Chapter Seventeen- 'I'll find some peace tonight in the arms of an angel'
One month. One month. The two words spun round Ike's head until he was feeling woozy. He had one month to say goodbye to his family. And to Melissa. His whole life would be gone in replace one he knew was no less than evil in the very place that made him what he was. He wouldn't be able to do it. How can they expect him to live there? What was he supposed to do? Just forget everyone he had ever known? Start a new life out there like nothing had ever happened back in the real world? It couldn't be done, it wouldn't be done. But how can he say no? His whole family was on the line. If he was as selfish to say no to those monsters, he would have nothing to go back to anyway.
Isaac had no appetite yet he had to feed. It was something that came with being what he was. He fed because it was an alternate day and he couldn't argue. If he had his way he'd never feed again. How was that for a decision? But he couldn't do that. Maybe if he went with those monsters he could get out again and go back to his life and forget that anything had happened. It might work. He could get everyone away from those things and make sure they were never harmed.
Why do I see no reasoning in that? Isaac thought sadly. He was going to lose them no matter what happened and nothing was going to stop that. He knew he'd have to leave them someday and those monsters were going to make sure of it.
For a complete- as Melissa would put it- blonde, he never had a problem getting in and out of houses even if they were locked or had alarms. They never worked on him for some strange reason. Throughout this whole year he'd discovered more and more about being what he was. Some things scared him and some things just confused or amazed him. How did being what he was come with such an easy way of getting through things? It was like the world wanted him to succeed. He would rather prefer a food shortage to a night of death any day, he was a certain of that. But now he was inside the large home that screamed either somebody rich or famous and he couldn't turn back.
I hate my life, I hate my life... He thought miserably as he felt his way up the stairs, not even making the slightest sound. It would much easier if an alarm went off or a light snapped on and then he'd feel...
Human. Even a sleeping dog didn't stir when he walked past it. It didn't even sense him. It was because he wasn't even alive, he wasn't even human...
Isaac opened the first door and saw it was a bedroom. That was good. It would just be quick and easy and...
Nothing. There was no life there. But, he sniffed the air, there was blood. And a lot of it. Isaac didn't know what to do. He closed to door behind him and switched on the light. Despite the scene in front of him he couldn't feel much he hadn't already felt.
The girl looked young, very young. No older than thirteen anyway. It looked like a drug overdose to Ike. He walked up to her slowly and touched her still warm arm. It was. Everything her medicine cabinet had to offer by what he could tell through her. He hated knowing every time just how people had died. Graveyards, apart from them spilling with crosses, were the worst place to be. He knew how they all died and worse: how they felt. It was another damned curse he had to carry and so he felt almost heartbreak when he knew just how she felt. How her mother and father ignored her, shot her down for not being beautiful like them, for not being sophisticated, for doing badly at school and for never doing anything right. Isaac swallowed hard as he knew that nobody would tell the parents for months because they always went on 'business trips' leaving no numbers behind. He knew because she knew. Every time she knew she could get away with murder with them away.
And she has... Isaac thought sadly. There wasn't even a suicide note. There was a photograph instead of her parents looking beautiful, as usual.
Isaac left without even try any other rooms. They'd all be empty.
Do I really want to live in a world that not only has to suffer from things like me but destroy themselves? Isaac thought as he walked back to the hotel, forgetting he was hungry.
"Hey John." Melissa smiled as Isaac walked into the bar. Somehow he knew she was there, it was nothing to do with being a vampire; he just knew. Maybe because she loved the company of alcohol.
"Hi Yoko." Ike replied and sat down next to her. Then he saw. "Hiya mom."
"Hey Ike. Went for a walk?"
"Yeah. Melissa why is there reporters outside asking about Tay?"
Melissa and Diana cracked up. No doubt Taylor was probably still tied to the bed and looking like a school wall.
"Do I want to know?" Ike asked.
Diana shook her head. "Trust us, you don't. But it's on video so..."
"Christmas party viewing?"
Diana nodded. "Exactly. It might beat last year's, with a certain someone's eighteenth birthday humiliation..."
"Oh yes!" Melissa laughed. "What happened?"
"You don't need to know!" Ike yelled.
