I entered the room I shared with my roommate, Eric, to find him sprawled across his bed and listening to music with his ear buds firmly secured in his ears. He looked up from his textbook when he saw me come in and sat abruptly. He greeted me with an expectant smile and pulled out his ear buds as I sat on my bed opposite him. I let out a big gust of exasperation, and his face dropped.
“That bad?” he asked.
“Yep.”
“She didn’t like your latest paper, I take it?”
“Nope.”
“What did she say?”
“Oh, that I’m a disappointment, and she expected more than this of me. She asked me if there was something going on in my personal life that I needed to talk about.”
Eric raised his eyebrows at me. “What did you say to that?”
“Nothing. I told her I was sorry and I would try harder. I told her my personal life was a little hard right now, but it was my fault I wasn’t performing. Blah blah blah.”
“How did she respond?”
“Like they all have. It seems like after the second or third meeting, they all say the same thing. I think it’s in their welcoming packet when they get hired or something. It’s always, ‘You showed so much promise, so we know you can do this, but if you don’t pick your grades up, you will be placed on academic probation’. They all seem to be drinking the same Kool-Aid.”
Eric stared at me. I knew what he was thinking because he had tried to give me his own version of an intervention after regarding my flagging interest in life and college. He had attempted the tough-love approach with me only to be met with my intense opposition and a load of anger. Eric had finally backed off and let me brood and destroy myself in peace.
I wanted so badly to tell him what had really happened in New Orleans. Lord knows, he had asked me a million times about what the rest of my time with the strangely beautiful blond had been like. I kept picturing myself unloading the whole unbelievable story on him and watching his face become overwrought with concern and sympathy over my ordeal. His attitude would change from skeptical to empathetic, and he would understand what a horrible time I was having adjusting to living in the real world after enduring it all. To lose Anna on top of all that was unbearable, and he would banish that look of incredulity from his face forever.
Maybe if I just told everyone about the vampires, the prisons, the blood and the werewolves, they too would feel sorry for me instead of making me go to senseless meetings. Of course, I knew that I could not possibly tell Eric or anyone else for that matter. I had made a promise to Anna, and it was one promise I intended to keep.
“So,” began Eric again, “how many meetings does this make?”
I thought for a moment with my face skewed in disgust. “Four.”
“Four? Four different teachers?”
“Yep. I’ll probably go on academic probation by the time summer is here.”
“And you are cool with that?” He was looking at me with exhaustion written all across his face.
“No, but what can I do? I’ll try to get my grades up, but I’ve been trying all year. I’ll probably get kicked out eventually,” I said in a resolute tone.
“Grant, I know you don’t want to hear this, but if you just crack down and—”
“You’re right,” I stated quickly and with a deadpan tone. “I don’t want to hear it. I know what I need to do, and I’ll try. That’s all I can promise.”
He sighed but said no more as a tense silence floated into the room and seemed to engulf all of the oxygen for about five minutes. When the silence was just too much for him, he broke it with an enthusiastic, “Oh!”
“What?”
“I nearly forgot. I grabbed our mail from downstairs, and there was one of those letters for you. I put it right over here.”
He sprang to his feet and retrieved the pale-blue envelope I had come to recognize as Anna’s. My eyes lit up, and I felt a smile spread across my face as I reached for the letter with all the anticipation of a child on Christmas morning. Eric saw my reaction and brightened as I took the letter from him.
“I figured that would brighten your day. I know how these always seem to make you happy. Someday, you’ll have to tell me who this Lois is,” he said with a wink.
He looked more relieved than rueful, and I saw just how hard Eric had been trying to be a good friend to me. I knew I hadn’t been making it easy on him. He left the room with the excuse of a promising game of mud football now that the rain had stopped, but I knew he was trying to give me some privacy. Either that or he was just tired of trying with me.
Either way, I opened the letter with renewed vigor after looking out of the window to note it truly had stopped raining. A fluttering of wings took up residence in my stomach as I pulled out the one neatly folder piece of paper, followed by the slight disappointment that the letter was only one page long. This was the same feeling I always got when I saw that familiar light-blue envelope coming my way. I was excited beyond belief. In fact, opening Anna’s letters provided me with the only rush of emotion I felt these days.
She had been true to her word, and she’d diligently sent me one letter a week. I returned the favor, which accounted for the only bought of writing inspiration I had experienced all year. We were careful never to give anything away. She wrote to me under the name of Lois, and I wrote to her as Clark. We never used real names, nor did we ever reference the events of the previous year, no matter how much I wanted to talk to her about them.
She began to reference someone named Lex in her letters, and I quickly realized she was referring to Lea as Lex Luthor. Anna had been happy to report that Lex, or Lea, had been more open to talking with her, and that the relations between the two factions had improved drastically since they had worked together. My letters had mainly consisted of how miserable I was at school and how much I wanted to see her again. She never responded to my requests to see her, and I was terrified that every letter I got from her might be the last.
