To Cure A Vampire

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 1“Sorry I’m late,” Abigail Rormton said, her bag flying behind her as she hurried to the park bench. “Mum wanted me to give you this.”

Sharon, Abigail’s older sister, pulled a face. “This is exactly why I’m not working for our parents—they always have something to say about my life. If they can’t say it to my face, they say it through you.”

Abby handed over the shopping bag. Sharon opened it and grimaced as she produced a purse with the periodic table printed on it. “See what I mean? They can’t accept that I don’t want to be a scientist—like everyone else in the family—and want to work in fashion instead.”

“Well … Mum can’t accept it, Shaz.” Abby inspected the purse, thinking it looked pretty cool. “At least it’s not a mini test tube set like last time. It means she’s trying.”

Sharon quirked an eyebrow. “Really?”

Abby averted her eyes, but not before she’d spotted the bag of takeaway sitting beside Sharon. “Bring that food over here. I’m hungry.”

“You’re not avoiding the subject at all,” Sharon replied sarcastically.

Abby and Sharon had a Friday night dinner tradition. Tonight, given their proximity to the beach, they were having fish and chips. Sharon handed her sister the food.

They caught up on their week as they ate and then decided to go for a walk on the beach. It was almost midnight by the time they reached the sand.

The warm breeze tasted of salt. The waves rushed towards them in the moonlight.

Abby took a deep breath as she gazed at the water. “It’s so beautiful.”

“There’s a reason Sunrise Beach is the holiday capital of Australia,” Sharon replied. “And it’s not because of the Disease Control and Prevention Centre, despite what Dad says.”

Abby snorted. When she and Sharon were kids, their father had convinced them both that people holidayed here just to visit their family-owned laboratory.

They walked on in the darkness, the path familiar to both of them. They soon a part of the beach where rainforest met sand.

“Remember when we used to play in here?” Sharon asked, entering the darkened forest.

Abby followed her. The moment they wandered into the canopy of trees, the water no longer visible, an oppressive silence fell. Goosebumps rose on Abby’s skin and she looked over her shoulder. “Yeah, but maybe we can come back during the day? Like tomorrow?”

“Come on, Abby, it’s not like there’s anyone here. And besides, I’m busy tomorrow—I have a hot date.”

Abby rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you can make some time for your sister, Shaz.”

Sharon giggled but didn’t say anything. She only went further into the trees.

Sweat trickled down Abby’s back. At least on the beach, the strong wind drove off the tropical weather. But in this dense jungle, the humidity clung to Abby’s skin and flushed her cheeks. “Okay, so I understand why you wanted to come at night. If it’s this hot now, imagine what it’ll be like during the day.”

“Exactly!” Sharon strode confidently ahead, pointing to their left. “Over there is where I broke my wrist. Down that track is a shortcut to the carpark. Ah, I remember this place so well I feel like I can navigate with my eyes closed!” Just then, she tripped over a root.

Abby chuckled. “What were you just saying—”

“Shut it, Abby.”

Hiding her grin, Abby helped her sister up.

But Sharon gasped. “Ouch.”

“What?”

“My ankle hurts. And I scraped my elbow.”

Abby threw Sharon’s arm over her shoulders. “Then I think it’s time to end this adventure, especially since you know this place so well.”

“Abby,” Sharon grumbled.

Abby turned her snicker into a cough and hauled her sister over a strangler vine. At last, they got back to the beach, the sand moving gently underfoot.

Abby smiled out at the water, instantly relaxing as she heard the rushing waves, then shivering as her sweat turned the warm breeze cold.

Sharon tensed up, her eyes downwind: a woman was illuminated by the street lights, her hair in a severe bun. “She wasn’t there a moment ago.”

Abby frowned.

The woman walked towards them, gaze intent.

“Her eyes are … I don’t like them,” Sharon whispered.

“What do you mean, you don’t like them. And how can you even see them?”

“My eyesight is better than yours.” Sharon pulled them back into the trees.

“Shaz, what are you do—”

“Shh! I’ve got a bad feeling.”

“It’s just a woman. Calm down.”

A cackle rang out from the beach.

The sisters froze and met each other’s eyes.

“Okay, let’s go your way,” Abby said and moved with her sister farther into the forest, remembering the paths they’d run as children.

“Oh, I do love a chase,” said a feminine voice from behind them.

Abby’s heart picked up speed. Sharon hobbled next to her, gritting her teeth in pain.

“Run, rabbit, run, rabbit,” the woman sang behind them, “run, run, run. Go give the farmer his fun, fun, fun.”

