That’s when the panic set in. Why was I still here? I couldn’t have had that much blood. I’d seen everything I needed to know. I knew where Rick was, and I knew he was going to kill Classie. I had to get out! We sat there for an agonizing twelve minutes. The urge to escape from the mind of this deranged psycho grew stronger with each passing second. Suddenly, he perked up in anticipation. Down the street, Classie emerged from her house carrying that weathered tin. She skipped lightly down the front steps to her car. As Classie’s car pulled away, Rick began his stealthy pursuit.
I couldn’t do this again. This had to stop. No one else was going to put an end to it. I was the only one with the power to do anything, and I was stuck joyriding in the head of the very man I had to stop. It was up to me.
Suddenly, my vision blurred. Seconds later, I was back in my room.
“Finally!” For the first time, I was truly grateful for my freakish abilities. If it meant that I could save Classie from a horrific fate, I’d do it all over again—I’d die a thousand times.
Without any further delay, I threw on a cap, flipped my hood over my head, and ran. I ran faster than I ever have. I ran harder than I knew I could. I hugged the deep, fuzzy shadows cast by the trees along the street lined up like soldiers going into battle. Fortunately, since it wasn’t a very nice day out, most people were indoors, glued to a menagerie of electronic entertainment. Yes, showing my speed out in the open was dangerous, but screw it. This wasn’t about me anymore. No more of this self-pitying. I had a purpose. I intended to serve it.
I got to Arborville in practically no time. Please tell me I’m not too late.
My theory that the potholes in the crumbling concrete would serve as natural speed bumps and slow Rick down, proved correct. From a distance I caught sight of him parking his car. I had to assume that Classie’s destination was a short jaunt beyond.
It still seemed crazy to me that he would be going after another girl so soon, especially in such a small town. Then again, he was a psycho.
Relieved as I was that I was not too late, I still had to figure out the best way to get rid of the man without getting caught. I stealthily navigated my way toward the building that I recognized as the one Classie had entered last week. The last thing I wanted was to catch Rick’s eye, so before I got too close to his car, I darted up a nearby fire escape and continued running over rooftops.
The building that Classie had gone into was fairly dilapidated. As I stepped lightly along its roof, I could have sworn I heard it groan. To be safe, I skipped over to the roof beyond it and shimmied partway down to a fire escape in the alley between the buildings. Both edifices were scantily inhabited and extremely rundown. I scanned what remained of the windows: Some shoddily boarded, some covered in flimsy cardboard, others simply a gaping square hole with jagged glass teeth.
One floor below the fire escape, in the opposite building, sat a haggardlooking woman. She was resting in a ratty, green armchair, a dirty shawl wrapped around her bony frame. Her hair was wild, and I didn’t have to look very hard to notice the track marks. In her lap was Classie’s tin, out of which she was eating peanut butter cookies.
Cookies? What was Classie doing bringing cookies to this junkie? Was she part of some after-school feed-a-squatter program that I didn’t know about? As I began to strategize my next move, I saw Classie walk behind the woman and go at that frizzy tangle of hair with an old comb. I knew that my number-one mission was to keep her safe by getting rid of Rick, but for a moment I was thoroughly distracted by what was going on. Either way, I had to get closer. I carefully made my way to the adjacent room in Classie’s building, which I suspected was vacant. I was correct.
I checked to ensure that no one could see me, then pressed my ear to the wall.
“You like ’em?” I heard Classie ask.
“Yes,” the woman responded.
“I made them fresh.”
“I know.”
The sound of a comb pulling through dull hair.
“Ow!” the woman exclaimed.
“Sorry,” said Classie.
After a moment she continued. “You know if you did this every once in a while, it wouldn’t be so gnarled when I do it.”
Silence.
“Mom?” Classie asked.
“Yeah?” the woman answered.
“Have you thought any more about the shelter I told you about?”
That sad wretch of a woman was Classie’s mom!
