Chapter Text
Discovery in the woods
The room is dark, the windows masked off by heavy black drapes, the lamps dimmed, what little light there is sparkles off the gilt decorations of the furniture. The vampire’s footsteps are muffled by the heavy carpets, as it walks across the room to report to its master, followed by its student.
It slowly approaches the figure sitting in the large chair on the raised dais at the far end of the room. Despite being seated the figure looks down at the vampires as they approach heads bowed.
Behind the vampire the student, still in his school uniform, is looking around the room in awe. It is his first time visiting the master’s house, his head swings from side to side as he looks at the expensive furniture and old paintings gracing the walls. The extravagance of the furnishings and the paintings impress the young boy. They speak to him of power, of influence and of control. Things he wants for himself now that he is a vampire.
“It is done master” the vampire bows respectfully urging the student to follow suit, he grudgingly complies.
“You are sure it will be found soon?” The master’s voice is deep and echoes throughout the room.
“Yes Master. It is close to the edge of the road and the colors it is wearing contrast with the vegetation making it easy to spot. There will not be much further growth at this time of year so it should not remain hidden for long. I expect it to be discovered before the end of the week.”
The master leans forward to address the vampires in front of him “You left nothing to identify the body.”
The vampire responds confidently. “No, it was as you instructed. All personal items and identifying marks were removed.” He holds up a small bag. “They will be destroyed in the school’s furnace when we return. Nothing will be left of them bar a few ashes. However, the body will be recognized eventually.”
“Of course, but we don’t want to make things too easy for the humans, do we? We just want to slow them down and sow some seeds of confusion.” The master makes a sound that could in some circumstances be called a chuckle. “The trap is set, let us see who falls into it. Now return to the school and maintain your disguises. When the time is ready, we shall reveal ourselves and take control.”
“We await your call master.” The vampire bows deeply again urging his student to copy him.
The vampire and the student back away from the master until they reach the door and close it, cutting off their view of the Master leaving him in the darkness he prefers. They walk slowly down the deserted corridor and through the empty kitchen and into the garden.
The gate at the end of the garden connects directly to an unused part of the school grounds. The master has chosen this house well, as this entrance allows them to visit him without being seen.
As they walk back to the main school buildings the student turns to the vampire. “I enjoyed that, I felt free, it was good to hunt for food. I want to do it again.”
The more senior vampire turns to the student and issues a warning “You will have to restrain yourself Pablo. Even the local sheriff will get interested and ask awkward questions if too many bodies start appearing around town. You heard the master we will have to be patient.”
“But…”
“Patience Pablo, you have hunted and fed, you have enough blood to keep you nourished. Part of the life is the ability to blend in. As the master said, better times will soon be with us. Trust the Master and the good times will be ours soon.”
“Yes, but it is not the same as feeding properly.” The student complains, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
“No, it isn’t, but our time will come, we must trust the master then we will be free to hunt as and when we choose. Now come along we have to dispose of the evidence.”
###
“Wednesday, what are we doing here? I haven’t been here since we had Miss Thornhill’s class” Enid moans as she slouches along behind Wednesday in the large greenhouse.
“I want to check on the carnivorous plants and make sure that they are being fed properly. Have you got that bag I gave you.”
Enid pulls a bag from her pocket. “Yes, what is it? Ugh it smells like meat, beef I think.”
“Excellent you have the right bag. Now if you could drop a piece into each of the plants, they will be happy.” Wednesday is distracted by something she has seen outside the greenhouse.
“I’m not happy Wends,” Enid says as she drops a small piece of meat onto each of the red fleshy leaves moving away quickly as the plants enclose their treats and begin feeding. “What are you looking at?”
“It looks as if someone is wearing a path into the trees and out of the school grounds. Can you see it?”
“Just, can we get out of here now?”
Wednesday turns to face Enid and stretches up to kiss her. “Thank you, I’ll make it up to you later, come on let’s get you out of here.” She takes Enid’s hand and leads her to the greenhouse door.
###
Marco and Johan walk into Jericho on the side of the road that leads from Nevermore school, joking as they walk. They are looking forward to meeting their friends at the Weathervane coffee shop and having the afternoon free from classes. They had worked hard to get the grades to earn their passes to town and are excited. It will be good to relax after cramming for those tests.
