Vacation of Fear

by J. G. Wilson

  His head and back were ablaze, smoke pillowing above him. He reached the shore and disappeared in a screaming flash.

  Melody stood in the shallow water and watched as a sand cloud shot up, and sped along to the edge of the beach, like a car going down a dirt road.

  She wondered what was happening and made her way to dry land, the sand sticking to her feet as she trudged along. Melody reached the Miracle Strip and glanced around, trying to spot any sign of Colton. There was a small crowd gathered around a dollar store. Melody approached and could hear them talking.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” one man was saying. “He ran in on fire, and it was—“

  Melody quit listening in on the conversation and burst through the front door. The building was smoky, smelling of burnt leaves. She passed the checkout counter, walking down the medicine and flip flop isle, passing by the floaties and sunglasses. She rounded another aisle and saw Colton there, rubbing sun block lotion all over his charred skin.

  “Are you alright?” she asked, rushing to him.

  “Never better,” Colton replied, a wisp of smoke coming out of his mouth as he spoke.

  “What happened to you?” Melody asked.

  “The sun block must have started wearing off,” Colton replied.

  “You need to go to the hospital.”

  Colton smiled at that, a corner of his blackened lip rising. “I’m a vampire. I’ll be completely healed in a couple of hours.”

  “Oh yeah,” Melody said. “Does it hurt?”

  “Very much,” Colton said.

  “Here,” she said, picking up a bottle of Aloe Vera. “This will make you feel better.”

  “No thanks,” Colton said. “I do need to ask a favor of you though.”

  “What?” Melody asked.

  “I’m really weak right now, and my place is just so far away. Would you let me stay in your motel room for awhile?”

  Chapter 25

  Melody opened the door to her motel room, the light spilling in over the puke green carpet. The room smelled as awful as ever, like something dead on the side of the road on a hot summer’s day. She flicked the light switch, bathing the brown walls in a dull golden glow. The two beds against the wall were still unmade and several of Valery’s dresses, the ones she’d been asking Melody which she thought looked the best, lay on her bed untouched.

  It was a ghostly feeling, being in this place, still unchanged, as if Valery would come out of the bathroom any second, asking her if the lipstick matched the dress.

  Melody fell on her bed, fighting back the tears she could feel threatening to spill. Once they started flowing, she didn’t feel they would ever stop. She put her face into the pillow, and her hands over her copper hair, trying to fight off the thoughts of not getting her cousin back, fighting off a vampire bat, saving the . . .

  “Melody?” Colton said.

  Melody lifted her head from her pillow and turned to the door. Colton stood on the outside, half of his face singed like a grilled hotdog. “Can I come in?” he asked.

  She nodded her head. “Come in,” she said, lowering her head back into the pillow.

  She felt the bed sink under his weight, and Colton’s hand was patting her back, telling her everything was fine.

  “We’ll get Valery back,” he said.

  She sat up and glanced around the room, suddenly feeling the need to talk. “The room hasn’t changed at all,” Melody said.

  “Hard to believe it hasn’t been 24 hours since she was taken, isn’t it?” Colton asked.

  “It’s hard to believe anything at all anymore,” Melody said.

  She stood up and walked into the bathroom, turning on the sink and splashing her face. In the mirror, she noticed her reflection was ghostly. The marks on her neck had turned an angry blue and her complexion was the color of computer paper. The freckles on her nose and cheeks stood out. The most incredible thing, however, was that she was able to see the towel rack directly behind her because her reflection was translucent.

  Melody turned off the faucet and walked back into the bedroom. Colton had her suitcase open, going through her clothing and pill bottles.

  “What are you doing?” she demanded.

  “Just making sure I can trust you,” he said.

  “Trust me?” she asked, incredulously. “Trust me? You’re the vampire!”

  “And I’ve saved you life twice, now,” Colton said. “I think I might also be falling in love with you.”

  Melody gasped. “You barely know me,” she said.

  “That’s why I was going through your bag. What’s with all these things?” he asked, picking up a bunch of bottles. “What is this? Milk Thistle, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, fish oil pills, garlic pills…garlic pills!” he shouted, tossing the bottle across the room.

  “I want to stay healthy,” Melody replied. Milk Thistle is good for liver function, Vitamin C and E have excellent cancer fighting properties, fish oil is for the good cholesterol and the garlic pills are for blood pressure.”

  “You’re only 17!” Colton said.

  “It’s never too young to be healthy,” Melody replied.

  “You know garlic is deadly to vampires,” Colton said. “If you had taken some of those garlic pills last night, you might have killed that bat.”

  “Oh yeah?” Melody said, turning off the light and laying back in bed. The mattress was hard, the pillow was lumpy. Her body ached and she realized how weary she was. Tomorrow, she would return to the island to kill the bat and hopefully save her cousin. The air conditioner was loudly humming, and Colton was softly snoring. She looked over at him and saw he had pulled the covers completely over his head.

  Melody closed her eyes and pictured her cousin at the beach, laughing and wading out into the cool night water. The moon had been so full, the light reflecting off the waves as she traveled further into the sea. Things were so peaceful.

