Obsessed (Book #12 in the Vampire Journals) (14 page)

“What’s that
for?” Sam protested.

“You’re a wanted
man,” the officer said, dragging Sam to standing. “Wanted for a firearm
incident at this very school.” Then, with relish in his voice, he added,
“You’re under arrest.”

Sam’s insides
clenched. He was shoved roughly toward the squad car by the police officer.
Just as the officer pushed down on his head to get him inside the vehicle, Sam
saw Polly emerge from the high school. Their eyes locked for a moment, then it
was too late, and he was trapped inside the car heading toward the police
station, leaving Polly a mere street away from a gang of vicious vampires.

Kyle watched
from the sidewalk as the door to the little suburban house flew open. A man ran
out, a man he recognized. Kyle realized with a burning sensation of rage that
the man was one of the people who’d tried to shoot him at the high school.

So this is the
right place then,
Kyle
thought to himself.
Scarlet’s house.

Kyle had a
sudden urge to end the man’s life there and then. But he held himself back.
This pathetic human wasn’t worthy of becoming part of his army, of being sired
by him. Kyle watched in disgust as the man tripped over his own feet in his
haste to get to his car. He didn’t want an army full of idiots, and a man who
tried to shoot a vampire with bullets was clearly a dimwit.

So Kyle let the
man leave, knowing full well that he would be confronted by a vicious vampire
army in the not too distant future, who would do with him what they desired.

He waited until
the car had raced away before strolling casually up the garden path toward
Scarlet’s house. He could hear a dog barking from inside. Something for the
boys to snack on once they got here, he thought.

He found the
front door damaged. It looked as though someone had got here before him.
Perhaps someone else was on the hunt for Scarlet Paine?

Kyle wedged his
shoulder against the door. It swung open with such force it banged against the
wall. The house was in darkness, but Kyle’s super vision could easily see
through the gloom. He found himself staring into the bright blue eyes of a
husky. The creature bared its fangs and emitted a low growl from deep inside
its throat. Kyle’s vampire instincts immediately recognized that the dog was
warning him away, squaring up to him, and so he flashed his own teeth at the
dog and began to growl in response. The two stood there, neither moving,
neither blinking, until the dog finally realized she was no match for a
vampire, whimpered, and scurried away.

Kyle smirked and
stepped over the threshold and inside the house. So this was Scarlet Paine’s
cozy little suburban home. This is where the girl he was so intent on
destroying had grown up.

He listened,
using his super-sensitive hearing, and deduced that, apart from the dog, the
house was empty. Which meant all he had to do was sit and wait, and Scarlet
Paine would come waltzing straight up to him.

He decided to
climb the stairs. Nothing would be more terrifying for the girl than to come
home and find him sitting on her bed, waiting for her. If luck was on his side,
she’d get to see a town in chaos first, her nearest and dearest lying dead in
the streets, the roads stained with their blood. Kyle wanted nothing more than
for Scarlet Paine to hurt.

He began
snooping in each of the rooms, scoffing at their domesticity; their floral
wallpaper and vases of flowers, their walls filled with smiling photographs in
gilded frames. Happy families disgusted him and he was glad to have a starring
role in ruining this one.

The next door
revealed a room that Kyle decided must belong to Scarlet. It was painted
purple, and was strewn with pairs of jeans and stripy tops. Pictures of pouting
teenage girls and brooding teenage boys were stuck all over the walls in
artistic configurations. Kyle paced toward them and recognized a few faces from
his rampage at the high school. How wonderful, he thought, that half of these
kids that Scarlet knew were already turned.

Just then, Kyle
heard a noise coming from the streets outside. He paced over to Scarlet’s
window and peered out. Down below, people were running, scattering in all
directions. Some were leaping into their cars and taking off, others were
screaming in blind panic, frozen, unable to make a decision as to what to do. A
car rounded the corner, its engine spitting out fumes, and sped past the house.

