Night Feast Page 15

  ''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 Nine

  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 P
atterson 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.

  Herb Clayton could hardly believe that a child of his could go to such great lengths to destroy someone else's life. He blamed Alexis, her mother was a woman who would climb over dead bodies to get what she wanted. He felt a great pity for the poor, misguided girl who sat next to him in his truck.

  ''When you have sorted everything out you must come back here.''

  ''Really daddy? Oh thank you and I promise I will never lie to you or let you down again.''

  Herb knew that she had just made a promise that she couldn't possible keep, but he loved her and felt that if she was ever going to change she needed to be away from her mother.

  Lia was certain that Amberlee had received her message loud and clear. She had gone straight back to Westport, and landed in the woodland surrounding her house. Lia had felt ravenous. Her encounter with Amberlee Robinson had awakened her appetite for human blood. The vampire had felt that there was a beast that was raging inside her, one that had been caged for around a thousand years. Her natural instincts had made her want to go straight back to Philadelphia and tear at Amberlee's body with her hands, and her teeth until her blood had dripped down her throat, her chin, her neck her clothes. However she knew that she couldn't do that. Lia had started to realise that her love for Jay Patterson was much stronger, than her desire for the exquisite taste of warm human blood. The touch of his lips pressed against hers was much more exciting than chasing, and catching and procuring the blood from her prey. Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed a young white-tailed deer in the distance. She looked at the animal with interest, it had a beautiful coat, and its face was pretty with an innocent grace. She had, of course seen deer before, but her tunnel vision for human blood had always prevented her from seeking alternative refreshment. It did not know that it was being watched by the vampire. The young deer did not hear, or see her approach, because she floated towards it in mid air. And when Lia sank her teeth into its throat, it did not struggle but died instantly. The blood from the pretty little animal was moderately appetising. To Lia it felt more like a snack than a meal. However she was pleased that she had discovered another way to keep her hunger at bay. She returned to her house, and was really looking forward to seeing Jay in the morning.

  Alexis Robinson was surprised to have heard a key turn in the lock at that particular hour of the day. She assumed that for some reason, her husband had come home from work, having forgotten some legal document or something or other. When she saw that it was Amberlee who had entered the house she put her hand to her mouth in disbelief, then rushed to her daughter to hug her.

  ''Don't touch me'' Amberlee snapped and backed away.

  Alexis reeled from the venom in her words. ''Amberlee we have all been so worried about you, where have you been? the police have been searching everywhere for you.''

  ''I've been in Philadelphia with daddy'' said Amberlee flatly. She knew that her mother wouldn't like this news, she had always tried to pretend that he real father did not exist.

  ''With Herb, you were with Herb all this time? But the police questioned him, and he told them that he hadn't seen you since the divorce!'' Alexis was outraged. ''That's perjury or something isn't it? I'm going to call the police right now and....'

  ''If you touch that phone mother I will go out of here and you will never see me again'' said Amberlee, with a finality that Alexis had never witnessed in her before. When she saw that she had her full attention ,Amberlee told her shocked and confused mother that they needed to talk. They sat opposite each other, as Amberlee stated all her grievances, and it was like water bursting from a dam. Alexis listened without interrupting, while she explained how she felt that she did not fit in with the three of them. She complained how her mother would always jump to her stepbrother's defence, especially when he was the one who was being obnoxious. Amberlee was also hurt about her mother's continuous jibes about her having the 'Clayton' chin, and her frequent statements of how she was disappointed in her. It may have been the first time in her life, but Alexis felt really ashamed. She tried to defend herself by saying Amberlee was a difficult child, who would constantly disrespect her. She mentioned the stolen money and credit card, and the disruption that Amberlee had caused in the house whenever she couldn't get her own way. However she did finish by saying that she loved her, and she knew that it had not always been easy for her, and that she knew that she was to blame, for a lot of the things that had happened.

  They went to the police together, and asked to speak to the officers in charge of the case of the missing girl Amberlee Robinson. The officers were surprised but pleased to see her. Another teenage girl, placed in a body bag within such a short space of time, would have sent Portland into a real spin. However, they made sure that they gave Amberlee a long, stern lecture for wasting police time and resources. Amberlee was tired of all her scheming. She didn't tell the police that she had made Tori Martin plant her shoe, but said that she had done it herself before she had left for the airport. She said that she had wanted to teach Jay Patterson a lesson, for dumping her for another girl. When they asked why her father had not told them that she was with him, she lied and said that when she first arrived in Philadelphia, she had slept rough for a few nights, before going to her father's house. Then she added that she had told him that she'd contacted her mother, and there was no need to inform the Portland police of her whereabouts. The police accepted her story and let her off with a warning. The charges were dropped against Jay Patterson immediately, and the one million dollar bail was returned to its rightful owner.

