“What about Gwen?” I asked.
“She’s free now,” Derry answered.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“Out and about,” Derry said. “Don’t worry about her. Just gather up what you want to take with you.”
I did as was asked, and we were airborne.
The new house was a small mansion in the Inland Empire, at the top of a small mountain. It was the only house on the mountain, and it was a nice enough house with the exception of the view. All I saw was freeway and desert.
“Do you like it?” Derry asked.
“I like the house,” I said, “but the view kind of sucks. How long can we stay here?”
“I’ll let you know,” Derry said. “Come inside, I want you to meet someone.”
I followed Derry inside and met a sixteen-year-old girl with a wide fake smile. She offered me her hand, but the poor girl was shaking like a leaf.
“This is Courtney,” Derry explained. “She’s going to take care of you during the daytime.”
“Hi Courtney,” I said as I took her hand. I’m Selma. I hope my staying here won’t be too much trouble.”
Courtney didn’t say anything, but I could see the tears welling up in her eyes.
“Go away now,” Derry said in an irritated voice.
Courtney couldn’t wait to oblige.
Derry and I stood alone in the entryway of the house.
“She’s terrified,” I said.
“That’s normal,” Derry said with a shrug.
“I don’t want to stay here if she’s frightened,” I said.
“This is a safe place,” Derry explained. “We won’t stay here long, but I need to keep you safe during the daytime, and this is the best way.”
Derry was looking me in the eyes as he was speaking, and I found myself rapidly losing interest in Courtney’s discomfort.
“Show me where my bedroom is,” I said.
Derry led me inside to the biggest bedroom I’d ever been in. I immediately ran to the gigantic bed and dove in. The thick comforter enveloped me, and I began giggling with laughter. Derry watched me from the doorway with his reflective eyes.
“Come here a minute,” I said.
Derry moved to the edge of the bed, and I wrapped my arms around him. He then allowed me to pull him down on top of me.
I kissed his slack lips, and once again I felt as if I could taste blood. Had he already fed this evening? I assumed he had, but there was no way to know for certain.
Derry began kissing my neck and shoulders, but I wasn’t even remotely afraid. I trusted him with my safety. I trusted him with my life.
A door slammed open from somewhere in the house, and loud raucous laughter echoed about the hallways. Ciaran had arrived, and Lorcan was with him. The two of them seemed to be bouncing off the walls as they wrestled.
Derry was off of me and out of the room in an instant.
I followed him, but it was rather hard for me to do so in such a dark house. In the end, I had to use my hearing to find the room they were in.
“I don’t want this house being damaged,” Derry said. “Selma won’t like that.”
“I smell blood,” Ciaran said.
“There isn’t any for you,” Derry said. “Try hunting whatever neighbors are down the mountain.”
“Next time don’t be so greedy,” Ciaran said. “I thought you were going to keep them alive for awhile?"
“There were too many,” Derry said, and I only needed one of them to protect Selma.
“Sounds like you had a good time without me,” Ciaran said.
“I can hear you both,” I said as I entered the room.
“So?” Ciaran said.
“So, that’s rude,” Derry said.
“I don’t need babysitting,” I said.
“Derry is worried about the vampire hunters, and the police,” Lorcan said.
“I spend the entire day without protection,” I said. “Why would I need any at night?”
“You’re never without protection,” Derry said as he walked towards me and wrapped his arm around my waist. “Would you like to go to the beach with me?”
“Yes,” I answered. “I’d love to see the beach.”
“That reminds me,” Lorcan said as he darted out of the room only to come back a few moments later with a large trash bag full of clothes. “Someone was donating these clothes, and I thought you might be able to find something to wear.”
“That’s very sweet of you,” I said as I accepted the bag. “I don’t suppose you found me a swimsuit by any chance.”
“I don’t think so,” Lorcan said, “but I can keep looking.”
I took the bag of clothes to my new bedroom, and then met Derry in the backyard. I ran into his arms, and both of us lifted off into the sky. I smiled and laughed as we moved faster and faster through the night, and Derry held me close with his gentlest touch.
The sand was still warm when we landed, but the sea was too cold to get my feet wet, and I kept well enough away from the water. Derry wasn’t concerned with the cold, and after removing his shoes, he ventured in right up to his knees.
“Do you feel anything?" I asked.
“I do,” Derry answered, “but not like you’d feel the cold. I feel everything through a bit of numbness that would be difficult to explain.”
“You’re not alive,” I said.
“Exactly,” Derry said.
After a bit of wandering, I pulled a blanket out of my bag, and we snuggled up close to one another. I never got tired of kissing my vampire lover, and Derry seemed to enjoy my touch tremendously.
The next morning when I awoke, Courtney was standing over my bed, staring down at me. I watched her from half-open eyes for the better part of five minutes, but in that time she never once blinked.
“Courtney?" I asked.
No reaction.
“Courtney?" I asked again. “Are you okay?”
Finally, the girl blinked and seemed to re-focus her eyes. After that she let out an ear splitting scream that damn near drove me insane, and try as I might, I couldn’t get her to stop. Eventually, I had to leave the room, and close the door behind me.
