Bloodlines

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: TEMPEST

         Jeremy drove to Chloe's house. Sahara and I helped her inside. Chloe kept groaning in pain as I set her down on her bed. Sahara gave Chloe a change of clothes, since her other clothes were torn to shreds when she turned into a werewolf.
        "Thank you guys for taking me home." Chloe said.
        "Don't thank me, I practically dragged you into all this." I rued.
        "Lucy, enough with the self-blame. It's not your fault, it never was. I know that now."
         I hugged Chloe again. It felt like a million years ago, the last time she hugged me. I missed Chloe's hugs.
        "God, i'm still sore. That transformation really took a toll on me."
        "Well according to Freddy, your body should completely heal in a week." Sahara explained. "So for now just rest, and maybe prepare yourself for the next full moon."
         "Sahara! Too soon!" Chloe yelped.
         "Sorry!"
          I tucked Chloe in her bed. "If you need anything, let us know, okay?"
         Chloe nodded. "Thanks again." Chloe quickly fell asleep and Sahara and I left through the bedroom window.
         Jeremy then drove me and the girls to Alex's house. Sahara decided to join us, since she had a million questions. It felt like we were driving for hours, and with this horror movie-like fog, I felt like we were gonna be surprised by something else. It was really foggy tonight because hurricane season starts tomorrow. There's always a storm in Florida, and they call this the sunshine state.
           We finally arrived, and the girls already started walking into Alex's house. Jeremy had gotten out of the car and walked up to me.
          I turned to the girls. "Can you give us a moment?" I asked them. The girls nodded and walked into the house. I turned back to Jeremy.
          "Hey, I know tonight was a little crazy." He said.
          "Tell me about it. Chloe's a freaking werewolf."
          Jeremy nodded. "Yeah, i'm still trying to wrap my head around that. I didn't mean to hurt her by the way, she was gonna attack you and I reacted."
          I placed my hand on his shoulder. "I get it. I'm just glad everyone's okay...ish."
         "But are you okay?"
         "To be honest with you, no. It wasn't Jason who killed Daniel, it was me. He was about to attack Sahara, and I just didn't think. Now my mom is in the hospital, my dad's body is missing, Sahara was almost attacked, Raven was kidnapped, and-"
        Jeremy placed his finger on my mouth. "It's okay. It's not your fault either, it's Jason's. He's done nothing but manipulate each and every one of us. I'm ashamed to even be in his bloodline."
        Jeremy and I stood silent. 
        "I wanna show you something." I said, taking off my contacts, exposing my crimson eyes. I looked into Jeremy's eyes and he looked into mine. 
        "They're beautiful on you." He said. 
          I pulled Jeremy's tall body closer to my much smaller one and kissed him passionately. He placed his hands on my back and pulled me closer to him. I ran my hands through his thick, but soft hair, while he ran his hands down my back, and the back of my thighs. As he pulled away, he gave me a small peck on the lips, instantly making me want more.
           Jeremy hugged me. He always loved how easily I fit into his hugs. "Goodnight, babe."
           "I'll see you tomorrow." I said. 
           Jeremy smiled and walked to the car. I watched as he drove off into the foggy night. After he was gone, I walked inside Alex's house with the other three girls, who were squealing over what they just saw.
          "Hey girls, you doin' alright?" Shelby asked. Before going to the woods, Alex had informed Shelby that we were going to a party.
           "Yes, Mrs. Gordon." Sahara said.
           "You can call me Shelby, dear."
           "Sorry, Shelby." Sahara blushed.
            The girls and I went upstairs, showered, and put on some clean clothes. Tonight, the girls were silent, and Sahara was practically biting her nails.
           "What the hell just happened tonight?" Raven asked, finally breaking the ice.
           "Werewolves are real too?" Sahara blurted out.
           "Okay, first off, how is Chloe a werewolf?" Alex asked.
           "Okay okay, guys!" I called. "One question at a time, please."
           "Sorry, Luce. It's just, a lot happened tonight, and this week." Sahara said.
            Indi cleared her throat. "Yeah I mean, You just killed your vampire ex-boyfriend, Chloe turned into a werewolf, Jason is revealed to be The Vampire-"
           "And I killed three people." Raven added.
