Chapter Five

"Where could he be?" Hay Lin walking in circles in Dark's huge living room. She was full of questions. "Where would he go? Should we look for him?"

East was sitting on one of the couches. "Nah," she said, "Dark always does this. He'll disappear on Friday morning, come back on Sunday evening. It's a routine."

North looked up at the calendar. "Only thing is that it's Tuesday," she said, "Where could he go on a Tuesday?"

Nowhere. And yet everywhere.

"Who said that?" Taranee asked, looking at North. North shrugged.

Fear, the voice said, The one thing that I love. People who are afraid have much tastier blood.

The W.i.t.c.h. girls backed away from where the voice was coming from. It was coming from behind the door of a room. It had a large, brown crescent-shaped seal on it. Instead of backing away, North and East walked closer towards it.

Don't worry, the voice said, directing itself to Will and the others, You're safe. I only drain blood at night. And my victims are always male.

"Why?" Will asked.

Because, the voice replied, I can only drink blood of the opposite sex. Yes, I'm a girl.

East came closer to the door. "What are you?" she asked, regretting that she asked.

I'm what you'd call a special vampire, the girl said, I can only drain the blood of males who come too close to water. I am a mermaid.

"But why can't you drink female blood?" East asked.

I can, but I would lose my ability to speak your language. I enjoy talking to people, and if I drink even one drop of female blood, I will lose the ability to do my favorite past-time.

"How did you become a vampire?"

Full of questions, eh? Well I'll answer this last question. Mermaids aren't little goody two-shoes. We were once good, when we were ruled by King Neptune, but he is long since dead. His son, the evil merman, Dread ,took his place. He smote out all good deeds done by his father, and replaced them with pain, suffering, and unneeded death. He forced all merpeople to either turn evil, or die.

Many chose death, but I wanted to be cruel. And now I can be. It's not what it's cracked up to be, though. No one can beat Dread. He is indestructible. His only weakness is that he can't come out of water. I hope that a new king will emerge soon. Actually it would be a queen. Her name would be-"That wasn't my question," East interrupted.Quite right. You see, Dread is a vampire, so he enforced a rule that all merpeople become vampires. We merpeople are born vampires.

Hay Lin walked toward the door. "Who would be the new queen, if Dread died?" she asked.

The girl snickered. If you want to know the answer, come closer.

Hay Lin walked to where North was standing.

Closer.

She walked to where East was standing.

Closer.

She walked up to the door and pressed her ear to the door. The mermaid whispered a name in Hay Lin's ear."Well?" East said. "Who would it be?" Hay Lin turned and looked at East.

"She said that it would be a girl, whose name is Amber," she responded, "She also said she knew where Dark was."

"Where?" Cornelia asked. She shook Hay Lin by her shoulders. "Where is he?"

"A place called 'The Fallen City,'" Hay Lin replied, shaking herself from Cornelia's grip.

North turned to face the girls. "It's time to go," she said.

"Where?" East asked. North paused for a long moment. Finally, she said, "California."