Helens-of-Troy (22 page)

The vampire dripped the dark red fluid
down his own finger and into his mouth. The taste was unpleasant to
him, and he immediately spat it out. “Vintage Lachey has
corked.”

“Fuck you.”

“What is this obsession you have with
that word?” he asked amused. “If I don’t want to drink you, I
certainly don’t want to fuck with you. Not in that sense,
anyway.”

“Get out of my cell you blood-sucking
pervert, before I take you down.”

“You're hardly in a position to take me
down. Look at you, all caged up like some animal in a zoo,” he
sneered. “Are you hungry Ryan? Is that why you’re cranky? He patted
his own stomach. “In case you haven’t noticed,” he teased, his
voice rising up an octave, “I've got that ‘stuffed myself with
turkey’ feeling. Like I drank a gallon of tryptophan. I almost need
a nap.”

Ryan swallowed hard. The vampire did
look a little less gaunt than the last time he had run into him.
Not that he cared about his health. He sensed his visitor was not
there to make idle conversation with him. “What are you talking
about?”

“The Nouveau Beaujolais I had an hour
ago,” he said, laughing to himself. “I had your little nerdy
brother’s friend. Don’t look so disgusted. He's was tasty for a
nine-year-old.”

Stan only had one friend. “Kevin? You
have Kevin?” Ryan stammered.

“I’m starting to get a taste for
children,” he explained, as if it were no big deal. “Oh get that
look off your face. I don’t do anything with them sexually. What do
you think I am? A monster?” He laughed demonically at his own
joke.

“You’re a fucking nut case.”

“We’re all murderers in some fashion,”
he contemplated. “Meat eaters are murderers, vegetarians are
murderers. Something has to die for every living being to live.
Mother Nature is the original serial killer.”

“You’re a cannibal.”

“That’s a bit harsh.”

“You’re a fucking nut-case
cannibal.”

“I’m not the one in jail, Ryan,” the
vampire said calmly, removing some dirt from his beneath his thumb
with the nail of his pinky finger of the other hand. “I really need
a manicure.”

His nonchalance made Ryan loose control
again. He gathered his strength and took another swing at him. “I
don’t believe you, you oversized mosquito,” he said as he threw the
punch.

“Missed me, missed me,” the vampire
sang. “Now you have to—oh, forget that part. You’re definitely not
my type. Blood type I mean. I would have brought a photo, so you
could see Kevin’s sorry little ass, but you know us vampires, not
big on cameras.”

“What exactly is your problem?” Ryan
asked.

“You’re not very bright, are you, Ryan?
I’m a vampire. Most people would consider that enough of a reason
to not dwell on what is or isn’t my problem.” He gave Ryan a look
of distain.

“Leave Kevin alone.”

“I will. I promise. He’s already
dead.”

“What?”

“Careful now, Ryan. How much do you
really want to know about the death of Kevin? Aren’t you already in
enough trouble for knowing too much about my
‘leftovers’?”

Ryan paused. The vampire had a point.
Having to explain how he knew about another murder was probably not
in his own best interest.

The vampire laughed. “Oh all right, if
you insist. I’ll tell you. We’re just like buddies now, aren’t we,
Ryan? Sharing secrets. See... Kevin, was it? Kevin was walking home
alone from the orthodontist—kind of a waste of money, under the
circumstances—and I was feeling a little peckish, so I snuck up
behind him and took him.” He raised his arms in the air and
shrugged, indicating, “what else could I do?”

“Why the fuck would you do
that?”

“Why? I’m following the hundred-mile
rule for my food. Everyone has to be green these days, Ryan. Happy
planet and all that.” He looked at the stainless steel toilet.
“That looks cold. I’m glad I don’t have to deal with things like
that anymore.”

Ryan looked away. There was a lump
forming in his throat the size of a baseball. He almost wanted to
cry. But he hadn’t done that since he was Stan’s age, and he sure
as hell wasn’t going to do that now.

