Who is Audrey Wickersham?

by Sara Shrieves

  “Audrey you have to stop! We need to get rid of the body!” He pulled at me until finally he seemed to give up. I felt him get right beside me, and he began whispering furiously in my ear. “We will be caught and arrested for murder if you don’t stop right now. I can’t pull you away, you need to listen to me and let him go.”

  His words struck a chord with me, and I reluctantly released the body, and pulled completely away from him. I looked around, dazed, and then looked up at Kirk. “What did I do?”

  “You slaughtered him.” He stared at me, waiting for me to respond.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, looking down in shame. I peeked back up at him sheepishly and said, “I guess I have strength, too?”

  “That’s not normal strength, Audrey. I couldn’t even pull you away.” He seemed surprised by this, and shook his head, looking around the park now.

  “Why wasn’t I strong like that before? While I was changing into a zombie, I mean?”

  “You weren’t fully transformed yet, so you didn’t know what all of your abilities would have been. But we don’t have time to discuss that Audrey. We need to get rid of the body, and get out of here. Talk about déjà vu.”

  “What will we do with it?” Now I was becoming scared, realizing what the consequences could be. “I really don’t want to go to jail. I am so sorry. I didn’t know what I was doing!” I was totally freaking out, and I jumped up, ready to just run away.

  “Audrey, you have to calm down. I need you to help me, not freak out.”

  “No…I can’t stay here! What if I do it again?”

  “You won’t.”

  “But how do you know?” I was really panicking now, looking everywhere else but him. He had my hands in his, and was trying to get me to look at him.

  “Because you’ve fed now. Just help me.” He waited until I stopped acting like I was going to sprint away, and got me to make eye contact with him.

  “Fine,” I said. He looked at me a moment longer, and then let my hands go. How had everything come to this point? Things had spun so far out of control. And if my dad found out… “Oh man,” I said, stopping and covering my mouth with my hands. I felt like I wanted to throw up, but I couldn’t. I guessed vampire/zombie hybrids didn’t do that kind of thing. Or zompires. I figured that’s what I was now. How completely insane and ridiculous.

  “Audrey,” Kirk said, stepping back over towards me again. He seemed to think I was still ready to bolt, which I was definitely considering. Instead I just stared at him, not really listening to what he was saying. He went on a whole bunch about responsibility and learning control, and blah, blah, blah. All I cared about was getting the hell out of this stupid park and hiding somewhere dark that no one could ever find me again, especially no one human. I didn’t want to rip anyone apart again. I glanced back over at my victim, now sprawled out completely on the ground, with his dismembered arm (courtesy of me) thrown carelessly across the lap of his female companion.

  “Audrey, are you listening to me?”

  “Huh?” I looked at Kirk now, realizing he had been speaking to me intensely for about a minute or so.

  “We need to fix this. She’ll wake up with no memory of it, but she won’t know what happened to her boyfriend, so I need to wake her up again and correct that. Tell her he was kidnapped or something and make up a description of someone.” He was looking over at the girl, speaking more to himself now than he was to me. Then he looked back at me and said, “You take your guy, including his arm, and follow me after I finish with her. We have to bury him.”

  I nodded my head absently and he looked at me again, catching my eye, trying to make sure he had my full attention and said, “Okay?”

  “Yeah…okay,” I replied quietly, still feeling the urge to just run away. I knew I wouldn’t, but it was tempting. I watched him kneel in front of the girl to wake her up, and I went over and took her boyfriend’s arm off of her lap, and then stared at it as Kirk spoke to her.

  Should I just club him with it, and take off? I thought to myself. Then I could just go and try to figure this all out on my own, and keep him out of more trouble. I mean, look what I had done now. Twice. This was the second body in a twenty-four hour period he had to deal with because of me. Not that we’d dealt with the first one all that well. Crap. This whole thing was just so insane.

  I stared at the back of his head while he shook the girl, trying to wake her up. I actually hoisted the arm up over my head, ready to club him and then run away. I didn’t have much of a plan after that though.

