“I hate you!”
“Come on,” I said, “I’m not going to roll over when you try to make my life a personal heck. If you throw down the gauntlet, I’m going to pick it up.” I had done it, solved the problem with no major violence and I had made Coral look like a whack job.
Coral turned her back on me and muttered numbers under her breath.
“You can’t come in here and make everyone do what you want. How did you do it anyway? To influence so many people, you’d have to use your…” Another aha moment in the life of Abigail Rath, monster hunter. I wandered around to face her and knelt beside her, counted ten grains of rice, and handed them to her. “Did you influence everyone with your blood?”
“Go away!”
“Chili day would have been perfect. Camouflage.”
Coral glared at me. “Stop it! If you know, why are you bothering me?”
So, Coral hypnotized a lunch lady, and then tampered with lunch. Eeuw. Where’s the Food and Drug Administration when you need them? “I’ll let you alone when you let Vince and Marty go,” I said.
Coral stood up, which cost her some effort. “For your information,” she said in a shaky voice, “Vince isn’t under my mind control.”
“Like you expect me to believe that.”
“Why don’t you ask William about Vince?” Coral crouched back down to the rice.
“No kidding?” I pinched up a grain of rice in my thumb and forefinger. It was a possibility. But William seemed like the nice sibling. One thing was certain, he sure didn’t like Vince. “We’ve got a movie tonight. I’ll check that out.”
“You stay away from my brother and my family.” Coral’s face was masked behind a curtain of her red hair. “I don’t think you should go on that date.”
“You wouldn’t, would you? And it’s not a date.”
Coral turned away from me. “Fine. I don’t care what happens to you. Go ahead and go.”
Was Coral trying to warn me? I was puzzled. “You know, Marty thinks you’re okay. Are you?”
Coral started crying in earnest, tiny ruby drops. “Don’t count my rice.”
I dropped the grain onto the floor and handed her a Kleenex from my backpack. “It’s all yours.”
Victory, I thought as I stepped out into the Friday sun, was supposed to feel sweeter than this.
CHAPTER TEN
The Green Eyed Monster
Mom and Dad thought we should still take William to the movies. We didn’t know what was up with William. It was a good opportunity to find out what his motivations were, and if Coral was telling the truth about William controlling Vince. Besides, William was kind of cute, and I’d been looking forward to this.
When the doorbell rang, I opened the door, and there he was. William didn’t have to try hard to look good, but he’d put on a tie, and had worked hard at making his hair look like he hadn’t worked hard on it. “Hi.”
“Good evening.” I tried to say it as much like Count Chocula as I could.
I looked behind him into the street. There were no extra cars in the shadows. “How did you get here?”
“I flew.”
Sure he did.
“Mom dropped me off, since your dad was driving.”
“Are you coming in?”
“Are you asking me in?”
Oookay, here was a good vampire test moment. “Nope.”
William laughed. “This is a monster movie thing, isn’t it?”
“Nope. This is the monster hunting thing.”
William stepped across the threshold. “So,” William rubbed his hands, “do I get to meet your dad?”
“Only if you promise not to entirely geek out.”
“I won’t. It’s uncool to fanboy on a date.”
I shook my head. “This isn’t a date.”
“No?”
“It’s a movie. A nice, friendly movie.” I led William into the family room. Now I thought of it as a date, but he didn’t need to know that.
Mom was curled up in a chair like a librarian cat. She poked knitting needles in a basket and glanced up. “Hello.”
“Hello Mrs. Rath.”
“Reginald will join you in a second. Are you ready for the movie?”
“Oh yeah,” said William. “Johnny Depp is one of the ax guys in the boat scene.”
“Yup,” I said, impressed. “Depp is proud of the appearance.”
“And the chance to work with me.” Dad divaed into the living room. He was in full Reginald Rath regalia, vampire coat, velvet smoking jacket, and ruffly shirt. “Glad to meet you, Abby’s horror enthusiast friend.”
William gave him the eye. “Honored to meet you, sir.”
