The Night House

by Rachel Tafoya

  “He got me off the streets. Gave me a job and a room out of the cold.”

  “He let you become a drug addict.”

  “He saved my life,” she snaps. “You don’t know the whole story, okay? He does care about me. He just sucks at expressing it.”

  There is confusion roiling inside her about Finn. I know I can’t dissuade her with words. I’ve said as much as I can without pissing her off. Still, this nags at me while we sit in the moonless night.

  “I need to worry about Jeremiah,” she says. “He’s the big problem right now.”

  I can’t stop myself from saying it; this is like an unreachable itch. “Finn is the reason Jeremiah is a problem.”

  She glares at me. “I’m the reason Jeremiah is a problem.”

  “How can you possibly say that?” My voice rises with every word.

  “Jeremiah doesn’t want Finn, he wants me. Finn’s not even a factor.”

  “Not even a…” I can hardly believe what I’m hearing. “Bianca, Finn is the puppet master. He’s orchestrated this whole operation so that if you ever got into trouble, he’d be conveniently off the hook. He’s a coward. You know it as well as I do. Why are you defending him?”

  Her beautiful face has receded back into the hardness that masked her when I first met her. It’s like we’re strangers again.

  “I’m not defending him. I’m just saying that he doesn’t matter right now.”

  “If he gave a damn about you, then he would stop this. He doesn’t give a shit about you, Bianca. I don’t know what he said to you at the Night House to make you feel this way, but whatever he did doesn’t mean a thing. It’s too little, too late.”

  The ground must have become very interesting, based on the way she keeps staring at it. “I didn’t come here to fight.”

  “I’m sorry.” I put some space between us. “You have Stockholm Syndrome. You know that, right?”

  She kicks her feet out only to pull them back slowly toward her body. “Yes, I know. It’s so complicated.”

  Now I touch her back, just barely, so she knows I’m still there.

  “Finn didn’t make me take the donor job. I was a hostess when I first came there. I asked him to start giving blood. He didn’t want me to, said it would be a waste. But I wore him down until he let me. I’m not some captive, you know? He didn’t force drugs into me. I made that choice. I ruined myself.”

  She’s shaking like a leaf, and it’s bleeding into me. I feel cold as ice, and I know she is yearning for nauth, even now.

  “Finn said something.” She takes a ragged breath. “I know everything you said is true, but he still said something. He warned me about what was coming. And now I have to deal with Jeremiah. He’s becoming more and more careless with every feed. I’m afraid. One of these days, he’s going to kill me.”

  We are still for a moment more while she stares at me and I stare back. I take a breath, and I feel the rawness of her mind. She is on the brink. I am too. This is when she needs me most. I need to save her, or I’ll never see her again. Without her, I don’t know if I’d ever recover from losing her.

  “I’m going to keep you alive. But first, we need a plan.”

  Bianca

  We stand together and step into his house. It’s so much quieter inside than it was outside. Everything is so much more serious. I only have one more day.

  My life is on the line.

  His parents and sister are in the kitchen. I want to tell them how amazing they are, and thank them for being so hospitable. I want to apologize to Ally that I didn’t know her mother. I want to say goodbye, but we can’t worry them now.

  “Hello, Bianca.” His mom waves.

  I wave back. “Nice to see you again.”

  James hovers between the living room and the kitchen. “You guys good?”

  His parents nod at each other. “Normal day,” his dad offers. “So we’re pretty normal. You?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Shy and Ally and I went to dinner. It was nice.”

  His mom smiles so warmly, it hurts. No one’s ever smiled at me like that, with such pride.

  “I’m so glad to see you having fun.”

  Ally grins at him and me. “Well, I’m still not sure he can have fun.”

  He rubs his neck, embarrassed. “Yeah, me too. Hey, we’ll be upstairs, okay?”

  “Be good,” his dad says as we turn to leave.

