Chapter 21- Contact
"Evelyn?" asked David. The voice hadn't sounded like Evelyn's.
There was some whispering and movement in the background on the other end. "Who's calling, please?" asked the voice which was definitely not Evelyn in a singsong and vaguely mocking tone.
"Who is this? Wh—" David started to say when a loud noise on the other end stopped him.
Stomp. "I ask the questions! This is my show, here!" said Inky.
David had no idea what to say. He was obviously talking to a crazy person. He heard more whispering in the background, along with laughter. "Shh, stop it, he's gonna think you're a whack job!" a voice said. "No, no, give it here," said another. David said nothing. He was a doer, not a talker. If he had something to tell you, he would show you. He didn't like phones.
"You're looking for your little giiirlfrieend, aren't ya?" a different voice asked.
"What are—" David said.
"Shush! Just hush your little mouth. Shut it. She's… well, I don't know if I want to tell you—what should I tell him?" it whispered to someone else.
More voices came through the phone, but David could only catch some of it. "Tell 'em she's comfy… the mattress! The mattress! Gave… fine… safe, well, mostly… kinda pissed off… who? Wait… tell… ha! Like… oh—" said various whispering female voices.
"We have her. We stole her. She's fine, though," said the first voice.
"Is Isabel doing this?" asked David.
"Isabel—he wants to know about Iz—good question," there was a pause, then some clicking.
"I'm right here," said Isabel's voice through the tinny cell phone.
"Isabel! Why are you doing this? You—" David growled.
"I'm telling her everything, David."
David sighed. "Isabel, there's no need for this. What—what are you hoping will come out of this!"
Isabel said nothing.
"Isabel!" David growled into the phone.
"I—goodbye, David," she said and David heard the beep as the phone connection ended.
David walked back into the cave. "It's Isabel," he said plainly.
"Where is she?" asked Marko.
David sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. He walked around the fountain, looking towards the ground. "With them, probably."
"Where are they?" asked Paul. Over the weeks she had spent with them, they had all gotten to know her. She didn't participate in the big conversations with everyone that much, just putting in a word here and a joke there, but they had each had several one-on-one conversations, where she opened up completely. Even though the strange circumstances prevented them from getting too close because they had to keep her in the dark about what they were, they could already feel her absence. They had been looking forward to really getting to know her, now that she knew the truth.
David looked at Paul, then turned away. He clucked his tongue. "Ya think they told me?" he asked. "They kidnapped her, they're not gonna provide directions on where to find her."
"She's okay though… right?" asked Marko.
"As far as I can tell. I didn't talk to her. They said she was okay," David answered. "I'm looking for her tomorrow," he said flatly.
"Where could you possibly look?" asked Dwayne.
"Yeah, could you hear anything? The city? The ocean? I mean, how will you know?" asked Paul.
"I—I don't know," admitted David. "I was thinking…I'd check the hotels first. Maybe they killed a family and moved into their home. I… I need to talk to Max." David was unwilling to admit that he needed the older vampire's advice. They checked in every once in a while. Max would send them a little message through the mental link all vampires shared. "Tomorrow," said David, and went towards the bed. He touched the sheets he had mussed looking for her, and realized there was no point sleeping in a bed alone. He walked back to the passage with the boys and hung from the crossbar. He felt so lonely. He was glad he had his friends around him. As he was about to fall asleep his eyes popped open. "I'll sleep in the main cave and wait for her," he said. The boys understood. He meant if Evelyn escapes or comes back or anything. She had never been in where the boys slept; she wouldn't know where to find them.
The next night David started stomping the streets of Santa Carla. He scanned the minds of the whole city for the vampire wavelength. Vampire's minds were different from human's minds. He went into the tourist part and went by the hotels. He didn't find anything. He saw the boys at the boardwalk.
"We can't just sit here while you tear yourself apart over this, man," said Paul.
David said nothing.
"What are you gonna do when you find her?" asked Dwayne.
"Yeah," said Marko, "are you gonna just kill her or will she be one of us?"
"Yeah," said Paul, "what are ya gonna do?"
David blew out the smoke of the cigarette he was smoking and looked up.
"We'll help you find her if you wanna make her one of us. I mean, she's as good as one of us, now, right?" asked Paul. They had all kept their distance, but Evelyn had been a potential sister for them. They only hung out with each other, and they liked new friends to play with.
David said nothing at first. "Okay," said David. "Spread out. Search the minds. Try and find anyone who's seen any of them."
David walked off towards the industrial part of Santa Carla.
Marko was walking through the slums. Most of the shops on the street he was one were boarded up, and no one was out. The dilapidated and abandoned buildings would be perfect for the hiding vampires. He heard a snick that sounded like someone opening a knife and he whirled around. He heard a click then a following click and finally the swoosh of a lighter flame. He saw the small light in the alley he had just passed and walked towards it.
The small ember on the end of the cigarette grew brighter as the woman sucked in. Marko saw it was not a woman at all, but a vampire woman. She must be one of Isabel's cohorts. Marko stepped into the mouth of the alley, and the vampire stepped foreword so half her pale face was in the blue neon glow of a nearby bar. She had inky black hair cut into a sharp bob. She had a black shirt on which didn't really fit her and a plain black skirt with some lace on it. Underneath that she had black tights with white cartoon skulls and giant platform boots. She had a quarter sleeve of tattoos on her thin right arm of thorny vines and pointy castles. She took another drag on her cigarette and the glitter on the childish foam bat barrette clips in her hair shined.
"You're one of Isabel's," said Marko, worried.
"Yeah, I know Iz," said the woman. She blew out smoke and leaned against a dumpster, her big eyes a creepy green and her smile offsetting.
"Who are you?" asked Marko.
"Inky."
Marko mentally messaged the others. "Did Isabel send you?"
"Not really."
"Then what are you doing out?"
"You were looking for us, weren't you?" she asked.
"Yeah, but shouldn't you be, like, hiding?" asked Marko, and then the rest of the boys descended down upon Inky.
Paul grabbed her and she threw him off. "Hey, hey, hey!" yelled Inky. David, who had arrived last because he had been farthest, ran into her like a bulldozer. "Four on one sucks!" she grunted, pulling out a knife.
"Where is she," said David. He was whispering but to Inky it had the intensity of yelling. David dug his nails into her neck and back and she cried out. She freed her arm and plunged the knife into David's neck, through his jugular and into the trachea. David cried out in a sick gurgling scream and Marko caught him as he stumbled back. Dwayne ran foreword, but Inky had already vanished.
David made more noises that could only be described as squishy as he pulled the knife out. "Ah!" he gargled, putting his hands on his neck like a choking victim and trying to swallow the blood that was coming up, but the blood he was choking on made that impossible. He wanted to lose as little blood as possible, but he wasn't in control anymore. He was on his hands and knees and spitting out blood. "What…wha—" he gasped, looking around for his attacker.
"She's gone," said Dwayne. David's confusion flickered as his anger took over. "Damnit!" he yelled as he pounded a hole in the concrete of the alley with his fist. Already the bleeding had stopped.