Dead Man's Party
Chapter Three
Immediately after the meeting, Charlie proposed to Tiffany Call and was accepted. Because she was the mother of a shapeshifting wolf, she also had been informed of the existence of supernatural creatures in Forks. She completely understood the necessity for a quick marriage, so, on the following Friday, Tiffany Call became Mrs. Tiffany Swan and moved into the house in Forks.
Charlie and Tiffany went away on a quick weekend honeymoon to Vancouver, Canada. Naturally, Bella and Sam took advantage of the temporary parental absence and threw a huge party at the house, inviting their high school buddies, the pack, and even some of the vampires.
After the party, the pack moved Tiffany into the Swan home. Esme Cullen happily assisted with combining the furniture in the two homes. She also had Jasper and Emmett repaint the interior and exterior of the house for them as a gift. Charlie's house really needed updating. By the time the newlyweds returned to Forks, everyone was moved in, including Sam and Embry. As a bonus, because of the new paint job, Charlie never found out about the party the kids had thrown.
Bella discovered that there were distinct advantages to having Tiffany in the house. She always had a piping hot breakfast ready in the mornings, and made her father leave the comfort of his recliner to take care of chores. She had a honey-do list, and a family chore chart hung up on the wall. She ran a tight ship. Bella didn't mind her chores at all; she actually had less to do now—now that her new stepmother had moved in.
The Swan home was more secure than Fort Knox. When the house was empty, one or two Cullens were always house-sitting, usually Esme or Rose. Esme spent her time re-decorating the house and cooking meals for the family, while Rose assisted by maintaining all of the private vehicles in the driveway.
The weeks flew by, and soon it was time for graduation. Bella and Sam both graduated with plans to attend the local community college at least part-time in the Fall. Renee had arrived with her husband Phil to attend Bella's graduation. She fussed over her daughter and Sam, extracting a promise from them to visit her in Florida later in the summer.
XOXO
A week after graduation, both Billy Black and Charlie Swan received phone calls. Their presence was requested at the Cullen residence along with Bella and Sam. Embry was ordered to remain at the Swan house to keep his mother protected. Jacob and Quil ran over to keep him company.
"Thank you for stopping by everyone," Carlisle Cullen started the meeting again. "Please have a seat. Esme has prepared a dinner for you."
"Tonight, we have some Southern favorites: fried chicken, ribs, chicken fried steak with gravy, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, and cornbread. And don't worry, Bella, I made your favorite dessert: lemon meringue pie. And Emmett ran all the way to Port Townsend for you to pick up some of your favorite chocolate chip ice cream from Elevated Ice Cream."
"Chocolate chip is my favorite, too," Sam said.
"Then, it's a good thing I had Emmett purchase a three-gallon tub." Esme smiled indulgently at everyone. Clearly, she enjoyed mothering everyone above all.
"My goodness, you sure know how to keep a man happy," Billy said, as he took a drumstick and bit into it. "Is there another human version of you anywhere for me to marry?"
"Oh, Chief Black, you are such a flirt!" Esme waved her hand dismissively. "We'll have to find you a nice wife. You're too good looking to be single."
"Call me, Billy, please. After all, we have an alliance."
"Billy, are you done? Carlisle here is trying to start a meeting. No offense to you, ma'am." Charlie dipped his head at Esme as a sign of respect.
"Oh, none taken."
When he saw that all of the humans were eating, Carlisle finally spoke, "Well, now, let's get to the meeting, shall we? Alice has had a clear vision of what is to come. She has had a vision of Victoria coming here with an army of newborns to start a war. Her plan is to get to Bella and drain her while we are fighting her newborns. What she is unaware of is that we have a tactical advantage. She is completely unaware of the existence of the wolves. As of now, she still has not returned to the area. She has, unfortunately, changed someone into a vampire already. We are trying to figure out where exactly she is. If we can figure this out, we might be able to just go to her and eradicate the vampires she has created."
"A bunch of new vampires doesn't seem so tough," Sam stated. "We should be able to go in, take them out, and leave."
"Have you ever dismembered a vampire, Sam?" Jasper asked.
"Uh, no. But I know the basics."
"Where did you learn these basics?"
"Oh, the previous pack left behind a manual."
"A manual? Like a book?"
"Well, not a book. It was more like a few sheets of paper stapled together."
"And you're in charge of training the wolves?" Jasper asked, surprised.
"Yep, they're all younger than I am."
