How can I be expected to do such a cruel and disturbing thing? Ty was forced to ask himself under his current circumstances, I know he is homeless and doesn’t have much of a future but this is still wrong! He is still a living breathing creature, not to mention he is a human being! Valentine had procured a homeless man off the street earlier that night for Ty’s meal telling him “I would not be making you drink form a human if the choice was up to me and I hope you believe and understand that Ty, but if I were to get any blood from the blood banks as I normally would while in town, my movements would become much easier for my father and his trackers to follow and they would find us much more easily. I would rather not make it easy for my father, especially since I know what he would do to us once he did catch us. He’s become like a mad dog ready to hunt us down and rip out our throats.”
Valentine had already had his share of blood before Ty had even woken up; like he did with Ty’s soon to be victim Valentine had seduced another homeless person in a back alley and drank him dry before tossing him into the Spokane River the whole time cringing at having to act like a traditional vampire. Though Ty knew Valentine had to be right but he was going to try his hardest to make sure he did not enjoy any moment of taking this person’s life in any way. Closing his eyes hard like he did the first time he had done when he drank the blood of the deer Ty envisioned a deer in the unconscious man’s place as he bit into the man’s jugular and drank as quickly as he could. Although the blood was not as strong as Valentines it was much more filling then the wild deer’s had been for him. He could taste the city, all of its grime and muck coursing through the man’s veins and into his mouth. Almost stopping when he thought that the taste was too strong he forced himself to finish what he had started, and as quickly as possible while holding back the urge to wretch with every drop that entered his mouth he drank the last bits of blood remaining in this now dried up husk of a human being.
“I personally do not like the taste of homeless people they taste horrid at best, but it’s all we can do until we get further on our journey,” Valentine told him with a slightly pained look in his eyes “I don’t like ending anyone’s life any more than you do Ty, but our survival could save countless more of the Ungifted from the fates that they have endured at the hands and fangs of us who have the gifts of our immortality and those who can wield magic. I believe that every life no matter how small counts, but we don’t have the luxury of living by such a belief since the situation changed so quickly and so drastically last night.”
Ty wiped the few drops of blood that managed not to make it entirely into his mouth off his chin and thought I am still not sure if I can believe him or not yet, but what choice do I really have at this point. Valentine also seems to speak sincerely to me, and shows his emotions to me as he wouldn’t do in front of the others. That alone has to have some kind of meaning behind it… Sitting up on the bed he thought aloud this time “How are we going to even get out of this city without any of the other vampires knowing we are leaving or what path we are taking to get there? Obviously you have many powerful connections at least throughout Spokane and possibly all over the world, but that also has to mean that your parents do as well. The minute we hop on a plane or a bus they will know where we are and kill us before we even get started on our mission to New York.”
The sad look on Valentines face was replaced by a cunning smile “That is correct, which is why I have ingeniously set up a few decoys for my parents and their minions to chase for a while. We have people who fit our descriptions getting on a Greyhound bus, train, and a plane as we speak. We will be going to New York by car while my father and his minions are momentarily distracted, the decoys will get them off our trail long enough to get a good distance between us and them. That way you and I have a chance to travel more easily away from here and to safer places along the way.”
“That is a really good plan, but are we really supposed to go all the way to New York by car? Are you kidding me Valentine or do you seriously think that we can make it to New York at a decent pace? It will take forever to get us to New York!” Ty exclaimed to Valentine overcome by his impatience to move forward.
Sitting down next to Ty gently grabbing his shoulder to help reassure him Valentine explained “If we take anything other than a car or I use any of my contacts outside of this city while still here they will find us very quickly, and after what you did to my father last night he will be more than happy to find us both and dispatch us before we get to our destination and reach our collective goals. Somehow I doubt that you want anything distracting you from meeting your father or seeking out the truth about your mothers’ condition.”
Ty just nodded in agreement, he knew Valentine was right, but dreaded the road ahead of them that seemed to become more and more daunting by the moment. “Whatever we have to do let’s do it so we can get there sooner preferably then later,” and soon they were packed, ready, and after dropping the homeless man’s body quickly and quietly in the river they were on their way with the cities light behind them in the distance.
Not wanting to take an obvious or direct route to New York they first headed south and into Oregon, where they spent their first night by the road in a quaint little motel on the side of the highway. They grew weary and hungry often as the drifted down the road but ignored it until they reached Vegas with all its bright lights and activity, where they got yet another cheap motel and quickly went out to hunt for some form of sustenance that would not draw attention to them. This time Ty being so uncontrollably hungry didn’t argue or fight his urges. He did what he had done last time when he had to drink the blood of a homeless person and closed his eyes as he drank, he still hated taking anyone’s life, possibly even more now as he was forced to kill some other stranger to feed his unquenchable hunger. Though he kept his eyes closed until he was done with both people. Filled with self-hatred for doing such a terrible thing he remembered Valentines words from his first time drinking from a human, with every drop he drank he vowed to make sure that humans would not be treated like cattle or cannon fodder any more once he and Valentine stopped the war between the magic wielders and vampires.
As they were heading into the desert to dispose of the bodies Valentine noticed in his rear view mirror a line of lights following them on the road-less path they were taking into the vast barren Nevada dessert. “We will have some company in a moment; it is very likely to be some of my father’s underlings but we can’t be sure, so we should be prepared to use our magic if it gets too dangerous. Though hold it back if you can until the last moment because they still don’t know the extent of your power or mine.” He quickly explained to Ty who promptly looked over his shoulder and dreaded the confrontation he knew in his gut would happen the moment the people from the other vehicles caught up to them.
