by M. Leighton
Rolling over, I buried my face in the covers. They still smelled of him and, as always, my body reacted instantaneously with an ache that was becoming a part of my genetic makeup.
Thoughts of his sweet tenderness, his amazing ability to comfort me without saying a word brought me back to the myriad reasons for my distress. My mother, Izzy, Drew, Summer and Aisha, Trinity, some nebulous girl that floated out there on the horizon, waiting for the perfect moment to tear my life apart—all of it started buzzing around inside my head at once.
With a renewed determination that was matched only by the vampire blood-induced energy that I felt infusing my muscles, I pushed back the covers and hopped out of bed. I was going to take a hot shower and I wasn’t coming out until all the bloody residue from last night’s drama had been washed away, as well as all the negativity that seemed to permeate my entire life. Whatever the future held, I was going to enjoy the present. I was going to live and love like there was no tomorrow.
For all I knew, that might be the case. At the rate I was going, on any given day there was a distinct possibility that tomorrow might never come.
Having the essence of Bo pouring through my veins seemed to help everything, that or it simply altered my perspective enough to view things differently. Even though I couldn’t see him or necessarily feel him in that way I did when he was near, I felt like I carried him—or some part of him—with me all the time, as if he was with me at every turn, for every step.
When I got to school, I expected the majority of the talk to be about the recent disappearances and the even more recent attacks, as they had been every day for weeks. But today, the buzz was a bit different.
I heard snippets of conversations about the death of an elderly woman in neighboring Sumter. I was puzzled as to why that would be noteworthy at our high school, but I thought little of it. I knew that if there was even a scintilla of a juicy story there, it would be discussed at our lunch table ad nauseum.
I didn’t have to wait that long to find out, though. Mrs. Dingle was already on it.
Perched atop her desk, the petite middle-aged woman pushed her frameless glasses up her not unattractive nose and flicked the paper open in front of her. When she began to read, I knew that she, too, had found the story something of an interest.
Sixty-one year old Maggie Jenner was found dead in her second floor apartment early yesterday morning. Jenner, reportedly attacked in her own bed, was brutally mauled and dismembered. Police originally suspected that Jenner was the victim of an animal attack, but after further investigation, authorities discovered that Jenner’s apartment door was locked from the inside and her windows were inaccessible from the ground, suggesting that she was the victim of foul play.
Though an animal attack has been officially ruled out, police have yet to name any suspects in connection with Jenner’s untimely death. Lead Homicide Detective Alan Forbes was interviewed on site. He made a brief statement, only to say that police are following several possible avenues in relation to the case.
As Mrs. Dingle was reading, I kept thinking that the victim’s name sounded familiar somehow, but I just couldn’t place it. She quickly moved on to another story and then the bell rang, so it was easy to put the question out of my mind for the time being.
I coasted through the day, distracted and, strangely, a little happy. Lunch dampened my spirits a bit, though. I sat in Drew’s seat again, only today I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to him. It made me queasy to think about Drew being miserable enough to want to die and Bo possibly giving in to the urge to kill him, whether Drew wanted and deserved it or not. As much as Drew and I had butted heads since our breakup, I still didn’t want to see anything bad happen to him, anything worse than vampirism, that is.
Bo did pretty well with his condition, so I didn’t think it was the worst possible fate. But apparently Drew disagreed. It made me wonder if there was more to it than what I’d originally thought.
Thinking about that was like unwrapping a gag gift. I was much more comfortable when vampirism was glamorized. I didn’t want to think of it as being such a torturous existence that someone would want to die because of it.
My angst and growing disillusionment over vampires was only reinforced when Aisha didn’t show up at our table. I hadn’t seen her all day, which wasn’t entirely unusual, but no one else had either, and that was out of the ordinary. She had an unmistakable way of being recognized, seen and heard wherever she went.
She was very much like Trinity in that way.
I managed to shake off most of my funk by the time lunch was over, and my spirits were bolstered when I saw Aisha making her way across the field for practice.
I ran out to meet her.
She looked a little worse than she had the day before, and I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on with her. Lately, my suspicions ran toward vicious supernatural causes for nearly everything. Nothing was just an accident or bad luck anymore. I suspected vampires were at the root of everything from black eyes to pale skin to bad moods.
“Hey. Missed you at lunch today,” I said lightly, falling into step beside her.
“Uh, I overslept so I just waited until after lunch to check in.”
Aisha seemed to be going out of her way to avoid eye contact. I bent my head and engaged her on purpose.
“Is everything alright? Did you remember something else?”
“I’m fine,” she said, meeting my eyes quickly then looking away.
I stopped. “Aisha, if something’s wrong, you need to tell me. Maybe I can help you.”
“Nothing’s wrong.” She tried to sound sincere, but I wasn’t convinced.
“I can tell something’s up, and you can talk to me. You can tell me anything and it will stay between us.”
“There’s nothing to talk about, Ridley. Seriously.”
“You don’t have to pretend with me, Aisha.”
“I’m not pretending,” she said, laughing nervously.
“Seriously, I might know—”
“Ridley!” she snapped. “Drop it. There’s nothing you can do to help me.
Now just let it go.”
