Awakened (Book #5 of the Vampire Legends) (7 page)

“No. I don’t
remember that, but that’s what everyone’s been telling me,” Rachel said.

“What happened to
you?” her mom asked. “One day you just left us.”

“Mom! I don’t
know,” Rachel said, as she began to cry again. “This is all so upsetting to me.
I don’t even remember moving. I don’t remember anything about it. I feel like a
crazy person, Mom.”

“Rachel, don’t
worry. We will sort this all out,” her mom said. “Can you help me up?”

She looked over
at her mom and saw that she was trying to sit herself up in bed.

“Mom, I should
call the nurse in here. I don’t know if you should be doing that,” Rachel said.

Then all of a
sudden the beeping began getting louder and louder on her monitor.

“Lay back down!
Lay back down!” Rachel said.

Within seconds
the same two nurses came rushing back into the room to check on her mom.

“What’s happening
with her today?” one nurse said.

“Oh no! Is she
ok?” Rachel asked.

Then, the beeping
slowed back down to the normal rate and the nurses left the room.

“Mom, please stop
scaring me like that! Are you trying to tell me something?” Rachel asked. “I
already said I was sorry for everything I did. Please don’t leave us!”

Rachel didn’t
know how much time she’d have left with her mom, so she reached into the pocket
of her coat and pulled out the letter. She placed it in front of her moms face so
that when she opened her eyes, she’d see it.

Rachel waited,
and then, her mom opened her eyes. She could see her mom focusing on the letter
and then look over at her. Her eyes grew big and a look came over her face
she’d never seen before. Rachel knew she was about to open up a can of worms
and for a second regretted her decision to bring the letter in the first place.

“Mom, I found
this in the attic. What is it?” Rachel asked.

“How did you find
that?” her mom whispered, barely catching her breath to speak.

“I found it under
the floor boards. It was peeking out, so I picked it up and read it,” Rachel
said. “I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad at me.”

“Rachel, you are
not to tell anyone about what you found. You hear me?” her mom said, in a firm
whisper.

“I promise, but
mom, what does it all mean?” Rachel asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Rachel, I
couldn’t. I couldn’t tell anyone,” her mom said.

“But Mom, I don’t
understand. Who are we?” Rachel asked.

“I wish I could
tell you, Rachel, I really do,” her mom said.

“Well, then tell
me! I beg you!” Rachel said.

“We are very
special people. We are different than the rest,” her mom said.

“Different?”
Rachel asked. “I always felt different. Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“I couldn’t!” her
mom explained. “I couldn’t betray your grandmother. She told me to keep it a
secret all these years.”

“Well, she’s not
alive anymore, so you can tell me. I promise I won’t tell anyone,” Rachel said
again.

“Actually,
Rachel. Your grandmother is still with us,” her mom said.

“WHAT? What do
you mean?” Rachel asked.

“She never
actually died,” her mom said ominously.

“What do you
mean, Mom?”

“She’s still
alive. We didn’t know how to keep her from everyone. We had to keep her away
from the family after I found out the secret and we had to tell you she died so
that you’d stop asking about her. She was a danger to us,” her mom said. “We
couldn’t keep having her come into our house and messing up the life we tried
to set up for you and your siblings. We wanted it to be as normal as possible,
and with her around, it was getting out of hand.”

“But what is the
big secret?” Rachel asked.

“I can’t tell you
everything, but we have a very special lineage and you have a very sacred
destiny awaiting you,” her mom said.

“Lineage?
Destiny?” Rachel asked again.

“That’s all I can
tell you. You have to find your grandmother to learn more,” her mom said.

“But what do you
mean? I haven’t seen her since I was five. Where has she been this whole time?”
Rachel asked. “I can’t believe you guys were hiding her from us.”

“Rachel, it was
for your own good,” her mom said. “Trust me. Once you learn our family secret,
you will see why we sheltered you from her all these years.”

“Is it really
bad?” Rachel asked curiously.

“It’s not
necessarily bad. It just IS,” her mom said.

“What does that
mean? I have to know,” Rachel said. “I want YOU to tell me.”

