Chapter 12 – Promises, Alleys, and Vampires

Angel and Evan sat in silence on the train to Slooth. They had been on the train for four hours now with three more to go until they reached their destination. Angel had packed in a hurry and left without saying goodbye to anyone, except Kid who received a few choice words from his daughter. Evan was sure to say enough goodbyes for the both of them.

Angel kicked her feet up on the vacant seat across from her and fixed her eyes out the window. It was too dark to see anything, but it was better than looking at the suspicion covering Evan's face. She wasn't surprised that he sensed something was going on with her. She just wasn't confident in her ability to not spill everything to him like she was known to do. And it was eating away at her.

"I'm going to get coffee, want anything?" Evan broke the silence that had settled between them when they boarded the train.

"Sure, the usual." She glanced at him.

His lips pulled into a half smile. "Back in a few."

She watched him stand up, slide the compartment door open, and close it behind him. She closed her eyes sinking lower in her seat. Her mind wandered back to what her dad instructed while she packed.

The assignment to Slooth was just cover for Angel's meeting with Kyoki. She'd get Evan to leave her alone for a few minutes ao Kyoki could approach her. Once Kyoki did Angel would convince him in any way necessary that she wanted to join Cassandra, but only after Sid and Sully were healed. If Evan found out about Kyoki being there things would be very bad for Angel. She would have to explain why she was meeting with Kyoki and she knew without a doubt that wouldn't go over well. Evan would believe Angel was going to join Cassandra to get information, but if they ever had to fight he wouldn't go all out against her. Angel couldn't risk that happening.

"Coffee, drowned in sugar and French vanilla creamer." Evan held a paper cup out to Angel.

She opened her eyes taking it from him. "Thanks." She took a sip and smiled down at the perfectly made drink.

He sat down next to her instead of across. He flicked the lid off of his cup and drank slowly.

"We should get there as the sun's coming up." Angel said, mostly to give them something to talk about.

He let out a long breath. "I understand that you can't tell me what's really going on but don't lie to me."

"I won't." She sighed. "There is something I can tell you I just wasn't sure how." He raised a quizzical eyebrow waiting for her to elaborate. "Do you remember Cassandra saying Dad made her a promise the night the DWMA was burned down?"

"Vaguely. Why?"

"Because Dad really messed up and I don't think I can fix it." She stared at her boots while she talked. "Dad made a deal with Cassandra when my mom was pregnant with me. My mom was having complications with the pregnancy and it wasn't looking good for either of us so he went to Cassandra for help. Cassandra was the only witch he knew that dabbled in the medical field and could help my mom. She helped, but refused to what she wanted until I was born. Something about making sure she didn't ask for too little or too much."

"Why would he go to a witch?" Evan asked, scowling at the ceiling.

"My mom was human." Angel swallowed hard. "Meaning I'm only half Grim Reaper, unlike Dad and Grandpa."

"Wait, who is Kid's mom? And how come you are, well, really good at everything if you're only half?"

"First, he doesn't have a mom and don't ask for the details on that." She smiled looking over at him. "Secondly, I'm not really good at everything."

"Oh, yes you are." He laughed.

"Lines of Sanzu."

"Touché."

They grinned at each other. Things were beginning to feel normal between them again.

"Anyway, there were complication during the delivery resulting in me mom dead and me barely alive." Her grin faded as they got back to her explanation. "When it was all over Cassandra explained to Dad that my mom couldn't survive giving birth to a Reaper. Dad had assumed that from the complications early on, but her death wasn't any easier for him to handle. So, when Cassandra named her price he promised to give it to her without much thought of the consequences. She asked for full access to Death's library and one year of samples from me."

"Samples?" Evan's expression was a mixture of confusion and disgust.

"Hair, blood, anything related to my DNA."

"Creepy."

"You're telling me."

"Kid refused?"

She nodded. "Cassandra asked for a few books from the library, but Dad wouldn't hand them over. Not that I can blame him for it since most of Grandpa's books contain things that should never resurface again. As retaliation for denying her she publicly confronted Dad and burned down the DWMA."

"What about the samples?" Evan cringed when he said the word samples.

She bit her lip. "She got them when I was younger. I think she's used it to help with her experiments, but I'm not entirely sure. She asked for more but Dad wouldn't let her come anywhere near me."

"Is the only reason she's doing all of this because Kid broke his promise?"

"No."

"You can't tell me?"

"I would if I knew."

"All right."

Evan reached over and took her empty coffee cup. She hadn't realized she finished it much less drank it while she was talking. He got up and threw the cups away. He returned to his seat beside her and she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"At least you know what happened to your mom." He said softly.

"Yeah." She was torn between being glad she finally got the truth from her father and sorrow over the loss of her mother.

"So, we just have to sit here all night?" Angel looked around the small town of Slooth. All the brightly painted houses and general cheerfulness of the town with a backdrop f a dark and endless forest seemed out of place.

"We have to watch for vampires like the Mayor said." Evan grinned. He was enjoying the utter bizarreness of Slooth.