I ventured outside the house just to make sure the neighbors down the mountain couldn’t hear her screaming. Fortunately, I couldn’t hear her outside the mansion.
I breathed a sigh of relief. If her screams could be heard, the police would eventually come, and I was a wanted woman. The police would be sure to arrest me, and that would lead to another…another what?
My memory was hazy, but I certainly remembered being rescued. Was that a rescue? Did I need rescued? I’d never hurt anyone, why did I need rescued?
Back inside the mansion, Courtney had finally stopped screaming, but the door to my bedroom was wide open, and Courtney was nowhere to be found.
I walked cautiously around the house looking for her. If she tried to run, I wasn’t going to stop her. That sort of thing wasn’t something I was prepared for.
I entered the kitchen, and found Courtney waiting there for with her back turned towards me.
“Are you okay?" I asked.
“No,” Courtney answered.
“Can I get you anything?" I asked.
“There are dead people in my room,” Courtney said without emotion.
“What?" I asked.
“My family,” Courtney said as she spun around with a large butcher knife in her hand. “All that’s left of them.”
I took a step away from her. She had a crazy look in her eye that made me retreat without even realizing I was retreating.
“I can help you,” I said.
“You can’t,” Courtney said. “You’re the reason they’re here. The young master talks when he feeds. I know what you mean to them. I know that what happened to my family is all your fault.”
“I’m not sure…I don’t know…”
“Go look,” Courtney said as she walked slowly towards me. “Go to my bedroom and look.”
I didn’t want to listen to her. I didn’t want to go to her bedroom, and I certainly didn’t want to see any corpses, but she had a knife, and a crazed look about her. I had to do as she was asking.
I made my way to the far side of the house, and I entered the room in which Courtney was sleeping. The room was dark and cooler than the rest of the house, and a sort of rusting metallic smell permeated everything.
“There’s nothing here,” I said.
“In the closet,” Courtney said.
I pulled open the closet door slowly, but one of the bodies still slumped forward, and fell near my feet. I didn’t scream. I wasn’t surprised. The body already had an odor, and I could see that the closet held more than one corpse.
“The bathroom,” Courtney said.
I crossed the room, and entered the bathroom. Here there were more corpses, and dried blood was splattered high up on the walls. This is where Derry fed. This is where he claimed the lives of Courtney’s family so he wouldn’t dirty up the rest of the house.
“I’m not supposed to show you this,” Courtney said, “but I watched him do it. He made watch.”
I was speechless.
I wanted to help the poor girl, but most of all I just wanted her to leave. Why did she stay here, menacing me so?
“Go,” I said. “Leave this place and don’t come back.”
“I can’t leave,” Courtney explained. “They did something to me.”
“I give you permission,” I said. “If this is all for me, than allow me to be the one that sets you free.”
“You can’t set me free,” Courtney explained. “You’re in worse shape than I am, you just haven’t realized it yet.”
“Courtney,” I said. “What do you want me to do?”
The young girl raised her knife as if that were the answer, and then she cut deeply into her own neck right in front of me. I screamed as the blood pulsed outward in a wide-reaching arc, and then I ran to the girl and tried my best to stop the bleeding.
I was unsuccessful, but I knew that would be the case before I even laid my hands on her. The wound was too deep to be survivable, and I was way too inexperienced to save her life.
It was over quickly.
I was covered in blood.
I started crying. What the hell had just happened? Why was I alone? I hugged my legs close to my chest, and rested my back against the side of the bed as blood began to pool thickly around Courtney’s body.
I must have stayed in that position for hours upon hours. I was still in that position when Lorcan found me after sunset.
“Are you injured?" Lorcan asked softly from the doorway.
“I’m not,” I answered.
“Let me help you,” Lorcan said as he crossed the bloody carpet, and lifted me to my feet.
“I don’t feel very well,” I said.
“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Lorcan said as he gently led me away from the room. “You weren’t meant to see any of that. You must be terrified.”
In the dimly lit bathroom, Lorcan removed my clothes and washed away all the blood. I allowed him to do all of this through a daze. In my mind I was having trouble believing I wasn’t in a dream.
“Is she okay?” Ciaran asked from the doorway.
“She’s stunned,” Lorcan answered. “Where’s Derry?”
“I don’t know,” Ciaran answered. “Should I go find him?”
“No,” Lorcan said. “I can take care of her. Maybe you can grab some fresh clothes from that bag I gave her?”
I heard laughter from the hallway as Ciaran vanished. I wanted Derry. I wanted him to wrap me up in his arms and take me away for this house.
Lorcan began drying me off with a soft towel. He was so gentle and respectful, and when I started crying, he even wiped at my tears.
“I guess she won’t be reading to us tonight,” Ciaran said.
“Stop that,” Lorcan chided. “She’s been through something awful.”
“That’s not awful,” Ciaran said. “I’ve seen awful, and it looks a lot worse than that bedroom.”
“You may have seen awful,” Lorcan argued, “but she hasn’t. This is all new to her.”
“I was hoping for more Peter Pan,” Ciaran pouted.
“I can read,” I said.
“Are you sure?" Lorcan asked. “Maybe you’ll feel better resting?”
