Garlic Is For Vampires (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 26: His Skeletons in a Grave

My father was buried at The Evergreens Cemetery. Brendon brought along some of his father's shovels. Howard didn't want to join the party but he promised to leave the gates open for us since he knew the caretaker.

Brendon took my shovel and through it down to the ground. "I'm not letting you kick up hundreds of pounds of dirt," he said, rolling up the sleeves of his sweater. "Not with that leg of yours. So just keep a look out. Tell me if you see anything."

Or someone, I thought as Brendon began to dig. It was a soft scraping noise at first because the grass was moist from being wet earlier. It wasn't difficult until Brendon started to dig deeper. I glanced at the spot he was digging before studying the whole area.

"How are you going to make a big enough hole to get to my father's casket?" I asked him.

"I'm going to cut out an outline of the casket. Then I'll dig it from there. It's not that complicated, Bree."

"It's a two-man job and a machine."

"I don't see any men around here." He grinned. "Just a damsel in a knee brace."

"Soon I'll be a lady in black," I mumbled, "If I don't find out the truth and someone else dies because of me."

"Maybe the truth isn't as deadly as you're making it seem. Maybe it's just that you're blood-related to Dracula."

"That still wouldn't help. And you said I make it seem like a bad thing."

"No, I'm serious. Think about it." He dug his shovel back into the earth. "If it's something new to you but old to Dylan, does it really matter if you find out? He's dead."

"And say it's something new to the both of us and important, what do we do there?" I crossed my arms over my chest. "What if all vampires who knew Dylan know the truth? What if they come after me and kill someone I know-or me-and then that's where I'll end up in black."

"I still like my thinking."

"Well, think about digging that hole on your own, mister there's-only-one-man-job," I grumbled. Brendon let out a laugh that shot through the graveyard like a bullet.

"Hey, Bree?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

I blinked and looked at Brendon. He was still digging but his body was turned towards me. He looked me in the eye for a few seconds before letting our gaze drop.

"Are you still going to talk to Skylark when you're in college?" He wasn't just asking if I was going to keep in contact with Skylark. He was asking if I'd still keep one foot in the vampire world with one foot in college. After all I'd done so far, starting with the incubus business. I wanted to return to normality, but if-when-I found out the truth, I would have to make a decision. Keep out of this world because of the secret, or stay? I was terrified of my decision.

Thump thump. "Hey, I think I'm already on top of the casket." Brendon crouched down and swept the dirt off the casket. I turned on the flashlight on my phone and pointed it downward. There was a pile of dirt beside me, so I moved away from it and looked into the hole. Brendon was cleaning the remaining dirt from the casket. Then he grabbed his shovel again and looked up at me.

"I'm going to open it. Don't watch."

I didn't listen. I watched as he wrenched the casket open and my father's skeleton popped out. I flinched and squeezed my eyes shut, my nose wrinkling at the smell. I heard Brendon gag.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

He coughed and breathed in sharply. "In a minute." Then he calmed down and sighed. "Okay. I'm gonna start checking what's with him."

I looked over my shoulder to see if someone was behind. We were still on our own. I heard Brendon moving around but I didn't bother to look. I didn't want to see him lift my father's skeleton out of his casket. I sniffed and realized my eyes were watering from tears. Tears? I wiped my eyes. There was no need to be sad. My father wasn't fit to raise me-or so it seemed. He was dying. I would've lost him anyway. But doing this to a dead man-my biological father-was wrong. It was heartbreaking.

"I found something."

Brendon tossed something up and then helped himself out of the hole. I glanced down at what he threw back up. It was a book. An old, leather-bound book. I scooped it up and untied the string that held it shut. Brendon glanced over my shoulder, taking my phone to point the light down at the book. I opened it and glanced at the name written in ink.

Mason T. Cast

"Five bucks his middle name is Theo," Brendon muttered. I turned the page and read the first sentence. "Through this book I have recorded my encounters with the supernatural world since it is in my blood and duty to kill every vampire. It is our blood, the Casts, that can cure the illness. But only if I kill them first."

"He already knew it was in his blood," I murmured. "That's what Dylan wanted me to find out. My father-he was a vampire hunter, and his blood was the cure."

"It still is," Brendon said. "You have his blood, Bree. That's why Dylan was obsessed with you. It's because of your blood, and the fact that your father was a vampire hunter."

"Dylan probably ran into him. And if he knew my father then he knew my blood-oh, God. He's like a vampire king, Brendon. Remember what Skylark said in his letter? He ruled a clan. And what that girl said the other time in my apartment. Since I killed him that makes me the ruler of his clan. And my blood is their cure." I gasped. "I can never get rid of this world because I was in it from the beginning. I was never normal. I'll never return to being normal-"

My breath hitched and I closed the book. Brendon placed a hand on my shoulder. I gripped his arm and looked down at the grave. My bottom lip quivered again.

"Then that means I'll have to kill," I whispered. My voice turned cold, devoid of emotion. "I'll have to bring back a family legacy if I want to survive. I'll need to do a lot of things."

"Bree-"

"I can maybe hold vampires against their will. Or make a compromise. I'll need Skylark's assistance."

"Bree, you're making me worried."

"Good. There's a lot of worrying going around." I slipped the book into my bag. "We should put my father back in his grave. We already pulled out the skeletons in the closet."

Brendon grabbed his shovel and turned to the pile of dirt. Just then, a cloud of dirt exploded, and Brendon was flying backwards, towards me. I felt my feet leave the ground and my stomach dropped and I soared through the air. Brendon flew right over me and my fingers brushed his face before I made a heavy landing on the hard ground. I went rolling, my knee banging against the ground whenever I rolled onto my injured leg. I let out a small croak of pain before I rolled again. The last thing I saw was the headstone coming up to my face.

A/N: DUN DUN DUN!

                                         -Redbird