by Amira Rain
I wondered how, exactly, she even knew everything I’d been through that day, which she somehow seemed to.
As if maybe guessing that I was about to ask her that question, but wanting to avoid me doing so, the girl suddenly changed the subject, introducing herself as Melissa. “Friends and family call me Mel, though, and you can, too.”
Before I could respond, another girl, this one not quite so friendly-looking, came over to the car, glowering at Mel with her arms folded tightly across her chest. This girl was much shorter, much smaller in general, and appeared to be much younger than Mel. If I’d had to guess her age, I would have said maybe thirteen, fourteen at the oldest. The shade of her shoulder-length hair could only be described as flame red, and her green eyes were the exact same vivid emerald green as Mel’s.
Her dark expression softened when she asked if I was okay; but once I answered that I was, she turned her gaze back to Mel, scowling again, and spoke to her in a low hiss.
“How dare you? I said that I wanted to be the first one to talk to her. I wanted to be the first one.”
Folding her arms across her chest, mirroring the red-haired girl’s pose, Mel snorted. “Well, I’m sorry, but getting to Sydney and finding out if she was okay was just a little higher of a priority to me than which one of us got out of the car first.”
From Hayden to Mel and the red-haired girl, everyone seemed to know my name, and I still had no idea how.
In response to what Mel had said, the younger girl scoffed. “Is that why you practically threw me into Sam getting out, and then slammed the door in my face?”
Mel scoffed in return. “I didn’t do either of those things, and you know it. If you fell into Sam, it was because Dad braked so fast, and if the door slammed in your face, it’s because I got out on the side that has the messed-up hinges. In my rush to get to Sydney, I guess I wasn’t paying attention to the fact that it might have swung shut on you, but believe me, it wasn’t intentional. I’m sorry if you thought that it was.”
The red-haired girl glared, looking extremely dubious. “Right. You’re only sorry that the door didn’t smash me in the face on your way out.”
“That’s enough, girls.”
The deep male voice that had spoken these three words startled me, and I turned my focus from Mel and the red-haired girl just in time to see a tall, well-built, dark-haired man of forty-something years old come around the side of the car, where he stopped next to the girls, expression stern.
“That’s enough. I’m sure Sydney has been through enough today without having to endure some kind of a petty fight between sisters.”
“Um….”
My voice had come out in a weak little croak, and I cleared my throat before speaking again.
“Um, how do you all know my name? And…what’s happening to me, here? Why was that man in the sedan chasing me? I mean…who are you people? What’s happening?”
I was beginning to feel like I was in some sort of a bizarre dream where everything was impenetrable and nothing made sense.
The handsome, forty-something man, who I guessed was maybe the “Dad” that Mel had referred to, opened his mouth as if he was going to respond to me, but then he immediately closed it, with his gaze going up the road. “Uh-oh. Looks like we’ve got company…and we can’t have anyone calling the police to report an accident.”
I turned my face to see what looked to be a pickup truck flying up the road, although it was still so far away that I wondered how “Dad” had seen it or heard it. Within a few seconds, it became clear that the vehicle was indeed a pickup truck, and within a few more seconds, it began to slow, probably because the driver had spotted Hayden’s family’s SUV parked on the side of the road just a short distance away from my car, which was still crosswise on the road with me in it.
Two young men had gotten out of the SUV and had been casually leaning against it with their arms folded across their broad chests, and one of them now called out to “Dad.”
“We’ll try to wave him on by!”
I wondered how the young man knew how the occupant of the truck was a “him” and not a “her.” I had perfect eyesight, yet even I couldn’t see who was in the truck.
The tan truck, which was old and quite beat-up, was now slowing considerably, and “Dad” shook his head and spoke in a low, resigned sort of voice, as if talking only to himself.
“No. Unfortunately, I think he’s going to stop, and they’ll have to be cleared. Too big of a mess around here.”
