Philodox Read online

  A perfect example of this is the way she dismissed a late night (I suppose, as a vampire, it was more like mid-morning, which isn't as unusual if you think about it that way) visit from a mysterious man the first night Damon woke up as a vampire. He and I were in the living room. He was practicing moving really quickly and being more “vampire-like” as he kept putting it, and I was watching him, still trying to wrap my mind around the idea that vampires exist. Not only did they exist, but my best friend had been turned into one. I was trying to remember if there were any courses at the college involving supernatural studies when we heard a car door slam outside.

  Jeanette, who up until that point had been sitting demurely on a chaise lounge, watching Damon with a tiny smile and refusing to answer him whenever he asked how to do something (“Oh, Damon, you ask such boring questions. You should just relax and enjoy this. Always with the questions!”) sighed loudly, uncrossed her legs, and stood. “If you would not mind excusing me for a moment, children, I must take care of this small intrusion. If you would please go to the kitchen and help yourselves to whatever you find in there. Delaney, you must be positively starved. I will only be a moment.”

  She didn't have to tell me twice. It had been so long since I had eaten last, I was pretty sure they could hear my stomach growling down in Mexico. I knew Damon didn't have to eat anymore (we had at least learned that much), but I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity for free food. I jumped off the couch like my ass was on fire and started running for the kitchen. “Race you there!” He beat me, of course.

  I headed straight for the fridge and found it stocked with all sorts of goodies. The first thing I spied were two perfect looking steaks, and I decided they would be my first victims. I had my head in a cupboard underneath the sink, searching for a pan to cook the steaks in, when the conversation at the front door became noticeably louder. When I heard the man at the door mention Damon's name, I jerked my head up so fast that I nearly brained myself. Damon and I stared at each other across the counter, eyes wide, both straining our ears to try and hear the rest of the conversation.

  “...know what you did, and you knew that I would be sent here to take care of it.” The man's voice was rough and a little hoarse, like he had been a heavy smoker his whole life, or had just spent the afternoon cheering at a baseball game.

  Jeanette's dulcet tone was sweet in comparison. “It could not be helped. The poor dear was just trying to help me, and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “You weren't supposed to be there, either!” The man's voice was getting louder, but he sounded more frustrated than angry. “The others are screaming for your head, and his right along with it, and I can't even say anything against it, because they're right! You know the rules, and you still did it. It's a slap in the face to the Prince, and it isn't right. You need to talk to her...” as if suddenly realizing he was yelling, the voice dropped too low for me to hear. There was a little more conversation, but the murmuring was too quiet to catch anything new.

  When I heard the soft click of the door shutting, I quickly resumed my search for the pans. Damon didn't even bother pretending that we hadn't been eavesdropping, pouncing as soon as Jeanette entered the room.

  “Can you please explain to me who these people are screaming for your head, and why they want mine along with it?” If he sounded a little panicked, I didn't think anyone could blame him.

  “Also,” I added. “Where do you keep your pans?” Damon made an exasperated noise that sounded like something between a shriek and a squeal, and stared at me like I was crazy, so I held my hands up defensively. “Right, his question first.”

  Jeanette shook her head and moved to the cupboard next to the fridge, pulling out the perfect sized pan for the steaks. “Please, dear, do not waste your time worrying about such things. Those other vampires are all talk.” She pulled open a drawer and grabbed a few bottles, handing them and the pan to me.

  “Vampires? There are vampires out there that want to kill us?”

  “Well, yes, but honestly I would not worry about it. I will take care of it. It really is not a big deal.” She pulled three wine glasses down from another cupboard, and a bottle of wine from her wine rack.

  “How can you say that vampires wanting to kill me is no big deal?” Damon's voice was rising in pitch. I was pretty sure that in a minute, only dogs would be able to hear him. I was surprisingly calm, but I was also focused on trying to get the bottles Jeanette had handed to me open, which turned out to be spices for the steak. They had clearly never been used, because they were still sealed, and the plastic was giving me trouble. Normally, I would just rip it off with my teeth, but for some reason, being around Jeanette made me want to act more ladylike.

  “They want to kill people all the time. They are such neanderthals. Not a single hair on your head will be touched, my dear, because they would have to go through me to get to you.”

  I finally won the battle with the spices, and started cooking the steaks. I was so hungry that there was a moment there when I debated cooking them at all, but patience won out, and soon the delicious aroma of cooking meat filled the kitchen. Damon, understandably, was still focused on his impending doom.

  “I just don't understand why you won't answer my questions. A guy comes to your door and tells you that there are people who want to kill you and me, and you won't tell me who the guy was, who the people are who want to kill me, or why they want to kill me and ALL I WANT IS SOME ANSWERS!” He pounded his fist on the counter when he was done, forgetting his new strength. The marble slab cracked beneath his fist, and he stared at it for a moment, as if unsure of how it happened.

  Jeanette just shook her head and handed Damon one of the wine glasses. It was filled with a thick red liquid that I was fairly certain wasn't wine, because she hadn't opened the wine bottle yet. “Here, darling. Have a drink. If you refuse to drink it straight from the source, as it were, you can at least drink it from a glass like a gentleman. It will make you feel better.”

