“Yeah, she will. But… gotta put something in the logbook.” John ethereally pats me on the shoulder, then vanishes.
Ugh. I look around the generator room for no particular reason. The Oblivare issue is, hopefully, done. Random baby vampires, not my problem. Well, it is… sorta. If vampires are exposed to the world and hunted, it’s definitely going to be my problem. Still, I’m done for the night. It’s close to four in the morning and my bed is calling for me. I want to check on Ashley, but she’s going to be asleep, totally unaware of what happened. She thinks she told me about the stalker creep two months ago and I sent him away.
Might stop for a bite on the way home.
And yeah, 4:30 a.m. is a bit early for a vampire to declare a night over, but I can still enjoy lazing around in a soft bed hugging my stuffed animals before dawn knocks me out.
27
It only Cost a Crapton
Sierra figured the day had gone fairly well for a summer Monday—except for all-over aches and constant dread.
Thankfully, the ’rents hadn’t decided they needed to go anywhere or do anything. She did her best not to act antisocial, surly, or show any sign something happened. In truth, she didn’t truly know what happened, only that she felt as weak as Uncle Hank looked. The soreness didn’t scare her too much. It reminded her of the day after her first session of sword instruction. Going from months of sitting around playing video games and being lazy to a serious workout overnight left her sore everywhere.
All day Monday, she felt too weak to even pick up a sword. Since she still couldn’t bring herself to admit anything to anyone, she imagined talking to Dad about it. She imagined him saying the boost from Sarah’s blood had worn off completely, and she felt weak because she’d gotten used to being unusually strong. A few times when no one could see her—like in the bathroom—she tried doing a push-up or some other test of strength. It still worked, though her arms hurt. Maybe she hadn’t become ‘weak’ as much as back to normal. Of course, it didn’t take a lot of power for anyone in the Wright family to do a push up. Strength didn’t matter much when lifting something small.
Problem being, normal felt pathetic. If any sort of bad guy or monster showed up at the house, Sierra would have no choice but to act like a little kid and hide. So what if she happened to be a child, it still embarrassed her to act like one. Twelve shouldn’t count as a child. However, she accepted it didn’t count as an adult either—after all, some restaurants let ‘twelve and under’ eat cheap or free.
She’d gotten good at hiding her anxiety from everyone, specifically the guidance counselor and teachers. No one truly knew she regarded going to class every day as running a gauntlet she might not return from. Teachers thought her antisocial. One even said she needed to ‘see someone’ because she didn’t talk to other kids much or seem interested in friends. What would be the point of making friends only to have them die? Sarah had only recently learned how she felt, that every unexpected loud noise at school made her jump and start shaking. She tried so hard to hide it. Sophia thought her fearless, tough, and a badass. Maybe compared to her, she was.
Sierra hated being scared. She hated living in constant fear. She finally found a way to escape the fear. Sure, she couldn’t bring a sword to school, but being strong, fast, and ‘damage resistant’ enough to survive a fight with vampires would certainly let her take on a crazy person with a gun. She wouldn’t have to kick anyone’s ass, just get the weapon away from them. Fingers would break easy to a thrall’s strength.
But now, she’d gone back to being ordinary Sierra.
She couldn’t ask Sarah for blood again without being in immediate danger, or her big sis would know she’d become addicted. She couldn’t talk to her about being addicted because it would guarantee Sarah never let her have blood again. She’d have to go somewhere else for it. Maybe Dalton… maybe one of the other vamps. Glim had a lot of power, but she really didn’t want to end up looking like a Shadow and having to hide away from everyone.
Though, today, she wanted to hide from everyone.
After Nicole, Megan, and Priya went home for dinner, Sierra considered retreating to her bedroom to play computer games, but the ’rents would know something was wrong if she didn’t sit in the living room on the PlayStation. She couldn’t hide under a blanket and cry like she really wanted to do in the living room, but recovery from her parents catching her in tears would not be possible, so she forced herself to sit in the usual spot blowing people up in Call of Duty, pretending to be unfazed by the world at large.
Sophia disappeared after dinner, probably to her bedroom to work on the spell.
