Talisman 01 - The Emerald Talisman

“When?” And how did he know?
    Another chuckle and another smile.
    “Do you remember the time you got lost at the fair and the Ferris wheel guy offered to help you find your dad?”
    I remembered it like it was yesterday; the creepy ‘wanting’ feelings he had for me. I may have only been ten, but I knew he was bad news.
    “Yeah, but I ran.”
    “Vampire,” Nicholas said nonchalantly.
    Suddenly it clicked and all the confusion made sense. The feeling I had felt at the fair, in the forest, on the beach and at the theater were all the same. The thirst, a cross between lust and hunger, was the vampire craving what they crave.
    “Wait—you were there?”
    He hesitated for a minute, like he’d accidentally revealed something he didn’t want me to know.
    “I’ve always been there.”
    My heart raced.
    “Whoa, what do you mean always?”
    Sadness swept over Nicholas’ face. I looked into his kind emerald eyes but the starry night sky behind him faded in a shimmery mist. Where I was transported only happened in my mind, but it felt real. I was no longer sixteen. We sat together in the front bench seat of my parent’s old Plymouth that smelled of aged leather and vanilla scented air freshener. He held my hand. I was shivering and tears fell down my cheeks. Something bad had happened. My blue pinafore dress was torn. Had blood on it. Not my blood.
    “No!” I exclaimed, as the blocked memory surfaced.
    I clutched my chest. I couldn’t breath. I needed air.
    I clawed at the door, tugged it open and ran. Tears blinded me as my feet splashed through the wet grass. I needed to get away—far, far away. My mouth became dry like cotton and my muscles burned, but I ran on until I reached a cyclone fence that stopped me. I grabbed it and screamed, beating against it until my hands were torn and raw.
    Then I felt his hand on my shoulder. He pulled me off the fence and into his arms. I sobbed.
    “Why?” I screamed into his chest. “Why?”
    It was all there—the fear, the dark evil eyes and the sickening cackle echoing in my mind. We were trapped. She shielded me from him. He clamped down on her neck, but watched me over her shoulder. I cried and stood in fear, feeling all her pain and then her empty silence. He dropped her lifeless body onto the ground. He wanted me next.
    “He killed her . . .” I choked out of my tears as my body heaved.
    Nicholas held me tight and I sunk into his body. The flood of emotion and anger cut so deeply I wanted to vomit. How could I have forgotten? This whole time, the past was locked in my subconscious. She was gone and never coming home.
    “But how?” I asked in a whimper. “You were there?”
    “I was,” he said. “But too late. I’m sorry.”
    I felt his grief mix with mine and it tore my heart in two. All I knew of my mother’s disappearance was somehow I ended up on my parent’s front porch the morning after we were missing. Later my mother’s car was found at the bottom of the river. It wasn’t known if she dropped me off and left again, or if someone else brought me home, but her body was never found and no one saw what happened.
    The case baffled the investigators. My dad took a lie detector test to prove his innocence. No one else had a motive to hurt her. She disappeared into thin air. It didn’t help that I couldn’t remember what happened, even with counseling. But, I believed my Dad never wanted to know what I’d blocked out, for fear of what I’d say happened.
    “You took me home?”
    “I did.”
    I leaned my head into Nicholas’ chest and sobbed. The fact she was really gone hit me hard and I thought my heart would stop right there. I’d always believed she was alive somewhere and remained hopeful, like my father, that one day she’d come home.
    As Nicholas stroked the back of my hair, his comfort infused me like I’d just crawled under a pile of warm laundry fresh from the dryer. He was the only person I could imagine being with when I finally remembered.

12 - REVELATIONS
    A fter I somewhat recovered, Nicholas helped me walk back to his car. The distance seemed longer than I remembered now that I was clear-headed and aware of my surroundings. By the time we reached his car on the other side of the meadow, I felt drained, wanting to curl up into a ball. Nicholas’ guilt made it worse, but I didn’t want to be away from him.
    “It’s all my fault,” he said, after we got settled inside.
    I looked at him, confused and bewildered.
    “Why