A few of the Elders had finally arrived that afternoon and had taken Frank into 'custody' back up the mountain. At least the family was safe in the knowledge that one of the new-born vampires was out of harm's way and out of reach of the innocent people of Powell River.
They all kept an eye and an ear out for any signs of the rogue vampires that evening, all concerned why he (or she) had decided to target Lilly. It was a question on all of their minds and none knew the answer.
"If whatever it was had planned to attack, then why didn't it? I walked all the way back from Ben's alone. They could've easily followed me all the way from there. Why didn't they just do it?" asked Lilly as she tucked into a slice of hot and spicy pepperoni pizza later that evening.
"If Gabriel knew you were out wandering alone when there is a predator on the loose, Lilly, he'd have your guts for garters," scolded Meredith.
Duly told off, Lilly looked around at the faces of her family members. They all held the same expression. They all knew that she could have been killed.
She felt stupid, incredibly stupid. Ben had insisted on giving her a ride home and she had turned him down. She wouldn't do it again. That much she knew for sure.
"I don't want any of you alone at any time, do you all understand?" said Carmelo, as the younger ones nodded back to him.
"And I mean you too Sammy, and you Wyatt, John? This monster could attack any one of you. If he has his sights set on this family, he might wait for anyone to be alone. Just because he didn't attack Lilly today, doesn't mean he won't do it next time. Don't give him the opportunity. In the meantime, I've called for some back up. I've got some of the region's finest witches on their way. They should be here tomorrow. They might be able to identify the perpetrator. I've also got a number of vampires coming down the mountain. With their eyes and ears, they might be able to recognise someone from the old days. I'm pretty certain this is someone that goes way back."
She hadn't a clue why she and her family were being targeted and it pained her to know that they were all in danger.
But Lilly was relieved to hear of Carmelo's plans. The more help the citizens of Powell River had, the better.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
A few days had passed since December found out the truth about her Grandmother and she had still not heard back from Lilly. But, truth be told, she wasn't too concerned. She had a lot on her mind herself.
Monty revealed that he had known all along... about everything. But he had been sworn to secrecy. She forgave him though. She now knew how important keeping these secrets really was.
As she padded down the soft carpeted stairs, she heard her mother's voice. She was talking on the phone with one of her clients. Moira was an interior decorator, and a good one at that.
"Yes, Lisa, I can come round later today. I'll be there at four this afternoon if that's okay with you? Hmm? Excellent. I'll see you then. Bye." She replaced the cordless phone back on its stand in the hallway and looked up, her curls dropping in front of her eyes. Blowing them away, she smiled at her daughter.
"As much as I love being here at home with you, I guess I need to get some work done. We also need to get everything you need for school on Monday."
December rolled her eyes. It was something she had been dreading, school. The only time school had ever been enjoyable was when she was with Lilly. After she had left, it had become almost painful. The lack of friends, the occasional taunt from fellow students and the general feeling she'd got when she walked through those school gates every morning left her feeling physically sick.
The emotions clouded her face and weren't missed by her mother.
"December?" she asked, "Come and sit down and tell me all about it. Why are you dreading it so much?"
Together they walked through to the large living room and sat next to each other on the smallest of the sofas.
With December's hand in her own, Moira looked into her eyes and listened carefully as she poured her heart out. She told her mother all about her one and only true friend Lilly, and of the awful experience she'd lived through. Her parents vanishing, then her move to Canada and the truth about Vivian not being Lilly's mother at all, but a cruel kidnapper. She didn't tell her that Vivian was actually an evil witch because December had no idea herself. She explained that after she'd left, she had often been the gentle target of some of the class bullies and was so nervous about going to another school in case it all started again, like a vicious circle.
"Now, now, my angel. You forget who and what you are. If you really want people to like you for you, they will. It's as easy as that. Don't give them the opportunity to be nasty to you. If they do happen to be horrible to you, then you can simply, with the flick of your hand, make something happen - nothing bad, mind you - just a little something to make them look silly. I did it myself when I was your age."
"You were bullied?" she asked, surprised.
Her mother nodded with a cheeky smile as she fingered her hair, "with this red hair. You betcha! But it lasted mere days. After a couple of little embarrassing accidents whenever they were near me, it soon stopped," she giggled.
Returning her smile, the tension in December's shoulders visibly melted away. "You'll have to teach me, Mom. I don't know how to use this magic of ours."
Moira patted her hand, "It's already in here," she said as she placed her hand over her heart, "You just have to bring it out. It's easy. Come, while the sun's shining, let's go outside and I'll show you."
Monty was busying himself in the garden, humming away happily when they appeared with a glass of home-made lemonade for him.
He thanked them, drank it down in one long gulp and turned to admire his handiwork.
"You're doing a fine job, Monty. I'm so pleased to have you here," said Moira.
"I'm pleased as pie to be here, my dear. I haven't had this much fun in years."
"That's only because you've got me for company," said a voice out of nowhere.
Chuckling, Monty turned to watch as Ruby's familiar translucent slender frame slowly came into view. "Aye, you're probably right, love," he winked.
