*****
Her dad supported her all the way back to the cabin, Bruno following close behind. She tried not to groan when he helped her sit down on the edge of a bed and she made the mistake of putting her full weight on her foot. She’d injured her ankle when she jumped on the vampire, but didn’t think it was broken, just bruised. Although, it had started to swell by the time Seth showed up. He’d stopped at the truck and brought a towel filled with ice cubes from the cooler.
“Here you go, tough girl.” He smiled. “I take it, the vamp got better than he gave.”
“I’m alive, aren’t I?”
He laughed.
Her dad turned toward Seth. “You better head back up that trail and pull our staked friend out of the trees so the early morning sun can cook his stinking carcass.”
“Will do,” Seth winked at her and hurried out. He took Bruno to lead him to the body.
The room went deathly quiet once he’d left. Her mom stood at the foot of the bed in an old fleece robe, her bottom lip pulled in like she always did when she was upset, her arms wrapped protectively across her middle.
Her dad sat on the edge of the bed and stroked the hair back from her forehead. There was a spark of tenderness in his eyes that Jael hadn’t seen since the time she broke her arm falling out of bed after a nasty nightmare when she was five or six. Did they really think she couldn’t do this on her own?
“I’m sorry I sent you out there alone, honey.”
She shook her head against the pillow. “Vampires happen. Nothing you can do to change that.” She grinned. “Except stake them.”
“I thought you said this place was so far off the map they’d never find us here,” her mother said, obviously needing to blame someone. She looked angry, and upset, and scared, and Jael felt bad for her. But it wasn’t anyone’s fault. Certainly not her dad’s.
“He was just a vamp in the wrong place at the wrong time.” She sat up to adjust the icepack on her foot. “He didn’t know who I was, Mom. And now he’s dead. No one knows we’re here.”
Seth tapped at the door. “It’s me,” he called softly.
Her dad hurried over and let him in. Bruno followed, tail wagging. He jumped up on the bed beside Jael and licked her face as though he hadn’t seen her for a month. She pushed him away.
“No, Bruno! I don’t need a bath.”
“Well, actually honey, you do.” Her mom held out a hand. “Come on. I’ll turn on the shower for you. It takes about five minutes to warm up.”
“I checked his pockets,” Seth said. He held out an old worn leather wallet. “He has a photo driver’s license. It’s five years past the renewal date, but the address is local.” He gestured with his chin. “That little town up the road.”
“I told you he didn’t know anything,” Jael said, letting her mom help her across the room. “He wasn’t following us. It was just a really bad coincidence.”
Seth ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Yeah, pretty bad. You got yourself hurt at a time when you can’t afford to be weak.”
She stopped and turned, bracing herself in the doorway of the bathroom. “I’m not weak. And I just proved that I know how to improvise.”
“That you do. I guess all the practice I made you do paid off, huh?”
She huffed. “Leave it to you, Uncle Seth, to take all the credit.”
“I’m just saying…”
Her dad slapped him on the back and pushed him toward the door. “Yep, we know what you’re just saying, little brother. If it wasn’t for you,” he opened the door and pushed Seth through, “we might as well open a vein and pass out straws.” He closed the door in his brother’s face and clicked the lock.
Her mother had turned the water on and steam was already beginning to fill the tiny bathroom. She handed Jael a clean towel on her way out. “Have a nice long shower. You’ll feel better.”
“I am a little sore.”
She moved in and shut the door. The mirror fogged up immediately without incoming air. She undressed quickly, careful of her ankle when she pulled off her jeans. Her phone fell out of the back pocket. She picked it up. Three missed calls? When did that happen? She scrolled through. Brianna called twice, Shadow once.
She set the phone on the edge of the sink and stepped under the deliciously warm spray of water, pulling the shower curtain closed around her. Careful not to put all her weight on her sore ankle, she poured shampoo in her hands and worked it through her hair. She didn’t know if it was her imagination or not but she swore she could still smell Old Spice mingled with rotting flesh. Eww! She pulled the curtain aside and looked down at the pile of clothes on the floor, sniffing. Would that smell come out? If not those would have to go in the garbage.