With each passing hour, Sierra cared less and less how ‘safe’ her sister’s magic would turn out to be. If it had any chance whatsoever of offering a way out of feeling weak and pathetic, she’d risk it. She suspected Sarah knew something happened. A few ‘are you okay’ looks had been the extent of it. Guilt crept in. She thought about the days after the cop told them Sarah had been found dead, and how blown-away thrilled she’d been when her big sis magically reappeared at the door. Their entire family dynamic had changed. She shouldn’t isolate herself from Sarah. Even if admitting she’d become addicted to vampire blood—technically, she’d grown addicted to the power it gave her rather than the blood itself—embarrassed her more than getting pantsed in gym class, she ought to do it.
Her parents eventually arrived to take over the living room television. Despite wanting to rush up to her room and hide as fast as possible, she forced herself to ask for a few more minutes to finish the match so they didn’t sense something wrong.
Once the game ended, she packed the PlayStation into the cabinet, hugged Mom and Dad, then hurried up to her bedroom to be alone with her fear. She flopped in her computer chair, staring at the blank screen, too sore, worried, and exhausted to bother playing anything. Her thoughts dwelled on the immediate aftermath of Sarah’s near-death. Being one of the ‘middle two’ kids in the family sometimes made her feel invisible. However, she no longer doubted her parents and siblings would react the same way if anything happened to her as they did when they thought Sarah died.
Maybe a road paved in vampiric blood would lead to an inevitable bad outcome. Question being, could she trust her life and Sophia’s life and Sam’s life entirely to Sarah and other people until she grew up? Sierra stared into space, debating the worse of two options: wallowing in her constant fear and helplessness or her family being crushed when something happened to her. Could she let go of her armored persona and spend a few years letting everyone see how scared she was? No way could she hold it in. She’d have to tell her parents. The only way she’d make it to eighteen would be honesty, or she’d drive herself crazy. Telling them amounted to being forced to stand in the town square and suffer mockery from the entire village. Could she bear the shame of her bravery being exposed as a lie? Merely an excuse to hide fear. She only truly felt brave with Sarah next to her. Did that count as bravery or merely feeling protected?
Sierra bowed her head. She didn’t want to make her parents go through losing her, especially younger than eighteen. Coralie had to have told Sophia something serious. No way in hell would the kid terrified of ‘Fuzzydoom’ willingly walk into the Salem house unless she’d been morbidly afraid of something worse—like her slightly older sister ending up dead.
She’d done that to Sophia. Tormented her innocent little sister with a scary ass house and forest. Made her walk into a scene far worse than movies she ran screaming out of the room to get away from. Yet, she still found herself trying to come up with excuses to give Sarah in hopes of getting another boost. She still slid down a path most likely to end with her parents devastated.
Her reflection in the computer screen looked like a blurry painting from a detective story, a murder victim slumped in a chair, legs dangling, hands hanging limp over the armrests. Every possible choice she could take from this point sucked. Multiple options all simplified down to: die or let everyone see her as
a frightened little kid. Sam had demon friends. Sophia had magic—even if it didn’t always do what she wanted. How could ‘normal Sierra’ hope to protect her family or even keep herself alive? If she kept up training, once she grew up, she could certainly use a sword to stop an ordinary bad guy, but any vampire would rip her head off. And of course, she’d have to survive long enough to grow up.
Sierra’s eyes burned. A few tears leaked out.
Her door creaked open.
Ordinarily, someone walking into her room while she cried would’ve made her jump and try to hide as if she’d been in the middle of changing clothes. She couldn’t bring herself to care. Or maybe she did. Maybe she wanted to be caught.
Sophia poked her head in. “Hey.”
“Hey,” mumbled Sierra.
“What’s wrong?”
Sierra attempted an indifferent shrug. “Stuff.”
“It’s okay to say you’re scared. I do it all the time.” Sophia crept closer. “Great way to get hugs.”
Sierra sputtered a chuckle.
“It’s ready.”