  James flicks on a light in his room and sits at the edge of his bed. I sit beside him and take his hand. I won’t let go of him until I have to.

  “I know that vampires have trouble with rust,” I say to him. “The officers wear pins of rusted iron, the same way policemen carry guns.”

  “Your friend gave you one, didn’t he? Can you bring that, to use on Jeremiah?”

  “They’ll check for weapons. It wouldn’t get past the door. But you should take it, to keep yourself safe. In case Finn sends another vamp stalker. Or if Finn comes after you.” I take the black bar out of my bag and give it to James. “And this way, you’ll have something of mine. You know…if I don’t come back.”

  “You will make it back, you hear me?” He brushes my hair behind my ear. “You will.”

  I nod.

  “Any other weaknesses that you know of?”

  “Garlic,” I say.

  “You’re joking.”

  “No, it’s true. It’s like a drug to them. Maybe it does to them what nauth does to us.”

  “So do you…poison him?” he asks.

  “It’s not like he eats. He drinks blood. My blood. If you want to poison his drink, you poison me too. Besides, it doesn’t matter because it’s too noticeable. If humans think garlic smells strong, vamps can smell it a mile away.”

  James takes a sharp breath. “My parents have all these homeopathic remedies that are supposed to heal you on a spiritual level. They don’t always rely on traditional medicine—”

  I clutch his arm. “What’s your point?”

  “They use garlic essence, from the flower. It doesn’t have a smell. It’s still garlic; it’s just odorless.”

  “I could mix it with my perfume or lotion.” I can see it happening. I put scentless garlic on my wrists, Jeremiah’s preferred bite site. While he’s under the influence of it, I get him to tell me where Micah is. I take his iron monarch pin and save the world from one more boogeyman. James can call the cops for a distraction. While that happens, I get Micah out of there. I put Micah and Alex on a train headed far away from here, and I start the lifelong process of making this up to James.

  Right then and there, I realize how badly I want to live.

  James hugs me. “Don’t cry.”

  But it’s too late. I’m sobbing and shaking, but I feel numb at the same time, because all I can think about is what’s coming. The present has lost all meaning.

  For just a moment, I’m living with James. Micah is alive and safe. Alex has a reason to be happy. I’m going to art school. I’m friends with his sister Ally and his best friend Shiloh.

  I’m clean.

  It’s beautiful.

  It’s worth fighting for.

  I raise my head off James’s chest. He tucks my hair behind my ear. The longer I stare into his eyes, the clearer my own reflection becomes. But I don’t see my tears, my inevitably red face, or my pale skin. In his eyes, I look steady. Maybe I look beautiful. I look alive.

  But when he smiles, I feel alive.

  “James…I…thank you. You’re the best friend I could have asked for.” It’s all I can say right now.

  He just wraps his arms around me and holds me there.

  “You’ve done so much for me,” he whispers. “More than I could have imagined.”

  We stay like this for a while. We keep the world at bay for a little longer. Eventually, we realize how tired we are and crawl up to his room.

  “You can have my bed,” he says.

  “Come here,” I say and pull him
down with me.

  James

  Some say the calm before a storm is unbearable.

  They are wrong.

  Bianca

  When I wake up, I can see the sun streaming in through the blinds. Did we sleep in? I can’t believe it. It’s never been easy to sleep when I’m feeling the lack of nauth, but with James next to me, it seems like I could finally get a good night’s rest.

  When I sit up, James is there with me.

  “Garlic’s in the kitchen,” he says quietly.

  “And your family?”

  “Back in Jersey for the concert.”

  We take a moment before getting up because getting up means we can’t ever go back. It means the night is definitely coming and so is Jeremiah.

  This is it.

  The beginning of the end.

  Nothing will ever be the same after tonight.

  “We can do this,” James says.

  “We have to,” I say.

  Our hands are linked together as we head downstairs and go into the kitchen. I sit down as he goes through the cabinets and pulls out small vials with handwritten labels. I pick up one and read it. Chamomile: relieves emotional tension, irritability, and moodiness.

