Dhampir

by J. H. Hutchins

  The next morning, Vicky, Bali, and Trent took a trip to the doghouse. Mallory was sitting in the corner, rocking back and forth while talking about unicorns. There was a dead rottweiler beside her. It looked like an inflated mascot.

  “Wakey, wakey,” Trent gulped. “Time to go round up your friends. You’re still leaving right?”

  Mallory ignored him to go on a rant about a dream she had when a herd of Yetis invaded the Dome.

  “She’s lost it,” said Vicky. “We’re leaving, Mal. If you’re not in the truck by the time we go, you’ll never see your belongings or friends again.”

  This caught her attention. The princess crawled out of the doghouse with her fangs out. Everybody — including Bali — kept their distance as she followed them back to the truck, snarling and surveying her surroundings like Bigfoot on cocaine. Her wounds were close to full regeneration, and nobody wanted to be the final step. Every twitch or sudden spin scared anybody in that direction off. By the time she climbed in the pickup truck’s cargo area, the entire premises had gone silent beside fearful murmurs. Vicky threw her belongings in the pickup truck. Mallory hadn’t even noticed that she was wearing Rebecca’s Valkyrie pin, or that the grimoire was left with the Timberwolves. She laid down and basked in the cloudy sunlight as if she weren’t half-vampire. She wished more beams would shine through. Having spent the night shivering in under forty degrees Fahrenheit, the princess shoved on her boots, gloves, and tailcoat. She wrapped her cloak around her, and Despy met her with a tight hug.

  “Don’t be sorry,” she said, tears forming in her eyes. “It’s not your fault.”

  Mallory bawled her eyes out before sleeping in the back of the red pickup truck.

  15

  The Struggle

  Gatsby, Pennsylvania (East) — February 13th 2018

  Jayce was frustrated. He had spent all last night and this morning trying to squirm his way into his cursed wand box. He tried to stab, smash, chip and burn the box to pieces, but the black wood was too durable. It didn’t even have a scratch after all was said and done! Although it made him furious, he was a bit excited. He cursed himself for not having tested these methods out in front of Mallory because getting Abby to open it for him would’ve been easier when she first gave it to him. She had even asked him about it, but he’d said, “No. Why would I want a toy? Do I look like a kid to you?”

  Jayce made his way downstairs with the box. He brought the plate of blueberry oatmeal waffles Abby left at his door down with him.

  “I respect you,” he admitted to his grandmother as soon as he arrived in the kitchen. She peered at him from her reading tablet.

  “Good morning, Jayce.”

  “I respect you, Abby,” he repeated, chopping into his waffles. “I really do.”

  “For?”

  “Sticking to your guns and refusing to leave. It was brave.”

  Abby went back to reading.

  “It would be ridiculous to leave,” she said. “I’ve lived in this house my entire life. It’s one of the last things I have. Everything else seems to leave or die out on me.” Abby was nonchalant about this, but Jayce could feel the pain in her words.

  “I’m still here,” he said. She glared over at him.

  “It’s only a matter of time. . .”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Life’s been opening up its doors lately.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yeah. Hey, we may never need to separate if it all goes as planned. You could be my Alfred Pennyworth.”

  “You’re who?”

  “Alfred — Batman’s brother.”

  Abby knew it. She didn’t even look up from her daily erotica read.

  “You’re talking about the wand, aren’t you?”

  “Please, Abby. I need that key more than anything.”

  “You had the key before — did you not?”

  “Yeah, but — it wouldn’t twist fully. I want to give it another try.”

  “It’s better that you don’t. You’ll never open it.”

  “Why? Why won’t it open?”

  “I’ll tell you when you’re twenty-one.”

  Jayce nearly lost it, but he kept his composure. However, he couldn’t hide his anger fully — his leg was shaking and his fork was tapping against the side of his plate.

  “I’ll have to ask you to grab my headphones if you don’t stop that tapping.”

  Jayce stopped.

  “Abby — is the wand inside as powerful and magical as Mallory said it was?”

  “That girl was a blabbering dunce,” his grandmother told him. “Good riddance.”

  “But you didn’t answer the question.”

  “It’s true that even a broken clock is right twice a day,” Abby continued, “but your girlfriend was oh for twelve.”

  Jayce was losing his patience.

  “She wasn’t my girlfriend.”

  “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that she was wrong for what she did. Inflating your head about magical theories was the worst thing that’s happened this year.”

  “Or the best,” Jayce considered. He rushed out of his seat across from Abby to seat directly next to her.

  “Jayce . . .”

  “Let’s just open it and see. Abby, please — it can be just you and I. We can rule the world together.”

  “That’s not how it works.”

  Jayce gritted his teeth.

  “We’ll never know unless we try.”

  Abby set her glasses and tablet aside. She rubbed her eyes.

  “I will never open that box for you in a state like this. However—”

  “In a state like what? I’m perfectly fine.”

  “You’re not — and you know it.”

  Jayce shook his head in disbelief.

  “You’re treating me like a crack addict or something.”

  “Because you’re acting like a crack addict or something.”

