Forever Young

by Daniel Pierce

“I’m willing to talk. And I know you’re going to kill me. But only you.” The vampire curled his lip.

  I made a split-second decision. “I’ll meet you at the entrance,” I told my friends. “Give me a minute.”

  Tess opened her mouth to object, but Kamila took her arm to pull her toward the alley entrance. “Come on,” she grumbled. “Just let him get it over with.”

  I was alone with the vampire, my power at the ready. Vampires healed quickly, and they healed completely. A couple of people had mentioned that few things could hurt a vampire for real, such as silver. The vampire on his knees now had obviously faced a few silver weapons in his long existence. Scars lined his face, ugly, red, and raised, and a burn neither Kamila nor I had made still oozed on his cheek. His pain was visible, and I liked it.

  “What’s your name?” I probably sounded brusque. I didn’t care. I didn’t want to be sympathetic toward this vampire. He was what he was. Who knew how many people he’d hurt and killed over the centuries? How many people like me he’d made and then destroyed? The fact that he was in agony now was nothing more than just desserts.

  He closed his eyes. “Jameson. My name is Jameson. I’m five centuries old. I’ve seen things and done things that you can’t imagine. And almost all of them would turn the stomach of my living self, back when I still had a soul to lose.” He took a deep breath. “You look different than I expected you to.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Did you expect a unicorn? A pink tutu? What?”

  He huffed out a laugh. There didn’t seem to be much humor in it. I could hear sadness and maybe a little bit of resignation. “I’m not sure, really. Maybe fire shooting from your eyes. Dragon scales. Who knows? You look like a man. A normal, everyday man. And yet I saw you kill three vampires with a look. I’m quite willing to accept the end. It’s over for me. It’s over for my kind, and good riddance to us all.” He waved a hand, and every muscle in my body tensed.

  I didn’t trust him. Any vampire could feign compliance.

  “I’m going to tell you something. And then you have to kill me. But I want you to kill me yourself.” He closed his eyes. “It’s been a long five centuries. If I’m going to end them, let it be you and no one lesser.”

  “This is America, man. We’re all assholes in our own special way.”

  Jameson’s lip curled. “You’ll be singing a different tune soon enough. Listen carefully. Where I’m going, I won’t be able to repeat it.”

  “Is it about the community here in Twin Falls?”

  “It’s about the vampire safehouse here in Twin Falls,” he said.

  I frowned. “You mean the Ferin safehouse.”

  “No, idiot. The vampire safehouse.” He then blathered on, using words I couldn’t understand. The basic gist of it was that I needed to go to this safehouse, and all my questions would be answered there. He did tell me where this place was, and then he met my eyes.

  If I’d thought this guy was somehow less hateful than the others, if I thought he was different in any way, meeting Jameson’s eyes killed that for me right away. His eyes burned with so much hate I thought they might ignite, just as much as any other vampire. The only difference was that Jameson had accepted the inevitable.

  “Now kill me, you pathetic Ferin worm, before someone from one of these homes calls the police.”

  I didn’t think. I just reacted. My hate became a blade made from the purest fire. I used that blade to take off Jameson’s head. It bounced on the alley floor, and then it and the body turned to black ash, his reign of blood complete.

  I didn’t take the time to ponder the fight. A light rain fell, washing the vile mess into the sewer as I ran up to the alley entrance. “Come on. Let’s go before the police get here.” I grabbed Tess and Kamila by a hand, and we ran toward the van at top speed. We took the van and the bikes out of town, where we found a campground to stop for the night, our minds whirling with possibilities.

  I curled up with Daisy for a while as Tess freaked out about the whole situation. I knew she wasn’t upset with me; she was just pissed, and rightly so. We hadn’t been in town five minutes before we were attacked. It didn’t feel anything like a coincidence.

  When Tess finished venting her spleen, she took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. Obviously, all of that had more of an effect on me than I wanted it to.”

  “Can’t imagine why,” Kamila told her and grabbed her hand. Tess gave her a squeeze.

