Authors: Christine Dougherty
Deidre shook her head. Her face was deeply red. She watched as they got on their bikes. “I didn’t like you two in high school, either!” she yelled. “You never had any…any sense of…school pride!”
Rich didn’t even turn around, but Caroline gave Deidre a small shrug before she rode away. The shrug said:
what does that matter now?
Deidre turned in rage, taking a breath to begin her tirade again. Peter stood less than a foot from her. She stepped back uncertainly, her mouth dropping open.
“Leave,” he said. “Go with your friends. You don’t want to be here when the sun goes down.”
She smiled, and it was twisted in its ugliness. Her eyes gleamed. “You
would
side with her. You’re half vamp, right? Half dirty, filthy, blood sucking, mindless vampire?” She raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips. “That makes sense, at least. I
am
surprised at you, though, Mark,” she said without taking her eyes from Peter. “Although, you always did have a thing for Promise…or
Destiny
, or whatever her stupid hippy name is.” Now her eyes slid to Lea. “I’m surprised at you, too, Lea.
Very
surprised. When you told me what you guys were doing out here, I thought you were concerned. It seemed like you were pretty gung-ho against it, even.” She shrugged and pretended not to notice the hurt that filled Lea’s face. “Well, I guess you don’t have much of a sense of loyalty, being an orphan and all.” She took a deep breath. She smiled at each in turn. “I’m going to stop you. One way or another, I am going to make sure there are no–” she eyed Peter, “–and I mean…
no
…vampires associating with the rest of us. You got me?”
She raked them all with one last glare and left. As Peter closed the door behind her, Promise saw that Rick and Caroline were already two blocks away on their bikes. They hadn’t bothered to wait for their ‘friend’. While a small, mean part of her was glad, the larger, more logical part realized that this was bad news. Someone like Deidre needed balance; she needed someone talking her down. Left to her own deluded devices, she might very well cause them trouble.
“I didn’t tell her that I didn’t agree with what we were doing. I never told her that! Promise, are you mad?” Lea’s eyes shone with tears, and she hugged Lady tight with an unconscious desire for reassurance. Mark took a step toward her then paused.
“I’m not mad, Lea,” Promise said. Her voice was shaky. “I need to sit down. That was…that girl is insane. Really, scary insane. I never realized how bad she was until now.”
Promise went to the kitchen where she could also see the laundry room. It comforted her even though she couldn’t physically see Chance…at least he was near. She sat at her old kitchen table. She glanced at the ugly sampler on the wall above the sink. The one her dad had framed for her mom. She touched the scrunchie in her hair. It still hurt, everything still hurt…but it was a little better. Because she was going to get her brother back.
Lea slid into the chair next to her, plopping Lady onto the floor. “I saw her that first day. She must have followed us. I thought if I just told her what we were doing, then she’d leave us alone. I’m really sorry.” She put her head down on her arms. Mark sat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders.
“It’s okay, Lea, it’s not your fault,” Promise said, then laughed a little. Lea looked up in wet-eyed surprise, and Promise continued. “I know you feel responsible, but even if it
is
your fault, it doesn’t matter. It would have gotten out eventually. But I don’t care….
she
can’t do anything. She’s all talk…and all crap talk at that.” Promise glanced at Mark, and he hugged Lea tighter.
“I think you’re underestimating her,” Peter said. He stood between the kitchen and family room, facing them, arms crossed. “I’ve met people like that before. They’re dangerous.”
“What can we do, though?” Promise said. “We can’t stop her from running her mouth. Anyway, I think more people…
most
people…are going to be sensible like Rick and Caroline. The only reason they even came out here was because she lied to them. No one’s going to care what she says,
especially
because of the lying.”
Peter shrugged and shook his head, and it made Promise uneasy. Despite everything she’d just said, she knew that although someone like Deidre cultivated followers–she didn’t need them. She would happily go about destroying something someone else had built if she felt she had the right to do so. And someone like Deidre
always
felt like she had the right.
“We lied too, though,” Mark said. “We lied to Mr. West.”
