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Barry and the Vampire in the Rosedale Encounter. Darrell Bartell
Читать онлайн.Название Barry and the Vampire in the Rosedale Encounter
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781946329332
Автор произведения Darrell Bartell
Издательство Ingram
“Barry, it’s all right.”
“I got it. Okay? You want me to stay away, I’ll stay away.” His breathing came fast and heavy. Sweat ran down the side of his face.
“Barry—”
“Please! Just leave us alone! I won’t tell anyone! I swear!”
“Barry, I didn’t come here to kill you.”
His breathing slowed down. “What?”
“You heard me. You’re safe. I’m not going to kill you.”
He didn’t know what to do.
“Think about it,” she said. “Do you really believe I’m afraid of you?” She paused. “Holding that knife?” She paused again. “Covered in lasagna and tomato sauce? You look ridiculous.”
“But my mom—”
“I put her in a trance, so we could talk. She’s fine. Now relax and put that thing down before you hurt yourself.”
Barry hesitated for a moment before placing the knife back in the sink. He knew he was no match for her. “Okay, talk.”
“First, I want to apologize. I know you were only trying to help and I appreciate it.”
“You got a funny way of showing it.” He rubbed the shirt covering his neck.
“I admit I overreacted.”
“Overreacted?” he repeated, with anger. “My neck looks like a charcoal briquette.”
“Cut me a break, will you?”
Barry wasn’t sure if she was upset with the situation or him.
“We’ve only known each other a day. I made it clear for you to keep your distance and then you ambushed me.”
Barry’s heart rate and blood pressure were returning to normal.
“Not with a crossbow or a crucifix, but with my past. Something I’ve worked hard to bury.”
He started to believe her.
“You would have gotten the same reaction if you had tried to stake me.”
“What else was I supposed to do?”
“Nothing,” she shot back. “You should have left it alone.”
“How could I? I thought you’d want to know.”
“Well, I didn’t.”
A long moment of silence echoed throughout the kitchen, until Barry asked, “What now?”
“Now?” she answered. “Now I go find my niece.”
Her next question sent chills through the core of Barry’s soul.
“Wanna come along?”
Chapter 5
Nurse Smith gave Barry’s mom simple instructions. “Enjoy a good meal, clean the kitchen, and go to bed. Wake up rested for work and don’t worry about Barry. He’ll be on a field trip in Oklahoma and won’t be back until after spring break.”
After Barry threw a few clothes into a suitcase, they both walked outside.
She looked to make sure nobody was around. “Hang on.”
“Where are we going?” asked Barry.
“My place.” Grabbing Barry underneath his arms, they flew up into the night sky. A few minutes later they landed on the roof of the same abandoned apartment building on Rosedale Street from the previous night.
They went through an open door, which she closed and double-locked behind them. Then they walked down a flight of stairs to the top floor. Barry’s eyes couldn’t adjust. All the windows were boarded up from the inside.
“Wait here,” she instructed.
A few seconds later she flipped a switch and a chandelier illuminated the darkness. Half of the top floor had been converted into a huge studio apartment. Against the north wall, a canopy bed with blue satin sheets stood on a fifteen-foot square Oriental rug. Her hospital scrubs were hanging off to the side of the bed. The east side had been turned into a living room complete with a sofa, coffee table, and plasma-screen television with a DVD player.
“Wow! Nice place.” Barry put his suitcase down next to the door.
“Thanks. Feel free to look around, but don’t touch anything. We won’t be here long.”
The library against the south wall caught Barry’s attention. Along with the bookshelves containing what appeared to be some exquisite first editions ranging from the works of Mark Twain to Ernest Hemingway, there were pictures carefully placed on top of the grand piano. Barry walked over to get a closer look.
“Is that who I think it is?”
“Which one?” she answered. “When it comes to music I have a variety of tastes: Toby Keith, Sting, Beyoncé, Dr. Dre, Queen, Journey, and the red-haired stranger himself.”
She wasn’t kidding. The piano had pictures of her with some of the top singers in the music industry of the last twenty or thirty years. “How did you meet all of these people?”
“Getting a backstage pass is easy when you have talent,” she joked.
Something appeared odd about the pictures. “I thought vampires couldn’t be photographed.”
“And we don’t cast a reflection in mirrors, and we sleep in coffins during the day. I’ll bring you up to speed later.” Nurse Smith started typing at her computer. “Come over here.”
Barry strolled over to Nurse Smith seated at the desk, intensely staring at the computer screen. She found the website she needed.
“Stand against the white wall, smile, and say cheese.”
Barry did and a bright flash of light went off. “What was that?”
“Your picture. I’m getting you a driver’s license.”
“You hacked into the DMV?”
“It’s the age of computers. They come in handy when you want to change your name and have to relocate.” She continued typing. “You do know how to drive, don’t you?”
“My dad taught me.”
“Good. What’s your date of birth?”
He told her.
“We’ll add four years to it.”
“Why do I need a fake ID?”
“Because some of the places we’re going won’t allow you inside unless you’re twenty-one,” she typed again.
“Like where?” he inquired.
“I’ll tell you when we get there.”
Nurse Smith worked like a pro, using the computer to print and then laminate Barry’s picture to the driver’s license. “Complete with the state seal on the front and magnetic strip on the back,” she said, handing the small document to Barry.
“Never thought I’d see this.”
“Why, haven’t you had a license before?”
“No car. Mom couldn’t keep up with the payments so it was repoed. I walk to school. She takes the bus to work.”
His attention focused on a framed picture of two young girls in cheerleading uniforms. One of them appeared to be Nurse Smith. When he picked up the photograph from her desk, she quickly grabbed it away from him and replaced it.
“I said, look around, but