the next night at my house, indi, alex, raven, sahara, and natalie slept over. school was out the next day, so we decided to have a little fun for ourselves. lately, we've felt stressed and broody considering all we've been doing for the past month is go after the vampire, and albeit we're getting closer to finding the truth, we've still got close to nothing. all of us hung out in the living room.
"alright guys, i ordered chinese." i said.
"great, now can we play guitar hero?" alex asked.
"yes, but i only have two guitars, we're gonna have to take turns." i explained, holding both guitars in my hand. "indi, you're with me, alex and raven, you're together, and natalie and sahara, you two are together."
natalie and sahara smiled at each other. i inserted the guitar hero disk into my playstation 3 and indi and i grabbed the guitars. as we were playing, all i heard was a mix of the music and indi aggressively tapping the buttons on the guitar.
after kicking indi's ass, she threw the guitar on the couch. "dang it! no fair, you're more experienced at this than i am!"
"don't be a sore loser." i grinned and winked at indi.
"bleh, there's tons more things i'm more experienced at than you, virgin." indi joked.
i rolled my eyes and handed my guitar to raven. alex grabbed the guitar indi threw on the couch and battled against raven.
raven easily beat her. "yes!"
"rematch!" alex requested.
"everyone gets one turn each round." raven snickered.
it was now sahara against natalie. they smiled at each other while picking up their guitars.
"dyed hair versus dyed hair!" indi commented.
"now don't use magic to win this time, natalie." i joked.
natalie's jaw dropped and sahara glared at her.
sahara giggled. "how do i know that i can trust you then?"
natalie crossed her heart. "i vow not to use magic."
it was intense watching natalie and sahara play. both of them were really good and highly skilled players. finally, sahara won against natalie!
"yes! still got it." sahara hopped up and down in excitement.
"you did good, little mermaid." natalie teased, making sahara blush.
once the chinese food arrived, all of us sat on the couch and shared old memories. it felt great having a girls-only sleepover that didn't involve trying to find ways to kill vampires and whatnot. it felt like a breath of fresh air having a sleepover reminiscent of the sleepovers we used to have when we were human. laughing, gossiping, not a care in the world.
"my first kiss was in the eighth grade." indi said.
"yeah, and so was your first time." alex added.
"okay, it was one time!, it was the in heat of the moment, and we broke up like the day after that." she defended. "and you had your first kiss last year."
"so did lucy." alex looked at me and grinned.
"oh yeah, it was spin the bottle. we ditched homecoming freshman year and went to indi's house."
"who did you have your first kiss with anyway? oh right! it was, what's his face...liam! he was jeremy's height, ginger, the works." indi described.
"right! well let's move on." i said, trying to change the subject.
indi handed me a condom. "hey lucy, just sayin'."
"stop!" i threw it back at her while the other girls giggled. i then felt my phone ring and saw that it was a text from freddy.
"it's freddy."
indi groaned. "what part of 'girls night' doesn't he understand?"
i held my finger up. "he says he's got a lead on the vampire's sire."
"that's the first good news we've heard in a while." alex said.
"you think he or she would know who the vampire is?" raven asked.
"he or she has to." i said.
"okay wait! what if it is worse than the vampire we're already dealing with?" sahara questioned.
"well, after a month of nothing, you got any better ideas?"
sahara shook her head. "but, you could barely handle that one vampire alone, let alone four of you. you guys are technically already dead but, i don't want you to become more dead."
"well, at least we've got a witch and a wizard on our side." natalie winked.
jason and jeremy went to the woods.
"why are we here at this time?" jeremy asked.
"relax, it's not like you have school tomorrow anyway." jason replied.
"yeah but, there's something called sleep, you ever heard of that?"
"i just wanna show you something." jason then led jeremy to a tree in which a vampire was stuck to. an hour earlier, jason shot arrows through the vampire, keeping him stuck to the tree. the vampire hissed at the both of them.
"what is this?" jeremy asked with an uneasiness in his voice.
"it's exactly what it looks like." jason answered. "these bloodsuckers think they're above us, well look at 'em. they're nothing but a hunted animal."
"this is the trench coat vampire you were talking about?"
"you see a trench coat on him? no. this is just some common vamp." jason then sprayed garlic at the vampire's face, burning him. "you have the stake?"
jeremy nodded. he hesitated while handing the stake to jason. jason snatched it from his hands.
"all you gotta do is look 'em in the eyes and-" jeremy stabbed the vampire in the heart with the stake.
"but they're still people."
"dear nephew, they're already dead. think of this as pulling the plug, sparing them the eternal misery."
jeremy took a step back.
"i'm not trying to scare you. you're gonna have a family of your own one day, and you're gonna have to be prepared."
the next day, the six of us went over to freddy's house. he waited outside for us. i kept imagining us catching the vampire, and the one who turned him, on the same day. today even. finally getting rid of our biggest obstacle. though my happy thoughts were ruined when i thought about the things we haven't resolved yet. my dad's body being missing, jason's huge secret, his relation to jeremy, how jeremy and i would work as a couple, even minor things like chloe. i realized that even if we got rid of the vampire for good, our problems wouldn't really be over.
