A Sucker Born Every Minute

by Lia Kane

  “It’s completely normal,” he assured me. “It tends to happen when VAM-Positive people congregate together in a shared living arrangement.”

  “Do you mean like in my freshman year in college, when I lived in a suite of eight girls, and all of us started getting our periods at the same time?”

  “Kind of. In that case, it was hormones to blame. No one is really sure why VAMPs experience adult onset canine elongation –”

  “Whoa,” I threw my hand up, “English, please. I’m not a doctor.”

  “It just means that your canine teeth have grown a bit longer. It will take you a little while to get used to them. Your overbite may increase a bit, and you’ll need to mindful of it when talking, as those longer teeth may impact each other and chip if you’re not careful.”

  “You mean… they’re not going to change? They’re going to stay this way?”

  “Generally, yes.”

  “Oh my God.” I covered my face with my hands, willing myself not to scream.

  “I know this probably isn’t what you want to hear right now, but you’re fortunate to still have your teeth,” Paul assured me. “A lot of my adult patients lose them because of severe decay. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies can cause that to happen in long-term cases of VAM.”

  “You’re not making me feel any better,” I groaned.

  “Hey, it’s not so bad,” he insisted. “You’re actually very fortunate. The blood you get at the orphanage is supplemented with vitamins and minerals. The kids especially need it because they’re growing, but it helps you too. It should protect your teeth and help them stay strong for the long haul.”

  “You mean my fangs.”

  “They’re not fangs. They’re just your own elongated teeth. Your canines are already your sharpest and strongest teeth, and they’re deeply rooted in your jawbones. They’re being pushed just a tiny bit more out of the bone and into your mouth. In reality, it’s probably not even a tenth of an inch. It’s not even enough for anyone else to notice.”

  “Why, though?”

  Paul shrugged. “Again, one of those things we still don’t fully understand. The theory is since you need blood to survive, so there’s a primitive part of you that is adapting to obtain it. When you live around other VAMPs, your body seems to instinctively recognize that you’re one of many, and that there may come a time when you’d need to compete for blood or protect yourself from your fellow VAMPs, should they become violent.”

  “So what are you saying? If one of the children reaches for my serving of blood, my inner primitive self is going to snap and bite that kid’s head off? Is it even safe for VAMPs to live together?” I started to hyperventilate.

  “Jerrika, calm down. Take deep breaths.” Paul pulled to the shoulder of the road and stopped the car. “Deep breaths,” he commanded. “In through the nose. Out through the mouth. Make the exhale three times longer than the inhale. Come on… try it. Don’t think about anything, anything at all, but your breathing. Focus on it. Breathe like me.”

  He modeled the deep breathing exercise for me and I did my best to follow. It took a few minutes, but when I was finally breathing normally, he started the car and steered back onto the highway.

  “When you’re ready,” he said in the most soothing voice he could muster, “talk to me again. Tell me why you’re upset. Just keep breathing. Don’t let yourself lose control.”

  After a long pause, I spoke. “They won’t change back, will they?”

  “Probably not. But you have to remember, Jerrika, this disease has only been studied for a little less than a decade. There’s so much we still don’t know.”

  “You said something about ‘adult onset.’ Does that mean that it happens to kids too?”

  He glanced at me out of the corner of my eye. “Yes it does. You’ve probably never noticed before now, but Haley’s canines are slightly elongated. I suspect they’ll get even longer when she hits puberty. And look at Charlie’s canines when you get the chance. They’re only baby teeth, but still, they’re considerably longer than his incisors. When he loses those, his permanent adult teeth will grow in the same way.”

  To avoid flipping out again, I took a few minutes to breathe, not think, as Paul had just taught me to do. “I’m not stupid,” I finally said. “I know what this means. If my body is making permanent changes to adapt to having the VAM disease, then it means that I’m in it for the long haul. That it can’t be cured.”

  “That’s not necessarily true.”

  “And not necessarily false,” I added.

  “If I didn’t have confidence in a cure, then I wouldn’t be specializing in VAM medicine. I wouldn’t be caring for VAM patients. I wouldn’t be learning as much as I can about the disease so I can go to China and contribute to the research there.”

  “You have hope,” I corrected him. “Hope and confidence are two very different things.”

  “Maybe so. Even if that’s the case, you could use some yourself.”

  The rest of the ride to Paul’s house was quiet and uneventful, other than Haley mumbling in her sleep and one of the babies passing gas a few times.

  When we pulled into the driveway of the house, I was speechless. The vacation home that Paul had described to me was more like a Victorian mansion, complete with a whitewashed exterior, a second-story balcony with a dual staircase to the ground floor, and rocking chairs on the front porch. The inside of the house was every bit as breathtaking as the exterior. Paul led me to the nursery that he had put together on the first floor. It was simple, but tastefully furnished with the bare necessities. We put Charlie and Shannon down to rest in neighboring cribs.