“Rachel, Honey. I
can’t tell you any more than I already have. You should not have found the
letter in the first place. I don’t know why it was out of my safe to begin with.
It should have never ended up in your hands or anyone’s hands for that matter.
It was a personal letter, one that I had intended to take to my grave. A family
secret I wished would have never gotten out. I could have spared you all from
this crazy life, but now, you know and you won’t give up until you find out
everything. I know you, Rachel. You’re relentless when you want something,” her
mom said.

“Well, where do I
find her then?” Rachel asked. “I need you to tell me that. It’s the least you
could do.”

“Last I heard she
was living down by the Atchafalaya Swamp in Louisiana,” her mom said.

“The what swamp?”
Rachel asked in amazement.

“Atchafalaya,”
her mom said. “It’s the largest swamp in the United States. She moved there to
be with our relatives.”

“Our relatives?”
Rachel asked. “Mom are you making this up. Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Rachel,
sometimes I wish it weren’t true, but it is. Every word of it.”

Rachel began to
cry as she held her moms hand tightly. “I wish I would have known sooner, Mom.”

A tear came down
her mom’s cheek, as she looked deep into Rachel’s eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry
you had to find out this way.”

“I’m sorry, too,”
Rachel said.

Then, as the two
of them sat there, staring at each other and crying, her Dad walked into the
room quickly and with a frightened look on his face.

“Betsy!” her dad
said.

“John!” Betsy
said.

“Are you OK? What
are you doing? You haven’t talked in months!” her dad said.

“I’m fine now.
Rachel’s back. Did you know that?” her mom said.

“I know she’s
back. And she’s a completely changed girl. She let go of her old antics and
she’s the Rachel we always knew. I think moving back to Pennsylvania changed
everything for her. It was the right move,” her dad said.

Rachel was
surprised that they were having this conversation in front of her frankly and
didn’t quite know what to make of it. She wasn’t sure if her dad knew about the
family secret, but she wasn’t about to bring it up. She figured this family
secret was what made her forget She knew the only thing left for her to do at
this point was to find her grandmother and get to the bottom of everything. She
knew once she did that, all the pieces would fall into place and everything
would start to make sense again.

“Rachel, how did
you get here?” her dad asked.

“Well, I thought
you were going to pick me up from school today and I waited and waited, but you
never showed up, so I just walked here.”

“All this way?”
her dad asked.

“Yup! It was
freezing cold, but I wanted to see mom.”

“Rachel, you have
no idea what you’ve done here. You’ve cured her. She’s back to her self again.”

“Well, I’m not so
sure, Dad. She had some complications when I first got here. Did you hear about
that?”

“Yes! That’s why
I came running in. The doctor called and told me what happened, then when I saw
you two sitting here talking, I couldn’t believe it.”

Then, Rachel felt
her phone vibrate in her pocket. She took it out and looked at it.

Brian: Hey Rach, still want to see that movie tonight? I
need to tell you what happened with Dr. Rundy today. It was epic.

Rachel: Yeah, I’ll go. Let me just ask my dad.

Rachel turned to
her dad and said, “Dad, can I go out to the movies tonight? It’s Monday Madness
and I want to go with a friend of mine.”

“What friend?”
her dad asked.

“Just some guy,”
Rachel said.

“A GUY!” her dad
said, looking skeptical.

“John, you should
let her go. She’s been a good girl,” her mom chimed in.

“Thanks, Mom!”
Rachel said.

“Which guy?” her
dad asked.

“Just some kid
from my class named Brian. He’s a nice kid. Don’t worry!” she said.

“Well, if you’re
home by 10, I’ll let you go. It’s a school night, remember,” her dad said.

“Yes! I know,
Dad. I promise, I’ll be home by 10.

Rachel took out
her phone again and texted Brian letting him know she was on for tonight.

“I gotta go now!
He’s picking me up at 7 o’clock. I have to get ready!” Rachel said with a
giggle.

“Mom, I love you,
I’ll come visit you again soon,” she said.

“I love you,
Rachel and I’m so glad you are back home and safe,” her mom said.

“See you soon,”
her dad said. “I’ll be a few minutes behind you.”

