“Fine,” I said.
“Human,” Damon added in disgust.
We didn’t waste any time in packing. I packed a lot, because I didn’t think I would ever come back here. Back to Grammy’s beloved house and my beautiful lawn and my gazebo. I’d never get to finish my rock pond or use my flagstone walkway to stroll down to the water.
I was glad Damon hadn’t really started painting the house – let her deal with it.
I had to give it to her, everything, or I couldn’t walk away. I had to give her all the love and effort I’d put into the house, as well as the repairs left to be done.
Still, it hurt to leave the only home I’d ever known. I had a lifetime of memories here.
Thankfully, Damon was there to distract me.
“God, this is taking forever,” he complained as he went back in for the last box. “They know we’ve escaped by now.”
“I want my things,” I told him. Though, I took a moment to step out to the road and look both ways, just in case someone might be coming.
The night was quiet and peaceful.
I ran back in to make one last pass. Damon was waiting impatiently for me in the car when I slid into the passenger seat.
He backed out too fast, eyes alert. “Keep a lookout for undercover cars,” he ordered.
It felt so good to be dressed, and to have shoes on my feet. A shower would have been nice, but we had the CIA and secret government officials hot on our trail.
I stroked his hair. “We’ll get away. I can feel it.” My stomach lurched as he took a corner on two wheels. “Don’t go too fast or you’ll draw attention.”
He put all four tires back on the ground and straightened the wheel, forcing himself to let up on the gas. “Yeah, maybe,” he said and slowed a little more.
I settled down to relax for the trip, wondering what our new life would be like. “Are we going to live way out in the mountains, or near a town? What kind of cabin will we have?”
He smiled at me and relaxed back to drive with his wrist dangling over the steering wheel. He finally seemed to forget we were in mortal danger.
“The cabin is big, two stories. I built it myself. It overlooks a long, wide valley. No one nearby. Just you and me. It’ll be beautiful.”
I didn’t think we could find anything like that, unless we had plenty of money, and I didn’t believe Damon had any more money than was in the silver briefcase. At any rate, I was glad we were heading east. I was ready to move on and start anew.
“Do you know what,” I said, letting my thoughts roam so I wouldn’t have to look at my wonderful little town slipping away from me. “I think Chester and Mrs. Jarvis were in our room before we went to the hospital. They were saying strange things. I remembered right as I woke up, but then it all seemed foggy.”
Damon took an immediate interest, resting his arm on my shoulder. “What’d they say?”
My mind went blank. “Shoot, I don’t remember. That seems like years ago. I probably dreamed it.”
“You remember them being there,” he said. “You remember something.”
“Well, I remember Mrs. Jarvis saying we were just like… somebody. That we’d end in tragedy. Chester said they’d searched for an answer for fifty years but couldn’t find one.”
He slammed on the brakes so hard I might have broken bones ramming into the dash if I hadn’t had my seatbelt on.
“Damon, dammit!” I yelled at him. “Don’t do that!”
He stared right through me with wild, darting eyes, clutching the front of my shirt.
A car pulled up behind us and I saw Damon’s eyes shoot to the rearview mirror. I glanced over my shoulder and darned if it didn’t look like a sleek undercover car from TV. And the man behind the wheel looked like he belonged in Men in Black.
Then I saw the man loosen his tie and rest his arm over his head. He was probably just some tired businessman coming home late from a trip. He might have been Krista Heatherton’s dad. I couldn’t see his face well enough to tell. He waited a few seconds then honked at us to keep moving.
But Damon didn’t see what I saw. I could tell by his eyes he saw flashing red and blue lights. Or maybe he saw the man lift a gun.
“Oh, shit,” he breathed.
He floored the gas, taking us flying through our town’s only red light and then the stop sign at the square. We took the square like a roller coaster around the courthouse. I held on for dear life and kept my eyes squinted, anticipating a wreck.
As soon as the centripetal force would let me, I looked over my shoulder to see if the car was still behind us. No, we’d left him in the dust. He probably thought we were doped-up lunatics.
“Damon!” I called, trying to get his attention. If it hadn’t been four in the morning, we would have been crawling out of a crashed car. He wasn’t watching where he was going. He was just running as fast as he could. He was driving the car like a stallion on the open prairie.
“Damon! He’s gone!” I screamed at him. “He’s gone! Slow down!”
He checked the rearview rapidly several times then let up on the gas. He kept slowing until he could turn off into the parking lot of the co-op.
“Why are we stopping? Do you want me to drive?”
He dropped his forehead to the steering wheel and sat still, breathing heavily. “I’m gonna throw up. We need to drink.”
“Open your door,” I told him, leaning over to rub his back and hold his hair out of his face.
He stayed where he was, breathing through his mouth.
“You got yourself worked up,” I said. “We’re not up to this trip. We don’t have any energy.”
My heart was racing, mouth watering, stomach churning, and I knew I was just seconds away from being where he was. Unless we calmed down.
“You drive,” he said through clenched teeth.
That seemed like a very good idea. I climbed out and walked slowly on heavy legs around to his door. He sat there for a minute after I opened the door… then with a groan of defeat he gave up the driver’s seat.
