able to help her. He’d be able to undo what his cousin had done to her.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t explain to anyone that she wasn’t crazy, that she didn’t belong here, shackled like a convict. Even when her friends came to see her, even when her mother held her hand and cried, Maria couldn’t get the words out. Whatever Lore had put inside of her brain was impenetrable. And it was getting stronger. With every passing moment, she felt her strength seeping away. Her ability to fight Lore’s mind control was diminishing and the sane part of her was becoming weaker and weaker. Maria was certain that if she didn’t get help it would eventually disappear altogether, leaving her an empty shell.
The male officer stood with his gaze tipped down to Maria. The female officer perched on the side of her bed.
“Maria, we need to ask you some questions,” she said, softly.
Maria tried to nod but nothing happened. Her body felt heavy. She was exhausted. Fighting whatever Lore had done to her brain was tiring work.
“Your friend, Scarlet,” the woman continued in the same gentle way. “Do you know where she is?”
“Scarlet,” Maria said.
She wanted to say more but the words just wouldn’t come out. She watched in frustration as the male officer rolled his eyes.
“This is useless,” he said to his partner.
“Officer Waywood, you need to be patient,” the woman snapped at him.
“Patient?” Officer Waywood cried. “My friends are dead! Our colleagues are in danger! We have no time to be patient!”
Trapped inside her own mind, Maria felt her own frustration grow. She understood Officer Waywood’s concern. She wanted to help, she really did. But thanks to Lore, she could hardly utter a word. Getting the words out of her mouth felt like running on a treadmill – all that effort and she never got anywhere.
The female officer ignored Officer Waywood’s outburst and turned back to Maria.
“The man looking for your friend, his name is Kyle. Have you ever seen him before? Heard her mention his name at all?”
Maria tried to shake her head but couldn’t. The female officer chewed her lip and fiddled with the notebook in her hands. Maria could tell by her gestures that she was weighing something in her mind, trying to decide whether to tell her more.
Finally, the female officer reached out and squeezed Maria’s hand. She looked deep into her eyes.
“Kyle… he’s a vampire, isn’t he?”
From his standing position, Officer Waywood threw his arms in the air and scoffed. “Sadie, you’ve gone crazy! That vampire stuff is just crap!”
The female officer stood quickly, bringing her face up to the man’s.
“Don’t you dare say that,” she said. “I’m a police officer. It’s my duty to question this witness. How can I question her properly without telling her what we know?” Before Officer Waywood had a chance to respond, Sadie added, “And it’s Officer Marlow, thank you very much.”
Officer Waywood gave her a displeased look.
“Officer Marlow,” he said, enunciating it through his teeth, “in my professional opinion, introducing the idea of vampires to a mentally unstable witness is a bad idea.”
From her place on the bed, Maria began to rock. She could feel the sane part of her, buried so deeply beneath whatever Lore had done to her, starting to surface. Somehow, the fact that Officer Marlow believed in vampires was helping the trapped parts of her mind break free. She tried to speak and at last a noise came from her throat.
“War.”
The two officers stopped arguing and looked back at Maria.
“What did she say?” said Officer Waywood, a frown across his face.
Officer Marlow rushed to the bed and sat beside her.
“Maria?” she said. “Say that again.”
“W…” Maria tried. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Her lucidity was returning to her. Her mind was becoming her own again. Finally she got the word out. “War.”
Officer Marlow looked up at her colleague. “I think she’s saying ‘war.’”
He nodded, a worried expression on his face.
Maria took another deep breath, willing the lucid part of her to take control, to tell them what she so desperately needed to.
“Vampire,” she said through her gritted teeth. “Vampire. War.”
Officer Marlow’s face paled.
“Go on,” she urged Maria.
Maria licked her lips. It took every ounce of effort she had to stay present.
“Kyle,” she said through a grimace. “Leader.”
Officer Marlow squeezed Maria’s hand. “Kyle will lead a vampire war?”
Maria squeezed back and nodded.
“Scarlet,” she added. “Only. Hope.”
Officer Marlow exhaled and sat up straighter. “Do you know where Scarlet is?”
Maria gritted her teeth and spoke as carefully as she could. “With Sage…the castle.”
Suddenly, a deep pain started inside Maria’s brain. She screamed out and clutched her head, pulling her hair into her tight fists. Instantly she knew that the sane part of her was being overpowered once again by whatever damage Lore had done to her. She was slipping away.
“Help me!” she screamed.
She began pulling against her shackles and thrashing wildly.
Panicking, Officer Marlow stood. She looked over her shoulder at her partner.
“Call it in,” she commanded him.
She tried to calm Maria but the girl had lost it. She was screaming over and over. The door bleeped and the psychologist rushed in.
“What happened?” he cried.
“Nothing,” Officer Marlow said, backing away. “She just flipped.”
She paced away as the psychologist tried to calm Maria and stood beside her partner.
“Did you call it in?” she said, panting from anguish.
“No,” he replied tersely.
Officer Marlow frowned at him and reached for her walkie-talkie. But Officer Waywood leaned forward and grabbed it from her hands.
“Don’t,” he snapped. “The Chief doesn’t want to hear this crap. He’s got his whole squad to look out for and you want to bother him because some crazy kid thinks there’s a vampire war!”
Over the sound of Maria’s screams, Sadie Marlow spoke
