Night Feast (19 page)

It was finally getting dark, and Lia had been hiding behind the fence for a few hours, mulling over her thoughts.  The Philadelphian weather being much warmer than she had ever been accustomed too, did not bother her at all.  Nevertheless she did prefer the chillier climate of Maine.  Lia suddenly heard a sound, coming from the direction of the house that she had under surveillance.  The front door opened and a middle aged man, who was losing his hair, stepped out.  Dalia had told her that the missing girl was living with her father, and the description she gave was identical to the man she now saw.   Lia walked from behind the fence.  This was her chance to gain entry into the house. It would have to be under false pretences, but she had already hatched out a plan.  Herb didn't see her as he strolled to his car.  He was in a happy mood and was whistling, it had been many long years since he had felt so contented.  He walked to his , and put his hands in his pockets and searched around in them for his car keys.  When Herb realised that he left them in the house, he shook his head slightly in silent self scolding, and went back up the front path to get them.  When Lia saw him re-enter his house, she felt that her plan couldn't go better.  Herb needed to get away quickly.  He would not ask to many questions, when a young girl who he had never seen before turned knocked on his front door and said that she was a friend of his daughter. Lia did exactly that.  Having found his car keys Herb was on his way out again, when he heard her knock on the door.  He opened it and was very surprised to see a stunningly beautiful young girl there in front of him.  Herb had never seen anyone quite like Lia before, he momentarily thought that she wasn't real.  But then she spoke.

"Hello Mr Clayton'' she said with a sweet and polite voice.

''Hello do we know each other?''  Herb,  suddenly remembering his rapid advance into middle age, pulled in his stomach, and ran his right hand through what was left of his hair.

''No, we haven't met, I'm a friend of Amberlee's we met a couple of days ago.''

Herb felt a little put out.  Amberlee hadn't mentioned that she had made a new friend, and anyway how could she when she hadn't been out of the house?

''Well that's strange'' he said   ''Amber never mentioned it.  She hasn't been out of the house since she got here to my knowledge.''

Lia knew that she had to think fast.  ''Oh I saw her in the back garden, I'm visiting my aunt who lives two doors away.''

Herb looked very surprised indeed.  ''You're Erica's niece, really?''

Lia doesn't deny it. ''Yes, yes that's right aunt Erica is my mother's sister.''

In Herb Clayton's opinion Lia had taken the very best of the family gene pool, he couldn't imagine that  aunt Erica could have ever looked anything like the pretty little thing that stood before him.

''I'm goin to work so you girls will have the house to yourselves, have fun now and give my regards to your aunt.''  When Lia walked into the house he had got into his truck and driven to work.  The coast was clear.

The vampire went quietly into the small living room.  It was quite shabby, and looked liked it needed a feminine touch to bring about a cosy welcoming atmosphere.  The red carpet was worn, and the fabric on the three seater sofa had faded with time.  Lia noticed a photograph of a baby girl, who she took to be Amberlee.  It had been the only photo that Alexis had let her father keep, when she had cruelly taken her away from him.  Lia could hear Amberlee in the shower, she was singing and totally unaware of the presence of a vampire in her house.  When she heard the water stop running, Lia listened for Amberlee's footsteps padding to her bedroom.  She then heard the sound of a hairdryer, as Amberlee dried her wet , thick hair.  Lia was now very used to the strange gadgets of this modern world, the sound of the dryer did not confuse her at all.  Then all went quiet and she heard the click of a lamp being switched off,  as Amberlee climbed into her bed.  Lia wanted the girl to feel as vulnerable as possible.  She was after all her rival in love, and they were now going to meet without, Lia showing who and what she truly was.  Amberlee might not feel so threatened, when she saw that Lia was only another teenage girl.  So she waited for about two hours so that she would be fast asleep when  the vampire finally went into her room.