Sweat trickled down Abby’s back. What was going on? Were they being followed by a crazy lady? Well, she was cackling and stalking them, so … maybe.

They were so close to the carpark.

Suddenly, Sharon’s arm was ripped violently from Abby’s grasp.

Abby spun around in the dark, but there was only blackness behind her. Sharon was gone.

Chills went up Abby’s spine. “Shaz!” she shouted.

“Just go!” came Sharon’s reply, sounding from deep within the forest.

Abby followed the voice back along the dark path. “Shaz!” Where was she? How could she have disappeared so quickly? And where was that woman? It didn’t make sense. “SHAZ!”

Silence.

Abby’s limbs shook.

“Get out of here, Abby! It’s a trap! GO! NOW!”

Abby stopped. Trap? Why? For her? “What?”

“NOW!” The scream was desperate.

And it made Abby obey.

She turned and shot along the path towards the carpark. The moment she cleared the forest, she grabbed her keys and jumped into her car.

Starting her engine, she turned on her lights and looked in the rear-view mirror, preparing to reverse.

Then she froze. Directly behind her car, a set of clothes hung suspended in the air as if clinging to an invisible mannequin.

“What?” Abby whispered and looked over her shoulder.

It was the crazy lady, her form illuminated in red by the glow of tail lights, standing in the exact same clothes which had been empty a moment ago.

Goosebumps prickled Abby’s skin.

The woman stepped towards the car.

And then Abby saw her eyes—pinpointed, fierce and focused directly on Abby. “Predator,” she whispered, understanding why Sharon hadn’t like those eyes. Everything about this woman screamed that she would kill Abby.

The crazy lady smirked as if she’d heard Abby. She curled her finger, gesturing for Abby to get out of the car. “Come out of there and follow me,” the woman called out, her voice silky.

And for a brief moment, Abby felt the urge to do exactly as she was being told. To turn off the engine. To get out of the car. To follow this menacing stranger back into the dark forest.

She was just a woman, after all. Abby was probably just overreacting. She took her foot off the brake pedal—

Pain burst on Abby’s heel—she’d popped a blister.

What the hell had she just been thinking? Almost getting out of the car to follow this woman to certain death?

Abby slammed her foot on the accelerator and reversed before she could change her mind.

The car bounced twice as it rolled over the woman.

Horrified, Abby hit the brakes.

Her headlights shone over a prone body lying on the bitumen, its limbs at awkward angles.

Abby covered her mouth—she’d just intentionally run someone over. Her hands shook and she reached for her phone, dialling the emergency services.

“Fire, ambulance or police?”

“Ambula—”

But she didn’t get to finish—the broken woman on the ground snapped her head up and glared at Abby.

Abby screamed, “Police! The police!” Dropping her phone, she changed gear and roared out of the carpark, the woman standing, then limping after her, rage in her eyes.

The streets were deserted.

“Police, what’s your emergency?” the tinny voice coming from Abby’s phone shocked her out of her daze, and she groped around on the passenger seat until she found the device.

But what could she say? ‘My sister and I were attacked by someone who wasn’t there, and then she was? And then I ran her over?’

Yeah, that wouldn’t go down well.

“Ah,” Abby said, tears blurring her vision.

“Calm down. Just tell me the facts. Are you okay? Are you in immediate danger?”

No, but Sharon was.

Then Abby realised what she’d done: she’d left her sister behind. Her chest tightened as she spun a U-turn and headed back to the beach. She hung up on the police as she raced back to the carpark.

The woman was gone.

Abby parked, turned her lights off and wound down the window. Seeing and hearing nothing, she hopped out of her car and headed to the beach.

The roar of the ocean waves greeted her. The golden sand had turned silver in the moonlight.

And there to the left, about two hundred metres upwind, were two figures on the metallic sand. One on the ground, the other standing over her.

Abby crept along the tree line, hiding in the shadows until she could hear strains of conversation.

“—punishment for the other one running me over.”

“I’ll happily be punished for something that I would’ve done, given half the chance.”

“Oh, no. You don’t understand. I’m not just punishing you. If I wanted to simply punish you, I’d have made you my meal and cast your body aside afterwards. No, no. I’m punishing you both.”

A moment of silence. “Wha … what do you mean?”

A maniacal cackle drifted on the wind. “You’ll understand soon enough,” the crazy lady purred. “Like when you feel the agony of stepping into sunlight. Like when you start to crave the blood of your loved ones, that one included. But it won’t matter how much you resist, you’ll end up killing them all. The punishment involves you slowly going rabid, while that one watches, helpless to stop the inevitable fact that you’ll kill her—thus enacting my vengeance.”

