“If any of you know where Scarlet Paine is,” Kyle shouted at them, “you sure as hell better speak up now.”
The cheerleaders cowered. The girl Kyle was holding above his head squirmed. Only one of the watching girls was brave enough to say anything.
“I don’t know where she is,” she said, trembling. “But her friends Becca and Jasmine are in the school choir. They’re practicing down the hall.”
Kyle narrowed his eyes at the girl. “Are you telling the truth?”
She pressed her lips together and nodded.
Finally, Kyle put down the struggling girl in his arms. She ran over to the rest of the girls and they pulled her into a huddle, keeping her safely behind them, some of them crying.
Kyle went over to the wall and wrenched a climbing ladder down. He snapped off one of the long pieces of wood and used it to secure the gym doors by slipping it through the handles.
“No one moves,” he instructed the terrified girls.
He still wanted to turn them, but he had to follow up on the lead first.
He could hear the muffled weeping behind him as he left the gym and went into the school corridors. Despite the earlier altercations and gunfire, the place was still packed with kids. Kyle laughed to himself as he realized they must have thought that surrounding the school with police cars would be enough to keep him out. They were trying to keep everything normal so as not to scare any of the kids or parents in the community.
“How dumb do these people get?” Kyle thought to himself as he smirked.
Kyle walked up to a group of alternative-looking kids hanging by the lockers. They looked like the sort of kids he’d hung around with when he was at school, the type that would drop out without diplomas and be destined to work in bars for the rest of their lives.
“Dude,” one of the boys said, nudging the friend standing next to him. “Check out the bum.”
Kyle walked right up to the group and slammed his fist into the lockers beside them, making a dent. The group jumped with shock.
“What’s your problem, man?” the boy said.
“Choir practice,” Kyle grunted. “Where is it?”
One of the girls in the group, a goth with long black hair, stepped forward. “Like hell we would tell you.”
Before any of the group could blink, Kyle had grabbed the girl and pulled her into him. He sunk his teeth into her neck and sucked. In a matter of seconds she turned limp in his arms. The rest of the group screamed.
Kyle dropped the girl to the floor and wiped the blood from his lips with the back of his hand.
“Choir practice,” he repeated. “Where is it?”
The boy who’d first spoken pointed a trembling finger down the hall. Beside him, two of his female friends were crying and hugging, their frightened stares locked on the body of the dead girl.
Kyle made to leave but had only gotten two paces when he turned back and grabbed the two crying girls. He bit one first, then the other, draining the blood from their necks in turn as their pained cries turned finally to silence. He dropped them at his feet, stepped over them, and headed down the hall, leaving the rest of the group gaping.
Kyle followed the sounds of singing until he reached the room where the choir was practicing. He slammed open the doors.
The group could tell the instant he entered that they were in danger. Their singing ceased immediately.
“Jasmine. Becca,” he demanded.
The two trembling girls came forward. He grabbed them both by the necks, hauling them off the floor.
“Scarlet Paine. Tell me where she is.”
The girls kicked and writhed in his grip. Neither could speak as Kyle’s grip was too tight on their necks.
“I know,” someone said.
Everyone turned, surprised. Kyle dropped Becca and Jasmine and looked at the girl.
“Who are you?” Kyle said.
“Jojo,” the girl replied. She twirled some hair in her fingers and smiled. She was wearing a Ralph Lauren top. Clearly one of Vivian’s friends.
“Well?” Kyle said.
“I…” the girl began but stopped. “We were at a party together the other night.”
“And?” Kyle demanded.
“I saw her. With this guy. Really hot guy actually.”
Becca and Jasmine exchanged a look. Jojo coughed and carried on talking.
“They were talking about how they couldn’t be together forever because he was, like, dying or something.”
Kyle’s patience ran dry. He flew across the floor to the girl and hauled her into the air.
“Skip to the end!” he cried.
The girl clawed at his hand round her neck. “Church.”
Kyle studied her for a moment then put her down. “Church?”
The girl nodded, her eyes wide with terror. She rubbed her neck.
“Church. Or castle. Or cathedral. Something like that. They… flew off together.”
Had the girl said such a thing earlier, her classmates would have ridiculed her. But moments after witnessing Kyle fly across the room at her, the idea of Scarlet Paine and some handsome boy flying into the moonlight together suddenly seemed less far-fetched.
From her heap on the floor, Becca flashed angry eyes at the girl.
“Why would you tell him that, Jojo?” she cried. “He clearly wants to hurt her!”
“Vivian loyalty,” Jasmine replied scathingly.
Kyle’s ears pricked up. He thought of Vivian’s sweet blood. He turned to Jojo.
“You’re one of Vivian’s friends?” he asked.
The girl nodded.
Kyle grabbed her hand.
“You’re coming with me.”
The choir watched in horror as Jojo was dragged from the room and into the hallway. Kyle dragged her along the corridors with him. The whole place was a scene of chaos. The kids he’d turned had begun feasting on one another. Those who had yet to be turned were running and screaming, trying to get out. Kyle nodded to the goth girl and her friend as he passed them, watching them sucking the blood of their school mates. Beside him, he felt Jojo quiver.
He reached the gym and hauled open the doors to find the cheerleader girls had attempted to form a human pyramid to get out through one of the top windows. The pyramid tumbled as soon as they realized their capture had returned and foiled their plot.
“Clever,” Kyle said with a laugh. “You’ll all make excellent additions to my family.”
“Jojo!” someone cried as Vivian’s friend was thrown into the gym.
Kyle looked around and licked his lips.
“Let the fun begin,” he said to himself.
CHAPTER FIVE
Police officer Sadie Marlow peered through the small glass window into the room. In the otherwise bare room, she saw that there was a bed against one wall. Sitting upon it was the girl she’d been sent here to speak to.
The psychologist standing on one side of her pulled a swipe card from his pocket. But just before he swiped it against the door lock to allow the officers entry, he paused and turned to face them both.
“You know we haven’t been able to get an intelligible word out of her yet,” the psychologist said. “All she says is ‘Scarlet. Scarlet. I have to find Scarlet.’”
It