Fate of the Vampire (9 page)

I shrugged, feeling my Christmas cheer quickly draining away. “It’s not looking too good. I mean, there’s still a chance she’s okay, just being an idiot, but probably something bad has happened.”

“It’s so weird that they found the only person
to go missing from Tiburon in the last century almost exactly to the day when a new girl disappeared. I wonder if she’ll show up, like fifty years from now, all drained of blood and everything.”

I shivered. “I hope not.”

Blossom warmed to the idea. “Maybe there’s a vampire that lives in Tiburon, and he only has to feed every couple of decades?”

“Blossom, can we please not talk about this?” I said in an overly loud voice. A couple of people sitting at nearby tables glanced in our direction.

“Calm down. I was just kidding,” she told me.

“I know, but you didn’t have to see the body,” I said. “It was horrible. I mean, you could tell when she died she was absolutely terrified.”

“Sorry,” Blossom said. “I wasn’t thinking that it was actually true or anything. I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

“Forget about it,” I grumbled. Then, to change the subject, I
said, “Who do you have left on your list?”

“My grandpa and my dad. If I get them done
, then I think that about covers it.”

“What do you think you’re getting your dad for Christmas?”

“A tie.” She thought about it a bit more. “Maybe a sweater vest. Or some type of hat that he would never wear in a million years.”

I wasn’t going to get sucked into a conversation about why Blossom would want to knowingly give her dad a gift he wouldn’t like, so I
said, “What about your grandpa?”

Blossom made a face. “I don’t know. He’s impossible to shop for. I mean, what do you buy for a man pushing ninety?”

She had me there. I had to confess, “I have no idea.”

“What do you usually do for Christmas?” I asked Jessie. We were snuggled on the couch in the living room. His head was in my lap, cradled by a pillow; his eyes were closed.

“A big roast. Most people have turkey, but we always have rack of lamb. Mashed potatoes and freshly baked bread. Cranberr
y sauce and mulled wine. Every type of pie you can imagine and peppermint sticks decorating the tree.”

Jessie’s eyes were still closed, but a contented smiled crossed his face. I had to wonder if he was talking about what his family did last Christmas. It seemed unlikely. He continued
. “Then there’s caroling and bringing baskets of food to the poor. Grandfather is pretty tight fisted, but for Christmas, he usually opens his purse strings and can actually be quite generous.”

That’s when I knew he was talking about his memories of Christmas back before he was turned into a vampire. Jessie’s grandfather was the first vampire in his family. He had ruthlessly turned his children and then his grandchildren. Jessie’s mother had tried to protect her children, even after she had been turned, but she’d only managed to spare the youngest
—a daughter who had lived to a ripe old age.

The grandfather had been lost at sea, quite literally. As the Vanderlind family was taking a ship to move to America, the old bastard was discovered feasting on a cabin boy. The other passengers threw him overboard in the middle of the Atlantic. He was never heard from again. When Jessie told me the story, I was shocked that the whole family hadn’t been discovered. That’s when Jessie explained that his mother had been the one to send the boy to her father’s cabin. She had planned the whole thing to get rid of her father. The cabin boy had lived and discovered, upon his arrival in America, that a distant relative had died and left him some money. It still probably didn’t erase the trauma the boy suffered from almost being drained by a vampire, but it was nice of the Vanderlinds to compensate him for his unwitting participation in ridding the family of their brutal patriarch.

“That really sounds wonderful,” I said once Jessie had stopped reminiscing about holidays he hadn’t seen in almost a century. “Did any of your traditions survive here in America?”

Sighing, Jessie said, “A few. We still give to the poor. Or at least
, I make sure we do. Daniel has inherited Grandfather’s miserly ways when it comes to spending money on others. Not when it comes to himself, of course.”

“What will you
do this Christmas?”

“I was hoping to come over here and spend it with you,” he told me. “Isn’t that what modern boyfriends do?”

If I was being honest, I wasn’t sure. Besides Jessie, I’d only ever dated Fred, and that hadn’t been during any significant holidays. I didn’t know what was expected. “I would love it if you came over for Christmas,” I told him. “We don’t do that much in the evening, so that would be perfect.” We always had Grandma Gibson over for a meal, but we ate early so she would be gone by the time Jessie climbed out of his coffin.

With a little embarrassed grin, Jessie said, “And if you’re free, my mom would like to know if you would join us Christmas Eve.”

“She … what?” I stammered. “I mean, where?”

