Sweep – Stakes
By
Sara Bourgeois
Chapter One
“It’s not like we can just look on up on the internet,” Annika huffed.
I was sitting on my sofa with my legs outstretched and tucked under a blanket eating fried chicken while Remy, Annika, Meri, and Brody tried to figure out how they were going to find a vampire. They also had to sort out how they were going to get said vampire to give me some of his blood once they did find them.
Convincing a vampire to not only to abstain from eating them but also give them some of their life-sustaining blood seemed like a monumental task. A task I didn’t even want to think too hard about because I was hungry, and the fried chicken was divine. The salty, fatty crispiness exploded on my taste buds with every bite. I’d have thought that I’d get tired of it eventually, but I did not. Fried chicken was definitely my favorite I’m a zombie now snack.
“Maybe we can,” Brody said.
“What?” Annika looked like him as if he were nuts. “You know as well as I do that there isn’t a roadmap to a vampire on the web. Anything on the human internet is just wrong.”
“But I might have stumbled upon something else,” Brody said. “When I was researching before.”
“What, like a dark web for supernaturals?” Annika said with a semi-hysterical laugh. She was not taking what was happening to me well at all.
“That’s actually exactly it,” Brody said.
Then we all looked at him like he was nuts.
“Let’s hear him out,” Remy said.
“There’s only one huge drawback,” Brody said as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I think we’ll need Ralph Badersmith’s help.”
“No,” I said. “That dude is not my friend. We can’t count on him to help us. All he’ll want is books from my library, and when we won’t give them to him, he’ll just shut us down.”
“He’s the President of the Coventry Paranormal Historical Society thing,” Brody said. “And I think he has access to other Paranormal Societies.”
“That makes sense.” Remy relented with a shrug.
“He’s not going to tell us anything because I’m not going to give him my books,” I said.
“I think I might have something else that will entice him to work with us,” Brody said.
“What?”
“I have access to some pretty rare texts at the college. There might be something there that he’d be willing to trade information for.”
“You’re talking about stealing books from your school archives?” I asked Brody.
“Yeah. I mean, you’re my sister. If I have to take a few books that nobody is using anyway because they have no idea what they are or how to read them, then I will.”
“You could get kicked out or go to jail,” I said. “Or both.”
“I can take the books without getting caught,” Brody said. “But even if I did eventually get busted, it’s worth it. You’re going to turn into a zombie if we don’t find a way to cure you.”
I wanted to argue the point with him further, but I didn’t. I knew Brody well enough to know that if I tried too hard to make him reconsider, it would only make him more determined to go forward with his plan. He wasn’t that stubborn with everyone. It was just me. The remnants of our troubled past relationship and my family conditioning him not to trust me.
“I’m going to go now,” Brody said when I didn’t respond further. “I’ll get the books and then go meet with Ralph. I think it will be harder for him to say no if I’m standing in front of him with an offering.”
“Brody,” I said.
“Let me help you. This is how I can be of help.”
“I’ll go with him,” Remy said. “I can use my magic to assist and protect him.”
I wasn’t fond of the idea of Remy leaving, but I appreciated that he wanted to protect my brother. “Okay,” I said.
“Then the cat and I will stay here and hold down the fort with the patient,” Annika said. “I’m sure we can find some way to amuse ourselves.”
“You’ve still got the stash of herbs from grandmother?” Remy asked.
“Yes, and I’ll make sure she smokes the mullein if the munchies get out of control,” Annika retorted. “I’m not going to let her go full zombie and eat my brain. I can handle this.”
“I’m not worried about her eating your brain,” Remy said with a smirk. “There’d have to be something up there worth devouring.”
“Hey!” Annika tried to sound offended, but she couldn’t hold in her laugh.
I laughed too. We all did. For a moment, we were able to forget that while the threat to the rest of the world was over, I was still in grave danger.
With the guys gone and Meri settling in for a nap, Annika asked me a question I wasn’t prepared for in that moment. “So, are you ready?”
“Ready for what?”
“We’re going to go find a vampire,” she said with a familiar gleam in her eyes.
“We just sent the guys out to steal books and try to bribe Ralph Badersmith for information.”
“I know,” she said and clapped her hands. “It was the perfect distraction for them, and it fell right into our laps.”
“You never had any intention of sitting here and waiting for them to come back with information on where to find a vampire, did you?”
“Nope,” she said. “So come on. Get your butt off that couch and let’s go.”
“Don’t you think it’s dangerous for us to go without them?”
“Absolutely not,” she said. “What I think is dangerous is four witches approaching a vampire on their turf and asking for blood. We’re a lot less intimidating this way.”
“We’re less intimidating this way because we’re less powerful,” I pointed out.
“I love my cousin and Brody, but we don’t need them. We can handle ourselves. Besides, I think I might know where we can find a friendly vampire.”
“Why didn’t you just say that when the guys were here?”
“Because it needs to be just you and me,” Annika said. “I could probably just go by myself, but I think he’d be more willing to help us if he sees what state you’re in.”
