Descended by Blood (8 page)

“I don’t know. He said I had to go with him to some lady. He had fangs. And he was super strong and fast. And when I fought him, I was too.”

“Oh, no. We’ve stayed here too long. You and Jaren need to head straight over to Garwin’s house. Right now.” Terror in my mom’s voice set me on edge even further.

“What about the man in Jaren’s living room? I killed him.”

“Leave him. We’ll take care of it. Don’t call the police or anything. You get over there right now, and I’ll meet you guys as soon as I can.” Images fluttered through my mind of my mom and my uncle Garwin packing up the body in the back of Garwin’s truck to go bury it somewhere no one would ever find it. I shuddered at the thought.

“’Kay. I’m sorry, Mom,” I whispered, still worried she would never look at me the same.

I pulled myself up off the floor, wiped at my eyes, and went to find Jaren. He was in his bedroom. He looked up from zipping his bag. “What did your mom say?”

“She said we have to leave here now and go up to my uncle Garwin’s. She’s meeting us there.”

“Who’s this
Uncle Garwin
?” Jaren’s forehead creased.

“He’s not really my uncle, but he’s a close family friend, and he’s been there for my mom and me whenever we’ve needed it. My mom said they would take care of the man, so I’m pretty sure you can trust him because we can’t leave a dead body in there for Trish to find, and you and my mom are telling me that we can’t call the cops. So, really, the only option I can think of is to go to Garwin’s.” Anxiety caused me to ramble.

“All right.” Jaren sighed when he realized that was our only real option at the moment.

I gave him the keys and followed him as he booked it through the living room. I took one last look at the man lying dead on the floor. I couldn’t stop myself. I didn’t want to look, but the muscles in my neck and eyes had a mind of their own. As soon as I registered the knife in his neck with blood thickening around it, and his head turned in such a way that you knew his neck had been broken, I wished I could have just ran out of there without looking back. The image of the prone, lifeless body seared into the darkest depths of my mind.

* * *

“Turn here,” I said, directing Jaren past Lexington and into the hills where the really rich people lived.

“Wow,” Jaren whispered in awe of the lavish neighborhood.

We reached the end of the street and rolled up to the gates leading to Garwin’s house. “Who is this guy?” Jaren’s dad was rich, but nowhere near as wealthy as Garwin.

“The code’s 4-9-7-7-6-5-8,” I said. Jaren typed it into the keypad.

The screen beeped and flashed “Code not accepted.”

“What? I’ve always had the same code. Buzz him,” I said, fearing the worst. A few seconds later, Garwin answered.

“Yes?” Garwin asked.

“My code isn’t working. Is everything all right in there?”

“Yes, dear. I changed it due to the circumstances. I’m glad to see you’re okay. Who’s that with you?” Garwin had cameras around the gate so he could see I had a stranger with me.

“My boyfriend. Mom said for us to meet her here.”

“She’s already here,” he said and hung up. The gates disengaged to grant us entry.

If Jaren was awed from what he saw through the gates, then he was overcome with what sprawled out before him as we drove up the drive to the house.

A white mansion spread across an endless parcel of well-manicured property. The house’s second story was supported by four large columns that stood in front of the entrance. Intricate details in the moldings surrounded the windows and framed the house, giving the property a regal feel.

Jaren drove the car up to the front door and gawked at the house. I stepped out of the car to go inside because I was scared and didn’t have the patience to wait for him. I could not shake the vision of the dead man lying on the floor, and I wanted this night to be over.

I strode up the stairs, Jaren finally trailing behind me as I walked into the foyer. I turned down the hall, making my way toward the den. My mom and Garwin would be in there.

Jaren lingered behind me to stare at what I’m sure were the chandelier, the marble statue in the foyer, the paintings in the hallway, and everything else his eyes probably feasted upon. He finally composed himself and grabbed my hand, walking beside me with purpose.

When we reached the den, I found my mom and Garwin sitting in the lounge by the fireplace.

My mom looked up before we passed through the double doors. She stood and ran to me. “Honey, are you all right?” she asked, hugging me then checking me over for injuries. I slipped Jaren’s jacket down to reveal my shredded shoulder.

She gasped. “We need to get that cleaned up. We’ll be right back,” she said to Garwin and Jaren.

