We finally arrived at the hospital. They took in my mom pretty quickly. I couldn't stop myself from crying and thinking the worst of the worst. Jeremy and the girls kept trying to comfort me, but it wasn't working. It was like déjà vu. My mom ending up here was like when Sahara was attacked by Jason, and I was forced to tell her my secret.
It's now been a few hours, and it was almost dark out. Freddy and Natalie went home, along with Raven. They did promise to keep in touch however. Indi and Alex stayed at the hospital with me. I couldn't allow myself to eat, or rest, anything. Jeremy sat down next to me.
"Anything?" I asked.
"She lost a lot of blood, but the doctors said they're taking her into surgery."
"Thank god." I said, allowing myself to breathe again.
"She's awake now if you want to see her."
"Jeremy, I showed my mom I was a vampire. I don't think she wants to see me right now."
"Don't say that, she's your mom."
"Yeah, and you're my boyfriend. How'd you react?"
Jeremy stood silent. "Well, I came around, didn't I? Look, you should see her now, before, you know-"
"Geez Jeremy, enough with the euphemism!" I snapped, immediately regretting it. "Sorry, today's just not my day."
"You don't have to apologize. Jason made all of us look like idiots."
"He's a hundred steps ahead of us." I then stood up. "You're right too. I should go see my mom."
Jeremy nodded and I walked over to the room my mom was currently in. I nervously peeked my head through the door. I didn't think my mom would've appreciated to see a vampire before going into surgery.
"It's okay sweetie, you can come in." My mom said.
I walked inside the room and saw Kaitlynn, Indi and Alex sitting beside my mom. "Hey mom."
"What's wrong sweetheart?" she asked, noticing my puffy red eyes from all the crying. I forgot I took off my contacts, so I was practically walking around with my vampiric eyes.
"It's just...he could've killed you mom. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier about, you know, me."
"Lucinda, you're still my daughter. Whether you're a vampire, werewolf, or a Freddy, you'll always be my beautiful young woman."
I couldn't help but smile.
"I'm so sorry Denise, I should've known Jason was bad news." Kaitlynn apologized.
"Don't beat yourself up over it, I didn't think he'd be this way." My mom admitted. "I'm not dating anyone for another thirty years. An old man with a cane won't be able to attack me."
"That's not funny, mom." I said.
"Sorry sweetheart."
Alex cleared her throat. "Lucy, I called my parents and they said you can stay with us until your mom recovers."
"What?! No, I can't leave mom here alone. No way." I declined.
"Sweetie it's okay, you don't have to watch over me." My mom said. "Kaitlynn will watch over me."
I shook my head. "I don't know guys."
"Don't worry Lucy, I won't let Jason come near her again, I promise."
Doctor Nelson walked in the room holding a file like he always did. "We're taking her into surgery right now."
I began to tear up again. "We were just leaving."
"Wish me luck, honey." My mom said.
"You better stay alive." I said.
I watched as the doctors moved her bed into the surgery room. I wanted to take in every sight of my mom until I couldn't see her anymore. Once they finally closed the door, Indi, Alex, Jeremy, and I left the hospital. As usual, it was raining out. While driving, I looked out the window, not saying a word. Alex and Indi were gossiping about god-knows-what, and Jeremy was silent too. First, he drove me to my house so I can get some clothes for the next few days. I hadn't even realized I've been wearing the same outfit since yesterday.
Walking into my own house was hard. All I could think of was the sharpness of the blade when it stabbed my mom. The madness in Jason's face, and the way his red eyes pierced through my mom's own brown eyes. I didn't know what to expect when I walked in. I expected Jason to be waiting there, in his long black trench coat, thinking of another way to torment me. But when I walked in my house, it was empty. There was only the large knife on the floor, with dried-up blood covering it. Also the cracked spot on the wall from when I tackled Jason. I felt relieved, yet felt this eerie vibe from the scene.
I walked upstairs to my room and grabbed the first pieces of black clothing I could find, including a flannel. I tucked them into one of my duffel bags, then picked up a couple of blood bags from under my bed and stuffed them into my bag. I finally went back downstairs and to the car. Jeremy continued driving and we finally made it to Alex's house.
