by Mac Flynn
"He's the preacher at the church in town. The one on top of the hill," I explained.
"And he can be trusted?" my uncle questioned us.
"With our lives," I assured him.
"But it's your soul we worry about," Aunt Ma quietly spoke up. She walked over and clasped my hands in hers. Her eyes looked into mine and for the first time in my life I saw she was worried. "Promise us you'll be careful."
I smiled and squeezed her hands. "I promise."
"And that you'll keep care of Roland."
"Definitely."
"And that we can come with you."
"What?"
The last word was uttered by the three of us who didn't ask the question, and we all looked at Aunt Ma in shock.
"You're not coming with us," I told her.
"But there's not safety in numbers here, Ma," Uncle Seward agreed. "We'd just get in the way and be moving targets for these two crazies."
"Then you can stay and protect the house, but I'm going with them," she insisted.
I grabbed her upper arms and shook my head. "But you can't. I might try to bite you again."
"You might, and you might try to bite Roland. He's human now, too," she pointed out. "If there's more than one of us we can protect ourselves, and you."
"But-"
"She's right." All of our eyes turned to Roland. His lips were pursed tightly together, but his eyes were firm. "I am in no condition to fend off an attack from you, and the next time you feel the hunger I might not be able to convince you to not attack me."
My shoulders slumped and my face fell. "Seriously? You're against me, too?"
Aunt Ma put a hand on my shoulder and smiled at me. "We want to help. Please let us help this time."
Uncle Seward stepped up to me and I looked up into his face. "Ma's right, Misty. We haven't been helping you much lately, and we'd like to help you out as much as we can now. Besides-" He raised his hands and jingled a set of keys in his hands. "I'm not letting anyone else drive my new truck."
CHAPTER 5
A few minutes later found Roland, Aunt Ma, Uncle Seward and me driving down the road in his new truck. Roland and I sat in the back seat, and I glanced across the seat at him.
"So is there anything else I might need to know about being a sort-of-vampire?" I asked him.
"Aside from the hunger-"
"Which is a big aside," I quipped.
"-there is the darkness. You need no longer fear the night," he told me.
I snorted. "My near-death experiences beg to differ."
He smiled. "The shadows of the night are nothing to fear," he corrected himself. "They are no longer an obstacle for you to see into. Not with the eyes of a vampire."
"So I can see in the dark?" I guessed.
"Precisely," he confirmed.
"Is any of this going to be permanent?" Uncle Seward spoke up.
"Only if my soul remains in Misty," Roland told him.
"This isn't going to be a long-term contract, Uncle Seward," I assured him. "It's more like a renter's agreement for a night."
"So how are you going to get your souls in the right body?" he asked us.
"We haven't got that far in the planning process, but we're working on it," I assured him.
"At the moment we need a place we can be sure to be safe," Roland explained. He turned his eyes on me. "And Misty must learn to use my powers to protect us."
I held up my hands. "Don't expect too much. I've never ridden this bicycle before."
"The controls are simple," he assured me. "You merely concentrate on the scenery around you."
I looked around the confined cabin space. "Not much to look at."
"Don't make me stop this truck and turn us around," Uncle Seward scolded me.
Roland chuckled. "Focus on the corners and see if you can penetrate the darkness."
I squinted my eyes and stared at the dark spots at my feet. After a moment I shook my head. "Nope, not seeing anything."
"You're trying too hard," Roland told me. "It must come naturally."
"Staring at the floor isn't natural," I argued.
"Perhaps it would help if you had a purpose for looking," Roland mused.
"If that's what she needs then she can look for my screwdriver," Uncle Seward suggested. "I lost it down there a couple days ago and can't find it."
I leaned down, but my seatbelt tried to strangle me. "Watch the road really well, Uncle Seward," I told him as I unbuckled my seatbelt.
Aunt Ma turned around and frowned. "Misty, you put that seatbelt on this minute."
I slid onto the floor and looked around. "One sec. I think this is actually helping."
