Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Vampire Summer ❯ Coping ( Chapter 19 )

 

 

I stood under the hot water for a long time until I felt clean again. Crystal made me a peanut-butter sandwich and I ate mechanically, wondering at how calm she could be when she was the one who had known Johnny was in trouble. I could finally admit to myself that there was something in the blood, something I didn't have, that linked her with Johnny. Maybe, now that he was gone, that link was broken and that's why she was so calm.

 

We should just go home. The lake had lost its attraction for me. I didn't think I could ever swim in it again, knowing . . . knowing Johnny's body lay in its murky depths. Did vampires decompose? In all the movies, they went up in a puff of smoke. Johnny had only gotten horribly sunburned in the light of day, and now his remains were at the bottom of the lake. For all that he was a bloodthirsty killer, he had been someone I knew and, if I were honest with myself, had come to care about. His passing affected me deeply.

 

This summer had been a mistake. My life with Sam wasn't so bad. If I asked him to take me back, would he forget everything that had happened and let us resume our old life again? Crystal would be starting school in another month. I could get a full-time job. Crystal would still have both her parents. That was enough to build a life around, wasn't it? Maybe it wasn't too late to start over.

 

I reached for the phone to call Sam when it rang first. “Hello?” I said.

 

“Lisa? It's Kenny. I know it's kind of soon, but I was wondering if I could take you and your daughter out for pizza tonight. I know a little place a couple of towns over. Lisa?”

 

I held the phone up to my ear and didn't know what to say. “Pizza?” I repeated stupidly.

 

“Pizza!” Crystal jumped up from her place in front of the TV in excitement. We hadn't had pizza all summer.

 

“Uh, sure,” I answered. “What time?”

 

“I'll be there right after work,” Kenny said. “About five-thirty?”

 

That's right. Not everybody was on summer vacation. The world still went on as usual. “Okay,” I said, and hung up the phone. My second date with Kenny. What did that say about my resolve to go back to Sam? I shook my head in annoyance. It was only pizza.

 

I took my cue from Crystal and tried to put Johnny out of my head. I couldn't change what had happened, so why dwell on it? But it was hard. He kept creeping into my thoughts all afternoon. I was glad when five-thirty rolled around and Kenny's shiny new SUV pulled into our gravel driveway.

 

“Cute place,” he commented, in an echo of Betty's sentiments. “And this must be Crystal?”

 

Crystal smiled and nodded. “Hi,” she said shyly.

 

Kenny drove to the pizza place, talking with Crystal while I watched the road in front of me, still half in a daze. There was a moment when I froze, as Kenny asked Crystal about her friends. I thought for sure Crystal would go on and on about her friend the vampire, like she had with her relatives and with the ladies at Town Hall. But she didn't mention Johnny at all, much to my surprise. As relieved as I was, it also bothered me that she could have so quickly put him out of her mind.

 

We had a really great time. Crystal took to Kenny immediately. He blew bubbles in his soda through his straw, which she thought was hilarious. Even the pizza was good. Kenny was just the thing to take my mind off what had happened to Johnny. I invited him in for coffee when he got back, but he declined. “Gotta get up early tomorrow,” he told me half-seriously. “I'd like to see you again, maybe this weekend? Can you get your babysitter to watch Crystal for a couple of hours Saturday night? I was thinking we could go see a movie.”

 

My face drained of color when he mentioned the babysitter and thoughts of Johnny flooded my head. “I can't,” I said in a whisper. “My babysitter—he's not available.”

 

“Is everything all right?” Kenny's concern almost made me cry all over again.

 

“Yeah, it's not—he can't babysit that night,” I said quickly, plastering what I hoped was a reassuring smile on my face. “So I can't go.”

 

Kenny took my hand. “Not a problem,” he replied. “I'll make sure it's a `G' rated movie, how's that, and we all can go. Say you'll come.”

 

“Say yes, Mommy!” Crystal put in, grabbing my other hand.

 

“Say yes,” Kenny urged, giving me a slight wink.

 

What could I say? “Yes.”

 

Later that night, as I lay in bed with Crystal beside me, she patted my back. “It will be all right, Mommy. You'll see,” she said. “Don't worry.”

 

In the morning I felt like walking up to the cemetery, so Crystal and I packed our lunches and her drawing pad, and we made a day of it. I wandered over to Jonathan Price's empty grave while Crystal visited Emily Crew. “I guess you're really not in here,” I murmured softly to the headstone. “I was so wrong about a lot of things. I'm sorry it turned out this way.”

 

I wished I knew what had happened to him. I didn't think anything could get the better of Johnny like that. When we got back to the cottage, I took out his bloody shirt from the back of my trunk. The holes in his shirt were too uniform to be animal bites. They looked like stab wounds. Who could have done such a thing, and how did they do it? Johnny was strong, and faster than anything I had ever seen. There was something very wrong here. Could it be that other humans knew there were such things as vampires? Had Johnny's secret been found out?

