Love Bites

Cory opened his eyes to sunlight, then realized that he was awakened because his sister was moving her head in his lap. He ran his hand over her temple and side of her head and was awarded with a smile and her opened eyes.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey yourself.”

She looked around and said, “Where are we?”

“In the van.”

“Um, why?”

“Well now, that’s a good question,” Cory told her. “I was actually hoping you could explain some of it to me.”

“The last thing I remember is being in the tent with Dallas and he told me lily was some kind of monster – a killer. He called her a bloodsucker, I’m not sure why. Then I fell asleep.”

“Do you know how you got cut?”

“No idea. I’m cut?”

“Well, you were. In the neck. I wiped the blood away and there was still a trickle, but later I couldn’t find the cut. I can’t explain it. You had blood all over you. Well, you still do kind of,” he said, pointing at her shirt. “I couldn’t get it all out obviously. Your bra is probably history too, and you’ll want to clean under it. I, uh, figured you’d be more comfortable with that.”

She took his hand and squeezed it, saying, “You’re so good to me.”

“Well, you’re my baby sister,” he said.

She rolled her eyes at him and said, “By minutes, geez. Could the blood belong to Dallas?”

“I don’t know. It could be possible. How do you feel?”

“I’m a little tired, but I feel okay otherwise, I guess,” she said.

Both looked up as Abby said, “Hey hon. You had us worried for a while.”

“Morning,” Kayla said to her. “I’m okay – I think.”

To Cory, Abby asked, “Should we go back?”

Awakened by the talk, Blaine spoke up. “Or take our losses and go home.” A statement, not a question.

“We have to go back. Find out what happened. Pack up our stuff. There would be too many questions if we came home with nothing. And we have no answers to give,” Cory said.

Kayla sat up and said, “Where’s Lily? And Dallas?”

Cory gave her a brief recap of the events prior to their hasty departure.

Kayla then said, “We’re all up now, let’s get going. I need to change – yuck.” She pulled at her blood encrusted shirt and bra.

Blaine started up the van as Abby handed Kayla a bottle of water and a granola bar. “Eat,” Abby told her.

Blaine drove back to the campground in no big hurry. Cory could feel his trepidation because he felt it himself. He could feel the tension in his sister as well, even though she had no memory of the previous night’s events.

The van turned on to the dirt road that wound around the campground and finally pulled into the spot it was parked in the night prior to their midnight flight.

All four got out of the van cautiously, looking around for any possible trouble. Cory walked over to the big tent that was now laying flat and twisted on the ground. There were blood splatters on the tent and larger spots where the blood pooled and soaked into the dirt, causing rust-colored circles to spot the ground. Cory wondered who’s blood it was.

Abby and Blaine went to their tent and started packing their stuff, while Kayla started to head to her tent, but Cory stopped her. “Why don’t you go get my stuff,” he told her, not wanting her to see the blood in her tent.

“Lily’s stuff too?” she asked.

He paused to consider. It shouldn’t have been a question she had to ask, or that he should have had to think about, but things were different after last night. She was different.

Cory wasn’t even sure what she was. He had mixed feeling about her. On one hand, he knew he was in love with her – or was.

The flip side was he was scared witless of her – of it. Finally, he nodded to his sister and said, “It wouldn’t be right to leave it here, now, would it? I… I think she saved you – us.” He sighed deeply.

Kayla reached up and touched his arm. She could see his pain and turmoil.

He smiled and squeezed her hand in silent thanks, then told her, “Pack out tent and I’ll pack yours.”

Kayla took this as acknowledgement that they would get all of the things at their campground, leaving no one’s possessions behind. Until they knew what exactly happened, it was better to cover all the bases.

She walked off, not looking back and Cory took another deep breath to try to strengthen his resolve for what he had to do; knowing what he’d find in the tent. Steeling himself, he walked to the tent his sister and Dallas shared and peered into the open flap.

The front quarter of the tent, or at least what Cory thought of as the front of the round tent, where he found his sister’s head laying, was darker than he expected. At last, that is, until his presence disturbed the mass of flies that had collected on the now dried blood, causing a black whirr in the air. He had to stifle a gag as the bile rose in this throat.

The flies were going to be a problem. He couldn’t shoo them out of the tent and the only thing that came to him was to turn the tent inside out in order to get them out. That or just roll up the tent and the flies would either get out or get squished inside. Either way, Cory had to get everything out of the tent first.

Holding his breath and plugging his nose, he ducked into the tent and pushed stuff out of the opening. Thankfully, there wasn’t much inside, and he wasn’t worried about getting things dirty since most of it was covered in dried blood as it was. What was a little dirt on top of that?

