Bloodlines (29 page)

All of us laughed a little. We all knew that if she was watching she would be laughing, too. It was nice to see a bit of happiness come back into all of our faces.

“So what else do we know?” Danny asked. “What do we do now?”

“We wait,” Jake said. “We stick together and, when it comes, we kill it.”

“No more dinner parties, no going into clubs – we need to be on our guard twenty-four hours a day,” Tyler said.

“It will know the most powerful one of us is gone. I don’t think it will be long before it attacks us, and this time I think it will do more than send a few people with guns,” I said seriously.

“Lucian, do you think it knew what it was doing. I mean, would it have known that if it killed one of you, Keira would have swapped places?” Lily asked me.

“I’ve been thinking that for while myself.”

“So have I,” Danny admitted. “It would make sense.”

Just as Danny finished his sentence the TV switched itself on. All of us shot up out of our seats. It had put the news channel on.

“What the…?” Danny went to say.

“Shush, listen,” Tyler said, turning up the volume.

The anchorman said:

“…police are stumped for an answer. Our correspondent Juliet Miles is on location:”

“Police in the small town of Perryville, Kentucky have, this morning, found another desecrated grave. This is now the 426th grave to be opened over six states in the last four weeks. Police at this time have no witnesses or suspects, but are thinking the bodies may be being sold on the black market. Detective Louis Matthews is here with me. Detective, why do you think these bodies are being sold?”

“At the moment we have no idea. We can only assume there are some sick people about.”

“Have you found any patterns to connect these crimes?”

“Up to now there has been no preference on gender or age, although none of the victims has been over the age of forty, and the youngest up to now was just seventeen. Males and females have been taken, all races and backgrounds.”

“Have you found any evidence to suggest who might be responsible?”

“So far I’m sad to say we have nothing solid. There have been no footprints found around any of the graves, no tools have been found, and there are no witnesses. The only thing found at each of the scenes is traces of sulfur…”

“Sulfur!” I said.

“Demons – is that what you’re thinking?” Danny asked.

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking.”

“I’m not,” Lily said. “I want to know how the TV turned itself on.”

“So do I,” Jake said.

“Keira?” Lily said, looking around the room. “Are you there?”

Danny’s phone started to ring so he excused himself for a moment.

“Do you think she’s trying to tell us something,” she asked me. “Maybe she’s trying to warn us.”

All of us looked around the room for a few minutes in silence.

“Sorry, Lily,” Danny said, walking back into the room. “That was my dad. He made the TV come on as soon as he saw the story. He thought it might have something to do with what’s going on.”

“Oh,” she said sadly.

“What are they doing with the bodies?” Tyler asked.

Then it dawned on me.

“How does making an army sound?” I said.

“Zombies?” Tyler asked, frowning.

“No, all the bodies are fresh according to that detective. What if they can possess the bodies?”

“You’re right. What about that guy that came here. He had an army with him – it might be him,” Jake suggested.

“Yeah, but they weren’t all human, were they? And there were thousands of them, not just a few hundred. And besides he was here to protect Keira, not to attack her.”

“Yeah, good point.”

“I think everyone should stay here until this is over. That way everyone’s together no matter when they decide to attack,” Lily added.

“I agree,” I told her.

So did everyone else.

That afternoon we all packed a few clothes and necessities and took them to the house. Luckily for us some of the guest rooms were set up. Jake had finished them a couple of days ago just in case we all needed to stay. In any case, it had kept his mind and body busy. Our parents agreed with our plans and just asked that when the time came we should call our fathers. They wanted to fight with us. We were all glad to have their support – I mean four guys against an army! The odds of us winning were slim at best. At least if we had four more on our side, we might be able to take a few more of them out before we died.

Late one night I was sitting in the kitchen having coffee, when Lily walked in.

“Hey,” she said, “Can’t you sleep?”

“I don’t sleep very well these days,” I told her.

“Neither do I.” She made herself a drink and came and sat down next to me. “Have you spoken to Tyler?”

“Not really. I don’t know what to say to him.”

