Fate of the Vampire (15 page)

I hadn’t had a shift at the cafe in so long
, it took me a little bit to get back in the groove of working. But it felt good—waiting on customers, earning money. I couldn’t tell if it was because the holidays were barreling down on us or because my family had been having a rough time, but the tips were slightly heavier than usual. A group of kids from my class came in, which always made me feel a little awkward, but none of them were acting all superior because I was behind the counter and they were in front of it, so that was a nice change.

One thing about working at a popular small town cafe is that you hear all the local news first hand. Two women came in for coffee and sat at the counter for a chat. I didn’t really know them beyond serving them cappuccinos fairly frequently, but I had figured out from hearing large amounts of their conversation that the redhead was named Carol and the blonde was called Beth. They’d gone to high school together and been best friends ever since. Seeing that they appeared to be in their forties, that was an impressive chunk of time. One of the things that appeared to glue their friendship together was a mutual love of gossip.

Once they were seated, after doctoring their drinks with various creams and sweeteners, Carol said, “Did you hear that old Mervin is MIA?”

“The taxi driver?” Beth asked, licking a bit of foam from her lip.

Mervin was Tiburon’s sole taxi driver. He was quite elderly and always in a bad mood, but he was on call twenty-four seven to drive passengers anywhere they wanted to go, as long as it wasn’t too far outside of Tiburon. It usually took him forever to show up, and the ride was never pleasant, but he always got you to your destination. Mervin wasn’t an official taxi driver or anything. He just called himself a taxi driver and drove an old car that he’d spray painted yellow.

Carol continued
. “Well, apparently the police found his car on the side of the road on seventy-one south last night, but with nobody in it.”

“You’re kidding,” Beth gasped.

Carol shook her head adamantly to show that she was not kidding. “At first, they thought maybe the car had broken down and cranky old Mervin had just walked home or to a diner or something. But the keys were still in the car, and the engine was running.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Beth comment
ed.

“I know,” Carol said. “They searched the area, thinking maybe he had a heart attack or something and staggered out of his cab. Or maybe stopped to help someone along the road. But there was no sign of hi
m anywhere.”

“You’re kidding.” Beth said again. “That’s so bizarre.”

“I know,” Carol replied, her eyes round with the titillating horror of it. “He simply vanished. It’s like he was plucked off the ground and whisked away into the sky or something.”

I had been drying mugs and found myself pausing to listen. The more they talked
, the more my stomach clenched.

“Maybe it was the same weirdo that got those kids that are missing,” Carol said.

“Maybe it was aliens?” Beth suggested. “Maybe they just beamed him up or something.”

“There’s no such thing as aliens,” her friend insisted, all but scoffing at her.

“I don’t know,” Beth said with a shrug, “I think there are a lot more weird and dangerous things out there than we realize.”

“Joe, I need to go on my break,” I said when I realized my hands were shaking. Before he could answer, I hurried out back where only the staff who smoked usually hung out. I had this wild idea that I might actually throw up and eyed the dumpster as a possible place to leave my breakfast.

There was a vampire loose on the streets of Tiburon, snatching people right out of their cars. It had to be a vampire. There was no other explanation. It had to have been the crazy old man that I saw. I wasn’t an expert at identifying the undead, but I was pretty damn sure he was one. I had to wonder if Jessie knew him. Was that why he acted so funny when I described the guy?

I felt my body start to tremble
, and I looked around as if I thought some bloodsucker was going to attack me in broad daylight. I was being foolish. I knew I was being foolish, but that didn’t stop me from being afraid. If my suspicions were true and the old man was a vampire, and one that Jessie knew, then why had my boyfriend lied to me?

By the end of my double shift, it was already growing dark. I was feeling calmer. Definitely not happy, but
calmer. I knew Jessie loved me. I knew he would willingly sacrifice his life to save mine. But why would he not tell me about the vampire? If the old coot actually was a vampire. Maybe I was just being paranoid because I knew vampires existed and therefore every weirdo with a menacing face appeared to be a vampire to me. I was too exhausted to think about it anymore.

There had been a few mix
-ups while I was working. It was my fault; I had gotten some orders wrong. Joe was not thrilled with me, but instead of yelling, he put his arm around my shoulder, gave me a little squeeze, and said, “Maybe having you in to work today was a bad idea. You’ve been through a lot lately.”

“I’m sorry,” I told him. “I’m just a little distracted. I’ll pull it together.”

“I know you will,” he said, as if it never occurred to him that I would do otherwise.

“Joe, I know this is going to sound silly, but would you please watch to make sure I get to my car safely?” I asked.

“That’s not silly,” he told me. “Never be embarrassed for taking precautions. There’s some nut job out there. If you weren’t at least a little nervous, I would think there was something wrong with you.”

I was jittery driving home. I kept glancing around at the sky, wondering if some weirdo was going to come diving out of nowhere and snatch me off the face of the earth, never to be heard from again. I was thrilled when I got back into the house and had the doors locked. Yes, Jessie could enter our home, but it was comforting to know that no other member of the undead could enter without a proper invitation. And fortunately, my mom had never been keen on inviting strangers into the house.

I was very restless that evening. I kept thinking I heard the phone ring or someone knocking at the door, but it was always just my imagination. I really, really, really wanted to hear from Jessie but was reluctant to call him. He was my boyfriend; we were in love; I had every right to call if I wanted to; but still, I felt weird about it. Mostly because he lived at the castle. I didn’t know if it was Viggo’s job to answer the phone. I liked the giant and didn’t mind talking to him. But the idea that his mom might answer made me feel awkward, and the idea that his jerky brother, Daniel, might answer made me feel mega-uncomfortable. Especially if he and Jessie had been fighting lately. For the zillionth time, I wished that Jessie had a cell phone so I could call him on a whim like normal people do. And I’d have to find out if there was any type of signal booster that I could afford so that maybe, just maybe, he could get a signal in that stone fortress where he lived.

