Night Home (The Vampire Next Door Book 1)

by Rose Titus

  He suddenly gazed coldly at Muriel as he held onto the book more tightly. “You will return it, won’t you?”

  “Of course I will! I just need to read it. I mean, you want me to believe you, about vampires being in this town, about them being real and all that? How can I believe something like that, unless I see the evidence?”

  “Okay, then.” He exhaled slowly, and seemed to relax as he let it go. “As long as I can get it back when you’re done reading through it.”

  They finished their coffee. He continued on about his being worried for her. He had a daughter her age. He knew she lived alone. The notes said they do drink blood; it was a fact. She should be careful not to go out at night. He couldn’t be sure if they still were in the area.

  She told him it was late. She had studying to do. And she was tired.

  “Is there something you’re not telling me, Miss Aubrey?”

  “No.” She wondered if he knew she was lying.

  She drifted out into the ice-covered parking lot, alone. She really was tired. And she was worried about Darren’s sanity and everyone else’s safety. She thought about the tremendous losses the vampires had suffered throughout the centuries, and felt that they deserved better. She herself was orphaned while a young child and knew how it felt to lose family.

  “Good job.” It was Josie, following her out, quickly wrapping her leather bomber jacket around herself. “You got it. You got that stupid sixth book. And an Academy Award for best actress.”

  The notebook was tucked under Muriel’s coat. “Yeah. So what the hell are we gonna do now? You heard that guy. He thinks—”

  “We know what he thinks.” It was Karl coming toward her, followed by Sophie. They had been in the diner, pretending to enjoy coffee they didn’t actually touch. “We need to get worried. But we can’t do anything. Not just yet. We don’t want him to get scared. He’ll start yapping his mouth off if he does, or worse. Then we’ll get tabloid reporters running around town when they run low on Bigfoot stories and UFO crap.”

  “Yeah. Probably get a bunch of wanna-be Goth kids floating around town too.” She yawned and reached for her car keys. “Want it?” She held out the notebook.

  Sophie took it, read a few pages in near total darkness. “Here.” She handed it back. “You’ve kept the others safe enough. Hide it with the rest of them. We’ve all got some thinking to do.”

  The wind howled and it began to snow, flurries blew about the parking lot. Muriel said she hoped the roads wouldn’t be bad going back to school in the morning.

  “Yes,” said Sophie. “We don’t need another terrible storm.”

  “He’ll be back for it, you know.”

  “We know, Muriel,” Sophie said. “We know.”

  “Sophie? What are we gonna do?”

  Sophie didn’t answer. “Take care of yourself. Drive carefully.”

  After a long day at college and a long drive home, she spread her textbooks out on the table where she previously had her uncle’s notes, realizing she’d rather be reading his dusty old papers than the boring subject she was trying to plow through now.

  And a term paper was due next month, damn it. On what? She hadn’t decided on what to do for her term paper, but it needed to be twenty pages long, at least, with thirty items or more listed for the bibliography, and students were strictly warned by the instructor not to use too many internet sources. I know cut and paste when I see it. And some of you buy your papers online, he said. Believe me, I can tell which ones are real.

  And then she would be required to stand up before the class and give a presentation. She hated that. It dawned on her that she ought to buy a computer for home use, now that she could finally afford one. The computer room on campus was closed after hours, and the library in the small town only had five out-of-date computers for the public. She wondered if those were the only computers in the entire town.

  And she wondered what her uncle would think of college life today. The classrooms weren’t heated very well, and people sat all morning in their coats. Cell phones rang all during the lecture, and the girl who sat next to her started a conversation with her boyfriend while everyone else was trying to pay attention. “But he’s calling from Aruba!”

  Muriel thought it pretty juvenile when spitballs flew across the room. “Hey, this isn’t first grade! This is college! Knock it off!” People in class, including the instructor, applauded when she turned and said that, and so tonight she felt good about herself. Yeah, she thought, and if you do it again, my friends will come and bite your dumb ass.