Moira shook her head with a laugh and left her dead mother and Monty to continue flirting as he tended to the garden.
Once out of earshot, December whispered, "I'm not sure but I do believe Ruby has a bit of a soft spot for Monty."
"You're absolutely right and by the looks of things, the feeling is mutual. It's such a shame that she's dead. They'd make a lovely couple." They both turned and watched as they continued to flirt, a fit man in his sixties and the translucent figure of a dead woman. As if it were the most natural thing in the world.
At the very bottom of the garden, before it opened up into a wild open field surrounded by thick heavy trees covered in golden brown and red leaves, there was a pretty little white pergola covered in climbing ivy. December followed her mother inside and took a seat.
"I know that you've experienced magic at least once, because you mentioned it the other day. That day in the gym. You must have really wanted it to happen. That really is all you need to know in order for the magic to occur, you know."
December thought back to that day and recalled how much she hated gym class. Detested was a better word. She must have subconsciously wished, deeply, for the water to appear everywhere and that's exactly what happened.
She also recalled the day in Battersea Park when she had tried to make bubbles appear in the Thames, but she had failed miserably. Initially there had been a voice inside her head, telling her that she needed to really want for it to happen. The voice had quietened down when she had felt the presence of a person so close to her. Thinking back she realised it must've been the fear that prevented it. And perhaps the fact that she wasn't really that interested in seeing bubbles in the water!
Moira was watching her as she sat there deep in thought and as December realised that fear can upset the balance, Moira smiled.
"See, you're starting to understand how it works. Like I said, it's a
ll in there to begin with."
"But I didn't say a word, how did you know what I was thinking?" as she asked, she realised the obvious answer. Her mother was a witch after all.
"Okay, I get it. Does that mean that we can read minds?" she asked.
Shaking her head, Moira replied, "It's not something we can do in our everyday lives. And we can't always do it. I could understand your thoughts just then because you were focussing so hard on the magic and the fear. We certainly can't read random everyday thoughts. I wouldn't want to. Did you ever see that Mel Gibson movie, What Women Want? Can you imagine living with that? No thank you!" she laughed.
"So, we can only read the minds of those that are thinking about magic?"
"Pretty much, although sometimes we can pick up on the thoughts of supernatural beings, which can prove helpful, especially in dangerous situations."
Hoping that she would never have to deal with any kind of dangerous situation, December shivered a little.
"Let's try your magic. See this cushion? I want you to make it lift into the air."
December sat upright and took a long deep breath. She looked long and hard at the soft yellow cushion, concentrating so hard that her eyes began to ache.
"No... you're trying too hard, December. You want it to move, simply make it move. Like this," she said as she demonstrated, the cushion hopping up and down as if dancing to music.
Laughing, December tried once again. She managed to move it very slightly to the left, and then to the right. As the gentle sounds of her giggling increased, so did the height of the dancing cushion. She spun it around and let it dance in the air gracefully before she let it slide back down to the seat.
"See? It's easy. Now, see the climbing ivy on the pergola? I want you to make it dance around."
Sure enough, moments later, December controlled the movements of the plant as it twisted and turned around the little pergola where they sat. When she calmed her thoughts down, the dancing ivy returned to its rightful place.
"Can I show Ruby and Monty?"
Moira nodded and the two walked out onto the grass. December shouted, "I'll race you!" and with a chuckle, the two of them ran up the garden towards the house.
"Monty, Ruby... look what I can do?"
They turned to watch in delighted fascination as she and her mother made the garden furniture dance around the deck. Chairs swirled around each other as if dancing a waltz, a wooden table hopped from one leg to another and a parasol swung around and around in circles.
Turning to her mother, December's face was alight with utter delight. She felt her body fill with happiness as she finally felt like she had come home.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Lilly had been so focussed and concerned with what had been going on in Powell River that she had completely forgotten about getting back in touch with December.
In her last email, her best friend had told her how close they now lived to each other but Lilly knew that if she contacted her, December would want to visit. Powell River was just far too dangerous for her at the moment. It would have to wait.
For the time being, at least until they were certain the area was safe again, Carmelo and Jo would remain at Lilly's house. Rose, in the meantime, had moved in with Meredith, John and their son, Cormac. It was fortunate that their other two boys, Shayne and Bailey, were away studying, safe. Nobody was to be left alone.
One of Carmelo's close allies was a German vampire called Ursula, who had lived with the Elders for many years. Not only was she an ally, but a good and faithful friend. That day she had arrived with a small group from the mountains, followed closely behind by a group of male and female witches from all over Canada and the US.
Lilly had briefly met two other witches in the mountains when Vivian had been caught, but neither were among those that were introduced to her now. All had been briefed about recent events and they had been told to report to Carmelo at Lilly's home, which would be used as their temporary base.
The witches had arrived in several large and, surprisingly luxurious, RVs so Lilly didn't have to worry about preparing any sleeping facilities for them - not that anyone was thinking about sleep. They had a much more important issue to attend to, finding the rogue vampire.
