it was a gloomy monday morning. i spent the entirety of sunday looking around for people who knew my dad and anyone who could have potentially despised my dad. i came across absolutely nothing. i felt hopeless. i kept thinking about the video too. the fact that the vampire has been lurking in the shadows, watching me, haunted me. by my locker, i was surprised by jeremy, who was holding a black rose.
"surprise!" he said, handing it to him.
i took the rose. "this is beautiful!"
"i just saw it and thought of you." jeremy then grabbed me and kissed me.
in that moment, i forgot about everything. about vampires, the vampire, the accident, everything. every time i was around jeremy, i felt human again. jeremy was the anchor to my humanity.
"am i interrupting?" natalie asked, surprising the both of us.
"nat hey, you enrolled!" i exclaimed.
"of course i'd come back." she said, sniffing the air. "i missed this place. and who's this?" she asked, referring to jeremy.
"oh, right. nat, this is my boyfriend, jeremy." i introduced. "jeremy, this is natalie."
jeremy waved.
"lucinda ramirez has a boyfriend!" natalie sarcastically exclaimed. she then mouthed the words 'he's hot' to me and i mouthed back, 'i know'.
"well, i gotta go pick up my schedule, i'll leave you lovebirds alone, and i'll see you later." natalie said, walking to the main office.
"she's nice." jeremy noted.
"she's a tease." i replied.
at lunch, the girls, including natalie and i sat at our table. the boys, jeremy and freddy had yet to arrive, so it was just the five of us.
"i have an idea." indi yelped abruptly.
"by all means, say it." alex said.
"how about we go to the bridge tonight, and confront the vampire there?"
i looked at indi like she was crazy. "what?"
indi sat back down. "yeah, stupid idea, i know."
"no, indi's right." natalie said, "we can confront him there, he'll know that you know the truth. so maybe, if he's too strong, we can get one step ahead of him and extract some dna from him. we can figure out who he is."
"that's actually, not a bad idea." i agreed.
raven was quiet.
"raven, any thoughts?"
raven shook her head. "no, let's do it."
freddy and jeremy then joined the table. "what are you guys talking about?" freddy asked.
"oh just, girl stuff." i said, secretly texting freddy saying, 'i'll fill you in later'
jeremy put his arm around me and gave me a long, warm kiss on the lips, making natalie squeal internally. chloe then came to our table, ruining the moment.
"well look who's back." she said, referring to natalie.
"chloe, what a surprise!" she replied sarcastically.
"what brings you back to woodstake?"
"nostalgia." natalia smirked at chloe cheekily.
"because four emos aren't enough." chloe looked at me.
"why can't you just leave us alone?" jeremy asked.
"you should watch out jeremy, with her, you could end up just like daniel."
"what happened to daniel has nothing to do with lucy, or her friends." jeremy stood up. "so i suggest you back off."
chloe huffed, then walked away.
"seriously, what's her deal?" jeremy wondered.
i got up, then sped-walked to the bathroom. i just wanted to hide inside one of the large, wide stalls. i knew chloe was just being a bitch, but there was truth to what she said. like daniel, jeremy could end up dead because of me. the vampire could simply kill him, or turn him into a vampire so he can lose control and have me, or any of the girls, kill him. i began to tear up. images of me killing daniel were once again running through my head. i looked at my reflection, wishing i could persuade all my problems away.
raven then came into the dark dimmed bathroom. she seemed to hesitate when she walked in, but she walked over to me and rested her hand on my shoulder.
"don't listen to chloe." she said.
"how can i not? what she said was true."
"she's just trying to get to you."
"if we don't catch this vampire now, he could hurt jeremy, even my mom, or jason, or you, everyone!"
"it's okay lucy, we have a plan."
"then tonight, we're gonna get him. question is how?"
"we have to ask freddy and natalie."
after school, the girls and i went to freddy's to discuss the plan.
"so let me get this straight, you want to meet with the vampire at the bridge?!" freddy asked.
i nodded. "we know he won't tell us anything, but we're hoping to fight him long enough to get a dna sample from him so we can figure out who he is, and be one step ahead of him."
"why the bridge?"
"it's where it all began. he'll expect me to have watched the footage of him causing my dad's death."
"and how do you plan on getting a dna sample?"
"shoot him maybe? and then either you or natalie can telekinetically remove the bullet."
freddy was silent. he shook his head, then looked back up. "are you sure about this?" he asked.
"it's either now or never. i don't want this vampire to hurt anymore of the people i care about."
freddy nodded. i looked around at freddy's room. he had a book shelf that i cold only assume had a lot of grimoirs and lore books. his carpet also had a white pentagram on top of it. then he had quite a lot of ingredients that are supposed to be used for spells.
"do you have a crystal ball?" i asked.
freddy scoffed and smiled. "that's for psychics."
