Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Vampire Summer ❯ Fooling the Hunter ( Chapter 25 )

 

 

Kenny used a dirty trick to get me to go out with him. He called in his parents. Crystal, Johnny and I had been watching television when a car pulled up. I guess Kenny had learned not to bother calling me first, since I wouldn't answer my phone. Johnny stiffened, then put a finger to his lips and glided into the first bedroom.

 

“Come on, we're going to dinner,” Kenny said when I opened the door. His mom stood behind him, dressed casually in a little summer skirt, with a white beaded sweater draped over her arm. She smiled and waved. When I waved back, a little hesitantly, she took that as an invitation to come inside. Kenny's dad got out of the car and followed her and Kenny into the cottage.

 

“What are you two doing here?” I asked, as I served them iced tea. I didn't even argue with Kenny's announcement that we were all going out to dinner. It was the easiest way to get them away from the cottage and Johnny. I sent Crystal into the back bedroom to get dressed. If we were going out, I wanted her to look decent.

 

“Can I wear my new outfit?” Crystal asked, and I nodded. I needed to get changed, too.

 

Kenny's father glanced around the small cottage curiously. “It's just the two of you here?” he asked me, and I had a moment of panic. Had Johnny left something lying around? Was it obvious that another man was living here, even if it was part-time?

 

“Yes,” I said. “Just me and my daughter.”

 

“What's in there?” He pointed to the first bedroom. The door was slightly ajar.

 

“It's a bedroom,” I replied, my heart racing.

 

“Oh, do you mind if I use it to fix my clothes?” Kenny's mother asked. “I've been sitting in the car for the past hour and I'm all wrinkled.”

 

I thought fast. “Actually, I need to get something out of there,” I said. “You can use the back bedroom as soon as Crystal is done, or the bathroom. They're both through the kitchen.”

 

“I'll be just a minute,” she replied, and before I could stop her, she had slipped into the first bedroom, flipped on the light switch, and closed the door firmly behind her. I waited for the inevitable scream, but it didn't come. Had Johnny silenced her that quickly?

 

“I invited my parents up for a few days,” Kenny answered my previous question. “Since they hadn't eaten yet, I thought we could all go out to dinner. My treat.”

 

Kenny's father laughed. “And that doesn't happen very often,” he said, glancing at the closed door to the first bedroom. “What's taking her so long?”

 

“I'll find out,” I volunteered, and knocked lightly on the door. “Mrs. Brown? Can I come in?” When I didn't hear any answer, I feared the worst and slowly opened the door, squeezing inside and closing it behind me again. If there was a bloodbath in there, I didn't want Kenny or his father to see it.

 

Mrs. Brown stood by the dresser, reapplying lipstick to her already perfect lips. “Sorry, Lisa, did you say something?” she asked me.

 

I glanced around in confusion. Where was Johnny? The room had no closet, only an open storage shelf with hooks underneath it. Was he hiding under the bed? That wasn't really Johnny's style, but I guess, in an emergency . . . and it was better than drinking Mrs. Brown's blood! Kenny's father was a hunter, too—and he might have recognized the red rash on Mrs. Brown's neck if Johnny had attacked her. I was just lucky that the marks on Kenny's neck from Johnny's vicious attack the night he rose from the lake had faded enough by the next morning that he didn't notice them—or maybe, since he was a young hunter, he hadn't recognized the significance of the marks.

 

“There, done!” Mrs. Brown said brightly. She opened the door, revealing most of the bedroom to her husband's interested gaze.

 

“I'm next,” I said, squeezing inside as Mrs. Brown came out and closing the door behind me with a soft click. I wished it had a lock on it. I riffled through the sweaters and dresses hanging on hooks beneath the shelf until I found a dress that was, honestly, a little more daring than I would have picked, but it was in this room and was my excuse for coming in here. From the living room, I could hear Crystal entertaining our guests by modeling her new school clothes.

