Rylie Cruz 2 - How to Date a Vampire (18 page)

Chapter Twenty-Four

How to Date a Vampire, Rule #24:

Don’t refer to your date as a creature of
the night.

Jennifer grabbed a red crystal vase from the
table beside the door. I loved that thing, but now was not a time
to remind her. I couldn’t say, “Hey, don’t use that one, it’s my
favorite.” As my eyes locked with hers, my vampire attacker noticed
my attention was focused on something behind him. He spun around
and she heaved the vase over her head, then slammed it down on him.
He stumbled backward and wobbled, but I knew it wouldn't do much to
slow him down. If she’d whacked a human over the head like that,
then I know it might have made a difference, but it wouldn’t affect
the vampire much. However, it would give me a few seconds to plan
my next move. So my werewolf skills needed to work, although I had
never claimed to be a skilled werewolf. My brother said my bark was
much worse than my bite… and he should know.

Lily grabbed him and shoved him the rest of
the way to the ground.

“Come on, we have to get out of here.”
Jennifer grabbed my arm. “It's not safe.”

She could say that again. It looked as if
the vampires weren't going to give up any time soon. They wanted
Ernie and they already had Jack. Now they wanted me. But why hadn’t
they taken me when they took Jack? I didn't want to put Jennifer in
this situation, although I already had. She was fully involved.
There was not much backing out now. But Jennifer always had had my
back. Well, except for recently when she let Jack convince her that
I was nuts. But that was neither here nor there.

Thankfully, I hadn’t fully turned, so my
fur-covered skin wouldn’t be as noticeable when I ran outside. As
Jennifer and I made our way to the door, Stephen rushed in.

“What's going on here?” he asked.

“A vampire.” Jennifer pointed at the man
fighting with Lily. Her eyes were wide. She jumped up and down as
if she’d had one too many trips to Starbucks. “He was ready to kill
Rylie.”

Lily was still rolling around on the floor
with the vampire. He'd curse the day he ever messed with her. She
was like a little mini-tornado with lots of hair. She was tough to
take down and she wouldn't go without a fight. Stephen rushed past
us and over to Lily and the vampire. He grabbed at the vampire,
yanking at his shirt while Lily stumbled up from the floor.
Something told me this wouldn’t end well. She moved over beside us
and brushed off her pants, then smoothed down her frazzled
hair.

“Dirty bastard,” she said.

“Come on, Rylie. Let's get out of here. They
want to kill us.” Jennifer grabbed my arm. “There’s probably more
vampires on their way. They’ll be crawling all over this place like
the dirty rats they are.”

I looked over at Stephen as he tumbled with
the vampire. “What about him?” I gestured with a tilt of my head.
“I’m not sure we should leave him here to fend off that fiend.”

“Stephen will be fine. He'll handle him. He
can handle anyone.”

That was the overconfident girlfriend in her
talking. I doubted he’d ever dealt with vampires. This could end
badly for Stephen.

“You do realize he’s a vampire?” I asked for
confirmation, but the question went in one ear and out the
other.

“We have to get you out of here.” Jennifer
pulled on my arm. “It's obvious that the vampires aren't going to
stop. We need to find your uncle so we can end this once and for
all.” She pulled me out into the hall and Lily followed.

There was more to it than just finding my
uncle. I also had to know why they wanted Jack.

“I don't think I'm comfortable with handing
the vampires my uncle's head on a platter. I won't rat him out.
We’re family and we have to stick together. I don’t want to see him
killed. He needs to do the right thing and give the vampires their
money and whatever else he has of theirs,” I said as we moved down
the stairs.

Lily was trailing along behind us.

“I understand, Rylie, but I'm not asking you
to do that. You need to get him to pay his debt so we can put this
behind us. Have you asked them how much he owes? Maybe we can just
pay and this will all be over with.”

We hurried down the stairs. Lily was still
on my heels, breathing on my neck.

“That's the thing. It's more than a few
hundred dollars and it’s not just money they want. The vampire says
Uncle Ernie has something of theirs, but he wouldn't tell me what
it is.”

“What could it possibly be?” Jennifer asked
when we reached the bottom step.

“I have no idea, but I need to find out what
it is, then find him and the item. Apparently, whatever it is, it’s
a big deal.”

“Well, then let's go ask your uncle,”
Jennifer said.

