Chapter 4: Covering the Bases
"How much further do I have to go?
And how much longer until I finally know?"
-Hoobastank, Crawling in the Dark
We sat down in my basement, looking at each other. To the side, the beagle who had tasted flesh just minutes before was now happily chewing on a piece of rawhide called a 'pig's ear'. I was sitting in front of my computer, Jenny collapsed into an easy chair in front of the small TV, Brian between us.
No one spoke.
I hate uncomfortable silences, almost as much as Pyro does. I just solved it without turning on N'Sync.
My computer was on, as it always is. I turned on Winamp, searching for something suitable. Tony Harnell's "It Doesn't Matter" came on. It seemed like something appropriate to try to turn the mood around.
Brian spoke first, "Vampires?" he asked, no one in particular.
"Vampires," I concurred.
"It wanted me," said Jenny, sounding small. "Why me? Why am I so important?"
"I don't know, Jenny, I don't know," said Brian.
"It feels almost anticlimactic, but who are you?" I asked, then blushed, "I mean, to people who aren't oxygen challenged?"
"Jennifer," she said, after a moment's pause. "Jennifer Rathe, Lake Bluff fifth grader."
"I'm Brian Spark, also in Lake Bluff's fifth grade. And on the baseball team, as she is."
"And my name's John. John Randall. I'm... uhm...currently taking computer classes for a certification. Can you tell me what happened, before Penny took offense to a predator on her block?"
Jenny was still too shaken by what had happened to think truly coherently. Brian related what happened before I arrived. "Falling for the First Time" began to play.
"Slayer?" I asked.
"I don't know!" cried Jenny, "I don't...know."
"It's so unreal," he said. "What's 'the' slayer?"
"Ok, so we don't know what that means. What *do* we know?"
"He didn't come until after the sun fell, so I think the story about the sun rays are true," Jenny began.
"He definitely threw my bat away, saying he didn't want to risk anything wooden. So a stake through the heart..."
"Would scare him, to death. Redeath, anyway," I finished. I started for a second. "Wait a minute, how do you know he wasn't watching you before hand?"
"I....I felt him. When he got close. It was something dark...on the border of my mind," Jenny said, wincing as she remembered, "It stung, just a little."
"Maybe you are something special, something that worries him," I said.
She looked at me, with palpable fear, "I hope not. I didn't want superpowers, I just wanted to make the major leagues."
Brian reached out, giving her hand a squeeze.
"And it doesn't like holy symbols," I concluded, "I don't have a specific symbol, so this was enough. Most people use crosses."
"What does that give us," Jenny asked?
"Well, I've got nothing to shape into a stake...or a cross," I said, pondering. "What I do have is something I picked up at Gen-Con." I got up, digging in my closet. "It's in here somewhere."
"What are you looking for, John?"
"This," I said, pulling out a slightly rusty blade. "I just wish it was sharp."
"Where'd you get the sword?" asked Brian. His eyes were wide as I took a few practice swings, glancing irritated at the discoloration in the metal. It was a long sword, though perhaps barely, being about stomach high on me, roughly three and a half foot long.
"The giant gaming convention known as 'Gen-Con!'. Four days of glorious gaming. It's incredible. The gaming, I mean, not the sword."
"Can I see it?" asked Brian.
I paused for one more defensive move, reversing my weight, pointing the blade downward in a left guard. Then I handed it to him, hilt first.
"Made in Spain?" he asked.
"Nobody's perfect."
He began imitating my maneuvers, which probably wasn't a good idea, I was imitating Duncan McLoud. Defensive postures were easy enough...high, low, left right, lateral parry. It was kind of hard to judge offensive moves, however, without someone to try them on.
Brian passed the sword to Jenny, who held it, blade in left hand, hilt in right, her eyes closed.
"As long as you don't yell out, 'For The Honor of Greyskull'," I joked. Jenny's eyes snapped open, and stared at me. Brian looked perplexed as well. "Sorry, sorry, 80s child... 80s child here." They exchanged glances, Brian shrugged. Jenny closed her eyes again.
Holding a sword just seemed to feel right to Jenny. With her eyes still closed, she began a somewhat complex routine with the blade, sparring against an invisible opponent. It looked a lot like what I did, until I realized she was doing it all one handed. I needed two hands to guide my sword, even with untrained practice.
We gave her room, as she ended the motion by taking a wicked swing at something about her neck level, and opened her eyes, which revealed shock, "How...how do I know how to do this?"
