Chapter 29- Last Minute Changes

It was finally June.

The month I’d dreaded for nearly a year, and it was here. It was the day before the wedding, and I had woken up to a piece of neatly folded paper sitting on my pillow.

Dear Kieyra,

We have to leave town after the wedding tomorrow. It’d help us if you brought a few friends with you so we won’t look suspicious. You’ll need to pack today-if it’s not too much trouble. I’m really sorry.

                                                           Love,

                                                             Alec

I swear my heart stopped for a moment. It was so soon-too soon. Tomorrow. Out of anger, I ripped the note into confetti-sized pieces and threw them out the window.

Tomorrow.

 I went back onto my bed and screamed into my pillow. Of course, that didn’t do much but get my pillowcase wet, so I began to pack. I went under my bed and got out my emergency duffel bag (god only knows why the hell I had that) and started to fill it with my clothes. I mean, the sacrifice was at the end of the month. I might have been gone for at most four weeks! While going through my sock drawer, I felt a hard lump in one of my socks. I reached my hand in the sock and pulled out a smooth, blue rock.

It was the Lapis Lazuli stone Katherine had given me.

I wondered if it possessed any magical qualities. It just looked like an ordinary rock to me. I wondered if it was a “spinney rock” like the ones in The Last Mimzy (you can Google it), but after twenty spins of the rock I decided enough was enough. What was so special about it, then? After half an hour of pacing around my room, I decided that I’d put it in my pocket and add it to my list of things I needed to ask Katherine tonight.

I was planning on texting Katherine and telling her to meet me somewhere later so that we could talk. Of course, I was still going to trick her, but she needed to know when we were leaving and where we were planning on stopping first to meet Cecile in New York. She needed to think I was on her side if my plan was going to work.

It’s a genius plan, really. I don’t understand how it took me six months to figure it out. I would go with Katherine’s plan and go run away with her, except instead of just running to, like, Texas with her, I’d insist we kill Alec’s “friends” first. We would be “unknowingly” following Alec, and then when we finally got to Florida, I’d run back to Alec and kill Damien. If that failed, I don’t know what I’d do. I wasn’t the type to make a plan B (and besides, I didn’t exactly have much time).

I was in the middle of packing clothes when I received a very worried call from Jade.

“Jade, what’s wrong?” all I heard from the other end of the line was more sobbing and incomprehensible words.

“I don’t understand. What happened?”

“Drake’s missing.”

“Your older brother Drake?”

“Yes! Last night, this girl came in and just took him away. I can’t remember what she looked like. I mean, I keep trying and trying, but…it’s like she took my memory of her face away or something. I just don’t understand! Kieyra, what’s going on?”

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Well, I was babysitting Elena, and we heard someone come in the house. I knew it couldn’t have been my parents ‘cause they had just called and said they’d be home late. I told Elena to hide and went downstairs to see who it was. There was this girl in a black cloak holding an unconscious Drake. Then…I don’t remember what happened after that. It’s like my memory’s got holes in it.” I paused for a second.

“I think someone compelled you, Jade. Someone like me.” I said as calmly as possible, but Alec’s words echoed in my mind. The blood of the family of the storyteller. That’s one of the things Damien needed to complete the sacrifice. Of course they couldn’t use Elena, who could heal herself easily. It was either Drake or Jade, and I guessed that an oblivious male teenager would be the easiest target of the two. The “girl in a black cloak” was probably either Ophelia or Ana-most likely Ana, as Ana and Alec seemed to have been the messengers, or at least I thought so.  

“Kieyra? Kieyra? Kieyra, are you still there?” Jade asked.

“What?” I asked, snapping out of my haze.

“Um, my brother’s missing, I was compelled, and there was a vampire in my house!”

“Oh…right, yeah. I’ll…call you back.” I hung up the phone. Just as I put the phone down, I heard my mom coming up the stairs. I quickly hid my duffel bag back under my bed.
”Kieyra, are you ready?” she asked as she barged into my room without even knocking.

“Ready for what?” I asked, confused. My mom sighed.

“The wedding rehearsal! You forgot?”

“Oh my god, mom, I’m so sorry! It’s just, I’ve had a lot of things on my mind lately, and…and…”

“Whatever, Kieyra, just be ready in five minutes.”

