Date: Sat, 22 Jul 2023 01:19:35 -0500 From: Fang Saito Subject: Welcome to Avernus - Chapter 11 This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any real people or places is purely coincidental. This story is the property of the author and is protected under copyright laws. The author retains all rights. No reproduction is allowed without the author's consent. Conversations and feedback are appreciated to Greyson B. via email at hokkaidohotel86it@gmail.com. I love hearing from readers. As always, special thanks to Johnny Kape for the excellent editing assistance he has been providing me. If you enjoy this story, please support the Nifty archives today with a thoughtful donation by visiting https://donate.nifty.org/. In addition, a special thanks to two very special friends for the extra coffee. It goes a long way toward helping me turn coffee into ink! Extra hugs to the both of you. You can also consider buying me a coffee or two if you want to support me as well. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/GreysonB. Oh, and this Sunday (07/23) is my birthday, so drop me an email and wish me a happy one! Enough of that. On to the story! Welcome to Avernus Chapter 11 Tuesday was a disaster at school. First period I got called to the principal's office. I'd missed Monday and Mom hadn't called to explain about the travel issues. "You've been here a week, young man," said the principal, "and you've already missed two days. And this, after taking a week off for your move. So it's not like you didn't have time to prepare." "Prepare for what," I snarled at her. "How was my move supposed to prepare for my dad to die? I showed you the damn memorial service bulletin from our old church, and I showed you our plane tickets from when we got back yesterday. What else you want me to do?" "Yes, well," she stammered. "Even so, I need to hear from your mother to clear this up. Otherwise you are looking at a detention." My jaw dropped. "You're serious, aren't you. What are you going to do if my mom drops dead? Suspend me?" "Keep up the attitude, and I'll do just that, Mr. Docker." "I can tell, I'm just going to love this school," I muttered as I collected my hall pass from the secretary and returned to class. My English teacher gave a test that day on a book I hadn't read. I'd been a little preoccupied. He said my excuse was no good. I had the entire weekend of travel that I could have read the story. "We don't let a little thing like death get in the way of living," he said to me. By that point I was done. Then I got to lunch, and found that Boots was out for the day, and everyone in the crew was acting cagey about it, like there was some secret reason they didn't want to talk about. Liam was excited over some new H&H model he had picked up, and kept bugging me about when I was going to be ready for my first real game. Something about our game talk seemed to be upsetting Taki. So basically, everyone was acting weird, and I just wasn't in the mood for it. The final bell releasing us from school sounded off. I hadn't even made it to the classroom door when my phone vibrated with a notification. I rushed to my locker and, using its interior to shield what I was doing, checked and saw that I had an email. I never get emails, not even junk mail. The sender was a long string of numbers, so I almost tossed it. But the subject line had me curious. "You have an appointment at 7 this evening." I knew just opening the body of the email wouldn't do anything malicious, so I clicked to open it. I started reading it, realized what it was saying, and quickly shut the phone, knowing I needed to read it better at home. I raced from the building and headed home, practically running. After that first day, I realized that my house wasn't that much further than Taki's, so most days I just left my board at home. Annoying, but what could I do, right? As soon as I got home, I tossed my bag on the couch and sat down next to it. Mom wasn't home, so I pulled out my phone and took a better look at the email. From: 445893188625M7925XS Subject: You have an appointment at 7 this evening. Dear Jason Docker. Your presence is requested for a meeting this evening at 7 PM, your local time. Certain events have occurred recently between yourself and Mr. Dominic Tsui. He wishes to discuss these events with you, and to discuss mutually beneficial future outcomes for the both of you. Due to circumstances of which you may be aware, he is requesting a virtual meeting at this time. Please use the included Zoom invitation link provided with this email. If for any reason this meeting is not a possibility, please reply to this email. Thank you for your time and attention. Wow, so what to do about that? I guess I should take the meeting? I had no clue what time Mom was going to be home. But given this email, I had a creepy feeling that she wasn't going to be getting home until somewhere near eight. Just a gut feeling, you know? I texted Taki and Liam that something had come up and I wasn't going to be able to hang out that afternoon. Once that was done, I downloaded and set up Zoom on my laptop, and then worked on my homework. I started getting more and more nervous as the afternoon went on. Eventually I got up and started fixing some dinner, making sure it was something that I could keep warm in the oven for Mom, without ruining it. I wasn't really hungry, but I still ate. Then at 6:45, I clicked on the link and was placed in the queue for the call. I sat and stared at