  “So wow, you own a house?” She got that at least a couple of times in the cafeteria. “Is it like real run-down and stuff?”

  “Nope. Not too bad. Pretty dusty, though. Had to clean it up real good. Almost everything works okay. The stuff in the kitchen is out of date, gotta buy a new refrigerator, new stove, fix a broken window and stuff. But it’s livable. The neighbors are pretty okay.” But she didn’t mention about the neighbors being vampires, or her stalker the boring accountant, or what she found hidden behind the cleanout door. But she also surprised herself to suddenly be discussing home repair issues like a grown-up, instead of talking about what happened last night at some club and who got drunk. “I want to get new curtains too. And get some electrical things fixed. Maybe I’ll even buy one of those books about how to fix stuff, and figure it out myself, just for the hell of it.”

  She was glad to get back to see her friends Sheree, Akeem, and Lacey. Since she had moved into the old house the people she associated with were much older than her, even though they didn’t look it—all except for Josie. And seeing her friends took her mind off Darren.

  The barely functioning doorbell rang.

  “Who the hell could that be?” She put the book down and looked out the window into the driveway and saw her car, and an SUV. She knew no one locally with such a massive truck. “Damn it. It must be him, looking for his stupid notebook.” She really didn’t want to speak to him right now. She killed the lights back in kitchen, pulled the curtains, and hoped he would just go away.

  She was used to the dark by now anyway.

  “Miss Aubrey? Are you all right in there?”

  Oh shit. This guy thinks he’s looking out for my welfare. If she answered the door he would demand to know why she turned the lights out, then demand his book back, and he’d probably follow her to where she kept it and try and get all the rest of the notes away from her.

  “Miss Aubrey? Everything okay?”

  She remained silent.

  “Are you all alone?”

  Oh God, what a freak this guy is.

  There was a massive loud pounding on the door, then another.

  “What the—” He was ramming his shoulder against the door, trying to break in. “He really is crazy.”

  With a crash the door flew open. She screamed.

  “Leave me alone! I’ll call the cops. Get the hell away from me!” She dashed around the kitchen, looking through where the knives were kept.

  But he kept coming.

  “Muriel!”

  “Get the hell outta my house!”

  “But, Muriel—”

  Finally she found a knife. “Get away from me or I’ll—”

  “Get the hell away from her, you crazy son of a bitch!” A new voice broke into the darkness. She almost didn’t recognize it through its rage.

  “Elton?”

  With the moonlight that drifted through the windows, she saw Darren thrown to the ground. He howled in sudden pain and fear. She switched on a light.

  “Oh thank God, Elton.”

  “I was driving to the store and saw this guy’s truck. Then I heard you scream.”

  “Who’s this?” Darren mumbled. “Your boyfriend?”

  “Darren. Shut the hell up. This is the man who is rescuing me from you, you strange weirdo.” She put the knife back. “What the hell made you break into my house? Are you crazy? You want your book back so bad you break into my house? What
the hell were you trying to do? You scared the crap outta me. I almost thought you were gonna—”

  “Tell this goon to let me go.” He struggled against Elton’s grip and Elton told him to be quiet.

  “No, I won’t. You just broke into my house. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  Elton patted down Darren’s jacket. “He’s got no weapon. Just this cross.” It fell out of Darren’s pocket and onto the floor.

  “I was worried about you. I knew you were home, you didn’t answer the door. Then the lights went out. I was—ouch! Will you let me go?” But Elton only held tighter. “I thought something had happened to you.”

  The ice cold wind now blew throughout the already drafty home.

  “What? You busted down my door so you could see if I was okay?”

  “Idiots never change,” said Elton. “What do you want me to do with this reject?” He pulled Darren up so he could stand but still gripped his arm.

  “I hope you won’t call the police?” Darren looked at her pleadingly. “This wouldn’t look good when I go to apply for a job.”

  “You broke my door down, and now I’m gonna freeze my ass off all night and catch pneumonia because of you! And all you can think of is applying for a job.”

