow Rhett to see his exhaustion or the constant pain in his abdomen that would have made a lesser man double over. Now if only his will power could bring back a healthy complexion. The gray tone of his skin kept him from looking in a mirror.
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