Before I could ask what “Dad” meant by “cleared,” the pickup truck slowed to a stop behind the back bumper of my car, and I turned in my seat and saw an older man of maybe sixty-something get out. Dressed in overalls and a plaid flannel shirt, and with a faded green baseball cap printed with the John Deere logo in faded yellow, the man looked like he might be a farmer. There were quite a few of them that lived in Welch, just up the road several miles.
Eyes wide, he quickly surveyed the crumpled sedan near my car, then lifted his gaze to “Dad” before speaking. “Holy smokes. This just happen?” Without waiting for a response, the man pulled a phone from his pocket. “I’ll call the police.”
“Dad” groaned faintly. “Thank you, sir, but that won’t be necessary.”
Before I could even make a peep to say that maybe the farmer-looking man should call the police, “Dad” was on him, and “on him” was the only way I could think to describe it. Behind him, “Dad” had a hand on the back of his neck, and one strong arm around his chest, as if to immobilize him.
Watching the scene, I was terrified, which seemed to be my emotion of the day. The red-haired girl, however, who was now leaning against my car door, just looked bored, and she spoke to me in a low voice while watching whatever her dad was doing.
“Don’t be afraid, if you are. This is just what they have to do when they need to ‘clear’…meaning clear someone’s memory of what they just saw.”
I had no idea what the red-haired girl meant, but I didn’t respond, mostly because I was too intent on listening to what her dad was saying to the farmer-looking man, who was now struggling, eyes wide.
“Please don’t struggle, sir. Just relax.”
Almost instantly, the farmer-looking man did relax, and his eyes went from wide to half-closed, looking glazed-over, or just “blank” somehow. Despite this, “Dad” didn’t release his hold on him, and in fact, almost appeared to tighten his grip on the back of his neck before speaking again.
“Now, you’re going to forget that you saw an accident on Sears Road today. You’re going to forget that you saw anything on Sears Road today, except for what you normally see. Do you understand?”
Still appearing to be in some sort of a daze, the farmer said yes in a flat, emotionless sort of voice.
Dad spoke again. “Good. Now, I’m sorry to tell you this, but right now, although you can’t feel it, I’m inflicting a small, non-serious burn about the size of a pea on the back of your neck with my hand. It’s all just a part of ‘clearing’…of wiping from someone’s memory something that they saw that they shouldn’t have.
The burn is just a result of special energy passing from my palm to the base of your brain. You’ll have no lasting effects from it, other than the small burn, which you’ll feel later today. The burn will likely hurt just a bit, as if your skin momentarily came in contact with a hot stove, and it may blister slightly, but it won’t leave a scar. If anyone sees the little burn on the back of your neck and asks how it happened, you’ll say you don’t know, and you truly won’t know. Do you understand?”
Again, in a flat, emotionless sort of voice, the farmer-looking man said yes, and Dad continued.
“Good. Right now, when I lift my hand from the back of your neck, you’re going to get back in your truck, drive away, and resume your day from before you reached this part of the road. On your way to your truck, and as you pull away, you’re not going to notice any accident scene or any people. Do you understand?”
“Good,” replied Dad. “I really do apologize for the little burn. Enjoy the rest of your day.” With that, Dad released the back of the man’s neck, and the man instantly seemed to get some life back into his eyes. He didn’t, however, appear to see the crumpled sedan, the SUV nearby, me in my car, or any of the people standing around the whole scene. Instead, whistling an upbeat little tune, he strolled over to his truck, got in, and simply drove away.
Dad turned his gaze to me wearing an apologetic expression. “I’m sorry, Sydney. Please believe me when I say that we truly loathe doing that. We realize that it’s very ethically ‘gray,’ to say the least, and we only do it in very extreme emergencies.”
I really was beginning to feel that I was in some sort of a bizarre dream. Or nightmare. However, for whatever reason, my terror was ebbing, quickly becoming replaced by a feeling of anger. And, before I could think better of it, I began demanding answers from the three people standing around my car.
