Fateful (2 page)

“Um, Uncle Nick?” she interrupted.

“Yes, Danielle.”

“You tell that story like you think it’s
true.”

“Well, it is true.”

“I mean the part about vampires. Do you
believe they exist?” She shivered again. If they existed, this was
the perfect place for them. It somehow made his story more
believable and because of that, more frightening.

“Well,” he said, thoughtfully holding his
chin, “if they do exist they would definitely hunt within an old
city like London.”

Figures he’d verbalize exactly what she’d
been thinking. Yet, “You didn’t really answer my question.”

“Well, love, people do go missing here.
Whether that’s due to criminals or vampires I really don’t know. As
far as I do know, no one has been found with bite wounds on their
neck. Although there have been some recent disappearances right
here in Chertsey; so I wouldn’t want you to become complacent. If
vampires do exist, they’re good at hiding themselves. Either way,
it isn’t safe to walk the streets of London by yourself at night.
We don’t need you to go missing, Danielle dear. My brother would
not be pleased if I allowed something to happen to his daughter
while you were in my care,” he said, stating the obvious.

Did he have ulterior motives? “Uncle Nick,
you don’t need to tell me frightening stories to get me to keep my
curfew.” And at her age she didn’t really think it was necessary,
but she knew how old-fashioned her uncle could be, and she
supposed, to him she probably was young.

“I know that, love. I just wanted to tell you
a spooky tale, and vampires seemed like a good one. It is true that
recent missing persons brought this story to the forefront for me.
But please take it for what it’s worth—fact or fiction.”

Again she was puzzled and frustrated with her
uncle’s lack of commitment to the existence of vampires. What did
he really believe? What did she believe? No, she decided, they
can’t be real. “Well it was a good one!” Danielle frowned as she
uncurled her legs and rose from her seat, knowing she’d likely have
scary dreams tonight. And from the look on Brianna’s face, so would
she.

Uncle Nick appeared to be quite delighted
with himself and on the verge of bubbling over with mirth. But his
wife gave him a cutting shame-on-you glare, which was the only
thing able to wipe the smirk off his age-creased face.

Chapter 2

Meeting Angels in the Dark

The next day Brianna and Danielle went to
college for orientation. Brianna would be attending King’s College
while Danielle was at Central St. Martin’s. Both schools were in
close enough proximity for them to leave together and meet up after
their classes. Brianna drove, but after that, they would usually be
taking the rail. They toured their separate classrooms, gathered up
the necessary textbooks, and met some of their professors. One of
Danielle’s teachers assigned her a paper first thing: choose an
artist and study up on him or her.

Brianna drove Danielle around so she could
learn the roads, though she didn’t really pay much attention. If
they’d be taking the rail from here on out she wouldn’t need to
drive herself.

Of course, when she actually ducked as
they took a turn because she thought the oncoming traffic was going
to hit them, she realized if she did ever have to drive, she’d have
trouble getting used to this.
Great
, she thought,
knowing me,
I’ll get lost
and
end up on the wrong
side of the street, all done from the wrong side of the
car.

Danielle tried to forget about her
concerns when they went to the library. Having chosen
Van Gogh,
she began a search on the
computer for what she needed; figuring Brianna wouldn’t need to
know
about her reliable knack for getting lost. For
now.

To her surprise, Brianna had arranged to meet
her boyfriend there. Having found the title of the book she wanted,
Danielle studied her cousin’s guy as she made her way to the books
on the shelves. She’d only seen pictures of him on the computer.
Will was definitely handsome, she decided. He had the body of an
athlete, his pleasing face was crowned with blond curls and, from
first impressions, he seemed quite charming.

She looked down at the number for the book
she needed, refocusing her thoughts. Making her way to row seven,
she was startled, when Brianna asked, “Dannie, will you be all
right getting back if I leave you the car?”

Danielle spun around and as her eyes focused
on the keys dangling from Brianna’s fingers, panic crept in. No way
did she think this would ever, could ever happen so soon! As her
earlier worries came rushing back, Danielle backed up a step and
felt her hip bump into the edge of the bookcase. Why did she have
to forget to pick up a GPS before leaving home? She’d have to do
that tomorrow for sure, but that wouldn’t help right now....

Certainly, she could use her American
driver’s license for a while—like that gave her any comfort.... And
how could her cousin ditch her so quickly?

Exhaling a measured breath, Danielle
collected the keys with her gaze traveling to Will again as he
smiled hopefully at her. Of course Brianna could ditch her for this
good-looking, blond guy, Danielle realized, and knew she might have
done the same.

“Pleeease? You’ll be fine. I drove you all
over today. If you get lost, just call me. And remember to stay on
the left side of the road,” Brianna tacked on with an apologetic
grin.

She forgot to mention this had to be done
from the wrong side of the car too. Danielle’s teeth ground
together on the thought. “Um, Bri? I should tell you, I’m really
good at getting lost,” Danielle murmured, supposing it was time to
confess, hoping it might make a difference.

“Here—I’ll draw you a map.” The enthusiasm in
those words was rather annoying.

Danielle examined the directions Brianna
quickly scratched out on a piece of paper. While it did look like a
fairly comprehensible map, she didn’t trust herself in this
matter.

“It’s really quite straightforward, Dannie,
we don’t live that far away from here. I mean if I could get to
your place in Colorado from the airport, then you can surely do
just as well.”

Of course Brianna had a point there. Her
cousin had rented a car and driven fine while reversing things—just
as she was asking Danielle to do now. And it was terribly clear
that Brianna really wanted to spend time with Will, and she didn’t
have the heart to deny her cousin. “Okay, have fun with Will,” she
said, unable to mask how upset she was feeling about it, not that
her cousin noticed.

