Night Feast Page 5

  Libby felt a little bit hurt. She thought that she looked quite nice in her glasses, and any way it was cool to wear them these days. Before she could answer Amberlee started again.

  “You must have some contacts surely? Or you must be able to see something without your glasses.”

  “Yes I can see quite well without them, I only really need them for reading, but I keep forgetting to take them off.”

  “Well that’s settled then” said Amberlee with a tone of finality, and she removed her right hand from the steering wheel and snatched Libby’s spectacles from her face.

  ‘She’s getting worse’ thought Libby angrily, ‘I hope Jay Patterson dumps her half acre ass!’

  They went from shop to shop, with Libby trailing reluctantly behind Amberlee. The shop girls sweetly offer their assistance, which were rejected offhandedly, while the ample breasted girl rooted through rails of clothing, her face displaying an expression of disgust.

  “There’s nothing here that I want” she complained to Libby who is getting bored within an inch of her life. She tried to hurry things along by helping with the search.

  “What about this?” she said taking a sedate but elegant dress from the rail, and thrusting it into Amberlee’s face with obvious impatience. Her reaction was one of disdain.

  “I’m going to the dance, you know with Jay Patterson, the hottest guy around?”

  “Well this is nice, it’s elegant, you don’t want to wear something that will give him the wrong idea.”

  Amberlee snatched the unwanted dress from her friend and put it back on the rail.

  “I’m not joining a convent Libby, and I do want him to get the wrong idea.”

  So the search for the right dress continued. They finally go into a shop where some of the clothes seem to appeal to Amberlee. She chose three dresses and goes into the changing room to try them on, before ordering her friend to wait just outside ,so that she could see her in each item. Libby sat down on a chair, her feet have started to hurt after all the walking around. Amberlee appeared in a black, jersey dress, that is just above the knee with quite a high neckline. Although it is figure hugging, the fabric is such that it give shape to the body by compresses all bumps and bulges. Libby was impressed.

  “Wow, that looks good” she said, without even trying to hide the surprise and disbelief from her voice. However the intonation was not lost on the other girl, and she didn’t value Libby’s opinion on fashion and style anyway.

  “No I don’t like it, it’s too long.”

  “But it’s above your knee” protested Libby but it was too late, Amberlee was back in the changing room putting on another dress.

  “What about this one” she asked again, knowing full well that she had no intention of listening to anything that Libby had to say. The dress was a hideous, frilly thing which Libby emphatically shook her head at. As she observed herself in a nearby, full length mirror, Amberlee was inclined to agree with her for this one. She goes back behind the curtain to try on dress number three. She seems to be taking a little longer to get into this one. When she finally comes out Libby’s jaw drops to the ground.

  “I know, it’s great isn’t it?”

  Amberlee obtusely took her reaction for admiration, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. The dress was bright red, about two times too small for her, really low cut and it barely covered her hips. Amberlee sashayed up and down the shop, and gave Libby a withering look when she diplomatically suggested that she might like to try a bigger size. But although the shop assistant was in full agreement with that view, she still happily accepted the two hundred and fifty dollars that Amberlee paid for it.

  Libby did not get the chance to choose anything for herself, because Amberlee had made their shopping trip all about her and what she wanted. They went to a number of shoe shops next, and she finally hunted down a pair of red, killer six inch heeled pumps. Jay was a little over six feet tall, and the increase in height from her new shoes, meant that he would not have to bend very far down to kiss her. During the ride home it occurred to Libby that she now had good reason to feel sympathy for Jay Patterson.

  ****************************************

  The only reason that Jay did not regret agreeing to go to the dance with Amberlee Robinson was that his buddy, Kevin was clearly stoked about getting a date with Libby Peterson. Kevin kept thanking him, he knew he wasn’t really into that other chick, and had sacrificed himself like a lamb to slaughter.

  “Thanks a lot Jay I owe you one.”

  “Yeah, you do” said Jay good naturedly. They were walking towards Kevin’s car after leaving the Diner.

  “Hey what are we going to wear, we could go shopping I guess.”

  Jay looked at him with a raised brow, and in unconcealed amusement.

  “Dude, we’re not women!”

  The two boys laughed.

  They hadn’t seen her, no one had. She had sneaked into the Diner wearing a woollen hat over her beautiful dark red hair, and hid herself at a table in the far corner of the room. Even the waitress hadn’t spotted her, her resentment of having to leave school had become magnified when those awful, smug college girls had come in, and made her feel small. It had taken her mind off the job. Lia had seen and heard everything that had taken place between Jay and that girl, who had reminded her so much of some of her victims back home. The ones that stood on the streets, and exchanged their company for money. That girl wouldn’t get in her way. She would be easily illuminated.

  ****************************************

  Cora Patterson watched her son as he opened the fridge and put a carton of milk to his lips. She asks him if he has had a good day, he had been a little withdrawn since the Elena Hudson disappearance. Eddy McCann wasn’t the only one that this tragedy had affected.

  “Will you be going to the college dance?” she ventured, knowing that if she didn’t ask these things Jay would never volunteer any information. His response to her question pleased her at first.

