Fright Night (1985)

Twist of Fate

Chapter Two

by

~GaGa4FrightNight~

~Vandhela~

"Amy..." Charley groaned, his head felt as if it were going to split in two or perhaps a million pieces. His mind directly went to Amy. The memories of failing to protect her from Dandridge's hypnotic grasp spun nearly dizzily behind his strained closed eyes. The horror he faced the moment he had rolled Amy over and discovered the extent of Dandridge's determination to have Amy for himself. "Oh, Amy..." he again groaned then his eyes snapped wide open the moment the hideous vampire face of Amy's was remembered; her mouth stretched in a nearly humanoid version of a shark and salivating for the first taste of blood.

He attempted to dart up but his head felt like a weight made of pure led which forced him to drop back against the plush bed. His vision no longer was blinded by flashes of light but was far from clear. His eyes shifted side to side but saw everything greatly blurred. He again groaned, confused and totally lost by everything. Then it struck him; that voice in the darkness behind his blindness. "Dandridge..." he gasped, knew the voice was the vampire's yet it was oddly riddled with a thick accent.

"Aye," a voice spoke.

Charley pushed back against the layers of pillows. His eyes frowned and looked to a figure that was distorted by the blurriness, a fogged image.

"That's right, lad," the voice again spoke, "You, my dear boy, are in the Dandridge home."

"What?" Charley gasped and the voice he heard sounded familiar but a younger familiar, "Who?"

"Oh, pardon me," the English accented voice spoke, "I am Doctor Aiden McHoolihee, the nearest physician in these parts."

"Unfortunately," another voice followed, a feminine voice that sounded remarkably like the one Charley had heard earlier.

"Very funny," Doctor Aiden McHoolihee commented as he stood near the edge of the bed with his brown eyes glared across the width of the bed, "And has your goal now become an attempt to put fear of me into every household within the region and if so, why had you bothered calling for me, hmm?"

"Oh, Aiden, you are so sensitive." the woman responded with a slight mocking laugh.

"Really now, Tayte." Aiden grumbled, crossed his arms over his chest.

"Tayte?" Charley questioned, his eyes squinted and tried to focus on the womanly silhouette standing at the other side of the bed he laid on, "I thought… ain't your name Thea?"

"What?!" Tayte, the identical twin to Thea, asked in surprise, "What made you assume I be Thea?"

"Ah," Charley mumbled, "Um, 'cause, well, you sound just like her or something, I guess." His head again dropped back and he groaned, "What in the.."

"Known it, I should have!" Tayte angrily shouted, "I shall wring her neck!" She tightly crossed her arms over her chest which was tightly encased by a plain brown wool bodice.

"Should have known what?" Aiden asked with a very expressive and curious furrow of his brow.

"None of your business!" Thea snapped back then pointed at the groaning strange young man, "Tend to that business!" She spun around on her plain black slippers and stormed towards the intricate wooden door.

"Oh dear, a temper she has." Aiden commented with a shake of his head then looked down at the young man. He startled when the room door slammed. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled then again looked down at Charley. "Okay, lad, how might your sight be now? Lord Dandridge had mentioned blindness, still that be an issue?"

Charley startled upon the mentioning of that name but lord? "Huh?" he mumbled and tried to focus his blurred vision up at the man before him, Doctor McHoolihee. The blurriness somewhat lessened and he could make out a very familiar shape of the man's stance. "Peter?" he gasped, the stance and the vocals all pointed to Peter Vincent the Great Vampire Killer but before him was Doctor Aiden McHoolihee.

"Hmm," Aiden frowned, "That is odd, Peter is my middle name. How would you have known this?" his expression brightened with a curious excitement, "Are you psychic, lad?"

Charley slowly shook his head. Where the hell was he? Why did he have this horrible sinking feeling that he wasn't in Kansas anymore let alone the suburbs of Rancho Corvallis? "Where am I?" he pushed himself to ask then swallowed hard, the lump in his throat growing.

"Lad, as was previous said, the Dandridge home." Aiden answered and watched the young man oddly shiver in response to the name Dandridge, "We are just outside Whitehill, the nearest township. But where might you think you are?"

"I have no damned clue anymore." Charley slightly whined, "I don't know. I know where I was but where the hell I am now, I have no god damned clue." He felt the weight about his head again. The effects of everything started to spin his mind. He loudly groaned, felt nearly nauseous.

"Lad," Aiden spoke then seated himself on the edge of the bed, "How had you come to be where Lord Dandridge found you?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told ya." Charley said, closed his eyes and tried to fight against the dizziness, "I'm not even sure if I believe anymore."

