Melabeth the Vampire (36 page)

I couldn’t believe that they all were willing to do this for me. “Thanks, I don’t know what to say. Sorry, I didn’t mean to drag you all into this, and I hope it doesn’t come to you leaving your home.” Michael and Ezra laughed. “What's so funny?”

Michael answered. “Vampires don’t have homes; we have pit stops, places where we lay our heads. We are always ready to leave at a moment’s notice. We are hated, feared and hunted, and most of all…” both Michael and Ezra said at the same time. “We are family.”

It felt like a hundred pounds were taken off my shoulders; now that I had done Plan A, I could relax. I had stressed so much about my time with Devon. The stress came back by the time the truck pulled into the driveway. Now I was full of worries for David; there was a part of me that said, let’s just call off David’s part. I could figure out another way to collect my movie from Devon.

I pushed that thought to the back of my head; I knew he could do this. When he finished his mission, I would be one step closer to getting my revenge. I was also one step closer to saying goodbye to David. I was getting ready for bed; tomorrow would be a big day.

I lay on the bed, and a knock came on the door. “Come in.”

Ezra stepped inside and then shut the door behind him. He came over and took a seat at the end of my bed. “You are different than most vampires, so young, but so strong. I, we, forget that you are new to this life. Most vampires that are as strong as you, remember what it was like a hundred years ago. There were no special contacts that blocked the light and made your eyes look normal. In fact there were no sunglasses, so even if you wished to risk going out in the day, you would be blind.”

I said, “
You treat me well, I am not complaining. In fact, sometimes I wonder why you have taken me in.”

Ezra smiled. “Why have we taken you in? If you could see yourself through my eyes, you wouldn’t ask me that. What I was trying to say is that you still don’t understand the vampire lifestyle. For example, the sun just went down, so, it is morning. This is the beginning of the day, first thing in the morning. The day does not end until
the sun rises, and this is the daytime, and that’s when we would celebrate a birthday.”

Before I could say anything, the door of my room flew open. Alice, Charlotte, Michael and Lea flashed into my room. Charlotte was holding a cake with sixteen candles on
it; Alice and Lea both had arms full of presents. Then they all started singing Happy Birthday; as they sang, Michael lit the candles.

Charlotte put the cake in front of me, and, as the song ca
me to the end, Alice yelled out, “Make a wish.”

I didn’t know what to wish for, so I simply gave thanks instead. Then I blew out the candles; Charlotte took the cake away. Alice said. “I want a piece of cake.”

Charlotte laughed, then said; “how about cake in a bottle?” With that, she pulled out a big bottle of wine.

Ezra brought out some glasses, while Charlotte poured. Ezra said
right before he sipped the wine, “This is a real treat, blood wine; it’s hard to find. Wine is one of the only ways to preserve the blood, for vampires that is.” After he took a sip, he added, “ah, delicious, time for presents.”

The wine tasted wonderful; I could drink myself stupid on this stuff.

Alice and Charlotte had bought me a lot of clothes. I loved them; Alice had even bought me more clothes that went with my new look. I had mixed emotions about always dressing in black.

Charlotte bought me a
leather jumpsuit; she told me that it was more comfortable than it looked. Ezra added that it was really good for combat, and that is why Charlotte had gotten it for me.

Ezra had b
ought me a beautiful set of knives. He told me they were made out of a new metal, titanium, light and strong. The handles had a good feel; the blades were only sharp on one side with a slight curve. They were both six inches long, including the handle, and they would be easy to hide.

Michael had bought me a pair of sunglasses. They were special, he said. Tougher than most, and also darker; they fit me perfectly. They were tight enough that they would not come off easily. I gave Michael a big hug that got me a dirty look from Lea. Charlotte and Alice both hooped and hollered at my hug with Michael. Ezra shook his head back and forth in disgust with the whole thing.

I pulled back from my hug; Michael gently kissed me on my forehead, and then said, “Happy Birthday, but you’re still not even one, in vampire years.”

Lea handed me a small box. Inside was a necklace with a half of a heart charm attached to a chain. She had the other half. She showed me that, when you put the two
necklaces together, they said Best Friends Forever. “Thank you, Lea… and I don’t half heartily say that,” everyone laughed.

I really hoped she didn’t expect me to wear this. Best friends, I wasn’t even sure we were friends at all. I didn’t say anything; I didn’t want to give Alice and Charlotte anymore ammo to tease Lea with, but, from the smirk on Charlotte face, it told me that she knew exactly how I felt.

I would have loved to drink the night away, but thank goodness I wasn’t the only one who had to get up for school.

Michael was on his third glass of wine, when he announced. “Alright, I am sure Melabeth is grateful, but I… and, when I say I, I mean we, we have school tomorrow.  So goodnight all, and happy birthday again…see ya in the morning.”

He left, with Lea in tow.

Lea yelled back, “See you tomorrow Melabeth.”

She was really trying to be my friend, even if I was a threat to her love, Michael. In the future I would have to remember to be nice. Charlotte and Ezra excused themselves, and then left my room hand in hand. I lay back on my bed. Alice finished her glass of wine, and then she lay next to me. It was kind of strange as we both lay in silence.

“Goodnight birthday girl,”
Alice whispered, as she closed her eyes.

I cleared my throat, “T
his is my bed.”

Alice giggled, and then turned her head to look at me. “No one should be alone on their birthday. I am not Charlotte; I don’t know what you are feeling, but I am sure of how I would feel after a day like you have had. Plus, I have wanted to have a sleep over. We could build a fort if you like.”

“No fort, I am tired…’night Alice.” I closed my eyes and turned onto my side. I felt Alice put a blanket over me.

She was right; I was glad she was here with me.

