A pounding woke Jenny the next morning. She wasn't sure how long it had gone on, but it took her a few minutes to register it. She opened her eyes and glanced groggily at the clock. It was a little past noon. She sighed and sat up slowly, rubbing her bruised forehead. It was a good thing it was Saturday; she had been exhausted.
The pounding came to her then, short and insistent. It sounded like someone at the front door.
"All right," she yelled. "Just a second!" She went into the bathroom and quickly splashed some cold water on her face to wake her up. As she was drying her face, she wondered where her foster parents were. They obviously weren't home or they would have answered the door.
She walked to the front door and opened it carelessly, something she wouldn't have done had she been awake for longer than five minutes. "Mari, hi," she breathed, leaning against the doorframe. "What are you doing here?"
Mari stood on the porch, dressed in a baggy sweatshirt and hugging herself against the chill in the October air. "Jenny, you have to get dressed," she said, her dark eyes large with worry. "Carl's gone."
***********
As Jenny dressed, Mari sat on her bed and filled her in. "His parents say he never came home at all after school. They found his school bag lying on the sidewalk a couple of blocks from the school."
Jenny paused in pulling a navy blue sweater over her head and looked at Mari. "Was anything missing?"
Mari frowned and shook her head. "No, nothing. He's just . . . gone."
Jenny finished dressing and started putting her hair back in a short ponytail. Her eyes met Mari's in the mirror. "Who told you all this?" she asked. Mari suddenly looked uncomfortable and Jenny nodded her head. "I figured. It was Raina, wasn't it? And she didn't have the decency to inform me."
Mari shrugged. "Well, you know how she is. She doesn't like you. I think she was hoping that I wouldn't come tell you and you'd miss the meeting. You know how calculating she is."
Rolling her eyes, Jenny turned around. "Yeah, I know how she is. One of these days she's going to regret messing with me."
"You'll show her, Jenny. You'll be the new leader."
"I hope so."
As they headed toward the front door, Mari said, "Oh, we're meeting in the park since it's daylight."
"St. Patrick's park?" Jenny asked. When Mari nodded, Jenny went on, "We can just walk there then. That would be safer. Our cars won't be seen, anyway."
Mari agreed and they headed down the driveway. They walked in silence so they wouldn't be overheard. Jenny took deep breaths of the autumn air and closed her eyes for a second. It felt so nice out. She loved the fall: the taste of the crisp air and the feel of it on her face, the crackle of the changed leaves under her feet. Everything was so beautiful. It was too bad winter followed.
As they walked along a tree-lined street, Jenny became aware of faint footsteps behind them. They were so faint, neither girl would have heard them if they had been talking at all or not paying attention. Jenny stepped closer to Mari and said almost under her breath, "We've got company."
Mari's eyes widened and she glanced at Jenny. "What should we do?" she asked.
"Just keep walking." Jenny eyed their location quickly. The street was in a relatively suburban area, but the houses were spread out and many had high privacy shrubs in front. Nobody was outside. That could be either a plus or a minus for them: they needed not to be seen if they were being followed by Night people, but if their pursuers were human and numbered more than four, they might need help. Then again, if it was more than one or two Night World people, they were in trouble anyway. She swore under her breath.
"I can't tell by listening how many there are," she said to Mari. She wanted to turn around and look, but resisted the urge; they risked the chance of being taken before they were ready if the pursuers thought they had been spotted. "Okay, be ready for a fight, just in case." Jenny suddenly stopped walking and knelt down as if to tie her shoe. As she leaned over her shoe, she glanced under her arm. She saw three blurs duck behind a car quick as lightning. Taking a deep breath, Jenny stood and began walking again. Mari looked at her casually.
"Well?" Mari asked.
Jenny swallowed. "There are at least three of them and they're definitely not human. Much too fast. I think they're probably all vamps."
"Oh God. I hope there aren't any 'wolves or shifters with them. Can we take them?"
"What do you think?" Jenny asked, tensing the muscle in her right arm in preparation for popping her knife out of its sheath.
Mari patted her side subtly and nodded. "Let's do it."