When I got to the wedding rehearsal (which was greatly cutting back on my packing and planning time), Jade, Tegan, and Alec were there, along with Dave’s kids, of course. Mariana Wilkins was also in town. The “official wedding planner”, mom’s friend Joanna, stood at the altar, telling everyone what to do and where to do it. She directed me to stand at the front with Anna, Katie and Sarah, and sent Jade, Tegan and Alec to the very back row of chairs in the “friends of the family” section, along with little Farrah and Sarah’s friend Sydney. I was told to just stand at the back of the line of the bridesmaids holding a bouquet of purple flowers. After Joanna decided that there were far too many bridesmaids, she told me, Anna, Katie and Sarah to sit at the front and then told our friends to come sit with us. Did I forget to mention that Joanna can be a very indecisive person? After that she switched the flower colors five times before going back to purple, and (with my mom and Dave’s permission) brought me in and out of the line of bridesmaids at least six times before deciding on the bride and groom’s children being out of the wedding ceremony. Nathen, being the favorite of the family, was chosen to be the ring bearer. Even Farrah got to play a part in the wedding as the flower girl alongside my cousin Alexa. Sarah and Sydney spent the whole three hours we were sitting there texting and chatting, which eventually drove Joanna to send them away from the golf course where the wedding was taking place. I didn’t bother talking to any of my friends until after it was over. Jade was still shaken up over Drake’s disappearance, so she didn’t talk much. I talked to Tegan for a few minutes about an end of school trip later that month, and, even though neither of us would be able to go on that trip if Tegan joined us to escape Damien, I thought it would be better to tell her later. Just before Tegan left, I told her to meet me at the library at 7 o’clock tonight, and then told Jade the same thing. I waited to talk to Alec until all of my friends had left.

“Did you get my note?” he asked quietly, refusing to make any eye contact with me.

“Yeah. Why so soon?”

“One of my friends told me that Damien was planning to leave earlier to get the “capture of the doppelganger over with”. We’ll have to get a head start.” He said.

“Oh. Okay. Hey, can you-”

“Meet at the library at 7? I know, I read your friends’ minds.”

“You know, that mind reading thing you have is kind of rude.”

“I can’t read your mind anymore, so what does it matter?”

“I have a bracelet. I got it to prevent creepers like you from hearing my thoughts.” I said jokingly, grinning at him. He laughed.

“So I’m a creeper now?”

“Yes, but not a very good one. The best creepers have crazy pedostaches.”

“What the hell’s a pedostache?”

“Pedophile moustache. Obviously.” My mom came running towards me.

“Kieyra! Kieyra I need you to-Oh, am I interrupting something?” she asked, looking at Alec.

“No, I was just leaving. Goodbye, Kieyra.” Alec left.

“Well he seems nice.” My mom said, smiling. “Anyways, I wanted to know if you could babysit Nathen for me. Dave and I need to go over a few more last minute changes about the wedding.”

“How many fricking last minute changes do you need to make?”

“Oh, Kieyra, saying “fricking” is not lady-like.” I rolled my eyes.

“I’ll babysit if you stop criticizing the words I use. And be home by six thirty.” I said, knowing that, in her mind, six thirty meant seven.

“Deal.”

I’ll admit it, babysitting Nathen was definitely going to reduce my packing time, but I wasn’t going to see him for awhile. Come to think of it, there was a fifteen percent chance I would never see him again (yes, I’m making that number up. I don’t feel like making another tree diagram to, as my math teacher would say, “organize all possible outcomes for the situation”, thank you).  

                                             ………………………..

“Kieyra, come play Mario Kart with me!” Nathen whined, tugging at my shirt.

“No, Nathen, I can’t! I’m busy!” it was already seven fifteen, and Dave and Mom still weren’t home. I was scrambling around, packing my stuff, and Nathen kept whining and bugging me to play Mario Kart with him.

“What are you packing for, anyways?” he asked.

“I’m…um…packing an emergency bag. Just in case Earth gets taken over by aliens and I need to run away.” I said, knowing that Nathen was gullible enough to believe anything I told him.