  “Audrey?” Kirk asked turning back to look at what I was doing. “What are you-”

  I scrambled quickly to hide the arm behind my back, and tried not to look like I had just been considering smashing my best friend (now boyfriend?) over the head with some guy’s severed arm. “Just keep doing what you’re doing,” I said. I laughed nervously, sounding crazy, I knew, and walked quickly and awkwardly over to the guy I had butchered. I faced him and sighed deeply. I peeked over at Kirk out of the corner of my eye and saw him staring at me warily. “I’m fine,” I told him. “Really.”

  “Okay…” he said doubtfully. He turned back to the girl and finished waking her up, and then began re-hypnotizing her.

  Afterwards we both buried the body, far back in the wooded area of the park. Using our speed and strength, we made a pretty deep grave for the body. I tried to make it look as if the ground hadn’t been tampered with after we filled it in, but who knew how well it would hold up if someone really decided to search? Considering the story Kirk had given the girl, no one would think to look in the woods behind the park.

  “We need to find Agnes,” I said, after we were finished with everything.

  Kirk was wiping his hands off on his pants, with his back turned towards me, and he didn’t respond right away.

  “Kirk?”

  “Audrey…I just…”

  “What?”

  “I just don’t think you should be around people. Especially not people you like.”

  “Well…I don’t particularly like Agnes.” I grinned mischievously at him.

  “Audrey,” he said in a warning tone.

  “What?” I asked innocently. He continued to look at me seriously. “Oh my gosh Kirk, I’m just joking! I will not kill Agnes. We need her…unfortunately.” I muttered this last part under my breath.

  “What about other people? We’re not supposed to kill anyone. That’s kind of what I’m trying to teach you.”

  “Well I’m still your apt pupil. I will do whatever you say from here on out. I promise.” I looked at him seriously now, wiping the grin off of my face.

  “I want to keep you safe, Audrey.”

  “I know,” I said, smiling at him again. This time it was with love though.

  “And I want to prevent myself from getting staked by your dad.”

  I laughed and said, “Now that I can’t really guarantee.” I took his hand in mine and we ran out of the park together.

  Chapter 11

  We arrived at Magick Eye, not knowing who we would find there, or if we would find anyone at all.

  Kirk held back, looking around the side of the building, while I approached the annex door and peeked in through the window.

  “We should have gone to see your dad first,” he said, coming up behind me. “We don’t even know if Agnes is alive. Or if she ran off with that guy Besnik or something.”

  “I told you that whole thing was a long time ago,” I whispered over my shoulder.

  “Mm hmm,” he replied. “As far as we know, they’re back there right now, reuniting.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

  “Oh my gosh, gross.” I turned towards him and pushed him away.

  He laughed at my expression and opened his mouth to continue on about something equally disgusting, I was sure, when suddenly the door opened behind me and I turned quickly to see Lucian standing there.

  My initial gut reaction was to launch myself at him and begin gnawing on
his throat. My second was to just grab each of his arms and pull until they ripped out of the sockets. I was boiling over with rage at the sight of him, and I knew he could sense it. He backed away a few steps and allowed a small amount of uncertainty to show in his eyes for only a split second, until he steeled himself to my reaction and smiled coolly at me.

  We stared at each other for another few seconds until Kirk finally said, “Audrey, is this the guy?”

  “No. This is Lucian.”

  I could feel Kirk behind me, ready to come to my defense if anything were to happen. He could tell that I was angry and that I wanted to hurt Lucian, but that I was obviously trying to restrain myself.

  “Where is Agnes?” I asked, trying to stay calm.

  “She is in the back.”

  I began shoving my way in and called out for her, but Lucian cut me off.

  “She will remain in the back. She is currently assisting me with a project. I need her to stay focused.” He had tried to put his arm up to block my entrance, but I shoved him aside effortlessly and glared at him as I walked towards the back room.