"Okay, on the count of three. One . . ." Jenny popped the spring on her sheath and the knife slid comfortably into her hand. Mari casually reached under her shirt and pulled out her own knife, a smaller, wider version of Jenny's. "Two . . ." Their eyes met. "Three!"
They whirled around at the same time and rushed at the pursuers, roaring. Two of the vamps - they were definitely all vamps, Jenny noticed - paused a split second, then ran at them. A third vampire stood hanging back by a large tree as if overseeing everything. Jenny paid him no attention; she didn't have time. A tall, blond vampire was coming at her. She stopped suddenly and stepped to the side. The vamp ran past her, unable to stop, and Jenny sliced at him with her knife. She managed to cut into his upper arm, tearing the sleeve of his white long-sleeved T-shirt. At the back of her mind, Jenny heard Mari give her karate yell and one of the other vamps grunt.
Jenny's vampire skidded to a stop and whipped around. Jenny grinned at him. "Ah, a made vampire, I see. You've just been made, haven't you? Or have you always been so stupid?" The taunt got the wanted response; the blond's eyes grew silvery and Jenny saw his fangs slide out of his mouth.
"Vermin," he hissed. "You're the stupid one. Stupid and soon to be dead."
"Ooh . . . " Jenny couldn't help jeering. "Is that supposed to scare me? Come on, why are you just standing there? Come and get me." She held her hands out to her side as if saying, 'Look, I can't even defend myself.' He narrowed his eyes and leapt at her. Jenny grinned again. This was almost too easy. As the vamp leaped at her, she whipped her knife in front of her, holding it out in front of her chest. The vampire knocked her to the ground and landed on top of her. The blade of the knife slid easily into his chest, making him freeze and grab at the knife.
"Oh no you don't," Jenny said. She pushed the knife in to its hilt and rolled over, spilling the vampire into the grass. He lay on his back writhing and trying to pull the knife out. Jenny crawled over and sat on his stomach, leaning over and holding his hands down with the full weight of her body. A high-pitched scream escaped from his throat and he looked at her, his eyes burning. "You're lucky you're young," she said cheerfully. "If you were old, it would really hurt."
It took less than a minute for him to die. When the light left his eyes, Jenny took a deep breath and pulled out her knife. Then she stood up and froze. During her fight, she had completely blocked out the other vamps. Now she found herself looking at Mari in a vampire sandwich. On her left was the one she had been fighting with: a rather small vampire with wide shoulders and dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. Mari had gotten a few good kicks in; the vampire had a few tears in his shirt. The other vampire had a hold of Mari's right arm and was holding it behind her with one hand. With the other hand, he held a wicked-looking saber of some sort in front of Mari's throat. It was that vampire that gave Jenny chills looking at him. He was tall and slim, and his hair was red as blood. He didn't look much older than Jenny herself, but when she looked into his golden eyes, she got the sense of centuries. This vampire was much older than any she had encountered before. There was something really big brewing if a vampire this old was involved.
The old vampire stared at Jenny, as if trying to pierce her soul with his strange eyes. "Don't move, or she dies," he commanded, his voice rolling over Jenny like silk. Jenny shook her head.
"I'm not." Her eyes met Mari's and she tried to tell her that she would save her. Mari looked scared to death, and Jenny couldn't blame her. The Executioners had never been in this situation before.
"We appear to have a problem here," the vampire said. "You want to kill me and save your friend. But unfortunately, I don't want to die, and I want to keep your friend. What do we do about it?" He looked at Jenny with contempt written all over his face.
Jenny scowled. "Why don't I just kill you and end your pitiful life?"
The vampire smiled calmly. "Now, now. Don't be so violent. What a temper you have, little girl. It could get you into trouble."
Jenny hated threats. She clenched her fists tight at her side and strained to control herself. "Well, what do you propose we do?"
The vampire lifted an eyebrow. "I'll make a deal with you. If you can beat Jason here in combat, I'll release your friend. If not . . . well, I think you know what happens then. I'd love to take two Executioners home with me."
"You're on!" Jenny exclaimed without thinking. "Wait a minute. What did you call us?"
He chuckled. "Don't play dumb. We know all about your little 'gang' of vampire hunters. You just aren't as good as you think at hiding your identities. We have eyes everywhere."