She rinsed the shampoo out and stood under the spray a few more minutes until the water lost the relaxing sting of heat and became merely tepid. She shut off the faucet, stepped out and had just started drying her hair when her cell buzzed and started sliding across the slick ceramic surface of the sink. She grabbed it quickly before it had a chance to fall in. No wonder she hadn’t heard the calls. It was on vibrate. “Hello?”
“Jael. Finally. Where have you been? I’ve been calling and calling.” Brianna made it sound as though she’d been pressing speed dial for hours.
“Sorry, I accidentally had my phone shut off. Didn’t hear the ring.”
“You won’t believe what is going on around here.”
Jael looked at the time on her phone. It was only 4:15 am. How much could be going on and why would Brianna even be awake to notice? “Are you sick?” she asked, “I thought you always slept in till like noon on Saturday.”
“I haven’t even gone to bed yet. They actually turned the big emergency siren on in town. Everyone was out of bed, standing outside in their pajamas wondering if it was the end of the world or something.” Brianna was talking fast, like she did when she’d had too much caffeine. “Officer Wallace caught some guys breaking into the school and rifling through lockers. Well, he didn’t actually catch them. I guess they got away, but he pursued them in his cruiser in a fairly high-speed chase through town. Even went through Main Street on a red light, so I heard.”
Jael smiled. “So you heard?”
“From our neighbor across the street. Mrs. Burton has her divorced son living in her basement. He walks home from work at midnight or something from that gas station out on the highway that stays open late. He told her Officer Wallace nearly ran him down in the intersection.”
Jael wrapped herself in a towel and sat on the edge of the tub. “What were they looking for anyway? Old gym socks?”
“You mean the perps? Mrs. Burton didn’t know, but talk on the street is that our town is going to hell in a hand basket. After the story Lyle made up about Indians jumping him in the park and now this – a breaking and entering at the public high school – no one will feel safe and cozy in Sunburn anymore.”
Jael blew out the breath of a laugh. “Perps? Melodramatic much?” she teased.
“Hey, I’m telling you what I heard.”
“I guess we left town just in time.”
There was a telling moment of silence on the other end.
“I was going to call you, Bree,” she said quickly. “My dad can be very spontaneous sometimes. He decided we needed a vacation and we took off last night.” Her words covered the blunder about as well as a hairnet on a bald guy.
Brianna finally said, “But you’ll miss school.”
“Yeah, but we won’t be gone that long. Just a few days away,” she said, hoping that were true.
Brianna was silent again, not peppering her with questions like she normally would. Which meant she was either worried or thought she was being lied to. Or both. She decided to change the subject.
“So, what’s up with you and Shad?”
“Shad? Why would you think…” She gasped. “Wait a minute. You’re just trying to change the subject again, aren’t you?”
“What?”
>
“Jael, I’m your best friend. You can tell me the truth. Nobody’s dad is that spontaneous. Are you safe? Is everything all right?”
They were back to that again. Jael sighed and stood up. On the shelf above the sink lay an old, faded pamphlet with a picture of the cabins from days gone by. She picked it up and thumbed through it. “Bree, I told you. We’re on vacation. In fact… we’re staying at a lovely, rustic cabin in the hills overlooking the beautiful and scenic Smythe Valley. The woods are teaming with wildlife and photo opportunities.”
“Are you reading the back of a restroom stall door?”
She dropped the pamphlet. “No. But I did just get out of the shower. I need to go to bed. You should too. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”
“Sure,” she said, and then her voice soft with worry, “Jael, be safe.”
“I will.”
She pulled on a t-shirt and shorts, shut off the bathroom light, and opened the door. Her parents were already asleep in the far bed. Her dad’s snoring sounded a lot like the rev of a lawnmower. She crawled into her bed, looking around for Bruno. He’d positioned himself across the room on the floor, a dark lump smack in front of the door. Who needed a deadbolt when you had a huge Wolfhound to block access?
Jael pulled the thin covers up to her chin and slipped her phone beneath the pillow. If it vibrated, she should be able to feel it. She was too tired to think about tomorrow, but like Buffy the Vampire Slayer once said, ‘if you’ve slain one, you’ve slain them all,’ or was it, ‘tomorrow is another day to slay,’ or ‘wipe that blood off your face and kiss me.” Her eyelids were so heavy, she couldn’t think straight, so she closed them and was surrounded by nothing.
Chapter 21
The Shadow knows