Star, Starland Vamp Series, Book 1 (39 page)

“You got it!” she yelled as she darted to the trunk of the car at vamp speed. She was an expert at creating bombs, which came in handy in WWII. And within minutes, she came back with a small box, which I was sure was filled with explosives.

“Here, let me do it,” Rick told her, gingerly taking it from Annie’s hands.

“Carefully,” Annie said, taking a deep breath, knowing fire was something a vamp couldn’t recover from.

Zac and John covered him as Rick ran toward the tunnel. Down the alley around the corner were more rogue vampires coming at us at vamp speed.

“We’ve got company!” Annie yelled, taking down several with an Uzi.

“I have an idea,” Rick said and the way he said it scared me to death.

“Here we go,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“You all cover me and let me get this down the tunnel as far as I can. Then you blow it,”
Rick said, indicating the grenade launcher.

I shook my head in disbelief. “You’re crazy.”

“It’ll work, Star,” he replied, then added. “Trust me.”

Rick waited for the flames to die down, then at vamp speed, he ran the bomb down the tunnel as I held my breath. I watched as he sat it down in the middle of the tunnel, then darted out as quickly as he could. “Okay, blow it!”

Behind me, rogue vamps rounded the corner, and I knew I had only this one shot. I aimed carefully, took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger. “Let’s get out of here!” I yelled, already headed toward the car. “Take cover!”

And everyone darted to the other side of the car, while John darted into the car and quickly shut the door just as the blast went off. It sounded like an atomic bomb exploding as fire rushed down the tunnel and traveled up throughout the rest of the building.

Quickly, Zac wrapped his arms around me holding me safely against his body. And, like he said before, if we died, we were going to die together.

Debris flew over the top of the car as the bomb exploded, taking down the whole corner lot, along with many of the rogue vamps standing near it. Blaring car alarms, smoke, and debris filled the air as sirens sounded in the distance.

No one could have survived that.

“Let’s get out of here,” Rick announced, quickly throwing the Gatlin gun into the trunk and slammed it shut. “We can’t explain this one to the humans.”

Within an instant, everyone piled into the Challenger as I quickly sped away, headed toward the expressway. We made a few sharp turns and in a few seconds, we were safely back on I-95. Suddenly, we burst out laughing as relief swept over us all.

“Where to?” I asked everyone in the car, as Zac scooted closer to my side. Rick, Annie, and John were in the backseat, filled with adrenaline and relief.

“Where else?” Rick asked, pulling Annie into his arms, looking directly into her eyes as John made a sickening face. I laughed, watching them in the rearview mirror. “Home.” Then, ignoring the surroundings, his lips crushed onto Annie’s as hers moved with his.

“Get a room!” John yelled, as a sudden wave of nausea swept over him.

We all laughed, giddy from the experience. Alive again to tell the tale.

Then suddenly, Zac fell silent, looking out the car windows, watching the signs go by. And I knew what he was thinking as a smile lit my lips. “Zac, honey?” I asked, bringing him back from his reverie.

“Yes?” Zac asked, turning his attention toward me, forcing a smile.

“You’re parents are alive,” I told him, realizing he didn’t know.

“What?” Zac asked, as Annie and Rick smiled at him from the backseat.

I looked directly into his eyes, still able to see the road through my peripheral vision. “Verus grabbed them and took them to a safe house before we ever got there.”

Zac’s perfectly-shaped eyebrows pulled together in confusion. “What are you saying? Even my father?”

I nodded, smiling.

“That son of a …” Zac yelled, his grief suddenly turning to rage.

“Zac, now wait a minute,” I replied, cutting him off. “V said your father tried to call you, but we were already on the road and he couldn’t get hold of us.” Then I thought for a moment and added, “The cell phones are in the glove box. We’ll have to ditch them soon, but go ahead and call them. I’m sure they’ll answer.”

“But what about other shape shifters?” Zac asked, looking at the black cell phone he’d just pulled from the glove box.

