Call of the Vampire (14 page)

I was in a complete daze at school the next day. Never mind distracting myself with extra class work, I couldn’t focus on anything. I kept playing our Saturday night conversation over and over again in my head. Had I done something to offend him? Did he decide that being with me was too much of a temptation? Or did he just realize that I was only a sad, faded carbon copy of his Colette?

More than one teacher remarked that I seemed “a little distracted.” It was amazing how quickly they’d become accustomed to my paying attention. Or, at least, appearing to pay attention. Outwardly, I guess I looked frazzled, but on the inside, I was tearing myself apart with the thought that I would never see Jessie again. The worst part of it was there was that little, practical part of my brain, the part that probably has all the survival instincts, that kept telling me that it was for the best.

“Want to go to the mall or something?” Blossom asked as she stood by my locker while I sorted my books.

The school day was finally over, and I had been wondering how I was going to distract myself for the evening. “Is Jimmy coming?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Not if I can help it.” Her reply gave the strong impression that Jimmy’s days as her boyfriend were numbered.

“Okay,” I said. “Sounds good.”

As we headed out to the parking lot, something caught my eye. Or more accurately, someone. A very tall figure in a dark suit stood waiting beside my car, his shadow stretching across half the parking lot. I froze in my tracks, my heart hammering at my ribs.

“Who the hell is that?” Blossom said out of the corner of her mouth.

“Viggo,” I replied. Then, looking at her, I asked, “Can you give me a minute?”

“I guess.” Blossom shrugged. “If you’re sure he won’t eat your car.”

I walked up to the mountain of a man, my legs trembling a little beneath me. I wasn’t afraid of Viggo, but I knew Jessie had probably sent him, and I was wondering if I was about to receive that vampire version of the kiss-off.

“Hi, Viggo,” I said in a low voice. I could feel half the school staring at us as kids filtered out to their cars.

“Hello, Aurora. You are looking vell,” he said, making a small bow, his hands clasped behind his back.

“So are you,” I said, dipping my head in return. “I’m happy to see you.” Lowering my voice even more, I added, “I wanted to thank you again for your help the other week.”

“Mr. Wanderlind asked me to deliver this letter to you,” he said, reaching into his breast pocket and pulling out an envelope. His hands were so enormous they made the letter look the size of a business card.

“Okay, great,” I said, taking the envelope with shaking hands. “Thank you.”

“Things are bad, now,” the giant said. “You must leave Mr. Wanderlind alone.” He leaned toward me a little and added, “Especially at night.”

“Why?” I gulped. “What’s going on? Did Jessie tell you that?”

Viggo ignored my questions. He simply turned and strode away. Two cars pulling out at the same time almost collided as both drivers stared after the giant.

Blossom walked up to stand beside me. “Holy... whatever the hell that was.”

“Don’t be mean,” I told her. “He’s nice.”

“And just how, exactly, do you know him?”

I silently cursed. What the hell was Jessie thinking sending a giant to my school? Had he heard of that groundbreaking invention, the telephone? Was he aware of the post office? At the very least, he could have easily just slipped the note through the mail slot in our front door.

“Aurora?” Blossom pressed.

“Don’t you remember Viggo?” I acted surprised.

“No, I think I’d remember a guy like that.”

“Wow, you were more out of it than I thought,” I said, giving her an incredulous look. “We met him at the castle. You talked to him for, like, ten minutes.”

Blossom narrowed her eyes at me. “What did I talk to him about?”

“Mostly how tall he was,” I improvised. “You were a little fixated with it. I think you kind of made him a little uncomfortable.” I was hoping to embarrass her into not asking too many questions.

“Oh, yeah.” Blossom nodded several times. “I think I kind of remember him. I mean, he’s pretty unforgettable. What did he want, anyway?”

“I... uh...” I guess she hadn’t seen Viggo hand me the letter. I discretely slipped it into my bag. “I still have Jessie Vanderlind’s coat, and he asked me to return it when I had a moment.”

“Back to the castle?” Blossom’s eyes grew round. “Take me with you when you drop it off, okay?”

“Yeah, well... I told him it’s at the dry cleaners.” I unlocked the car. “Let’s get going if we’re hitting the mall.”

