Final two chapters! A big thank you to everyone who has reviewed and read:
Guests, Raindrop, Elle, Daniella, CastleRockGirl, rose217, PoisonBones, Silverheels12, Violette Penn, snowflake2410, Psyclon, Jay jr, prepare4trouble, booklover457, Polly, Jojo and Bellantry.
Elle: It's gonna be his own stake in the heart for sure. :(
Daniella: Thank you for your feedback on the romance. :) That's something I'm absolutely terrible at writing so I'm glad it's gone down well!
Raindrop: Haha, you'll get to find out now!^^ Hope you enjoy these last two chapters.
Thin beams of sunlight had broken through the cracks in the boards. A dim light in the dusty living room but everything was still sharp and clear to see when Bridget opened her eyes. She sat up, peering from under the sheet and behind the sofa where she and Alan had settled last night. As childish as it sounded they had made a little den to take shelter in. A dark sheet provided by Ruby after she had wandered into the living room at the most inappropriate and embarrassing time. Alan had been lucky, still with most of his clothes on but Bridget unfortunately had both her top and her bra off. It must have been on purpose judging by the grin the female vampire already had on her face when she burst through the door and threw the sheet over the both of them, exiting with her trademark loud cackle.
They had shifted the furniture so the sheet could go over the back of the sofa and armchair left in the living room. It draped down, enclosing over them like a tent and giving them more privacy when they settled down for the oncoming daytime.
She glanced down at herself, groaning slightly. Her leather jacket barely covered her body, which should have been shivering in reaction to the colder temperature but she didn't feel it. It was there, the chill in the air, but she wasn't responding. A plus since she had no clothes on but then she thought about why they were scattered around the room instead of on her and when she remembered the reason, she wanted to crawl into a black hole.
Or rather, she did and didn't want to crawl into a black hole. Her mind was ripped in half. Part of her was buzzing, amazed by what had happened just before they fell asleep. But then her emotions completely shut down, forcefully being brushed away as the panic rose and she tried desperately to pull herself away as she mentally scolded herself for getting too close to a vampire. She brought her knees up to her chest, clutching at her jacket to keep it covering her, and she began to chew on her bottom lip as she looked to the figure lying beside her. Alan was under his own jacket, completely sound asleep and not stirring. Her stomach sank a little, knowing why they had hidden in their own DIY tent. Sunlight could actually kill him now.
She wanted to see herself. See how different she looked as well. Again, there was curiosity. To see her own fangs and eyes. See herself transform and look like one of them.
What is wrong with you? she thought and shook her head. She shouldn't be wanting to look at anything. There were already so many mistakes she had made. So many things she had done that she was trying hard to see as a bad decision. Again, she glanced at Alan.
But you could never be a mistake.
Still… nothing else could happen. Not if she wanted to become human again instead of becoming one of them properly. She crawled out of the tent and stretched when she was able to stand upright, holding her jacket tightly around her torso while she searched for her clothes. They were scattered around the living room, flung everywhere. Chair, floor, a lamp…
She grabbed each one hastily, rushing to put them back on. Every item was dusty from the state of the living room and when she brushed herself down, dust flew into the air and her nose twitched at the faint tickling.
Alan never stirred from the tent as she had hopped and shuffled around. All the while he had stayed in the same position, arm draped above his head and flat on his back. For a new member of the undead he looked peaceful. The first sign of content he had had in a while. She titled her head, remembering what Alan had said to her. He had mentioned something about feeling better than ever and she wondered if he really did have a sense of peace. Having already had small tastes of what it was like to crave blood and feel the strength of her newfound anger, Bridget was starting to get a good idea of how tormented he must have been.
You did your best, Al, she thought and knelt back down to crawl into the tent again and sit at his side. When she bent down towards him, holding her hair so it didn't fall onto and tickle his face, she kissed him faintly on the cheek.
But hopefully I don't have to go through the same thing you did.
And before she gave into the urge to lie back down and join him, she scampered out of the tent, threw her jacket on, and disappeared out of the house.
