by Martha Woods
Sara was in no mood to wander. She just wanted to get home, but to do so, she would have to follow the road away from the shore and into the hills. The walk would quickly take her an hour or more. She decided to take a shortcut through the field.
The wind was picking up, blasting off the coast, sending with it a crisp chill that wrapped its arms around Sara and just wouldn't let her go. It got so bad that she was hunched over, shivering with her arms pulled close to her chest. She stopped, looked around and realized that she was going to get caught out there in the middle of the night. She would have nothing to light her way except for her phone.
She was standing in the middle of a vast expanse of grass. If it got dark, she would never find her way through this. She would just wander around lost until she fell off the edge of a cliff. A breeze hit her in the face, driven by what sounded like a gunshot.
Something just ran past her.
She froze and started looking around. There didn't seem to be anything but the empty field. She had to get out of there. Her feet moved smoothly, and propelled her forward. She was going to beat the sun and get home before it got dark. She didn't want to be out there.
Sara didn't realize she was on the ground until something tore her carotid artery open and expertly held back the fountain of blood. It moved slowly, lapping up the warm spray while its rough tongue scraped around inside her.
Then it started to drink. It began with quick swallows as the blood gushed from its mouth. That's when she began to struggle. All she managed to do was lift her head enough to get a look at the thing. It was like a man's form carved out of white marble, and its blond curls were so thick it looked like a wig.
Sara's last thought before passed out was that the thing that killed Sara's mother was trying to kill her too.
Chapter 10
The needle stabbed into the crook of her arm and stuck. She was laying in the grass staring up at a creature with the same white marble skin holding up an IV bag of blood.
This Monster was different, with a strand of his unruly black hair hanging down his forehead and a wide jaw. He didn't move quick and strike like a snake. His movements flowed like a human's. He didn't move like a monster wearing the skin of its kill the way the other one did.
He wasn't hurting her either. She'd lost a lot of blood, and he was replenishing it for her. He was saving her from the thing that killed her mother.
Sara didn't know how long she stared up at him until she finally passed out. There were brief flashes after that, the scraping of boots against the ground and the feeling of being carried. Once she did finally wake up, she swatted at her arm to get the needle out. There was nothing there but a little pin prick.
She was laying in her room with her clothes from the night before neatly folded on her chair. She hobbled out of bed, surprised at how weak she felt.
Her grandmother couldn't deny anything after what happened. If she was going to stay safe, she needed to know how to protect herself. Besides, she'd earned some answers. She didn't even remember coming home. She blacked out from God knows what. Her safety was being threatened. The thing that killed her mother tried to eat at her neck.
She checked herself in the mirror in her room. Her neck was bare. “Nothing!” She whispered. There were no marks where the thing bit her. She checked her arm. The track mark was gone. Now there would be no proof and Sara would get no answers.
No.
She wasn't going to put up with her grandmother’s bullshit. She was going to march right up to the woman and demand to know what was going on. If her grandmother didn't want to answer, Sara would push her and push her until she gave in. Now, this shit was threatening her life.
Sara put on her slippers and hopped down the stairs. “Alright,” she slammed her fists on the kitchen table. “I want to know what the hell is going on and I'm not leaving until you tell me.”
“No.” She spun around to face Sara, leaning against the counter casually.
“No. I'm not going anywhere. I had something feasting on my neck. It was the same thing that killed my mother. I know it was. Now I almost died last night. I think giving me a little information would be a smart move.” She leaned forward over the table.
“Alright. You want some information, Sara?”
“Yes!”
“I found you delusional, screaming about leeches in the field. Don't go out at night. You're only safe when you're here.”
“Is that it? I need a real explanation.”
“Nope.” She turned around to finish scrubbing the counter. Just like that, Sara was certain she wasn't going to get any information out of her. It was a slap in the face. Sara needed Margaret right now, more than she ever needed anyone.
Sara stormed around the house while she was getting ready for school. Sara made it as difficult as she could for her grandmother, crashing around, stomping her feet. Sara put her grandmother to the test. There were a couple of times the woman became genuinely frustrated, but she didn't say much of anything, so Sara eventually stopped, went dead silent and left when Margaret's back was turned. Sara would rather walk the entire way than have to spend one-second longer with her grandmother.
She got halfway down the drive when her grandmother caught up with her, stopped her and said, “You don't think it's hard for me either?”
“You think I care? I can't handle the lies. I mean after all, I've been through...do you have any idea how much I need to just talk openly with you?”
“Yes.” She couldn't meet Sara's eyes,
“Then why would you let me suffer like this? Tell me what's going.”
“No.” She stiffened.
“Fine.” Sara got in the passenger seat of the car. “Let's go.”
The entire way to school, Sara had to avert her eyes. She wanted to shake the woman silly until she spilled everything. Margaret stayed silent. She just pulled up to the school and waited while Sara got out.
