Holding on to Hope

by Sid Love

  She splashed some cold water on her face, fixed her makeup once again, and exhaled, feeling a lot better than before. Hoping that the old man was gone, she slowly stepped out.

  Her heart felt lighter when she saw his seat was empty, and the smile then came easy to her. At that moment, she even wanted to laugh at herself for having a stupid panic attack. After all, he was a harmless old man.

  She found her boyfriend standing by the counter, buying another coffee for himself. She walked over to him. “I thought you promised me that you’d cut down on your caffeine consumption for a day.” Leslie narrowed her eyes. He looked at her like a deer caught in the headlights and smiled very cutely. “I told you too much coffee isn’t good for my Patty-pie’s health.”

  “I promise this is the last one,” he said and leaned down to kiss her. He obviously wasn’t going to keep his promise. But she let it slip. Pushing the matter wasn’t going to help. Leslie believed that Patrick needed to decide to stop on his own.

  However, she couldn’t help but worry too.

  When he broke the kiss, she shook her head, giggling slightly, and looked in the direction of their booth. “Where’s Brad?”

  Patrick turned to look. “I don’t know. He was sitting right there before you came back out.” They trailed back in the direction of their booth. “Maybe he went to the restroom.”

  “Couldn’t have happened.” Leslie shook her head. “Or else I would have seen him when I came out.”

  “I don’t understand.” Patrick gazed at her. “He was right here a minute ago, talking to the old dude, and I went to get….”

  “Old dude?” Leslie’s heart skipped a beat. “Who?”

  “I don’t know who he was, but I guess he was sitting in this booth.” He pointed to the space where the scary old man had once been. “He came over to Brad and was like, ‘Can I talk to you in private?’ So I just left the booth for them to talk.”

  “Pat!” Her blood was running cold by then. “How could you leave him alone with a stranger?”

  “Baby, overreact much?” Patrick looked around, and Leslie realized that everyone was looking in their direction. “Brad is not a little child.”

  “Hey, what’s the matter?” Ian’s voice interrupted them, and Pat tightened his jaw.

  Leslie tried to calm herself down before replying. “Brad is… I don’t know… he went somewhere. It’s probably nothing, but Pat says he was talking to this old man before and….”

  “Shit, no!” Ian yelled. “Old man? What did he look like?”

  There was panic in his eyes, and his voice and fright suddenly found a home in Leslie’s system. “Freakishly blue eyes, wrinkled face, Rings on his fingers.”

  “Long gray hair?” Ian asked anxiously.

  “Yes!” Leslie was certain something pretty awful had happened to Brad, and she couldn’t stop cursing herself for lack of better judgment. “Ian, do you know something?”

  His lip quivered. “I do.” He stepped closer and looked between the two of them. “Brad is in big trouble right now, and there’s only one person who can get him out of it.”

  “What do you mean, trouble? Who was that old man?” Patrick demanded, holding Ian by his shirt. “What do you know, Anderson?”

  “Patrick, stop!”

  “I know that if we don’t get help right now, you are gonna be sorry for the rest of your life,” Ian replied in his own rage.

  Leslie managed to pull Patrick off Ian and glared daggers at her boyfriend. “Don’t you hear what he’s saying? We don’t have time for this, Pat. God knows what trouble Brad could be in right now.” She turned her attention back at Ian. “Tell me, what should we do? Do we call the cops?”

  “Cops can’t do anything, even if they wanted to.” Ian snorted. “There’s only one man who can save and rescue Brad.”

  “And who is that? You?” Patrick hissed.

  “No,” Ian said, glaring at him. “His name is Ronan.” His gaze turned to look at Leslie, who was horribly curious at that moment. “He is the mystery guy Brad met last night at the nightclub.”

  Part 3

  “THIS PLACE is closed for business tonight,” the bald guy standing by the entrance declared for everyone—all who had gathered outside the nightclub. “I am sorry, ladies and gentleman, but you will have to find somewhere else to party.”

  From what Leslie could tell, the people didn’t sound happy about it at all.