"Put it this way; nobody in the hotel had a good night's sleep from about two to five in the morning with..."
"Mom! No more!"
Melissa didn't know whether or not she wanted to know but merely whispered to Diana "Maybe you'll show me the video later?"
"No way!"
"Sure." Diana laughed.
"Please, don't." Ike pleaded.
"Oh come on Ike! What's the point of dating somebody famous if I have nothing to sell to tabloids after we break up?" Melissa laughed.
"Are you suggesting we break up?" Ike asked.
"No... But you'd better get better at those guitar solos you're always bragging about before I reconsider."
Diana laughed. "Well I'm going up. Shall I untie Tay or should I just ignore him?"
"Ignore him, I wanna see for myself what he looks like." Ike replied.
"Okay, you two come up soon and not drunk, please." Diana asked.
"I don't think that'll be a problem Diana." Melissa smiled. Only Ike got the joke.
"Okay, bye guys."
"Bye!"
Once they saw the lift door closing, Melissa sighed and took a real look at Ike. Something was up.
"Bad night?"
Ike tried to look surprised. "What makes you think that?"
"I know Ike, trust me. So what happened?"
"Nothing much, I mean, it could have been worse..."
"Oh please don't tell me they were already dead when you got there?" Melissa asked softly.
"Suicide." Ike replied meekly.
Melissa put her arm around him. "Humans do these things, you know that."
"And we make it worse." Ike finished her.
"Yep."
Ike sighed and kissed Melissa. "Can't I do anything to help them?"
Melissa looked up at him surprised. It were as if a light bulb had switched on in her head. "Maybe you can."
"What?"
They were almost sprinting as they got to the mansion, determined to get there in time. Ike wasn't entirely sure what they were going to do, but Melissa was frantic about getting there before it was too late. Ike was sure it was too late already, but he trusted Melissa and did as she said.
"You remember when you healed Zac's bite marks?"
"Yeah..."
"And you said you can feel every sort of pain through them?"
Ike was still searching for the cops again as he nodded. She told him to dress dark, like they usually did when going out at night to feed, but not why. So Isaac was thinking it meant something to do with breaking and entering.
"I think you can heal bigger things."
"Like death? Are you sure?"
"It's worth a try, isn't it?" Melissa replied rather harshly.
"So... why am I here?" Zac asked, struggling to keep his breath as they were much faster than him.
Isaac grinned at him. "She fancies you." He remembered seeing a poster or five of Zac with hearts round them.
"Really?" Zac grinned.
"She might as well have someone she likes when she comes back, not two vampires."
Zac smiled. Then it fell. "But, what if you can't help her?"
"Then we can't do anything to help." Melissa replied, opening the door that's lock was already broken. "Really Ike you have to leave places so neat, you could at least make it look like a break in."
"Sorry, I'll remember next time." Isaac replied sarcastically.
All three walked up the stairs, Zac between the two of them. Vampires are hard to spot so if he was hiding between them then they wont notice him. Plus the fact that all attacks would shield him. He walked carefully and tried not to make a lot of noise but once he saw Melissa and Ike not seem bothered he walked normally. Apparently they'd tell him if they could hear anything. As much as being a vampire was a curse, it made others feel incredibly insignificant.
"In here." Isaac said and Melissa nodded. "Zac, stay outside, okay? I don't want you to..." He saw the look Zac was giving him. "I mean I think you don't wanna see this."
Zac nodded and sat down on the stairs, waiting for whatever would happen and for when he was needed, also to be a lookout, he supposed.
Ike walked up to the girl again and Melissa stood behind him. "So what do I do?"
"I don't know, whatever you do to clear the bite marks. Find out what's wrong and change it."
"Don't hate me if this doesn't work." Ike replied meekly.
"I wont."
Isaac kneeled down and touched the girl's arm again. He shuddered a little and let himself completely relax. He felt like the big guy in The Green Mile, except without the bugs and glowing lights. He wondered just how he got this power because Melissa doesn't have it, like he didn't have her memory-block thing. Maybe each vampire had a different type of power to themselves. Maybe that's where the flying myths come from? Or the bat myths? They all varied amongst vampires. Back to the task at hand Ike knew he was doing something good because he could feel the poison in her veins start to fade. He suddenly jumped as something vibrated through her.
