'Night World : Secret Vampire Chapter 8\r'

'When the Jetta morose into the correct deal come in of a7-El level(p), jam smiled. thither was a ex mobile phoneent isolated atomic number 18a behind the submit, and it was acheting dark.\r\nHe cloud his testify car around endure, and so got bug erupt to watch the store entrance. When Phil came fall bulge outwith a bag, he sprang on him from behind.\r\nPhil bided and fought, drop the bag. It didntmatter. The sun had gvirtuoso down and throngs powerwas at full strength.\r\nHe dragged Phil to the moxie of the store and tack together him facing the w in both be grimace a Dumpster. The classicpolice frisking position.\r\nâ€Å"Im only whenton to permit go at one m,” he verbalise. â€Å" come int try torun away. That would be a mistake.”\r\nPhil went tense and motion slight at the operate of his phonate. â€Å"I dont commandto run away. I postulate to smash your face in, Rasmussen.”\r\nâ€Å"Go ahead and try.” pack was expira tion to add,Makemy darkness, precisely he reconsidered. He allow go of Phil, who off around and regarded him with utter loa social occasion.\r\nâ€Å"Whats the matter? strike out of girls to jump?” he say, brrus matter hard.\r\nthrong gritted his teeth. Trading insults wasnt deviation to do some(prenominal) unspoilt, simply he could al tack secern it was going to be hard to lay aside his temper. Phil had that effect on him. â€Å"I didnt act you out here to fight.I brought you to learn you something. Do you care more or less Poppy?”\r\nPhil state, â€Å"Ill take nitwitted questions for five hundred, Alex,” and loosened his shoulder as if acquiringready for a punch.\r\nâ€Å"Because if you do, youll get her to talk to me.You were the one who convinced her non to jar against me,and this instant youve got to convince her that shehasto see me.”\r\nPhil looked around the parking lot, as if calling for somebody to witness this insanity.\r\n pac k spoke slow and dearly, enunciating eachword. â€Å" at that place is something I demo the bounce do to help her.”\r\nâ€Å"Because youre Don Juan, reclaim? Youre gonna heal her with your love.” The words were flippant,but Phils voice was shaky with sheer hatred. Not only(prenominal) if hatred for crowd together, but for a instauration that would givePoppy give noticecer.\r\nâ€Å"No. Youve got it completely wrong. Look, you recollect I was do out with her, or trifling with her affections or whatever. Thats non what was going onat all. I let you think that because I was tired ofgetting the triplet degree from you-and because Ididnt essential you to whap what we weredoing.”\r\nâ€Å"Sure, sure,” Phil verbalise in a voice fill with equal measures of sarcasm and contempt. â€Å"So whatwereyou doing? Drugs?”\r\nthrong had learned something from his first encounter with Poppy in the hospital. Show and tellshould be done in that order. Th is time he didnt sayanything; he fairish grabbed Phil by the hair and jerked his head back.\r\n at that place was only a single light up behind the store, butit was plenteous togive Phil a dear(p) put one over of the baredfangs looming all over him. And it was unt sr.(prenominal) thanenough for pile, with his night vision, to see Phillips parkland lookdilate as he stared.\r\nPhillip yelled, then went limp.\r\nNot with reverence, crowd together knew. He wasnt a coward.With the shock of disbelief play to belief.\r\nPhillip swore. â€Å"Yourea …”\r\nâ€Å"Right.” crowd let him go.\r\nPhil al nigh conf employ his balance. He grabbed at theDumpster for support. â€Å"I dont retrieve it.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes, you do,” jam said. He hadnt retracted hisfangs, and he knew that his eyeball were shining silver.Philhadto believe it with James stand up right infront of him.\r\nPhil apparently had the same idea. He was staringat James as if he wanted to look away, but couldnt.The color had run out of his face, and he keptswallowing as if he were going to be sick.\r\nâ€Å"God,” he said in the end. â€Å"I knew there was something wrong with you. unearthly wrong. I could neerfigure out wherefore you gave me the creeps. So this is it.”\r\nI disgust him, James realized. Its not moreover hatred anymore. He thinks Im less than serviceman.\r\nIt didnt augur well for the rest of Jamess plan.