Nevermore, the Complete Series (45 page)

Myths in Relation to the Vampiric

It has been rumored throughout the ages that vampires have particular reactions to certain objects and even foods. Where these tales started I do not know. Many of these have been tested and proven false, unfortunate for those who relied on them. This is a simple guide illustrating what is accurate and what is false.

Garlic – Vampires have no aversion toward this food. While the strong scent can cause them to falter for a mere moment, it will not protect you or ward them off.

Bats – While vampires are commonly represented by the figure of a bat and tales have been spread of them even transforming into said creatures, to my knowledge this is not an ability that they possess.

Holy water – Holy water can scald their flesh to a certain degree, however vampires are capable of healing rapidly and thus it has little affect. It can however be used quite effectively as a distraction.

Sunlight – This is one of the more common myths. Sunlight is said to burn a vampire into a heap of ash. However, they can walk through the brightest rays just as any human can – which often makes it harder to decipher whether they are a human or a vampire.

Crosses – Crosses and crucifixes have no effect whatsoever on the monsters.

Graveyards – Cemeteries are noted to be a common feeding ground for vampires, generally at night time when there is less of a chance of human interaction. The reason behind this isn’t completely certain beyond the privacy provided and the lack of interference.

Stakes – Stakes are an effective weapon against vampires, but are by no means the only way to kill them. In fact I would prefer a ranged weapon to a stake any day. If a vampire does close the gap to you before you can dispatch it a stake will suffice, thought I prefer an axe or dagger.

Silver- True silver may cause some discomfort to the undead, similarly to holy water. It serves little more than a distraction though and is quickly overcome.

Removal of the head – This method will indeed kill a vampire; head or heart will halt the beast – I always say.

Sleeping in coffins – A vampire has no need for sleep and therefore does not sleep in a coffin, however there have been cases where one will ‘play dead’ in a coffin and prey upon grave robbers and well-wishers alike – this may be where the myth derived from.

Prey on virginal women – While this might be accurate, a vampire will prey on anyone regardless their gender or virginity. They do seem to gain more strength from ‘young blood’ as they call it. With most youths being virgins still it is very likely where this derived.

Are not visible in mirrors – This myth has not actually been tested yet, I intend to investigate it myself on my next hunt and will notate this entry of my findings.

Ability to fly – A vampire cannot fly, but they do possess inhuman running speeds and strength. I have seen them dart from one spot to a house lengths away in seconds, then bound effortlessly unto the roof.

Ezra N. Chase

Salem disturbed me from my reading to inform me that we would soon be out of New Mexico and heading into Texas. The land was a flat, dreary eyesore. I had wished we could have had time to stop and visit some famous places on the way, maybe some zoos or other hotspots, but that could wait until we were mortal again I guessed. Hannah and Salem were much more talkative and friendly now that their feud had ended, but I scarcely paid any mind to what they conversed about as I was delving deeper into the journal. The information fascinated me, even though I knew a lot of it already. This was the kind of reading material I would have found at a bookstore or library and thought it was interesting but in every possible way false…now that I knew the truth it was even more intriguing.

Moments after we entered the lone star state, Hannah decided she needed another break from driving in order to make a stop for a meal. It hadn’t been that incredibly long since we last fed, surely she couldn’t be hungering already. I assumed the pit-stop was more due to boredom than anything and even though I was hesitant about feeding in the day time, I didn’t try to convince her otherwise. A little time out of the car might do us all some good.

Hannah turned the car into a random rest stop that was filled with more people than I had expected. As I left the Alero, I instinctively assured myself that my cell phone was in my pocket and followed Salem out into the unfamiliar territory. There were dozens of cars surrounding us in the parking lot, a minimal-sized rest room area, a small booth of brochures, and beyond the man-made buildings were trees. We could easily find a few rodents nestled in the small copse and be unseen.

I cautiously followed the two of them into the lightly wooded area. The further we went, the more I felt at ease - until I heard the barking of a dog. A chubby woman with curly hair and a bulbous nose eyed us awkwardly and pulled her miniature pinscher away, as if she thought we might eat it…which wasn’t too far from the truth. I heard Hannah giggle as we walked by the woman, obviously listening in on her thoughts. 

