I barely slept at all on the way to Transylvania.
It took the whole day to travel to the cemetery the Sackville-Bagg's clan were trapped in and I couldn't get more than an hour's rest.
My mind was going full speed through different scenarios that could occur. What if he had a weapon? What could I use to fight him? God, what if he hurt one of the boys or they were captured? Could it be possible that we were too late to save the clan? There was another man working with Rookery, could there possibly more? There could be an ambush in that case. How was I going to protect Freda, Frederick, and Anna?
After each thought, I said another prayer.
Please let everyone be safe.
Soon enough, night fell, and the family of vampires flew next to the car. I quickly rolled down my window and let them in.
"Please don't do that in the future," I pleaded with them, "There are still cars out late at night and you could have gotten hurt by a passing vehicle."
All three of them looked amused at my misplaced fear.
"Don't worry, my dear," Freda began consoling me, "We are vampires and would easily survive an attack from one of your vehicles."
"Yes, our bodies are made of much stronger stuff than yours," Frederick agreed with his wife.
"With all due respect," I began, "I really don't want to test your strength at any point in the near future…so please be more careful."
They warmly smiled at my worried face and agreed to be more cautious in the future for my sake.
"Thank you, would you also please, buckle up?" I requested while pulling my seatbelt over Anna and myself in demonstration.
Mr. and Mrs. Sackville-Bagg were kind enough to follow my instructions, allowing me to breathe a sigh of relief.
At least there are three vampires that I know who are safe right now.
This relaxed feeling quickly dissipated when I saw Rudolph fly by our car with Tony behind him on a…flying cow?
"Tony!" My entire family and I screamed out in alarm.
The next thing we saw was Rookery on a four -wheeler zoom by us with a crossbow aimed at the boys.
"He's trying to kill my kid!" My dad screeched out in alarm
"Our kids," Frederick clarified from the backseat.
"Huh!? Who are you—"
"Mom, Dad, meet Mr. Frederick Sackville-Bagg and Mrs. Freda Sackville-Bagg," I began the hasty introductions, "They are the parents of Rudolph and Anna."
I motioned towards the direction Rudolph was in before presenting Anna with my other hand.
"Mr. and Mrs. Sackville-Bagg, these are my parents Dottie and Bob Thompson. Now can we please put the pedal to the metal and stop that maniac from hurting the boys!" I shouted out snapping my dad out of his state of shock and following the four-wheeler with the homicidal maniac.
"Nicely handled," Frederick commented towards me in approval.
I nodded my head in acknowledgement but focused on the road ahead. I was trying to see if I could spot any trace of the fleeing pair or that bastard Rookery.
If he's hurt even one hair on either boy's head, there would be Hell to pay.
"Vampires or not, those are our kids; nobody is going to hurt our kids," my dad angrily grumbled under his breath as he finally caught up to the four-wheeler.
A loud explosion took my focus from the road ahead.
Oh, God, no…
My eyes searched the sky for the boys and landed on both Rudolph and Tony still flying in the air. They were flying away from the small explosion.
The boys must have taken out the red-headed man.
Thank the heavens above.
Anna smirked at me before rolling down the window and unbuckling her seatbelt.
"Anna, sweetie, what are you—"
"Sorry, I have a date," She said smiling at me before flying towards the boys.
I overheard her mother question her daughter's statement, but I was too busy yelling at the young vampire to stay in the car.
"Anna! Wait! It's not safe yet!" I desperately yelled, "We need to take out Rookery—oh never mind she's already flown off."
Her parents seemed to be amused by my mother hen nature, but I was more focused on buckling up and telling my dad the plan to stop Rookery.
"Okay, dad, we need to ram the jerk off the road," I began, "If we take out his mode of transportation then we can stop him from going after the kids and can take him down one on one."
"Excellent plan, sweetie," my mom complimented me from the front seat.
I smiled at her before bracing myself for impact.
Alright here goes nothing.
We had almost taken him out when we got separated by a fork in the road.
"Where'd he go?" I questioned, my eyes searching the sides of road for the miserable snake.
The tension in the air was extremely powerful.
Just when I was about to suggest we turn back and try to find him on the road he took, a pair of high beams blinded our eyesight.
"Dad! Look out!" I shrieked as I realized that the madman was going to run into us at full force.
Dad slammed on the breaks and my protective instincts sent an arm out in front of Freda. She was sitting in that damned middle seat and I needed to protect her from the oncoming assault as best as I could.
Suddenly, some kind of force caused Rookery's four-wheeler to flip and send him careening over our car where he bounced off our roof and our camper. He hit the dirt road with a heavy thud and looked to be in an extreme amount of pain.
Serves him right if you ask me.
My dad checked on everybody before we filed out of the car to confront the beastly man.
Nobody noticed me slink off to the trunk where I quickly grabbed the tire iron…just in case the snake had a weapon stashed away on his person.