“Zac, Drake’s dead,” I replied, then smiled. “We’re the only ones left. Just you and I.”

Zac nodded, then looked at the cell one more time. “No, I’ll call them tomorrow.” Then a thought appeared within his mind. “Do you think it’s safe to go back to Cooperstown now?”

“Well, Drake’s dead and I’m sure word will get around that who was going to pay is dead,” I reasoned, looking him in the eye. “Yes, I’m sure it’s safe. That is, if you can handle it.”

Zac’s eyebrows pulled together as Rick and Annie picked up where they left off and John looked out the window doing his best to ignore them. “What are you talking about?”

“About being around humans,” I replied. “Do you think you can handle it?”

If I have a regular supply of blood, I can handle anything,” Zac replied with a smile.

I laughed, then said, “Do me a favor. Just don’t attack Ms. Parks.”

Zac laughed. It felt good to laugh with him about it. “You like her, huh?”

“Yeah, she’s nice,” I replied, then added with a mischievous grin. “But you can have Dr. Hartrell, though. He’s such a jerk.”

Zac laughed, the sound of bells. “Oh! So him you
don’t
like! Anyone else?”

The banter continued until we reached the turn onto I-28 when a thought occurred to me. “Would you like to call your parents and have them meet you at our house? I hate to tell you, but yours isn’t there anymore.”

“What?”
Zac asked, his eyebrows pulling together.

“It’s a long story, but I only had a few minutes to grab some of your clothes and a few things that I thought were important to you.”

Zac nodded, taking it all in. It was a lot to take in all at once.

“Man, get a room, guys!” John suddenly shouted, interrupting the stillness of the night and our conversation, causing us all to laugh.

“Sorry, John,” Rick replied as Annie blushed. I smiled, watching them in the rearview mirror. This was a first. Annie hadn’t blushed in years.

“I have a better idea,” Zac said, taking my hand. “Annie? Since you’re obviously staying at Rick’s tonight, can we stay at your place?”

Annie looked at Rick and grinned, saying nothing.

I smiled, lifting an eyebrow. “Does this mean you’ve changed your mind about waiting?”

Zac laughed, then replied, “No, I just want to spend some time with you. Just us.” Then, a devilish look appeared within his eyes as he added loud enough for Rick to hear. “That is, if it’s okay with your father!”  

“Hey, now,” Rick replied with a grin. “I resemble that remark!” Then we all laughed, still on an adrenaline high.

“Now, wait a minute,” John protested, looking right at us. “You guys aren’t leaving me alone with these two tonight, are you?”

Annie laughed. “Sorry, Johnny.” Then she looked at Rick and added, “That is, unless you want me to go home tonight.”

Rick smiled broadly, taking her into his arms. “Not on your life! I’m not letting you out of my sight again, thank you very much!” Then he gave her another very sweet kiss as John made a face, pretending to be sick.

“Come on guys!” John said to Zac and I, leaning onto the back of the seat. “Have a heart!”

I laughed, looking at him in the rearview mirror. “Sorry, Johnny, but we can’t leave you alone when you’re new.”

He rolled his eyes as I laughed. It felt good to have a bit of normalcy to our lives again, whatever that was. But the banter was music to my ears.

I pulled in front of our two-story house to drop off Rick and Annie, and it felt good to be home. “Annie, I have a few clothes in a duffle bag you can wear. Sorry, but I haven’t had time to shop yet.” Funny that everything happened so fast that I never had time to shop for clothes. What a travesty!

“That’s okay,” Annie beamed from ear to ear, excitedly clapping her hands as Rick playfully rolled his eyes, knowing what was coming. “We can go shopping tomorrow!”

“Or over the weekend,” Zac interrupted, pulling me toward him between the bucket seats. “She might be a bit busy.”

“Oh, man! Not you guys, too! Give me a break!” John yelled, rolling his eyes with a smile.

We all laughed, and in spite of myself, I felt a bit sorry for John as he got out of the car along with Rick and Annie. But there was a room on the bottom floor he could have, away from everything. Also, there was plenty of blood in the refrigerator so he wouldn’t have to leave the house.

