Vampire Soul Box Set

  "We're in a real pickle this time, aren't we?" I whispered to him.

  "So it seems," he murmured.

  I started back, and he opened his eyes and smiled at me. My eyes narrowed and I glared at him.

  "How long have you been awake?" I questioned him.

  "Long enough to hear your uncle's advice about knocking doors," he quipped.

  I snorted. "You should hear his advice about dating, but seriously, you scared the heck out of me."

  Roland sat up and winced. "Fortunately, we faced that challenge and overcame it."

  "Yeah, but now we're really on the hotplate with this one," I pointed out. "It's one thing to laugh at the Devil, it's another thing to be laughing at each other."

  "You have me there," he agreed. He shivered and pulled the quilt closer to himself. "I had forgotten how chilly were human souls."

  I frowned. "How come you're feeling different, but I'm not?"

  "The changes are not all at once, and it will differ from person to person. My soul must first acclimate to your physical body," he explained.

  "So how do we get your soul back to you?" I wondered.

  "We must steal the book-"

  "Heroes appropriate," I reminded him.

  He smiled. "We must appropriate the book from Rose and perform the ritual in the mausoleum. No doubt she will have repaired any damage because she still wishes to steal my soul."

  "So what do we do until then?" I asked him.

  He leaned his head back against the pile of pillows behind him and closed his eyes. "Allow me some time to rest, and we will create a plan."

  I stood and looked over his thin form. He looked horribly skinny, but there was a little color on his pale skin.

  "All right, but don't you go wasting away on me. I don't want to come up here and discover a garden in my bed," I teased him.

  He chuckled. "I will be sure not to cause you too much weeding."

  "Are you sure you didn't take more than just my soul?" I asked him.

  "The only certainty in life is uncertainty, so I can't say for sure," he replied.

  I sighed and shrugged. "I guess I'll take that for an answer. Anyway, you get some rest and if you need me I'll be downstairs with Aunt Ma." He nodded his head.

  I walked downstairs and found Aunt Ma at the head of the dining table. She had two steaming mugs of cocoa in front of her. I took a seat beside her and she passed a mug to me.

  "How is he?" she wondered.

  "Faking unconsciousness and health," I told her. I took a sip of the cocoa and wrinkled my nose. The flavor was off. "And I think he's just as lost in this whole mess as I am."

  "A good rest will help you both," she assured me.

  "Yeah, but I'm really-" I glanced at Aunt Ma and my eyes froze on her neck. Her pale, long, tasty neck. My tongue flicked out and I whetted my lips.

  "Misty? Misty, are you all right?" she asked me.

  I tried to shake off the strange hunger that rose up inside me, but I couldn't. Her neck looked like an unattended tap, and I was an alcoholic in desperate need of a drink. I slipped out of my chair and stood beside my aunt with my chest heaving and the hunger eating me up.

  "Misty, what in the world are-" I lunged at her. My hands reached out for her neck.

  "Misty!"

  The loud, strong voice snapped me out of my homicidal plan. I froze a few inches from my aunt's neck and blinked. She blinked back at me.

  "Misty, step back from her," the voice ordered me.

  I looked over my shoulder and saw Roland standing in the doorway. He leaned. against the frame with his face as pale as death and his chest heaving for breath. I stumbled away from my aunt and clutched my forehead in my hand.

  "What the hell was that?" I murmured.

  "The hunger," he told me.

  Aunt Ma stood and rushed to my side. She grasped my right arm and looked into my face. "Are you quite all right?" she asked me.

  Her neck the the veins inside it flowed beside me. I scrunched my eyes shut and shook my head. "No, I don't think I am."

  "You feel the hunger of the vampire," Roland spoke up.

  I opened my eyes and frowned at him. "But I'm not undead," I pointed out.

  He shook his head. "My soul is tainted by my very being, and that being is a vampire."

  I leaned back against the wall and cradled my face in one hand. "Having your soul sucks. Literally."

  "It. . .certainly does," Roland agreed.

  He took a step forward, but his knee buckled and he fell to the floor. Aunt Ma and I jumped over to him and placed ourselves on either side of him. We each took an arm and lifted him off the wood floor. He smiled up at us.

