Around

by Glenn Rolfe

  “It’s a wonderful gift, Arthur,” his mom said, “but I really wish you would have talked to Dale and me first.”

  “I’m sorry, Clarise,” Dad said. “I’ve known the whole time. I‘ve been helping Artie get her fixed up for the last couple months. Hell, you didn’t really think I was over there drinking the nights away, did ya?”

  “Dale Zukas,” Mom said, slapping Dad’s arm.

  “Ow,” he feigned.

  “Oh yeah, right,” Mom said. “Ow.”

  After a moment, she crossed her arms and gazed at the car. “It is a beauty,” she said.

  “Hey,” Julie shouted out the door. “Rocky.”

  “What?”

  “There’s a phone call for you. I think you’re gonna want to take it.”

  “Ohhh,” Dad teased. “Is it that cute girl from the other day?”

  Mom slapped his arm again. “Leave him alone.”

  Rocky ignored them and left them in the driveway.

  “It’s November,” Julie said when he reached the door. “She says it’s urgent.”

  “Thanks,” he said, slipping past her and picking up the phone.

  “Hello.”

  “Rocky, I need to see you. I have to tell you something…something….”

  “Just tell me.”

  “I can’t do it over the phone.”

  “Where are you?” He could hear vehicles and loud voices in the background.

  “I’m down the road. Can you meet me around the corner?”

  “All right.”

  * * *

  He met her just down the street on the corner of East Grand and Boulet.

  He thought he’d be angry or heartbroken when he saw her; instead his heart went out to her. She looked frightened.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  He saw the bruise on the right side of her face and the cut on her lip.

  “Listen to me. I had to come here. I have something that’s going to sound crazy, but you have to believe me.”

  “Did someone…did your brother do this?”

  “That’s what I came to talk to you about.”

  Rage boiled up within him. The adrenaline made his clenched fists shake at his sides. He paced in front of her. A dog in the next yard over was yipping up a storm as a couple of Harleys roared by.

  The last of the daylight had faded away. He was lucky it was his birthday; his parents would never have let him leave the yard this late. Not now. Not after all the scary stuff happening.

  “You shouldn’t make excuses for him. Julie had a boyfriend who smacked her once. My dad went straight to his house and threatened to knock the shit out of him.”

  She took his hands in hers. Her brown eyes tried to capture his own.

  “I need to tell you this. And it isn’t easy.”

  “What. What is it already?”

  “My brother is dangerous.”

  “Yeah, I figured.”

  “He’s a…we’re….”

  “Yes. What? Whatever it is, November, just spit it out.”

  “We’re not like you. We’re….”

  God, what was she going to say? The idea suddenly hit him that she was going to tell him that her brother was the killer. He was sure of it.

  “We’re vampires.”

  “What?”

  “I told you you wouldn’t believe me. And I don’t have much time to convince you.”

  He pulled his hands from her. “I don’t know why you’d rush over here to tell me something lame like that. I mean, what the hell, November? Just tell me to get lost and that you guys are going home. God.”

  He turned his back and started to walk away.

  She grabbed him by the arm. He tried to pull away but couldn’t. They were behind the old utility shed when she let go and rose into the air. Rocky watched as her feet came free from the grass. Stumbling backward, he crashed into the building, unsteady on his feet.

  “Wh-wh-what…are you?”

  “I told you.” She landed and reached for him.

  “No, no,” he cried. “Don’t touch me. Jesus, don’t fucking touch me.”

  “Rocky, please don’t look at me like that.”

  He started toward the road. “Stay away from me.”

  She was in front of him again.

  “How’d you—”

  “My brother is dangerous. You have to watch out for him. I don’t trust him.”

  “What the fuck do you want me to do? Throw garlic at him?”

  “Rocky, please….”

  He went around her. “Do me a favour. You and your brother can both stay away from me and my family. Go back to wherever you came from.”

  Rocky didn’t wait for her to respond. He didn’t want to hear anything she had to say. He broke into a sprint and didn’t stop until he came panting up his driveway.

  His uncle’s truck was gone.

  “Is everything all right?” his mom asked as he came through the door.

  She was sitting with Julie, playing Yahtzee at the kitchen table.

  He couldn’t think straight. He couldn’t speak.

  He held up a hand as he passed them by and went straight to his room.

  She’d said it. She’d said the word. Vampire.

  She’d flown. She’d pulled him to the utility building like he was a toddler.

  They were real. She was real. Monsters. Monsters are real.

  He nearly collapsed, stumbling to his bed and burying his face in his trembling hands.

  He’d fallen in love with a monster. She’d lied to him. She’d hid this from him.

  But honestly, would you have talked to her if you knew? he asked himself.

  He’d done more than talk with her. They’d kissed. They’d had sex. What if he was infected? No, he’d worn a condom, but did that work against vampires?

  None of it made sense. She was almost always out in the daytime. Vampires weren’t supposed to be able to be out in the sun. They were supposed to burn up or explode. They weren’t supposed to come to beach towns and play in the ocean, make boys fall in love with them and then crush their hearts.

