“Should I go look? I can sneak.” The sunlight was making him feel braver.
“No!” Alexandria tightened a hand around his arm. “Don’t you dare go near that man.” She wiped her swollen lips on her sleeve. Blisters burst and began to bleed. “Is there any way for you to get out? Can you climb up the cliff?”
“No, there’s no foothold anywhere. There isn’t even a good hiding place. I haven’t looked farther back in the cave yet. Maybe there’s a way through there.”
“I don’t want you to try it, Josh. I can’t help you if he finds you in there.” She wasn’t certain if Paul Yohenstria really was an honest-to-God vampire, but whatever he was, Joshua could not possibly handle him. She had visions of the six-year-old finding the vampire asleep in a coffin. Did they really sleep in coffins?
“But you’re really hurt, Alex. I can tell. And he’s going to come back here. That’s why he chained you up, so he can come back and hurt you some more.” He sounded near tears.
“He’s very sick, Josh.” She thumbed a tear from his face, then kissed the top of his head. “We might have to pretend a lot around him. He thinks I am the woman he wants to marry. Isn’t that silly, when we don’t even know each other? But I think he’s hurt in the head, you know, something wrong with his brain.”
“I think he’s a vampire, Alex, like on TV. You said there wasn’t really such a thing, but I think you’re wrong.”
“Maybe. I don’t honestly know anymore. But we’re a hard team to beat, Josh.” Actually, she was so weak, she could no longer stand and didn’t even bother to try. If the vampire returned right then, he would have very easy pickings. “I think we’re too smart for him. What do you think?”
“I think he’s going to eat us,” Josh said honestly.
“He said something about a hunter. Did you hear him say that? There’s someone hunting him. We can hold out until the hunter finds him.” She was so exhausted, her eyes were closing again.
“I’m scared, Alex. Do you think the hunter will get here before the vampire wakes up and kills us?” Joshua’s lower lip was quivering along with his voice.
She made a supreme effort to rouse herself. “He’ll come, Josh. You wait and see. He’ll come at night, when the vampire least expects him. He’ll have blond hair, just like you. He’s big and strong and powerful, like a jungle cat.” She could almost see him in her mind, the hero she was attempting to create for her brother.
“Is he more powerful than the vampire?” Joshua asked hopefully.
“Way more,” she said firmly, weaving a fairy tale for the child, wanting to believe it herself. “He’s a magical warrior with shining gold eyes. The vampire can’t stand looking at him because he sees himself reflected in those burning eyes and is frightened by his own ugly appearance.”
There was a small silence, and then Joshua touched her face with his fingertips. “Really, Alex? Will the hunter really come and save us?”
She saw no harm in giving him hope. “We just have to be brave and strong. He’ll come for us, Joshua. He will. We’ll stick together and outsmart that old vampire.” Her words were slurring, and with her blood supply low, her body temperature was dropping, her strength ebbing quickly. Alexandria didn’t see how she could possibly survive until nightfall. Her lashes drifted down again, so heavy she had no way to lift them.
Joshua didn’t want to tell his sister, but she looked terrible. Horrible, even. Her mouth was swollen and black. White salt covered her skin, giving her a monsterish look. Her hair hung in grayish-white strands all around her face, and he couldn’t even tell its natural color anymore. Her clothes were torn and streaked white, and strings of kelp hung off her skirt and her ragged, torn nylons. Her legs had hundreds of beads of blood on them where something had nibbled away her skin. Even her voice sounded funny, and her neck was swollen and raw looking. But Alexandria didn’t seem to notice. Josh was very scared. He sat down next to her, took her hand, and waited while the sun slowly fell from the sky.