“Oh.” He said. I tried calling Alec and Jade’s phones again for the fifth time, and, just like before, it went straight to message. I started panicking and paced the house like a crazy person.

“Kieyra, can you play Mario Kart now?”

“I said no, Nathen!” I yelled. Finally, Mom and Dave’s car pulled into the driveway and I ran out, desperately trying to get to the library.

“Kieyra, where are you going?” my mom asked, grabbing me by the shoulder.

“Library!” I said quickly, running off.

“BE BACK IN AN HOUR OR YOU’RE GROUNDED!!!!!!!!!” My mom called after me, but I didn’t even look back. I just ran. Just as I got to the library, I saw Tegan, Jade and Alec leaving. Great. The one time I actually wanted Alec to know what I was thinking, he couldn’t because I was wearing that stupid goddamn bracelet.

“Guys, wait!” I screamed from down the street. They didn’t hear me, so I tried screaming louder.

“Guys! I’m here!” they turned around. “I’m sorry I was late! My mom made me babysit, and I told her I had to be here at seven, and…and…” I caught up with my friends and stopped to catch my breath.

“It’s okay, Kieyra. We have time.” Jade said.

“Speak for yourself! I have to be home at eight!” Tegan said.

“Let’s just go inside.” Alec said. We went into the library conference room where I used to go to an extremely boring day camp when I was younger.

“Okay, we’re in the library; now whaddaya want?” Tegan asked.

“Well, did I tell you guys about the curse?”
Tegan and Jade exchanged confused looks.

“I guess not.” I said.

“Wait- my Aunt Lisa told me about a curse once…the Petrova curse. The one that involved my family.” Said Jade.

“That’s the one.” I said. “It involves my family too. Well, really, it just involves me. Long story short, I’m the ‘vampire Petrova doppelganger’ that Damien wants. Anyways, because of this curse thingy, I kind of need to get the hell outta town. With you guys.”

“Why do you need to get outta town?” Tegan asked.

“Because I need to hide.”
”Isn’t the curse supposed to happen on the summer solstice?” Jade asked.

“Damien’s impatient and wants his doppelganger.” Alec said.

“And why do you need us?” Tegan asked, still confused.

“To avoid suspicion.” Alec said impatiently.

“Suspicion of what?”

“Well, if you saw two teenagers wandering the continent, alone, wouldn’t you be suspicious?” Alec asked Tegan.

“Maybe…but where do we play into this?”

“She never stops asking questions, does she?” Alec asked, turning to me. Tegan frowned.

“No, sadly she doesn’t” I sighed.

“Just answer my question!” Tegan snapped.

“Okay, okay. Well, I’ve seen these things before where people from our country get to take a few people from a foreign country here on tours. You guys could pretend you’re from, like, France or something.”

“I can’t speak French.” Tegan said.

“Who cares?” I asked, annoyed. Tegan made a “pouty face” and sat down.

“If I come, I’ll have to bring Elena. I can’t leave her here unprotected.” Jade said.

“That’s okay; the bigger the group, the better.” Alec said. Tegan looked at me uncertainly.

“Kieyra, I don’t know. I’ll get in too much trouble.”

“Tegan, it’ll be fun. Haven’t you always wanted a vacation away from your family?”

“Well…yeah…but still, it’s different.”

“You know I’d do it for you. And you owe me for tying me up to a tree.” I reminded her, remembering that day when the bus crashed and Tegan vervained me.

“Ugh, fine.” Tegan finally agreed.

“How are we supposed to sneak out?” Jade asked.

“We could volunteer to clean up after the wedding.” Tegan said. We all looked at her, confused.

“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked.

“Well, parents love it when we volunteer to do jobs we don’t wanna do, right? So Jade, Kieyra and I could volunteer to clean up, and then in return ask if we can sleep over at Kieyra’s house afterwards. Then we could sneak out of Kieyra’s house and go.”

“Tegan, that’s…that’s actually a good idea.” We were all surprised-Tegan was never the one with the good ideas. This was probably the first time one of her ideas was actually logical. Well, you know, as logical as a plan to run away to escape an evil British vampire could be.

