The Vampiric Housewife (13 page)

    
“Everyone’s packed,” Amelia said carrying out a green suitcase.

    
“Where we going, Dad?” Harry asked, the only unconcerned one of the bunch. “Do we finally get to go on a hunting trip with you?”

    
“Something like that.”

    
“Car’s in the garage,” John said.

    
“I want you three to listen to me. We’re leaving Sangre Valley. We won’t be able to come back. It’s dangerous for us here.”

    
“Is this because of Drew?” John asked a little panicked. All he could think about was never seeing Lisa again. “Because—“
    
“No. It’s not because of Drew. When we get somewhere safe, I promise I will explain everything. But I’m going to ask you to do some very strange things for me until we’re out of town. John, Aims, Harry I’m going to need you in the trunk of the car—“

    
“The trunk? Why?” John asked.

    
“Just trust me. I want blankets covering you. If someone opens the trunk, you do not move. You do not make a sound. Do you understand me? I will get you out at the first opportunity.”

    
“What is going on?” Amelia asked. “Why do we have to ride in the trunk? Where are we going? Why do we have to leave Sangre Valley? What does any of this have to do with Dr. Venjamin?”

    
“We’ll tell you everything,” Valerie promised. “But we don’t have the time right now. Just know that we love you and we want you safe. Now let’s go.”

    
They filed out into the garage. Charlie opened the trunk. “John, you first.”

    
He looked at his father for a second waiting for this to be some bizarre joke then climbed in. “Harry.”

    
“This is so cool,” Harry said before climbing in with his father’s help.

    
“Amelia.”

    
Her daughter turned her eyes to Valerie as if to ask
Is this for real?
When her mother gave her no answer she climbed in and wrapped her arms around her little brother.

    
“I promise that as soon as I can I’ll get you out.” Charlie began laying blankets over them. Valerie had to look away or else she was going to cry. Those were her babies crammed into the trunk of the car, their bodies being covered up like corpses. “Remember not a sound.” He gently shut the door and looked up at Valerie. He could see the tears in her violet eyes. Softly he said, “I want you in the backseat on the floor. I’m going to throw a sleeping bag over you, a suitcase, my fishing tackle. There’s a guard station just outside of town. They’re going to stop us.”

    
She nodded and climbed into the backseat.

    
“It’s going to be okay. I will protect us.”

    
She said nothing, and he piled a couple of sleeping bags and blankets on her. Then she felt the weight of the suitcase. She couldn’t help but feel like she was being buried alive.

    
The car started and backed out of the driveway. The children got thrown around a bit. Harry felt his sister’s grip tighten on him. He had heard his parents fighting, but he was too mad at them to really pay attention to what they were fighting over. He was glad they had been arguing. They deserved it for punishing him for what he couldn’t help. But now, crammed into a trunk with his siblings, being jolted around and sweating from the shared body heat, he wished he would have paid closer attention. But not knowing was kind of fun. Finally, a real adventure. A hunting trip with Dad. Or at the very least, he was getting out of Sangre Valley. He couldn’t wait to tell Bobby all about it. Bobby had never been out of town. Man, he would be so jealous.

Chapter Twelve

Red Dawn

    
“Hi-ya Charlie,” the guard at the post said. “I didn’t have word that you were leaving Sangre Valley tonight.”

    
Charlie ran a hand through his already disheveled hair. He hoped that the guard would eat his lies like Venjamin and Valerie had for so long. Don’t let his luck give out on him tonight.

    
“I’m scheduled for a hunting trip with Rhett Miller next weekend. Dr. Venjamin approved it. But me and the wife got into it tonight after a dinner party. I spend too much time at work. I’m not home enough. I never take care of the kids . . . yada, yada, yada. You know the line.”

    
The guard laughed. “I have to say I do.”

    
“I need to get out. Take my trip a little early. Clear my head. I left Dr. Venjamin a message at the hospital. I know he’ll approve it. You can try him at home to verify. I—I just can’t go back home and it’s almost light out.”

    
The guard took a deep breath. He was human, thirty-ish. Charlie could smell the stress suddenly emitting from his body. He felt fortunate that humans didn’t have the same sophisticated olfactory system as vampires. The guard stepped out of his booth and pointed his flashlight in the backseat.

    
He walked up to Charlie’s window. “I don’t know. I could get in a lot of trouble.”

    
“Just call Dr. Venjamin. But please do it now. I don’t have long before sunrise,” Charlie pleaded.

    
The guard looked out at the purple horizon. “Where are you planning on going? Like you said, you don’t have much time.”

    
“The first town I hit.”

    
“You know how Dr. Venjamin feels about hunting so close to town.”

    
“Just going to spend the day there. I’ll move on to farther hunting grounds soon as the sun sets.”

