Damon

by Vanessa Hawkes

  I wasn’t sure if he was repeating something his granddad had told him, or maybe something Elliot had written in his novel, or if Damon had actually found a beast in the cave, but I’d come to the point where I had to believe such creatures existed. Like it or not, as Mrs. Jarvis had said.

  “Wow,” I said. “I wish I’d been there.”

  He scratched my cheek lightly with his fingernail. “It touched my cheek with a claw and smelled me over, then he stepped back, dropped to all fours, and disappeared in the darkness. He smelled his blood in my veins. He recognized me as his own kind and let me go. We’re so close, Maggie.”

  Damon picked up the bag of fur and even though Mrs. Jarvis made a disapproving sound, opened the bag and took out the clump of fur. He smelled it and touched it against his cheek. Then he settled down to thoroughly inspect the fur.

  “This is real,” he said, speaking softly as if to himself. “Not from a fake suit. I remember this.”

  Damon looked up at Mrs. Jarvis. “Why didn’t you kill us?”

  “Kill you?” she repeated, her eyes widening.

  “When you all knew we were poisoned. Why didn’t you kill us? We’re monsters. We’re the children of monsters.”

  “Because we don’t go around killing people,” Mrs. Jarvis answered, obviously offended. “And we didn’t know for years what was happening, and why.”

  “It seems like you could have told us, though,” I said. I tried not to sound angry, because I wasn’t, really, but I was hurt that I, and Mama, had been lied to all our lives.

  “To what end?” she said, her voice rising. “We couldn’t do anything about it. Our story sounds ridiculous. No one would ever believe us.”

  I nodded because she was over seventy and I didn’t want to upset her. She’d always been nice to me and she’d helped out a lot with Mama over the years, never asking for anything in return. “That’s true. I understand.”

  She let out a hard breath and seemed to calm down, a little. “You know we all feel responsible, not that we could have done anything to stop it. And we never could figure out a way to fix it. So, we just did our best and did what we could.”

  “I know,” I told her. “You’re right. You were all like grandparents to me growing up. Well, you still are. I’d have been completely alone with Mama after Gram died if you all hadn’t been there.”

  Tears came to her eyes. She reached out as if to pat my hand but then pulled back. “Oh my lord, Maggie. You’re right and I’m still lying to you. Right now. I know something. Something the others never knew. I never told them. I couldn’t.” The tears multiplied and ran down her cheeks. She quickly grabbed a napkin and dabbed her eyes. “I’m so ashamed.”

  Damon and I both stared at her, wildly. And waited for whatever she had to say.

  She took a sip of water from her glass and then cleared her throat. She glanced at us both, barely, before looking down at her lap. “My husband, Joseph, was killed down in that cave, that day. The beast got on him first before we knew what was happening. I’d heard stories of people getting mauled by a bear but I’d never seen it. But that’s what happened to my poor Joseph. It was like a tornado, tossing him all around. Before we could blink, he was dead. And then it came after us.”

  A moment passed before I could think what to say. “I know. Chester told us. I’m sorry. That’s terrible.”

  She glanced at me, her eyes bloodshot and watery. “We met when I went up to Huntington for a family funeral. It was one of those things you hear about, knowing right off. Love at first sight. We married before I left back for home. A little like you two, I suppose. He come with me. Came. He came home with me. The others were not too keen on the idea because I’d left one day Vivian Davis and came back a week later Vivian Jarvis. It was a surprise. I refused to change my name after we all left. I wouldn’t do that.” She shook her head stubbornly. “I said okay to changing my first name to Elverna, after my grandmamma, but I wouldn’t give up Jarvis. We’d only had seventeen days together but as far as I’m concerned, them seventeen days was my whole life. And I never looked at another man since.”

  I could relate to that. But I didn’t understand part of her story. “Why are you ashamed of that?”

  “Because I see him,” she said softly, again barely glancing at me. “I see him sometimes. We took him home and buried him. We had to do it in secret because we didn’t know how to explain what’d happened.” She hiccupped and her voice rose to a high soft peak. “He was torn all to shreds. Excuse me.”