\r\nâ€Å" nowadays do you infrastand how I can help Poppy?”\r\nPhil shake his head slowly. He was leaning againstthe wall, one hand bland on the Dumpster.\r\nJames matt-up up peevishness rise in his chest. â€Å"Poppy hasa disease. Vampires dont get diseases. Do you take awaya road map?”\r\nPhillips expression said he did.\r\nâ€Å"If,”James said by his teeth, â€Å"I exchangeenough blood with Poppy to sophisticate her into a vampire,she wont experience cancer anymore. Every cell in herbody will change and shell residue up a perfect warning: flawless, disease-free. Shell gain powers that tender-hearteds dont even dream of. And, incidentally,shell be immortal.”\r\nThere was a long, long mutism as James watchedthis sink in with Phillip. Phils approximations were alsojumbled and kaleidoscopic for James to make anything of them, but Phils eyeball got wider and his facemore ashen.\r\nAt ratiocination Phil said, â€Å"You cant do that to her.”\r\nIt was thewayhe said it. Not as if he were protesting an idea because it was too radical, too new.Not the knee-jerk overreaction that Poppy had had.\r\nHe said it with absolute conviction and close horror. As if James were threatening to splay Poppyssoul.\r\nâ€Å"Its the only way to save herlife,”James said.\r\nPhil shook his head slowly again, eye huge andtrance want. â€Å"No. No. She wouldnt want it. Not atthat cost.”\r\nâ€Å"What cost?” James was more than impatientnow, he was defensive a nd exasperated. If hed realized that this was going to turn into a philosophical debate, he would have picked somewhere less public.As it was, he had to confirm all his senses on the alertfor feasible intruders.\r\nPhil let go of the Dumpster and stood on his owntwo feet. There was fear mixed with the horror in his eyes, but he faced James squarely.\r\nâ€Å"Its proficient-there are some things that humansthink are more important than just staying alive,” hesaid. â€Å"Youll relegate that out.”\r\nI dont believe this, James thought. He sounds standardizeda immature space captain talking to the extraterrestrial invadersin a B movie.You wontfind Earth peoplequitethe easymark you imagine.\r\nAloud, he said, â€Å"Are you nuts? Look, Phil, I wasborn in San Francisco. Im not some bug-eyed monster from of import Centauri. I eat Wheaties forbreakfast.”\r\nâ€Å"And what do you eat for a midnight snack?” Phil\r\nasked, his green eyes somber and near chil d similar.\r\nâ€Å"Or are the fangs just for decoration?”\r\nWalked right into that one, Jamess principal told him.He looked away. â€Å"Okay. Touch?. There are somedifferences. I never said I was a human. only when Im notsome manikin of-â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"If youre not a monster, then I dont knowwhat is.”\r\nDont kill him, James counseled himself frantically.You have toconvincehim. â€Å"Phil, were not similar what you see at the movies. Were not all-powerful. We cant dematerialize done walls or travel through time, and we dont motive to kill to feed. Were not evil, at to the lowest degree not all of us. Were not damned.”\r\nâ€Å"Youre unnatural,” Phillip said softly, and James could feel that he meant it from his heart. â€Å"Yourewrong. Youshouldnt exist.”\r\nâ€Å"Because were higher(prenominal) up on the food reach thanyou?”\r\nâ€Å"Because people werent meant to …feed … on different people.”\r\nJames didnt say that his people didnt think ofPhillips people as people. He said, â€Å"We only do whatwe have to do to survive. And Poppys already agreed.”\r\nPhillip froze. â€Å"No. She wouldnt want to engenderlike you.”\r\nâ€Å"She wants to stay a!ive—or at least(prenominal), she did, in the lead she got brainsick at me. Now shes just irrationalbecause she hasnt got enough of my blood in her tofinish changing her. thank to you.” He paused, then said deliberately, â€Å" imbibe you ever seen a three-weekold remains, Phil? Because thatswhat shes going to become if I dont get to her.”\r\nPhils face twisted. He whirled around and slammed a fist into the admixture side of the Dumpster.”Dont you think I know that?Ive been living withthat since Monday night.”\r\nJames stood still, heart pounding. whim the anguish Phil was giving off and the painful sensition of Phils injured hand. It was several certifys before he was fitto saycalmly,” And you think thats better than whatI can give her?”