“I can’t rest,” I said. “I can’t relax. Every time I close my eyes I see Courtney. I see what she did to herself. What happened to Gwen?”
“Who’s Gwen?" Ciaran asked.
“Stop that,” Lorcan said. “She’s the last girl that took care of Selma.”
“We let her go,” Ciaran said through a mouthful of sharp teeth.
“You’re lying,” I said.
“Am not!" Ciaran said angrily.
I walked out of the bathroom, and made my way to the kitchen.
“Don’t come in here,” I said to the two vampire’s right before I turned on the bright overhead lights.
Derry and Lorcan stopped at the doorway, and in the darkness I could see their reflective eyes staring at me.
“I just need a minute,” I said. “I just need a minute in the light.”
Lorcan and Ciaran kept their distance. It was almost as if the light caused them pain or discomfort, but I knew that wasn’t the case because I had seen Derry in the light.
“We don’t like being exposed,” Lorcan explained from the shadows. “It would be like you walking down the street in the nude. It’s just not something you do.”
I found a bottle of whiskey, and I started drinking.
“Ask her about Peter Pan,” Ciaran prodded his brother.
“I’ll read,” I said. “Go turn on my reading light, and get comfortable. I’ll be there in just a moment.”
Lorcan rushed off to set up the area, but Ciaran didn’t. I could feel his unblinking eyes upon me. Why did he stare at me the way that he did?”
I took deep steadying breaths.
The alcohol nestled in my tummy, and created a warm feeling that spread into my limbs, and then I hit the light switch.
Ciaran himself took my hand and led me to the reading chair. I could feel the sharp tips of his claws through the tops of his fingers, but he never so much as scratched me. His hand was just as icy as Derry’s, but smaller, and he pulled me along after him with a hint of impatience.
The book was waiting on the nightstand.
I took my seat, and cracked the cover.
Outside the dim ring of light that bathed my chair, the room was dark. Lorcan quickly took up a position on the floor by my feet, but Ciaran vanished in the darkness of the room.
I read out loud, and neither brother made any attempt to interrupt me. After a good hour of reading, Derry entered the house. At first he was quiet, and then he must have smelled the blood. A forceful wind rushed into the room ahead of him, and turned the pages of my book.
“What happened?" Derry asked.
I started explaining the day’s events, but soon found myself crying hysterically. Lorcan crawled onto the wide arm of my chair, and did his best to comfort me with gentle pats. Ciaran took over my explanation.
“Oh no,” Derry said as he moved into the dim light, and scooped me into his arms. “I’m so sorry that that happened.”
“I’m scared,” I said.
“Don’t be,” Derry said. “I’m here now. I’ll let nothing harm you.”
“What about when you’re not here?" I asked.
“Humans are unreliable,” Derry explained.
“You killed her family!” I said. “You made her watch!”
“That’s the way of things,” Derry explained. “We’re hunters. This is how we live.”
“There’s cruelty in what you do!" I shouted.
“Look at me,” Derry said. “Can’t you see how terrible I feel about all of this? Calm down now. Don’t be angry. I’ll make everything better for you.”
The anger washed away as I looked into Derry�
��s eyes. His handsome face wasn’t capable of showing concern, but I felt his worry nonetheless.
“I’m tired,” I announced rather abruptly.
“Of course you are,” Derry said. “You’ve had a rough day. Let’s get you to bed. Tomorrow will be different, you’ll see.”
Derry carried me to my bedroom, and I fell asleep in his arms before I even hit the bed. When I woke up in the morning I avoided the room with Courtney’s body, and I noticed that I was already feeling better.
My spirits were lifted.
I didn’t dream about death or monsters. I didn’t dream at all. How was that possible after what I had witnessed? I felt a happiness rising up inside of me, and I was anxious to take a quick shower before my day of adventure. I had no idea what I was going to do, but I knew it involved the beach.
Wait a minute.
I couldn’t leave the house.
I couldn’t go to the beach.
I was a wanted woman. All of Southern California was looking for me. Why in the hell was I so happy? It was such an unnatural feeling, like a strong drug was slowly changing my thoughts and feelings.
I dropped myself in front of the television.
The news was reporting yet another brutal murder. I didn’t want to watch, but I found myself looking at a photo of Gwen’s driver’s license.
The police were already at her house, and my fingerprints were everywhere. My name and picture made its way to the television screen, as did some footage from the attack on the station.
Poor Gwen’s body had been stuffed into an old car at a junkyard over an hour away from her home. Other than that, her assailants made no attempt to hide the corpse.
I turned off the television. I didn’t want to hear anymore about murder and death. I was much too happy for that. Instead, I turned on some music and danced about the mansion until I wore myself out.
I showered, and took a nap.
Without even meaning to, I woke up about an hour before sunset wondering how I’d managed to sleep for so long. Derry would be coming for me shortly, or perhaps it would be one of his brothers.
I was looking forward to their arrival.
Ciaran was the first to arrive. I sensed him in the room with me, but I couldn’t see him in the darkness.
“We can continue the book after Lorcan arrives, if that’s okay with you?" I asked.
The Forgotten: A Vampire Story Page 20
