Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Vampire Summer ❯ Family Mysteries ( Chapter 13 )

 

 

I lay on my stomach on the beach blanket enjoying the feeling of the sun on my back. Crystal splashed in the water with her cousins, while my mother kept an eye on them. Everyone was careful not to mention Sam. If only they knew my problems with Sam paled in comparison to my problems with the vampire.

 

“Dad?” I rolled over so I could see my father, who sat in his beach chair with a towel draped across his knees so he wouldn't get burned. “Was Grandpa Philip from around here?”

 

Dad's eyes turned wary. “What makes you think that?” he asked, and right away I knew he knew something.

 

“I met somebody in town, Cara Smythe,” I said, not wanting to mention Betty and her connection to Town Hall. “We got to talking, and somehow the subject came up. She said her mother used to know a Philip Summerfield.”

 

“Must have been someone else,” my father said dismissively. “Your Grandpa came from the Midwest.”

 

That's what I had thought, too, until I saw the town records. I didn't press my father on it, though. If he really knew something and was hiding it, it wouldn't do any good to pry. And if he truly didn't know anything, it was no use anyway. I tried to approach the problem from another angle.

 

“Why did Grandpa build the cottage around this particular lake?” I swept my hand out to indicate the whole area. “What made him pick here, and not somewhere in the Midwest where he was from?”

 

I could tell Dad was getting annoyed. “I don't know,” he answered. “He saw an ad in the paper for lots for sale, I think. He and your grandmother took a drive out here and put a deposit down on the land when you were just a baby.” His eyes narrowed. “Why all the questions?”

 

I shrugged, and stood up, brushing off pieces of sand that clung to my bathing suit. “Cara asked,” I fibbed, “and it got me thinking. I never knew the whole story.”

 

“Not much to know,” my father said, gazing out across the water.

 

I gave up and went for a swim.

 

We started the barbecue in mid-afternoon and it was still going strong when Johnny walked up. “Johnny!” Crystal ran over and grabbed his hand, dragging him to meet this new set of cousins. “This is Bethany and this is Eddie,” she said, introducing them. Bethany and Eddie were both younger than Crystal and stared up at Johnny with big eyes.

 

“Johnny lives down the road,” I lied. For all I knew, it could be true. The cemetery was down the road. “I invited him over for the barbecue.”

 

My mother welcomed Johnny with a hug, and fixed him a plate of food. My brother and his wife, a few years younger than I was, didn't think anything unusual about having a sixteen-ish year-old neighbor stop by. They moved over and gave him some room on the bench next to them. Only my father showed any reservations in meeting Johnny. He paled, backed off for just a second, before he recovered and held out his hand for the man-shake.

 

What was that all about, I wondered.

 

Johnny kept his word. He was polite and reserved, and not threatening at all. He helped me carry in some of the dishes after we finished eating. Somehow, he had pulled it off again, managing not to eat anything while appearing to finish his plate. He touched my arm as I started back outside for another load of dirty dishes. “These are your family? Not Sam's?” he asked, and I nodded.

 

Johnny kept his hold on my arm. “Your father,” he said softly, “he knows what I am.”

 

“What!” I said it too loud, and outside my sister-in-law looked up curiously. I lowered my voice. “You mean he knows you're a vampire?” I asked.

 

“Not exactly, but he knows, the same way Crystal knows. He has the blood.”

 

“Well, damn,” I said, more to myself than to Johnny. “No wonder he didn't like me asking questions about why Grandpa bought this place.”

 

I should have remembered that Johnny didn't like me asking questions, either. He frowned and tightened his grip. “What did you ask?” he wanted to know.

 

I needed to remember who I told what to. I was starting to get my stories crossed. Johnny wasn't supposed to know about Betty, either, or Cara, or what I had found out at Town Hall. “I asked if Grandpa was from around here, and he told me no,” I said. “But now I'm not sure I believe him.”

 

Johnny let go of my arm and allowed himself a small smile. “You are good,” he admitted. “Philip Summerfield left here when he was just a young man. I never knew he had come back.”

 

“You knew him?” I asked in surprise, but I had to wait for my answer because everyone came inside suddenly, bringing with them the remainder of the food and dishes from our barbecue. It had started to rain.

 

We set dessert out on the table and sat around talking after the kids had finished theirs and ran off to play. I noticed my father kept stealing glances at Johnny, who was quietly talking to my sister- in-law. My brother had taken out a deck of cards so we could play a few hands. Johnny had never heard of Setback, so Ed and Maureen made it their mission to teach him the rules.

 

My father took the opportunity to pull me aside into the small front bedroom where he and my mother were staying. Ed, Maureen and the kids would camp out in the living room. “Who is that kid?” he asked me once the door was closed. “He gives me the creeps.”

 

So Dad didn't automatically know Johnny was a vampire. He just sensed something weird about him. “Johnny? He's—“ I had been going to say `harmless,' but I really couldn't. Johnny was far from harmless. “—local,” I finished weakly.

 

“I don't trust him,” my father said. “I'll be watching him.”

 

You do that, I thought. Aloud, I said, “I'll send him home if he bothers you.”

 

“No,” my father replied quickly. “I'd rather have him where I can see him. How much do you know about this kid, anyway? Who are his parents? Where does he live?”

 

All good questions. I didn't know the answer to any of them. “Why don't you ask him?” I said, and we went back out to the main room together.

 

Johnny cast me a disgruntled look. He probably guessed we had been talking about him. He sat between my brother Ed and his wife, who both looked over his shoulder and helped him choose cards. My father took the chair opposite Johnny. “What's your last name?” he asked, as if he hadn't caught it before.

