by Willow Rose
"Then what?" Amy said, pie in her mouth.
"We were attacked," he said in a whisper.
"Attacked?" I asked, concerned.
"The window to the car was broken, and the person reached inside and knocked out Ruelle. She was pulled out of the car and taken away."
Amy gulped. "Kidnapped?"
Jayden nodded.
"Did you call the police?" I asked. "Or, in your case, your dad?"
He shook his head. "I was knocked out myself trying to save her, and when I woke up, I drove out to look for her. And then I found her. She was sitting on the doorstep of a building, looking all confused."
"But she was all right?" I asked.
"I think so. She was hurt but not badly."
"And the perpetrator?" Amy asked, finishing her pie, then looking at my piece with great envy. I pushed my plate toward her, and she dug in happily.
"She disappeared. Ruelle said it was like she was maybe disturbed or saw something, but she left her."
Now, it was my turn to gulp. I was beginning to sense where this was going.
"Her?"
Jayden nodded.
"As in…?" Amy asked.
He nodded again, just as the bell rang and Jazmine entered the diner. All three of us held our breath when we spotted her.
"We're gonna need a little more pie for this," Amy said while Jazmine saw us and started toward our booth.
"No…" Amy said. "Make that a lot."
Chapter Twenty-Two
"You're telling me my mom tried to kill you and your girlfriend last night? Is that seriously what you're telling me?"
Jazmine stared at Jayden. He had finally managed to tell her everything after rushing off to get more pie and coffee for everyone and then beating around the bush for a few minutes, until I had told him it was time to tell her, that she deserved to know. Everything about this situation was so awkward it was unbearable.
Jazmine exhaled and leaned back in her seat. "I…I don't believe this. I mean, I believe what you're telling me since I…well, I tried to tell you. I’ve seen her do it with my own eyes, but to have my friend be attacked by her…is just…well, I’m devastated. I…I don't really know what to say."
Jayden reached across the table and grabbed her hand in his. "It's not your fault, Jazz."
"Jayden is right," I said. "No one is blaming you for anything."
"She's my mother," Jazmine said. "My mother for cryin' out loud."
"I…can't even imagine how it must…" Jayden started.
"No, you can't," Jazmine said. "‘Cause your parents are always so sweet, so incredibly perfect, and never do anything wrong, whereas my dad is gone, and I’m left with this…insane…whatever she is. I mean, I don't understand her at all. Like this morning, I found her outside on the porch. She had no idea how she got there, said she believed she had taken a walk and all suddenly she starts crying and talking about my dad again? She has barely mentioned him for weeks, and suddenly she's back to mourning him? She's been in her bed all day crying, just like when he just died. And then I know that at night she's been…she's been…" Jazmine clasped her mouth as the tears started to roll from her eyes. Amy put her arm around her shoulder and hugged her. Jazmine cried for a few minutes, then wiped her eyes.
"Have you told anyone yet?" she asked with a sniffle.
"You guys are the first," he said. "Ruelle doesn't want me to tell the police. I don't want to betray you either. I don't really know what to do."
Jazmine swallowed, then wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "You need to tell your dad," she said and sipped some coffee from Amy's cup.
"Are you serious?" I asked.
Jazmine nodded. "I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I can't just let this keep happening. She is a killer. I have to realize that. She needs to be stopped. I will have to manage without parents."
"Wow," Amy said.
"Are you sure?" Jayden asked. "I mean absolutely sure."
Jazmine looked at him. "She almost killed you. She kidnapped Ruelle. How can I not do anything? Who will it be next? Robyn? Amy? Me? It's time, so yes, I’m sure."
Jazmine finished Amy's coffee, then stood up. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I can't really sit here right now."
"Jazmine!" I said and rose to my feet too, but she signaled for me to leave her alone, then rushed out of the diner.
Chapter Twenty-Three
"Kipp kissed me."
Amy and I were walking to our cars outside the diner. I turned to look at her. "He did?"
She had a confused look on her face.
"But it didn't make you happy? Didn't you want him to?"
She sighed, jingling the car keys in her hand. "I don't like him, remember? He's a brat."
"But did you like the kiss?" I asked, glaring at Jayden through the window of the diner.
She sighed again. "I…guess."
I shrugged. "So, what's the problem?"
"He's just…he's such a player. Every girl in school has her eye on him. He even uses lines…ugh, I hate lines…and worst of all? I fell for it. I totally did, even though I knew it was a line."
"At least you can be with him. No one is stopping you from being with one another," I said.
"Maybe not…but does that mean I should? I don't get it. What does he want with me when he can have any girl in school? I swear, it's freaky. You should see them, Robyn. Drooling over him. It's like he put a spell on all of them."
"Maybe he likes the fact that you aren't falling for him as easily as they did," I said, not knowing if I was remotely right or not. I didn't really know Kipp. "Some boys like the chase."
Amy bit her lip. "Ah…and so now that he has me, he won't be interested anymore."
"That's not what I meant," I said.
"But that's the type he is," Amy said. "I get it. He doesn’t really like me; he just enjoys chasing me."