I climbed into bed later still feeling weird and longing for Jessie. I had quickly become addicted to hearing from him every night, but it was close to midnight and he still hadn’t come by
, so I knew there was no chance. He was too polite to disturb me past ten o’clock.

I wish I was the kind of person who sleeps soundly, who could just close my eyes and lay my head on the pillow, drifting off peacefully into a world of dreamless sleep. Unfortunately, that’s not me. I’ve never been good at sleeping. My dreams are too vivid and frequently frightening to make sleeping an enjoyable thing. That was one of the reasons I started a dream journal. That and to try to make sense of the dreams that might have been Colette’s memories. I’d kept the journal for months now, but it didn’t make anything any clearer.

Learning that vampires existed also had not helped me when I tried to catch a solid eight hours. In fact, having Jessie in my life had the exact opposite effect. Yes, there were many nights when I
lay awake, twisting around in the sheets thinking of his body pressed against mine, but that wasn’t the problem. I could handle sleep loss due to lust. What was really dragging me down for the moment was waking up repeatedly during the night, convinced that the creepy scar-faced vampire had somehow entered our home and was after me. Or worse, had somehow gotten to my mom. The dreams got so bad that I actually got out of bed and crept down the hall, hovering outside my mother’s bedroom until I convinced myself that the sound of heavy breathing on the other side of the closed door was actually her.

*****

Trying to get to the mall on the eve of Christmas Eve is like … trying to drive anywhere in Los Angeles on a regular day. Actually, I wasn’t sure about that. I’d never been to LA, but from everything I’d seen on the news, it looked pretty bad. Either way, there was a huge snarl of traffic surrounding the Tiburon Mall, and it wasn’t moving anywhere any time soon. I had thought getting up early enough to hit the mall in the first hour it was open would have been sufficient to avoid the crowds, but I guess I should have camped out, warming my hands over a fire in a metal barrel like a movie hobo or something.

Finally, I just gave up and turned down a side street when I had the opportunity. I drove for about ten blocks before I found a place to park. As I got out and started trudging back toward the mall, it began to snow. Because of the deceptive lack of snow when I started out for the mall, I
hadn’t anticipated it being cold out, and I didn’t dress in enough layers. I pulled up my hood and struggled to button the top button on my coat.

I had foolishly assumed that last
-minute shoppers would be focused on grabbing random sweaters or duking it out in the toy store. It didn’t make sense to me that everyone within a fifty-mile radius of Tiburon would wait until the last minute to buy a cell phone. The store actually had a sign-up sheet where you would leave your name and cell phone number so you could shop elsewhere while waiting. It was a pretty considerate thing to do, seeing that I had to wait in line behind seven people to even sign the sheet. I guess their idea would keep the fist fighting to a minimum. People can get pretty rabid about line cutters around the holidays.

Four hours later
, I was trudging through the snow back to the car feeling like a Viking after a successful hunt. I had acquired a smartphone, a service package, and the cheapest signal booster they had. I’d purchased the bare bones, most basic service plan they had, but had still gone way over our agreed-to budget. After all the ridiculously expensive gifts he had given me in the past, he was just going to have to deal with it.

As I sat in my
bug, letting it warm up, my own cell rang. It was Blossom. “Hey,” I said. “What’s going on?”

“What do you mean ‘What’s going on?’ What does that mean?” she said, obviously annoyed.

“Uh …” I seriously had no idea what she was expecting.

“Are you my best friend or not?” she demanded.

“Yes,” I said, without hesitation. “I am your best friend. Is this a quiz or something?”

“No,” she answered, sounding miffed. “I was just wondering why you weren’t over here helping me bake cookies and get ready for the party. Like we do every year. Or aren’t you coming?”

“Oh!” I exclaimed, banging myself on the forehead. “I’m sorry. I’ve just had a really hellish time at the mall and barely escaped with my life. I’m heading to your place right now.”

My excuse seemed to mollify her. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”

I actually really wanted to go home and lie down. Christmas shopping was always bizarrely draining. Plus, it was really bothering me that I hadn’t heard from Jessie. Was there something wrong, or was I just being paranoid?

When I got to Blossom’s house, she flung open the door and then bolted back into the kitchen. The smoke detector was going off
, and a billow of black smoke was rolling out of the kitchen and starting to fill the hallway. I charged after Blossom, immediately pulling the collar of my coat to cover my mouth. I didn’t know if we were dealing with an actual fire or just some over-toasted holiday cheer.

When I charged into the kitchen, I saw Blossom pulling out of the oven a cookie sheet that held smoking bits of charcoal I assumed had been sugar cookies in a previous life. When she shoved the tray into the sink, I shouted at her, “No! Outside. Take them outside. Go out the back.” I immediately wrenched open the Coster
s’ back door so she would have an easier time.

After Blossom rushed past me, I opened the kitchen window and a few others in the adjacent rooms. It was freezing out and a bit of snow drifted in, but I didn’t know of any other way
to clear the smoke.

Blossom came back in with the empty cookie tray. I assumed she’d dumped the smoldering bits of coal into the snow. “Can you see why I need your assistance here?” she demanded, as if it was my fault she let the cookies burn.

I nodded at her. “You never do like using a timer, do you?”

Rolling her eyes, Blossom responded
, “It’s not that I don’t like using a timer, it’s that I forget to use the timer. It’s your job to remind me.”

“Knock, knock.” We heard the sound
of a female voice calling from the front door. I’d left it open when I’d seen the smoke.

I turned to look at Blossom and she shrugged. “When you didn’t show up this morning, I called Sheila.”