 

I didn't mention anything to Crystal about my suspicions. She was just a child, even if she did have `the blood,' as Johnny would have said. I took Johnny's shirt out back to the outside fireplace and burned it. Until I knew more, I would have to be very careful. Did the vampire killers know about Crystal and me? We could be in danger, too.

 

I swallowed my multi-vitamin that evening with a pang of regret. I wouldn't be needing those anymore. As the evening wore on, I found myself staring at the front door, waiting for it to open and Johnny to walk in, but he never did.

 

The next day, Crystal and I did our grocery shopping in town, anything to avoid going to the beach and being near the water. I watched the people around me to see if anyone was looking at us suspiciously, but if they were, I couldn't tell. The clerk at the register was about as polite as any teenage register clerk ever was, which was to say not at all, but that reassured me in a way. It was normal.

 

Kenny called me that night and we talked for a long time on the phone. I gave up my plan to call Sam. Whatever decisions I made after this summer would be made because I wanted them, not because I was scared. In a way, Johnny's disappearance made it easier for me to move on with my life.

 

We went to the movies in the next town over. It was one of the few remaining drive-in movie theaters. We parked on a little hill and hooked the speaker into our car window. Crystal snuggled in the back seat with her pillow and her blanket and watched the first feature in awe. She had never been to a drive-in movie before. It was some silly kid's movie, but she loved it. Kenny took her over to the concession stand to buy popcorn and drinks. I watched them go, hand in hand.

 

By the time the second feature started, Crystal was asleep. I was extremely aware of Kenny sitting a few inches away from me and I couldn't concentrate on the movie. When the movie was finally over, we had to wait to make our way out of the parking lot, and Kenny used that opportunity to reach over and kiss me softly on the cheek.

 

“What was that for?” I asked, pleased and a little surprised.

 

“I had a nice time,” Kenny answered. “Didn't you?”

 

“Yeah,” I said with a smile. As I turned towards him, Kenny kissed me again, this time on the lips. I didn't pull away. Just then, the car in front of us moved forward, so reluctantly Kenny put the car in gear.

 

“Good night,” I said, when we got to the cottage. I didn't invite him in this time. It was late, and I wasn't sure what would happen, what I wanted to happen. He left his headlights on so I could see to get into the house.

 

“Do you want me to pick you up on Tuesday?” he asked. Crystal had woken up and stood in the driveway holding her pillow and blanket, blinking sleepily.

 

“What's Tuesday?” I asked.

 

“Don't you remember? Betty's cookout.”

 

I had forgotten. “No, that's all right. I don't want you to go out of your way,” I said. I rummaged through my pocketbook looking for the slip of paper where I had scribbled down Betty's address.

 

“It's no trouble,” Kenny insisted.

 

The mosquitos were buzzing around my head and Crystal was beginning to whine because she wanted to go back to sleep. I couldn't find the damn piece of paper. “All right, thanks,” I said. “Pick us up around five?”

 

The last thing I wanted to do was go to a party with a bunch of strangers who were ostensibly relatives of mine. But I couldn't think of an excuse to get out of it, and I didn't want to disappoint Kenny. I made a macaroni salad and packed that and the envelope full of papers Cara had given me into my big beach bag. I was hoping she wouldn't notice that the photos were missing.

 

Kenny beeped his horn at five o'clock, and Crystal and I ran out to climb into his SUV for the ride over to Betty's house. “What have you got in there? The kitchen sink?” he asked me wryly, eying my beach bag.

 

I smiled. “No, macaroni salad,” I told him. “For the party.” I'd also thrown in some sweaters for Crystal and me for when it got dark.

 

Kenny drove towards town, and I watched with interest. Since I had lost the slip of paper with Betty's address, I had no idea where she lived. Still, I felt a jolt of shock when he turned down the same street Crystal and I had driven down the morning we found Johnny. He turned off at the farmhouse at the beginning of the road. The driveway was crowded with cars. This was Betty's house?

 

“Lisa!” Betty came out onto the porch with open arms. “And Kenny. I should have known.” Betty softened her words with a welcoming smile. “Come inside. The party is around the back.” She took the macaroni salad from me and put it in a big refrigerator in a very large kitchen. Her house was old but well-kept, and spacious where Aunt Beth's was crowded and mine was tiny.

 

I stuffed my big bag into an empty corner. I would give Cara her envelope back later. Betty's was the only house on this road that I had seen. It was a very big coincidence that Johnny had been in this area when he was attacked. Had he taken the address out of my purse? I remembered that Johnny had mentioned that Betty also had the blood. She had `recognized' him, although according to Johnny, that didn't necessarily mean she knew he was a vampire. She only recognized something about him which creeped her out, the same way my father had. According to Johnny, that was the reaction of most of the people who had `the blood.' Crystal and a handful of others were the exception.

 

What was Johnny doing in this area? Had he gone after Betty, tying up another loose end, when something unforeseen had happened? I lagged behind Betty and she finally latched onto my arm, pulling me with her onto the back porch and into the waiting crowd. Some of them looked familiar; I had met them at Aunt Beth's funeral. “Everybody, I'd like you to meet our cousin, Lisa Summerfield Porter,” Betty said. “And this is her daughter, Crystal.”

