“I have to have him back by nine-thirty, so we have some time. Where do you want to walk to?”
“I guess just down to the park. Do you want to see if Stacy and Samuel want to go with us for a walk?”
“Sure, we can do that.” He leaned in close. “It will be nice just to spend time with you.”
We walked across the street to Stacy’s, and picked her and Samuel up to walk with us. Jeremiah, did you leave some of what we said in Isaiah’s memory?
“Just enough so that he wouldn’t question you about too much, Elizabeth. He will not remember that we told him I am your father, or that vampires exist. He will just remember that Jason and his father are trouble.”
When the four of us got to the park, Isaiah and I sat on one of the benches and watched Samuel push Stacy on a swing. “They look so cute together, don’t they?”
I turned towards him, and froze for just a second. There, standing in the shadow of a tree, was Victor, watching us.
I laughed out loud, hoping it sounded natural. “I just thought about a new comedy that is coming out this weekend. I saw previews on the TV.” I hoped that I had covered up okay, and that Victor was too far away to pick up on the mistake. Jeremiah, Victor is at the park watching us.
“I know, I’m here as well. Try not to make any wrong moves. I think that you covered up your surprise just fine. He didn’t change his expression, or move. Try to keep calm, and not make him suspicious. I will keep an eye on him.”
I smiled at Isaiah, and continued on about the movie. “Okay, I was thinking that we could double date with Samuel and Stacy. That should be fun.” He put his arm around me, and sat back. I leaned back against him, trying to act as natural as I could. I can’t look. Is he still there?
“Yes, but he has moved back into the shadows a little more. You know, a human would not have seen him where he was. I’ll keep an eye on him in case he moved because he thought you saw him. You just keep sitting there, acting like you kids always do. I’m moving in behind him now.”
“Victor, what are you doing watching the girl?” Jeremiah was behind him before Victor had a chance to hear.
I jumped What is going on? How am I seeing this?
“I am keeping my mind open to you. I think you have started to develop another vampire power since you are able to see what I am looking at.”
Another vampire trait to deal with. I’m not so sure how I feel about that, Dad.
Victor turned quickly. “I’m not watching them. I was walking through the park, and they showed up. I did not want her to see me in case she recognized me.” He was watching for my father’s reaction.
Jeremiah showed no change in his expression. “She would not have recognized you, her memory has been erased. Were you here hunting, Victor?” Jeremiah’s voice became very hard and threatening. “This is not the place to be hunting.”
Victor looked at Jeremiah, and bent his body in a slight bow. “Of course not, My Lord. Like I said, I was just passing through the park and saw them. I know my place.”
“You can leave back that way. Don’t let me find you here again. This is my territory, and you would do well to remember that.”
Victor backed into the forest. “As you wish, My Lord.” He turned, and was gone.
Jeremiah stood for a while, listening to make sure that he didn’t hear the vampire trying to return.
“He is gone for now. I didn’t see anything in his manner to that he suspected that you saw him. We will need to be on high alert from now on, Elizabeth. I may have to call in some favors without revealing you, of course.”
Let’s do whatever we have to do, but make sure that you are safe, too. Can we stay a bit longer, or should I tell them it is time for us to head home?
“You can stay for a bit longer. I will make sure that you’re safe. Elizabeth, when you get home, please make sure you lock all the windows and door tonights. It will alert me faster if someone tries to open them if the locks are being released.
I will keep my mind open to you. Thank you again.
“No need to thank me, I am only doing what I promised to do.” I heard something a little different in his voice.
Are you okay? You sounded different just now when you answered me. Victor isn’t coming back, is he?
“No, he isn’t back. It just took me a bit by surprise, Elizabeth, when you called me ‘Dad’ just now.”
Well, you are my dad. I guess it just felt natural to me to say that. I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding as the tension of the last few minutes ebbed away. , I snuggled closer to Isaiah, feeling him hug me tighter.
