by Brian Rowe
“No,” he said. He jumped up to his feet, marched toward the cell door, and wrapped his hands around the bars so tight he thought he might bleed. But he didn’t care. He had to get the best possible look at the two young men, two people he never thought he’d see again.
“So this is the famous Paul,” one of them said, the geekier one. “The one who swept Brin off her feet and left me here for dead.”
“No, it can’t be,” Paul said, blinking a few times erratically and moving to the far right. “You two are dead. They sucked too much blood out—”
“Just enough to keep us alive, that’s what your daddy told us,” the second one said, this one tall and attractive, even behind the pale skin and deadened eyes. “At least, that’s what he said to me. If one more vampire had sunk his fangs into me, I would have been a goner for sure.” He looked at the creature next to him. “What about you, Sawyer? Did you hear something similar from Droz?”
The last time Paul laid eyes on Sawyer Neville, the cinematographer of the Bodie film shoot, he had been completely naked in the center of the Underground, and sucked dry by four ravenous vampires. Now he was dressed up, in a black suit and slacks, with a bloody red bow tie, looking more like his father’s son than he himself ever could. Sawyer didn’t look like his former self, that quiet, introspective dork from Film class. He looked sleek and confident, a whole new person.
“Unlike you, Chace, I was actually dead. For a minute or two.” Sawyer stepped toward the bars and ran his fingers alongside it, with no fear at all that Paul might reach his hands through and try to throw a punch his way. “But when they pulled me off the stage, they took me to a back room, put me on a gurney, and fed some blood into my system, both through my mouth and through my arms. They said it was a close call, that they almost gave up. But when I showed signs of life, they immediately brought me into their little family. How about you, Chace?”
Chace Anderson, also dressed in a sleek, black suit, walked up to Sawyer and pressed his right shoulder against the bars. They didn’t seem to think Paul was a threat at all. Unlike Sawyer, Chace had actually caught a glimpse of Paul before his untimely demise. But he still wasn’t afraid.
“A lot of the clan died that day,” he said, turning his attention from Sawyer to Paul, a disappointed frown on his face. “They knew they needed new members. They didn’t want to let Sawyer and me go to waste. There was nothing they could have done with our dead bodies. As least now we can still be alive, and they can have more members of a large family who will continue to live on for centuries and take down the human race, one idiot at a time.”
“You don’t have to lecture me about Droz’s ways of the world, Chace,” Paul said, his voice deepening, his attitude more snarky. “The man is my father.”
“He’s not your father anymore,” Sawyer said, pushing up against Chace’s side. They stood together. Like twins. Like brothers. “We’re your father’s sons.”
Paul stared forward in disbelief. “Come again?”
“Your father hasn’t just treated us like part of a large clan. He’s treated us like his very own family. He’s told us to take your place. That we’re his kids, and you… well… are nothing to him anymore.”
“But…” Paul was at a loss for words. He thought he could feel sweat on his forehead, even though creatures of the night didn’t even have the ability to perspire. “That’s ridiculous. I’ve been his son for over a century. You’ve known Droz for… what… two weeks?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Chace said. “We’re better than you are. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.”
Paul backed away from the bars, finally. He didn’t want to look at the two fresh-faced new vampires any longer. He had tried to save them once upon a time. Now they were making him feel like nothing, before potentially turning him into nothing.
“But…” he started. “None of this makes any sense.”
“It makes perfect sense,” Chace said.
“They found your bodies. I watched the report on TV with Brin. They found your remains! They found the goddamn van!”
Sawyer smiled. “I know. Wasn’t that perfect? I’d always wanted to fake my own death. Now I have!”
“Two vampires close to our age and size were killed by one of our Grisly pals, and shriveled up into skeletons that day,” said Chace. “We just supplied the investigators with what they needed. Droz said it had to be done. He didn’t want anyone snooping around Bodie for months on end trying to see if we were still alive.”
“But can’t they tell it’s not the two of you? Through dental records, right?”