“Not at all,” said Dad.
“When Dad told them he was coming, the Alex Film Society set up a little lecture thing,” I explained. “So you’re getting the Anvil treatment tonight.”
“Yes.” Dad rubbed his hands, and the lace on his sleeves waterfalled across his wrists. “As an added bonus, you get to meet Lee Christopher.”
“Really?”
William wouldn’t have caught the little eye contact thing between Mom and Dad. No doubt this was some sort of “were you the vampire at the mall” screening test, like my seeing if he could cross the threshold was. “Is he wearing the cape?”
Dad’s eyes twinkled. “Of course he’s wearing the cape. I might stake him after the film.”
“Like kids in a candy store,” Mom said.
“We’ll be meeting him at the theater. As soon as we’re all here, we’ll be off.”
“Are we expecting anyone else?” I asked.
“I invited Vince along,” said Dad. “He’s never seen Revenge of the Summer Camp Gill Monster.”
“Yeah?” Great. Vince and William and me and Dad. In the same car. With Vince being a jerk, and William sitting on the jerk fence while Vince was around. Maybe Dad would just take Vince and William and leave me at home for a quiet evening with Mom.
“A nice, friendly movie,” William said, his voice hard.
Vince came in through the kitchen. “Evening,” Vince said.
“Hey,” I said. My response was calculated to be cold. I grabbed William’s arm and smiled. “Let’s go.”
On the way out there was another parental telepathy moment. I took my hands off William’s arm and put them behind me like Mom did when she couldn’t figure out where to put them. We hopped into the car. I let Vince sit with Dad in the front seat.
“I understand that there were three versions of the Gill Monster suit?” William asked.
Dad opened his mouth to answer, but Vince jumped in. “Had to be, right? Couldn’t use the same suit for underwater sequences. Also, since they used two separate stuntmen, one suit had to be six inches shorter.”
“Very impressive, Vince,” Dad congratulated.
“Yeah,” I said. “Have you been reading up?”
Vince turned around, looking over his shoulder at me. “Gotta keep up on the classics.”
“Do you know about the earlier version?” said William. Uh-oh. The horror geek challenge had begun.
Vince narrowed his eyes, the way he does when he concentrates. “Early on they had cast Lola Argent, but she turned out to be allergic to the latex they used on the Gill Monster suit, so she quit, and then they hired Andi Churchill instead.”
Now I was impressed. “Vince, serious expertise.”
William shrugged. “Lots of people know that.”
Except, I thought, William was trying to trip him up. Lots of people did not know that.
Traffic was crazy bad. It took us two hours to get there. The tension between Vince and William was tangible, but Dad didn’t notice. He filled the two hours with stories and sighs at the traffic. When we arrived at the Alex, my ears hurt, and I’d been stretched thin.
The Alex Theater was built in the twenties, like loads of theaters in Los Angeles, but what made the Alex special was their film society, which would show old classic films, like Dad’s and Mr
. Christopher’s. Every few months one or the other of them would get a call, and I’d be off to the giant auditorium watching Blood! Blood! Blood! or The Curious Curio of Doctor Z. As with all the theaters built at the time, the Alex had a theme, sort of an Egyptian Greek thing. I don’t think the cushy red velvet seats were used by pharaohs, but I appreciated them.
“Reginald!” A woman in a business suit, one brown ponytail dangling over a shoulder, wandered up to us in the lobby. She pumped my dad’s hand. “Great to see you.”
“Jennifer!” Dad was a little oily when he gushed movie star. “You remember my daughter Abigail?”
William glanced at me and I shrugged. No reaction out of Vince. He was used to it.
Jennifer bent over me and cooed at me like I was some sort of baby. “Hello, Abby. Can I get you and your friends some popcorn?”
“No, Jennifer, it’s cool. We’ll find our seats.”
She tilted her head. “You know the way. I’ll take your dad back. Lee is already backstage.”
We watched the adults retreat down the plush hallway. “I want popcorn,” said William.
