The Fangs of Bloodhaven

by Cheree Alsop

  His conversation with Torrance remained in the back of his mind. He kept feeling the throb of the boy’s pulse through his fingers as he fought to keep Torrance from reopening his wounds. He had hurt a human, truly hurt him. The angry prints of red across the dark skin of the boy’s arms appeared in his mind over and over again. Everett knew how much pain the teen was in, yet Torrance denied any offered medication.

  Gratitude for Jeraldine and Dr. Transton’s good sense filled him. Despite their preconceived fears of vampires, Everett felt that the Asylum was truly there for good. The fact that they had let him bring an injured human into what was really their monster safe house gave him even more respect for the place. He was filled with the urge to help out, to protect monsters, to find a way where those like the elephants throwing stars and the unknown being in the empty room could exist in peace.

  Then there was Adrielle. Everett couldn’t quite stifle a sigh at the thought that he had been so close to kissing her before Vanguard showed up. How could he compete with a warlock who could make things disappear? He was a vampire. He wouldn’t survive without drinking blood. All he had to offer was the ability to channel a little strength, and that also depended on the blood reserves he had in his body. His skills were limited compared to the glorified magician.

  Yet Adrielle’s golden eyes lingered in his mind, beckoning him, promising safety, laughter, and freedom from a life of hiding in the shadows. After their initial debate about vampires, she had treated him like a normal person. She smiled at him as if she truly saw something special in him. It made him feel stronger, like, with her at his side, he could conquer the world. His heart sped up at the thought of her. Tingles ran across his arms and down his spine whenever she touched his arm.

  He had never felt so enraptured by a person. He told himself that the betrayal he had felt when she kissed Vanguard was ridiculous because they were obviously a couple, but he felt like he had been led on, made to think that she cared and saw something in him. The voice in the back of his mind whispered that he may have wanted to see these things so badly his mind had created them, but he refused to believe it. He shook his head, filled with a fog of confusion.

  Everett’s steps slowed. He put a hand on the wall of the tunnel, grounding himself with the rough, cool touch of the bricks that had sheltered thousands during the Ending War. The tunnels had made it possible for those who remained of the human race to survive. The fact that the five cities were what were left of the world filled him with sorrow. Why was everyone so eager to destroy those who were different? If humans could live in peace, a place like the Asylum didn’t have to exist. Yet humans weren’t the only danger.

  A sound deep within a side tunnel rolled toward him. Everett peered into the darkness, but since the tunnels were no longer used, only the emergency lighting ran down the main path, and even that was faint and flickered at the worst possible times.

  As if in reply to his thought, the lights above him wavered, then shut off.

  Everett froze. His senses strained, searching for the scraping sound he had heard. It came again, an ear-splitting screech like metal on glass. The sound was louder. Whatever made it drew closer.

  Torrance’s words repeated in his mind. “Claws and black teeth...metal on glass.”

  He saw the blood pooling from the deep gashes across the human’s chest. The terror that had been in Torrance’s eyes was something Everett hadn’t seen before. He didn’t want to know what sort of creature could cause such fear.

  Everett took off down the tunnel toward the Neighborhoods. He ran headlong, waving his arms in front of him so he wouldn’t smack into a wall. He could vaguely make out the star-washed dim gray that marked the tunnel exit. If he could just reach it, he could lose whatever the creature was in the Neighborhoods. He had to make it home.

  Everett’s sneaker hit something. He tripped, plunging forward. He had spent enough time watching Finch and Gabe’s tumbling classes to pull in his arms and roll instead of breaking something by putting out a hand to brace his fall. Everett slammed hard into one of the pillars that supported the center of the tunnel. The air was forced from his lungs with a gasp.

  Everett drew in a ragged, painful breath and tried to listen above his pounding heartbeat. When he didn’t hear anything, he rolled onto his back. His ribs sent shooting pains through his side. He breathed shallowly for a few minutes. The pain eased, then faded to a manageable level. Grateful for the fast healing of his vampire genes and the fresh blood Celeste had gotten for him which made the process possible, Everett rolled over and carefully pushed to his feet.

