Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 17:07:43 -0400 (EDT)
From: BertMcK@aol.com
Subject: Tales of a Night Walker chapter 34

Tales of a Night Walker
By Bert McKenzie
Copyright 2010

Chapter 34

I've never been so scared in my life.  Even when Bill used to beat me, it
was never like this.  I always figured if I had to I could get away.  But
when the room was all in flames it was really terrifying.  I thought we
were definitely gonna die.  I'm so glad Jeff was prepared, and he guided me
to his secret escape tunnel.  I can't believe his house, his car,
everything is gone.  My lap top and other clothes were left in the woods.
They were probably picked up by the crazy people who tried to kill us.  I'm
glad I didn't have time to load anything on the lap top yet other than a
couple of games.  If I had any personal information on it, that could have
been dangerous.  But like Jeff said, it's only stuff and stuff can be
replaced.  Besides, I kind of like the idea of traveling light.

It was just a night for scary stuff to happen.  We almost were killed, then
we had to run through the forest and some guy attacked Craig.  Jeff grabbed
him and killed him with his bare teeth.  It was really scary.  I mean, I
accepted that he was a vampire and all, but to see him actually attack
someone, actually kill another person and drink his blood.  Wow, that was
super intense.  But I know he saved our lives and certainly saved Craig's
life.

But then Jeff had to carry Craig for the rest of our trip till we found the
car.  We drove all the way to Chicago and took Craig to an all night
clinic.  They were located in a kind of rough neighborhood and I think they
were mostly used to taking care of people injured in gang warfare or drug
overdoses or something like that.  But they checked Craig out, gave him
some blood and cleaned out his wound.  No one asked anything and we
certainly didn't volunteer any information.  Jeff signed all the papers and
gave them a credit card to pay for everything.  I was actually kind of
surprised they even took credit cards, but I guess drug dealers and gang
members might have credit cards but not insurance.  The doctor said Craig
should go right home to bed.  He needed to rest so he could build up after
the loss of blood.  Jeff said he would make sure that happened.

Well, I guess getting on the plane was now out of the question.  Craig
wasn't too coherent after the drugs they gave him, so we found a hotel to
spend the night in.  Jeff got us a suite with two bedrooms and heavy drapes
to keep out the light.  He and I shared one room while he put Craig to bed
in the other.  The guy was out like immediately, so we went back to the
living room and sat down.

"Okay," he said.  "I guess it's time for that long talk."  He reached in
his shirt and pulled out a little book.  I recognized it right away as
Grams' diary.  "As you now know, there are people living in this world who
are not entirely human."

"Yeah, vampires," I replied.

"Vampires aren't the only supernatural beings, if you want to use that
term."

I started to catch on to what he was meaning.  Or at least I thought I did.
"You mean like werewolves and zombies and mummies and stuff?"

"Not all the creatures in the movies are real, but some of them are based
on true beings."

"So you're saying there really aren't werewolves and zombies and mummies."

Jeff sighed like he thought this wasn't going to be an easy discussion.  I
was totally lost why he was doing this anyway.  I already accepted that he
was a vampire and maybe he was just trying to warn me about other scary
people.  "Well, there are werewolves," he replied.  "But zombies and
mummies don't exist.  Okay mummies exist, but they are just dead bodies and
don't come back to life like in the movies."

"Wait.  You're telling me werewolves are for real?"  Wow, this was getting
more and more like 'Twilight' every day.  "Are they like your arch rivals?"

"They prefer to be called 'shape shifters' and no they don't all hate
vampires.  I've met at least one who was really a nice guy."  He kind of
got that faraway look like he was remembering something special.

"Oh, dude, you did it with a werewolf?  Gross," I laughed.

"Willow, I'm trying to have a serious discussion here."

"Okay, okay.  But did he bark?"

"Willow!"  I could tell I was getting to him.

"Woof, woof," I pushed.

Jeff stood up in exasperation.  "If you don't want to be serious just
forget it."

"Okay, I'm sorry," I apologized.  "So you are telling me that vamps aren't
the only monsters out there."

He had kind of a stunned look for a minute, but I think it was a reaction
to my using the term, 'monster.'  "That's right."

"So what does that have to do with Grams' diary?"

"When I read this, I found out some things...about your father."

I suddenly felt like the floor dropped out from under me.  I quickly put
two and two together and thought I was going to be sick.  "You mean to tell
me that dad was a...a monster of some kind?  No way!"

"He wasn't a monster," Jeff said quickly, trying to calm me down.  He can
really read people and I guess he knew my heart rate just shot up a bunch.
"But he wasn't entirely human either."

"He wasn't entirely human?  How much not entirely?" I asked.

"Well, not at all human."

I sat quietly for a minute, trying to breathe deeply.  "He really was an
alien or something.  I used to fantasize that he came from another planet."

"No, he wasn't an alien from another planet."