There were so many different scents surrounding us that it was difficult to focus. I could easily smell the blood of the woman that passed by, and I hated to admit it but it smelled much more enticing than that of animals. How had Salem come to the point that human blood smelled foul to him? If I weren’t in better control of myself, if it were not for the raven in me, I would easily have jumped that woman and drained the life out of her. More smells caught my attention and distracted me from my thoughts as a light breeze whipped by – sewage, dogs, discarded food, pine, dirt, and the unmistakable
aroma of animal blood. Something nearby was unknowingly being offered Death’s icy embrace, and I had all intent to find it. Despite my lack of hunger, the sudden craving was unavoidable! I ran from the spot, ignoring Salem’s confused outcries.

My mouth fell widely agape as I gazed at my target. This was not at all expected. Up in the tree beside me sat a glimmering raven, peering down at me curiously.

“You’re a bird, right?” I spoke quietly, my voice aimed directly at the bird. It gave no response before pecking lightly at the branch its talons were wrapped around. “What am I saying; of course you’re just a bird.”

There was no way this could be another person with the ‘gift’, right? From everything that I had heard, my family was the only ones to ever have such ability. Then why was I second-guessing myself so much? It was just a bird, no different from the elk we had feasted on.

Before I could debate with the voice in my head any longer, the hunger for the rapidly pulsing blood in the bird’s veins sent me hastily ascending the tree. The raven didn’t have a chance to fly away before I had it in my cold hands and snapped its neck. I licked my lips hungrily before stabbing my fangs into the side of the black bird. Blood trickled down my chin, splattering gently on the ground below. An alarmed scream met my ears and I panicked, dropping the bird and wishing that I could somehow turn invisible. Two innocent little eyes stared up at me from the face of a small boy with short wisps of brown hair.

“Mommy!” he cried and began running away. I jumped from the tree, landing neatly on my feet and wiped the blood from my lips.

“There’s no need to get your mom,” I muttered and kicked aside the slain bird. “It was all just a joke; you see…I was waiting on a friend to come looking for me and…umm...I was going to jump out at them with that bird and scare them. Well, it wasn’t even a real bird.” I laughed anxiously.

Salem crept into view and eyed the boy, then glanced at me. “Alex?” he asked carefully as he stepped closer. “What’s going on?”

“Salem!” I exclaimed, a fake smile forming on my face. “You should have been here to see the joke I was going to play on you! But instead, this poor little boy saw it and thought that I was really eating a bird!” The anxious laughter returned. “I told him I had meant for you to see it and freak out but he showed up instead…”

He arched a brow and shook his head at me. “You could have scared the poor kid to death,” he said calmly and approached the boy. “I’m sorry if my friend here scared you; she just likes to play pranks on me is all. Understand?”

“If you say so mister,” the boy said, took one last glance at me, and ran out of view.

“Are you all right, Alex?”

“Yeah, I’m fine…just a little freaked out by what just happened.”

“It is nothing to worry about. You came up with a reasonable explanation.” He smiled.

“Yeah…but that isn’t really what I was talking about.” I sighed and glanced at the bird behind the tree.

“A raven?” he sounded a little stunned as he caught sight of the dead fowl. 

“Yes…it felt so wrong, yet a huge part of me craved its blood specifically.”

“That is unusual. Perhaps it has something to do with your relation to ravens. You have a familiarity to them.”

“I guess.” I shrugged. “How do you ignore the blood of humans so easily anyway, Salem?”

“I never said it had been easy, it took time Alex. Why are you asking this?”

I hung my head. “The scent…it’s invigorating.”

“There is no reason to be ashamed. You are still new at all this, and as long as you can fight the desire it isn’t a problem.”

“I guess…” How was it not a problem? For all I knew next time I could have been so caught up in the moment, so intoxicated with the smell that I could leap onto a human before I had the time to suppress the urge. What if I had attacked the boy during a moment of bloodlust, would Salem be saying the same thing?

“How long have you felt like this?”

“Just today, actually…” I answered, “as soon as we passed that woman on the way out here.”