“Not yet.” I planted my feet. “What did you mean when you said ‘we’d stayed here too long’?” My mom knew something about why the man was after me, and I was going to get it out of her, even if it meant my shoulder might fall off.

“Are you sure you want to talk about this now?” she asked, looking over at Jaren.

“Mom! He just had a monster
with fangs
try to strangle him to death because he was protecting me. Then he saw me fly in the air only to catch myself on said monster’s head with enough force to torque the guy’s skull around, snapping his neck, and killing him! I think he can hear what the hell is going on.”

“Brooke, don’t talk to your mother like that,” Garwin said, still sitting in his chair and swirling a glass of brandy and ice. He didn’t raise his voice, either. He didn’t have to. His voice held an authority that didn’t need volume to communicate business.

I looked at Garwin, then to my mom with apologetic eyes. “I’m sorry, but we’ve had a really rough night, and I’m a little freaked out.” I shook, on the verge of tears by the end of my apology.

“Oh, Brooke. It’s fine. Sit down, and we’ll talk. Okay?” My mom led me over to the couch she’d been sitting on. Jaren sat on the other side of me, across from Garwin.

“Hi. I’m Jaren,” he said, getting up and offering to shake hands with Garwin.

“I’m sure you already know I’m Garwin,” he said, grasping Jaren’s hand, ice clinking against his glass.

“Let’s start by you telling me everything about your attacker tonight,” my mom suggested.

I had to tell her now. I couldn’t hide my stalker from her any longer, not with him lying dead on Jaren’s floor. I swallowed, afraid of confessing the truth of my prior run-ins with this weird stranger, but I needed to know what was going on.

“Well, I first saw him while hiking with Kaitlynn, and I’m convinced he had a mountain lion try to attack us.”

Garwin’s head tilted to the side. “
Try
?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I told it to stop, and it…did. It froze. It wanted to attack me, but it couldn’t.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? You could have died, and we could have avoided it if you would’ve told me,” my mom said, agitation thick in her words.

“That is exactly why I didn’t tell you. The man freaked me out, but I didn’t want to believe my life was at stake, and I knew you would flip out about it and not let me go out with Jaren, or worse. You’d make me move again.” I adjusted on the couch to ease the throb in my shoulder. “And I think he only sent the mountain lion after us to test me.”

“What makes you think that?” my mom scolded.

“Well, when I stopped the lion from attacking us, the man had a smirk on his face, full of approval.”

My mom looked at Garwin.

“Yes, this makes things interesting,” he said, then sipped his drink.

“Why?” I asked.

“We’ll get to that. What happened the next time you saw him?”

“Ugh,” I grunted, frustrated they weren’t telling me
anything
. I sighed. “I’m pretty sure that I saw him lurking outside of Mary’s dress shop the other night.” I didn’t tell them about Jaren’s pictures. I already felt stupid and guilty that I’d risked Jaren’s life. I never thought the man might try to hurt someone else. I figured if I never went anywhere alone, always used the buddy system, the man wouldn’t be able to touch me.

“And then the next time I saw him was tonight, and I already told you what happened with him,” I said, lowering my head so I wouldn’t see my mom’s disgust with me.

She grabbed my chin and forced me to look her in the eye. To my relief, there was only love and concern.

I felt a little better, but I still wanted answers. “’Kay. Your turn. What’s going on?”

My mom dropped her hands into her lap. She hesitated, but she spoke anyway. “I know this is going to sound insane, but the man who came for you tonight was a vampire. We call them Pijawikas.”

“What?” I laughed.

“I know it sounds unbelievable, but it’s true. He’s a vampire.”

“Well, what on Earth would he want me for? Do I have some extra special blood that makes me tastier to them or something?” This really was crazy.

“Not exactly,” she said. “But your blood is special.”

“Okay…,” I stared at her, waiting for her to tell me this was all a joke, and I would wake up from this nightmare. When she didn’t, I recalled she had the same blood. “Well, what about your blood? Is someone after you, too?”

“My blood’s not special in the same way, so I’m not sure if they’re after me, too, but I don’t think so,” she said, looking over at Garwin for confirmation.

