Disclaimer: see chapter 1
Author's notes: Real Life has taken over, so updates might not be very frequent for a while. I'll endeavour to do my best.
Connor woke up in the shade of a gas station, the first heat of the sun filtering through the metal roof.
"Morning," Angel said.
Connor yawned and stretched. "Morning. Where are we?"
"Still in Arizona," his father said. "If you're not too tired, maybe you could take the wheel and I'll get under cover in the back. This place sells food and drink too."
Opening the car door, Connor climbed out and felt his limbs twinge with the ache that comes from not having enough legroom. "All right, I'll go and grab something to eat and we can get moving again. How long have we been stopped?"
"Only half an hour," Angel said. "It was getting too light to carry on, and I saw this place and grabbed the chance."
"Sensible." Connor grinned at his father and went into the little shop, where he bought a sandwich and a drink and some potato chips for later. Coming back to the car, he found that Angel had already put the cover of the car up and had got into the back, where he was lying on the floor between the front and back seats, covered in a blanket. "You'll boil," Connor pointed out.
"I don't get hot," Angel returned, his voice muffled by the blanket. "And even if I did, rather that than fry. I'm going to try and sleep a bit, okay?"
"Sure," Connor said, getting into the driver's seat and adjusting the mirrors before slipping on his sunglasses. He turned the key in the ignition, put the big car into gear, and set off slowly.
Ten minutes later he was on open, empty highway and was starting to feel a little more confident, pushing up his speed to a comfortable 55 miles an hour. The car was powerful and the wheel comfortable, and he settled to driving with a grin on his face. From the back there was no sound, and after a while Connor turned the radio on quietly, hoping that it would not disturb his father's sleep.
He stopped once before lunchtime, to stretch his legs again, and then found a shady parking space under a useful tree two hours later. The car was radiating heat, and Connor himself was sweating under the cover. He wished he could put it up and get some air moving through the car, but he resigned himself to a break under the tree and settled down with his back to it to eat.
There was nobody around, and the road was silent and empty for miles. Connor munched his sandwich and listened to the soft ticking of the convertible's hot engine and the click of the cicadas. He felt perfectly relaxed and strangely happy, considering that he was on a madcap mission with his vampiric father to wreak some sort of revenge on a man who certainly was not related in any way.
Connor rolled his sandwich wrapper into a ball and threw it into the trunk of the car before getting in and setting off again due East. They were in New Mexico now and the sun was high in the sky. The highway stretched on straight in front of him in one long shimmering ribbon.
An hour into the afternoon, Angel shifted in the back and spoke, his voice slightly muffled by the blanket.
"Where are we, Connor?"
"Afternoon," Connor said. "New Mexico. We'll be into Oklahoma before dark."
"We've made good progress, then," his father said.
"Did you sleep?" asked Connor.
"Yes. Not very well. I can't stretch out."
"You should've bought a station wagon or something," Connor said. "Not that I don't prefer this car, but something bigger would be more practical from the hiding from the sun point of view."
"I do have some taste," Angel said. "And I like old cars. What's the scenery like here?"
"Dull," said Connor. "Desert and cactuses."
"Cacti."
"Cacti, then. That's about it. I found a tree to have lunch under. Are you going to go back to sleep?"
"I doubt it."
"Talk, then. Go on from where you left off last night."
"Where I left off."
"You were buried," Connor said, his eyes flicking to the rear view mirror and seeing the empty back seat.
"I was buried, yes." His father fell silent for a while, and as Connor was about to prompt him again, said, "have you ever been in a really dark place?"
Connor thought, and decided not. "No. There's always some ambient light."
"Not," Angel said, "in a coffin. I remember opening my eyes, and seeing nothing; feeling absolutely ravenous; and feeling the airlessness of wherever I was. I think I tried to breathe, and failed, and then I started to get out. Somehow I knew I had to get out, get up, and I kicked and scrabbled, broke the coffin seal and pushed the lid up enough to get through to the earth. It was pretty loose, actually, because they'd only just filled in the hole. So I dug, upwards."
Connor grimaced, trying to imagine being buried, and hoping it never happened to him.
"When I came out, Darla was waiting for me." There was a pause from the back seat, and Connor heard his father shifting. "She said that this was the world, and who did I want out of the village. I . I said I'd take the whole village." Connor said nothing, and waited, keeping the car straight, his hands gripping the wheel a little harder now. "Tell me to stop, if it gets too much, Connor."
"Yeah. All right."
"So we went to my old house. It was night, they were all asleep, apart from my sister. Kathleen. She had a room on the first floor, with a great old oak tree growing up by the window, and a light came from it. Darla went off, telling me I had to do this alone, and I climbed the tree. Kathy . Kathy always used to let me in if I was home late, and she was sitting up that night, praying." Connor heard a catch in his father's voice. "So I tapped at the window, and she came and opened it, and didn't seem surprised to see me. She invited me in."
There was a long pause from the back of the car. The radio hissed static, and Connor turned it off.
"So . so I killed them, all of them. Kathy, and my mother, and my other sister and brothers, and finally my father. And the power felt so good, I felt like I could have the world. I sat and waited for Darla in the kitchen with my father's body at one side of the room, and I didn't care. That was the night my family died."
Connor said nothing, and waited. Eventually, Angel continued.
"After that, we did go through the town. We left it ravaged, and went on to Dublin. Darla made herself known to the vampires in the town and we got the run of the place." His father sighed, audibly. "I suppose at the time we were happy, in the way only vampires can be. Now you see why I didn't want to tell you this?"
"I guess," Connor said. "Yeah, I see. But I still want to hear it. I guess I feel I need to hear it, to understand you. Can you go on?"
After a while, Angel did go on, and Connor listened and drove as the afternoon drew on and the night began once more to fall.
