Whispers in the Dark (Being Rewritten)

Chapter 13

13

I was in school by the beginning of the next week, the bite mark on my shoulder now a series of aching stitches. Everywhere I went people looked at me funny and I could swear to God himself they were talking about me. I knew it too because every time I stepped foot into one of my classes everyone instantly shut up. Needless to say, the teachers loved me and my new found ability.

My mom had managed to take an extra-long lunch, given as her daughter was a previous ward in her work place and had volunteered to give me a ride home. Of course, I didn't even consider refusing the nice offer. We were rolling down the gravel walkway leading to the house when I noticed the squad car sitting outside.

Oh God. I could feel my mom's gaze but didn't give her another thought. I was out of my seat belt and dashing toward the police cruiser before the car could come to a complete stop.

No one was inside.

"Miss Thompson," I head the familiar voice say. "I was starting to believe I missed you. Then I remembered you were most likely at school. I was about to leave right now."

"It's, uh, it's okay," I assured the portly man as he walked down the front steps. It appeared he had been smoking a cigarette before she had come and he had politely put it out (I had nothing against smoking or people who smoke but come on. That stuff kills you and the people around you. Not a nice habit to get into). "Uh, what are you doing here?" I could hear my mom parking the car, followed by the sound of her heels clicking as she approached up the drive way.

"Actually, I'm here about the fingerprints we took up on my last visit," Officer Daimion said.

"Fingerprints?" My mom's voice asked behind me. Oh jeez. "What fingerprints?"

"Is this perhaps a bad time?" Officer Daimion asked, looking from me to my mother and back to me.

You think?! I wanted to shriek, but I kept myself in check.

"Not at all," mom answered, placing her hand on my shoulder. "I'm Melisa Thompson, Christine's mother." She held out her hand and Officer Damion shook it. "So, about the fingerprints?"

Officer Daimion looked at me as if waiting for confirmation and I nodded. No point in avoiding the inevitable, right?

He continued on. "I'll make this quick." He looked over his clip board briefly. I hadn't even noticed he was holding it. "The prints we lifted came up belonging to a man we hadn't expected to see at all. The man's name is Blaine Rite. He died nearly twenty ago."

A strange emotion crashed through my body. I wasn't surprised. I wasn't shocked. If anything I just couldn't believe it. Somewhere in the back of my mind that familiar voice whispered I knew it. Something inside me somehow knew what that man had been. From the moment I stared into those crimson red rimmed eyes of his and he stared back into mine I knew what he was. Him, Benjamin, Susan, Len, all the others- The whole god damned town for all I knew!- were boogie men come to life. The monsters in the closet and hiding under the bed. Demons in human skin.

Blaine Rite wasn't dead. He was the undead.

He was a vampire.

"Miss Thompson?" I didn't realize Officer Daimion had been talking to me.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "I kinda blanked out. Sorry."

"I said the labs think the computers might have made a mistake and matched it to the wrong person. With all the rain there was it's a possibility," he repeated. "We'll run it again a couple more times to make sure but until then it'd be best if you weren't home alone. Your mother works late, right?" Officer Daimion cast a quick glance to my mother who after a quick moment nodded. "It'd be a good idea to have someone stay with you after school until she comes home. A group of friends, a boyfriend, a trusted adult- any will do. Of course, being a father myself I don't approve the boyfriend." He raised an eye brow at me knowingly. Greg wasn't all that great and was horrible when it came to responsibility but still did that mean everyone even people who didn't know him yet hated him?