A Time To Kill (Elemental Rage Book 1) (13 page)

But Jade wasn’t
gone.  Her face hovered just on the other side of the van, waiting, a predator
lying in wait, “Mindy, she’s still there.”

Claire didn’t turn
off the flashlight right away.  Somehow it was easier knowing where the monster
was. Mindy stared into Jade’s eyes.  She shook her head against Claire’s arm,
“Jade gone.”

Raven hated seeing
those cold animal eyes coming from her sister’s face.  Jade didn’t look like
Jade. She wasn’t there anymore.  She said, “I think Mindy’s right.  That’s not
Jade.  Please turn off the flashlight.”

Claire flipped it
off. She said, “How do we get her back?”

Raven didn’t have
an answer.    

This time, Jade
howled and pounded against the side of the van. Raven ignored the sound,
pulling up Mindy’s duffel bag. Ignoring Claire’s questions, she said, “Can I
see the flashlight for a second?”

Claire hesitated,
but handed it over.  Raven was grateful.  She didn’t want to start a sister
fight in the middle of this craziness.  She found Mindy’s pajamas and then
handed them and the flashlight to Claire, “Help Mindy change.  I’ll look for
your bag.”

“Mom kept another
flashlight in the netting behind the driver’s seat,” Claire said. She jammed
the flashlight into the corner of the seat and turned it on.  It fell, but the
ambient light was strong enough that she could help Mindy change.

“Come on, Mindy.
Let’s get ready for bed,” Claire said.

Raven suddenly
remembered the shadow man, “Wait, where did that creepy shadow guy go?”

He had disappeared
once Jade was outside the van. Somehow they had forgotten about him when Jade
had turned feral. Mindy said, “Gone.”

Raven narrowed her
eyes, trying to see in the hidden recesses of the van.  Seeing a shadow in the
shadows that could walk through solid objects wasn’t comforting. She hoped he really
was gone.  Mindy was the one to answer.  She pointed outside the van, “Gone.”

Of course Mindy
said the same about Jade, and whether Jade’s soul was there or not, her
vampiric body certainly hovered outside ready to attack.

“Do you think he’s
some creepy perv who will watch us undress?” Claire asked while she helped
Mindy out of her t-shirt.

“That’s exactly
what I was thinking.” Raven said.  She moved to the space behind the driver’s
seat and sat down, reaching for the net with all of the junk that somehow gets
stored in little slots like that.  She pulled out a bracelet that Claire had
made, a beanie bear, a small book, and a clean handkerchief before finding the
tiny pen light.

“He’s a good
shadow,” Claire said, “He was trying to warn us about Jade. That’s why Mindy
wasn’t afraid.”

“Maybe,” Raven
wasn’t big on trust.

She found the last
two bags and got their pajamas. Handing Claire a couple of pillows, Raven put a
pillow on her own seat. No matter where she was in the van, Raven felt a sharp
tension between her shoulder blades.  She knew Jade was watching.  Claire and
Mindy curled up together in the back seat, as close as a pair of baby bunnies.
She was in the middle seat. Raven was wearing her pink sweats and a black
“Introverts Unite” t-shirt.

The night was
endless.  Jade stopped pounding on the side of the van, and for a long period
it was quiet. Claire and Mindy settled in, their breathing regular.  Raven
stared out of the window, not that she could see anything. The whole world was
dark.

Raven’s mind
flitted back and forth across the dozens of stories she’d read or watched about
vampires.  They all had something to say about the killing of vampires…garlic,
stakes, beheadings, sunlight.  Not a one said anything about how to reverse
vampirism. She stared into the darkness and wondered if she had lost her sister
forever.

Chapter 11

~~ Mindy ~~

Jade was in the
air.  Mindy felt her floating above the van, but even asleep, Mindy couldn’t
talk to her sister.  An animal had moved into Jade’s body.  It was an evil
thing. Mindy might not have the proper words, but she knew.  She knew. 