"Or maybe he actually likes you," I said, a little annoyed. Why couldn't she just enjoy that she had someone special in her life and that no one was coming between them? "Have you thought about that?"
Amy nodded. "I have, and I don't see it. I mean, look at us. He's handsome, no make that spellbindingly gorgeous. He sings so beautifully that you want to die, seriously. You stop caring about anything else. And then there’s me. Look at me. I’m short, chubby, and dye my hair green and I couldn't carry a tune if my life depended on it. There is no way a guy like that would want to date a girl like me."
Amy let out a loud grunt, and a small ball of fire landed on the asphalt in front of us. I stepped on it.
"I still think he likes you," I said.
We continued to walk toward the cars. "Say, your mother was there when they found Veronika, right?"
"Yes," she said.
"Did they say anything about what they were?"
Amy shook her head. "Nope. I’m not sure they knew. They just followed Mr. Aran to their RV, knowing he was up to something. Our mothers have been spying on him for quite some time. That's all I know. Why?"
I sighed and pressed the remote to unlock the car. "It's just…well, she kind of disappeared on me last night."
"Disappeared?"
"Yes, one second, she was there, and then the next she was gone. I was holding her in my arms, carrying her to bed because she had fallen sleep on my bed and then suddenly, she just wasn't there anymore, and then when I blinked my eyes, she was back. She was still asleep in my arms."
"Are you sure you weren't just tired?" Amy asked.
"Maybe," I said and opened the door with a shrug. "I don't know."
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jayden finished his shift, then rode his bike home in the clear night. It was a little cold for the season, but he hardly noticed. He had too much on his mind to even care.
He still hadn't heard from Ruelle and wondered if she was all right. If they were all right. He still thought about them making out in the car the night before…before the awful thing happened. He had enjoyed it up until then. He had liked her kisses an
d touching her silky skin. He hoped he would get to do that again and that she hadn't dumped him because of what happened or because of what he had said. Or maybe she was going to after what he was about to do.
Jayden parked his bike in the driveway with a deep sigh. He spotted his parents sitting inside in the living room watching some show on TV. So many thoughts and scenarios rushed through his mind constantly. How would his parents react when he told them? Would they be mad at him for not telling earlier? Would they be mad at him for being so careless? Would Ruelle be angry with him for going against her wishes to keep it quiet?
There were so many reasons not to do it, but they didn't weigh nearly as much as his own conscience. He had to do this. That much he knew. Jazmine's mother was sick and needed to be stopped. Jayden just had to take the consequences later and live with it. After all, it was better than living with the consequence of knowing you could have prevented yet another murder.
Jayden stepped inside the house and walked to the kitchen, where he grabbed a soda. He opened it and drank from the can. There wasn't a sound in the entire house, except for the TV. Jayden walked into the living room. His parents were staring at the screen, looking almost paralyzed. They didn't even hear him come in. Jayden sipped his soda, then cleared his throat.
His mom looked up. Her eyes had that look to them that he had grown to detest. The look of her trying too hard to pretend like she was fine.
"Jayden? You're home?"
"Yes," he said.
His mom sat up straight in her recliner. "Something's wrong. What happened?"
He sighed and sat down on the couch. His dad sat up too and turned off the TV.
"What's wrong, son?"
Jayden looked up at his dad. He was doing better, and his short-term memory seemed to be working again. He still had a lot of gaps, black holes from the past months of things he didn't remember, and Jayden wasn't sure if he had gotten better or if he was just getting better at pretending to be.
Jayden felt terrible because of what he was about to say. He didn't know how Ruelle was going to react. Would she stop seeing him? Would she feel so betrayed she would never talk to him again? He also felt like he was betraying Jazmine, even though she had told him to do it. But it still meant she would be left with no parents to care for her. She would have no one.
"What is it, son?" his dad asked, reaching out his hand toward Jayden. "Did something happen?"
Jayden sighed. "I have something I need to tell you."
Chapter Twenty-Five
"I don't believe it."
Jayden's mom stared at him. He had told his parents everything and had started to cry when he came to the part where Ruelle was pulled out of the car.
"Briana?" she continued. "But…but…" she looked at her husband. "She's so…she's our friend. We can't…I mean…Ben? Say something, please?"
Jayden's dad shook his head. "I don't know, Claire." He looked at Jayden. "Are you sure about this son? Are you absolutely certain with no doubt in your mind that it was her?"
Jayden swallowed. "Yes."
It was a lie. There was a small part of him that doubted. He had seen her, yes. He had looked into her glaring red eyes as she attacked them, and he knew what he saw. Yet a small part of him still couldn't believe it was really her. He had known her back from when he dated Jazmine, and he couldn't believe it was the same woman. But he didn't say it to his dad. He had made his decision to tell, and there could be no more doubt from now on.
"I’m sure it was her. Jazmine knows I’m telling you this and she agreed it was the right thing to do. She has seen her mother do stuff too."
"Like what?" his dad asked.
"Kill those teenagers last month. The ones in their car."
"The teenagers on Make-out Mountain?" his mom exclaimed. "But…that's…that's so awful…"
"I know," Jayden said. "At first, none of us believed her, but now that I’ve seen her mother in action myself—so to speak—we agreed that something had to be done.
