A tingling sensation spread throughout her body just under the skin, similar to an adrenaline rush, but it felt more intense, accelerated, and almost tyrannical. She felt like she was flying, but knew it was only because of how fast she ran. Her quadriceps and hamstrings extended and retracted, while the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles flexed and unflexed in rhythm with the pumping of her legs.
She reached the side of the mall, and didn’t slow down.
It was just a whisper. It was the wind. Neal was fine.
She knew she’d get back to the Jeep, and if he wasn’t asleep, he’d be wondering what was wrong.
They’d laugh.
Only she wasn’t laughing.
The wind didn’t whisper. As messed up as her life had become over the last few weeks, she knew the wind did not whisper. Something had been following her, almost always close. She felt it. Sensed it.
Neal needed her.
She rounded the front side of the building and saw the Jeep in the parking lot across from the mall, right where it had been when she left Neal. The sun was to its back. She couldn’t see inside the vehicle.
Her legs moved faster, she pumped her muscles harder, and made it to McKnight in mere seconds. No cars were coming. She ran to the Jeep and slapped her hands onto the hood. The frame dented.
The Jeep was still running, but empty. She opened the passenger door. There was no point. It wasn’t like he would have been curled up hiding on the floor.
Neal was gone.
She threw her hands in the air. “Where is he?” Was she speaking to the wind? She wanted an answer. “Neal!”
There was nothing around her. He wouldn’t have left the Jeep until she returned, not to get coffee, and not even to urinate. He’d promised he’d sit still. He would have. She got into the driver side and closed the door. The heat was on, and as she thawed, her skin became prickly. The stabbing sensation felt strongest against her fingertips and toes.
Her cell rang. She fished it out of her pocket. The display showed Neal was calling.
Madison’s phone rang a third time before she answered it. She couldn’t express the way she felt. The fear that had built up inside of her melted away. Neal was okay. That was all that mattered. She’d been able to identify the trailer where the kids had been stored by the carnies, and Neal was safe. “Hello, Neal? Neal! Where are you? You have no idea how scared I was when I got back to the Jeep–”
“Madison.”
“–and you were gone. I had the worst feeling. I thought something terrible had happened. I mean, where’d you go?”
“Madison.”
That was not Neal’s voice. “Who is this?”
“Have you called the police?”
Madison climbed out of the Jeep. She looked everywhere for signs of someone watching her. “Who is this?”
“Did you call the police?”
“Where’s Neal?” she said. It was not a residential area. The mall was across from her. She wasn’t sure what companies were in the buildings in this particular parking lot, but she didn’t see any other cars.
A car came down McKnight. Headlights still on, but not needed. She heard rubber roll over asphalt. The car drove by, never slowed, and the female driver didn’t look her way.
“Have you called the police?” The man’s voice was rough, gravelly. He sounded like he was in his sixties and had been smoking for fifty years.
“Who is this?” She backed up to the Jeep, leaned against the door for support. “I want to know where Neal–”
Someone screamed, but it didn’t sound as if someone was startled. This shrieking was pain-filled. “What are you doing to him?”
“You don’t ask anymore questions, Madison. I do. You just give answers. Do you understand?”
Neal cried out in pain, and then she heard sobs, as if punctuating the caller’s sentences.
“Fine, fine. Ask me questions,” she said. She got back into the Jeep. It was easier to hear. The wind didn’t interfere with the call, and there were more and more cars on McKnight.
“Have you called the police?”
“No.”
“Good. You will not call the police. Do you understand?”
She did. She just wasn’t sure if the man on the phone was referring to the kidnapping of Neal, or the children locked up inside the trailer. Or were the two incidents related?
They had to be related.
It would be too coincidental otherwise.
“And you have the dagger with you?” That decided it. Everything was related. The carnie vampires knew her name, knew she was here, and knew she had the dagger. Had Neal told them all of this? How had they known the two of them would be in Pittsburgh?
“The dagger?” She didn’t want to volunteer answers.
There were three muffled thuds, an extended gasp, and then Neal screamed. She could hear the fear in his cries. Her stomach flipped and flopped. She had no idea what they were doing to him. “Stop it! Stop hurting him!”
“And you have the dagger with you?”
“I have it. Yes, I have it with me.”
“We would like to make a trade,” the man said, and then he snickered. She imagined the caller surrounded by other vampires, and that he was laughing with them as he taunted her.
“What kind of trade?”
“The dagger for your friend’s life.”
“And what about the kids in the carnival trailer? I want them as well,” she said.
“You don’t make the demands, Madison,” the man said. She’d caught him off guard. The tell was in the slight higher octave change in his tone of voice.
“You know what the dagger is, don’t you,” she said. “You know what it does? I want the kids and Neal. I want them all, and unharmed.”
The man laughed.
Neal screamed.
The call ended.
Madison called Neal’s phone. It rang three times before rolling into voicemail.
She ended the call.
Redialed.
Three rings. Voicemail.
She hoped she hadn’t screwed things up. Had she played her hand too confidently? What if they didn’t call back?
