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  Jason nodded his head and hugged his brother. Joshua hugged Jason back just as firmly.

  “Let's go, Jason. We need to leave this place without anyone recognizing and tailing us.”

  I nodded at Joshua and didn't hug him. I regretted that decision later, but at the time I felt like it wasn't something he or I would want to engage in.

  Jason and I made it out of Area 51 without any problems. We transitioned and flew back home without anyone following us. Last time we kicked so much ass, they were going to have to come at us with more ammunition.

  Soon, Jason and I landed at home on the front porch.

  “Hey Jay, before we go in. I want to know how you are feeling.”

  “I feel lost, dad. I feel lost about my brother. Lost about what we are doing out here. Lost for the future. I just feel an immense amount of loss. Especially the loss of my mom.”

  “You're a good kid, son. I'm sorry I have to train you into something you never wanted to be.”

  “I know you did it so I would be safe in the future. Fighting is the only way the paranormal world knows how to deal with its problems. I had to adapt or be left behind.”

  “I'm sorry that is the reality of this life. I'm happy with your progress none the less. You have been tested in a way that I never dreamed you would ever have to go through.”

  “It's okay, dad.” Jason yawned. “I'm tired. I'm going to take a nap.”

  “Go ahead, son. You deserve it.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The following morning we were all getting ready to go to bed when Yari asked Todd to tell us another bedtime story about his life.

  “What do you want to know? I told you the two things that are the most interesting about me.”

  “How was your first day of being a vampire? How did you figure it out? What happened?”

  “I'm always curious about a vampire's first day,” I laughed. “It's bizarre for each of us. What was your day like Todd?”

  “Where should I start? Todd laughed.

  “Start right after the vampires who turned you left your hospital room,” Yari said.

  Todd smiled and went into his story. “An hour after they left my hospital room the doctor woke me when he came in to check my wounds.

  “I was afraid that I would have to explain away the new wounds on my neck. But no dice. There were no wounds on my neck. I was healed of all my wounds from head to toe. Not an injury anywhere. As a matter of fact, I had suffered from a bad knee from wrestling that suddenly felt like a million bucks. And all the bruising over my body was gone. I still had stitches, but the skin beneath them was fresh. So, of course, the doctor had to remove them.

  “Shortly after six in the morning, I was discharged.

  “That was when a new world was about to be introduced to me.

  “My parents were never called after I showed up at the hospital, because I was eighteen years old and I didn’t want to bother them. My mom would have freaked out too much and my dad would over analyze the whole situation. Couldn't I have talked my way out of it? You know, the usual.

  “The doctor released me and I walked out of the hospital. It was still dark and basically, they just told me bye and they left me on the side of the hospital walkway. I was highly confused and I made my way home down Malvern Blvd. It was a long street on the way to my home.

  “At about 6:30am the sun started to come up and lucky for me I passed a service station. I say lucky because my skin began stinging when it was exposed to the morning sunlight.

  “Something was going haywire with my body. I smelled my flesh burn. I jumped into a gas station bathroom. There was an out-of-order sign hanging on the wall, and I put it on the doorknob on the outside of the door and locked it tight. Once I was out of the sun's rays I was fine. The door was locked, and no light was getting in, so I thought I would be okay for a while. There were no windows and the door sealed out all light when you closed it.

  “Over the next 12 hours, I slept and tried to periodically open the door. Each time my skin would sting and burn. Finally, after it was almost completely dark outside. I was able to open the door and step outside without feeling pain. The night sky did not hurt my skin.

  “That was when I began secretly living in my parent’s basement. Well, anybody’s basement that I could get to before sunrise.

  “It was the first night after I had been turned and I took full advantage of every second the sun was set.

  Todd stopped talking. Unshed tears welled in his eyes and seemed to be having difficulty speaking.

  “What's wrong, buddy?” I asked, truly sympathetic.

  “This next bit of info is pretty much why I am the way I am today.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Good prevails. Evil dies a horrible death.”

  “That's some motto,” Tommy laughed, uncomfortably.

  “Look, Todd, you don't have to tell us anymore. We're just trying to get to know you.”

  “No. I would like to share this with all of you. It's been awhile since I've talked about it.”

  “Let me warn you, we are not psychiatrists. Our answer usually is to kick the shit out of our problems.”

  “Well, that's what I ended up doing in the end,” Todd answered.

  “Let him tell his story,” Sion interjected. “I'm too invested to not know what happens.”

  “Alright, Todd. It is up to you,” I said.

  “I want to tell you all. I will be okay,”

  So Todd continued his story.

  “When I came home that evening after picking up my truck from the diner. My dad’s black Studebaker Commander was sitting in our driveway. The lawn looked as if it had been freshly cut, so I knew he had been outside very recently or at least in the latter part of the day. I walked in through the unlocked kitchen door the way I do every day.

  “The first thing I saw was my mom’s body laying on the kitchen floor. She was already dead from the look of the coagulated blood pooled around her body. There were defensive wounds on her arms, and her neck had been torn open. I began yelling, “Dad! Dad!” at the top of my lungs.