  Next he showed me one of the smaller rooms, which was still big compared to the ones we had lived in at Hope House. He had prepared it just for Haley, complete with a pink comforter, matching curtains, and a nightlight. She was so enthralled that I worried she wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep, but the little VAMP was out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

  Lastly, Paul showed me to my bedroom. It was exquisite. The canopy bed, nightstands and dresser were made from oak, the comforting scent of which enveloped me when I entered the room. In the corner were a desk and a computer. The comforter and pillows were a deep, rich color – not quite burgundy; more like a dark red wine. More like blood. The matching curtains were closed over the window.

  As I stood in the doorway and gawked, Paul rested a hand on my shoulder.

  “Is this okay?” he asked.

  “This is more than I could have ever hoped and dreamed for. It’s wonderful.” I turned and embraced him. “You’re wonderful.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  AFTER A GOOD night’s sleep, I awoke to a stripe of golden sunlight peeking through the gap between the curtains. I went to the window to see what the back yard looked like.

  My eyes settled on a beautiful lake – manmade for the property, it appeared – and from the back door of the house, a pier that jutted halfway out onto the body of water. It ended with a large covered deck, ornate like a gazebo with a pointed roof. Underneath it, two bench swings shifted back and forth in the wind. I saw what Paul had meant when he described the house as a vacation home. The entire property was way too lavish for everyday living.

  According to the clock on the nightstand, it was 1:30 in the afternoon. Once again, I had slept the morning away. I went downstairs to check in on everyone else.

  Sarah and Claudia sat across from each other at the kitchen table, looking equally weary.

  “Good morning… I mean, afternoon,” I greeted them.

  Claudia put her index finger to her lips. “Shhhh,” she pleaded.

  “All of the kids are still sleeping,” Sarah whispered. “Let’s let them get their rest.”

  I nodded and joined them at the table. “How did everything go last night?”

  “Just fine,” said Claudia. “Dr. Miles took two more carloads of us after he dropped you off. The kids went straight to sleep the moment we got here, and we
were right behind them.”

  “What about blood?” I asked with concern.

  “Lucy’s picking up from the blood bank right now as we speak,” Sarah explained, “and should be here within an hour. We’ll wake everyone up to feed them then. She’s also stopping by the Salvation Army to pick up a few boxes of donated clothing. All of us can get showered and changed after she arrives.”

  “That will be nice,” I said. “What about Naz?”

  “She came along with the last carload. Her bedroom is upstairs next to yours,” said Claudia.

  “Just curious,” Sarah began, “how is it that we’ve acquired a 16 year-old girl?”

  I launched into the lengthy explanation of how I had met Naz at the high school, then shared the details of her recent abandonment by her father as well as her phone call to 911 that saved our lives.

  Sarah and Claudia exchanged a worried glance.

  “So she’s Reverend Bill’s daughter?” Claudia asked. “As in, crazy, VAM-hating Reverend Bill?”

  “Yeah,” I said, “and now that he’s disowned his own daughter, I felt like I had to help her. So that’s why she’s here with us now – she’s an orphan, and we’re an orphanage.”

  Sarah folded her arms across her chest. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe Naz is just putting on act? That she and her father cooked up a scheme to torch Hope House to the ground?”

  I furrowed my brow. “Are you saying that you think she set the fire?”

  “It’s possible,” Sarah resumed. “Her father is crazy, and he’s had 16 years to brainwash her and fill her full of VAM hate. She very well could be involved in what happened.”

  “If that’s the case, then why would she call 911 so that we could be saved?”

  “Maybe she panicked,” Claudia said. “Maybe after she saw the house on fire, she had doubts about whether or not she was really doing the work of God.”

  “Or maybe she did it just to cover her tracks,” Sarah guessed. “In case she was caught, she could fall back on the story that she’s using now – you invited her to Hope House, she came in the middle of the night, called 911 when she saw that the house was on fire. Maybe she was counting on a slow response, and figured that by the time the fire trucks arrived, it would be too late and we’d all be dead.”

  “I don’t believe that’s possible,” I said. “She’s just a naïve young girl. I really don’t think that she’s capable of doing such terrible things.”

  “She could very well have you fooled,” said Sarah.

  “But she’s a VAMP too,” I insisted. “She’s one of us. I saw her drink blood yesterday. There’s no way she’d be able to stomach it if she didn’t have VAM.”

  “So she’s a VAMP. That doesn’t mean a thing,” said Claudia. “Don’t be fooled into thinking you can trust her just because you share the same diagnosis.”

  I felt my face burning with embarrassment. “I’ll keep my eye on her.”

  “We all will,” said Sarah. “But next time, before you take in any more stray children, give us a heads up, alright?”

  I sighed and sank back into my chair. “Fair enough. I guess I should have asked someone before I invited her to stay with us. I just don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing right now. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” Sarah rested her hand on mine. “Don’t get discouraged, Jerrika. Things are going to get better, I should hope. Lord knows you’ve not even been at work for a full week, and the chaos that you’ve had to deal with has just been unreal.”

  “It’s been a baptism by fire,” I said. Then added, “literally.”

  “It has indeed. But you’re holding up well. You’re a strong, smart young woman with a big heart. I admire you,” said Claudia.

