Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Crystal ❯ Chapter 7

Crystal, Chapter 7:

 

 

“Tell me about Scotland.”

 

Paul and I sat at an outside table at our one burger place in the center of Lockwood. I was eating an ice cream cone and he was scarfing down a burger. For once, I didn't have rehearsal right after school.

 

“It's a beautiful place, you'd love it,” Paul said when he paused to take a breath. “Hills covered in mist, deep lakes, lovely villages. Come home with me and I'll show you.”

 

It was the first mention he'd made of anything like that. “I have school,” I reminded him. “And my parents wouldn't just let me go out of the country.” I took a bite of my cone. “I would love to see your lake, though,” I said.

 

Paul looked up quickly. “My lake?” His voice was wary.

 

“The one you showed us in your pictures.”

 

Paul relaxed. “There are lakes like that all over the north of Scotland,” he said. “Someday I'll bring you there.”

 

I was playing a dangerous game. Not even Grandpa Brown knew about Johnny's connection with the lake. Kenny hadn't known, either, until Johnny had shown him. But Uncle Robert had known. I was willing to bet Uncle Robert had learned about the vampires' resting places when he lived in Scotland. Therefore, more than likely Paul and Michael knew about it, too. But Paul didn't know that I knew vampires slept under the waters of their special lakes. Johnny wanted me to find out if any vampires still slept beneath their lochs, but if Paul knew the answer to that, he wasn't sharing.

 

“I wonder what is was like,” I remarked, “back then, when vampires still existed among our family. How could whole villages have a vampire who lived among them and not know about it, except for the few who were in on the secret.”

 

Paul glanced around, making sure no one was listening, before he leaned in closely. “You had a vampire who lived among you for centuries and no one knew it, except your hunters, who couldn't catch him. They can be very hard to spot, unless they want you to find them.”

 

That was an understatement. “How do you spot them?” I asked, curious to see how much Paul really knew.

 

“There's a way.” Paul pulled his face right next to mine. I felt the tingle before he pressed his lips to my forehead.”

 

“You kiss them?” I deadpanned.

 

“No need to get that close,” Paul murmured, smiling a little. “You'll feel it.”

 

I tried to remember if I had felt Johnny that way when I was little. If I did, I got used to it, and now I didn't notice a tingle at all when we touched. I just noticed the absence of him.

 

“Ah, there's Michael,” Paul said, waving his arm and leaning back in his chair.

 

The other Scottish cousin made his way across the street from the town hall and took a seat next to us. I didn't like Michael very much. He was always serious, and he seemed angry all the time. If Paul's plan was to woo me, what was Michael's? For someone who was supposedly on vacation, he spent a lot of his time alone doing who knew what. I was glad he chose not to hang around our house. Michael was the one I had seen in my vision, not Paul. I didn't trust him near my little brothers.

 

“Did you get it?” Paul asked.

 

Michael nodded, and held up a handful of copied papers. “No thanks to the woman who runs the place. She hovered over me the entire time.”

 

“Get what?” I asked.

 

Michael turned his cold brown eyes on me. “Information on Jonathan Pryce,” he said. “For a town who claimed to know nothing about him, I found quite a bit of information. He's lived in Lockwood under several different names.”

 

I was surprised. We weren't trying to hide anything, but I honestly believed that since Johnny was supposedly `dead,' the Scottish cousins would have no reason to continue their search. What did it matter who he was in his past lives? “What did you find out?” I asked curiously. Years ago, my mother had been on the same quest, and she had unearthed three separate identities for Johnny.

 

“Your hunters were incompetent,” he replied, turning away from me. “They caught the one but not the other.” He looked at his brother. “There was nothing in the town records to indicate who this Jonathan Pryce or Jack Pryce or Jack Smythe was originally. Those were not their true names.”

 

My face paled, and I finished my cone, using my napkin to wipe my mouth and disguise my consternation. I hadn't realized they were looking to find out who Johnny was when he lived in Scotland. Eoin. He was Eoin. I knew his village and his loch as well as I knew my own town, but only in my dreams. I had no idea where it was in reality, and neither did Johnny.