As soon as he was settled, Damon fished a pill out of his pocket and took it without water. I handed him the water bottle we’d brought with us.
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” he said. “Just diazepam.”
Probably from Mama’s old stash. Or possibly Cynthia’s. “Are you supposed to be taking that?”
“It’s mild,” he whispered. He fished another pill out of the bottle and took it with a swig of water.
Sighing, I carefully put the car back on the road, heading back the way we’d come.
“The other way,” he said.
“No.”
“Where are you going?”
“We’re going to go get the truth out of Chester. And see if they’ll loan us their guest room for the night. We can’t run like this. We’re exhausted.”
Damon stared at me for a moment, then sank back in his seat. He covered his eyes with his forearm. “Full-blooded vampire,” I heard him murmur. “He’ll kill us. I won’t be strong enough.”
I hadn’t realized all this time… Damon was afraid of Chester. He’d wanted me to quit my job because he thought I was in danger, and the worry he’d felt when I’d returned to work had sent him into his psychotic rage. He thought if we confronted Chester, he would turn into a monster unlike anything we could imagine.
“Chester loves me,” I told him, rubbing his leg. “He saved our lives. He’d never hurt us.”
***
Chester answered the door with one eye closed, squinting through the other. He was in his pajamas and slippers. He put his glasses on and squinted again.
“Oh, Maggie,” he said with a soft voice. “What’re you doing out of the hospital? You two look like you should still be there.”
“I’m so sorry to wake you.”
“It’s almost five. I’m just up.”
“Aunt Cynthia kicked us out and I was wondering--”
“Get in here,” he interrupted
, holding the screen open for us. “Do you need a bed or some coffee? How’re you two feeling? I thought you’d be in the hospital at least till this afternoon.”
“We’re better. I hate bothering you.”
He shut the door behind us. “No, no, don’t worry. But you should still be in the hospital, not here.”
“We’re moving away, Chester.”
“Moving away?” He picked at his teeth with his tongue as if he had some food in there, and stared at us. “Moving where?”
“Don’t tell him,” Damon said. He stepped close behind me and wrapped his arm around my neck in a way that made Chester frown and check my eyes carefully to make sure I wasn’t being threatened.
“It’s okay. He’s just hugging me,” I told him. I had the envelope in my hand, and handed it to him. “Can we ask you about some things? It’s really important.”
Chester let out a breath, and squinted at the envelope. He gestured to the sofa. “Go ahead and have a sit and let’s look at this.”
I turned and bumped into Damon, who was standing there like a stone statue. “Sit,” I whispered.
Damon looked down at me without lowering his head, then turned and maneuvered past the coffee table to sit down. I sat beside him.
Chester took the recliner and leaned forward to take out the photographs. We sat waiting anxiously while he studied them all. When he finished, he sat back and gazed at us with an expression almost as blank as his young face in the pictures.
“I thought it might have been you,” he told Damon. “Breaking into my things.”
I handed Chester the pouch with the amethyst jewelry and he studied those as well.
“You’re traipsing close to the edge, kid,” he said, again to Damon. This time he gave us a look full of concealed emotion.
“What does it mean?” I asked, before accusations went flying. “What was Gram doing?”
Chester set the pictures and the jewelry on the lamp table and folded his hands over his stomach.
He stared at us for so long I thought he wasn’t going to answer, then he lifted a finger. “You tell me why you came in here writing about vampires on my wall.”
I turned to see Damon’s response - he was frowning. “I didn’t write anything.”
“But you were in here?” Chester countered.
This wasn’t going in the right direction. Of course, Damon had been in their house. He wouldn’t have been able to resist. But I still didn’t believe he had defaced their wall.
I tried to steer us all back on topic. “Why did you all move here together? All of you together. It’s weird.”
Chester frowned at me. “Why is this so important at this hour?”
Because we’re delusional, I wanted to cry at him. Can’t you tell? “I can’t sleep till I know.” That sounded better. I couldn’t sleep because Damon wouldn’t let me sleep.
“Well,” Chester said, nodding to the pictures. “You want to know what, exactly?”
“We found a man who knew you and Gram and everyone when you were little. He said you used to have different names. He said you all died in a fire fifty years ago.”
Chester’s eyes widened and his face turned a dark red. “What have you been doing? Investigating us?”
Damon stiffened against me, and I held his hand hoping to keep him silent. “Pine Hollow Road,” he said. “The hand in the box. Cave portal. Secrets.”
“Secrets you kids’ have got no business knowing,” Chester said, clearly agitated now. Sweat broke out on his forehead and top lip.
I wanted to back off, because I didn’t like seeing Chester upset, I didn’t want him mad at me, and I worried about his health. And, suddenly, it seemed we were out of line. Interfering in things that weren’t our business, as Chester claimed.
“Gawd!” Damon groaned. “Get to it.”
I wanted to know more about Grammy’s life, but Damon’s fuse was short. Still, I couldn’t just come right out and ask Chester if he was a vampire. “Why did you all move here together?” I asked him.
He pushed himself up straighter and rubbed his eyes. He was growing more upset with each question and I could tell he wouldn’t let me interrogate him much longer.
