Neckbeard Vampire: Nightbeard Rising
Page 46
Chapter 28
Paxton arrived at the safe house in record speed. He forced his way through the locked front door and flew up the stairs to Chad’s room.
“Chad.” He spoke through the door. “It’s over.”
The door exploded into splinters, sending Paxton coughing and crashing into the opposite side of the hallway.
“No. It’s not, Paxton.” He said, smiling. “She’s gone…and it’s only just begun.”
“The final resting place is in your room!” He yelled.
“Right under your filthy casual noses! Plebes! HA! But you must stand corrected, Paxton—‘was’ in my room.” Chadwick hissed. “For it is no longer!” And he lunged at Paxton, landing a knee in his chest before grabbing his head and slamming it into the floor repeatedly.
His grip was strong, catching Paxton off guard—he did not expect Chad to be a formidable opponent to his superior new strength. He’d changed: where there was once only the trace of a mustache under his lip, he now had a wispy beard growing in around his neck. He had gotten noticeably heavier as well.
“Stop, Chad!” He tried to reason with him. But Chad wouldn’t hear of it as he hurled a barrage of punches all over Paxton’s body. Paxton struggled hard, managing to leverage Chad’s legs out from under him—gripping his ankle and hurling him back into his room. Chad cursed in pain.
“Why’d you do it, Chad?” Paxton walked slowly, confidently striding up to Chad—who was now crumpled into a corner, whimpering in pain. “Why’d you betray us?”
A look of disgust emerged on Chad’s face. “Why did I betray YOU?” Paxton stared at him, perplexed. “Don’t you see, Paxton?!” He said, “Are you really so blind? I never betrayed you—I have been me all along. It was you who chased skirts. You who threw yourself at Milady. You who left me alone—when I thought we were friends. YOU who swallowed the Red Pill!!!”
Chad continued, “It is my duty, Paxton, to serve her—she alone is worthy--and I will not give up!”
“No Chad! You don’t understand!”
“I have wooed her!” He screamed, “She is Milady!” Paxton didn’t see it coming, from under the rubble Chad brought out a Samurai sword, jumping up and swiping it across Paxton’s chest.
The former Paxton wouldn’t have been able to dodge, but with his new abilities he jumped out of the way—letting the blade only just graze his chest. Running hard, he seized Chad’s hand while still in the air, rendering the samurai sword now useless as the two of them crashed through the wall, putting them on the roof of the house’s porch.
“Chad you must listen to me!” He tried to reason with his friend. He tried to control him long enough to do something—anything. As they lay on the roof, deadlocked in each other’s grip, Paxton noticed a small red pill rolling down the slanted shingles towards the rain gutter.
Paxton’s eyes widened as he understood, “You…haven’t been taking your dosage?! Why?!”
Chad sneered. “Fool of a plebe! Because I am hers, and she is mine.” And he grabbed a piece of rubble—part of a two-by-four, and slammed it against Paxton’s head. “I have served her well,” he continued, “and she has rewarded me with the Dark Gift!”
“NO!!” he cried out, mourning the loss of his friend.
“YES!” Chad responded, “I have traded my soul—(HA! As if it was any use to me!)--to become a Nightbeard, servant to Milady, the Dakimakura. I have traded my worthless humanity for a new body of increased power. I have traded it to become hers!”
“Chad,” he said calmly, releasing his grip and standing up, “She has put you in the friend zone. You must see this!”
“The Friend Zone doesn’t actually exist, Paxton! Besides you would never understand Dasha and me! We love each other!”
Paxton knew those words—they were his own, when he too was under her spell. He looked again to the Red Pill, lying in the gutter---there might still be a chance. If he could get it, he could force Chad to take it—to wake up.
Chad knew his thoughts. “Fool,” he said, “Do you understand nothing?! You can’t make someone swallow the pill—they must choose it for themselves! Internalize it!” And catching Paxton off guard, he swept his feet out from under him, putting a dent in the roof of the porch. Paxton reached for Chad but missed, managing only to drop the pill in Chad’s pocket as he jumped from the second story of the house.
A white van swerved around the corner, careening towards the house. The door slid open as it approached. The Dark Chad raced to the van and jumped in, leaning out the open door and facing his enemy as the distance grew between them.
Paxton and Chad locked eyes as he, the van, and the Dakimakura disappeared down the road.