“First, I need to find Jack. I can't let
them keep him. I have a hard time believing that he went with them
of his own accord. I can’t let them get away with this.”

“Where do we even start to find him? I’m so
sorry you have to deal with these vampire bullies.”

“I don't know where to start, but I need to
find out. With all the paranormal people I've come in contact with,
someone has to be able to tell me where the vampires are—their
special hangout. Maybe their clubhouse. Apparently, there’s a
leader of the vampires. Whoever or whatever that may be. I'm almost
afraid to find out. Oh, who am I kidding, I am afraid to find out.”
It was a lot for one little werewolf to take on.

By the look on Jennifer's face, she was
afraid to find out too. Petrified, as a matter of fact.

“Are you sure you’re not worried about him?”
I gestured over my shoulder toward my apartment where we’d left her
human detective boyfriend.

“Of course I’m worried about him, but it’s
what he does. It’s his career. He's the police. He's trained for
this kind of stuff.”

“Yeah, but the guy's a vampire. They’re on a
whole different level than humans. Has he dealt with vampires?” She
didn’t seem all that worried.

“No, not exactly,” she said as she opened
the entrance door.

“Well, there you go,” I said as I stepped
outside.

“What the hell is wrong with you two? Do you
really live under a rock? God, you don't even know where to find
the freaking vampire leader, for Pete's sake. You are a disgrace to
werewolves. To all paranormals. You shouldn’t be allowed to call
yourself a werewolf.” Lily pointed at me.

“Look, I'm getting sick and tired of your
insults. Why are you here?”

“I told you. To save your sorry ass so you
don't embarrass me, you pathetic excuse for a werewolf.”

I shook my head. “I'm not buying it. I don't
believe you.”

“Well, believe. It's the sad truth.” I
wouldn’t humor her with an answer. Maybe if I ignored her, she’d go
away.

Lily followed along behind us as Jennifer
and I made our way down the sidewalk toward Jennifer’s car.

“It’s kind of ironic that your roommate is a
veterinarian.” Lily looked at me, then pointed to Jennifer. “Does
she give you your rabies shots?”

“That’s it. I’m kicking your ass.” I reached
for Lily.

Jennifer stepped between us. “Ladies,
remember why we’re here.”

“Fine.” I pointed at Lily. “But keep your
trap shut.”

“Pathetic, both of you,” Lily mumbled.

“Don’t you think you should at least call
for more police to help Stephen? If you don’t call, I will,” I
said.

Jennifer stopped, trying to catch her
breath. “I think I’m having a panic attack,” she said.

I patted her on the back as if that would
somehow knock the anxiety out of her.

“You have got to be kidding me. You’re
already out of breath? We’ve only taken a few steps. You need to do
a little more cardio once in a while.” Lily scowled as she stared
at Jennifer. “Weak, weak women.” She shook her head.

Why was Lily still hanging around? I didn’t
trust her. She wasn’t just embarrassed about me not fighting off
the vampires. No. She wanted something more. Soon she’d drop the
bomb on me. But for now I had Lily following me around everywhere I
went. What was she? My body guard? That was the last thing I
needed.

The three of us marched down the sidewalk.
We were like the freaking Charlie’s Angels. All of a sudden, Lily
had my back? She definitely wanted something and it couldn’t be
good. But I didn’t have time to contemplate what that
something
was at the moment since I had badass vampires
following my every move. Well… they claimed to be badass.
Werewolves were so much tougher.

When Jennifer reached in her pocket and
pulled out her cell phone to call the police, a loud thud rang out,
followed by Stephen’s voice, catching our attention. The vampire
who we’d fought with was nowhere in sight. This was not good. We
ran back over to where Stephen stood on the entrance steps.

“What happened?” Jennifer’s voice was beyond
excited. Stephen’s eyes were glazed over with a faraway look. He
was in a whole different world from us.

“The vampire got away.” As the words left
his lips, he collapsed onto the sidewalk.

The vampire had gotten away? Where had he
gone? Why hadn’t we seen him leave the building? Maybe I hadn’t
been too far off with that bat comment. Maybe he’d flapped right on
out of the building.

Jennifer and I knelt down beside him.
“Stephen, what happened? Are you okay?” Jennifer asked again. She
cradled him in her arms.