"But . . ."
He jerked the sword closer to Mari's neck and she tensed. "No more questions." Then he snapped his fingers and the other vamp, Jason, stepped toward Jenny. She immediately bent her knees into a fighting stance and held her knife in front of her. As Jason advanced on her, Jenny saw the other vampire backing away with Mari in tow.
"Mari!" Jenny yelled. "You bastard! You promised!"
He laughed, deep and rumbling. "You'll see her again after you join her."
Jenny stepped to the side and tried to dodge around Jason and chase after Mari. Jason was too quick. In a flash, he was in front of her. Jenny kicked at him and he caught her ankle in his hand, yanking her off her feet. Her knife flew into the bushes on the other side of the sidewalk. As she hit the ground, Jenny saw the old vampire pushing Mari into a windowless van parked across the street; a few seconds later, the van took off down the street. She slammed her fist into the dirt in frustration. Mari was gone, and it was all her fault. The anger flooded her senses and a wild animal-like rage took over.
Jason held her right arm tightly behind her back and was leaning in for her neck, his fangs elongated and his eyes dilated. Jenny lay limp on her stomach and waited until she felt his breath on her neck. "For an Executioner, you sure were easy to kill," he whispered snidely into her ear.
She grinned at the ground. "I'm not dead yet." Before Jason had a chance to sink his teeth into her, she suddenly lifted her shoulders as far off the ground as possible and whipped her head backward. The back of her head caught Jason under the chin and he sat back, letting go of her arm in surprise.
Blood ran down Jason's chin in a tiny rivulet. He touched his finger to it and looked at it in surprise. "You made me bite my lip, you stupid vermin."
"Oh really?" Jenny jumped to her feet and slammed her fist into the side of Jason's head. He swung at her haphazardly, a little dazed. She danced back out of his way. Fury lit up his eyes and he lunged at her; he had only been playing before. Jenny held her ground and took a step to the side as he reached her. She grabbed his arm and used his momentum to spin him around. Then she let go and he went flying face-first into a tree. He staggered backwards, cupping his nose with his hands. A stream of blood ran down his face.
"My nose! Look what you did! Do you know how long it will take for that to heal?"
A glint of metal caught Jenny's eye and she saw her knife caught in the branches of the shrubs. As Jason stumbled after her, she grabbed the knife and whirled on him, throwing it as she turned around. It flew end over end and finally lodged itself in the base of Jason's throat. He made a gargling sound and collapsed to his knees.
Jenny stood a few feet in front of him with her hands on her hips. "Jason, your nose is the last thing you need to worry about." She wanted to ask him what was going on, but she didn't think he could talk even if he was willing.
He clawed at the handle of the knife, then fell sideways. Jenny sat and waited for him to die. The other dead vampire was still lying on the sidewalk. What was she going to do with them? As she sat, her heartbeat finally stopped racing and she massaged her legs to get the tension out of them. Her poor body wasn't used to so much action so close together. Three vampires in as many days was a new record for her. That wasn't necessarily a good thing, though. Where were all these vampires coming from? And where had that one vampire taken Mari? Why hadn't he killed her?
For the first time in a long time, tears filled Jenny's eyes. She hadn't cried since the night her family had been murdered by a gang of vampires. She had been eight, driving home with her parents after a movie. Their car had stalled and the vampires had appeared out of nowhere in the empty streets. Jenny had hid in the back seat of the car while her parents and older brother were slaughtered like animals. Since then, moving from city to city until coming to rest here, she hoped with every vampire kill that it was one of the gang that had ruined her life.
But she wasn't going to cry, she just wouldn't. She wiped the moisture from her eyes and stood up. Jason was definitely dead now. He had been startlingly handsome before, but now he was most definitely not. His skin had shriveled and dried slightly; he wasn't a newly made vampire, probably almost a half century old. The other vampire had only just been changed. He had not changed at all with death.
Jenny pulled her knife from Jason's throat and wiped it off on his shirt. Then she dragged both bodies into the bushes where they would be safe until she could come back for them. With her knife safely sheathed, she started walking to the park again. Hopefully, everyone would still be there. Everybody, that was, but Mari and Carl.