“Night, guys,” I called out to my family as they headed toward the house. And at that moment, I realized that’s what we’d all become: a family. Then my thoughts turned to Verus, but I quickly pushed the thought aside, refusing to let anything ruin our night. I needed time alone with Zac, too, just the two of us.

I threw the Challenger into reverse, but before I could back out of the long driveway, Zac pulled me into his arms.

“Come here,” he said, then crushed his lips onto mine with a passion unmatched by immortal or human.

“Get a room, guys!” John yelled, making an awful face, heading toward the front door of the house. “Hey, this is nice! Which room is mine?”

Rick rolled his eyes and waved at us, his arm wrapped around Annie at his side. And I knew at that moment, after all these years, we were finally home.

A moment later, Zac and I pulled out of the narrow driveway and made a left, heading toward town and Annie’s house. We said nothing as I pulled in front of the house, hoping no one would notice the bullet holes decorating the side of the Challenger. Regardless, we had tonight and I didn’t want anything to spoil it.

The house was dark when we pulled up. At vamp speed, Zac came around the car and opened my car door, then scoped me with ease into his arms. His super-human strength was going to come in handy.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, letting him carry me to the door. “What’s this all about?” I asked as a corner of my lips lifted into a mischievous grin.

“What does it look like?” he answered, returning my smile. “I’m practicing carrying you over the threshold.”

“Practicing, huh?” I asked with a smile. “You still want to marry me after all this?”

“Marry
you?
Nah …” Zac said, smiling, as my face fell slightly. Then he placed a gentle finger under my chin to lift my eyes to his. “I want to marry you more than any immortal or human in the history of the world has wanted to marry another person.” I smiled, snuggling into his chest. “Besides,” Zac continued, “with you, life will never be boring!”

I laughed as I sat up to look into his beautiful green vampire eyes. “I love you, Zac,” I said, laughing as he paused at the front door of the house.

“I love you, too, Abigail,” then he gave me one sweet kiss, which turned into passion as he expertly opened the door, never breaking the kiss, then turned on the lights.

“Surprise!” the voices of many people in the house—both human and vamp—yelled.

Instinctively, Zac set me on my feet and pushed me behind him to protect me, which reminded me.

“We are definitely going to have a talk about that,” I said to Zac low, so no one could hear. Rick suppressed a smile, glad to see that I finally had someone to protect me for a change. I glared in his direction.

“Well, hello, you must be Abigail!” Zac’s mother, Jennifer, greeted me with a warm smile and an extended hand. When I took it, she didn’t flinch from the difference in our temperatures. “It’s certainly a pleasure to meet you!” she said, pulling me into her arms into a big bear hug.

“My pleasure, Ma’ame,” I replied, smiling in spite of myself, remembering the first time I thought we’d met, but I pushed the thought aside. She was a warm woman who knew no strangers, whether the stranger was human or not.

Then she turned to Zac and pulled him into her arms as he cringed. I could already tell that he wasn’t going to be able to stay with her, at least, not for a while. It would take a while for him to have the self control to live with humans. “I’m so happy you’re still alive,” she said into his ear, not realizing that every vampire in the room could still hear. Then she pulled back to look at him. “You look great, son. Welcome home!”

“Mom .. about that …”

“It’s good to see you, Son,” Abbott interrupted, extending a hand to his son, knowing not to push him. He had plenty of experience with vampires, new or not. “You look great. I’m glad you’re okay.”

Zac smiled, shaking his father’s hand, then pulled him briefly into a hug, but quickly pulled away. “I’m so glad you’re alive, Mom and Dad. You two scared me to death.”

“Sorry, Son,” Abbott apologized. “I tried to call, but couldn’t get hold of you.”

“Yes, about that,” I said to Abbott, nicely interrupting. “You’re going to have to fill us in a bit better next time.”

“Shush, we’ll talk about it later,” Abbott interrupted, knowing there were too many civilians present to have this conversation.