“I think he’s hurt – I mean physically.”

“Why?”

“I was watching him before. He keeps reaching over his shoulder rubbing something.”

“I’ll ask him tomorrow,” I told her.

“Ask who what?” Tyler asked, walking into the room.

“What’s wrong with your shoulder?” I asked him.

“None of your business!” He replied coldly.

“Tyler, we only want to know you’re ok,” Lily said softly.

“I’m fine!”

“So why do you look like you’re in pain?”

“Just leave it, Lily,” he told her.

“Don’t be like that with her. She’s only asking because she cares,” I told him sternly.

He looked at her for a moment and his expression softened. He took his shirt off and turned his back on us.

“Wow!” Lily and I walked over to get a better look.

“So that’s what you’ve been going to do in the afternoon?” I exclaimed.

He had a large tattoo on his back, completely covering his left shoulder blade. It was of a gothic angel, with long black hair, green eyes, and purple-and-crimson wings. It was absolutely beautiful and, although he had had her name tattooed underneath the picture, we already knew it was Keira. It was amazing how much it looked like her.

“It’s beautiful,” Lily said tearfully, as she ran her fingers over it. “She’d love it.”

“It looks so much like her,” I told him.

“I know. The guy I went to is a fantastic artist.”

“Tyler, are you coping ok?” Lily asked him.

“I think it might get easier now that I have this. I know that might sound stupid, but I feel like she’s with me.”

“It doesn’t sound stupid at all,” I assured him.

Chapter 26

Lucian’s Story – Gathering

Days went by and nothing came for us. We waited and waited, but nothing. We took to watching the news channel. The missing bodies count was now over five hundred. We had also had it confirmed that something supernatural was at work. The police and the FBI, who were now involved, had put security on all the graveyards in the now nine affected states. Yet still the graves had been dug up. Of course, nobody else thought of demons.

Keira had now been gone fifteen days and that’s how long it had been since Lily had stepped outside the house. We decided to go out and get some fresh air. Lily wasn’t very impressed at being dragged out, but I think she felt better for it after a while. We only went into the countryside for a picnic, but it was a change from the four walls of the house.

“This is nice,” Danny said. “It’s nice when we all go out…” his voice trailed away as sadness crept across his face.

“Where do you think she is?” Lily asked.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” a deep husky voice answered.

We stood up quickly, looking around us, but nothing was there. Then the sky turned from a beautiful pastel-blue color to almost black. Thunder roared, lightning struck the ground, and the temperature plummeted around us. All our eyes changed as we waited for someone or something to attack us.

“How tragic losing someone so close. Well, soon you will all join her!” The voice jeered. “Don’t worry I promise I’ll make it quick and painless for you.”

“Show yourself!” I demanded. “Come on, you coward.”

“Soon, boy, very soon.”

The black clouds disappeared and with it the thunder and lightning. The temperature returned to normal.

“What the hell is going on?” Tyler shouted.

“It’s messing with us, trying to make us nervous,” Danny said.

“Well, it’s not going to work,” I snapped. “I’m not nervous at all. How powerful can this creep be if he has to raise an army to fight for him,” I said louder, trying to provoke him.

Sadly it didn’t work – nothing answered me.

“Do you guys want to stay out or go home?” I asked.

“We’re staying out – we won’t be made to run home!” Tyler said, sitting back down.

After a few minutes we all sat down with him. All of us were on edge though, constantly looking around in case it came back. My main concern was for Lily. If we were ambushed now, how would she protect herself? Would we be able to protect her, fight and protect ourselves?

We stayed out another couple of hours. We spent most of the time lying back on the grass in silence, but it was better than being in the house, surrounded by Keira’s things. When we did talk it was only about what was happening and about Keira. I also started to feel really sorry for Jake. He was grieving too, but he had to hide it constantly from Lily – one, so he didn’t upset her and, two, so he could appear to be strong for her. There would come a time when he would need to release his pent-up anger and grief. But for now, the only thing he did was look after Lily. In the end we all started to get restless and decided to go back to the house.

