The Dorkiest Vampire

Mick’s POV

It was odd going back to school Monday not just because we had been off for a week but because it felt as though Stacy’s ghost was still haunting the school hallways. Her death was all anyone could talk about and as the day went on, the rumors surrounding her death got more and more ludicrous and exaggerated. People were making up stories about everything from what condition her body was found in to the identity of the mystery man she was last seen with. Apparently, Stacy was a practicing witch, the victim of a satanic voodoo cult, and had faked her own death to run off with a secret biker boyfriend. Even if the rumors surrounding her death were plainly untrue, Galiene and I were at least glad to hear that no one suspected vampires were in anyway related to her death.

Galiene and I agreed early that morning that we would go back out after school to investigate the crypt where Lia was buried. I thought about asking Riley to come along and be the third in our little quest, but then again, I didn’t want to trouble her if it turned out to have nothing to do with anything. In the best case scenario, I would just find the remnants of my dead sister and no hints that something particularly sinister had happened about three hundred years ago. Galiene didn’t like the idea of telling Riley, but eventually I told her what we were doing, not wanting to leave her out if something big developed.

“So… you’re inviting me to grave rob your sister’s tomb?” Riley frowned, whispering to me while we were supposed to be watching a movie in class.

“No,” I snored. “I just want to see it… see if there’s anything she might have left behind…”

“You think you might find something related to Stacy’s death in your sister’s tomb?” Riley said.

“Well, two people sucked dry by a rogue vampire three hundred years apart in the same town…” I shrugged. “I dunno… seems suspicious to me…”

“I guess,” Riley shrugged. “Still… I mean, I don’t want to intrude… and I kinda promised Eldon I’d let him hang out with me this afternoon…”

“Let him hang out with you?” I smirked. “Like it’s a privilege or like you really don’t want to hang out with him…”

“He’s a nice guy,” Riley said defensively. “And, to be fair, I’ve kind of blown him off all week…”

“Mainly because everyone was too terrified to leave their house for fear of being sucked up by swamp monsters,” I snorted.

“So it’s swamp monsters now?” Riley smirked.

“As of fourth period, everyone is convinced there are swamp monsters,” I confirmed.

“You and Galiene go,” Riley assured me. “Just let me know if you find anything important, okay?”

“Sure,” I nodded. “Hopefully, I won’t find anything major.”

“Hopefully,” Riley agreed.

I felt much better having told Riley what Galiene and I were up to. Though Galiene wouldn’t admit it, I think she felt a little jealous of Riley for some reason. The two of them were still friends, but I got the impression that Galiene didn’t entirely trust Riley. I hoped Galiene had enough faith in Riley to know she would keep our secret and I was actually surprised that Galiene didn’t throw a bigger fit when she found out Riley was in the know. Since Galiene seemed to still have a tinge of animosity toward Riley, I was surprised to hear her show concern about Riley as we were leaving school the other day. Galiene watched as Riley hopped into Eldon’s car and then whipped her head around to look at me.

“Why is she going home with Eldon?” Galiene demanded to know.

“I dunno… they went to the dance together… I guess they’re like going together now or something,” I shrugged.

“And you’re okay with that?” Galiene hissed.

“Um… why wouldn’t I be?” I asked, confused. “He seems like a nice guy. I mean, if her brother lets her date him he can’t be too bad…” Galiene’s eyes narrowed in on me. “What?”

“I don’t like that kid,” Galiene said. “There’s something funny about him.”

“He seems alright… you mean like he walks funny or…” I began.

“I don’t like him,” Galiene insisted. “I just get… a weird vibe from him…”

“I get weird vibes from most people,” I shrugged. Galiene rolled her eyes at me.

“I’ll just talk to Riley about it either. You don’t get it,” Galiene pouted. I shrugged, not sure if I wanted to get whatever Galiene was babbling on about.

“Okay,” I shrugged, just deciding to let it slide.

