The Vampire Keeper (14 page)

While Jezalyn was upstairs getting ready after her meltdown with her grandfather, Wyler was in the shop with Larkin trying to get him to divulge his plan. “Did you figure out what you are going to do to get Jezalyn to agree to give an interview yet?”

Nodding his head, Larkin said, “I’m going to suggest that we do the interview together. I’ll promise to do most of the talking so that all she’ll have to do is stand there.”

“Sounds logical, but what if she still doesn’t want to give it?” he questioned. Wyler silently pointed to the onlookers gathered about; they were nosey spectators who arrived at the shop after hearing Mary’s embellished storylines. After a brief silence, Wyler suggested, “Maybe you could sneak her out of the shop for fresh air for awhile and propose the plan. You could use the sneaking around and isolation as another reason for her to do the interview.”

“That could probably work,” replied an unconfident Larkin, for his first thought of being secluded with Jezalyn was not one of persuasion, but one of liberation. He secretly thought to himself that now could be the time to get rid of her. Although he had altered his schedule to decrease the constant chatter in his head, Larkin did not feel in control. He soon realized that his altered schedule was an inconvenience that he was not willing to maintain until she met her maker. Larkin let his mind race with possible scenarios to return his world to normalcy.

Nevertheless, one detail remained. “How do you expect to get out of this shop without everyone seeing the two of you?” questioned Julius, bringing Larkin back into reality.

Before a plan could be devised to get Jezalyn out of the shop, she was already downstairs upon them. She was somewhat shocked to find them in the shop so early in the morning. She had thought she would be able to sneak away unnoticed for awhile to clear her head. After the initial surprise of seeing them, she forced a small smile and said, “Good morning. I was just about to go out for a walk.”

Wyler shook his head and pointed to the crowd of people as he had done moments before, “I am not so sure if a walk is such a good idea this morning. It looks like last night’s news report has the whole town gawking outside.”

Jezalyn rubbed her temple and let her finger glide down the left side of her face with some pressure.

Larkin saw his opening and he took it, “I was about to try to sneak away myself. Would you like to get away with me for awhile if I can get us past all these people?”

She was totally against the idea, but her need to escape this reality was greater than the awkwardness of running off with a stranger, so she agreed with a simple nod of her head.

Wyler looked at them and said, “Wait here a minute; I will be right back.” A few minutes later, he reemerged with Ana who was dragging her coat behind her as her husband pulled her by one hand toward them. He reached out his hand and said, “Jezalyn give me your keys.”

She pulled them from her pocket and promptly handed them to him, which in turn he passed over to Ana.

“Here is the plan. Ana, you are going to take Jezalyn’s car and they are going to take yours. A few minutes before Ana leaves to go to work, I am going to open the store. Everyone will swarm in, and during all the confusion you’ll bolt for the cars and leave unnoticed.”

Wyler laid the plan out in a fast ramble leaving his wife and Jezalyn clueless.

Perplexed, Ana asked, “What?”

Jezalyn adding her own confusion asked, “What about the reporter?”

Wyler looked at them and responded in small phrase like steps. “I am going to open the store. People will come in. You all will be able to leave undetected. The reporter won’t be able to pick anyone out from the confusion, but if she notices the cars are gone, she will be more likely to follow Jezalyn’s and not Ana’s.”

“Oh, I see why we switched now,” said Jezalyn, and they all nodded in agreement as Wyler pronounced it the best plan for the time being. Larkin put on a jacket and gloves before taking Jezalyn’s hand. He could feel her heart beat as it pulsated fast through her hand to his. Larkin found himself wondering if it was him or the adrenaline pumping through Jezalyn’s body raising her heart rate as they prepared for their attempted escape.

Wyler glanced around, pulled a book off of the shelf, and handed it to Jezalyn. “Here, take this; it might help you blend in once I open the doors,” he said.

They glanced over each other once more as Larkin asked, Jezalyn and Ana, “You ready?” With a nod of their heads, Wyler opened the doors.