The shadow was
gone, but he had left instructions.  Mindy had to find a way to tell her
sisters.  Jade needed to come down from the sky.  She needed help from her Element,
but Jade didn’t have an Element.  At least, not that Mindy had ever seen.  The
shadow man seemed to think she did. Mindy had to find her Element and bring her
back. Not just the Element, though. 

The Death Keepers
had bottles that held the secrets of the universe, bottles that were special.
They could kill the vampire inside Jade and bring Jade back.  Mindy saw the
map. She had to remember, remember, remember. Town on map. Mindy saw the
church, not just a church, but one that belonged to the Keepers.

Mindy needed to
find one of the bottles and fill it with water never touched by human hands and
purified in the four Elements.  Jade must drink the water and bathe in Fire.

Mindy had to
remember. That was the most important thing.  In Mindy’s dreams she ran from
the beast that stole Jade.  When she woke up, the sun was shining in the window
and she had to go to the bathroom, but she was in the van.

“Have to pee,”
Mindy said. She was tangled up with Claire.  Good thing she didn’t have an
accident last night.  Claire would never forgive her.

Claire groaned,
“Mindy, we can’t go outside. It’s not safe.”

Raven checked outside
each of the windows, looking for Jade. “It’s daylight.  Vampires can’t survive
sunlight.”

“Do you want to go
out there?” Claire asked. She yawned and rubbed her eyes.

Mindy heard Raven
talk to Air.  Air wasn’t as clear as Earth.  Sometimes Mindy could hardly hear
her, but she knew that Raven was checking to make sure it was safe for her to
go outside.

Mindy didn’t have
much time.  She felt glad when Raven held out a hand and said, “I think it’s
safe enough.”

Mindy knew it
was.  Beast Jade had found a dark place to hide.  Good Jade was hovering above
the van, watching.  She didn’t want an accident.  Not on vacation.  Everyone
would be really mad if she did. 

She put on her
flip flops and hurried out of the van, her feet pitter-pattering along the gravel.
She knew where beast Jade slept and avoided the area.  Mindy did her business. 
She didn’t like the shadows in the forest, not just vampires, but the other
things, too.  They grew stronger every day.

~~ Raven ~~

Raven waited for
her.  Today Raven was patient.

When they returned
to the van, Claire was outside.  She had changed into her day clothes while
Raven and Mindy were in the woods.  Now she was stretching her legs and
wandering around the van.

“What are you
doing?” Raven asked. She had a comb in her hand and was pulling her long black
hair into a pony tail.  She hardly had to think about it.  Jade always took a
long time when she brushed Mindy’s hair.

“Looking at the
footprints.  Jade walked around the van a million times,” Claire said. 

“I thought we
could find Jade and then maybe figure out how to keep her from hurting us while
we drive home.  The vampires had their worst cases locked in the sheds. Maybe
we could do the same with Jade.

“No,” Mindy said. 
She wanted to say more, to say that she knew what to do, how to bring the
‘real’ Jade back, how to get rid of the vampire creature. The words tangled in
her mind and then were gone before she could speak them.

“Min, she’s our
sister.  I know she scared you last night, but we have to find her,” Raven knew
that reasoning with Mindy was not easy at the best of times. Mindy could be
incredibly stubborn and not as easy to bribe or punish as Claire.

Mindy ran to the
passenger door of the van and opened it. She pulled herself up into the seat,
opening the glove box.  She found the map of Oregon.  She tried to open it, but
she became confused with the folds.  With a soft cry of dismay, she handed the
map to Raven and said, “Help.”

Raven stared at
Mindy and the map.  It was Claire who stepped up, “C’mon, Raven, let’s see
what’s so important about the map.”

Raven could see
that Claire was trying especially hard to be nice to Mindy.  She hated the
feeling of utter helplessness she felt.  Maybe this was Mindy’s way of coping
with the same feeling.  “Okay, let’s sit down so that we can open it all the
way.”

The three girls
sat in a row.  Raven in the middle with Claire and Mindy on either side.  Mindy
stared at the map for a long time.  When Raven started to fold it up, Mindy
grabbed her arm, “Nooooo.”

