Valerie also had a great deal of intel about the day that everything changed. The day when Hartwell and Brandon were supposed to meet their makers. She was upset when Brandon decided to meet Carla in Beach Haven Park during their lunch break at the high school, mostly because she loved him and had an obvious aversion to watching him in pain.
Their association had a long history, but Valerie was the only one who knew about it.
“I see that boy as a suitable match,” Joseph Winters said to his wife Katherine while the family was vacationing in Portland, Oregon, when Valerie was only 10 years old.
Katherine also had the ability to see what was to come and replied, “He will experience many changes in his life. That will help him adapt when the time comes.”
Valerie watched as Brandon left the school that day. In fact, she had watched him for quite some time before they officially became boyfriend and girlfriend.
The Winters' family was neither hunter nor vampire, but they did consider themselves protectors of a sort. Valerie thought about so many
things on her way to the park, trailing Brandon and the rest of the procession at a safe distance. She had never fully tested her skills against anyone other than her family and the aged oak tree in her backyard, which definitely was the worse for the wear.
She was fast, but how fast? There was only one way to find out… Valerie hid in a dense section of shrubs just off the shaded path, but
a good 75 yards removed from the action. She spotted Thaddeus and made sure that he would always be good mile in the distance.
Brandon was walking, as she sped ahead of him in the latter stage of his walk, and then Andrew followed moments later with a look of malice
and painful intent on his face.
Drew then made up ground on Justice and closed in on the kill as
Thaddeus and Valerie continued to hold their positions.
There were no grand gestures made by Drew, no sage words, just violent and finite revenge. Revenge on a vampire who turned mortal, after he had mentally tortured his Carla. And, although they had reconciled and were now friends, it really didn’t clear the muddy slate for Drew… and Cal made sure he didn’t forget.
Thaddeus was watching Andrew’s every move up to the point when he plunged his knife into Justice and then stepped back from the fallen
body and flipped the bloodied implement into a thicket of brush nearby. Thad focused on the evidence clean-up and took his eye off Brandon Justice’s body for a split second, and that’s all it took.
Victoria galloped through the path, scooped up Brandon, and then flipped him on her back as she ventured further into the shadows of the deeper woods.
Thad retrieved the knife, cleaned up the crime scene, and then briefly wondered where Brandon was before scurrying away. He wasn’t going to say anything about the missing body, because that would have led to even more unresolved issues for Cal and Andrew.
Blake arrived shortly after Thaddeus departed. He knew that Brandon’s life was hanging in the balance and had probably not been extinguished yet. He was a master of forensics and could tell from his brief analysis that the body had been moved before expiration.
Brandon’s breath became increasingly shallow as Valerie sped him away from the crime scene, which would have been the spot of his last breath if not for her. He opened his eyes for the last time and thought he saw his girlfriend amidst an unrecognizable, blurry backdrop.
“Val? Is that you?” he faintly asked.
She was too busy navigating the grueling, varied terrain to answer at that moment.
“Is this heaven?” he asked. She smiled, “Not yet, BJ.”
“BJ?” he said with his last conscious breath, recalling the nickname that his parents tortured him with. He would have continued to say, “Don’t call me, BJ!” but he passed out.
Brandon was out for hours while Valerie and her family completed the last touches of preparation for the transformation process.
Katherine and Joseph Winters came from a long line of family that had both mystical and mythical qualities. Being a hybrid creature definitely had its advantages, but being widely accepted by society wasn’t one of them.
With Brandon’s breath on its last hales, the family, which included fraternal twin 10 year-olds, headed out to sea to complete the ritualistic transformation.
Joseph scooped Justice up and walked from the sand of the beach into the surf, changing into a merman as the water surrounded his lower body.
He looked back at his family and declared, “It’s time to go.”
The six of them disappeared under the water - two mermen, three mermaids and Brandon - and sped to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. They reached the ocean floor and stood together while Brandon slipped away, his last breath signified by a small stream of bubbles escaping his mouth and floating upward.
Joseph looked around, stopping at Valerie and he nodded. She was happy and sad at the same time. Of course, she was excited that her boyfriend would finally be joining her family, but she couldn’t help be sad that he had expired. She didn’t want to see that again for another couple of centuries at least.
Time was of the essence, so Joe and Valerie sped to the shore, followed by mom and the twins, Bryce and Cheryl. Joe made sure that water covered him up to the waist - the part that separated his human self from his aquatic self - and then he extended his arms while still holding Brandon above the water.
He again nodded at his daughter and she took a deep-cleansing inhale and then bent over and surrounded his lips with her mouth and blew the air of the seven seas in through his open mouth and into his inactive lungs.
The breath of the goddess healed dead cells as it cleansed Brandon’s inner organs and radically altered his DNA. The genetic vampirical code was overlaid with a calmer, less fastidious substitute, creating a more peaceful reentry into the world for Justice.
Brandon started breathing a few minutes later, his lungs circulating air causing his chest to gently expand and contract. A few more minutes passed and Brandon’s eyes gently opened as he looked around as his new family encircled him in the water.
