“Yeah,” Veronica said. “I don't remember the specifics but-”
“The guy said the devil is right at home in Berkeley. He has been reborn in flesh and blood and is probably walking down Telegraph Avenue right now.”
“And?”
“And I met the devil a few nights ago.”
“The devil?”
“See these burns?” Terri asked, rolling up the sleeve on her blouse to reveal an angry pink rash. “That isn't a sunburn. But I got it from being exposed to the sun. On an overcast day. Today. When I ran from my apartment to yours.”
“I'm not following you-”
“Because if you saw it only an hour earlier it was a blister. A huge blister.”
“What are you saying?” Veronica looked at Terri’s arm as she rolled the sleeve back down.
“I'm saying that there is something different about me. I heal fast. I feel little pain. And I-” Terri stopped in mid-sentence. She looked at Veronica as if explaining were pointless.
Veronica got up from the couch. She ran her fingers through her hair and went over to the window.
“Please-”
“I know,” Veronica said. “Just checking. The police are after you.”
“I know. Glen. That girl. But they’re the least of my worries.”
“I know you had nothing to do with it.”
“I didn't,” Terri said. “But something inside me...Did.”
“What?” Veronica eyed Terri suspiciously.
“I know you're going to think I'm crazy,” Terri stood up on unsteady legs but began pacing the room, her legs quickly finding strength under her. She then pranced around the floor, kicking her legs out like a galloping horse. “The power just surges in me. The only way I can describe it is that it is an irresistible compulsion. You know how some serial killers always say that a voice in their head tells them what to do. Well, this is similar to that. I guess.”
“You're starting to scare me, Terri. I mean for real.”
“I'm sorry.”
“Say sorry to your mother,” Veronica said. “And Mark.”
Terri turned her back to Veronica. She began sobbing.
Veronica stepped behind her and placed her hand between her shoulders.
Spinning around with stunning speed, Terri pushed Veronica away.
“Terri?”
Terri pushed again. Harder this time.
“What the fuck!”
“Do you have a cross?”
“What?”
“Do you have a cross, godammnit!”
“Yeah-“
“Go get it,” Terri’s face started to turn scarlet. A mascara tear streamed down her cheek.
“What?”
“Get it. Now. Please.”
Veronica ran to her bedroom. She opened her dresser drawer and took out two cross pendant necklaces.
“Okay,” she held them up as she came out of the room.
“Don’t show them to me,” Terri snapped. “I just want you to-“
“Are you shitting me?”
“I’m deadly serious.”
“You can’t be.”
“I'm sorry,” Terri said. “You’re just going to have to do what I say. I can't have you too close to me when I'm upset. The smell of blood. I think I can control it around people I love. But when I lose my cool or my emotions then I lose control of everything. If I lose control, you use the cross. It should work. Bothers me-“
“You sound crazy.”
“Better to be crazy than boring.”
Terri rolled up her sleeve again to look at her burn.
A burn that was no longer there.
“Wait,” Veronica said. “How'd you-”
Terri sat back down again.
“There are devils out there,” Terri said. “And they don't have horns or pitched forks. But this one did have a goatee.”
“Terri, what happened?”
“There was this guy,” Terri said. “Walter. Kept coming into the restaurant where I work and would just stare at me and sing some stupid song whenever I walked past.”
“Okay.”
“Well, usually I could handle myself but this go around it was different. He followed me to my car one night and I thought I scared him off. Started cursing at him and he apologized. Backed away. 'Sorry to bother you. Sorry to bother you'. He turned his back then I went to my car. It all happened so fast. Before I knew it, he was on me. Grabbed me by the hair and dragged me to the alley behind the restaurant. It was late. Dark. I screamed. Or at least I think I tried to scream.”
“Oh, God, Terri-”
“Then he slammed me up against the wall.”
Terri shook her head. “It isn't what you think. He bit me.”
“What?”
“Bit my neck. I couldn't move. Like, something paralyzed me. Then this woman came, and he ran off. I don't know who she was. She chased him down and stabbed him in the neck or something. Then she dragged his body back to her car, threw him in and drove off. Didn't give me a second look.”
“Did you call the cops?”
“And tell them what? A guy just drank my blood.”
“Well, um, yeah.”
Terri got up off the couch again. She walked to the curtain and extended her finger through the slight opening.
“I can feel it. There’s something out there moving toward me. Like a warm heat.” Terri pulled the curtain further back before pulling her hand away as if she touched a hot stove.
“Whatever happened that night, “ Terri said. “Turned me into a different person. I once thought that those myths were exactly that. Stories that just don't mean a thing. If you want me to believe in the paranormal, then show me. I require proof. But now I have the proof. Something has changed inside me.”
Turning back toward Veronica, she bowed her head and closed her eyes.
“I'm a vampire.”
“Terri,” Veronica began talking really slow as if Terri were learning disabled. “I know you've been clean for a while now. And-”
“Goddammnit! Look at me, I mean really look at me!”
