with anyone. I can’t believe I’m going to say it, but he might be.” I blather on about how sometimes I think I can see myself settling down with Thomas. I build a cathedral of lies and daydreams for her, complete with a white picket fence and kids and happily ever after side by side on the porch.
Her fear dissipates, leaving only the faintest residue left behind. “I’m so happy for you.” And I can tell that she genuinely is. “I bet you’ve been so wrapped up in falling in love that you haven’t been paying much attention to the news.” She says this and the fear flares up in her eyes again.
I pretend not to see it. “Guilty.” I shrug and smile.
“Things have been happening. Alec Lewis, the leader of the Order of the Righteous Hand of God?” She waits for me to nod in recognition. How could I not know who he was, with his billboards and press conferences? The man was a fully publicized cult leader. “He’s gone missing. His wife says that he’s been lying to us all, that there’s no such thing as vampires. She’s been all over the news, disbanding most of their churches, calling for people who truly believe in the word of God to come join her at what she calls the Citadel. Their church downtown?”
My mind is reeling, but I manage to nod. Alec Lewis, the leader of the Righteous Hand of God, a church that has fervently expressed its desire to rid the world of vampires, is missing. And his wife is claiming vampires don’t exist. And Thomas has to disappear because it’s not safe. And I’m not safe. How can it not all be connected?
Mia doesn’t notice how distracted I am. “But I think it’s a message.” Her voice has gone all conspiracy theory on me and something crazy gleams in her eyes. “Code. Because you know, and I know, that vampires are real. I saw the marks on your neck. I think when Mrs. Lewis is calling out to all the people who truly believe in the word of God, I think what she means is that she wants people who really know the truth about vampires. And I’m going down there to talk to her.”
Chapter 12
I want to tell her that she’s being silly, that if that woman is telling people there aren’t vampires, then it’s because there really aren’t vampires. But I can’t tell her that because Mia saw the bite marks on my neck. The bite marks I never explained away. She’d never, in a million years, believe vampires didn’t exist after seeing those two puncture marks on my throat.
“Mia …” I say her name to buy me time. “If … what’s her name? Gwen, right?” I’m stalling, hoping my thoughts will work themselves out so I can say something - anything - that’ll make sense to Mia.
She nods and the fear in her eyes has given way to fanaticism. “Yes. Gwen Lewis.” The woman’s name is a sigh on Mia’s lips.
“Well, if Gwen is telling the world vampires aren’t real, it has to be because she believes vampires aren’t real.” There. That should work. I didn’t deny the existence of vampires, something that would set Mia off onto another fear driven rant.
Her eyes crunch up as she considers what I said. She gasps. “You don’t think…? Are you saying…?” Mia’s posture is rigid and her hands hang in the air in front of her, fingers splayed. “You think she’s being messed with? Something’s happened to her husband and somehow she’s being lied to?” Her voice arcs upward at the end of each sentence, her statements made into questions by the acceleration of her heartbeat. “Or worse! Do you think someone’s making her say those things?”
“That’s not at all what I’m saying.”
But Mia’s not listening. She’s heard what she wanted to hear, my words feeding the blossoming conspiracy she’d already started to nurture. Her eyes go wide. “Rachel! I have to go down there and talk to her!”
What can I say to her that won’t set her off? I just got her back. I don’t want to make her mad, push her away again. “I
Her fear dissipates, leaving only the faintest residue left behind. “I’m so happy for you.” And I can tell that she genuinely is. “I bet you’ve been so wrapped up in falling in love that you haven’t been paying much attention to the news.” She says this and the fear flares up in her eyes again.
I pretend not to see it. “Guilty.” I shrug and smile.
“Things have been happening. Alec Lewis, the leader of the Order of the Righteous Hand of God?” She waits for me to nod in recognition. How could I not know who he was, with his billboards and press conferences? The man was a fully publicized cult leader. “He’s gone missing. His wife says that he’s been lying to us all, that there’s no such thing as vampires. She’s been all over the news, disbanding most of their churches, calling for people who truly believe in the word of God to come join her at what she calls the Citadel. Their church downtown?”
My mind is reeling, but I manage to nod. Alec Lewis, the leader of the Righteous Hand of God, a church that has fervently expressed its desire to rid the world of vampires, is missing. And his wife is claiming vampires don’t exist. And Thomas has to disappear because it’s not safe. And I’m not safe. How can it not all be connected?
Mia doesn’t notice how distracted I am. “But I think it’s a message.” Her voice has gone all conspiracy theory on me and something crazy gleams in her eyes. “Code. Because you know, and I know, that vampires are real. I saw the marks on your neck. I think when Mrs. Lewis is calling out to all the people who truly believe in the word of God, I think what she means is that she wants people who really know the truth about vampires. And I’m going down there to talk to her.”
Chapter 12
I want to tell her that she’s being silly, that if that woman is telling people there aren’t vampires, then it’s because there really aren’t vampires. But I can’t tell her that because Mia saw the bite marks on my neck. The bite marks I never explained away. She’d never, in a million years, believe vampires didn’t exist after seeing those two puncture marks on my throat.
“Mia …” I say her name to buy me time. “If … what’s her name? Gwen, right?” I’m stalling, hoping my thoughts will work themselves out so I can say something - anything - that’ll make sense to Mia.
She nods and the fear in her eyes has given way to fanaticism. “Yes. Gwen Lewis.” The woman’s name is a sigh on Mia’s lips.
“Well, if Gwen is telling the world vampires aren’t real, it has to be because she believes vampires aren’t real.” There. That should work. I didn’t deny the existence of vampires, something that would set Mia off onto another fear driven rant.
Her eyes crunch up as she considers what I said. She gasps. “You don’t think…? Are you saying…?” Mia’s posture is rigid and her hands hang in the air in front of her, fingers splayed. “You think she’s being messed with? Something’s happened to her husband and somehow she’s being lied to?” Her voice arcs upward at the end of each sentence, her statements made into questions by the acceleration of her heartbeat. “Or worse! Do you think someone’s making her say those things?”
“That’s not at all what I’m saying.”
But Mia’s not listening. She’s heard what she wanted to hear, my words feeding the blossoming conspiracy she’d already started to nurture. Her eyes go wide. “Rachel! I have to go down there and talk to her!”
What can I say to her that won’t set her off? I just got her back. I don’t want to make her mad, push her away again. “I
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