VooDoo Follies (16 page)

"I'll be right back," she said as she left the
room.

"What in the hell was that all about, are you
guys serious? Vampires?"

"Yeah, it's so crazy right?"

"No crazier than you sitting here talking to
me, I guess." Stephen looked around the room one more time.
"Seraphine, we need to go to the hospital and try to call Trevor to
his body so we can talk to him. I have been going over everything
and I think that may be the only way to find him. I looked
everywhere he went when I was following him around before the
accident. I can't find him."

"He just moved here from somewhere else. Maybe
he went back to his old home?"

"Maybe, but in the meantime I think it's our
best shot."

"Okay, but I really need to help Tina figure
out what to do about this vampire before he comes back and tries to
eat her tonight."

"Let's go to the hospital, we can brainstorm
on the way."

I agreed with Stephen, so I went off to find
Tina and let her know what I was doing. I gave her some things to
look up and told her to meet me at the hospital later so we could
figure out what to do about her vampire problem. Then I was off to
go help Stephen with his Trevor solution.

~...~

"Trevor?" I leaned over the bed and looked
down at the boy who had won my heart and then trampled on it when
he found out who I really am. A part of me was still broken inside
over that fact. I wondered how it could be that I could possibly
fall in love with two impossible boys, two boys who suffered the
same fate. It was mind boggling. As I stared down at him it became
even more so, because Trevor looked for all the word as if he were
just sleeping. "Trevor, please, if you can hear me..." I paused and
looked back at Stephen, "I might have a way to make everyone happy.
You could be free to roam as an Unknown Spirit and Stephen could
take your place."

I scanned the room every few minutes, hoping
he would come. Stephen stood in the doorway of Trevor's room to
warn me if anyone showed up. After about fifteen minutes of trying,
I turned to Stephen, "I don't think this is going to
work."

"It was worth a shot." Stephen peeked back out
the door and around the corner, "Umm, we should go."

As I rounded the corner, leaving Trevor's
room, a tall blond woman was calling out to me from down the hall.
I ignored her and kept on walking, faster until I came to the
stairwell. "I guess that was Trevor's mom." Stephen shrugged as we
walked down the three flights of stairs together. "I'm sorry,
Stephen."

"No, Seraphine. Don't worry about it. Besides,
there's still time."

"Yeah," I said as my feet continued on their
path mechanically. "I was thinking,"

"Uh oh, that could be dangerous..." the
mischievous smile playing across Stephen's face made me laugh in
spite of myself.

"That was cruel!"

"But you laughed."

"Yeah, well, I seem to be a sucker for..." I
stopped myself from saying any more. What was the point in
admitting how you felt for someone you could never be
with?

Stephen, being the perceptive ghost he was,
changed the subject for me. "So, about the vampire problem
then?"

"Yes. I saw something when we were upstairs
that gave me an idea. You know the bags of blood they had hanging
on some of the patient's little medicine pole thingies?" Stephen
nodded, but looked skeptical about where this was all going. "Well,
suppose we took one of those and then..."

"We can't take one of those Seraphine, they
are hooked up to the patients for a reason."

"I know that, but I saw a nurse pulling one
from her cart earlier. What if we can grab a bag from somewhere in
the hospital, and take it to be-spell for the vampire?"

"Wait, you want to use MORE magic on a
vampire?" Stephen's concern bloomed across his face as he swept the
golden-brown strands of hair out of his eyes. "Seraphine, if you
have learned nothing yet, it's that magic keeps getting you into
messes."

"You're willing to believe in magic to get you
out of your mess." I said it quietly, because I knew as soon as I
said it he would start having doubts about the process. It didn't
matter how quietly I said it, I spoke the words and he heard them.
His face contorted in a flurry of emotions that I had come to
associate as confusion. He was torn now, where he was sure of
things before. "Please, don't do that." I said. "One problem at a
time."

"Yeah," was the only response I got from
him.

"I think my plan will work. Okay, listen, I am
going to grab a bag of blood and I need you to be my lookout. I'm
going to take the blood, add a couple drops of Tina's blood to it,
to make it desirable for Vampire Dave. But it is going to be hexed
to make him not want Tina's blood anymore. Once he starts drinking
it the spell will make him think it is the most horrid thing he has
ever had. It should effectively stop him from lusting after Tina's
blood."

"It sounds good, Seraphine, but I just worry.
I mean, this is a vampire you're talking about. What if something
goes wrong? I won't be able to help you. I've never even come
across a vampire before. I don't know if they can see me, if I can
touch them. I mean are they dead or alive? I don't know, do
you?"

"I don't know, but it's the only thing I can
think of to save Tina's life. You didn't see her last night." An
uncontrollable shiver ran through me and was visible enough because
Stephen backed away, thinking he was the cause. "No, it wasn't you.
I was remembering last night." We rounded the last set of stairs
and came out at the bottom in a part of the hospital I had never
been in before. It must have been fate, because just down the hall
from where we stood was a delivery guy with coolers from the blood
bank. We stood, fixated on the guy who was struggling with the
burden he now carried while he tried to open the door. He finally
had to give in and sit a cooler down on the floor while he got the
other one inside the room.

"You've got to be kidding me?" Stephen said as
he saw what was happening. Not another thought was able to flit
through my head before I was running for that cooler. I had it
popped open, took a bag, and was running back down the hall towards
Stephen before the door to the room re-opened and a man stepped out
to pick up the cooler.

"Fate!" I huffed as we ran for the
door.

