by L. M. Justus
“What do we need . . . to hold the ritual?” Reed asked.
“Most vampire lairs have a special facility for it,” Nathaniel answered.
Sophie huffed out a breath in annoyance. “Too bad there’s no vampire lair handy. I say we zap her into ashes right now and get it over with.”
“No, wait,” Reed said. “Sarah’s already pissed off; she’ll be furious if we don’t do this the way she wants.”
“May I humbly suggest,” the Queen interceded, “you bring me to Marcel’s lair? He did say you were welcome to return to Montreal. In all fairness, it really was not his fault he betrayed you. He chose Gabriel’s safety over yours, but he barely knew you at the time. He did seem rather torn, do you not agree? I daresay he carries little love for me after all that, and he would probably be thrilled at the opportunity to end my life.”
“I don’t know how I could stand to face Marcel without strangling him,” Reed said.
“Dealing with Marcel is not the greatest challenge ahead of you,” the Queen said. “Are you aware of the fallout from the decimation in New York City?”
“The last bit of news we were privy to was a few days ago, during our journey here from Montreal,” Nathaniel said. “The authorities suspected the existence of vampires and their possible role in the New York disaster.”
“You do not play a part in the destruction of the largest city in America without repercussions,” the Queen said. “There are thousands of experts working on finding an explanation and someone to blame. The existence of vampires is no longer a suspicion, but a proven fact. And the vampires they seek specifically are standing right here. We are the most wanted criminals on the planet.”
“Well, that’s encouraging,” Reed grumbled. He rubbed his temples as if his head ached.
“Did Marcel truly welcome you to return to the Montreal lair?” Nathaniel asked.
“Yeah, he did,” Reed answered. “Back-stabbing bastard.”
“He was apologetic?”
“Sure. So what? Like that makes everything okay. Sarah almost died.”
“What should we do then?” Nathaniel asked. “Who is in favor of remaining here indefinitely?”
No one said a word.
“Then I propose we return to Montreal as the Queen suggested.”
Reed rolled his eyes. “I don’t like it.”
Trudy looked at Nathaniel, her eyes narrowing with concern. “What about the police? You can’t avoid them forever, can you?”
“Why don’t we talk to them?” Sophie said. “Tell them the truth. They’re just trying to find answers. We haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Let us proceed to Montreal,” Nathaniel said. “We shall carry out the ritual for the Queen and determine our next course of action once that has been taken care of.”
It was not a magical solution, but they all agreed nevertheless.
Reed
After Sarah had decompressed during her self-imposed time-out, she rejoined our group at the cabin. She agreed with the idea of returning to Montreal to carry out the ritual for the Queen. She also didn’t look upset with me, now that she’d had the chance to process all the information that had been thrown at her.
The two of us stayed outside for a moment together while everyone else went into the cottage.
“Are you . . . uh . . .” I began awkwardly. I stopped myself from saying ‘okay’ when I realized how stupid that question was.
“I’m fine. I needed some alone time,” Sarah said. “I was a little surprised, but I’m not angry that you turned me. You had to make a difficult, split-second decision, and you saved my life.”
“I had to try. And . . . I’m sorry–I know this isn’t what you wanted.”
She bit her lip and hooked her finger at me, beckoning me to come closer.
“Kiss me,” she said.
I pulled Sarah to me and crushed my lips to hers. She kissed me back eagerly, but pushed me away after only a few seconds.
“I’m sorry,” she panted. “I didn’t mean to make that a command.”
Had I consented as quickly as I had because of her new ability, or had I really wanted to kiss her?
She spoke again, saying,“I meant, if you want to, you could–”
I cut off her words with another kiss, and I knew it was my own desire this time. She gladly reciprocated, and we lost ourselves in each other, ignoring all the drama. It felt so good to be together.
Neither one of us was bothered by the cold, so we weren’t in any rush to go inside. We spent at least two hours chatting and kissing and joking around. It seemed we’d both learned to take what enjoyment we could when we had the opportunity.