“At our home, of course,” he said, as if visiting a castle full of vampires on Christmas Eve was the most commonplace thing in the world. The family had literally moved their ancestral home from Hungary to Ohio, so it was a legitimate castle.

“Jessie, not to be rude or anything because I appreciate the invitation, but what exactly would we be doing?”

This gave Jessie pause. “I’m not exactly sure,” he said. “But I think after our trip to Budapest
, she’s worried that it’ll look bad if you aren’t part of our holiday in some fashion.”

The invitation made sense. Over Thanksgiving, Jessie and I were forced to fly to Budapest to defend Jessie
’s having staked a fellow vampire to protect me. We’d tried to convince the Bishops that I was the reincarnation of Colette Gibson and therefore Jessie had no choice. The Bishops were the world’s oldest vampire family. They functioned as a ruling body for the undead. They didn’t exactly find us not guilty. They’d actually decided that I was to be turned into a vampire. Fortunately, my undead sentence wouldn’t have to be carried out until I was twenty-four. Jessie was thrilled with the ruling but not because he wanted me to be a vampire. He said that the Bishops would probably forget about the ruling for a few decades, and by the time they remembered, I would be in my sixties. Plus, through a fake passport and some role playing, we had led them to believe my name was Colette, so that would help with concealing me.

Spending eternity with Jessie sounded like a dream, but the whole idea of dying and then being brought back and having to drink human blood to live kind of freaked me out. As it was
, Jessie’s breath always smelled slightly of pennies. I was pretty good at never allowing my brain to think about why. Plus, Jessie was fearful that if I was changed into a vampire, it would alter who I am. I guess you don’t always wake up the same person after being altered. Supposedly, it can really warp some people. I was willing to believe that. There seemed to be a lot of jerky vampires around.

“I usually spend Christmas Eve at Blossom’s house,” I told him. “For the past couple of years
, she’s had a party. But I could probably go over early to help her set up, then head over to your place once the party gets started.”

“That’s sounds like it will work.”

“Or,” I added, suddenly feeling shy. “Maybe you could come with me to the party.”

“Um
… That could be problematic,” he said. “I really don’t think I should start going into your friend’s homes. The fact that I’m here is bad enough.”

“Sure. I understand,” I told him. I just didn’t know if Blossom would. Now that the cat was out of the bag that I had a boyfriend, she would expect me to bring him around.

Thinking about Blossom reminded me of our conversation at the mall. “Do you know about Liz Thurman?” I asked.

“The girl who’s missing?”

“Yeah, that’s her,” I said. Jessie wasn’t as out of touch with the town as I’d expected. “This is going to sound weird, but what do you think happened to her?”

“What do you mean?” Jessie asked, looking up at me.

“It’s just this thing Blossom said at the mall today. She said it was strange that the day Tiburon’s only missing person was discovered, another girl disappeared.” I immediately regretted bringing the whole thing up because I suddenly realized what I said sounded a little bit like an accusation.

Jessie sat up and gave me a concerned look. “Do you think a vampire took her?” he asked.

“No,” I said, reaching for his hand. “I didn’t mean it like that. But it’s definitely weird. Don’t you think? I mean, where the hell did she go? Her family is totally freaked.”

Jessie nodded, his face very solemn. “What’s her address? I’ll look around, see if I can pick up on anything.”

“Would you?” I said, giving him a squeeze. “That would be great. I’m really worried for her.”

“I’d do anything for you,” he said with a smile, his gray eyes twinkling.

There was a loud thump, like someone had taken a kick at our front door. “What’s that?” I said, a bit startled.

“Let’s go see,” Jessie said, quickly getting to his feet but keeping hold of my hand.

My mom showed up at the front door the same time we did. “I guess you heard it, too,” she said, pulling back the curtain to peek out the front window. “It sounded like something hit the house.” Mom had taught me that you never go charging outside when you hear a weird noise. You check things out from the safety of your home to make sure no one is trying to lure you outside with the sound of a crying baby or something like that. Being a social worker had made her pretty wise to a lot of the tricks creepy guys use. She didn’t raise me to be paranoid, but she did raise me to be smart. And part of being smart is using common sense caution. “There’s something on the porch,” she said. Then wrinkling her nose, she added, “It’s furry.”

“I’ll check on it,” Jessie said. He moved so quickly out the door, pulling it closed behind him
, that my mom didn’t have time to protest.

Mom and I stood there looking at each other for a couple of seconds, and then Mom opened the door. There were three of us, after all. It wasn’t like just one of us was home alone or anything. “What is it?” Mom asked as she swung the door open.

