A.N.: Chapter 10 guys, so a preview from this chapter, Randy's thoughts about what he thought was real and wasn't will completely change, John is in jeopardy of being discovered and Randy will face him looking for truth, hope you like it, enjoy
Next morning Randy woke up early, after dressing and doing the bed he went to a near local cafeteria and bought some pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast, then he returned to the motel, he took a warm shower, brushed his teeth and went to the university
Half hour later he arrived to the reception where he was attended by a young lady
"Good morning, what can I help you?"
"Good morning, I'm Randy Orton and I have an appointment with Nigel from the history department"
"Oh Mr. Orton, of course, look I'm a bit busy at this moment but it's not hard to find the history department, if you wish I can give you the location"
"Ok" Randy replied
"Fine, here, take this sketch of the university, you can keep it if you ever come again" The lady said handing it to Randy
"Thank you" Randy said and then he left to reception, as he approached to the location his heart beat faster, he entered to the university facility, the whole place seemed to be a library
"Good morning" Randy said hopping someone would hear him
"Wait a second, I'm on my way!" Someone said, Randy waited a few minutes, suddenly a man appeared, he was behind a block of books, he was tall, but not as tall as Randy, he was wearing jeans, a cowboy shirt and glasses, he had spiky hair, he walked towards Randy, not watching him, ordering books he was carrying as he walked, but when he saw Randy he jumped in surprise "Oh my. . . wh-what do we have he-here, who are you?"
"My name is Randy Orton, I called yesterday, you must be Nigel, I'm doing a research about Salem's history in the second half of 1800, hope you can help me"
"Oh good old weird Salem, such a mysterious and interesting place, full of history, magic night demons" he said remarking those last two words "come with me, I can help you" They walked their way to the huge marble stairs, going to the second floor
"Let me tell you, when it comes down to Salem there are always two sides of the story, the historic, and the supernatural, are you a believer?"
"No, not really, well I have my own doubts"
"Well I am, I'm fascinated with it, I've done an immense research about all the supernatural stuff you can imagine" Randy noticed Nigel eyes sis not leave him, he observed each and every one of his moves "Salem is my weakness, so you may find all you're looking for in my office, not only the common stuff, but also supernatural stuff about the town" They finally had arrived to Nigel's office, Randy was sure that there were more books than in any other place in the building, but there were also boards with rare symbols, mirrors, scrolls, everything
"The Salem section is in the right half of the left wall, feel free to check whatever you want, I'm. . . I'm gonna go to notify to the reception that you are here" Randy took a look at the ancient scrolls and to the book's names, he looked for some information in the books, he moved to one place to another, trying to find something, taking books from the shelves and putting others back, he was walking here and there turning the pages from a huge book he was holding, but suddenly he noticed in one of the mirror's reflection that Nigel was a few feet behind him walking quietly, almost trying to not be noticed, he had a silver pail in his left hand, his right hand was hidden behind his back but Randy immediately turned around when he saw the hidden object, it was a wooden stake, when Randy turned around Nigel spilled over him the liquid that was on the pale and then he tried to strike him with the stake, Randy defended himself, at that point knowing why Nigel was attacking him was the least he was worrying about, he pushed Nigel back, Nigel tried to strike again, this time he missed for a few inches, Randy tried to keep the stake as far from him as he could, they fought all over the room, crashing against the book blocks and shelves, Nigel was able to take Randy down and tried to attack him with the stake once more, there was no doubt, Nigel was trying to kill him, Randy grabbed Nigel's wrist, he hit him with a head-butt and managed to pushed him off from him making him crash against another group of books
Randy grabbed a sharp piece from a shattered mirror and held it in front of him, pointing Nigel with it "What the hell is your problem! Are you fucking crazy!" Randy said infuriated, regaining his breath
"If I don't do it know, you'll do it later, I won't be your food!"
"What the fuck are you talking about!?"
"I prepared myself for this very kind of moment for the last 15 years, I'm not afraid of you or any of your kind, give me your best shoot, I'll give you mine" Nigel said pointing Randy with the stake
"Are you drunk?! Kind?!"
