by R. L. Stine
They disappeared down the stairs. Destiny heard the kitchen door slam behind them.
Livvy hugged herself. She crossed the room to Destiny. “I hardly touched her,” she said. “It was just an accident. I didn’t try to break her arm. You believe me, right?”
Destiny sighed. “Yes, I believe you.”
Livvy shut her eyes. “Courtney started it. She grabbed me first. What does she think she’s doing? She knows I love Ross.”
Destiny gasped. “Love? Did you say ‘love’?”
Livvy nodded. She opened her eyes. “Yes, I did. Why are you staring at me?”
“Well…for one thing, Ross is probably a vampire hunter. Do you think he’d love you back if he knew—”
“He cares for me. He told me so.”
“But you know Ross. He never goes with anyone for long. He always has three or four girls chasing him.”
“This is different,” Livvy insisted. “He and I—we’ve talked. He’s serious about me. Courtney has been trying to break us up. But I can’t let her do that. She asked for it, Dee. She really did.”
Destiny shook her head. “She asked for it? She asked for a broken arm? Did you see the bone sticking out through the skin?”
“I’d like to do worse to her.”
“Don’t say that, Livvy. That’s horrible.”
A sob escaped Livvy’s throat. “You don’t understand me, Dee. You’re just like everyone else.”
“Stop talking like that,” Destiny snapped. “We have more important things—”
“Nothing is more important than Ross and me!” Livvy screamed.
“Calm down. Calm down. You’re not thinking clearly. Listen to me, Liv. Right now, getting to Renz is more important. We have to see him as soon as we can and tell him we need his special powers. We—”
Destiny stopped when she heard the front door slam. A few seconds later, she heard heavy, trudging footsteps in the kitchen.
Both girls went to the stairs. “Dad, is that you? Are you home?” Destiny called.
No answer.
Destiny led the way down the stairs. “Dad?”
He had his back to them. He was hunched over the sink, washing his hands.
“Dad?”
When he turned, Destiny let out a cry. His shirt was torn open and stained. Streams of dark blood had caked on his forehead. Both hands were cut and bleeding.
“Oh my God!” Destiny cried. “Dad—are you okay? What happened?”
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Her Blood Was Drained”
“I’m okay,” he said. “Really.”
“But, Dad—”
Both girls rushed over to him. “What happened?” Destiny repeated.
“A little car accident,” he said.
Livvy caught him as his knees started to fold. “A car accident? Are you hurt? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, really.” He swung free of Livvy and stuck his hands under the rushing hot water in the sink. “My mind wandered, I guess. I hit a mailbox. No big deal.”
Destiny stared at him. “Your mind wandered? Dad, you’ve got to get yourself together. You could have been killed.”
“I know,” he said, shaking his head. “But I’m fine. Really.”
“You’re not fine,” Destiny said. “You’re not yourself, and you know it.”
“You’ve been working too hard,” Livvy said. “Look what time it is.”
“I know. I know,” he muttered. “When you’re right, you’re right.” He forced a smile. Then he shut off the water and went dripping across the kitchen, heading to his room.
Destiny and Livvy exchanged nervous glances. “He’s all cut up,” Livvy murmured.
“I’m really worried about him,” Destiny said.
She looked out the kitchen window. Her dad’s SUV stood in the driveway, close to the garage. Light from the kitchen washed over it.
“That’s so weird,” she said to Livvy. “Come here. Check this out. Dad’s car…it looks perfectly fine.”
Two days later, the phone woke her up. Destiny raised her head off the pillow and gazed out the window. The morning sky was still charcoal gray.
She fumbled for the phone and picked it up. “Hello?” Her voice was still hoarse from sleep.
She heard someone crying on the other end.
“Hello? Who is this?”
Muffled sobs. Then a choked voice she didn’t recognize. “Dee, it’s me.”
“Who? Please—”
“I’m sorry. I can’t stop crying.”
