The Blood Talisman

by Kim Culpepper

  They all stood there looking at him shocked from the horrific tale that he just spilled on them all.

  “Where is she now? Is she still here?” Alex asked him.

  “No. They both left together around thirty minutes ago,” Henry answered. “I’ve been in here too scared to go out.”

  Alex punched the wall in frustration. He walked off out of the room and ran his fingers through his hair. He felt as if all of the past weeks of his life had been a complete waste. He wondered why she hadn’t waited for him to return. He wondered what kind of animal she had become to kill and destroy so many innocent lives.

  Selene stood at the doorway behind him. Ram remained in the room, asking Henry questions about his staff.

  “We can find her. I can help.”

  Selene placed one hand on Alex’s shoulder. Alex turned to look into her eyes.

  “I don’t know who she is anymore. How could she do… this?” he cried, raising his arms wide as if to encircle the environment around him.

  “She’s a vampire. Her emotions are out of control right now. Her going with Sol could not have been a worse decision on her part.”

  “That’s a cop out. Those are excuses. She knows what she’s doing.”

  Selene remained quiet. She knew that anything she said at that point would not satisfy his anger towards Amalia.

  “I have to get away from here. I have to go.” He started walking away.

  “I’ll go with you,” Selene said, following closely behind him.

  He stopped and lowered his head down towards the floor, searching for what to say to her.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “I don’t want you to come with me. I need to be alone,” he whispered.

  He turned back to look at her. The damage within her was obvious on her face. She reeked of hurt and resentment.

  “Why? I can help you. Don’t go through this alone. I love you.” She reached out and stroked his face with her soft hand. He closed his eyes, taking in the love and warmth from her touch. He grabbed her hand and gently pulled it away.

  “I have to do this.”

  “You don’t have to do whatever it is that you think you have to do alone. You’re not alone!”

  “I don’t know who she is anymore. I don’t know who I am anymore. I don’t know who I am without her anymore. Don’t you get it? I have to find her. I have to find myself and I can’t do that with you.”

  Tears streamed down her face at the hurtful words that he spoke.

  “I love you,” she managed to choke out. “That’s all I know.”

  He pulled her up into his arms and hugged her tightly. He breathed in the smell of her before letting her go. She sobbed into his chest and her tears stained his dirty shirt. It killed him inside to make her cry but she had to know the truth of how he felt. He loved her too much to lie.

  He kissed her on top of her head and stepped back from her. He looked deep into her eyes, one last time, and walked away. He turned the corner and he was gone.

  Selene fell to the floor, laying her book bag into her lap and crying for Alex’s absence. She had come so far with him to have it end like this. She felt lost and confused without him. She no longer had focus and restraint. What hurt her the worst was that he hadn’t told her that he loved her. He had only done that once, before they hunted for the blood talisman. She sat there in shock and in emotional pieces, without words.

  Chapter 32

  It was cool and dark when Alex reached the double doors at the front of the hospital. The outside air felt like a fresh start. It smelled like death but felt clean, all the same. He scanned the parking lot for the most viable vehicle. A grey Chevy Silverado peeked amongst some trees from the very back of the parking lot. The truck had seen better days but it would work to get him home.

  He quietly avoided two zombies that were mindlessly roaming the parking lot and hopped into the unlocked truck. There were no keys in the ignition and the wires underneath the steering wheel were all hanging out towards the floorboard of the truck. He didn’t know if the truck would even run but it was the best looking one in the parking lot.

  He pulled the visor down and a single key fell into his lap. He put it into the ignition and attempted to crank it. It revved a couple of times and eventually turned over. He put it into drive and pulled out of the parking lot. The truck caught the attention of the two roaming zombies and they attempted to chase after it.

  Alex sped away, leaving the undead – and Selene – behind him. There was no radio in the truck. It seemed to have been ripped out of the dashboard, probably by a thief. The silence quickly got old as Alex thought about all that had happened. The back roads through the south seemed a nicer way to take to get back to the home that he and Amalia once shared. If he were to find himself, that would be where he would need to begin. He needed to let her go. He needed to do that to move forward with Selene.

  He couldn’t imagine a life with Selene without letting Amalia go. Banishing her from his mind and out of his heart would be difficult. He thought about their first kiss as he stared down the dark road ahead of him. She’d been shy with him but brazen with everyone else she met. He had stood nervously at her front door after their first date. They were both only fifteen years old. Being best friends for years had made him nervous to make his move but he gathered inner strength and went for it. She reciprocated and their first kiss had been the last person that they thought either of them would have to nervously kiss for the first time.

  Her braces had felt interesting to his reluctant tongue. He remembered pushing her hair back behind her ear and caressing her face. Her dad had come to the door and interrupted. Alex’s face turned red and she ran inside. Her dad slammed the door in his face and he felt his heart in his throat. He didn’t sleep that whole night from wandering if she felt the same.

  They had lived happily with each other for years after that. They had both been tempted to leave each other at various points for one reason or another, but had always found their own way of resisting and stayed together. When he joined the service she cried for days before he left on his first tour. The thought of her kept him warm at night and cool during the day.

