CHAPTER EIGHT

Janet and A.J went up stairs to their room.  When they got inside, A.J decided to take a nap.  Janet told him that she was going to go for a walk.  She picked her key up from the bedside table and closed the door.  She went to the nearest door and opened it.  Kevin was sleeping on the bed.  There was no sign of Howie, who was rooming with him.  She went over to Kevin and sat on the bed next to him.

"My, my, my, what a handsome man.  You'd make a good vampire.  Oh well, maybe afterwards..." She stroked Kevin's forehead gently.  At that moment, Janet heard the flushing of the toilet.  Howie emerged from the bathroom, rubbing his wet hair with a towel.
  
"All right Kev, you can use the shower now, just be careful of the knobs, hot is cold and cold is..." He stopped when he saw Janet.  "What are you..." Janet cast a hand over him.  He stopped talking and his head dropped down.  The towel dropped from his hands to the floor.

"Oh fabulous," Janet said sarcastically. "Now I have to take Howie with me.  Oh well, I'll have more to bargain with."  All of a sudden Kevin stirred.  He opened his eyes and saw Janet looking at Howie.

"Janet, what are you doing here?"  He looked over at Howie.
"D?  What's the matter?"  Janet smiled as Kevin sat up quickly.

"Nothing is wrong, just relax, everything's fine."  She looked into Kevin's eyes.  "Everything is fine, perfect in fact, just perfect."  Kevin looked at Janet and started to get fixed.  A moment later, Kevin was no longer there.  Instead there was a zombie.

"Everything's fine." He muttered.  "Just perfect..."

Janet smiled.  "Yes, now stand up."

Kevin stood up.  

"And follow me, you too."  She directed this to Howie, who brought his head up and followed Kevin and Janet.  They made their way down the stairs.  Brian was talking with the bus driver.  When Brian saw Janet with Howie and Kevin, he smiled and stood up.  "Hey guys, what's up?"  

Janet answered for all of them.  "Oh fine!  We're going to the store for some food.  We'll be back shortly."  

Brian looked at her in a strange way.  "But it's pouring rain out there. Joey told me that this is one of the biggest storms that..."

Janet cut him off.  "We'll be fine.  Come on boys and thank you for volunteering to come with me!"  

Kevin and Howie muttered, "You're welcome."   

Brian sighed.  "Okay, I'll see y'all later."  

With that Janet, Howie and Kevin left and entered the stormy weather outside.  At that exact moment, Joey walked out from the side door to the kitchen.  He was drying a glass.  When he saw Brian, he smiled.

"Hey."  Brian smiled back.

"Hey yourself."  

Brian looked away at the door where Janet and the boys had gone.  He sighed.

"You looked troubled.  What's the matter?"  

Brian sighed again.  "I don't know.  There's something about Janet that bothers me.  Every time I'm around her, I feel..." he hesitated, "like there is a strong darkness about her."  

Joey looked at him, confused.  

Brian looked back over at the door.  All of a sudden he turned to Joey.  "What time does the store close?"  

"6:30, why?"  

Brian's face turned white.  "Did you tell her about the times?"

Joey nodded and Brian put his face in his hands.  "What's the matter?" Joey asked sounding confused.  

Brian looked up.  "Janet just left with Kevin and Howie.  She said that she was going to the store."  He looked at his watch, and showed it to Joey.  "It's 9:45..."

 
Janet led Kevin and Howie down the road.

They came to an alley, and they turned left.  Despite the rain and wind, all three of them remained unharmed.  They finally came to a car; it was a bright red.  Janet ordered them to get in.  She drove away, laughing to herself.

"Nick Carter will be much easier to get now that his friends are in danger.  As for Brian, he will suffer later.  I will get that book back from him." She laughed as she drove towards a mountain that had a cave in its side...


 

"Nick...I didn't know how to tell you any other way."  

Nick was still looking at the plaque.  So this was it.  This is why everyone knew his name.  

He was the son of a Vampire Slayer.  

He turned to Janet.  "How come he never told me?"  

Michelle bit her lip.  "He never told any of his kids.  Only his wife knew."

"Yeah, but how come never me?"  Nick sounded a little angry.

Michelle sighed.  "He wanted you to focus full-time on your musical career.  He was going to make you a slayer, but your desire to sing stopped him.  He retired in 1991 because he wanted to help you.  The memory of the SVSS was taken away.  When he left, he knew nothing about this place.  All he knew was his family and his normal life at home.  Well, normal for him."  

Nick smiled.  "So if I ask him about the SVSS, he wouldn't know anything?"  

Michelle nodded.  