Eventually, we went inside to help pack. My spirits were high and I didn’t even mind the knowing smirk Sophie gave us when we walked in. Somehow, Sophie and I had reached an understanding and we were both relieved as hell that Sarah was all right.
The plan for the immediate future was to drive back to the town of Val-d’Or and crash there the next day. Dawn was just over the horizon, so we holed up for the daylight hours in Marcel’s cabin to prepare for the journey south. The humans in our group filled up on food while the rest of us delved into Marcel’s stores of bagged blood.
As soon as the sun set, we headed to the vehicles for our trip to Montreal. We would need the entire night for the ten-hour drive because there wasn’t anywhere to stop between here and Val-d’Or.
I’d thought our ragtag crew couldn’t get any stranger, but we’d now added the Queen and the two vampire hunters, Justin and Alexandre, to the mix. Everyone was quiet as we made the half-hour hike through the forest.
When we finally reached the spot where we’d left the cars, I was surprised to see only one vehicle. It shouldn’t have come as a shock; Marcel had obviously taken the other one home. We were left with the black SUV, which was luckily the larger of the two. Still, how the heck were we going to cram all eight of us inside?
“What method did you use to travel here?” Nathaniel asked the Queen.
“I commandeered a lift, but my ride is long gone,” she answered.
“No worries,” Justin said, continuing to walk down the road. “Alexandre and I parked our car a little farther down this way. Who wants to join us?”
“I will,” Sophie spoke up immediately.
“Excellent,” Alexandre said. “We’ll wait for the rest of you to drive past and then we’ll follow.”
They left for the other car, leaving me with Sarah, Nathaniel, Trudy, and of course, the Queen. “Let’s put her in the trunk,” I said.
“Yes. Let’s,” Sarah agreed.
Luckily, Marcel had left the SUV’s keys with Nathaniel. He popped open the trunk and gestured for the Queen to get inside. She huffed, but didn’t argue before climbing in.
Sarah and I took the back, Nathaniel chose the passenger seat, and Trudy slid in behind the wheel. The car choked once and then started up into a reassuring purr. We rolled down the road, our tires crunching over the snow, until we passed the other car’s headlights. They pulled in behind us to follow and we began our long journey southward.
Nearly ten hours of driving later, we arrived in Val-d’Or at last. We pulled into the parking lot of the same motel we’d stayed at on our trip up north. Justin and Alexandre went to book our rooms because they were the only ones unassociated with the fiasco in New York. Hopefully we could spend the day in our rooms without attracting attention from the locals.
The two vampire hunters returned with our room keys. We split into two groups: the humans, who planned to get some shut-eye, and the rest of us, who wanted to catch up on the news and figure out how much trouble we were in.
As it turned out, the Queen hadn’t exaggerated in the slightest. We were seriously screwed. After the revenants had died–their expiry date had been only a few days–the authorities swooped into New York City to clean up the mess and solve the mystery of the revenants’ origin. If I weren’t so frightened of having the spotlight pointed my way
, I’d have been impressed by how quickly they’d discovered the epicenter at the King’s lair.
With the forensic evidence they’d unearthed from the rubble, scientists had already proven the existence of vampires. They were asking vampires to reveal themselves, but not surprisingly, not one had come forward so far. They were also looking into every crime where there’d been a claim of vampire involvement. Suddenly they were taking those allegations a lot more seriously. It seemed inevitable they’d track down some vampires soon enough, and then what?
If I turned myself in and explained everything, would they proclaim me innocent? Or would they drag me off for experimentation . . . or worse? They might be able to help me find a cure for vampirism and make Sarah and me human again, but that was probably too optimistic.
My mind whirled in circles as I imagined every possible scenario. I couldn’t dream up a positive outcome without getting completely unrealistic; like my idea of a time machine to go back and stop the whole mess from happening in the first place.
