I didn’t answer, leading her down the steps and across the parking lot to the silver minivan in the darkest corner. The side door slid open as we reached it, and Eli got out, his dark eyes running hungrily over my new friend.
“Hello, sweet thing,” he drawled.
“Wh-who are you?” Tess asked fearfully.
“I’m your future,” Eli said as I hooked my arm around Tess’s throat and felt her go limp.
* * *
I knelt on the bed and leaned over the unconscious girl. “Wakey, wakey.”
Tess’s lids flickered, and she stared up at me, her eyes round with terror. “Please, don’t hurt me. Please, let me go home.”
“Sorry, can’t do that. Eli’s taken quite a fancy to you.”
Eli entered the room and came over to sit on the bed on Tess’s other side. “You did well, my pet,” he said to me as he smiled down at Tess. He reached across her to snag my shirt and pull me to him. His kiss was hard and punishing, the only way he liked them. Excitement flared in my chest at the raw lust in his eyes.
He released me to give the girl his full attention. “You’re a pretty thing, aren’t you?”
Tess whimpered. “Please…”
He laughed and leaned over her. “I love it when they beg.”
Tess’s eyes widened, and she bucked against him, her lips parting in a scream as Eli showed her his fangs. I could smell her terror, and it only fed my own hunger.
I grabbed her arm and latched on to her wrist as screams filled the room. Sweet, warm blood flooded my mouth and hit the back of my throat…
I choked and sat up, gasping for air. My stomach rolled violently, and I gagged on the bile rising in my throat. I almost fell out of bed in my rush to the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before I started to vomit.
Tears ran down my face as the retching turned to sobs. I flushed the toilet and wiped my face, but the tears continued to flow. In my head, I could hear the girl’s screams, and I clapped my hands over my ears, trying to block them out.
“It wasn’t me. It wasn’t me,” I chanted over and over as I was forced to relive the girl’s horrifying last hours. I sank down on the toilet, rocking, with my arms wrapped tightly around me. But nothing could make the images go away, not until my soul had been flayed open for the evil in my past.
It was the same after every dream, each one about a different victim. The vamhir demon was dead, but I was still a prisoner, forced to bear the weight of all those murders, all those lives taken in such a gruesome manner.
When the shaking stopped, I stood weakly and splashed cold water on my face, not caring that my hair got wet in the process. I leaned against the vanity and brushed my teeth. Then I went to the dresser and pulled a thick leather-bound journal from the bottom drawer. I sat on the bed with the journal and a pen and opened it to a new page.
My fingers trembled as I began to write.
Tess Andrews, 16
Henry Ford High School
Detroit, Michigan 2002
…
I didn’t stop until I had recorded every memory of Tess’s last night alive. I wrote about singling her out in the school gym because she was exactly Eli’s type, and how I’d easily befriended her and lured her outside. We’d taken her to the house Eli had procured for us, and the two of us killed her after Eli had played with her for hours. Before the sun came up, he’d made me bury her deep in a corner of the backyard. Eli had been fastidious about covering his tracks, which meant I’d buried hundreds of bodies over the years. Tess could still be there, alone in that hole, with her family always wondering what had happened to their little girl.
The page was wet in places by the time I finished writing, and I laid down the pen to wipe my eyes. The screaming in my head had faded away, and I lay back wearily against the pillows, feeling drained.
I’d started the journal a month ago, and it served two purposes. After each dream, I wrote down everything I could remember about the victim and how they’d died. I couldn’t talk to anyone about these things, but writing them down helped me come to terms with what I – what the vampire had done.
My second reason for the journal was not for me. Someday, when it was full and there were no more victims to remember, I planned to type out the names, places, and dates and send them anonymously to the authorities, along with the locations of the bodies we’d buried. I couldn’t change what had happened to those people, but maybe I could give their families some closure. It was more than I could do for my own family.
Thinking about Marie and my parents brought on a fresh wave of misery, and my chest felt like it was gripped in a vise.
“God, I miss them so much,” I whispered past the lump in my throat.
Loneliness threatened to swallow me, and I wished there was someone I could talk to. My first thought was of Sara, but I would not burden my friend with this. Sara had been through her own nightmares, and she’d spent the last few months taking care of me. She needed this trip with Nikolas, but she’d be on the next plane home if she knew how unhappy I was.
“Call me anytime.”
It surprised me that I would think of Roland – a werewolf – at a time like this, and I thought about his visit a week ago. I was dismayed when I’d opened the door to see him, but I’d ended up enjoying his company, and I’d even felt a little disappointed when he left. Maybe it was because I was alone here too much, or maybe Roland was easy to talk to and his smile made me forget the differences between us. I could see now why Sara spoke so fondly about him.
He’d dropped into the diner for lunch twice this week, and both times, Brenda had seated him in my section. I suspected she was trying to do a little matchmaking, and I didn’t bother to tell her it was a wasted effort. I could see why she liked him, though. He was funny, outgoing, and gorgeous, without a hint of arrogance. A lethal combination.
I felt the sting of regret and sighed. There was no sense going there. He was what he was, and that would never change. It didn’t matter that I liked him despite him being a werewolf. If he ever discovered the truth about me, he’d look at me with disgust and contempt. He certainly wouldn’t be bringing me coffee again.
I reached for my cell phone on the night table and scrolled through my short contact list. Jordan’s name was at the top, and I thought about calling her before I realized how early it was in Los Angeles. She’d told me to call her anytime, but it would be selfish to wake her, considering the late nights she put in for her job. Instead, I texted her, knowing it would be a few hours before she replied.
Hey, how’s it going? Kill any demons lately?
I laid the phone down, and I was startled when it vibrated less than a minute later.
Hey. U ok?
I texted back. Bad dreams. The usual. Why are you up?
Stakeout, she replied. I’d call, but I have to keep quiet.
Understand, I said.
Must have been a bad one. Hate that UR alone.
I smiled sadly. Just nice to know you’re there.
U sure UR ok?
Yes, I wrote back. Just feeling a little needy. Sorry.
Never be sorry for needing a friend, she said. I’ll call U later. Ok?
Sounds good.
I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling until the silence of the apartment pressed down on me. Rolling out of bed, I put the journal away and went to shower. It was too early to go anywhere, but I couldn’t lie there wallowing in misery a moment longer.
Roland
I padded through the trees, moving quickly over the uneven ground. Ahead of me, a fox darted across my path, and above me, the birds were silent in the branches. A large predator was in their midst, and they would hide until I moved on.
The faint tang of the ocean tickled my nose, and I veered off in a new direction, away from the cliffs. I didn’t particularly like being in this area after what had happened to Sara here last year, but I wanted to be as far as possible from the Knolls after my mother told me a dozen more wolves had arrived yesterday, half of them unmated. The Knolls were getting far too crowded and it was only going to get worse.
It wasn’t that I had anything against the visiting females. I was sure they were nice people, and some of them were probably in no hurry to mate either. But like Pete, most wolves were resigned to their fate. Mating ensured the survival of our species since only mated pairs could have children. I understood that and I wanted to have a kid someday, but not at eighteen.