  “Yes, I’m going with Kevin.”

  “Is Kevin your date, is there something you’re not telling me honey?” said Cora, in an attempt to joke more details out of him.

  “Yeah very funny Mom, you should be doing stand up. Kev’s got a date with a girl called Libby Peterson and I’m going with Amberlee Robinson.” He knew what was coming next.

  “Amberlee Robinson, what are you crazy?”

  “Leave it Mom.”

  “She’s trouble with a capital ‘T’ do you know what that girl has been saying about poor Elena Hudson? About the fact that she was some little home wrecker?”

  Jay looked at his mother and shrugged.

  “Don’t worry Mom I’m only going with her as a favour for Kevin.”

  Then he left the kitchen.

  ‘That’s some favour’ thought Cora and she started to prepare their evening meal.

  ****************************************

  As her parents and sister would be gone for hours, Lia took this opportunity to go through the portal for the second time. She wanted to explore her newly found world, to see what else she could discover about it. She was aware that the human boy was the main attraction for her, but she could not quite put her finger on why it was so. Lia knew that although she would love to drink Jay Patterson’s blood, that it was not the real reason why she wanted to see him. The strange stirrings inside her, when she pictured his beautiful face confused and excited her. This made her all the more eager to go back through the portal.

  Lia knew that she needed to fit into this new time space reality, but couldn’t do so with the clothes that she wore. She could have easily worn Elena’s jeans and shirt, they had been roughly the same height and size. However she knew that to wear her victim’s clothes would be stupid, she certainly did not want to arouse any suspicion. Arabella had not found Elena’s clothes, Lia had made sure of that. She had wrapped them in one of her old dresses, and hidden them under a loose wooden floorboard, under her
bed. This she did so that her parents and Kathrin did not pick up their scent in the house. A vampire’s sense of smell could be likened to that of a thousand bloodhounds, but the odour of a human’s clothes could not be detected when wrapped in the clothes of a vampire. Before she bundled them up, Lia went through the jeans pockets for the first time. She pulled out a small white, cotton handkerchief, with a pretty white lace trim. The capital letter ‘E’ is embroidered with a red , silk thread, onto the cotton part. It had been one of Elena’s presents for her recent seventeenth birthday. She had asked her parents for an iPod Touch, but had seen from the disapproving looks on their faces that she wasn’t going to get it. They had, instead bought her the complete Book of Psalms, a pair of furry grey slippers, and the little white handkerchief that Lia now had in her possession. Their daughter had, with great difficulty, hid her disappointment and graciously thanked them for their wonderful, thoughtful gifts.

  Lia, for some reason unbeknown to herself, decided to take it with her, so she placed the handkerchief down the front of her dress between her breasts. The piece of material was clean but smelt of Elena’s perfume, and once again she felt her desire to go through the portal rise. Lia left her bedroom, ran quickly down the spiral staircase and went out into the dark night.

  The antique shop belonging to Abe and Dalia Jackson, was about a hundred yards from the portal to the left. It was only ever open for business during the night, just to meet the needs and requirements of its special and unusual clientele. The Jacksons, although very low key, were extremely wealthy due to their business operations. Their little shop generated far more income than all of the shops and restaurants in the mall, in Portland put together. If they had been situated in town they, and their clients would most likely have attracted too much unwanted attention. The antique shop business had been in Abe Jackson’s family for generations. He had been taught the ropes by his parents and inherited the shop, after they had died. He and Dalia lived above the shop with their only fourteen year old son. The boy went to a local school but was never allowed to bring any of his friends home, or discuss the family business. Abe’s great-great grandfather had built the shop, deep in the woods, because he had wanted to attract a different kind of customer. He had originally set it up as a pawn shop, and had purposely built it quite near to the portal that had then been a strange, small white light. He had known instantly from his discovery of it, that it would develop as a sort of entrance for beings from another time. His own grandmother had told him many stories of such things, when he was a child and had always emphasised that the supernatural would need guidance and money, if they were to blend into worlds and societies, that were unknown and alien to them. His grandmother had also told him that the burning of Heather incense attracted beneficial spirits, and brought rain to over dry land. She had also mentioned slyly, that the more ambitious would add a few drops of blood taken from a white dove to the incense before lighting it. It was this additional action that was responsible for the beginnings of the Jackson’s burgeoning business.

  The pungent aroma of doves’ blood and Heather incense attracted vampires and other supernatural beings from far and wide and from the past, present and future. Although dangerous they spared the lives of all the Jackson family, knowing that they were a great necessity for their own survival, in this new territory. It was agreed that the Jacksons would buy and sell the valuables that were brought to their shop by these strange individuals. The money enabled them all to walk around, and live in the towns and cities.

  When this unusual legacy had been passed down to him from his father, Abe knew that his family would never be free. He also knew that his son, as it had been for himself, would have to bring his future wife into the secret. However, he had found the killing of doves and the fraternising with the Dead remarkably easy as a boy, so he had decided that persuading a new wife would be a breeze.

