Frostbitten: The Complete Series

by Bera, Ilia

  “Maybe we could go there together one day,” Megan said with a smile.

  “It sounds amazing,” Brittany replied.

  Megan looked down at her lap as she prepared to tell the second act of her tale. “That night—That night we changed you, the police somehow got James’s name. His picture was all over the news. That drifter—A security camera got a picture of James grabbing him. The police raided his house, and took his whole family in for questioning.

  “We hid for days. James wanted to leave for Nightfall, but I wanted to wait for you to come home. But every day, the police were closer to finding us. They raided my house, and they raided the Quick house.

  “We had to leave. I tried desperately to find you, but you weren’t anywhere. No one had seen you for days. We all thought you’d gotten yourself killed.

  “So finally, we left. We snuck out of the town, got on a train, and made our way across the country. It took us two whole months—hiding in the worst places: Caves, old hunting cabins… We did some horrible things to stay hidden, things I’m ashamed of. At the time, I thought we had no choice, but you always have a choice. Remember that, Brit: You always have a choice.

  “We made it to Nightfall. It was as beautiful as all of the pictures. It was even more beautiful, but I’ve already told you that.” Megan laughed. “Within a month, we had an apartment, and we had jobs. Jobs, Brit! Can you imagine that? Being able to have a job, like a normal human? It was so relaxing there; the thirst was rarely a problem. I don’t know why, but there were only a few times that it got really bad: seeing blood. As you know, it’s tough when someone bleeds, but we both kept to ourselves. It was like being human again.

  “The stars were so incredible in Nightfall. Every night, at three in the morning, when everyone else in Nightfall was asleep, I would go out and just watch the Milky Way float by. It was so beautiful; I never missed a night.

  “I don’t know what happened—I really don’t know how it happened, but James’s old ‘wanted’ poster made its way to Nightfall. I still remember this day: we were in a grocery store, and there was this old lady staring at us. She followed us around the whole store with these big judging eyes. Finally, as we were leaving, she lifted her arm up and pointed right at James and yelled, ‘murderer!’. After that, everywhere we went, heads turned. Remember that old movie, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Remember the ending? It was like that. The news got out, and investigators poured into the town.

  “We had to leave our little apartment. We ended up hiding in an old warehouse on the edge of town. The warehouse was empty; it just had a bunch of old rusty farming equipment in it. James never left—never. We just hid there, hoping that after a year or two, everything would just blow over. And it was starting to—the police left, and all of the wanted posters were pulled down. James started growing a beard and putting on as much muscle as he could—hoping that no one would recognize him when he finally came out of hiding.

  “It had been nearly six months since I’d heard anyone mention James’s name. The local newspaper even claimed that they’d caught James a few towns over. Things were looking up, it was finally starting to seem like we would get our lives back.

  “I was working at this little clothing store. Our clients were mostly older ladies. The clothes were pretty cute; Lots of floral dresses—mostly floral dresses.” Megan smiled. “This guy came in, a younger guy, just a teenager. I was in the back, folding clothes, when I heard him for the first time. He was asking people if they’d seen James. He had pictures of James—lots of pictures. I don’t know where he’d gotten all of them. He was going from shop to shop, house to house, asking everyone in the town.

  “I followed the kid around town. I listened to him talk to people about James. He knew everything. He knew so much; far more than the police before him. The kid was there for weeks—unrelenting. Despite what everyone told him, he knew that James hadn’t been caught. Somehow, he knew that James was in Nightfall.

  “The kid starting coming into the clothing store almost every day, to talk to me. I thought that he was just a teenager with a stupid crush. He brought me flowers. As far as he knew, I was single; I never talked about James, I was still keeping that a secret. The kid asked me out on a date. I don’t know why I agreed—I thought it would lead him off my trail. I should have just said no. He seemed like a nice enough kid. He told me that he was in town looking for an old friend, but when I asked James, he said that he’d never heard of him.

  “It was July. Between the tenth and the twentieth, the sun passed straight over Nightfall. The town held their ten day long ‘Sun Festival’ while James and I stayed inside. I booked the time off of work, and told my boss that I was going on vacation. I’m such an idiot—God, I’m such an idiot.

  “Kane went into the clothing store and asked for me. My boss told him I was out of town. I don’t know what happened—God, I’m such an idiot, I ruined everything…”

  “What happened?” Brittany asked.

  “I went out to watch the stars. It was the middle of the night—I didn’t think it mattered, I didn’t even think at all, to be honest. I went over to the little park, across from the warehouse and sat on the swing—just like I had done every other night. I watched the stars go past for an hour. There was a meteor shower: The peak of The Delta Aquarid Shower. I can still remember it vividly. I was swinging and looking up when I heard the hum…

  “The hum?” Brittany asked.

  Megan looked into Brittany’s eyes as a solemn silence fell over the room. The icy wind whistled against the boarded window. “His car… That old Mustang.”

  Brittany’s heart stopped and her face flushed. It was the reaction that Megan was expecting.

