“So, if vampires can only enter a home if they’re invited in. Then that means your sister…” Alex began.
Mason finished his sentence, “It means she had to have personally invited the bloodsucker in. Now I have no choice but to confront her.”
“Wait a minute, guys,” Matthew said as he stood up from the chair in front of the computer. “One of you take over. There’s something I’m going to search for. I’ll be right back.”
Alex took the seat and went further through the search results as Matthew disappeared through the library. Several of the articles mentioned murders involving blood splatter but no mention of draining. Again they searched through article after article with little else revealing clues of a vampire. The majority of the Corpus County homicides had been solved within a year. Unsolved murders were rare in a tiny town.
There was nothing else too peculiar regarding murders in Corpus, well nothing worse than what one could imagine a standard murder to entail. They did, however, find one very interesting case in the Corpus paper that occurred in the city of Savannah, Georgia. The Corpus paper had the occasional habit of covering news from other cities when Corpus itself was too quiet in its news coverage.
In the summer of 1959 in Savannah there had been a murder, which resulted in two dead teenagers. The bodies of both teens had been drained of all blood. No killer had ever been caught. In the same summer, Savannah also saw a string of cow murders. Their blood, also, drained.
“That’s their MO,” Mason said. “They’re only after blood. It’s not Corpus but it sounds like our little vampire friends made their way to Savannah. I bet they used to dress like greasers back then. I imagine they change their appearance every generation to lure in prey.”
“Now that you mention it, he did,” Ben agreed. “The one in the cave was strangely dressed, wasn’t he?”
“Exactly,” Mason said. “And he looked young too. That’s what they do. They impersonate teenagers. They’re predators is what they. God, they probably lurk the halls of this very school preying on innocent kids. Hell, they might be stalking the halls right now for all we know.”
“They could be among us right now,” Alex said in total paranoia. “What if the librarian is one!” he said, and darting his eyes to the elderly lady assisting kids checking out books.
“Nah,” Mason said. “Librarian’s aren’t cool. If you were a vampire you’d want to be as cool as possible. Change up your look every decade. That sorta stuff. I can’t wait to sharpen my own stake and kill one of these suckers.”
“But what if we’re wrong about all this?” Alex asked.
“Wrong?” Mason scoffed. “Do you hear yourself? We just saw a man hanging from the roof of a cave by his feet. Two people have been killed plus a bunch of cows. Just for their blood!”
“We’re still meeting tonight right?” the boys turned around and saw Matthew. He’d returned with a huge book in his hands. He showed them the cover. It read, The Encyclopedia of Vampires.
“Amazing,” Ben exclaimed. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because you’re not as smart as me,” Matthew laughed. “We’re still on for tonight right? We can browse over this baby. Besides, lunchtime’s almost over.”
“That’s great,” Mason said. He sprang over to Matthew and flipped through a few pages. “This ought to tell us how to kill ’em and what we need to prepare for.”
“Yeah but how do we know it’s the real deal?” Alex asked. “It could totally just be about movie vampires. Not real ones.”
“I guess that’s just a chance we’ll have to take,” Mason said, shutting the book and shoving it back into Matthew’s arms. “We’ll look over it tonight.”
“And as for your sister?” Ben asked. “Wouldn’t want her to find out, right?”
“I wanted to confront her but you’re right. If I act too suspicious… or ask her about inviting a vampire in our house she could warn him. Give that creep the upper hand advantage over me. Definitely wouldn’t want that. I’ll keep quiet for now.”
“Just keep your eyes peeled,” Alex said. “And we’ll have to warn Seb too.”
“I hope he’s still coming tonight,” Mason said. “I don’t want Seb to miss out on this. Hope he’s feeling better.”
“Alright guys, time to scram,” Matthew said as he pointed to the library’s clock.
The boys burst from the library to the cafeteria, informing the cafeteria staff that they had been catching up with classwork and lost track of time. A lunch lady listened to what was surely a pack of lies and reluctantly served each of them meals. This left them with a grand total of five minutes to finish their lunch before it was time to return to their individual classes.
