Lengths For Love (11 page)

Then there was Alexis who came in after the fact. She was lost and confused, believing Vince was a good man underneath it all. Taking his word over her boyfriend’s. No. That would not do.

“Well?” She prompted me. “Want to know the secret?”

“Show me.” I said finally.

She grinned. “That’s what I was hoping you’d say.”

We had a good couple of hours to waste so when she was finished, we sat down at the table in her room for the story. I noticed Kristine’s room was nowhere near as fancy as Vince’s or the one I shared with Alexis was. The walls were bare save for a picture of a unicorn and a mirror, the closet had very few clothes in it, and there was a dresser that looked about a hundred years old. She didn’t have much on top of it so it made me a little sad and uncomfortable. Did the girl not get makeup to wear or nice things to put in her hair? Or was she just not a fan of these things? Ignoring all this, I stared out the window. Unlike all the other rooms, hers looked out to the streets. Weird. I wondered if she had decided to take this room or if it was given to her.

“Mr. Augustin looks harmless, but he can be like a light switch. Turn him on and he gets powerful. That’s the same with any of his relatives. The Augustin family has a lot of brutal killers in it,” she began. “It was always a surprise that they wanted to make peace with our kind. I didn’t think they liked any of us to begin with. I should have known better.”

“But you feel indebted to Vince and that’s why you stay,” I finished off.

“Basically. In here, I’m safe as long as I do what he says. Out there, I don’t know what could happen,” she shrugged. “Out there, I have nothing to lean on or a place to go to or anyone to believe me.”

Her face darkened at that and I felt a wave of pity falling on me. For once, I was not scared by her. I wanted to get close and hold her hand and let her know that things would be fine. I let my hand fall on her lap and she looked at it. However, I did not squeeze her thigh. It was resting on it and she blinked.

“What are you doing?”

“I... I’m not sure.” I said, taking my hand off. “Anyway, how did you learn about this family? Did your family know about them too?”

“My family...” She chuckled and looked up at the ceiling. “It’s funny. I haven’t thought about my family in a long time. Once I came here, I had to accept the fact that I was never going to see them again. I had to accept that they would die, but I wouldn’t.”

“Uh huh.” I didn’t believe the immortality bullshit she was spewing, but was still interested to hear the rest of the story. “You’ve never thought about calling them?”

“I was turned well before phones were invented.” She explained. “And maybe I do have relatives now. I’ve just never had time to find them or figure out who they were. Maybe they don’t live where I used to live.”

“Have you thought about going back to your old home?” I wanted to know.

“Many times,” she sighed. “But Mr. Augustin would never allow it.”

“Why not? It’s not like you’re going out to murder someone.”

“Maybe not intentionally, but he has a point. As much as I hate to admit it, we’re dangerous creatures. Just because I say I don’t intend to kill anyone doesn’t mean I won’t. Sometimes the urge not to kill is hard to fight.”

She looked at me at last and I saw how frightened she was. For a so-called vampire, she didn’t see to intimidate me. If anything, she reminded me a lot of Alexis in the past. Thinking of that made me hope that Alexis was okay during her nap. The chemotherapy today had left her exhausted to the point where she didn’t even want to sit. She just wanted to go straight to bed.

“Are you fighting the urge to kill me?” I was curious about this. If she really was a vampire, I would have expected her to sink her fangs into my neck by now.

“A little,” she confessed. “But there’s something about you that I like. For that reason, I just can’t kill you.”

Comforting. I sank lower in my chair and just waited for her to pounce.

“Oh, relax! I don’t want to kill you at all!” She slapped my hand. “I’m not like those vampires in those romance novels who want to kill the person they love. I’m not that conflicted. I know who I am.”

“So it’s a lie?” I asked. “Just like Jenny said?”

“They’ve stretched the truth out a little too much.”

“You do sleep in coffins?”

“That’s a myth. And no, we won’t melt in sunlight. We just don’t like it very much. The nighttime is better. It’s more peaceful and calming. I suppose that’s why we like going out at night. It’s a good time to feed and not worry about anyone watching you.” She leaned back in her chair. “Not that I go around and jump people and drink their blood, mind you?”

“Where do you get sustenance?”

