Water gathered moisture from the sky and shot it into his eyes.
Then it was the man’s turn. With the daughter’s out of reach, he reached into the trunk and grabbed Amy’s ankle. Amy knew what was coming and sent one last message to Air, hoping to get through before she was taken. Closing his eyes, the Keeper carried her away into the land of the Dead.
He wouldn’t use a car. They disappeared, leaving the car behind.
~~ Claire ~~
The vampires knew where she was hiding. Of course they did. When Claire had run into the house, pulling curtains down as she went, she had left an easy path to follow. What Claire hadn’t expected was for vampires to have tranquilizer guns.
Hiding behind the couch, she could feel them take up positions in the room. She knew she was surrounded, and decided that rather than give them more time to surround her, she would jump out and make a run for it.
That is exactly what she did.
Claire crawled out from the back of the couch and then leapt for the door. The vampire shot her in the butt with the tranquilizer gun. She felt herself slowing down, slowing down and then stopping. She said, “Don’t put me back with the animals.”
Tasha rolled her over and signaled the blonde vampire to grab her, “Don’t worry. We’ve got something else planned for you.”
Claire fell asleep for a while. When she woke up, she was back with Gladys. Gladys looked much younger now. She must have been feeding.
Tasha grabbed Claire, dragging her up. Claire couldn’t lift her arms. They felt so heavy. She was awake, but didn’t have the energy to lift her head. She choked on the liquid Tasha poured into her mouth, swallowing between weak coughs.
Gladys lovingly brushed her hair away from her face. As Claire closed her eyes, she realized that Gladys was pulling energy away from her. She could try to take it back, but she was so tired. Instead she closed her eyes.
~~ Raven ~~
Air dropped Raven at the passenger door of the van. Raven grumbled, “You could have at least put me in the driver’s seat.” Air kissed her cheek. Raven opened the passenger door, glancing over her shoulder to see if her Mom had won free.
While she was watching, her Mom and the stranger disappeared.
Air urged Raven to hurry. Sirens sounded in the distance and the chaos from the fire brought people out to look. Jade hesitated at the driver’s door of the van and watched the gas station burn with the same curiosity as Raven. Mindy was awake and yelling, “Jade! Jade! Jade!”
Raven said, “We’ve got to go. Air told me that Mom’s okay, but we can’t get to her from here. Mom said to get Claire and we’ll meet up later.”
They closed the doors. Jade carefully put her foot on the brake, looked all around the parking lot, checked behind her…
Raven slapped a hand to her forehead, “Jade! If this were a getaway, we would all be busted.”
“Hey, it’s not that easy to drive in a city. It’s not like Wildwood is full of traffic lights or anything,” Jade slowly put her foot on the gas.
“You’re a teenager. Bertha drives faster than you. That should tell you something,” Raven said. Great Aunt Bertha was at least eighty and used a cane to hobble everywhere.
“Shh. I’m trying to drive.” Jade turned on her blinker. Raven thought she would go crazy looking at the mirror. By the time Jade turned right, the first fire truck was on the scene at the gas station.
“Will we get pulled over for leaving the scene of a crime?” Jade wasn’t sure of the law, but it seemed like authorities would be interested in talking to anyone who witnessed a fireball blowing up gas pumps.
“Are you seriously worried about being a law abiding citizen now? Mom said this map used magic. We don’t know how long it will last. Let’s get to Claire. That’s what Mom wanted. Then we’ll find Mom,”
Raven rolled down the window, letting the cold morning air in. She was feeling a little wound up. Jade wasn’t exactly her morning companion of choice. How Raven ended up with a rule-following, authority pleasing sister was beyond Raven’s comprehension.
Jade ignored her complaints, “Can you just get the map and tell me what road I’m supposed to be on.”
Raven grabbed the map out of the glove box. She said, “We need to take 101 to 42.”
From the back Mindy said, “Stakes.”
Jade and Raven exchanged a glance. Thinking she meant ‘steaks’, Jade said, “There’s a whole bag of snacks right at your feet. We’ll have a real dinner later.”
