BITTEN (Book #3 of the Vampire Legends) (7 page)

“I need you for a mission. We need to go at this together, it’s our only shot,” Benji said.

“I don’t want to go anywhere. I just want to go home,” Rachel said.

“You can’t go home, Rachel. You are not the same person,” Benji replied.

“Yes, I am. I will be fine. As long as I am not here at this castle, things will be fine,” Rachel said.

“I can’t believe you are saying this,” Benji said. “This castle is providing you a great protection. Without it and the people inside, you would be dead!”

“I just want to go home. Please let me go,” Rachel begged. “I need to see my family again. I can only imagine they’re worried sick.”

“You don’t understand. You CANT go back home. This is your new home,” Benji repeated. “You are not the same person, you’ve changed. And besides, it’s way too dangerous out there for you anyway.”

“Stop saying that!” Rachel yelled.

 “I promise, when this is all over things will calm down. They will go back to normal and it will be just us again. The way it was before all of this happened. We can be together, with no worries or fears. Our lives will be perfect together,” Benji begged.

“NO! I don’t want any part of it,” Rachel retorted.

“Please, Rachel. Come with me, I need you,” Benji said as he held his hand out for her to grab.

Rachel looked down at his outstretched hand and quickly weighed her options. She knew if she left, she’d be leaving the one man she truly loved, but if she stayed, she’d be saying goodbye to her family forever.

“I can’t. I’m sorry,” Rachel said.

With that, she picked up her satchel off the rampart, turned her body and without thinking, jumped off the peaked roof into the nighttime sky. Her wings opened smoothly as she sailed off towards home without looking back.

Chapter Eight

In what felt like minutes, Rachel was circling above her town of Bedford, New York looking down, trying to zero in on her house. She could not believe it: she was really flying. At first it had been rocky, and she was afraid she would fall again. But then her wings stabilized, and since then, she had been OK.

It was the first time she’d approached her house from above, which was a weird feeling for her. But then, she spotted it. It looked even tinier from the sky but she knew inside, she would find the people she loved the most.

Before she got too close, she knew she had to find a safe place to land. She couldn’t land in the front yard, just in case anyone was looking, it would be way too obvious. How could she explain the flying thing? Instead, she decided to land in the woods down the street from her house.

As she approached her landing ground, she saw a raccoon, in the brush, rummaging around. Her eyes opened wide as she felt a surge of hunger strike her. It was almost uncontrollable as she swooped down like an owl. Using Mind Control to hold the raccoon in its place, she snatched it up with her large fangs and sucked out its blood. Feeling completely like a vampire, and less human, she wiped the blood off her face and looked into a stream at her reflection to make sure she didn’t have any residue on her face that would raise questions when she went inside her house. She cupped her hand and took a sip of water and then stood up and began to walk out of the brush.

It had gotten pretty chilly and she felt a chill run down her spine. The leaves crunched beneath her feet as she took one step after another through the front lawn of her house. Her front door was within reach. She looked at it as she took a deep breath, not stopping to think about how she should be feeling, and opened it.

“Hello?” she said, as she stepped into her house, waiting to see if her family was home.

“HELLO!” she said again, louder.

She heard footsteps coming out of the kitchen, and then her mother came into view.

“Rachel? Sweetie, is that you?” her mom cried.

“Yes! I’m back. I’m home!” Rachel said in excitement.

“Darling, we’ve been worried sick. We missed you so much!” her mom said, and she ran over to give her a hug and hold her in her arms.

Rachel needed this. She felt secure again. She longed for this feeling of love and comfort.

“John! Come here, she’s safe, she’s back!” her mom yelled into the other room for her dad.

In seconds her dad came running out and without a word, gave her a huge hug and held her tightly. The three stood there hugging for a few minutes before they let go.

“My baby’s back!” her dad said joyfully. “Are you ok?”

“Yes! I’m fine. Everything’s ok now,” Rachel said.

“Come into the kitchen, let me give you something to eat and get you cleaned up. You look a little ragged,” her mom said, looking her up and down and then reaching out to run her ringers through her ratty looking hair.

“We are just so happy that you’re OK,” her mom said. “Aren’t we Honey?”

