"Please, Derry!"Ciaran cried.
I pulled up the sleeve of my hoodie, exposing my wrist, and bit deeply. The blood gushed, and despite being so wounded, I saw Ciaran's eyes go wide at the gesture. After that, I only knew the unique sensation of having the blood sucked from my veins.
I awoke to see my brother twisting and turning about the floor in pain as my powerful blood churned inside of him. After a fashion, I wrapped my arms around his thrashing body, and held him close as he healed.
"You saved me," Ciaran said as his body slowly relaxed. "I can feel myself healing, but you risked so much."
"You're my brother," I said.
"Yes," Ciaran agreed."Brothers."
A shock of pain lanced straight into my chest like a bolt from a crossbow. I threw my head back and screamed an unnatural scream. Ciaran was reaching out for me, but in my pain, I was shoving him away.
"Lorcan," I screamed. "They're killing him. The vampire hunters are killing him!"
Selma
Donny drove me to a house far away in Silver Lake. Dad was waiting for me, and I all but ran into his arms. My little brother was there as well, but even though he looked familiar, I couldn't place him for the longest time.
"We warned you about some slight memory loss while you were in the hospital," Glen said. "Do you not remember any of that?"
"I don't," I answered. "Not really. Most of what happened at the hospital is a bit of a blur."
"It'll take a few months before your memory recovers," Glen explained.
"That suits me just fine," I said. "I'm in no hurry to remember some of the things…some of the…"
My father wrapped his arms around me as I broke out into tears. I was safe, but a part of me still didn't want to be here. A part of me still wanted Derry. A part of me was still in love and under his spell.
I hugged Tyler as tightly as possible until he began to squirm.
"What's the next step?"I asked.
"This is a safe house," Dad explained. "We've been living here for over a month. The vampires can't get inside. We're completely safe. Tomorrow, after the sun rises, we'll hop on a plane that will take us out of the country."
"What happens when we're out of the country?"I asked.
"Your nightmare will be over," Glen explained. "Vampires are very territorial. They don't like to leave their territory, and they'll defend their territory vigorously against other vampires."
"In other words," Dad said. "They won't follow us. We'll be safe. We'll be able to start over somewhere safe and quiet."
I breathed a sigh of relief and hugged Tyler for the thousandth time.
"Freedom," I whispered."A fresh start; wouldn't that be nice?"
A heavily scarred man that I couldn't quite remember came in from the outside.
"Perfectly normal out there," the man reported.
"Very good, Mark," Glen said. "Lock up the house. I don't want anyone going outside until sunrise."
"You're sure I'm safe?"I asked Glen.
"You are perfectly safe," Glen assured me.
Donny led me to one of the spare bedrooms at the back of the house. It was a small room, certainly nothing I was used to, but the sheets were clean, and the one window had bars. I glanced over my new sleeping quarters and took a shower while everyone else made plans for the next day. Right before I turned the water on, I heard Donny explaining why he jumped the gun on my rescue. Glen didn't seem happy that his plans had been altered.
My body was feeling fresh and clean after my shower, but for some reason I still had the smell of burning flesh in my nostrils, and no matter how many times I blew my nose, I couldn't rid myself of it.
The bed was soft.
The moment I lay down, my eyes grew heavy and tired.
And then I heard the soft sound of claws clicking against the glass of the window. Lorcan had found me. Looking past the glass and bars of the window, I could see his eternal smile. My sweet Lorcan. I was shocked that he had found me before his brothers.
I rushed to the window and opened it as quickly as possible.
My poor Lorcan, even with his slack expression, I could sense his worry. His black eyes dartedaround nervously, and he reached out for me like a worried child.
"Are you okay?"Lorcan asked as his gripping fingers gently curled in my hair. "I know something happened. I've been so worried."
"I'm fine," I answered as I reached out from the bars and grasped at both his arms. "The vampire hunters came."
"Ciaran's been hurt," Lorcan said sadly. "I don't know how badly. Sometimes when a vampire gets burned past a certain point, they can't come back."