When they arrived in the wee hours of the morning the Mayor had greeted Evan and Angel. The Mayor was all smiled as he explained that people in the town have gone missing and it always happened at night. The few sightings the townspeople had were of a figure wearing a black cloak that fluttered as he ran off with his victims. Evan had to fight back his laughter what the Mayor said, with complete seriousness, it was a vampire. Angel on the other had didn't bat an eyelash at the announcement. After that Angel and Evan checked into their hotel room and slept for a few hours. They had been sitting in the center of town watching for signs of a vampire since sundown.

"Masa and Sully are going to blow a gasket when we tell them about this," Angel said.

"I can hear the arguments now." Evan sat down on a grassy area and leaned his back against the trunk of a tree.

"Masa, I told you vampires are nothing but a myth." Angel did her best impression of Sully.

Evan flipped his hair mocking what Masa always does when she gets her feathers ruffled. "Sully, vampires originated in Romania. Vampires are real."

Angel dissolved in a puddle of laughter. Evan chuckled, but stopped abruptly. A change in the air had his green eyes sweeping over the town. As if drawn in by the shadows Evan stared at a narrow alley between two houses. He thought he saw movement, but he wasn't sure. He had never been good at Soul Perception to feel out his suspicions, luckily Angel was.

"Can you sense anything?" He asked Angel without removing his eyes from the alley.

She let out a long breath. "Not where you're looking. But there is someone over there." She pointed to the shadowed porch of a cottage in the opposite direction of where Evan was looking. "I believe that's the person who's been kidnapping people."

"Positive?"

"Doubting me?" She flashed a teasing smile at him.

"No. It's just that something must be over there." Evan briefly looked to where Angel was pointing and then back to the alley.

"I'll go double check the empty alley while you go get the guy on the porch."

Before he could object to her plan she was moving through the shadows to the alley. Evan silently cursed. He wanted to chase after her but figured that wouldn't end well for the people snatching vampire. So, he slipped through the streets making his way to the porch. He leaned against the side of the house. He cleared his throat to get the vampire's attention. Staring up at Evan was a man with his face painted white, hair slicked back with too much gel, and a billowing black cloak all resulting in a comical version of a vampire.

"Vahh!" The man spoke around plastic fangs. "Vho are you?"

"Seriously?" Evan bit the inside of his cheek to keep from erupting in a fit of laughter. "Take out the teeth and stop with the horrible Dracula accent."

The man spit the teeth into his hand. "Who are you?" he asked, accent gone.

"Evan Albarn. Now tell me exactly what you're doing out this late and dressed like a wannabe Edward Cullen?"

"I'm Dracula not that pathetic glittery guy." The man rolled his eyes. "A week before the festival someone in our town is chosen by the Mayor to dress as a vampire and haunt the town. This year I thought it would be fun to have people go missing like the vampire is taking people to eat later. Everyone that's gone missing agreed to it, I swear."

"I take it the Mayor doesn't know about this?"

"No."

Evan let out an exasperated sigh. "I think you need to let the people you kidnapped go and tell the Mayor about what you did before this gets anymore out of hand."

The man shuffled his feet. "This is really bad, isn't it?"

"They wouldn't have sent me her if it wasn't." Evan smiled showing off his pointed teeth.

"Ok." The man scampered off down the street.

Evan watched the man go feeling that the whole trip to Slooth, Romania had been a complete waste of time. He clung to the shadows, out of habit, as he walked to the alley he last saw Angel at.

He stopped dead. His breath hitched in his throat. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Angel was in the alley shaking hands with Kyoki. Evan felt confusion followed by betrayal fill him. What could Angel possibly be doing shaking Kyoki's hand?

He forced himself to remain where he was and take slow measured breaths to keep his temper in check. He knew Angel wouldn't hve gone to Kyoki unless it was something important. Evan wondered if this was the reason she had been acting so strange the last few days. One thing he did know was he couldn't ask her what was going on. She would either lie or tell him nothing. He wasn't sure which one was worse. He had no other choice than to wait for Angel to tell him.

Evan ducked behind a planter just as Angel turned to sweep the area with her eyes. He watched as Kyoki disappeared into the night. Angel made her way back to the center of town. Evan popped out from behind the planter, running to meet up with Angel.

"Turns out dressing up as a vampire is town tradition and the guy took things a bit too far this year." Evan said.

Angel jumped at the sound of his voice, but quickly covered her surprise with a smile. "This is a strange town. It was just a few cats in the alley."

"Cats?" He couldn't hide the suspicion in his voice.

"Yeah, a mother and a litter of kittens." She averted her eyes and tugged on the sleeve of her jacket.

He sighed.

She didn't say anything.

"Once the Mayor's up we should be able to leave." He said the first thing he thought of to fill the silence.

She stopped walking, grabbed his hand, and stared at him with pleading two-toned yellow eyes. "Evan, promise me that no matter what happens you'll trust me."

"What's going to happen?" He heard himself say.

"There are things I have to do to keep y—" she cut herself off thinking twice about her words. "Everyone safe. Trust me, I'm only doing what's best.

"I promise."