“Yes, thank God she’s back,” her dad replied, holding his hands in prayer position and looking up into the sky.

Rachel had never seen her dad that spiritual before, but figured he’d turned to God during this hard time.

She could see in her parent’s faces that they were happy and relieved to see her back home. She could also tell they’d been through a lot and that they looked run down and exhausted.

“Are you guys ok?” Rachel asked. “I’m sorry to worry you like this.”

“Worry us?” her dad replied. “We were sick over this. We thought you’d died.”

The three of them walked into the kitchen and sat down at the kitchen table. Her mom handed her a granola bar and a glass of water and then said, “Where were you anyway?”

“It’s a long story,” Rachel said back. “The thing is that I’m here now and that I’m safe.”

“You know the police have been looking for you for days now. It’s on all the news channels and in the papers. Our family is famous,” her dad said, beginning to sound upset.

“I know, I’m sorry. It was stupid of me. I will never do it again,” Rachel said.

“That’s what happens when you sneak out,” her dad said. “And besides, what happened at Lyndvia Castle anyway? Were you there?”

Trying to recap that night, she felt guilty and ashamed. How could she tell them what really happened? She knew they would never believe her and if they did, they’d probably have her committed for insanity, or severe psychotherapy.

“I did go there,” she said, trying to downplay it. “Luckily I got out of there before it got bad,” Rachel said, trying to be as vague as possible.

She looked back at her parents who were both staring at her with suspicion.

“Who were you with anyway?” her mom asked.

“That Benji character?” her dad asked, knowing full well the answer.

“I did go to see Benji, but he saved my life. He protected me,” Rachel said.

“He protected you so well, that he got you into this mess in the first place,” her dad snapped back.

“You have to trust me,” Rachel said. “He’s the reason why I’m sitting here right now, alive.”

“What happened there anyway?” her mom asked.

“Yeah? What happened? It looked like a real death trap,” her dad said, firmly.

“I don’t know how to explain it. I wish I could, but I know you wouldn’t believe me,” Rachel said. “I want to tell you, I really do, but it’s complicated.”

“Are you on drugs?” her dad snapped. “It looked like a drug bust if you ask me.”

“NO! I’m not on drugs. I can’t believe you would even ask me that,” Rachel snapped back. “And besides, if I told you the truth you wouldn’t believe me anyway.”

“Honey,” her mom said, “If you ARE on drugs, you can tell us, we will find you help.”

“UGH! I’m not on drugs. Stop asking me that. I’ve never done drugs in my life,” Rachel kept saying.

“I don’t think you realize what a stir this whole thing is,” her dad said getting more and more upset as the minutes passed. “You think this is all fun and games, don’t you?”

“No! I don’t! Stop accusing me of that!” Rachel said back firmly.

“The police have been out for days looking for you,” her mom said.

“The whole town is out searching for you. And then you prance back in as if nothing had happened. Typical,” her dad said.

“You guys are totally ridiculous. I thought you’d be happy to see me?” Rachel asked.

“We are happy, Sweetie. It’s just hard because you’ve put us through so much trouble, that it’s hard to just flip a switch,” her mom said, trying to remain calm.

“You’ve humiliated our family,” her dad added. “We are constantly in the news, and it’s really taken a toll on us.”

“I’ve done nothing!” Rachel said. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’ve learned from my mistakes. C’mon, you guys have to believe me. I didn’t mean for all of this to happen.”

“How can we trust you again, Rachel?” her dad snapped. “You’ve been acting like a completely different girl than the one we knew in Pennsylvania.”

“It’s like you’re a different person up here,” her mom added.

“Listen, you guys haven’t been great either,” Rachel remarked. “You always think the worst of me and you ALWAYS think I’m lying. I can’t tell you anything anymore without you looking at me skeptically and asking five thousand questions. It’s not fair!”

“Rachel, sweetheart,” her mom said trying to calm her down, “forget we said that, we didn’t mean it.”

“No! You did mean it and so did I. It’s like you guys always think the worst of me. Even when I am telling the truth, you guys don’t believe me, so what’s the point? Why do I even bother talking to you?” Rachel said as she stood up to leave the table.

“Sit back down, young lady,” her dad’s voice barreled.