There was some improvement in my vision, and each moment of playing hide-and-seek with a tool helped my eyes. In a few moments the corners were no longer dark cesspools of dirt and invisible monsters, but were clear as day. I spotted something in the corner beneath Roland and crawled across the floor to snatch it in my hand.
I sat up and held the screwdriver triumphantly in my hand. "Got it!"
Roland smiled. "You would make a very good vampire," he complimented me.
"You'll make a really good splatter on the windshield if you don't get that seatbelt back on you, young lady," Uncle Seward added.
I looked through the front seats at my aunt and uncle. "I'll be-look out!"
I pointed at two dark shadows that swooped down from the sky. They flew over the hood and disappeared over the roof of the cab. Something was dropped on the roof and a loud thunk resounded through the cab. A hail of bullets penetrated the roof and ripped the center of the roof and cab apart. One of the bullets shot through my shoulder and burned my skin like fire.
"Ah!" I cried out.
"Hold on!" Uncle Seward yelled.
Roland unbuckled himself and caught me in his arms. Uncle Seward slammed his foot on the brakes and the truck came to a screeching halt of burning rubber. Our spare passenger slid onto the hood, but caught himself on the ornament before he dropped to the road. Ginsleh lifted his head and glared at us, and in one hand was a large double-barrel shotgun. The hunter lifted his gun onto the hood and pointed the smoking barrels at us.
Uncle Seward glared at the hunter and shifted the gears. "Like hell I'm letting you hurt my family, or more of my truck!"
My uncle slammed his foot on the gas pedal and the truck jumped backward. Ginsleh jerked backward and the gun slipped off the hood. Uncle Seward turned the wheel and the truck spun in a one-eighty circle. The hunter clung to the ornament, but the ornament wasn't meant for the weight of a desperate man. The stoic ram had a surprised look on its face as it broke from the hood. Ginsleh's face looked the same as the pair fell off the truck and clattered to the road.
Uncle Seward slung his arm over the side of his seat and looked back. "Both of you stay down!" he snapped at us.
Roland pulled me close against him so we were both tight in the corner. I cried out and clutched my bleeding arm. Aunt Ma turned around and Uncle Seward's eyes fell on my wound.
"Misty!" she yelled.
A small shadow landed hard on the hood of the car and we all turned our attention to Rose who stood atop the truck. Her black robe billowed behind her, and in one hand was the grimoire. She lifted her free hand and her voice echoed through the air.
"By the darkness in my hand and the dark lord in the land, let our souls be born anew in the body-"
HONK.
Rose started back and her concentration was ruined. Aunt Ma slammed her palm on the horn another few times, but Uncle Seward brushed her hand away.
"It's only gonna work once, Ma!" he scolded her.
He slammed his foot on the gas and the truck leapt forward. The wind flew over the hood of the truck and Rose lost her balance. She fell off the side, but caught herself before she hit the ground. We sped past the floating young vampire and down the country road.
"What was that girl back there?" Uncle Seward asked us.
"A vampire with a height problem,"
I told him.
He frowned and leaned over the steering wheel. "Then what was that one guy doing with her? I thought he hated vampires."
"He kind of forgot that part of his life," I explained.
"But not how to try to kill people?" he pointed out.
I shrugged. "I guess amnesia isn't an equal opportunity illness."
"We must focus on the matter at hand," Roland spoke up.
"Yes, that little girl was very rude," Aunt Ma agreed. "And the book she had in her hand was very old. She should have held it with more care."
My eyes lit up. "The book! We need to go back and get that book!"
Roland shook his head. "Not with your family present. The risk is too great."
"Oh, don't worry about us. We'll be fine," Aunt Ma assured him.
"And we need it to get our souls back in the right bodies," I reminded him.
Uncle Seward glanced between us. "You're saying you absolutely need that book to fix this?"
"Yes," Roland confirmed.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Uncle Seward snapped as he stomped on the brake and spun us around back in the direction of town and our foes.
