~~~~~
When I woke up my head was throbbing and I was starving. I tried to stretch, but my arms were sore and hurt when I tried to move them too much. I saw Dad dozed off in a chair in the corner – no one else was in the room.
I didn’t want to wake him up, but I was parched. I tried hoarsely calling out for him, but I couldn’t make a noise loud enough to wake him up. Fortunately my mother walked in a couple minutes later, and came to my side. “Sweetie, how are you?” She grabbed one of those hospital water bottles with the long bendy straw and held it up to me so I could drink. I downed half the bottle before I felt like my throat could start working again.
"How long was I asleep?"
"About ten hours."
My dad had woken up and was now by my side as well. "How are you feeling?"
"Pretty sore. It's hard to move. My arms hurt."
"You have some pretty nasty bruises from when the vampire pinned you down. Some vampires have paralyzing venom on their fangs, which it looks like this vampire had. It's probably still trying to work out of your system. Jack told us what happened. We're glad you're okay."
I leaned my head back into my pillow and closed my eyes. "So I suppose you're not letting me go to any more ghost parties, aren't you?" I meant it as a joke, but they didn't seem to pick up on my sarcasm.
"Well, that's the least of your worries. The vampires were trying to target you, specifically, and we don't know why. Going out late at night at all is pretty much off limits for a while. At least until we can figure out why they went after you."
I opened my eyes and looked back and forth between them. "What about your wards? I thought they were supposed to keep things like that away."
They looked worried (and maybe a little embarrassed?) and didn't answer right away. Dad spoke up and said, "The two vampires that Jack and the others slew had wards on them, too. But... they weren't good wards. They were made with the intent to harm. We have a theory that they were made as a sort of anti-ward, which is how they were able to get past our wards without us noticing. Some of them were also horrible, horrible perversions of dispelling wards, which were what destroyed the ghosts. Whoever made these wards knows what they're doing, and they obviously have some sort of plan. Maybe they want you for some reason, but we think it's more likely that they're trying to get to your mother and me."
"I think that vampire was trying to kill me or... or maybe even turn me. She would have drained my blood if Jack hadn't stopped her. Wait - I'm not going to turn, am I?" My heart stopped for a beat as I realized that I had no idea how long it would have taken for her to cast her spell or whatever it was that would turn me.
"No, you would have been dead by now if that were the case. Jack purified the wound with holy water so you wouldn't have to worry about anything evil infecting your soul, and he told us to make sure you drank some holy water at least once a day for the next week or so." Mom gave me a reassuring smile. "We really are lucky that Jack was there. He did a good job of taking care of you."
"Where is Jack, anyway?" I asked (hopefully I didn't sound too eager).
"He left, saying he had to figure out who turned those vampires and where the one that got away went. He was very gentlemanly - I can see why you enjoy his company so much." Dad winked at me as he said that.
"DAD! Seriously! Leave it alone!"
"I'm just sayin'. You should invite him over for dinner sometime."
"Dad, he's way old. I can't believe that you're trying to encourage this!"
"Encourage what? You two dating? Oh, heavens no! If anyone were to make the moves on my daughter, I'd string them up until they begged for mercy. He's a half vampire, though, and I want to make sure that any half vampire we meet knows that they're welcome in our home. You aren't thinking of dating him, are you?" His tone said he was serious, but he was smiling, so I didn't even know what he was trying to say any more. So I just ignored him.
"Mom, how long do I have to stay here?" I asked.
"Probably just until you can move on your own. Once you got blood back in your system, you were fine, physically. No signs of a concussion or tetanus or all that stuff the doctors wanted to check thanks to your friends' story."
I leaned back and started focusing on how much I could move. I tested out each limb and found I had good control, I just felt stiff. With my parents' help I got out of bed and started walking around. Once they were satisfied with my mobility, my mom left so she could check on Arvin and start dinner, and Dad stayed to check me out of the hospital.
Mom and Dad had told Arvin and Terra the same story Jack had told the hospital so there weren't a lot of questions at dinner, though Arvin and Terra did complain about how I wasn't in trouble for sneaking out of the house to go to a wild party. I assured them that I had no intention to relive that night any time soon, and I sincerely meant it.
I turned in early that night, and checked all the places that I knew my parents had placed wards to make sure they were there before getting in bed. I wasn't able to sleep soundly, instead waking up three or four times after having nightmares about everything going dark, then a shrill, high-pitched laughter coming from everywhere around me. The specifics of the dreams changed each time, but by the time I woke up, I had forgotten the details. The fifth time this happened I woke up and started crying. I was scared, but not because of the dreams. I was terrified that I could only have nightmares when I fell asleep, and what's worse was that every time I woke up I felt awful, like I was unclean, sick and empty. I felt like I had done something really awful, and the part of me that knew how to make things right was gone.
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