Lary was out cold, lying on his stomach. Together they turned him over. Jo’s breath caught in her throat.
His white T-shirt was ripped diagonally across his chest. The blood that stained it was black in the pale light. Jo pinched the end of his shirt between her thumbs and forefingers and lifted it up to reveal his wound. His chest had three deep scratches as if an animal had swiped its claws through his skin. She cringed at the sight. In the middle of the slashed flesh, lay his golden cross, smeared with blood. A small unsoiled area glinted with moonlight.
She pressed her lips together as her eyes observed his sliced and lifeless body. “I hate them,” she said, her voice low and angry.
“I’m sure the feeling’s mutual,” Galen told her. “Let’s go.” He lifted Lary and slung him over his shoulder. He moaned.
“Hang in there, Lary.” Jo rubbed his back.
They headed through the trees to the river where Jo hoped and prayed the others were waiting. The river flowed with treacherous ink-colored water. The gushing sound menaced her and raised her heart rate. The bank was deserted, which alarmed her even more.
“Jo!”
On the other side of the river, Dove and the rest of the group shouted to them, waving their hands.
Jo grinned and waved her hands excitedly. She was afraid to yell. She couldn’t make out Dove’s face, but she could imagine her friend’s expression at the site of Lary’s body draped over Galen’s shoulder.
“It’s not that deep,” Drew yelled.
“I made it, Jo,” April shouted. “You can do it!”
“Jo,” Galen motioned with his head for her to go across. She considered the dark moving liquid, alive with flickering moonlight.
“You go,” she told him.
He squinted one eye at her, twisting his mouth.
“I’ll be right behind you,” she assured him. “I’ll step where you step.”
Galen huffed out a breath, but didn’t argue, and stepped deftly into the swift current.
Jo hesitated, her heart racing as the water rushed violently past her. Galen moved farther away. April called to Jo, encouraging her. Even the crippled girl made it across. Come on, Jo! She forced her foot into the river. The icy water snatched her breath away. The water pushed against her calf and she leaned into it. Her hands were clammy; her breathing quickened. You can do all things.
She pushed her foot forward. The cold liquid soaked through her boots. Her mind flashed to her earlier fall. She moved her foot forward again. It slipped soundly between two rocks. She shoved her other foot forward. Success! She took another step, but her foot slid on a slime-coated rock. She panicked, twisting her body and flailing her arms, as the river pushed against her legs. She was going down—there was no way to stop it. She braced for the cold plunge. Her eyes squeezed shut.
A hand grabbed her forearm. Her eyes opened. Galen was standing in the water, steadying her. At the sight of his silver eyes, her anxiety melted. He moved beside her and lifted her out of the water. His arms were charged with strength; the same strength she had felt on the porch. It calmed her trembling body. Exhausted, she laid her head on his hard, warm shoulder and buried her face in his neck. A tear escaped into the cloth of his shirt.
Galen set Jo down where the group was standing, several yards up from the bank. She slipped her hands slowly off his shoulders and whispered a thank you. She didn’t want him to see her eyes. Her friends gathered around and there was a quiet group hug.
Jo searched for Lary. He was conscious and sitting up, leaning back against a tree. Dove was back to bathing his face with a piece of wet cloth, which Jo matched up to a missing piece of Ben’s shirttail. She grimaced at the sight of Lary’s bloodied shirt, knowing what was underneath it.
“I’m Ok, Jo,” he said.
“I’m sorry it took so long to get to you. We had a little trouble.” Jo looked back at Galen and smiled.
He was uninterested and turned eastward, walking parallel to the river. The back of his grey shirt was stained with Lary’s blood. “Come on,” he barked.
Mike and Dove helped Lary up. Drew handed April a branch to use as a walking stick. She took it, smiling at him, and they began to follow Galen.
Jo stayed where she was, refusing to take a step. “Hey!”
Her friends came to a stop. They turned and looked back at her with not quite the same expression of curiosity as they had that morning.
“What just happened?” She scanned their dark faces.
The crackle of Galen’s steps ended.
“There’s no time for talk, Jo,” he told her. “It won’t take long for them to find a way across.”
“Them?” Jo put her hands on her hips. She and Galen engaged in a familiar standoff.
“They’re vampires.” The statement came from Ben.
Jo turned towards him. “Huh?”
“Vampires,” he said again. “You know, Nosferatu, Dracula?”
“Yeah, I get it,” she said, still processing his words.
“Let’s move, people,” Galen ordered. “Ben can explain as we walk.”
The group followed him. Jo lifted her heavy, wet boots and trudged forward.
“I didn’t want to believe it either,” Dove said. “In fact, I’m still not sure I believe it.”
Jo squinted at Dove. “I had a first-hand encounter with them. I do believe it.”
“I do too,” Lary said. “They looked like something straight out of a horror movie.”
April sniffed back tears. Her small voice shook. “What are we gonna do?”