"I'm so sorry," I said as the worry poured out of him. "Where's Derry?"
"He went looking for Ciaran," Lorcan answered, "but he hasn't returned, and I'm left all alone."
"Come inside," I said. "It's not safe for you to be out there. The vampire hunters are on high alert. I think they might be expecting an attack."
Lorcan faded into a dark mist as I held him in my arms, and that dark mist flowed past the bars, and into my bedroom. Within seconds I saw Lorcan once again taking form next to my bed.
"You shouldn't stay long," I said. "It's not safe for you here."
"What about you?"Lorcan asked.
"I need to stay here," I said. "This is where I belong."
"No," Lorcan cried.
"I'm sorry," I said as I brought Lorcan down to a sitting position on the bed with me. "I'm so very, very sorry."
"I don't want you to leave us," Lorcan cried.
"I know," I said with tears in my eyes, "but I'm not cut out for a life with vampires. I won't survive."
There was a light knock on my door.
Lorcan stiffened in my arms, but he didn't leave the bed. I moved quickly, but not quickly enough. My little brother had the bedroom door open, and he was staring at Lorcan with wide eyes.
I jumped out of the bed, rushed across the small room, and closed the door with Tyler inside. Lorcan was looking at my little brother shyly, and I soon lost all fear.
"Tyler," I said. "This is my friend Lorcan."
"Hi Lorcan," Tyler said excitedly."Are you a vampire?"
"Tyler!"I said. "That's not nice. Lorcan is a friend of mine. You have nothing to worry about with him, okay?"
"Dad wants you," Tyler said.
"What does he want?"I asked.
"I don't know," Tyler said as he cautiously moved closer and closer to Lorcan. "You look different."
"He is different," I said. "He's very special. Now stay here and be quiet while I go see what Dad wants."
My dad, Glen, Mark, and Donny were all gathered around a table discussing various topics when I entered the kitchen. In the adjoining room filled with weapons, five of my dad's bodyguards sat in front of a television.
"Sweetie" Dad said. "Did any of the vampires ever mention anything about other countries? I want to make sure they won't be following us."
"I'm telling you," Glen argued. "They won't leave their territory."
"I just want to make sure," Dad said.
"I've never heard them saying anything about different countries," I said. "In fact, they were planning on leaving California soon, and that just involved moving to a different state."
There were more questions that followed. It was almost as if the pressure was getting to my father, and he was beginning to crack around the edges. I couldn't blame him.
I walked slowly back to my room, knowing that it was time to send Lorcan away. It was time to break his heart. I stood outside my door, wondering why the air felt so thick and heavy.
I opened the door slowly and cautiously, and then I almost choked on my own scream. Blood was splashed against the wall nearest my bed, and my sheets were pooled in red. Lorcan was dripping wet, and he held something small and lifeless in his arms like an old rag doll.
"Tyler!"I cried out in a strangled voice.
Lorcan dropped my brother's body and looked at me with his ink-black eyes.
&n
bsp; "I'm sorry!"Lorcan said with that eternal smile etched over his lips. "I couldn't help it. I didn't mean to hurt him."
I started screaming some more, but I wasn't screaming out of fear. I was screaming out of pure unadulterated hatred.
All I could do was scream and scream is what I did. I screamed out in shock and fear. I screamed out in rage and sorrow. I screamed out at the unfairness of it all.
Lorcan placed his hands over his ears as if my screams were causing him pain.
"I hate you!"I screamed. "I hate you so much!"
Lorcan began to scream and wail right along with me. I watched as he tore at my bloody sheets, and pounded against the walls until Glen barged through my open door, and slammed me out of the way as he sent a jet of fire straight at my bed, and the blood-covered vampire.
Lorcan let out an even more ear-shattering scream and tossed and turned relentlessly as he floated burning above my burning bed.
