• Chapter V: Part 5


    AFTER THE celebration died down a bit, we all continued to sit around the table chatting, Vincent of course taking as little part as possible.

    “So,” Julie continued. “The Halloween dance is next weekend! And guess what? John asked me to go!”

    “That’s awesome,” I said with my best attempt at sounding thrilled.
    “Yeah. Hey, Vincent,” Julie said as she looked over at him with a sly glint in her eyes.

    “Are you going to the dance?” I automatically tensed at the question.
    Vincent shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.” If I remembered correctly, the Halloween dance was in exactly a week. Vincent had said he’d be gone in a week. I sighed with relief.

    “Hey, Kida?” Vincent asked.

    I looked over at him, still relieved to know that he probably wouldn’t be able to attend the dance.
    “Would you go with me?”

    My jaw dropped, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Jeff suddenly stop eating his nachos. My mind didn’t seem to want to give an answer. If I said no then Jeff would be satisfied, but if I said yes then that meant that Vincent would for sure stay long enough to attend. It was both a win-win and a no-win situation. I didn’t want Jeff to get the wrong idea if I said yes, and I immediately resented Vincent for asking.

    I swallowed nervously.
    “Um, s-sure,” I managed to say. I covered my winced and looked carefully over at Vincent who was smiling with that same amused expression on his face; however, this time, there was a hint of triumph there. And he was looking at Jeff.

    So that’s what this is about.
    I’m not sure why I felt so angry at that moment, so embarrassed. Once again, I’d been tricked by Vincent. I slid my chair back and stood up.

    “Excuse me,” I said. “I need to go to the restroom.” I left before anyone could ask any questions. All I wanted to do was get away.

    Fortunately, I was able to maneuver my way to the restroom without being stopped by anyone. Several people spared a ‘happy birthday,’ but none required me to stop and chat, which was nice. When I got into the bathroom, I leaned over the sink and sighed at my reflection. There were dark circles under my eyes, which I’m guessing were a result of my previous night. After all, I was almost killed.

    Almost killed.
    I shook my head and turned on the sink faucet, letting my hands run under the warm water. But right as I splashed a bit on my face, I felt it.

    The burn.
    It was subtle at first. Just a light tingling sensation on my chest. But when I reached to touch it, the burn intensified, and without a second’s thought, I raced out of the bathroom and down the hallway. My mind was racing a hundred miles an hour. There was someone, or something, here that wanted to hurt me. The burning on my chest worsened as I reached the living room, and I started spinning around, looking for the cause of the burning, but there were so many people.

    Faces. Everywhere. It could be any one of them.
    I couldn’t breathe, and my body was shaking uncontrollably. Everyone around was watching me. What do I do?

    “Vincent,” I shrieked. “Vincent!”
    Tears were beginning to gather behind my eyes.
    I wanted to curl up into a little ball, but I knew that wasn’t an option. My breaths had become very ragged, and sweat had collected on my face. I buried my head in my hands and backed up against the wall – when the burning on my chest suddenly weakened.

    “Kida?”
    I looked up into the concerned expression of Vincent, and I’d never felt so relieved. “It’s gone,” I whispered.

    “What’s gone? What are you talking about? Are you okay,” he asked. Cupping my face with his hands, he wiped away any stray tears left on my cheeks. But when I reached to grab my necklace, all looks of concern left his face, completely replaced by sudden realization.

    “Let’s go,” he growled. He grabbed my elbow and started leading me toward the door, but we were stopped right before we were able to walk out.

    “Kida? Vincent? Where are you guys going,” Julie asked. Jeff was standing right
    behind her with a look of obvious contempt on his face.

    “We’re leaving,” Vincent said, more coldly than he probably should have. Julie looked at me, baffled.

    “How come? You just got here,” she said.
    “I know,” I added before Vincent was able to hurt her feelings. His grip on my arm tightened, and I winced. I could still feel a slight burning coming from the necklace.

    “I’m not feeling very well.”
    And it was true. My hair was plastered to my face and neck from sweating, and I’m almost certain there was no color left in my face. Jeff went from scorning Vincent to walking over to me with worry written all over his face.

    “Are you okay,” he asked, softly placing a hand on my forehead.
    “Yeah, I just—”
    “I’m taking her home,” Vincent interrupted severely. He really was acting like an older brother.

    Jeff let out an exasperated breath.
    “Then I’m going with you,” he said, glaring at Vincent with a determination I’d never seen in him before. I looked at Vincent concerned. It wasn’t safe for him. There was no way he’d let Jeff come.

    But I was shocked when he said, “Fine.”
    Before I could object, Jeff had his arm around my waste, and Vincent had a hold of my elbow, as they both led me outside to the car.