           "No, it wasn't your fault. It was Jason's." Alex soothed.
           "Jason may have been the man behind the wheel, but I still did all the dirty work." Raven began to cry. "I don't know how I can live with myself."
          "Look, there's nothing we can do to bring them back. This is exactly what Jason wants, he wants to tear us apart from the inside. He wants to turn us into a worse monster than he is. It may have been your fangs in the person's neck, but it was all Jason." I told her.
          Raven stopped crying, and did a slight smile at me, but she still seemed upset. I constantly have this pit in my stomach, that the worst of the worst hasn't happened yet. Jason still has a plan, I don't know what it is, but I felt it was much worse than making Raven kill people.
         "You know, with you guys being vampires, Freddy being a wizard, Natalie a witch, and now Chloe being a werewolf, you ever wonder who's really normal anymore?" Sahara asked us.
        "Sometimes I wonder that too." I scoffed. "It feels like you're the only human we know."
        "Well if you think about it, if you take away the fangs, the fur, and the magic, we're all still human in a way." Indi said.
        I then began to feel an epiphany. Shelby is the same age as my mom, dad, Jason, and Kaitlynn. She must've known them back in high school, so she may know more about Jason and my dad then we know right now. "Hey Alex, your mom went to Woodstake High right?"
        "Yeah, why?" She asked.
        "Well that means she could've known Jason back in high school. She could know more about Jason and why he hated my dad so much." I explained.
         "You're right, I think we should go ask her."
         The five of us went downstairs and found Shelby in the living room. She was watching TV in the dark.
         "Um, mom?"
         "Yes, Alex?"
          Alex looked at me and directed her head towards Shelby. I sat down next to Shelby, while the other girls sat around the couch.
         "As you already know, we're vampires, except Sahara." I began. Shelby nodded. "The Vampire who turned us is Jason."
          Shelby's eyes widened. "Jason as in, Woodstake High, obsessed with your mom, Jason?" She asked.
          I nodded.
          Shelby scoffed. "My sorry ass ex-boyfriend."
          Alex wheezed. "You dated Jason?"
          "Okay, it was before I dated your father, sue me."
          "Shelby, Jason killed my dad, and stabbed my mother, that's why she's in the hospital right now, as we speak." I revealed. "Now, did you know him very well?"
          "Well, you know me, I was the hot blonde cheerleader, for freshman through junior year, until I broke my ankle and couldn't be a cheerleader senior year. I was a hot mess, kind of lost my popularity, and my jock of a boyfriend at the time dumped me. Jason was lonely, I was lonely. He took pity on me and we talked, then we really talked-"
           Alex cut her off. "Too much detail, mom. You're putting images in my head."
          "Sorry. Anyway, I eventually put two and two together, and realized he actually had feelings for the lonely girl, your mother. Of course, I was used again. Anyway, Jason constantly talked about her, even said some nasty things about your father. He was impulsive, and verbally abusive towards me. He even went as far as to comment how I transformed from being hot-cheerleader-Shelby to sweater-and-ponytail-Shelby."
            "That's awful." I said.
            "He loved your mom, even going as far as saying he would kill your father just to be with her, and even wanted to. It was then I began to feel afraid of him. And one day, he got so angry to the point he pushed me to the ground in the auditorium. Then my hero came to the rescue- Miles. He was just a scrawny geek, but I don't know, it's like he found the willpower to stand up for me, like no one ever has. Jason overpowered him, but Miles was smart, and Jason left me alone. The next day, he tried to apologize. But by then, I was already done with his shit and cut him out of my life altogether."
             "And what happened after that?" I asked.
             "Well, Miles and I started talking, found out he wasn't such a waste of space after all. I felt guilty for blowing him off all of high school, but eventually I saw he was the perfect man for me. About seven months ago, I ran into Jason at a local flea market."
             "Seven months ago, as in, Halloween?" Raven asked.
             Shelby nodded. "we had a conversation. I thought he had finally changed after almost twenty-two years. Clearly not, since he killed your father hours later. He said something about keeping the doors locked at night. Pretty creepy, now that I think about it."
            I face-palmed. "I still don't see how the whole vampire thing fits into all this."
           "Jason was always sure your dad was hiding something, but couldn't pinpoint what." Shelby then stood up. "I'm sure you girls must be hungry. I'll order some Chinese."
