Limbo's Child (54 page)

“You ok?” he asked nonchalantly.

“Yep,” she said a bit too curtly. Her eyes darted back and forth, but if he suspected anything it didn’t show.

“This is crazy!” she thought, “He can’t be a
vampire
! He just can’t!! Not that there’s any way I can tell.” She looked up suddenly. There
was
a way. She had already done it. She looked over slowly to Sky, and then slowly over the back of the seat. Yo-yo was still sleeping fitfully. She leaned forward. How did Amanda say to do it? Count the beats? 1, 2, 3, 4. She found her own heartbeat. It was beating faster than she wanted it to, but it was there, loud as a drum in her ears. She gradually brought it down to a more temperate rhythm. When the rhythm was steady she closed her eyes and listened, just like Amanda had said. There was a faint heartbeat, coming from somewhere behind her. It was somewhat nervous and drumming away rapidly. She could hear it as well as if she were listening through a stethoscope. She turned around. Yo-yo was still sleeping. That had to be his heartbeat, she guessed. She turned back around slowly and kept listening. There was hers, Yo-yo’s, the rhythm of the car, the road noise, the air rushing by, the engine, and the usual occasional thumping like something large and lumpy rolling around in the trunk, but there were
no
other heartbeats. She listened harder, but still nothing. Her own heartbeat got faster. So did her breathing.

She slowly turned to look at Sky. He looked as beautiful and calm as ever, but there was no sound coming from his chest. No heartbeat at all! She stared directly at his chest over the space where his heart should be. She realized her eyes were fixed on him like a pair of giant owl eyes, but she couldn’t look away. She had to be absolutely certain. She somehow managed to shut out all the other noises. She listened and concentrated directly on that spot, but still no heartbeat. Not even a whisper of one!! There was nothing there but a deep, empty silence, like a big hole and nothing else. As she felt her panic rise she stared gape-jawed at his chest. Then she took in a deep breath. She could actually see it!! There! Where there should have a been a living, breathing heart was a swirling mass of darkness like a living shadow, a dark and profound emptiness in that space that consumed all sound and thought. It was like staring down a black well so deep you couldn’t see the bottom, and yet inexplicably, you had the urge to jump, as if the darkness was dragging you over the edge. Her heart rate instantly doubled. She clutched the vinyl seat with both hands and began hyperventilating through her mouth but couldn’t turn away.

“Are you ok, Lucy?” Schuyler said.

Lucy finally managed to tear her eyes away from the gaping, black hole where his heart should have been and tried to stay calm. Whatever happened, she couldn’t panic and let him know she knew. She tried to put on a brave face and smile but she could tell she was grimacing all the same.

“Is something the matter?” Schuyler said totally innocently. Then he turned to look at her.

At first all she saw was the handsome, kind face, the crystal blue eyes and stellar smile of the wonderful teen Schuyler, but in a flash, they melted away like wax in a fire and she was looking into a corpse-white face with black, pupil-less eyes over a fanged, menacing grin. She panicked.

“AAAAAHHHHAEAARAHGAAAAH!!” Lucy screamed and clawed her way to the farthest side of the front seat away from Schuyler.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What’s the matter?” Schuyler intoned.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!!” she screamed, “OH MY GOSH…YOU’RE A VAMPIRE!!!” She pressed herself up against the inside of the door, her hands scrambling behind her back frantically trying to find the door handle. She didn’t dare take her eyes off of him out of fear he would change back again.

“What?!” Schuyler tried to laugh it off innocently, but Lucy wasn’t buying it.

“VAMPIRE!!” she screamed again and pointed at him in horror and accusation.

“WHAT?!”

“GET AWAY FROM ME!!!” she screamed again. She found the door handle and yanked on it repeatedly, but it didn’t budge. The door was locked, but she couldn’t think straight enough to figure out how to unlock it. She had lost the ability to think rationally. She didn’t care if the car was still moving. All she thought about was getting out of that car,
NOW
.

“What?! Lucy, stop! Lucy, I think you need to calm down.”

“DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN, YOU BLOODSUCKING FREAK!!” She began banging on the window and hitting the door as if hoping it would break free. As she did so, she tore open the fresh scabs and wounds on her hands from her recent fight with Amanda and the other vampires, leaving bloody handprints all over the interior.

“Lucy! Don’t! You’ll hurt yourself!!” He reached towards her but she just screamed and kicked her feet at him.

“GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU FREAK!!”

“LOOK OUT!!” Both she and Sky turned around. It was Yo-yo. She had forgotten all about him! He was standing up in the back seat pointing towards the windshield with a look of horror. Instantly, she and Sky turned around to catch a glimpse of a strange boy, wide-eyed in the headlights. He had a shaved head and was wearing a white robe and heavy eyeliner of all things.

Everyone in the car screamed. Schuyler swerved but not in time. They were going to hit him! Then something like a giant goose shoved the boy out of the way just in time, but not soon enough to save itself. It bounced of the hood and hit the windshield, which spider-webbed on the passenger’s side with a terrible “CRACK!” The goose, or whatever it was, gave out a horrible honking sound and then there was more screaming, this time from somewhere in the trunk. The car spun out of control skidding first to the right and then to the left. Schuyler desperately tried to gain control of the car and only managed to do so at the last moment keeping the car moving down the lonely farm road.

Lucy whipped her head around just in time to see the boy fade into the distance. He was on the side of the road sitting up, looking back at them. He was ok. Lucy felt as though she had seen him somewhere before. Then as she got her bearings, she remembered where – in the visions after the accident, in the ambulance! They weren’t very far from where the accident had happened right now! Only after this thought had passed did she remember she was still in a car with a vampire.

“STOP THE CAR!!” Lucy spun around and screamed at Schuyler, “STOP THE CAR NOW!!”

“Look, the kid’s ok, and we’re on a tight schedule.
Nobody’s
stopping right now.” Schuyler’s whole voice had changed. It wasn’t reassuring anymore but was snotty and dismissive.

“Tight schedule?!” Lucy thought, “Tight schedule to where?! Where was this freak taking her?!” she thought anxiously. “STOP THE CAR!!” she yelled again.

“No,” Schuyler replied adamantly. He stared her down and all the warmth was gone from his face. She could tell the ghastly, fanged visage of the vampire was hovering just beneath the surface of his beautiful face. “His beautiful
FAKE
face,” she thought, but she didn’t know what to do.

“Lucy?” It was Yo-yo, cowering in the back, his eyes barely peeking over the seat.

“It’ll be ok, Yo-yo.” she said thinking, desperately trying to regain her composure. She had an impulsive thought. “Stop the car NOW or…or I’ll jump.”

“You’re not gonna jump, Lucy,” Schuyler said, totally dismissive of her threat. He didn’t even bother to look at her as she said this, he was so sure of himself.

She regained her composure and the ability to think. She reached for the door lock and popped it up. His eyes darted her direction and narrowed. They were cold and menacing now and not warm and friendly at all. She couldn’t believe that she had been taken in so easily by this
thing!
She couldn’t believe she had actually been attracted to it!!

“I swear I’ll do it!” she said defiantly.

“You’re bluffing,” he said coldly.

She jiggled the door handle. He narrowed his eyes even further at her. Something like fear flitted behind them. Something was keeping him from hurting her outright, fear of something, some reprisal. He needed her alive she guessed, or he would have killed her by now. He considered her for a long while. She slowly began pulling the door handle to where it was just beginning to feel the tension of release. Any harder and it would pop open. She wasn’t certain if she was willing to do it or not, but she was going to find out.

Suddenly, he cranked the wheel to the right and slammed on the brakes. The car skidded sideways to a halt on the gravel of the shoulder. The sudden stop caused her to lurch toward him. She nearly tumbled into his lap before she scrambled back to the other side. There were more muffled groans from the trunk. The thumping in the back of the car!! She instantly wondered if they were other victims.

“Ok,” he said, putting the car in park. Suddenly, the old charming Schuyler was back. “I’m sorry if I scared you back there but it’s going to be ok. Lucy, we need to talk…”

She wasn’t going to let him start that again. She yanked on the door handle and practically fell out. “RUN, YO-YO!!” she yelled as she bolted for the trees lining the road.

