Bag of Blood - Vampire Mystery Romance (15 page)

Lena ducked her head. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. Elliot set his sister down on the pavement, his eyes never leaving hers, and slowly approached her. Lena stared back at him, wide-eyed, as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her to him. She heard a quaver in his voice as he said "Write to me."

Lena nodded, too stunned to say anything. Still aware of her family's presence, she wormed her hands out from where they were trapped between their chests and folded them around Elliot's shoulders, hugging back. The gentle scent of his aftershave wafted into her nose, and she felt her bottom lip tremble.

"I will," she said, meaning what she said. He nodded, his jaw bumping the top of her head as he did so, before he pulled away.

"Hey, ma'am," one of the movers said to her mother. "We're going to get going, alright?"

"Yeah," their mother agreed. "We should get going, too, Lena." Her voice was apologetic but serious. "We want to be there before it gets too dark tonight."

"You sure you can drive all the way there, dad?" Vanessa asked their father. "You up to that much of a drive?"

Their father nodded. "The doctor said I was free to drive again."

Vanessa shrugged. "Alright, but if you need to stop, give me a call; I'll come rescue you."

Elliot released his hold on Lena, stepping back. Taking her hand in his, he walked with her to the Volkswagen and once again held the passenger-side door for her. She looked up at him, noting how much brighter his eyes seemed, more now than ever before, as he watched her buckle her seat belt. Belinda stuck her hand through the open window, and Lena took it in her own.

"You're sad, too," the little girl marveled. Looking away, Lena nodded. "Yes, I'm sad, Belinda. But I need to go."

Elliot stepped back, bending to lift his sister onto his shoulders. As Lena's mother pulled from the driveway and down the road, Lena stared over his shoulder, watching the vampire grow smaller and smaller. He lifted his hand and waved; sticking her hand from the window, Lena waved too.

The car turned around the corner, and Elliot was gone.

March 23, 2014

Dear Lena,

I know you only left for Virginia yesterday, but I figured this letter would take two days to get to there, and since tomorrow is Sunday, it would take
three
days to get there. Three days isn't too soon, is it?

Well, too late now; I'm writing it anyway.

What do you think of your new house? It's in a really rural area, right? What exactly did you mean by "rural"?

I know you didn't exactly ask me to, but I thought you might like it if I started hanging out with Megan. I haven't seen her yet, but I know she must be pretty torn up about everything. I'll be there for her; I know her life is pretty rough right now.

Have you started school yet? Good luck, whenever you do!

I love you,

Elliot

…

March 31, 2014

Dear Elliot,

Haha, you were right. I got the letter three days after you sent it. It took me a while to write back, considering it took forever to have my desk set up and even longer to find any of my pencils.

My house? Well, it's not really "mine", it's still a rental. But it looks, I swear, like something you'd see in a kid's picture book. It's really small, and it was actually pretty tricky fitting some of my furniture in my room. I had to donate so much stuff to the local charity… there are no houses nearby. You have to squint to see our neighbor's home, which is pretty much the same as ours, but painted yellow. I haven't seen too much of the area yet because I'm too focused on stuff going on inside, but by "rural" it just means "small". I mean, people don't go around dressing like people from the 1800's they're pretty normal. But instead of big businesses all over the place, there's a
lot
of farming. I saw some kids going to school, they were probably barely older than Belinda, and they were
riding horses.
I kid you not.

My parents and I decided that I wouldn't go back to school this year. We talked it over with the school's counselor, and we made a plan where I could take a few online classes and a few summer school courses, and I would start school when the next semester begins in August. If all goes right, I'll still graduate at the normal time.

Thank you for spending time with Megan; that means a lot to me. She's a really wonderful person, as I'm sure you'll find out after hanging out with her. If you want some ideas, it may be a good idea to take her to that new movie that just came out—the one about mermaids? She'd been talking about it for
months
before all the craziness happened, and I'm sure she still wants to see it. (You don't have to pay for her ticket, though!)

Keep me posted on everything that's going on!