  "Though it does also seem to be a nuisance to be a human," he added.

  "I think you both need to get to bed," Aunt Ma advised us.

  "Aunt Ma, I nearly tried to suck your blood. I don't think a nap's going to fix that," I countered.

  "Rest helps even the wicked, and you two have been through a lot," she insisted. "Now let's get Roland back upstairs and get you to bed."

  I could have really used a drink right then, but I didn't like the limited menu a vampire-soul inhabiting human had to choose from, so I helped Aunt Ma heft Roland into the entrance hall. He was even lighter than when I'd carried him from the cemetery. We made it to the bottom of the stairs when there was a knock on the door.

  "One moment," Aunt Ma told me. She broke from us and answered the door. Uncle Seward stood on the other side with his double-barrel shotgun in hand, and a rifle slung over his shoulder. Aunt Ma frowned at him.

  "I don't remember that second rifle," she scolded him.

  "I bought it last spring for the gophers, and I think we're going to be glad I did," he commented as he stepped inside. He looked Roland nad me over and pursed his lips. "What's he doing down here?"

  "Preventing me from turning Aunt Ma into a smoothy bar," I quipped.

  Uncle Seward's lips tightened and his eyes flickered to Roland. "What does that mean?"

  "It means the vampire soul inside of Misty is causing her to feel the hunger of the vampire," Roland explained.

  Uncle Seward's eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly. "Then she's turning into a vampire?"

  "Not completely," Roland assured him. "Her body is still alive, but it may need the sustenance of blood to survive."

  I whipped my head to him. "Wait, what?"

  "I would explain more, but we have worse problems," Roland returned.

  "What can be worse than me turning into a vampire and testing out my teeth on my aunt and uncle?" I asked him.

  Roland slipped out of my hold and steadied himself on his own two feet. "The hunter knows this place, and he will lead Rose here," he reminded us. He turned his blue eyes on me. "We must leave."

  "But where are we going to go? Ginsleh knows where I live and work, and Rose knows about your vacation home in the woods," I pointed out.

  "Father Malone will shelter us," he told me.

  "Who's Father Malone?" Uncle Seward interrupted.

  "He's the preacher at the church in town. The one on top of the hill," I explained.

  "And he can be trusted?" my uncle questioned us.

  "With our lives," I assured him.

  "But it's your soul we worry about," Aunt Ma quietly spoke up. She walked over and clasped my hands in hers. Her eyes looked into mine and for the first time in my life I saw she was worried. "Promise us you'll be careful."

  I smiled and squeezed her hands. "I promise."

  "And that you'll keep care of Roland."

  "Definitely."

  "And that we can come with you."

  "What?"

  The last word was uttered by the three of us who didn't ask the question, and we all looked at Aunt Ma in shock.

  "You're not coming with us," I told her.

  "But there's not safety in numbers here, Ma," Uncle Seward agreed. "We'd just get in the way and be moving targets for these two crazies."

  "Then you c
an stay and protect the house, but I'm going with them," she insisted.

  I grabbed her upper arms and shook my head. "But you can't. I might try to bite you again."

  "You might, and you might try to bite Roland. He's human now, too," she pointed out. "If there's more than one of us we can protect ourselves, and you."

  "But-"

  "She's right." All of our eyes turned to Roland. His lips were pursed tightly together, but his eyes were firm. "I am in no condition to fend off an attack from you, and the next time you feel the hunger I might not be able to convince you to not attack me."

  My shoulders slumped and my face fell. "Seriously? You're against me, too?"

  Aunt Ma put a hand on my shoulder and smiled at me. "We want to help. Please let us help this time."

  Uncle Seward stepped up to me and I looked up into his face. "Ma's right, Misty. We haven't been helping you much lately, and we'd like to help you out as much as we can now. Besides-" He raised his hands and jingled a set of keys in his hands. "I'm not letting anyone else drive my new truck."

  CHAPTER 5

  A few minutes later found Roland, Aunt Ma, Uncle Seward and me driving down the road in his new truck. Roland and I sat in the back seat, and I glanced across the seat at him.

