“I heard one of the scientists refer to it as a fire imp,” said Becca.
“It doesn’t look dangerous. It looks sad.”
The fire imp was sitting on the floor of the box with its head hunched over. It heaved what seemed like a big sigh and then resumed staring at the ground. Colin tapped on the glass and the creature looked up and around, first at Becca, then at Colin.
“Don’t touch the glass!” said Becca.
“Look!”
The creature hopped to its feet and floated over to where Colin stared dumbfounded at the little creature. Colin tilted his head to try and get a better look and the creature tilted its head the same way.
“He’s copying you,” whispered Becca. “Do something else.”
Colin tilted his head the other way and the creature mimicked his movement again. Colin raised his right hand and waved. The creature raised the flame on its left side and shook it ever so slightly.
“It’s hard to believe that this tiny little thing did all that damage and almost killed us.”
“Do something else, do something else,” said Becca, obviously enjoying the show.
Colin put his arm down and the creature copied him.
Colin smiled a big smile and the indent in the creature’s face widened into a smile.
Colin stuck out his tongue and the imp opened its mouth and shot fire like a flamethrower, filling the box with a mini firestorm. Becca and Colin jumped back. Something beeped loudly, and white mist shot out of the bottom of the box near where the wires ran into it, dousing the flames.
The mist cleared and the fire imp was lying on its back, coughing tiny smoke rings. It sat up and shook its head.
“That’s amazing,” said Becca.
“He’s kind of cute,” said Colin with a smile. “Can we keep him?”
Chapter Seven
Stranger and Stranger
One of the base transport trucks drove Becca and Colin back to Elkwood. They sat at the very back of the transport the whole way and discussed the fire imp, how it might have got into Charles’s cave, and what might have happened to Charles. There was also a short discussion where Colin made a case for keeping a fire imp as a pet. Becca disagreed, making the very valid point that the imp was capable of burning down the entire town if it so much as sneezed in the wrong direction.
“But he was so cute,” said Colin.
“Sure, but for those of us who can’t naturally heal from severe burns, I’m thinking it wouldn’t be cute for very long.”
“Do you think it killed Charles?”
Becca shook her head. “I don’t think so. Charles is a demon. He lived in Hell, which as I understand it is very hot. Fire isn’t something that would hurt him.”
“When he appeared in my room he said, ‘He’s coming. He’s here.’ Who is he? He can’t have been referring to the fire imp; that doesn’t seem like something that would scare a demon. And he said he was using a hellstone, whatever that is. The imp wasn’t carrying anything. He’s nothing but fire.”
“Well something’s going on here. Charles vanishes. Your weird episode in Seattle, and then again last night. And it all started around the same time our new principal arrived.”
“You think it’s got something to do with Mr. Sampson?” said Colin. It wasn’t like the thought hadn’t occurred to him either.
“I don’t know,” said Becca. “But I definitely think we should keep an eye on him.”
The truck screeched to a stop outside of Becca’s house. Mrs. Emerson stood on the front step wearing a floral dressing gown and a worried look.
“Are you going to be okay? Your mom’s not going to be mad, is she?”
“Nah, my Dad is the real ball of anger in our home. Mom just worries. And if she gives me any trouble I’ll just—what did you call it? Magically whammie her?” Becca wiggled her fingers for magical effect.
“Very funny. You’re hilarious.”
“Seeya at school!”
Becca kissed Colin on the cheek and hopped out of the truck.
Ten minutes later the same truck stopped outside of Colin’s house. He glanced at the digital clock on the dashboard: 7:30 a.m. Inside the house, he could clearly hear his grandmother banging around in the kitchen. It was faint, but he could also smell the scent of anger. She was probably upset that he’d disappeared on a nighttime excursion.
Colin mentally prepared himself for the tongue-lashing he was about to receive, hopped out of the truck, and entered the house.
***
“And then when she was done shouting at me, she shouted some more,” Colin said to Becca and Jeremy.