  She got up and left the room and Damon and I sat in silence. He was still fiddling with the red fur and looking at the directions to the hidden village, and I wasn’t sure he was listening, but I was officially upset.

  It broke my heart to think of losing him so soon after finding him. And it broke my heart to think of Mrs. Jarvis suffering all these years, all these decades. More than half a century. I couldn’t imagine how she’d endured it.

  Unless….

  She’d seen him since his death. What if….

  “That makes sense,” Damon said. “He turned into a vampire. He’s still alive.”

  I knew I shouldn’t have been, but I was surprised every time he read my mind. “But why didn’t the others change? Your grandmother and my grandfather. Why didn’t they turn into vampires?”

  “Probably didn’t drink any of the vampire’s blood.”

  “And Joseph Jarvis did?”

  “During the brawl, maybe,” he said, nodding. He sat back and stared at the ceiling in thought. “Or, he was one to begin with. Maybe the vampire recognized him by his scent.”

  “But you said you found the vampire in the cave and he let you go because he recognized you as one of his own kind.”

  Damon nodded, still staring at the ceiling. “That might not have been true.”

  “Damon,” I said, resisting the urge to snap my fingers in his face. I wanted his attention. “What’s going on?”

  He let out a sigh and sat forward, finally looking at me. “I’m not sure. I might have dreamed it or read it in Granddad’s book. I’m not sure. It seemed real. But… maybe it wasn’t. I can’t think straight anymore.”

  “Then where did you go when you were gone all that time?”

  He shrugged. “I think I went to the mountains.” Tears came to his eyes and he reached for my hand. “No, I went home. I went to Granddad’s in Nashville. I remember that. I needed something…. His notes. I needed his box of notes. My father was there, dressed in that stupid red suit he’d had in the basement for years. He said he was a vampire.”

  “You were at your granddad’s house in Nashville? Not the mountains?”

  He looked up again, struggling to remember. “I don’t know. I think…. I know I was there. I know Dad was there. But I get lost. Flashes here and there – Dad, the dead body, my car, the hidden village - and then nothing but endless swirls of terrible dreams. And then we were in Corky’s bed. I’m only awake when I’m with you.”

  Dear god, I thought when I noticed him shaking all over. He was losing time again. Soon, he might not remember me at all.

  My mind jerked back to his father lying dead on the floor, police standing all around, the stench of blood and smoke in the air. That would be Damon one day. One day soon. Not a year from now. He might not even make it through the summer.

  Unless I did something. Fast.

  I left the table and went to find Mrs. Jarvis. She was the only chance we had. The only person with answers. Our last, best hope.

  She was sitting on the foot of her bed staring down at a picture when I lightly knocked on the doorframe. She looked at me but didn’t move, so I timidly stepped into her bedroom. I’d never been in this room before and it seemed foreign and strange and smelled like rose potpourri. The entire room was decorated in pink and green flower prints. The bedspread, the curtains, the wallpaper, even the armchair by the window. The carpet was hot pink and the ceiling was pale pink. It made me a little dizzy.

  I sat
beside her and looked at the black and white picture, even though I hadn’t been invited. She was holding her wedding picture. She looked very young, maybe nineteen or twenty, and very happy standing next to a handsome young man. They were both dressed up and she had flowers in her hair. Despite the photo being black and white, I could tell he’d had pale blue eyes and blond hair. Verna’s hair seemed to be very dark in contrast to the blond hair she wore now. I wondered if she’d changed it to remind her of her husband, but I didn’t have time for chitchat.

  “You still see him?” I asked.

  “Sometimes,” she said, still staring at the picture. “I could never tell anybody. I can’t imagine what they’d think of me. But I see him. He’s still young, like he is here. Not old, like me.”

  I knew I should probably assure her she wasn’t so old, and still looked great, but I had to focus on my mission. “How often do you see him?”

  “Now and again. He watches over me.”

  “Does he come here to your house?”

  She nodded. “I usually see him at night. In this room, watching me. But when I speak to him, he turns and leaves. And then he’s gone again, for a while.”

  “When did you see him last?”

