Chapter Ten
"Where have you been?" came the loud shout of Rowena's teacher the next morning, well, it was more like a few hours later.
"In a cemetery," said Rowena, now fully awake after the shriek of her teacher.
"In a what?" asked the teacher taken aback; clearly she wasn't expecting an answer.
"That's where I was. I was walking around the cemetery just down the road and lost track of time. I managed to find some tunnels under it to stay in while the sun was out and I came back once it was dark and safe enough," explained Rowena. The teacher sighed and rubbed her temples.
"Just try not to do that again, call your parents, you have no idea how worried everyone was," said her teacher while walking out of her room. Rowena laughed and got changed and pulled her cloak out before she picked her phone up.
"Hey mum and dad," she said after her mum had put her on speaker phone.
"Where were you?" asked her mum.
"In a cemetery. I just lost track of time," she said.
"So you weren't hurt or anything were you?" asked her father.
"No, I wasn't," she said.
"Good, well just bring a watch next time," said her mother.
"I will, I'm sorry for making your worry. Can one of you pick me up and take me to the McAshton's place. I have plans to meet Tony Thompson there," she asked.
"Um, okay, I'll come get you. I thought you didn't like Tony," said her father.
"We found a common interest," she said smirking.
"I'll be right there," said her father and she heard him leave.
"Is there anything you want to tell me honey?" asked her mother, "I know you, you're up to something."
"Yes, I am mother, but I can't explain," said Rowena, "I promised I wouldn't tell anyone."
"All right, just be careful," said her mother.
"Of course, bye mum," she said and hung up. She grabbed a messenger bag and put some extra layers in it as well as her sketch book and a camera. She threw her cloak on and went downstairs to wait.
Her dad arrived and she got in the car. They sat there in silence before her dad had to ask.
"What are you up to?" he asked as golf courses came into sight.
"If you and mum must know, come to the cliffs tonight at midnight and you'll understand. I'm sorry I can't say anything more," said Rowena.
"All right, well here we are," he said as they pulled up.
"Oh damn," muttered Rowena as her eyes landed on Rookery's truck parked outside.
"What?" asked her father.
"Nothing. I will see you later, thank you father," she said and got out of the car, making sure the cloak was covering her. A few of the workers glanced at her but shrugged it off. There were enough weird people walking around here lately they were getting use to it. She made her way into the house and managed to find areas where no one else was. She made her way to the second story. Her plan was to get as high as possible to find a window to look around at the grounds.
She knew the McAshton's were connected to the stone so if she found a cemetery on the grounds then she would head there for signs, if not then her next bet was to find a library. She knew how large families liked this worked they usually buried their families on their grounds and usually hard large libraries full of their families' history in it.
She went as high as she could and looked out the window. She saw Tony going towards something she couldn't see because a tree was in the way. She moved to another room and saw Rookery and Lord McAshton headed into a building. Tony was on the move and she had to get there.
She quickly snuck out of the house and out to the backyard and followed the way Tony had gone. She made her way to the tomb and was about to go in when she heard voices coming up the stairs and she looked around for a place to hide but there was no time. Rookery had grabbed her.
"What do we have here?" he asked and he pulled her down into the tomb.
"I know her. She's one of the students at the school down the street, and her father is a good friend of mine," said Lord McAshton.
"Well she's a vampire too," he said.
"Are all children theses days vampires?" asked Lord McAshton becoming scared.
"Observe," he said and he ripped off Rowena's cloak, exposing her to the sun. She hissed as the sun hit her skin and started to turn red and blister.
"Oh my," said Lord McAshton. Rookery threw Rowena to the side and grabbed one of his chains and chained her to a metal fence and as the sun set the stream of sun would slowly get towards her.
"Why not just steak her?" asked Lord McAshton.
"No time," said Rookery and they quickly left.
"Rowena?" asked Tony, taking a guess.
"Yes," breathed Rowena weakly. Her skin did not look good and the sunlight was getting closer and closer.
"Can you move?" he asked.
"No," said Rowena as she leaned her head against the metal and it felt good, the cool metal on her hot head.
"Okay, I'll think of something," said Tony. Rowena regained her normal breathing pattern and heard Tony whistle. It wasn't any normal whistle, it was mystical and seemed to spread out through all the space.
"Let's hope that works," said Rowena as she curled her legs in closer to avoid the sun. She reached into her bag and put on the extra layers she brought but it wasn't enough to block all of her skin.
Rowena started to fall asleep, now completely flush with the metal gate, when she heard someone enter and call for Tony. Tony responded and two sets of feet made their way to where Tony was hidden away and removed the lid to set him free.
"Tony, are you all right?" asked Anna as Tony smiled up at them.