"Thanks Jeremy." I told him.
He smiled, then gave me a kiss on the lips. "Just keep your chin up, Lucy. This'll all be over soon, I promise."
I smiled back, then hugged Jeremy. After I got out of the car, he drove off. I watched until he was only a speck of red light in the distance. Then I went inside with Alex and Indi. Once inside, I was greeted by Alex's mother: The lovely Shelby Gordon. She was blonde like Alex, with brown eyes. She usually always kept her hair in a messy bun. She always treated me, Indi, and Raven like we were her own daughters, which was welcoming.
"Ah, hello there, Lucinda." She said, giving me a tight hug. "I'm so sorry about your mom."
"Thank you, Mrs. Gordon." I said.
"Please Lucinda, in this house, you call me Shelby."
Shelby somehow always found a way to make me smile, even when i'm feeling my worst. "Alright, thanks Shelby."
"Now go wash up, dinner's almost ready."
I walked up to Alex's room to grab a spare towel and get in the shower. For some reason, I never questioned the fact that Alex had two beds in her room, even though she was an only child.
"Hey why do you have two beds?" I asked.
"You finally notice?" She asked.
"That's my bed." Indi said.
"Wait, what?"
"My parents bailed, Luce. Alex offered me a place and I've been staying with her."
"Oh wow, Indi i'm sorry. It's just we've known each other for almost two years and you never brought it up."
Indi shrugged. "Doesn't change how much of a badass I am."
"Right." I smiled.
"Oh Lucy, here's your towel." Alex said, tossing me her spare purple towel, which landed right in my face.
After I finished showering, I met with Alex and Indi in the dining room. Shelby had already started setting up the table. She made baked macaroni-and-cheese, mashed potatoes, and pork roast. The smell was so delicious, I was able to smell it from the shower. I sat next to Alex at the end of the table, Indi sitting across from us. Shelby sat next to Indi and Alex's father, Miles, sat facing the four of us.
"Don't forget your vitamins, ladies." Alex said, whipping out a blood bag and sinking her fangs into it.
"Alex, what are you doing?!" I freaked out, also realizing she wasn't wearing her blue contacts.
"It's okay, we know ." Shelby said.
"What?"
"I told them I was a vampire." Alex revealed.
"We thought it was a phase at first," Miles explained, "until she showed us her fangs and the red eyes."
"You're allowed to remove your contacts if you want, I know they must me uncomfortable to wear all day." Shelby said.
I removed my contact lenses and put them back into their case and into my pocket. "Thanks Mrs. Gor- I mean uh, Shelby."
I looked over to the table next to Indi and saw that an already-served plate was on it. I was confused, considering it was just five of us.
"Hey who's that sixth plate for?" I asked. I then heard a knock on the door.Shelby answered the door and Raven was there. Shelby greeted her and led her to the table.
"You thought i'd miss the fun?" Raven asked, sitting down.
"Glad you can join us." Indi replied.
After dinner, the girls and I went upstairs. We ended up watching Teen-Nick for half the night, however I was barely able to focus due to the stuff that was happening.
"Do you guys think Jason's gonna go after my mom again?" I asked them.
"No," Alex muffled while munching on a pork rind, "after all, Kaitlynn's looking after her."
"Yeah but, Jason is smart. I'm pretty sure he can find a way around that."
"What makes you say that?" Raven asked.
"Last night, when he kidnapped me, he mentioned that he killed my dad because he was in love with my mom. Other than Kaitlynn, I don't entirely know how vampires factor into this, but he wants to eradicate all vampires."
"That's confusing, he has two motives?" Indi asked.
"That's the thing, he said my dad had secrets. Maybe it's about vampires, but we can't know for sure because, you know."
"Or Jason could be lying in order to get in your head. He's trying to make your dad look bad." Alex said.
"But it makes sense. How else would Jason find out about vampires?" I buried my face in my hands in frustration. "I thought this would all be over if we got rid of Jason, but it feels like there's more to it than that."
"Maybe it'll all come to us after a good night's rest." Raven suggested. "Tomorrow, we can further investigate after school."
"Shit, I totally forgot about school."
Raven shrugged. "At least it's Friday."