“In that case, I believe it is just from the excitement of the moment. You were already on your way to feed, so it is natural you felt hunger when you encountered blood so close to you. Try not to worry too much about it, especially considering it won’t be a problem much longer.” He gave me a reassuring smile and wound an arm over my shoulder as he began leading me back to the parking lot.

Suddenly, I heard a familiar quiet jingle that caught my attention instantly. Gasping, I pulled my phone from my pocket.

“I must have accidentally turned the volume on when I climbed up the tree,” I muttered as I read the caller’s name – Jason. “Should I answer it?”

“That is entirely up to you,” Salem answered. “There is no harm in it as long as you do not mention our location or anything…suspicious.”

I nodded slowly and gulped as I hit the button to accept the incoming call.

“Hello?” I said into the receiver.

“Alex? Oh man, I am so happy to hear your voice!” the familiar voice of Jason exclaimed. “I have been trying to call you for the past two hours and just kept getting voicemail. I’m not like, interrupting anything am I?”

“No, it’s okay,” I replied. “What’s up?”

“There was an accident,” he said slowly. “You may want to sit down.”

He was probably about to tell me about Salem’s house being burned down, or maybe about Paul closing down the shop. Either way I tried to act concerned. There was a chance that it was something else entirely, but I couldn’t imagine what.

“Okay, I’m sitting.”

“Eila and I are on our way to Denver right now, so I don’t know a lot…but Karen’s parents called me up and gave me some bad news,” he said frantically – I could hear his voice cracking. My still heart sank into my chest. He had said Denver; he had said Karen – this was not about the house. I stared up at Salem with a worried expression and he sat beside me. “I don’t know if you’ve heard yet or not, but she moved to Denver to go to college and I guess met some boy in the neighborhood.”

“She e-mailed me about it,” I replied quietly. Had this boy done something to Karen? My fear suddenly started turning to anger as a thousand thoughts raced through my mind in a single moment.

“From what Mr. Williams told me, Brian invited Karen over for a party…she went despite them trying to talk her out of it. There was alcohol involved,” he paused for a moment. “Brian was driving her back home, he was drunk and…”

“And what?!”
I yelled in a panic-stricken voice. Salem gripped my unoccupied hand tightly.

“They were in a side-collision with a VW Bus. Karen is in critical condition…there are countless broken bones, and she isn’t conscious…she hasn’t been conscious since they took her in.”

I couldn’t respond. I felt as though my entire body was paralyzed. I never should have left Willowshire! She never would have agreed to go with this boy if I had stayed, she would have called me ahead of time asking for advice…maybe she had and I didn’t know it because my phone was off.

“She is going to be okay, right?” I managed to utter.

“I wish I knew, Alex,” Jason croaked. “I’m scared…I don’t want to see her like this.”

“I’m on my way,” I said without thinking. “We’ll both be there when she…when she wakes up.”

Salem glanced at me worriedly, obviously wondering what was going on. He’d have to wait.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to miss out on your trip.”

“Screw my trip, Jason! Karen is way more important than some dumb vacation.”

“I know…I just can’t believe this…” he sighed. “Brian was barely even scratched. The bus hit on the passenger side.”

“Lucky for him,” I groaned. Was it wrong for me to wish it had been the other way around? If it hadn’t been for him driving drunk this may have never happened. “Listen, I have to go tell Salem what’s going on. I’ll see you in Denver. If she comes to before I get there please tell her I’m on my way. Okay?”

“Okay,” Jason replied. “See you soon…”

After he hung up, I thrust my arms around Salem and wished that I could burst into tears. I wanted to sob until my eyes burned, my throat stung and my head felt like it was about to explode – but I was incapable of such an expression now. He held me silently as I clung tightly to his body until I lifted my head to look at him.

“We have to go back,” I said in anguish. “Karen was in a crash…she may not make it…”

His eyes widened at the news. “Oh, Alex…” he uttered and hugged me again as I filled him in on all of the details. “I am so sorry. We will leave at once, I promise you. The fountain can wait.”

“Thank you,” I mumbled and listened as Hannah approached.

