"Welcome! Come in! Yes, please go in!"
Soule's wide smile is a reassuring sight. He seems totally at ease despite the nature of newcomers to his home.
"Jakah! Hello!"
Jakah steps inside with his bag flung over his shoulder. As everyone else has to still be invited in, they've formed a bit of a queue. Such a crowd outside a tiny cottage is truly a comical sight.
"Please, come in. What's that you've got there?" Soule looks down at Shion, he shows off his singed and torn teddy bear. "Oh! That will never do, it's so ragged."
Heli trudges up to the door. Not only has he just woken up, but Eugene has piled his arms with luggage. It's too early for this. The sun hasn't even set yet.
"How was the ride?" Soule asks.
Heli frowns at him. "Do you mean the whole thing or just the way back?"
"The speed Eugene can drive is incredible isn't it? No problems, I hope?"
Speed he can't argue with. Just this morning, he watched the sunrise on Aeaea for the last time. They'd packed everything back onto the boat and he watched the island draw away as they sailed out into the open sea. He hadn't meant to close his eyes, he wanted to see things through to the end. But the sea was calm, the boat rocked so gently and he couldn't help himself.
"I fell asleep!" he exclaims. "I slept through everything! I have no idea how we got anywhere!"
Soule stifles a laugh.
"You didn't miss anything," Viken pushes past him hunched over with his own luggage. "Eugene mostly just mutters to himself. We didn't even get a good radio signal."
"I told you to put an 8 track on," Eugene says. He and Noa hoist the wooden trunk between them.
"I wasn't exactly in the mood for the Sunshine Band," Viken grumbles. "I need rock n roll!"
With a shout he stumbles through the door, drops his bags and beelines upstairs. Within moments, the familiar thud of a loud drum beat became audible through the floor.
"Wow," Avys stands in the living room, looking with amazement at the suddenly full room. "Where are we going to put them?"
Heli backs into the kitchen. Taho sits at the table, watching the chaos unfold in the living room now crammed full of vampires. Excited chatter loudly fills the house, on top of Viken's blasting music.
"Eugene might need to conjure up a second house," Taho muses, taking a long sip from a steaming mug. "Looks like my research was helpful?"
"Definitely," Heli sits down. He's a bit overwhelmed by the noise and everyone pushing by each other just to get around. "More than helpful, really. We wouldn't have found Aeaea without your notes."
"Good," says Taho. He nods to Eugene, who stands in the doorway with his arms crossed. "What are we planning on doing with everyone?"
"I'm not sure yet," Eugene shakes his head. "Most of them have nothing."
"You want to stay with us, right?" Soule asks Heli.
Heli glances at the others, busy with Avys fussing over the television. Solon shoots him a look.
"I don't know yet," Heli says. "I'd certainly like to, but-"
"You don't need to decide right now," Eugene says. "I'm going to bed. Don't wake me for a week."
The tiny cottage is clearly too small for the twelve of them. Heli rests his head on his arms as he leans into the table. Whatever everyone wants to do, as long as they can stay together, anything is fine.
"Are you nervous?"
"No. Aren't you?"
Heli looks at Viken sitting across from him on the bedroom floor. Viken shrugs. To be honest, Heli is wracked with nerves, both frightened but at the same time trying hard to fight down a rising sense of anticipation. The last of the day's light illuminates the window, bathing the room is deep orange.
Viken had been the one to suggest it. An experiment, a test, just to confirm growing suspicions.
"If you're still cursed then you'll pass out on my floor, but if not, I trust you enough," Viken says. "And if I scream there are how many other people here who can rescue me? It's really a win or lose situation for you."
"I suppose."
"Besides, I'm well prepared." He points to a couple orange cans sitting next to him on the floor, and a metal box, Taho's first aid kit. "Just don't make a scene."
"I'm not going to," Heli says. "But you know, it doesn't have to be on your neck."
"Huh?" Viken is already pulling his shirt down over his shoulder. "Of course it does. If you're going to give me a scar I want it to be in the right place."
Now, looking at bare skin, Heli is beyond nervous. He feels like he's doing something very wrong as he slides closer on the carpet, but his mouth is watering and there's no stopping now. He leans forward, but Viken puts out a hand.
"Wait, I'm not going to turn into a vampire too, am I?"
"Only if you drink my blood too."
"Okay, no. Gross."
He puts down his hand and closes his eyes tight, waiting. Heli pauses. He's wanted a taste of Viken's blood for so long, despite the pain it brought him. For all the hurt his curse caused, this desire was never quelled. With a deep breath, he too closes his eyes and sinks his teeth into the rise of Viken's shoulder.