  Jayce was losing it. He knew — no matter how deep down he buried it — that Abby was right. He grabbed his plate of waffles and poured more maple syrup over them. The puddle was exorbitant.

  “Watch it,” said Abby. “That stuff’s expensive.”

  Jayce took a deep breath. Abby watched as he began cutting the waffles into pieces so small they began to look like crumbs.

  “Twenty-one is too long,” he continued. “There are things going on right now that need my attention.”

  “It seems that way at your age. I swore I’d be Cyndi Lauper when I was a teenager. Look at me now.” Abby struck a pose — setting her left hand above her head and her right one below her chin. “Vogue.”

  “This isn’t a joke, Abby. Open the box.”

  Jayce set the box on the table. Abby dropped her arms and shook her head. The disgust in her glare toward the box gave more fuel to Jayce’s theories.

  “I’m off to meditate,” Abby informed Jayce, beginning to rise from her seat. “I’ve got yoga with Kristina later. She’s almost as annoying as you.”

  “No!” Jayce yelled. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back in her seat.

  Abby had to remember that he was her grandson. It didn’t go well the last time someone grabbed her unexpectedly. She scared them all the way down to Florida to live with their son — something they both promised they’d never do.

  “Just give me one chance,” Jayce pleaded. “If my dreams are correct, then this will be the greatest weapon known to man. I’ll protect the innocent. I’ll convict the violent. I’ll prove to you, and the rest of this world, that life only gets better if you capitalize on the pain that spawns from tragedy.”

  “And if it’s just a toy?” she asked.

  “I’ll apologize.”

  “You’re getting to the point that an apology won’t cut it.”

  “So are you.”

  Abby sneered.

  “We’re done.”

  When Abby rose, so did Jayce.

  “Mallory was a Vampire, Abby!” he shouted at her. “That’s wh
at scared Jim and the others off yesterday!”

  “Good to know.”

  Abby attempted to walk away, but Jayce blocked her. His blood was boiling. Unbeknownst to him, the box wiggled on the table.

  “You know where her friends are?” Jayce continued. “They’re dead, Abby. A fucking bull the size of Shaq killed them. All of them! I saw him swipe one of their heads off!”

  “Move.”

  “I was right about The Enterprise, too! One of them’s a fucking Werewolf!”

  Abby glared at her grandson.

  “Jayce. Move.”

  He refused.

  “Don’t you care about what’s happening around you? Don’t you care about the world? The poor? The starving? The missing!? This could be linked to the shooting, Abby! I could avenge Lily!”

  Abby snatched the wand box from the table.

  “What’s in this box is not—” she suddenly threw it to the table and grimaced. She massaged her palm and said, “It’s not a toy, damn it.”

  Jayce smirked. She just proved the box had power. Abby cursed under her breath.

  “You don’t care about anything but yourself.”

  “Shut up, Jayce.”

  “It’s the truth.”

  “If I didn’t care about you then I’d give it to you!” she screamed. “That wand will ruin your life!”

  “How the hell do you know!?”

  “Because it was in my hands before your parents. It took me twenty years to recover from the damage it caused!”

  “You said it wasn’t magical!”

  “I don’t care what I said. Stay away from that thing or you’ll be sorry.”

  Abby tried to bump her way past Jayce, but he stood still. When she tried again, he grabbed her by the arms.

  “Open it, Abby.”

  “Jayce—”

  “I don’t want to hear any more excuses!” he said, shaking his grandmother in fury. “Open it!”

  The box shook on the table. It looked like a ringing telephone from the 80s.

  “Let go of me!”

  Jayce stopped his shaking and leaned closer to her face. The box stopped shaking and the room fell silent. Although Abby could play it off well, Jayce could feel her heart beating in fear.

  “Open the box . . . or else.”

  “Or else what?”

  “I’ll kill you.”

  That was it. Jayce had crossed the line. Abby took one look at the wand box before pushing Jayce. His back hit the basement door just before the next blow arrived. Abby slapped Jayce across his face so hard that he did a full rotation and fell to one knee. Brown hair dangled from his undercut, and when he wiped his mouth he saw blood. Tears formed in Abby’s eyes as she grabbed the key from her pocket and thrust it at his head. Jayce fumbled for it like he was cosplaying Sméagol.

  “Your parents made the same mistake,” Abby informed him. “They left on a ‘romantic adventure’ to save the Gothic Realm and now they’re gone. If they’re even still alive, they’re trapped in a cycle of torture. Humans don’t belong in the Gothic Realm. They belong on Earth. If I didn’t take that wand away from them before they left, this world would be infested with Sperns.”

  Suddenly, Abby clenched her heart and fell back into her seat.

  “Abby!” Jayce said, rising to comfort his grandmother. She rose her arm to block him away.

  “Back off — or I’m calling the police.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jayce gulped. “Let me help you.”

  Abby grimaced, squeezing the skin above her heart. She fumbled to grab her phone from her pocket.

  “A-Are you calling the police?”

  “I told you to back off!” she yelled.

  Jayce began to back away. He couldn’t believe it. He had caused his own grandmother to call the police on him. All the memories of reading, gardening, crying, and playing video games together began to fade away.