Jasper was absolutely bewildered. He had no idea this kid's knowledge came from a manual. Exactly, how were they to know what to do? He took a look around and realized he was the only one with real battle experience. Carlisle had some knowledge because he had been alive for so long, but everyone else had zero experience. It was too bad Chief Swan wasn't a vampire. He'd make a formidable ally. Maybe Billy Black, too. He looked like he could throw down, but not this kid. Sam Uley had the build of an athlete and looked tough, but he was only nineteen-year-old. It was very likely the only fight experience he had was on the school playground.
"Excuse me, you mentioned newborns, Carlisle. What do you mean by newborns?" Charlie asked.
"Newborn vampires are a great deal stronger than a standard vampire because their own human blood still lingers in their tissues. Our kind is never more physically powerful than in our first several months of this life. Jasper has experience with fighting newborns," Carlisle explained.
"Here's the deal. Victoria is forming a newborn army because they are more powerful than a standard vampire. A newborn army doesn't need thousands like a human army, but no human army can stand against them. They are created specifically to fight vampires, usually in territorial wars," Jasper added. "Now, do you know if any of your wolves have experience in hand-to-hand combat?" It was a long shot, but he thought he'd ask.
"Uh, I do." Charlie raised his hand. "I mean, I learned at the police academy, and I've had to put it to use several times as a cop. I'm also pretty fast because I used to play football in high school. I was the quarterback." He pointed to Chief Black. "Billy was my wide receiver."
"Chief Swan, you're human. You can't be in this fight," Jasper reminded him.
"Oh, that's too bad. I was kind of looking forward to lobbing off some heads. I was hoping you'd teach me that nifty trick Carlisle did to Edward."
"Sam, how about you? Any kind of fight experience? Karate classes? Anything?"
Bella raised her hand excitedly. "I have a black belt in karate. Don't I, Daddy?"
"You sure do, kiddo. My Bells earned her black belt in karate two years ago. She's been taking karate ever since she was seven years old. It was my idea. I think every kid needs to know how to defend herself." Chief Swan looked on proudly at Bella. "She's pretty handy with a rifle, too. I taught her how to shoot."
"I know! I had a semester of boxing at Forks High. Well, we didn't really get to hit anyone, but we got to hit punching bags," Sam informed them. "And Paul Lahote has been in a couple of fights at school. He gave Austin Marks a bloody nose just this year."
"Now that was good thinking," Charlie stated. "There you have it. The boy has boxing experience, and we have a scrappy fighter in the pack."
Jasper squeezed his eyes shut, hoping he had been dreaming. Then, he slowly opened his eyes and took a look at the bright smiles on all the human visitors' faces. He realized that training everyone was going to be a serious uphill battle. "Carlisle, we're going to need to call for some back-up. Lots of back-up."
XOXO
In the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle, near the hospitals, Victoria prowled the streets with her new second-in-command Riley. They were in a U-Haul moving truck that they had snagged off a couple they had fed from. He assisted with her revenge plan, which wasn't really a plan because she only had a vague idea of what to do. The only thing she was a hundred percent sure of was that she would personally drain that Bella Swan girl while the newborns kept the Cullens distracted. But first, she needed to create newborns.
Riley Biers had been a student at the University of Washington when Victoria had changed him. He had been at a bar drowning his sorrows because he had failed a chemistry final. At the same time, his ex-girlfriend had been hounding him to get back together with her because she supposedly missed him. But, of course, she was the one who cheated on him in the first place. She called it a fluke. Riley's frat brothers had all commiserated with him and fed him drink after drink at a bar in Seattle until he passed out. Then, three days later, he had awakened to a new life as a vampire in an abandoned nightclub.
Riley turned onto a rarely used street. "Hey, look at that. There are a whole bunch of people leaving that building," Victoria pointed to the drab-looking, narrow, three-story, cement building.
"How many people are there?"
"I think about twenty, give or take a few."
"That's perfect then. We'll grab the entire lot."
Between the two vampires, it was easy to knock the humans out and throw them into the back of the moving truck. They drove back to an abandoned nightclub where they had been living. It was the perfect place for a human to change into a vampire because the entire building was soundproof.
Victoria personally administered the bites to change them because Riley had not gained control yet. It was an extremely odd thing, but none of the humans screamed even once. She wondered if she had done something wrong but then chalked it off to her venom being special. Riley hadn't yelled once for the entirety of his seventy-two-hour change. It didn't occur to her that he had been so drunk; the liquor in his system had numbed all the pain caused by the venom.
