Chp 7
~Chapter 7~
"Alex, are you ready?"
No answer.
"Alex? Alex!"
Still no response. Valencia started advancing towards AJ's room. She heard music coming from it and the door was closed. She opened it a crack and peeked inside. AJ was waltzing around his room with his headphones on and singing 'I Swear' by All 4 One.
"I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky
I swear like the shadow that's by your side
I see the questions in your eyes
I know what's weighing on your mind
You can be sure I know my part
Cause I stand beside you through the years
You only cry those happy tears
And though I made mistakes
I'll never break your heart
And I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky
I'll be there
I swear like the shadow that's by your side
I'll be there
For better or worse
Till death to us part
I'll love you with every beat of my heart
And I swear…"
Valencia chuckled to herself and waited until the song was over to enter his room.
"Bravo! Bravo!" she said laughing and clapping as she stepped into his room.
AJ turned red and simpered.
"I-I didn't know you were there!"
" *lol* You sounded really good!"
"Val, please."
"I'm serious! You have a wonderful voice, Alex! Have you ever thought about singing as a profession?"
AJ's face got gloomy.
"I did. Think about it. Me and a couple of friends were thinking about getting a band started. We would be a five-part harmonizing group. We had everything planned. All the guys had picked out their vocal ranges. I would have been the lead alto. But we never got to making it official. Man, I guess we never will. But they could still get some other guy, you know, to replace me. But I highly doubt that. They wouldn't do that. We were tight. Really tight."
Valencia put her hand on his shoulder as a reassuring gesture. He looked at her and smiled weakly.
"But the past is past. We all move on. Come on. Let's get aerial."
"You have everything you need?"
"Yup. I even got some Snicker bars for the way there."
" *lol* You're one of a kind, Alex!"
"I try."
A couple of hours later, they arrived in Bucharest.
"I never thought I'd be back in this place. So soon, anyway," said AJ with a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Come on, Alex. I'll introduce you to the others."
Valencia guided AJ into the deep dark woods. There were wolves howling, owls hooting, and bats screeching. It totally creeped AJ out.
"U-uhh, Val? Are those the P-Praedari howling?"
"Hmm? Oh, no. They don't live around here. Those are real blood thirsty wolves."
"That's great. Here I am, full of blood, and they're thirsty for it."
"Don't worry, they don't care much for us."
"Much?!"
"They may bite off a chunk or two, but they rarely kill and consume us."
"Thanks for making me feel so much better, Val!"
"You're welcome, Alex."
"You do realize that I was being sarcastic right?"
"Yes. And you do realize that I wasn't."
AJ gulped.
"Umm, how much longer? The mosquitoes are having a feast with me!"
"Almost there. My, my, my. Impatient, aren't we?"
"Uh yeah! I'm a city boy! This venturing into the woods stuff isn't for me. Kevin and Brian, yes. But me, no. I can never---"
His sentence was cut short by an abrupt stop. They finally arrived. AJ looked up and saw a huge, stone, medieval castle. His eyes gazed at the towers.
"Holy…"
"Welcome to your new home, Alex."
He just stood there, staring at it in shock.
"It's even better inside. Come on."
She tugged his arm and they entered through the large gates.
"Wow! Where did this place come from?" asked a fascinated AJ.
"It was built in the times of Michael the Brave as his fortress to plan out his strageties in revolting against the Ottomans."
"Who's he?"
"He's a national hero for bringing Walachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania together, forming Romania. He was a great ruler," she said with dreaming eyes, then grinned and added, "and quite a kisser, too."
"You kissed him?!"
"Well, we did date. Only for a little while, though. Nothing serious."
"Oh is that all?! Did you say Transylvania?"
"Yes, I did."
"You mean that place is real?! Wow, that's phat!"
"Who's fat?"
"No not f-a-t, fat, p-h-a-t, phat, it means---err, never mind."
"You're a strange child."
"But you love me anyway!" he said giving her a sweet grin..
She smiled. "That I do, Alex."
"Valencia!"
They both turned around to find a tall blonde man limping their way.
"Hans!"
Valencia ran up to him. AJ followed.
"Hans, what happened?! Where are the others?!"
"The Daemoniacus attacked while you were gone! They took the opportunity to storm the castle! We managed to fight them off, but we lost so many!"
"No! How many?!"
"We lost count! I'm assuming he's the new one?" Hans said referring to AJ. AJ felt awkward. He didn't like them referring to him as "the new one."
"Please call me AJ," he said extending his hand out to the injured vampire.
He took it. "Hans. Ahhh!"
"Sit down! Sit down!" Valencia told him in a frantic voice. He sat down on the cold ground.
"Don't worry about me, I'm fine! It's just my leg! They were ruthless, needless to say!" He suddenly got quieter. "He knows about you," he said looking at AJ.
"What?"
"Damian. He knows about you, AJ."
"How did they find out?!" screamed Valencia.
"I don't know! All I know is that you, AJ, are in danger! He knows how much Valencia cares about her new ones! He won't stop until you're dead and he hurts Valencia!"
