Caylee's Confessions (Caylee's Confessions Series) (2 page)

They
really like to play out their jokes
, I thought as I followed behind the five of them,
now dressed in black, since they had brought a change of clothes for me.  We
were in depot town, a place full of alleys and old, abandoned buildings. 

“Are
you sure you scouted one here last weekend?” Alice asked Kevin.

“Yeah,
and last night I double checked.  You know how they all like to feed in the
same place,” he responded.

“Alright,
well here, Caylee, here’s a stake just in case, even though you won’t need it
tonight.  If anything comes near you, stick this in their chest, through their heart,”
Alice said as she handed me a stick that was shaved off into a point.  It was
as thick and heavy as my forearm. 

“You
can’t be serious…” I mumbled.  How far was this joke going to go?  I got the
point. 

“Shh,
we’re almost there,” Kevin said as everyone went silent.  We walked down an
alley and came to a point where you could turn right or left to, what I guessed
were, other alleys.  He turned to us, put up one finger, and gestured to Scott
and Stacy to go back out and around the other way to, I guess, trap whatever
was in the alley.  They headed the other way as Kevin motioned Carrie and Alice
to follow behind him.  He put his hand up to me, telling me to stay put.  They
all gripped their stakes and held them up, with the pointed end facing forward. 
One by one, they turned around the corner.  I crept up, slowly, behind them. 
As I rounded the corner, I heard a loud sucking sound, like when someone slurps
the last of their drink through a straw.  What the hell was going on?  I slowly
peeked my head around and saw Kevin, Alice, and Carrie stalking up on something
that was hovering over a huge rock.  That was when Kevin yelled.

“Hey,
bloodsucker!”  And I watched as Kevin flashed a bright light onto whatever was
hovering over the rock.  I watched as the light flashed on its face.  My mouth
went wide in horror as the thing looked up into the light, like a deer in
headlights.  It hissed and its eyes froze, giving a cold, dead stare at Kevin. 
What the hell
was
this thing?  It appeared human—hell, it looked human,
besides the fact that its eyes were a dark, blood-red, and it had fangs. 
Freaking fangs!  What I thought was a rock that it was hovering over, was actually
a person.  Well, more like a lifeless body.  That thing hadn’t been hovering
over it but, rather, drinking from the person, because the thing had blood
dripping from its face. 

The
thing remained still, trapped in Kevin’s light.  I heard it hiss once more as
it looked behind it, to now see Stacy and Scott coming.  It then leaped up onto
the wall, and used the wall as leverage to bounce off and leap onto Stacy and
Scott.  Taking them both out and sending them flying, it stood on the ground,
unaffected.  I saw Stacy and Scott put up their stakes as the thing readied its
pounce.  It once again leaped, this time on top of Stacy.  It grabbed her arm
and twisted it, making a loud popping sound.  She screamed out in pain, and I
watched, frozen, as Scott then tried throwing something, that I think was water,
at the creature. 

Whatever
he had thrown at the thing seemed to work, because it hissed again—as if the
substance burned its skin.  By this time, Kevin, Carrie, and Alice were feet
away from the creature and they all had their stakes held high in their hands,
attempting to trap the thing.  I watched its face as its lips curved up into a
smile, proudly showing its fangs as it seemed to be thinking about which person
to attack first.  I then saw it run at Scott so fast that, if I had blinked, I
would have missed the whole thing.  It grabbed his arm that had the stake in it,
and I heard another loud crack as it used Scott’s arm as a rope and swung him
around its head—much like cowboys do in movies as they’re about to lasso a bull
with their rope—but Scott was the rope.  After a few twirls of Scott above its
head, it launched his body into the rest of them, sending them all flying into
a wall.  The thing was laughing, and getting ready to leap again onto the heap
of people it had just defeated.  I looked in horror at Kevin’s eyes: terrified,
from defeat and shock. 

Before
I knew it, my feet started running towards them—before my brain could even
process what I was about to do.  I just knew I couldn’t watch as this thing
killed them. 
What I was thinking?
  It was too late now to go back, for
as soon as I took those first steps, the thing heard me and snapped its
attention my way, making me come to a halt.  When its eyes met mine, I froze as
I felt a shiver run up my spine.  What the fuck was I going to do?  The plan
had been for me to just go and watch. 

