by Apryl Baker
Everyone was subdued at school today. Another man was found dead in the woods. He died the same way as Shane did. There’s a somberness in everyone and the whole town is starting to feel it. People are quiet. Shops are closing early. No restaurant is offering delivery after dark since they’re all closed before night falls.
It’s like everything changed overnight, in a single heartbeat. School is even letting out an hour earlier to ensure the junior high school students are getting home before it’s late. After school activities have been suspended except for football practice. There are even some of the college football team members around during practice. It’s weird. They’re not playing; they’re not giving advice. They’re patrolling the perimeter while our guys practice. I’m fairly sure they’re shifters. It’s the way they move, with speed and grace, but there’s a lethalness to how they move when they’re hunting. Dating a shifter has given me a little insight.
And I’m worried about Eli, Matt, and Jordan. They have an away game tonight. They’ll be back after dark. Eli and Matt drove themselves. Jordan’s stepdad picks him up, which means he’ll be alone until the bus arrives, and something might happen to him. If there is a crazy psycho vampire running around killing people at night, it could get anyone.
There’s a knock on my door, and Dad sticks his head in. “You have a second, peanut?”
“Sure, Dad.” I close my chemistry book and sit up straight. Dad always likes us to keep good posture. It’s something he harped on when we were little, and I guess it stuck.
He gives me a small vial of dark red fluid.
“What’s this?”
“Marco brought it over earlier.”
“Is this…dead man’s blood?”
“It is. You need to drink it.”
“I really don’t want to, Daddy.”
“We’ve captured a vampire before. It killed almost three dozen soldiers before we were able to take it down. They all died screaming about their worst fears. It got into their heads, peanut. This is the only thing we know about that can protect you from a vampire, Ella. They can come to your window, call you to them. You’ll have no control over your actions. They’ll look inside you and find your darkest fear and use it against you. They’ll feast on your pain and your blood.”
“You sound like you know this personally, Dad.”
“That’s because I do. That vampire was in my head. I almost died. If it hadn’t been for your Uncle Deacon, I would have died. He took the creature down while it was distracted with another soldier. It was moving from person to person, gorging itself while we had no control over own bodies. We couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything to defend ourselves. It was the scariest moment of my life and one I never want you or your sister to experience.”
“Uncle Dee saved you?” I never knew that.
“Me and Deacon have been through it, peanut, and if he were here now, he’d be telling you to drink this.”
“Where is Uncle Dee? He’s usually wherever you are.” Deacon Ellis and Dad have been in the same unit for as long as I can remember. They’re not related, but he’s always been Uncle Dee to us, and he’s our godfather as well.
“He’s on another assignment in Turkey right now. A special mission. Once he’s finished, he’ll rejoin our unit here.”
“I miss him.”
“Me too.” He ruffles my hair and puts the vial in my hand. “Drink up, Ella Grace.”
With a grimace I can’t hold back, I uncork the little bottle and throw it back, swallowing so fast, I choke and start coughing.
Dad pounds me on the back until the coughing subsides and hands me the water bottle I have sitting on the bedside table. “Drink this before you hack up a lung.”
I gratefully take a sip, and then another when I can breathe again. “Daddy?”
“Hmm?”
“What happened to the vampire?”
“She was too dangerous, and we had to put her down. Even the Army has its limits, Ella.” He stands. “Don’t stay up too late. I know you’re waiting on Eli to text you he’s home, but lights out after that, okay?”
“It’s a Friday night, Dad. No school tomorrow.”
“I guess you’re right. Don’t stay up too late, though, okay? You look like you need to get some sleep.”
“Nightmares.”
“About the accident?”
I nod. “Going back to school was harder than I thought it’d be. Every time I see the spot where I was hit…I just can’t deal with it. I’m going to talk to my therapist about it on Monday.”
“Good. It’s good to talk it out with someone who can help you. ‘Night, peanut.”
“Daddy?”
He turns around at the doorway. “Yeah?”
“Be careful. I might be mad at you, but I don’t want you to get hurt either.”
“I’m always careful, Ella Grace. I never forget what I have waiting for me at home and that you need me even if you don’t think you do.”
“I do love you, Daddy. That won’t ever change.”
“You just don’t respect me anymore.”
“No, I don’t.”
He winces. What I said hurt him deeply, but I won’t lie. Lies tend to catch up with you, and in the end lies hurt you more than the truth ever will.
“Goodnight, Ella.
“Goodnight, Daddy.”
He closes the door behind him, and I fall back on my bed, staring at the ceiling. I wish things weren’t so hard with Dad, but until he resigns, things are going to be hard. It’s a no-win situation.
Eli still hasn’t texted, and it’s already after ten. Where is he? He should be back from Bluefield by now. Graham High School is a tough team to beat, but I’m not worried about it. Our team is better. With Matt and Eli, it is hard to stop them. I’ve seen what my boys can do.
Getting up, I go to the bathroom and then downstairs. I’m hungry. Dinner wasn’t so great. One of Mom’s new recipes sort of fizzled out in a flame of glory. She burnt it. And since we can’t order anything because of no delivery, we ate nothing.
