Chapter Three

Hotshot Community

Jason drove the car much too fast for Arlene's taste. The needle on the speedometer moved between 50 and 60 mph, more to the direction 60 mph.

"Hey, man," said Mel, "Take it easy, will you?"

"The sooner we get to your uncle's place, the better off we will be."

"Not if we all end up in a hospital."

"Or jail," Arlene looked at Jason. "Please, Jason, slow down. The last thing that we need is answering questions from a police officer."

"They will find out that you ain't at my place anymore, Arlene."

"They will find out, Jason. Sooner or later," Mel looked out the window. From the rear view mirror Arlene saw his face turn hard when he continued, "But my uncle will protect her. I'll make sure that he does."

"Thank you," said Arlene.

"Yeah, thanks, man. You're the best."

Mel's smiled appeared again. "You'd do the same for me, right?"

"Absolutely, man. Yeah."

Entering the Hot Shot park area, Jason turned the car to left. Mel told him to go straight until the big birch tree on the right side of the road, then turn right. Jason's face was pale as he turned the car.

"Jason, are you all right?" asked Arlene.

"This is where I was attacked."

"No," said Mel. "I found you some miles back."

"No, no. I am sure this was the place."

"If you had been attacked by a wild animal, Jay, I think I would've seen it. Honest, man. I didn't see any animal."

Jason's jaws moved, but he didn't say anything.

From the rear mirror, Arlene saw Mel biting his lips. His eyes were flickering, this time, his irises changed to orange. But as she blinked, they were already back to normal.

The road was getting smaller and smaller after they passed the birch tree. Some yards away from the Birch tree there was a board standing against a tree trunk on the left side of the road.

You are entering the Hotshot Community.

Population: 50 people

"Fifty people? That ain't much," said Jason.

"No, that's not much. The area has belonged to my family for ages and nobody leaves. No new people come here either."

Tall, big trees were standing on the left and right side of the road. They were so tall and thick with leaves that the sunlight coudn't pass through. Soon, Arlene felt like they were entering a kind of damned village. A Village, where its people didn't have much contact with the outside world and ended up depending on each other, marrying each other and acting strangely every time strangers came to their place.

In some ways, the road looked familiar to her. Eric had mentioned about a long road she had to go through if she wanted to leave his hole. Was it the same long road? If it was, what did he mean when he said werewolves weren't the only ones who lived in the woods that lined that road?

She stole a look at Mel. He looked like any normal guy she'd ever seen, except his eyes. There's something about those eyes that made her always think about a cat. Nonsense, she thought. He's a nice person. He's no werewolf or vampire. Besides, werewolves and vampires are nonsense. A nice subject to write a best seller book or block buster movie, that's it. There is no such thing as a werewolf or vampire!

A soft smell came from her t-shirt, reached her nose, and without mercy brought back Eric's face. His eyes, his smirk and the way he said his words when they were on the bed. He's very demanding, ordering her like a judge ordering lawyers to shut up or continue, biting her like a starving boy who hadn't eaten for days, satisfying her like good lovers would do.

Arlene sighed. Dear Lord...why couldn't she shut her eyes without thinking about that son of a bitch?

After a good ten minutes drive, they arrived at the center of the village, as Mel put it. Ten houses stood in a kind of circle, surrounded by trees. Opposite to some horrible thoughts that had come to her head, the houses looked well taken care of. Clearly they had electricity here, because she heard the sound of television somewhere turned up loud. Three cars – one small truck and two family cars were parked in front of the biggest house of all.

"Home sweet home," Mel said.

Arlene got out of the car and wondered, how the hell didn't she know about this area? She had lived in Bon Temps for all of her life, and yet, an area like Hot shot had been totally unknown to her. She knew the park, she knew the woods too, but she had never thought that people lived within the woods!

A man named Calvin Norris was introduced to her and Jason. He was in his 50s, average height but strongly built. His almost all white hair was cropped short, military-like. His grip was strong, and yet, to Arlene's surprise, his hand was soft, as if it was protected by some kind of fur.

"We'd better go inside," he said. His voice was hoarse. "Please, come."

His house was small, but neat. There was almost no interior decoration, except a photo on the wall. A photo of a girl with long blond hair and eyes like Mel's. Light brown, almost yellowish.

