Monster

by Yolanda Olson

  I crept down the stairs as quietly as I could. Opening the front door I stepped out and closed it softly behind me. Then I ran out to the side of the house and started to make my arsenal. I used my speed to make a tower of my choice weapon. When I was satisfied that I had enough I put our plan in action.

  Taking a deep, snow chilled breath I sprinted to the side of the house where Drake and Chase were looking out the window, I screamed in terror. As soon as I neared the window I made sure that I had turned myself so I could backpedal as quickly as possible in sheer horror to fool them.

  Chase pulled open the bay windows and came flying out with Drake close behind. This time I looked up into the trees to make it seem like my pursuer had taken to the skies. I raced as quickly as I could over to the other side of the house where I had made my weapons depot, where Kaeden was waiting. I dove over the tower of snowballs I had made and looked up in time to see Kaeden let them fly. He was throwing them so quickly that to an untrained eye, you would never know what he was doing.

  Laughing I grabbed some and started to launch them at Drake and Chase who were taken completely off guard. They started to laugh and ran to the back of the house. A minute later they emerged launching their own snowballs back at us. We were all so consumed in what we were doing we didn't see the first wisps of smoke starting to come from the second floor windows.

  While Kaeden depleted our supply, I quickly set to making new ones. We were all laughing at our silly war when suddenly he stopped throwing snowballs and let them all fall to the ground. He was staring at the house. Following his eyes I saw a fire starting to now pour through the window and suddenly an explosion happened. It was so ferocious and so loud that the sound knocked me back onto my rear.

  Drake and Chase ran over to me and Kaeden, who was still staring at the house with an indifferent look on his face. They helped me up and I started toward the house. Kae grabbed me by my arm and pulled me back to his side.

  “Let it burn. If we try to stop it, Ava will think she affected me somehow.”

  “Ava?” the three of us said at once.

  “Mm. Yes it's her, I can smell her fear as well as her anger. No matter, I'll just find a new home. It's not like this is the only place in the world for me to live.”

  “My journal. It's gone,” I said tearfully.

  “I'll get you a new one,” he said patting me on the back.

  “Actually it's not,” Chase said clearing his throat.

  “Huh?” I looked at him and wiped a tear from my eyes.

  From the inside of his jacket he pulled out the journal. I grabbed it from him and hugged it to my chest.

  “How did you manage to get this out?”

  “I didn't. See earlier today I came across it and well...” his voice trailed off embarrassed.

  “You read it?”

  “I just wanted to see if I was in there yet,” he said.

  “Regardless of why you had it, thank you,” I said hugging him.

  He let out a relieved laugh and hugged me back.

  We turned back to the house and watched it burn. I knew what I had to do.

  “Come on guys, looks like we're all moving into my house,” I said as we turned away from the beautiful burning inferno.

  8. The Fledgling Problem

  (Day Six)

  I guess this is why I never had roommates, I thought to myself that night as I lay on my mattress. Above me I heard the sound of my three new live in pals roughhousing in the ballroom. At least I thought they were roughhousing. With those three who knew what the hell was going on. All I knew was that if I wasn't going to get sleep today I was going to go upstairs and start throwing them around.

  I rolled on my side and sighed impatiently. I could hear Chase and Kaeden laughing and Drake shouting. I covered my ears tightly with my hands and closed my eyes. Even though I could barely hear anything I wasn't able to drown out the sound of what sounded like a body crashing into the floor violently and the sound of something shattering.

  Then there was the sound of guilty silence. I heard their footsteps scurrying around and heard muffled voices. I knew they were trying to hide whatever it was they just did.

  I got off the mattress and stalked out of my room and down the hall. Climbing the stairs I felt myself getting angry. Not because they broke something, I mean everything in this house was old, so who cared? I was mad because of the noise they were still making after destroying something.

  I slid open the doors to the ballroom so violently that one of them fell off its hinge and landed loudly on the floor. The three of them stood there looking at me like little kids who knew they just got caught misbehaving. Kaeden hid a piece of glass behind his back when he saw me.

  “Is there any reason you three have to be making so much noise,” I practically screamed.

  “Sorry,” they all said at the same time.

  I put my face in my hand and tried as easily as I could to sound patient, “Look break whatever you want, I don't care. None of this stuff is mine anyway. Just try to be quiet okay? I haven't slept in a day and neither have any of you either. So how about we all go to sleep and tomorrow night you can break all the crap you want.”

  They looked at each other sheepishly. I sighed and picked up the door and slid it back into its holster. I pulled it out and slid it back in. Wow, that actually worked.

  Satisfied with the job I had just done, I turned back to them and pointed at the hallway. Drake was the first to react. He grinned and walked past me patting me on the head as he went. Chase was next. As he walked past he gave me a big smile and a tap on my back as he passed by. Kaeden smiled as he approached me and stopped right in front of me.

  “Here,” he said handing me part of the old chandelier that hung high above the ballroom floor.

  “Do I even want to know how that happened?” I asked taking it.

  “Um, it's a long story,” he said looking up at what was now left of it.