            An hour later, the girls and I helped ourselves to some delicious Chinese food and went upstairs to watch TV. I couldn't help but think about what my dad hid from everybody. Why Jason was so convinced he was hiding something, and whether he knew what he was hiding. And with Shelby recalling how Jason told her to keep the doors locked that night on Halloween, I wondered if it had anything to do with why my dad wouldn't allow me to go out that night.
            The next day, I went to the hospital to go check on my mom. While I was going inside, I had a bad feeling in my stomach. I prayed nothing bad happened to my mom. I started to calm down when I thought about Kaitlynn's determination to watch my mom. When I went inside my mom's room, she was by herself. I expected to see Kaitlynn here too, but she wasn't, which worried me a little.
             "Good morning, sweetheart." My mom greeted.
             "Hey mom, how are you holding up?" I asked.
             "I'm healing. The doctors said I should be able to go home in a few days."
             "O-M-G, that's great!" I looked around the room once more. "Mom, where's Kaitlynn?"
             "She ran out to get my mail, though she's been gone for three hours, and our house is not too far from here."
             I knew something wasn't right. Something must've happened to Kaitlynn. "Um, I have to make a call, i'll see you later mom." I already bolted out the door before she could respond.
             I kept trying to call Kaitlynn, but I got no answer. I got even more anxious. I decided to go to Freddy's house. I was in a rush, so I knew I couldn't just walk. I shifted into my bat form and flew all the way to Freddy's. 
           Once i got there, I knocked on the door. But it wasn't Freddy who answered the door, it was Natalie. 
          "Hey Nat, where's Freddy?" I asked.
          "You tell me, I thought he was with you guys, I had to tell his mom he was at a boy sleepover." She said confusedly.
          "No, I thought Jeremy drove him home last night." 
          "Well, he's not home."
          "God, that means he's missing too."
          "Too?"
          "Kaitlynn's missing too. I called her at least a dozen times, no answer."
          "Come inside, i'll do a locating spell." 
           Natalie and I both went upstairs, and Natalie began setting up the ingredients for the spell.
           My phone started ringing. Kaitlynn was finally calling me back. I immediately picked up the phone. But rather than hearing Kaitlynn's high pitched voice, the person who answered the phone was none other than Jason.
          "Lucinda, long time no see." He said.
          "Where are they?" I asked angrily.
          "Oh relax, your friends and the bratty little wolf are right here. Oh, and so is your little boyfriend."
          I felt my heart drop. "Damn it, Jason. He's your nephew!"
          "Oh, i'm not gonna kill him, obviously. He's legacy. But your friends on the other hand, can't say the same for them."
          "Don't kill them. I beg you, take me instead."
          "Oh, I wasn't planning on killing them. Maybe Jeremy will do it for me."
          "He wouldn't do that."
          "Oh, he will. Meet me at the abandoned church near St. Petersburg, tonight. You want your answers? I'll give it to ya." Jason hung up, and I began to panic. 
          "What's wrong, what did he say?" Natalie asked.
          "You know where that abandoned church near St. Petersburg is, right?" I asked.
          "Of course, there was a fire there like decades ago. Why would Jason ask to meet you there?"
          "That doesn't matter right now. What matters is we have to rescue our friends."
          "We need to come up with a plan. Jason might expect us to come empty handed. We need a plan of attack."
          Natalie was right. Jason always planned ahead when it came to me and the girls. He's has twenty-two years of preparation. The girls and I have only been vampires for two months. I needed to play smart. I needed strategy.
           "What do we do?" I asked.
           "For starters, we need all the weapons we can get. Jason's smart enough not to stand alone." 
           "But to his knowledge, i'd be going alone."
           "Luce, Jason knows you're not going alone. Since he knows you hang out with servants of the mystic arts, he's obviously gonna have something up his sleeve."
          "You're right. I think Jeremy has some hunting gear in his room. Jason would've made sure of it." 
          "Then let's not waste any time."
           Natalie and I left the house and quickly went over to Jeremy's place. It had already started to rain, and the sky was a ashy grey color. By the time we got to Jeremy's, it was soaked. 
          "Alright, i'm gonna go inside, get the weapons, and meet you out here in a minute." I told Natalie, before turning into a bat and flying up to Jeremy's bedroom window.