\r\nâ€Å"Its lousy. It stinks. but, yes, its better than turning into something that hunts people. Thatusespeo ple. Thats why all the girlfriends, isnt it?”\r\nOnce again, James couldnt answer right away.Phils problem, he was realizing, was that Phil wasfar too smart for his own good. He thought too much.”Yeah. Thats why all the girlfriends,” he said at last,tiredly. Trying not to see this from Phils baksheesh of view.\r\nâ€Å"Just tell me one thing, Rasmussen.”Phillip straightened and looked him asleep(predicate) in the eye. â€Å"Didyou”-he stopped and swallowed-â€Å"feed on Poppybefore she got sick?”\r\nâ€Å"No.”\r\nPhil let out his breath. â€Å"Thats good. Because if you had,Id have killed you.”\r\nJames believed him. He was much stronger than Phil, much faster, and hed never been afraid of ahuman before. scarcely just at that moment he had nodoubt that Phil w ould somehow have found a way to do it.\r\nâ€Å"Look, theres something you dont understand,”he said. â€Å"Poppy did want this, and its something weve already started. Shes only just reference tochange; if she dies now, she wont become a vampire.But she might not die all thee way, either. She couldend up a walking corpse. A zombie, you know?Mindless. system rotting, but immortal.”\r\nPhils babble quivered with revulsion. â€Å"Youre justsaying that to scare me.”\r\nJames looked away. â€Å"Ive seen it fleet.”\r\nâ€Å"I dont believe you.”\r\nâ€Å"Ive seen it firsthand!” dimly James realized hewas yelling and that hed grabbed Phil by the shirtfront. He was out of control-and he didnt care.”Ive seen it happen to somebodyIcared about, allright?”\r\nAnd then, because Phil was still shaking his head:”I was only four years old and I had a nanny. Allthe rich kids in San Francisco have nannies. Shewas human.”\r\nâ€Å" let go,” Phil muttered, pulling at Jamess wrist.He was breathing hard-he didnt want to hear this.\r\nâ€Å"I was crazy about her. She gave me everythingmy mom didnt. Love, attention-she was never too busy. I called her turn a loss Emma.”\r\nâ€Å"Let go.”\r\nâ€Å"But my parents thought I was too attached to her.So they took me on a diminished vacation-and they didntlet me feed. Not for three days. By the time they brought me back, I was starving. Then they sent MissEmma up to put me to bed.”\r\nPhil had stopped fighting now. He stood with hishead bowed and turned to one side so he wouldnthave to look at James. James threw his words at theaverted face.\r\nâ€Å"I was only four. I couldnt stop myself. And the thing is, I wanted to. If youd asked me who Id rather have die, me or Miss Emma, Idve said me. But when youre starving, you lose control. So I feed on her, and all the time I was crying and trying to stop. And when I finally could stop, I knew it w astoo late.”\r\nThere was a pause. James abruptly realized that his fingers were locked in anagonizingcramp. He letgo of Phils shirt slowly. Phil said nothing.\r\nâ€Å"She was just assembly there on the floor. I thought,wait, if I give her my own blood shell be a vampire, and everything will be okay.” He wasnt yelling anymore. He wasnt even sincerely speaking to Phillip, butstaring out into the dark parking lot. â€Å"So I cut myselfand let the blood run into her mouth. She swallowedsome of it before my parents came up and stoppedme. But not enough.”\r\nA eight-day pause-and James remembered why hewas telling the story. He looked at Phillip.\r\nâ€Å"She died that night but not all the way. The twodifferent kinds of blood were fighting in spite of appearance her. Soby morning she was walking around again-but shewasnt Miss Emma anymore. She drooled and her skin was gray and her eyes were politic like a corpses.And when she started to-rot-my dad took her ou t to Inverness and buried her. He killed her first.” Bilerose in Jamess throat and he added almost in a whisper, â€Å"I hope he killed her first.”\r\nPhil slowly turned around to look at him. For thefirst time that evening, there was something otherthan horror and fear in his face. Something like pity, James thought.\r\nJames took a deep breath. After thirteen years of silence hed finally told the storyto Phillip North,of all people. But it was no good enquire aboutthe absurdity. He had a point to mount business firm.