Then, another light-blue envelope would grace my door, and my heart would leap again and be pacified for another week. I peered down at this letter, and my jaw nearly dropped all the way to the floor. I was really glad that Eric had left me in peace before I had opened it to read.
Dear Clark,
I understand the woes of your life of late. I know the time we spent together is the main reason for those woes. Though I may not show it in my letters to you, please know I still love and adore you just as much as I always have. You are brave, remember that.
I was afraid a year ago that the trauma and high emotions might have swayed us in favor of doing something rash that we might not have done had we had time to think about it. I have only kept us apart in an effort to keep you and my family safe, and to save us from making a huge mistake we couldn’t reverse.
Lex and I are on good terms these days. I picked a time alone with her to show her the picture we stole. It’s hard to say what she thought. Lex looked at it a long time and just handed it back to me. I told her we were once friends and that you found this out for me. All I got was a sad nod before she walked away, but her demeanor has changed so much since then. She’s…kinder.
Unfortunately, a new threat is on the horizon, and it is one that could endanger all of us. Instead of keeping you away in an attempt to keep you safe, I think bringing you closer and allowing you to help us again might be the better answer. You proved yourself to be more than valuable, and it sounds like your current life is not progressing very well.
If you are at all interested in helping us with this new threat, please go to your window now. You will see me standing underneath the largest tree in the courtyard. If you wish to help, please come out and speak to me. If you want me to leave you alone, stay in your room and I will never write to you again. I will respect either decision you make, Clark.
Sincerely and with love,
Lois
I leaped up from my bed with what felt like an electric shock flying through me. One
of the bolts of lightning might have struck me on my way back from the professor’s office, and I was just now feeling the effects for all that I knew. Hell, it could have killed me on the spot, and this was my entrance to heaven. I didn’t care. If Anna was truly out there, I could die happy.
It took a long few seconds to fumble with the blinds in my haste and excitement at the prospect of seeing the girl again. When I finally opened them to their most illuminating, I looked out into the courtyard with an expectant gaze. Under the largest tree in the courtyard, facing directly at my window, leaned a blond vampire with the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. She wore a tiny smile that could stop traffic.
Chapter Twenty Eight
Grant
My heart skipped a beat, and when it decided to start back up again with its normal rhythm, the band in my chest played far too quickly. I raced out of my room and down the stairs with a vigor I hadn’t felt since I had said goodbye to this creature one year ago. I was out of the building and across the courtyard almost as fast as a vampire. Well, maybe not, but I felt like I was moving at a super human speed.
Before I could even process her actual presence, I was scooping her up in my arms and swinging her around with joy. She laughed lightly in my ear and hugged me back as she allowed herself to be swung around like a ragdoll instead of the hardened vampire she really was.
I placed her back on the ground, and in another swift movement, I took her small face in my hands and kissed her lips. The kiss lingered as I tried to drink in the smell of her hair. She kissed me back even though she seemed to be able to rein it in and control her lusty feelings a bit better than I could. Had I not known her as well as I did, I would have thought she hadn’t missed me as much as I had missed her. However, I knew my Anna, and I had been reading her letters for a year. I knew that discretion was an art form to her. Even though she composed herself, she was just as excited to see me. I felt it in her kiss and in her embrace. This was heaven. I began to truly suspect maybe I had died, and this terrible campus existence I had been living was over.
“Hey, get a room!”
We were interrupted by the hoots of a passing jock who was covered in mud and running in the direction of an ongoing mud-football game. We separated after this even though the jock had gone on without any other calls our way. I felt the first impulses of embarrassment now that I remembered there were other living people around us. The feeling didn’t last though, because as soon as I stared into those intense blue eyes of hers, everyone else around us seemed to fade into the background as if they were just part of the scenery.
“You’re here. I can’t believe you’re here,” I said in wonderment.
“I am. You sounded so deflated and unGrant-like in your letters. I missed you so much. I couldn’t stay away any longer.”
I hugged her again. “I have a room, just up there.
“Whoa there, Grant. We have to talk, or did you not read the part of my letter about the danger?”
“It’s so surreal that you’re here. My life has been hell. After experiencing what we did, to come back to this boringly normal life has been torture. It’s just been torture, Anna.”
“Grant, the danger?”
I took a deep breath and calmed myself a little. “I’m sorry. Yes, I did read it. I’m just so glad to see you. My life has been so…altered.”
“I get that. I went back to my vampire life. Even though things have been going well with Lea, I haven’t been happy. I’ve missed you.”
She hugged me then. I smelled her hair and the scent of roses flooded my nostrils.
“Did you tell Lea about your friendship before the change? Is that why things are better?”
“Yes. It’s hard to tell how she feels about it. I think you are the big reason for her change. Ever since we worked together at the prison, and ever since she got to know you, she’s different. She saved you, and it changed her. There is less ruthlessness to her eyes. She sticks strictly to criminals now, and she has even come to our home to try drinking the blood we acquire from the butcher and the blood banks. She doesn’t much care for it yet, but she’s making the effort.”
