1 Dead Girl's Guide to Style (18 page)

“Don’t worry. I’ll take him on,” James said.

Maybe he wasn’t such a scaredy cat after all. James ran toward him and it took the hunter off guard because his eyes widened and he stumbled back.
James jumped him and they began fighting on the ground. I had to help him, but I didn’t know what to do. I motioned for Caitlin and we ran toward them. I didn’t know where to jump in because they were fighting and rolling around on the ground. I tried to grab him, but missed and fell on the ground. That hadn’t gone as I’d planned, but nothing ever went as planned.

I’d just gotten up from the ground when Caitlin
’s eyes widened as she focused on the area behind me. I whipped around and saw the other hunter coming at us. This wasn’t looking good for us. Just then Caitlin ran forward and tackled this guy. James and Caitlin were tackling Dean and Jared before the men even had a chance to do anything. They tumbled to the ground and I was shocked at Caitlin’s strength. She was really letting him have it. James was still on the ground fighting with the other one. The four of them were busy fighting each other and not paying any attention to me.

Caitlin jumped up from the hunter and they both watched each other to see who would make the next move. After a couple seconds, Caitlin jumped the guy again and knocked him back to the ground. I totally wouldn
’t mess with Caitlin. She would take down anyone in her way. It was nice to know that she was on my side.

They continued to fight and I knew that this was my chance to do something. They couldn
’t fight forever, so I needed to do something quickly. After we lost, I would have lost my chance to save Max. That was if he was still alive.

I wasn’t sure if there were any other hunters in the building, but these were the same two
who had pretended to help Max. They were the ones who had worked for Max’s company, the ones who worked for the Enforcer. If there were others in the building I would have thought they would have come out by now, but that thought offered little comfort. Nevertheless, I took the chance and ran toward the little house.

I stormed through the door, but didn
’t see Max. The place wasn’t big, so it wouldn’t take long to find him if he was there. My stomach flipped at the thought that I’d find him in danger or worse, already gone. I ran down the hall toward the back of the house. When I reached the end, I saw Max.

“Max, are you okay?” I asked.

Max was sitting in a wooden chair in the middle of the room. His head was slumped to the side. He didn’t look at me at first, and it looked as if his eyes were closed. Had they tried to kill him?

“Are you okay?” I asked again in a panic.

He finally lifted his head when I reached him.

“What have they done to you?” I asked as I knelt down beside him.

I touched his face and attempted to get him to look at me. He didn’t answer. Obviously he was too weak. I draped my arm under his and lifted him to his feet.

“Let’s get out of here,” I said as I helped him walk to the door.

With each step he groaned. His head dipped forward and he swayed back and forth. If I hadn’t been there to hold him up he would have tipped over. It was as if he’d had one too many drinks. Each step grew more difficult for him.

When we made it outside the house, I saw that they were still fighting and it looked as if James and Caitlin were on the losing end of the battle. I had to do something. That was when I remembered the stake. I had left it back at the boat. I lowered Max down to the ground
beside the building and then took off in a sprint toward the boat. I worried that Max was in a vulnerable state and would be attacked while I was gone, but I couldn’t take Max with me; he would just slow me down.

After grabbing the stake, I ran back. I stepped over to James and the hunter. With one swift movement I pulled my arm back and stabbed the vampire in the leg. My aim wasn’t great, but I figured I
’d just hurt the guy and slow him down; I didn’t want to kill him permanently.

He fell to the ground clutching his leg. He looked at me as if he couldn’t believe what I had done.

James wiped the dirt from his hands. “Thanks for that.”

I turned my attention to Caitlin. They were still fighting and hadn
’t noticed what had just happened. The hunter was on top of Caitlin and he looked as if he was ready to get rid of her for good. I grabbed the stake and rushed over to them. I pulled my arm back again and stabbed him in the arm. It was enough to get him to fall to the side and off Caitlin.

The hunters were still on the ground trying to figure out how I
’d stabbed them with a stake. Yeah, it had happened.

I grabbed the stake. “Let
’s get out of here. When they get over their wounds we’ll be in big trouble. They will really want us dead.”

As I reached out and grabbed Max’s left arm, James took Max’s
right arm, and then we pulled him to his feet. With much effort, we hurried back toward the boat. I wasn’t sure how we would all fit on the boat, but we would have to make it work.

Max s
at next to me. He seemed a bit out of it still. I wasn’t sure how long the effects of what they’d done to him would last. As we moved across the water toward the other side, I glanced back several times to see if the hunters were after us, but so far they hadn’t gotten to us yet. If I had to I’d use the stake again. That thing had come in handy, but I still didn’t know who had sent it.

We’d all managed to make it back across the lake without the hunters catching up to us. I had to admit I expected them to show up at any minute.

James pulled up to my shop. The air
-conditioning in the car couldn’t keep up with the heat. My skin felt as if it was on fire. We jumped out of the car and raced toward the building. The key was ready in my hand. I hoped that we didn’t burn up before I could get the door open.

“Hurry and open the door, Hadley,” Caitlin said.

We made it to the door and I had just unlocked it when the sound of something hitting the ground caught my attention.

