Bite, p.75
Bite, page 75
Tiffany just nods as she says, “Yeah you’re right. I’ll just stay alert until Gina kicks the shit out of her.”
I laugh at her confidence as I chime in, “I couldn’t have said it better myself. You ready to get down now?”
“Yeah.” I go to put her on my back but she softly says, “Before we go back to join the others, I just wanna say thanks for finally trusting me enough to tell me the truth.”
“You’re welcome. But don’t tell your friends. I don’t want them to worry. I have enough to worry about by making sure the vampire community doesn’t suspect that we had something going on. With all that has happened, we have to put it out there that you are my feeder and nothing more. We can’t let it be known of how our relationship was okay?”
“Don’t worry. I won’t say a word about your vision but I’ll tell them to think of me as your feeder and nothing more. I’ll stress how important that is.”
Damn I love this woman and her ability to roll with the punches. I take her hand and lightly kiss it before putting her on my back. After she grabs on, in a quick motion I hop over the railing and land gracefully on the ground below. I feel her body shaking from the fall down but I whisper, “It’s okay Tiffany. We’re on the ground now safe and sound.”
“Next time can we take the stairs instead? I’ll have fewer heart attacks that way.”
I chuckle as I say, “Sorry about that. I’ll do that next time.”
“Sure you will.”
The day is going as we hoped. We wanted the humans to relax and get their minds off the situation with Ursela and I’m glad it’s working. Actually we all needed a little break and just for a few hours, we pretend that everything is back to normal and we all end up having a great time.
It is now early evening and the sun slowly begins to set as we start to pack up so we can head back. As I help Joseph put the grill back in David’s Hummer, he freezes while scanning the area. I tense up as well as I ask, “Are we going to have company?”
He slowly nods as he replies, “I think so. We should hurry and get them in the cars.”
“No, we need them inside the shed now!”
Hearing my instructions, David, Alex and Evan grab the humans and Harry follows them to the shed like compartment that is attached to the base of the lighthouse. Once they are inside David barks at them, “If I see any of you outside this door, you’ll have to deal with me got it?”
“Oh quit with the tough guy routine and go help Gina out,” Diane answers back.
David just huffs while shutting the door. I notice Rob is extremely tense so I flash over to him and ask, “What is it?”
His eyes are hard as he responds, “I know who our visitor is. His scent, however, is very strange so I’m assuming he is fully under Ursela’s control.”
Remembering the blond vampire I saw in the computer lab that day with Rob, I solemnly say, “We’ll try not to hurt him unless we have no choice. If we can grab him then Gina can do to him what she did to you.”
“I would appreciate that…wait, he’s not alone!”
I also pick up another vampire scent and I cringe at how serious Ursela is in coming after Gina. And if she only sent two then they must be two of her best.
I suddenly hear a crash as a vampire comes flying through air before landing on her back into the swing set. When she composes herself and rises, I recognize her as the vampire JoJo who was with Carla when she killed Gina’s mother. Evan emerges from the trees and he’s on top of her immediately and kicks her across the lawn. She lands in front of Joseph who grabs her while Rob immediately gets in her face. “Where’s Jack JoJo?”
She smirks as she replies, “Who said Jack is with me?”
“I can smell him.”
She just shrugs and as he is about to hit her, JoJo gracefully lifts her legs up and kicks him in his jaw. She then flips over Joseph where she ends up behind him and her foot connects with his back and he goes flying and hits the side of the lighthouse. I have to admit, the bitch is bad.
She turns to face us while asking, “So who’s next?”
Gina sneaks up behind her (love those mental blocks of hers) and punches JoJo right in the back of her head and growls, “I am bitch!”
“Go Gina,” I hear her friends yell and when I look in their direction, that’s when I see Jack break the window and yank Mark outside by his arm. I’m about to throw my shield on him but Jack quickly zips over to me and hits me hard in the chest and I go flying until I crash into a tree. Muthafucker.
As I get up, I feel pain running up and down my arm and I look to see a small branch went straight threw my upper arm. I quickly yank it out and I feel it heal as I walk back over to the lawn. My fangs are at their full length and I growl as I prepare to kick Jack’s ass. The branch ripped through a three hundred dollar Armani shirt. Oh no he didn’t.
Feeling my anger about to explode, I find Jack still with Mark and he has him by the throat as he sees me approach. I glare at him as I say, “Now you’ve done it. You royally pissed me the fuck off!”
“And what the hell are you going to do about it pretty boy? Without your shield, you can’t fight for shit.”
I smirk as I respond, “That’s what you think.”
As he waits for me to make my move, Joseph hits him from behind and I flash over to him and double kick him in the chest. As he’s about to get up, I grab him by the collar and head butt him until he almost passes out. When he lies on the ground, I lean over him and say, “I can’t believe Ursela sent you two pathetic excuses for vampires to get Gina.”
His expression turns sinister as he says, “What makes you think Ursela sent us and that we’re here for Gina? You better guess again St. James. Or better yet, why don’t you give it some serious thought.”
I stare blankly at him as I ask, “Who sent you if it wasn’t Ursela?”
“Oh I don’t know; a very jealous husband perhaps.”
