It was still early morning when Kenneth Price awakened as a turned vampire. His mother, Sarah, was sitting at his bedside when Kenneth suddenly gasped for air. She jerked in shock at his sudden movement. Still weak from hunger and the exertion on her body caused by her vampire transformation, Sarah gently pulled herself up from her chair, and allowed herself to fall toward the bed.
“Kenneth—Kenneth,” Sarah called as she sat on the side of his bed. “How do you feel?”
Mary Thistle left the house half an hour earlier. Over the course of that time, Sarah did nothing to satisfy her hunger. There was nothing in the house suitable for her new nutritional requirement, and she was too concerned for her son to leave. Before his awakening, Kenneth looked dead. Sarah could find no pulse, and he did not respond to stimuli. She considered calling for help, but the thought that Kenneth was dead made her realize that calling for the paramedics would do nothing for him. Sarah only had Mary’s word that her son was alive and would awaken from his deathly sleep, and it was because of that promise she did not call the police. She knew that if Mary Thistle told her the truth, then notifying the police would do harm to her son. It was his safety, above her own, that had secured Sarah’s silence so far.
“Where—where am I? What happened?” Kenneth mumbled as he tried to sit up.
“Oh, I was so worried,” Sarah spoke as she caressed her son’s face.
Kenneth turned his head to look at his mother, quickly looking her over as if he did not recognize her; then he turned his head about to examine the room.
“Mom, is that you?” Kenneth asked just as he turned his attention back toward Sarah.
“Yes, it’s me,” Sarah answered as she took his hand into hers.
“What happened to you?” Kenneth asked in a gravelly voice.
Before Sarah could respond, Kenneth’s face lit up in response to a memory suddenly crystallizing in his head.
“Oh my God, Mary,” Kenneth blurted out as he rolled away from Sarah and onto the floor.
Dizzy and weak from hunger, Kenneth’s sudden effort to stand caused him to stumble and fall. At that moment he realized just how tired and weak he was.
“What’s wrong with me?” Kenneth asked as he began pushing himself up from the floor with the help of the bed and nightstand.
“You’re alright, baby. You’re alright,” Sarah reassured as she made her way around the bed.
“Mom, what happened to you?” Kenneth asked as he examined her thin appearance and the exhausted movements of his mother. “You look ill. I thought you were dead. I thought Mary Thistle killed you,” he finished in a flurry and a huff.
“I—I think she did,” Sarah hesitantly responded.
“What are you talking about, Mom?” Kenneth dismissively questioned as he turned away and started for the bedroom door. “I’m thirsty—I got to have some water,” he continued as he stumbled into the hallway.
Sarah followed her son as he took an exhausting walk down to the kitchen. Immediately after entering the kitchen, Kenneth went to the cupboard, pulled out a glass, filled it up with water from the sink and guzzled it down. He drank two full glasses of water.
“What did Mary do to me?” Kenneth asked while massaging the wound on his neck with his hand.
“I don't know,” Sarah answered with a tearful expression. “I mean I'm not sure. I—I think she changed us somehow.”
“Changed us? Changed us how?” Kenneth questioned in a commanding tone.
“She said something about me—us—being vampires,” Sarah reluctantly returned.
Kenneth was stunned by the answer his mother had just given him. He looked at her with an expression of incredulity.
“That's crazy,” Kenneth exclaimed. “We need to call the police.”
“No!” Sarah yelled as Kenneth reached for the house phone.
Kenneth ignored Sarah's warning and took the house phone receiver off the hook. An instant later, Sarah hurried over to the kitchen window and flung open the curtains. Kenneth was instantly overwhelmed by the sunlight. He quickly raised his arm up to shield his eyes from the glow of light coming through the window. Sarah turned away as well and buried her face in the shadow of a corner. A few seconds later, Kenneth dropped the phone, hurried over to the window with his arm shielding his eyes, pulled the curtain closed and turned away. Kenneth looked at his mother with shock and amazement. Sarah turned her attention back to her son and noted his dumbfounded look.
“Mary said we can't call the police,” Sarah softly reported.
“She did this to us!” Kenneth roared back.
“Kenneth, we need to think before we act,” Sarah urged with worry. “We don't know what has happened to us, and we don’t know what will happen when others find out.”
Kenneth considered his mother’s words.
“Okay, okay, okay, but we can't do it here,” Kenneth conceded after the pause. “We need to get out of here.”
“Why?” Sarah asked perplexed.
“If we’re a danger to Mary, then she may come back,” Kenneth explained with barely a thought.
“Okay, but how? Where?” Sarah agreed after a moment of thought.
Kenneth took a moment to think about the problem. He knew his mother was thinking about the blinding effect of the sun. Kenneth knew that he was in no condition to drive, and he had no doubt that Sarah was in the same condition. Eventually, Kenneth dug his cellphone out of his pocket and quickly dialed his closes friend, Beau.