"you guys made it." freddy acknowledged.
"where do we start?" i asked.
suddenly, i felt a mild breeze and then saw a bat zoom by us. the bat then turned into the form of a person. a person in a black hoodie. she lowered her hood to reveal the face of a girl. she was a very pretty girl who looked about seventeen years old, my height, with pale skin, short light reddish brown hair and crimson-red eyes.
"who's she?"
"you guys remember the couple who died in the woods?" freddy asked.
"she's the one who killed the couple? the second vampire you sensed?" raven asked.
freddy nodded.
"my name is ava." the girl said. "i can help you find who you're looking for."
"and how the hell are we supposed to trust you?!" i snapped. "you killed two innocent people."
"i don't play black and white. i don't choose sides. us vampires, we all spill blood eventually, comes with the job description. now, do you want me to help you or not?"
"alright, who's the sire?"
"kaitlynn gaines, she's the one your looking for. here's her address." ava handed me a piece of folded paper.
i opened the piece of paper. "wait, this address leads to a bunker."
ava was already gone.
"did she just play us?" sahara asked.
"only one way to find out." freddy said.
the seven of us walked to the bunker that was only a few blocks away. along the way, i kept replaying ava's words in my head: "us vampires, we all spill blood eventually." once she said that, i thought back to the night i killed daniel. but i also wondered how much more innocent blood could i spill. who could be next? i asked myself. and the girls? who would they kill, and how would they cope with that?
once we arrived at the bunker, we began to wonder if ava really did play us. what we found was a dark grey door that was planted over. blocks of bricks and cinder were scattered everywhere.
"this chick really knows how to clean up a joint, doesn't she?" indi snickered.
"well, let's move." i said, walking towards the copper door. the girls and freddy following.
indi knocked loudly on the door. "room service!" i glared at her.
after two minutes, nobody answered. "okay, there might not be anyone here." alex said.
"we're gonna have to go inside." raven said.
"seriously ray, how are we gonna go through a locked copper door?"
i nodded towards natalie. "she can."
natalie grinned. "thank satan for witchcraft." she joked, walking towards the door. she placed her palm on the handle, which now started glowing with a purple accent. the handle then fell off and the door opened. "piece of cake."
the inside of the bunker was pitch-black dark.
"pure darkness, not surprising when it comes to a vampire." sahara said.
indi pointed at me. "if i fall down the stairs and break my neck...again, it's your fault."
"you do realize vampires can see in pitch-black darkness right?" freddy asked.
"we can?"
"why do you think they call you guys 'creatures of the night'?"
"touché."
"alright well, vampires first, you guys find a light switch, then we'll follow." sahara said.
indi, alex, raven, and i easily went down the stairs first. we looked around for a light switch. i walked to a corner where i saw a big blocky object with a switch on it, i switched it on and the lights flickered and turned on. the room was now lit up in a dimmed-yellow color. i walked over to the entrance and ushered for the others to come inside.
"so...she's not home?" sahara asked, uneasily.
"or ava just led us to some redneck vampire hunter's bunker and now we're trapped." indi said.
"you're not helping!" i snapped. "sorry, let's just find her."
the seven of us split up and checked every corner of the small bunker. the place was smelly and a compete mess.
"guys, i found something." sahara called. "help me with this?"
"is that a coffin?" alex asked.
freddy, sahara, and natalie took out a wooden coffin that was painted black and inside a closet. the coffin had a wooden cross attached to it.
"this looks promising." raven said.
i reached for the opening of the coffin, but burned my hand. "ow! god dammit!"
"once it has a cross attached to it, it's sacred. no vampire could touch it." freddy explained.
"thanks for the warning." i replied.
sahara, freddy, and natalie then opened the coffin, inside was a skinny girl, she looked about sixteen. she was brunette, but her skin was grey. it looked like daniel's body when i staked him. the girl was wearing a red flannel, dark blue skinny jeans, and converse shoes. the inside of the coffin had red velvet cushioning.
"great, she's dead." alex said.
"looks like the vampire got to her before we did." raven added.
"no wait, look." i stopped them. "her body's intact. there's no stake, she's just dehydrated, starving."
indi scoffed. "yeah well, she's been starving for almost two years, she looks quite starved to death."
"that's not how it works. last month, freddy told me that if a vampire doesn't drink blood for a long period of time, it will desiccate enter a dream-like state until it is fed blood again." i explained.
natalie then slit her wrist, opened kaitlynn's mouth and placed her wound on it. "well then, it's time for her to wake up."
a few seconds later, kaitlynn's skin turned back from grey to a natural fair skin tone. her almond-shaped eyes then opened, revealing crimson-red eyes. kaitlynn pushed natalie off and sprung up from her coffin. she attacked me and pinned me to the wall, choking me.
"who are you?!" she screamed.
raven then stabbed kaitlynn in the back with a pencil, releasing her grip from me. then kaitlynn turned around and hissed at raven. that's when i tackled her and pinned both her arms to the ground.
"look at me! we're not here to hurt you, calm down." i said. i released my grip and kaitlynn stood up.