“Vic,” Brandon said calmly. “Mister and Misses W, B and C,” he then said to the twins.
He then looked at Valerie and Mr. Winters for clarification. “You’re with us now, son.”
While Brandon enjoyed his vampire family after a complete disaster with his birth parents, he finally felt a sense of inner peace that had been lacking.
“It’s good to be home, sir.”
Valeria bent down, hugged him and exclaimed, “Let’s go!” as she dove into the water, her tail-fin making a splash when she impacted. Brandon stood up, backed out of the water, and then ran back to the surf going airborne, changing into a merman as the salt water made contact
with his lower body. The salt water felt like a magic potion, healing all mental wounds, as the family followed them and headed west.
ELEVEN
With Andrew and Carla finally married, most of the stale air had leaked out of the rivalry balloon. There was a three-month gap between the group meeting at the diner and another ‘chance’ encounter between Thaddeus and Garrison in town.
“Garrison, my friend!” Thaddeus greeted Gary as he stepped out of
Beach Haven Bagel.
“How are you, Thad?” Gary replied with an air of being carefree. Thaddeus looked around and then replied simply, “Edgy.” “Edgy?” Gary questioned.
Thad moved in close, “Edgy,” and then pulled back. Garrison nodded in solidarity, “Edgy.”
They continued to talk and decided to have the families meet at night for a little game-style battle. It would be similar to their usual fights, but without much of the usual loathing and animosity.
The babies were now four months old and, miraculously, walking. Kayla and Maxwell were also twice the size of ‘normal’ children in their age category. Nicole and Carla brought Maxwell and Kayla to the same pediatrician, Dr. Mille
r, so it was easy to make him believe that the kids were normal sized and weren’t speaking in complete sentences.
The first battle back after such a prolonged absence would take place at the Beach Haven High School football field. They picked this location because it would be easy for the kids to sit up in the stands with minimal adult supervision. The elder-statesmen thought it would also be cool to
play under the lights for a change.
“Are you going to tell me who you’re going to freeze tonight?” Max asked Kayla as they sat in comfortable beach chairs on opposite sides of the field’s chain-link fence.
She smirked, “That’s for me to know and you to find out.” “Really?” he said loving the challenge.
It wasn’t a far mental stretch for Max to assume that Kayla would protect her mother, because she would always protect Carla above others.
Max continued to talk to his team members internally, because yelling out the game plan would have removed the element of surprise.
Both groups started at opposite end-zones of the green synthetic-turf field. They both broke into a run, at between 50 and 60 miles per hour, seven across until they reached the 49 1/2 yard-line.
“Dad,” was all Kayla said, signifying that Andrew was the hot protected player for the hunters. Drew stopped on a dime and spun on his head like a break-dancer, holding his blade firm in his hand as his Aunt Belinda drew closer. She exposed her massive fangs and swiped at him, a blow that would have normally severed his head clean off.
Belinda’s talons collided with a hard, unforgiving surface about three inches from Andrew’s neck. The shock of her nails being extricated from their comfy beds distracted her focus and made it impossible to mount an acceptable defense.
Andrew was still spinning like a top, picking up speed with every revolution. Belinda lost her balance and was angling closer to Drew’s blade, like a superhero being pushed to imminent doom by a villain.
The hero-villain debate had raged on for centuries between the vampires and the hunters. The hunters contended that they were societies’ protectors, while the vampires professing hat they were doing there civic duty by ridding the earth of its weaker inhabitants. They felt as if it would
be no different if they were an animal in the wild preying on the weakness of other beasts.
Andrew was spinning so fast that the naked eye could no longer detect any movement. He and his blade were completing seamless revolutions, and the efficiency of sharp circle was truly an immortal sight to behold.
Belinda continued to yield toward gravity and was headed toward the turf, where so many student-athletes had previously fallen. The blade of Drew’s sword made first contact with the nape of her neck and then continued on the diagonal across her body and clean through her hip.
Drew’s torque combined with the sharpness of the blade made the ease of the act like a scissor cutting through paper.
“She didn’t protect her mom,” a stunned and inexperienced Max said internally.
Kayla wore the smile of victory as she smugly looked down at Max while walking toward the field.
“What kind of kid doesn’t protect their mom?” he muttered.
Daniel cleaned up the blood like a Hoover vacuum and both he and
Blake picked up the pieces of Belinda.
“Same time next week?” Thaddeus shouted across to Garrison.
Garrison looked over at Hartwell, who he entrusted with making any and all decisions. Hartwell had barely broken a sweat - not that vampires sweated anyway - and he gave what amounted to a half-nod in passive disgust.
“Okay,” Gary replied, as Thaddeus ran toward Kayla and playfully scooped her up.
TWELVE
Maxwell was still under the assumption the following week that Kayla had enough mojo to protect one person, but he wasn’t going to take any unnecessary chances.
As they approached the field, Max said to the team, “Let’s get aggressive. Grandpa’ Blake, Papi G, referring to Garrison, and mommy.”
They stood on opposite goal lines and waited for Kayla and Max to settle into the bleachers. Kayla sat first on the first two center rows, but
Max decided to walk a few paces to his right and sit alone, because he was still feeling the sting of the previous weeks’ loss.
