by Phil Wohl
miracle that Daniel had worked on Kayla. He had delivered the baby and then put the mother’s insides back together in their pre-baby form.
Everyone looked at Brandon - save for the twins Bryce and Cheryl, who were at school.
“I tried to get in touch with him! I tried to get in touch with everyone, but no one is there!”
“What?” Valerie screamed.
Brandon was despondent, “It’s like they were wiped off the face of the earth.”
“Can you go there and get him?” a concerned Katherine asked.
“Joe looked at his watch and then looked at his daughter, “He’s fast, but I don’t think he will make it back in time.”
Joe, Katherine and a distressed Valerie then looked at Brandon for guidance. He had grown up with parents that demeaned his every move and then sought redemption after Hartwell turned him into a vampire. But the road for Brandon to feel better about his life turned out to be a slippery path, as he spent most of his time torturing Carla, who was to be his hunter. It wasn’t until he left Portland for Beach Haven and lived in Hartwell’s house, and was under Belinda’s wing, that he finally understood what life was all about. This was also about the time that he reconciled with Carla, who had moved with Drew to Beach Haven and also met and fell in love with fellow arachnid lover Valerie.
Brandon once again looked inside for all of the answers and came up with the most simple of solutions.
“I’ll do it.”
As an original vampire in the House of Hartwell, Brandon called on his ability to summon certain powers of his fellow vampires. He couldn’t have picked a better day to step up and play the part of the hero, because the vampirical energy between the five vampires in Beach Haven was flowing in a tight circle amongst them. It was a day of vampires versus protector and hunters in Beach Haven, which virtually guaranteed Brandon of being able to elicit the appropriate skills from his family in his wife’s time of need. He never felt as close, or as distant, from his Beach Haven family as he did in that moment of clarity.
It was also a moment of extreme clarity for Ariel Justice, the still unborn child of Brandon and Valerie. As her father channeled powers that he previously only observed, Ariel got the immediate sense that there indeed was trouble in Beach Haven and she had to do something about it once she was able. Based on the chronology of the recent family births, it would take only a matter of days before she would make the trek across the country and view the coast on the right side of the map for the first time. Of course, she was in Beach Haven during her more formative womb days but she had no visual access to the Atlantic Ocean at that time.
Brandon stood over his wife, who was so strong that she had maintained her biting sense of humor.
“Aren’t you going to wash your hands first?” Valerie grunted, knowing full-well that Brandon’s hands would never actually touch her stomach or internal organs.
Brandon wasn’t swayed by the request at first, but his overriding need as a vampire to be fastidious was becoming distracting. He zipped out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, where he scrubbed furiously with anti-bacterial soap. What seemed like minutes to him was only two seconds in real time, as he was back in the bedroom with his hands over Valerie’s stomach just as Joe was saying, “Probably not the right time to tell a vampire that his hands were dirty.”
The vampire put his hands up to show the trio that he was, in fact, a member in good standing of the Clean Hands Club. He then transitioned from the brief and much-needed moment of levity into full baby delivering mode. Daniel was at the hospital with his fellow vampires making a withdrawal from the blood bank, when Brandon tapped into his brain and channeled his capabilities. He felt light-headed and even lost his balance, which elicited an immediate response from his mothers, Maggie and Belinda, who said in tandem, “Are you all right?”
Hartwell also noticed that his son was askew and tossed him a bag of blood, which he immediately gulped down with great ferocity. Brandon also got a charge from the liquid refreshment and opened Valerie’s stomach and raised his smiling daughter from the womb.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a baby clean itself off after being born,” Katherine Winters said in a completely flabbergasted tone of voice.
“You should have seen Samuel,” Joe Winters said.
“Yeah, he cut his own umbilical cord,” Brandon chimed in.
Ariel Justice would be the first creature ever born that spanned the spectrum of capabilities, from vampire to hunter, to protector and peacemaker. Her father was a vampire first and foremost, and he removed the umbilical cord before putting his daughter through his human car wash and then floating over to her adoring grandparents.
