The Keeper's Vow

by B. F. Simone

  “Look, Katie. I’m not trying to start anything. I’m just saying—I’m glad you’ve found someone else.”

  Katie had to see if the sincerity in Christi’s voice matched her face. Katie was shocked. The venomous snake was actually being honest. Rude, but honest.

  “I haven’t found someone else. And I didn’t follow Brian around. We were best-friends.” She wished she hadn’t said, “were.” Are. We are best-friends.

  “Okay, well I’m glad you found a new best-friend. I’m trying to be nice, just accept it,” Christi sounded exasperated, but genuine.

  “Why?” Dread filled her. If Christi was extending an olive branch, the world must be coming to its end soon. The apocalypse was near and she hadn’t stocked up on a year supply of rainbow sherbet ice cream.

  “Because—it’s obvious we see a lot of each other. You’re in the program, and—I’m just trying to call a truce. Are you always this difficult?” Christi said, looking a little jittery. She stuck out her hand for a handshake but Katie ignored it. She opened her textbook and stared at a picture, of a man transforming into a wolf, trying to piece together Christi’s godawful change in behavior.

  “It’s not a good idea, Kay,” Allison said in their math class.

  “Allison, you should have seen her, she tried to shake my hand.”

  “Kay…”

  “It’s not like I’m going to beat her up. Just burn down her house or something. I feel like today is a good day for that. All the signs point to my success.”

  “What?” Allison looked tired.

  “Brian would support me,” Katie said, knowing the old Brian would have. The new Brian wouldn’t care if I fell off a cliff.

  “Brian is anything but supportive,” Allison spat, breaking the lead in her mechanical pencil.

  “Allison.”

  “Seriously, Kay. He’s an asshole. Stop talking about him. He’s been treating you like dirt. He’s pretty much replaced you,” Allison glanced at her. “I mean, he might as well have with the way he’s ignoring you.”

  Katie knew that Allison was covering something up. That small darting of the eyes, it was her tell. “What do you mean ‘replaced you,’?”

  “I just said it figuratively.”

  “Who?”

  “No one.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Allison.”

  “All of them!” she said too loud. Mr. Right, looked up from his desk. They put their heads down and wrote down a few math problems.

  “Explain,” Katie said after a moment.

  “He’s been hanging out with kids from the Junior Guardian Society. They’re his new best-friends. Christi is the president, so there’s no way you’re going to get chummy with them. He’s pretty much traded you in so stop being nice to him.”

  Katie stared at Allison. “When did you know?”

  “Kay, I didn’t say anything because—"

  “When?”

  “August. After preliminaries. But I didn’t say anything because I thought it was a phase. I thought he’d stop ignoring you. I thought they were only his friends because of Will and Lucy, you know? Having elite parents on the ‘Elite Force’ is like having celebrity parents. I thought they were using him and that he would realize it and go back to you. But…I guess I was wrong.”

  Katie wanted to explode. She didn’t really care, but she did. She cared so much. Her and Brian always had a friendship where they walked on a thin line. At times she’d think she was his closet-friend, but then he’d do something like hug on her in front of everyone and throw all of his attention on her. It was always a fine line they walked on. Were they best-friends or two people who grew-up together?

  “So you knew and didn’t tell me? You’ve let me go on thinking he’s just been a jerk when, in fact, I’m the only one who didn’t know he was trying to cut me loose?”

  “It’s not like that, Kay. What did you want me to say? Brian’s a douche? Brian’s a jerk? I hate Brian? I already say that. You just never listen to me. In fact, all you ever do is complain to me about Brian. But I guess I can understand that, because it’s not like you want to tell me anything else.”

  Was Allison serious right now? She was obviously still angry about Katie not telling her that her dad threw her out, until a week after the fact. It was months ago though, she needed to let it go.

  “Whatever, Allison,” Katie said. She didn’t want to talk about it anymore. She didn’t care that Allison looked hurt. Katie didn’t even care that she was being a bit unfair.