Getting everything pushed outside before his breath ran out, Cory popped back outside and took a deep breath, cupping his mouth and nose, so as to not inhale the flies that followed him outside. Being able to breathe again, he quickly gathered up the belongings, setting aside the things soaked in blood. The mats got rolled and the sleeping bags stuffed into their bags, regardless of blood. They could be cleaned later, if at all.

He quickly removed the poles from the tent and turned it inside out, freeing the trapped flies. It too would need to be cleaned later.

As he finished pushing the tent into the sack, Blaine came over to help. “All of our stuff is packed and, in the van,” he told Cory. “Abby is helping Kayla. What do you need?”

“Get me a bag to put the bloody things in, would you?”

Blaine left to go get a bag and Cory finished up with the packing. As Blaine came back, Cory traded him the empty plastic bags for the two packs to put in the van. Cory stuffed the few clothes and a pillowcase into the empty bag, picked up the tent and walked to the van. The rest of their stuff was inside already, and Blaine and the two girls were waiting inside, apprehensive for him to finish.

“Any sign of Lily or Dallas?” Kayla asked no one in particular.

Blaine and Abby shook their heads no, and Cory said, “Expect for the blood outside, there’s no sign of either one. Who knows where they might have gone.”

Kayla gave Cory a look and said, “You’re worried about her, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” he replied solemnly. “And scared.”

“For her, or of her?” Abby asked.

Looking into her bright green eyes he replied, “Both.”

“We should get going,” Blaine said. “We should get back down the mountain.”

With silent agreement, they all got into the van and headed home. Cory handed Kayla a small bundle of items. She looked at him and he said, “A washcloth, a clean bra and t-shirt. To change into.”

She said, “Thank you,” and picked up a water bottle and moved to the rear seat.

Blaine glanced into the rearview mirror and Abby quickly twisted it upwards. “Hey, I need that to drive,” he said.

“Make do without it until she’s finished, perv,” she said to him.

“Hey, I wasn’t trying…” he started, but simply sighed instead. He took up Abby’s hand and said, “Jealous redhead.” She giggled.

Sitting in front of Kayla, Cory heard her strip off her t-shirt and bra, and wet the washcloth. The sound of scrubbing came next, followed by “yuck.”

After scrubbing the blood off of her, she put on the clean bra and t-shirt and said, “Okay, much better.” She moved back up to the seat occupied by Cory, placing the soiled clothes at her feet. She took Cory’s hand in her and said, “Thank you. I needed that.”

The ride home was quiet and uneventful with little talking amongst them as they drove there. They were in no hurry, so the trip took longer to get down than to get up, although was all downhill.

A few blocks away from the twin’s house, Cory started to have the feelings of impeding danger. “Kayla, I want you to go home with Abby,” he told her.

“Why?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I just have a bad feeling that something’s wrong.”

“Then I should stay with you.”

“No, you’ve been through enough already. You stay with Abs, and I’ll call you once I know everything’s okay. Okay?”

“No, it’s not okay,” Kayla replied angrily.

“Good, now that we’ve settled that,” he replied grinning, “take care of her Abby. I’ll let you know what’s going on once I know. Call me if you hear or learn anything.”

Kayla sat there looking at him sullenly.

“Stop pouting, my sweet sister. I’m trying to keep you safe. It’s what good brothers do.”

“And who’s going to keep you safe?”

“Uh…”

“That’s what I thought. You need me.”

“No, what I need is for you to be safe. Being with Abigail will keep you safe. That’s what’s important to me,” Cory said to her.

“What about what I need?” she asked in a whisper.

The van pulled up to the curb outside the twin’s house. “I’m not the one who got hurt last night,” he said, kissing her on the cheek. “I’ll be okay, trust me.”

“The last time you told me that I got my arm broke,” she said petulantly.

“See,” he said brightly, “I’ll be fine.” To Abby he said, “Keep her safe. I’ll call you every hour to give you updates, so have your phones on.”

Cory got up and gave Blaine’s shoulder a squeeze and Abigail a peck on the cheek, before heading out the van’s sliding door. He grabbed his pack and shut the door behind him and gave them a wave as Blaine drove away. Cory turned towards his house and walked to the front door, pausing to take a breath before going in and having to face down his mom.

He hadn’t really thought about either the questions his mom was bound to ask, nor the answers to those questions. Guess I’ll play it by ear, he thought.

Opening the door, he called out, “Mom, I’m h…” before his voice fell away. Panic started to coarse through him as he took in the state of his home. It looked like a tornado hit the inside. Things were thrown everywhere in a haphazard way.

His first thought was they had been robbed, but he quickly realized that while things were tossed everywhere, broken, smashed, that is was from rage, not theft.