I quickly stand up as I stare at Joseph who appears as if he’s going to be sick. I didn’t want to believe that Sam would do such a thing. Why would he want to kill Joseph? I refuse to accept that. “You lie,” I say with malice.
Jack gets to his feet as he says, “Sam wanted to remind him of the punishment for touching his wife. Am I lying now?”
The fury rolling off Joseph is immeasurable and he snarls as he charges for Jack. He punches him so hard that I thought Jack’s head was going to go flying off his body. Rob comes over to restrain his friend but he throws him so hard that Rob crashes into the shed where the others are hiding. Jack then comes over to me and exchange a few punches until he sends me crashing into Harry and Alex. Then he grabs Mark and before I am out of view, I see him lower his head towards his neck.
Crown Me!
(Gina)
I have to act fast before Mark gets bitten. As I run over to him and Jack, I scream for Rob. I see him rise up as the girls make sure he’s okay (and that his cute face didn’t get bruised) and after he shakes off the bits of bricks, he runs out to help me. I know Jack is his friend but if Jack bites Mark then all bets are off.
Just as he’s about to pierce Mark’s skin, I mentally throw him into Rob’s waiting arms and he latches onto Jack and holds him down. Coming from another direction JoJo starts to go for Mark and I know I have to finish this now. My fangs bared, I lunge for her so I can rid her of Ursela’s venom but something unexpected happens. She throws Mark into my path and my fangs bite him instead. In the split second he starts screaming, I quickly focus on marking him and sure enough I feel my essence begin to enter him. I let go and turn to face JoJo who is shocked that I didn’t kill him. Harry appears behind her and as he holds her tight I bite her.
The reaction I got when I bit Rob also happens with JoJo. A shockwave jolts through my body but this time I lift off her myself. She begins to scream in pain but I can’t focus on her right now as I look over at Rob who finally gets control of Jack. I go over to him and without saying a word, I bite him and he also screams out as I move away from him. Both he and JoJo go through the agony of Ursela’s venom leaving their bodies and after a few minutes, they both get quiet.
Remembering what I did to Mark, I rush over to him to see how he’s doing where I find him sitting on the ground with his hand on his neck. I softly say, “Let me see Mark.”
He slowly moves his hand and I see the wound. I cringe as I see the size of it and I say, “Let me fix it up for you.”
He nods as he whispers, “Okay.”
There is a little blood trickling out and with my fangs slightly exposed, I proceed to fix up the wound and seal it shut. When I’m done, I look and see that the bite marks are barely visible anymore. He looks at me as he whispers, “You bit me.”
I give him a goofy smile as I say, “I’m sorry. It wasn’t meant for you.”
“I can’t believe you bit me.”
“Oh stop whining. I only marked you. It could have been worse,” I remark while playfully (and lightly) punching him.
“Yeah you’re right. You better go check on our guests and make sure they’re okay.”
I nod and head over to where Jack and JoJo are still lying on the ground. I whisper to Charlie, “Why haven’t they gotten up yet? Did I do something wrong and kill them for real?”
He shakes his head, as he replies, “No. They’ll be up momentarily but we have an issue to worry about with JoJo.”
“What is it?”
“Looking into her mind, she’s a newborn vampire. Carla changed her then maybe right after her transformation was complete, she brought her to Ursela. She’s really going to be confused with everything when she gets up. I doubt Carla explained anything to her.”
“A newborn? Charlie, when she wakes up, she’ll smell my friends and …”
He cuts me off. “Relax. I won’t let her get anywhere near them.”
We all stare at JoJo with worry. Who knows how she’ll be when she wakes up but we’re about to find out as both her and Jack begin to stir. With panic in my voice I say, “Okay here we go. Try not to scare her; her head I’m sure is probably already fucked up”
We watch as both their eyes fly open and just like Rob did, they’re immediately on their feet while scanning our faces. Rob walks up to them and softly says, “Jack. My friend do you remember me?”
Jack stares at him and after recognition hits his face he asks, “Where am I?”
“You’re in Pennsylvania. You’re safe now,” Rob responds while smiling.
Relieved that Jack is okay, I focus my attention to JoJo who appears dazed. I need to treat this delicately. Once we tell her that she’s a vampire, I can only imagine how she’ll react. I just hope her reaction is not too bad otherwise I’ll have no choice but to take her down. I stare at her compassionately as I softly ask, “JoJo, are you alright?”
She looks at me with confusion as she answers, “Who are you? How do you know my name?”
I hold up my hands as I reply, “It’s okay. My name is Gina and what we’re about to tell you is going to shock you but we’ll need you to listen carefully. Do you understand?”
She slowly nods and I’m about to explain to her what she is when Harry walks over to me and says, “Let me talk to her Gina. Maybe hearing it from a parent will soften the blow a bit.”
I smile as I respond, “Sure Pop. JoJo, this is my father Harry. He’ll explain everything to you.”
He walks over to her and gently says, “Hi JoJo. Before I begin, tell us the last thing you remember.”
She gives it some thought and finally she says, “I was on my way to meet my fiancée at the movies and after I parked my car, a woman came up to me asking for help.”
