Destination Unknown

Hours later, Serenity jumped out of the shower and wrapped herself quickly in a towel, hearing a knock at the door. The ride had brought back the dreaded memory of the four vampires and while she contemplated on what to do about it, she wondered just who the hell would be coming around at this hour? She flung her clothes from the last two days aside and opened the door in an ill manner. A clumsy young guy in out of date clothes stood before her wearing a self-conscious smile. Well at least it wasn’t some fang come to finish the job they hadn’t the night before, she thought, putting a finger to her chin. And why was it she seemed so nonchalant about the situation?

“Hey, what happened to you?” he chuckled. “You look like you fell off the ferrous wheel a couple times.”

Serenity was not amused. “What are you doing here, Howie? Don’t you know what time it is?”

“Y-yeess,” he continued nervously, still smiling. “But I could say the same for you, you crazy night owl, you.” He pushed his way past her into the cabin.

“Come on in,” she said, rolling her eyes in annoyance as she slammed the door behind her. Howie had come in hiding one hand behind his back secretly and ever so slowly with a shit-eating grin on his face; he brought it forward, exposing the package.

“Actually, we just received this today, thought you might want it. It is after all what you’ve been waiting for, isn’t it?”

A few weeks before, Serenity had gotten word that a special package had been following her around to every racetrack, always arriving a day after she had already left. She was finally able to tell a local post office about her whereabouts in Santa Carla, and where they would be able drop the package. She had met Howie, their delivery boy, there and now he would not go away.

Serenity gasped anyway and excitedly bounced over to him grabbing the package. “Oh Howie, I could kiss you!” she exclaimed.

“Well,” he blushed, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I did ask you out the other night, but you never really gave me an answer.”

Serenity gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “It’s complicated. I can’t go out with anyone right now, you understand right? I have some things to figure out and then I’ll be gone, and what would that be for you, huh?” She grabbed his arm pulling him towards the door. He was slightly agreeing with her until he noticed the black mesh shirt on the table.

“Wait a minute,” he said, taking his arm back and reaching for it. “You know you could be a little more honest with me.” He was half sarcastic, shaking his finger at her, but also half heartbroken, she could tell by the discerned look on his face and the way he tried to keep smiling. “I mean, I’m not your type, right.” For some reason he sniffed the shirt and threw it away gagging. “Good lord, woman, are you dating a bum? That thing smells awful.”

Before Serenity could say a word the sound of motorcycles came roaring down around the cabin. The lights flickered and the wind howled through the open window, blowing the shirt into Howie’s face again. “Gah!” he gasped, hurling it aside jumping behind Serenity. Their headlights beamed in on them, blinding both as they moved to put their hands over their eyes. “Uh, Serenity,” Howie shuddered, “What’s going on?” The boys hooted and hollered outside circling her abode in a continuous manner. Serenity gritted her teeth and clenched her fists making her way towards the door leaving Howie helpless in the middle of the room. “He-hey, wait, what are you doing?” he exclaimed. “Are you nuts, we’re obviously under some kind of attack!” As soon as she opened the door the bikes were gone and all was silent, which shocked her more than she was willing to admit. She took a deep breath and closed the door.

“This is my complicated life, you see.”

Howie was stunned for a moment staring blankly at the door and then he seemed to bounce back, shaking himself off and half smiling. “Oh well, no problem,” He made a funny face and brushed her aside, trying to show no fear. “I mean I understand, right.” He made his way for the couch. “I’ll just…you know, crash her till morning and…”

“Oh no,” Serenity rushed behind him and pushed him toward the door. “You’re going home, and I’m going to bed.”

He grunted. “Yeah, but those… things are out there.”

“There’s nothing out there,” she assured him, opening the door. “Now go home and more than likely, I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Howie lit up for second forgetting his fear. “A call for m’wa? Why how thoughtful of you.”

Serenity rolled her eyes and half smiled pushing him out the door. “G’night.”

Still, he managed to shove his face in once more. “I’ll be awaiting your call, indeed, you are so gracious.” She slammed the door as he kept talking. “G’night, my fair lady.” Serenity laughed under her breath and ran her hands through her half wet hair, contemplating whether or not to take something to help her sleep. But then again, she wanted all her senses about her if the prankster boys decided to show up for a second show. She hit the lights and slipped into bed, setting the foreign shirt along with the package on her nightstand. She had become rather obsessed with the shirt and secretly hoped for another visit from its owner. The clean satin sheets felt silky against her bare skin as she sprawled out, blinking up at the dark ceiling thinking, or rather dreaming of the foreigner and his deep kiss. Before she knew it, she was fast asleep.

