Blood Run (17 page)

They laid her on the floor on her back. Lea knelt and grabbed her hand then reached to pick something from her hair. A long, dirty vampire’s nail, bloody where it had been peeled from the vampire’s finger–the thing that had hit her in the face.

The last thing Promise saw was Peter jump up through the hole as if it were only two feet high. He landed lightly in a squat, and his gaze found her.

His eyes were burning.

She fainted.

~ ~ ~

Through the night, she swam in and out of a sleep so deep and sludgy that it was almost a coma. She was peripherally aware of Peter’s arms around her, of Chance below them, finally quiet. Other whoops and screeches filled the air as vampires rampaged outside. Then she was at the beach, and Peter was beside her, setting up a checkerboard. “Want to play?” he asked her with a smile, and a small hand slipped into hers, filling her with joy. She looked down for Chance, but a little girl, maybe three, with blonde pigtails and sand-dusted cheeks looked up at her with light gray eyes.

“Where is Chance?” she turned and asked Peter, but he was gone. The checkerboard was overturned, the red and black discs scattered across the blanket, and fear whispered across the back of her neck like unwanted breath. All at once, the sun went down, and the beach was black, the waves tipped with silver from a cold and distant moon. Her hand was squeezed, and Promise remembered the little girl. She looked down, and the girl was looking out over the black waves.

“Whose little girl are you?” Promise asked, and the girl turned to face her.

Her eyes were alight with inner fire.

Promise woke, gasping and struggling.

She was lying in the cradle of Peter’s arms, and they were halfway to the safe house. He had carried her five blocks. Over his shoulder, she saw Mark and Lea walking a distance behind them, heads down, holding hands like children.

It was morning.

“Hi,” he said, and she wound her arms around his neck, hugging him. “You’re awake,” he said, and she nodded into his neck. He put her down gently, dropping her legs so she could stand on her own. She kept her arms around his neck. “It’s okay; you’re okay,” he said, whispering into her hair. “I’ve got you.”

“I had a dream,” she said. Her voice was muffled. It helped to hide the trembling in it. “A bad dream.”

His arms squeezed her tighter, drawing her up. Her feet left the ground. She put her mouth to his ear so that only he would hear what she said next. “You had a daughter.”

His arms tightened almost painfully around her, and his head went back as he searched her eyes. “How did you…?” He trailed off in confused shock as Mark and Lea ran up to them.

“Promise!” Lea said. “You’re awake!”

Promise kept her eyes on Peter. “I dreamed about her,” she said and then slid from his arms.

Lea grabbed her in an embrace, and Mark grinned and clapped Peter on the back.

Promise looked at Peter over Lea’s shoulder. Her eyes were dark with fatigue and something more: sadness, understanding. She knew now why he’d wanted to help her with Chance. It was somehow something he hadn’t been able to do for himself, for his daughter.

“I was scared you’d never wake up,” Lea said and smiled tentatively. “Promise, we have him. It worked; the plan worked. Do you remember?”

“Yes, I remember that part. It’s afterwards that it…it gets a little hazy for me.” She turned to Mark. “Was he okay this morning? Could you hear him in there?”

“He was moving around; we could hear that. I covered the slit in the wall first thing so no light can get in…just to be on the safe side. I told him everything was going to be okay. He didn’t answer me, but I got the feeling…” He trailed off and glanced at Lea.

“Tell her, Mark; she’ll understand,” Lea said.

“I got the feeling he was listening,” Mark said and flushed slightly. “Like, that he understood. Some part of it, at least.”

Promise flashed back to her dream of the little girl on the beach. The sudden and clear understanding that this was Peter’s daughter, and he must have somehow communicated that information to her as they slept. “I do understand, Mark,” she said. “Thank you.” She put her hand on his arm then turned to Peter. “I’m going back. I have to check on him.” She took a stumbling step, exhaustion catching up with her all at once. Peter grabbed her and swung her into his arms.

“Rest first. And food. Then we’ll go back. No arguments.” He smiled at her, and she nodded and curled herself into him and fell into a less complicated sleep as he carried her to the safe house.