Rachel couldn’t
wait to go on her movie date tonight. It was her first date is a very long
time, and she couldn’t believe how quickly she was falling for Brian. She
couldn’t remember the last time she felt this way for a guy, and was happy to
feel this feeling again.

She wanted to
impress Brian and had picked out the perfect outfit in her head; now all she
had to do was find it in all the boxes of clothes that were still stacked in
her bedroom. She hadn’t had much time yet to unpack all her things and hang
them in her closet, but she knew she had a super cute denim skirt from the Gap
and a scoop neck black metallic tee shirt from Delia’s. She rummaged through
the boxes until she found the two items and then put them on. She was actually
surprised that she remembered the clothes she had since apparently she hadn’t
worn them in a while. The weather was cold, so she put on black opaque tights
and her favorite lace up Dr. Martin’s boots. She knew she looked cool even
before she checked herself out in the mirror.

HONK HONK

Rachel heard the
horn beep from her driveway. She quickly checked her watch and saw that it was
7 o’clock. She knew Brian was downstairs waiting for her. She looked in the
mirror one last time, fluffed her hair, put on some lip gloss and ran
downstairs and out the front door, hearing it slam behind her.

Then, she heard
her dad come running out behind her, “Rachel, don’t forget you need to be back
here by ten sharp. Not a minute later.”

“I got it dad.
Goodbye!” Rachel said, feeling somewhat embarrassed that her dad ran outside
after her to remind her of her curfew.

Brian rolled down
his window as Rachel got closer, “Hey Hun, lookin’ good!”

“Hi Brian, thanks
for picking me up!” Rachel said.

“You bet,” he
said. “Let’s get outta here, we don’t want to be late.”

Rachel jumped
into the front seat of his Ford pick up truck and off he drove towards the
movie theater.

“Cool truck!”
Rachel said, putting on her seatbelt and taking a look around.

“Thanks, Hun, it’s
my dads,” Brian said.

“Sweet, he let
you take it out tonight?” Rachel asked.

“Yup!” Brian
said. “Do you have a car?”

“Oh, well..I
don’t have my license yet, so no,” Rachel said.

“That’s funny,
you’re almost 18 right?” Brian asked. “You should have gotten your license two
years ago!”

Rachel thought
for a moment as he had just made a good point. She didn’t realize that not only
had she forgotten the past two years, she was now behind in many things.

“Yeah, I just
haven’t gotten around to it yet,” Rachel, said, trying to dodge his question.

“Well, if you
ever want a lesson, I’ll be happy to teach you. I have my senior license now,
so I can teach you and we can stay out past 9pm,” Brian said.

“Really if you
have your junior license you have to be in by 9?” Rachel asked.

“Yes, that’s the
rule!” Brian said.

“Sounds good,”
Rachel added. “I’ll take you up on it sometime. Still studying for the written
exam.”

“So what’s
playing tonight?” Rachel asked, curious about the movie.

“It’s a double
feature, not sure exactly what movie it is but it’s a horror and a comedy. You
like horrors?” Brian asked.

“Sure, why not!”
Rachel said, trying to sound cool. She didn’t like horrors that much but was
just happy to be on this date that she would have seen anything.

“I hate to sound
like a loser, but I have to be home by ten. My dad will kill me if I’m not!,”
Rachel said softly. “I hope that doesn’t mess up your plans!”

“No worries. I
have to be in by ten thirty since it’s a school night anyway. No sweat,” Brian
said.

Rachel felt a
sense of relief that they had similar curfews. She was glad he wasn’t the party
type who stayed out all night since she’d never been like that. She was glad
that he seemed to respect his parents wishes and that they were both on similar
pages.

As the pulled
into the movies, Rachel was surprised to see the parking lot flooded with
people from her high school. She couldn’t believe how popular Monday Madness
was at this movie theater. It was as if everyone in the entire school was there
and even people from surrounding schools as well. She’d never seen this many
teenagers in one place before.

Brian parked the
car and the two walked inside the theater. The smell of buttery popcorn filled
the air and the loud voices from all the kids made it hard to her Brian even
though he was next to her.

“You want a
snack?” Brian asked her.

“Sure!” Rachel
said.