Jessie hid the thing slightly behind his back. “It’s a rabbit,” he said. When both of us gasped and made to help the poor creature, he quickly added, “It’s dead. I think maybe it got hit by a car.”

“But why is it on our porch?” Mom wanted to know. We didn’t have a huge front lawn
, but even if the poor bunny had somehow gotten tangled under a wheel and thrown, it’s unlikely that it would have made it all the way to our porch.

“I think maybe someone tossed it up here,” he said. “Probably just some kids being jerks or something. I bet they don’t even know who lives here, just tossed it at the closest house.” Jessie still wouldn’t show us the rabbit. “I’ll take care of burying it. We have a little pet cemetery to the side of our yard. It’ll be much nicer than having the street cleaner get him.”

“That’s so nice of you, Jessie,” my mom said. “Do you want a bag or something?”

“Um, sure,” was his reply. “A plastic bag would be appreciated.”

“I’ll get it for you,” Mom said, hurrying to the kitchen.

“Aurora,” Jessie said in a harsh whisper as soon as Mom was out of earshot. “Once I’m gone, you need to lock all the doors and windows. Don’t invite anybody in no matter what.”

“Why?” I asked. Throwing a dead rabbit at someone’s house was a crappy thing to do, but it wasn’t exactly life threatening.

“This rabbit’s been drained,” Jessie said, his voice tight with anger. “There’s no blood left. It’s like a deflated balloon.”

My own blood froze in my veins. Either we were the victims of a practical joke by a demented taxidermist or we’d just received a calling card from a vampire.

There are things most teenage girls really need to hear. Obvious things like
don’t text while driving
. Or
don’t blow off your friends just because you’re dating some guy
. Or, advice that I could have benefited from,
don’t date a vampire
. Because even though Jessie had never even come close to hurting me, and even though he was one of the nicest and most generous people on the planet, and even though he wasn’t one of those jealous control-freak vampires that you’re always reading about in romance novels, he was still a vampire. Which meant he had vampire friends. And vampire enemies. So I was constantly under threat from this or that member of the undead whom I wasn’t even dating.

I knew this wasn’t Jessie’s fault. None of it was his fault. But still, the dehydrated bunny made it pretty clear that there was a new vampire in town looking to drain me
, and I was freaked. I stood there for a second after he’d explained to me about the rabbit and then just slammed the door.

Mom appeared a few moments later proffering a plastic bag. “Doesn’t he need this?” she asked, a little confused.

“He remembered he had one in his car,” I managed to choke out in a short little hyperventilating type breath.

“Are you al
l right?” she asked, instantly going into mom mode.

I shook my head. “No,” I told her.

“Oh, sweetie,” she said, putting arms around me. “It was just some sick practical joke. I’m sure it has nothing to do with us personally.”

I nodded this time, desperately wanting to believe her. If only the rabbit had been struck by a car. No fun for the poor bunny, either way, but it would have been a little less terrifying for me. As soon as I regain
ed my composure, I went and checked every window and door in the house. We were snug as a bug, but I still felt vulnerable. “Mom,” I said, seeking her out in the living room. “I know that this whole rabbit thing was probably random, but let’s just try to be a little extra careful for a while. Just in case.”

“Aren’t you always careful?” Mom asked, giving me a thoughtful frown.

“Of course,” I insisted. “But who knows? Maybe it’s like the weird, angry ex-boyfriend of one of your clients. Or maybe it’s just some random stalker that’s mad because one of us didn’t give him the time of day.” I laid my hand to my cheek as a new thought occurred to me. “Or maybe it’s Dad trying to win you back.”

“What?” Mom tried to get a look at my pupils. “Did you hit your head recently?”

“Sorry.” I broke out into a laugh. “I was suddenly feeling really melodramatic.” We both chuckled a little. “But seriously, let’s be extra, extra careful for a while. No inviting strangers into the house to use the phone. Nothing like that.”

Mom laughed some more. “Sweetie, I wouldn’t do that anyway.”

I had a horrible night’s sleep. Obviously. I doubt I drifted off for more than ten minutes at a time. I had thought since being found not guilty by the Bishops when we were in Budapest that I was safe from attack from other bloodsuckers. At least until I was twenty-four. The Bishops had ruled that I was to be accorded the same respect and benefits as if I had already been turned. I didn’t exactly know what those benefits were, but I was pretty sure it entailed not throwing dead rabbits at my front door. The vampires had a pretty strong social network.
You’d think that everyone with fangs would know I wasn’t to be touched.