She stormed off and I stood rooted to my spot in the grass, watching her go.
Now I knew something was up, but I had no way of finding out what it was if she didn’t trust me enough to tell me, if she wouldn’t talk to me.
Aisha walked right up to the group and started chatting, but I knew her well enough to know that she wasn’t herself. She was less animated, less energetic and she just didn’t look good. But obviously, she wasn’t ready to tell me anything.
I made up my mind right then that I would just have to convince her that she could trust me, that I could and would help her.
I jogged back and started practice.
As we worked through a new cheer, I traded hats between captain and standin base cheerleader. Since Trinity and Summer were both gone, we had to make some adjustments, which put me into the mix in a totally different way.
The last part of our new cheer included some simple shoulder stands. Even though I wasn’t really the size that bases usually were, I moved one of the smaller girls over to pair with me so that we could make it work. As a couple, we were next to Aisha and her partner.
As we were moving through the second rehearsal of the cheer, Aisha faltered on her climb and fell from Mia’s shoulders. She landed with a dull thud on the ground and lay there for a few seconds, addled and breathless.
Being the closest to her, I was one of the first of us to come to her rescue.
“Are you ok?”
Aisha nodded her head, dazed.
“Can you sit up?”
Again, she nodded.
I reached behind her to help her into a sitting position and, as her splayed legs came together, I noticed a mark on the inside of her right thigh. It looked like a bite mark.
Not meaning to, I paused when I saw it. Aisha saw me staring and quickly straightened her shorts, effectiv
ely covering the wound, hiding it from my knowing eyes.
She looked at me for several seconds, and I at her, neither of us speaking. I knew then that she had remembered something—something important, something scary. Something she was afraid to tell anyone else.
I didn’t doubt her sincerity when she’d told me yesterday that she couldn’t remember anything. Her tears were too real, her distress too genuine. But now, I could tell that she was lying to me. I could also tell that she was afraid.
With a meaningful look in her eye and a firm shake of her head, Aisha pushed herself to her feet and walked off. She didn’t stop when she got to the edge of the field. She kept right on walking, I assumed heading back to her car in the school lot.
It was then that I knew for sure that her dreams hadn’t been dreams at all.
She’d seen Summer eating a pig like a wild animal and she’d seen Trinity. Trinity was back.
CHAPTER TEN
After I’d made myself another sandwich for dinner, I lurked around the living room for a while, a bit uncomfortable with my room after having been attacked inside it not once, but twice. I could only avoid it for so long, however, when Mom came stumbling in at the inordinately-early hour of 8:30, forcing me into hiding for the rest of the night. Fortunately, she went straight to her room and didn’t come back out, a fact for which I was incredibly grateful. I didn’t need a repeat of the previous night; I was still licking my wounds from that run-in.
I spent the next hour or so watching my window uncomfortably, hoping for Bo, but dreading anyone else. I still didn’t know what had become of Drew and now with Trinity and Summer on the loose, I felt like I had to look over my shoulder at every turn.
I kept waiting for Bo to appear, hoping I’d see him. I felt like the buzz in my blood was fading and I didn’t like it. It was comforting to me, feeling that intense tie to him, and I wanted it back, strong and sure.
Feeling more deflated and paranoid as time went by, I decided I’d call Savannah and confirm tomorrow night’s dinner, maybe chat with her for a while.
She would no doubt provide a much-needed distraction, as well as some amusement, something I had far too little of in my life of late. Besides, I needed to see if she’d heard from Devon, or seen him or imagined him, whatever was happening there.
I dug through my bag for my phone, but couldn’t find it. There was a time when that thing was practically glued to my palm. Back in the days of Trinity and Drew, my phone rang constantly. But now, not so much. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, just different. I had to admit that, at times, I felt very disconnected and lonely. It wouldn’t be nearly so bad if Bo wasn’t supposedly missing while he spent most of his time trying to track down the people responsible for screwing up his life.
If that wasn’t the case, I could see him more often, and in the daylight, too.
With a sigh, I grabbed my keys and headed for my car. My phone must’ve dropped out in there and it looked like I was definitely going to need a diversion.
Padding down the walk barefoot, I unlocked my car door and leaned in to see if I could find my phone. When I couldn’t locate it, I went back inside for the house phone. I dialed my own number and listened to it ring. I walked back to my bedroom and stood just inside the door. I listened closely for the music to Jaws, which is what my ring tone was set for when Mom or Dad called. No Jaws ringing in there, so I went back outside and put my head inside the car again. No Jaws ringing in there either.
Frustrated and mystified, I wracked my brain for what might’ve become of my phone. And then I remembered that Carly had asked to borrow it to call her boyfriend and tell him to pick her up at school for their date, rather than meeting her at the theater. Her phone’s battery was dead. I’d handed it to her and, when she’d finished, she told me she’d laid it on top of my bag. But now, I couldn’t remember grabbing it as I left. I’d no doubt picked up my duffel and headed for the car, probably knocking my phone off into the grass in front of the bleachers.