 

I bent down and looked under the bed. No vampire. Where had Johnny disappeared to? Sighing, I pulled my shirt over my head and started to unfasten my bra. The dress I had picked tied around the back of my neck so I couldn't wear a bra with it. I glanced in the mirror and nearly had a heart-attack.

 

“Aah!” I cried out involuntarily, whirling around at the same moment, clutching my shirt to my chest. “Johnny!” I whispered heatedly. “How—what? Are you crazy?”

 

“Is everything all right in there?” Kenny called.

 

“Don't come in, I'm getting changed!” I yelled back, lunging for the door, whose knob was starting to turn. “I'm fine—I just dropped something.”

 

Johnny grinned at my discomfiture, then flopped onto the bed and waited expectantly. Did he think I was going to get undressed with him in the room? “Turn around!” I hissed, trying to keep my voice down. Chuckling, Johnny obeyed me. Quickly I slipped the summer dress over my head and tied it in back, then wriggled out of my shorts and kicked them out of the way. With one glance at the door, which I prayed no one would come barging through at any moment, I pounced onto the bed and confronted Johnny. “Where were you?” I whispered. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

 

The amusement faded from Johnny's eyes. “Not me,” he replied in a low voice, and I cast another worried glance at the door. What if somebody heard him? Then I realized. Johnny didn't care if anyone heard him. He would be just as happy to have an excuse to kill all of them, the hunters from Rhode Island. He was humoring me, or maybe Crystal, by not killing them.

 

A knock sounded on the bedroom door. “Lisa, are you ready yet?” The knob began to turn, and in dread I looked at Johnny, only to see that he had sprung away at the first sound and now lurked in the corner of the room which would be blocked to sight as soon as the door opened. So that's how he had done it. It still didn't explain how Mrs. Brown, or me for that matter, hadn't spotted him when the door was closed.

 

Kenny peeked in, and he eyed me appreciatively. “Worth the wait,” he commented, as I stepped past him into the living room. He turned off the bedroom light and closed the door over.

 

“I'm ready!” I said, suddenly glad that we were going out. I didn't trust Johnny's mercurial mood. If he decided to reveal himself, it would be a bloodbath for real.

 

I tried to decipher Johnny's expression when he had seen me half-dressed in the mirror. All my old confused feelings came rushing back and my cheeks heated up. Johnny might look like a kid, but he wasn't one.

 

We went to the steak place with Kenny's parents. It was the only decent restaurant close by. I ordered chicken for Crystal, but the rest of us all had steak. And wine.

 

“How long are you staying?” I asked the Browns. It couldn't be much of a vacation for them in Lakewood. I should invite them down to our beach while they were here, but that would mean they would want to come back to the cottage after, when Johnny usually came over, and that was definitely not a good idea.

 

“Oh, about a week,” Mrs. Brown said. “Ken's father has some business in town.”

 

Business? I raised my eyebrows and glanced over at Kenny, who quickly looked away. “What kind of business?” I asked.

 

“It has to do with that stalker,” Kenny blurted, and I saw his father shoot him an irritated scowl.

 

“My stalker?” I asked in mock surprise. “I thought you said he was gone.” For Crystal's sake, I didn't want to mention Johnny's name, and I was glad that Kenny had the sense not to say it out loud either. She didn't seem to be paying much attention to our conversation, anyway. She was concentrating on her baked potato, opening little packets of butter and spreading them on top.

 

“Dad's a—“ Kenny hesitated, “--lawyer. He knows more about stuff like that than I do. I invited him to come to our next Historical Society meeting to discuss what we had done.”

 

What they had done was try to kill Johnny. “Was it really so necessary?” I asked softly, letting them think I meant driving the poor teenager out of town. “Was he really that bad?”

 

Crystal glanced up at me, and I realized she knew exactly who we were talking about. Did she know Kenny had tried to kill him? I hoped not.