“OOOOUUUUTTTT!” Mason later screamed to a kid during gym class. This was the only class he shared with all of his buddies – Alex, Ben, and Sebastian.
Mason was ducking, dodging, and tossing balls across the other side of the gym. But the way he played was incomparable to the vicious speed with which Sebastian was moving. Sebastian darted and evaded every ball that came his way. He lunged dodge balls on the other side as if they were oversized bullets.
“OUT! OUT! OUT!” Sebastian yelled as he smacked another kid on the other team. One after the other, after the other. Seconds later someone from the other team had hit Mason. He went to join Ben and Alex who were long gone from the game.
“Whoa, Seb is really into this,” Alex said. “He’s treating it like a blood sport.”
“This ain’t a Roman arena!” Ben cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled to Sebastian.
“I’m glad to know he’s back to his usual self,” Mason said. “I was starting to miss the old Seb.”
Within minutes the game was over with Sebastian declared the victor. He raised his hand and cheered. Even the Coach gave him a look as if to say – what in the world has gotten into this boy.
Later the boys found themselves together in the changing room after P.E. Mason approached Sebastian and patted him on the back.
“Nice job, Seb.”
“Thanks, Mace.”
“I’m glad you’re back to normal. You had us worried for the past few days.”
“Don’t be. Nothing’s changed. Except my throwing arm is better now,” he told Mason.
“That’s great. Too bad you couldn’t make it to the library with us. Interesting stuff. We’re still going to see you tonight, right?”
“Uh, yeah,” Sebastian said, recalling that Gregory told him they wouldn’t be able to meet on this night. “I’ll definitely be there. Count me in, you frizzed out loud mouth!”
Mason playfully shoved him as the two shared a laugh.
“Coming through!” Ben yelled as he ran down through a hall, waving his shirt in the air.
“Ew! Cover that up, Ben!” Alex yelled. “Nobody wants to see that. For the love of God!”
“Your mom likes to see it, Alex,” Ben shot back.
“Now you’ve pushed me one too many times,” Alex jumped up, wrung his gym shirt together, and snapped it at Ben. The two went on a chase around the locker room.
“Why do I feel like this is the only time when everybody comes alive? During gym class,” Mason said.
“Because we’re not allowed to chase each other around the room in History class,” Sebastian answered.
“Truer words have never been spoken, my friend,” Mason said, slapping him again on the back.
***
With a little over an hour left before the final bell would ring, Hailey made it to her last class of the day. It was Chemistry and this was the class she had been dreading since Monday. Because this was the class she shared with Charlie Ray. Fortunately, when she got to Chemistry class on Monday, he was nowhere in sight. Even after the late bell and the roll call, he never showed.
There was a part of Hailey hoping that he’d have withdrawn from school. Because if he hadn’t, how would he react? Would he retaliate? Would he stare her down awkwardly for the remainder of the school year? Go
d – the implications of a girl having to face her attacker each day in school was enormous. If only Percy could make this go away.
But he can’t by my perpetual savior, can he? she asked herself. She thanked all things holy when the Monday class passed and Charlie Ray was a no-show. By Tuesday she was thinking much less of him. So it was to her surprise when he showed up to class and sat five tables away from her on the opposite side of the room.
He limped to his seat, gaping occasionally for breath, and lay his head down until class started. Hailey noticed another boy ask him if he was all right. Charlie Ray’s only response was to nod and keep his head down.
As the lecture began, Hailey stared at him. Not once did Charlie Ray return a look. He kept his head down for an hour. The closer Hailey looked at him, the clearer she could see the bruises on his face. On the occasion he looked up, she could see one of his eyes was discolored. He continuously rubbed the back of his head.
Fifteen minutes into the lecture, the teacher divided the students in random pairs in order to complete a lab assignment on stoichiometry. It was to Hailey’s utter horror that, when the teacher called the sixth pairing, he said “Hailey Lane and Charlie Ray.”
Of all the possible students in the class, this was unfathomable. Her heart sank. She’d have to talk to this revolting boy – someone she’d have been just fine never speaking to or seeing again in her life. So it was to her benefit that after the teacher called the tenth and final pairing, Charlie Ray approached the teacher’s desk.