"There's a heartbeat!" He heard himself yell.
Melissa smiled and touched the girl's chest. It was true. "Is she breathing?"
Like a cue the girl gasped a little and then coughed loudly.
"Zac get in here!" Ike yelled.
"Oh wow." Zac said as he walked in. They shoved him towards the girl who was waking up by now. "What do I say?"
"Just reassure her with the ol' Hanson charm." Melissa said and they walked out.
Zac gulped and kneeled down next to her. "Uh, hey."
The girl looked startled. "What happened?"
"You had a scare, it's okay."
"You're Zac Hanson!" She gasped.
"Last time I checked."
"But, but, I took..." She remembered.
"Don't worry about that, we saved you before it was too late."
"But... why?"
"Because people out there love you and didn't want this to happen to you."
She burst into tears and hugged Zac hard. "I'm, I'm sorry..." She sobbed.
"It's okay now, don't worry, it's okay." Zac knew just what to say, either because it had been said to him or because he'd say it to his younger siblings. Anyway he was good at it and it seemed to work.
"Why are you here?"
"We saw your door ajar and so went in to see if there was anyone inside. And we found you."
"Thankyou." She hugged him again and Zac realised what a good grip she had on her. "You saved me. You are my hero!"
"That's cool." Zac smiled a little despite that she didn't seem to want to let go of his neck. "Just don't try that again, you don't deserve to die."
"But I hate my parents! They're never here and when they are they just ignore me!"
"But suicide wont get their attention. We'll tell them just how you feel and they'll understand. They do love you, I'm sure of it."
"Thankyou Zac Hanson, thankyou so much!" This time she kissed him as well.
"So we do all the work and he gets the glory?" Isaac asked as they watched from the hallway.
"And yet you're still hungry." Melissa pointed out.
"Good point."
"Let him have this moment, she's happy with him."
"So are we gonna leave her then?"
"We'll phone the police, you'll get good publicity and she'll get her parents back. Everybody wins."
Isaac took a closer look at Zac and the girl. "Especially Zac. Woah, I don't think he's had this much sugar since Jenny McCarthy."
Melissa laughed.
"Where have you been?" Taylor yelled as the light snapped in. "It's three in the freakin' morning!"
"Oh sorry Tay. Thought mom untied you ages ago." Zac replied casually as he finally untied Taylor from his bounds which he'd been in for a good six hours. Isaac noticed it was really was the Green Mile as they'd left somebody tied up, just for different reasons.
"Okay, I'm gonna go pee and then you're all gonna tell me why in hell you were out all night!"
As he closed the door Melissa turned to them. "Zac, you felt sick, use the accident as a reference and while we were walking with you we saw the door, yadda, yadda and then explain Samantha and everything."
"And you get away with this?" Zac asked.
"Vampires are very convincing due to certain, let's say, persuasion skills."
"So that explains why I kept on doing stuff for you!" Zac turned to Ike.
"Hey, I only did that a few times!"
"Bullshit, I hate cleaning the garage as much as you do!"
"Just remember the story, Okay?" Melissa replied, breaking up the bickering.
"You're very good at improvising Melissa." Isaac remarked.
"You call me with four hundred years experience and we'll see how good you are." Melissa replied.
"Four hundred years with Ike? God help us." Zac mumbled with a grin.
Ike shot him a look. "Yeah, deal with it, I am."
Zac realised it wasn't a joke. It could or, more to the point, would happen. "Sorry man."
"It's Okay."
"Oh wait Ike you didn't feed tonight." Melissa remembered.
"I'll go out tomorrow."
"You sure?"
"More than."
"Okay." Melissa and Ike had just found a reason to kiss. Well, not really but they used it as one.
"If you two don't cut it out I'm gonna get the crucifixes on you." Zac warned.
"What was that little man?" Melissa turned to Zac with her fangs showing.
Then she stopped and changed back. Zac saw her face that was of total shock and turned round to see where her gaze went to, or more to the point who it went to. They all realised.
"The bathroom isn't soundproof." Taylor said quietly.
"And I owe you a twenty." Zac whispered to Melissa.
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