 

“So we're still not sure whose blood they carry,” Paul guessed. “Is it the Pryce vampire's—or another's?”

 

I knew the answer to that one, too. Both. Kenny and my brothers, and Paul and Michael as well, carried blood from the same village where Johnny originated. I didn't. Most of the Smythes didn't, either. When the ship had left Scotland in the mid-sixteen hundreds, colonists from all over Scotland had been on board. Some had escaped villages torn apart by war—or the vampire purges disguised as war—some were looking for a better life. But if Paul was right, most of the colonists who had family blood weren't even aware of it. The only reason we had grown strong in the blood here in Lockwood was because the original colonists intermarried, attracted by the very same blood.

 

Michael glanced meaningfully at me. “We'll talk about it later,” he said to his brother. “I'll meet you at home in an hour.”

 

Paul shrugged, and offered me his hand to stand up. “Then I'll just take Crystal home first.”

 

“You're still looking for information on the vampire?” I asked, as he drove me home. “What difference does it make if he's dead now?”

 

“It's not just about the vampire,” Paul said. “It's about the bloodline. Your branch here in the States is an unknown factor. Which bloodline do you carry? It's not as if we can take a sample and analyze it and say, `yes, they're from such-and-such a village originally.' It doesn't work that way.”

 

“Michael doesn't like you talking to me about this stuff, does he?”

 

“Michael is overly cautious by nature. He'll warm up to you once he realizes.”

 

“Realizes what?” I had a feeling I knew what Paul was going to say. “Paul, I have a boyfriend, remember? Don? I'm not your girlfriend.”

 

Paul smiled. “We'll see,” he said.

 

My mother was waiting at the door when Paul dropped me off. “Betty called a little while ago,” she said. “Betty. She said to tell you to warn Johnny that Michael Brown has been nosing around the archives.” Betty was an uneasy ally. She knew about Johnny, but she was scared of him. I gave her credit for trying to give us a heads-up.

 

“I know,” I said. “He's researching Jonathan Pryce. Paul says they're trying to figure out which strain of the blood Lockwood has.”

 

“What could that possibly matter?” my mother said.

 

“I don't know,” I replied.

 

There were too many secrets. My secret about my vision of my brothers being kidnapped. Johnny's secret that he was still alive. The Scottish cousins' secret about why they were really here. Something had to give.

 

I didn't think it would be me. That night, I waited in vain for Johnny to come. I finally fell into a fitful sleep a few hours before dawn, hungry, tired, and frustrated.

 

We had a dry run of our concert during school the next day, and the show for the parents was scheduled for that night. I stood in my place between Scott Ormsly and Katie Powell. Scott had a crush on me. I'd known it since grammar school. He showed it by treating me like one of the guys, joking with me, fake-punching my arm, things like that. Katie on the other side just rolled her eyes and sang. Usually it didn't faze me, but today I couldn't take my eyes off the slight movements of his throat whenever he opened his mouth. Hunger surged through me until I thought I would faint.

 

Finally, our segment was over. We had to wait behind the stage for the main concert to finish before we all went out again for the last number. I had to sit down. Some big, bad vampire I was going to make!

 

“Are you okay?” Scott sat down next to me and handed me a cup of water. It brought back memories of my trip to the mall with Johnny.

 

“Yeah, just—hungry.” My smile faltered as I looked up at him. I wanted—no, needed his blood! “Can I put my head on your shoulder for a minute?”

 

“Yeah, sure.” Scott moved closer.

 

“Line up!” I heard the call and felt the bodies around us move to obey.

 

“Can we just skip the finale?” I whispered. “I think I'm going to be sick.”

 

Scott nodded—I felt his shoulder move underneath me. He wasn't family, thank goodness. Over the years, Lockwood had grown from a tiny rural town to a fairly mid-sized residential one, and our schools had swelled to accommodate all the newcomers.

 

I turned my face into his shoulder. The blood was so close! I pressed my lips to the spot where his neck and his shoulder joined, trying to think of some way to get to his blood. With one hand I scrabbled on the chair behind me, searching for something, anything, to make the cut. There was nothing. I sucked at his skin, and even bit down gently, but unless I was willing to commit to hurting him, I couldn't bite through his skin to get to the blood underneath. Tears of frustration pooled in my eyes and spilled over.