The second the sun dropped below the horizon, we gathered our stuff and hopped into our two vehicles. With Trudy driving the SUV and Justin driving the car, we planned to do the drive-through version of a vampire meal. As soon as we found a pocket of humans, we’d leap out, feed, and swoop back into the cars for our death sleep. The humans would act as our chauffeurs.
We headed down the main street, the glow of shop lights quaintly illuminating the town. The clear night sky and the light dusting of snow on the sidewalks made the scene postcard-perfect. I watched a man and woman walking hand-in-hand, and I should have felt a calm sense of peace, but instead my stomach grumbled with nerves and hunger.
Both cars pulled up to the curb, and the Queen and Nathaniel got out of the vampire hunters’ hatchback. In a flash, they crossed the twenty feet from the car to the young couple I’d been watching. They moved in front of them and captured their gazes. After quickly mesmerizing the humans, they scooted into a narrow alleyway between two shops to feed.
A movement across the road drew my attention. Another couple, middle-aged and well bundled from the cold, frowned at us as the man pointed right at Sarah and me.
“Uh oh,” I said.
Sarah grabbed a handful of my jacket sleeve. “C’mon,” she said, pulling me with her across the street.
She worked her magic to relax the humans and prepare them for our dinner. I couldn’t help marveling at how Sarah had adapted to her new life as a vampire; she was already handling the blood-drinking thing like a pro.
We dragged our prey into the shadows and began feeding. When I finished, I glanced up to find a group of teenagers looking our way. I licked my lips and stared back dumbly.
“Sarah,” I whispered.
A flash of light went off, temporarily blinding me. Crap! One of the teens had taken our photo.
The heavy blanket of post-feeding sleepiness dragged over me. I wanted to destroy the evidence and grab the phone with our picture on it, but I didn’t have time. I dove into the waiting car with Sarah right behind me, and we fell into our death sleep.
I awoke just as the car fishtailed on the icy road, jerking me from side to side. I braced myself against the door until the tires regained traction and our forward motion straightened out.
“Jesus, what the hell is going on?” I asked.
I spotted Nathaniel in the driver’s seat and did a double take.
“Are you trying to get us killed? Why are you driving like a maniac?” When had he switched cars and taken over driving from Trudy?
“We were pulled over by the police,” Nathaniel answered. “Luckily, I had woken up and was able to exert my mind-control upon them. It would appear the authorities have been alerted to our presence. We must get to Montreal and off this road as soon as possible.”
“It’ll be a miracle if we don’t go flying into the ditch with your psycho driving,” I said, just as Sarah woke up.
“I do not want to give the police time to gather their forces,” Nathaniel said.
Justin and Alexandre’s little car barreled down the road ahead of us. “Who’s driving the other car?” I asked.
“The Queen,” Nathaniel said.
I smacked my forehead. “That won’t look suspicious at all–a girl who looks twelve years old driving.”
“We needed someone capable of mesmerizing humans to drive in case we were stopped again. Sarah was still asleep, so the Queen was our only other choice.”
Snow started falling–fat flakes pasted themselves against the windshield. The SUV’s headlights reflected off the curtain of snow, washing out the road ahead in a white haze. Nathaniel squinted out the window, deep in concentration as he flicked the wipers on top speed.
The Queen was having a tough time keeping the vampire hunters’ little car on the road; the hatchback drifted back and forth like a boat on a stormy sea.
Suddenly, the Queen lost control and their car spun off to the left. I cringed as the hatchback slipped across the oncoming lane and veered into the ditch. Nathaniel swerved to avoid them and we careened to the right. Slamming on the brakes, we slid onto the shoulder and skidded to a stop.
The smell of fear permeating the car compounded my own feelings. In the shocked silence that followed, my thudding heartbeat competed with the regular swish-thump of the windshield wipers.