“Ana-Li? Is that you? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m okay. I mean, no. You see, Courtney…it’s Courtney…”
A shock jolted Destiny wide awake. She jerked up in bed and dropped her feet to the floor. “Courtney? Yes, I know. She broke her arm the other night.”
“Her arm? No. No. No. She’s dead, Dee,” Ana-Li said between sobs. “Her parents…they found her in the backyard. She’s dead. Her blood…oh my God…her blood was drained, Dee. Courtney’s dead.”
Destiny held a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. Ana-Li’s voice sounded unreal in her ears. The words weren’t making sense.
She didn’t want the words to make sense.
Please let this be a mistake.
But no. Through her sobs, Ana-Li continued. “There’s no school. School is canceled. Everyone is afraid. It’s so frightening, Dee. The Vampire Killer—he…he struck again. Poor Courtney. I…can’t believe it. I just saw her yesterday. First Bree and now…”
The Vampire Killer?
No. I don’t think so.
“I…I’ll call you back, Ana-Li. I can’t talk now. Later, okay? I…I’m too upset.” She clicked off the phone and tossed it onto the bed.
“Livvy!” she screamed.
She stared at her sister across the room, on her stomach, hair spilling over the pillow, one hand trailing over the side of the bed to the floor.
“Livvy—you killed her!”
Livvy raised her head sleepily. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t pretend. Don’t play innocent with me.” Destiny grabbed her twin by the shoulders and shook her awake. “You killed her. You killed Courtney.”
Livvy pushed Destiny’s hands away and yawned. “Oh my God! Courtney’s dead?” She shut her eyes. “How? How did it happen?”
“You know how!” Destiny cried. “You did it—didn’t you, Livvy! You were afraid you’d lose Ross. So you—you—” Destiny’s voice broke into sobs.
Livvy turned her face away from Destiny. “That’s horrible,” she murmured. “Horrible news. I really can’t believe it.”
Trembling, Destiny stared down at her sister. “You’re not even pretending to be sorry. How could you, Livvy? Courtney didn’t have to die—just because she and Ross—”
“Leave Ross out of it,” Livvy snapped. “I didn’t do it, Dee. I swear to you.”
Destiny’s voice broke again. “My own sister. I…I can’t even look at you.”
“Well, you won’t have to for long.”
“What does that mean?” Destiny cried. “What are you saying? Have you gone crazy? Are you that far gone? Have you gone nuts like Mrs. Bauer?”
“Speak for yourself, Dee.” Livvy stood up and, pulling down her nightshirt, made her way to the bathroom.
Destiny strode up behind her and spun her around. “Livvy—you killed for Ross. You killed a human being. Doesn’t that mean anything to you? Don’t you even realize what’s happened to you? Don’t you think about the trouble we’re both in? We have to find Renz right away. We have to be restored.”
“Maybe I have my own plan,” Livvy said through gritted teeth.
“Huh? What are you saying?”
Livvy dove into the bathroom and slammed the door.
“What are you saying, Livvy?” Destiny demanded. “What kind of plan?”
Chapter Thirty-Three
A Valuable Nature Lesson
“Where’s your sister?” A
na-Li asked.
Destiny shrugged. “Beats me. She left the house right after breakfast. She didn’t say a word to me.”
“She’s just afraid,” Ana-Li said. “We all are. Our friends are dying off one by one. None of us knows how to deal with it. So Livvy acts angry. That’s her way. She’ll calm down…once they catch the murderer.”
Destiny spent the day at Ana-Li’s house. Ari and Fletch and some other kids dropped by after lunch. No one felt much like talking. But somehow it felt safer to be together.
Destiny thought about Livvy all day. And she thought about Renz. School is closed. Livvy and I can’t see him today. How much longer can we wait?
She returned home at dinnertime to find the house empty. A phone message from Dad said that he was working late and that Mikey was staying at a friend’s. No sign of Livvy.