Kyle smiled to
himself, realizing that his vampire army was on the prowl and causing chaos. It
was all going exactly to plan. Then he saw them, the jocks from the football
field, turning the corner at the far end of the street. They strolled arrogantly
along, leaping onto cars and smashing windshields, wrenching street lamps
straight out of the sidewalk. To Kyle it looked like the most fun in the world.
He decided then that he didn’t want to miss out on all the action.

Kyle went back
downstairs and out the front door. He beckoned to his army. They recognized
their sire at once and went straight to him obediently.

“You,” Kyle said
to a dark-haired boy in a varsity jacket. “What’s your name?”

“Marcus,” the
boy replied.

“You’re in
charge.”

The boy nodded.
He was well over six feet tall and broad-chested. The perfect person to keep
his army in check whilst he was otherwise engaged, Kyle thought.

“Watch this
house for me,” Kyle ordered. “If Scarlet arrives, keep her here and send
someone to fetch me.”

“Anything you
say,” Marcus said, mindlessly obeying his leader’s command.

Kyle leaned in
close and spoke in a hushed voice.

“Don’t let them
get their hands on her,” he said, tipping his gaze toward the rest of the jock
vampires. “Understand? The girl is mine. Kill them if you have to.”

He leaned back
and glared into Marcus’s eyes. The boy looked perturbed.

“But they’re my
friends,” he said.

Kyle sneered.

“If I come back
and find out any of them has laid so much as a finger on her I’ll kill them
myself. And then I’ll kill you for failing my orders. Got it?”

Marcus knew
better than to argue with his sire.

“Of course,” he
said finally.

Kyle clapped a
hand on Marcus’s shoulder so hard the boy flinched.

“Good,” Kyle
said. “In that case, I’m off for a night on the town.” He smiled to himself.
“I’ve got some old friends I need to pay a visit to.”

*

Satisfied that
the Scarlet situation was under control, Kyle decided that the first stop on
his tour of chaos would be the jail where he’d spend years languishing. A vampire
army made of healthy young athletes was one thing—but a vampire army comprised
of violent, brutal convicts was quite another.

He chose to fly,
this new ability being the one he was most excited to utilize. After years
locked up inside a tiny cell, being able to swoop and soar through the clouds
was exhilarating. It felt like freedom to him, and the sensation was as
powerful as a drug.

Kyle saw the
prison in the distance and shuddered. Even from here, it looked like a horrible
place. It was built with drab gray cement and was surrounded by two separate
wire fences, each over twenty feet tall and topped with spikes. It was one of the
highest security prisons in New York, and most of the recreational space
outside was comprised of caged areas to keep inmates apart from one another.
Kyle remembered his one hour of outside time a day, which he used to work out
and keep himself strong. It was hardly a life. But look where he was now. Look
what he’d become. It was like the devil himself had rewarded him for his
patience all those years behind bars.

Kyle flew over
the fence and landed on the flat roof of the main prison block. Even though it
was nighttime and a solid layer of cement lay between him and the inmates
below, he could still hear their calls and shouts. Prison was never quiet.
Noise was a constant. There was no such thing as a good night’s sleep in jail.

Kyle strode over
to the roof’s door and wrenched it open. He leapt down the stairwell, bouncing
from wall to wall until he reached the floor below. The prison was built on two
levels. The top floor was a row of cells that went around the perimeter of the
prison so that each had a window to the outside world. The watery-green-colored
steel doors faced inwards and there was a walkway connecting one to the next.
In the center was an open plan area with tables for socializing. Another row of
cells were on the ground floor, directly beneath the ones above. Then the
prison split off in different directions, leading to the dining room, the TV
room, the chapel and the guards’ area.

Kyle wasn’t
interested in anything but the cells. He had no need to stake out the guards;
once he’d opened the cells, the guards would come right to him.

Kyle went up to
the first cell and slid back the metal rectangular flap that covered the
viewing window. Inside the cell was a bald, heavily tattooed man lying on his
bed, sleeping. He hadn’t been part of Kyle’s crew when he’d been inside.