As they get further from the school the trees get closer to the edge of the road leaving a narrow verge only a few feet wide. They take little notice of the trees as they want to get to the coffee shop as quickly as possible. They walk on the roadway taking advantage of the better surface to walk faster, trying to minimize the fifteen-minute walk into town.
The sun is hot on their backs and is reflecting off the blacktop and the trees as they walk and laugh without a care in the world. They are still joking as they pass a large house set back from the road.
They pay no attention to the house, the darken windows and lack of activity in the driveway reinforce the rumor at school that the house is abandoned and haunted. There is no one moving around the large and unkempt garden today and there are no cars in the driveway.
“Do you believe the stories? “Marco asks as he points across the road at the old house partially hidden behind some small trees.
“About the old house no way, they are just stories. There are no such things as ghosts.” Johan is dismissive, trying to be nonchalant about the house and its purported ghosts. “You haven’t fallen for all that have you?”
“No of course not.” Marco says defensively. “So, who do you think lives there?”
“Just some mundane human of course. If anyone lives there, it’s empty look at it. What does it matter?”
“Well, it looks creepy.”
“Creepy!” Johan teases. “Have you seen the school we go to, now that’s creepy.
“Come on forget about that house, let’s get into town. I bet Jimmy and Susan are already there. Race you.” Marco starts to walk a little faster, partially to get to town quicker and also to get away from the house. Johan speeds up to catch up with Marco and they compete to be the first to get to the coffee shop.
As they walk past the house they had dismissed as empty, the ornate chimney pot swivels and points in their direction and follows them as they walk past the house. It swings back to point at the driveway when they are out of sight.
The road is generally quiet, but today there is no traffic as they walk along the side of the road. The plants have been cut back from the edge of the road giving them a good view of any traffic should it come from Jericho.
“Hey what’s that?” Marco asks, pointing at something among the fir trees that stand back from the road. He comes to a stop beside the road. Johan comes to a stop beside him.
“Where dude?” Johan spins about trying to follow Marco’s finger.
“There, dude, in the trees. Look!” He tries to direct Johan’s view towards the object he has spotted.
Johan smiles. “Behind the chucked jacket? Someone will catch it for losing that.”
Marco slaps him. “It is the jacket. Come on let’s get it.” He heads off across the grass and into the trees hoping to get the jacket first.
“Too slow dude” Johan says as he runs past Marco and gets to the jacket first. When he reaches it, he grabs it and then drops it suddenly. He stands back from the jacket and stares down at it.
“Whoa, dude it’s not a jacket.” He calls to Marco.
“What do you mean dude, of course it’s a jacket? Marco says as he gets closer.
“No, it’s. It’s a dude. Look.” Johan stares at the jacket, pointing out its occupant to Marco.
Marco stares in disbelief, Johan is right he is looking at a body. The body in question is lying in the trees with his eyes open and staring blankly at the sky. He is wearing a Nevermore school uniform, His skin is pale and almost white in contrast with the blue of the uniform jacket.
“He’s dead dude.” Johan says quietly, they are frozen in place staring at the first dead body they have ever seen.
“RUN!” Marco shouts suddenly as he gets over his shock and sprints for the road leaving Johan standing staring at the body until he too realizes that he is alone in the woods. “Wait!” he shouts as he runs to catch up with Marco.
“Stop, stop!” Johan calls out as he stops running, he bends over gasping for breath. Marco stops near him, also breathing heavily. “Come on”
“Why it’s not following us. Just stop.” Johan says to Marco who is ready to start running again.
“Why?” Marco looks back up the road, expecting to see something following them.
“Where are we running to? We can’t just keep running.”
Marco points towards the town. “I’m not going back past it.”
“OK, town it is. Come on we can report it to the sheriff.” Johan sets off in the direction of the town and has to start running as Marco sprints past him.
They run into Jericho as fast as they can. They ignore the coffee shop where their friends are waiting and head straight for the sheriff’s station which is on the square in the middle of the small town. The deputy on duty waits for them to catch their breath as they stand panting in front of him, so that they can explain themselves.