  “Come on,” Valerie was saying to her, “the water’s fine.”

  Melody watched her cousin disappear in the ocean, becoming nothing more than a black outline.

  “Melody!” her voice carried across the tide. “Join me.”

  Melody tried to focus her eyes on her cousin, tried to separate her from the rest of the darkness. Then she saw two burning red eyes peering at her. Valery laughed.

  Melody bolted up out of bed. Her cell phone rang again. Her cell phone! She had forgotten all about it. Quickly she ran to the dresser and grabbed the phone. She didn’t recognize the number.

  “Hello?” she said, holding it up to her ear.

  “Hey Mel,” Valery said.

  Chapter 26

  “Valery?” Melody asked, struggling to breathe. It was as if she’d been punched in the stomach.

  “You’re in so much trouble right now,” Valery said, her voice raspy, barely above a whisper.

  “Are you okay?” Melody asked, trembling in the cold room. She looked in the dresser mirror and could see through herself. She saw the bulge underneath the covers on Valery’s bed, wondering if she threw off the covers if Colton would even cast a reflection at all.

  “I’ve never been more alive, ” Valery said. “I’m practically floating.”

  “Where are you?” Melody said.

  “Where are you?” Valery asked.

  “In the motel,” Melody said. “We were going to rescue you tomorrow.”

  “Mel, where’s Colton?” Valery asked, a seriousness to her voice Melody had never heard before.

  “With me,” she said.

  “You invited him inside the room?” Valery asked.

  “Yes.”

  “He’s not who you think he is,” Valerie rasped. “He’s dangerous. You need to leave right now.”

  Melody felt a shiver crawl up her spine. She looked in the mirror, saw the covers rising and falling as Colton slept underneath. The room felt ice cold, the air conditioner on full blast. Sunlight leaked in through the corners of the window the curtains didn’t cover. The cold air from the
air condition made the bottoms of the curtains dance like ghosts.

  “Get out right now and hang around a public place until sundown. Then meet me at the Sea Witch. “We should hang out, you know, like talk about things.”

  “Are you really okay?” Melody asked.

  “Better than okay, Mel. I’ll see you tonight.”

  The line went dead, and Melody put the cell phone on the dresser.

  “It’s a trap,” Colton said from beneath the covers.

  Melody gasped, spinning around.

  “She wouldn’t do that,” Melody said.

  Colton lowered the covers. In the darkness his eyes glowed. He shrugged. “Okay, but we need to prepare for a trap anyway.”

  There was a knock on the door.

  Chapter 27

  “Housecleaning,” a woman’s voice said.

  Melody opened the door.

  An elderly woman entered the room, holding several folded towels and a roll of toilet paper. “Hello,” she said.

  “Hey,” Melody said, a false smile on her face.

  The woman glanced around the room, and Colton smiled at her.

  She made the sign of the cross, handed Melody the towels and toilet paper, then quickly left the room, closing the door behind her.

  “Do you have that affect on all the ladies?” Melody asked, gloomily.

  Colton stood up, his face completely healed. He went to Melody, placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Your cousin is wrong, Melody. You can trust me. I’ll never let anything bad happen to you. I care too much for you. Can’t you see that?”

  “You could hear our conversation?” Melody asked.

  “Of course,” Colton said, smiling. “Don’t you remember hearing those people in the restaurant this morning? You can’t help but to overhear everything when you’re a vampire…or a ghoul, in your case,” Colton said, frowning. “How are you feeling by the way. Have any body parts fallen off yet?”

  “What do you mean?” Melody said.

  “You’ll slowly decompose until the vampire that bit you finishes the ceremony, making you immortal, Melody. Or you’ll become human again once you kill him.”

  “What happens if neither of those things come about?”

  “Then you’ll slowly fall apart,” Colton said.

  “And what about Valery?” Melody asked. “Is she doomed if she’s a vampire?”

  “She’ll be fine. We have 48 hours from her transformation to save her. If you can kill that thing, then she’ll revert back to human.”

  “What if we don’t make it in time?”

  “She’ll be a vampire forever,” Colton said.

  “How do I kill this thing?” Melody asked.

  “Let’s see. There’s the wooden stake in the heart, sunlight, fire…any of those methods will work.”

  “Let’s do it,” Melody said

  Chapter 28

  The dance floor was crowded, neon lights shifting overhead, and Melody was at the bar, looking for any sign of her cousin.

  “Looking for someone?”

  Melody turned her head and spotted Valery on the bar stool beside her. She reached out and grabbed her, pulling her close, hugging her. “You’re okay!” Melody said.

  “Of course I am,” Valery replied. “I’m better than okay.”

  Melody noticed her cousin’s fair skin, so white and smooth. Her hair had taken a golden shine to it, perfectly curled as it dropped over her shoulders. Valery had always been pretty, but now she was stunning.

  It seemed everyone who passed by agreed with Melody’s observation as they turned their heads to glance at her.

  “So, how about you, Melody?”Valery finally asked. “How are you? You’re not looking too good.”

  “Don’t worry,” Melody said. “I’m going to rescue you.”

