Chapter 9
Nearly a week passed, and my mom had not told us anything and had barely let me out of her sight. My orders had been to go to practice if I had it after school, and if I didn’t, I was to go straight to headquarters to either train or wait for my mother to leave. While the thought of not knowing anything about Sam and her condition was infuriating, I did have Nick to keep me from going over the deep end. It was an odd sort of thing. We had the awkwardness of what could have happened that day hanging over us, but we were there for each other like old friends.
We had actually been spending a lot of time together and had learned what I think was nearly everything we could learn about each other. I knew about his mother, who died when he was twelve, and his father, who was killed by a renegade hunter right after his birth. I had also told him how if I ever met my father, I was going to punch him in the face if he was even still alive.
“Hey,” I called out to my mom as I walked down the hall and saw her about to go into her office.
She turned around to face me and smiled. She had been extremely happy since I started being cooperative about everything. “What do you need, sweetie?”
“If it is alright, can I go to the store a few blocks down?” I asked. “It will not take long, and there are a few things that I need.”
She sighed and looked around. “Fine, but make it quick. Where is everyone else?”
“They have all gone home, but I will be really quick,” I promised. “Besides, it is only seven; it is not that late yet.”
She nodded. “Come straight back.”
With promises to take less than an hour, I walked back to the elevator and went down to the first floor of the building to exit the front door. Because it was after six, there were not that many people in the area, but a couple of blocks away in the arts and museum district of the city, there were a lot of people in the galleries and at the nearby restaurants. Walking down the street, I passed by a few people, but since we were downtown, there were no greetings exchanged. Everyone just minded their own business.
The market that I visited was familiar to me since it was one that we frequented to make quick purchases. I grabbed a basket and shopped around to collect myself frozen pizzas, an energy drink, and the chocolate that I knew my mom had been talking about all week. What can I say? I am a good daughter, or just maybe I was trying to get her to lighten up some. Either way, I hoped it would work.
Getting into the checkout line, I waited in the line of a cashier that had worked at the store for years. But it was not her that got my attention, it was the person that had just stepped into line behind me. I kind of glanced back behind me, but I didn’t have to look to know that it was a vampire. I could sense it.
All I knew was that I wanted to buy my stuff and get out of the store. When it was my turn in line, the cashier rang up my items, and I paid her as quickly as possible and grabbed my bags. Out of the store, I walked back towards headquarters nearly running.
When I was almost to headquarters, I walked by an alley and was pulled inside. I was twisted around until I was face to face with the vampire from the market. This encounter would not go my way because I was unarmed and there was nothing nearby I could use as a weapon. I only hoped that someone was outside of headquarters and saw me get pulled into the alley. “Aren’t you going to scream?” he asked me.
Knowing that if I fought he would kill me immediately, I decided that it was best to cooperate and answer him. I shook my head in response.
“I want you listen to what I have to say if you want your friend to live,” he said to me, placing his hand around my throat firmly. “My boss knows he has the wrong girl, and if you want her to live you will surrender yourself to him Friday night. You will turn yourself in at midnight at this address,” he said and placed a piece of paper in my jacket pocket.
“Why me?” I could not help asking.
“Just do it and your friend can go. You will find out everything then.” He glanced down the alley. “Just don’t say anything to that one.”
He nodded down the alley, and I could see that Nick and John were at the end of the alley watching the situation and ready to attack. I knew they hadn’t already only because if they were to attack, the vampire would snap my throat in an instance.
“Which one?” I whispered.
“That one,” he nodded again at John.
“Paul,” John said getting the vampires attention, “let her go, and I will let you live.”
“What makes you think that I would believe that, cousin?” Paul asked.
My eyes and Nick’s eyes grew wide with surprise.
“Just do it.” John paused. “You know that I keep my word.”
“You haven’t recently to Vincent, now have you?”
“I will deal with Vincent. Now let her go and leave,” John said with a finality that left no room for argument.
Before I realized what was happening, the vampire twisted around and threw me through the air as if I were lighter than a feather straight at John and Nick down the alley. Nick was able to catch me and put me on my feet. When we recovered, the vampire was nowhere to be seen.
“Are you okay?” Nick asked.
I nodded and watched as he walked over and retrieved my grocery bags for me.
“Riley,” John said getting my attention, “what did he want?”
I looked at John and felt as if I could not trust him. There was something that he was hiding. I just knew that he was. I also knew that the vampire had told me not tell him anything if I wanted Sam to live. So of course I lied to him.
“He didn’t say anything,” I told him. “I guess he was just trying to play with his dinner,” I said keeping my face straight and tone even. I started walking down the street to headquarters. Nick followed close behind me, and I could not make up my mind on whether or not I was going to tell him what the vampire had said to me. I trusted him, but I couldn’t be sure he would keep my secret.
When we entered the building, I thanked Nick for carrying my bags and took them from him. I let him know that I would talk to him later, but that I just wished to be alone. I made sure that I got on an elevator alone, and when the doors shut, I immediately dropped my bags and sank down to the floor. My heart was pounding so fast, and I felt like crying. My breath was barely coming, and I could not hear. I was having a panic attack.
Breathe, Riley, breathe, I kept mumbling to myself as the elevator reached the floor that my mother’s office was located on. I gained my composure before the doors opened, but the panic attack was clouding my thoughts because I still had no idea what to do. All I did know was that I needed to get Sam out of there before she was killed, if she was not already dead.
When I arrived at my mother’s office, she was on the phone. It sounded like they were going over vampire activity. When she noticed me, she nodded to a chair and I sat down. I looked around her office while I waited for her phone call to end and found it amusing that she had pictures of me at every stage of my life from baby pictures, dance recital pictures, and most recently, cheerleading pictures. It looked just like any regular office, but the funny part to me was that the office was used for planning vampire hunts.
“Hey, was your trip ok?” she asked hanging up her phone.
“Yeah, there was a small situation, but John and Nick showed up and took care of it.” She looked thoughtful and nodded.
“Are you ready to go home?” she asked gathering up her computer and a couple of papers she had printed out before I came in.
“Yeah, I’m hungry,” I said holding up one of my grocery bags. “I also have some chocolate for you that you have been wanting.”
My mom cocked her eyebrow at me. “What do you want?”
“Nothing,” I said, just hoping to have her in a good mood if something did come up.
She finished gathering her things, and as we made our exit from headquarters she said goodbye to a couple of people who were left in the building. In the parking
garage, I got into my own car with instructions to follow her straight home. By the time we made it home, I made my mind up that I would tell Nick what the vampire said. I would trust him, and I would do what the vampires wanted to get Sam back.