As the four girls were sleeping, Raven kept hearing a scratching noise. It kept getting louder until she eventually woke up. She looked over to the other girls, who were still asleep.
"Did you guys hear that?" She asked.
"Everyone can hear you farting in your sleep." Alex mumbled in her sleep, making Raven roll her eyes and go back to sleep.
The scratching noise happened again. This time, Raven got up and tried to figure out where the noise was coming from. She opened the room door, but all the lights in the house were off. Raven then walked over to the window, opening the curtain and looked outside. The night was as still as ever. Then suddenly, a bat collided with the window, making a loud 'thump' noise and scaring Raven.
The noise didn't seem to wake the girls up however. She looked over to them and they were still asleep. he turned back to the window and to her surprise, Jason was seemingly floating outside. Raven made eye contact with Jason, she nodded her head, as if she were hypnotized.
The next morning, Alex, Indi, and I woke up for school. We noticed that Raven's sleeping bag was empty.
"Where's Raven?" Alex asked.
I checked my phone and saw I got a new message from Raven herself. "Um, she said she left early for school. She didn't wanna wake us."
"Well Raven was always the one to wake up first at a sleepover." Indi remarked.
The three of us got ready for school. Once downstairs, we were greeted by Shelby, who sat at the dining table drinking coffee.
"If you girls can give me five minutes, I can drive you guys to school if you'd-"
"It's fine, we'll walk." Alex said, quickly turning down her mom's offer.
"Alright, see you girls after school!" Even early in the morning, Shelby always seemed lively.
Once we arrived at school, Sahara quickly walked over to us.
"Guys, I think we have a problem." She said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's Chloe, she's...not well."
"What do you mean?"
"She's been having really painful cramps all week, and it's not even her period. Then other times, she's just really energetic. I took her to the doctors like three times and they all said she's completely fine."
None of us knew what to say. Chloe's body is practically contradicting itself, but she could get worse. I guess this just adds to the bad luck we already have.
Sahara suddenly spoke again. "Sorry to dump this on you guys, I know you have a lot on your plate. I mean it's probably nothing, it could pass, right?"
I shrugged. "Maybe a little vampire blood can cure it."
"Won't that, um, turn her?"
"It doesn't work like that. She would have to die in order for the blood to turn her."
"Ah, now the whole undead thing makes a little more sense."
"Where's Chloe now?"
"She said she was gonna be a little late. God, I hope she's okay."
Raven stood in the woods with Jason. He stood next to her menacingly in his long black trench coat. He towered over Raven's small body, who was still in her black nightgown. The two of them stood over a jogger who just so happened to jog at the wrong place at the wrong time. Jason broke his leg but hypnotized him to keep quiet, but he was barely holding it together.
"Why did you take me here?" She asked him.
"To kill you." Jason modestly responded.
"Please, don't!" Raven cried with panic in her voice.
Jason laughed. "Relax, i'm only joking. I brought you here to feed."
"Why?"
"Because I wanna show you the monster you really are. The bloodsucker you know you are." Jason grabbed Raven by the neck, holding tightly as if to break her neck. He forced her hazel contacts out of her eyes, exposing her crimson ones. "Come on, I know you sweetness of the blood. You crave it." Jason then grabbed Raven's jaw and forced her mouth open, revealing her fangs. "Ah,see?"
Raven tried forcing herself off of Jason, and he threw her towards the jogger. "Now, you will feed, or I will rip that ring off of your fingers, and i'll let you burn."
Raven saw the blood streaming down his leg. She looked at him in the eyes, the horror in them made Raven hesitate, but she grabbed the jogger and bit into his neck, drinking every last drop of his blood. She hated it, but enjoyed it. After she was done, she crawled away from the dead body and curled up into a ball.
"Wasn't too hard, was it?"
"You're a monster." Raven coldly told Jason.
"In order to kill a monster, you have to become the monster yourself. That bad feeling you got at the hospital, and the bridge, you knew this was coming."
Jason grabbed Raven once again and they both fled the scene.
During lunch, the girls, Chloe, Sahara, and I sat together at the lunch table. Chloe wore no makeup today. I rarely ever saw her without it. She looked rather pale today. She looked worse than I expected.
