But Virginia’s pulse was still weak even after the bleeding had ceased. “She’s lost a lot of blood, Mom.” Julia said.
“I know. But we’ve done all we can do.” Or have we? Madeline thought. She remembered her dream with Charlie. How she had saved his life. ‘The blood is the life.’ Without giving it another thought, she drew a knife from the sheath on her hip and sliced open her arm.
“Mom!” Julia screamed. “No!”
But Madeline had already placed her bleeding arm over Ginny’s mouth. “It’s okay, Honey. I know what I’m doing.” But do I? Really? She thought.
It wasn’t long before Ginny started to drink. She drank and drank. Then she grabbed Madeline’s arm and sucked every bit she could get. Madeline had to pry her arm away to get Ginny to stop.
Ginny never opened her eyes, merely lowered her head back down to the pillow and slept with a contented look on her face.
“Mom, I think Ginny will be a “gifted” now.”
“A what, honey?”
“A gifted. Sylvia made me one.”
Madeline shot a sharp glance at Julia. “She made you one? Did she hurt you? What did she do?”
“No, Mom. She didn’t hurt me. It’s just…” Julia was having trouble finding the right words. “Well, as Sylvia put it, it gives you lots of the strengths of being a vampire, but none of the weakness. It makes you faster, stronger, you heal faster. But the big drawback is that vampires are able to exert some control over you when you are gifted.”
“Did she do that to you?”
“She did for a bit just to show me what to watch out for.”
“Julia, then how do you know she’s not still doing it?”
“Because I felt drunk when she did it. It’s hard to explain. Your head gets foggy and you just sort of go along with whatever they say. She said now that I know what to look out for, it wouldn’t be as easy for a vampire to do it to me again.”
“And all that happens, how? When you drink vampire blood?”
“Yeah, apparently. So now Ginny will be a gifted, too.”
“Maybe. But judging by her wounds and how she was, somehow, still alive, I’d say she might have already been a gifted. Weird.”
“Well. Either way, she seems to be content now.” Julia stopped staring at her sister and began scanning the room. She noticed a board game on the closet shelf and looked over at the little girl who was still sheepishly hanging out in the corner of the room. “Hey, Mom. Now that Ginny is relaxing, I wonder if you would like to play a board game with me?” Madeline gave her a perplexed look and Julia motioned her head towards the little girl.
“Oh! Yeah, that would be fun.” She answered. “Would you like to play with us?” She asked the little girl.
The little girl looked back and forth between the two of them, then nodded sheepishly and Julia brought the game down out of the closet. They set the game up quickly and began to play. Julia’s pawn advanced quickly through the game, but when she had an unfortunate roll of the dice, her game piece came tumbling down a slide to land behind the little girl’s game piece.
“Oh, no! Now I’m way behind everyone!” Julia looked over at the little girl and a tiny smile crept into corners of the girl’s mouth. “Hey, I was wondering what your name is.” She said to the girl. “Do you think you are ready to tell us?”
The little girl looked down at the table and whispered something inaudible. “What, honey? Speak up.”
“My name is Hannah.” The little girl looked up at Julia with her eyes rimmed with tears. “Can we find my Mom?”
“Oh, Hannah.” Julia reached over to the little girl and took her in her arms. “Tomorrow, okay? As soon as it’s light out, we’ll try to find her. There are bad things outside at night.”
“I know.” She said. “That’s what Mommy told me. We heard the bad things try to open our house. She said she would go to get help but she never came back. Mommy never came back.”
Julia held Hannah tight as Ginny began to stir. They got up from the board game and walked over to the bed where Ginny was getting restless.
Hannah latched onto Julia’s hand, wanting to get a closer look at Virginia. Madeline smiled as Ginny’s eyes began to open. Hannah smiled at her and Ginny smiled back. Then she looked up at Madeline and Julia standing over her and her expression changed. Her eyes narrowed and Madeline felt fingers of pain radiate into her brain. She dropped to her knees clutching at her ears, at her skull. When she could no longer bear the pain, she screamed. Suddenly, as fast as it had appeared, it was gone. The pain stopped as though it had never been. Madeline had to shake her head to make sure it wouldn’t return.