There were seven women and two men and none, thought Lilly, looked like witches. Although she was now well aware that witches could come in any guise.
Emilie, Victoria, Sally, Hyacinth, Hope, Margot, Agnes, Philippe and Felix. The names were reeled off to her but Lilly was barely able to recall which name belonged to which witch as they all smiled kindly and then quickly shuffled back off to their vehicles to continue doing whatever it was they did in there. Lilly decided to leave them to it and not to ask any questions. Not yet, anyway.
Feeling almost lost in her own home, Lilly went and sat down in a corner of the living room, trying to hear what was going on without getting in the way. Sammy joined her, handing her a hot cup of sweet tea before he sat down alongside her.
"It's a little weird, isn't it? Having all these people in the house?" he said as she sipped carefully as to not burn her lips.
Nodding, she watched as Ursula and Carmelo looked over a map of the local area, adding little points to where each attack had occurred to see if there was any pattern. There wasn't, of course. It wasn't easy when there were just two separate incidents. The attack in the forest was miles from Mrs Murray's house and Mrs Murray's house was miles from Frank Jensen's house - which, it had been discovered, was where he had become a vampire in the first place.
They had no clues to go on. Usually new-born vamps left a scent or a trail but there was nothing. They were beginning to think that Mrs Murray's attacker was the rogue vamp himself. But why had he transformed Frank? Was he planning to make even more vampires?
"I vill head into town and see if zere is anyone I recognise," suggested Ursula. Carmelo nodded in agreement, "Yes, but take Lilly and Tabitha with you. They know the town, and the locals, better than you do," he smiled.
She nodded one short nod and turned abruptly to the two cousins. Tabitha had since joined her and Sammy in the corner.
"Shall ve?"
Noticing her impatience, the two girls jumped up and went and grabbed their coats and bags. They knew not to keep a woman like Ursula waiting.
Tabitha drove them into town in her battered old Mustang and they parked right outside Starbucks before beginning a slow walk, keeping a close eye on anybody they didn't recognise or anyone acting suspiciously.
"I can't believe that so many people are out and about. It's almost as if there hasn't been an alert. These people should be in hiding, not out doing their shopping or drinking coffee," said Tabitha as she shook her head.
"People never do vat zey are told to do. Zey zink zings vill happen to ozer people," answered Ursula in her strong German accent as the two girls struggled to understand but nodded anyway.
After an hour, all seemed like it usually did in the town. There didn't appear to be anybody unusual around and certainly nobody doing anything out of the ordinary.
"Shall we grab a coffee before we head back home? Is that okay with you, Ursula?" asked Tabitha, unsure whether the vampire ever drank anything.
The tall German woman nodded, "I vill vait here by ze car. Take your time. Enjoy your... your... coffee."
The girls gave her the car key so she could sit down if she so wished and headed into Starbucks. After they'd ordered a Peppermint Latte and a Caramel Machiato, they took their hot drinks and sat down in one of the booths by the window, maintaining a look out for unusual behaviour.
"Hey... it's that cute guy again," said Tabitha, nudging Lilly's leg with her foot. "Look, he's over there."
Lilly turned and sure enough, hiding behind his laptop and glasses, sat the young man who had bumped into her the last time she'd been there for coffee. As she looked, she soon noticed that he was looking straight at her. She turned abruptly, embarrassed at being caught.
She could feel his ey
es boring into the back of her head and her cheeks blushed to a crimson red. The feeling was unsettling and so she suggested they finished their coffees outside with Ursula.
Tabitha agreed. The problem was that to get outside, they had to walk right past him. Still blushing, Lilly stood tall and followed behind Tabitha who walked quickly through the queue that had developed since they'd sat down. Lilly wasn't as quick and managed to get held up behind a couple of people blocking the way.
As she slowed down, she looked across the room and saw the young man had disappeared. Relief flooded through her and she let out a slow breath. But as she turned back, she noticed someone standing a little too close for comfort. It was him.
With her sensitive sense of smell, she could smell something strange on him. It was unpleasant. It turned her stomach. It was that same metallic odour she'd picked up outside of Rose's cottage. He smelled of blood. As soon as she realised what it was, she couldn't help but look at his face, for a second his eyes turned black and he smiled at her, revealing a set of fangs. A split second later, he looked completely normal again. He was toying with her.
Lilly shifted as quickly as she could and the people in front of her moved, allowing her finally, to exit the cafe.
"It's him... Tabitha... Ursula. It's the guy," she yelled the moment she reached the car. "He's the vampire!" she mouthed.
"Vhere?" yelled Ursula as she turned and ran towards the entrance.
"He was right behind me!"
Ursula opened the door and quickly walked inside, but it was too late. He'd gone. The scent lost yet again.
"Damn it!" she yelled as a passer-by looked her up and down and quickly rushed by in fear. Ursula certainly didn't look like someone you'd mess with.
"Ve must head straight back home and you vill describe him to us. Get in... drive, Tabiza. And fast."
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