Chapter Three- 'I Hunt, Therefore I Am'
124 Souls Later...
"Learning. Learning, yearning, turning, per... Perning? Perming?"
"Oh would you shut up." Taylor asked his brother.
Zac looked up from his laptop and sighed. "Hey, Ike, what's a good rhyme for 'learning'?"
"Can't help, watching TV. Brain rotting..." Isaac grinned.
"Hey, a little help, that's all I'm asking." Zac said, getting annoyed.
"Hey Zac, what rhymes with 'bucket'?"
Zac gave Tay a dirty look. "Not appreciated."
"All I'm saying is we're practising tomorrow, work it out then. I'm trying to get some teenage values in me." Taylor replied, trying to find a packet of Oreos he was sure he'd left on the coffee-table, now covered in a pile of mess. "Now is not the time to be creative. Leave it to Fox."
"I got inspired, sue me." Zac replied, giving up now. He opted for the floor seeing as the sofa had been occupied by Tay and Ike with Mackie laying on them. And it was such a comfy sofa none of the chairs compared. It was either the best, or nothing at all.
"Guys, who d'you think you are? Rock stars?" Diana asked, coming in.
All of them grinned. "Tidy later, now watch TV..." Zac said in the same zombie-like voice his brothers had put on.
"Hey mom? What does rhyme with bucket?" Mackie asked.
Diana sighed. "Guys..."
"No swearing was included, you can't get us for it." Isaac pointed out.
Diana smiled slightly. "Fine. Me and dad are going out for the night, I'd like to say that you're in charge but that'll freeze hell over." She told Ike.
"Fine mom." Ike said. "Mackie, you're in charge."
"Bow before me!" He demanded.
She rolled her eyes. "No tattoos, seances, cannibalism, pot-parties or sacrificial burnings of any kind, Okay?" She joked, kissing them all on the cheek.
"Damn, we were just about to call our good friends N'SYNC over and all." Zac grinned.
She laughed. "Bye guys."
"Bye!" Now that was a good cue. It just screamed teenage-rebellions!
"Okay, I suggest prank calls, followed by late-night movies and a series of wake-up calls involving whipped cream and Jell-O if anyone falls asleep on the job. Agreed?" Taylor ordered. All three jumped to their feet almost at the same time.
"Ay ay Cap'in!" All three replied in purely awful pirate-like accents.
Taylor tried to keep a straight face as his three brothers stood saluting, waiting for their orders. He strolled up and down the living room, hands clasped behind his back, choosing his first lackey.
"You." Taylor bopped Zac on the head to get his attention. "Six large pizzas, the usual."
"Ay ay!" Zac said and marched out, humming 'Yellow Submarine' as he went.
"You." Taylor stuck his index finger in Ike's chest. "Pay-per-view needs ordering. Hop to it!"
"Yessir!" Isaac yelled and soon was fighting over the phone with Zac.
"Captain, what's my duties?" Mackie asked fondly.
"You..." Taylor lifted Mackie onto his shoulders, "and I are going to buy junk-food."
As Mackie and Taylor left, Ike and Zac had found some peace and were waiting for the mini-party to begin.
"You bored?" Zac asked.
"Yup." Isaac said.
"Go grab the other monsters, I'll get the blankets."
"'K."
Isaac walked upstairs and poked his head through his sisters' bedroom."Hey, dudets, Mom and Dad are out so we're all camping out in the living room. Wanna join? We ordered pizza."
It only took about... "Sure!" Jessica picked up Zo� and with Avery they all made it downstairs to pick their spot for the night.
The whole point of this was to watch TV of any kind, eat food of any sort and find entertainment in their house that had never been discovered before. A few months ago Zac had ended upside down, his leg hanging by a rope from the top of a door frame, while Tay and Ike made it silky-smooth using their mum's razor. That was only because Taylor lost a bet though and had to dress up in drag, asking their neighbours for a cup of sugar and putting on his best 'camp' voice. This was topped by Isaac having to wear a paper bag on his head with a red-stained T-shirt and knife and try to hitchhike. The fact was, never pass up an opportunity to watch TV with them, parent-free. It's as hectic as Satan finding the remote-control of the world. As dumb as Police Academy 17. As weird as the collaboration of Slip Knot and B*witched. And you're suspicious to know what it is like Pandora's Box.
Isaac had just paid the delivery-boy when he realised Zac hadn't come back down yet.
"Have you guys seen Zac?" Ike asked.
Taylor spluttered an arranged of food his way as he tried to speak. He finally got something out. "Not since Austin Powers started."
Isaac was about to go up to investigate when he heard Avery say- "Be careful Double-Oh Behave, it could be a trap." She giggled.
"Yeah, better take this." Taylor said. He handed Isaac a can of whipped-cream.
"Thanks Double-Only In For The Chicks, I'll do my best. Oh ZAC!"
Isaac walked upstairs, and felt a hunger inside of him yet again. No, not now, please... He begged himself. He was getting hungry. In a bad way. Such a bad way. It hit you like immense starvation and didn't let up until you found food. It searched deep inside of you and found your animal-hunger that made you feed on anything that would do the job.