“HAHAHAHHA,”
I heard the thing laugh again.  “I can see from your face that I’m the first vampire
you have ever met.  Pity for you—your stupid friends shouldn’t have brought you
here.  They at least knew what they were getting into, but the look on your
face tells me you did not.”

“No,
I didn’t,” came out of my mouth.  Was I really talking to this thing?

“I’m
surprised you can even speak…bravery, maybe?  Entertaining, I’ll admit. Maybe I’ll
even let you become my blood slave, since you dare to speak to me like you have
the right to stand before me.  Yes, that sounds good.  I think I’ll kill your
friends and make you my slave.”  He laughed. 

“I’m
not really good at house chores, so I don’t think I’d make a good slave,” I
said, still without thinking.  But I somehow knew I had to keep him distracted
while my brain rambled on for a solution.

“So
I’ve not only found a brave fool, but a smartass as well?” the thing asked, and
I watched him slightly bring up his left foot, indicating he was done with my
distractions, and was about to pounce.  I felt my fingers tighten around my
stake, and watched as he ran at me at a speed that I barely processed.  I
screamed the whole time he came at me, but made my eyes focus on his chest.  It
was actually the only thing I focused on.  Something I would never do now, but
that was all I could think about.  When he was a foot from me, I threw up my
stake, putting it into his chest that I had been so heavily concentrating on,
and I felt his body crash into mine.  My head slammed into the cement behind me,
and everything went black.

I
awoke to Kevin screaming my name and shaking my body.  “What…What…” creaked out
of my mouth.  I then, slowly, forced my eyes open and saw all of the book club
members staring at me in shock.  “How long was I out?” I asked.

“About
ten minutes.”  Kevin laughed.  “Is that really all you’re concerned about?” he
asked, smiling from ear to ear.  “Caylee, you just saved all of our lives…” 

“I,
what?” I asked as my lovely memories of what just transpired flashed back to
me, and informed me of why I was on the ground.  “What the fuck was
that
?” 
I mumbled as I slowly lifted my body to stand.  My head was throbbing from the
knot that had just been placed in the back of my skull.

“That
was your first vampire killing!” shouted Alice from my left. 

“So
you weren’t kidding about this not being a book club?” I asked.

“No,
definitely not,” she said.

“Well,
that’s good, because I don’t really like reading…”  I said as I tried rubbing
my temples to make the headache go away. 

“I’m
so sorry, Caylee.  You weren’t supposed to be involved just yet.  I just wanted
you to be there so you would believe.  I underestimated this vampire.  I didn’t
know he was an empyreal.  I would have never brought anyone if I had known,”
Kevin rambled.

“What
is an empyreal?”  I wanted to know.

“Yeah,
well, we hadn’t had the time to explain that part, but there are different
kinds of vamps.  This one was one of the worst to face,” Kevin explained.

“You
can tell by their eyes what kind they are,” Stacy said as she flashed Kevin an
accusing look.  They then enlightened me on how vampires, depending on age and
skill, were ranked.  The lowest rank was the amateur level.  These were freshly
made or born vampires.  They had little skill, but still had super strength,
and other things that were superb to human abilities.  The next levels, in
order of rank, were: rookie, knight, judicial, empyreal, and royal.  Empyreals
and royals were the “top dogs.”  They told me that I should never face an
empyreal alone, and if I ever saw a royal, run the fuck away, as they were near
impossible to kill.

“I’m
so sorry,” he pleaded to Stacy.  “The lighting had to have been funky. I
thought he was an amateur.  You know I would have never…”

“She
knows that…” Alice chimed in.

“It
doesn’t change the fact that my wrist—and now Scott’s arm—is broken,” Stacy
shouted. “It’ll take months before we can go out full-force again.”

“More
time to train Caylee,” said Scott softly, trying to mediate the situation. 

“Yes,
Scott is right.  Let’s look at it like that.  This was definitely scary, but we’ll
learn from it.  What a good first kill for Caylee to have on her record.”  She
didn’t bring up the fact that it only happened out of sheer dumb luck, and the
vampire way underestimated me.  But, hey, I was alive and the vampire was not. 
One point for Caylee, zero for the vampire. 