  She finished her assignment for the class period, and all of her math homework in the duration of class. She didn’t say another word to Allison for the rest of the day.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Katie spent the rest of the day at her own pity party. Without Tristan there to distract her, she watched Brian laugh with his new group of friends in Chemistry: Christi, who she hated; Michael, the most annoying kid in the world; and Ethan, who called her weird last year for no reason.

  She had to fix it. There was an empty pit in her stomach. Brian was her best-friend. They’d had a messed up few months, but it couldn’t have been just her. There must have been something else going on. At home he avoided his parents more than her. It was normal for him to barely talk to them, but it was different now.

  Katie made up her mind. She was going to get him to hang out with her after school. She wouldn’t take no for an answer.

  The final bell rang for them to finally be done with Practical Applications and Steve Sensei. Though, to her delight, today was swimming. An excellent end to the school week. Katie climbed out of the pool and cornered Brian before he could get out of the pool.

  “Come with me Downtown?”

  He ignored her, looking for another step ladder.

  “Brian, come on,” she bent down and grabbed his arm, his muscles were warm from the countless laps they had to do. He didn’t pull it away. “Please. I just want us to go back to being friends. I don’t know what happened.”

  His green eyes looked her over. She wanted to tap on his nose like she used to, but she held in the impulse. When did she start doing that? Stoping her impulses around him?

  “Your new best-friend isn’t here today so you need a fall back?” he said, griping the ladder. Why was everyone doing that? Calling Tristan her new best-friend. She just barely accepted them being friends today. Good grief.

  “Brian, you can’t be serious. He’s my partner. Just like you have to spend a ton of time with Allison I have to spend a ton of time with Tristan. Katie was glad Allison was already in the locker rooms and out of ear-shot. Besides, it’s you who has been avoiding me.” Katie softened her tone “I’m sorry. About before.”

  “Fine. I’ll meet you on the steps in twenty-minutes,” he said finally.

  Katie opened her mouth ready to plead her case before she realized he’d actually agreed.

  She went into the lockers and changed, reapplying her deodorant and putting her damp hair in a high pony-tail. Her heart skipped a beat as she waited on the steps. What if he stood her up?

  To her relief, he came down the stairs and stopped next to her. “Pizza?” he said.

  She nodded.

  On their walk, they talked about all the old things: The secrets of the TV show Lost, Gandolf’s lack of power, the ridiculous essay she had to do on the mating habits of trolls, Mr. Rhineheart’s new obsession with audiotapes in the classroom…but something was off. They were—off sync.

  She crunched leaves on the side walk as walked to their favorite pizza shop, The Pie Hole. As they ate, things felt a little better, but they both danced around the problem. Why had they stopped being friends? Brian didn’t bring it up and Katie tried harder than ever to avoid it.

  They left after sitting for a while and walked using the same route they did all last summer. Most of the stores were closing up, it was late, but they were kind of having fun.

  They stopped in front of a Dudley’s Music
Store and she burst into a fit of giggles. The last time they were here, Brian was trying to learn the guitar; he was so bad his lessons teacher asked him if he were interested in the drums instead. Whenever he tried playing for her, she’d take it from him. “If you care about humanity, you’ll never pick it up again,” she’d tell him.

  “What?” Brian said, smiling. She stopped laughing as she looked into his eyes. It was gone. The little light that shined in them whenever he looked at her. The way his eyes formed little half circles when he smiled. How he bit on his bottom lip right before he completely showed his teeth. It was all gone. He was smiling at her like she was no one special. Just a girl. A stranger.

  “We should head back,” he said. A slight coolness nipped at her spine. The sun was falling down and the sky turned a dim blue.“It’s getting kind of cold.”

  Katie nodded. Nothing would ever be the same between them again. And she’d never know why. As they walked past all the closed signs, she knew she might as well be walking with a stranger. They took a short cut through an alley as the sun sunk completely into the horizon, taking the last bit of warmth with it.

  “How sweet.” A silky voice said. They turned around. A tall slender man stood maybe thirty feet away. He had blonde hair, milky smooth skin, and wore a long black jacket that molded his frame.