To my shock, Glen didn't continue his attack. Instead, he grabbed me by the arm and yanked me out of the room, while all of my father's bodyguards rushed forward with long spears.
I heard a loud crashing noise, followed by screams and the sound of breaking glass. Donny and Mark were rushing forward with fire extinguishers as only three of the bodyguards returned from the room and ran off in terror, never to be seen again.
"Tyler!"I said. "What have I done?"
Suddenly, my mind began racing. Whatever remaining hold the vampires had upon me flooded out of my body with my screams and tears. For the first time in a long time, I was entirely myself.
I took deep breaths as the hallway filled with smoke. Across the street, a car alarm started blaring out an insistent warning. I moved away from the still burning room just as the sun began to peek over the horizon.
Memories were flooding back to me. I remembered all the horrors that I'd witnessed. I no longer saw the vampires as beautiful. Now they were simply monsters, and I hated them with a fiery passion.
My father was beside himself as he watched Donny and Mark extinguish the blaze. I approached him cautiously, placed my hand on his shoulder, and when he didn't pull away from me, I embraced him tightly.
"This is my fault," I said. "This is all my fault."
"No," Dad said. "You were only a victim."
Dad began sobbing into my shoulder, and I held him until he was finished. After that, I walked outside the house and looked up and down the street. Glen rushed out immediately after me and grabbed me by the arm.
"Do you want to get killed?" Glen asked.
"I'm in no danger," I said. "The sun is already too high. They're very sensitive."
"Are you sure?" Glen asked. "I've always thought they could survive in this kind of light."
"They'll do everything they possibly can to escape this kind of light," I said. "You need more experience. I can only guess you've learned most of what you think you know from books."
"I'm sorry about your brother," Glen said.
"Lorcan was injured," I said.
"He wasn't injured enough," Glen said. "I lit him up, but he was still able to get out through the window."
"He's injured," I said. "He's injured, and the sun is rising. Lorcan didn't go far."
"He might not have," Glen admitted, "but so what…you aren't…you aren't thinking about going after him, are you?"
"He's nearby," I said to myself. "In one of these houses across the street probably. It won't be hard to find him."
"That vampire was like a cartoon Tasmanian devil inside that room,” Glen said. “My team has been reduced to just Mark and Donny. We don't have the manpower to take out a vampire."
"I don't need your help," I said.
Across the street and a few houses down was an old Buick with a smashed-in door. I approached the vehicle and smiled grimly as my feet crunched on the broken glass.
"He came this way," Glen said.
I ignored the man. He wasn't ready for a true battle. I could sense his fear. The only thought in his head was getting my father and me to the airport. After that, he was probably going to lay low until he rebuilt his team. If he ever rebuilt his team. Meeting Derry and his brothers shook the man to his very core.
I didn't blame him one bit.
Beyond the Buick, I followed a driveway past a house to the rear of the yard. All alone in the backyard, with white, weathered, wooden panels was a single car garage. I walked a circle around the detached garage and found a small pile of wooden splinters where the side door was ripped open and the lock broken.
Donny and Mark ran up behind us. Donny had a flamethrower, and Mark carried a number of spears. The group of us stood there staring at the small garage as the sun rose higher and higher.
"Let's light it on fire," Glen said. "We can just light it up and be on our way."
"No," I said.
"You have a better idea?"Glen asked. "Do I need to remind you that there are two other vampires out there that would love to get a hold of you? We should be running. You and your father should fucking be running."
"You go do what you need to do," I said. "I'm going to kill a vampire."
"You can't be serious," Glen said.
I ignored him and stepped away from the group so that they were all looking at me.
In my mind I kept picturing my little brother's torn and lifeless boy falling to the bloody bed. The gory images kept assaulting me, but I pushed them away with an extreme effort.
"I'm going to open the garage door," I said."After I do so, I'm going to jump out of the way. Donny, when that door is open, you need to let loose with the flamethrower."
"Okay," Donny said as he nodded.
