The Night the Vampires Came

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

A shiny, gray car approached with neck-breaking speed and came to a complete stop within a blink of an eye. This wasn't any ordinary banged up pick-up truck that usually inhabited these back roads. The sun's glare blinded me as the driver's side door opened. A tall, blond girl wearing knee-high leather boots appeared.

Looking at the tall, leather clad girl was like lingering in that split second between falling asleep and entering one's dreams. There was something deeply ethereal about her beauty, and yet incredibly, unmistakably violent at the same time. As she approached us, I estimated her age to be close to mine, maybe a half a decade older. Her eyes were large and radiant, but as she came closer, I could see the weary coldness in them. I noticed she had faint laugh lines around her mouth, and even now, she seemed to smirk at us. The smile didn't reach her eyes. Perhaps, it was just a nervous reflex.

Over by the road, I saw Holly fold her arms as well. She didn't like the new girl, that was for sure. Holly was a grungy, down-to-earth type of beauty with her dyed hair, flawlessly made-up face, graffitied backpack, and chewing gum.

"Lady Tho— I'm sorry — I mean Tahil" she whispered with breathless urgency. She nodded at me with deference as though she expected me to recognize her. I didn't. "Run. Please. I beg you."

"Why?" I asked. My eyes drifted down to her belt, where I noticed a large unseemly gun tucked into her pants. Its barrel was just barely concealed by her crisp white shirt. It wasn't the shirt that made my eyes linger; it was the inlaid willow tree carved into the handle. What did that mean? There wasn't time to ponder these questions. The girl took me by the upper arm and tried to guide me in the direction of the forest.

"He's here," she said and then glanced at Livet for help. "Wyles, I'll buy you time. Take her and run. Help is close by."

"There's no time, Anne Marie," Livet said and reached for her hand. He made her release me, and she only did so with reluctance. "She knows what to do. You can't change destiny, Winik."

Winik. Now that was a name that triggered my memory. Anne Marie Winik. I couldn't explain why but I backed away from the two of them.

Anne Marie folded her arms over her chest and chewed on her lip in contemplation. Her malicious eyes stared at me, studying me, her pretty lips slowly curling upward even though it was an expression of anything but mirth. I was right about one thing; she did that as a reflex. Despite my foreboding feelings about her, I didn't think she meant me harm. She wanted to warn about the man in that car. It was too late to run.

I walked toward the car where a boy had appeared from a rolled-down window. Despite, Anne Marie's warnings, it seemed that he was in no hurry to confront me. He cleared his throat as I approached him. Slowly, he clicked open the door to the car and stepped outside. I supposed after waiting for ten thousand years for this moment; he didn't see any point in rushing the last couple of seconds.

I stumbled backward as his face came into my field of vision. For a second, I couldn't catch my breath. It was the boy from my dreams. He wrinkled his nose from under the substantial sunglasses that shielded his eyes from the mid-day light. He made no move to remove them even as he came within an arm's length of me. With those sunglasses on, I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

He motioned for me to follow him as he walked toward the cliff. He wanted to talk to me alone, as we had in my dreams. I saw that I had no choice except to follow him. Yet, as I followed behind him, I was able to assess his movements. He had difficulty putting one foot ahead of another on the rocky slope. It wasn't that he was drugged or that he suffered from a disease; instead, he walked like he was struggling to control the flesh of that body.

We weren't alike in that regard. The real Ailith Ying had long since left this body. That wasn't true of the tall boy with the stark black hair. There was someone else in there. Someone who was fighting everything Jaduerial had planned.

Beyond the forest, we arrived at a cliff that overlooked a lake of the purest, sun-strewn waters. He turned to me and seemed to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. I saw the corners of his lips tremble as though every cell in that body was fighting him.

"Do you remember me, Orienne?" He asked. "Do you remember the lake where you released the Reaper in the world, ten thousand years ago? That was our child. He is the reason this world is suffering."

"So, you started the Blight Rain to remind me?" I asked. "Do you know how many people died just for you to find me?"

"You still do not remember, Orienne," he said as though my accusations were very disappointing. I saw his brow furrow over the sunglasses. "You're always disappointing me. I'm starting to suspect you never loved me."

"Love you?" The thought was so ridiculous I couldn't stop myself from laughing. "You? You killed my sister, my family. How can I love you? I love Holly."

"It's always someone else, isn't it? Orienne?" He asked and turned away from him. His dark silhouette looked especially ominous against the midday sun. I wondered if I shouldn't have offered the truth so readily. "It's never me. It will be me. You will kill all those you love with your bare hands to find your way back to me. You'll see."

"Why would I do that?" I demanded. "Are you going to force me? You can barely control that body you're trespassing in."

"I grew weary of arguing with you. Perhaps, next time we meet, you'll be more...affectionate."

As he said those words, Jaduerial reached out and seized me by the throat. He dragged me over to the edge of the cliff and threw me over it.