We had no answer.
"Look, Jenny, we better get home. Our parents will be worried," Brian said.
She nodded. I grabbed my jacket. "One last question, what do we tell other people?"
"If we tell others, and they believe us, we'll never leave the house again," said Brian, somberly.
"Otherwise, they'll think we're crazy," Jenny said.
Knowing my friends, that second option didn't apply to me. "So we don't tell them."
Jenny handed my sword back to me. I got my shoes back on, and glanced at Penny. "All things considered, dog, I don't think you should come with me, this time."
Penny, as beagles do, gave me the I'm-eating-so-leave-me-alone look. I moved to clamber the stairs behind Jenny and Brian.
"Uhm, you know." I set the sword, pulling my pendant back out, unhitching the chain. I knelt down to one knee. "Could one of you clip this for me?"
Brian slipped around behind me, fastening the chain. I pulled the pendant around to the front of my neck, retook my grip on the sword, as we made our way to the front door.
I paused at the handle. "Item one, yes, I'm taking the sword with me. I've seen too much strange stuff tonight not to carry it. Item two, Jenny, you said you sensed the vampire before you saw him. Do you sense anything now?"
Jenny blinked, and closed her eyes. A moment later, she reopened them. "No... I don't think so."
"All right. Let's go."
For all my preparation, it was an uneventful walk to Brian's bat, back to his house. We nodded as he headed back inside. I walked with Jenny back to her house. She looked at me, her eyes showing a mixture of surprise and fear, before heading in.
I was returning to my house when I felt something watching me. I panicked, and begun to run to my door. I saw him behind me, and spun, holding the sword in front of me. His face was normal, his eyes brown.
He looked amused at the weapon. "So. You're the Watcher."
"I don't know what you're talking about!" I cried.
"Sure you don't. I'm going to have your Slayer as a snack. Her friend too. Just wait."
I didn't react to the threat, just continued holding the sword, waiting for him to make a move. He didn't, however, he simply turned and walked back towards the main road. I backed up back in to the house...where I almost tripped over Penny, who had been barking her little head off.
I regained my balance and shut the door before the dog could bolt, and returned to my room.
I spent the remainder of my night, abusing my broadband Internet connection. Playing Google lotto with the terms, "Slayer", "Vampire", "Watcher", and "Undead", came up with many D&D references, even more "Masquerade" hits, and nothing worth my time.
It was around 11:30 that I got the news Sammy had shattered a cork bat. I suppose it was a sign of my mental fatigue that my main thought was that I hoped it didn't cause Jenny to give up on baseball.
On that happy note, I went to bed, and tried to sleep.
The nightmares wouldn't let me. I could see people, others like Jenny and Brian, myself, consumed, turned into soulless monsters. The vampire plauge was spreading, like a cancer.
Brian told me later he had experienced his own nightmares.
Jenny, in her own bed, slept. Her images seemed more like visions then the average dream. She saw herself fighting vampires. And winning. When she woke in a cold sweat, it wasn't fear she felt.
It was an odd feeling of exhilaration.
*************************
I awoke the next morning at the usual time at 6:30, needing to catch a train in not quite two hours.
I did my usual preparations, showering eating, feeding the needy beagle, and checked the mail.
While online, I read the 8 Bit Theater I had missed the day before, and checked the gaming news at the Spy. It was when I looked at the satirical newsite Fark.com that I truly remembered the night before.
The headline was between one reading, "Weird: Farmer eating pigs: Not news. Pigs eating Farmer: News." and another, "Cool: Scientist cure diabetes in Monkeys. Monkeys looking forward to eating loads of candy." No, the one that jolted me read: "Scary: Witness claims girl murdered by Vampire. Gary Oldman unavailable for comment."
I swallowed, and clicked the link to read the article, which came from a Baltimore newspaper.
"Mrs. Buntel hasn't stopped crying.
Last night, daughter Sara (13) went out with her younger brother Harry (8). She never made it back. About 9:30 PM, neighbors, alerted by Harry's screams, interrupted a violent attack on the young girl.
She was found at the scene with her neck broken, and pronounced DOA at Baltimore County Hospital at 9:42 PM.
When questioned, her brother could only say that 'Vampire did it...I saw it...she saved me.' The state has arranged for psychiatric evaluations of Harry.
Other witnesses describe the man as a five foot ten light brown African American, with black hair. Police consider him to be armed and dangerous, and advise people not to intercept, but to instead call 911."
"Powers," I whispered to myself, "what's going on here?"