“Thanks, Dannie! You’re the best!” Brianna
gave Danielle a loud kiss on the cheek and left with rugby-boy in
tow who waved goodbye and offered another charming smile.

Danielle sighed and then, deciding she had
nothing else better to do, lifted the paper she’d written the book
title on to recheck the number she was looking for. Scanning the
shelves, Danielle soon realized the book wasn’t where it was
supposed to be so she began looking on all of the shelves. It said
it was here according to the computer, so where was it?

While searching, she noticed a book on
vampires that had been left where it didn’t belong either. Interest
about her uncle’s Dracula tale tempted her to grab it, but she
passed it by. Seconds later her eyes began trailing back to the
vampire book. Curiosity was getting the better of her. Danielle
snatched “Vampire Mythology” off the shelf, along with the
Van Gogh
book she’d finally found
and sat down to read.

She first tried studying for her report, but
couldn’t seem to focus. Giving in, she reached for the thick volume
with those two words etched across the front in gold. Danielle
hauled the heavy book into her lap and began flipping through the
pages, skimming over them, reading only what caught her eye. As she
did so, she gasped when she noticed some of the pages had been
splattered with something brown. Something that looked like
dried.... No way, had to be hot chocolate. Shoving those chilling
thoughts aside, she read three different myths about how vampires
came about.

First listed were the folkloric tales. It
stated that according to Slavic belief, if a black cat walked over
a grave, the person would become a member of the undead. Or
according to Russian belief, if a person had been a witch or
rebelled against the church their body would be possessed by a
demon to rise again as a vampire. The reanimated corpse would then
hunt the innocent as a soulless creature that served the devil.

Next, it talked about the mythological
legends of vampirism, saying the first vampire was created by a
sorceress who had loved a mortal.
This
mortal discovered she wielded magic and then rejected her, calling
her a curse to humanity
. She retaliated by turning him
into a vampire, so he would be the curse to humanity instead.
However, others believed the first vampire was Lilith, the first
wife of Adam, who left him for Lucifer.

And lastly, the book mentioned that vampires
may have originated from the Fallen Angels. The theory alleging
that the union between Fallen Angels and humans created vampire
offspring. These children developed a taste for mortal
blood....

Danielle laughed out loud. After offering a
whispered “sorry,” to deflect the looks she got for her sudden
outburst, Danielle settled her nose back in the book.

It went on to explain the traits of
vampires: They couldn’t go out during the day or the sun would turn
them to dust.
That one wasn’t new.
They couldn’t enter a home unless they’d been invited
in.
How did that make any sense at
all?
They could turn into a bat or puff of mist to
travel.
That would be cool, not that she
bought into it though.
On and on it mentioned cliché
after cliché. Hypnotic eyes ... superhuman powers ... it wasn’t
until she got to the last one that she giggled again, just not as
loudly. It actually suggested that throwing poppy seeds at their
feet would deter them because they loved to count. The vampire
would then stop his chase to sit down and count the many little
seeds.
So maybe that’s where they got the
idea for Count Dracula on Sesame Street.

She snapped the book shut as a shiver
moved up and down her spine. She may not have believed the
information, but she was scaring herself by reading it. This was
exactly why she
didn’t
watch horror
films. They frighten her too much. Danielle knew there was no such
thing as monsters, but she also knew she would likely pay for this
curiosity in the form of nightmares, lack of sleep, and the
dictates of her overactive imagination.

Deciding it was time to leave, Danielle
checked out the
Van Gogh
book. With her now heavier satchel slung over her shoulder,
she stepped out into the ... wait, night? She didn’t realize the
sun set so early in London this time of year.
Oops, out by myself after dark—already I’m breaking one of my
uncle’s rules
, she thought, but told herself it was
okay since it was still quite early.

Danielle dug into her pocket, her fingers
curled around Brianna’s keys. The metal was warm compared to the
damp chill that wrapped around her. An eerie mist was scooting
along the ground, about ankle deep, and the sky was darkened
further by an impending storm.

As she approached Brianna’s car, she noticed
a tall, lanky man leaning against it, the drifting vapor snaked and
curled around his boots. Danielle stopped cold in her steps.

Though he was handsome, a creepy grin played
on his face as he looked directly at her. With a brush of his
fingers, he swept back the straight black hair that had swooped
rakishly over one eye. There was a gothic look to him with his pale
complexion, dark clothes and dark hair. It was like looking into
the face of an angel from Hell. Somehow he had angelically good
looks, but with an evil edge. She never would have thought it
possible. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

That little warning voice inside her
head told her not to trust this man. Danielle tried to argue
...
but, I’m a black belt, I can handle
him
. Then the words of her instructors crossed her
mind. “First rule of defense, Danielle, is to avoid the situation
in the first place.” She could still avoid this situation. She
decided to go back into the library and call Brianna.

When she reached the handle, she was
surprised to find the door locked until she noticed the hours
posted on the door. The library closed early on Thursdays. Of
course, today was Thursday. Apparently they’d locked up while she
was inside.

Danielle knew someone was still there, so she
rapped on the glass. The woman inside gave her an annoyed glare and
went back to whatever it was she was doing.

She tried calling Brianna; surely they were
still in the area, but the phone went right to voicemail.
Irritating. She left a message to call her back, and started
walking, trying to find anything else open, anywhere to get off the
streets. She began trying doors as she went, finding everything
locked. The streets seemed strangely empty to her. Danielle then
realized, with some concern, that she’d gone the wrong direction.
The business traffic would be east from where she was. She
attempted to correct her mistake but when she turned around her
stomach lurched. That guy was following her, striding along at a
slow pace. Danielle increased hers in the opposite direction.