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
"Like i'm being stabbed by a hundred knives."
"Hate to say it, but we think we can help you get better." Indi began.
"How do you propose?" Chloe asked.
"Vampire blood." Alex bluntly stated.
Chloe's eyes widened. "What?"
"If you drink my blood, it should heal you." I said.
"You're gonna turn me into one of you?!" She snapped.
"Keep your voice down! No, you can't become a vampire simply by drinking my blood, it's more complicated than that. Vampire blood heals people." I bit into my hand, then squeezed the wound onto Chloe's water bottle. My blood fizzed and evaporated, tinting the water into a slight red color.
"That's gross." Chloe said.
"Don't knock it 'til you try it."
Chloe rolled her eyes and drank the water. Her face slowly rushed with color once more, and she looked more alive than she did a few seconds ago. She sat up straight and huffed. "I...feel fine."
"Are you sure?" Sahara asked.
"The aftertaste is pretty sour but other than that, I feel great."
Alex looked at her phone. "Ugh, where the hell is Raven? She should've been here hours ago."
"Last text I got from her was from when we got to school, she said she was running a little late." Indi added.
"That doesn't add up, this morning she said she woke up early, but we came to school way before her, something is definitely wrong."
"You think Jason may have something to do with this?" Alex asked.
"Woah woah woah, Jason knows you guys are vampires?" Sahara asked.
"Right, you don't know. Jason is The Vampire." I clarified.
"Oh crap, where is he now?"
"I don't know. But right now, we need to find Raven."
"Where's Freddy?" Indi asked.
Out of nowhere, Freddy appeared to our table. "How are you girls doing?" He asked.
"We need you to track Raven's location. We haven't seen her since last night, and this morning she wasn't at Alex's." I explained.
"Do you have anything of hers?" Freddy asked.
"She left her iPod at the house." I said, handing Freddy the black iPod.
Freddy held the iPod inside both of his hands, closed his eyes, and concentrated on it. It took Freddy a minute, but he finally opened her eyes and set the iPod on the table.
"I got nothing." He said.
"What do you mean you got nothing?" I asked, "Did you do the spell right?"
"Did he even do the spell at all?" Chloe asked. "I mean, nothing wizardly happened. No strong winds or flickering lights."
"It doesn't work that way, if it did, I wouldn't be doing the spell right here." Freddy told Chloe, then turned to me. "I can't find her. It's like she's blocked or something. There must be another witch or something cloaking her. It's never happened to me before."
"Jason must have something to do with this. He won't rest until everyone I know and love is gone. I mean, he attacked my mom, killed my dad, almost killed Sahara, and locked Kaitlynn in a coffin for two years. He probably sent Jacob after Chloe too. There's nothing stopping him now that we know who he is."
"What do we do now?" Sahara asked.
"We find Raven." I said.
The six of us, along with Jeremy, ditched school and decided to go looking for Raven. Jeremy drove us in the same car Indi hot-wired yesterday. Except he applied a different license plate, and changed the hood. Jeremy knew a few things about cars. We spent hours searching for Raven all over Woodstake, even going back to Jason's lair, which was still littered with vampire ash. We found nothing. Our last option was to check through the woods.
"Raven!" I called. "Raven!" Nothing.
It was dead silent. Then suddenly, there was a scream so loud, my soul almost jumped out of my body. I turned around to see Indi knelt down on the ground gripping her leg very tightly. Her foot was caught in a bear trap. Chloe and Sahara were scared out of their minds.
"Oh my god, Indi!" I cried, trying to pry open the bear trap with my bare hands. I had no luck.
"Get it out, get it out!" Indi cried.
"Hold on." Jeremy said, kneeling down at the bear trap. I don't know what he did to it, but it somehow just opened up, freeing Indi's foot, which healed almost instantly.
"This sucks, we need to find Raven now!" Indi toughly commanded, as if she wasn't crying like a little girl a few seconds ago. We continued to walk until Chloe stopped me.
"Lucy, look." She said, pointing to a pile of ash.
I didn't think much of it, until I look closer and saw something small and silver on top of the ashes. The realization made my heart sink. I ran towards the ashes and picked up the ring, immediately recognizing it as Raven's ring.