“No.” The woman’s voice was full of bitterness and resolve. Classie didn’t say anything after that, just continued to comb her mother’s hair. Seconds later, I picked up the sound of steady footsteps making their way up the stairs.
I peeked around the dank wooden frame of the doorway just in time to see Rick appear around the corner near the stairs.
This was it. This was the moment.
His footsteps stopped. He wasn’t going to approach Classie while she was in front of her mother. She was a living witness. He was insane but he wasn’t stupid.
From Rick’s meticulous notes, I knew I had mere minutes left in which to strike. I pressed my ear against the wall again to make sure Classie was still engaged with her poor mother’s rat-nest hair. She was.
Kill him, the voice in my head urged. What are you waiting for? Kill him!
I still didn’t know what I was supposed to do with him after I’d killed him. The woods were kind of off limits now that the cops were scouring the area, and a Dumpster sure didn’t seem wise. I was starting to rethink this whole thing. I knew that it was the only way to save Classie, but I hadn’t ever killed a person before. Even as a bloodthirsty vampire, I hadn’t murdered a human being.
I didn’t want to kill Rick. But I knew that I had to.
DO IT! The voice in my head urged. A surge of bloodlust ripped through me, but this time I didn’t fight it like I had so many times before. I let the fury flow and burn inside of me, building up like dark manna. All my senses sharpened like the tip of a surgeon’s blade. I sniffed the air to make sure Rick was still lying in wait around the far corner. He was.
I took a deep breath of the sour air, noting every little detail in case it proved to be important later. I calculated the approximate number of steps that it would take to reach Rick, and the appropriate force with which to break his neck.
In spite of all my previous attempts to push it far out of my mind, I conjured the image of Brandie’s mutilation to serve as fire for the soul-wrenching thing that I was about to do. It didn’t take more than a half second. My eyes popped open. I was ready.
My muscles coiled in anticipation, and a wave of hot energy burst through me. No turning back.
I sprang forward a step, ready to tear his head from his body before I was startled by—
“Freeze! Put your hands in the air!”
In that same half second, I doubled back to the room I’d just left. Down the hall, I heard a lot of shouting and scuffling. I peeked around the corner—a handcuffed Rick was protesting his innocence. For a second, I thought my heart had started beating again.
They’d caught him. My original plan had worked after all. I sighed with relief, and retreated to a dark corner of the room. I leaned against the wall, my face in my hands. I was so glad that they’d caught him, but a tug of guilt pulled at me. I had been seconds away from murdering someone. Which was I really—monster or hero?
Chapter 19
When I got back home I found Malcolm sitting on my porch. He looked like he was over his bout of food poisoning, but his face was still pale.
“Hey Malcolm, feeling better?” I asked.
He looked up at me. He had a fire in his eyes that I’d never seen before, which took me aback. His mouth was drawn in a stern, angry line. He stormed over to me in the middle of the street and swung his fist. It connected with my face. He shouldn’t have been able to hit me in the first place—I was too fast, my senses too sharp. And when he did, the impact should have felt like a tap and probably should have br
oken his hand. Instead it knocked me backward. I was stunned. Malcolm seemed just as surprised as he shook out his hand, which definitely wasn’t broken. How was that possible?
I reached for my jaw and looked over at my best friend who was standing defiantly in front of me. I straightened up and gathered my wits, as the rain began to fall in sheets.
“Dude, that hurt! What is your problem, Malcolm?!”
“You.”
“Is this about Paige?”
“No, this is about you.”
Could he be any more vague? My jaw really hurt!
“What about me?”
“Drop the act,” he spat, “I’m done with your lies.”
What could I have done to wrong him badly enough to make him want to hit me? He’d never hit me before. “I’m serious, what are you talking about?”
“Come on, Noah, I’m not stupid!”
“Why won’t you just tell me why you’re mad at me?” I was getting really frustrated—what did I do to deserve this?
His eyes burned with disgust. “You know.”
