Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Vampire Summer ❯ Torn ( Chapter 26 )

 

 

We parked my car up the street and sneaked through the backs of adjoining properties until we got to Kenny's house. I had never been in this part of town before. His house was old, but not as old as some I'd seen, and in a relatively populated area close to the center of town. We had passed the purple house on our way in.

 

“This was Alyce's house,” Johnny commented, as we crouched behind the bushes just outside Kenny's garage.

 

“Oh,” I said. That's how he knew. I had assumed that he followed Kenny home the other night. I forgot that Johnny had been around when they were all growing up, even if he had kept his existence a secret from everybody except Amelia—and Lizzy, although at the time Johnny didn't know Lizzy knew about him. George Brown had come into the picture after Johnny had left, but it made sense that Kenny would have inherited the house that his grandmother grew up in.

 

I still didn't know what we were doing here. Johnny was in a rare mood, almost giddy, and I worried that he planned to slaughter them all with me as his witness. If we were caught, I had no doubt that's what would happen.

 

“Let's go around back,” Johnny said, making no attempt to whisper. I followed him to the enclosed back porch, which was unlocked. It led to the kitchen, and we slipped inside the darkened room and into the hallway beyond. I could hear voices from the living room very clearly. My heart was pounding so loudly that I was afraid the people in the other room would hear it. Johnny grinned at me and pulled me further down the short hallway until we stood just outside the doorway. There was no door.

 

This was suicide. What if one of them decided to get up and leave the room? There was nowhere for us to hide! I trembled beside Johnny, who put his arm around me. I glanced at him in surprise. Was he trying to reassure me? Whatever it was, it worked, and I calmed down enough to listen to what they were saying in the other room.

 

“. . . the problem of Lisa Porter,” I overheard. They were talking about me.

 

“You don't have to worry about her,” Kenny said. “Leave her to me. I'll take care of Lisa and Crystal.”

 

My heart sank at Kenny's statement. I guess that proved I was nothing more than a business arrangement to him. I had really thought he liked me, maybe even loved me.

 

“Her brother's children will also bear watching,” said Mr. Brown, and I got confused all over again. Why? Was it because they might carry the family blood trait?

 

“Does it really matter anymore?” asked a voice I didn't recognize. I wanted to poke my head around the corner and peek at who was speaking, but of course I couldn't do that. “The vampire has already been taken care of,” the voice continued. The hairs on my arms stood straight up when he said `vampire' out loud. It was the first time that I had heard someone in their group use that word, and it brought it home that this was real and we were in serious danger. As of right now, I lumped me and Crystal in with Johnny.

 

“It's not at all certain that the vampire is actually dead,” Mr. Brown said, resulting in a flurry of agitated murmurs. Next to me, Johnny snorted softly. “Vampires are hard to kill, even though,” Mr. Brown raised his voice above the rising murmurs, “EVEN THOUGH Ken did everything according to procedure once he got the call. Now that you know the truth, you can all be on your guard for your generation.”

 

Johnny pulled on my arm. I didn't want to leave just yet. He was right, we were finding out a lot of things here tonight. A chair scraped against the floor, and suddenly I was airborne as Johnny ducked around a corner and up a flight of stairs. He let me go as he studied the closed doors in the upstairs hallway. From below, I could hear movement, people stirring, going to the kitchen, getting drinks. We had moved just in time.

 

Johnny chose a door and opened it quietly. Mrs. Brown sat on the bed watching television. She must not have been invited to the meeting downstairs. That answered my question about whether or not she was family. She didn't see us come in and before she had a chance to even look up, Johnny was on her. I was fascinated and a little sick watching him in action. He was so fast. He took her at the juncture of her shoulder and neck, towards the back where it wouldn't be noticed, and it was over before I had even registered what was happening. Was he that fast when he took my blood?

 

Mrs. Brown slumped over, and Johnny lowered her head to the pillow, arranging it beneath her so that she looked like she had fallen asleep. He glanced at me and shrugged his shoulders. “What?” he asked. “I needed to get in here—and she was right there. Couldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.”

 

I giggled. I felt terrible about doing it, but it was funny! Or maybe I was getting hysterical. On the bed, I could see Mrs. Brown's chest rising and falling regularly. She was going to be all right, if a little thirsty, when she woke up.