 

Johnny regarded my father evenly. “Price,” he said, surprising me, although I should have expected it. What other name would he have chosen?

 

“Why haven't we seen you around here before?” Dad persisted. “Lisa says your family lives around here? We've been coming to this lake for twenty five years now, and I don't remember any Prices.”

 

Johnny raised his eyebrows at me when Dad said my name. What did he think, that I only went by Mommy? I raised my own back at him. That's what he got for never asking.

 

Johnny nodded absently at my father, and asked a question of his own. “Why did you name her Lisa?”

 

“That was my idea,” my mother said. She had put down her cards. At this point, the game was pretty much a lost cause. “It was a compromise. Her grandparents wanted to name her Elizabeth, but I thought that was too old-fashioned, so I shortened it to Lisa.”

 

My face burned. I knew that story, of course, but I hadn't put two and two together until now. My grandparents' desire to name me Elizabeth meant something now that I knew we were related to that Elizabeth.

 

Johnny glanced at me and away. He fixed his gaze speculatively on my brother and past him to his two kids, and he licked his lips. My father shuddered even before I did, and he nodded his head towards the front door. “Come on,” he said to Johnny. “Let's take a walk.”

 

The rain had died down to an intermittent drizzle but the nearly full moon was still obscured by clouds. It was very dark out there. Johnny grinned and followed my father outside.

 

“Don't—“ I started to say.

 

Johnny turned in the doorway and I could see that his eyes were now black. “Don't what?” he taunted. He shut the door firmly behind him.

 

Crystal and her two cousins lay on the floor in front of the fireplace coloring. Crystal was showing Bethany, the youngest, how to make a `B.' Their blonde hair mingled as they bent over the coloring book. They could have been sisters.

 

How could Johnny be so—so—practical—I had seen the calculating look in his eyes when he looked at Bethany. Here was another Smythe descendant who might or might not carry the precious blood. Was he already looking for a replacement in case Crystal didn't work out? Make no mistake. Johnny was a monster!

 

I jumped up and rushed outside after my father and Johnny. I saw Johnny, but not my father, standing at the end of our dirt road where it meets the paved road. My heart beat faster and I started running. “Where's my father!” I called out.

 

Johnny looked at me coldly. “Did you think I would kill him?”

 

Yes. “Where is he?”

 

Johnny glanced down and I followed his gaze. My father sat partially hidden in the tangle of bushes on the side of the road. He stared complacently up at me but he didn't seem to recognize me.

 

“He won't remember,” Johnny said. “He knows some things, but not enough, and now he won't remember. It's better if he doesn't see me again,” he added. Then he smiled at me. “You did your homework, Lisa. Or should I say `Elizabeth'?”

 

Angrily, I shook the rain out of my bangs. “I never was Elizabeth!” I said hotly. “Neither is Crystal.” I looked down at my father again. “What did you do to him?”

 

“What do you think?”

 

Johnny started to fade away into the night while I helped my father to his feet. “What about the kids?” I called after him.

 

He stopped. “Are you offering?” he asked in a deceptively mild voice.

 

“What? No!” I was horrified. “I want you to leave them alone,” I said. “I don't want you to go after them to see if they have the same blood as—him—and Crystal.” Not me.

 

I heard his chuckle. “I'd need to taste to be sure,” he said.

 

Dad shook his head and started muttering under his breath. Johnny disappeared from my view. “Let's get you home, Dad,” I said.

 

We were both soaked by the time we got back to the cottage. As Johnny had predicted, Dad didn't remember anything specific, not even that he had felt uneasy about Johnny. “Did he go home?” he asked in surprise. I put my niece and nephew in my bed with Crystal and slept on the floor so I could guard them. I didn't think Johnny would try anything with Crystal right in the room, but I wanted to be sure.

 

Morning came, and I checked all three children for redness or signs of twin bug-bites. They were clear as far as I could tell, and certainly perky enough to wake up the entire household except for Grandpa, who slept until noon. I made my father steak and eggs, and gave him a big glass of orange juice instead of his usual coffee.

 

Later, when everybody else went down to the beach, I stayed with my father and made sure he had plenty of fluids. He had a long drive ahead of him tonight. The kids came up from the beach around three o'clock, leaving the grown-ups to trail behind them carrying all the towels and blankets. Johnny walked up with them, heedless of the strong summer sun, laughing and joking until he got close to the cottage. Then he waved good-bye and continued on down the road. I guess he was serious that he didn't want to encounter my father again.

 

“Take care,” my mother said as they bundled into the car. “Be a good girl in school, Crystal honey!” She turned concerned eyes to me. “You are going back home in September, aren't you?” It was the first mention she had made of my troubles with Sam.

 

I nodded. “We have to work some things out, but yes, we are,” I assured her. One of the things I needed to work out was what to tell the vampire. But I'd cross that bridge and hopefully burn it behind me when I did.

 

Johnny was waiting on the couch when we came back in. How did he do that? I looked closely at him, and he didn't look so good. “Crystal, go take a shower,” I ordered her, not taking my eyes off Johnny. “And wash your hair!” That should take her a good long time.

 

“What's wrong with you?” I asked. His face was chalky where it wasn't all blotchy from the sun. I stayed a safe distance away. “You are up too early, aren't you?”

 

“You think you are so smart,” he rasped. Even his voice sounded strange.

 

“We have to talk,” I said. “Do you think you can refrain from killing me?”

 

“What?” I had surprised him.

 

I slid next to him on the couch. “I'm giving you one free pass tonight. My treat. Don't make me regret this.”

 

The look on Johnny's face was priceless, for the brief moment I glimpsed it before oblivion set in.