Bonnie was undecided if she should have told the news to Edgar. On one hand they now had the identity of the Head Vampire. He had revealed himself, both as the Head and as Max's brother. Now had a better picture of why they were all being targeted like this.
But was it all too late?
Edgar had been silent since Bonnie explained everything. He stood near the door, head dipped and she noticed he had slumped against her wall. His skin looked tightly stretched, pallid, and his hair remained untidy and unwashed.
"Edgar?" Bonnie asked and glimpsed at Sam. Their friend normally stepped in with words of comfort or optimism but he stood quietly near her desk, looking away with a grim mouth and furrowed brows.
"I failed," Edgar finally muttered.
"Ed –."
"No." He glanced up at her with bloodshot and bruised eyes. "Bonnie, I failed. I promised I would help him and I didn't. I was too late."
"It's the hunger. It's difficult and tempting," she explained.
"So I should have worked harder at finding the Head Vampire." He shook his head weakly. "That's my brother I let down. And our friends as well. It's not just Alan now. They've taken Bernice and Bridget."
"Maybe Marko and Doctor Mathias were lying?" Sam suggested.
"If they want us to break, telling us that the people we're closest to are really gone is the perfect way." His teeth gritted together. "There's more satisfaction in the truth when it's going to hurt someone."
"Alan would fight," Sam said, finally conjuring up some optimism. "He's a fighter."
"Sam –," Bonnie began but her friend held up his hands to stop her.
"No, truth, justice, and the American way. That's what he stands for!"
"Then where is he? He still hasn't returned home," Bonnie said. "The change is stronger and more tempting than you think." She reached out to take Sam's hands and looked between both boys as tears welled up in her eyes and she felt her throat swelling up from the rollercoasters of emotions she felt.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I think he's gone."
"And Bernice and Bridget?" Sam asked.
Edgar suddenly stiffened, peering behind Bonnie. The three of them looked towards her window. Bridget stood outside, nervously biting down on her bottom lip. It was daylight, which ruled out her being a full vampire. But she did look paler and there was dried blood on her neck…
Edgar marched over, opening the window and before she could say a word he held up a cross. She instinctively staggered back, feeling its mental warning and she almost broke into tears on the spot. Her face crumbled, lips quivering and Bonnie stepped forward.
"Oh, Brid," she whispered, hand to her mouth.
"I'm not expecting an invitation," Bridget mumbled, pulling at the sleeves of her jacket.
"You'll have to enter without one," Edgar said. "Sorry, but we need our defences to work if you snap on us." He moved away from the window, walking backwards with the cross still raised as Bridget slid in without hesitation. Standing straight, her eyes cast over to Bonnie's full length mirror and before she could think to stop herself, her legs were moving towards it.
She was almost a ghost in the mirror and she took in an involuntary gasp. Slowly, she waved a hand back and forth, mouth slightly parted as the reflection copied.
Her jaw suddenly set and she turned away sharply, facing three wary faces. She eyed each one of them.
"So, what happened?" Sam asked.
Bridget took a deep breath, first looking at Edgar. He nodded at her, shutting his eyes briefly.
"It was too much for him to control," Bridget explained. "Ed, it wasn't his choice. It was Logan. He cut this guy and –."
"I don't need to know the rest," Edgar said, feeling a part of him slowly ripping away to leave nothing by emptiness.
"Bernice too?" Bonnie asked, forcing her words out despite the shakiness of her voice.
Bridget's eyes stung. "Yeah. But Leon's dead. Bernice fed off him for her first kill."
"Oh my God," Bonnie whispered, hands flying to her mouth as her vision blurred. "Not Leon…"
"And… what happened to you?" Sam asked.
Bridget's hand went straight to her neck, a quick mental image flashed in her head of Charlotte's demonic face before feeling her throat being chewed into.
"Alan had me turned. Charlotte fed on me and it was pretty serious. I was actually dying… so Bernice and Alan turned me."
Tears dripped from Bonnie's eyes before her arms suddenly spread and she had pulled Bridget towards her, wrapping her arms around her into a tight hug. But her friend wriggled out of her grip immediately, staggering back with her hands up as a shield.
