I staggered to stay up with him, frustrated we had to stop talking. Drones? Sterile vamps? Did this have anything to do with the venom dealer?
“Later, I’ll tell you everything. Let’s get to the room and get some rest. We’re leaving at daybreak.”
He opened the door and left me standing in the hall. The vomit odor spilled out of the room, I staved off the urge to heave as Luke’s snoring followed the sound of the bathroom door closing. I plugged my nose and entered the room, headed straight for my toiletries. I sprayed everything down with body spray and wiped my hands with anti-bacterial lotion. Dad’s muffled voice could be heard through the wall, apparently talking to his boss.
I kicked off my shoes, put on my jammies, and crawled under the covers, everything hitting me hard. Sam hadn’t texted at all and I just wanted to hear someone cared, anyone. I plugged in my earbuds and cranked on my trance music. Today was quite possibly the worst day of my life.
Luke and Dad slept the entire night while I lay awake, thinking. Every time I almost fell asleep, Alora’s voice cackled in the recesses of my brain, haunting me that I hadn’t gotten the resurrection instructions to save Katie and that she’d erased Nicholas’s mind.
I couldn’t believe Dad had known about vampires all along and had a job where he hunted them, of all things. But my troubles grew to insurmountable levels now that the L.A. fang gang had supposedly tagged me. Though the vamps could have smelled Dad’s scent, with the talisman, they couldn’t smell me. And I’d escaped before and they never followed me to Scotts Valley. But for my protection, Dad would insist I come with him to Tulsa. Somehow I had to convince him I was safe in Scotts Valley. Maybe if he knew about the talisman, he’d relax. I had to figure out something and quick.
If I left Scotts Valley, I could quite possibly lose Nicholas forever.
On the ride home the next day, I watched Dad like he was a lit piece of dynamite. With my iPhone, I tracked our location to make sure he wasn’t bolting for the airport and a flight to Oklahoma instead of home. He’d relaxed from the night before and his newfound calm scared me. What did his boss say on the phone exactly? Visions of the vamp protection guys dressed in black, snatching us out of our beds and stealing us away to Tulsa in the middle of the night riddled my thoughts. Would he do that to us without warning? He needed to be convinced beyond doubt there wasn’t a vamp problem in Scotts Valley. That we could live there and not be afraid—all with Phil’s excellent slaying skills of course.
Once I deemed we were on our way home, I popped in my earbuds and plotted my future as weedy fields zoomed by. Not only were there concerns of moving, but Nicholas’ memories needed restoration, too. Yet again, something else I needed to beg Scarlett to help with. I could already hear her shutting me down, that he wasn’t crucial to the final plan, just like Katie and everything else I needed or wanted.
For a quick moment, I peeked at Luke. He lay tucked in a ball on the back seat. I unblocked my feelings barrier just enough to see if he was improving, to slam it shut again before I lost my breakfast. Whatever racked his body fought with a vengeance against his immune system and didn’t fight fair. I had a date with huge doses of vitamin C once we got home.
We finally hit Highway 1, cruising along the Pacific Ocean, and relief flooded me. Home. After this horrific and crazy weekend, we were finally home.
Dad pulled into the garage and helped Luke get out of the car. I took the silent cue to unpack and remain invisible if at all possible. I’d successfully created a leaning tower of suitcases in the living room when Dad walked down the stairs.
“I think Luke is finally improving,” he said and motioned toward the garage. “I need to show you something.”
He walked over to the workbench and pulled out a key from his pocket to unlock one of the workbench drawers; one I never really noticed was locked in the past. He opened it up and reached deep inside. Suddenly, the table top next to the drawer folded down on itself to reveal a metal door on the floor underneath. It slid open and gave way to stairs going down into what looked like a basement.
“What?” I asked breathlessly, my eyes practically bugging out of their sockets.
“Come on.”
Cement stairs led down to a lit room below the garage. I followed closely behind Dad as fear and curiosity bristled down my legs. Once we reached the ground floor, he pressed a button on the stairwell that closed the hatch above us.
“What is this place?”
“It’s my office,” Dad said with pride.
My eyes scanned the humble room around us: an immaculately clean desk, black armchair, up-to-date computer, and lamp adorned the work area.
Dad took a deep breath and swept out his hand. “Behold. My work for the past fifteen years.”
