Destined For a Vampire (22 page)

Being the closest to her, I was one of the first of us to come to her rescue.

“Are you ok?”

Aisha nodded her head, dazed.

“Can you sit up?”

Again, she nodded.

I reached behind her to help her into a sitting position and, as her splayed legs came together, I noticed a mark on the inside of her right thigh. It looked like a bite mark.

Not meaning to, I paused when I saw it. Aisha saw me staring and quickly straightened her shorts, effectively covering the wound, hiding it from my knowing eyes.

She looked at me for several seconds, and I at her, neither of us speaking. I knew then that she had remembered something—something important, something scary. Something she was afraid to tell anyone else.

I didn’t doubt her sincerity when she’d told me yesterday that she couldn’t remember anything. Her tears were too real, her distress too genuine. But now, I could tell that she was lying to me. I could also tell that she was afraid.

With a meaningful look in her eye and a firm shake of her head, Aisha pushed herself to her feet and walked off. She didn’t stop when she got to the edge of the field. She kept right on walking, I assumed heading back to her car in the school lot.

It was then that I knew for sure that her dreams hadn’t been dreams at all.

She’d seen Summer eating a pig like a wild animal and she’d seen Trinity. Trinity was back.

After I’d made myself another sandwich for dinner, I lurked around the living room for a while, a bit uncomfortable with my room after having been attacked inside it not once, but twice. I could only avoid it for so long, however, when Mom came stumbling in at the inordinately-early hour of 8:30, forcing me into hiding for the rest of the night. Fortunately, she went straight to her room and didn’t come back out, a fact for which I was incredibly grateful. I didn’t need a repeat of the previous night; I was still licking my wounds from that run-in.

I spent the next hour or so watching my window uncomfortably, hoping for Bo, but dreading anyone else. I still didn’t know what had become of Drew and now with Trinity and Summer on the loose, I felt like I had to look over my shoulder at every turn.

I kept waiting for Bo to appear, hoping I’d see him. I felt like the buzz in my blood was fading and I didn’t like it. It was comforting to me, feeling that intense tie to him, and I wanted it back, strong and sure.

Feeling more deflated and paranoid as time went by, I decided I’d call Savannah and confirm tomorrow night’s dinner, maybe chat with her for a while.

She would no doubt provide a much-needed distraction, as well as some amusement, something I had far too little of in my life of late. Besides, I needed to see if she’d heard from Devon, or seen him or imagined him, whatever was happening there.

I dug through my bag for my phone, but couldn’t find it. There was a time when that thing was practically glued to my palm. Back in the days of Trinity and Drew, my phone rang constantly. But now, not so much. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, just different. I had to admit that, at times, I felt very disconnected and lonely. It wouldn’t be nearly so bad if Bo wasn’t supposedly missing while he spent most of his time trying to track down the people responsible for screwing up his life.

If that wasn’t the case, I could see him more often, and in the daylight, too.

With a sigh, I grabbed my keys and headed for my car. My phone must’ve dropped out in there and it looked like I was definitely going to need a diversion.

Padding down the walk barefoot, I unlocked my car door and leaned in to see if I could find my phone. When I couldn’t locate it, I went back inside for the house phone. I dialed my own number and listened to it ring. I walked back to my bedroom and stood just inside the door. I listened closely for the music to
Jaws,
which is what my ring tone was set for when Mom or Dad called. No
Jaws
ringing in there, so I went back outside and put my head inside the car again. No
Jaws
ringing in there either.

Frustrated and mystified, I wracked my brain for what might’ve become of my phone. And then I remembered that Carly had asked to borrow it to call her boyfriend and tell him to pick her up at school for their date, rather than meeting her at the theater. Her phone’s battery was dead. I’d handed it to her and, when she’d finished, she told me she’d laid it on top of my bag. But now, I couldn’t remember grabbing it as I left. I’d no doubt picked up my duffel and headed for the car, probably knocking my phone off into the grass in front of the bleachers.

