Cries of a Love Bat

“Emily,” Joe sang, walking from the hall way to the couch, almost skipping.

“Joe!” I chimed back, smiling as he sat next me with his laptop in hand. “What have you found on YouTube now?”

“I was not on YouTube for your information,” he stated matter-of-factly. “I was doing some research.”

“About?” I asked.

Joe grinned, “Marks and such.”

I stopped myself from groaning. “And what have you found out about these marks?”

“Well,” Joe began, his eyes twinkling. “Let’s just say, hypothetically of course, if a girl got marked by a vampire and she really didn’t want to spend the rest of eternity with that said vampire, she could break the mark. But since this world is far from perfect she would have to have another vampire break the mark, so it could be replaced.” By then Patrick had walked in and was listening intently. “All she needed to do was find some vampire who was willing to do it.”

“Joe,” Patrick said. “Where did you find that?”

“The Vampire Index dot com.”

Patrick frowned, “And how reliable is that source?”

“Patrick!” Joe cried, throwing his hands in the air. “It really doesn’t matter because we found a way to get rid of this!”

It finally clicked for me. “Wait, so you’re saying that I might be able to get marked from another vampire, so I don’t have to worry about Pete breaking his bonds?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Joe shrugged, getting up and walking into the kitchen.

I looked at Patrick hopefully. “You think it could work?”

“It could, but the possibility of that being reliable and it working without killing you is about a one in a million chance. And take into consideration Andy, Joe nor I are vampires; finding someone willing enough to do this is going to be hard.”

I bit my lip, then said, “But to speak in clichés it’s either die from Pete or die trying to get away from him. It’s worth every shot.”

“Also you should remember,” Joe grinned, holding up a glass of water, “no one gets out of life alive anyway.”

Patrick rolled his eyes, running a hand down his face. “You…really?”

“Just saying,” Joe laughed, looking at the clock. “Oh shit, guys it’s nine thirty, we got to get moving.”

By the time we all changed out of our pajamas, grabbed the equipment, buckled out seatbelts, and actually started the car it was ten thirty. By the time we got five blocks away from the park it was ten fifty, so we took our time walking.

“You excited?” Andy asked. “This’ll be your first fight.”

“Yeah, just nervous,” I nodded, switching the stake from hand to hand.

“You’ll do fine,” Joe said, patting a hand on my shoulder. “You can flirt with vampires to distract them, then I’ll go over and chop their heads off!” He sounded excited, and I felt the energy bubbling off of him.

When we were on the street of the park, only a couple yards away from the entrance, Patrick said, “It’ll be a small group tonight. Just the Hoods and Dandies. And us.”

“Oh, so not too bad.” I knocked into Joe’s shoulder. “I’m sticking with you tonight, right?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter,” he shrugged. “Whoever you want.”

When we passed in through the gate, the trees made the path we were following darker. It was cold, and for the third time that week it was snowing. I would have got lost if it hadn’t been for the guys. Surprisingly they seemed to know where they were going. They were calm and relaxed, but it had to be the millionth time they were doing this. I was nervous, but I was more nervous about seeing Pete.

“So what are we fighting for again?” I asked as we cut through the trees, and strayed off the path.

“Remember the Dandies burned down the Heroes warehouse?” Patrick asked, and I nodded. “Well for that. It’s all politics, really.”

“Who would have known?” I laughed.

We slowed down when we came to a clearing. A fountain stood in the middle, with more paths and some trails leading away from it. The dim light of the lamps illuminated the small snowflakes falling to the ground. In random spots were groups of vampires, each huddled and not talking. It was silent except for our footsteps. We stopped by a bench, and waited.