The strong, cold chill that enveloped the air in her bedroom, was more than enough to shake Amberlee out of her slumber.  She found herself face to face in the dark, with an extraordinary looking young girl.  At first she thought that she was in the middle of a very strange dream, but then it suddenly dawned on her that this was the girl who had played a huge part in her humiliation, back in Portland.

''What do you want, how did you get in here, what do you want?''  Amberlee looked at her unwanted visitor with frightened eyes, she had a strange feeling that she was about to pay some sort of karmic debt. Lia found it a struggle not to bare her teeth, but she would really love to sink her sharp pointed fangs into the other girls neck, such was her hatred for her.  Instead she slapped her hard across the face,  so that the sound of it echoed around the room.  Then Lia told her horrified victim to listen to what she had to say.

''You will go back to Portland tomorrow, do you understand?  You will let the police and everyone else know that you are alive and well.''

Then Lia leaned closer to Amberlee in the darkness.  The vampire's dark green eyes were blazing with an unspeakable fury.  She had a look of her father, when he'd recalled past events, and told his daughters about the suffering their mother had so painfully endured, at the hands of her elderly husband.  Amberlee's throat was as dry as a desert in the midday sun.  She was so afraid that she could not control a certain bodily function, and she felt the warm wetness on her thighs and nightdress, as the urine seeped through the new mattress, that her father had recently purchased for her.  Then Lia spoke to her again.

''Because Amberlee if you don't do as I say you know what will happen don't you?''

The terrified girl nodded her head quickly.

''What do you think will happen?''  Lia had a very sinister smile on her face now.  ''Tell me, please.''

''You, you'll kill me?''

''I think we understand each other Amberlee.''  Then she mimicked her.  ''I think we 'totally' understand each other.''  Then Lia was gone.  Amberlee Robinson threw up all over her bed.

Chapter N
ine

There was no way that Amberlee could go back to sleep, after her horrifying experience with the vampire.  She climbed out of her wet, vomit covered bed, changed into a clean nightdress, and went downstairs.  Amberlee sat trembling on her father's worn sofa, desperately trying to control the thoughts that were running around in her head.  She was too scared to go back into the bedroom, because the icy cold chill in the air still lingered on.  But she did know for certain that Lia had left the house, because she had jumped when she'd heard the front door slam.  Amberlee just couldn't seem to calm herself down.  A full hour had passed, and yet she could still feel eerie ambience all around her.  She felt trapped, caught like a laboratory rat in a cage of fear, wondering what unwanted things were going to befall her next.  Even now she was still struggling to believe what had really happened, it had been so surreal.  The girl that had looked so tenderly into Jay's eyes, the girl who had stolen him from her, the girl that all the other girls wanted to be, the girl that all the boys wanted to be with, was potentially a cold blooded killer, and more like an animal than a human being.  Amberlee wandered how Lia had found everything out, where she'd been staying for the past couple of weeks, and how she had managed to get her father's address.  The police had come up with a big fat zero, so how was it possible that an eighteen year old girl had found her so easily. Tori?  Amberlee didn't think so, this turn of events just didn't have that pathetic loser's, vodka soaked name on it.  Amberlee finally fell into a deeply troubled sleep.

She only managed to sleep for a few hours and woke up at seven thirty in the morning.  Herb was going to be back in an hour's time, and she needed to get dressed and try to pull herself together.  Amberlee wandered if last night had been just a bad dream, but she knew that the whole thing had occurred. She went back upstairs to the bathroom to take a shower, and wished that she could wash last night's experience away. When her plan to set up Jay and have him thrown into prison had worked, she had felt so happy.  She had no concern for the pain that she had caused him or his mother.  Now everything had come back to bite her.  One minute the sky had been a beautiful clear blue, but now it was filled with mean looking black clouds.  Amberlee rubbed the steam covered bathroom mirror and looked at her reflection.  She saw with horror that a huge red welt had appeared on her cheek, where Jay's girlfriend had slapped her.  Amberlee made a mental note to cover it up with make-up, before her father saw it.  Her eyes were full of fear, she could see it as she observed herself in the mirror.  The young girl that was opposite was full of deep regret, she should have just forgotten about him, she should have let it go. Amberlee literally had to force herself to go back into her bedroom to get dressed.  She applied her make-up carefully, covering up the evidence of her nightly visitor's violent assault, as best she could.