the message telling me that the meeting host would be "joining shortly". I wasn't sure what I was feeling. I wasn't this nervous when I was taken up to the top of the hotel with an armed escort to meet Mr. Tsui for dinner. Why was tonight so much more intense? Oh, yeah. `Cause now I knew what he was. Yup, that would do it. I jumped slightly when the screen went black, and then came up with the image of Mr. Tsui. He was looking pretty intimidating, dressed all in black and sitting behind a big fancy desk. "Good evening, Jason. Thank you for meeting with me." "Hi there," I said. "Before you say anything, I have a couple of ground rules that you need to agree to." "How forward," he said with a grin. "Very well. What are your ground rules?" "First, no mesmir," I said. "I don't know if you can even do it over a video call like this, but just in case, don't do it." His grin widened. "Very well. It had not been planned, but it is good to know your opinion. What else?" "No more trying to kill me. Either do it, or stop." He paused, the smile dropping from his face. I tried to read his expression, but it was so neutral as to be blank. The best I could get was that he was thinking of how to respond. Finally, his face went from blank to serious. "That was a mistake," he said. "And a costly one at that. You have my apologies, and my word that nothing else will be done without your knowledge and approval." Frowning, I said, "I doubt that, but I suppose that's good enough for now. So why did you want to talk?" "I know that you have spoken with Wren. Our Si-Jing-Fu, that is, our council, asked him to explain certain things to you. I see you recognize the name, so he has done so, yes?" "Yeah, he told me some stuff. So I'm your ass licker, Assecla, whatever it's called?" Mr. Tsui gave an involuntary laugh, which had been my goal. It only lasted a moment, and he composed himself quickly. Then he said, "You have my power, but no, you are not my Assecla. That is what I wish to speak with you about." "Yeah, he told me you couldn't just take your power back without killing me?" "That's right. And I no longer think that is the option we should pursue. I would like to offer to make you my Assecla in truth." "Is this going to make me your servant or something? Like, are you going to be able to order me around or something?" "Rather the opposite. Having access to some of my power gives you resistance to many of my abilities, as you have already discovered." I thought for a minute, and Mr. Tsui seemed to be waiting patiently. This was crazy. I'm only fifteen. Isn't this kind of a life changing decision? It's like, I don't know, asking me to pick a career, or to make plans for college or something. Wait, no, they make us do that, too. Still, I'd known about all this for only a week. No way did I want to make a snap decision that was going to lock me in for the rest of my life. Eventually I figured out what I wanted to say. "It would seem like we are at an impasse." Impasse, I always liked that word. `Impasse- a situation in which no progress is possible, especially because of a disagreement.' "Why is that, Jason?" "Because I'm not ready to make a huge decision like this," I said a bit too loudly. "I've only been in this creepy-ass town for a couple of weeks! And I've only known about all this for barely a week. You know, when you tried to kill me?" "What do you suggest?" asked Mr. Tsui. "I don't know. You guys know all the voodoo magic. Isn't there something temporary you can do, that will keep you from going crazy around me for a while?" "Hmm. If you insist, I will look into it. There are benefits, if you would allow this. As my Assecla, you would age more slowly, living to perhaps 150 or longer. And the sooner you begin, the more years you will have." "Yeah, but do you really want me trying to go to college, still looking 15?" I asked with a smirk. Then I realized the look on his face. "Wait, you do want me to go to college, don't you?" "It would be difficult, considering there is no college here in Avernus." "But what about-" "And if I did allow you to attend a university somewhere else, it would be difficult for me to protect you." "Then no! Fuck off with that," I exclaimed. "I may be a dumbass, but I'm still good enough for college. Otherwise I'll be under your thumb my entire life." "Perhaps there are options we can explore." "And another thing!" I yelled. "Drop this mesmir shit on my mom. It's creepy, and she deserves better." "I do not think that is a wise idea, Jason. She could easily cause problems." "It's a deal breaker," I said. "You took my dad. Give me back my mom." Mr. Tsui paused for a moment. "You are full of demands today." "Is she really going to do any bookkeeping for you? Or are you just stuffing her in a closet for eight hours a day, forty hours a week?" He chuckled. "She doesn't exactly have the accounting skills we would need. Your father was barely of a level to be of any use. As you know, the job was a ploy." "So then release her. You want to keep me here? Go backdate an employee insurance policy on my dad or something. And give me time to think about this. Maybe not years, but definitely more than a goddamned week." He sighed. "I understand. I should have taken your age into consideration." "My age has nothing to do with it. If I was 30, any sane person would want more time to think about this." "I was thinking more of your points on growth and education, but I understand. I will look into whether there are other options we can