“We’ll save you a seat.”
William climbed the stairs, leaving me with sulky Vince. We were accosted by one of the ushers who gave us a program with the details of the film, and Dad and Mr. Christopher’s picture. Then we sat down. I scanned my program, trying to avoid talking to Vince. I was not up for another round of the “you shouldn’t be dating William” chorus, which I was not doing anyway.
“Abby,” said Vince.
I frowned as I looked up, trying to stop the conversation.
“I’m sorry,” said Vince.
Say, what kind of tactic was that? “Hunh?”
“I’ve been a jerk.”
I folded the program and fiddled with it. “Okay, so, I’ve been kind of a jerk too. Maybe we’re even now for the Ned excursion?”
He smiled. “You always keep score.”
“Only a sucker doesn’t keep score, Vince. So, what’s the story with you and Coral? Are you a thing? I need to know what to tell Marty.”
Vince’s attention went above my head, which meant he was thinking. “I think we’re a thing. I mean, we haven’t said anything about being a thing. I think she thinks that I, well, that we’re a thing.”
“How do you feel about her right now?”
“Mind control theory again?”
I raised my hands. “If you’d had my week, you wouldn’t doubt it.”
He chose not to ask about my week. “I miss her,” he said.
“Vince,” I said, turning to him, “I’m gonna go out on a limb and give you some advice. Coral isn’t a good fit for you, or for anyone human. My parents will back me up on this. The jury is still out on William. He seems okay so far.”
“Unless he’s the vampire who attacked me,” said Vince. “Ned thinks he is.”
“Ned never tells me anything.” I said. “Does it make a difference if Coral is one hundred percent for sure vampire?”
“She’s not.”
“She is. She’s jealous of me, you know. She thinks I’m interested in you.”
“Are you?” said Vince. He pinned me in place with his sincere Vince look.
I swallowed. “Irrelevant,” I said.
The curtains swished, and our conversation was cut off. Jennifer found her way through the part in the middle, and began the conversation about Dad and Mr. Christopher and the Gill Monster and blah, blah, blah. The lights dimmed. I glanced around to see if William had come in, but the lights were too dim. I touched Vince on the arm. “I’m gonna go look for Austin Von Trapp.”
“Do you want me to come?”
“Nope. You haven’t seen the film.”
I got up before our whispering could disturb any more audience members and made my way down the aisle. An usher opened a door for me discreetly and I blinked as I came into the bright lights of the lobby. There were still a few people lingering. I headed up the stairs towards concessions. The smell of melted butter was a potent lure.
William was there talking to a woman. She was not much taller than him, with straight blond hair. She had on a white dress with one frill over the shoulder. I stayed where I was, watching.
William waved at me, so I wasn’t nearly as well concealed as I thought. I wandered over. “I wanted to see what was keeping you.”
“Abby, this is my mom.”
“Your mom?” My mom looked like a mom. This woman had probably never baked a chocolate chip cookie in her life.
“Larissa Petrova.” The woman extended a bony hand covered with rings. Various colors of gemstones flashed under the lobby lights. She smelled like rose perfume. “William and Coral have told me much about you, Abigail.”
I thought I would ask William why his mother was here, but that idea sort of didn’t make it any farther than my thoughts. “Nice to meet you,” I said. I waited, to see what they wanted me to do next.
“You should come with us,” said Larissa.
I nodded. No one would miss me, and I had seen the film before. We wandered down the stairs and headed for the Alex’s forecourt. It glowed in the night, the Greek figures that decorated the arch dancing against a background of shadows. William took my hand and I smiled. We headed toward the parking lot.
When William opened the door for me, I thought he was quite the gentleman. “Thank you,” I said.
“You’re welcome,” he said. “We’re going to my house now.”
“Excellent,” I said. That was exactly what I wanted to do.
“Hey!”
There was a voice in the background.
“Don’t worry about that, Abby,” said Larissa. “Get in the car.”