“You sure look beautiful tonight,” he said, smiling down at me. “I swear you get more beautiful every day.”
“Thanks, but you always say that to me.” I smiled up at him, knowing that he didn’t suspect that anything had happened. Knowing that Jeremiah was always watching and keeping me safe felt so wonderful. Although, wondering when Victor or someone else would pop up, watching and waiting for me to mess up was scary.
I snuggled closer for just a few minutes, knowing that soon he and Samuel would be walking Stacey and I home before they both had to leave. When I sat up and turned to him, I could tell he wanted to ask me something. “I think I had better go home now, Isaiah. It is getting a bit late.”
He took my hand and stood up. “Okay, let’s go. I sure don’t want your mom or dad mad at us.”
We walked back to the house, holding hands. I thought to myself again how I wished that I were a normal person, just like everyone else.
“Elizabeth, what is normal?” Jeremiah laughed in my head. “There are many different definitions of that, are there not?”
Normal is what I am not! I chuckled back at him. You always take things so seriously, but you have some of the funniest questions when you ask me about things.
“Well, I am glad that I can make you laugh with my answers and questions, Elizabeth. Your mother always told me the same thing.”
After saying goodnight to Isaiah, I did exactly what my father asked. I locked up everything tight, made sure that all the windows were locked in my parents’ room, and my sisters’ rooms. I hoped that none of them wanted to open the windows tonight. I wanted to make sure that if anyone tried to get in, Jeremiah would know. I sent him a message that I had done everything he’d asked, and then went to my room.
As I climbed into bed, I wondered again why Victor was trying to take over my father’s territory, and who had noticed me and reported to him. It made me very uneasy, and I knew I wasn’t going to have a good night sleep that night.
The nightmares started shortly after I fell asleep. I couldn’t find my family anywhere. The house was a mess, furniture overturned, the television broken. You could tell someone strong had been there.
I don’t know how I knew, but I knew that Victor had my family. I woke up screaming, with Bess sitting up in her bed, looking around the room frantically her eyes wide and her hands shaking.
Mom came running into the room. “What’s wrong?” .
“I’m sorry, Mom, I had a really bad dream.” I was shaking all over. I hugged her as tight as I could.
“Elizabeth, do you want to talk about the dream?” she asked stroking my hair the way she always has since I was a tiny girl.
“No, I think I’m okay now Mom. I’m so sorry I woke everyone.” I tried to smile. I was shaking so hard. “It will be okay. I think I’m just overtired. I actually don’t even remember what the dream was about.” I hoped that she wouldn’t be able to tell I was lying.
I opened my mind to Jeremiah as my mother tucked me in giving me a kiss on my forehead. I smiled at her just as I felt him enter my mind, his concern flooding over me. Mom left the room glancing at me one more time before she closed the door to go back to bed.
What happened? Are you okay?
I had a nightmare. I dreamed that my entire family was gone. The house was a mess. I knew in my dream that Victor had taken them. I almost feel like this
is a premonition of something that is going to happen. My chest felt tight and my hands started trembling again. I closed my eyes, and listened carefully for him to reassure me. The silence seemed to stretch on forever. Dad, are you there?
“Yes, I am. I was thinking about what you just told me, and all the things that have happened to lead up to this,” he replied.
Do you think that Victor is going to do something to my family? I desperately needed him to tell me that they would be safe, that Victor couldn’t touch them.
“I think we have to be assume that Victor will try something. One thing I have learned over the years is that dreams sometimes are manifested from things that are happening outside of a human’s mind, something that is planted there by an outside force.”
So are you saying that maybe I’m picking up on thoughts that Victor is having? I thought that I couldn’t read other vampires minds. I knew I sounded really scared; I could hear it myself. My father was not alleviating my worries. Instead, he was adding to them. So, what are we going to do now? You have to help me keep them safe. I can’t let anything happen to them.