Jessie’s letter was burning a hole in my backpack. I could feel it there, unopened, unread, and it was killing me. There was no way I could read it with Blossom around. She was not the kind of girl who responded well to comments like, “It’s private,” or “It’s none of your business.” I had to bide my time until I had a moment alone.

My opportunity came when we were in Halle Brother’s department store. I made the excuse of needing to find a sports bra. Blossom did ask “Why?” but didn’t insist on coming into the dressing room with me. Trying on a bra is something a girl needs to do alone.

I made up some excuse about, “Think I might start jogging,” and grabbed a couple of random bras off a rack, hurrying to the dressing rooms.

Once I was safely locked away from prying eyes, I pulled out Jessie’s letter. The envelope was obviously made of some very nice paper. I didn’t want to just tear it open, so I rooted around in my bag until I found a hair clip, which I used as a letter opener to slit the paper.

My Dear Aurora,

Urgent business calls me away and I will be unable to meet with you in the foreseeable future. I regret that I am unable to tell you this in person. Please take care of yourself.

Best Wishes,

Jessie

Best wishes...? Seriously?

I really didn’t know what I expected Jessie’s note to say, but that definitely wasn’t it. Was he actually busy, or had I just received a vampire-style Dear John letter?

“What’s wrong with you?” Blossom asked as we sat in the food court, splitting one of Aunt Agatha’s giant pretzels. “You look like your dog died.” It was a weird comment because Blossom knew I didn’t care for most dogs, but still, she was concerned.

“I guess I’m not feeling great,” I mumbled, not trusting my voice not to crack if I spoke at a normal level.

“Oh.” Blossom immediately dropped the piece of pretzel she was about to put in her mouth and wiped her hands rather vigorously on a napkin. “Thanks for sharing.”

“I don’t think it’s catching,” I told her. “Probably just my week of the woman.”

“Oh,” Blossom repeated, picking her bite of pretzel back up and popping it in her mouth.

I don’t know how I made it through shopping without looking at Jessie’s note again. I wanted to stare at it until the words were etched into my eyeballs. I needed to divine its meaning. I went to reach for it in my bag so many times Blossom must have thought I was developing a nervous twitch.

“Sorry the mall wasn’t that fun today,” I said as I pulled the bug into Blossom’s driveway. “I’m just super low energy.”

“Don’t worry about it. I completely understand.” After she got out of the car, she leaned down to add, “Take an iron pill and eat some chocolate.”

Even though I knew he wasn’t coming, I still sat by my window at nine o’clock waiting for Jessie. It was like I couldn’t help myself. I felt pathetic on a couple of different levels. I’d been wound up about guys before, but never so very tightly wound. It was painful, and I couldn’t explain my feelings, not even to myself.

I was just sitting there, fiddling with the Pools of Light pendant, noticing how the crystal captured the moonlight, when something in our backyard drew my attention. Someone was back there. A very tall someone. I knew in a second it was Viggo. “What the hell?” I said to myself and hurried out of the room.

“Viggo.” I walked straight up to the giant. “What are you doing here?”

“I am vaiting,” he told me. “You should go back into the house.”

“What are you waiting for?” I demanded. I felt like a bit of a fool confronting the massive man with just a parka pulled over my pajamas, but I didn’t let that stop me.

He shrugged his enormous shoulders. “Mr. Wanderlind told me to vait, so I vait. He told me to vatch you, so I vatch.”

“He what?” I tried to process what I’d just heard. Jessie had set up a guard to keep an eye on me? That sounded a bit paranoid. “Listen, Viggo, Jessie Vanderlind does not make the rules around here. This is my house and my lawn. I don’t need watching.”

“This is not your house,” the giant said. “This is the house of your mother. I vill ask her if she does not permit me to stand here.” He made to step around me.

“Whoa, wait a minute.” I waved both hands in the air, trying to get him to stop. “I really don’t think bringing my mom in on this is a good idea.” The less she knew about vampires, giants, and sneaking into castles, the better.

Viggo re-assumed his parade-rest posture. He apparently didn’t feel the need to gloat at outsmarting me.

I glared at him. “Do you always do exactly what the Vanderlinds tell you to do?”

He glanced down at me. “The Wanderlinds, no. Mr. Jessie Wanderlind, yes.”