"Yeah, dude you heard me," said Tony as Rudolph helped him up.
"I hear you my hero, and I wrote you a poem," said Anna but as she walked over to get to a good place to stand she saw Rowena. "Oh my, Rowena," she said taking in the blistered skin and the fact that she was chained to the gate.
"Rowena?" asked Rudolph as he made his way over with Tony.
"Rookery did this to us," said Tony looking sadly at Rowena who just laid there pathetically. She couldn't really move anywhere else because her skin hurt.
Rudolph had nothing to say, he just kneeled down next to Rowena and put her head in his lap. She groaned at the movement then settled down. All three of them tried to break the chains but nothing would work.
"We can't just leave her," said Rudolph, "she needs help."
"No, go on," said Rowena, "find the stone. That is more important."
"No, we can't just leave you," said Rudolph sternly.
"Rudolph, go find the stone, I'll be here," she said. Rudolph had a battle in his head before nodding and he went and picked up her cloak and draped it over her before they proceeded on.
It wasn't too long before Anna had returned. She had heard the call, the vampires had to gather. Rowena was telling Anna to go but she wouldn't and she stayed a bit to try and find a way for her to escape.
"Of course," said Anna once it came to her. Under the metal fence was dirt. If she dug the dirt away she could slip the chain off from underneath. Anna made quick work of the digging and soon Rowena was free. She was slow moving and Anna didn't have any time to loose so she grabbed Rowena and flew off. It was a bit shaky at times, but for the most part was a smooth ride to the cliffs where Rowena saw Gregory making the call.
Anna placed her on the ground, resting against a rock, before sitting next to Rowena and waiting for the others to arrive. Rowena just watched Gregory and tried to hope that Rudolph and Tony would find the stone and get here soon.
The first to arrive of the party were Tony's parents and Rudolph's parents, in a car. Rowena never wanted to see vampires arrive by car again, it ruins certain iconic images.
"Rowena?" asked Freda as they made their way over and praised their children.
"Nice night huh?" she asked lamely looking up at them from her position on the ground.
"What happened to you?" asked Freda, her motherly side taking over.
"Rookery," said Rowena and Freda immediately understood, "when the rest of the clan arrives, would it be safe for me out here?"
"Yes, they understand, plus you shouldn't be moved any more than you already have," said Fredrik as he watched his son.
"Speaking of clan," said Freda and soon one by one bats turned into vampires and touched onto the ground. A few went to the car and Fredrik protected the Thompson's, while a few investigated Rowena, who Freda protected.
"She's human, but she doesn't look it," remarked one.
"How odd," said another observing Rowena's blistered skin.
"Go on now, she's had a rough day with a hunter," said Freda and the others walked away. Gregory eventually stopped making the call once everyone had gathered, well everyone except Tony and Rudolph, and he made his way over to Anna and Rowena.
"Any hope?" he asked after a bit of waiting.
"There's always hope," said Rowena.
"I would love that embroidered on a pillow," said Anna watching the sky.
"Anna, now is not the time," said Rowena looking at her, she shrugged and continued searching.
"You know, for a mortal, you're not bad," said Gregory looking down at Rowena who gave him a weird look.
"I'm trying to figure out if that is a compliment or an insult, but thanks," said Rowena.
"It's a compliment," he said roughly.
"Okay," said Rowena who then heard a car pull up and everyone looked and saw her parents, "Hi mum and dad," she said lamely waving to them.
"Rowena are you okay?" asked her mum rolling down the window. They had been signalled too by the Thompson's to stay in the car.
"I'm fine, a little worse for wear, but fine," she said back.
"Okay," shouted her mother. Freda then went over to talk to her parents and by the looks of things she wasn't just telling them about the stone.
Everyone was waiting for quite some time and the comet was too close for anyone's' liking. Eventually Rowena's parents and Tony's parents got out of their cars, not caring and stood with everyone was they watched the comet. Anna was supporting Rowena so she could watch as well.
"We have only a few moments more," said Freda to her husband in a whisper so as to not panic anyone. Fredrik knew what he had to do so he faced everyone.
"After all of our wondering, all of our waiting. I've left our fate in the hands of two small boys. It's all my fault; I won't even ask your forgiveness. I don't deserve it," he said sulking a bit. A gasp went around the crowd as Fredrik joined the ranks again. A minute passed before something caught Anna's attention.
"Tony's near," she said looking in the sky.
"Where?" asked hi mum searching around.
"There," exclaimed Anna and she pointed into the sky. Tony and Rudolph were flying straight towards them and Tony held up the stone and shouted.
They carefully landed in front of Fredrik and Tony smiled a huge smile and held the stone up.
"I think you've been searching for this," he said.