  “He pulled up, got out of his car. He told me that my boss told him I was out of town. I told him I was home early, but you know how bad of a liar I am. He could see right through me. I didn’t think anything of it, but he knew more than I thought he did.

  “The next day—The next day, everything ended. As the sun was right above Nightfall, he made his move. He set fire to the warehouse back entrance; the one that backed into the woods. He went around the building, breaking all of the windows and knocking the boards down, filling the place with sunlight. He waited by the only other exit with his crossbow. As the fire spread, we were running out of hiding spots. The old warehouse rafters started to fall down when the fire spread to the roof.

  “He’d set us up. He’d spent a lot of time planning that attack—more than just one night. I think he knew just days after he showed up in Nightfall…” Megan said. Tears began to fall from her eyes.

  “Megan—I—I’m so sorry…” Brittany said, still in shock from the reveal.

  “James and I knew we had no choice. We had to make a run for it—through the sun, past Kane. We were going to run straight towards the woods. It was a far run, around the whole building, but it was the only option we had. James counted: Three, two, one…

  “James never ran to the woods. He went straight for Kane. It all happened so fast. He took a stake in the gut, but managed to tackle Kane to the ground. Kane held him back long enough for the sun to burn him up—but James held Kane long enough for me to get to the woods.

  “I did my best to cover my face, but the rest of my body was burned—completely incinerated. I shouldn’t have survived. I honestly have no idea how I survived. I blacked out for a day—maybe longer, I don’t know. I woke up right where I passed out. I guess Kane never followed me. Even he probably assumed I was dead; the chance of survival was virtually non-existent, after all.

  “I crawled back into the warehouse, which was in shambles after the firefighters were through with it. There was an old cellar in the warehouse—That’s where I stayed until I could walk again. I was stuck in there for a year. A year is a long time, Brittany,” Megan said, biting her tongue. “A long time to think—a long time to plan.”

  “Plan what?” Brittany asked.

  “Revenge.” Megan’s eyes became dark.
She’d thought about killing Kane every single day for years. Every day, she became more and more determined. “I’m going to kill him. I’m not just going to kill him, I’m going to make him wish that I would kill him. He’s going to regret everything he did to me—to James. To the others. You wouldn’t believe how many others he’s killed, Brittany.”

  “Megan—I’m sorry that all happened, but you’re home now. Let’s just try to move on—maybe we can go to Nightfall together and restart. Don’t risk your life for revenge.”

  “I’m sorry, Brit, but this is something I need to do. I’ve come this far, and now I have to see it through to the end.”

  “Come this far?” Brittany asked.

  Megan looked down at her feet in silence for a moment. “I did what I had to do. It was the only way. I only picked the worst people.”

  “The worst people? Megan, what are you talking about?”

  “I didn’t know his real name—In Nightfall, he was John. I didn’t know where he was from, or where he went after Nightfall. The only thing I knew was that he hunted vampires. So I brought the vampires to Snowbrooke. I had to make headlines. I needed to get his attention—and I did. I got his attention.”

  “Megan—Please don’t tell me…”

  “They were all slime balls, Brittany. They all deserved what they got—Rapists, pedophiles, drug dealers… The first one—The philosophy professor—do you know what he did when he got home? Do you have any idea what that man was doing behind closed doors?”

  “Megan…” Brittany said, still in a frightened astonishment of Megan’s secret.

  “Child porn, Brittany. He traded child pornography over the internet. His own niece—the sick bastard. Then there was the archaeology prof. He was purposely failing the girls he knew would put out for a passing grade. He was targeting the desperate ones. Then there was that TA kid: he went to every college party with a pocket full of ecstasy. He probably date-raped two dozen girls—all kids.”

  “You killed them? Megan—You don’t kill people!” Brittany cried.

  “Wake up, Brittany!” Megan said. “These people belong in Hell. These sickos are the real reason people are afraid to leave their houses. It’s not the Vampire Killer.”

  “I can’t believe you…” Brittany muttered.

  “Oh—Don’t act like such a perfect little princess. I watched you kill the English teacher, Brittany. And I know you killed that little English kid. And for what? Because he was trying to take advantage of you? That’s nothing. The ones I killed make that British kid look like the Pope, Brittany.”

  Brittany opened her mouth to speak, but she had no rebuttal. She was just as guilty. Her eyes began to fill with tears as the guilt overwhelmed her body.

  Megan took a breath, and then placed a hand on Brittany’s shoulder. “Don’t blame yourself. Blame me. I did this to you.”

  “I blamed you for a long time, but I’m done blaming you, Megan. I got over it—I forgave you. It’s not like you forced this one me—I accepted it, just like you did from James.”

  “James?” Megan said.

  “James convinced you to be a vampire with him.”

  “No he didn’t. Remember that big party—Wallace’s party. Wallace convinced us all to do it, the little shit. Got himself killed that same night. He stole it from his dad.”

  “Stole it? Stole what?”

  “The blood—The vampire blood. He said it was some top-secret drug they were testing at the military base. Apparently they were using it to make super soldiers. Wallace said that they caught a vampire, here in Snowbrooke. Wallace took us all down to his dad’s office, in the basement, and we all took turns.