“Fine, but I don’t see what the point is, you’re just going to think I’m lying to you,” Rachel snapped.

Changing the subject, here dad asked, “Who is this Benji guy anyway? We’ve been hearing a lot about him lately.”

“A guy from my school,” Rachel said defensively. “That’s where I met him.”

“Are you like an item or something?” her dad asked back.

“An item? What is this 1950?” Rachel snarkily replied.

“Don’t mock me!” her dad yelled. “I need an answer, are you two dating?”

“Well, I did have a crush on him, but I think it’s over now,” she answered firmly.

“What happened?” her mom asked. Not knowing how to answer these questions she tried to evade them as much as she could.

“It’s just over between us. We want different things and besides, I don’t think I fit in well in his life, ya know?” Rachel added.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” her dad said.

“It’s over!” Rachel said again loudly. “I don’t want to talk about it. There’s nothing to say!”

“Where does Benji live anyway? He’s not listed and the cops have been searching high and low for this guy.”

“It’s confusing, I don’t really know,” Rachel said.

“Just tell us,” her mom said.

“See, Betsy, this is what she does, she lies to us all the time,” her dad said.

“I’m NOT LYING!” Rachel said getting more and more frustrated by this conversation. “Why are we even talking if you think everything I’m saying is a lie?”

“Listen, Rachel, you can’t come waltzing back in here and expect things to go on as they normally do. We need answers and we need them now,” her dad yelled.

“Who are his parents?” her mom asked.

“I don’t know who his parents are? I’ve never met them,” Rachel responded truthfully.

“You’re not going to be able to live under our roof if you keep this up. We don’t even know you anymore, Rachel.”

“What do you mean I can’t live under YOUR roof?” Rachel asked back.

“Living here is a privilege!” her dad said, “And right now, you don’t deserve it.”

“Well, I’m not exactly sure what you want me to do. I can make something up if you’d feel better about that? I am telling you the truth. I don’t know where he is and I certainly don’t know his parents,” Rachel said.

“Where did our daughter go?” her dad asked, turning to her mom.

“Stop attacking me! I can’t take this anymore!” Rachel yelled as she got up from the table and headed upstairs to her bedroom.

As she got upstairs, she decided that she would go say hello to her sister, who she’d missed so much since she’d been gone. She was worried that her sister might have turned on her, too, but she had to at least say hello, find out for herself.

“GET BACK HERE!” her dad screamed.

She knocked on the door.

“Come in!” Sarah said. “It’s open.”

Rachel peeked her head through the door and saw her sister sitting on her bed listening to the new Madonna CD.

“Rachel!” Sarah yelled as she got up to greet her. “AH! Where have you been?”

“OMG! It was insane. It’s a long, crazy story! You sure you want to hear?” Rachel asked.

“I’m just so happy to see you!” Sarah said. “It really doesn’t matter to me what happened. I think I have an idea anyway. We did go to Lyndvia to find you, it was a crazy scene!”

“I know, tell me about it!” Rachel said. “It was the craziest, most insane time of my life. I really thought I was going to die.”

“Yeah, we didn’t think you were ever coming home. But thankfully, you came back. I secretly knew you’d return,” Sarah said, confidently as she hugged Rachel tightly.

“I missed you!” Rachel said.

“I missed you more!” Sarah said. “Mom and Dad have gone completely mad since this whole thing happened. It’s like they’re becoming mini FBI agents or something.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. They were grilling me downstairs. I’m surprised you didn’t hear them,” Rachel said.

“They’ve been grilling everyone. Mark and I have gotten our fair share of questioning,” Sarah said.

“It’s so annoying though because they always think I’m lying to them. I just don’t get it,” Rachel said.

“Yeah, welcome home!” Sarah said laughing.

“Oh and by the way, when we went to Lyndvia, I found the key to your diary. Dad was holding onto it, but I took it from him when he wasn’t looking and I hid your diary. I figured you probably wouldn’t want them to read it,” Sarah said, reaching into her desk drawer and pulling out the necklace with the key attached.

Rachel took it from her and said, “Thank you so much! You’re a lifesaver. I can’t believe you thought to do that. You’re my hero!”