Destiny didn’t feel hungry, but she shoved a frozen pizza into the oven. She forced down a slice without even tasting it, then went up to her room. She began to pace back and forth, wondering what she should do next.
She picked up Livvy’s nightshirt from where it had been tossed on the floor, folded it, and placed it on Livvy’s bed. Livvy’s eye shadows and lipsticks were a jumble on her dressing table. Destiny began to straighten them, putting caps on the tubes and bottles.
Destiny didn’t start to feel strange until just after eight o’clock. That’s when her skin started to tingle, her back itched, and she felt a powerful gnawing sensation in the pit of her stomach.
She ignored it at first. But the tingling became an ache and the gnawing, tumbling feeling in her stomach nearly doubled her over.
I need some fresh air.
She opened the window and took several deep breaths. She gripped the windowsill so tightly her hands ached.
Please…please…make this stop.
So hungry. I’m so hungry.
She felt her hair stiffen and heard it crackle. And then her skin was crackling too. Her grip on the sill loosened, and her hands shrank quickly.
What’s happening to me?
She felt herself pulling inward…closing in…changing so fast. All crackly and stiff.
Muscles tightened. Vision blurred. Banging heartbeats made her chest throb.
Am I sick? What’s happening? I can’t control it!
She saw her clothes in a rumpled pile below her. She felt herself floating up, floating effortlessly.
She fluttered off the windowsill. Sailed across the room, up to her dresser mirror.
“NOOOOOOOO!” Her scream escaped as a shrill whistle.
Spreading her wings, she squinted into the mirror. Her sight strange, fragmented. But she could see clearly enough.
She could see her fur-covered body attached to the thin, veined wings, her tiny, red eyes, her rodent mouth hanging open as she stared…
…stared at the bat in the mirror.
Screeching in horror, she turned, flapping her wings frantically, and spun in midair.
Hungry. So hungry now.
She sailed through the open window, out into the night.
I’m not human anymore. I’m a bat. I…want to go home. I want to go back.
But the hunger drove her through the purple-gray sky, over the dark houses. The cool wind felt good, rushing under her wings. She could feel her rapid heartbeats drumming in her chest, and feel the gnawing hunger in her belly.
Her wings flapped silently as she swooped low over a wooded field—and found what she was searching for. An owl on a high tree limb, staring straight ahead, so still, feathers bristling in the wind. A fat owl, filled with delicious blood…
She swooped at it, opening her mouth hungrily. Screeching down, she dug her teeth into its chest.
She didn’t expect it to fight back. But the owl slashed a deep cut in her left wing. Thrashing wildly, it tore at her belly with its beak.
They tumbled off the tree branch. Fell to the mossy, wet ground.
The owl thrashed and cut. Destiny flapped hard above it, keeping her long teeth clamped deep in its belly.
The owl screeched, clawing at her wings, thrusting its beak into her middle, sharp jab after jab.
Pain shot through Destiny’s body, paralyzing her. She lost her grip on its belly. Blood spattered her throbbing body, and she realized it was her own blood.
I’ve made a horrible mistake. I didn’t know…owls are stronger…stronger than bats. I didn’t know…
Too weak to flap her wings…too weak to escape.
She lay on her back on the blood-wet grass, the owl perched on her tiny, gray belly. Its talons tore at her thin wings again. Its beak dug into her throat.
I didn’t know…I didn’t know…
Chapter Thirty-Four
A Surprise From Dad
Destiny opened her eyes.
I can’t see. I’m blind.
But then the stars came into focus. And the nearly full moon behind wisps of gray cloud.
She saw the roof of her garage. Raised her head from the grass, turned, and saw the back of her house.
I’m lying in the grass behind my house. I’m totally naked.
She sat up. Rubbed her chest. Dried blood.
It’s real. It really happened.
How did I fight off the owl? How am I still alive?
Slowly, the terrifying memory came back. As the owl attacked her, she had started to transform. Back to her human body, hands furiously shoving the bird away.