Mindy would make a mess, but it was easier than dealing with the fallout when she was screaming for food…or Mom. From the back she said, “Vampire Stakes.”
“Vampire stakes?” Raven asked, “Mindy, are you saying we need to prepare for vampires?”
Mindy’s eyes lit up. “Yes.”
Jade pulled over long enough for them to grab a few smaller pine boughs. Raven grabbed a knife and while Jade drove, whittled stakes. After the first one, Raven said, “Well, they don’t look like much but at least they have a point.”
“I just hope we don’t have to use them,” Jade said. Looking at the pile of sticky wood at Raven’s feet, she said, “And Mom’s going to kill us for messing up the van.”
Raven held up a stake, “I can’t even believe we’re doing this.”
Other than the fact that Jade drove like she was on a car with training wheels, they made good time. They missed one turn, but only because the sign was hard to read at speed, and Jade was slow to react.
They arrived at the place on the map.
“Are you sure this is where we’re supposed to be?” Jade asked. They were in the middle of nowhere, all trees and winding roads with very few houses or landmarks.
“According to the map, anyway,” Raven said. “Have you thought about what you’re going to say to Claire?”
“What do you mean?” Jade asked.
“Your words hurt her. She completely idolized you when we were younger, at least until you started treating her like she was in your way or something.”
“I never did. I’ve just been busy, and I have to take care of Mindy.” Jade put on a bit more gas and Raven thought that maybe if she antagonized Jade enough, they might even go the speed limit.
“We’re sisters and you’re the oldest. You need to fix this,” Raven wondered why Mindy belonged to Jade and Claire belonged to her. It was as if with so many sisters, they each picked a favorite with which to form a natural alliance. It made sense that she and Claire would sneak off to practice with their Elements.
“I’ll apologize. I know she didn’t mean to hurt Mindy like that. I could see it on her face.” Jade said.
She turned a corner and there in a field of tall grass was the creepiest looking Victorian house she had ever seen, complete with a tall iron gate that reminded her of a B horror movie. In the light of the sun, they could see the paint peeling from the house and the windows, some blocked, some open.
Jade backed the van up and turned around, driving back around the corner and into a small turn-out. “Okay, Mindy, we’re going to take your seatbelt off. I want you to lie down and take a nap until we get back.”
Raven grabbed Jade’s arm and pulled her close. With a whisper she said, “What if the vampires come out.”
Jade waved to the sun, “We’re good. They’ll be stuck until nightfall. We just have to get in, get Claire, and get out before it gets dark again.”
Jade covered Mindy with a blanket and made sure she had plenty of food and water. She rolled down the side-window, although it was cool enough outside that they didn’t have to worry about Mindy getting heatstroke from being stuck in the car. Jade grabbed a couple of stakes and got out of the van.
When Raven unzipped her duffel bag and started digging for clothes, Jade said, “Raven, what are you doing? Now isn’t the time for a fashion show.”
“Trust me. I’ve read up on vamps,” Raven said as she disrobed in the van. She put on a red tank top and a black leather miniskirt. Then she grabbe
d her leather jacket. At first Raven hesitated at the jacket. It had been her ‘big’ Christmas present from Mom last year. But it completed the look, so she had to go for it. Sacrifice for the family and all. Besides, her jacket might survive whatever trouble Claire got herself into. Raven armed herself with a large knife and two other stakes. If this was her last night on earth, she wanted to look cool. She pulled on a pair of black army boots that were shiny and yet serviceable.
Jade and Raven walked back up the road. They stopped at the iron fence with the huge black iron bars. It could have made a prison gate in the old days.
The fence had a huge space underneath. Raven handed Jade her jacket, then lay on her stomach and wiggled under, “Glad this fence is only for show. Can you imagine if it had barbed wire?”
“It just means they feel secure enough not to need it. Guess it’s my turn,” Jade said.
Raven held out her hand while Jade sighed and pushed the jacket through the iron bars. Jade crawled through after her.
