The Grateful Boys

by Françoise DuMaurier

  “That’s mighty sweet of you,” she told him before writing her number on a napkin. “Just text me the next time you have a day off.”

  “Don’t say that! I’d never see you again if that were the case,” he laughed.

  “Alright. How about I just text you whenever you’re off work.”

  “Off work, during work… I promise, I’ll make time. We could go out later this week,” he suggested. “I take good care of my own here in Corpus. Even the difficult ones.”

  “The difficult ones?” she asked.

  “Like you don’t know what that means,” he laughed.

  “The racists?” she whispered.

  “See, you’re just as smart as you look,” he winked.

  “I bet you throw that around a lot, don’t you?” she laughed.

  “Never!” he joked. “First time I’ve ever told anyone that.”

  Another customer called her away and she gone in a dash. Minutes later she arrived with the sheriff’s omelet. He ate the full thing, almost having forgotten that it was his second breakfast of the morning.

  He left Mel a generous tip – her best since she began working. Then thanked for the incredible service, and for saying yes. Minutes later he was out the door and back on patrol. This time, in a much better spirit.

  ***

  It was Monday afternoon when Mel arrived home. Mason told her he was somehow, miraculously, cured of all his afflictions. He was darting through the house looking for any items made of silver. Such an old house with antique items had been brimming with silver trays and plates and silverware. That was, until his mom sold it all when cash began to run low after they’d made the move to Corpus.

  “Jeez, mom. How could you have sold all the silver?” Mason asked, throwing his hands in the air after tearing the kitchen half apart.

  “Mason, I hope you’re going to put this kitchen back together. And I sold it to help feed you,” she snapped. “You know how long I’d been going without a job? Life hasn’t been easy on any of us since your father died. It’s been constant struggle in the past three years.”

  “I’m sorry,” Mason said, apologetically. “I know. I love you. And I forgive you for selling all the good stuff.”

  He began to tidy up the kitchen. He placed the silverware and plates and towels back in their appropriate place. He shut the cabinets and closed the freezer drawer.

  “Why do you need silver anyway?” his mom asked. “Trying to kill a werewolf? Gonna melt it down and make a bullet?”

  “Not quite,” Mason said in a deathly tone. “Unless you know something I don’t. Don’t tell me there’s werewolves here too.”

  “What on earth has gotten into you? It’s those horror movies again, isn’t it?”

  “This has nothing to do with horror movies. You just never know what’s right under your roof. Moving like mist in moonlight,” he said, glaring at his mom, trying to give her a hint. “Just stay woke, mom. Stay woke.”

  “Well that was strange,” Mason heard her say as he crept out the kitchen.

  In messaging each of his friends, Mason suggested, nay – demanded, they hold a meeting to further discuss whatever it was they’d come across in the cave across town.

  Who’d have thought, he said to himself, that the Horror Lover’s Club would become about a real-life horror. There’d be no video games or horror movies in these meetings from now on – no, this would be about eradicating evil with implications for the entire town, if not the world.

  Did the rest of the world know of the existence of these things, Mason asked himself. Or are we the first to discover vampires?

  Each of his four friends replied with a “yes” or a “sure” when Mason demanded they meet Tuesday night. So it was settled.

  ***

  On Monday night Sebastian laid down to sleep. He wasn’t quite sure how to approach his friends regarding their “vampire problem” as Mason would call it. If his anti-vampire friends learned of his newfound friendship, they’d be done with him – or worse, try to stake him for guilt by association.

  He wondered if maybe Mason’s sister could help. If she, in fact, knew a vampire. If only his friends knew how kind and gentle vampires could be, then they’d change their minds. Right?

  Sebastian thought of what it would mean to be a vampire. To sleep all day. Have fun all night. Never die. Live forever. It must be great to be a vampire.

  He stared out his window from his bed. Curtains drawn. Blinds open. Window raised. He knew just what he was hoping for. He lied in bed for an hour waiting for it to happen.

  Nothing happened. No one came. Sebastian drifted off to sleep disappointed. That’s when he saw him. In the deep lurid fantasy of the dreamscape. The one that existed only within the human-vampire bond.

  He looked down and noticed his feet standing upon a sandy ground. He looked around and found himself on a beachfront at dusk, with warm scattered sunlight exuding from the coast as the night drew near. This was no Corpus.

  He felt the emotional flavor of devotion – infatuation. He must be near. Still out of his sight, out of his reach – the amity between them grew.

  Sebastian began to walk along the beach. The tide of the ocean washed away the coarse sand from his feet with every step. He heard only the sounds of the ocean and breeze of the winds. It was the sound he’d previously known from placing a seashell up to his ear. And here he was – now experiencing it for real. Well – as real as a vivid dream could be.

  He stopped. Intuition told him to turn around. He did. He smiled a grin bearing adulation. Gregory was standing only yards away. The vampire wore a black open tunic and matching pants. His bare feet off lifted from the sand as he glided toward Sebastian.

  “Sebastian, young friend.”

  “Gregorious Velstall,” he said, calling him by his full name. “I was waiting for you to show up. And you didn’t.”

