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."