When she looked up, Virginia had grabbed Julia and Hannah and hobbled to the other side of the room on her bad leg. Ginny looked like a trapped animal, ready to fight or flee.
“Don’t hurt her, Ginny!” Julia immediately began to plead with Virginia. “We won’t hurt you, just please calm down.”
Julia put her hand on Ginny’s shoulder and she turned her head, not quite letting Madeline out of her line of sight.
“That’s Mom, Ginny.” Julia cooed. “She’s been bitten, but that’s our Mom.”
Ginny looked back at Madeline and cocked her head inquisitively.
“It’s true, Ginny. It’s me.” Madeline edged towards her. “I’m not here to hurt you. It’s okay. Sit down.” And to illustrate what she was saying, she lowered herself to a seated position on the bed and motioned for Julia to sit down next to her.
“S… sit.” Virginia said. She looked nervous but she pulled out a chair and slowly sat down.
“Virginia, it’s me, Mom.” She placed her hand on her chest. “I’m your Mom. Do you remember me? What happened to you?”
“Mmm… Mom.” She struggled with the words as though she had never said them before.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” Julia asked in a whisper. “You think she had a stroke or something?”
“I’m not sure, but Sylvia said the brain shut down non-essential parts first when it battled the virus. Maybe she lost some of her memory and motor skills.”
“Sh.. she.” Virginia said.
There was a scratch at the door and they all snapped their heads around in alarm. “Charlie?” Julia whispered towards the door. Another scratch and an unsettling quiet. Then a pound with a fist or maybe a foot that caused the door to rattle in its frame. “Your screams.” She whispered to Madeline. “Something must have heard them.”
Madeline swallowed and waited. The plywood that they had used to fortify the large window shuddered as the glass behind it broke and clattered to the ground outside. Virginia turned and hissed at the window. She hopped over to Madeline and grabbed her by the wrist, dragging her back to the far wall. The plywood shuddered again and the nails began to loosen. Virginia put out her arm and pushed them back all the way to the wall, waiting for whatever was outside to break in.
One last thrust and the plywood burst into the room in shambles. A tidal wave of hell dogs flooded into the room but they stopped short when they saw the three women standing strong. They seemed to be sizing them up one by one. Their beady yellow eyes passed over the group, finally stopping at Virginia. One of them roared a terrible roar and crouched down, ready to pounce, but Virginia let out a horrendous scream that sent out a nearly visible wave of pain towards the hell dogs. The one closest to them snapped backwards in an awkward back flip and landed on its neck. It lay there convulsing on the ground. The one closest to the wall grabbed at its skull and fell to the floor with a giant chasm where its head had split open. The rest fell to the ground writhing while one hell dog still stood upright in the center of the room with a peculiar expression on its face. As though one side of its face has stopped working, while the other side had constricted every muscle at its disposal. It held there for a moment before it too dropped to its knees and then fell completely.
Virginia staggered and fell. She had stopped screaming but she was clearly weakened by the exertion. Madeline was th
e first person at her side. “Ginny!” Virginia had blood running from her ears but she was still conscious. She struggled to stand and was slow to get back to her feet.
Madeline and Julia stood in awe for a moment. It was Julia who was first to break the silence. “Well that was helpful.” She said in an awestruck monotone.
“This is bad.” Madeline observed. “We have to find shelter until the others get back, but where?” She grabbed a rifle and threw it to Julia. Julia slung it over her shoulder like she had been doing it for years then strapped a belt that held dual pistols around her waist. Madeline didn’t know much about guns but she figured she would use the point and shoot method if she had to. She grabbed a dangerous looking miniature machine gun that she hoped she would be able to use when she needed to. It had a weird two-looped contraption attached to it that she couldn’t figure out. “Julia?” Julia grabbed the machine gun and threw the loops around Madeline’s shoulders so that the gun hung under her arm. “Oh! I see. Just point and pull the trigger?” She asked.