It then dawned on him that his mom should be home, and if she was when this happened, then whoever did this could have hurt his mom. He went through the downstairs first, yelling for his mom. Each room he went through looked the same – destroyed. His last room downstairs was the kitchen, which, like the rest of the house, had all of its contents thrown about. Closing the fridge door, he noticed a note stuck to the door. Whoever did this was out to destroy stuff and wasn’t paying attention to the little things.

The note said:

Kids, at Barbara’s, will be home before our Sunday dinner. Call if you need anything.

Mom XOXOXO

Not taking anything for granted, he went upstairs to finish looking for his mom. Whoever trashed the house lost some of their anger after destroying the downstairs.

Cory paused by his room, noting things were thrown about but nothing destroyed. Going to the study, the books were pulled off the shelves, but nothing else was touched.

Going back to Kayla’s room, he opened her door and saw her room hadn’t been touched. Closing the door, he went to the bathroom to look in there. Nothing had been touched, except that written on the mirror in lipstick was:

Beware the bloodsucker

He turned around and was about to head for the stairs when he heard a familiar sound of their back door opening.

His mom had been bugging him to oil the hinges on the door, but he had neglected doing it. Now he was glad he hadn’t oiled them. Someone was either coming or going and he hadn’t seen anyone in the house when he looked.

The door squealed a second time, before closing with a click. Cory stood still. Who could it be? Did Kayla ignore him and come home? Was it his mom coming home? Could it be Lily or Dallas? No one called out or started cursing, so he ruled out Kayla or his mom.

Crap, he thought. That means it’s most likely Lily or Dallas.

“Oh Cory… Kayla… Come out and plaaaaaay…” It was Dallas.

Cory wanted to freeze but he knew he couldn’t or else he might make a liar out of himself and end up dead. As quickly and as quietly as he could, he opened the hall closet and went inside and closed the door behind him silently.

The darkness closed in on him as he stood in the small closet that smelled of old mothballs. Fearing the worst, he could think of nothing to do but wait, so he sank down and sat Indian style. Instead of his life flashing before his eyes, the last six months did.

How could he have missed the signs? Weren’t there things that vampires were supposed to do or not do? Like go out in the daylight? That myth was obviously wrong. Being seen or not seen in mirrors or pictures? He saw Lily in mirrors and had a picture of the two of them in his wallet, so that was wrong too. How about garlic? Both are garlic dip. Another myth down. Can’t touch crosses? Unless someone put the little gold cross that hung on the thin chain onto Lily without touching her with it, there is another myth crossed off the list. Not to mention all the talisman that hung around her neck. He’d seen her touch that cross hundreds of times.

Cory wondered if any of the so-called myths were actually correct. One he thought of that could actually be real was temperature. Lily always seemed cold to the touch. Cory thought she might have been sick. Now he thought she might be dead… or undead. That put a real crimp in his romance and love life. What about aging? Was she only seventeen or did she only look seventeen but was centuries old? A relationship would be impossible since he would grow old, and she wouldn’t. Did it really matter because he very well might die in this closet?

Not really, he thought. He thought about her sudden appearance at doors of the locker room where he swore, one second no one was there, but the next she was there, leaning up against the wall. Was it invisibility? Teleportation? Moving faster than he could see? Turning into a bat, or some gaseous form? He had no idea how she did that.

She answered his unasked questions sometimes. Could she read minds? No, he decided. One myth was hypnotism. Did she ever make him do something he didn’t want to do? She convinced him to do something he wanted to do but didn’t have the nerve to do, but she didn’t hypnotize him to make him do it.

Either he did it willingly or she physically made him do it until he relaxed enough to do it without her encouragement. She didn’t have eyes that glowed red, but they did shine gold at him.

Cory took a deep breath and let it out quietly. At last, he thought about what it took to kill a vampire. A wooden stake to the heart or decapitation was what the stories claimed. Was it true or another false myth? What about Holy water? Would he even need to find out? He hoped not, one way or another.

That hope was dashed as the closet door suddenly opened. He closed his eyes and tensed for his death. He heard the quiet rasp of denim material moving against itself. That would be the last sound he heard.

He sat with his legs crossed, hands resting on his knees loosely, palms up, almost like the yoga pose, in resignation of his fate, hoping it would end quickly so he wouldn’t dwell on the grief it would cause his mother and sister. Especially his sister.

Instead, he felt soft, yet cold hands slide into his. He opened his eyes slowly only to see Lily sitting in front of him Indian style, mirroring him. She was leaned towards him slightly so she could hold his hands. He saw she was smiling slightly.

“Well,” she said, “I guess we need to hold a little palaver, don’t we?”

He looked up into her eyes, which were now her liquid gray, not golden, and he saw a few abrasions on her face as well as a big, ugly purple bruise on her left cheekbone.

His blank look into her eyes told her he didn’t understand. “Sometimes I forget how old I am and use out-of-date terms. I should have said, ‘I guess we need to talk’, yes?”

