Shiver (Night Roamers) (5 page)

She yawned.
“I’m really not hungry. I just need a shower and some rest.”

He folded his arms across his chest.
“Well then take some vitamins or something. You’re scaring me.”

She smiled. “Thanks for your concern
, ‘dad’, but I’m fine.”

I stared at her and thought about how much she’d changed over the last couple of months. Not all of it had been bad, in fact, I’d never seen her so happy in my life. It was her health that I was worried about; that and the fact that she was only a few steps away from being one of those Roamers.

After she went upstairs, Nathan turned to me. “I’m really worried about her. First the eye thing and now she’s skin and bones. Maybe she has some kind of virus or something?”

I sighed
. “You’re so blind.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
he asked gruffly.

I leaned forward.
“She’s been bitten by a vampire. I can’t believe you don’t remember any of this stuff.”

He looked at me with disgust. “Don’t start this again.”

I brushed him away and went upstairs to my room. His ignorance was so frustrating and it was clear whose side he was on.

Celeste’s.

Because it looked like I was on my own with everything, I decided to do some more research on vampires. As I grabbed the book from the den and began reading it, there was a soft knock on my door.

“Nikki?” murmured my mother.

“Yes?”

She walked in,
sat down at the edge of my bed and cleared her throat. “I wanted to let you know that Caleb and I are going out of town next weekend.”

A cold
fist wrapped around my heart and began squeezing; I could barely breathe. “What?”

She smiled. “We’re going to Vegas.”

“Vegas?”

Her
eyes began to sparkle. “Yes, and I’m so excited. I’ve always wanted to go!”

“You can’t,” I whispered hoarsely.

Her face fell. “What do you mean?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Mom, you can’t go away with him. He’s…”

She frowned. “He’s what?”             

I knew she’d be pissed but I had to fight for her
and the rest of my family. I didn’t want Caleb turning her into a full-fledged vampire. “He’s a vampire.”

She groaned
. “We’ve been through this before. You know, I think Nathan is right; you need to talk to someone about this paranoia of yours. It’s not healthy.”

“Mom
–” I argued.

“No,
” she shook her head. “This is getting to be way out of hand. I’m going to make an appointment for you sometime this week. I mean really, Nikki, a vampire? Caleb?”

“
Well,” I pointed towards her neck, which I noticed was covered. “How do you explain those marks on your neck?”

“Wha
t marks?” she asked, pulling her green turtleneck away from her skin. “You mean these hickies?”

I stared at her neck in horror. There were indeed red
circular marks on her skin, but they weren’t from bites. “Hickies? What are you guys, sixteen? Come on, mom, I’m talking about the bites from last summer. Remember those?”

“
Yes,” she nodded. “And I told you before, they were just some kind of allergic reaction, the insect bites are long gone now.”

“Mom,” I begged. “You have to believe me! Ethan was a vampire, Celeste is a vampire, and Caleb is definitely a vampire.”

She shook her head
sadly. “This whole thing with your father has really taken a toll on you. I think the sooner we schedule a meeting with a counselor or therapist, the better.”

Before I could respond
again, she kissed the top of my head and left the room.

This is insane
, I thought.
How in the world was I going to stop my mom from going to Vegas?

Feeling helpless and frustrated,
I lay my head back on my pillow and closed my eyes, wondering what the hell I was going to do next. Within minutes I was fast asleep with the disturbing images of vampires, again, haunting my dreams.

Sometime after eleven
-thirty, my cell phone began to vibrate, startling me awake. When I recognized the number, I answered it immediately.

I cleared my throat.
“Duncan?”

“We need to talk,” he murmured
.

The sound of his voice
stirred up some of the butterflies that had been dormant for the last couple of months. Although my hands were shaking slightly, I tried to remain impassive on the phone. “Um, sure, how about tomorrow night, after work?”

“
Actually, I’m right outside; can you meet me by the garage?”

I smiled
. “Sure, can you just give me a few minutes?”

“
Yeah.”

I hung up and slipped on a pair of jeans, a light brown sweater, and my short leather boots
. Because it was the end of October and the nights were getting frosty, I also grabbed a short gray wool jacket. Thankfully, Nathan and my mother were both sleeping, so I didn’t have to explain myself as I slipped out the front door and into the cool darkness.