“Get back to the cabin, ASAP,” Jo answered her.
April tugged on Jo’s arm and halted her. “What if we can’t get back in time?”
“We’ll be Ok,” Drew tried to say calmly. He put his hand on April’s shoulder. She shrugged it off.
She turned in a circle and looked at everyone with fear in her eyes. “How? How will we be Ok?” Her desperate eyes darted around the group.
“God is with us, April,” Jo told her.
Tears dripped from April’s eyes. “Yeah, but Jo, bad things happen to Christians too.” She glanced at Lary. “What’s going to stop them from killing us—or turning us into one of them?”
“I will,” Galen said. He strode back to the group and walked straight to April. Without hesitation, he hugged her, enclosing her in his arms. April embraced him and sobbed quietly against his shoulder.
Jo experienced a feeling she didn’t want to admit to having.
Drew watched with sullen eyes.
April’s trembling stopped. She sniffed back her tears. She looked up at Galen.
“Better?” He asked her.
“Better,” she said in her small, quivering voice. They let go of each other.
“So, that’s the fanatical hunger,” Jo said quietly. “Vampires.”
Galen looked at Jo.
“That makes sense now,” Jo said, talking more to herself than anyone else. Her eyes sought Galen’s. “Why didn’t you just say that?”
“I didn’t know. I felt it.”
“How could you feel such a thing?” Mike asked him.
Galen licked his bottom lip and took a breath. “Call it a sixth-sense.”
“That’s a pretty powerful sixth-sense,” Ben commented.
“Yes, it is,” Galen answered unabashedly. “We gotta get moving.” He turned and walked away.
The group traipsed behind him in silence. Jo blinked her tired eyes slowly and when her lids were half-way closed, the moonlight striking Galen’s hair made it appear as if it was sparkling. Because she wasn’t paying attention to the ground, she tripped over a rock.
Mike grabbed her arm with his good hand to keep her from falling.
Galen stopped and turned. Jo noticed his gaze went straight to Mike’s hand on her arm.
“You Ok?” Mike asked.
She was sure her face was turning red, but hoped he couldn’t see her embarrassment in the weak light. “Yeah, just not payin’ attention. Thanks.”
/> Galen resumed walking.
“So, they didn’t try to follow you across the river?” Jo asked Mike.
Mike shook his head.
“Galen, why’s that?”
“Ask Ben,” he replied, coldly.
Jo left Mike’s side to walk with Ben.
“So?” She asked him.
“According to folklore, they can’t cross running water. It drains their power. I guess it’s true. Good deal for us.”
“Then we’re safe on this side?”
“Until they find a way to cross over.”
“Why didn’t they just fly over it?”
“Well, technically, they don’t ‘fly’, but they aren’t held to the laws of gravity like we are. I suppose they could jump over, but obviously, the power of the running water is too much for them, because they didn’t even try it.”
Jo shuddered, thinking about the creature that had hovered over her.
“It would be logical,” Ben continued, “that they could get across using a physical platform—something that would separate them from the water, like a bridge. So, I imagine that’s where they went.”
Jo wondered how far away the bridge was. “I was poking an aspen branch at one of them. He was afraid of it.”
“I read once that aspen is what they made stakes out of to kill them—aspen or ash. It has a burning effect on their flesh.” Ben hunched his shoulders. “If that’s the case, lucky for us were surrounded by aspen trees. How many were there?”
“Three, I think.”
“How’d you get away from them?”
Jo looked at Galen’s back, as he moved ahead of them through the darkness. “Galen scared them away,” she answered. Her mind replayed the events that had occurred and Galen’s actions and the creatures’ reactions. She had used an aspen branch to threaten one of them, but he hadn’t used anything. Something about him had angered and frightened them.
The fizzing talk of insects filled a silent moment.
“Ben, how do you know so much about vampires?” Jo asked.
“I read about a lot of things. You never know when it’ll come in handy.”
She grinned at him. She looked over at Lary in his torn, bloodied shirt. His arm was around Dove’s shoulder as they walked. His face was gnarled with pain. “Lary, what happened to you?”
“I’m not sure.” His voice was dry.
“He saved our lives,” Dove said.
“No I—”
“Yeah, you did,” Mike insisted. “We were almost to the river and they were hot on our heels. Lary stopped to keep them busy so we could cross the river.”
“I thought they were just some freaky guys,” Lary said. “I thought I could talk sense to them. Next thing I know, I’m being attacked. Then they saw this.” He gripped the chain around his neck. “They ran off. Thank, God.”
“So, we know that’s true,” Dove said, glancing at his cross.
“Well,” said Ben, “only if you believe in what it represents. You have to have true faith.”
“Ok, gang, school’s over. Keep it down and pick up the pace,” Galen ordered them.
Jo was disheartened that he seemed to be back to his old sour demeanor.
Chapter 23