“I will do the best I can, Elizabeth, I promise you.”
This isn’t making me feel any better, Father! I want them to remain safe. Maybe I should leave here. Would that make Victor come after me, and leave my family alone?
“Elizabeth, I think that if you attempt to run, all Victor will do is use hurting your family to bring you back. The best thing for us to do right now is to sit and watch. If I thought I could keep you safer somewhere else, I would move you into my house. But I fear to do that will tip our hand.”
“I plan on talking to one of the elders soon. I plan on telling him of Victor’s violation by taking a human child. I must be careful how I present it to him, so that he doesn’t want to see you. I fear if he looks into your eyes he will know that you are a part of me.
“Try to get some sleep. Let me think on our next step.”
I felt the little snap, and he was gone out of my mind.
15
I lay there the rest of the night, thoughts running through my mind. As the sun came up, I knew I was going to have to go and see my father today. I would have to meet him somewhere safe. We had to figure something out a way to keep Jason and Victor away from my family. I knew that if anything happened to my family or Isaiah I would never forgive myself.
As soon as I knew it would be okay for me to be up without Mom asking a lot of questions, I got out of bed and hit the shower. I figured I would eat breakfast, and then go outside and contact Jeremiah. I wished I didn’t have school today. I didn’t think I could face Jason. I knew that he would be at school, watching me for Victor.
As I sat down to breakfast, I could see Mom looking at me her brow furrowed “Mom, thanks for checking on me last night. I don’t know why I had that bad dream.”
“I think maybe we need to figure it out. You have been acting a little strange lately, honey. Are you stressed out about something at school?”
I could hear the worry in her voice. Can you help me here, Dad? What do I tell her?
“Tell her that you are having some strange feelings about that Jason from your school. Remind her if he shows up at the door again, she needs to tell him he is no longer welcome in her home. You need to reinforce it, and take care of him being able to enter the house again. I know it will open up questions; you can tell her he keeps crossing the line, and pretending that Isaiah is not in the picture.”
That should work! She knows how I feel about guys who don’t respect that a girl has a boyfriend. I turned to Mom with a look on my face that I hoped was sincere. “Mom, you remember that boy Jason from school?”
“Yes. What about him?” she asked me. “Is he still bothering you?”
“Yes, and it has gotten worse, Mom. He won’t leave me alone, and he acts like Isaiah doesn’t exist in my life. You know how I feel about that. He really creeps me out.”
“Oh, honey. I didn’t realize it had gone this far. What can I do? Do you want me to call the school, or go up there?”
“No, Mom. I think if you can just remember what I told you. If he shows up again, you need tell him he is no longer welcome in your home.”
“I will, honey. I promise.” She walked over and put her hand on my shoulder, giving me a little squeeze. She looked into my eyes. “I’m sorry that he is making you uncomfortable. I’ll tell him if he shows up. Do I need to do anything else to help?”
Suddenly, looking at her, I wondered if she was agreeing with me not because I had asked her to, but because I had persuaded her to. I don’t know why I felt that way, but I did. My father had done it to Isaiah on more than one occasion, and he had done nothing more than look at him, and Isaiah had done just what my father asked without question. I wondered if I was going to be able to do this to anyone without really trying. If I am doing it felt weird, but good at the same time. If I really had done it to my mother without realizing, then hopefully it would help me keep my family safe. If so, then maybe it was okay.
I thought about what I was going to say to Isaiah when I got to school. I knew I had to be really careful until I figured out how this persuasion thing worked, and how to control it. Dad, I think we may need to have a chat later. I just talked to Mom this morning, and I think I used persuasion on her without knowing it. Is that possible?
“I was wondering when and if you would develop that quality, Elizabeth.” I could hear the smile in his voice.
Maybe we need to have a chat soon about everything that vampires are capable of doing, so I know what things may happen to me.
“That may be a good idea, but we have to wait until it is safe to do so. We can’t do anything that will alert Victor.”