“Crap,” I said to the stale air inside my car. I couldn’t very well leave it outside all night. If someone hadn’t already stepped on it, it would be ruined by morning; it was supposed to rain tonight. And if it got ruined, my parents would kill me. It had taken me a month to convince them that I needed an iPhone.

Looking around me at the deep shadows, I was torn. I really needed to go get that phone, but I hated to go alone after dark. It’s not like I’d had a shortage of reasons to be afraid of the dark. But then again, if recent events were any indication, I’d be more likely to be attacked if I stayed at home in my room than if I took a quick trip back to the school.

Thoughts of my parents skinning me alive over that stupid iPhone won out and I slid behind the wheel, bare feet and all, and started the engine. I’d be back in a flash and Mom wouldn’t even know I was gone.

Zipping down the side roads and back streets, I was racing through the school parking lot in no time. As my headlights stretched out in front of me, they illuminated a small gray hatchback that I knew to be Carly’s. It appeared that she and her boyfriend weren’t back from the movies yet.

Ignoring the yellow lines and
No Parking
signage that skirted the building, I pulled right up against the back of the field house, shining my lights directly at the bleachers, and pushed the gear shift into park. Taking a deep breath, I took a second to scan the darkness before hopping out and dashing to the stands.

I went to the very end of the first row of bleachers, which is where I always sat my stuff. I walked gingerly in a tight circle, brushing my foot through the grass blades as I searched for the little black rectangle. When I didn’t find it, I retraced the route I’d taken when I left. About ten or fifteen feet from the bleachers, my toes scraped against something hard in the grass and I stopped to look. Sure enough, it was my phone.

I picked it up and high tailed it back to my car, imagining all sorts of creepy things lurking in the shadows, gnashing their teeth at me. Hopping quickly into the driver’s seat, I locked the door behind me. I felt the urge to squeal, all my senses on alert, my muscles jumping with anxiety. When it appeared that nothing was stalking me, however, I calmed and shifted into drive, steering the car back the way I’d come.

When my headlights hit Carly’s hatchback this time, it was from the front, the lights shining through her windshield. I saw Carly’s head behind the steering wheel. I wondered if she’d fought with Ethan. The way her head was bent, with her chin on her chest, it looked like she was crying.

I pulled up beside her and put my car in park again, getting out and walking around to the driver’s side. I leaned down and pecked on the foggy window, but Carly didn’t raise her head.

“Carly,” I said. “Roll down the window.”

Still she didn’t lift her head. I raised my hand to wipe away the moisture from the glass, but it was on the inside. As a last resort, I reached for the handle and pulled the door open.

“Carly, what—”

The words died in my throat when Carly’s body slithered lifelessly from the driver’s seat and rolled out into the parking lot.

The light from my headlights shone under the car, shining on half of her body. Everything I could see was covered in blood. Carly’s throat was laying open and the front of her shirt was missing, torn away to reveal that her mid section had been eaten away, leaving nothing but a gaping hole surrounded by jagged bits of flesh and entrails.

Saliva poured into my mouth as everything in my body rebelled against what I was seeing. Numbly, I took several steps backward until I could move no further, forced to my knees where my sandwich and everything else that was still in my stomach found its way onto the pavement.

I squeezed my eyes shut, no longer able to tolerate the sight of my friend lying there, mutilated, in the school parking lot. I knew I should get up, but my legs refused to work.

Tears streamed down my face as my body continued to heave. When there was nothing left in my belly and my ribs ached from exertion, I pushed myself to my feet.

With stiff fingers, I took my phone from my pocket and dialed 911. When the operator answered, I reported where I was and what I had witnessed. The bland woman’s voice assured me that a unit had been dispatched and was on their way to me.

I stood, dumbstruck, staring at Carly’s wide-open eyes and tear-stained face, unable to look any lower, unwilling to take in even one more detail of the horrific death she’d suffered.

When I heard sirens in the distance, I forced my rubbery legs into motion and I turned to walk around the hood of Carly’s car and make my way to my own. When I’d opened my door and flopped down into the driver’s seat, I looked out into the darkness, the cold fingers of shock working their way into my chest.

