Chapter Eleven: Nightmare on Ems' Street
On her way home, the sun was just beginning to set and their street seemed to be tinted pinkish-orange. Naomi could hear the music blaring from outside. The house was completely dark except for the living room window. Naomi put the key in the lock and the door fell open. "OK then," She said closing the door behind her and locking it.
She expected to see that Panda and Thomas, or maybe Katie and the guy she had mentioned from the club the other night. Naomi didn't like the idea of the house turning back into the party zone for everyone they knew. She took a deep breath and prepared to be nice, but stern—and perhaps a bit sarcastic. Standing in the doorway she saw Emily and Cook dancing wildly in the middle of the room. She turned quickly back against the wall, gasping to catch her breath before swinging back around into the living room.
"What the fuck?" she yelled. They both stopped dancing, but continued to sway a little to the music.
"Naomikins!" they both shouted in excited unison.
Cook burst back into dance, but Emily seemed to snap to attention at the shocked look on her girlfriend's face.
She smacked Cook on the arm. "What?" Cook asked before remembering that Naomi did not, in fact, already know he was alive and well.
"Cook?" Naomi said in a shocked voice. "You're here and…Cook?" she repeated looking at Emily. "Explain?"
"Naoms," Emily said apologetically, walking up to her to and taking her hands. "I'm sorry I didn't know how to warn you. I mean…I didn't want to just text you on the phone about it, did I? So we were waiting for you and I guess we just…got distracted…sorry," she finished weakly.
Naomi couldn't wrap her head around this; she was so happy and angry at the same time. She wished she could just be happy, but she couldn't forget the last few weeks she had spent waiting to know what had happened.
"So you just started partying and I am supposed to just, join in and dance? No questions asked," she stated numbly.
"Come on Naomikins! It's a lovely Wednesday night, yes? I promise you I am completely ready for you to beat the piss out of me. 'Cause I deserve it right? More than you even know yet, yeah? Can't we just have a bit of happy before all that happens?" Cook finished with his usually disarming smile.
Emily studied Naomi's face; her mouth open wide in shock, the corners of her mouth twitching while she tried not to give in to a smile.
Naomi cleared her throat, "First of all; it's Friday night," she began. "And second, it's not like you borrowed Ems' scooter and forgot to fill the tank back up, yeah?" she added sarcastically. "You could have found some way to let us know you were alive! Fucks sake!"
Cook flinched, and Emily squeezed in closer to Naomi and nuzzled her face into the now shaking girl's shoulder. Naomi put an arm around the redhead to steady herself.
"And lastly," she paused and caught her breath. "It's really fucking great to see you Cook." She finished lifting her other arm to invite him into the group hug.
Emily began to shake and Naomi patted her back softly, giving Cook another confused look. She had expected him to rush in, but he stood on the other side of the room with a look of panic on his face.
"No…" he said. "I'm pretty sure it's Wednesday." His face turned thoughtful.
"Nope Cookie," she insisted, "it's Friday. What does it matter?"
He sprinted to the window and pulled back the curtain. "No. Fuck. No, no, no." he mumbled to himself. He turned around and ran towards them.
Thomas and Panda entered the club, it wasn't as crowed as usual tonight, but luckily most of the people they knew were there.
"Should Effy be out tonight?" Thomas asked.
Panda's mouth hung open for a second while she thought of something to say. "Well…you know Eff, she bounces back quick."
Katie and Effy walked up to meet them; Effy giving Panda a quizzical look meant to mean "Did you tell him?" Panda shook her head quickly to let them know she hadn't.
"So Thomo, going to welcome me back?" Effy said, trying to shake off the chill that seemed to surround her.
"Yes," Thomas said, giving her a friendly hug. "Good to see you back. We are very happy." He smiled at Katie. "Hello."
"Hi," Katie said, keeping her distance.
Thomas looked around the sparsely populated club. "I'd never noticed just how much room there was in here."
The others looked around as well, hoping to see Naomi and Emily. Instead Panda spotted Freddie's sister, Karen, at the bar talking to a tall man. Katie stared wide eye and Effy's eyes narrowed.
"One moment," Effy said, making her way over to them, stepping up behind Karen so that her eyes met the other vampire's eyes.
"Can I help you?" he said coolly.
"Yes," she said equally as coolly.
The girl turned around prepared to give the interloper a cold stare that would clearly say "Back off." Instead she found herself face to face with the very girl she had learned that look from.
"Oh…hey Eff," she said instead. She wasn't sure how to feel about seeing her again.
"Hey Karen. Nice to see you," the vampire girl replied without breaking eye contact with the vampire man.
"Yeah…nice…" Karen was getting irritated by all this. "Well we were just getting to know each other. Like on a date. You know? Isn't that right babe?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact we…" he began to say.