“He was a scrapper, Ryan. You should
see the nail marks on my back. He fought me tooth and nail as they
say, but in the end he was no match for my prowess,” he bragged,
licking his lips in remembrance.

“You really fucking killed
him?”

“I didn’t mean to. I wanted to keep him
just barely alive so I could have a food supply for a few days. But
let’s just say refrigeration isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I
forgot he couldn’t breathe locked up in one.”

“You locked him in a
fridge?”

“Well, my mom always said not to play
in them. I guess now I know why.”

“Your mother is a bitch,” Ryan
snarled.

“See, that’s what you and I have in
common,” the vampire snapped back. “We both have issues with our
mothers. Betty’s no bucket of daisies, is she? But at least she’s
still alive. That’s why you’re going to help me. You understand my
position.”

“I’ll never fucking help
you.”

“I’m thinking you will, Ryan. Not that
I’m a physic or anything.” He shook his head. “I’m not. That would
just be a little too much, wouldn’t it? Having to deal with a
vampire that could see the future?”

“Okay, I’ll bite—what’s your mother got
to do with all this?”

“My mother,” he replied, “is dead.
Dead-dead. No living for eternity for her. She was murdered. Oh,
some say she was killed in self-defense, but from my point of view,
which is the only one that matters to me, she was murdered. I need
to avenge her death. And that’s where you come in. And by the way,
never say ‘bite’ to a vampire. It gets us all excited.” He stared
down at the floor. “They keep this place pretty clean, don’t
they?”

“Not that I ever would help you,” Ryan
protested, “but as you’ve pointed out, I’m in jail. A lot of good
that will do you. And by the way, you’ve got the attention span of
a gnat.”

“You really, really, aren’t that
bright, are you?”

“You really, really, are pissing me
off.”

“Let me explain how things work,” the
vampire said with mock indifference. “You’re in jail because that
poor excuse for a farmer—Haystack Wildman—found you with the little
girl’s body. Now, I can’t have my new best friend in jail for a
crime he didn’t commit. That would just be wrong. So in a way, I’ve
done you a favor by killing again. This time I left the body where
someone else would find it. And you see, Ryan, I killed Kevin when
you were already in jail. They’ll have no choice but to let you
out. And then you’ll owe me one.”

“I told you I would never help you.
Whatever your sad story is.”

The vampire became irate. “That’s where
you’re wrong, Ryan. You will help me. You’ll help me because by the
time you do get out, I’ll have you nerdy little brother. I’ve been
watching him. I’ve been watching your whole damn family, your whole
damn street. And you know what the really demented part is? I don’t
even really want him. He’ll just keep me amused until I get what I
really want.”

“And that would be...?”

“Revenge, Ryan. You might think you
understand that emotion, but it’s really something you need to
experience first hand. That’s why your brother is going to be my
little pawn. And when you bring me my treasure, we’ll make a little
trade.”

“For what?”

“For the girl. It’s always about the
girl.”

“Why don’t you just go get whoever you
really want yourself?”

“Because they’ll know. They’ll know if
I’m tracking her down,” the vampire sighed. “They took something
from me, so I need to take something from them. But they’re
stronger than me, so you’ll have to find a way to get me what I
want. A queen for your pawn. Bring me the girl you call
Goth-Chic.”

“But...”

“That’s all,” the vampire said. “I
don’t care how you do it. If you want to see your brother alive
again, you’ll find a way.”

His message delivered, the vampire
shifted through the bars on the open window, leaving Ryan alone in
the cell to contemplate what had just transpired.

As hard as it was for Ryan to believe
that Kevin was dead, he couldn’t help but recall the words that
Stan had said on Halloween. “You wait until Kevin goes missing and
winds up on the news, then we'll see,” he had said.

“Shit,” he thought. “What if the little
squirt has been right all along? What if there is evil lurking in
the LaRose backyard?” He shook the bars ferociously. “I have to get
out of here.”

