Jason rode with me to school again and when we got out we bumped into Luke.
“Sorry,” Luke said.
“It’s okay, are you Violet’s friend?” Jason asked.
“Yeah, I’m Eric,” Luke said and Jason looked confused but smiled after a moment.
“Nice to meet you Eric,” Jason said.
Luke then put his arm around me and led me away from Jason. I was confused by the whole thing.
“Your confusion is amusing me,” Luke said taking his arm off me.
“Explain,” I said not looking amused.
“It was a test Violet. I wanted to see if he had a reaction, and boy did he! He expected me to say Luke, and when I said Eric he looked confused and was unsettled,” Luke smiled obviously proud.
“Okay well, I saw his computer and there was a map and lots of dots, different colors. It seemed like a tracking device of some sort,” I said.
“Hmm. Do you think he knows who I am? Or what I am? I mean, he is friends with Vlad and if Vlad did…do you think Jason knows about it?” Luke asked.
“Good question, I am not sure,” I answered.
“Okay, here is what’s going to happen, I’m coming over your house today and we will get him out of the house and I will take a look at his computer and I will figure out who he is tracking,” Luke said as the bell rang and headed off before I could argue.
Arriving back home Jason was shocked so see Luke.
“Welcome home, I must be going out. I will see you later this evening,” Jason said quickly grabbing his jacket.
Jason rushed through the back door and Luke smirked to himself.
“That was a very flustered movie star,” Luke joked.
“Okay, he is gone, do your computer thing,” I said as I went to the stove and put the kettle on.
Luke went upstairs and came back down with the computer. It took Luke a couple minutes to crack the password but he got in. When he opened up the program a voice came through the computer.
“Jason? You there?”
Luke shut the computer quickly. We looked at each other and I knew whose voice that was.
“That was Vlad,” I said.
“So there were three color dots, red, green and gold. There was only one red and one gold one. The rest were green,” Luke said.
“So does this mean…Maybe Vlad is the gold dot, because of his money. And Eric could be red, and vampires are green?” I suggested pulling that out of thin air.
“You’re onto something. Vlad is gold; that is settled. Eric, how is he involved, just asking? He has a connection to Jeannette but… Never mind, for now let’s assume he is the red dot. And the green dots we can assume are Vampires since your uncle is involved. Vampires aren’t as rare as one thinks. Wait when Jason met me he was expecting me to say Luke. Did Vlad tell Jason about me? And if so, why? Did you even tell Vlad you reconnected with me?” Luke asked.
“No I never mentioned you to Vlad, good questions. How does Jason know about you then? This is getting really freaky,” I said.
“Stay calm, Vlad’s met my family and knows about us. He knows of me. But why would Jason expect me to say Luke? We are over thinking. Let’s step back,” Luke said.
“Why don’t we go to your house?” I suggested.
“But when else will we get this house to ourselves? It’s a great opportunity to explore and find clues,” Luke pointed out.
For some reason he sounded suggestive, maybe I was imagining it though. I agreed and we went upstairs to Jason’s room. Luke opened the wall even though I told him I checked and nothing was there. Luke smiled and held a piece of paper.
“Screw you, hand it over,” I said.
He gave it to me, and it looked like a chart. There were coordinates and there were green dots with “X’s” through them, meaning death probably. Luke copied the page and put it back in the wall. The red dot was always just out of reach from the gold dot.
“Are they tracking Eric? If so why?” I said aloud.
“More good questions,” Luke smiled.
The doorbell rang and I headed downstairs to see Vince at the door.
“Hey Vi, haven’t seen you in a while, how are things coming?” Vince asked walking in.
We sat at the kitchen table and explained everything to Vince.
“Thanks guys, way to keep me in the loop,” Vince said sarcastically, “By the way it’s officially Christmas break, so what are your plans?”
“Oh, I spaced that today was our last day. Just sitting around doing nothing,” I said.
“Is your uncle coming back for Christmas?” Vince asked.
“Didn’t think of that. I don’t think so though,” I said.
“You guys can spend Christmas with us,” Luke offered, “And our vacation got cancelled.”
“Cool, so back to the mystery. I am trying to put it together. We have the Eric and Jeannette loop and the Vlad and Jason loop with my parents’ murder. Where is the connection? How do they go together? Or do they even go together?” I asked.
“Good question, let’s go to my house and fill my parents in, maybe they can see something we don’t,” Luke suggested.
Getting to Luke’s when we explained everything Luke’s parents did see something we missed.
“Do you think the person who murdered Jeannette could have murdered your parents?” Luke’s father suggested.
“So that would mean Vlad is hunting down your parents’ murderer,” Vince said hopefully.
“Finally we have some good news, or speculation,” Luke’s mother smiled.
Luke’s father turned on the TV and there was a murder being announced.
“Jane, it’s a Vampire,” Luke’s father said shaking his head.
“The body was drained of blood and found in an alley and no trace of the killer,” The reporter announced.
“That is a sloppy kill,” Jane, Luke’s mother commented.
“Violet, you are staying here tonight, not safe for you to go home,” Luke insisted.
I sighed and shook my head. Luke always forgets, or maybe purposely tried to forget that I’ve been a hunter all my life. My phone rang and I answered it.
“Hello?”
“Violet, I presume you’ve seen the news. You know what you have to do. Jason is waiting for you at the house. Yes he knows, now get back home and make me proud,” Vlad said before hanging up.
The room was silent as I put my phone back in my pocket.
“You are not leaving this house,” Luke growled.
“Luke, we can’t stop her if she wants to,” Vince said.
“Vince! I don’t want to. Those days are behind me! And all you forget that I’ve been taking care of myself for eleven years! I can walk outside when there are Vampires killing. I can protect myself, trust me,” I snapped.
“Wait, I just thought of something! All the murders have happened in the alley. Eric killed Jeannette in an alley; two unsolved murders were in an alley…” Vince said.
“That would mean Eric was a Vampire,” Luke said.
“First off we don’t know for sure Eric killed Jeannette,” I reminded, “And if he did then yes that means he could be a Vampire, but we don’t know enough yet to come to any conclusions,” I said heading toward the door.
Luke turned his back to me and I left.
Arriving home Jason smiled at me and I looked at him skeptically.
“You know about Vampires?” I asked.
“Yes, your uncle taught me a thing or two over the years,” Jason said, “Also I got you an outfit for hunting, black top and pants with a belt that can hold your stakes and other weapons.”
“Um, thanks,” I said caught off guard as he handed me the box.
“Go get dressed, then we head out,” Jason said.
Getting changed I had to admit I liked the outfit. Coming back into the kitchen Jason had two stakes, a bottle of salt and holy water on the counter. I grabbed the stakes and slipped them in my belt. I put the holy water and salt in my pant pocket.
“Have you ever gone hunting?” I asked.
“Once with your uncle,” Jason said.
I sighed and we headed downtown to see if we could find that Vampire.