“Beau, I need you to bring your van to my mom's house,” Kenneth urged desperately. “Yes, now. It's important.”
It took nearly 10 minutes for Beau Stratham to arrive in his van and park in front of Mary’s house.
“Yo, dude, what happened to you,” Beau asked seconds after he came through the front door. “You sick?”
Beau Stratham was a slightly rotund man of large stature. He sported a mustache and beard to go along with his long hair. His relationship with Kenneth went back to his freshman year of high school when they first met. After high school, Beau joined the Navy and completed eight years before returning to civilian life with his electronics technician training. His mother’s failing health was his primary motive for leaving the Navy. After moving back home, Beau quickly found work as a junior electrical technician.
“I can’t explain it now,” Kenneth returned evasively with regards to the query about his and Sarah’s health. “I need you to take us to your place.”
“My place?” Beau questioned with surprise.
While they spoke, Sarah Price descended the stairs from the second floor. Beau was suddenly captivated by the sight of her. He had always thought Mrs. Price was a handsome woman, but now he was noticing her youthful good looks despite her emaciated appearance.
“Mrs. Price, you've—changed,” Beau acknowledged with amazement.
“Hi, Beau,” Sarah returned with a huff.
Beau gave Kenneth and Sarah a second look.
“So, you’re coming too, Mrs. Price?” Beau asked with a befuddled stare.
“Don’t ask questions, Beau,” Kenneth instructed with urgency. “We need to go.”
“Why couldn’t you just come over in your car?” Beau queried with a shrug.
“That’s a question, Beau,” Kenneth asserted forcefully. “We have to go now.”
“Okay, okay,” Beau agreed with a nod.
Per Kenneth’s instruction, Beau went out to his van and opened the side door. As soon as the door was open, Sarah and Kenneth hurried out of the house and up to the van with their hands shielding their eyes. After they climbed into the van, Beau closed the door and hurried over to the driver’s door.
“What’s wrong with you guys?” Beau questioned after climbing into the driver’s seat and closing the door behind him.
Kenneth paused to consider Beau’s question.
“I don’t know,” Kenneth returned.
Beau held his gaze on Kenneth and Sarah a little longer.
“Okay, here we go,” Beau announced as he started the van.
Seconds later, Beau was driving off down the street. Just as he was rounding the corner at the end of the block, Lola, Keegan, Patricia and Mary were coming out of the house five dwellings down in the opposite direction.
~~~~~Line Break~~~~~
At 2:20pm Monday afternoon, Cassidy arrived outside of Jeremiah Kingston’s home. Wary of the danger that she could be in if Jeremiah was a vampire and if Tony McGuire was inside, Cassidy chose to sit in her car and watch from a short distance down the street. She was hoping to see some sign that Tony was in the house. Cassidy knew what type of car both men drove, and she knew the faces of Charlie and Ben. She maintained a distant examination for ten minutes, and then she got out of her car.
Cassidy noticed that an elderly woman sweeping the porch of the house next to Jeremiah’s. The lack of movement in or around Jeremiah’s house and the absence of any cars parked in front or in the driveway emboldened Cassidy. She strolled down the street, walked past Jeremiah’s house and then went up the walkway to the elderly lady’s home.
“Hi,” Cassidy called out as she approached the steps to the porch.
The elderly woman was very cognizant of Cassidy’s approach, she first noticed her several houses down and followed her approach from that moment. When Cassidy started up her walkway, the elderly woman immediately stopped sweeping and went to the top of the porch stairs with a smile on her face. It was obvious to Cassidy that the elderly woman was happy for the attention that was about to be paid to her.
“Good morning,” the elderly woman responded with a broad smile.
“I was wondering if I could speak to you for a moment,” Cassidy softly asked while she discreetly displayed her detective’s badge.
“Oh, okay,” the elderly woman responded with a look of excitement. “Please,” she nodded while encouraging Cassidy up the stairs with a hand gesture.
Cassidy quickly ascended the stairs. When she reached the porch, Cassidy politely asked if they could go inside to talk. The elderly woman pleasantly agreed with an eager smile. When they were inside, Cassidy displayed her badge again and inquired to whom she was speaking.
“Oh, I’m Ellen Richardson—Mrs.,” she quickly added with a smile. “My husband passed away a few years back—cancer.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, Mrs. Richardson,” Cassidy returned.
Cassidy thought it best not to give her name, because she was there in an unofficial capacity. It was her hope that Mrs. Richardson did not get a good look at her identification.
“It was slow and painful,” Mrs. Richardson somberly offered about her husband’s illness before Cassidy could say more. “But he’s passed now and at rest.”
