Melabeth Forgive Me, For I Am Sin! (24 page)

I chuckled, "Because they don't."

He looked confused, "Then why did I have to invite you?"

I answered him like it was no big deal, "Because it is polite."

With wonder in his eyes, "You are a vampire!" I gave him a dark look. "Wow."

He was an idiot. I ignored him and picked up the phone and dialed the number. Ezra picked up on the second ring, "Hello."

"Hello Ezra, this Melabeth. I need your help, I need Alice too."

Ezra’s voice was full of concern, "Of course, where are you?"

I explained where I was and a little of what I needed. Ezra told me to hold up in a hotel room that was not far. He would meet me there in less than forty eight hours. Ezra added, "And Melabeth, don’t worry about it. We are your family."

"Thank you," And we hung up.

I thanked Eric and before he could ask questions; I walked over to a large window, opened it, knocked out the screen and flew away. I am sure poor Eric will have trouble sleeping, but I didn’t hurt him.

I wasn’t sure what Ezra planned on doing to help me, but I am sure I will need it.

チェイス

Me and Carrie enjoy are time together. It kind felt like when we first met, easier. Carrie told me that she didn’t mind being less powerful if it meant being with me. She had never told me before, but it had been hard to hang with David for a verity of reasons. David ignoring her was the biggest one, and the other was she had felt lonely. Living with necromancers you would think someone would talk to her.

David was an ass, for hiding this information on my killers from me. It didn’t take away from the fact that it was me who broke his heart. It also didn’t minimize the fact that I got his family killed and now that we broke up, he is all alone. The necromancers will be his new friends; and that made me wonder how his life would have been if he had never met me.

When Ezra knocked on the door it wasn’t a moment too soon. I was starting to go a little stir crazy waiting for him. He didn’t come by himself, Charlotte, Alice and Michael accompanied him. After our embraces and hellos, we went straight to business. I showed them the file on the Smith brothers and shortly after that we were all piling into a van and heading north.

Ezra and Charlotte rode up front, while me and Alice rode in the middle. In the third row sat Michael and Carrie. Even though Carrie sat there, no one could hear or see her; Michael kept putting stuff on her.
She asked a lot of questions which were hard to answer, mainly because Alice didn’t like me talking to ghost.

I had just answered a question for Carrie when Alice piped in, "Stop it already. You sound crazier than me. You haven't told us why your little friend isn't helping you? Also
why has he left you with his pet ghost? Not that I mind he’s gone, it is about time; Necromancers are no fun."

I didn’t want Michael to hear the reason why, "I will tell you later. Let's just say that David overheard the last conversion we had."

Charlotte turned and looked at me, "I don’t recall this conversion. Alice what is she’s talking about? And why aren't we talking openly?"

Alice giggled then said, "Shh… Michael might hear it."

I interrupted, "Hey."

Michael moaned from the back seat, "I don’t want to know, if Melabeth doesn’t want me to hear it."

I started to say thanks, but Charlotte was much louder as she yelled back at Michael, "Son, mind your own business. I need details."

Ezra groaned, "This is going to be a long drive. Melabeth
, before they get you started on your love life, or lack of one. Let me tell you something you and I care about."

Eager for the subject change, "What is it Ezra?"

Ezra explained, "Alice and I figured long ago that we might be involved in helping you rid the world of these brothers. Even without the information that detective gave you, I know about the Blue Biker gang. Alice and I have many employee's, we have two of them that live and work in San Francisco. They are both vampires, about fifty years old. They have been keeping an eye on that gang for us.

After I got off the phone with you, I gave them a call. I let them know that we were on our way, so we should have a place to stay and information on their whereabouts. The name of are informants are Bonnie and Clyde. And before you ask, no they are not the real Bonnie and Clyde. In fact I do believe that Clyde’s real name is Jacob."

"Thank you."

Alice with great impatience, "Yes thank you; there was no way we could have waited for that information. Now Melabeth, now that he is done wasting our time… details my doll." I gave Alice a glare, she then informed me, "I took care of that. Michael can't hear a word."