Once there, he put Promise in a bed upstairs while Lea and Mark took another bedroom. They did so without consultation. They were ‘together’. Then Peter let the horses and an overjoyed Lady out into the yard. He sat on the back step to watch the animals frisk together and reflected that the horses hadn’t gotten much use just lately. But maybe that was about to change, he thought, as the ghost of an idea began to coalesce in his mind.

The day was cold but bright. It would warm up later.

He was not tired, despite the calamities of the night. His sleep had been deep and uncomplicated by dreams or nightmares. He’d been content to have Promise in his arms. Nothing else had mattered.

But now he was anxious.

The dream she had had about him having a daughter…where had that come from? It was puzzling, but he decided to put it aside, at least for now. Because he had a more pressing problem.

When she had been in the hole, screaming and panicked, he’d felt a hot and frustrated rage building in his heart and mind. He’d had the urge to strike out at Mark and Lea, as if hurting them would relieve his pain.

He had jumped into the hole with her, and he could feel the vampires on both sides of him. A primordial sense urged him to turn and fight, but they were behind barriers. His mind had clouded, and he’d teetered on a balance point of senselessly throwing himself against the walls in an attempt to claw through anyway.

Then Promise had screamed, and the fog had cleared. He’d remembered that he had to get her out.

And he’d done so. But for a brief second…as her unresisting body was clasped to his…he’d become aware of the heart that beat below her breast. He could smell the blood that coursed strongly through her white neck. A hunger had awoken in his gut, and he’d been tempted.

So tempted.

He’d resisted and gotten her out, and then he’d slept as if drugged.

But he had awoken this morning to a troubling new thought: how dangerous was he?

~ ~ ~

They rested and ate, and when Promise could not wait any longer, they went back to her parents’ house.

She hesitated on the front porch and turned to her friends. “I want to go in alone,” she said and looked at Lea and Mark each in turn, Peter last. “Do you understand?”

They nodded, and Lea reached out to squeeze her hand. “Good luck.”

Promise nodded and glanced at Peter once more. Then she went in.

The disarray was no greater than the day before with the exception of the broken sliding glass door. One panel was completely gone; the other starred into a spider web. The house was silent.

She kneeled near the entrance to the laundry room and put her hand on the heavy door that had been dropped into place. “Chance?” she whispered and held her breath.

Nothing.

She raised her voice.

“Chance, can you hear me? It’s Destiny. You’re safe. You’re in your old house.” She waited again. Nothing. “I’m going to help you, Chance. You’re sick right now, but I’m going to help you get better. Okay? Chance?”

Nothing. She swallowed back tears.

“Remember, Chance? Remember how I promised?”

“Prooomissssss…”

The word came seeping from under the door, from around the edges, like smoke. It was inhuman, less like a voice than a snake’s sibilant hiss. Then something bumped gently against the door, and Promise nearly cried out. She pictured Chance sitting against the door, listening.

“It’s okay, Chance. You’re home, and I’m here. I’m right here,” she said. She ran her hand over the rough wood. “Can you…can you feel me, Chance? Can you feel that I’m here?”

Something bumped again, and then she heard a light rustling. She looked down. A tiny corner of something had appeared under the door. Her hand shaking, she drew it halfway out. It was stiff paper with deckled edges.

A photograph, face down.

Her eyes already filling with tears, she slid it the rest of the way out, and holding her breath, she flipped it over. It was the four of them: Dad, Mom, herself and Chance. The picture had been taken at the lake the year he’d been six. In the picture, he was in her lap, and his head was tilted back as he looked up at her. She was laughing, looking into the camera. Her parents were slightly behind, her dad reaching forward to put a hand on her shoulder. Her parents were laughing, too.

A rush of sadness and joy swept through her, and she became light-headed with relief. He remembered. He remembered his family. He remembered her.

“Chance,” she said, “I love you. I love you, baby brother, and I’m going to save you.” Her breath caught in her throat. “Here, honey,” she said and slid the picture back. “Hold on to it. I’m going to save you. I love you, Chance.”

“Promise?” Peter’s voice from the front hall.

“Peter!” she said and scrambled to her feet. She met him halfway, and her tears had come again.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” he asked as she slammed into him, nearly knocking him over.