 

“Now is not the time or place,” said Mr. Brown firmly, shifting his glance from us to Crystal. “You shouldn't worry, Lisa,” he said. “Ken did the right thing.”

 

I swallowed, and didn't feel like eating anymore. Kenny was not a bad person, but he hadn't done the right thing, of that I was sure.

 

I didn't invite the Browns to the beach. They could swelter in the heat in town for the next week. Ironically, Johnny was disappointed. He thought I should have asked them back so that he could find out more about what they wanted. “He's here to make sure your boyfriend finished the job right,” Johnny said.

 

“Would you stop calling him that?” I said in annoyance. “What do you mean, finished the job?” I asked.

 

“They left before I was dead,” Johnny answered. “That was a mistake. I don't know how good this hunter is, since he hasn't had anyone to hunt in his lifetime, but he could go back to the place where they staked me and check the burn marks. He may be able to tell I didn't die there.”

 

“But Kenny doesn't know?”

 

Johnny laughed derisively. “Kenny doesn't know. He thinks he killed me. So do the rest of them. Idiots.”

 

This was awful! If Kenny's father determined that Johnny might still be alive, then he would start looking for him again and possibly kill him for good this time! “Johnny, you need to get away until this blows over,” I said urgently. Last time he had disappeared for sixty years. “Come back in a few decades when it's safe.”

 

“Are you trying to protect me?” he asked. His eyes had that amused, tolerant gleam that meant he didn't take me seriously at all.

 

“Yes!” I said.

 

“No,” he answered, serious now. “I'm not going anywhere. If I'm found out, they'll all die.”

 

Crystal. It always came back to Crystal. He refused to leave her. “What are we going to do?” I asked, putting my head into my hands.

 

Johnny smiled at my `we.' “Keep them busy,” he said, handing me my water. “Keep me distracted.” He bent towards me, and I slid out of reality without a protest.

 

Cara called the next morning. “Have you been away?” she asked. “I've been trying to call you.”

 

“Sorry,” I said, feeling guilty that I hadn't answered the phone for fear that it might be Kenny. “I've been in and out. What's up?”

 

Her daughter had agreed to the sleepover, so she was calling to invite Crystal to her house tonight. “I can pick her up this afternoon,” Cara said.

 

Crystal had her overnight bag packed and waiting on the front steps by the time Cara pulled up. Ellie hopped out of the car and followed Crystal out back to check out the picnic table where Crystal had left her doll paraphernalia. I'm glad she did, otherwise, I might not have remembered they were there, and they would have gotten wet outside all night. “Take those inside,” I instructed Crystal. Her drawing pad was still in among the doll things.

 

Crystal dumped everything into a big paper grocery bag and carried it with her to Cara's car. “I'm taking this with me,” she said in explanation. I reached inside and scooped out the drawing pad. No use tempting fate. Some of those pictures were really hard to explain away, even as a kid's drawing.

 

“Have a good time!” I called after them as Cara's car drove off.

 

“So that's Cara,” Johnny said, coming out of the first bedroom. I jumped in shock. It was still early afternoon. He shouldn't be up this early! He appeared flushed, but not burned, and definitely in good spirits. I eyed him warily. Good spirits, where Johnny was concerned, usually meant trouble for me.

 

“You'll leave her alone, right?” I asked. “That's what Crystal wanted, remember? Ellie too.”

 

“Sure, whatever,” said the vampire with the teenager's face. “Actually, this works out perfectly. Come on, get your car keys.”

 

“Where are we going?” I asked, grabbing them. “Isn't it a little, um, too day out for you?”

 

Johnny chuckled. “I took precautions,” he said, flashing me his long teeth. I realized he must have fed purposely before going out in the sun. He grabbed one of my beach towels off the stack on the dining room table and threw it over his shoulders before he made a quick dash for my car. In the front seat, he tossed a little bottle up and down in his hands, then replaced it in my glove compartment. “This stuff really works,” he commented. I just gaped at him.