    “Call me later,” I heard Julie say from behind. I felt so terrible. All I could do was look behind me and smile apologetically as the two boys forced me into the car. Vincent practically threw me in the passenger seat.

    “Could you be a little gentler?” Jeff asked with disdain as he took his seat in the back. The look he was giving Vincent was a mixture of incredulity and derision. However, Jeff’s dislike of Vincent was the least of my worries because right as Vincent stepped on the gas, the burning intensified again.

    “Vincent,” I gasped as I grabbed my necklace.
    Vincent nodded at me with a knowing expression.
    “Hold on.” He gave the car more gas, and my head jerked backward.
    “Are you feeling that bad,” Jeff asked..

    When I looked back at him, though, he looked more frightened than worried. It was a bit amusing, actually. I laughed aloud and was about to say something when Vincent suddenly slammed on the breaks, causing both Jeff and I to jerk forward.

    With Jeff’s shouts of profanity coming from the backseat, I looked out the windshield, and my worst fears all seemed rushing back into my mind at an overwhelming speed.

    Standing in from of the car was the mirror image of the vampire that attacked me last night, his body freakishly outlined by the headlights, his grey, wrinkled face twisted into a petrifying grin. And the worst part was that I could see his sharp, needle-like teeth visibly protruding from his gums.

    “What the hell is that,” Jeff shouted, and less than a second after, the vampire jumped on the car at a practically invisible speed and punched the windshield in.

    Jeff and I screamed as glass shattered everywhere. A few shards of glass stuck in my skin, and pain coursed its way through my face.

    When I opened my eyes, Jeff was shouting something unintelligible as he tried in vain to escape out the car door. “It’s freaking stuck,” he shouted in panic.

    But it wasn’t Jeff’s shouts that held my attention. It was the arm that was now struggling through the broken windshield—struggling to grasp me. But right before he could grab a hold of my neck, Vincent punched it in its face. The inhuman growl that sounded from the vampire as he hit the ground sent chills running down my spine.

    “What the hell’s going on,” Jeff shrieked.
    Vincent made an annoyed sound and reached back to grasp Jeff’s face with his hand. Jeff’s body suddenly went limp.

    “What did you do?!” I cried. Vincent looked at me with as serious a face as I’d ever seen.

    “Stay in the car,” Vincent said as he punched the car window and leaped out. Out of pure curiosity, I tried opening my door, but it too was stuck.

    “Ow,” I cried as I felt something stab my face. When I rubbed my hand against my cheek, I felt several shards of glass stuck in the skin but was afraid to pick them out. Besides, there was no way I could concentrate with the sight of Vincent throwing fists at that monster.

    I’d thought that since Vincent was Pure he’d have no trouble against a Turned, but from the looks of things, the monster was holding his own. I started a few times as Vincent was thrown onto the ground—the opposite direction of the vehicle.

    The vampire laughed, a low, horrifying sound, and leaped onto the hood of the car. I screamed and kicked at him as he reached through the windshield, but he was soon pulled away with bone-cracking force, and slammed onto the ground with an audible bang.

    Like boulders being thrown through the air.
    Vincent then leaped on top of him, grasping the vampire’s neck with both his hands. The vampire struggled for only seconds before throwing Vincent off of him. I watched as he pulled something shiny out of his jacket.

    A knife.
    I could see from here that it had runes engraved all over it. Runes…to kill vampires!

    My mind started racing a hundred miles an hour as the vampire jabbed several times at Vincent, who dodged the knife by inches every time. I started thinking through possible actions to take. I’d only had a day of training and was already thrown into battle.

    Battle. The gun!
    I remembered now that Vincent had brought the gun I’d used from training with him.

    But where did he put it. I searched in all the visible storage compartments, but my hands were shaking so badly.

    The sound of something suddenly being thrown against the car startled me, and I screamed. The vampire had Vincent pinned against the car with his knife, and Vincent was obviously struggling to shake him off.

    I cursed under my breath.
    Think.

    Then it hit me. The trunk. I looked over at where Vincent had punched the car window through then back at the vampire. Somehow they’d moved to standing back up, but the vampire still had Vincent in somewhat of a choke hold. Without a second’s thought, I maneuvered my way over to the window and carefully crawled out. My legs were so wobbly that I almost fell as soon as my feet hit the ground, but I forced my way to the trunk, keeping hold of the car for support. I was breathing so hard. It was as if someone had a hold of my lungs.

    I finally reached the trunk and was horrified to find that it was also stuck. Before I could even realize what I was doing, my fist flew into the back window and shattered the glass completely. I stared in awe at my bloodied hands.

