Tainted Blood Read online

  It worked out well for both sides. A few weeks ago, a couple of meth addicts tried to rob the place and it looked as if they were about to kill the owner. If Brian hadn't been staying for free, they most likely would have.

  After disabling both criminals and then rushing the wounded owner to the local hospital, Brian didn't even have to suggest that he stay for free anymore. The owner happily asked him to stay, calling Brian his lucky rabbit's foot or some such thing. Yep...life was good.

  Yet if it was so good, why did he have an overwhelming feeling of depression each day? It haunted his every waking hour. Sometimes it wasn't very strong at first, like today, but as the day moved forward, it would gain strength until Brian found himself searching the night for Heather's dreams.

  Her dreams had always been a place of sanctuary, until the last few months. Ever since she had left him, Heather seemed to go out of her way trying to avoid him in her dreams.

  It wasn't always like that. There were nights he found her waiting for him, happy to see him and sometimes very passionately happy to see him. He had to admit, those were some of the best times. The times he remembers most. Oh sure, the adventures they went on were usually good, but the things she could do in those special intimate times...those were to die for. He couldn't help but think that those made all the rejection ones worth it.

  How could they not? He knew that when they had those times together, he was seeing the real Heather. The deep and passionate side of her that she could never show in the daylight.

  He smiled to himself at that. Yeah, she can be a wild one, he thought. The last drop of blood came to an end as he peeled the I.V. open to lick the insides of it clean. Idly, he got up and threw away the empty container, before retrieving the TV's remote control. A local news show popped up on the screen as it came to life. Brian made himself comfortable in his chair as he listened to the report.

  A young woman dressed in a brown business suit reported on another animal mauling the night before. The third one this week, apparently a cougar was loose in the surrounding hills. Brian turned the channel bored with the report. VH1 appeared, playing classic 80's music.

  “Okay, that's more like it...not!” He turned the channel again. After several minutes of channel flipping he tossed the remote to the floor at his feet in disgust. The TV obligingly turned itself off.

  “Nothing on, of course. Well, I guess I need to get to work.”

  Brian sat at the small makeshift table that he used for his desk. Several notebooks laid haphazard on it, while the glow of a small laptop sat open and on from the day before. The words last written still filled the screen.

  “Well, my Muse, shall we see if we can get through this chapter today?” Brian spoke to himself as he began to type out letters and then words, slowly at first and then faster as time began to pass.

  He found that he enjoyed this time while he wrote. It was one of the few times that the depression drifted away. In fact, it was the only time that it left independently without Heather being involved. The surprising part was that he always seemed to forget that part each day. If he were asked later in the day long after he finished writing he'd say Heather was the only answer to his depression, but at that moment he felt alive as if there were hope in his life.

  A loud knock brought Brian out of his writing. It was sharp and quite surprising as he couldn't remember the last time anyone had knocked on his door. He waited for a second knock before he rose and made his way to the door, just to be sure it hadn't been someone's mistake. A third knock began just as he arrived at the door. If it was a mistake, whoever it was still hadn't figured it out yet.

  Brian opened the door not sure what to expect. The sun, now clearly up, shone into his eyes as it opened. He was somewhat thankful that he did not burn like a TV vampire. Otherwise, he would be feeling a bit more discomfort than he was, as he squinted his eyes to see who was standing before him.

  “Hello, Brian. Are you going to invite me in?” An older woman’s voice said, as he made out her slight figure. That voice was quite recognizable. He'd heard it for most of his life, and had called it family since he could first speak. The last time he had heard it was less than happy circumstances. She'd been in his basement, and revealed that she was in truth a government agent put with him to watch and take care of him when he was young.

  “Aunt Jenn. To what do I owe this surprise?”

  “Don't be rude, boy. Are you going to let your Auntie in, or are you going to let me stand here all day?”

  Brian seriously considered shutting his door and being done with the whole affair. He owed nothing to this woman who claimed to be his aunt. The last time he had seen her, she left him to his fate and asked him to kill a being known as an Anunauki.

  Something that almost got him killed.

  “Do I have a choice?”

  “Of course you have a choice. But only one good choice.”

  Brian stood blocking her way, as emotions ran a gauntlet inside him. What happened to that soothing sense of peace he'd felt as he wrote his soon-to-be book? He missed it, as even now that sense of peace seemed to fade from his mind.

  “Very well,” he said as he backed out of the door way and watched as his 'Aunt' walked in. She began to tour the small room, pausing to look at his computer screen as he closed the door, glancing only to make sure no one else stood outside.

