Chp 14
~Chapter 14~
"Hey now, hey now, hear what I say now, happiness is just around the corner…ugh, I hate that song!" commented AJ as he rounded the corner on Henry Street. So far, he had eliminated zilch. This was going to be a slow night. No demons wanted to come out and play. "Yes, I am AJ, the vampire slayer. Any evil doers who cross my path will be crossed off with a cross. Oh, I'm so clever."
Suddenly, a shrill scream caught his attention. He ran into a dark alley where he saw a Daemoniacus lifting a librarian-looking dude off the ground. He growled in his face, while the victim whimpered and begged for him to let him go.
"Hey you!"
The vampire turned around to face AJ with anger and hunger in his eyes. The guy also stared at him with wide and hopeful eyes.
"Yeah, you! Do you see any other butt-ugly blood suckers here?!"
The monster growled and flung the guy against the wall and charged towards AJ.
"Yeah, come and get me, you big, stupid, prick!"
AJ jumped out of the way and the Daemoniacus ran into air.
"You missed, you fruitcake!"
He continued to tease the demon and it became more and more pissed. It charged at him again, but this time it got him.
"Oh shit!"
He tried to keep it's poisonous claws away from his skin. But they inched closer and closer to his neck.
"No!"
All of a sudden, the deadly beast was nothing but dust.
"Huh?"
AJ looked up in confusion and looked at a woman poised with a stake.
"Toni?"
"Who else would it be, you dork?"
She helped him up and he hugged her.
"I'm so glad to see you! What happened? Why are you here?"
"Cause I missed you, you big lug!"
"But how? What about your clan a-a-and John?"
"I told him to shove it up his ass! No one could keep me away from my best friend!"
"Wow! I can't believe you're here!"
"Believe it, hon! Now come on, we got work to do!"
They walked down the block, alert and ready for anything, and talking.
"So, AJ, how ya been?"
"Alright, I guess. I'm staying at my Mom's."
"You mother knows? Isn't that bad?"
"Yeah, but there's nothing I can do about it. She knew even before I went anywhere near her."
"How about Valencia?"
"She's staying in the guest room."
"Oh."
"Do you have a place to go?"
"Oh, I'm sure I can find a hotel or something, no worries."
"You can stay at my place."
"Thanks, but no, it's way too crowded."
"I don't think so. You ARE staying at my house. I won't hear another word from you."
"But…"
"Nope. Not another word."
She smiled.
"Fine, you win. But where are you gonna stick me?"
AJ thought about this. He couldn't throw her on the couch. He really wanted to be in his room, but of course, he's a gentleman.
"You can stay in my room."
"But where are you gonna sleep?"
"I'll take the couch."
"Oh, no, I couldn't possibly ask you to do that! I'll take the couch. It's your room!"
"No, really, it's fine. It's a sofa bed. Quite comfy. I'll be fine."
"But…"
"Uh uh, you're not going to win this."
" *sigh* I guess not. Thanks."
She kissed him on the cheek, which sent shivers down his spine.
"No problem."
They walked along in silence for a moment.
"Toni?"
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry."
She looked at him surprised.
"For what?"
"For getting you involved. They've seen you with me. Now they're gonna go after you. This is my battle and I've dragged you into it. I'll do everything I can to keep them away from you."
"Oh yeah, like you can take them!"
"As a matter of fact, yeah I can!"
"Oh yeah, you were really wiping the floor with that one before!"
"Hey, I got into a little trouble! No biggie! I could've saved myself!"
"Shut up, AJ!"
"Well, I could've! I didn't need your help!"
"Right! And what would you have done if I wasn't there?"
"I could've, I would've, I dunno, I could've…I could've bitten off his ear! Yeah, I would take Mike Tyson's technique!"
" *lol* Bitten off his ear?! Ha! Bitten off his dick is more like it!"
"Oh, I haven't thought of that! That could've worked!"
"Eww!"
All of a sudden, a dark lumpy figure came running towards them.
"Toni! Watch out!"
He pushed her out of the way and hurled himself at the beast.
"Die, foul demon, die!" he yelled as he poured the holy water, cause it was the only weapon he had on him, on the thing's face. It howled and snarled in pain. AJ was riding it on it's back. It was buckling and frantically trying to throw AJ off. In the process, some holy water splashed on AJ's arm making it sizzle.
"Oh shit! This stuff burns like fuckin' acid! Toni, throw me the stake!"
Toni looked around and saw the stake a few feet away from her. She crawled to it, picked it up, and threw it to him.
"AJ, catch!"
He missed it.
"Aww, I always did suck at catching! They always picked me last in gym!"
It fell only inches away from the monster.
"Shit! Shit! Shit! What do I do now?!"
Toni frantically looked around and noticed a wooden table on the curb, waiting to be picked up by the garbage man. She ran to it.
"Where are you going?!"
"I'm improvising!"
She broke off a leg and ran back to AJ.
"Toni, don't get too close! Just throw it again!"
She threw it farther than it was supposed to go.
"Sorry!"
AJ rolled off the vampire's back and grabbed the wooden leg. Then, he ran in front of the thing, trying to stake it, while dodging the deadly claws.
"You want this?! Here! Take it!"
He ducked as a large hand swiped two centimeters above his head and thrusted the stake through the heart. Before spontaneously combusting, the Daemoniacus took one final swipe at AJ and slashed his shirt.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"
"AJ!"
Toni ran to him.
"Did it get you?!"