They hung back a bit as everyone flooded into the shop. Some ran to the walls to check for bullet holes while others went directly to the shelves out of curiosity. Jezalyn mumbled, “Wow! It kind of reminds me of the day after Thanksgiving sale.”

Ana gave a little chuckle and said, “Let’s go before we get noticed.”

They made a break for it. The onlookers were too preoccupied with their own agenda’s to notice them, so they made it safely into the vehicles undetected. But as predicted, the reporter waited only a few seconds before she followed Jezalyn’s car as it pulled out of the parking lot.

Larkin drove a good distance down the road making sure they got away before he asked, “So, where would you like to go?”

She shrugged her shoulders a little, “I don’t know. Somewhere quiet where I can get some fresh air would be nice.”

He maneuvered the car to turn northeast toward the neighboring town of Epps. As Larkin drove them toward a peaceful location, he realized that there was not the typical uncomfortable tension present like there should be for two people who barely knew each other; instead, they sat there quietly listening to the radio as if they had been long time friends. Every once in a while she would softly sing a few lyrics to a song that she seemed to genuinely like until they pulled off onto a small dirt road. He slowly brought the car to a halt about a mile or so down the one-lane dirt road.

Larkin got out of the car, and Jezalyn followed, “Where are we?”

“You will see,” he said and held his hand out to her.

She timidly took his hand as he guided her across the road. Once on the other side of the ditch, they strolled side by side in what seemed to be the deep woods. After wandering what seemed to be about ten or fifteen minutes, Jezalyn noticed the trees, looked dead from the cold winter’s frost, split to form what appeared to be a small lane. The tree branches above their heads crossed over the path and tangled into one another. Her literary perspective quickly took over, and she now found herself analyzing the imagery that stood before her. Jezalyn immediately thought,
Not even a path could split the course of nature. The tree branches resembled arms reaching out to embrace that which the path has split.
A branch snapped beneath her foot, and her reflections faded. Jezalyn stumbled about for another five minutes before her mind drifted to the wonder of what the path would look like in the spring or summer when everything was not dead. She thought to herself,
Would the trees still appear sad as if they were reaching out to a lost loved one, or would they look as if they were embraced in merriment of wonders?

Soon the path led to a clearing with a little, old wooden picnic table positioned to the far left of a pond the size of a lake. Larkin directed Jezalyn to the table and took a seat while she stood peering out at the water that was an ugly brownish color. They had not said more than a few words since they left the bookstore; it was Larkin who finally broke the silence.

“It is prettier here in the spring,” he said from his observation of her previous thoughts. “The trees are full of life, flowers bloom everywhere, and the pond is usually full of lily pads and frogs.”

“I was thinking earlier that it would be nice to see the lane in full bloom this spring. Perhaps if you are still in town, we can return in the spring. Everything looks so dead and drab right now. The only thing to enjoy is the peace of mind you get from the quiet, well, bedsides the leaves rustling about from the squirrels.” She put a small smile on her face as she took a seat next to him. They had not been stationary for long before they decided to stroll down to the little dock to get a better view of the dirty water. Larkin encouraged the stroll; it would be his chance to get rid of her, for he had decided her fate would be accidental drowning.

“Look,” he said, leaning his torso over the edge of the pier wall that came about waist high, as he pointed into the water. Responding to his demand, Jezalyn mimicked his body position a few feet away.

“Wow! I am surprised you can see the bottom with water this brown,” she said with a giggle.

Without a smile he replied, “You’re missing it, look again.”

“Okay,” she said as she peered deep into the water before finally saying, “Not much here, but moss and a few cans.”

“No - not the trash. You’re still gazing beyond the water.”

She stood there staring for a long while thinking,
Beyond the water. What does that mean? There is nothing here. Maybe if I just stare at it for a while he will drop the subject.

Finally she saw it; beautiful circles and swirls in different shades of white and gray. She stared for a moment longer before she realized that she was no longer looking through the water but gazing into the water.

She motioned to Larkin, “Look!”