"You need to be careful with me," Bridget said.
"Where are they all?" Edgar asked. "I need to find them."
Lie, Bridget thought and glanced at him. With the anger flashing in his eyes, she knew he wanted to get to the vampires and she had a good idea of what he wanted to do. Her heart felt like it had leapt to her throat and her hands twitched, ready to latch onto his neck and warn him off. He couldn't go after his brother or her sister like that. Could he?
"I ran away," she said, keeping her voice calm. "I've been sheltering in a club all night. After they turned me, I had to get away. I have no idea where they all are. And Charlotte and Marko have separated from them. I don't think Logan is giving them what they want and they're pissed."
"So they've made their own pack?" Edgar asked. "Great, that's two vampire packs out for our blood."
"Brid, it's going to be okay," Bonnie said. "We've found out who the Head Vampire is."
"You have?" Bridget asked.
"These vampires have been around longer than we thought. The Head Vampire is Doctor Mathias."
Bridget's eyes widened, her mouth stretching open in a look mixed with horror and disgust. "Doctor Mathias? As in my dad's colleague? The fuck? He's been at that hospital for nearly a year!"
Edgar sneered. "Turns out he's Max's brother."
"He and Marko had a confrontation in my hospital room last night." Bonnie said.
Sam jumped in. "We know who the Head Vampire is now so we'll track him and stake him. You'll be human again."
He looked so determined all of a sudden, that eagerness shining back into his features and he grabbed hold of Bridget's arm, shaking it urgently. She wished she could respond to his smile, sharing his hope but she already knew that plan was useless to her and she frowned instead.
"That isn't going to work," she admitted. "Alan actually turned me."
Edgar was the first to click. He shook his head at first, unsure about what she was talking about but her words slowly began to click and his head tilted back, mouth agape as he figured it out.
"You mean his blood…?" He stopped short of his answer, closing his mouth so his lips were stretched into a thin, straight line. His stomach flipped. So Alan had finally killed a human being and given someone else his blood. He was not only a full vampire but the obstacle to Bridget regaining her humanity again.
Bridget was biting at her lips again as she nodded. "I don't know what to do. I have no idea if there's another cure." Hers flickered back and forth to each one of her friends desperately. "I couldn't kill him."
She looked straight at Edgar, waiting for a lecture about how she needed to toughen up and ignore any attachment she had towards Alan or her sister. She waited for his infamous line: a vampire is a vampire. But instead, Edgar stayed silent. His gaze had softened.
"I know," he said, nodding once. "I have an awful suspicion I couldn't do it either."
"So far the only way we know to cure a half vampire is by killing the Head Vampire," Bonnie said.
"I know. That's why I have no idea what to do. And it'll be night time soon. They'll come for me the second they'll wake up."
"If you stay with us –."
Bridget shook her head. "I can't. I don't want to bring them to you and I can't trust myself. I can already smell your blood. All three scents and it's making me so hungry." She shut her eyes for a second, trying not to inhale those different aromas. "I need to find another cure. And I think I might need to leave town to do that."
"Brid, running away isn't going to help," Sam said.
"I need to do something. There have to be other hunters out there, maybe some with more knowledge of vampires than we have. If I stay here, unable to kill Alan, you're going to lose another hunter."
"I don't like this," Bonnie said with a sigh. But she could remember how desperate she had been last summer. And she could remember how hungry and inhuman she constantly felt. Bridget needed help and if she thought going in search for another cure would be that help then…
"But I get it," she added and held up a finger. "Try this."
She went to her drawer, pulling out a couple of comics. Bridget caught sight of the first title: Destroy All Vampires and raised an eyebrow when Bonnie held it up to her.
"That comic book artist," she murmured and Bonnie nodded.
"Blake Ricelli. His portrayal of vampires are way too similar to be a coincidence. I found out about him last summer when I was going through the same thing you are."
Bridget nodded, taking the comics in her hand.
"He hasn't published anything new for a while now but there's a bio for him on the back page. Maybe he can help."
