“so each room leads straight back into another.”
Henry and I followed him through the hall into a medium-sized sitting area. There was as desk in the corner with both a laptop and a TV on it. On the long est wall was a full size couch.
“How long ha ve you lived here?” I asked.
“A few years now,” Lucas replied. “As you can see, I don’t keep a lot of possessions. Makes it easy to get up and go if I need to.”
We passed through the sitting room and into another hall. Off the hall was a small bathroom. The next room in the ‘line’ was Lucas’ bedroom. Like the other room, it contained the bare minimum: large bed and a bookshelf.
“Do you sleep in a bed?” Henry asked.
“As opposed to hanging upside down like a bat? Or resting in a coffin?” Lucas laughed. “The way vampires are fictionalized never ceases to amuse me. But to answer your question, yes, I sleep in a bed, just like humans do.”
“The last room in the house is the kitchen.” Lucas pointed at the closed door on the other side of the bedroom. “Not much to see there. I don’t really use the kitchen.”
I bet he doesn’t want us to see his synthetic blood!
Lucas led us back into the front room. “Have a seat.” Henry and I dutifully sat down on the long leather couch. Lucas remained standing. He was pacing back and forth. If I didn’t know better, I would almost say he was nervous. That was not a look I was accustomed to seeing.
“I told you that I’d never seen a case like yours before, and I’ve seen a lot of cases.” Lucas lowered his voice. “I shouldn’t really be telling you guys this, but I’ve come to consider Aurora somewhat of a friend. I could get in serious trouble if my superiors find out about this, so you two have to swear not to tell anyone what I’m about to share with you.”
“I was already in the process of tweeting it,” I said sarcastically.
“Aurora, you know what I mean. This is serious shit. Don’t fuck around.”
“Okay, okay.” Why does he have to be so freaking uptight?
“I’ve been doing some digging, looking at the classified files. The top-secret stuff , if you will. Things that I’m not even supposed to know exist.”
“We found some stuff, too,” I offered. “Pretty similar to my situation.” I didn’t add that most of those stori es we found ended in bloodshed.
“ Believe me, you didn’t find this stuff on the Internet. What I found happened a very long time ago. Before even I was around,” Lucas said.
“How long ago was that?” Henry’s voice was barely a whisper.
“Thousands of years.” Lucas gulped. He sounded terrified.
This must be huge if he’s this worried.
“It was pretty much the exact same situation as yours, with a few variants to the story,” Lucas continued. “A teenager – a boy – died at the age of 17; on midnight, on the one year anniversary of his death, he came back. At first, everyone thought that it was an act of God. This was during an extremely religious time and place. He was worshipped. People travelled from neighboring towns to beg for divine intervention, for miracles.”
Lucas paused. Henry and I were perched on the edge of our seats, unable to speak. The tension in the room was almost palpable.
And then we heard it. It was one of those moments that was oddly surreal. I couldn’t comprehend that it was really happening. First Henry and I looked at each other – then Lucas and I looked at each other. I imagined my expression mimicked theirs: dumbfounded, confused.
When the third knock on the door happened, this time louder, bolder , we could no longer ignore it.
Chapter 23
Lucas was the first to spring into action. He dove into a crouching position next to Henry and me on the couch. “Did either of you tell anyone where you were coming tonight?” he hissed frantically.
I looked at Henry, who was staring at the floor. Neither of us spoke.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Jesus Christ! Will one of you tell me who the hell
Henry and I followed him through the hall into a medium-sized sitting area. There was as desk in the corner with both a laptop and a TV on it. On the long est wall was a full size couch.
“How long ha ve you lived here?” I asked.
“A few years now,” Lucas replied. “As you can see, I don’t keep a lot of possessions. Makes it easy to get up and go if I need to.”
We passed through the sitting room and into another hall. Off the hall was a small bathroom. The next room in the ‘line’ was Lucas’ bedroom. Like the other room, it contained the bare minimum: large bed and a bookshelf.
“Do you sleep in a bed?” Henry asked.
“As opposed to hanging upside down like a bat? Or resting in a coffin?” Lucas laughed. “The way vampires are fictionalized never ceases to amuse me. But to answer your question, yes, I sleep in a bed, just like humans do.”
“The last room in the house is the kitchen.” Lucas pointed at the closed door on the other side of the bedroom. “Not much to see there. I don’t really use the kitchen.”
I bet he doesn’t want us to see his synthetic blood!
Lucas led us back into the front room. “Have a seat.” Henry and I dutifully sat down on the long leather couch. Lucas remained standing. He was pacing back and forth. If I didn’t know better, I would almost say he was nervous. That was not a look I was accustomed to seeing.
“I told you that I’d never seen a case like yours before, and I’ve seen a lot of cases.” Lucas lowered his voice. “I shouldn’t really be telling you guys this, but I’ve come to consider Aurora somewhat of a friend. I could get in serious trouble if my superiors find out about this, so you two have to swear not to tell anyone what I’m about to share with you.”
“I was already in the process of tweeting it,” I said sarcastically.
“Aurora, you know what I mean. This is serious shit. Don’t fuck around.”
“Okay, okay.” Why does he have to be so freaking uptight?
“I’ve been doing some digging, looking at the classified files. The top-secret stuff , if you will. Things that I’m not even supposed to know exist.”
“We found some stuff, too,” I offered. “Pretty similar to my situation.” I didn’t add that most of those stori es we found ended in bloodshed.
“ Believe me, you didn’t find this stuff on the Internet. What I found happened a very long time ago. Before even I was around,” Lucas said.
“How long ago was that?” Henry’s voice was barely a whisper.
“Thousands of years.” Lucas gulped. He sounded terrified.
This must be huge if he’s this worried.
“It was pretty much the exact same situation as yours, with a few variants to the story,” Lucas continued. “A teenager – a boy – died at the age of 17; on midnight, on the one year anniversary of his death, he came back. At first, everyone thought that it was an act of God. This was during an extremely religious time and place. He was worshipped. People travelled from neighboring towns to beg for divine intervention, for miracles.”
Lucas paused. Henry and I were perched on the edge of our seats, unable to speak. The tension in the room was almost palpable.
And then we heard it. It was one of those moments that was oddly surreal. I couldn’t comprehend that it was really happening. First Henry and I looked at each other – then Lucas and I looked at each other. I imagined my expression mimicked theirs: dumbfounded, confused.
When the third knock on the door happened, this time louder, bolder , we could no longer ignore it.
Chapter 23
Lucas was the first to spring into action. He dove into a crouching position next to Henry and me on the couch. “Did either of you tell anyone where you were coming tonight?” he hissed frantically.
I looked at Henry, who was staring at the floor. Neither of us spoke.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Jesus Christ! Will one of you tell me who the hell
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