The next morning we actually got out of the house on time so we had time to stop at our lockers after we were dropped off at school.
As I was getting my math book out, Allison and her group walked up to me and stopped. Everyone had similar looks of fear on their faces. I put my book in my bag and then crossed my arms, waiting.
"A-Alyssa? We're sorry for being so horrible to you." Alison said in a small voice. "Is there anything we can do for you?"
By the end of the day, I had had them take notes for me and they would do the same next week.
I've always loved Fridays.
When we got home, we did our homework and at dinner Tony announced "Hey Kayla, Alyssa, check out what I found today at school!"
Tony said holding up an old book with a bunch of family crests on the cover.
Now, our parents looked very confused at our reaction. Kayla and I were sitting on either side of him and we moved our chairs closer in order to get a better look.
"Awesome!" Kayla exclaimed. "We should be able to find it in here!"
We started flipping through the book, occasionally pointing something out to one another.
Mom and Dad exchanged a look.
"Find what?" Mom asked
"Nothing really." I answered quickly.
After a few minutes of looking through the book in silence Tony spoke up.
"Stags are deers with-" Tony started to ask, but was interrupted by kayla.
"Tony, the plural of deer is deer, not deers." Kayla pointed out patiently.
Tony stuck his tounge out at her.
"Fine. Stags are deer with horns right, Dad?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, lots of Scottish crests have them." Dad answered.
Kayla, Tony and I looked at each other in dismay.
"Lots?"Kayla repeated.
"Yeah, it means that they were descended from hunters." Dad said cutting his steak.
"So what's with the sudden interest in crests?"Mom asked us turning a page in the book.
"Project for school, if you must know." I lied easily.
"The McAshton's have stags on their crest."Dad said handing us a paper with the McAshton crest on it.
We looked at it, and Tony dug his elbow in to my ribs. It was the crest from the vision, the same one that woman had on her cloak!
"Can I have this?"Tony asked, Dad nodded and took a bite of his food.
"And Dad can we maybe go to work with you tomorrow?" I asked.
Dad looked at us in surprise.
"Sure, why?"He asked us.
"To see what you do every day."Kayla responded.
Dad looked at Mom and she nodded, smiling.
"Will Lord McAshton be there?"
"Of course. He lives there. Is that a problem?" Dad asked.
"No."
Quickly excusing ourselves from the table, we ran up to Tony's room and closed the door.
We sat down and talked and compared our day at school with one another's. suddenly Tony said, "I told Mom and Dad about Rudolph."
"What?" Kayla and I almost yelled.
"Not that he's a vampire; just that he's my friend."
I relaxed and Kayla sighed with relief.
Finally, we were sure mom and dad were asleep, at which point we were already ready to go to the vampire's cemetery.
We snuck out the front door and ran across the yard and started on to the road. Speeding up, I called over my shoulder, "Race you!" and started running full speed. The wind felt amazing on my face and I remembered running on the track team at home with my two friends Cassandra and Thera. This was my idea of flying.
When we arrived at the cemetery, Tony and Kayla were panting but I had adrenalin coursing through my veins. We dropped into the vampire's hole.
We heard Gregory and Fredrick arguing and we walked over to Rudolph and Anna, who smiled tensely at us, then turned their attention to their brother and father.
We looked over at them and I gasped when I saw a man slumped on the ground a few feet from where the two were standing.
"You bit him?" Fredrick asked in an eerily calm tone.
"Just a taste." Gregory responded carelessly, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.
"Was it worth betraying your family?"
"You're the traitor, forever denying the truth of us. We are the dark gods! But you have turned us into cowards. Sulking around our holes like worms!" Gregory retorted, anger rising.
"What would you have us do?" Fredrick asked angrily.
"Fight back! Make these mortals blood run cold!" Gregory responded heatedly.
I froze. The way he said it seriously scared me. Kayla dug her nails into my arm.
"And you could do it Gregory. You're young, strong, ruthless and willing to risk a stake through the heart to prove it." His father told him.
"Better a stake than this prison!" Gregory shot at Fredrick.
"Do you think me oblivious?" Fredrick asked.
"What does it matter to you what I think? If I think?"
Good one, man.
"It matters greatly. I feel your sting." Fredrick responded.
"But you are Frederick the Great. You feel nothing!" Gregory protested.
Suddenly, Rookery's voice boomed from behind us.
"Let there be light!"
And a light shone throughout the underground tomb. The vampires cried out in protest and Fredrick had pushed his family behind them and was shielding them from the light. Kayla suddenly grabbed a rock and chucked it at the light. It hit the light and shattered it and it went out.
"Amazing" Rudolph said quietly.
I ran up to my sister and high-fived her.
"Kay, remind me again, why weren't you pitcher on the softball team?"
"Because Katie was better than me."
I laughed and turned to the vampires.
Fredrick was lying on the ground, extremely weakened by the light.
Kayla crouched beside him, shocked.
"Oh, my God." she whispered quietly.
"We found the coat of arms." Tony said.
"It's Lord McAshton's, our dad's boss." I added, Rudolph smiled at us.
"The stone must be at his house!" Tony reasoned.
"Did you hear us, sir?" Kayla asked Fredrick.
"You nearly saved my life."
No, really?
"He's very weak." The woman, Freda said.
