Chapter 18
Melody
My mind drifted, I was relaxed. The feeling of calmness washed over me; then the images tumbled to a time before.
The theatre door shut behind us. “That was such a good horror,” said Melody, rethread her almond hair for the third time since the movie ended. She beamed wide, giving her now threaded braid a wider smirk of completed satisfaction.
“Yes, I think it ran a long time though. My butt is so sore, I think it’s bruised.”
“It’s not that bad,” she said, grabbing my hand and together we walked the streets, it was late.
Dark streets lingered in our path with the added flickering lights. I was with Melody, we were fine.
“So, in English, I think we should definitely do the play on Romeo and Juliet.” Melody swung our arms in tune to the beat of our steps.
“What? No way. I am not getting up in front of the school and reciting some stupid love story, and besides—you need a male to play some of those parts. Don’t think principle Camden is going to sit too well if we kissed on stage.”
“Ha ha. Not kissing. No, you know the scene. Where there’s a fight and someone gets killed.”
“A scene where we use swords, no speaking?”
“That’s right, no speaking in public. You know, you’re always good at talking and I have heard you sing. I think it would be such a snip in the A-Team if you sang. Did you hear Amanda singing in the gym lockers?”
“Don’t remind me. It scared everyone. Tyler thought a cat got stuck in the drain pipes.” We laughed.
“And that is why you should sing. Or … you could do the art design. Like a mural on display. Maybe we could do one of those black and white film ideas—the old ones were we keep falling over.”
“A comedy. I don’t think falling over is a good way to get back at the A-Team Mel. I don’t like public speaking and I still don’t want to do this play. It’s four weeks away.”
“Three. That’s why we need to practice.” She beamed as we came to the end of the street, I paused. “What’s wrong?”
“I feel something bad Mel.”
“Oh, you and your superstitions. Nothing bad tonight. Full moon; oh, wait … It’s raining” she put her hand out to watch as the light spits touched her palm. “Besides, if we take the bridge you will be home sooner.”
“It’s the bridge that’s giving me a bad vibe.”
“Well, I am getting one from the woods and I am not taking an extra twenty minutes to get to your place.”
“Fine, then we’ll go the fast way.” And we started toward the Dim Creek Bridge.
“Still the woods would be a good place to practice. We should scout it out tomorrow, see if there is a nice clear patch of grass and we can practice our parts.”
“You won’t let it go, will you?”
“Nope, you’re going to be on stage with a sword in your hand, or you’re going to sing a song for me, your choice.”
“Not a big choice. What if you sing and do the fight scene, and then I just throw dead leaves at you.”
“That would show the B-Team how to throw.”
The laughter erupted as we walked on. The darkness was pulling me in as a cold feeling nagged at my thoughts. The pressure, the pain—there was something dark out here and it wasn’t just shadows. Ahead was the bridge, used as a traffic and a walking bridge. I felt Melody—always the braver—squeezed my hand. Now she gets the chills.
“Told you we should have gone the other way.”
“No, just a precaution.” Melody smiled, but fear seeped into her voice. We walked on, and the sound of the wood under our feet made us jumpy. I kept my eye on the end of the bridge, a brush of wind passed me.
“What was that?”
“Don’t get all scared on me Kerr, it’s just—”
Her voice shut off, in front of us stood a tall thin man. Pure white hair, his eyes hidden in shadow, as to most of his face, the red trim of his black robe was illuminated.
“Well, it’s nice to see such fine young girls out so late.”
“What do you want?” Melody asked.
Stupid thing to say Mel. I wish this was the one time she could read my mind.
“Oh, I don’t want anything. It’s like when you’re in the shop, and you found what you want; and therefore you don’t want anything else.” His voice was airy, dreamy, and flaky, but I heard all the malice in it. I heard the fear rise in Melody and myself.
“Are you going home are you?” His voice held on the edge of offering us a ride.
“We were, you’re in our way, can you please move.” I chimed in.