But, unfortunately, the only source was right in front of him.
Zac turned over as the door opened and let in light. He was flopped on his bed, obviously thinking he would just get a little shuteye for ten minutes, maximum. But all the late nights and lack of any slumber, unless in cars and on planes- which didn't do much -had crept up on him. So there he lay, dreaming what mere mortals dare to dream without a care.
And there Isaac stood, prying himself away from the meal that laid in front of him. Maybe a little wouldn't kill him... No! I can't hurt my own brother! Please, stop it, stop it... He begged his mind to stop drawing him closer to feeding off his own sibling. But still he walked closer to the bed and found himself tilting Zac's chin to the side.
Tears free-fell, he couldn't stop the demon that existed inside of him. All he could was watch as the scenes unfold, like the very last night he was human...
"Hey Ike." Zac yawned slightly. "Hey, Buddy, what's wrong?"
Zac was fully awake as he saw his brother collapse to the floor and cry. Zac sat next to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "Ike, what's up? Come on, don't scare me like this..."
Better than scaring you otherwise. Isaac thought and suddenly felt even more hungry at the thought. But at that moment, he could only cry. At least it didn't involve bloodshed. It didn't involve the pain of hurting someone else, somebody who neither wanted nor deserved death. And in such a way...
Zac pulled Isaac into a hug and wondered what had hurt his brother so much. What had made him so scared? Isaac was shaking, he'd never seen him like that. Not in a long time anyway. Nothing could be as bad as that though, nothing that could get past Zac...
Soon Isaac had to shrug off his brother, he was still hungry. He had to feed, before he did something he'd not only regret, he'd kill himself for doing. It hadn't been the first time either. It was the one of many almost, but not quite, incidents that made Isaac feel worse about himself. About who he was.
More to the point, what he was. He was a monster, plain and simple. And nobody knew apart from him and those things that did it to him. All he knew was if he met them, he would kill them. What had been in their intentions to do that to him? They were pure evil.
But Isaac dreaded he was now too.
But, could he? Was he so evil he didn't see it now? He didn't exactly care who he killed, unless he knew them. He knew that was the same thoughts a madman probably had. And for that, he knew he was evil. Plain and simple. He never told Zac what had happened that night, he just said he was in the middle of something that Zac couldn't help. The end.
Not really, just the beginning.
He had no choice but to carry on like nothing was wrong. Oh yeah, he had nothing wrong with him. That was a joke. And nobody else would find it funny.
Three souls later...
A week later Isaac was in a bar just after sunset. Somehow people didn't care how old he was, which was strange because people always said the Hansons' hadn't even hit puberty yet, let alone were old enough to buy drinks. But there he was, and he was enjoying having 'him' time, or whatever that kind of time was. The kind where you either couldn't or wouldn't interact with other people.
Which usually made people drunk.
"Hey, you gonna order?" A girl's voice asked.
"Rolling Rock." Isaac said and looked up to see a girl, looking like she hit twenty-one a day ago. Or she was under-aged. But who really cared? She was pretty; blonde, fair-skinned, a little too skinny but cute. With freckles, bunches in her hair and everything.
"Okay." She giggled a little.
That was another weird thing. For the first few months, he hadn't let it go to his head or even consider it, but soon lots of people were starting to take more notice of him. Okay, the band and everything. But it was getting old. Everybody knew they lived there, they didn't give a damn if they're nearby. It wasn't a big-thing to spot them. They were there, end of story. But recently people have been turning around to see Isaac and keep staring. It was really strange, but Isaac knew it helped a little with the whole-feeding gipe.
Or maybe that was it? That was a way of getting a meal quickly? It was kinda creepy. Helpful, but creepy.
The girl came back with the drink and giggled a little more as she gave him it.
"Thanks."
"My pleasure." She giggled even harder. It was starting to get annoying...
"Hey, when does your shift end?" Isaac asked, knowing he was getting hungry.
"In half an hour."
"Wanna come back to mine?"
She looked amazed. "Wow, thanks! Yeah, sure." She ran to tell her friend who was at the other end of the bar.
"Men. You have to go for the babbling idiot-blondes, right?" A woman said to Isaac. He looked up. And was surprised to see that face again.
"Melissa?" Isaac asked with a smile.
It was her. She was different from what he remembered. Probably because his only mental picture of her was her at the club, and in that Leia outfit. But it was still her. She had a lot of black on, but she seemed to carry it. Her long hair was a little shorter and low-lighted an almost dark blue colour. It was tied up in pigtails but were falling out badly. She had a small, half cut Metallica top and black combat trousers on, which basically said it all on her musical taste-front. She seemed to be the only girl in history to throw on anything and still look great.
Yet the magic was gone.
"Isaac?" She said slowly. She realised and grinned. "Hey! I haven't seen you since..."
"Since Halloween." Isaac said, a little sadly. "Wow, it's been a while."
"Yeah. I guess we never not a chance to exchange phone-numbers."
"Yeah. You live here or in LA?"
"I moved here a few months ago. I like to change the scenery."
"You still look amazing." Isaac said.
"Thanks. You're looking hot as well." She grinned.