  “Well I sure don't want to sit through a long story right now,” I said letting out my breath. I grabbed him by the arm and started to pull him toward the door. “Go.” I said to him as I gave him a gentle shove.

  After I had closed the door and turned around I almost walked right into him.

  He was still standing there patiently waiting for me. I raised an eyebrow at him and he looked down and smiled. “Can we talk? It won't take long, there's just a couple of things I want to discuss.”

  I really wanted to say no, I was so ready to fall asleep. But instead I told him it would be okay because Kaeden usually didn't ask to talk about something unless he genuinely had something to say. I walked quickly back down the corridor, taking the stairs to the lowest level of the house. His arm reached over my head and pushed the door open so that I could walk in. Apparently even being dead doesn't stop him from being a gentleman, I thought to myself.

  Nodding at him as a thank you, I ran over to my 'bed' and did a swan dive onto it. I let out a happy sigh then rolled over on my side to look at him. I noticed he was sitting at my desk the way he had been the first night I met him here. Our eyes met and he smiled kindly at me. I didn't return the smile because I wanted to sleep.

  “I wanted to apologize for the problems you're having with Ava,” he started. “And you're right; had I ended her already this wouldn't be happening. The three of us wouldn't be in here breaking things and you wouldn't have any interruptions when feeding. Actually come to think of it, if I had ended her already then there would only be one other person in this house instead of three,” he said philosophically.

  “Correction, if I had observed the don't talk to strangers rule, then none of this would be happening,” I said dryly as I lay on my back again.

  “That's true, but then we would've never become friends,” he said smiling.

  “Mm,” I said indifferently.

  “Somehow I don't think that bothers you as much as it bothers me,” he said laughing.

  I didn't reply because he was right. I was happy
when it was just me and Kendall. I mean it's not like we didn't have parents or a family but things were a lot less complicated then.

  Wonder if she's doing okay?

  “Anyway, that's what I wanted to say. I'll see you in the evening.”

  I heard the door open and close as he left. Closing my eyes I tried to fall asleep but the thoughts of Kendall's well-being were starting to flood my mind. The problem was that I didn't know if I was wondering if she was okay because I cared or because I didn't care.

  Suddenly I sat right up.

  What if he's changed her already? What if that's why he said that he would stay away until I had made my mind up. Skiles is up to something. He has to be.

  Knowing then what I had to do, I got to my feet and quietly left the house. I ran down the walkway and leapt over the fence. I didn't want to open it because it was so creaky that they would hear it and come out after me.

  Quickly I walked down the busy city streets toward the fairgrounds. The more I thought of finding him in the carnival the more it made sense. But the fact of a carnival being in Devils Lake when it was near winter was something that didn't make sense.

  The brisk night air was cooler than normal and I shivered. I forgot to grab my jacket on the way out, but it's a good thing I didn't because that would've been another give away that I was gone. Shrugging off the cold air I kept walking. I passed the downtown area, and I wasn't surprised to see that it was full of people.

  It was never dull, even on the weekdays.

  Keeping to the shadows I sped through the area, digging my hands into my pockets.

  “Aren't you cold?” someone shouted to me.

  Guess Kae was right about that.

  I didn't reply. I kept walking staring straight in front of me as if I hadn't heard them. I saw the dirt path that led to the fairgrounds in the distance and smiled grimly. I ran over to it and jogged down the path all the way to the carnival.

  From the outside it looked normal, but the closer I got the more I noticed a faint smell becoming stronger. I broke into a run. When I reached the carnival I saw that the lights were on and the rides were on, but there were no humans milling around in there. The sound of girls and boys screaming on rides was missing. The sounds of children laughing and playing was also missing. Not to mention that the blatant silence of any forms of life was deafening.

  Cautiously, I approached the ticket booth, “One wristband please,” I said setting down a twenty dollar bill.

  A pretty girl with long blonde braids on either side of her head leaned forward and grinned at me. A small drop of blood slid down her chin and landed on the ticket counter. Giggling she wiped it up then cleaned her chin of any trace.

  “Sorry,” she said casually, “I'm in the middle of a snack.”

  I gave her a level stare, then leaned toward the thick plate of glass and looked down into the darkness. Her hand shot out like a bullet and she grabbed my wrist tightly.

  “If you don't let me go,” I said through clenched teeth, “I'll be the last thing you ever see.”

  Smiling she let my wrist go, but not before she swooped down toward it and inhaled deeply, “Ah. Finnegan Sloane. It's so nice to finally meet you. We've heard so much about you.”

  Something in me just snapped. I reached through the hole where she was talking and grabbed her by the neck. The only sound to be heard was the smashing of her skull against the fiberglass. She never had a chance to make a sound. I knew that I had killed her for the second time but I kept smashing her skull until I saw her face was so mangled it was unrecognizable.

  I let go and took a deep breath. Calmly I slid my wristband on and walked into the fairgrounds. Glancing around I smelled the large amounts of blood that were scattered all over the place. I decided to do a perimeter walk to see what was going on.

  Looking around as I went I noticed that the place was overrun by fledglings who had the same venomous yellow eyes as the undead Romeo and Juliet who had been in Kendrick's shop. Huh. I wonder who made those two, I suddenly thought to myself.