Nick looked back at the plaque.  "But why a Vampire Slayer?  I don't understand.  Why him?"  

Michelle breathed heavily.  "I'm not really the one to tell you.  The only stuff I've heard is in stories.  I met your father...a very nice man.  Oh gosh, I remember meeting him so well.  It was at a party.  Golly..." She smiled. "That was such an honor."

Nick smiled.  Michelle looked so excited.  God, dad must have been really famous.  

Michelle looked at him again.  

Nick blinked, her eyes were so piercing.  Every time she looked at him, he felt as if she was staring right through him.  Looking at the person deep inside him...

"Well now that you know everything, I guess it's time to show you the rest of this place."  She turned around and went out the door.  

Nick followed.  They went up the same staircase that they came down.  When they reached the top, they made a sharp left.  As they mad their way down the hall, Nick felt eyes on him.
  
"Robert?"

"No, that's his son."

"Son?"

"Yeah, he's going to help us."

"Defeat the dark power?"

"Yeah..."
  
Nick shivered.  Dark power?  He didn't like the sound of that.  Did dad have anything to do with this 'dark power'?  He was very scared.  The people around him talked like it was hell. Michelle and Nick finally came to a door.  It said 'training arena.'  Michelle opened the door and they stepped inside.  Before them was a sort of big gym.  The kind you would usually see in colleges, except three times as big.  There were people all around, talking with others working out.  A majority of the people had dummies that they were practicing martial arts on.  Some of the people were staking them.  Michelle led Nick through the people out another door on the other side of the 'gym.'  She led him up some stairs and they came to a door.  Michelle knocked.

"Come in."

Michelle opened the door and they came to a stuffy office.  It was so messy that is took Nick a while until he saw the man sitting behind the mess.  There were books all over the floor. The shelves were packed with books.  Everywhere you look, books.  The desk itself was covered in papers, and hanging above the desk was a perch.  For a bird was what Nick assumed.  Behind the desk, the entire wall was made from glass.  Nick could see the people in the gym.  Mr. Greenway stood up from behind the mess, and when he saw Nick, he smiled.

"Welcome, my boy, to SVSS headquarters.  My name is Allen Greenway.  I'm the head trainer here."  Nick was looking around at the book titles.  He noticed that there was an entire shelf that was empty.  All the other shelves were overflowing with books, but there was one of them that was not.  Mr. Greenway noticed Nick staring at the empty shelf.  "That shelf is supposed to hold a book, but it was stolen about ten or eleven years back."

Nick looked at Mr. Greenway in a confused manner.  "That's when my dad retired."  

Mr. Greenway smiled.  "Yes, you are catching on.  We know for a fact that you know where it is."

"What?
"
"Has any one you know been reading a book on vampires?"

Nick thought for a moment.  He couldn't remember.  "No, why?"

Mr. Greenway sighed.  "We stopped your bus because our..."

Nick interrupted him.  "Wait, YOU stopped MY bus?  How could you?  We have a show tomorrow night and we're going to have to cancel it, jeez, thanks a lot."  

Mr. Greenway smiled.  "You're welcome, because if we didn't all of you would probably be vampires right now."  

Nick stopped talking.  

Mr. Greenway continued.  "Anyway, as I was saying, we stopped your bus because our detectors picked the book up of your bus.  You're sure that you don't know anyone on your bus who has been reading a book with the word vampire in the title?"  

Nick shook his head.  

"We know that Janet is a vampire.  She possesses a ring with the Dark Power.  We're not sure how it works. But we know that the book that was on your bus activates it.  Janet would do anything to get to it, including killing. You're positive that you're sure?"  

Nick shook his head.  "I'm positive.  None of the guys even like vampire books..." All of a sudden it hit him, and he remembered back to a day a few months ago.

"Now, Nick, tell us what happened."  

Nick took a deep breath and told them about what he saw, at the McDonald's, in the audience and just now.  When he was done, the guys were silent.  

Then Brian chimed in.  "So, do you want a scarf for Christmas?"  

Nick looked confused.  "Why would I want a scarf?"  

The guys started to laugh.  Brian grinned.  "To protect your neck from the mean vampire."  

Nick felt a jolt of fear go up his spine.  "Vampire?" he asked.

"Hell yeah," Brian was trying not to laugh.  "'Vampire's eyes turn red when the make eye contact with their next victim'. And I quote from this book," he held up his book that he was reading.  The front cover read, "The Mark of the Vampire!"

Nick gulped.  "Is the book called, "The Mark of the Vampire?"  

Mr. Greenway nodded.  

"Oh shit!  Brian...he's in trouble!"