“I don’t know, Maggie,” he said, “it just worked out that way. I had this drugstore in mind and Corky wanted to build the saltbox house like that picture he kept in his billfold. My parents had passed away and the others needed work. There was work here in the factory back then.”
“You moved to Knoxville first. And then here?”
Chester nodded. “Properties were cheaper out here than in the city. We were used to the country. Plain and simple.”
“Ask about the cave,” Damon said behind my back.
Chester heard him and picked up Gram’s amethyst pendant. He studied it thoughtfully. “Corky had these made up for us one year for Christmas. He had the jewelers here for many years.”
“What about changing your names? Is my real name Baushke or Bosch? Was Gram Elizabeth or Ellen? I feel like I don’t know who I am.”
“You’re Maggie Jennings,” Damon said.
Chester gave Damon a sly glance. “Damon Jennings was the character in the book Elliot wrote.” His gaze turned back to Damon. “It’s been so many years, I didn’t remember at first. You didn’t think I read that, did ya.”
I looked from one to the other. “What are y’all talking about?”
“Oh, Elliot wrote a book,” Chester said, settling back. “It was about a man that discovers he’s a vampire. He named the main character Damon Jennings. He couldn’t get it published so he had it printed up himself. He gave copies to all his friends.”
“Damien Jennings,” Damon corrected. “Not Damon. Damien. But I didn’t like that name. He stole it from The Omen. I like Damon.”
“Ah,” Chester nodded, “right. Well, it’s been a while, don’t remember the details.”
“He was a vampire from another dimension,” Damon said with a light voice. “A parallel universe. A place like Earth where red vampires exist. One day, a vampire named Simon finds a portal in a cave, a portal into this dimension, this reality, where humans rule the land. He found himself in a strange land, under attack, and had to fight back. He killed a human. He was horrified and ran off, forced to live his life here in this reality. He transformed into a man and tried to blend in. But he never could. He couldn’t understand their ways, their culture. He began to lose his mind. He couldn’t remember who he was, where he came from, or why he was so different. He doesn’t know why he craves blood. He falls in love with—”
I turned on Damon and the smile fell from his face. He was having fun reminiscing and had forgotten that he’d been vandalizing people’s homes and acting completely crazy… over some book. And ruining my life.
“All of this is from a book?” I demanded.
“I believe I have a copy here somewhere,” Chester offered. “I’ll look for it, when I’ve got the time.”
“I don’t believe this.”
He’d actually convinced me that I was a vampire. That we were….
Chester’s voice turned serious. “If I remember correctly, he wakes up one morning and found somebody wrote The Vampire is Here on his wall. I just wonder what you were trying to prove, son, writing that on my wall.”
“You did write that?” I asked him, completely dismayed. My world was falling apart. How in the world could I have been sick and twisted enough to drink blood? And to believe Damon’s stories? What had happened to me? I was married to a fictional character!
Mama was probably dead because of me… no, because of Damon. He’d warped my mind and made me forget about her. I didn’t even know where she was.
He’d done exactly what he’d once spoken about. He’d barged into my life with the sole purpose of ruining me, before taking off to do it to somebody else. He was a sociopath.
“I don’t remember doing that,” Damon told me when he saw himself change in my eyes. “I swear. I might have done it, but I don�
��t remember. I black out sometimes. I didn’t mean to do it.”
I didn’t believe him. I was sure he did mean to do it. I was sure he did mean to destroy me. But I had to do something to clear myself, to prove I wasn’t crazy and gullible. The only way to prove my sanity was to prove there were still a few mysteries amiss.
“I heard you talking to Mrs. Jarvis in my room,” I accused Chester. “I heard you. Before we went to the hospital.”
“Mrs. Jarvis?” he said, shaking his head. “Well, she came over to check on you. You were burning up with the fever, kiddo.”
“But…. What about the hand? The hand in the box.”
They wouldn’t answer me. Chester sat frowning at Damon again. Damon sat with his eyebrows raised.
“You got into my storage cabinet?” Chester said. “You didn’t break the lock, did you?”
Why wouldn’t anyone just answer my questions? I was about to lose it. “There was a skeleton hand in a box!” I yelled.
“A Halloween thing,” Chester said, holding up a calming hand. “It’s certainly not real, if that’s what you’re thinking. We used to do up Halloween every year in the old factory, for charity. A joke for the kids.”
“A joke?”
I jumped up and stumbled back, away from them both, almost tripping over the coffee table. I clutched my head to keep the room from spinning. “What are you trying to do to me?” I cried. “You’re trying to destroy me!”
They had been conspiring against me from the very beginning, it was all so clear now. The very people I trusted the most. Every strong support in my life was crumbling and I couldn’t catch all the falling pieces.
My horror grew as they stood up and came at me growling with raised claws, scowling with glowing silver eyes. Then I blinked and saw that they were only standing, with their normal faces, staring at me as if I were the one!
“Maggie, look at your hands,” Damon said. “Nothing’s happening.”
I pointed at him. “You’ve been injecting me with heroin or something, making me hallucinate. Making me….” Do so many horrible things I couldn’t even form them into words.
Damon Page 22