  “Last night.”

  I worried that maybe she only dreamed seeing her late husband, missing him so much she brought him back to life in her imagination. I also worried she’d seen Damon, creeping about her house looking for clues. I had no doubt he’d been in her house at least once.

  “All this strangeness….” She shook her head and set the picture down beside her, face down. “I’m so tired of it.”

  “I know.” I was tired of the strangeness, too.

  She glanced at me, tearing up again. “I fear it’s all in our minds. I was scratched that day. We were all injured to some extent. Only Harry and Carol Ann were bitten, but we all came out bleeding. Do you suppose it’s all in our minds? Do you suppose we imagined it all? Do you suppose we burned down our homes and abandoned our families for nothing?”

  I wasn’t sure what she was asking me, exactly. She thought she was crazy, and was imagining fighting a beast in a cave fifty years ago - because she’d been scratched by a beast in a cave?

  “I don’t think you’re crazy,” I assured her. “I don’t think Chester and Bella are crazy. Gram wasn’t crazy. I’ve lived with Mama my whole life. I know crazy.”

  She smiled slightly and patted my knee. “I’m sorry, but I need to lie down now. I’m tired.”

  She stood, taking the picture with her to store in her nightstand drawer. I needed more information, but I couldn’t think which questions to ask.

  When she noticed me still there, she frowned and turned back the covers on her bed. “Go ahead and stay here till it’s time to take Davy to the clinic. Make yourselves to home, hon.”

  I nodded and turned to leave. It broke my heart to see her that way, grieving her lost love all these years. I was beginning to realize everyone had secrets.

  Damon was still at the table when I returned to the kitchen.

  “I’ll run home and get our things,” I told him.

  He sat turned in his chair, and only glanced at me. I almost turned away, then noticed he was distracted, focused on something beyond my line of sight. He was stiff and his eyes were wide.

  Slowly, I stepped into the kitchen, looking all around, but I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. I focused on Damon. “What’s wrong?”

  “This doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

  “What doesn’t?”

  “We’re the children of powerful, supernatural creatures and his body just crumbled when they shot him.”

  I stepped closer, wondering if I’d somehow missed him at Corky’s, with the room full of police. “You saw it?”

  He shook his head slowly. “I heard it. In my mind. He screamed and then all went silent. I don’t understand death. What is it?”

  “I don’t know.” I didn’t want to talk about death while it was still close enough to hear us. I began gathering up dishes. I knew I’d probably never see Verna again after this day and didn’t want to leave her with a lot of work after we were gone.

  Damon let out a growl. “I don’t like this. I can’t control my mind. I can’t control this strange world. My head hurts. I should be all-powerful, but I’m weak. It doesn’t seem… normal.”

  I started filling the sink with soapy water. “I know. We should have superpowers, right?”

  “Yes! We should. What’s the point of having this blood in us if it doesn’t make us powerful?”

  “I don’t know, but that’s a good question. We should get something out of it.”

  “No, we did. We got each other. Forever.”

  I went to see to him. “Yeah. We did. We got each other. That’s way better than superpowers.”

  He pulled me down to his lap. “Say forever.”

  “Forever, Damon. Don’t worry about that.”

  I went back to work, wanting to finish with the chores so I could get Damon to the clinic. “Tell me about our cabin in the woods. We’ll have a creek of our very own? I always wanted to live by a creek.”

  “Definitely a creek,” he said. “A gentle, rolling stream. And the mountains behind us. Green trees, colorful birds, and whitetail deer. Wild strawberries grow in the woods behind the house. The cabin sits up on stilts overlooking the valley. There’s a long, wide porch in front where we’ll sit and watch the sunsets. Just you and me, living in paradise.”

  “Wow.” That did sound nice.

  He grinned at me, and then turned dreamy eyes back toward the ceiling. “We’ll be there soon, I promise. When I was in the cave, I found a secret tunnel that leads into another world. Into our home world. Like a portal or gateway.”

  I kept washing dishes but glanced at him. “You did?”