I reached down and picked up the shiny gold coin before Max had a chance to grab it.
It must have fallen out of Max’s pocket. With the object in my hand, I rushed through the door and the others followed.

“It is hotter than hell out there,” James said as he wiped his red face.

“What is this?” I asked Max. The gold coin had the same symbol that I’d found on the paper in his office.

“I guess I should explain,” Max said.

“That would be good,” I said.

James and Caitlin stared at Max.

“The coin has a spell on it. My sister placed the spell. Right before she was turned.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“Let me start from the beginning. The Enforcer found out that my sister had created a spell that would allow the vampires of Savannah to go out into the sun.”

“Why did she want the vampires to go into the sun?” James asked.

“It wasn’t on purpose. She was doing another spell and it just happened. When the Enforcer found out, he demanded that she cast the spell for all the vampires in Savannah.”

“If you knew the
Enforcer was bad, then why did you allow him to continue at your company?” I asked.

“He is the only one who knows where my sister is buried,” Max said.

“Your sister is dead?” I asked.

“She was turned at the same time as me. I want to know where she is, so I had to be nice to the
Enforcer.”

Caitlin and I exchanged a glance. Was Carrie Max’s sister
? That would explain the photo that she’d dropped.

“What’s your sister’s name?” I asked.

“Carrie.”

***

I was in the shop the next morning trying to get my life back together again. I just wanted things to be normal. Plus, I had a ton of bills to pay and needed to work to do that. Fighting off vampire hunters wouldn’t give me money or pay the bills. The day seemed to be off to a good start though because I finally had peace and quiet. Maybe the worst was finally behind me.

Now that I knew Carrie was the witch responsible for placing the
spell on the vampires, I had to find her. Since she was now a vampire, I hoped that she would understand that she had to reverse the spell. In order to get rid of the spell she would have to have the coin. Even though I was angry with the Enforcer, I knew that reversing the spell would save us all. We’d gotten accustom to the sun now, it would be difficult to adjust to only going out at night. But where would we find her? She hadn’t been seen since the day she came into the shop. I was worried about her. What if something had happened to her? How would we overcome the curse without her? Would we all be doomed? Time was running out.

Carrie hadn’t listed an address on the form she’d filled out at my shop. That would have been the first place to look.

“You haven’t seen your sister since you’ve returned?” Caitlin asked.

Max
shook his head. “No, I don’t know if she’s returned yet.”

I didn’t know if I should tell Max about Carrie yet. It would probably upset him and he had been through a lot.  Max would probably have no idea where to find her. Without an address, I’d just have to search the city. Luckily, I had the photo and could show people to see if they’d recognized her. But there were a lot of places in town and I couldn’t go around to each and every one of them. Where would a newly turned vampire go? I knew she would be hungry so I’d just go to some of the places that sold blood. I could stop by that bar again. Maybe she’d stumbled
in there looking for a drink of blood.

I handed Max the coin back. I didn’t want to be responsible for holding on to it. Most of the time I couldn’t keep up with my keys, so I figured keeping an important item like the coin probably wasn’t a wise decision.

Just then the door opened and Rick burst through the door as if he was on fire. With the sun beating down on the vampires, he was probably pretty close.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded. “You can’t stay here. Get out!”

He looked at me with wide eyes. His face was red too. “Do you know how hot it is out there? Satan wants his temperature back. I can’t go back out there.”

“Tell me why you are following us, or James will kick your ass back out there.”

James quirked a brow. “I will?” When I glared at him, he added, “Right. Tell her what she wants to know or your ass is toast.”

“Fine. I was following you, okay?
I followed you into the graveyard too. I figured if I could find Max and turn him in to the Enforcer that I would get a reward. But you can’t send me back out there, okay?”

“Throw him out,” Caitlin said.

As much as I wanted to toss him out, I couldn’t do it. Was it time for my life to get back to normal yet? I was ready to jump off this crazy ride.

“You’re lucky I have other things to worry about right now.” He didn’t need to know that I was a big softie. I’d let him think that he was close to being kicked out.

He relaxed his posture. “What’s going on?”

“Yeah, you’d like for me to tell you, huh? You probably just want to call the
Enforcer now. But sorry, Max can’t help you. We need to find his sister.”

“Who’s his sister?” Rick asked.

I pulled out the photo. “Have you seen her around town?”

Just then he pointed at the window. “Is that her?”

I whipped around and spotted Carrie walking down the sidewalk in front of the shop. “Oh, that’s her.”

We all ran for the door. I had to catch her before she got away. It was as if fate had stepped in and brought her to us. Max burst out the door and in the direction she’d been walking. Soon I spotted her.

I ran as fast as I could to catch up with Max. He grabbed her on the shoulder. She spun around. Her fangs were bared and she hissed.

I jumped back and held my hands up in surrender. “Whoa. Carrie, it’s me, Hadley and your brother Max. Are you okay?”

She immediately fell into Max’s arms and began crying. Of course that made tears flood my eyes too.

“Come on
, we have to get inside,” I said.