They’d call back. They had to. She smiled.
Madison had the dagger.
The phone rang. She looked at the cell. It was Neal–or whomever was using Neal’s phone. “Don’t ever hang up on me again,” she said, and ended the call.
Chapter 19
Madison sat inside the Jeep. Although the heat was on, she felt cold. Her teeth clattered together. Her breath plumed from her mouth, rose above her eyes, and dissipated. She held the cell phone in both hands and stared at it, as if willing it to ring.
Maybe she should not have hung up on the caller. They had Neal and were hurting him. If she made them angry, they might kill him. It would be her fault. She wanted to call them back. Doing so would show weakness. As afraid as she was, she did not want to lose whatever advantage she held. It might be just an imagined advantage, but when she’d taken control of the call, the kidnapper’s tone of voice had changed. She’d heard it.
Cars began to fill the parking lot around her and at the mall across the street as well. Madison wasn’t sure how long she’d sat idle inside the Jeep. The gas tank was getting low.
She did not know where to go or what to do next.
She wiped away tears with the back of her sleeve; she had not realized she’d cried. She set the phone down in the passenger seat, and wished Butcher was in the area. She grew hungry and needed something to satisfy her. Her energy felt sapped.
The phone vibrated.
She picked it up.
It was a text from Neal.
Don’t ever do that again. Carnival closes at eleven 2nite.
Come alone.
She stared at the screen. She read the twelve words twice more before stepping on the clutch and putting the Jeep into first gear. She would get gas and find somewhere quiet. She needed to think this through. What she needed most was help
. Despite being told to come alone, she knew she couldn’t save Neal and the kids by herself.
While the first person to come to mind was her father, he was the last one she wanted to call.
Once there was a break in traffic, she pulled out of the lot she was in and onto McKnight. She wanted to fill the gas tank. When she rescued Neal and the kids, the last thing she wanted to worry about was running out of gas.
It was almost nine in the morning.
There were fourteen hours to kill.
She would get gas first and maybe something to eat next. If there was any kind of physical altercation tonight, she couldn’t go into the fight weak. She remembered the guys she’d seen at the carnival that took her for a ride, attacked her, and left her for dead. They were strong–stronger than any human could possibly be.
She was one of them now.
She knew she was stronger, too. Unfortunately, they ate better than her, and more frequently. The vampires she was about to go up against had no regard for human life. Sips worth of blood left in cellophane wrapped meat would never cut it.
At the first gas station she came across, Madison pulled the Jeep up to the pumps. She paid cash inside, and then filled the tank. Despite the overnight and morning chill, the bright sun in a cloudless sky appeared somewhat promising. She replaced the gas cap, and looked up to let the natural heat touch her skin. It felt amazing.
Inside the Jeep she sat for a moment and thought while she stared at her phone. Her father was calling. She had no intention of answering. She didn’t even touch the phone in case it accidentally answered. She just let it vibrate on the seat next to her and waited a few moments after it stopped before reaching for it.
Just before she picked it up, it rang again. She was thankful she had set the phone to vibrate. The ringtone would have driven her mad. She knew her father was worried. Eventually, she had to talk to him. Right now, she couldn’t.
Two ideas came to mind; neither great, but she hoped against odds she’d get some answers.
She pulled out of the gas station and headed back down McKnight. She parked in the mall parking lot by the side of the building she’d run along. This gave her a clear view of the entire carnival, as well as the main road.
She had four missed calls. All from her father. She sighed as she placed her first call. Madison couldn’t help but cringe while the line rang on the other end. Feeling funny or foolish about this type of call was something she’d have to get used to, she supposed.
“Everything okay?”
She didn’t want to talk. The answer was, No. He didn’t need to know that. In fact, she didn’t even plan to tell him what had happened. It wasn’t his concern. Her issues were already a burden, whether he’d admit it or not. “I’m hungry, Butcher. I need to eat.”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you,” she said.
“Then I can’t help you.”
There was the sound of paper wrinkling, or a newspaper page being turned and the wrinkle shaken out.
“If I tell you, you can’t tell anyone.”
“Who am I going to tell? If we don’t have trust between us by now, I’m not sure why we’re even still talking,” he said.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Now, where are you?”
# # #
Butcher was going to work on a solution. He didn’t know any butchers in the area. He’d explained it wasn’t the same kind of network that lawyers had. You didn’t find a whole mess of people in his trade on Linkdin networking, but to give him some time to see if he could come up with a plausible solution.
She stared at the carnival. The funhouse clown stared back. She hated the bulbous red nose and the triangles above and below the dark eyes. The teeth troubled her the most. When she killed Oliver, drank the blood from his body, had her teeth become long and ragged and sharp like the ones the clown had? She’d imagined them to be more beautiful, she supposed. Hollywood-style fangs.
Hadn’t she teased Neal for the coffin and sun comments he’d made? Truth was, the sun did kind of bother her eyes. It didn’t blind her, but seeing when it was dark was much easier, and a little more comfortable. She didn’t have the answers.