While his brain was academically and technologically advanced, his human emotions were still very much a work in progress. He and Kayla
were so in sync that he knew she wasn’t revealing the entire truth. The smirk on her face the previous week revealed the joy of victory, combined with the knowledge that a secret had been safely kept in the vault.
Kayla, for her part, was going to ‘ride the horse’ that got her there until it broke down. Selecting her parents as the chosen one’s was an obvious strategy, only if there was knowledge of the availability of two safe zones.
The teams were moving at top speed toward midfield when Kayla barked out internal instructions to her crew.
“Cal, Thad, Emily, take out everything in front.”
The way that Maxwell planned to attack wound up being in direct correlation with Kayla’ move. It looked like a well-rehearsed ballet when both teams broke their rows and folded into tight columns. Cal took out Blake, Thaddeus halved Garrison like an everything bagel, and Emily ended Nicole.
Hartwell had his eyes set on clearing some of the debris, so he sideswiped Sharon and his way toward Carla and Andrew. Daniel battled it out with Aaron, who picked him up and then slammed him down, momentarily stunning the teenage vampire. Aaron went in for the kill,
raising his sword over his head with both hands and he was about to plunge the blade through Daniel’s chest and the turf.
Daniel regained enough of his senses, picking his right arm up off the ground and extending it in the air. Aaron thought it was a feeble attempt to stop the power of his sword, so he admittedly let up a little. Daniel had noticed in recent weeks that his nails had become increasingly elastic, so he immediately went for full extension. The nail on his index finger scaled out over two feet as it stopped any and all movement of his attacker.
The vampire rose up on a 90-degree arc as Aaron went to the ground, being skewered through the throat by Daniel’s deadly nail. Daniel retracted his nail from the lifeless body and the meticulously cleaned the affects off until there was no trace of Aaron left.
That left Emily, Cal, Thaddeus, Carla and Andrew on the hunter’s side, versus Daniel, Hartwell, Maggie and Belinda.
“Go after Drew,” Max said, trying to keep his composure in the wake of his mom’s surprise death.
“The gate is open. I repeat, the gate is open!” Kayla said with some urgency to the remaining hunters.
Hartwell was heading for Carla but he figured she would be protected, so he flipped backwards over Emily and then snapped her neck
after taking a sip. It was four on four until Daniel grabbed Thaddeus by the foot and spun him around until he got bored, and then threw the elder- statesman toward the other side of the field, impaling him on the right top- side of the huge yellow goalpost.
“Shoot, missed it,” Daniel panned as if he was trying to make a football field goal.
Cal took the opportunity to make a play for Maggie, a move which he knew would infuriate Hartwell. He was behind her and figured the element of surprise would be in his favor, but her ultra-sensitive hearing picked up his increased breathing pattern.
It was her inexperience, not her awareness that made the ultimate difference in this fight. Cal was an expert swordsman capable of carving a turkey from five paces with the edge of his blade.
Maggie was playing defense from Cal’s first strike, as her nails extended a few feet to block his attempts. Sparks were flying as Maggie continually backed up across the field. Hartwell had just ended his former charge Sharon’s game participation, and had his back to the fight as he glided toward Andrew. He turned around as Cal moved closer to Maggie, and he knew the end was near because it was a similar
strategy that Cal had employed successfully against him.
Before he could turn and help, Maggie raised her hand to swipe Cal in a move she was sure would end the battle. However, much to her surprise, only a split-second earlier, Cal had adeptly swiped his sword through the killing zone and made a cut so clean that she barely noticed.
Maggie’s right hand was still in the striking pose, as her head listed to the left and rolled down her shoulder and was sent spinning to the ground. Her body was directionless without the hard drive and fell forward to the turf as Cal stepped back to avoid contact.
The fight was over. Hartwell glided over to his dead wife and surveyed the damage that he had both seen and created in his lifetime. Normally the carnage would have barely registered with his emotional barometer, if at all, but this was obviously different. He hadn’t seen his wife die in over a century, and the loss was sending painful flashbacks through his mind.
Hartwell bent over on one knee, gathering pieces of his wife as the others gathered up their fallen comrades. Cal was tending to Sharon and he looked over at Hartwell, who was obviously having difficulty with the
loss. It was one of the few times in all the years that Cal saw emotion other than rage, scorn, or sadistic joy come across the vampire’s face.
Tears instantly turned into ice, and then ice cubes, as Hartwell mourned his wife’s loss all over again. Luckily, Maxwell came waddling over to comfort his grandfather.
“It’s okay Grandpa'. She’ll be back tomorrow.” Hartwell replied, “I know, Maxie.”
He then picked up his grandson and hugged him extra tight. Daniel came over and put his arm around his dad.
“Let’s go home.”
Hartwell looked over at Cal, who was also having difficulty putting the emotional pieces back together while kneeling over Sharon. He had spent his life fighting Hartwell, and that left little room for love. Extreme like of Sharon, turned into all-out love for Cal that night. It was the most conflicted he had been in his entire hunting career.