  “Oh God, we were so stupid—What were we thinking?” Megan said. “It was a bad decision, and we’re stuck with it. We just have to live with it, right? That’s what I keep telling myself—Just accept it and move on.

  “Wallace took the first sip—and it hit him hard. He got all hyped up—literally bouncing off of the walls. He couldn’t sit still. I can still remember his hands twitching and his body squirming. He took off, and no one saw him again—not until we all saw him on the news—Dead.”

  “How did he die?”

  “He got himself killed. He went from house to house—he must have killed a dozen people that night. Finally, someone killed him. If you let your thirst get the better of you, it can happen. The police covered it up—afraid it would put Snowbrooke on the map in the worst way possible—Funny enough, that turned out to be inevitable.”

  Brittany was speechless as she listened to the story—the details of her life that had remained a mystery up until that very moment.

  Megan stared blankly at the wall as she relived every single mistake of her life. “I’ll kill him, and then maybe I’ll be able to sleep—I’ll be able to move on.”

  “You don’t have to,” Brittany said.

  “Yes, I do.”

  Brittany was silent. Her friend had already made up her mind. There was no convincing her.

  “But there’s something I have to do first—Something more urgent,” Megan said, looking back at her friend with a smile.

  “What?” Brittany asked.

  “It’s another long story for another night—Just try to stay away from Kane, okay?”

  Brittany stared at Megan.

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND ONE

  THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

  The last thing Connor could remember as he drifted back into consciousness was wrestling a stranger to the ground; he couldn’t even remember why he was doing it. As his eyes slowly opened, the first thing he saw was a white ceiling—

  A white ceiling and a blinking monitor.

  82/60

  96… 92… 94…

  Beep! Beep! Beep!

  It took a moment, but his state of confusion began to dissipate. His brain suddenly put all of the elements together—he was in the hospital. Once that realization was made, the other pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. He remembered the fight—he remembered Hanna with a knife against her throat.

  He remembered being stabbed in the gut.

  Connor looked down at his loosely fitted hospital gown. He pulled it up—there was a large blood-soaked bandage on his stomach, concealing a long, stitched-up cut. The bandage was taped down well—it was best to leave it be.

  “You’re lucky.”

  Connor looked over. Michael was sitting in a chair next to his bed, reading the sports section of the local newspaper.

  “The blade skimmed your liver—one millimetre in either direction, and they don’t think you would have made it. They don’t think you should have made it at all, as a matter of fact.”

  “You saved me?” Connor asked.

  “I don’t know about that,” Michael replied. “I guess you could say I was in the right place at the right time.”

  Connor stared at his old friend. “Thank you,” he said.

  “Don’t mention it. It was nothing.” Michael couldn’t have been more modest.

  “Is Hanna okay?” Connor asked.

  “Hanna?”

  “They were going to kill her. Those guys…”

  “I don’t know. It was just you there. I think the police want to talk to you.”

  “Are they here now?” Connor asked.

  “No—You’ve been out cold for a day—going on two now.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. Like I said—they got you good. You’re lucky you’re alive.”

  Neck sore, Connor let his head fall back onto his pillow. He was tired—his body was still extremely weak from all of the blood that he lost.

  “Hanna—I think I met her the other day. She was in my dad’s class too, right?” Michael asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “That Brittany girl—she’s was in the class?”

  “Brittany? Yeah,” Connor said. “It’s funny. I had no idea who she was—turns out she’s lived right across the street from me my whole life. Why do you ask?”

&nb
sp; “I don’t know. She seems nice,” Michael said. Talking about Brittany made Michael awkward and nervous. He tapped his fingers against his legs for a moment and then sprung to his feet. “Are you hungry? Can I get you anything to eat?” he asked.

  “No—I don’t feel hungry.”

  “You haven’t eaten in two days.”

  Connor rolled his head over and looked at Michael. “Am I allowed a coffee?” he asked.

  Michael laughed. “I don’t know what the doctors would say, but I’m sure I can sneak one in here.”

  “I would kill for a coffee right now,” Connor said with a smile. “Thanks, man.”

  Michael began to walk towards the door.

  “Hey,” Connor said, stopping his friend.

  “Yeah?” Michael said, stopping in the doorway.

  “My mom—How’s she doing?”

  “Your mom? Charlotte, right? I haven’t heard anything from her.”

  “She’s here, in the hospital,” Connor said. “She’s been here for a week.”

  “Really?” Michael asked. “I’ll ask the nurses. I can check in on her for you.”

  “Thanks, man,” Connor said. “Oh—But don’t tell her what happened. It would destroy her. Just tell her I’ve been busy or something.”

  “I’ll tell her that you’ve been exhausted from practice.”

  “I haven’t practiced in years,” Connor laughed.

  “Well I guess you’ll have to start up again,” Michael smiled before he left the room.

  As the door closed behind Michael, Connor let his tired head fall back down on the pillow. He stared up at the white ceiling, reliving the whole attack in his mind. Small details were slowly coming back to him.

  Buzz!