I decided to focus on other things so I didn’t drive myself crazy. Like the fact that there were only six shopping days left until Christmas. I was starting to panic about Jessie. He was simply impossible to shop for. If I waited much longer, I was going to end up just getting him a sweater or something lame. It was almost like I had stage
fright about buying him a gift. I didn’t even want to think about what he would give me. I was glad he’d suggested the price cap for presents. Otherwise, he’d probably give me something ridiculously expensive that I could never wear in a million years for fear that my mom would discover its true value and ask me what the heck was going on. He’d already given me enough jewelry to pay for my college education. I had a giant diamond engagement ring that we used as a prop for our trip to Budapest and he refused to take back when I tried to return it. And also a gorgeous Lalique
moonstone necklace that probably belonged in a museum. Plus my Pools of Light crystal pendant, of course, but there was no way I was taking that off my neck. Thinking about Jessie’s gifts made me feel even more insecure about buying him something. I had to get my creative shopping juices flowing.

*****

School was buzzing with an update about Liz. Mrs. Thurman was orchestrating a door-to-door hunt for her daughter, and she was asking for volunteers. It sounded kind of nuts because there were close to ten thousand houses in Tiburon, not including the surrounding countryside, but she was determined to do it. After all, it wasn’t that long ago when it was discovered that three women were being held prisoner in a house in Cleveland. All of them lived in the same neighborhood as their captor. I guess Mrs. Thurman figured that whoever took her daughter might be nearby.

“Let’s volunteer for the Liz search,” Blossom said, finding me at my locker before first period. “They’re going to need a lot of people.”

“Sure,” I said with a shrug. I was all for helping any way that I could.

“Okay, good. Because I already signed you up,” Blossom told me. When I started to protest with something about wanting to make my own decisions in life, she cut me off saying, “Well, I knew you’d want to help
, and there was a bunch of kids lined up to volunteer, so I thought I’d save you the hassle of standing in line.”

“Gee, thanks,” I grumbled.

“You’re welcome,” she said, giving me a smug smirk. “I know you too well.”

I had to admit, she really did.

“Do you think Dreamboat will want to help?” she wanted to know. “I almost put his name down, too, but figured maybe I should ask first.”

“I don’t know,” I told her. “I’ll ask him later.” It occurred to me that I hadn’t given Jessie Liz’s address the previous night so that he could look around for clues as to what happened to her. Vampires have an incredible sense of smell. Maybe he could pick up her trail or something. If he was a normal seventeen
-year-old, I could have just texted it to him.

And then inspiration struck. I knew what I was going to get Jessie for Christmas. It was going to cost me an arm and a leg, but I knew for a fact he didn’t have one. Then I paused for a moment with my hand to my cheek. Obviously, I was getting Jessie a cell phone. But was getting him a phone kind of like when a man gets a woman lingerie? As far as she’s concerned
, it’s not comfortable; it has limited use outside the bedroom; and she doesn’t particularly want it. Or if she does, it’s only to please her man. I wasn’t sure how comfortable Jessie would be with a cell phone, and it only had limited use for him because there was no reception in the Vanderlind Castle. If I got him a cell, would it be solely because I wanted him to have it? Was it really something for him? I took another moment to give it some good, hard thought and then decided the hell with it; I was going to get him one anyway. Isn’t that what men usually did with lingerie?

During lunch
, I told Blossom my brilliant gift idea. “Dreamboat doesn’t have a cell phone?” she asked, making a face. “What century is he living in?”

I choked a little on my sandwich. “It’s just there’s no cell reception at his house, so he never bothered,” I told her after I’d stopped coughing.

“It’s still a little weird,” she informed me. “Even if he can’t get reception in that big bunker where he lives.” A thought occurred to her, and her eyes widened for a second before becoming sly. “Hey, when you do the search of the castle, can I come with you?”

“What?” I stammered, coughing a little. If Blossom was going to keep surprising me while I was eating
, I hoped she was familiar with the Heimlich maneuver.

“Well, if we’re going to be searching every house
, that includes the crazy castle down by the river, doesn’t it?” she asked. “I mean, I know that’s the first place I’d want to look if someone I loved disappeared.”

“Oh, come on,” I said, rolling my eyes even though my stomach was suddenly in knots. “Don’t you think that’s a little Vincent-Price-late-night-movie obvious? Hey, let’s all grab our pitchforks and head over to the castle.”

