CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I had only moments to react. As soon as I grabbed the book off my shelf, I felt a breeze come through my window, bringing in that horrid, honey and smoke smell that made my stomach lurch with panic and worry. I turned quickly, and as my curtains settled I saw Mina crouching on my window sill. She slowly grinned a mad, evil grin.
“Looks like I’m a little early,” she said. I realized I had never actually heard her speak before. Whenever she talked to Jack it was always too low for anyone but him to hear, and she never answered any questions in class, even when she was called on for the answers. Her voice was low and hoarse. I could imagine that if she were to talk quietly enough it could sound quite alluring, but when she spoke aloud she sounded dry, hollow, and she couldn’t properly form some of the sounds that needed to come from her throat.
She liked her lips. “That’s okay, I can use a snack. I’ve been jealous of my little pet that drank from you – she said that your blood is spiked with something spicy. I’ve never had someone spicy before...”
She leapt through the air towards me. I dropped to the ground and smoothly rolled away and back on my feet. She was graceful and landed on my desk on both feet with almost no noise at all. My fight or flight instincts had kicked in, and I was still riding on the anger I had been nursing all night. Ten minutes of kickboxing a day was not a lot, but it was the best I had. When she jumped at me again, I punched at her a few times, the basic punching routine memorized into my muscles. Jab, cross punch, hook, uppercut. Switch sides. Jab, cross punch, hook, uppercut.
Though Mina was dead and couldn’t build any muscle memory of her own, she had still existed in this state for quite some time and was able to prove to me why she had gone on this long. She deftly dodged each punch, then slashed at my face with her nails, which were long and filed into a point. I was able to lean away in time to avoid getting slashed, but mangling my face wasn’t her goal – she caught my ankle with her foot and yanked my weight from under me. I fell on my back hard enough to knock some of the wind out of me. She kicked me in the diaphragm for good measure, then stood over me triumphantly. She bore her impossibly long fangs and started to crouch down over me.
She halted halfway down and hissed, turning to face my window. I took the moments distraction to kick my knee up into the side of her face, hoping I could dizzy her enough to at least scoot out of the way. My knee landed and I heard a horrible cracking noise. Mina made a noise between a scream and a growl and started looking between me and the window. I scooted back out of her grasp and turned my attention to my window, too.
Jack was jerkily making his way through my window, pushing the curtains aside. He silently rushed toward Mina, stake drawn. They slashed at each other, him with his stake and she with her nails. They fought quietly, the only sound being Jack’s heavy breathing. I edged my way along the walls of my room to get to my desk. They were tearing up my room pretty badly, knocking down pictures, breaking glass, even completely smashing my night table to bits. I was nervous, not knowing how soon they would wake up my family, who would come to check on me for sure.
I reached my desk and located my lighter. Mina was old; if Jack was able to incapacitate her, the fire would quickly exterminate the vampire in my room. I clutched it tightly and waited for the right moment to strike. Jack must have noticed me holding the lighter at one point, because he was finally able to pin her down at stake’s point and turn to me to say, “Quick, I doubt this bitch has enough heart left for my stake to work.”
I flicked it on and approached her struggling figure. It was disgusting; she had lost skin where Jack had scraped her with the stake, but instead of blood and muscle there was only a black, flaky-looking substance. One of her eyelids was drooping over her eye on the side of the skull where I had kneed her. She was wildly looking for a way out, and just as the flame was about to touch her hair, she gasped out, “Your mother!”
I paused. Jack harshly said, “Don’t listen to a word she says. She’s going to say anything she can in order to get away.”
It was too late, though, and Mina knew it. She laughed and looked straight into my eyes. “I know where your mother is. In fact, I have a say as to whether she comes home in one piece or not. Those that are holding your mother captive know where I am, and if I don’t contact them soon, your mother will be the one to pay. Let me go and I’ll make sure that she is released safe and sound.”
“Kenna, I also know where your mother is. Please, she’s very dangerous and it would be catastrophic to let her go.” Jack was pleading with me. Mina was still struggling to get free from Jack’s grasp, and it looked like he was only barely able to keep her down.
In response she said in a sing-songy voice, “I can already hear her screams from her fingers getting cut off. What will your poor father do when his wife is unable to draw up wards for him? He’s already quite a ways gone, isn’t he? He’ll be forever lost without her guidance...”
I took my thumb off the lighter. Simultaneously, Jack cried out in despair and Mina barked a triumphant laugh.
“You will bring her back in one piece. You will bring her here, back home, and if she is missing a single hair, I will set you on fire the next time I see you.” I whispered. She heard me and nodded.
“Deal. She’ll be back in her loving family’s arms by the end of the week. Now tell your boyfriend here to let me go.”
“Jack. Get up.”
He shook his head. “I can’t do that. She needs to die, right here, right now.”
I yelled at him this time, not caring if I woke my family up. “I’m not asking you. Let her go, now.”
He looked at me with so much sadness and that I almost felt guilty for betraying him. Almost. I set my jaw and stared him down. Disgusted and enraged, he jabbed his elbow into her forearm, causing it to break. He got up, though, picked her up by the front of her shirt, and dragged her to the window. He neatly tossed her out and firmly shut the window, quickly locking it.
He leaned on the windowsill, head drooped while he was catching his breath. I waited patiently for him to turn to face me again before quickly stepping up to him and punching him right on the cheek. He stumbled back and held his face in shock.
“You DARE try to tell me what to do in my own house after disappearing for weeks? You have NO IDEA what I’ve been through!”
He sighed and nodded. “You’re right. I don’t know what you’ve been through. But if I can explain, I have much to tell you.”
“Where’s my mother?”
“In Germany.”
“No, she’s not. I know she’s been kidnapped. You have no idea where she is, do you?”
“She truly is in Germany. Not by her own free will, but she is indeed there.”
“Why haven’t you rescued her yet, then?”
“I only escaped imprisonment myself about a few hours ago.”
“What?! How long have you been imprisoned?!”
“I don't know. I have lost track of time. But I was captured about three or four days after the ghost party.”
My feelings towards him should have softened, but when he told me this my temper only flared up more. “You were out and about for four whole days after the ghost party and you couldn’t tell me where you were going? I know I’m just a weak ol’ human being, but I could have at least found someone to help you! But since you just decided to drop off the face of the planet, I had nothing – NOTHING – to go on!”
“I’m sorry, I just didn’t think that it was prudent to let you know–”
“You didn’t think it was prudent to let me know where you were going? You were my best friend. I cared about you. You’re the only person in the world I can talk to about anything, and – silly me – I had thought you felt the same. Well, I was wrong. Obviously. Go. Leave. I don’t want you here anymore.”
“Kenna, I just–”
“I don’t care.”
&n
bsp; I don’t care. Those can be harsh words to someone you’re close to. You can use the reaction from someone you say those words to to judge how they feel about you. Apparently they hurt or angered Jack, because he straightened, clenched his fists, and left through my window without another word.
I shut and locked my window, and searched the house for a yardstick I could use to jam it shut. It was too long and I had to break it in half, but I didn’t care. I could buy a new one if it came down to it. Why did we need a yardstick anyway?
I got into bed and realized I was shaking all over. I looked around my room and assessed the damage. I was down one night table, two picture frames, the leg to my chair had broken completely off, and some of my origami pieces had been torn off their line. To my disappointment, the one I absolutely needed intact was torn in two. A half a box dangled pathetically on the line.
I crawled into bed and cried myself to sleep.