"Dammit! Ok, ok. Alex, you're not to go out unless you're accompanied by one of us," she demanded.
AJ looked at her in disbelief.
"B-b-but…"
"No buts! You understand me? I'm not playing games here!"
She pushed him out of the way and stomped down the hall. She came upon a horrid sight. They were wounded vampires everywhere. The healthy ones were caring for them and mourning the lost ones. This brought tears to her eyes.
"My children," she choked out. A vampire went up to her.
"Valencia!" He looked around. "Uh, where is the new one?"
"He's down the hall with Hans. Please help Hans and direct Alex to his new quarters. I have to go think."
She scurried up the stairs and disappeared. The vampire did as he was told.
"Hello, I'm Inacio. You must be the new one," he said helping Hans up by putting his arm around his shoulder. AJ took the other side.
"AJ."
They took him to the main room where everyone else was and gently set him down.
"You're gonna be ok here, bud?" asked AJ.
"Yes, thank you," answered Hans.
"No problem, dude. Umm, where's Val?"
"Who?"
"Val. Val? You know, Valencia?"
"Oh. She's in her room, thinking."
"About?"
"I don't know, but my instructions were to escort you to your new quarters."
"Can't you just say show me to my room? Jeez, are all of you ancient people so verbose?"
" *ahem* Follow me."
He did. His new room was very spacious and contained dressers, closets, night stands, and it even had its own bathroom.
"Aww, yeah…dude, do all of you have a room like this?!"
"Yes. Valencia is a very generous and caring leader. Like a mother to us all."
"I've noticed. Val is the bomb diggity!"
"Excuse me?"
" *sigh* Never mind. I'll teach you the lingo some other time. There wouldn't happen to be anyone near my age range would there? Hopefully?"
"The youngest of us just turned sixty-three."
"Sixty-three, huh. Eh, close enough. K. See ya later, uh, umm…"
"Inacio."
"Yeah. Ok, Inacio. Thanks for everything. Good, oh I don't know, morning or something."
" 'Till we meet again."
Inacio left AJ to himself. AJ put his duffle bag down and looked around. 'This is sweet.' He was very tired from the long flight and his brain hurt from concentrating so much. Valencia told him after he had a lot of practice, it would become easier and he wouldn't have to use his mind as much. He plopped down on his huge bed and fell asleep. A couple of hours later, he woke up to his stomach growling. 'Hmm. I feel like an ice cold glass of plasma and cells.' He got out of bed and wandered into the hallway searching for the kitchen.
"This place is so damn big, how in hell am I going to find---ahh, there it is."
He walked into the kitchen and opened the ice box.
"Wow, choices! Let's see, there's pig's blood, cow's blood, chicken's blood, human blood…HUMAN BLOOD?! Uh uh, I ain't touching that! Fat free blood?! What the---"
Just then, Valencia stepped in.
"Alex? What are you doing up so early?"
"Just came down here for a mid-day snack. Want some vital fluid?"
"No thank you."
"K."
AJ filled his glass up and gulped it down.
"Wow! It tastes so good, I can't believe it's fat free!"
"Alex, I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For coming on to you like such a raging banchee. I know in your eyes I don't have the authority over you to---"
"No problem. All is forgiven."
"No I have to explain myself. It's just that over the years, I've lost so many people I care about. So many of my children. The Daemoniacus have hurt me so much. I-I-I just don't want to lose you."
AJ looked at the ground and was silent.
"Alex?"
"My mom used to make up silly rules all the time," he said quietly. "Like I wasn't allowed to date until I was sixteen. Man, you have no idea how I wanted to---um, well I'll keep this rated G. When I finally turned sixteen, I, I don't even remember much of it, but I lost my virginity. Hey, I was all pent up so long that when I was finally cut loose…BANG! Besides that, I wasn't allowed to stay out after 10 PM, answer the door to strangers, blah, blah, blah. The point I'm trying to make is that all that time, I thought my mom was just trying to control me. I thought that I could handle everything and anything. It isn't until now that I've kicked the bucket, I realized that she did all that because she was trying to protect me. I wasn't immortal. Now I am, but I wasn't. She knew that. She told me that if anything ever happened to me, she would never forgive herself. Well, something sure did happen. And I have the feeling she's blaming herself. Even though I know it's absolutely not her fault, she's-she's living with the guilt. I wish I could tell her that it wasn't her fault. It wasn't anybody's fault except the fucker who killed me. But I can't do that. She's always been there for me, but I can't be there for her. She's been such a good mother to me. I wish I had the chance to thank her."
"Oh, Alex."
Valencia went over to him and hugged him.
"I'm sure she knows."
They just stood there holding each other. AJ finally interrupted the moment.
"Yeah right. Anyway, I'm just gonna wander around the castle."
"But it's the middle of the day."
"Yeah, but there's a lot to see. Besides, I can't asleep. Once I wake up, I'm up. See ya later."
And with that, he disappeared down the hallway.
Chp 8
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