Shivers wracked Abby’s frame—no, that wasn’t possible.

“You can only be taught how to deal with the blood lust,” the woman continued, “and I won’t be here to teach you.”

“No.”

“Yes, and when you’ve killed all your family, perhaps then I’ll come and help you. But by then, you might be as feral as they come—you’ll have to be put down like a rabid hound.”

Abby’s eyes widened.

“I’ll see you in a few years … if you last that long.” The woman snickered, then fell silent.

Abby stayed where she was for a long moment, straining to hear. Had the woman left?

Taking a calming breath, Abby peeked out. A lonely figure lay huddled on the beach. Abby waited a few more moments before leaving her cover of darkness.

She hurried to her sister. There was a coppery substance in the air. She knew that smell well—she worked with blood every day.

And the smell of it was getting stronger with every step.

Finally, Abby reached her sister, who was curled in the foetal position. The silver sand was painted black. The right side of Sharon’s neck and shoulder were wet with dark liquid.

“Shaz?” Abby asked, bending down and gently brushing dark hair off her sister’s face.

Silence. As if the woman hadn’t just taken Sharon’s … blood, but her words too.

Abby sniffled. How could she have left her sister like that? How could she have been such a coward?

“Shaz,” she tried again.

No response. Sharon was motionless.

“Come on, Shaz, I know you can talk. I heard you speaking to her.”

“Why did you come back?” she asked, voice hollow.

“Are you kidding?” Abby choked out. “Why the hell wouldn’t I come back?”

“You should have kept driving.”

“Yeah, well, I thought that you needed help with that … thing. I shouldn’t have left in the firs—”

“I’m glad you did.”

Abby shifted on her feet.

“I’m a danger to you,” whispered Sharon. “That woman said so herself. She … did something to me, Abby. I’m not who I used to be.”

Abby frowned. “Whatever she did to you, I’m sure we can manage it.”

“No, Abby, we can’t. She said I’d crave blood. She drained me of all of my blood and forced me to drink hers.”

Wait—that almost sounded like … well, it would explain why she couldn’t see the woman, only her clothes, in the rear-view mirror. “No, you’re kidding. You have to be. Vampires don’t exist.”

Sharon swallowed. “Then how do you explain that I’m able to talk like this after what just happened?”

Abby had no answer for that, so she changed the subject. “We need to get you to a hospital.”

“I won’t go.”

Abby considered all the ways to get her sister out of here. She decided to go along with Sharon’s delusion, if that’s what it was, for now.

“Okay, so you think you’ve changed? Then let’s go to Mum’s lab and test it.”

“You seriously want to break into your workplace?” Was that a smile in Sharon’s voice?

“Well … you think you’ve changed and I want proof that you have. This way we can find out for sure and not involve the hospital.”

Sharon hesitated.

“Come on, Shaz. I can bypass the security system to get us in. No one has to know.”

“Mum and Dad really shouldn’t have let you in on all those security meetings.” Another smile?

Abby scoffed. “They do want me to run the place one day.”

Sharon sat up slowly. Abby slung Sharon’s good arm over her shoulder, heaved her sister up and walked her slowly back to the car.

But when the street light illuminated the vehicle, they both stopped. The rear bumper was smashed in, the boot crumpled.

“You really did drive over her.”

“I did. But …then she stood up.”

Sharon hesitated. “I can’t do this. I’m just going to hurt you.”

Abby unlocked the car and eased Sharon into the front passenger seat. “You can. And besides, I’m not convinced that our dinner wasn’t spiked with some hallucinogen.”

“You really think a fish and chips shop would do that?” Sharon asked dubiously.

“I’m willing to entertain anything right now.”

“Just not the fact that I’m going to turn into a vampire.”

They drove to the lab in silence.

Abby parked around the back, where there was a blind spot in the security cameras. She led Sharon out of the car and used the spare master key to enter the building. It had DCPC inscribed on it, acronym for Disease Control and Prevention Centre.

Inside, they made their way to the basement, where the spare scientific equipment was kept.

But on the way, a flashlight shone on the wall and moved towards them. Abby shoved her sister around the corner, then stepped into the light beam.

“Miss Abbigail Rormton?” came the shocked voice of the security guard, James. “What are you doing here?”

Abby’s mind went blank. Then she leaned against the wall in a drunken way and giggled. “Would you believe me if I said I forgot something?”