“Great! Then I could meet you guys at Kieyra’s dad’s house where we’ll get the van. Kieyra, you did get the keys to the van, right?” Alec asked, looking back at me. Dammit! That’s what I forgot! I thought. In all of the madness that had happened when I went to my dad’s for Christmas, I had forgotten to get the keys to his van.

“Um…well…I sort of forgot.” I said. Everyone groaned.

“I can’t go back in there- I don’t have a key, and my dad’s got all sorts of vampire traps.”

“I’d go in, but I’ve never been to your dad’s house, so I wouldn’t know where to look.” Jade said. We all looked at Tegan.

“What?” she asked, with a puzzled expression.

“You’ve been to my dad’s house. You know where the keys are.”

“Oh no, no no no no no. No! No way in hell am I going in there!”Tegan exclaimed.

“But you went in there when you figured out what I was. You got the vervain dart from him.”

“Kieyra, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but your dad’s kind of crazy.” Tegan said.

“Relax, he’ll be sleeping. He goes to bed at, like, 8:30 now.” Tegan looked at her watch.

“Speaking of eight thirty, that’s what time it’ll be when I get home! I’m so dead! I gotta go!” Tegan dashed out of the library.

“I should get going too.” Jade said, following Tegan out. I was left alone in the conference room with Alec. I started to leave, but Alec stopped me.

“Kieyra?”

“Yeah?”

“There’s been a change in plans. Instead of going to all of the safe houses, we’re only going to the one in Florida. Nathaniel, Cecile, and Brannen will meet us there.”

“Okay.” There wasn’t really much to say to that. It’s not like it affected my plan that much.

When I got home and went into my room, I found Katherine sitting on my bed. Instead of flipping out on her like I usually would have, I breathed a sigh of relief. I had forgotten to text her, so her being here saved me a lot of time.

“My friend told me that Damien was collecting his sacrifice early.” Katherine said.

“What’s the plan?”

“Original plan still stands.” I said.

“Okay. I have a friend in New York that’s agreed to hide us. Her name’s Annalyn. She used to work for Damien; she’s the one who told me that Alec’s friends were working for Damien. Oh, and I brought you something.” Katherine handed me a book with “How To Handle Living With Your Evil Doppelganger” written on the front. In smaller letters, it said “Ellie M. Wilkinson”.

“This might explain a lot.” She said. Then she hopped out of the window and vanished into the night.

Chapter 28- Now I Know Why They Tell You To Focus.

“Clear your mind of all thoughts completely. Picture the animal in your mind. Now feel it. Be it. Now get a running start at it and feel yourself transforming, and you will. Like this.” Alec ran for a few meters down the deserted road and suddenly transformed into a crow.

It was Spring Break, and Alec had decided to finally teach me animal transformation.

“You make it look so easy.” I said, sighing as Alec transformed back into his human form.

“It’s not that hard. It only took me an hour to master it.” Alec shrugged.

“Well, that’s cause you don’t have the attention span of a squirrel. ‘Clear your mind’ isn’t exactly an easy task for me.”

“We’re in the middle of nowhere with no distractions.”

“Well, you’re here. That’s distracting.” I sat down against a tree and sighed.

“I’m hopeless.”

“No you’re not. Don’t say that.”

“I am. And you know it.”

“You’re not entirely hopeless.” Alec said, which I think was supposed to be reassuring, but with Alec you never know.

“What’s the point of this anyway? What’s so cool about turning into an animal?”

“When we’re in animal form we can communicate with each other through thought.” “Oh. Yay.” I said in the most sarcastic tone possible.

“It’ll be fun. Besides, you’ll need the practice if we’re going to kill Damien.” He had a good point there. I got up.

“Fine then. I’ll try. But only one more time, and then I’m giving up.”

“Deal.” I went out onto the road and stood there with my eyes closed, replaying Alec’s instructions mentally.

Clear your mind of all thoughts completely. I tried as hard as I possibly could to clear my mind, despite all of the problems I had to worry about.

Picture the animal in your mind. What animal? What would help me win a fight? A lion? A tiger? I decided to go for the tiger, as tigers had always scared me.

Feel it. Be it. I figured that one would be easy as long as I felt like ripping someone’s head off, so I pictured Nathen reading my diary aloud to my entire school.