“Hey,” Kyle
said.

The man flinched,
then opened his eyes.

“What?” he said
with hostility, assuming that Kyle was a guard.

“You wanna get
out of here?” Kyle said.

The man frowned
then turned in his bed so that his back was to Kyle. He clearly thought Kyle
was just goading him.

“I’m serious,”
Kyle said.

And to prove his
point, he grasped hold of the door handle and twisted it. The metal screeched
as he levered it up and snapped the lock.

The man was
suddenly on his feet, his eyes wide with interest. Kyle hauled the door open
and stood there, facing the man. He was a big guy, a good few inches taller
than Kyle and definitely heavier. Without pausing, he thundered forward,
barging Kyle out of the way.

“Hey!” Kyle
shouted after the man. “Where’s my thank-you?”

But the man was
just running. He’d seen his opportunity to escape and he wasn’t going to lose
it. He bolted down the stairs, making the metal steps clang with each of his
heavy footfalls, and into the main recreation area.

Kyle rolled his
eyes as he watched him run from one locked exit to the next. Then he strolled
casually over to the railings, climbed over them, and jumped.

He landed
perfectly on one of the picnic tables in the recreation area. It creaked under
the weight of him, making the bald man turn on the spot with surprise. He
looked at Kyle, open-mouthed.

“How the hell
did you do that?” the man said.

Kyle hopped down
from the table.

“If I told you,
you wouldn’t believe me,” he said.

The bald man
frowned.

“Am I having
another one of those hallucinations?” he said.

He sounded quite
dim. Kyle felt a little sorry for him.

“No, my friend,”
he said. “You’re having the best day of your life. You get to choose whether
you leave this place a man, or a warrior.”

The bald man
just kept frowning. Kyle wondered if perhaps he wouldn’t make the best addition
to his army after all. He seemed a little dumb. So, Kyle wrenched open the main
door and gestured for the man to leave. He ran, almost tripping over his feet
in haste.

Kyle watched him
go, shaking his head at how pathetic he was.

He went along to
the next cell and peered inside. There was a young man in there that Kyle
recognized, a guy called Shady whom Kyle had known during his time inside.

“Shady,” he
called through the viewing window.

Shady’s eyes
widened with surprise when he recognized who was standing on the other side of
the door.

“Kyle, man,” he
said, standing and coming to the door. He peered out the gap. “Is that you?”

“Yup.”

“You back in?”

Kyle laughed.
“No. I escaped.”

“I know,” Shady
said. “I heard. So what you doing standing there then? You should be in the
Caribbean by now.”

Kyle smiled.

“I have some
unfinished business here,” he said. “Want to help?”

Shady looked
puzzled.

“I’d love to,
man,” he said, shrugging. “But I’m stuck in here.”

Kyle wrenched
the door handle up, snapping the metal clean in half, then pulled the steel
door open.

“Not anymore
you’re not,” he said.

Shady’s mouth
dropped open.

“What’s happened
to you, man? You got a dose of radiation or something? Turned into a
superhero?”

Kyle tipped his
head back and laughed.

“Something like
that,” he said. “Want in on the action?”

Shady’s eyes
widened like he’d just been offered a million dollars.

“You mean you
can make me strong enough to bust out of a prison cell?” he cried. “Damn
straight I want in on that action!”

“Then close your
eyes,” Kyle said. “It will only hurt for a minute.”

Shady dutifully
did what he was told, and Kyle sank his fangs into his old friend’s neck. Shady
went limp in his arms and dropped to the floor. Kyle wiped Shady’s blood from
his lips then turned to look at the cells behind him.

One down—one
hundred to go.

*

It didn’t take
long for Kyle to find his old prison friends and turn them. After he’d located
the fifth member of his gang, the noise began to disrupt the prisoners. They
began hammering on their doors and crying out. Kyle laughed, thinking that the
guards were likely just to ignore the commotion, being not exactly being out of
place here.