"Mark," I continued. " Give Glen and me a spear. If Lorcan tries to rush out of the garage, it's up to us to stop him."
"This is a vampire," Glen argued. "I'm not trying to be a coward over here, but you can't possibly think we can stop a vampire, do you?"
"I think the fire and the sunlight are going to be doing most of the stopping," I said. "We just need to get in the way and slow him down a bit."
The group of us got into position. Fortunately, the garage door was unlocked, and I yanked it up and open with a surge of power. Inside the garage, there were no cars, just yard equipment, a motorcycle, and a shit-ton of cardboard boxes.
Donny hesitated, and I screamed at him to spray the inside of the garage. After a second's hesitation, Donny did just as I asked him.
For the first few seconds, nothing happened.
And then, as if from an explosion, a group of boxes was hurled into the air straight towards Donny, Mark, and Glen. The three men were forced to jump out of the way, and I was the only one left standing with the burning figure of a teenage boy who emerged from the flame engulfed garage.
There was no screaming from the silent figure, just frantic movements as it rushed forth from the garage. I speared him through his back almost instantly. I didn't hesitate, not for one second. Whatever emotions I had once felt for these vile creatures ended with the death of Tyler.
Lorcan screamed out as I ran him through.
He then took a few more steps before Glen rammed him through his chest. Lorcan collapsed to his knees and tried to crawl away as the flames ate away at his skin and clothes.
Mark walked past me, and struck out with his spear, pinning the vampire to the driveway. After that, we silently watched him burn.
In time, neighbors began to crowd around us. Fortunately, the owners of the house and the burning garage were out of town, but people were still asking too many questions. We needed to leave before the police arrived.
My father approached us after the flames had finally died down on the vampire's body. All that was left was a charred skeleton still held together by blackened ligaments that somehow survived the fire. The remains resembled a bundle of burnt sticks, but still the mouth opened and closed as if some semblance of life still existed.
"Is this the one that killed my son?"Dad asked.
"Yes," I answered
. "His name was Lorcan."
"You killed him?"Dad asked.
"I did," I answered. "I'm going to kill all of them."
"Not today you aren't," Glen said. "We need to leave. We had some success, but we can't get stopped by the police. If we're still in California after sunset, we are all going to die."
Glen rushed away with my father to grab his van, and Donny and Mark crowded protectively around me as the crowd of neighbors demanded answers. When Glen returned after only a few moments, Donny and Mark dealt roughly with any of the neighbors foolish enough to try and stop us from leaving.
Once we were in the van, Glen hit the gas, and we were flying down the road in a series of tire screeches and jolts that threatened to knock me out of my seat. In the back of the van lay a solid black body bag with Lorcan inside. Every now and then, the bag made just the smallest of movements.
Twenty minutes later, after all of us had calmed down, Dad's phone started to ring. That in itself was nothing special. My father's phone was always ringing. This ring however came with dark clouds, and bad wishes.
"Don't answer it," I said.
"It's Betty," Dad said after he looked at the number. "She's been calling you for a few days now."
The fog inside my mind did it's very best to cloud my memory, but this time I would not be denied. At first, Betty was unknown to me, but I pushed past the fog until I found her. Betty was my best friend. Betty and Jake. I knew them both.
"Answer it," I said.
"Selma," Dad said. "Jake is dead. We didn't want to tell you before, but he and his family have all been killed. Maybe it's best if we take care of each other right now."
"Betty is my friend," I said. "What kind of person would I be if I abandoned her?"
My father handed me the phone.
"Betty," I said.
"Selma?"Betty asked. "Is that you?"
"It's me," I said.
"How did you get away?"Betty asked.
My heart sank. If Betty was asking how I got away, that meant she hadn't.
"It's a long story," I said."Are you okay?"
"I'm scared," Betty said.
"It's daytime, Betty," I said. "You can escape."
"I'm can't," Betty said. "The young masters are so angry. I can feel what they feel, and I'm so scared."
The Forgotten: A Vampire Story Page 26