I don't know why, but tears started flowing down my face.  I guess it was
because I always felt like I wasn't connected, I wasn't part of this world,
and now Jeff was telling me I really wasn't.  He was instantly beside me,
holding me.  I just leaned over and cried on his chest.  Sometimes I'm such
a big baby.  He just held me and patted me on the back till I was able to
pull my shit together.  "Have...have you ever looked at my ears?" I asked
him.

"No," he replied.

I always kept my hair kind of long because I was embarrassed.  But I
reached up and pulled it back, showing him.  My ears weren't round but kind
of blocky at the top.  They almost came to a point, kind of flattened on
top and then dropping straight down, like someone hand chopped the very top
off of them.  "My mom said my ears were deformed when I was born.  She said
the doctor had to use forceps to get me out and that's what did it.  But I
always thought that was a lie.  My dad had long hair too.  I remember when
I was little, I pulled his hair back and his ears were actually pointed,
like on Star Trek.  I thought it was cool and when I got older, I thought
it meant he really was from another planet."

"The pointed ears are one of the characteristics of his race," Jeff said.

"His race?  What was he?"  I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the answer, but I
had to know.

"He was a fairy."

I wasn't sure I heard him right.  There was like a long pause while he just
looked at me, then I began laughing hysterically.  "A fairy?" I gasped.
Jeff just nodded in all seriousness.  When I finally stopped laughing I
said, "But he didn't have wings and I never saw any little pouch of magic
fairy dust or anything."  I was still giggling.

"Willow, he was from a different land.  Humans have called it the fairy
land or just faerie.  Most of the legends come from Celtic oral traditions,
but every country has their stories about fairies, just like every country
has their stories about vampires and so on."

"Next you'll tell me that dragons and unicorns exist."

"Maybe they do somewhere.  I don't know.  But I do know that this other
land exists and that fairies are real beings, much like us.  I've met a few
in the past."

"Did...did you know my father?"

He shook his head.  "No, I had some other friends who helped me a long time
ago.  They were from the same land."

"Was my mother human?"  I had to know.

"Yes, she was.  You are half human half fairy."

"I really loved my dad.  He was a good man...fairy.  My mom, not so much.
I guess all the supernatural creatures are better than ordinary humans."

"No, not always," Jeff contradicted me.  "There are good humans and bad,
just like I'm sure there are good other beings and bad.  I've met a few
vampires who were not anything you'd want to run into."  He kind of had a
funny look on his face for a minute, and then smiled at me.  "There is one
benefit to you being part fairy.  You don't have to worry about vampires
anymore."

"Why?  Do we have some sort of truce or treaty with them or something?"
This was just the weirdest conversation I ever had.

"No, actually fairy blood is poisonous to vampires.  Since you are half
fairy, I don't know if your blood is poison or not, but it may be a
protection for you."

"Yeah, it's good to know that if a mean old vamp rips my throat out at
least he'll get poisoned in the process.  That will sure protect me and
make me feel better as I'm lying on the ground in a pool of my own blood."

Jeff kind of laughed at my sarcasm.  "I guess you're right," he agreed.
"But you do have some advantages over ordinary humans.  You can see better
in the dark, you can hear about as well as I, and you can move nearly as
fast.  You're probably a lot stronger than the average human as well."

"Yeah, I'm practically superman.  I just have to avoid kryptonite.  So
Grams knew all this and never told me?"

Jeff shook his head.  "She only knew what your father was.  He confided in
her.  She didn't know what it would mean to you."  We sat in silence for a
while.  It was early in the morning and I knew the sun would be coming up
soon.  I was dog tired, but I didn't want to go to bed.  I just couldn't be
alone.  So I stood up and reached out.  "What?" Jeff asked.  I took his
hand and pulled him up.

"In the escape tunnel we kind of started something," I said as I pulled him
to me.

"Willow, I don't think this is..."  I reached up and put my finger to his
lips, shutting him up, and then I pulled him down to me and kissed him.  At
first it was just a tender, gentle kiss, but it quickly escalated into
something much more.  I felt the passion grow between us.  I wanted him and
I could tell he wanted me just as much.  I took his hand and began to pull
him toward the bedroom.  "Willow, don't," he protested.  But I ignored him
and continued, and he followed me.

In the bedroom I pulled him to the bed and then down on top of it.  I
kissed him again and began to unbutton his shirt.  He didn't resist and I
became the aggressor, removing my own t-shirt and then quickly shucking my
jeans.  He looked at me and gasped.  I would have worried, but I could see
the lust in his eyes.  They almost seemed to glow with a red intensity.  I
then removed his jeans as well and fell on top of him.  His body seemed
cool to the touch, but it ignited a fire in me.  I touched and teased and
tasted.  It was heaven.