"How much further do I have to go?
And how much longer until I finally know?"
-Hoobastank, Crawling in the Dark
We sat down in my basement, looking at each other. To the side, the beagle who had tasted flesh just minutes before was now happily chewing on a piece of rawhide called a 'pig's ear'. I was sitting in front of my computer, Jenny collapsed into an easy chair in front of the small TV, Brian between us.
No one spoke.
I hate uncomfortable silences, almost as much as Pyro does. I just solved it without turning on N'Sync.
My computer was on, as it always is. I turned on Winamp, searching for something suitable. Tony Harnell's "It Doesn't Matter" came on. It seemed like something appropriate to try to turn the mood around.
Brian spoke first, "Vampires?" he asked, no one in particular.
"Vampires," I concurred.
"It wanted me," said Jenny, sounding small. "Why me? Why am I so important?"
"I don't know, Jenny, I don't know," said Brian.
"It feels almost anticlimactic, but who are you?" I asked, then blushed, "I mean, to people who aren't oxygen challenged?"
"Jennifer," she said, after a moment's pause. "Jennifer Rathe, Lake Bluff fifth grader."
"I'm Brian Spark, also in Lake Bluff's fifth grade. And on the baseball team, as she is."
"And my name's John. John Randall. I'm... uhm...currently taking computer classes for a certification. Can you tell me what happened, before Penny took offense to a predator on her block?"
Jenny was still too shaken by what had happened to think truly coherently. Brian related what happened before I arrived. "Falling for the First Time" began to play.
"Slayer?" I asked.
"I don't know!" cried Jenny, "I don't...know."
"It's so unreal," he said. "What's 'the' slayer?"
"Ok, so we don't know what that means. What *do* we know?"
"He didn't come until after the sun fell, so I think the story about the sun rays are true," Jenny began.
"He definitely threw my bat away, saying he didn't want to risk anything wooden. So a stake through the heart..."
"Would scare him, to death. Redeath, anyway," I finished. I started for a second. "Wait a minute, how do you know he wasn't watching you before hand?"
"I....I felt him. When he got close. It was something dark...on the border of my mind," Jenny said, wincing as she remembered, "It stung, just a little."
"Maybe you are something special, something that worries him," I said.
She looked at me, with palpable fear, "I hope not. I didn't want superpowers, I just wanted to make the major leagues."
Brian reached out, giving her hand a squeeze.
"And it doesn't like holy symbols," I concluded, "I don't have a specific symbol, so this was enough. Most people use crosses."
"What does that give us," Jenny asked?
"Well, I've got nothing to shape into a stake...or a cross," I said, pondering. "What I do have is something I picked up at Gen-Con." I got up, digging in my closet. "It's in here somewhere."
"What are you looking for, John?"
"This," I said, pulling out a slightly rusty blade. "I just wish it was sharp."
"Where'd you get the sword?" asked Brian. His eyes were wide as I took a few practice swings, glancing irritated at the discoloration in the metal. It was a long sword, though perhaps barely, being about stomach high on me, roughly three and a half foot long.
"The giant gaming convention known as 'Gen-Con!'. Four days of glorious gaming. It's incredible. The gaming, I mean, not the sword."
"Can I see it?" asked Brian.
I paused for one more defensive move, reversing my weight, pointing the blade downward in a left guard. Then I handed it to him, hilt first.
"Made in Spain?" he asked.
"Nobody's perfect."
He began imitating my maneuvers, which probably wasn't a good idea, I was imitating Duncan McLoud. Defensive postures were easy enough...high, low, left right, lateral parry. It was kind of hard to judge offensive moves, however, without someone to try them on.
Brian passed the sword to Jenny, who held it, blade in left hand, hilt in right, her eyes closed.
"As long as you don't yell out, 'For The Honor of Greyskull'," I joked. Jenny's eyes snapped open, and stared at me. Brian looked perplexed as well. "Sorry, sorry, 80s child... 80s child here." They exchanged glances, Brian shrugged. Jenny closed her eyes again.
Holding a sword just seemed to feel right to Jenny. With her eyes still closed, she began a somewhat complex routine with the blade, sparring against an invisible opponent. It looked a lot like what I did, until I realized she was doing it all one handed. I needed two hands to guide my sword, even with untrained practice.
We gave her room, as she ended the motion by taking a wicked swing at something about her neck level, and opened her eyes, which revealed shock, "How...how do I know how to do this?"
We had no answer.
