Chapter Four
"Why did you leave me?!" Taylor cried the moment they got him in the room. Zac led him over to the bed where he proceeded to rock back and forth, his arms around his knees. Isaac was already at the sink, putting ice from the bucket into a washcloth. Zac was struggling with his brother, trying to get him to lay back on the pillows. The white hand towel he'd grabbed at the pool was nearly red now from all the blood.
As Isaac rushed back, Zac exclaimed, "Ike, do you think it's broken? It won't stop bleeding!"
"It will stop if he'll lay back and calm down." Isaac said forcefully, aiming his words at Taylor. He took the towel from Zac and pitched it towards the sink. "Get behind him Zac, and pull him backwards. "Taylor, get your hands away from your face so we can see what we're dealing with here." Isaac said, exasperated. Zac did as Isaac asked and put his arms over his brother's chest, then lay back himself, pulling him backwards and pinning his arms so he couldn't cover his face. Zac was a little frightened when he felt Taylor's heart pounding in his chest. Isaac grabbed a t-shirt off the bed, "Here, your nose is running on top of all that blood." And he wiped it as if he were Zoe, but Taylor wasn't turning his head this way and that as their little sister always did. "Mmmm, blood and snot, hope you're not too fond of this shirt Tay." He said as he threw it into the sink to join the towel. Now, he placed the ice on his brother's face and pushed his head back on Zac's shoulder. Taylor continued to cry and Isaac rolled his eyes, "Taylor," he said, using his parent voice, "calm down and tell me what happened. You're ok, it's just a little blood." Though he looked so pale and small to him, he wasn't sure he believed his own words.
"She tried to kill me." Taylor moaned.
"What did you say?" Isaac said, looking at Zac to see if he'd heard the same thing.
"Who tried to kill you?" Zac asked slowly.
"She tried to. I thought she was gonna drown me." He said, gulping.
"Don't hyperventilate on us." Isaac ordered, "There wasn't anyone there dude, you were alone." He continued.
Exhaustion was taking the place of the adrenaline rush that had taken over Taylor's body when he'd found a girl with incredible eyes and long red hair perched upon his chest, gazing into his own eyes as she pushed him under the water. "Why did you leave me?" he asked softly, his eyes closing. Isaac pulled the ice away and wiped his face with the washcloth. Zac loosened his hold and slid out from under Taylor. The blood had stopped. Both boys stood back now looking at him. He looked pale and insubstantial, the bed seeming to swallow him up.
"Ike, what was he talking about?" Zac asked.
"Damn, I don't know Zac. He probably passed out and hit the side of the pool. Maybe he dreamed it—there wasn't anybody in there and Dan didn't see anything." Isaac said.
"Should we tell Mom and Dad?" Zac asked.
Isaac raised an eyebrow at his little brother, "Yeah, sure! Hey Mom, me and Zac decided to take a walk while Taylor almost drowned. No problems though, he just broke his nose is all." Isaac looked at Zac.
"But, maybe somethin's really wrong Ike. What if he's going crazy or doing drugs or something?" Zac said, looking back at Taylor again, "Hmmm, I guess all that blood made it look worse than it was—he doesn't even have a bruise."
Now Isaac looked as well, "Still got that big hickey though, she musta been something to get him to take off all those necklaces for her."
Zac smiled, "Yeah, did he think we wouldn't see it there?"
Isaac grinned, "Sometimes he's smart, sometimes he ain't. You know that." Isaac turned, "I'm going to bed before anything else happens." And he pulled off his wet trunks, flung them into the corner with his foot and climbed in the other bed.
"Hey! I had to sleep with him last night." Zac exclaimed.
"Zac, he's like, six inches wide, he's passed out, you'll never know he's there. Go to sleep." Isaac said, and he turned off the light and rolled over.
"Hmph," Zac muttered, "he might be six inches wide, but he's six foot three and he's got some big ass cold feet…" He turned out the light on his side, got in bed and pulled the extra covers up over Taylor, who was so still, Zac watched to make sure he was still breathing. The moonlight shone on him, allowing Zac to see his chest rise and fall slowly. He watched until he finally fell asleep himself.
~~~~
Isaac woke up to the eerie feeling that he was being watched. He opened his eyes, and as they adjusted to the darkness, he made out the shape of his little sister. "Avie? What're you doing up?" he whispered.
"Where's Tay?" she asked.
"He's asleep baby. How did you get in here anyway?" Isaac answered softly.