          Under different circumstances, this would be kind of cute. I grabbed onto the ledge and shifted back into my human form, nearly losing my grip in the progress. I managed to open the window and quietly sneak inside. Thank my vampirism for giving me super-stealthiness. I searched under Jeremy's bed and looked through Jeremy's closet. I even looked through his drawers, which I admit, was very weird. I managed to find twelve stakes and four machetes. Jeremy was practically prepared for a zombie apocalypse if it ever happened. 
         I placed the stakes and machetes in a duffel bag. I walked back to the window and tossed the duffel bag to Natalie, which made her step back a little, due to the weight. 
         "Is that all?" She asked.
         "It's enough." I shrugged.
         "Then let's go back to Alex's. The girls are there."
          Natalie and I walked to Alex's house. I hoped with everything I had that nothing bad happened to them. It took us a while to get there. By the time we got there, Natalie and I were already soaking wet. Our makeup ran as if we were crying, and our hair was pasted to our heads. Once inside, after Natalie and I changed our outfits, we sat down with the girls and explained our plan. 
          "Correct me if i'm wrong. So Jason kidnapped Jeremy, Freddy, Kaitlynn, and Chloe?" Raven asked.
         "He also said he'll force Jeremy to kill the three of them if I don't show up by tonight."
         "Does he expect you to come in one piece?" Sahara asked. "The hurricane is tonight."
         "Right now, that doesn't matter. What we need to do is kill Jason and rescue our friends." I said.
          "How?" Indi asked.
          "When we're close enough, the four of you will shift into bat forms and sneak through any small space you can find in the church. Natalie, you'll cloak them so Jason won't see them coming."
          "What about me?" Sahara asked.
          "Sahara, this is too dangerous. You're gonna have to sit this one out."
          "No. They are my friend's too. And if all this goes south, I don't know how i'll live with myself knowing I could've done something. You guys are all I have. If we die, we're all dying together."
          Sahara may be human, but her courage is stronger than any of ours combined, and I knew that. She was brought into the supernatural world out of nowhere, and she was scared. But she's not scared anymore.
           "Then what are you waiting for? Let's go."
            At the church, Jason continued to hold Freddy, Kaitlynn, Jeremy, and Chloe hostage. Judging by their looks, they must've been taken moments after they departed with the girls. Chloe was still sore from her transformation the previous night. Jason also knocked Freddy out so he couldn't use magic to escape.
           "Let them go, Jason! They're kids!" Kaitlynn snapped.
           "So are you." Jason said, forcefully pulling Kaitlynn up by her braided ponytail and throwing her across the church. "For someone who's been a vampire longer than I have, you certainly are weak."
            Kaitlynn got up and tried to tackle Jason, but once again he overpowered her. "You couldn't escape with them if you tried." He continued. "I cast a spell on the entrance, so whoever's inside can't come out."
           Jeremy then stood up and punched Jason in the face, which barely fazed him. "Let us go, Jason. We don't deserve this."
          "You don't understand, Jeremy."
          "You call yourself a vampire hunter, yet most of us aren't even vampires."
          "Vampire, werewolf, wizard, it all falls under the same supernatural umbrella. Oh and please stop saying 'we' and 'us', you're not one of them."
          "Yet here you are. A vampire yourself. Standing here telling me not to trust them, yet you're one of them. You killed Lucy's father, you stabbed her mother, you nearly killed Sahara, and you're holding us hostage for whatever your damage is with Lucy's family."
          "I'm necessary evil. The world will thank me one day. You'll see. There will be no more unexplained 'animal' attacks, no bodies drained of blood, no more death. Who knows," Jason glanced at Chloe, who shot him a nasty look, "maybe after i'm done with the vampires, i'll go after the werewolves next. Now why don't we wait for our party guest to arrive, then we can have our slumber party."
           Jeremy stood eye-to-eye with Jason. "Leave Lucy out of this."
          "You know what? Since you're all about your new attitude, how about you do something for me." Jason then made eye contact with Jeremy and hypnotized him. "Kill them."
          "No, don't make me do that." 
          "Here, I even brought you a machete." 
           Without any control, Jeremy grabbed the machete, and walked over to the other three hostages.