Ezra smarted in, "Can't you do that for me?"

The rest of the ride to San Francisco took forever. It took no less than three hours before Alice and Charlotte were done talking about my break up. Neither felt that I had any responsibility for breaking up with David; which by all accounts only made me feel worse. If these two thought it wasn’t my fault, it most likely was.

After the conversation died away I was left with a little time to think.  The minute I saw Michael it filled me with glee. I hadn't seen him since the ship, and now we would be spending time together. Well kind of, I was surrounded by vampires who could hear every little sound. Still I couldn’t help but thing that maybe I could find some time to sneak away with Michael… a girl could dream.

We arrived in San Francisco, pulling up to a small house on a steep hill. Bonnie and Clyde had a nice home, but very modest. Bonnie was very nice and extremely eager to please us. She stood about my height and had short brown hair that was straight with a slight curl at the end. She had big brown eyes and a much darker complexion then mine. Her smile was easy and came to her face often.

Clyde was nothing like her. He was a black man that stood over six foot. He was taller than Michael, but it was hard to tell if he was taller than Ezra. Ezra was thin and tall, but Clyde was built like a steam engine. In that way he looked much larger then Ezra. He wore a beard and a knit hat with a flannel shirt. He reminded me of a lumber jack. Where Bonnie dressed like Tina Turner; she was so eighties it was hard to follow her, with all her valley girl talk.

We all sat down in the living room. Clyde had not said much to this point, but when Ezra asked for him to fill us in; we all quieted down and listened. Clyde had a deep voice, "This is what we know. Brandon and Randy, the Smith brothers left town about a week ago. A man came to town; the only name we got was simply Alex. I think your friends were tipped off that you were after them."

Ezra asked the questions on all our minds, "Do you know where they might have gone?"

Bonnie was just settling into a chair. She had been bringing everyone drinks. She answered Ezra’s question, "Washington, like we heard that there is some kind of shifter pack up there. Like they are close buds and now like hanging in the reserve."

Ezra looked at Clyde and calmly said, "English."

Clyde had a deep chuckle. He explained, "The reserve as she calls it is the Olympic National Park. This area is over fourteen hundred square miles, with ancient glaciers on top of mountains in the center of the park. I couldn’t tell you where to even start to look for someone. You all know the difference between shifters and werewolves, so it is strange that they are working together."

I interrupted him, "Sorry, but I don’t understand the difference."

Bonnie chuckled, "Like, you
're serious… what rock have you been under?"

Alice cleared her throat;
the room went quiet as Bonne's face lost its cockiness. Alice looked at Clyde, "I'll only say this once. My sister has a nasty habit of killing those who bother her. I won't stop her, and I doubt you two are up for the task of defending yourselves."

Clyde gave Bonnie a dirty look, "Silence your mouth. Do not forget what I said."

Bonnie nodded at Clyde then turned to me, "Sorry, like I didn’t mean anything by it."

I just stared at her for a second, then without acknowledging her, I asked Clyde my question. "What's the difference?"

Ezra offered up, "If you don’t mind Clyde." Clyde nodded and Ezra explained, "It really isn't hard to understand. Werewolves are a magical disease spread through their bites. In many ways they are more powerful than a shifter. They don’t turn into a dog; they look like a man with a lot of hair and big claws. A shifter turns into whatever animal they are imitating. Some shifters are not limited to wolves, in fact the more powerful the shifter, the more powerful the animal. Shifters become more powerful through generations. If one were to turn into something like a bear; then they most likely are fourth or fifth generation shifter. Werewolves only spread by the bite; they are also out of control when they shift into a Werewolf.

Some legends are true, some are not. They cannot control themselves on a full moon. They are not limited to that fact; they can change at other times. What you really need to know is this: destroying the heart or cutting off the head are the only two methods in which you can be assured that they are dead. Both shifters and Werewolves heal fast; one more thing. Werewolves and shifters are strong, but slower, so use your speed against them.”