The following day, seeing that their victims were all resting comfortably, Riley and Victoria took off to find some humans to feast on in celebration. They stayed in the parking lot of a cell phone store and waited for two salesmen to lock up and walk out. Riley had told her they were doing the world a favor by getting rid of cell phone salesmen because they were all crafty crooks. She figured a good deed every now and then wouldn't hurt. They quickly fed on them, leaving them dead and drained in the parking lot.
The pair then gathered humans for the newborns to feed on when they awakened. Riley had a brilliant idea. His ex-girlfriend was still hounding his phone with text messages wanting to get back together. It was highly annoying. They could get rid of her and her annoying sorority sisters in one stroke. Most of them still lived in the house during the summer. He decided to pitch his idea to Victoria. "I used to date a girl named Emily Young. We were together for three years, and then suddenly, she dumped me for some philosophy major."
"Did she give you an explanation? Why would she break up with you? So far, you seem to be a perfectly normal guy." She couldn't understand why anyone would break up with Riley. Not only was he better-looking than James, but he was also more intelligent. To top it off, he didn't have a wandering eye, which was a big plus.
"No, she said it was a fluke. Anyway, Emily lives in a sorority house on the UW campus with about thirty other girls. We can go there, grab them, and use them as feed. What do you think?"
"That's an excellent idea, Riley!"
A few minutes later, Victoria had lured every member of the sorority into the moving truck by stating they had been selected to participate in a new makeover show. They had all squealed in excitement and then rushed into the back of the moving truck without questioning anything.
When Riley and Victoria first arrived back at the nightclub, they discovered something was wrong. The first newborns were awakening to their new lives over forty-eight hours too soon. They quickly realized they were in over her heads when several newborns awakened simultaneously. They instructed the newborns on how to feed by explaining the procedure to them, but they didn't seem to understand. Clearly, these newborns were visual learners.
The two vampires each took a confused sorority sister and fed from them. Unfortunately, the newly awakened newborns didn't seem to be visual learners either because instead of draining the humans, they bit into the necks of the sorority princesses. Then, they started chewing on their flesh instead of drinking.
"Something isn't right," Riley pointed out. "The newborns seem to be dragging their feet when they walk."
"And they should be drinking the blood, not chewing."
"Maybe they need more rest. I mean, it's only been twenty-four hours. That's probably why they all have vacant expressions on their faces. Their eyes haven't turned red yet."
"You are so smart, Riley!" Victoria stated. "I'm so happy I changed you."
"Yeah?" Riley smiled shyly at the beautiful redhead.
"Yes! In fact, I don't really care about getting revenge anymore. You're way nicer than James, hotter, and smarter, too. We should start a new life together. Let's celebrate." Victoria and Riley proceeded to make use of one of the offices on the second level to bond their new understanding. But, of course, they had forgotten entirely about the newborns downstairs and had no idea of the brewing disaster.
XOXO
Later…
"What is that buzzing sound?" Victoria asked, reaching for Riley's pants. It's coming from this.
"It's my phone. And judging by the ringtone, it's my mother, so I should take the call." Riley reached into his pocket to answer it. "Hi, Mom."
"Riley, I've been worried about you. You usually check in at least once a week."
"Sorry, Mom. I've been really busy with my experiential learning." It wasn't a lie. Learning about vampirism was experiential learning, right?
"And how is Emily?"
"We broke up. I've got a new girl now. Her name is Vicky. Hey, do you want to talk to her?"
"Oh, of course."
Riley looked up to see Victoria shaking her head furiously and mouthing, "No."
He put the phone on speaker. Victoria sighed. She had never had to deal with parents before. She had no idea how to talk to them, but she wanted to make a good impression.
"Hello. I'm Vicky."
"Oh, you're Riley's new girlfriend. Tell me. Where did you meet?"
"We… We met at the bar."
"A bar? But Riley is too young to go to a bar."
Riley rolled his eyes. His mother had always been overprotective. However, he needed to think quickly, or she would drive up to Seattle to check up on his well-being. "It was a Ramen Bar, Mom. Vicky and I don't drink."
"We drink blood," Vicky whispered. Riley chuckled and pulled her close to give her a quick nuzzle.
"Oh, how interesting. And are you a college student, too?" Riley's mother continued with her interrogation.