As they crept toward the house, Raven listened to the birds. There was something comforting in knowing that the animal kingdom wasn’t absolutely terrified of the house and its inhabitants.
With all of the windows closed, Jade and Raven didn’t have much to go on. They needed to figure out who they were dealing with and how many. Raven found a tree close to the house with branches that came up all the way to the window.
Jade waited at the bottom while Raven climbed the tree. She used a little help from Air, climbing with the speed of a monkey who lived its life in the trees. She wasn’t at all decent doing this in a skirt. Raven felt a little silly for her dramatics now. Still, she couldn’t very well change back into jeans now.
Crawling along the branch, she dropped to the upstairs porch. The thunk caught someone’s attention. Raven heard voices from the room. With help from Air, she took a leap and let Air hold her above the door.
Air couldn’t hold her long. Gravity was so much stronger. Three men, two large, one wiry pushed through the door, eager for a fight. As she hovered above the heads of the three men, she slipped down a little. She thought that they would someone sense her, she was so close. They were on edge of the balcony and looking down.
They called down to Jade, “Who are you? Come on up.”
One of them finally figured out there was someone behind him and turned around, looking up. He jumped a little when he realized that Raven was just a few feet from his head.
“Hey guys,” Raven said lightly when the wiry fellow pointed at her. “Sorry to crash your party.”
She had an idea, a rather dangerous and perhaps foolhardy idea, but it was her only one. Raven asked Air to shoot her over the guys’ heads, hanging her over the ground just feet away from the balcony.
Air didn’t like it. Not at all. Elements cared for Elementals. They loved their humans. Raven was still young and not as savvy as the Elementals who had spent years understanding their limits. Air tried to reason with her, but Raven had a plan.
With a gust that might have been a sigh, Air pushed Raven over the vampires’ heads and just out of reach of the balcony. If she accidentally let go, Raven would be badly hurt.
One of the men laughed, “Playing hard to get?”
Raven wriggled a come-get-me finger at him with a laugh and said with a teasing voice, “Not that hard.”
Slapping each other’s shoulders, the men leaned over the balcony, reaching for Raven. She slipped a little closer, before pulling away again. When they were leaning over the rail, Air whipped a quick blast, pushing the three men over the railing.
Raven found herself flying backward and down as Air tried to cushion her fall. To her credit, Jade didn’t do anything stupid like cry out. She just ran for the place where she thought Raven was going to land.
It was a disappointment to land hard in front of Jade. Raven had spent years practicing alone or with Claire so that when the time came, she could impress Jade and Mom with her mad skills at flying.
She tumbled into Jade sending them both sprawling on the ground.
The joke she was about to make about the rough landing ended when she heard one of the men on the ground moan in pain. The morning had come and the sun was out. Raven felt the knowledge like a shock. It was one thing to kill vampires, but these were humans.
“Jade, they’re not burning up,” Raven was pale, all color gone from her face. With her jet-black hair, it gave her the look of someone deathly ill.
“What are you saying?” Jade asked.
“I think I just killed three people.” Raven whispered, “What if Mindy’s wrong? What if Claire just ran away with a bunch of kids? I thought I was doing the right thing.”
Jade, ever the practical sister, could see where this was heading and stopped Raven’s thought process cold. “Raven. This whole place feels wrong. Shake it off. The windows are covered, and those men didn’t come out onto the balcony to be friendly. Did you see the way they looked at us? C’mon.”
Shake it off. Raven mused. It’s like she’s playing a basketball game or something. In a small town, anyone who wanted to play a sport got on the team. Usually in junior high, a large number of kids played only to discover it wasn’t their thing. Raven was going to sign up for volleyball and basketball next year, but only because her friend, Shelly, played, but then Shelly changed her mind for volleyball, so Raven did, too.
Raven scrambled up. She said, “Let’s see if they have any real vampires.”
Air built herself up inside the house pressing more of herself in tighter and tighter. Air was large, but she had super squeezing capacity. She squeezed into the house until she felt uncomfortable. She almost came out early, but Raven encouraged her to stay. Keep going. Air layered in upon herself until she was unbearably uncomfortable.