  “I cannot be with you every night. Not in the physical realm. That is what the dreamscape is for. Shared dreams between human and vampire-kind. It is something that even vampires cannot share between each other. Are these dreams so vivid because they are so real? Or are they so real because they are so vivid?”

  “I… I don’t know.”

  “I don’t expect you to, Sebastian. I’m merely thinking aloud.”

  Gregory explained to him the way in which shared dreams work – not unlike the way Percy explained to Hailey.

  “Would it be too much to ask if I could… feed on you? Like last time?” Sebastian asked nervously, unsure of how his vampire friend would answer. Would it be asking too much to want to drink from a vampire without the vampire offering himself first?

  “Firstly, you needn’t be nervous in anything you ask of me. In my nearly 400 years as a vampire, I have been asked each and every question the mind can fathom. There is nothing you could ask that would upset me. But the answer is no… And I’m sure you already understand why that is.

  “Because no matter how vivid this dream is, it’s still a dream. It’s not physically happening.”

  “Correct.”

  “How often can I see you… in person?”

  “As often as I am available. I have frequent business to tend to.”

  “Tomorrow night then? Tuesday?”

  “I’m afraid not, young friend. I do hate to disappoint. But my brothers have planned a gathering at our place.”

  “Oh,” Sebastian said, his head down, his tone full of disappointment.

  “But I have a question for you… today, you did something you shouldn’t have. You brought other young men to my place of sleep.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Sebastian said, nearly breaking down. “I didn’t’ know what to do. They’ve got everything so wrong. They think vampires are evil. And I just sort of accidentally blurted something out about knowing where you were because of a dream. I’m so sorry.”

  Gregory grabbed the boy in his cold embrace, as Sebastian wept.

  “I blame myself, partially,” Gregory told hi
m, still hugging him. Then he pulled him away at an arm’s length distance.

  “If you wish to see me again, you will do as I say,” Gregory said, he looked him directly in the eyes as Sebastian stopped sobbing. “You must place your full trust in me. Without question and without reserve. You must understand that a vampire of my age has surely acquired more wisdom than even the oldest of your earthly humans.”

  “I understand,” Sebastian nodded.

  “Perhaps you only need to educate your friends. But you can never again bring them to my home because I cannot guarantee their protection against my brothers.”

  “I… I can try,” Sebastian admitted. “I promise I’ll never do that again.”

  “I do not want your promises, Sebastian. I want your bond. It is required that you place your trust, not in this world, but in me. I want only your devotion.”

  Sebastian shook his head up and down without speaking.

  “Now walk with me,” Gregory told him. And the two strolled side by side on the beach.

  “I’ve been wanting to know about your life as a vampire and as a human,” Sebastian said.

  “Of course. Curiosity is the most natural affection that arises from the human-vampire bond. I will explain it to you but now is not the time, I’m afraid. For the dreaming lasts only as long as the REM stage of sleep lasts. Time feels endless here but that is only that – a feeling.”

  “That’s… interesting. I was wondering… why do vampires so interested in young people?”

  “All humans are young to us. Just by varying degrees. But I understand what you mean. Perhaps it is the purity and incorruptibility – your ability to think and feel without inhibition. I am referring to your impressionable dexterity. Simply put, we can mold you to our liking.”

  “A bit wordy. But I guess that makes sense.”

  “It has worked for many millennia. I suppose we are mightily old fashioned to be so nonconventional. How ironic. But it is your aura that draws me to you.”

  “Would other vampires be interested in me?”

  “Possibly. Each vampire desires for a unique pedigree – Do you seek knowledge, Sebastian?”

  He thought for a moment. The scattered light that remained in the distance slowly vanished. It made way for nightfall as it spread across the beach of the dreamscape.

  “I hadn’t really thought of it before,” he answered. “I’ve lived pretty carefree in a small town my whole life. It’s kinda like the rest of the world doesn’t even exist. And now…”

  “Yet in an instant you have learned more than you thought you’d ever know,” Gregory completed the thought for him. “And now you are wondering what else is there… out there.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I was trying to say. It’s almost like we have a psychic connection.”

  “And it will only grow stronger.”

  “They don’t mention this in the vampire books. Well, I think in one show I saw once. And the hypnotism, they called glamour.”

  “Never heard of it,” Gregory told him. “But it’s become quite dark now. That generally has a significance in shared dreams.”

  “What does it mean?” Sebastian asked.

  “It means the dream is coming to an end. Vampires are nocturnal. The dreamscape is our opportunity to truly explore the daylight. All shared dreams begin in the light.”

  “Thank you, Gregory. For opening up the world to me.”

  “It’s time for me to go now, Sebastian. Don’t be sad. You’ll see me again. In person. Soon enough.”

  “I have your word?”

  “Always.”

  And then – the dream faded.

  ***

  Tuesday morning arrived in the Lane household without a hitch. Mason was as suspicious as ever of his sister. He stared her down in the kitchen during breakfast and would creep very slowly every time he passed her door. He was on the lookout – listening for vampires. He was convinced his sister had become some kind of vampire groupie.