Andrea avoided Sara until lunch when she started hovering in the hall while Sara was trying to put her things in her locker. Sara slammed it shut and motioned for Andrea to follow. Andrea was the kind of girl that Sara didn't mind having around. She knew to keep a little bit of space and probably suspected there was something a bit off about Sara.
“Did you stay out late last night? It's kind of hard to get down from the cliffs when it's dark.”
“I almost got lost in the field.”
“Huh.” They took two slabs of greasy school pizza to their tables.
Sara just stared at hers. She couldn't be paid to touch the thing. She didn't want to hear Andrea talk either. The girl looked like she was about to explode with a million questions and comments. So she scanned the crowd and looked anywhere but back down at her friend.
The creature that gave her the IV was posing as a school kid eating pizza in the corner. She shot up off her chair.
“What's wrong?” Andrea got up.
“I'll be right back.” He watched her out of the corner of his eyes with a grin while she walked over.
“Alright.” She sat down across from him.
“Hey, what are you doing?” He pretended to sound shocked.
“You're going to tell me what the hell that was.” She bared her teeth. “And I'm not taking any bullshit.”
“I don't know what you're talking about.” He leaned back in his chair casually. “Now if you could, please leave me alone.”
“Oh, bullshit. I remember you. You stand out like a sore thumb. Look at you. You're bright white with muscles that look like they're carved from stone. You're different, which wouldn't matter except that I almost got killed by something just like you.”
“I have to go.” He got up and turned to leave.
Sara avoided human contact the rest of the day and spent the evening up in her room sulking. She was living in hell, stuck in the middle of something horrific and nobody was willing to give her any answers. The next day at lunch Sara kept watch for him while Andrea stared at her. “What happened with Cale
b yesterday?”
“Caleb?” Sara's eyes darted around while she searched the crowd.
“The boy you were talking to yesterday, Caleb Baker.”
“Tell me everything you know about him.”
“There isn't much to say. Nobody knows a thing. Caleb moved here a couple months before you did. Every single girl in the entire school has thrown themselves at her, and he's turned them all down. He doesn't talk to anybody. I'm surprised he spoke to you.”
“Really?”
“Most I've seen come out of his mouth in months. What'd you say to him?” She was smiling.
“It doesn't. Matter.”
“Aw,” she bounced up and down. “Come on.”
Sara shot her a look that said the matter was closed. She had her first answer. The creature's name was Caleb. That's all she knew about him, and that was probably all she was going to get. He seemed careful like nothing could get past him. He wasn't going to tell Sara anything. He would probably cause a stir and get her in trouble if she kept trying to talk to him.
Sara would just have to live with the idea of him walking the halls, not knowing what he was. The deception was maddening. Sara wasn't somebody that could just take something like this and sit on it. She was going to wonder, poke around and demand answers. It didn't matter how many brick walls she met, Sara was going to find out the truth.
Sara gave up looking the day after and barely noticed when he walked into the lunch room until he was sitting directly across from her. “Andrea could we have a moment?” he asked.
“Sure.” She found somewhere else to sit.
“What are you?” Sarah whispered.
“Maybe if you answer my questions, I'll respond to some of yours.”
“Fine.”
“Good. Why did you move here?”
“Does it matter?”
He leaned forward, eyes wide with excitement. “Is there something wrong with curiosity? I should think that you'd have a problem with it.”
“I went to live with my grandmother.” She wasn't going to tell him anything else.
“Why?”
“Because I did,” she snapped.
“Where are you from originally?”
“The Pacific northwest.” His questions didn't make any sense. “Do you like it here?”
“No. The people are ridiculously stupid and necessary, and that's saying something considering I'm mostly talking about high school students.”
He leaned back. “I suspect that's because you're ahead of your age.”
“What about you?”
“I'm behind the times.” Something in the way he said that told Andrea that it meant more than he was letting on.
“Where's your family from?”
“Here. The Bishops were one of the first settlers to come to this area in the eighteenth century. We used to own the cliffs and a good portion of the field below them, but we've since had to sell off the land.”
“Where's your family from originally?”
She sighed, “Pangea. Why does any of this matter? There doesn't seem to be any point to it.”
“Maybe there is no sense. Maybe I just want to know about you. You're interesting.”
“Interesting?” That concerned her. “Interesting how?”
“You're a unique individual, and I can't place your skin tone or your hair color. I'm dying to know where your family is from.”
“Well,” she dropped her barriers a bit, “We're from the Rhineland, but I don't think we're German, something else.”
He nodded his head. “So you're in the old house near the cliffs?”
“You know it. Sometimes I like to walk down there so I can see the ocean.”
She found her chance and took it. “You answered a question. Will you answer one for me?”
“Maybe.”
“What are you?”
“What sort of things do you enjoy?” He ignored the question.