  She sat on the swivel chair and glanced at the door behind her for the umpteenth time. Ian had asked them to wait when he had disappeared behind that door. That was five minutes ago, and every passing moment made Leslie sick with anxiety. She wished there was a way to know what was happening inside that room.

  Patrick’s hand palmed her shoulder, and she looked up at him. She could see the worry in his eyes too, but her sweet boyfriend wouldn’t give up trying to calm her nerves. “Everything is going to be all right,” he assured her.

  Leslie spared a sad smile for his sake.

  Her gaze wandered around the club in the meantime. Some random song was playing in the background at a low volume. It didn’t matter since the dance floor was deserted. There were only a few people that she could count in the room at the moment. Other than Leslie and Pat, there was a goth guy sitting by the bar silently drinking his brandy, and a black, plump waitress was busy sweeping the floor. There were no other staff, and it made Leslie wonder why she was still here. Of course, there was the bald guy, who was now in a heated argument with someone outside.

  Leslie jumped out of her chair as soon as she heard the door open and nudged Patrick to get his attention. She watched as Ian stepped out of the manager’s office, looking troubled and enraged. The way he looked at them escalated her worries. Leslie was at the point of asking the reason for his distress when a man walked out of the office and came to stand by his side.

  Ian spared him a glance before facing Leslie and Pat again. “This is the guy I told you about. And Ronan, these are Parker’s friends—Leslie and Patrick.”

  Ronan took that as a cue to greet them with a curt nod. Now wasn’t the right time, yet Leslie’s eyes couldn’t resist checking the guy out. It was a quick scan really, but in a moment’s scrutiny, she found herself intrigued with the man. She had never thought a pale-skinned guy could look as hot as he did. With an attractive long nose and thin, pinkish lips, she thought Ronan must have been quite popular among the girls. His wavy hair was grown out, with the curly strands almost covering his kissable ears, and his azure eyes sparkled under the shimmering lights of the nightclub. That struck as an oddity to her. She had never thought a blue-eyed, dark-haired guy would be Brad’s type.

  But as it was, she had been proven wrong.

  What made him more striking was his attire. Brad had the fashion sense of a pig, and Leslie frequently nagged him about how badly he dressed. If it hadn’t been for his good looks, she’d never have thought a guy like Ronan would have ever come near him. At that moment, Ronan looked like he was all set to walk the red carpet of some celebrity awards show. He was wearing a light-blue dress shirt and a black skinny tie under an unbuttoned gray vest. Leslie noticed the design of a tattoo peeking out of the collar of his shirt. She pondered over how far down it went. For a split second, she was even envious of Brad for scoring a night with this guy.

  “Ian has filled me in with all the details of what happened,” Ronan finally spoke in his deep, manly voice. “Can I see the text that he sent you?”

  “Yeah,” Leslie whispered and took the phone out of her purse. She quickly searched for the message she had received from Brad when they were on their way to meet Ronan. They were all surprised and also relieved, of course. “He says in there that he has found a way to get his lost memories back.” She handed the phone to Ronan so he could see. “We are guessing that the old man in the coffee shop said something to him to make him believe….”

  “Of course he did,” Ronan muttered under his breath, staring at the phone screen intently. “He t
ends to make people believe things that are not real.”

  Leslie blinked.

  “What are you fucking talking about, dude?” Patrick’s angry voice caught her off-guard. “Who is that man exactly? Do you think Brad isn’t safe with him?”

  Ronan eyed him from head to foot warily before exchanging looks with Ian. The big guy gave him an apprehensive nod, and she heard a sigh that probably came from behind her: the man in black. “Right now, mister, I would say your friend is anything but safe.”

  Leslie turned to face the goth guy, and suddenly realized he was there for a reason. She had noticed the waitress standing by too, listening to their conversation. It had given Leslie a weird vibe then, but now she understood. All five of them present in the nightclub at that moment knew something classified that Leslie or Patrick, or maybe even Brad, didn’t know about.

  “What is going on?” she gasped. “If Brad is in some kind of danger, I need to know right now.”