“How nice. Manners. And to think I would never hear such a thing in decades.” He didn’t move. He stared, floaty as if he was, dancing or swaying to a stray sound. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll … give you some light to help guide you.” Two orbs of light floated from under the bridge to hover above us. His pale face illuminated. He was old, pasty in his mid forties; he was reasonably good looking, deity like—but old. “There, that’s better. Now I can see you. And such a sight you are.”
I swallowed hard. His body started to sway to some unknown music and as he moved; Melody was moving to his rhythm. She took a step and I pulled on her hand. It was no use. She had let go and she was moving towards him.
“No. Mel. Don’t.”
I took a step forward. His palm held up meters from me, and yet there was a hold on me. A force of some kind, a field of invisible hands strangling me; it was getting tighter.
“P-Please. Mel—Mel!” I gasped for breath.
I watched as his motions made Melody sway towards him. Mimicking him and moving closer … and closer.
No. No. Mel. Stop. Please. Stop. I fought hard on the invisible hand as it kept me in place.
He put a hand on her shoulder, gently. “Well, what have we got here?” His eyes shifted from Mel to me. I looked anywhere but at those eyes. The invisible hold held me tighter; my breath was running out; blotches formed before my eyes. “You are strong. Yes, you are powerful. And to think I was going to waste it. Oh, how rude of me.” He turned his eyes to Melody who had come out of her daze long enough to move in fright, but as soon as his eyes locked with hers; she was swaying. I watched as his face shimmered. Changed.
He was not human.
Gone was the beauty of the deity like creature. His face was twisted. Veins spiralled around his eyes, pasty cheeks and brow. A rotting nose, chin and cheeks. His lips parted and sharp fangs grew longer as his eyes glowed with yellow. I wanted to scream, I wanted to shout. I could do nought.
He turned to Melody, brushing her almond hair from her shoulders. Touching her neck. “Yes. Interesting … I smell it on you now. Oh, this is a treat.”
I watched as the pointed fangs sunk in.
“No … Stop. Mel!”
He bit her neck, holding her like Dracula. No. It wasn’t possible. She was shaking. I pushed with anger rising inside me. Forcing the invisible hands to release me, to—let me go! And it eased. My breath caught with fresh air. The hold was moving and I pushed with strength from—I didn’t know where, or why, just that I did. Let me GO! “Get away from her, leave her alone.”
I grabbed Melody from his grasp and pulled her toward me with strength. In a blink, she tumbled into me; making me lose my balance. The railing wasn’t high, buckling me at the knees and with no support—we were falling into the cold murky waters of darkness.
I kicked to the surface and coughed at the icy water. “Mel!” I screamed between breaths, trying to get to a direction or a location to somewhere other than darkness and water. “Mel!” I called, trying to swim, to find her. “Mel. Where are you?” I lost her. No. No. She can swim better than me. “Mel!” I yelled, trying to keep a float as the current of the sloshed and splashed, forcing me downstream. “No. Mel!” I screamed.
Something caught me around the ankle—clawed at my ankle. Alligators? Eels? Giant fish. Vampire? Any option was possible.
“No. No. Melody.” I kicked
at it. “Some thing’s got me Mel!” I shouted when its hold gripped with force and one last breath was all I had as it dragged me away, into the darkness. “Hold on Melody,” I cried as the water washed over us. I knew I would die.
The sensation of falling lasted moments when I realised I was breathing normally. I blinked in my state of thought. My clothes were drenched, but I was on hard ground. The sound of rushing water was far off, echoed from above or perhaps down a hole. A cave? Something moved beside me, touching my hand, searching.
“Kera! Kera!”
“Mel! I’m here.” I reached around for her, it was dark, darker than dark, there was too much darkness. “It’s me, it’s me,” I said, stifling her scream.
“What happened, where are we?”
“I don’t know.” I swallowed hard, trying to work out where I was. How did I get from a current of water into a cave of darkness? Something brushed my arm, wind?
The voice spoke.
“How interesting. A power I can’t even truly detect until it was fighting.”
