Taken (Book #2 of the Vampire Legends) (2 page)

There are many different types of
vampires that live across our world. There are immortal, mortal and psychic
vampires— and the most feared of all are the immortal vampires.
Suddenly, Rachel remembered what Benji
had said. Her mind flashed back to their conversation when he said he was born
3,000 years ago.

It couldn’t be. Was he…an immortal?

Rachel closed her eyes and held them
shut, hoping that when she opened them, her computer screen would read
something different. As she opened her eyes, she saw the word IMMORTAL again,
which made her mind shake. She had no idea what this even meant, and all her
Google searches were bringing back different information. It was clear that
Google didn’t have all the answers about Benji because there were so many
different types of immortal vampires.

Rachel stopped Googling, stared at the
screen, and then began to laugh. She closed the browser window and got up from
her computer. She couldn’t believe she had let herself get so carried away with
this whole vampire thing. She knew this was all fictitious and mythic and that
vampires didn’t really exist.

As she walked back upstairs to her room,
she tried to figure out what was so different about Benji. If he wasn’t a
vampire, she figured he must be schizophrenic or bipolar or something. He was
acting pretty crazy on the bridge.

As Rachel got to the top of the steps
she heard the front door slam shut. He heart started to pound. Was it Benji?
Had he followed her home? Rachel heard her mom’s voice coming from the kitchen,
“Sarah, is that you?”

“I’m home, going to bed,” Sarah shouted
back as she flew through the front door.

It was nearing midnight and Sarah had
just gotten home from the Homecoming Dance. It had seemed like days since
Rachel left that dance, but it had only been a few hours. Sarah ran up the
stairs and bumped into Rachel. Rachel could smell the alcohol oozing from her
pores.

Sarah tripped and fell on the floor, and
she laid there, her face planted into the carpet. Rachel didn’t know what to
do. She had never seen Sarah like this before.

Rachel heard footsteps coming towards
the staircase.

“Honey, are you OK?” their mom said, as
she neared the landing.

Rachel knew she had to think quickly.
She didn’t want to leave Sarah laying there, almost passed out from drinking
too much. She didn’t want her sister to get in trouble. She knew Sarah had been
through a lot lately with Gary, her ex-boyfriend who had broken up with her
just a few days before. She knew Sarah was devastated and must have needed a
release from the pressure of everything.

The footsteps began to climb the steps,
and Rachel thought quickly. She grabbed Sarah’s arm and dragged her into her
bedroom and shut the door quickly. Rachel helped Sarah up and into her bed, as
the footsteps grew closer.

“Sarah are you in there?” their mom
asked again, this time in a louder, more nervous voice.

“We’re here mom, just chatting about the
dance,” Rachel replied, trying to cover for Sarah.

“Did I hear a thud?” Rachel’s mom asked
through the closed door. Rachel heard the door handle jiggle – it was locked.

“Yes, sorry, I dropped some books, didn’t
mean to alarm you,” Rachel said.

“Can I come in?” their mom asked, still
holding the doorknob.

Rachel knew she had to do something, and
fast. She couldn’t just let her mom stand outside the room talking through the
cracks, but she also couldn’t let her in to see Sarah like this. Rachel walked
over to the door and cracked it open and stuck her head out.

Rachel saw her mom standing close to the
door trying to peek in. Rachel whispered, “Sarah’s upset about Gary, I’m trying
to cheer her up. It’s not really a good time.”

“Oh,” her mom whispered back. “Thanks
Rachel, you’re a great sister.”

Her mom kissed her on the top of her
head and turned to walk away. Rachel was in the clear. She shut the door again.
She knew she had just saved Sarah from a lot of trouble.

Rachel sat Sarah up and gave her some
water. She helped her change out of her dress and into her pajamas. Sarah was
slurring her words as she retold her night to Rachel. Rachel wasn’t really
paying attention, though, her mind still stuck on Benji.

“Goodnight, Sarah,” Rachel said as she
walked out of her room through their adjoining bathrooms. Rachel stopped in the
bathroom and looked in the mirror. She couldn’t believe what had just happened.
She had been so kind to Sarah and wondered if it had been her, if Sarah would
have done the same thing.

As Rachel entered back into her room,
she walked over to her desk drawer and pulled out her diary. She felt like she
needed a release and knew she always felt much better after she’d written in
her diary. She opened it with the key that hung around her neck and began to
write.

Dear Diary,

I have a secret to tell you. I am not allowed to tell
anyone.  Benji told me he was a vampire tonight. I honestly don’t think I
believe in vampires, but it still creeps me out. He said that he doesn’t feed
on humans and he also said that he wouldn’t hurt me. I trust that he won’t hurt
me, but I am nervous around him. I need time to figure things out with him. I
ran away from him tonight and don’t know when, or if, I will see him again. I
wish I could talk to someone about this. I need some advice but I swore to him
I wouldn’t tell. I wish someone had been there to have see what happened
tonight at the dance – how he fought off Rob and his friends. It was crazy. I
don’t think what he did was humanly possible. I don’t know…

XOXO,

Rachel

She locked her diary and pulled up on
the lock, to make sure it was secure. She didn’t want anybody snooping in her
business, especially now. Rachel couldn’t help but think about the incident at
Rye Playland. It flashed back in her mind like it was happening all over again.
Next, her mind flashed to an image of Benji beating up Rob and his friends
tonight. Her mind jumped to the feeling of his cold fingers between hers, and
his bright blue eyes piercing hers. She quickly snapped out of it, as she
breathed deep to slow her breath. She knew something was different about Benji,
but she didn’t want to believe it.

She didn’t want to believe he was a
vampire.