The red headed man was shouting that he was finished with Rookery as he stormed off in search for a shower. I didn't care about him since Frederick and Freda said it was Rookery who had been hunting them all this time; the other man must be a pawn in his scheme.
"You tried to kill my son!" Dad shouted at the distracted man.
"Oh, I am so sorry," Rookery insincerely began, "I am so sorry that I missed squashing your little brat."
"That's it! Come on, mano a mano!" My dad taunted getting into a fighting pose with Rookery.
The jerk cynically laughed before unfairly pulling out a large wrench to use against my dad.
"My pleasure," he sneered while stepping towards my father.
He must not have noticed me nor the tire iron in my hand. Because I swung my weapon at his head before he even had a chance to raise his wrench.
"Lucy!" My dad cried out in shock.
"Sorry, dad, I owed the rat bast—"
"Language!" My mom interrupted me while giving me a stern look.
I let out a sigh before admonishing myself, "I owed the jerk a swing for putting the boys in danger."
"…That was smart thinking on grabbing a weapon first," my dad commented with pride in his voice.
This made me feel rather smug about my awesome planning skills and I puffed up a little from my dad's recognition.
Suddenly, Rookery made a grab for his wrench trying to swing it at my legs, when Tony landed on him with his flying cow. Knocking him out for good this time.
"It's about time you showed up!" Tony told me with excitement.
I sweetly smiled at him and dropped the tire iron before opening my arms up for a hug. He quickly climbed down to reciprocate my affections.
The fool.
I quickly latched onto his shoulders, my warm smile instantly becoming a scowl of furious aggravation.
"Anthony Alexander Thompson!" I began, making him flinch at the use of his full name, "I swear to whatever powers above that if you ever leave on some life threatening quest, no matter how righteous your mission is, I will wrap you up in bubble wrap and seal your arse in a padded room with only a small slot open to feed you meals through! Do you understand me?!"
"Y—yes, Lu—lu," Tony gulped out in complete terror.
"And the same goes for you, young man!" I screeched out, turning to look at Rudolph who was trying to sneak away from the scene, "Just because you aren't blood related, does not mean that you aren't family. And just like my family, I will seal you away in a similar room as Tony's, if your sister ever comes to tell me that you've flown to a whole new country to play hero. Do you understand me?!"
At this point I was absolutely boiling at the two young boys and was staring them down with my hands on my hips.
"Y—yes, M—miss Lulu," Rudolph stammered out in equal terror.
With a nod of my head, I turned on my heel to grab the tire iron from the ground and place it back in the trunk of the car.
"Can I keep her," Anna asked her parents with the most innocent look on her face.
"Oh, come one, Lucy, just one ride," Tony pleaded from the perch on his vampire cow.
"Tony, I told you no," I repeated my answer, irritation in my voice, "Go, have fun with everybody and I'll wait here by the car."
"But, what if Rookery comes to? You'll be here all by yourself," Tony argued, making a valid point that not even I could deny.
He knew he had me, but I didn't want to admit it.
And I definitely didn't want to go flying.
My mind was quickly weighing the pros and cons of this situation before I huffed in frustration.
"…Fine."
"Yes!"
"But, you are not going to go fast nor do any tricks!" I told him in a firm manner.
He willingly nodded in excitement before scooching up so that I could sit behind him.
This is not going to end well.
I absolutely hated flying and heights.
My mind was still trying to work out a way out of this predicament when Rudolph took it upon himself to lift me up and deposit me onto the cow himself.
"There you go," Rudolph told me with an innocent smile to his face. I immediately clutched to Tony, already not liking being this far off the ground.
God, we haven't even begun floating yet.
Tony screamed out a 'yeehaw' before taking off. My arms wrapped tighter around his torso as I squeezed my eyes shut.
Make it stop.
Make it stop.
Make it stop.
"Oh, come on, Miss Lulu, it's not that bad is it?" Rudolph asked trying to get me to open my eyes.
"Nope, it's worst!" I called out, not willing to open my eyes for anything.
He chuckled at my childish behavior.
"Oh, wow, Lulu, open your eyes," Tony told me while smacking my arm to get my attention, "You have to see this."
I peeked one of my eyes open to see a whole swarm of vampires flying towards our small group. It must be the rest of their clan that was trapped in the catacombs.
Once the clan made it over to the group, they began flying in circles and wishing Rudolph a happy birthday.
Something must have gotten the vampire cow excited because she suddenly reared back. I was in such a state of shock at the sudden movement that I accidently lost my grip on Tony and started plummeting towards the ground below.
I could barely hear Tony and Rudolph shouting my name over my own screams of terror.
As suddenly as I fell, it stopped all at once.
Two strong arms held onto me in a princess style and I immediately clasped my arms around said person's neck. Burying my face into their chest without remorse.
"You okay, mortal?" They asked as I continued to take deep gasping breaths to control my pounding heart.