"I know just what you need." Tony announced
Eventually, we got Fredrick to the cow farm. There, all of them fed on the cows and this time Tony and Kayla left immediately. I heard the sound of Kayla puking outside the barn, and went to check on her. As I said before, she's a soft one.
When they were done, Freda and Anna walked out of the barn with triumphant looks on their faces. I saw that they had put a straightjacket, a muzzle and a leash on Gregory. Kayla and I exchanged a look and burst into laughter. Gregory glared at us.
"Kayla, do you remember when you gave me a straightjacket for Christmas?"
Kayla nodded.
"This is priceless! Where's a camera when you need one?" I asked wiping a tear of mirth from my eye.
"Alyssa? I don't know if cameras work on vampires." Tony pointed out.
I waved my hand at him. "Never mind."
"I must find a place to hide you, children." Fredrick said walking out of the barn holding onto Rudolph.
"You can stay at our house!" Tony replied.
"We need darkness and decay." Fredrick said.
"Then you need our cellar." Kayla told him while Tony and I nodded.
Freda smiled and walked over to her husband, pulling Gregory behind her.
"Alyssa, would you mind taking Gregory so I may assist my husband?"
"Um, okay."
She held the leash out to me and I took it hesitantly.
We started towards the house, but it took longer than it should have because Gregory kept stopping abruptly and I kept having to yank on the leash..
"Gregory! I swear, you are impossible!"
It was too dark to see his face, but could hear the smirk in his voice when he said. "Oh, believe me, I try."
"Yeah, well, don't try too hard you might strain yourself." I muttered, pulling on the leash.
He chuckled as he finally started walking in the direction I wanted.
Finally, when we got home, we opened the door and waited for everyone to enter. When they were in we brought them down to the cellar. Everyone walked around, choosing where they would be sleeping for the night.
I shoved the leash into Gregory's hands and leaned against a wall.
"I'm sorry it's-." Tony was cut off by Freda.
"It's perfect." She said smiling.
"We need to go upstairs. Have a good… days sleep." Kayla said to all of them.
"And don't worry, we're on it." Tony said.
"On what dear?" Freda asked as she turned to look at us.
"Finding the amulet mother. That's how we kids talk today." Rudolph answered for us.
"Bye dude." Rudolph said high-fiving Tony.
"Bye dude." Tony replied heading upstairs.
"Sleep well." Kayla said.
"Later, man." I said nodding to Rudolph before going after my siblings.
After lying in my bed, unable to sleep for a couple hours, I grabbed my laptop and snuck down stairs and made a bowl of cereal. I sat down on the couch and started up my laptop. I found the remote and a piece of paper and started making a list of what channels were what for future references.
I checked the clock on my computer and realized that it was still set for San Diego. I sighed. 9:47 AM. Cassie or Thera should be online if not both of them … I logged in to Facebook and sure enough, they were both online. I clicked on both of their names and typed three words: video chat. now! 3
We called each other and when I saw Cassie's blonde hair and Thera's black hair, I wanted to cry, I was so happy.
"Lyssie!" Thera screamed.
"We miss you, A-melon!" Cassie exclaimed.
"I miss you guys, too. How's track?" I asked.
"Awful without you. It's not a challenge anymore, you know?" Thera said dramatically.
"Anyway, how's Scotland?" Cassie asked.
"Eh."
They laughed.
"I feel ya. I see your still rockin' the red highlights." Thera said.
I laughed and nodded.
"How's school going?" Cassie asked.
"It's going."
We all laughed and for about an hour and a half we talked about anything and everything, and it was as if nothing had changed. Eventually, their parents told them to say goodbye and we hung up. Once they were gone I felt empty again. Like I was alone in the world. Tears welled up in my eyes and I brushed them away angrily, refusing to cry. Too late. Tears slid down my face and I cursed myself for showing weakness, even when there was nobody there to see it.
Suddenly I heard a noise. Whipping around, I saw Gregory standing behind me, free of the strait-jacket and muzzle. He stared back at me, with an emotionless expression on his face, which softened a bit when he saw that I was crying.
The first thought that ran through my mind was I don't need your pity and the second was How'd he get out of the straight jacket?
Turning back around, I grabbed the bowl of cereal and said
"What are you doing here?"
He walked forward and sat in the chair across from me. He considered the question and shrugged.
"Why are you crying?" he asked in the same tone I had asked my question with.
I looked away and shrugged.
"Touché"
He chuckled quietly and looked at me.
"Were those girls your friends?"
I looked at him.
"Why do you suddenly act like you care about me?"
It was his turn to look away.
"Not suddenly."
He said it so quietly and quickly, I almost didn't hear it.
"Um… okay… well, if you're asking me a question, then I get to ask you a question." I said.
Gregory met my eyes.
"Says who?"
"Says me. Deal or no deal? " I asked.
A look of amusement crossed his face.
"Deal."
"Ummm… okay… give me a minute…oh! Why do you hate me so much?"
A look of shock replaced the look of amusement.
"I do not hate you."
"Really? Coulda fooled me."
"I just did not want you and your brother and sister to get involved it all this. It is too dangerous."
Wow. Wasn't expecting that.
"Oh. Okay. Well I'd better get to bed… Night."
"Goodnight."
I walked toward the stairs, unaware of the little vampire girl who had been lurking in the shadows