Sarah and I shared a look of relief that we were still in one piece. I looked back at the other car and was glad to see it hadn’t flipped over. The four others had already climbed out and were walking to our vehicle.
Nathaniel rolled down the window. When Justin reached our car, he leaned down to talk to us.
“We’ll have to travel together in your SUV the rest of the way,” he said.
“We can lift your car out of the ditch,” Nathaniel said.
“The Queen tore the steering wheel off,” Justin said.
“I see,” Nathaniel replied.
“Flimsy thing,” the Queen’s voice drifted from behind Justin.
Sarah opened her door, slid right up against me, and motioned for her sister to scoot in next to her. Nathaniel popped the trunk. The Queen climbed in with the two vampire hunters and a couple of their bags. They pulled the door shut and we were on our way.
We drove for a good four hours before running into trouble again.
Without warning, Nathaniel pulled to the side of the road. “Do you hear that?” he asked.
“A helicopter,” Sarah and I said in unison.
“It could be a medical chopper,” Trudy said.
Nathaniel opened his door and stepped outside. “Wait here,” he said, before racing off into the darkness.
Trudy gave me a puzzled look and I shrugged. The fresh, cold air coming in Nathaniel’s open door was refreshing. I closed my eyes and filled my lungs with deep breaths.
The door slammed and my eyes popped back open. Nathaniel did a quick three-point turn and sped down the road in the direction we’d just come.
We all started talking at once.
“Hey–” I shouted.
“What happened?” Trudy asked.
“Nathaniel!” Sarah said.
“It was not a medical helicopter,” he said loudly, shutting us up. “The police have set up a roadblock. We must find a route that bypasses the main highway.”
He swerved onto a narrow road and the car nearly lurched onto two wheels.
Sophie gripped the seat for dear life. “We’re not gonna make it!”
“Nathaniel,” Sarah said. “I can talk our way through the roadblock. You have to go back.”
“We do not know how many people you can control,” he argued. “It is best to avoid them.”
“We can’t avoid them forever,” I said. “What are we going to do when they catch us?”
The car dipped suddenly and then jerked upward. My head hit the roof and then we slammed back onto the ground. There was a metallic ripping sound like an axle breaking in half. The car slanted to the right and Sarah’s body crus
hed me to the door. We came to a stop, tilting to the side.
Something was definitely busted. It looked like we’d crashed through a hidden hole in the road.
“Now what?” I said.
A flashing light, alternating blue and red, cut through the night in the distance.
“Every vampire, grab one of the humans and run,” Nathaniel said.
Sarah
Everyone clambered out of the damaged vehicle, checking with each other to make sure no one was hurt. When Nathaniel told the vampires to grab a human and run, Sarah’s obvious choice was to carry her sister. Sarah rushed to Sophie’s side and they shared a look of understanding.
Keeping as calm as possible, Sarah swept her sister off her feet and prepared to follow Nathaniel’s lead. He lifted Trudy into his arms and leapt over the shallow ditch at the side of the road. After Sarah gave the Queen specific directions, Reed and the Queen snapped up one vampire hunter apiece, and they all followed Nathaniel as he took off into the moonlit darkness.
Racing silently across a series of farmers’ fields, their feet barely touched the ground. With last season’s crops razed to the ground, and only a thin layer of snow on top, the terrain was relatively easy to traverse. The thrum of helicopters at the roadblock in the distance grew fainter as the miles flew past.
Sarah hoped Nathaniel knew where he was going. There were no signs to indicate location as far as she could see, but she trusted his sense of direction. Their first priority was to avoid the authorities as long as possible, and so far, they’d been successful. After they felt confident they’d escaped attention, they could worry about getting to Marcel’s lair.
Running from the police was the last thing Sarah had ever pictured herself doing, and she wondered how they would ever sort out this mess. She shook her head to clear her mind; for now, she needed to focus on the immediate future. When they found a safe haven, they could come up with a long-term plan.