"Don't try to deny what you are cause I know it very well, you vampire!"
"Vampire!? Are you fucking kidding me!? I'm not a vampire, seriously"
"Prove it"
"Mmm, legends say that vampires heal quickly" Randy said placing the piece of glass and made a cut in his hand "You see, it's not healing it's just bleeding"
Nigel watched the cut for a couple seconds, looking for any signs of healing, but Randy was right, it was just bleeding
"Impossible, that's impossible, how can you not be?"
"Better question would be, why would I be?" Nigel did not answer "You tried to kill me, you spilled over me I don't know what the hell what, you said you thought I was a vampire, you owe me an explanation, and it better be a good one, if you appreciate your job and freedom"
Nigel sighed "Ok follow me"
"Are you gonna try to kill me again?"
"No, but you must be ready for what I'm about to show you, and this is related with what you came looking for"
Nigel took some books out from the shelves and picked some others form the floor, Randy kept looking at him, ready to defend himself again if Nigel tried something again
"Hey, look, I'm sorry for trying to kill you, but understand, when I saw you I freaked out, but now, thinking about it better, if you were a vampire you would have fed on me since the moment you entered here, and everyone in the reception would be dead by now, maybe that explains why the verbena didn't work"
Randy was still pissed, he thought that might be some kind of bad joke, or maybe Nigel was absolutely crazy, Nigel noticed Randy anger
"Hey, don't blame me man, what was I supposed to do? I thought I see someone who's supposed to be dead since 1896" Nigel explained
"What. . . what are you talking about?" Randy was more confused than he had ever been in his entire life
"You'll see, I already told you, when it comes down to Salem there are. . . Oh here it is" Nigel said taking a huge and old book and putting it in a small table "Now let me go for the scrolls, as I was saying you, when it comes down to Salem there are always two sides of the story, the historic, and supernatural" Then Nigel placed some scrolls and old books next to the huge book in the table
"You see, after the civil war we know that the maritime trade became higher with the European countries, especially with the UK, funny thing, isn't it? And sometimes we sent people to the UK to negotiate trade contracts, or they sent people here" Nigel said as he turned the pages of the huge book, they were thick, old yellow pages
"And what does that have to do with the fact you tried to kill me?" Randy asked
"In late 1895 a British lord named Maurius Firefax personally came to Salem to negotiate the terms of the contracts, now at that time there still was unconformity about the result of the war, they caused disturbs and assassinations, and it is said that Maurius was murdered just a few months after his arrival, officially he is a post-civil war victim. . . Oh here he is, very familiar, don't you think?"
Randy couldn't believe his eyes, he was open mouthed, eyes wide opened, the man of the picture in the book was exactly alike him, the same icy blue eyes, the same thin desirable lips, same eyebrows, facial expression, everything, excepting the short beard that Randy had, Randy was speechless, it was like someone had taken a picture from him and printed it in the book
"Now you understand me, I thought you were him, it is impossible that there are two persons exactly alike, unless. . . unless he had the doppelganger curse, but that is also impossible, by the time he came to Salem from England your direct ancestors were already here, Archibald Orton is your direct ancestor, right?
"Yes he is, and what is that dopple. . . whatever and why a vampire, why did you think I was a vampire? And why I look exactly alike him? god I can't believe I'm talking about this, it's impossible" The confusion in Randy's voice was evident
"I don't know, I don't have an answer for that, now a doppelganger is a living walking double of a determinate person, a cursed person, the doppelganger can live in the same time that the cursed person, to torture him or her, appropriate of all that once belonged to the cursed person and some other things, but if you are a %100 believer and you believe in witches and ancient spells the doppelganger can live in a different time cause it's created as a duplicate of a person whose blood is the key to open something or break a curse, therefore the doppelganger will also be the key, and if the original key dies you just need to look for the doppelganger, but witchcraft history says that the doppelganger curse runs only by direct bloodline, that is why it would be impossible for you to be a doppelganger, and now, why a vampire, let's check the scrolls"
At that point Randy didn't know in what to believe, the simple fact of seeing there had been someone exactly alike him broke everything in what he believed in
"The supernatural part of the story tells that before, during and after the civil war, there were hundreds of mysterious disappearing and animal attacks all over the country, especially in places such as Virginia, New York, Connecticut and here in Massachusetts, more specifically, in Salem, now of course with the civil war in hands the government did everything they could to hide the terrible truth and solve it themselves, Salem has always been a mysterious place" Nigel took some of the smaller books from the table and hand them to Randy
"This are diaries form some of the peoples of the town at that time, it is said that the disappearing started in 1840, but the situation turned almost uncontrollable in the last decade from the eighteen hundreds and the efforts from the council to keep the secret became useless, so useless at the point that all the people of the town were well aware of the vampirish threat, in the diaries people talk about the about the threat and describe it as the demons of the night, evil beings craving for human blood, the town was in risk like never before, and the members of the council decided to contact a famous British lord who had also a reputation as a vampire hunter in England"
"Maurius?"