“So did I overhear that you two finally decided to give up on the fountain? About time really, the whole thing is a huge waste of-”

“We aren’t giving up on it, just postponing the trip,” Salem interrupted while helping me to my feet.

“So you’re telling me you’ve spent all this time and you’re just going to put it off and do it again later?” Hannah growled. “Well, you can count me out next time. I was being nice helping you out but this is just stupid.”

“You are so selfish, Hannah,” Salem snarled and shook his head. “Karen is lying in a hospital in
Denver, no one knows how she is. We are going back there immediately, I could care less what you do.”

Hannah’s mouth fell agape but no words came out. I knew she had a soft-spot for Karen, despite the fact that she initially was using her to get to me. “I’m…I’m sorry, Alex…I…I didn’t know.”

I shrugged. “It’s okay. Like you said – you didn’t know.”

We hurried back to the Alero, grabbing a brochure on the way. I quickly thumbed through it until I found a map and spotted the closest airport, depicted as a little blue airplane. I handed the little pamphlet to Hannah who had just finished buckling up and we were off. I was not looking forward to flying at all, but it was the fastest way back. I just prayed there was a flight available as soon as possible. My thoughts were flooded with concern over Karen that I barely paid attention to what Salem and Hannah were discussing – it hardly mattered. My best friend was in trouble, and I was helpless. Even when I got to Denver I had no idea what I could do. What could I possibly do to save her?
Unless…no. That would be a mistake. Or would it?

“Salem…” I said quietly, tugging his hand and pulling him close in hopes that Hannah couldn’t hear us. I hoped she was concentrating on the map and figuring out where to go so that maybe she wasn’t peeking into my thoughts.

“What is it? Are you okay?” he asked tenderly.

“If it came down to it…” my voice was low and unsteady, “we could save her the same way you saved me, right?”

Salem stopped to stare at me and frowned. “You wouldn’t want to do that to her, Alex.”

“Yes, I would,” I argued. “If it meant saving her life, I would want it more than anything! And in the end, wouldn’t she be thankful?”

“Not necessarily. I wasn’t thankful for Raziel turning me, so there is no guarantee that Karen would be happy about it at all.”

“What if we took her to the fountain with us afterward?”

He sighed. “How would you explain a sudden trip to Florida to her parents? They will be keeping a close eye on her after all this. And don’t forget that she doesn’t have a raven side of her to help pull and balance things out…as a newly turned vampire her thirst will be near insatiable. Is that a risk you are willing to take? I am sure everything will be fine, Alex. There will be no need for such drastic measures.”

“But what if there is?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Let’s just wait and see how things go, okay?”

I nodded. While wrapped up in thoughts about the option of turning Karen and all the possible outcomes, I hadn’t even noticed the car was already in motion.

“Hannah, you’re sure you can find it just based on that little map?”

“Oh yeah, no worries.
It’s in some place called Abilene? Looks like it’s maybe…I don’t know…two hours or so away? Bet you I can get us there in half that.”

I laughed nervously. “She isn’t serious, is she?” I whispered to Salem.

“Most likely, she is.”

The first hour of the trip went by quickly. I spent the majority of the time dwelling on old memories of Karen and me. 

I thought back to the first day we really met during my fifth birthday party. The memory was vague, but I recalled Janet insisting the neighbor girl came to my party and I had a huge fit about it because I didn’t know her too well. Sure, we had seen each other from time to time while outside playing and had known each other since we were toddlers but we hadn’t yet come to really be friends. Despite my attempt at getting Janet to let me have my way, the blonde-haired four year old was brought over by her mother. I could distinctly remember the paper gift bag with rainbow metallic stars printed on it, and inside it was a stuffed penguin that I cherished forever.

‘His name is Chipper,” I could remember her saying as she brushed a strand of her beautiful blonde hair away from her face. I had always been jealous of how straight and perfect her hair was.

“Why is that?” I had asked.

Karen shrugged and smiled, “’Cause that’s his name.”

“Chipper,” I repeated. “Thanks!”