  He walked as silently as he could toward the faint gray light. He couldn’t push down the feeling that something was watching him from the darkness, yet when he looked back, only impenetrable obscurity remained. He stepped into the starlight feeling as though he had truly escaped with his life.

  When he reached the porch, Everett collapsed on the swing. He stared in the direction of the tunnel a few blocks away, sure whatever had been following him would appear.

  “Had a good night?”

  Everett nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Celeste’s voice.

  He stared at her. “Don’t sneak up on people!”

  She smiled down at him from the doorway. “You’re jumpy.”

  “Yeah,” Everett replied, willing his heart to slow. “I, uh...” He didn’t want to tell his older sister that he was worried about a raging dark creature with black teeth appearing from the tunnels. She would either believe him or think he was crazy; he didn’t know which would be worse. “I thought everyone was asleep,” he finally answered.

  She took a seat next to him on the swing and gave them a push with her feet. Everett crossed his legs on the bench and sat back, letting himself sway with the rhythm of her feet.

  “Rett, I’m worried about you,” she finally said.

  He looked over to find her watching him. “Worried, why?” he asked, keeping his tone light.

  Her eyes narrowed, making her look very much like their mother when she knew something was up. “You’re not telling us the truth.”

  “I’m telling you the truth,” Everett told her. At her increased scrutiny, he sighed. He had never been able to keep anything from her. “Just not all of the truth,” he admitted.

  She sat back and waited.

  Everett debated what he could tell her. He had promised Dr. Transton that he would keep the Asylum a secret, yet it was obvious he went somewhere every night. Celeste had kept his night ventures to herself, covering for him when she could have ratted him out to their parents. All growing up, and especially since he found out he was a vampire, she had been his confidant, his friend, and sometimes even his therapist on days when it felt like too much.

  He pushed his hair out of his eyes and let out a small breath. “Okay, I’ll tell you, but this can’t go any further than us.”

  “I know,” she replied. Her brown gaze held him, but she didn’t push.

  Everett appreciated the chance to collect his thoughts. “Well...” he said, stalling. He figured it was better to tell it to her straight like ripping off a stuck bandage than to draw it out. “I’ve been at a monster asylum.”

  It sounded ridiculous as soon as the words left his mouth. He expected her to burst into laughter.

  Instead, she watched him closely without so much as a smile crossing her face. “A monster asylum.”

  Everett nodded. “There are all kinds of monsters there. It’s hidden in the middle of the city, and has far more levels than it looks from the outside.” His mind raced as he tried to describe everything. “There are floors with snow, a swamp floor, sand like you’re in the desert. There’s even a level that looks like it’s straight from outer space; I don’t even know how that’s possible!” It felt so good to finally tell someone. The words rushed from him. “There’s a zombie and a warlock. I didn’t even know warlocks were real. I called him a magician and he was really offended.” He paused, then said, “I’ll probab
ly keep calling him a magician.”

  Everett realized Celeste was extremely quiet. He stopped talking and watched her, afraid he had said way too much.

  Chapter Fourteen

  When Celeste finally spoke, her tone was level and didn’t give Everett any idea what she was thinking. “There are all kinds of monsters there, like the types Dad used to tell us about before...”

  Everett nodded. “Before they found out I was a vampire,” he finished. His father’s stories used to thrill him. The thought that monsters were real and out there somewhere was exciting and scary at the same time. After his diagnosis, the stories had stopped altogether. When he had begged his dad late at night to tell him one, his dad merely shook his head and told him a story instead about bumblebees who shouldn’t fly because of their weight and the size of their wings, but did so anyway.

  “Are there bad monsters?” she asked.

  Everett thought of Dr. Transton’s words about the hidden floors being more to keep the inhabitants in than everyone else out. His experience with the elephants and almost being burned to death by a star made sense; yet there was only one answer for Celeste.