Sometime later, a chill hit Serenity’s cheeks where she slept and a salty, damp smell filled the air. Light from a burning barrel flickered against the cave wall across the room. ‘Wait, this must be a dream,’ she thought, catching the presence of someone beside her. She put her hands over her face and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

“Rise and shine, Lil’sis,” said a playful voice, nodding and presenting a little sideways smile when she finally decided to make eye contact. He put one hand on his chest and rocked back a bit. “Name’s Paul.” One of the four that had chased her the other night, it was the first time she had really looked at him. He wore the wild boy persona well, blue eyes and crazy blond hair, along with the black mesh shirt she had found in her cabin.

“So you’re the midnight caper?” He didn’t answer, but seemed to pause for a moment and she remembered she was dreaming. “Hmm, ok,” she thought. “What are the safety pins for?” She pointed to them on his jacket.

“I saw them in a music video once,” he finally answered, bouncing a little and tapping his knees with his hands as if he could still hear the music. “And that’s the end of that story.”

“Yeah right, there’s got to be more to it than that. Let me guess, you keep one for every girl you’ve slept with.” Again came the pause and Serenity sat up feeling the heaviness of her body. “Did you guys give me something? I feel so loopy.”

“Not a thing,” he replied confidently. “You’re probably just feeling the affects of flying unconscious for the first time. It’s always better to do it awake.” He winked.

“Wait, flying?” she asked as David came out from one of the corners in the room.

“We had to get you here somehow,” he said, folding his hands together.

“Why?” Serenity paused when there was no answer and then, “Hey I’m sorry I ruined your little hunting party the other night. It’s not like I’m going to have someone hunt you down, I have better things to do with my time.”

Paul laughed. “Chill out girl! We’re way over that, trust me this is much bigger.”

Serenity frowned. “I don’t get it.”

David leaned in close to her past the level of comfort. “You have a tattoo on your inner thigh. Small code of arms with the word, DIVINE, under it, I’ve seen it before.”

“It’s just a tattoo,” she continued innocently. “My mom gave it to me before I can remember.”

Paul nudged her arm. “Come on, we all know that it’s illegal for anyone under eighteen to get one, blah blah, yada yada.”

“That’s just what I was told,” she shrugged, scowling a little. “What the hell were you doing looking down there anyway, perverted much?”

Paul backed away half offended, half playful throwing his arms in the air. “Hey it wasn’t me chickadee.”

“That symbol you have means something,” David persisted, his voice more stern. “Obviously, there’s something you’re not telling us.”

I don’t know all right! I’ve had it forever.” She pricked herself, hoping she would wake up from this dream that was pinching at her inner nerves.

“I think she’s telling the truth man,” Paul said sincerely. “If she wasn’t, obviously she wouldn’t have tried to burn Marko, and you know…” Before he could get another word in, David transformed into his monster self, leapt onto Serenity, and shoved all his weight down on her so she couldn’t move.

“What the hell are you doing?” she screamed. “Get off me maniac-monster!” She tried kicking her legs, turning her head left and right, but he held her arms to her sides, and pinned her legs with his. She didn’t understand why she couldn’t wake up and suddenly feared that she was awake already. He shoved her face to the side tearing open her jugular and watched the blood spurt out as Serenity squealed in pain. Paul jumped off the bed in surprise. “Whoa! What the fuck, I thought we weren’t going to kill her?”

David continued on, putting his mouth over the wound, gulping down the spilling blood as if it were the last in the world. The other two heard the commotion and came rushing in to see, shocked to find their leader draining the girl dry.

“David, why are you doing this?” Marko asked, getting no response. Soon Serenity’s hands went limp and lifeless as the others looked about in agony from the smell of blood and confusion. David propped himself up, casually wiping the blood away from his chin. Not one of the others said a word, but looked on at what seemed to be a living dead girl.

It took a minute, the four of them staring on, eager to see what would happen and then…a heartbeat. As if animated, Serenity’s eyes popped open and she took a deep breath.

“You didn’t turn her did you?” Marko asked, and innocent questioning drawn on his face as he frowned down at the girl. Something about her caused something inside of him to flicker, drawing out a kind of hunger that urged him to take a taste of her. But for the time being though, he decided to keep those feelings to himself.