“Mom, I’m going to be late coming home today. I have some stuff I want to look up in the school library today.” I smiled at her, knowing that she would tell me it was fine.
“Okay honey, is Stacy going to stay with you?” She picked my plate up.
“I haven’t asked her yet, Mom,” I replied. It felt really weird to not have Mom digging a little more into what I was saying to her. She no longer looked worried, and for that I was grateful.
“Okay, honey, just let me know please before you leave for school.” She turned and went over to the sink. “I want to make sure you get home safely.”
I laughed to myself. There was my mom again. Guess the persuasion thing lasted only so long. At least I knew it didn’t have lasting effects. That one little remark made me feel much better.
I called Stacy’s house while Mom was rinsing the dishes. Thankfully, she answered the phone.
“Stacy, what are you doing after school today?” I waited for her to answer me.
“I was going to stay after to work on an art project. What’s up?”
“Oh, okay. Well, we can talk more on the way to the bus. See you in a few minutes.”
I turned to Mom. “Stacy has something to do after school, so I will see if Isaiah can drive me home.”
“Okay honey, I will see you when you get home.” She smiled, and gave me a hug.
As I walked out the door, I opened my mind to my father. I just lied to my mother and used my powers on her. What is going on with me? I am not this type of person.
“You are protecting them. This is something that has to be done to keep them safe,” Jeremiah replied.
As soon as Stacy and I got to school, I saw Isaiah. “I’m so glad that I found you. I wanted to let you know that I’m going to be busy with Stacy after school today. I won’t need a ride home.” I could tell by the way he was looking at me that he suspected something was up. He started to say something, and I felt myself reaching out with my mind.
He smiled, and said, “Okay, I guess I will see you tomorrow. Are you sure you don’t want a ride?”
“No, we will be fine. You can call me tonight if you want.” I told him, and took his hand as we started walking to our homerooms.
“Of course I will. What time do you
want me to call you?”
“Call me at nine.” I gave him a hug, and whispered, “We will talk tomorrow. Can you pick me up in the morning?”
“Of course I can pick you up in the morning. I’ll call you tonight at nine,” he said, for anyone standing within hearing distance to us.
We arrived at my homeroom, and he gave my hand a little squeeze as he left me at the door. “I will be here when the bell rings. We will get everything figured out.”
I smiled at him, knowing that he was doing everything he could to keep me safe, as he had promised my father. I was grateful that Jeremiah had left some of that memory for Isaiah.
I walked in the door, carefully scanning the room. Jason was there in his seat, watching me. I let my eyes slide past him to my friends, and quickly walked to my seat, pretending that nothing had changed. I said hello to Stacy as I sat down and took out my book. Jason kept trying to catch my eye, but I wouldn’t look in his direction.
When class started, I could feel Jason glaring at me. I opened my mind and my ears, trying to see if I could sense anything that he was thinking. Again, nothing came to me. I tried to tune in more, but there was nothing. I reached out to see if I could sense anyone outside the school who didn’t belong there. Again nothing. I could feel Jeremiah just on the edges of my mind. I had learned over the last few days to sense when he was there. It was almost like a little tickle in my brain. Good morning father, I thought to him.
“Good morning Elizabeth. I sense Jason is still there. I don’t sense anything out of the place with any of the humans in the room. I think, right now, all is well. By the way, Elizabeth, I heard back from one of my people that John is indeed waiting to hear from Victor. He has no idea why Victor has called a meeting with him. Victor has not disclosed any information about you to John. The vampire that I have looking into this does not know about, nor has he heard any rumors about a possible mixed vampire child.
“This puzzles me even more now, as to why Victor came here looking for you. I fear that someone isn’t being upfront about things. I’m going to call a meeting of all the vampires in my area, and speak with them about what has happened.”
Magic and Shadows: A Collection of YA Fantasy and Paranormal Romances Page 190