  Hailey left with Madison in the morning, per the usual. Mason said bye to his mom, wished her the best at work – scrunched up his face when she told him the sheriff wanted to take her on a date, and left on his bike for school.

  He joined Alex, biked to school, and headed to class. Unfortunately, being single-minded did not help class go by any faster. History class proved a chore to get through and Language Arts was no different. The usual wax-on lecture was bad enough – but now it seemed like torture.

  Lunchtime finally arrived and the boys opted to meet in the library instead of the lunchroom. Mason and Alex arrived first. Then Matthew and Ben. After several minutes the boys decided to proceed without Sebastian and began searching through the computer that housed the town’s digital archives. Contained within the archives was every news article in Corpus dating back to the 1880s.

  “Alright, let’s see what we can find,” Matthew said, starting the database up.

  “Where’s Seb?” Ben asked. “Why’s he been so strange lately?”

  “Still affected by what happened that night, I guess. It’s still weighing on him,” Mason shrugged. “We’ll just have to do it without him.”

  “Let’s not forget that dream he had. Not many people dream about places they’ve never been to,” Alex added.

  “It’s clear Seb doesn’t want to talk about it,” Matthew said, tossing his hands up. “So like Mason said, we’ll just have to do this without him.”

  “Database is up,” Mason said. “What do we search for?”

  “Vampires?” Alex asked.

  “No. The Corpus paper is not gonna have a headline about vampires. You’re gonna have to search for something more subtle,” Ben said.

  “Ben’s right,” Matthew nodded. “We’ll have to search for something like murder. Maybe homicide. That’s official reporting lingo.”

  With the other boys crowding around him, Matthew sat at the computer and clicked on the search feature. The browser was made exclusively for searching old news articles in Corpus.

  He searched ‘murder’. The feature took roughly a full minute to load.

  “Jesus, this thing is slow as hell,” Ben said.

  “It’s old,” Alex told him. “And the program is searching through tens of thousands of articles. That’s a lot of news dating back to 1880.”

  “Yeah, well Google does the same but a lot faster,” Ben argued.

  “Okay, it’s loading now!” Matthew interrupted them.

  The search feature for ‘murder’ turned up over 500 results.

  “There’s been over 500 murders in Corpus?” Mason said. “Unreal.”

  “That’s just how many times the word murder has been used in a Corpus paper since 1880,” Alex informed him. “I mean, let’s say one murder occurs but the newspaper covers it often. So that’s gonna result in the word being used a lot.”

  “Okay, maybe we should narrow the search down,” Matthew suggested.

  “Vampire are most known for sucking blood,” Ben said. “Search for blood too. Murder and blood together oughta do it.”

  Matthew did just that. The new results for both words came back with over thirty results.

  They searched for the earliest digitally achieved record. It was listed as far back as 1923. Matthew read the article aloud.

  September 18, 1923. Headline: Murder in Corpus. The sleepy town of Corpus, Georgia has had its first murders since the paper’s inception. Timothy Montgomery and his wife Vanessa (originally of Valdosta) were found dead in their home leaving behind a crime scene, which authorities could only describe as gruesome.

  Timothy operated a lumber mill while Vanessa was a stay at home mother to one son, Christopher. On September 15, the two returned from an annual trip to their hometown of Valdosta. Family reports the two were in good spirits.

  On the night of September 16, their bodies were found in the bedroom of their two-story house. In a gruesome twist of events, the bodies of the couple were found charred. They were burned to death with their teenage s
on now missing.

  Just when we believed news of this incident could not be more grim, early reports from the Corpus Coroner’s Office suggests that the bodies had been drained of all blood without a single ounce to spare.

  Who could have committed such a heinous crime, we wonder? Who would dare to kill and entirely drain blood from the corpses of two beloved Corpus residents? One thing is for sure. The town is changing and not for the better.

  Their son Christopher remains missing with only one lead to go by. A neighbor, Claudia Gilesman, report seeing a door-to-door traveling salesman in the neighborhood. The widowed Mrs Gilesman claims to have seen Mr Montgomery invite the mysterious salesman into the family’s home only hours before the senseless murder occurred.

  Authorities are currently searching for the salesman. Mrs Gilesman claims to not gotten a good look at the face of the man in question but reports he was wearing a black suit and matching trench coat. Authorities are searching for this man in addition to the whereabouts of the missing Montgomery son, 14 years of age.

  If you have any information that may lead to the location of the suspect or have any information regarding the whereabouts of young Christopher Montgomery, please contact the Corpus County Sheriff’s Office.

  “And that’s it,” Matthew said. He went back to the results and searched a little further. A year later there was an article, which mentioned the same murders. It stated the traveling salesman had never been identified and Charlie Montgomery remained missing. An article from four years after that gave another update, which mentioned the same thing. No one had ever been charged with the murder. The son remained missing. The salesman still unidentified.

  “Sounds like the work of a vampire,” Mason said. “The mysterious salesman in all black. They invited him in their house. That’s why he was able to kill them. Drained the bodies. Probably stored the blood in his fridge.”

  “Didn’t you say you saw something flying out of your sister’s window?” Alex asked him.

  “Yeah, I did,” Mason answered. “I know exactly what I saw.”