Slayed (12 page)

“Mom, there’s something really strange about the vampires here,” I start, changing the subject.

She nods. “We know. We would’ve called you but both of our phones inexplicably died after we drove over a bridge on our way to our first house; they won’t even hold a charge now. But yes, the vampires here are unbelievably strong. We thought the first one we encountered was an anomaly, but after our second house we tried to locate you so we could warn you.”

I notice Mom is looking a little roughed-up. Her jacket sleeve is slightly torn at the shoulder and there’s brownish fingerlike marks on her wrist that I’m guessing came from a vampire gripping her hard. Dad’s faced is flushed and sweaty, and his sparse hair is tangled, making him look a little like a mad scientist.

“Your mother and I went to your first house to see if you were okay and we were greatly relieved to find the
cleanup crew there who let us know you’d been in touch and had finished your second house. They told us you were heading back here.”

Mom glances toward Mr. Harker’s car. “And not with the either of the Harkers.” She turns to Kiki. “Ms. Crusher, in light of the unusual circumstances I will have to insist you find some other way to entertain yourself. You may have thought this was some sort of a game, but it’s not safe for you to continue working with Daphne.”

Dad nods. “I have to agree; surely you can see that it’s too dangerous.”

Kiki looks up at Mom and Dad. “One could also say it’s not safe for Daphne to continue working
alone
.” She puts a hand on one hip. “After what I saw today, I honestly can’t believe you’d let her go out hunting by herself even if the vampires weren’t all jacked-up. And
look
at Daphne; you didn’t even ask if she was okay. And I thought
my
parents were bad,” she mutters.

My stomach drops as Dad hangs his head and Mom’s eyes widen in surprise.

Mom’s face freezes into an expressionless mask. “Of course she’s okay. Daphne knows what she’s—”

“If I hadn’t been with Daphne she might have gotten killed today,” Kiki interrupts. “I may not have the experience you all have, but it’s clear hunting vampires
is not something
anyone
should do solo—let alone someone our age.”

Mom’s mouth drops and for once she is actually speechless.

“Daphne is going to come to my house to unwind for a bit,” Kiki continues. “Maybe you all can figure out what’s going on so when we continue hunting this evening we’ll be better prepared. Oh, and she’s spending the night too.”

Mom stares at Kiki, her face drained of color save for two red spots on her cheeks. “Who do you think you’re talking to, Ms. Crush—”

Dad holds out a hand, cutting Mom off. “I think taking some time off is a good idea, Doodlebug. Your mom and I bought disposable cell phones, why don’t you come to our room and I’ll give you the numbers.”

Mom glares at him but remains quiet.

“Um, all right.” I look at Kiki who’s sporting a small, but triumphant smile. “Do you want to wait in my room?”

“Sure.”

I fish through my purse until I find my key card. She takes it and gives Mom one last withering glare.

As Kiki stalks to my room, Mom looks after her and folds her arms across her chest. “That girl has a lot of nerve. But I guess that’s what it takes to want to go out with you tonight.”

“It’s a good thing she was with me today.” I wait for Mom to ask what happened or comment on my appearance, but after Kiki enters my room she turns to me, all business.

“Well, let’s get on with it. We have to do some online research into why the vampires in this area might be stronger than normal and look into the other problem. I’m leaning toward my original theory of a psychic vampire—perhaps a pediatric doctor or nurse. Officer MacCready got us the addresses of each victim and their doctors’ names so we can map them and look for a pattern the police might have missed.”

She looks up into the afternoon sky—clear blue now that morning fog has burnt away. “I just wish we’d been more successful with the house-cleaning today. Apparently the Harkers are done and asking for a shot at the remainder of our list.”

“It will be okay,” Dad says gently. “Things always work out.”

She doesn’t respond and starts walking toward our rooms. There are so many things I want to ask about the Harkers using the Ankh Society ruse to clean houses—and if it backfired and got Mrs. Harker killed.

“Mom?”

She turns to me—no expression on her face. “Yes?” she says testily.

I hang my head. “Nothing.”

Dad looks my way and gives me a smile.

