The Lost Girls (Chris Cerulli Vampire Story)

Chapter 13

I guided my bike past my dad and Maxine as quietly as I could. They were clearly too focused on their conversation to notice me sneak pass. I rolled my bike halfway up the road before hopping on to start it. Even though I knew it was probably a bad idea, I decided to first head to the bar, thinking that if I had to I would just talk to one of the girls about my current condition.

I found the place empty. I even mustered up the courage to call out for them, but the only thing that I received was silence. The next place I thought to check was Chris's secret bedroom in that abandoned construction house. As I took back off into the night, my mind began to wander. I thought back to the first day I had met Chris and how he had tried to get me to come with him, even though I barely knew him.

Then I remembered Danielle asking me to hang out with them under the same circumstances. Now I wondered why that was. I thought about how Danielle and Chris seemed to be angry at each other over me for one reason or another. Chris has always been so secretive about not only himself, but the girls as well.

I pulled up to the shadowy house and went inside, finding nothing yet again. I had a moment of panic over my inability to find any of them, and then had the idea that I might find them at the fair. Once more I straddled my bike and made my way to the fairgrounds.

The place was utterly packed and the volume of it was almost unbearable. Part of me wondered if this vampire thing had anything to do with how sensitive my ears were now. After I paid my way in I worried that I wouldn't find any of them among the masses of people here. None the less I scanned every face I could for their familiarity. I roamed the place at least twice before I began to feel hopeless about this search.

A head of short blonde hair flitted past me and even though I couldn't be sure, I chased the person regardless. When they rushed past the tilt-a-whirl the person peaked over their shoulder so quickly that all I could gather was that they were a girl. From just her behavior alone, I was almost certain that I was following Danielle. She ran all the way to the back to the Farris wheel as I struggled to keep up with her. In the blink of an eye she vanished, but before I had a chance to turn to find her, I spotted Chris.

He was standing with a short red headed girl, making her laugh as he moved to wrap his arm around her waist. I felt jealousy grip into me at the sight. I knew that Chris and I had only shared a kiss, but it had felt like we'd shared a bit more. We had confided secrets to each other that were almost too painful to mention, but now I know I had been foolish. Despite my now wounded emotions, I still needed answers.

"Chris!" I shouted from across the distance between us.

If he had heard me, he didn't show it. He just continued to speak to the girl by his side as he led her away, towards the woods. Curiosity got the better of me, so I followed them, doing my best to stay out of sight. They disappeared into the thickness of the shadowy trees and the one reason I knew where they had gone was from a glint of light off of her glasses. I crept into the underbrush, thinking that this girl was most likely about to be Chris' next meal. I instantly realized that I was mistaken when Danielle and the rest of her gang swooped down from the branches, seeming to float on air.

"Nice choice, Chris." Dawn remarked as she studied the girl next to him.

It was obvious that the girl Chris had brought along was confused and a bit freaked out.

Mackenzie shook her head and pushed past Payton asking, "Can we skip this part? I'm starving."

Before anyone had a chance to reply Mackenzie grabbed the girl by the shoulders, and with lightning speed, ripped her fangs through the girl's neck. The girl let out an ear-piercing shriek, but I knew that the people in the fairgrounds would have no way of hearing her. Tears welled my eyes as I watched Mackenzie feed on her prey. After a minute or so she rose her head to expose the dark stain of her bloody mouth and neck. The girl struggled weakly as she was handed over Dawn, who began to swiftly drink from her.

"Can I leave now?" Chris questioned with unease written all over him.

"If you don't feed one of these days, you'll get too weak to keep living. Do you understand that?" Danielle demands, giving him a pointed look.

"Of course I do." Is all he says in return.

"But don't you want to stick around for your new play toy?"

"She's not a toy." Chris seethed.

"Well, it seems that you're pulling her into a deadly game to me. Does she even know about this? What you do?"

"Hell no."

"She's going to find out."

"Not if I can help it."

She sneered, "I hate to break it to you, but you've already failed."

Chris appeared baffled, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying, she's here right now. She thinks she's good at hiding apparently." She explains and turns her gaze in my direction.

A chill ran across my skin, but I remained where I was.

"Are you afraid of your sweet Chris now, Ashlyn? Can you see what sort of monster he is?" Danielle called out to me, her smile growing even more wicked.

"Don't lie to her!" Chris snapped and then spoke to me, "Ashlyn, just wait right there."

But instead of doing as he said, I ran and I was too frightened to notice him chasing me.