“Hey!” Sky lunged after her but missed, “Lucy! Stop!” She got ten feet from the car and turned to look over her shoulder hoping to see Yo-yo right behind her, but he had gotten out on wrong side of the car!! He was over on the street side of the Impala looking like he didn’t know where to go. “DARN! How come these things never work out?!!” she thought frantically. Schuyler had already stepped out on his side of the car. He was ignoring Yo-yo entirely and striding around the front of the car towards her, palms out trying to calm her down.

“Lucy…just calm down, we can talk this out.”

Lucy was of no mind to talk though. She began to run around the back of the car. She was going to catch up to Yo-yo on the other side, grab him and make a run for it, but she didn’t even get a half a step before a hand like iron grabbed her by her upper arm. Schuyler had moved surprisingly fast, closed the gap between them in less than a heartbeat and seized her.

“LET GO OF ME!!” She flailed, but his grip was unwavering like a steel band.

“Relax, Lucy, it’s ok!! I’m not going to hurt you,” Schuyler said as calmly as if nothing unusual was happening. Yo-yo was whimpering, hunched down on the other side of the car.

“Unnngh!” Lucy tried to pull herself from the vampire’s clutches but it was impossible; it was like straining against a stone statue. His hand burned like ice.

“C’mon, freckles, I’m trying to help you,” he kept saying. She just remembered how much she
hated
that nickname! “You just need to come with me and we can sort this whole mess out, promise.”

“I’M. NOT. GOING. WITH. YOU. ANYWHERE!!” She struggled helplessly against his steel grip and spoke each word through gritted teeth. “LET GO OF ME!” With that last exclamation she pulled with all her might, but still nothing. “UNNGH!!!” She hit his stomach with her free hand, more out of frustration than anything else, but then something happened that she didn’t expect. There was a loud crack like a small explosion and…
he let go
. In fact, he didn’t just let her go, he let out a loud groan and was pushed back several feet. He stood there, holding his mid-section, regarding her with a look of utter shock.

Lucy looked down at her scratched and bloody hands. Did she do that?! He looked down for a second and then instantly lunged for her again. Lucy screamed, closed her eyes and shoved her hands out in front of her. There was another loud crack followed by a solid, metal-sounding “CRUNK!” and then the sound of more groaning. When she dared peek open one eye, there at her feet was a trail of skid marks in the gravel leading all the way back to the car. Lying in a crumpled heap at the foot of an impressively dented rear fender was Schuyler – unconscious, eyes goggling, wingtips in the air, tongue hanging out of his mouth like a cartoon character that had just been plowed by a Mac truck.

There was silence for a moment as Lucy gaped at her outstretched hands. Yo-yo was staring slack-jawed as well. A brief moment of silence passed before Lucy was startled out of her shock by a muffled voice coming out of the trunk.

“What’s going on out there?!! What are you doing to my car?!!”

“Aach!” Lucy jumped back and bit her fingers in fright. She could taste the blood on them. Then another voice spoke in an Irish accent.

“Oh, bloody heck!! Move over!!” There was a lot of thumping and muffled groans and protests from the other voice before something started kicking from inside the trunk. The first two kicks raised huge bulges in the trunk from the inside before the final kick broke the lock and sent the trunk flying open. What lumbered out made Lucy turn white. It was the brooding, thick-necked, ugly, red-haired vampire from the hospital, only now his face was all scratched up. After it dragged itself out, the taller one with the hoodie and the lisp stepped out, and his left eye was swollen shut.

“YOU?!!” she yelled in shock. Then a horrible realization hit her. They were all working together!! Schuyler was working with them all along! She couldn’t believe it! She felt so used and stupid.

The dark one took several large strides towards her, breathing through his teeth and furrowing his brow in anger. His whole body was transforming into dark smoke, his visage changing into a monstrous, dog shape with jaws that seemed to unhinge like a viper’s. She was frozen in terror, but as he stepped closer to her, she flung out her hands towards him and screamed, “GET AWAY FROM ME!!”