Pete hadn’t replied back. I was too wired for sleep but it was getting late and I needed to try to get some rest. My dad had made it clear we were training tomorrow, and who knew how long that would last. Just great, let’s add one more thing to my training for life list my father saw fit to assign me.
I just wish he would one day explain to me what all this training was for. It’s not like I was planning on sticking around here after this year. I wasn’t even sure where I was going to go to college or if I even wanted to.
A year. That’s all I really had. When you think about it, it wasn’t even really a full year. It was more like nine to ten months before you had to be ready to make the biggest decisions of your life. So far the way my father had me training I could have sworn he was going to throw me into the military. I could fight pretty decent, he made sure of that, by enrolling me in all types of self-defense classes that were held privately here at home. He had friends who would come and teach me all sorts of fighting techniques, not that I was ever really interested in it though. Then came the weapons training. I could handle pretty much any fire arm there was. Once again all privately taught. He even had me learn to throw knives one summer. I actually did enjoy those lessons.
I was on a regime my father had created. Running five miles every day then weight training right after. I didn’t mind any of that either, like I said it helped with the sports I was in, Football, Baseball, Track, and of course skiing.
My cell buzzed, notifying me I had a new message. I was hoping that it was Pete. It was Pete’s number but the message was not from Pete. It was from Pete’s mother.
‘John, Pete has taken a turn for the worse. Don’t come tonight, come first thing in the morning. The doctors are trying to get the fever under control. They may need to put him in an induced coma. I don’t understand it! He was supposed to come home later today. I’ll keep you posted if things get worse. Please pray for my boy.
Love ya mom2.’
I couldn’t believe what I had read. I re-read the message several times before it sank in. I took the phone and ran down the stairs. I didn’t care what Pete’s mom had said I was going up there to be with her and Pete. I found my dad still in his study.
“Dad I need you to drive me to hospital right now!” I shouted. I was frantic. I had to get to Pete. My father looked up at me startled. I have never yelled at my father.
“What’s this? What’s going on, are you hurt worse than you thought, do you need more stitches?” He was asking a million and one questions and he was wasting my time.
“No! Pete, he’s not doing well, he’s dying!” I was shouting more now. My father got up from his desk and came around to where I was standing. I shoved the phone at him to show him what Pete’s mother had sent me. His eyes flickered a brief glimpse of panic, but then he returned to the natural calm that only he could pull off in life or death situations.
“John she clearly states that you are to stay here. There is nothing that you can do for him, you are not a doctor, and you will most likely just be in their way. I will go up and sit with Pete’s mother, but you need to get some rest yourself. You’ve taken two hard knocks to the head and I think you might be a little overwhelmed right now. I don’t want you getting sick yourself. I’m sure Pete would say the same thing. Now go on and go upstairs get some rest. I will tell your mother where I am going, and I will call you if something else happens. As soon as you are up in the morning, you come on up to the hospital.”
There was no fighting him on this. I shook my head in agreement and stormed off to my room taking my phone with me. Just before closing the door to my room I heard my father speaking to someone on his phone.
“Yes, I’m certain. It has started again. The boys’ mother sent my son a message, I read it for myself. Yes the fever has set in… Me too, I had hoped this just a typical wolf attack, but now we know for sure one of them is here amongst us. I’m on my way up to the hospital now to verify it. I will send word as soon as I see it for myself… you too, stay safe.” He ended the call and left the house.
Too many things weren’t adding up. A lot of strange things were going on and my gut was telling me my father was linked to all of it.
12.
My father had left, this was the perfect chance for me to sneak into his study and do some searching of my own. I wanted to know what The Order of the Dragon had to do with Willa’s Father being murdered, who they were and what they stood for. I also wanted to know what was going on with Pete and why my father would make a call to someone saying that “something” had started.