  Earlier, when Damon had first resumed consciousness, Jeanette had tried to teach him how to get his sustenance from a live person, offering up her gardener Rick as an offering. Damon had refused, much to the bemusement of Jeanette, prompting her to bring him a few blood packets she had in an emergency stash. It had been messy and not a little disturbing to watch. This time, as Damon sipped from the glass, Jeanette looked much more pleased. I could almost pretend he was just drinking wine, so long as I ignored the thickness of the liquid, and the way it stained his lips. I was relieved that he didn't like to take the blood directly from other humans, but that meant we were going to have to find another source for the blood. One of the few things Jeanette had told Damon was that while he didn't have to drink blood every day, the more he used his new abilities and powers, the more blood he would need to drink. I was not looking forward to having to rob a blood bank.

  The conversation was apparently over, since Jeanette refused to answer any more of Damon's questions, so we spent the next few minutes in a somewhat companionable silence. Damon sipped his blood and I got to work on the steaks. While I ate, Jeanette pulled out a few more goodies from the fridge and, looking very pleased with herself, whipped me up a huge stack of pancakes and scrambled almost a dozen eggs. I devoured everything she put in front of me, and finally started feeling like I wasn't being controlled by my stomach anymore. I was surprised she could cook, and when I mentioned it, she shrugged.

  “When you live as long as I have, you tend to pick up a few skills.” I barely refrained from asking how old she was, but Damon was a man.

  “How old are you?” he asked, between sips. “Ouch! What was that for?!” he glared at me for kicking him in the shin.

  “You never ask a woman her age, Damon.”

  “She's not a woman, she's a vampire!”

  I backed away slowly, eyes wide, but Jeanette just laughed. “I am old enough to know that you are too young to know better.” She eyed the plate that I had practically licked clean. “Once you are finished with your meal, we should leave.”

  I grabbed my dishes and put them in the sink. “Where are we going?”

  “Where would you like to go? Greece? Italy? France is lovely this time of year. Or would you prefer something with a few more...trees? How does Ireland sound to you?”

  I laughed, turning the faucet on and rinsing my dishes. “Oh sure,” I agreed, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “Let's do all of the above! We can fly over there and tour the entire continent! That should be fun!”

  Jeanette clapped with delight. “Perfect! I shall get the private jet ready. How much time will you need to pack your things?”

  Damon and I both just kind of stared at her for a minute, then Damon asked the obvious question. “Wait, are you serious?”

  “Oh yes, dear. I am quite serious. If we do not leave soon, they will surely come to take us in, and I am just not in the mood for a fight this evening.”

  “Who will come take us?”

  “Oh, you know, they get so worked up about these things.”

  “No, I don't know, because you won't tell me anything!” Damon's voice was starting to become shrill again.

  “Well, darling, you just ask so many questions. We could be on a plane to the most beautiful places in the world right now, but instead, you want to sit here and ask me question after question. It is so exhausting.”

  “I wouldn't have to ask you so many questions if you would just answer them!” Damon practically shrieked this time, and it was starting to hurt my ears. I turned the faucet off and moved back to the counter.

  “Okay, so we have to leave. Why don't Damon and I head back to the dorms real quick and pack up some bags?”

  “That is a wonderful idea, Delaney. I have
a few cars in the garage, please feel free to take one of them. Come back here when you are finished, and I will make sure to get our travel arrangements taken care of while you are gone.”

  I grabbed Damon's arm and tugged him toward the garage, before his head exploded. I was concerned about the shade of red he was turning, considering he was a vampire. He probably didn't have to worry about his blood pressure anymore, so that was a plus, but I still thought it was probably for the best if we got out of there as quickly as possible.

  I opened the door and stepped into the garage. Damon bumped into me when I stopped suddenly, eyes wide as I stared at Jeanette's secret weapons cache. Or, I suppose, not so secret, since she let me just waltz on in. First, the place was huge. There were three black Lincolns parked inside, each one identical to the one that had been parked on the street during the explosion. A space between two of the vehicles indicated that the car that had exploded hadn't been replaced yet.

  The walls of the garage had been altered into shelves that held all kinds of weapons and ammunition. It was impressive, really, and even though I had been pretty much convinced we were in over our heads the second I met Jeanette, I was starting to think it was even worse than I thought. Sure, Damon was a vampire now, but I was finding it pretty easy to ignore that, since he basically looked exactly the same as he always did; he was just a little paler. But some of this stuff was starting to become impossible to ignore, and a garage full of machine guns and grenades was definitely one of them.

  “I gotta tell ya, Damon,” I muttered, pulling open the door of the closest Lincoln. “If you had told me a week ago that I would be doing any of the stuff I've been doing lately, I would have had you tossed in the nearest insane asylum.” I hopped up into the driver's seat and found the keys already in the ignition. Damon climbed into the passenger seat, and we headed back to the dorm.

