by Gayla Twist
“You’ll get all burned up,” the girl said.
“That’s right. But you should always tell them about everything else,” I said, feeling like a creep for encouraging her to keep a secret about the weird person in the garden.
“Except for night fairies,” she said.
“Except for night fairies.”
Chapter 20
Haley
Much to my relief, my new little friend left me alone for the rest of the day. Although I could hear her singing about fairies as she played in the backyard. One time I did hear her say to her mother, “I have a surprise to tell you after dark.”
“Why after dark?” the mom asked.
“Because that’s how long I have to wait,” the girl told her.
Can’t you tell me now?” the mom asked. I gripped the tarp tightly, preparing for the worst.
“No,” said my little friend after giving it some thought. “I can’t.”
“But why?” the mom asked, probably suspecting something was up. “You know you can tell me anything.”
“I know.” The girl began singing again and then I heard her go skipping to the other end of the yard.
I’ve had some long days since being turned in a member of the undead, but hiding in a child’s treehouse, fighting back the urge to kill the family in the house just yards away from me was one of the longest. The urge to feed was as strong as it had been when I was first turned, but I forced myself to keep it under control. Better that I would die than to harm an innocent family. I tried to focus my energy on coming up with a plan.
I started to relax a little as the sun started to go down. I was going to make it. I wasn’t going to feast upon the little girl. She would remain a sweet memory for me and not something I would literally regret for eternity.
Finally it was dark enough for me to come out from under the tarp and blanket. My stomach felt like a giant was gripping it in an iron fist. But I knew I could keep my hunter instincts under control, at least until I was clear of the house. I decided to take the tarp and blanket with me. I had no idea no idea where I would spend the next day. Plus, I still didn’t have any real clothes.
Poking my head out of the little door, I glanced at the back of the house and saw some excited movements in an upstairs window. My little friend was waiting. That knowledge made my stomach howl with hunger, but she was safely inside her home and I couldn’t enter without an invitation. There was a very good chance she would invite me in if I asked, but there was no way I was getting close enough to her for us to have a conversation.
But I didn’t want to disappoint my friend, so I did some aerial acrobatics to thank her for keeping my secret. I could see her little face laughing and clapping with delight. But when she disappeared from the window, I knew I had to make my exit from the yard. She was either going to get her mother, or going to come outside. Either option did not work for me. It was time for me to stop pressing my luck and get the heck out of there.
I flew with an extreme determination to put as much distance between me and the little girl as possible. I wanted to head south-east, but without the sun to guide me, I was pretty much guessing. I had no idea how to steer by the stars.
I slowed down when the houses began to be separated by grassy fields and patches of woods. Skimming over the fields, I snatched up rabbits to quiet my stomach. I wasn’t happy about it because bunnies were so cute, but I had to fill my belly with something. After a while, I decided to stop to catch my breath.
Forcing myself to focus, I thought about my plan. First, I had to find more to eat. Human blood was a lot more satisfying than any other animal, but it also came with the greatest risk. Then I had to get a hold of a phone with Google Maps. So then I could find the damn Vanderlind Castle in Tiburon, Ohio, so I that could find my damn maker, so that I could damn well force him to love me.
I pressed the heel of my palm the spot on my forehead that was right between my eyes, trying to pull myself together. Drinking so much rabbit blood so quickly was making me feel almost as twitchy one of the little creatures scampering across the fields.
“First food, then phone,” I said to myself, launching into the air again. I watched as an owl tried to pick off a field mouse, but it ended up getting snatched up by me, instead. I bet that was a surprise. It seemed like just a regular barn owl, but I still felt bad about killing it. Were all owls endangered or just the fluffy white, Harry Potter ones? I made a promise to myself that sometime in the future I would donate money to some type of wildlife fund. A lot of money. But at least with the owl’s blood in my belly, I was feeling more under control. Rising high up into the air, I looked in every direction, finally spotting the dim glow of a gas station sign.
Landing behind some trees on the opposite side of the street, I watched the gas station for a good fifteen minutes before anybody showed up for fuel. It was an elderly gentleman in a pickup truck. I figured the chances of him owning a smartphone were slim, so I stayed where I was. It took another ten minutes after that for a bright blue sports car to pull up with the radio blasting. A man hopped out and began getting gas. He looked reasonably well-off, so I was feeling pretty secure that he had a smartphone. And that he could afford to get a new one if he happened to give his current one away.
“Hello,” I said, once I was a few feet away from him.
“Don’t even try,” he said, holding a hand up to stop me, but not bothering to look in my direction. “No, I don’t have any spare change.”
“I don’t want any change,” I told him, staring at him intensely. “But I would like your cell phone.”
This made the man laugh. “What?” Then he looked in my direction. “What are you even talking about?”
“I’d like your iPhone,” I told him, catching his eye and holding it. “Would you please give it to me?”
“Uh… Sure,” he said, reaching into his pocket and then extending the phone in my direction.
The passenger’s side car door opened and a leggy blonde got out. “What’s going on, Barry?” she asked. “Why are you giving that girl your phone?”
“She asked me for it,” he said, keeping my gaze and never even glancing in her direction.