“Crap,” I said to the stale air inside my car. I couldn’t very well leave it outside all night. If someone hadn’t already stepped on it, it would be ruined by morning; it was supposed to rain tonight. And if it got ruined, my parents would kill me. It had taken me a month to convince them that I needed an iPhone.
Looking around me at the deep shadows, I was torn. I really needed to go get that phone, but I hated to go alone after dark. It’s not like I’d had a shortage of reasons to be afraid of the dark. But then again, if recent events were any indication, I’d be more likely to be attacked if I stayed at home in my room than if I took a quick trip back to the school.
Thoughts of my parents skinning me alive over that stupid iPhone won out and I slid behind the wheel, bare feet and all, and started the engine. I’d be back in a flash and Mom wouldn’t even know I was gone.
Zipping down the side roads and back streets, I was racing through the school parking lot in no time. As my headlights stretched out in front of me, they illuminated a small gray hatchback that I knew to be Carly’s. It appeared that she and her boyfriend weren’t back from the movies yet.
Ignoring the yellow lines and No Parking signage that skirted the building, I pulled right up against the back of the field house, shining my lights directly at the bleachers, and pushed the gear shift into park. Taking a deep breath, I took a second to scan the darkness before hopping out and dashing to the stands.
I went to the very end of the first row of bleachers, which is where I always sat my stuff. I walked gingerly in a tight circle, brushing my foot through the grass blades as I searched for the little black rectangle. When I didn’t find it, I retraced the route I’d taken when I left. About ten or fifteen feet from the bleachers, my toes scraped against something hard in the grass and I stopped to look. Sure enough, it was my phone.
I picked it up and high tailed it back to my car, imagining all sorts of creepy things lurking in the shadows, gnashing their teeth at me. Hopping quickly into the driver’s seat, I locked the door behind me. I felt the urge to squeal, all my senses on alert, my muscles jumping with anxiety. When it appeared that nothing was stalking me, however, I calmed and shifted into drive, steering the car back the way I’d come.
When my headlights hit Carly’s hatchback this time, it was from the front, the lights shining through her windshield. I saw Carly’s head behind the steering wheel. I wondered if she’d fought with Ethan. The way her head was bent, with her chin on her chest, it looked like she was crying.
I pulled up beside her and put my car in park again, getting out and walking around to the driver’s side. I leaned down and pecked on the foggy window, but Carly didn’t raise her head.
“Carly,” I said. “Roll down the window.”
Still she didn’t lift her head. I raised my hand to wipe away the moisture from the glass, but it was on the inside. As a last resort, I reached for the handle and pulled the door open.
“Carly, what—”
The words died in my throat when Carly’s body slithered lifelessly from the driver’s seat and rolled out into the parking lot.
The light from my headlights shone under the car, shining on half of her body. Everything I could see was covered in blood. Carly’s throat was laying open and the front of her shirt was missing, torn away to reveal that her mid section had been eaten away, leaving nothing but a gaping hole surrounded by jagged bits of flesh and entrails.
Saliva poured into my mouth as everything in my body rebelled against what I was seeing. Numbly, I took several steps backward until I could move no further, forced to my knees where my sandwich and everything else that was still in my stomach found its way onto the pavement.
I squeezed my eyes shut, no longer able to tolerate the sight of my friend lying there, mutilated, in the school parking lot. I knew I should get up, but my legs refused to work.
Tears streamed down my face as my body continued to heave. When there was nothing left in my belly and my ribs ached from exertion, I
pushed myself to my feet.
With stiff fingers, I took my phone from my pocket and dialed 911. When the operator answered, I reported where I was and what I had witnessed. The bland woman’s voice assured me that a unit had been dispatched and was on their way to me.
I stood, dumbstruck, staring at Carly’s wide-open eyes and tear-stained face, unable to look any lower, unwilling to take in even one more detail of the horrific death she’d suffered.
When I heard sirens in the distance, I forced my rubbery legs into motion and I turned to walk around the hood of Carly’s car and make my way to my own. When I’d opened my door and flopped down into the driver’s seat, I looked out into the darkness, the cold fingers of shock working their way into my chest.
That’s when I saw her.
Standing at the edge of the row of pine trees that lined the school’s drive was Summer. Though she looked nothing like the Summer that I knew, she still looked familiar enough for me to recognize who it was.
Her long brown hair hung in thick matted tangles on either side of her pale face. Her complexion had a sallow look to it, easily detectable despite the blood that ringed her mouth. Her hollow eyes were yellowed and rimmed in darkness. It was from them that she watched me.
Her white hoodie was filthy, covered in blood and dirt, and her chest heaved beneath it. One sleeve was torn off, revealing the pale, dirty skin of her arm as it hung limply at her side. Her fingers worked in a grasping motion, almost thoughtlessly, like she wasn’t even aware she was doing it. She just continued to stare, watching me blankly, as my heart slammed against my sternum.
I was afraid to move. She seemed to be looking through me more than at me, as if she didn’t really know I was there. I didn’t want to risk changing that. My fear was overwhelming, but it hadn’t yet drowned out rational thought. True panic didn’t set in until I saw one corner of her bloody mouth tilt up in a vicious sneer. It was then that I realized that not only did she see me, but she recognized me. And her smile said I’d be seeing her again.