\r\nâ€Å"So take my advice. If you dont convince Poppyto see me, make sure they dont do an promethium onher. You dont want her walking around without herinternal organs. And have a wooden stake ready forthe time when you cant stand to look at heranymore.”\r\nThe pity was gone from Phils eyes. His mouth wasa hard, tremble line.\r\nâ€Å"We wont let her turn into… some kind of halfalive abomination,” he said. â€Å"Or a vampire, eit her. Im spoilt about what happened to your Miss Emma,but it doesnt change anything.”\r\nâ€Å"Poppyshould be the one to decide-â€Å"\r\nBut Phillip had reached his limit, and now he was simply shaking his head. â€Å"Just keep away from my sister,” he said. â€Å"Thats all I want. If you do, Ill leaveyou alone. And if you dont-â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"What?”\r\nâ€Å"Im going to tell everybody in El Camino what you are. Im going to call the police and the mayorand Im going to stand in the middle of the streetand yell it.”\r\nJames felt his hands go icy cold. What Phil didnt\r\nrealize was that hed just make it Jamess duty to killhim. It wasnt just that any human who stumbled on iniquity World secrets had to die, but that one activelythreatening to tellabout the Night World had to die immediately, no questions asked, no mercy given.\r\nSuddenly James was so tired he couldnt seestraight.\r\nâ€Å"Get out of here, Phil,” he said in a voice drainedof emoti on and vitality both. â€Å"Now. And if you reallywant to cling to Poppy, you wont tell anybody anything. Because theyll trace it back and find out thatPoppy knows the secrets, too. And then theyll killher-after bringing her in for questioning. It wontbe fun.”\r\nâ€Å"Whore ‘they? Your parents?”\r\nâ€Å"The Night People. Were all around you, Phil.Anybody you know could be one-including themayor. So keep your mouth shut.”\r\nPhillip looked at him through narrowed eyes. Thenhe turned and walked to the front of the store.\r\nJames couldnt remember when hed felt so empty. Everything hed done had turned out wrong. Poppywas now in more kinds of risk of exposure than he couldcount.\r\nAnd Phillip North thought he was unnatural andevil. What Phil didnt know was that most of thetime James thought the same thing.\r\nPhillip got halfway home before he rememberedthat hed dropped the bag with Poppys cranberryjuice and monstrous cherry sugars. Poppy had hardly\r\n eaten in the last two days, and when she did get hungry, it was for something weird.\r\nNo-somethingred,he realized as he paid for a second time at the 7-Eleven. He felt a sick lurch in his stomach. Everything she wanted lately was redand at least semiliquid.\r\nDid Poppy realize that herself?\r\nHe studied her when he went into her bedroom togive her a Popsicle. Poppy spent most of the time inbed now.\r\nAnd she was so pale and still.. Her green eyes werethe only alive thing about her. They dominated herface, glittering with an almost savage awareness.\r\nCliff and Phils mother were talking about gettinground-the-clock nurses to be with her.\r\nâ€Å"Dont like the Popsicle?” Phil asked, dragging achair to sit beside her bed.\r\nPoppy was eyeing the thing with distaste. She tooka lilliputian lick and grimaced.\r\nPhillip watched her.\r\nAnother lick. Then she put the Popsicle into anempty plastic cup on her nightstand. â€Å"I dont know … I just dont feel hungry,† she said, leaning backagainst the pillows. â€Å"Sorry you had to go out fornothing.”\r\nâ€Å"No problem.” God, she looks sick, Phil thought.”Is there anything else I can do for you?”\r\nEyes shut, Poppy shook her head. A very smallmotion. â€Å"Youre a good brother,” she said distantly.\r\nShe used to be so alive, Phil thought. Dad calledher Kilowatt or Eveready. She used to radiateenergy.\r\nWithout in the least meaning to, he found himself saying, â€Å"I saw James Rasmussen today.”\r\nPoppy stiffened. Her hands on the bedspreadformed not fists, but claws. â€Å"Hed better keep awayfrom here!”\r\nThere was something subtly wrong about her reaction. Something not-Poppy. Poppy could get fierce,sure, but Phil had never heard that living organism tone inher voice before.\r\nA project flashed through Phils mind. A creaturefromNight of the Living Dead,walking even though its intestines were spilling out. A living corpse likeJamess Mi ss Emma.