The monster opened her eyes and looked at Lottie as she tried to scramble over. Her muscles shook as she tried to pull herself over the top.
“Lottie, it’s pointless running. I can catch you now. I can catch anyone now,” the monster said.
Lottie paused briefly, halfway curled over, then her pink knickers flashed as she disappeared over the fence.
“Mommy, Mommy, please.” Billy choked on a sob, embarrassed when he felt warm piss run down his legs. “Don’t hurt us.”
A flicker of emotion crossed his mother’s eyes, and the black began to fade back to brown.
The neighbor’s voice trembled as she shouted, “I’m calling the police!”
Crack.Timber flew as the fence broke and Mack streaked through the yard. Billy’s mother released his arm. Billy coveredhis bleeding limb with his hand and staggered backwards. The dog stopped beside Billy, his hackles raised, snarling and growling. The vampire shifted her gaze to the dog.
Billy kept backing away. “Stay back or the dog will bite you.” His voice came out shaky.
The neighbor shouted, “I’ve called the police. They’re on their way. You better get out of here.” She peered through the fence and let out a breath of relief. “Leah, what in God’s name are you doing to those children, girl?”
A low snarl slipped out as his mother bared her fangs.
The woman’s face paled, and she cried out as his mother moved in a blur of speed that wasn’t humanly possible, before her fangs tore into the woman’s neck. Crimson sprayed across Billy’s face like spring rain.
The neighbor’s mouth gaped open, and his mother’s throat bobbled each time she swallowed as she drank the woman’s blood.
Growling and snarling, Mack charged, seizing hold of his mother’s leg and yanking. His mother didn’t release the woman. Instead, her hand clenched into a fist and pummeled Mack’s head.
And Mack’s head?—
It caved in like a watermelon smashed with a rock.
Billy screamed as Mack made a terrible pained sound and staggered a few steps, before he collapsed to his side, panting and whining.
Billy couldn’t help Mack or the woman now. Tears blurred his vision as he sprinted toward the back fence where Lottie had run, pain striking through his toes with every step.
He leapt, and using his fingers, he hurled himself over the fence and landed on his feet. It felt like a knife was jammed up his foot. Biting back a cry, Billy ran, hobbling as fast as hecould. He stopped abruptly. His gaze hooked on Lottie’s teddy, discarded on the ground.
Lottie wouldn’t go anywhere without her teddy.
The vampire was fast—had she somehow made it to his little sister before him?
The world crumbled in all around him, and for a moment Billy couldn’t see anything at all but a black blur.
Somewhere in the not-too-far distance, people were shouting, but he could barely hear them over a sudden roar in his head.
Slowly, the layers of the world peeled back. Billy’s fingers trembled as he reached for the teddy and held it to his sodden face. She couldn’t be dead, not Lottie. She was too sweet, too little. She couldn’t bedead. She was the only one who truly loved him, she needed Billy … but the truth was, Billy needed her too. She was all he had left in this world. A sob racked his chest. In a numb daze, he raised his head.
He saw Lottie sitting on the grass, her hands wrapped around her dirt-scraped knees, rocking back and forth, whimpering.
Relief flooded him as he ran to her. “Lottie,” he whispered. “We have to go, come on.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her roughly to her feet. He handed her the teddy as they ran down the side of the house toward the lights coming from houses on the street.
A dark shadow exploded in front of them. Billy and Lottie slammed to a halt.
What used to be their mother blocked their path. The moon highlighted the blood dripping from her chin and splattered across her top like some grotesque Halloween mannequin.
He pulled Lottie into his arms, held her tight, her teddy nestled between them.
“Close your eyes, Lottie,” he whispered, his voice breaking. Billy squeezed his own eyes shut. “It’s okay, it’s okay, I love you, I love you,” he repeated over and over. Lottie sobbed, her tiny frame shuddering against his chest as they waited to die.
Chapter 14
