Melabeth the Vampire (29 page)

It was ten after eleven now. "You're already late."

David smiled. "Yep, I don’t want my mom to worry or think that I am up to anything. If I come in on time she will think I was doing something that I wasn’t supposed to."

"That seems kind of backwards to me, but what do I know. My parents didn’t even send me to school let alone give out a curfew." I had been putting off this last part. I need to somehow be friends with David without all the kissing. I couldn’t be with him for his own good. "Carrie, do you think you could go hang with some of the other ghosts?"

Carrie looked around. "What ghosts…? Oh, I get it. You want to have a quickie. Don’t you worry none; I'll cover my ears; I am going for a walk… ya’ll have fun."

Carrie walked away, and she put her hands over her ears. Then she disappeared laughing. I turned to find David taking me into his arms.

"Do you think she is really gone?" David asked.

I was being held by David looking into his eyes. This will be harder than I had hoped. "No, she’s probably eavesdropping… we need to talk."

David’s smile dropped. "What's up?"

"Everything, where do I begin? You are already late getting home, so I will make this short. We can be friends
but not together." David started to talk, but I hushed him, and went on. "Let me say this before you interrupt me. I am no good for you; I am a vampire with no future. On top of that, I am headed down a dangerous path of revenge, and, if I am lucky, I will survive. There is a good chance I'll get myself killed… I can't do that to you… I can't."

Before I could finish what I was saying. David’s lips were pressed against mine. There was passion, love but, above all, there was need.

I felt like I would fall if he was not holding me up. I realized after a minute we were still kissing, and I wasn’t fighting it.

So much for convincing him that we just needed to be friends.

David stopped and pulled away, then looked at me and said. "I know that I might not be able to follow you. I know that we may have no future, but I don’t care. I will pay for this relationship, but later; for now, let's be together in any way that we can. You need me as much as I need you."

"I don’t know… let's just take it slow."

Wow, I just did not say that. What happened to breaking it off?

David smiled. "I couldn’t agree more. I need you to do one more thing with me."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Hold on tight." And, with that, David started to chant.

I don’t like teleporting, I thought, as the world started spinning. This time I closed my eyes and tried not to squeeze too hard. When I opened my eyes, we were standing in a living room, not just any living room, but David's living room and we were not alone.

As I turned around, David said. "Mom, Kelly I want you to meet someone."

What on earth was he doing? Only bad things could come from me meeting his mom. I had never seen his mother or Kelly before now. Lizzie walked into the living room; her face was full of worry and shock.

Kelly, the oldest of the sisters, didn’t look anything like Lizzie. She wasn’t dressed as a Goth, and she dressed more like girls I had seen at the mall. She had short strawberry blonde hair.

David's mom had really curly hair that was brown with gray coming in. She was short and a little overweight. If I were to see her in different circumstances, I would say that she looked trustworthy. She had a real grandma look with a kind face, only the kind face had a look of surprise, and that look of surprise was melting away into a look of rage.

Before anyone could lift their chin off the floor, David went on speaking. "Mom, this is Melabeth. Don’t get mad, but I wanted you to meet her."

"You brought this into my home?" David's mom stood up from the couch as she said this. She straightened her shirt. "Can't say I have ever met one of your kinds before, but it would have been nice to have a little warning."

Lizzie said really dryly.  "Warning?  Are you saying if David would have warned you, that you would have let
her come over? And, if so, wouldn’t warning you only allow you to plan something that might hurt her?"

David’s mother looked harshly at Lizzie. "I'll take it you knew about this visit… to your room." David's mom pointed down the hall.

Lizzie did a little curtsey. "It was nice meeting you Melabeth. Goodnight mother." And, with that, she headed toward her room.

All this time Kelly had never moved, not even blinked. David's mom, Mab, looked over at Kelly and said. "Follow your sister." It took a minute before Kelly responded.

Kelly got up and went down the hall toward the same room. I heard the door shut, and now it was just me, David and Mab. Carrie reappeared behind Mab, waved at me, and then disappeared again. Well, that makes it the four of us, but Carrie was smart enough to stay out of sight.

Mab was staring at me with hate in her eyes. Mab said coldly. "So you're Melabeth?"

David quickly added. "Be nice, mom."

"What, that wasn’t nice enough for you?" 
Mab said, shifting her hateful looks over at David.  "You teleport her, right into my living room, a vampire. And now… now I am not nice enough for YOU?"

I just loved the fact that David put me in the middle. I had to say something. "It’s fine, David. Sorry for popping in on you, Mab; it's probably best that I was going."

David said. "No, wait; I want my mom to meet you for a minute. She needs to know that she is wrong about you, that you are not evil or bad; I want her…"

David’s mom interrupted. "You want to force this down my throat. Well since you need me to talk to your dead girlfriend, let's talk."

"Yes, let's do that." I said, and, before she or he could say anything, I quickly added. "Let us say what's on our minds. First we both care for the same person. Second we don’t care for each other, and, third we both believe that I should be out of his life."

"What?" David said loudly.

Mab’s face went from rage to shock; it took her a moment to regain her voice. David started to argue about my last statement when his mother hushed him.

Mab looked at me strangely when she said. "David…leave; I wish to have a minute with Melabeth."

David started to say. "No, I think I should…"

I interrupted him. "David listen to your mother; you wanted us to talk, so, let us."

Mab added before David could talk back. "You said she wouldn’t hurt me. Are you afraid to leave me alone with her?"

