Authors: Kailin Gow
“I think,” he said, “that I might know something about what they’re planning next.”
“And how would you know that?” Kevin demanded.
Fallon
looked at his brother. “Because they told me, Kevin. They told me exactly what they’re going to do.” He hesitated. “And now I think it might be too late.”
“What is it you need to
tell
us?” Josh asked.
Fallon
hesitated, just barely. What would Josh, Kevin and Jake think when they heard?
Still,
he had to
tell
them.
“I was running to deliver a warning when I spotted the dragon,” he said. “I found out that the vampires were planning something. Something big. And Wicked is involved somehow.”
“But you let yourself get distracted,” Josh said.
“It was for Briony.”
Fallon
looked at his brother, and Kevin nodded. He, at least, could understand that. “But now I need to get back. I need to get to the diner and warn as many of the Preservation Society as I can about the new wave of vampires coming in. I just hope I’m not too late.”
“So do I,” Josh said, and
Fallon
wasn’t quite sure whether it was a threat. The Werewolf King turned to Kevin. “I’m going to head back to the mansion with Carol and Brian. You and Jake are welcome to come. I would ask
Fallon
, but he obviously has other things to do.”
“And in any case,”
Fallon
said. “I don’t feel like having my throat ripped out by a bunch of angry werewolves. Now can someone point me back in the direction of Wicked?”
Kevin nodded towards the trees, and from somewhere,
Fallon
got the impression that his brother was actua
lly
a little sad to see him go. If so, it would be a first now that he was a vampire.
“
I
’ll
be over in Wicked as soon as I can to help,” Kevin said. “Now that Briony’s not there, she’s counting on
all
of us to help take her and Aunt Sophie’s place.”
Jake nodded. “
I
’ll
help too.”
Fallon
hoped it would be enough. He had seen some of what was coming, after
a
ll.
“I might be a while,” Kevin said. “I have to go see Maisy and Steve first. They think they have a way to help us find Pietre’s new location, but now, they can probably help locate these new vampires too. If we know where they are, we might not have to sit around, waiting for them to do something.”
“We probably won’t have to wait that long,”
Fallon
said. He could hear some of the tension he felt in his voice. Despite that, he took the time to reassure Jake. “
We
’ll
get Briony back,” he told the younger vampire. “Briony and Aunt Sophie too.”
“I hope so,” Jake said. “They’re the only family I have left. Wherever they are.”
Fallon
nodded and left then, snatching up a wild deer as he ran, trying not to think about what he was doing as he bit down on it. The taste of fresh blood pumped through him; nowhere near as sweet or as strong as human blood, but enough to give him the strength he needed.
He ran for Wicked, and he flew too, not caring now if any of the vampires that might have been fo
llowing
him managed to spot him. There wasn’t time for subtlety anymore. There wasn’t time for anything but pulsing, blurring speed.
Even with that speed, it took a couple of hours to get back to the town, and
Fallon
had to wonder at just how far out he had run, fo
llowing
that dragon. Add on the time he had spent chasing after the creature, and
Fallon
had wasted most of the day when he could have been warning people. When the western vampires could easily have been making their move.
Arriving in Wicked, he made for George’s diner. It was the logical place to start, even if the other members of the Preservation Society would probably be very careful about listening to instructions from their former leader now that he was a vampire. Most of the staff were members of the society, after
all,
while going there would also give
Fallon
a chance to check up on George.
Yet another thing he had neglected.
Fallon
knew he shouldn’t have just left a new vampire alone like that, but what else could he do?
Just for a moment as he approached the diner,
Fallon
was sure that he had made the wrong decision.
Jill
,
Percy and Pete were
all
there, armed to the teeth with stakes and silver knives, crosses and holy water. When he couldn’t see George straight away,
Fallon
couldn’t help wondering if the new vampire might have lost control. Might have hurt someone when
Fallon
was supposed to be watching him.
“What happened?”
Fallon
asked Jil
l.
“Where’s George?”
“In his office,” the waitress said. “He’s holed up. He’s not handling it
we
ll.
”
“Handling what
well?
”
Fallon
asked. “He didn’t hurt somebody, did he?”
The worst part was that a
small
part of
Fallon
almost wished George had hurt someone, if only because it was better news than
all
the other things that might be going on. Or at least, news that had nothing to do with his warning.
Jill
shook her head. “It’s not George. There was an attack.”
Fallon
’s heart
fe
ll.
“What kind of attack?”
“On the high school.”
Jill
adjusted a couple of weapons. “Several students were hurt. It was definitely vampires, but not the kind we’ve seen before. These vampires weren’t worried about leaving traces of their feeding. They didn’t drag their prey into the woods like the ones before. They were happy to leave drained bodies at the school.”
And there were two obvious absences from the diner.