I went down to the study and found that in my father’s haste he had not locked the door this time. I knew my mother was sound asleep thanks to her little sleeping pills and if I had any luck at all, my father would be gone for at least a couple of hours at most. I took the chance and turned the lights on so that I could see properly. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for yet so I needed to see everything. I started with his desk. There were papers scattered all over it. Mostly just papers that had to do with law suits he was working on, a handful were about auctions that he had planned on attending. Nothing out of the ordinary there. I tried the drawers. Nothing much there either, just typical stuff like paper, pens, stuff like that. The next drawer I opened was the same, I went to close it but it jammed. I opened it a bit further to see what could be blocking it.
That’s when I found my first clue. The drawer had a false bottom in it. I pried up the lining and found a book. It looked like the original Dracula. I took it out and sat down. Once I opened it I realized that it was actually the original Dracula story, only this copy was a lot different from the story that had been published. This had personal notes written in it from my ancestor. I began to read some of the notes. ‘I fear that Lucy has been inflicted with the venom of the Vamyre Vlad Dracula Tepes. He had come to her in the guise of a monstrous wolf, having his way with her in a most disgusting way and in return had bitten her. I assume that he had planned to use Lucy as bait to gain access to Miss Willahmina, her dearest friend. For how long he had been watching the pair is unknown. It is most urgent that Johnathan Harker be rescued, for I fear he may be the only one who could protect Mina. She is in more danger then she realizes. I have sent word to other members of the Order of the Dragon for assistance…’
I couldn’t believe what I was reading. My ancestor honestly believed in vampires? I left the book on the desk and went to look around the rest of the study. My father had a number of books on his library wall. I hadn’t really paid much attention to them in the past. Tonight, on the other hand I did. They were all mostly about vampires. Only a couple were about werewolves and witches. Just what exactly was my father into here? The more I looked around the more questions I had. I pulled one of the books on vampires from the self and began to read through it briefly. I came across a page that put a few things into perspective. ‘A vampire may take the guise of any creature that it chooses. The myth that sunlight will destroy a vampire is false. Vampires can freely walk among the living in the daylight hours with very little effects. The need for blood however is very and most definitely true. They need the blood to keep their vital organs from going into full shut down, it may be any type of blood as long as it is in general healthy blood and not infected by certain organisms. For example, in our studies we came across a case of a vampire who had refused to drink from humans. This vampire drank only from animals. During the Black Plague in Europe the unfortunate creature drank from an infected rabid rat. None the less the vampire became rabid and could no longer control itself. It was captured and put to death by the only means known to us. A silver tipped dagger to the heart.’
My mind wanted to shut down completely. I put the book back on the shelf. I went back to my fathers’ desk and closed the drawers but took my ancestors original book with me. There were things I needed to know and this book held the answers.
I went to my room and hid the book behind the shelves in my closet. It was definitely very lat
e and I was beginning to get tired. So much had happened in the past few hours and I couldn’t put it all together just yet. I don’t know if it was the fact that my mind refused to believe it or that I truly deep down did believe all of this. The wolf that had attacked Pete was definitely strange as wolves go, but surely it was not a vampire. If anything I would have guessed a werewolf. I laughed slightly at the thought. I never gave much thought to any of the supernatural world, because I never believed in any of it.
My phone beeped. It was a message from Willa. ‘I wanted to thank you for a wonderful evening. By the way you are most definitely a good kisser! I look forward to many more of them. Hope all is well Johnathan have a good night’ I smiled.
Willa thought I was a good kisser. Well that was a good sign of things to come. I sent her a message back ‘Thank you, you are too. And I hope we have more of the same soon.’
I lay back on the bed all thoughts of vampires and make believe monsters and what my father was up to, had vanished once Willa had messaged me her message. Then it occurred to me I should let her know about Pete. I knew she didn’t know him personally but she seemed genuinely concerned about him, after all she was the one who told me that he had been injured and in the hospital, and has asked about him every day since. I picked the phone up and text Willa a quick message about how Pete had gotten sick, and that I would need to go to see him first thing in the morning.