"But I thought that was a wolf attack," his mom said. "I know it wasn't Logan like the papers are saying, but still…"
"No one really knew for sure," his dad said. "It was all guessing."
"But that Melanie girl," his mother continued. "She was turned, Ben, remember? We had her here…in the basement. "
Jayden's dad sighed deeply. He rubbed his forehead. "I don't know what to believe anymore. Do you have any proof of all this?"
Jayden shook his head. "I don't. But I will be willing to testify."
His dad sighed. "And Ruelle?"
Jayden shook his head. "We can ask her, but she didn't want me to report this. That's why I waited."
"But…Briana…" his mom continued. "Briana of all the people around here. It's just…I can't really believe it. I mean, it goes against everything I know about her. She hasn't been herself since her husband died, I give you that, but that has an explanation. Who could stay the same after that? No, I don't believe it. I refuse to."
"Claire," his dad said with a deep exhale. "If Jayden says it was her, then we have to believe him."
"So, you believe me, Dad?" Jayden asked.
"As hard as it is for me to believe that wonderful woman could be a vicious killer, yes. I choose to believe you, son. But you better be telling the truth, son. We're about to destroy both Briana's and Jazmine's lives here. This is no time for games or lies."
"It's not, Dad. I promise."
"All right. I'll take her in for questioning. Without any hard evidence, there isn't much else I can do at this point."
"Ben…shouldn't we give it some time at least…?" Jayden's mom asked, but Ben shook his head and closed the discussion by turning the TV back on. Jayden snuck out of the living room while the feeling of deep guilt threatened to suffocate him.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I spent the rest of the evening with Veronika, playing cards and board games in my room. I was really starting to enjoy her company, even though she didn't utter a word. We had just started a game of Monopoly when my brother burst into the room.
"What the heck…? Monopoly? Really?" he laughed.
"What's it to you? What do you want?" I said. I looked at him. His eyes were like they were on fire, his nostrils flaring. He was constantly running around with those cousins of ours, and I had no idea what they were up to half the time, but I had a feeling it was no good.
Adrian looked at Veronika, a hungry look in his eyes.
"What do you want?" I repeated.
He grinned and approached the girl. I felt my heart rate go up. Veronika meant nothing to Adrian. She was just another human. He sniffed really close to her.
"She's still not speaking, is she?" he asked.
"No. Leave her alone, Adrian. She's still in shock. She lost her parents, remember?"
I tried to appeal to his emotions to see if there was still any human left in him, but I didn't sense any.
"I see," he said. "They smell good, you know? Kids. They smell so…pure."
Duncan had told me that children's blood was a delicacy among vampires and when Adrian spoke about her like this, it made me shiver.
Veronika whimpered when he grabbed her arm.
"Adrian," I said. "Let go of her."
He did. With another grin. I could see his fangs as they were poking out. His eyes had that hunger to them that I couldn't stand.
"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" I asked, my voice shivering slightly. I was terrified that he might lose control of himself. There was no way I would be able to stop him if he decided to take a drink from the poor girl. I could tell our mother, but I wasn't sure she would care. She thought Veronika was annoying to have hanging around the house, and I feared she would think that they might as well all have a taste of the girl. It wasn't like she was going to tell anyone, was it? Still, I played the mom-card.
"I'll tell mom if you touch her."
He laughed. "You think she'll care about some hum…some child?"
"She
promised to protect her. I heard her tell the others that she would guard her."
"And you think she'll live up to that promise?"
"I do," I lied.
Adrian snarled at me. He was turning more and more vampire-like now. The mom-talk hadn't made him snap out of it. I knew I had to make him think about something else. Something he cared about.
"Jazmine," I said.
He turned to look at me. "What?"
"Why aren't you at her house?"
He hissed, then approached me. "She doesn't want to see me. I can't figure her out. One minute she's all over me, the next she tells me to leave."
As he spoke, he turned more and more humanlike again. He had forgotten about Veronika and was focusing on something else, something that connected him to the human world, to his humanity. Love.
"Well, she's going through a lot," I said, thinking about our talk today at the diner. I felt bad for her and for what she had to face right now. I was surprised that she hadn't told Adrian about it but had shut him out instead. Maybe she just didn't figure he would understand. Maybe she was afraid he wasn't going to be there for her when she needed him. Mostly because he was going to be gone soon anyway.
"Is she seeing someone else?" he growled, getting worked up again.
I shook my head. "Not that I know of."
"Logan is lucky that he’s dead. I would have killed him had he survived that thing at the circus," he said. "Jazmine is my girl. No one else dates her. You hear me?"
"Loud and clear," I said.
He snorted. He seemed to have forgotten about Veronika, and soon he rushed out of my room as fast as only a vampire could move. I looked at Veronika. She was still sitting on the bed, her hand shaking lightly.
"I will make sure he never hurts you," I said and sat down next to her. "You don't have to be afraid of him.”
We returned to our game, and she seemed to remain calm. It wasn't until Duncan suddenly showed up unannounced that she reacted. He knocked on the door and peeked inside, and that was when I heard her gasp.