"No no no." I told myself. "It can't be. No! You can't be!"
"Lucy, what is it?" Jeremy asked.
"She's dead! Raven is dead!" I began to feel a rush of anger and slapped away the ashes and punched the ground repeatedly. I let out a painful scream and covered my face with my ash-covered hands.
"No, she can't be dead. This can't be real. Jason set us up." Alex tried convincing me, but mostly herself.
"This is her ring, these are her ashes, and vampires can't walk in the sun without a ring. She was missing all day! Jason killed her. What're we gonna tell her parents?" I began to panic. I burst into tears and Jeremy knelt down beside me and held me.
"I treated her like shit for a year, because I was mad at Lucy. God I feel so guilty." Chloe said.
Sahara held her. "Shh, don't say that. It's not your fault. It's not anyone's."
Indi punched a tree, knocking off a good chunk. "What we need to do is find Jason, cut off all his limbs, and toss him into direct sunlight, see how he feels." Indi turned to Freddy. "Freddy, you better get your head in the game and find Jason. No excuses."
"I can try again." Freddy said, grabbing Raven's ring. He held it in his hands and concentrated. "Still nothing, I'm sorry."
I finally got up and wiped my tears with my sleeve. "Then we circle every square inch of this place until we find Jason. Hell, we'll search the entire state if we have to. But we're not gonna stop until we seek justice for everyone Jason has hurt."
"For Raven." Alex said.
"For Daniel." Indi added.
"For my dad." I finished.
The seven of us continued walking around the woods, desperately searching for Jason. Jeremy had gone back to the car to grab weapons. We walked for another hour until I was suddenly knocked down by a fast moving object. I looked around and everyone else was on the floor too. Then I was grabbed by the neck and held up in the air. It was Jacob.
"Sorry about your friend, Luce. My condolences." He snickered, then tossed me aside, making me hit a tree.
"Jake?" Chloe said.
"Oh, hey Chloe-bear. Missed me? 'Cause I certainly missed all the fun times we had. You were amazing in bed."
"Fuck you."
"I'm down." He snickered again.
I stabbed Jacob with and branch, grabbed him by the neck and threw him on the ground. "Where's your owner?"
"Not here." Jacob said, kicking himself back up and effortlessly knocking me down.
Jeremy swung at Jacob with a machete, but Jacob easily caught his arm and headbutt him, throwing the machete aside and tossing him aside. "The boss's nephew, I hear you're her new boyfriend. Her lips are as sweet as vanilla, aren't they?"
"Hey asshole." Sahara called, throwing a miniature bottle at Jacob, which exploded right in his face. He then fell to the ground in pain.
"Holy water, mixed with a little sage. Stings doesn't it?" Jeremy asked.
Jacob got up and walked towards Jeremy. He unleashed his fangs and hissed at him. I took the chance to grab the machete and swing at Jacob, decapitating him. His body fell to the ground and his head rolled to Chloe's feet. Chloe kicked it as hard as she could, making blood splatter everywhere.
"Eww." Sahara gagged.
"Kind of wish I did the killing." Chloe admitted.
"Now do you forgive me?" I joked.
"Definitely. No question."
"Gotta hand it to you Luce, that was pretty badass." Indi said.
"Especially since he kissed you, I agree." Jeremy added.
I smiled at Jeremy, but then I heard a loud snap in the distance. "I think someone else is here."
The seven of us looked to see where the noise was coming from. We walked around and saw...Raven knelt down, with another person laying almost lifeless on the floor. Once I realized what she was doing, I quickly rushed over to Raven, pulling her off of the hunter. I was amazed how such a small-framed person could easily overpower a tall man.
"Raven, stop! What are you doing?" I asked with confusion.
Raven looked at me in horror, as if she didn't know what she was doing. Her hair was messy and her mouth was stained with blood, dried and fresh. Her pajamas from last night were stretched and dirty. I knelt down to the person, bit my hand and tried feeding him my blood, but nothing happened.
"Oh my god, is he dead?" Raven asked with panic.
I looked and Raven and nodded. "I'm sorry, Ray."
"Oh no, no! I swear I didn't mean to do this. Jason kidnapped me and forced me to feed off of people." Raven tried to explain.