Author's notes: Real Life has taken over, so updates might not be very frequent for a while. I'll endeavour to do my best.
Connor woke up in the shade of a gas station, the first heat of the sun filtering through the metal roof.
"Morning," Angel said.
Connor yawned and stretched. "Morning. Where are we?"
"Still in Arizona," his father said. "If you're not too tired, maybe you could take the wheel and I'll get under cover in the back. This place sells food and drink too."
Opening the car door, Connor climbed out and felt his limbs twinge with the ache that comes from not having enough legroom. "All right, I'll go and grab something to eat and we can get moving again. How long have we been stopped?"
"Only half an hour," Angel said. "It was getting too light to carry on, and I saw this place and grabbed the chance."
"Sensible." Connor grinned at his father and went into the little shop, where he bought a sandwich and a drink and some potato chips for later. Coming back to the car, he found that Angel had already put the cover of the car up and had got into the back, where he was lying on the floor between the front and back seats, covered in a blanket. "You'll boil," Connor pointed out.
"I don't get hot," Angel returned, his voice muffled by the blanket. "And even if I did, rather that than fry. I'm going to try and sleep a bit, okay?"
"Sure," Connor said, getting into the driver's seat and adjusting the mirrors before slipping on his sunglasses. He turned the key in the ignition, put the big car into gear, and set off slowly.
Ten minutes later he was on open, empty highway and was starting to feel a little more confident, pushing up his speed to a comfortable 55 miles an hour. The car was powerful and the wheel comfortable, and he settled to driving with a grin on his face. From the back there was no sound, and after a while Connor turned the radio on quietly, hoping that it would not disturb his father's sleep.
He stopped once before lunchtime, to stretch his legs again, and then found a shady parking space under a useful tree two hours later. The car was radiating heat, and Connor himself was sweating under the cover. He wished he could put it up and get some air moving through the car, but he resigned himself to a break under the tree and settled down with his back to it to eat.
There was nobody around, and the road was silent and empty for miles. Connor munched his sandwich and listened to the soft ticking of the convertible's hot engine and the click of the cicadas. He felt perfectly relaxed and strangely happy, considering that he was on a madcap mission with his vampiric father to wreak some sort of revenge on a man who certainly was not related in any way.
Connor rolled his sandwich wrapper into a ball and threw it into the trunk of the car before getting in and setting off again due East. They were in New Mexico now and the sun was high in the sky. The highway stretched on straight in front of him in one long shimmering ribbon.
An hour into the afternoon, Angel shifted in the back and spoke, his voice slightly muffled by the blanket.
"Where are we, Connor?"
"Afternoon," Connor said. "New Mexico. We'll be into Oklahoma before dark."
"We've made good progress, then," his father said.
"Did you sleep?" asked Connor.
"Yes. Not very well. I can't stretch out."
"You should've bought a station wagon or something," Connor said. "Not that I don't prefer this car, but something bigger would be more practical from the hiding from the sun point of view."
"I do have some taste," Angel said. "And I like old cars. What's the scenery like here?"
"Dull," said Connor. "Desert and cactuses."
"Cacti."
"Cacti, then. That's about it. I found a tree to have lunch under. Are you going to go back to sleep?"
"I doubt it."
"Talk, then. Go on from where you left off last night."
"Where I left off."
"You were buried," Connor said, his eyes flicking to the rear view mirror and seeing the empty back seat.
"I was buried, yes." His father fell silent for a while, and as Connor was about to prompt him again, said, "have you ever been in a really dark place?"
Connor thought, and decided not. "No. There's always some ambient light."
"Not," Angel said, "in a coffin. I remember opening my eyes, and seeing nothing; feeling absolutely ravenous; and feeling the airlessness of wherever I was. I think I tried to breathe, and failed, and then I started to get out. Somehow I knew I had to get out, get up, and I kicked and scrabbled, broke the coffin seal and pushed the lid up enough to get through to the earth. It was pretty loose, actually, because they'd only just filled in the hole. So I dug, upwards."
Connor grimaced, trying to imagine being buried, and hoping it never happened to him.
"When I came out, Darla was waiting for me." There was a pause from the back seat, and Connor heard his father shifting. "She said that this was the world, and who did I want out of the village. I . I said I'd take the whole village." Connor said nothing, and waited, keeping the car straight, his hands gripping the wheel a little harder now. "Tell me to stop, if it gets too much, Connor."
"Yeah. All right."
"So we went to my old house. It was night, they were all asleep, apart from my sister. Kathleen. She had a room on the first floor, with a great old oak tree growing up by the window, and a light came from it. Darla went off, telling me I had to do this alone, and I climbed the tree. Kathy . Kathy always used to let me in if I was home late, and she was sitting up that night, praying." Connor heard a catch in his father's voice. "So I tapped at the window, and she came and opened it, and didn't seem surprised to see me. She invited me in."
There was a long pause from the back of the car. The radio hissed static, and Connor turned it off.
"So . so I killed them, all of them. Kathy, and my mother, and my other sister and brothers, and finally my father. And the power felt so good, I felt like I could have the world. I sat and waited for Darla in the kitchen with my father's body at one side of the room, and I didn't care. That was the night my family died."
Connor said nothing, and waited. Eventually, Angel continued.
"After that, we did go through the town. We left it ravaged, and went on to Dublin. Darla made herself known to the vampires in the town and we got the run of the place." His father sighed, audibly. "I suppose at the time we were happy, in the way only vampires can be. Now you see why I didn't want to tell you this?"
"I guess," Connor said. "Yeah, I see. But I still want to hear it. I guess I feel I need to hear it, to understand you. Can you go on?"
After a while, Angel did go on, and Connor listened and drove as the afternoon drew on and the night began once more to fall.