Chapter Fourteen- Then It Comes To Be That The Soothing
Light At The End Of Your Tunnel, Is Just A Freight Train
Coming Your Way...
Why was darkness somehow settling? It used to be creepy. The dead silence drives people insane and makes them do crazy stuff, just to hear noises.
Then again, I'm not people. Ike smiled.
If there was a reason to enjoy the darkness, it must be the fact that he could actually see and hear through it. Some sort of power came with darkness, probably where all the sun-allergy myths came from. A simple fact that demons could be your best friend or walking in broad daylight was too much for the population of the earth. It was probably made up to warn humanity that darkness was not your friend. A nice moral to all those bedtime stories throughout the centuries that the mothers would tell their children. Yes, it was best to sleep through the evil until morning.
Despite the difficult task of his promise, Isaac was enjoying the night-time. He didn't want to go back just yet. He knew Zac may be waiting for him, but he had a happiness inside of him. It was all lost since he broke up with Melissa. At least he was a little happier. He wouldn't admit it out loud but he really missed her.
Isaac was walking in the park. It was dark, there were a lot of hiding places and it just screamed idiocy for people to just walk around there at night.
"That's him." Isaac heard from behind. He remembered the accent. He turned round and yet again he recognised the faces he met.
"Awww, he's still as cute as I remember him."
The woman was dressed in an expensive dress with an animal fur coat. She was dripping with jewellery and was smoking a cigarette, even though it would do nothing for her.
"I told you." The man was dressed smartly as well. Almost like he was from an old film.
"What do you want?" Isaac demanded. He hated them both. He almost subconsciously scanned the ground for anything sharp and wooden.
"Honey, he remembers us." She held her boyfriend tightly, smiling up at him.
"Just leave me alone." Isaac said and turned to leave.
"You don't want to tell us how you're getting along?" The man called. "Rather rude, isn't he?"
"Extremely. Teach him some manners honey." The woman asked politely.
Isaac was running. He knew how mad he was, but, he couldn't kill them. He would if he could but somehow he knew they had the upper hand.
The man shot in front of him, as if from nowhere. "Going somewhere?"
"Don't talk to me." Isaac mumbled. He knew he couldn't win anything.
He knew because they were the very things that made him what he was.
"But sugarplum, we only wanna to talk." The woman cooed, walking up to him from behind. "Don't you remember that great night?"
"You've destroyed my life, so no, I don't want to talk." Isaac said angrily and tried to walk away. Again the man and woman appeared in front of him.
"But we've missed you so much. You didn't take up our offer."
"What offer?" He placed his foot over a long stick.
"We mustn't have told you then. The offer to stay with us, where all vampires stay."
"No chance." Isaac started.
"But we're so lonely without a big strong boy like you..." The woman started.
"Besides, you must come." The man said casually.
"Why must I?" Ike asked slowly, knowing a trap was coming up.
"Or else we'll eat your family."
Isaac grabbed the stick and aimed for the man. He moved away and Isaac hit the woman.
"Ow!" She yelled. She suddenly saw where it was. Without another word, except what sounded like a tut, she seemed to dissolve into the ground.
The man looked shocked for a second then smiled. "Wow, good aim. How long have I wanted to do that?"
Isaac dropped the stick in surprise. "I didn't mean..."
"Don't think twice about it, these things happen."
"You can't kill my family." Isaac said angrily.
"Sure we can." The man laughed. "Haven't you grasped that yet? We can kill who we want! Without remorse, without hate, anger, guilt, sadness, nothing! We're free to do what every mortal dreams about!"
"Well I don't." Isaac turned to leave.
"Then why do you kill?"
Isaac turned back. "I try not to."
"That was a lie Isaac. A lie just to shut up your brother and you know it."
He was right, it was. "But... I'm going to try harder. I don't want to."
"But you do!" The man walked over to him. "You do it all the time! What point is there to your undead life if you don't kill? You are the very person we want back at the castle, and you know you fit in."
"I wont go."
"You have no choice, if you really care for those people who used to be your family."
"You can't, please..." Isaac felt himself begging. He couldn't help it.
"We will. You have a month."
The man disappeared into the darkness and Isaac suddenly lost that happiness he had just gained. He wanted Melissa back.