Larkin moved closer and Jezalyn pointed, “Look beyond your reflection but not to the bottom.”

Larkin placed his hand on her back as he peered over, putting himself in a good position to push her over, so he smiled and said, “It’s beautiful is it not?”

Turning to him, she smiled. “Yes, it is. I wonder how it does that?”

Caught up in their conversation, Larkin delayed his plan to drown her. “It’s the sky. The sun pushes through layers of clouds and into the water where its reflection is captured within the depths.”

“I take back what I said about this place only being a good place to find peace of mind during the winter,” she said with a chuckle. “And, it looks like they do too,” added Jezalyn pointing to two men, across the lake, pushing an aluminum boat into the water. She saw a small camper behind them, so she concluded that the camper’s side of the pond must be a recreation area.

“There’s beauty within the cold if you only search for it,” he said, taking no notice of the men, as he turned and saunter back to the table.

She followed him but did not respond. Instead, she observed the way he moved. Jezalyn contemplated on his lighthearted steps and relaxed movements, which seemed to portray to her that he lived in a carefree world. She soon found herself envious and before long the stressful events of her life returned to mind and with them, the recollection of the argument she had with her grandfather earlier that morning.

They sat there in silence. Jezalyn probed her mind for a feasible solution to the situation with her grandfather while Larkin intrusively listened to her internal arguments against her grandfather. She was so deep in thought, she did not hear the first time he mentioned lunch. It was only after he made a remark about a bear and her stomach did she respond. A nervous laugh escaped her mouth as she clutched her belly, “Lunch! Yeah, let’s get…” then the smile faded, “but let’s not go back to the shop just yet.”

Since drowning was no longer a possibility to Larkin’s situation, he decided to use her response as a segue to mention the interview, “Okay, but I should warn you that the reporter will be waiting when we get back.”

Jezalyn shrugged her shoulders, “Maybe she’ll give up and leave.”

“I wouldn’t count on it; she is a reporter. They don’t leave until they get their story, and unfortunately, it is us.”

She did not respond, but she did not need to in order for the conversation to move forward since he could read her thoughts, so he continued on the subject, “May I make a suggestion?”

“Sure,” she said as she stared into his hypnotic, powder blue eyes.

“I think we should make a deal with her. Tell her we will grant one interview together if she promises to leave us alone.”

Bewilderment crossed Jezalyn’s face. “I can’t,” she said.

“Are you sure? The situation can’t get much worse than it is, could it?”

She mumbled under her breath, “Tell that to my grandfather.”

Larkin observed her and pretended not to understand the context of her response, “What do you mean?”

Taking a deep breath Jezalyn explained, “He feels Transylvania is too dangerous and demands that I come home, but I want to stay. What if she interviews us and makes it sound worse than it is. He will surely make me return home.”

He smiled and responded, “Let me think for a minute; in the meantime let’s get lunch. I know the perfect place.”

***

When they reached the town of Epps, she was not shocked, but it was to her surprise that he parked in front of the local church. They crossed the grassy lawn to a white gazebo, and he left her sitting there surrounded by unpruned shrubs and once fragrant rosebushes. She scarcely had time to observe her surroundings before Larkin returned with two corndogs, two sodas, and a basket of fries.

“Lunch is served,” he said as he pushed the food toward her and took a swig of his soda.

She laughed and handed him a corndog.

He pushed it back toward her. “I got those for you. I am still full from breakfast.” Then, before she could respond, he produced the book Wyler handed her before they left the shop and sat it down next to her.

“Wyler’s book,” grumbled Jezalyn covering her mouth while chomping down on her lunch.

“I thought you might want to read, while I devise a plan to get rid of the reporter.”

Jezalyn thought,
hopefully his plan will also be a way to combat my grandfather
, as she took another bite of her corndog. Her thoughts made her feel unsettled, and she did not finish her lunch; instead, she picked up the book, slipped off her shoes exposing her fluffy winter socks, sat cross-legged, and began to read.