"Come now, lad," Aiden encouraged and patted the young man's hand, "Speak of what you remember."

Charley pried one eye open, the visual image of the man before him somewhat cleared and he swore he was looking at Peter but a younger Peter. His mind trailed a bit. He remembered Peter's confession during the moment he was begging for Peter's help after Amy had been taken. That's not even my real name. Was what Peter stated. "Peter..." he softly spoke the aged actor's name, professional character name not real name.

"Who might this Peter be?" Aiden curiously asked, "You speak of this Peter and earlier an Amy, these are your friends perhaps?"

Charley sluggishly nodded and softly stated, "Amy's, well, she's my girlfriend and Peter, well, he helped save her." His eyes felt heavy as bit by bit his vision cleared and definitely a younger face of Peter's became clearer and clearer. "You're Peter," he slightly laughed, "You're the young Peter Vincent," he again laughed as his eyes were nearly unable to stay open, "Peter Vincent..." he heavily sighed, "The great vampire killer..."

Aiden again frowned upon hearing the boy's rambling. His eyes shifted side to side in thought. He thought the boy very curious and odd. He slowly rose up, Charley having again fallen unconscious. He turned his attention to the odd attire the boy had arrived in, set drying near the lit fire. He stepped towards the fireplace eyeing the attire. "Hmm," he curiously hummed then lifted the trousers, "Odd." He found the metal zipper, a definite oddity to his time in history. He curiously moved the metal thing up and down, fascinated by how it clasped together when slid upward. He giggled, "Peculiar indeed."

"And what happened that you are not caring for our ill stranger?" Jerry questioned Thea.

Thea finished slicing the halves of potatoes then turned with the large cutting knife clenched by the handle. She rested her hand on her cinched hip and looked to Jerry with a little tilt of her head. "I cannot at the moment," she began to explain, "For if it becomes known to Tayte that I was with you at the time the boy was found, that is to say, I would be at my sister's mercy."

She set the knife down and gathered up the sliced potatoes then moved to the kitchen fireplace where a small pot was hung. "Have you forgotten Tayte's dislike concerning you and I." she spoke as she dumped the potatoes into the brewing soup specially being made for the strange young man, "She has threatened numerous times to throttle me."

Jerry shook his head as he stepped up behind Thea, his arms crossed over the frill of his white shirt. "Thea," he spoke up and watched her spin around and look to him curiously, "Has it not occurred to you, with the two of you thirty years of age, that neither one should have not a say in what the other does?"

"It occurs to me often." Thea confessed, "Yet, I do not enjoy when Tayte is upset."

"Sweet Thea," he sang and uncrossed his arms, "You, my angel, are one always concerned for others and worry of their hurt feelings. Should you not be more worried about your own feelings, for once?"

Thea shrugged, it has always been her nature to think of others which included the man who stood before her.

Jerry took a closer step forward which placed him directly in front of her. He looked down into her sweet expressive eyes. "Yet, for that is one of the many reasons that I love you." he confessed, his large brown eyes eagerly studied the loveliness of her features, "Yet, I sense it hinders us in ways, your unwillingness to set aside others for yourself." he lifted his hands and rested them gently against the sides of her neck, "Perhaps you should take in consideration obtaining some of Tayte's abilities to take control of your own life, for at times it seems she control yours."

"She does not." Thea protested, "She simply believes that nothing shall come of you and I because you are a lord and I am just, well, no one of any importance. Concerned she is, about me. She loves me."

Jerry's eyes frowned, the distinct lines between his brows defined. "Aye, but I love you as well." he stated, his hands slid down and rested against the exposed part of her shoulders.

"Aye and I love you." Thea sweetly stated then her expression slightly formed a concerned frown and eyes shifted down from looking into his eyes, "She speaks often, so blatantly, that you will never marry me because of my less importance which she explains makes me as common as a whore, a lord's mistress until he sees fit to remarry."

Jerry despised what was said, especially knowing that such harsh words came from Thea's identical twin sister. "Why you let her say such hurtful things?" he asked, tried to disguise his dislike, "You refrain from hurting her, yet she does so much to hurt you with her spiteful words." He shifted a hand and brought his fingertip just under chin then lifted her head. He saw her reluctance to look him in the eyes but she did and within them he saw the expression of fear and concern and bits of shame. "I will marry you, Thea." he promised and watched a little of those negative emotions fade within her large hazel eyes, "The moment Regine returns, I will announce that I choose you to be my wife."