  All the pain and sorrow he’d felt these last couple days bled away. It was far worse than a case of a broken heart. Old Orchard Beach had a family of vampires among them.

  All those missing kids, all those missing tourists.

  He didn’t want to picture November attacking anyone. He couldn’t. She wouldn’t. But Gabriel.

  He’s dangerous. I don’t trust him.

  Rocky looked toward the open bedroom window. The shadow from the other night. The stranger across the street.

  He got up and closed and locked the window.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “Artie, I really can’t thank you enough for what you did for my boy.”

  Arthur raised his beer to Dale’s. “Cheers to Rocky. Maybe he’ll enjoy even a fraction of the good fucking times we had in that old car.”

  “Cheers,” Dale said.

  Arthur finished his beer and reached into his cooler for another. He grabbed two, tossing one to Dale.

  “You really didn’t mention any of the work we were doing to Clarise?”

  “Not you, too, man,” Dale said, popping the can open. “I didn’t think she’d go for it, or at least that she’d just say ‘Oh, that’s a wonderful idea.’ You know how women are.”

  “Well, I know you didn’t give her that chance.”

  “Oh hell, you’re probably right, but she did come around pretty quick. You gotta give her that.”

  “Well, we can thank that old beauty for that. No woman could ever resist the presence of the Buick.”

  They laughed together. Arthur wasn’t surprised Dale hadn’t said anything to Clarise about them working on the car to gi
ve to Rocky. It would have been a battle for sure, but Arthur liked to give Dale hell when he could.

  “When’s his test?” Arthur asked.

  “Tuesday morning.”

  “Wow. He’ll pass.”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Well, shit. If you don’t mind, I’m gonna go take a whiz.”

  “What do I care unless you need me to hold it for you.”

  “You wish,” Arthur said, grabbing his crotch and laughing his way out of the room.

  He entered the bathroom and waited for his stream to kick into gear. One of the wonders of being over fifty, you have to piss all the time, but it took forever to get it going, and when it did, the damn stream was so weak it took a lifetime.

  A loud crash in the other room startled him, making him piss outside the bowl.

  What the hell was that?

  He finished up and opened the door.

  “Dale? What the hell’d you do out there?”

  He stopped cold in the entryway of the living room.

  The chair was empty. Dale’s beer sat spilling onto the floor beside his chair.

  “Dale?”

  Arthur stepped into the room and saw the front screen door smashed in and lying on the floor.

  “Dale!”

  Dale was lying face down on the porch. Arthur was about to go to him when a man stepped before him. Only it wasn’t a man. His chin was pointy, matching the awful mouth of sharp teeth. His eyes were black as coal.

  “Hi there, Artie,” it said. Its voice was gravel and death. “Or do you prefer Arthur?”

  “What did you do to Dale?”

  “I’m afraid he hasn’t the heart to join us.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Oh, that question is so blasé. Don’t you fools have anything worth saying?”

  The monster flew forward, taking Arthur by the throat and pinning him to the wall.

  Arthur could see Dale still not moving behind this thing.

  “Is…is he dead?”

  The monster looked over his shoulder before turning back to Arthur.

  “He will be soon. Too bad, too. If you called him an ambulance right now, he might make it.”

  “Please,” Arthur said. “Let me get him help.”

  “I’m afraid we’ve got other plans. We just can’t afford to hang around. You understand?”

  “Please.”

  The monster pulled him forward, and then snapped his head back. The back of Arthur’s skull smashed against the wall, and everything faded to black.

  * * *

  November was sitting in the cemetery crying when she heard the door to their house slam shut. Gathering her courage, she rose and flew toward the cottage. Barging through the door, she called out to her brother.

  “Gabriel!”

  He appeared from the hallway, fully vamped out. She faltered.

  “You called, little sister?”

  “What did you do?”

  He walked around the sofa. She circled away from him, heading toward the kitchen.

  “Why, whatever do you mean?”

  “You need to stop…whatever it is you’ve been doing.”

  He pushed on; she continued to circle, not wanting to be in his striking distance, even though she’d seen him in action earlier and knew he could get to her if he wanted to.

  “And what do you think I’ve been doing?” he asked.

  They circled the room.

  “Just cut it out. All those people. All those kids on the Missing posters in town. You…you did that.”

  “Guilty,” he said, raising his hands. She saw the fresh blood on them.

  “Where were you just now?” she asked.

  “I could ask you the same thing.”

  Oh no, don’t let him have been following me.

  “You first,” she said. “You tell me where you went.”

  “If you must know, I went to see a…a friend of the family, I guess you could say.”

  She stopped. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, after I took care of your hero friends from before, I was heading home when what should I see but you and your little Romeo.”

  “You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t hurt him.” She stiffened. Ready to strike.

  “No, no. I wouldn’t waste an opportunity such as this to simply kill that pest.”