The small school cafeteria was packed today as there was a torrential downpour of rain outside, possibly due to Colin’s grandmother’s current mood. Colin, Becca, and Jeremy sat at a corner table and ate their lunch.
“She was really that upset?” asked Jeremy.
“She’s a lot more protective than she used to be. She didn’t like me sneaking out in the middle of the night.”
“Your grandmother scares me,” said Jeremy.
“Don’t worry,” said Colin, “she scares everyone.”
“Not me,” said Becca. “I think she’s awesome.”
“You would,” said Colin through a mouthful of his fourth ham and steak sandwich.
“Well, I’ve got to run,” said Jeremy. “Basketball practice. Catch you guys later.”
Jeremy grabbed his backpack and headed out of the cafeteria, the automatic doors swishing open for him as he went.
“Did you tell your gran anything?” asked Becca.
“No, but it felt weird keeping things from her. I just told her that you convinced me to sneak out for a make-out session and that you can’t resist me.”
Becca slapped Colin on the arm. “You did not!”
“I absolutely did. You have self-control issues. Can’t keep your hands off me.” Colin grinned.
Becca slapped him again. “Oh, you’ll pay for that, Colin Strauss. Just you wait. You do realize I have to train with that woman? It’s not like there’s an abundance of witches and wizards around here.”
“Oh yeah! I’ve been meaning to ask. A couple of things, actually.”
The bell chose that moment to ring loudly throughout the cafeteria. Students began to clear out.
“Well, it’ll have to wait,” said Becca. “After school?”
“Sure, sounds—”
There was a crash as a tray skittered across the floor. A small boy, a couple years younger than Colin, with short blond hair and bright blue eyes, was sprawled out on the floor. Gareth Duggan, his leg outstretched, sat nearby with his cronies: Kevin Hadfield and Ryan Munson. They were laughing uncontrollably.
“You should be more careful, new kid” snickered Gareth. “You could have really hurt my foot, tripping over it like that.”
The boy on the floor looked on the verge of tears. Gareth stood up. “Hey! I’m talking to you.”
Colin could feel the tension in the room. No one liked Gareth. He’d been the school bully for as long as Colin had been at Elkwood. He had made Colin’s life a living hell until Gareth, who was part ogre, discovered along with the rest of the freaks in Elkwood that Colin was a werewolf. Since then he’d kept his distance from Colin but still liked to bully anyone smaller or weaker than himself, which was most people.
“Hey, kid!” Gareth shouted.
Colin’s hearing picked up the slightest whisper from the boy on the ground.
“Keep control, keep control, keep control, keep control … ”
Colin sprang up and walked over to Gareth. There was an audible gasp from the room. Gareth paled a little but stood his ground. Colin was at least four inches taller. The pair squared off, Gareth looking grim.
“Got something to say, Strauss?” Gareth asked, but it lacked the venom he used to be able to throw behind his words. Colin could smell uncertainty and fear along with the underlying ogre stench
that poured off of Gareth.
“Leave him alone,” said Colin.
“Or what?” said Gareth uncertainly.
Colin leaned in close so only Gareth could hear him. “Or I’ll eat you.”
Gareth turned another shade paler and took a step back into milk that had spilled from the new kid’s tray. Gareth slipped, both legs flying into the air, and landed flat on his back with a thump. The cafeteria erupted with laughter.
“Alright,” said Principal Sampson. Colin turned to see the stumpy principal standing beside the door, hands folded behind his back. “You all heard the bell, let’s get to class now. Come on, move along.”
The students began herding out of the cafeteria. Gareth scrambled to his feet and stormed out, shoving a few students aside for good measure. His two cronies followed close behind.
Colin crouched down and held out a hand to the kid.
“You okay?”
“Y-yes,” said the young boy. “Thank you.” He took the hand and Colin helped him to his feet.
Becca joined them. “You must be Terry,” said Becca.