Slowly he started back to the hospital.
Melissa wanted Zac to be the very guy future philosophers would try to understand, and fail. He'd basically told her everything she needed to know, without one flinch when Melissa told him things no human should know. Nobody anywhere should know what she had done in her long life. But he'd found out and he had given his reason for each one. Some reasons had been good, and of course a lot have been bad. He had just given them. Not like she was a demon. Not like she was his brother's ex-girlfriend. Not like anything but another person and Melissa would never forget that conversation for as long as she would live a dead life.
Zac had fallen asleep again and now Melissa just wanted him to wake up so they could talk more. But she didn't wake him up. Not yet. Not now. She left a while after he had drifted off, almost mid-sentence and decided a good meal was in order.
Apparently she was not allowed to kill her victim. That was Zac's rule. Let them live. It was a simple thing to say and nice to read. But it couldn't be done. Could it? Maybe it could be. She had to hand it to his 'end of the bargain.' After a few hours of therapy that may, no, will change her life, that was his payment.
Melissa smiled as she came back in, just watching Zac asleep. There was something incredibly strange about that. Scary, in fact.
Then she realised something. Him and Ike look exactly the same when they're asleep.
Melissa heard the door opening but didn't look up. She didn't even wait for him to speak.
"Don't, I'm just leaving." She said.
"Making sure he was dead or something?" Isaac asked bitterly. "Well he's not."
"And I'm glad."
"Why? Because then when you get mad again you get a meal?" Isaac didn't want to say that, but it all came out.
Melissa spun round. "I didn't mean to Isaac!"
"Don't start Melissa! You did and you know it!"
"Isaac, I can't help it! I do what I have to do!" Melissa pleaded. She wanted to cry but couldn't. She knew this was coming, she wasn't about to ask for pity.
"You didn't have to hurt him though!" Isaac yelled back. "You know he wouldn't have hurt you!"
"It's not about that Ike!"
"Melissa, don't even try..."
"STOP IT!"
Both looked down to see Zac was in the middle of the fight.
"Both of you stop yelling!"
"Zac, I'm just..." Ike started.
"No! You two have got to stop this!" He paused. "Before you erase my whole memory!"
"Don't bother, I was just leaving." Melissa said angrily.
"Sit down!" Zac ordered.
This time she was the one who obeyed. She sat down slowly, not anywhere near Isaac though.
"I've heard both sides now! Who wants to hear my verdict?" Zac didn't wait. He looked at Isaac. "Ike, you hate Melissa right now, which makes sense because she almost killed me."
"I didn't..." Melissa started.
"Wait your turn!" Zac yelled. "As I was saying; Ike, you have an automatic 'big brother' side of you that protects any one of us you love, i.e., your family. Even if you love that somebody who is doing the hurting. And you will not look at an obvious reason for their actions." He looked at Melissa. "Like trying to protect you."
"Protect me?" Ike yelled. "She..."
"She loves you, just like she loved Connar. Want to know how he died?" Ike didn't reply. "Melissa told her best friend the truth and soon a band of vampire hunters came to her door, led by her friend, set to kill her and Connar."
Isaac looked at Melissa slowly. She nodded sadly, as if to clarify the truth.
"Now as you told me, and I told Mikey, she was almost certain it would happen again."
Melissa wiped her eyes quickly. "I couldn't bear to lose you, just like him."
"Now she will do whatever it takes to conceal the truth, even putting people at risk to do so. It has taken her ninety years to even try loving again. If she had lost somebody else..."
Zac didn't have to finish. Isaac had Melissa in his arms as she cried.
"I'm sorry Isaac..." She whispered.
"I'm sorry too Melissa."
"I just..."
"It's Okay." Isaac wiped her tears away. "You love me that much?"
Melissa nodded.
They started to kiss.
"Of course you can look at this differently. You were willing to kill me just for a relationship that is entirely sex-based and you, Ike, will forgive that quickly, which indicates that one, you don't like me or two, you're both sex freaks and..."
They weren't listening. They had missed eachother way too much.
"Hey! I'm not finished!"
Isaac waved his hand to shoo Zac away while still kissing his girlfriend.
Zac groaned and prayed to God they realised he was still there soon enough. It looked like they missed eachother enough.
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