"Raven, I know. We came here to find you. How many people did you...drink from?"I asked.
Raven trembled. "Three."
Indi and Alex hugged Raven tightly. "It's okay Raven. We're just glad you're alive."
"You're gonna need this." Freddy said, handing Raven her ring back.
Raven grabbed the ring and put it on. "Thank you."
"Alright, we need to get out of here." Sahara said.
As we began to head back towards the car, Chloe dropped to the ground and yelped in pain. She began to breathe heavily and held her stomach tightly. Then her arm jerked forward inhumanly.
"Chloe, what's going on?!" Sahara panicked.
I began to hear Chloe's...bones break. She kept crying in pain and digging her nails into the ground, gnashing her teeth.
"Help her!" Sahara said to me. I walked over to Chloe but then she growled at me. That was the moment all of our jaws dropped. Chloe's canine teeth were extended, like fangs, but way different. And her eyes, they were golden yellow.
"Freddy, what's happening to her?" I asked, praying he would give me a straight forward answer.
Freddy looked up at the sky. It was humid, and there was a full moon out. "It's the full moon. It's affecting Chloe. The fangs, the yellow eyes, she's turning into a werewolf!"
The word hit me and the girls like a punch. Sahara looked at Chloe with horror, her hands covered her mouth. Chloe's vibrant blonde hair was darkening, and her bones were continuing to break. Her clothes began to tear.
"Guys, we have to get out of here now. It's dangerous to be too close to a werewolf." Freddy said.
"No! I'm not leaving Chloe here alone." I said.
Jeremy shook his head and grabbed my arm. "Lucy, he's right. This isn't looking too good. Come on."
I took one last look at Chloe, then ran with the others, away from her. As we ran, I tripped on something and fell face-flat on the ground.
"Lucy...be careful." Raven said. I tried getting up and when I looked up, I was eye-to-eye with Chloe, who was fully transformed. Her wolf form had dark grey fur, and her eyes were glowing yellow.
Chloe growled tried to bite me, but I kept moving back. She was feral and aggressive, completely out of control. I was convinced I was gonna get torn to shreds by Chloe's sharp fangs that were longer and bigger than any vampire's.
Jeremy then shot Chloe, hurting her. I quickly got up and snatched the gun from his hand. "Stop, you're hurting her!" I cried. Chloe ran off into the woods. In the distance, I heard her howl.
"It was a wooden bullet." Jeremy clarified. "If it's true, only silver bullets can kill a werewolf."
"We have to go find her." I said.
A hunter was sitting in the middle of the woods. Burning a fire and cooking the deer he hunted and killed. It was then he heard a noise. He looked over, but didn't make much of it, so he continued cooking the deer.
Chloe, back in human form, was drawn to the smell. She walked around naked in the woods. She emerged from the trees, but was startled by the hunter.
"Well, I didn't expect company. Are you lost?" He asked.
Chloe looked at the hunter. She sped over to him with her new super speed abilities. She grabbed the hunter by the neck, choking him.
The seven of us spotted the now-human Chloe choking a hunter. I sped over to her and released the hunter from Chloe's strong grip. I looked into the hunter's eyes. "Go away, forgot you were ever here, and quit hunting deer." The hunter walked away and I looked back at Chloe. "Chloe, it's me."
Chloe looked disoriented and confused. Then she was scared. Her bare body was dirty and her hair was matted.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked.
"She transformed for the first time, her mind is out of place. She's between human and wolf. She just needs to remember who she is." Freddy explained.
I looked into Chloe's eyes, not intending to hypnotize her. "Chloe it's me, it's Lucy. Remember who you are." Chloe turned around and saw everyone looking at her. She analyzed each of their faces, then looked back at me. "Lucy? Oh my god." She then hugged me. "Don't let that happen to me again."
Jeremy took off his jacket and wrapped it around Chloe. The eight of us finally headed back to the car, and we drove back home. I couldn't comprehend what happened today, or even the past week. Jason was revealed to be the vampire, my mom being stabbed by him, Raven going missing, and now Chloe being an actual werewolf. I couldn't help but wonder if that was also part of Jason's plan, but why?