“Y-yes,” muttered the boy.
“Come along, Mr. Barker,” said Principal Sampson. “I’d like to have a quick word with you.”
Terry, head down, followed the principal out of the cafeteria, leaving Becca and Colin alone.
“I recognize that kid’s voice,” said Colin. “I was zoning out in math yesterday and I could hear him hiding somewhere, muttering about having to control something.”
“His name is Terry Barker. Just moved here with his mother. I overheard Dad talking about him over the summer. He’s a telekinetic. He can move things with his mind. Very powerful, apparently. Struggles to control it though.”
“I know that feeling.”
“Come on, we’re going to be late for class.”
***
Colin and Becca passed Principal Sampson in the hallway. He was talking to Terry, who looked much calmer now.
“Did you finish your English assignment?” said Becca.
“Yeah. Ten pages on Shakespeare. Interesting guy. Not sure I like the frilly collar.”
Becca laughed. And then Colin’s hearing cut out and he felt that same pressure in the air again.
“Something’s wrong,” said Colin but he couldn’t hear his own voice. Becca had a worried look on her face. She mouthed the word ‘What,’ and then a bunch of other stuff that Colin couldn’t recognize. Colin’s sense of smell cut out too. He looked back down the hallway to see that Terry had gone, but Principal Simpson was watching Colin intently.
He felt Becca’s hand on his arm. With her other hand, she pointed frantically down the hall. Students were spilling out of one of the classrooms in a panic. Colin glanced back to see that the principal had vanished.
What is happening?
Mrs. Walker, the chemistry teacher, scrambled out of the doorway after the fleeing students when something grabbed her from behind and dragged her back into the classroom.
Colin’s senses rushed back to him all at once. The fire alarm was blaring and the smell of fear in the hallway was intoxicating. Colin’s heart was racing but he quickly regained control and focused on not changing into a werewolf.
Becca grabbed Colin’s hand and pulled him down the hallway toward the classroom and flung open the door. Mrs. Walker lay on top of her desk. Micah Cross, one of the goth twins, crouched over the terrified chemistry teacher in full vampire mode. Micah’s pale skin was stretched tight over his face, making him look almost skeletal, and his jaw opened wide to reveal a set of long, sharp fangs. He hissed in Becca and Colin’s direction and sank his teeth into Mrs. Walker’s neck. The chemistry teacher screamed.
Colin leapt at Micah, clearing several desks, and tackled him into the wall, but the young vampire was surprisingly strong. He grabbed Colin by the shoulders and effortlessly tossed him across the room.
Colin twisted in the air and landed lightly on top of a desk. He could feel his wolf creature clawing to get out, but Colin knew that changing inside the school would be a bad idea.
Have to get Micah out of the building.
Colin, can you hear me?
Becca! Yeah, what’s happened to him?
Becca was crouched beneath a desk. Micah had gone back to feeding on Mrs. Walker, who was now unconscious.
He’s in his true vampire form.
I have to get him out of here.
I’ll take care of Mrs. Walker.
Colin jumped to the floor and ran at Micah, leapt at him again, but hit nothing but air. One minute he was crouched there. The next he was gone. Colin landed beside the teacher’s desk and spun around. A student’s desk smashed into him, breaking into pieces and opening a wide gash across the side of Colin’s head. Micah stood in the middle of the classroom, breathing heavily. He looked almost like an animal. He hissed again.
Colin felt the wound on his head knit itself together and close up.
Yay for werewolf healing powers.
“Micah, this isn’t you,” said Colin. “Well, I guess this is actually you. But you don’t have to do this.”
Micah moved so fast Colin could barely see him. The vampire picked up another desk and launched it at Colin. He caught it this time and threw it right back, but Micah was running around the classroom in a blur.
Colin picked up Mrs. Walker and carefully laid her down on the floor behind her desk. Becca scrambled over.
“Are you going to be okay?” said Becca. “Can you handle him?”
