it was a gloomy monday morning. i spent the entirety of sunday looking around for people who knew my dad and anyone who could have potentially despised my dad. i came across absolutely nothing. i felt hopeless. i kept thinking about the video too. the fact that the vampire has been lurking in the shadows, watching me, haunted me. by my locker, i was surprised by jeremy, who was holding a black rose.
"surprise!" he said, handing it to him.
i took the rose. "this is beautiful!"
"i just saw it and thought of you." jeremy then grabbed me and kissed me.
in that moment, i forgot about everything. about vampires, the vampire, the accident, everything. every time i was around jeremy, i felt human again. jeremy was the anchor to my humanity.
"am i interrupting?" natalie asked, surprising the both of us.
"nat hey, you enrolled!" i exclaimed.
"of course i'd come back." she said, sniffing the air. "i missed this place. and who's this?" she asked, referring to jeremy.
"oh, right. nat, this is my boyfriend, jeremy." i introduced. "jeremy, this is natalie."
jeremy waved.
"lucinda ramirez has a boyfriend!" natalie sarcastically exclaimed. she then mouthed the words 'he's hot' to me and i mouthed back, 'i know'.
"well, i gotta go pick up my schedule, i'll leave you lovebirds alone, and i'll see you later." natalie said, walking to the main office.
"she's nice." jeremy noted.
"she's a tease." i replied.
at lunch, the girls, including natalie and i sat at our table. the boys, jeremy and freddy had yet to arrive, so it was just the five of us.
"i have an idea." indi yelped abruptly.
"by all means, say it." alex said.
"how about we go to the bridge tonight, and confront the vampire there?"
i looked at indi like she was crazy. "what?"
indi sat back down. "yeah, stupid idea, i know."
"no, indi's right." natalie said, "we can confront him there, he'll know that you know the truth. so maybe, if he's too strong, we can get one step ahead of him and extract some dna from him. we can figure out who he is."
"that's actually, not a bad idea." i agreed.
raven was quiet.
"raven, any thoughts?"
raven shook her head. "no, let's do it."
freddy and jeremy then joined the table. "what are you guys talking about?" freddy asked.
"oh just, girl stuff." i said, secretly texting freddy saying, 'i'll fill you in later'
jeremy put his arm around me and gave me a long, warm kiss on the lips, making natalie squeal internally. chloe then came to our table, ruining the moment.
"well look who's back." she said, referring to natalie.
"chloe, what a surprise!" she replied sarcastically.
"what brings you back to woodstake?"
"nostalgia." natalia smirked at chloe cheekily.
"because four emos aren't enough." chloe looked at me.
"why can't you just leave us alone?" jeremy asked.
"you should watch out jeremy, with her, you could end up just like daniel."
"what happened to daniel has nothing to do with lucy, or her friends." jeremy stood up. "so i suggest you back off."
chloe huffed, then walked away.
"seriously, what's her deal?" jeremy wondered.
i got up, then sped-walked to the bathroom. i just wanted to hide inside one of the large, wide stalls. i knew chloe was just being a bitch, but there was truth to what she said. like daniel, jeremy could end up dead because of me. the vampire could simply kill him, or turn him into a vampire so he can lose control and have me, or any of the girls, kill him. i began to tear up. images of me killing daniel were once again running through my head. i looked at my reflection, wishing i could persuade all my problems away.
raven then came into the dark dimmed bathroom. she seemed to hesitate when she walked in, but she walked over to me and rested her hand on my shoulder.
"don't listen to chloe." she said.
"how can i not? what she said was true."
"she's just trying to get to you."
"if we don't catch this vampire now, he could hurt jeremy, even my mom, or jason, or you, everyone!"
"it's okay lucy, we have a plan."
"then tonight, we're gonna get him. question is how?"
"we have to ask freddy and natalie."
after school, the girls and i went to freddy's to discuss the plan.
"so let me get this straight, you want to meet with the vampire at the bridge?!" freddy asked.
i nodded. "we know he won't tell us anything, but we're hoping to fight him long enough to get a dna sample from him so we can figure out who he is, and be one step ahead of him."
"why the bridge?"