“I’ll have to find out what’s going on, but if they were after your mother, they would have moved in on her, as well,” Garwin said.

“So, what do you mean my blood isn’t special in the same way yours is?” I still felt like nothing was getting answered. I was more confused now than I was when we arrived.

“You’re half Pijawikan, Brooke,” my mom confessed, relaxing the tension in her shoulders that must have weighed heavily on her for ages.

I laughed. “No way. It’s not even possible. I’ve never been bitten by one of those…
things
, and I sure as hell have never had fangs. I’m fine in the sun, too. In fact, I love it.”

“Vampire myth has it all wrong,” she said. “The sun thing comes about because they used to hunt at night to remain a secret. And you don’t turn into a vampire because you get a virus from being bitten by one. It’s descended by blood; Pijawikas are born. They’re an evolved race of humans, but they can still procreate with us. That’s how I got pregnant with you.”

“You’re telling me my dad is a vampire? Yeah, right.”

“It’s true,” Garwin said. “How do you think you were able to fight that guy tonight? Anyone else wouldn’t have stood a chance against his strength and speed, but you did. In fact, you were able to defeat him.”

I recalled how fast I was in dodging the man, and how much strength materialized in my muscles when I broke his neck. I looked at Jaren to my right. His complexion had gone pale. His mouth hung slack in shock.

I turned, glaring at my mom. “I have never had any sort of real stability in my life, and the only thing that remained the same for me was who I thought I was. You shattered that. Why would you keep this from me?”

“I didn’t know how much Pijawika you’d have, so I didn’t want to say anything unless you started to show traits of your Pijawikan side. It is forbidden for Pijawikas to mix, or even have romantic relationships with humans. I did it for our safety.” My mom sighed, as if it was all for nothing now.

I sat stunned. Was this why she never let me try out for any sports teams? Had she been too afraid that it might reveal this awful part of me? “So, what? You watched and waited? Hoping, praying to God, that I would never reveal the monster inside of me, is that it?” Bile rose in my throat with the knowledge of what I was, and that disgust transferred to her for not telling me about it.

“You are not a monster,” she said, grasping my hand.

“Oh, yes I am. I fought that thing that tried to take me tonight. Did you forget that? Because I’ll never be able to forget. And to make my night even worse, you’re telling me that half the stuff that runs in that guy’s veins also runs in mine.”

“You can’t judge what you are by meeting only one Pijawika. It’s like saying all Mexicans are this, or all Canadians are that. You can’t make these judgments on people after only meeting one of them. Your dad was a great man, and I’ve met many other Pijawikas that were great, too.”

“Right, my dad’s a great
man
. That’s why he’s here now, right? That’s why he was there when I was born, and there to watch me at my dance recitals. Such a great dad, in fact, that he was there to teach me how ride a bike and to drive a car, and there for me for all those other big things a great
man
should do to be there for his daughter, right? He left us. He left because of me.” I slumped my shoulders, my anger transferring to disappointment. I was the reason he’d left.

“Oh, honey. Is this what you’ve thought all this time?” my mom asked, eyes blinking with heartbreak. She shook her head. “Of course you would. I haven’t told you anything to help you think otherwise.” Regret etched in the small creases around her eyes.

“Let me set you straight.” She wiped her eyes. “We, Garwin and I,” my mom said, nodding over at Garwin, “come from a long line of families that are kind of like the Freemasons. In that, our families are part of a secret society that knows all about the Pijawikas. Part of this society’s job is to feed the Pijawikas. I was the one who fed your father.” Her eyes grew distant and sparkled as if they visited happy memories.

“I loved him and he cared for me, probably more than I did for him because Pijawikas feel emotions on a stronger and deeper level than we do. But as soon as I found out I was pregnant with you, I ran away. I couldn’t risk his life, nor mine with yours developing inside of me, so I ran. I’m sure your father was crushed when I left, and I’m sure he would be even more upset to learn I had you, and that he didn’t get to know you. So you see, he didn’t know about you. He didn’t even get the chance to walk out on you.”

“So…you’re saying you used to be what? You were basically a call girl who would come over to let some vampire bite on her neck whenever he wanted?” I hoped I offended her. I was irate at how this conversation had gone, that neither my mom nor Garwin had told me about this, years ago.