Get a running start. Feel yourself transforming and you will. How was I supposed to do that? I started running and kept running for about five miles before I realized that nothing was happening and I was just running down the road with my eyes closed like an idiot. I stopped and opened my eyes. I was in front of an old church that was evidently big on peace; they had about a million different peace signs on the door. Right above the door was a picture of a dove carrying an olive branch, which according to Google was a big peace symbol in the 18^th century.

Suddenly, I heard a growl coming from the forest. I spun around. About six or seven feet away from me stood a big brown bear, staring right at me. Oh my god! What should I do? I thought, panicking. I decided to make a run for it; I guessed that I was probably faster and would outrun it. As I started running I closed my eyes in hopes that Alec was somewhat right and I could turn into an animal. I just wanted to get away; I didn’t exactly care what I turned into anymore. And then suddenly, I was flying.

I’d never imagined what flying was like. I’d always been afraid of planes, and I never really had wished for the ability to fly. I’d never liked the idea of being so far off of the ground. And yet…it was amazing. I was gliding over trees with no fear of falling at all whatsoever. I could see everything-including the bear, which had given up on me and decided to go for a raspberry bush. In the corner of my eye I saw a crow approaching me.

Copycat, I heard Alec’s voice in my head mock.

It’s not my fault. I didn’t mean to. I honestly had no idea how I was a bird. I’d wanted to be a tiger. A tiger that could rip heads off. Not a useless bird. I’d always hated birds; I was always afraid they’d poop on me or something. I felt strange and disoriented though, it was weird being so small, and having eyes on the sides of your head and holes for ears would take some getting used to. I swooped down over a pond and looked at my reflection in the water. I had transformed into a small white dove, like the one on the hippie church. Well, that’ll teach me to focus more when making important decisions.

Um, Alec? How do I change back? I asked.

Same way you changed the first time. Yeah, like that helped. If I had trouble changing into an animal, how was I expected to easily change back?

It took me about fifteen minutes, but I finally figured out how to change back into human form. It was nice to have my feet firmly planted on the ground again.

“What am I supposed to do as a bird? Poop on Sylvie’s grave?” I asked Alec. He laughed.

“You could do that. You could also go Hitchcock on people and peck their eyes out. By the way, you make a pretty bird.” I rolled my eyes, resisting the urge to punch Alec in the face.

“You really can’t just take a compliment, can you?”

“Nope, not really.” I went to the tree where I hung up my mind-shield bracelet and put the bracelet back on my wrist. Alec frowned.

“Why do you have to wear that thing?” he asked.

“Because I like my thoughts private, thank you.” I smirked, walking to Alec’s car and getting in.

“What’re you waiting for? Drive me home!” Alec rolled his eyes, got in the car, started the engine and drove away.

Chapter 27- Sylvie’s Last Stand

It had been a few weeks since Mariana’s appearance, and I hadn’t seen Katherine at all (thankfully). I decided not to tell Alec about Mariana. In all honesty, I needed to practice my lying. Dave had proposed to my mom (aww!) and they were planning an early June wedding, which I would probably still be in town for (sacrifice is at the END of June, remember?). My mom said I could bring three friends, so I chose Jade, Tegan and Alec-no surprises there- and Nathen got to bring his little friend Farrah, who I constantly teased was his girlfriend.

Maybe I should stop here. Maybe I should just lead you to believe that everything went great after that. Maybe I should tell you that my mom married Dave, I tricked Katherine and killed Damien, and everyone was happy and Alec and I grew up and had seven children all named Joe. I mean, I’m already on a roll of deception, so why not? But, I’m sorry to say that even though I’d like all that to happen, this is NOT the ending, and what happened wasn’t exactly as I just said (especially the seven kids named Joe). But if you’re looking for a happy ending, you might as well stop here and believe that there is one. But if you want to know the real ending, get some coffee and get comfy, ‘cause there’s a whole lot more that happened. Starting with Valentine’s Day.