  “I ran to the back of the house and at the foot of my parent’s bed was where I found my father. It appeared he had sustained the same injuries on his wrists and hands exactly like my mom. I called the police, and believe it or not my odd alibi of being stuck in a bathroom held up. I was never a suspect.

  “And I never should have been. That was exactly what I saw when I arrived home. Helluva homecoming after the night I had. How it happened was the detective’s way of wrapping their brains around such gruesome murders. They blamed it on a cult because they could never find a suspect or anyone with a motive to kill my parents in such a savage way.”

  “That's insane,” I responded, abruptly. “You went from a high school jock to being turned into a vampire to only have your parents killed 24 hours later.” The room was quiet. After a moment, I looked at Todd and said. “What did you do?”

  Todd nodded, “I knew of a greaser hang out. It was the town’s drive-in. They were often found hanging around in groups at the snack stand. They would just screw with people while they were getting food. I heard sometimes they stole the food, but it never happened to me. Probably because I was a big kid.

  “On this particular night, there was going to be hell to pay. Revenge and anger were raging inside of me. I hadn’t even mourned the loss of my parents yet. I was out to hurt someone very badly. I was hoping to find Santino so I could make him pay for attacking me and for attacking my parents. But he also had accomplices who probably took part in my parent’s murders.

  “The drive-in was three miles from my house. I drove my dad’s black Studebaker Commander and was there in no time. I drove up to the ticket gate and purchased one ticket. The kid at the gate gave me a suspicious look, as if I had six teenagers hidden in my trunk. I knew the reason I was there and it was to do far more damage than sneaking a couple of friends into the drive-in.

  “I parked m
y father’s car in the back row closest to the exit. I wasn’t sure how things would go down, all I knew was I would need to get out of there fast. I’ll never forget the movie that was playing. ‘Rebel Without a Cause’. It was perfect as a backdrop to what I was intending to do.

  “The truth of the matter was, I had no clue what I was intending to do. All I knew was I was being led by the rage inside me, and I had never felt stronger in my life. I felt invincible. It was because I was and I didn’t know to what extent.

  “I took my time and allowed about an hour of Rebel Without a Cause play before I made my move to the snack bar. The snack stand was at the far end of the drive-in. Far from the exit. Meaning as far from my car as it could be.

  “In my backpack sitting in the back seat, I had brought a black hooded sweatshirt from our high school. I turned it inside out and then put it on.

  “I pulled the hood up over my head and walked swiftly toward the snack stand and was close enough to see everyone who was hanging out at the tables in front. Sure enough, it was greaseball city. I looked on from a distance in between two cars and could not see Santino anywhere. I scanned the place for about ten minutes, hoping he would show up from the bathroom or actually from inside the snack stand.

  “No dice. He was nowhere to be seen that night. I did, however, see two of his cronies, per se. They were there when Santino had stabbed me at the diner and the likelihood was they were there when my parents had been killed. So, my anger grew strong and I was ready to do whatever it took to get my revenge. To avenge my parents. I walked towards the men’s restroom and waited outside. I was on the backside of the building behind a large trash can, so it was easy to stay in the shadows and not be seen.

  “I waited for one of the assholes to go to the bathroom. What I was going to do then, I wasn’t sure. I just wanted a controlled environment and as small a group I could get.

  “By this point, I was so enraged I could barely think straight.

  “It was the blond kid. The towhead walked to the bathroom alone and I knew this was going to my chance for some type of confrontation.

  “Walking in front of him into the bathroom I went to the stall on the very end. The bathroom had ten standing urinals and two stalls with toilets with the doors ripped off.

  “I laid in wait. He walked in and casually walked up to one of the standing urinals. I slipped out and studied his face. I was looking at him while he pissed. He didn’t have a worry in the world. Was this the face of someone who had just participated in a double homicide?

  “Sneaking up from behind him I grabbed him by the neck and squeezed. He tried to scream but I tightened my grip around his neck and choked off his attempt. I had a knife in my pocket. My dad had cut through some serious animal flesh with this same knife, as I watched him. I was sure I could take his head clean off if he turned out to be the same as me. A vampire.

  “'What the fuck?' the guy kept saying while he gasped for air. I threw him up against the back wall of the bathroom. My strength was off the charts and he went flying into the wall and his body collapsed on the toilet. Some of the little tiles fell off of the wall and rained down on top of his head. I ran up to him as he settled himself on top of the toilet. I pulled out my dad’s hunting knife and I was ready to do whatever I had to do when he yelled.

  “'I wasn’t there! I had nothing to do with it. I didn’t go because I am not a murderer.' His forehead was bleeding and I grabbed some toilet paper and handed it to him.

  “'Why do you know so much about it then?'

  “'Tyler and I wouldn’t go. Tyler is the other guy outside. We refused to have anything to do with it.'

  “'Who wanted to kill my parents and why? You already stabbed me and put me in the hospital!'

  “'Santino.'

  “'Who is Norman?'

  “'Norman is the man who calls all the shots. He was one who told us to go to the diner and stab you. Santino is just a crazy son of a bitch and he was happy to do all the stabbing.'

  “You held my arms, as I remember,' I said to the punk.

  “'Actually, I didn’t. Kool-Aid and Momo were the ones who held your arms.'