"You will do that?" she asked, with a hint of hopefulness in her tone, "You truly wish to marry me and will, without hesitation, let it be known?"

"Of course," Jerry said with a nod and soft smile, "I will but I will wait for Regine's return and when that happens it will be the moment that all will know that I love you and you will be my wife." He enjoyed the light again brightening her hazel eyes, one of the very first images that caught his attention and continuously held it. He leaned down, always desired to kiss her lovely lips at any opportunity.

"THEA!" Tayte's voice shouted near the kitchen entrance.

"Oh, no," Thea groaned then quickly stepped to the side before Jerry could kiss her. She stepped passed him, heard him huff with annoyance. She skidded to a stop, heard Tayte's angered stomps nearing the kitchen. "Oh dear," she softly whined, "Tayte knows."

Jerry turned around, his eyes were narrowed. He was tired of Tayte's persistent to destroy Thea's image of what their relationship meant. "I see no matter that she does." he quickly stated.

"She shall yell at me." Thea again whined then turned to the side and looked to Jerry's frustrated expression, "You best leave and let it be the only one cursed and shouted at."

"Why?" Jerry quickly asked, "Am I not the one she despises? And I am beyond tiresome of you always at the brunt of her outbursts." He stepped up to Thea and sweetly touched the side of her face. "I am but fearful that there might come a moment that you will be convinced by her that I have wrongful intentions." he confessed and it was the truth, "You are my savior angel, if it were not for you, I am fearful of the direction I may have gone." Again he saw that lovely light of love for him within her eyes.

"Thea!" Tayte shouted, caught Jerry's final statement. She tightly crossed her arms then requested, "My Lord, I wish to speak with my sister in private, if you please." She knew he was the lord of the house and kept her composure and simple politeness but inside she sensed he would only break her darling sweet twin's open heart.

Jerry flashed a quick glare at Tayte then his expression softened upon looking back to Thea. "Always remember, hmm." he said then blatantly leaned and pressed a gentle kiss against Thea's lips. He pulled back, again a quick glare at Thea, then he reluctantly left the kitchen.

Thea smiled and rubbed her kissed lips together. She quietly giggled then turned. Her smile faded upon seeing the scornful grimace twisted about her identical twin's face. "I am sorry." she said, guessed an apology was best given quickly, "And so you know I was with Jerry and we both discovered that odd young man. What more is there to say?"

Tayte stomped forward and glared into her sister's identical eyes. "Why do this?" she asked, frustrated that Thea continued with the affair with their lord, "You make yourself such a fool for him. Do you not realize what the other staff whisper behind your back and blatantly to me?"

Thea turned her eyes away, she was tired, exhausted from having to defend what she knew was true love with their lord.

"Thea, there will come a time when he must marry someone but you will not be the one." Tayte hated speaking to Thea as she was but she was so fearful of her sister's heart and the disappointment that would surely come in the end, "I do not say these things to hurt you, Thea, I say them because I am your sister and I love you more than anyone in all this world." she uncrossed her arms and rested a hand on Thea's slouched shoulder, "You love him, I do not deny that but what is truly the extent of his love for you?"

"He will marry me." Thea spoke with a meek tone, "That he says and that I believe." She reluctantly looked to her sister's eyes and saw the doubt. She took a step back, forced her sister's hand away and stated, "And aye, I love him with all my heart and I refuse to doubt that he loves me. I pray that one day you will come to understand a love such as he and I have. And I care not what others speak ill of me because what truly has meaning to me is him." She wished she could see understanding in Tayte's hard eyes.

"He will hurt you, Thea." Tayte stated, "And when he does hurt you and break your beautiful heart, it will be more than my hate he shall reap."

Thea grimaced in response to the insinuation then shook her head and protested, "Do not speak of him in such a way! Do not think such things!"

"I am sorry," Tayte responded, "But that is the truth. We are sisters, we are blood, and we have only had that the majority of our cruel lives. Without us, what would we have done? I shall do anything for you, my sweet Sister."

"You say you will do anything." Thea snapped back, "But what a lie that is. You refuse to accept that I love him and he loves me and so, not anything you would do for me." She shook her head, felt more heartbroken by her sister's refusal to accept her love for their Lord Dandridge. "The soup shall be done in a bit." she completely shut down, "You shall serve it to the boy. I am exhausted from..." She again shook her head then quickly left the kitchen.

Tayte heavily sighed. She hated the conflict their so called lord seemed to cause between her and Thea. She grumbled to herself and decided to do something productive while waiting for the soup to finish cooking.