  “Not that I’ve seen,” he said as truthfully as he could. Technically, the elephants hadn’t seemed intent on hurting him, and on the floor where whatever it was had gotten angry that he was there, he truly couldn’t see who was speaking.

  “That’s good,” Celeste said. She was silent a moment, then continued, “Everett, it worries me. A building like that isn’t supposed to exist.”

  “I know,” he answered.

  “What if the government found out it was there?” she continued. “What if they’re watching it and they catch you on your way in? What if the DRAK take you away?” she concluded the last words quietly as though afraid of what they would mean.

  Everett let the silence settle for a few minutes before he finally spoke up. “Celeste, I’m going crazy here.” Admitting it was harder than he thought. “Living in the basement, pretending like night is my day while everyone sleeps, it feels like being dead.”

  “That isn’t fair,” Celeste replied with hurt in her expression. “We try hard to make sure you feel included. We have dinner late, Mom’s up most nights with her studies, and everyone goes to bed far later than anyone else at our schools—”

  “That’s the problem,” Everett pointed out. He tried to keep his tone level, but the distress he felt crept in and his voice lifted. “You shouldn’t have to do that, any of you.” He waved a hand, indicating the house behind them. “It’s not right for any of them to have to do that. It’s not normal for a family to have a vampire as a sibling or child. Nobody should have to live like I do. I have no right to ask that of any of you.” He blinked quickly to keep back the tears that stung his eyes at his outburst.

  Celeste set a hand on his knee. “Everett, we do it because we love having you as a brother. Vampires are awesome.”

  Everett rolled his eyes, but couldn’t keep back a smile at his sister’s words. “You’re ridiculous.”

  “You are, too,” she replied. “That’s why you fit in here so well. I mean, you’re going to a monster asylum at night. How ridiculous is that?”

  “Pretty ridiculous,” Everett admitted with a grin.

  She nodded. “Pretty darn ridiculous, even as far as vampires go.”

  Everett chuckled. “Good to know. I guess I should keep an eye on that. I wouldn’t want things to get too far out of control.”

  She nodded in agreement. “You do what you need to do to keep sane. That’s what all the rest of us do. Just remember that we’re a team. We do it together.”

  Everett stood. “Thanks, Celeste.”

  She rose and hugged him. “You are loved here, Everett. Just don’t forget that, k?”

  “Okay,” he promised.

  They walked into the house together. The light was on in the hallway that led to the sunroom.

  “Heading to bed?” he asked Celeste.

  “I made sure my errant brother got home safe, so I can sleep. How about you?”

  Everett nodded toward the light. “I think I’ll go see what Mom’s up to.”

  His answer brought a smile to Celeste’s face. “That’ll mean a lot to her.”

  “’Night, Celeste.”

  “Goodnight,” she replied with a tired wave before turning to her room.

  Everett walked down the hallway. He leaned against the doorframe and smiled at the familiar sight of his mother leaning over the telescope. Her notebook lay open, filled with the sketches and notes she wrote almost nightly. It calmed Everett’s heart that despite all the craziness he had seen, monsters that shouldn’t exist in a world that he hadn’t known was real, things at home were the same.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  She looked up with a start. A smile spread across her face as soon as she saw him. “Everett, come see this.”

  He walked over and put his eye to the telescope.

  “That’s Mare Serenitatis, the Sea of Serenity,” she said.

  “It’s dark.” He let his gaze focus on the view. “But I can see craters.”

  “Good,” she replied. “If you look at the northeast rim, you’ll see the crater Posidonius.”

  “It’d be neat to explore in there.”

  He looked up to see his mom’s wistful expression. “Wouldn’t that be amazing? We used to have robots up there that would send back pictures. I wish we could still control them.”

  Everett took a seat on the closest chair. “What do you think we would learn?”

  “Anything.”