  “I’m having trouble with the timeline,” I said. “As far as I know, there isn’t a way to track specific Ferin, is there?” I scratched at my chin, lost in thought.

  “No.” Kamila shook her head. “They can’t track us that way, and we can’t track them. Daisy might be able to because she’s a dog, but I don’t have the stomach for that kind of training personally.”

  “No. I wouldn’t expect you to.” I scratched Daisy behind the ears. It soothed my mind and helped me to see beyond my own fears and anxieties. “So, there’s no way the vampires could have followed us just by scent or something.”

  “They might have been able to follow the arson trail.” Tess glowered at me. Then she picked up her knitting. Her shoulders relaxed, and she calmed down. “I’m just saying,” she said in a nicer tone.

  “You know that’s not true,” Kamila said. “We’ve both been careful, Tess. I can see why you’re worried, but it’s not like we’ve worked in the same place twice or had any kind of pattern to where we’ve been.” Kamila gave her a knowing look. “You’re worried, and we get that. Let’s focus on the here and now if that’s okay. So, they were waiting for us. They knew we’d be coming to Twin Falls.”

  “They knew someone would be coming to Twin Falls.” Tess counted her stitches before continuing. “They couldn’t have known it would be the three of us if they weren’t following the trail of burning embers. And ash.”

  I shook my head. “Jameson—the scarred vampire at the end—definitely seemed to think they were looking for someone specific.” I didn’t share Jameson’s ideas about superiority. I didn’t think they were relevant, and I found them repugnant. “So, what exactly made them think we’d be coming here?” I rubbed at my face as exhaustion threatened to overwhelm me. “They knew we’d be coming here because they knew we’d come looking for Mort.”

  Tess looked down, pursing her lips. “You’re probably not wrong,” she said after a moment. “It doesn’t mean he betrayed us or anything.”

  “No. Anything could have happened. I just don’t think anything means anything good.” I held Daisy a little closer.

  Kamila shuddered. “There’s only one way to find out. We have to contact the Twin Falls Ferin.”

  30

  In the morning, we secured a burner phone in minutes. I’d always figured it would be some big, involved, miserable process, but it was simple.

  An immature corner of my mind considered the entire process stupid and wasteful. Every Ferin I’d met had spent hours lecturing me on how Ferin didn’t use phones, much less mobile phones. Phones were too traceable, and the risk too great. But the Twin Falls Ferin had a phone. They had a phone sitting around, and if you wanted to get in touch with them, you called them on their phone like a normal person.

  Whatever had happened to Mort, if he’d called the Twin Falls Ferin on the phone, he could have avoided getting hurt. He’d be fine, and we’d have a lot more information than we did now. I cursed the archaic, inflexible Ferin bullshit and exhaled through my nose to let the anger drain away.

  I knew Kamila was specifically not a mind reader, but she poked me and gave me a disapproving look. “Hey. None of that. If Mort had come with you and shown up on my doorstep, his ass would be so full of silver he could shit on a vampire and kill it.”

  “Well, that’s colorful.” I scowled. “Am I that easy to read?”

  “On some things. Now hush. Tess is calling.”

  Tess was indeed dialing the Twin Falls number. She held her breath as the phone rang, but after a few minutes, her face lost all
color, and she hung up. “He’s not—they’re not answering. They’re not there.”

  I stared at her for a second. How hard was this? “So, leave a voicemail.”

  She shook her head and looked down. “No, the recording said the number had been disconnected. It was one of those annoying phone company recordings. There was no forwarding number. It was...I was so sure we’d find him here. I was sure we’d know once we got here. If he’d moved on, they’d be able to tell us, you know?” She put the burner phone carefully down on the picnic table. “I’m not going to scream. I’m not going to panic. I’m going to calmly and rationally figure out what we’re supposed to do about this.”

  She didn’t sound calm and rational. She sounded on the verge of hysteria. I guessed it was perfectly possible for her to fight and be scared at the same time. I’d been doing it all along, proving both things could exist together.

  “I guess it was too much to hope for to have a nest of Ferin in a city with a vampire safehouse.” I stood up to stretch my legs. “They seem kind of mutually exclusive, you know?”