“Mindy, we need to
find Jade now,” Raven closed her eyes and prayed for patience while opening the
map back up.  Mindy needed longer.  Mom always told the girls to count to sixty
while Mindy was trying something new. Jade was better at sitting quietly while
Mindy tried to figure something out.

Raven tried to
pretend to be Jade, to be that quiet presence that Mindy needed.  She wished
her sister were back, not in vampire form, but as her sister. Finally Mindy
pointed to a town on the map.  Bend, Oregon.  Mindy said, “Here.”

“You want us to
drive there?”  Raven asked.

Mindy nodded.

“What about Jade?”
Raven was torn.  Bertha had said to put as much road between them and the
vampires as possible and yesterday night they’d hardly gone far at all.  If
they stayed, Raven feared the rest of the vampires would catch up.  A dozen
vampires could tip the van, throw it over a cliff.  Just because they couldn’t
enter the vehicle didn’t mean they couldn’t find a way to murder the girls
inside.

Claire leaned
against Raven.  Sometimes she was a teenager and sometimes a kid. At this
moment, she was a kid.  Claire said, “Are we really going to leave her?”

Mindy grabbed
Raven’s hand, the hand that was holding the right side of the map. Her green
eyes were clear and adamant.  She said, “Yes. Save Jade. Bend.”

“Ask Water.  I’ll
ask Air.  If they agree, we’ll go to Bend,” Raven folded the map, slowly and
with an eye on Mindy.  Sometimes it didn’t take long for the siren wail of a
cry to get started.  It would be easier for everyone if Mindy spent the next
few days in a good mood. 

Having said what
she needed to say, Mindy seemed content.  Claire closed her eyes.  Water
spoke.  Raven looked up from the van into the sky. Air spoke.

They were going to
Bend.

Mindy was still in
pajamas while Raven still wore her pink sweats. After a quick change, they were
in their jeans and ready for the road.

“Claire, can you
do me a favor?” Raven asked as they got their luggage into the back. 

Thinking that
buckling Mindy in was what Raven was asking, Claire said, “Got it.”

“Thanks.  Also,
can you make notes as we leave.  I need to know what roads we are coming out of
so that we can return for Jade. Also, if you could record the important mile
posts.” Raven didn’t trust her own memory.  They had ended up on a gravel road
in the middle of nowhere and lost Jade. She could just see them trying to
return and discovering that they had no idea where they had been.  

Raven couldn’t
help herself from looking in the rear-view mirror.  Not for the first few
minutes. She felt guilty for abandoning Jade.  She couldn’t help thinking that
if the situation were reversed, Jade would be leading the hunt through the
woods, trying to find Raven.  Raven was letting Jade down.  She was letting Mom
down, too.

Mindy started singing
one of the songs that she loved.  The gravel road turned into a highway.  Raven
thought of Jade’s vampire teeth and scary eyes and felt a little sick. It was
as if she had watched her sister die.  Maybe she had.  Raven was homesick.  She
wanted her own bed and for everyone to be safe.

Bertha called
while they were on the road.  She was at the airport about to catch the first
flight.  Claire spoke with her for a few minutes, carefully leaving out the
part about Jade.

After she hung up,
Raven said, “Why didn’t you tell her?”

Claire shrugged,
“It’s not like she could do anything about it.  Once she’s here we can tell her
everything.”

Raven decided that
sometimes Claire was old for her age. 

Raven might be
okay at driving the highways, especially since she was only doing forty-five in
a sixty-mile zone, but when they reached Bend, she was in way over her head.
Claire said, “So where do we go now?”

Raven snapped,
“How should I know?  I don’t even know how to drive in the city.”

“O....kay,” Claire
said, “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the van.”

“Please stop
talking,” Raven didn’t turn to look.  Her hands were in a death grip on the
wheel and she was focused on not hitting anyone or anything.  She was lucky
they lived out in the middle of nowhere and Mom let her drive sometimes on the
old dirt driveway, but it still didn’t make up for her lack of experience with
city driving.

From the back,
Mindy piped up, “Turn right.”