 

We drove to Betty's house. “She's not here,” Johnny said at my protestation. “I want to go back to the spot where they killed me.”

 

I shuddered to hear him say it so calmly. “What if she comes home from work early?” I said. My car was too visible on this road where there were no other houses for miles. “She'll know I was here.”

 

“It's Thursday,” Johnny replied. “She's not coming home tonight. She has that meeting with the hunters at your boyfriend's house.”

 

I wished he would stop saying that. Kenny wasn't my boyfriend, not anymore, if he ever was. I had forgotten about the meeting, though. This would be the perfect time to do a little snooping around. “Let me move my car,” I said, uncomfortable at parking right in Betty's driveway.

 

Johnny had me drive back out to the main road and pull off into a wooded area not far from Betty's street. From the road, you couldn't even see the car. We walked back past Betty's house and into the field behind it where Kenny and his cohorts had staked Johnny out and left him to the mercy of the sun. I saw the scorched spot and the stakes where Johnny had been left to die. They hadn't even bothered to clean up the evidence. It had rained a few nights since Johnny had been left there, and whatever ashes had been on the ground were all gone. There wasn't much left for Kenny's father to see. That was the problem, according to Johnny. A true hunter would see right through his trick. Once, years before, Johnny had tricked the hunters by burning a human body in place of his vampire mentor's, who had been similarly staked out to die.

 

“Help me move this over here,” Johnny said, dragging a piece of dead tree to the center of the scorched area. I helped him arrange the pieces after he broke the limbs into sizes approximating a human body. He intended to burn the tree and leave its considerable pile of ashes in place of his own. I didn't see how anyone would fall for that, and I said so.

 

“Won't the others notice if it's different?” I asked. They must have gone back to check on Johnny's remains afterward. If suddenly there were more ashes, wouldn't they know?

 

“Wait and see,” Johnny said. “It won't be all that different, and they won't be able to tell.” His eyes sparked darkly in the late afternoon sun. “They have no idea what they're doing; it's the other one we have to fool.”

 

He knelt down close to the piled wood, and I got a good look at his face. It was blistered and raw. So were his exposed arms and hands. I gasped.

 

“I need blood,” Johnny said. I knew he shouldn't have been out so early in the day. If he continued to burn like this, he would weaken and his need for blood would overpower his sense, and my life would be in danger. Nervously, I edged back. Johnny glanced at me, and a wry smile lifted his lips.

 

He ignored my attempt to put some distance between us and took out a small jackknife from his jeans pocket. He slashed his arms, not at the wrists, but higher up, in the fleshy inside part of the upper arm. The cuts were deep and bled freely. He held his arms over the wood and let his blood drip all over it. The blood seeped into the dry wood, sucked down into the very fibers until it was no more than a red stain on the gray-brown wood. Then Johnny took my beach towel, which he still wore draped across his shoulders like a bright shawl, and tore it in two. He wrapped one piece around each arm to stop the bleeding before he turned to me, still smiling, although his face was very white underneath the spreading, blistering burn.

 

He stood suddenly, and swayed a bit before he steadied. “Wait here,” he told me, and then he took off, faster than I had ever seen him move, towards the woods at the farthest edge of the field. I stared after him, puzzled by the whole thing. My attention was caught by a whoosh and a bright flare of light, and I saw that the entire wood effigy had caught fire and was burning intensely. The fire was so fierce that it consumed the wood and burned itself out in a matter of minutes, leaving behind a pitifully small scattering of ashes. I understood at last why Johnny had needed his blood for this. Whatever processes took place within his unnatural body that allowed him to utilize blood changed it. He told me the blood didn't last long; that's why he always needed more. It was very unstable, actually volatile, and burned in the light of the sun.

 

“It's done.” I hadn't heard Johnny come up beside me, but he was suddenly there, looking stronger and less burned. He must have gone somewhere to get more blood. I hoped it was animal blood and not some hapless human from one of the houses down at the far end of the road.

