You Can't Go Home Again, page 20
part #3 of Liars and Vampires Series
Stop it, Cassie, I told myself. Mill and Iona didn’t stop you all here for nothing. They know the vampires’ limits.
Mil had also said it was necessary to get closer than before … but I bit down on that thought, silencing it. My heart was beating fast enough as it was.
“I wonder what Lockwood is doing …” I murmured. “I know that he’ll get those vampires inside somehow but … I don’t know how.”
Gen looked up at me. “So how did you meet these guys?”
I gave her a brief account of how all of them had sort of forced their way into my life.
“Florida seems to be treating you pretty well, then?” Gen asked.
I could hear the hesitation in her voice, the hope that it wasn’t true. “It’s nothing like here, that’s for sure,” I said. “I don’t know. Part of me really hates it because it’s not here, you know? It’s hot and humid, and I’ve heard it just gets worse as we get closer to summer. Like, you know how it’s so cold here in the winter that no one goes outside? It’s the same in Florida, except it’s literally too hot. I miss the trees, the forests. The grass. Is that weird? And I really miss the hills. It’s so flat there.”
“But you have beaches and palm trees and no snow.”
“Those things are great,” I agreed. “There’s awesome food everywhere. And it always sort of feels like you’re on vacation … at least it did when we first moved there. Once the vampires appeared … well, that sort of killed it for me.”
Gen nodded solemnly. “And school? Made some friends?”
I thought of Xandra for the first time in days, and Gregory’s and Laura’s faces swam across my mind as well.
“I guess,” I said. “Though only because I had Byron chasing after me.” I hung my head. “I don’t know if any of them would have spoken to me otherwise.”
I took a deep breath. The air smelled so much different than in Florida—like woods, damp earth, the subtle fragrance of a forest spread all around, instead of distant saltwater and exhaust. I wished I could bottle it and take it back with me.
There was the rustling of feet on the ground, and Iona and Mill stepped back into sight, Lockwood not far behind them.
“It’s done,” Iona said, dropping the empty can on the ground.
Mill was still bent over, pouring the gasoline in a line along the forest floor. He continued to pour it until he just about reached me, and then capped it.
Lockwood came to stand behind me, as did Mill and Iona.
I pulled a lighter out of my pocket, a cheap one I had picked up when we had bought gas and the cans from the store. It was red with a picture of an eagle on it.
Freedom. How I longed for it. How I would cherish it when this was all over. Freedom from these creatures and the claws that they’d sunk into my life and those around me. Freedom from the fear they caused, the sleepless nights, the feeling of helplessness.
I flipped it open and flicked it into life, the tiny flame casting dancing light over the ground.
“Here we go,” I said—and tossed the lighter onto the trail of gasoline.
The effect was instant. Flames erupted in a flash of yellow-orange light. They tore across the gasoline circle in both direction, a roar of fire that filled the night, illuminating it as if the sun itself had been placed directly beneath the earth and its light released via troughs cut through to it.
The smell of forest was quenched. Burning gasoline replaced it, choking it out.
The flames cut through the forest with ferocious speed. I tracked them in both directions, as they circled toward the lodge—and then one curved right to the building’s wall, rising, lapping hungrily.
“And now I’m arsonist,” I said. “They weren’t kidding; lying really is a kind of gateway drug.”
I did genuinely feel bad. The lodge was a treasured landmark in the town. I didn’t even want to think about how old the building itself was. But I also had known that the police would write the burning off as another crime in this sudden wave. Another lie, but the police were better off never finding out the truth. If this was a way that I could protect them along with everyone in town, then so be it. And now the smell of burning wood filled the air too, making my stomach turn. It had only been, what? Less than four hours since my childhood home was burned down? But I forced it down, watching, teeth clenched, as the flames ate up the entire side of the lodge—then found the roof, crawling across it as the wind blew it along.
I hoped that this wouldn’t get out of control before the firefighters could get here. We didn’t need a forest fire on our hands on top of the vampires.
It was like a beacon in the night, as bright as the sun, shadows dancing and flickering all around. A light in the darkness. Hope.
“It’s kind of poetic, isn’t it?” Gen said quietly, resolutely. “‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’”
“Not sure that’s what the golden rule is really about,” I said, “and I know revenge is a no-no, but aren’t vampires damned anyways?”
“Watch it,” Iona said. “Present company.”
“Here they come,” Mill said, obviously not hearing a word we were saying. He pulled a few small vials of holy water that I had filled for him—he and Iona wouldn’t even step into the church when we were there—and moved to stand closer to me. “Get ready.”
Sure enough, vampires were starting to stream out of the lodge and into the night, their snarls and howling filling the air. Some of them were half-dressed, definitely lacking armor.
“Nice work, Cassie,” Iona said. She laughed wickedly. “See? How do you punks like it?”
I didn’t want to say it out loud, but I was very pleased to hear her say that.
“Be on the lookout,” Lockwood said, pulling a few silver-tipped stakes from the inside of his suit coat. Mill and I had talked about these before, during training. The silver gave them added piercing strength, in case of armor, something vampires occasionally employed. Lockwood handed two to me with a wink. “They will be on top of us any second.”
