Two weeks later - Atlanta, GA
He had nothing but a cell phone with one number programmed into it and a name. Not his own, he didn't know that. But the person that phone number belonged to. Josh Rosza. The one person he could always trust, no matter what.
He walked out of the bus station, trying to find a quiet place to make a phone call. Was nowhere in this damned city quiet? Even in an alley, with no people around, there were weird scuttling noises. And the traffic. Everything was so loud.
But, this seemed to be as good as it was going to get. He took the cell phone out and hit call on the only number he had.
"Elijah?"
Elijah. Was that him? He didn't know. Even after hearing it, it didn't sound familiar. "Josh. I… I think I need help."
"Shit. Okay, where are you?"
Where was he? That was a good question. "I'm in an alley. Near a bus station in Atlanta. I think. Everything is fuzzy."
"All right. Go back to the bus station. I'll find you. And Elijah? Try not to kill anyone." And then the phone went dead.
Try not to kill anyone? Why would he say that? Was killing people something he did often? Or was that some kind of joke? Seemed like a not very funny joke to play on someone when they call to ask for help.
He walked back to the bus station and found a bench to sit on. Why was everything so damned loud, though? And then, he noticed another sound. It sounded like drums. Like several drums. Each beating at its own rhythm, not at all connected to any of the other drums. And why was the sound of drums making him hungry?
And then someone was there, pressing a flask into his hand. "Here, drink this. It will help. Christ, they really did a number on you, didn't they?"
"Josh?"
"Yes. I'm Josh Rosza. You're Elijah Montgomery. The rest of this conversation needs to happen somewhere not here. But first, you need to drink that."
Drink, right. Except. "I'm really not thirsty. I'm more hungry than anything."
"Right. Trust me. Drink that, then we'll go somewhere we can talk."
Well, he was apparently not going to get any answers until he did what he was told. He put the flask to his lips and took a drink. What came out was not water. It was thicker than he was expecting, for starters. And the taste. The taste was indescribable. Josh was right about it helping. It seemed to be exactly what he needed. He quickly emptied the flask and pressed it back into Josh's hand. "I need more."
"Right. Let's get you to my apartment. There's more of that there, and we'll be able to talk without having to worry about who might be listening."
Privacy. Right. Because, somewhere there was a "they" who had apparently done something horrible to him. He was suddenly feeling very exposed sitting there.
He stood up. "Lead the way." Because whatever was going on, Josh could fix it. He didn't know much else, but he knew that.
~You Can't Fight Destiny~
The ride to Josh's apartment was quiet. Elijah was still trying to make the sound of his own name make sense in his head. And Josh seemed to have something on his mind, as well.
It was when they actually got there that things started to get weird. Elijah found himself physically unable to cross the open doorway. What the Hell?
"Shit. Sorry. Forgot about that. Lease is in the neighbor's name for safety. Give me a minute." He walked past Elijah and knocked on the door across the hall. A tiny woman with red hair answered and Josh just looked at her and said "I need you to tell my friend Elijah that it's okay to go into my apartment."
"Oh, you go on in, Elijah. It's perfectly fine."
And, just like that, whatever barrier had been keeping him out evaporated. Seriously, what was going on? But, he couldn't bring himself to ask. He had a feeling that he should know the answer to that. Josh had talked about his lease being in the neighbor's name like that was supposed to explain something. But, it only left him more confused.
"All right. What do you remember? Anything at all about who you are? What you are?"
What he is? What in the world was that supposed to mean? "Nothing. For all the memories I have, I could have been born on that bus. I knew to call you. That I can trust you. But I don't even know anything about you beyond your name."
"Wow. Okay. You know what? Let me start with a demonstration. This will all be slightly more believable if you see some of it in action." Before Elijah could even ask what that meant, Josh was gone. And then he was back, holding a butcher knife. "The things I do for you, man." He held his arm out in front of him, and sliced from his palm up to his elbow.
"What the hell?!" But, something was happening. The cut healing right before Elijah's eyes. "What the hell?" That time it was not much more than a whisper. "How?"
"It's one of the perks to being a vampire. Along with super speed, super strength, the whole living forever thing. Downside is going outside during the day without this ring leads to vampire flambe. Heightened senses are a bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes it's awesome. Sometimes it's 'oh my God, somebody make all the noise stop.' To think that I used to complain about crickets."
Heightened senses. Make all the noise stop. "The drums."
"What drums?"
"The bus station. It was so loud. And there were all these drums. I couldn't figure out where they were coming from. They didn't seem to have anything to do with each other. And… they were making me hungry, for some reason."
Josh laughed. "Well, you're certainly right about the drums being your heightened senses at work. Those were heartbeats."
Heartbeats. Heartbeats and hunger. Vampires. A flask of something that wasn't water making the hunger better. "Blood. That was blood you gave me." The thought should make him sick. Instead, it reminded him that he was still hungry. "You said you had more, here?"
"Yeah. Just a minute." He disappeared for probably less than a minute, and then came back with a wineglass. Except what was in it, while red, was too thick to be wine. At Elijah's raised eyebrow, he shrugged. "You've never been a blood bag kind of guy."
"Thank you." He took the glass, and took a sip. "So, what else do I need to know?"
"I guess we're starting with Vampire 101."
Over the next several hours, Josh explained what it meant to be a vampire, going over the various myths one by one. Followed by a crash course in witches and werewolves.
Until finally, Elijah ran out of questions. Except one. "So, what do I do, now? I still don't have any idea who I am."
"Who you are is a bit harder. Even I can't tell you everything. But, there is one thing I can tell you. You always knew that something like this happening was a possibility. And you always told me that if it did, I was to get your ass on a plane and take you to the one place you've always felt safe. Even gave me your passport, just in case. So, that is exactly what I'm going to do. Tomorrow, we're going to France."