  What the fuck have I done?

  “Hi,” Abby cried through the phone. “I’m calling to report an attack.”

  Jayce didn’t stick around to hear the rest. He grabbed the wand box, packed some essentials, and then grabbed a wad of money and his pocket knife. He had begun to write a long note but decided against it. He’d prove his point and then return. That would be his declaration of freedom.

  After leaving the house to enter the cold, Jayce pulled out his phone. He turned it on and poked 9-1-1 with the same gloves his grandmother knit for him herself.

  “9-1-1, what is your emergency?”

  “Hi. My grandmother’s having a heart attack.”

  “Where are you located, sir?”

  “197 Cedar Lane.”

  Before the dispatcher could continue, Jayce hung up.

  The seventeen-year-old had nothing left to lose. He had to prove himself or risk falling under the weight of his misery. His life had been a whirlwind since the shooting took place, but he believed this was his “one shot” to salvage his life. He wouldn’t be able to look Abby, or anyone else, in their eyes again if this didn’t work out. He’d have to make another exit. An exit that would bring him to Lily empty-handed.

  Despite the pressure, Jayce couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t know how in the world he’d open the box without Abby, but he swore he’d find a way. Once he did, he’d master its power and then hold it above his head like Luke on the first Star Wars poster.

  Gatsby was about to change forever.

  16

  The Bus

  Jayce was still patting his cheek from time to time. What a slap! He had never expected his grandmother to be that powerful — but then again, he learned a lot in the last few minutes he spent with her.

  My entire family has a magical past? Does this extend to Uncle Jim and Grandpa Todd? What about Lily or my sister?

  After leaving the neighborhood, Jayce arrived at the elementary school. He flew the flag at half-mast and went to sit on the jungle gym. He surveyed the area on the road there and found nothing to indicate the struggle two nights ago.

  Jayce called the old bunch of friends he used to run with before he decided to take a break from public school. He’d completely given up on school altogether — he had missed too much work to avoid failing another junior year. Up until a couple months ago, Abby had tried everything (surprise parties, bribes, threats) to get Jayce back into going to school and hanging out with his friends. Nothing worked. Jayce left behind both his friends and his schoolwork with the shooting at Lampburn High.

  It wasn’t a mere coincidence that he was contacting them now. They were broken artifacts of the suburban life he desperately missed. One of their mothers was even famous — she was the first female chief of the Gatsby Police Department!

  But Jayce had garnered a terrible reputation. On that fateful day, he called them, Kyle, Emmett, and Peter all accepted his proposal to allow them to stay at their house. It wasn’t even a question — it was immediate. But their parents, siblings, and even the neighbors (East Gatsby was very gossipy) refused to allow such “problems” stain their neighborhood. The sneers and fake smiles he received by passing cars or neighbors on his way to the park should have revealed this to him long ago. He just didn’t care to look at anybody until now, when he needed it most.

  Jayce walked away from the school after his failure to receive a place to stay. He didn’t know where to go, but he would follow the long street that curved into the main road until he found an answer. He had contemplating to do anyway. Abby was an American treasure he hadn’t respected correctly. Now he could finally see how much she put up with to make his misery work under her roof. And although he knew how sacred that house was to her, she had never once asked him to leave until he began asking about the wand. He reminisced about how many things changed after Mallory and her friends arrived. It was astounding what the Gothic group had done in such a short period of time.

  She nearly ruined my life in two days. How has she even lived this long!?

  Jayce sat on the cold sidewalk to examine his wa
nd box. He tried opening it again. Nothing. He got a slight twist, but the key would get stuck when he tried moving beyond that phase.

  “Mr. Fletcher,” a middle-aged man said through his foggy car window. “Nice to see you again.”

  Jayce looked up. It was Mr. Bennett — his former guidance counselor at Lampburn.

  “How are things holding up?” he asked the teenager.

  “Just as bad as they look,” Jayce admitted.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “I don’t need your sympathy.”

  “You don’t want it either. I understand. But just know that this community loves you. We want to see you pick yourself back up and do amazing things, Jayce.”

  Jayce stood up.

  “I’m already standing. This is my life, not yours. I have what I need.”

  Mr. Bennett sighed. He pulled out a piece of paper, wrote on it, and then swung his arm out the window.

  “Here’s my number and a few bucks. Call me if you ever have a change of heart.”

  The sole reason Jayce walked over and grabbed the slip of paper was for the money that came with it. It was a hundred bucks.

  “It’s cloudy,” Mr. Bennett observed. “You should get home before it rains.”

  “I am home,” Jayce let him know before moving on. Mr. Bennett shook his head.

  What a bright, handsome man — lost in the world that he believes betrayed him.

  Jayce didn’t have a clue where he was going. After watching Mr. Bennett drive away, he crumpled the piece of paper with the number on it and pocketed the money.

  On his way to nowhere, Jayce found an empty bus stop on the corner of the main road that was down the street from East Gatsby Elementary. As soon as he sat, it began to rain. Jayce smiled, believing the wand to have been behind the coincidence of finding shelter before the storm.