“Did she have red hair,” Evan asks.
She nods as she replies, “Yes. But when she led me away from the theatre, she jumped me. In fact, I think she bit me. I mean what kind of person bites a human being? Oh god, I hope she didn’t give me anything. Is that why I’m here; was that woman sick?”
Honey, you don’t know the half of it I think to myself. Harry proceeds to explain what happened and everything we’ve seen her do since Ursela has awoken. His voice starts to crack a little when he gets to how mom died and I put a comforting hand on his shoulder helping him to continue. Jack fills in some holes of our story with what happened in Tom’s River, which makes us all furious with what Ursela, is making her vampire army do. When he’s finished, JoJo appears as if she’s going to be sick. But she shakes her head as she says, “That is impossible. Vampires do not exist and plus I’m not a violent person. And I don’t know any Sara so why would I help torture someone I never met?”
Now I walk up to her and respond, “Because you were under Ursela’s control so you were only doing what you were told to do.”
“But vampires do not exist!”
“Kiddo, show and tell time I think is needed here,” David says.
Nodding in agreement, I call for Mark who walks over to me and then I grab his arm and slash a cut across his skin. He screams out from the pain before he cries out, “What the hell are you doing?”
I keep my gaze on JoJo where once the scent of his blood hit her, her fangs become exposed and both Evan and Alex appear behind her in case they need to hold her down if she makes a move for him. I say to her while keeping a firm grip on Mark, “JoJo, you smell that? You should be feeling a burning sensation in your throat from the thirst building up and if you run your tongue across your teeth, you’ll feel two new additions that are very sharp. Look at our faces JoJo. All our fangs are out as well.”
She does as I say and when she sees the other hungry vampires around her, she lets out a scream. I guess it finally sunk in.
I seal up Mark’s arm as she says, “I can’t believe this. Why did this happen to me?”
Charlie strolls over and replies, “I’m afraid there is more to the story. Will you please come with us so we can talk?”
She nods as she responds, “Yes of course. It’s not like I have any other place to go. Unless I can go back home?”
Solemnly I say, “I’m afraid not. Unfortunately we must remain anonymous and I’m sure your maker led everyone you knew to think that you’re dead so you can never see them again. You’ll learn that covering your tracks is very important so the humans won’t suspect anything.”
She just sadly nods and we gather our things as we prepare to head back to Alex’s. Evan surveys the damage in the area and says, “I don’t think I can fix this. We really fucked everything up.”
“Just do the best you can. The humans will just rule it as vandalism anyway,” Charlie says as he hops into his car that already has Tiffany and Steve inside.
“Rob, Alex will you please take Jack and JoJo on foot,” I ask.
They both nod as Rob murmurs, “As you wish your Highness.”
I look at him crossly as he laughs while they begin to run back to the house. I shake my head and climb into Sam’s Beamer and we all drive off.
When we arrive at the house and once everyone gets out the cars, I say to my friends, “I need you to go inside and wait until we finish talking to Jack and JoJo.”
Shaking her head Tiffany says, “No way. Gina we are just as involved as you are. Please let us stay and listen. Maybe there’s some way we can help.”
I want to argue further but I sigh as I look into their pleading faces and I say, “Okay. But you all stay close to Charlie understand?”
“You got it,” Steve says.
We walk out to the backyard and fill Jack and JoJo in on what we know so far about Ursela’s plan. We’re hoping they’ll remember more information from when they were under her command and if they can tell us anything, especially where Ursela’s main target is, we might have a chance.
Once we’re done, Jack takes a deep breath as he says, “Yep that was her original plan.”
“What do you mean her original plan,” Charlie asks.
He appears grim as he responds, “She’s not going to wait. From what I remember, Ursela was angry when Carla was destroyed and now that her two best soldiers are not going back, she’ll retaliate harshly.”
JoJo nods while adding, “In fact, before I followed you, she was talking to a couple of vampires about taking Sam home. Sam doesn’t know of course but Ursela is tired of losing these little battles and she’s ready to put her main plan into motion. I’m not sure of all the details but she said something about wanting to give him a special homecoming.”
“Yes, she said something the world would never forget,” Jack comments while nodding in agreement.
My body goes numb as it hits me that Ursela is leading the vampires back to Long Island. She’ll come down on our town like a plague and everyone we know will die. As I stand there frozen in shock I ask, “Do you know how soon she’s planning to do this?”
Jack’s brow creases as he tries to remember and after what feels like the longest two minutes of my life, he finally responds, “Sorry I’m not sure when.”
Amber gasps and we all turn to face her. “I may know why she’s not waiting until Halloween anymore. She’s looking to take out a big crowd right?” We nod our heads and she asks, “Steve, what’s coming up?”
He thinks about it for a second and when it hits him, he groans as he says, “Holy shit. The fall classic.”
David huffs as he asks, “What the hell is the fall classic?”
“It’s the biggest game of the season. It’s when our school plays against another major school and this year it’s against Florida State. Everyone in town will be there. This is the main event of our season.” He casts his eyes down as he softly says, “Scouts from the NFL are going to be there. That was gonna be my last shot to really make an impression on them.”