Things
carried on like this for four years.  They taught me everything there was to
know about undeads.  Like our vows said, we really all did become a family—a
naïve, stupid family, thinking we could remain a large group and successfully
take on the undead.  We trained, studied, and even came up with a sweet hunting
party name: ‘The Dukes.’

Ultimately,
it wouldn’t matter.  We probably would have been better off to break apart and
hunt on our own, but we thought the group unity made us stronger.  In the end,
it would be our demise. 

It
was the Friday after the day I finally graduated from college.  How did I do it?
 I didn’t know, for I was so busy the past four years hunting the undead, that
I barely made half my classes.  Kevin insisted I have a backup plan though. 

Killing
undeads didn’t bring in any cash, so I chose to get a degree in Communications
with a minor in Marketing.  Kevin said the communications part would help me to
better read people, so I would be able to tell if they were a vampire, since vamps
only showed their eye color while in distress or while feeding—or so they
thought. 

This
was somewhat correct, but some vamps, especially the higher levels, showed it
all the time, because they were proud.

Anyway,
I had graduated, and the family decided we should all take a night off from the
hunt to celebrate.  We all went out to dinner and got pretty wasted, laughing
and re-telling our favorite ‘book club’ stories. 

I
barely remember getting in the taxi for the ride home.  I awoke in my bed,
hoping everyone had made it home safe.  I dialed Kevin’s number but got no
answer.  He must have gotten a worse hangover than me, which was usually the
case.  As I recalled from the night before, we were fumbling our address to the
taxi driver, but he seemed to understand drunk talk quite well. 

Not
thinking anything more of it, I went back to sleep with the thought of how
Kevin liked to lie in bed awhile, after a night of drinking.

When
I woke up later that night, I checked my phone to see if Kevin had called
back.  There were no missed calls from anyone.  I remember feeling a slight
ping in my gut, but I ignored it as I tried dialing Kevin again and again. 
After seven calls, I finally got through.

“Hello?”
answered a faint- and weak-sounding Kevin. 
Phew
, crossed my mind as I
waited for the sick feeling in my gut to go away, but it didn’t.

“Are
you okay?” I asked him.

“Not
really, not feeling like myself.  I’m going to be in all night.  I think I’m
sick, like not just hangover sick, maybe mono or something,” said Kevin’s weak
voice.

“Do
you want me to come over and take care of you?” I offered as I got up, phone in
hand.  He loved it when I took care of him while he was hung-over.  In earlier
times in our relationship, after a long night, we would spend the whole next
day just lounging around, ordering movies and greasy delivery food. 

“No,”
he said abruptly, stopping me as I was putting my shoes on. 

“What?”
I stuttered out, being completely thrown back by his answer.

“No,
I just seriously feel really awful.  I can’t come out today, and probably not
tomorrow either.  I think it’s more than a hangover.  I just feel awful.”  I
remember thinking I had heard a slight chuckle in the background, but I brushed
it off.  There was no possible way he would have anyone over if he didn’t even
want me over.

“Okay…”
I paused, still unsure of what to say.  “Call me when you feel better, I guess.”

“Oh
I will, definitely.  I can promise you that,” he said, sounding not as sick as
he previously had, but his voice was still off—more cold actually, and he hung
up without a ‘bye.’

The
way he was acting was so weird, but I eventually convinced myself we had just
had way too much to drink.  I made a self-note to never do it again, because it
wasn’t fun waiting for your boyfriend to recover from a hangover. 

For
two days, I just sat on my couch and waited, watching anything that was on HBO,
until I got his call.  It came on Monday night around six.  I picked up the
phone after its first ring. Pathetic really, but I was so into Kevin that I
didn’t even care. 

“Hi,”
I said eagerly, so happy he’d finally called. 

“Hello,
Caylee,” he said, sounding still a little deeper and edgier. 
He must still
have a slight cold
, I thought. 

“Are
you feeling better?  I’ve missed you,” I said.

“Yes,
actually.  The best I’ve ever felt.  I’m sorry I haven’t called.  I just was
feeling so weak, but all the weakness is gone from my body now.”  He chuckled.

“Okay,”
I said, unsure of what he meant.  I was upset that he hadn’t said he had missed
me back.