She made her second call. No one answered. No voicemail. She ended the call and tried again. The same. Madison sent a text.
Call me when u get this. I need help.
She hit send.
We’re in the air. What’s up?
The Fawdrays were already headed back to New Zealand. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t like she expected them to head to Pennsylvania just because she’d gotten herself in trouble.
She set her phone down.
The missed calls and messages from her father increased exponentially. She would have to call him back soon. It would be the only way to keep the police out of it. For Neal’s sake, she needed to keep cops out of it.
Holding out for Butcher didn’t make sense. He was a good man. He would try to help. There just wasn’t much the man could do from six hours away.
She was hungry now, and knew eating was essential before facing a horde of vampires. Who knew how long they’d been turned. They knew their strengths and her weaknesses. Overpowering them was not likely. She wasn’t stupid. The carnies were not going to give her Neal, or the kids, or let her walk away from this. They made it clear they wanted the dagger. Once they had the ancient blade, they’d kill Neal and her for certain.
Somehow she’d need to outsmart them, but before she could do that she needed to eat. Feast.
She picked up her phone and searched Tent Cities in Pittsburgh and in the area. Seven miles away was one located right under RT 279, at Anderson and E. General Robinson. Mcknight would take her to the city limit.
Part III
The Beginning
Chapter 20
Large, thick snowflakes fell from a gunmetal grey sky, resembling a swarm of angry albino bumblebees that stormed the windshield. A howling wind shook the Jeep, rocking Madison from side to side. She drove with both hands on the steering wheel in a tight, white-knuckle grip. People walked along on sidewalks between tall buildings, hugging tight winter coats as the only protection against dropping temperatures.
The hunger came on fast. She would have thought it psychosomatic. Once she came up with a plan to feed, the pangs inside her intensified. It was not an easy decision. She wasn’t sure she could go through with it. The only thing that made her even suspect feasting was possible was because Neal’s life was in danger.
The carnival vampires had him. The guilt filled her. There was no way to deny it. She should never have let him come along with her. It had been selfish. He had no business coming to Pennsylvania. She should be here alone.
As she drove, she had time to think about what had happened. Something warned her Neal was in trouble. A voice. It came to her in a whisper, so soft and subtle it could have been mistaken for the wind. She didn’t dismiss the warning, and was still too late. When she returned to the Jeep, it had been too late. He was gone.
Gone.
What didn’t make sense was that it seemed like they knew she was there, that she had traveled from Rochester to Pittsburgh, and were ready for her. It was baffling. How could they have known?
This was why she needed to eat.
They were ready for her. She had no idea how many carny vampires there were. It could just be the few from the night she was attacked, the night she was bitten. Or there could be more. It could be that everyone working at that carnival was a vampire.
She hated the word.
Vampire.
It sounded sophomoric, Hollywood. It was not surreal or magical. It sounded ridiculous, invented.
Regardless, she accepted it. She knew it was real, who she was now.
So had Neal.
He hadn’t freaked out, nor did he question her. He could have had her committed to a hospital once she started drinking animal blood from a Styrofoam cup. He didn’t. His support never wavered. She knew
tons of questions must have filled his head. He never asked any. It was almost like he let her get her arms around the situation first. She wasn’t sure she’d take a long, dangerous road trip with someone who was, or thought they were, a vampire.
Saving the children trapped inside the trailer was essential, but no less important than rescuing Neal. It was why she needed to eat. If she didn’t build up her strength, she knew she’d not stand a chance. The vampires would be well fed and ready for her. She could only assume they’d been vampires a long time. They knew their abilities and limitations. They knew how to stalk and pounce. The trailer full of children suggested they were cold, heartless killers. They would not hesitate.
They would attack without hesitation.
She wished Butcher would have been able to help, but in a way knew animal blood could never rejuvenate her the way human blood would.
Ahead she saw a sign for the Allegheny River. She was quickly approaching the Rt 279 bridge. Despite the snow she could see the skyline of Tent City. Her breathing became more rapid, and a surge of anxiety fill her.
It was difficult shutting off memories of killing her mother’s boyfriend. The man had been abusive, violent, and a threat. The murder had not been committed in self-defense. She was never worried for her life in that kitchen. She had attacked him out of anger and revenge. She might pass it off as a heat of the moment killing, but that would be lying to herself.
She had changed; was no longer the teenager she been weeks ago. None of it made sense. Part of her felt that not thinking about what needed to be done was the best approach. She didn’t want to lose herself, though. It seemed like a real possibility. That scared her. There had to be a better way to approach this; what needed to be done. She just wasn’t sure what that approach should be. There wasn’t much time to think it over.
Parking in a small dirt lot across from the underpass, Madison climbed out of the Jeep. She fixed her backpack as best she could, wishing the dagger was just a little shorter. There was little she could do to hide the pommel from protruding from the top. She slung the bag over both shoulders, looked both ways before running across the street, and then found herself standing on the cusp of Tent City.
Young Blood: The Nightbreed Saga: Book 1 Page 15