  He didn’t seem surprised by my newly gained strength. Instead he played it cool and asked, “Audrey, do I need to warn you about crossing me again?”

  I turned back to him and then glanced over at Kirk, and saw him practically shooting daggers with his eyes at Lucian.

  “Did you just threaten her?” Kirk demanded.

  Lucian looked back and forth between the two of us, a slow smile creeping onto his face. “How cute, you have a little protector now. Is that the case Audrey?”

  “Don’t speak to her,” Kirk spat at him. “Tell us what you’re doing with Agnes.”

  While Kirk seemed to have Lucian’s full attention, I began trying to slowly make my way towards the back room again, striving to be as inconspicuous as possible about it, but Lucian immediately knew what I was doing and suddenly turned and focused all of his attention on me.

  “Domina-”

  He was cut off quickly by Kirk who had taken a step towards him and punched him in the face, preventing him from voicing the spell to put us under his control.

  Lucian had been knocked back against the wall filled with jars and other mysterious items, and they shook precariously upon his impact, but stabilized themselves after a moment. Lucian was not so fortunate. He lay huddled on the ground, unconscious.

  Kirk turned towards me and said, “Go get Agnes. I’ll keep him here.”

  “Okay,” I said, smiling at him gratefully. Lucian may have been trying to mock us, or just me…but it really was nice having a “protector”.

  I hurried into the back room and didn’t see Agnes anywhere. I went to her other little room, the one I had used to get dressed, and found her tied up, lying on the small couch. She was also gagged. The moment she saw it was me she closed her eyes, seeming to be relieved.

  I began feeling the rope around her ankles, looking for the knot to loosen, when she started saying something to me, but it came out all muffled.

  “Mmmfff!” She said, seeming impatient. She kept shaking her head as I tried to remove the rope.

  “What?” I asked, equally impatient, leaving her ankles for the moment.

  She swung her head back and forth and said, “Mmmmmfffff!!” Then she jutted her chin out at me and gave me a searing look.

  “Oh! Right, sorry,” I said, removing the tape from her mouth and then plucking the gag out.

  “Where is Lucian?” She blurted out the moment it was removed. Her eyes darted around the room, and she seemed terrified.

  “He’s in the front of the store. Kirk…restrained him. Don’t worry.”

  I started to work on her ankles again, but she stopped my progress by jerking her feet away from me, and then she quickly pulled herself into a sitting position.

  “Discorci ropa,” she mumbled quietly.

  The ropes fell away from her wrists and ankles, and I stared at her blankly for a moment before asking, “Now why didn’t you just do that in the first place?”

  “Because he gagged me! I had to vocalize in order to free myself dear. Don’t be silly.”

  I shook my head, not knowing how to respond to this.

  “Now, what are you doing here? What is happening with you?”

  I opened my mouth to start answering but she cut me off and began speaking again. “You don’t feel the same as before. You smell…different. You’ve shifted somehow.”

  “Well should I even answer, or do you have it all figured out?”

  “No, no. Tell me what has happened to you.”

  I gave her the edited version, definitely leaving out the fact that I had killed that man...or the boy. I wasn’t ready to let anyone else know that yet.

  “So this has only been a few hours, right? You being this…hybrid?”

  “Yes, pretty much,” I said, shrugging uncomfortably. I looked back out towards the other room, beginning to worry about Kirk now.

  Agnes seemed to consider this for a few moments, and then said, more to herself, “So obviously the spell was flawed.” And then urgently, “What did you do with the woman you fed on?”

  “Nothing,” I said, surprised. “I mean, I just bit her. And…there was one other guy but I…left him and Kirk came after that. Nothing happened with either of them,” I finished lamely. I looked away, feeling guilty.

  “Oh no Audrey, this is not good. I had no idea he would allow this to happen.” She began pacing around the little room, muttering to herself.

  Before I could even begin to question that last comment of hers, a loud noise came from the front of the store and we both jumped simultaneously. Agnes grabbed my hand and led me out there to see what was going on.