  Tears welled up in his eyes as he stared at the yellow lines on the road. They passed furiously by as he sped to go faster. He became angry at Ram and John and Sol. He blamed everyone else for his current situation. He pounded the steering wheel with his open hand. He closed his eyes briefly and a bright light flashed before his eyes. He opened them quickly, expecting a car having crossed his path. He squinted his eyes amongst the bright light and saw Amalia standing in the middle of the road a short way ahead of him.

  He slammed on the truck’s brakes. It squelched and turned sideways, coming to rest within inches of hitting Amalia’s legs. Alex sat there in the truck breathing heavy from the suddenness of it all. He stared at her as she stood there. He blinked his eyes in disbelief. Maybe he had thought about her so much that she had come to him.

  She stood there in a tight, short black dress. Her hair hung stiffly down to the curves of her body. Her hands rested firmly on her hips.

  “Are you gonna get out of the truck?” she yelled out at him. She had a look about her as if nothing tragic had happened.

  Alex cautiously opened the truck door and stepped out. He stood there staring at her in the middle of the road. The headlights barely clipped her face and it made her look even more beautiful in the dim light.

  “Amalia?” he asked, unsure if she was just in his imagination.

  She walked over to him and hugged him tightly. He slowly did the same. She pulled away from him and looked into his eyes for hope.

  “What happened? How are you…?”

  She placed three fingers over his lips. He stopped talking and just stared, wandering what her next move would be.

  She perused her fingers down across his scruffy face and pulled him in for a kiss. He returned the favor and pulled her body in closer to his. She seemed more ag
gressive than usual but he didn’t mind the welcome change. She seemed to want him. She wasn’t the shy teenager that he remembered from all those years ago. She had turned into a beautiful woman. Her kiss quickly became tainted by his thoughts of all of the carnage that she had left behind at the hospital. Flashes in his mind brought up the hollowed-out bodies in the front lobby of the hospital and the scared janitor in the basement. It ruined their reunion for him and he needed answers.

  He grabbed her firmly by the shoulders and pulled her back away from him. “What happened at the hospital?” he asked her.

  Her face straightened from a pleasant smile into a tight grimace.

  “I was sick. I had to feed. Sol came and he helped me. He’s very powerful now. Where are you headed?” she asked lightly.

  “I was heading home to try and forget about… us.”

  She frowned. “You can’t do that, Alex. I love you. I forgive you for everything that happened. I was angry but now I see you were tricked into sleeping with her. Sol told me a lot about his sister and I understand.”

  He watched her eyes as she explained and they didn’t stray from his, not once. She seemed to be telling the truth but, he was still curious as to how she could consciously kill so many people. He let his face fall into her hands. She reached around to the back of his head and pulled him against her shoulder. He hugged her tightly and she looked off into the dark forest at the side of the road. Sol stood there silently. She winked at him and he glowed brightly and faded away.

  Alex leaned up from her shoulder and looked back towards the empty, dark forest.

  “What were you looking at?” he asked.

  “I thought I heard something. Must have been an animal or something. Let’s go home.”

  She took his hand, leading him towards the truck.

  They climbed into the truck. He put it into drive and started back down the dark road. He frequently looked over at her to make sure she was still there. He had so many questions but for now he was simply glad to see her alive and seemingly happy. She gazed out of the truck’s passenger window, watching as the trees sped by them. He wondered what she was thinking and if it included him.

  She looked over at him watching her and said, “You’d better watch the road. I’d survive a car crash but you may not be so lucky.”

  “I’m not sure if werewolves are immortal now or not. I don’t think so but you can never tell. Things are so crazy,” he said.

  “Have you fed lately?”

  Alex coughed and choked a little and said, “Wasn’t expecting that question.”

  “Well, it’s what we have to deal with now. I think we need to both stay strong, don’t you?”

  “I’m good. I think you should be for days.”

  She smiled and looked back out at the passing forest. “I’m good.” she said.

  He smirked nervously and looked straight ahead at the upcoming hills. He wondered if she was happy about it. He couldn’t read her like he used to be able to. Her mannerisms seemed bogus. He ignored the unnerving thoughts and focused on home. Maybe all she needed was to be home. Maybe she felt as lost as he did in this new world. Maybe they could find themselves together and be happy again. Maybe they would finally have a happy ending amongst all the madness.

  Chapter 33

  Selene sat amongst the scattered papers along the dim floor of the hospital basement. She attempted to gather herself and decide how she could stop this place from turning into a world of zombies. She hadn’t a clue what the answer was.

  A man groaning out for help echoed from the monitor room. She rolled her eyes, expecting Ram to be feeding on the lone survivor of the hospital. A gunshot sounded and Ram came walking out of the room wiping blood from his chin and mouth.

  Selene scurried to get up from the floor and trotted behind him. He stopped and turned back to her.

  “Where’s Alex?” he asked.

  “Gone,” she whispered.

  “You didn’t go with him?”

  “No… he didn’t want me to.”