He flicked another switch and my eyes were drawn to several sliding doors that revealed a patchwork quilt of papers and pictures covering every panel. After a moment of visually dissecting the hodgepodge, I realized I was looking at some sort of collection of people. Pictures, dates, whereabouts, and current status—living or dead—were clearly notated along with a number. One panel contained a giant map of the world and little pins with numbers were scattered across the continents.
“Holy cannoli.” My throat became dry when my eyes zeroed in on the guy with a number one next to his picture. Cain. This wasn’t any grouping of people. We were looking at a vampire family tree.
Dad moved aside the panel to reveal another behind it. He located Slide and put a red X over his face before he moved him to a different panel with at least a hundred X’ed out vampires. Then he left a sticky note for the other dusted vamp with a big question mark.
“That’s how I track the exterminated ones, which doesn’t happen very often.” Dad pointed to a cluster of X’ed out vamps. “You’d think with their mentality and lifestyle, they’d be fighting amongst themselves all the time, but they don’t. Only one rogue hunter that we know of has been responsible for all these killings and these.” He pointed to one grouping, then his finger lingered on faces I recognized. Justin from my high school, and the rest of Alora’s coven: the twins: Angelina and Bettina, Toth, Adrian, Roland and Kim. I hadn’t known their names before this. All deceased. Phil’s picture was in the bunch.
“Phil,” I breathlessly forced out.
Dad put his hand on my shoulder. “Yes, honey. We know who did it.”
I swallowed and traced the red line over his tanned smiling face, thankful he wasn’t being tracked on this wall anymore.
“Who did it?” My heart galloped in anticipation of the answer as I quickly scanned the rest of the faces. Nicholas wasn’t on any of these lists.
“They call him Dirty Harry. Even his own kind can’t seem to find him until it’s too late. He never leaves survivors.”
Dad pointed to a nighttime shot of a person with sunglasses peering out from a dark alleyway. The description underneath read,
Dirty Harry: brown hair, green or blue eyes, early to mid 20’s. Believed to be responsible for large exterminations in California, New York, Florida, Montana, Texas, and Mexico. Possibly from Delagrecha faction II.
I chewed the inside of my lip to hold back a smile. “So, he’s a vampire, too?”
“He has to be. There’s no other way to explain his powers. What’s strange is why he’d work on our side. He has to know about the ET unit and our work. And ironically, since I’ve moved us here, most of the exterminations have happened right in this area. Vamps come north and never return home. Scotts Valley, until just recently, has been the safest vamp-free place to live. But the most recent issues with your classmates had us a little worried they’d captured Dirty Harry.” Dad’s hand swept back to Phil and Justin’s faces.
I blinked hard. Nowhere in Nicholas’ journal did he ever mention my father and his involvement with his extraterrestrial unit. His choice to live here was because of his commitment to protect me. Vampires flocked here in attraction to me. Maybe they were here to turn him in instead.
I slid Nicholas’ panel aside and went back to Cain. Below him were five vampires, all bearing a roman numeral and their special powers. These were the royals.
I. Myhail Volynski:
genius, telepathic, telekinetic.
II. Rachel Delagrecha:
blue-eyed females are stronger than males, shape-shifting, can fly, telepathic, memory tampering.
III. Sapphira Fotenos (deceased):
element control, hypnosis.
VI. Katherine Polkinghorn (deceased):
shape-shifting, visual illusions.
V. Helena Goehring:
mind control.
My chest jolted when I spotted Preston’s name directly under Rachel. He’d been sired directly by Rachel herself.
Ia. Preston Kendrick:
born: unknown, birthed: unknown, whereabouts: unknown, status: docile. Married to human Alora Kendrick (Wright)—born: August 28, 1955, died: March 22, 1977, last known whereabouts: Dallas, Texas.
I closed my gapping mouth and regrouped. If he saw I recognized someone on this board other than Phil, he’d grill me big time.
“How did you get a picture of Cain?” I quickly asked.
Dad looked at me with apprehension. “How do you know about Cain actually?”
My eyes shot to Cain’s picture again. “I asked where vampires came from and Phil said Cain. That it was a deal with the serpent for immortality.”
“Hmmm…” Dad said. “Surprising he knows. Most don’t.”