  “I’ll pay for the damage. I have got enough saved for minor expenses. Look, Muriel. This is a big misunderstanding. I’m very sorry. Now will this guy let me go?”

  Elton released him. “Fine. But don’t try anything stupid. You’ve got some explaining to do.”

  “I was just worried about her. The lights went out, and she didn’t answer.”

  “Like maybe I was studying, so I got tired?” She stood there, shivering. She noticed Darren was shivering now despite his heavy parka. Elton only wore a thin leather jacket but didn’t seem to mind the cold as much. Flurries now blew into the hallway.

  “That was really stupid, you know,” Elton said to Darren. “Muriel, we should call the police.”

  Muriel reached for the phone on the wall. Darren rushed to try and leave through the door he busted down, but Elton caught him and threw him back down on the ground like a rag doll. “You are going nowhere.”

  Then she noticed the look in Darren’s eyes when he gazed up at Elton. Damn it. He knew it now. Somehow he just figured it out. Maybe because Elton was unusually strong and quick, or because his face was nearly as pale as moonlight. Somehow he just figured it all out.

  “Wait a minute. Muriel,” Elton said quietly. “Put the phone down.”

  “What? Don’t you want me to call the cops?”

  “Not yet. I think maybe we should just deal with this.”

  Darren continued to stare up at Elton from where he sat, finally motionless.

  “Call Sophie first, and then call Karl.” He turned back to Darren while Muriel dialed the old rotary phone. “Now look, why don’t you just get yourself up off the floor and—”

  “Why? Aren’t you just going to tear me to shreds anyway?”

  “Now you just listen—”

  “Or are you waiting for friends to arrive so you can all share?”

  Muriel turned while waiting for Sophie to pick up. “Darren! You just don’t know what you’re talking about. You are condemning some very decent people! Hello? Sophie...? Uhm…like…We got a problem.”

  Elton took over the conversation with Darren. “Now look, get off the damn floor.” He took his arm and hauled him up once again. “No one is going to tear you to shreds. And we don’t like junk food, so go over there and sit yourself down.” He led Darren through the kitchen into the living room. “You have a hell of a lot of explaining to do. And you’re going to start now!”

  “Sophie is coming over, and she’ll get Karl.” Muriel said, glad that Elton had the situation under control. “And I’m freezing!” She went to try and get the door to close properly. It wouldn’t, so she pushed a chair up against it to block out the wind.

  “Why should I explain anything? This situation is obvious,” she heard Darren say. “I’ve figured out what you are, and now you’re calling others—”

  “I already said we won’t kill you. What more do you want? A written contract? Start talking and stop whining. Why did you even come to this town in the first place?”

  “I wanted to know the answers, once and for all. I just needed to know.”

  Muriel explained to Elton what Darren had told her earlier about the sixth notebook. “He’s kept it all this time, and couldn’t stop wondering all his life about it. That’s why he came here, finally. To know.”

  “I heard about that from Sophie.”

  Muriel continued, “But what you don’t know is that the sixth book just seems to focus on blood drinking, how much, how often, killing animals, drinking from an occasional person, stuff like that. There are a lot of empty pages, it’s unfinished, and there’s not much else. Darren, look,” she said. “What you read is only a very small part of the whole story. You’re just passing judgment without really knowing enough.”

  “And how the hell do you fit with all this, Miss Aubrey?” he demanded, still in fear for his life. “You know all about these...these creatures? Is this some Aubrey family tradition? Being friends to vampires?” He spat the words out in disgust.

  “And you say that like it’s a bad thing,” Elton shot back. “Listen, idiot. Let’s talk about your family history. Your grandfather not only killed her uncle, he killed my parents and my unborn brother or sister. I’ll never know which. So is that why you’ve come back? To finish off the rest of us? What the hell took you so long? We were all doing fine until you came to town!”

  Muriel had never seen Elton angry before. He had never been anything but quiet up until he met Darren.

