Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Vampire Summer ❯ No More Secrets ( Chapter 16 )

 

 

The front door opened and slammed shut minutes after Crystal and I came back from the beach the next day. I was in my room changing, so I hurriedly slipped on some shorts and a top and ran out to the living room. Johnny leaned against the door, tossing my keys in the air. “Hurry up, we're going for a ride,” he told me.

 

“Going where?” I asked suspiciously. It was still too early for Johnny to be up and about. His face and arms showed an angry red, but he didn't appear to be in pain.

 

Crystal ran to get my pocketbook and Johnny threw me the keys. “You drive,” Johnny said.

 

Inside the car, he put down the visor and lowered his baseball cap until it covered most of his face. I glanced at him and shook my head. With my right hand I reached across and opened the glove compartment so I could take out the bottle of sunscreen I kept there. “Here, put some of this on.”

 

Johnny took the plastic bottle and read the label. His eyebrows rose. “You're serious?” he asked me.

 

“Give it a try,” I said. “It's supposed to block out some of the harmful rays of the sun.”

 

“Some of them?” Johnny was skeptical. He opened the lid, sniffed, and drew back. “I think I'll pass,” he said. But he didn't put the bottle back in the glove compartment.

 

“Where are we going?” I asked again, and Johnny grabbed the steering wheel and turned it to the right, in the direction of the cemetery, Aunt Beth's house, the library, and ultimately, town. At the fork where the little library met the main road, we turned left. I sighed.

 

We passed by the first three landmarks, as Crystal chattered about her day and asked if we could go to the burger place again, and Johnny slumped further down in his seat to escape the sun.

 

“Turn here,” he said, and wrenched the wheel again to make sure I obeyed. We were at the Town Hall.

 

“What are we supposed to do here?” I asked in defeat.

 

Crystal pulled Johnny's hand towards the entrance to the building. If anything, his exposed skin looked even redder. I sighed again and followed along. I'd find out soon enough.

 

“Lisa!” Betty came right over. “I didn't expect to see you so soon! But I'm glad you came, I have some more information for you.” Her eyes lit on Johnny, who stood holding Crystal's hand, and they widened a fraction. “Hello,” she said to him. “We haven't met. I'm Betty Duggan, the Town Clerk. And you are?”

 

I answered for Johnny. “He's Johnny, the kid from down the road who babysits for me,” I explained.

 

Johnny smiled and held out his hand to shake Betty's. “Nice to meet you,” he said. “Are you one of the ladies who went out with Lisa last night?”

 

“Yes, yes I am,” replied Betty, smiling back as she scrunched down to give Crystal a quick hug. “How are you, sweetheart? Do you want to draw some more pictures while I talk to your Mommy for a few minutes? You can show your friend your desk.”

 

Johnny took back his hand, and let Crystal pull him over to the desk she used whenever we came to visit. The other two ladies who worked at Town Hall greeted Crystal and had to meet Johnny too. While they were busy, Betty pulled me aside. “I found the deed to your property, and I think you'll be very interested to find who the seller was. Come on downstairs. There's something else I wanted to ask you, too.”

 

“What's downstairs?” Without my noticing, Johnny had moved across the room and was now standing next to me. Betty squeaked in startlement.

 

Over at her desk, Crystal was busy drawing more pictures. Oh, great. By now, it wasn't so much that I didn't want Johnny to know what I had been doing, I just was afraid of his reaction when he found out I had been going behind his back. I didn't want him to take it out on Betty or the other ladies at Town Hall. Or me, either.

 

“Those are the archives, young man,” said Betty in her best official voice. “Lisa has special permission to do research down there, but I'm afraid I can't allow anyone else to go downstairs.”

 

Johnny frowned. “Old records?” he asked. “How old? I thought they all burned years ago.”

 

Betty was clearly surprised. “The old Town Hall burned down, but we were able to salvage many of the records. I'm surprised you knew about it. It happened over 100 years ago.”

 

Johnny shrugged, and turned back towards Crystal's desk. “You'd better hurry, then,” he said to me. “These ladies want to close up for the day and Crystal's hungry.” He turned his head and his eyes gleamed. “So am I.”

 

I followed Betty downstairs. “That wasn't the reason I called you down here,” she whispered conspiratorially. “The land records for the last century are all upstairs. I'll show you when we go back up.”

 

“You can just tell me,” I whispered back. “I don't need to see it.” I didn't want Johnny to overhear if I could help it. “Then why did we come down to the archives?” I asked.

 

“I have someone I want you to meet,” whispered Betty.

 

“What? Here?” I looked around.

 

Betty laughed. “No, he's a distant cousin. I told him all about you and he's dying to meet you. He's very handsome.”

