“Jess that’s very sweet, but like all other males, you’re not available. Remember what mission you’re on, and stop thinking with your little brain, and get back in the mission at hand.”
“I’m very sorry that I find you a little attractive when you’re all dressed up. But I’ll agree we have bigger fish to fry. So, let’s get started then.”
Dalton didn’t have much to say. I guess he knew what was going to take place all along. And now that I’m thinking about it, I do feel a little bad about hitting on her. And she’s right what am I thinking. Apparently, I’m not. If Ava was here, I’d tell her to smack me for that one.
10
Misty and I put on our cloaks to get ready to head out into the town, when Dalton had stopped us.
“You want need those gaudy things.”
“Are you crazy? The sun will kill us before you can even say boo.”
Dalton put up his hands “I stayed up last night and worked on a cure for you both. The sun will not harm you now. You’ll be able to go out into the sun without it harming a little hair on you head.”
Misty said, “Are you sure about this? We haven’t even had a chance to try it.”
“If it will make you feel better, you can stick your hand out the door. If you don’t feel anything, then you know that your safe, if you do then I’ll let you kill me.”
“We’ve got a deal.”
Misty walked over to the door and turned the door knob slowly, and opened the door and stuck her hand out into the sun. I don’t feel anything. She started laughing and jumping up and down with joy. When she was finally finished with her hysterics she ran over to Dalton and hugged him.
“Thank you so much. You don’t even know how happy you’ve made me, by giving me this gift. How will I ever repay you?”
Dalton looked over at me, “You already have.” This was the least that I could do, for you returning my grandson to me.
“So let’s get going, before I change my mind and decide that I’m too tired to help you get out.”
“Alright, you got it. She was out of the house so fast that I barely even registered it.”
It felt weird to me, walking out of the house without any protection. After so many years suffering from the sunlight, I find it hard to believe that now I can. Just wait until I find Ava. She won’t even believe this. The sun itself feels nice on my skin. I can feel its warmth even though it’s shielded, which tells me just how powerful Dalton is. It amazes me sometimes that I’m kin to such a powerful and wise man. No wonder Patty wants him to herself. She’d be lost without his powers and wisdom, to find cures and to help shield the sun from this town. But, I don’t think right now is the right time to be thinking about all of this. I decided to get my head back in the game, before I get us all caught and in big trouble.
I followed Misty and Dalton to the far side of the town. We followed the gate and lurked around in the overcast-ed shadows for a little protection of being seen. Dalton wasn’t kidding about needing Misty’s womanly powers of seduction. This time the task isn’t going to be so easy. When Misty and I came in the other day, we didn’t see any guards at all. Well, today is another story. We’ve had to stop and bid our time on many occasions already. The town is swamped with guards today, but Dalton was right to tell us to follow the fence line. There are not any guards that are lined up against it. I guess that tells us that it already has powers shielding it as we speak.
The guards don’t look all that powerful and mean to me. I know that you also don’t judge a book by its cover either. They may not look mean, but I can sense such powers behind them as well. The guards are dressed in khaki pants, and a flannel buttoned up shirt. They all sport a handy rifle on their backs. I don’t know what good that would do against a vampire. And then I really got to thinking. If Patty is as sick as everyone makes her out to be, then those guns aren’t loaded with any normal bullet, if I was to guess, it’s probably loaded with a wooden stake. That really got me stirred up, and moving faster.
Once, Dalton realized the change he just looked at me with a smirk. We couldn’t talk to one another, afraid that someone would over hear us and start shooting without finding out who and what we are. But we kept on walking at a steady pace to the town’s entrance. Given that, that’s the only way in and out, we really don’t have any other choice.
The plan is, if not interrupted, is to lead Misty to the gate, which is where she will turn on her charm and make her way out, hopefully without any problems. When and if that plan succeeds, Dalton and I are to take another route through the towns sewer lines and crawl directly into the basement of Dalton’s house. Believe me, I’m not truly looking forward to that, but at least we won’t be out here in the presence of these blood sucking monsters. I know that I’m a blood sucker too, but I can honestly say, that I don’t torture and kill people, just for the fun of it. If I kill it’s going to be for one reason only, and that’s to survive.
We kept on walking around the gates enclosure and stayed into the shadows as much as possible. My body has become so tense with our surroundings that I could probably bite a nail in two, just to get some relief. But, finally we could see the gates entrance, after what seemed like hours. I thought that we would go in a little closer Dalton and I, but he put his hand against my chest, letting me know not to go any farther. Dalton then looked at Misty and nodded her on. She looked at Dalton and I with a smile, and she mouthed thank you. I nodded back and said no thank you to her.
Misty turned around and headed into the unknown. I was worried for her, and could only imagine what was running through her head. I wanted to say so much to her for helping me, but I knew if I did so, that we all would probably be in torture chambers somewhere. I watched, Misty walk up to the guards intently. I could tell she was charming them heavily with the way the men were looking at her. They were smiling back at her and nodding. She reached over and touched one of the guards’ chests with her hand. I could tell even from where I was standing that the man was lusting for her, I could see the glimmer in his eyes, but thankfully when she removed her hand he opened the gates door to let her walk through. Once, she was safely out of the town and out of range, I turned to look at Dalton. He nodded at me, to take the next step.