 

Johnny rummaged through the suitcases on the floor, then opened Mr. Brown's wallet on the dresser and looked through that. He really was a lawyer. A lawyer-slash-vampire hunter. I thought stuff like that only happened in the movies. I had no idea what Johnny was looking for, and I don't think he did, either. But he knew when he had found it. At the bottom of one suitcase was an accordion folder stuffed with documents. Johnny carefully extricated the folder from beneath folded shirts and slacks. In it, in carefully delineated sections, was the history of the Smythe family in exacting detail. This was far beyond the simple genealogy charts that Aunt Beth had kept. It was a record of every Smythe and Smythe relative from the 1600's on. And through it all, certain names were highlighted in red ink, red for blood, I was willing to bet. The list showed not only the Smythes of Lockwood, but also the branches of the family who had migrated to different places. “I need this list,” Johnny muttered.

 

“You can't take it—they'll know!” I said. Johnny was well aware of that. He put the list back under the folded clothes as I spoke. Mrs. Brown started to stir and her hand rose to scratch her neck. Johnny's mark was small enough to be mistaken for a bug bite. He must have done that on purpose. Smart vampire, for once.

 

Johnny grabbed my arm again and dragged me out of the room before Mrs. Brown could wake up fully. We paused on the landing and listened to make sure all the vampire hunters were back in their meeting room. Mr. Brown was assuring one of the Lockwood group who had voiced a concern that there could be other vampires that he need not worry. “As long as you are careful about who marries whom, and keep meticulous records, you should be safe enough,” he said.

 

Safe? I wondered. Safe from what? Obviously Mr. Brown didn't know that Johnny was the last surviving vampire. Johnny took his chance to slink down the stairs and past the open living room entryway. We left the same way we came, furtively and through the neighbor's yards. When we reached my car, Johnny said his good-byes. He didn't owe me any explanation; usually he never gave me explanations. “I need more blood,” he said softly. “Go home. I'll be back later.”

 

“Be safe,” I whispered after him. I really meant it.

 

 

The phone was ringing when I pulled up to the cottage. I managed to grab it before it stopped, in case it was Cara calling about Crystal, but it wasn't.

 

“Lisa? It's Kenny,” the voice on the other end said.

 

“Yeah?” I asked suspiciously. “I thought you had your meeting tonight.”

 

“I did,” Kenny answered. “It just got over. I was wondering if you'd like some company.”

 

“Why? I'm not a child that needs to be taken care of,” I said. Let him wonder where I got that idea. “I'm doing fine on my own.”

 

“Are you still mad at me?” he asked, sounding lost. Oh, he put on a good act.

 

“Depends,” I said. “Are you going to tell me the truth?”

 

“Lisa,” he said, nothing more. No, he wasn't going to tell me the truth.

 

“Good night, Kenny,” I said, and I hung up. He'd better not drive over here again. This time I wouldn't open the door. Let's see how he took care of me when he couldn't get near me.

 

I mulled over what I had overheard at their meeting while I waited for Johnny to come back. Obviously Kenny's father was the person in charge of this group of hunters. Kenny had said something odd the other night—that Betty hadn't known about the problem until just recently. That corroborated Johnny's claim that most of the blood just felt uneasy around him, but didn't actually know why. So how had Betty found out? As Johnny said, who called in the hunters, specifically Kenny, who knew immediately that Johnny was a vampire?

 

I thought about the series of events that stemmed from my first visit to Town Hall. Crystal had drawn those vampire pictures. At the time, everyone, including Betty, had laughed it off. Maybe she hadn't known such things were real, then. Was it later, when we went to dinner and she noticed the red mark on my neck? But she wouldn't have known what that meant at the time, either. How did she know to call in Kenny? Was it all arranged from the first time I met Kenny? That he would `take care of' me and my vampire problem?

 

I wished Johnny would hurry up and get back. I wanted to find out what he thought about all this and plan our next step. I didn't have a whole lot of time left. School would be starting in a couple of weeks, and Crystal and I would be leaving Lockwood. My dad was coming out over Labor Day weekend to help me close up the cottage for the winter. I had mixed feelings about leaving. Now, after spending most of the summer trying to figure out ways to get away from Johnny, I didn't want to leave him behind knowing there were bloodthirsty vampire hunters after him.

 

I fell asleep and dreamed I was in the past with Amelia and Lizzy and Alyce. Johnny was a shadow on the periphery of my vision. Every time I turned my head to get a good look at him, he disappeared. “Stay still,” I mumbled in my sleep. “How can I help you if you keep going away?” Amelia took my hand and led me through the sand at our beach towards the black water. A dark shape rose up out of the water and we ran to meet it when another shape planted itself in between, making us stop in confusion. “Kenny?” I mumbled, not understanding. He reached out, not towards Amelia, but to me, and pushed me back towards shore. “No!” I moaned, shaking my head back and forth. I wanted to go in the water. Amelia continued towards the dark shape in the water now that Kenny was no longer blocking her path. I saw her stumble and fall, and the blackness enveloped her. “Amelia!” I cried out, trying to break away from Kenny, but he held onto me tightly. “Let me go!” I screamed, thrashing in his arms.