explore, in the short term. Longer term, I can promise that I will give you a life, should you choose to become my Assecla." "And my mom?" "She will be released when she comes home shortly. I hope you are prepared for the difficulty this will cause you. She is certain to notice the inconsistencies in your life and your actions. Most teenagers would relish a parent that gave them whatever they wanted." "Yeah, well, right now I don't have a parent. I've got a robot. Give her back." "As you wish, Jason." "Mr. Tsui?" I hesitated to ask, but I needed to hear his answer, even if it was a lie. "What are you going to do if I decide I can't be your Assecla?" He appeared surprised at the question, or perhaps at my daring in asking it. Finally he smiled. "Eventually I will have my power back, in one form or another. Perhaps I can be patient, and merely reclaim it in your old age. We will have to see. But I hope that is not your choice." And with that, the zoom call ended. He had hung up on me. I slumped into my chair, emotionally spent. We had barely talked for 20 minutes, but I felt like I had been negotiating for my life. I suppose in a way I had been. I closed out the call and headed downstairs, verifying Mom's dinner was still good and warm, and preparing for the worst. I went to the window and peeked out the curtains when I saw the headlights of her car pulling into the driveway. I watched as she got out of the car, then another woman got out of the passenger side. She met my mother at the front of the car, then reached out and cupped Mom's face with both hands. They stood there for a moment, then the woman turned and walked down the driveway and into the dark. Mom stood there for a moment, not moving at all. Then she seemed to snap out of whatever she was in, suddenly storming toward the front door like a tornado bearing down on me. We talked for hours that night. In the end, I couldn't tell just half the story, so had to go back to the beginning and tell her everything. It was especially hard when I told her she wasn't going to work tomorrow, and she had no recollection of having a job, or even claiming to have one. It was Dad's job from the start, after all. I told her if she didn't believe me, she could call Aunt Susan and get an earfull of much she had spent the weekend claiming she was the one working for Mr. Tsui. I had to explain about the mesmir, and the Vampyre, and all of it. Her first reaction was exactly what I expected. We should bolt. We get out of Avernus as fast as possible, and never look back. It took a while to convince her that we couldn't. Once she realized the thousands, probably millions, that Mr. Tsui had dumped into the southern US, looking for me, she finally agreed that he was going to be willing to continue spending the same to find me again, if I ran. I even shared with her the realization I had, about not knowing where other communities of Vampyre might be. We could end up running into another group. One that maybe wanted to hurt me, to hurt him. Fortunately she remembered all the trouble of traveling over the weekend, and I told her my theory that someone had tried to stop me coming back to Avernus. Finally she agreed that the only real thing we could do was to stay put and watch for what happened. Meanwhile, I would keep pushing for answers, and protections for us. Mom hated that I had to be the one to do all the work, and she let me know it. But in the end, what could she do? I winced when she said in frustration, "This was so much easier when I didn't know what was going on". We talked for hours before finally hugging it out and heading to bed. I was worn out, completely exhausted, which was weird considering I hadn't left the house since coming home from school. I fell asleep almost immediately, but I didn't sleep well. I kept having dreams about the town of Avernus. In one, there was a creepy maze under the town, and I kept getting lost, trying to find an entrance. I was naked for a bit part of that for some reason. In another, there was a giant cave under the town, with a giant dragon the size of the entire town. In another, there was some weird dungeon-like room under our house instead of our basement, and different people from around town, both normal people and all the different Vampyre I had met, kept coming up out of the dungeon to parade through my bedroom. Each person, as they came through, would look down at me sleeping and would vote whether I should live or die by hitting one of my feet or the other. The next day went a lot better at school. Apparently Mom was able to talk to the front office, because I never heard anything further about the missed school day. Liam asked me if we could get together to work on our models, since we both had new stuff to assemble and paint. We talked about meeting up at LGM that evening. I promised Taki and Boots we would go skating first, since I disappeared the day before. Mom wasn't home when I stopped off to drop my bag and grab my board. After a couple of hours of hanging out, I told everyone I was going to head home to knock out some homework and grab some dinner. After a bit of odd conversation I didn't understand, I ended up inviting Boots back with me for dinner. I was starting to pick up hints that he didn't have a great home life. He seemed to roam the streets solo a bit more often than I first thought. Mom was home when we got back to my house. I didn't see her downstairs though, and I was surprised when I got upstairs. The open lounge