“So where is this secret vampire that you think will help me?”
“That’s the only issue,” she said. “I have a vague idea, but we’re going to have to go to the town where I think he lives and look around.”
“Is it a town full of vampires?”
“Yes.”
“We’re going to go poking around a town full of vampires?”
“Yes.”
“All right. Let me get my shoes on,” I said as I kicked off the blanket covering my legs. “You coming, cat?”
Meri laughed. “This I wouldn’t miss for the world.”
Chapter Two
We took my car and drove a couple of miles outside of Coventry to the south before reaching a turn-off onto a dirt road. Annika directed me to take the dirt road that I’d assumed didn’t lead to anywhere but an abandoned farm or perhaps one of the old ghost towns that died off when the area coal mines went belly up.
“This is the way?” I asked.
“This is the way.”
Eventually, we came to a fork in the dirt road, and Annika directed me to the left. I wasn’t sure how a whole town could function out in the middle of nowhere only attached to society by a series of dirt roads, but then I remembered it was vampires. They probably didn’t want people coming and going, but there we were. Coming and going.
Depending on how it turned out, this trip was either going to be one of Annika’s best or absolute worst ideas. Either we were going to get the cure I needed, or we were both going to end up being a vampire snack.
I
wondered what happened if a vampire drank witch’s blood. The witches wanted me to drink vampire blood.
“Will I be a vampire after this?” I asked. “I mean, I suppose that’s better than a zombie, but still. I don’t know if I’m mentally prepared for becoming a vampire. I’ve had a hard enough time acclimating to being a witch.”
“I don’t think you’ll become a vampire,” Annika said thoughtfully. “I believe the zombie magic and the vampire blood will cancel each other out. If Amelda is right, you’ll just go back to being a witch.”
“That would be preferable.”
“I don’t know. I think being a vampire would be kind of fun,” she said.
“What do you know about being a vampire?” I asked. “And how do you know where a vampire lives?”
“Okay, so not all vampires stay together in villages like this. The ones who hunt humans sometimes go live among humans in non-magical towns. Sometimes they have reason to live in magical towns too. When I was a kid, there was a family of vampires that lived in Coventry. They kept to themselves and lived on the outskirts of town to avoid detection, but I ran into my friend out in the woods one day. We hit it off right away, and we’d meet out there to play whenever we could. He was homeschooled because it would have been too hard to hide what he was at the school in Coventry.”
“But they don’t live in Coventry anymore,” I said. “They moved to a vampire village?”
“Yeah. He moved there with his mother. His father was run out of town for attacking a Skeenbauer. No one is sure what exactly happened. They lived among us for years and never once tried to get human blood, and then one day Kyle’s dad went nuts and tried to kill.”
“Kyle?”
“His parents wanted to give him a regular name.”
“I didn’t even know vampires could have children,” I said.
“His mother was a human until later. That’s what Kyle told me anyway.”
“So it’s like that movie?”
“Pretty much. Except they don’t sparkle, and he didn’t grow up really fast or anything.”
“But he did grow.”
“Right alongside me until they had to leave.”
“But I assume they stop aging at some point.”
“Yeah, from what Kyle explained to me, and we were kids so this is super simple and might not be completely right, when they are born vampires instead of being turned, it takes time for the vampire essence to build up in them. Eventually, around the time they become adults, it stops their aging.”
“But none of the vampires in the village prey on humans.”
“Animals only. Also like the movie. That’s why they stay together. To stay away from people and to keep each other from being tempted.”
“We’re not just regular humans, though,” I said. “We’re witches. Is our blood more tempting? Are we making a mistake by walking into their midst knowing that they are actively trying to avoid temptation?”
“We won’t just walk into the center of town and announce that we’re looking for Kyle,” Annika said. “We’re going to do things our way. We’ll sneak around the edges and feel things out.”
I wish I could say that her method worked, but Annika didn’t account for the fact that the vampires had predatory senses. It was a minute after we parked the car on the outskirts of the village and began walking around that we were apprehended by a group of vampires and brought to the center of town.
Fortunately for us, Kyle was there and he vouched for Annika and me. We promised never to come into the vampire village again nor tell anyone of its location.
“Hey, Kyle,” Annika said as he walked us back to our car. “Long time no see.”
The gruff expression on his face melted into a smile, and he pulled her in for a hug. “It’s good to see you, old friend. I didn’t think we’d ever meet again.”
“I wouldn’t have come here and bothered you but…”
“You’re not a bother at all,” Kyle interrupted. “Please don’t think that you are. I knew we live in different worlds now, but I am glad to see you again.”
“Thanks,” Annika said, and I saw a hint of blush in her cheeks. “I’m here because my friend, Brighton, needs you,” she said and turned to me. “Brighton, this is Kyle. Kyle, please meet Brighton.”
“Any friend of Annika’s is a friend of mine,” he said and offered me his hand.
“I’m so pleased to hear you say that,” Annika said as I shook Kyle’s hand. “Because the favor I’m going to ask you is a big one.”