“No, I really don’t! Spit it out already!”
“You were following Classie! I know vampires are creepy creatures, but you’re stalking my prom date.”
I still didn’t see why he was furious. It’s not like I liked her or anything. Wait a second. “How could you know that?’ It was like I’d just thrown gasoline on an open flame.
“I don’t know, I just do!”
“So?”
“So, what was your arrangement, huh? He kills them, you get to drink their blood? How did Brandie’s taste?”
“Whoa, whoa, what?”
“It was all over the news, Noah. Rick’s arrest. He was picked up right outside Classie’s mom’s place.”
“Wait, you know about Classie’s mom?”
“Only because I knew you were stalking her, and I followed you! I couldn’t figure out why you were so interested, why you were asking so many questions, but it all makes sense now.”
“Malcolm, wait, no, this is a misunderstanding.” This was ridiculous. I couldn’t believe what he was accusing me of.
“We both know you’re a murderer, Noah, I just didn’t realize how truly sick you are.”
“Back off, Malcolm, you have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I wish I didn’t, because, boy, is ignorance bliss. So how long have you been working with Rick, huh? I’m assuming Brandie was your first. Couldn’t stand to have the packaged stuff, you needed to get it fresh. How could you?”
“You’re wrong! Come on, Malcolm, that’s insane!”
“What’s insane is that I trusted you even after you told me you were a vampire! I should have just trusted my gut! How stupid am I?” He laughed bitterly.
“That doesn’t make me a monster!” I insisted. “I haven’t laid a hand on a human being.”
“No, just a fang, right?”
“What? No, of course not! Malcolm, it’s me! You know me! I couldn’t do that. I’m not a murder.” I felt like I was trying to reassure myself of this fact, too. After all, I had been so close to taking a human life, just moments ago.
“Not anymore. Not since your—”
“Don’t you dare call it ‘my condition,’ I hate it when you do that.”
“Fine, not since you turned into a bloodthirsty monster.”
“That’s NOT FAIR!”
“Neither is MURDERING people, Noah, or did you completely forget that?”
“I didn’t kill Brandie, Malcolm, and I wasn’t going to kill Classie—I was trying to save her!”
“Save it, Noah. I’m done.”
The anger and betrayal bubbled inside of me like a poison. “Some friend you are!” I yelled at him through the roar of the rain.
“Stay away from me, Noah. Stay away from Celia, stay away from Classie, and stay away from Paige. If you come anywhere near us, so help me, I’ll stake you myself.” Malcolm turned away from me.
I was so frustrated. I shouted, “That’s not even how it works!” I think…
He walked away into the downpour, his figure growing darker and more indistinguishable as he went. A piece of our long enduring friendship died with every step he took. Before long, he was gone.
****
I couldn’t take it anymore. I’d tried to do something right—no, I actually had done something right, and I lost my best friend because of it. The rain fell heavy on my tired body as I ran into the woods behind my house. At some point I simply sank to my knees and looked up as the black sky unburdened itself. Part of me hoped the rains would simply wash me away—ash away every hint of my existence. Even though the water hurt my skin, I couldn’t feel any worse than I did already, so I let it fall on me.
I couldn’t bear this existence anymore. I was a wretched, hollow shell of my former self. I didn’t care that I used to be unremarkable. I would trade these “gifts” for mediocrity any day. To top it off, I had to hurt people in order to survive. I was a problem for my mother, Paige wanted nothing to do with me, and Malcolm actually wanted to kill me. What was left?
“Haley,” I whispered. I struggled to find words through the cries that seemed to be collecting in my chest. “Haley!” I yelled. Come on. You’re all I have left. Please, show up. “HALEY!” I tried again. I could barely hear myself over the din of the rain. I kneeled on the wet ground for what must have been ten minutes before a voice finally broke through the noise.
“Noah.” Haley had arrived. Her hair was sopping wet, glowing golden and flowing long down her shoulders.