You know how Valentine’s Day is supposed to be the most romantic day of the year? Well, there’s never really been a lot of romance in my life. I’ve never even gotten a card from anyone but my mom and Nathen. Alec was the only boyfriend I’d ever had, being a thirteen year old girl and everything. I spent the entire day at school watching everyone in my class getting valentines and candy grams from their secret admirers and listening to my friends babble on about how some guy likes them but they don’t know who. Even  Jade got a candy gram from Paul Mills, who claimed he didn’t like girls yet. As if. That night, I was helping Nathen sort his Valentine’s Day candy he got in cards from his friends after school when I heard a knock at the door. I ignored it and stayed with Nathen; I figured it was probably Ned down the street who was in love with my mom, or maybe one of Sarah’s friends. So, when my mom called out “Kieyra, someone’s here for you!” I was completely confused as to who could be looking for me.

“I’m busy.” I yelled. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone right now. Valentine’s Day depressed me.

“He says it’s important.” He? What guy would be here? I ran to the door and saw Alec standing in the doorway, smiling.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

 “Isn’t it kind of an American tradition to spend Valentine’s Day with the one you love?” I blushed.

“Yeah, I guess…” I turned to my mom.

“Go. Have fun.” She rolled her eyes. “Be back before ten.”

“Thank you!” I squealed, hugging my mom. I guess maybe I was a little too excited, but I had reason to be. I’d never really been on a date before, except if you counted when I was the third wheel on Tegan’s date with Damon Jensen. And since that was one of the worst days of my life, I didn’t know what to expect on a real date. Alec took me by the hand and led me outside, closing the front door behind me.

“I bought flowers, but my neighbor’s dog ate them.” I laughed.

“It’s okay. It’s the thought that counts, right?”

“Right.” I opened the door to Alec’s car and slid into the passenger’s seat.

He drove for about half an hour before pulling into the parking lot of a restaurant. I knew just from the outdoor décor and the five stars on the sign that I was pretty underdressed-jeans and a t-shirt- but then again, so was Alec.

“If you’d told me where we were going, I would have dressed a little nicer.” I said.

“Well, personally, I think you look beautiful.” I rolled my eyes.

“Well, you’re not a restaurant owner with the power to create a dress code, now are you?”

“Don’t worry, he knows me.” When we went in and sat down, the waitress looked at us as if there was some sort of prank being pulled on her.

“Um…may I help you kids?” she asked.

“Yes, I’ll have the lobster.” Alec said to her, his smug grin never fading.

“You do realize that they’re a hundred dollars a piece, right?” she raised her eyebrow in disbelief.

“In which case, I’ll have five. Kieyra?”

“Um, I’m good, thanks.” The waitress just shook her head and left, mumbling “they don’t pay me enough for this”.

“Five lobsters? Are you out of your mind?” Alec shrugged.

“Like I said, the owner knows me.”

An hour (and SEVEN lobsters) later, Alec had explained that the owner of the restaurant was a warlock he’d met about ten years ago and became friends with. Since Alec had saved the guy’s life once, he’d always said that eventually he’d make it up to him. Apparently, this is what Alec had asked for (aw, how sweet!).

After we left, Alec took me to the movie theater back in town, where we saw some incredibly cheesy movie that neither of us really watched. Honestly, I think he might have been paying more attention to the movie than I was. After the movie was over and we were leaving the theater, I spotted a familiar head of ginger colored curls and my blood turned to ice, as it usually did when I saw Sylvie French.

“It can’t be. She promised.” I said to myself under my breath.

“What?” asked Alec.

“Sylvie.” At the mention of her name, she turned around and smiled.

“Oh, hey Kieyra!” the way Sylvie said it made it sound like we were old friends or something.

“Um…Hi?”

“Come here, I want to show you something.” Even though there were a million voices in my head yelling “It’s a trap! Don’t go!” I did a stupid horror movie sorority girl move and followed Sylvie out of the theater.

When I went behind the theater with Sylvie, not only did I realize that, yes, this was a trap, but I was also quickly reminded of Sylvie’s power to send people to the ground in agonizing pain, not without a rather painful demonstration of course.

“What are you doing here?” I managed to ask between screams and gasps for air.

“Damien wanted me to deliver a message.”

“What?”

“That if you’re a smart girl you’ll give him what he wants.”

“Then what if I’m not smart?”