The startled owl raised its wings, turned, and flew off into the night.
Destiny shivered. Her legs were wet with dew, so cold against her skin. She pulled a brown leaf from her hair, then got up onto her knees.
She turned to the house. Mikey’s yellow bike stood propped against the back wall next to his soccer ball. She could see lights on in the kitchen and in the room above the garage—her room.
She stood up slowly, testing her arms and legs. Her muscles ached, but she could walk. Keeping in the darkest shadows, she made her way to the back door and peered in.
No one in the kitchen.
Silently, she pried open the door and slipped inside. The clock over the stove read eight forty-five. She had been gone less than an hour. She listened for voices. No. No music, no TV on. No one home yet.
Still shivering, her mind spinning, Destiny crept up to her room. She took a long shower. And as the steamy hot water rushed over her, she decided.
I have to tell Dad.
I can’t keep this a secret anymore. It’s gone too far. I turned into a bat tonight. What if it’s too late for me? What if it’s too late for Renz to fix me?
I’m too scared to face it all alone. I’m no longer in control of my own body. The moon is nearly full. I have to tell Dad. I can’t keep it all inside me any longer.
She pulled on a T-shirt, an oversized sweater, and jeans, grabbed the car keys, and hurried out to the garage. Dad had the SUV, but the Civic was still in its place.
Destiny’s hands shook. She grabbed the steering wheel to steady them.
I have to tell Dad. After all, he is a doctor. Maybe…maybe…
She backed the car out, nearly scraping the driver’s side against the garage wall.
Calm down, Dee. Concentrate on your driving.
She glanced at the dashboard clock. Nearly nine thirty and Dad was still at work. That poor man. Why is he working so hard?
The streets slid by in a blur. Before she realized it, she was pulling to the curb in front of her dad’s animal clinic. Street lights washed over the square, redbrick building. The sign above the glass door was simple, stenciled in blue letters on white: WELLER VETERINARY CLINIC.
Destiny climbed out of the car. She wiped her cold, wet hands on the legs of her jeans. Her heart thudded in her chest.
I’ve never been so nervous to talk to Dad. What will he think when I tell him? What will he say?
The blinds were only half closed on the wide front window beside the entrance, and she could see that the lights were on in her dad’s waiting room. Th
e examining rooms and the lab were at the back.
Destiny took a deep breath and made her way to the door. But a flash of movement in the window caught her attention. She turned and stepped to the window, stooping to see inside between the blinds.
“Oh, wow.”
She slid to the side so she wouldn’t be seen. Her dad sat on the waiting room desk, gesturing and talking to a group of guys seated in front of him.
They had their backs to the window. Keeping out of view, Destiny squinted hard into the brightly lit room.
It’s some kind of meeting. But that doesn’t make sense. Why would Dad be having a meeting this time of night?
And then she recognized Ross in the chair closest to the window. And Fletch beside him. And across the room, other guys from Dark Springs High.
Destiny slid away from the window. She pressed her back against the cold brick wall.
What are those guys doing there with my dad?
What could they be talking about?
Holding on to the brick wall, she leaned forward again and peered into the window. They were all standing up. She could hear the scrape of their chairs. Her father opened the coat closet door. He leaned inside.
A car passed behind her on the street, sending its headlights over Destiny. She stood up straight. The car slowed, then continued on its way.
Her eyes burned from the bright lights. Blinking hard, she swung back to the window. Dr. Weller stepped out of the coat closet. Destiny could see him clearly. She could see what he was holding. Wooden stakes, sharpened to a point at one end. He handed one to each boy.
“Oh, no.”
She didn’t want to believe what she was seeing. Staring through the window glass was like staring into a dream.
That isn’t my dad. Those aren’t my friends.
She didn’t have long to think about it. Someone shut off the lights in the waiting room. The window went black.
They’re coming out.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Is Ross Dangerous?
I don’t believe it. But it’s true. Dad is a hunter—Dad and my friends are vampire hunters.