  Both women turned on me. “Excuse me, a what now?” Kamila asked, eyes wide.

  “A vampire safehouse.” I tugged at my collar. “Could you not hear Jameson last night? I figured you heard everything. The vampires have a safehouse in Twin Falls. I didn’t understand much of what he babbled on about, to be honest. I figured one of you would. He gave me the location, though.” I waited for a beat. “We could go and check it out if you want.”

  “No, we don’t want to check it out,” Tess scoffed. “We have to assume the vampires here took out the Ferin safehouse. And the Ferin safehouse had a hell of a lot of people there, including Mort. We’re only three. If the vampires could snuff out the entire Ferin safehouse, why would the three of us survive against all those vampires?”

  I bit my tongue. I wanted to point out that we’d survived every other attack on us so far, and we had faced our share. I could have said we had two fire Ferin with us, and we could burn them to the ground if we had to. Both of those would have been unforgivably arrogant answers. “Look, I don’t think we can afford to ignore it,” I said instead. “I’m not saying we should go in and have a tea party with them. I’m just saying it might make sense to go see if there are any clues to where Mort is.”

  Kamila bit the inside of her cheek. After a quiet second, she tilted her head to the side. “I just keep wondering why. Why would Jameson tell you where the vampire hideout is? He’s a vampire, we’re Ferin, and he certainly didn’t seem to think we were anything special when we met.”

  I shrugged. “I was wondering the same thing myself actually. Jameson seemed to accept he wasn’t getting out of there alive, but I don’t know if there was more to it than that. He might have come to hate the other vampires over the centuries. Who wouldn’t, right? Or he might be setting us up.”

  “So, you’re finally thinking. Huh.” Tess glared at me. “The only reason a vampire tells you anything at all is so he can see you suffer. That’s it. So, when he tells you the location of a super-secret vampire hideout, chances are his motivation isn’t to be helpful.”

  “The thought had occurred to me,” I told her. “I just don’t feel like we can take the chance of ignoring it. For one thing, Twin Falls doesn’t even have a population of fifty thousand people. They shouldn’t be able to support ten vampires, never mind a hideout full of more of them. Now, it’s possible that the vampires we killed last night were the only ones here, but I’m not about to bet on it, are you?”

  “Which is why we’re not going to their hideout.” Tess stood up. “You might be feeling all suicidal or whatever, and that’s fine. We’re not buying into your idea, no matter how convincing that vamp was. Going into a vampire nest like that requires careful planning and an army. Three Ferin aren’t an army. I don’t care what kind of powers you have. Margaret wouldn’t have gone in with the whole population of Owl’s Head. And you want to go in with just three!” She threw her hands in the air. “Are you insane?”

  “How many times do I have to tell you I’m not looking to do a full-blown assault on the place?” I shook my head. It didn’t matter what I said or did. Tess was going to listen to Tess, and that was it. “All I want to do is see what the place is all about. And news flash, Tess, you’re not in charge. We’re equals here. I don’t report to you, and you don’t report to me. We’re all working together or else this doesn’t work at all.”

  “Jason, you’re an idiot,” Tess said. “You haven’t even been Ferin for two full months. No, we are not equals. You still have too much to learn for you to stand up and decide you’re in charge.”

  Kamila stood up and got between us. “That’s enough, Tess. Jason isn’t trying to be our leader. He’s telling you that you’re not in charge, which is a separate thing. Margaret’s gone, and I’m so sorry for your loss, but her death doesn’t mean you ascend to her position. This isn’t Owl’s Head. We all need to agree, not be given orders.”

  Kamila turned to me. “And Jason, I don’t think right now is the time to go into a den of vampires. I don’t trust that—Jameson, right? It’s almost certainly an ambush. Even you admit that’s likely.”

  “Probably,” I said. “But, seriously, I can’t stress this enough. I’m not saying I want to do a frontal assault on their hideout. Not right now, and not as we are.” I threw up my hands in frustration. Was I speaking Greek? It might be a new and weird Ferin power they didn’t share because they sure as hell didn’t understand a word coming out of my mouth. “I want to at least do some recon of the place. I want to evaluate the risks. Maybe it’s a small hideout we can burn to the ground. Maybe it’s a big mega vampire fortress we’ll be better off leaving alone. We won’t know—we can’t know—until we’ve seen it.”