  “'Not Tyler?'

  “'No,” he said. 'Tyler is smaller than I am. A big guy like you would have shaken him off and embarrassed him in front of the guys. Tyler only takes on guys he knows he can beat.' He shrugged.

  “Did Norman hold my arms down?”

  “No, like I said. He calls the shots and Santino follows his orders.'

  “Where are Kool-Aid, Momo, and especially Norman and Santino?” I raised my knife towards his throat.

  “'Kool-Aid and Momo are brothers and they live across the street from the high school in the only apartment building.”

  I pressed the knife into his neck, causing blood to drip. The blood looked incredibly appetizing. I refused to touch his blood. I had more important things to do.

  “'Where are Santino and Norman?'

  “'Santino lives with his Grandma over on Hicks street. It’s a house behind a house. There is a liquor store called Jones Liquor across the street from it.'

  “I know where it is. What about Norman?”

  “'No one knows where he lives. He is very secretive about his personal life. When he wants your help, he finds you. Not the other way around.'

  “I nodded my head and sensed he was telling the truth. 'If I find out you warned anyone. I will come back for you.'

  “I slipped out of the bathroom and made my way quickly to the Studebaker and I was out of the drive. A trail of dust in my wake. I looked down at my watch and was surprised to see that it was 12:30 at night. Sunrise was around 6 am. I had a few hours to get things done.

  “My first stop was at the apartments across the street from Savannah high school. There was only one and it wouldn’t be too hard to find out where the two brothers lived. Especially when one of them is named Kool-Aid.

  “I drove to my school’s rival high school, Savannah. I wasn’t too familiar with the area around the school, but I did know the direct route to get to the high school.

  “I pulled up at the school and parked along the curbside where other cars were parked. Sure enough, there was just one apartment complex across the street. I knew blondie had told me the truth, at least, about that. Hopefully, he had some remorse and told me the truth about everything else. That and the blade helped convince him to do the right thing.

  “Horseshoes apartment building. I walked up to the front wearing the same gear and holding the same hunting knife as I had at the drive-in. I was ready to make sure these two paid for what they had done.

  “Each apartment was right on top of the other one. There were a couple of junior high kids outside. So, I decided to lower my voice and asked them where Kool-Aid and his brother lived.

  “They were sitting on the edge of a planter smoking a cigarette. Everyone smoked in those days and you usually started when you were young. It wasn’t looked at as a bad thing. We didn’t know the things we do now.

  “'Bum a cigarette, kid.' I said, so low I sounded like Barry White. My voice startled the kid and he pulled out a Lucky Strike and handed it to me. I barely smoked, and Lucky Strikes had no filter but I couldn’t look like a wuss to these junior high kids. So, I asked for a light and took three of the harshest drags I ever took from a cigarette.

  “'Smooth, right?' One of the jokers said.

  “'Hey, do you know where Kool-Aid lives?' They didn’t answer. So, I added, 'I owe him some money.' I figured if they were scared of Kool-Aid and his brother they wouldn’t hesitate to send someone who owed him money his way.

  “The kid nodded. 'Yeah, he lives upstairs in 27D with his dad and brother.'

  “'Thanks. You have the rest of the cigarette. I just needed a few drags.' I handed him the cigarette and began looking at the numbers upstairs. I could tell by the trend that their apartment was in the very back. That was good. I was going to have to jump some walls to get the hell out of there fast after I was done doing wha
t I came to do.

  “I found the unit labeled 27D. I slowly walked up the stairs and tried to make as little noise as possible.

  “As I was walking toward the door, it flung open and their father walked out. He was drunk as a skunk. When he hobbled past me on the staircase, he stunk of an entire distillery. I assumed he was going somewhere and in his belligerent state, he wouldn’t be back for a while.

  “Deciding I needed to do some reconnaissance I walked past their window and peeked in through the curtains. I could see one of the two brothers in the living room. He appeared to be listening to music. I could only assume the other brother was in the apartment with him.

  “After taking a few deep breaths, I gave the door two hard knocks and waited for an answer.

  “'It’s open,” a voice called out, 'come in.'

  “Then I kicked open the door. I rushed the first brother and crashed into him while he was sitting on the recliner. He and the recliner went flying up against the living room wall.

  “'What the fuck is going on Kool-Aid?' Momo came running out of the bathroom. Kool-Aid was pretty much knocked out at this point so I focused all of my attention on Momo. I pulled back my hood so that he could see exactly who he was dealing with.

  “'Oh, fuck,' he said. Apparently, I had my man. He went running to the back of the apartment. I chased after him and he was heading for the window. I tackled him hard up against the window and his head went through it. I yanked him back into the apartment and he begged me not to kill him. I was surprised by how he was immediately afraid of me.

  “And he apparently wasn’t or he would have been putting up more of a fight. Vampire or not, he contributed in killing my parents.

  “'No!' Momo yelled. 'My brother and I both weren’t there. We weren't there at the diner and we didn't kill your parents.'

  “'I don’t believe you.' I punched him in his already bloody face. The blood was looking tastier and tastier. I fought my craving and punched him a second time in the face.