“What in the hell is going on? Who are you people? What are you people? Some sort of magicians or something?”
Dad rubbed the back of his neck, looking distinctly uncomfortable.
However, before he could say anything, the red-haired girl piped up. “Well, I myself am just a regular human girl. But as for my dad and Mel, and my two cousins standing over by the SUV, they’re all vampires.”
Mel gasped. Tight-lipped and nostrils flaring, her dad glared at the red-haired girl.
With her expression apologetic, the red-haired girl laughed feebly. “Oops. Was I not supposed to say that yet?”
Experiencing a wave of extreme nausea and dizziness, I slowly lowered my head to my hands. “I think I’m going to pass out.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Immediately after I’d said what I had about feeling like I was going to pass out, Mel called out to her cousins, who were still standing over by the SUV. “Sam or Trevor! Throw me a bottle of water!”
One of them soon did, and Mel caught it, uncapped it, and handed it to me. “Here. Take a little sip and then just try to breathe deep. I’ll be right here if you do pass out. I’m not going anywhere.”
I did as Mel had instructed, taking a little sip of water, and then another, followed by a few deep breaths. And slowly, my dizziness and nausea began to ease.
With his expression one of concern and maybe even anxiousness, Dad told me to hang in there and keep breathing. “My name is Mark, by the way, and these are my daughters, Mel and Jen. We’ve been waiting a long time to meet you, Sydney, although I wish it was happening under more pleasant circumstances.”
I was so confused, disoriented, and befuddled that he may as well have been speaking Greek to me. When I didn’t respond to what he’d said, and instead, just kept sipping water, he took Jen by the hand, as if to lead her away, and spoke to Mel in a low voice.
“Just talk to her, but try to be quick. I really don’t want to have to clear anymore passers-by. Let me know if you need any help. Jim’s already on his way with the tow truck to get what’s left of the Warrens’ would-be assassin’s car. He can’t be more than a few minutes away now. I’ll have him take care of the body, too.”
With that, the man I now knew as Mark began leading the girl I now knew named Jen over to the SUV. Mel asked how I was feeling, and I said a little better.
“I just need to get out of this car for a second, though…just need to get some air. I’m starting to feel claustrophobic for some reason.”
That was even somewhat of an understatement. The longer I remained in the car, the walls actually felt like they were shrinking or something.
Mel said she understood, and after I’d grabbed my phone from the front passenger seat floor and had turned it on, just maybe wanting the security of knowing that 911 was just a press of a button away, she helped me out of the car.
“Better now?”
Leaning with my back against the rear driver’s side door, I nodded in response, feeling as if I’d just escaped some kind of a jail cell. “Yes.”
While I took a few deep pulls of air and exhaled slowly, Mel stood next to me silently, facing me with a hip against the car. However, when I began sipping water again, she pulled her gaze from the trees across the road, shifted it to me wearing kind of an intense expression, and then began saying whatever it was that her dad had wanted her to say to me, I assumed.
“I know we certainly haven’t known each other very long, Sydney, but what’s your trust level in me right now?”
I didn’t know how on earth to respond, so I just shrugged, and she continued.
“Well, do you at least trust me a little bit?”
A bit reluctantly for some reason, I nodded, because I couldn’t deny that I did trust her a little bit, for whatever reason.
She gave me a little smile. “Good. That’s all I need. Just trust me a little bit. Just trust me enough not to discount everything I’m about to tell you as the ramblings of a crazy person. Okay?”
Again, I nodded a bit reluctantly. “Okay.”
“Good. Okay. Now, like my dad said, we do kind of have to get going soon, so I’m really only going to have time to give you the facts. As to explanations, I’ll have to fill you in later, or Hayden can. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“So, I guess I’m just going to spit things right out. First things first, and I’m just going to be blunt. I know a few things about you, but I don’t know your sexual history. If you’ve never been sexually active before, I’m sure you’re wondering how it came to be that you’re now pregnant.”