  Meanwhile Jay had called Lia, and after asking her if she had managed to do the errand for her father in New Hampshire, he invited her to come to his house and meet his mother. Lia said yes, and told him not to worry about her transportation to Portland. When Jay had been arrested he'd had to leave his mother's car behind at Lia's house. Lia waited for an hour before she travelled in vampire style to Portland. She did not of course land straight in front of Jay's front door, but hailed a cab from about three miles away. The vampire was very prettily dressed, when she knocked on the door of the Patterson house, but Cora had not been prepared for such a ravishing beauty. Jay invited her in and introduced her to his mother. Lia said a polite hello while Cora gazed at her in amazement. She was quite unlike anyone that she had seen before, and she told her just how lovely she looked. Lia accepted a glass of warm milk, she was relieved to be able to take something. Cora told her how grateful she was for arranging the bail to be posted for Jay.

  ''He would have had to stay in police custody if it hadn't been for your kindness Lia I can't thank you enough'' she said emotionally. ''I dread to think what will happen though, if that dreadful Robinson girl doesn't turn up soon.''

  ''Oh I wouldn't worry too much about that'' Lia replied with an air of confidence of someone who was sure of the outcome. ''I'm sure everything is going to turn out just fine.''

  Cora had wandered why this lovely young girl seemed so sure. There was a rarity about her, which she couldn't quite put her finger on. She watched Lia out of the corner of her eye, as she delicately sipped her glass of milk. Jay took Lia up to his bedroom. It was unusually tidy because his mother, when she found out that they were getting a visitor, had cleaned it and changed his bedding. His clothes, that were usually strewn everywhere, and been hung up and put away, a
nd Cora had run the Hoover over the carpet. Jay laughed and told Lia that he thought they were in the wrong room. They sat and listened to some music from his iTunes collection. Lia had started to enjoy hearing the strange songs and tunes of the 21st century, so much different from the music that her mother played on the piano at home. The songs reminded her of the dance, and when she and Jay had first met, and their bodies had been pressed together in a passionate embrace as they swayed to the music. Suddenly they heard Cora's voice call Jay, to tell him that the police were on the phone, and they wanted to talk to him. A feeling of dread enveloped him, but Lia assured him that if it was bad news they would have come to the house to see him. They both went down the stairs, and Jay took the telephone from Cora.

  ''Jay Patterson speaking. Yes okay, thank you for calling to let me know.'' Then he replaced the receiver.

  ''What did they want, as something else happened?'' asked Cora, her face was stricken with fear.

  ''You could say that mom'' replied Jay smiling. ''Amberlee Robinson has come back, it looks like I'm off the hook.''

  Lia smiled knowingly to herself as Cora Patterson held her son in her protective arms, for the longest time, as if she was never going to let him go.

  They sat on the back seat of the taxi together, holding hands, each in their own bubble of happiness. Jay needed to pick up Cora's Chevy, she wanted it for work so he promised that he would be back later on. As she had waved the two teenagers goodbye a warm contentment had swept over her. There was an art programme on the television that she intended to watch, so she switched on the set and settled down in front of it with a glass of red wine.

  Jay really appreciated Lia's efforts to help him. He suspected that she played a much bigger part in releasing him from his recent nightmare, than she was admitting to. They paid the taxi fare, and once inside the house he grabbed her and kissed her so passionately that she became breathless. Lia suddenly felt overwhelmed by his intoxicating, natural scent and she knew that she wanted something more from him, than the blood in his veins. Jay looked into her beautiful green eyes that had become glazed over with desire for him. He pulled her onto the nearby coach, and kissed her again, tenderly at first and then with more urgency. She tore at his clothes savagely, and as she ripped his shirt her eyes devoured his lean and now naked body. This she knew was the real moment that she had been waiting for, she had wanted this sensual, physical union much more than she had wanted to feel his blood on her lips and her tongue. Jay slowly removed all of her clothes, and gasped at the sight of her feline and perfect body. There was no self consciousness between them in their shared nudity, and as Lia lay back on the coach she removed Elena's handkerchief that was slipping from between her breasts. The two virginal teenagers then explored each others' bodies with the skill of experienced, long time lovers. Lia was enjoying the touch of his hands and lips on her cold bare skin so much, that she forgot who she was, where she had been, what she had done. Then it came to that special time of physical union. Neither one of them could wait any longer. Lia put her arms around him and pulled him down so that his face was nestled into her hair, and the right side of her neck. She could not risk him seeing her face as their bodies entwined. When they finally joined together she emitted a deep guttural moan. Their bodies writhed in the pure, physical harmony, that they had both hungered for. Lia felt her fangs spring to life between her lips. She held Jay's head against her neck with one hand, and brought her other hand to her mouth. The vampire sank her sharp white teeth into the soft, smooth skin on the back of her hand. She drank her own blood until they were spent, and had taken all their pleasure.