Daniel was still giving trouble getting his head straight even after Hartwell flipped him a second bag of blood.
“I wonder where this juice was taken from?” Daniel asked.
Hartwell floated the bag in Daniel’s hand over to his hands and looked at the sourcing data on the bag.
“Skidmore Mental Hospital,” Hartwell said out loud.
Daniel took the bait and said, “Really?”
Hartwell smiled, “No! This is from our good friends at the Wellshire Insurance Company.”
The two men looked at each other and Daniel said, “Well, I guess that makes sense then.”
Joe and Katherine Winters were snuggling with their 15-pound, 4-ounce granddaughter, who enjoyed the physical attention at first but then wanted to walk. What took most babies and infants over a year to accomplish, she had mastered in a little over three minutes. Valerie sat back comfortably as Brandon fused her insides and rearranged her organs and stomach to their pre-pregnancy condition. He then closed her up and eliminated any scarring that could potentially take place from the blood-less incision.
Brandon relinquished Daniel’s powers and then Valerie popped back up off the bed and picked up her daughter, who had her arms out and was anxiously awaiting some outward physical contact with her mother. The two females put their heads together in a loving gesture, but the integration of their thoughts produced vivid images that were harder for the infant to understand than the mother.
Valerie moved back so she could see her daughter’s face.
“Did you see that?” she asked, not even knowing if Ariel could form actual words yet.
“Yes,” Ariel replied, “but what does it mean?”
“It means that we’re going to Beach Haven next week as soon as you’re of age,” Valerie said as she looked around the room at her parents and husband. “We can’t take the chance of exposing her to potential danger until she is 18,” she added as she put her toddler down.
“Something isn’t right,” Daniel said to Hartwell and his group of fellow vampires.
His two mommies, Maggie and Belinda, stopped sipping the vital liquid for a moment and glided over the see if Daniel was all right.
“Are you still not feeling right, honey?” Maggie asked.
“Maybe you should sit down, Danny,” Belinda suggested, as both women placed their hands in his broad shoulders.
The group walked into an empty hospital room after Maxwell thoroughly cleaned it up. He came out with a huge clear garbage bag filled with garbage.
“You can’t believe how dirty these rooms are. How do they expect people to get better?” he asked the group.
The room was filled with discussions of dirt and filth until Daniel put his hand up to calm the conversations so he could speak. His head was clearing with each passing moment and the vampire was now at to his full capabilities again. He sat up on the bed and then stood up as everyone else took seats to listen to him.
“I can’t quite locate it, but I feel that something is wrong.”
“Wrong with what, dad?” Maxwell asked.
Daniel had regained his faculties but that did little to alleviate his confusion.
“I don’t know, but I am going to find out,” a determ
ined Daniel stated even though he and the rest of his housemates were still under the spell of a clairvoyant being that also had other powers at her disposal.
EIGHTEEN
The vampire grouped talked some more and they all vowed to get the bottom of what was happening in their tight, little world. It was a novel experience for five creatures that were used to being in control of their world and the people surrounding them – at least for the most part. They returned to the house after making a sizable withdrawal from the hospital’s blood bank just about the time when the hunters and protectors were gathering together for lunch. The five vampires glided through the main room and were greeted by a series of snarls and grunts, which told them that the best course of action would probably be to keep gliding past the hostility and to their rooms.
“What’s up their butts?” Cal said to the group of 11 hunters and protectors seated around the large dining room table.
“We are,” Aaron stated as Thad looked at Gary in disbelief over another statement that was aired and could be easily taken out of context.
“Do you think they’ll have the guts to show tonight?” Andrew asked.
Emily joked, “What else do they have to do? Drink people’s blood?”
Everyone laughed, revealing that the feelings of disorientation and confusion had not yet filtered to from Brandon and the vampires to the hunters and protectors. But the direction of each day was up to Hartwell, and it would be his responsibility