She replied back instantly ‘This is terrible! I need to see him as well, I will go with you in the morning.’
‘I’ll pick you up in the morning.’ I replied back.
There were no other messages that came through. I fell into a deep troubled sleep. Nightmares of wolves and monsters terrorized my mind. Everything seemed so real. Most disturbing of all was the part where my best friend Pete came to me while I slept in my bed. I dreamt he was standing over me with a deep hunger in his eyes. He looked wild almost as wild as Kelly had looked when she had attacked me with her bag. He lunged onto the bed and woke me from my sleep, he was tearing and ripping at the blankets trying desperately to reach me. I was fighting for my life against my best friend. I didn’t want to hurt him, but he kept coming dangerously close to ripping my throat out. Suddenly there was a silver tipped dagger in my hand. I looked at it curiously, the sleek wood had been polished to perfection. The silver was thickly laden around the tip of the dagger and the light of the moon glinted off of its sheen. Instinctively I knew what to do with it. As Pete drew closer I thrust the dagger deep into his chest. There was a brief moment of surprise in his eyes as he looked down at the protruding foreign object. He grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me in close. “He did this to me, he wants her to his self. Stay away, get out, away from all of them, no one is who they seem, not him, not even you.” Pete burst into flames and died.
I woke screaming in terror. In my terror and panic at the site of Pete bursting into flames on top of me, I had fallen out of bed. I looked around the room for Pete. There was nothing out of place other than my bed sheets. I laid my head down on the floor and stayed there until I could calm myself. These nightmares were going to give me a heart attack. From my position on the floor I could see the sun creeping through the curtains as a light breeze fluttered through the open window. I didn’t remember opening the window last night. I looked up at the clock on the bedside table. 6:30 a.m. was way too early to be up on a Saturday morning.
I rolled over to my back and looked up at the bare ceiling and contemplated on going back sleep on the cool floor. I was exhausted. After having a nightmare like that it hadn’t seemed as though I had gotten any actual sleep.
I decided to get my butt up and get myself ready to go to the hospital to check on Pete and his mother. Getting up from the floor I checked my bed for my cell. It took a few minutes to find it in the mess of the blankets and sheets. Once I found it I clicked the screen to check for messages. None. Well damn it, I was sure my father would have at least sent word of how Pete was doing like he had said he would do. I grabbed some sweats from the dresser and went to the private bath and took one of the longest showers of my life. The whole night had been exhausting. The wolf attack, the hit to the head, the fighting with Willa, then making up and then fighting and arguing with my father, let’s not forget the late night snooping session in my father’s study and creepy reading. Then add on top of all of that, the sudden change in Pete’s condition. My emotions had been put through the world’s scariest roller coaster ride. It was no wonder I had had another nightmare.
Once I had finished in the bathroom I came back out to my room. I went to the bed and started to put the sheets and blankets back in their proper place, that’s when I noticed it.
There were actual rips in the sheets and blankets. I couldn’t imagine how they had gotten like this. I was holding the sheet up examining the tears, when my cell started to ring, the unexpected noise startled me and I threw the sheet to the floor. I grabbed my cell and answered it. “Hello?”
“Did you have a good night John?” A female voice asked.
“What? Who is this?” I asked. I looked at the number on the screen, I didn’t recognize it. There was silence on the other end of the line. Then a girl began to laugh.
“You really are beautiful when you sleep. He promises that I can have you once this is all over and he has her back at his side. I so long to have you John.”
I finally recognized the voice, it was Kelly. “Kelly this isn’t funny. You need to quit already. Were you in my room last night? Who the hell are you talking about anyway? Who is HE? And no one is offering me up to you like some weird sacrificial lamb, I don’t care what you are doing with him , whoever the hell it is you’re screwing around with. Leave me the hell alone!” I was to the breaking point with this lunatic of a girl. She was laughing hysterically now. I couldn’t take any more of her antics, I hung up on her and threw the phone down on the bed. The phone rang again, I grabbed it and answered “I told you to quit calling me!” I shouted.