"I didn't know that you have a sister," said Jason, his eyes were caressing the photo greedily.

"She's my cousin," said Mel.

"Really?" Jason's eyes were widened. "She definitely looks like you, man."

Mel didn't look pleased. "Is she home, Uncle?"

"She's working now," said Calvin, "at a Supermarket down town."

Down town must have been everywhere else but this village.

"What can I do for you, Ma'am?" asked Calvin after everybody sat down. "Pardon me for being straight, Ma'am, but I can recognise somebody in trouble when I see them. I suggest, we skip all social chit chat and get straight to the point. If I can help you, I'll say so, if I can't, I'll be honest with you and tell you."

Now Arlene knew where Mel got his straight-to-the-point habit. It looked like it ran in the family.

Carefully, Arlene told him what she had been through in the last two days. The meeting with The Herveauxs, the missing Selah, the raids against her home and the men from Mississippi. Carefully she avoided telling him about Eric and his hole or what she knew about artificial blood for vampires. As convincing as it sounded, the idea of knowing about artificial blood for vampires made her sound like a good candidate for a mental institution.

Calvin's eyes looked straight into her eyes and didn't blink. His mouth formed a straight line. The way he sat and bent his body reminded her of an interrogator in a precinct somewhere. "Are you sure you weren't followed?"

At first, Arlene thought that he had asked her, but then she saw him turning to Mel.

"No, I am not sure," said Mel. "But Jason drove the car as fast as he could, Uncle."

"No," said Jason. "I drove as fast as you allowed me. If you...,"

"Yeah, yeah, Jason," cut in Mel. "Some other time. Okay, man?"

"Were you able to see who they were?" asked Calvin.

"No."

"Yeah."

Jason and Mel answered at the same time.

"What did they look like?"

"I could only see the one rider," said Jason. "He's big, red haired and has a big...huge scar on his face. And there's a FU tattoo on his arm."

"FU?" asked Arlene.

"Fuck you," Mel sighed.

"Excuse me?" Arlene was perplexed.

"Not you, Arlene. The rider. He's a member of Fuck You Crew from Mississippi."

"A member of what?"

"Bikers club," Mel balled his fist and covered his mouth with it. "From Mississippi...,"

Calvin's jaw moved. "Not any normal bikers club," he said. "I think it'd be better if you stay here for some days until we can figure out what to do, Arlene."

"What's going on?" Jason looked confused. "I will have my hearing in two days, and my lawyer's being followed by bikers. If you ain't show up at the court..."

"I will," Arlene interrupted him. She forced herself to sound as stern as she could. "We will go to the court together, Jason."

Jason pulled his hair. "Sorry, Arlene. I sound like an a-hole. I just want my case disappear, that's all."

Yeah, her too. She wanted whatever problems she was having to disappear. She wanted everything back to where it had been before she knew Eric. But she knew, it couldn't. It had happened. She had met Eric, and somehow, some way, she'd got involved with all this. She had to face it; she had no other choice. She had to get to the bottom of it and solve it.

Arlene looked at Calvin and decided to tell the truth. She was going to need this man, her instinct told her. It would be better if he knew what he was about to face. Selah had dragged her into her problems, she wasn't about to do the same thing with other people.

"Calvin," she said. "There's something I need to tell you."

-1-

The room was quiet as Arlene told them what she needed to. Nobody moved. Jason sat on the chair face pale and his mouth hanging slack. Mel and Calvin looked at each other without saying anything. Their eyes moved rapidly and their jaws clenched from time to time.

Arlene herself was afraid to move. She was even afraid to take a deep breath. She had a feeling if she did, she would break the thick air between them. She had done the right thing; she knew it. Calvin's and Mel's reactions were clear. They knew. They hadn't looked at her with disbelief or even shock. They were either superstitious persons or they knew. There was no other explanation. As far as she knew people, and she knew a lot of people, nobody would admit that they believed in the existence of werewolves and vampires!

She didn't know how long they were in silence till Calvin got up and said to Mel that he should gather his brothers and sisters. Then, he turned to Jason and asked him to go to work. First, Jason protested, but then he agreed after hearing what Calvin had to say. The best thing for them was that they continue doing what they're supposed to do, Calvin said. So that the enemies wouldn't know we knew.

The enemies?

