Chapter 5

After an afternoon with Darien and a stuffed stomach, I was grateful to return home for the evening. I contacted each of the girls and no one had seen or heard of another attack. Darien flipped on the local news station. "Anything?" I asked.

"Nope. Not a word, so far." Darien settled onto the couch and picked up a book he was reading for his job at the hospital.

I sat next to him, resting my elbows on my knees and propping my face up with my fists as I watched the news, waiting for any new information. As the news wrapped up and late-night television came on, I sat back in my seat and turned the TV off. I sighed and then thought aloud, "I wonder if there will be an attack at graduation. After all, it will be a room filled with young people motivated to move on with their lives."

Darien put his book down and turned to me. "More than likely. We'll have to make sure the rest of the scouts are on the same page at graduation, although I'm sure they've already figured the same thing."

I looked at the clock. It was already 11pm and I had to be at the school by 8 am for the 9 am commencement ceremony. I stretched out my arms and yawned. "I better take a shower and hit the sack. I have a feeling it's going to be a long day tomorrow."

Darien nodded. "You're probably right. I'll wait up for you. I want to finish a bit more of this reading before tomorrow. Who knows when I'll get a chance to really focus on it again"

"What is it anyway?"

Darien turned the cover of the book towards me. "It's called Secrets of the Body." Pausing for a moment, Darien began again, "So far it's mostly been discussing strange phenomena that happen as a result of rare diseases or unexplained circumstances. I'm hoping that somewhere in the book we can learn a thing or two about our new enemy. The book is fairly recent and maybe this vampire has been at it for a while and we're just now being alerted towards it. The author is coming for a visit next week and I'm hoping to ask him a few questions, but I need to have all of my background information together first."

I nodded, "That's a good idea. Even if the author isn't aware of the attacks, maybe he could explain a vampire's desire to do so?"

Darien shrugged, "Most scientists don't like to mix science and the supernatural, but he seems to be interested in myths tying the body to certain ailments, so it is possible that he is our guy to talk to." Darien looked over to me and smiled, "But, for now, let's get you into bed. I want to see you walk across that stage tomorrow full of energy."

"Mm hmm," I responded as I started to get off the couch.

Darien took my hand and stood beside me. He pulled me close, burying his face into my hair. "Good night, Serena." He let me go just enough to lean in for a quick kiss before he released me to prepare myself for bed.

As I shampooed my hair, I tried to distress from the built-up excitement and utter disappointment with the new enemy. I inhaled deeply, smelling my strawberry shampoo as it was rinsed from my hair and swirled at me feet as it traveled to the drain. I took my time to carefully shave my legs, knowing that I would be wearing my favorite dress underneath my graduation gown. On stepping out of the shower, I grabbed my fluffy pink towel and dried myself off. I then applied lotion and a touch of perfume before slipping into my pajamas. Switching off the light, I tiptoed across the bedroom and crawled into bed beside Darien, who had fallen asleep sitting up with his book in his lap. I leaned over him and carefully put a bookmark on the page he had turned open before I flicked off his side table lamp.

The next morning I stirred as the alarm clock blared beside Darien. I rolled towards his side of the bed, "5 more minutes, please, Darien?" I opened my eyes to see that he had already vacated the bedroom. I sat up, turning the alarm off myself, and then stepped into my slippers and walked to the door. I made my way into the dining room, where Darien was seated at the table with the morning paper and a hot cup of tea, his gaze focused on the window. "Hey, every thing alright?"

Darien slowly turned his head towards me before sitting back in his seat. "We may have underestimated this enemy."

My heart lept into my throat and my palms began to sweat, "Oh, God, why do you say that."

Darien, without saying a word, pushed the newspaper towards me. With a shaking hand, I picked up the paper. The front headline exclaimed, "Vampire on the Loose! Fifty Victims Overnight!" My pulse quickened as I continued to read the article. The journalist had documented that most of the victims were young females between the ages of 14 and 19. A few of the families interviewed stated that the girls had mostly returned to a state of normalcy, except for they lacked the drive to do much of anything. "We were at least on the right track for who was going to be targeted, right? And it seems we were right that the victims had also lost a sense of motivation…" I said, trying to lighten the situation.