Terri looked up, anger flashing across her face. Her breathing quickened and her face winced in pain. Veronica could only watch as the once beautiful hazel-colored eyes of her friend dissolved into black.
“Oh, my God!”
“I'm a walking dead woman. At least that is what I feel like. These past hours have been dark. I fall asleep in the middle of the day. I have dreams of demon faces and monsters with tentacles. They're visions of hell.”
“Doesn't mean you're a vampire.”
“And that's not the worst of it,” Terri ran her hand over her face as if trying to forget a bad memory. Grabbing her stomach, she spat out a chunk of meat on the carpet.
“Jesus, Terri.”
Terri wiped the crimson away from her mouth, blood dripping to the carpet like berry jam.
“I'll clean it up.”
“No, just leave it. Jesus.”
“That's been happening. I've been throwing up. Having these visions. I saw a young girl running away from me. Horror in her eyes. Then there was a little boy clutching a teddy bear in a corner. That was the worse one. Blood coming down his neck. He's staring at me with these large eyes that begged me not to hurt him.”
“But you didn't. It was all a nightmare. It is all in your head.”
“Was it?”
“Yes.”
“What I did to Glen and his little whore was real.”
Fire shone in Terri's icy black eyes. The veins popped out of her neck. Her breaths now came short and fast.
Veronica realized that Terri was fighting something inside her.
“I have to feed. Soon.”
“Feed?”
“Glen,” Terri could only whisper his name before taking a long strand of her hair and twisting it around one finger.
“What?”
“They didn't deserve to die,” Terri's lower lip trembled. “I know that. But something inside me-something
inside me justified it. It was almost as if it was either their life or mine. I had to choose. I had to choose or go further and deeper to this dark, empty place. I had to please it.”
Veronica stood up and took Terri by her shoulder.
“Look,” she said looking into her eyes. “I don't know what's going on with you. I really don't. But I promised your Mom and Mark that I would find you. Find you and bring you home. Then we'll figure things out from there. Okay?”
Terri broke free of Veronica's grasp, turning her back.
“My family-“
“They’re concerned.”
“My mom always told me that I was born in a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. She said I could do anything in life. If she could only see me now.”
“Everything is going to be okay, Terri.”
“I don’t want to die.”
“You won’t.”
“That woman,” Terri coughed. “That woman who killed Walter. I think she may know about me. She may know that I am just like him.”
“I don’t follow.”
“She messed that dude up bad,” Terri said. “Made him scream. Scream like a baby. She slashed his dagger through him. His blood splattered all over me and I heard the sound of it go into his heart. Then she stood over me.”
Veronica watched as Terri paced through the room. She stared in silence at the window.
“She stood over me and made a sign of the cross. As if she were giving me a benediction or something.”
“So, what do you think it means?”
“She was giving me my last rites.”
“But you’re alive.”
“Can you look outside and tell me what you see?”
Veronica opened the curtain slightly. They could hear voices raised in conversation, officers talking about the scene, but Veronica could only make out a few words.
“Everyone’s leaving. Two cops entering a patrol car. Plus, a van. The only other cards are that El Camino that our neighbor drives and my car. No one outside.”
“You sure?”
“Do you want me to go out and look? I’m just worried about this woman.”
“What did she look like?”
“Dark-haired. Italian looking. Or Transylvanian. Mean looking bitch, looked like a hostess for a BDSM party. But she had these eyes. Large and violet.”
Veronica looked back out through the window. “I don’t see anyone by that description out there.”
“There was this guy,” Terri said. “Met him at a Goth club this one night. He said there were people that have the same problem I had. I thought it was all BS. I thought he was high. But he was serious about it. Said that the only way you can be free of a vampire curse is to go through a witch. Her name was Sabine Crane. Stays at some abandoned shack at Neptune Beach.”
“Oh, come on, Terri.”
“I know. I know. I thought he was just a guy talking out of his ass too. But I have to look for myself, okay? We'll go there just to check. Then we'll go home. Okay?”
“Okay. But please don’t forget to feed my cats.”
CHAPTER SIX
Veronica watched as Terri wrapped herself up in a blanket as if she were freezing to death. A few moments later, her friend threw the sheets off with her body. Perspiration dripped off her body to the floor.
“Can you get the friggin’ air conditioner going?” Terri said under breath.
“You’re sick.”
“Get me out of here.”
“We can't go anywhere until you're well,” Veronica wiped Terri’s face with a cloth.
Terri sighed deep and pushed Veronica’s hand aside before walking over to the window. She reached for the curtain then stopped short.
“We have to wait until dark,” Terri said, looking at the dark blue tinge of the approaching night. “I mean, I don’t know how dark it has to be before I can be safe.”
“Safe?”
“You know, it isn't like the movies where the vampire becomes a slave to their maker. You become slave to the curse.”
Veronica just stared at her friend who now began to shiver again.
“Are you all right?”
“No, I’m a long way from being all right.”
“No, I mean, if I didn’t know any better.”
“I don’t use anymore.”
“That’s what you said to me before.”
“I know what this looks like,” Terri said. “And it isn't what you think.”
