Being Human: Mother Knows Best

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Ten

And The Party Just Got Bigger

Josh could see Aidan hungrily looking at the two vampires feeding below. There was a deep weakness in his eyes. An all to familiar weakness. "Aidan, when's the last time you fed?"

"I'm fine," he angrily snapped back. "I'll be…" he choked on his words as his greatest fear was realized. Exiting one of the cars was Mother herself. "I can't believe she's actually here."

Randal hefted his crossbow. "Oh she's here all right. The longer you stayed hidden, the worse you made her look. The only way she's saving face, is to find you herself."

"Now that she's here," Josh said. "We need to come up with a plan to stop her."

Aidan grabbed Josh's arm, "You don't have a plan?"

"Well excuse me, but finding you and warning you about Mother was the only plan. Really hadn't thought past what happens after that."

"Are you sure they're friends?" Randal asked Sally. "All they've done since they've met is argue."

Sally secretly smiled, "Oh yes, can't you tell. Only a true friend will beat themselves up over what's happened. Aidan isn't yelling at Josh." She walked between them. She looked into Aidan's eyes. "He's yelling at himself for getting us into this mess."

She then looked at Josh, "And Josh, well he knows that the mess happened because Aidan choose to be his friend." Looking back at Randal she said, "And how do I know, because I did the same thing to them. And yet, they fought to bring me back when I fell off the earth." Grinning at both of them she said, "That's what friends do. You can rely on them to tell you the truth, even when you don't want to hear it. And to stick by you, no matter how crazy or insane you get. In a hundred years, I could never pay them back for what they did for me."

Aidan and Josh took in a deep breath. They knew Sally was right, they were angry with themselves, and was taking it out on each other.

"Look," Aidan said. "When I left Boston with Suren, I did it to protect you, and Sally."

"I know," Josh softly sighed.

Aidan's head hung low, "I really thought I could make a life for us."

Josh placed a consoling hand on Aidan's shoulder, "She made her own choice, Aidan. Mother has a very strong influence on her."

"I know," he heavily sighed. "She's always had to have her way. Her anger, her hate is just so…"

Laughing, Josh pointed to himself, "Hey, preaching to the choir here."

"Now I see it," Randal said.

Looking at Randal, Josh got an idea. "Bowazon, can you hit Mother from up here with that thing?" he pointed to the crossbow.

Randal hefted the crossbow up against his shoulder. He aimed it down, after a few seconds he shook his head. "She's surrounded by to many Vampires. I can't get a clear shot. But I can cull them a bit."

Randal aimed his crossbow at a young vampire standing off to the side. "And the winner is Bert. This is for all the times you teased my wolfs, Bert." Squeezing the trigger the wooden bolt was released. It quietly flew down, imbedding in Bert's chest. Grabbing the stake, he gasped in pain. Falling to the ground he instantly turned to dust. It was so quick, the other vampires never noticed their fallen comrade.

"That got you a level up, Randal," Josh said with a whoop. "Now you just need to do that…" he began counting the vampires. "Twenty nine more times."

Randal glanced at his bandoleer. "Sorry, I only made ten bolts, including the one I just shot."

"This place is huge," Sally said. "I'm sure we can elude them long enough to pick them off."

"Yeah, but for how long?" Aidan said.

"We only need to do it for a day," Josh said. He looked at his companions. "Don't you see, tomorrow is a full moon. If we can hide long enough from Mother, I can wolf out tomorrow night. Aidan can drink my blood during the change."

Aidan shook his head. "It's not going to work, she's still Mother in the Vampire world's eyes. She's our leader, the strongest vampire, she's our Mother."

"Aidan, Randal told me that in her time Mother was the weakest Vampire. You're one of the strongest vampires, NOW. If you drink my blood, you'll become more powerful than her. You can take her Aidan, you can finally end her rule."

"There's that plan we've been looking for," Sally said. "I say we go for it."

Aidan glanced down, he was not surprised to see Mother looking up. She knew he was up there somewhere, she could feel him. Stepping back, he searched the roof. "The one advantage I can see is that I know this place inside and out."

"Well?" Josh asked him.

"Okay, let's do this," Aidan said.

"There's just one thing you all forgot about," Randal said. "The Pwned Ghost Hunters."

Josh slapped his palm on his forehead, then his eyes lit up, "Wait, they're not just our problem, they're Mother's now too."

Aidan grinned widely, "Donny never liked me. That hate may go to all Vampires. Let's hope he gives her a warm reception. Come on let's go. As Sally said, this place is huge, I'm sure we can avoid them for at least a day."

"Then you're on board with the drinking thing?" Josh hopefully asked him.

"Standing on the undecided side, for now."

"Good," Josh said. "At least you didn't say no."

"This way," Aidan led them away from the fire escape.

Randal took one last look over the edge. He saw the vampires walking into the sanatorium. Hefting his crossbow he jogged to join the others. Josh saw a large grin on Randal's face. Questioning him, Randal replied.

"What's better than a video game?" he raised his crossbow, "Ain't nothing can beat live."

"We won't have Tyrael at the end to save us."

"Yeah we do," he pointed to Aidan.

Josh grinned, because he knew he was right, "Yes, we do."