  “Here we go,” he says and hands me a bottle.

  Garlic: boosts energy, lessens fear, and relieves weakness from parasites.

  I open it and take a sniff. I’ve never been so grateful not to smell something, but the thought of using it makes me sick to my stomach. Every little thing just reinforces that this is really happening.

  “Thanks.” I stuff the bottle in my bag, which I hoist over my shoulder. I head to the front door, and James follows with heavy steps. When I open the door, he turns to stare at his empty house.

  “I never said anything to Shiloh and Ally,” he says. “Nobody knows what’s about to happen except you and me.”

  “You still have time—”

  “I’m not leaving you,” he says. There’s fire in his eyes. “I’m going to stay there and watch for you.”

  I take his hand, and in silence, we walk to the Night House. There is so much I can’t plan for tonight, it’s nauseating to think about it. People must see us as lost children, so unsure of what’s happening. When we reach Black Horse Alley on Front Street, I stop.

  “This is far enough. You should go back home and wait for me there.”

  “I’ll be with you,” he says. “I’ll be able to feel what’s happening. I’ll know if you need me. And I’ll know when Jeremiah’s gone. I’ll feel it happen. I’m always with you, just remember that.”

  I squeeze his hand. “I’m with you too.”

  “This isn’t goodbye,” he says, drawing me closer.

  “Right.” I let his heat envelope me. “I’ll see you soon, then.”

  “Real soon.”

  I’m able to let go of him only because of my promise to come back.

  The sun has set. I walk down the steps into the Night House.

  James

  I told her I wouldn’t do anything stupid. I’m supposed to go home and wait and watch. I’m not supposed to care about Finn or his empty words.

  And yet, I can’t let this chance go by. Finn knows something about me. Now is my chance to find out what it is. So I sit down and take stock of the Night House.

  It’s crawling with vamps. All the girls are locked away in their rooms. I can feel Bianca sitting at a table, putting makeup on her face. A numb sort of determination fills her. She isn’t really feeling anything; she’s just going through the motions. I envy her focus. I try to leave her behind and search for Finn. He’s on high alert standing in his office, talking with others, but I still can’t penetrate that brick wall he hides behind.

  I’m trying to find a way in, to find a chip in his defenses, when I feel something much closer. When I open my eyes, someone is standing right in front of me.

  Shit.

  The vampire stalker.

  Maybe he isn’t here to kill me. Maybe Bianca was right and Finn can be trusted. Maybe he’s going to help.

  His smile is all fangs, “No loitering.”

  His fist shoots out and everything fades.

  Bianca

  It takes me a few tries to open the small vial of garlic. I don’t know if it’s because I’m nervous about tonight or if it’s because it’s been two days since I last had nauth.

  I take about half the garlic essence and pour it onto my wrists, then rub it all over my forearms. The rest of the garlic goes all over my neck. Next, I take the edible perfume that Finn specifically orders for us and dab it over my wrists and neck. Tonight I use vanilla, Alex’s favorite. I slip into the red dress Jeremiah got me. It gives the appearance that I’m dripping with blood.

  There is a knock at the door. I turn to see Alex leaning against the doorframe.

  “Pretty,” she says quietly.

  “What are you doing up?”

  She steps into the room and closes the door. “Finn told me to help you get ready. He said you might be too distracted to remember how to look good.” The smallest of smiles appears on her lips. “Vanilla?”

  I nod.

  “You’re a sweetie.”

  I start to smile but it fades. “I’m scared.”

  Alex comes up to me and runs her fingers through my hair, fixing it for me.

  “You’re just a baby.”

  A small, sad laugh bubbles up. “I don’t feel like one.”

  She pulls me into a great big hug. “I’ll see you later tonight, okay?”

  I can’t stand the thought of telling her that I might not. So I just hug her tighter.

