moment, a wispy voice whispered, “Wake up.”
Anticipating a confrontation, my hands were shaking. I usually consider myself quite brave but not when I am caught off guard in my personal chamber. Feeling around to acclimate myself to my surroundings, I found the nightstand. I reached out, trying to feel for the lamp that I knew was there. After a few seconds, I found the lamp and switched it on.
I almost jumped out of my skin. There was a boy standing at the foot of my bed, staring down at me. “Who the hell are you?”
“Danny,” he replied, looking stunned. “My name is Daniel Adeodatus. You can see me?”
“Of course!” I yelled, instinctively trying to cover myself with my blankets. Eyeing my intruder more closely, I realized the boy was actually quite handsome and... semi-transparent! “What the hell! What are you? What are you doing here?”
“You remember me, don’t you? You saw my body sprawled on the street last night. I saw you, but you couldn’t hear me.”
My eyes almost bulged out of their sockets as I stared at him in utter shock. His black hair was tousled and his complexion was slightly darker than I remembered. His unwavering eyes were no longer fogged over and shun like brilliant, blue gems. There were no signs of blood stains on his white tee and blue jeans. He was actually tall and surprisingly muscular. Not that I usually check out dead guys, but Danny was pretty cute.
Vampires usually had extraordinary senses but many had gifts which were quite beneficial at times. José had the power of mind control. I heard of others having the gifts of levitation and foresight, but I never heard of anyone having the ability to see the dead. It must have been my unconscious sympathy for him as he was strewn across the pavement or the fact that I touched his body that gave me the ability to see him in spirit form.
“I can’t believe this,” I said, glowering at him. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to go into some kind of light or something like that?”
“I didn’t see any light,” Danny said, sounding confused. “I only saw darkness.”
“What was the last thing you remember?”
“I remember teeth. I remember my insides being hacked out by some kind of wolf,” he responded, seemingly horrified by his memories. “Then, I remember you.”
“A wolf?” I questioned, stunned. “Like what? Like a werewolf?”
“I read about these things in the past, but I didn’t think they really existed.” He appeared completely distraught, but then an idea seemed to dawn on him. “I am cursed! I am the undead, doomed to walk the earth forever until the lycan that killed me is slain.”
“What comic book did you get that out of?” I asked sarcastically, giving him a sidelong glance.
“Not a comic. A movie,” he replied, quite proud of himself. “I don’t remember the title... but I think its An American Werewolf in—”
“Never mind,” I told him forcefully, rolling my eyes. “So, what does that have to do with me?”
“You have to help me, of course,” he replied matter-of-factly.
“You must be out of your mind!” I yelled at him, getting up out of bed.
“You think?” he asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at me. “I’m dead! I don’t have a brain! Hell, I don’t have a body.”
I looked at him levelly. “Your problem is not my problem,” I told him. “Besides werewolves don’t exist.”
“Then, what killed me?” he asked angrily.
“I don’t know and I don’t care!” I shouted, wanting to roll over in my bed and put a pillow over my ears to block out his annoying voice. “Lycans are extinct. There evil breed was killed off hundreds of years ago. But if you don’t believe me, go kill your imaginary wolf and leave me alone!”
Danny’s face softened. He walked towards me and said, “I can’t go looking for a werewolf... Even if I could, I don’t have a body! You have to help me. We have to find the wolf together before it kills anyone else.”
I put my hands over my ears to block out what he was telling me. “I’m not hearing you.”
“I won’t leave… I will haunt you for as long as I am doomed to wonder the Earth.”
Through gritted teeth, I said, “No you won’t! I’m going to find a way to get rid of you.”
Throwing my blankets off in a messy heap on the floor, I stormed out of my room and descended the stairs. I entered the main hall which was where José did most of his top secret projects. I was sure that José could remove whatever voodoo had been placed on me in no time.
However, when I bounded into José room, he was not alone. He must have called some kind of meeting, because there were at least ten members of the coven with him.