           "Jeremy, it's us. Please, you have to fight it." Chloe begged him.
           For the first time ever, Jeremy did something that was considered impossible. As he held the machete above his head, ready to swing at Kaitlynn, he resisted and forced his arms down.
           "I have an army of vampires, sired by me, waiting for my signal. If you don't kill them, i'll have them attack all of Woodstake. So make your choice, dear nephew, them or everyone else in Woodstake."
          Jeremy resisted. "They're my friends."
           "Very well then. Say goodbye to Woodstake. Maybe i'll even have one of them bring Lucy over here. Then i'll make you watch as I burn her to ashes." Jason then closed his eyes, focused, and opened them again. "There."
            "No!" Jeremy screamed, running towards the exit, but he couldn't leave due to the spell Jason placed.
            The dark grey skies had already become night, and the storm was becoming worse. Out of rare luck however, the girls and I managed to find Jeremy's car a few blocks from Alex's house. It saved us from becoming literal sponges. As we were driving, something hit the car really loudly, which made all of us jump. 
           "What the hell was that?!" Alex asked.
            From the windshield, the girls and I saw a hoard of people running and leaping inhumanly in the same direction. They obviously weren't human. They were...vampires! 
           "Are those vampires?" Sahara asked.
           "Why is there an army of vampires attacking Woodstake?" Indi asked.
           The six of us got out the car, the vampires were attacking people and creating chaos in the streets of Woodstake. This looked like a scene straight out of a horror movie. It looked like a nightmare.
           "I can sense their energies. It's similar to yours." Natalie said.
           "Meaning what?" I asked.
           "Meaning they're part of your bloodline. All forty of these vampires are sired by Jason."
           "So this is what Jason had up his sleeve."
           "What do we do now?" Raven asked.
           "We do what we have to." Indi said, grabbing the weapons from the car. 
           "But these are innocent people!" Sahara exclaimed.
           "They're too far gone." I told her. "We can't help them all. At least this way, we'd be putting them out of their misery."
            Each of us grabbed a few stakes and four of us used machetes. We were outnumbered, but we still fought. I hated seeing the look in these vampires' red eyes as I staked them. I had to keep reminding myself it was for the best. These vampires were vicious, out of control. I kept worrying about the girls, how they were holding up. It was bloody. It almost seemed as if it was raining blood. One vampire after another, I had to keep going. 
             After minutes of decapitating and staking the sired vampires, the girls and I found ourselves standing over the last vampire. There were bodies everywhere. All of us were covered in vampire blood, but the rain washed most of it off. 
            "Is everyone okay?" I asked.
             Natalie pointed at something behind me. "Lucy, look over there." 
             I turned around and saw the church. The church where Jason held Jeremy, Freddy, Kaitlynn, and Chloe hostage. It looked old and worn down. A few decades ago, there was a fire in the church. The foundation stood and the church wasn't completely burned down. They tried rebuilding it, but the priests and other religious townsfolk feared that the fire was caused by the devil, so they relocated, and no ones stepped foot ever since. Some also believed it was haunted.
            I turned back to the girls. "You guys know what you need to do." 
           They nodded, and Alex, Raven, and Indi turned into their bat forms. Natalie whispered to herself and suddenly the bats turned invisible. 
           "Wait, Nat." Sahara said. "In case this goes wrong, I-"
            Natalie interrupted what she was gonna say and kissed her passionately. I totally did not expect that.
            Sahara stuttered. "H-how did you know what I was going to say?" 
            Natalie winked. "I'm a witch, remember?"
            Sahara blushed, then shook her head. "Okay, back to the plan. Lucy, go."
            I walked towards the church. It seriously gave me an eerie feeling, but I had no choice. I opened the door and walked inside. I didn't see Jason anywhere, but Jeremy, Chloe, Freddy, and Kaitlynn were there. I felt like this was a trap, but I wasn't gonna take any chances. 
            "Lucy!" Jeremy called, running up to me and hugging me. 
             I let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you guys are okay." I walked over to Kaitlynn, Freddy, and Chloe. "What happened to Freddy?" I asked.
             "Jason injected him with something. He didn't want him to be awake to do magic." Kaitlynn explained.
              As soon as she said that, Freddy suddenly woke up, scaring Chloe in the process. Raven, Indi, and Alex shifted into their human forms and stood around us. 