When the alarm awoke me, I was alone in bed. When I thought about it, the only ones sleeping at night were me and Michael. Alice was sweet, even if she hid behind crazy.

*                    *                       *

The first two classes flew by, and, before I knew it, I was headed to brunch with Lizzie in tow. I couldn’t wait to see David; I was already worried about him, and he hadn’t even left today. As soon as I saw David, I ran up and gave him a hug.

He whispered in my ear. “Easy there, you’re forgetting how strong you are.” I laughed and loosened my grip, but I didn’t let go of him. “It’s going to be fine, Melabeth; I can feel your worry across the whole school. I can do this; we can do this.”

I nodded my head. Lizzie stuck her head really close and said, “P.D.A. you two.”

I ignored her. She and Michael started talking; I was getting a little uneasy about that relationship. I hadn’t said anything to David about it, and it wouldn’t have worried me if it were just Lizzie, but Michael smiled more and stared just a little bit too long. Michael glanced my way; I gave him a dirty look. He just winked at me and went back to talking to Lizzie.

I had enough to worry about, and now I had one more thing. Brunch was only fifteen minutes, but it felt like two, and then it was like I had traveled into the future. It was lunch time.

I didn’t have much time to talk to David; he needed to go. The plan was that he would walk off campus; there were some orange groves in a field across the street from the high school. There he could teleport without anyone seeing him.

I gave him a big hug, but I made sure I didn’t squeeze too hard. “Be safe, and hurry back. If you don’t find it, don’t worry about it. You are important.  I don’t want you getting into any trouble.”

David smiled at me. “You worry too much; I wil
l be back before you can say, ‘You love me’.”

He
kissed me. Then he started walking; he looked back over his shoulder and gave me one more smile, then he rounded a corner and was gone. I said to myself. “Love you.” If anything happened to him… I couldn’t say it to his face, not when I knew I was going to leave him.

After that, time went from, so fast I couldn’t stand it to so slow I couldn’t take it. In fifth period, October was worried about me. In the last week, October had been getting steadily more aggressive. She touched me whenever possible, and she talked about me and her having a sleepover. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was trying not to bring any more attention to myself… well let’s just say October would understand how I felt. Still, as annoying as her unwanted advances were, there was still something I liked about her as a person. If that hadn’t been true, I would have already put my foot down.

I was full of emotions, so I was glad to get away from October before I said something I would regret. I don’t really do regret. Sixth period was a horror from the moment I walked into the room.

Devon asked me,
“Do you feel better today?”

I put forth my best pretend smile, “yes sir.”

Then I had to listen to him speak for forty-five minutes, and he gave us the next fifteen minutes to work on an assignment. It was only eight minutes before class let out. I was about to tear all my hair out when, over the loud speaker, they announced a phone call for Lizzie.

It was supposed to be for me originally, but, at the last minute, there was a change of plan by Michael; he didn’t want me away from Devon until we knew for sure that David was ok. Michael figured if things turned violent, that I was best suited for it. I was stronger, faster and better trained. Of course the last part was only because Michael didn’t care for fighting.

I couldn’t get to Michael's truck fast enough. Lizzie was supposed to meet us and let us know how it went. I got there about the same time as Lizzie. Michael was still jogging over.

“Is he alright?”

“Yes, everything went perfectly,” Lizzie said with a smile, and she didn’t even cover her mouth.

“Tell me everything.”

“Wait for Michael,” Lizzie demanded.

Michael finished running up,
“Yeah, wait for Michael.” 

“You could hear he
r speaking a hundred yards away,” Then I turned to Lizzie, “So?”

Lizzie said, “Ok, now, it all went as planned; he teleported over and searched the house. He found that there was a secret basement. The most amazing part was that he said the house was full of spirits. He must have killed dozens of people there. He can’t see or hear ghosts during the day, but he can sense their presence.”

“I didn’t know that,” I said.

“He didn’t either, until recently. David’s still discovering his powers, but what I was saying was that the
ghost helped him. He found all kinds of films, and he said he found your film, Melabeth.”

I think the color drained out of my face, not that I had any color. Then Lizzie jumped forward and wrapped her arms around me.

She said with tears in her eyes. “My brother… well he had to find out what he was taking. I know… we will bring that man to justice, now that we have evidence. The Order will punish him, and all that were involved.”

I pulled away from her hug. “I don’t need the damn Order, or their justice, Lizzie. I didn’t even need the evidence. He will pay… you’re right about that; he will pay.”

Lizzie looked at me as if I were being unreasonable. “But The Order… I don’t want to upset you anymore. We still have time to talk about this. I need to go; my mom will be waiting for me.  Don't worry about tonight; I will cover for David to get out. Meet him at the cemetery at eleven.”

I was thankful for all Lizzie’s help, even though she had no idea what she was talking about.

I gave her another hug, and then said, “Thank you, thank you for everything.”

Lizzie gave me a strange look as she left. Then Michael said. “Well, she got that message.”

“What message?”

“You just said goodbye, and she’s not ready for that. Also we need to deal with her belief about The Order helping you.”

I looked at Michael and said, “We need to say goodbye, both of us; you said this, and I don’t care what she thinks about The Order; they will not help us.”

Michael got into the truck; I jumped into the passenger seat. Michael said. “I will talk with her.”

“I think you have a thing for her.”

Michael said a little too qu
ickly, “No, no I don’t; what are you talking about?”

“Michael, she is too young for you, and, before you say anything about how impossible it is to find someone your own age… she’s not even fifteen.”

Michael was mad. “I like her, and I don’t like her like that… she reminds me of my little sister. You don’t need to be a bitch. I know we have to stop hanging out with them, but I will say goodbye the way I want to, and you are underestimating her when it comes to The Order. She cannot go to them about this.”