SHADOWS

She’s Trouble

Silence swallowed the whole house.

Everyone's heartbeats increased loudly, especially Hailey's. Her hands trembled in her lap.'"I know it's been eight years," he began again "But my gut tells me one way or another you people are involved." No one dare speak or moved."I've also noticed blood bags keeps disappearing from the hospital blood bank."

He stared back at Jason

"If stealing blood keeps innocent people from getting hurt" He shrugged. "I can live with that." then his voice suddenly got firmer. "But if that missing boy turns up dead and I find out he was killed by one of you" He glanced at each of us. "Or even by some random vampire you decided to protect. I will burn this place to the ground."

He lifted his face toward the staircase."And I will kill every last one of you." He stared directly at the spot where Hailey was sitting. "Every! last !!one!!"

In seconds before any of us had the courage to say anything, the sheriff tipped his hat. "I'll take my leave." He turned and walked toward the front door.

"Dad."Hailey's voice echoed through the house.

The sheriff froze, or one second, I really thought he might actually turn around. But He didn't. He just kept walking down the porch steps, climbed into his patrol vehicle, with the other two deputies and slamming the door shut. Soon the engine roared to life, he drives out leaving behind a silence that somehow felt louder than the threat he'd just made.

SCENE

Hailey stood frozen at the top of the stairs, staring at the empty doorway.

"He knows," Morgan whispered panicking.

"He doesn't know," Carson corrected. "He suspects. There's a difference."

Reagan folded her arms tightly across her chest. "That difference won't matter if Scott's body is found."

Jason shut the front door and leaned against it, rubbing a hand over his face. "He'll find it." Everyone looked at him. "He has dogs, deputies, volunteers, they'll search every inch of those woods."

"They won't," Carson replied. "We buried him deep enough."

"But if they keep searching" Reagan said quietly.

"They'll find something," Carson finished for her.

CARSON

Hailey finally descended the stairs, her face remained pale. "My dad never makes threats he doesn't intend to keep."

I let out a dry laugh. "I think we all know the sheriff sweetheart." She ignored my sarcasm.

"If he believes we killed Scott" she swallowed, "he might call the C....."

Blood rushed to my face as I cut her off "We don't have time for this," I snapped. "You people brought Georgia back. Now make sure we don't all end up dead because of her." Without waiting for any one response, I turned and walked away.

REAGEN

I watched Carson disappear upstairs part of me wanted to tell him he was wrong but the other part knew he wasn't. I had never fully agreed with bringing Georgia back. Saying no, however, would've made me the horrible sister, Jason would've hated me, Morgan would've given me a tough time and Hailey would've done it anyway.

I loved Georgia, she is my sister after all but I also knew something everyone else except Carson seemed to forget whenever they looked at her. Georgia was trouble, trouble had always found her, that if she didn't found it first. Even so, bringing her back wasn't something we could avoid anymore. We need her.

Morgan broke the silence. "We need to get Georgia under control."

"It's the stone," Hailey said, shaking her head. "Not Georgia. We need to know more about the Resurrection Stone." She turned to Jason. "Where did you find it? You never told us."

Jason sighed heavily. "I can't tell you that. But what do you need to know?"

"Everything!" Hailey snapped. "We don't know everything about the stone, we have to know everything ."

Jason rubbed the back of his neck. "I doubt where I found it would answer your questions." He looked directly at Hailey. "You'll have to do your witch thing."

She rolled her eyes. "My witch thing?"

"I guess you're the only one who can truly figure out what that stone really is." I rested my hands on her shoulders.

Before Hailey could respond, Carson's voice echoed from the kitchen. "Are you kidding me?" We all rushed in. Carson stood in front of the open refrigerator, staring inside with disbelief. "She drank every single pint of blood."

Jason's eyes widened. "I forgot she did that."

Carson slammed the refrigerator door shut. "Hailey use magic to steal that batch from the blood bank to last us at least a month." In the blink of an eye, he was standing inches away from Jason, his eyes had turned black red. "I'm hungry," he growled. "And your highness knows exactly how much I despise animal blood. And we can't exactly stroll into the blood bank now can we?" He lashed out.

"We would figure something out." I said

Carson scoffed and stepped away from Jason, dragging a hand through his hair. "So, what's the plan?" he asked bitterly. "We sit here starving until the freezer magically restocks itself?"

Morgan folded her arms. "We'll figure something out."

"Oh, brilliant," Carson replied. "I was worried nobody was going to repeat that line again."

"Carson!" Morgan warned.

"Green!" He screamed back as he turned to face all of us.

"Do you people realize how bad this is? The sheriff is already watching the blood bank. We can't steal blood, we can't even feed a little because 90% of the town consumes vervain like it a fruit juice and now every vampire in this house is supposed to survive on what exactly?"

"I'll go hunting," Jason said.

Carson laughed. "Hunting what? A Deer?"

"If I have to." Jason sighed.

"You won't last two days before you start throwing up." I mocked.

Jason's jaw tightened."We've survived on animal blood before."

"Survived?" Carson echoed. "Sure. But lived? Not even close."

Hailey stepped between them before another argument could begin. "Enough." Everyone looked at her. "We're thinking about tomorrow when we should be thinking about tonight."

"What do you mean?" Morgan asked.

Hailey froze mid-breath. Her pupils dilated as if something had pulled her under. "Georgia." The room fell quiet and immediately everyone turned to her. "If she wakes up hungry again before we understand what the Stone did to her." Her voice dropped.

"She won't look for blood bags."