Chapter 15

I woke up on Christmas morning ready to roll over and kiss Zach. He wasn't there when I got up. All that was there was a pile of rose peddles and a note. I sat up and grabbed the note to read it. The note said:

 

Katie,

I had to go out hunting early so your mom wouldn't know that I left. By the time you wake up and read this I most likely will be downstairs. Hope you slept well. I love you!

-Zach

 

It made me smile to know that he took the time to let me know where he was. Especially now that Matilta is back and pissed off. I got out of bed and went to my closet. I was a little cold so I grabbed a sweater and jeans. As I was getting my shoes on, my door opened. The only person who would be brave enough to walk into my room without knocking first was Zach.

 

He climbed onto the bed and wrapped his arms around my waist from behind. He kissed the nape of my neck and said, "Merry Christmas."

 

I smiled and turned my head to look at him. "You know you're very brave to come into my room without knocking." He smiled and kissed me. Something about his kisses lately feel more passionate than what they used to be. I don't know what it could be.

 

When he pulled away, he said, "Your mom is waiting for us downstairs. I have a confession to make. She actually sent me up here to get you to come downstairs."

 

I smiled. "Well then we shouldn't keep the boring story she's about to tell us waiting." My mom was so predictable on Christmas day. She always had this boring story. The only thing that wasn't predictable was what the story was about.

 

Apparently this year's story is about my first Christmas. I think she just did it to embarrass me in front of Zach. It was working by the way. Zach just kind of ignored it. Thank God! He handed me a little box. "What's this?" I asked.

 

"It's your gift. Just open it." I did. When I opened it, there was a necklace inside. It said, I love vampires. I just gave him a look. He laughed. "I thought it was true." Then he kissed my forehead.

 

As Mom was finishing up her boring story, I got a call from my dad. I went to answer it. "Hey Dad! Merry Christmas!"

 

"Hey kiddo! Merry Christmas! I'm afraid though that I have some bad news."

 

"Dad, are you really going to give me bad news on Christmas?"

 

"Yea. I'm sorry kiddo. I have to tell you that Sarah went missing yesterday." I was speechless. I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know why this would be happening to me. "Katie, are you alright?"

 

I must have been in a trance because every minute seemed like an hour. "Dad, I'll call you back later." I hung up my phone. I ran upstairs without telling Zach where I was going. He knew that if I didn't come back to the living room I was in my room.

 

I was pacing back and forth. I tried to call Sarah's number multiple times over and over again. Every time it would go to voicemail right away. "D****t!" Zach was coming into my room as I said that. I threw my phone across the room to him. He caught it with one hand. I sat down on the floor and put my head in my hands.

 

"Katie, what's wrong!?" Zach came toward me and met me at eye level. I didn't answer. I couldn't say the words. "Katie, what is it?" He lifted my chin so I was looking up at him. He had a serious look in his eyes.

 

I sighed. "Sarah's missing. Dad just called to tell me it. I tried to call her phone but every time it goes right to voicemail."

 

“Okay, Katie, listen to me. We’ll figure this out. You just have to calm down.” Zach continued to say things like that for a good five minutes. Finally, I calmed down and just in time too because Mom came through the door.

 

“Is everything alright?” I shook my head. I couldn’t deal with explaining the situation to her.

 

“Mom, we have to go home. Sarah is missing and I need to go and see if there is anything I can do to help.” Mom brought her hand up to her mouth in shock.

 

“Alright, Hunny. You just go and do whatever it is you have to do.” She came over to give me a hug. Then, finally, she left.

 

Zach looked at me. “Are you sure you want to go back home?”

 

“It’s probably my fault that she got kidnapped in the first place. I have to go back and find her.”

 

“Katie, it’s not your fault.”

 

“If I paid more attention to the text messages that Matilta was sending me, I could have stopped her.” I was already starting to pack a suitcase. I was so flustered that I wasn’t really paying any attention to what I was packing.

 

Zach came over to me and stopped me. He pulled me close into him. I hugged him and started crying again. “We’ll find her. Don’t worry. It wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t predict what Luke and Matilta were going to do.”

 

“What if we don’t find her? Or what if we find her and she’s not alive?”

 

“Katie, what have I told you about what ifs? Stop focusing on the worst possible scenarios and start focusing on what we can control.”

 

I nodded and held him tighter. I didn’t know what I would do without him.

 

The next morning Zach and I were on the first flight back home. We got off the plane and Trent was there at the gate waiting for us. Zach and Trent didn’t start talking about the Sarah situation until we got into the car. “What do we know?” Zach asked.

 

“Well, Sarah’s not the only girl from schools that’s gone missing. There are probably a total of five to ten girls missing.”

 

“Wait so this stuff has been going on. For how long?” I asked.

 

“A month.” Trent answered.

 

"Has it only been girls who have gone missing?" Zach asked.

 

"Yea."

 

"So, whoever is doing this, they are taking teenage girls. What do they gain?" I asked.

 

"Attention." Trent answered.

 

I looked at him surprised. I wasn't expecting him to answer my question. "Trent, it was a rhetorical question." I said.

 

"Sorry."

 

Zach looked at me and said, "Katie, how about you go home and get some rest."

 

I shook my head. "I won't be able to rest right now."

 

"Katie, I'll come with you."

 

"Alright." That's when we got to my house. When I walked in my dad greeted us and Zach and I walked right up into my room. I wasn't in the mood for greetings.

 

When we got into my room, I went over toward the window. Zach could always tell when I was upset. "Katie, come here." I walked over to him. He gave me a hug and that's when I started crying. "What's wrong?"

 

"I'm just worried about Sarah. If this is Matilda and Luke we are dealing with, Sarah's not going to stand a chance. They'll kill her just because she is my best friend and they obviously want to see me suffer. What if it's them?"

 

"Then we fight them just like we did last time. I won't let them hurt anyone else." I nodded. Just then my dad called us down because there was something on the news.

 

We got downstairs and the news reporter was talking about the kidnappings. "This just in, the first girl to go missing has been found dead. Her name is Cathy Mandell. She was a junior at Parker High. Authorities are ruling the cause of death as an animal attack. She has been pretty much decapitated. Let's hope that we can find the other girls before this happens again."

 

“That’s odd. I didn’t think animals attacked this close to town.” Dad said. I just stared in utter horror.

 

I looked at Zach and he shook his head indicating that he knew what I wanted to know. This wasn’t an animal attack. It was a vampire attack. I walked upstairs and Zach followed me. "Katie, we don't know what this means."

 

"It means that even if it's not Luke and Matilta, they are going to end up killing Sarah."

 

"You don't know that. We don’t know what they are planning. Katie, let me worry about this. You just need to try and relax. Rash decisions won’t get us anywhere.”

 

I nodded. I knew that it wasn’t going to get us anywhere but it’s all I could think about at the moment. Sarah was not only my best friend but she was like my sister. I told her things that I haven’t even told my parents. I needed to know that she was safe. “We need a plan and we need one fast.”

 

“Leave that to me please. Don’t worry about anything else.” I couldn’t promise that. Even if I love Zach. I’ve loved Sarah for much longer.