I lifted the stakes and shoved them into my hair, feeling even more like myself with them there, and cocked the water gun, pointing it into the darkness.
“Let ’em come,” I said, surprised at how steady my hands were. “I’m ready.”
Chapter 37
The first vampire that burst out of the darkness almost elicited a panicked shriek from me, even though I knew it was coming. I could hear it stumbling through the woods, hear its angry snarling.
Almost. Because when it launched itself through the trees at us, even though a spear of terror ran through me, like it always did when I came face-to-face with these monsters—I acted on another instinct too: the instinct to stamp these abominations out.
I pulled the trigger of my water gun, hard.
A stream of clear water shot out of the end of the water gun, bathing the vampire’s face. It stopped dead in its tracks, howling in pain as its face broke out in blisters and sores.
Another appeared, and Iona stepped in, shoving it out of the way as her shoulder collided with his side, sending him flying. She chased after him, nothing more than a blur. Something silver glinted near the house—the Butcher, his knife flashing with a reflection of the fire. He seemed to wait there for a moment, stalking back and forth like a hungry coyote, before taking off into the surrounding forest toward us.
“Not good,” I said, squirting another vampire in the side as it lurched for Mill. “The Butcher! Guys, watch out! He’s in the trees! Don’t let him get behind us!” I called to Mill. I hoped Iona was close enough to hear, too.
“I’ll find him,” Mill snarled, and after shoving an open vial of holy water into the mouth of the vampire that he was fighting, he sped off through the trees in search of our main target. His last foe dissolved into black goo, shuddering and hissing under the effect of the holy water.
I didn’t have time to watch Mill go. Another vampire launched itself through the trees, his fangs shining in the firelight.
With a squirt to the face, the vampire fell to his knees, screaming.
“Get behind me,” I ordered Gen, who immediately obeyed.
I looked around, all of Mill’s numerous, varying instructions whirling around in my brain.
Get to higher ground.
Find an advantage.
Run if you have to.
Anything can be used to help keep them at bay if you are clever enough. Glancing about in this brief respite, I noticed a tree with a series of low branches, easy enough to get up into without having to actually climb and let go of my weapon.
“Hop up there,” I told Gen, pointing.
She clambered up, and as I followed, I had just enough time to pump the water gun before another vampire came hurtling out of the shadows toward us, a friend close behind.
Gen didn’t even need me to tell her what to do. With a cry of fear, or adrenaline, or blood lust I didn’t know, she shot the water through the air in an arch. The stream was a direct hit, on each of them in turn, hitting skin—an arm, the other’s exposed chest. They recoiled, screaming as they blistered, skin hissing.
Their shrieks joined the cacophony already unfolding in the night, from vampires here, fighting us, and the ones who fled from the lodge in a panic, or perhaps caught alight unwittingly as it began its speedy collapse, dissolving from the trench the holy water had carved into its chest.
“Well done!” I shouted.
“Thanks!” Gen breathed, her cheeks flushed as I chanced a glance at her. “I’m glad that I’ve been going hunting with Dad in the fall the last few years. It looks like it’s coming in handy—” Then her words were cut off by a scream, and with horror, I wheeled around in the tree to see a pair of hands around Gen’s throat.
Flashbacks of Jacquelyn sent me into a mad frenzy.
Without thinking about my arm scraping against the rough bark of the tree and ripping through my shirt, I raised my water gun to eye level and took aim at the vamp’s hands.
The water splashed all over Gen’s face—but the vampire let go, hissing. It lurched around the tree, hands burning and hissing.
A tall, thin male with stringy black hair, he gnashed his teeth at us—
A different girl might have frozen in terror, but Gen was very much the ‘two’ to the one-two punch I’d started. Loosing an enraged battle cry, she pumped her trigger, dousing him in holy water that sent him reeling back as though we’d turned a firefighters’ hose on him—one spewing not water but hydrochloric acid.
But though he fell back, more pushed forward.
“Is there an end to these idiots?” I asked, leveling my gun and firing again. Unfortunately, the holy water did not totally incapacitate. Some of the first attackers were rising again, fighting back against the agony roaring through their bodies and preparing to launch a renewed assault on our position.
“Let’s move,” I told Gen, hopping down out of the tree. If any vampires were to grab her, I wasn’t sure I could stop them, even if we had the height advantage.
A vampire with swinging dreadlocks appeared, running without a care for his comrades.
Both Gen and I took aim, but Dreadlocks dodged and weaved like a pro, avoiding our twin streams.
“Water balloons,” I said, pulling one from a clip on my belt.
Gen readied hers. We threw.
More screams filled the air as they struck with a splash, our very own anti-vampire grenades. Dreadlocks fell down, missing half his head. He must have really gotten doused. Still more vampires appeared, taking his place.
“This is insane,” I said, my heart thundering against my chest. My hands cramped as I pumped the lever on the gun again.
These were made for play. Not battle.
Another vamp stumbled as we hit it with a double bomb, its leg coming off.
But the one behind scrambled over her back and dove at us.
We kept moving back, away from the flaming lodge, the vampires pushing us farther and farther into the trees. The shadows were our enemy—and, I realized with a sickening lurch, as we moved away from the circle of fire they were growing in numbers.