I gulped, hating I’d lied and couldn’t mention anything about Nicholas. I finally channeled him a little peace so he’d move on. His shoulders relaxed.
“We had an informant.” He pointed to Darin Applegate.
V22. Daren Applegate:
perpetually 22, dark hair, kind eyes, a red X over his handsome face.
I studied him for a moment, wondering how he met his maker. By Nicholas perhaps? Or by accident? He didn’t appear evil in the slightest.
“Cain found out he was a human sympathizer and we’ve had trouble getting another ever since. It’s difficult since Cain’s a mind reader and only keeps his most trustworthy followers close to him.”
A twinge of pity swept over me as I glanced at Darin’s picture. There were more good vamps in the world than I’d realized. But as if someone poured ice water down my spine, my thoughts turned to what Cain would do should he ever got his hands on Nicholas. Was Nicholas still on the vampire most wanted list? I fought back a tear as I remembered his amnesia.
“So, who are they?” I asked to distract myself, while pointing to the next grouping—people who looked more average and not so model perfect. “More vampires?”
“That’s our Recon, Undercover Ops, and Special Forces groups working around the globe to find and eradicate Cain.”
“Oh,” I gulped, wondering if he knew the secret. That Cain’s death meant every last one of the vampires died, including my friends. “Why?”
“Because, Julia. All vampires must die.”
“Oh,” was all I could say as grief struck my heart. I didn’t want to pry deeper for the real reason, in case he didn’t know already. No use giving him extra fuel when I needed Cain to stay alive for Phil and Nicholas’ sakes.
Maybe the fortuneteller had it wrong. Maybe Dad was the one who would end Cain’s life, though he really didn’t have any gifts that I knew of. The thought sent shockwaves through my trembling hands. First, Dad being in such tremendous danger, and second, the possibility of losing the vamps I loved. I couldn’t let that happen. Sure, Dad’s ET unit could kill off the younger trouble-making vamps and make the world a safer place like Nicholas had, but they couldn’t be gunning for Cain. How after his praise of Dirty Harry and Darin could he turn on them and be so cruel? No. This couldn’t happen and I had to stop them.
“You all right?” Dad put his hand on my shoulder, which infused me with concern.
“No,” I said, using mind over matter to keep my knees from buckling.
The claustrophobia from being in such a small enclosure suddenly made breathing strenuous. Dad led me to the stairway and pressed the button. The breeze wafted down and I inhaled deeply before taking a step upwards.
“I think it’s time to go. I’ve shown you too much as it is.”
I made a mental note of the secret buttons’ locations. Were there cameras? Would he know if I came in here without his permission? My glance swept across the interior once more before hauling myself up the stairs. No other way in or out other than the stairs. Quite the conundrum.
“Before your mom’s accident, I’d worked as an IT administrator with the Feds.” Dad pulled his lips in a straight line as he closed the hatch. “A friend in the Extra Terrestrial unit told me of a tip the local authorities couldn’t follow up on. A woman, who remained anonymous, had called in and reported she witnessed a man apparently drinking blood from a woman’s neck at the park. She described a child, and the two other men who cleaned up the scene and took the child with them.”
I gulped and looked away, the vision still hard to stomach. The two men were Nicholas and Preston.
Dad pulled me into a hug. “I was afraid to talk about it. I never wanted to hurt or scare you. Do you remember what happened?”
I shook my head. “Bits and pieces, but not much.”
“I’m sorry I never said anything.” He kissed the top of my head. “I worried for so long they’d hurt you, but once you started talking again, I thought it best not to bring up the bad memories. I have a friend at the ET you can talk to who fully understands.”
“It’s fine. I’m okay with it now.”
He looked in my eyes and pursed his lips. “You’ve been so brave.”
“I don’t know about being brave …”
“You’ve encountered several vampires, lived to tell about it, and aren’t cowering in the corner. That’s the highest form of bravery I know of.”
“Well.” I faked a chuckle. “I was rescued when mom died and Phil wasn’t just any vampire—”
neither is Nicholas.
“We left L.A. immediately after I found out the truth. Scotts Valley just happened to have the lowest incidences of vampire crime and where your Aunt Josephine lived. That was the real reason we moved. AnneMarie’s family said running showed my guilt, but L.A. was crawling with vamps. I had to get you out.”