Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (163 page)

“
I’m so sorry about Fred,
honey. The officer said I can take you home now.”

My hands still trembled. “But my car’s
here.”

“
Don’t worry. Your dad and
I will come up and get it later. Let’s get you home.”

* * *

At home, I sat on the couch next to my
dad. “None of my friends have ever died before. I just feel so
helpless, so bad.”

My dad wrapped his arm around me. “I
know, sweetheart. It was a horrible accident.”

“
I was walking on that
trail. What if it had decided to attack Julie or me?”

“
I know. From now on, until
they capture or shoot whatever animal is responsible for these
attacks, I want you to stay off those trails.”

“
Dad, how can this be
happening?” I yelled.

“
There was an attack
yesterday too,” my mom said. “A tourist. It’s been all over the
news. It might be beautiful here,” she said, “but I’m scared. It’s
dangerous out there.”

“
It’ll be okay,” Dad said.
“When they catch the animal, everything will get back to
normal.”

I looked up at my dad. “I think it’s
more than one animal, Dad. I think it’s wolves.”

“
Honey, remember what I
told you about wolves.”

“
Yes, you said they rarely
attack, but these do.” I stopped and thought for a moment about
what Fred had told me. “And Dad…”

“
Yes?”

“
Fred said…” I stopped to
sob as I thought back on our conversation. “He told me he had
evidence of, uh…vampires around here,” I said softly. “Do you think
they found him?”

“
Honey, that’s silly. Trust
me, it wasn’t vampires.”

“
I’m sure you’re right. I
mean, when he told me, I laughed.”

“
Poor Fred was just at the
wrong place at the wrong time,” my Dad said. “He was such a good
kid. I can’t believe this happened to him.”

His voice wavered as he spoke, and I
could tell my dad was completely shook up.

“
Taylor,” my mom called
from the other room, “Julie is on the phone.”

“
Can you ask her if she can
call my cell? I’m gonna go up to my room and lie down.”

“
Okay.”

I hurried upstairs and picked up my
ringing cell. “Hello?” I said.

“
Taylor, I’m
freakin’!”

“
Do you think it was the
curse or the animals?” I asked.

“
I don’t know anymore.
Could there really be a curse?”

“
I don’t know either,
Julie, but Fred is dead. Maybe there’s more to all of this than
what we want to believe.”

“
Do you think we’re
next?”

“
Maybe, but what can we do
about it?”

“
We can start by digging up
information, talking to people who have lived here for a long time.
Maybe someone will know an urban legend that will help us figure
out how to lift the curse.”

“
But it could just be the
wildlife. There have been other attacks.”

“
Yeah. My dad just told me
about that woman the other day.”

“
Do you think it’s the
wolves?”

“
I don’t know. What I do
know is that we’re lucky your blue-eyed Superman spotted that cabin
in the woods.”

“
What if it was Jonathon?
What if he’s some kind of crazed serial killer?”

“
But why would he kill his
victims like an animal? I don’t think it’s him.”

“
You’re right,” she said.
“I bet that pack of wolves demolished him.”

“
People can’t keep dying,”
I said. “I love this place, but I’m terrified of all the bears,
mountain lions, bobcats, and God knows what else. At least in New
York City, I could walk outside freely.”

“
Right. As long as there
were no muggers around and you didn’t wear the wrong gang
colors.”

“
I guess I’ve still got
some things to get used to around here.”

“
So what’s going on with
you and Jesse?”

“
We have a date this
Friday. I’m dying to see him, but I’m really shaken up.”

“
Just invite him over and
watch a movie.”

“
Yeah. Well, I’m gonna go
now. I want to take a nap, try to calm down.”

“
Me too.”

“
All right. Talk to you
later, Jules.”

“
Bye.”

I closed my phone and laid on my bed,
then lay back and stared at my ceiling as I tried to straighten out
my twisted thoughts. That cabin had been our sanctuary, and I was
now sure that if Jesse hadn’t spotted it, we would have been
victims as well.

I went to
my laptop and looked up everything I could about vampires. One
article even said that sprinkling salt in windowsills and doorways
would help to ward them off.
What if Fred
really was killed by vampires? Will they come for me next?
The thought had my heart racing and my hands
shaking. The whole thing sounded absurd and nutty, and I hoped I
was just taking things way out of context.
But would it hurt to throw down a little salt?
As lame and stupid as it sounded, a few minutes
later, I found myself grabbing the shaker from the kitchen. When my
parents weren’t looking, I inconspicuously sprinkled the white
stuff around, hoping to create some supernatural
barrier.

After tying garlic up around my room
and around the house, I took a deep breath. I wondered again if I’d
lost my mind. I overheard my name being used in conversation, and
when I opened the door, I could hear my parents talking about
me.

“
She’s put salt and garlic
everywhere,” my mom said.

“
She’s just grieving over
Fred, coping with it in her own way. Just let it be.”

“
There’s no such thing as
vampires!” my mom hissed.

“
If it helps her feel safe,
who cares? It’s psychological. So our house smells like dinner for
a while.”

“
Fine. I’ll let it go for
now, but if this nonsense goes on, I’m going to have to take her to
talk to someone.”

I shut the door. “Even my
parents think I’ve lost it,” I whispered to myself as I fingered
the silver cross on my neck. “Maybe I have.” With that melancholy
thought on my mind, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

Chapter 19

Fred had died a violent death, and I
couldn’t stop thinking about him. Tears ran down my face, and I was
constantly tormented by the vision of his dead body, and the words
he’d spoken haunted me. I couldn’t eat or sleep. I was a
mess.

