| Chapter 11 Shattered. Howie had never seen anyone break down and completely crumble until now. After Tracy told Brian that Raven would come for him, he really did lose it. However you want to phrase it he completely freaked. Tears, screaming, hyperventilating, the whole nine yards. He and Tracy tried everything to calm him down, but nothing worked. Finally Tracy got into his mind and was able to make him sleep. Now they lay on the couch, Brian in her arms, almost like a child in the protective arms of his mother. Howie glanced at Tracy. She was gently rocking back and forth with Brian, but she was a million miles away. Lost in her own thoughts and memories. He saw a lone tear trail down her cheek before she wiped it away. She looked over and met his eyes, causing him to look away. "I-I'm sorry Tracy," he said quietly. She sighed, "It's not you I'm angry at. It's Eli. He's your boss, and you do what he says. He's responsible for getting me involved, not you." "But I still knew and I didn't say anything," Howie replied, looking back up. "You came clean tonight, that's all that matters. Sorry I scared you earlier," she apologized. Howie half smiled, "It's Ok. I think that's the closest I've been to thinking I was gonna get bitten though." Tracy stared at him intently, "I'm afraid, before this is over, you may come closer." Howie nodded, knowing all to well the danger they were in. "Is he gonna be alright?" he asked, gesturing to Brian. Tracy looked down at him, gently brushing a few curls off his forehead, "In time. He's so fragile and so afraid. I need more time with him than I have." "I know," he said, "Can you maybe come on as an assistant and travel with us?" She shook her head, "No, he'll see through it. I can't risk Brian being discovered." "Won't he eventually feel him anyway?" Howie asked. "He will, but not strong enough to tell it's him until his change is complete. The slayers at the party knew he was there, they just couldn't pin point him," she explained. "So we don't have long at all then," Howie stated. "No we don't," she agreed. "What about talking to him?" he asked. She gave him a confused look. "Can you talk with him while we're traveling?" he rephrased. Tracy thought about it a moment, "I think so. As long as Brian concentrates, we could do that." "And he won't know?" he asked. She shook her head, "No, they may can feel us, but they can't do what we can. He'll never know I'm talking to him unless Brian says something." Howie nodded, looking at the clock. "Get some sleep, I'll watch over him until you need to get up," Tracy offered. "Alright," he said, going over to the unoccupied couch and laying down. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Josiah walked through the lavish apartment, hurrying to carry in the last of the suitcases before the sun rose. He walked into the master bedroom, placing the cases in his hand at the foot of the bed. "Jo," Raven called from the balcony that overlooked the city. "Yes mistress," he answered, joining her. Raven smiled up at him, a hint of evil in her eyes, "It won't be long. I can feel him already." "He is a strong one," Josiah commented. "Always has been," Raven added, turning to go back into the room just as the sun peeked over the horizon. "Soon we will have everything we've worked for," she said, gliding over to the bed. "Yes mistress," he agreed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Loud banging woke Howie from his slumber. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Looking over he noticed that Tracy had fallen asleep, Brian still in her arms. Pounding. Someone was at the door. Howie got up and shook Tracy, "Get up, we have company." Tracy woke up, glaring at the door. "Can you wake him?" Howie asked. She nodded, whispering in Brian's ear. He jerked awake, looking around, disoriented. Tracy got up, looking back at him, "I'll be close," she whispered before disappearing into the bedroom. Howie walked over to the door and answered it. "Hey Kevin," he said, as Kevin barged into the room, looking around. "You guys aren't ready? We're late. We were suppose to have left ten minutes ago," he growled. Howie looked at the clock, "Oh crap, sorry Kev. We'll be down in a minute." Kevin looked over to see Brian sitting up, rubbing his face. He looked like hell. "What have you guys been doing?" he asked. "Nothing, we just got to talking last night and fell asleep," Howie said innocently. Kevin glanced between Howie and Brian, "Alright, but hurry up!" he said before marching out of the room. Brian looked up at Howie with a pained expression. "I know Bri, but we won't let her get you, I promise," Howie said. Brian shook his head, "You can't stop her." "I can try," Howie said, pulling his young friend to his feet, "Now come on before your cousin has a cow in the middle of the lobby." Brian laughed, "I'd like to see that." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian walked through the small hall of the bus into the back room, "Hey Nick, can I borrow your laptop?" "Sure dude," Nick said, not even glancing up from his game. "Thanks," Brian said, grabbing the computer and heading to the small table. He opened it up and turned it on, waiting for it to boot up. He glanced ahead, seeing Howie and A.J. in conversation. Kevin was in his bunk asleep, and Nick was in the back engrossed in PS2. The computer came up and he clicked on the internet. He thought their wireless internet connection on the bus was a waste of money, now he was happy they had it. He clicked in the search window and typed in vampires. His mouth dropped at the sites that came up. There were thousands of them. Where would a person even start? He clicked on a few, not finding them very useful. He went to hit the back button, but messed up and hit the favorites button instead. The screen split and all Nick's favorites popped up. "What the ...?" Brian muttered, scanning down the list. Half the sites were gamers sites, but the other half split between vampire and vampire slayer sites. Brian glanced back, making sure Nick was still playing his game, then clicked on a slayer site. The first thing that popped up was a login. Brian was thankful the information was already there, shaking his head that Nick had chosen to save his settings on that site instead of login in each time. The site opened and Brian looked through it. There was the latest news section, a message board and a chat, along with articles and media files. He looked at the latest news, reading about a sighting in New York and a successful slaying in San Francisco. Brian's heart pounded in his chest and his mouth went dry. He moved from that section to the media files. There were several files, so he randomly clicked on one. It took a moment for the file to load, but when it did, he wished it hadn't. It looked like a home movie. Two slayers had a vampire cornered. The poor girl looked so frightened as the two slayers moved closer. The camera zoomed in as one of the slayers pulled a large wooden stake from a bag. Brian couldn't breathe as he watched the slayers move in on the girl. The slayer with the stake attacked and Brian turned his head, quickly shutting off the video. Brian bit his lip to keep from crying. He was trembling uncontrollably, fear taking a firm grip on him. He glanced back again, just seeing the top of Nick's head in the back room. Brian took a deep breath, calming himself down. He had to be wrong about this. His best friend could not be what he thought. Suddenly a window popped up on the computer, nearly scaring the hell out of him. It was an instant message window. slyrgrl10: Hey Nick, where were u last night? The message blinked in front of him, like a warning beacon. Brian debated on closing the window, but his curiosity got the better of him. lovebites: Sorry, I got busy. What's up? slyrgrl10: Man you missed it. The best hunt ever! We got four! "Oh my God," Brian breathed, his hands shaking so badly he could barely type. lovebites: four, wow! slyrgrl10: yeah, u should've been there. I think our group is getting promoted. lovebites: That's great, um I gotta go, talk to you soon. slyrgrl10: alright, get on tonight, we'll talk, bye. lovebites: k, bye. Brian shut the computer off. He couldn't see anymore. It was all he could do to keep his composure. He stiffened as Nick walked toward him, "Hey, you find what you needed?" Brian nodded, having to find his voice, "Um ... yeah, thanks." Nick grinned, "No prob, man," he said, grabbing a soda from the small refrigerator and heading back to his game. Brian looked out the window, his mind spinning. What's wrong? He heard Tracy's voice in his head. He glanced around to make sure everyone was still minding their own business. I'm scared, he thought. He'd never �talked' to her before, and he wasn't sure if she could hear him. Why are you scared? She asked, sounding very worried. Brian bit his lip and closed his eyes, putting his head in his hands, I know who the slayer is, it's Nick. Chapter 12 |