James raised an eyebrow. “No, I wouldn’t. Are you drunk?”

“Aww, you caught me,” Abby said, stumbling towards him.

And actually tripped over.

James caught her before she hit the ground.

“Now really,” he said sternly, hands on her shoulders, the amused sparkle in his eyes undermined the severity his words, “tell me the truth. Why are you really here?”

Abby took in a breath and looked into his eyes. “Okay. When we were teenagers, my sister dared me to come in here alone, but I was too scared. She’s never let me forget it, so … I decided to stop the teasing once and for all.”

He snickered. “That’s it?”

“What?”

“You made me think something else was going on. Not some old dare. And I imagine liquid courage assisted you?”

Abby narrowed her eyes. James had his back to Sharon’s corner. Abby swiped her hand across her face, as if to push hair out of her eyes, but it was all to distract James while she secretly pointed for Sharon to scoot along the hall behind him.

But Sharon shook her head. Abby gestured again, more frantically this time. “Um—so what if I needed alcohol? I told you, I’m scared of this place in the dark. It’s creepy.”

James leaned in and smiled at her. “Then I bet you’re glad you ran into me.”

Abby hadn’t intended to flirt with him, but if it meant she could get her sister past him, then … She fluttered her lashes. “Oh, I am.”

Looking unimpressed, Sharon dodged along the hall.

James tilted his head and frowned—had he heard something?

Panicking, Abby touched his chest, running her hand over the pocket of his shirt. “Something the matter?” she purred.

James turned his attention back on Abby and winked at her. “Just scaring off the creepiness.” He turned and shone the torchlight down the hall, as if to prove it.

Abby held her breath—he would find Sharon!

But the hall was empty.

She tried not to sigh in relief. “Thanks for looking out for me.”

“Well, it is my job.”

Abby chuckled—she’d always liked James.

“Here, let me escort you out. And if your sister doesn’t believe you, then I’ll be your witness and tell her how bravely you traversed these dark halls.”

Abby chuckled. They went around the corner and Abby looked over her shoulder.

Sharon was poking her head out of an office and frowning at her.

Basement, Abby mouthed.

Sharon silently scoffed and disappeared around the corner.

James left Abby by her car, where she waited another hour before sneaking back in. This time, she managed to avoid James and made it to the basement.

“So, you just wanted to come here to flirt with the night guard?” Sharon said.

“That’s not the reason and you know it,” Abby grumbled.

Sharon gave her a dubious look.

“You still want to prove that you’re a vampire or what?” Abby huffed, shutting the door and turning on the lights.

“Fine.” Sharon leaned against a bench, arms crossed over her chest.

Abby withdrew some of Sharon’s blood and ran an analysis on it, then analysed her own blood for comparison.

When she saw the results, Abby’s pulse spiked. According to the test results, Abby and Sharon weren’t even related. Abby looked up at her sister, whose face was almost a mirror to her own. Brown hair, blue eyes—they even both wore glasses with similar prescriptions. The similarities were so obvious, anyone could tell they were related.

But the test results said the opposite. “Let’s run it again, just to be sure.”

“It’s saying I’ve changed, isn’t it?”

“We need to double-check everything, Shaz. You can’t just rely on one result in science.”

“Meaning I’ve changed.”

Silently, Abby collected new samples. She recalibrated the machines and ran the blood again.

Same result.

Abby’s heart thundered in her chest. “One more time.”

The same again.

Abby closed her eyes—in science, the first step to overcoming a problem was to recognise that it existed.

She turned to Sharon. “There … might be a slight chance that … what you think might happen will actually happen.”

Sharon levelled her blue eyes at Abby. “I know it’s more than a slight chance, Abby. She forced me to drink her blood and I felt the change inside me. I’m not who I used to be. My wounds even healed. I’m no longer your sister—”

“Of course you’re my sister,” Abby snapped.

“But will I still be when I’m a vampire?”

That shut Abby up.

“You need to stop me. Please, kill me before I hurt you.”

Abby shook her head. “No, we’re going to manage this. She said you’d be rabid if you didn’t get help. I won’t let you get to that stage.”

“How will you stop me? Your car didn’t stop her!”

“There must be some wa—”

“Abby! You’re not listening to me. I’ll kill you! Murder, maim, tortur—”

Abby clenched her jaw. “I won’t let you.”

“And how will you do that?” Desperation and disbelief were in Sharon’s eyes.

Abby took in a breath, already coming up with a plan. “Research.”