No sooner had they pulled over and stepped out of their car, they saw the other car and six motorcycles behind it pull up to them and stop about a car length from them. The windows were tinted and so were the motorcycle rider’s helmets so Ty and Valentine could not see the faces of their pursuers, so when the old wizard stepped out of the vehicle with a spell readied in his hand Ty was taken by surprise. Valentine on the other hand was prepared like he had warned Ty to be and threw up a shield with a quick thought just before a blast of energy hit it and dissolved leaving the two vampires unharmed and still shielded. The wizard, an elderly overweight gentleman wearing an oversized mink coat and lots of expensive looking gold jewelry took a stepped back in shock as he saw what was transpiring in front of aged but still sharp eyes.
“I demand you to identify yourselves immediately strangers! I am the Council member in charge of this state and will not be disrespected in such a way by anyone!” Roared the wizard as his henchmen came to join him, each with their own spell at the ready though their spells were obviously weaker than the old wizards had been.
“I am prince Valentine Wolstencroft of the Coven, and I do not take kindly to demands, from anyone, magic w
ielder, Council member, and vampire alike, least of all anyone who attacks me unwarranted before asking me who I am. Not to mention proceeds to attack me and have the audacity to call me disrespectful.” Valentine announced trying his hardest to hide his fear of a well trained and powerful wizard as an opponent.
Taken aback and amazed by this announcement the wizard threw spell after powerful spell at the two vampires and ordered his henchmen to do the same as he tried every offensive spell he could think of against Valentines shield which seemed to the old wizard to hold steady against the onslaught of magic thrown against it. Valentine was feeling the strain on his magic which was beginning to slip as he tossed the still surprised Ty into the car and drove off as quickly as he could. He headed directly for the highway with the wizard and his minions gaining quickly in his rear view mirror. All of a sudden the line of vehicles following the two young men erupted in fire and metal bits. Valentine looked over at Ty and saw him sweating from the effort of casting such a powerful spell on their pursuers.
“You have been holding out on me my friend,” Valentine said with relief at the sight of the destruction behind them and the lack of wizards pursuing them further.
Ty smiled as he caught his breath before saying “Not really I am so drained now, though I would prefer not to have to do anything like that again. It doesn’t matter that they were trying to kill us they are still living breathing people, and I hate that I had to use such a powerful and destructive spell on them, but it was the first thought that popped into my mind once I snapped out of it.”
Valentine looked to the highway ahead of them not showing Ty his personal fear of his companions’ power “The problem with that is now we will have both vampires and magic wielders after us. So we might be forced to use spells that may harm or even kill other people to survive as we get closer. Another problem is that the sun will be up in two hours and there is not a single hotel or anything for that matter for several hours.”
This time Ty gave him a wry smile “As to the problem of the sun I think I might have a possible solution in my limited arsenal of spells. It’s something I have been working on since we started learning magic, and I think it’s time to test it out with our current situation.”
Down the road they drove until they came across an abandoned house that was falling apart, and though they could not use the house due to its stability they found an old shed out back that would give them the space and hiding place from the sun they would need to complete Ty’s work. After disposing the bodies of the homeless people they had drank dry the night before in the dilapidated house they began the work needed to cast Ty’s spell as soon as they caught their breath and regrouped their energy. At first the special sun shield that Ty had designed did not seem like it was going to work as he had hoped. It stopped the sun from killing Valentine who had volunteered to be the guinea pig, as he stepped out of the warn down shed and into the sunlight it still caused him untold amounts of pain though. After tweaking the sun shield several times Ty was able to prevent the sun’s rays from killing them and also stopped it from causing either one of them any pain. Their eyes though no matter what Ty attempted were still too weak to handle the suns naturally bright light, so driving by sound and little sight through squinted eyes Valentine drove them to a gas station down the road a ways where they bought some sunglasses which blocked most of the painful light of the sun as they continued to drive looking for their next stop.
Turning down the music that Valentine had been blaring Ty asked him curiously “In all honesty what vampire myths are actually true? Obviously not the myth about vampires not having any reflection, because I have seen my reflection as well as yours in windows and mirrors everywhere we have gone.”
Valentine laughed “Actually the one about the reflection is true even if it is outdated and not completely accurate. Back when that myth was created mirrors were made out of polished silver more often than not, and because of the magical properties of silver we cannot see our reflections in a silver mirror, but the mirrors of today are no longer made of silver so they can’t be used to reveal our identities.”
Ty bombarded him with many other vampire myths including stakes, seductive glares, and turning into bats or wolves. At the last one Valentine couldn’t stop laughing “We cannot turn into bats, though some of the royal family can fly and command their minions to turn into hellhounds, no one I know can turn into those little rats with wings and I think that if they could they would not reveal it to anyone because of how degrading it would be.”
“So let me get this straight, we cannot turn into bats, stakes don’t really do anything to us but hurt like hell on the rare occasion an ‘Ungifted’ gets the chance to nail us with em, some of the royal family has special abilities like turning into mist or making a lesser vampire turn into their own personal hellhound, and some of the royal family can fly. That doesn’t sound too farfetched, but still kind of scary to think of someone like your father with an army of hellhounds doing his bidding, chasing after us and hiding in mist waiting to strike us the moment we let down our guard.”
Valentine and Ty both shivered at the picture of the vampire king with hoards of hellhounds at his beck and call, and then they both laughed uneasily at one another and continued down the road hoping that the picture they had just imagined would never truly come to pass not only for their sakes but for the sake of the world.
Chapter: 7
Who can you really trust?