  James

  I’m swimming in blackness. Voices fade in and out. My head is killing me. My hands and feet are bound.

  I’ve never been this angry about being right. Finn can’t be trusted.

  I mentally check my surroundings to see if I recognize Finn, but I can’t tell. I need to see where I am.

  I’m in a dimly lit room, on a couch, with a fireplace to my right. This room is odd, like it was torn right out of the eighteen hundreds. I see a phonograph and a set of glass bottles filled with amber liquid. Finn stands with his hands behind his back, staring at me.

  We are alone. I sit upright with some difficulty. The rope binding my hands behind my back is cutting into my wrists.

  “I knew Bianca shouldn’t have trusted you.”

  Finn lets out a small sigh and pulls up a chair across from me.

  “You obviously care about Bianca. I wouldn’t have caught you if you didn’t. That means you have a lot of patience. It also makes you an idiot.”

  Against my instincts, I stop searching for Bianca and lock onto Finn. It’s now or never. I need to get into his head.

  He crosses one leg over the other and calmly adjusts his sleeves. It’s starting to piss me off.

  “We are not so different, James.”

  Before I can ask how he knows my name, he reaches into his pocket and produces my wallet. He tosses it onto the ground, by the fire.

  “We are nothing alike,” I say.

  “On the contrary. We both met an unstable girl with nothing to lose and, intending to help her, we also helped ourselves.”

  I lean forward, teeth gritted. “You never wanted to help her.”

  Finn leans closer. “If it weren’t for me, you would never have found her.”

  “If you’re trying to get me to thank you, it’s not going to happen. You know you could have made her leave.”

  “And then what?” Finn smiles at me, calm and reasonable. “She would have been useless out there on the streets. She would have sought out her escape in a much more dangerous place. At least in here, she served a purpose. And I could keep an eye on her.”

  “Yeah, and you could get rich! And now you’re passing her off to a freak like Jeremiah without a second thought.”

  “You have no idea of the politics of this situation.”
/>   “What you really mean is that you have to throw innocent people under the bus to save yourself!”

  “You’re absolutely right.” Finn stands and brushes off his jacket. “Though, let’s be honest. She’s not entirely innocent, is she?”

  “So you’re just a coward after all.”

  He stares at me with no emotion. “Call me what you want. It doesn’t change the fact that Bianca is going to this coronation. And you, spawn, are to be Jeremiah’s guest of honor.”

  Bianca

  It’s almost eleven-thirty. Time to go.

  I follow one of Finn’s guys out of the Night House, and we stand on the sidewalk on Front Street. I know the river is in the distance, but the highway blocks my view. I cross my arms. Tap my feet on the ground. Rub my wrists. Finn’s guy has a smirk on his face. Jeremiah must be making me wait on purpose. He knows what it does to me.

  Admitting that I’m an addict does nothing to change the fact that I am an addict. Because we vamp tramps know one thing most of all: nauth speaks much louder than words.

  Headlights blind me, and I raise my hand to cover my face. It has to be him. A limousine parks in front of us. A vamp gets out and opens the door for me. He smiles pleasantly, but his eyes are on my neck.

  “The Monarch is waiting for you.”

  And I’m waiting for him.

  I step inside the darkened car and take a seat. After a moment of getting used to the lack of lights, my vision settles on Jeremiah. He stares wistfully out the window. I hate the brief moment of shock I still get from how beautiful he is. His cruelty is far more memorable. Now he resembles a reluctant king about to greet his people for the first time. His hand rests delicately against the window, like he wishes he were out there instead of here, alone with me.

  I see the pin on his breast pocket.

  I could do it now. I could just lunge at him and jab that stupid pin right into his heartless chest. I grip the seat so hard my hands ache.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Jeremiah says in a quiet voice. “You’re trying to find a way out. I’m not surprised. Vampires have outgrown the willingness to end their own life that humans seem to possess. But that won’t work for you.”