The two walked
over to the enormously long line at the concession stand, and waited for their
turn. As they stood there talking and laughing, Dana walked over with her other
friends.

“Hi, Rachel,”
Dana said, looking her up and down inquisitively.

“Hi D, What’s
up?” Rachel asked.

“Thought you
couldn’t make it,” Dana said.

“Yeah, thought
you weren’t allowed out?” Penny said.

“Apparently that
was a lie,” Samantha said, looking at her strangely and then looking at Brian.

“Guess she didn’t
want to go with us,” Amy chimed in.

“Guys, c’mon,
stop giving me a hard time. It was a last minute thing,” Rachel said.

“Clearly!” Sam
said, looking at her perfectly polished outfit. “Really last minute.”

“Hi Girls,” Brian
added. “Just taking Rachel out tonight.”

Rachel turned to
Brian and smiled at him and then leaned into him for a hug. She couldn’t
believe how comfortable she felt around him already and how close they were
getting. It was perfect.

“Rach, can you
come here for a sec?” Dana asked.

Rachel looked at
Brian and he nodded his head, “Sure!” Rachel said.

Rachel and Dana
walked together into the girl’s bathroom.

“Rach, what do
you think you’re doing?” Dana asked.

“What do you mean?”
Rachel asked. “I’m going to see a movie with Brian.”

“Yeah, exactly!”
Dana said.

“So?” Rachel
asked. “What’s the problem?”

“The problem is
that Sam has liked Brian forever now, and she thought he was going to ask her
out soon,” Dana said.

“Huh?” Rachel
asked sounding confused.

“Brian is Sam’s
guy. She’s been after him for a while now,” Dana said.

“Well, how was I
supposed to know that? She didn’t mention anything to me,” Rachel said.

“You should
really tell him you can’t go out with him tonight. You have to back out of it.
If you want to be friends with us, you will do that,” Dana said.

Rachel couldn’t
believe what was happening. Was she really just given an ultimatum to be her
friend?

“Listen, D. Thank
you for telling me this, but Brian asked me out. I didn’t do anything wrong
here,” Rachel said. “I like him now. I’m not going to just drop him like this,”
Rachel said.

“Rachel, you
better drop him if you know what’s good for you. You’re practically a new girl
here, and you don’t want to lose the few friends you still have. Trust me, it’s
for your own good,” Dana said.

Rachel couldn’t
believe the words coming from Dana’s mouth. Since when did she care more about
Samantha than her? This was all too crazy for her and she couldn’t take it
anymore. She was angry at the situation and even angrier at the ultimatum that
she’d just been given. Of course she wanted to keep her girl friends, but at
the same time, she really liked Brian. She didn’t know what to do.

“I’m only telling
you this because I’m your friend, and I don’t want to see you make a mistake,”
Dana said. “I don’t want you to lose your friends all because of some guy.”

“This is really
unfair,” Rachel said. “I can’t help it if he asked me out. He clearly likes me
and not Sam. What can I do about that? Cover up my feelings?”

“That’s what I’d
do,” Dana said with a snicker. “You’re not being a good friend.”

“Listen, D, I’m
going through a lot right now. This is the last thing I should have to worry
about. You guys all need to cut me some slack here,” Rachel begged. “I did
nothing wrong and I’m going to keep our plans tonight. I’m sorry if you or the
girls get upset by this, but that’s what I’m going to do.”

“Ok, if that’s
your choice. That’s what you’ll do. But don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Dana
said.

“Whatever,”
Rachel said, as she turned to walk out of the bathroom and back towards Brian.
“I thought we were better friends than this.”

Rachel couldn’t
believe what had just gone down in the bathroom. She couldn’t believe her BFF
Dana just treated her like that. It was unspeakable. She was upset and angry
all at the same time. Not to mention, now she felt guilty for going out with
Brian. She hated that she felt that way, but her girlfriends were important to
her as well. She didn’t want to lose them over a guy, but at the same time, she
didn’t know the whole back-story. The whole situation was unfair to her and she
felt mistreated.

“Hey Babe,” Brian
said, as he motioned her over. “We’re next, what do you want?”

Rachel looked at
him and then back at Sam and Amy, who were standing close by.