“He remembers me! He remembers me, oh, Peter…he…” She stepped back so she could look into his eyes. Her eyes were bright with tears, elation, and grief. “He has this picture…a snapshot of us, my family, on the beach. He must have taken it from the house…after…after he was changed. He’s in my…my lap, and we’re…laughing, and…” her breath hitched as her voice broke, and he ran his hands over her shoulders.

“Okay, it’s okay, breathe. I’m listening,” he said.

She collected herself, then looked up at him again. “He
knows
me. He knows that we’re going to help him. I’m sure he knows it.”

He brushed her hair back. “I’m glad, Promise, but listen–”

There was a commotion behind him at the front door to the house. Loud voices. Shouting. Lady barking. Promise looked over Peter’s shoulder as the door burst inward, slamming against the wall.

Deidre came through it, with Lady close behind her, still barking. Promise could see past Deidre to the yard, where Mark was talking with two people she recognized as being part of Deidre’s crowd. Lea stood to the side, her hands fisted under her chin in dismay. Her eye caught Promise’s, and she shook her head. She mouthed, ‘I’m sorry,’ and Promise tilted her head, confused:
sorry for what?

“Do you
really
have a vampire trapped in here?” Deidre said, her hands on her hips. She looked from Peter to Promise. “Are you crazy? You can’t keep a vampire like a pet!”

“He’s not a pet, he’s my brother. And it’s none of your business, anyway, Deidre,” Promise said, trying to maintain her calm. It was hard to do; her emotions were high, close to boiling over.

“None of my business? Are you kidding me?” Deidre shook her head, eyeing Promise with obvious incredulity. “You have a
vampire
trapped in here somewhere. That’s a danger to
everyone
.” She swooped her arm wide for emphasis, and Lady, unnerved by the commotion, leapt up, snapping at Deidre’s hand. Deidre slapped the little dog across its nose. “Shut! Up!”

Lady yipped and ran to Lea. She scooped the shivering dog into her arms.

“He’s not a danger to you or to anyone else. We’re nowhere near a safe house. We’re even further from town,” Promise said, and her voice began to show the strain of the previous night. Tears of frustrated anger tightened her throat, making her angrier. “How about you just stay in the high school? Instead of sticking your nose into everyone else’s business.”

“I’m pretty sure this
is
everyone’s business, not just yours,” Deidre said, her voice quietly calm but with a cool edge of condescension. “We can’t run around filling all these houses with vampires at a whim. Where’s your sense of community? Of decency?”

Lea and Mark had entered the house, and the two people Mark had been arguing with were standing in the doorway. Rick and Caroline were both part of Deidre’s burgeoning ‘inner circle’ and had gone to high school with her.

Caroline’s face, however, was filled with worry, while Rick’s was suffused with out and out skepticism.

“Hey, Deidre, you said they had a vampire in a safe house. We’re blocks and blocks from the nearest one,” Rick said. He glanced at Promise and then to Lea and Mark. “Listen, guys, I’m sorry about this. You do whatever you think–”

“What?” Deirdre whipped around, and now her fury was unleashed. “So what if I thought it was a safe house? So
what
? Someone could come in here
thinking
it was safe! They could decide to spend the night! How would they know there was a vampire in here?”

“But, Deidre,” Caroline said, “that would be true of
any
of the non-safe houses. There might be vamps in closets, in attics, in pantries…at least this one is contained!”

Deidre’s mouth opened and closed, and her eyes narrowed. “I am
trying
to save them from them
selves
. They’re being…reckless! They shouldn’t be doing this!”

“Leave them alone, Deidre. You’re not anyone’s mom,” Rich said and jumped from the porch. “I’m going back to the high school. You coming, Caroline?”

Caroline smiled at Deidre and shrugged. “Deidre, you have to find something else to…to make you feel important,” she said, and her voice was quiet and kind but very, very firm. “You know? Stop trying to make everyone bend to your will all the time. High school was a long time ago, girl, and the world has changed, like it or not. We’re all grown up now.” She nodded toward Promise and Peter. “Even them.” She turned and leapt from the porch. “Rick, wait up, I’m coming with you.” She paused and turned, her hands on her hips. “Are you coming with us, Deidre?”