 

I woke up sweating and scared, to find Johnny sitting across from me, a faint smile on his lips. “You had a nightmare,” he said.

 

“Thanks for not waking me up,” I said sourly, sucking in a deep breath of air and stretching. That was a weird dream. I looked closely at Johnny. “You look good,” I said. He must have taken lots of blood to make up for what he had lost today. “What time is it?”

 

“Almost ten,” Johnny replied. “I need that list,” he said, looking at me expectantly.

 

Oh, no. I was not going to get close to Kenny just so I could get my hands on the list for Johnny. “Did you find out who called in the hunters?” I asked instead. “Was it Betty?”

 

“Probably not,” Johnny said. “She only recognized me when she shook my hand at the Town Hall. She may have mentioned me to somebody else who did know. That's what I need to find out—just how far this goes.”

 

“Why?” I asked. “They think you're dead. Can't you just let it go?”

 

“No.” Johnny's eyes were hard. “Not this time.”

 

“Then come with us!” I said impulsively. “When we go home. Sam already moved out, so it would be just Crystal and me. Forget about this town.”

 

“I can't do that, either,” Johnny said softly. Then he straightened up. “He's here,” he said, a few seconds before I saw the reflection of headlights through the window. “Let him in. Be nice.”

 

I gave Johnny an incredulous stare, but he just smiled and went out the back. I didn't know if he was lurking in the shadows by the picnic table, or if he had really left me alone for the night. I did not want to see Kenny right now. Damn him! Damn both of them!

 

“Go away!” I yelled when Kenny banged on the door. “I'm sleeping!”

 

Kenny didn't go away. “I'm sorry, Lisa,” he said through the door. “You don't have to open the door, but I'm not leaving until you talk to me.”

 

I leaned on my side of the door. “You've got to go to work in the morning,” I reminded him. “Don't be stupid. I'm going back to bed.” I waited, but Kenny didn't respond, so I went to bed. It was a long time until I fell asleep again.

 

In the morning, I peeked outside and saw Kenny was sleeping behind the wheel of his SUV. It gets pretty cold at night here. He must have crawled inside the car some time during the night. I sighed and went to put on a pot of coffee. He looked pretty miserable.

 

“Here,” I said, rapping my knuckles against his car window. “I brought you some breakfast.”

 

Kenny opened his eyes and yawned, then focused his sleepy gaze on me. He slowly smiled and opened the car door so he could take the small tray I had fixed for him. “Thanks,” he said, and he took a sip of the coffee. “Aah, that's what I needed,” he murmured, closing his eyes in enjoyment.

 

“You'd better get moving—it's already eight o'clock,” I said to him, crossing my arms. It was still a little chilly.

 

“Am I forgiven?” he asked, with a twinkle in his eye. Sitting there, enjoying my coffee, with his tousled brown hair and sincere eyes, he was the Kenny I had first met. It was easy to forget why I was mad at him. I felt a little smile pull at my own lips.

 

“No,” I said, but my heart wasn't in it. He knew it, too, because he smiled broadly and handed me back my tray.

 

“I won't give up,” he told me. “I'll call you later. Maybe we can do something tonight? My parents are only going to be here for another couple of days and they really want to see you and Crystal again. Answer your phone this time, okay?”

 

He drove off, and Johnny sauntered around the corner of the cottage. “Shouldn't you be sleeping?” I asked irritably. He seemed to show up at the worst moments.

 

“You didn't invite him in,” he said reproachfully. “I need that list.”

 

“I'm not going to pretend to like Kenny just so I can get it for you,” I said indignantly.

 

“You do like him,” Johnny replied, and I blushed. That was the problem. Despite what Kenny had done, I still liked him, but I felt guilty about it. I should hate him for what he had done to Johnny, for what he had done to me.

 

I tried to think of another way. “His father probably has all that stuff back in his study in Rhode Island,” I said. “You should have seen the Coat of Arms he had hanging up behind his desk.”

 

“You've been to his house?” Johnny demanded, interested.

 

I shouldn't have said anything. I nodded.

 

“Good, then that's where we'll go. Your boyfriend said his parents were staying here for a few more days. Let's go!”

 

“Now? But it's daylight!” I protested. “Besides, I have to pick up Crystal later this afternoon.”

 

“Call Cara. Tell her you'll pick up Crystal tonight. I'll go with you.”

 

My eyes widened. No matter how risky, no matter what I said or did, Johnny always ended up getting his way. I went into the cottage to make my phone call and grab my purse. When I came out, Johnny was behind the wheel of my car, holding his hand out for the keys. “I'll drive,” he said.