"wait, hate to burst everyone's bubble but, how do we get the vampire to show up?" alex asked.
"it's easy." natalie said. "we'll summon him using wood-ash, garlic, and blood from the four of you."
"that summons them?" i asked.
"believe it or not."
"so you would have to summon him like a demon?" indi asked.
"it's not really like that. we're just drawing him to us."
"great, we should go now then, it should be dark by the time we get there." i said.
"lucy." freddy said.
"what is it?" i asked.
"i don't know how to say this but, when natalie and i went back to the precinct to sneak back the flash-drive, i looked at another file."
"and what happened?" i looked at him seriously.
freddy shook his head. "it's about your dad."
"what is it?"
"they never found his body in the car. when they fished it out of the ocean, it was empty."
it felt like my own heart punched me in the chest when he said that. "and of course they covered it up."
"lucy, you said your dad passed out in the car, how would his body just disappear like that? i mean the guy always wears a seat-belt and the doors were closed, so the water couldn't have swept his body away."
i shook my head. "this cannot be possible. why didn't they say anything?"
"what could they have said?"
"anything." i simply said.
i looked down at my lap, thinking. there wasn't really much explanation to my dad's body being missing out of nowhere. i tried thinking of an explanation, but only came up with two possible truths: my dad's body was stolen from the vampire, or my dad could be the vampire himself, somehow. the latter was actually something i thought about for awhile. that's how badly i wanted him alive, i had to convince myself he could be the vampire, just working for somebody. maybe the vampire in the footage isn't the one we're looking for, but his own sire. on top of that, the vampire is invited in, it had to make sense.
"the vampire...is...my dad." i forced myself to say.
"don't say that lucy, it can't be." indi assured.
"exactly. besides, what would be his motive? i'm pretty sure you sneaking out to a party wouldn't turn him into a murderous vampire serial killer." alex said.
"then explain the absent body."
"the vampire must've stolen it." raven shrugged.
"then i guess there's only one way we can know for sure."
later that night, the six of us were walking to the bridge when we heard a voice behind the tree. i turned around and saw sahara, you could never miss that red hair.
"missing someone?" she asked.
i walked closer to sahara. "sahara, this is seriously dangerous-"
"you don't think i know that?" she asked, "you're also risking your life trying to get this guy."
"how do you even know we're trying to get him?" sahara pointed her nose towards natalie. i turned to natalie, who smiled uneasily at me. "seriously?"
"she actually had a good idea, just hear her out." natalie said.
"if you summon the vampire, ready to attack, he'll just escape." sahara pointed out, "what if you guys just hid somewhere, and i confront him, pretending to be alone?"
"no!" i shook my head. "absolutely not, that's suicide!"
"lucy, it'll work, he'll think i'm the one who summoned him."
"you can't be a martyr, i can't let anyone else risk their life in my favor, i won't."
"lucy, ever since that night at the hospital, i knew i'd owe you the moment you saved my life, let me do this. if not for you, let me do it for me."
i was unsure of sahara's decision, but i knew she was more sure than i could ever be. i had to let her make her own decision. i nodded. "let's do it."
the seven of us walked to the bridge. i hadn't been here since the night of the accident. the railing still had a slight scratch from the impact of the car. the river below was as still and quiet as ever. the trees from the woods blowing from the wind. flashbacks were already running through my head.
"look dad, i'm sorry okay? you knew i wanted to go to this party!" i said, not making my case any better.
"it doesn't matter lucinda, you still disobeyed me and went to that party without my permission." my dad said.
"you were a teenager once, don't tell me you didn't sneak out every once in awhile."
"that...that's not the point! the point is, you sneaked out, you blew it, and now you're grounded for a month. that means no phone, no computer, no indi and her little coven,- "
i huffed. "okay, whatever."
"keep pushing it and i'll ground you 'til you graduate."
i kept my mouth shut. then suddenly, this puff of smoke appeared out of nowhere and formed into a man. "dad watch out!" i cried. but my dad lost control and swerved off the road. the impact of the water almost gave me whiplash.
for what felt like forever, i kept trying to unbuckle my seat-belt. i even tried screaming but that obviously didn't help. i knew i was drowning, i felt the pressure of the water, and the tightness in my lungs. i couldn't move. then i felt my seat-belt release. my dad cut the seat-belt off of me with a blade. he then tried doing the same to his seat-belt, but he passed out.
"dad? dad! no please, dad!" i shook him.
i had no choice. if i stayed here, i would die. but i was afraid. i knew i had to leave my dad so i could live. i swam through the open window and swam back up to the surface. once i broke through the water and into the oxygen-filled night, i let in a huge breath. then kept swimming until i reached land. my only source of light being the several lampposts coming from the bridge.
"lucy!" indi called.
i snapped out of it. "sorry."