  Brian cursed under his breath.

  “Woah, no need to be nasty kid.”

  “What do you want?” Brian said, his voice deeper than usual.

  “I just want to talk to your friend, It’s Katie, right?” Brian looked at her and she shook her head. She didn’t know him. Not at all—deja vu. The last time someone knew her name and just wanted to talk, Tristan got stabbed.

  “Get lost,” Brian said.

  The man walked close to Katie ignoring Brian. The speed in which he glided toward her wasn’t humanly possible. His graceful movements were just like Tristan’s. She backed up after seeing his eyes. Right before he stepped from the shadows they glinted silver. He was a vampire and there was no mistaking it. There was something else about him. The way he smelled?

  Brian pulled a knife out of his pocket.

  “You’re really nice on the eyes,” he laughed. “Why don’t you take a walk with me?”

  “I’d rather not,” Katie said, her chest constricted. She was a caged bird being watched. Except, there were no bars.

  “Of course you don’t,” the vampire said, sighing. “No one ever does until someone gets hurt.”

  Before Katie could blink he moved. Brian tried to move away but the man moved like a shadow—instantly. He punched Brian in his stomach, but Brian managed to cut his arm before dropping the knife and hitting the ground hard.

  Brian coughed.

  Katie moved for the knife and stood in front of Brian. Her legs twitched with fear. What was she doing.

  “Really? That wasn’t enough to make you think twice?”

  The vampire pulled out a gun.

  Small, like one Lucinda taught her to shoot. There was a silencer on the end. She panicked, she couldn’t just leave Brian on the ground, and even if she ran he’d catch her. Or shoot her. She fought every urge to wet herself and beg for mercy.

  “I don’t know what you want,” she cried. Maybe she should just agree to talk to him? No. Her insides said no.

  He laughed and shot to the right of her. She ducked shaking so hard she thought she was going to vomit. He told her to get up. She jerked her body up even though it screamed for her to stay down. She cried.

  “That was a warning. Cut the crap. You come with me quietly and I won’t kill your friend.”

  “Please—” she shuttered, still gripping her knife.

  “Don’t fuck with me girl. It’s been a long day and I’m losing patience. Come with me or I’ll kill your friend.” He flicked his gun at Brian’s limp body.

  “I’m coming,” she heard in her head. Tristan?

  She tried to stand up straight. Maybe she could talk to him long enough to distract him. What was she thinking? What could she possibly do? She could hardly keep herself from peeing.

  “Do you want me to kill him?” He steadied the gun on Brian.

  “I’LL COME,” Katie shouted.

  He lowered his gun and laughed. Laughed.

  “You know. You’re a pretty girl. I bet you have soft thighs.”

  She lost her nerve and turned to run. The gun went off muffled from the silencer like she’d heard a few times before. The side of her ribcage split and burned as she smacked into the ground. Her breath was knocked out of her and she tasted dirt and road. She turned away from him closing her eyes.

  “Quick little thing aren’t you? It’s no fun if you just lay—" he was cut off by his own scream.

  Katie turned, watching, as a colossal dog bit his arm. He dropped his gun as the momentum of the dog threw them past her and down the alley. She stood up fully aware of the slicing pain in her side. She grabbed her side, ready to grab Brian and run.

  She wasn’t sure when Brian had come to, but when she looked behind her, he was up and griping the pistol in his hand. He aimed it at the vampire and dog tumbling in the alley.

  The vampire ripped open the dogs shoulder and it fell back. A howl vibrated throughout Katie’s body, and she was thrown forward as a another muffled gunshot sliced through her ears. This time she didn’t feel it. She saw it. Bits of red burst out of her stomach. She fell to her knees as a frenzy of pain blossomed in her. She screamed out, and Tristan answered back.

  “Katalina!” Tristan ran to her. He grabbed her and immediately grabbed the knife she and Brian had dropped on the ground. With speed she’d never seen him use before, he tackled the vampire off of the dog and they crashed into the wall. Tristan was on top of him stabbing repeatedly.