A few seconds pass before blood fills his mouth. It's nothing like the burning that was poured into him inside the caves of Aeaea. He swallows and warmth spreads through his body, gently from his chest down his arms and legs, even the surface of his skin prickles with a heat that radiates like blossoms opening in spring. Underneath the metallic taste is almost a sweetness. He's had human blood before, but never anything like this.
Viken starts to lean more heavily into his arm so he pulls back.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Viken opens one of the orange drink cans. "Why'd you stop?"
"I think that's enough."
Heli opens the first aid kit and wipes off the wound with an antiseptic, and covers everything with a plaster. Cleaning away the blood from Viken's skin feels like a waste. He's practically vibrating. Trying to find a word for how he feels, the only thing that comes to mind is alive. As if each breath he takes actually is doing something. As if the blood in his veins is doing more than just a barrier between coldness and death. He looks at his hands. There's a bit of colour to them. Truly, no blood has ever made him feel so much, human or otherwise.
"I can't tell if you're blushing or just still sunburnt," Viken teases.
Heli looks up from staring at his own hands, in complete seriousness.
"You're…not completely human, are you?"
Viken leans back into his bed and takes a long swig from the can.
"I thought you knew that."
Heli just gapes. A soft knock sounds from the door, and it cracks open.
"Eugene wants to talk to you." Soule sticks his head in. "Both of you, actually."
Viken finishes off the drink and pulls his shirt back up. Though he uses the bed for support, he stands without an issue and starts for the door. Heli follows close behind, just in case.
Eugene sits in the living room by the unlit fireplace. Avys is on the sofa, and Taho stands in the doorway. Next to Avys is Shion's bear. Soule had taken care to clean and patch it up. The burnt spots are covered with different colours of fabric pieces. Heli picks it up and takes its place on the sofa, Viken sinking down next to him. They stare at Eugene in silence, awaiting whatever it is he'd wanted to say.
Eugene squints at them. "What were you two up to? Why do I feel embarrassed to look at you?"
"Beats me," says Viken. He is a little paler than usual, his head leaning back. "Just tell us what you want."
Eugene shakes his head, but continues. "We've been offered a new job. Another long one. And I've decided to take it."
Summer sun filters through the leaves as Heli watches Solon help Soule stack the last of their boxes into the back of the van. When Eugene had said he accepted a long job, Heli hadn't anticipated that it would require them to pack up most of their belongings and leave. But here they were, having crammed the majority of their things into the vehicle, ready to pile in and leave the cottage behind.
The warm and sunny day feels like an insult to Heli's mood.
Eugene had been adamant Heli and the others couldn't come with, but had been very vague on the details of why. Just that they had to move, and it was not possible for the vampires to come with.
Viken sits with the side door open.
"Please tell me where you're going," Heli says. "At the very least, where you're moving away to."
"It's not really a matter of where," says Viken, shielding the sun from his eyes as he looks up at Heli. "But when."
"When?" Heli repeats. "What does that mean? When are you going? You don't mean you're going to travel through time do you?"
Viken merely shrugs. "The good news is, when we see each other again, I'm going to pretty much look the same. And you never age, so…"
"You can time travel?" Heli's voice rises with incredulity. "Is that possible? Can you go back and-"
"Time travel is not possible." Eugene approaches from behind and tosses another bag at Viken. "At least not in the sense that you're thinking. You can't go back, life only ever goes forward."
"Oh."
"Were you thinking you'd ask if we could send you back to change things?" Viken asks. "If you did that, we would never meet."
Heli's hand goes to his locket without even thinking. He's been through this once, and concluded then that everything turned out the way it's meant to be. What he would change is the fact right now that they're about to part.
"Can I see that?"
Eugene reaches out and taps the locket. Heli takes it off and places it in his hand. Eugene turns the small locket over once and hands it back.
"You know, it's still cursed."
"It can't be," Heli protests. "I mean, I-" He glances down at Viken.
Eugene raises an eyebrow. "I was going to say, but it's changed. The locket's not heavy anymore, it's kinda warm. There's a curse there but it's different."
Heli stares down at the tiny silver object on his palm. The metal does feel warmer, instead of cold. He should have figured the curse would never completely go away. He'd done something that can never be taken back, even if he'd made his peace, that fact cannot be changed.
"In a weird way, the curse has kinda saved you though," Eugene says. "Protected you from yourself, and from Lamia. Everything's worked out for the best outcome, even if the method was twisted."
"Yeah," Heli mutters.
"Anyway," Eugene places a hand on Heli's shoulder. "I've already told Jaan, but there's a barrier around the house. The townspeople won't be able to find you, so you don't need to worry about them. You all can stay here as long as you want."
Heli replaces the locket around his neck and nods. He doesn't want to look Eugene in the face. He may have paid back his debt, but he almost wishes he hadn't. If only that would stop them from going.
"I'm also leaving you everything we were paid for the Lamia job. Jaan knows how to access that too."