  “Les,” Ian spoke, grabbing her attention immediately, “Before I tell you what’s going on, I want you to know that we didn’t intend for this to happen. Ronan and I… we tried our best to keep Parker out of this.”

  Patrick snorted. “I can see how hard you tried. I swear to you, Anderson, if Brad is hurt even the slightest bit, I am going to rip off your fucking head.”

  Leslie held his wrist and pressed it. His face was red, and his jaw was clenched. She could understand his anger, but her boyfriend was acting before knowing the whole truth.

  She turned to face Ronan. “Tell me everything from the beginning.”

  Ronan nodded and returned the phone back to her. His features softened, and his eyes suddenly looked empty. Maybe it was her wishful thinking, but Leslie was certain he was thinking of Brad at that moment. A few seconds passed in silence, and she began to doubt if he would ever speak up.

  But then he did, in a dangerously calm voice. “It was last month when I actually met Brad for the first time.”

  Leslie did a double take. “Wait,” she interrupted, replaying in her mind the exact account that Brad had given her about Ronan, “But he said….”

  “I know.” Ronan lowered his eyes and frowned. “He wouldn’t remember it. The same way he doesn’t remember last night.” She watched him exhale. “The day when we met, Brad was at Ian’s hanging out with him, and I happened to stop by. We hit it off right away, and that surprised me really, because I don’t open up to strangers that easily. But it was Brad. He has a way with getting people to talk. And such a goofball he is.” He smiled slightly to himself, making Leslie realize how gorgeous he looked with a smile on his handsome face. It didn’t last for long, though. “Then he asked me a question that took me off-guard.” Ronan turned his gaze up again to look into her clueless eyes. “He asked me out,” he said, his blue eyes looking terribly sorrowful.

  “So you guys went out on a date?” Patrick asked with a frown.

  “No, we didn’t.”

  “You said no to him?” Leslie gasped.

  Ronan shook his head a bit. “I couldn’t say anything. Even though I wanted to say yes to him so badly, I didn’t. No way was I going to put his life at risk. So I did what I thought to be the best for him.” He paused and looked between Leslie and Pat, probably trying to gauge their eagerness. “I wiped that part of his memory entirely.”

  For a second, neither she nor Patrick said anything. “You did what?” Leslie asked and briefly glanced at her boyfriend. He was staring at Ronan as if he had gone cuckoo. She couldn’t blame him.

  “I had to glamour him into forgetting that I ever met him.” Ronan spoke each word very carefully.

  Leslie heard Patrick laughing beside her. “Do you think we are some stupid fucktards that we are gonna believe this shit you are feeding us? What the hell!” he yelled and glared daggers at Ian. “What did you do to Brad? Did you assholes drug him, is that it? Les, we have to call the cops r—”

  Before Leslie could register what was happening, Ronan was suddenly standing in front of her boyfriend with his hands holding Patrick’s head in one place. She yelped and jumped as a result, watching as her boyfriend stood still, not moving an inch. Their eyes were engaged in a staring match. Neither of them blinked; neither of them even said a word, and Leslie got the weirdest feeling that the two were going to kiss.

  They didn’t. Instead, Ronan stepped back and resumed his original position. “Wh—?” She gazed at him and then eyed her boyfriend worriedly. “Patrick?”

  “Hey, Les,” he said in a stunned manner and then slowly turned to look in Ronan’s direction. “Who are you?”

  “Ta-da!” A drunken voice came from behind them, and Leslie spared the bored, gothic man another glance.

  She reached her hand up to cup her boyfriend’s cheek and made him face her. “Pat? Don’t you remember him? That’s Ronan.”

  “Is he one of your ex-boyfriends?” Patrick asked.

  Her boyfriend looked clueless and maybe a bit frightened by what was happening to him. Leslie concluded that he had actually forgotten every bit of detail about the man standing in front of them. It proved that everything Ronan had said until then was nothing but the truth, and she also realized how Brad hadn’t been able to remember what had happened the previous night. The mystery had somewhat finally unveiled, yet Leslie wasn’t sure if she liked this.