“Huh?” Sierra raised one leg, hooked her toes over the top of her desk, and pushed the chair around to face the door. Her sister stood two steps into the room, clutching a plastic straw and a small glass bottle from one of Mom’s Starbucks Frappuccino drinks. Instead of coffee, it contained a faintly glowing blue liquid. “Whoa. How much caffeine does it take to make the stuff light up?”
“Nah.” Sophia grinned. “Needed a potion bottle, so I grabbed this out of the recycle bin. Spell’s done. Here it is.”
Sierra sat up, her mood bursting out from the depths of fear and sadness to excitement. “Seriously? Is it gonna work?”
“Umm. It’s definitely not going to hurt you. I think it will most likely work.”
“Do I drink it with the straw?” Sierra slid off the chair, stood, and walked up to her, gazing at the eerily luminous blue liquid.
Sophia shook her head. “No. The straw is so you can breathe.”
Sierra blinked. “Umm, what? Breathe? How crazy is this gonna be?”
“It isn’t safe to drink this. There’s too big a chance you could die and turn into a vampire-like monster.”
“Eep!” Sierra leaned back.
“But…” Sophia held one finger up. “I know how to make sure it doesn’t kill you. Water is the perfect filter to spread the enchantment out all over your body evenly and let the magic seep into you slowly. Hop in the bathtub like Sare does, completely underwater. Use the straw to breathe and I’ll pour the potion into the water. Can’t have any part of you above the surface or it won’t be protected and the magic will get all weird since it won’t be all over.”
Sierra squished her toes into the carpet, blushing. Having people in the room while she tried to take a bath happened way too often lately. Still, Sarah got stuck outside with no clothes for two days and it didn’t kill her. She could suffer a little more embarrassment if it meant she had a way to escape both her fear and the possible consequences of thralldom. Having her sister next to her in the bathroom hardly sounded as weird as the idea of drinking vampire blood. Hell, she and Sophia used to take baths together when they’d been really little. Kinda weird to do at twelve and eleven, but it’s not like Sophia would be in the tub with her.
“Do you have’ta be in the room with me?”
Sophia tilted her head side to side. “Only long enough to cast the spell after pouring the potion, but I don’t know what might happen to you. If you pass out, you could drown. I don’t want that.”
“You said drinking the potion had too big a chance to kill me.” Sierra continued grinding her toes into the carpet. “What is ‘too big’ a chance?”
“Umm, like two percent, decimal three, repeating.” Sophia flicked at the straw.
Sierra smirked. “Only two percent?”
“Any chance you could be hurt is too big.” Sophia looked down past the line of embroidered cats on the hem of her dress at the floor. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Her cheeks warmed. She’s my sister. If it means I won’t need disgusting blood anymore not to be helpless, I’ll deal. “Whatever. Okay.”
Sophia headed across the hall to the bathroom. Sierra followed, leaning into the tub to turn on the water. The parents probably wouldn’t think it unusual for one of them to want a bath so close to bedtime. They stood there in silence for a minute, watching the tub fill.
“So, umm… what’s gonna happen?” asked Sierra.
“Are you asking what you’ll experience or what the end result will be?”
Sierra blinked. “Umm, both?”
Sophia bounced nervously. “Not sure about experience. Probably tingles. It most likely won’t hurt or do anything unpleasant. I didn’t go cheap on materials.”
“We picked a mushroom out of a basement and grabbed some dirt.” Sierra folded her arms. “Hardly expensive.”
“Those were the magical components. I needed a big ruby, too.”
“Wait, what?”
“You know, a gemstone?” Sophia exhaled a little exasperated sigh, like an eighth-grade math teacher having to go over basic addition. “Rare crystals act as conductors to channel arcane forces between dimensions. One of the reasons magic is so rare is, stuff more than little tricks ends up being really expensive. Wasn’t such a big deal back in Merlin’s time, but now? Eek.”
Sierra crouched to test the water temperature. Too hot, so she turned up the cold. “Where the heck did you get a ruby from? And where is it?”
“In here.” Sophia held up the glowing bottle. “Dissolved. Relax. No one is ever going to find it.”
Sierra gawked. “You stole a gem.”