"So, you work here?" Isaac asked.
"Yep, good pay and all. My band plays here on Fridays for kicks too." She paused, looking him up and down. "Hey, how old are you?" She asked slowly.
"Hey, I'm leaving after this, too late" Isaac grinned, raising his glass.
"Kids." She tutted. "Your little band still together?"
"Yep. Wanna be a groupie?" He asked, knowing she'd hate to even consider.
"Haven't you already got a date with Gemma?" She nodded towards the girl.
"Oh, her. She's just a..." He paused. "A one-night thing."
"God, you're such a pop-star." She laughed. "Have fun, she'll be too stupid to realise what goes where, but, your choice."
Isaac laughed. "Hey, I'm drunk. That's my excuse, anyway."
"If you remember, gimmie a call sometime." She slipped him a card before Gemma came back.
"Ready to go?" Gemma asked happily. "I got off early!"
"Yeah, cool." Isaac said and smiled at Melissa before he walked out with what he knew would be his next meal.
They entered the apartment with a light conversation. Well, it was more like heavy conversation. Actually Gemma had been talking none-stop and Isaac had been listening. He was so bored. If she'd shut up for two seconds he'd thank God...
Johnson's apartment was the place teenagers went so they could do what they wanted with whoever they wanted without their parents finding out. Basically if they'd been a place like that in Romeo and Juliet they wouldn't have ended up dead. It was the best place for the Hanson teens also so no teeny-fans, as well as their parents, knew about the girlfriends and very occasional hangovers.
"Johnson?" Isaac asked.
"Yo Dude!" Johnson came out of his bedroom. "Cool, a chick! Ikey, how much?"
"Nothing." Isaac said. "How's yours going?"
"Just fine. Aint that right sugar?!" He called into the bedroom. A mumble came back. "She's tired." He grinned. "Oh, and something else, Zac and Mikey are here."
"Why?" Isaac asked.
"Mikey was thrown out again, he needed Zac for support and my place for a roof."
Isaac left Gemma to stare at walls or talk to Johnson's pet snake for hours and saw Zac and Mikey talking in the back-room.
"Hey guys. How are you?" They looked up.
"My mother is a crack-whore, how is yours?" Mikey asked bitterly. It was obvious he didn't want to go back again.
"Mikey, don't say stuff like that." Zac said gently. It was also obvious Zac had been saying comforting words like that for hours on end.
"Why not? It's true."
"I'm sure it was another phase." Isaac said gently.
"Yeah, that's a point, another! Maybe I should call social services and then I could live with you guys?" Mikey asked sadly.
"I wouldn't mind that." Zac smiled.
"Me neither." Isaac added.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Zac asked.
"Picked up a girl." Isaac smiled.
"Gonna get laid?" Mikey asked, cheering up a little.
"Nope, just want company." Isaac smiled.
"Good." Zac said firmly.
"Yeah, we've had to put up with Johnson which is enough."
"Wanna stay round ours tonight?" Isaac offered.
Mikey nodded. "If it's Okay."
"Okay. See you later." Isaac said and walked back to find Gemma.
"Wanna go in the spare bedroom?" He asked openly. He was getting even more hungry as the time wore on.
"Yeah!" She said, jumping up.
Two minutes later they were making out on the floor-bed. Isaac was trying to get somewhere near the neck, but she was kissing extremely hard. Finally Isaac stopped her for a second. Then he kissed her neck. She was giggling again, something inside of him told him to hurry the hell up...
"Ow!" Gemma cried. She looked up to see Isaac. His eyes were a gold colour and his canines had grown a good few inches. She gasped but Isaac covered her mouth quickly.
"Don't scream. I won't kill you if you don't scream." Isaac didn't mean to threaten, it just came out that way. It always came out that way.
She shook her head to get him off, but he was strong. She then did the only thing she could do and slapped him around the face. Isaac let go, knowing he'd get nowhere with her and left her to run away. She was too dumb to think anything much, everybody would think she'd been drinking or taking something wicked, it was always like that if he had to let them go. Plain and simple.
Zac was about to phone his parents to tell them he was in the middle of another Mikey crisis and couldn't come home just yet, when he heard a scream. Before he could go to find out what happened, Gemma ran out.
"Gemma, what's wrong?" Isaac asked quickly.
She didn't answer and ran out of the door, still screaming. Everybody looked at Isaac, extremely confused.
"What happened Dude?" Johnson asked.
"I have no clue." Isaac replied, trying his best to look dumbfounded. "She slapped me around the face and started screaming at me and before I knew it she was gone."
"Freaky..." Mikey muttered. "What did you do?"
"I was only kissing her Mikey, don't think I was doing anything else."
Mikey smiled a little. "Hey, I'm not accusing, I'm just wondering."
"You gonna go after her?" Zac asked slowly.
Isaac shook his head. "I think she was on something."
"That was probably it." Johnson said.
"Wanna stay here anyway?" Zac asked.
"Uh, no. I feel like going home right now." Isaac got up.
"You sure know how to pick them Ike." Johnson laughed.
"Yeah." Isaac laughed back.
Now to pick another... Isaac thought as he closed the door behind him.
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