  “I see your book is coming along nicely. I'm surprised at how long it's taking you.” She said as she walked over to his dirty lazyboy, pausing only a second before hesitantly sitting in it, and leaving nowhere for him to sit except at his computer. Rather than doing that, he decided to stand next her so she had to turn and look up at him. A small sense of satisfaction was his reward for winning that minor victory with her, before he realized what she said.

  “Wait, how did you know that I was writing a book?”

  “My dear boy, what don't we know about what you do?” She said matter-of-factly. The idea of anyone spying on him wasn't a pleasant thought. It made him wonder what else she knew about. “I can see what I said to you is working its way through that Brian of yours.”

  “Why are you spying on me?”

  “We're not spying on you Brian. We're simply keeping track of our investment.”

  “I'm not your investment!” He shouted at her. Forgetting the small victory he'd managed, he stormed over to his other chair and slammed himself down into it. “You don't own me!”

  “Brian, no one said that they owned you. I only meant that we had to keep our eyes on our investment.”

  “That sounds a lot like ownership to me.” Brian huffed.

  “Call it what you like, but we're only looking out for you.”

  Something about that statement made Brian laugh. They were watching out for him? Oh, that was ridiculous.

  “Is something funny?” His aunt asked.

  “How exactly have you been watching out for me? I didn't see you help me get my place here, or give me money for my expenses. What, tell me, have you been doing for me?”

  “We have been keeping you safe,” she said calmly.

  It really was unnerving to sit and watch her. Nothing he said or did unnerved her. Raising his voice, stomping around the apartment...

  Nothing. She had to know he was strong enough to just walk over and snap her neck if he wanted to. Yet, he wouldn't, and he was sure that she knew that. Otherwise, how could she sit so calmly alone in a room with a vampire that was clearly angry with her?

  “Brian, who do you think secured this little place for you?”

  “Oh, don't go there! I earned my place here. You had nothing to do with it.”

  “You earned it? She said with a smile. “And how exactly did you earn it?”

  “I saved the owner's life, and foiled a robbery here.” He said feeling triumphant. “I don’t even have to suggest the man to let me stay here.

  “And who do you think sent the addicts here, Brian?”

  Brian's heart lurched as she said it. Could
they really have set the whole thing up? Would they really stoop to such a low thing? “The man was bleeding. He was shot. Are you telling me he took a bullet for money?”

  “No, Brian. He didn't take the bullet for money. The two men who shot him did.”

  He was stunned. He didn't know what to say. He had wondered why there was never anything on the news when he looked, but to be honest, he really hadn't bothered to look deeply. He just figured he missed an offhand mention.

  The whole idea of them manipulating his life, and then spying on him...

  “What if I hadn't got involved? What if the owner died?”

  “You did get involved Brian, and he didn't die. You're a hero.”

  “I'm not going to do it.” Brian said. He didn't care what it was. He wasn't getting involved. He had too much on his plate, and besides, he really didn't like his used-to-be aunt. The more he learned about her the more he didn't like her.

  “Do what, Brian? I'm not here to ask you anything. I'm only here to warn you.”

  “Warn me?”

  Brian watched as she reached into her large black purse and pulled out a vanilla folder stuffed with papers. Then she stood up and walked across the room to put it before him.

  “That is a file of some of the info we've gathered on Garn.”

  “Who?” He asked, bewildered, as he picked the folder up and began looking through it. An older man with a large prominent chin, dark striking eyes, and long, flowing salt and pepper hair looked up at him from a picture clipped to the folder.

  “Garn, Brian. He is the uncle of the werewolf you killed.”

  “And?” Brian asked, afraid to hear the answer.

  “Garn is a lycanthrope too, Brian, and he's none-too-happy about his favorite nephew's death. Especially since he turned him.”

  “So you're saying he's looking for who killed him?”

  Brian watched as she started to head for the door. “Jenn?”

  She paused as she put her hand on the door knob, her ebony hand reflecting off its shiny brass surface.

  “No Brian. I'm saying he's here already. Somewhere nearby, and you need to watch yourself.”

  “Wait a minute...what happened to all that crap about watching out for your investment?” He asked, as he stood up. He couldn't believe that she could just walk into his place and drop this onto him. Wasn’t she going to do anything about it?

  “I just did. You've been warned. With that, I think I'll take my leave. It's not too safe around here, what with a pissed off Lycan assassin wandering about.” The door opened as she pulled on it.

  “Wait? I'm not getting any help? No intel on where he is? Nothing?”

  She turned around and stared at him for a second, a play of indecipherable emotions running across her face. Brian almost thought she turned to leave just as finally spoke up. “Info and help cost, Brian. I was of the understanding that you don't want to pay. I gave you what I could for free. The company's not going to spend resources for nothing.”