"Uh, yes… Yes, I go to the same college as Riley does."
"And what is your major, dear?"
"I… I…" Victoria stopped talking when she caught sight of Riley's still naked form. As a matter of fact, they were both still naked and she wanted to get back to the business of mating. She suddenly remembered his mother was still on the phone. It wouldn't do to insult her by not answering her question. She had no idea what people studied in college, so she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "I am majoring in sex!" she announced with glee.
"I'm sorry, did you say sex?" Mrs. Biers cried out with a horrified, high-pitched expression in her voice.
Riley immediately went into recovery mode. "Mother, of course, she didn't say 'sex.' I think your hearing is going. She's majoring in 'tech.' It's… uh… short for computer technology."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, dear. Now, when are you bringing Vicky home to meet us, Riley."
"Soon. We'll be there soon. I promise. Things are going well at home, right?"
"Dad and I are happy as usual. Things are as they always have been in Forks. Oh, I know. I ran into your friend Sam Uley the other day."
"You did? Tell him I said hello. How is he doing? I was shocked when he suddenly dropped out of high school."
"Well, he went back to school and graduated. He has a girlfriend now."
"Oh, yeah? Who? Do I know her?"
"I don't think you've met her. She just came home last year. He's dating the police chief's daughter. She was the prom queen this year—such a beautiful girl. Charlie even let Sam move into his house because he didn't think a high school student should be living alone no matter how responsible he is."
"Didn't his mom live in La Push?" Riley asked curiously. He never really liked Sam's mother. She was always bitchy and annoyed whenever he and his friends went to La Push to visit Sam. Riley could tell that Sam was embarrassed by his mother. As a result, the guys on the baseball team frequently had Sam join them for dinner or over for sleepovers, so he spent a lot of time in Forks.
"That awful woman moved to Oregon with that new husband of hers. She left Sam behind with no real means to support himself except for his job at the hardware store. It's why Charlie took him in. In any case, I believe Sam and Bella will eventually get married. They seem so happy together. Last year when she was dating that Cullen boy, she always looked so sad and unhappy. Now she has a constant smile on her face."
Riley and Victoria's eyes and mouths popped open upon hearing what his mother had to say.
"Mom, did you say Sam Uley is dating a girl named Bella Swan?"
"Yes, that's her name."
"Thanks, I just wanted to clarify that. The next time you run into them, please tell them that Vicky and I both wish them well."
"Of course."
"Mom, we have to go now. Give Dad a hug for me. I love you!"
"I love you, too, Riley! Goodbye, Vicky!"
"It was a pleasure speaking with you," Victoria replied before Riley ended the call.
"Thanks for talking to my mother. It means a lot to me." Riley paused before continuing, "Victoria, I now know where Bella Swan is, but I want to ensure that all thoughts of revenge are gone from your mind. My buddy Sam was always unhappy while growing up. Even though his mother is a witch, he's a terrific guy. I can't imagine hurting him, and if you drained his girlfriend, it would devastate him."
Victoria cupped Riley's face with her hands and looked into his eyes. "I'm a woman of my word, Riley. When I said I didn't want revenge anymore, I meant it. Besides, if your mother thought Bella looked sad and unhappy when dating Edward Cullen, she probably was. Who am I to take away anyone's happiness when I've found so much happiness of my own?"
"This is what I love about you, Victoria. You forgive and forget. Emily is not like that at all. She's the type to haunt you until the day you die. I'm glad she cheated on me; otherwise, I wouldn't have met you."
"Oh, Riley, you're turning me into a puddle of mush. I love you, too."
Riley then pulled her into his arms. "Now, where were we? You did say you were majoring in sex."
The newly mated couple continued their studies of Victoria's new major for several more hours before finally recalling that they had newborns to care for.
By the time the new couple had emerged from the private office, they had realized three things. First, thirty-six hours had gone by, and they were totally sated sexually but physically in need of blood. The second thing they discovered was the entire dance floor where their army had been changing was empty. In fact, except for the two drained sorority princesses, the newborns had all disappeared. Third, they had left the door to the nightclub open in their haste to get laid.
Sensing the looming disaster, they rushed out into the streets of Seattle in broad daylight. There was mass chaos happening on the roads. There appeared to be more walkers than usual. A slew of cars had been abandoned in the middle of the road. What the hell was going on? They didn't have time to consider that, though. They needed to locate the newborns and the sorority girls.