Chace and Sawyer just stared at Paul for a moment. Then they opened their mouths and revealed their fangs, and their black, empty mouths.
Paul stepped back. “Oh, whoa. Where’s your teeth? Droz cut out your teeth and put them on the skeletons?”
Sawyer shrugged. “He said it had to be done.”
“It had to be done, it had to be done. What’s the next thing that has to be done? Oh wait, let me guess. Kill me, right?”
Chace licked his fangs, closed his mouth, and grinned. “You’re not as dumb as your dad says you are, you know that?”
Paul approached the bars again and said, “What are you going to do to me?”
“We’ve been summoned to get you,” Sawyer said, smiling ominously at Chace. “There’s a large auditorium filled with Leifers and Volgas waiting for your arrival.”
“I ask again,” Paul said, then shouted, “What are you going to do to me?”
Chace chuckled, then said, “You’re in for a fate worse than death, Paul. It’s a special night. First, we’re all going to watch you suffer the most intense pain you could have ever imagined. Then we’re going to watch you die a slow, excruciating death that will take so long you’ll be begging for mercy. It’s going to be tragic.”
“Yes, very tragic,” Sawyer added, trying not to break a smile.
“We’ll all be sad and teary-eyed, for a minute or two. But then the festivities, and the fun, will finally begin.”
“The fun?” Paul asked.
“Yes,” Sawyer said. “Brin’s mother is going to marry your dad.” Sawyer looked at Chace and pursed his lips, happily. “Or should I say… our dad!”
“You’re having a wedding?” Paul asked. “You’re having a wedding here?”
“The first Bodie wedding,” Chace said. “The first in over a hundred years, anyway. Isn’t it exciting? So sorry you won’t be able to catch it. But you know, you’ve already been dead a long time, Paul. Just think of what needs to be done to guarantee your ultimate permanent death.” Chace tapped his fingers against the bars, like he was enjoying being so mercilessly evil. “And don’t worry about Brin. We’re going to take good care of her—”
Paul didn’t take time to listen to any more of their crap. He rushed forward and pounded his fists against the bars.
Chace and Sawyer backed away a few steps. “Whoa there,” Chace said, putting his hands up in the air. “Just calm down. God, those bars can be so freaking loud.”
“You can do whatever you want to me, understand? You can saw off my head, you can chop me up into little pieces. But don’t you dare touch Brin. If you do, I’ll fucking kill you.”
“Ooooh, so vulgar,” Chace said. “But Paul, your argument doesn’t make any sense. If you’re dead, if you’re in little tiny pieces, how exactly are you going to save your girlfriend?”
Paul punched the bars again, then shook his head. “What did he do to you, huh? To both of you?”
Chace and Sawyer just looked back at him, no compassion on their faces.
Paul stayed focused on Chace. “I saved you, man. They were going to kill you, and I untied you, and I risked everything to get you out safe.” Paul brought his hands to his sides and bit down on his graying lip. “And this is how you repay me?”
Chace took a step closer, but Sawyer brushed past him. “What about me?” Sawyer asked. “Why didn’t you save me?”
&nb
sp; Paul looked down at the ground. “I didn’t… I didn’t have time.”
Sawyer shook his head. “A shame. If you had saved both of us, maybe we could have helped you out.” He smiled and looked at Chace. “Then again, we still probably wouldn’t have.”
Chace nodded at the cell door, and Sawyer moved closer to it. “That’s enough chit-chat,” Chace said. “They’re waiting for us.”
Sawyer reached down to open the door.
“No, no, wait, wait,” Paul said, bringing his gaze back to the vindictive duo. “Isn’t there some kind of deal we can work out? I mean… for you guys to let me go?”
Chace stared at Paul with a look of stone. “Are you serious? Let you go?”
“You guys don’t have to do this. You don’t know me. And you don’t know my father. You don’t know the monster that he is. I’m the good guy here! Don’t you get that? I’m the good one, and he’s the bad one!”