I asked, “What about silver?”

Ezra laughed, “I told you about that. Man made that up; in fact you will find that silver kills a lot, according to man. The truth is that the churches used it as an excuse for needing silver to kill the evil in the world. Just stab them in the heart, cut off
their heads… oh and you can burn them to. Clyde, how many do you think we’re up against?”

Clyde looked thoughtful, “Well if my information is correct. We are looking at seventeen shifters, plus the Smith brothers and the Wizard. Twenty, but there could be more.”

Michael blurred out, “Twenty. Oh this should be fun. Maybe we should wait for the Smith brothers to come out of the forest.”

Turning and facing Michael. I blurred out, “Why?”

Michael answered me, “At night, werewolves, shifters and even a wizard are at a great disadvantaged, but not during the day. The only ones in this room that can handle going outside are Ezra, Charlotte and Alice. And they can only handle a limited amount of sun.”

Charlotte objected, “Don’t forget about Mel, she can handle some sun.”

Michael nodded and went on, “I hadn’t. In fact I left her out because she stands in a class of her own. I dare say the sun bothers her least of all, but she’s still subject to the same loss of power. No flying, flashing and your healing will be slowed. Of course if you get cut, you will also catch on fire making for a much more difficult wound, to say the least. Bonnie, Clyde and I really won’t function at all during the day. And we most likely will catch on fire if exposed to the sun for too long.

Werewolves have been a nemesis for hundreds of years. They can smell us, so they can track us down during the day. Once they have our scent there will be nowhere to hide. Cities have always offered us a better fighting chance, with manmade undergrounds and buildings. Plus the many smells of the city can throw a scent off, but in the forest, they will find us.”

Alice said, “And that is why they will never come out of the silly forest. Let’s all go get them, what do you say?”

Ezra replied right away, “Sounds like fun. Count me in.”

Charlotte lazily added, “No sales at the stores, I’ll go.”

Bonnie hesitantly asked Clyde “Is she really asking?”

Clyde chuckled, then looked at Bonnie, “No, she’s not asking. Alice we’ll go.”

Alice chatted, “Goody… what about you Michael?”

Michael just shook his head, “This is suicide. Some of us are going to die.”

Charlotte got up and walked over to Michael. She sat upon his lap, “You know you want to go. You know we will need your gift.”

Michael gave her a sly smile, “It’s a long drive to Seattle. And we need to pick up some supplies.”

Alice jumped up, “Can I get a little t
iny tent for my doll to sleep in?”

My face fell into my hands, “Oh this is going to be fun.”

山脈

After driving to Seattle we stayed in a local hotel. That evening Ezra left, but was back shortly with a Deuce in a half, pulling a small camper. He had the truck loaded with all things you would need for a camping trip: tents, clothes and lots of firearms.
Another crate was full of knives and blades of all size and shapes. Me Michael and Ezra jumped up front, while the rest rode in the back. The truck was a military vehicle, painted cameo.

It made me wonder how he could get a hold of all this so quickly, so I asked. Ezra answered, “It was easy. All you need is money; this stuff is for sale in every city in America. I love this country.”

We drove west, the further we got away from the city the more green it became. It really was beautiful here with hundreds of shades of green and brown. With a small mix of white where patches of snow laid.  It was night, but I could still see the dark clouds rolling over our heads, threatening to rain or snow. It took us a couple of hours to arrive at the edge of the Olympic National Park. We stopped at a camp ground at Dosewallips State Park. There we setup the camper, Clyde started a campfire. We gathered around to make a plan.

The plan was simple enough; we would separate tonight and feed. Then the group would get a goodnight, I mean day, sleep. And before the sun even went below the horizon we would head up the mountain in the truck. Once it was dark we would arm up and hunt the dogs down.

I ran into the woods to separate and hunt on my own. It was January and the air was cold. There was no snow on the ground here, and the sky had cleared. The stars were bright and filled the night time sky. Only a few of the dark clouds from earlier remained. I could see the snow capped mountains looming above me. Soon enough we would be up there fighting for our lives.