That’s when I saw her.

Standing at the edge of the row of pine trees that lined the school’s drive was Summer. Though she looked nothing like the Summer that I knew, she still looked familiar enough for me to recognize who it was.

Her long brown hair hung in thick matted tangles on either side of her pale face. Her complexion had a sallow look to it, easily detectable despite the blood that ringed her mouth. Her hollow eyes were yellowed and rimmed in darkness. It was from them that she watched me.

Her white hoodie was filthy, covered in blood and dirt, and her chest heaved beneath it. One sleeve was torn off, revealing the pale, dirty skin of her arm as it hung limply at her side. Her fingers worked in a grasping motion, almost thoughtlessly, like she wasn’t even aware she was doing it. She just continued to stare, watching me blankly, as my heart slammed against my sternum.

I was afraid to move. She seemed to be looking
through
me more than
at
me, as if she didn’t really know I was there. I didn’t want to risk changing that. My fear was overwhelming, but it hadn’t yet drowned out rational thought. True panic didn’t set in until I saw one corner of her bloody mouth tilt up in a vicious sneer. It was then that I realized that not only did she see me, but she recognized me. And her smile said I’d be seeing her again.

The sirens were drawing closer and, just then, the first cop car came skidding into the parking lot, blue lights flashing from the roof. I’d shifted my gaze from Summer for a fraction of a second to see the police arrive, and when I looked back, she was gone. Only the residual wave of some pine branches assured me that I hadn’t altogether imagined her being there.

Of course, once the official circus began, I was grilled relentlessly. I told several different law enforcement and medical examiner people everything that had happened, all but the part about seeing Summer. That was something, for better or worse, that I’d decided I’d best keep to myself.

For one thing, they might think I’m crazy, which wouldn’t do me any favors.

But also, I thought it might save more lives if Bo dealt with her. If she was as hard to kill as Lucius insinuated that she might be, a lot of people could get hurt trying to stop her if they started looking for her.

It was almost two hours later when I was finally allowed to get back into my car. The crime scene people had looked it over with a fine-toothed comb, searching for any evidence that I might’ve lied about my story. I could only assume that when they let me get in it, they’d decided I wasn’t the bad guy here.

As I was starting the car, one officer had the nerve to saunter up to my window and chastise me for driving without shoes. I gawked at him, mouth agape, as I fought the urge to flip him the bird and peel out of the parking lot. It’s not like I’d had a bad enough day already or anything.

Let’s throw caution and compassion to the wind and make it a pile-on-Ridley
kind of day
, I thought bitterly as I glared at his reflection in my rearview mirror as I drove away. Barefoot.

By the time I got home, I was jittery and shaken. The entire ordeal had been horrific beyond anything I could imagine. And considering what all I’d seen in the past months, that was saying a lot.

I shut off the engine, staring sullenly at the dark house. My mother was probably passed out, oblivious to the fact that I had even been out. She would have no idea that I sat in the driveway, afraid—deeply, profoundly afraid—or that I’d seen the interior of a friend’s abdomen. She would have no idea that lately I had been feeling like my entire world was crumbling, spinning out of my control, happiness and normalcy far out of reach.

No, she would have no idea that any of those things were going on in her remaining daughter’s life. But the worst part was that, even if she did, she likely wouldn’t care, any if at all. Her heart was in the Westbrook Cemetery, buried beneath six feet of earth with the decaying body of my sister. She had nothing left for those of us who lived, nothing but a few hours of pretense every weekend.

My growl bounced off the ceiling of my quiet car. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Ridley,” I ground between my gritted teeth.

Wrenching the car door open, I got out and slammed it behind me. I was all but stomping up the sidewalk, angrily preoccupied, when I heard the shuffling noise in the yard to my left.

I stopped mid-stride, my pulse beating heavily inside the lump of terror that had lodged in my esophagus. I was almost afraid to look, to see who or what was coming for me this time. But on some level, I knew I didn’t really have to look to know who it was. On some level, I knew. It was Summer.