“I wasn’t really in the middle of it,” Rachel said back, “but I did see it.”
“We need to know all the information you have on this. A few football players at AHS are in very serious condition at Westchester North Hospital.”
Rachel felt her heart sink. She didn’t know what to do.
“We need to know who beat them up. Can you tell us who you were with?”
Rachel couldn’t lie to the police.
“Benji> He’s another student at AHS.”
The police officers looked at each other, and then one began to write in his notebook. She saw him write Benji’s name.
“Where does Benji live?” the officer asked.
Rachel didn’t know what to say. Should she tell them he is a vampire and lives in a castle?
“I’m not sure,” Rachel replied.
“You don’t know where your friend lives?” the officer questioned.
“Well, we are not really friends,” Rachel said. “We just met.”
The two police officers looked at her with questioning eyes. “What is the nature of your relationship?” the officer asked.
Rachel didn’t know how to respond. She didn’t know what they were. Were they friends? Enemies? Boyfriend and girlfriend? She didn’t know.
“I said we’ve only just met. We were becoming friends, but I don’t think I want to be his friend anymore,” Rachel answered in a sharp tone.
“Why not?” the police officer asked.
“Because he’s not who I thought he was,” Rachel replied.
The police officer shook his head in agreement, as if he knew what she was talking about. “Do you know anything else about the fight?” the police officers asked again.
“No, I don’t believe I do,” Rachel said.
“Thank you for your time. If you hear from Benji call the station right away. We have a search team out for him. All we have is one blurry cell phone picture of him, but can’t make out his face. Oh, and if you think of anything else, please let us know,” the officer finished.
“Ok,” Rachel said, feeling worried.
“Thank you officers,” Rachel’s dad said, a serious look on his face.
“Come inside Dear,” Rachel’s mom said. “I think we need to have a little family meeting.”
*
Rachel’s heart was thumping out of her chest and her hands were sweating. She followed her parents into the living room and sat down on the couch.
“Who is this Benji character?” her dad asked, as he made himself comfortable on the couch across from Rachel.
“Some guy I know from school,” Rachel said.
“How old is he and what grade is he in?” her mom asked.
“Well, he’s a senior, he’s 18 I think, not really sure,” Rachel replied in a soft voice.
“18!” her dad screeched out. “What are you doing with an 18 year old guy?”
“I’m not doing anything with him! I told you I just met him, I barely know him,” Rachel said, defending herself.
“You’re fifteen years old, Missy. You have no business with an eighteen-year-old guy. Especially an eighteen year old criminal,” her dad added.
“Honey, I think you’ve taken this too far. She’s only just met the boy, give her some slack,” Rachel’s mom interjected.
Rachel smiled at her mom and they looked at each other with knowing eyes.
“I trust you, sweetie. I know you didn’t have anything to do with this fight,” Rachel’s mom said. “But is there anything else you aren’t telling us?” Rachel’s mom questioned.
Rachel waited a moment, swallowed as if to hide what she really wanted to say and then said, “No, that’s all. There’s nothing else.”
Rachel instantly felt guilty. Her mother had been so naive and trusting about the whole situation, and she hated lying to her. She wanted to tell her parents the whole truth about Benji, but after what had happened tonight, she knew she couldn’t. She figured it was better if they didn’t know.
“Meeting adjourned,” her dad said, as he stood up from the couch.
Rachel went upstairs to her bedroom and shut the door behind her. She stood there for a minute, trying to process what had just happened. She walked into her bathroom, put her face in the sink, and splashed cold water over it with her hands. She stayed there for a few minutes, leaning into her arms, glancing at her face in the mirror. Did that really happen?
As she stood in her bathroom, she ran the night over and over in her head—her conversation with her parents, being interrogated by the police officers, the fight, and Benji’s secret. Her mind was flooded with information and all she could think about was Benji.
Vampire?
Rachel tried to convince herself that she misheard him, but knew she didn’t. Rachel didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know anything about vampires, except for what she saw on TV at Halloween. She wondered for a fleeting moment, if it could be possible, and decided she had to find out more.
She walked downstairs to her family computer and typed into the Google search bar: “What is a vampire?”
33 million hits came back. She clicked on the first and read it.
“A vampire is a being who rises from his grave at night and lives off of the blood of humans by biting into their necks with their long, pointed canine teeth.”
Rachel stared at the computer screen. She couldn’t believe it. Benji couldn’t be a vampire. He didn’t have long, pointed canine teeth and he didn’t rise from his grave -- or at least she didn’t think he did. She remembered Benji had said he didn’t feed on humans. If so, what kind of a vampire was he?
Rachel cleared her Google search and entered a new one: “Are there different kinds of vampires?”
7 millions hits came back. Rachel glanced at all the headings, trying to figure out which one to read first. She sat there, her hands shaking as she directed the mouse over a site called, The Many Types of Vampires in the World today. Rachel read on, and she couldn’t believe her eyes.
There are many different types of vampires that live across our world. There are immortal, mortal and psychic vampires— and the most feared of all are the immortal vampires. Suddenly, Rachel remembered what Benji had said. Her mind flashed back to their conversation when he said he was born 3,000 years ago.
It couldn’t be. Was he…an immortal?
Rachel closed her eyes and held them shut, hoping that when she opened them, her computer screen would read something different. As she opened her eyes, she saw the word IMMORTAL again, which made her mind shake. She had no idea what this even meant, and all her Google searches were bringing back different information. It was clear that Google didn’t have all the answers about Benji because there were so many different types of immortal vampires.