“Actually, Tyler said his dad was going to check out something called ley lines, spelled l-e-y. He thought that might have something to do with what’s going on and I guess it wouldn’t hurt to check it out.”

Mom looks down her nose at me. “What else did Tyler tell you?”

“Nothing. Kiki did most of the talking.”

She juts her chin out. “Good. We’ll check out these ley lines, but it sounds like another wild-goose chase coming from a very disturbed man.”

I nod, but when it comes to hunting vampires—disturbed or not—the Harkers are kicking our butts.

After I talk with my parents I knock on my door. Kiki opens it, and my stomach lurches when I see my binder in her hands. I snatch it from her.
“Are you going through my things?”

“Chill out! I was just bored and noticed you had some magazines in that crate.” She rolls her eyes. “When I saw it was
Jennifer-Kate
I kept digging to see if you had anything better. I thought the binder might have some slaying info.”

“Well, it doesn’t!”

Kiki waves a hand at me. “
Relax
, I thought the pictures where cute, but I wish you hadn’t made me look like I swallowed a beach ball—I wasn’t
that
fat.”

My cheeks flush and I stuff the binder in my crate. “I was little, okay?”

She laughs. “I’m just giving you shit. I was actually really psyched you drew me instead of Sugar.”

I tilt my chin down and then give her a sideways look. “So you don’t think it’s incredibly lame?”

“What, that you drew a picture of me—of us?”

I nod.

“No. What’s incredibly lame is your parents not taking one of those metro jobs you told me about so you wouldn’t have to drive around the country like a gang of vampire-killing hobos.” She shakes her head. “While you were gone I got to thinking. I know you said your parents are all about helping small towns like this one, but shouldn’t their priorities have changed when they had you?”

I sigh. “One does tend to wonder.”

She curls her lip in disdain. “It’s the exact same thing with my parents. It’s all about the work. I mean nobody forced them to rock out with the toddler set or, in your case, kill vampires. Seriously—why?”

I don’t have an answer, but I’m beyond glad Kiki is
giving a voice to all of my concerns—it makes me feel less crazy. “I can’t believe what you said to my parents before. Thanks.”

Kiki lowers herself on my bed. “It was actually very cathartic. It’s a variation on the
‘What the hell were you thinking?’
speech I never had the nerve to give my parents. When they replaced me with Sugar they didn’t even ask how I felt, they just stated it wasn’t
personal
and the decision was driven by ‘
the numbers.’
They never even asked if I was okay with it—and I wasn’t.” She purses her lips. “What do ‘numbers’ mean to a five-year-old anyway?”

She rolls her eyes. “Our parents have this tunnel vision; all they think about is how many vampires they need to kill or what share of the TV ratings they scored—you and I are just part of getting the job done.”

She walks over to the dresser and takes my binder out of the crate. She flips through until she gets to the picture I drew of us and taps a finger on each of the musical notes I’d drawn. “I sometimes think I’ve been afraid to confront my parents because they’ll confirm what I suspect—that I really am secondary to The Disco Unicorn Empire.”

I look at us standing side by side in the mirror—our expressions marked with confusion and sadness. “I know what you mean.”

Her eyes find mine in the mirror. She nods. “I could
see it in your face at the bar last night. I think that’s why I followed you outside. I just knew we were kindred spirits.”

Who would have thought a washed-up child star and a fourth generation vampire slayer would be “kindred spirits.” I leaf through the pages of my binder. “All these pictures—they’re of girls I was hoping to meet, hoping to be friends with. You were the only real person I drew.”

A slow smile comes to her face. “Apparently, you and I were predestined to slay vampires together. It’s fate.”

I grimace, thinking about Mr. Harker and all of his talk about fate. “When I drew this I was really hoping to leave vampires behind and move into the Pink Pony Playhouse and eat pineapple pizza.”

“Trust me; the Pink Pony Playhouse isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Unicorn shit smells the same as horse’s.”

I look around my room. “It’s got to be better than this.”

“Get cleaned up and I’ll show you where the real Disco Unicorns get away to—and there isn’t a hint of pink.”