"Look, Jenny, we better get home. Our parents will be worried," Brian said.
She nodded. I grabbed my jacket. "One last question, what do we tell other people?"
"If we tell others, and they believe us, we'll never leave the house again," said Brian, somberly.
"Otherwise, they'll think we're crazy," Jenny said.
Knowing my friends, that second option didn't apply to me. "So we don't tell them."
Jenny handed my sword back to me. I got my shoes back on, and glanced at Penny. "All things considered, dog, I don't think you should come with me, this time."
Penny, as beagles do, gave me the I'm-eating-so-leave-me-alone look. I moved to clamber the stairs behind Jenny and Brian.
"Uhm, you know." I set the sword, pulling my pendant back out, unhitching the chain. I knelt down to one knee. "Could one of you clip this for me?"
Brian slipped around behind me, fastening the chain. I pulled the pendant around to the front of my neck, retook my grip on the sword, as we made our way to the front door.
I paused at the handle. "Item one, yes, I'm taking the sword with me. I've seen too much strange stuff tonight not to carry it. Item two, Jenny, you said you sensed the vampire before you saw him. Do you sense anything now?"
Jenny blinked, and closed her eyes. A moment later, she reopened them. "No... I don't think so."
"All right. Let's go."
For all my preparation, it was an uneventful walk to Brian's bat, back to his house. We nodded as he headed back inside. I walked with Jenny back to her house. She looked at me, her eyes showing a mixture of surprise and fear, before heading in.
I was returning to my house when I felt something watching me. I panicked, and begun to run to my door. I saw him behind me, and spun, holding the sword in front of me. His face was normal, his eyes brown.
He looked amused at the weapon. "So. You're the Watcher."
"I don't know what you're talking about!" I cried.
"Sure you don't. I'm going to have your Slayer as a snack. Her friend too. Just wait."
I didn't react to the threat, just continued holding the sword, waiting for him to make a move. He didn't, however, he simply turned and walked back towards the main road. I backed up back in to the house...where I almost tripped over Penny, who had been barking her little head off.
I regained my balance and shut the door before the dog could bolt, and returned to my room.
I spent the remainder of my night, abusing my broadband Internet connection. Playing Google lotto with the terms, "Slayer", "Vampire", "Watcher", and "Undead", came up with many D&D references, even more "Masquerade" hits, and nothing worth my time.
It was around 11:30 that I got the news Sammy had shattered a cork bat. I suppose it was a sign of my mental fatigue that my main thought was that I hoped it didn't cause Jenny to give up on baseball.
On that happy note, I went to bed, and tried to sleep.
The nightmares wouldn't let me. I could see people, others like Jenny and Brian, myself, consumed, turned into soulless monsters. The vampire plauge was spreading, like a cancer.
Brian told me later he had experienced his own nightmares.
Jenny, in her own bed, slept. Her images seemed more like visions then the average dream. She saw herself fighting vampires. And winning. When she woke in a cold sweat, it wasn't fear she felt.
It was an odd feeling of exhilaration.
*************************
I awoke the next morning at the usual time at 6:30, needing to catch a train in not quite two hours.
I did my usual preparations, showering eating, feeding the needy beagle, and checked the mail.
While online, I read the 8 Bit Theater I had missed the day before, and checked the gaming news at the Spy. It was when I looked at the satirical newsite Fark.com that I truly remembered the night before.
The headline was between one reading, "Weird: Farmer eating pigs: Not news. Pigs eating Farmer: News." and another, "Cool: Scientist cure diabetes in Monkeys. Monkeys looking forward to eating loads of candy." No, the one that jolted me read: "Scary: Witness claims girl murdered by Vampire. Gary Oldman unavailable for comment."
I swallowed, and clicked the link to read the article, which came from a Baltimore newspaper.
"Mrs. Buntel hasn't stopped crying.
Last night, daughter Sara (13) went out with her younger brother Harry (8). She never made it back. About 9:30 PM, neighbors, alerted by Harry's screams, interrupted a violent attack on the young girl.
She was found at the scene with her neck broken, and pronounced DOA at Baltimore County Hospital at 9:42 PM.
When questioned, her brother could only say that 'Vampire did it...I saw it...she saved me.' The state has arranged for psychiatric evaluations of Harry.
Other witnesses describe the man as a five foot ten light brown African American, with black hair. Police consider him to be armed and dangerous, and advise people not to intercept, but to instead call 911."
"Powers," I whispered to myself, "what's going on here?"