  Right before he delivered the final blow he stopped and the vampire laughed, gurgling up blood.

  “Tristan. Let me go now, and maybe I’ll forgive you for being a traitorous coward. Maybe I’ll let you watch me play with her. I—" Tristan never let him finish.

  Tristan cut his head off. The body spasmed and went limp as Tristan hacked at it. Katie looked away trying to convince herself that it was his life or theirs. Is this what being a guardian meant? Kill or be killed? Tristan hadn’t even hesitated.

  She screamed as her body spasmed. The massive dog limped to her and growled. At least what she thought was a dog. It should have occurred to her earlier that it was a werewolf. It was grizzly. It’s eyes a hazel color. Human.

  It sniffed her and let out a low grumble. “Thanks,” Katie barely said between spasms of pain. Blood flowed freely from her stomach and into her hands.

  The wolf bounded off into the shadows.

  Tristan stood in the middle of the alley watching her. Wind cut through and whipped his hair. It blew his fury and blood lust in her face. His eyes glinted silver and he began to blind in with the darkness. She winced.

  “Where did he shoot you?” he growled.

  “My side,” she bite out.

  “No, I took care of that one,” his voice was dark. “Where did Brian shoot you?” She could feel the blood pulsing through it but she didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want him to know, not when he looked the way he did now. Not after he just cut a man’s head off. Not while she could feel his thirst for blood. His thirst for death.

  He moved to her with monster speed. A boy she had never seen before stood before her, not Tristan.

  He snarled and in a flash, he was gone and on Brian who had been standing in the same spot. He was frozen. Just staring at her.

  Tristan threw him against the alley wall with one hand. “You worthless piece of shit,” he yelled. “How could you shoot her? You could have killed us.”

  Us?

  “TRISTAN!” Katie yelled. She wanted to get up, but dizziness overcame her. She looked down at her hand. Her jacket covered most of it, but she could feel the blood pouring out. She was going numb. She moved her hand and torn fabric stuck to it reveal
ing a hole that pumped blood.

  Tristan still had the knife in his hand and it glistened with blood as he raised it to Brain’s neck. “Give me one reason,” he said. Blood ran down Brian’s face and his body jerked. Tristan’s arm was against his neck.

  Katie blinked surly losing consciousness as Tristan was beginning to fade into the shadows. She dropped her eyes, catching a glimpse of her hand, her body, everything fading into darkness.

  “Please,” Katie pleaded. She was being burned alive. “Please. Help me.” Katie felt panic shake her bones, and forced her eyes open once again.

  Tristan dropped the knife and Brian, and ran to her. As he lifted her, pain seared as if the hole had ripped farther.

  Before Katie could tell him to wait, he was running down the street, in a darkness, so fast it made her vomit.

  Katie tried to keep her eyes open, but passed out.

  “She needs to go to the hospital,” Lucinda screamed.

  “No.” Tristan shouted. “They’ll find out.” Katie felt weak. The pain was gone, she was still in Tristan’s arms but he was laying her on Lucinda’s white couch. Katie tried to protest. Her words fell out like slugs.

  She closed her eyes. She could hear Will and Lucinda talking but the sound was thick and long.

  Tristan was back, she didn’t need to see him or feel him to know he was back. He grabbed her.

  “STOP,” Lucinda screamed. It was high-pitched and crazed, but Tristan was shaking and he wasn’t listening. He continued to lift Katie’s head.

  Stop what?

  The taste was violent. As soon as it touched her lips she wanted to scratch her own eyes out. She chocked and spit it back up.

  It was blood.

  “Drink it,” Tristan said, forcing her mouth open with his shaking hands. She tried to push him away.

  “Drink it—Katalina. Drink it or we’ll die.” His eyes were hysterical. Did he hear himself? Lucinda fought against Will, trying to get to Katie. Why was Will holding Lucinda back?

  “GET AWAY FROM HER,” Lucinda screamed over and over.

  Katie cried as Tristan forced more down her throat. She was choking on it. He was drowning her in blood.