Sawyer set his hands against the bars and turned back to Chace. “You know, he has a point. We might have become two of the bad guys.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” Chace said. Then the jock vampire pushed himself against the cell door and pressed his head nearly all the way through the bars. “Unfortunately for you, Paul, whenever I watch a movie—especially a horror movie—I always side with the bad guy. Villains are more interesting, no?” Silence ensued for a few seconds, then he pounded his fist against the bars. “Open the door, Sawyer! It’s time!”
Sawyer unlocked the door and grabbed Paul’s right arm.
“Let go of me,” Paul said, pushing away from Sawyer.
“Come on. Don’t do anything you’ll regret—”
“I said, let go of me!” Paul shook his arm out of Sawyer’s grasp and kicked the short, geeky vampire in the stomach. Sawyer let out a painful “ACK!” and crashed the back of his head into the wall.
Paul jerked his eyes toward Chace. He couldn’t believe it. That had been easier than he thought it’d be.
He raced around Chace and looked for an exit, but one second he was thinking on his feet, his blood pumping fast, with a genuine opportunity for escape, and the next he was collapsing on the dirt, on his wobbly legs, his whole body from head to toe in the most vicious pain of his life. He reached back to feel something sticking out of his back. Something wooden. Something sharp.
“Oh my God,” Paul said.
It was a wooden stake.
Chapter Thirty
Brin and Justin and Ash and Anaya and Valerie just stared forward, while Mr. Barker drove the last three miles. Nobody really said anything. Except for the occasional deep breath from Anaya or sneeze from Justin, the suburban was dead quiet, like nobody wanted to address the fact that their vice principal had turned into a witch, or that they had just passed dozens of ghosts, or that it was possible those three giant demons were still on their trail.
Or maybe the group just didn’t want to discuss the fact that they were about to face potential death in the terror that lay underneath the spookiest ghost town in the entire world.
“Last climb,” Mr. Barker said.
“What?” Brin asked from the back.
“We’re climbing the last hill. We’re almost there.”
Brin looked out her shattered window. She remembered how nervous she’d been two weeks ago to make that final climb, toward the mysterious ghost town. She hadn’t known how Anaya was going to turn out as a director, or if they were going to get caught for illegally trespassing. When Sawyer’s big van had gotten caught in a ditch, she thought nothing more terrifying could have possibly happened.
Then the next two weeks happened.
Then today happened.
And the worst, Brin knew, was yet to come.
“Oh, look at that,” Mr. Barker said, quietly.
“What?” Brin asked, again.
“The snow. Do you see the snow?”
Brin looked back out her window. All of her fears and worries disappeared for a moment. She watched as pretty, plump snowflakes started falling down from the black clouds above.
“Wow,” she said, bringing her palm up to her cheek. She even managed a smile. “It’s beautiful.”
“Might be the last beautiful thing we ever see,” Anaya said.
Brin looked at the girl and tapped her hand against her shoulder. “Don’t think like that. We’re going to make it through this.”
“Yeah,” Anaya said, not looking back at Brin. “You keep telling yourself that.”
The suburban reached the top of the hill and this time didn’t come close to getting stuck in a ditch. Mr. Barker looked cool and confident as he made a sharp left and drove down the hill toward Bodie Ghost Town, which Brin could finally see out the front windshield.
“Thank God Rosalie had a suburban,” Mr. Barker said, as he continued speeding upward of 25 MPH, even in the deepest of snow.
“Because of the four wheel drive?” asked Valerie.
“The snow tires,” Mr. Barker responded.
“Maybe they’re magic witch tires,” Ash added, to no one’s amusement.
“Where do you think we should stop, Mr. Barker?” Brin asked.
“I’m thinking the center of town. We don’t want to have to walk farther than we need to, especially if some of you guys are carrying those heavy guns.”
“Some of us?” Justin said. “You mean, you’re not going to grab a weapon yourself?”
“Uhh, no.”
“Why?”
Mr. Barker glanced back at Justin, then looked at the knowing Valerie. “Valerie and I aren’t going to need weapons.”
“Why not?” he said. “Why—oh.” The truth came to him fast. “Because the two of you aren’t human. Because you’re monsters.”