Listening as intently as she could, Hailey heard Charlie demand that the partner pairings be changed. He couldn’t provide a reason for why he needed a different partner, but he insisted upon it. When the teacher told him the pairings were made so that everyone would be able rotate with a new partner for each lab, Charlie Ray panicked. He grabbed his books and dashed out of the classroom.
“That’s going to be a write-up to the principal’s office, young man!” the teacher yelled out into the hallway. With no choice left, the teacher made Hailey the third member in the last group he called.
Class went by in a breeze with no further complications. Seeing as he never returned, Hailey assumed Charlie Ray was being doled his punishment down at the principal’s office. And that was the last she’d thought of him.
Good riddance.
With Hailey at the helm, her group made a perfect score on their lab assignment. A few other pairings complained that it was due to Hailey’s team having a third member while their pairings only consisted of two students.
Regardless, Hailey wasn’t having their excuses. She’d known just what she was doing and did a damn good job of it. Science was one of her strongest skills.
After class, Hailey headed to her locker, grabbed her backpack, and dashed out to the dirt parking lot. She was beaten to the punch by Madison, who was already at her car before Hailey was out the school doors.
“Beat me again!” Hailey said, throwing her backpack over her shoulder. “Now listen to this, I led my team to a perfect score on our lab assignment in Chemistry class today.” Hailey explained the entire situation to her and was interested in discussing the results of her lab experiment. Madison wanted to chat about other topics.
“I was thinking,” Madison told her. “About that pool party tonight. Maybe we ought to buy some things. There’s this great store, half hour from here. I always like wearing something new for a party.”
“The one a year party you maybe sorta kinda attend?” Hailey joked. “Well, I sorta kinda know one of the guys hosting this one,” Hailey said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?!” Madison said, feigning shock and disappoint in an exaggerated fashion. “If you know the hosts that makes us VIPs. And by us, I mean there’s someone I’d like you to meet. I promise you’re really going to love them. They’ll be here in just a moment.”
Chapter 8
A tanned, blonde girl in jeans and blouse approached Hailey and Madison. She was radiating, with a wide grin and good vibes showcased in every step.
“Hey Madison!” the girl called out.
“Hey Tara! Tara, this is Hailey,” Madison said, introducing the girl. “Hailey, this is Tara. She just moved here.”
“Hey,” Hailey said, waving to her. “Is this your first day?”
“No, yesterday was my first day. I’m from Santa Clara.”
“Santa Clara? In California? Are you kidding?” Hailey said, shocked. “No way.”
“Yes way,” Tara said, snapping her fingers and smiling in a gesture of passive aggression.
“Who moves from California to Corpus?” Hailey asked, a brow raised.
“Well, it wasn’t exactly my own decision. I had to come here to live with my Nan.”
“Oh, sorry,” Hailey said, having felt slightly forceful.
“Come on. Hop in,” Madison told them. Hailey got into the passenger seat of the silver Cadillac and placed her backpack by her legs. Tara tossed her backpack inside the car and took the backseat. Madison buckled up as they took off, not having to look back at the West Wing of Corpus High for another day.
“So, this shop,” Madison told them. “It’s a half hour away, right outside of Corpus. Bikinis of every type. Lots of swimwear. Try not to go too crazy!”
“I got invited to a pool party on my first day,” Tara said. “Can you imagine how afraid I was of moving here? I guess it won’t be so bad after all. Not with real friends and parties.”
“Oh, don’t expect this too often,” Hailey said, correcting her. “I’ve been here for like three months. This is the first pool party I’ve ever heard of. Honestly, I was surprised anyone in Corpus even had a pool. Parties here are more like once a semester.”
“Yet this will be our second one,” Madison told her. “Hailey, imagine what California is like. Beaches every day. Parties, cute guys everywhere.”
“Totally,” Tara told them. “Everybody’s tanned to perfection. The days are long. Super long. Kinda like the opposite of Corpus, really. I mean, nightfall hits so early here. It’s crazy. But it’s like bikinis every day in Santa Clara. Hot guys with perfect hair. And perfect jawlines. Imagine living a dream. Well that’s it.”