  We came upon Kirk holding Lucian face-down on the ground, with his hand over Lucian’s mouth. His fangs were extended and he looked furious. He turned his blacked-out eyes in our direction and glared angrily.

  “The son of a bitch tried putting a spell on me again.”

  Agnes gave Kirk an approving nod and stepped forward to look down at Lucian. “Kirk, can you make sure he doesn’t get loose for the moment? Including his mouth?”

  “I think I can manage,” he said, pinning Lucian’s arms tightly behind his back. Lucian squirmed uncomfortably and grumbled at all of us. He sent me an especially heated look.

  “Lucian,” Agnes said sharply, drawing his attention away from me. “How could you have allowed this?”

  Lucian looked at her curiously.

  “Oh don’t pretend you don’t know what I am talking about, you idiot! I know there’s a long list, but I mean this!” She turned and gestured at me, somewhat rudely I thought.

  “Hey,” I said, “I’m right here.”

  “Oh yes dear, of course,” she said distractedly.

  “Lucian,” she continued, turning back to him, “you turned her loose on the city! She attacked people!”

  Lucian was looking down at the floor now, and if it was possible in his position, being held down and sat on by a teenage vampire, he looked just as arrogant as ever.

  “You’re not going to tell me anything, are you?”

  Lucian glared back up at her defiantly in response. “Okay then. We’ll have to see about that. Kirk, hold him for as long as you can. If he tries anything, tell me immediately. I’ll make that old bastard talk.” She mumbled this last part as she walked over to the wall of liquids, and began searching for something.

  Kirk and I looked at each other nervously then and he suddenly retracted his fangs.

  “Do you need any help?” I asked, gesturing down at Lucian.

  “Nah, I pretty much have it covered.” He seated himself onto Lucian’s back so that he could have a better grip on his hands, and he was still holding his mouth closed with his other hand. Lucian was angled up a little awkwardly because of this, but Kirk seemed not to care. Neither did I, actually. Lucian’s eyes were like two burning furnaces, focused on me.

  I looked over at Agnes and then decided to try
and help her with whatever she was trying to do. I figured we needed to speed this up.

  After a few minutes we had several jars out on the table, and Agnes was mixing numerous things together in a small bowl. I had lost track of what had gone into it.

  “Audrey, go and fetch me some water. Fill this pitcher to the brim, dear. Quickly!”

  I went to the back and filled the pitcher for her, and ran back as fast as I could, trying not to spill the damn thing. I set it next to her and then asked, “Why can’t you just restrain him the way you did Besnik?”

  “That takes time to wear off. I need him to speak to me right away.” She took the pitcher and dumped it into a larger bowl, and then added all of the powders and whatever else she had been mixing in with it. She stirred it a few times and then walked over to where Kirk was holding down Lucian.

  “How are you feeling, dear?”

  “Never been better,” Kirk said, smiling happily.

  “I’m going to need to anoint him with this, since I know he’s going to refuse to drink the damn thing, so I will want you to remove your hand when I tell you to. Understand?”

  “Yes,” Kirk said.

  “Okay, here we go.” Agnes propped the bowl up over Lucian’s head, and said loudly, “Release him,” to Kirk. Kirk removed his hand and immediately Lucian began trying to say something, but Agnes beat him to the punch and instead of pouring the liquid over his head like I had thought she was going to do, she slid it onto the ground underneath his head and then slammed his face down into it the moment he opened his mouth. She moved with lightning speed for such an old lady, and especially a non-vampire. I was totally impressed.

  She held his face in the liquid for about thirty seconds, until he began to struggle, and then she let him go. He shot up quickly and knocked the bowl over, so I hoped at that moment that whatever it was Agnes was trying to accomplish had worked.

  Lucian breathed deeply for a few seconds and then glared angrily up at Agnes. But he didn’t speak. I could see in his eyes that he was dying to say something to her; to curse her, or me or Kirk, but he was totally quiet. He was trembling with rage.