The Lost Girls (Chris Cerulli Vampire Story)

Chapter 30

I couldn't find Chris anywhere on the second floor, so it was back down to ground level. My eyes scanned the living room area, searching for any sign of movement.

"Ash!" Haylee whisper-yelled from inside of the coat closet as I passed by. "Is she gone?"

"Who?"

"The vampire!" She hissed like it should have been obvious to me. "She tried to grab me, but I sprayed her with my holy water gun and then hid in here."

"I haven't seen any since I watched the last one dissolve in my bathtub."

She slide out into the open asking, "Is that what all that stuff in the kitchen is from? Gross!"

"So, what did she look like?"

"She was black, curly hair, and surprisingly white fangs."

"Dawn." I confirm and then question, "You didn't happen to see Chris in the last few minutes, did you?"

Haylee only had enough time to shake her head no, before her friends darted down the stairs, chasing Dawn along the way. 

"No!" I cried out as I ran after them. "She isn't a part of this! Leave her alone!"

Alana suddenly found the bow and arrow Haylee had earlier and shot at Dawn before I could stop her. The arrow went right through her stomach and launched her back into the stereo, causing sparks to fly as soon as her body slammed into it. Dawn let out squeals of misery as electric currents ran through her entire being.

Her limbs flailed uncontrollably before her hands suddenly flew off of her body and then her head suddenly exploded. I let out a scream as I fought off my need to vomit at the sight.

"Death by stereo." Ellen remarked with a grin in her tone. 

"I've had it with you two!" I shout at the Frog sisters.

"What the hell are you talking about? We just saved your ass!" Alana shot back.

"She had nothing to do with this, she's only been trying to help me this whole time. If you two would've listened to me for just a second, you would have known that! But no all you want to do is feel like you both are some sort of heroes and you don't care who else gets hurt along the way!"

All three of them seemed to be at a loss for words, so I sighed and lowered my voice, "Go see if you can find Chris and Laney. Stick together, Danielle may be the only one left, but she's also the most dangerous."

Ellen and Alana didn't waste any time heeding my command and hurried towards the kitchen, but Haylee hesitated, "But what about you?"

I shook my head, "I'm finishing the mess I started, one way or another. You better go with them, they aren't as brave as they'd like you to think."

Haylee jogged after her friends and I set out to find either Chris or Danielle. I began to creep back up the stairs, hoping that Danielle hadn't managed to escape the house with Chris in tow. God only knows what she could have planned for him. 

A laugh from behind me made me pause, but out of nowhere Danielle swung down from the rafters and pushed me back down the steps, causing me to break the banister in my fall. She let out a wicked laugh as I struggled to my feet, but when I looked towards the spot she had been in, she had vanished. 

I frantically gazed all around me for her and then she kicks me in the face, sending me right back to the floor. I fought my way into a sitting position, reached up to touch the stinging on my face. I was bleeding. I rose once again and Danielle let out a growl as she swooped down to punch me in the face, before disappearing just like last time. 

"You afraid to face me, Danielle?" I challenged, trying to be prepared for her next attack. "Huh?!"

Her silhouette appeared on the wall over the second floor. "I tried to make you immortal and all you had to do in return was one little thing for me."

"You tried to make me a killer!" I shrieked as I received another hard hit to the mouth, sending me back onto my back. 

The taste of my own blood filled my mouth and I could feel myself changing. The fangs grew underneath my lips as my eyes stung, undoubtedly turning to that sickening red and yellow color. I lifted my head to glare Danielle's monstrous face as she crouched on the stair rail.

She watched me with those empty, evil eyes as she stated, "You are a killer. Whether you want to admit it or not. You killed Dawn, and now it'll be your fault that I kill everyone else you care about."

I licked at the blood running from my nose before launching myself into the air. Danielle and I crashed into each other, spinning around in circles. I glanced back at the bucks mounted on the wall and I knew what to do, I used all my strength to shove her towards the protruding antlers. 

Danielle managed to steer us just to right of the deer head growling, "My turn." 

She pushed off against the wall and sent us flying into the next room, where my grandma had left a set of antelope antlers that she had been meaning to dust off resting on the table. I snatched at the top of the doorframe to prevent myself from being impaled.

"Stop fighting me Ashlyn. I don't want to kill you. Join us."

"There's no one left!"

"We can start over: me, you, and Chris. We'll be like our own little family." 

"But I thought you wanted me to kill him." I choked out as her grip on my neck tightened.

"That was back when I thought you were going to make me lose him. I love him too much to have him disappear from my life like that. I could never live the way he wants to, but if you become an immortal he'll change his mind. If you both promise just to become like me, I'll make sure no one ever hurts the two of you. To hell with the others, join me."

"Never." I spat.

"It's too late, my blood is in your veins and there's no way for you to get it out."

"So. Is. MINE!" I scream and with that I let go of the wall, lift her into the air and sink her chest onto the antlers. 

"No!" Danielle cried out, her body rocking from the pain as she grasped at the two large pieces of black bone now sticking out of her chest. 

Smoke poured out of her as her head fell back and her hands dropped to her sides. I let out a laugh of shock and disbelief as I stood there shaking, watching the life leave her. But I didn't feel any different, I still felt the fangs digging into my bottom lip. Why hadn't I changed back yet?

"Ashlyn!" Chris shouts as he runs over to me, but freezes in his tracks once he sees Danielle.

I pull him over to me warning, "Don't let Haylee see me like this."

I heard them all come dashing in the room, but when Haylee turned to look at me I tell her, "Get away."

"Ash, what's wrong?"

"I said get away!" I roared.

"What's the big deal? You destroyed the head vampire!" Ellen questioned as she attempted to peer around Chris. "It's all over."

"Nothing's changed." I explain.

"She's right, I don't feel any different." Chris adds, his voice full of emotion. 

Ellen seems to finally realize what we're saying as she murmurs, "Then there's still one more."