Her friend was flicking through the pages, stopping when she got to the back and read his profile. "He lives in San Diego with his fiancée and two dogs. Sounds normal."
Bonnie snorted. "Yeah. Think that's what I said. But everything is way too similar to the vampires we've seen. He must know something."
"Okay," Bridget said. "San Diego it is." She glanced up at Bonnie and tried to flash a small smile, forcing the corners of her lips to tug up. But it felt incredibly hard to smile at the moment. Bonnie nodded, a silent understanding of how she knew what Bridget was experiencing right now and stepped forward to throw her arms around her best friend. Bridget did step back, hands about to raise to warn her off but Bonnie wrapped her arms around the half vampire, pulling her in for a hug.
Bridget cringed. "Bonnie…"
"I don't care," Bonnie said and her voice quivered. "You're my best friend and I love you." She pulled away, a brave smile on her face that Bridget wished she could muster up herself.
"And you're going to get help and find a cure," Bonnie added. "We're not losing you."
Bridget gave a little scoff. "You really think I'm gonna beat this?"
"Hey, you're Bridget. You don't let people fuck with you," Bonnie said, with a tiny smile and she poked her in the arm.
"Yeah, don't take their shit," Sam added and managed to make her give a little laugh.
"I think I really needed to hear that," she admitted, nodding to their words. Again, she glanced at Edgar who had stayed back. While Sam and Bonnie had come closer, ready to offer her words of encouragement, Edgar had remained stoic. Typical of him but Bridget could tell by the deep lines in his forehead and almost glazed look there was more to how he was feeling. And rightly so.
"Ed, I'm sorry about Alan," she said and he looked her way. "It's my fault. I went to find the vampires and he came with me. It wouldn't have happened if –."
"Be careful out there," Edgar interrupted and swiftly left the room before Bridget could finish what she was about to say. Her mouth remained opened as she watched him leave and slowly closed her lips together.
"I guess he could have said much worse." She gave a tiny shrug and ran a hand through the waves of her hair. "I fucked up big time, dudes."
"When it's come to vampires, most of us have fucked up," Bonnie said and raised a hand. "Remember my plan to become a half vampire to keep myself alive a bit longer? Freaking genius." She scoffed, shaking her head.
Sam nodded to the door. "Edgar missed Marko's heart. And I did the really sensible thing and go running into the hands of a Head Vampire. Mom almost sacrificed her humanity to make sure Max wouldn't snap my neck."
"We just have to deal with our mistakes," Bonnie added. "That's the most important thing to worry about now."
"Okay." Bridget let out a shaky breath and gestured to the window. "I better start getting ready. I need to grab a few things from home. Mom and Dad are gonna realise I'm gone but I need you all to play dumb on my whereabouts."
Bonnie nodded. "Yeah, don't worry. Good luck."
She and Sam watched their friend slide back outside gracefully and disappear before Bonnie ducked her head and felt tears stinging at her eyes and blurring her vision.
"Shit," she whispered and felt Sam's hand on her shoulder.
"We need to keep fighting," he said. "We're not losing by giving up."
Bridget tried to keep to the bushes as she wandered up to the back garden. She kept an eye on the windows in case her parents were up and about, looking out for her but there was no sign of any movement. Their car wasn't out in the parking space but she couldn't see into the garage to find out if the car was in there. When she came to the back garden gate, she had a brief flashback of last summer when Bonnie was a half vampire. She had been able to jump right over a locked gate and Bridget glanced up to the top of hers. She swallowed, nervously stepping back.
You really shouldn't try these things…
I'm curious…
Curiosity will get you turned fully.
Bridget took a deep breath, bent her knees and pushed herself off the ground. She felt the force of her jump, shooting straight into the air and she let out a squeak as the grass came towards her rapidly. It was like the sudden drop on the Giant Dipper and her stomach flipped, still not used to this light sensation she got when flying. But she landed perfectly on two feet, not even wobbling and she slowly let her breath out. She felt her lips pulling upwards, desperate to smile because she felt incredibly in control of her body, feeling its new strength and abilities. Being able to jump high like that, having movements that were graceful and almost cat-like… it was actually quite incredible.