“John, this is Willa, I’m sorry I thought maybe you were already awake and we could go to the hospital to see Pete, but if you prefer not to speak to me then I will leave you alone.” She sounded hurt.
“Willa? Oh shit. I’m sorry I thought you were somebody else. I’ll be on my way in a minute or two and I’ll explain it on the way up to the hospital. I’m sorry.”
“Oh. Okay, I will see you soon.” Phew, I thought I had really messed things up there again with Willa, thankfully she wasn’t your typical girl who would have cussed me out and then hung up on me. I ended the call, and made my way down to the garage. My father’s Mercedes was still gone. I took the keys to the Jeep and climbed through to the driver’s seat and took off to pick up Willa.
13.
The morning sun was shining brightly as I pulled up to the Eckles house. Willa appeared dressed head to toe in her jacket, long pants, and those huge Hollywood sunglasses she always wore. This time she had even put a scarf on to cover her head. She really looked the Hollywood starlet part.
She climbed into the Jeep and leaned over to give me a kiss on the cheek. Her cool lips felt like velvet against my scruffy cheek. I had neglected to shave in my rush to get out of the house and up to see how Pete was doing.
“Good morning beautiful. Did you sleep well?” I asked.
“Yes like the dead as you would say.” She laughed. I on the other hand had gotten a weird creepy chill up my spine. Too much vampire reading I suppose, not to mention the crazy call from psycho Kelly first thing this morning. Willa must have noticed that I didn’t think the joke to be funny “Did I say something wrong?”
“I just had a bad night, that’s all. I’m worried about Pete and I didn’t sleep well at all, I kept having nightmares about weird stuff, and then first thing this morning I get this really wacked out call from Kelly. She kept going on and on about how some guy has promised me to her once her mission or his, is completed. It was really weird even for her.”
Willa sat in silence as I told h
er of the call I had gotten and then about the nightmare with Pete in it and what Pete had said to me just before he died. I looked over at her. The sun shone brightly off of those dark sunglasses, and all I could imagine was how beautiful her eyes would have looked in the morning sun.
“Is there something wrong Willa? You haven’t said a word since I told you about the phone call and the nightmare I had. Look if you’re worried about Kelly don’t be.”
“She means nothing to me John. I have handled much worse than her kind. It was the nightmare that has me worried.” She spoke softly as we pulled into the parking lot of the Hospital. My father’s Mercedes was nowhere in sight. I silently wondered where he could be off to.
“Why does a nightmare bother you? I mean it is just a nightmare, right?” I asked as we both climbed out of the passenger side of the Jeep. She nodded in agreement and took my hand in hers as we walked into the hospital.
We walked through the lobby and came to the elevators that would take us up to Pete’s room. The doors opened, and there stood my father with two other men who I recognized. They were two of my personal trainers. My father looked to me then over to Willa. The look on his face was murderous. He quickly recovered as he typically does. I looked back at him with the same murderous look, except I refused to change my expression. He had been here the entire night and hadn’t bothered once to give me an update on my best friend. “What are you doing here?” I grilled him. I was done being nice with my father.
He and his colleagues stepped off of the elevator and joined Willa and I in the lobby. “John, I told you I would be here and I also told you I would inform you of any changes in Pete. So far there has been none. You know Drake, and Steven. They came up to keep me company, and we had some business matters to discuss.” He was all business now. He turned to Willa “You must be Willa. I must say I hadn’t realized my son had made friends with you as of yet.” He took her hand in his and shook it briefly. Willa smiled warmly and shook his hand in return. My father turned to his friends and nodded to both of them. They in turn nodded back. It was if they were communicating something between themselves that only they were privileged to know.
The Immortal Design Page 7