“He’s not going to make us turn Chance loose. I just know he won’t,” Lea said. “Besides, it’s something everyone should be interested to find out, whether the cure works or not. Almost everyone has someone out there who’s been changed.”
“The problem is we don’t
have
the cure yet,” Peter said. “Deidre is going to have plenty of time to spread her poison, and people will start to be swayed by it. I’ve seen it at other outposts.”
He was looking out the shattered sliding door to the desolate backyard. The vague beginnings of the plan that had begun to coalesce in his head as he sat and watched the idle horses this morning began to take firmer shape.
He knew what he had to do.
“I’m going back to the base in New Jersey where they were working on the vaccine,” he said. “If they’ve developed a cure, I’ll bring it back with me. If it’s not ready yet, maybe my being there will help hurry things along. Maybe I can help speed up the testing.” He uncrossed his arms and shoved his hands in his pockets. He was sad but also inexplicably relieved, a little excited. The things Deidre had said about him…she might bring others around to that kind of crap thinking, and then he’d be sunk. It was better to be proactive in this situation. “I’ll go with the Guard; they’re due back through any day.”
The hardest part was leaving Promise. It felt like he was getting ready to cut part of himself off; that’s how attached he felt to her already. It would be difficult to leave, but he would do it for her.
He wasn’t sure how he expected her to react to what he’d said. Maybe get mad at him, yell, cry. Hug him in gratefulness? But she did none of those things. She merely sat with her head down, looking at the tabletop. She traced a line of wood grain with one finger.
“Promise?” Peter said. “Were you listening?”
She looked up, smiling. “Yes, of course I was,” she said, and her smile first widened and then disappeared altogether. She stood. “I’m coming with you.”
“Promise!” Lea said. “You can’t do that! Do you have any idea how dangerous that’s going to be?”
“Lea’s right, Promise,” Mark said. “That’s crazy. You can’t do that. It’s suicide.”
Peter stared hard at Promise, and it was as though Lea and Mark had not spoken. His face was very grave. “You’re sure?” he said.
She nodded.
She smiled.
Lea pushed her chair back and jumped up. “Promise, no! You’re just tired and not thinking straight. It would be suicide, like Mark said! Mark, tell her…tell her she can’t go!”
But Mark merely looked from Peter to Promise and then shrugged. This was a different world now, where eighteen-year-olds were more apt to be killed than go to proms. He could see that there was something very strong between Peter and Promise–a bond had formed between them, just as it had between their horses. It was the bond of like things finding each other in a hard world. It had been what he’d reacted against when he thought
he
should be with Promise; before he’d discovered Lea.
And how would that make Lea feel? If he fought to make Promise stay?
“She can decide for herself,” Mark said.
Promise smiled at him, and he winked. It was easy for him to say that she could decide for herself. It was a relief for him to realize he really
didn’t
want her anymore. Despite what Deidre had said.
“Bull…
shit
!” Lea said and smacked the table. “She should rest and…and eat something! She can’t decide anything for herself right now! She’s too…too–”
“Lea, look at me,” Promise said and took her friend’s face in her hands. She ran her thumbs under Lea’s eyes to wipe away the angry tears. “I know what I’m doing. I’m not reacting or overreacting. I’m not doing it because I have a schoolgirl crush on Peter. I’m not overly tired–” she laughed, “well, I
am
tired, but still–it’s not
because
of that or any of those things. I’m doing it for me. And for Chance. You can understand that, Lea.”
“But I don’t want you to go. What if something happens? What am I going to do?” Lea said, and her tears came harder.
Promise hugged her. “You’ll be fine. No matter what, you’ll be okay. You can’t doubt that,” she said. “And anyway, you have to do something for me so that I
can
go,” she said.
“What? What could I possibly do to help?” Lea said, stepping back, her voice miserable and disbelieving.
“Lea, the most important thing…I can’t go if you won’t take care of Chance for me. I wouldn’t trust anyone else to do it. You’re my sister.”
Lea nodded, blinking away the tears. “You’re mine, too,” she said and realized that she
did
think of Promise as a sister. Maybe she’d just been waiting for permission to voice it. “Okay. Okay, I’ll take care of Chance…Mark and I will. But you have to get back as soon as you can.”
