LITMIR.BIZ

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saw there was still some battery life. She opened it, feeling bad for spying, but knowing that she needed to. She didn’t know Scarlet’s friends numbers, and had no other way of getting in touch with them.

      She tapped on Scarlet’s contacts, then went to her Favorites. She scrolled through, and saw dozens of names. Some names she recognized, and others she didn’t.

      “We should call them all,” Polly said. “One by one. Maybe one of them knows something.”

      Caitlin stood there, in a daze, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. As she went to dial the first contact, she noticed how badly her hands were shaking.

      Polly noticed, too; she reached out and placed a reassuring hand on Caitlin’s wrist, and Caitlin looked up.

      “Caitlin, sweety, you’re still in shock. Let me call all these people for you. Please. It would give me something to do. Just go and sit down and rest. You’ve been through hell, and you’ve already done all that you can.”

      As Polly said it, Caitlin knew she was right. She wasn’t really in her right mind. She looked at the phone, and for a moment, almost forgot what she was doing. She reached out and handed the phone to Polly.

      Caitlin turned and walked out the room, and within moments, she heard Polly’s voice ringing through the air, already having someone on the line.

      “Is this Heather?” Polly called out. “This is Polly Paine. I’m Scarlet Paine’s aunt. I’m sorry to trouble you, but we’re looking for Scarlet. Have you seen her?”

      Polly’s voice slowly faded as Caitlin walked back down the steps. She held the banister as she went, feeling dizzy, feeling as if the world might slip out from under her.

      She finally entered the living room, walked over to a large, overstuffed chair, and sank into it. She sat there, staring out the window, her mind racing. Despite her best efforts, images flashed through her mind: Scarlet in bed, screaming; her snarl; her throwing Caleb; her bursting out of the house… Was it all real?

      As she dwelled on it, she couldn’t help thinking of her meeting with Aiden. Of his words, of her journal. Had her journal caused all this? Why had she had to go to that stupid attic? Why did she have to go visit him? If she hadn’t, if she’d left everything alone, would all of this had happened?

      She thought of Aiden’s warning, that Scarlet would unleash vampirism back onto the world.

      You must stop her.

      Caitlin sat there, wondering. What was Scarlet out there doing right now? Was she feeding on people? Was she turning them into vampires? Was she spreading it, even now? Would the world never be the same? Was Caitlin responsible?

      Caitlin felt like grabbing her phone and calling Aiden. Grilling him. Demanding he tell her everything, every last detail.

      But she couldn’t bring herself to. She reached out and held her phone, and something inside her stopped. She remembered Aiden’s final words, and they brought a fresh wave of nausea. She loved Scarlet more than life, and could never entertain harming her.

      As Caitlin sat there, clutching the phone, staring out the window, hearing Polly’s muted voice from upstairs, her mind raced. Her eyelids grow heavy. Before she knew it, she was fast asleep.

* * *

      Caitlin woke to find herself sitting alone in her large, empty house. The world was still. She sat there, wondering where everyone had gone, and stood and crossed the room. Oddly, all the blinds and drapes had been drawn tight. She walked to one of the windows, and pulled them back. As she looked out, she saw a blood-red sun – but this time it looked different. It didn’t seem like sunset, but rather sunrise. She was confused. Had she slept the whole night? Had Scarlet come home? And where had everyone gone?

      Caitlin headed towards the front door. For some reason she sensed that maybe Scarlet was there, waiting for her.

      She slowly pulled open the heavy door, looking out. But the world was absolutely still. There wasn’t a single person on the streets, or even a single car in sight. All she could hear was the sound of a lone morning bird chirping. She looked up and saw it was a raven.

      Caitlin heard a sudden noise, and turned and walked back through the house. She walked into the kitchen, looking for signs of anyone. She heard another clanging, and made her way to the window against the back wall. The drapes were drawn tightly here, too, which was odd, because Caitlin always kept them open. She reached for the drapes, and pulled the cord.

      As she did, she jumped back in fright. Standing outside, its face to the window, was the pale, white face of a vampire, completely bald, fangs extended and right up against the glass. It snarled and hissed as it reached up with its hands and placed its palms against the glass. Caitlin could see its long, yellow fingernails.

      There was another sudden noise, and Caitlin turned and saw the face of another vampire at the side window.

      There was the sound of breaking glass, and she turned and in the other direction saw yet another face. This one smashed his head right to the glass, sneering at her.

      Suddenly, her house was filled with the sound of breaking glass. Caitlin ran through the house, and everywhere she looked, the walls were different than she remembered. Now they were all made of glass windows, and everywhere she looked, drapes were being pulled back and windows shattered, as vampire after vampire stuck its head through.

      Caitlin ran from room to room, to the front door, trying to get away, as more and more windows shattered.

      She reached the front door and yanked it open – and stopped in her tracks.

      Standing there, facing her, a deadly look in her eyes, was Scarlet. She glared back at Caitlin, looking more dead than alive, stark white, and with a fierce look that wanted to kill. Even more shocking, behind her stood an army of vampires – thousands of them. All waiting to follow her, to rush into Caitlin’s house.

      “Scarlet?” she asked, hearing the fear in her own voice.

      But before she could react, Scarlet grimaced, leaned back, and pounced on Caitlin, her fangs aiming right for her throat.

      Caitlin woke screaming, sitting up in her chair. She reached for her throat, rubbing it with one hand, while with her other hand, she tried to push Scarlet off.

      “Caitlin? You OK?”

      After several seconds, Caitlin calmed down and looked up and realized it wasn’t Scarlet. It was Sam. At first, she was confused. Then she realized, with tremendous relief, that she had been sleeping. It was just a nightmare.

      Caitlin sat there, breathing hard. Standing over her were Sam, one hand on her shoulder, looking concerned, and Polly. The lamps were on, and she saw it was dark out. She glanced at the grandfather clock and saw it was after midnight. She must have fallen asleep in the chair.

      “You okay?” Sam asked again.

      Now Caitlin was embarrassed. She sat up, wiping her forehead.

      “Sorry to wake you, but it seemed like you were having a bad dream,” Polly added.

      Caitlin slowly stood, pacing, trying to shake off the awful vision of the dream. It had felt so real, she could almost still feel the pain in her throat where she had been bitten by her own daughter.

      But it was just a dream. She had to keep telling herself that. Just a dream.

      “Where’s Caleb?” she asked, remembering. “Have you heard anything? How did the calls go?”

      The expressions on Sam’s and Polly’s faces told her all she needed to know.

      “Caleb’s still out there looking,” Sam said. “I called it quits about an hour ago. It’s pretty late. But we wanted to keep you company until he got home.”

      “I called all her friends,” Polly chimed in. “Every single one. I got through to most of them. No one has seen or heard anything. They were all as surprised as we were. I even got through to Blake. But he said he hasn’t heard a word from her. I’m so sorry.”

      Caitlin rubbed her face, trying to shake off the cobwebs.

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