“Joan, did you hear what I said?” Joan’s mom snapped at her for the second time.
“Huh?” Joan looked up from the kitchen table where she had been staring off into space.
“I said your uncle is coming over, come wash these dishes please.”
“Right, sorry.” Joan got up and abandon her homework which was still untouched.
“You okay? You aren’t overworking yourself, are you?”
“No mom I’m fine.”
“You still haven’t told me where you disappeared to the other day.”
“Nowhere.” Joan turned the water on.
“Did you hear?”
“Hmm?” Joan turned to her mom.
“Apparently Rebecca’s grave has been vandalized. Dug up.”
“What? Who?” Joan looked back at the dishes.
“We don’t know yet, Phoebe called and told me. She said some woman told her about it. She didn’t know that lady but apparently this lady knew Rebecca and was visiting her grave to pay her respects.”
“What lady?” Joan made a face.
“I thought you would be more upset about this. I know you visit her grave every week. Was that where you were the other night? Did you see anything out of the ordinary?”
“I was with Rooney; I haven’t been by in a while.” Joan continued to wash the dishes.
“Oh, you and Rooney, how is that going?”
“Mom, can we stay on topic, what lady? Who told Mrs. Cross?”
“I don’t know, she said her name was Florence. She must have been a teacher or something.”
“I don’t know any Florence.” Joan shook her head.
“Well, maybe Rebecca did.”
“Doubt it, she told me everything.”
“Regardless, there is an investigation underway, apparently Rebecca’s entire casket and body are missing.”
Joan’s hands shook, her heart racing.
“Joan, did you hear me? Rebecca is missing.”
“Ow, shit,” Joan cursed as she accidentally cut her hand while washing a knife.
“Language, let me see.” Her mom walked over to her.
Joan showed her hand which was now dripping blood.
“It’s not so bad, I’ll get the bandages.” She reached over Joan and turned the water off.
Joan sighed and let her blood drip into the sink while she waited for her mother. When her mom came back she poured some rubbing alcohol on the cut. Joan hissed in pain as her mom wiped away the blood roughly.
“Joan,”
Joan met her mother’s eyes.
“Promise you had nothing to do with this.”
Joan looked down to avoid her gaze.
“Joan.”
“So what did the police say?” Joan pulled her hand away as soon as her mother put a bandage on it.
“They pulled some camera feed. Tell me you had nothing to do with this. Tell me this isn’t what I think it is. You still didn’t tell me about how Rebecca died. You haven’t talked about that night at all to anyone. I can’t shake this image in my head, it might just be me making things up but I remember seeing a cut on Lyssa’s hand that night. Did you try and…”
“So when’s uncle coming?” Joan turned away.
“Joan! This is serious, I’m asking you to your face. Is this what I think it is, what do you know about this?”
Joan shrugged and kept her back to her mom.
“What are they going to see on those cameras? Where were you the other night?”
“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to.”
“Enough of the bullshit did you…”
There was a long moment of silence.
“Well did you!?” Her mom demanded.
“Yes,” Joan said softly.
“Is she…”
“Yes,” Joan said even softer.
There was a long pause that was interrupted by knocking at the door.
“Don’t tell him. He’ll kill her. Don’t tell anyone. Promise me.” Joan turned to her mother.
“Where are you hiding her?”
“I’m not going to tell you.”
“Joan Miller please tell me you didn’t do this. Please tell me this wasn’t the plan all along. Please.”
There was another knock at the door.
Joan slowly backed away from her mom before turning to get the door.
“Hey, there’s my favorite niece.” Her uncle said.
“I’m your only niece.” Joan countered.
“Nothing gets past you kid.” He hugged her.
“How are you feeling?” Joan asked as he walked slowly to the couch.
“Much better these days. I might be able to get back out in the field. Speaking of, maybe you could come back with me. Slayers say it ain’t the same without you. Why did you quit? I figured after what happened to Rebecca, you’d be all in.” he sat down with a huff.
Joan shared a knowing look with her mom.
“I’m done with that stuff, it only ever brought me pain. Besides not all vampires are bad.”
“Do my ears deceive me? The hell did you just say? You know the boys tell me the other day they ran into another vampire, here in Thorndale. Got Scotty in the hospital. The thing turned into a lion and scared the living hell out of the town. It’s been all over the news.”
“Maybe if you didn’t antagonize it, it wouldn’t have fought back.”
He turned in his seat to look at Joan.
“I’m done with vampire slaying, and If you want to live until your next birthday you’d be done too.”
“What the hell got into you?”
“What if I was a vampire? Would you slay me too?” Joan challenged.
“Hell yes, it would be a mercy. Being a vampire is a curse you know that. I’d never let you become one of those parasites.”
Joan clenched her jaw and narrowed her eyes.
“Don’t tell me those leeches got to you. This is what happens when you hang out with a leech. They brainwash you, get in your head. Next thing you know your whole family is dead. Wake up girl, they killed your father, your best friend. What more do you have to lose until you see they all deserve to die?”
Joan opened her mouth to make a comeback, but her mom interrupted her by saying,
“Well, who wants pie?”
Joan turned and ran to her room, slamming the door in the process.
She walked over to her window and stared out as the sun slowly set. She wanted an update, she needed to know how Bex was doing. But Lyssa ignored all her calls, not to mention she had to go to work and school. Rooney told her to lay low, but she was growing restless.
Did Bex remember her yet? She needed to know, she needed to see her best friend. To be reassured that not all vampires were bad, that just because Bex was a vampire didn’t mean it changed anything between them.
She sighed and rested her head against the window.
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