###
Sheriff Galpin and Ritchie Santiago, his senior deputy, stand among the trees next to the small sad body of the schoolboy as other deputies tape off the area around the body. They can just see the road where their cruisers are parked, one of them with the two Nevermore kids who reported this body in the back of it. He has left a deputy to keep an eye on the kids and to keep any traffic moving.
The sheriff squats down to examine the body. Ritchie is beside him looking at the body. Behind him the other deputies, having encircled the area with a line of bright yellow tape, are standing guard wary of the discovery.
“Do you think it’s the same monster as last time sheriff?” She asks him, aware of the Sheriff’s connection to the ‘last time’ and wanting to make sure that this is not a repeat. She is relieved when the sheriff shakes his head.
“No, this body is in one piece unlike last time. It looks like a different cause of death with a single wound but let’s wait until we get a confirmed cause of death from the ME. A time of death will be useful as well. Do we have an ID yet?
“Not yet Sheriff there was nothing on him. No wallet, no phone, no cash. Nothing. I think someone cleaned the body of anything that would identify it.” She says.
“No phone! He’s a teenager, they all have them. I think you are right about the clean up, I don’t think he was killed here.” He stands up and walks a short distance from the body.
“Sorry but we have nothing to identify him, sheriff.” Ritchie shrugs.
“Not even his name written into his uniform?” The sheriff grasps for a lead, anything to kick start the investigation.
“Sorry, nothing like that sheriff, there is a patch on the inside of his jacket where something may have been cut or ripped off it. I have contacted the principal to see if he has anyone missing. It may take some time. Once we have a name, we will need to trace his actions and hopefully get the GPS data from his phone assuming he had one.”
“And those two kids that reported this, they didn’t know him?” he asks her.
“They were pretty shaken up, Sheriff, we were lucky to get their own names. I’ll send them back to the school with Janey. We will talk to them again tomorrow at the school. They should be more coherent then.
The sheriff nods, it’s what he would have done.
“I’ll go and talk to the principal when we have finished here. It always leads back to that damned school.” He turns back to the crime scene and checks that his deputies have cordoned off the scene properly and have created a pathway for official visitors to the scene. He resigns himself to having a long day here in the woods.
###
The dorm room in Ophelia Hall is dark except for the reading light above Enid’s bed. Wednesday and Enid are sitting together on Enid’s bed. Enid is streaming a show on her laptop, she is wearing her ear buds so as not to disturb Wednesday. It is getting late, and she wants to get to the end of the episode before she gets too tired. Wednesday is reading a book that is resting on her lap. Both have changed for bed and are wearing almost identical plain black T-shirts; Enid has decorated the hem of hers with small strips of rainbow-patterned fabric.
They are sitting on Wednesday’s black blanket to protect her from the color of Enid’s bed linen. Their fingers are intertwined as they sit together enjoying what they each consider to be the latest media. Enid gasps and tuts at the show she is watching. Wednesday turns the pages in silence as she reads.
Despite the different activities they lean against one another and occasionally stroking a thumb against the other’s fingers, giving an image of contented happiness. Enid smiles as she catches a glimpse at Wednesday’s hands moving and gives the hand, she is holding a gentle squeeze.
Enid suddenly feels Wednesday stiffen beside her and she pauses her show before putting her laptop on the cabinet beside her bed. Seeing that Wednesday is not moving she picks up her book and puts it on top of her laptop. She wraps her arms around Wednesday to hold her still while she is having her vision.
Wednesday is not moving and staring blankly straight ahead, Enid holds her tightly hoping the vision will pass quickly. Wednesday is locked into immobility as images flash in front of her. She sees vampires and blood and bodies, a body of a Nevermrore student, Yoko and Divina crying and suffering, Enid crying, Enid fighting, vampires, something hidden in the deep dark woods, and herself arguing with the sheriff.
Enid’s patience is rewarded when Wednesday jerks suddenly and gives out a long gasp.
“I’ve got you Willa, do you want to talk about that?” She whispers not wanting to shock Wednesday.
“Thank you, we’ll find out if my vision is accurate in the morning. We will have a busy day tomorrow, we should sleep.” She announces.