After getting home, Galiene and I prepared for our outing to my sister’s crypt in the same way we had before. I wasn’t sure all of the material Galiene was bringing with her was necessary, but I decided to go ahead and let her have her way. Things started off simply enough with the two of us setting out on the property. Once we had gotten far enough down the path, I closed my eyes briefly and allowed my memory of my dream to take over. The dream itself had been so vivid and practically painful that I could not easily forget them during my waking hours. In fact, during the walk down the hidden path to the crypt’s locale, I found it harder and harder to distinguish if I was awake or again dreaming. I was nearly hyperventilating by the time we reached the familiar black marble mausoleum.

“Good work,” Galiene smiled at me slightly. I nodded, still trying to catch my breath. She reached for my hand, gave it a squeeze and then walked toward the hidden door at the front. “Do you remember where the secret lever was?”

“Yeah,” I nodded, walking forward to join her.

Reaching up to where the deep “V” was engraved on the crypt, I moved my hand slightly to the faint looking fleur-de-lis I remembered from my dream. I only tapped it lightly before it pushed itself inward and then the loud clanking of rusty metal gears began, the door opening slightly. It was like something out of an Indiana Jones movie and Galiene seemed quite impressed, stepping forward and brushing away the wall of cobwebs that served as a final barrier to the crypt.

Inside, it was pitch black and Galiene searched around in her bag for her lighter and the candles she had brought with her. The light revealed a few candleholders in the crypt, which she then placed the candles into, effectively lighting up the entire room. Before us was only a single tomb, with a huge, ornate engraving of our family crest on the front. Below the crest red the name Ophélie Louise Bérengère Vespasien , Notre angle, notre trésor. I didn’t particularly want to open my sister’s coffin, especially since there were odds I would find something I didn’t want to see there.

“There don’t seem to be any niches, anything hidden in here…” Galiene sighed, using a spare candle to examine every nook and cranny of the crypt. “Nothing in the walls, nothing in the floors and nothing on the ceiling…”

“Should we… should we open it?” I asked her, nervously.

“We don’t have to… if you don’t want to…” Galiene shrugged.

“It could have something of value,” I replied.

“Like in your dream?” Galiene suggested.

“I don’t think… I don’t think Lia would have shown it to me and opened it herself if she didn’t want me to find something,” I breathed heavily. “I think… I think maybe that was her way of giving us permission to open it…”

“Do you want to?” Galiene asked curiously.

“I can’t,” I shook my head. “I just can’t… If you could though… I mean, I know it’s heavy…”

“Heavy my ass,” Galiene hissed at me. She then turned and, amassing all over her vampire strength, easily lifted the marble coffin lid and set it aside. I sucked in my breath, afraid of what I might find, but wound up being more shocked.

There was no body, not even the bones my father said they had recovered in the tomb. There wasn’t even dust or cobwebs marking where bones could have disintegrated. Instead, all we found was the old book a weird medallion on a gold chain. I looked at Galiene nervously and she bent down, picking up the medallion and the book, looking over them. Out of the book fluttered a page, yellowed from age and folded many times. The parchment was a different color from the books pages and a broken red seal on either end of the paper indicated it was a letter from long ago.

“What does it say?” Galiene asked.

“It’s in very old French,” I replied. “I’m sure the diary is, too. It might take us a while to make complete sense of it…”

“And we can’t exactly ask your parents for help,” Galiene frowned. “I don’t think they’d appreciate us snooping around here.”

“It’s like in the dream,” I said. “Lia’s body was holding the book and a necklace…”

“But in her dream there was a body,” Galiene pointed out.

“Dad said they never recovered all of her…” I began.

“No, but there wasn’t even evidence of bones being buried here,” Galiene snorted. “And your dad said she was buried here? They didn’t ship her off to some old family crypt back in France?”

“No… it had to be here,” I shook my head. “That’s why my parents are supposedly so attached to this place. It’s because Lia’s buried here…”

“You don’t think… maybe… that someone stole her body?” Galiene asked.

