Chapter 9 - Surprise
I came out of my room still in my pajamas and bumped into Nick.
"Hey sleepy head." He said stopping in front of me.
"Morning Nick."
"Nile is downstairs and Jordan is still sleeping."
Jordan is still sleeping? That's not like him. He's usually up early in the morning ready to go.
"Did you ever call Shelby to come up tomorrow?"
"No, sorry I forgot. I meant to do it last night but I guess I got distracted." I smiled slightly.
"You might want to tell her to come during the day."
"Why?"
He handed me the newspaper he had in his hand. I took it and read the heading on the first page.
"Three people found dead." I read aloud. "You mean they were killed?" I asked looking up to him.
He nodded. "If it's okay Autumn and I decided to leave Jaylee here with you. After people getting killed off we don't want Jaylee at the daycare. Is that okay?"
"That's fine. I don't think we were planning on doing anything anyway."
"If you want and this is if you want, you can go out for lunch. I know you three are responsible to take Jaylee somewhere."
"Okay."
"I'll leave some money downstairs."
I nodded and Nick went into his room. I went downstairs and saw Nile talking to Autumn in the kitchen.
"Morning Kiara." She said.
"Morning." I went in the cupboard and got a bowl out.
"Jordan isn't awake?" Nile asked me.
I shook my head as I got the cereal.
"What a bum." He whispered.
I knew that wasn't what he was really thinking but that's something that a 'human' would say. I poured some cereal in a bowl and got the milk out of the fridge.
"Did Nick tell you about -?"
"Yes." I cut Autumn off.
"You don't mind?"
"No, not at all."
She smiled. "Thank you."
I nodded.
There was a thud and everyone looked at each other.
"Isn't Jordan's room right above here?" I asked Nile.
He nodded. "I'll be right back." He got up and walked away.
Autumn went over to the sink and did some of the dishes. I sat down at the table and waited for Nile to come back. I looked at my arm and it was lightly bruised but nothing too major. I sighed softly that even Autumn couldn't hear it.
"Kiara."
I looked over at Nile who was whispering my name in the hall. Autumn wasn't paying attention to me so I left the table and went over to him.
"You gotta see this." He said grabbing my arm and pulling me up the stairs.
Nick's door was shut so we didn't have to worry about him. Nile dragged me into Jordan's room and shut the door behind him.
"What is it?"
"Shh, whisper." He corrected.
"What is it?" I whispered.
"Are you noticing the same thing with Jordan?" He walked over to Jordan.
Jordan was on his side lying down still asleep.
"You mean . . ."
Nile pushed the blanket off him and picked up his arm. Jordan was completely out of it. He doesn't even realize we're in here.
"Do you see this?"
His arm was filled with scratches that looked fresh. It was dried up blood over the scratches.
"Jordan does not get hurt like this." He mentioned. "I don't know what's wrong with him. He's sleeping in more, he becomes completely oblivious with things, he's been getting scratches, and also his movement has been getting slower."
"Do you think he's also realizing it?"
"I don't know. But as you can see he is totally oblivious about this." He let go of his arm.
"Did you try waking him up?"
"If falling on the floor didn't wake him up what makes you think I will?"
"Well you need to wake him up somehow."
Nile rolled his eyes then spotted my arm. "What happened to your arm?" He asked.
"Um . . ." I covered the spot up. "I hit my arm."
He eyed me for a couple of seconds and didn't bother to ask any more questions.
"Kiara!"
"Wake him up." I whispered and ran out of the room.
"Yes?"
"Nick and I are going to leave a little bit earlier. We have to do some shopping. If you could come down here and watch Jaylee."
"Yes, I'm coming."
I ran down the stairs and met Autumn at the bottom.
"Thank you for doing this."
"No problem."
"We'll see you at five." She opened the door.
"Don't forget to call Shelby." Nick told me.
"I won't."