Julia reached over and clicked something on the gun. “This is the safety.” She told Madeline. “The little red dot means it’ll fire. Remember, ‘Red and it’s dead’. Keep your finger off the trigger until you want to kill something, okay? Try not to shoot anyone except the bad guys.” She said with a reassuring smile.
“Julia, before we go…” Madeline looked down at one of the dead husks of flesh on the ground and sighed.
Julia realized what she was trying to say and stuttered a bit. “Y.. Yeah, right. C’mon, Ginny. Let’s wait outside.” She placed her hand gently on her sister’s elbow and coaxed her out of the motel room like a trainer trying to move an unruly elephant. But Ginny had other plans. She pulled her elbow away and nodded back towards the bodies. Julia didn’t quite understand, but she took the little girl’s hand and stepped outside.
When they were outside and no longer in view, Madeline knelt down reluctantly next to the closest dead hell dog and stifled the disgust for her need. She was even more unnerved by Ginny standing in the room over her. Madeline hesitated but Ginny didn’t. Ginny thrust herself upon one of the bodies and began to feed. Madeline sat in shock. Ginny was a vampire. Now she’s not. But she feeds like one? What is going on? She watched Ginny feed for a moment longer, then took a deep breath and bit down on the hell dog’s neck. Her teeth were growing sharper these days and they sank into the flesh with an uncomfortable ease. The blood of the creature flowed into her mouth. She could hardly believe the feeling of euphoria she got from it. Her limbs tingled and her head went dizzy with the power she felt, the raw strength. The things heart was no longer beating so she was unable to draw much of its blood without biting in numerous places. When she had all she felt the thing had to offer, she wanted more! She moved to the next body and the next until she’d had her fill.
She stood in the motel room staring at the carnage around her and truly felt like a god! Her arms and legs were so infused with strength that she had to resist the urge to sprint out the door and destroy something. She was enraged and empowered. Yet she still felt in control. In all her life she had never felt so good. “Time to do some damage.” She whispered to herself and smiled. She hardly recognized the voice that came out of her. It was so unlike her to feel so destructive and violent. She walked to the door of the motel room and stepped outside, drawing the cool night air into her lungs. It was filled with the scents of the night, all of which were new and plentiful to her. She was experiencing true awareness for the first time.
“Mom? You okay?” Julia asked.
“Oh, yeah. More than okay. Let’s get out of here. Try to find someplace close by where we can wait for the others.”
Ginny was already outside waiting, the little girl snuggled in her arms. She had her head buried in the crook of Ginny’s neck, her little eyes just visible under a muss of hair. Madeline gave her a little smile and the girl halfheartedly responded with her own.
The four of them struck out in the direction of a large square building a short distance down the road that Charlie and the vampires had gone down when they left. It wasn’t long before they stumbled upon a large group of hell dogs that seemed to be fighting one another. They hid around the corner of a building and watched for a short time to avoid detection. They didn’t watch for long before it was evident that it was really one large hell dog fighting a small group of others by itself. Accept for the large hell dog, the others were in various states of mutation. A few looked as though they had just been bitten yesterday.
The big one grabbed a human-looking hell dog by the throat and threw it while slashing at another with its claws. One of the smaller ones lunged in and ripped at the big one’s stomach creating long red streaks in its abdomen. The big one stumbled back as another smaller Hell dog slashed the back of its thigh. The big one fell to one knee and faced almost certain death. Madeline could feel the rage welling up inside her and thought it might be time to intervene. At least she could get rid of a few hell dogs while their attention was focused on the bigger one. “Wait here.” She whispered to the other three.
She heard Julia protest, but she was already running towards the hell dogs. She dove into the melee head first, snapping necks, bludgeoning with fists, ripping with claws. She sensed someone near her and realized that Julia had followed her into the fray, guns blazing, whirring like a tornado from hell. The hell dogs dropped, one after the other, in a bloody mess. The two women were a blur of annihilation. It wasn’t long before the group of hell dogs had all succumbed to their violence, save one. The larger hell dog that had been fighting the others still knelt on the ground staring up at them. It held its insides in with one fist and propped itself up on the other.
