Chapter 28
“OMG! You said ‘transform!’”
“I heard it, too,” I exclaimed. I had chills again.
“It’s just a word that means to change, to go through a metamorphosis,” Emma said shrugging like she didn’t get the significance.
“Yes, but that’s the word everyone keeps using to describe what’s going on with Cadence,” I reminded her.
“Maybe I should’ve used a different word.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have,” I argued.
“Okay—let’s get back on track,” Lucy said, shaking her head to clear it. “If there was a vampire at the festival, it could’ve infected your sister.”
“And killed Drew,” I said quietly.
Lucy’s face went ashen and her mouth dropped open. I knew what she’d say next, but it was a soft whisper, not the usual declaration. “OMG. You’re right. That explains the ‘cut her neck’ explanation everyone keeps using that doesn’t make any sense.”
“You think a vampire stuck its fangs into her neck, drained her of blood, and then slashed her throat so that it looked like a rock cut her?” Emma didn’t seem to think that was very logical.
“Maybe,” Lucy replied. It was a possibility. “Or maybe it wasn’t the vampire who slashed her neck.”
“It could’ve been her friends.” I didn’t want to say the words aloud, but it made sense. “If they saw what had happened to Drew and were nervous that no one would believe them….”
“Or if one of them did it….” Lucy said.
“What do you mean?” I asked, feeling my pulse increase again.
“What if one of her friends is the vampire?” Lucy asked.
“Okay, now I think you’re stretching this theory,” I said, not sure how that would be.
“Why not? Jack is acting weird. Something has happened to your sister.”
“Whatever happened to my sister, happened afterward.” Of that, I was sure. Cadence was fine, perfectly normal, until after she went to the Eidolon Festival.
“It could be alternative universe Jack, though,” Emma agreed. “It might explain why he’s afraid someone’s coming for him, too. If he killed Drew, he might think he’ll get in trouble.”
It was hard for me to imagine Jack was a vampire or that he was capable of killing Drew. “Do you think Jack could do that?”
“No,” Emma answered quickly. “I don’t think anyone could do that. Because I don’t think there’s any such thing as vampires.”
Lucy groaned. “I can’t imagine Jack hurting a fly, but if something got to him before the festival….”
“Maybe,” I said. “But I think it’s more likely that the vampire met them at the festival.”
“And maybe it didn’t mean to kill Drew, just turn her, but she died. And it got the rest of your sister’s friends, too, and her, apparently.” Lucy was clearly thinking out loud as her statement was a little disjointed, but I still managed to follow.
“All those other people, Aaron, Dr. Sanderson, Jamie, Eliza, Christian… they’re also vampires?” Emma asked.
“I guess so,” Lucy shrugged.
I thought about it for a few moments. “I guess… they showed up when they found out my sister had been bitten and decided she’d need help transitioning to a full-fledged vampire?” The word bloodsucker had entered my mind, but I didn’t say it because I couldn’t associate something so terrible with my big sister.
“Do they look like vampires?” Lucy asked.
“How they heck do I know?” I blurted back, exasperated. “I’ve never seen a vampire before. At least not that I know of.”
“You haven’t,” Emma assured me. “Because they don’t exist.”
I knew she wouldn’t stop, so I decided to ignore her. She wasn’t really capable of playing along with our theory when it broke some of her rules of logic. “All of this sounds so absurd.”
“It is absurd.”
“Thanks, Em.” I shook my head at her.
“It does sound cray cray,” Lucy agreed. “But… unfortunately, given the facts that we have, it also makes sense.”
“I will come up with an equally logical explanation that is scientific,” Emma declared.
“Go ahead,” I replied, settling back against the wall and grabbing a pillow and squeezing it.
Emma thought for a few moments. “Okay, your sister went to this festival, and her friends were approached by a group of strangers wearing all black. They have access to a drug that gives them superhuman speed, and they feel no pain, so leaping from heights really isn’t a problem so long as they don’t break any bones. Your sister and her friends all try it. Drew takes too much and dies. They want to cover it up, so they slash her throat.
“The strangers panic, but luckily, one of them is a doctor. He bluffs his way through the emergency room at Shenandoah Memorial, and the doctors there don’t bother to do a blood screen. They are satisfied with his answers because, as we know, he is capable of brainwashing people.
“Jack’s symptoms are due to withdrawal as he also took the drug, too much of it. He is paranoid, cold to the touch, and unsettled.
“Cadence isn’t going through withdrawal because she has decided to keep taking the drug. Aaron is her dealer. Eliza can drive such a fancy, expensive car because of the drug money. We haven’t heard of the drug yet because it’s pretty new to the market. Your sister has dropped out of school to be a drug dealer.” Emma finished with a shrug, her face completely serious.
I stared at her for a moment, not sure whether her theory made me feel better or worse. Thinking of Cadence addicted to a new street drug that killed her friend was disturbing, but not as disturbing as the idea that she might be a vampire. I still couldn’t get my thoughts into a complete sentence by the time Lucy spoke.
“I guess that is also a possibility.”
“There is no ‘also,’” Emma replied. “Because ‘also’ implies that your vampire theory is a possibility, and it’s not. There are no such things as vampires.”