  “Yeah,” she stammered out. “And were you gonna kill me, too?”

  Darren sat staring at the both of them, speechless, until he finally got the words out. “Well...I had no idea he killed all those people. I always thought he and the professor got into some kind of argument over the notebook. No one in the family ever talked much about it.”

  “Well, we’re talking now, Darren. Were you breaking into my place to kill me? Because saying you’re busting in to protect me sounds like a pretty dumb excuse.”

  “He’s not going to kill anyone now, Muriel. We’ve caught this bastard in time.”

  He looked back at Elton. “You really think I came all the way here to kill you all? And her?”

  “What else?” Elton snarled.

  “I’ve told you already. To learn the truth. Why can’t you believe that?”

  “And why can’t you believe these people aren’t all evil monsters?” she said.

  “So it is true, then? They really do live off blood?” Darren shivered even more now, and looked paler than Elton.

  “They don’t need human blood, Darren,” she tried to keep the rage out of her voice. “Can’t you figure that out? They use animals. And no one has ever been hurt around this town, except them.”

  “Someone’s at the door, Muriel,” Elton said.

  “Huh? I don’t hear any—” But she went to answer it, pulling the chair aside so she could open the door. It was Sophie, with Karl in uniform. Behind them both was Seymour. “Hi guys,” she said nervously.

  “I see what our guest has done with the door,” said Seymour.

  “Yup. Breaking and entering,” Karl said with a grim smile.

  Sophia brushed a hand across her frozen cheek as they all stood in the doorway. “Were you harmed, child?”

  “N-no. I got pretty scared, though, when he came charging in like that. Elton heard the noise and came in after him. He’s got him in the living room. He tried to get away, too. But Elton caught him and dragged him back in.”

  They came in and Karl helped put the door back together again to block out the wind. On the way to the living room she could hear Elton repeating once again, “No. We will definitely not kill you. Okay? I thought I already cleared that up?”

  Darren then looked up at the th
ree of them, not even noticing Muriel. But she saw the look of frozen terror in his eyes when he saw them walk in. He tried to speak, but his throat was dry and his voice broke up. Muriel could see that he was shaking.

  Seymour leaned against the wall and glared at him. Elton stayed where he was, sitting directly in front of him, making sure he couldn’t leave. Sophie took the couch with Karl, who then leaned forward and started. “You know. I could bring you in for breaking and entering, assault, stalking; hell, I can write a big long list. Was that your vehicle in a handicapped space the other night—”

  He stopped speaking suddenly, then Sophie looked at the ceiling and let out a sigh. Seymour stood motionless, and Elton seemed to cringe slightly. Then finally, Muriel noticed the smell. And she saw Darren’s worn out jeans were soaked through. He had soiled himself. A stifled sob escaped his throat.

  “Oh...” She felt bad for him, but it was all she could say.

  “Fearless vampire hunter,” Seymour hissed, slightly baring his teeth.

  “Seymour.” Elton didn’t move, despite the stench. “Knock it off.”

  “Wanna clean up?” Muriel asked from where she stood. “Do you have extra clothes in your truck? I know you’ve been like wandering around and—”

  Darren didn’t answer.

  “Look, Darren,” Elton went on, more quietly this time. “I’m saying it again. No one will hurt you. We just want to figure out what your plans are. Why you’ve come here. What you want. And what you’re going to do about discovering us. That’s all we want. We don’t want to frighten you or hurt you.”

  He said something incoherent and then he finally stammered out, “Nothing! I won’t do anything about anything. I only wanted to know, that’s all. That’s the truth. I’m not here to cause any trouble—”

  “But why did you break into my house?” demanded Muriel. She sat down between Sophie and Karl. “I mean, you scared the crap outta me.”

  “I thought...I thought you were in danger. The lights went out. You wouldn’t answer. I thought something was happening to you—”

  “I didn’t want to answer the door, okay? I just didn’t feel like talking to you. And why would anything happen in this quiet little nothing town?”