“So what?” the blonde said. “I ask you for lots of things and you never give them to me.”
“This is different,” he told her.
“What’s your passcode?” I asked, trying to unlock his phone.
“1234” was his immediately reply.
“Barry,” the woman exclaimed. “You can’t let her do that. Why are you letting her steal your phone?”
“I’m not stealing it,” I told her, although I kept my eyes glue on Barry. “He’s giving it to me.”
“No he’s not,” she protested.
“Tell her that you’re giving me your phone, Barry,” I instructed. I wanted it made perfectly clear that I wasn’t stealing, even if I was using my influence.
“I’m giving her my phone.”
The woman was outraged. “You can’t just give your phone to some slut in a bedsheet!”
I don’t know what it is with us women that we’re so quick to call each other sluts. But then again, I was taking her man’s phone for no apparent reason. I didn’t want things to get out of control, so I looked her in the eye. “It’s going to be okay,” I told her. “He just lost his phone helping some stranded woman, and he can always get a new one.”
“Oh,” she said, immediately softening. “That’s actually really nice.”
It was nice. As soon as I had discreetly disappeared into the trees and the couple had driven away, I was able to type Tiburon, Ohio into the phone and actually figure out which way I needed to fly. Of course, Google Maps only gives you roads, and highways, and stuff; the program doesn’t exactly map as the vampire flies. But at least I knew in which direction to head.
I flew all night, slaking my thirst from different woodland creatures as opportunities presented themselves. I kept an eye out for laundry, or any other opportunit
y to snag some clothing, but the nights were chilly and people probably just used dryers, or laundry racks in their basements, or something.
A little after three in the morning, I stopped to rest in a small patch of trees. I didn’t really need to rest, but I found it hard to think and fly, so I took a little break and caught a raccoon to help me re-energize. I had the phone turned off. I’d had brains enough to get the password, but not to get any kind of cable to recharge the damn thing and I was starting to worry about conserving the battery. Movement above me drew my attention. At first I thought it would be some large bird I could possibly eat, but then I realized it was two members of the undead.
My first impulse was to signal them that I was in need of help. But, immediately after that, my second impulse was to stay quiet and see what they were about. It wasn’t uncommon for vampires to travel around the country by flying — what was the point of being able to fly, after all — but my gut said to be cautious. The vampires slowed to a halt, looking around, obviously searching for something. I ducked behind a tree to listen.
“She’s got to be around here, somewhere,” a female voice said. “What the hell is up with that stupid tracking device?”
“Randolph didn’t know what he was doing,” a male voice told her. “He wasn’t supposed to inject it subcutaneously.”
I shrunk down as much as I could without rustling my tarp, straining my ears for more details.
“Then what was he supposed to do with it?” she asked. “Stick it up her butt? I think she might have noticed.”
“Maybe not,” the man said, cracking himself up. “She’s not the sharpest fang.”
The woman shook her head. “You keep trying to make that expression work and it just doesn’t.”
“Fine.” He sounded annoyed. “Let’s just find Little Miss Daddy Issues so we can collect the reward.”
My stomach dropped. There was a price on my head? For what?
“So,” the man said, suddenly making his voice ingratiating. “Once they figure all this out, you want to have a baby?”
“Maybe,” she said. And then after she started to fly, she added, “Or I might want to hold out for a sharper fang.”
I breathed a little easier after they flew off, but I was still pretty freaked out. I wasn’t exactly sure what subcutaneous meant, but I could guess; Randolph had somehow injected me with a tracking device like a cat being adopted from a shelter. He must have done it after drugging me during the snow storm. I had been so freaked out about Dorian that I’d been completely suckered. I was furious with Randolph, and with the bounty hunters, and with whoever was offering the damn reward to the bounty hunters. But most of all, I was furious with myself.
How could I have been so stupid? And how the hell was I going to get to the Vanderlind Castle with a bounty on my head? And where the hell had Randolph stuck that stupid tracking device?
I started at my toes, feeling every square inch of my body very carefully. As a vampire, I healed too quickly for there to be any kind of inflammation; I had to simply go by touch. I worked all the way up my body, finally finding what I thought was probably the chip behind my left ear. At first I thought to simply crush it, but then I had a better idea.
After an extreme amount of hassle, I managed to claw the thing out of my head. It was unpleasant, and went against all of my instincts to not cause myself harm, but eventually I was rid of it. Fortunately for me, my body started to heal immediately, although there was blood all over my hospital gown. Next I caught a field mouse and another barn owl. Resisting the urge to quench my ever-present thirst, I fed the owl the dead field mouse, slipping the chip in with the carnage. I didn’t know about an owl’s digestive cycle, but I figured I had at least a few hours of the thing flying around before it pooped the chip out. That would buy me some time. But I wasn’t a very fast flyer; I would have to spend another day somewhere before I got to Tiburon. Normally Dorian and I would spend the daylight hours in a safe house, a lot of which were really like lightproof bed and breakfasts. But I didn’t know where any were. Plus, if the price on my head was high enough, then contact with other vampires would be very dangerous for me.