 

“Are you sure it's enough?” I asked skeptically. Would it fool Kenny's father?

 

“It's enough,” Johnny replied, leading the way through the field back towards Betty's house. I noticed the towel bandages were gone from his arms and hoped he had the sense to take care of them and not leave them lying out in the woods soaked in his blood. But he was a big vampire. He could take care of himself.

 

I thought we would go straight to my car, but Johnny took my arm and led me to Betty's back door. He did something to the handle and the door just opened. I opened my mouth, but he said, “It was unlocked.”

 

“We're not going in there!” I said.

 

“I am,” Johnny said. “You can stay out here.” He walked in, and his shoulders sagged with the release of tension. The blood had helped, but the light of day was still getting to him. It must have felt good to be out of the direct sunlight. I hurried up and followed Johnny inside.

 

Going through Betty's things while she was not home was very weird. It felt wrong, yet I couldn't help but be fascinated as I sifted through the little things that made up Betty's world. She collected statues of cats. It made her more human to me.

 

Johnny ripped through each room of Betty's house as if he did this all the time. He probably did. He was careful to replace everything we touched in exactly the same place as it had been. We saved the attic room for last. When we opened the old trunk, the first thing I noticed was that the contents had been disturbed. Some of the stuff was missing. “Did you put back the envelope?” I whispered to Johnny.

 

“Yeah,” he replied. “She must have taken it with her to that meeting.”

 

He didn't sound concerned. Why wasn't he concerned? “What did you do?” I asked.

 

“Everything is still there,” he told me, grinning a little in the dim room. The sun was finally beginning to sink, yet we didn't dare turn on the overhead light. “I might have distorted a few of the photos slightly. Nothing much, just what age would sometimes do to a photograph. The face that they thought to use as their proof is too blurry now to be very useful in the future. It could be anybody.” He laughed softly. “Did I ever mention that I don't like having my picture taken?”

 

I laughed weakly with him. “All right, let's finish looking through these and get out of here.” It was easier searching through the trunk now that some of the items had been removed. Still, we were very careful to take things out in batches, and keep them in order so that we could put them back the same way. At the bottom of the trunk I found folded up papers that turned out to be Aunt Beth's missing genealogy charts. So Betty had taken them after all! I looked guiltily at Johnny, but he wasn't paying attention.

 

His hands were smoothing out a very wrinkled piece of paper which he had found inside a letter from Amelia to her cousin Lizzy. My first thought was, `why didn't Betty show me this one?' before it occurred to me that she had deliberately kept it from me. It was the missing piece, a birth certificate showing one John Cooper, infant child of Amelia Cooper, had been born in Boston on October 1, 1931! Quickly I skimmed the letter. “Please keep this somewhere safe for me,” Amelia wrote. “No one must ever know the truth. Philip is coming for the child and will raise him far away from our home. Maybe, someday, after all this is forgotten, he can come back.”

 

I stopped reading. If ever I had doubted that Amelia was my dad's real mother, I didn't doubt anymore. “Put it back,” I instructed Johnny. “I already know I'm related to the Smythes.”

 

Johnny replaced everything in the trunk exactly as it had been. “That's not the reason this was hidden,” he explained quietly as he closed the lid. “It was forbidden not just because they were first cousins, but because it strengthened the blood. Amelia didn't know; neither did Philip. But the family knew. That's what I was looking for—something to tell me who knew, and who called in the hunters.” He stood up. “Oh, well, let's go.”

 

I was more than happy to go home, but that's not what Johnny had in mind. “I want to take a ride past your boyfriend's house,” he said, as I backed the car out of its woodsy hiding place and onto the main road.

 

“Are you nuts?” I asked. “They're all over there, including Kenny's father!”

 

“I know,” Johnny replied. “It's a great way to find out some things, don't you think?”

 

“I don't even know how to get there!” I protested. This was a bad, bad idea.

 

Johnny grinned. “I do.”