"what year is it?" she asked.
"it's 2007." i answered. "may 24th, 2007."
"i've been asleep for almost two years?"
"what was the last thing you remember?"
"i was injected with holy water. i kept fading in and out, but i was dragged down here by a man, i think it was two of them, i'm not sure. but, one of them slit my wrist and drank my blood. then i heard a gunshot."
"did you see what the man looked like?"
kaitlynn shook her head. "it was dark, and like i said, i kept slipping in and out of consciousness. then i was placed into that coffin."
"how old are you, may i ask?" indi asked.
"well, i would be forty this year." kaitlynn replied.
"just like my dad." i said.
"wait, who are you?" kaitlynn asked me.
"lucinda, lucinda ramirez."
"ramirez as in, felix ramirez?"
"um, yes?"
"it's you! i knew your parents back in high school. the last time i saw you, well, your mother was pregnant with you, but i've always wanted to meet you!" kaitlynn moved my hair out of my right eye. "you look just like him too."
"so what year were you turned?" sahara asked.
"1983. i was only sixteen years old."
"well i'm indi, that's alex, that's raven, sahara, freddy, and natalie." indi introduced. "me, lucy, alex, and raven are vampires. freddy and natalie are witches, and sahara is human."
"so you didn't purposefully turn this mystery guy into a vampire, he turned himself against your will." raven revealed.
kaitlynn nodded.
"well this vampire killed my dad, turned us, and will not stop until all of you are dead. we have to stop him."
"and we will." kaitlynn assured.
"how? you said it yourself, you don't know who he is."
"never said it was gonna be easy, but i can try to track him through the sire bond, just like i assume he does with you."
i nodded. "okay, well let's get out of here."
suddenly, i heard raven scream really loudly. i looked over to see what the fuss was about. she looked at me in horror, then pointed at the mirror.
"there's no reflection." she said.
i walked over to the mirror and didn't see my reflection either. "oh, that's odd."
"it's a mirror made of silver." freddy revealed. "back then, mirrors were made of silver. nowadays, they're not. which definitely helped vampires blend in more with the rest of humanity."
"right."
we eventually left the bunker and took kaitlynn to a nearby burger king so she could fuel up. kaitlynn managed to chow down ten cheeseburgers like nothing. indi giggled as she showed me a photo of a photo-shop enhanced cat saying "i can haz cheezburger"
"guess this is what happens when you starve for nearly two years." kaitlynn scoffed. "i think my abilities are fully functional now."
"can you turn into a bat?" indi asked.
"like all vampires, yes."
"how do you do that?" alex asked.
"how long have you girls been vampires?"
"a little over a month now." i said.
"well, you're relatively young." she joked. "my apartment may have already been bought by someone else, so i might need a place to stay."
"i'd offer you my place but i think my mom would freak out if she saw you and saw that you haven't aged in twenty-four years. and my mom's also dating a vampire hunter." i said.
kaitlynn shook her head. "oh no."
"i think there's room for you." freddy said.
kaitlynn smiled. "great. i need a shower too."
later that night, we took kaitlynn to freddy's house to wash up. as she took a shower, the rest of us sat and waited in freddy's room.
"guys?" natalie said.
"what's up, ray?" i asked.
"not to burst anyone's bubble or anything, but don't you think finding kaitlynn was a little too easy?"
"yeah, definitely bursting my bubble." alex said.
"you're just mad because she made you hit your head." indi giggled.
"i agree with nat." raven said. "don't you guys think that maybe, the vampire wanted us to find his sire?"
"can we talk about this later? kaitlynn could probably hear us right now." i suggested.
"vampires can't hear through running water." sahara stated abruptly. all of us looked at her. "what? i watch movies."
natalie giggled and smiled at her.
"but, why would the vampire allow us to find his own sire? the one person who can control him." raven asked.
"can you just not question our luck for once? maybe we just got lucky." indi said.
"we're never lucky." alex said.
"i think the million dollar question is, why did the vampire let kaitlynn live?" i said.
we stopped talking once the shower stopped running. when kaitlynn got out of the shower, freddy tripped over his own feet trying to hand her a change of clothes. it was funny seeing him act like a bumbling idiot around girls.
freddy handed kaitlynn a pair of black skinny jeans and a black long-sleeve shirt. "here you go."
"thanks." kaitlynn smiled, took the clothes and walked back into the bathroom.
"freddy definitely checked her out." sahara joked.
indi wheezed. "he probably imagined her towel falling off."
"hey, telekinesis freddy. you could've made that happen." natalie added.
freddy looked mortified at the girls' comments. "i wasn't doing any of that!"
all of us laughed, except freddy, who was blushing with embarrassment.
"in forty years, would we be considered milfs?" indi wondered.
i scoffed. "i cannot believe you just asked that."
after kaitlynn changed into her clothes, all of us started discussing a plan. i felt like things were beginning to unfold. now that we have kaitlynn on our side, we have someone we could use against the vampire. we're hopefully now one step ahead of him. once we do catch the vampire, we could finally get the answers we've been looking for.
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.