 

“Betty!” I'd thought perhaps he had known my grandfather or something like that. But it sounded like she was trying to set me up on a date! “I don't know about that,” I said.

 

“It's too late. I invited him to our dinner next week.”

 

“Fine,” I said, giving in. “But I'm not interested in anything except a friendly dinner. I'm not even divorced yet!” I wasn't sure I liked Betty's sudden anticipatory grin. “You and Cara are still going, aren't you?”

 

“Of course!” Betty replied. “Now, you'll never guess who sold the parcel of land at the lake to your grandfather.”

 

“Who?” I asked, because she expected it.

 

“Anna Lovall.”

 

“You mean Cara's mother?” I asked, vaguely remembering my crash course in who was related to whom in this town.

 

“Yes, after her own mother died, Anna Lovall was the only one who kept in touch with Philip. When the town voted to sell off some lots around our lake to outside bidders, she must have let your grandfather know,” said Betty. “It's all in the town records. Anna Lovall-Smythe signed as the seller, and Philip Summerfield signed as the buyer.”

 

“So he didn't read about the land for sale in the newspaper,” I reasoned, thinking of what my father had told me.

 

“We never advertised in the papers,” Betty said. “It was all word of mouth.”

 

This put a different perspective on things. Grandpa had been invited to buy land out here. And yet he had warned his own son to stay away from the townspeople. I wondered why.

 

When I got back upstairs, Crystal was helping the ladies empty small wastebaskets from underneath each desk into a larger bin by the back door. “Where's Johnny?” I asked.

 

“He had to leave,” one of the ladies replied. “He said to tell you he would see you at home later.”

 

Betty raised her eyebrows at that, and my cheeks pinked. “He's our babysitter,” I explained again.

 

“Are you sure it's a good idea for him to be taking care of Crystal?” Betty murmured as we all walked out of the building together. It was 5 o'clock and the sky was still bright.

 

Did I think it was a good idea for a bloodsucking vampire to be hanging around my child? No, absolutely not. Did I think I had any hope in hell of stopping it? No. None. “Johnny's good with her,” I said, and thankfully Betty let the subject drop.

 

Crystal and I stopped at the burger place since we were in town, and by the time we headed home it was finally dark. Crystal still hadn't caught up on all her sleep from the night before, and she fell asleep on the way home. I carried her into the cottage and put her right to bed, gently closing the door so the kitchen light wouldn't shine in her eyes.

 

“When were you going to tell me?” Johnny spoke from his usual position on the couch. He sat in the dark. I hadn't noticed him when I walked in but I wasn't surprised.

 

“About the archives?” I asked. I knew I was in trouble. From the dim light off the kitchen I could see the angry red blisters all over his face.

 

“About the family!” he growled, coming half up out of his seat. I cringed.

 

“F-family?” I stuttered. So far, he wasn't attacking. “I—you told me to find out about my ancestry. Betty's been helping me.”

 

“I don't care about that!” Johnny said impatiently. “She is one of them. Betty.”

 

“Betty?” At first, I didn't know what he was talking about. Gradually, it dawned on me. “You mean she--?”

 

Johnny nodded grimly. His fists were clenched tightly by his sides. He still had made no move to attack me.

 

“Is that bad?” I asked him. “I mean, she seems harmless enough.”

 

Johnny let out a short laugh. “Harmless. Maybe. I told you the ones who have the blood know me, Lisa.”

 

It wasn't my fault he made me take him to Town Hall. If he didn't want to be seen he should have stayed away. “You won't hurt Betty, will you?” I asked, knowing it was useless. Johnny would do whatever he wanted to do.

 

“You will tell me everything you have learned and name everyone you have contacted,” Johnny said through clenched teeth. “But first, there's this.” Darkness descended. I had expected it, braced for it, but still it was a shock. He must have still been quite angry with me because I woke up on the couch the next morning instead of in my bed next to Crystal. Johnny was long gone.

 

The sun was riding the horizon when Johnny reappeared, looking rosier than my little blood transfusion could have managed on its own. I worried briefly about Betty, but he didn't know where she lived—neither did I—and he looked too healthy to have visited Town Hall again. I relaxed.

 

“What did you research at Town Hall?” Johnny asked. He had my notebooks with him, the ones I had filled with information from the little library and the various cemeteries I had visited. He flipped through the newer one until he came to the blank pages, about half-way through, and waited, pen poised, looking at me expectantly.

 

“What, right now?” I asked. Crystal had crawled up on the couch next to Johnny and opened her drawing pad. So far, I had kept Crystal out of all this.

 

“Now,” Johnny affirmed, his pleasant voice hardening slightly.