  “Me too,” said Sarah. “I didn’t mean to fuss at you. You’re doing a great job so far.”

  “Thanks, that means a lot to me. I know that everyone misses Kelly, and I sometimes feel like I’ll never be able to fill her shoes.”

  “We do miss her, but she’s moved on. We’re lucky to have you on board with us now.” Sarah offered a smile.

  But had Kelly really moved on? I wondered. I didn’t know if they had heard about the reported sighting of her car near Hope House the night it burned down.

  “Did Kelly leave on good terms with everyone?” I asked.

  “Of course,” said Claudia. “Everything was fine. The last time we saw her, she seemed like her normal, happy self. Which is why we were all so shocked that she would leave without saying goodbye.”

  I nodded, realizing that no new information was going to come out of this conversation. I stood and pushed my chair under the table. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a few things to take care of, so I’m heading back to my room.”

  “I’ll come get you when the blood arrives,” said Sarah.

  I thanked her and went back upstairs. On impulse, I stepped into Naz’s room. The teenager was snoring in her bed, so I kept quiet as not to wake her. Grabbing her cell phone from the nightstand, I ducked back out of the room and into my own. I powered it on and searched through the archive of messages. She had been chatting back and forth with a couple of different boys. The messages were flirty, but not inappropriate. One of her girlfriends had also sent messages, and a couple of them specifically asked if she and her father were still incommunicado. Another asked when and if Naz was coming back to school.

  I checked the call log. All recent calls were to the same friends that she had been texting. There was an entry in her address book for ‘Dad’ but no recent contact had been exchanged between them, from what I could see. I turned the phone off and sneaked back into Naz’s room to replace it.

  Returning to my own room once more, I sat down at the desk. I found a pen and a legal pad in the top drawer, and without thinking, began to write

  People who might want to kill me/us:

  I sighed and shook my head as I stared at the words on the paper. Then I continued:

  1) Kelly Holt

  a. Car seen at fire

  b. Disappeared without saying goodbye

  c. Madly in love with Victor. Victor is chasing me.

  2) Reverend Bill

  a. Hates VAMPS

  b. Publicly threatened me and vandalized Victor’s car

  c. Naz is his daughter – questions about her honesty/integrity in the involvement of the fire?

  Those were the two big suspects so far, but I felt like I needed to dig deeper. Who else hated VAMPS? Who else hated me? I hesitated before I wrote the next two entries.

  3) My mother

  a. Blames me for my father’s death

  b. Told me I’m already dead to her anyway

  c. Knows I’m back in town – saw me with the baby at Dr. Miles’ office. She may have figured out that I’m now working at Hope House?

  4) Alyssa Drake

  a. Missing in action – no one knows if she’s dead or alive

  b. Questionable mental state – post-traumatic stress?

  c. There has to be more to the story… but what?

  5) Whitney

  a. Called a time-out on our friendship

  b. Resents me

  I stopped myself and scratched lines through Whitney’s name. Although she was pissed at me, I knew better than to think that she could ever hurt me, or a house full of innocent women and children. I forced myself to think in another direction. Was it possible that the person or people who had set the fire were major players in my life? People who were masquerading as friends, but were in my fact my enemies and wanted me dead?

  6) Agnes - Keeps postponing my orientation. Maybe she doesn’t want to waste her time training me for a job since she’s just going to turn around and kill me.

  7) Victor – He’s too good to be true.

  8) Paul – He’s too good to be true.

  9) Claudia – She’s the only one here who’s not a VAMP. She told me not to trust Naz just because we have the same disease, but maybe Claudia is the one I shouldn’t trust s
ince she’s not one of us…???

  10) This whole damned town. Everyone is connected to everyone else somehow. If one wants us dead, they all want us dead. Right?

  I cursed out loud, tore the sheet of paper from the pad and threw it in the wastebasket.

  • • •

  With nothing else to do, I napped the rest of the day away. When I awoke that evening, I found that Sarah had left a bag of secondhand clothes on my nightstand. She included a note that blood was available for me downstairs. I showered and changed into what I hoped would be modest, semi-professional attire, but ended up being a pair of jeans and a black tank top with sequins sewn all over the front. Minus a pair of high heels, my reflection in the mirror looked like a girl who was ready for a wild night of clubbing with her gal pals. Maybe that fell under the ‘liaising with the community’ part of my job. I found pair of gently worn red ballet-style flats at the bottom of the bag and put them on, wondering if I clicked my heels together, I could just go home.

  Wherever that was.

  In the kitchen, I found Paul seated at the dining room table. He was reading the newspaper through his geeky glasses and dining on Chinese takeout. The smell of garlic and curry filled my nostrils, making me feel all pukey and nostalgic at the same time. Every now and then, I missed food so fiercely that it hurt. Should I ever be cured of my VAM, my first stop would be an all-you-can-eat buffet. The kind where they give out plastic bibs to grown adults so they won’t dirty themselves while they’re pigging out on the greasy, overcooked food.

  Yum.

  Paul looked up from his paper and did a double take. “Hey,” he said with a broad grin. “You look great. How do you feel?”

  “I’m alright, thanks.”