  "So is there anything else I might need to know about being a sort-of-vampire?" I asked him.

  "Aside from the hunger-"

  "Which is a big aside," I quipped.

  "-there is the darkness. You need no longer fear the night," he told me.

  I snorted. "My near-death experiences beg to differ."

  He smiled. "The shadows of the night are nothing to fear," he corrected himself. "They are no longer an obstacle for you to see into. Not with the eyes of a vampire."

  "So I can see in the dark?" I guessed.

  "Precisely," he confirmed.

  "Is any of this going to be permanent?" Uncle Seward spoke up.

  "Only if my soul remains in Misty," Roland told him.

  "This isn't going to be a long-term contract, Uncle Seward," I assured him. "It's more like a renter's agreement for a night."

  "So how are you going to get your souls in the right body?" he asked us.

  "We haven't got that far in the planning process, but we're working on it," I assured him.

  "At the moment we need a place we can be sure to be safe," Roland explained. He turned his eyes on me. "And Misty must learn to use my powers to protect us."

  I held up my hands. "Don't expect too much. I've never ridden this bicycle before."

  "The controls are simple," he assured me. "You merely concentrate on the scenery around you."

  I looked around the confined cabin space. "Not much to look at."

  "Don't make me stop this truck and turn us around," Uncle Seward scolded me.

  Roland chuckled. "Focus on the corners and see if you can penetrate the darkness."

  I squinted my eyes and stared at the dark spots at my feet. After a moment I shook my head. "Nope, not seeing anything."

  "You're trying too hard," Roland told me. "It must come naturally."

  "Staring at the floor isn't natural," I argued.

  "Perhaps it would help if you had a purpose for looking," Roland mused.

  "If that's what she needs then she can look for my screwdriver," Uncle Seward suggested. "I lost it down there a couple days ago and can't find it."

  I leaned down, but my seatbelt tried to strangle me. "Watch the road really well, Uncle Seward," I told him as I unbuckled my seatbelt.

  Aunt Ma turned around and frowned. "Misty, you put that seatbelt on this minute."

  I slid onto the floor and looked around. "One sec. I think this is actually helping."

  There was some improvement in my vision, and each moment of playing hide-and-seek with a tool helped my eyes. In a few moments the corners were no longer dark cesspools of dirt and invisible monsters, but were clear as day. I spotted something in the corner beneath Roland and crawled across the floor to snatch it in my hand.

  I sat up and held the screwdriver triumphantly in my hand. "Got it!"

  Roland smiled. "You would make a very good vampire," he complimented me.

  "You'll make a really good splatter on the windshield if you don't get that seatbelt back on you, young lady," Uncle Seward added.

  I looked through the front seats at my aunt and uncle. "I'll be-look out!"

  I pointed at two dark shadows that swooped down from the sky. They flew over the hood and disappeared over the roof of the cab. Something was dropped on the roof and a loud thunk resounded through the cab. A hail of bullets penetrated the roof and ripped the center of the roof and cab apart. One of the bullets shot through my shoulder and burned my skin like fire.

  "Ah!" I cried out.

  "Hold on!" Uncle Seward yelled.

  Roland unbuckled himself and caught me in his arms. Uncle Seward slammed his foot on the brakes and the truck came to a screeching halt of burning rubber. Our spare passenger slid onto the hood, but caught himself on the ornament before he dropped to the road. Ginsleh lifted his head and glared at us, and in one hand was a large double-barrel shotgun. The hunter lifted his gun onto the hood and pointed the smoking barrels at us.

  Uncle Seward glared at the hunter and shifted the gears. "Like hell I'm letting you hurt my family, or more of my truck!"

  My uncle slammed his foot on the gas pedal and the truck jumped backward. Ginsleh jerked backward and the gun slipped off the hood. Uncle Seward turned the wheel and the truck spun in a one-eighty circle. The hunter clung to the ornament, but the ornament wasn't meant for the weight of a desperate man. The stoic ram had a surprised look on its face as it broke from the hood. Ginsleh's face looked the same as the pair fell off the truck and clattered to the road.