I hung on to the oh-shit handle above my door as I was squeezed against the side of the truck. "Because I'm more worried about surviving your driving," I snapped.
"Never mind my driving. How do we get that book away from her?" he asked us.
"Well, I don't think saying 'please' is going to work," I quipped.
"Misty will wrestle the book from her while we distract Ginsleh," Roland suggested.
I whipped my head to him. "Are you crazy? She'll cut off my head before I get two quips out."
"You have the strengths of a vampire and are more than an equal match for her because of your body's age," he assured me.
"And if you're wrong?" I asked him.
"Then she will not kill you until after she has stolen my soul from your body," he replied.
I threw my arms up in the air. "Wonderful. Just wonderful." I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. "Well, let's get this over with. I'm not getting any deader. Yet."
CHAPTER 6
We bumped down the road back towards our deadly foes. All our attention was on the road in front and around us. Uncle Seward slowed the car down and frowned.
"Why are we stopping?" I asked him.
"Because this is the mile post we were at when they attacked us," he explained.
I looked out my window at the night. My eyesight was good enough that I could see like it was daylight. "So where are-" Something heavy dropped onto the roof of the truck and in a moment there came a hail of bullets into the center of the cab.
We hit our doors and watched the center of the cab get eaten alive by the hungry bullets.
"Me and my big mouth!" I shouted.
"Everyone outside!" Roland yelled.
We opened our doors and tumbled onto the road. Uncle Seward rolled onto his knees and turned around to face with truck with his rifle at the ready and his eye looking through the scope. He shot off a couple of rounds. Ginsleh jumped off the cab and into the tall bed. He poked his head up and pointed his own high-powered gun at Uncle Seward.
Roland lunged over the side of the truck and grabbed Ginsleh. The madman's shot flew wild and missed the top of Uncle Seward's head by a foot. Aunt Ma joined Roland and they both grabbed hold of Ginsleh's arms.
"That is no way to behave!" Aunt Ma scolded him.
"Release me!" Ginsleh shouted.
They dragged him over the side of the truck, and beneath the wheels I could see a wild scuffle as they fought over the gun. Uncle Seward scrambled to his feet and hurried around the front of the truck to help them.
I was about to join them in the fun when the hairs on the back of my neck stood straight on end. A faint voice reached my ears. A small child's voice.
"By the darkness in my hand-" I whipped my head around for the speaker. There! A shadow behind the truck! "-and the dark lord in the land-"
I grabbed a handful of loose gravel and ice from the road, and hoped Roland was right about me having some super vampire abilities because I needed a hell of an aim right then. I stood and pitched the gravel at the shadow behind the left tailgate light.
The gravel sprayed over the road and I heard a sharp cry as Rose ate a tasty treat of gravel-a-la-road. She stumbled back and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. In her other hand was the grim fairy tale book. I jumped to my feet and rushed over to appropriate the tome.
Unfortunately, Roland was right that I had more than just a great arm and eyesight. I rushed so fast that I couldn't aim myself and overshot my target. I crashed into the ditch beyond where Rose stood and tumbled head-over-heels into the tall weeds. I wrangled myself free and peeked out of the weeds in time for a shadow to fall over me. A short shadow. Rose glared down at me with her brightly glowing red eyes and sharp fangs.
"When I have Roland's soul I will destroy you and your own," she snapped at me. She raised her hand over the open book and the wind around us picked up.
"Let our souls be born anew in the body of we-"
I sprang from the weeds and slammed my shoulder into her tiny frame. She and I tumbled onto the road and the book fell to the ground where Rose stood. We rolled and grappled in immortal combat as each of us tried to sit on top of the other. I was the larger, but Rose had a little bit more practice being an undead. She ended up Queen of the Damned as she sat on top of me and pinned my arms above my head. Rose stuck her face in mine and spat out her words, and her spittle, on me.
"You filthy little-" A wind whipped her hair in front of her which then smacked me in the face.