“Haley,” I choked.
She didn’t rush to embrace me. She didn’t even help me up. She just stood there, staring at me.
“I have nothing left,” I started.
“I know.”
My devastation didn’t appear to move her at all. This threw me off.
“I’m impressed by your power,” she began, “but your character? It leaves something to be desired.”
Slowly, I picked myself up out of the mud. “What?”
“Can I ask you a question?”
I laughed bitterly. “Sure, why not?”
“Why didn’t you kill Rick?”
My black blood ran colder than cold. “What did you just say?”
“Rick,” she said plainly, “why didn’t you kill him? I have to say, I was rather disappointed.”
Once again, I was reeling. She knew about Rick? Had she wanted me to kill him? “How do you know about Rick?”
She giggled. As if any of this was funny. “Dear, sweet, Noah. How do you think your mother, a lowly nurse, and Rick, a talented surgeon, got introduced in the first place?”
I stared at her incredulously.
With ease, she put on a slightly southern accent. “‘Hi there, I’m nurse Haley. Say, have you ever chatted up that surgeon, Rick? He’s kind of cute in a nerdy way. And I think he likes you!’” She dropped the act and looked to me for recognition.
All I could manage was, “You…”
Then again with the accent. “‘Rick, your next patient is in room three. Between you and me, I think she’s on something. She lives in Arborville, no family or friends. You know, that kinda girl. She goes by the name, Brandie Masterson.’”
It was sinking in, all at once.
“Need I go on?” Haley asked.
“You did this. You were behind everything.”
“Well, to be fair, Rick already had a taste for dismemberment, I just happened to…guide him…in a certain way. Just like I guided his donated blood into your hands.”
The world spun violently and I dropped to my knees again, clutching at my stomach. I’m going to be sick.
Haley let out an exasperated sigh. “Noah, please, must you be so dramatic? I’m excited for you to join my clan, of course. I just had to test you. See where you were at, how much work we would have to do. The test was very informative.”
“Informative?” I choked, still on the ground.
“Your blood visio
ns are an incredible power, Noah. Very impressive. They can be put to so much use, you have no idea. But your will to kill?” She strode over to me and kneeled next to where I was fighting the urge to heave. I felt her run a slender finger through my hair. “Your will is weak, Noah, like your father’s. On the scale of humanity, Rick is a cockroach. A blight. He doesn’t deserve to live. And yet, you weren’t willing to kill him unless your hand was forced. I won’t settle for that. We’ll have to work on it.”
I slapped her hand away from my head. “No,” I muttered.
Haley folded her arms. “Don’t be a child, Noah. You have what it takes, you just need some guidance.”
I managed to get to my feet. “Not from you.”
“Come on, I know you’re upset with me, but you’ll get over it. So, I tinkered with things a bit. So, what? What matters is I know what you’re capable of, and I’m going to bring you to your full potential!”
My resolve was hardening with every passing second. “You’re going to leave me alone.”
“Is that what you really want, Noah?”
“Yes.”
“Think about it, you’ll have no one! Nothing! You said it yourself.”
“I’d rather have an eternity of nothing than have to spend it with you.”
She didn’t take too kindly to that. I could tell my words stung, but she tried to play them off in her usual airy manner. “Tsk, such harsh words.”
“Go away. I never want to see you again.”
That must have done it, because the effervescence fell from her face as it twisted in contempt.
“That’s not up to you,” she spat.
Nonetheless, she mercifully disappeared from my sight. I took in a deep breath but all I could smell was mud. I counted to one hundred and made sure she was gone before I let myself fall into a crouch and empty the contents of my stomach.
****
The sun wasn’t even peeking over the horizon when Mom found me. She’d been worried all night when I hadn’t come home. She’d known something was wrong. Call it a mother’s intuition. I was sitting on the mucky ground, covered in mud, my clothes soaked through. My arms were wrapped around my knees and I was staring into nothing.
I Heart Vampires Page 24