Cory nodded dumbly. His line of thinking was along the lines of that she could be hurt, and she hadn’t killed him yet. And she was older than seventeen…

“So, I’m sure you’re full of questions, but right now we must keep it short. Dallas has been here twice and will be back. I scared him away just now, but he’ll be back soon. For my, for you, and for Kayla.”

His mouth made a small O at that. She continued, “I don’t know how long we’ll be safe here, so we need to go.” She gently squeezed his hands to reassure him.

“Are you a vampire?” he finally asked, finding his voice. Still looking into his eyes, she slowly nodded. “Are you going to kill me?” he added.

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Oh my God, no. Cory, I love you. In over 300 years I’ve never fallen in love. I owe that to your dad.”

It was his turn to be surprised, and he asked, “You knew my dad?”

“That, my love, is a long story, but the short version is, I met him just before he died… You told me you knew he stayed late to help a girl who had been beaten.” She paused, waiting for him to process that. Finally, he nodded, and she continued. “Well, that girl was me. Some hunters caught up to me and nearly killed me. Your dad stayed to help me. If it weren’t for him, I’d probably be dead, but because of me, he died.

“He moved me so they couldn’t find me, but after he left me, they found him. He wouldn’t tell them where I was, so they killed him. After I was healed enough, I hunted the hunters and killed them for what they did to him. He told me about his own children, his precious twins. You meant the world to him. I promised myself I’d look out for you, to protect you. Guess I didn’t do such a good job, huh?”

“Well, we’re still alive,” was all he could manage.

She smiled and said, “That’s my Cory, always seeing the bright side of things.”

“Who is Dallas? Is he a hunter?”

“In a way. There are actually very few vampires. Some are good, some aren’t. Most of the hunters are humans who look for and try to kill vampires. Sometimes other vampires do the hunter, mostly for sport. Dallas is one of those. I guess I upset someone at some point.”

“So, he was hunting you? Why did he hurt Kayla?”

“Dallas wasn’t sure if I was a vamp or not. I don’t think he was out to kill Kayla, but rather to flush me out if I was a vamp. It worked,” she said.

“Why is he still after us?” Cory asked, confused.

“He’s not, per se. He’s still after me, and he’ll use you two to get to me. I made my promise to no one but myself, so he doesn’t know about it, but I guess he’s using what he guesses is my love for you to think I’ll stay to protect you. It’s funny really. Normally we vampires do not love humans and he know this. How he knows I truly I love you I don’t know…”

“How… how old are you?” Cory stammered.

“Of all the questions you could ask, you ask the one you should never ask a woman.” This caused him to blush. “But my love, if you really want to know, I’ll be 361 on my next birthday.”

“Should I be afraid of you?”

She smiled and said, “Yes. Haven’t you heard the saying, ’Beware of a woman’s scorn’?” and gave him a wink. His mouth hung open at her answer. “That was a joke honey. Have I ever given you a reason to be afraid of me?”

He thought about this for a moment. Gold flashing eyes, forcefulness, long fangs. But did any of it really make him afraid? He shook his head no.

“Good. Now we really need to go. I called your mom already and told her we’d be late, so she can stay with her friend longer. We’ll figure out a way to explain the house later. Robbery or vandals maybe.”

He nodded dumbly again. With amazing grace, Lily stood from her seated position, still holding his hand.

Of all the things he could be thinking right now, he chose to wonder how she managed to stand without using her hands from that position.

“Shall we?” she asked, gently tugging on his hands.

He uncrossed his legs and pulled himself up using her outstretched hands. Even with all his weight pulling her, she didn’t move an inch. His legs were wobbly, but he wasn’t sure why. It was either his fading adrenaline rush, or his legs fell asleep sitting there for… how long? It felt like hours, but it couldn’t have been more than ten minutes. In that case, it was him coming down that was making his legs feel like rubber.

Lily felt him buckle slightly and letting go of one hand, put her arm around his waist, holding him up. Still holding one of her hands, he put his now free hand around her waist, and they started moving towards the stairs like two lovers just out for a stroll.

At the top of the stairs, his hand slipped from her waist, falling a few inches before he found the strength to stop the movement, countering gravity.

Lily turned her head to look at him and said, “Why Cory, of all the times you could pick, you pick now to stop being shy and try to feel me up?”

His head jerked around to look at her, then down to his hand now laying across her behind. He just shook his head and instead of moving his hand he gave her rear a squeeze.

She giggled and said, “Now that’s more like it. There’s hope for you yet. Can you walk or do I need to carry you?”

“I’ve made it this far, I don’t need the added indignation of my girlfriend carrying me, thank you.” He let go of her hand and her behind and stood steady for a moment, then took her near hand and said, “Okay, let’s go.”