When we got in, Tyler put the news on. The police still hadn’t found anything, but revealed that last night was the first that no bodies had been taken.

“Do you think it has enough now?” Tyler asked openly.

“Possibly,” Jake answered.

“Why go to so much trouble when there are only eight of us with the power?’

“Maybe ours is stronger than that of this army. It might need reassurance,” I suggested.

“Or maybe it’s not just us it’s going to attack,” Danny suggested. “Just because we are the only ones with this power doesn’t mean there aren’t other people out there with other powers.”

“We won’t know the reason until it wants us to know,” Tyler said, turning the TV off, “So we all we can do is something we’ve all gotten very good at – we wait.”

“I’m sick of waiting!” Danny shouted, walking out of the room.

“Aren’t we all?” I said to myself. It was starting to drive me insane. Maybe that’s what it wanted. To make us lose our minds…well, fat chance; I wasn’t going to let it win.

I walked outside to the rose garden and knelt down in front of the black marble gravestone we had had made.

“God, I wish you were here. I wish I could talk to you…just for a moment,” I said as I traced her name on the stone. “I wish I could bring you back. We’re all stressing out here, Keira. If you were here you’d keep us all calm. We don’t know what to do; we just want everything to go back to how it used to be. The six of us, having a giggle, the odd disagreement, enjoying each other’s company. We want you dressed like a goth in
Heaven and Hell
, dancing around, getting drunk and making us laugh. I’d do anything for that.”

“Are you ok?” I heard Lily ask, just before she knelt opposite me.

“Yeah,” I told her as I wiped a tear away. “I just miss her so much.”

“So do I.”

“How are you holding up, really I mean?”

“Not good. I have moments where I’m ok and then I do something, and it reminds me of something either she did or we did together. Then I go off again.”

“I’m glad it’s not just me,” Tyler added, coming to join us. “Hey, miss,” he said, looking at the grave, “It’s all right for you, just chilling out wherever you are. You should come back here, make us all coffee and give us a kick up the ass.”

All of us smiled. We knew she would be smiling too.

“Can we go out somewhere tonight?” Lily asked. “I don’t mean to a bar or somewhere crowded, just for a drive or something.”

“Yeah, why not? It should be a clear night. We’ll go to the top of the hills – you can see all the lights of the new town when the sun has set. It’s a really nice view,” I told her.

“There’s an old church up there too – it’s massive. I think you could probably fit the population of Salem and more in it,” Tyler told her. “But it’s been abandoned for years.”

“Cool,” she said.

***

Lily, as usual, cooked us all dinner, but she hardly ate anything herself. We decided to ask our parents if they wanted to come along, it would be nice for them to get out too, and anyway we hadn’t seen them much lately. They jumped at the idea and told us they’d meet us there. At 7 p.m. we set off. It was only a few miles out, so we’d be there in no time. We were all a little chattier on the way there, which was a relief – I didn’t want us to be silent anymore. Keira would be going mad. When we arrived we found our parents sitting together waiting for us, with a few lanterns for when it got dark. They had brought some drinks – non-alcoholic – and a few snacks. We walked over and sat with them.

“Hey,” Sofia said carefully.

“How are you?” David asked.

“Not too bad,” Danny sighed.

“It’s nice to see you all,” my mom said.

“Lily love, you’ve lost some weight. Please don’t get too thin,” Michelle said.

“Have you been watching the news?” Tyler asked them.

“Yeah,” my dad and Corey said as the others nodded.

“Looks like it’s over for now,” Sofia said, pouring us all a drink.

“The view is beautiful,” Lily interrupted, looking out towards the town. “I like it here.”

“Have you seen the church?” Melanie asked her. “It’s just behind us.”

“Wow!” She said, turning her head. “You weren’t lying when you said it was massive.”

“One of the largest in North America,” Corey told her.

“I bet it was beautiful when it was in use.”

“It still is – beautiful, I mean. You can see through the windows. Everything’s still in there just covered in dust.”