Rachel was writing the truth. Erring on the side of caution, she took the words at face value and began to panic.

“I don’t know anything about that. I swear,” Sarah said, looking frightened. “All I know was that she left early this morning to go see this guy. I didn’t know where exactly she was going to meet him, I just knew she left in a hurry.”

“This is bad,” replied her mom. “What can we do? How can we find her?”

Sarah began flipping faster through her journal for any information that could lead them to her, but she found nothing. All that was mentioned about Benji’s whereabouts was his castle, and that didn’t really help them much.

“We have to call the police,” her dad said. “Quick, hand me the phone.”

Sarah scurried around Rachel’s room to find the cordless phone. Her room was a mess, with clothes, bags and books scattered all over the floor. She located the phone under the pillow and handed it to her dad. She watched him dial and hold the phone up to his ear, tapping his foot impatiently.

“Yes, this is Patrick Wood at 42 Pine Road. Our daughter has gone missing,” he said quickly. “She left early this morning. She went to see this guy named Benji.”

Her dad stopped speaking and listened, shaking his head.

“Yes, Benji, the guy from the fight the other night. That’s the one.”

Sarah waited as he paused again to listen. His eyes lit up as he shook his head.

“I think she went to some castle?” he said, into the phone. “Do you guys know what that could mean?”

Her dad stood there smiling and mouthing, “Thank God.”

Sarah was eager to find out what the good news was. She suddenly felt guilty that this was all her fault. If anything bad happened to her sister, she would never forgive herself.

“You’re onto him? Thank God. Please call us with any information you have. We will be here waiting.”

Sarah watched as her dad hung up the phone and then began to pace the room.

“What happened, Dad?”

“They’re sending out the troops now to find him. They think they may know where the castle is.”

“Did they tell you anything else, Honey?” her mom asked, looking nervous.

“No, they want us to sit tight here. They told us not to leave the house and they would call us with any updates as soon as they know more.”

“Do you want me to go out and search for her?” Sarah asked.

“No! You stay here. We don’t want you to go missing as well,” her dad barked back.

“I can’t believe you knew about this the whole day,” her mom interjected. “That’s irresponsible of you, Sarah.”

Sarah looked at her parents with remorse and said, “I’m sorry. You’re right. I really didn’t think it was that big of a deal though.”

“Go to your room,” her dad said.

Sarah walked through their bathroom, and into her bedroom. She quickly took out her cell phone to call Rachel to warn her that the police were coming and that their parents were on to her.

She dialed her number and waited. After a long silence, of what felt like hours, the call went straight to voicemail.

She dialed again, thinking something must have been wrong with her phone. Again, the call went to voicemail. Sarah hung up and sent her a text asking her to call her back ASAP.

She waited and waited, but Rachel did not call or text back. At that moment, Sarah knew something was wrong. She feared she may never see her sister, ever again.

Chapter Eighteen

Rachel stared back into Benji’s eyes, excited to learn all about him.

“Yes! I’m ready,” she said holding his hand.

“Ok, but you have to keep it a secret. I know I can trust you.”

“I haven’t told a soul,” she said shaking her head.

He opened the door and motioned for her to come in. As she walked inside she entered an enormous, three-story, marble foyer with beautifully adorned walls with gold picture frames. The lighting was dim, and the glow from the candles filled the room. Rachel looked around and saw endless, sprawling, elaborate and beautifully decorated rooms.

The wooden soles of her ballet flats echoed as she walked across the marble floors, following Benji from room to room.

“This is the kitchen,” Benji said, pointing to an open room with only one long table. The table looked like it should belong to a king, or a royal family. The chairs were plush red velvet with elaborate gold encrusted detail on them. She tried to envision the family sitting there for meals, but couldn’t.

“Where are the stove and the sink?” she asked, as she looked around the bare, empty kitchen.

She looked at Benji, and waited for a response.

“We don’t use those things,” he said.

“What do you mean? How do you cook your food?”

“Rachel,” he said. “We don’t cook our food.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.

She tried to imagine what a vampire might eat, and then got scared. She looked back at Benji and then around the house, as if something were going to pop out and kill her.