They all soon realized that having Aidan with them gave them a huge advantage. He knew this building so well, he would be able to move through it in the dark.

"Watch it here," Aidan told the others. They were still on the roof. The building was in three sections. The main building, and two smaller sections on each side. They were currently at the end of the center section. The third section on the right side of the building was just ahead of them. A large gap loomed before them.

"This used to have a ramp across, it fell down years ago. When I worked here this was the hospital section of the Sanatorium."

Aidan pointed ahead. "This side is also in the worst shape." His head dipped down, he softly said, "There was a fire, and other things." Sighing he continued. "Once across, you'll need to stay close to me. We'll be walking on crumbling floors and stairs. I'm hoping this will give us a slight advantage from Mother and the other Vampires."

On the other side giant rusting cooling units dotted the roof. "Avoid the units,"
Aidan warned them. "I've noticed cracks in the roof where they sit. I don't know how long it will be before their weight breaks through."

Aidan stepped, back, he took the leap first. He landed safely on the other side. The gap was five feet wide. Josh looked down the gap, he saw on each floor sections that connected the buildings. Some of them were crumbling apart so bad, he was able to see inside. Looking up he saw Sally standing next to Aidan.

"Come on Josh," she urged him "You can do it."

Randal rested the crossbow on his shoulders. Taking in a deep breath, he ran to the edge of the building and jumped to the next section. Landing hard on his feet, he waited for Josh.

Josh rubbed his sweating palms on his pants. He really hated heights. The sun was setting, but not soon enough for him. He could still see how high up they were.

"You need help?" Randal shouted.

Josh shook his head, "Just give me a second." He really was frightened, but he had to hide his fear.

"It's just a small gap," he mumbled. "Easy, I can do it."

He made sure the straps to his backpack were tight. Backing up a few steps, he fisted his hands and ran to the edge. Coming to it, he jumped on the edge and leapt off. As soon as his feet left the building his heart was racing so fast he felt as if it was coming out of his mouth. Wind milling his arms in the air, he landed hard on the roof. He laughed in joy, "One giant leap for wolf kind."

"Come on Neal," Aidan said. "Up ahead are stairs to the lower floors."

Taking the lead, Aidan walked towards an enclosure on the roof. As he rushed to keep up Josh suddenly stopped when something appeared in front of him.

"It's true," a young woman sighed. "You can see me. Pleaaassee, help me. My name is Dana Colby, I need your help to contact my daughter."

"Just what I didn't need," Josh mumbled, he tried to ignore her, but she kept appearing in front of him "You must help me," she wailed "I need to set things right."

"Maybe it's my cologne that's drawing all the unwanted attention?" Josh said. "Has to be it." He looked into Dana's eyes, "I'm sorry, but I can't help you, I have my own troubles to handle. I don't even know if I'll make it out of here alive."

Josh moved to his right, he rolled his eyes when an old man popped in front of him. "Goddamn, that crazy girl was right," the man said. "You are here, you do see us."

"Please," Josh said. "I'm sorry, but I can't help you either." He looked ahead, his companions did not realize he was being confronted by ghosts. They were already several feet ahead of him.

"Look," Josh said. "I promise, if I'm alive when this is all over, I'll do whatever I can to help you."

"You promise?" Josh heard someone from behind. Turning around he was shocked to see at least twenty ghosts standing behind him. In seconds ten more appeared. They began to walk to him, pleading, begging for him to help them. Slowly Josh backed away. "This party just keeps getting bigger," he whispered. "I cant' help you now," Josh told them. "Please, leave me alone."

"But you said," the old man growled. "You promised that you would help us."

Josh could see that they were not going to leave him alone. "Guys!" Josh called out. "Need a little help here."

Hearing Josh call for help, Sally was immediately by his side. "Leave him alone," Sally shouted.

"You can't have him all to yourself, girly," the old man grumped. "We have a right to ask him to help us. Aidan just talks to June, he won't help us. You know how long it's been since a human spoke to us?"

"Tooo long," a young woman wailed. In her arms, she cradled a baby. "My baby needs her door, you have to help me find it. I can't walk through my door without my baby."

"Yes," Dana said, "We all want our doors, we've been waiting so long for them. He's the only one that can help us."

The ghost's now grew bolder. They surrounded Josh. He began to back away from them, he stopped when he hit something hard. Turning around his face flushed cold, it was one of the cooling units on the roof.

Once they heard Josh cry for help, Sally immediately went to him. But Aidan hesitated, Randal could actually see him avoid looking at the spirits. Some of them angrily glared at Aidan.

"Your friend needs help," Randal told Aidan.

"Sally can handle it," he briskly replied.

Randal watched Josh back away from the demanding spirits. "Doesn't seem to be working." Aidan really didn't want to confront the spirits, he hoped that Sally would be able to manage them. He was willing stay where he was, that was until he saw Josh back away to far. "Josh," Aidan shouted, "Stay away from that."

Josh realized the ghosts had backed him up exactly where Aidan told them not to go. Ducking his head he made up his mind to run through the crowd of spirits. Just as he took one-step, he heard a loud bang. Sally spun around, she saw the terror in Josh's eyes as the roof below him began to crack.