 

Everyone stopped talking and turned to look at us. They were all smiling. “Welcome to the family, Lisa,” someone said, and that broke the ice. After that, people went back to their conversations, although Betty brought me around from group to group, introducing me and Crystal too, when we could find her. She had met Cara's grandkids and was already running around the backyard with them. Kenny stuck to my side like glue.

 

“How are you related to the Smythes?” asked a youngish looking woman. She was either Cara's daughter or her daughter-in-law, I wasn't sure which.

 

“I—um, my grandfather was a Summerfield.” I tried to remember the connections. “His family descended from the Coopers,” I said.

 

“Ah,” she said disparagingly. “Sarah's line, then, Robert's youngest daughter.”

 

Kenny laughed. “Don't mind her,” he said as we moved away. “Some of the relatives take this genealogy stuff way too seriously. I'm glad you're not too closely related to the original Smythes.”

 

If only he knew, I thought. The blood was the blood, apparently, and my branch of the family had it in spades, even if I myself didn't. “Why do you say that?” I asked curiously.

 

“Because, cousin,” He stressed the word jokingly. “It means we can keep seeing each other.”

 

“Oh,” I said. “Is there a lot of that sort of thing around here?”

 

“It's inevitable in such a close-knit community,” Kenny responded seriously. “That's why we keep such a close eye on who's who. Wouldn't do to have too close a family connection in the gene pool, you know.”

 

Yeah, wouldn't do to have `the blood' grow too prevalent, would it? Did they know about the blood? Wisely, I kept silent, rubbing my bare arms. “It's getting cold out here,” I complained. “Excuse me for a minute. I want to grab a sweater. See if you can round up Crystal for me, would you?”

 

I ducked into the kitchen and found my bag. Cara had been busy setting out food and later cleaning up, so I left her stuff there and just took out the two sweaters I had brought. I figured I would also use this time to find a bathroom while I was in the house. The downstairs one was occupied, but a friendly relative directed me up the stairs to the one near the bedrooms. I took a few moments to give myself the grand tour on my way back down. Betty had a formal living room off the front of the house with lots of pictures on the walls. These were family photos, and I began to see a resemblance among the faces on the wall and some of the people I had met tonight.

 

“That's Jackson Smythe.” I jumped. The voice was Betty's. She had startled me. I hadn't heard her come in. “Cara's father. He and my mother were brother and sister.”

 

I hadn't known that. I knew they were cousins, but I hadn't known the exact relationship.

 

“Cara looks like him,” I said, realizing it was true. I wondered what Amelia, our shared grandmother, looked like. “Do you have any pictures of Amelia Lovall?” I asked on impulse.

 

Betty creased her forehead in thought. “I might have. Let me look.” She left me there, in her living room, as she went upstairs. I heard the stairs creak long after they should have stopped and I realized she must have gone all the way to the third floor, to the attic. I decided to follow her.

 

There was a naked bulb hanging from a string in the middle of the room. From the one window at the far end I could see the backyard, lit by floodlights. The party was breaking up. Several people had left already. I watched Cara scurry around from table to table, clearing plates and gathering up the trash. She had all the kids helping her. I saw Kenny striding towards the house with Crystal. He probably wondered what had happened to me.

 

Betty knelt by an old chest. “I would have thought you would ask if I had a picture of Philip, your grandfather,” Betty said mildly, still digging through the chest. “I would have had to say no. But Amelia, yes. She and my grandmother were best friends, you know. Elizabeth Crew. She was a Smythe on her father's side and her mother's side. Ah, here they are.”

 

She turned around with a batch of yellowed photographs clutched in her hand. “Here's Amelia,” she said, pointing to a young girl standing in front of a big white house with another girl, slightly older, beside her. “And that's Elizabeth.” They looked enough alike to be sisters, both slender, blonde, beautiful. I wondered if Betty had looked like that when she was younger. It was hard to tell now. She was on the plump side, and her hair was that indeterminate brownish gray that could have been dark or could have been light once upon a time.

 

Betty thumbed through the other pictures. “Here's a better one,” she said. It showed Amelia laughing, holding a hat to her head with one hand. She was very pretty. No wonder Johnny had fallen hard for her. “Here's one with Amelia and Charles at the lake. The baby is their daughter Anna.”

 

I had seen a similar photo of Jackson Smythe at the beach with his parents when I was at Aunt Beth's house. “Do you have any earlier photos?” I asked.

 

Betty looked at me strangely. “No, that's about it.” She started putting the photos she had been showing me back inside the chest. One fell out, face up, on the attic floor. I took a sharp breath, and quickly released it as Betty scooped up the photo and put it away with the rest. She hadn't noticed my reaction. I had seen that picture before, very briefly. It was one of the ones Cara had given me, which Johnny had taken the night he disappeared.