Lena

…

April 9, 2014

Dear Lena,

That movie idea was a pretty good one; I was totally not going to see it because it looked like a chick-flick. Man, was
I
wrong; who knew mermaids could be so freaky? She loved it, and ate all the popcorn and didn't share with me; kind of reminded me of my sister. But she really seemed to cheer up afterwards, for a little bit.

Send us some pictures of your new house; we're both curious. I told her what you said, about it looking like a "Fairy Tale" and now we have weird mental images of your house having chicken legs. (Probably because we were talking about Baba Yaga in World Lit.)

As for what's going on around here, Gabriel and I got a new Blood Donor, some freshman with pink hair. She's not you, that's for sure. They're having a hard time keeping Leslie full; Nurse Roundman totally depleted her supply of frozen blood. We've compromised by having all donors give a little extra for Leslie, but she still looks hungry all the time.

Gabriel's still pretty messed up. He sometimes just curls up in a ball and stares, with his eyes all glassy. His mom says that he has a lot of flashbacks of being tied up for weeks at a time and his brain reverts to its victim state. I made him start eating lunch with Megan and me, which of course means that Leslie joins in, so I spend the whole period keeping her from bothering Megan too much. Who knew everything would get so crazy without you?

That's cool about you not going to school. I guess there's not much of a point to it, considering there's barely over a month left and all. You'd just be stuck with the end-of-the-year final exams in subjects you haven't even studied yet.

Write back soon.

I love you,

Elliot

…

April 14, 2014

Elliot,

Wow, people here are weird. I was sitting out in the yard trying to read a book, when out of nowhere this old lady appears. It took me a minute to recognize her as our neighbor, Miss Bright. She just kind of stared at me, and then said, "Well, are you coming?"

I had no idea what she was talking about, but I followed her all the way back to her place and she got on her knees and started working in her garden, no warning, no nothing. I was trying to figure out a good way to leave, when she says, "What are you waiting for, girl? Put on some gloves and help me!"

So I did. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, and I don't even think she knows my name, but I started poking around the plants, trying to pretend I was being productive. I didn't even know what kinds of plants there were! She got all huffy and started explaining stuff to me, what the weeds looked like and how to pull them and whatnot. After about an hour she told me to go home and "come back tomorrow." So we'll see how
that
goes. What I wanted to say was, "Lady, where I come from the only time I see plants are when they're in the refrigerator," but I was afraid she'd throw her hat at me or something.

I'm glad you and Megan are having a good time. I text her all the time, but she never really gives me the juicy details. Same goes for my sister; how is she doing? Have you seen her around lately?

That's too bad about Gabriel. I understand how he feels, a little. Of course, I didn't have to go through what he went through; he has a whole new category of
horror
all to himself, and that's not a good thing. I wish there was some way I could help him. Any ideas?

Lena

P.S. I put some pictures of my house in. Unfortunately, there are no chicken legs. Wouldn't
that
be interesting?

P.P.S. It rains
all the time
here, even more often than back at home. So if you're wondering why I look like I halfway drowned in that last picture, now you know.

…

April 26, 2014

Dear Lena,

How's it going with that crazy neighbor? Did you ever figure up what was up with that? Sad to say, but I have a hard time imagining you working with plants.

We like your house; it does look kind of like the cottage in Sleeping Beauty. (Hey, I have a baby sister! I have a good excuse for watching Disney princess movies.)

I've started bringing your letters to school so we could read them together at lunch; even Gabriel listens in sometimes. Leslie swiped my blood from me, so now I'm hungry, but if you try to get mad at her she just opens her eyes really big and looks all sad… Ugh.

Be glad you're not in school right now; all we're doing is studying for end-of-the-year Finals and it
sucks
. At the moment I have three review packets to finish, the smallest one being 28 pages long, but as its way more interesting to write to
you
, well… Anyway.

My mom's not even here right now and I can still hear her in my mind, saying "Do your work, Elliot Franz! How are you ever going to get into medical school if you don't study?" Ugh.
Parents.
I'd better go.