  “How….” She trailed off, looking at Ronan in disbelief.

  “I have made my point.” He nodded and made a movement to approach them once again.

  Leslie, however, jerked back, keeping a hold on her boyfriend’s shirt. Unfortunately, all there was behind her was the bar counter.

  Ronan held out his hand cautiously and stopped midway. “I am not going to harm him. I am just going to put his memories back in place.”

  “Don’t be afraid, Les,” Ian said.

  “What are you people?” she shouted, looking at each one of them. They all seemed like aliens to her, and that made her hair stand on end. “Are you a vampire?” she asked, looking directly at Ronan and dreaded thinking that he was going to bare his fangs anytime soon.

  “No, Les,” Ronan answered in a rather unsteady way. “I am not a vampire.”

  The plump waitress gave out a sardonic laugh from her corner, and Leslie suddenly felt stupid for saying something like that. She couldn’t help it, though. Ronan could wipe out memories from people’s minds. He said so himself that he’d glamour them into forgetting. As far as she knew from the books she’d read or the movies she’d watched, vampires possessed the same powers.

  “Tell me the truth,” she demanded forcefully.

  “I am telling you the truth. Look, I know why you think I could be a vampire, and you are right to a certain extent. As much as I hate that part of me, I am a half-vampire.”

  “A what?”

  “Dhampirs, Les,” Ian replied. “We are all dhampirs. Half-vampires-half-humans.”

  “You mean like a hybrid of humans and vampires?” Leslie still remained quite shaken, but she also felt her curiosity reaching its peak.

  “Yes.” Ian made a face. “And so all the vampire powers are passed on to us genetically.”

  “But that is all we have in common with that filthy kind,” Ronan added. “We are basically mortals, same as humans, and in case you are wondering—no, we don’t have any cravings for human blood.”

  The reign of terror in Leslie’s mind began to slowly mitigate. When she was a bit more composed, she became aware of how awfully quiet Patrick had been through all this.

  She gazed at him and found him staring straight ahead. “Pat?”

  “He can’t hear you,” Ronan said, grasping her attention. “Your boyfriend is dreaming right now.”

  “Dreaming? With his eyes open?” Leslie scowled, studying her boyfriend’s face for a while. She even waved her hand in front of his face, but Pat didn’t budge. “How did you do that?”

  “To glamour someone, all I need is for them to look into my eyes. I can control their mind e
asily then.” He looked smug.

  Leslie shook her head and snorted. “Dhampirs, vampires, mind control, what else?”

  “Les, I know it is all too much to take in right now,” Ian said. “But you should know that even though we aren’t entirely humans, we aren’t evil at all. Rather, we hunt vampires to keep the humans safe.”

  “But you think it is okay to play with our minds.” Leslie felt anger rising in her. “How is that not evil? Someone so innocent like Brad—you made him forget those memories for which he has dreamt forever. He was your friend, Ian. You should have known better than that.”

  “We were left with no choice,” Ian said, seemingly helpless.

  Pat mumbled some gibberish, the same way he usually talked while he slept. Leslie stared at him. Her thoughts were all over the place, and she was trying to collect them piece by piece. Everything sounded so complicated.

  She briskly turned her head and threw a sharp glance at Ronan. “You met him a month ago, you say? And then a month later, you meet him in this nightclub.”

  Ronan and Ian looked at each other, and Leslie began to think the suspicion in her mind was right after all. “Actually, we had many more first meetings after that.” He paused and continued with his voice toned down, “like, almost every day. Initially, it was a mere coincidence that our paths would cross. But later, it was me wanting to see him badly. The connection I felt with him was so strong that I couldn’t help myself. But every single time I would end up with the same question.”

  Leslie stared at him, feeling numb. “You know what I think? I think you enjoyed it when he begged you to go out with him. I bet it did your ego good.” She shook her head in disbelief. “You are such a heartless son of a bitch.”

  Ronan cast his head down and gulped noisily. “I guess I am.”