"The stone," he said and took it and placed it into its chain, "thank you my friend."
"Tony," said his mum and he ran to them. Rudolph made his way over to Rowena and Anna and made sure Rowena was okay before they turned their attention back to Fredrik who held the stone up.
"The Stone of Attamon is ours," he said and everyone cheered. The ceremony began and the humans stood in the back and watched, Rowena now leaning on her father for support. A red beam of light came from the comet and to the stone and it looked like everything was going to go smoothly when all of a sudden a blimp came up from below the cliffs and blocked the stream.
"Hey, that's my blimp," said Bob Thompson and Rowena and her parents looked at him before turning their attention back to the blimp and who was causing this problem. Of course it was none other than Rookery who gave a cry of 'vampires' before coming out to attack, kicking the stone out of Fredrik's hand in the process. Rookery landed, with his light up cross shining brightly,a dn he caught the stone with a laugh.
"Mum! Dad!" shouted Tony going to the … rescue? Rowena, despite the pain coming from her skin, fought through the vampires and over to Rookery. He flashed the cross in her face but she only sneered and punch him in the nose. UNfortunetly she had moved his head a bit so she didn't do as much damage as she had hoped. Rookery smirked and punched her back full force and, with all the stuff on his hands, had managed to cut her. This caught the vampires' attention. Rudolph noticed and quickly ran to Rowena and made to protect her from the other vampires as she cleaned her cheek free of blood.
"All right, that's it," said Bob as he took his apron off and shoved it into Tony's hands, "let's go Evan." Rowena's father nodded and followed him as they both took on Rookery. Rowena's father gave a particularly hard punch to Rookery's stomach and the stone when flying in the air.
"Catch it Tony!" shouted Rudolph as Tony tried to get under the stone and catch. Luckily he did and everyone turned to look at him. The blimp flew up and Tony's dad pushed Rookery over the cliff (and this is a kids' movie?).
"The ceremony!" shouted Fredrik.
"Tony you have the stone!" shouted Rowena.
"You know what we want! Wish it!" shouted Rudolph. Tony held the stone up over his head and as soon as the blimp was completely out of the way the beam connected back to the stone and Tony closed his eyes and wished.
A red smoke started to form around the vampires and one by one completely engulfed him. Rowena gave one last look at Rudolph before all of them were gone. The red mist went towards the cloud and as the beam went away the only people left were the mortals.
"Well this sucks," said Rowena. Tony sniffed and looked down. His parents sympathized with him and took him with a farewell to Rowena and her parents. Rowena reluctantly got in the car and they took her home, not to the school, but to home, home.
Rowena was sitting in her room staring in the mirror. Her blistered skin from Rookery's attack was still there but slightly better. Tonight her parents were having the Thompson's over for dinner, along with some old friends that just moved to town. She wasn't very excited, nothing really got her excited any more. Not since she lost her friends.
She sighed when she heard a knock on the front door and she knew someone had arrived. Judging by the voices it was probably everyone they were expecting. She made sure she look all right in her black skirt and white button up top before turning her attention away from the mirror. She heard ad knock on her door and Tony popped his head in.
"Come on," he said. Rowena sighed and followed him downstairs. Everyone paused with their conversation when they saw Tony come down the stairs with Rowena. When she hit the bottom stair she looked up ad saw…familiar faces?
"Mon lapin!" Rudolph exclaimed and pulled her into a hug.
"What?" she asked confused looking around.
"We're human!" exclaimed Anna happily jumping up and down and grabbing Rowena's hand once she was out of Rudolph's hug.
"I see that," said Rowena smiling.
"It is good to see you are well," said Freda.
"Thank you," said Rowena.
"Well dinner is just about ready," said Rowena's mother and they all headed into the dining room where kids and angsty teens sat at one end of the table and parents sat at the other.
Dinner went by too fast and soon it was time to say good night to the Thompson's and Sackville-Bagg's.
"I am so happy you guys remember us," said Rowena hugging Anna.
"But we can't all play together during the day still," said Tony looking at Rowena.
"We'll find a way," said Rudolph, "there is always a way." He stared at Rowena a bit before both families departed.
"How was that for a surprise?" asked her father as they closed the front door.
"Best prize ever," she said before heading up to her room. She would miss the flying, and having someone to be with at night, but them being human was better then them not being there at all.
A/n: All that is left is an epilogue and then it will be done. Be happy, this was originally going to be a one shot but I expanded it.
I will be starting on a new project. I will we writing a one shot for thirteen different Halloween-ish series for the next thirteen days until Halloween. I have it all planned out and half of the first one written that will be posted tomorrow. Please read them (there will be a Little Vampire one). And thank you for reading this story, reviews are appreciated.
-Charlotte