I stuffed the blood bag in my pocket and
called Tina. She was already pulling up at the hospital so I
directed her to come around to the back side to get me. I managed
to hold the door open a little longer, pretending I saw someone I
knew, so that Stephen could climb in too. Then I jumped in the car
and we were off. "We need to make a stop at Grandma's Candle Shop
for some supplies. I think I have a plan that will
work."

"It would be much more reassuring if you said
'I know I have a plan that will work.'" I had to ignore Stephen, or
sound like an idiot arguing with myself.

"So, what's the plan then?" Tina
asked.

I explained everything to her and showed her
the bag of blood. "Brilliant!" She squealed. I stuck my tongue out
at Stephen who just rolled his eyes.

"Brilliant - from the girl who cast a lust
spell on a vampire - I don't think you should put too much stock
into her response just yet." Now, it was my turn to roll my eyes at
Stephen. "I'm going to try to find Trevor again while you two go
shopping for whatever it is you need." I just nodded at Stephen, a
little upset by his lack of faith in me. "Seraphine, please, be
careful." I let him see a small little smile before he disappeared
from the car.

~...~

Once we got all the supplies we needed, I had
Tina take me back to my house so I could check in with my mom and
grab a bag. I explained that Tina was having serious boy trouble
and that we were going to do a weekend of chocolate and girly
movies to help her through it. For her part, Tina was a great
actress, playing the jilted girlfriend down to actual tears and
everything. By the time we left to head to Tina's house, I almost
believed it myself.

"Wow, you are good. Maybe you should be a
theater major."

"That's what my mom always says, I don't know
why though. I'm not really a big crowd person."

"Hmm, well, the small screen then, maybe."
Tina laughed at me as we pulled up to her house.

"My mom said she was going to be gone tonight.
I think she has a date that she's hoping will end at his place for
the night." I raised my eyebrows up in question.

"She's probably right, my mom's model
gorgeous."

"Well, it will be a good thing for us tonight.
Hopefully my plan works and we won't have to worry about your
Vampire Dave anymore."

"I hope so, because if he tries to drink any
more of my blood, I am going to die."

"Tina, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Do you believe in ghosts?"

"Well, I definitely believe in magic, and now
vampires, why not ghosts too?"

"I can see them." I wanted to spill it all out
there in the open for her, mostly because I wanted one other soul
who wasn't like a parent to me to know what I was going through
right now. I wanted to be able to talk to someone who wasn't one of
the two ghost boys that I had feelings for.

"You see dead people?" Tina laughed, "isn't
that kind of movie-theater cliche? Who's the drama-queen now?" Tina
stopped laughing when she saw the serious, and very disappointed
look on my face. "Oh, you were serious?"

"Yeah."

"Well, how do you know, I mean, is there one
here now?"

"No, but there was earlier today."

"Oh my God! Who was here earlier? That's kind
of creepy, Seraphine. I mean, it's bad enough I have to worry about
a vampire killing me, now I have to worry about what ghosts want
with me?"

"Oh! No, it's not you!"

"So, you have ghosts after you then?" Tina's
face had flushed and she seemed genuinely worried.

"No," I smiled and grabbed her by the
shoulders, sitting her down on her bed. "Let me explain." Tina
waited for me to get started.

"You remember when I told you about raising
zombies?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I really did raise a zombie, as part of
my voodoo training. I raised Adrianna Sawyer a few months
ago."

"You did what?"

"I know, I know... I shouldn't have, but she
was the only person I knew who had died recently, and I didn't
think it would matter that much, but things got out of control." I
sat there and told Tina the whole terrifying story of how I brought
Adrianna back, how she got away, and how I met Stephen - who helped
me put Adrianna back in the ground. I told her all about what
happened with Stephen and Trevor and my feelings for the both of
them. Tina listened, and for her part she refrained from comment
until I was done with my story.

"Wow, Seraphine, no wonder you were so jumpy
the first day I met you. I thought maybe you had a drug problem or
something, but this more than explains a few things." She went to
her mirror and took down the picture of Stephen. "You know, you
were the one he was always looking at." She handed me the picture,
"it's a shame you never noticed him when he was alive." I took the
picture and fought to hold back the tears that wanted to fall.
That's when I noticed the two spirits hanging around the doorway. I
didn't have to be a genius to know that they both heard everything.
The looks on their faces were enough. I couldn't really face either
of them at the moment, so I tucked the picture into my pocket and
got busy getting ready to hex the bag of blood that I had stolen
from the hospital earlier.

I noticed Tina shivering, "it got really cold
in here all of a sudden, I think I'm going to go turn the heat back
up."

"Don't bother, it's Stephen and
Trevor."

"It's what? They're both here?" Tina looked
around her room, confused. "I still don't understand how Trevor can
be here. I mean, he isn't dead yet."

"No, he isn't. That's why he's not a ghost in
the usual sense."

"I wish I could see them too. It must be
really cool for you to be able to do it."

I cocked my head up towards Tina and the
expression on my face must have been enough for her to remember all
the heartache that came along with being able to see both boys. "I
need a couple drops of your blood to add to this."

"Sorry about that. I didn't..."

"I know, now just give me your finger so I can
get the blood and get this ready," I looked over at her window and
the darkening sky, "we don't have much time." I pricked her finger
with a sewing needle and milked the spot on her finger for a few
drops of her blood to add to the mixture. "May you now have the
most undesirable blood in the world." I said to her and she
smiled.

***

De-Fanged

"We're not sure if vampires can see you guys,
so you need to at least hang out over in the corner out of sight
until he's in the room."