“Yes,” Cassidy responded with an approving look. “Mrs. Richardson,” she quickly continued before Ellen could say something else. “Can I talk to you about your neighbor, Mr. Kingston?”
“Oh, sure,” Ellen returned with a bright expression. “Is he in any trouble?” Ellen asked with eagerness.
“No,” Cassidy promptly answered. “But I do have some concerns about the company he’s keeping,” Cassidy added delicately.
“Oh, me too,” Ellen gravely responded. “He’s been having strange people coming and going inside his home for weeks,” she added with a disapproving tone.
“So, that’s not normal?” Cassidy inquired for clarification.
“Oh, no,” Ellen immediately insisted. “He used to be such a quiet man, but not anymore.
“Have you seen this man,” Cassidy asked while displaying the picture of Tony McGuire on her tablet.
Ellen wore her glasses on a chain that hung around her neck. After placing the glasses on her face, she began scrutinizing the image.
“No, I can't say that I recognize him,” she returned after a brief examination.
“How about this man?” Cassidy asked after swiping over to the image of Charles Panko on her tablet.
“No,” Ellen responded after a close look.
“How about this man?” Cassidy asked after changing the image to Ben Dalby.
“No, I’m sorry,” Ellen answered after a brief look. “I don’t see things too well at a distance, and new faces just blend together into a blur. I have to see people up close to remember them.”
“Has there been anything strange about Mr. Kingston's visitors lately,” Cassidy inquired while putting her tablet into her messenger bag.
“Well, they have been a little noisy—especially this morning,” Ellen confirmed after a moment of thought. “You should have heard the racket they were making,” she added with an animated display of amazement. “And they're in and out at late hours. Sometimes they're people in there when Mr. Kingston isn't even at home.”
“Have you noticed anything else unusual going on next door?” Cassidy inquired hoping that Ellen would provide her with information that she did not know to ask for.
“Yeah, the women,” Ellen quickly returned with a look of astonishment.
“What about the women?” Cassidy asked with a fixed stare.
“Well, it's just that I'm not used to seeing women visiting Mr. Kingston,” Ellen explained with a mix of amazement and disbelief.
“Are there any women there now?” Cassidy quickly leaned in to ask.
“Oh, I don't think anyone is there now,” An astounded Ellen answered with a shake of her head. “The cars are gone, and I saw them leaving. It’s been quiet over there for several hours now.”
“And you’re sure they’ve all left?” Cassidy questioned in a manner that said she needed Ellen to be careful with her answer.
“I think so,” Ellen answered right away. “All the cars are gone; it’s been quiet in there ever since I saw them leave a few hours ago.”
“So, you saw them all leave?” Cassidy asked in the hope of getting a confirmation.
“Well, I didn’t see who left,” Ellen returned with a shrug. “And I don’t know who all was inside, but several of them left in Mr. Kingston’s car, and it’s been quiet over there ever since,” she defended. “The only thing I’ve heard coming from over there since they left was the phone ringing,” she finalized with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“The phone?” Cassidy quickly latched onto. “Did someone answer the ring.”
“Oh no,” Ellen dismissed with a shake of her head. “It rang seven times. Mr. Kingston never lets his telephone ring more than five times when he’s home. His answering machine picks it up after the seventh ring,” she added with a confident nod of her head. “Nobody is there, I’m sure of that.”
Cassidy did not know what more to ask after Ellen’s last revelation. Nothing that she said convinced Cassidy 100% that Jeremiah was the Jerry she was looking for, and that worried her. Cassidy did not want to steer one or more man eating vampires toward the wrong person, but Ellen’s knowledge of the comings and goings of the house did convince her that no one was inside. Believing that she had extracted all the useful information that Ellen had, Cassidy politely excused herself from her home. Cassidy was on her way back to her car when she stopped on the sidewalk in front of Jeremiah Kingston house. For several seconds she pondered a risky option, and, in the end, Cassidy elected to take the gamble.
In one quick movement, Cassidy turned and started up the walkway to the front door of the house. Instinctively, Cassidy knew that boldness was the key to convincing the occupants of the house, if any, that she was a police officer responding to a stranger lurking in the neighborhood. She had no intention of ringing the bell or knocking on the door, but that was the excuse she planned to give if someone came out of the house. What she did plan to do was peek into the front window of the house. That plan disappeared the instant she stepped onto the porch.
When Cassidy saw the busted front door, she suspected something criminal had transpired that morning. Ellen’s report of a racket coming from inside the house supported her suspicion. Now armed with the excuse of probable cause, Cassidy brought her handgun to the ready, pushed the door open and stepped inside.
“Police officer, is there anyone inside the house?” Cassidy called out in a loud voice.