  Selene looked down at her father’s temporary urn as it peeked out through the top of the book bag. She stroked the side of the canister with her fingers and thought about the many unanswered questions that her father had left her with, number one being how to stop the dead from rising.

  “Good. Come with me then,” he said.

  She looked back up at him as he was walking away. She followed him back through the empty stairwell and into the front main lobby of the hospital.

  “Damn it!” Ram yelled out.

  “What’s wrong?” she said, with minimal worry.

  In the blink of an eye, he was within inches of her face. She didn’t flinch, standing her ground. She wasn’t about to let some no-name vampire intimidate her. He had a bloodthirsty look in his eye and she almost begged for a bite from him to end his constant selfish actions. They stood there staring at each other, eye to eye, until a groan came from behind Ram. It was a group of meandering zombies. They had unknowingly surrounded them both.

  Ram started to unload his gun into those by the door. One of them dropped but he missed the others’ heads. He and Selene ran back to the stairwell and headed back down into the basement. There were no zombies there, just silence and the rank smell of death. They got to the employee exit when Ram stopped suddenly. They were both breathing heavily from running so fast to get out of the place. He knelt down next to a head that lay a few feet over from the body it came from.

  “Damn it, Cami. Why were you still here?”

  “Who’s that?” Selene asked.

  “Cami was a member of Administration. It’s a small group that ran the hospital and helped new vampires enter into our world. We were growing an army and Cami had been turned on her eighteenth birthday. She was one of the good ones. Young, but a good vampire. Not like…” Ram said before stopping suddenly, lost in his thoughts.

  “You mean, not ruthless like you?” Selene said.

  He didn’t answer her immediately. He just stared at Cami’s head for a moment. Selene fought to find words to speak but couldn’t bear to give Ram an ounce of comfort.

  “I have to burn it down,” he said suddenly.

  “What do you mean? We don’t have time. Let’s go,” she urged.

  He shook his head no and said, “I normally wouldn’t care what happens to the human race but, they are my food source now. I gain strength from their blood. Wouldn’t that mean that I would die without it? I mean, without your powers and your strength, you’d die, right?”

  “Only my brother can kill me and take my powers, so yes, I guess that’s logical thinking.”

  “Of course it is. Come with me.”

  She followed him, clutching her book bag tightly. He led her back down the hallway and down through several corridors. They came to a door that had bars where a window should be. It was skewed open and barely hanging onto the door frame.

  Ram ripped the door the rest of the way off of its hinges and they walked in. Ram checked every room as he passed each one. Cell by cell, they were all empty.

  “Anyone here?” he yelled out.

  Nobody answered. The silence was deafening. He stopped and looked back down the hall of open prison doors. He looked briefly sentimental for a moment and strode down the hallway before turning a corner.

  “What was the prison for?” Selene asked gently.

  “You don’t want to know,” he answered gruffly.

  She didn’t press any further as he seemed quite upset by it. They were in a room with huge tanks. Some were labeled ‘oxygen’ and some ‘nitrous oxide’. Ram was frantically placing hospital bed sheets and pillows in a pile close to the tanks.

  “Isn’t that stuff explosive?” she asked.

  “That’s the idea,” he snapped.

  “Are you okay with this?”

  He didn’t answer. He kept piling the stark white sheets and pillows up until they were as tall as Selene. He pulled a can of lighter fluid off of one of the shelves and beg
an pouring it onto the large pile.

  “Why would a hospital carry lighter fluid, especially here with all this oxygen?” she asked.

  “Once again, you don’t want to know,” he answered.

  His repeated answer began to make her nervous. She knew that he was a shallow hole of a man, but he was bordering evil now with the prison cells and the lighter fluid. He pushed her back towards the entryway into the stock area and lit a flame with a lighter he pulled from his pocket.

  Ram turned to her and said, “When I light this, we will need to run.”

  Selene shook her head that she understood and he dropped the lighter onto the grey hospital floor. The lighter bounced once and ignited the lighter fluid leading to the pile of sheets and pillows. They turned and ran as fast as they could past the open prison doors and down two hallways to the back door.

  Ram flung the back door open and they ran out into the employee parking area. They raced all the way to the edge of the forest surrounding the hospital and turned to watch it burn. Selene looked over to Ram. He looked upset but would never let anyone know how much as he held his head high and waited to see the flames and explosion that would surely come.

  She sat her book bag down onto the ground and pulled out her father’s Book of Shadows. She rummaged through the bag a couple of times then gasped, “Where are my father’s ashes?”

  “I thought they were in the bag.”

  Selene kept searching through to the bottom of the bag. “They aren’t here. They must have come out when we were running. You have to get them. I have to return them to the blood talisman, just like my father did with Rose’s ashes, or his powers will be lost forever.”

  “SHIT!” Ram yelled out as he took off into a sprint towards the hospital which was about to explode any second.

  He ran around to the front of the hospital. He turned the corner to go into the front lobby and was out of Selene’s sight. She stood there, feeling helpless. She paced at the edge of the forest waiting for him to return. What was mere seconds seemed more like agonizing hours. She could see a bright flame from the fire within the basement of the hospital. It was dancing furiously.