"Indeed, this is the journal of Marcus Lander" Nigel said showing Randy one of the books "one of the council members, he described the arrival of Maurius Firefax, saying that he would be the solution to all their problems with the demons of the night, and indeed he was, the journals tell that in April 23rd 1896 there was a massive vampire killing in the town, that was also the day when Fairfax died, afterwards the attacks stopped, unfortunately Marcus was a "civil war victim", that's how the council called the vampire victims so this diary is incomplete, and after February 11th 1896 there are no great details, but what we do know is that Maurius was a "post-civil war victim" that means he was killed by vampires as well, that's what I thought you were one of them, the stories and movies tell that a simple vampire bite can turn you into one of them, so with that being said, you now know why I tried to kill you earlier today and now that I know you are human I apologize"
Randy did not speak for quite some time "It's hard to believe all of that, hell, I still can't believe there was someone exactly alike me, but I didn't come here looking for information about vampires, I came looking for information about the Cena family"
"The Cena family eh, I guess you want to know about their history in Salem, right?"
"Yes" Randy replied
"Well, the Cenas alongside your family were one of the main families in the second half of the eighteen hundreds, John Cena Sr. was a council member, the leader until Archibald took his place"
"Is it true their blood line ended before the XX century?"
"Yes, absolutely true, John Cena Sr. was the only child in his family, he had no siblings, he had 5 sons with his wife Carol, she died giving birth to her last child Sean Cena, Steve Cena, the older brother died of pneumonia at the age of nine, when he was just a child, the next was Dan and Sean, Dan died drowned trying to save Sean and Matt when he was just 18, only Matt survived, he was the next to die at the age of twenty-nine in early 1896, animal attack, we already know what that means, and the last one was John, who by the way had a very curious name"
"Curious?" Randy asked
"Yes he had a really long name, unlike his other brothers, his full name was John Felix Anthony Cena, he was the last one to die, ironically he died in his birthday, on April 23rd 1896, the date of his 33rd birthday, officially as a post-civil war victim, unofficially, you already know how, and John Cena Sr. died 4 years later, in the beginning of the XX century because of a serious disease, and that is how the Cena blood line ended"
Randy couldn't believe what he had just heard, it was true, he had seen and read it in the books Nigel had showed him, but the hardest part to believe was the coincidence between that John and his Johnny, they had exactly the same name , their birthday date was the same, that John died at the age of 33, his John was 33 years old, he would believe the name was a familiar tradition and the birth date pure coincidence in other situation, but not after hearing what had happened to the Cena family , especially when John had confirmed him John Cena Sr. was his ancestor
"Oh look at what I found, a picture from John Cena son and Sr. Matt, Maurius and other council members"
Randy went where Nigel was and slowly observed the picture, there were five old men wearing tux and top hats, and three younger men wearing tux but no top hat, Randy focused his attention first in the old men, he recognized two of them easily, one of them was John Cena Sr. and the other was his ancestor Archibald Orton
"Look, the first man is Joseph Bowditch; he's next to your ancestor Archibald Orton" Unlike the other men with hat Archibald seemed a little younger he had a serious gaze and that shinny medallion with the octagonal ruby, that same medallion he had in the picture in the local history museum, yeah the picture he was looking was in black and white, but even then the medallion was the one thing in the picture that was more noticeable "You may recognize the next one" Randy saw Maurius in the picture, it was like watching himself in a mirror "Next to Maurius you can see Damon Page, the fifth is Roderick Benson, the sixth is Matt Cena" Matt was very alike to his John as well, as a matter of fact the resemblance was too much that they looked like brothers "The next is John Cena Sr. and the last one is John Cena son"
Randy was stunned, in shock, what he saw almost scared him, he took the pic and carefully looked John Cena son again, it was impossible, that John. . . that John and his John were exactly alike John, there was absolutely no difference, he put the picture on the table and took seat, he was breathing heavy, his heart beating fast
"Hey what happened?"