“Over here,” called
Duncan, as I stepped off of the porch. He was leaning against his white work truck, his hands in the front pockets of his faded jeans. Remembering the times we’d spent alone in his truck, I felt something tug at my heartstrings. Smiling hesitantly, I walked over to him.

“It’s
chilly,” he murmured, looking up into the night sky. “Let’s talk in the cab.”

I nodded and went around to
the passenger side and got in.

Starting it up, h
e turned on the heat and rubbed his hands. “Man, I forgot how cold it gets this time of year.”

Delighted that he was even talking to me, I
didn’t trust myself to say anything that might ruin the moment. I just nodded and waited for him to tell me what was on his mind.

Staring ahead, h
e brushed a hand through his dark hair and sighed. “So, I think someone’s stalking me.”

My eyes widened. “Stalking you?”

Duncan turned to me, his silvery-gray eyes shining in the moonlight. “I noticed it a couple of weeks ago and it’s just gotten worse. There have been shadows and strange noises just outside of my house.”

The shadows didn’t shock me in the least, especially with vampires
prowling around town. “What kind of strange noises?”

He licked his lips. “Whispers. Eerie voices in the darkness. And then
, last night, I actually heard footsteps on my roof, right above my bedroom.”

I leaned
back against the seat and folded my arms under my chest. “Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?”

He narrowed his eyes.
“What do you mean?”

“Vampires,” I said, staring
out towards the dark woods, wondering if any were watching us at that precise moment. I really wasn’t worried about myself, but Duncan. He didn’t have any protection, not even from Caleb or Celeste. “Don’t you remember anything that happened last summer either?”

His face darkened. “The things that I remember have nothing to do with vampires.”

“Duncan, it had
everything
to do with vampires. The problem is that some of your memories have been erased.”

He stared at me for a minute and the shook his head.

“It’s the truth,” I said.

“Well, whoever erased my memories sure
had a cruel sense of humor because they left only the painful ones,” he answered with a tight smile.

I
reached out and grabbed his arm. I needed him to understand.

“Listen,
” I pleaded, “you have to believe me, Ethan is a vampire, I swear to you, he is a vampire and he has this…this… control over my mind. I just couldn’t resist him. I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”

He shook my hand away. “Do you
really expect me to believe that? That he somehow hypnotized you and made you do things? I saw you returning his kisses on the beach and you were definitely enjoying the hell out of them.”

I didn’t know what to say. Part of me wasn’t even su
re what had happened on that night. Ethan had always been so seductive and irresistible. “I…”

Just then something landed
on the hood of the truck with a loud thud and I cried out in shock.

“Holy shit!
” gasped Duncan.

Ethan.

“Oh, my God,” I squeaked.

He stared at the both of us, a dark smile spreading across his
handsomely familiar face.

“Speak of the devil,” muttered
Duncan. “Where in the fuck did he come from?”

Etha
n jumped off the hood and swaggered towards the passenger door with purpose.

He was coming for me!

I was so frightened, I could barely breathe. “Leave,” I managed to blurt out. “Go, get us out of here!”

“Already ahead of you,”
replied Duncan, slamming the truck into gear. Soon we were flying through the bumpy yard and towards the dirt road leading to the freeway.

“See,” I yelled
, turning to look back. “I told you! He came from out of the sky! He’s a fucking vampire!”

Duncan didn’t say anything; he just kept glancing through his rearview mirror as we sped away
towards the main road.

Not seeing anything but darkness
, I turned back to the front and gasped. A lone figure, who had to be Ethan, was about fifty yards ahead of us, standing directly in our path.

“Hold on,” ordered Duncan
, noticing it as well.

“Oh
, my God!” I yelled, holding onto the dashboard as Duncan pulled hard to the right, trying to avoid hitting Ethan. Before I knew what was happening, something slammed into the side of the truck and we began to roll.

“Duncan!” I screamed, my body slamming into his. The
last thing I remembered before the darkness swallowed me up was the sound of glass shattering and Duncan’s groans.

“
Nikki.”

My eyes fluttered open against the brightness of a strange hospital room. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I noticed an I.V. sticking out of my arm. The other was bandaged and sore.

“Good, you’re awake.”

I turned towards the sound of my mother’s voice. I was still groggy and it took me a few seconds to respond. “Mom,” I whispered.

She cleared her throat. “The doctor said you’
ll be fine, honey. You sprained your wrist, have a few bruised ribs, and a concussion, but other than that, we can take you home as soon as you feel up to it.”