Earlier Carrie had been quiet, I knew she wished to talk now that we were away from the group. She walked with no noise until she was standing in front of me. Even though I knew where she was, I was still staring up into the mountains.

Carrie spoke hesitantly, “Wacha thinking?”

Not even looking at her, it gushed out, “I’m vampire. I mean those men took everything I had, or would ever have. I hate them… I’m dead. I crawled out of the ground and lost fifteen years of my life. And then the next four days were crazy… it was only four days when I met Alice. In a month I had killed how many people? I don’t know; by the end of a month I had killed David’s family… then living in Vegas. Then what do I do, I kill more
, that’s what I do. Then I betray David and leave him on his own, but do I plan to go back and make that right… no. David was the only person crazy enough to help me kill these men. Not anymore, no, no, Alice wants to help now. I found out she had drank some of my blood. At first she did this to steal my memories, but she got so much more. She knows where I am, hell I know where she is. I can feel her right this moment… she can feel me, she knows how I feel. She is commanding her vampires to run up into the mountains and take on an army of werewolves. She does this for my revenge. How can we do this without some of us dying?” I dropped to the ground and stared off into space. I was losing it.

Carrie lightly touched my shoulder, “Oh hon, it’s going to be ok.”

I went on with my freak out, “Ten and a half months.”

Carrie asked, “What’s ten and half months?”

“I have been a vampire for ten and a half months. Not one year, not four hundred years… ten damn months that’s how long. Every day is like a hundred, every day I push away the pain, every day I try to forget my murders and being murdered. And yet here I am, ready to rush up a mountain to kill whoever gets in my way. I want to be with Michael. For what… love? Do I know what that is? Or do I do it for distraction? Is that what David was to me? A distraction maybe; or possibly a tool?”

Carrie moved so she was looking at me, “I was hitch hiking when I got myself killed. I was so stupid…”

I interrupted, “You’re not stupid.”

She smiled then went on, “There is a lot of things I is, and some things I isn’t, but I know I is stupid. I do know some stuff, like what love is, I know that. I don’t have any answers, but I will tell you what I think.”

I surrendered, “Ok."

“You loved David, but he didn’t love you. He loves his necromancy. He ignored you when you needed him most; he had you do-in bad, when he should have been holding your hand. The only reason your dreaming about Michael, is that David didn’t keep you dreaming about him. You know what else I think? If I were you, I would have freaked out
a long time ago. I’m a ghost, and I get afraid of dying hanging with you ‘all.”

“I think I’m stupid too.”

Carrie laughed, “Yep, me and you… stupid together.”

I sighed, “Should I call this off?”

Carrie shook her head, “No, if you die tomorrow night I’ll be right behind you. You know this is going to be the first time I can help?  Plus I don't think you can call it off, all you can do is put it off.”

I wondered, “How can you help?”

“You are stupid,” she said with a smile.

I narrowed my eyes in mock anger, “Hey… watch it hick.”

Carrie was excited as she told me, “Hanging with David I have learned stuff. First I can travel far away from you, just no one can see me and I can’t touch anything. It’s really good for spying and such. He taught me how to do it. And you can will me into that hilt, and I would become your sword. That is a powerful weapon.”

I was a little shocked she offered, “Yes, but you will feel the pain of my enemies.”

“Then make their deaths quick, ok.” Then she gave me a wink.

That brought a smile to my face as it lightened my heart, “I can do that, and Carrie?”

“Yes?”

“Thanks.”

She grabbed my hand and helped me to my feet. “Let’s go girl, you need to eat before morning.”

My little melt down with Carrie had me feeling a little bit better. Carrie was a good friend I wouldn’t know what to do without her. Too many things have happened to quickly in my life for me to take it in. I am thrown into a magic world, it's like trying to learn how to live from scratch. Still I couldn’t help but think that with all this stuff going on that I was lucky to have someone who cared.