“Bastard!” she exclaimed, as the others still looked on in disbelief. She tore off the blanket and pounced on David like a cat on a mouse. Her eyes glowed green and yellow with anger as she hit him like a sack of oats taking him down to the ground, tearing at his flesh with her nails digging deep, causing small trickles of blood all over his face and neck. “I’m not you’re toy!”

The other three jumped in, pulling her off, still kicking and thrashing her nails trying to hit every target in their path. “Will you chill out!” Paul exclaimed. “It’s not like you’re dead.”

They pinned her down on the bed while David collected himself and calmly sat down beside the unruly girl. Tears trickled down her cheeks as he looked upon her with no consideration.

“You should be thanking me,” he said, suddenly fading out.

Serenity shot up in bed gasping for air and coughed madly. Her room was chilled and dark, but at least it was her room. She flipped the lamp on and rubbed her throbbing neck. It made her feel woozy and to her dismay there was dried blood still on her shoulder. Now she wished that she had let Howie stay.

She picked up the package he had brought her and ripped it open. Inside was an envelope sealed with wax, which she also tore open and unfolded finding the letter she had been waiting for:

Serenity,

We are the ones dedicated to a higher purpose. We’re fighters for truth, justice and the American way. We realize that you have been searching for answers and hope that we can be of the utmost assistance to you in the fight between good and evil. If you want these answers, you must meet with us ASAP! Come to the comic book store on the boardwalk. But we must warn you, please use discretion by coming to the back door and knocking three times. We hope we are not to late for you as we feel there is another force pulling you in the wrong direction.
Death to all vampires!

Signed,
The Frog Brothers

She dropped the letter in disgust. This is what she had been waiting for? Even the vampires, scary as they could be, seemed more reliable than an organization that called themselves the Frog Brothers. She got out of bed and slipped into a robe before tiptoeing through the kitchen and opened the sliding glass door to step out onto the deck. The night was warm and she decided that a cushioned lawn chair would be more comforting than her bed that night. She sat, delighted in the sweet smell of the air and gazed up at the stars pondering her next move until she fell asleep once more.

The sun woke her around ten am, beaming down on her with its hot heavy rays causing her to sweat a little, but she didn’t care. It felt like it had been ages since she had seen the sun, so she sat, bathing herself in its warm glow. From the deck she could see the beach buzzing with life forms of people in their bikinis, little kids with beach balls and a few sand castles. The smell of sun tan lotion wafting in and out through the light winds, and a few drunks left over form the night before. It was a good day to do nothing, until the night lurked again, bringing questions and disorder. But by nightfall she was ready for action, and had decided to check out the Frog Brothers, for mere amusement if anything.

By the time she got to the boardwalk she could sense that her abductors were near, stalking her every movement as she wavered through the people. No matter how fast she walked, they stayed with her. She finally stopped in an open spot of the crowd, not bothering to look behind her, and let them come.

“What’s the matter, mama, don’t you trust us?” Paul asked, nudging her side.

“Don’t call me that. You’re the ones harassing me.”

Marko stepped in front of her. “What’s not to trust? We were just having a little fun.” Serenity could barely blink, frozen, starring into his beautiful blue-green eyes, but she managed to pull her hair away from her neck exposing the bruise there.

“You call this a little fun?” She could tell by the look on his face that it both hurt and excited him, but before she could push him aside David put a hand on her shoulder and turned her towards him. She angrily brushed it off. “Don’t touch me!”

“Hey, take it easy,” he whispered.

“Now why on Earth should I do that?” She put her hands on her hips. “Was I dreaming the other night, or was I really in that cave?

“Oh you were there.” He glanced down at the paper in her hands. “Going somewhere?” As he said this, the dark haired one she hadn’t had the pleasure of getting a name from stepped behind her, as if he would stop her from leaving.

“It’s my business, not yours,” she rolled her eyes and looked back over her shoulder. “You’re a man of many words I can tell, but just because we had an accident encounter, doesn’t mean you can bully me. Or is this your idea of making friends, cuz it really sucks.”

“Name’s Dwayne,” he whispered gruffly.

Serenity nodded. “Good to know. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have somewhere to be.”

“Yes, I see, The Frog Brothers. Not a wise choice,” David said.

She broke through the other boys who made no attempt to stop her. “Well, it’s my choice to make isn’t it.”

“Why don’t you stick around and tell us more about that symbol, why you should have died last night and didn’t.” David continued, purposely trying to get a rise from her.

Serenity glared and turned around, tempted to flip him off. “Go to hell!”

“Come on lil’sis, tell us what it means,” Paul said eagerly, half following her, Marko close behind him.