“Whose there?” asked Melody, her hands were shaking..
“I am Alastair, and you shall be my princess.”
It was too dark to see. I couldn’t even be sure if he had pointed. Like magic, the room lit up. We were in a cave. Soil, damp, wet. The river was somewhere outside. Below us? Beside us? Above us? It didn’t matter. We were in a cave that was suddenly bright and not from the fires glow. Something magical was happening around me. And if it wasn’t for my fear filled heart, I might have been dazzled.
“Do you like? I caught them myself.”
Alastair held his hand to three orbs floated above us; held by their own invisible string. Floating orbs, magical. What the hell was happening?
“What are you?” I asked.
“Oh yes, well, I am a creature of the night, a Moroi turned Strigoi. One of the First. But you are interesting.” In a blink of my eyes, he appeared centimetres in front of me. His long bone fingers curled around my face gently. “You are interesting. So, interesting indeed.” He tilted his head, as though listening to a song and slowly a smile spread his mouth. “I like that about you. A strong power, yet you are hidden. You don’t even know how powerful you are. Shame.” He let go of me and moved to Melody. Held her as he had me. “Hmmmm … we have a less power here. Though it’s stronger when I do this—” His hand came towards me, Melody’s eyes widen as he lowered his hand to my shoulder. With a shrug, he sighed and reached towards her chin. “I guess you’ll do for a snack.”
“Don’t you hurt her?” I moved towards Melody, to have an invisible force block me. My legs were hard, like concrete. I couldn’t take a step. “Melody, don’t look into his eyes.”
Melody shut her eyes. He tilted his head at her and then to me. A strong pressure in my mind was forced … to do something. It was telling me to say something. It was pushing, probing … Open your eyes Melody …
“No!” I yelled at the voice.
The thin man stumbled, loosing control of the invisible wall.
Freed.
I grabbed Melody and ran. Any direction away from him was better than none. Darkness was in all areas, until the orbs came bobbing into view. I half wondered if they were here to help or to destroy me. My thoughts tumbled in fits of unsure, un-thought, impossible conclusions. Gone was my known life of reality; teen dramas, Disney, Hollywood. I knew now what was happening. Alastair was a vampire, and he wanted us to be his—vampire brides? He wanted to hurt Melody. I would never allow that. He was intrigued and if by force, I was holding him back. How? I didn’t know. Why? It was because he was hurting Melody.
I ran with Mel, through a passage; spotting a table with odd bottles, dead bugs and coloured liquids I wasn’t about to taste. Old thick leather bindings open and trinkets of gold, rings, chains, stones and crystals scattered across the tables cloth. To my surprise, a sword lay in the centre. A weapon was a weapon, and this would have to do. I locked my fingers around the metal handle. It was heavy. I couldn’t hold it up, half dragging it. Breathing hard, as Mel rattled bottles and found a dagger. One of the orbs floated towards me and whispered to me.
“Feel the power.”
I breathed deep and the light of the orb stayed with me, chanting it repeatedly. The power? What I used against the Master. It was in me. It was what he wanted. Yes. I could feel it. I held up the sword, my wrist ached. My arms, Melody was staring at me.
“Guess this is practice then,” I breathed.
She smiled and flipped the small dagger in her hand. We stood poised and waiting. The lights started flickering and shimmering with hissing and crackling doubling the fear in the shadows as a gnawing rose from the darkness. Too late was I to see where it came from. One moment, Melody was beside me. Then—she was in front of me by ten feet.
Alastair was holding her by the throat. He had caught her with a speed I didn’t see, and he held her up with little effort, forcing the dagger into her throat. She gasped as the blade punctured her skin, blood streaked down, making him breathe deeper like a bloodhound.
“Oh, mouth watering.”
“Let her go!” I yelled.
The sword was my one advantage. I stood strong, the one thing that could be of any use, and I was in control of the power; it vibrated through me, as I watched him change into a monster as his fangs sank into her in throat.
“NOoo!”