  We went to my dorm first, because we knew it would be faster. All I really had to do was grab my bag and then I would be ready to go. I didn't really believe we were going to get on a private jet and fly to another continent, but I felt it would be best to be prepared, just in case. This was an entirely new experience for me, so I had no idea what was going to happen, but I wasn't going to be caught without my bag again. I certainly wasn't going to be leaving the country while my father was in the hospital. I was still trying to figure out how I was going to explain this to Jeanette. I may have been new to this, but I was pretty sure it wasn't smart to start an argument with a vampire.

  It was while we were on our way to Damon's dorm that we were attacked. I smelled it before I saw it. Damon was playing with his new super powers, alternating between jumping up into the trees and leaping around from branch to branch and trying to disappear. He had just asked me for the seventh time if I could see him (I could), when I caught a whiff of something so foul I nearly gagged. Have you ever hidden eggs at Easter, and forgotten where you hid one of them? When you inevitably find it weeks later, multiply that disgusting stench that permeates the entire area by about a thousand, and you'll have some idea of what I was smelling.

  I felt like my entire body was vibrating, as if I'd just been electrocuted or struck by lightning. Something wicked was coming this way, and I felt like my very bones were telling me that it was time for us to run screaming in the opposite direction. Damon stepped off the tree above me, landed silently next to me, and asked why I stopped walking.

  I pointed into the dark ahead of us. “Something is definitely coming toward us, and it feels wrong.” The ground was trembling beneath our feet now, and I took a step backward. “Maybe we should go...” I trailed off as the monster finally appeared from the shadows.

  The creature that emerged from the shadows was like something from a child's overactive imagination. It was a giant mass of stuff cobbled together to make an enormous four legged beast. It was covered all over in both scales and feathers, and there were small clumps of matted fur trailing down each of its four legs. Pieces of re-bar emerged from its side as if someone had stuck them in there like toothpicks in a sandwich. Barbed wire wrapped completely around its neck multiple times, the tail end trailing behind him like a dropped leash. It was about the size of a full grown elephant, and each of its claws looked like sharp swords. Its eyes glowed a fiery red, and they were staring right at me.

  I was frozen. I couldn't even speak. The beast had put me under some sort of spell, hypnotizing me with his eyes, and it wasn't until Damon physically picked me up and started running that I was able to break free. Damon had always been a fairly fast runner, but now he was fast. My eyes were streaming tears from the wind, so I shut them tight and clung to Damon, praying he wouldn't drop me. He stopped just a few seconds later and set me down on the top of the stairs leading into the gymnasium. He was just as surprised as I was about his speed, because even with the scary monster chasing us, he took the time to grin at me and loudly whisper, “Did you see that?! That was awesome!”

  “Thank you for getting me out of there. Now, come on, we have to find a place to hide.” I grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the gym doors. I couldn't see the monster, but I could still smell it. I was surprised that something that large could move without making a ton of noise, but the night was still and silent, which just made the whole situation even scarier. I pulled open the door and we slipped inside, quietly letting the door shut behind us.

  Damon was a gymnast and I spent a lot of time in the pool, so neither of us were strangers to the gymnasium. We had a brief, whispered debate about the best course of action – the locker rooms were both out, because there were no windows, so they would just be a dead end; we could probably barricade ourselves in the coach's office, but neither of us were willing to test our strength versus the strength of that enormous beast, so barricading ourselves would be a final option, only; the main gym was just a giant room with bleachers, with very limited options for hiding. We finally decided that our best option was to make our way to the second entrance, clear over on the other side of the building. The gym was shaped in a circle with two long atrium's on either end leading to an exit, so it would just be a matter of running to the other side of the circle to get to the opposite doors. Once there, we could head back to Jeanette's house and hope she could save us.

  We opted to run around the right side. It was completely dark in there, and we didn't dare turn on any lights. Luckily, that wasn't an issue for either of us. We'd managed to make it about a quarter of the way around when we heard the gym doors open. Visualizing how on Earth something like that beast could possibly be coordinated enough to pull the doors open caused me to involuntarily whimper. I couldn't move much faster than I already was and still maintain my silence. I had no idea if the beast was tracking us through scent or through sound, but I didn't want to take any chances. Damon was so silent that I sometimes had to glance over to make sure he was still there, but I had to move a little more carefully to prevent my sneakers from squeaking on the floor. I have never been very good at sneaking. Subtlety is not my thing.

  We finally made it around to the other side. When we reached the entrance to the atrium, I gave up on all pretense of silence and raced down the hall toward the door. When I got close enough to see them, I stopped in my tracks. A long piece of rebar, trash still stuck to it in places with sticky, black goo, was tied around the two doors, bent into the shape of a pretty bow, effectively locking the doors shut.

  I looked at Damon, eyes wide. “How the hell did that happen?”

  “It must have known we'd come this way, and beat us to it.”

  “But then, why would it go all the way around to the other doors? Why not wait for us here?”

  Damon narrowed his eyes and looked back toward the way we'd come in. The clicking of the beast's nails on the hard floor was getting louder, but the speed hadn't increased. It was taking its time getting to us, and now we knew why it wasn't in any kind of hurry. “It's almost like it's playing with us, Delaney. What the hell is this thing?”