CHAPTER 31 APRIL IS DEAD

Billy gasped and shut his eyes. He could see the white light through his eyelids.

When he opened his eyes again, he cried out in shock.

April stood bathed in bright sunlight, staring back at him angrily.

“Huh?” Billy’s mouth dropped open. April hadn’t exploded, hadn’t burst into flame.

Had he imagined it? Had he wanted it so much that he hallucinated it?

Her blond hair glowed in the bright morning sunlight. She glared at Billy, shielding her eyes with one hand. “Satisfied?” she demanded in a whisper. “Satisfied?”

Jay gave Billy a hard shove that sent him into the concrete wall. “You jerk,” Jay snapped. “You stupid jerk. You almost had me believing you.”

Billy opened his mouth to reply—but couldn’t find the words.

April shook her head. She stepped past them both, back into the basement. “I’m not a vampire,” she said flatly. “You guys satisfied?”

Jay scowled at Billy. “You really are messed up, man. You really need help.” He shoved Billy again.

“Guys, give me a break,” April murmured. “You’re going to ruin everything.”

She dropped wearily onto a tall stool. Billy and Jay sat down across from her. “You’re going to ruin everything I’ve worked so hard on,” April said with a sigh.

“I—I don’t understand,” Billy stammered. “I thought I did. But I don’t understand anything.”

“You’re sick,” Jay insisted, still scowling at him. “I feel like such a jerk for listening to you. I’m really sorry, April. I knew you weren’t a vampire. There’s no such thing as vampires. But Billy kept after me. He wouldn’t give it a rest. He—”

“But there are vampires here!” April interrupted heatedly. “That’s why I’m here. That’s why I’ve pretended to be a vampire.”

“April—” Billy started.

“My name isn’t April,” she revealed. “It’s Diana. Diana Devlin. April Blair was my cousin.”

“Your cousin?” Billy cried.

“My cousin and my best friend,” Diana revealed sadly. Her voice caught on the words.

“What happened to April?” Billy asked softly.

“She came here last summer,” Diana replied, staring at the floor. “The vampires got her. They turned her into one of them. April confided in me. She knew she could trust me. She . . .” Diana’s voice broke.

She cleared her throat and started again, still keeping her eyes lowered. “When she came back to Shadyside after the summer, April was a vampire. She hated it. She hated what she had become—a creature, not a person. A creature who feeds on other people.

“She told me all about it. At first, I didn’t believe it. But she made me believe. And then, I felt so helpless. There was nothing I could do for her. No way I could help her.

“Finally, April solved her problem for herself. The only way she could.” A tear slid down Diana’s cheek. “One morning she stepped out into the sunlight. She killed herself.”

“Wow. Oh wow,” Jay murmured sadly, shaking his head.

Silence for a while.

Billy broke the silence. “Why are you here?” he asked Diana. “Why did you take April’s name? Why did you come to Sandy Hollow this summer?”

“I came back to kill the vampires who murdered my cousin,” Diana replied through gritted teeth. She wiped another tear off her cheek. “I want to pay them back for what they did to April. I want to kill them all!

“They believe I’m April,” she continued. “I look a lot like my cousin. They believe I’m April. And they believe I’m a vampire.”

She sighed. “I’ve had a couple of close calls. That boy Rick—he almost ruined everything.”

Billy remembered Rick. He had found Rick’s body—his drained body—in the sand that same night.

“But Rick recognized you as April!” Billy said.

Diana shook her head. “No. He recognized me as Diana. He almost ruined everything. That’s why I dragged him away as fast as I could. Before he could call me by my real name.”

“And then—you killed him?” Billy gasped. “To keep your secret?”

Diana narrowed her eyes at him. “Of course not. I’m not a murderer. I didn’t kill Rick. I think Kylie did.”

Billy jumped to his feet. His heart thudded in his chest. His whole body shook. “Kylie?” he cried shrilly.

Diana nodded solemnly. “Kylie and Irene are vampires,” she revealed. Her eyes burned into Billy’s. “You didn’t guess that? You really didn’t?”

Billy felt too shocked to reply. He shook his head, murmuring the two names. “Kylie? Irene?”

“I think Kylie killed that girl Mae-Linn. And she killed Rick.”

“But—why?” Billy demanded.

“For the nectar. Kylie wasn’t getting anywhere with you, Billy. And she was so thirsty.”

“I can’t believe this,” Jay chimed in, shaking his head. “I can’t believe we’re sitting here talking about people we know being vampires. I must be dreaming this. I have to be dreaming!”

“I wish,” Diana murmured sadly. “But Kylie and Irene really are vampires. And I have fooled them into believing I’m one of them. I’ve fooled them so that I could get close enough to kill them both.”

“Whoa. Wait a minute.” Billy stepped forward to confront her. “There’s only one problem with your story, Diana or April, or whoever you are.”

Diana jumped to her feet. “Well?”

Billy pulled down Jay’s shirt collar. “See these puncture holes? These aren’t pretend holes, Diana. You’ve been hanging out with Jay, going out with him practically every night. And look at him. Look at this wound on his neck.”

Billy’s features hardened into anger. “How do you explain that, Diana? How do you explain what you’ve done to Jay?”

“I didn’t do that,” Diana insisted heatedly. “I don’t have fangs. I don’t drink blood. I think Kylie or Irene did it to Jay.”

“But I haven’t been with them!” Jay protested.

“I think one of them has been following you and me, Jay,” Diana explained. “Probably Kylie. I think Kylie has been doing this to you—late at night after I leave.”

“But I would know!” Jay cried. “I would see Kylie. I would recognize her!”

Diana shook her head. “No, you wouldn’t. She clouded your mind. She probably made you think that she was me. I—I think Kylie killed Ms. Aaronson too. Just for the nectar. The vampire’s thirst is so powerful. I’ve seen Kylie and Irene do such disgusting things—just to satisfy their thirst.”

Billy shook his head. “Kylie. Kylie.” He murmured her name again. “I came back to Sandy Hollow to kill vampires, too. But I never suspected her. I was so stupid . . .”

He thought about his walks alone with Kylie on the beach. He thought about her kisses.

And he shuddered.

“Let’s go get them,” he said to Diana. “We’ll do it tomorrow. Let’s find them while they’re asleep in their coffins and kill them both.”

“It won’t be easy.” Diana sighed.

She had no idea how right she was.

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 663