* * *

I woke up in a strange room.  I didn't recognize it.  And my shoulder and
arm ached.  Slowly I began to remember what had happened.  I remembered the
big fat guy falling on me and trying to drive a stake through my heart.  He
must have thought I was the vampire.  Someone else had attacked him,
probably Jeff, and he missed his target, but he impaled my shoulder.  That
explained the ache.  After that I only vaguely remember anything.  It
seemed like I was flying through the woods, then I was in a car, and then I
was here.  I slowly sat up and looked around.  It was a typical hotel
bedroom.  I saw a bottle of pain pills on the nightstand.  That was good, I
could sure use some.

I got up and popped a couple of the pills, then walked out to the living
room of the hotel suite.  Jeff must have brought us here.  I peeked out the
drawn drapes to see we were in downtown Chicago.  I looked at my watch and
saw it was about 10 a.m.  Jeff must be in the other bedroom to the suite.
I wondered if the kid was with him since there was no evidence of him
elsewhere in the suite.  The door to the bedroom was shut, so I very
quietly turned the knob to look inside.  Jeff and Willow were both on the
king sized bed.  They were both nude and wrapped in each other's arms,
sound asleep.  It was easy to see what they had been doing.  As quietly as
I could, I shut the bedroom door and then went back to my room to take a
shower and wash some of the grime off me.

* * *

I woke to find myself in bed with Willow curled up beside me, my arms
wrapped protectively around him.  At first I drew back, thinking I was
being unduly forward, and then I remembered what had happened.  He
apparently wanted me as much as I wanted him.  I haven't been with anyone
in that way in about fifteen years.  I had to admit, it felt wonderful, but
even more than the physical release was the feeling of being with another
person, someone who loved me and whom I could love.  Was it a betrayal of
David, or Frank, or even Beorn?  No.  Love was the one thing that endured,
even longer than the long life of a vampire.

I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek and he let out a little sigh of
contentment as he snuggled closer to my body.  I worried that I was too
cold for him.  But I realized he didn't feel that warm beside me.  Perhaps
the fairy blood helped him adapt to my colder body temperature.  "Good
morning," he said as he opened his eyes and looked up at me.

"You look so good," I said as I gazed at the beauty of the boy lying beside
me.

"I look like breakfast," he laughed as he sat up.  "I have to go out and
find you something before you decide to snack on me."

"You're blood is probably poisonous, and that's actually a comfort because
as good as you look I would love to taste every inch of you."

"Well, as long as you just taste..."  He stretched out and pulled me back
on top of him.  We began kissing each other and the tasting grew to more
passionate actions.  We made love for a second time and it was even better
than the first.  I couldn't believe I had fallen in love again.  I had
tried to steel my heart or whatever was in me that kept me alive.  I didn't
want to fall in love again, because I couldn't stand the thought of yet
another person being taken from me by death.  But here I was, unable to
resist.  He is so wonderful, so gentle and innocent.  I feel such a need to
be with him, to protect him.

We got up and showered together, then dressed and walked out to the living
room.  Craig was sitting in a chair staring at the TV.  "You're up," I
observed.  "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit," he replied.  "While you two were...preoccupied, I called the
airlines.  We have a flight to New York this evening.  Do you have your
ID?" he asked Willow.

"Yeah, my wallet is just about all I have," the boy replied.

"Good.  I have a fake ID for you in the car," he said turning to me.  "As
soon as it is dark, you two need to go pick up some decent clothes.  What
you had on looks like you've been running through the woods.  Then we need
to..."

"We need to find Jeff something to eat," Willow replied, looking at me.

"I can last a day," I replied.  "As soon as we get to New York there are
suppliers."

"Yes, I've already got an apartment for you in a vamp security building,"
Craig said.  "Now our plane leaves at 10:30 so we won't have much time."

"I have a phone call to make," I said and stepped back into the bedroom,
but not before noticing the unusual look I got from both of my friends.

* * *

"Jefferson?  My stars and garters, how the hell are you?  I can't believe
it's you after all these years."

"It hasn't been that long," I replied on the phone.

"The hell it hasn't.  It was at least 15 years ago when I last saw you."  I
told her what I had in mind and made my request, but she sounded a bit put
off.  "Jeff, I'm an old lady.  You know I celebrated my 76th birthday last
summer.  I don't think I could travel that far.  And even if I could I
don't think I'm up to doing what you are asking of me."  I was depressed.
The thought had come to me and it really excited me quite a bit.  "But, I
still have friends on the internet.  I will find someone who can help you.
Do you have an e-mail address?"

"That isn't really safe," I admitted.  "We were just attacked by the Van
Helsings, you remember the anti-vampire fanatics, and they found me on the
internet.  I think it would be safer to use the phone."

"I understand why you want to do this," she replied.  "Okay, I'll get hold
of my friend and you call me when you get settled in New York.  Tell me
your phone number there and I'll have him call you to finalize your plans."

When I finished my call, I stepped back out into the living room to be met
with raised eyebrows.  "Don't be so nosy," I said.  "It was personal
business."

"I hope you aren't planning anything stupid," Craig growled.

"Yeah, me too," Willow added.