"it's where it all began. he'll expect me to have watched the footage of him causing my dad's death."
"and how do you plan on getting a dna sample?"
"shoot him maybe? and then either you or natalie can telekinetically remove the bullet."
freddy was silent. he shook his head, then looked back up. "are you sure about this?" he asked.
"it's either now or never. i don't want this vampire to hurt anymore of the people i care about."
freddy nodded. i looked around at freddy's room. he had a book shelf that i cold only assume had a lot of grimoirs and lore books. his carpet also had a white pentagram on top of it. then he had quite a lot of ingredients that are supposed to be used for spells.
"do you have a crystal ball?" i asked.
freddy scoffed and smiled. "that's for psychics."
"wait, hate to burst everyone's bubble but, how do we get the vampire to show up?" alex asked.
"it's easy." natalie said. "we'll summon him using wood-ash, garlic, and blood from the four of you."
"that summons them?" i asked.
"believe it or not."
"so you would have to summon him like a demon?" indi asked.
"it's not really like that. we're just drawing him to us."
"great, we should go now then, it should be dark by the time we get there." i said.
"lucy." freddy said.
"what is it?" i asked.
"i don't know how to say this but, when natalie and i went back to the precinct to sneak back the flash-drive, i looked at another file."
"and what happened?" i looked at him seriously.
freddy shook his head. "it's about your dad."
"what is it?"
"they never found his body in the car. when they fished it out of the ocean, it was empty."
it felt like my own heart punched me in the chest when he said that. "and of course they covered it up."
"lucy, you said your dad passed out in the car, how would his body just disappear like that? i mean the guy always wears a seat-belt and the doors were closed, so the water couldn't have swept his body away."
i shook my head. "this cannot be possible. why didn't they say anything?"
"what could they have said?"
"anything." i simply said.
i looked down at my lap, thinking. there wasn't really much explanation to my dad's body being missing out of nowhere. i tried thinking of an explanation, but only came up with two possible truths: my dad's body was stolen from the vampire, or my dad could be the vampire himself, somehow. the latter was actually something i thought about for awhile. that's how badly i wanted him alive, i had to convince myself he could be the vampire, just working for somebody. maybe the vampire in the footage isn't the one we're looking for, but his own sire. on top of that, the vampire is invited in, it had to make sense.
"the vampire...is...my dad." i forced myself to say.
"don't say that lucy, it can't be." indi assured.
"exactly. besides, what would be his motive? i'm pretty sure you sneaking out to a party wouldn't turn him into a murderous vampire serial killer." alex said.
"then explain the absent body."
"the vampire must've stolen it." raven shrugged.
"then i guess there's only one way we can know for sure."
later that night, the six of us were walking to the bridge when we heard a voice behind the tree. i turned around and saw sahara, you could never miss that red hair.
"missing someone?" she asked.
i walked closer to sahara. "sahara, this is seriously dangerous-"
"you don't think i know that?" she asked, "you're also risking your life trying to get this guy."
"how do you even know we're trying to get him?" sahara pointed her nose towards natalie. i turned to natalie, who smiled uneasily at me. "seriously?"
"she actually had a good idea, just hear her out." natalie said.
"if you summon the vampire, ready to attack, he'll just escape." sahara pointed out, "what if you guys just hid somewhere, and i confront him, pretending to be alone?"
"no!" i shook my head. "absolutely not, that's suicide!"
"lucy, it'll work, he'll think i'm the one who summoned him."
"you can't be a martyr, i can't let anyone else risk their life in my favor, i won't."
"lucy, ever since that night at the hospital, i knew i'd owe you the moment you saved my life, let me do this. if not for you, let me do it for me."
i was unsure of sahara's decision, but i knew she was more sure than i could ever be. i had to let her make her own decision. i nodded. "let's do it."
the seven of us walked to the bridge. i hadn't been here since the night of the accident. the railing still had a slight scratch from the impact of the car. the river below was as still and quiet as ever. the trees from the woods blowing from the wind. flashbacks were already running through my head.
YOU ARE READING
Bloodlines
VampireOne night, four best friends are turned into vampires. While trying to figure out who turned them, they must learn to control their thirst for blood.