“Well, I mean, given your history.”
“It’s not that,” Terri said, now pacing the floor. “Jesus.”
“What do you need right now?”
“Quit talking to me like I'm a mental patient for starters. Or a junkie.”
“I'm sorry,” Veronica lowered her voice and placed her hand on Terri's bare shoulder.
She shuddered at how cold her friend felt, as if body had been kept in a frost.
Terri led her into the bedroom.
“You see all this?” her hands waving at the paintings laid on easels and those on her wall.
“The landlord is going to fucking kill you.”
“This girl might,” Terri said, pointing at a picture of a woman holding a cross and a knife. “She’s the one who killed Walter.”
Veronica stepped closer to the charcoal drawing of the woman. She marveled at the minute details of her face.
“She looks menacing.”
“I’ve dreamed about her. Dreamed about her so much that I don’t know what is real or fake. I see her eyes. They are dark red. A weird kind of red, almost like cherries. I dreamed about all of these creatures. That’s the worst part. Not the hot and cold sweats or the nausea or the vomiting. It’s the dreams.”
Veronica watched as Terri seemed to dissolve into her own world as her eyes scanned across her horrid paintings and drawings, stopping at one section of her wall. The picture showed Terri, looking small and frightened as a gang of monsters encircled her. They looked like giant snowmen, with large black eyes and gaping mouths.
“How about something to drink?”
“Fine,” Terri threw up her hands. “Fine. Yeah.”
Veronica walked over to the fridge.
“I can get it myself,” Terri said, nudging her caretaker aside.
“Fine.”
Terri opened the fridge and saw the wine on the side. She lifted the bottle up and it slipped out of her hand, crashing to the floor.
“Shit,” Terri said.
“No worries,” Veronica said, getting a towel off the stove handle.
“I'm so sorry,” Terri said, looking down at the red wine now pooling over the linoleum floor.
“You know, I was saving that for a special occasion.”
“What?”
“Mark and I,” Veronica said. “We're-”
“Dating?”
“Yeah.”
“Cool.”
Veronica reached down and used the towel to pick up the shards of glass from the ground. She put them in the garbage under the sink.
Reaching down again, she winced as the glass opened a long cut along her palm.
Blood flood immediately, dripping to the floor and mixing in with the wine.
Terri became fixated on the blood. She dropped to her knees and wiped the blood off the floor with her forefinger before licking it off with her tongue.
“Terri-”
Veronica took a step back as she saw the red fire in Terri's eyes. Her best friend looked at her bloody finger as if it were the most delicious thing she ever laid eyes on.
“Holy shit.”
Terri sprang forward and pushed Veronica to the ground.
“Terri!”
Terri's jaws snapped at Veronica's neck as she held her at bay with both arms. Spinning on her back, she rolled over and tried running.
Until she felt Terri's nails claw into her hair and pull her back.
“Terri!” Veronica screamed. “Terri, stop!”
With a deep groan, Terri's fangs emerged fr
om her gaping mouth. Her sharp teeth pierced the white flesh of Veronica's neck. But her hold on Veronica quickly changed from a predator to that of a friend.
Veronica gasped upon feeling the gush of hot fluid being sucked out of her.
“Terri!'”
Veronica felt paralyzed, unable to pull away. Mustering her last bit of strength, she reached over and scratched across Terri's cheek and eyes.
Her friend hissed, pulling back. Scratch marks red across her face.
“I'm so sorry,” Terri said, turning her back to her friend.
“Terri, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“I can't-I can't control it,” Terri ran toward the door and ran out.
“Terri!”
Veronica followed only to see Terri standing atop the second story railing and leaping over.
An old lady screamed from below.
Veronica ran to the ledge and looked over. She saw Terri on her back, impaled by the spiked fence surrounding the pool.
Terri managed to look up at her, her mouth spitting up blood. She lifted up her hand to Veronica, as if to wave goodbye as her final heartbeats ebbed away.
“Terri!”
Veronica felt her neck. Blood seeped into her fingers, the coppery scent of her own fluid making her nauseous.
The world started to spin.
And everything went black.
The preacher shuffled to the podium. He wore khaki trousers that looked baggy on him with a white shirt that looked as if it needed ironing. His dark blue tie shined under the lights of the church. His ruddy brown hair stood up as if he had stuck his finger in a light socket. His shoulders were stooped and his waist looked a lot thicker from the years before when Veronica had first met him as the youth pastor.
“Depression is a disease,” Pastor Paul Pressley said, looking over at the sea of people in his church. Nothing brought in the people like a death, even more so when the death had been premature. “It hates the sunlight. There are those of us who are simply born so deep in the pits of pain that the only thing left to do is just try to endure it all. We see them every day. They pretend they are happy. Smiling in the sun. But they're really in the shadows of life. Perhaps that person is you.”
Pressley looked across the sea of sad faces and wondered who was faking it and who was really sincere. He had seen the same scene all too often during his career. People looking sad when they knew they had to be but when the service was over there was this release. A release of relief that could be seen as a sort of gratitude for still being alive.
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