“A big favor, huh?” Kyle cocked one of his perfectly manicured eyebrows.
He was everything you’d expect a vampire to be. Pale skin that was as smooth as porcelain and eyes that were a deeper shade of blue than I’d ever seen. They were both icy and full of fire at the same time. His thick auburn hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. Kyle looked like he’d stepped out of a vampire movie and into our presence. He was also obviously having more of an effect on Annika than she’d expected, and I wondered if that was something intentional he could do to entice a victim or if she just wasn’t expecting to find him so alluring.
“We need some of your blood,” Annika blurted out.
“What?” Kyle seemed confused.
I didn’t think that a vampire could be thrown off guard like that, but leave it to Annika. He narrowed his eyes and studied her for a moment as if waiting for her to say it was all a big joke. He looked at me and I nodded my head yes along with a shrug of my shoulders.
“It’s true,” I said.
“You want to be a vampire?” he asked me.
“Right, so,” Annika began, “I guess you guys didn’t hear about the zombie outbreak because your village is isolated. And of course, because you’re also the living dead, kind of, the zombies probably didn’t come this way. They were all lured toward Coventry, or whatever. Kyle, one of my aunties was murdered while she was casting a powerful necromantic spell to bring her husband back from the dead. Anyway, when she was killed during the casting, the spell flung itself out into the world and began to raise the dead.”
“Okay,” Kyle said dubiously.
“Okay,” Annika responded. “Well, it’s nearly impossible to break a dead witch’s spell, but my aunt came back and told us that if we solved the murder, she’d lift the spell. We did that, and she lifted it. But it turns out that another aunt was the one that killed her. That aunt, Gretchen, had an affair with Margery’s husband. The one Margery was trying to raise from the dead so she could torture him. Anyway, Gretchen decided for funsies that she was going to restart the zombie apocalypse. Margery came through the veil at the last second and snatched Gretchen’s soul from her body. Necromancy is fun, huh? Unfortunately, Gretchen’s spell went off and we couldn’t stop it.”
“So, you need my blood to stop a zombie apocalypse?” Kyle asked. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“No, the zombie apocalypse isn’t actually starting again. In fact, the aunties and witches around the world are working to clean the whole thing up and make the humans forget. Lots of magic going on there.” Annika took a breath. “What we need your blood for is Brighton here. The spell that Gretchen got off hit her right in the heart. The whole thing. It’s trying to destroy her from the inside out, and our magic can only slow it down because it’s another dead witch’s spell. We need the immortality in your blood to counteract the zombie magic. Amelda said that the two will cancel each other out, and Brighton will go back to being a regular witch. She won’t be a vampire or a zombie.”
Kyle looked at me sadly. “Annika, you know I’m not supposed to do something like that without the council’s approval.”
“Those stuffy old vampires?” Annika asked. “They’re not going to want to help a witch. They think we’re still enemies even though we haven’t been for centuries.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I don’t want Kyle to get in trouble for helping me.”
“This isn’t like the movies, Bri
ghton. They’re not going to decapitate him and burn his body for helping us.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“I mean, it was like that back in the old days, I’m told,” Kyle said. “But they can’t be so medieval anymore. The Council lives under the fear that one of us vampires from the younger generation will go public. So, they’re a kinder, gentler vampire council.”
“So then they might give you permission anyway, right?” Annika asked. “Maybe they don’t even hate us anymore,” she offered.
“Vampires don’t hate witches, Annika,” Kyle said with a chuckle. “How long does she have? It wouldn’t take more than a couple of days for me to contact the council.”
“We don’t know, Kyle,” Annika said. “She might not have a couple of days.”
I didn’t know if she was making that up to get him to give in, or if it was true. It was a frightening thought. All the magic possessed by the Skeenbauer Coven might not be enough to get me through a couple of days.
“I can give you a little right now. It should be enough for her to make it until I can formally ask the council,” he said.
“Kyle, come on,” Annika sounded desperate. “What if the council says no? What’s going to happen to my friend?”
“I can’t spare more than a little right now anyway, Nikka. If I give you too much, I’ll frenzy. Just let me do this the right way first, please. No matter what the council says, I won’t let your friend die. Please let me try.”
Annika appeared to be thinking about it. I wasn’t sure if she was deciding whether or not to accept it or if she was scheming a way to get Kyle to change his mind. The problem was it didn’t sound like he could change his mind. I wasn’t exactly sure what happened if a vampire went into a frenzy, but I thought that perhaps I didn’t want to know.
“Thank you,” I said. “I accept.”
“Brighton,” Annika chastised.
“What? It’s my decision. He’s helping us the best he can, and I’m not going to turn him down. Right now, this is the best option we have.”
“Annika, I’m sorry. If I didn’t need to hunt soon… You know that I talk a good game, but just like when we were kids, I’d do anything for you,” Kyle said. “But if I push myself into a frenzy, I could hurt you guys. I can’t risk that.”
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