Please, I have to get out.
Raven said, “I understand. Come out all at once with all of your power.”
Air’s escape hit the house like a bomb.
Panes of glass blew out of the house all at once with a large boom. Where plywood had been nailed to the windows, it was ripped out. From inside the house, Raven heard screams.
There was gunfire. One minute Raven was standing on the lawn with her arms upraised facing the house and the next she was on the ground where Jade had tackled her.
“Are you hit?” Jade asked. She stayed on top of her, even when Raven elbowed her in the side.
“Get off me. We’re losing our element of surprise,” Raven tried to push Jade off, but her sister was stocky.
“Okay,” Jade said, “But don’t stand up. They’re shooting from the window in the garret.”
Jade rolled off as if she’d spent her life getting shot at. She belly-crawled to the porch. Fortunately, it wasn’t that far. Raven almost stood up again, but decided that dying to spite her sister probably wasn’t the best idea she’d ever had. She followed in Jade’s slug-like steps, keeping on her belly, low to the ground. The only problem was the whole freaking yard was covered in glass. Great idea, Jade!
Another shot rang out and hit the dirt not two inches from her side.
“Screw this!” Asking Air to cover them, Raven dove for the porch, passing her sister who was still doing the belly crawl. Jerking the screen door open, Raven threw herself inside.
The porch had been lightened by her fabulous attempt at sunshine warfare. One of the windows still had a huge jagged piece of glass jutting up from the frame. Air’s explosion had opened up the house. Raven had a knife in one hand and a stake in the other.
The porch was empty. Just her luck, the door to the porch was solid. The only way to see what was on the other side was to walk through. Raven waited for her backup to arrive. Jade was there in another fifteen seconds. As the door jerked open, Raven said, “Took you long enough.”
“You’re lucky you didn’t get yourself killed out there.” Jade groused.
“I had a windstorm covering us. Better than crawling through glass,” Raven nodded to the door, “You ready f
or what comes next?”
Jade nodded, “Just stop with the Action Hero antics and let’s get Claire.”
Raven threw herself through the second door, knife in one hand, stake in the other. She came face to face with a hot surfer guy just the right amount of years older. Raven lifted the stake.
In a flash of speed, the guy tore it out of her hands and chucked it behind him. Raven dove sideways, slicing the knife at his legs, which were rather pasty. When the knife sliced along his skin without any blood beading, Raven knew.
“Vampire!” She yelled to Jade who was coming up behind her.
Ignoring Raven, the surfer vamp grabbed Jade by the throat as he took a long step forward. He smiled and ran his tongue along the two viper teeth vampires were known to have. Myth said the vampires either fed on blood or energy. Feeding on blood was considered second class. Seeing them Jade said, “Oh, so you’re a loser vamp who has to feed with his mouth.”
His hands wrapped around Jade’s neck, cutting off her air as he leaned down to bite her.
Raven wanted to high-five Jade for the dig. Jade, the straight-laced goody-two shoes of the family. Maybe high-stress situations really did bring out the best in people. Raven wasn’t about to give the vamp a chance to eat her sister. She dove for the second stake and lifting it high, brought it down sharply on the vampires back.
He flexed his shoulder, still choking Jade. He taunted Raven, “Oh, are you a woodcarver? Too bad for your sister you’re not a better fighter.”
Jade’s face was purple. Her hands were wrapped around his fingers, trying to pry them off. Raven yanked the stake out of his body and tried again. The stake barely entered his body. Nothing happened. Worse, the vampire seemed to enjoy her helplessness. He laughed at Raven and tightened his grip on Jade.
They were in the parlor. Raven was frustrated. Where was the light? There should have been sunbeams burning the surfer-vamp to a crisp by now. Instead, a single beam of sunlight had gotten through and now created a kind of vampire trip wire across the parlor to the stairway. It was so far from where Jade and the vampire were fighting as to be completely useless.
A Time To Kill (Elemental Rage Book 1) Page 8