  Her fast reply carried a note of longing. He knew how frustrated his parents became at the fact that the government refused to fund such research. Dad called it the Second Dark Age, saying that the Kingship feared losing control. In order to maintain peace, they limited learning and knowledge so that the remaining humans would be more manageable. From what Everett had seen, it made his parents frustrated instead of submissive.

  “We’re meant to learn,” his mother said. “Imagine if we could figure out the link between the moon and the world. The research that survived from before the wars states that it is a far greater link than we ever imagined. What if it affects the plants or the bees?”

  “What if it affects the monsters?” Everett replied.

  “What do you mean?” she asked in surprise.

  Everett didn’t want to say too much, but the fact that he knew his mother’s hypothesis was true ate at him. He chose a topic he felt he could talk about safely.

  “I’ve heard that zombies change in the moonlight, that they’re not just mindless, flesh-eating creatures. The moon affects them.”

  His mother gave him a fond smile. “Have you been listening to Donavan’s stories? I’ve got to ask him to stop filling his siblings’ heads with nonsense. Nobody has seen a zombie in years. The walls keep them out.”

  “It’s not Donavan.” Everett took a chance. “I’ve seen a zombie, Mom.”

  She stared at him. “What are you talking about?” All joking had vanished from her tone and it was replaced with worry. “We need to call the DRAK. Zombies are dangerous.”

  Everett swallowed and lied, “It was outside the walls.”

  She gave him a stern look. “Everett, what were you doing outside the walls?”

  “I-I wasn’t outside.” His mind raced. “I was on top. I found a way up. I won’t go there again, I promise.”

  She looked completely upset. Things were not going the way he had planned. He stood and set a hand on her arm.

  “Mom, I was careful. I just wanted to see.” He gestured toward the moon. “But you’re right. The moon does affect them.”

  She was silent for a moment. He half expected her to ground him for the rest of the week. Instead, she let out a small sigh and took a seat. “Alright, what happened?”

  “The zombie danced.”

  His mom’s mouth fell open.

  Everett smiled. “You should have seen it, Mom. She was shuffling arou
nd and moaning, and then the moon came out. As soon as it touched the zombie’s skin, it was almost like a mirage of her old self fell over her. She danced so beautifully I almost forgot she was a monster.” A wave of sadness washed over him. “But as soon as the moonlight faded, the mirage was gone and she was back to being a zombie.”

  His mother was quiet for much longer this time. He couldn’t guess the direction of her thoughts. When she spoke, there was horror in her voice.

  “What if the moonlight brings them back?” she asked more to herself than to Everett. “What if that was the key? So many were killed. So many families brought down because they turned into zombies. Was it murder, then?”

  Everett shook his head quickly. “No, Mom. It’s not like that. She wasn’t there, not really.” At his mother’s lost look, he tried to explain. “Even during her dance, I could tell she was just going through the motions. It was as if the moonlight awakened the memory of who she had been, not brought her back to herself. She was still a zombie, just...” He didn’t know how to finish. He thought of Dr. Transton watching his daughter transform every night. He had built the Asylum to protect her from those who would kill her on sight, yet he couldn’t save her from her cruel fate. She would always be locked away, merely a mirage. “She was still a monster,” he concluded quietly.

  Everett felt as if he lost something at that moment. Maybe the government was right to keep the surviving citizens from delving too much into what had happened during the wars. Would it be worse to find out that they were the source of the monsters, or to realize that the monsters they killed could have been saved?

  The more he learned of the creatures that haunted every child’s nightmares, the more he found out that perhaps it wasn’t the monsters that caused the fear. If humans created the monsters, humans were the source of the nightmares, and with that line of thought, what a human should fear was the capabilities of his or her own race.

  That brought his thoughts back to Torrance. The human was right to fear him. He had only made it to the Asylum without drinking the boy’s blood by sheer strength of will. He had hurt Torrance by holding him down, and he couldn’t blame the teen for the accusation in his voice when he told Jeraldine Everett was a vampire.