area between all the bedrooms now had a long desk running against the wall under the windows. It looked like it was set for two workstations, with Mom sitting at one. She waved when we cleared the stairs and she saw it was me. "How was school, baby?" she asked with a smile. "Oh! Who's your friend?" "Hi, Mom," I said, with a bit of confusion. "Uh, this is Boots, one of my friends. Is it okay if he eats with us and we do some homework together?" "Of course," she said. "Nice to meet you, um, Boots?" "Yes, ma'am. It's Josh, but everyone calls me Boots." "I'll bet there's a story there," she said with a laugh. He blushed a bit, but didn't really say anything. Meanwhile, my curiosity was getting the better of me, so I was maneuvering around to get a better view of what Mom was up to. Then I realize she had set up a whole station with tons of supplies, and was in the middle of assembling some Cosmos Emptor models. "Whatcha doing over there, Mom?" I said with a grin. "Oh, this?" she laughed. "I thought maybe it could be something we could do together. Do you like?" "Weird flex, but cool. Want me to make some dinner?" "No, you boys go get started on homework," she said, putting down her tools and the model she was working on. "I head downstairs and throw something together. How do sliders sound?" "Cool! Thanks mom." "Thanks, Mrs., um," stammered Boots. "Um, Jason's mom." he finished lamely. "Call me Renee," she said with a smile. "Or if you absolutely have to, Mrs. Docker." I shook my head and let Boots into my room. I tossed my board in the corner and let him take the desk while I took my laptop to lay on the bed. Honestly, we goofed off more than we actually worked. After maybe an hour, we were called downstairs to eat. Mom and Boots got along great, and she seemed to be in a good mood. I was worried, after how she seemed when she went to bed. She caught me by surprise though, when she told me about her plans for the next day. "I may not be home for dinner tomorrow. I have to drive down to Albany tomorrow to meet with some lawyers," she said casually. "How come?" I asked. "How far's Albany?" "About two hours," piped up Boots. Then he covered his mouth with his hand. "Oops, sorry," he mumbled. He seemed surprised when Mom laughed. "It's alright, sweety. But yes, it's a couple a' hours south, and will probably take all afternoon. So can you figure out dinner for yourself, baby?" "Yeah, Mom. No problem. What's the lawyers about?" "Something about some insurance your daddy's company had on him. Bless him, he was only hired a few days, and they managed to not fire him before he up and died. Can you believe it?" My mood flipped a 180 inside. I did my best not to show it. No idea if I was successful or not. Not sure how seriously I cared. We finished eating and went back upstairs. Twenty minutes later, Mom came up and sat back at the painting desk outside my bedroom door. I could already see this was going to be a problem. I sighed and looked over to Boots. "Hey, man. I need to go up to the game store to meet Liam. You want to come with me?" He looked back at me, seeming a little surprised. "Yeah, sure," he said apprehensively. I started packing up my bag with my models and supplies. I guess Mom heard me getting my stuff together, because she got up and came over to lean on the door frame and see what was going on. "Oh, baby. We've gotta get you somethin' to carry your stuff in better than that bag. Somethin's gonna get broken or messed up." "Yeah, Mom. We'll figure it out." I really didn't want to talk to her right then. "I'm going up to the store to go meet my friend Liam. I'll be back by 11." "Alright, baby. You want me to drive you up?" "No thanks. It's only a short way to walk, and I'll wear my coat." Then she looked over to my guest. "Hey Boots? Can you give me just a sec with Jason here before you go? Go on downstairs and he'll be right behind ya." "Y-yes, ma'am," he mumbled, looking from her to me. I could tell he was trying to figure out the family dynamic here, and if I was in trouble or something. She stepped aside out of the door frame so he could get passed, then swung back into the doorway. I could see Boots behind her at the top of the stairs. He stopped for a moment, catching my eye and shrugging his shoulders, seemingly asking what was going on. Then he started down the stairs. "So baby, this weekend," Mom said. "Why don't you invite your friends over this weekend? We'll spend some time the next couple of days settin' the basement up, get some more furniture down there, a TV, and you guys can tear up the place. Whada' ya say? They can spend the night and we'll order pizzas." "What's goin' on, Momma?" "Just thought it would be nice. We've finally got the space for you to have friends over. I thought you might like it for once." "Okay," I said hesitantly. "Thanks." "Go have fun with your friend." She pulled me into a hug when I tried to squeeze past her to leave my room. Then before I could get away, she whispered, "He's cute. Is he a keeper?" "Mo-om!" I moaned with a half laugh. Nothing really happened up at the store. I hung out with Liam working on our models. Boots chilled with us for the first couple hours while we cut up and joked around. But what I really wanted to do was talk to Wren. He sat over at one of the game tables, playing a pretty heated game against some older guy I didn't know. It was frustrating, seeing him just a dozen feet away, and not being able to do anything about it. He made eye contact with me a