  “What did you do?”

  “Come with me and I’ll show you.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  “Oh, you’ll change your mind. You and I have some business to take care of tonight. And whether you like it or not, you’re going to help me.”

  “I will do no such thing.” She stood tall. It was high time she quit being afraid of him and letting him walk all over her and their mother.

  “We’ll just see about that,” he said.

  He flew past her so fast her hair danced in the wind.

  She moved to the kitchen and looked for a weapon. The kitchen knife should serve well should she need to wield it.

  She turned around and was not prepared for the sight before her.

  Gabriel had an unconscious man bound to a chair.

  “Who’s that?” she asked, hiding the knife behind her back.

  “You don’t recognise the family resemblance?” he said, placing a hand on the back of the man’s head.

  “Should I?”

  “This is Arthur. Artie to his friends. Uncle Arthur to your little Romeo.”

  This was the one giving Rocky a car for his birthday. She’d never met him, but Rocky had told her about him.

  “You have to let him go,” she said.

  “Let him go? Oh no, no, no, little sister. I’m afraid not.”

  “I’m telling Mom.” She felt like a stupid child saying it out loud, but she had nothing else to threaten him with.

  “Mother?” His brow furrowed. “Let me tell you what we’re going to do tonight.” He wrenched the back of the guy’s neck as the man’s eyelids fluttered open. He tried to cry out, but it came out muffled behind the rope wrapped around his mouth.

  “Shut up, blood bag.”

  “Gabriel, don’t do this.”

  “Oh, I’m not going to do anything.” He straightened up and gazed at her with the eyes of the devil. “You are.”

  “I don’t know what you have in mind, but I’m not doing a damn thing.”

  “You will. You will get your hands good and bloody. You will quench that thirst I saw in your eyes earlier today. You will feast on this human or—”

  “Or what? You’ll kill me? You can’t frighten me anymore, Gabriel.” She hoped it didn’t come out as weak as it sounded to her.

  “You’ll do as I say,” he said. His voice grew louder and nastier, coming out as a near growl. “If you choose to disobey me again, your precious boyfriend is dead. Now join me.”

  “No,” she said.

  “I will kill the boy and his entire family. Now, you get over here and do what you were born to do.”

  She clenched the knife in her hand and shook her head.

  “No.” She stepped into the hallway. “Mother?”

  “All right then. You want to bring her into this?” He stepped to her. “Have it your way.”

  “What are you doing?” she asked, following him down to their mother’s room.

  “Get up, Mother,” he shouted.

  “Gabriel?” November said, reaching for him. “What are you doing?”

  He swatted her away and stomped to Mother’s bedside. He snatched her blankets and tossed them to the floor.

  “Get up, Mother.”

  “What? What’s…Gabriel? November?” Mother’s weak voice said.

  Gabriel clenched her by the arms and hauled her out of the bed. />
  Mother groaned.

  “Leave her alone,” November yelled as she launched at him, sinking the blade into his shoulder.

  “Arrrgghhh,” he cried, dropping their mom to the floor.

  He spun fast, took the knife from November’s hand, and stuffed it in the back of his pants.

  November dropped to the floor next to her mom.

  Gabriel shoved past her, scooped their mother up, and carried her like a dying bride out of the room.

  He slammed her down on the living room floor next to the man in the chair.

  November rushed into the room, tears in her eyes, fear eating her alive.

  “Now, you will suck the life from this man, or I swear to you here and now—” Gabriel pulled the knife from behind him and placed it to their mother’s throat. “—I will start with our lovely, dying mother.”

  She wanted more than anything in the world to believe him incapable of such a vile thing, but this was no longer the brother she’d adored, the brother she’d trusted. The brother she’d loved. This was a monster in its truest form.

  Mother whimpered as he pressed the blade against her throat, drawing forth a crimson teardrop that traced its way down the pale white flesh.

  “Do it, little sister. Take him now.”

  Deflated and broken, November joined the three of them.

  “Drink.”

  Mother looked so weak. Tears spilling from her eyes, November put one hand on Arthur’s head, the other on his shoulder, and said, “I’m sorry.”

  She took a deep breath, took on her vampiric form, and sunk her teeth into Rocky’s uncle’s neck.

  The power of the blood hit her hard and fast, pulling her in and taking her over. She felt possessed by its magic. She sucked and drew in his life’s blood, latching on to him like a starving creature given a golden feast.

  She was lost in the moment until she saw the flash and heard the camera.

  Pulling free of the drained soul, she looked at Gabriel shaking the Polaroid picture he’d taken of her in the middle of her feeding.

  “No,” she groaned, her voice unrecognisable to her own ears.

  She looked to her mother. She was lying on the floor, but outside of the nick on her neck, she seemed to be relatively fine.

  It’d been so long since she’d fed on a person, and even then, it hadn’t come close to the amount of blood she’d taken here. She was dizzy, her stomach queasy. She felt wobbly, like she was going to faint.