  Her cousin laughed. “Rescue me? Oh Melody, trust me, I’m better than ever. So, where’s that hot new boyfriend of yours? Did you ditch him like I told you to?”

  Melody looked at her. “I don’t know where he is,” she replied.

  “Well good, “ Valery said, “because I wouldn’t want Luke to feel left out. Max and Luke are meeting us here, you know.”

  “What?” Melody said. “Valery, Max just tried to kill me earlier today. They set us up that night at the ocean—“

  “Stop,” Valery said.

  “They’re bad guys, Valery. We have to get out of here.”

  “Bad guys?” Valery asked. “How do you figure?”

  “Valery, we were their sacrifices to that bat. Don’t you get it? They want to be immortal, but to do it they have to give that thing 5 girls. We are 2 of the girls, and I escaped. Now, they want to finish what they started.”

  Valery laughed. “They’re just trying to give us eternal life, that’s all. Colton’s the bad guy. Why don’t you come with us?”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Melody said.

  “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice,” Valery replied, nodding her head.

  Melody looked around the dance floor and spotted Max and Luke approaching. The strobe light made it seem as if they were walking in slow motion. Max grinned from several feet away, and then he was right beside her, his hand tightening around her arm, lifting her from the stool.

  “Hey, Melody,” Max said. “Did you miss me?”

  “Let me go!” Melody screamed, her voice drowned out by the sound of dance music.

  “I wouldn’t have kicked you down that hole if you’d been human,” Max said. “You believe that, don’t you?”

  “Let go of me!” she shouted. “You’re a murderer!”

  “That’s not nice,” Max said. “I really like you, Melody.” His free hand brushed the side of her jaw. “I think we can live together forever just fine.”

  Valery looked angry. “Don’t touch her,” she scolded Max. “You’re all mine.”

  “Ready to go for a ride, Melody?” Luke asked, screaming with laughter. He sounded hysterical, and the sound of his voice frightened her more than anything else as Max and Luke pushed her out of the front door and into the quiet darkness of the parking lot.

  Chapter 29

  “Let me go!” Melody screamed as Max opened the trunk and Luke tossed her inside.

  “It’s for your own good, Mel,” Valery said, towering above her. Melody looked down and noticed Valery’s feet were not touching the ground.

  Max sneered. “You’re going to be thanking us after you’re an immortal, babe.”

  Luke giggled hysterically, leaning down, his eyes bulging. Then he disappeared.

  “Luke!” Max shouted, pulling out a squirt gun.

  Melody breathed a sigh of relief and wondered if Colton was trying to give her a heart attack, waiting so long to come to the rescue.

  Max suddenly disappeared from view, screaming, and Melody peered over the edge of the black Mustang. Max was on his back in the parking lot, Colton’s strong arm wrapped around his leg.

  “Do something!” Max shouted to Valery as Colton slid him under the car.

  “Like what?” Valery responded. “I’m not getting my dress dirty.”

  Colton stood up, turning to Melody. “You alright?” he asked.

  “Fine,” she said.

  “I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he said. “I promise.”

  “Get away from my cousin!” Valery screamed, rising higher off the ground, fangs protruding over her bottom lip, sharp and deadly against the blood red lipstick. Her eyes burned like blazing coals. Her hands outstretched, Melody could see her fingernails, like talons, pointed at Colton.

  And then Valery pushed forward through the air, screaming.

  Melody screamed.

  Colton slammed the trunk over her head and she was suddenly trapped in suffocating darkness.

  There was a large thump against the trunk, and Melody ran her fingers along the top of the trunk, feeling the impressions of a face — Colton’s face.

  She could hear Valery screaming from t
he outside. Light suddenly flooded her eyes as her cousin’s fingernails went through the top of the trunk, barely missing Melody’s face. The talons retracted and Melody strained to hear the battle raging outside.

  Everything was suddenly silent, and then Max’s voice cried out, “No!”

  There was a slurping noise. The sound of something breaking, of something being gnawed on.

  What was going on out there? Melody wondered, her heart beating erratically. She was suddenly finding it difficult to breathe. There were no sounds. Everything was quiet as the grave. In her head hours passed as her legs began to numb, and her fists pounded at the inside of the trunk.

  “Let me out!” she screamed. “Let me—“

  The trunk popped open and Colton looked down at her, a strange expression on his face.

  “Just close your eyes, Melody, and I’ll lift you out of the trunk. Just don’t open your eyes.”

  She refused to listen to this, shrugging off his hands and sitting up.

  The first body she saw in the parking lot was Max’s, or what she thought was Max. Half of Max was draped over a blue SUV, the hands hanging limply down, blood dripping to the ground. The other half lay on the ground beside the Mustang, the face completely gone. The head was a bloody pulp, caved in, a pool of crimson circling it.

  Luke was further down the parking lot. His face, once chubby and lunatic pink from the constant laughing was now sunken in and grey. The body appeared shriveled, the clothes too big for it. The corpse reminded Melody of a mummy, and she found herself gagging, trying her best not to vomit. Tears pooled in her eyes, rolling down her cheeks, and Colton hugged her uickly.

  She pushed him off. “Did you do this?” she asked.