Finally, she looked over at me. “I’m sorry, Hadley. I am just a little on guard.”

“Let’s go inside and we can talk.” Max ushered us back inside the shop. Caitlin, James and Rick watched from the window.

“Are you okay?” Caitlin asked with a frown when we stepped inside.

Carrie shook her head. “No, people are after me.”

“It’s the vampire hunters. But don’t worry I can help you.”

“You said you couldn’t help me.”

“I know I said that before, but I know what’s going on now.”

Okay, maybe I was still a little clueless, but I had a better grasp of the gravity of the situation now and she needed to get rid of this curse before we were all burned to a crisp. I didn’t want to be a pile of ashes.

“You placed a curse on the vampires. It was to get back at the
Enforcer, no?” I asked.

“You told them what happened?”
she asked Max.

“I had to,” he said.

She stared at me, but I knew the expression on her face was an admission. “Yes, but he deserved it.”

“Well, that’s neither here nor there now,” I said. “You’re a vampire now and so is Max. You’re both
affected by this curse too. You have to get rid of it if you want to survive.”

“I’m not sure what reason I have to go on like this anyway. I don’t have any clue how to survive as a vampire.”

“Don’t say that, Carrie. We have each other.” Max hugged her.

“I’m here for you too. Heck, even Caitlin will help, she’s a vampire now too
,” I said.

Caitlin winked.

Carrie paused and then said, “I like Caitlin.”

“Me too,” I said with a smile. “So what do you say? Can you reverse the spell?”

I wasn’t even sure this was something she could do. I had my fingers crossed though.

She nodded. “I think I can do it.”

“Have you cast any spells since you came back?” I asked. I was almost afraid to hear the answer.

But when she nodded and said, “Yes
,” I let out a sigh of relief.

That was a start. There was no guarantee that she could reverse this spell, but at least she’d gotten her magical feet wet and tried out her witchcraft again.

Carrie stared at Max. “I can’t believe it’s you.”

“You haven’t seen each other since you’ve been back, huh?”

She shook her head. “I tried to find him.”

Why hadn’t she asked if I could help her find him? She hadn’t asked for the right kind of help. 

Carrie swayed and Max grabbed her.

“Do you need something to eat? You really should have your energy,” I said.

She nodded. “I could use something to eat.”

“I have something for you in the back. Did you have blood yet?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“You have to have some or you won’t have energy.”

She nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.”

She certainly was a stubborn one. After retrieving a bottle of blood from the back, she took it from me and immediately chugged it.

“Is there something you need for the spell?” I asked.

She looked around the room. “I need the item that I originally placed the curse on. I don’t know what happened to it.”

“Max had it with him.” I pointed.

I still couldn’t believe he’d had the coin with him while waiting to come back from the dead.

“I’ve got it.” Max held the gold coin out.

Max placed the coin in her hand. Wow, he
’d had it all this time. She closed her eyes and held the item out. She spoke the words and nothing happened.

I’d expected some kind of reaction. How would I know if the spell had worked? I guessed the only thing I could do was walk out into the sun. But that was getting increasingly more difficult. I couldn’t go outside without every inch of my skin being covered now.

She looked at me and nodded.

“Is that it?” I asked.

“Yes, that’s it.”

There
was only one way to find out if the spell had worked. Before Max could protest I marched outside onto the sidewalk. Carrie and Max followed me outside. I stripped off my jacket and sunglasses and held my arms out. Nothing happened. The warm sunshine fell across my skin, but it felt as it had for years. There was no burn now and I hadn’t turned into a big pile of ashes.

I reached out and hugged Carrie. “It worked. You saved us.”

“Well, technically I was the reason why everyone was in danger in the first place. But I was just defending myself from the Enforcer. He had to be stopped.”

Max reached out and grabbed me in an embrace. “You had a little something to do with saving us too.”

“What did the Enforcer do that made you place this spell on all the vampires?” I asked.

“Not only did the
Enforcer make me place the spell on the vampires, he wanted to take away everything from Max. It wasn’t enough that he already had everything, he wanted Max’s business too. That was when I decided he had to be stopped. I placed the spell not thinking that he would turn me and Max too.”

I still couldn’t believe that the coin had been with Max all this time and it was the reason that why vampires couldn’t go out into the sun.
Because the coin had been safely in the coffin with Max, we had all been safe from the spell. Once he’d woken up and returned to the undead scene, we were all susceptible to the rays.

That was when it hit me. What if he’d just gotten rid of the coin by putting it back in the
ground.

“So wait
… if we’d just buried the item then everything would have been fine again?” I asked.

“
I tried that and it didn’t work. The coin had to be with me and buried at the same time.” Max pointed out.

I was just glad that this was over. It didn’t matter how the curse had been stopped as long as it had been stopped.

“Let’s go tell the others that it’s safe to come out now,” I said.

Max took my hand in his as we made our way back into the shop. Carrie watched us, but didn’t speak.

“So the Enforcer turned you because he wanted Max’s things?” I asked.

She nodded as we stepped back into the shop.

“I am pretty sure he won’t be the Enforcer any longer when people find out about that.”