“The forest. It’s crawling with all kinds of creatures. Plus Mr. Augustin has a fridge filled with human blood. The hospital donates them to us and we get a big supply of it every month. If I need something stronger than a bunny, I’ll take one of those. It works and I’m feel nourished after one bag of blood.”

I felt a little better hearing that. So they did get human blood without having to kill anyone. That explained a lot and now I felt more relaxed being around them. “So have they ever killed anyone?”

“Who?”

“The Augustin family. You said they were brutal killers, but have they killed anyone in this house before?”

She was hesitant to answer that but then nodded. “More times than I can recall. None of them were ever close to me and I guess I’m grateful for that. But sometimes, they’d kill just for the hell of it.”

“Vince too?”

“Especially him.” Her voice went below a whisper at “him” and I felt ill again. Why was I staying in his house? If he had no problems killing vampires, I could only imagine what he would do to me.

“When was the last time he killed?”

Before she could reply, I heard a scream that interrupted all my thoughts and made me forget the questions I had. It was loud enough to be heard up here and knock me to the floor. Kristine helped me to my feet, but the screaming continued. Nothing good was going to come out of this.

“What’s with that screaming outside?” I asked, staring out the window. It was hard to see anything downstairs, but I could make out Jenny’s screaming. Kristine stared over my shoulder and gasped. I knew she had seen more and was afraid to tell me what was happening. Still, I needed her to spill it. “What did you see?”

“Jenny’s in trouble.” She whirled around and raced out of the room. I sighed and started to rush down the stairs. I knew I would take longer to get to the scene, but I had to be there. I had to know exactly what was going on and if I could help. I had never been a hero type, rushing into danger, but something in me said that nothing good was going to come out of this. I couldn’t watch helplessly if Jenny was in trouble. Vampire or not, I wasn’t raised that way. My mother would rise from her grave to haunt me and Alexis would never forgive me for sitting in the background.

As I got down, I heard the screams getting louder. Jenny was wailing about something and I kept hearing “No! What are you doing?!” over and over again. Then I heard Kristine let out a shriek and I started running harder. By the time I got outside, I found Vincent, Jenny, and Kristine standing around an oil drum. I couldn’t see what was in that drum, but Jenny kept trying to go after it. Kristine was busy trying to keep her from going at it. And Vince was just standing in front of them both, smiling smugly. I didn’t like the smile at all. It wasn’t the friendly smile he had given me at our first meeting. It wasn’t the smile he gave Alexis when she told him how her treatment was going. No, this belonged to a psychopath.

“What’s going on?” I asked though I was sure no one would answer. They hadn’t noticed I had finally made it down the steps.

“You knew what would happen,” Vince was saying, circling the oil drum. He reached to the ground and grabbed something. “I warned you many times not to run out on the nights you aren’t supposed to feed. I told you not to go out in sunlight without anyone with you.”

“Mr. Augustin, please, she didn’t remember,” Kristine was trying to reason with him. “She’s just a child, only new to all this. You have to forgive her.”

“I forgive her. I’m not saying I’m mad at her. These things happen to the young ones,” Vince nodded. “But I’m afraid this won’t go unpunished. Your life is spared, Jenny... or rather your afterlife.” He smirked. “However, I can’t let you off the hook. Take this as a warning.”

“What warning? What happened?” I still prodded. Instead of an answer, I got Vince splashing something all over the oil drum and some of it ended falling onto Jenny and Kristine as they tried to go to the oil drum. I found myself frozen in place until Vince pulled out a lighter and flicked it on. Then it all fell into place just what he was planning to do.

“Whoa, dude! You coated them with gasoline too in case you didn’t see!” I exclaimed, turning to Jenny and Kristine. They were trying to stay far from the flame. Vince turned to me, that sick smile still plastered on his face. I knew he had no qualms whatsoever of setting anything on fire now. I didn’t know what was in that oil drum, but I knew I couldn’t save it.

“Come on now,” I pleaded. “Is this necessary? I’m sure she won’t do it again.”

“Please!” Jenny begged. “He’s right, I won’t!”

“See? Give her another chance!”