 

“It's all your fault, you know,” I said. “I wanted to find out more about who you are, so after I couldn't find any solid information from the library, I went to the Town Hall.”

 

Crystal, busy drawing, commented, “Mom, he's a vampire.”

 

“I know, honey, but I wanted to find out his real name,” I explained, putting my finger up to shush her when she would have replied `Johnny.' “His last name.”

 

“The library?” Johnny questioned me, and I mentally winced. I had forgotten he didn't know about the library.

 

“Remember that day when you rescued me from the dogs?” Crystal looked up, then went right back to her scribbling. I watched the shape of two black dogs emerge on her paper. How had she known they were black? “I was on my way back from the library. That's where I took the notes in the first notebook, about Jonathan Price. I wanted to find out more, so the librarian suggested I try Town Hall.”

 

“And did you find him?” Johnny sounded curious.

 

“A couple of times,” I replied. “It wasn't easy. Thank goodness your gravestone said you were from Rhode Island or I never would have found you. The lady at Town Hall showed me a separate corner where the records for out-of-staters were stored.”

 

“Betty?” Johnny asked sharply.

 

I shook my head. “No, I didn't meet Betty until later. I found the records for the first Jonathan Price, and tried to find Elizabeth Smythe too, but hers were kept in the main room. Betty was right. A lot of those records were recreations of the originals after the fire in the 1800's.” I looked up at Johnny, a strange thought crossing my mind. “That wasn't your doing, was it?”

 

Johnny shrugged but didn't answer me. “Go on,” was all he said.

 

“I found another Jonathan Price, and then the third one, who died at around the same time as the Crew children. Whatever happened to Jonathan Price after that? I couldn't find any other mention of him.”

 

Crystal was scribbling furiously. She appeared to be illustrating my narration, of all things!

 

“Betty was upstairs when I asked if there were any Smythes still in town. She told us about her Aunt Beth and arranged for us to meet her. Aunt Beth was a Smythe, she said. You know how that turned out.” I looked at Johnny reproachfully, not wanting to mention Aunt Beth's sad end in front of Crystal. “Aunt Beth had lots of information on the town families and how they were interrelated. I never realized until after . . . that I was related to some of them too.”

 

“Me, too,” said Crystal. She turned the page and drew a casket surrounded by flowers. I guess I wasn't keeping very much from her after all. Had Johnny told her about Aunt Beth's death?

 

“Did Aunt Beth have the blood?” I asked Johnny. Maybe that's why he had killed her.

 

“No, not her,” Johnny said softly. I gasped in startlement at his eyes. They were black. “You said you realized after she died that you were a Smythe?”

 

Something about that statement bothered me. “Not a Smythe. Related to them,” I clarified. “It was at the funeral. Betty introduced me to some of her relatives, and—“

 

“Who?” demanded Johnny.

 

“There were so many. Cara. Cara Smythe, actually. That's how we found out I might be related. Cara's married name is Peterson, but she was born a Smythe. They seemed so proud of it. I thought I was being funny when I told them my married name and then said I had been born a Summerfield. They recognized that name. They knew who my grandfather was.”

 

Suddenly Johnny was very interested. “This Cara knew Philip?”

 

“No, but her mother did. Her name was Anna. Anna Lovall, but her married name was Smythe. Apparently, there were lots of intermarriages among the families, but you must know all about that, right?” Mr. Taste Their Blood To See If It's The Right Kind Vampire. He was a connoisseur of town blood. “Actually, it was Anna's mother who grew up with Grandpa. Amelia. Amelia Cooper.”

 

Johnny was shaking his head. “No, that's not right,” he said. “That wasn't her name.”

 

What did I do now? Show him the letters and the diaries? Then he'd get mad at me for keeping those from him too. I was just digging myself further and further into a hole by hiding things from Johnny. Sooner or later he always found out, and then I paid for it. “I'm pretty sure it was,” I argued. “Betty gave me some letters she wrote back in 1930, and she signed them `Amelia Cooper.'”

 

“Show me,” he said, and I got up with a sigh to get the letters for him.

 

“See?” I said. But Johnny read through every letter, then read Elizabeth Crew's diary too, before he raised his eyes to me. They were no longer black. They were full of some emotion I couldn't identify.

 

“Her name wasn't Amelia Cooper,” he told me, sure of himself. “It was Amelia Summerfield. Cooper was her mother's name.”

 

“Summerfield? Then she and Grandpa were brother and sister?” I was very confused.

 

“No, cousins. First cousins. Their fathers were brothers.”

 

“And you know this because . . . ?”

 

Johnny smiled, and glanced down at Crystal's drawings. The latest one showed a beautiful girl surrounded by three boys. One of the boys had curly brown hair and long teeth. “I was there.”