I love you,

Elliot

…

May 2, 2014

Dear Elliot,

Now
she's started paying me for working in her garden! I'm so confused… on Friday she just handed me a 10 dollar bill and walked away as if she assumed I knew
why
she was giving me money. I talked it over with my parents, and they think that
she
thinks that I work for her. Well, I suppose I sort of
do
work for her. I do whatever she tells me. Dad told me that I didn't have to keep going over to her place, but I kind of like it. It's messy and gross and there are bugs
everywhere
, but now that I'm sort of getting the hang of things, it's pretty simple, like cooking: just follow the instructions on the seed packets.

However,
also
like cooking, the experts apparently improvise. Seriously; she took me into this shed (I still don't feel comfortable with little enclosed spaces. It makes me remember things I'd rather not remember, but somehow I think she
knew
I didn't like it, because right away she threw the door open and let me stand in the doorway.) She showed me this tray full of goo, and in the goo were pumpkin seeds. Did she explain what the goo was, or why she was drowning pumpkin seeds in it? Nope. She's not much of a talker, but she seems to know what she's doing, so I'll just go with it.

But there are other reasons I keep going back to work in her garden, other than I'm starting to like it. She doesn't talk much, but I feel comfortable with her around. It's like she understands me without having to say a word. I finally took off my sweater, and I was feeling really nervous at what she'd say about my scar, but all she said was, "You have a story, don't you?"

I said "yes", and she left it at that. Like she was saying, "well, feel free to tell me if you want to, but if you don't, it doesn't bother me." And anyway, what else would I be doing all day? I do my online class work at night. There really isn't too much to some of the assignments; most classes just assign long essays, which I don't like, but I seem to be getting better at writing.

She has a lot of dogs and chickens wandering around in her yard, but it's not exactly a "farm". I asked her about them and all she said was "chicken manure makes the best fertilizer." Um, ew? Whatever floats her boat, I guess.

How are things back in Philly? Is Gabriel doing any better? Is Leslie being really weird? (What am I saying? Of
course
she's being weird. Maybe I should rephrase that: in what
way
is Leslie being weird?) And how is Megan? How are
you
? I told Megan to send me letters, but she said she didn't like writing and would rather text. Tell her she's a pain and I still love her, will you?

Good luck on the finals! And, you know, you might want to talk to someone about hearing your mom's voice in your head.

Lena

…

May 26 2014

Dear Lena,

Wow, I am so sorry it's taken me so long to write back! The craziness is
finally
over. Exams are done, tomorrow is the last day of school for the year… and then the summer "fun" starts.

I'm kidding, of course—I'm actually a little excited for this summer. My parents, Belinda, and I are going to Germany for two weeks to visit family. I haven't gone for over seven years, and I'm really excited to see my grandparents and my aunt again. They've never even seen Belinda, so of course they're excited, too.

I hope they're not too freaked out by her when she starts telling them their emotions in more detail than even they know. Seriously, I love that kid to death but it's like having an extremely vocal mood ring around at all times.

And speaking of Belinda, her birthday was yesterday. I wasn't a very good brother and instead spent the day studying, so tomorrow I'm going to take her to a place called the Chic Boutique; stop laughing. Seriously—right now. I can see you in the future sitting there laughing at my letter. (Not really. Maybe I'm just self-conscious.) But anyway, she's always wanted a pedicure so I'm going to try not to die and I'm going to pay for her to get her toes done. Dad still thinks she's "too young," but mom thought it was a good idea. And in my house, mom always wins.

Everybody's good back at the farm—or maybe
you
should use that phrase, considering you're
actually
at the farm. ;) Megan and I are going to the end-of-the-year party together (as friends, so don't be getting any weird ideas) but I don't expect it to be anything spectacular. Still, miracles have happened before. Leslie found a "boyfriend"—some really shrimpy human named Wilbur who looks absolutely terrified of her and shakes like a maraca whenever she's nearby. We're pretty sure she threatened him into dating her, but we don't know her angle yet, so we're just keeping an eye on them to make sure she doesn't eat him or something. She seems to genuinely like him, though, so you never know.

Keep me posted about your crazy farmer lady; she sounds "interesting."

I love you,

Elliot

P.S. Why are there bite marks all over your last letter? I had no idea; Megan's best guess was that you got hungry on the way to the mail box and decided to have a snack.

…