“Are you human?” If he was going to ignore her, she was going to ignore him.
He started to get up.
“OK. OK. I'm sorry.” He was probably the most infuriating man she'd ever met. He got his way, not with force but through manipulation and playing games. He was a strategist, one of the best she'd ever met. Sara might've found that endearing if she wasn't so pissed at him.
“Tit for tat.”
“Fine.” Andrea started thinking. She used to enjoy things. Andrea loved cooking and writing. She was an avid reader of everything dark and loved old black and white movies, but none of those things were true anymore. “I like to hike.”
“Where?”
“Near the cliffs where you found me. It feels dangerous, and I like that.”
She thought she saw him smile, but she might've been wrong. “I think our line of questioning is over for the day.”
“Wait!” She got up to confront him, but he was out the door before she knew what was going on.
Sara felt played. She didn't get a single chance to ask him anything. She spilled her heart out to him, and she still knew nothing about him. He wasn't going to get away with it. She was going to stalk Caleb if she had to. She needed to know what he was.
Chapter 11
It took Caleb three days to show up to school after he questioned her. The entire time she felt like she was going to explode. Maybe he was just trying to get information out of her and now that he got it he didn't have any need to come back to school.
He already had everything he needed to track her down. He knew where she lived and where she liked to go. A part of her was worried that he was hunting her, or toying with her the way a cat might play with a mouse. Perhaps he was a predator. The thing that attacked her was definitely a killer. Maybe that was why she was interested in Caleb. She was attracted to danger, slowly finding ways to tempt death so she didn't have to it herself.
Caleb didn't play by the same rules as everyone else. He came and went as he pleased, and the school administrators never seemed to think anything of it. When he walked into the lunch room, Sara didn't notice. She was too busy staring at the greasy slab of French bread and cheese covered in tomato paste that the school passed off as pizza.
Andrea got up and walked off. Sara looked up and found him staring at her, his eyes scanning every movement, every breath as if he wanted to savor everything about her. “What's your favorite food?”
“Not this.” She pushed the pizza away.
“Do you have anything you really love?”
“Lamb tikka masala. It's an India dish.”
“I prefer vindaloo myself.” Caleb reached out and pulled a chunk of cheese off her pizza and scarfed it down.
“What is your favorite movie?”
“The Scarlett Empress. It's ancient. It's about Catherine the Great, the old Russian Empress.”
“Marlene Dietrich is an archetype of feminine prowess. I've always admired her, especially in that role. She was the empress because she exuded the qualities that only an empress could—a fiery personality and a compelling authority over men's hearts.”
“And you never see her coming. She was the silver screen.”
“Exactly,” Caleb said. “Do you have a favorite color?”
“Do you have any reason for questioning me at all?”
“Yes, I do, and it's crucial.”
“What is it?”
“I like you. You intrigue me, and I want to know everything about you.”
Sara started shivering. He was dangerous, this creature. She had to get close to him. Perhaps this was the push she needed to finally throw herself off the mortal coil. “Is that a means to an end?”
“I don't know.” He said playfully. “I want to figure that out first.”
The bell rang. She went to get up, but he motioned for her to stop. He walked around the table and offered her his hand. The act of chivalry felt foreign to her. She'd seen it in movies and read about it in books, but it was an ancient practice, so far as she knew.
“Thank you.”
She took his hand and allowed him to escort her to class. Her lesson went by slowly. She didn't care about her math class. She could go through her homework without even trying. It was a waste of time. Something otherworldly was out there, sitting in a room just like that one, and she couldn't see him because she had to listen to some old man lecture about useless knowledge.
When the bell rang, and she walked outside, he was leaning against the door frame, his eyes glittering. “Come on.” He motioned outside.
They walked together while the rest of the students balked at them, laughing and whispering. Sara was the center of attention now, which meant that because of Caleb, Sara was going to have to work extra hard to fight off ravenous peers. It would take months for them to realize she was going to keep her legs closed.
When they got outside, they found a quiet corner in the field on the side of the school where nobody would bother them. Then they sat down in front of one another.
He started immediately. “What do you think about me?”
“You're dangerous, and I like that.”
“Why?”
She didn't answer. Instead, she tried to wait it out, hoping that Caleb would ask another question, but Caleb didn't. He knew the game she was playing so he waited for her to say something. “I like thrills.”
“Like roller coasters?”
“Sure.”
He exhaled sharply. “We seemed to have hit a wall.”
“We have, haven’t we?”
“What are your questions?”
“What are you?”
“I'm peaceful.”
“Answer my question,” Sara demanded.
“No. I'm peaceful.” When he said, no, it was clear that he meant it and there was no getting around it. He was a gentle creature.
“What was that thing that attacked me?”
He shook his head. “It doesn't matter.”
“Am I still in danger?” She met his eyes.
“I'm trying to keep you out of it.” He walked away.