On her way back downstairs she heard her father's key turn in the lock.  He came into the house, still whistling the same tune from the night before.  Herb looked at his daughter in surprise, when he saw her coming down the stairs fully dressed.  She was never up so early.  He would usually wait until she came down, for an hour or two after he came home from work.  He didn't mind missing the extra couple of hours sleep, because she was worth it.

''Well now, you're up early young la- hell what happened to you, what's wrong with your face?''

Amberlee had managed to conceal the redness of the welt, but she could not however, disguise the conspicuous swelling on her cheek.

''Oh it's okay daddy, I tripped and banged my face on the wall'' she lied unconvincingly.

Herb could easily see that she was not telling the truth.  She looked very upset and even a little scared.  Then he remembered that really pretty girl who had came to see her last night.

''What's going on Amber?'' his voice had a stern quality to it now.  ''What really happened, was it anything to do with that girl last night, Erica's niece, did you girls get into a cat fight or somethin?''

Amberlee was surprised that he knew that Lia had been there.  It suddenly dawned on her that her father had let the girl in, just as he was leaving for work, and she must have hidden downstairs until Amberlee fell asleep.  Feeling even more fearful after this latest discovery she decided to tell Herb the whole truth.

'I haven't been completely honest with you daddy' she said in a small voice, but even as she spoke she knew that her whole truth would be the way that she'd have preferred it to be. So she confessed her own version of everything, that happened on the night of the dance.

''I had a date with this really cute boy Jay and we went to the college dance with another couple.  Jay was crazy about me, he begged me to go to the dance with him and I said yes.  There were lots of other guys who wanted me to be their date but he was so insistent.  Anyway everything was going so well until this girl, who no one had ever seen before turned up.  She must have cast a spell on him or something, because he dumped me and spent the rest of the evening making out with her.''

''So why did she come here, what did she want?'' asked Herb, feeling a little foolish, he remembered that he had left as message with his neighbour Erica's answering service, inviting her and her niece to his house for dinner.  Amberlee hesitated.  She was very reluctant to tell her father the full details of her slightly embellished story.

''Daddy please don't be mad.''

''Just tell me Amberlee'' Herb was more than a little bit concerned now.  Amberlee took a deep breath, and told him how she had run away and taken a taxi to the airport.  She said that she would have boarded a plane that night, but all the flights had been cancelled.  She tried to soften the atmosphere that had developed between them, by saying that it was to her advantage that there hadn't been any flights, because he would have been working the night shift when she arrived.

''Amberlee I want to know what's going on here, so could you just keep to the subject please?''  Herb was becoming a little impatient with his daughter now.  Amberlee apologised and continued.  She told him that she'd asked him to lie to the police about her whereabouts, because she wanted everyone to think that she had been murdered.

''What? But you said that your stepfather had told you that he didn't want you in his house and that your mom didn't know and you didn't want to cause trouble between them.''

''I know daddy and I'm sorry but you would have told the police that I was here with you, and I just wanted to teach Jay Patterson a lesson.''

''You're my little girl and I am not excusing that boy's behaviour but why couldn't you just let it go?  The police would have had nothing on him anyway, if you left and he stayed at the dance surely.''

''I did something else, you're not going to like this daddy.''  Amberlee explained how she had used the case of another girl who had gone missing when she had previously been with Jay, to manipulate the situation.  She told her horrified father how she had blackmailed one of her friends into planting one of her shoes at his house.  The tears were running down her face as she finished her story.  Then she went upstairs and packed her few things, and asked Herb for a ride to the airport.