Thirteen: Last Train Home

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Several months passed. My eighteenth birthday, the day I was officially an adult in the eyes of the law, was coming soon. My arm – which, by the way, had been broken in several places, almost to the point of shattering – and Perri's leg both healed in the correct space of time, though my arm was a little shorter than the other. In no time at all, we were back on track, hunting down two more vampaneze and slaying them before they could cause more destruction in the world.

Life had returned to normal once more.

Well, as normal as life could be for two revenge-driven vampaneze hunters.

After killing the second of the two vampaneze – bringing my overall total to four all in all, go me – we stuck around in that town for a while. Well, Perri did, anyway. She didn't seem too keen on picking up her roots and moving anytime soon. She had me enrol myself into the local gym and boxing club. While I was there, training my guts out, she would disappear hours on end without a word, and even when she returned she wouldn't tell me where she had gone – not that I asked. Perri must have told my coach and instructors to train me as hard as possible or something, because by the time I got back to the hotel every afternoon I'd be too exhausted to make it to the bed before falling asleep. I know for a fact that Perri found me asleep on the floor more than once – there was even one time she swore that I had fallen asleep standing up!

It was about three weeks after this gruelling training when Perri finally said something.

I was rolling out of bed in the morning, groaning over my sore, tired muscles, when Perri bounced into the room, grinning happily. I scowled at her.

"What are you so cheerful about?" I asked. She beamed.

"Found out what I was looking for. Tell me – do you have a passport?"

"Yeah – why?"

"We're leaving the country, my young padawan. We're going to Germany!" She cried happily, doing a strange little dance consisting of jumping around on the spot while punching the air madly. Still half asleep, her words took several moments to reach my brain and get processed. When they finally did, all I could do was blink.

"Why?"

Perri paused in her dance, blinking.

"Well… I guess you could say the thing I'm looking for is there."

"What are you looking for, anyway?"

She grinned, bouncing towards me and tapping my nose with her finger several times. I blinked, going cross-eyed as I tried to watch her finger.

"That is something you'll have to figure out for yourself, apprentice." She rocked back onto the heels of her feet while I scowled up at her, crossing her arms and tapping the side of her face with one hand. "Now then. Is there anywhere in particular you want to visit before going to Germany? I mean, this'll probably be the last time you'll see Ireland for a while, so you'd better make sure you haven't left any girlfriends waiting at home!"

"But I don't have a girlfriend…" I mumbled, confused. She pulled a face, though her eyes were dancing with humour.

"Trust me, Steve, a guy as cute as you is bound to have girls with crushes on them back home."

I scowled. The only girl I really knew was Annie Shan – and she was, what, three years younger than me? When I left home, she was just barely thirteen, still a kid basically. It never occurred to me that she could have grown in the year and a bit since I'd seen her.

But as I thought of Annie, I thought of how much I missed home. I didn't realise it before. I guess my exciting life kind of made me forget all about the town I grew up in. But now that I was thinking of it, I could feel a deep… ache inside of me. I wanted to go home again, even if it was for a little while. I missed school, Alan and Tommy, football, Annie… hell, I even missed my mother, though I'd die before I'd admit it.

With these thoughts realised, I looked up at Perri and smiled slightly.

"Can we visit my hometown – one last time?"

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I had travelled pretty far away from my small hometown in the past year and a half. It took us several days, buses, trains and kindly truck drivers to get even close. I enjoyed it – I would sit back in my seat, and watch the green Irish countryside flash passed, Perri humming a merry tune or chatting to another passenger or driver cheerfully beside me. If I tried hard, I would have forgotten all about vampires and vampaneze and thoughts of revenge. All I could think of was I was going home!

And then it happened.

We had just gotten off a train, which we had been travelling on for about two hours, and were having afternoon tea outside a café– how girly does that sound? – when Perri bought the local newspaper. Being in the same city as my hometown, any news from my neck of the woods would have been in the paper too. As she flipped through it, I asked if I could read it after her. Several minutes later, she passed it over, and I turned it to the front page.

As I read, my mouth went dry.

My heart stopped.

I stared.

Abruptly, I stood up again and looked around for a payphone. Perri looked up, concerned.

"Steve? What's up?"

I didn't answer, having spotted a phone and was already racing towards it. As I picked up the phone, pushed in a few spare coins and began dialling the number that I had never forgotten, I sensed Perri start reading the paper behind me.

'Two Die in Fatal Car Crash' – the headline read – 'Believed to be Murder-Suicide'.

'Last night, at approx. 10.35pm, a red station wagon crashed into a tree along the main highway, bursting into flame instantaneously. The two bodies found in the wreck have been confirmed to be Dermot and Angela Shan…'

The phone, which had been ringing, rung itself out as no one picked up. I made an aggravated sound of some sort, and rang the number again.

'…never got over his son's death six years ago… fell deeper and deeper into depression…'

Once again, it rung out. I smashed the phone back into its bracket, and chewed on my lip, thinking. Then an idea hit me. I picked the phone up once more, and rang another number. My number.

'…daughter, Annie, was at a friend's house when the crash occurred… will now be sent to England, where she will live with relatives…'

The phone was picked up after three rings.

"Hello?" An unfamiliar voice breathed.