“I’ll be back in no time. I always heard that Jersey sucks, so…no sweat.”
They laughed and hugged again. Mark and Peter glanced at each other then away. Be damned if they were going to have any big crying scene together.
Chapter 11
It was very cold and very early. The first rays had just come over the trees bordering the football field. Three new-looking Humvees sat idling on Main Street outside the high school, exhaust drifting from their tailpipes. The National Guard had been awarded the newly commissioned vehicles when President Reagan had declared the Untied States in a permanent State of Emergency and put the Guard in command.
Snow and Ash–saddled up behind the vehicles–stamped and blew great gusts of vapor.
Promise pulled herself astride Ash, then turned to where Lea stood at the entrance to the high school, shivering. “You and Mark have to decide how much to tell Mr. West, okay? If Deidre starts spreading rumors, you’ll have to tell him everything,” Promise said.
Lea nodded. Mark appeared from behind her, put his arm around her and drew her close. “Don’t worry!” he said to Promise. “We’ve got it under control.” He squeezed Lea, and she looked up at him and smiled. Then she smiled at Promise and blew her a kiss.
Peter pulled himself onto Snow, and she stomped in anticipation. “Easy, Snow, take it easy. We’re going,” he said, patting her thick neck. He looked to where Promise sat astride Ash. She was beautiful. The Humvees started to pull away ahead of them.
“You ready?” he asked. She smiled and looked east across the football field and the woods beyond. The sun dappled fresh, pink dots onto her cheeks. This was the only thing she knew…this town, this life.
She turned back to Peter.
“As I’ll ever be.”
~THE END~
Book Two ~ Two Riders
Chapter 1
The vampire plague started in Manhattan in 1983 and spread, eating up the country in large, bloody bites. By 1985, the remaining humans in towns and outposts like Wereburg, New York, maintained a daytime existence as these new vampires–so far removed from the Hollywood fantasy of urbane black capes and high collars–vacant, bloodthirsty, and inhuman, haunted the night.
Destiny Riser, resident of Wereburg, and Peter Gallagher, formerly of Bishop, Pennsylvania, rode behind a three Humvee National Guard convoy. The National Guard had become the main conduit of information passing from outpost to outpost as the country struggled to deal with the plague.
Destiny–who had called herself Promise since the ruination of her family–rode jet-black Ash. Peter rode Snow, a mostly white Appaloosa mix with a lightly dappled gray chest and gray to white mane and tail. The horses had not known each other long, but like all herd animals, they’d bonded quickly. They walked easily, shoulder to shoulder, matching each other stride for stride. The black white, black white flash of their legs strobed the early morning sun across the road next to them, where their shadows rode lean and ghostly.
Promise turned in the saddle and looked back at Wereburg High School. Lea and Mark–her best friends–were waving from the sidewalk, their breath puffing out white in the early morning cold. Mark’s arm was around Lea’s shoulders. Promise waved back and then turned around as her throat tightened. Fear and homesickness flooded her, darkening her view, and for a brief second, she was on the verge of turning Ash back to Wereburg and the known dangers and comforts of the eighteen years she’d spent there. Her very well known former life.
“Promise,” Peter said from beside her. His voice was calm and deep. She looked at him. His short, blond hair had picked up the orange morning light and turned his eyes a warm, lambent gray. At twenty-five, he was seven years Promise’s senior. He smiled. “It’s going to be okay,” he said.
She nodded and straightened her shoulders. She thought back to her early teenage years, when she had longed for something more than her staid, ordinary existence. She’d chafed gently against her parents’ provincial marriage and the small-town–and what she’d seen as small-minded–atmosphere of Wereburg. Now she thought of the proverb: be careful what you wish for…you just might get it. She had gotten her wish for excitement, but it seemed to her that it had come at the cost of everything and everyone she’d loved.
She strove now to set at least one small part of it right, spurred by love, but also, spurred by guilt.
She glanced back at Lea and Mark once more, grateful to them. They were going to take care of her brother for her while she was gone.