"The door was open. He's not sleeping, he's scared." She said.
Isaac shook his head, knowing she'd had a dream of some sort. "He's ok Ave, he just doesn't feel good—he's over there." He said, pointing to the other bed.
"Nu-unh, Ike. I looked there. That's Zac."
Isaac jumped from the bed, grabbing Taylor's jeans that lay discarded on the floor. Zac lay sprawled out on the bed, alone. Suddenly, Isaac felt a fear like he'd never felt before. "Zac! Get up! Taylor's gone!" he said, slapping him on the shoulder.
"Hmm? What?" Zac groaned sleepily.
Avery joined in, "Zac, we gotta find Tay. C'mon."
Now Zac was waking up, "Where is he?" he asked, sitting up.
"We don't know, you gotta help us find him." She said, handing him his pants from the end of the bed. Isaac rushed into the hall, looking both ways, undecided where to look first. He was joined by his brother and sister within moments.
"He was sick, did you look in Mom and Dad's room?" Zac asked.
Isaac looked down at Avery. "He wasn't there." She said.
"You go back to bed Ave, and when we find him, we'll let you know." Isaac said, nudging her toward her own room.
"But—" she started.
"NO! Get in your room, now!!" he threatened her.
Reluctantly, she turned and went into the room she shared with her sisters and her little brother and shut the door with a click. "Zac, I'm really scared here. We practically had to carry him up here and now, he's gone again. Something's wrong, he didn't sneak off to make out with a fan, y'know?"
Zac hadn't been really frightened 'til now, it took a lot to make Isaac admit he was scared. "I'm gonna check the pool and stuff, you check the game room and around there. Meet me back here in twenty minutes, alright?" Isaac said.
"Ok Ike." He answered and they both went their separate ways.
~~~~
In the game room, Zac saw nothing and nobody. In the hallways, he occasionally passed a maid or some other hotel worker and he asked them all if they'd seen his brother. All had given some polite form of "no". He passed a clock, 2:24 in the morning—it was time to go back up and meet Isaac, and hopefully Taylor as well.
~~~~
Avery listened to her brothers through the door. When they left, she carefully tiptoed out, following behind Isaac as he hurriedly walked down hallway after hallway. It was all she could do to keep up and she knew if he lost her, she really would be lost. At last, Isaac ran into one of the crew members coming back from a night on the town. They talked for a moment, then Isaac practically ran toward the back door and the parking lot. She waited a few minutes before following. When she looked out the door, she saw her brother push open the door of their bus and disappear inside.
"Tay?" Isaac called into the darkness. The hair was standing up on the back of his neck. He didn't know what he expected to find, but the darkest thing his imagination could have conjured up didn't surpass the scene before him when he flipped on the light. The first thing he saw was Taylor and for a moment, he was relieved. But then, he saw the eyes of the same girl he'd seen in the hotel who'd lured he and Zac away from the pool, looking at him from behind his brother. Taylor was sitting on the floor of the bus, his legs sprawled out in front of him, his head held to the side by the girl. One hand she had entwined in the tangle of necklaces about his neck, using them almost like a noose. The other, she had across his chest, holding him to her tightly. Her blonde hair fell over Taylor's shoulder nearly hiding what she was doing, but not quite. When her eyes met Isaac's she produced a sound in her throat that could only be described as a growl—her full lips pulled back and, to his horror, Isaac saw that she'd sunk her teeth into the throat of his younger brother. Blood oozed down his chest now that her mouth wasn't there to consume it. "What the fuck is going on?!!" he cried and started towards them, but the woman held up the hand she'd had draped across Taylor's chest, his blood making a red streak on it and Isaac stopped.
"You're too late." She said, releasing her hold. She licked her teeth and then her lips. Isaac looked at Taylor, his eyes were open, but didn't seem to focus on anything. He looked like one of his sisters' rag dolls, hanging limp in her arms. Before she or Isaac could do another thing, a scream broke the silence as Avery witnessed the scene. In one last attempt to finish what she'd started, Sonya once more pushed her fangs into the boy's neck, no time to be gentle. With a jerk of her head she ripped the soft skin, allowing what was left of his blood to pour down his front. Her psychic hold on him broken, Taylor cried out in pain and shut his eyes tight, reaching up to try and free himself from her grasp with the tiny bit of strength he had left. "I'm sorry." She whispered in his ear as she pushed him off her and shoved her way past his brother and his little sister, who was now hysterical.