Chapter Three

Rachel woke up to loud banging coming
from her bathroom. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, trying to figure out what
could possibly be going on. She got out of bed and went over to the door –
locked.

“What’s going on?” Rachel asked through
the door.

“Leave me alone,” Sarah said. “I can’t
find my cell phone.”

“You had it last night when you came in,”
Rachel answered. I saw it.”

“I didn’t see you last night. How would
you know?” Sarah replied as she opened the door a crack.

Rachel wondered what Sarah was talking
about. How could she not remember last night? Was she too drunk to remember
that she had saved her from potential life punishment?

Rachel whispered to Sarah what had
happened the night before, and Sarah looked at her in amazement.  Then, a look
of embarrassment and remorse came over her face and Sarah thanked her for
covering for her. Sarah hugged Rachel and began to cry.

Rachel had never experienced a moment
like this with Sarah before. Perhaps they were getting closer, Rachel thought.

*

As Rachel’s mom pulled into the driveway
of AHS, her heart began to thump. Her mind flashed back to the fight that had
taken place just hours ago. She didn’t want to get out of the car. She began to
feel a panic inside of her. As the car neared the front of the school, she
could see kids standing near the scene of the fight, looking around.  The scene
had been roped off with orange tape, as if they were doing an FBI
investigation. She saw the two police officers that were at her house the night
before, guiding the kids past the scene. Rachel had no idea this had turned
into such a big deal. She instantly felt guilty, and part of her felt like a
criminal.

Rachel took a deep breath and opened the
car door. She entered the sea of kids whispering and gossiping about the fight.

“I heard they were fighting over some
sophomore girl.”

“I heard this guy was like super human,
bodies flying everywhere.”

Rachel listened to the words that filled
the air, and it made her want to run and hide.

As she walked through the doors of the
school, she felt like everyone was staring at her. She saw a group of
cheerleaders standing in the corner near the cafeteria, one pointed at her as
she whispered something to the others. As she turned down the hallway towards
her locker, she could hear the whispers getting louder and louder.

Rachel wanted to leave, but knew once
she got into her homeroom, she could sink down at her desk and hopefully go
unnoticed. She knew if she left school, it would make the situation much worse
and she didn’t want to get suspended for cutting. She hated this guilty feeling
that was filling her up inside.

She quickly walked to her locker and
into her homeroom class, where Mr. Allen sat at his desk, looking at the kids
quizzically. Rachel saw him staring at her and instantly realized that
everyone, even the teachers knew.

“What happened to you last night?” Emily
asked, quietly. “I heard about the fight but couldn’t find you anywhere. Are
you ok?”

Rachel looked at her but didn’t know how
to respond. She trusted Emily, but she knew she couldn’t tell her the whole
truth.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It was a little scary,
but here I am,” Rachel said with a smile pointing to herself in a joking
manner.

“It’s not funny— you could have been killed.
I heard this Benji guy is completely crazy,” Emily said in a serious voice.

“He’s not that bad,” Rachel answered
quietly, as she looked around to make sure nobody was listening. “He’s a nice
guy.”

“Um, he beat up Rob and four other
players, Emily replied. “He doesn’t seem that nice.”

“Well, it wasn’t his fault, they came
after him,” Rachel said, sticking up for Benji.

“Geez, calm down, why are you getting so
defensive?” Emily snapped back.

Rachel stopped for a moment, and then
realized what she was saying. She didn’t know why she was sticking up for him,
after everything that happened between them.

“Listen, I don’t want to talk about this
anymore, OK,” Rachel said as she opened her notebook.

“Well, everyone’s talking about it,”
Emily said. “I just want to know who this guy is? I’ve never seen him around
AHS.”

“He’s a senior. I don’t know why you
haven’t seen him, he’s been around,” Rachel responded.

“Well, what’s going on between you two
anyway? Do you like him?” Emily asked with a             questioning smile.

“Um. He’s all right. I thought I did,
but now I don’t. OK. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Fine, I’ll let it go…for now. But I
want to hear more about this when you’re ready to talk about it.”

Rachel hated this. She hated being
interrogated by her friends and being the source of all the whispers in the
school. She desperately wanted to disappear.

DING DING DING. The loud speaker began:

Good Morning AHS students, teachers and
faculty. This is your principal, Dr. McNery speaking. Today is a hard day for
us here at AHS, after the recent happenings of the Homecoming dance. We are
still trying to get to the bottom of what exactly happened last night. Don’t
feel alarmed, we have everything under control, and want each of you to know
that we have arranged for a school psychologist to join us for the next few
days. Her name is Dr. Joy and all students are welcome to see her at any point
in the day. We know what happened can be alarming, scaring and upsetting, and
we want you to know that we have someone for you to talk to if you need to.

We may be calling students out of their
classes today for questioning by the police, but again, this is just standard
procedure and do not be alarmed. Thank you and have a good day.

Rachel sunk down into her seat. She had
never felt so mortified. She wanted to die. Her heart was thumping out of her
chest as she sat there hoping that she wouldn’t be called out of class,
especially for questioning by the police. Could this go on my permanent
records? Rachel thought. Could this ruin my chances of getting into college?
Her nerves were all over the place and she could not sit still. She was tapping
her foot on the ground and moving her pencil up and down, in a rapid motion.

Rachel couldn’t believe her “almost”
boyfriend could cause such a raucous that the principal needed to hire a school
psychologist. And this whole fight started because of her, she thought. She
couldn’t help but feel like she single-handedly traumatized the entire school
body.

A moment later the principal’s secretary
walked through the door and went over to Mr. Allen’s desk. She held a clipboard
in front of him and pointed to a name. He read it silently, shaking his head.
Mr. Allen looked up from the clipboard and directly at Rachel, motioning for
her to come forward.