“Your bed?” Enid asks hopefully.
“Of course.” `
Enid leans over to kiss her before hopping off her bed and skips over to Wednesday’s side of the room. She jumps on to Wednesday’s bed and dives under the covers, smiling at Wednesday as she looks up. Wednesday switches off the lights before joining Enid in bed, she is not looking forward to tomorrow if her vision is correct.
Her anxiety eases when Enid snuggles closers wrapping her in her arms and whispers “sweet dreams.”
###
The Master has waited long enough, the human world should be quiet now. He looks through the windows of his unused kitchen at the dark world beyond the house. He walks to the door and through the small mud room before deactivating the alarm and opening the rear door of the house.
The alarm system is an upgrade of the more mechanical devices he has used in the past and alerts him in his sleeping quarters if anyone tries to gain unauthorized access to his domain.
He walks swiftly across the garden, although tidied and neater in appearance since he acquired the property. Nothing is growing, he has no need of a kitchen garden and being nocturnal since being turned into a vampire flowering plants are a distant memory to him.
The gate gives him access to the school grounds and once through it he only needs to traverse the woodland to reach the school buildings. The woods are quiet, and he cannot detect any creatures moving among the trees.
At the edge of the woods is a patch of grass that has been cleared of trees so that the building at the edge of the school can get enough light. The greenhouse has fascinated him since he first saw it. There are a few plants that he always stops to look at, his attention is drawn to the night flowering plants in a corner of the building their blooms open and almost pressed against the glass.
Smiling at the memory of the plants he journeys to the school building proper and glides around the corners, staying hidden in the shadows. He enters the quad and stays in the darkness as he takes in the grandeur of the old buildings. They will soon be his, and a suitably grand home for someone of his status.
When he is in charge the scale and grandeur of the school will help him recruit other vampires and thus expand his power base ready for increasing his influence over this part of the country.
He will have to make some changes, of course. He will need to set aside somewhere to be his quarters and make the buildings more vampire friendly. Soon it will all be his. He continues his meander among the buildings until he is on the other side of the campus and heads to the trees. All that is out here are some small buildings that are put to occasional use.
He halts some distance from the apiary as he can hear the bees’ agitation. Some animals can detect vampires and react aggressively, bees are one such type of animal. They will have to go. He retraces his steps back to the main buildings.
He moves into the shadows when he detects a figure approaching him out of the darkness, at this stage of his plan he needs discretion above everything, so he backs deeper into the darkness of the corner of the building.
It is merely a student creeping around the school trying to sneak back into his own room. The master frowns at the lack of discipline shown by the school. This will not be tolerated under his regime.
When the school is quiet again, he walks back to his house satisfied with his exploration of the school and looking forward to his plan coming to fruition as he weakens the principal’s position.
Satisfied with his excursions, the master returns to his house and resets the alarms. He needs to be secure when he sleeps, too many of his kind have fallen victim to the humans while they rested.
He goes back into his audience room and turns to look at the painting on the wall opposite the dais. There are many portraits hanging in this room, some by the greatest masters of their craft. But they pale into insignificance when he places them against the large portrait of an aristocratic woman painted by a long-forgotten artist in the style of the Dutch masters. He stands in front of it admiring the woman, he is closer to the painting than usual, normally he admires her from his throne at the other end of the room.
As he has done through the years he turns to the woman and her painting for guidance. “Mother, I have kept this painting since you agreed to sit for it in Vienna all those years ago. You were a great woman, you made me into the vampire that I am today, you gave me everything. Soon I will have everything you promised, and I will have achieved mastery over these lands.
And then I will get my revenge on the monsters who destroyed you. I told you that girl was trouble.”
###
Wednesday’s eyes snap open in the darkness, in her dream she had a recap of her earlier vision but this time she thought she could detect something, a presence in the background directing the course of events controlling things. Something to be very wary of.
Beside her Enid breathes steadily as she sleeps, Wednesday reaches for Enid’s hand and brings it to her lips and kisses it. She relaxes in Enid’s embrace and begins to fall back to sleep, she is sure that she is going to need Enid’s help to get through the next few days.