    
The guard took one last look in the backseat then at the horizon. “Okay. I’ll call Venjamin, but I’ll let you get out of here before you’re trapped. Drive fast. You’ll be racing the sun.”

    
“I owe you. I’ll see you Sunday night.”

    
“See-ya Charlie. Remember, not too close to town,” and the guard raised the barrier.

    
It took all of Charlie’s restraint not to floor the gas pedal like a bat out of hell as soon as the orange and white road block lifted. The guard was going to call Venjamin. Charlie looked at his watch. That wasn’t going to give them enough time.

    
He slammed on the breaks and heard the kids roll in the trunk. He sent them a silent apology. But he was doing this for them.

    
Charlie got out of the car leaving the door open and began to jog back to the guard station.

    
“Hey!” he called out. The guard had a hand on the phone but was looking back at the vampire with a welcoming smile.

    
“You run out of gas already?” he joked.

    
“I decided that I can’t let you get in trouble.”

    
He hung up the phone and came out of the booth. “Everyone knows you’re one of Dr. Venjamin’s favorites. I’ll just get a slap on the wrist. You’ve never given me any trouble, not like the others trying to sneak out for a snack. I trust you.”

    
Charlie didn’t say anything. He just grabbed the guard by the hair, pulled his head back, and ripped into his neck. There was a moment of surprise in the guard’s eyes before death emptied them. He hid the body in the booth and ran back to the car. He never saw the eye looking out from the key hole of the trunk.

     
Back in the car he headed for Phoenix anxiously watching the sky lightened, pink and yellow coloring the horizon. The sky got brighter and brighter. They weren’t going to make it into the city. He pulled to the side of the road.

    
“Val,” he said softly.

    
Her head popped up from under all the sleeping bags. Her hair was mussed, she looked tired and frightened. “Are we there?”

    
“No. The sun’s going to be up in a few minutes. We don’t have the time.” She looked out the front window. “The kids will be safe in the trunk. I want you to zip yourself into one of the sleeping bags. Stay inside.”

    
“What are you going to do?”

    
He pulled a blanket off of her as she wiggled inside a sleeping bag. “I’m going to cover up and keep driving until we get there. Thirty minutes and we’ll be there. I promise.”

    
She stared at him. No matter how much the idea of him burning to death in the sun appealed to her, she needed him. Maybe Charlie could save them, maybe he couldn’t, but she knew beyond a reasonable doubt that they would not survive without him. She hated him for that too.

    
“You can move onto the seat where it’s more comfortable. Just keep covered. We’ll be safe soon.”

    
“I’m fine,” she said and ducked her head into the bag. With an eye on the sky, he pulled a pair of gloves from the glove department and draped the blanket over his head. He had never been out in direct sunlight before. He had cut it close a few times, but nothing like this. The brightness of a full sun hurt his sensitive eyes. The whiteness washed out the landscape making it difficult to drive. He wanted to get out of the sun as soon as possible, but he was afraid speed would not only call attention to them, but make him have an accident that would fry them all.

    
Thankfully clouds intermittently obscured the sun’s powerful rays for the hour and a half drive—maybe he had exaggerated that thirty minutes to comfort his wife—and soon enough they were in the shady part of town, dilapidated buildings with plywood over the windows, graffiti scribbled on the walls. Businesses had bars across the windows, signs with lights burnt out, and peeling paint. The street was mostly empty except for the few vagrants wandering around. Either the world had just gone to bed or hadn’t gotten up yet. He found an alley next to a motel with a burnt out vacancy sign. In the shadows, he could take off the blanket. Venjamin would think that he wouldn’t have been able to make it this far before sunrise. He would check all the towns leading up this way first. That should keep them safe until nightfall. He still needed to do something about the car. He could leave the keys in it. Someone would surely steal a classic like this beauty. Venjamin would catch the thief and trace the car back to the place it was stolen. That would take him a day or so. That gave them a little bit of time.

    
“Valerie, you can come out.”

    
Reluctantly she popped her head out of the sleeping bag like a turtle cautiously coming out of its shell. Her eyes squinted in reaction to the natural light even though they were in the shadows. The smell of pollution—exhaust and chemicals, urine and vomit—overwhelmed her senses. And then there was the scent of humans . . . it was all around her, coming from every direction as if there were millions of them surrounding her. It was so strong it made her a little light-headed.

    
“I’m going to get us a room then we’ll get the kids. There are enough shadows that we should be safe. Just sit tight.”

    
Valerie sat up and looked around. The buildings around her stood taller than any building in Sangre Valley except for St. Vladimir. Their height was intimidating and claustrophobic. The buzzing of distant traffic rung in her ears. She couldn’t imagine the number of cars it would take to create such a sound. She heard movement in the trunk. Her hand touched the back of the seat, her heart breaking in her chest. Her poor babies, trapped in the dark and in the heat, scared and confused. All she wanted was to yank her children out of that hot, black hole.