He drank Melody’s blood hungrily. Anger flared. Her eyes locked with mine; pain, agony, fear—all her hope. A pressure in my mind was talking to me. Kera? Her voice? How. Why. I didn’t care. It was her.
“Take it Kera, my strength. Make him pay, make him suffer? He will take it all unless you take it from me first.”
Without knowing what she was doing, she held her palm out to me; light shot forth. Not painful, just a rush of energy. I raised the sword ready to attack, to stop this monster feeding on her. An orb floated to the blade, it merged with it and the sword glowed with light, with power; I lunged with the sword held high—striking him on the left side of his face. I was shocked it worked and twice surprised he was thrown twenty feet away, screaming in pain. Reaching for Melody, we ran into the darkness. I didn’t stop running. Melody stumbled with the blood lose.
“You cursed me! Get back here you little Fae of a witch! You cursed me!” His voice sang out.
Any minute he would catch us, but instead all I could hear was my jagged breaths. I was running up hill, higher. I heard the rush of water, moving closer to it, towards the opening and free, outside at last. All too soon, I was plummeting downwards. The sound of nothing washed over me, and then—icy water swallowed around me. Screaming came from my throat as I fought to swim to the surface while holding the sword, and Melody. The sword’s weight pulled me under, holding me down. Melody was sinking too. She was drowning. I released the sword, but not before I saw the glow draw into my hands, and with a new strength; I pulled her to the surface, and made for the bank, holding her tight. The wound was still bleeding. We were both shaking from the power, the adrenalin, and the shock. Her eyes gazed at me, in the dawn light, she was not sad, angry or even afraid. She was happy.
“You did it, you did it.” She breathed tiredly as she shivered from the chilly water.
“Was that a good act one?”
“Yeah, perfect.” Melody coughed, trying to smile, to laugh. She gasped for breath.
“Mel you’re okay now, you’re going to be fine, you’re going to be okay.” Tears were in my eyes, tears and pain. Why was there pain? I felt the coolness of Melody, she was weak, she was wounded, and she was dying. “No, Melody! I did it, you’re safe. I did it. Take your energy now. Take it back.”
She fluttered her eyes, raised her hand to my face and she breathed one last word. “Love.”
“No Mel, NOOooo! DONNNNNT! NOooo! MEL-OD-YYYYYYYYYY!”
My lungs were raw, my throat was tight, my head was spinning. I held tight, crying hot tears, lost with pain, anger; then nothing.
Numb.
I didn’t know when, how or why, but someone was talking to me; asking me something. I was there. Yes. I was alive.
“You won’t remember the last twenty four hours,” said a far off voice. “You will forget this day.” The voice wasn’t harsh or loud it was soft in my head. “I will take your voice to make it stay that way.”
The person held a box in my view, an elegant crafted box, the size of a mouse. Lifting the lid, a light ignited in a streak and straight at my throat. I gagged, frozen with the numbness and unable to move as the light pulsed inwards. Once, twice and thrice before it eased into an orb of white pearl.
“You will not remember this day,” He repeated as I blinked in a daze. His fingers touched my temple, his eyes a hideous lime, his voice echoed deeper. Not remember.
I rolled my head on the wet soil, gazing to her closed eyes. She was sleeping. A haze of my thoughts lingered as a halo of butterfly wings, or a whisper I couldn’t quite hear. A hand brushed across my brow and I was blinking to the sight before me. The shape of a man was coming into focus.
“Kera? It’s Mr. Jamison, can you hear me?” I tilted my eyes to his face, he was worried. I swallowed hard, but nothing came to mind. “Kera? Can you hear me? Can you remember what happened?”
Staring at him, I frowned. Happened?
Darkness. Yes. That’s what happened.
Screaming. Yes. That’s what happened.
The rain, the rain fell on and on. Something happened in the rain. I was falling into the darkness. Away from it. Away from it all.
Remember. Nothing.
That’s what happened. Nothing happened.
And I fell into the void of dreamless thoughts, murky water and rain.
Emptiness.
Void.
Fog.