We both glanced at the direction of the wind and our eyes widened as we beheld the tome. It sat opened on the road and the wind from the spell sprang out of the pages. The wind flew over we two and the truck, and it was quickly followed by a half dozen dark tendrils. Two of the thick shadow arms flew at us, and the others went to the other side of the truck. I leaned towards the two tendrils aimed at us and used Rose as a wall.
The tendrils slammed into her and she screamed out in agony as they latched onto her. I watched as a dark shadow was ripped from her body and absorbed into the book. The other tendrils had other souls inside them, and I realized the strands were connected to my loved ones and that asshole Ginsleh. The souls converged in the book but flew back through the same tendril just as quickly. The souls returned to their bodies and the tendrils disappeared in another violent explosion.
Rose blew off me and rolled down the road. I grasped the gravel beneath me and tried to stop the drum band that had taken up temporary residence in my chest. My heart finally slowed its tempo and I slowly sat up. The wind was gone and the book lay shut five yards from me. There wasn't a sound to be heard.
"Aunt Ma? Uncle Seward? Roland?" I called out. No reply.
My heart started the drum beat again as I scrambled to my feet and rushed to the other side of the truck. The three men, Roland, Uncle Seward and Ginsleh, lay unconscious on the ground. There wasn't any sign of Aunt Ma.
I rushed to Roland's side and shook him. "Roland! Roland, wake up!"
His eyes fluttered open and he turned his head to me. "Misty. . ."
I managed a smile through my tears. "Who else?" I teased.
He winced and clutched at his stomach. I noticed a nasty blood spot on his stomach. He noticed my frightened eyes.
"Ginsleh," he explained.
Speaking of the devil awakened him. Ginsleh groaned, and my uncle wasn't far behind. They both sat up and looked around in bewilderment.
"What happened?" Uncle Seward asked us. He glanced over our faces and his eyes widened. "And where's Ma?"
I shook my head. "I don't know. Wasn't she with you guys?"
"Yes, until the spell was cast over us," Roland confirmed.
I frowned. "Wait a sec. I thought that spell was only a transfer between two people."
"Something must have gone wrong," he commented.
/> "It was until this foolish human interrupted the spell," a voice spoke up. Rose appeared at the rear of the truck. She clung to the rear light and glared at me. "You cast the spell over all of us."
I glared at her. "There wouldn't be any spell if some stupid vampire wouldn't be casting them."
"She is no longer a vampire in soul," Roland corrected me.
Ginsleh glared at the three of us. "You filthy humans will pay for violating my mistress."
"How hard did you get hit on the head?" I asked him.
I glanced between them. "So that means she's human? You're human?" I asked her. Rose growled and turned away. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'"
"Enough with all the talk. How do we fix this soul swapping?" Uncle Seward spoke up.
"We haven't time to squabble," Roland interrupted as he stood to his feet. He placed a hand on the truck and I propped up his other side. "We must assess who's soul is in which body. The vampire soul is far more dangerous than the human ones."
"I've still got your soul," I told him. I jerked my head towards Rose. "I used Goldilocks here to block the shadows, but something got ripped out of her."
Rose's eyes narrowed at me, but she didn't try to shut my mouth with her fists. "Since I do not have my soul a part of my being was stolen from me," she explained.
"Your 'being?'" I repeated.
"A shadow of a person's soul," Roland told me. "An echo is all that remains of a vampire's soul so that our personalities remain intact after the change."
"So is that dangerous?" I wondered.
"Not as dangerous as a soul, but there is no telling what would happen within a human's body," Roland replied.
"So we need to find out who's got Rose's 'being' before we find out the unintended consequences," I mused. I glanced at the men. "You guys feel any different?"
"I feel human," Uncle Seward spoke up.
I looked at Ginsleh. "Are you feeling peckish for a pint?"
He climbed to his feet and glared at me. "I will not deign to reply to that."
"Too late," I retorted.
Roland turned to Rose. "If you wish to find your being then tell your servant to cooperate with us."
Rose frowned and looked at her human servant. "Do you feel any blood lust?"