“Cassie, I can’t see anything,” came Gen’s voice behind me.
“We’re going to have to make a run for the lodge.”
“Balloon barrage on three?” Gen asked.
Clever girl. “On three.”
Both of us pulled some balloons from our belts and tossed them back toward the lodge, into the seeping darkness—then—
“Run!” I screamed, grabbing her hand and sprinting through the trees parallel to the lodge, keeping it in sight all the while. Snarling came from behind us. No hands grabbed out, so I could only assume the temporary assault had given them pause.
But I didn’t look back to be certain.
Gen’s hand was slick with sweat, but I held onto it. I was not going to lose her as I ducked and dove between the trees back toward the lodge. I was going to keep her by my side if it was the very last thing I did.
I’d lost Jacquelyn already. Gen would not join her.
We had made it back around to where Mill had lit the trail of gasoline in the first place. A pile of Iona’s makeshift torches were there.
“Here,” I said, passing one to Gen. “When we get close, just hold it near the flames. We can use it as a defense.”
“Got it,” Gen said.
Almost the moment I’d said it, two vampires lurched out of the darkness.
I raised my torch, Gen beside me doing the same—
But the gap they’d appeared from had been too close. If they’d taken a splash of holy water, they were well over it by now; they moved with insane speed, closing the gap between us—and sending the torches spinning out of our hands with sharp slaps that reverberated through the bones of my entire arm.
The torches landed, extinguishing.
Panic threatened to rise.
I swallowed hard, pushing it down.
This was the time I knew was coming. It was inevitable.
I was going to have to fight these losers.
“Stay behind me,” I told Gen. “Whatever happens, stay behind me.”
I looked at the vamps. “Who wants to dance?”
They surged for me—
Yanking one of the stakes out of my hair, I blocked one of the vamp’s arms as she latched onto the front of my shirt in an iron grip. I plunged the stake into her cold flesh.
The vampire howled, black blood squirting out of the wound. Acrid and sulfurous, the smell fought for dominance against the gasoline and the fire.
But the other vampire was still coming, trying to scramble over the first as she fell to the ground, clutching her arm and wailing.
I reached up into the tree over my head, and latched onto the branch. Using my own body weight, I swung at the other with my feet. I caught her surging forward, sending her crashing back to the ground.
A water balloon sailed over my head and struck the vamp in the chest. She reared back with teeth bared, a faint sizzle rising over her snarls—but only the skin of her face was exposed, and the holy water had hardly touched it.
She repositioned her feet, lunged—
I threw myself forward to meet her. Stake raised, I stabbed out—right through her cheek and into her jaw.
The vampire screeched, a banshee wail, and I drew the stake free, tar-like blood coursing over my hands—
And then I plunged it into her chest, the silver tip cutting right through like a hot knife through butter.
The vampire collapsed backward. Body degrading, she fell into a heap, edges blurring and darkening as she seemed to collapse in on herself, turning to tar.
“Whoa,” said Gen, eyes wide.
“‘Whoa’ is right,” I said, clambering to my feet. “Thank you, Lockwood.”
“You are quite welcome.”
I jerked around, surprised. Lockwood stood with a pleasant smile on his face, backlit by the burning lodge, his suit utterly covered in black blood. He could have passed for a horror movie villain.
“There are more out here,” said Lockwood, retrieving new stakes from his suit pockets and handing a pair to me. “We need to get back to the lodge, regroup with Miss Iona and Master Mill.”
“That’s where we were heading,” I said.
“I’ll lead the way,” Lockwood said. “Stay close. I rather think Master Mill will never let me see the light of day again if I allow anything to happen to you or your friend, Miss Cassandra.”
We followed him down through the trees and up toward the hill where the lodge was. It looked almost glorious, burning like a pyre, the flames licking high into the night sky, silhouetting the wrecked framework that it tore through with a crackling vengeance.
Three figures were silhouetted against it: the Butcher, long knife flashing, bald dome of a head shining; and Mill and Iona, blocking him in.
Lockwood said, “Miss Cassandra, I believe that I should stay back here with Miss Genesee. This fight … might be a bit much.”
I glanced over to Gen, expecting a fight. But her face had paled. The night’s combat had caught up with her—as had the reality of the stakes (pun not intended), seeing me murder vampires in cold blood right in front of her to save our skin. I nodded. “All right. Take care of her, Lockwood.”
“With my life, Miss Cassandra.”
I jogged out toward Mill and Iona, ready to end this thing—
And then something slammed into me from the darkness. I cartwheeled over, a spinning firework of limbs. The forest spun, the flames too, and for a moment as I was airborne I realized how terrible this error had been, in forgetting Lockwood’s warning, that other vampires were still out here—
I hit the trunk of a tree diagonally. My back bent around it, and I screamed with pain, sure it would break—
I fell forward, landed hard on my knees—
A sharp uppercut connected with my jaw, sending me reeling backward. I gasped—Then hands had me—cold, icy, concrete hands, gripping my shoulders from behind.
“Time for you to atone for your sins, friend,” a voice hissed in my ear.