She frowned at her thoughts but still began to levitate up to her bedroom window. It was still open and empty. Although her bedroom door was also open and she knew she had had it closed last night to muffle any noise she might have made sneaking out. So her parents must know she had gone. Whether or not they thought she had disappeared or gone out to see friends, she had no clue.
Bridget climbed in, trying to ignore the guilt-ridden hollowness of her stomach because it would just put her parents in danger. She needed to stay away. Avoid any temptation to give in and drink blood. Her first priority had to be finding another cure.
In her mess of a wardrobe she had a small rucksack. It was black, easy to carry, and big enough to put in a few essentials. She was hesitant about packing her toothbrush. Her parents would notice that was missing and she didn't want them conducting a search party knowing she could still be alive. But she wanted to show determination that she would definitely return. She was going to become human again. With that promise in mind, she took a few t-shirts and a couple of extra jeans. There was a small tin underneath her bed, dollars stuffed inside in a crumbled heap. It was Christmas money and a little bit of her sixteenth birthday. She had started putting it all together in the hopes of saving up and buying an electric guitar and amp. She sighed and stuffed the notes into her purse. So much for that plan. She'd have to start saving up all over again when she came back.
When I come back, she thought again, nodding to herself.
With her mental promise in mind she zipped up her bag and slung the strap over her shoulder. She clutched her guitar case. Before leaving, she went to her chest of drawers and opened it to reveal a messy pile of photos. She grabbed four. Four photos that represented everything she loved. One of her sister and her at her sixteenth birthday last August. They had gone for a meal on the Wharf and their father had taken a photograph of the girls sitting together. Both leaned in, arms around each other with the biggest smiles on their faces. On Bridget's wrist, she had been wearing the silver bracelet Bernice had bought her and now Bridget looked down at her wrist, seeing the same silver bracelet she had taken off since the day she was given it. The next photograph had been taken on Thanksgiving two years ago. Bridget stood at the porch of their grandparents' house in San Francisco, in between her mother and father. They were the best photographs she could bring with her. Two that showed how happy she was with her family and would hopefully fight this change so she could go back. Obviously not to Bernice but to her parents who needed her. They couldn't lose both their daughters.
As well as family, she had taken two where she was with friends. One had everyone in it. Even Leon. They had visited the Christmas market in town and asked someone to take a photograph of them near the giant Christmas tree that had been placed in the centre. It would have been an even nicer picture if Alan and Edgar had smiled for it but they remained poker-face and stayed at the back. Everyone else though, Leon, Sam, Bernice and Bonnie, were grinning from ear to ear. Bridget had been cheeky and held two fingers up behind her sister's head.
She smiled, reliving the memory of that day and she turned to the last one. Definitely her favourite of her and Alan. Getting Alan to take a photo was a mission in itself. Bonnie had chased him around with the camera on New Year's Eve yet he refused to smile, pose… do anything for a nice photograph. Bonnie had decided the photo had to be sneaky and candid. She had caught Alan with his arm around Bridget's shoulder. They were both smiling, almost leaning away from Sam's wild arms up in the air as the clock stroke midnight. Before this week she would have looked at that photograph and seen two close friends. Now, maybe there was actually more to their gestures than both of them originally thought.
She had to laugh but it was short-lived. Alan and Bernice were two people she couldn't come back for. She had to choose a side right now and she was choosing the one with her parents and her friends. But she had to have their photographs nonetheless. They were still human times that she had to remember.
Bridget put them carefully in her rucksack, making sure they didn't bend and she headed back to the window, climbing out so she was sitting on the window sill, legs dangling out. She wanted to take one look at her bedroom but decided against it. She was already hesitating about jumping out and making her way out of town. She felt looking back would intensify that reluctance.
With a shaky breath, she jumped. Once again, a perfect landing, even with a rucksack over her shoulders. Then, she glanced up at the cloudy sky and pushed herself upwards, ready to fly away from Santa Carla.