 

“Hey, hey,” Scott said in amusement. “I thought you were sick.”

 

He didn't move away, didn't realize what I was trying to do. I should have been grateful for that, but I was too hungry. “I want—“ I mumbled into his neck, stopping myself before I told him exactly what I wanted. “Please.”

 

He turned his head towards me and kissed me, and I bit his lip. I couldn't help myself. It must have hurt him, but he didn't complain too much. I latched on like a leech and sucked at his lip for the few drops of blood I was able to get until we both heard the applause from out front, and our classmates started filtering back into the room. I broke apart, wiping my mouth with my hand, and stared at Scott with wide eyes. His bottom lip was red and slightly swollen, making him look like he had just been in a fight—or had just been madly kissed!

 

Ellie pushed her way through the crowd in the hallway until she found me coming out of the stage entrance with the other kids in the choir. “Where were you?” she whispered. “You weren't in your place for the last song. Is everything all right?”

 

She knew me too well. My eyes filled with tears again, and I dragged her into the girls' bathroom and locked the door behind us. “I tried to drink Scott's blood and now he thinks I like him!” I said all in a rush.

 

Ellie gaped at me. “Why?” she asked.

 

My shoulders sagged as I leaned against the sink. “I was hungry,” I admitted. “For blood. I couldn't help myself.”

 

Ellie hugged me, which made me cry even more. “Honey, you should have come to me,” she said softly. “You know I would have helped.” She let me go and dug inside her pocketbook. “I'm always there for you, Crystal.” She quickly did something with her hands, then cupped them together and held them out to me. “Blood-of-my-blood,” she said, repeating the ritual phrase Johnny and I had taught her long ago. Johnny had told us we couldn't share blood unless he said it was all right. But Johnny wasn't here, and Ellie had already cut her hand. The blood welled up in the center, beckoning me. I bent my head and accepted Ellie's offering.

 

Ellie was family, and her blood finally satisfied the ache that had been steadily gnawing at me for days, weeks. I couldn't make her wound disappear like Johnny would have been able to do, but it stopped bleeding on its own soon after I stopped drinking.

 

“What am I going to do about Scott?” I asked, as we both tried to make ourselves presentable. My face was streaked with tears, and Ellie was rinsing her hand in the sink.

 

“He doesn't know you were actually trying to drink his blood, does he?” Ellie asked.

 

“No,” I gave a small laugh. “He must think I'm a kinky kisser, though.”

 

We both smiled.

 

“Let him think whatever he wants, but Crystal, you'd better be careful. Tell Johnny what happened. He can deal with Scott, if necessary.”

 

I stopped smiling. Johnny's way of dealing with Scott would be to kill him. “Don't say anything, Ellie,” I said. “I don't want to make it worse than it already is.”

 

“I understand,” Ellie said, as we unlocked the door and walked out. Most of the kids had gone home, and Ellie and I both had missed our bus.

 

“Crystal!” We both looked up. It was Scott, waving and running from the other end of the parking lot. Wonderful. My new beau.

 

“Do you need a ride home?” He stopped, out of breath. Ellie eyed his swollen lip and grinned.

 

“I—no, I see my ride now,” I said. Paul's car was just pulling into the parking lot. I wondered if he had gone to my house and, seeing that I hadn't gotten off the bus, backtracked to the school to find me. Paul pulled up, and I got into the car, motioning for Ellie to get into the back seat.

 

“Thanks,” I said. We left Scott standing on the sidewalk, looking puzzled and a little lost.

 

“Was that him? Your boyfriend, Don?” Paul asked.

 

Ellie leaned forward. “Don?”

 

I turned and gave her my best keep quiet look. “No, that was Scott.”

 

“Her other boyfriend,” Ellie said helpfully.

 

We dropped Ellie off at her front door. “Good luck with your concert tonight!” she called as we drove off.

 

I'd forgotten all about the concert. My parents would be there. So would Paul. So would Scott. So would Johnny, I was sure of it. Wonderful. Just wonderful.