At least I knew I was probably safe from being turned in for reward money at the Vanderlind Castle. First of all, I was Dorian’s progeny. And secondly, the family was so filthy rich, I doubted they needed the extra cash. But still, getting to the castle undetected was going to be a challenge.
Chapter 21
Haley
Travelling long distances by car can be boring, but at least you can listen to the radio, or recorded books, or something. But just flying through the air across Indiana by myself was startlingly monotonous. No music, no one to talk to, nothing to really look at. I couldn’t even stop by any roadside attractions, or grab a burger at a truck stop, or anything.
The fact that I could actually fly was still a thrill; I didn’t know if that rush would ever get old. But just trying to make good time flying across the Midwest countryside without being seen by anyone, especially anyone who didn’t have a pulse, was stressful, but also mind-numbingly boring.
I knew I had to stay alert. I knew I had to be ready to dive for cover or fight for my life the second I had the slightest hint that another vampire was in the vicinity. But since my two anonymous friends had accidentally let me know that that I was being hunted, I hadn’t seen anyone.
My biggest thrill, after what felt like an eternity of flying, was when I glimpsed a highway sign updating me that I had crossed over from Indiana into Ohio. I never thought that I’d be happy to the return to that state, but it felt like my heart was singing in my chest. Even if Dorian wasn’t at the castle, at least some of his family would be there. I could speak with his aunt or his cousins or even that crazy, giant butler guy that lived there. That had to be better than no contact with Dorian at all. And eventually Dorian would call the castle, or maybe even show up, and we could work things out. I wasn’t mad, or suspicious, or even jealous that my maker had run off with that Elaina woman anymore. I just wanted to be with him. If he cared about me even half as much as I cared about him, then he would want us to be together. And, with the way he had always treated me, — as if I was the most precious thing on the planet — I had to believe that he still cared. That thought spurred me to fly faster. The quicker I got to the Vanderlind Castle, the closer I would be to reuniting with the man that I loved.
Entering Tiburon Township had a strange, and unexpected, effect on me. My body started trembling all over. Yes, I was only wearing a hospital gown and it was a chilly night, but that had nothing to do with it. My shaking was strictly emotional, and it surprised me almost as much as it upset me. Obviously, I’d had a lousy time living in Tiburon. But I’d had a lousy time living lots of places. True, it was the town where I’d lost my virginity to a slimy jerk-face. But if I’d died a virgin, then that would have led to a lot more complications as a vampire.
Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Tiburon was the place that I’d died, plain and simple. It wasn’t like I’d ever died anywhere else before. But it was also where I’d met Dorian; that was an overwhelmingly good association that I had with the town. Maybe the whole thing was just overwhelming in general, and that was why my body had decided to turn against me.
My flying started to go all wonky, so I decided to land and just walk for a little while. There was slightly less than an hour before dawn, according to an app on the cell phone, so I had plenty of time to calm my nerves before heading to the castle. I set down in a small patch of woods not far from my Uncle Kevin’s house. An impulse overtook me and I decided to do a walk-by. I’d lived with Kevin for a few months when I’d still been a mortal. It had not been a pleasant experience. He’d been drunk a lot and was fairly abusive toward me. In his defense, he didn’t want to be saddled with some social-misfit teen whose mother was in the loony bin. But I got a job right away and I wasn’t a financial strain on him, so I don’t know why he thought he should take his frustra
tions out on me.
I admit that, after I was turned, I tortured him a little. But then I felt guilty about it right away. Eventually, after I’d learned more about how to use my influence over mortals, I encouraged him to fix up his house and go back to school… engineering, maybe. I couldn’t remember. And he actually seemed to be a happier person, once he’d laid off the booze and started trying to improve his life. I felt a strong desire to see if Uncle Kevin had kept up the good behavior after I left town or if, without my influence, he slipped back into his bad habits. There was plenty of time to take a peek at the house and still make it to the castle well before dawn, so I turned my feet in that direction.
Even at a distance, I could pick out Kevin’s house. It was still in pretty good shape from all the maintenance he’d done during the last few weeks that I’d lived there. But there was something unkempt about the place. It was the only house on the street where no one had mowed the lawn in several weeks. And weeks had started growing in every crack and cranny where they could push their way through. Not that a messy was evidence of a huge problem, but I just didn’t like the look of things.
I slipped along the side of Kevin’s modest home and pressed my face against a window that I knew would give me a view of the living room. I’m not sure what I expected to see, but it sure wasn’t an enlarged photo of myself staring back at me. “Yih,” I squeaked, jerking back from the glass. “What the hell…?” I mumbled, pressing in for another look. There wasn’t just one photo of me, but pictures all over the place. They’d all been enlarged on a printer, or something, and the quality wasn’t very good. There were a few school photos from when I was a little kid; pictures my mother must have sent him during one of her spans of clear-thinking. And there were some shots of me that had obviously been pulled from group photos. I looked pretty miserable in all of them, so I assumed they were from some type of infrequent family gathering. There was even one of me as a baby, which I didn’t even know still existed. I thought they’d all been lost during my mother’s many moves and her ever-shifting need for mental health care.