    Did I just do that?
    I shook my head and concentrated on the task at hand. Positioned against the back seat was a black trunk. I opened the top neurotically and there it was. Gleaming bright silver. Decked out in black, engraved runes.

    Beautiful.
    I gripped the gun and ran to the side of the car where the two were within shooting range. With trembling hands, I aimed the gun at the vampire…well…the ugly one anyways. When I couldn’t keep the gun from shaking, I started going through everything Vincent had taught me during training. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

    Concentrate.
    Once again, I held the gun up and aimed it at the vampire who was now just slightly behind Vincent. But what if I missed and accidentally hit him?
    I shook all negative thoughts from my mind, aimed the gun at the vampire, and pulled the trigger.

    In my mind, everything went in slow motion—until I saw the vampire being thrown back by an invisible force and landing on the ground.

    The shrieks and writhing of pain were almost unbearable to watch. I dropped the gun from shock and nearly fell to the ground. The lights were shining on him enough to see the black veins that were forming on his face and his now exposed stomach. And then—he started turning to ash.

    It was the most horrific scene I’d ever witnessed. The vampire screamed and cried fearful words as he watched himself turn to ash from the feat up, until eventually, there was nothing left.

    I stared in horror as a gust of wind blew his ashes across the street where they disappeared into the night. At that moment, I almost felt guilty for what I did.

    “What the hell is wrong with you?”
    I started at the harsh voice yelling at me from the side, and when I looked, Vincent was glowering at me. “W-what do you mean? I just killed that vampire!” I defended. “He was about to kill you!”

    Vincent snorted then growled, “Give me a break, Kida. Do you seriously think a Turned could stand a chance against me? Besides, what if you’d accidentally hit me? You’ve barely trained for a day!”

    I winced at the amount of scorn in his tone of voice. Instead of the, “congratulations, you just killed your first monster,” I was being slapped down for it. It hurt—a lot.

    “But,” I started. “It looked like…Why...” I snapped my mouth shut out of fear that I’d only dig myself into a deeper whole.

    “I was trying to restrain him. Not kill him,” Vincent spat.
    “Well what was it even doing here,” I yelled, “in pleasant hill? I can understand it being in a large city like Des Moines. But Pleasant Hill? Why?”

    Vincent snarled. “That was why I was trying to restrain him.”

    My face turned hot from embarrassment. Maybe he should have told me that. Then again, he did say stay in the car. “Sorry,” I relented, lowering my gaze shamefully to the ground. I had to swallow back the urge to cry.

    I’m not a baby anymore.
    His expression softened, and he sighed. “Just get in the car. Please.”
    Eyes still on the ground, I managed to drag myself over to the car, my legs still a little wobbly. After we both got in, we stared out the windshield, neither of us saying a word.
    “Was that the same vampire from last night,” I asked without emotion.

    Vincent didn’t even spare me a glance. “No. I got rid of him.”
    I nodded. He didn’t start driving anywhere so I decided to continue with the questions.

    “How come the doors were stuck?”
    He shrugged. “He was probably telekinetic.”
    “So how come he didn’t throw you around?”

    Vincent laid his head back and rolled his eyes to the roof. “I’m Pure, Kida. That vampire didn’t stand a chance against me.”

    Of course he didn’t. I pulled my legs up to my chest and lay my head on my knees. “He was after me. Wasn’t he?” It wasn’t really a question. I knew for a fact that thing was after me. Why else would it be in Pleasant Hill.

    Vincent pursed his lips but didn’t say anything.
    “I knew it,” I said. “I bet he was from the Order, wasn’t he? They’re after me. They know I’m alive, and now they’ve come for me!”

    “No,” Vincent said looking me intensely in the eyes. “You saw what it looked like. That vampire was from the Underground. And I doubt he was after you.”

    I looked at him incredulously. “Then why did he keep trying to drag me out of the car? Why else would he be in Pleasant Hill?!”

    Vincent looked at me with an uncertainty that really shook my bones. “I don’t know.”
    I threw my arms up into the air and sunk down into my seat. “Great. So now, not only do I have the Order after me, but the Underground’s after me, too.” A sense of foreboding sent chills coursing through my body.

    The whole world wants me dead. Well…the whole Other world anyways.
    “I doubt that’s the case, Kida. We just need to lay low for a while. I’ll call Seth up and see if he can’t put a stronger glamour on us and your house. Rogue vampires have a very strong scent for Pure blood, and your blood is just as potent as mine.” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”

    “Promise,” I whispered.

    His eyes swept over my face, and I watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallowed. “I promise.”

    chapter 6