“Then Damien will kill everyone you’ve ever loved and make you watch them slowly die.” I looked around. There was nothing back behind the theater except for a bunch of trash and a broken table leg. Wait-tables are made of wood, right? Wood was harmful to vampires. I’d never seen it happen before, but I was near certain that a wooden stake through the heart would kill one of us. I managed to stop squirming enough so that I could use my powers to lift the table leg and cause it to come flying towards us, piercing Sylvie in the chest. She fell to the ground and the pain I was feeling stopped immediately. Sylvie just lay there, unmoving. It took me a few minutes for reality to sink in.

I…Killed…Sylvie French!

Was it wrong to be happy? I did a little three-second happy dance over Sylvie’s body, then checked her pulse just to make sure she was really dead (which she was). Alec came running back behind the theater.

“Hey, I heard screaming, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m perfectly fine.” I said, still grinning. Alec glanced at Sylvie.

“Is she…dead?” he asked.

“Kind of? Is that such a bad thing?” I asked, kind of worried that Alec wouldn’t be as happy about my killings as I was.

“Not at all. It’s just…I thought you were opposed to murder.” He smirked. I rolled my eyes.

“Come on, let’s hide the body before the authorities find it.”

Chapter 26-Outsmarting The Smartest

Mariana Wilkins. The woman Alec had been looking for in London, the vampire who had turned Dave and his children. The one he thought knew something about me and Katherine.

And she was standing in my kitchen.

I thought about the things I could do. Call Alec? No, he’d been around me too much today. I needed to give him some space. Talk to Katherine? No, I didn’t trust Katherine much anymore. Then there was Great Aunt Harriet, but I didn’t think she’d appreciate my visits any more than she had before I was turned into a vampire. My only option left seemed to be to confront Mariana.

Well, that should be simple. Not. I’d known the woman for, what, two minutes? Not even. The look in her eyes told me that she had already figured out who I was, and something told me that she and Katherine had never got along very well.

“I’m hungry.” Nathen said, finally breaking the silence.

“Well, there’s ice cream in the freezer down in the basement. I’ll go get it.” Mariana said.

“I’ll help.” I followed Mariana downstairs.

“You must be the doppelganger.” She said with a forced smile.

“And you must be the original Wilkins vampire.” I said, not being able to think of anything better to say.

“So you’ve heard of me. I’m assuming you’ve met Katerina?”

“Mmhm.”

“Of course. How else would you have known about me?” she chuckled to herself. “Dave doesn’t like to talk about me much. I make him think of Isobel too much. Why, though, I don’t understand. I look nothing like my sister.” It was true. I’d seen pictures of Isobel, and she’d had darker blonde hair and hazel eyes. No one ever would have thought they were sisters. Cousins, maybe, but not sisters.

“Met any of the others?”

“What others?”

“You know. The people in the hole. Those others.”

“Oh. Yeah.”

“Figures. They turned you, right?”

“Yes.”

“I heard that the youngest one, Alec, stopped working for Damien. You ever met him?” How did she know about Alec? Again, was there some sort of secret network that vampires used to talk to each other and gossip? I didn’t say anything, but because of the fact that I was blushing like crazy and trying not to make direct eye contact with her, she could tell that I had, in fact, met Alec.

“How cute.” Mariana rolled her eyes and started walking up the old wooden stairs. I watched Mariana closely; I wasn’t sure whether I could trust her yet. The only thing I saw her do that was remotely strange was feed Nathen ice cream when it was already past his bedtime, which I guess was okay because it was Christmas.

After Nathen was in bed, I overheard Dave talking to Mariana about me.

“How could you betray my sister like this, Dave? Fall in love with a descendant of the woman who killed your ex wife, who’s daughter happens to be her doppelganger? Are you out of your mind? She could be spying on our family, reporting everything to Katherine and plotting to kill me too!”

“She’s just a kid, Mari. Calm down. She wouldn’t do that. She seems to have her head on straight, not possessed by the devil. You don’t need to call an exorcist.”

“What if I do? And now that she’s been invited into this house, Katherine is too. You know how it works!”

“Yes, I do. I was there. But that doesn’t mean Kieyra is the same as Katherine. It’s just…seeing her reminds me of Katherine, which reminds me of Isobel, which is kind of sending me off the deep end.”