Ned landed on the roof of the car with a metallic thud. He was doing his best Lost Boys impression, although his jacket was more army surplus than cool leather. I shook my head and didn’t get in the car. Someone touched my arm. Vince. He turned me around. “Come on, Abby. Let’s go back to the movie.”
“Abby?” William’s voice echoed in my head.
“Leave her alone,” said Vince.
“Abby wants to go home,” said William. “Don’t you, Abby?”
“Yes,” I said. Because I did. “Hey,” I said, “is it cool for Ned to be harassing Mrs. Petrova?”
“Back off, Cooper,” said William.
Vince’s hand moved away from mine, trembling, like he wanted to keep hold of me, but he was losing the battle. There was yelling in the background. My spare hand reached into my backpack and I touched various things. “It’s okay,” my voice echoed.
“Ned,” Vince said, “it’s okay. Abby wants to go.”
“We’re going back inside,” said Ned. “You’d better leave tonight while you’re still in one piece.” Ned’s fangs showed a little.
“Who are you?” William asked. “Don’t you serve snacks at the roller rink?”
“Yeah, but I’m also the bodyguard. Now, beat it, or you’ll be sorry.”
“I don’t think so, boy.” Larissa glanced at me, and I froze like a statue. “You might be like us, but you are outclassed. Just walk away and I will let you live.”
“Ned, it’s okay,” I said. “Don’t do anything silly.”
Ned did do something silly. He launched himself from the roof of the car and right into Mrs. Petrova’s midsection. One of her high heels flew off and clattered on the concrete.
Larissa’s claws extended like knives and she punctured Ned’s t-shirt, right through his gut.
Ned rolled onto the ground. He stumbled, trying to get to his feet. Larissa grabbed his short hair and pulled him up. One of her hands clamped around his neck. She could choke Ned, but he was, you know, already dead. She could still do things to him, like snap his neck, and that would slow him up. Her claws raked over Ned’s face, up and down his arms. Ichor rained onto the concrete, a dark slick, Ned’s wet shadow in the lamplight.
Vince and I stood there like dummies.
“You two,” Larissa sa
id to me and Vince, “get in the car.”
Ned would have said something valiant, but all he could do was gurgle.
“Larissa.”
Mr. Christopher’s sonorous voice cut through the twilight. I shook my head to clear it and wrapped my hand around a vial in my backpack.
“You!”
“Put the boy down. He is under my protection.”
“You can’t do better than him? This is not one of your films.”
“Au contraire. My whole life is one of my films. Would you like to test which one of us is faster?”
Larissa shook Ned like he was a toy. She flung him at Mr. Christopher. A whoosh and a growl and she was gone. Mr. Christopher streaked into the air like a lightning bolt after her.
William looked from me to Vince. “You two stay right here. Don’t follow. Don’t go anywhere.”
We were statues until he was in the air.
Vince was the first to recover. His hand clenched his temples. “Wow,” he said. “Insidious mind control.”
I hit him on the back of the head. “You dork! Like Dad said!”
“Ow! Okay!”
My hand pulled out the vial of holy water in my backpack. “It’s like you know what’s happening…”
“…But you don’t care,” said Vince. “Yeah.”
I downed the holy water, which cleared my head. Too bad I didn’t have a spare for Vince. I shook my head. What was I thinking, going out with William? He wasn’t cute at all!
Ned lay like a heap of dirty laundry in a teenager’s room. He looked up at me, ghoulish, less like a clueless teen than I’ve ever seen him, more like something inhuman and wrong. His jacket was pocked like Swiss cheese, and I watched the hole in his cheek seal closed as he gulped. “Hello, Abigail Rath. Like what you see?”
I shrugged as casually as I could. “Seen worse. Are you—?”
“Nothing some blood won’t cure. You should back off. Go inside.”
I stepped forward. “If you wait until Mr. Christopher comes back—”
Ned’s voice rumbled with menace. “Get away from me! Vince, get her inside.”
Vince pulled my arm. “We just can’t—”
Abigail Rath Versus Bloodsucking Fiends Page 13