  “Our world is just on the other side, not on another planet. It’s in another dimension. A parallel dimension. Or, maybe an alternate reality. This world, but not. Exactly the same but different.” He let out a sigh. “Home.”

  “Wow.”

  He closed his eyes for a long moment, and then opened them slowly. “No,” he said, “that’s not right. What I mean is, in Granddad’s book, Damien finds the portal. Damien needs to go home because he’s going insane here on this planet. Maggie’s afraid and won’t step across the threshold with him, so he has to make the hardest decision of his life, whether to go to his home world, or stay with her.”

  “There was a Maggie in the book?” I asked, a little excited by the coincidence.

  “No, her name was… Sarah, or something. I don’t know why I said that.”

  Strangely, I was disappointed. Though I was glad he hadn’t chosen me simply because my name was Maggie. “So did he stay or go home?”

  “He went home. He had to. He couldn’t stay here. This dimension was making him sick. He had to stand there and watch her disappear in the haze.”

  “God, Damon, that’s terrible.”

  He grinned at me. “I’d pick you.”

  “No, you wouldn’t. You’d be just like Damien, so obsessed you couldn’t resist.”

  “I’d grab you and drag you through with me,” he said.

  I couldn’t help but grin. “That sounds closer to the truth.”

  “But you’d go through with me so I wouldn’t have to,” he said. “You’re not like Sarah. She was only human. You’re one of us. She was always afraid. Magic Maggie’s never afraid.”

  I felt afraid most of the time but didn’t want to contradict him. “I’m an alien vampire?”

  “Not alien. In our reality, vampires exist. That must be how the legend began, centuries ago. One of our kind, a vampire, came through a portal to this dimension and humans saw him. We’re vampires, you and I. Damien was an adventurer. An explorer. They sent him through the portal to explore other worlds. One of the brave few. Others before him went through the portal and never returned. But, Damien knew he could complete his mission. He was in
the military. He trained his whole life for this mission.”

  I checked his eyes and saw he still believed the story of the alien vampires. Even after he’d seen the destruction such a story had caused his father. Damon wasn’t lying. He believed the stories just as strongly.

  I realized he might never let go of that belief. Elliot must have been an amazing storyteller, I decided. I couldn’t wait to read his book, and finally get inside Damon’s head.

  “Hey,” Damon growled, “just believe me.”

  I looked at him and nodded, startled by his sudden anger. Of course, we weren’t aliens, or from another dimension, but if Damon needed to believe he was in order to feel real, and happy, and separated from a world that had never accepted him, then I could believe with him. I’d never truly felt accepted in my world, either.

  And I had to admit, odd things surrounded us. Like Damon’s ability to read my mind sometimes. Of course, I was probably imagining that.

  All I knew was that Chester and Bella would never say such bizarre things. They would never say they’d seen a vampire beast in a cave. A beast that transformed into a human. That was crazy. Which meant I was the one making it up. While they were speaking to me, telling me normal, everyday things, I was hearing stories of vampires in caves. I was hearing things that weren’t real. While Verna handed me something normal, like a slice of toast or a jar of jam, I saw red fur in a bag and hand-drawn maps to secret villages. I was losing my mind.

  That was the only logical answer.

  I was losing my mind. It was happening, just as I’d always known it would, eventually.

  Whether Damon was real, I couldn’t say. I wanted him to be. He seemed real. He felt real. And I needed him. So, I decided to keep him. I decided to fight to keep him. Even if doing so meant letting go of my sanity.

  And what did it matter now, really? We were leaving and never coming back. We were going where we’d never be able to harm anyone. What would it hurt to try to be happy for once?

  “Maggie,” he said. “Look at me. I’m real. We’re real.”

  “That’s right,” I said, sending him a smile. “We’re real.”

  “Definitely.” He smiled and with a sigh tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling. For a little while, he sat lost in his own thoughts. “But he wasn’t supposed to fall in love,” he said. “That was Maggie’s problem. She never really believed Damien. Sarah, I mean. Not Maggie. You’re Maggie.” His eyes drifted off to stare out the window. “Sarah wasn’t real. Not anymore. But Damien was. Damon is real. And Maggie’s real.”