“It means I’m gifted!” she spouted smartly, not paying attention to where she was going until the collision between her and a tall gentleman were inevitable. At least that’s what his appearance said from first glance, but as she apologized for running into him and overwhelming feeling of doom sank down to the pit of her stomach. She backed away from him quickly almost tucking herself back in against the boys. He wore glasses and dressed like a family businessman, carrying all the attributes of a normal person and was followed by a big white German Shepard. Serenity new right away that he was another vampire, just from his scent, but this one scared her more than the boys.

“Are these boys bothering you?” he asked politely.

For the first time, Serenity wanted to hide behind David. She gulped, shaking her head. “Nnn…no.”

“You sure?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. His dog brushed past him, walking casually up to Serenity and licked her hands. “Ah, a natural dog person, I like that.”

“Uh, yeah,” she shrugged, shaking her head, trying to get the dog to stop licking her. “I get that a lot.”

“Thorn stop it!” The man said sharply, causing Serenity to jump. “Well, if you’re sure you’re all right, we’ll be on our way.” He gave David an abrupt look and motioned for the dog. As soon as they were out of site Serenity took a breath as though she had been holding it under water.

Marko went up to her. “You ok?” he asked. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

“He’s no good, no good at all,” she muttered. “Pure vampire evil.”

“And you knew that?” Paul whaled. “Max, the head…” David motioned for him to keep his tongue, and he was quickly silent, for a moment. “So about that tatt…” he continued anxiously.

“I don’t want to talk about it ok. Just leave me alone.” She pushed them off once more and was on her way.

The comic book store looked dark and empty when Serenity found it, but she went to the back door anyway and proceeded to knock as the letter requested. There was no answer, so she knocked again. Five minutes later, still no answer. She was about to give up when suddenly with a jerk, the door opened to a crack. “We don’t want any more girl scout cookies!” The young guy yelled, peeking through.

“I’m not here about cookies.” She insisted holding up the letter up. “I came for this.”

He squinted and frowned, still suspicious, and slowly opened the door to let her in. “Sorry bout that, we just can’t be too careful around here with all the ghouls and vampires roaming around.”

“Yeah, it happens a lot with girl scouts.” Serenity said half sarcastic, shaking her head. “Man I hate that.”

“Look lady, this isn’t a joke, you’re either in or you’re out.” He demanded as they walked further into the shop.

“You haven’t even told me anything yet, how am I supposed to know either way?” As she said this, another young guy entered the room holding a squirt gun.

“Hey Alan,” the first guy said, “This little girl thinks she has what it takes to kill vampires.”

“Wait, what? No,” she shook her head and threw her hands up in disagreement “That’s not why I’m here.” But before another word was spoken, Alan doused her good with the water in the squirt gun. Serenity squealed and shrieked, shielding herself with her arms in an attempt to keep from getting wet, as she backed quickly towards the door.

But the boy kept at it as if he wouldn’t be satisfied until she was completely drenched. With no where to turn and agitated to the brink, she finally yelled, “Stop it!” Startled, he quickly dropped the gun. “You guys are nuts,” She continued, shaking her hands free from some of the water. Both of them looked at each other innocently like it was no big deal then back at her.

“Like I told you before, we can’t be too careful when it comes to…” The first guy started.

“No. Stop. Please, I heard you the first time.” Her voice was disgruntled.

“Oh…yeah…right.” He looked from her to the ground and hesitated.

“Actually, this is why I’m here.” She handed him the letter and took a deep breath. “Should I call you Frog Brother or?”

“Edgar, name’s Edgar," he said seriously as he adjusted the bandana he wore across his forehead, looking strangely at the letter.

“Well Edgar, you sent that to me, and I was hoping you could help me find what I’ve been looking for.”

He studied the letter long and hard, oohing and awing over it as if it were five pages long, and after that he simply said, “This is a recruit letter. If you got this, it was by mistake. We didn’t send it to you.”

“Yeah but, it has you signature on it right there.” She pointed.

“I know, I’m sorry, but it must have been sent to the wrong address, Miss…?”

“Serenity.” She sighed, looking a bit hopeless. “Then you really have no idea why I’m here.” She paused for a moment, thinking that if they dealt with the supernatural, showing them one of her secrets might help. She searched the small room and snatched an army knife off one of the counters. The boys frowned and looked at each other but before they could protest about having their personal weapons tampered with, Serenity turned her arm over and jabbed the blade of it straight down into her artery, giving a slight moan, and ran it down the length of her arm.