I make myself a sandwich and grab a glass of milk. I find that if I drink a couple of glasses of milk a day, it helps with my acid reflux. Not only am I diabetic, but I’m cursed with Grandma Taylor’s weak stomach genes. Anything remotely spicy, and I feel it later. Not that it stops me from eating spicy food, which I love. I go into it knowing I’m going to suffer later.
My phone still has not chirped with an incoming text message by the time I finish my food and throw away the paper plate.
Where is he?
“Worried about Eli?” Cecily asks, coming into the kitchen and digging in the fridge.
“Yes.” No point in saying no. I am worried about him.
“Eli is drinking the nasty drink, and he’s more than capable of taking care of himself. He’s a big, strong boy.”
I laugh. Her eyebrows went up and down suggestively when she said that. She still has it in her head that Eli and I will eventually hook up, but that’s the farthest thing from his mind. He’s still hung up on his ex, and that’s going to take a long time for him to get over. He loves her to this day. Mattie. That’s her name, I think. He’s only ever mentioned her a handful of times, but his tone of voice when he talks about her…I wish someday someone will talk about me like that.
“I would give anything for a pizza from that new place.” Cecily frowns down at her sandwich. “I’ll be glad when things open back up at night.”
Yeah, but that means The Reaping Season will be over and at least fourteen people will be dead. I can’t look forward to that.
“How about we stop by the store tomorrow and buy stuff to make our own pizza for dinner?” I turn the topic away from anything to do with the town closing at night. “I bet we can even find those nasty olives Dad likes on his.”
“Those are so gross, and the mushrooms…” She shudders in horror at the thought. Dad eats some crazy stuff on his pizza, but it makes sense. He’s been all over the world and developed a ta
ste for things we’ve never even tried. It’s the one thing I envy about his career. He’s gotten to see and experience so much in so many different cultures. I want to travel one day, too, but not as part of the military. I want to go and enjoy the world without fear or orders to do something I don’t agree with.
One day.
But that’s not today. I promise my sister we’ll definitely stop by the grocery store and then head back to my room. Almost all of my homework is done. I wanted to get it out of the way so I could focus on what I need to do tomorrow. I’m not even sure if I can call Shane forward.
Maybe I need to ask the person I don’t want to ask.
Sighing, I pull up my big girl pants and call for her.
Selena is a full-fledged reaper. She’s assigned to be my tutor in all things reaping. I get the feeling she has her own agenda when it comes to me, but I can’t tell you exactly why I feel that way. It’s just my gut telling me she’s not who she appears to be.
There’s a buzz of cold energy that swirls into my line of sight. It wavers like heatwaves on a hot summer day. Only my room is plunged into an icy cold. The temperature isn’t her fault. She’s a reaper. She deals with the dead, and the dead hold no warmth. So neither does she.
Selena is beautiful with her long black hair and deep chocolate-colored eyes. Her skin is golden, sun-kissed thanks to her Hispanic heritage, and she reminds me of my old best friend, who was from Mexico. Unlike her, Selena is unemotional and unfeeling. And she doesn’t look too happy to see me.
“Why am I here, Ella?” She turns to face me, impatience on her face.
“I have a question about reaping.”
“Oh.” She sits on my bed. “Ask.”
“Is it possible for me to call out to a ghost to see if they are there?”
“I think you would have answered this yourself when you tried to find a ghost at the cottage where you were before.”
She’s referring to the dragon shifter’s home. I’d gone there to try to help the sheriff. He’d asked me to reach out to her, much as Philip is now.
“Yes, but I now know she wasn’t dead. She’d been taken by my father’s soldiers. There was no ghost to find. What I want to know is if someone has died, and I know it, can I see if they’re there so I can help them move on?”
“That is your only reason for asking?”
“Yes, I’m genuinely curious. I don’t know what I can and can’t do yet. Only a handful of ghosts have sought me out. I was thinking maybe I could practice or something by finding haunted places close by and trying to get the ghosts to move on.”
“You are in your infancy as a living reaper, Ella. You don’t need to seek out ghosts. They come to you.”
“Theoretically, then, is it possible?”
“Of course it’s possible. You’re a reaper. Your very essence draws ghosts to you, and should you willingly look for them, that power inside you will grow stronger and you’ll be able to find what you seek. But it will take months and months of practice for you to get to that point. Why are you curious about this?”
“There’s something going on in town right now…”
“The Reaping Season.”
“You know about that?”
“Yes, one of my brethren is here in town, collecting souls that are willing to come as they leave their mortal bodies.”
“There’s a reaper in town?”
She nods, clearly not liking having to repeat herself. “I just said that. So, you don’t have to worry. He’s here, and he’ll do everything he can to help the souls that are lost after the attacks.”
“Do they all go on?”
“No, not always. Sometimes the trauma is too much for them, or sometimes they just don’t want to admit they’re dead. There are always a few.”
“Thank you, Selena. I appreciate your time and patience.”
She doesn’t even say goodbye, just poofs in the same cold swirl of energy she came in on.
