Page 26 of My Road Trip with a Vampire: Season One
I think that’s it. Maybe that’s why I felt like we were being watched. Maybe she knows what we’re doing here and wants to find peace in the afterlife.
I reach for my amulet, rubbing the pendant in my palm.
“Hello?”
Pale fingers curl around the jagged edges of the decaying stump. It’s a disturbing sight that makes my heart beat faster. Dennis reaches a hand out to touch my wrist, keeping his light shining where I’m looking.
“Hello,” I call again, inching closer. I want the spirit to trust me so I can set her free. “Do you need help?”
“Joshua?” she asks, peeking her head over the stump. Her breath is ragged. “Help me.”
“Do you need our help? Do you want to go home now?”
Her long brown hair is a tangled mess, and she’s wearing an embroidered shift.
I step forward, letting the pendant dangle from my fingers, swinging it back and forth. Her eyes follow the motion. Then they stop, going wide and looking past me.
“You have to help me,” she gasps. “Joshua!”
I turn back to where she’s looking, and there’s a strange man leering in my face. Gray hair sticks out from beneath his hat, and he's wearing an old-timey suit. I jump back and Dennis puts an arm out in front of me.
The man’s mouth cracks open in a grin, revealing rotted teeth. A rancid smell fills the air. I hold my pendant out before me and start to say something, but the woman’s weeping starts up again and I hear footsteps racing further into the canopy of trees.
Fuck.
We’re dealing with two very different ghosts, and the woman sounds like she wants help.
“Wait!” I shout, but I’m wrenched back, fingers gripping the hood of my coat until my neckline tugs my throat.
Dennis growls and bares his fangs.
The gross old man is peering down at me, still smiling as he grabs my hair. His fingers feel like he just crawled out of a grave, and he looks old as dirt, but he’s strong as hell for a ghost.
“Get away from her,” Dennis commands, holding a shiny piece of a shungite stone between his thumb and index finger. His dark eyes shift to me. “Bea,” he murmurs, imploring me to do something, but I’m clutching my throat as the ghost slides his hands there.
Dennis shakes his head, fishing for something inside his jacket.
“Fine. It’s time to return—”
The tension around my neck slips away before Dennis can finish, and I drop to the ground.
“Bea,” Dennis whispers, kneeling next to me. The rain starts coming down harder, pelting me in the face as I start to breathe freely again.
He looks over his shoulder, then sighs through his nose as he picks me up. I’m about to protest, but my legs feel like jello as he slings me over his shoulder.
“What are you—”
“Just look,” he says. A cloud of fog swirls in the place where the spirit stood. It rises for a moment then dissipates, lifting my hair like it’s sentient enough to toy with me still. It smells like death, and I want to get out of here. Fast.
Dennis takes off, and I bounce on his shoulder, completely shook that it’s physically possible for a human to move so quickly.
Not a human—vampire, I remind myself. The difference is obvious now as he dodges branches and roots along the path. The scenery flies by us, wind whipping through my hair.
It took us a long-ass time to hike this far, but he gets us back to the tent in mere minutes. He places me on the ground when we’re inside and tilts my chin up.
“Did it hurt you?” he asks.
My heart is pounding in my ears from the speed.