            "What happened?" Freddy asked confusedly.
            "Long story, i'll tell you once we get out of here." I helped Freddy up and all of us headed for the exit. As we exited, we found ourselves unable to leave. It was like the times when I had to be invited in, an invisible force-field blocking me from passing through.
            "Why can't we get out?" I asked.
            "Not so fast." Jason said, appearing behind us. "Show's not over yet."
             The ten of us turned to him. Alex, Raven, Indi, Kaitlynn, and I attacked Jason from all angles. But he easily overpowered us. He finally pinned me to the ground and used a piece of wood to stab me through the stomach.
            Jeremy picked up a crossbow and shot Jason, but he easily caught the stake. Meanwhile, Freddy and Natalie tried to lift the spell that kept us from leaving. Sahara and Chloe safely hid. I managed to pull the stake from my stomach and tried to stab Jason with it, but he caught my arm, grabbed the stake, and tossed me to the ground. 
            I got up, even though I was in so much pain. "How'd you do it? How did you keep us from leaving this place?"
            "Witchcraft is for everyone. Vampires can do it too, comes in handy."
            "Why do all of this? Endanger my friends, break my family? I didn't even want any of this!"
            "Your father was always protective of you. He always told you, 'one day, you'll understand.', right?"
             "You told me he kept secrets."
             "Secrets about our families. Our families hated each other for centuries. You think you and Jeremy are gonna sit on a ferris wheel, eat cotton candy, and live happily never after? Think again."
             "Don't listen to him, Luce." Jeremy told me.
             "What are you saying, Jason?" I asked.
             "You ever wondered where vampires come from? They come from one vampire. Your ancestor, the first vampire in history. My family? We're hunters."
              I couldn't believe what Jason told me. My family is normal, we got along with everyone. I knew Jason was manipulative, but somehow I felt like he was right. "No..." 
             "Oh, yes. That's why I had to keep you alive. He wanted you alive. He wanted me to turn you. He said I can kill your father as long as you lived. That's why I turned you. All this isn't because of me, it's all in your blood, Lucinda."
            "So that's it? You're not the big bad after all. You're just a lackey, a pawn."
            "Well let's not get too ahead of ourselves. Vampires had to come from somewhere. And let's just say i'm close to the origin. I only worked for him so I could dig deeper. Therefore, I don't need you. I could just kill every last one of you. I just wanted to wait until the right moment."
              Kaitlynn got up and attempted to attack Jason again, but before anyone could react, he caught her by the neck and stabbed her in the heard with a stake. I looked in horror as Kaitlynn's skinned turned grey and her body crumbled to ash in his hands.
              "Alright, who's next?" Jason asked, pointing the stake at us.
                In a fit of anger, Chloe's eyes turned yellow and she galloped towards Jason and tackled him to the ground. She bared her teeth and bit Jason in the neck, making him scream in pain. He then pushed her off and kicked her out the church doors.
               "Okay, that means we broke the spell, we need to go!" Natalie said.
               Chloe calmed down and stood up. The rest of us attempted to evacuate, but Jason grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me back inside.
              "Lucy!" I heard Jeremy call. He rushed inside and tried to swing at Jason with his machete, but Jason pushed him aside. I noticed Jason looked weaker than usual. He looked more pale, and the spot where Chloe bit him was swollen. 
               "Werewolf bites can kill vampires?" I asked.
               "Yes." Jason confirmed. "If it's not me, it'll be her. You and your friends are dead either way." He then walked over to the altar and knocked down the candles, setting the church on fire
                In one final attempt, I tackled Jason and pinned him to the ground. I grabbed a stake and held it above my head.
               "You killed my father, you killed Kaitlynn, and you killed me. Now, i'm gonna do the same to you." I then stabbed Jason right in the heart and watched as his skin turned grey and his body crumbled to ash. 
                The fire was getting worse, so I got up, grabbed Jeremy, and walked outside the church, reuniting with my friends.
               "Is he dead?" Raven asked.
                I nodded. "For good, this time."
               All of us watched as the church burned down. It seemed like everything was over. Jason was dead, I got justice for my dad, and Jason would no longer haunt us ever again. But I knew it wasn't over. This was just the beginning.