"No! Just my shirt!"
"Take it off!"
He took off his shirt before the venom ate through the material and seeped through his skin. It was thrown on the ground, smoking.
"Are you sure it didn't get you?" Toni asked while searching his body for any scratches. There weren't any marks. The only things she found were rippling muscles and sexy tattoos. She shook those thoughts out of her head.
"Umm, ok, then I guess we should be heading back. It's 3: 30 AM."
"Yeah, let's go."
When they got to his house, they noticed that all the windows were covered by black garbage bags. They cautiously entered.
"Mom? Val?"
"We're up here!"
They went upstairs and found Denise covering the windows in the guest room.
"Mom, what are you doing?"
"I'm making this house livable for you undead people. See, these garbage bags will prevent the sunlight from coming in and I've also thrown out all the garlic."
"Garlic doesn't affect us. That's just a myth."
"Oh. Oh darn, now I have to go buy more!"
"Sorry I didn't tell you before."
"No matter. Oh, who's your friend?"
"I'm Antonia, but my friends call me Toni," she said shaking Denise's hand.
"Hello, Toni, nice to meet you. I'm Denise, AJ's mother."
"Nice to meet you. Ah, so you're the poor woman who had the misfortune of having to give birth to this loser," Toni teased pointing to AJ.
"Hey!"
Denise laughed, while AJ gave her dirty looks.
"Oh, AJ, I was just kidding! You know I love you!" Toni said while slapping his arm lightly.
"Whatever. Where's Val?"
"Right here," answered Valencia walking into the room and giving AJ strange looks. "Weren't you wearing a shirt when we left?"
"Yeah, but we ran into some bad vamps. Luckily it didn't get me, but it killed my shirt."
"Oh my goodness! Are you ok? It didn't touch you, did it?"
"No. I'm fine."
All three of them stared at him concerned.
"I'm FINE! Really! If I wasn't, wouldn't I have dropped dead by now?!"
"Well, I suppose. But be extra careful next time. You may not be so lucky."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Oh, Toni, is it?" asked Valencia just noticing her. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"Surprise, surprise," she said, laughing nervously. Valencia made her nervous. She reminded her of her brother and she got the feeling she didn't like her very much.
"Umm, Toni? I'll show you to my room."
"Ok."
He took her hand, which sent a rush of warmth throughout her body, and led her down the hallway.
"Ta da! Here's my wonderful room, which you will be occupying."
"Wow! It's cool! But so, I don't know…boyish!"
"Well, duh!"
"Hehe. I'm sorry I'm kicking you out."
"You didn't kick me out. I kicked myself out!"
"That's because you're a sweet idiot!"
"Thank you. I'm gonna like go now cuz I hardly had any sleep the past couple of days and I'm pooped!"
"Me, too."
"Ok. Pleasant dreams."
"You, too, hon."
He grabbed a shirt from his closet and left the room. He went downstairs and heard that Valencia and Denise were talking quietly. He decided to eavesdrop, in case it was about him, which it probably was since he was the only thing they both had in common.
"And this Damian, he's here?" asked a concerned Denise.
"Yes. I can't figure out where he and his clan are hiding out. We've looked everywhere! But I swear I will find them. And I will kill every last one of those demons if it's the last thing I do!"
"You're really determined, aren't you."
"They will pay for what they did to me and mine. I will liberate this world of the curse that is their existence, but their overall fate is in God's hands."
"I'd like to have a piece of them, too! No one kills my baby and gets away with it!"
"Leave all of that avenging to me, Denise. There's no need for you to get involved. After I have conquered all of them which have relocated here, I will return to Romania to continue my battle and lead my other children into sweet victory."
"Are you going to stay there permanently?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?" asked AJ, walking in, having heard the whole conversation.
"Alex, I---"
"What do you mean you don't know if you're coming back?"
Valencia looked at the ground.
"I don't know if I'll return. Ever."
"Why?"
"Because my life is over there. Romania is my home. I don't have a place here."
"Yes, you do. Right here."
"I can't stay here forever. Alex, please understand, I have to go back, eventually."
"B-b-but what about me?"
"Your place is here with your mother. I have to learn to accept that and you have to learn to accept my situation. I'll always love you, Alex, but my other children need me! I can't abandon them!"
"You can't even visit?!"
"No, when I go, I severe all my ties with you. It's for your own good. I don't have a choice, but you do. You can come with me."
Denise was about to protest, but AJ beat her to it.
"You know I can't do that!"
"Then, I'm sorry, Alex."
"But I'm not ready! I'm not prepared to go on with my after life!"
"Yes, you are. You're a fast learner."
"What are you going to tell the rest of the gang when they see that I'm not around?"
"That, that when we arrived, we ran into trouble, and that you were killed. That way no one knows you're really here and the Daemoniacus will stop hunting you and you could enjoy your new life with the people you love."
"Is that what I am to you? Dead?"
The tears started rolling down her cheeks.
"No, of course not! But that's the way it has to be! I'll never forget you, Alex. But I hope you forget me."
She ran up the stairs and into her room, closing the door behind her. (She's not one to slam them.)
AJ plopped down beside his mother and put his head in his hands. Once again, frustration, anger, and sadness engulfed him. Denise put her arms around him.
"I'm sorry, AJ. I know how much she means to you."
"Mom, I couldn't leave you, even if I tried. But, I'll miss her."
"I know, sweetheart, I know."
Chp 15
Chp 13
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