Cassidy stood a few feet in from the door and listened for several seconds. When no response to her call came back, she tried the same call a second and third time with the same results. Convinced that there was no one inside who was conscious or able to respond to her hail, Cassidy began to move deeper into the house at a cautious pace and with her gun at the ready. She soon made her way to the kitchen entrance and then froze with shock. An audible gasp escaped from her mouth in response to what she was seeing.
Cassidy was looking at a dismembered body in a pool of blood in an area heavily splattered with arterial spray. When she maneuvered to get a better look at the face on the detached head, she immediately matched the victim with the driver’s license picture of Jeremiah Kingston. At that moment, Cassidy knew that this man was the Jerry that the Dacia Vampires were looking for. Her police officer training was telling her that she should call in to the nearest precinct and request backup, but her instinct told her that was a bad idea. Leaving this mess for the Dacia Vampires to clean up seemed the better option if she wanted to keep vampires a secret from all other humans. Cassidy quickly concluded that finding Tony McGuire, Patricia Boyd and any other newborn vampires was now the task before her and that bringing in the police would alert these vampires that they were being hunted. She also calculated that not calling for police backup placed her in a complicated situation.
Without police backup racing to her location, Cassidy knew she was in danger while she was alone in that house. There was also the problem of waiting for the Dacia Vampires to help with the search. She knew that assistance from them was close to an hour away, and if there was a sleeping vampire in the house that was time she could not afford to waste. That possibility notwithstanding, Cassidy was doubtful that a sleeping vampire was in a house with a busted front door lock and a dead body lying on the kitchen floor. Motivated by a need to get information on Tony McGuire’s present location before he could find a new place to hide and after toying with the idea of calling the Dacia Vampires, Cassidy decided to search the house now, alone and quickly.
Moving as fast as she dared but carefully, Cassidy went through the house floor by floor and room by room with her handgun forever at the ready. She started with the upstairs bedrooms and worked her way down to the basement. She found no sleeping vampires or any information about where they might be. When she went back up to the entry level floor, Cassidy went into the room that Jeremiah used as his study. She knew there was no one inside this room, she had looked inside before going down to the basement. Her intention now was to search for anything that might tell her where Anthony McGuire might be. She quickly went to the desk and began examining the paperwork she saw there. After several seconds of looking, she noticed invoices with identical delivery addresses that were not to the house she was in. The thought that Tony McGuire could be hiding in a building under construction did not make since to her. She dismissed it as nothing worthy of her attention and continued to look through the paperwork. Shortly, Cassidy activated the answering machine on the desk and was instantly shocked by the first voice she heard. She immediately recognized Tony McGuire as the speaker.
“Jerry, I want you back here tomorrow night. We’re going to be clearing out of here and I need you to lock up the site.”
The phrase, ‘lock up the site,’ instantly turned Cassidy’s attention back to the invoice and the building that Jeremiah was renovating. It made sense to her that a building under construction would be referred to as a site. It also made sense to her that Jeremiah would be needed to lock up a building he was renovating. Cassidy stopped her search a second later and pulled out her cellphone as she exited the study.
“Don't you ever sleep?” Cassidy spoke into her cellphone after Nadja answered Cristiãn’s cellphone for a second time that day.
“It's my day to be awake,” Nadja glumly returned. “What do you want now?”
“I think I found your Jerry,” Cassidy announced with a hint of smugness.
Nadja was startled into a moment of silence after hearing Cassidy’s claim.
“We need you to be sure,” Nadja returned urgently.
“Well, his name is Jeremiah Kingston,” Cassidy glibly countered. “He and Tony McGuire graduated from the same high school in the same year. I think I just heard Tony’s voice on his answering machine, and he referred to Jeremiah as Jerry. Oh, and I'm looking at Jeremiah Kingston's decapitated body on his kitchen floor right now,” Cassidy finished while standing at the kitchen doorway.
“You need to get out of there,” Nadja insisted with alarm in her voice.
“The house is empty,” Cassidy replied dismissively and just as she started focusing her eyes on keys on the floor next to Jeremiah. “I already checked.”
“Just the same, you need to give me the address and leave,” Nadja spoke with urgency.
“I am leaving. I need to find Tony McGuire before the sun goes down,” Cassidy argued back as she walked over to Jeremiah’s torso. “You're useless in the sunlight.”
Nadja was confused by Cassidy’s last remark. The impression she got from her statement was that Cassidy had another location to search and that she was going there now.
“What do you mean?” Nadja challenged in a stern voice.
“I’ve got an address, and I think McGuire might be there,” Cassidy explained while stooping down to pick up Jeremiah’s keys. “I'll text you both addresses and I'll call you if I find Tony,” she finished and then disconnected the call.
“Cassidy…” Nadja screamed into the cellphone just as the connection cut off.
ns216.73.216.33da2
and then Add to home screen.