Vampire Girl(15)

Then once more. Word by word.

Seventeen years ago a fiery car crash in Seattle, Washington claimed the lives of David Stranson and his two-year-old daughter. The mother, Camilla, survived with severe injuries. Attached to the police report are death certificates for both the father and child.

The newspaper article also features a picture of the family. A mother and father smiling over their baby.

It is the picture that freezes my blood. That stops my heart. That shortens my breath.

It is the picture my mother has on her dresser.

The picture of me with my parents.

I study each document carefully. The names are different, but everything else is the same. Dates, birthdays, physical descriptions.

I squeeze my eyes shut as my nightmares flash in my mind. Screeching metal. The smell of burning rubber. Blood everywhere. Screaming. Pain. Darkness.

"You are remembering. That is good."

My eyes pop open and land on the mysterious man—the demon... the vampire—standing on the other side of my mother's bed. "What is this?" I stand and hold the papers in my fist. "How could any of this be true?"

"I have already told you," Asher says, his voice smooth, polished, hypnotic. "You died that day in the accident. Your mother made a deal, her soul to save your life. She was smart. She bargained for more time, time to raise you to adulthood. Then her payment came due, and deals made with devils cannot be broken."

My hand is shaking as I drop the paperwork onto the bed and collapse in the chair. "So it's all true? This is real?"

"It is. And you must decide soon, if you want to save her life." He looks pointedly at my mother. As if on cue, her monitor begins to beep.

"Did you do that?" I ask.

"No. Her body is failing. Make your choice, Arianna. Sign in blood and let this be done. The moment you do, she will stabilize."

I pick up the paperwork and shove it into my bag before the hospital staff come to check on the monitors. "And your contract guarantees her physical safety until her soul is returned to her?" I ask as I pull my bag to me. "She will not die by any means? She will return to her body in full health?"

"As you wish," he says.

I pull the scroll out of my bag and hand it to him. "Write that in. Include that specifically. That she will be restored to full and perfect health when she awakens. That she will not die or be harmed while she is in the coma. That you will make sure she has the best medical care and that all her bills will be covered."

He raises an eyebrow. "Very well." Pulling out a pen, he adds a few lines in neat scroll to the contract.

My mind is spinning. My mother is dying. I have to hurry, but once I sign this, it's over. I have no more room for negotiation. "Also, I want to be able to come back here for one day every week to check on my mom and see my friends."

Asher shakes his head. "You ask too much. This is not as simple as taking a drive to the town over."

I narrow my eyes at him. "You sure seem to get around fast enough when you want. It can't be that hard. I have to be able to check on my mom, to make sure you are holding up your end of the bargain. I don't know why I'm so important to your plans, and I'm sure I'll find out in some mysterious and nefarious way, but in the meantime, if you really do need me, then make this happen."

"Not every week," he says. "That is too much. Once a month. And only for half a day."

"Fine, once a month, but for a full day."

"Half a day, or nothing," he says, and I can see in his eyes I have no room left with which to negotiate. I swallow and nod.

"Very well," he grumbles, adding in my terms. He hands the scroll back to me as Tom comes in.

The monitor is still beeping, louder now. Tom looks between me and Asher. "Only family is allowed in here," he says.

"I am family," Asher says, smiling.

Tom looks to me as if to make sure this is okay. I nod and he shrugs and checks the monitors, his face paling when he sees the readouts. "I need to get the doctor. Be right back."

He scurries out, and I look down at the scroll, reading through the changes. My mother's body begins to seize and the doctor rushes in with two nurses. They tell us to get out of the way, and Asher and I fall back to give them space. He hands me a quill with a sharp edge that looks more like a knife, and leans over to whisper in my ear. "It takes blood to bind us."

I turn away from the hospital staff and place the scroll on a rolling table, then slice my arm with the quill. The cut stings and my eyes water as the pen's sharp tip soaks up the blood. I find the spot meant for my name, and with my own fresh blood, I sign.

The moment I dot the 'i' in Arianna, the machines attached to my mother fall silent. I suck in my breath as a hot flash of pain burns the inside of my right wrist. I push up the cuff of my sweatshirt and see a raised symbol forming in my flesh.