I also
couldn’t stop thinking about Jesse. I had to wonder if his family
had anything to do with poor Fred’s demise. As much as I knew about
Jesse, and as long as I’d hung around him, he was still a mystery,
and I was struggling to put the pieces together.
Vampires, wolves, serial killers, and
curses?
I wondered if I should keep it all
to myself. I knew I couldn’t confide in my parents, and Julie was
the closest friend I had in Big Bear Lake, other than Jesse
himself. Taking a big, deep breath, I gathered the courage to spill
out what I was thinking. I only hoped she wouldn’t laugh at me and
try to have me committed.

“
I’ve been thinking,” I
began.

“
Does it hurt?” she
questioned, trying to cheer me up.

“
Very funny. Anyway, I’ve
got this crazy hypothesis. Well, it’s not all figured out, but I’m
trying to…um, it’s really crazy, so please don’t laugh at
me.”

“
Nothing shocks me,
girl.”

“
This might. It’s really
out there, but just bear with me.”

“
Before Fred was killed, he
told me he had solid evidence that Jesse is a vampire and that I
should stay away from him. That’s why he gave me this cross,” I
admitted, holding the pendant up for her to see.

“
Whoa. And then he turns up
dead with two bite marks in his neck?”

“
Yes.

“
Hmm. I don’t believe in
vampires, but something’s going on. What if some horrible hex was
placed on us when we accidentally treaded on sacred
land?”

“
I don’t know.”

“
I’ve been searching the
Internet for info on hexes and curses.”

“
We can hope it’s not true,
but I’m not sure. Fred mysteriously died days after we entered that
forbidden place.”

She swallowed hard. “I know, and that
scares me to death. What if I’m next?”

I stared at her hard, and I could tell
how worried she was.

Her mouth pressed into a grim line. “I
don’t wanna die, especially not like that. Maybe we could make
amends and take some flowers back without crossing the
line.”

I shook my head. “No way. I don’t ever
want to go back there again.”

“
But it might be the only
way to keep us alive,” she said, her voice trembling.

“
Try and keep it together,
all right. I have info that’s a lot worse than curses.”

“
Yeah right. Back to the
vampire thing,” she said. “What else did Fred tell you?”

I sighed. “Not much, and I didn’t
believe him at the time. In the end, he got mad and walked away.” I
pointed to the silver cross again. “He gave this to me to protect
me from the undead.”

She softly fingered the cross. “Hmm.
Maybe he was being overly dramatic.”

“
I thought so, too, but he
really seemed to believe it.”

“
You think he saw
something?” she asked.

“
He said he did. He said he
had solid proof, but he stormed off before we could get to
that.”

“
Maybe he saw one of them
murdering someone.”

“
Stop being so morbid. I’m
sure he saw something, but it couldn’t have been that. If he’d seen
something that vile, he would have told me and begged me not to
meet up with Jesse. But I’m sure he saw something. I just don’t
know what.”

“
Somebody had to kill Fred
to prevent him from revealing their awful secret.”

I nodded.
“Exactly. I hate to say it, but maybe it
was
a vampire.”

She bit her lip hard and didn’t say
anything.

I knew it sounded crazy, so much so
that I’d debated telling her about it, but she believed the curse,
so I’d presumed vampires wouldn’t be such a far stretch. I placed a
stray strand of hair behind my ear. “Do you remember when Jesse was
shot?”

She arched a brown. “Yeah. How could I
forget?”

“
How was he able to throw
that bodybuilder around like that?” I asked. “He was weak and
losing blood fast. He was burning up with fever, and his face was
pale, whiter than a ghost.”

“
Have you ever heard of
adrenaline? That stuff can make guys strong enough to lift a
car.”

“
I know, but there’s more
to it than that.”

Her gaze narrowed. “Like
what?”

“
Think about it. How did he
find us in the woods in the complete dark? Not even a skilled
tracker could’ve done that.”

“
Hmm. Now that you mention
it, that was weird. Then again, how did that psycho shooter find us
in the complete dark too?”

I shook my head, thinking the same
thing. “You’re absolutely right. And why didn’t he come in when the
door was ripped off its hinges? He just stood there,
staring.”

“
Maybe he was still dazed
from the punch Jesse gave him.”

“
Or maybe
he wasn’t
invited
in,” I said in a dramatic tone.

Julie
laughed. “Oh please! Are you trying to tell me you think he was a
vampire? Next thing I know, you’ll be claiming those wolves were
werewolves. And you think
I
watch too many horror movies!”

I let out a long breath. “I’m just
saying…well, maybe there’s something paranormal going on
here.”

She shook her head. “I’m not denying
that. You heard that voice, and I believe you, but I think this is
about ghosts and spirits—hauntings.”

“
I don’t think so,” I
said.

“
Look, vampires are
everywhere—in books, movies, magazines, online, and on television.
It’s a popular craze that’s not gonna go away anytime soon. Let’s
face it. Women want to be bitten and swept away by a sparkling,
100-year-old, handsome vampire. They want a hot bloodsucker in
their life, and they don’t care if he’s a walking, murdering
corpse. If he’s hot, they’re willing to put aside a little thing
called age.”

“
This is different from all
that pop culture nonsense, Julie—way different. This isn’t
Hollywood. It’s the real deal.”

I met her gaze. “Put the pieces
together.”

“
Are you saying you now
believe Jesse is a vampire?”

“
He has immortal strength
and vision. He saw that cabin in the dark woods long before we
did.”