“How nice of you to join us,” José said, keeping his indifferent demeanor which he worked hard to perfect over his years of existence. José’s long dark hair shun in the dim light. He looked paler than usual. It didn’t help his complexion when he wore all black. He appeared to be more like a rock star than a four hundred year old vampire. It didn’t help that he was clad in leather.
I guess our whole clan appeared that way. We always wore dark colors. Our style of dress made it easy for us to fade into the shadows of the night. Our skin was pasty white and our eyes were as black as night. Our vision was excellent, especially so at night. We were freaks of nature and the rebels within us made us all rock stars I guess.
“Get rid of him,” I told José, pointing at Danny’s ghost.
Danny leaned against the wall, smugly.
At first José must have been taken aback by my bursting into his personal quarters, but then he appeared to be confused. “There is no one there, Alex.”
“He’s right there!” I insisted, continuing to point.
“He can’t see me, genius,” Danny taunted.
“There is no one there,” José repeated adamantly. Then he briefly turned to the other members of our clan who sat around him. “Leave us,” he ordered.
Everyone rose to their feet in unison and exited the room one by one, passing by me to reach the door. Some had smirks on their faces. Some looked utterly concerned. I didn’t care what they thought. José was my mentor and the only one whose opinion counted.
“Don’t you see him?” I asked José in a small voice. I glanced at Danny, wishing I could kick his ass.
Danny just shrugged at me as if he couldn’t understand why I was so bothered.
Seemingly concerned, José looked at me, taking my appearance in. “Talk to me. What is going on?”
José was more than just a mentor. He was family. A hundred years ago, I was on the street. I didn’t have parents and spent most of my childhood in an orphanage that can only be described as a juvenile prison. No one ever expected to get out of there. It was a place were unwanted babies could be dumped and forgotten about. I was one of those babies. I broke out as an early teen and settled into life on the street, pick pocketing to survive.
One night, I pocketed the wrong person’s wallet and he turned me into a vampire for it. He probably thought I would be stupid enough to end my own existence by going out into the sun. I didn’t though. I survived on the streets as I always had, but blood was hard to come by. Starving, I met José and he took me in, ushering me into the pampered life I now have. He saved me.
“I’m being stalked by Casper over here,” I said, motioning to Danny.
Confused, José inquired, “What do you mean? Who’s Casper?”
I shot him a look of annoyance but realized he may have never heard of Casper before being that he was four hundred years old. “I mean that ever since I woke up this evening I can see dead people,” I stated coldly, feeling as if I was about to loose my mind. “I went to the cemetery last night to do some grave rubbing and I heard screams. I went to investigate and found a mangled body of some boy. Now, that boy is haunting me!”
José moved around his desk and picked up a newspaper. Handing it to me, I was surprised to see Danny Adeodatus was front page news that morning.
“Bad picture,” I comment
ed, gazing down at the paper.
Danny scoffed as he didn’t think he looked bad in anything.
“We were meeting to discuss what should be done. We are new residents of Sangre Falls and suspicion could fall on us,” José told me, his brown growing dark. “If what you are telling me is true, then this is an extraordinary ability.”
“Hurry up! We have a werewolf to catch,” Danny said anxiously.
I ignored Danny. “It doesn’t feel extraordinary. It is really annoying if you ask me. So, what can we do to get rid of this ability?”
“Why would you want to do that?” José asked, confused.
“He is telling me that he is going to haunt me for an eternity if I don’t help him,” I said as I dropped the newspaper on the desk.
“What does he want from you?”
“He believes he was killed by a lycan,” I spat. “He wants to hunt it down.”
José appeared to be concerned. “I hate to break the news to you, but... if you wish to release his spirit, you might have to do what he says.”
“No way!” I yelled bitterly.
“Why gifts are given to some vampires and not others is unknown, but there is one thing for certain, these abilities are life long. They cannot be removed or cured.”
I decided, then and there, if there was no cure, I was going to ignore Danny. Sooner or later, his spirit would get bored and moved on. I was not going to roam the streets to appease some ghost! I was sure that if I could ignore him long enough, he would find someone else to haunt. Upset, I went to my room and blasted some heavy