“So, what will it
be?” he asked again.

“Oh, sorry. I’ll
have Starburst,” Rachel said, looking in at all the candies on the shelf.

“That all?” Brian
asked. “A drink?”

“Sure, a blue slushy!”
Rachel said.

“I’ll get a large
one, we can share it,” Brian said.

Rachel smiled at
him and shook her head.

She couldn’t help
but look back at Sam, Amy and Dana as they all stood in a huddle talking and
whispering and looking over at her. She felt awful and uncomfortable. Part of
her felt bad for Sam, but the other part was mad at her. She couldn’t believe
that Dana had just told her to leave Brian and not talk to him anymore. Was she
joking? Was she serious? She was dumbfounded by the whole situation, but she
wasn’t going to let it ruin her night. She was out with the guy she had a crush
on, and nobody was going to get in the way of that.

She looked back
at Sam one last time and caught her rolling her eyes at her. She was so
offended by that, she took Brian by the hand and gave him a big hug right in
front of her. She knew it was rude, but at the same time Sam was being rude.

“Let’s go get our
seats,” Brian said.

“Yeah,” Rachel
said.

“Back row?” Brian
asked.

Rachel didn’t
know how to respond. She knew what happened in the back row. It was almost as
if he were asking her if she wanted to make out the entire movie. She was
speechless. Part of her wanted to say yes, but the other part of her wanted to
wait a little bit. She didn’t want to risk sounding like a prude though, so she
said, “Ok, whatever you like.”

As they entered
the theater, she was surprised to see that the entire back row was full. There
were no open seats. In fact, the entire theater was jam-packed. They would be
lucky to even get a seat next to each other at this point. The poked around and
walked up and down the aisle looking for two seats together. Then, Brian
spotted them.

“I see two, right
over there!” he said.

Rachel followed
him over to the seats and as they were scooting around the dimly lit theater
she realized the only two seats available were directly in front of Dana, Sam,
Penny and Amy. She couldn’t believe her luck. Just when she thought she’d get
alone time with Brian, this had to happen.

The previews
started and Brian reached over and held her hand. She felt a little uncomfortable
by this, but only because she could feel Sam’s stares like daggers going into
her body. She liked his touch though, it was comforting to her and she felt the
same way about him. She was head over heels for him. She’d had a crush on him
for years, and now, since she’d returned, it was turning into a reality. She
couldn’t help but feel like the luckiest girl on the planet.

The two sat there
holding hands and sharing the slushy out of the same straw. Rachel knew that
Sam was getting more pissed off each second the two of them sat there. It was
hard for her to focus on the movie, while all she could think about was Brian
and Sam. She hated that they were sitting right in front of her. She turned to
Brian after about twenty minutes of the movie and said, “You like it so far?”

“Eh!” Brian said.
“It’s alright. Thought it would be better,”

“Yeah, me, too!”
Rachel said. “Any chance you wanna get out of here?”

“I was hoping
you’d ask!” Brian said.

“Let’s go!”
Rachel said, as she stood up slowly and shimmied he way out of the aisle.

She didn’t look
back to see if Sam was watching or not. She was almost certain she was staring
at them leaving, wondering where they were going, and if they were going to
do
anything together. She could sense the jealousy oozing out of Sam’s body as
they left the theater. She so desperately wanted to turn back and shoot her a
smile, but knew that would be too mean. After all, she wasn’t a mean person;
she just didn’t like how she was being treated.

When they got
into the parking lot, there were a lot of kids smoking and drinking. A cloud of
smoke hit her in the face and she waved it away coughing. She hated the smell
of cigarette smoke and made a vow to herself never to smoke. It was a gross
addition, and one she didn’t want any part of.

“You smoke?”
Brian asked.

“Ew, no!” Rachel
answered. “You?”

“Eh, here and
there, why?” Brian asked.

“Really? That’s
bad!” Rachel insisted, giving him a playful slap on his arm.

“Yeah, I’m going
to quit though!” Brian said.

“You better! I
don’t like smokers!” Rachel said.

“Well then, I
will quit right now!” Brian replied.

Rachel laughed
and said, “Thanks!”