“And why is that?” I asked.

Viggo ignored me.

We stood there for a while, me staring at him, him staring at nothing. I toyed with the idea of trying to scale him like Everest and wondered how much of a fuss that would cause. Probably enough to draw the attention of my mother and quite a few neighbors. I thought better of it and just went back inside.

I had to accept the fact that I might not ever see Jessie again. The thought made my body ache all over. I was so angry, frustrated, and hurt that I cried in my room for about an hour and then sniffed for the next two. I didn’t want to sleep because I didn’t want to dream. The better part of the night I spent staring at the pendant he had given me. It was probably a farewell gift, and I was pitifully grateful to have it. At least it was something to remember him by.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday all melted into one big pile of misery. How could I be heartbroken over a guy I hadn’t even kissed? And one who could just as easily save my life as suck all the blood out of my body.

Viggo was at his post on Tuesday night. I tried to ignore him. On Wednesday my mother was out, so I went outside and marched right up to him. “You can leave now,” I said. “I understand that Jessie doesn’t want to see me. I won’t try to contact him. You don’t have to watch me anymore.”

The giant glanced briefly in my direction. “You are a stupid girl,” he told me. “Go back in the house.”

I did go back in the house and straight over to the telephone. I dialed 911 and waited to be connected to emergency services. “Hello? There’s this giant creepy guy in my backyard, and he won’t go away,” I said, allowing my voice to sound as tearful as I felt.

The cops came by a few minutes later. Tiburon did have an excellent police department, compliments of the Vanderlinds. I pointed out Viggo to the two officers that came to the door. “He won’t be bothering you anymore, Ma’am,” I was told, once they had convinced the giant to be on his way.

Thursday night, Viggo was nowhere to be seen. That was probably a good thing. My mother would have noticed the giant in the backyard eventually, but his absence tore open my emotional wound again. I was the one that had called the cops on him, but I knew that his absence meant Jessie had told him not to bother about me anymore. Was that a good thing? I wasn’t sure. But having Viggo gone meant Jessie was fading from my life.

Friday morning, I woke up disgusted with myself. Poor baby no longer got to flirt with a vampire. It was a suicidal thing to do in the first place. I hated sitting by the phone waiting for some guy to call who was never going to call. And this was a million times worse. Prying myself out of bed, I found an empty box in the offseason closet. In it I put Jessie’s tux jacket, handkerchief, pocket watch, and pendant. I wasn’t going to sit around moping for the rest of my life. I had to purge myself of the vampire’s mementos and hope that it helped.

As I stood over the box with a roll of packing tape in one hand, I had a moment of weakness and snatched the Pools of Light pendant out of the pile. I would, after all, need something to get me through the nights. I intended to be strong, but I wasn’t that strong.

I was standing outside the post office when they unlocked the doors to the public. It meant being late for school, but I knew if I waited until the end of the day, or even lunch, I would have lost my resolve.

“You a fan of the castle?” the postal clerk asked as I handed over the package.

I had been totally in my own head and wasn’t quite sure I heard him correctly. “Sorry?”

“I see here you’re sending something to the Vanderlind Castle, and I was wondering if you were a fan.”

He looked like he was just asking a question to be friendly. I didn’t see any hidden agenda behind it. “The Vanderlind Castle has fans?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Oh, yeah.” He nodded with conviction. “It all goes through here, so we see plenty of it. Stuff from all over. Cards mostly. Sometimes packages. Girls will send their photos,” he said with a confidential wink. “A lot of them are pretty good.”

I wasn’t going to ask him how he happened to see the photos that I assumed were in sealed envelopes. “Why would people send mail to the castle?” I wondered aloud.

“You tell me,” he said, poking at the box I’d placed in front of him.

“That’s not a present,” I assured the clerk.

“Sure it’s not.” He gave me a smug look.

I rolled my eyes.

As soon as I got to my car, I regretted sending the package. I’d anticipated I would, but it was for the best. There was nothing left for me to do but ride out my emotions. Some guys you get over in a few days; some take a couple of weeks, or even a few months; but with Jessie, it felt different. I looked at my potential period of feeling like garbage in terms of years. I wondered if I would feel better before I graduated from high school.