“What?” Valerie said, looking back at Justin. “Take that back.”
“Take what back?”
“We’re not monsters! We’re the good guys!”
“With all due respect, you’re a troll,” Justin said. “I don’t have a dictionary on me, but I’m pretty sure a troll would fit into the proper definition of a monster.”
“I’m not a monster. I’m just special.”
“Special? Are you serious—”
“Hey,” Brin said, interrupting the conversation, keeping one eye on the oncoming Bodie Ghost Town outside and another on Valerie, who was turning red in the face with anger. “I don’t care what Valerie is. All I know is she’s going to help us. Did you all see how big she was as that troll? She’ll be able to stomp down the vampires five at a time.”
“Well, what about your Film teacher?” Justin asked Brin. “Does he count as a monster? According to Ash, the guy can turn into a freaking werewolf.”
“Oh, I’m a monster,” Mr. Barker said, loud and proud from the driver’s seat. He didn’t hesitate.
“Yeah,” Ash said. “A troll we can have a debate about. But a werewolf is a monster, and will always be a monster. Lon Chaney Jr, hello! And Mr. Barker’s even scarier. The guy in The Wolf Man is Bambi compared to Mr. Barker!”
Brin put her hands on Ash’s shoulders. “Come on, Ash. No more movie talk. Do you have any idea what’s about to happen?”
“But see, that’s the thing, Brin. This is a movie. One big giant movie.” He paused. “Only you can pick your genre.”
“Now you’re quoting Scream? Really, Ash? We’re becoming a parody of a parody of a parody.”
“No, that’d be if I quoted Scary Movie, the spoof of Scream—”
Brin shook her head. “Whatever. All I know is, if I were able to pick my genre, it’d be anything but horror. I hate horror. I’m so fucking sick of horror!”
“Brin, be careful,” Ash said, opening his mouth wide. “I don’t know what the genre would be, but if this really was a movie, you would’ve just given it an R rating!”
“Brin, Ash,” Mr. Barker said. “Shut up. We’re here.”
Brin had been so focused on her inane conversation with Ash, she hadn’t paid attention to where the suburban was headed, or
that it had even stopped. Brin pushed Ash’s head to the side and looked out the windshield to see, of all things, the church.
The Bodie Church.
“Oh God,” Brin said.
But Brin and the others didn’t have time to process. Mr. Barker had already stepped out onto the snow. She almost screamed when he raced by her shattered window, as she thought it might have been Droz making a sooner-than-expected appearance. She turned around to see Mr. Barker open the back of the vehicle.
“Come on,” he said. “Everybody out.”
Valerie pulled open the sliding door, stepped out into the cold, and shouted loud and clear, “Holy shit, it’s freezing!”
“Shhh!” everyone uttered even louder.
Valerie turned around and frowned real big and child-like. “Oh! Sorry.”
Ash shook his head as he waited for Anaya to step out. Justin jumped out before Ash could, leaving Brin and Ash the last two in the vehicle. They took in the sight of one another and sighed.
“Are you ready?” Ash said.
“No,” said Brin.
“Good. Let’s go.”
Ash grabbed Brin’s hand, and the two stepped away from the suburban side by side. Ash slammed the sliding door shut, and he and Brin met the others at the back of the vehicle.
“OK, Ash, a handgun for you,” Mr. Barker said, dropping the gun in Ash’s right hand.
“Aww, that’s it?”
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t get anything bigger? Like a machine gun? Or what about a rocket launcher? At least give me a magnum, Mr. Barker. Let me be Dirty Harry for a night.”
Mr. Barker didn’t bother giving Ash a response. Instead, he turned to Justin and gave him another small handgun, this one gray in color. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” Justin said, bringing it to his pocket as he held out his shotgun he had brought from home.
“Hey!” Ash said. “Justin already has a gun!”
“Now, Anaya, you said you were familiar with guns, right?” Mr. Barker asked.
“That’s correct,” Anaya responded, like she was addressing a military sergeant.