We headed back the same way we came for a few feet, and then crossed over the grass to an underground concrete entrance into the town’s sewer. The smell instantly knocked me back a little throwing my balance off, and causing me to gag with sickness. Dalton didn’t say anything, but I could tell from the smirk on his face, he was enjoying this all too well.
The underground sewage container was extremely bigger, than I had imagined. Its concrete encased and gives us enough room to walk hunched over. I honestly thought that we would have to crawl in this crap, literally. But thankfully, we don’t have too. Being down here alone is enough. I know that in the end it will all be worth it, and hopefully then I will be able to look at this and laugh.
“Why are you being so quiet Jess?”
“I didn’t think that we would be able to talk while we’re down here. I didn’t want anyone to over hear us.”
“You don’t have to worry about that.”
“I do have an interesting question. Why can’t anyone escape the town through here?”
“Because Patty had it designed so that it doesn’t exit the city. She thought, about every possible escape imaginable. You can’t cross over the gates, because the witch’s have a spell on it. If a vampire was to touch it the clouds would part, and fry him or her to death. So you see there are only one way in and one way out. Unless, when the time is right and you meet up with Ava, she may have the skills by then to override the curse that was put on the gate and this town.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well she turned eighteen a couple of days ago, and her parents are making her take some lessons, so that she can control her powers and learn everything that’s possible, and to learn about witchcraft.”
“And how do you know t
hat?”
“Because, Patty had asked me to teach her, and I told her that I couldn’t, because I was too emotionally involved.”
“And she fell for it?”
“Yes, she understood what I meant, because it was all true. I didn’t want to teach her, because it would have caused too many painful memories of you and her when you both were little. Why do you find that so hard to believe?”
“I don’t find it hard to believe grandfather. I just thought you didn’t want to teach her, because of Patty.”
“Well that too. But, sometimes now I wish I had.”
“Why do you say that?”
“If I had agreed to teach her, then you two getting out of the town wouldn’t be so hard, considering you both would see each other daily. And I would have been able to teach you both together.”
“Could you go back on your decision? Couldn’t you tell Patty, that you’ve changed your mind?”
“No, not now, because she would wonder why I had a change of heart all of a sudden.”
“Yeah, that’s true. What are your plans for us next?”
“Well first of all we’ve got to get home, then get cleaned up and wash this stink off of us. After that we eat, rest, and start our training tomorrow. I’d teach you a few things today, but you have to understand that I’m not as young as I once were, and I need to rest.”
“No, I understand that you need your rest. What will you teach me tomorrow though?”
“We will start with some basics in alchemy.”
“Is it hard to learn?”
“It all depends on how you interpret things, and if you really want to learn the material or not.”
“I’m ready to learn grandfather, whenever you’re willing to teach me.”
“I’m glad to here that.”
Dalton had stopped in front of me and was listening. I became quite and was listening as well. I didn’t hear anything on the other side that would construe as out of the ordinary. I could barely make out what was being said.
“What are you doing grandfather?”
“I’m listening to see if there are any threats.”
“What do you mean?”
“This is where we need to enter into the house. And I’m listening to make sure that we don’t go into the house, while Patty or one of her misfit guards is there.”
“That makes sense. But why would they be there?”
“The guards go from house to house every so often to check things out, but even though, they haven’t discovered my underground laboratory, I don’t want to give it a way. If you and I were to go into the house smelling like this, then they would sniff us out in no time, and that means.”
“They’ll figure out your laboratory and me,” I finished his sentence for him.
“Yes, exactly what I mean. So be quite for a minute while I listen.”
I nodded my head at him and remained quite, until he’s to say other wise. After about five minutes of Dalton listening to the voices inside intently, then he looked at me.
“The coast is clear. We’ve got to hurry and get cleaned up. If we don’t this smell could linger around for days.”
“I’ll make it fast.”
Dalton said a few words to himself and a concrete whole opened up, one that I hadn’t seen, and then he motioned for me to follow him. In which I did. Once we crawled through the sewage opening that Dalton had apparently created, we were in his basement laboratory dripping with sewage. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to smell right again after this. Even though we’re now in a clean environment, the smell is no different. But, I’m just glad that the smell is all we had to put up with. I’m just curious as to why we didn’t see any rodents or vampire’s down there guarding the place. Dalton looked at me weirdly. I don’t know if he’s able to read my mind, in which I hope not, but he didn’t say anything else about it.
“You go and get cleaned up Jess. While you’re in the shower, I’m going to go upstairs and take mine. So that way if anyone does come here and smells it, I can say that we were having some plumbing problems.”
“That’s not a bad excuse you know. It would explain the smell and everything. You know grandfather your quick to think of things at the last minute.”
“Well you get use to it, once you’ve put your self in a jam time after time. If you don’t think quickly on your feet, you can cause more harm than good, for yourself and the others around you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, oh wise one.”