Great chatting with you, there, Selena.
My phone finally chirps with a text from Eli saying he and Jordan are home. Jordan’s staying with him tonight.
At least I don’t have to worry about either of them driving home alone.
I can finally breathe.
Which makes me realize how tired I am. Tomorrow is a big day, and I need to sleep, so I change into my pajamas and go to bed.
Chapter Twelve
Bobbie Sue Atkins
Day 3
11:37 p.m.
The cool night air caresses her heated cheeks as she locks the door to the bar. The owner, a bear shifter named Harold, offered to walk her to her car, but she’d parked right beside the back door, so she told him to go finish his paperwork. She’d be fine. If she could afford to stay home, she would, but she has a little sister and a sick mother to provide for. To get money, she has to work, and that’s why Harold called her. He knew she could be counted on to come in when no one else would.
It pisses her off that he takes advantage of the situation with her family, but he needs to make a living, too. Bills don’t pay themselves.
Bobbie Sue starts her car and pulls out of the back lot, watching the road carefully. Deer are bad in this part of town. She can’t afford to repair her car if she accidentally hits one. This old bucket of rust is on its last leg, anyway. It probably won’t even last until next summer. But such is life.
The night seems creepier than it had the last three, and she can’t say exactly why. The darkness is deeper, and the moon had fled behind storm clouds hours ago. Even the bar wasn’t crowded, outside of some brave—or stupid—college kids not from the area.
Most of the students at Appalachia University, or Wolfpack University as it is lovingly called by the locals, are all from the state, and the only students not from West Virginia and Virginia are Supernaturals. Humans from outside the state are not allowed to attend there. All to protect the town’s secret.
Not that she’d ever complain. She likes having a town where it’s safe to just be who you are. The humans who live here all know about the town’s strange residents. Those who come in for work, well, those people you have to be careful of. Can’t let your inner shifter or whatever else you might be shine through.
She hits the turn signal that leads to her street. It’s eerily quiet when she pulls into her driveway, and she glances up and down the street before she gets out. The lights in her house are out, but the porch light remains on, so she’d be able to see when she got home. Her mother always left a light on for her kids growing up, and she still does it to this day even though Bobbie Sue is grown. Just one more reason she put her life on hold to take care of her mama.
Bobbie Sue gets out of her car and locks the door. The entire street is silent. Not a sound anywhere, which is odd. Usually, she’s met by an entire symphony of sounds from cats, to dogs barking, to crickets chirping, but not tonight. The darkness is devoid of sound.
Except it feels heavy, like she’s being watched. She scents the air, but she doesn’t smell anything. Nothing out of the ordinary, anyway. Still, her animal instincts are screaming at her, and she hurries toward her front porch. Best to get inside.
She stops short when she sees the figure sitting in the rocking chair in the shadows of the porch, barely visible in the soft glow of the light over the door. It’s shrouded in a dark hoodie, and it’s impossible to tell if it’s a man or woman, but the dark vibe emanating from it is not hard to discern at all.
She takes a step back, forgetting she’s standing on the porch step, and falls backward, landing on her butt.
But the figure doesn’t move.
Did it go in her house?
Are her mother and little sister okay?
What’s it doing here?
Her eyes go to the house, and a soft laugh escapes the figure. “Your family is safe enough.”
The voice echoes in her head instead of into the stillness of the night. It creeps her out even more, and she scrambles backward.
“Why are
you running, Bobbie Sue?”
Her throat refuses to work, but she does manage to stand up and start backing away. The thing stands and walks down the porch steps toward her.
“If you run, this will be harder, child.”
Her back hits the car, and she reaches for the door handle, but it’s locked. She tries to unlock it, but her keys fall from stiff fingers.
“You called for help, Bobbie Sue, and I’m here to answer that call.”
I didn’t.
“Yes, you did when you brought drinks to all the tables tonight. You wanted the monotony to end. You wanted to be free of the constraints of this life. You wanted to be free of your burdens and responsibilities. Oh, not that you said that out loud, child, but I heard it. I’m here to set you free.”
She doesn’t think anymore, she just runs.
Darting around the house, she races through the back yard and into the trees. She knows this area better than she knows her own body. She roamed in these woods as a child, shifted for the first time in these woods, took down her first prey and lost her virginity, all in these woods. This is her home, and this thing won’t catch her.
He’d read her deepest, darkest thoughts, the ones she kept shoved so far down she never had to admit they were there. No one had ever exposed her thoughts so openly before. No one.
How had he done it?
She had dead man’s blood…no…
She’d forgotten to drink it before she started work. As soon as she’d walked into the bar, a towel had been thrown at her, and she’d been in the thick of it all night. She’d forgotten about the little vial in her purse.
The purse that is now lying at the bottom of her porch. It landed by her when she fell.
Stupid. How could she be so stupid? She grew up here. She knows better. And yet she’d forgotten to take the one thing that might have protected her against this monster.
It must have come into the bar and delved into her thoughts tonight. It not only increased her vulnerability, but it gave her a feeling of being violated. Those were her private thoughts and belonged to no one but her and who she chose to share them with.