“Why would they leave the necklace and the diary?” I frowned.

“I don’t know,” Galiene shrugged. “Maybe they just wanted the body…”

“I don’t think that makes much sense,” I shook my head. “Who would want it?”

“Donny. I mean, they were engaged and all. And he seems like a guy who would do something creepy like that,” Galiene shrugged. “And I’m sure your parents at least expected he was somehow connected to her death. I don’t think they would have taken to kindly to him coming here to visit the tomb or whatever…”

“Let’s just translate this letter,” I said. “We’ll start there and then work our way through the book. “ Galiene agreed and, after putting the lid back on the coffin together, we snuffed out the candles and exited the tomb.

Both of us were very careful to look around and make sure we didn’t see or sense anything in the immediate area. I didn’t like the thought of someone watching us breaking into Lia’s crypt or the idea that someone would be hanging around her crypt with a nefarious purpose in the first place. The walk back to the house seemed to take a lot less time than it had walking out to the crypt.
Inside the house, we were greeted by Esclarmonde and my mother as they were taking afternoon tea in the parlor. They both smirked at us and then giggled at a secret joke between the two of them, making Galiene and I both roll our eyes. Our mothers seemed to think our frequent walks on the property were our attempts at spending private, romantic hours together. I really doubted that crypt hunting constituted a romantic outing with my girlfriend, but I was willing to let my mom think whatever she wanted as long as she didn’t catch on to what we were really doing. We were about to get drawn into their conversation when my father, looking especially weary, sauntered into the room.

“I was finally able to get in contact with Donny,” he sighed. Galiene and I looked at each other and decided to not-so-covertly eavesdrop on the impending conversation.

“Where was he?” Mom asked.

“He says New Orleans,” Dad shrugged, “but he didn’t give me any concrete proof… I might have to go down there to ensure he has a solid alibi… If not…”

“What would happen if he doesn’t?” Esclarmonde asked worriedly.

“The Council would send in the Vazatori and they would use… extreme force… to find out whether or not Donny is telling the truth,” Dad admitted. “They could hold him… for quite some time until an alibi has been established and if they can’t find one… well… he might just become the scapegoat in this case unless they are able to find the killer…”

“Oh, poor Donatien,” Esclarmonde sighed. I looked up at both my parents who paled slightly at Esclarmonde’s statement. I glared at both of them, letting them know I wasn’t going to let my questions slide.

“Esclarmonde, if you would pardon us, Louise and I need a word with our son,” Dad said quietly.

“Bien sûr! Of course!” she nodded. “Come, Galiene. Tell me about your school day…” Galiene tucked the book, letter and medallion into her bag and then allowed her mother to escort her out of her room. With a final look over her shoulder, Galiene let me know she would want a full report when my little lecture was over. Once they were in the hall, my father abruptly shut the door.

“Donny did this,” I said as soon as it was closed.

“Michael,” my mother shook her head. “That is a terrible accusation…”

“He did it before and he’s doing it again,” I shook my head. “And the two of you are letting him get away with it. Why?”

“Michael, what are you talking about?” Mom said, aghast.

“Lia and Jacques Marrioneaux and now Stacy Gatskill…” I began.

“I admit, Michael, I haven’t been completely honest with you… Louise, I haven’t been telling you the whole truth either…” Dad sighed. “I only wanted to protect you…”

“From what? The truth?” I snorted.

“What have you been lying about, Jean-Pierre?” Mom demanded to know.

“When Lia… disappeared…” Dad gulped, not wanting to meet my mother’s gaze, “as you know.. . the search went on for months without any trace of her…”

“Until they found her bones,” Mom whispered.

“Until they found some bones,” my father admitted. “They were not sure.. .the Vazatori investigators were never able to prove one way or another… technology was so limited then…”

“What are you trying to say?” Mom said, her voice breaking.