Colin shrugged. “I’ll go find out.”
Micah had come to rest halfway up the wall in the back corner of the room. He hissed again.
“What’s with all the hissing?” said Colin. “Are you a vampire cat?” He leaned back on the teacher’s desk and focused on his hands, specifically his nails. Colin had been practicing hard with Silas to master partial changes, like growing claws or increasing strength in one part of his body. Colin had managed it to various degrees, some of which made Silas laugh because there’s nothing funnier than a teenage boy with one wolf ear, one wolf leg, and one very hairy arm.
Colin’s hand and nails grew into sharp claws, which he dug into the desk behind him.
Micah scrambled along the wall like a spider and hissed again. “I’ll tear you limb from limb, wolf!” spat Micah, his voice deep and gravelly.
The vampire sprang forward, moving with exceptional speed. But Colin was ready this time. He gripped the heavy, solid teacher’s desk with partially changed hands and swung it like a baseball bat, smashing Micah’s body and launching him out through the window. He landed sixty feet away, on the football field.
Colin dropped the desk, which was badly bent and broken, hopped through the window, and ran to Micah as he struggled to his feet. His skin was no longer stretched, his teeth were normal again, and he was looking more like himself, if somewhat dazed.
Colin could hear the sirens of the local police and army vehicles from the base approaching.
“Are you okay, Micah?” asked Colin.
Micah rubbed his head. “What happened? What did I—” His hands went to his stomach. “Why do I feel so full?”
Micah suddenly looked ill. Colin placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him and then came to a terrible realization.
Oh. I make vampires sick.
Micah promptly vomited all over him.
***
Varson straightened his tie and patted Colin gently on the shoulder. “You did very well in subduing him without killing or eating him. Really, well done.”
“Yeah, go me. I managed not to eat the crazy, puking vampire,” said Colin.
The football field was filled with army personnel. Local police, who were really nothing more than soldiers in a different uniform, had taped off the area. Principal Sampson had dismissed the other students early and, fortunately, the only people to see Colin hit Micah like a baseball was Becca. The rest of the students had
fled out the front of the school and been magicked to believe it was nothing more than a fire drill. Micah had been taken up to the base for examination.
“Why did he change like that? I’ve never seen one of the goth twins lose control,” said Colin.
“The boy claims he wasn’t in control. He was sitting in class and then all of a sudden he felt an overwhelming thirst for blood.”
“Well, he is a vampire.”
“Yes, but he’s a well-fed vampire. The Cross family are supplied with fresh animal blood on a daily basis. Micah hadn’t shown any signs of withdrawal. And he claims he had no control over himself when he attacked you. He doesn’t even fully remember what happened.”
“Is he going to be okay? I mean, you’re not going to—”
“Lock him up and throw away the key?” said Varson with a sideways glance.
Colin shifted uncomfortably. He’d been in the base prison. It wasn’t a fun place to be. He was also very aware that he was naked from the waist up, his hoodie and shirt ruined by vampire vomit.
Becca approached and handed Colin a spare sweatshirt from his locker.
“Thanks. How’s Mrs. Walker?”
“She’ll be fine,” said Becca. “She’ll probably be traumatized for life but she won’t have any long-lasting effects from her bite.”
“So she won’t be turning into a vampire any time soon?” said Colin with a grin.
“It doesn’t work like that,” said a female voice with a thick European accent.
Colin and Varson turned around to see Mrs. Cross, Nathaniel, and Micah’s mom standing ten feet away.
“I’d come closer,” said Mrs. Cross, “but the werewolf smell is too much for me to deal with.”
“Understandable,” said Varson, adjusting his tie awkwardly.
“What my boy did, I am sorry.”
This was a new side of Mrs. Cross for Colin. The only time he’d really seen her before was when she demanded the town let her hunt for Silas. Then the two of them had fought at the Town Hall meeting. Apparently she was really, really old.
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