couple of times and smiled, but that was it. I tried to hang out and get Liam to go on home so I could talk to Wren after, but it was getting too close to 11. I went home annoyed and frustrated. I texted him when I got home, and told him I really needed to talk to him tomorrow. He texted back a little later, asking if I wanted to talk now, but I was tired and I was annoyed. So I told him we could talk tomorrow. At lunch the next day, I gave everyone the invitation about staying over Saturday night. I warned them it would probably be lame, but they all got excited when Boots started bragging about how nice my house was. I didn't know how I felt. I cringed a bit, but I think it was more because I was used to what I always had before, no house, and no shit to show off, except a drunk ass dad that was guaranteed for a few traumatic memories. I was also thinking about some of the things with Mom last night, and how I felt about them. The first and biggest was that she was obviously right back under the mesmir. That pissed me off. I had told Mr. Tsui that I wanted her free, and I meant it. It was creepy living with an "always happy" zombie. Sure, a lot of guys my age would kill for the pure freedom to do whatever they wanted. But it was too much, too fast. Besides, I loved my mom. Yeah, yeah, gross. I lose my "teen card" and all that. Dad was a complete piece of shit, but I still loved him, to some extent. Miss him, no. But I loved him, I guess. I was supposed to, right? But Mom was cool. Sure, she was a forty-plus ex-stripper. But she had usually been cool to me. So yeah, I was okay saying that I loved her. But speaking of love, what was this stuff she had said last night about Boots? Did I like him? I mean, he was cute, sure. Could I see myself making out with him? Yeah, I had to admit that playing tonsil hockey with him could be pretty fun. I still hadn't figured out if he swung that way, but I thought maybe I should test the waters with him. Maybe even this weekend. But that made me think about Wren. Was he interested in me? Or was I just a tasty snack that was, what had he called me? Intriguing. Of course I was interested in him. I would be all over him if I could be. I wonder what would happen if I could get Wren over to my house, offer to let him feed, and then see how far he might let me take things? He'd dodged my questions so far on how old he was, and that just made me curious in very naughty ways about what kind of experience he might have. Down, boy. Hehe. Even so, the second school was out, I texted Wren, telling him to let me know when we could talk. I hung out with the crew for a bit, then said I was heading home for dinner and homework. Once again, I invited Boots over with me to eat dinner. He jumped on the opportunity. I was starting to realize that he was kind of like I had been back down south. Either he didn't like his home, or he wasn't very welcome there. Either way, I was planning on inviting him around more often, whenever I could. No way was I going to leave him the way I was left. I did warn him that I had some stuff to take care of some time after six. The sun was setting these days a bit before six, and I intended to have it out with Wren tonight. Sure enough, Wren texted me just as me and Boots were sitting down to eat. W --Hey there, gorgeous. What can I do for you?-- J --We need to talk. U available 2night?-- W --Sure. Do I get a heads up?-- J --I need help with Dom-- W --Wow. One Zoom call and now he's "Dom"?-- J --It's what you call him, right? Can we meet or not?-- W --So you want to meet, not just talk on the phone or something?-- J --Well yeah. Can we meet?-- W --Let me check my social calendar. Yes, of course I can meet you. At the store?-- J --At my house maybe? Mom won't be home for a bit probably.-- W --Hot! I kid, of course.-- J --Could be. In an hour?-- W --I'll be there.-- J --You remember where I live?-- W --Intimately.-- Wow, okay. So what exactly did he mean by that? I chatted with Boots for a bit. What time we should get together Saturday, what we might want to do, what snacks and drinks everybody liked, stuff like that. I decided to give him a quick "sniff test" as well. At one point, I went over and put my arm around his shoulders, with the intention of leading him over to check out the basement. But I paid attention to how he reacted. At first he stiffened up slightly, but he immediately relaxed into it. But right after, probably about the time he realized he was giving in, he stiffened up again. Bingo. Gaydar alert! Boots was equally impressed with the basement, commenting on how much fun it would be to hang out with the whole crew here Saturday night. We already had the couch and coffee table from our old living room, along with Dad's recliner down here. I told him we were also going to see what else we could get down here. The room was really long, so there was plenty of space. I told him I was going to try to get Mom to let me bring the TV from the living room down here for the weekend as well, which Boots thought was awesome. I told him we needed to figure out sleeping arrangements, and he quickly let me know that all the guys had sleeping bags, plus Taki and Wheeler both had air mattresses they could bring. So that was all set. He would take care of letting all the guys know tomorrow. Then, before I saw him to the front door, I dropped the bombshell. I asked him if he wanted to meet up early, and spend the night tomorrow night as well. He got adorably nervous, and said yes.