Chapter 5

Michael's POV

I was sat downstairs tuning my guitar while Eve put Sam to bed after he'd had another nightmare. I was lost in my thoughts, completely oblivious to anything going on around me, only slightly paying attention to not over-tuning my guitar and breaking strings. I thought I was alone until I felt a small hand on my leg. I looked down and saw Ellie looking up at me.

I set the guitar aside and picked her up. She was in pink princess pyjamas that Claire and Shane had given us as hand-me-downs from Carrie.

"You okay?" I asked her. I was worried that she was going to start seeing the shadows like Sam and Carrie, but so far she'd shown no signs of it.

She nodded her head and laid it on my chest. I smoothed down her curly hair.

"Shadow people," she said, quietly and it took me a minute to work out what she'd said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, warily.

"Sammy and Car-Car," she couldn't pronounce 'Carrie' properly yet, so she shortened it. I'm surprised it hadn't caught on as a nickname. "They saw shadow people."

"What are shadow people?" I asked. I didn't want to know how she knew what they were, because it wasn't something I wanted to think about.

"Vampires," she said, simply. They all knew about vampires; we couldn't keep it from them when they were dropping by every two seconds. "They're vampires that you-," I didn't let her finish because I needed to call Claire. I kind of guessed the rest of what she was going to say.

"Okay, okay. Thank you, sweetie," I kissed her goodnight and she skipped off to bed.

I pulled out my phone and dialled Amelie's number, but after two tries, no one had picked up. I was going to try a third time, but part of me was warning me not to do that, so I scrolled through my contact list until I found Claire, who picked up on the third ring.

"Hello?" It sounded like I'd woken her up.

"Hey, sorry if I woke you up but Ellie just said…" I trailed off because I could hear Claire talking to Shane.

"Michael?" Shane asked. He must have taken the phone from Claire.

"Yeah, it's me,"

"Dude, thanks for calling at like 2 a.m. I don't know about you, but I definitely prefer getting the gossip in the middle of the night,"

"That's why I called Claire,"

"Right," he paused for a second. "Anyway, it must be important, right?" he sounded nervous.

"Um, yeah. Ellie said that the shadow things Sam and Carrie have been seeing are vampires," there was a long pause.

"What?" Shane asked, and if I'd thought he'd sounded nervous before, he definitely did now.

"Yeah, and I think they might be vampires that we've, you know, killed," I said quietly.

"Oh man, that's not good," he groaned on the other end of the line, "You need to call Amelie right now."

"I tried, no one will pick up," I replied.

"Yeah, we had the same earlier," neither one of us said anything for a long time; we didn't know what to say. In the end, we hung up and I went off to tell Eve.

I spent the night staring at the ceiling, wondering how Ellie new this and whether she'd been seeing the vampires too. I looked over at the clock at some point and saw that it was almost 6 a.m. No work tomorrow for me if I didn't get any sleep soon, and I knew I wouldn't. There was no question. I looked over at Eve who was sleeping soundly next to me. I was glad she was getting some sleep for once.

Shane's POV

Michael came round the next day. We all took the day off again, but he looked like he would happily sleep for the next ten years if he were given the chance. We were all sat in the backyard watching the kids play on the swing set. They looked happy enough, but there was a brightness missing from their eyes and they looked scared under the happy. It killed me to see Carrie like that. It killed me to see Sam like that too, because he was like my unofficial nephew and I loved him.

Claire was still trying to get in touch with Amelie and I was starting to get annoyed. They expect us to be there at every beck and call, but when we need their help they disappear. Typical.

Michael eventually got through to someone who put him on hold. It was more progress than any of us had made so far, but being on hold for twenty minutes when your child's life could be in danger isn't exactly a walk in the park. Eventually the Ice Queen picked up the phone and we all went to sit in the kitchen where we could all hear her. She didn't sound too happy.

"Mr Glass I hope you are not wasting my time," she said rather coldly. I felt anger spark up inside me and had to fight to not yell down the phone to her ignorant ass.

"Where the hell have you been? We've been trying to call you for two days and you haven't picked up once! I'd have thought after everything we've done for you," he said that in an over-exaggerated, sarcastic way that even I was proud of, "you could at least return the favour once in a while."

Man, Michael was pissed off.

"Mr Glass I hope you understand that I have a town to run and people to see,"

"You mean vampires to see?" I muttered.

"Yes, Mr Collins, vampires to see. You more than anyone else should know that I always have, and I always will, put vampires first whether humans are treated as our equals or not," she emphasised vampires in a way that made it seem like she was mocking me.

"Yeah well you more than anyone else should know that I put the people I love first, and that means that I'm not afraid to come down there and stake you with one of those stakes that explodes silver if you don't stop being so ignorant,"

"Well, what's your problem then?" she asked. She sounded patient, but I knew it was an act, and with one glance at the cold, set faces of everyone else I knew they felt the same way.

"Look, ma'am," that was Eve, surprisingly being polite to a vampire. "Sam and Carrie have been having these dreams, well, they're more like nightmares, but they've been seeing… people. Like, shadows and Sam can't see their faces but Carrie can. Ellie mentioned something about them being vampires, and Michael thinks they're vampires that we've… y'know… killed."

There was a pause in which we all shifted uncomfortably in our seats around the kitchen table.

"I was afraid of this," Amelie said softly.

"Afraid of what?" Claire asked, finally inputting to the conversation.

"Well, you see, these Shadow People that your children have been talking about, they're vampires, correct, and Michael you are correct in thinking they're vampires that you have killed, or know vampires you've hurt,"

"Well, can't you make them go away or something?" I asked.

"If it were that easy then yes, but they're not just here to haunt Sam and Carrie's dreams. They want something. They probably want blood, and what better way to get revenge than take the blood of the people who killed them,"
"So why don't they just come after us?" Eve asked.

"Well, if they did that, it would be all too easy. They've witnessed you go up against so much, and so they expect you to be able to fight back. Targeting the people who mean the most to you, you're children, gives them something to start a war over, which is ultimately what they want."

The room went still. I don't think one of us was breathing at that moment. It was horrible, the cold realisation that something was really out to kill Carrie and Sam. Claire and Eve looked about ready to cry, and honestly, I half expected them to completely lose it and start screaming. In a way, that would have been easier to deal than the deafening silence that had settled over us.

The phone went dead. We all sat there staring holes through it. Michael and me were both shaking with range, and Claire and Eve were both shaking with fear.

Eve looked up, suddenly. "What if we offer our own blood?"

Sorry to end it in a weird place, but there was another three pages to this chapter that did nothing for the story, so I deleted them. The next chapter will lead directly on from this one.

Please R&R – it's great hearing what you think, guys. I want to know if you like the story (it's okay to be brutally honest, but please don't be mean) and if you have any suggestions for the rest of it.

Love you to the moon and back