“I was raped. At least, I’m pretty sure I was. I had to have been. I’ve never had sex, at least not that I’ve consented to, but I did fall asleep on a couch at a frat party about six weeks ago…and I slept so hard that I think someone could have assaulted me without me even knowing it.”
Just saying that out loud, I realized how crazy it sounded, but I was sticking to my story.
“That’s how I got pregnant. I was probably raped.”
Mel fixed me with a sympathetic look that maybe even bordered on a pitying sort of look. “That’s not true. You weren’t raped…at least not physically, although I guess one could make a case for some sort of ‘magical rape’ or something, because you didn’t consent to getting pregnant.”
“What?”
She took a deep breath before answering me. “Basically, when you were a baby, a vampire sorceress made some kind of a pact with your mom that you would be magically impregnated when you were around eighteen. Your mom was something of a sorceress herself, although not an incredibly strong one, and she was backed into a corner, so she said yes.”
“My mom was a kindergarten teacher.”
“Well…she was a little more than that.”
Wondering just how mentally ill Mel was, I didn’t respond, and she continued.
“All this can be explained to you more in-depth later, but just know that as crazy as this all sounds, you can trust me. These are the facts. I’m not lying to you. You were impregnated by magic, and my cousin Hayden is your baby’s father.”
I couldn’t speak right away. “What?”
“Oh, and while I’m dropping all these truth bombs, he’s not only your baby’s father; he’s also a vampire…as is everyone in our family except Jen. Our dad won’t let her be turned yet, because, well, obvious reasons. She’s pretty much eighteen going on four. Can you believe we’re actually fraternal twins?”
I kind of couldn’t, but that wasn’t the only thing I couldn’t believe.
“Anyway, you’re in serious danger now, Sydney. A vampire coven called the Anarchist Warrens wants to kill you because you’re pregnant with Hayden’s baby. That’s why what happened to you today happened. That man who was chasing you in the car was named Christopher Warren, and he was trying to kill you…just like how the Warrens killed your mom. Car accidents are often their M.O. Thank God my family got at least a little advance notice this time
from some of our spies so that we were able to save your life.”
Mel stopped talking, seeming like she expected me to say something or ask questions or something, but I couldn’t. I felt like my brain was so full of Mel’s “truth bombs” that I couldn’t even force my mental gears to work well enough to string words into coherent sentences.
When I didn’t respond after a few seconds, Mel spoke again. “So…what do you think? Do you believe me about all this? At least a little?”
I truly had no idea what to believe. However, after taking two deep, steadying breaths, I was at least able to finally speak.
“I….” I paused, really uncertain about what to say. “I think you’re a really nice person, Mel, but that maybe there’s some….” Again, I paused, not knowing how to phrase things. “Some mental illness or something in your family. Maybe that’s why you all think you’re vampires or something. Or, maybe you’re all spies or something. Maybe that’s how you all seem to know so much about my life. Maybe you’re all both of those things…just a family of mentally ill spies.”
Somehow, my words struck my own ears as far more absurd than anything that Mel had said.
She responded while looking just faintly amused by what I’d said. “Well…all I can tell you is that we’re not mentally ill…and we’re not spies. Why don’t you come home with us, though, and do a little investigating if you want. Get to know us a little more. Get to know Hayden. Then you can decide what you think with a little more knowledge.”
“I just met you all just a little bit ago. You actually think I’m just going to go home with virtual strangers?”
Now that was an absurd thought.
“Please listen to me, Sydney. I wasn’t kidding when I said that you’re in serious danger. Christopher Warren isn’t the only assassin they’ll send. They’ll keep sending more and more of them until you’re dead. You need protection. Hayden and the rest of the family can give that to you. But you have to come home with us. We live just outside of Sweetwater, which is a town about forty miles southwest of here as the crow flies, kind of near the Michigan-Indiana border on the Michigan side, in case you’re not familiar.”