Blossom shrugged as she dragged a soggy cafeteria french fry through a splash of ketchup. “I guess.” After she popped the fry in her mouth, she added, “But seriously. If they’re going to search the castle, then I want in.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked. I could feel my face scrunching with anger and a bit of alarm for Jessie and his family. I tried to fight it. There was no reason to overreact. The villagers weren’t hammering on the castle door. At least, not yet. “Why would they search the castle?”

“Isn’t that what we’re doing?” she said, raising her well-groomed eyebrows. “Going door-to-door, making sure no one has a secret dungeon or anything.”

The Vanderlinds did have a dungeon. I knew that for a fact because I had to spend the night there once, for my own protection. Of course
, I had the key locked inside with me. Which was a good thing because at least one vampire had wanted to get into my cell for a snack. Blossom had been there, too. Fortunately, she didn’t remember because she was passed out for our whole stay.

“Blossom, you know that nobody is searching anybody’s house, right?” I said before she got too excited. “They’re probably just going to have us hand out flyers and maybe ask people if they know anything. You can’t search someone’s home to make sure they’re not a criminal. You have to have a warrant and just cause and all that stuff. People have a right to privacy.”

“I guess,” she said, sounding a little disappointed. “So …” she said, giving me a penetrating look. “Do the Vanderlinds have a secret dungeon?”

“A secret one?” I said, squinting a little and putting a hand to my cheek as if I was thinking about it. “No, not a
secret
one.”

“Do they really have a dungeon?” Blossom asked, leaning forward, eager for some dirt. She was obviously terribly intrigued.

“Sure.” I nodded a few times. “There’s a dungeon and a moat and a few of those, whatcha’ call ‘em? The big hole where they throw people and then the bars go over the top.” It was obvious Blossom had no idea what I was talking about, but the word was on the tip of my tongue. There was one in the movie
Labyrinth
, after all. I became obsessed with that movie right at the tail end of my unicorn phase. “Um … oubliette. That’s it. They’ve also got an oubliette.”

She gave me a flat look. “Be serious.”

“Blossom. You’ve been in the castle, too, you know. You’ve seen it. Everything’s been all modernized with electricity and running water and all that good stuff. If they had something that used to be a dungeon then it’s been converted into a rec room or a wine cellar or whatever.”

“That’s too bad.” Blossom was disappointed. “If there was still a dungeon
, then you could play the captive and the princess. Or maybe prisoner and prison matron.” She waggled her eyebrows at me.

“What, like blast him with a hose and throw delousing powder at him or something?” I made a face. “Yeah, that is so not sexy.”

There was a meeting after school for the Liz search party volunteers. A ton of kids showed up. Including a bunch of people I wouldn’t have expected, like most of the football team and Don Updike. I was almost starting to think he had a heart.

It turned out I was right about the door-to-door. It was just handing out flyers and talking to people, asking if they’d seen or heard anything, telling them to call the police department if they thought of anything or heard anything, and pointing out that there was a ten-thousand-dollar reward for any information that led to Liz’s recovery.

Liz’s older sister, Brenda, was there. I guess she’d taken some time off from college, but what was she supposed to do? I doubt she could have concentrated on her classes. She had been a cheerleader and a member of the student council when she was at Tiburon two years ago, so she still knew a few of the kids. The Thurm
ans had divided Tiburon into sections. All volunteers were assigned a section and given a map, plus a form to fill out for each person they talked to, etc…. “Stay in groups of two or more,” Mrs. Thurman instructed us. “And do not stay out past eight o’clock at night.” She was very adamant that we should take our safety seriously. There was a good chance there was a psychopath out there, after all.

“Yeah, I’d like to see some psycho try to take me down,” Jimmy Stevens said, thumping his beefy chest. A lot of guys grunted in agreement and jostled each other in what they must have assumed was a manly way.

I couldn’t help but glance over at Blossom. She rolled her eyes. “I’m not responsible for him,” she told me. Jimmy was Blossom’s ex-boyfriend, and he was a bit of a lunkhead. The fact that he thought just because he could bench press a lot of weight and had watched some action movies meant he had nothing to fear made me chuckle to myself. Jimmy obviously had no idea what was really out there in the dark.

“Let’s do our houses right away,” I said to Blossom, a chill running up my spine. The meeting was breaking up
, and people were headed for the school’s parking lot. I definitely didn’t want to be out once night started to fall. I hadn’t exactly forgotten about the poor dead bunny from the night before, more just blocked it out for most of the day.