My words were falling on deaf ears because he was circling the oil drum. Kristine held Jenny back while I tried to make my move. I had to be quicker than Vince.

“Ian, I appreciate your concerns,” he said. “But you don’t know what’s going on here. Everyone has to make some sacrifices. And when you break rules, you have to pay. Am I wrong?”

“I... uh...”

“Didn’t think so.”

With that, he set whatever was in the oil drum on fire. Jenny screamed and Kristine struggled to hold her back. I ran over and tried to keep them from the growing flames, all while trying to avoid getting burned. Jenny kept yelling “My books! My books” as Kristine calmed her down. It all dawned on me then. The books from Jenny’s family. I now turned my attention to Vince and tried to tackle him to the ground. But it was pointless as he was much more agile than me. He moved out of the way and managed to get me on the ground instead. I could feel him breathing hard.

“Are you out of your mind?!” I screamed, bits of spit flying into his face. “Do you know what you just did?!”

“You don’t have to remind me of what I did, Ian,” he whispered, lowering his body down so he faced me. His nose was almost touching mine and he probably would have kissed me if he wanted to. “I know you don’t like it. But I never said you should. I told you this place was dangerous and asked you twice if you were sure you wanted to be here. You told me you wanted to come for your girlfriend. Well, that is on your head then. Don’t be shocked if you come across what you never wanted to see.” He got up and looked down at me. “If I were you, I wouldn’t try to save anything in that oil drum. There’s nothing worth saving.”

I could hear him walking and Jenny wailing more after that. I was numb and aching from being pinned down. Vince wasn’t a big guy, but he could hold someone down hard enough. He had experience as a former vampire hunter and I knew he was going to use his skills as long as he could. I had failed when trying to play the hero. I looked up at Kristine who finally caught my eye, trying to keep Jenny from the growing flames. She knew now there was no way to save anything. The damage was done.

“I’m sorry,” I mouthed to her.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” I could hear Kristine saying, trying to comfort Jenny. I felt like a complete failure sitting on that ground. My second time trying to be a hero and I didn’t succeed again. Vincent was right. I couldn’t save anything in that oil drum. Whatever he aimed for, he succeeded.

“I’m sorry.” I repeated, looking down at the ground. So much for playing the hero and trying to protect the fair maidens. Kristine left Jenny for a second and went over to where I was sitting.

“Are you all right?”

“No.” I said even though I was nodding. “I didn’t mean to...”

“Just go back inside.” She helped me up on my feet. “That’s all there is to this.”

“But I could have...”

“You couldn’t have.” She cut me off and led me back to the house. “It’s over, Ian. You did what you could, it just wasn’t enough.”

I nodded, understanding what she said, but my eyes kept looking back at the fire. The flames cracked and licked the night air, taking everything Jenny had left of her former life with them.

Vienna wasn’t a horrible place. If anything, it was beautiful and the main attractions were always bustling with life. I went down there a few times with Jenny to see everything and spend time away from the bad things. After what happened, her mood was a little better. She was saddened by what Vincent did, but tried to keep a smile on her face. I knew it was hard, but I commended her for it. If anything, it would show Vince that he couldn’t break her.

“I know you tried your hardest to stop him,” she told me. “But no one can. Still, it’s nice to know someone cares enough about me.”

“It’s not a big deal.” I raised my hands. “I’d do that for anyone, vampire, human, animal, and everything in between.”

But while my relationship with the vampires was growing, the one with Alexis seemed to be fading. Sure, I went with her when she got chemo, helped her take her medication, and made sure she was okay. Her hair was almost all out now and she had lost a ton of weight. Sometimes it was hard for her to stay up all night like we had in the past. And there were times where she didn’t want me there. So when she went to bed, I spent time with the others. Everyone but Vince, of course. He kept giving me looks that could probably murder me. I tried to ignore them and just spent time with everyone. Jenny took me back to the same spot and I soon learned more stories. All these vampires came from different parts of the world. Some were young, some were old, but they all felt the same. I could tell them were all trapped here, dying to get out and live like vampires.

Still, the company didn’t change the fact that I had girlfriend and I needed to be with her. The night before Alexis was to see the doctor again, I decided to spend the night in her room. She had been reading, but put it down when I came in.