  Dalia Hatcher had grown up in Frenchville, Aroostook. She was the eldest daughter of four siblings and had always been the curious sort. Her fascination with Ouija boards and fortune telling had been a constant concern for her mother when she was younger, so it didn’t really surprise her when her daughter announced that she was going to marry that strange looking young man, Abe Jackson.

  Before their betrothal Dalia had only been to Abe’s house during the day. She had been very surprised on how unprepossessing it was on the outside, because she was well aware that the Jackson’s were Kennedy rich. When she had first entered the shop on that bright and warm sunny day, she had felt a chill that she could not explain. However even though she was a novice when it came to antiques, she could see that the merchandise had a most unique rarity. Then she’d married Abe.

  At first she had wanted to run. Abe had explained everything to her, and had tried to hold her and make her feel safe when he saw that she was gripped with fear. He thought that she would have taken the family secret much better, due to her interests and morbid curiosity of the unknown. When she told him that she was going to leave he shook his head sadly, and informed his wife that she would be hunted down by his clients, because she knew their secret. The new bride had no choice, but to stay by her husband’s side. After a while her fear subsided, she was the only family member who made sure that the incense mixture burned day and night, and as Mrs. Dalia Jackson, she became the most gracious and useful advisor to her supernatural clientele.

  ****************************************

  It wasn’t that she hadn’t picked up the aroma of the dove’s blood and Heather incense concoction. She had without a doubt, but the scent of the young human girl had been far more appealing to her vampire nature. However, once through the portal Lia intended to follow her nose, and investigate where the strange, but beckoning smell was coming from. She took a left turn and quickly came to the little antique shop. Lia peered through the glass window and felt a little odd, because she knew that even as a vampire she could enter without invitation. So she opened the door and went in, and saw Abe and Dalia Jackson standing shoulder to shoulder behind a wooden counter. The couple look older than her own Mother and Father. She knew instantly that they were younger, they were obviously human. They were both in their early forties and were wearing strange clothes like Elena had been. Their clothes were different from hers in colour, style and texture, more for people of their years, less frivolous. They both wore pants in a different fabric than the ones she had hidden under her floorboards. They were also wearing thick woollen tops. The reason for this was that the shop was freezing cold, they always refrained from heating it, to accommodate their customers. Dalia said it was important to make them feel welcome.

  “Hello dear, can we help you?”

  The woman had a kind maternal voice. She appeared confident and knowing.

  “Is it alright if I take a look around?”

  “Yes of course it is my dear, you go right ahead.”

  Dalia could see that this beautiful young girl was a vampire. She had been in the business for over twenty years now, the girl had that look about her. Dalia sharp senses could tell that Lia had breeding. The way she carried herself could only result from being the offspring of aristocracy. Both she and her husband knew that they would not get any trouble from their new customer. They also noted that by the look of her, she would bring them some wonderful rare pieces from her time. It was going to be financially rewarding for all concerned. Lia walked slowly around the small and cluttered antique shop. There were paintings, vases, furniture and jewellery from different eras. At the back of the shop there was a full length mirror, very similar to the ones that her parents kept locked in the attic at home. Vampires had no need at all for such things, because they couldn’t see their own reflection. Nonetheless, Lia walked over to it to take a closer look, because she found its golden guilt-edged frame really quite elegant. She was completely taken aback however, when she saw her beautiful face for the first time in her life. The full length antique mirror, priced at ten thousand dollars, revealed to the youn
g vampire the image that her parents and sister saw, what the proprietors of this shop saw, and what all her victims saw, just before she ended their days. Lia had assumed that she looked very similar to Kathrin, also very beautiful, but with darker hair. They were really quite different to look at after all. Lia emerald green eyes were a different shape to Kathrin hazel ones, and Lia had been blessed with her Mother’s high cheekbones. Daddy had often said that Kathrin resembled his Mother when she was young. As she continued to gaze at herself she wondered why she could see herself in this particular mirror. What was so special about it? She could not see even a hint of her reflection in the mirrors at home. Lia’s eyes travel downwards to the swell of her full breasts and she saw Elena’s handkerchief stuffed between them. It suddenly dawned on her that this must be the reason, so she threw the handkerchief to the floor and her image immediately disappeared from the mirror. Lia retrieved it and placed it back between her breasts. She felt a new sense of power, because this little discovery was going to make it so much easier for her to fit in. She would even be able to apply the same paint around her eyes as Elena had, now that she could use this human equipment. Lia walked over to the counter.

  Dalia had seen what had taken place, and thought that she must have been mistaken in thinking the girl was a part of the vampire community.

  “We assumed that you were...”

  Lia smiled as she interrupted her.

  “A vampire? yes I am, but it appears that I have discovered how to see my own reflection.”

  Then Lia abruptly changed the subject she wanted to get down to business.

  “I want to fit into your human world, you will help me yes?”

  They both nodded and then, in a monotone voice, Abe Jackson spoke for the first time.

  “We buy jewellery, furniture and paintings from your kind, we pay very large sums of money for these rare pieces. It is a very good business, and has been in my family for generations. Your kind come here often, they seem to have what we want at their disposal. We are the only business of this kind around these parts, I’m sure you know what I mean.”