"But, how could we be so blind to one of the basic understandings of Vampires? They are nocturnal! We wasted our time waiting around for attacks in the daylight. Probably the only reason we saw one yesterday was due to the cloud cover at the time. Hell, they probably have been bringing that cloud cover along with them when they find a particularly attractive target. You had mentioned that you saw a mysterious rain cloud that had quickly disappeared, right? Maybe that was a sign of an attack."

I nodded, quickly rummaging my thoughts for the next plan of action. "Okay. Tonight after dinner with my parents, we'll form stakeouts around the city. We have to get to the bottom of this one way or another." I then glanced at my watch, "Shoot, I'm going to be late." I ran back into the bedroom, stripping off my pajamas and tossing on the dress I had laid out the night before. I desperately tried to do a tad bit of makeup and brushed my teeth before I ran back into the living room where Darien was patiently waiting, my graduation cap and gown in one hand, his car keys in the other.

The car ride to the school was fairly quiet. Darien held my hand the whole way, stroking the top of it with his thumb. As we pulled into the parking lot, he pulled his hand away only so he could put the car into park. He turned towards me and said, "Now, I want you to do your best…"

"Yeah?"

"And not fall off of the stage."

"Darien…"

Darien smiled, "Hey, I need you in my life one way or another, but it is much easier to deal with you injury-free."

I smiled as best as I could manage while still trying to show my frustration. Darien's expression relaxed slightly as he leaned across the console to give me a kiss. "Go show 'em how it's done, meatball head."

"You bet," I said, stepping out of the car and walking to where the graduating class had assembled to procession into the auditorium. Looking behind me, I saw Darien had caught up with my mom, dad, and Sammy. I smiled at the sight of the four of them together. They were my closest family and it made me beyond happy to see them all together, happy and healthy. I slipped the white robe required for girls over my dress and pinned the cap on my head as best as I could without removing my buns. After all, they had been a staple in my identity and removing them for such an occasion seemed wrong. I then heard my name called and rushed over to Ms. Abe, who was seating our class in alphabetical order, with the exception of the valedictorian and salutatorian, whom would be seated on stage. With my last name being further back in the alphabet, I could spot Mina and Lita ahead of my and, of course, Amy at the very front of the room, rehearsing her valedictorian speech one last time. Raye would be seated in the audience and would be catching up with us later. At last, Ms. Abe took the microphone and announced, "Okay, quiet down," she took a deep breath, "Class of 1996, are you ready for this?" The entire class let out a cheer. "Then, let's go!"

After we had been corralled and marched into the auditorium, I sat in my seat, trying my best to sit up straight so Mom and Dad could take pictures, and also trying to not fall asleep during the seemingly endless speeches. Of course, when Amy's name was called, I cheered and clapped as loudly as I could while still maintaining a ladylike pose.

Amy stood at the podium, her face exuberant, "Good morning, parents, teachers, administrators, friends, and, of course, the Class of 1996!" For perhaps the first time in her school career, the entire class gave a thunderous roar for Amy. Smiling broadly, Amy continued, "We have faced much adversity in our four years at Crossroads High School. From challenging exams to physically demanding sporting events, our class has shown that no obstacle is too great. In every endeavor we have met, we have exceeded expectations, perhaps even our own. Because of that, I have great faith that this class will continue on its path to excellence." Amy paused, the color suddenly rushing from her face. The crowd all turned in the direction that Amy was facing. Suddenly, the lights in the auditorium were cut off and screams echoed throughout the dark room. As people attempted to scramble out of the room, I found Mina, Lita, and Amy, who had managed to get off the stage and meet us remarkably fast. With a nod of our heads, each of us threw up our hands to transform. It was finally our first real challenge from the new enemy, and we were ready for it.