  Tess huffed, unsatisfied. “Just stay away from it, Jason. I know you’re scientifically incapable of listening but put some effort into it and try to listen to the words coming out of my mouth. Do not, under any circumstances, go to the vampire safehouse. Do not go near the safe house. This is an order. Am I clear?” She stormed off into the woods.

  I watched her go, arms crossed over my chest. “Is it me, or did she just ignore that whole part about not being in charge?”

  Kamila sighed and shook her head. “It’s hard enough to adapt to change when you’re young, never mind when you’re a hundred years old. She’s having a hard time with all of this. Part of the problem is she thought Margaret hung the moon and the stars themselves. She won’t be able to rest until she’s made each and every mistake Margaret made, right down to chasing away all the Ferin who wouldn’t accept her as our supreme leader and commander.” She narrowed her eyes, trying to find the direction in which Tess had gone. “I’d go to find her, but I don’t think she’d be open to discussion right now. And besides, she’s right about one thing.”

  “Are you going to tell me I don’t listen too?” I worked hard to keep my tone light, but I didn’t know how well I succeeded. My guess was not very well.

  “No, you listen just fine. You keep your own counsel, which will probably take you farther than she thinks it will. She is right about it being a terrible idea to go over to the vampire hideout, especially on your own.” She raised her eyebrows at me.

  I hung my head, grinning sheepishly. “Am I that transparent?”

  She chuckled. “A little. There’s no changing you, and we wouldn’t want to. But you know deep down that son of a bitch was setting you up. We all know it. There’s no way this ends without you finding an absolute shit-ton of vampires waiting for you there.

  “I don’t know how an area this sparsely populated manages to sustain such a big population of vampires. I don’t know how even one vampire manages to stay hidden in an area like Idaho, where people pay attention to their neighbors. But we’re not going to find out anything if you go waltzing into an ambush. We need to go in with a plan, even for a quick scouting run, and we need to make sure that every one of us gets out alive. We can’
t afford to give them even one of us. If they killed the Twin Falls Ferin the way we think they did, there aren’t enough of us to go around.”

  I bowed my head in acknowledgment. On some level, I felt she was right, but I also knew something big was brewing. If we didn’t get to the bottom of it quickly, it was going to bite all of us in the ass.

  Or the neck.

  31

  We found another campground to stay at for the night. This one was a little farther out from Twin Falls and seemed to be popular with bikers. The campsites tended to offer plenty of privacy, which appealed to all three of us, and while the distant roar of Harleys coming and going all night long never quite left us, we never had to see another person unless we went to the shower area.

  Considering the state of the showers, none of us were all that enthusiastic about using them. We would come out dirtier than we went in, and I thought I saw moss snarl at me from the grimy tile. Hard pass. We’ll stay grubby.

  Tess was still angry, and I watched her ride off into town, her face a scowl.

  “Watch him,” she ordered Kamila just before she left.

  I watched her go. “She’s going to feel incredibly stupid if those are her last words.”

  Kamila snickered. “Yeah, she will. I’m going to need to sit her down and have a chat with her about giving orders to people who’d seen three centuries pass by before she was even a thought, but that’s neither here nor there. Looks like we’ve got a fire pit. Let’s see what we can do about using it.”

  The fire pit was cute if anything. Maybe most people living out of a van would have been happy to have it, but Kamila and I could probably burn this forest down if we sneezed. We found a bit of dry wood to make the fire look natural, and then we stepped back and let our personal fires do the heavy lifting. Daisy seemed happy to have something warm to sit near, her tongue lolling in pleasure as the fire warmed her skin.

  Having the fire meant we could cook, too. When Tess got home, the food was cold, but we were able to warm it up quickly, and we all enjoyed what she’d brought back for us, including bottles of local beer. I opened three bottles, handed two of them off, and sat back.