Hailey contorted her face half way, not enjoying the braggadocio. Madison looked at Tara through her rear-view mirror, her eyes lit up with a dream-like quality of wonder. “That sounds so amazing,” Madison beamed.
“Oh, it totally is,” Tara told her. “But now I’m ready to see what life in Corpus is all about. I’d only ever visited here maybe three days out of the year when my family would come to see Nan.” When Hailey asked her who that was, Tara clarified, “My grandmother.”
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Hailey inquired. “So why were you sent to live here? I mean, if you don’t want to talk about it you don’t have to. But didn’t you say you were forced here?”
“Yeah. It’s okay. I don’t mind talking about it. So I kinda got involved with the wrong guys. You know how parents are. They thought I was adult-ing a little too fast. They said I needed a change of pace. Said I needed to go someplace that would keep my grounded. So here I am.”
“What do you mean by grounded?” Madison asked.
Tara laughed. “Grounded – like slow-paced school driven life. Not skipping class partying with eighteen-year-old boys. But I think of it like the other type of grounded too. I’m permanently on punishment being here. That’s what it feels like when your parents force you a thousand miles from your hometown. But, I think with a few good friends I’ll be able to withstand Corpus for however long my parents want me here.”
Ready to change the conversation to remove any uncomfortable feelings that may or may not have been swirling through the car, Hailey turned up Madison’s radio. Punk rock station – No. Old school R&B – No. Top 40 Pop – Yes. But Hailey accidentally pushed the FM search button one more time and the channel landed on WKP-26.
Hailey went to change the station back to the pop channel but Madison stopped her. “Wait, I wonn
a hear that for a sec,” Madison said.
“So we’re here with noted columnist and theorist James Snow,” said the familiar voice of local DJ, Mr Jazz. “And we’re here to discuss some of the strange going-ons here in Corpus, Georgia. So what, Mr Snow, can you tell us that we might not already know?”
“First we’ve gotta cover what we know and what’s been goin’ on,” said Mr Snow, an obvious middle-aged man with a thick southern drawl. “We had a pair o’ murders along Old Mill’s Road. Now the police originally hid that here this was a murder. It literally took the Coroner’s Office a full weekend to announce any findings whatsoever. That sort of slow crawl just ain’t usual in Corpus,” he stated this without a single ounce of sarcasm or irony. “But that’s the way things work now with that city boy Antwan running things.”
“Furthermore,” he continued, “We had a bunch o’ cow killin’s along the road. Either somebody don’t like Old Farmer McIntyre, or it’s just a gigantic coincidence. Being the conspiracy theorist that I am, I hardly believe it is the latter.”
DJ Jazz picked up, “So what do you think is behind this all? What could really be going on and why are officials not telling us everything they can? Mind you, per Principal Dawkins of our local middle and high school, Sheriff Zeddman will be in attendance at tonight’s Parent Teacher Organization to shed further light and roll out a new set of restrictions for our town.
“Well, first things first,” said Mr Snow. “I don’t trust Sheriff Zeddman one bit. He may consider himself a small-town guy but if you ask me, he’s working with the big guns. You know how folks of his type are. They bring nothing but trouble. I have no doubt the man is controlled by Big Gov-ment. But back to what I was saying. We got these killers on the loose. And here’s the big one no one is mentioning – The blood that went missin’ from the mobile blood bank last week. I feel like I’m the only person who been puttin’ two ’n’ two together. Ya see, I been tying all this stuff together and believe there’s somethin’ truly sinister goin’ on.”
A nervousness came on Hailey as she listened. She knew the murder had been committed by a vampire who Percy told her was now paying for his crimes. Sure, killing cows and robbing blood banks was a crime – but Percy had to eat somehow. It was that, or kill humans. She was sure Percy had made the right choice. But here was this conspiracy theorist on the radio. Would he reveal the existence of vampires and have the entire town rally with pitchforks? Thankfully, the blathering fool was so far off the mark, Hailey was able to breathe a sigh of relief.
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