  She had him, and she knew it. Right where she wanted him. It was really done quite well. This whole thing. It was a set up to get him to do something, he knew it, but what was he going to do?

  He could run, or he could even go looking for this Garn. Then again, the whole thing could be a hoax. Yet, that gray werewolf in Heather's dream kept coming to mind. He couldn't shake the feeling that it had more meaning than just a dream.

  “Alright.” He took a breath and let it out in a sigh. “What do you need me to do for you, and no, I won't kill that Anunaki. I can't, he's too powerful.”

  A smile crept across Jenn's face, as she shut the door. Brian watched as she came back to his old green chair and sat back down on it, this time not hesitating.

  “We don't need you to kill him Brian. Just Jason.”

  “Who?” Brian asked in confusion.

  Brian watched as she pulled out another file and handed it to him. A dashing looking playboy was plastered on the outside of it. He wore a black suit and leaned against a red Maserati, his blonde hair cut business-neat.

  “You want me to kill a normal human?” He asked, confused, doubt quickly rising up inside him.

  “No, Brian. We want you to stop a dangerous vampire.” She nodded down to the folder in his hands. “And I would suggest doing it quickly, as it's been rumored that he has ears inside the company.”

  3

  It was very difficult to relax enough to dream walk. The information that Jenn gave him continued to bounce around in his head long after she left.

  He wasn't sure if the problem was the fact that she wanted him to kill someone like he was some sort of assassin, or if it was the information that there was another vampire nearby, and he now had it's location sitting in a folder not far away from where he now rested in a state of trance.

  Well, I'm not going to kill anyone for them, no matter what the incentive. He thought, as a new world began to take shape around him. This other vampire, though, is very interesting. I have a lot of questions I need to ask him. Will he answer them, though? That was the question. If he did have ears in Jenn's organization, then it was possible that the vampire might know about them contacting Brian. He had no idea how another vampire would react to that kind of information. He knew how he would react, and it wasn't good. Of course, there was nothing saying that he had been contracted to kill the vampire

  At least not as far as he knew.

  The world around him became a park that he recognized from when he lived back home. He couldn't remember the name of it, as he only passed by it a few times in the past. Life had always been a bit different for him growing up, even when he hadn't shown any of his vampire heritage yet. He supposed now that he knew who his aunt really worked for, it kind of made a weird sort of sense. She likely kept him under scrutiny for most of that time, watching for any glimpse of change that would set him apart from a normal kid. He couldn't help but wonder at the disappointment she and her superiors must have felt at the fact that so many years passed and he showed no such traits. He chuckled to himself over that last little bit.

  A cement path materialized ahead of him. He found himself standing just off it as it passed by the trees he stood under.

  The nearby lake adjacent to the park had just came into view on the other side of the road. Ducks, gray and white swam across its surface quacking and making all types of noises. He was always surprised at the vividness of Heather's dreams. The detail at times could be astonishing. It had been some time since he had regular dreams himself, but as far as he could remember, they never held so much detail or information in them. He idly wondered if it was because of his interference that her dreams took more of a semi-permanent state. After all, they could never run wild or chaotically change all the time if something stable such as he invaded them.

  Sure, they would change somewhat when he was there. There were times that rooms turned to woods, or a plane trip turned to a boat trip. Still, the theme always stayed on track, even if the venue would change. Pausing, he searched the terrain for any sign of his love.

  He was hoping tonight would be different than the last few. He was tiring of having to find Heather hidden somewhere. He missed the simple roleplaying dreams he would participate in. Usually, he could just take the place of whoever was her lover or friend. Lately, however, Heather had been dreaming of Chuck.

  As if that wasn't bad enough, the dream role seemed to be impervious to being replaced. If that wasn't frustrating enough, he also found that he couldn’t create a new persona to go along with whatever storyline she was creating.

  It was as if she or it was personally finding ways to exclude him, which was something he really couldn’t bear to think about. He had enough on his plate, and right then all he wanted to do was have some quality time with Heather, and hopefully avoid having to share it with Chuck's phantom, or worse be completely replaced by him.

  “I wonder where she could be in here?” He said to himself.

  Almost in response, two figures app
eared in the distance walking arm in arm. The two of them seemed to be in no rush, pausing at times to throw what Brian guessed were pieces of bread to the waiting ducks, and now swans as well. His only hope was that whoever walked at her side was not the infamous Chuck. If it were, he wondered if he should even bother trying to insert himself into her dream any further. Another failure like the last two nights would just be a horrible end to yet another miserable day.

  His only hope would be that it wasn't his nemesis.

  That hope shattered almost immediately.

  “Damn it.” He swore under his breath. “Why does he have to haunt my dreams?”