“Don’t get smart with me boy. Your not too young to get your butt whipped, you hear me.”
“Yes sir, sorry sir.”
He just laughed at me, “That’s my boy.”
Before I could say anything else, he turned around and left. I decided that it was time to wash this funk and nastiness off of me. I walked into the bathroom and turned on the stand up shower. I got the water all hot and steamy and stepped inside, clothes and all. I didn’t want to take off my clothes and create a bigger mess than was necessary. So, I thought that if I could rinse most of it off of my clothes and then remove them, then it wouldn’t be so bad.
Once my clothes were rinsed off really good, I undressed to wash the rest of my body. I threw my clothes down on the shower floor and began to lather my body up with soap. I was trying to take a quick shower, but the hot steam that beaded off of my shoulders felt really nice, so I decided to stand there and enjoy the sensation while I could. But, of course that didn’t last too long, because all of a sudden the water turned ice cold. That caused me to stumble back and mumble a few bad words under my breath. I guess grandfather needs a bigger hot water heater or whatever it is that heats the water these days.
I turned off the water quickly and opened the shower door for a towel to rinse off and finally found one under the sink. I dried off and tied the towel around my waste. I guess I’ll be wearing this for a while, considering the only clean clothes I have are lying at the bottom of the shower. I decide to go into the kitchen and grab a quick snack; once I turned the corner from the bathroom into the kitchen I was startled to find Damon there.
“What in the hell are you doing here?”
“Don’t worry; I’m not here to hurt you. I’ve had some time to think about this whole situation, and I’ve come here to say I’m sorry. I know we’re family and you can’t help what happened to you, and I shouldn’t judge you for that. I hope in time you can learn to trust me and to forgive me.”
“Damon, I don’t know. Grandfather told me that you are working with Patty, and dabbling with black magic. What makes you think I want to trust you, if that is true.”
“I’m afraid to say that it is true, but that is before I realized how evil she really is. And I don’t want grandfather or anyone else in my family to turn their backs on me, because of her. I’m going to talk to grandfather and ask him to forgive me, and give me the chance to prove myself. I’d like to help teach you some of our magic. So, that way you can get Ava, and hopefully destroy this evil place.”
“I don’t know if that is such a great idea Damon. You’ve made it very clear that you don’t like me, how do I know that this isn’t some sick plan for you to get us killed.”
“Well you don’t know that. And I wouldn’t do that to our family. If that’s the case I would have had them killed along time ago, and I would have told Patty about this place as well. Grandfather knows that he can trust me as far as the family goes. I will not hurt you or anyone else. And hopefully in due time you’ll learn that.”
“Well, I don’t think I have any other choice in the matter. That would be up to you and grandfather. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get something to eat and rest for a while.”
“Okay, I brought you some clothes to wear. There back there on the bunker. You may want to put some on, before your mother comes down.”
Damon turned around and walked off. I could have sworn that Dalton had sent him off somewhere. But being how strong and powerful Damon has become, I’m guessing that won�
��t work anymore. I could hear them faintly arguing upstairs. I was trying not to listen to their conversations. I’ve had a long day. And some nice clean clothes, warm food and sleep are all I’d like right now.
I decided that Damon may know something that I don’t, so I went back to the bunker to put on the clothes that he brought for me. There were all dark colors, a black pair of slacks, a black turtle neck shirt, black socks, underwear and even shoes. My head started to ache at the sight of them. I just sighed and got dressed anyway. I don’t like dark clothes, especially in a place like this, but I guess beggars can’t be choosers.
As soon as I finished dressing, I heard a light knock at the laboratory door.
“Jess, it’s me Lauren. Your mother, may I come in?”
“Yes mom its open.”
My mother walked in looking so fresh and pretty. She had her hair twisted up into tight bun. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans with brown short length boots, and a burgundy sweater. Just the sight of her makes me smile. I’ve longed to see her face for such a long time. And seeing her now has brought back so many fond memories of my child hood.
“I thought you may be hungry so I brought you some food. I’m aware that you prefer to drink blood for your nutrition, but we don’t want to raise any suspicions, so one bag a day is all we can do.”
“Mom, you don’t even have to do that. I know it’s been a long time since we’ve got to be around each other. But, I don’t expect you to risk your neck for me. I love you, you’re my mother, and I will always be your son no matter what. You don’t have to go through great lengths to prove anything to me. What’s done is done. All we can do now is make up for lost time, get to know one another again, and make the best of it.”
“I know your right Jess. But, I feel so bad for not being able to save you. I spent years grieving over your father and the lost of you. If it weren’t for Dalton, I would have died years ago. I’m glad I’m still here, but I wished that you were brought home a long time ago. It infuriates me that Patty would allow you two to be locked in a cave with enemies. I know there’s nothing that I could have done about that. Simply because, I’m only human and there’s nothing I can do that would even come as close as powerful enough against her. But you Jess, you’re powerful, and I believe in you. I know that when the time comes you will destroy her and this town.”
The Night Life: Exodus of Evil Page 14