From that day forward we became inseparable. Our parents made sure we went to the same Kindergarten. Every weekend we would spend the night at each other’s houses, one weekend would be spent at hers, the next at mine. We attended middle school together, shared toys and clothing, ate together at every lunch. Then came high school, and our friendship hadn’t changed even after Janet decided to move us to a different neighborhood.

The car jerked suddenly and made a horrendous grinding noise that brought my attention back to reality. At first I was afraid that we had been hit, but we were just slowly skidding along the freeway.

“What’s going on?”

“Not sure, I can’t read car’s minds,” Hannah replied with a smirk. “I think we need to pull over.”

I groaned. This wasn’t good. I couldn’t afford a delay like this – Karen couldn’t afford a delay like this.

Smoke started fuming out from under the hood and we all took that as a sign to mean that we definitely needed to stop somewhere. Hannah slowly drove on the shoulder to the next exit,
then coasted downhill to another rest stop. Looking under the hood did us no use as none of us knew anything about cars. There was only one person who came to mind that I knew of that was familiar with every piece and part of a car – and it was the last person I wanted to talk to.

“Let’s just call Paul,” Hannah suggested.

“No!” I shouted. “We are trying to avoid him, remember?”

“Well, how the hell else are we supposed to fix this? Besides he’s probably cooled down by now, and I’m sure if you mentioned Karen he’d be on board to help.”

“I doubt it.” I sighed. “Maybe there is someone here that knows something about cars?”

“Whatever, I’ll poke around,” she said, mumbling under her breath as she walked over to an older gentleman.

I sat on the sidewalk and stared, transfixed, at my old silver Alero. Karen wasn’t the only one in danger. I was quite sure the car was beyond repair. Hannah returned with a grimace on her face and I knew that she had been unlucky – then a grin formed on her face.

“Come on, magic boy, just summon us a car!” she exclaimed.

He laughed and then blinked when he realized she was being serious. “Hannah, you can’t possibly believe that I could manage something like that.”

“Um…sure you can,” she insisted.
“If you can summon a piano, then why not a car?”

“You don’t understand how complex it is. A piano is much simpler than a car. Cars have many parts, and if I forgot even one of them…” he shook his head. “Just trust me, it is a bad idea.”

“I have faith in you,” I said. “It can’t be that hard. Pianos have a lot of pieces, too.”

“Yes, however a car relies upon so many pieces that I do not even know the names of. I could do something wrong and get someone injured – if not killed.”

I frowned, and sulked even more. “Well, what are we going to do then? We can’t just sit here.”

“Couldn’t you like…summon something really valuable? Then, you know, trade it for a car?” Hannah said, obviously not overly confident in her own idea.

“How will that help? Do you see a car dealer anywhere around here?”

She groaned. “Just do it, okay? I’ll figure it out.”

“Like what?” he replied with a frown – I knew he was uncomfortable at the idea.

“It’d have to be something worth like…five thousand dollars or so I’d guess,” she said, glancing around the parking lot at potential cars. She looked at me then, and glared. “Don’t say a word.”

“What are you talking about?” Salem asked, looking from me to her suspiciously. “I am not doing this if you are going to get us into any trouble.”

“I’m not going to get us into trouble, I promise. Just trust me.”

He sighed in defeat, made sure no one was looking in our direction, and his eyes illuminated with violet temporarily. A large diamond appeared in his hands and he offered it over to Hannah reluctantly. Without a word, she turned on her heel and headed for the nearest person she could find. I watched her nod slowly, apologize and walk over to the next person. She went to at least three more people before coming across what appeared to be a tall dark-skinned man in a black suit leaning against a very nice vehicle. I eyed the car eagerly.

To my dismay, she turned around and waltzed back over to us. Before I had a chance to ask what happened, she interrupted.

“He seems sort of interested but says there’s no way this rock is worth as much as his car,” she explained, looking back at him and waving flirtatiously.

Salem rolled his eyes, ducked beside the car and summoned a gold ring with a pear-shaped diamond in it. Hannah grinned and took the ring and offered it over to the man. I watched in awe as he handed over the keys and she gave him a peck on the cheek. I heard her melodic laughter as she came striding back to us.