“Do Bridgette and Jackson come too?”
I was ecstatic with the prospect of news from the other world. Not just encrypted-letter news, but the real news from the vampires. I even wanted to hear about Bridgette and Jackson, and they were my least favorite vampires.
“No. In fact, this new Lea is upsetting to them. They are having a hard time adjusting to the straight-and-narrow way of doing things, but Lea is still their leader. They don’t dare to defy her.”
I smiled at her. She was here. She was truly here and right in front of me. I was actually holding her hands. I was a five-year-old boy again, holding the remote-controlled car I had always wanted and finally received for my birthday. The thing I really wanted more than anything else in the world.
“You said something in your letter about a threat? If Lea is doing well and Bridgette and Jackson won’t defy her or cause trouble, then what is going on?”
Her happy expression hardened a little as her face grew suddenly serious. The brevity of the situation hit me. Something was up, and it was something big enough for Anna to risk coming here to get me. I had been so excited by her sudden appearance that I had completely overlooked the danger she’d tried to outline in her letter.
“Anna?”
“There’s another prison, Grant.”
I looked blankly at her for what felt like an hour.
“Another prison? Like the one in Texas?”
“I don’t know if it’s like that one. I’m thinking we are not dealing with werewolves this time around. Here, take a look at this.”
She produced a printout of a newspaper article from Ocala, Florida. The headline read Perfect Record from Haunted Prison. I read on in the article that described the Emathia Prison in Ocala, Florida as the picture of modern innovation in correctional facilities today.
The prison boasted a perfect yearly record with no incidents or riots. Plus, the number of inmates being released early for good behavior was on the rise. Despite this prison’s reputation for being supposedly haunted, it was truly a model for other institutions to base their structuring system on.
“Where did you get this?”
I knew full well that the vampires were not terribly computer literate, and I’d never seen them research anything very thoroughly.
“It arrived at the house a week ago. Chloe and Harris sent it to us.”
“Are you going to go after this one like you did the one in Texas?”
“I think we have to see what is going on there. I have a responsibility. What frightens me about this more is that I never saw anything in the newspaper or on television about our raid on the Texas prison. There were tons of witnesses and several dozen dead bodies, both wolf and human, yet there was not even a whisper of the incident. Plus, imagine how many prisoners who saw us have been released and told no one. Perhaps it is the fear of what they saw or the fear of what the authorities might do to them if they talk. Whoever controls the labs that stock these prisons has enough power to make an incident like Texas disappear. Yet something supernatural about this prison had made it into the media. This told me either there is something worse than the Texas prison in there, or they are setting a trap for us.”
“Even knowing it might be a trap, you are still going?”
“I have to. I have to make this right if it is another damned prison like the one I came from. I can’t leave it. The powers that be might not have known we’d survived after all these years. But the Texas incident proved to them we were alive. They may be using this prison as a decoy, or there may be tortured monsters in there. I have to go to know for sure.”
“I’m going with you,” I said, determined.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Grant?”
“Isn’t that why you came for me? I said as I took her hands again.
“Yes and no. I really came because I missed you
, and your life seemed to be terrible here. I think that is my fault. The other reason is one that I never considered when I allowed you to join us last year on our campaign. Those video monitors didn’t just capture us rampaging through the prison. They took your picture too.”
It was the first time that had crossed my mind. I should have thought about it earlier. Why hadn’t I ever contemplated that?
“You acted and looked very human. They might be curious to know who you are and why you were with us. I put you in danger, and I pushed you away to try to keep you safe, but now I’m not so sure that was a good idea. These people are very powerful, so why couldn’t they track you down? What if I went after this prison and it was a decoy, and then they used the distraction to kidnap you? I can’t take that risk. I would like to bring you along with us so that we may keep you safe if anything happens. And, of course, you can help us.”
“Are you going to turn me?”
“No, Grant. I told you I don’t want to condemn you to my life.”
“But think about how much more of a help I would be to you if you didn’t have to look after me. My life is already a condemned one if you leave me here to rot again.”
“Stop being so melodramatic. I am not turning you, and that is final. However, I will take you with me, if you promise to stay out of the prison when we raid it this time.”
“I’ll promise you anything you want. Just get me out of here.”
She smiled at me slyly, and I was again instantly lost in those eyes of hers. We could work out the logistics later. Right now, I just wanted to know where her car was so I could leave this place forever.
“Where was that bedroom of yours again?”
I grinned like an idiot at her. Maybe we could wait a few more minutes.
Chapter Twenty Nine
Anna
The car swerved at the last minute, just missing an annoyingly pink Volkswagen before it righted itself in the left lane of the busy road. Grant shrieked a little as Bridgette yanked the wheel again from side to side, reveling in the high speeds and the terror she was inflicting on her closest passenger.
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