Vampires Never Get Old - Zoraida Cordova Page 0,18

ground. With a sob she scrambles to find them, and when she does, she wrenches open the car door and climbs into the driver’s seat. I hear the locks engage, and then the engine, and she tears out of the parking lot, barely giving me time to move out of her way.

As soon as she’s gone, I have second thoughts.

But I’m here, and Silas is there, just on the other side of the glass.

And I know what I have to do.

He waits for me to come to him.

I open the door, hands shaking. Dru’s body lies still at my feet and Willis is panting like an animal, eyes trained on me. But I stay steady on Silas, remembering what he told me.

“I want you to leave,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper. It sounds pathetic to my own ears, and I clear my throat and try again. “I want you and your Boys to go.”

Silas tilts his head. The jukebox moves on to the next verse. And my heart breaks a little.

“Are you saying we’re not welcome here anymore?”

I nod, even though it hurts.

“Well.”

He bends to pick up his hat. Plants it firmly on his head.

“All you had to do was tell me so, Lukas.” He gestures to Willis, who reaches down and, with inhuman strength, slings Dru’s body up around his shoulders. Silas holds open the door and Willis goes through. Silas starts to follow, pauses to look back.

“But you owe me for Jasper,” he says, voice hard like it wasn’t before, “and I’ll have to collect one day.”

I watch them go. Watch until they fade into the darkness, until I’m sure there’s nothing in the parking lot, not even racoons. And then I collapse.

* * *

Landry finds me on the floor the next morning and lectures me about alcohol and drinking too much. But we both know I don’t drink, and she makes me a stack of pancakes and an oversized cup of coffee. Workers come to haul the old jukebox away by noon, and we don’t talk about it again. Neveah never comes back to the diner, and a few weeks later, Landry tells me that Neveah moved away, got into a four-year college somewhere. Jason and the Toad Twins wash up the next month, exsanguinated. Rumors circle for a while about some weird drugs that must be on the market, and their story even makes one of the prime-time mystery shows, the connection to the Finleys’ deaths too strange to ignore. The conspiracy podcasts go wild. They called it “Murder in Blood River,” and it causes a sensation for a while, but people have no idea. Not really.

Sometimes I hum that song, especially when I’m studying for my GED or getting the house ready for sale, but I never put my heart into it. I’ve decided to leave this shit town after all. Head to Dallas or Denver or something. Try to make my own way, see what happens.

I wonder if Silas will ever come to collect on Jasper’s death, like he said he would. I know all I have to do to find out is sing for him and mean it. But I won’t. Not for a while. Not until I’m ready. And while I wait, I’ll dream of a beautiful black-haired boy in a cowboy hat with oil slicks for eyes.

BITES & BLOOD Or Why Do Vampires Suck?

Zoraida Córdova & Natalie C. Parker

Let’s face it: Vampires are the mosquitos of the supernatural world. They lurk in dark places and move with unnatural stealth, and when you least expect it, they bite. Blood-sucking mythical creatures show up in stories from around the world, from the ancient Babylonian goddess Lamashtu, who consumed the blood and flesh of children, to Indian tales of shapeshifting rakshasas and half-bat, half-human vetala. So why do vampires drink blood? Simply put, blood is life. It is essential to the living … and to the dead. There’s a reason it’s called a “blood pact.” In the mundane world and the magical one, blood is everything. In Rebecca’s story, Lukas has to take part in an extreme blood ritual in order to become one of the Blood River Boys. The process involves choice but also violent sacrifice. In order to become a vampire, Lukas has to take something that doesn’t belong to him.

What would you sacrifice in order to live forever?

SENIOR YEAR SUCKS

Julie Murphy

Sweetwater, Texas, is best known for its energy-saving windmills along the I-20 corridor between Fort Worth and Odessa