David let out a huff of air, and then said with emotional exertion. "She wouldn’t hurt you. Fine for you to talk, but I disagree with both of you about her being in my life."

David stomped down the hall, back into the same room that his sisters were in. The door slammed, and now it was just me, Mab and Carrie eavesdropping.

Mab took a moment before she spoke. "So, if you truly feel that you shouldn’t be around my son, why are you still hanging around with him?"

I said, without thinking. "I need his help."

Mab asked. "Help with what? What are you leading my son into?"

"I can't really talk about that."

"I see, so, you plan on using my son
, involving him in something dangerous, and, most likely, illegal. David is always trying to tell me that Tony is wrong about your kind, that you care about other people, but he is young and easily fooled by a pretty face. You care for nothing but yourself, and, whatever your agenda is, sacrificing David is a price you'll gladly pay."

Mab said all this and never looked away. She stared at me and for a second I was afraid she could see my soul. The worst part was she could be right. My revenge was my number one priority. I was willing to put David into harm's way to meet my goals.

Then again, there was a little bit more to it than that. I wanted to send David away, and I didn’t want to see David get hurt. His help wasn’t the reason that I was willing to put him in harm's way, but it was the way I felt about him. I need him, and that need is why I refused to send him away.

I said,
"David means a great deal to me, and I owe you no other explanation."

And no explanation would have satisfied Mab anyway. Mab was quiet for a second, and then she turned her back to me as she went over to a bookshelf crammed with all kinds of stuff: books, scrolls and more items than I could make out.

As she walked over to the shelf, she said, “Many magic users believe that Necromancers are all evil. I don’t believe that; on that same note, most people believe that vampires are evil. David does not believe that, and that is the problem.”

“I don’t think I understand what you’re saying.” She still had her back turned to me.

She was looking for something on the shelf when she said. “Let me put it to you another way. In David’s mind if he can prove that you’re not evil, then he will know that they could be wrong about him. The problem with this is to prove you are not evil, he has to trust you. Let’s just say…” she took a book off of the book shelf. “That this is not going to happen. Tee loo loo tee.”

With the last set of words I could hear all the doors lock.

I said. “I think I should be going now.”

The witch turned around to face me. There was a look on her face, a wicked look. She was hiding something behind the book in her hands.

I took a step away from the witch and toward the door.

She laughed a villainous laugh. “I don’t think it would be wise for me to let you leave. How will I sleep at night, knowing that my son is running around at night, with a vampire who is using her mind powers to control my son.”

I started to say. “Well, you see… I don’t really have the mind power thing.”

Mab screamed. “LIAR…I will not have you destroy my son.”

With that I could hear David pounding on his door. He was trying to get out of his room but he couldn’t. I could not make out what he was screaming. He was not in harm’s way, I was.

It was time to leave.

I went to the front door and tried to open it. I pulled, and then I pulled harder. I punched the door, and then pulled it as hard as I could. I could not open this door; it must be some kind of magic.

I could hear Mab laughing behind me. What should I do
?  I cannot hurt David’s mother!

I turned to face the witch. “Don’t do this Mab… I don’t want to hurt you.”

Mab dropped the book and revealed what she had been hiding. She had in her hand a medium size wooden cross. It was made of dark wood, and, at first, I didn’t understand why she had it.

My eyes began to hurt from looking at it. It had only been a few seconds and already I had to divert my eyes.

Mab said, “I have been waiting for you and a chance to purge the evil out of David’s life.”

She was starting to piss me off, but I was having a different feeling come over me: heat, I felt heat like I was standing next to a huge bonfire.

I moved away from the heat until I ran into the wall of the house. The heat was getting stronger. I tried to use my second sight but I couldn’t concentrate enough because of all the heat.

I tried to get away from the fire. I slid down the wall trying to get away from the fire.

I ran into a couch, and then shoved it out of my way. I was now screaming in pain; I threw whatever I touched away from me.

I crawled up the walls… I couldn’t see.

My skin was burning; all I could feel was pain. “Please stop, please it HURTS… STOP PLEASE. AAAHHH.”

I could feel the tears falling. I had enough sense to know that I was now huddled into the corner of two walls.

I tucked myself into the smallest ball that I could, but it did not help. The fire was all around me, and I could not open my eyes.

I couldn’t hear anything but my screams. I was in too much pain to even worry about what was coming next.

The pain started to lessen. The only reason I didn’t believe the witch had killed me, is because, if I had died, I think the pain would have left faster. It took a few more seconds before I had stopped screaming and was able to concentrate on what was going on around me.

At first I was confused by all the noise I was hearing. It took me a few more seconds to sort out all the different sounds, and make sense of it all. First there was noise coming from a distance that sounded like someone screaming with a gag on.
I realized it was David and his sisters.

Then the louder and more confusing noise was coming from Mab.

I looked up and could not believe what I was seeing. Carrie was attacking Mab, and it was like nothing I had ever imagined.

The cross that
Mab had held in her hand was now lying on the floor. I guess it had no power unless she was holding it.

Carrie was hitting and pulling Mab's hair. Mab was trying to fight back, but she was unable to get a hold of Carrie. Carrie went from solid to mist and back again over and over. Every time Mab attacked her, her fist would just fly through Carrie harmlessly.

At the same time Carrie would pull her hair and punch or slap Mab in the face. Carrie fought like a girl, but it was enough to take Mab’s attention off of me. So all I had to do was figure out how to get out of this magical madhouse.