“When we first moved back… it ate at me,” Dad sighed. “I had to know… I had to know if it was really my daughter buried in that crypt… I went… and I took the bones… and I had them tested… secretly… against some of the hair I found on a brush in her trunk…”

“Dad?” I questioned him.

“They weren’t hers…” Dad said.

“All this time! You let me think my daughter was dead!” Mom shrieked at him before launching upward and pounding her fists against his chest, tears streaming down her face and screaming every four letter word in both English and French until she was just a sobbing pool against his chest.

“I wasn’t sure she had gotten away or not…” Dad sighed. “It was… a brutal attack… That much was obvious when they uncovered Jacques Marrioneux… I wanted to believe she was gone… I couldn’t believe my daughter… our daughter would just leave and never come back like that… and I couldn’t believe…” He sighed and frowned.

“It was a different time then,” my mother whispered, allowing him to gently stroke her hair.

“You have to understand, son,” Dad sighed. “We had no choice… I know it wasn’t what your sister wanted… but she was our only child… our only daughter…”

“What happened?” I wanted to know, sick of them beating around the bush.

“When I was a girl,” mom began. “I was engaged to Oriabiaus Boucher… Donny’s father… but I couldn’t marry him. I couldn’t go through with it. I loved yoru father so much… We escaped here… we thought we would be safe in the colonies… but they found us… and your sister… she was so little…”

“I entered into a Devil’s Pact,” Dad sighed. “By the council’s law, your mother was legally bound to Oriabiaus. She had committed adultery by marrying me and I had committed theft my marrying her. The punishment then was death… It is good they have reformed so much since then…”

“They would have killed us… and your sister… as punishment,” Mom explained.

“Oriabius decided to solve the matter,” Dad explained. “He had wed himself and had a son. He said if we were able to arrange a marriage between our children… then everything could be forgiven and things would be set right in the council’s eyes… I couldn’t… I couldn’t put my wife and child through a life on the run… eons of constant fear we would be discovered and prosecuted…”

“We thought it would work out well,” Mom admitted. “Lia and Donny got along so well as children… but when she was sixteen… she met Jacques Marrioneaux…”

“He was a troubled boy,” Dad admitted. “Physically weak… often ill… he never lived up to his father’s expectations and buckled under the pressure of being the eldest son… They found something… unique in one another…But Donny has always had a temper… much like his father…”

“And he killed them,” I finished. “He killed them for breaking the arrangement.”

“It is not so simple,” Mom shook her head.

“Donny went on trial before the Vazatori… but you see… there were many vampires living in the bayous and backwoods of Louisiana at that time. The only person who could have provided any evidence that Donny was Jacques’ killer was your sister… and she seemed to have gone into hiding…”

“It didn’t help that… that night…” Mom frowned, “we and the Bouchers were throwing an elaborate masque to formally announce your sister’s engagement… Many people reported seeing Donny throughout the night… he had tons of alibis…”

“From people interested in protecting him, no doubt,” I snorted.

“The council found him not guilty due to insufficient evidence,” Dad sighed. “And it was the opinion of more than one member that your sister… that Lia had somehow lost control, killing Jacques herself and then taken into hiding, regretting her mistake… If it were ever proven she were alive… if they found her… she would be immediately taken into a custody as a suspect in Jacques’ death.”

“Wouldn’t the council be relieved? A human knowing the existence of vampires had been eliminated,” I snorted. “This was all before the pills and stuff… Why would they prosecute her?” My parents looked at each other nervously.

“Your sister and Jacques had planned to run away together,” my father said. “She left us a note the night she disappeared, telling us not to look for her and that they would be starting a new life together…”

“And?” I prompted.

“She then told us something we didn’t know… we never expected…” Dad sighed. “Michael, at least a month before they had planned to leave Merridick… your sister and begun undertaking the rather precarious task of… of changing Jacques Marrioneaux into a vampire…”