"It's impossible, it. . . it can't be"
"What?"
"That man from the picture, John Cena son, that man is exactly alike my boyfriend, but not only in the physical aspect, they have the same name, the same birthday date, look here is a picture from him" Randy said showing Nigel the background picture from his phone, which was a picture from John, Nigel watched the pic from the cell and then the pic in the book
"Have you kissed him?"
"Yes I have" randy said
"Oh I see, well he's not a ghost, mmm yes, the man in the picture is not exactly alike your boyfriend. . . the man in the picture is your boyfriend"
Randy couldn't be more stunned, he was not a believer, but it was so hard to not believe what was right in front of his eyes
"But how, how. . . how can my boyfriend be a one hundred and. . . Forty-five years old man but look like he's 33?"
"I would give you the answer for that, but I think that deep inside, and believe me I'm shocked and exited of this, I think that deep inside you already know the answer for that" Randy looked up to Nigel's eyes, he knew he was right, he had an answer
"V. . .vampire. . . vampires don't get old" There was a long silence, but suddenly Randy broke it
"Oh my god, now everything makes sense, you spilt that verbena water over me cause it wakens vampires, it's like a poison for them, isn't it?"
"That's what the diaries say"
"That explains his reaction when he touched the verbena I had at home, everything makes sense now, the quick mysterious disappearings, the blood bags I found in the basement of his home, even the bull shark he killed with a few punches. . . I. . .I need to go, thanks" Randy said as he quickly went down the stairs
"Hey Randy remember, humans are vampires main food! Be careful!" Randy left the university, he returned to the motel, took all of his things, he put them on the car's trunk, he gave back the room's key to the receptionist and left, he drove as fast as he could to Salem, half way to his destiny he stopped the car in the sideway, turned on his cellphone and saw he had missed calls, all from John, then he checked the voice messages, starting from the oldest one
"Hey baby, guess you are finally free, what do you want to do tonight handsome?"
"Baby I know I called you earlier, I know it's late, but if you hear this have a good night, I love you"
"Good morning handsome, I haven't heard from you, what are you up to do today baby? Please call me"
"Randy you're worrying me; please call me baby, I just need to hear your voice"
"Randy please I need to know you are ok, I haven't known anything about you, please call me baby, I'm so worried about you"
Randy's emotions were in a rollercoaster ride, he wanted to see John, but he was also scared and mad, he needed to talk with him
John had spent the whole day worried about Randy, he had gone to his house, it was clear he was not there, he had gone to Mik's Lexi's, Dave's Mark's and Nick's house to check if he was there, but he wasn't, he had gone to the cyber-café, to the graveyard, to the museum, hell to almost all the places in town and there was no clue about him, he had been calling him again and again, he even left him messages, John just wanted to see the younger man, hug him, kiss him and know he was ok, when John arrived to the mansion at the end of the day in his mustang and saw Randy's viper parked in front of the house he felt an immense relief, he entered to the house and looked for Randy living room, the kitchen, backyard, everywhere downstairs, then he realized he might be upstairs, he guessed Randy was in his room and John rand there, sure he would find his boyfriend there, he opened the door and indeed Randy was there, sat in the edge of the bed, his heart jumped with happiness at first but then with panic when he realized Randy was reading a very familiar book, a book John had written a hundred and plus years ago, one of his diaries
That's it for now guys, what do you think, what will happen, give me some reviews please :)