Madeline went to it and stood eye to eye with it even though it was kneeling. It stared at her with its yellow eyes unwavering. But there was something else in its gaze. Something still vaguely human. She couldn’t quite place it but she felt compassion for the beast. She slipped a knife from her hip and the thing looked at it and swallowed. Did it know what the knife was? It raised its head a little, exposing its neck. Instead, she slipped the knife back into its sheath. Madeline stepped back and motioned for the hell dog to feed. It bowed its head and looked at her wonderingly. Then slowly crept toward one of the bodies and fed.
“Mom! What the hell are you doing? We should kill it!”
“All that talk about dreams, kiddo. All that mumbo jumbo that the vampires filled your head with. You ever wonder where you got your gift from?” She asked Julia with a smile. “You have your prophetic dreams… this one was mine.”
Julia was more than a little surprised. “You dreamed this?”
“Yeah. A few nights ago. I didn’t realize it until we saw him.” She nodded at the hell dog. The beast lifted its huge head from its prey and licked its lips a few times before struggling to its feet, still holding its abdomen. It turned and limped away. It had only gotten a few yards away when it stopped and turned to stare at them.
“What is it, boy? Is Timmy stuck in the well?” Julia asked sarcastically. When Madeline said nothing, Julia sighed. “We’re going to follow it, aren’t we?”
“That’s what we did in my dream.”
“Oh Jeez, Mom. I hope you’re right.”
They followed the hell dog into a long building nearby. The halls were dark but there was enough moonlight seeping in to see. Madeline noted that it had been much easier to see at night since she had been infected. The hallway they were in crossed another and she could see dark shapes looming down the other hallway. Her stomach rolled, but she trusted her dream. She felt like she was in the right place, as threatening as it was. Julia must have seen the shapes, too, because she gripped Madeline’s arm and squeezed. They came upon a row of lockers that lined either wall with crudely drawn pictures stapled to a cork board above them. They were in a school of some kind.
As they walked, the pairs of yellow eyes staring at them became more and more prevalent, their guide limping away in fr
ont of them. It pushed open a big set of double doors and they entered a huge room with a polished wooden floor. A gymnasium? She thought. A small army of hell dogs milled about performing various tasks. When the doors opened, their attentions turned to the small group walking towards the center of the room. There were so many of them, she could hardly believe it. She took heart in the fact that if she had led them all to their deaths, at least it would be quick. The hell dogs began to part down the center of the room to open a path as they moved forward.
They came to the center of the room where the hell dogs were standing in a large circle, giving a wide berth to something in the middle. In the center of the circle sat a small, unassuming old man behind the soft glow of a lantern. “Finally. You’ve come.” He said in a tone that reflected the smile on his face. “It brings me great joy to see you, Madeline Beaumont.”
She stopped cold. “What do you want?” She asked sternly. She suddenly felt as though nothing in the room posed a greater threat than that tiny man.
“Please, sit.” He motioned to three small blankets spread out in front of him, similar to the one he was sitting cross-legged on. “I will explain.” She glanced about nervously. “Please.” The man continued. “You are in no danger here.”
The four of them moved forward, sitting down on the blankets set on the floor, Hannah taking up a comfortable position on Ginny’s lap. There was some commotion from one end of the circle as a hell dog pressed its way into the center as if in a panic and then stopped abruptly. Ginny sent it a threatening glare and it got down to the ground bowing its head but still creeping closer and closer. By the time it was close enough to reach them, it was so low it was nearly lying on the ground, groveling. It reached out with one large, clawed hand so very slowly and set something on the ground in front of Ginny and the little girl and then slunk back into line with the others. Madeline could hardly believe her eyes. The beast had set down a battered and worn doll. In fact, not just any doll. It was Anna! Ginny’s childhood doll! The little girl looked down and snatched the doll up into her arms with a great smile. Hannah beamed at the hell dog but it was already lost in a sea of yellow eyes. Madeline thought she understood now. The shadowy “wolves” that had followed her and helped her to escape the mob of vampires that attacked their house and now that doll. They had been following her. They had been helping her?
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