“Yes,
anyway…” He paused. “I’m calling a meeting tonight.  I’ve already let everyone
else know, and we’re going to meet at Alice’s new place again,” he ordered.

“Did
you want to drive together?” I asked, more like begged.  I wanted to see him.  “I
could swing by your house and take us both there.”  I really wanted a
pre-meeting that involved only the two of us.

“Uh,
I can’t.  I’ve got to get things prepared.  See, I’ve found out something so
awesome that, well, I don’t want to say too much.”  He laughed.  “It’ll ruin
the surprise, but I’ll see you at eight.” 

He
again hung up on me without a ‘goodbye,’ like the other day.  The surprise he
had planned better be worth his shortness to me, because it was making the pit
of my stomach twist in small knots. 

Well,
surely after the meeting, he would want to come over to make it up to me
, I thought.  It only
took a few glances around to realize my apartment was kind of messy.  I didn’t
have much stuff, so it didn’t take long to straighten up.  I’d always vowed I
would go to the store and find cute stuff to make it look girly, but that never
happened, so that left my apartment with the bare necessities: a black, wrap-around
couch, a big-screen TV, and a king size bed in the bedroom.  I didn’t bother
painting either, as if I did, I was told I’d have to repaint it when I left, so
I left it in the eggshell-white it had come in.  For a dining table, I used TV dinner
trays, figuring I’d never host fancy dinner parties there.  The only really
personal item I had, besides my clothes, was a picture of my grandmother on the
TV stand.  It was always embarrassing when I brought my fellow hunters over, as
it always looked like I’d ‘just moved in,’ but I was over it, and in situations
like this, it was a quick and easy clean up. So, as fast as possible, I
vacuumed and did a quick wash-up of the place.  When I finished, I remember
looking up at the clock.  It was seven-ten and I still had to get ready.  I
hadn’t seen him in three days; I wanted to look at least halfway decent. 

I
took a quick, fifteen-minute shower, blew dry my hair, splashed his favorite
perfume on me, threw on my face, and walked out the door.  I practically ran to
my car, knowing that I was probably running late.  The car clock on my radio
verified this.  It was eight-fifteen.  Good thing the place was so close.  I
would only be like a half-hour late.

I
arrived at Alice’s place to see everyone’s car in the parking lot.  Great—I was
the last to arrive. Oh well, they would all expect it from me; I made it a habit
of coming in casually late.

Alice’s
new home wasn’t huge but definitely gave us more room to work with than her
dorm had.  I walked up the cracked, concrete steps and was about to knock on
the door, but it was already cracked open, which was strange.  I normally would
give a slight knock and then just walk in, but, well, I guess someone had forgotten
to close the door.  My gut began to tingle as I slowly creaked open the door
more, hoping I wouldn’t break up an intense convo, if they were having one. 

One
step inside and I saw no one.  It was actually pitch-black.  From memory, I
knew I was in her hallway.  They had to be upstairs, because I couldn’t hear
anything.  As I went to reach for the lights, I felt my shoe step into something
sticky.  Ewe, gross.  I figured it must have been from her new pug puppy.  I
slid my hand along the left side of the hallway, for I knew the main set of
lights for the whole downstairs was at the end of the hallway, before you
entered the kitchen.  My fingers finally found the switches in the darkness.  I
flipped on the lights and immediately looked down to observe what I had stepped
in.  It was not brown like I’d expected, but a deep, dark-red—blood red.  My
eyes wandered back to the door, and it was then that I witnessed the worse
sight my eyes, still to this day, had seen.  The dog poo I thought I had stepped
in was blood—all over the hallway floor and walls. 

“What
the hell?” I murmured out loud, grabbing my stake from my waist band, before
turning to the kitchen.  I screamed as I saw Alice’s lifeless body sprawled out
on the kitchen island.  Her eyes were wide open in horror but still and
motionless. 

The
blood dripping from her body covered the side of the island, making it look
cherry-red.  I crept further into the kitchen, stake in hand, and moved slowly
towards the island she lay on, opening my ears to listen for any movement of
whoever had done this.  I gently placed my hand over her neck, when I reached
her body, and felt two marks that I knew would be there.