“Don’t worry,” Benji said. “I don’t feed on humans.”

Rachel let out a sigh of relief and then waited for him to elaborate.

“Unlike what you may have read about or seen in movies, some vampires actually feed on animals.”

“Animals?”

“Yes, deer, rabbit, fox...”

Rachel made a face of disgust. She couldn’t imagine eating animals and sucking their blood.

“It’s not so bad, Rach!” he replied. “It’s all I’ve ever known.”

Benji motioned for Rachel to follow him through the kitchen and into another large foyer. Rachel stopped to take it all in: the sound of Bach’s Cello Suite’s played on the player piano in the far corner of the room. She felt like she was in another place, in another time, as the sound of the keys echoed throughout the grand space.

Rachel felt the room getting warmer and warmer, and her body temperature rise. She looked to her right, and saw a large fireplace with a roaring fire in it. In front of the fireplace, lying on the ground, was a black bear rug with the face still on. The eyes of the bear stared at her, piercing her soul, and its wide-open jaws and large white, pointed teeth looked as if they would bite her head off.

She slowly backed away from the bear, just in case for some reason it suddenly arose from the dead and charged after her. She didn’t know what to expect in this place, and wouldn’t put it past Benji to resurrect things from the dead.

As they walked into the next room, she looked up at the high, soaring ceilings and then over at the large stained-glass windows that glistened throughout the room. Benji pointed to a stack of dusty, old-looking books, and said, “This is our family’s bible.”

“What do you mean, bible?” Rachel asked.

“I mean, these are all the laws and rules of our coven. It dates back thousands of years, with handwritten excerpts from our ancient ancestors long ago.”

“Can I look at it?” Rachel asked, hopefully.

She waited for him to respond, as he picked up one of the books and thumbed through the pages. Over his shoulder, she could see pictures and diagrams of animals, with arrow marks and numbers. She wondered if this was the part of his bible that told him how to feed on animals. Benji quickly looked back at her and noticed she was looking over his shoulder. He slammed the book closed and put it back on the dusty shelf.

“Maybe another time, Rach. I don’t think you’re ready to read this yet.”

She looked at him, and then began to question this whole thing. She wanted him to show her more evidence, to prove he was a vampire.

“Benji, how do I know you’re real?” Rachel asked.

Benji took her hand and walked with her into another opulent room, with a large floor to ceiling mirror encased in a gold frame.

“Look!” Benji said.

Rachel looked into the mirror and was aghast: she saw her reflection but as she gazed back at her reflection in the mirror, all she could see was herself. Benji’s reflection did not appear.

“How is this happening?” she asked, horrified.

“I am transparent. I’ve never been able to see myself in the mirror.”

“But,” Rachel paused. “How do you know what you look like?”

She waited for him to respond and watched him touch his face and body with his pale, bony fingers.

“It’s complicated,” He said. “There’s only one way for me to see my reflection.”

“What’s that?”

“If I put on Hex Lotion, I can see myself in the mirror.”

“What’s Hex Lotion?” Rachel asked, curiously.

“Hex Lotion is what I use when I want to go out into the sunlight. It keeps me from burning and disintegrating into the ground.”

“Really? You can’t go outside?”

“No, I can go outside. I can go out at night when the sun goes down, without the lotion. But, if I go out in the sunlight, my skin will start to burn and smoke.”

“That’s scary. Has it ever happened to you?”

“It’s only happened once, and it was the most painful experience of my life. After that, I’ve never forgotten to put the Hex Lotion on.”

Benji pulled up his sleeve and pointed to a scar on his arm. “This is what happened. It’s been over a hundred years since the accident, but the scar has never faded.”

“Over a hundred years?” Rachel asked in confusion.

“Yes! Can you believe it? I think it’s a sign from my ancestors, so that I don’t forget again.”

Rachel looked at him and then reached out to touch his scar. She put her finger on the patch of raised, bumpy skin and felt the heat, still escaping from the burn mark.

“It’s hot!” Rachel said.

“Yes, the heat is slowly subsiding. It used to burn my hands ever time I touched it, but now, it’s just warm.”