Raven sighed
heavily.

She turned right.

The whole trip to
Bend was Mindy’s idea. Raven didn’t know why she listened, but Mindy seemed so
certain of herself.

She followed
Mindy’s directions back out of the city to a country church.  It was nestled in
the forest, a cute little white chapel that could have been a one-room
schoolhouse a hundred years before.  It was well-kept and painted white. The
parking lot was tiny with maybe a few dozen places.  The clock on the van dash
read noon.

Mindy pointed to
the church.

The parking lot
was empty, so Raven pulled into the lot and parked near the church, shutting
off the van.

Mindy pushed on
her seatbelt until the catch released.  She was much better at unbuckling than
buckling. Claire pushed the door open, and they all climbed out.

Raven was going to
ask,
What next?
but Mindy was already opening the door to the back of
the van.  There was no good word to describe Raven’s feelings when Mindy pulled
a small axe out of the back of the van.  She held it by the blade, handing it
to Raven.  It was unsettling to say the least.  Her sister was not allowed to
handle sharp scissors, let alone axes. Not that she had ever hurt or even
threatened anyone, but she wasn’t always thinking at one hundred percent
efficiency. Mindy kept searching the back of the van.

“Uh, Mindy, what
are you looking for?” Raven asked.  She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the
answer. The back of the van was a mess with duffel bags and suitcases pushed
over the seat to fall onto the ground.

“Knife.”

“Here, let me.”
Raven knew where Mom kept the food box.  She hid a knife in one of the plastic kitchen
containers that was really hard to open.  Raven put the axe on top of one of
the boxes. She searched until she found the knife.

“What am I
supposed to do with it?” Raven asked.

Mindy pointed at
Claire, and then she pointed at Raven and the axe.

“So we’re supposed
to go in armed?” Claire asked as she took the knife and tried to think of a
good place to put it.

“Flashlights,”
Mindy said, so Raven grabbed the flashlights.  Mindy nodded once. 

While Raven locked
up the van, Mindy found a big stick.  It was about half her height.  She swung
it back and forth a few times and then turned to watch Raven as Raven locked
the door. 

They walked to the
church together.  Raven was glad that no one else was in the parking lot
because it sure looked strange having three girls walking through the parking
lot carrying flashlights and sharp objects. 

Claire inched her
way closer to Raven, “So you think Mindy knows what’s going on or are we going
to scare some church lady half to death?”

Raven shrugged, “No
idea. I’m going to be really embarrassed listening to her if this turns out to
be some ‘Mindy’ fantasy.”

The church had a
fence and a flight of stairs going down to a basement.  They were set along the
side of the church and invisible from the parking lot.  Mindy led the way down
the stairwell, her black hair a little tangled and stringy from sleeping in the
van without brushing it this morning.  Raven felt a twinge of guilt.  She
supposed now that Jade was gone, that kind of thing was her responsibility.

At the bottom of
the stairwell was a door.  Mindy pulled a stone out of the wall and carefully
picked up the key inside before returning the stone.  She handed the key to
Raven. 

Raven thrust the
key in the lock before she could think too much about how Mindy knew it was
there and what kind of trouble they would be in if caught, trespassing for
sure.

The door creaked
open.   The air was cool and dusty. After a short landing, they discovered
another staircase that went down.  Raven turned on her flashlight and led the
way.  She and Claire decided to put Mindy between them for safety’s sake, so
Claire took up the rear.

The stairs were
endless and made of white stone.  They would get to the end of the stairwell
only to turn a corner and discover another flight of stairs.  Their footsteps
echoed on the stone.  After the fourth turn and a new discovery of stairs,
Claire said, “Maybe we should go back. We’ve already gone two stories down.”

Mindy took
Claire’s hand. She said, “Down.”

Claire was about
to jerk her hand away when she remembered that lump of sand that was her
sister. She had nearly killed Mindy with her prank earlier. She could give her
sister the benefit of the doubt here.  Raven was watching her, a question in
her eyes.  Claire said, “I owe her.  Let’s go down.”