He waved to me and followed Autumn out the door. I looked in the living room and Jaylee was sitting silently on the couch watching TV. The less she does the better. I walked up behind the couch.
"Will you be okay down here for a couple of minutes?" I asked her.
She turned around to me with fear in her eyes. She wasn't too sure of me yet. I haven't gotten to know her too much either. She's still technically a stranger to me. Jaylee nodded without saying anything to me.
"I'll be back."
Before I went upstairs I locked the front door. I heard a thud and looked at Jaylee to see if she realized it. She didn't and I ran upstairs and into Jordan's room. I looked at Nile who stared down at Jordan on the ground.
"Whoops." Nile said shrugging.
"What are you doing?"
Nile bent down to pick up Jordan and I helped.
"I was trying to wake him up but I kinda dropped him."
"Idiot," I dragged Jordan up on his feet. "you're supposed to shake him or something not throw him on the ground."
"Sorry he's not waking up!"
I sighed to myself and relooked over the scratch marks on his arms.
"How do you think he got them?" I looked at Nile who knew exactly what I was talking about.
He shrugged.
"Wake him up."
"With what?"
I sighed and Nile helped me drag Jordan on to the bed. I left the room real quick and quietly went into the kitchen and got a small knife out. I ran back upstairs without Jaylee noticing me.
"What are you going to do?" Nile asked worried.
I shut the door behind me and stood in front of Jordan.
"Hey what are you doing?" He asked again.
I took the knife and slit my pointer finger.
"Are you crazy?!"
"No, I'm smart. Isn't blood a powerful smell to vampires?" The blood ran down my finger into the palm of my hand.
Nile slapped himself in the head. "Idiot. Autumn's sister is a vampire hunter. Do you know what that means? Because she is so use to hunting vampires she can smell human blood like vampires can. Do you know what will happen if she thinks something happened to you?"
"She can't smell my blood from all the way across the city."
"Wanna bet me? I've lived longer than you have. I know what they are capable of doing."
"Whoops." I smiled half way.
Jordan's arm moved and he rubbed his face. "Where am I?" He asked.
"Hey look, your dumb plan worked." He slapped me playfully.
"Thanks."
He sat up on the bed and looked at us. His eyes looked bloody red.
"What happened to you?" Nile asked getting closer to his face getting a better look at his eyes.
"I don't remember." He rubbed his face.
"When did you go to bed?" I asked.
"Uh . . . I don't know."
I glanced at Nile and he was confused as much as I was.
"Why is your finger bleeding?" He asked.
"Oh, that I just accidently cut myself."
"And the knife?"
I looked at my other hand with the knife. Aren't I just stupid telling him that with a knife in my other hand that clearly states I cut my finger.
"Never mind that, what's up with your arms?" I asked changing the subject.
Jordan looked at his arms confused. He shrugged not knowing what actually happened.
"I'm gonna be downstairs, Nile." I said. "I have to watch Jaylee. Get Jordan to look . . . alive." I said walking away.
I went downstairs making sure my blood didn't drip on the floor. Washing my hand I made sure all the blood was gone from the knife and from my hand. I put it back making it look like I didn't even touch it. My finger kept bleeding. I don't know where Autumn keeps the band-aid.
"Here" Nile said with waving a band-aid in front of me.
"Thanks." I took it then turned around to him. "Is he okay?"
"I think so."
I shook my head while putting the band-aid on.
"Kiara, I think I know what's wrong with him."
"And?"
"He -."
The door bell rang interrupting his sentence.
"Hold that thought." I threw the band-aid wrappers away and unlocked the door.
My mind completely went blank when I found Monique standing in the doorway. I glanced over at Nile. He felt like pouncing at her but he stayed by the wall away from the door.
"Hi." She said smiling.
I felt my heart drop a million feet and I was frozen. Why would she come here? Doesn't she know Autumn and Nick are gone? Or is she here for Nile and Jordan? All these questions ran through my head as I stared at the woman in front of me who could kill any of us at any given second.