Where
was everyone else?  It took one more step into the kitchen to see into the
living room, where Stacy sat on the loveseat, almost as if she were watching
TV.  That was, until you saw that her own stake lay in her heart, and the slit
at the base of her throat had stained her white blouse.

At
the base of the loveseat was Scott, who appeared to have suffered the quickest
death.  His head was at Stacy’s feet, while his torso and arms were coming out
of the fireplace.  The other half of him had probably already burned. 

I
was so shocked, and I began hyperventilating as my breaths became shorter and
shorter, when a thought flashed in my mind. 
Where were Carrie and Kevin?
 
Oh god, if Kevin, oh god.  The thought made me grip my stake tighter as I then
proceeded in the other direction, toward the dining room. 

There
was nothing there but broken glass from a struggle.  I then came back to the
hallway.  They had to be upstairs. 

I
took deep, quick breaths with each step, and it felt as if time seemed to
stop.  It wasn’t until I reached the top of the stairs that I heard a familiar
gulping sound. 
It was still here. 
How hadn’t it heard my scream? 

My
question was answered as I opened the door to see a naked Carrie, pinned to the
bed, with a blond vampire at her neck, drinking as it pile drived her center. 

“WHAT
THE FUCK!!!!!!!” I screamed.  This thing was fucking and drinking, from a definitely
dead Carrie, at the same time.  It looked up at me, being temporarily thrown
off by my scream.  I fainted at the sight of its face. 

I
awoke to a familiar voice calling my name. 

“Caylee,
Caylee.  Awaken, please.”

I
knew this voice.  I opened my eyes to see Kevin, with his back turned towards
me. 

“Thank
god.”  I let out a sigh.

“You’ll
never guess what dream I just…”  And I was interrupted as he turned around to
show me his beautiful face that always made me stir, but this was not his
normal face.  He had additions, like bright-red rimmed eyes, and fangs.  His new
dentistry made my mind flash to the events I had just seen.  This was
no
dream. 

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
 I screamed, and as fast as I could, ran for the door.  I tried to turn the
handle, when I felt Kevin slam his body onto mine, pushing me into the door.

“No,
no, no, no, no.” I was hysterical, balling, and not able to process what was
really happening.  He grabbed my hands and forcefully turned me around so fast,
I thought I would suffer from whiplash.  I made my watery eyes stare at the
ground. 
He couldn’t have…he wasn’t….this was not possible…
kept running
over and over in my mind.

“Not
looking at me doesn’t change the reality of this,” Kevin said.  “Now, look at
me and what I’ve become.  Observe how strong I am now—no longer with human
weakness or error,” he said proudly.

“No,”
I cried.

“LOOK
AT ME,” he screamed, and I felt a smack across my face so hard that my skin
broke and began to bleed.  I looked up to see his eyes glaring at me.

“Sorry
I had to do that.  You know I don’t like hurting you, my love,” he said, making
bile rise in my stomach.  “You’re not mad about Carrie, are you?  You see, it’s
not my fault.  I wanted to only fuck you while I fed, but you were late.  I
couldn’t fight the urge.  She was practically dead seconds into it, anyway.”  The
bile rose to my throat. 

“Why…?”
I stuttered out.

“Why,
what?  Oh, the whole vamp thing?  Well, on my taxi ride home the other night, I
saw a stirring going on down an alley, so I told the cabby to stop.  Best thing
I’d ever done really…”  He paused.  “As you can see though, it turned out not
to be a ruckus at all, just two vampires arguing.  I tried to fight them at
first, and they were so impressed with my fighting that they decided to give me
life, Caylee.  They said they had some new war coming up and I could become a
part of it.  I could fight with them!” he said with excitement.  “You can’t imagine
how wonderful this feels—to not be of weak human blood any longer.  My senses
are triple what they used to be.  It’s amazing.”  He smiled, letting his fangs
fully hang out, making me lose my mind. 
I needed to get my head straight,
or I’d die
, I thought, as he continued rambling on about how great it was
to be a vampire.  I knew I needed to distract him and find out what he was
going to do with me, so I could at least try to get away, or kill him.  No…  I
couldn’t even ponder doing that.  I thought of how I could kill him, since I
loved him.