"No," Effy interrupted. "You really weren't."
Katie had made her way over to her friend's side; she had heard everything from the other side of the bar. "Karen, I need to ask you something," she said in an attempt to distract the younger girl.
"What?" Freddie's sister huffed.
"Well it's kind of personal," Katie lied.
With one look at the guy's face, Karen could tell she had lost his interest. She begrudgingly gave in and followed Katie to the bathroom as she did her best to come up with a convincing question to ask for advice on.
With the other two gone, Effy stepped closer to the vampire that had turned her. "She's off limits," she demanded.
"That's not how this works," he replied. Seeing the burning anger in her eyes he added, "Though I suppose I can allow you to have at least some say in the third."
He glanced in the direction of the bathroom. "Just this once. So you might want to take this moment to point out anyone else here that is off limits," he added sounding smug.
"Fine." She wasn't sure if she could actually win this battle so she would take what she could get until she did know for sure. "Those two as well," she said, gesturing towards Panda and Thomas.
"As you wish, my lady," he said, taking her hand and giving it a light kiss. Then he turned and left the building.
Cook lunged at the two girls, grabbing Emily and knocking Naomi off her feet as he pulled her outside.
"Cook, what the fuck?" Emily snapped at him.
"Trust me," Cook yelled. "Just fucking trust me."
He suddenly began twitching and fell to his knees, pulling the redhead down with him. He flipped over, taking her face in his hands. He shook her lightly to get her to look him in the eyes.
"I'm so, so sorry Ems," he said. "This is really going to suck."
Naomi stood at the back door yelling for Cook and Emily; she stared into the darkness and listened for any sign of the two. The clouds parted and the moon began to partially light the back yard. She heard growling down the street and the sound of trashcans being knocked over and took off in that direction. The moon was covered in clouds again and she was dependent on the dim streetlights to see; there was trash littering the sidewalk and splatters of blood. She followed the trail to the park and stopped when she saw a large hole torn through one of the hedges. She looked closer and pulled something out of the bushes before crumbling to the ground in tears. She gripped the tattered strip of Emily's t-shirt tightly and screamed.
Panda and Thomas had joined Effy at the bar and waited for Katie to join them again. The dark haired girl refused to say anything about the situation other than that she knew he was trouble and she was just looking out for Karen. Katie returned to the bar alone and Thomas looked around for Freddie's sister. Katie nodded towards the exit door and he excused himself to go check that the guy wasn't waiting outside for her.
"I'll be right back," he said, giving Panda a kiss on the cheek.
Before she could even ask Effy anything, Freddie was whispering in her ear. "Please, I know I don't deserve it, but please tell her I'm here."
"I can't do that," Panda thought, "and you're right, you don't deserve for me to do anything for you."
"Third?" Katie asked. "What does he mean by that?"
Effy shrugged. "Maybe he was just saving face…" she said hopefully.
Panda couldn't focus on their conversation because Freddie was now standing behind Effy and looking at her with lovesick eyes.
"Panda she just saved my sisters life. I have to thank her; I have to tell her I love her. I need her to forgive me for not being better or doing more for her," he pleaded.
"What good would it do? She'll still miss you. I'm the only one who can see you," she said telepathically.
She was angry at him, but seeing him look at Effy that way was melting her heart. "I'm really sorry, but I don't even know how…"
Katie was waving her hand in front of Panda's zoned out face. "Hello…Panda…are you with us?"
"Yeah!" she said trying focusing and remembering the last thing the vampire girls had said.
"I was saying I have to go," Katie continued. "If you see Ems or Naomi don't tell them. K?"
Panda nodded as Katie flipped her hair and headed out the front exit. Freddie came back around to her side.
"This is the only chance," he insisted. "Please just tell her."
"No," she replied.
Before she knew what was happening, Panda found herself outside her body again; she stood horrified as her body leaned in close to Effy.
"I love you," Freddie said with Panda's voice.
Before she could react Effy found herself embraced in Panda's arms and receiving a passionate kiss. She staggered back out of the possessed body's grip, confusion painted across her face. She wiped Panda's lipstick off her face with the sleeve of her shirt and darted out of the club, knocking several people over in the process.
"Get out of me right now!" Panda seethed.
Suddenly, she found herself back in her body again; she turned to look for Freddie. Instead she saw Thomas staring at her from the back exit and it was obvious he had seen everything.
"Thomas!" She pleaded. "No you don't understand, I have to explain!"
It was too late; once her eyes met his, he turned and stormed out. Once outside, he broke into a run. Freddie stood in the dimly lit street watching Panda's boyfriend disappear into the distance.
"If there is any way at all, Panda will kill me," he said to himself and at that moment he knew he deserved it.