“Great! We can work with that! Now, take all of that bottled up rage and use it to-”

“We’re not killing her!” It was then that I realized that maybe Dave wasn’t the bad guy. He was just afraid to trust me. Afraid that I was too much like Katherine to be his step-daughter.

“And why not!” They were yelling now, and I was surprised that it didn’t wake up Nathen or my mom, who’d fallen asleep in Nate’s bed.

“Because how would Janette like to marry the man who killed her daughter?!” Dave pulled a silver diamond ring out of his pocket and twirled it around in his fingers.

“It’s funny how fast you move on.” Mariana said angrily.

“She’s not like Katherine.” Dave mumbled.

“Oh, right, we’re trusting the thirteen year old now. I forgot.” Mariana rolled her eyes.

“I’m not like her.” Whoops. There goes my cover.

“Oh, really? Prove it.” Mariana snapped.

“I…well, I don’t know how. All I can say is Katherine’s a manipulative liar, and I need help with a plan to fool her.” I wasn’t sure that they would help me, but it was worth a try. Mariana seemed to relax slightly.

“Go on.”

“Well, you see…you guys know about the sacrifice, right?”

“Ah, the only revenge my sister got on Katherine.” Mariana smiled.

“And about how all of Damien and his minions at the time would die if the sacrifice didn’t happen unless Damien died?”

“Yes.” Dave and Mariana said in unison.

“Well, Katherine was going to hide me until the summer solstice when Damien and the minions died.”

“That’s the first thing Katherine’s said in three hundred years that’s made sense. What’s wrong with that?”
”Um…well…it’s hard to explain.” Mariana was completely puzzled, but it only took Dave a few seconds to understand.

“Alec. I should have known.” Dave grumbled.

“Oh, doppelganger’s got a crush on the kid?”

“Yeah. Um. Sure. Okay.” I said. As if I was about to tell Mariana that he was in love with me and we were dating. I exchanged a “don’t you dare tell her” look with Dave, that he thankfully understood and didn’t mention anything to Mariana.

“Anyways, I need some way that I can kill Damien without Katherine knowing I know her plans.”

“Outsmart the smartest.” Mariana said, shrugging.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked.

“Well, Katherine’s smart, right? And since you and Katherine are pretty much the same, I’m guessing you think the same. So, if you know how she thinks, figure out how you would fool yourself and apply the same concept to her.”

“That’s…That’s actually not a bad idea.” I thought about it for a second. The only way to outsmart Katherine seemed to be to think like her…and if I could think like Katherine, I could figure out how to deceive her. Use her own tactics against her.

“Hmm. Maybe you actually are more trustworthy than I thought.” Mariana turned to Dave.

“Fine, you have my permission to marry Janette. Just know that if this ends badly, it’s on you.” With that, Mariana stormed out of the house. I turned to Dave.

“Thanks for not telling her about Alec.” I said.

“It was for the best. Even though I’m not your father, I’ll still treat you like one of my own. Isobel would have wanted that.” Dave sighed.

“Tell me about her. Isobel, I mean. What was she like?”

“Well, she was beautiful, for one thing. Blonde, green-eyed, tall. She could have been a model. She was kind-a little too kind. Forgave all of Katherine’s mistakes and selfishness. She was…real. Don’t get me wrong-I love your mom very much. But she’ll never take the place of Isobel.”

“If you want to marry my mom, you can. I’m sure she’ll like that. You have my blessings. Just don’t make the mistakes my dad did, okay?” Dave chuckled.

“He is a bit loony, isn’t he.”

“Very much so.” I smiled. I guess this was the first time I’d ever really talked to Dave-he’d always been the enemy in my eyes. Now I realized that all he’d ever wanted was my mom-it was never a ploy to get revenge on Katherine. He actually cared. As I started up the stairs to go to bed, Dave tapped my shoulder lightly.

“Yes?” I asked. Dave sighed.

“As hard as it is for me to say this, if you want to be with that Alec kid you can.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Dave?” Dave laughed.

“It seems only fair that if you’re willing to get along with me for your mom’s sake, I’ll at least try to get along with him.” I smiled.

“Thanks.”