Fallon
tried to keep a grip on his feelings. It wasn’t easy. “Maisy? Steve? I should check on them. Make sure they’re
all
right.”
“Don’t worry,”
Jill
said, shaking her head.
“They were the ones who told us what happened. They rushed over and told us to get prepared.”
The way
Fallon
should have done. The members of the Preservation Society would probably stake him if they knew that he had known, but had said nothing. And right then,
Fallon
wasn’t sure that he would blame them.
Jill
sighed. “This is bad,
Fallon
. There’s an attack at school, and now it looks like these vampires are stronger, more dangerous than Pietre’s. Sophie and Briony aren’t even here to lead, while George is barely keeping it together.”
“
I
’ll
handle George,”
Fallon
said. “But if these vampires are as bad as you say they are…” as bad as he knew them to be, but
Fallon
couldn’t say that “then wait until I can get George under control. You guys need backup that can keep up with vampires. Right now, that means me and George.”
Jill
nodded. “Trust me. I’m not about to run off fighting vampires without every advantage I can get. Just… hurry, okay?”
Fallon
nodded, though he couldn’t help wondering whether, if he had hurried in the first place, it would have been necessary. He couldn’t change that now, though, so instead he rushed through to George in the office, stopping only to get some donor blood from out of the freezer.
George’s eyes fol
lowed
it hungrily as
Fallon
threw it to him, and the new vampire drained it in seconds.
“Where did you get that?” George demanded.
“From your freezer,”
Fallon
said. “Hold on, are you
telling
me that no one told you there was a supply there?”
George shook his head.
“And you didn’t notice it?”
Another head shake.
“So this is why you’ve been on edge?”
“Nobody told me,” George said. “I’ve been trying to hunt
small
animals, but it’s not enough. And
all
this time, there’s just been frozen blood sitting around?”
Fallon
cursed himself. He should have been there to explain to George. To make things easier.
“Having blood around is part of learning how to control ourselves as vampires. Not many of us try to control ourselves, especia
lly
when we’re first turned. I had to figure out ways to survive without
killing
. This one works.”
“Glad you’re here, then,” George said. With the blood, he was looking better. “Glad none of the Preservation Society folks, especia
lly
Sophie, staked you before.”
Fallon
nodded. “That was mostly due to Briony. She trusted me. She’s helped me so much.
Helped me keep some humanity. She showed me that we can learn to live with humans.”
George nodded. “Having humans around helps. At least when I’m not starving. It reminds me to be… me.”
Fallon
certainly knew that feeling. Except that now, he had cost people their lives.
“Briony,” George said. “Any luck in finding her and Sophie?”
Fallon
was glad for the sudden change of topic.
“We’re getting close. At least that’s what I keep hoping. And when we find Briony,
we
’ll
find Aunt Sophie, too. George, we need to go now. You heard about the attack on the school? We need to help.”
The diner owner nodded. “Let’s go deal with it, then. I don’t care if I am a vampire now. No bloodsucker is going to do that kind of thing in my town and get away with it.”
Fallon
walked out of the diner with George.
Jill
and the others were waiting for them, having brought trucks around. More members of the Preservation Society were there with them, and
Fallon
was glad to see Steve and Maisy among them.
The drive to the school was a short one, and not a particularly fruitful one either. They got there, only to find rows of police cars already there, their lights flashing.
Fallon
saw the members of the Preservation Society hide their weapons quickly. As they drove closer, a wiry police officer with a serious expression held up a hand to stop them.
“You’re going to have to turn around and head back into town, folks,” he said. “There’s nothing to see here.”
A quick scan of the area suggested that might be true. Certainly,
Fallon
couldn’t see any signs of vampires left behind.
“We heard there might be a problem,”
Jill
said.
“No. No problem. Everything’s taken care of. You can
all
go home.”
“What happened?” Maisy asked. “It must be something, if so many of you are here.”
The police officer shook his head. “Strictly speaking, I can’t
tell you
that, Miss. But, in the interests of cutting off any rumors that might start otherwise, we think that a pack of animals from the woods got in here. Probably ran short of food. One of the dangers of living so close to the woods, I guess.”
“Animals,”
Fallon
echoed.
“That’s right, son. Now, are you
all
going to go home, or do I have to ask what you’ve got in those trucks?”
“Alright, Officer,” Maisy said. “
We
’ll
go back.”
They turned and drove a short way back along the road to the diner before stopping. They had to talk about this.
“Looks like they’re trying to cover it up again,” Pete said.
Jill
shrugged. “Did you rea
lly
expect anything else? I thought there might be one or two vampires about though.”
“There aren’t,”
Fallon
said. “I would have spotted them.” He looked at Maisy and Steve. “Is it true that you’ve found a way to find them?”
Steve nodded. “We’re
all
set.
Well,
nearly.”
“Good,”
Fallon
said. “Because I can’t wait much longer.”