In Isaac's cloudy mind, the words, "He had a knife, he had a knife…" repeated themselves over and over.
Avery ran past Isaac and over to Taylor who was slumped over against the sofa. Blood was pooling on the carpet underneath him as he lay there. She stopped just short of touching him, "Oh Tay," she said, covering her mouth as tears rolled down her cheeks.
He opened his eyes and looked up at her, "Avie…" he said so softly, she couldn't actually hear the word. She sat on the floor next to him and stroked his hair. He was barely breathing now, it took everything he had just to take in a breath of air and let it out again. Suddenly, Isaac felt his senses come back to him and he looked down to see Avery leaning over Taylor.
"Don't go." She sobbed, taking his hand in hers as Isaac joined them.
"Oh God, Tay," he said, "it'll be ok. Just hang on. Avie, go call 911, hurry! Get Mom and Dad after that, ok?" As Avery got up and ran to the front of the bus, then down the stairs, Isaac applied pressure to the wound and looked into his brother's eyes, "Please hang on, Tay—" at that moment, his brother took his last breath and Isaac felt his heart beat one last time. "Tay, wait for them—they're coming—please! Mom's coming!" he shouted, pulling his body close. He knew from the silence and the cold feel of his brother's skin that he was gone, and there was nothing he could do but cry into his hair, still smelling like green apple conditioner and the pool.
~~~~
Zac was pacing the hallway, wondering if he should wake his parents. Finally, he decided if Taylor got into trouble with them, so be it. He would deserve it for scaring the crap out of them. He walked over to their door, and taking a deep breath, knocked loudly. It took a few minutes, but eventually, he heard the lock click and the chain released. "Zac, this better be good, it's almost three in the morning." His father grumbled.
"Dad, we can't find Tay and I'm really scared—something's going on Dad."
He said, sounding younger than his fifteen years. Just then, the phone rang in his parents' room. Both Zac and Walker looked back—Diana had picked up the receiver. Zac's knees went weak when he heard his mother say, "Yes, this is Diana Hanson" then she gasped, "Where is he?" as she turned on the light. Walker rushed to her side, tears were already running down her face.
Before Zac could discern exactly what was going on, Avery came running from the elevator towards him, "Zac! In the bus, there's blood and Taylor and Ike's with him and—"WHAT!!!" Zac looked down at her—she had blood on her nightgown and her hands.
~~~~
On the twelfth floor, Sonya stepped from the bathroom back into the room she shared with Camille and Melanie. She wore a terry cloth robe and her hair was wrapped up in a towel. She didn't usually find herself covered in the blood of her victims, but she didn't usually kill them either—a fact she was proud of. Both Melanie and Camille stood at the window, watching the scene below them. "What's happening?" Sonya asked quietly.
"The ambulance just got here." Melanie said, not taking her eyes from the window.
"His parents were freaking and all the usual stuff." Camille said.
"What about the little ones?" Sonya asked.
"They were there too." Melanie answered.
Sonya closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against the cool glass, "This will NEVER happen again," she said, then she turned to look at the two, "or I'll be killing you next time. It's not easy, but it can be done." She then turned and went back into the bathroom.
Camille turned back to the window, watching as EMT's brought the body out, covered by a white sheet, blood soaking into it already. The boy's family huddled together, comforting each other. With her incredible eyesight, it was easy for Camille to read each face and a trace of guilt worked it's way into her mind, "He sure was sweet, wasn't he?" she said to the girl beside her.
"You know it—one of the sweetest." She answered, twirling her red hair in her fingers. Then she looked down at her watch, "Hmm, it's 3:30, I think I have just enough time for a little midnight snack."
"You better stay away from them." Camille said, gesturing towards the parking lot, "I've never seen Sonya this pissed."
Melanie waved her hand in the air, "The world is just full of victims Camille, you shouldn't limit yourself to just one."
"Like Lay's Potato Chips, huh?" the smaller girl grinned.
"Exactly. Now let me think, Hanson concert tomorrow—even though you and I know it's not going to happen—that means lots of easy pickings in the city tonight. See ya." She said and she stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her.
"Lay's Potato Chips, eh? Well, Sonya just killed my little Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake." She muttered as the ambulance pulled out of the parking lot, leaving eight devastated people in it's wake.
In the bathroom, Sonya was
pulling a brush through her long blonde hair as her senses tingled suddenly
and realization hit her full force. "Oh shit!" she said rushing
out, "Camille, we've got a problem!"
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