  I didn't have time to ponder that now. Instead I made a mental count of all the new vampires that had taken over the carnival and headed toward the stables. The closer I got the more I knew something was wrong. The doors to the stables were closed and chained from the outside.

  I took a couple of steps back and then ran at the door as quickly as I could.

  When I got to the stables I let out a yell and crashed through it tumbling to the ground under the shattered wooden door. I rolled a little bit before I finally sprang to my feet. I realized that I had suddenly been surrounded.

  At least thirty people were looking down at me with pitchforks in their hands, other had torches, and others were holding horse crops in their hands. They all looked like they were ready to kill me. Fabulous.

  “Wait, wait,” said a familiar voice as it pushed it's way through the group of people.

  The familiar feeling of heat started to wave over me as the rage inside was starting to boil. I was going to have to learn how to control it and I was going to have to ask Kaeden how it was done. I got to my feet and looked up in time to see Ryker pushing his way through the crowd.

  He reached over to me and put a protective arm around me. Then he started to push the crowd aside with one arm and took me all the way to the back of the stable.

  “What the hell happened here?” I asked.

  “A swarm. It looked like a pestilence. They were led by something that looked like a woman, only she was burned. She told them to take over the place and said that it was rightfully theirs. My people, they wanted to fight, but I wouldn't let them,” he said gravely.

  “So everyone I saw out there?”

  He nodded. I looked at the front of the stables as I heard the sound of hammering and the people talking amongst themselves. They were putting a new piece of wood in the door frame. Guess that wasn't the smartest move on my part.

  I looked around and noticed that all of the Shires were missing. Suddenly I felt an incredible sadness overwhelm me remembering Kaeden's story of his men surviving on the way back to Macedonia. Seeing the look on my face, he gave me a squeeze and smiled.

  “Don't worry. The horses are safe,” he said.

  Smiling back I wiped away a tear. I was glad to know that thinking of that beautiful horse that had been so kind to me the first night that I had been in here. I sniffled and walked back to the front of the stables. I picked up a huge piece of wood, balanced it on my head, and walked it over to the front of the stables. I held it in place while the crowd hammered around it. One of them, a very tall female with hair the color of fire smiled at me.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “You're welcome. I figure it's the least I can do after knocking down the door,” I said with a chuckle.

  I stepped back as they hammered and she stood next to me. I had to look up at her and realized she must be at least six feet tall. She was very pretty, with pale skin covered with freckles.

  “I'm Finnegan.”

  “My name is Remy,” she said with a kind smile.

  “That's pretty,” I said looking back as one of the men hammered the final nail into place. “Kind of unusual for a girl, isn't it?”

  “As is Finnegan, I would imagine,” she said with a laugh.

  “Yeah,” I replied laughing. I liked Remy, I had a feeling that if I stuck around Devils Lake long enough, I might have a friend for life. Or for her life anyway.

  “So where are all the horses,” I asked her crossing my arms over my chest.

  “Um, you'll have to ask Ryker.”

  I had a feeling the way she was saying that meant that it was a secret so I decided not to prod any further on that. Instead I decided to ask her a different question.

  “Why are you all locked in here? It's pretty dangerous you know. I mean if it was me coming after you guys, I would've just lit the building on fire.”

  She chuckled at me. “To tell you the truth, I would've done the same thing
, but Ryker is our king and we have to obey what he says.”

  “I'm sorry, did I hear you correctly? Did you say Ryker is your king?” I asked incredulously.

  “You didn't know?” she asked with a surprised look on her face.

  “Well to tell you the truth, I don't really know him all that well, but he doesn't look like the kingly type.”

  She let out another laugh. This time Ryker came over to us with a curious look on his face.

  “What is so funny? Remy hardly ever laughs,” he said raising his eyebrows at me.

  Grinning at me, she turned and walked away shaking her head. I looked at Ryker and sized him up. He really didn't look like a king. I mean when I thought of kings I thought of crushed velvet capes and jeweled crowns. Scepters made of solid gold. Not a boyish face dressed in a worn leather jacket, a white shirt, and black pants.

  “So, King Ryker,” I started with a mischievous grin. “Any idea why you thought it would be smart to hole yourselves up in a wooden barn?”

  I grinned even wider when I saw his face color and heard his embarrassed laugh. He ran a hand through his hair and looked at Remy who was watching us with a smile.

  “Trust me, they can’t get in here.”

  “But I did.”

  “Well yeah, because you’re different,” he said looking back at me.

  “So I hear,” I said quietly. “Hey, what happened to all the horses?”

  “Set them loose for their own safety,” he said looking at his people.

  “Something is different about one of those things out there,” he said changing the subject. “I don't know if you saw him, but he's not a vampire, he's not like you, and he's definitely not human. It's weird.”

  “Everything I passed was a fledgling. Did I miss him somehow?”

  “He's spending most of his time inside the Hall of Mirrors. That's probably why you didn't pick up on it.”

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Of course.”

  “Why in the world did you bring a carnival so close to winter to Devils Lake?”