Again he saw a shadow cross by the
window above Purdy’s desk and for a moment Ryan thought the vampire
was coming back. He was relieved to see it was Tom peering at him
through the iron bars that crossed the window frame.

“What the hell’s going on, Ryan?” Tom
asked. “Jacey just called. She said Tara’s going around shooting
her mouth off that her old man caught you with Brooke’s body. You
didn't really kill her, did you?”

Ryan detected a note of uncertainty in
his friend’s voice. “What the fuck? You know I didn't kill her. You
were with me Halloween night.”

“What made you go down to Stillman’s
Creek?”

“Because I’m a fucking moron. I DON’T
KNOW. I was just thinking about what Ellie said. Her stupid dream.
It seemed so real to me then, the places she was describing. I
couldn’t get it out of my head, and I thought I could help. Well
fuck, Tom. She was right. The body was right where she said it
would be. In the dirty, slimy cesspool that is Stillman’s Creek.
You’d have known that if you had come with me.”

“I’d be in jail if I had gone with
you.”

“At least I’d have someone to talk to.
Where the hell have you been tonight? You have no idea what I have
been through.”

“I too, have been fishing in shark
infested waters,” Tom insisted.

“What the fuck does that
mean?”

“
I can’t explain it in four
sentences, so I’m not even going to try.”

“Well, could you try to get me out of
here? Go tell Cohen what happened. Tell him about the dream. Tell
him I didn't do it.”

“Okay, okay,” Tom said, trying to calm
Ryan down. He noticed the large sweat stains beneath Ryan’s
armpits, a certain sign. that. Ryan was more worried than he was
letting on.

“And go get Ellie.”

“Uh, Ellie...why?” Tom
cringed.

“Tell her I know. Tell her I saw him,”
Ryan urged.

“Saw who?”

“Jacob who-who and the sharpened fang.
Tell her I saw her fucking vampire.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Helen raised her fingers to her temples
as she got out of Helena’s car. Ever since they had left the house
earlier, she had been struggling with a headache that started at
the front of her forehead and worked its way to the base of her
neck. She had spent most of the movie with her eyes closed, just
wishing it would end and so she could go home and deal with
it.

“What’s wrong, Mom?” Ellie asked. “Was
the movie too loud for you? I thought that part when they blew up
the whole werewolf factory was awesome!”

“Are you getting one of your rain
headaches again?” Helena asked. “I’ve got some magnesium powder in
my office that will help take care of that.”

“No, I don’t think that’s it,” Helen
said quietly.

“I’ll try to keep it quiet and do a
little reading in my room before I go to bed,” Ellie said, running
towards the door. “I’m reading Jane Eyre. It’s on my curriculum
Mom, and it’s pretty titillating given its era. So don’t get mad at
me. I have to read it.”

“Wait!” Helen cried, suddenly running
after her, stopping her from entering the house.

Ellie gasped. “Seriously Mom, you can
phone the school if you don’t believe me. The Brontes. English Lit
is all over them.”

“No,” Helen protested. “The house...let
me go first.”

“Mom?”

Helen reached towards the doorknob and
gave it a turn. It was still locked. She heaved a sigh of
relief.

“I will get keys cut for you girls next
week,” Helena sighed. “If you can wait until then.” She took her
keys from her purse, opened the door and turned on the hallway
light. “See Helen, no bogeyman. It’s safe to go in.”

“I don’t know what came over me,” Helen
said, cautiously crossing the threshold. “I’ll be glad when you
take those Halloween decorations down and start planning for
Christmas. The stores will be doing it by Monday.”

“I guess we’ll put that on Sunday’s
agenda,” Helena replied. “We can move the swing down to the other
end of the porch so you don’t get a reminder of Mr. Wagner every
time you come up the steps.”

“That might help,” Helen
agreed.

“Night, Nan,” Ellie said, giving Helena
a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for the movie. You were right. It was
a big help, I feel better now.”