I only nodded my head yes, still not trusting my voice after my traumatic experience.
"Lulu! Are you alright?!" Tony called out nearby.
I could hear panic in his voice, but I still couldn't find my own voice to respond to him.
The only thing that I could do was nod my head again. Still not looking up from my current predicament.
"Miss Lulu?..." Rudolph called out hesitantly.
"She nodded her head," the person holding me informed my brother and Rudolph, "I think she's still pretty shaken up from the fall, just give her a bit of time."
"Yeah, you're right," Tony agreed, "Thanks for catching my sister, Gregory. That was a really great save!"
I earnestly nodded my head in agreement to my brother's statement.
I could feel Gregory's chest shake from his chuckling before he told the two that it was okay, and he would hold onto me for now.
Relief washed through my body when I realized that I wasn't going to be put back onto the vampire cow's back. I don't think my poor heart could take falling again. Gregory must have realized this and was being kind for my sake.
Note to self, buy this man a year's supply of blood.
We floated there in silence until I heard Gregory's parents come over to visit us.
"Is everything alright, dear," Freda asked us. She must have seen my body shaking and the death grip that I had on her son's neck.
"Yes, mother, she just had a bit of a tumble is all," Gregory replied.
"I'm surprised you got her up here," my dad chimed in, "She has a fear of heights."
"No, I don't," I managed to grumble out, my words muffled by Gregory's chest.
"You don't?" Gregory questioned me in disbelief.
"No, I don't," I began informing the vampire, moving my head so that he could better hear my words, but still not opening my eyes. "It's not the heights that bothers me, it's falling."
"So, you have a fear of falling," Gregory repeated.
"No, not a fear, it's more of a concern…" I trailed off.
"I see, so a concern of falling has you shaking like this," Gregory sarcastically replied.
"Yes, it is perfectly logical to have a concern for things that could end your life," I spat out, "Just like you probably have a concern for daylight…or, uh…oh—stakes through the heart—"
"In my defense, a stake through the heart would kill you as well," He cheekily interrupted, "Do you also have a concern for a stake through the heart?"
"Well, now that I think about it, yes I do," I retorted back, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of being right.
"Ah, I see…who knew that we could have so much in common even though we are two different species."
"You know what," I seethed, "I've changed my mind, I am not getting you a personal year's supply of blood. You can just starve."
Gregory just laughed louder at my childish behavior, making my scowl deepen.
Jackarse.
"Wait, why do I have to fly back to Germany, again?" I asked my parents in shock and betrayal.
We were still floating in the air with his clan. Gregory, even though he was a sarcastic jerk, was nice enough to keep a firm hold of me while I argued with my parents.
My eyes still closed of course.
"Because the sun will be up soon and flying will get the clan to the castle faster," my dad told me.
"Right, but why can't I just ride with you guys?" I repeated my question trying to get my feet back on solid ground as fast as possible.
"Because, you need to go with Tony and smooth things over with the innkeepers," my mom chimed in.
"Mom, they hate me."
"No, they are scared of you and we can use that to our advantage," my mom schemed.
I really am my mother's daughter.
My forehead went back to resting on Gregory's chest as I felt a migraine begin to form.
"…Fine…" I grumbled out.
I knew they were right, and their plan was solid. I just hated the process of getting to the castle rather than the end result.
"Gregory, you're in charge while we are gone," Frederick informed Gregory, "Watch over the humans and our clan."
"Why exactly are you traveling with the mortals in their 'crypt on wheels' again?" He asked his father making me snort at the name they gave our camper.
I'm not going to get over that term any time soon.
"In case Rookery is near and tries to hurt our new allies, dear," Freda answered for her husband, "Be sure to also keep yourself safe as well, my son."
I felt a presence near me but refused to open my eyes for anything. My mind went with the assumption that Freda was giving her eldest son a kiss goodbye since I felt a cold, feminine hand stroke the side of my face in reassurance.
Still not budging from my spot.
"We'll see you later tonight," my dad called out before flying off towards the car with the other three.
At least I assumed he flew to the car.
"Alright, is everybody ready?" Gregory called out behind him, "Follow me!"
The wind started to pick up around my face as we zoomed off into the night.
Happy place, happy place, happy place!
I can do this.
I can do this.
I can—
"Mortal, you have my word that no harm will come to you while I hold onto you," Gregory whispered reassuringly to me, "So, please…loosen your grip a little—it's starting to smart."
Not a chance vamp boy.
I tightened my hold onto his neck, not caring if it hurt the snarky bugger or not. He chuckled at my childish behavior and held me closer.
Was he being nice to me?
This almost felt…comforting?
Maybe?
I don't know…I really suck at feelings.
Pun intended.
"Don't worry mortal, we'll be there soon enough."
"…Lucy…" I managed to mumble into his chest.
"Hmmm… very well," Gregory murmured back, "We are almost there…Lucy."