Edgar reached out to stop her half befuddled with a dim glare on his face. “Shit Alan, this girls gone off the deep end.”

As soon as her blood started to trickle down and drip to the floor the wound healed. Serenity sighed and half smiled amused by their bewilderment.

Alan squinted, still in shock. “Uh…we don’t deal with your kind of…supernatural.”

Her smile faded and she put the knife down. “So you really can’t do anything?” She asked. Deep down she felt a frustrated scream rising to the surface. “So I came here and got doused in Holy water for nothing?” She waited a moment, tapping her fingers on the counter and then snatched the letter none to politely out of Edgar’s hands. “Guess I’ll go home and change.”

“Wait, how did you know it was Holy water?” Alan asked, taking a step towards her.

“Would it matter?” she huffed.

“It would if you were a vampire,” Edgar persisted. “Have you been given anything unusual to drink lately? Sunlight freak you out? Bad breath, long fingernails?”

She looked at her fingernails oddly, frowning and biting her lower lip, then tucked her hands away behind her back, folding up the letter and stuffing it in her back pocket. “No…” Was she unsure, she thought, who knows what they did to her in the cave that night. “But I do have a tattoo here on my inner right thigh,” she continued, holding her leg up and rubbing the spot.

“Tattoo?” Alan questioned. “What does that have to do with turning into a vampire?”

Serenity growled. “I’m not turning into a vampire. I’ve been in the sun all day, see?” She pulled her shorts down a bit on the hip revealing half of her bikini line. The boys froze with a blank stare until Serenity noticed and quickly pulled her shorts straight. “Anyways I’ve had it forever, and someone just told me recently it meant great power, or something like that.”

“Your bikini line?” Edgar asked.

She rolled her eyes. “No, freak, the tattoo. It’s a medieval code of arms with the symbols of the Griffon and the Unicorn on it in silver and green. Ring a bell for either of you?”

Edgar frowned. “I’ve never heard of anything like that.” He looked at his brother who nodded in agreement. “I think someone’s telling you stories.”

“Fine. But I’m sure if I said I killed someone last night because I was craving blood you’d stake me right now, huh?” She glared at the two who said nothing. “I’m sorry I wasted your time.” She made quickly for the back door before they could say anything else.

“Uh…we’ll call you if anything comes up,” Alan yelled after her.

She found a seat on a bench not far from the comic book store and sat for a minute, pulling at her wet t-shirt.

“David told you they were useless,” came a voice beside her, causing her to jump again before finding it was Marko.

“Where’d you come from?” she asked. Half annoyed that he had scared her. She looked at him, studying her, and smiled. “You’re brave, sitting outside the ferocious hunters hut.” She joked.

He leaned in closer to her with an all-knowing smile. “Are you going to tell them I’m out here?”

“Heck no, I’d probably get staked. As you can see, I’m covered in Holey water.” He flinched and backed away a little. “Don’t worry, I doubt it’s dangerous to you as long as it’s on me.” He daringly swiped his hand down her chest and smiled wickedly when he found it didn’t burn.

“That’s a lousy excuse for copping a feel," she teased. “I know all about your dangerous ways though. Just one time I’d give in, that’s all it would take and poof, I’d be gone.”

“Just poof huh?” He laughed mockingly.

She shoved his shoulder back with one hand and giggled. “Yeah, poof, just like that. A full meal deal baby.”

He laughed again. “Not you. I couldn’t.”

“Sure you could.” She looked at him half serious, debating whether or not to ask him why. “It’s what you do. What you would have done that night with pleasure if David hadn’t said no. Admit it, I’m only alive because I’m gifted.”

He leaned in closer and whispered in her ear. “You liked it.”

Her eyes misted and she sighed, feeling his breath on her neck. “I like it right now," she whispered, regrettably pulling away. “But I have to go.” She stood quickly for fear he could control her with his mind, convincing her otherwise and he stood with her.

“Let me take you home,” he said. “My motorcycle is just over there.” He motioned towards the end of the boardwalk.

She grabbed hold of the front of his jacket with both hands pulling him close to her again, which surprised him. “I can’t let you do that," she sighed. “I don’t even know you, and I’m not sure who I can trust right now. I mean, I want to…trust you, but I have to be sure.” She blinked. What the hell was she saying? She wanted to trust a vampire?

“Then let me take you home,” he insisted, peering into her eyes and giving a smile that made her weak in the knees.

She returned the smile, letting go of his jacket and backed away. “Next time.” She winked.

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