When I saw two long streaks of blood on his
neck, my stomach sank. I felt a cold sweat break out over my body.
A lump formed in my throat, blocking the words that I knew needed
to be said. I looked to Jennifer, but she hadn’t noticed the blood.
If she had, she’d have been freaking out even more. His skin was
turning whiter right before our eyes and he looked as if he might
pass out at any moment. I had to tell her. She was going to find
out eventually. Had the vampire done the same thing to Stephen as
they’d done to Jack. Was he half a vampire? Or was he a
full-fledged vampire. The whole shebang.

“The freaking vampire bit him.” Lily pointed
at his neck. “Don’t you all know how to avoid the vampires? You
don’t let them get the upper hand. And definitely don’t let them
near your neck. Are you really that stupid?” The more she spoke the
louder her words came out.

As soon as I was out of this situation, I
was going to kick Lily’s ass. So much for breaking the news to
Jennifer gently. Lily had no on and off switch for her mouth. She
spewed out the first thing that came to mind with no regard for
other’s feelings.

Jennifer leaned Stephen back against the
step, then moved to his other side. He still had that look as if he
was in another world. The new paranormal world, perhaps? “Oh, my
God. Look what happened to him, Rylie. What is going on?” She
pointed at the puncture wounds on his neck, then touched her
fingers against the blood. She lifted her finger away, stared at
the crimson liquid on her skin, then showed it to us. “Are we all
going to be vampires now?” Her words came out as screams.

“Calm down, Jennifer. Take a deep breath and
calm down.”

“Calm down? My boyfriend is now a vampire?
And you want me to calm down.”

Okay. She was freaking out. Her eyes were
wide and she looked like a caged animal ready to fight. Next she’d
be foaming at the mouth. I just hoped she calmed down before this
made the situation any worse. If that was even possible. I’d never
seen her so panicked.

“I have to take him to the hospital,”
Jennifer said in a panic. “He’ll die if I don’t. Oh my God, I can’t
breathe.” Jennifer was the one who needed to go to the emergency
room. Maybe she needed a paper bag to breathe into in order to keep
from hyperventilating.

“Sweetie, I’m not sure what they can do for
him. It’s the same thing that happened to Jack. He hasn’t lost that
much blood from what I can see.”

“My God, they’re dropping like flies.”
Jennifer reached for Jack and struggled to lift him.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake. I’ll help you.” Lily
stomped over to Stephen and hoisted him to his feet. He wobbled
with his knees bent and he stumbled backward. “If you must take him
to the hospital, I’ll drive. You’re in no condition. Rylie, you go
look for Jack. I’ll babysit your crazy friend.” She reached under
Stephen’s arm and heaved him to a standing position again, moving
him forward.

Was this a softer side of Lily? Had her
hardened heart started to crumble? Was it the apocalypse?

“We’ll take Stephen’s car. It’s faster,”
Jennifer said, pointing the way.

There was nothing the hospital could do for
him now. Maybe give him blood and IV fluids for dehydration. But
Jennifer needed to do this and I couldn’t stop her.

As Jennifer and Lily led Stephen down the
sidewalk, I turned around to leave. Before I made it more than a
few steps, Jennifer screamed out. I whipped around and saw Stephen
running down the sidewalk with Jennifer chasing him, and Lily
chasing her. Now I was chasing all of them.

What the heck was going
on, anyway? I really wasn’t prepared to run this much. I needed an
oxygen mask or something. Stephen was grabbing at people as they
passed by. He was going to be arrested in a few seconds if we
didn’t get a handle on him. He was acting crazy.
This was definitely out of character for him. I
mean, sure he’d been bitten, but this was madness. He had always
been so reserved anytime I’d seen him. Stephen reached out and made
contact with a woman. He swooped her up in his arms and she began
smacking him over the head with her purse. Lily whacked at Stephen
while Jennifer pulled at his shirt. He finally let go, but the
incident didn’t deter him. He’d just attacked a woman. Had he been
trying to drink her blood? He sure acted a lot different from Jack
when he’d been bitten.

Poor Jennifer. She didn’t deserve this.
Stephen kept his pace, stumbling down the sidewalk like
Frankenstein. What was he up to? He was obviously delusional. Up
ahead, Stephen made a left into a café. A few screams echoed down
the sidewalk. This was not good. How would we explain this
situation? I finally caught up with them, running into the café
like a wild woman. Stephen had collapsed onto the floor in front of
a couple old ladies. Thank goodness, he hadn’t taken a bite out of
someone, which was what I had expected.