"geez, i was beginning to think you shut down inside of your own body, are you okay?"
"i'm fine it's just, i haven't been here since that night."
"we should start now." freddy said, preparing the ingredients for the spell. he laid an altar with a pentagram on it and took out a gold metal bowl from his backpack, placing it right in the center, and natalie took out a small tube of wood ash and a knob of garlic.
"where's my switchblade?" natalie asked, felling her back pocket empty.
"right here." freddy said, taking out out from his bag and handing it to her.
both him and natalie sat crisscross on the ground. she grabbed the switchblade and started cutting the garlic into pieces. i almost gagged, the smell of the garlic was too strong.
"ugh god, it smells like fart, but worse." indi pinched her nose together, while raven and alex covered their noses with their hands.
"sorry guys." natalie giggled.
when natalie finished cutting, she dropped the pieces of garlic into the bowl, then freddy poured the tube of wood ash.
"alright, who's first?" natalie held up her switchblade towards us.
"well when you put it like that, you kinda sound like a serial killer." raven stepped back, feeling uneasy.
"oh c'mon, you'll heal in like six seconds."
raven rolled her eyes and hesitantly walked towards natalie, holding her arm out to her. she yelped as natalie made a quick slash on her wrist. her blood poured down into the bucket until her wound closed up. then indi did the same, then alex, and finally me. i noticed that vampire blood was a slightly darker shade than human blood. the garlic pieces were swimming in the blood and the wood ash was covered by the blood, though still visible.
"what's next?" sahara asked.
"now we recite the spell." freddy said. he held both his hands out to natalie and she held them.
"we summon the one who sired the four." they said in unison. the ingredients in the bowl started swirling eerily. "we summon the one who sired the four, we summon the one who sired the four, we summon the one who sired the four." they said it two more times, and then they stood up.
"he should be here any second." freddy said, "everyone get in position."
me, the girls, freddy, and natalie went behind separate trees, leaving sahara alone, next to the bowl. i still felt anxious leaving sahara out there in the open. the lampposts unexpectedly went out. sahara's eyes widened with surprise. the only source of light coming from her black-and-white striped sweatshirt.
"what just happened?!" she asked aloud.
then, almost instantaneously, a bat flew by and above sahara, then it turned into it's normal form, twenty feet away from her. i could see none of his features, and by the looks of it, neither could sahara. all i saw was a tall dark figure in a trench coat.
"i summoned you here." she said. the vampire said nothing. "all i wanna know is, why are you doing all of this?, why did you kill my friend's dad?, why did you try to kill me?"
the vampire turned his head left and right, then back at sahara. "you're not alone." he said, in his disguised-demon voice.
sahara seemed instantly scared at the sound of his voice. "yes i am, i'm the one who cast the spell and summoned you here, now answer my questions!"
the vampire then began to pace towards sahara, so i sped over and tackled him.
i turned to her with my 'vamped-out' face. "run." sahara then ran behind the bush natalie hid behind, opposite of the one i hid behind.
the vampire stood up.
my face went back to normal. "who are you?" i yelled.
"you think you know who you're dealing with?, you don't." the vampire said.
"is it you, dad?" i hesitantly asked, hoping the vampire would say no.
"no." he replied, "but i knew him."
"why'd you kill him? what did he ever do to you?" i cried.
"he had to die, he had to pay for what he did to me."
"no!" i ran towards the vampire, but he shifted into bat form. indi and alex joined the fight too.
indi stabbed him with a branch, intending for the heart. "got'cha!"
"you missed." the vampire said, pulling the branch out of his chest and stabbing indi on the breast and knocking her down. alex tried to sneak attack, but the vampire caught her by the arm and threw her over the bridge.
"alex!" raven called, running to the bridge. she turned around and the vampire stood ten feet away from her. they both seemed to just be staring at each other until i tackled the vampire again.
"where's my dad's body?!" i screamed at the vampire.
the vampire then punched me and sneak-attacked me from behind, pinning me against the railing. i then heard a gunshot, and the vampire releasing his grip. i turned around and saw sahara pointing a gun.
"that's for trying to kill me." sahara said in a sassy tone.
natalia then telekinetically pulled out the wooden bullet from the vampire's back, making the vampire turn into a bat and fly away. she then placed the bloody bullet inside of a zip-lock bag.
"we freaking did it." she said. she then handed the zip-lock bag to raven. "hold this, i gotta help freddy clean up."
as natalie helped freddy clean up, alex walked toward us, soaking wet.
"thought you saw the last of me?" she asked.
"glad you're okay." I said.
"great, let's go back home." sahara said.
as we were walking home, raven dragged along behind us. she looked at the zip-lock bag with hesitation. she walked over to the railing, and then dropped the zip-lock bag over the bridge, letting it fall into the river.