Sam pulls the limo up to Kiki’s “cottage” which is really a three-story Chinese pagoda overlooking the Damariscotta River. The edges of the rooflines curve up toward the sky and are lined with intricate carvings and brightly colored lattice work. Dragons perch on each of the corners with
their open mouths above the down spouts. A tall finial on the top with its budlike tip shines in the sun. Gardens filled with white, smooth stones line the driveway leading up to the wooden front steps. Two large marble statues depicting some sort of lionlike creatures with open mouths and sharp teeth flank the steps and I can see the river in the back with twisted pines dotting the shore. It feels like I stepped out of the limo into coastal China.

“This is where you live?”

“Yep. A retired sea captain who had spent a lot of time in Asia built it in the early 1800s. It was empty for something like seventy years before my parents spotted it when they were kayaking on the river and had it restored. I have to warn you,” she says as Sam opens the limo door for us, “my parents went a little overboard with the decor. It’s all the weird stuff they’ve collected from around the world.”

“No unicorn wallpaper?”

She wrinkles her nose. “That stuff is all at our Hollywood Hills house where they get interviewed a lot. This place is full of tribal masks, architectural pieces recovered from old temples and churches, and a favorite of my mom’s—fertility statues. When my parents aren’t sporting unicorn horns and rapping the alphabet, they’re one hundred percent new-age hippie. The tabloids would
have a field day if they saw the obscene amount of giant stone breasts, swollen bellies, and erect penises around the house. It’s all crap, though; I am an only child after all.”

“Do you need help with your things?” Sam asks me.

I look down at my crate and duffel bag. “I’m okay, thanks.”

Kiki picks up my crate. “We’ll be good until sunset.”

“Very good, Ms. Crusher.” Sam nods to me and he makes his way to a small sports car parked next to the Cadillac he’d driven last night.

“Let’s get some lunch and head for the hot tub!”

I sling my duffel bag strap over my shoulder and follow Kiki up the front steps. She unlocks the front door and steps in. Tucking my crate under one arm, she walks with a hand held out and spins a series of twelve ornate cylinders hanging in a row on the wall. She puts the crate down, turns to me with a serene look on her face, and clasps her hands as if in prayer.
“Om mani padme hum.”

“Huh?”

“What is your heart’s desire?”

I raise an eyebrow. “What?”

She laughs. “They’re Tibetan prayer wheels; inside each one the mantra
‘Om mani padme hum’
is written over and over again on paper. When you spin the wheel it’s kind of like your prayers are multiplied by a million. It’s
supposed to invoke the benevolent attention and blessings of
Chenrezig
, the Hindu embodiment of compassion.”

“Okay.”

“Yeah, I know—more crap. But these are from an actual Tibetan temple. My parents had them installed a few months ago. But name your heart’s desire, spin the wheel, and with some luck, Chenrezig will grant your wish.”

I look at the wheels. My first thought is the means to retire from slaying, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon, so I decide to wish for something more realistic. I reach my hand out and touch the first one. It almost feels like there’s a faint of hum of electricity inside. “May we prove triumphant against the crazed vampires of South Bristol, protect the children from their unknown predator, and rejuvenate our weary muscles in the hot tub.”

I make my way down the line, spinning each wheel. When I meet up with Kiki at the end she cocks her head toward a doorway. “Kitchen is this way. Are you sure I can’t convince you to have a drink? Maybe some champagne to celebrate the fact we’re still alive?”

“We need to be on our game tonight. No champagne.”

She puts her hands on her hips, looking deadly serious. “All the really cool vampire hunters follow up kills with champagne.”

I can’t help but smile. “I tell you what—if we get more vamps than the Harkers tonight I’ll take you up on that.”

“That’s my girl. It’s time to forget your parents’ way of slaying and embrace the new age.”

“What do new-age slayers have for lunch?”

“Everyone knows the really cool slayers are partial to nachos.”

“I think I’m going to like being a really cool slayer.”

After some killer nachos, Kiki
takes me up to the third floor of the pagoda. It’s one big open space with floor-to-ceiling windows all around. A simple woven rug sits in the middle of the polished wood floors, and large, brightly colored pillows are scattered here and there against the walls of the otherwise empty room.

“My parents come up here to meditate and do yoga.” She grimaces. “Once I think they were doing—
it
.”