Heli nods again, his gaze fixed on the ground.
"We better get going, Sena's team will be waiting for us." Eugene gives Heli's shoulder a squeeze, then walks around the van to open the driver's seat door.
Viken jumps up and wraps his arms around Heli.
"We'll see each other again," he says. "I promise. It's just going to be a while, okay? Hell, you're immortal, for you it will probably feel like no time at all. And you'll get my room all to yourself until we return!"
"You will return, right?"
"Eventually, I'm sure," Viken pulls back and smiles. "Please don't look sad. I know they're all happy to finally have you back."
He nods behind them. Shion is standing, his bear in hand next to Noa and Jakah as they say their goodbyes to Taho and Avys. Jaan leans in the doorway of the house as Jino comes out with his hands in his pockets. Solon steps back as Soule slams the van doors closed.
Of course, he has them, and now after all this time they still had a lot of catching up to do. He wants to know all about what they've been up to in his lost years. And he has a lot of time to make up for. Even given the option, there is no way he could leave them behind.
"Until next time, then," he says. Viken grins.
"Eugene told you everything about the house, right?" Soule asks as he passes. "I'm glad you found them."
"Thanks, Soule," Heli says as he's pulled into a goodbye hug.
Taho shakes his hand as he climbs into the van next to Viken, and Avys likewise says his farewells before sliding in and shutting the door. The engine starts and Eugene leans out the window.
"Be good, you hear!" he shouts over the engine.
Heli raises his hand and waves as they pull away, down the drive and turn onto the road and drive away. For a few moments, he stands in silence with his hand in the air even as they're long gone. From behind, someone touches his shoulder.
"That was kind of them to give us their house," says Jino.
"You mean, take care of it until they come back," Heli says.
"I call Eugene's room!" Noa shouts as he races Shion back indoors.
"No, it's mine!"
"You're going to have to share, you know," Jaan calls as he takes off after them.
"I'm not sharing," says Heli. He steps around Jino and follows the others back inside.
Even though Noa and Shion are shouting as they bicker upstairs, and someone's left the television on, it feels empty. The laughter from the television programme is fake and hollow. Though light streams through the rooms, it's dark and Heli is tired. He drags his feet up the steps and turns into Viken's room.
Viken took most of his records, his guitar, patch covered jacket, along with his other necessary belongings. Left on his dresser is the turntable, and just a handful of records Heli had taken to in particular. Blankets are folded up on the bed. Heli drops into the bean bag chair with a sigh as he takes in the room.
His room now, he tries to tell himself. But it doesn't feel like his room. Would it feel more like home if he replaced Viken's posters with something else? Could he bring himself to do that without feeling like he was erasing Viken from his own house?
Something dark catches his eye on the bed. Resting on top of the bare pillow, sits a heavy antique key. Tied around the end is a small tag.
Return this to me
NYE NYC
1999
You can only go forward, Eugene had said.
"Hey," Jaan appears in the doorway. "Do you think you could-"
"Twenty years," Heli says.
"What?"
"We can see them again in twenty years."
"Ah," says Jaan. "That's not very long. Provided Shion and Noa don't spend the whole time fighting, they're going to make the rest of today an eternity."
He's joking, Heli knows, but his mood is too sour to laugh back with him. Heli heads back downstairs, the key in his hand. Solon is on the sofa, his arms crossed. He and Jakah both look up as Heli enters. Jino closes the front door as Shion and Noa also return from upstairs.
"Now what?" Solon asks.
All eyes are on Heli. He knows what they're asking. Living here hadn't ever actually been discussed, but Heli doesn't see any reason why they shouldn't.
"I want to stay here," Heli says. "At least for now, I want to experience normal life."
"We're not exactly normal," Jakah says.
"You know what I mean," Heli says. He knows there's nothing normal about their existence, but he wants to know what life really is like, outside the guarded walls of an austere orphanage, away from the control of an ancient monster. Just for a while he wants to do all the things he's missed out on so far.
"So what first?" asks Jaan. "What do you want to do?"
Heli looks around at the faces looking back at him, waiting with anticipation. They can do anything they want, and they have all the time in the world. Even the daylight can't hold them back.
"I want to go to a cinema."
The atmosphere lightens, as if everyone had been holding their breath. Jakah laughs, and even Solon smiles.
"Where's the paper? Someone check what's showing," says Jino.
"We have enough money to go see as many films as you want," Jaan says.
Within moments the room is loud with lively conversation, and excitement. There's no need to worry about anything, not anymore. For once, he can look forward to the future.
He grips the key in his hand. It's such a small thing, but it fills him with anticipation and purpose. Something to protect until he can find Viken again. Besides, Jaan is right. He'd survived sixty-five years alone, he could make it any amount of time surrounded by loving friends.
Twenty years isn't long at all.