“Technically, the kitten did. But yeah, I guess since she’s an extension of me, then I did.” Sophia fidgeted. “But I asked her to make sure she grabbed one from someone who wouldn’t be hurt by the loss and also a gem that isn’t like famous or culturally significant.”
“Still. My innocent little sister stole something… and not just like a piece of candy.” Sierra whistled. “Didn’t think you had it in you to be such a bad girl.”
Sophia looked down. “This is your life we’re talking about. I don’t care what it takes to protect you.”
She seemed on the verge of crying, so Sierra hugged her. “Thanks.”
“Don’t tell Mom, okay?” Sophia grinned past tears.
“I won’t.” Sierra cut off the faucet. “Okay… so what’s this gonna do to me?”
Sophia exhaled. “The end result is you’ll be like strong and fast and stuff, same as when Sare gave you blood. It’s probably gonna let you see in the dark, too, since it’s using a vampire as the focus.”
“Any downsides?” Sierra fidgeted at the button on her jean shorts.
“Don’t think so.”
“Not too reassuring.” Sierra chuckled.
“The book didn’t say anything about side effects and Coralie’s been quiet.” Sophia smiled hopefully.
“Okay. Let’s do it.” Sierra blushed.
“Umm, why are you turning red?”
“Because you’re in here when I’m gonna take a bath.”
Sophia gestured at the door. “Go put on a swimsuit then. I never said you had to be naked, just underwater… unless you wanna take a real bath after.”
“Be right back.”
Sierra ran to her room, changed into a swimsuit, and returned to the bathroom. Sophia stood patiently by as she eased herself into the slightly too-warm water and sat. Part of this seemed like a really bad idea, but also like her little sister wanted to ‘play magic.’ It couldn’t be any worse than drinking blood. Sophia stuck the straw in Sierra’s mouth as she gradually lowered herself underwater to lay flat on the tub, peering up past the wavering surface at the blurry form of her blonde sister.
Sophia opened the lid on the Starbucks bottle and gradually poured the glowing concoction into the bathwater, moving it around in a big oval. Luminous fluid fell to the bottom of the tu
b, heavier than the water, rapidly spreading until the entire bath glowed. Strangely, the glow didn’t appear diluted by the bath, keeping the same intensity.
Faint tingles prickled all over Sierra’s body, static electricity crawling everywhere.
Sophia set the bottle down, then held her hands over the water, fingers spread, an expression of serious concentration narrowing her eyes. Sierra ‘Mmm’-ed in surprise through the straw when a mysterious force caused her to levitate a few inches off the tub bottom. Tingling intensified. A million spiders raced across her skin. Gotta stay underwater or it’ll go wrong. Can’t move. Gah! Sierra clamped her eyes shut, trying to resist the urge to scream, squirm, or move. She clenched her hands into fists, curled her toes, and shuddered, weathering the extreme tickling.
Whud!
The entire house shook as if a giant kicked the wall outside. The lights went off. All the glowing water in the tub burst into faintly glowing fog. Sierra dropped the few inches to land on the porcelain bottom with a thump.
“Ow,” deadpanned Sierra before spitting the straw aside.
“Are you hurt?” gasped Sophia somewhere above her, out of sight behind the dense mist.
“No. Just said ‘ow’ automatically because I bumped my head on the tub. It didn’t hurt.” Sierra gingerly patted herself down. “Weird. I’m like totally dry. My swimsuit’s not even damp.” She sat up, finding herself shoulder deep in chilly mist.
The bathroom appeared merely somewhat dim, despite the only source of light being the luminous fog. Soft glow cast everything an eerie—but cool looking—shade of blue. Klepto’s teal eyes shone like tiny flashlights from Sophia’s right shoulder.
“Weird…” Sierra swished a hand back and forth in the mist. “Looks like we’re playing with dry ice.”
The lights came back on.
“Did it work?” asked Sophia.
Sierra looked at her hands. She didn’t feel sore anywhere, at least. Her swimsuit hadn’t melted into her skin. Nothing hurt, nor did she feel much different at all. “Not sure.”
Vampire Innocent | Book 12 | Ancient Vampire Death Cults & Other Annoyances Page 23