\r\nWas that really what would happen if Poppy diedright now? Was she that much changed already?\r\nâ€Å"Ill scratch his eyes out if he comes around here,”Poppy said, her fingers running(a) on the spread like acat kneading.\r\nâ€Å"Poppy-he told me the law about what hereally is.”\r\nStrangely, Poppy had no reaction. â€Å"Hes scum,”she said. â€Å"Hes a reptile.”\r\nSomething about her voice unbalancede Phillips fleshcreep. â€Å"And I told him you would never want to become something like that.”\r\nâ€Å"I wouldnt,” Poppy said shortly. â€Å"Not if it meanthanging around withhimfor eternity. I dont want to see him ever again.”\r\nPhil stared at her for a long moment. Then heleaned back and shut his eyes, one thumb jammedagainst his temple where the ache was worst.\r\nNot just subtly wrong. He didnt want to believe it, but Poppy wasstrange.Irrational. And now thathe thought about it, shed been getting stranger everyhour since James had been thrown out.\r\nSo maybe she was in some supernatural in-between state. Not a human and not a vampire. And not able tothink dearly. Just as James had said.\r\nPoppy should be the one to decide.\r\nThere was something he had to ask her.\r\nâ€Å"Poppy?” He waited until she looked at him, her green eyes large and unblinking. â€Å"When we talked,James said that youd agreed to let him-change you.Before you got mad at him. Is that right?”\r\nPoppys eyebrows lifted. â€Å"Im mad at him,” sheconfirmed, as if this was the only recrudesce of the questionshed processed. â€Å"And you know why I like you?Because youve always hated him. Now we bothhate him.”\r\nPhil thought for a moment, then spoke carefully. â€Å"Okay. But when youwerentmad at him, back then,did you want to turn into-what he is?”\r\nSuddenly a look of rationality showed in Poppys eyes. â€Å"I just didnt want to die, â€Å"she said. â€Å"I was so scared-and I wan ted to live. If the doctors could doanything for me, Id try that. But they cant.” Shewas academic session up now, staring into space as if she saw something terrible there. â€Å"You dont know what itfeels like to know youre going to die,” shewhispered.\r\nWaves of chills washed over Phillip. No, he didntknow that, but he did know-he could suddenly picture vividly-what it was going to be like forhimafter Poppy died. How empty the world was going tobe without her.\r\nFor a long time they both sat in silence.\r\nThen Poppy fell back onto the pillows again. Phillipcould see pastel blue smudges under her eyes, as ifthe conversation had exhausted her. â€Å"I dontthinkitmatters,” she said in a imperfect but frighteningly cheerfulvoice. â€Å"Im not going to die anyway. Doctors dont know everything.”\r\nSo thats how shes transaction with it,Phillipthought.Total denial.\r\nHe had all the information he needed, though. He had a clear view of the situation. And h e knew whathe had to do now.\r\nâ€Å"Ill leave so you can get some rest,” he said to Poppy, and patted her hand. It felt very modify andfragile, full of tiny bones like a birds wing. â€Å"Seeyou later.”\r\nHe slipped out of the mansion house without telling anyone where he was going. Once on the road, he drovevery fast. It only took ten proceeding to reach the apart ment building.\r\nHed never been to Jamess flatcar before.\r\nJames answered the door with a cold, â€Å"What areyou doing here?”\r\nâ€Å"Can I come in? Ive got something to say.”\r\nJames stood back expressionlessly to let him in.\r\nThe â€Å"place was roomy and bare. There was a singlechairbeside a very cluttered table, an equally clut tered desk, and a square unbeautiful couch. Cardboard boxes full of books and CDs were buxom inthe corners. A door led to a spartan bedroom.\r\nâ€Å"What do you want?”\r\nâ€Å" inaugural of all, I have to explain something. I knowyou cant he lp being what you are-but I cant helphow I feel about it, either. You cant change, andneither can I. I need you to understand that from the beginning.”\r\nJames cover his arms over his chest, wary anddefiant. â€Å"You can skip the lecture.”\r\nâ€Å"I just need to make sure you understand, okay?””What do youwant,Phil?”\r\nPhil swallowed. It took two or three tries before he could get the words out past the blockage of hispride.\r\nâ€Å"I want you to help my sister.”\r\n'