"Yes, Arlene. Enemies. They are after you; they are your enemies. As simple as that. They are not kind of people who will leave you alone before they get what you want."

And she didn't know what they wanted. She hoped if they caught up with he, she did. Because whatever it was, it wasn't worth to losing her life over it.

"You have to find this vampire Eric," said Mel. "You have to find him and demand that he explain everything."

"Are you out of your mind?"Arlene shook her head. "I won't see him again, and the hell if I have to look for him!"

"He will find you," Calvin's jaw jolted.

"How?"

"You drank his blood," His brown almost amber eyes flickered. "He can feel your emotions..."

"I know. He told me."

"And he will be able to track you down."

"You make it sound as if his blood is a kind of GPS," said Arlene.

"What is a GPS?"

Calvin must be one of very few people who also didn't have mobile phones, a computer and perhaps even television set.

"Global Positioning Systems, Uncle. An device which can tell its operator the location of the target."

"Hmh... principally, it is. That's the way they keep track of their prey." Again, his eyes flickered. "He didn't bite you."

It was not a question. It was more like a statement.

"No, he didn't," Arlene said. Not on the neck.

"You can consider yourself lucky. He doesn't consider you as his prey, it means you have something important that he wants. He won't kill you, at least not before he gets it."

"How do you know so much?" asked Jason suddenly. "People would think I'm mad if I said things like that."

"Let's put it this way, Jason. I've been living longer than you. And living not so far from woods like this makes me closer to the nature and I see things in different way."

"If vampires and werewolves exist...," Jason looked thoughtful, "Does it mean other creatures exist too? You know... dragon, leprechaun, faeries...Santa?"

Mel got up and patted his shoulder. "You'll never know, Jay. But don't think about it, you'll find out sooner or later. Come, I'll go with you to your work place. If those bikers recognize you, you'll need some help."

Jason got up. "What about Arlene? I promised Sam...,"

"My uncle will be with her. Don't worry, Jay. She'll be fine." Mel dragged him. "Come!"

Jason looked at her one more time and gave her a look of reassurance, before he followed Mel.

-2-

Hotshot Community was a small community with 12 families. Each of them was related. It was either brothers, sisters or first and second cousins. It was remarkable to see that they looked so much like each other, as if all of them were brothers and sisters.

Calvin seemed to be their leader. He gathered them all – twenty of them, the rest were either at school or working. He didn't say much except that they should be more vigilant and aware. From now on, nobody is allowed to cross Hotshot area. They knew what to do if the trespassers insisted on entering the area.

Arlene didn't like the sound of it. It made her feel as if they were in some kind of war.

"We are in a war, Arlene. Sooner or later."

"Now, Calvin. I really appreciate what you're trying to do for me, but I think it's exaggerating. I know, I am facing a complicated situation right now; I also know that I can't tell anybody otherwise they will think I am crazy, but I do believe, there has to be a way out that doesn't involve any violence!"

"Listen to me, Arlene. It's not that easy. Vampires, werewolves and other beings are not human. They won't be accepted easily, and I won't be surprised if they are hunted, observed and looked at through prejudiced eyes.

"I won't blame the human. It's natural. Vampires survive solely on human's blood. Werewolves and other beings – they eat and act like normal human beings, except some days before and during the full moon. They are also unpredictable and aggressive due to their nature. Things can turn ugly when the weres are angry or out of control.

"Now it seems, vampires will decide to come out of their coffins. Can you imagine what will happen? It's difficult already for some people to accept that there are different religions in this world, which teach different understandings about life after death; and now, they have to face that some people don't die – yes, they die but not in the sense that they've understood or believed. Some religious fanatics will think it's a work of Satan and I am afraid they are not going to stand by and watch their way of life being destroyed by vampires and any other beings."

Arlene closed her eyes. "Eric said that the world I've known would be changed, I just didn't know or didn't imagine that it would be that drastic."

"I don't want to scare you, Arlene, but I am afraid, the reality will be even worse."

"What shall I do, Calvin?"

"First, you have to find your friend Selah."

"I don't know where she is."

"I know a place, where vampires hang out. I might even know where to find this vampire Eric."

"You do?"

His brown almost amber eyes flickered. "He won't like me for this, but it's been quite a while since I have had any enjoyment. And frankly, Arlene. He keeps you alive for a reason. And I want to know what that reason is."

xxxxx