  Uncle Seward slung his arm over the side of his seat and looked back. "Both of you stay down!" he snapped at us.

  Roland pulled me close against him so we were both tight in the corner. I cried out and clutched my bleeding arm. Aunt Ma turned around and Uncle Seward's eyes fell on my wound.

  "Misty!" she yelled.

  A small shadow landed hard on the hood of the car and we all turned our attention to Rose who stood atop the truck. Her black robe billowed behind her, and in one hand was the grimoire. She lifted her free hand and her voice echoed through the air.

  "By the darkness in my hand and the dark lord in the land, let our souls be born anew in the body-"

  HONK.

  Rose started back and her concentration was ruined. Aunt Ma slammed her palm on the horn another few times, but Uncle Seward brushed her hand away.

  "It's only gonna work once, Ma!" he scolded her.

  He slammed his foot on the gas and the truck leapt forward. The wind flew over the hood of the truck and Rose lost her balance. She fell off the side, but caught herself before she hit the ground. We sped past the floating young vampire and down the country road.

  "What was that girl back there?" Uncle Seward asked us.

  "A vampire with a height problem," I told him.

  He frowned and leaned over the steering wheel. "Then what was that one guy doing with her? I thought he hated vampires."

  "He kind of forgot that part of his life," I explained.

  "But not how to try to kill people?" he pointed out.

  I shrugged. "I guess amnesia isn't an equal opportunity illness."

  "We must focus on the matter at hand," Roland spoke up.

  "Yes, that little girl was very rude," Aunt Ma agreed. "And the book she had in her hand was very old. She should have held it with more care."

  My eyes lit up. "The book! We need to go back and get that book!"

  Roland shook his head. "Not with your family present. The risk is too great."

  "Oh, don't worry about us. We'll be fine," Aunt Ma assured him.

  "And we need it to get our souls back in the right bodies," I reminded him.

  Uncle Seward glanced between us. "You're saying you absolutely need that book to
fix this?"

  "Yes," Roland confirmed.

  "Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Uncle Seward snapped as he stomped on the brake and spun us around back in the direction of town and our foes.

  I hung on to the oh-shit handle above my door as I was squeezed against the side of the truck. "Because I'm more worried about surviving your driving," I snapped.

  "Never mind my driving. How do we get that book away from her?" he asked us.

  "Well, I don't think saying 'please' is going to work," I quipped.

  "Misty will wrestle the book from her while we distract Ginsleh," Roland suggested.

  I whipped my head to him. "Are you crazy? She'll cut off my head before I get two quips out."

  "You have the strengths of a vampire and are more than an equal match for her because of your body's age," he assured me.

  "And if you're wrong?" I asked him.

  "Then she will not kill you until after she has stolen my soul from your body," he replied.

  I threw my arms up in the air. "Wonderful. Just wonderful." I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. "Well, let's get this over with. I'm not getting any deader. Yet."

  CHAPTER 6

  We bumped down the road back towards our deadly foes. All our attention was on the road in front and around us. Uncle Seward slowed the car down and frowned.

  "Why are we stopping?" I asked him.

  "Because this is the mile post we were at when they attacked us," he explained.

  I looked out my window at the night. My eyesight was good enough that I could see like it was daylight. "So where are-" Something heavy dropped onto the roof of the truck and in a moment there came a hail of bullets into the center of the cab.

  We hit our doors and watched the center of the cab get eaten alive by the hungry bullets.

  "Me and my big mouth!" I shouted.

  "Everyone outside!" Roland yelled.

  We opened our doors and tumbled onto the road. Uncle Seward rolled onto his knees and turned around to face with truck with his rifle at the ready and his eye looking through the scope. He shot off a couple of rounds. Ginsleh jumped off the cab and into the tall bed. He poked his head up and pointed his own high-powered gun at Uncle Seward.

  Roland lunged over the side of the truck and grabbed Ginsleh. The madman's shot flew wild and missed the top of Uncle Seward's head by a foot. Aunt Ma joined Roland and they both grabbed hold of Ginsleh's arms.

  "That is no way to behave!" Aunt Ma scolded him.

  "Release me!" Ginsleh shouted.